Danganronpa: Obscurity’s Disgrace (SYOC) Chapter 9: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Part 2), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 1: Burning Lights, Burning Spirit (Part 2)

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]

...

"So? Any ideas Miss Pheme?" The figure looked over Pheme's shoulder at what she was looking at. "Any ideas for our eleventh Killing Game member?" They repeated themselves.

Pheme didn't respond, as she was intently focusing on the documents she was perusing, as this was a flashback to before the killing game had officially started. "Not this one... no, not this one... this one? No..." Pheme was having difficulty decided on one.

Pheme and The Figure had chosen ten people to be a part of their wonderful Killing Game so far, and now, obviously, Pheme was working on the eleventh. Pheme sighed. "So many documents to look through..." Pheme slowly shook her head. "Why can't these Ultimates be more interesting? We've already gotten ten wonderful stars chosen... so why is the eleventh so difficult?" Pheme slammed her hand on the table. "I don't get it!"

The Figure slowly walked up to Pheme. "You shouldn't fret Ms. Pheme. It doesn't fit your style." They reminded her.

Pheme slowly nodded, calming down. "Yes I know. But... what do you suggest? We can't keep looking through the same documents forever!" Pheme questioned them.

"Oh yes! That reminds me!" The Figure walked over to a file cabinet and opened it, pulling out another stack of documents. "The Contact got us a fresh list earlier today. Perhaps we should take a look through these?" They suggested.

Pheme's eyes instantly lit up. "Yes! Yes! Of course!" Pheme excitedly ran over to The Figure and snatched the list of documents from them. Pheme leaned against the table as she started to look through these fresh documents. "Let's see here... oh. Oh wow!" Despite only being on the first one in the stack, a smile spread across Pheme's non-visible face. "This one! This one! This one will be perfect!" Pheme shoved a document into The Figure's hands.

The Figure quickly started looked the document over. "This is rather interesting..." They muttered. "Raiha Miyahara? Fascinating." They continued to peruse the document.

"Isn't it? She'd be a perfect fit no?" Pheme was clearly excited.

The Figure slowly nodded. "Possibly... and it appears The Contact provided us a link to a playlist on the document as well. Care to do the honors Miss Pheme?" The Figure handed Raiha's document back over to Pheme as she ran to her computer to pull up this playlist. "Oh!" It didn't take to load up. The Figure looked over Pheme's shoulder as they gazed upon a playlist filled with videos of Raiha Miyahara. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised! Raiha is quite popular isn't she?" Pheme looked with wonder at the playlist.

"Quite Miss Pheme. Now shall we click on one?" The Figure pointed at the first video in the playlist.

"At once!" Pheme exclaimed as she clicked on the video...

...

[Raiha's Home]

"So? What's the deal on that new product? Has the license gone through? No? See if collaboration with Lux is possible. He could help us. And maybe if..."

"Put the ad over the north highway. It'll reach the most people that way. Is 3D possible? Too high a chance of an accident that way? Understandable. If not that, we could have it where we..."

Kanami and Tomohiro Miyahara, Raiha Miyahara's mother and father respectively, were sitting at the dining table in their home. They technically weren't even working yet, but both were already taking calls.

They were so pre-occupied with their work, that they didn't even notice their daughter entering the room. "O M G! Mom! Dad! Look what came in the mail!" Raiha shoved a certain letter into their faces. Both were about to hit her with the "Not now honey", but they both froze when they saw what it was. They immediately told who they were calling that they'd call back, and the two of them hung up.

"Sweetie? Is that what I think it is?" Tomohiro looked in awe.

"Is that... a letter from Hope's Peak?" Kanami said curiously.

Raiha was having trouble containing her excitement. "Well... yes! It is! I'm going to Hope's Peak! I'm the Ultimate Trendsetter!" Raiha shot her hands up on the air.

Upon that announcement, both Kanami and Tomohiro got up and immediately hugged their daughter.

"Oh my gosh! How does it feel honey? I'm sure it feels great!" Kanami smiled from ear to ear.

"I shouldn't be surprised! How many followers are you at now? Nine million? Ten? I've lost count!" Tomohiro exclaimed. "It's only natural that our daughter, one of such a high caliber, would get into Hope's Peak!" Tomohiro could barely contain how proud he was of his daughter.

Raiha was just laughing sheepishly at the praise her parents were piling onto her, but she had to admit, it did feel pretty good. And to think... she was going to the Hope's Peak Academy. I mean, her father did have a point. With how her life has gone, it does make sense.

Her mother was an influential makeup and beauty cosmetics CEO for a company called EyeCandy, and her father was a marketing and business consultant known for making very imaginative advertisements. She was very privileged ever since she was born - and she loved it. And because she loved it so much... that meant she should celebrate!

"So... Mom. Dad. I'm going to throw a lit party to celebrate this occasion! Yeah? Sound good?" Raiha suggested. "I mean... why not celebrate? And you know, if you guys could invite some of your wealthier clients, that'd be great. Good idea? Yeah?" Raiha kept on suggesting.

"That's a wonderful idea Raiha!" Kanami cheered. "The more word that spreads of your success... the better! Let's shoot for this Saturday? Hiro, can you get going on inviting people? I'll start the planning!" Kanami already started making sure the party was meticulously planned out.

And Tomohiro was devoted to the idea too. "I'm already making some calls." He nodded with his phone to his ear. He turned towards Raiha and silenced his phone for a second. "Raiha honey, your mom and I have to go to work, be we'll help with planning the party, don't worry!" Tomohiro smiled and walked off.

"We'd do anything for you Raiha! Tonight, I'll help you pick out the best dress! Or, actually, since you're the Ultimate Trendsetter now, you could probably do that on your own!" Kanami laughed. "Anyway, I'll see you later sweetie!" She waved to her daughter and left to go to work.

...

Raiha sighed a happy sigh. Life was going great, and the party was going to be awesome.

Awesome huh? That gave her an idea. She pulled out her phone and started texting a... "friend" of hers, Airi Nishigai.

hey hey, got into HP. gonna have a party, wanna come

...

It didn't take long for a response.

ew no. i dont need your stupid party

...

It took another minute until Airi responded again.

but when is it

Raiha chuckled to herself. She knew she'd want to come. Airi had always been jealous of her.

saturday at 9. wear something nice

...

Raiha could almost sense Airi's eye roll from over the phone.

I never said I was going

Raiha chuckled before responding.

yeah whatever. I'll see you there

...

It looked like that was the end of their conversation. Raiha smiled. Raiha laughed. Airi wasn't even in the room in her, but Raiha laughed ather. She'd heard that Airi had gotten into Hope's Peak through the Reserve Course. Figures. Airi did anything to reach after Raiha's fame. Ever since they met in middle school, Airi had to one-up Raiha. It never worked though. Why? "Because I'm the best!" Raiha responded to the narration.

Raiha went and checked her Graminsta. Raiha smiled at the sight. Eleven million followers. Not bad! She could do better though.

She checked on Airi's account. Raiha almost burst out laughing at the sight. She had only three hundred thousand followers! "That little? Dang, she needs to step up her game to compete with me, queen. She's more mid than I realized." She said to herself.

She checked on Airi's most recent post. It was a picture of her and her friends at recently open Filipino restaurant called Masarap Talaga. Eh, it's been only two weeks since it opened and it's already fallen out of style. If Airi can't see that, she definitely isn't worthy to stand again the Riactionista.

Oh yeah, she should check on her own more recent post. Raiha smirked. Yesterday, she had gone to another recent hole-in-the-wall Filipino restaurant called Mas Maganda Kaysa Masarap. She looked at what she said on the post.

"OMG, MMKM is the place to be RN! Great food, great people, great atmosphere! If you're local, you need to check it out! #food #riactionista-approved #love #hashtag "

The post was accompanied by a picture of Raiha smiling and holding up a peace sign. It's the simple poses that work the best sometimes. Raiha looked at the comments next.

...

SureJahn (8:07 PM): Slay kween mama werk versace boots the house down charlie xcx snatch my wig

Amogus (8:09 PM): I need to hear the word "rizz, gyatt, skibidi" etc come outta her mouth

Sempi (8:10 PM): the second raiha says anything in amogus' vocabulary is the second she dies :index_pointing_at_the_viewer: :feelsloved:

SupremeSyrene (8:10 PM): pop off Raiha, and you too sempiternitee - my other half

SilverMark16 (8:11 PM): Damn. You can't hate a language by its words :0

Missi Meister (8:15 PM): wtf is this comment section. Anyway, love you Raiha! :feelsloved: #1 Riactioneer right here!

...

Raiha decided that was enough comments for now. She really did love reading them. It's that feeling... that feeling of fame that felt so good. Man, Raiha loved being famous. She loved the feeling of fame. She's clawed her way up here, and she won't let anyone take it away from her. Not Airi, not anyone.

...

"Oh yeah, I should post about this on my Graminsta shouldn't I?" Raiha moved around the house to find the place with the best lighting. She lived in a pretty big place after all, so there were a lot of options.

After a bit, she found the perfect place - one of the windows in her living room reflected the light perfectly for a perfect selfie. Raiha got into position, made sure she was holding her letter from Hope's Peak, then snapped the picture.

" Look who got accepted into Hope's Peak! And not in the Reserve Course! Ultimate Trendsetter here we come! Watch out Hope's Peak! #hype #love #riactionista #hashtag #hopespeakacademy "

And... there! Perfect! She posted it. Within milliseconds, likes and comments started rolling in.

KadachiNova (9:04 AM): nice job :thumbsup:

SinWriter7 (9:05 AM): Yes Raiha, congratulations! You deserve it!

Missi Meister (9:05 AM): That's so awesome to hear Raiha, you deserve it! You deserve everything!

It was a slow flow of comments for now. But in addition to the nice and loving comments, there were some hate comments as well.

PROJECT DRAMA (9:08 AM): With all due respect, a lot of people don't care about this

Otterplay (9:09 AM): i don't care about this

AlwaysAiri (9:10): whatever

Raiha chuckled at that last comment. That was Airi's username. Amazing. She really is that jealous isn't she? Raiha checked the time. Ah, she should probably get going soon. But... not without one more sarcastic text to Airi...

...

I'll see you there :kissing_heart:

...

[Pheme's Room]

The video cut off. Pheme stared at the screen for a moment. "I always wonder how The Contact manages to record these videos... eh, whatever!" Pheme clapped. "But wasn't that a treat to watch? It was very enjoyable no?"

The Figure didn't respond as they eyed the video, then eyed Raiha's form once more. "Hm..." Was all they let out.

Pheme tilted her head. "Something wrong?"

The Figure sighed. "Miss Pheme... I'm sorry." They shook their head.

Pheme frowned. "What... do you mean?"

"Well..." The Figure trailed off. "I'm afraid this is a situation similar to some past situations. Raiha Miyahara... wouldn't work." The Figure solemnly shook their head.

Pheme let out a loud groan. "But whyyyyyyyyy?!" She sounded like a teenager that wasn't getting her way.

"Miss Pheme. You know what I've said before. Don't you trust me?" They walked closer to her.

Pheme looked downcast. "I-" She stopped herself. "I... do trust you. But can't you explain why she wouldn't work? I want Raiha in my killing game!" She pouted as she stomped her foot on the ground.

The Figure slowly shook their head. "Miss Pheme, it's like I've said. The reason is too complicated to explain. So, I'm just going to have to ask you to trust me. So, just trust me Miss Pheme." The Figure glared at Pheme.

Pheme stayed silent for a few moments.

...

"Fine. I trust you. Raiha Miyahara won't be a part of the killing game. I get it." Pheme sounded dissatisfied.

But the Figure merely smiled. "Perfect. Now, how about these ones instead? Zalisa Achary, Ultimate Clock Destroyer? Maya Newell, Ultimate Volunteer?" The Figure kept on suggested.

Pheme internally groaned. She knew she'd just have to suck it up and pick another, but it still sucked. She didn't like not getting her way...

...

[Raiha's Room]

"Yawn..." Raiha rubbed her sleepy eyes, audibly saying the word "yawn" in the process. Another night and now another day at this twisted place. Raiha... she still didn't know how to feel about it. Well, it's obviously a horrible situation to find yourself in. Her feelings and mind just... felt muddled.

"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!"

Pheme's morning announcement rang out from over the monitor in her room. A small part of Raiha just wanted to cover her ears, and bury herself in her bed... but what would be the point of that?

With a sigh, Raiha got herself out and up from her bed. She looked in her closet. It's still creepy how Pheme knew everyone's favorite things, including their clothes. So, Raiha grabbed those aforementioned clothes, along with the makeup kit that Pheme had so generously provided, and started to get going with her day.

[VIP Quarters]

"Is he really not up yet? Is Rival a heavy sleeper?" Ji-hoon kept knocked on Rival's door, trying to wake him up.

"You ought to stop Ji-hoon, let him rest~!" Bessie said from behind him.

Kei walked up to the scene, having seemingly overheard it all. "Eh yeah, gotta be honest, Bessie isn't wrong here. Don't get me wrong, I understand the camaraderie and all that fun stuff, but do we really need him? He probably has it right anyway - just sleeping the day away." Kei nudged Ji-hoon's shoulder.

Ji-hoon sighed and stopped. "I thought Rival would've been better than this..." He turned around. "Fine. I suppose we don't need him to guide us to the cafeteria or anything. It'd just be the only door we haven't gone in yet. Most people are there already anyway." Ji-hoon started walking away. "You two better catch up soon." He said, his back turned to them as he went down the stairs.

Kei raised an eyebrow. "Who isn't in the cafe already?"

Bessie gave a weirdly slow nod. "I know who! Rosalind, Rival, Alpha, Cathy, Raiha, and Ayaka!" Bessie started swaying a little. "Silly gooses, all of them! Hm... the first four I said I can kind of expect this from, but why in the world are Raiha and Ayaka hiding away?" Bessie put her hands on her hips.

Kei shifted his eyes to the side. "Ain't that a good question. Raiha feels like the type to spend a lot of time getting ready... makeup and junk yeah?" Kei shrugged.

Bessie steadily nodded. "Ya think so? I don't hate the stuff, but I don't usually put it on, so I don't get it!" Bessie shrugged also, attempting to out-shrug Kei.

Kei let out a dry chuckle. "Fair enough I suppose. Then, I wonder about the violinist girl. Ayaka? She's seemed a bit..." Kei trailed off.

"Closed off? Untrusting?" The voice of Damien encroached up to them, as the beautician joined in on their conversation.

"Oh! Hiya Damien!" Bessie stuck her hand up into the air.

"And a "Hiya" to you as well, my dear Bessie!" Damien bowed to the pop star.

"Huh. "Hiya" Damien." Kei shared in the greeting. "Closed off and untrusting you said?" He wanted Damien to continue his thought.

Damien solemnly nodded. "Indeed. I cannot speak for what she has gone through, but her heart is locked up tight from within her chest. It's so unfortunate. Alas, there is only so much that we can do for her in this situation, but we shall try our best for her!" Damien said, speaking for every one.

Kei gave him a flat stare. "Yeah. Sure man." Kei stretched. "Say, why are you here Damien? Didn't you already go on ahead to the cafe with Aelia?" Kei questioned.

Damien chuckled. "Why, of course I did! I excused myself to come back and check on my dear Ayaka! I've knocked on her door a few times, but she wouldn't come out. Again, it's hard to fully blame her for that attitude. But it saddens me." Damien shook his head.

Kei went and leaned against the wall. "So? You're just gonna stand outside her door all day? Doesn't sound fun." He crossed his arms.

Damien thought for a moment. "If I must do that, then I will."

Kei chuckled. "Really now? Stand here all day, likely incurring the wrath of Ji-hoon in the process? Why not have someone else do it for you? Monitor your precious Ayaka?" Kei suggested.

"Hm. That's an interesting suggestion." Damien thought. "But who would? My dear Bessie?" He said, not fully meaning it.

"Yes! I can do it for you Damien~!" Bessie immediately responded.

Both Damien and Kei's eyes widened slightly. Neither of them expected Bessie to actually volunteer. "Oh. Are you serious?" Damien raised an eyebrow.

Bessie frantically nodded. "Yep yep~! I can do it! I'll make sure these stars fulfill their purposes, and they must do that by waking up and starting their day!" Bessie exclaimed.

Kei stared at Damien, giving the beautician an expectant look. Damien sighed. "That... I suppose that would be okay. Very well, can I trust you with monitoring our absentees at the moment, my dear Bessie?" Damien narrowed his eyes.

Bessie jumped up in the air. "Yep yeppers~! You can trust me with that task~!" She frantically nodded again.

Damien chuckled. "Very well then. We shall leave you to it!" He motioned to Kei. "Shall we go?"

Kei eyed Damien for a quick second, then a relaxed look spread across his face. "Sure, don't see why not." He looked at Bessie. "Don't know if the whole "security guard" role is something we're gonna be utilizing permanently, but for now, do your best! Or something." Kei turned around and started walking off, with Damien in tow.

...

Bessie stared unblinkingly as the two boys departed. She'd told them that she'd do this "job" but she wasn't exactly sure what it entailed. She knocked on Rival's door. "Heyo heyo Rival! You up and at em yet~? I wanna make sure you're alive and kicking in there!"

...

After a few second, a muffled voice could be heard from behind the door. "Yeah... I'll come out of here soon. Just give me a sec."

...

After what constitutes a "sec" in Bessie's mind had passed, Bessie resorted to other matters.

Just continuously knocking on the door until Rival gets annoyed and comes out.

KNOCK

"Rival?" She asked.

KNOCK

"Rival?" She asked again.

KNOCK

"Rival?" She asked again again.

KNOCK

"Rival?" She asked again again again.

KNOCK

KNOCK-

Bessie stopped herself before her third knock, for Rival had opened his door! His tired, disheveled, yet fully dressed self stepped out of his room, a slightly annoyed look on his face. "You really had to do that?" He asked.

Bessie nodded. "Yep! I was tasked with waking up the absentees, and now I've accomplished my mission! Are you awake~?" Bessie tilted her head almost completely on its side.

Rival stared at the girl for a few seconds, still trying to get used to the light blaring into his eyes. "Yeah... guess I'm awake now." He still sounded rather annoyed, but Bessie didn't care.

"Well alright then~! Let's go!" Bessie pulled on Rival's hand with a surprisingly amount of strength, easily pulling him out of his room. "C'mon c'mon~!" She started pulling him along with her to the cafeteria. Rival was easily a bigger person compared to Bessie, but the backing vocalist kind of just let it happen.

...

"OMG? Rival and Bessie scandal found? You two already an item?" Raiha had bursted out of her room right as Bessie and Rival were departing the VIP Quarters, being clearly interested in the sight she was seeing.

Rival, his hand still being held hostage by Bessie's hand, quickly responded to Raiha's accusation, if you could even call it that. "Oh, uh... no we aren't, uh..." Well, he tried to respond to it, while also trying to get rid of the faint blush on his face.

Bessie on the other hand, didn't care or respond at all to what Raiha had said. Instead, she just waved. "Hiya Raiha! You just wake up?"

Raiha smiled and sighed. "Yeah... my makeup was not working well at all this morning, I was a wreck. But I'm Gucci now! So what, we going to the cafe yeah?"

Bessie didn't move or express any emotions at all. "Yep! Want to join us~?" She asked.

"Well yeah!" Raiha exaggerated with a hand motion.

So Bessie and Raiha made their way to the cafeteria, with an unwilling Rival in tow...

...

[Cafeteria]

When Rival, Raiha, and Bessie had gotten there, they found most of their whole group already gathered in there.

"Oh shit! More people actually showed up!" Genjiro announced loudly, catching the attention of everyone.

"Oh good! It makes me happier having more people with us!" Lake added.

Faces turned towards the three new entries. "Hiya you all!" Bessie spoke first. "Bessie B. is on the scene, with Raiha and Rival too! Sorry to make you wait~!" Bessie blinked.

"It's good to see you've joined us." Ji-hoon chimed in. "No luck getting the others out of their rooms?" He asked.

Whoops. Bessie hadn't even tried past getting Rival out. But sensing where this could be going, Rival chimed in to answer the question instead, while also finally pulling his hand away from Bessie. "Yeah... no one else wanted to come out. No point to... keep on trying it. Definition of insanity and all that yeah...?"

Ji-hoon solemnly nodded. "Yeah, you have a point. Guess I shouldn't have expected everyone to warm up to the group dynamic yet. It's annoying, but let's leave them be for now." Ji-hoon leaned back in his chair. "Now that more people are here, I'd like to continue what we were doing yesterday."

Raiha blinked. "Wait. Yesterday? TBH, IDK WYM?"

Ji-hoon sighed and facepalmed. "Really? You don't remember?"

Joji forced himself into the conversation with a slam of his hand on the cafeteria table. "Oh yeah! It was Pheme's nighttime announcement right? Forced us to go back to our room because of the rules. That's some infuriating shit!" Joji groaned.

Ji-hoon didn't see any reason why Joji had to join in, but whatever. "What he said." He pointed to the carpenter. "We'll continue after you three get food. So c'mon, get going." He added with a light clap of his hands.

"Nah, I'm good!" Bessie immediately said as she sat down at one of the cafeteria tables.

"Oh. Uh, alright." Ji-hoon didn't know what to say to that.

"Hold on a second now." Joji tried to stop Bessie. "We've been here for at least two or so days now. You shouldn't go that long without eating! It's not healthy for your body!" He tried to suggest.

Bessie just shrugged. "Nah, not hungry!"

"O-oh... yeah! Joji is r-right! You should p-probably eat something... B-bessie!" Aelia added on.

Bessie just shrugged again. "Nope, don't want to eat! I'm good!"

Everyone was weirded out by how oddly cheery Bessie was being about something like this. "Erm..." Adam muttered. Oh great, here comes the nerd! "Um, uh, strictly speaking, the human body can go between eight days to two months without food!" He pushed up his glasses. "But, uh, hypothetically speaking, it also depends on certain factors, like-"

Adam was going to continue speaking, but Genjiro cut him off. "Blah blah blah man, no one cares! Let the chick do what she wants!"

Bessie moved her head back and forth between everyone as they said their piece about Bessie's choice. She didn't see a problem in it. She just wasn't hungry!

As Raiha and Rival stood there awkwardly, Darren, who was actually here, came up behind them. "Hey."

Somehow, neither of them got scared by his sudden presence, so they both calmly turned around. "You... want something?" Rival spoke first.

"Oh hey, what's up Darren? Say, anyone tell you that you low key have main character energy?" Raiha for some reason asked.

Darren didn't respond to the question. "You two should probably get some food." He pointed towards the kitchen area of the cafeteria, then sat back down, going back to being in his own world.

"Oh yeah, you're so right for the Darren! Thanks a million!" Raiha smiled and skipped off to the kitchen. Darren just nodded in response. Then Rival slowly followed after Raiha.

...

When Rival was in here yesterday, he definitely didn't get to see or experience the full majesty that this kitchen had to offer. There was a food-serving line in front of it, but since no one was working here or anything, it looked like they had to make their own food. That wasn't a problem though. The countless cabinets, and the fridge and freezer as well, were stocked up with any food product or kitchen utensil you'd ever need.

The pair of Rival and Raiha then went about to make some food for themselves, slowly yet methodically.

Raiha settled on an organic breakfast sandwich, with grass-fed organic pasture-raised hen eggs, some cheese made from the milk of purely grass-fed cows, and some whole-wheat brioche bread to top it off. She also made herself a strawberry kale smoothie as well.

Rival on the other hand, just heated up a cheap frozen sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich, and got a bottle of water too.

They grabbed their food and sat down at some open seats, which were next to Damien and Aelia. It looked like the whole thing about Bessie not wanting to eat had died down too.

"Oh? It's good you see you two eating. Especially you my dear Raiha!" Damien showed concern for Raiha, while completely ignoring Rival in the process. Well, it's not like Rival really cared.

"Thanks! You are too sweet Damien!" Raiha took a sip of her smoothie. Good stuff. Stuff is pretty bussin'.

"Y-yeah... it's good to see that the f-food wasn't poisoned or s-something..." Aelia said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Well..." Rival took a swig of his water. "Don't say anything for sure yet..." Rival set his water down, half-joking.

"That's u-uh... not really funny Rival..." Aelia slightly frowned.

Rival didn't say anything to response. But Damien sure did! Not to what Aelia and Rival were talking about thought. "Say, Raiha?" He leaned slightly closer to her, slightly lowering the tone of his voice in the process. "Let's try to remember to have a good talk together later. I know the situation isn't ideal, but we haven't talked for ages. It'd be good to re-connect." Damien smiled genuinely at Raiha.

Of all things to make Raiha lose her cool, it was Damien's comment, causing her to blush a little. "Yeah, sure! T-totally! We should definitely gab together sometime!" Raiha went back to eating her sandwich.

Damien raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. He didn't say anything else.

...

"Alright, let's finally resume our talk about our findings yesterday!" Ji-hoon announced after everyone had gotten a decent amount of time to eat. "I know we aren't necessarily on a schedule... but let's get this done okay? We left off last night with..."

"Oh! Oh! It's finally time for me to spill the tea about my Ultimate Lab isn't it?" Raiha eagerly chimed in.

Ji-hoon slowly nodded. "Oh yeah, that's right. So then, Raiha, Bessie, and Aurora. What can you tell us about what you found yesterday?" Ji-hoon directed the group's attention towards the three girls.

Bessie rapidly nodded her head. "Oh yeah! We get to go next! I'll start~!" She put her hands on her chair. "So me and my besties found Raiha's Ultimate Studio! The Ultimate Trendsetter's Studio~!" Bessie announced.

"Oh yeah, what's an Ultimate Studio? We haven't learned that yet, it sounds interesting!" Lake had a curious look on their face.

"No shit? You found Raiha's too?" Yoshino sounded surprised.

It look a quick second for Lake to process that. ""too?" Yoshino, you found another one?" They asked her.

But Kuroko answered instead. "Yep yep-nya! We found mine-nya! The Ultimate Hypnotist's Studio-nya!" Kuroko sounded really excited. "But you can go first Raiha-nya!" She managed to rein it in thought.

Raiha smiled at Kuroko. "Thank you Kuroko bestie! So alright, imma finna give you the tea!" Raiha started to mentally prepare her tea. "First, Ultimate Studios are kinda rad? Pheme described them like...

"Throughout the entirety of this studio, there are nineteen special Ultimate Studios! Each are tailor-made for a specific one of you! For example, this studio is the Ultimate Trendsetter's Studio, in case that wasn't clear. This room was made exclusively for Ms. Miyahara!" Pheme gestures over the entire room. "Think of it as a place to relax and unwind, while being in the presence of things you enjoy! Well, for Ms. Miyahara that is!" Pheme laughed.

"So yeah. She also said more are hidden up on higher floors or something. So that's kinda lit NGL." She finished recounting Pheme's words.

Kei seemed interested in the idea. "Sounds interesting. I'm curious what mine might be like then." He chuckled.

"Oh let me tell you how amazing mine was!" Raiha was excited to explain. "So, there were like, phones, tech, and trends everywhere! There was even the crowbar trend represented in there! It was soooo lit! You all gotta visit sometime! And like-" Raiha was going to continue talking but she stopped herself. What she had described was kinda it. So she awkwardly stopped talking.

"So..." Aurora stepped in for her. "What Raiha described was correct. It had a lot of things to investigate, all with their own intricacies, so I believe that we should spare some more time later on to check on it more." Aurora turned to look at Ji-hoon. "Does that sound agreeable?"

Internally, Ji-hoon was narrowing his eyes at Aurora. But outwardly, he was smirking. "Not a bad idea. Nothing wrong with being acquainted with things in a place like this..." He muttered as he slowly finished typing down some notes.

...

"And... there. That's done." Ji-hoon finished noting down his... notes. "Alright, since she mentioned it earlier, Kuroko and Yoshino, you want to explain about the Ultimate Hypnotist's studio?" He changed the topic of conversation.

"Hell yeah Jiji! We got it!" Yoshino leaned forwards in her chair. Ji-hoon decided to just roll with that nickname for him. "So... well actually, I'll let Roko explain it. Go for it!" She directed the group's attention towards Kuroko.

"Okay, I got it-nya!" Kuroko nodded. "So to sum it up... my Ultimate Studio was basically hypnotherapy room-nya!"

"Hypnotherapy? I haven't heard of that before. It sounds interesting!" Lake tilted their head.

"Yes, it's very interesting-nya! I have some hypnotherapy skills myself, so if anyone has any mental troubles, let me know-nya!" Kuroko offered the group her aid, but it seemed like there were no takers for now. "But anyway, let me continue explaining-nya!" Kuroko resumed her explanation. "So, there were two black leather seats, a table with chairs in the middle, and cabinets full out hypnotism supplies-nya! Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the supplies aren't dangerous-nya! I'm an expert, and I know how to handle them-nya!" Kuroko nodded proudly.

"Well hold on now." Kei butted in. "You say that, but could anyone else in theory use those supplies for evil?" He asked.

Kuroko thought about that for a second, before shaking her head. "No-nya! Absolutely no way someone else could use those supplies for evil-nya! Well, if someone here knew how to hypnotize others, I guess they could actually do that-nya. But I don't think anyone here knows how to do that, right-nya?" Kuroko looked around the room.

Nobody replied. Lake smiled at the sight. "Okay, that's relieving to know! I guess those supplies are safe in Kuroko's hands then." Lake relaxed.

Ji-hoon shot Lake a glare. "Someone could easily be lying about that you know."

Lake shrunk back into their seat. "O-oh... okay." They said dejectedly.

"But..." Ji-hoon continued his thought. "I don't think anyone is. As far as I know." He looked around the room.

Lake didn't say anything in response.

...

Well, after that awkward silence, it's high time they moved on. "Alright." Ji-hoon broke the ice. "Was that all Kuroko?" He asked the hypnotist.

Kuroko nodded. "Yep-nya! That was pretty much it- wait-nya! There was one more thing-nya!" Kuroko raised her voice, surprising everyone in the room.

"Why, what's the matter my dear Kuroko?" Damien leaned forwards in his chair, concerned.

A look of recollection flashed across Yoshino's face. "Oh yeah! The camera in the wall right? That was fucking freaky." Yoshino shook her head.

Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow. "A camera in the wall? Elaborate." He commanded the girls.

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. And Rosalind confirmed that it was a camera used for filming-nya. But she also said that it was turned off-nya. So I'm not sure what to make of it-nya." Kuroko looked down at the ground.

Huh. Interesting information. Ji-hoon thought about it. A camera in the wall... what could it mean...

"Well then..." Kei spoke up, dragging Ji-hoon out of his thoughts. "I wonder if that camera is related to rule five?"

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 thought it was interesting that the rule specifically mentioned cameras. After all, would cameras not just fall under the "studio property" category?" Kei continued.

"So... there's something more to the cameras than... meets the eye...?" Rival joined in.

Kei chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. "Well, it's just a theory for right now. But... maybe. Perhaps we should search for hidden cameras in other rooms as well?" Kei suggested.

Ji-hoon shook his head. "While you may have a point Kei, let's prioritize things for now. I want to hear from more people about yesterday's findings. How about you, Joji, and Genjiro go now." Ji-hoon looked at the boys.

Kei chuckled. "Well sure, I don't see why not. First, our group explored the Action Studio. And..."

"It was boring as shit! Fucking nothing there at all!" Genjiro cut in with a slam of his fist on the table, almost knocking over people's drinks.

"Genjiro! You almost spilt my coffee!" Yoshino yelled at him.

"Shit man, you almost spilt my energy drink too!" Joji managed to keep his rage in.

"Yeah yeah you're fine!" Genjiro brushed them off. "But yeah, there was nothing in that studio! Anyway-"

"Hold on." Genjiro was cut off by the rare Darren line of dialogue. "Nothing at all in there? You're sure?" He questioned.

Genjiro looked at him like he was stupid. "That's what I said man. You deaf or some shit?"

Darren didn't respond. Instead, he thought about how strange that statement was. Because...

He looked more around the surrounding area, until he spotted something strange. He could barely see what looked like a person, running down a distant flight of stairs, going underneath the road. He sighed, and figured that they stole it. He begrudgingly started walking towards his only lead of the mysterious ring theft.

According to Genjiro's account, and the fact that neither Kei nor Joji stepped in to correct him, it seemed to Darren that those stairs were gone. Well, that'll be something he'd have to look at later. Judging by Damien's expression, he hadn't realized it yet. In that case... Darren wondered if he could get Ayaka or Cathy to join him to investigate that...

Eh, actually, that's too much work. Besides, Kei's group had continued explained their findings during Darren's silence. He figured he'd better listen up.

"So next, we investigated the Mystery Studio." Now it was Joji who was explaining. "And... for the most part, it was like Ji-hoon and them said. But... well..." Joji started trailing off.

Sensing his hesitation, Kei took over. "So, Ji-hoon? That body you and your group found? K.M. or something right? Well, it disappeared." Kei dropped that bombshell.

But the metaphorical explosion didn't seem too intense. Aelia and a few others gasped, but Ji-hoon and Rival didn't say anything, instead they just slowly nodded. "Fair enough... I saw that coming..." Rival muttered.

Aelia turned to him in shock. "W-wait... actually? Y-you saw that coming...?" Her eyes slightly widened.

Rival shrugged. "I mean... considering everything... it'd be strange if they just left a corpse sitting there. They probably... have a make-shift morgue or something similar in here..." Rival yawned.

"Rival basically summed up my exact thoughts on that." Ji-hoon nodded. "K.M. is its own can of worms. But we still have that I.D., right Aelia?" He turned and looked at the puppeteer.

Aelia eagerly nodded. "Y-yeah! I have it... right here!" She dug the I.D. out of her pocket and showed it off. "If a-anyone wants to look at it-"

"So anyway, let's move on to Adam, Lake, and myself's re-investigation." Ji-hoon moved on, ignoring Aelia in the process. Aelia pocketed the I.D. and looked down at the floor.

"Actually... hold on a minute Ji-hoon. I want to ask Aelia something." Kei interjected.

Ji-hoon raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Go for it." He allowed the lawyer.

Kei smiled. "So. Aelia. Got a question for you."

Aelia got visibly excited. "O-oh yeah? Really...? W-what is it?"

"Just confirm something for me. When you and your group escaped from the Mystery Studio for the first time, the word you entered into that keypad was "Nobody" yeah?" Kei slightly squinted his eyes.

"Hm... y-yeah. I think s-so!" Aelia steadily nodded. "Why... d-do you ask?" She tilted her head.

"Okay. I see." Kei shifted his eyes to the side. "So... that keypad had five slots for characters to enter when I saw it. I was just curious on how you fit a six letter word into a puzzle that only allows five characters." Kei stared directly at Aelia.

"Wait a minute Kei, are you serious?" Ji-hoon questioned. "When our group was in there, it definitely had eight characters."

Ji-hoon saw Rival come up out of the corner of his eye and point at a device that was to the right of the door. It was a sort of computer monitor and keyboard fit into the wall. There wasn't anything on the monitor, just eight dashes. And the keyboard was just a normal keyboard.

"Right Rival?" Ji-hoon turned towards the backing vocalist. Rival just calmly nodded.

"Huh." Was all Kei said in response. "Well then... another thing to look into then yeah?" He smirked.

Ji-hoon sighed. "I guess so. But putting that aside, I want to move on to my own group, and what we found yesterday."

"Ah yes, n-now we can explain our own findings!" Adam pushed up his glasses. "So... the Horror S-studio was first for us. First, the uh, studio itself was very bright. I k-know that Kei's initial group d-described the studio as being shrouded in d-darkness, but, strictly speaking, it wasn't now." Adam methodically stated.

Genjiro let out a laugh at that fact. "No shit? Here that Yoshi-"

"Genjiro, shut up and let Adam explain for gods sake!" Yoshino was getting sick of Genjiro making fun of her.

Genjiro kept chuckling to himself, but he quieted down.

...

Adam waited a second before continuing. "So, uh, y-yeah. We tried to see if we could f-find anything of note, b-but we had no luck. Not even for, um, the c-chainsaw Kei's group heard." Adam exhaled as he finished his explanation.

Lake slowly nodded in agreement, to corroborate his story. "Yes, on the matter of the chainsaw sound, we figured it might've been something that Pheme took out? Possibly?" Lake kept thinking about it.

Kei held out his hands in front of him, signaling for Lake to stop. "Hey now, I think something like that is best left for later. Something like that could be relevant, but even if it is, if we have no way of finding where that sound came from, I see no point in continuing to talk about it." Kei smirked. "So move on to the Comedy Studio then?"

Lake blinked. Well, I guess that's the end of that then. "The Comedy Studio... oh yeah! Raiha! Bessie! Joji! The bar we woke up in? It was gone! It disappeared!" Lake exclaimed.

Bessie didn't have much of a reaction, but shocked and confused looks spread across Raiha and Joji's faces.

"Wait what? How the hell is that possible?" Joji added with a slam of his hand on the table.

"Whaaattt??? Nah jit, you're tripping Lake. That's hella sus." Raiha had trouble believing it.

"No, it definitely disappeared!" Lake tone changed to a more worried one. "Right Adam? Ji-hoon?" They asked their former group members.

"W-well, uh, I didn't see it personally myself, but Ji-hoon d-did." Adam pointed at Ji-hoon.

Ji-hoon slowly nodded. "Yeah, there wasn't anything there at all. Which actually reminds me-" Ji-hoon glared at Darren. "Hey Darren? Explain something to me. Something you said yesterday stood out to me." He sounded a little agitated.

He got up from his seat. "Word of advice? I'd look at the other bar in here. It's pretty interesting." And Darren walked out of the studio without another word.

"Why'd you say that?" Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow at the bartender.

Everyone started giving Darren strange looks. But Darren? How did he react? Not at all. Darren turned towards Ji-hoon and shrugged, seemingly uncaring about the whole thing. "What's the problem? There was another bar in there when I was in there. Maybe it moved." He shrugged again.

...

What? "What?" Ji-hoon repeated after the narration.

Darren shrugged for the third time. "I'm not the one to ask. Ask Pheme." He took a sip of his drink. No one could tell if it was alcohol or not.

"Perhaps... we should just move on for now? Investigate Darren's claim later?" Damien suggested.

Ji-hoon sighed and put his head in his hand. "Yeah... you probably have a point Damien. Fine then. Damien, you and Aelia can explain what you found yesterday." Ji-hoon topped off his sentence with another glare at Darren. Darren didn't care.

"Ah, indubitably! It's our turn now my dear Aelia!" Damien smiled at his partner.

"O-okay! I can start...!" Aelia started explaining. "So... our g-group found three d-doors. We weren't able to go through any of them. B-but they all seemed... noteworthy!" Aelia eagerly nodded her head. "The f-first we found was a... boarded-up room. P-Pheme said it was under construction." She explained.

"Under construction huh? That's interesting..." That caught the attention of Joji, which makes sense.

"Indeed. My dear Aelia attempted to open the door through the boards, but had no such luck. I commend her for trying though!" Damien put his hand on Aelia's shoulder, causing the latter to blush.

"R-r-right..." Aelia stammered out. "But besides f-for that... there was another door w-we couldn't go through. Pheme said that it... led to another area. That's... k-kind of it." Everyone slowly nodded at the information, waiting for Aelia to continue. "Then after that... we found a d-door that Pheme called the exit-" Aelia couldn't even finish her thought before looks of awe and excitement spread across everyone's faces.

"Oh my, is that right? Truly?" Aurora got interested.

"Really-nya? An exit-nya?" Kuroko was excited as well.

"Holy shit! No joke?" Genjiro shot from his seat. "Well c'mon, let's go and-"

"Calm yourself Genjiro." Damien urged the wrestler. "The exit was chained up, and locked as well. I don't see us getting out of here through that way anytime soon. Besides, the only way we've been informed of for how we can obtain a key is...

9. If the guilty party survives the trial, they will be provided a key to escape and a cash prize of 100,000. (Cash Prize subject to change.)

"Rule nine..." Yoshino muttered.

"Tch!" Genjiro scoffed. "I ain't letting that shit dissuade me. Chain or not, lock or not, it's not standing up against these babies!" Genjiro flexed his muscles.

"Genjiro, please-" Ji-hoon tried to calm him down.

"Nah, fuck off Ji-hoon! This investigating every nook and cranny shit of this stupid studio isn't gonna get us anywhere! "Where did the bar go?" "How did Aelia spell a six-letter word with five-slots?" I don't give a shit! That information isn't gonna let us escape!" Genjiro slammed his chair into the table, and started leaving. "I'm getting sick of this investigating shit, and just sitting here twiddling our thumbs and doing nothing! Our goal here? It's to escape! So c'mon, we have our exit, so let's fucking go!" Genjiro stormed out, intending for his words to be a rousing speech.

...

Did it work? Well...

"I mean... man kinda had a point. Even if he doesn't actually know where the exit Damien and Aelia referred to is." Joji broke the silence. "Listen, Ji-hoon, I'm not tryna say your way is wrong or anything, but Genjiro isn't wrong either. I say, if we really have an exit, we should..." Joji stood up. "We should get out of here!" He slammed his hand on the table.

"You know what..." Yoshino stood up. "Fuck it, I agree! Let's break out of here!"

"Yeah, that's what I talking about Yoshino! C'mon!" Joji excitedly urged Yoshino out of the cafeteria with him, and they both left after Genjiro.

"None of them even know where the exit is-nya..." Kuroko muttered and shook her head.

"I think that it's better to go at this at a slower pace... but I believe in them!" Lake cheered. "I believe they can, uh, somehow find a way out!"

"L-logically speaking, that's kind of h-hard to imagine." Adam retorted. Lake shot Adam a semi-hurt look. "B-but hypothetically speaking, it's still also p-possible that they could find a way out!" Adam changed his tune, which got a smile from Lake.

"I think I'll choose to remain here, but I'll choose to believe in those three." Aurora looked at Ji-hoon. "What about you Ji-hoon? Any thoughts?" She looked a little concerned about him.

Ji-hoon quietly sighed. "This is what I get for trying to help these guys... I should've known..." He muttered, not loud enough for anyone to hear. Aurora tilted her head. Ji-hoon didn't even realize that he was being talked to at first. "Aurora? I... it's fine. I'm just going to let the do what they want to do. In fact..." Ji-hoon got up. "Let's end this morning meeting off here. And let's try to make this a daily occurrence as well. Call it morbid, but it's good to have a place to do an easy headcount." Ji-hoon stated, which brought up some nervous glances from the group.

"Anyway..." He continued. "Let's get going. We can't exactly divvy up things to investigate now, but let's try to do some productive things. At least, I'd like Aelia to go to the Mystery Studio, and I'll be going to the Comedy Studio with Darren." He said the bartender's name a little sharply, with only opted Darren to raise his drink up into the air. "I'd like everyone else to try and do some productive things, like I said. Sounds good?"

The group just gave some muffled mumbles, which Ji-hoon interpreted as a good thing. "We'll meet back here..."

"There aren't any clocks in this place... so how about in what feels like evening? Does that sound agreeable?" Damien interrupted and suggested.

Ji-hoon slowly nodded. "That's sounds good. Alright, let's go!" Their morning meeting had ended, so Ji-hoon immediately went up to Darren. "Let's go." He order the bartender, who slowly followed behind him as he left the cafeteria...

...

[Comedy Studio]

It took a few seconds after Ji-hoon entered the Comedy Studio for Darren to join him. Darren wasn't drunk, he just went at his own pace. Or at least, that's what he said.

Ji-hoon was eager to solve this disappearing bar mystery, and wanted Darren with him for it. But when he entered, the aforementioned bartender just walked up to a seat at the bar and poured himself a glass of gin. "So Mr. Celebrity Detective, you want a drink?" He offered Ji-hoon a glass.

Ji-hoon shook his head. "We aren't here to drink. What do you know about the disappearing bar?" He turned to Darren, going full interrogation mode.

Darren slowly retracted the glass he had offered. "Another time then? That's too bad. But again, you're better off asking Pheme about it, she'd know better than I do. Why are so invested in this anyway?" Darren took a sip of his gin.

Ji-hoon crossed his arms. "This is what I do. I leave no stone unturned. Besides, considering where we are and what we've been told to do, I don't think we have the luxury of staying ignorant to strange things in this place."

Darren took another sip of his drink. "Right..." He looked up at the collection of drinks they had behind the counter, then over to Ji-hoon. "Say, why do you-"

"Hold on hold on Mr. Taylor! Hold your horses!" Pheme appeared from seemingly out of nowhere next to the men, eager to stop their brewing FTE.

"Well hey. There she is." Darren had no reaction whatsoever.

Ji-hoon shot an immediate glare at the Goddess. "Good timing. Care to explain the case of the disappearing bar?" He got right to the point, as he was very curious to solve this mystery.

"I'd love to Mr. Jo!" Pheme walked up to a bare wall next to the bar Ji-hoon and Darren were at. She then pulled out a remote from somewhere and pressed a button on it.

...After a quick second, a thin door outline appeared on the wall. Pheme beckoned the men closer, but Ji-hoon was the only one who went closer. Pheme opened the new door, and showed off to Ji-hoon what was inside.

[Inner Bar]

And inside of that door, was another bar. The appearance of it was already described in a previous chapter, so let's not focus on that.

"Okay..." Ji-hoon looked around. "So that mystery was solved I suppose..." He looked at Pheme. "So what's the deal with this?" He questioned.

Pheme giggled. "It's a fun little feature of the Comedy Studio. This "Inner Bar" let's call it, is a little special. The Inner Bar is able to move around the outside of the Comedy Studio. I hold the power to move the Inner Bar around. The entrance connects to one of three points in the Comedy Studio. The points are on the left side, which is the one is connected to now, the middle, which is behind the curtain of the stage, and the right side of the Comedy Studio." Pheme slowly nodded. "I believe that's it! Exciting isn't it?" Pheme smiled from beneath her mask.

Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes. "And you control it using that remote you pulled out earlier?"

Pheme giggled again. "Indeed! You have a good eye Mr. Jo!" Pheme pulled it out again, but made sure to obscure any details on it with her hand. "It's a special remote, with more abilities than just controlling this bar. But you don't need to worry about that for now!" She pocketed it again.

"Alright... I understand that... but why even have a function like this? I don't see the point." Ji-hoon crossed his arms.

Pheme giggled for a third time. "Mr. Jo, you are aware that this is a "Movie and Media Studio" no?"

Ji-hoon blinked. "Yeah. You've told us that much." Ji-hoon raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Is it for movies then? This is a comedy studio I suppose."

"Correct again Mr. Jo! Congratulations!" Pheme cheered. "We most likely won't be filming any movies during the duration of this wonderful killing game. Well, I have no way to stop Ms. Reinhardt or any one of you from actually filming in here. But I can't imagine you'd want to!" Pheme mused.

Ji-hoon rolled his eyes. "Alright then, that's basically all I wanted to know. I assume that you explained this to Darren yesterday."

Pheme nodded. "Indeed! Mr. Taylor didn't explain that then?"

Ji-hoon shook his head. "Nope. That guy, I swear..." He muttered. "Anyway, that's all. You can leave now." Ji-hoon started walking out.

Pheme didn't say anything as she watched Ji-hoon walk away.

[Comedy Studio]

When Ji-hoon went back into the Comedy Studio, he saw something that he half expected. Darren was gone. His glass he was drinking from was put away too. That guy had a habit of appearing and disappearing on a whim, so Ji-hoon wasn't surprised.

But what did surprise him, was seeing Raiha entering the studio. "Hmm... I wonder if..." She muttered. She kept walking more into the studio, taking a moment to even notice Ji-hoon was there. "Oh!" Her eyes widened at the celebrity detective's presence. "Hiya Ji-hoon! What's the tea?" She asked.

Ji-hoon sighed. "I don't have tea for you, but I have information. The bar you initially woke up just has a special feature it's able to move around the outside of the Comedy Studio itself. Pheme controls it." He pointed to the entrance to where the Inner Bar currently was. "So that's a mystery solved." He said plainly.

"Oh wow!" Raiha looked where Ji-hoon was pointing. "You ate that mystery up didn't you Ji-hoon? Not bad, you slayed that thang!" She exclaimed.

Ji-hoon rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah whatever. So was that why you came in here? For the disappearing bar?" He asked her.

Raiha stayed silent for a moment, contemplating her answer. "Yeah! Guess so." She looked around.

Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow. "I feel like you have more to say."

Raiha looked away. "Wow. Those celebrity detective smarts are showing! Guess I was caught in 4k here." Raiha laughed sheepishly.

"So? Say what you want to say to me." Ji-hoon sat down.

Raiha sat down as well on a bar seat next to him. "It's no biggie... but you're low key famous right? The "Celebrity Detective" right?"

Ji-hoon laughed. "So you just want to know details about me? I guess I should've expected someone here to know me." He sighed.

"C'mon Ji-hoon! We're allies FR yeah? Allies should know the tea about each other!" Raiha attempted to convince him.

Ji-hoon groaned. "...Fine. How about this. You can ask me a question, and I'll ask you a question."

Raiha narrowed her eyes. "I want to have a convo with you and you make it into a transaction? Kinda wack."

He shrugged. "I have no obligation to indulge you in the first place. I could be doing a lot more worthwhile things right now."

Raiha rolled her eyes. "Geez, you're no fun Ji-hoon. And to think I thought you had a main character aura..." Raiha looked to the side. "TBH Ji-hoon, why are you so... like this?"

Ji-hoon looked away. "I'm just devoted to what I do. I refuse to bend a knee to anything or anyone. Much less people who use their privilege to get their way."

Raiha raised an eyebrow. "Wow, kinda sounds like you're implying something Ji-hoon. Spill it!" She sounded strangely cheery.

Ji-hoon stared right at Raiha. "Listen... I want to ask you something Raiha. Think what you will, but I want to talk about your memories."

"Heh. Geez Ji-hoon, you making this convo into an interrogation now? Lame..." Raiha tapped her fingers on the bar counter. "Say less. My memories of before I was yoinked away I assume? Didn't Lake tell you that tea already?"

"They did." He nodded. "But I'm just curious on why you and Bessie's memories were different than, well, at least different than Aelia's, Rival's, and Rosalind's." Ji-hoon grabbed a glass of water from the bar. "Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but it's my job to overthink things."

Raiha leaned her arm on the counter. "SMH Ji-hoon, that tea is so cold by now. And IDK why they're different."

Ji-hoon really did want to grill her on this, but perhaps there isn't actually a point. If Ji-hoon's theory about it was correct, it'd make enough sense that Raiha wouldn't actually know why her memories were a little different than the others. And again, Ji-hoon hadn't even asked everyone about their pre-kidnapping memories yet. He probably should, but he unfortunately finds himself with the Riactionista at the moment.

"You know what, let's brush that topic to the side." Ji-hoon decided to move on. "Now, you want to ask your question about me right?"

Raiha hadn't expected Ji-hoon to just brush that topic off, but she wasn't complaining! "Alright, bet! So I'm wondering... how'd you get into your line of work? Something like "Celebrity Detective" has a lot of aura to it, so I'm curious!" She exclaimed.

Ji-hoon sighed. "It's nothing special. Parents were both part of the police. Mom was chief of police in Kyoto and dad was a detective. There, I answered your question, so-" He got cut off.

"Chief of police and a detective for parents? That's kinda slay. So you took after them?" She continued questioning.

Ji-hoon eyed Raiha. "Yes I did. I liked reading honhaku books too. You read at all?" He asked back.

Raiha thought for a moment. "Mmm not really? I mean, if there's a hip and hype book or something then sure, but usually? Nah." She shook her head. "But c'mon, I want to learn more about you, not talk about me! I'm v curious!" She kept egging Ji-hoon on for more information.

Ji-hoon didn't know why he was humoring her. Well no, that's a lie. He knew exactly why he was doing this. But he didn't expect her to be... well, annoying. And her slang usage was starting to wear on him. "Well I get that, but I don't have much else I could say. I could talk about my siblings-" Ji-hoon suddenly cut himself off. "No. No, I'm done talking about myself now."

Raiha definitely noticed that Ji-hoon cut himself off there. But knowing his personality, she felt like there wasn't a point in pursuing that. "Aww... that's so not it Ji-hoon. Lame!" Raiha pouted and got up.

"That's a weirdly intense reaction for that?" Ji-hoon said as he got up. Raiha didn't respond to that. But Ji-hoon knew that Raiha still had something she needed to respond to. "Hey, Raiha? Got one more thing for you."

Raiha turned around and faced Ji-hoon, still pouting a little. "What's up?"

Ji-hoon lightly chuckled. "Did you forget what I said a few minutes ago? About a question for a question? You used the word "transaction" which I thought was a heavy-handed way of describing it."

Raiha's eyes slightly widened as she recalled. "Oh... yeah!" She went silent for a moment. "Bet that! You want me to spill some tea? Lay it on me!" She sounded rather eager to answer.

"Well, I'm glad that you sound eager to answer then." Ji-hoon repeated what the narration had said. "Just a simple question really..." He trailed off for a moment. "Airi Nishigai. What does that name mean to you?" He crossed his arms.

Raiha gave Ji-hoon a flat stare, before tilting her head. "What does that name mean to me?" Say what?" Raiha was a little confused.

Ji-hook held out his hands in front of him. "Ah, my bad. That was a weird way of wording it." Ji-hoon cleared his throat, and a piercing gaze spread across his face. "How about this... Airi Nishigai. What happened to her?" He reworded this question. "And another thing. Em-"

"Wow... srsly?" Raiha suddenly exclaimed. "That's a little tactless man." Raiha shook her head.

Ji-hoon was taken back a bit by that reaction. "Huh?"

Raiha's smile faded into a more neutral expression. "Man... of all places to be reminded of her, it's here? Totes ridic." Raiha looked at the ground. "Yeah, I don't wanna talk about her. Like I said, that's tactless Ji-hoon. Your aura went down a little, NGL."

Ji-hoon frowned, but didn't say anything. He just stared at her for a second. "...Tactless huh? It's just a question." Ji-hoon shrugged. "I'm curious if you know what happened to her. You knew her, right?" His voice grew cold.

"Uh... heheh." Raiha laughed sheepishly, then suddenly frowned. "Naww, I'm all depresso now. Kinda weird of you to bring her up here you know." Raiha crossed her arms. "I don't like talking about her... so..." She trailed off. "I'm not vibing with this anymore... so imma go! Catch you later Ji-hoon! This talk was mostly slay!" She skipped away, her voice sounding weirdly cheerful again.

...

"Damn it." Ji-hoon waited until Raiha was out of earshot. "She's more clever than I thought..." Ji-hoon started to walk out himself. "Well... I'll talk to her again later. I get what she meant by tactless, but... I won't waste this opportunity..." Ji-hoon said ominously as he left the Comedy Studio.

It looks like Ji-hoon and Raiha grew a little closer today! Well, kind of.

[Mystery Studio]

"T-that's so... strange." Aelia was examining the keypad and keyboard of the door to exit the Mystery Studio. She came after the interesting news that Kei had told them. And evidently, Kei was right. Instead of the initial eight character slots it had initially, it was now down to five. "I wonder why... t-that is..."

"Well, I suggest you don't tire yourself out over it my dear Aelia." Damien had chosen to accompany Aelia on her way to the Mystery Studio. "As intriguing of a mystery as this is, I see no point in harping on it." He put his hand on Aelia's shoulder.

"B-but..." Aelia stammered. "M-maybe you're right about it... but it's h-hard to just not t-think about it... you know?" She stared intently at the keypad. "It feels like such a... s-strange change..." Aelia thought.

"Hm..." Damien stared at the keypad along with his dear Aelia. "What was it that you entered the first time? It was the word "nobody" correct?" He asked her.

Aelia nodded. "Y-yep! That's what put into here to unlock... the door."

Damien chuckled. "You're rather clever aren't you? You're such an impressive girl." He praised her. "Where do you get those smarts from?" Damien leaned against the wall.

Aelia blushed in response to the praise and glanced away. "I-I-I... well I..." She had trouble getting her words out. "I'm not really... s-smart at all. It was a l-lucky guess." She looked down at the ground.

Damien wasn't convinced. "That's nonsense! I can tell you have an impressive mind that is hidden away by your adorable exterior." He praised her again. "Please, tell me more about that mind of yours. Or perhaps, just yourself in general?" He asked.

Aelia blushed even harder at his compliments. "I-I… well thank you for the p-praise… but I'm really not special. I'm not… special at all…" A saddened look spread across Aelia's face.

Damien narrowed his eyes. "I see." He paused for a second before speaking again. "I've heard what've you said Aelia, but I'll be forthright with you. I don't believe it." Damien shook his head.

"W-what…?" Aelia stuttered out.

Damien closed his eyes. "First, I'd never mean to make you uncomfortable, but you are indeed a praise-worthy girl. You say you aren't special yes? Well, it's the truly special ones who have the capability to say that about themselves." He opened his eyes.

Aelia didn't know what to think. "S-so… what are you s-saying?"

"Hm. Well, perhaps I'm being a touch overdramatic here. But even if you don't believe you are special, it's clear you're trying to become special. It's clear you're trying to change your own view on yourself." Damien explained, then chuckled. "Perhaps I'm off base here, but it's what I think."

Aelia stared in awe at what Damien had said. "Wow… I… w-well…" She didn't know what to say.

"You don't need to say anything my dear. Just know that I think you are special. And…" He trailed off. "You don't need to answer this if you don't want to… but what about your family? Do they think you're special? Worthy of attention?" He questioned.

Aelia slowly shook her head. "N-no. It's just me and my parents. And they don't think I'm special. They never really payed attention to me." She looked sad again. Couldn't blame her.

"I see." Damien dropped his smile, opting for a more neutral look. "Well, just know that I and everyone else here think that you are special, my dear Aelia." He patted her head.

Aelia's face slowly started to turn into a smile. "T-thank you Damien. I… r-really do appreciate it."

Damien smiled as well. "You needn't worry about it. Just know that you can always turn to me. I'll listen to you whenever you'd like." Damien turned towards the door. "Shall we go? There are much better places to converse than this dank place."

"Oh yes! T-that's a good idea!" Aelia started to run up to Damien's side. "W-wait actually..." She stopped herself. "We didn't r-really... solve anything in regard t-to the whole... keypad thing." Aelia turned around to look at the keypad once more.

Damien laughed. "Ah yes, I completely forgot. You're just too engaging I'm afraid." He shook his head. "Hm..." He looked at the keypad. "I acknowledge that you want to get more information about this strange change... but even I am not sure of what to make of it I'm afraid."

Aelia scratched her head. "I g-guess you have a point there..." She said dejectedly.

Damien didn't like seeing his dear Aelia disappointed, so he came up with a plan. "You imputed the word "nobody" into the door previously. I know we just talked about your feelings about yourself, but humor me on something. I find it hard to believe that that was a lucky guess on your part. I'd like to know your train of thought that lead you to that answer." He asked her.

Aelia was taken back a little but Damien's sudden question, but who was she to turn him down? But... "W-well that was still m-mostly luck on my part thought..." She looked down. "I guess, what I was thinking at the t-time though, was about the body. That's o-obvious I guess..."

"The body you say? Please elaborate." Damien was curious on what Aelia meant.

"Oh! W-well... you could c-call me idealistic... but I just didn't think that Rival, Rosalind, or J-ji-hoon killed the guy... so my mind drifted to thinking that nobody a-actually killed him..." Aelia sheepishly smiled. "A-and I know that I didn't kill that guy... so the answer was a l-little easy for me then." She nodded.

Damien widened his eyes. "Once again my dear Aelia, you impress me. That's a remarkable way of thinking."

Aelia tilted her head. "You really... t-think so?"

Damien smiled. "Indeed. I think I would call it a touch idealistic, but there isn't anything inherently wrong with that. Again, I must emphasize that you have a remarkable way of thinking. Remember that you are the one who found the answer. Ji-hoon, Rival, nor Rosalind did. You did." He pointed out.

Aelia blushed. "I... guess I did. I-I did pretty good... I guess..." She said, slowly realizing her accomplishment.

"Mhm. The other three of your group were too focused on other matters, and distrust of others. But your inherent trust in them shined through." Damien smiled, brought Aelia's hand up, and held it. "You are worthy of attention my dear Aelia. If you forget that, I'll be here to remind you. I am in your corner."

Wow, Aelia has been blushing like crazy in this FTE so far. And she was blushing again. "T-thank you... Damien. Thank you so much!" A smile grew across Aelia's face, and it was probably the biggest smile Damien had seen from her yet. He knew he could get a brighter smile though.

"I'm happy that you're happy my dear Aelia. Now, I truly do believe we won't get any more valuable information out of this keypad. I believe we should go." He closed his eyes and nodded.

Aelia turned back around to the keypad, looked at it for a second, then looked at Damien again. "Okay... yeah... I think you're right. I'm ready to g-go now." She nodded.

"Indubitably my dear Aelia. Let us go." Damien and his dear Aelia started officially going towards the exit. But, out of nowhere, Damien widened his eyes a tad. "One last thing…" Damien looked at her. "If it makes you feel better, it appears we have something in common." He didn't elaborate on that.

Aelia didn't want elaborating, as it did make her feel better. Her smile grew even brighter as her and Damien left the Mystery Studio.

In case you somehow couldn't tell, Aelia and Damien grew a little closer today!

[Cafeteria]

"Oh fuck me! People are still in here? Thought you'd all be fucking around with each other already!" Hey, it's Alpha! Alpha walked into the cafeteria, purposely waiting for most people to be gone so that she could enjoy some food in peace. Unfortunately for her, it looked like the other no-shows, so Cathy, Ayaka, and Rosalind, all had the same idea.

Alpha groaned and went to the kitchen, purposefully ignoring the other three girls. Rosalind and Ayaka didn't say anything, but Cathy snickered. "You have a problem with us, human? Look at you, skirting around the bush and ignoring us! Nyahaha!"

"I'll stomp you out any time kitty!" Alpha barked back as she went to grab some food. Well, "food" probably isn't the right word, as she just grabbed a bag of candy. With a sigh, she sat down at a table, as far away from everyone else as possible.

"*cough*" Well, almost as far away from everyone as possible. The closest person to Alpha was Rosalind, who was currently enjoying a cinnamon cookie. Rosalind seemed like the type to mind her own business, but she was currently stealing glances at Alpha. Alpha chose to ignore her.

...

"*cough* *cough*" But it was getting more and more difficult to actually do that.

Alpha groaned. "Do you need something Anorexia Ahoy?" She glared at Rosalind.

Rosalind slowly shook her head. "Not at all. *cough*" And she ended her thought there. Alpha rolled her eyes and got back to enjoying her candy.

...

"*cough* *cough* *cough*" There goes Rosalind again.

Alright, Alpha was getting annoyed now. Alpha jumped up and went and sat in the seat right next to Rosalind. "Seriously, if you have a problem with me, Say it to my face!" Alpha exclaimed.

Rosalind sighed. "I do not have a problem with you Alpha. I never meant to offend you." Rosalind took a bite of cookie.

Alpha narrowed her eyes. "What's up with your cough then? No way you're unironically coughing that much. If so then Jesus fuck." She crossed her arms.

Rosalind dryly chuckled. "I'm afraid that I am indeed unironically *cough* coughing that much. I understand how unattractive it makes *cough* me. But it's not something you need to *cough* worry about Alpha." Rosalind slowly blinked.

"Huh." Alpha leaned back in her chair. "Not gonna lie, I thought that cough was some kinda attention catcher. It's fucking annoying, but if you're actually sick or something, then whatever I guess." Alpha shrugged, then went back to silence.

...

"Hey- hold the fuck on. Are you sick?" Alpha piped up and asked. "Just realized you didn't actually say shit about it." Alpha stared at Rosalind.

Rosalind slowly looked towards Alpha. "Hm? That's not something you need to *cough* worry about. It's not contagious or anything, so put it out of your *cough* mind."

Alpha got a semi-scary look on her face. "I don't believe that shit for a second." But the look on her face calmed down rather quickly. "But honestly? I'm not gonna worry about." And so Alpha went back to minding her own fucking business.

...

"*cough* Say, Alpha?" Rosalind suddenly spoke.

Alpha slowly turned towards her. "What? The fuck you want? I want to enjoy my candy now, and you're making that damn difficult!" She lightly slammed her bag of candy on the table.

"*cough* Forgive me, I know I'm not that pleasant to talk to... but I had a question." Rosalind finished her cookie.

Alpha groaned. "Just fucking ask it. My candy is calling for me bitch so hurry it up." She stomped her foot on the ground.

Rosalind cleared her throat. "Well... when I met you... I was with *cough* Rival at the time. And you, forgive my blunt words, were fairly mean to us then. But you've been... well *cough* comparatively nicer in our short conversation here. It just caught my *cough* caught my interest is all." Rosalind held onto her parasol, which was on the side of her seat.

Alpha rolled her eyes. "How I act around you fuckers isn't your problem? Shouldn't you be focused on not keeling over from a stiff breeze? You like to hang onto your parasol for dear life whenever anybody walks by you anyway."

Rosalind coughed, like she usually does. "I suppose you're right." And just like that, they went back to silence.

...

"It's because you're not fucking insufferable like half the people here." Alpha muttered.

Rosalind slowly raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Alpha looked down at the table. "I can't fucking imagine how many skeletons in their closet all the people in this place have. Probably rapists, pedophiles, and more running rampant in here, despite there only being nineteen of us." Alpha frowned. "I have skeletons, and I'm sure as hell you do too. But you're... the least insufferable? I mean no, I don't trust any of you fuckers, and you're still fucking annoying, but you're quiet enough and you mind your own fucking business. And I don't hate that." Alpha finished her long thought.

Rosalind raised her eyebrows. Both of them this time! "I hadn't expected something like that from *cough* you. It's interesting to know you have a, well, slightly gentler side to *cough* you." Rosalind adjusted her sunglasses.

"Don't fucking call me gentle! I'll curb-stomp your bitch-ass any day of the week!" Alpha crossed her arms. "God, I shouldn't have said anything. Don't think for a moment I unironically trust you or some shit. You're just one of the more tolerable people in this joint." Alpha frowned and looked away.

"I see." Rosalind slowly nodded. "So do you have *cough* trust issues then? Perhaps that's a silly question to ask, but I'm curious."

Alpha shot her a, frankly, disgusted look. "Alright, I'm getting sick of this already. I just want my fucking candy." Alpha grabbed a piece of candy and ate it. Rosalind chose to stay silent.

...

"But to answer your question, and to hopefully make you shut the fuck up, my trust issues are none of your damn business!" Alpha sighed. "I don't trust people, because I refuse to be betrayed. That's all." She explained her trust issues anyway.

Rosalind slowly nodded. "Indeed? That's *cough* interesting." Rosalind closed her eyes. "I hadn't expected us to have something in common."

Alpha frowned. "Huh? Don't be kinning me or some shit, I don't fucking know what those weird ass people and fans do these days."

Rosalind dryly chuckled. "Similar to what I've said earlier, you don't *cough* worry about it. I could only imagine what you could've gone through."

"I'm not telling your ass anymore shit." Alpha said bluntly, hoping this FTE would come to a close soon.

"I guess that's *cough* fair. Can't imagine conversing with someone like me is pleasant." Rosalind slowly shook her head. "I enjoyed that talk more than I would've thought. I didn't *cough* dislike it." She sat up in her chair, indicating that she was preparing to get up.

"Hey, hold the fuck on." Alpha mentioned to her to stop. "I know what I said about you earlier, but your self-deprecating shit is so fucking annoying. Are you depressed? Keep that shit to yourself." Alpha glared at her.

Rosalind bowed her head. "You'll have to *cough* forgive me. It's a force of habit." She sighed. "You work in an unpleasant and evil industry, you become an unpleasant person yourself I *cough* suppose you could say. I won't have you tolerate my presence any longer." Rosalind slowly got up. Alpha just watched her, not offering to help her. "I finished my snack, so I'll be *cough* going now."

She started to hobble away. "I'm not used to *cough cough cough* talking this much." Rosalind muttered as her voice grew a bit hoarse.

Alpha glared at the cinematographer's back as she hobbled out of the cafeteria. "Fucking A." Alpha leaned back in her chair, stayed silent and started to actually enjoy her candy.

"So? You enjoy your play-date with your little companion?" Cathy suddenly spoke and stuck out her tongue.

"Shut the fuck up kitty! No one here even fucking likes you!" Alpha yelled out as she got up, grabbed her candy, and started to leave. "At least I can enjoy my candy in peace now..." Alpha muttered as she left the cafeteria as well...

Alpha and Rosalind grew a little closer today, believe or not!

[Rival's Room]

"Okay... Bessie? Why did you... want to see my room again?" After everyone split off from the cafeteria, Rival had chosen to go back to his room. What he didn't expect, was that Bessie wanted to follow his and see his room as well. He hadn't had a... well, that doesn't matter.

Rival sighed and sat down on his bed. "There isn't much to see in here... anyway." Rival looked around his room. This is normally where I'd talk about what his room looked like, but like what Rival had said, there really isn't anything special in it. Just the normal things that Pheme had put in everyone's rooms. Rival didn't have anything specific or special to him.

"Hey, what's that~?" Bessie pointed to a slightly open drawer on Rival's nightstand. Something could barely be seen from within it, and Bessie was curious on what it was. Following Bessie's pointing finger, Rival's widened his eyes when he realized what that was.

He quickly moved over to the nightstand and closed that drawer. "That's uh... nothing." Rival said slightly worriedly. Well, there's something special/specific about him in here! "Anyway... why did you want to be in here Bessie?" Rival asked again.

Bessie stared scarily at Rival. "No big reason! I wanna learn more about you Rival~!" She sounded weirdly cheerful.

Rival kept on getting thrown off by Bessie's attitude, but he tried not to focus on that. "Why do you want to learn about me...? I'm not interesting. No point in... talking about myself." Rival crossed his arms.

Bessie extended her hand and wagged her finger at a fast pace. "That won't do Rival~! You're an Ultimate! You have lots of purpose and power! So, you must be interesting! That's just how it works~!" Bessie promptly nodded her head.

Rival shot her a confused look. "Uhh... not sure what you mean by that. I'm just a Backing Vocalist. Whatever strange... views you have... won't change that truth." He slowly shrugged

Bessie continued to stare at Rival. "Hm... maybe! But I want to know anyway! Tell me what being a Backing Vocalist is all about~!" Bessie sat down on Rival's bed.

Rival groaned. "C'mon... geez." Rival shook his head. "It's what it sounds like. My talent is... self-explanatory I'd say." Rival sat down on his bed as well.

"Could you explain that please~?" Bessie asked, not knowing the meaning of self-explanatory.

Rival fell back onto his bed and sighed. "Man... I don't know... fine." He closed his eyes. "My talent is just... it's..." Rival had trouble explaining his thought. "A Backing Vocalist backs up a Lead Singer. And that's what I do. I guess..." He gave the best halfhearted answer he could come up with.

Bessie seemed interested in it all the same. "Oh wow! So who do you back up then?"

Rival knew that question was coming. "It's a... long story. You know... people... I suppose? Yeah." He was doing everything he could to not answer that.

"Interesting!" Bessie still seemed entertaining by his answers.

"Hey... Bessie?" Rival had an idea on how to get the topic of conversation off of himself. "How about you? Why don't you explain your... pop star talent... yeah?" He decided to shift the focus onto her.

"Okay! Sure~!" She agreed immediately. "Hm... well, as a pop star, I sing songs~! That's my purpose~!"

Rival narrowed his eyes. "Uh huh. "Purpose" is a... choice word to use. But that's it? That's... all?" Rival didn't get it.

Bessie stood up. "Well what should I say?"

God, Bessie was weirder than he had expected. Rival knew a little of her existence, but honestly, he didn't know that much, considering they had relatively similar talents. From what he could tell, Bessie didn't know much about him either. He prefers it that way anyway.

Rival was brought out of his thoughts by Bessie's unblinking and expectant stare. "Well..." He didn't really know what specifically he wanted to know. Frankly, he didn't care that much about her. But... "How about... your manager? You have one?" First question that popped into his mind.

Bessie continued to stare, unblinkingly. "My manager? Oh, you mean my boss? Yep yep, his name is Ryuji Yamamoto~! He's a nice guy! He has me do dancing, singing, interviews, and all sorts of things all day!"

Rival slowly sat up. Ryuji Yamamoto? The name rang a very distant and vague bell. Not like he actually cared anyway. "Yamamoto huh? Sounds like... you have a busy schedule then?" He continued to question.

Bessie nodded her head freakishly fast. "Yeah yeah! He constantly tells me things like "You don't need to rest Bessie" or "Stop slacking off, you're not suppose to relax." Stuff like that~!"

That got a slight reaction out of Rival. "Wow. That sounds... uh... not great?" He didn't know how to really react.

Bessie shrugged. "Eh, I don't mind it! No worries~!" Bessie sounded like her usually overly cheery self when she said that. But... Rival thought he could hear that slightest and smallest inkling of... something in her voice then. Was it... pain? He couldn't tell.

"So Rival, was that sufficient for you?" She asked, standing completely still.

"Uh..." This entire conversation was weirding him the hell out. It wasn't horrible per se, it's just the way that it flowed was so strange. "Sure. Yeah... that's "sufficient" for me." Rival slowly answered.

"That's great!" Bessie responded, then went silent.

...

"Hey Rival, what about you? Did you have a manager~?" Bessie spoke up again. Her and her weird talking intervals man.

"A manager? I mean... no. Not really. We kinda did our-" Rival coughed. "I meant... I did my own thing I guess." He tried to cover for his slip up.

Bessie didn't seem to catch it. "Is that the case? Hmmm..." Bessie appeared to be deep in thought, but she kept on staring non-harmful daggers at Rival.

Rival raised an eyebrow. "Something... up?" He had a slightly bad feeling about this.

"Hmm..." She continued to "hm" out loud for a moment, until her idea seemed to have surfaced from the mechanics of her mind. "Rival? How about we put on a show here~? For everyone!" She suggested.

...

A... show? "A... show?" Rival said, repeating the narration.

Bessie nodded at an alarmingly fast rate. "Yep yep~! I think we could put on a show that could bring in the sun to shine down on everyone here~! You in?" She moved closer to the bed.

Rival didn't know how to respond. "So... a show. We'd both be... singing for everybody then...? To raise their spirits?" He wanted clarification.

"Of course~! I haven't heard you sing yet, but I'm sure it'd be something else~! Why don't we pair up and bring a rain of goodness on our depressed group?" Bessie seemed very eager about the idea.

How was Rival feeling about it? Well to be frank, there was no way in hell he'd want to do that. Fuck no. Least of all in a place like this. So he had to say that. "Bessie... yeah... I'm not into the idea-"

"For real-real? Awesome~!" Whoops, Bessie stopped listening after Rival said "yeah." Skill issue Rival, should've chosen your words more carefully.

His eyes widened when he realized how Bessie had interpreted it. "No Bessie wait I didn't-" Rival held his hands out in front of him, hoping that Bessie would stop.

"This'll be so amazing~! I got to go tell everyone~!" Bessie jumped up and down. "See ya later partner, I'll got to tell everybody the news!" Bessie ran out of Rival's room at a surprisingly fast pace.

Rival loudly sighed. What had he gotten himself into? He held his head in his hands. He didn't want to do shit like this...

He got up from the bed, and stared distantly at his now open door. Yeah... no way he was catching up to her now. He'd have to somehow diffuse this whole thing later. Rival was about to go and close his door, but he stopped when he saw something on the ground. He picked it up to get a closer look at it. It was...

...

Bessie's Star-Phone? She must've dropped it accidentally. Rival groaned. Another annoyance. Whatever, he'll keep it safe for now. As Rival was handling it, the screen suddenly turned on. He didn't want to snoop or anything, but the phone was open to Bessie's profile page. It wasn't like he was purposefully trying to look at her info, his eyes kind of just... happened to glaze over it all. It took him a few seconds to process it. And when he did...

...

Rival instantly felt sick to his stomach. His eyes widened as fear and shock washed over his face as he looked at Bessie's info page. No way... this wasn't real right? He felt his breath start to quicken. He felt light headed. He sat back down on his bed. "No way... no fucking way... this can't be real..." He muttered to no one.

He looked back at his open door. "Hana-" No. No way. He wasn't going to believe this shit. "This has be Pheme fucking with me... god..." Rival fully laid down on his bed, closing his eyes tight. He didn't even know if he wanted to question Bessie about what he saw on her profile. He didn't want to think about it right now. He didn't know what time it was. But for now... he just wanted to forget it... and sleep...

...

Somehow, someway, Rival and Bessie grew a little closer today!

[Grand Lobby]

Bessie had ran out from Rival's room and started to run around the entirety of the studio, hoping to spread the news. A show with Rival Seizon? That was going to be so much fun, and she needed to let people know!

She'd bust into all of the currently open rooms, eager to let people know. Through her running in the hallways, and her eerie shouting of "Rival Seizon and Bessie B. Blossom will be performing together~! I'll tell the details in the cafeteria, so come quick~!," she caught the attention of most people.

People like Ji-hoon, Alpha, and Damien, who all recently finished up their FTEs, shot her confused looks at her message, but didn't get time to ask her about it, and she would quickly move on to another area.

Eventually, she'd stop her frantic running when she ended up at the golden double doors, the "exit" Pheme had called it. She had stopped, because the sight of Genjiro, Joji, and Yoshino, all trying to destroy the chain that bound the door, caught her attention. Lake was standing to the side, currently encouraging the group of hotheads. "I believe in you guys! You can do it!" Lake cheered.

Bessie couldn't help but stare at the sight before her. So much so, that she didn't notice Lake noticing her. "Oh hi Bessie! How are you?" Lake waved.

Bessie turned like she was on a turn-table to face Lake. "Hi hiya Lake~! Whatcha doing?" She asked, not actually fully getting what the trio was doing right now.

"Oh! Well..." Lake thought about how to explain it. "Genjiro, Joji, and Yoshino are all trying to see if they can use brute force to break us all out of here!" They pointed at the double doors.

Bessie rapidly nodded her head in understanding. "Oh wow! How interesting!" After commenting, Bessie started to approach Lake, then put her hand on their shoulder. "Heya Lake, did you know? Rival and I will be putting on a show for everyone! Isn't that exciting~?"

It took Lake a few moments to process what Bessie had said. "Wait... a show? Really? So we get to see Bessie B. Blossom and Rival Seizon perform together?" Lake sounded excited.

Yoshino looked back at the duo, seemingly have overheard what they were talking about. "Hol' up... for real? That is kinda exciting!" Yoshino looked at her other two door-busting pals, all dripping with sweat. "Yo guys, how about we take a break? This shit is exhausting. And Bessie and Rival will be performing or something!"

The two buff guys finally stopped trying to bust down the door and realized that Bessie was behind them. "Huh? Nah, I'm good. I don't need that shit. I gotta bust this... shit... down!" Genjiro threw another punch at the door. Nope. No dent or nothing. "Fuck!" He kicked it in frustration.

Joji was still catching his breath, but he tried to calm Genjiro down. "Man... we should take a break or something. We've been doing this for I don't even know how long. I don't really know crap about pop stars, but let's chill for now man." Joji and Yoshino walked away from the door, with Genjiro joining them a few seconds later.

Bessie turned to face the trio. "I'm gathering people in the cafeteria, so don't be late! I'll explain the details there~!" Bessie suddenly darted away, just as fast as when she arrived at the group of four.

"Wow. This might be kind of fun?" Lake looked at the other three. "This whole place has been awful so far... but this sounds a little exciting!" Lake jumped up.

"Ehh, this shit isn't for me." Genjiro shook his head. "But fuck it, let's go. Joji? Yoshi? C'mon!" Genjiro jogged off towards the cafeteria.

"Damn that guy had energy!" Yoshino widened her eyes. "Not gonna... let him beat me!" Yoshino jogged off after him.

"You guys..." Joji sighed. "I'm still gonna win!" And Joji also jogged off.

But Lake just walked at a normal place towards the cafeteria, like a normal person.

[Cafeteria]

"Hm..." Bessie was currently standing on the central cafeteria table for whatever reason, eyeing everybody as they slowly entered. Mostly everyone had gathered in rather quickly, luckily for her. Well, besides for Rival and the obvious ones like Alpha, Cathy, and Rosalind.

"So, what's the deal with this-nya? I heard Bessie yelling about something-nya?" Kuroko asked as she sat down.

"S-something about a s-show? I didn't hear much of it." Ayaka said, for her first and only line in this chapter.

"My dear Bessie, what exactly is the meaning of all of this? You've piqued our curiosities." Damien leaned back in his chair.

"Well, let's quiet down and let Bessie explain hm?" Aurora suggested. "You have our attention Bessie. Care to explain what it was you were yelling about?" Aurora looked right at the pop star.

Bessie abnormally and loudly cleared her throat. "Yep yeah! I'll explain it!" Bessie looked around the room. "Me, Bessie B. Blossom, and Rival Seizon will be putting on a show for all of you! We'll be singing our hearts out to raise all of our spirits~! We Ultimates can't be hampered and brought down by a Goddess! We have to persevere~!" Bessie turned her announcement into a half encouraging speech.

Currently sitting in the back of the cafeteria, Darren slightly squinted his eyes. "Does she actually think Pheme is a goddess?" He whispered to no one.

Kei stretched his arms. "A show huh? Doesn't sound horrible. Where do you think you'll do it?"

Bessie turned to Kei in a fraction of a second. "In the Grand Theater~! I guess!" Bessie hadn't actually planned that out yet.

Yoshino raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I like the idea. But shouldn't you ask Pheme or something for permission?"

"Nah, there'd be no point to that." Genjiro slammed his hand on the table. "No fucking way that psycho would allow this. She's fucked in the head man." He shrugged.

"I a-agree with that." Adam chimed in. "Pheme, logically speaking, d-doesn't feel like the type to r-roll with that kind of t-thing."

Raiha frowned. "I mean, yeah, Pheme is v cray-cray. But, she seems like she'd like a performance or show? Anyone else get that aura from her?"

Joji leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. "I don't know how you can get anything from that crazy woman." He shook his head. "Who cares what she fucking thinks?" Joji sighed.

"Well, I care about what I think!" In a classic Pheme moment, Pheme appeared out of nowhere, right behind Joji.

"Jesus fuck!" Joji rapidly turned around in his chair, almost punching the fuck out of Pheme. "What do you want?!" He really didn't like being in Pheme's presence. Couldn't really blame him for that.

Pheme giggled. "Well, I want to tell Ms. Blossom about what I think about her performance idea!" Pheme jumped up onto the table with Bessie. "Ms. Blossom? You want to put on a performance with Mr. Seizon? Am I correct?"

Bessie rapidly nodded. "You betcha~! Sound good?"

Pheme closed her eyes. "Good? Really? That sounds...

...

great!" Pheme grabbed Bessie's hands and jumped up and down with her, rattling the table a tad. "A show starring two Ultimates sounds like a great idea!" Pheme nodded, then let go of Bessie's hands. "And you know what? I'll let you use the Grand Theater for it too!"

Bessie didn't react at all, but it could be assumed that she was happy. The others smiled a little at the news as well. They hadn't expected Pheme to be so open to the idea, but they weren't going to object. Well... one person had some objections.

"I don't believe this." Ji-hoon chimed in. "I can't see the use in this. And it could just be-"

"Quiet Mr. Jo!" Pheme's voice grew deadly cold as she nearly stomped her heel onto Ji-hoon's hand, which he had on the table. "This isn't your choice you useless pest!" She stomped her heel on the table again.

Ji-hoon understandably jumped back a little ways away from the table. And he also took note of Pheme's words there. "Useless pest?" Interesting choice of words. He knew it wasn't the time to question that though. He had his reservations about this performance idea, but he decided to let it play out for now.

"You gucci Ji-hoon?" Raiha seemed concerned. "You almost got got by Pheme's heel!"

Ji-hoon waved her off. "I'm fine. Let's focus on her." He pointed at Pheme. Raiha shrugged, and did as she was told to do.

"Oh, forgive my sudden outburst everyone!" Pheme apologized for her attitude towards Ji-hoon, then cleared her throat. People definitely were caught off guard by that, but knew better than to question it. "Anyway... Ms. Blossom. How about in three days from now, you have your performance with Mr. Seizon? I can get equipment for you two to use!" Pheme grew excited once again.

Bessie still not showing any apparent reaction to all of this, simply agreed. "Sure! We'll do it in three days from now! Sounds good to me~! I'll start planning it with Rival tomorrow! I hope you all are ready to groove with Blossom and Seizon in three days from now!" Bessie jumped off the table, and ran out the cafeteria door, leaving behind a slightly bewildered but also slighly excited group.

"Ah, I must depart as well!" Pheme curtsied to the group. "Because..." She ran out the doors as well.

Suddenly, the monitor above the cafeteria door lit up with a message.

"Attention my glamorous stars! It is now 11pm, and that means it's night time! It's time to go to bed, and get a good night of beauty sleep! Sleep well my stars!" The monitor cut off. Geez, days fly by in this place.

Everybody didn't know what to really think about all of this, but they did know it was time to head on back to their rooms.

Kei sighed. "This was fun wasn't it?"

""Fun" isn't the word I'd use." Ji-hoon spoke up. "We didn't get time to discuss any of our findings because of Bessie... but it's fine." He stood up. We'll meet back up here after the morning announcement tomorrow. Considering Bessie's "show", we're going to have a bit to talk about." He lightly slammed his hands on the table. "Alright, let's get some sleep. We're slowly getting closer to getting out of here. It'll be fine." Ji-hoon tried to reassure them all. It was hard to say if it worked, but people started leaving the cafeteria anyway, with Ji-hoon right behind them.

[Grand Lobby]

Everybody slowly crept up to their rooms after leaving the cafeteria. And Darren was at the back of the pack, so it makes sense he'd be last to get to his own room. But... now that he was alone, he felt like his senses heightened a little.

"Huh. Was that always there?" He whispered out loud as he saw a girl's bathroom and a boy's bathroom by the left most stairs in the Grand Lobby.

"Oh that? It has always been there Mr. Taylor!" Pheme spoke up from behind him. She was admittedly trying to scare him, but she chose poorly for that practical joke as Darren just slowly turned around.

"Oh yeah? Okay." And that was as all he said.

Pheme continued to talk. "It was going to be mentioned earlier, but our chief writer, Extr A. Meme, forgot to mention it earlier. Sorry!"

Darren didn't know what she was talking about, so he decided to just roll with it and head over to his room. Well he wanted to, but he noticed a peculiar scanner right next to the door to the VIP Quarters. "Was this always here?" He whispered to Pheme, who he knew was standing behind him.

Pheme shook her head. "No actually! We just now installed this scanner here. So now, if you wish to enter the VIP Quarters, you have to scan a Star-Phone to get in! Security is important! Our staff took longer than expected on the technology for it." Pheme shrugged. "It's here now though! Oh yeah, you'll have to explain it to everyone in the morning okay? Bye Mr. Taylor!" And Pheme skipped off to who knows where, leaving Darren with the burden of explaining that scanner.

Again, Darren didn't know what to make of any of that, but he slowly took out his Star-Phone and held it over the scanner. After a couple of seconds, it made a *beep* noise, and the door unlocked. Not caring enough about it anymore, he just wandered up to his room... and got some rest...

[Grand Lobby]

An unknown amount of time later, it looked like someone wasn't in the mood for rest

Genjiro had snuck out of his room, and went to try and break down the exit door once more, seemingly uncaring about Pheme's rules. "Fuck... Pheme..." He punched the door. "Not gonna... listen to that bitch..." He punched it again. "C'mon... c'mon... C'MON!" Genjiro kept on punching the door, but to no avail. "Fuck this shit!" He yelled out in the darkened studio.

...

"Genjiro Mashimoto. I'd advise you to keep your voice down." A voice suddenly reached Genjiro's ears from the darkness. The wrestler instantly turned around and put his guard up.

"Hey! Who they fuck is-!" He stopped himself when he saw who it was. "Oh."

...

"What the fuck do you want?"

Okay, here we are! A finished Part 2!

Stuff is slowly building up, isn't it?

Who approached Genjiro? What was on Bessie's Profile? Is Raiha's brain eternally rotted? Will Bessie and Rival's show be peak? Tell me what you think! (If you want to)

I hope I've been writing these characters well, don't be afraid to tell me if you'd like to change anything up!

Well... I think that's it! I hope you enjoyed, and look out for Part 3 coming soon(tm)!

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]