From this point onwards, the chapters are beta read by a friend of mine. She's gonna give me a slap on the wrist when I try to write something dumb, so many thanks to her. Of course, if any of you still have criticism or questions, don't hold back.

Chapter 8: A Strenuous Morning

"Ibuki!"

"Yes, Sir!" She spun around with her usual amount of energy and immediately settled into a semi-serious salute. They were almost alone in the hotel's restaurant area. Not surprising, since the morning announcement hadn't even played yet. The only person present, apart from them, was Hiyoko, but she was still busy preparing her sugar with a little tea.

"Take what you intend to eat for breakfast and follow me," Byakuya told her, grabbed his own plate piled with food and turned to walk off.

"Ah! Okie-dokie!"

He looked over his shoulder and saw her catch up to him with long strides. "Soooo, where are we going?"

"To the lodges."

"Why?"

"Just come with me."

When they arrived, they found Gundham and Mahiru still guarding the area. The same scene he had seen when he had left his cottage and made his way to the hotel barely ten minutes ago.

"You two, we'll take the next shift. You can go and have breakfast. When everyone is done, bring them here. Got it?" He was talking to both, but he mostly looked at Mahiru, the one most likely to do as she was told.

"Alright," Mahiru said nodding.

Gundham just stretched his arms and walked off without a word, Mahiru trailing behind him.

Byakuya looked around, but there was no other alternative, so he settled down on the floor with a grimace. It was a good thing that the cottages of the two troublemakers were so close to each other.

Ibuki watched him as he started tearing into his pile of food. She eventually placed her plate on the ground and sat down opposite of him. "So, we're going to be here a while? What should we play?"

"Play?" He cast her a skeptical look. "What are you talking about?"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"I'm the one who asked that!" he snapped. "What do you mean with 'play'?"

"Playing is playing! You pick a game and then you play it! Real simple! Oh, or do you wanna play an instrument instead? Ibuki didn't know you can play! How exciting! Aw, but we don't have any instruments, do we? Man, that sucks. Do you think we could make them ourselves? That might actually work! It'd be like a scavenger hunt, only we're looking for instrument parts. Hey, what's the most interesting thing you've ever found on a scavenger hunt? For me it was probably this huge doll sitting next to a dumpster, except that when I tried poking it, it moved! I nearly died from the shock! Turns out it wasn't a doll at all! It was actually a kid who was lost, so we continued searching together, only we weren't looking for things anymore but for his—"

"Stop!" he finally exclaimed to stop the endless flow of words. Chiaki, who was just heading to breakfast, startled and looked over to them for a moment, before she continued.

Ibuki blinked at him. "Hm? What's wrong?"

He rubbed his forehead, feeling suddenly very exhausted. "Shut up for a moment, will you? I can't hear my own thoughts."

Her face fell. "Oh. Sorry, I'll stop now. You won't hear a single peep from…" She trailed off when she saw the aggravated look he gave her. With an abashed smile, she made a motion of zipping up her mouth.

Byakuya sighed in relief. Finally, some peace and quiet. How on earth did she manage to talk without pause?

However, it seemed as if she couldn't stay quiet, even if she didn't speak. Seeing as she drummed a small rhythm onto the wooden board beneath her while she took a bite of the toast with jam she had brought. She leaned her head to the right as she chewed, deep in thought. Then she suddenly turned to him, opened her mouth and stopped short, frowning. "Hey, is the moment over now?" She spoke up with her mouth full, which made him wrinkle his nose at her.

"No."

"But Ibuki wanted to ask you something," she said, pouting.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "You are speaking anyway. What is it?"

Ibuki finally swallowed her food. "Didn't you say you wanted to talk to Nagito? When do you want to do that?"

"As soon as the others arrive."

He would have preferred to talk to him alone, actually, but decided that it would probably be smarter to do it as a group. On the one hand, it was because they would pester him about it if he didn't take them along. He just knew they would. And on the other hand, the previous killing game had shown him that whenever someone didn't know something, it ended in disaster. That had been the case with the motive videos, the embarrassing secrets, the whole mess with the laptop, everything revolving around Sakura… the list went on. That was the main reason why he felt it was more sensible to let them in on it. If he didn't, they might get suspicious and paranoid and end up doing something stupid.

Besides… maybe Nagito would be in an emotionally unstable position as well and while he had thought about it and came to a conclusion on why Teruteru might have reacted badly to his attempt at consoling him, Byakuya would still prefer for someone else to take the job.

"Oh! So, you're waiting and letting them have breakfast first? That's super nice! And super unexpected!"

What was that supposed to mean? She made it sound like she expected him to be some sort of monster that wouldn't allow his underlings to eat before putting them to work. "Eating a balanced breakfast is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle. How would you get enough energy to stay productive until lunch? Working on an empty stomach is possible but inefficient," he said, even though that should have been self-explanatory.

"But what about Nagito and Teruteru?"

"I'll bring them something once this is done." Frankly, they had lost any privileges like getting to eat breakfast early when they attempted murder.

"I see, I see." Ibuki nodded thoughtfully, then she raised her piece of toast again. However, before she could take a bite, she stopped with it hovering in front of her lips. Lowering the toast, she looked over at him. "Do you think they're gonna be okay?"

"Who?"

She leaned forward way too fast for him to react and tapped his forehead with her finger. Byakuya swatted her hand away with a scowl, which she returned with an incredulous look. "Helloooo? Nagito and Teruteru, obvs!"

The musician was really getting on his nerves. Hoping to get her to shut up, he answered, "Of course. Teruteru wasn't injured at all and Mikan said that Nagito should make a full recovery."

She scrunched up her brows at that answer. "Huh? But that's not what Ibuki was asking. What does being okay have to do with being alive? Well, apart from the whole being alive thing being a requirement for the rest and stuff…"

"What?"

She confused him even further when she suddenly started laughing. "You know what? You should totally make music with Teruteru!"

Byakuya crossed his arms, pondering where that suggestion had come from. He idly wondered if trying to understand her wasn't just a futile mission. "Why would I do that?" he asked nevertheless.

"'Cause you might start to understand each other better. You can get to know a person pretty well if you make music together!" She nodded enthusiastically, looking like she had just solved the mystery of the universe. "Maybe you wouldn't mess up like yesterday if you tried."

"I did not mess up!" he felt the need to defend his dignity. So what if his first attempt at consoling someone had backfired a little? The rest of the night had gone perfectly smoothly.

"Ha! So, your pride has built a wall so strong that I can't get through. You totally did, though! Making someone cry? C'mon, that's a big no-no." Despite her words, Ibuki still seemed perfectly cheerful.

"Are you adopting the rabbit's speech patterns now?" Byakuya asked grouchily.

Her eyes went wide and she started to pat herself down frantically. "Oh no! Am I?! AHHH! It can't be! I don't want to turn into someone as boring and mellow as Monomi! These bright colors don't even suit Ibuki!" With a cry of "Help!" she latched onto his arm.

"Let go!" He tried shaking her off, but she was holding him in a vice grip he wouldn't have expected from her.

"What are you two doing?"

They both turned around to the owner of the voice and it got Ibuki to thankfully let go of his arm. "Mahiru! Emergency! Am I turning pink?!" the musician asked urgently.

Mahiru and Hiyoko, who had come with her, eyed her curiously and not just a little confused. "Uh… no? You're… not pinker than usual, I guess?" Mahiru finally answered.

That seemed to satisfy Ibuki. She relaxed with a long exhale. "Phew. I swear I could almost feel myself lose all of my character traits."

"I don't think you need to be afraid of that," Byakuya told her. If anything, that would probably be a blessing.

Hiyoko rolled her eyes, tugging at Mahiru's arm. "Well, we don't have time for the airhead and Mr. Ham Hands. Come on." And she attempted to drag the photographer over to her cottage.

"Airhead?" Ibuki repeated, mostly to herself. "I've always wondered why we say that. Wouldn't airguitarhead sound so much cooler?"

"And where are you going?" Byakuya asked before they could leave.

Mahiru didn't look at him. "Nowhere in particular."

Hiyoko on the other hand had no qualms telling them. "Mahiru is going to take a shower with me!" she declared.

"Oh, that sounds nice. Have fun!" Ibuki said.

Byakuya frowned. They were going to shower now? "You can do that later, after Nagito's interrogation."

"What? Why?" Hiyoko stomped her feet on the ground and looked at him defiantly. "What gives you the right to boss us around?!"

"I am your leader!" he reminded them, a little peeved at the question.

"Leader or not, it doesn't mean that you can act like we're all your servants," Mahiru stood up to him. "Besides," she took a step closer, "what do you mean with an interrogation? If you're just going to hurt his feelings like you did with Teruteru, you should leave the talking to someone else. Men like you should be ashamed of themselves. You don't think other people might have feelings too?"

This again? What, did they expect him to baby people, just because they couldn't handle criticism? Even Makoto was more mature than that. "I will say what is necessary to get my point across. There is no need to sugar-coat reality, especially if it could give someone a wrong idea." Byakuya returned her look firmly, none of them stepping down.

She put her hands on her hips, her eyebrows knit together. "It's not about sugar-coating. It's about not acting like an asshole."

Byakuya sneered. "Oh, so you're calling me out, but she gets a pass?" he said, with a nod towards Hiyoko.

"What did I do?!" The short girl bristled.

"That's completely different," Mahiru said. "Don't drag her into this."

"Oh, is it different because she's a girl?" he asked with a sardonic smile. Because there really wasn't any other difference. If anything, he at least had a reason for acting like he did. Hiyoko butted heads with everyone just for her amusement, it seemed. Not that he personally cared about petty insults like these, but Mahiru had to be blind not to see that.

Despite that, the photographer crossed her arms. "No, it's not."

Byakuya answered with a snort.

She looked like she wanted to say something else, then thought better of it and shook her head. "Look, if we're going to wait here anyway, we might as well just do something productive in that time. So, if you'll excuse us."

This time, it was Mahiru who dragged Hiyoko along to the girls' cottages. Hiyoko turned around one last time to stick her tongue out to him, before she fell into step with her. Byakuya, still scowling, called after them, "You better make it quick!"

The door slammed shut behind them with a loud bang.

Turning back around, he mumbled to himself, "Just why are they showering together in the first place?"

"Maybe they're moving on to the next stage!" Ibuki said.

He shot her a deadpan look, but she just winked back at him and held her fingers up in a victory sign. Byakuya fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't even want to know."

For some reason, that made Ibuki giggle and, using her index and middle finger still forming a V, she scooped up one of the last two pieces of cucumber on her plate. Byakuya watched her with disdain. Did she think her fingers were chopsticks, or what? Completely unacceptable.

To save the last piece from the same undignified fate, he quickly snatched it from the plate and, ignoring her protests, shoved it into his mouth.