Danganronpa: Obscurity’s Disgrace (SYOC) Chapter 11: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Part 4), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 1: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Part 4)

Warning!

This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark and serious themes! And also expect some choice words that might upset people - thanks to a certain Gas Station Manager! But also expect fun and whimsical themes as well! I hope you enjoy!

[Pheme's Room]

"Well now! This is getting exciting!" Pheme was sitting in her chair, being clearly excited about something.

"Indeed." The Figure was absentmindedly tapping a pen on the desk. "Mr. Seizon and Ms. Blossom's show will be quite the interesting production." Judging by what The Figure said, this flashback was starting in present day instead of the past for once.

Pheme looked toward The Figure. "Right?! Oh, I'm so excited to see the bright and shining lights and spirits of Ms. Blossom and Mr. Seizon! It'll be exhilarating!" She shot her hands up in the air.

The Figure sighed. They honestly did agree with Pheme on this matter. But they had something else on their mind right now. "Miss Pheme? I'd like to talk to you about something." They got right to the point.

Noticing The Figure's serious tone, Pheme attempted to calm herself. "What is it? I can't imagine what would have you all serious."

Not responding to Pheme, The Figure opened up a file cabinet and started to look through it. Pheme watched them intently as they searched through some documents. After a second, they pulled out three documents. "Here we are." The Figure went over to Pheme and set the documents in front of her. "Here are the recovered documents for Mr. Brooks, Ms. Beaufort, and Ms. J- ah, Ms. Alpha." The Figure looked directly into Pheme's eyes. "Because of your... spur of the moment decision, we both know little to nothing about these three stars. Let's study up shall we?"

Pheme stared intently at the documents, then at The Figure. ""Spur of the moment?" What did I..." It took Pheme a second to remember. "Ah yes! Of course! You truthfully do make a good point. Let's learn about them shall we?" Pheme grabbed the first document in the stack of three, which was for Adam Brooks, the Ultimate Academic.

The Figure didn't exactly know what to make of Pheme's reaction there, but they decided not to worry about it. "Of course." The Figure then went and pulled up the playlist for Adam that The Contact had provided. "Shall we?"

Pheme nodded. "We shall!" And so, the first video in the playlist started up...

...

[St. LaDroubi's High School]

"Okay class, let's move onto the next question! This is an easy one! As you all should know, Hope's Peak Academy recently opened its doors back up. How long ago was that?" The teacher looked around the room to see who would raised their hands. Unsurprisingly, the first person to confidently raise their hand was their star student, Adam Brooks. "Adam!" They called on him.

Adam had a confident look on his face. "Hope's Peak Academy o-opened its doors back up approximately 40 years ago, Ms. Durama." He confidently stated.

Ms. Durama smiled. "Correct! You all should take a lesson out of Adam's book!" She pointed to the rest of her class with her baton. "Anyway, we are obviously in a high school, and not Hope's Peak. But Hope's Peak has been establishing branches all across the entire world, and rather quickly at that. For those of you who may become an Ultimate one day, this'll be valuable knowledge for all of you. Understand?"

A collective "yeah" could be heard from the class, with Adam's affirmation being the loudest.

"Very good! That'll be all for today class, you are dismissed!" Ms. Durama sat down in her chair, now waiting for her students to leave, so she could start preparing for the next class.

And they all eventually did file out, but like always, Adam stayed behind. "Ms. Durama?" Adam walked up to her desk. "Can I, uh, ask y-you about that recent lecture? I'm inclined to b-believe that you must have more reasons for bringing up Hope's P-Peak Academy."

Ms. Durama raised her eyebrows. "I see I can't get anything past you Adam." She sighed. "Well yes. The number of Ultimate students had been rising exponentially in the recent years. I wouldn't be surprised if you would become one later this year Adam. So... just call it a precaution I suppose."

Adam nodded. "That's f-fair. I just thought, considering you are the Former Ultimate Historian, that that would b-be part of the reason. And..."

Ms. Durama glared at her student. "Adam, you know I don't like hearing about that. I've told the class many times that I don't like having that title attached to me."

Adam's eyes widened and he quickly bowed. "S-sorry Ms. Durama, it just s-slipped out! I didn't mean anything b-by it!"

Ms. Durama chuckled. "You're fine Adam." She wanted to move past that topic. "Was that all you wanted to say to me?"

Realizing that his teacher didn't want to discuss her former Ultimate status anymore, Adam cleared his throat. "Y-yes, that was it. Thank you for your time Ms. Durama, and thank you f-for the lecture!" He smiled, grabbed his backpack, and left the classroom.

Ms. Durama silently watched as Adam left the room. "That boy..." she muttered, then she got back to preparing for the next class.

...

As soon as Adam left, he went right to his locker. It was the end of the school day after all! Ms. Durama just stayed behind to teach for some "special" classes. And Adam, assuredly, wasn't special!

Adam memorized his locker combination, so he opened it with ease. He started storing things in there that he wouldn't need until tomorrow, and he pulled out things he was going to need tonight too. But as he was doing so, he got stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder. "Adam! My main man!"

It was one of the "jocks" at St. LaDroubi High. "Yo Adam, good day huh? You doing good?" He shook Adam's shoulder pretty fiercely, but it was seemingly in a friendly manner.

Adam timidly turned around to face him. "Y-yeah, it was a pretty good day today! Oh, uh, d-did you need something from m-me?" He adjusted his glasses.

The jock laughed. "C'mon, I don't go to you just for favors do I? ...But since you asked, you wanna work on this stuff? It's homework for math and you know I'm trash at that! If you do, I'll put in a good word with some of the girls here for you. How about it eh? Some of the girls here are hot bro. You won't regret it." The jock tried convincing him.

Adam scratched the back of his head. "W-well sure I guess-"

The jock didn't let Adam finish his sentence as he shoved his stack of homework into Adam's hands. "Yo thanks Adam bro, you're the best! If you could get that done by tomorrow that'd be sick! See ya later bro!" Then the jock jogged off.

Adam couldn't help but just laugh nervously. How do you even react to that? He didn't mind helping people. Not at all. But sometimes... it's just...

"Oh heya Adam!" While Adam was busy with his internal monologue, one of the popular girls at the school came up to him. "So you know how you helped me with that test last week? Like, thank you so much BTW. But I have another coming up and I have a party tonight, so I like, can't study for it. Could you pretty please do it for me? Yeah?"

Adam's social awkwardness was shining through right now. He didn't know what to say. "Uh- u-um I-" He started stuttering.

"Oh you're the greatest Adam! I already told the teacher you'd do it anyway, so don't worry! Like, I'll see you later!" The popular girl gave a quick wave before walking away and immediately pulling out her phone.

Adam sighed. Man... some days are just...

...

After Adam meticulously organized his things and added another stack of people's homework to his own work load, he left and started to walk home. He lived very close to the school, so it was a short walk. His parents constantly offered to give him rides anyway, but he refused.

...

After a five minute walk, he arrived home! "Mom! Dad! I'm h-home!" He always liked to make sure that they knew he was home. They're the type to worry if Adam is even a minute late.

"Welcome home honey!" Adam's mother, Latoya Brooks, burst out from the kitchen to greet her son.

"How was your day son?" And she was followed closely behind by Albert Brooks, Adam's father.

"Hey Mom! Hey Dad! It was p-pretty good!" He set his things down on the table. "Ms. Durama brought up Hope's Peak Academy t-today, and it was fairly interesting to l-learn more about it-" Adam looked up from the table, and saw this his parents both had bright beaming smiles on their faces. "What's g-going on?"

Latoya couldn't help but laugh out of pure joy. "Funny you bring up Hope's Peak Academy Adam... because..." She brought out a certain letter that she had hidden on her person and handed it to her son. "Look at what's in it Adam!"

Adam was still a little confused, but he took it and opened it anyway. What did it say? Well... "Wait... Hope's Peak Academy is inviting me to join t-them as the Ultimate Academic? W-wow..." He didn't know what to say. And when his parents went to hug him, he still didn't know what to say.

"We're so proud of you son! Congratulations!" Albert patted him on the back.

"Yes! You're so great Adam!" Latoya's hug intensified.

"W-wow..." Adam muttered. He was still at a loss for words. Strictly speaking, this was a wonderful opportunity for him. I mean, going to Hope's Peak? What student wouldn't want to go? Thoughts of all the fun things he'd study, research, and do homework on flashed through his mind.

But then... he thought back to early today. Of people giving him their work. He... ugh. He didn't know how to feel.

All he wanted was a normal life. Not famous, but not obscure either. And Adam didn't think that was a large ask either. Is going to Hope's Peak Academy counterintuitive to that? Perhaps. But this wasn't an opportunity that he could just brush away.

Adam forced a smile onto his face, in order to reassure his parents. He was both excited and anxious, so he was just... going to wait and see for what'll happen to him...

...

[Pheme's Room]

"Hm..." Pheme tapped her heel-clad foot against the ground as the video ended. "Mr. Brooks is quite the character isn't he?" She looked over to The Figure.

They slowly nodded. "Yes..." The Figure was currently in the middle of looking over Adam's document. Once they reached a certain point, they grimaced. That was the reason why The Figure didn't want him here. But you unfortunately can't exactly un-kidnap someone.

Pheme wasn't paying attention to The Figure, instead choosing to drift off into her own little world. "Mr. Brooks... Adam Brooks... bah." She got a disgusted look on her face. "What an idiot. Trying to lay in the middle of the fame spectrum? What nonsense." Pheme shook her head. She was glad she kidnapped him and brought him here. Hating and lashing out at the world and at people like he does... and how he wastes his talents... a man like him doesn't even deserve to be alive.

Pheme looked up at The Figure, who was still staring at Adam's document. "Awfully entranced by Mr. Brooks aren't you?" She teased.

Upon realizing that Pheme was talking to them, The Figure coughed and put away Adam's document. "It doesn't matter." They checked their watch. "Ah, it's just about time Miss Pheme. And remember, you must go and fetch the equipment from Ms. Blossom's and Mr. Seizon's Ultimate Studio, remember? And be sure to initiate the special event later today." They reminded her.

Pheme eagerly nodded. "Of course! There'll be a lot of fun things today! I'm so excited! And here's hoping... that blood will be drawn soon..." She said ominously as she went to officially start the day...

...

[Adam's Room]

"Hello my glamorous stars! It is now 8am, and that means it's morning time! It's time to wake up and get moving! Get ready for a day full of stardom!"

The morning announcement rang out from the monitor in Adam's room. He had always kept a very good sleep schedule, so as soon as he heard it, he was sure to get up and get going with his day. I mean, sure, there was a small part of him who just wanted to bury his head in his pillow in fear. But... he tried to convince himself that there'd be no point. Adam felt like... he could actually help here. Maybe not yet... but eventually.

But anyway, that was enough internal monologuing for one day! Adam got up out of bed, and got started with his day.

...

But right as he was about to leave... Pheme appeared on the monitor for another announcement...

"Forgive me for disturbing once again my beautiful stars, but I have one more announcement. Would Ms. Catherine Munchkin please report to the Grand Theater immediately? Thank you!"

She disappeared off of the monitor. Huh... strange. Why did Pheme call out Cathy like she was the principal calling for a delinquent? Well in all fairness, Cathy is quite the delinquent.

Well, he'd have time to think about that later. For now, he should actually get started with his day.

[VIP Quarters]

"Heya Ade! Have a good nights sleep?" In a surprise Yoshino jumpscare, it appeared that the horror novelist had just gotten out of her room as well, and happened to see Adam while doing so.

Adam nervously nodded. "Uh, yeah! W-well, as g-good as possible considering w-where we are, I suppose."

Yoshino scoffed. "You ain't wrong there." She shook her head. "But c'mon man, let's stay positive here yeah? I know Pheme gave us that nonsense motive yesterday, but let's just keep our spirits up!" She encouraged the academic.

Adam smiled. "Y-yes! Of course!" He shared in her positivity.

While the two were talking, another door opened up, and out came Kei. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of the duo. "Oh hey, this is a strange duo. This a private party or can I interject?"

Yoshino turned toward the lawyer with a neutral expression. "Hey Kei. What's up?"

Kei gave a thin smirk. "Well, I'm waking up for the day, that's what." He answered a little sarcastically. "Anyway you two, you hear Pheme calling for Cathy? Wonder what that's about?"

Adam started thinking about that. "Huh... I hadn't thought about t-that yet... ah! T-this is just the first thing that p-popped up in my head, but I wonder if it's about...

Pheme frowned. "I do have an explanation, yes. I unfortunately don't know which of you stars did it, but one of you messed with some technology earlier this morning. And that caused some of you wonderful stars to not be greeted by my wonderful face this morning! Luckily for the culprit, I wasn't paying attention to the cameras at the time. So you got off lucky this time." She glared at everyone.

Perhaps Pheme figured out that C-Cathy was the one who did that?" Adam gave an educated guess.

Yoshino frowned. "Damn. Really? The cat girl did that? She didn't seem like someone good with tech. That seemed more like Ade's deal." She cocked her head in Adam's direction.

Adam's eyes widened. "W-well I didn't do it! I'm still not even s-sure what exactly Pheme even meant!" He defended himself.

Yoshino seemed confused. "I wasn't blaming you man. Just giving an example. You're good Ade, no worries." She reassured him.

Adam took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. While he was doing that, Kei was getting an idea in his head. "Say, Pheme said to have Cathy go to the Grand Theater yeah? If we're so curious, why not sneak in there? Or just listen in?" He suggested with a smirk on his face.

"U-uh, I don't know, t-that seems risky..." Adam seemed considered about the idea.

But Yoshino just shrugged. "Shit, we could try. Not like the rules say we can't listen in on people, or Pheme in general. Oh, but couldn't we just use those apps that Pheme gave our Star-Phones for that?"

Kei shook his head. "It's kind of a matter of principle at this point, so let's not use those. The apps only go after our Star-Phones, and not the person themselves. If Cathy doesn't have hers on her, there'd be no point." He reasoned.

Yoshino narrowed her eyes. "Fair enough. You're right, we shouldn't be using those damn apps." She stretched her arms. "Alright though, I'm down to spy on them. Lord knows Cathy wouldn't willingly tell us what they talked about." She turned to Adam. "You in Ade?"

Adam darted his eyes between Kei and Yoshino. I mean, call him a stickler for the rules if you want to, but he didn't really like the idea of spying or eavesdropping on people. "I..." Adam didn't know what to say.

"Hey, c'mon man." Kei went up to Adam and put his arm on his shoulder. "There'll be time to be a stickler for the rules later. So let's go and see what they're on about. You never know what we might learn. Not sure where Ji-hoon is, but he'd probably agree too. Gotta please our almighty leader right?" Kei applied a healthy dose of peer pressure to the poor academic.

Damn it. Adam hated this feeling. "Ugh... f-fine." He knew he was way too susceptible to peer pressure, and he hated it.

...

Well, whatever. It's not like Kei was trying to be malicious here or anything. Adam steadied himself with a deep breath. "Let's d-do it." He confirmed his participation once again.

Yoshino smiled. "Hell yeah! Good man Ade! Let's live a little!"

Kei smiled as well. "Not bad Adam. Remember, there's nothing wrong with breaking a few rules here and there." He patted him on the back.

Adam let out a quiet groan. Well, let's just go and do it. He was still super nervous about it... but hey. He could potentially learn some useful things.

With a sigh from Adam, the trio left to go and commence their spying...

[Grand Lobby]

"O-oh, this was unexpected!" Adam was shocked by the sight that awaited him in front of the doors to the Grand Theater.

"Huh. Ain't that something." Kei was surprised as well. "Guess we weren't the first ones to have this idea."

Once the trio had reached the doors to the Grand Theater, they found that eight other people had the same idea that they had. Specifically, Damien, his dear Ayaka, his dear Aelia, Joji, Aurora, Kuroko, Lake and Raiha. The group already had the doors opened a tad, and were intently listening in on Pheme and Cathy.

Kuroko was the first to notice their new three arrivals. She held up her pointer finger to her mouth in a shushing motion, then gestured for them to come over. The trio did as they were told, and soon enough, the now group of eleven started to listen in closely on what was going on...

...

"Well look at that! I'm surprised you actually showed up Ms. Munchkin!" Pheme sat on a director's chair, which was directly on top of the stage. Luckily for the group of eavesdroppers, Cathy had recently entered, so they hadn't missed any of the "tea" as Raiha would call it.

Cathy slowly walked down to the bottom of the theater. "Yes yes... Admittedly, I want to see what the Goddess wanted to do with me! If you mean to accuse me of any crimes, I assure you I haven't committed a single one!" The Christmas cat girl sounded sounded quite condescending with that one.

Pheme didn't believe it for a second. "Sure sure... whatever you say Ms. Munchkin." She rolled her eyes. "But..." Pheme definitely was going to accuse her of something here, but another thing popped into her mind because of Cathy's choice of words. "You called me a "goddess," Ms. Munchkin?"

Cathy raised an eyebrow. That was a sudden question. She waited before she reached the bottom of the theater before answering. "Am I wrong? You seem to be on a different level than the silly humans you have held captive here." She seemed fairly relaxed for some reason.

Pheme narrowed her eyes for a moment, before proceeding to smile from under her mask. "Well you assumed correctly then, Ms. Munchkin. I am indeed on another level than the "silly humans" here, as you call them." Pheme closed her eyes. "But enough about that. I didn't call you in here to have a Free Time Event with you. I called you in here for a different reason." She got up from her chair. "Can you guess why?"

Cathy smirked, then laughed. "Nyahaha! Was I correct? Did you want to accuse me of a crime?"

"Yes!" Pheme stomped her foot on the floor of the stage. "I figured out that it you, Ms. Munchkin. You were the one who messed with my morning announcements yesterday! You made it so that half of these stars weren't directly woken up by me!" Pheme seemed serious with her accusation. "And not to mention that you were also responsible for the error with the motive apps in the middle of the night as well! Why do these things?"

Cathy scoffed. "Nyaha! What nonsense! I didn't do any of what you spoke of!" She didn't seem to want to admit to it.

Pheme pointed directly at Cathy. "Don't try to deny it! I know it was you! You wouldn't want me... to punish you... would you?" She said a little sensually.

Cathy shook her head dismissively. "Don't try your cheap scare tactics with me, Goddess! I didn't do what you spoke of, and there aren't any rules forbidding it anyway!" An aura of smugness radiated from Cathy.

"Oh? Is that truly the case Ms. Munchkin?" Pheme smugly snapped her fingers, and within seconds, Cathy got a notification on her Star-Phone, which she actually had with her. She got it out and opened it up, and saw what it was about...

New Rule Added!

17. The stars are not allowed to mess with or sabotage any provided motives or any technology belonging to Pheme. Doing so will result in punishment from Pheme.

"Hmph." Cathy put her Star-Phone away. "You're adding new rules? Adding new rules to a game can kill the fun of it you know." She half-pouted.

"Ha! Did you read rule fourteen, Ms. Munchkin?" Pheme directed Cathy back to her Star-Phone. With a groan, Cathy grabbed it back out and glanced at the aforementioned rule.

14. Rules may be adjusted or added at any time at the discretion of Pheme or the production staff.

"See Ms. Munchkin? There is a precedent for this. Can't be too cautious, you know?" Pheme did the :finger_waggle: emote at Cathy.

Cathy rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever you say. Still think that's a bit boring." She pocketed her Star-Phone. "Now, was that all you want me for? Just false accusations? I am a busy cat burglar! I've got things to steal to make the greedy and malicious kneel!" She rhymed.

"They aren't false accusations Ms. Munchkin! You're lucky I only just now added a rule in regard to your transgressions!" Pheme didn't rhyme. "But alas, I suppose I should've expected you to deny the accusations. So be it." She shook her head. "But I'll be watching you veeerryy closely from now on Ms. Munchkin." Pheme's eyes widened as she stared directly into Cathy's soul.

"Nyaha!" Cathy couldn't care less about her soul being stared at, so she started to leave.

"Ah, I have one last thing for you Ms. Munchkin. And this is truly the last thing, I assure you!" Pheme stopped her.

Cathy groaned and turned around. "Again? Goddesses quite like to waste time don't they. Well, spit it out!" She was getting impatient.

"Well..." Pheme started to say something else...

...

"T-this is becoming f-fascinating..." Adam muttered. Their now group of eleven was still spying on the two of them after all.

"Shush Adam! STFU man, we gotta get this secret tea!" Raiha quietly shushed him.

"Indeed, if you would please keep quiet Adam." Damien whispered as well.

Adam scratched the back of his head. "Sorry..."

...

"What the fuck are you clowns doing? What, is the Christmas cat girl putting on a show in there?" Alpha, with no regard to how loud she was being, strolled up to the group. "Half her ass is hanging out of her skirt so I wouldn't be fucking surprised." She said bluntly as she tried looking over everyone's shoulders.

This time, Aelia wanted to speak up. "C-could you please... be quiet Alpha? We're t-trying to see what Cathy and Pheme are up t-to..."

Alpha lightly slapped Aelia upside the head. "Shut it whatever the fuck your name is! I'm not taking shit from you!" Alpha said, still not minding her voice volume.

"M-my name is Aelia..." The puppeteer muttered.

"Shut the fuck up Damien's cock-sucker! God your little "Ooo I'm so shy and small" shtick is fucking annoying. Both you and Ayaka are all on that Damien ego-stroking bull!" Yeah, Alpha woke up and chose violence today (like she usually does).

"I-I didn't even do anything!" Ayaka chimed in.

"Yeah yeah you little "UwU I'm so shy and cute" bitch, just get back to jerking off Damien!" Alpha hurled out another insult.

Ayaka looked understandably offended. "I d-didn't... I d-don't..." She stammered.

"I-I-I..." Aelia was able to say even less.

"Heh heh..." Damien chuckled. He turned his attention away from Cathy and Pheme and towards Alpha. "My dear Alpha..." He sauntered up to her. "Is that truly how you choose to use your words? Your rough and tumble personality is in such a desperate need of refining." He gestured over Alpha's body. "And... I'd suggest you don't involve my dears Ayaka and Aelia in your... envy... please." Damien smirked, knowing full well what he was saying implied.

"Tch!" Alpha scoffed. "Alright pretty boy... you really think I'd be jealous of your little precious skanks? Yeah, no thank you fuckface."

"Oh? Is that not so?" Damien raised an eyebrow. "You waltz up to our group, and instantly insult and assault my dears Ayaka and Aelia. How could it not be out of envy, my dear Alpha?" He turned to the side. "But, I'm afraid I can't do anything for you. I choose to spend my valuable time with precious and valuable girls, and not you." His eyes shifted to the side to look at her.

"Alright you mothefucker... that's it!" Alpha had enough of this shit.

...

She went to throw a punch at Damien.

Damien intended to just sidestep it, but she did manage to hit the lower part of his jaw. "H-Hmph. I'm afraid you're proving my point, my dear Alpha."

Alpha eyes flared up. "It's fuckers like you that set me the fuck off-!"

Alpha intended to throw another punch, but was promptly stopped by the firm grip of Joji's hand on her arm. "Alright, that's enough! Don't be throwing punches like a crazy person!" He firmly pulled on Alpha's arm.

Lake breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Joji..." They were admittedly on the verge of tears. They really didn't like violence, but they were trying to keep themselves calm with deep breaths. "Can you please stop this Alpha?"

Adam, who also didn't like seeing this go down, spoke up too. "Y-yes, there's no reason to f-fight amongst ourselves. Logically, there's n-no point...!" He stepped into the scene.

"Ha! The little squirt is finally speaking? Your balls finally dropping huh?" Alpha, who was still be held back by Joji, turned to Adam. "Don't say shit to me you little twerp. You and your "erm, logically speaking" and your "um, akshually" shit is insanely annoying. Sorry you can't shoot up this studio like you wanted to shoot up your school bud." She spat at him.

Adam's first instinct was to just apologize for his words, but... how could he? Alpha just hurled quite the heinous insult him. He couldn't just... like how he...

"Yo Alpha." Yoshino stepped up. "I don't know what your deal is, but don't just fucking insult these people! Have you forgotten where the hell we are?"

"Well... we don't know where we are-nya!" Kuroko was here too.

"Damn right Roko!" Yoshino called out without looking behind her. "Have you forgotten that we're trapped in this place? Ade's right! "Logically speaking," there isn't a point to fighting each other!" She got right up in Alpha's face, despite the height difference.

All Alpha did was scoff in response. "I don't need this shit." She turned towards Joji. "Let go of me!" She wrested her arm away from Joji.

"Oh shit sorry-" Joji had a legitimately regretful look on his face for a split second, before it shifted back to an angry one. "Hey wait! We're not done with you yet!"

"Oh yeah? Well I am!" With her arm successfully wrested away from the carpenter, Alpha started to walk away.

...

"Oh shit! This is where everyone was!"

"What in the world are you all doing out here?"

Before Alpha could leave the scene, Genjiro and Ji-hoon respectively finally decided to show up. "What in the fuck is going on here? A fight? Count me in?" Genjiro was somehow able to sense what had just gone down.

Ji-hoon didn't have any words for Genjiro's agressive nature, and just chose to walk up to the person who looked like they had the best grip on the situation. "Joji. What's going on?" He sounded serious.

Joji scoffed. "Alpha picked a fight with Damien, she scared Lake and Adam, and now she's walking away like nothing happened." He summed up the situation.

Ji-hoon rolled his eyes and turned around. "Really?" He was just... done with the gas station manager.

"I'm not gonna explain myself to you, you spectacled fuck." Alpha still had her back turned.

"What, you just walking away from this?" Genjiro turned to her. "That's a fucking bitch move."

Genjiro's words almost got Alpha's fire burning once again, but...

...

"Oh, this is where all of my little helpers were~!"

"Do I even want to know what was... happening here?"

Now Bessie and her unwilling partner in crime Rival showed up. Bessie walked up to the group. "The mood seems tense! What's up~?" She looked around.

"Alpha was j-just... being a bit u-unreasonable..." Adam decided to answer, in the kindest words he could think of.

Bessie turned to Alpha, who still had her back turned. "You need a little pick-me-up Alpha? You doing alright? My show with Rival is tomorrow you know~!" She tried to cheer the grumpy gas station manger up.

"Bessie... I don't think that'll work here..." Rival muttered.

Bessie turned around to face Rival at an alarming speed. "Why not? I think Alpha just needs a little boost~!"

"Bessie my bestie... I'm not sure that's the right thing here..." Raiha didn't see a point in trying to "cheer Alpha up".

"Yes... I'm afraid I have to agree with Raiha on this one Bessie." Aurora slowly nodded.

Bessie turned to them and shrugged. "If you say so~!" She gave up surprisingly quick, and walked back over to Rival.

"Guys..." Ji-hoon wasn't sure what to say here, considering he was clearly lacking valuable context. While he was trying to think of some words, he saw Alpha trying to leave out of the corner of his eye. "Hey Genjiro! Stop Alpha from leaving!"

"Huh?! I'm not your bitch!" Genjiro yelled out. But he grabbed Alpha's arm anyway.

Alpha wordlessly turned toward Genjiro after feeling his grip. "Alpha!" The she turned to Ji-hoon. "Why're you picking fights? That's about the stupidest thing you can do here!" Their de-facto leader advised her.

Alpha crossed her one available arm. "I don't need this shit... I don't need you people!" She spat. "This shit was Damien's fault anyway. That prick purposely riled me up!"

Damien looked shocked hearing his name being brought up again. "Oh? Why do you say that? I merely spoke what I believed to be the truth!" He smirked again while rubbing his still slightly sore lower jaw.

"Why you little-!" Damien's subtle taunting got to Alpha once again, and she tried jumping onto him.

"Hey now!" Genjiro pulled her back. Despite their obvious size difference, Genjiro actually had to exert some effort to keep her held back. "Joji! Get over here and help me in holding her ass back!"

Joji looked to be strangely stunned at the sight, and Genjiro's words didn't reach him immediately. "Huh?" Joji's mind snapped back to reality.

"Joji you dumbass-!" In what must've been a remarkable feat of strength, Alpha actually managed to get away from Genjiro's grip. "Fuck!"

Alpha started running at the smirking Damien. "You little shit-!" She yelled out before...

...

A dagger flew right past Alpha's cheek, slightly grazing it in the process. She quickly turned around, and found the dagger now stuck in the wall. When she turned back around, she found that the doors to the Grand Theater had opened up. So, it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess where that dagger had came from. "I love drama as much as the next person, but I suggest you calm down for the time being Ms. Alpha!" Pheme slowly walked out of the theater and up to the wall, taking her dagger back in the process.

Cathy slowly walked out of the theater as well, and just went and leaned against a wall. It seems both of them were listening in on the fight. Makes sense.

"Pheme..." Kei glared at the goddess.

"Umm... d-did you hear everything that w-was going on out h-here then?" Adam reasoned.

Pheme nodded. "Indeed I did!" Pheme proceeded to point her dagger at Alpha in similar fashion to how a certain Knife Thrower who isn't in this story might do. "Ms. Alpha! I admire your spunk, but I'd advise against this! First, you didn't even get a flashback at the beginning of the chapter! Mr. Brooks did! So this isn't your chapter of focus just yet." Pheme then pointed her dagger at Damien. "And second, please do not murder Mr. Lux right now! That'd make the Studio Trial oh so very boring!"

Alpha crossed her arms and turned away from everyone once again. "Whatever..." She said dismissively, then she started to walk away again.

"Nuh uh uh!" Pheme did the :finger_waggle: emote again with her free hand as she threw the dagger at Alpha once again.

And also once again, it hit the wall beside her. Alpha turned around with an annoyed look. "C'mon! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Of course not!" Pheme walked up and grabbed her dagger from the wall once again. "Why would I want to kill you when you're doing such a good job...?" She muttered.

"Did you say something Pheme-nya?" Kuroko was still here.

"Nope! You heard nothing Ms. Kurobara!" Pheme pointed her dagger at Alpha. "Anyway Ms. Alpha, stay here with the rest of your stars for a moment! Like yesterday, I have another important announcement to make!"

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "Really? Another one? What could you have this time?"

Genjiro narrowed his eyes too. "Yeah c'mon, this shit is getting ridiculous! You keep on interrupting our battle plan against you!" The wrestler complained.

"I don't agree with Genjiro with the whole "battle plan" thing, but you are still quite the annoying interruption. We have things to talk about as a group and you're certainly not helping that." Ji-hoon sighed. "But I guess helping that isn't your goal here now is it?"

"Correct Mr. Jo!" Ending the talk there, Pheme pulled out a Star-Phone she had on her, and proceeded to press two buttons. After a couple of seconds... two announcements rang out.

"Would Ms. Rosalind Reinhardt please report to the Grand Theater immediately? Thank you!"

"Would Mr. Darren Taylor please report to the Grand Theater immediately? Thank you!"

"I have to get our two loners here first before the announcement, you see!" Pheme quickly explained herself.

The Star-Phone that Pheme just used caught the attention of the smart ones in the group. Kei raised an eyebrow. "Huh. I guess we've seen you use it before, but you have your own Star-Phone Pheme?" He questioned.

Pheme nodded. "I indeed do have my own! But as you can tell from those announcements, mine has some... different capabilities form your own." She pointed over the entire group.

"Wait what? You have your own special Star-Phone, Pheme non-bestie? You have to let me see that! I'm sooo jelly!" Raiha pouted.

Pheme deigned to ignore her. "Anyway, are two late arrivals should be coming any second now..."

...

After few seconds after Pheme said that, the door to the VIP Quarters opened up, and out came Rosalind and Darren. Rosalind was currently hobbling along with her parasol as a makeshift cane, with Darren strolling alongside her, showing no inclination to help her. "Hey guys." Darren said as he went and leaned against a wall.

"*cough* I see everyone has gathered. I can only imagine what for." Rosalind went and stood next to Rival. Rival glanced over to her. He likely didn't really care.

"Well, you needn't imagine for any longer Ms. Reinhardt!" Pheme pushed her way into the middle of the group of nineteen. "For this is an announcement you all will really want to hear!" Pheme giggled.

Some people like Genjiro and Alpha were just waiting impatiently for what she was about to say, while the smart ones like Ji-hoon and Kei stayed wary, and the more innocent ones like Aelia and Lake looked worried.

All in all, everyone was pretty nervous.

"Are you going to keep us in suspense Pheme? After your provided motive, I cannot imagine what else you'd like to torture us with." Damien spoke, moving a bit closer to his dears Ayaka and Aelia.

"This is a fucking waste of time..." Alpha muttered.

"I hate this bitch, but she's gotta point." Genjiro pointed to Alpha. "Y'all know this a waste of time right? We could just beat this shit out of her right now!" His suggestion fell on deaf ears however, as nobody responded.

"Pheme..." Bessie walked up to her. "Anything else you'd want to say to us would interfere with Rival and I's show! Sorry, but we can't have any interruptions now! It's my duty to keep everyone's spirits up and shining~!" The pop star for some reason tried pleading with the goddess.

"Hm..." Pheme tapped her pointer finger against her chin. "While I am exciting for your show Ms. Blossom, I'm afraid I can't give in to your demands! This'll be quick though! Afterwards, I'll go fetch the equipment for your show!"

Bessie stared wide-eyed at Pheme. "Hm... if you say so~!" She spoke with a strange annunciation. But she moved back to standing near Rival again. "Well alright, what's the announcement? Rival and I need to get going on our exciting show~!" Bessie tried to move this along, which got her a few stares from the group, Rival notwithstanding.

"Well then... ask and you shall receive Ms. Blossom!" Pheme stomped to heel-clad foot on the ground. "So as you all know, yesterday I provided you all with a motive you kill."

"Sorry, can I ask a question about the motive-nya?" Kuroko interjected.

"Nope!" Pheme promptly answered. With a pout, Kuroko quieted down. "Anyway, the motive. I gave it to you all, and yet, none of you have fallen yet! No blood has been spilt! We are behind schedule!" Pheme seemed a bit peeved, which only got her scoffs and groans from her captive audience. "So because of that... I have an additional... thing I want to mention! And I suppose I should give a preemptive apology to Mr. Mashimoto, Mr. Jo, and Ms. Blossom! This might get in the way of all of your plans after all!"

Pheme's last words there awarded her strange glances from Genjiro, Ji-hoon, and Bessie respectively. "So... let me get to it. Our wonderful little killing game is still missing a bit of spice. Mr. Mashimoto's plans to "beat the shit out of me" and Ms. Blossom's show are some spice in their own right. But... it's just not enough I'm afraid. Because in the end, those'll just foster bonds of trust between you all! And that's the last thing I want to happen you see!" Pheme kept pacing around as she kept on with her long-winded speech. "And Mr. Jo's approach to leadership goes against my plans too! You all shouldn't be growing close to each other! You should be killing each other!" Pheme stopped her pacing, and laughed. "But truthfully? I'm not worried. Despite however Mr. Jo's, Mr. Mashimoto's, or Ms. Blossom's plans end up, it won't matter in the end! Why? Well...

...

due to the traitor hiding among you nineteen, that's why!" Pheme dropped that bombshell.

...

Hold on. A traitor? She can't be serious right? Ji-hoon looked around, then looked back at Pheme. "Bullshit! I don't believe that for a second!" Ji-hoon admittedly could buy that being truthful. And if it was, he already had some suspects in mind. But he had no actual evidence of anything yet. So it's best to deny it for now, in case it is indeed a bluff.

Kei slowly nodded. "A traitor you say? Hm..." It was hard to glean what Kei thought about that.

Darren slowly blinked. "Huh." It was hard to glean what Darren thought about that as well.

"A traitor?" Bessie looked around. "You mean one of us is working with you? Hm... I don't believe it~!" Bessie had faith in her little helpers.

Adam thought about it for a second. "W-while that isn't an impossibility, right n-now, it's best to assume that Pheme is lying in order to t-trick and confuse us!"

"Yeah! Adam's right!" Lake backed up Adam's claim. "Why would any of us want to work with you? No one here is that evil!"

"You're absolutely right Lake!" Aurora was on the side of believing in her friends. "I personally cannot believe that one of us would side with you!"

While some people certain were on the side of believing in their newly found friends, others... weren't.

"Huh? No fucking way?!" Genjiro immediately turned and glared at everyone. "Is one of you actually working for this psycho?" And so the accusations came flowing.

Joji's eyes glanced between everyone. "Surely Pheme is joking... right?" Joji felt his rage slowly bubbling up.

Rosalind darted her eyes downwards. "Well... *cough* I'm afraid the possibly of Pheme joking with us is rather low." She said dryly.

Aelia kept her eyes on the ground as well. "I-I don't w-want to believe it..." Her eyes glanced between a few certain people.

Ayaka darted her widened eyes back and forth between everyone. "T-there's no way..."

Damien moved closer to his dears Ayaka and Aelia, and wrapped his arm around their shoulders. "Keep calm my dears Ayaka and Aelia. This must be one of Pheme's tricks to confuse us." He advised his dears Ayaka and Aelia, to little effect.

...

Suffice to say, everyone had a lot of thoughts to share about Pheme's declaration. And when it came time for a certain person to share their thoughts...

"Holy shit. Not fucking surprised. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the fuck-boy working for Pheme." Alpha gestured towards Damien. Upon hearing her voice, everyone's eyes slowly went and looked upon Alpha. It didn't take long for her to realize what everyone's looks were implying. "Oh c'mon! Just because I punched that slimy fucker doesn't mean I work for Pheme! No way you idiots are jumping the fucking gun like that!" Alpha got to defending herself quick.

"Goodness! It's not enough to just assault me, but you also must assault my character as well, my dear Alpha? How disappointing." Damien shook his head.

Alpha rolled her eyes. "You know what? Before anymore bullshit happens, I'm actually leaving now. Dont won't any of you pervs holding me down and getting fucked thoughts in your head." And now for real, Alpha walked away from the scene.

"Get back here bitch!" Genjiro called out after her, and it unsurprisingly didn't stop her.

"Let her go Genjiro." Ji-hoon told the wrestler. "No point in chasing after her. Even if she is the hypothetical traitor, there's no point to going after her. She wouldn't just confess it." He crossed his arms.

Genjiro groaned. "Whatever. Fucking bitch..." He rolled his eyes.

...

After a brief stint of silence, Rival decided he had a question in mind. "Say... Pheme? Stupid question... but the traitor wouldn't confess to being the traitor... right? Assuming there is one."

Pheme narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't call that a stupid question Mr. Seizon, more a strange one. But yes, you're correct. If the traitor were to just confess to who they were, that'd ruin the surprise and the shocking twist! It'd be awfully boring!"

Rival slowly nodded. "I see..." He closed his eyes and he started to think about something.

Kei raised an eyebrow. "Got something to share with the rest of the class?"

Rival shook his head. "No... not really. Like Pheme said... it was probably just a strange question." He shrugged.

Yeah, Kei didn't buy that. In fact, he had an inkling to why he asked that. But now wasn't the time to bring it up.

"Anyway..." Pheme wanted to move this along. "Anybody have any other questions before the true game of suspicion commences?"

...

"Y-yeah... I have one." Adam raised his hand like he was in class.

"Alright then! Mr. Brooks!" And Pheme called on him.

"B-before you g-go, I'd like to hear m-more details about w-what you talked about with Cathy." Adam nodded with as much determination as he could muster.

Pheme looked surprised. "Oh? Whatever do you mean Mr. Brooks?"

Ji-hoon crossed his arms and looked at Adam. "Yeah, what do you mean? Was that why all of you were here? Spying on Cathy and Pheme?"

Adam sheepishly smiled then slowly nodded. "W-well yes. But we over heard some f-fascinating things. Mainly...

"Yes!" Pheme stomped her foot on the floor of the stage. "I figured out that it you, Ms. Munchkin. You were the one who messed with my morning announcements yesterday! You made it so that half of these stars weren't directly woken up by me!" Pheme seemed serious with her accusation. "And not to mention that you were also responsible for the error with the motive apps in the middle of the night as well! Why do these things?"

...that." Adam recounted.

"Oh shit, you're right Adam! I almost forgot!" Joji exclaimed.

"Y-yeah... after everything that h-happened... I think we forgot why we were h-here in the beginning." Aelia looked up. "B-but can you elaborate on those f-for us Pheme?" The puppeteer tried to absorb some of Adam's determination.

"So Pheme figured out it was Cathy who messed with the morning announcements then?" In a rare Darren line, the bartender raised an eyebrow.

All eyes then turned to Cathy, who simply scoffed and turned away from the gaze of the group. "Like I said in there when I was accused by the goddess, those are false accusations I say! Thief I may be, but commit technological crimes I don't do! I enjoy milk and cream, not tech and screens!" She stomped her foot.

With Cathy defending her innocence, eyes then turned back to Pheme, who merely laughed. "Well since you all decided to listen in, I suppose I won't hide it! Yes, through going back into our camera feeds, I discovered that it was indeed Ms. Munchkin that messed with the morning announcements yesterday!" Pheme re-accused Cathy.

"Would you be able to explain what exactly Cathy did?" Aurora tilted her head.

It didn't take long for Pheme to answer. "Nope! That'd be spoilers! Just know that she did do something!' She avoiding answering Aurora's question.

Well then. First there's a traitor, and now Cathy is messing with things? No truly knew how to feel about this, especially considering that both of these could be tricks. Especially Rival. At soon as Pheme brought that up, he thought back to last night...

He sensed two people behind him. He quickly turned around, but there was nothing there. Huh. Must've been his imagination. Shaking his head once more, Rival headed up to bed... to get some sleep.

Rival wondering if he sensed Cathy last night... but at this same time, he did sense two people. Hm... Rival wanted to think about it more, but the voice of his dear Hana- uh, I mean Bessie broke him out of his thoughts.

"Heya Pheme! Can I ask a question now~?" It seems Bessie had something to ask.

"Hm? Of course Ms. Blossom! Away!" Pheme replied, acting like she was actually going to answer Bessie's question.

"Well, according to Adam, you said "error with the motive apps in the middle of the night." Whatcha talking about?" Bessie emotionlessly tilted her head.

"Ah yes! That I can explain!" Pheme straightened her posture. "Well I know that you may not find this relevant due to your "pact to not use the motive apps" that I so wonderfully provided for you, but I'll elaborate anyway!" She sounded a bit offended. No one cared. "In the middle of the night last night, from about 12:00 am - 2:00 am, the motive apps experienced an error, where none of the three would work. The apps simply wouldn't open if you tried to boot any of them up." Pheme explained. "And before you ask, no, I cannot explain why I know that Ms. Munchkin is the culprit behind that act! I'm afraid I just simply do know!"

Despite how annoyed they were that Pheme wasn't going to elaborate, they all knew there wasn't a point to pushing the issue. "Oh! Alright! Thanks for letting us know Pheme~!" Well, Bessie didn't seem to have a problem with the unsatisfactory answer.

"An e-error could mean a lot of t-things, but I wonder what it does mean..." Adam started thinking aloud. "S-so one of us did have something to do with it then?" He asked Pheme again.

Pheme raised her eyebrows. "Wow Mr. Brooks, quite a rare sight for you to be taking initiative! I'm so proud of you!" She put her hand on Adam's shoulder. "Well, this is your focus chapter I suppose, so it does make sense."

"What?" Adam didn't understand what she just said.

"Don't worry about it!" Pheme moved away from Adam. "But to answer your question- yes! One of you did have something to do with the motive error, and it was Ms. Munchkin!" Pheme went to point at Cathy, but whoops, the cat burglar was already gone. "Hmph." Pheme quietly pouted to herself, before turning to face the group. "Well now... are there any other questions? I'm a busy goddess you know! I need to go to Ms. Blossom and Mr. Seizon's Ultimate Studio to fetch some equipment for them!"

As if Pheme's words triggered a switch inside of her, Bessie's eyes figuratively lit up. "Oh yeah~! You should get going Pheme!" Bessie nodded at rapid speeds.

Taking Bessie's words as permission, Pheme then started to gracefully walk away. While she was doing so, people turned towards Bessie with some shocked expressions. "Bessie? Was it the wisest move to simply let her go?" Aurora asked her.

Bessie shrugged. "Well, even if we wanted to, it's not like we could hold her here! She's the one holding us here!"

Raiha narrowed her eyes. "Mm... But Bessie my bestie, we could have asked more questions! The more tea we have, the easier it is to bust this joint! Like obvi?"

Bessie shrugged again. "I feel like... anything we ask will just sow distrust and doubt among us... and I can't let that happen~! It's my duty to sow smooth vibes and rocking beats among you all~!" Bessie's strange voice tone made her encouragement come off as a little weird, but it seemed to have a bit of an effect.

"I guess... she isn't wrong." Rival figured. "Right now... it feels like Pheme is just piling stuff on us to make us distrust each other. It's clear she's... for some reason really desperate for us to kill each other. So... it's probably best to just... ignore her? I guess?" The backing vocalist reasoned.

Genjiro glared at Rival. "We can't beat the shit out of her and ignore her at the same time! We gotta-!" Genjiro was about to go on another speech about how they should attack Pheme, but he was stopped by Kuroko.

"I don't think anyone actually wants to go along with your plan Genjiro-nya. I think... let's be chill about it-nya! No need to rush things-nya! Rushing is what Pheme wants us to do-nya!" Well, Kuroko's first mistake was trying to persuade Genjiro of all people.

The wrestler huffed and crossed his arms. "Fucking fine then! I'm going to be... in Kuroko's studio, planning the beat down of a lifetime on Pheme! If any of you pussies want to join, you know where to find me!" And Genjiro ran off.

"Hey! Why are you going to my studio-nya? Wait up-nya?" Kuroko ran after him.

Kei sighed. "Well... good to see our group can still be at least a little carefree."

"Indeed. It's very heartening to witness." Aurora gently smiled.

"I guess so..." Joji sighed. "But fuck... before anything else, are we all okay? Like in general? Just want to check. Feels like a lot of shit has been happening."

Lake shakily nodded. "Well I'm okay. Don't worry about me. That was just... a lot." They tried their best to smile.

"Y-yeah... I'm okay too." Aelia smiled. "It hurt a little when Alpha hit me... but I'm fine too!"

"Very good my dear Aelia! And as for me, I am made of sterner stuff! A mere attack from someone like Alpha won't be enough to injure me." Damien turned to Ayaka. "Are you alright my dear Ayaka?"

He tried to put his hand around Ayaka's shoulder again, but the violinist quickly moved out of his reach. "N-no. S-sorry, I want to be alone right now." Ayaka then sped walked up to her room.

Damien slowly shook his head. "I was afraid of that." He started to walk off. "I'll excuse myself now. Even if she might not respond, I'd like to make sure that my dear Ayaka is alright." With a nod, the beautician left the scene.

Slowly but surely, people started filtering out of the gathering in front of the Grand Theater. Most ended up going to the cafeteria to eat, and some just went back to their rooms. As the amount of people remaining began to dwindle...

"Oh! Rival!" Bessie turned to Rival. "We need to get going! Pheme's gonna bring down the equipment soon~!" With a jump into the air, Bessie grabbed the wrist of the unwilling Rival and dragged him into the Grand Theater. Raiha and Aurora were going to follow after them, but they were stopped by Bessie closing the door on them. They were barely to make out Bessie's muffled voice. "Let's meet up in Raiha's studio, okay besties? I have to keep things about the show a surprise~!"

Aurora and Raiha shared a look. "Man, Bessie B. Is so crazy." Raiha smiled and shook her head. "That's why we love her though. She can really be slay sometimes." She looked up at Aurora. "Wanna wait in my studio then bestie?"

Aurora smiled and nodded. "Sure. That sounds lovely." The duo then walked away.

...

After enough people were gone, soon enough, just Darren and Ji-hoon were left. Darren was still leaning against a wall, not saying anything. And Ji-hoon obviously noticed this. "Not going anywhere?" The celebrity detective narrowed his eyes.

"Eh." Darren shrugged. "Guess I should." He started to walk away.

"Hold up." Ji-hoon stopped him. "While I have you here, I wanted to ask you something. I've been meaning to ask this of everyone, but do you have pre-kidnapping memories? If so, tell me." He turned to the bartender.

Darren slowly turned around. "Well, I sure do have them. It's nothing special. While I was in the middle of service... I heard a voice call out for me from outside my bar. I went outside, and I saw a bunch of men in black approaching me. That's it."

He was right, it certainly wasn't anything special. But Ji-hoon was sure to make a mental note of it. After all, it didn't line up with Bessie and Raiha's stories. And considering Pheme talking about a traitor... well, it just piqued Ji-hoon's interest is all. "Alright, thanks." Ji-hoon gave a curt nod before walking away from the scene.

And that left Darren all by his lonesome. He took out his Star-Phone and glanced at the new rule Pheme had added. Wasn't anything too groundbreaking, so fair enough they didn't have an in-depth discussion about it. Well, with that addressed, Darren decided to leave.

...

[Ultimate Trendsetter's Studio]

Aurora and Raiha didn't know how long Bessie and Rival were going to take, but it's only been about fifteen minutes by now. "You know..." Aurora was walking around Raiha's Studio and inspecting all sorts of things. "I know we investigated your studio together Raiha... but it never sunk in just how interesting your studio is. Just look at all of this tech..." Aurora looked over at the trendsetter. "I'm assuming you've tried to use some of these computers as a means to communicate with the outside already?"

Raiha frowned, then nodded. "Yea... sorry, but most of the tech here isn't a vibe at all. Total bait. Like WTH Pheme? So not cool." She rolled her eyes.

Aurora chuckled. "I see..." She thought for another second. "Hold on... "most of the tech?" So something in here does work?" Aurora realized what Raiha's words implied.

A drop a sweat dripped down Raiha's forehead at the question. "Huh? D-did I say that? Nah... all of the tech here is bait. Yeah. All of it. Heh." She said nervously. "Didn't mean to confuse you Aurora bestie... my b!" Raiha tried to cover her tracks.

"I see... I understand. We all make mistakes sometimes Raiha." Aurora chose not to question it. After all, it was likely just a mistake in her choice of words... right? Aurora started looking around the room a little more, and her eyes quickly landed on something. "Hey... Raiha?" Aurora narrowed her eyes.

"Hm? What's up Aurora bestie?" Raiha sounded markedly less nervous for now. Emphasis on for now though, as Raiha's nerves only grew when she realized what Aurora had noticed.

"Raiha..." Aurora pointed at something. "Was that always..."

"Hey besties~! We're here!" With as perfect timing as ever, Bessie burst through the doors to Raiha's studio, with poor Rival close behind. "Alright besties, who's ready to hear about the rocking show we've got planned~?" Bessie looked at her audience of two.

Almost as if the previous tension evaporated, both Raiha and Aurora smiled. "Yess?? Slay queen Bessie B.!" Raiha cheered.

Aurora giggled. "Yes, we're both very curious to learn about it."

Bessie went and jumped up onto an empty podium in the middle of the room. Rival was shocked it didn't fall over. "Okay... so should I explain it or should you explain it partner?" Bessie pointed at Rival.

Rival shrugged. "Eh... doesn't matter to me... I guess..." Rival sounded... done. He still had to somehow get out of this, and the longer he waited the harder it was going to be. But like always, he kept on putting it off, and just let Bessie explain what they had learned.

"Okay! So... I'll give you two a special sneak peek~!" Bessie turned back to her audience of two. "Pheme brought down two microphone stands, both with their own microphone. The microphones are wireless as well~! She then installed four spotlights above the stage! They're super sturdy though, so don't worry! And Pheme gave me a remote to control them with too~! It can turn the lights on and off, lower and raise them, and more!" Bessie took out the aforementioned remote for a split second, but she quickly pocketed it. "That's all I'll share for now! Just know that the show will be a total jam~!" Bessie jumped off of the podium.

"Yep... a total jam..." Rival sounded a bit bored.

Raiha and Aurora seemingly didn't notice it, as they both just smiled. "I find myself getting more and more excited for this. I feel as if... this'll have more of an effect on us than we're thinking." Aurora looked over at Raiha. "Right?"

Raiha nodded. "Like yeah? Bessie B. is kinda becoming my Roman Empire at this point. I know this'll be hype!" She cheered.

"I'm happy my besties are excited~!" Bessie cheered as well.

...

The trio shared a brief moment of joy together, with Rival just watching on from the sidelines, not saying anything.

...

But after that moment was up, it was like a wire in Bessie broke. Because out of nowhere, she charged up to Aurora and Raiha with a... strange look on her face, then put her hands on their shoulders. "We really are... the same... aren't we besties..."

Raiha and Aurora shared a look. Bessie's mood shifts could certainly throw them off at times, and this was no different. They didn't really know how to react. And also... this wasn't the first time Bessie had said those words to them.

"Awesome guys~!" Bessie seemed excited, but her general... vibe changed rather quickly. Bessie twitched her head. "We... all of us... are the same." Bessie lost any sort of hint of happiness she might've had when she was announcing her friendship with the girls. "Yes... us girls... we all... are the same."

Neither of the girls knew how to respond to that. But just like last time, "Bessie B., you're so iconic sis." Raiha moved a little away from her.

Aurora nervously chuckled and moved a little away as well. "Indeed... you're quite interesting Bessie."

Bessie emotionlessly tilted her head. "I guess I am! He he~!" She laughed very strangely, then jumped back. "Okay... so what now? What should we do~? Let's do something as we wait for my show tomorrow!"

Raiha giggled. "Well let's gab for a bit yeah? IK it's been like a day since we girls sat down with each other but let's catch up yeah? Sound good?" The trendsetter asked, leaving Rival completely out of the conversation.

Bessie jumped up surprisingly high in what was seemingly excitement. "Yeah yeah! Let's do it~! What about you Aurora?" She rapidly turned to Aurora.

"Hm..." Aurora looked to the side. "That sounds lovely! But I need to use the bathroom first, so I'll be right back." She started walking out at a brisk pace.

"KK! We'll wait up for you bestie!" Raiha called out.

"See ya in a few~!" Bessie waved.

[Grand Lobby]

Aurora did actually need to use the bathroom, so no, she wasn't doing anything suspicious... right? Surely.

Anyway, as Aurora left the the studio, what she didn't expect to see was Aelia standing right outside the door. Aurora got thrown back a tad in shock. "Goodness! I didn't expect to see you here Aelia!" The starlet held her hand over her heart.

Aelia was zoning out a tad, so it took her a second to process what had just happened. "O-oh! I'm sorry Aurora!" She stepped back. "I didn't mean to s-scare you!"

Aurora shook her head and smiled. "You're fine Aelia, don't worry. I suppose I have to get used to getting scared in this place..." The starlet laughed nervously.

"R-right..." Aelia muttered.

...

Ah yes, the classic awkward silence. Not wanting the classic to go on any longer, Aurora broke it. "Say Aelia? Did you have a reason for standing out here? Were you looking to talk to one of us?"

Aelia looked a little shocked. She didn't expect a question to be asked of her. "N-no..." She almost whispered.

"Really?" Aurora gave her a suspicious yet gentle look.

"F-fine... yeah. I actually wanted to t-talk to Bessie. But I also wanted t-to talk with you as well!" Aelia relented.

"Oh?" Aurora hadn't expected that. "Well... alright. What did you want to talk about?"

Aelia fidgeted. "Well... I guess I don't k-know the right way to say this. B-but you're... really cool! Honestly, I didn't k-know too much about you... p-prior to this whole thing. But it's just the way you... command a p-presence. It's really... well, c-cool!" The puppeteer confidently stated.

Aurora's eyes widened a tad. She hadn't expected to be complimented like that. "Well then..." She didn't really know how to respond to that. "I am flattered you think of me like that Aelia." Aurora smiled. "I think... you are rather cool as well!" She tried to return the compliment.

Aelia slowly shook her head. "Y-you really think so?"

"Do you... not think so yourself?" Aurora tilted her head.

"Well..." Aelia trailed off. "Yes? No? I don't r-really know sometimes. Damien likes to say that I'm rather special... and c-cool. And someone like him telling me t-that... does help. Sometimes." A smile slowly started to grow on Aelia's face.

And Aurora definitely noticed that. "Say Aelia? I'd like to circle around to what you said about feeling cool... but admittedly, I'm curious about something else first." Aurora gave an easing smile. "I've noticed you spend a lot of time around Damien. How is it?" Aurora never really liked to gossip too much, but even she had to admit she was curious. In the past, she had heard... allegations about a certain Ultimate Beautician. But Aurora hadn't gotten the chance to really speak with Damien yet. So she was curious.

"I..." Aelia needed to figure out how she wanted to word this. "C-can I be honest with you Aurora...?" She sounded a little serious.

Aurora slowly nodded. "Of course you can." They haven't even known each other for a week at this point... and they were already having conversations like this. Well... Aurora didn't really hate it.

"W-well... about Damien." Aelia gulped. "I-I... like him. As in, I like-like him." She slowly admitted.

...

Goodness. Aurora hadn't expected Aelia to outright admit that. Honestly, Aurora's inner feelings were instantly telling her to gossip about this with Raiha and Bessie... but she knew better. "Well... I certainly didn't expect to hear that." Aurora was honest. "But if I may ask... why entrust me with that information? And why not tell Damien?"

Aelia took a deep breath. "W-well... I think I just wanted to tell someone. In g-general, you know? I want to t-tell Damien... but it's the n-nerves getting in the way." She explained.

"I see..." Aurora understood. "What exactly is it about him that caused you to develop feelings for him?"

For that, Aelia didn't have to think very hard. "E-everything... I guess. It's the way he t-talks... the w-way he looks... his k-kind personality... the way he reassures me... it's everything about him. I r-really like him. I get we've known each other for... less than a week... but..." She trailed off. "Ugh, I don't know. S-sorry... I'm not sure what I'm saying..." Aelia started to get a bit flustered.

Aurora lightly giggled. "You don't have to apologize. I personally don't have feelings for Damien, but from what you described, I can certainly understand where you're coming from. So don't worry!" She encouraged the puppeteer.

"Really?" Aelia muttered.

"Yes." Aurora nodded. "In fact... well, I don't wish to be morbid here. But considering where we are, and what we are being forced to do... I'd suggest telling him. In fact, you never know. He very well might reciprocate your feelings. And... well, I believe you understand what I'm trying to get across here. Forgive me if that came off as strange, and obviously only do it if you feel like you can do it."

Aelia kept slowly nodding throughout what Aurora said to her. She... did kind of have a point. Aelia obviously didn't want to die... but yeah. Aurora did have a point. "T-thank you Aurora. For that. I appreciate the advice... and thank you for letting m-me tell you that." She politely nodded.

Aurora smiled. "It's no problem at all Aelia." She curtsied. "Now then, I-" Aurora got cut off.

"Aurora? D-do you like-like anyone?" Aelia suddenly asked.

A blush instantly raced across Aurora's face. "Forgive me, w-where did that come from?" She lost her composure a tad.

"A-ah... I..." Yeah, Aelia instantly regretted that. "W-well... I'm not sure. You s-seemed like the person to have... experience with r-romance. You're the Ultimate Starlet and all that, r-right?" Aelia nervously laughed.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by "experience?!"" Aurora didn't know what was happening anymore. Suffice to say, this took a turn real quick.

"I-I-I'm sorry! That came out wrong! I was... just curious? I guess? I-" Aelia started to explain herself, but got cut off.

Aurora slowly shook her head. "You can stop now Aelia. I should be apologizing. I overreacted. Forgive me." She bowed.

"Y-you don't need to apologize!" Aelia stammered. "I definitely... could've worded it better."

"Again, it's alright." Aurora reassured her. "It just caught me a tad off guard I suppose. I just hadn't expected my own romantic life to be brought up, in here of all places is all." She explained.

Aelia tilted her head. "S-stop me if I'm getting... t-too personal, but is romance a touchy s-subject for you?

Aurora had a faint blush on her face. How could she possibly explain this? Of all the things to be asked about, it had to be this huh? "Well, I'm not sure if I'd say that exactly. Yes, according to the media, I'm looking for a kind man who I can be myself with."

Aelia slightly frowned. ""According t-to the media?" So is it... d-different, according to you?" She turned the question around.

"Oh! Um..." That seemed to have caught Aurora slightly off guard. "P-perhaps I worded it strangely. Of course the media is going to embellish the truth a tad for the sake of interest. But in this case, I am indeed l-looking for a kind man. I haven't had a significant relationship in the past either. So that's my answer to your earlier question, I suppose."

Hm... Aelia wasn't the smartest person in the world, but she noticed Aurora slightly stuttering while explaining her answer. Aurora never seemed like the type to get caught off guard. But she wasn't going to question it! "Hm... okay. T-thank you for answering!" Aelia politely nodded.

"It's not a problem Aelia." Aurora smiled. "But can I ask, why exactly did you want to know that about me?"

Aelia raised her eyebrows. "O-oh! Well... I know it'll sound a little l-lame... but I talked about who... I like-like. S-so... I like hearing from someone I think is cool about who they like-like! I-if that makes sense...?"

Aurora slowly nodded. "I suppose I understand where you're coming from with that. And you said "cool" again. Do you truly think I'm cool merely because I "command a presence," like you said?"

Aelia smiled. "Yeah! I've a-always had such trouble... commanding a presence in my life. So seeing someone who can... d-do it so easily is... r-really cool!" She explained.

"I see. Admittedly, you remind a little of my- ah, nevermind." Aurora quickly shook her head

Aelia tilted her head. "Huh? Did you s-say something?"

"Ah, no. Don't mind me." Aurora quickly shook her head again. "You know... allow to suggest something. After Rival and Bessie have their performance, I had the idea of... continuing the trend, so to speak. A fair amount of the Ultimates here are the performing type. So, perhaps we could keep up performances, for the sake of keeping spirits up? What say you Aelia? We don't have to decide on anything at the moment... but perhaps I could act out a show while your puppets act as well? What do you think?" Aurora explained her idea.

Aelia's eyes instantly lit up at the idea. "T-that sounds amazing! I l-love the idea!" She frantically nodded.

"Very good! I'm happy you think so! And... while I'm not sure how it could go, but perhaps I could give you lessons in "commanding a presence?" I don't think I'm all that skilled, but if you think so, I'd be delighted to help you out." Aurora suggested.

If Aelia's eyes lit up any brighter, Aurora would be blinded by now. "Y-yeah! If you wouldn't mind!" She exclaimed.

Aurora giggled. "Okay. That sounds good! We'll talk more about it with the group after Bessie and Rival's performance then!" She curtsied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom." With a smile as a kind departure, Aurora went off to the public bathrooms.

All the while, Aelia couldn't stop smiling. When she started planning on going to Raiha's studio, this was not what she had expected to happen. But it wasn't unwelcome! She had to think more about her crush on Damien... but for now, Aelia turned toward the door to Raiha's studio and sighed.

She started to zone out a bit, so Bessie zooming out of the studio with Rival in tow kind of threw her off. "W-wow..." Bessie was another person she looked up to... but... well she could think about her later.

For now, just know that Aurora and Aelia definitely grew a little closer today.

[Ultimate Hypnotist's Studio]

"Huh... wonder if Genjiro actually went in here or not..." After the group had split up, Kei found himself curious about Genjiro's sudden proclamation of going to Kuroko's studio of all places to plan out his "attack on Pheme." Kei slowly opened the door. He hadn't been in Kuroko's studio as of yet, so the slightly trippy design of pure black and white threw him back a bit. Besides for that though, no, Genjiro wasn't in here. Kuroko was though!

Kuroko was currently rummaging through a drawer of hypnotism supplies. She turned her head at the sound of someone entering. "Oh? Hai hai Kei-nya! Did you need something-nya?" She asked.

Kei chuckled. "Well... nothing specifically I suppose. But I thought the big tough guy said he was going to be in here? Did he leave or something?" He looked around.

Kuroko looked a little annoyed. Not at Kei, but at the mention of the "big tough guy." "No, I don't think he ever went in here-nya! I chased after him to my studio, but he wasn't in here-nya!" Kuroko recounted. "It's strange... wonder why he said that-nya..." She crossed her arms.

"Strange indeed..." Kei muttered. He kept looking around Kuroko's studio. He knew investigating every nook and cranny of the place would take a bit too long. But Kei wondered if Genjiro just lied for no reason... or if he did come in here, and was hiding or something. No idea why he'd do something like that though.

But speaking of nooks and crannies, Kei realized what Kuroko was currently doing. "What's in those drawers of yours? Anything special?" He started walking up to the hypnotist.

"Oh!" Kuroko looked down at the drawers. "Well I'd say it's special-nya! It's full of supplies I can use for hypnotism-nya! Like metronomes, kinetic motion toys, pocket watches, pendulums, stuff like that-nya!" She explained.

"Oh! How interesting! Tell me more!" Kei sounded a bit condescending.

Kuroko narrowed her eyes. "Are you actually interested-nya? Or are you just playing around-nya?"

Kei held his hands like he was just caught. "Ha! You got me! Guilty as charged." He kept walking until he was side-by-side with Kuroko. "Hey Kuroko? I was curious about Genjiro being in here... but I had another reason for going in here. I've been wanting to talk with you for a while." He sounded a bit serious.

Kuroko was still a little peeved over how Kei acted a little bit ago, but she dropped it for now. "Oh? Talk to me-nya? What about-nya?"

"Well... I'm gonna be blunt here." Kei put his hands on the counter.

"Okay-nya?" Kuroko was a bit confused by where Kei was going with this.

"Kuroko. I'm being honest here...

...

you're really weird."

...

Well, Kei wasn't lying when he said he was going to be blunt. Kuroko widened her eyes in confusion. "What?! What do you mean-nya?!"

Kei merely chuckled in response. "C'mon now. You have to be aware of how you come across yeah? Girl dressed like a cat who insists she's not a cat, you say "-nya" after every sentence, and you only hypnotize women. I opted to ignore it after I met you. A lot of stuff was happening in that Horror Studio and beyond you know? But now I gotta ask. I can't force you, but I wouldn't mind hearing about yourself. You haven't really been in the spotlight yet anyway." He gave Kuroko an expectant glare.

Kuroko scoffed. "Well I'm not going to tell you about myself if you're going to be rude about it-nya!" She turned her head away dismissively.

Kei shrugged. "Fair enough. I guess interrogating you and everything is something a little more fit for Ji-hoon. Maybe Pheme talking about a traitor just had me on edge..." Kei had a weird tone in his voice. A tone that Kuroko couldn't discern well. "Just thought I'd put it out there." After abandoning that line of thought, he started to stare at the wall in front of him. "Oh hey! Wasn't there a camera hidden in these walls?"

Kuroko's tone of voice dropped any cheerfulness it had, sounding more serious than usual. "Well... there was a part of the wall in my Ultimate Studio that was loose-nya. I looked behind it, and there was a camera in the wall-nya."

Kuroko frowned. "Yeah... that creepy thing was hidden right here-nya!" She went and uncovered the part of the wall where the camera was hidden.

"Interesting... gotta wonder if there's any significance to it." Kei thought aloud. This camera business definitely caught his eye, considering what he had found yesterday in the Horror Studio.

"Well, what do you know? It's a camera." Kei tried to pull the camera out of the tree but it wouldn't budge.

Kuroko tilted her head. "Hm... I don't know if it's significant... but I do know that's it's creepy-nya!" She turned away from the camera's gaze.

"Yeah, you're not wrong there." Kei thought about it a little more. You know, the easy answer here is that they're just hidden cameras that Pheme is using to spy on them. Simple as that. Wouldn't be unbelievable, all things considered.

But at the same time, why have hidden cameras? Pheme already established in the rules that they couldn't break any studio property, so it's not like putting any cameras up would be a risk necessarily. Kei and Ji-hoon had collectively noticed certain protrusions from the ceiling and walls, which they assumed were cameras. Hidden enough to not be blatantly obvious where they are, but not hidden at the same time. But these're just straight up hidden. Kei had to think more about that...

...

Oh wait a second. Kei almost forgot that he was in an FTE right now. The FTE takes priority Kei! You'll get to cook later!

Anyway, Kei took a deep breath, and looked at the wall that had the hidden camera again. Another thing on the wall that caught his eye was the portrait of someone a little above where the camera was hidden.

Kei was no history buff, but he could tell it was old. Perhaps a portrait of someone from the 18th or 19th century. He had on one of those old powdered wigs too. Overall a strange thing to see in a place like this. "Say Kuroko?" He slowly pointed to the portrait. "Who's that?"

"Ah!" It sounded like Kuroko got a little excited. "That's Anton Mesmer-nya!" She said like Kei was supposed to know who that was.

Kei raised an eyebrow. "Anton Mesmer? Afraid I'm not sure who that is."

Kuroko giggled. "Fair enough-nya! I guess he wouldn't be super-duper well known out side of the hypnotism community-nya!"

"So this old fart is a famous hypnotist or something?" Kei started to look a little closer at portrait.

"Yep yep-nya! Franz Anton Mesmer is colloquially known as the father of modern hypnotism-nya! He developed the theory of animal magnetism-nya, which posits the existence of an invisible natural force possessed by all living things-nya! And it was that theory that paved the road for modern hypnotism-nya! Isn't that so cool-nya?" Kuroko gave Kei a mini history lesson.

"Yeah. Super cool." Kei truthfully didn't care one way or the other. "Why have a portrait of the guy up? I'm assuming Pheme wouldn't do that for no reason? Any ideas?"

Kuroko nodded. "Yeppers-nya! I don't know how Pheme got this information about me, but I..." She stopped for a moment. "I want to supplant Anton Mesmer as the preeminent expert on hypnosis-nya! It's a big dream of mine-nya!" Kuroko looked straight at the portrait, with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Heh. Is that so? Nice dream you got." Kei darted his eyes away.

Kuroko noticed. "You okay Kei-nya? Do you have any dreams-nya?"

Kei kept looking away. "Heh. Surprised you're even asking me that. I thought I was being rude earlier?"

"No point in holding grudges I say-nya!" Kuroko shrugged.

Kei smirked. "That so?" He slowly looked at the "not a cat" girl. "Well to answer your question then- yeah. I do have some dreams of my own."

Kuroko looked at him expectingly. "Are you gonna say what those dreams are-nya?"

Kei chuckled. "Nope." He started to walk away.

Kuroko looked shocked. "Hey! You're just going to leave-nya?"

Kei waved behind him. "Yeah! Got places to be!" Kei admittedly wanted more details out of Kuroko here, but like he said earlier, he's not the interrogator type. He'll worry about some of those "weird" details a little later.

With a lot still on his mind, Kei wordlessly walked out of the studio.

Kuroko crossed her arms. "Well okay-nya! Bye-nya!" She called out. She didn't know if Kei heard her. "What a weird guy-nya..." She muttered before getting back to what she was doing.

Weirdly enough, it looked like Kei and Kuroko grew a little closer today!

[Cafeteria]

Joji sat comfortably in the empty cafeteria, currently eating a sandwich. As he was eating, he kept on thinking back on what happened earlier this morning. Alpha... how could she just... do that? And he failed in holding her back too...

Joji looked to be strangely stunned at the sight, and Genjiro's words didn't reach him immediately. "Huh?" Joji's mind snapped back to reality.

"Joji you dumbass-!" In what must've been a remarkable feat of strength, Alpha actually managed to get away from Genjiro's grip. "Fuck!"

Joji would never actively be thankful to Pheme, but he sure was glad that she stopped Alpha from doing anything else.

Joji obviously didn't know any of Alpha's life circumstances... and he could certainly understand that feeling of wanting to... punch something... but not a person! Yeah... not a person...

"Oh? I didn't know y-you were in here Joji." Accidentally interrupting Joji's internal monologue, here comes Adam wandering in. "Enjoying a m-meal in p-peace and quiet? I can understand that." Adam scratched the back of his head sheepishly, then sat down across from Joji.

"Well it's not exactly quiet in here anymore is it?" Joji deadpanned.

"O-oh u-uh sorry I'll go-!" Adam quickly got up in embarrassment.

Joji started laughing. "C'mon man I'm just playing with you! You can sit down with me, I don't mind!" He gestured toward the seat Adam was sitting in a second ago.

Adam laughed sheepishly. "Oh y-yeah! I knew you were playing with m-me! Funny s-stuff Joji!" He sat back down a little awkwardly.

Joji leaned his arms on the table. "So did you come in here for a bite to eat or?"

Adam got up again. "Oh yeah! A-almost forgot! Uh, give m-me a second please!" The academic walked to the kitchen, grabbed an apple, then walked back, all in the span of 20 or so seconds. "There." Adam sat back down. "J-just wanted something a little small for n-now, strictly speaking." He bit into his apple.

Joji nodded approvingly. "Not bad not bad. Good thing you're staying healthy Adam! Even considering... where we are." His tone darkened a little saying that last part. Adam couldn't blame him.

Adam put down his apple. "Well of c-course! Knowing your h-health and bodily needs is important! Y-you wouldn't want to d-do anything like, um, for example, write your Fanfiction story when you're sick or s-something! That just isn't very s-smart, you see." He explained.

Joji laughed. "I guess so! You know... we haven't really gotten the chance to talk yet have we Adam?"

"Indeed." Adam nodded. "W-we've shared very little conversation together as of, um, r-right now."

Joji looked down at the table. "Yeah... you know what? You're more impressive than I realized Adam. Didn't really know what to make of you, after you got into the game through the PEC. But you're just a really smart guy aintcha?"

Adam blushed slightly at the compliment. "W-well, I try my best I suppose. B-but frankly, I think you're a l-lot more impressive than I am Joji. Your s-strength, combined with your will to go and act, is, theoretically, incredibly impressive."

"You think so?" Joji chuckled. "Well I'm flattered. I just wish... I didn't freeze up back there with Alpha." I'm not going to flashback to the same scene twice in a row, so just scroll up a little to read the previous one :)

Adam sighed. "Ah, I s-see. Well, e-even if you did stop her there, logically speaking, it most likely would not have c-changed any thing about how that played out. Alpha got s-stopped by Pheme anyway. So... I don't think it's a b-big deal in the end." He laid it out logically.

Joji slowly nodded. "I get what you mean man. I get it you know? My mind understands that. But it's just..." He slammed his hand on the table, toppling Adam's apple in the process. "Shit's so frustrating! Couldn't stop that... couldn't save Yuto... it's hard not to feel useless sometimes man... fuck!" He slammed his hand again.

Adam looked down at the ground. Feeling useless... Yuto... He shook his head. Heavy things to think about.

"Hey Adam?" Joji got Adam's attention. "Man I... I don't want to bombard you or nothing... but I just want to hear something. Genjiro and Lake told me to not beat myself up over Yuto. And I get that. I do. But it's still so damn hard!" He closed his eyes in frustration. "How did you deal with it? Well I don't know if you did deal with it I guess. But you and Aurora were up there with the guy? Like... what's going through your mind man?" Joji held his head in his hands.

...

Adam stayed silent for a moment. He... didn't know how to answer that. Both him and Aurora had the same memories. Neither of them actually met or interacted with Yuto... and both of them were pretty out of it during the PEC. "T-truthfully?" Adam spoke up. "Aurora and I were l-lucky. We didn't know Yukari or Yuto... and both of us were rather s-sedated during that whole event. So I suppose... it didn't h-have too much of an impact on us in the end." Adam recounted. "It's still absolutely c-chilling what Pheme is willing to d-do..."

"Yeah..." Joji muttered, then sighed. "I guess you are a little lucky then. Well actually I don't know if I'd call you lucky. You are here after all." He said, half-jokingly.

If that was an attempt to brighten the mood, it only semi-worked. Because Adam did chuckle though. "Well logically speaking, y-you are correct there." He looked right at Joji. "Joji you... I'm n-not the best with words... b-but try not to beat yourself up over Y-Yuto? In the end, it's Pheme's f-fault. Plain and simple. It's easy l-logic."

Joji grunted. "Yeah, I get that. I do. I'm just sick of messing up situations. I've messed up enough in my life... and it's frustrating that it keeps happening." He vaguely explained.

Adam tilted his head. "That so? W-well I still think you're fairly impressive Joji. Just those m-muscles... and a lot of willpower... you're an impressive guy." He stuck to encouraging the carpenter. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind to b-be a bit more b-built like you." Adam sighed.

Despite how frustrated Joji was still feeling, that line of Adam's caught his attention. "You don't say?" He raised an eyebrow.

Adam adjusted his glasses. "W-well... yes." He admitted. "I don't hate how I am... but theoretically speaking, if I were to be a b-bit more built, that wouldn't be so b-bad."

Joji slowly nodded. "I see. If you don't mind me saying... this something about bullies?" He inquired, getting right to the heart of the matter.

Adam looked a little shocked. "Well, p-partially. W-was it that obvious?"

"Well I'm not a therapist or nothing." Joji leaned back a little in his chair. "It's just a common thing. But... hm." He started to concentrate on something.

"Joji?" Adam seemed confused.

"Well... ugh. Kinda hate saying this, but... wait!" Joji was having trouble wording his thought. "Hold up Adam. How about this? After we get out of here... I'll help you train and work out. Get you to teach those bullies a lesson! How about that? I'd offer to do it here, but you know what? We're gonna escape soon! So we're not gonna have time for that! Yeah!" Joji's motivation was welling back up.

It was certainly infectious, as Adam quickly started to smile. He didn't even think much about his response. "Okay! That s-sounds good!" Joji's energy spread to him quick.

Joji got up and smiled. "Great!" He held out his hand. "I wasn't feeling the best at first, but talking with you made me feel a bit better man. Thanks Adam!"

Adam shakily went to shake hands with Joji. "I'm g-glad to have helped?"

"Hell yeah Adam!" Joji kept a firm grip. "It's a deal!"

Adam was still a little wide eyed. This whole conversation kind of took a sudden turn... but... maybe it wasn't too bad? If Joji was going to help train him... maybe Adam could do something for him too? If he could... that'd be... good. Yeah!

It looks like Sabrina Carpaper-

Whoops, I meant it looks like Joji and Adam grew a little closer today!

[Grand Lobby]

"On the real real? This door is totes lame. Like WTH Pheme?" Currently talking to herself or to the voices in her head, Raiha was standing in front of the boarded-up room. Bessie and Rival had split off a little bit ago, and Aurora decided to go as well. So poor Raiha was by herself now. She was bored, so she decided to wander a bit.

After a bit of wandering, she now found herself outside of the boarded-up room. She couldn't even begin to guess about any "real purpose" of the room. But it was just... interesting. Perhaps it was her sixth sense as a trendsetter speaking? Not necessarily trying to find the next trend, but finding some piping hot tea in general? Possibly.

Raiha tried her best to properly investigate it and all... but it really wasn't her forte. Boy, if only a certain celebrity detective who's good at investigating would walk by...

...

"Nyahaha! What are you doing trendsetter human?" Welp, it wasn't Ji-hoon. It was Cathy! Everyone's favorite! Cathy sauntered right up next to Raiha. "Having trouble puny human?" She teased.

Raiha rolled her eyes. "Nuh-uh!" Taking after Pheme, Raiha did the :finger_waggle: to Cathy. "What do you even want Cathy bestie-in-questioning?" She crossed her arms.

Cathy giggled. "That's none of your business human! But if you must know, I was curious about this here door!" Cathy walked up to the boarded-up door and started to investigate it herself.

Raiha tilted her head. "Oh? Think you can bust in there? It'd be kinda slay if you could Cathy."

Cathy turned around and glared at Raiha. "What am I, a boar? I do not bust into places, I sneak into places!" She set her hand on her chest proudly. "I'd assume a human of your standing would know of me? I have stolen from the Miyaharas before!" She smugly revealed.

Raiha's eyes widened. "Wait... you hit my addy? FR?" She then narrowed her eyes. "Oh wait... I remember..." She muttered.

Cathy chuckled. "Remember now do you? The memories of humans always surprise me in how weak they are! But in all fairness..." She started to strut circles around Raiha. "It wasn't actually me who did it!"

Raiha glared at her. "Huh? Bruh? What are you waffling about?" Raiha was clearly confused.

Cathy smirked. "Ah yes, it wasn't me that did that deed. It was one of my copy-cat burglars who did that!"

"Huh! What're you yapping about? You have goons?" Raiha was baffled about where Cathy was even going with this.

"Not goons! I'm no gooner!" Cathy looked a little disgusted.

"Wait Cathy do you know what gooner-" Raiha was cut off as Cathy continued speaking.

"People copied my ways after I blew up fame-wise! I heard through the thin grapevine that one of those copy-cat burglars hit the Miyahara estate! So? Still feeling the effects? Still longing for your lost trinket?" Cathy started to tease.

Raiha was still a bit baffled. But sensing that Cathy was just trying to provoke a reaction out of her, Raiha moved away from her. "Hey Cathy currently approaching non-bestie status? Can I ask you about something? No cap here alright?" She went up to the boarded-up door, further driving the conversation away from whatever Cathy was yapping about. "Could you actually break into here?" She pointed at the door.

Cathy scowled. "Oh, I see how it is! Don't want to think about your little lost trinket then? I get it! Nyahaha!" She moved next to Raiha. "Really trying to move away from it aren't you?" She poked the trendsetter's shoulder.

Okay... Raiha usually tries to keep up a nice and cheery attitude about things. But even she had to admit that Cathy was getting on her nerves here. Raiha sighed. "Cathy? Could you... not please? Is the only thing you want to do in here just tease us all about things? Not actually help us? If so, that's wack."

Cathy scoffed. "Well of course! I do as I please!" She turned around. "Where do you, the "Riactionista" get off speaking like that? Do you call your fans "wack" as well?"

Raiha rolled her eyes. "Obvi not! I love my Riactioneers! I'd never talk smack to them like that!" She defended herself. "Are you tryna get a rise out of me for some reason?"

Cathy stuck her tongue out. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not! Or you could perhaps blame Pheme! The traitor talk has me wondering..." She gazed at Raiha smugly.

Raiha looked instantly offended. "Oh come on! No shot you think I'm the traitor! That's tote ridic!"

Cathy just laughed in response. "Why is it so "ridic?" I mean..." Cathy got closer to Raiha, and sniffed the air around her. "You... wow." Cathy stepped back. "Goodness human! You reek of envy, greed, and pride! Why is that? Hiding something are you?" She poked at her.

The offended look stuck on Raiha's face. "Literally what are you yap yap yapping about? How could I be the traitor? I-" She stopped herself. "You know what? I don't need this! Cathy, you murked my vibes sis. So lame." Raiha rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

Cathy smirked. "Hm? I'm surprised you didn't throw the accusation back onto me! You humans sure do like your deflection!" She called out.

Raiha stopped. "Why would I do that sis?" She turned around. "You're soooo not slay. But like, it'd be too obvious for it to be you? So no, I'm not gonna accuse someone just cause they accused me first! I'm literally SMHing my head RN." Raiha SMHed her head.

Cathy raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Is that so? Nyahaha! I don't believe it!"

"You bitc-" Raiha took a deep breath to stop herself. "Nah..."

Cathy kept laughing. "Nyaha! You're actually getting worked up about this human? How hilarious!"

"Is that not what you're tryna do sis?" Raiha couldn't believe she was still humoring Cathy at this point.

Cathy shrugged. "Mm, kinda! I wanted to see how worked up I could get you! For someone who's clearly putting up a fake personality, I'm surprised how easy it was! Nyahaha!"

Raiha just looked... done. But a faint smile started to form on Raiha's face all the same. "Were you actually just messing with me? That's kinda sending me TBH." She lightly giggled.

Cathy narrowed her eyes. "Huh? You're laughing now human? Seeing the humor are you?"

Raiha walked back over to Cathy, not standing a little bit in front of her. "Eh, kinda. But... I guess a should've known, you know? You were kinda giving me the ick at first... but I think your vibes are gucci enough. I mean, on the real real? I've dealt with fake peeps plenty before... so yeah. Anything you yap to me won't really work sis. Guess I was just kinda caught off guard lol!" Raiha did her best to dissuade Cathy from messing with her again. And in her mind, the best way to do it was to make it not fun for Cathy anymore! Did it work?

Cathy slowly narrowed her eyes in response. "Oh really...? Fine! Fair enough! I'll relent for now!" The Christmas cat girl turned away from the trendsetter.

Raiha giggled. "KK! So now, on the real real real, can you bust in the boarded-up room?" She pointed to the aforementioned door.

Cathy slowly sauntered up to it. "Hm... I don't know..." She said, still a little teasingly.

Raiha narrowed her eyes and pulled something out of her pocket. "Not even for some cat nip?" She pulled out a small bag of cat nip.

Cathy's eyes instantly widened. "How did you- no. Let me calm down here you human. Your petty tricks won't work that easily you know!" She walked up to Raiha. "I'm taking that by the way!" She snagged the bag of cat nip and pocketed it. "Alright... how about this? It sounds a mite fun to sneak into this place. But even I have to be wary, because of rule five!" Cathy reminded the trendsetter.

5. Breaking or Destroying any cameras or studio property present in the studio is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate punishment from Pheme.

"I'm not in a hurry to get punished by that goddess you see!" Cathy explained.

Raiha pouted. "Well does a door count as studio property? Kinda a sus rule for not clarifying."

Cathy shrugged. "How could I know?" Cathy suddenly back flipped away from Raiha. "Anyway, I must go!" All of a sudden, Cathy then just ran off.

Raiha pouted a little more. "She didn't even... meh. Whatevs." She looked up at the boarded-up door one more time. "Eh... I'm donezo with this now." With a shrug, Raiha walked away as well.

It may not seem like it, but Raiha and Cathy grew a little closer today!

[Horror Studio]

Breath in...

And out...

Breath in...

And out...

Rosalind was currently sitting on the ground against a tree in the Horror Studio, just trying her best to relax in the environment. I mean, the general environment of a Killing Game is still horrible, but the Horror Studio's forest is debatably the calmest place in this studio so far. Ironic considering that it's a "Horror" Studio, and also ironic considering that Rosalind rather liked horror films.

And the more she took in the atmosphere here... the more she thought about the fact that she knows this place. She has been to Asher J.'s Movie and Media Studio before. Nothing was too different as of yet. She remembered these four movie genre studios existing on the first floor. But she also remembered more existing as well. Though those were on different floors. The main difference so far was the existence of the Ultimate Studios. Those were something Pheme must've had specifically constructed for this Killing Game. It's curious... What's the point...?

Eh, Rosalind couldn't really begin to guess right now. Who even really cares? Rosalind had already half-resigned herself to dying in this place. So for now... she just wanted to... relax...

...

Emphasis on wanted to, as all of a sudden, an announcement rang out over the monitor in the Horror Studio.

Pheme's face appeared on it. "Attention my adorable stars! I hate to interrupt you, but it's time for a "Special Event!" Participation is not mandatory! But if you do wish to participate, make your way over to the Horror Studio! Further details will await you when you arrive! I hope to see you there!" The monitor cut off.

...

Huh. Well that's a bit annoying. Rosalind couldn't even muse in peace now?

But for as much as Rosalind wanted to ignore this, the words "Special Event" caught her interest...

13. In the case of special events, such as the Pilot Episode Climax, you must follow Pheme's instructions. Failure to follow her instructions will result in punishment from Pheme.

Considering rule thirteen. Hm... interesting. Eh, Rosalind figured she'd just stay here. If she'd have to participate, then so be it. With an internal shrug, Rosalind closed her eyes and got back to relaxing...

...

Until the goddess herself interrupted her. "Ms. Reinhardt! I'm flattered! You're the first to arrive!" Pheme phased into existence directly behind Rosalind, seemingly intending to give the cinematographer a shock.

Rosalind didn't flinch. Instead, she simply slowly looked behind her. "I'm not sure if I would *cough* say that. I've been here since before you made that *cough* announcement I'm afraid."

Pheme giggled. "I of course know that!" Pheme walked around to be in front of Rosalind. "So? Will you be joining the event today?"

Rosalind gave Pheme a distant stare, before shrugging. "I suppose." Rosalind slowly got up off the ground, using her parasol as support. "When will *cough* this "event" start?"

Pheme loved doing the :finger_waggle: emote this chapter, so she did it again! "Not just yet! We must wait for the people to arrive! However many decide to come of course." Pheme looked down at her wrist like she was checking her watch, even though she wasn't wearing one. "Let's just see who arrives after five minutes! I'll call that the cutoff point for the event!" Rosalind slowly nodded in response, and went to lean against a tree.

...

Over the course of those five minutes, people slowly trickled in.

First, Genjiro and Ji-hoon came in together.

Second, it was Yoshino.

Third, the group of Damien, Aelia, Aurora, and Raiha all entered at once.

Lastly, right before the five minutes were up, Adam entered as well.

Pheme narrowed her eyes. "Nine people? That'll do nicely!" She nodded.

"Okay..." Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "So what is this "special event" you have planned this time? Something like what Adam and Aurora went through?"

Adam and Aurora visibly shuddered. "I m-merely entered because I believed t-this could be useful. B-but I hope it isn't like what Aurora and I w-went through..." Adam muttered.

"Indeed..." Aurora quietly agreed.

"Ah! Even if it is! Just know that I will protect you my dear Aurora!" Damien went to stand in front of Aurora. "Naturally I will protect my dear Raiha, my dear Aelia, my dear Rosalind, and my dear Yoshino as well! Whatever it is you're planning Pheme, I'm afraid you can't trick us or fool us!" Damien immediately went on the defensive.

"Ha ha!" Genjiro laughed. "What that blonde prick said! This'd be the perfect opportunity for a fight, wouldn't it Phlegm...?" Genjiro got stanced up. "But like he said... we ain't being tricked or fooled!"

"Mr. Mashimoto! What is with you and always resorting to violence?" Pheme shook her head. "No... this special event is rather... tame... in comparison to the PEC." Pheme snapped her fingers, and the lights in the Horror Studio slowly started to darken.

"Hey hey what're you doing?" Yoshino quickly got wary, making sure to move closer to the group.

"Be on guard everyone!" Ji-hoon warned the group.

"Yes! Let us stick together!" Damien joined in the warning. "Come a little closer to me my dear Aelia! Let us not be split up on the darkness!" Damien grabbed Aelia's hand.

"R-right!" Aelia moved closer to Damien.

"This is getting kinda hype..." Raiha muttered.

"I'm not sure I'd say "hype" exactly..." Aurora looked worried.

After a few more seconds... darkness fell upon the Horror Studio. They couldn't see Pheme anymore, but they did hear her. "Alright my glamorous stars! Listen up! Listen in! And... watch..." Another snap echoed throughout the Horror Studio.

And with that snap...

It didn't take long for the special event to start...

Portions of the walls of the Horror Studio started to turn around, revealing a multitude of screens surrounding the group of nine on all sides. Static covered the screens for a few moments... before a video started to play on each and every one of the screens surrounding them...

...

"Dr. Yokomizi? Is the video playing?"

"Indeed it is. Don't worry Asher, it'll work out fine."

"Okay. I trust you Dr. Yokomizi."

"Thank you Asher. Now, can you watch over her? I must attend to other things now."

A conversation between a young man and a young woman started playing. The young man had light brown hair, delicate blue eyes, circular-framed glasses, and a lab coat. The young woman had long blonde hair, yellow eyes, and had on a similar lab coat.

...

"W-w-what the..." Adam muttered as the video started to play.

"Adam? Are you alright?" Aurora whispered.

"I-I-I..." No Aurora, Adam was not alright. Because if the Horror Studio wasn't currently covered in complete darkness, Aurora would've been able to see the utter appalled and horrified look covering Adam's face.

"That g-guy..." He pointed at the young man.

Aurora was getting more concerned. "Adam? What's going on?" She whispered again.

"That's... Asher John Jr...." Adam muttered.

...

"I know him..."

...

What?! Adam knows Asher?! Crazy!

Anyway, nice cliffhanger right?

I've been eager to reach the reveal of a traitor in the cast, and the Special Event for Chapter 1 as well. So? Any theories about the traitor? I'd ask you if you had any theories about the Special Event, but I made it a cliffhanger, so you'll have to wait to get the conclusion to it for now!

But you know what? A body will be dropped in the next daily life! Exciting right? I hope you stay tuned, I hope you enjoyed Daily Life 4, and I hope you look forward to Daily Life 5!

Glamorous Stars Remaining: 19

Adam Brooks - Ultimate Academic [PROJECT DRAMA]

Aelia Celani - Ultimate Puppeteer [theycallmewotch]

Alpha - Ultimate Gas Station Manager [Epifanio Therion]

Aurora Beaufort - Ultimate Starlet [WolfieRed23]

Ayaka Naganohara - Ultimate Violinist [Sempi]

Bessie B. Blossom - Ultimate Pop Star [CandleFire45]

Catherine Munchkin - Ultimate Cat Burglar [Nekoja]

Damien Lux - Ultimate Beautician [oddlyillregular]

Darren Taylor - Ultimate Bartender [Otterplay]

Genjiro Mashimoto - Ultimate Wrestler [Grandma Sue]

Ji-hoon Jo - Ultimate Celebrity Detective [TheRoseShadow21]

Joji Kaneshiro - Ultimate Carpenter [SureJahn]

Kei Aikawa - Ultimate Lawyer [theotakureader101]

Kuroko Kurobara - Ultimate Hypnotist [MrUtenaHolic]

Lake Beaumont - Ultimate Ballet Dancer [KadachiNova]

Raiha Miyahara - Ultimate Trendsetter [Prince PokePersona]

Rival Seizon - Ultimate Backing Vocalist [SinWriter7]

Rosalind Reinhardt - Ultimate Cinematographer [Orlando Butler]

Yoshino Akiyama - Ultimate Horror Novelist [DeathlyJazzHands55]