The sun could be seen slowly rising on the horizon, marking the start of another morning for the remaining 14 contestants who have survived the first two eliminations of the season. Not a lot of them were awake for the time being, especially when looking at the Frogs of Death who only had a single member that was already up and running around the place. However, this member wouldn't be alone for much longer as another member found themselves moving around in their sleep.

"(G-Go a-away...)" This member had a frown on their face and clutched tightly onto their blanket.

Currently, this person was turning constantly and frantically moving their head as if they were looking around for something. Their body was shaking in fear and, even though they couldn't feel it yet, their body temperature was heating up to the point that drops of sweat were running down their face. Whatever thoughts running through this person's mind weren't pleasant ones.

"(I kn-know... j-j-just... l-leave m-me a-alone!)" They even started to grab at their hair amid their desperation.

Eventually, the person snaps out of their nightmare and they find themselves hyperventilating by the time they wake up. Although the nightmare was over, the strong emotions it got out of them were still running high, so they sat up in their bed and waited for some time so that they could collect their thoughts. After figuring out what had just happened, they were finally able to slow down their breathing.

"It wasn't real..." The person told themselves before rubbing their right cheek and sighing in relief.

Now that they could process everything they had seen, they wiped off all of the sweat dripping down their face and rubbed their eyes. Even though they had calmed down, the nightmare they had still remained fresh in their mind. In response to this, they did the only thing that could possibly help their mind no longer think of such thoughts and reached for a black square-shaped eyepatch.

"Hear ye, Hear ye..." Kazuru Badasu began to dramatically say once he had put on his eyepatch, "Thee's plea has been heard and so, just as always, this deity shall help this vessel fend off those fiends!"

The God of Gamers slowly grew a big and proud smile on his face. The nightmares that were just haunting his mind had now disappeared thanks to the surge of power that he felt from becoming an all-powerful 'deity' and all the concerns that his mind tried digging up were all buried again once more. At the end of the day, the true power held within the 'God of Gamers' was the ability to combat reality with fantasy by helping the host escape from it.

"Perfect. Now-" Kazuru began to say now that he felt ready for the day.

"You're funny~" A familiar voice remarks from behind him.

Kazuru instinctively jumps upon hearing the familiar voice and he positions himself so that he can face the person who interrupted his monologue attempt. Just as he expected, the pink-haired girl stood right beside his bed with an innocent look on her face.

"Is that so?" Kazuru questions after backing up on his bed and defensively raising his right hand.

"Yep!" Hanako Kaneko cheerfully answers before pointing at the boy, "It's cute, even."

"Intriguing. In former times, no other mortal has ever made such remarks," Kazuru responds as his eyes wasted no time searching around the room. Although, he was able to sound and look as confident as ever.

"I'll bet!" Hanako exclaimed before letting out a sweet giggle as she faced the eyepatch-wearing contestant. It was easy to tell from his eyes alone that he was likely trying to find a way away from her.

"The God of Gamers will need some time to reflect on such thoughtful words!" Kazuru announces before he jumps off his bed while closing his eyes. He successfully landed on his feet and his back was turned to the pink-haired contestant, just as he intended to be. Now that he was off his bed, the self-proclaimed deity wasted no time walking away from the girl after opening his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure you have a lot to think about..." Hanako begins her sentence before reaching into one of the many pockets in her skirt. A sadistic grin then forms on her face as she prepares to launch herself at the boy whose back is still turned to her, "(Chuuni Boi~)"

These words cause Kazuru to stop walking and he turns around to look at the girl who gave him a nickname he was all too familiar with. However, he quickly notices the girl rushing at him with a knife which gets a gasp out of him as he tries to react in time. Unfortunately for him, she was in the midst of swinging her weapon which gave him very little time to respond.

Kazuru tries raising his right hand to defend himself, but as he tries doing this, his legs give out due to the pure terror of the situation at hand. This was all he was able to do within the split second he was given to react. And so, the boy suddenly feels something slide across his right hand which doesn't cause any pain, but the feeling makes the hair on his body rise before he inevitably falls to the floor.

"Hm?" Hanako blinked a few times after noticing that her knife had some blood on the tip of it.

Kazuru sits himself up against the wall of the cabin before looking down at his right hand... where a small, fresh cut could be seen on it.

"I didn't think that would actually get you..." Hanako casually confirms before dropping her knife back into her skirt.

Kazuru's breathing begins to quicken as he processes the events of what had happened and realizes what happened to his right hand. Even though the wound had been painless and unintentional, the knowledge that the girl in front of him had basically put his life at risk and physically harmed him filled his thoughts. His eyes then slowly look up in horror at the girl who hurt him.

"Oh well, it looks like I got the reaction I wanted from you, regardless~" Hanako remarks with pure glee at the terrified look she was receiving.

"(Y-Y-Y-Y-Y...)" Kazuru found himself not able to even eke out a single word now.

"Yes? Is there something you'd like to say or ask?~" Hanako questions as she takes a step toward the boy.

Kazuru immediately stops himself from saying a single word, instead, the only noise he can make is a quiet whimper. He even tries backing himself up further but finds himself unable to do so since he is already against a wall.

"You don't? Well, that's disappointing coming from a Badasu," Hanako remarks before moving her right foot back.

Kazuru's eyes widen at these words which the girl immediately notices.

"That's right, I know that you're related to the famous Badasu family. The rest of the team may not realize that you're the child of Kazuhiko and Chiyeko Badasu, but I've known for a while now, especially after seeing you act exactly like the 'Chuuni Boi' I remember hearing rumors about back when you lived in Japan. Though it's not like I can't understand why no one else would believe it... after all, your parents are famous and intelligent people who escaped their empty lives to build an empire off of selling cars and getting their names out there... and then there's you," Hanako begins her explanation before the joy on her face begins fading away.

Kazuru's heart momentarily stopped beating as he saw the look of disgust and disappointment in the pink eyes staring down at him.

"You're a disgrace to the Badasu name and I can now see why your parents would allow you to run away from them," Hanako harshly says before getting on her knees and crawling to the boy.

Said boy couldn't bring himself to move in the slightest.

"I was hoping that you'd make this more exciting by putting up a fight, but I see now that I should've never hoped for such a silly thing," Hanako confirms as she gets closer and closer to the boy.

Once she reaches him, she leans into his ear to finish her response,

"(After all, you're just a little bitch who only knows how to disappoint others~)"

After saying these words, the pink-haired girl pulls away and laughs at the reaction that she was getting out of the boy.

Kazuru's head slowly drifts until he's staring directly at the floor. He couldn't refute or fight back against the girl at this point since every single word that came out of her mouth was too effective and true for him to dismiss them.

"Guess that reaction is good enough! Now, you better vote with me tonight, Chuuni Boi," Hanako says before standing back up and reaching into her skirt once more. She then pulls out the knife that had Kazuru's blood on the tip of it before holding it in front of his face, "...Or else."

Kazuru reacts immediately to the knife by retreating since he doesn't want to be near it or the girl holding the weapon any longer than he already has. So, he quickly shifts his body onto his side and tries scrambling away from the yandere by basically crawling away since his legs were shaking too much for him to remain standing for even a second. Just like always, he was running away from the problem at hand.

Hanako watches the boy during all of this and she remains completely still as she watches him retreat. She had no plans to chase him since it seemed that her plan to scare him into voting with her had been successful... this assumption made her incredibly happy and amused by what she was witnessing.

Eventually, Kazuru's able to pull himself underneath someone else's bed and hides there for the time being.

"You're so pathetic~" Hanako simply responds before putting her knife away.

The sounds of someone else waking up then caught the girl's attention and she turned to face the person who had finally been woken up by the interaction that had just ended. Hanako's happy expression soon turns into one of annoyance and anger as she realizes who the person who is awake is. This person was Shiro who, as usual, didn't have much emotion showing on his face, but this made him look completely serious as he stared at the pink-haired contestant.

Shiro and Hanako continue their little staredown before abruptly ending it once someone else has woken up.

During all of this, Kazuru curls up under the bed he retreated under and takes the time to again sort out the mountain of concerns that were taking over his head. This time around, he's unable to find any way to calm himself down and he even starts thrashing around the place after tightly clutching onto his hair. All of the memories and thoughts were starting to cause him mental agony as he was overwhelmed by them.

The nightmare he tried forgetting about quickly flashes into his mind and he suddenly stops moving entirely. Fighting against the nightmare was something he no longer could do since the 'nightmare' was actually a memory that he remembers clearly to this day, meaning that whether he liked it or not, it was a part of reality. Currently, there was nothing he could do to get away from said reality.

He slowly fell onto his side before rubbing his right cheek with his right hand which now had a cut on it.

"...I kn-know..."

Kazuru could only say these words before blankly staring off at the pink-haired girl in the hopes that she would eventually leave since this was all he could even do at this point, especially when up against someone who reminded him of another person whom he also feared. After all, he was just a weak, scared little boy who could barely protect himself.

He was just Kazuru Badasu.

Author's Notes:

Well, I certainly was expecting to make this. However, after reaching a certain interaction in the next episode, I wanted to write this scene so that the upcoming interaction could hit harder and work more effectively for the moment I'm building towards here. I couldn't find a good place to put it into the episode, so I decided to use the 'Minisode' technique (I got the idea from FreshmEn and Clown Princess Phoebe in particular) to work it into the story. Admittedly, this turned out much darker than I would've liked it to (especially since the episode that follows this moment has far more comedic and light-hearted moments), but I believe that it was necessary for me to lean into the darker tone to justify why Kazuru will act differently in the next episode and because Hanako's just someone who would go that far or even further if she wasn't confined with the rules of Total Drama.

Fun Fact: This'll be the shortest chapter I'll write in this story with it having only over 2K words, unless a future Minisode I randomly decide to make (I don't plan to make Minisodes a trend with this story) somehow goes even lower than this.

There isn't much more for me to say since this is basically only a scene of content, so...

I'll give a shoutout to Tech-Star 2.0 for being the first user to review this story, when I saw it, I did genuinely get excited and am grateful for you having left a review on it. Now, with that out of the way,

PEACE OUT!