Sonia did not wish to go swimming at the moment. Earlier, it was easier to 'go with the waves' and pretend that everything was fine. That there was no mechanical bear waiting to pin them against each other in the name of despair. She was prepared to follow the plan of keeping things the same until the party, but then she started talking to Hanamura in the kitchen.

She knew his mother was a weak spot. It was why her death was a slow one. Sonia wasn't as innocent as she was as a teenager, and she realized what Hanamura was talking about… well… weak spots are meant to be hit. If it was back in her kingdom, it would have been worst than just an implied comment. She became quite good at slowly bringing forth her subjects' worst nightmares.

But Sonia wasn't queen anymore.

She wasn't in despair, and the thought of using a talent that she honed when she was, made her sick.

Hajime didn't notice. Or if he did, he wasn't going to bring it up until it was safe to talk. Sonia didn't know if it would be. Monokuma was about to show up and she had to go swimming. Sonia had to act like a princess who was excited to do a normal high school activity like swimming with her classmates.

Sonia felt like the smile on her face was merely a mask covering the poison in her heart. Kazuichi looked a little nervous getting his swimsuit, but that wasn't uncommon for the man. He also refrained from making any comments about Sonia's swimsuit, or any of the other girls. It would have been nice, but Sonia almost wished for the distraction. Playing in the waves with a fake smile and pretending to be happy only made her want to lash out at someone.

Sonia did glance back at Hajime, Akane, and Fuyuhiko who made no move to grab a swimsuit and once again, she wished she could join them. They did not have to pretend everything would be fine. Though Akane looked unbothered and moments away from swimming in the nude.

Then the sky turned dark.

Storm clouds brood, and Sonia wondered how none of them figured out they were in a simulated world until Monokuma bring it to their attention. Things did not change this quickly.

Sonia did not have to pretend everything was alright as she changed out of the swimsuit and rushed to the park with the others. She exchanged a look with Kazuichi who looked even more nervous than before, but otherwise neither of them spoke. There was nothing they could do at the moment besides play their roles.
It was a little sad seeing Monokuma defeat Usami so easily. Part of Sonia was even a little bitter, wondering what would have happened if she was able to defeat the virus before it could become a problem. But from what Sonia understood, Usami was created to help them all make new memoirs to override their old ones. She was never built to go against something like Monokuma.

It was still disappointing.

Sonia was grateful for her acting skills, but she did not have to fake being shocked at seeing the monobeats again. Everyone, including herself, were scared stiff as one of them started gunning down Usami- or rather Monomi now. Everyone except Hajime who Sonia spotted in the corner of her eye took a slight step to avoid a stray bullet.
He did not even seem to notice he did that, and Sonia tried recalling if it hit him last time or not. Truthfully, Sonia could not recall much about what the others were doing. It was all too shocking to really pay attention. Togami's speech was the only thing that stuck out, and as did hearing it again.

Just like last time, Sonia wanted to speak up and say something, but she could not. They could not be careless at this time. Everyone's lives were counting of them, and Sonia did not know what to say to make things better. If she even could without triggering a flight of butterflies.

Instead, she just went to her cottage and tried to sleep.

Fuyuhiko didn't have to wait long before Peko showed up at his cottage. It might have been even sooner than last time, but he didn't care. Fuyuhiko waited so long to see Peko again, and it felt like everyone else was doing whatever the fuck they want despite what they all promised. Hajime better have a good reason for walking around telling everyone he's the ultimate Hope rather than not remembering his talent like he implied he was going to do.

But most of those thoughts disappeared when Peko entered his cottage and when she closed the door, he hugged her.

"Y-young master?!"

"Sorry," Fuyuhiko muttered as he pulled back.

His eyes burned, but he was not going to cry. Fuyuhiko had a mission, and there was no way he was going to fuck this up.

But he also wasn't going to let Peko continue to think her only use to him was that of a tool. It was something he should have gotten through to her long ago, before everything fell apart. Before Peko was about to die…

"Peko…" Fuyuhiko made sure he was looking at Peko, seeing the confusion and worry in her usual blank expression. "You're not a tool. I've told you I never wanted a tool, but that never meant I didn't want you. I just… fuck…" Fuyuhiko didn't understand how it was so hard to say this when he already said it once. "I only wanted you to be yourself! Not who my family told you to be."

Fuyuhiko had to look away to blink the tears that were forming in his eyes away. He was fucking this up. He was able to lead thousands of his men to their pointless death with just one word, and now he can't properly explain to Peko what he means.

"Young master, I don't…" Peko started to say, and when Fuyuhiko looked back at her, she continued in a whisper, "I dont know if I can do that…"

"Then promise me you'll try!" Fuyuhiko begged, taking a shaky breath as he tried to force himself not to get worked up. "This is a shitty situation we're in, but as long as we're stuck on this island, we don't want to worry about the Kuzuryu clan. You can just take your time to figure out who you are without everyone breathing down your fucking neck demanding you be nothing but a tool for my sake. And once we leave, if you decide you want nothing more to do with the clan, I'll free you of your duty."

Peko looked at him in shock. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open in an inaudible gasp. Fuyuhiko only had a moment to be satisfied that what he was saying was getting through to Peko before she harden her expression.

"I'm not going to abandon you."

"I'm not asking you to. If you still want to stick with me after everything is said and done, that's fine. But I want you to take the time to choose that for yourself, Peko! Not because you're duty boned by my fucking family. Alright?!" Fuyuhiko failed to keep from yelling, but Peko was to used to it to react.

She just stared at him with an unreadable expression. But then the corner of her lip tugged upward.

"…alright," she said with a quiet smile.

And it was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

"Okay, good. That's… great," Fuyuhiko muttered as he rubbed his hair through his buzzed hair and started pacing his room.
"We should keep our professional relationship a secret from the others," Fuyuhiko finally said, figuring he should still try to keep that the same. Avoiding Peko was going to be hard, but it was necessary.

"Do you have a plan to get off this island? If you need someone murdered I can-"

"No one is going to fucking die! Expect for the mastermind behind all this, but even then I don't want you to kill for me."

"Then you do have a plan?" Peko asked, and Fuyuhiko had a feeling she was trying to move away from the emotional conversation they just had.

Which was fine. Fuyuhiko didn't want to dwell on it either.

"Yeah," Fuyuhiko admitted, because he wasn't going to lie to Peko but… "I want to tell you, but I don't know how much that fucking bear is listening in. I'm gonna have to ask you to just trust me on this."

"Is there anything I can help with?" Peko asked, and just as he turned to remind her she didn't have to do anything, she continued. "Not as your tool, but as a fellow classmate who is stuck on this island."

Fuyuhiko was stuck silent at that. So many times he has tried convincing Peko that she wasn't a tool, that he didn't need one. He wasn't expecting this conversation to be a one-time thing, but it seemed like Peko was trying. He wasn't sure if she was trying for his sake, or hers, but it felt like progress. Progress that didn't require someone's death.

"You can…" Fuyuhiko started to say before he even came up with a plan. But while Hajime thinks the biggest risk to their plan failing was the Enoshima AI, Fuyuhiko knew it was themselves. As the fake Togami said, they were their biggest risk. Having an extra eye on the others would be a great boon.

"…help keep an eye out on the others. Part of my plan is to make sure no one gets desperate enough to murder, so if you notice anyone being sketchy bastard, let me know. Don't do anything, but keep an ear out. You'll have an easier time connecting with the others since they won't know about your connections to the Yazuka."

"Are you worried the others won't trust you?" Peko asked, and Fuyuhiko almost laughed as she twitched to grab her sword, like threatening them to be friends with him would help.

Man, I missed you so much, Peko.

"Oh, I know they won't at first. They would have to be idiots to trust anyone in this situation, but I'm still gonna try," Fuyuhiko said with a smile that was probably more threatening than it should be considering what he was talking about.

It still seemed to calm Peko down, as she hand let go of her sword sheath and gave Fuyuhiko a quick nod.

"Then I will keep an extra eye out. Let me know if you want any other help, Young Master."

"I told you not to call me that, Peko," Fuyuhiko said, wondering if he might have celebrated her change too soon.

"Don't worry, I will refer to you as Kuzuryu… in front of the others," Peko said in an almost teasing tone before she opened the door and left.

Fuyuhiko… wasn't sure what to think of that.

There was a knock at his door.

Hajime just got back to his cottage after staring at the night sky (the simulation didn't do a very good job of replicating it, at least five constellations were missing) for the same about of time as last time. He wasn't expecting anyone to show up. The only one who Hajime figured would take this time to talk while risking Monokuma overhearing was Akane (not caring about the latter) or Fuyuhiko (caring too much about the former).

The knock didn't sound like either's.

When Hajime got off his bed still wearing his clothes and opened the door, he was greeted by a short girl with light pink hair who was too focused on her Game Girl to look at him.

"Chiaki?!" Hajime exclaimed a little too loudly, but a quick look outside showed that no one else was around.

The night announcement went off a while ago (48 minutes) and it seemed like everyone else was asleep, or at least in their cottage trying to.

"Yep," Chiaki said after a long moment before just walking in.

Hajime was too shocked to stop her, even if he wanted to. Which he didn't. There was nothing Hajime or the others did that would prompt Chiaki into meeting him like this.

Wait, does she...

"My big brother set up your cottage to be a deadzone, so it should be safe for us to talk, I think."

"Big brother?" Hajime asked, confused for a moment before he remembered their last meeting in the simulation, "You mean Alter Ego?"

"Uh-huh," Chiaki affirmed as she sat on his bed, putting her Game Girl into her bag before giving him her full attention.

She just sat there looking at him, slowly blinking, and it took him a little too long to realize she was waiting for him to speak.

"Do you… remember what happened?" Hajime asked a little hesitantly because even if she wasn't human, she was still his friend, and remembering her death probably wouldn't be pleasant.

"Kinda," Chiaki said before yawning, "Big brother sending me some files from the first run to download. I remember all the important stuff, I think."

"The important stuff?" Hajime asked, really hoping that Alter Ego didn't send the memory of her execution.

"Like what happened the first time. The motives, and trials. That the virus rewrote the graduation protocol to try to take over the bodies of our friends who died," Chiaki explained, looking a little pissed before looking back at Hajime with a smile, "Big brother also told me what you told them about your plan to avoid all that… I want to help. If I can."

"Oh, that's great! You were really a huge help before and… I missed you," Hajime said awkwardly.

He wasn't the best at being vulnerable, but he almost missed his chance to thank Chiaki when she died in the program and wasn't going to risk it again. The fact she was here and still remembered (was downloading files the only thing an AI needed to remember something?) what happened was almost too good to be true.

"Thanks, and I missed you too, Hajime," Chiaki said with a lazy smile, and it really was good to have one more of his friends to help.

But it made him realize that he now knew two versions of Chiaki Nanami. The one he was friends with during his first year at Hope's Peak before agreeing to the Project, and the AI he befriended the first time in the NWP who was currently sitting on his bed. And Hajime couldn't help but wonder if Chiaki saying she missed him meant more than him and the others leaving the simulation.

"Do you have any memories from the real Nanami?" Hajime asked before he realized how that sounded, "Not to say that you aren't real, or a fake Chiaki but-"

"I know what you mean Hajime," Chiaki said with a smile like she found this amusing before she was back with her usually sleepy expression with a yawn. "Father created me to be a friend to those recovering in the Neo World Program, and when you all were put it, Big Brother modified me after your collective memories of Chiaki Nanami."

"Oh," Hajime said, trying to not feel a little disappointed she wasn't more like the human Chiaki.

It line up with what he found in the files he had to repair. Chiaki's AI was missing, but there were enough references to what Hajime now realized was her program. Hajime wasn't sure he liked the idea of a program going into their memories and mimicking their deceased friend, but he couldn't bring himself to think the Chiaki in front of him did it maliciously. Not to mention she clearly was more of a help then Usami was.

It did bring up another question though. A more personal one.

"Do you…" Hajime started to ask knowing that Chiaki likely just showed up to tell him about the deadzone and offer her assistant, but figured this was an important question to ask even if it might not be the best time, "Do you consider yourself to be Chiaki, or is it more like the situation with the imposter?"

That seemed to wake Chiaki up. She looked shocked. Like she wasn't expecting that question (or Hajime to ever ask her that).

"I… don't know?"

Chiaki pulled up her hood, and Hajime wasn't sure if he should try comforting her or tell her she didn't need to answer if it made her uncomfortable or-

"I didn't really have a name before. And I like being Chiaki but… I'm probably different from the human Chiaki Nanami."

Even though it still hurt thinking about human Nanami, Hajime couldn't stop himself from comparing and contracting the two. The Chiaki in front of him was just a little less emotive, but that could just because she always looked sleepy in a way that the other was only after having an all-nighter. Which became rarer as the school year went on. But they both tried to be supportive, never giving up. Even when faced with their death.

They were different, but Hajime wondered if Nanami lived, how different she would think Hajime was now from the one before the project. Or any of her classmates. They all changed, and while it's not the same as an AI that was modeled after a real person…

"It's not a bad thing you're different. You're your own person, and… uh… I think human Nanami would be happy that you share her name and want to help us."
Hajime wasn't sure if he explained his thoughts properly, but Chiaki gave him a smile.

"Thanks, Hajime. I like to think she would too," Chiaki said with a yawn before she stretched and leaned back…

"Hey, don't fall asleep on my bed!"