Total Drama Sinland

by SinWriter7

16 Contestants are cast for yet another season of Total Drama where they'll compete in competitions and against each other to win 1,000,000. Who will swim to the top? Who will burn in the heat of competition? Is this summary good? You decide on that last one by reading this story! [Warning: This story already has swearing and blood, so beware of that.]

3. I Don't Care

"Last time on Total Drama," Chris opens up the episode by starting the recap. He stood right by a familiar broken window currently being fixed by James the Intern who was standing on a ladder.

"Both teams started becoming acquainted with one another. Some teammates started bonding with each other with Ryokai, Jessica, and Gogo having the friendliest conversation on The Ferocious Trout's side while The Frogs of Death had nice chats between Rosie and Kazuru, and Yana with both Rival and Shiro. But there was thankfully plenty of drama with Arthur and Makima talking about movies, Rellik and Chara staring at each other, Rosie reluctantly following Yana's orders to help Rosie get up from the ground, and Sazama getting heated during his conversation with Luciana about some life stuff... I swear all of that was a lot more exciting than how I've summarized them," Chris recaps before he walks out of the view of the camera.

"YOU FORGOT TO MENTION ME, HOST BUDDY!~" A loudspeaker suddenly booms out a familiar voice.

James the Intern was startled by the sudden and explosive noise, causing him to off his ladder.

"Right!" Chris could be heard responding as he walked back to the camera. He didn't react to the fallen intern who he got in front of and just looked straight into the camera, "The Ferocious Trout also had to deal with the human rooster known as 'Kai' who immediately pissed off the sexiest man of the season and was thrown out a window for one of his many troubles."

"THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS!" Kai happily commented before the speakers turned off.

Now that he corrected this accident, the host once again walked off and the camera cut to another location. He currently stood at a familiar field where multiple wooden swords, paintball guns, and bloody pocket knives were left on the ground.

"The Ferocious Trout and The Frogs of Death then competed in a 'friendly' game of Capture the Skull which The Frogs of Death won after Kai had sabotaged his team by taking out Rellik for the sake of revenge and after Hanako dealt with the final obstacle standing in Shiro's way. After the greatest host alive revealed Kai's betrayal to the rest of The Ferocious Trout, he wasted no time upsetting the rest of his team and specifically pissing off Gogo who made it clear who she would be voting for, leaving him as the obvious target... but he did talk with Ryokai for reasons we won't reveal," Chris ends this section with a wide smirk.

After this, the camera cuts to the campfire ceremony where Chef is standing behind him with crossed arms. What was noteworthy about the current shot was the fact it suddenly had turned nighttime.

"If you're wondering why the night sky is still out, it's because this scene is filmed just moments after the elimination!" Chris proudly announces.

"Couldn't you have just come back here in the morning? It's... a little late right now." Chef points out with a yawn in the middle of his question.

"Walking over here when I've already got two locations to be at tomorrow would be too tiring and boring for me. Besides, the campers are the ones who are meant to do all the physical stuff and complete challenges, not me," Chris explains as he stretches out his arms.

"If you say so... I'm just gonna take off already," Chef responds before walking away from the ceremony. He didn't currently have the energy to criticize the host right now and his responses would've likely fallen on deaf ears regardless.

"Well, moments ago, The Ferocious Trout predictably voted off Kai who had requested that he become an intern, and because I'm a kind person, I granted the kid his wish and let him work for us. However, half of the team tonight received votes and it looks like the fallout of that result is already happening between Arthur and Makima who seem focused on taking each other out!" Chris loudly confirms with excitement and anticipation in his voice. It didn't look like he was too tired out even though the night wasn't exactly young.

"Oh! Can I close out this recap?!" Kai suddenly runs into view and begins jumping at the opportunity.

"...Sure," Chris answers as the signs of fatigue quickly appear on his face, revealing that he was actually drained of energy and could no longer feel bothered to hide it himself. He then began walking out of the ceremony as the redhead took center stage.

"Let's skip the questions and head into this episode of-!" Kai raised both his hands into the air and prepared to announce the title of the season.

"Total!" The camera zoomed out to show Kai at the elimination ceremony where he was just voted off at.

"Drama!" It zoomed out again to a wider shot that showed Kai and most of the island behind him.

"Island!" This last zoom-out no longer showed the newly-appointed intern as it completely focused on the island itself.

---

Shihoko Hirata & Shoji Meguro - Pursuing My True Self

A television is turned on, showing Chris McLean and Chef Hatchet standing in front of a campfire at night time. The screen turns to static as the camera then zooms into the television.

We are living our lives,

Gogo Artoria seemed to be lying on top of a pile of books that acted as her bed.

Abound with so much information.

She abruptly fell asleep and dropped the book that was in her hands onto the ground. The screen then turned to static before showing the next scene.

Come on, let go of the remote, don't you know you're letting all the junk flood in?

Kazuru Badasu slowly walked onto a stage with a smirk.

I try to stop the flow, double-clicking on the go, but it's no use, hey I'm being consumed.

His hands picked up a controller which he then raised into the air.

Loading, Loading, Loading, Quickly reaching maximum capacity.

The controller started vibrating wildly.

Warning, Warning, Warning, Gonna short circuit my identity (Ahhh).

Before he knew it, the controller blew up, sending Kazuru through an invisible wall and landing in a pile of snow.

Get up on your feet, tear down the walls,

Arthur Kingston stepped on top of this pile and began his ascension.

Catch a glimpse of the hollow world.

His hands pull a sword from out the ground which he swings at the screen.

Snooping 'round will get you nowhere,

Once the screen breaks apart, Rellik Rorrim smiles at the camera.

You're locked up in your mind.

The camera then zooms into his left eye, showing an endless swirl of black with a blue background.

We're all trapped in a maze of relationships!

Kai Hayashida ran into a maze without a second thought.

Life goes on with or without you.

Yana Hayashida stood still before following her brother into the maze.

I swim in the sea of the unconscious!

Shiro observed this before letting himself fall backward into a pool.

I search for your heart, Pursuing My True Seeelf-

Inside this pool, Rosielina Tsunade grabbed ahold of an underwater star before a splash fizzled her out.

You are standing in the middle of another world!

Chara Campbell walked through an empty, dark room.

It's hard to feel your real emotions.

A ray of light appears to shine on Makima who bowed for the camera.

You are smiling in a shirt with bitter tears!

Sazama pushed Makima out of the light before staring at the light above.

Let me help you find a place to call it hooome-

Ryokai Shimashita turned off the light she was shining on the boys.

We're all trapped in a maze of relationships!

Hanako Kaneko slashed away at the maze around her using a knife.

Life goes on with or without you.

Luciana Ignis watched Hanako from atop one of the maze's walls.

I swim in the sea of the unconscious!

A gust of wind causes Luciana to turn around and look at the people behind her.

I search for your heart, Pursuing My True Seeelf!

Rival Seizon and Jessica Seizon's unconscious bodies both fell into the middle of the maze, shattering the world around them and turning everything into static one more time.

Chris, Chef, Gogo, Kazuru, Arthur, Rellik, Kai, Yana, Shiro, Rosie, Chara, Makima, Sazama, Ryokai, Hanako, Luciana, Rival, and Jessica all found themselves surrounding a familiar-looking campfire. All of them looked into the camera which panned out to reveal the title of this latest season.

Total Drama Sinland

---

"YOU FORGOT TO MENTION ME, HOST BUDDY!~"

This loud and familiar noise was heard echoing out through all of the speakers, ensuring that everyone would hear these cheerful words. As expected, the non-announcement announcement swiftly woke up almost every contestant and marked the start of yet another morning for the season. Considering how today's unofficial alarm clock went off earlier than yesterday's, it appeared that everyone would be getting less rest this morning. Both teams were getting up now and there were varying levels of annoyance everyone felt as a result of the wake-up call. Much like yesterday, however, the camera zoomed in on The Ferocious Trout's cabin and focused on them first.

When it came to the Trouts, one of them reacted much quicker than the rest of their team to the voice. This person growled before standing up from their bed and glaring at the speaker which was inside their team's cabin. After noticing that the rest of the Trouts were awake, they stormed over to the speaker and wasted no time giving it a piece of their mind.

"How dare you interrupt my sleep, you scrawny, little nuisance?! If I could eliminate you again or kick you off the island, then I'd gladly do both of those things because your disturbances have shattered my tolerance levels and now you once again ruin my desired routine! So for that, I'll make you wish that the historian girl had crushed your balls when she attacked you yesterday if you even have them left!" Rellik Rorrim angrily shouted at the voice he'd come to hate so much.

"THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS!"

"You are the worst and most insignificant person I've ever met!" Rellik immediately shouted out as he pointed at the speaker. He then closed his eyes and tried regaining his composure.

[Confession: Rellik]

"I have made a massive and incessant blunder within my understanding," Rellik innocently told the camera in a quiet voice. He even closed his eyes and continued his apology, "Yelling at him wasn't the right move in that situation, especially since I didn't go all the way and mention any family members he might or might not have. It certainly wasn't worth it, so I'll publicly announce that there are regrets on my end for my treatment of... What's his name?"

After needing some time to remember Kai's name and opening his eyes, he shrugged and looked at the ground to show his sorrow over the situation, "Well, it doesn't matter too much. I'm sorry to any of my friends and family back at home who have just witnessed my unbelievable response and I'll try to make sure that the boy will not force me into using insults against a lowlife like him again. Who could've guessed that such a child would be my most tedious opponent yet? Especially one that seems relentless in ensuring I'll lose my temper around him." He ends the 'apology' with a louder voice and more resolve on his face, completely replacing any regret he had previously shown with something that sounded more righteous.

[Confession Ends]

"Are the two of you having some sort of yelling contest that I'm too sane to understand?" Rellik heard a deep voice ask from behind. He then turned around and raised an eyebrow at Arthur who was sitting in his bed.

"Not intentionally. I'm just losing any patience for our ex-teammate now that he's able to work behind the scenes for the show when he was just voted off," Rellik explains while crossing his arms.

"It was our fault for not figuring out his true plan beforehand, but we shouldn't worry too much about it," Arthur states before standing up from his bed and advancing toward the star-eyed contestant, "That still leaves us with one less person in the game to deal with and though he never intended on winning, that just means we've taken out a worthless piece before they could drag down the rest of this team due to their carelessness."

"Heh, I guess you do make some good points..." Rellik responds with some amusement at the prince's words. What made his words more interesting was just how heartless he sounded with each word he bluntly spoke. After smiling at his teammate, he tried observing Arthur as he came up with an idea, "Would you mind telling me your name? I'm bad at remembering things like those~"

"My name is Arthur Kingston. I'm a swordsman, but I much prefer snowboarding." Arthur stops walking so he can properly introduce himself. He even slightly bowed to the person in front of him.

"Rellik Rorrim. Though you probably knew that already," Rellik remarks with an infectious smirk plastered across his handsome face.

"Indeed, there is no way I could forget someone with such rizz," Arthur confirms as he points at the handsome guy's six-pack.

"..." Rellik remained silent for some time before suddenly bursting out into laughter at the comment.

"(For once, I should've taken lessons from Louise on how to use modern slang...)" Arthur quietly tells himself as he quietly sighs at the response he received. Eventually, the laughter from his teammate did eventually calm down.

"You sound like someone who's fun to talk with," Rellik finally remarks now that he has regained his composure.

"I try my best," Arthur states without a hint of sarcasm or authenticity in his voice.

"(Well, that's sad.)" Makima mutters out just loud enough for the prince to hear.

"Are you in the mood to discuss further? It seems that you've calmed down from how you acted a minute ago," Arthur offers while looking at the speaker which his teammate was yelling at moments ago.

"Yeah, we can talk, but first, I'm gonna check the feedback about me from the last episode," Rellik explains as he holds his phone in front of himself.

"(That makes way too much sense.)" Arthur mumbled in response, though he made sure it wasn't loud enough for the star-eyed contestant to hear.

"Looks like I've already got a fanbase, though I'm used to gaining a massive following." Rellik proudly states whilst scrolling through some of the tweets made about him. Although there were a few hate comments, he ignored them completely as they were in the minority.

"I assume that you're quite popular back at home, in that case."

"You're right about that. If there's one thing I've become an expert at, it's managing my public perception." Rellik declares before showing a video playing on his phone to the prince.

Arthur's eyes narrowed at the video before looking at the black-haired non-model, "Do you seriously use TikTok?"

"If you wanna grow on the internet, you'll need to use as many platforms as you can manage. It's also good for when you want to egosurf," Rellik explains, pulling his phone away and closing the TikTok app that he'd been using.

"I suppose that does make sense. Would you mind resuming this conversation outside the cabin?" Arthur requests as he points at the cabin door.

"Sure, I've got some text messages to take care of, though, so I hope you don't mind waiting just a little bit more time." Rellik answers after noticing the multiple notifications on his phone.

"I don't mind." Arthur nonchalantly accepts the condition before walking past his teammate and opening the door. Rather than going straight through the doorway, he left it open after noticing Rellik already walking toward it. So the prince held open the door as the star-eyed contestant walked out of the cabin without much care as he was more focused on his phone.

Makima observed the duo from his bed who had both just exited the cabin. The actor remained sitting down and started sorting through the various ideas flooding into his mind now that he could no longer monitor the conversation between his teammates, which he'd been doing since he woke up. His eyes then searched around the cabin where he noticed a conversation between Jessica, Ryokai, and Gogo taking place on a separate bunk bed from Chara's one, making it clear that the scientist was the only other person not engaged in a conversation.

[Confession: Makima]

"Although I wanted to get involved in Arthur and Rellik's conversation, it's currently not the best play for me," Makima confirms with a waving finger, specifically his left index finger. A chuckle momentarily left his mouth before he continued his explanation, "If he's solely focused on getting Rellik, then I'll let him get what he wants because that leaves other people on our team open. This is a number game first and foremost, so although he might slowly gain an extra vote in Rellik, there's still four other people who could become numbers for me. For now, I'll let Ryokai socialize with the other girls because it's a rare sight to see and I like seeing her interact with others... though that doesn't mean I won't try getting anyone on my side today."

[Confession Ends]

Chara looked away from the door that Arthur and Rellik had both just used and faced the trio of girls who were in the middle of their conversation. Her dispassionate expression didn't change as she analyzed the current dynamics on her team, making it hard to tell what she felt or even thought about all of this. However, her observation would soon be interrupted by the actor who stepped in front of her.

"Good morning, Vietnam! Who needs jokes when you've got a Friend Like Me?" Makima happily asks as he leans forward and points at his chest. Currently, he wore a cheerful smile, his voice sounded very lively, and there was an aura of glee that had taken over his body.

"Someone's a morning person," Chara blankly remarked as she leaned back against the wall. She seemed completely unaffected by the personification of cheer standing right in front of her.

"Not really! It's just that you either fall asleep as a hero or stay awake long enough to see yourself become the villain," Makima remarked once he straightened his back and toned down his joyful smile into something less exaggerated.

"Not getting sleep will do that to you, especially after two days, which is when you start hallucinating. However, you could say that Randy Gardner could be considered more of a hero than a villain considering that he stayed awake for eleven days for the sake of winning a local competition," Chara recalls as she looked at the window that was near her bed.

"Whoa," Makima simply responded as he had his jaw dropped at the information.

[Confession: Makima]

"That was supposed to be a Bill and Ted reference..." Makima confirms while scratching his right cheek.

[Confession Ends]

"Do you consider him a hero?" Makima wonders after tilting his head.

"Well, he is a source of inspiration for me," Chara answers as she slightly shrugs.

"...Have you watched Morbius?" Makima asks after randomly snapping his right fingers.

"Yes. I enjoyed it more than my parents did," Chara confirms before closing her eyes and remembering the experience she had just mentioned. These memories had finally gotten a reaction out of the scientist who finally had a small smile on her face.

"Well, I guess everyone's allowed to have at least one wrong opinion," Makima remarks as he shakes his head, showing his disbelief at what she thinks about the movie. However, his reaction stopped immediately as he started thinking about the confirmation he'd been given. Before he could act upon the information, his eyes suddenly widened at the next action that the scientist made.

"Would you like some blood, Doctor?" Chara asks with clear interest and even some excitement in her voice. What made all of this more surprising was the object that she held in front of her teammate. The object was a pocket knife from yesterday's challenge which had dry blood still present on the weapon.

Makima stared at the knife for a few seconds before shaking his head and attempting to give a response, "That's-"

"Maybe I got too ahead of myself on that one. I just figured that you would know a thing or two about method acting or that you'd be able to replicate a character played by Jared Leto. I'd even hypothesized that you wouldn't have much trouble playing such an iconic role... however, it would seem that you're not as good of an actor as everyone else believes you to be." Chara gives her complete response before the actor could get in another word and she even begins lowering the pocket knife in her hand.

Suddenly, she felt a grip around her left wrist which stopped her from putting down the knife.

"...Dr. Michael Morbius, at your service," Makima says with a friendly smile on his face and a voice that makes him sound like a caring person. In an instant, his entire mood had changed and he tried replicating the same character that the scientist had liked watching on the big screen. His eyes then became fixated in the dry blood, it was as if he suddenly craved the liquid but there was also some hesitation on whether he should go for it, and he soon began leaning forward so he could lick the blood and satisfy his newfound vampire needs.

Before the actor could be shown committing to the role, the camera cut away to someone else. Ryokai found herself watching the conversation between Makima and Chara in her peripheral vision and she even started writing in her journal. However, this didn't go unnoticed by the other two contestants who stopped their conversation so they could look at the journalist.

"Ryo? Is something on your mind?" Jessica asks with some concern in her voice.

Ryokai merely nodded at the question as she continued silently writing in her journal, all the while she positioned herself so that neither girl could see what she was writing. Despite the confirmation, the athlete still had no idea what the poker-faced girl was writing about.

"Well, feel free to tell us about anything on your mind once you're comfortable enough to do so!" Jessica insists with far more positivity than before as she tries to reassure the journalist.

"I will," Ryokai answered without a single change in her distant attitude which could be noticed.

"Alrighty then..." Jessica tried responding the best she could, though it was rather difficult considering how unresponsive the responses from Ryokai were. Her eyes then looked back over at the historian, "So Gogo, how'd you think you did last challenge?"

"My performance was... incredibly pathetic," Gogo bluntly answers before looking down at the bed.

"Well, that's unfortunate... maybe you can make up for that by doing better today!" Jessica optimistically suggests once she has found a way to work around the negative comment.

"That would probably be for the best, after all... if our team doesn't do well today... then, The Frogs of Death could Battle of Tsushima us..." Gogo responds after nodding at the suggestion. Although she wasn't someone who had a lot of energy, her response seemed to satisfy the athlete.

"Exactly, they could do that to us!" Jessica tried rolling with what the historian had said.

"You don't know what I'm talking about... do you?" Gogo immediately figures out.

"At least none of us intentionally sabotaged our team yesterday," Jessica quickly moves on to the next subject.

"Changing topics, I see..." Gogo remarks before quietly giggling at the irony of her teammate abruptly switching talking points once she had caught onto something. It was amusing seeing such a tactic being used by the most extroverted person left in the building.

"Speaking of which, what'd you two think about last night's elimination?" Jessica asks both girls in the hopes of getting the two of them involved in the same conversation. Even though the three of them had been talking since they were all woken up by the human rooster, she struggled to find a topic that all three of them could contribute to as both Gogo and Ryokai took turns being dead silent. So she decided to just try getting both of their opinions about what they thought about the ending to the last episode.

"It was... satisfactory... especially after Kai voted for me," Gogo answered after the small smile on her face widened slightly.

"Yeah, he was a real pain in the ass and although that was on purpose, it doesn't make him any less frustrating of a competitor," Jessica states after crossing her arms and groaning at the very recent memories of their ex-teammate.

"Competitor?" Gogo immediately notices the term which finally caught Ryokai's attention as she finally stopped writing.

"He had an opportunity to win a million dollars and yet he actively tried playing the worst game possible when most other people would at least make an attempt at winning the game. I'd be less frustrated about that if he also didn't actively make our team more miserable and tried dragging down the rest of us just because he thought it'd be funny. Plus, if he was actually a good brother, then-!"

"Don't go there." Ryokai cuts off the athlete with this command, her voice sounding tenser than it normally did.

"Yeah... let's not make things personal," Gogo agrees with the journalist, placing both hands on the athlete's shoulders as she told her these words.

"R-Right, sorry for getting carried away there," Jessica responds before looking away from both girls out of shame. A part of her felt glad that they both prevented her from making personal jabs at their ex-teammate as she didn't know the guy outside the game, so judging him as a brother would be overdoing things. But she did eventually calm down and she faced the journalist instead, "What'd you think about Kai, anyways?"

"Answer: He was the most annoying person I've ever met," Ryokai immediately answers.

"Mind... elaborating?" Gogo requests after taking her hands off Jessica and also turning to look over at Ryokai.

"The way he would constantly refer to me as his 'future wife' and try 'flirting' with me if you could even call it that, left me constantly cringing on the inside and wanting to throw him across the island myself. There was also his stupid face and that punchable grin he would constantly have on, both of which made me feel even more fed-up with him because his constant look of happiness made him look like a moving target to someone as miserable as I. He also just brushed aside my attempt at upsetting him when we first arrived here and that only added to the frustration his presence alone would cause me. How could someone who writes such amazing books be the same person whose every breath pisses me off? So, in summary, Kai Hayashida was an atrocious person who deserved his elimination yesterday." Ryokai heavily elaborated on her points to the extent that she even closed her eyes and huffed once her explanation was over.

Jessica and Gogo then shared knowing looks with each other before grinning at the response they received.

"You sure... feel passionate about him... don't you?" Gogo remarks whilst tilting her head.

"Hey Ryo, How many pages do you have about Kai?~" Jessica playfully asks after her smug grin grows even wider.

"...No comment." Ryokai meekly dodges the question before turning away from both girls who both giggled at their teammate's response. Luckily for the journalist, neither the camera nor the girls could see the look on her face before she firmly shut her book. A quiet sigh of relief then escaped Ryokai's mouth since shutting her book prevented anyone from looking into it.

Laying down on their bed was one Hanako Kaneko. Above her was a phone which she held in her hands, on the screen of this phone was a picture that she'd taken after yesterday's challenge had wrapped up. This picture was one of Rival Seizon with his arm wrapped around her, though they both seemed completely aware of the phone in the picture since Rival was barely holding up a peace sign while Hanako had been pressing her cheek against his despite all the paint. Once she finished looking at the photo, the lovestruck girl then turned off her phone and shoved it into her pillow. Now that she had completely woken up, Hanako left the cabin moments later so she could film her first confessional of the day.

[Confession: Hanako]

"I'm so happy about how everything went yesterday!" Hanako happily confirms, in her hands was a pocket knife that she casually threw above her. It soon got stuck in the roof which the pink-haired girl shrugged at before elaborating further on her comment, "For the little I could do, it was fun taking out the other members from the other team, and the fact I got to be with my senpai when it was all said and done made my heart go real doki-doki! It provided the experience I was hoping out of this show, and honestly, I've just ignored all of the criticisms or accusations that were leveled at me because I'm just too happy about how it's all turning... and really, doing whatever makes you happy should always matter more than the suggestions of outsiders who act like their thoughts are practically gospel. That's the lesson my parents taught me!"

By the time she finished her statement, the pocket knife fell from the roof and she caught the object with closed eyes. Once her eyes had opened up, the color in her eyes had dulled significantly and her grip on the knife had loosened. Her hands then started casually throwing the weapon into the air repeatedly. She caught each throw repeatedly with ease, "They always told me those words, actually... and yet, I didn't know what it truly meant because nothing had truly excited me. My parents and friends tried getting me into many things and I had to act like I'd enjoyed all of it. Whether it was watching some Kabuki performances, listening to my friend who dreams of becoming a forensic pathologist, getting dragged to watch so many Idol performances, training in Kobudo, or constantly singing karaoke with my friends after school. Nothing ever could make me feel the beat of my heart... until I came across romance."

Eventually, she stopped playing catch with her weapon and began carving something onto the walls of the outhouse. It quickly became obvious that she was drawing the shape of a heart, "Not only can love make people temporarily happy, but it can become an endless source of drama and the root of many people's pain. What makes love so thrilling is the hell it can cause you... which makes it the perfect path for me! A couple will inevitably argue with each other, cheat with another person once the honeymoon's over, manipulate each other into staying together, feel miserable when realizing just how much their significant other has held them back, and in the rarest instances... they'll go through hell together. I think you all know which category my senpai likely falls into and why he's the person who'll help me be free of boredom for the rest of my life!~"

Hanako then giggled as she finished her carving and walked out of the outhouse.

[Confession Ends]

After she stepped out from the outhouse, the romantic held the door open after smelling the air and noticing a cockroach crawl into the confessional's camera. Seeing this caused a smile of glee from the contestant who then shut the door but didn't walk away from the area. She instead walked behind the outhouse where she discovered someone else who was there with her.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Sazama!" Hanako happily greets the robot-builder who doesn't seem as enthusiastic about getting caught.

"How did you know someone was back here? My experience in stealth would've fooled most other foolish fools," Sazama questions whilst gritting his teeth and glaring at the romantic.

"Well, considering that you just arrived here, I'll say that the sounds of your footsteps and your little cockroach made it obvious that I wasn't alone," Hanako answers while pointing at the outhouse itself.

"Weren't you talking the entire time? How could your eardrums pick up on my sounds when your mouth-?"

"You also smell like oil, grass, and desperation, so you're pretty distinct in that area," Hanako casually adds to her list of reasons as she keeps her overexcited smile.

"Never mind, you should just avoid talking altogether! I've got more important matters to handle than this conversation!" Sazama declares before turning around and he starts walking away from his teammate.

"That's unfortunate, I was hoping to find out what happened between you and Luciana yesterday," Hanako confirms before sighing at the development. She then turned around so she could start walking away.

"Something like that shouldn't concern someone who lacks mindfulness behind their comprehension of situations or actions." Sazama stopped walking away so he could give this non-answer. He then pulled out his safety goggles and wrapped them around his forehead.

"This coming from the guy who was completely useless in yesterday's challenge?" Hanako points out almost immediately. Her head then turned just so her eyes could barely look over at the cyan-haired boy. When it came time to finish up her comment, she wasted no time making it sound like she was teasing the boy with what she said next, "You did so poorly that even that scientist girl pointed it out! How embarrassing must that be? I'll bet that you're used to other people pointing out your weaknesses though, since no matter how much you insist on having everyone call you 'Sazama'... at the end of the day, you're just Murano Yoshio, a friendless loser who probably puts on all that bravado because he has no one that loves or cares about him~"

"(Initiate the Fiendinand.)" Sazama made a quiet command as he pulled his safety goggles over his eyes and turned back around. Seconds later, a metal-skinned bull runs out and begins charging at the romantic.

"Awww~ You're so adorable when you're pissed off~" Hanako casually remarked before the bull could reach her. She then pulled out three knives from the pockets of her skirt and started charging back at the robotic animal with nothing less than absolute glee at all of this. Before anything else could be shown, the camera cut away from the fighting teammates.

Back in the cabin, Yana had finished folding some clothes before putting down the stack of clothing in a suitcase which she closed and slid under her bed. Now that she finished folding her clothes, she pulled out a broom and swiftly got rid of the cobwebs that were in the corners of the place. This only took a minute and she soon returned her broom to its original spot.

"Well, aren't you quite the clean freak?" Rosie remarks while she approaches the team leader.

"Yeah, it sorta feels like it's my responsibility to ensure that our living spaces are clean," Yana honestly answers as she begins looking around the room. Most of the cabin seemed clean thanks to the amount of morning work she just did and, in a pleasant surprise, the rest of the time already organized most of their items. So there wasn't much cleaning left to do.

"If you say so," Rosie responds whilst rolling her eyes and pulling out her phone. Just like yesterday, she began checking the feedback involving her from the previous episode. There were more comments than before that expressed general disappointment at how poorly she performed in the last challenge and this wasn't helped by the theories people were making about her family history. Although most people remained optimistic about her future in the competition and almost all of them complimented just how remarkably cute she looked in real life, these weren't her focus. She instead began furiously typing up a tweet in about ten seconds before she sent it without a second thought, "(Damn haters and family-mentioning bastards aren't making the world a better place, so you trolls should get off the internet!)"

This quiet rant wasn't noticed by Yana who had started looking at her teammates' beds.

"Greetings, Rosie!" Kazuru jumps over and lands right next to the v-tuber who quickly exited her Twitter app. He then raised his arms into the air before continuing with his introduction, "Could thee further assist this deity in growing as-?"

"ROSIE!" Yana unintentionally cuts off the cosplayer who jumps at the interruption.

"What is it? I'm not in the mood-" Rosie dismissively asks after putting her phone away.

"Sorry for yelling, but would you mind explaining to me why you have so many cracked phones all over your bed?" Yana questions after tuning down her shock levels.

"I'll take care of those some other time, it's not like you should even care about how I sleep, anyways." Rosie gives her response which displays a lack of care for her teammate's concern for her.

"Well, I do! Could you please clean those up before they become an electrical hazard?~" Yana tries requesting in the most polite way she could currently ask.

"Are you sure you're not self-projecting onto those broken phones?~" Rosie began her remark with a look of amusement and crossed arms. She then shut her eyes and began waving her right finger as she continued her response, "I'm sure that you've had plenty of heartbreaks in your life and still feel torn up about all of it. You should just forget about all of that heartbreak because the reality is that my phones have shown me more loyalty-"

"No seriously, you should clean up your bed and stop talking before I'll have you experience heartbreak~" Yana insists once again after she claps her hands together.

"Oh r-really, Why makes you think I'll just buy that?" Rosie asks with a growing sense of uncertainty in the way she speaks. Her eyes opened up and observed the team leader's next move.

"Well, do you wanna try me, you little brat?~" Yana simply responded as she stared back into her teammate's eyes.

"F-F-Fine! I'll go follow your stupid orders," Rosie confirms before she swiftly turns around and sighs to herself. She then walked away with her arms still crossed, though her body did seem slightly wobbly with each step which Kazuru easily noticed. Rather than speaking up immediately, Kazuru just looked over at the blonde who finished letting out a sigh of relief.

"(That was a close one.)" Yana quietly explained now that her body had begun calming down.

"Indeed, 'twas quite the confrontation." Kazuru agrees whilst nodding his head.

"Oh right, sorry for interrupting your question earlier," Yana responds whilst scratching the back of her head.

"Thee is forgiven, the God of Gamers will simply send his not-friend request at a later date!" Kazuru declares as he punches the air above him.

"...Right, you do that, then." Yana simply responded. As usual, she couldn't understand what the boy was saying but she kept smiling for his sake and wondered if she would ever get used to the language he spoke.

"Would you consider this cabin clean? My thermal vision eyes do not detect any messes left worth cleaning!" Kazuru wonders after he takes a glance around the place. These words gave the girl an idea and she cleared her throat in order to execute her plan.

"In this... heart throbbing moment, yes. So it would appear that my occupation as the unofficial camp worker hasth endeth!" Yana confirms as she covers her right eye and leans back in the hopes of pulling off a dramatic pose for the camera. Although she did try giving a confident smile, she also was clearly embarrassed about doing this.

"Though this deity does appreciate thee using the sincerest form of flattery, do not force thyself into mimicking them," Kazuru suggests after placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm cut out for it," Yana says after dropping her attempt at being theatrical.

"Fair enough. Your customary self has already gained fans, after all! So morphing your current vessel into another being wouldn't be recommended," Kazuru explains as he points at the window... for some reason.

"I'll bet that Shakespeare would've loved you considering the way you phrase everything," Yana remarks, at this point, she just gave up on understanding what the boy was saying.

"Contrary to what my parents hoped for, my grades in school were quite poor. If anything, Math and Computer Science were the only subjects which I'd gotten any credits from," Kazuru explains before sighing at the memories of boredom going through his mind.

"That's surprising to hear, though it's not like I'd know anything about passing school... or attending it," Yana admits as she nervously chuckles at the fact.

"You didn't- I mean, thee did not partake in school?" Kazuru questions once he remembered what language he was supposed to be speaking.

"Unfortunately not. I would usually hang out with kids in the orphanage like my brothers or other kids who lived nearby," Yana explained as she started smiling at the happy memories going through her mind.

"So thou were an orphan who met their relatives via them also being orphans?"

"From what words I understood, that sounds about right, yes," Yana answers to the best of her abilities.

"Intriguing. I hast had a friend before who had the same occupation," Kazuru comments before he looks to the floor. His eyes had closed and it was made pretty obvious that he was thinking about his friend now.

"I wouldn't consider being an orphan as an occupation..." Yana points out as the smile on her face turns into one of awkwardness.

"Doth thee possess knowledge about my companion?" Kazuru questions as his voice suddenly gets deeper.

"Probably not, there are plenty of orphans who probably live in Japan..." Yana answers whilst shaking her head.

"True, but 'tis something I shall ask her about regardless," Kazuru states before he turns around and begins typing on his phone.

Seeing this got a giggle out of the team leader who looked away from the boy and at the window he was pointing at moments ago. For a moment, a look of sadness appeared but she swiftly got rid of the expression before the rock climber then noticed another one of her teammates pull out something from under their bed. She immediately recognized the object and started approaching the person.

"Are you gonna give us some morning music, Rival?" Yana jokingly questions after her teammate has opened their guitar case.

"If that's what you want," Rival casually answers before pulling out his acoustic guitar and tuning the instrument.

"Well then, it looks like we've got a reliable guitar player on our team!" Yana happily exclaimed as she felt her excitement levels rising.

"Not really, I'm just an expert in vocals and using electric keyboards to replicate other instruments during my performances... shocking, I know," Rival honestly explains before chuckling at his joke.

"Guess that explains why you brought along all those other instruments... Why'd you bring a guitar, though?"

"I'm hoping to get better at playing it during my time on this island because it's been an interest of mines for a long time," Rival answers before he then wraps the strap of the guitar around his neck and across his chest.

"Why? So you could attract cute girls the same way most other guitarists did back in your high school?" Yana asks as she rolls her eyes.

"If that were the case, then I'd be playing it for you already," Rival remarks as he places his guitar case back on the ground.

Yana soon felt her cheeks starting to heat up as she tried coming up with a response, "D-Did you j-just hit on me?"

"Nah, I just think that you're cute." Rival gave his honest response with a slight smirk that could barely be spotted on his face. He then played all of the strings on his stringed instrument with closed eyes before opening them and nodding at the sound that came from it.

"..." Yana turned away from the boy and tried regaining her composure after hearing those words coming from the vocalist.

[Confession: Yana]

"I'd usually roll my eyes at guys complimenting me, so why did his words get me flustered?!" Yana asks out of pure frustration. There was still a blush on her face and this made the rock climber grab at her hair. Thankfully, the blush did fade away seconds later, causing the blonde to sigh in relief and calm down.

[Confession Ends]

Yana then walked away from Rival who had pulled out one of his electric keyboards and plugged it into the well next to his bed. He would've questioned why the girl was walking away considering that she requested him to give a morning performance, but decided against it as he planned on performing regardless. So he just continued setting stuff up, not noticing that the rock climber had walked out of the cabin.

"So... you play guitar?~" Rival heard a voice ask and he looked over at the person who tried sounding sweet with her words.

"I'm not an expert at it, but yes, I can play the guitar. Why do you ask, Luciana?" Rival asks with a tilted head. The two of them hadn't properly interacted with one another before today, so he was slightly caught off-guard at hearing the black-haired girl suddenly strike up a conversation with him.

"Well... let's just say that I'm an aspiring guitarist too~" Luciana happily confirmed before she pulled out an acoustic guitar herself and gave a confident smile during this reveal. There was a shiny sense of pride now coming from the girl.

"(Where'd you even get the guitar from?)" Rival quietly wonders after noticing that there is no place where the girl could pull the instrument out from.

"However, there's just one thing holding me back from becoming a better musician," Luciana says before wrapping the strap of the guitar around her. She then lifted the instrument and played all of the strings... which sounded incredibly inconsistent and didn't sound good when played all together. A sigh then left the girl's mouth before she finally finished explaining herself, "I'm not good at playing the guitar."

"So you want me to help you learn the guitar?" Rival immediately figures out what the girl would ask from him. He then took off the guitar strap and stood up from his bed before he shrugged, "I'd be stupide for saying no, so I'll teach ya."

"Thanks!" Luciana happily responded before handing her guitar over to the black-haired boy.

"I'll teach you how to tune your guitar later. For now, I'll just have you play a song from the top of your head to see what's your level thus far," Rival explains after he accepts the guitar and begins tuning it.

"That's cheeky of you to do, especially after I've just told you that I'm shite at playing the thing." Luciana sarcastically points out whilst tilting her head.

"Hey, I've gotta see how much you suck before we can start improving your technique and-Actually, that came off very wrong..." Rival realizes this in the middle of his sentence, resulting in him tuning the instrument even more quickly.

"You sure have a way with words, don'tcha?~" Luciana takes the time to tease the vocalist with a grin quickly forming on her face.

"Oh, wouldyalookatthat? The guitar's ready!" Rival swiftly confirms whilst he puts the girl's guitar right beside him and looks away from her. These actions and words were telltale signs that he just wanted to move past his slip-up and hide any signs of nervousness he could be showing.

"Cheers, mate." Luciana complies with the unstated request by picking up the guitar and sitting by her teammate. She then looked at the instrument and started brainstorming some musical ideas which didn't take too long. Once a song came to mind, she prepared to strum her instrument whilst wrapping her entire left hand around the strings.

"Say... are you right-handed?" Rival wonders after looking back at the girl.

"Nope, I'm left-handed," Luciana explains before she gets ready to strum the guitar with her right hand.

"As a fellow left-hander, I can safely tell you that you're already playing it wrong," Rival confirms as he points at her left hand.

"Oh..." Luciana stopped moving entirely after being given the information that she already had gotten something wrong. Making matters worse was the fact that she hadn't even started playing her song yet. However, this sudden pause did make the moment feel a lot more awkward than it should've been.

"I can see why you're a thanatologist now..." Rival remarks with a sigh which makes it look like he'd just taken a verbal shot at the thanatologist. But he did slightly smile before following through on his sentence, "You'll bore me to death at this rate!"

"..." Luciana blinked at the pun and slowly turned her head so she could now face the pun maker in front of her. His response wasn't the most complimentary and the joke could even be considered morbid, so a part of her was surprised by the quip and was uncertain about what her response should be. Yet, the boy still had a small but contagious smile that stopped her from feeling any distaste for him. She even somewhat respected the humorous attempt because of how strange it was coming from someone like him, not that she knew all too much about the guy in the first place. Her eyes then closed and she gave her response at long last, "...Hahahahaha!"

Luciana felt herself laughing at the joke even more as it sunk in more, all the while she smiled during her fit of laughter. Seeing this expression got an even bigger smile from Rival who found himself feeling happy at the response he'd received.

[Confession: Luciana]

"So he really doesn't hold a grudge against me for yesterday," Luciana comments with a much calmer expression than the one that the camera has just shown. She then leaned back and looked up before speaking further, "That's so weird because there are only two motives for why he wouldn't care about what I did: He's either trying to get along with me so we could form an alliance going forward or he's so used to being abused that he no longer minds it... both of which are worrying in very different ways, but at least that means that he's someone I can relax around... maybe."

[Confession Ends]

Shiro silently watched the black-haired duo getting along with each other and he didn't, or rather, he couldn't look away until the laughter from the girl had subsided. It was only then that he redirected his attention back toward Mono who had been placed in a position where they'd be sitting up, meaning that his best friend was practically staring back at the white-haired boy. The emotionless person now found himself focusing on Mono's black, lifeless eyes (because he wasn't alive) which showed a reflection of Shiro. However, the caretaker had seen something else in his friend's eyes which caused him to look down out of shame. His yellow eyes then closed after certain memories began flooding back.

"(All wishes will come true someday... if only that statement were true.)" Shiro quietly spoke before his eyes opened. Once again, they had no emotions behind them and this made him seem just as lifeless as Mono always did.

"ATTENTION FRESH MEAT! IT'S CHALLENGE TIME! MEET UP AT THE COORDINATES THAT WERE SENT TO YOUR PHONES!" Kai could be heard loudly confirming using all of the speakers on the island.

"HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!" Chef could be heard questioning with exasperation in his voice.

"WHOOPS!~" Kai responded before the speakers then finally turned off.

"..." Shiro didn't say a word and he merely jumped off the bed with Mono in his arms, who he held tightly in his arms before the two safely landed on the floor.

"Well, guess I'll be doing an afternoon concert," Rival comments before picking up his guitar and carefully putting it back in its case.

"(Almost half our team is missing... interesting.)" Luciana quietly confirms whilst opening her guitar case and dropping the instrument into it. What stood out to her during her quick look around the cabin was the fact only five members of the team were in the cabin, making her wonder where the rest of them were.

Yana could be seen stepping out of the outhouse where she had just finished giving her confession. Before she could shut the door, the team leader noticed a heart-shaped carving that she hadn't noticed until this very moment. Although she did go through with closing the door, her mind began thinking about what the carving could've possibly indicated.

"(Did Hanako film her confession already? If so, then how did she-?)" Yana began wondering to herself.

"Well, it's funny running into you here..." Yana's questions were halted by a familiar voice. She turned around and faced someone who she'd come across multiple times before, "From one team leader to another, I hope you're having a good morning~"

"Same here, Rellik," Yana responds, a cheery smile quickly forming on her face upon seeing the star-eyed contestant. However, she did notice someone else walking alongside him, so she waved at them, "It's nice to see you again... uhhh-"

"Arthur Kingston," Arthur states his name after letting out a sigh.

"Arthur!" Yana exclaims before looking at both guys who had stopped walking, "I'm surprised to see you two walking together."

"Rellik wants to film a confession," Arthur explains while pointing beside him.

"Pretty much. He's coming along to basically act as my lock for the outhouse," Rellik confirms as he proudly smiles at the blonde-haired team leader.

"Oh! Well, you two can go ahead, then!" Yana offers after she steps away from the outhouse door.

"Actually, I've got something to get off my chest..." Rellik declares after clearing his throat and staring at the team leader with a serious look.

"Huh?" Yana wonders whilst tilting her head.

"I'm... so sorry for what happened during our first challenge." Rellik apologizes after taking a knee and looking at the ground. Adding onto this apology was the somewhat emotional tone that he used when spewing these words out.

"What happened during-?" Yana initially responds with confusion, but quickly gasps after she starts thinking about what happened back on her first day here, "Oh! It's all good! Fighting those raptors wasn't easy to do and I'd be a hypocrite for calling you out on being laser-focused on the competition."

"Are you sure?" Rellik questions, this time he looked directly at the opposing team leader.

"Of course! It all worked out in the end anyways, didn't it?" Yana optimistically asks.

"Yeah... it did," Rellik confirmed as he got off his knee and stood up once again, although he was now looking back at the ground.

"Then, there's no harm done! We're all participating in a... rather extreme competition for a hundred million yen, so not helping out the enemy team isn't a bad thing itself, especially since I'm still planning on leading my time to future victories. Speaking of which, may the better team win today!" Yana proudly states after walking up to the duo standing in front of her and offering out her right hand.

"Right. May that happen!" Rellik gladly accepts the handshake before swiftly releasing it and walking into the outhouse.

"Well then, see you two during-" Yana began telling the professionally dressed contestant since he was the only person whom she could chat with.

"What do you think about your brother?" Arthur interrupted the blonde as he stared at the outhouse.

"Well, I'd like to believe that he's still in the game because of the fact he is still on this island. Maybe, he just somehow found his way into the announcer room this morning... he always liked causing trouble for the adults," Yana answers after looking into the sky and giggling at her memories.

Arthur didn't say a single word and just remained stone-faced at the blonde's words.

"I can't support his actions and what he did yesterday has stopped me from putting too much faith in that hope," Yana confirms while putting her hands behind her and grabbing onto her left hand. The cheerful smile she had been wearing this entire time faded into something more sorrowful and uncertain. She then finished her statement by closing her eyes and following up on her statement, "But he's my brother. If he's gone from this competition... then that means I'll have to try harder so I raise hell on the ones who eliminated him."

"This is merely a game-" Arthur tried countering after shutting his eyes.

"When it comes to my family, everything is personal." Yana cut off the prince and even shot a glare at him.

"..." Arthur opened his eyes and wasted no time looking back at the rock climber. Almost her entire mood had changed from what it had been moments ago, now it felt like he was being threatened by someone who seemed ready to protect their loved one and was even ready to fight him if need be. Her eyes (which were on the verge of frustration), her clenched fists, and even her feet positioning all felt like movements done out of pure instinct. All of this told the prince that she meant every word and took her role as a sister more seriously than he likely could've ever anticipated. Before he could properly respond, a noteworthy piece of information re-entered his mind, "(You seriously don't know what your brother dragged you into, do you?)"

"What was that?" Yana asks after placing her fists on her hips.

"Nothing. You should get back to your team," Arthur responds before looking at the speaker on one of the trees.

"ATTENTION FRESH MEAT! IT'S CHALLENGE TIME! MEET UP AT THE COORDINATES THAT WERE SENT TO YOUR PHONES!" The same announcement shown in the previous scene then played over said speakers. Arthur didn't react much beyond turning to face the outhouse and now redirecting his focus into waiting for his teammate. Yana, in contrast, started calming herself down and changed her posture back into something that made her seem less uptight.

"Hey, Arthur... Can you at least tell me if your team voted off my brother last night?" Yana requests whilst bowing her head and speaking with far more respect for the guy that stands in front of her. Although the answer she received wasn't immediate, she waited patiently for it...

...

...

"You'll have to find that one out for yourself." Arthur finally gave his response. He seemed as indifferent as always and didn't even bother looking at the rock climber after she let out a scowl and walked past the prince. Clearly, she was unsatisfied and upset at the lack of an answer.

"(Bastard.)" Yana quietly cursed to herself before she stormed away from the boy who remained unresponsive until she'd gotten out of view.

"Now, Where at those faint sounds coming from?" Arthur quickly moved past that interaction and found himself quickly following the direction which he kept hearing faint noises from. First, he went behind the confessional room where he noticed multiple spots of dirt, grass blades that were being blown away by the wind, and faint footsteps located in the specks of dirt. So he started following the parts of the ground that were missing grass and the noise he kept hearing started growing louder. These noises mainly consisted of yelling from two different people, heavy yet quick and frequent footsteps, and even a bull roaring out once in a while. It didn't take long before he spotted the source of these noises and hid behind a tree once he'd gotten a quick peek at what was happening.

"Sounds like today's challenge is about to get underway," Hanako says, not showing a single ounce of fear as the robot bull charged at her.

"My time to shine has almost arrived, but first, for my sake, I must make you now obliterate!" Sazama declares before stomping the ground three times. His creation then reacted to this non-verbal command by turning the silver horns into small missiles which then launched away from the mechanical creature. These missiles then turned and began flying toward the pink-haired girl.

"Nice poetry there... However, I've got no time to waste anymore, so sorry to be the one who makes your bubble burst, but I'll have to now end this verse~" Hanako declares before throwing two of the knives that she pulled out earlier. Instantly, the knives sliced through the missiles which blew up before they could even come close to their designated target. This left the pink-haired girl with one more knife and she jumped into the air.

The robotic bull then jumped in the hopes of intercepting the girl, but this proved to be its biggest mistake.

Hanako smirked as the bull's head came into range and she tightened her grip onto the knife. Before the robot could do anything, the girl's knife was swiftly shoved through its forehead and this was followed up by a kick to its head which then decapitated the robotic animal. The decapitation caused the bolts from inside the machine and metallic liquid to fly all over the place. These pieces landed all over the ground, trees, and even on the two contestants who had strikingly different reactions. Hanako's reaction involved a lot more laughter and amusement at the semi-gruesome sight she alone had caused, meanwhile, Sazama's reaction was far more jumpy but there was still a ton of frustration visible on his face.

Eventually, the Fiendinand's headless body then landed on the ground without showing any signs of movement once a few screws had fallen out. Hanako landed right in front of the robotic corpse and stared at the head of the creature, which was currently located on her knife. She then placed the head onto the ground and stomped on it, resulting in more metallic liquid splashing all over her clothes and her knife being sent flying above her.

"We'll see if you'll prove yourself today, loser." Hanako bluntly told the robot builder without even bothering to act overly cutesy. Before the boy could do anything, the pink-haired romantic caught her knife and disappeared from the crime scene in an instant.

"..." Sazama looks down at his destroyed creation before looking up at the sky, "Oh, I'll prove myself to you Flower Child. I'll prove myself to you, that heartless thanatologist, and that annoying scientist. I'll prove myself by taking you out and still winning today's challenge for our team! Not only will I've avenged the inferior version of the Fiendinand, but that'll teach everyone an important lesson! It'll teach every other good-for-nothing creature that when you mess with my most and only prized possessions, then you won't ever win in even a spelling bee against S-A-Z-A-M-A!"

After making this declaration, Sazama ran in the direction of his team's cabin and passed by the prince whom he didn't notice.

"(Not your brightest moment there, Murano Yoshio.)" Arthur quietly remarked from behind his tree. He then stepped out once the robot builder was out of sight and he headed back in the direction he came from.

[Confession: Arthur]

"I'm uncertain about how Hanako Kaneko and Murano Yoshio got on bad terms with each other, but if Murano's words are worth believing, then I'm certain that things on the other team will be more hectic than it was during the last challenge," Arthur explains while leaning against the toilet. His eyes weren't looking at the camera, but they were instead looking at the ceiling. He thought heavily about all of the thoughts circling his mind and even began explaining some of them, "I doubt that Murano's words are meant to mislead me since neither he nor Hanako should've spotted me during that... which means that he truly is a moron for loudly announcing his plans for today's challenge all because he believed himself to be alone. Whether or not I'll take advantage of this information currently remains to be seen as it currently does not seem entirely necessary to ensure our victory in today's challenge... So in the words of Christopher McLean: Stay tuned to see what happens next on Total... Drama... Islaaand."

[Confession Ends]

---

The Ferocious Trout and The Frogs of Death arrived at the area they were given after everyone had filmed their confessions for the morning. Both teams ended up reaching the sand located on the edge of the island, meaning that they were all at the beach without having even changed into their swimming clothes. However, what caught their attention even more than this were the two ships in the water which Chris blocked the view to by standing in front of them.

"Mateys! Welcome to yargh next challenge," Chris proudly declares, on his head is a pirate hat.

"Where is your tolerable accomplice currently located within the vicinity of this island?" Sazama asks after crossing his arms.

"Chef's busy trying to get our new intern to do his job of cleaning up the place... so he's in the middle of his challenge right now," Chris remarks before chuckling at the misfortune his co-host was going through.

"New intern?" Yana asks after noticing that The Ferocious Trout has a missing member.

"Oh right, your brother was voted out last night." Chris casually tells the rock climber.

"Well, I hope he's at least doing alright," Yana responds before closing her eyes. Her smile began turning into a frown, but she stopped this from happening and kept a happy expression on her face.

"Probably not. If he's an intern then he'll probably be forced to clean up the place or test out some of the dangerous challenges," Rosie immediately points out.

"Oh yeah, we're absolutely planning to put him through a few life-threatening situations... just so we can see if the challenges he comes up with are doable," Chris explains with some excitement in his voice.

"Why would you do that?!" Yana yelled out as she opened her eyes and glared at the host. Her voice now had a variety of emotions behind it, none of which were anything positive.

"In my defense, he was entirely adamant about becoming an intern, so you or the judge can't entirely blame me for giving him a position that's known to be dangerous and life-altering." Chris tries defending himself while raising both of his hands.

"It's a fittingly moronic move for a moron who wanted to be voted off last night," Ryokai states as her eyes look over at the stressed-out sister.

"What!? He wanted to be eliminated last night?!" Yana asks with widened eyes and confusion in her voice.

"Yeah... your brother wanted to be voted off last night and we ended up giving him what he wanted..." Jessica explains as she turns away from her sis-friend and looks at the ground.

"(No... there's no way he intentionally left me in this competition by myself... not even someone like you would go that far... right, Kai?)" Yana desperately tries convincing herself as her arms begin wrapping around her body. She found herself now staring off at the ground and having a smile that was even more forced than it was before.

The rest of her team looked on with pity except for Shiro, Hanako, Luciana, and Sazama who all didn't show any response to the situation. Even the other team had members who seemed sad for the girl like Jessica, Makima, Gogo, and even Ryokai (though it was a small one from the journalist).

"It was an unfortunate night-" Rellik started saying as he stepped out to comfort Yana.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt you, Rellik, but we've got a challenge to get to! So let's just focus on the viewer-worthy and exciting parts of today!" Chris impatiently declares without any visible signs of sympathy for the blonde contestant.

"If that were the case then we wouldn't have to hear you explain this challenge or even breathe," Rosie remarks after crossing her arms.

"Great, you're back to your day-one self..." Chris sarcastically comments before hearing some flapping noises from behind him. The host then grinned before slightly tilting his head so he could make for some room on his shoulder, "Speaking of which, here comes one of your adopted brothers."

"I'm your brother!" A familiar parrot wearing an eyepatch then yells out after landing on the host's shoulder.

"That's a low blow, but I guess I should've known that someone as sadistic as you enjoy taking shots at others' kiwis considering that you've never had one! And if I didn't make it obvious enough, I'm saying that you've got no fucking balls! Also, you're so emotionally dead that I'm surprised you're not hosting goddamn Jeopardy at this point!" Rosie angrily yells out in response while clenching her fists.

"Oh, squawk!" The parrot responds to the insult.

"...I never thought I would ever say this, but I'll just stop our argument here before we maybe offend any of our viewers," Chris confirms before sighing at the situation he had nearly gotten into.

"(Wait, What did I just say?)" Rosie asks, her face now showing more concern and confusion than it did just a moment ago. Her breathing even got slightly faster and the v-tuber tried thinking about what she had instinctively yelled out.

"Agreed. Could you please explain today's challenge for us, Christopher?" Arthur requests whilst slightly lowering his head.

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer, Mr. Kingston!" Chris proudly responds with a newfound sense of excitement for the day.

Almost everyone else (except for Yana and Rosie who were still thinking about other things) then looked over at Chris McLean. The host turns around and points at the ship on the left while the parrot on his shoulder uses one of its wings to point at the boat on the right.

"Each ship is equipped with three working canons, loads of cabbages in the lower deck, and a ton of wooden cutlasses all over the place. The first team to sink the other team's ship or knock all of their members overboard will officially become the winners as once you're knocked off, you're out of the challenge and will have to swim onto shore. First, both teams will decide on a team captain and then I'll start the challenge by firing this!" Chris explains before pulling out his blunderbuss. The sight of the gun causes the parrot to immediately fly away.

"Firing that!" The parrot could be heard panicking before it landed on one of the nearby palm trees.

"Considering that parrot is experiencing PTSD, I'll assume that it's the same one you shot yesterday?" Chara guesses as she stares at the bird.

"Yes, but this time around, I'll make sure to avoid getting into a potential lawsuit!" Chris declares before lowering the gun and making sure that it is pointed at the ground.

"How shall each of us board our battleships? There are not many applicable spells for this side quest," Kazuru wonders whilst pointing over at the ships ahead.

"Well, I've got a simple answer for that question of yours..." Chris begins explaining before closing his eyes. For once, he seemed like he was in the midst of brainstorming or formulating resolutions for the non-number-related equation laid out for him by the God of Gamers. Some time would have to be taken for this moment as the host likely wanted to provide an explanation that would adequately satisfy the question that the self-proclaimed deity was asking from his potentially expansive mind-

"Prepare for the challenge, campers!"

The Ferocious Trout could all be seen standing on the left boat.

"How did we get on top of here?" Arthur wastes no time asking the important question.

"We can figure that one out later, Cinema Sins," Makima remarks after crossing his arms.

"Agreed, we should be more focused on winning the day," Chara states as she stares off at the other ship.

"Attention, Question: Nantonaku nagasereteru socchi no mizu wa amaidesuka?" Ryokai randomly asks the rest of her team in an entirely different language.

"Ryokai, we're in the ocean... or was that meant to be a reference to something?" Jessica asks with complete confusion at the question.

"Wait... What did she ask?" Gogo had an entirely different question due to not understanding the language it was asked in.

"Legitimate Question: Who'll be our team captain for the challenge?" Ryokai wonders after sighing at her teammate's reactions. Thankfully, this question wasn't in Japanese which allowed everyone else here to understand it.

"I'm sure no one will oppose the captain being-" Rellik began answering as he took a step forward.

"I'll do it," Gogo states with no hesitation as she walks ahead of Rellik whose eyes widen at the volunteer. The historian picks up the pirate hat lying on their ship and puts it on her head before turning around and facing the rest of her team. The expression on her face was the same as always but something about her barely opened eyes, the bags under these eyes, and the small but notable breaths she constantly took all made the girl look dead serious about this.

"...No offense, but why do you want to be our captain?" Rellik asks with both hands on his hips and a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"To make up for my... lackluster performance yesterday," Gogo answers as she looks over at Jessica. This answer surprised the athlete who quietly gasped before giving the historian a soft smile and a thumbs up.

"If you did so badly yesterday, then why would we trust you with carrying the team today?" Rellik asks his next question. He wasn't convinced or too keen on the idea proposed by his teammate.

"I've got knowledge... some of which might be beneficial... at least for today," Gogo explains before leaning against the mast of the ship.

"You think your historical knowledge can lead us to a victory?" Arthur suddenly speaks up and, for once, there was a hint of interest coming from him. He even stood in front of the rest of his team who watched their two teammates converse with each other.

"That's what I hope... today is a battle between ships, after all... and I've done research on a few of those," Gogo confirmed as she closed her eyes and nodded.

"Alright then. I'm sure our team won't mind letting you lead us into battles with this ship if that's what you think..." Arthur says before also closing his eyes. Makima, Ryokai, and Rellik all tilted their heads at the statement as each of them didn't entirely agree with the idea for different reasons. Rellik even opens his mouth but hesitates for a moment as he tries thinking of the nicest way that he could phrase his response. Before the star-eyed contestant could finally speak up, the prince eventually breaks the moment of silence and resumes his sentence after intentionally cutting himself off. The fact that the blue-haired contestant had more to say didn't surprise the purple-haired contestant who had been anticipating what kind of catch would he suggest, "But if you lose this for us... then we'll vote you out."

"Huh?" Rellik responds with surprise.

"What?!" Jessica responds with more resistance to the idea than before.

"Eh?" Makima responds with wariness.

"Hm?" Ryokai responds with mild confusion.

"Oh?" Chara responds with interest.

"What do you say to that deal, Gogo Artoria?" Arthur asks before opening his eyes and reaching out with his right hand.

Gogo opened her eyes and stared at the hand being offered to her. If she shook the boy's hand, then not only would it be risking her chance at winning the game, but what he was saying was that she would be elimination-bound if her team lost today. Of course, she could easily try eliminating someone else if things did come to that or she could simply just turn down the deal and not take the risk... but Gogo felt something within her going that made her want to go against the logical decision. So she stared into the eyes of the negotiator which matched the color of her eyes, except his were brighter and were practically daring her into accepting the deal. After thinking about his offer even more, Gogo finally made her choice...

"...Sure," Gogo says with a small smile before she finally shakes the hand of the negotiator.

On the other boat, The Frogs of Death were still in the midst of deciding on a captain.

"I'll be the captain of this ship!" Yana declares while walking out from the group and heading toward the pirate hat nearby. There was conviction in her movement and an attempt at sounding joyous despite the events she had learned about just moments ago. But, the way she tried speed-walking over to the hat and the panic which could be heard in her voice betrayed the front the team leader tried putting up, "I'm sure that we'll win again if I just-!"

Before she could finish her sentence or pick up the hat, a hand tightly grabbed her left wrist and held her in place.

"H-Hah?" Yana wondered before turning her head around and looking at the person who had stopped her, "R-Rival? What are you-?"

"You're not leading our team..." Rival honestly told the blonde who gasps at the declaration.

"W-Why? I've always been the leader, haven't I?" Yana asks with a smile that was obviously forced.

"Because you're not someone who can reliably lead us today," Rival answers after noticing the half-hearted expression on Yana's face.

"What do you mean?! I'm-"

"You're not doing fine... everyone here can see that you're lying... so just drop the act," Rival states as he glares into the eyes that were slightly brighter than his red ones. The glare he gave the blonde shattered the act she tried putting up and it even reached her soul.

"...S-Someone has to take care of the team..." Yana tries opposing the boy's demand, though she looks away and frowns when saying these words.

"In that case, I'll be leading this crew for today," Shiro immediately responds as he picks up the pirate hat and puts it on his head.

"That idea sounds magnificently acceptable in the dangerous eye of the God of Gamers!" Kazuru announces before covering his eyepatch with one hand and using his other one to point at the caretaker, "So he shall follow any and all orders which the captain of this haunted vessel will task each of us with!"

"Although I would've probably made a better captain, I guess you're an alright secondary backup pick," Rosie confirms after crossing her arms and looking away from the caretaker.

"Considering how you did for us yesterday, that sounds like a great idea!" Luciana exclaims while pumping both her fists into the air.

"What a perfect captain we've got for this ship! I'm sure that you'll lead us to another victory, Shiro-kun!" Hanako excitedly proclaims with clamped hands and her signature innocent smile.

"(She lies as naturally as she breathes...)" Sazama quietly remarks whilst grinding his teeth in annoyance at what the romantic had said. It didn't seem like he was going to say anything to the caretaker and was more focused on the pink-haired girl.

"There doesn't seem to be any objections," Shiro says before turning around and facing the rock climber.

"A-Alright... I'll follow any orders you give us, Captain," Yana responds with a nod. This response causes the vocalist to finally let go of the girl and give the caretaker a thumbs up to show his approval.

"In that case..." Shiro begins his sentence before picking up the wooden cutlass lying nearby. He then raises it into the air and makes a declaration, "Let us show those scallywags that they be no match for this crew... arrrgh."

"Cap'n!" Kazuru suddenly belts out before closing his eyes and telling the cap'n something very important, "Thy impression does not work when done with a tone so mono... this deity is referring to the word, not your best friend."

"Where is your doll, anyway?" Rosie asks as she looks around the ship.

"Mono was left on the beach with a friend to keep him company," Shiro explains as he points his wooden cutlass over at shore. His eyes then glared back at the v-tuber who jumped at the look before apologetically bowing for the way she mindlessly phrased her question.

On the beach, Mono's not-so-alive body was seen lying beside a coconut which had a red lip drawn under the three holes. Both the bunny plushie and the coconut lay against the same palm tree and leaned against each other as they faced(?) the direction of the ships. The two inanimate objects were being observed by a human who smirked at the odd sight they were witnessing.

"Guess Shiro must've taken liberties with recreating Mr. Coconut," Chris comments before tapping the feminine-looking coconut, "Which means that Mono's new friend over here should probably be called Mrs. Coconut if we ever plan on marketing it."

After making this observation, the host turns away from the not-so-lively yet very lovely pair of friends and looks back at the ships in the distance. Both teams had seemingly come to an agreement with The Ferocious Trout having Gogo become the captain of their team while The Frogs of Death had decided on making Shiro the captain of their ship. These choices surprised the internationally known host.

"So, both teams decided on their least expressive members to lead them today?" Chris questions as he raises an eyebrow before smiling in excitement, "Well, that definitely will make it more interesting to see how today will play out."

Now that both teams had one person wearing a hat and no one was fighting each other, this told the host that The Ferocious Trout and The Frogs of Death were both ready. So, he pulls out the blunderbuss from his pockets and points it into the sky. Before firing the gun, he quickly looked over at the parrot who was hiding behind one of the other palm trees whilst shaking in fear.

"Perfect, Now..." Chris responds before looking at the ships ahead and firing the bullet from the gun into the sky, "LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

Seconds later, a pelican dropped from the sky and fell into the sand in front of the host.

"I should've contaminated this island again," Chris responded to the familiar view before groaning.

While the host found himself dealing with another potential lawsuit, the battle had gotten underway between the opposing teams.

"Rellik and Jessica... get the cabbages for the cannons," Gogo immediately tells her team after closing her eyes. For once, it seemed that she wasn't falling asleep but was instead thinking about her calls.

"I'll do as you wish," Rellik confidently confirms before looking at his running partner.

"O-Oh! I'm on it!" Jessica hesitantly states before she and Rellik run off to do their task.

-Cut-

"Yana and Rival, you two are our fastest runners. So you'll both be grabbing the cabbages for us," Shiro wastes no time giving out orders. Even though his voice was monotonous as always, it also made him sound incredibly analytical.

"Gotcha, I'll do that!" Yana simply responds before turning around and immediately taking off.

"Aye Aye Captain," Rival simply remarks before following in the blonde's footsteps.

-Cut-

"Chara and Ryokai... you two can work the cannons," Gogo nonchalantly continues to instruct her team.

""Understood,"" Chara and Ryokai respond in unison with the same tone of indifference in both of their voices. The two of them then faced each other for a moment before nodding and running off moments later.

-Cut-

"Kazuru and Luciana, you both will be working on the same cannon. Kazuru will be the aimer and you'll be the shooter," Shiro explains while pointing at Luciana in particular.

"As a deity with the vision of a gun, that idea sounds incredibly appropriate! Thy idea is quite the solid one, Captain!" Kazuru exclaims before Naruto runs off and stares intently at the other boat.

"That sounds like a good plan to me!" Luciana states with a smirk before running over to the cannon that her teammate had already reached. Behind her, Sazama rolled his eyes at what she said.

-Cut-

"Makima and Arthur... you two grab some swords..." Gogo tells the last two members of her team. However, she also starts walking over to the ship's steering wheel which confuses the boys.

"..." Makima side-eyes the prince up who didn't acknowledge the glare being directed at him. However, the actor sighs before picking up a wooden cutlass and tightly gripping it in his hands, "I'm armed and ready!"

"(These swords aren't strong enough to cut any of the cabbages that'll be flung at us and depending on their speed, they could easily be broken,)" Arthur whispers to himself as he picks the other sword. His eyes then narrow on the captain as he holds the sword with his right hand, "(Which means there is only one thing we can truly do with these weapons.)"

-Cut-

"Sazama and Hanako-" Shiro turns to face the duo he thought of pairing up together.

"There's Hanano way I'm working with her," Sazama immediately rejects the idea whilst crossing his arms.

"Really? Are you going to disobey the orders of our Captain?~" Hanako questions as she stands in front of the robot-builder.

Suddenly, a bunch of chains threw themselves around the pink-haired girl's abdomen.

"Nope, I'm just sinking your worthless ship~" Sazama states before looking behind the girl and nodding at the octopus which had chains for legs. This robotic octopus then jumps off the boat with its chains still wrapped around the girl who kept her smile. Moments later, Hanako gasps as she's pulled off the boat by the chains and into the water with her face displaying a look of shock as this happens.

[Confession: Sazama]

"Perfect! I wasn't certain if that would've worked, so I'm very proud of myself for having accomplished one of my main goals for today!" Sazama celebrates his victory by jumping around the cramped space and yelling out these words. Once his celebration had finished, the robot builder sat down and puffed out his chest with all the pride in the world. He then smirks at the camera whilst crossing his arms and talking to it, "I'll now show off my limitless worth to the rest of this team and maybe then will they notice my strategy of adding by subtracting and will end up liking me or even seeing me as a valuable member of this group! It's a genius plan, to say the least."

[Confession Ends]

"DUMBASS BAKA!" Rosie wastes no time yelling at the proud boy.

"I think that you're the moronic simpleton if you think that that's a halfway decent insult," Sazama responds as the proud smile on his face turns into a frown of annoyance.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I just thought that you'd be too much of a brainless idiot to understand what I was calling you because what you did was that stupid!" Rosie yells out before aggressively tapping the robot builder's forehead.

"Scoff," Sazama verbally scoffs at the girl before smacking her hand away. He then turns away and continues speaking with closed eyes, "That's what your feeble mind may think... However, kicking Pinky off the ship will benefit us far more than you can imagine!"

"Will she live?" Shiro simply asks. He didn't seem too bothered externally and was currently staring off into the direction that Hanako was dragged into.

"For legal reasons, my friends weren't created with the purpose of killing... even if the prospect is sometimes tempting," Sazama honestly answers before sighing in disappointment at his own answer.

"Wait, you've considered making murder robots?!" Rosie asks a very important question as she backs away from the robot builder.

"..." Shiro silently faced the two teammates arguing in front of him before sighing.

[Confession: Shiro]

"I'm conflicted..." Shiro confirms with indifference, "Hanako makes Mono and I uncomfortable, but she is very useful to the team, and taking out one of our members this early means that we've lost our one-person advantage over the other team... so, I'll admit that Sazama's move was an unintelligent one on his end. But, I still need to try leading my crew to victory, so rather than complaining since that won't do anything to change our current situation, I'll just have to try working with the new circumstances."

[Confession Ends]

"Rosie and Sazama, you two will keep an eye on the other team... I'll take care of the other cannon myself," Shiro says before turning around and slashing a cabbage that was flying at him in half with a pair of scissors he had swiftly pulled out. This cabbage marked the start of the battle and this caused the caretaker's eyes to narrow at the other boat.

After getting cut in half, the cabbage's pieces hit Sazama's and Rosie's foreheads. The two of them then fell moments later due to the momentum that the sliced cabbage still retained.

Shiro, either not seeing or caring about what had happened behind him, didn't react to this at all and instead ran for the only other available cannon. The first shot had already been fired by the other team so he knew that wasting time would hinder their chances of winning today. Once he reaches the cannon, he immediately takes note of the fact that the enemy's ship is being steered and moved around.

"'Tis would seem that we have an evermoving target which we must snipe!" Kazuru loudly explains. Luciana simply nods in agreement before turning around and looking at the cabbage holder running to them.

"Knock 'em off their feet, you two," Rival says before handing the two cabbages in his hand over to the thanatologist.

"Don't you mean knock 'em dead?" Luciana remarks whilst smirking at her pun.

"Well, I'd rather not think about Jessica and death in the same sentence," Rival confirms as he looks at the ship across from theirs.

"Oh right... You must care a lot about your sis-" Luciana begins responding with her eyes looking down.

"We mustn't waste time conversing! We must send our enemies to meet with my alternate self who meets with the victims that this version of me has ended the life of!" Kazuru states while pointing at the sky.

"...Noice," Rival responds whilst giving a pair of thumbs up. After giving this simple response, he turns around and runs off so he can grab more cabbages for the team.

"Tell me where to aim, now!" Luciana angrily demanded once the vocalist ran away from them, though she made sure to hand her ammo over to her teammate.

"Move the cannon down and then fire away!" Kazuru answers after pushing the cabbage into the cannon and jumping backward away from the weapon. Unfortunately, Kazuru jumps too far back and finds himself landing on his back by the time he reaches the ship's floor.

Luciana shows no reaction to her teammate's jump-up slip-up before firing off her cannon after aiming it slightly down and launching the cabbage loaded into it.

"..." Ryokai stares at the food flying in her direction and returns fire by firing a cabbage with the intention of intercepting the shot. Her plan succeeds and the two cabbages splatter against each other before they can ever reach the journalist.

"Nice shot, Ryo!" Jessica happily yells out while patting the journalist's left shoulder.

"Suggestion: You should focus on getting more ammo for our team," Ryokai impassively suggests as she continues staring at the other boat.

Jessica quietly sighs at the response before nodding at her teammate's request and running off. What she failed to notice before running off was the smile on Ryokai's face which was barely noticeable.

"(Let us hope that we win today,)" Ryokai quietly says before picking up another cabbage. Before she could load it into her cannon, the ship's movements caused her to drop the ball of food. Before she could completely fall over, the journalist's hands wrapped around the cannon which helped her remain on her feet.

One thing then started becoming obvious to the purple-haired girl once she took a glance at her team's ship. They were approaching the enemy team's ship and were a few seconds away from going around it. Going around the other ship and stopping on the other side allowed them to continue firing their cannons, which was appreciated since the cannons were only located on one side for both ships.

"Oh, shoot!" Rellik yells out as he stumbles around the ship during its turn. He was in the middle of running back to the ship's cabin so he could grab more cabbages, but was unable to reach down there like Jessica had done before the ship started turning.

"(ALTHOUGH IT HAS ALREADY BEEN SEEN, IT CAN STILL BE USED DANGEROUSLY, SO THE TIME HAS COME, MATEYS... TO FIRE THE GREAT BALL OF GREEN!)" Kazuru could be heard casting some kind of imaginary spell.

This callout is followed by a cabbage blasting out from The Frogs of Death's ship. This cabbage begins flying in Rellik's direction who notices the object and smirks at the sight. Luckily for the star-eyed contestant, the ship beneath him finally stops moving.

"Stop." Rellik simply commanded whilst holding up his right hand. Now that his feet weren't making him stumble all over the place, he planted them on the ground and showed no sign of moving out of the vegetable's way. Conveniently enough, the wind blows from the contestant's direction and against the vegetable enough to halt its momentum and make it fall into the ocean.

"(OH, COME ON! I CALL HAX!)" Kazuru yells out of frustration.

"Well, being born with such good looks is a life hack itself!" Rellik declares before giving the camera a peace sign.

"Someone likes being a showoff," Jessica jokingly comments as she runs past her teammate with two cabbages in her hands.

"It's in my nature," Rellik says without a hint of shame before running off to grab more cabbages from the ship's cabin. His comment got a brief giggle from the athlete who eventually reached Chara's cannon.

"Hey Chara, Are you stocking up on cabbages?" Jessica asks after noticing how there are already two cabbages leaning against the scientist's cannon rather than loaded into it.

"Indeed. I am saving my ammunition for when we get closer to the enemy ship where I'll have a better chance of landing my desired shots. Also, these cannons are significantly harder to aim and shoot from because only one of us each are using them," Chara explains before grabbing the cabbage pair from her teammate and placing them against her cannon.

"Fair enough, these things are pretty big... say, will you vote for Gogo if we lose today's challenge?" Jessica questions with her eyes looking down.

"That will only be the case if Makima wants me to do so," Chara casually answers as she looks over at the actor who was swinging around his wooden weapon.

"Really? I didn't expect the two of you to become a duo," Jessica honestly says before also looking at Makima.

"...On the topic of duos, are you planning on voting out Gogo if she loses this challenge for us?" Chara asks after redirecting her attention toward her athletic teammate.

"H-Huh? W-Why would I do that?" Jessica responds with her back still turned to the scientist. Her eyes once again were directed at the ship's floor and it was clear that she was thinking about something.

"You are the only one who can answer that question, Jessica Seizon." Chara leaves off the athlete with this simple statement before turning around and looking away from her teammate.

[Confession: Jessica]

"I'd hate to vote out Gogo, Ryokai, or anyone else who I'll become friends with," Jessica states whilst clenching her fists and even scowling at the possibility. However, the athlete eventually relaxes her body and looks away from the camera. She then shuts her eyes, causing the current expression present on her face to be one of shame and acceptance, "But, I knew what I was getting myself into by signing up for this show... and if things do come to that, then I'm ready to vote out one of my friends. As much as I like hanging out with Gogo and talking with her, as a competitor, she hasn't shown much promise and if she fails as our leader... then she'll practically be worthless as a teammate... and if she's worthless, then I can't justify keeping her around. Unfortunately, this wouldn't be my first time doing something that I hate and I doubt that it'll be my last."

After making this statement, her eyes slowly opened up and she instinctively sighed before wrapping her confession, "The only positive that'll come out of that is that Rival will stay in the game and he'll probably cheer me up. It's pathetic, isn't it? Even though we're still on different teams and my goal is to outplay him, I'm still prepared to use him for my happiness."

[Confession Ends]

Jessica begins slowly walking away from the scientist as she starts reflecting on her teammate's words.

"Duck," Chara could faintly be heard saying as she lowered her head.

Before she could even react, a cabbage that was launched from the other ship struck Jessica's back and shattered into pieces upon impact. The force of the cabbage sends the athlete flying off the ship and into the ocean, taking her out of the challenge.

"(Six left.)" Chara quietly confirms before her mouth suddenly releases a quiet giggle for whatever reason. After making this confirmation, her head turns to look over at the other boat where she immediately spots the person who had taken out her teammate. Rather than retaliating, she merely observes the enemy team from her cannon as The Ferocious Trout's ship slowly starts going around the front of The Frogs of Death's ship.

This move swiftly caught the attention of the person who was leading The Frogs of Death today.

Shiro prevents himself from loading another cabbage into his cannon and drops the vegetable that started rolling across the deck. He wasted no time running away from his self-designated area and started going to the ship's steering wheel. Since the target was now in a direction that their cannons couldn't reach (after all, they only had two cannons which were both just on the left side of their ship and didn't have any on the right side) and was moments away from reaching a direction where The Frogs of Death's ship could be attacked with no repercussions (the aforementioned right side), there was one counterplay they could attempt. The white-haired team leader planned on turning the ship around so they could maintain an angle that would allow them to continue firing. So, he grabs onto the ship's wheel before looking at the rest of his team.

Kazuru, Luciana, and Rival all noticed their leader and braced themselves for the oncoming turn by either grabbing onto a cannon or the ship's lower mast. Sazama and Rosie were both still unconscious but they were luckily in a position where the turn wouldn't send them flying off the ship. This left one person who was unaware of what was about to happen as they just ran across the deck with the cannon ammunition in their hands.

"..." Yana seems deep in her thoughts as she stares at the floor. In her hands were two cabbages which she was barely keeping in her grasp.

Wanting to give their enemy the least amount of time possible to exploit their current blind spot, Shiro begins turning around the ship.

"Ack!" Yana lets out a random sound as she trips on her feet and falls to the floor within a matter of seconds. The two cabbages she was just holding then fall out of her grasp and they soon roll into the ocean. Unfortunately for the blonde, this wasn't the end for her as she was now rolling across the deck and desperately trying to find something she could grab onto. In the midst of this, a cabbage from the opposing ship is fired and slams against her back, "Gah!" Another sound of pain escapes the blonde's mouth. The impact of the hit launches Yana to the point her body is nearly sent off of the ship.

Before her body could land in the water, Rival grabs her right hand and quickly pulls her back onto the vessel.

Luckily enough for the runners, their ship had stopped turning so they didn't have to worry about any rolling hazards for the time being.

"(Ouch... What just happened?)" Yana quietly groans once her body stops rolling across the floor. The pain which the shot had dealt to her back swiftly began kicking in and for a moment, her mind thought about just staying down. However, the blonde shakes these thoughts out of her head and she slowly tries pushing herself up from the floor.

"Yana... Need any help?" Rival asks with a playful smile as he offers out a hand for the fallen teammate.

"No, I'm doing fine... " Yana half-heartedly answers while looking down. Eventually, she's able to pick herself back up and stand without needing any help which causes the boy's left hand to retreat to his side. However, her head continues staring at the ground and a slightly deranged smile forms moments after a quiet but audible response leaves her mind and mouth, "(I'm doing just fine.)"

These quiet words got a sigh from Rival whose smile had gone away.

"I apologize for making you fall down like that and hope that you won't hold it against me because we will still need ammo to combat the other team with," Shiro says after walking up to the team's runners.

"A-Alright! I won't let you guys down!" Yana tried saying with confidence, but her tone sounded far too disingenuous and panicky to even have a hint of real conviction behind it. After making this declaration, the blonde turns around and runs off so she can continue working on her designated task.

"...Good luck," Shiro simply told the vocalist before running off himself.

Rival looks back at the caretaker who picks up one of the wooden cutlasses and begins rushing over to one of the cannons once more. The vocalist then nods before turning his head around and walking over to the stairs that led down to the ship's cabin. Loud footsteps could be heard from below Rival who stared at the cause of these noises once he made his way down the stairs.

"(I can't mess this up! I have to-!)" Yana tries motivating herself as she begins turning around. In her arms were five cabbages that she barely could hold as the stack went up to her face and her entire body was trembling with anxiety. None of this seemed to process within the rock climber's mind as many other thoughts were racing through her mind at this very moment.

Thump!

Much to the unsurprise of the boy watching her, Yana trips over herself during her turn. All of the cabbages fell out of her grasp and her body soon slammed itself against the floor as she landed face down on it.

"(...W-W-Why?)" Yana simply asks without making a single attempt to pick herself back up. Instead, tears begin swelling up in the girl's eyes and she brings up her right arm to begin sobbing into them. All of the emotions that were building within her before the challenge started had finally exploded and at this point, her head was no longer even remotely thinking about the competition, "WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!"

Her head was focused on matters that were far more personal and emotional than any competition ever could be.

In the midst of her sobbing, the boy wordlessly walks over to the crying girl and silently offers up his left hand for her.

"(A-Am I just meant to end up alone? Is that it?)" Yana whispers to herself. The world around her started becoming irrelevant as these words slowly started turning into the truth for her. This truth was uncontested and to her, it would probably remain that way for the rest of her pathetic life.

These words cause the boy's hand to retreat into one of the pockets in his jacket. He then shuts his eyes and begins quietly humming to himself.

"(Yeah, that's it. After all... my parents gave me my name for a reason.)" Yana begins clenching her hands as she continues releasing her emotions. She didn't care that there was a camera on her or even if one of her teammates was overhearing all of this. She didn't care whether or not she would be eliminated from the game for putting up such a poor performance today and for being so useless to the rest of the team. She didn't care about what would become of her. Yana Hayashida now viewed herself as too worthless and disposable to care about anything like that.

However, her ears eventually pick up the sound of someone singing.

"Unmei da toka mirai toka-tte kotoba ga doredakete wo, [Words like "tomorrow" or "future" or "fate" no matter how far they extend their hands,]"

She slowly began raising her head from the ground so she could see who was the singer in question. However, a part of her recognized that the answer was fairly obvious, especially when taking into account how majestic it sounded.

"Nobasou wo todokanai basho de dokura koi wo suru, [We breathe, We dream, We raise our love in a timeless land that is far out of reach.]"

Even with the tears in her eyes, she was able to make out the person, and all of the thoughts she was just having slowly started fading away. They were replaced by the song which she understood due to being Japanese herself. What stood out to her more was the song since it was one she had heard before, specifically because it was from a movie that she watched seven years ago.

"Tokei no hari mo futari wo, [Even the second, hour hands of the clock,]"

Slowly, her mind started to comprehend what was being said to her via this familiar song.

"Yokome ni minagara susumu. [They look at us sideways as they tick and tock.]"

After blinking a few times and wiping the tears that had wholly blurred her vision, her eyes finally noticed the familiar action being done in front of her.

"Sonna sekai wo futari de, [How I hope to have forever to spend,]"

Rival was once again offering out his left hand and had on a smile that evaporated any lingering thoughts that were once invading her fragile mind. Over the past few days, the boy had been constantly helping her out, and though it probably was because she was friends with his sister, that didn't negate all of the moments where he'd gone out of his way to assist her and help her survive this competition. Plus, something deep within her told the girl that he truly meant every single word coming from his mouth and that, of all the people in the world, she could trust him to uphold his unspoken promise.

"Isshou iya nonshou, demo... ikiiinuiteeeyukouuu. [This life, no, our future lives... together with you.]"

Yana finally accepts the boy's help and tightly holds his left hand at long last.

"OOOOOOOOOOH!"

Rival pulls Yana off the ground whilst singing even this part of the song. This causes the girl to laugh at how overdramatic and silly it seems, especially considering the moment they are having.

"You're such a goof," Yana remarks as the vocalist wraps up the song he'd been singing.

"You're right, I'm a goddamn goofy goober," Rival states while making devil horns with his right hand.

Yana laughs more at this remark, primarily upon remembering that she recognized the show where the 'goofy goober' term came from. Once her laughter dies down, she notices that the two of them are still holding each other's hands even though he already helped her off the ground. But rather than separating their hands, her grip on it gets tighter before she finally gives the boy a request, "Please don't you ever leave me by myself..."

"...I swear on my sister that I'll never leave your side," Rival states before releasing Yana's hand and giving her a thumbs up using his left hand as his right one is stuffed back into his pocket.

"Thank you," Yana simply says whilst closing her eyes and sighing in relief. Whether it was intentional or not, using his sister to reassure her was the perfect response and made her place her faith in the vocalist and believe her words even more than she already had. There was a newfound sense of comfort that she felt thanks to the boy which erased all of the stress that had been overtaking her body and controlling her actions more than usual. With the help of a single person who promised to never abandon her, she wasn't panicking about her current predicament any longer. Now, her head was back in the game and this time she was ready to win because she didn't want to see anyone from her team going home.

"We should move along right about now since we've got a challenge to win," Rival confirms as he picks up two of the cabbages that the rock climber had dropped moments ago.

"Aye Aye Captain!" Yana playfully responds as she accepts the cabbages and charges up the stairs.

Rather than picking up any ammo for the cannons, Rival picks up the only wooden cutlass located in the cabin. He then runs up the stairs with the weapon and forces a convincing smile on his face by the time he reaches the deck.

[Confession: Rival]

"I could've sang the entirety of RADWIMPS - Sparkle if this challenge allowed me to," Rival confirms before winking at the camera. Clearly, today wasn't the first time that he had sung this exact song and he knew that some of the viewers watching this episode would've liked more of it. However, this spirited attitude of his slowly went away the more his mind started drifting off into other thoughts. A pained expression then appeared on his face as he shut his eyes and gave his take on his current situation, "...Music is very useful when you know it so well. It's another language that can be understood by everyone based on the emotions brought out by instruments, lyrics, and vocals. Though the purpose of songs can vary and have countless interpretations based on the situation you can apply it to, so it's not the easiest thing to comprehend, especially when most songs can be used for different purposes. I've usually tried my best to assess every song I've ever sung so I can see which songs people have to hear the most in their time of need. Today, I told Yana what she needed to hear through music and I'm hoping that doing it won't backfire soon... though knowing my luck, I've probably screwed myself over by doing this in the first place, so I'm already expecting myself to do things I'll regret sooner than I'd like to."

[Confession Ends]

On The Frogs of Death's deck, they found themselves no longer needing their cannons. They were instead confronted directly by The Ferocious Trouts who had stopped their ship right next to them using an anchor. Upon seeing Makima and Arthur with swords in their hands, Shiro realized what the opposing team was about to do.

"Go-go get 'em, fellow pirates... I'll prepare the backup plan..." Gogo instructs the two boys before resting her head on the ship's steering wheel. Her hands remained holding onto the steering wheel and didn't show any signs of moving even as her eyes started to close. Somehow, a snore could be heard coming from her seconds later and the historian had miraculously fallen asleep in a position that only a cat would be comfortable with.

"I am curious as to how she can sleep like that," Makima comments after chuckling at their team leader's current sleeping position.

"We can figure that one out later. What's more important is seeing which of us is the inferior swordsman," Arthur bluntly states before charging ahead. He effortlessly jumps off his team's ship and smoothly lands on his feet which slid across the floor for a few seconds. From behind, a pair of scissors is thrown at him but Arthur moves his head which causes the throwing weapon to miss him entirely and fly off into the ocean. He soon turns around and immediately recognizes the white-haired opponent who is only inches away from him. However, the blue-haired prince counters Shiro's attempted sword swing by parrying it and knocking his opponent a few feet away from him.

Shiro does land on his feet, but his attention was entirely on the prince and his mind was thinking about the strategies he could likely use. Having his teammates help out with the battle was one of these tactics which would normally be a smart one. However, the only people who were on the deck at this moment were Sazama, Rosie, Kazuru, and Luciana... so he didn't have the most reliable backup, especially since Rosie was only now starting to get back up while Sazama was still laid out. Plus, he doubts that Arthur will be the only enemy sent onto their ship and he'd rather have them deal with that. This meant that it was up to Shiro alone to battle and hopefully take out the prince.

"Mission Impossibleee!" Makima loudly makes his presence known as he leaps off his ship.

Shiro overhears this and begins running to where the actor would land in the hopes of knocking him off. Before he could get close, Chara finally fired her first cabbage after swiftly calculating the perfect shot that would intercept the team leader's current course. Right before the cabbage could hit, Shiro slides back and dodges the cabbage before it can connect with him.

However, Arthur followed the team leader during his run and took advantage of his sudden stop by smacking his back using the wooden sword.

Shiro almost falls onto his knees but he's able to keep himself standing, even despite the pain coming from his back. Before the prince could land another hit on his opponent's back, Shiro jumps away and is able to land in a position that allows him to face his enemy.

"Nailed it," Makima says after landing on the ship in a peculiar position. His left arm was raised into the air (it was the same hand he was using to hold his sword) while his right hand was pressed against the floor and he was currently taking a knee so he could do this. Although the stance was rather strange and impractical, it did look dramatic and got a reaction from one of the people who witnessed the landing.

"Thee did well in landing like the heroes which this deity has seen on the big screen!" Kazuru compliments the actor whilst picking up a wooden sword for himself.

"Thanks, but I'm not here to chat considering what happened last time," Makima responds before standing up. He even switches hands and holds the cutlass using his right hand now that it isn't on the floor.

"Understood. Let us have a battle for the ages and see who wins this death battle!" Kazuru announces as he holds the wooden cutlass using both of his hands. He then closes his eyes and begins whispering some words to himself, "(This attack is gonna hit you. It is gonna show you its power. It's riding the waves of something that I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna show youuu-)"

"My name is Makima. You're gonna try killing me. So, prepare to die!" Makima states before charging ahead.

"GODLY GAMER SPEEEEED!" Kazuru finally wraps up his dialogue before he too takes off to begin this battle of epic proportions.

"(He's so fast!)" Makima notices after noticing that his opponent is moving faster than even he was. Before he knew it, the actor's sword was knocked out of his hands which caused him to gasp.

"Let us see if thee can dodge this universal-level Gamerslash!" Kazuru states as he swings his sword once again in the hopes of landing a hit on his opponent.

This declaration gives Makima enough time to react and the swing begins looking a lot slower as he watches it come for him. In what looks like a moment of slow motion, he moves back just far enough to dodge the slash. After avoiding a potentially fatal attack, he does a random backflip which causes countless camera cuts right before he lands on his feet and picks up his sword.

"How did you avoid something so unavoidable?!" Kazuru loudly asks with complete shock at how his opponent was able to avoid something so unavoidable.

"Because I am unavoidable. So, suffice to say, I'll be the one who'll make you eat your swords," Makima declares before once again running toward his enemy.

"No! You'll be left praising the sun created by this deity!" Kazuru announces before taking his turn to charge at his opponent.

The two of them were moments away from having another epic clash as the world around them began slowing down because of just how fast they were going. Truly, they were having a battle that would forever be left in the tapestry of history. This was a glorious battle that no movie or game could ever replicate because nothing could recreate the scale of this moment!

...

...

...

Or at least, it seemed that way to the two of them.

"Are they seriously slowing themselves down for the sake of dramatic effect?" Rosie questions after noticing that the two boys were just intentionally making themselves slower. Making the battle even more baffling was how each hit that landed seemed rather weak and the only impressive thing that she'd seen so far was Makima doing a backflip. Needless to say, the battle wasn't as exciting as Kazuru and Makima made it out to be.

"Those two are bellends..." Luciana comments with disappointment as she goes to pick up a wooden cutlass.

"Nope~" Before the thanatologist could grab her weapon, a foot steps on the wooden cutlass and kicks it into the ocean. Her eyes then glared at the person who had a smug look across their face and a tone that made it sound like they were teasing her.

"Well, if it isn't Rellik Rorrim!" Luciana cheerfully greets the former team leader.

"I'm so happy to know that you remembered-"

In the middle of his sentence, Rellik is decked in the face and falls onto his butt.

"Sorry love, but you're-"

In the middle of her sentence, Luciana feels something latch onto her back. She turned around and looked over at Sazama who had gotten onto one knee, though what alarmed her more was the satisfied grin present on his face. It didn't take long for her to figure out why the robot builder had such a victorious look on.

"Eyes on the prize, love!" Rellik attacks the thanatologist from behind by tackling the area of her back where a spider is located.

Luciana tries turning her body back around, but her brief scuffle with the star-eyed contestant is halted.

""AHHHHH!"" Luciana and Rellik both scream in pain as the robotic spider releases a sudden charge of electricity onto the two contestants. The two of them are continuously electrocuted by the robot for a few seconds before it finally stops and falls onto the floor. Both contestants were left dizzy by the electrocution and they both started stumbling to the edge of the ship.

"Today just keeps getting better... for me," Sazama responds before blowing a kiss at the two people who he had violently discharged from the overseas battlefield. None of them could notice the taunt because both Rellik and Luciana fell into the ocean just moments later by tripping over each other. Once they had fallen off, Sazama got back on both feet and chuckled to himself.

A ball of cabbage is then launched at the robot builder who was internally celebrating the fact he'd gotten rid of two of his enemies. Chara's eyes looked slightly to the left of the shot that she had just fired.

Before the scientist's shot could connect, a wooden cutlass intercepts the cabbage which clashes with the not-so-strong weapon. The holder of the weapon tries digging their feet into the floor and putting in maximum effort behind their swing so they could possibly deflect the shot. Unfortunately for the wooden sword's keeper, the wood from the blade explodes all over them, meaning that the cabbage has won the clash. On the bright side, the clash had halted the cabbage's momentum enough to the point it just fell and didn't go far enough to reach its intended target. Although the person had lost the clash, they still achieved their goal and had stopped Sazama from being eliminated from the challenge.

"Hm?" Sazama asks after hearing the wooden cutlass' blade break into pieces. He turned around to see what was happening and his eyes eventually widened after looking at the person who had helped him out.

"...Would you mind getting your head out your ass there?" Rival asks with some frustration in his voice after turning around and facing the person whom he blocked the shot for. There were multiple cuts across his body as a result of the sword breaking and pieces of the wood scratching him, but he oddly seemed unaffected by the wounds on his hands and face.

"H-Hey! Do you know who you're talking to?!" Sazama loudly asks whilst puffing out his chest and placing a hand on it. Even though he spoke with pride, there was a drop of sweat rolling down from his safety goggles.

"Nope... and I don't care, either." Rival gives his honest response as he throws his broken weapon into the ocean. He then looks away from the robot builder and stares at the enemy ship in the chance that they fire another shot from their cannon. Also, he wanted to make sure that he'd be prepared if a shot was fired during his speech, "All I can do is hope that you'll stop taking out our members because that just gives me fewer reasons to keep you in this challenge."

"Tch, I'll take you out if you continue to-!"

"Alright then... take me out," Rival casually insists to the cyan-haired boy as he looks behind him and momentarily stares at him with a look of indifference.

"..." Sazama slowly changes his stance and takes a step back when he sees this expression. The vocalist had stopped him from getting sniped out of the challenge, so this made him feel less anger towards his teammate, even if he would never want to admit this out loud. However, seeing such an empty look from the black-haired boy was not only something he never expected to see, but the genuine lifelessness behind his eyes was what truly shook him and made him question if this was something worth doing. This uncertainty he felt slowly started to show on his face and although he tried clenching his fists, he only barely managed to do it.

"Anyways, I'll go help out our team now," Rival says after looking away from the cyan-haired boy and sighing at the predicament his team was currently in. After making this confirmation, he runs off to the left which ends the conversation between the two of them.

"At least someone was able to shut you up," Rosie remarks after getting back to her feet and rubbing her forehead.

"Why don't you save your breath? I'm not in the mood to verbally combat such an irrelevant creature once more," Sazama states as he crosses his arms and turns his body so he can make sure that he is looking away from the girl.

"Well, the moment of silence was good when it lasted. Honestly, I'm shocked that you haven't created some kind of sex robot yet considering how you're always stroking your ego in front of us," Rosie responds whilst rolling her eyes at the boy's comment.

"I'd rather create machines that are worth making, not ones that I'd consider elementary-level builds that would likely break easily," Sazama answers while shaking his head at the suggestion.

"Haven't you destroyed a lot of the sexbots you've made for this show?" Rosie points out after placing both her hands on her hips.

"Well, I've prepared many robots for this show and will continue to build more, so losing a few is barely an issue for someone like me. I'll just create more machines as I've always done and continue showing the world why I'm special by showing off my pride and joy from the tallest mountains in the world!" Sazama declares with a proud look on his face and he even spreads out his arms as he faces the sun.

"Wow, you really do get off by talking about yourself," Rosie remarks as she shakes her head. Normally, the boy would've just come off as annoying but learning more about him made her feel disappointed by the fact he seemed like someone who truly did believe every word that came out of their mouth. So rather than start yet another argument with her teammate, she leaves him with a few words as she starts walking away from him, "If that's the case then I'm sure that you enjoy standing by yourself on top of that worthless mountain of yours."

"..." Sazama once again goes completely silent and he looks to the floor after hearing these words.

Unfortunately for Sazama and Rosie, two cabbages were suddenly fired at them as they weren't paying any attention to their surroundings. The cabbage aimed at Rosie successfully hits the girl's face, causing her to flip in the air multiple times before she drops into the ocean below. Her body then lifeless floated up to the surface moments later and was eventually pushed to shore by the waves.

Meanwhile, a mullet fish jumps out from the water below and is able to get in the way of the launched cabbage. However, the cabbage obliterates the mechanical fish and continues heading in the direction that it was aimed at. Sazama turns to face the direction of where he heard the metallic sound and is only able to gasp as he's unable to do anything about the cabbage. Within the blink of an eye, the edible bullet collides with the robot builder who is sent flying across the ship and almost ends up falling into the ocean. Luckily for the boy, his robot had reduced the cabbage's speed enough to ensure that it wouldn't launch him into the sea and so he merely landed a few inches away from the ship's edge.

"Brag: I eliminated someone with my shot and yours failed," Ryokai not-so-subtly brags after letting go of her cannon and pointing to herself.

"How unfortunate for me," Chara responds with a sigh before picking up the final cabbage that she had left. Although she closes her eyes and drops the edible bullet so she can speak more, "I do hope that I will win future mini-contests that we have amongst ourselves."

"...Yeah, we can do this again," Ryokai responds after looking away from the scientist.

[Confession: Ryokai]

"Obtaining victories of any kind is incredibly important for someone like me, so getting one over on Chara does fill me with pride, even if the amount of it isn't anything truly noteworthy," Ryokai explains as she writes in her journal. She then closes her journal after she finishes writing notes about her mini-competition victory in it, "However, I cannot trust Chara Campbell yet as she is still too big of a question mark for me to think of her as an ally or believe myself to be superior in the game than her. Also, Jessica is currently in a better position than Chara, so I will continue relying on Jessica Seizon and prevent her from doing anything that will blow up our game... like voting for our only other ally: Gogo Artoria, who is playing a risky game today but it can benefit our alliance in the long run."

[Confession Ends]

Kazuru and Makima were continuing their 'ultimate showdown' where the actor was prioritizing jumping around and flipping over his opponent rather than landing any fatal hits as if the two of them were fighting on Mustafar. The cosplaying gamer couldn't land another solid hit either, but this was because he was hesitating before doing anything and yelled out some random letters while he was at it. Safe to assume, it will take some time for them to land any effective blows.

"A! B! Y!" Kazuru yells out before he parries three of Makima's swing attempts.

"That's it!" Makima shouts before jumping over the gamer once again.

"Gotta hold-!" Kazuru tries turning around so he can counter the actor's next move.

This time, the gamer's wrist is hit as he turns his body around and the sword he'd been using this entire time is knocked out of his grasp. The wooden cutlass slides off the ship and falls into the ocean below, leaving the overdramatic boy with no weapon for him to use.

"Any last words?" Makima asks whilst raising his sword into the air.

"(Time to spam X.)" Kazuru whispers to himself as he clenches his right hand into a fist.

Before the actor could connect with his long and drawn-out swing that only the slowest person in the world wouldn't be able to avoid, he's unsurprisingly intercepted.

Jamie Christopherson - It Has To Be This Way

Standing here, I realize,

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Kazuru cries out as he unleashes a godly amount of punches in quick succession.

You are just like me, trying to make history,

Almost all of these punches hit Makima's stomach and caused him to drop his weapon.

But who's to judge the right from wrong?

The actor barely stays on his feet once the series of punches comes to an end. Little did he know that as he was stumbling, the gamer wasn't done acting out this not-so-subtle reference.

When our guard is down, I think we'll both agree (both agree),

"(And now to spam Y.)" Kazuru quietly confirms before charging at his opponent once more.

That viiiolence breeds viiiolence,

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!" Kazuru releases a different battle cry as he continues his relentless attack.

But in the end, It Has To Be This Way!

By the end of these punches, Makima jumps backward and clutches his stomach after landing on his back.

"This deity has learned plenty of moves during the course of their gaming career and you fell for a trick which they've learned from the game about a stickman named Henry... overpowered references!" Kazuru explains whilst proudly pumping both of his fists into the air.

This got no response from the actor who could barely sit up. Truthfully, he let himself get hit by the punches that weren't being thrown all that quickly in the first place and would've been less effective against people who could take hits. The reason that he allowed himself to be hurt was for the sake of creating a cool moment and because he was currently using movie logic, being interrupted by the opponent allowed the fight to continue and not end in too short of a time. Unfortunately, this now left him damaged and feeling pain from the gamer's relatively weak attack.

"With thee being detained, the time has come for this deity to cast their signature, biggest, and most destructive spell..." Kazuru states before picking up a plank of wood that was conveniently next to him. This plank was also shaped like a staff that had a circle at the top.

Now that the self-proclaimed deity had obtained his weapon, Kazuru closed his eyes and planted the staff into the floor beneath him using both hands.

"Heaven! Hell! Earth! None of you will ever forget any words that will be spoketh!"

The wind around the deity begins picking up immensely and the world around him begins turning purple.

"This vessel's name is Kazuru Badasu! Foremost prodigy among all gamers! I am the God of Gamers and I shall bring magic into this world so I can forever take out my nemesis!"

Suddenly, the circle on top of the staff grows an eye that stares into the camera. Making the scene even more dramatic was how the wind was now circling the deity who was prepared to unleash his full power.

"Behold my power!"

Kazuru opened his yellow eyes which were now glowing and he swung his staff around him before pointing it in his enemy's direction. Nothing around him looked like it had been moments ago and there was a glee that he felt in this very moment. It felt like he'd been transported into another world where he could do so many things that the real world would never allow him to do, a world where he could do anything, be happy, and feel powerful for once in his life. The feeling made him satisfied and although he knew that this world would never truly exist, for this moment, he was willing to believe in it and try casting his greatest spell.

"EXPLO-!"

Suddenly, Kazuru's sight is taken away from him by two fingers.

"Ah! My destructive eyes!" Kazuru yells out after dropping his plank staff and stumbling around the dock. The world around him quickly went back to normal and the fake world that gave him non-existent powers had gone away.

"(Alright, should I go with Jack Sparrow or someone else?)" Makima quietly wonders to himself as he stretches out his arms. He seemed more concerned with deciding on a role than finishing off his blinded opponent who uses an eyepatch. A part of him did feel disappointed that the eyepatch was just an accessory, but he wasn't too surprised considering how Kazuru constantly acts.

After a few seconds of thinking, Makima comes up with an answer and begins approaching his blinded opponent.

"Ambition without knowledge is like a boat on dry land," Makima says as he bows for his opponent.

"What the hell is that supposed to-?" Kazuru tries asking, but he's swiftly cut off by a crane kick to the face.

This kick sends the gamer off the ship and eliminates him from the challenge. Makima chuckles at the events that had just transpired before he turns around and notices that Ryokai is shaking her head because of how ridiculous she found the fight to be. After seeing this response, Makima gives the journalist a thumbs up which causes her to playfully roll her eyes.

[Confession: Kazuru]

"Well... that 'fight' was fun while it lasted," Kazuru remarks before laughing at the absurd fight that was just shown.

[Confession Ends]

Arthur and Shiro both held their stances as they tried to anticipate each other's next move. Both of them had narrowed their eyes to make sure that they could make out every little movement that their opponent was making. At any moment, one of them could try going for one strike that'll end the fight, a series of strikes to tire out their opponent and create an opening, or they could simply try catching their opposition off guard by faking them out and taking advantage of that. Many possibilities ran through their minds and each of them knew that one wrong move could lead to their elimination from the challenge which was an outcome both of them wanted to avoid. However, someone would have to eventually make a move and they both knew that only one of them would be left standing by the end of their battle.

So, Arthur makes the first move by taking a step forward with his right foot.

However, Shiro stood his ground as there was too wide of a distance for him to reliably land a strike right now.

Arthur then takes another step forward, this time by placing his left foot in front of his right.

Shiro didn't respond to this either.

Seeing that nothing that he did got a response yet, Arthur slowly starts stepping forward with his right foot once again.

"Hmph!" Shiro finally makes his move and he finally takes a step forward so he can swing his weapon. Specifically, he tries aiming for Arthur's foot once it's placed on the floor and causes a creaking noise.

Arthur swiftly lifted his feet over the swing while his eyes were focused on his opponent's movements. Once the wooden cutlass misses his feet, the prince puts it back down and thrusts his weapon forward.

Shiro responds to this by pulling his sword back and ducking beneath the thrust. During this dodge, he feels a gust of wind from the swing and watches a few strands of his hair fall onto the floor as the weapon touches some of them.

Rather than dwelling on the effects that the thrust had, Shiro diverts his attention back to the current battle. He takes a step forward and takes another swing at his opponent whilst remaining in the ducking position. His intention with this move was to surprise the prince and land a hit before he could react.

Unfortunately for the caretaker, this attempt is foiled by the prince bringing his sword down before Shiro would make his move.

Even though the prince hadn't built up too much momentum with his attack, the pain it caused once it hit the caretaker's back made him immediately fall onto his hands and knees. After getting his opponent in this position, Arthur takes a step back and observes his fallen opponent.

At this moment, Shiro was barely able to hold his weapon even after falling. There weren't any bones that were broken from the strike, so this meant that he could continue this fight, especially now that the pain from his back and head was slowly going away. But he knew that he'd be fighting a losing battle if things kept going the way they had been.

"Hmmm..." Arthur tries analyzing his opponent's current movements as he continues waiting for the caretaker's following action. He could easily take advantage of his opponent and intentionally brutalize him until he was paralyzed, it's not like he hasn't done that exact same thing many times before. But, he wanted to truly gauge his enemy's threat level and see how he would try to get himself out of this predicament.

The answer would come sooner than he would expect in the form of a pair of scissors.

Arthur moves his head out of the way and watches the scissors fly past his face.

From behind, Shiro took advantage of the distraction by stabbing the prince's left ankle using another pair of scissors.

Arthur looks down at his right foot after feeling something stab it. However, he's met with a wooden cutlass to the face as Shiro swings his weapon up whilst standing himself up.

Shiro watches his opponent stumble before deciding to readjust his strategy. He pulls out and holds yet another pair of scissors with his left hand whilst keeping the wooden cutlass in his right hand. With two weapons in hand, he charges forward and continues his attack.

Arthur is able to regain his balance right before the caretaker can reach him. Although scissors were stabbing his ankle and even some blood coming from his nose, none of these seemed to bother him as he just got into position and readied his sword. His body might've been physically damaged, but the prince didn't remotely care about the pain since it neither mattered to him nor topped any sort of real pain he'd experienced before.

The two quickly find themselves clashing once more.

Currently, the white-haired contestant started swinging away with his sword and aiming for the ribs of his opponent. All of these swings were blocked by the blue-haired contestant who did this by constantly and smoothly changing which hand would be holding the sword. They continued this cycle until another idea entered the white-haired boy's mind.

Rather than swinging from the side, Shiro pulls his wooden cutlass back and decides to attack from above by bringing his weapon down.

Arthur takes a step back and moves out of the way before the weapon can damage his face any further. His eyes were focused on his opponent's left hand which was holding yet another pair of scissors.

After missing his target, Shiro changes tactics and stabs his wooden weapon in between the small gaps in the wooden floor beneath them. He then launches himself at his opponent using the sword and tries stabbing him with his pair of scissors.

Even though he was slightly surprised by the move, Arthur was able to think of a counter for this attack just in time.

The prince uses his left hand (which isn't currently holding a wooden cutlass) to catch the scissors and stop them before they can stab his body.

What neither of them expected was a cabbage to be fired which hit the scissors both of them were holding, meaning that the shot had also connected with their respective hands. Shiro quickly pulled away after the cabbage had knocked his signature weapon out of his grasp. Arthur, in comparison, went in the opposite direction with this next move by bringing his other hand forward and swinging his wooden cutlass at his opponent's neck.

This hit lands successfully and the caretaker's body crumbles onto the floor before he knows it.

"You're not a bad opponent... but you're clearly not a fighter," Arthur explains as he looks down at the white-haired opponent. He then wipes the blood coming from his nose and pulls the pair of scissors that stabbed his ankle before throwing the pair into the ocean. With his enemy being temporarily paralyzed by the precise strike, the prince begins approaching his enemy so he can take him out of the challenge once and for all.

Suddenly, Arthur felt a gust of wind coming from behind him and turned around immediately. Luckily for the prince, he's able to foil the attempted sneak attack and block the wooden cutlass that had almost caught him by surprise. After seeing who it was that prevented him from finishing off Shiro, he backs away and sighs at his new opponent.

"I spy with my red eyes..." Yana begins speaking as she uses both hands to hold onto her sword. Unlike earlier, there was a look of excitement on her face as she stared at her blue-haired opponent, "A poopyhead who will be forced into walking the plank!"

"It is shocking to see you doing well so soon after your brother's elimination," Arthur says before holding his wooden weapon in front of him. As usual, the bored tone he spoke in betrayed the words coming from his mouth.

"Why wouldn't I be doing well? I've already got you here to take out all of my anger on~" Yana states in a sweet and innocent voice that heavily contrasts with the sadistic words she was saying.

Arthur didn't give a response and waited for his enemy to make her first move. Her words alone made it clear what her intention was and although he'd beaten her badly in the previous challenge, he still felt the need to be cautious in the event that the rock climber proved to be a significant threat this time around.

"So, for the sake of my brother and for hurting my friend like you did just now..." Yana steps back with her right foot during this declaration of hers. After getting herself into this position, the rock climber wastes no time charging at her enemy. She then begins swinging her sword after reaching the prince as she finishes making her declaration, "I'll gladly be taking you down!"

Even though his body was still mostly paralyzed, Shiro's eyes widened at the blonde's words and a faint smile soon appeared on his face.

After making her statement, Yana charges ahead to begin her battle with Arthur.

There was no hesitation from the rock climber who wasted no time wildly swinging away once she had gotten into range of her opponent. The power behind each swing was constantly fluctuating and some hits were much faster than others. However, none of this processed through Yana's mind because her only goal was to hurt the prince.

Although there was a brief window for Arthur to stop her barrage of swings before they started, he simply stepped back and decided to play defense. By the time Yana begins her attack, the prince is able to block her first swing without even looking at her cutlass and this trend continues for the next few swings. Once five seconds have passed, the prince finally uses his eyes to track each of his opponent's swings.

Finding an opening proved to be harder than the prince had anticipated and even blocking his opponent's every swing wasn't an easy task. Thanks to the fluctuation of each swing's impact, predicting how much effort he should place behind each parry attempt was difficult and there was also the fact that the rock climber rarely ever moved slow enough to even provide a brief chance to launch a counterattack. So, the prince decided to continue blocking for the time being.

"I! Will! End! You!" Yana yells out whilst unleashing her next four swings, each of which was even stronger than what she had already been dishing out.

Arthur begins grinding his teeth against each other as he blocks this set of swings, although he is only barely able to deflect the fourth one.

"HIYAH!" Yana suddenly kicks her opponent in his stomach with her right foot.

This kick pushes Arthur away and causes him to stumble, although he quickly regains his balance once more. A few coughs then escape the prince's mouth as he processes the simple but effective move that the rock climber had just used against him.

"I would've kicked lower like I normally do, but I'd rather beat you fair and square!" Yana explains before she runs ahead once more.

She then swings her wooden cutlass after reaching her opponent once more.

However, Arthur ducks beneath her non-metal sword, causing the rock climber to supposedly miss this attempt.

After the prince had dodged her swing, Yana readjusted the placement of her feet and continued the momentum of her swing. She then swings herself around in a full circle and tries going for another hit on her opponent using the same swing that the target had initially avoided. Luckily for the blonde, this attempt succeeds and the wooden blade of her weapon even snaps off after impacting the prince's face.

This hit sends a bunch of spit flying out of Arthur's mouth and leaves a small cut on the side of his head. For a moment, the prince loses his vision and his body begins losing some of its strength. But, before any of this could bring the prince down, his body suddenly regains all of its strength which causes him to stop stumbling and his right hand even catches his wooden cutlass before it can land on the floor.

After taking a second to gather himself, Arthur turns around to face his opponent.

"This is over," Arthur merely states before spitting out a loose tooth from his mouth.

"Hey! This ain't over until it's over," Yana responds as she runs at the prince with her broken sword.

Before she could reach her opponent, the prince yeets his sword and it bounces off the rock climber's face. This halts Yana in her tracks and makes her take a step back to prevent herself from immediately falling over. Her vision even goes blurry for a brief moment and this allows the prince to safely close the gap and catch his opponent off-guard.

"This. Is. Over." Arthur catches his wooden cutlass by its handle. After catching his sword, he swings it around in a circle before mercilessly hitting his opponent's stomach with the wooden weapon.

"AHHHHH!" Yana cries out as the impact of the hit sends her flying across the deck and sliding on her back across the floor. Once the rock climber's momentum had come to a halt, she weakly grabbed onto her midsection out of pain before breaking out into a bunch of coughs. By the time her coughing had died down, the prince had already reached the blonde and he was now standing in front of her.

"It seems that you have failed," Arthur says matter-of-factly.

"Y-Yeah... w-well, there's al-always n-n-next time!" Yana optimistically and weakly responds before smirking at the prince.

"You took that a lot better than I expected. What caused you to recover this-?" Arthur begins wondering as he tilts his head.

"Looks like I'm the last one to fight, huh," A voice notes from behind the prince whilst having their right hand inside their hoodie.

Arthur quietly sighs to himself before turning around and looking at the person whom he recognized immediately.

"In that case, it's... survival time," Rival states before tightening his grip on the wooden cutlass in his left hand. He then pulls his right hand out of his pocket to pick up the broken wooden sword that Yana had dropped.

This intentionally bad joke received a weak giggle from Yana which Arthur's ears picked up on.

"(So, you're the one who helped her out.)" Arthur mumbles to himself whilst narrowing his eyes at his third opponent.

"Guess you're not a fan of banter. Alright then, I won't take any of your actions personally, but I've got a feeling that I won't regret fighting you," Rival confirms before charging at his opponent with one-and-a-half swords.

"(Let's see how well round two will go for you, Rival Seizon,)" Arthur quietly says before stepping forward with his right foot and mentally bracing himself for the first move that his opponent will make.

Once the distance between the two of them was closed, their fight quickly got underway.

Rival quickly starts swinging away with his non-broken cutlass and he specifically aims for his opponent's sides by randomly spinning around and changing the direction of his attacks seemingly at random. In order to keep up with the vocalist, Arthur reuses his earlier strategy and constantly switches hands so he can successfully block the relentless attack that was keeping him on his toes. The two of them kept up their current strategies for a few seconds, although the prince did find himself instinctively stepping back during all of this.

Unfortunately for the prince, Rival takes advantage of this by stepping forward and kicking his damaged left ankle right as he is lifting it.

Arthur almost loses his balance by falling forward, but he's able to place his left foot back on the ground and stand himself up before this could happen.

However, Rival is able to take advantage of this window of opportunity by spinning around and bringing his sword down from above before his opponent can regain their balance. So, by the time Arthur had recovered from his near-trip experience, his head was immediately smacked by the wooden cutlass.

The impact of the hit causes the prince to stumble back once again and a cut is now present on his forehead.

Rather than allowing his opponent the time to recover, Rival lunges forward with the broken sword which had a sharp wooden edge to it.

Although the prince's vision was blurry, he could recognize that his opponent was still on the attack. So, Arthur tries grabbing onto the weapon using his free hand before it can deal any more damage to him.

This attempt succeeds and he's able to stop the half-sword from potentially stabbing him. Thankfully for Arthur, his sight finally clears itself up and his stumbling comes to a stop right as this happens. Now that he was no longer in an unfavorable position, he pulled the vocalist in his direction and tried landing a hit on the vocalist by swinging the sword at his right hip.

Somehow, Rival's able to just barely duck underneath the swing before it could brutalize him.

Arthur quietly growls at this missed attempt, but he is able to come up with a backup plan almost immediately. He readjusts his positioning and carries the momentum by swinging his arms around in a full circle and turning his body as he does so. This was the same move that the rock climber had landed on him moments ago and he hoped that it would also provide successful results for him.

"Take this!" Rival yells out as he stabs the half-sword into the prince's left shoulder mid-swing.

"Kh!" Arthur releases his grip on his wooden cutlass and drops it onto the floor as a result of his left arm no longer having the strength to hold the weapon.

"(This one's for Yana,)" Rival quietly confirms before pushing his broken sword deeper into his opponent's shoulder using his right hand.

Arthur uses his only working hand to grab onto the vocalist's wrist and squeeze it. Currently, he was disarmed and left with one working arm, meaning that his only way of landing attacks would likely be through surprising his opponent or by closing the speed gap between them. So, using the knowledge he has regarding the human body, he went with this seemingly strange move.

Crack!

Suddenly, the sound of a bone breaking could be heard.

"Ah, sh-" Rival begins responding after his right-hand goes limp.

Arthur then pulls the broken sword out of his left shoulder and tries slashing his opponent with the weapon.

Rival's able to move back and he barely gets out of the way of the weapon. After avoiding the slash attempt, the vocalist sighs while staring at his dislocated right hand before putting it down and backing further away from his opponent. However, he doesn't get too far away before deciding to just charge at the prince once again.

Rather than letting himself get rushed once again, Arthur starts running at the vocalist whilst adjusting the grip he had on his weapon.

It didn't take long for the two to resume their clash as although they both only had one working hand, each of them knew that they could still fight and so they decided to keep doing so. Due to having a weapon that had more range, Rival swings his wooden cutlass first and aims specifically for his opponent's head. This was countered by Arthur who swung his smaller but faster weapon up and hit the wooden cutlass away.

Rival struggles to keep his balance as he tries holding up his sword whilst stumbling back due to his opponent's parry.

Arthur leaps forward and builds up enough momentum through the jump to stab his broken sword straight into the vocalist's chest. After landing this attack, the prince stares into his opponent's eyes and prepares to pull out the broken sword so he can deal further damage. Considering that they were on international television, he would've preferred not to resort to incredibly bloody or barbaric tactics since the producers would likely be unhappy with showcasing violence that would be too much for the kids who would inevitably watch this show. However, he didn't hold any strong feelings about violence since it was just another means to an end for him and if he needed to severely hurt his opponent or make them bleed, then he didn't mind doing so. Besides, he wasn't the one who resorted to stabbing their opposition first.

However, before the prince could pull his weapon back out-

Crack!

In the blink of an eye, Arthur's right hand lets go of the broken sword and goes completely numb. His eyes then looked at the wooden sword which had hit his wrist and dislocated his only remaining hand.

"Looks like we're both aware of the same thing..." Rival drops his wooden cutlass and grabs the broken sword that was jammed into his chest. He slowly and eventually pulls the weapon out of himself before breaking into a fit of coughs which results in a drop of blood rolling down his chin. Even breathing in the air around them started becoming a challenge and his body felt like it could fall at any moment right now.

But, even with all of this pain, the vocalist remains standing and a smile forms on his face. He tightly holds onto the half-sword during all of this and begins taking slow but firm steps toward his opponent.

Arthur stands still and watches the vocalist approach him without moving at all. Unfortunately for the prince, both of his hands were dismantled and that took away his primary method of fighting others, so this left him with very few options. But, he didn't intend to do any of those things as he'd been basically beaten by the black-haired brother and so only one thing could even happen right now.

"If you want to-" Rival continues speaking as he takes his final step.

Then, he thrusts the bloody weapon forward and finishes off his opponent with a stab through the chest.

Arthur's yellow eyes and Rival's red eyes meet each other once more as more blood spews out from the prince's chest and a few drops even fly across their vision. Somehow, none of this got a reaction from either contestant since they were both more focused on looking into each other's souls through their eyes. Both of them suddenly find themselves coming to the same understanding during this staredown. The realization satisfied the yellow-eyed brother who gently closed his eyes and fell to the floor seconds later. When it came to the red-eyed brother, he merely stared at his fallen opponent with an expressionless look.

"You don't have to feel pain anymore," Rival finishes his statement after forming an empty smile on his face.

"Rival! Move out of the-!"

Before Yana could finish warning her teammate, The Ferocious Trouts' ship rams into The Frogs of Deaths' ship, and it instantly begins tearing the vessel apart. Unfortunately for the vocalist, the ship smashes against his body, sending him flying through the air before he can avoid the oncoming boat. Soon, he's eliminated from the challenge once his unconscious body falls into the ocean. The enemy team's ship continues going straight through the Frogs' ones, resulting in the floorboard and sails being torn apart, the foremasts and mainmasts falling onto the collapsing boat, and the entire thing being torn in half once it'd been rammed through. During all of this, Makima jumps back to his team's ship and the actor is able to safely land on the craft, even with his body rolling across the floor for a few seconds.

"(I'm a Shinyo now...)" Gogo says while she was still sleeping, miraculously, she was also somehow controlling her team's boat by basically sleep-driving the thing.

Once her team's ship had demolished their enemy's ship, her body fell backward and the historian rested peacefully on the floor. Her team's boat wasn't left undamaged as their bowspirit had just dropped into the ocean below and plenty of tears were prevalent across the ship's sides. But, their vessel wasn't currently sinking into the ocean.

In comparison, the remains of Frogs of Death's vessel were quickly sinking into the ocean and all of the passengers seemed as good as gone. Arthur's body rolled off into the ocean and he was eliminated from the challenge. Shiro slowly picked himself off the floor, but all he could do was stand still and observe the rest of his remaining crew. Yana had gotten back on her feet also, but her focus was no longer on the challenge at hand as she jumped straight into the ocean only seconds later, eliminating herself from the challenge by doing so. Sazama was the last remaining member of his team to stand back up and he immediately started stumbling around.

"(What a shame. I was hoping to win this round of Battleship,)" Shiro quietly comments before the floor beneath him falls apart and his body falls into the water below. Now, the caretaker had been taken out of the challenge.

"This isn't over yet!" Sazama announces as he runs ahead and jumps off the piece of the ship he'd been standing on right before it collapses into the sea. During this jump, he threw away his shades and pulled his safety goggles over his eyes instead. Before his feet touch the water, the robot-builder raises his left arm into the air where a drone flies over and catches him by his left hand using a claw.

"Question: Chris mentioned a 'Drone of Despair' before, so could that be it?" Ryokai wonders since none of them had a chance to see the drone for themselves during last night's elimination.

"Probably not... actually, I don't think that's where our concern should be right now," Makima responds whilst his eyes focused on the last member that the Frogs of Death still had left in the game. Although the chances of them losing a four-against-one situation were low, he knew that their last opponent must've had a few tricks up their sleeves. So, he picks up a wooden cutlass before playfully swinging it around, "We should focus more on taking that man out."

"Understood," Ryokai says whilst backing away from her cannon and observing their final enemy.

"..." Chara remains standing behind her cannon as she silently watches their last target.

In the distance, multiple birds can be seen circling above the drone that was holding the robot builder. They eventually stopped doing this and the flock of robotic birds began lining up alongside the drone which was still holding up its creator. All of these birds were mechanical and they all awaited the next command from the person who was controlling every single one of them.

"I'll grab a cabbage," Makima quickly confirms before turning around and running off so he could grab some ammo for the cannons since they seemingly had none right now.

"It seems that he's taking us down too," Ryokai comments after internally counting each of the fifty birds that were moments away from attacking them. Now, her team was at a significant disadvantage and a defeated sigh left her mouth.

"(What are... those noises?)" Gogo mumbled to herself during her sleep as the noises made her frown.

"Now that I'm the last hope for my team, I'll truly showcase my brilliance to all of you peasants!" Sazama announces as he points to the sky with his left hand. He then begins lowering his finger whilst grinning at the people who have become sitting ducks for his mechanical birds. Before sicking his creations on the soon-to-be victims, he decides to give them some parting words, "It seems that I have become the ultimate thief myself because I'll be the one that steals today's victory from your grasps and make you all face a robotic oriented demi-!"

The drone holding Sazama in the air is abruptly blasted into pieces by a cabbage.

"(Goodbye, you worthless tool~)" Chara gleefully whispers after finally landing a successful shot on the enemy team.

Although there was a significant distance between them, Chara's words were just barely picked up by Sazama's ears as the only thing keeping him in the challenge had been destroyed. All of the mechanical birds shut off and they started to fall alongside their creator. Though nothing around him mattered anymore since the scientist's words made him realize one simple thing... He failed.

With this single thought planting itself into the robot builder's mind, he splashes into the water seconds before his robotic birds begin raining down also.

"THE FEROCIOUS TROUT... WIN TODAY'S... CHALLENGE!" Chris announces after he runs back to shore just in time to see the results of today's challenge. After doing his job, he takes some time to rest by leaning against a palm tree and catching his breath.

After hearing the confirmation, a thought then entered Ryokai's mind.

"Didn't we already win the challenge when we sank their ship?" Ryokai points out after remembering the explanation given to them earlier.

"...I believe so," Chara responds as she looks down and begins sorting out her memories for today.

"Yeah, but we have to keep things somewhat dramatic if we want to entertain the people watching this... even if the tension on shows like these can sometimes be very manufactured and fake," Makima explains once he drops the two balls of cabbages that he picked up.

"That sounds forced and pointless," Ryokai points out as she slightly shakes her head.

"You're not wrong," Makima responds whilst scratching his left cheek.

"Well then, I'll go notify our sleepy captain of our victory," Ryokai says before walking away from her two other teammates.

"You two seem to get along," Chara notes once she approaches the actor.

"Ryokai contacted me for an interview a few months ago, so we've known each other for some time and we've both even occasionally helped out each other with work," Makima explains.

"Would you say that she is a locked third vote for us?" Chara wonders after turning her head to face the person whom she is conversing with.

"I'm planning on making it happen tomorrow," Makima answers while he continues to stare at the journalist.

"That sounds like a plan," Chara simply confirms whilst nodding her head before looking back over at the grey-haired contestant.

"(Robert, please don't create that bo-... What is Barbie doing here?)" Gogo was in the midst of an incredibly wild dream. Ryokai blinked after hearing these confusing words, but she shook her head before her mind could start unconsciously guessing what her teammate was dreaming about.

"Gogo Artoria, we won today's challenge," Ryokai informs the sleeping contestant.

These words made the historian smile and her eyes slightly opened up before she gave her response, "Perfect... I'm glad I was able to... prove myself."

"That you did. Now, you may rest well," Ryokai notifies her teammate while bowing slightly for her.

Gogo had already gone back to sleep by the time the journalist had finished bowing.

[Confession: Ryokai]

"From what I could observe, it seems that Jessica was unfortunately taken out, but I'm certain that she will nevertheless be pleased with our victory. We'll be safe for tonight and so that gives me another day to complete my goal which Kai should be helping out with... or at least, he should be doing that right about now instead of playing Cat and Mouse with Chef Hatchet," Ryokai explains before looking up into the not-so-distant distance.

[Confession: Kai]

"Call me Makima because I absolutely nailed my role today! Though, playing the role of a slippery mouse comes naturally to me~" Kai remarks before giggling at his comment. He then pulls out a hard drive from the pocket of his hoodie before smirking at the camera, "It also helped me get information that I'll need, so the situation works out for everyone... except for Chef!"

The drama writer ends his confession by winking at the camera.

[Confession Ends]

Eventually, the only ship remaining reached shore with Ryokai driving the vessel because her team's captain was busy taking her victory sleep. The journalist didn't seem to mind this too much (which was the case for almost every matter, but still) and she even tried picking up the historian... only to discover that she could barely drag her. Luckily for her, Makima and Chara notice her situation and try helping out by grabbing their captain's other limbs (Ryokai and Makima took the arms while Chara had both legs to herself), and so with the strength of three members... they lifted their captain only a few inches off the ground. After pulling off the strenuous task of picking up their captain, the three of them very slowly and cautiously carried their teammate over to the ship's edge. It was only then that they realized something.

"How are we getting off this thing?" Ryokai asks her two teammates.

"I've got an idea..." Makima confirms before closing his eyes.

[Confession: Makima]

"I'll use the simple but effective power of editing," Makima says before standing up from the toilet seat and covering the camera which was recording his confessional, "Which means that it's time... for a transition!"

[Confession Ends]

A hand that was covering the camera's view pulls away to reveal that the four Ferocious Trout members had gotten down from their ship. Ryokai, Makima, and Chara all make the unspoken decision to drop their captain onto the sand so they can instead observe the three members who were taken out of today's challenge. These members included Jessica, Rellik, and Arthur, who have all gotten back to their feet by now.

"Amazing job with winning today, team!" Jessica wastes no time congratulating her team as she starts approaching the journalist in particular.

"Suggestion: Do not hug me if you are planning on doing so," Ryokai coldly suggests.

"Oh..." Jessica initially responds with disappointment and she lowers her arms before she can wrap them around her teammate. Even though it wasn't a complete surprise to hear these words, her level of excitement did lower ever-so-slightly at her friend's suggestion. Just as she reaches the journalist, however, a different idea comes to mind, "How about a fist bump?"

"Great idea..." Gogo randomly answers as she gives Jessica a fist bump.

Ryokai and Jessica then watch their teammate fall back down seconds later.

"Uhhh... Would you like one, too?" Jessica awkwardly asks whilst holding out her clenched left hand.

"Acceptance: I'll punch your hand to perform a fist bump," Ryokai answers just as awkwardly before fist-bumping her teammate.

A moment of awkward silence soon occurs between the three friends, barring the historian's snoring.

"You girls did well today," Rellik breaks the silence as he approaches the trio whilst clapping for them.

"(Yes! Now, I don't feel as coltish!)" Jessica not-so-quietly celebrates after turning her head away.

"I am thankful for that compliment," Ryokai responds without choosing to acknowledge the athlete's mini-celebration.

"I'll admit that I had my reservations, but it looks like you'll both be reliable members of the team going forward," Rellik explains after shrugging off the athlete's loud whispers.

"(Yay, I'm reliable now.)" Gogo sleepily responds as she raises her arms into the air. It didn't take long for her to drop them and resume her sleep.

"It flatters me to hear those words," Ryokai emotionlessly gives her response whilst slightly lowering her head.

"Perfect. I hope you girls will have fun celebrating today's victory together," Rellik confirms before walking away from the trio of girls. Once he was no longer facing them, a frown quickly flashed on his face.

[Confession: Rellik]

"Damn, that robo-cuck for taking me out today! Why is the world letting everyone get their revenge on me, goddammit?!" Rellik vents out before punching and kicking the walls surrounding him. After a few seconds of attacking, he stops assaulting the walls around him and sits down on the toilet seat that is awaiting him. With crossed arms, he continues giving his confession, "For now, I'll play nice with Sleeper because she could be a number for me, but the moment that she's no longer needed, then you can be sure that I'll boot her from this game before she can take my role away from me! Bookworm is also getting on my nerves because that ungrateful brat sounded so sarcastic when I tried complimenting her as if my important, tweet-worthy words didn't mean a damn thing! So yeah, I'm very pissed off by how today played out since I only like one of the girls out of that annoying trio!"

After venting out all of these frustrations, the star-eyed contestant suddenly crosses his legs and begins meditating by pressing his hands against each other and closing his eyes, "To calm down, I must do what Julia does... meditate and spam the prayer hands emoji."

[Confession: Jessica]

"I'm disappointed at my performance today, but hey-!" Jessica exclaims before holding up a peace sign and smiling at the camera, "My team won today and I won't have to vote off any of my team members, so I still see this as an absolute win!"

[Confession Ends]

After getting off the ship, Makima immediately notices Arthur getting back to his feet and begins approaching him after noticing all the damage he seems to have suffered during the challenge.

"It seems that you went through a lot today," Makima states the obvious.

"I'll live," Arthur simply responds with his voice sounding as lifeless and unbothered as ever.

"Of course, you will," Makima remarks after rolling his eyes at his teammate. A smirk then appears on his face once a certain idea comes to mind and he stops walking before speaking up more, "I'm surprised that you'll be able to live with the fact that you weren't able to uphold your end during the challenge today~"

"Though I'm disappointed at being taken out, my performance today did play a significant role in our victory, so there is no reason to believe that I failed in any meaningful way since I intended to weaken the other team, not defeat all of them in one-on-one combat." Arthur points out after shutting his eyes.

"True, but you were taken out of the challenge today and I wasn't, so as far as I'm concerned, you lost today!~" Makima cheerily and smugly explains with the grin on his face growing wider.

"The Frogs of Death won the fight, but I won the war today... So as far as I'm concerned, winning fights doesn't matter as much as winning wars, even if said wars are rather minuscule and simple to me," Arthur bluntly confirms.

"This coming from the guy who provoked me yesterday into this 'little war'? You sure that you didn't suffer from amnesia, Harry Osborn?~" Makima wonders as he lightly knocks on the prince's head.

"I've got no idea what you are referencing there. That aside, your attempts at pulling off a Kai Hayashida will not-"

"Cunt!" Makima yells out as he points at the prince.

"Work on me." Arthur finishes his statement before turning around and walking away from the actor.

"Right, I guess you Kingstons deserve insults far worse than that," Makima remarks after the smile on his face goes away and he crosses his arms. He then turns around and begins walking away after sighing to himself. Truthfully, he was disappointed that even replicating someone who angered him and the rest of the team didn't work on the 'Ice Prince'.

"..." Arthur briefly stops walking for a moment once the actor has already turned away from him. However, it wasn't long before he would continue walking off without having any care for almost everything that Makima had said.

This conversation was observed by Chara from behind a palm tree that she soon stepped out from once the prince had walked away from the beach. Rather than approaching any of them, she let the boys do their things and decided to approach someone else.

"What has made you so tired, Chris McLean?" Chara wondered after facing the host who was still catching his breath.

"I had to... run around the island... to deal with another bird... that I shot," Chris tries his best to answer amid all his panting.

"So, you missed the entire challenge and had to show basic decency to another creature? Today must've been a miserable one for you," Chara responds after slightly lowering her head to at least attempt to show pity to the host.

"Tell me 'bout it!... Well, at least I can... review the footage... later on." Chris tries to be optimistic about the situation.

"So it would seem. Today was very-"

"I didn't even get a chance to use the sharks! CRAP!" Chris suddenly bursts out with frustration at the missed opportunity. Currently, he was tightly pulling his hair and the previous exhaustion that he was just showing had gone away in an instant. No amount of running or physical activity could ever overpower his need to make things more 'exciting', after all.

"What a shame," Chara sarcastically(?) responds to the host's frustration.

"Agreed! It sounds like I'll have to ask Kai to fit sharks into the challenge that he's planning," Chris admits before groaning at the unfortunate (for him) situation.

"When can we expect the first implementation of his challenge ideas to come into play?"

"Why would I, the greatest host ever, ever miss a chance at building anticipation for future events?" Chris refuses to answer the question and he even smirks when giving this non-answer.

Chara silently accepted this answer as she knew that pushing for more information would be pointless. In the future, ideas from the drama writer will be included in challenges and there might be a few that might be solely created by him, and that's all she really needed to know. Also, something else had caught her attention and instead of focusing on an eliminated contestant who played a factor today, she wanted to focus more on people who were still in the game... specifically, she was now looking at the Frogs of Death.

Hanako, Luciana, Rosie, Kazuru, and Shiro had all been pushed back to shore by the waves. None of them had suffered too much damage from the challenge and were able to recover relatively quickly after they each woke up. However, some members did struggle more than others when doing this with one of them in particular still being on their knees.

"EEEEEP! My clothes are wet!" Rosie screams out before she tries covering herself up with her arms.

"(You're seriously freaking out about that?)" Luciana quietly remarks whilst rolling her eyes at the v-tuber. Much like the tsundere, her clothes are wet but she didn't care about that in the slightest.

"Hm? What was that?!" Rosie questions after hearing a faint response from behind her. So, she adjusts her current position so she can glare at Luciana.

"Nothing!~ I was just pondering about life stuff," Luciana innocently responds whilst closing her eyes and tilting her head. She hoped that looking cute would help increase the believability of her lie.

"Oh, like why are you as flat-chested as you are?" Rosie genuinely wonders as she points at the thanatologist.

"...Where in the bloody hell did that thought come from?!" Luciana asks after being left completely baffled by the tsundere's thought process.

"How about the both of you pause this verbal-based battle before it can escalate to such a scale that would require the God of Gamers to interfere with their all-powerful spells?!" Kazuru requests from both girls after stepping in between the two of them. Currently, his eyes were closed and he held out both arms to ensure some distance between both parties.

"Why don't you get involved using your other forms for once? I'd be interested in seeing your other characters," Rosie suggests after finally standing herself up.

"Perhaps, that shall happen within the near future... Nevertheless, using this vessel's other forms is not necessary when it comes to solving the current conundrum at hand!" Kazuru explains while opening his eyes and staring at Rosie with a confident smile and a stare that was meant to seem menacing. Although, all of it was too ridiculous for anyone there to take any of it seriously.

"That's right, we shouldn't be getting into pointless arguments and conflicts with other people. Doing that will only make people want to eliminate us," Luciana confirms as she nods at her eyepatch-wearing teammate.

"You're just-... Shit! You somewhat have a point there!" Rosie reluctantly admits whilst kicking the sand beneath her out of frustration. Even though she hated admitting when other people were right when she wasn't, even she could recognize that getting into annoying and meaningless drama wasn't an ideal strategy in the slightest. On the internet, it was a helpful strategy, but in social-based competitions, it's almost guaranteed to eventually backfire on the person.

"Aw, thanks, buddy~" Luciana teases the v-tuber who had turned away from her.

"(Phew, at least I was able to stop a situation from escalating for once,)" Kazuru quietly explains with a sigh of relief at how the situation turned out. Something else would then catch the team's attention.

Yana finally made it to shore, but she wasn't alone. As she got out of the water, her hands were dragging Rival's unconscious body with her until the two of them were completely out of the water and were on the sand.

"Yana! Rival!" Jessica immediately calls out as she begins running over to her brother and sis-friend. Both members were damaged from the challenge, especially when it came to the various bruises on the blonde-haired sister's legs and stomach and the stab wound on the black-haired brother's chest. So, there was good reason for her to be worried about the two of them.

Before the rock climber could come up with a funny response, Yana releases her grip on her teammate's hands and falls into a sitting position due to the fatigue that she is currently experiencing.

"Don't push yourself, sis-friend!" Jessica instructs her friend before she reaches the two of them.

But, before the athlete could do anything, her brother's eyes slowly opened up and he stared up at the sun above for a few moments.

"Well... looks like we gave a new meaning to 'shipping wars' today," Rival remarks now that he's remembered all that has happened thus far.

"Yep, we're still alive," Yana confirms with a weak but cheerful smile which the athlete noticed.

"Dammit. Why am I ever worried about you two dorks?" Jessica playfully wonders as she rolls her eyes at the duo.

"Well, we're not in the best condition right now," Yana admits before nervously chuckling. During this admission, her eyes were looking at the stab wound that was present on her teammate with some level of worry present behind them.

"I've been through worse... so, I'll take my chance by staying in the game," Rival responds before sitting himself up and although a few coughs left his mouth once he did this, it didn't sound or look violent enough to come off as anything severe. His red eyes even looked over at the host with a sense of determination and seriousness behind them. The look was his attempt to ensure that the host wouldn't take him out of the game.

"Why are you looking at McLean like that?" Yana asks whilst slightly tilting her head.

"Oh right, people can be eliminated from the competition if they're too hurt to the point that they need to go to a medical facility off the island... and knowing Rival, I'm sure that he'd hate having that happen to him," Jessica explains before lightly biting her lip as she watches the host and her brother.

"Well, since your brother over here offered to stay in the game, I'll gladly give him what he wants out of the sadism of my black heart," Chris states with a pleased grin forming on his face.

"...I'm not sure if this is a good thing, but it sounds like Rival's staying in the game?" Yana says with uncertainty.

"That he is... which means that our competition can continue!" Jessica declares as she points at her brother.

"Sounds like it... so, good luck to ya, Jessica," Rival responds with a confident smirk that looks incredibly natural on his face. Even though he was a lot less energetic with his response, there was still a sense of competitiveness in his words and aura.

"Thanks! And good luck to you at dealing with Rival, sis-friend," Jessica playfully remarks to Yana before turning around and making her way back to the rest of her team.

"(Don't worry, Jessica... I'll try my best to take care of your precious brother... after all, I'm sure that he'll do the same for me.)" Yana quietly spoke to no one in particular whilst a faint blush appeared on her face. This blush soon goes away by the time she faces the vocalist who sighs in relief at how the situation ended up.

"It's nice to see that the both of you are doing well, but we've gotta start preparing ourselves for elimination!" Luciana politely reminds her two team members after seeing them in such a happy mood. Although telling her team members these words could make her come off as a buzzkill, seeing them be in such cheery moods after losing a challenge was a puzzling development to her. Heck, she was secretly holding back her frustration at how today had played out right now.

Not many seconds passed before The Frogs of Death watched their final member get pushed onto the sand by the waves alongside a bunch of scraps and metal pieces.

"..." Sazama initially remained lying down on his back and said nothing as his mind tried processing what had happened. There were unfortunately no safety goggles or shades nearby or on him.

His team had lost today's challenge and they were only hours away from losing their first team member. And now that he's reflected on his gameplay, the robot builder realized just how badly he's burnt bridges with the other members and how self-destroying his actions had been. So, things were looking incredibly dire for him and he found himself at a loss as to what he could do at this point.

"Shall the 'child of a thousand generations' accept the God of Gamers' revival attempt?"

A familiar voice interrupts Sazama's thoughts as he stares at the person who predictably spoke these words. When staring at the hand offering him some help, a single thought began growing in the boy's mind.

"(You'll just vote me out anyways...)" Sazama whispers out whilst staring at the self-proclaimed gods' hand.

"What ridiculous words are ye speak-?!" Kazuru begins responding to the quiet words by keeping up his usual shtick.

"Don't try playing nice with me, you clown. We both know that you'll just vote me off later on," Sazama interrupts the eyepatch-wearing contestant to make these accusations.

"Huh? I don't know what you're-"

"You might claim that you're a deity walking amongst mortals... but, you're just another two-faced, insignificant human who won't have my back!" Sazama refutes as he starts picking himself off the ground. However, he continues staring at the hand being offered to him the entire time.

"Where the hell did this paranoia come from?! I'm just trying to-!"

"SILENCE!" Sazama demands as he slaps away his teammate's hand. He then steps away from Kazuru before bursting out into laughter and continuing his response, "You shall not deceive me, you foolishly foolish fool! I'm the creator of the most complex robots in this world! The only thing you are is a mediocre actor who is likely too spineless to go against the opinion of sheep across the world! And so the fact that you think you can outsmart someone like me makes you such a tool because that's what you are! You're not the one using me... you're the tool that I'll use and you best not think otherwise, you stupid mistake of a tool!"

"..." Rather than saying a word, Kazuru found himself going silent from all of this. His entire body was shaking and he stared at his slapped hand with a look of horror on his face.

The cosplayer then turns around and he nearly falls to the ground before successfully running off into the woods.

"(Yeah, you're the tool here...)" Sazama quietly tries convincing himself and although he was panting heavily, the wide smile going across his face prevented anyone around him from feeling any level of sympathy.

"Kazu-kun!" Rosie yells out before she runs after the eyepatch-wearing contestant. Before she disappeared, she turned her head around and glared at Sazama for a second before refocusing on chasing after her teammate.

"I'll g-go follow them!" Yana insists while getting up from the sand, though doing this took her some time as it was clear that her body was tired out from today's events. Her fatigue didn't go unnoticed by another member.

"I'll assist you, Yana-chan," Shiro confirms before lifting the blonde into his arms as if she were a princess.

"O-Oh! Thanks for the help," Yana happily responds with a hint of confusion in her voice. It didn't take long before they ran off together to chase after Kazuru and Rosie. However, before they leave the scene, Yana is able to pick up Mono and she even pets the plushy a few times.

Rival blinks after watching Yana, Shiro, and Mono all leave together and he even sighs once they are out of sight.

"And just like that, you've killed any chance of keeping yourself in this game," Luciana bluntly tells Sazama whilst walking past him with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. She didn't seem to show any remorse when saying these words to the robot builder and the only other thing she does is walk off in the same direction the rest of her team went into. Although she does look back at the vocalist for a second, this barely lasts any time before the thanatologist looks ahead and walks out of everyone else's sight.

Now, the only members of the Frogs of Death remaining on the beach were Sazama, Rival, and Hanako. Aside from the trio, Chris and The Ferocious Trout all found themselves watching the situation unfold in front of them.

"I'm glad that you guys are at least bringing the drama this season. Anyways! Trouts, you can all head back to your cabins since I'll have to start setting up yet another dramatic elimination," Chris instructs The Ferocious Trouts who all understood the order.

Soon, the opposing team walks away from the beach alongside the host, leaving just The Frogs' remaining three members by themselves.

"(You can't trust anyone in this world... they're all a bunch of bullies or are wolves in sheep's clothing... but, Sazama is above all of those mindless tools,)" Sazama began talking quietly to himself. His arms began wrapping around himself and the pupils in his heterochromic eyes started constricting. All of this made the robot builder look like he was losing his mind.

"Wow! You're just a car wreck of a person, aren't ya?~" Hanako remarks with pure glee at the sight that she was seeing.

"N-No! Sazama is the most innovative inventor in the world!" Sazama tries refuting the pink-haired girl's point with these words as he raises his arms and begins grabbing his own hair.

"Well, you did just invent a scenario where you're going home without me needing to use my original plan... so, you're not wrong on that one~" Hanako continues teasing the 'inventor' before giggling.

"Pl-Plan?"

"Oh, don't worry about it! All you need to know is that you've got no friends left on this show and that you're going home~" Hanako told the boy as she slowly began approaching him from behind.

"...Yeah, that sounds about right..." Sazama initially responds with defeat in his voice and a sad smile which is directed toward the ground. Nothing around him mattered and only the words coming from the girl behind him were even registering into his ears. As more thoughts continued pouring into his mind, he instinctively felt like verbalizing a few of them, "I've failed in my goal, but 'twas a meaningless one. Sazama never needed friends before to be the most special person in the world! So, Why would he ever desire any in the first place?"

"Hehe~ It's so fun seeing you be so self-destructive!~"

"Hanako, What the hell kind of game are you playing?" Rival finally asks with genuine confusion and exasperation in his voice. He finally brought himself back to his feet and was able to stand on his own in spite of the various broken bones that he likely had as a result of getting hit by a ship earlier.

"Heh? I'm not playing any kind of game, Senpai!" Hanako turned around and her eyes widened at the tone that the vocalist was using against her.

"For some reason, I doubt that," Rival sarcastically says before glaring into the eyes of his pink-haired teammate, "You're kicking down Murano over here when he's already-"

"HEY!" Sazama turns around and pulls out his signature remote which he aims at his two teammates, "You do not have permission to refer to me by that other name, you mouth-breathing ha-!"

Unfortunately for Sazama, the remote in his hands explodes into small chunks after a knife has been thrown into it. This small explosion causes the robot builder to stumble back and a gasp even leaves his mouth. The knife which had destroyed his main weapon flew away from him and landed in the sand where the pink-haired girl soon approached it.

"Don't you dare talk to my koibito like that," Hanako threatens the boy as she picks up the knife that she had thrown.

Sazama looks at his right hand and immediately notices that his black glove has been torn apart from the explosion. Once the glove's remaining parts fell off his hand, his hand could be seen for the first time.

There were a series of scars going across it and even some old-looking burn marks. Sazama scowls at the familiar sight and tries hiding his hand in his hoodie's pockets before anyone else can get a good view of them. Unfortunately for him, it was all too late for him to hide any part of himself at this point.

"That's quite the gnarly work of art you've got on your hand~" Hanako remarks before laughing at the boy.

"Sh-Shut u-up! I'll get you for-!" Sazama tries yelling back at his teammate.

Within the span of a few seconds, Hanako charges at the boy and cuts him off by kicking his stomach before he can process what is happening. This kick launches Sazama through the air and he's unable to do anything before landing on the sand and even rolling across it. What stopped his roll was one Mrs. Coconut who was blown apart by the impact, causing its fractured pieces to fly away and the milk from the inside to splatter all over the boy and the sand around them.

"Hanako! Could you stop beating him down?" Rival tries insisting whilst slowly but firmly walking to where the pink-haired girl landed.

"I'm sorry, senpai... but I'm having too much fun!~" Hanako answers before throwing a knife in the direction of her target.

"AHHHHH!" Sazama cries out in pain once the knife goes through his exposed right hand. He tightly grabs onto the knife's handle using his other hand but finds himself unable to pull it out as he starts rolling across the sand in pain.

"Where's your precious robots now?" Hanako asks before walking over to the robot builder. From one of the many pockets in her skirt, she pulls out two more knives with each hand and starts banging them against one another. With a gleeful smile and sparks flying in front of her thanks to the knives, Hanako finally reaches her victim and stands over him.

"GAAAAAAH!" Sazama screams out even louder as he painfully pulls out the knife from his hand. Before he can put it to use, his left hand is stomped into the stand and the knife sinks into the sand as a result of this.

"I'm sure that Chris will appreciate what I'm about to do... because rather than going through a boring elimination, I'll just injure you so that we won't have to vote you off!~" Hanako explains before raising both of her knives into the air.

"(N-No...)" Sazama faintly pleads as he stares at the two knives that were moments away from stabbing him.

At this point, the cyan-haired boy knows that he can't do anything to prevent the brutality that is seconds away from happening. Although there was still one more backup plan that he could still use, it likely wouldn't be fast enough to stop him from getting stabbed. So, there isn't a single thing that he can do about all of this... there are no robots that he could call on and there is only one person who can possibly help him out now. However, his pride was far too great for him to immediately ask the nearby contestant for help and a part of him believed that it would be better to just let the girl do whatever she wanted... though another part of his mind was fighting against this thought. The mental battle that Sazama was going through made him even more uncertain than ever and his eyes stared into the reflection of the knives which his attacker was holding.

Hanako merely giggled at the look of terror she was receiving from her victim.

After seeing this reaction, Hanako starts swinging down her knives-

"Eeep!" Only for Rival to stop the pink-haired attacker by tightly pulling on her hair and he tries throwing her back. Unfortunately, Hanako doesn't get far and she easily lands on her feet despite stumbling a little. However, there was still a bit of physical distance between the two of them.

"(Guess that's what I get for not lifting,)" Rival quietly remarks before sighing at his lack of strength.

"S-Senpai? Why did you do that?!" Hanako asks with some panic in her voice. Although the action taken against her wasn't all too effective, the fact that it was coming from her dear 'senpai' hurt more than anything else.

"I did that to stop you from hurting him anymore," Rival firmly answers before making sure that he is standing directly in front of Sazama.

"(H-H-Huh?)" Sazama wonders with quiet confusion as he slightly tilts his head.

"B-But, he tried disrespecting you!" Hanako points out.

"So? Injuring him seems like one hell of an extreme overreaction to someone telling me to shut up," Rival responds whilst rolling his eyes at the reason.

"I couldn't live with myself if I let anyone walk over senpai, even if it's through conversation alone!" Hanako explains as the previously gleeful smile on her face starts looking slightly more deranged.

"Well, this 'senpai' seriously doubts that you care that much about him already," Rival honestly remarks.

"H-Huh?! You don't believe that I love you, senpai?!"

"Pretty much. I think you're just using me as an excuse to do crap like this... but, unfortunately for the both of us, I'll have to now protect Murano from you," Rival confirms before glaring at the pink-haired contestant.

Hanako gasps and even takes a step back after hearing these words.

"(Wh-Why?)" Sazama asks with a faint whisper which the person protecting him hears loudly and clearly.

"Because I'm Rival goddamn Seizon... and, right now, you need someone to protect you," Rival declares before spreading out his arms. Now, he has made his intentions entirely clear and is ready for just about anything that'll be thrown at him.

"..." Hanako faces the ground and takes a few seconds to process everything that she had heard from her black-haired senpai. Even though she wasn't expecting this sort of reaction and did feel slightly betrayed by her opposition, another emotion began surfacing within her... this feeling was excitement. Something about being opposed by the person she loves felt incredibly riveting and it partially fed into what she wanted out of their relationship, even if she didn't intend it to happen this way. What made her feel even better about the situation was the fact she already knew what her next move would be. The answer that Rival gave to Sazama's question told her so much about him and this newfound knowledge will be the primary reason that she'll do what she's about to do next.

Rival remains resolute in his current position and he continues waiting for the romantic's next move, keeping his arms out so he can protect the robot builder and shield him from whatever will come next. The sight causes Sazama to look at the vocalist with surprise and he even forms a small smile on his face. Neither boy could see the expression on Hanako's face or could get a good view of her eyes as time slowed down for them.

All three of them felt the world around them slow to a crawl as they all waited for the perfect time.

...

...

...

...

...

Hanako then grows a sadistic smile before rushing toward her targets.

Rival changes his stance by quickly sliding his left leg behind himself and clenching his fists in preparation for the upcoming attack-

Only for him to feel something press against his lips and he immediately noticed that it was Hanako's lips that had done so. This wasn't all, however, as the boy then felt something rub against his tongue and the temperature of his mouth getting higher as a result of the girl exhaling into him. All of this unsettled the boy and so he tried pushing himself or the girl away by pressing his hands against her shoulder (he didn't care about who was getting pushed away, he just cared about getting out of the kiss), but before he could muster the strength to force some distance between them, the boy feels the girl's arms wrap around him. Hanako then tightly pulls Rival's body against hers and continues kissing her 'lover' who was utterly shocked by the intimacy that the girl was showing, though what stood out to him more was the overwhelming passion she was displaying. The pair found themselves staring into each other's eyes during this one-sided kiss, Hanako's eyes were filled with bliss and it felt like they were practically begging the boy to believe her words whilst Rival seemed far more shocked and terrified by the entire situation.

Eventually, the girl releases the boy who falls against a palm tree and slides into a sitting position.

"(Y-Y-You... w-w-weren't... l-lying?)" Rival quietly asks, feeling completely overwhelmed by what has just happened.

"I want you... I love you... and I need you~" Hanako simply answers with hearts in her pupils and some drool falling from her mouth.

Although she didn't get a response from the boy, Hanako wiped away her drool and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Wow! That felt orgasmic!~" Hanako exclaims with pure satisfaction now that her body and mind started processing the kiss. Something about how intimate and stimulating the experience felt fulfilled most of her inner desires and even thinking about the moment caused an impulsive reaction that couldn't be externally seen by the cameras. What made the experience even more exciting was the fact it was even her first kiss! So, the fact it ended up being such a sensual and pleasurable moment filled her with relief and made her only more confident of her love for the boy.

"..." Rival continues to remain dead silent at the revelation and he instead tries internalizing his feelings about the whole situation. Now, this wasn't his first time getting kissed by another girl, but the unexpected passion and authenticity behind it surprised him far more than the action itself could've ever done. If he was being honest with himself, that kiss made him very uncomfortable and was made worse by the fact he held no love for the girl, so this was simultaneously the most one-sided, empty, and unpleasant kiss he'd ever experienced. To him, the fact Hanako held the kiss when he tried pulling away showed that she didn't care about him... but to her, it was just her way of showing her love. Whether he liked it or not, that kiss made Hanako incredibly happy... he made her happy... and that realization affected him more than anything else.

She wanted him to stay in her life more than anyone else in this hopeless world. She loved him to an extreme extent for unknown reasons. She needed him in order to be genuinely happy in life and so she could probably gain pleasure from someone like him.

If he gave himself up to Hanako, his future would likely be filled with emptiness and misery. He would be forced into doing more 'romantic' things with someone he doesn't love and probably be separated from everyone else who is still alive and a part of his life. His future would be a nightmare... but, at least his hell would be her heaven.

What stopped him from doing anything right now was the other factors that he was taking into consideration. Specifically, he was thinking about how the decision would affect Jessica and Yana.

"I'd love another kiss from you, Senpai~" Hanako states as she begins taking steps towards her black-haired koibito who didn't move an inch.

Before she could reach the boy, two metallic straps formed around her shoulders. This action is followed up by various sounds coming from the girl's back and she turns around so she can try to see what is going on. All she sees is Sazama falling back to the sand after he finishes equipping his invention onto her body.

Eventually, the noises stop and Hanako's launched into the air once the jetpack strapped to her back finishes forming. Her body is flown straight up and after propelling her a few kilometers into the air, it self-destructs and blows up in the sky. In the aftermath of the explosion, Hanako's body falls into the ocean with burn marks all over her back.

"Take that... you crazy bitch," Sazama simply says after sighing in relief at how his plan worked.

Now that the pink-haired girl had likely been taken out by the last thing that the robot builder had at his disposal, he began feeling a sense of calmness. However, this satisfaction doesn't last all that long when he remembers the other person who had forced themselves into the conflict. So, he picks himself up from the sand and faces the black-haired boy.

Rival remained still as he was slightly stunned by what happened to him, but his mind started thinking less about the kiss and he found himself thinking more about the person standing in front of him.

"Who needed protection, now?" Sazama playfully asks with a slight smile of pride.

"Heh... fair enough," Rival responds before closing his eyes and willingly letting himself lean against the palm tree.

"However, I appreciate the thought," Sazama confirms as she starts walking over to his teammate. The proud expression on his face softened into something that wasn't arrogant or angry for once.

"Well, I'm not known for making the best decisions," Rival honestly says while slowly opening his eyes once more.

"That much is obvious..." Sazama remarks after reaching the vocalist. For once, he reaches out with his left hand whilst turning his head so he wouldn't be facing the boy, "(B-But, I'm glad that you tried helping me.)"

"Hm? What was that?~" Rival wonders with a teasing grin.

"D-Damn you! I'm thanking you for trying to be there for me, you mouth-breather!" Sazama admits after facing the vocalist with a bright blush on his face.

"No problemo... Murano," Rival responds before holding onto the boy's left hand using his own. The reaction he received had been expected, but that still didn't take away the amusement he got out of it.

"Your jokes are just the worst, y'know th-?"

"(You'll surrender now, we are sure of what we see...)" A familiar voice began singing from a distance.

Both boys stopped what they were doing and slowly turned to face the person who was singing.

"Thee can't resist this fantasy!~" Hanako gives the boys the widest smile yet as she walks out of the sea. Even though some sizzles were coming from her body, parts of her clothing had been burnt, and even with the giant burn mark left on her back... none of this seemed to have affected her in the slightest. She took her time with each step until her feet were no longer touching the water.

It was then that she stopped walking and slowly pulled out another knife, though this one came from her sailor shirt. With the knife out, she swiftly licks the water off the blade of the knife before giggling sinisterly.

"Sorry... I'm not good at this singing thing..." Even though her wet hair was mostly covering her eyes, there were a few gaps that revealed the look in her eyes. This look was one of insanity and eagerness to escalate the situation even further now that there were no more useless gadgets that could stop her. Hanako tightly grips her knife and prepares herself to dash at her targets once again.

Sazama starts turning around upon processing these words in his mind, but before he can even begin making his getaway, he feels a sudden spike of pain coming from his back. The pain was severe enough to instantly make him pass out and fall next to the vocalist.

Rival's eyes widen and he gasps quietly at the large slash mark that was left on the boy's back from Hanako's knife.

"At least I'm good at creating art~" Hanako remarks before staring at the blood that had gotten onto her weapon.

"(Dammit...)" Rival quietly says to himself after he looks at the sand and thinks about the possible ways that he could stop the current situation from becoming worse. It wasn't too hard to come up with one that was the safest way out of this... so this was the solution he decided to go with since it also had the best shot at working. He wastes no time pulling himself up using the palm tree behind him so he can properly confront the pink-haired girl.

"Senpai... Will you choose this arrogant, self-destructive, and useless waste of space over me?" Hanako asks with a hint of anger in her voice. For once, she didn't even bother looking in his direction.

However, she's completely off-guard when she feels something grab onto her right hand. This was enough to catch her attention and she turned her head to look at the vocalist who was clearly trying to do something. While turning her head, a familiar feeling begins filling her body as a result of the boy's next action.

Hanako had been pulled into a kiss with Rival and the two of them let this moment last for a few minutes.

"W-Wow... that felt even better," Hanako says once they both pulled away from the kiss. She found herself heavily blushing and even drooling as she stared at the boy who had initiated the kiss between them.

"I'll be with you... if you stop hurting him," Rival half-heartedly requests. In his eyes were nothing but signs of misery and dread at the decision he had made and the action which he'd already taken.

"Deal~" Hanako simply answers before caressing the side of her koibito's face. Most people would've been hurt to see such an expression on their beloved one's face... but to her, it was a clear sign that their relationship would be one that she'd been hoping for from the moment she fell for him. As far as she was concerned, the knowledge that they wouldn't have a boring time together made her satisfied with how today had played out.

So, Hanako grabs onto Rival's other hand and she drags the two of them away from the beach. In this moment, the boy erases all of the apprehension that he is feeling and allows himself to be pulled off without any resistance. His decision has already been made and all he can do at this point is try to ensure that he can continue fulfilling his main purpose in life.

With the two of them exiting the beach and going into the woods, the situation had finally reached its conclusion for the time being.

This left Sazama's body lying on the beach and he remains unconscious for the time being. Although he was heavily damaged by the hits and slashes delivered to him, not enough was done to make him completely incapable of competing in the competition once he got back up. Eventually, his right hand begins twitching before it tries gripping onto the sand.

---

The Frogs of Death walked into view of the camera and what immediately stood out was the fact that almost all of them were paired up with each other during this little walk. The duos were Hanako and Rival, Shiro and Yana, and Kazuru and Rosie, which meant that only Luciana and Sazama weren't walking alongside anyone else even though they were both in the back of the pack. Despite the pairing up that they each did, none of them seemed to be talking to each other since all of them were more focused on other matters.

Hanako and Rival were in the very front of the group, although they didn't look like they cared about that fact considering that Hanako was holding the boy's left hand and snuggling against his shoulder without a care in the world... and Rival did nothing about this. Shiro and Yana both intently stared at each member of the duo in front of them, Yana focused more on the boy and she even frowned at the sight, meanwhile, despite his emotionless expression, Shiro was analyzing the pair and his focus was more on the girl. Kazuru and Rosie were too busy shivering from the night breeze to react much to their surroundings. Luciana just yawned and she didn't seem at all stressed about tonight. Predictably enough, Sazama was in the very back and he seemed to be in a very serious mood tonight which was evident by the fact his eyes narrowed on Hanako.

During the trek, Luciana's eyes slowly drifted up and they landed on the moon in the cloudless night sky. Her eyes remained on the white light and a part of her wished that they would've won today's challenge since she would've enjoyed having another night of moon gazing. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and a quiet sigh escapes her mouth at this realization. Before she could run into anything, her eyes looked back down to the ground and she continued to follow the rest of her team. At least the few seconds that she spent gazing at the moon prevented her from having any concerns about the results of tonight's elimination, especially since there was an obvious target who she believed was going home without a doubt.

The camera then panned up to capture a clear shot of the moon where The Frogs of Death's logo soon appeared on the circular object.

---

As the logo is edited to transition off of the moon, the camera pulls out to show The Frogs of Death sitting down on stumps.

"Welcome Frogs, tonight, you guys will be voting for each other and the camper with the most votes will be kicked off the island," Chris explains before staring at one contestant in particular and smirking at them, "Did you catch that, Yana?"

"Yeppers! I figured out that much yesterday," Yana confirms whilst holding out a thumbs up.

"Oh right, it looks like you're still in a good mood... well, that's disappointing," Chris admits with a sigh of disappointment and a frown. This comment did get a small smile from the rock climber who felt a level of satisfaction from it.

"Well, I'm glad that she's not in the mood to make our jobs much harder than they already are," Chef responds as he glares off into the woods. Although there wasn't anyone who could be seen, it was obvious who he was likely referring to.

"Actually, he makes your job harder than it needs to be, thus making mines much better than it already is~" Chris corrects his co-host after placing a hand on his right shoulder.

"Can you two please save the damn flirting for after the elimination? I'm pretty sure all of us want to get this over with already," Rosie impatiently states as her right foot repeatedly taps the ground.

"Right! We shouldn't hold up these kids any longer than we have to," Chef says before clearing his throat and straightening his back.

"Hey! Nobody tells me, Chris McLean, what to do!" Chris proudly declares whilst closing his eyes and pointing at himself. Almost everyone present responded with groans or eye-rolls as they were all mostly unimpressed with the response. However, Chris soon clears his throat and drops his hand before following through on his declaration of independence, "Anyways, let's get this over with already."

"Hey! That's what I-!"

"I'll vote first!~" Hanako abruptly insists with excitement as she raises her hand. Currently, she has her other arm wrapped around Rival's left arm and is even leaning against the vocalist without a care in the world.

"..." Sazama glares at the romantic before looking at the vocalist with pity.

"Well, Who would I be to turn down your offer?" Chris playfully asks.

"Probably dead," Luciana answers as she slightly leans back.

"Good point. It's time for you guys to get voting!" Chris quickly announces as he points at the outhouse where everyone will be voting in.

Hanako giggles at the announcement and she quickly snuggles her face against her senpai's cheek. After these few seconds of indulgence, the pink-haired contestant stands up and begins skipping off in the direction that Chris had been pointing in.

"Rival... What exactly happened between you and Hanako?" Yana asks after taking a deep breath and tapping on the vocalist's shoulder.

"N-Nothing happened!" Rival answers with a nervous chuckle as he makes sure to look away from the rock climber. He's clearly lying and this incredibly suspicious response caught Luciana's attention as she raised an eyebrow at this. Before the blonde could question him further, the vocalist calmed himself down and sighed before following through on his blatant lie, "It's just gonna take me some time to get comfortable with her."

"Why are you letting her do whatever she wants to do with you? If you're not comfortable with what she's doing, then maybe you should try stopping her?" Yana suggests in a polite tone.

"...Whatever she does won't stop me from upholding my promise to you," Rival suddenly confirms as he faces the blonde once more. He seemed completely serious about these words and he made sure to stare into the girl's red eyes when saying them.

Yana is unable to come up with an immediate response since she was too shocked by the boy's sudden change in mood. What he said came completely out of nowhere and she wanted to bring the conversation back to the original topic of Hanako... but she also trusted him too much to merely dismiss his words. So, she hesitates to say anything for a few seconds.

"I'm back!~" Little did she know, these few seconds were all the time she had left in this conversation.

Hanako skips out of the outhouse and immediately sits by the vocalist before leaning herself against his shoulder and even closing her eyes. Rival attention is redirected back to the romantic and he looks down at her with a hollow smile. Yana groans in frustration at her hesitation before she closes her eyes and tries calming herself down.

"..." Shiro silently observes all of this before he looks back over at Sazama who doesn't seem to notice his stare.

[Confession: Shiro]

"Sazama hasn't said anything yet and Hanako seems to view Rival as her boyfriend even though he doesn't seem to be enjoying her presence... so, What happened on the beach once we all had left? I'm uncertain, but tonight's vote should hopefully help bring the truth closer to the light."

[Confession: Yana]

"I've got so many questions about what's happening between those two... but, I'll trust Rival with dealing with his relationship with Hanako."

[Confession: Luciana]

"I never expected Rival to give such a blatant lie, but I'm now interested to see what else he can do... also, I'm absolutely voting for Sazama for taking me out during today's challenge because he loves being such a wanker!"

[Confession: Rival]

"Today, I've made decisions that I'll have to live with... and the least I can do is make sure no one else gets dragged down by them."

[Confession: Rosie]

"After seeing how that bastard made Kazuru run off earlier, I'd love to use my feet to deck him in his deck and then slap him until he turns into a sobbing mess... but because I've got a spotless reputation to uphold, I'll settle on voting Sazama off, instead."

[Confession: Kazuru]

"If thee viewers truly did hold the belief that those vicious verbal attacks left any lasting damage on this deity, then ye were mistaken! Nothing shall keep me down for I shall always rise back to the bloody heavens!"

[Confession: Sazama]

"Hanako Kaneko... You're going down."

[Voting Ends]

"Alright, the following campers are completely safe..." Chris begins confirming as he picks up four of the seven marshmallows off the trey next to him and Chef. After picking up one of the said marshmallows, he tosses it to the first contestant.

"Shiro."

"That's a relief," Shiro says before catching the marshmallow and ripping it in half. He eats half of the piece and places the other down on Mono, who is positioned on his lap, he then moves around so he can seem like the plushy was eating his half of the piece.

"Yana."

"Phew..." Yana unsubtly sighs in relief before she catches her marshmallow and holds it against her chest whilst closing her eyes, "I'm glad you guys didn't vote me off."

"Luciana."

"Sounds like I'm having a pint after this," Luciana remarks without an ounce of care in her voice. Even with this, she easily catches the marshmallow and wastes no time eating it.

"Rival."

"..." Rival wordlessly catches the marshmallow before letting it fall to the ground. Right now, he didn't seem to be feeling too enthusiastic about his safety since his mind was more focused on the pink-haired girl still leaning against him.

"Rosie."

"Sugoi!~" Rosie annoyingly exclaims as she tries catching her marshmallow, though this quickly turns into quite the struggle for her. The v-tuber spends the next few seconds trying to catch the bouncing piece which she unfortunately fumbles when it bounces onto the ground. This tragedy brings Rosie to her knees and she weakly punches the ground out of frustration at the ill-timed loss of her deliciously soft food.

"Kazuru."

"Yes!" Kazuru celebrates as he stands up and prepares to catch the marshmallow with his right hand... only for the marshmallow to bounce off his nose because his hand wasn't perfectly lined up with the throw. He then looks at the food he failed to catch before turning away from the camera, "That was planned!"

"And that leaves us with Hanako and Sazama because you two were the only ones who received votes tonight," Chris confirms with some disappointment that the votes weren't as crazy as they were last night. But, after watching over today's footage, it did make sense.

"Well, that's unfortunate but not unexpected," Hanako responds as she still has her eyes closed and is leaning against the vocalist without showing any signs of nervousness at the possibility that she could be going home.

"That's to be expected," Sazama comments before crossing his arms and groaning at his current predicament. Even he knew that his chances of staying in the game were incredibly slim.

"Hanako. You were the first person taken out of today's challenge because you were outplayed by Sazama of all people. Also, not everyone on your team feels comfortable around you." Chef lists off all of the possible reasons behind Hanako's votes.

Hanako slowly opens her eyes after hearing the second reason that the co-host states. Her little action causes Kazuru to flinch and Shiro makes sure to hold his best friend tighter in his arms.

"Sazama. Not only have you had underwhelming challenge performances, but you've also burned bridges with half of the team because of your unbearable arrogance and because you were so always desperate to prove something," Chef says as he tries sounding as objective as possible even in spite of the annoyance he personally felt toward the robot builder.

Sazama doesn't bother to give a response to the explanation, instead, he sighs and turns his head so he wouldn't be facing the co-host. Luciana, Hanako, and Kazuru all nod in agreement to the reasons given, especially the last one.

"This final marshmallow will determine which of you stays in the game..." Chris says before intentionally adding a dramatic pause. He slowly picks up the final piece and prepares to throw it into the hands of one of the two contestants.

Hanako and Sazama both stare at the marshmallow with differing levels of concern on their faces as they wait.

"So, the last camper to receive a marshmallow tonight will be..."

...

...

...

"Hanako."

"Yaaay!~" Hanako exclaims with a wide grin before she easily catches the final marshmallow even though her eyes are closed. Rather than eating the piece herself, she drops it to the ground where it lands alongside the other dropped marshmallow. She then looks at the vocalist and pecks his cheek, "Looks like we've got more time to spend with each other, Senpai~"

After saying these words, Hanako leans against Rival's shoulders as he blankly looks at the campfire in front of them. Yana's eyes widen at the peck which the pink-haired contestant gave and she slowly crosses her arms as she observes the two of them.

"Which means that Sazama over here is officially eliminated from the game," Chris says whilst looking over at the robot builder.

"..." Sazama initially gave no reaction to this which surprised most of his other teammates. Though he does eventually stand up from his stump and he begins reaching into one of the many pockets in his pants to pull out something.

"I think we should all be careful, the quiet kid over here seems prepared to shoot his shot," Luciana remarks before chuckling at her rather dark joke. This joke made Shiro frown in the background.

Eventually, Sazama finishes his action and he pulls out an unmoving owl which he then places on his right hand. Before anyone could question anything about what he's doing, the animal begins transforming into an entirely different object... specifically, it turns into a laptop.

"Now that I'm eliminated, I'm free from this game's ridiculous rules," Sazama vaguely explains as he pulls out a flash drive out of yet another pocket in his pants. He then plugs the drive into the electronic and it turns on to reveal what data is stored on it.

"(H-Huh?! You don't believe that I love you, senpai?!)" A familiar voice could be heard coming from the laptop.

"...Wait," Hanako slowly begins recognizing what exactly is being shown to her team. She begins sitting herself up and her eyes start narrowing on the screen that was replaying a familiar scene.

"(Pretty much. I think you're just using me as an excuse to do crap like this... but, unfortunately for the both of us, I'll have to now protect Murano from you.)"

"Huh? Why are you protecting him?" Rosie questions as she crosses her arms.

"Yeah, when did this take place? It couldn't have been after he insulted me," Kazuru wonders whilst scratching the back of his head.

"Well, they all seem to be on the beach and it looks like it's just the three of them, so it can only be after that," Shiro observes as he leans forward and pays full attention to the video.

"((Wh-Why?))"

"O-O-OH! That's why you were protecting him..." Rosie comes to a realization and her eyes widen at Sazama's state within the video. She even starts covering her mouth and for the first time in this game, she feels some pity for the robot builder's misfortune.

"Sazama! What happened to you?!" Yana asks with a newfound level of genuine concern for the cyan-haired boy.

"Only one thing could've done something like that to him," Luciana begins explaining before she turns her head and smiles at the romantic who grits her teeth at the events unfolding around her, "Or rather, there's only one person that Rival would be protecting Sazama from in this situation."

Hanako slowly faces the thanatologist and a quiet growl leaves her mouth.

"(Because I'm Rival goddamn Seizon... and, right now, you need someone to protect you.)"

"Yeah... that sounded just about as lame as I thought it did," Rival responds with a sigh as he looks away from the screen.

"Hey, I thought that you sounded-" Yana tries cheering up the vocalist as she starts reaching out with her right hand to touch him.

However, the video finally reached a moment that caught everyone by surprise and sparked a diverse set of reactions. Luciana's smile went away and her hair covered her eyes now once she faced the ground, Kazuru looked horrified and he stood up before immediately backing away from the romantic, Rosie seemed disgusted and shook her head in disbelief, Shiro wasted no time directing his attention and he glared over at the pink-haired girl, and Sazama simply closed his eyes since he didn't need to look at the screen to know what everyone else was seeing. Hanako and Yana were the only two who shared the same expressions since they were both incredibly livid at the scene which was revealed to all.

"DAMN, YOU!" Hanako yells out after swiftly pulling out a knife and throwing it at the robot builder.

Sazama's able to open his eyes just in time to see the knife and he tries blocking it before the weapon can reach his face. This attempt results in him lifting his laptop which is instead stabbed by the knife, though this also causes the electronic to blow up and sparks to fly everywhere (which doesn't blind him because luckily his eyes were closed). The mini-explosion sends Sazama onto the ground, although he's able to sit himself up fairly quickly.

"It pains me so much to destroy such a lovely memory," Hanako admits after she stands up from her stump.

"So that's why you seem so cozy with him," Yana says after standing up from her stump. Her hands were clenched into fists and she wasn't even looking at the couple beside her.

"Well, I'd say that the kiss has officially turned him into my koibito, so you're right. That also means that I can kiss him as much as I wan-"

"What about Rival? Does he even want to kiss you?" Yana questions while she turns to face the romantic with a frown on her face. There was a hint of disdain which could be heard in the tone she was using.

"Why are you so worried about what I want?" Rival asks after getting up from his stump.

"Because I hate seeing someone like her take advantage of you!" Yana angrily answers whilst pointing at Hanako without looking at her.

"Are you sure that you're not the one who's trying to take advantage of my senpai? He seems perfectly fine with me and yet it sounds like you're trying to make his choices for him," Hanako verbally counters while she struggles to keep her cheerful smile.

"That's because he's making the wrong decision by supporting you! I'd rather see him support someone who sees him as an actual person!" Yana honestly yells as she turns herself around to face her teammate.

"Oh really?~" Hanako begins responding as she turns around to look away from the rock climber, "(It's treason, then~)"

In the blink of an eye, Hanako pulled out another knife from her skirt and began turning so she could face her target. However, Shiro stops any attempt that the romantic was trying to make by standing in front of her and holding a pair of scissors in front of her face. The two of them freeze in their current positions and a strong gust of wind blows through their teammates now that they aren't moving incredibly quickly.

"Don't you even think of hurting her," Shiro states while holding his weapon in place.

"You think I'm scared of you after seeing Kingston beat you up earlier?" Hanako asks with a giggle. Although she didn't move and was staring at the pair of scissors being pointed at her face, she didn't seem at all worried about the weapon.

"Probably not... but, fighting isn't the only way to resolve this," Shiro explains before pulling his pair of scissors away. This move confused the romantic until she heard his follow-up, "We can just vote you out tomorrow."

"Oh, you think it'll be the eas-!?" Hanako begins yelling as she raises her knife.

Before she could start bringing down her weapon, Rival stopped the pink-haired contestant by grabbing her wrist and holding it in place. This action surprised Hanako who then noticed the vocalist shaking his head.

"Fine then..." Hanako begins speaking after dropping her knife and letting it fall to the ground. Rival sighs in relief at this, but he's soon caught off-guard when the romantic forcefully lowers both of their hands and somehow gets them to hold hands. After smirking at the fact they were holding hands now, the pink-haired contestant looked at Shiro and Yana, "I won't hurt either of you two, but I'll also forbid you both from talking with my senpai!~"

"Seriously?! You can't just-!" Yana tries protesting against this offer.

"We'll accept your terms," Shiro confirms after closing his eyes.

"HUH?!" Yana currently seems both angry and confused by the caretaker's response.

"It's clear that no one here wants to resort to violence-" Shiro begins his explanation.

"(I'd like to see some violence right about now,)" Luciana could be heard making this remark.

"And even if we did, I'm sure that we'd both rather not take our chances against her in a fight. Plus, the deal will only last for as long as she's on the island," Shiro finishes his explanation before narrowing his eyes on the romantic.

"B-But..." Yana begins responding, only for her to realize that there were no better alternatives that she could think of. So, even though she didn't like the deal, she eventually nodded in agreement before looking toward the ground with disappointment.

"Perfect! In the meantime, I'll happily allow the rest of you the chance to talk with me and my koibito starting tomorrow!~" Hanako announces after facing the rest of her team who all had been forced to observe the confrontation.

"Y-Yes m'am," Kazuru nervously responds after gulping at the passive-aggressive tone that the romantic had used.

"Hai!" Rosie responds while frantically nodding her head due to the panic she was feeling.

Luciana simply nods as her face expresses no emotions aside from boredom.

"Alrighty then! Let's go, my koibito!~" Hanako cheerfully exclaims before she begins running into the woods with her precious 'senpai'. Rival didn't have any say in the matter as he was pulled along by his current lover who smiled wider upon seeing the lack of excitement that he was feeling about their time together. Right before the unofficial couple left, Hanako attempted to throw her knife out of rage at Sazama once more... However, Rival quickly notices this and he pulls his pink-haired lover into the woods before anything else could happen.

Sazama grows a slight smile on his face after just barely noticing what the vocalist had done to help him out once again.

"Now that that's been dealt with, it's time for you campers, except for Sazama, to return to your cabins!" Chris directed the five other members who were still there. Shiro and Yana were the first ones to follow the host's orders by walking off together. Rosie and Kazuru soon follow though they are far more cautious due to the events that have already taken place.

Oddly enough, Luciana just remained sitting while Sazama got back to his feet.

"Uh, Luciana? Would you mind-?"

"What was the point of exposing Hanako like that? You could've just tried rallying the votes so you could just vote her off," Luciana questions the robot builder after slightly tilting her head.

"Well, I wanted to make sure that Hanako would be screwed after my elimination because she dared to mess with me and so she needed to be taught a proper lesson for the beatdown she gave me earlier. Also, I unfortunately had no shot in the netherworld of getting anyone else out after my lackluster performance today which wasn't helped by me irrationally burning my bridge with Kazuru after the challenge, thus ensuring that he, Rosie, you, and Hanako would all at least be voting for me." Sazama explains in great detail once he crosses his arms.

"Fair enough, I guess. How'd you get that flash drive, anyways?"

"After I woke up, I was able to convince Kai to give it to me."

"Chef, Would you mind explaining that one?" Chris questions as he turns to face Chef with crossed arms.

"I thought I took everything off him when I finally caught the kid!" Chef confirms whilst defensively raising his arms.

"Well, you clearly didn't... I'll let it slide, however, as it's created some intrigue that I'm always happy to have," Chris says after chuckling slightly at how the situation has played out.

"Of course, you let that slide... not that I'll complain about it this time," Chef responds before looking back at the two contestants. Sazama and Luciana turn away from the hosts so they can resume their conversation.

"Guess that just leaves me with one more question..." Luciana finally gets up from her stump and she looks up at the moon before finishing her sentence, "Why do you seem happy with how today played out? I figured that you'd have another breakdown or at least be distraught that your non-living friends couldn't literally carry you to victory."

"Well, as much as I love displaying my potential, that was mainly just my way of reaching the real goalpost. So, now that someone has scored the winning kick, my faith in humanity has been resurrected ever-so-slightly because now there is another being who has ignited the spark of this soul," Sazama answers after proudly pointing at his chest.

"You're so lucky that I can understand most of the shit that's coming out of your arrogant, nerdy mouth," Luciana remarks as she shakes her head at the robot builder.

"Screw you too. Now, before my drone transports me off the island, I'd actually like to give you a piece of advice," Sazama says before turning around once the sounds of a drone started getting closer.

Luciana looks down from the moon and she finally faces the boy with a level of curiosity regarding what his advice is going to be about.

"If you want to learn about death, then you should ask the dead man walking about it rather than staring off at the moon. Remember to also not take your anger out on the wrong people... doing that makes you a bully," Sazama says as a light breeze comes over the two of them.

"I'll keep that first part in mind and ignore that second part because that won't help me solve my damn problems like you're probably expecting it to," Luciana remarks while rolling her eyes in annoyance at the boy's words.

"Well then, if that's your response then that ends our final discussion. So, goodbye to you, lesser being!~" Sazama announces seconds before the Drone of Despair clamps around his right wrist and begins lifting him off the ground. Thanks to being incredibly light, the drone had no problem flying the boy away from the island until he got a good view of the place he was leaving. After closing his eyes and remembering his time on the island, Sazama smiles and gives a little wave before he's carried too far away to be seen anymore.

"Now, Would you mind returning to your cabin for the night?" Chris aggressively requests as he frowns at the thanatologist.

"That's the idea, McLean," Luciana remarks before she casually walks past the host.

"Was she just sassing me?" Chris questions as he looks over at his co-host.

"Let's just film our part for the next episode and move on, we've already got one troublemaker to deal with every day," Chef suggests after crossing his arms.

"Right, I'm Chris McLean, dammit! And I'll make sure that the show will go on!" Chris proudly announces moments before a camera turns on behind him. The host then smirks before turning around and facing the other camera.

Behind Chris and Chef, Luciana had finished walking away from them and had stepped into the woods.

"(Looks like I'll have to choose a side tomorrow,)" Luciana quietly informs herself before closing her eyes and sighing at the realization. She wasn't entirely certain about how she felt about this because the decision could easily make or break her game going forward, plus, there was someone involved who she was partially intrigued by. Even with all of these potential concerns, there was a part of her that was salivating at the opportunity. So many things could go wrong, but this could also be a defining move for her game depending on which side Kazuru and Rosie will each choose, and so even with her worries, Luciana believed that it was a decision she needed to make. This left her with one last thought as she opened her eyes, "Guess it's time for someone to go on a date with the devil~"

Once she let out this ominous statement, Luciana continued walking forward until she was too far away to be seen by the camera filming her. What exactly did she mean by these words, if there was any meaning behind them? When will Kai's crazy ideas be incorporated into future challenges? Can the Frogs of Death even compete against The Ferocious Trout tomorrow? Well, the answer to these questions will hopefully come in due time...

---

FLOW - Colors

A bass guitar, an electric guitar, and a set of drums were all picked up and played by three Sazamas with different hair colors. The bassist had red hair, the guitarist had brown hair, and the drummer had blonde hair. The three of them seemed to be in a white room that had a rainbow-colored floor to it.

Jibun wo! [Myself!]

The real cyan-haired Sazama jumps into view of the screen and takes the role of being the lead singer.

Sekai sae mo kaete shimaesou na, [And the world that is changed by certain moments,]

As he energetically sang, Sazama put on a familiar pair of shades.

Shunkan wa itsu mo sugu soba ni. [They are now always right beside me.]

A red bird suddenly appears on the left shade and it somehow flies out of it.

Asabi ni hitori yawareka na koe ni furimukeba... [If I turn around to hear a lonely soft voice coming from the sun...]

While the red bird was flying around the white room, a hole in the ceiling opened up and a disco ball slowly lowered down from the hole.

Mabayui hizashi no naka, futo kimi ga hohoemu, [Within the dazzling sunlight, you suddenly smile,]

The lights in the white room suddenly turn off and the disco ball begins spinning around now that it was activated.

Tozashita mado ga hirakisou ni naru. [I'll now open a window that was once closed.]

Sazama then pulls a microphone from his hoodie and tosses it in the direction of the red bird flying above him.

Jibun wo! [Myself!]

The red bird miraculously changes forms and reveals itself to be Rival.

Sekai sae mo kaete shimaesou na, [And the world that is changed by certain moments,]

Rival lands exactly by Sazama and the two of them begin singing together.

Sonzai wa boku no me no mae ni. [Exists here right in front of me.]

Although the two were getting lost in their singing, the white walls forming the room around them abruptly fell apart.

Miegeta! [I gazed up!]

The five of them now found themselves performing on a nice field of grass in the middle of a clear, sunny day.

Oozora ga aoku sumikitte iku, [At the sky which is blue and it feels so serene.]

Sazama and Rival both look up and they wrap their arms around each other as the rainbow-colored floor beneath them turns into dust.

Tozashita mado wo hikaru koto wo kimeta. [I've decided to open up the window I had once closed.]

The dust magically forms a rainbow in the distance which wasn't noticed by the two singers who were having just too much fun.

Jibun wo! [Myself!]

The colorful Sazamas randomly raise their respective instruments above themselves.

Sekai sae mo kaete shimaesou na! [And the world that is changed by certain moments!]

All three clones then start transforming with their instruments into fireworks.

Shunkan wo kanjiru ima koko ni, [Now I'll do what I feel in the moment,]

After they finish their transformations, the three different-colored fireworks are launched into the sky where they each explode into red, brown, and yellow colors respectively.

Hikari he to ryoute wo nobashite! [I'll reach my hands out toward the light!]

Both Sazama and Rival smirk at each other before they both cover their left eyes with their hands and laugh together at the silly poses they accidentally did by doing this dramatic action as if they were Kazuru.

Kokoro wo fukinukeru sora no iro kaoru kaze... [My heart is feeling the breeze of a wind that matches the sky's color...]

Once their laughter died down, both boys fell onto their backs and lay on the grass with happy smiles on their faces. Sazama looked up at the black-haired boy who had closed his eyes and was merely enjoying the light breeze going through them and the green grass surrounding them. This sight causes the cyan-haired boy to sigh in relief and he takes off the pair of shades he'd been wearing so he could get a good look at the blue sky above. The few clouds above then formed the title card for the season-

Total Drama Sinland

---

Remaining Contestants:

The Ferocious Trout: Rellik, Jessica, Makima, Ryokai, Chara, Gogo, and Arthur.

The Frogs of Death: Yana, Shiro/Mono, Rival, Hanako, Luciana, Kazuru, and Rosie.

Elimination Order:

Kai Hayashida (16th)

Murano "Sazama" Yoshio (15th)

Voting Results: 7-1

Anime Songs List:

Episode 1: "Mephisto" from Oshi no Ko

Episode 2: "KICK BACK" from Chainsaw Man

Episode 3: "Sparkle" from Your Name. and "Colors" from Code Geass

Author's Notes:

THIS CHAPTER IS FINALLY FINISHED! It turns out that making a 40K word long chapter when you didn't plan to do so in the first place is really time-consuming. Anyway, now that I'm done celebrating finally getting this chapter out, it's time for me to explain my-

Reason for Elimination: Sazama seemed like another easy first boot potential as although he could've developed more as the story went on, I felt like his story didn't need more than a few chapters to tell it and I figured that his personality had a higher chance of getting old sooner than other characters' ones will considering how much of it is centered around his irrational ego and I've already got other characters who make perfect story punching bags, thus making Sazama less special in this specific cast. One thing to note here is that due to Kai staying as an intern in the last chapter, the person who was going to end up being booted here would technically be the first contestant who would be properly eliminated and Sazama seemed like a strong choice for something like that because as seen in this chapter, I can wrap up his story well enough within the given time (Here, I decided to instead give him a happier ending to not only offset the dark scenes that this chapter had but also because I didn't want to give him the mean-spirited exit that'd be expected from his character since I'd much rather save that for the characters who deserve it more than him) and yet he's also someone who can easily leave a strong impression. This elimination generally lines up with the trend that these first four eliminated contestants will have and so when I combine that reasoning with the prospect of having an expected but strong first boot (along with the fact that this unfortunately isn't Danganronpa), it just felt like the right choice to make for this stupidly long chapter.

I'm not going to waste too much time rambling as this chapter is more than long enough at this point and because I don't have any AO3-level explanation for why this chapter took so long to make besides life being busy and me becoming a slower writer. All I'll say is that there were a few changes to the chapter along the way, it took me some time to even plan out the challenge and figure out how it was going to play out since I wasn't even certain which one I'd use until I reached the challenge portion of the episode, and I'm sorry if some plotlines or if the ending did seem rushed when compared to the rest of the chapter, I just wrote what felt right and some parts ended up being shorter than I expected. Also, I've added the list of anime songs used for this season just so I can keep track of which anime I've borrowed songs from and because I didn't want to wait until the end of the season to recheck all of these songs like I'd originally planned on doing.

If anything here seemed like references to other stories that my characters were in, that's because they absolutely were.

Now that my rambling is over, I'll thank ninjedi for beta-reading my story and I'll also thank all of you readers who have decided to read my story, I appreciate you all for taking time out of your days to read this and I hope that I've been able to entertain you with this story, even if it's just my silly fanfiction. And now, it's time for me to-

PEACE OUT!