Sometime before dinner, Masashi heard someone knock on his door. It was Mari, who looked greatly concerned.
"What is it?" Masashi asked.
"I've found something rather interesting," she replied. "It has nothing to do with the mastermind's identity, however, and I've already told the others to go to the music room in the Moonlight City."
The music room?
He did not bother to ask her for an explanation, thinking it easier to see it for himself. The two headed to the music room, and when they arrived, indeed, the nine others were already here.
"What's this all about?" Sayua asked, looking quite miffed.
Masashi looked about him, wondering whether there was anything out of place. On a wall were hung a few ornamental weapons such as a sword and a club, and beside the celesta to the right of the door was a cabinet in which were stowed many bottles and glasses. Below the cabinet was a cupboard, and come to think of it, he had never checked it out the first time that he had come here.
"Let me show you," Mari said calmly.
She walked over to the cabinet and pointed at the cupboard. Then she opened it and showed everyone the contents.
"Hmm? What is it?" Tanjiro asked.
There were two rows of small white bottles stowed inside. The top row of bottles all had orange labels that bore a black skull, whereas the bottom row's had green labels. Both labels had small black text written on them.
"Are those… drinks?" Faye asked.
Mari shook her head with a grim countenance. "You certainly don't want to try out the ones on the top. They're all poisons."
The others let out a small gasp.
"P-Poison?" Hikari shuddered as she shrank back. "Wh-What's that doing there?"
"Have you not realized that Monokuma's provided us with it?" Maiha answered, sounding bored as if this were obvious. "Given the variety of murder methods, I was expecting poison to appear sooner or later."
"What about the other rows?" Sorao asked. "Do they have poisons?"
"No. From what I can tell, they're a group of other drinks such as energy drinks and antidotes," Mari answered. "I'm afraid to say that I don't exactly know the differences between all the antidotes."
"Well, you are a phenologist. Climate's more your speciality, girl," Sorao replied.
"In any case, we should get rid of all the poisons as soon as possible," Tanjiro said, looking more and more squeamish. "There's no good in keeping them around."
"Unfortunately, that won't help," Mari said disappointingly. "I asked Monokuma about it, and he said that he would simply restock them later."
"Ugh... I should've guessed that he wouldn't make things that easy," Masashi said.
"But that's odd," Sorao said, stroking his chin. "When we searched this room the first time we came here, the cupboard was empty. There were no poisons or antidotes or anything, dude."
"Then maybe Monokuma decided to put them in later!" Kasumi suggested, raising a finger. "Maybe he thought it'd make the killing game more exciting or something!"
"That is possible, but I don't think it's Monokuma that thought to do this..." Mari said. "Remember the note that he gave us?"
"Oh yeah..." Masashi took it out and read it again:
The duties of a killing game's overseer are as follows:
Select an environment in which the killing game will play out.
Adjust the environment through additions and modifications.
Select incentives that will likely make the subjects think about killing.
Give the host directives to carry out decisions related to the above duties.
Use available protective measures to cut off any outside interference.
Monitor the camaraderie among the subjects, and make changes if need be.
"Ah, then this must have been the mastermind's doing," Haruyuki said, showing more and more interest in his small smile, his tone staying undisturbed. "The mastermind 'adjusted' the environment by adding poisons, antidotes, and a variety of other drinks."
"B-But why?" Hikari asked, glowering drearily.
"If I were to guess, I would say that the mastermind thought it would make things more exciting."
Tanjiro quailed as he grimaced. "I don't think we need any more excitement right now..."
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Faye responded. "All that matters is that anyone can access these poisons and use them against us."
"Since we can't get rid of them," Mari said, "all we can do is trust that none of us will think to use it."
"Well, it's a good thing that all the poisons have those orange labels!" Sayua said, taking one of the bottles and looking closely at it. "You can't miss those black skulls on them!"
"A-At least no one will be stupid enough to accidentally take those bottles…" Hikari remarked.
Seeing nothing else to talk about, the group then headed back to the dining room, after which Faye cooked dinner with Kumi and Sorao. During the meal, everyone was far less noisy and talkative than usual; doubtless, the motive was the main thing on their minds. Even with the countermeasure of checking everyone's contracts whenever they met up for breakfast and dinner, the motive was so great a temptation that it swayed them toward wariness.
After the uneventful dinner, Masashi set off Arashi's fireworks once again, but by this point, the sight of the fiery blossoms had lost their luster. Indeed, seeing them again simply reminded him once again that there was almost certainly no way out of this situation other than playing the killing game. If he played the killing game and won, then he could return to his normal life and reunite with Keiko and his friends—
No, I can't do that… I can't betray Mari and the others…
But this time, with the current motive, he could go back to his normal life with a friend of his choice. He could write down Mari's name on his contract and—
No, no, no! Even with her... I can't betray everyone else!
He repeated those words in his mind until he felt that they had been ingrained in his being. But as he went back to his room and readied himself for bed, he could not but suspect that something terrible would soon happen.
The next morning, Masashi went up to the dining room as usual, and to his surprise, he saw only Tanjiro and Hikari sitting there. Other than their chatting, the dining room was silent.
"Oh, good morning," Tanjiro said. "You're up rather early."
"Yeah, today's one of those days," Masashi replied before he let out a small yawn. "Where's Faye?"
She usually woke up early, and so when Masashi came here, he would see her here or hear her cooking in the kitchen.
"Actually, I saw her going into the merry-go-round room," Tanjiro answered. "She said she wanted to check out something in the library."
What? The… library?
Yesterday, she had said that she hardly went to the library, so he wondered why she would suddenly go there today.
I can't ignore this. I should go check it out.
He left the dining room and headed down to the third deck. He entered the playroom, which was one of the two rooms to which the library was connected, and walked into the library. When he entered the main part of the library, he saw Faye sitting at one of the tables. She seemed to be reading a book, looking quite entranced.
"O-Oh!"
Upon noticing his presence, Faye slammed the book shut at once.
"Masashi… I didn't expect to see you here," she said, putting up a small smile.
"You aren't cooking breakfast as you usually do, so I felt a bit worried about you," he said. What he said was true, but he was more curious about what she had come to the library for.
"Oh… is that so," she said, sounding somewhat convinced. "Well, rest assured, I just wanted to look something up."
"And what is that book you're reading?"
He took a peek at the cover, but nearly let out a gasp when he saw the cover, for it was none other than the Dictionary of Clinical Disorders.
"Faye! Where did you find that book?!" he said, pointing at it.
"Hey, no need to get all worked up about it!" she said, though sounding nearly as agitated as he. "I simply found this on one of the bookshelves!"
"What? Really? So you're not the one who took it out a while ago?"
She shook her head profusely. "Of course not. Why would I take this book out in the first place?"
"Then what are you reading it for now?"
Faye darted her eyes to the side before answering. "I-I simply wanted to look something up out of curiosity, really…"
Despite her reassuring look, however, Masashi was sure that she was not telling him the whole story, her sudden franticness belying her claims.
But why? What's Faye hiding from me?
"Well, I guess that's about it," she said as she stood up. "It's about time that I began cooking breakfast. Can't keep everyone waiting, of course!"
She put the book back on a certain shelf and hurried out of the library. Indeed, the shelf was the very shelf that Mari had pointed out yesterday.
If Faye's not lying, does that mean the one who took the book out is done with it?
He took out the book, inspected the front and the cover, and skimmed through the pages, but he found nothing remarkable about it. He saw only pages of terminology that he hardly understood, and with how dense the text looked, it was something that he might read at night to help fall asleep, though he had a feeling that someone like Mari would be much more enthusiastic about reading it.
Feeling too unmotivated to read through the text, he put the book back and went back to the dining room. Tanjiro and Hikari were still there, and noise was coming from the kitchen, but there were also two new visitors sitting together.
"Oh, won't you tell me one of your stories?"
Surprisingly enough, it was Kasumi, who was with Kumi. It was not a pair that Masashi often saw, and it was downright weird to see them like that. Kasumi had a cheery and chirpy disposition about her, whereas Kumi bore an air of utter dreariness and dread. Even after all these days, he had hardly grown any better.
"Wh-Which one do you want to hear, Lady Kasumi…?" Kumi said weakly as he turned the pages of his book of tales.
"You know, you once said that you wanted to write stories about the friends we lost," Kasumi replied. "Didn't you tell Haruka that you'd make her into a jester? And Abraham a king?"
"Oh yeah… You said those things, didn't you?" Masashi added, recalling his final moments with the killers.
"You… want to see them?" Kumi said, a bit of life returning to his voice.
Kasumi widened her grin, her eyes glinting. "Of course I do! I love a good story, and as the Ultimate Storyteller, there's no way you'll disappoint me!"
"Oh… That's kind of you to say…" he muttered. "I've written… a few different ones."
He flipped to one page and let Masashi and Kasumi look at it. The tale was about a fearsome king who sought to be entertained, and so he bade his loyal, archaic-speaking knight to find entertainers throughout the kingdom and bring them to his throne room. However, none of them succeeded, and only when a wandering jester girl came to court one day was the king entertained at long last, whereafter he appointed her as the court jester, and they all lived happily ever after.
Wow, all those characters… Masashi thought, amazed.
"Oh, I think I know which one's which!" Kasumi said gladly. "The king's Abraham, the knight's Atsushi, and the jester's Haruka, right?"
"Y-Yeah..." Kumi nodded half-heartedly, though certainly with more life than before. "H-Here's another one."
He then flipped to another page and let them read it. This time, the tale was about a graceful dancer who, seeking love, wandered around the land. One day, she went into the woods and encountered a bandit who wished to swindle her of her belongings. Luckily for her, a burly albeit somewhat grumpy woodsman noticed it and fought off the bandit. From the battle, the woodsman was gravely wounded, and the dancer, suddenly falling for the woodsman, bemoaned how things had come to be like this. In the end, however, a kind and loving healer passed by and saved the woodsman in the nick of time, and they all lived happily ever after.
"Oh, I see now!" Kasumi said once he was done. "The dancer's Futaba, the woodsman's Murphy, and the healer's Sister Hikari!"
"That sounds about right... It's kind of funny to see Futaba be in love with Murphy here," Masashi commented.
Nonetheless, he found it sweet and charming to listen to his tales. Their friends might be gone, but they lived on not only in the remaining students' memories but also in the storyteller's works. Even if everyone here were to forget them, as long as his book of tales still was, then the lost ones would still live in some way.
"Um, Kumi?" Kasumi said. "I like your stories and all, but… I think someone's missing."
"Missing…?" he said, sounding not at all concerned.
"Yeah. Where's Arashi?"
The moment she said that, the blank look in Kumi's eyes changed.
"He doesn't belong here."
His response, though short, shocked Masashi so much that it bereft him of any words to respond with. His tone bore a slight hint of unnaturalness, and for a moment, he thought that a flash of anger had appeared in the storyteller's eyes. There was something so warped and chilling about the formerly cheery storyteller that it filled Masashi with dread. Indeed, it went beyond mentioning something that opened up wounds previously healed by the process of time. It was as if mentioning Arashi's name had violated an unspoken taboo in the forlorn storyteller's world.
"Erm, um… really, now?" Kasumi said, who too looked astounded at his response. "That's… not what I expected you to say, really!"
"Whatcha guys talking about?"
Sorao strutted to the table, looking as if he were the most carefree man in the world.
"Oh, uh, nothing much," Masashi said. "Kumi's just telling us some of his tales."
Sorao chuckled as he picked on his fringe of red hair. "That so? The little guy sure can write some interesting things, can't he?"
"He sure can…" Masashi said, unable to forget Kumi's worrisome countenance.
"Now, come on, buddy, let's go help Faye with the cooking, shall we?" Sorao said, pointing at the kitchen. "I've noticed that she's been a little off lately, so I think we ought to try cheering her up."
"Cheer… her up?" Kumi repeated, sounding wooden.
Sorao nodded, grinning. "Let's talk more about it later. For now, the cooking awaits us!"
The breakfast meal was as equally quiet as yesterday's dinner meal. The only mention of the motive was when Mari had everyone show their contracts, whereby it was proven that no one had signed any contracts. Still, everyone seemed to be on their guard, watching one another as if waiting to see who would make the dreaded move. Even with this countermeasure, anyone determined to win the killing game would probably find a way around it sooner or later. At least, that was what Masashi suspected the others were thinking.
Once breakfast was over, and everyone scattered throughout the amusement park, Masashi headed out to the woodland kingdom's main deck and saw someone sitting at one of the chairs by the pool.
"Hey, Masashi!" Sayua said, beckoning him to come over. "What are you up to right now?"
"Uh, nothing much," he answered. "What about you?"
Sayua let out a sigh of frustration. "Just relaxing out in the open. Nothing else to do."
"Really? Don't you usually go to the arcade?"
"Well, I'm bored of that now!" she said. "And Tanjiro's doing something with that Hikari girl again! So I need someone to talk to!"
And of all the people here, it has to be me... I guess I'm one of the more likeable ones here.
"So how about it? Wanna chat? For the next hour or so, you'll get to be with me."
"Might as well."
For the next few minutes, he talked with her about sundry topics such as music and fashion, though for most of the time, it was she who determined how the conversation flowed. He mainly responded with such phrases as "that's interesting" and "wow, is that so?", especially because he was unfamiliar with most of what she was talking about.
"Hey, Masashi. I've been wondering, what kind of folks do you have back home?"
Hmm? Not exactly a question I'd expect from her.
He wondered for a moment whether she was truly curious about it, or whether she had just run out of things to talk about. Still, it was a topic that he could actually go on about for a few minutes, so he chose not to protest against this change in topic.
"I live in a pretty average household, really. I have my father and mother, as well as a younger sister."
"Yeah, that maid chick in your motive video, right? Reiko, wasn't it?"
"It's Keiko, actually, and she's the only remarkable part about us. She's the Ultimate Maid, but I'm just a normal guy."
"Normal, huh..." she muttered. "Well, you oughta be lucky you live in a home like that. Other people don't have it so good."
At first, Masashi wondered that she said something surprisingly thoughtful, given how vain she usually was. He might have thought that she would use it to put him down in some way, such as saying that it must suck to live a boring life. But his attention was directed more at the lack of pridefulness in her voice. Indeed, it sounded far more envious, as if he had bragged about having some kind of luxury.
"Hey, Sayua, could I ask you something?" he said. "What's your family like?"
"You really want to know?"
Adding to his surprise was her lack of enthusiasm. He suspected that it was something that she would rather not talk about, but the way that she had suddenly asked him about his family, he could not but feel curious about her home life.
Sayua scoffed. "All right, fine, fine, I can tell from your look that you really want to know. To begin with, ever since I was born, my old man has hated me."
He paused, taking in her words.
"Heh, that shut you up really quickly, didn't it?" she said, not sounding deterred at all. "But let me assure you I'm not lying about this."
"Then let me ask the obvious question: why does your father… erm… hate you?"
"It's no mystery," she said, sounding weirdly dispassionate about it. "My father hates my very being, all because my mom died giving birth to me."
"Oh… That's… awful," he said, not knowing any better way to respond to this revelation.
She scoffed as if this were nothing. "My dad always saw me as the reason why my mom died. That's why he'd slap me on the cheek, hit me with a cane, or spank me."
"That's—"
He had already found it unbelievable that her father would hate her for such a stupid reason, but now, things had escalated quickly.
"Of course it was awful," she replied, her voice now filled with loathing. "I hated it when he did that. And it got worse when he married a stupid designer lady he had stumbled upon one day. She thought he was 'suffering', so she blamed me for it and didn't hesitate from laying a hand on me as well."
"Oh... That's... awful," he repeated, unsure as to what else to say. Did she want him to say how disgusting that was, or did she want him to simply nod along as she told her tale.
"Thankfully," she continued, "I stopped it a while ago."
"What? You did?"
"Here, look at these."
She pulled up her sleeves, and only now could Masashi see what they had been covering. There were a few faint bruises on her arms, and though they did not look so unsightly as to mar her appearance, they nonetheless were hard to overlook.
"Are those... injuries?"
"Yep. Turns out that threatening to report my injuries to the police did wonders. Course, a lot of my injuries here are actually from my cheerleading practice, but in any case, they've never laid a hand on me ever since. They still work to pay the bills and feed me, but we hardly ever talk, so all's well that ends well."
"You really think so?"
Sayua then raised her head and looked back at him, showing a small but irritated frown.
"Look, Masashi, for years, I took their abuse in stride, thinking that if I did what they wanted, they'd stop it… Even though they never changed, I still clung to that false hope. But instead of running away, I stood up for myself with the coldest words I could come up with, and guess what? I got what I wanted! That's how I learned that if I want things to go my way, I have to assert myself... even if it involves being a little harsh. I've tried it out with others since then, and things have gone swimmingly for me."
So... that's why you act the way you do? he thought. That's... certainly not what I expected.
Though he was somewhat relieved to hear that she had stood her for herself, something about how things had ended felt wrong to him. She might think that everything had been resolved neatly, but he could not shake the feeling that there was another problem at hand. And moreover, one other thing about her response to her parents' abuse bothered him.
"I'm not sure whether what you did was the best choice, though" he replied. "Don't get me wrong, it's good that you wouldn't accept their abuse any more, but wouldn't it be better if you reported your parents to the police? I think that would be the right thing to do."
"I..." She glanced away for a second. "I have my reasons not to do that."
What...? But why...?
"Masashi, let me spare you the trouble and tell you this," she said as she rose to face him. "I'm not gonna change my ways just because you've given me some speech about the 'right thing' and whatever."
"But…"
"You think it's easy to start doing the 'right thing'? Trust me when I say that I gave up on it a long time ago."
"You... did?"
He wanted to say no. He wanted to tell her that there was a better way to live her life than to put up a cruel front so as to be strong and have her way in the world.
"Yeah. And you don't need to know about it."
"All right… I guess not. Let's talk about something else."
But he must accept the fact that as things stood now, he was not close enough with her to get her to change her ways. Only someone whom she particularly valued would have a chance to sway her mind, and even then, given her stubbornness, he wondered whether any words could persuade her to change.
Around sunset, Masashi wandered in the Moonlight City, taking in the sights. When he entered the lower theater room on the bow side, he saw two women standing at the other end of the room. To be more precise, they stood by a stack of mattresses lying right by a wall. Much to his surprise, they were Mari and Maiha.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Mari turned around, facing him. "We've simply been talking about the weather."
"And by 'weather', she means a few things related to her field of phenology," Maiha explained, looking not too bored. "It was rather... informative."
"Wow, really? I didn't imagine that you'd talk about that with her."
"Whatever makes you think so?"
"Well, you're a ballroom dancer. That's a bit more... artistic, right?"
Maiha scoffed as she flicked away a fringe of her long red hair. "You truly ought to be less superficial. I was simply curious about how much she knew, and so I chose to converse with her."
"Indeed..." Mari said. "And by the way, while I am specialized in phenology, I know a fair bit about paleontology as well."
"Paleontology?" he said, glancing at her curiously. "What's the story behind that?"
Mari scratched the back of her head, looking more hesitant than Masashi would have thought. "It's... a bit of a long story. One time, my family and I had to move to another city, and I picked up researching dinosaurs to deal with the stress of living in a new place."
"Wait, you were researching dinosaurs to deal with stress?"
She stared blankly at him. "Why, yes. What's unusual about that?"
She... really doesn't get it, does she...? he thought, rather befuddled by her choice of hobbies. Oh, well, I guess that's a science girl for you.
"Nothing, nothing," he answered. "Anyway, that's how you became interested in paleontology?"
"Somewhat. But there's also one more thing," she said. "Have you ever heard of Mary Anning?"
"Uh... no."
It sounded like an English name, so he guessed that it was a famous American or Englishwoman. But even among those stars that he heard of, he certainly had never heard of someone by that name.
"I believe I've heard of someone like that before," Maiha replied. "She was a paleontologist, was she not?"
Mari nodded somewhat excitedly. "A Victorian one, that is. And though her accomplishments were incredible, one part about her... moved me."
"'Moved' you?"
"It is said that when she was fifteen months old, she was struck by lightning," she explained. "The older girls taking care of her died, but miraculously, Anning managed to be saved."
"Wait a minute... That's..." Masashi muttered.
He did not even have to say it to see why that woman in particular had interested her.
"I assure you, I was pretty surprised to learn that," Mari responded, looking quite flattered, which expression Masashi was somewhat shocked to see, for he was used to her more placid self. "To hear that a woman a long time ago had gone through such a thing... I suppose you could say that it inspired me to look more into paleontology."
"Mmm, yes, I suppose that being struck by lightning as a baby and surviving was quite a remarkable event," Maiha replied, ignorant of the true reason behind Mari's interest in her. "But why are you not a paleontologist now?"
"By that point, I'd already been full into phenology, so changing fields wasn't exactly an option," she answered. "Still, I like to do some research in paleontology as a side interest. In fact, I even have my dog named after a famous find of Anning's."
"Wow, really? What's its name?" Masashi asked.
"Ichthyosaur. But I call him Ikki for short."
"How cutesy," Maiha remarked, sounding somewhat interested. "I've never owned a dog, but I am the proud owner of two cats."
"Oh, cats? Well... I guess that's all right as well," Mari said, sounding less enthusiastic about that. "What about you, Masashi? Do you own a dog?"
He shook his head, which, he noticed, saw "Sorry, but I've never had a pet dog, let alone any pet..."
"Oh, well, if you ever get a pet dog, you can always turn to me for names!" she said, leaning forth as her eyes glinted in excitement. "We can name your dog after another famous find of Anning's!"
"Uh, I'm not sure about that..."
"Oh, then, tell me the name of your favorite science, and I'll name it after a scientist in that field!"
Favorite science? Do I even have one? he thought with some bemusement. And hey, when did this turn to naming a dog I don't even own?
"You ought to get a cat instead, Masashi," Maiha suggested laxly. "Cats are far more appealing, I assure you, and they need far less maintenance. It's such a shame that you commoners have decided to have them as your second most popular pet."
Oh, not you, too...
In any case, with all the chaos that was going on because of the new motive, he was at least glad that he was on somewhat good terms with Mari again. It almost was enough to make him feel silly for having gotten angry at her over her way of thinking.
As long as we can set aside our differences, we can stay happy... right?
Masashi later suggested that they head over to the dining room, for it was about time for dinner. The walk over to the woodland kingdom was nothing but tranquil, the winds still, the heavens showing not a cloud, the seas colliding with the ship listlessly. For a moment, he forgot that this was the site of a killing game, thinking that he and his friends had been taken to some magical place out in the open, wide sea where they could enjoy peace that nothing in the world could ever break. Only when he heard Mari call out his name, however, did his mind return to reality.
When they arrived at the dining room, he saw only Sorao, Faye, and Kumi standing by one of the tables. At first, he thought that they were about to go cook dinner again, but for some reason, there was not a gleam of joy on any of their faces, and the air felt much tenser.
"How could you say that?" Faye said. Surprisingly enough, she was glaring at Kumi, as if chiding him.
"I… I like your treats, Lady Faye, but…" the storyteller said, quivering and sniveling. "I… I just think... you could change your cooking a little…"
"What?"
Though she did not raise her voice, her eyes widened, shock all over her countenance.
"I miss it when Sister Hikari cooked for me…" he continued, apparently trying to be bold. "When I ate her treats, they were always good and sweet…"
"But... what does that have to do with me?"
"I… I just don't think your treats have that same goodness to them," Kumi said, shaking. "Maybe if you try cooking like Sister Hikari, you can improve yourself that way… That's what I think."
For a moment, no one said a thing, and Masashi grew amazed that Kumi had suddenly told Faye how he thought she could improve her cooking. It certainly sounded rather uncharacteristic of him, especially with how broken he now was. But no sooner had he thought to ask the threesome what was going on than Faye replied.
"After all that I've done for you… This is what you think of me…"
"Hmm? Faye?" Sorao said, looking at her concernedly.
"I thought that I could help you recover from all these tragedies… That's why I have hitherto put up with your blank, dull, lifeless attitude. But I should have known better than that. You'd rather dwell in the past and pay heed to what isn't here."
Wh-What's going on? Masashi thought, frozen by how strange the situation was. He wanted to say something, but he had a feeling that he had better stay quiet and watch how things played out.
"And now I can't help but wonder," Faye said, her voice calm and yet unsettling, "at how much of an ungrateful wretch you are."
Everyone gasped at her words. Though she was not speaking so loudly as to be screeching at him, the tranquality in her face did not at all reassure one that all was well. Indeed, her eyes bore nothing but loathing, and she put up a most disapproving frown.
"Why are you so obsessed over that woman?" she said, her tone cold. "What did she have that I don't?"
"L-Lady Faye… I…" Kumi said, his voice shrinking.
"Why can't you be more like Arashi?" she said, her tone turning wistful. "He would always say something like 'Miss Nirigiri, I love your treats! They're so tasty and scrumptious! Please give me more!'. It always gladdened my heart to see him say such things with his smile.
"But you... you hardly acknowledge all my hard work," she continued. "You simply say that my treats are 'good'... You don't say anything more than that, as if I existed in your mind for only a second. And now, you, not having changed at all these last few days, have the nerve to demand that I change the way I do things."
"I... I didn't mean it that way—"
Faye waved her hand flippantly. "Then what did you mean?"
Kumi opened his mouth, but all that came out therefrom was blubbering and stuttering as Faye's glare at him intensified.
"And I suppose I ought to mention this as well," she said, looking completely uncaring of what he had to say. "All this time, you've been prattling on about fairies, elves, and the like. You even think you've been haunted by monsters lurking in your room. You truly think they're all real, don't you?"
Kumi took a step back as if worried that she might attack him. "Wh-What are you saying, Lady Faye? They are real!"
"No, they're not," she retorted as she firmly set a hand on the nearby table. "The truth is, we've all played along with your fantasies all this time. The only reason we've done it is to stop you from whining."
"Wh-Whoa, Faye, that's…" Sorao said, gaping.
"But there's more to this than you think," she continued, paying Sorao no heed. "The others think your fantasies are merely products of your active imagination. They think it's cute that you're still clinging onto your childhood delusions. But I know the truth."
"Truth…?" Kumi said, looking as if on the verge of tears.
"You don't understand, it looks. You are different from the rest of us."
"I'm... different?"
"Yes. For your mind is unsound."
"Unsound?" Kumi said, looking more and more puzzled as he parroted her words.
"Indeed. It is unsound, unwhole, unwell."
"Wh-What...? I don't understand!" Kumi cried out, shaking. "I don't understand what you're saying!"
"That's what I expected you to say. Nonetheless, the truth does not depend on your understanding it," she said as her expression grew haughty, and yet her voice remained ever so tranquil. "Fairies, elves, magic… They don't exist."
"N-No... Y-You're wrong..."
"In truth, they are delusions begotten from your unsound mind. As a result, you can never see the world without marring it with your delusions."
"Aah..."
"And I can assure you one thing... the world has no room for a foolish, idiotic, and delusional loser like you."
"Aah… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Sobbing and howling, Kumi ran out of the dining room through the door that led to the lower decks.
"Hmph… How pitiful," Faye said matter-of-factly, unfazed by his outburst.
"Whoa… Faye, you…" Sorao said, holding up his hands defensively. "You totally sound like a different person now."
"Indeed..." Maiha said, wide-eyed. "I never would have foreseen such a violent outburst from you..."
"F-Faye!" Masashi exclaimed, speaking his mind without a second thought. "Wh-What's the meaning of this?! How could you say those things?!"
She, however, looked not at all deterred by his chiding. "I said nothing but the truth to that ingrate."
"Faye," Mari said sternly. "What exactly do you know?"
Faye showed no signs of losing her cool as she turned toward Mari with a snide smile. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you have to be more specific."
"You said Kumi has an 'unsound mind'," she replied, crossing her arms. "What exactly are you referring to?"
Upon hearing that, Faye let out a small but cocky chuckle. "I'm not so doltish, stupid, and sloppy as to reveal that to you. In fact, I'm sure you can figure it out yourself."
"What?"
"That's all you'll get from me," Faye said, sounding not at all rueful. "Now, I've grown quite tired of talking about this. I think I'll head to bed now."
"What? But you haven't cooked dinner yet!" Sorao said, looking much more concerned than before. "Without you, we're lost!"
Faye waved her hand dismissively. "I don't feel like doing it tonight. Find something else to feed yourself."
"But… But…"
His melodramatic tone was not enough to convince Faye, however, as she walked out the room, not stopping for even a second.
Sorao groaned as he rubbed his head. "Oh, man… I can't cook to save my life."
"Haven't you been watching Faye cook her pastries?" Masashi asked.
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean I can cook it!" Sorao said whiningly. "I've simply been doing whatever Faye tells me to do!"
"Why, you wouldn't even make a good parrot, then!" Maiha remarked, putting up an annoyed expression as she crossed her arms.
Mari sighed, looking less vexed at this turn of events. "If you really can't cook any pastries, then cook some instant noodles for us and come up with a way not to have everyone be disappointed in you."
Sorao groaned once more as he bit his lips. "Damn it… why did things have to turn out like this?"
I think there are far more things to be concerned about, though… Masashi thought, but found it pointless to say.
"Hmm... I wonder," Maiha muttered to herself as she glanced toward the door through which Faye had left.
"What is it?" Masashi asked.
"I'm somewhat concerned about Faye," she answered. "She has demonstrated that she is indeed a superb cook, and so I can only wonder what is troubling her."
"Aw, worried about her, aren't you?" Sorao said. "Well, I too am pretty shocked, but there's really nothing any of us can do about it. She's just a little upset, that's all. Give it a night to let her cool off."
"I suppose you have a point," she said somewhat resignedly. "I should also like to avoid eating your makeshift meal in the future."
"You really didn't need to say that, you know..." the musician bemoaned pathetically.
In the end, Sorao's choice of dinner was two cups of instant noodles for each person. It was far from the "luxurious" dishes that the group had been accustomed to having since the killing game, but Masashi was at least happy that there was food to eat. As Sorao prepared the instant noodles, Mari left the dining room so that she might check up on Kumi. Though greatly troubled over what had just happened with Faye and Kumi, Masashi wanted to eat dinner first before dealing with it.
When Mari and the others came to the dining room, they all astonishedly looked at the two cups of instant noodles. Masashi briefly explained that Faye and Kumi had had a small fight, so they would not be available tonight. Just as Maiha was about to add on to that, he quickly asked her not to say anything, for he felt that divulging the details of Faye's words was not a wise thing to do, especially when it concerned Kumi's private life. Thankfully, she complied, and so did Sorao and Mari.
"Th-This is all you can come up with?" Hikari said as she looked down at her makeshift meal.
"Not exactly my first choice of dinner…" Tanjiro remarked.
"Ah, instant noodles… Whenever I am without others to provide for me, you act as a most loyal servant," Haruyuki said, smiling a small wistful smile as if recalling the first time when he had met a dear friend.
"So you can't cook anything but this when your parents aren't home. Got it," Sayua remarked.
Haruyuki shook his head, though keeping his serene smile. "Alas, no. Even with my expertise in many cooking games, I am not up for the culinary arts, I'm afraid."
Maiha scoffed as she ate hers. "Why do you sound so proud of that?"
After a mostly quiet dinner, Mari asked Masashi to take her to his room. He had no need to ask her what was on her mind, and so he did as she bade without a question.
"All right, then…" Masashi said after shutting his door. "How's Kumi?"
"Unfortunately, I couldn't talk to him," she said. "I knocked on his door, and he gave no response. Undoubtedly, he must have been greatly shocked over what Faye said."
"Faye… Just why?" he replied. "Why did she say all those awful things?"
"Well, first of all, we have to be sure about what caused it. Kumi told her that he didn't like Faye's cooking and wanted to eat something like Sister Hikari's treats again… and that is when Faye lashed out at him."
"I don't know why, but something about that felt… weird," Masashi said, thinking back on it. "I was pretty surprised to see Kumi suddenly criticize Faye's cooking."
"To some extent, it makes sense. He clearly misses Sister Hikari and wants to have the same experience as he had before," she said. "And I believe he earnestly thought that he was helping Faye with his words. He didn't sound at all mocking. I don't think he was intentionally degrading her."
"I guess so... Still, it felt pretty random for him to say all that stuff. It's almost as if someone had told him to say those things."
"I feel the same way, and I'd like to ask him about it later... but right now, let's focus on Faye. Do you understand why Faye was upset at him for saying that?"
"Um... kind of. From what I could tell, Kumi's words made her feel bad about herself. I didn't expect it to make her that upset, though. His comment didn't sound malicious at all."
Mari showed a small frown as she leaned back on her seat. "Whether or not he had any ill intent, the issue is the emotional response that it effected. From what I've seen of her, Faye is the kind of woman who values how she is seen by others. Once she feels that her image is being attacked, she will become cruel toward those who have wronged her in an attempt to demean them."
"So then Kumi's words... made her feel insecure?"
Thinking back on Faye's behavior, he noted that she would always seem rather unnerved whenever someone criticized her cooking, even if the comment were something as innocent as pointing out that it tasted a little off. Indeed, for all her confidence she exuded as the Ultimate Patissier, it was only the impression that she wanted others to have.
"I think it's better to call it the straw that broke the camel's back," Mari answered. "That is, she had already grown frustrated with Kumi's state. After all her work of taking care of him after Sister Hikari's death, it must've pained her to see that he still was clinging onto his lost mother figure. It's as if her help had not done anything for him at all. She must have felt that it made her look powerless."
"That's…"
Even with her insecurity, never would he have thought that she would snap at Kumi, especially when Faye herself had chosen to take care of him after Sister Hikari's death. He certainly could not imagine Sister Hikari ever getting angry at Kumi, so Masashi had naively assumed that Faye would simply act as a suitable replacement for her.
"Moreover," she continued, "she said that Kumi had an 'unsound mind'. I think we both know what she was referring to."
"Yeah… Oh, that's right!"
Recalling this morning's events, he told Mari what Faye had been doing this morning. As he spoke, Mari said not a word, simply nodding along. Once it was over, Mari stood up from her seat her fingers and walked back and forth about the room, saying not a word. Masashi too was silent, entranced by her sight as if she had bewitched him. Though it was nothing extraordinary, something about her presence helped tame his unease and confusion.
Eventually, she sat back at her seat and broke the silence.
"It's quite obvious at this point," she said, "that she was talking about a clinical disorder."
"So… she believes that Kumi has a clinical disorder?" he said in amazement. "She... She has to be wrong about that. He's just a normal kid."
Masashi found himself unable to continue as he recalled all the moments that he had spent with the little storyteller. At no point had he ever thought that there was something wrong with his mind. At worst, Kumi was a little naive and starry-eyed about things, but that was not out of place for someone of a childish mindset.
"Is he just a normal kid, though?" she said, disagreement written all over her face. "From what I've heard from him and Sister Hikari, he was separated from his parents a long time ago, which is why he now lives in an orphanage, though he's been loath to mention the reason for the separation. Not a background that a normal kid would have, I should imagine."
"I... I can't say you're wrong about that, but..." he said, his face growing a bit pale as dread filled him. "Even with that, it doesn't mean he has a clinical disorder."
"I can't say it's completely groundless to think that, though," Mari answered at once, surprising Masashi with her readiness. "Recall what happened with him the other day."
"L-Lady Mari…?" Kumi mumbled, not turning his head as if worried that he might be being deceived. "I-Is that you?"
Mari then leaned forth, so she was now right in his line of sight. "Don't worry. It's me. Can you see me now?"
"Oh... Thank goodness you're really here, Lady Mari." Kumi then let out a short giggle. "First, fairies, and now, you... I didn't think I'd see you so soon."
What in the world? Masashi thought, growing confused. Is he... seeing fairies right now?
"How about you get up for us, buddy?" Sorao asked rather casually. "We've been waiting for you, you know."
"S-Sir Sorao…" Kumi muttered. "Sorry, but... earlier... the fairies... here in this very room..."
"What?"
Kumi giggled as if recalling a fond moment. "The fairies must've cast a spell on me to stop me from moving... I'm sorry I didn't get out of bed earlier..."
"He mentioned that the 'fairies' had stopped him from moving, which is why he hadn't gotten up earlier," Mari said. "Of course, that's not the truth... but what if it's no mere excuse?"
"Wait, so... he wasn't simply slacking off or whatever?" he said. "He actually couldn't move because of his disorder?"
She nodded. "Given that he experienced this while in bed, it leads me to suspect that it's related to sleep paralysis."
"Sleep paralysis?"
He barely recalled having heard of it, but he knew nothing about it. Of course, the name and its nature of being a disorder suggested nothing good.
"Basically, those with sleep paralysis find themselves unable to move or speak as they wake up or fall asleep," she said. "What is noteworthy is that it's also common during episodes to experience hallucinations."
"Hallucinations... Wait a minute, don't tell me that..."
Mari gave a solemn nod. "The 'monster' that he claims that he has been seeing? A mere hallucination."
"That's..."
She leaned toward him, gazing at him as if trying to rid him of his doubt. "Do you truly believe that monsters exist, Masashi?"
As soon as she asked that, more and more of the unease within him began to pour out. When he gazed into her eyes, he was bereft of all ability to gainsay her, and he felt the doubt clouding his judgment slowly shrinking.
Such monsters as Kumi claimed to see were not real.
"And that's not all," she continued, apparently seeing no need to ask him for his answer. "The monster is not the only fantastic thing that he believes to be real."
He widened his eyes in horror as soon as he realized what she was referring to.
"Y-You can't be serious..." he muttered. "Even he can't believe that fairies truly exist. He just pretends that they do whenever he goes fairy hunting! It's all for his game's sake!"
"Does he really pretend?" she said. "Has he ever told you that he 'pretends' that there are fairies as part of his game?"
He winced as more of his doubt shrank. He did not even need to think back to know that Kumi had never said such a thing.
"I believe that he has believed in fairies since his childhood, but once he began to see hallucinations of fairies during his episodes, his childhood belief became reality to him," Mari continued, sounding confident in her conclusion. "And as for his 'fairy hunting'... the 'fairies' that he hunts are probably just insects. He would make a good bug catcher, if you ask me."
"Er, maybe... He is pretty nimble," he answered resignedly, finding nothing to gainsay her on. "So when we found him in his bed the other day... was he having an episode while talking to us?"
"Given that he could speak to us during then, I don't think so. Remember that episodes of sleep paralysis are generally characterized by the inability to speak or move."
"So... before we found him, then?"
"Yes, I believe that sometime before we went to his room, he woke up, only to suffer from another episode of his disorder," she replied quickly. "That is when he saw the 'fairies', not knowing that they were truly hallucinations. Afterwards, he fell back asleep, blissfully unaware of what had happened."
"Now that I think about it, much of his wording was pretty unclear," he said, realizing that he had misinterpreted his words. "It's all coming together now, but I still don't get it. How did he come to suffer from sleep paralysis?"
"To be clear, a lot of people experience sleep paralysis at some point in their lives, but to regularly experience it is another thing wholly. The causes of sleep paralysis aren't exactly clear, but it has been linked to a few other conditions such as narcolepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder."
"Wow... That's... quite informative," he said, looking at her with slight awe. "How do you know about this, anyway?"
"Well, it's something I simply read a while ago for leisure," she answered nonchalantly. "It's not something I have expertise on, however, so I may not have all the details perfectly correct."
Setting that aside, what in the world do you read on your free time, anyway? he thought, befuddled for a moment. Don't tell me you're planning to study quantum physics later...
"So in Kumi's case, what's the cause?"
"If I had to guess, I would say that stress from the killing game in the early stages affected his mental health so greatly that he began to suffer from sleep paralysis and thus see hallucinations," she said, albeit uncertainly. "When did he first complain about being tormented by the 'monster'?"
"Umm... after Haruka's death, I think. That matches your theory," he answered as he wondered at how so much had happened ever since the killing game had begun. "So, uh, does he know about his disorder?"
She shook her head without a moment's hesitation. "I don't think he does. Because of his active imagination, he seems to earnestly believe that his inability to speak or move at certain times is due to fairies and that the monster haunting him is real. I'll have to go through the dictionary to have a better idea on his disorder."
"Hmm... That makes sense," he replied. "So Faye must've figured it out and then decided to read up on it in that dictionary! She was the one who took it out!"
"It's somewhat likely, given how much she knows about it, but we don't have any solid evidence that shows that she took it out," she replied. "I must say, though, I'm rather surprised to see that she of all people has found out about it."
Masashi looked askance at her, befuddled by her sudden remark. "Uh, why do you say that?"
"Think me silly if you want, but I've never had the impression that Faye is quite observant of others to the point that she may suspect them of having a clinical disorder," she explained calmly. "I would have expected someone like Maiha or Haruyuki to make the connection instead."
"True... They kind of give off that vibe," Masashi said. "But still, maybe that's just the impression she wants to give off. Maybe she's actually more intelligent than we think. She could've figured out his disorder, just as you have."
Mari nodded, albeit hesitantly. "I can't deny that possibility, even though I find it hard to shake off my impression of her..."
She then gave him a most grave glance. "Nonetheless, we need to watch out for her. I sincerely hope that my feeling ends up being groundless, but I won't be surprised if she's up to something."
One last moment of calm before the storm. This time, we have only one FTE, and it's with Sayua, who hasn't exactly gotten a lot of focus this chapter. It's not exactly a happy conversation, though. More importantly, Kumi angers Faye, which doesn't end well…
Anyway, here are all the Free Time Events shown so far:
Chapter 1: Kumi, Haruka, Futaba, Sorao, Faye, Arashi
Chapter 2: Sister Hikari, Abraham, Mari, Tanjiro, Murphy, Sayua
Chapter 3: Mari, Hikari, Kasumi, Arashi, Sister Hikari, Kumi, Murphy, Tanjiro, Haruyuki
Chapter 4: Faye (x2), Hikari, Maiha, Sorao, Sayua
Next time, the long-awaited slaying will come, so this is your last chance to make any predictions. This may be the last time that you get to see some of the characters, so enjoy it while it lasts!