Once lunch ended, Futaba announced what the group's current plan was. She bade all the students keep in mind that sooner or later, her family or some other rescue force would come to save them.

"I can guarantee you that this dreadful nightmare must end eventually," Futaba explained. "Whether it be a week or a month, our saviors will come. In the meantime, we must not fall to murder's temptation."

The other thing that she said that Sorao was now the new deputy, which surprised very few of the group. Now that Atsushi was dead and out of the way, there was a void in the leadership, and naturally, Futaba's choice was Sorao, who had already become her unofficial deputy already.

"I'll do my best to make sure that things go smoothly from here on out," Sorao said coolly as he smiled.

Unlike Atsushi, however, he chose no one to be his assistant, which meant that Mari no longer had any "official" position. Then again, she looked not at all irked by this, simply going along with the conversation's flow.

"Now, then, Abraham, Faye, you are to start looking around the ship and gathering any potentially dangerous items," Futaba said. "As you are to stow them in the second exhibit room, it is of utmost importance that you not lose your keys. I expect that you have finished your task by tonight."

Abraham frowned deeply and sighed as he looked at his co-worker with reluctance. "If that's what you say…"

"It looks as it'd kill you if you ever smiled on your free time," Faye remarked snidely. The waiter did not return any remark, whether it were snide or angry, but he kept his displeased countenance, nonetheless.

Once Futaba was done, all the students went on their own separate ways. Feeling a little thirsty, Masashi grabbed a bottle of soda pop at the port hallway's vending machine before he decided to go back to his room. On the way down to the fourth deck, however, when he came to the third deck's garden, he stumbled upon a certain sight.

"N-No! Once again, I won't join your team!" It was Kumi, who was talking to Sayua and Tanjiro.

"Huh? You won't join?" Sayua said. "Don't you get it, you numskull? You're already a member, so you've gotta start working with me!"

"Uh, what's going on?" Masashi asked, wondering what the to-do was all about.

Sayua turned to him and showed relief. "Ah, there you are, Masashi! This guy here's saying he wants to leave Team Tomi!"

"'Team Tomi'?" Masashi said.

"It's the name of her, uh, fan club," Tanjiro explained. "During the investigation, she kept talking about it. I asked her whether it even had a name, and she responded by telling me to think up of one. 'Team Tomi' was the first name that I could think up on the spot."

Oh, boy, it has a name now… Masashi thought.

"Yep! Tanjiro here's pretty useful in many ways, I see!" Sayua answered. "'Team Tomi' is a pretty good name. It captures the organization's essence very well, if you ask me! And it goes well with my jacket. Behold!"

Sayua turned around, letting the others look at her jacket's back, on which was shown a flower and a butterfly in its midst. Below the image was the word "TOMI".

"Looks good with my school emblem, don't you think?" Sayua said blithely.

The one thing that it showed was that even before this killing game, the cheerleader had already had an overblown self-image. Of course, on their first meeting, Masashi had had such a feeling, so if anything, it was clear that Sayua Tomi was not a mistress of subtlety.

"Now, then, Kumi!" Sayua said. "Get me something to drink as your first task."

"N-No! Again, I won't be part of your team!" Kumi said childishly, pouting. "You… You thought I was the bad guy in the class trial! Neither of you believed me at all! And to think, I thought that we could be friends…"

"Well, yes, we thought you were guilty," Tanjiro said, looking a little startled now, "but you must admit, Haruka did a pretty good job fooling us."

"Yeah! She's the one to blame, not us!" Sayua added, looking not at all sorry, however.

Kumi, however, turned a little angry upon the mentioning of Haruka's name. "Y-You… How could you say something like that? I… I don't want to talk with you anymore!"

He then stormed off to the nearby hallway. Though Tanjiro looked so shocked that he seemed to understand his error, Sayua, on the other hand, looked not at all sympathetic, instead shrugging him off.

"Hmph. What a lameass loser," Sayua said, her expression growing bored. "He could've had it all with Team Tomi, but no, he has to keep thinking about that dead chick."

"I think you could've worded your, um, request much better," Tanjiro said meekly.

"Whatever. The more I think about it, the more I see that I don't need him anyway," Sayua said as she grabbed Tanjiro by the shoulder. "I have you here to help me out, after all!"

"R-Right…"

"Speaking of that, what are you guys up to now?" Masashi asked, wondering what Sayua would do from here on out.

Sayua scoffed as she fiddled with her strawberry-blond hair. "Can't you see? We're going to look for a way out of this stinking mess. You think we should just sit here waiting like lame ducks?"

"Well… Futaba said that we were to wait for her family or a rescue force to come save us," Masashi answered.

Sayua waved her hand dismissively at that. "And you believe that crap? I certainly don't! She said she wanted to stop the next killing, but I tell you that she's deluded. Someone's gonna be killed sooner or later, and we're gonna find a way out of this place before that person strikes, so Tanjiro and I will be looking around!"

"Huh… is that so," Masashi said, wondering at her plans. Even now, after Atsushi's and Haruka's deaths, the whole group was not truly united, and there seemed to be nothing that he could say to dissuade her, given how highly she thought herself. "Wait, but why are you helping her, Tanjiro?"

"Well, um, besides the fact that we should look for a way out, it's good that I keep an eye during her, uh, adventures," the writer answered, eyeing the cheerleader uneasily. "And moreover, she would've kept bugging me if I had refused. She was very adamant that I be in her clique."

Ah, I see. Well, I feel very sorry for you, Masashi thought, knowing what working with her was like.

"Well, I've got a good eye, and I can tell you'll be rather useful, so from now on, you'll be my honorary right-hand man!" she said gladly. "Now come on! My gut tells me that there's something important in the hidden library! Let's go!"

The two members of Team Tomi then walked to the merry-go-round room, Tanjiro sighing as he drearily followed Sayua.

Now that Masashi felt refreshed enough, he thought it best that he pass the time by hanging out with one of his classmates. He left his room and walked around until he stumbled upon Sister Hikari in the Egyptian palace's lounge.

"Ah, Masashi, is there anything that you need of me?" the red-haired nun asked, appearing to be knitting a sweater.

"No, but I was just wondering how you're doing," Masashi answered as he sat by her. "Being in this kind of situation must be really trying on you."

Sister Hikari let out a gladsome chuckle. "I appreciate your concern for me, but there's no need to worry about me! I assure you, I'll be all right. I'm used to this kind of work in my everyday life."

Masashi raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is your everyday life like, anyway?"

"Well, to begin with, as a nun, I am to live a simple life of serving God," Sister Hikari answered. "But more specifically, I spend much of my day in prayer and in manual labor for my community. After all, even if I am a nun, I shall not have any food unless I work by the sweat of my brow."

"Wow, that sounds pretty simple, all right," Masashi replied. "I don't think I could stand that kind of work if I were in your shoes, though."

"Ah, that's pretty understandable. I don't think a monk's life would be right for you," Sister Hikari said. "In the end, I'm not here to force my religion on other people."

"Really?"

"Yes. It would not be bad if there were more Christians, but I would prefer that others came to the realization on their own. Instead, I am here to serve my community."

"That's pretty tolerant of you," Masashi said. "I've got to admit, I hardly ever talk with anyone of your background. It's pretty interesting what you usually do."

The nun smiled as she chuckled and continued her knitting. "There are very few of us in Japan, but if you ask me, the numbers matter not. Only one person is needed to help another."

"Hmm… That is true," Masashi said. "Anyway, you're pretty incredible if you're willing to help others out that much. It definitely must be tiring for you."

"Oh, it is, but as I have said, I do not mind," Sister Hikari said softly. "As the Ultimate Nun, I must make sure that I can save as many people as I can from pain. Yes… That's right." She looked down at what she was knitting. "No one deserves to suffer the pain that I've felt…"

Masashi raised his eyes, perplexed. "Uh, excuse me?"

Sister Hikari let out a small gasp. "Oh, pardon me! I was just talking to myself there. I didn't mean to have you hear that. But I suppose it's too late now, yes?"

"I can't deny what I've heard," Masashi answered.

The nun sighed. "It's something rather personal, as you can tell. But I think it'll be better if I tell you later. It's… not an easy subject to talk about, so I'd need a bit of time to ready myself for it."

As soon as she seemed keen to tell him, Masashi raised his hands defensively. "Oh, no, no, you don't have to tell me! It's all right if you want to keep it to yourself."

Of course, he said that out of courtesy, but deep down, he was curious about what had happened to her. Still, Sister Hikari was right; he sensed that now was not the right time to ask her about it.

"Oh… If that's what you say, then all right," Sister Hikari answered. "Now, I suppose I should finish this, at least!"

The nun continued her knitting for a long while. Eventually, she was done and showed Masashi the red sweater that she made. "How does it look?"

"I think it looks all right," Masashi answered, feeling the jacket. "It's not something that I'd wear on an important occasion, but it's still pretty good."

Sister Hikari chuckled. "I appreciate hearing that from you. I've made this as a gift, but my goodness, I don't know whom I should give this. Usually, it's someone who I hear is in need of something like this, but we have no lack of clothes during our time here, don't we?"

"Well, you should keep it for yourself, in the meantime," Masashi suggested. "That way, if you stumble upon someone who needs it, you can give that person the sweater right away."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Sister Hikari replied. "Why, maybe I ought to knit you something more to your liking."

Once again, Masashi politely refused. "No, no, you don't need to do that. I think you should tend to yourself more. You've already done a lot for us lately."

She looked a bit askance at him. "Myself, you say? Well… I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Masashi."

"What the fuck do you want with me, you little pissant?"

Abraham looked with loathing eyes at Masashi. It was somewhat understandable, as he had interrupted him while he had been drinking a cup of coffee in the dining room.

"Well, I thought that we could talk a little bit," Masashi began. Much as he would like to talk to any other kind of person, he knew that he needed to try to befriend the less bearable of the group, as relationships helped make the group feel more connected. It was easy enough to get along with those of whom he already had a high opinion, but getting along with those like Abraham was another challenge.

"Talk? With me?" Abraham scoffed. "Piss off."

Masashi sighed. Even for someone antagonistic, Abraham was awfully tiresome to deal with. What was this guy's deal?

Hmm… Maybe I should try this approach, Masashi thought.

"Say, Abraham, you look a bit tired from all your work," Masashi said. "You don't mind if I help you a bit next time?"

To his surprise, Abraham snarled a nasty snarl, arms crossed. "No way in hell I'm going to let you get in the way. You'll likely trip and make a whole mess to clean up."

"Oh…" Masashi said, growing more befuddled. Was there anything that he could say to please him? "Well… Abraham, maybe you'd like me to make you a snack—"

"No! Fuck no!" Abraham exclaimed, looking awfully wroth.

Wh-What the? Masashi thought, shocked by how livened up the waiter now was. He was still his standoffish self, but this time, he had focused on him.

"You know what, I give up!" Abraham said. "Seeing that you won't stop bothering me, I'd rather suffer the bane of talking with you than have you follow through with your pathetic attempts to make me think better of you!" He then sighed and shook his head condescendingly as he turned to face him. "Now what is it that you want to chat about with me? Surely there must be something, or else you've been wasting my goddamn precious time."

Uh, that worked out… somehow, Masashi thought, seeing more and more that the waiter was not the kind of man who liked to be helped.

"Well, to begin with, why are you a waiter?" Masashi began. "It's not the most glamorous job out there, if you ask me."

Abraham scoffed. "Naturally, just like how very few men want to be plumbers or garbagemen. But without them, society will fuck itself up sooner or later, so quite frankly, I don't give a damn about what you think."

Again with the unfriendliness… Masashi thought, reminding himself not to say anything that the man would easily use as a way to attack him. Why can't you be more like my little sister? At least she's pretty friendly and kind both on her breaks and on her work time.

"Uh, let me ask you a different question, then," Masashi replied. "Did you want to be a waiter when you were a kid?"

"Hmph. Of course I didn't want to," Abraham answered, "but I had to work as such. My parents started an Iranian restaurant when we first moved to Japan, and they put me and my other siblings to work as soon as we could work. It was menial work, but it was how I found myself best in working as a waiter."

"Wow… It must've been pretty tiresome to work when you were still young," Masashi said. "So are you still working at your parents' restaurant?"

Abraham grimaced a bit upon the mentioning of the restaurant, but a few seconds later, he shook his head, looking oddly calm. "No. After a… series of events, the restaurant became successful enough that all its debts could be paid off at last. And after some publicity about the restaurant's authenticity and exceptional staff—" He looked as if he wanted to laugh at those words. "—I decided to go higher and aimed for a position at a top-class restaurant. Needless to say, I got in without a hitch."

"And then you were granted the title of Ultimate Waiter, right?"

"Somewhat. I certainly did a damn good job at my new workplace," Abraham said. "And apparently, my excellent service got the attention of a famous restaurant critic. The man would later set up an award show to honor the staff of famous restaurants, and I happened to be nominated. I have to admit, it felt fucking fantastic to win first place… though it wasn't surprising."

"It's not?"

"Of course not. The other candidates were no doubt good, but unlike them, I've got the brightest personality and the best memory to enhance my service," Abraham answered, grinning snidely a little as he drank his coffee. "And that's how I became the Ultimate Waiter. Quite a tale, isn't it?"

"It certainly wasn't what I expected, that's for sure," Masashi said.

"Now are you done with me?" Abraham asked. "I can't think of anything else you'd want to talk with me. I'm quite fucking keen to end things off here."

Ordinarily, with this kind of man, Masashi would gladly go talk with someone else, but there was one thing that he had noticed: Abraham had sounded far less uncouth and less unfriendly in his speech as he had kept going on about his background as a waiter. It was clearly one of the few things that he was glad to talk about, and the reason was no wonder; Masashi could not but feel impressed by what he had done to earn his title. The man had left a rather sour impression on their first meeting, but it seemed that he was not so bad as he wanted to appear.

"But, Abraham, didn't you enjoy talking to me about yourself?" Masashi asked. "I think it'll be fun if we talk again later."

For a few seconds, Abraham stared at him with a perplexed gaze, pondering what he had said. Eventually, once he recovered, thankfully, he seemed to have taken the suggestion well.

"Hmph. Perhaps so," he answered blankly. "If I feel like it, maybe I'll kill time with you with more chatter."

Masashi was pleased not only by his response but also by the fact that he had not at sworn in his last statement. Of course, that was due to his thinking about the suggestion, but perhaps sometime later, he could get Abraham to be much friendlier than he normally was now.

When Masashi headed out to the main deck of the Egyptian palace, he found Mari walking around while looking heavenwards.

"Hey, Mari!" Masashi called out, which caught her attention. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing in particular," she answered. "Well, no, that's not exactly true. I've been trying to see whether there are any signs of bad weather. Right now, it's all clear, but it may all change very, very soon."

"Uh huh…" Masashi said as he looked at the heavens as well. It certainly was a beautiful day to relax outside. "Hey, listen, maybe you should take a break from all that. I don't think keeping track of the weather's all that important right now."

"Hmm… I guess so," Mari said. "But what do you suggest that I do, then? I've already looked around the whole place."

"Well, why not take a walk with me?" Masashi suggested. From what he could tell, Mari was the kind of girl who generally liked to look around rather than stay still.

Mari thought for a moment. "Sure, why not? The weather is rather swell, as you say."

And so the two walked around the ship's main deck, the seagulls flying smoothly through the blue heaven, the wind soft yet cool, the waves beating against the ship again and again, the sunshine giving the whole outside a soothing brightness. If this were no killing game, one might then that the two were heading off to such a swell place as the beach or a nearby park.

"Hey, Mari, I've been wondering…" Masashi began. "Do you often go exploring outdoors?"

"Why, yes, I do!" Mari answered with a spurt of energy. "Being outdoors is wonderful, isn't it? There are ever so many new things to find whenever I go outside each day. For example, there is always something different on the ground that we walk on. Such changes are not often worth noting for everyday folk, but to me, it's exciting to see what has changed in my environment since I last saw it!"

"You're really that particular?" Masashi said, a bit wide-eyed.

Mari giggled a bit. "Sorry, but it's something that I like to do. As a phenologist, I find it helpful if I keep an eye out for anything that may have changed. That's why I like to move around, you know. I like to look at things when I'm right near them. You don't find it troublesome, right?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Masashi answered. "Wait… why do you ask? Has it bothered someone else before?"

Fiddling with her fingers, Mari glanced upwards for a few seconds. "Well… my teachers would often complain that I liked not to stay still. They thought that it was a sign of naughtiness, but my classmates certainly thought otherwise."

"They did?"

"Oh, yes. Indeed, they even went to me whenever they wanted to know whether there was anything good to do while outside," Mari explained. "Even though I did not make many friends, I still appreciated that my classmates wanted to go exploring outside."

Given how she had been hitherto acting, Masashi could see why her classmates would see her as such. "So where do you usually go exploring anyway?"

"Well, I liked to run around at the nearby park or walk around in the woods near my house," she answered softly yet with enough energy that no one could mistake it for anything else but enthusiasm. "It was so wonderful to spend many an hour while looking at the trees and the woodland creatures. I dare say that I was quite the explorer in a few different ways."

"Really?" Masashi said. "You say you explored the park and the woods?"

"Yes. Even though the ground that I looked at had been trodden upon by many throughout the ages," Mari answered, smiling, "as an unknowing child, I found it amazing nonetheless."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Masashi answered, thinking back when he and Keiko would often walk around in the park. Keiko had been a rather adventuresome little sister, and even when he had felt tired, he would always say yes whenever she wanted to look around the park some more before heading back home. "It must've been pretty wonderful to be able to enjoy that in your childhood."

Eventually, Mari said that she wanted to take a break from the walking that they had done. Masashi could not tell how much time had passed; the heavens were still of a clear blue hue, but an hour or two might have already gone by. Either way, he had found his time with Mari to be gladsome.

Mari chuckled heartily as she played with a fringe of her straight black hair. "Thanks for walking around with me, Masashi. While I usually explore by my lonesome, sometimes, it's fun to do it with a friend by my side. Maybe we can do this again later."

It was evening, and the dinner meal would begin in about an hour. Tired, Masashi thought to relax in his room for a while before meeting up with all the others in the dining room later, and so he began his way down to the fourth deck. On the way, however, as he passed by the lounge door, he heard weeping.

Huh? I wonder who it is… Masashi, ever so curious as to what was wrong, opened the door slightly. Inside, it was, to his great surprise, Arashi, who was sitting on one of the chairs, his tears falling onto the floor, his hands clutching his head.

"Wh-Why… Why did I have to end it off like that…?" Arashi whimpered. "N-No… Wait, hold on! L-Let me take that back…"

Worried, Masashi opened the door and drew attention to himself.

"Arashi, are you all right?" he asked. "You don't look well at all."

Arashi looked right at him with watery eyes. It was unclear whether he was delighted that he was now here, but either way, there was a clear hint of anger on his face.

"I… I… I've made an awful, awful mistake!" he screamed, after which he clenched his fist and slammed it on the nearby wall.

"Wh-Whoa, calm down!" Masashi rushed toward him as he kept hitting the wall. The more Arashi hit the wall, the angrier he grew, which, for a short while, dissuaded Masashi from going any nearer to him. "If you could tell me what's bothering you, I'm sure we could get through this much more easily."

"And why should I?!" Arashi yelled as he stopped his hitting to catch his breath. "Th-This has nothing to do with you!"

Seeing the kindled wrath in his eyes, Masashi backed off a bit. He wanted to say that Arashi would not hurt him, but given how emotionally unsteady he was, he knew better than to put himself at risk. Safety came first.

"Well, even so, I think I can help you," Masashi replied. "Maybe with my help, you can figure out how to resolve your problem."

"But what if your advice doesn't help at all?!"

"Only one way to find out, don't you think?"

For a few seconds, Arashi only looked at him, his fists shaking, his teeth clenched, as if he were already keen to reject his suggestion. Since what Arashi needed right now was someone calm and not someone willing to agree to whatever he wanted to do, Masashi himself stayed still as he looked back, not wanting to give in to him with any signs of fear.

"I… I don't like this, you know…" Arashi said after a while, his voice sad and oddly quiet. "Y-You think I want to be angry? Well, I don't! But… it's the first thing that I naturally do whenever something like this happens! I-I should've learned how to stop it, but I didn't!" And it was then that Arashi began to weep once more. "And thanks to it… I made an awful mistake!"

"What is it?" Masashi asked softly.

Arashi lowered his head. "I… I acted badly toward Haruka when she was about to be executed!"

Masashi gasped. Of all the things that he had expected to be the root of his troubles, he had not foreseen that at all.

"She was only trying to apologize to me for what she'd done!" Arashi said, looking more and more distraught. "But… I… I let my temper get the best of me! I said she'd betrayed me! I pushed her away! She thought that I didn't want to be her friend anymore… But… that's not true! I didn't mean that at all, and thanks to that… she died thinking we were no longer friends!

"I only realized that what I'd done was wrong after she was dead… By then, it was all too late…" Arashi continued. "I didn't like what I'd done at all… I kept making the same mistake again and again, and I couldn't stop thinking about it! That's why… I thought I needed to apologize to her somehow. She was dead, but I needed to show somehow that I was sorry!"

"Ah! Is that why… you asked Hikari that question earlier?" Masashi said, recalling when Arashi had, for a short while, broken out of his eerily quiet spell.

"Y-Yeah… I'd just remembered that," Arashi answered. "I was hoping she could channel Haruka's ghost, and I'd tell her in the flesh that I was sorry for rejecting her… But… Hikari said she couldn't do it… So… Haruka… She's gone… forever…"

Then Arashi raised his leg and kicked the nearby table. "Why did I do that?! Why didn't my mind tell me to stop?!"

Masashi stood frozen as Arashi kept sobbing. However reckless the pyrotechnician might be, he was certainly well aware of his misgivings and flaws, and his greatest flaw had made him do something that he could now only look back with shame. And the worst part was that to him, there was no way that he could fix this; Haruka was dead, after all, and since Hikari had apparently lost access to her powers, there was no way to get the two together and have them reconcile.

Is there truly no way to get Arashi to move on? Masashi thought.

Simply telling him to forget all about it would clearly not work; to him, he had done Haruka a great misdeed, and something of that nature could not be easily forgotten. But telling him to keep thinking about it would not help, either; Arashi would still be filled with shame, and there was no telling what he might do later if he were to keep going down that path.

"Well, don't you think that this isn't what Haruka would want?" Masashi asked. "I don't think she'd want to see you like this. I'm sure she's already forgiven you."

Arashi glared at him. "Y-You don't know that for sure! There's only one way to be sure, and that's by hearing it from her!"

Oh… I should've figured that approach wouldn't work, Masashi thought as he tried to find another way to resolve this. The most important thing to think about was that Arashi knew what his problem was, and now he needed an answer.

"Hey, Arashi… I can imagine how you feel right now," Masashi said. "You truly want to apologize to Haruka. It's understandable that you want forgiveness."

"R-Really? You're not gonna say it's stupid?" Arashi said. "I-I'm not stupid, you know… I can't apologize to a dead woman, can I?"

"Well, no, but that's the point," Masashi said. "Since she can't forgive you, the only one who can still forgive you in this case is you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You," Masashi said. "But right now, you can't forgive yourself. Am I right?"

"Um… I guess so."

"What can you do, then, to make you forgive yourself?"

"I… I…" Arashi muttered. "I don't know… I-I haven't thought about it that way at all."

"So what's in your mind now?"

"Well… I don't want this to ever happen again!" Arashi answered as he raised his head a little. "I don't want my anger to make me do something I'll regret later! I… I want to change!"

Masashi smiled. "Looks like you've got a goal in mind. That's pretty good."

"Yeah, but…" Arashi sighed as he lowered his head. "It's so, so hard! It's easy to say it, but when it comes down to it, it wins every time!"

"Then you need to better yourself to change that," Masashi replied, looking him right in the eye. "You can't let your anger get the better of you anymore. That's the goal. And, yes, you'll make mistakes along the way… but we're supposed to learn from our mistakes. If you feel like you want to give up, remember Haruka and the other people you've made unhappy with your anger."

"R… Right! That's right!" Arashi said with a burst of excitement. "I need to try not to make the same mistake again! Thanks for helping me see this, Masashi!"

"Oh, well, it's no problem," Masashi said, smiling a little as he was glad that things were one step closer to becoming normal.

The dinner meal was to begin in a few minutes, and in the meantime, most of the students had gathered in the dining hall and talking about sundry topics to kill time. The only two students that were absent were Sayua and Tanjiro, both of whom were likely still doing their investigation.

"I must say, I enjoy you most like this," Maiha said to her tablemate, Arashi, who was trying to look as calm as he could be. "To see you make a mess out of everything shocked me at first, but it simply became boring. If you keep up that demeanor of yours, you will have done us all a great service, commoner."

"Y-Yeah, well… I've got that!" Arashi said nothing else as he bit his lip and glanced elsewhere. Masashi could see him clench his fists, but he seemed to be muttering something to stop himself from getting angry.

Meanwhile, Kumi was talking happily with Mari and Sister Hikari, the latter of whom Masashi had suggested that Arashi go to for help. Unfortunately, however, Arashi insisted that he did not need to go to her; this was a problem that he must take care of by himself, and much as Masashi wanted to disagree, he sensed that insisting otherwise might undo the progress that he had just made. Thus, he had stayed quiet and let Arashi have his way for the time being. As for the others, Sorao and Futaba, both of whom were the targets of Maiha's watching, were happily talking with each other, and Hikari and Abraham were by themselves as usual, looking little interested in making small talk with others.

"Ah, Murphy, how are you doing this evening?" Haruyuki asked, who sat next to Murphy and Red Mask.

"Not too bad," the Irishman answered. "I've been killing some time in the arts and crafts room in the palace."

"Oh, is that so?" Haruyuki said. "What was the subject matter?"

"Nothing much. It was only a desert, something not hard to draw," Murphy answered.

Haruyuki raised his eyes a bit. "Oh? Not something about your homeland? Unless Ireland is much more of a desert than I assumed…"

Murphy let out a short but somewhat unamused laugh. "Oh, believe me, I plan to draw something like that. I was simply practicing with my desert drawing, though I ended up using a bit more yellow than I thought. I'm no artist, of course. I can't draw well enough to save myself, if you want to know."

"So it's something I'm not going to find any time soon in an art museum, right?" Red Mask said.

Haruyuki chuckled. "Whether or not it be in an art museum, at the very least, I would be rather interested in seeing what you come up with in your depiction of Ireland. I'd imagine that there might be farmers that work hard under the sun as they tend to their fields of potatoes and other such crops."

At that point, however, Murphy frowned. "You had a good description up until you mentioned 'potatoes'. I want to hear nothing about it, believe you me."

"What, really? I tried potatoes once, and they were tasty!" Red Mask replied blithely.

Murphy shook his head. "You're a thief, aren't you? If you stole all the potatoes in the world and buried them in the Sahara Desert, I would be in your debt."

"Well, I could possibly do the first part, but I don't know about the second one!" she answered, looking not at all serious in her words.

Meanwhile, Haruyuki looked at the scene with widened eyes, setting his right hand over his mouth. "I'm rather surprised to see that you loathe the crop that much, Murphy. I would have naturally thought otherwise."

"Yeah, well, I was exaggerating a bit with the whole burying thing, but you get the spirit of my words, don't you?" the farmer said. "Not a damn thing more about it, I ask of you. If you want me to talk about other parts of Ireland, I'll gladly do so."

Haruyuki smiled. "I see… Well, I'll gladly take up your offer if I should feel like it."

It was such an odd conversation, Masashi thought, having thought it best that he stay out of it, as he wanted to hear more about the man. On their first meeting, Murphy had told him not to talk about potato farming, and yet the more he insisted that the others talk about something else, the more he wanted to find out what the root of his loathing was. Even though Masashi doubted that it was anything that weighty, it was still odd enough that he would like to hear more about it.

Just around the time when Faye had finished cooking, and Abraham had finished distributing the dishes to everyone, however, the starboard door to the dining hall opened, and in came the blithesome president of Team Tomi, her dreary secretary in tow.

"Hey, everyone! We've found something important!" Sayua declared, after which all eyes were on her.

"What is it?" Futaba asked, befuddled by the cheerleader's entry.

"Well, Tanjiro and I have been taking a look around the hidden library, and believe it or not, we found something that's gotta have something to do with what's going on!" Sayua answered with a hint of pridefulness.

"And by 'we', she means mostly me," Tanjiro muttered meekly, though hardly anyone seemed to pay any heed to it.

"So is it that book you're holding?" Faye asked.

Sayua set her free hand on her hip confidently. "Well, duh! Take a look!"

She showed everyone the cover, which said: "Recent Developments of the Use of Augmented and Virtual Reality Technologies for Clinical Purposes".

Hey, wait a minute… That's the book I saw the first time at the library! Masashi thought, recognizing the title. Yes, it was the same night when he had discovered the secret that Atsushi had been bidden to hide from the others, and if he remembered correctly, there had been something about the title that had struck him as familiar. Yes, it had something to do with a research lab that was involved with the book's topic, but even back then, he had had only a faint recollection of what it was.

"What's so important about that?" Sorao asked. "I mean, the only relevant part, if you ask me, is the 'Augmented' part, and that's because Monokuma changed one of the rides here to use AR."

"Yeah, that's what I thought at first, but once we read the book, we spotted a certain name! Tell them, Tanjiro!" Sayua said.

Tanjiro sighed as he took the book from her, flipped to a certain page, and showed the group its contents.

"One particularly valuable source of data of the experiments shown herein is the small but growing research center called Brightmere Research," Tanjiro read aloud. "The group has been dedicated to studying the use of these technologies to treat patients. One good example of its use is the simulation of insects meant to treat those who suffer from fears of such. By simulating the fear in a laboratory environment through AR, the researchers had much success in treating the participants. The use of these technologies for psychological treatment is still new, but we foresee greater and more exciting developments in the future."

Once Tanjiro was done, the whole group looked at one another with a mix of shock and confusion.

"The group's name is… Brightmere Research?" Futaba said. "I do not know why, but I suspect that I have heard the name before."

"Hmm… maybe you heard it on the news?" Sorao suggested. "From what I can tell, it seems that this research center is kinda big in the AR/VR development world or whatever."

"In that case, since the amusement park is named Brightmere Mirthyard," Maiha said, "it means that the one behind all this is Brightmere Research, is it not?"

"Wait, are we sure that this isn't a coincidence?" Abraham asked. "It may be that this Brightmere Research group is behind all this, but isn't 'Brightmere' an English name?"

"Well, it certainly is made up of English words, but it's definitely a word I've never heard of," Murphy said. "I'm certain that the research center made it up to have it as a name."

"Then we can agree that Brightmere Research is the one responsible for this," Maiha replied. "It is the owner of this amusement park, it appears."

"Y-You mean the evil warlock behind this is in a research group?" Kumi said, shaking a little. "A-Are we, um, part of an experiment, then?"

Masashi too hardly knew what to think. On one hand, he now had more information about what was going on, and the questions that he had about this amusement park were starting to be answered. But on the other hand, it still did not answer the question of how the research center had managed to get ahold of not only eighteen students but also their loved ones as hostages for the motive given a few days ago. If this were some kind of twisted experiment, then it meant that even if he set aside the ethical violations, this was far too out of scope for a small research center dedicated to AR and VR technologies. It was too unbelievable, and yet he had no information to gainsay what Sayua and Tanjiro had found.

"Hey, come to think of it…" Masashi said. "Sayua, you guys found it in the hidden library, right? But shouldn't this information have been found earlier? After all, Mari and Atsushi were investigating the library before Atsushi's murder."

"Yes, that's right, we were," Mari said, unbothered by the sudden glances at her. "But we only skimmed the books as part of our investigation to look for things like notes and whatnot. It would've taken us far longer if we had actually read every single book there."

"Hmm… That is true," Sister Hikari said. "Still, it's good that we now know about it. Maybe if we learn more about this killing game, we can find a way to end it."

"Duh! That's why Tanjiro and I will keep looking in the library!" Sayua said. "I bet we'll find something that'll get us out of this crazy mess!"

Haruyuki chuckled. "I'd be thankful if it were that easy, but something tells me that the mastermind behind this must have taken that into account."

"Of course. The information clears up our circumstances somewhat," Futaba said as gracefully as always, "but information alone does not help us escape. And if this is an experiment of some kind, I am sure that the mastermind has cut off all avenues of escape.

"Indeed, the only course of action that still remains is waiting for rescue forces to come save us," the black-haired lady continued. "If the one behind this is a small research center, then I am certain that it cannot escape the law forever. Once we are rescued, I shall be sure to have the research center tried for its foul crimes!"

"Brava, Lady Inoshishi!" Sorao said, clapping a little, while a few of the others looked a bit more hopeful of their situation. "That's the kind of motivational talk we need!"

"M-Motivational? That's not it at all…" Hikari mumbled, looking even unhappier than usual. She must not have liked the thought that the group might be being experimented upon.

"Anyway," Futaba said, "our dinner is getting colder and colder. We ought to resume the meal now."

As the group headed back to their seats, Sorao approached Tanjiro. "Hey, what were you doing with that Sayua, anyway?"

Tanjiro turned meeker in his expression, his eyes showing a little anxiety. "She, uh, made me search the library with her. And even then, it was mostly me that did the searching… It's part of being in Team Tomi. Her fan club, that is."

Sorao took a glance at Sayua, whom Tanjiro was to sit next to, and who seemed too busy eating her food to be paying attention to the conversation. "Wow. I actually feel sorry for you this time. Let's hope she doesn't kill you, buddy."

"Yeah, well… she's harmless, anyway. Now if you'll excuse me…" Tanjiro sighed as he headed to his seat.

What's up with them both? Masashi thought as Sorao headed back to Futaba with a happy disposition. As far as he knew, Sorao and Tanjiro had known each other before the killing game, and apparently, they had lived in the same apartment block since their childhood. And yet, there was no feeling of friendliness between them; there was no outright hatred, but Masashi could tell that there was something about Sorao that unnerved the writer.

Here's the chapter! This time, the Free Time Events are with Sister Hikari, Abraham, and Mari, and a bit more of the plot is revealed! Also, Sayua makes Tanjiro join her fan club, and Arashi goes through a bit of a struggle, to say the least. It's kind of exciting stuff, and of course, it's all build-up for the next killing and other things to come.

Anyway, as usual, I'd like to hear your thoughts, predictions, and speculation in the reviews! One thing I'd like to know in particular is your thoughts on the remaining characters; I wonder how much they've changed since Chapter 1.