Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 5: Continuity Error (Part 3), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 1: Continuity Error (Daily Life Part 3)

Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a lot of violence, gore, and blood. And maybe a few other things. You've been warned (somewhat)

The sound of typing could be heard as a young boy sat down at his desk, typing away. He only had one goal in mind: Get to the bottom of this rabbit hole he had somehow found himself digging through.

He had no idea what prompted such an obsession over something so minor, but if the possibility of it being true existed, he needed to know the answer.

This was Alan at a younger age, having discovered the very concept of a conspiracy theory. Although, with the amount of information he was finding, he could hardly call it a theory anymore. "No way…" He mumbled out.

"Alan! Dinner's ready!" His mom called out, but he had better things to worry about.

"I'll be there in a minute!" His eyes remained frozen on his monitor, trying to scan every piece of information on screen. On his browser, he had several different tabs opened. Thankfully not eighty! He wasn't some madman!

Yet.

He gave the topic another few minutes to look through before he finally decided it was time to eat. As interesting as the idea was, he wouldn't let something like that consume his life. His parents would yell at him if he took too long to come down.

…

Although, an idea like that didn't last forever.

Now several years older, his room had gone through several changes. The posters of cartoons he used to have when he was younger were now covered by notes he had taken over the years, all pinned to the walls and interconnected.

The subject matter that he had initially been hooked on had changed to something far more grim.

"And this company is run by this much larger one…" He mumbled out to himself as he began to connect the dots. Next to him, a notebook was by his side with his most recents notes. Those would be added to his wall after his research was done.

Soon, a knock could be heard at the door, probably from his parents.

However, he didn't have time for that right now. "Busy." He didn't want to waste too much time on a response, so he kept it brief; He needed to focus all of attention on this theory. "But then who runs all of this…?"

"Alan, sweetie… It's me." It was his mom, who had called him down over half an hour ago, and was growing ever more concerned. "You can't be doing that at all times of the day. You need to come down to get some food.

"Later." Still keeping it brief. His eyes focused on a link he saw in the article. Clicking on it, it opened up a new tab, bringing the grand total of tabs all the way over to forty two. Now he was really cooking up a storm. "Just put it in the fridge." He'd go down when he was really hungry.

"Alright…" Although concerned, his mom didn't want to get in the way of his passion.

Now that she was gone, he could focus all of his attention back on the theory.

…

This time, it was only a few more years later, but things were mostly the same. At least with how his room looked.

Everything else was more or less in disarray. Today was a school day, but he hadn't bothered to even go. "But what does he gain in all of this?" He tapped his pencil against his forehead. "If he's a part of all this, he's only screwing over his own family." Though, it might be that he didn't even care about his own family, which was a much grimmer thought. "But he has to be part of this because of his connection to her." He switched tabs over to the lady in question. Of note, he had grown to a sizable eighty tabs, so he was now officially labelled a madman.

He kept getting new bits and information with each day. And with every new thread, more questions arose. Just how many people were involved with this? "All the elites at this point…" And then several who weren't even close to making that status.

While he was deep in thought, he heard a knocking on the door.

At this point, this game had gotten old. "Mom, not right now. I'm busy!"

But the voice that responded wasn't his mom. At first, he thought that they had finally caught on to what he was doing, and sent someone to kill him. However, after a moment, he realised it was only his friend talking.

"Alan! Where have you been? You haven't been in school for the last three days!" It was his closest friend, whose messages he hadn't responded to since last week.

But… he had no time for this. "Working on something. I'm still alive, you can go now." Although, the more he dug around, the more he realised he might just be eliminated. So maybe it was good that his friend checked up on him.

Opening his door, the friend stepped in, freezing the moment he saw the room around him. He had never stepped foot in the room, but seeing it for the first time was almost information overload. "What the hell…?"

Turning his chair to face his friend, he let out a small sigh. How could he have made a simple mistake like forgetting to lock the door? He would have to triple check now. "I didn't tell you to enter my room." What kind of stunt was he trying to pull?

"You need to get back to school. Everyone is worried about you. Your parents don't even know what to do anymore!"

Was that what this was about? Alan turned his chair around to look back at his computer. He didn't have the energy for something like this. "I'm working right now. If I can just get to the bottom of this… I swear the world will become a better place."

To his friend, that didn't matter. "Really? You're still thinking any of that is true? That's absurd! Stop wasting your time!"

Of course, he wouldn't expect anyone else to know what he was talking about. Something big was happening here, and it was his duty to get to the bottom of this. "I know what I'm doing, you can leave."

However, his friend stood his ground. "I'm not leaving until you stop what you are doing."

Goddammit! Why was he so adamant about stopping him- Then, his gears began to shift. No… It couldn't be…

But it was too late to stop his thought process. "You want me to stop… And I know why." He turned his chair to face his friend again. "You want me to stop because you're part of this!" And it wasn't just him. How many people were involved in all of this?

"Huh?" His friend didn't understand the accusation. Taking a step back, he tried his best to figure out what to say next. "Really? That's what you think this is about? I'm not trying to stop you because I'm part of this! I'm trying to stop you because I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you."

As if he'd believe a boldfaced lie like that. "Get out." He turned to look back at his work. "Nothing is going to stop me from doing what I have to do." He was so close to the bottom of this conspiracy, and he'd be damned if he let anyone stand in the way. "If you try to stop me, I'll be forced to believe you have some part in this." His parents might be connected to it too, or they might be getting forced by someone else to get in his way.

His friend could only watch Alan with a solemn look on his face. Where he once saw a great mind, he could now only see someone who was too far gone to see. "Fine… Have it your way." He turned around to leave his room. "Don't bother showing up to school anymore, then."

Fine by him, he wasn't planning on going back. Not when he had to do his job. He didn't even offer a goodbye as his old friend stepped out of his life.

Not that he needed him. If he was intent on stopping him, there was no use for him in his life. Getting to the bottom of this would be his life goal.

Cafeteria

Another day, another forced rendez-vous in the cafeteria as requested by both Gigi and Sakura. Except for the fact Sakura wasn't even there.

Nor were half of the other people.

"They'll be here shortly." Seira tried to reassure Gigi.

"Can't people just stick to an easy schedule like this?" See, if everyone followed her schedule, the world would be a better place. "Not even Sakura is here this time."

Of note, the same usual people were here. Atlas, Benoit, Edison, Gemini, Seira, and Winter.

Atlas shook his head. "If you're just going to complain every morning, I'm just going to stop showing up altogether!"

Gigi was on the verge of saying something, but Benoit spoke up instead. "L-Let's not fight first thing in the morning."

Before anyone else could say anything, the door leading to Tau Sector would open up, allowing both Michael and Sakura to step into the cafeteria.

"You spent the entire night there?" Seira looked over at the two. "Wasn't it dangerous?"

"Please, as if." The first step the security guard took was to get herself some food. "He wasn't going to do anything. And even if he could." She glanced over at him.

The hooded boy slowly shook his head, glancing away. "No… I can't really do anything."

Since two people were on security, that did catch Gigi's interest. "Did you catch someone on the cameras?"

Sakura shook her head, sitting down at the table. She spent a few seconds staring at the food. "Nothing. Not any movement. I didn't even see Nova or Monokawa."

That was a bit disappointing to hear. "So they don't roam around at night either."

"Well… Don't they need sleep too?" Benoit pointed out.

Edison hummed in thought. "But robots don't need sleep." He took a bite from his food. "And any robot who needs sleep is poorly made. Oh! What if Monokawa needs to be charged!"

Seira shook her head. "I don't think so, he feels too well made to require that every night."

"Hmm…" Winter hummed out, thinking for a moment. "Aren't there many areas we can't access yet? They could just be there. No need to put too much thought into it."

"I agree." Gigi felt it best to not worry about something that probably had an easy solution. Her eyes moved over towards the elevator as soon as she saw it descending. "Finally, they're here."

The next group arrived, which had all the usual people, leaving out May, Lorelei, and Dae-Hyun like normally. However, Gennosuke was here for once. Not to mention Alan was also missing.

He stepped out on the elevator, a tired look on his face. "I wish mine wasn't so early."

"Yours is at 9:30? Oh, but that's a perfectly reasonable time." Melody pointed out as she made her way towards the food.

Edison's eyes trailed on the psychic for a few seconds, before the latter caught on. "What do you want?"

The chemist turned back to his food. "Nothing! But you are my adversary today, so I want to make sure you're ready to compete."

Flashing a grin, Gennosuke shook his head. "Really now? Sounds like you just want me to be in my best head space to beat me. Don't worry, you'll walk all over me." He wasn't exceptionally skilled in other things, so he knew he was pretty much at a disadvantage.

"I wouldn't be sure of that." Ian leaned his head on his hand. "Edison here looks like he'd lose to almost any game."

Well, the chemist wasn't going to take that sitting down! "If you went against me in chess, I would have won, no problem!"

"But you weren't against me, so you already lost in that regard. And if you were against me, I would have chosen something else." No point going for what you are good at, when you can target someone else's weakness.

Man, it sounded like Ian was a try hard. But Edison wasn't going to let that get to him. "Either way! I will for sure win this next game!" Checking the time, he had about a little over an hour left, so he had ample enough time to prepare himself.

Gennosuke couldn't help but grin at the thought. "We'll see about that. You never know what could happen during those games."

He wasn't going to be intimidated by some potential fraud! Instead, he began to eat his food at a faster pace. "I'll just get early to plan my moves!"

Everyone else ate their meals, mostly in peace as the minutes ticked away.

Motive Room

This time, however, Nova wasn't the one waiting for them. Monokawa was floating around in circles. When he finally spotted them entering the room, he lit up. "Finally! I was getting worried. There's only fifteen minutes before it's 9:30!"

"That's enough time." Gigi shook her head. Looking around at who had gone with her, nobody from the ideals team had bothered to show up. "Edison, what are you thinking?"

He had mostly been lost in thoughts, before eventually snapping out. "Oh! Right! My choice!" He stopped himself from saying it. "Wouldn't it be more fun to wait?"

Hae-Won raised an eyebrow. "But we're supposed to be strategising, aren't we? Holding the answer from us won't do any of us some good."

Still, he refused to speak on the matter. "That's how confident I am! Besides, this is Gennosuke we're talking about."

Sakura slowly nodded her head. "He doesn't seem all there, and he missed the last game. For all we know, he might be expecting chess from Edison."

"Exactly!" The chemist knew he had all of it in the bag.

Suddenly, the door opened up, revealing more people. The devil in question being amongst them. "Ah." The psychic spotted Edison, a smile forming on his face. "You're already here. Thought I'd be the first."

Gemini let out a small sigh. "I practically had to drag him here to be early. I know the time is 9:30, but you shouldn't show up at the last minute."

He tilted his head to the side. "I was busy eating. I need food to be able to win, don't I?"

True, but he was cutting it a bit too close. "We only have six minutes anyways."

"And I'm ready to start now!" Edison called out to the other group. He turned his attention over to Monokawa. "Can we start now?"

The otter narrowed his eyes. "The fuck? No. It says 9:30, it's going to start at 9:30."

That left both groups to stand around awkwardly, waiting for time to move on.

While that was happening, Sakura scanned the room. Like before, most people showed up to watch the game, but there were a few people missing again. Most notably Alan, Dae-Hyun, Lorelei, and May. Which made sense, except for Alan, given that he had been here for the last two games. "Have any of you seen Alan?"

Gigi shook her head. "Not since yesterday, no."

"I'm sure he's fine." Gemini shook his head. The thought of someone already being dead didn't sit right with him, so it couldn't be the truth. "Like the others, he's probably just sleeping in."

However, that ruined the entire point of a morning roll call. "I guess I'll just have to find him after the fact." She crossed her arms.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Monokawa looked down at his wrist, which had no watch. "The game starts in three minutes. Please set yourselves up."

"Finally." Edison was here to kick ass and… Huh… Well he didn't really care about taking names, so he'd just do the first part.

"Don't act too excited…" Gennosuke moved over to the other side of the table.

Now that both participants had gathered on opposite sides of the table, it was finally time for Edison to pick which game he wanted to play.

A small smile crept onto his face as he adjusted his goggles. "Say, what exactly are you good at?"

Gennosuke tilted his head to the side. "Why would I tell you that? That'd just give you an idea on what game to choose."

"True!" But it's not like it would actually affect his choice in the slightest. "I've made my decision!" Gennosuke seemed like a rather lazy guy. Someone who never seemed to apply himself. Which probably also held true for school. And he wasn't buying that psychic thing one bit. "Then, I choose…" He wanted to be a bit dramatic about it before making his choice. "Memory game."

The psychic didn't seem too bothered by the choice, only cracking a smile. "I knew you'd make that choice."

"Well what else would I choose?" Nope! Didn't read his mind at all. It was just the obvious choice for him. "I've memorised the periodic table, so this is nothing."

Monokawa floated over towards the two. "You don't even know what kind of memory game this is going to be." Assumptions assumptions.

The chemist shrugged off the remark. "It's a memory game. What's so complicated about… Well… Remembering?"

Oh really now? "Do you remember how you got here?"

Of course! "I walked here."

Now the otter was just annoyed. "I meant on the space station."

Moving closer to the table, he was beginning to grow impatient. "So is the game starting soon?" Seems he didn't want to answer the question.

Letting out a hefty sigh, Monokawa floated over towards the monitor in the back. "This isn't a memory game played with cards." He moved over to the left of the screen so that the two could see.

That was surprising to hear. "Oh? Then how do we play this?" Gennosuke had been hoping for cards, given he'd let Edison do all the work for him.

Ugh, he'd have to explain it? "How this is going to work is that an image will flash on screen, and your job is to remember as much from the image as possible." Out from the table, came two identical devices. "On the devices, you are to answer the question that then pops up on screen. It could be anything from what colour something was, to how many of a certain object there was."

"Oh!" Edison didn't think it would be like this, but this sounded like it could be more entertaining to him. He turned towards Gennosuke. "Are you ready to lose?"

The psychic raised an eyebrow. "No, not really."

"Before we start." Gigi called out, taking a step forward. "Step away from each other. I don't want either of you to look at each other's devices."

Gennosuke gracefully took a step back. "I wasn't planning on cheating, don't worry."

Following his movement, Edison also took a step back. "Ready to start."

The first image that flashed on screen were of several different birds, all of different colours. It lasted for ten seconds, before it faded away.

Looking down at the device, it was a simple question. "How many of the birds were white."

An easy question for someone like Edison. There were two white birds.

After a few seconds, the monitor changed to show them that they had both gotten it right.

"Monokawa." Gigi called out. "What exactly is the goal here? To get the most right?"

Oh! Look at him! Missing out on rules. "Well, it only goes to ten rounds, but the first person to mess up loses. I don't think we'll even reach round ten."

Odd. "Why not?" Hae-Won raised an eyebrow. "These seem simple enough." Sure, she knew the difficulty would scale, but still…

"You'll see!" He gave a haunting warning before the second round began.

Still, it wasn't anything generally hard. The next three rounds went off without a hitch, and both participants were easily able to answer correctly.

"Say." Gennosuke called out between round four and five. "Is there a time limit to give a correct answer?"

Floating over to him, Monokawa flipped around until he was on his back. "You guys ask so many questions."

"Because at least Nova can give us the full set of rules, need be." Gigi pointed out.

As much as he didn't want to agree with her, Ian spoke up. "Right. Things like these are important." They had to know just how much they could stretch their time.

Oh now he was just getting ganged up on. "You have thirty seconds after the question appears to answer.

Flashing him a smile, Gennosuke looked back down at his device. "Thank you."

Floating back to the monitor, Monokawa mumbled some obscenities under his breath before moving onto round five.

And as stated, things were starting to get dicey. This time, several different coloured vases appeared, all with various designs.

Once the image was gone, the question on the device was "How many blue vases had a star on them."

"Hmm…" Edison hummed out. That was a bit more specific than he would have thought, but he was fine answering the question. Adjusting his goggles, he looked over at Gennosuke. "Ready to give up?"

He still hadn't answered, but a moment later, he pressed down on a button. "Not by a mile."

Round six and seven followed a similar pattern with Edison answering pretty quickly, and then moments later, Gennosuke would follow suit.

"Hmm…" Now he was growing sceptical. No way this fraud was this good with his memory. "Are you cheating?" He accused with a smile on his face.

The psychic's expression slowly faded off his face. "Why would I need to cheat?" His attention turned towards Monokawa. "Another question. What happens if we both fail to answer for a round?"

Now it was getting tiresome. "I don't get paid enough to answer these questions." That's when the sound of ringing could be heard. "Oh, hold on! That's Nova!" He floated away to answer it in private, before floating towards the corner. He spoke in a hush voice, so it was impossible to discern what he was saying.

After the phone call was completed, he moved back over. "Alright, so apparently I don't get paid at all." He shrugged.

Dolly raised a fist in the air. "I won't stand for these unjust conditions! You deserve to be compensated!"

"Hey now, let's not side with our captors." Hae-Won shook her head. "You've failed to answer the question."

Monokawa shrugged. "We'd probably just go to a previous round, but ask different questions." He hadn't really thought this far ahead. But he wanted to give Nova a break, so here he was! "Anyways!"

Round eight and nine was where things were getting closer to impossible. Even Edison was visibly struggling, taking much longer to answer the question as he hesitated on which answer he should choose.

All while Gennosuke kept up the same exact speed. He didn't really seem to falter as the rounds progressed. He turned his attention over towards Edison. "Now it seems like you're struggling." He taunted him, but there didn't seem to be any ill-will behind it. Almost as if he was just returning the favour.

"N-no!" The chemist stood proudly. "One last round! First one to answer should take it all home."

That wasn't part of the rules, but "Eh fuck it." Monokawa shrugged. "This one is for all the marbles! Whoever answers it correctly first wins the entire game!"

The two waited for the screen to show off the image.

However, the two of them probably weren't expecting the sheer volume of objects in the last image. Nor for it to disappear after five seconds.

"H-huh?" Edison blinked a few times. "What was that?" He turned his eyes over towards his device. "How many blue birds were wearing red necklaces with a star on it." He didn't know! How could he know? "Well…" He turned to look over at Gennosuke. "Looks like we'll be at this for a while longer." He chose to remain optimistic about this. If he hadn't caught it, Gennosuke wouldn't either.

And yet. The psychic tapped down on the screen.

"Oh!" Monokawa called out. "It seems like Gennosuke is the winner of this game. That gives the point to the Ideals team."

"Huh?" How could he lose on something based on memory… to someone like him?

"Good game." Gennosuke called out. "You weren't lying when you said your memory was pretty good." Unfortunately, his was just better. "See you around." He didn't feel like sticking around for whatever mental breakdown was going to happen, so he excused himself.

"How could I?" Edison just kept blinking, trying to process the entire thing. "He cheated!" He went to point at the psychic, but they were long gone.

Gigi shook her head. "I didn't notice any sort of cheating, so I believe he won fair and square."

How could that be? The chemist was going to say something else, but he was cut off.

"That puts the points at 2-1 for ideals!" Monokawa moved on, as if Edison hadn't been crushed. "See you all later for the next game!" Then he floated away.

"What an unexpected ending to that game." Ian took a few steps towards the door, not looking shocked in the slightest. "See you all for the next one later."

The ideals took their leave first, leaving most of the truth people left alone in the room.

"We'll just win the next one." Gigi reassured the team, even though she wasn't sure how the next matchup would go. She turned to look over at Seira. "And you can make that happen, right?"

"H-huh?" She didn't appreciate being put in the spotlight. "Yeah! I'll just beat Melody to tie the score back up!"

Hearing what she needed to, the referee left the room, with a few of the others following behind.

After that first game, Sakura had opted to move back over to her job position, only to see that once again, someone was already there. Except this time, it wasn't Michael. "What are you doing here?"

Alan had been inspecting the locked cabinet. Upon hearing a voice, he almost hit his head against it. "O-oh! It's you!" He moved away from it, trying to act like he wasn't just staring at it. "Just looking around."

She knew suspicious activity when she saw it, so she wasn't letting him get away that easily. "I'll repeat myself. What were you doing?"

Wow, she wasn't going to let him go, huh. "This room feels strange." He voiced his concerns. "More so than the other ones." Well, there was the exit, but that was an entirely different beast. "Don't you agree?"

She moved over to the monitors, flipping through the various screens. "I don't really see it like that. Why weren't you there for the game this morning?"

"Oh, well…" He moved over to look at the power box, opening it up. "I figured my game isn't till tomorrow, so there was no need to see the results till then." Besides, he believed they just got in the way of what he was trying to do. "Is there a problem?" He didn't see why there should be one.

Sakura didn't take her eyes off the monitor. "You aren't the only one that doesn't show up, but that just means you've been added to the list of suspicious individuals."

Oh, well, he had been put on worse lists before. "That's fine with me." After he was done inspecting the fuse box, he moved on to looking at the door. He tried to scan his bracelet, but it didn't work.

Sakura could not let this go on for much longer. "What… Are you doing?"

He didn't even bother to look at her. He got down on his knees to inspect the bottom of the door. "I thought I told you. This room feels strange."

She got that, but that didn't excuse his behaviour. "But why are you acting like that?"

He got back on his feet, turning to look at the security guard. "I think that there's some great mystery on the other side of this door."

She was sceptical, but she was at least going to hear him out. "Any idea what it is?"

Alan quickly shook his head. "If I knew what it was, it wouldn't be a mystery. But the door is just taunting us. Almost like it wants us to find out." He hummed in thought, pacing around. After a few seconds, he pulled out a pencil and started scribbling some things down.

"I'm not sure if you should go messing with whatever is on the other side." She felt like it would only attract unwanted attention.

The conspiracy theorist adjusted his glasses, shaking his head. "I thought so too, but there's no rules against it. So there's nothing really stopping us from going through it." He moved over to examine the scanner. "It appears to be like any other scanner."

"Are you always like this?" This felt like a question she should have asked a while ago.

"H-huh?" He turned to look at her. "What do you mean 'like this'?" It sounded pretty rude to him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Well, that's because it was! Being so obsessed like that… "There must be better things to do with your life."

He spent a few seconds staring intently at the door, almost as if lost in thought. "You're just like everyone else I've crossed paths with. Family, friends." He stood up, moving back to looking at the scanner.

Crossing her arms, Sakura watched him wordlessly. When she felt like enough time had passed, she spoke up again. "And don't you think they act that way for a reason?"

"What I do with my life should be up to me, right?" He had finished taking notes, so he turned to look at her.

True, she couldn't fault him for that. "Then that means you don't care about what your family thinks? Or even your friends." If he had any.

"Used to, but they always got in the way." He stared down at the ground. "Didn't really want to stick around if they were just going to stop me at every turn."

That seemed entirely selfish, given what she would do for her family. "You just sound like a coward."

"Huh? But they were getting in my way. They had to be doing it because they were part of the entire conspiracy."

Oh no he was stupid too. "Is that really what you think? I was willing to leave some room for doubt, but now it just seems like you've fully lost your mind."

No, it was everyone else who lost their mind. But… That wasn't the point right now. For now, he was trying to get to the bottom of the secrets of the space station. "Whatever, it's not like what I'm doing right now is just for myself. I'm trying to find a way out." He stroked his chin, humming in thought. "So far, nothing. But just allowing us to grow used to this norm won't do us any good." And thus, he had no time for games and the likes. He had to use all his time wisely. "Wouldn't be the first time I got caught up in something."

Placing a hand on her hip, Sakura shook her head. "While I can admire that, doing it alone could end poorly. For you." She felt the need to specify.

That's what everyone always said. "We're stuck here, so the only thing we can do is use our ultimate talents, right? Like Gemini is trying his best to escape. So I'm using my talent to uncover whatever truth might be underneath the surface." He wasn't finding anything else he wanted, so he let out a small sigh.

"And?" She tilted her head to the side, an unconvinced expression on her face. "Have you discovered something yet?"

"Nothing about this room, but…" There was one thing that struck him as potentially useful. "It's about the hallways."

That got an eyebrow raise from her. Staring carefully at his expression, he seemed to have an air of truth to him. "And what did you find?"

"Well, it might not be best to just tell you." In fact, he wanted a much large-

Narrowing her eyes, she took a step forward. "What's wrong with telling me? Do you have something against me?" She attempted to intimidate him into giving her the answer.

"N-no! I meant that I should mention it to a large group." He drew some stuff down in his notebook. "Maybe around lunch time or… something." He wasn't sure on the time. "Either way, I think it's worth the look." Once he was content with the contents of the notebook, he put it back in his pocket. "You should join me for it."

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "I'll likely pass, thank you very much."

That was unfortunate, but he couldn't force her to do anything. "Then…" He began to walk towards the exit. "I will be making my leave now. There's something else I want to verify first." Mainly if what he was thinking actually held any ground in the first place.

The security guard made no attempt to stop him in the slightest. Only watching him head out the door.

Despite Sakura's doubts, it seems like the two grew closer.

Locker Room

Edison hadn't made it too far. In fact, he chose to go to one of the closest rooms that wasn't the cleaning room. He had a lot to think about. He had always excelled at stuff like this, so how could someone have been better than him?

Hell, even the periodic table was a lot of memorisation. Memorisation that he's been doing for years. If he was the only person in his family who could do this, and yet someone like him…

"Hey." A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking over, it was Hae-Won. She glanced around the room a bit. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" He adjusted his goggles. "It was nice to sit down on a bench here."

She took a glance around the room, not believing this for one bit. "I doubt it's because of the bench. If you need somewhere to sit, why not just go to your room?"

He tried to think of an answer to the question, but every word in his mind vanished at the very thought. "Haha… I don't know." He kept up his confident smile. "Maybe just a change of pace would be nice!"

Feeling just the type of issues Edison might have been going through, she spoke up. "You did great there, I wouldn't have been able to remember any of that." That was a lie, she would have been able to make it to round six before she gave up.

The chemist shook his head. "It would have been better had I won." But Gennosuke robbed him of his victory. "Hypothetically speaking, I think he cheated!"

The tattoo artist raised an eyebrow at that statement. "It didn't look like he cheated. Had he cheated, I'm sure Gigi would have done something. If not, she'd be a horrible referee."

That was true, so clearly Edison would be persuade- "Then she's a fraud!" edison no

Hae-Won felt like this was an uphill battle. So, she chose it best to change the subject entirely. Maybe back to what she was asking earlier. "But seriously… Why the locker room? Wouldn't this place be in bad taste for someone like you?"

Well, he didn't like locker rooms one bit, as it reminded him of… "Well…" He didn't know how to say it. "Guess it reminds me a bit about my family." Not that he even wanted to be thinking about them.

"Family, huh?" She glanced the other way, knowing a thing or two about family. "What, is your family into sports?"

"That's an understatement." He adjusted his goggles. "All of them are into it! All eight of my siblings as well."

While she didn't react verbally, her expression certainly showed shock. "Eight? That's quite a lot." Knowing she'd be here for a while, she began to lean against one of the lockers. "Why so many?"

"Ask my parents." He would say they should have stopped a while ago, but he was the youngest, so! Glad they didn't! "But they are all into sports. I'm the only one who focused more on school."

"I see." She tilted her head up. "And does that create any problems?"

"All the time!" Finally, he could vent to someone who was willing to listen. He didn't have any family he could vent to. "They always try to pry me away from my studies, making me go outside, or participate in their games." He glanced down, eyes fixated on the flask in his hands. "But I'm not good at any of that, so it's pointless…" Swirling the flask, it began to change to a purple colour as it boiled. "Not to mention one of my brothers is always picking on me."

Oh? That was completely different from her relationship with her brother. "What's he like?"

"He thinks he's better than me, and that I'm wasting my time." Seeing that he was getting unnecessarily angry, he put the flask down. "He's the oldest of my siblings, and yet he treats me like…" He trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought.

"Are they all like this?" He hadn't mentioned the other seven, so she was curious."

He tilted his head to the side. "Not… all, but most." The only person that stood out as different from the rest was Alexander.

"Then, why come here for comfort? It doesn't sound like you get along well with any of your family. What about your parents?"

That was a different subject altogether. "They are caring, but I mostly fade in the background to them. They're just happy that I'm doing something. Although, they were against me becoming an Ultimate.." Given how things turned out, he couldn't fault them. "I…" He tried to remember why. "Something about a tragedy that happened with Hope's Peak."

Ah, she knew very well what he was referring to. But this wasn't the time for that sort of conversation. "I'll ask my question again. Why come here then?"

"That's the thing…" He looked deep in his head for the answer. "I don't know."

That meant deep down, he must have cared in some regard. "Do you hate your family?"

"I… I…" He wasn't entirely sure anymore. If he found this to be the best place to go, he must not. "Maybe not. But definitely Nikolai! He won't leave me alone."

Ah, he had provided a name. "Is that the older brother you mentioned before?"

"Yes, that's him. Scientifically speaking." In actuality, he didn't see that man as a brother at all.

Might as well delve deeper into that. "What exactly does he do? Or is what you mentioned earlier the only thing he does."

"Well…" There was so much, that there was so much to go over. "Since he's the oldest, some of the other siblings tend to listen to him." Well, except one. "At school, he's one of the most popular boys, but he gave the teachers a hard time, so they always approach me as if I'll be the same."

Hmm… "And how do the others treat you?"

Edison adjusted his goggles, thinking for a moment. "Well, they mostly just ignore me. Either that or they try to make me join them when they do sports."

"And you don't join them?" Missing out on potential family bonding.

"No way!" He gripped onto his flask. "Nikolai would just find a way to pick on me. Besides, have you seen me?" He waved his arms around, and they were just skin and bone.

"Your body is like that because you sit on your ass and don't do any exercise." She was just going to be honest with him. "And Nikolai only pushes you around because you don't stand up for yourself. You make yourself an easy target." Alright, maybe a little brutally honest.

"I…" Well he didn't know how to respond to that.

Hae-Won crossed her arms, looking to the side. "If you let someone walk all over you, they'll keep doing it over and over again. You have to stand up for yourself. It's the only way. Do you think he'd find it as fun if you fought back and won?"

"No…" He knew Nikolai was obsessed with coming out on top, so if there was ever a moment where Edison himself was the one to win out… That would crush him! That gave a bit of sparkle in his eyes. "You're right!" Only one problem. "How do… How do I do that?"

She wasn't expecting to have to do this much work, but here she was. "That's something you might have to figure out yourself, kiddo."

Aww… he was hoping that he'd get a bit more help. "Very well!" He lifted his flask back up to inspect it. "Then that just means I have to figure out the best formula to make my attack with."

Now, she was hoping he meant a formula on how to talk his way there, and not a chemistry formula…

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Ideals Room

While Melody seemed to have her mind made up on what she wanted to do, Ian was hell bent on throwing a wrench into her plans. "I know you want billiards, but we have to think about this as a team based game."

"Huh?" The dancer tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"You could choose billiards." Something he almost did himself, but chose to kill two birds with one stone by beating Sakura, and then preventing Edison from going for the obvious Chess choice. "But I think there's another option you should consider."

Gemini hadn't seen much other options that would suit Melody, but he was all ears. "Go on."

"Choose martial arts." The gambler ordered.

"H-huh?" Well that certainly caught her off guard. "Why would I ever choose that? I'm not about to make myself look like some sad sap out there."

Sometimes he felt like he was the only person who knew how to think far in advance. "I'm sure you can beat Seira with that." And there was also an added bonus. "Besides, if you choose that, Atlas doesn't have any option for what he can do."

A smile grew on Gennosuke's face. "I see. Trying to solidify our lead."

At least someone was getting him now. "If we can win all three games today, then we'd just need to win two more to guarantee our survival. And with there being only five games left, I don't think they'll be able to catch up."

Still… What they were asking her was a bit… "But then Atlas wouldn't even have a fighting chance."

That was… the point? "Someone else take over." He took a step back.

Gemini let out a small sigh. "It might be our best bet here." Not that he wanted to even say that. "If he chooses martial arts, I'm not sure if Michael can beat him."

The hooded figure looked at the ground. "I wouldn't be able to."

"So you're not hiding your face because of battle scars?" Something else Winter could mark off her mental checklist. "But I do agree, if martial arts is allowed to be chosen by Atlas, he will needlessly hurt Michael."

That wasn't a good assumption to make at the moment, and Melody was going to choose not to believe it. "He won't need to hurt Michael." He'd just need to pin him down or something. She was sure that Atlas wouldn't immediately render him unconscious.

Michael took a step forward, ready to say something. "Melody…" He mumbled out softly, before shaking his head. "… Nevermind." Now wasn't the time for that.

For a moment, she was interested in what he had to say, however, given that he dropped it right away, she turned her attention back to Ian. "You want to know what I think about your idea? It's baloney! Sure, he might be a bit aggressive, but he should be able to tell Michael wouldn't be able to harm him."

"Thanks…" Man, he was already getting beaten down and it wasn't even his turn.

The gambler shrugged. "I'm just saying it's our best chance."

"Says you!" She wasn't going to let them take Atlas out of the running like that. Instead of waiting around for them to say more, she stepped out of the room herself.

Motive Room

Now that it was growing closer to the starting time, Monokawa was growing a bit impatient. "Where are they?" He checked his wrist, which could not tell time.

That's when Melody stepped out of the room with the rest of her team. "We are ready to go."

"It's almost 15:55!" He pointed at his wrist, where a watch would be. "You know what happens when you don't show up."

She knew, but she felt it was hardly worth hassling over when she was here now. There were still two minutes for her to voice which game she wanted. Moving over to the table, she made eye contact with Seira. "Are you ready for our game?"

The truth team hadn't discussed it like the other team had, but it hardly felt needed when she didn't need to choose the game. "Yes, I'm ready."

An easy choice for Melody. "I choose billiards." She had played several games, and even had one at her speakeasy.

Once the table had shifted over towards the next game, Melody circled around the table, inspecting it a bit. "Have ya ever played before?"

"Oh, no. I've never been interested enough to play." She had also been too busy with other stuff. "But I know the rules." Luckily, she wasn't completely out of the loop.

Speaking of rules, Melody glanced over at Monokawa. "What version are we playing?" She had her preferred one, but she wanted to make sure.

"Huh…" The otter hadn't thought this far ahead. "Eight ball or whatever."

With the answer given, the tap dancer moved over to position herself. "I'll go first if ya don't mind."

"Oh, no! That won't be a problem." Best to just watch her play for now.

Perfect! Melody set herself, lining up the shot. After a few seconds, she hit the cue ball into the fray, making a decent break as they all went in wild directions. "And don't expect me to go easy on you, I'm hoping to hit on all sixes."

She had no idea what that meant. After everything settled down, Seira moved over towards where the cue ball was. She spent a few seconds examining the board, trying to make some calculations in her head. She wasn't an expert on this game at all, but she knew how to angle things at the very least.

When she found a suitable position, she moved closer to the table, taking her shot.

However, it didn't work out the way she wanted to. She had hit seven, hoping it would fall into the pocket, but it missed slightly and bounced off the wall. "Ah…" Seems this would be a little more difficult than she thought.

"That was a pretty good shot there, for someone who's never played." Melody offered some support, smiling at the girl. All while she lined up her next shot. Instead of going for the same seven, she opted for twelve, managing to knock it right into the pocket. "Stripes it is."

Seira's eyes were trained on the ball the entire time. "That was a lovely shot. Better than I did."

"Aw shucks, don't sell yourself short." Another shot lined up. "I've been playing this for years now." There was a skill gap. "But I'm by no means an expert, so you can still catch up, doll."

"I can?" Dolly seemed ecstatic by the idea.

Not what she meant, but she wasn't going to correct. She hit the cue ball, but messed up the angling a bit, causing the ball to miss the pocket by a bit.

Seira took a deep breath. Seeing the cue ball in action a few times allowed her to see just how it reacted. Next, she lined up the shot with the three ball. And, unlike last time, she managed to sink it in. "While I may not be the best, I'd like to think I'm a quick learner."

"Ooo~" Melody liked to see that. She would have hated for her to pocket everything. "That's what I like to see."

Moving to the other part of the table, the astrologist eyed the layout of the table. There weren't any amazing shots she could make, but even just a simple one would be enough. Walking around the table some more, she finally found a shot she could make. Looking at the one ball, she got into position.

It was a bit far, so she had to lean forward a bit for this, but it wasn't a far shot to make. However, that didn't stop her from sinking it into the pocket. Unfortunately, she failed to account for her next shot, leaving her with nothing great. "Huh…" She spent a bit longer eyeing the table, looking for any sort of move.

"Sometimes ya gotta take a risk." Melody had her eyes on the table too, and found a potential move, but the odds that things would go wrong were high.

Given that she wasn't a master, Seira opted to not even attempt whatever move Melody had her eyes on. Instead, she figured she could at least make Melody's next shot a bit more difficult.

Hitting the cue ball, she bounced off the number five ball, and it hit the railing.

As she figured, nothing went in, but at least Melody's next move would be a bit more difficult.

The tap dancer hummed to herself, tapping her foot on the ground. Seira really had left her with barely anything. But she wasn't going to let that dissuade her. "How about this?" From facial expression alone, one could tell the amount of joy she was going through. Lining up a shot, she took aim at the fifteen ball. While it looked like a difficult shot, Melody was barely able to pocket it.

Seira's disappointment was palpable, but it didn't last very long. "That was a really good shot." Seems unlike all the other games, the two girls were showing sportsmanship.

Unlike Seira, Melody had made sure to account for the next shot as well. She moved over towards the other end of the table, and began lining up her next shot. However, after a few seconds of taking aim, she lifted up the cue stick. "Hmm…" She had seen something better!

Moving over to the next side, she examined the table further. She was humming to herself while she did so, tapping her feet on the ground.

Once she had confirmed what she wanted to do, she took aim with the cue stick.

One hit later, she managed to knock one ball into the pocket, with the cue ball bouncing off towards the right, hitting a second one into the hole. Those were the eleven and fourteen.

Gigi raised an eyebrow. "You're supposed to call a shot like that."

"Who gives a shit?" Monokawa floated over to her. "You and Nova are always so stressed about rules. Just let people have fun."

The referee narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but with games like these, I expect there to be rules to follow."

"As long as the basics are followed, it won't matter." The otter shrugged. "Either way, I'm the one running the game, so you can take a step back." He tried to shoo her away.

She could stand here and argue with him all day, but she knew she had to at least let the game happen first.

Now that the two of them had quieted down, Melody could finally focus on the game again. Although making that double shot last time made it quite difficult to make a move here. "Hmm…" The best move she had was to just bounce her own ball off the railing and let Seira have a turn.

Glancing over the table, Seira knew she was at a severe disadvantage now. "Let's see…" She had to pray for a good move. She spent a bit of time walking around the table before she noticed a shot. It wasn't an obvious one, but it was the only one she could make.

Hitting the cue ball, she managed to bounce it off the railing and hit the number six ball right into the pocket without much theatrics.

"You sure are doing swell." Melody had been transfixed on the game the entire time, looking at every move Seira made with interest. "Heck, you might even be able to be a deb at this rate." If only this was a public match.

"Um… I'd rather stay as an astrologist." The stars were her passion, so she didn't have much time for anything else. Lining up her shot, she missed the four ball by an inch, and the cue ball hit the back of the railing.

Ah, that was a damn shame after Melody was just hyping her up. "This match has been going on for a while." She noted, checking her watch. However, not the one provided to her by the game. In fact, she was looking at her own watch, which she had adjusted to the time. "What say we call it now?" After lining up her next shot, she managed to dunk the thirteen ball, hit the rail, and then bounce into the number nine ball, dunking that one as well.

Looking at the game, Seira still had four different balls left before she could even move on to the eight ball. Meanwhile Melody only had the tenth ball remaining. And given how good she was at billiards, it seemed almost impossible to catch up. And yet… "No, let's keep going. I believe in myself."

"Ah shucks! That's the spirit. I love a good dame like you." And despite her words from before, she intentionally whiffed the next shot, to at least set up Seira for a potential comeback. She didn't want to completely dominate the game. "Hopefully you can make this fun." However, unlike Ian, who might have said something similar, her words were sincere.

Seira walked around the table, making very brief calculations in her head about what her optimal move was. Were there any instances where she could dunk two balls? Or was it just safer to go one at a time?

Against her better judgement, she found one shot she could attempt to make that could lead to two balls being pocketed at once. "Alright…" Although the idea made her nervous. She moved closer to the table, ready to line up her shot.

Taking a deep breath, she hit the ball, knocking into the first one successfully, which then knocked into the second one. And then the sound of a third one being hit was heard, but she was much too focused on the other two to pay attention.

She witnessed as the first one went in, and then the second. "Ah!" For something she didn't know much about, she was pretty content with herself. That was, until Monokawa called out.

"Oooo! Hate to see it!" Monokawa floated over towards the table. "Melody wins the game!"

"H-huh?" How could that be? After an amazing move like that? "What happened?"

The otter floated down towards one of the pockets, reaching in. After digging around, he pulled out the eight ball. "You pocketed this, when you weren't allowed."

She hadn't even noticed that…

"Ah, don't beat yourself up about it, baby. You did well for your first time." Melody was there to offer some comforting words.

Or at least she hoped so, baby could have been used as an insult, but Seira was going to choose to believe it was just the way she talked. "You did better than I did."

"Aw shucks, that's just after years of practice. I'm a much better dancer, after all." To emphasise, the dancer tapped her feet on the ground a few times.

This interrupting moment was brought to you by Monokawa. "The score now is 3-1 for the ideals!" Where friendship goes to die. "I don't want to be mean or anything, but truth team…" He trailed off. "You suck. ANYWAYS!" He flew off towards the door.

Not liking how Monokawa handled that one bit, Melody spoke up. "Don't worry one bit. You all still have the chance to catch up."

Ian raised an eyebrow. "But we don't want them to. We want to win so we're safe."

"Baloney! We can at least hold off till the final day. Maybe help will be on the way then?" She was going to choose to remain optimistic, because the thought of someone dying had no place in her head. "We'll all get out of this together."

Ideals Room

Ian found himself back in the ideals room after the game between Melody and Seira had concluded. It's where he found himself waiting a bit before he eventually stepped back out into the main part of the room.

The score was looking pretty good already, with them leading by two points, but he was still unsure of the choice Melody ended up making.

Especially given that his game was already over with, so he couldn't affect the outcome too much.

For now, he spent his time staring at the monitor that showed all the information for the rules.

"Hiya Ian!" A voice called out behind. Based on how excited they sounded to see him, it could only be Laki.

He turned to face her, matching her cheeriness. "What brings you here? Your game isn't till tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know, which sucks by the way! They should just let us play all the games." She crossed her arms.

That would be the best outcome, but he shook his head. "Come on, the other team needs some chances. We'd just blow them out of the water. Where's the risk in that?"

He was right! What was the point of any of this if there weren't any risks involved. "Then they should have placed us on opposite teams. To see who truly came out on top!"

Now she was talking! "If anything, they stacked everything in our favour. I don't see anybody from the other team coming out on top." Well, except for Atlas next match, given what choice Melody left him with. "What are you thinking of choosing? I know Russian Roulette is up your alley."

"Ugh, but I already know what that is." While dangerous, the unknown was much more interesting. "Aren't you curious about what Zappy Zap is!"

True, it was left up to interpretation, which was heavily intentional. "And it also sounds dangerous, doesn't it~"

"Exactly!" Ian got her.

And with her choosing that, it left Russian Roulette to some other fool. If he had to guess, Tatiana and Hae-Won would be left to deal with. "What if someone else chooses Zappy Zap first?"

"Who would choose that?" Fair question, because he didn't have an answer.

He shrugged. "Just a thought. Can't discount any possibilities." Although, he had a high feeling on how this was going to end up. "I think I know how this will play out going forward. Atlas will choose Martial Arts, Lorelei will choose Video Games, Benoit will choose Arm Wrestling, you'll choose Zappy Zap…" He trailed off, glancing away. "If Winter was next to choose, I would say she'd choose Mahjong without hesitation… But." Dae-Hyun was moody, so maybe he'd want a gun against his head.

"Aww, just revealing them like that is boring." Laki pointed out. "No build up. Nothing!" Now the fun was ruined.

Ian shrugged lazily. "Hey, this is just a prediction. People aren't open books." There was still a chance someone made a weird move that would affect things going forward. But for now, things were going pretty much as he thought they would.

While he was deep in thought, Laki had moved over to the table, pressing some of the buttons. Although, only some would work. Those that had been shown off during the game, like billiards and chess, could be switched to. But those that hadn't made an appearance yet remained locked. "Aww… This blows." She was hoping to maybe sneak a look at her game. Alas, Nova had thought of everything.

Given that it was just the two of them, Ian felt like he could move to a more questionable topic. "So, what do you think of this game as a whole?"

Turning to look at him, she was slightly confused. "This game as a whole? Like the one I'm going to choose, or the killing game."

"The killing game. Weird situation to wake up in." There had been no warning, after all.

Humming in thought, she bobbed her head side to side. "Well, it doesn't really bother me too much. A killing game sounds rush inducing. Won't let it be me who dies, though."

Nor would he let it be him. "Thought as much. But then, what about the other aspect of it?"

Well, if it wasn't being a victim, then. "Killing?" She hadn't put much thought into it. "Ah, but it's more thrilling to avoid dying than to be the one to kill."

Fair, but that's not what he meant. "Don't you remember how this game works? If you kill, then you have a chance to be executed. Wouldn't that be exciting?"

For a moment, she froze slightly, thinking the idea over. "Woah! Then my life would be on the line, wouldn't it?"

"Pretty much." He knew she'd see it the way he would.

With her mind made up, she stood up. "Then I'll make a body!" She took a few steps towards the door.

Maybe a little too well. "Hey, woah there." He didn't want her to go out and kill someone. "Let's not do that." He wasn't expecting her to jump the gun completely. "We have to be rational about what we do." Although, realising who he was speaking to, she probably didn't know the definition. "Besides, if we do anything now, your game of Zappy Zap won't be able to happen."

That's TRUE! "Right!" She moved back over to the table. "Then when?"

At least now the conversation was back in his hands. "Ah, doing it now would be no fun. You could easily hide amongst eighteen other people. Maybe save it for later?"

Made sense to her. The less people there were, the more likely she was to get accused. "Wow Ian, you're so smart!"

Well, that was a given. "Speaking of Zappy Zap, try not to kill Alan while you're at it." With how dangerous it sounded, there was a high chance of death with this one, same with Russian Roulette.

"No guarantees!" Especially since she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

He couldn't help but laugh at how high energy she was. Though, bringing up the other game again did cause a thought to wander in his head. "I wonder if Russian Roulette will be played with a real bullet."

"That's how it's normally played, so why wouldn't it?"

That was true, but this was different. "Because it would ruin the motive. If someone shoots themselves, then a body discovery announcement will play out, and the motive would be ruined." He couldn't see Nova making a blunder like that, especially when she wanted them to kill each other.

"But would suicide trigger one in the first place?" Laki pondered.

There'd be no reason it wouldn't. "It plays after a body is discovered. It never mentioned how it would have ended up as a body."

"Then…" She trailed off. "That makes Russian Roulette even more boring here!" There was no risk involved at all, so what was even the point, then?

Ian shrugged, glancing to the side. "Who knows. It could be loaded after all. I don't exactly trust Nova or Monokawa." Although he at least knew Nova wouldn't want to ruin her own game. The otter was an entirely different story. "I bet you anything, Monokawa would be willing to load a bullet into the gun."

"You should get him to do that!" Laki suggested. "Make it more interesting!"

He could, but what benefit did that have to him. "Maybe. He might just ignore any request from a participant." He took a glance over at his watch. "I think I've stayed here too long." But at least now he had some things to think about. "Next game starts in an hour, so we should get ready to see the results of that."

"Right!" Oh, and it would be Atlas vs Michael! An interesting matchup that she was dying to see. "Then let's head over and grab some food before that starts!"

That was fine by him.

The two seemed to be pretty close.

Cafeteria

It was now dinner time, and some of the participants were gathered to eat. These people were Atlas, Edison, Hae-Won, Gemini, Laki, and Seira. Not to mention Alan, who pretty much took an entire table just for himself. "Hmm…" He hummed out as he looked over at his notes.

Although, not everyone was keen on the idea. "Hey, buddy." Atlas stared down at him. "Are you just going to keep the entire place to yourself?"

At first, the conspiracy theorist ignored the soccer player, focusing on his notes. Only after about half a minute did he realise he was being spoken to. "Pardon me?" He adjusted his glasses, given they had gone out of focus.

Disliking the thought of being ignored, Atlas narrowed his eyes. "I said, are you just going to keep the entire place to yourself?"

"Oh! Huh!" He moved some of his notes away to clear up some space. "This should be enough, right?" At least it provided some extra space now.

Edison came over to give what he was working on a look. "What are you doing anyways?" Taking a closer glance, they seemed to be scatterbrain thoughts. "This isn't organised in the slightest!" How could one read this?

"I've been spending all day today looking over the station, trying to find any secrets…" Alan hummed out to himself, scratching the bottom of the pencil against the side of his head. "And I think I've found some things out."

"Oh?" Hae-Won tilted her head in his direction. "And what would that be?"

Going over his notes one last time, he spoke up. "Call me crazy-"

"You're crazy." Zero hesitation from Laki.

He was only momentarily caught off guard, but he quickly recovered. "The layout of this station is pretty interesting."

"I'd say…" Gemini glanced over towards the window of the cafeteria. "That room in the center has been difficult to ignore."

After scouring his notes, he finally found the one he wanted. "You guys are familiar with the Greek alphabet."

"Omicron is an O." Atlas divulged the only piece of information he had gathered over his time here.

Not exactly what Alan was looking for, but it was a start. "Does anyone else know about the Greek alphabet?"

"I do!" Edison called. "What about it?"

Tapping his paper, Alan continued. "The hallways are named after them, but they aren't chosen at random. Take Omicron for example, it's just a large circle. But that's the layout of the hallway."

Thinking about it for a moment, Edison felt stupid. "Oh HEY it is!" He swirled his flask around. "How did I not notice that?"

"And what does that do for us, exactly?" Hae-Won raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how this is going to help us escape. And isn't that just for Omicron Sector?"

Quickly, Alan shook his head. "Tau Sector also applies this rule. Tau is sort of a T shape, and so is that hallway." But that wasn't the point he was trying to get to. "I think this includes the suspended room."

"You're telling me that also represents a Greek letter?" Seira found it hard to believe, but he hadn't been wrong about this yet. "Which one?"

"Theta…" He trailed off. "The shape is a circle with something in the center, not too different from the suspended room itself."

Gemini had checked Alan's notes before moving on to get a better look at the suspended room. "... It matches, in a weird way. But what does that mean in the long run?" He placed his hands on his hips, turning to face the group again. "I don't see how that will help us escape."

That was the problem… Even Alan knew as such. "It might not help us escape, but it would be good to keep in mind for the future."
The general idea was boring to Laki. "Hmm, I have to agree with Gemini here, it doesn't really help us out with anything. Got anything more exciting?"

"Well… No, I…" That's pretty much all he had managed to figure out. So for them to just turn it down so casually. "I checked out the security room, but didn't find anything of interest."

Gemini let out a small sigh, before a smile appeared on his face. "So pretty much the same as me for all the other days. Still haven't found anything of interest." It was only a matter of time.

"We really should just try the exit." Laki suggested, not thinking about the consequences. "It's the only way out, right?"

"As if I'd try that. I don't feel like dying in space." Atlas glanced the other way. "We haven't found any suits yet."

"Ah!" A bright idea popped in Laki's head. "Maybe that's what's locked up in the security room!"

Alan hummed out, thinking about that. "That wouldn't be a bad start."

Hae-Won glanced away. "Shit… Yeah. That could be likely. But nobody has found a way to open. Can anybody lockpick?"

The lucky student shrugged. "How hard can it be? I can try!"

Alan shook his head. "We'd need the key itself. The lock is angled in a weird way where trying to lockpick it would be difficult. Besides, I inspected it closer, and it seemed to not be your stereotypical lock."

"In… what way?" Gemini raised an eyebrow.

Spending a few seconds trying to figure out the best way to explain this, the conspiracy theorist spoke up. "It's not a lock that requires you to turn the key. It's more as if the key needs to be scanned."

"Oh that is weird." The escapist glanced away. "An electronic lock."

"Oh! Oh!" Laki lifted her hand up eagerly. "Just splash it with water."

Alan quickly shook his head. "I'd rather not. We don't know what would happen if we do. We could permanently disable the lock."

Hae-Won slowly nodded her head. "I agree with that. Acting too rash would be against our best interests."

Ah, then of course Laki would give up- "Then blow it up."

This caused a spark in Edison's eyes. "We could attempt that."

This conversation was quickly getting out of hand. "We aren't blowing anything up." Hae-Won crossed her arms. "No matter how tempting it was." They didn't even have any explosives in the first place.

"We have to remember we are on a space station." Seira didn't like the idea that she needed to point that out.

Laki clutched her heart. "How could you betray the Gemini Squad™?"

"H-huh?" Now what kind of wild accusation was that. "I'm not betraying the Gemini Squad™! I don't think blowing stuff up has anything to do with being a Gemini."

"How did you guys get that trademarked…?" Alan mumbled under his breath.

The one to finally put a stop to all of this was Gemini. "Alright, that's enough." The conversation had been completely derailed, and barely any new information had been shared. "Alan. Do you have anything else?"

The conspiracy theorist shook his head. "No, that's all for today. Although, if I can find a way to open the door in the security room, I think we'd be heading in the right direction."

For now, that was their only hope. "I could try and help out with that." But once again, a metal door was a little different. "Maybe sometime tomorrow."

Now that the entire conversation was pretty much over with, the group could get to eating.

Motive Room

Knowing the fate that awaited him in this game, Michael just moved over to the table, letting out a sigh. The other team hadn't shown up yet, and it was getting closer to the time for the game. But he knew for a fact that they didn't need to figure anything else out.

As soon as the door opened, he was greeted with Atlas, and a decent portion of the other team. He moved over to the opposite side of the table.

"You were almost late!" Monokawa pointed out, ticked off. "You people are playing with fire right now. It was almost 18:30!"

"We weren't going to be late." The soccer player wouldn't miss this for anything. He had an easy matchup today. An easy game, and an easy opponent. Though, there was a part of him that still had a bit of worry in him. "You haven't really shown what you can do."

The hooded boy looked the other way. "And if that's because there's nothing I can do?"

That felt like a lie, but Atlas wasn't sure how to push the issue further. "If you can't do anything, then this should be a breeze." He took a step forward. "Martial Arts." No big theatrics about it. He just wanted to get it over with.

Fearing this, Michael let out a sigh. "Very well." Eyeing his opponent, he wasn't sure what he could even do. Even without arms, Atlas would easily be able to overpower him. And as a soccer player, that meant his legs were dangerous. "What kind of martial arts…?"

Figuring it wouldn't help the hooded man in the slightest, Atlas decided to humour him. "Taekwondo." He slowly approached his opponent, hoping on the ground a bit to get himself warmed up. "There's several moves you can do without even having to rely on your arms."

To prove his point, Michael had to step back, barely avoiding getting Atlas' shoe right in the chest. "H-hey! He didn't say star-"

"START!" Monokawa called out, just because he wanted to see some violence.

Well, whether it was officially started or not, it didn't matter to Atlas. Lifting up one leg, he turned on his heel, twisting his body slightly to deliver another kick, almost hitting Michael in the head.

All the poor boy could do was avoid. He didn't know any martial arts, so he was shit out of luck. "Just, give me…" He tried to plead with his life, but Atlas was being relentless the entire time.

"Just give up, you know you can't win, so take the hit already!"

He had a point. All he could do was avoid being hit. But he had one last thing he could do. "Monokawa! Is forfeiting allowed?"

"Heh." He was hoping for violence, but he knew Nova would yell at him if he didn't at least leave the option open. "Yes, you can forfeit."

"Then I-" The hooded man began to say, but the rest of the sentence never left his mouth.

Atlas had raised his leg up, making sure to keep his knee bended, before swinging his leg upwards to deliver a kick right into his chin. Seemed he didn't care in the slightest.

That was enough to knock Michael onto the ground.

After not moving for a few seconds, Seira ran up to check up on it. "You could have killed him!" She tried shaking him awake, but he wasn't responding.

Benoit moved over closer, trying to see what he could do. "H-he's not dead… but…" It was a pretty big hit, and his neck seemed to be in pain.

Seeing that he had won, Atlas lowered his leg, which was still extended out from the kick. "Hey, why are you complaining? I won us a point. Be happy for once."

"Oh wow, didn't know he was so fragile." Monokawa shrugged. "Oh well! The point this time goes to the truth team! That leaves the score as 3-2 for the ideals! At least the losing team is finally starting to close the gap!"

Melody knelt down to look at Michael, trying to see if he was fine. "Michael! Michael!" She knew this was her fault, and no amount of apologising would fix it. She just thought that Atlas would hold back a little bit.

Benoit reached over for his hood, attempting to remove it so he could access the damage, but he was stopped.

Grabbing his arm, Winter looked down at the boy, being much calmer than the others. "He should be fine."

After a few seconds, the boy groaned himself awake. "Am… Am I dead yet?"

Depressed as always. "No, Michael. You're still in this killing game."

Worst thing that had happened all day, and he was just knocked out. Slowly, he managed to get back to his feet.

"See?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "He's fine, so stop your bitching!"

"Would it kill you to show some compassion?" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes." Seeing that his work wasn't being appreciated, he turned the other way and left the room.

Michael had a hard time walking, looking a bit dizzy. "I think I just need to sit down and get some food." He hadn't opted for food, since he felt like getting kicked in the stomach would just make him throw up.

Letting out a small sigh, Winter stepped closer. "Alright, I'll bring him to get food." She offered to help him walk, but he only pushed her away weakly.

"I can walk on my own… I don't need to be coddled…"

Hearing that got a hum out of her. "If you say so." Still learning some things about him.

Cafeteria

It was a humiliating defeat. Not that he had expected anything else from it. Michael still felt sore from his back slamming against the floor, and the hit to his neck. To think Atlas could do that with relative ease despite the handicap he seemingly had everywhere else.

At the moment, he had moved back over to the cafeteria to try and rejuvenate a bit, which in case involved eating. The food wasn't bad here, so he at least wanted something enjoyable.

At the moment, Winter had helped him get back to the cafeteria, just in case something happened.

"Mind if I join you to eat." She offered with a sincere smile.

"Oh…" He knew she was going to help him get here, but to eat with him. "Sure." He focused his attention back on getting food. Once he was done, him and Winter moved over to the same table they always used.

At first, it was quiet. Just the two of them enjoying their meal. Of course, it didn't last forever as Winter was the one to break the silence. "Why didn't you object harder?"

Michael had hoped no questions would be thrown his way, but here he was. "To what exactly?"

"To Melody's decision. It would have saved you the hassle in the end."

Ah, that. "I wanted to, but I didn't want to try and control her decision."

"But because of that, Atlas beat you easily." Honestly, he should have put more work in if he knew this was going to happen.

Yeah, he knew that was going to happen the moment Atlas was put up against him. "It's fine. Like I said, I didn't want to change her mind. She seemed pretty set on playing billiards."

Personally, she didn't understand, but it was probably best to drop the issue for now. "But that tells me some things about yourself."

"Huh?" He felt like his decision here shouldn't have revealed anything at all.

"For starters. You're weak." She giggled slightly when she said that. "You went down pretty easily."

Yeah, guess he did. Michael glanced the other way. "I've never been in a fight, so."

"No scars to hide." Winter was referring to the hood he was wearing. But that wasn't the main point she wanted to make. "Most people would at least do better than that."

Seems this entire conversation was going to be him getting belittled one way or another. "Yeah… Well I'm not most people. I'm different."

She laughed a bit at that. "Normally when people say they are different, they are talking in a positive manner." Still, why was he like this? "Are you sick, perhaps?"

He shook his head. "No, not sick."

Then the next idea popped in her head. "Then, the only thing I can think of is that you come from a family that doesn't allow you to do things on your own."

Michael didn't say anything, but he didn't need to say anything. Quickly, he looked the other way, telling her everything she needed to know.

"On the money?" Which only solidified her rich family theory from before. "That's fine." She wasn't going to use this against him or anything. "But why would that be?"

"It's…" Not the entire truth, but he couldn't mention more than that. "It's complicated… But you are right, the people around me tend to do everything for me."

As she figured. One step closer to potentially figuring out his talent. "Thank you for the information."

"What about you?" He was getting annoyed at always being questioned.

She wasn't expecting this to be turned around her, so she took a moment to answer. Lowering her fork, she hummed out in thought. "What do you mean?"

"You seem like you might have a family that's well off."

Well, it was pretty obvious. "You would not be wrong." She tilted her head to the side. "Interested in my family life, are you?"

Looking away, he shook his head. "No… it's just that you kept pointing out stuff about me, so I thought I should do the same."

Well, she had no reason to remain silent. "Of course. My family is very well off. With no small help to the app my father created."

"App?"

"You might have heard of it." Although, giving his appearance another look, maybe not. "It's called Love Letter."

He had no idea what that was, but he could make an educated guess. "Is that why you became a Love Guru?"

A small mischievous smile formed on her face. "That's the exact reason I became one, yes." Although, she wasn't going to go into more details.

"Does love run in the entire family?" From the looks of it, it did.

"Hmm…" She tilted her head to the side. "Well, my mother was a university teacher. Not the first thing you would think of when love comes to mind."

"Ah…" Guess he jumped the gun a bit. "What does the app do… exactly?"

Well, she was glad he asked. "It's close to your stereotypical dating app, but it focuses more on marriage as the final goal, instead of hookups." Taking a sip from her tea, she placed the cup down. "There was even the option for parents to sign up in hopes of marrying off their children."

"W-what?" Why would that be an option? "Shouldn't they be free to choose who to marry themselves?"

At least someone saw it as she did. "Yes, exactly. Parents getting involved with the marriage of their children feels a bit controlling to me."

Well, he hadn't expected Winter to agree with him. "So you don't like the idea of the app?"

"Oh, don't take it like that. I think the idea for the app is a perfect one. Love is important after all." Her eyes drifted to the side, unable to finish her initial thought. "It's just I wish it was handled differently."

Lowering his head, Michael tried to think of the best way to continue the conversation. "Have you… ever used the app?"

"Oh, heavens no." She hated the idea. "I'm not going to let an app choose someone for me, nor will I let my parents try and set me up with someone." She closed her eyes, deep in thought. "The perfect man for me is out there somewhere, waiting. I just have to look for him. Besides, looking is half the fun." She let out a small giggle.

He wasn't an expert on the matter, so he was going to choose to believe her words. "And how has the search been for you?"

Taking a long sip of her tea, she spent that time thinking of an answer. After she had found a suitable one, she lowered the cup. "I've found a few people here and there, but they never ended up matching up. Although in recent times, there's been a very likely candidate. But in this current situation, it's impossible."

Ah, the person she was hoping for was outside this killing game, huh? That's at least the thought that ran through Michael's head. "More reasons to get out…" As if they needed more in the first place. He went to adjust himself in his seat, but groaned in pain.

For once, Winter showed off minor concern. "Are you still in pain from earlier?"

"N-no… It's… It's fine…" Atlas really did a number on him. He might be feeling this for the next day or so.

Not that she could do anything to make him feel better, but she knew who could. "Maybe if you find Benoit, he might be able to relieve the pain. He is the Ultimate Physiotherapist after all."

"Yeah…" The idea sounded like a good one, but he didn't want to inconvenience someone. "I think some sleep will do me well." It was already getting pretty late as is. He slowly stood up from the table, hobbling over towards the elevator. "See you tomorrow?"

She was silent for a moment, watching him make his way to the elevator. "Yes. See you tomorrow. Hopefully you feel much better." She offered him that same smile from before.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Ultimate Talent Manager Station

They had a feeling they would be here, and it was nice to be right. "Ah, there you are." Gennosuke said as he stepped through the door.

Inside the room, Melody was just dancing around as she had before. "Oh! Hello Gennosuke. What's a fella like you doing over here?"

The room hadn't changed a bit since the last time anyone had been here, no thanks to Dae-Hyun. "Oh, I just wanted to speak to you about what happened with the game."

"Hmm?" She didn't think there was much to speak of, but she was curious on what was on his mind nonetheless. "Sure, go ahead!"

Perfect. He moved past her, towards the desk. Once he sat himself lazily on the chair, he leaned himself on the table. "Even after everyone suggested otherwise, you still went for billiards?"

"Oh." She was a bit disappointed it was about that specifically. "Is there a problem with that?" She felt like she made a rather good decision, no matter what the others said.

The psychic shrugged. "I'm not really the judge here on whether it's a problem or not." Nor would he be able to judge if it was a good idea. "I just thought you'd listen to the rest of the team."

"While I'm happy that they wanted to suggest ideas, I'm free to make my own." Since the two were just going to be talking, she decided to continue with the dance she was doing. "Besides, I stated my reason before."

Right, Atlas. She pretty much threw out a free win. "But if we lose all of this, we all die."

True.. but they were still in the lead anyways. "It felt wrong not giving everyone a chance." She stopped dancing momentarily.

Seems he wasn't really getting through to her, so he stopped trying. "Either way, you played the game pretty well."

She let out an amused sound. "Why yes, I've been playing for so long. My speakeasy had one in the back. I wasn't a master by any metrics, but fellas would always try to beat me."

"Did they?"

"Often, yes." Like she said, she wasn't a master. "But that didn't bug me none. Having fun was the goal there. That way everyone involved wins."

"What about what happened to Michael?" Alright, back to the other conversation since he found something to talk about.

Her smile faltered, as she glanced away. "I do feel…" She couldn't find the right words for how she felt. "That should be spoken about with Atlas. The fella had no reason to go that far."

True, but she did put him in that situation. "Well, you should talk to Michael too, he's probably in pain." He tilted his head to the side. "Last I saw him, he collapsed on the floor."

"W-what?" A bit of panic appeared in her eyes. "Why did nobody tell me?"

Letting out a small laugh, Gennosuke shook his head. "I'm only messing with you. He seemed fine."

She marched over to him, placing her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to make a sad sap out of me?"

He had… No idea what she meant initially, but it didn't take too long to read her intentions. "I wasn't trying to make a fool out of you, no." Just having a bit of fun. He leaned back in the chair, looking at the ceiling. "There's not much else to do around here, you know?"

Melody extended her hand out to him, her attitude changing again. "There's plenty to do! Ya just gotta have the right folks."

Knowing what would happen if he accepted the hand, he shook his head. "Not right now, the game from earlier has me drained."

The… memory game? Well she didn't want to push him too far, so she stepped back. "But ya can't just stay here doing nothing all day. You barely talk to the others unless it's needed."

A fine life for him. "With a talent like mine, it becomes a challenge to hold any conversation with anyone. You start to see what they really think, after all."

"H-huh?" Does that mean he was always reading her mind? She knew he was a psychic, but having no privacy whatsoever… She closed her eyes, trying to block out his thoughts.

"What are you…?" Then, he let out a chuckle. "Don't worry, I'm not prying into your thoughts." Besides, her thoughts were more reassuring than those of the others.

"Well, I feel like I have to be guarded around you, knowing that you are the Real McCoy." She placed her hands on her hips. "How did you come to find out about such a talent?"

"Some things are just natural, I guess." He shrugged, leaning his head back. "But you can't tell me you've never tried to pry into someone else's mind as a child."

Well, she'd be lying if she said she never did that. "Yeah, but it never worked. Are you saying it worked for you right away?"

Wasn't entirely true, but might as well add a bit of flare to it. "First time I attempted it, I worked like a charm. Thought it meant everyone could do it, so I kept my mind blank for a while around people. Was a weird part of my life. Until I realised nobody else could do it."

That was a pretty funny story. "So how did you manage to go around with a blank mind? Was it a nobody home kind of approach?"

Gennosuke let out a little humorous laugh. "Just didn't think about much of anything." He looked the other way. "Easier as a kid. But once I realised I was the only one who could do it, I couldn't stop myself. It grew hard to have conversations with people."

"Well, you're having conversations now." Melody was quick to point out. "So you must have grown used to it."

"Yeah, I have." He leaned back in the chair. "I try to make as much of a conscious effort as possible not to read other people's minds. I only do it if I feel like I must."

"Well. I give you permission to read my mind." She tapped her foot around. "What am I thinking about now?" She felt the need to test him again.

Looking at her for a few seconds, a smile flashed onto Gennosuke's face. "You're wondering when I'll dance with you."

"Ah!" That's exactly what she was thinking. "Wow, you really are-" Wouldn't be the first time he had proven himself, but now she was double sure! "So, is that a yes to the question?"

He was tempted to say yes, but unfortunately, he had to decline. "It's still going to be a no from me." Slowly, he stood up from the chair. "The stress from this entire motive is getting to me, so I wouldn't be able to offer you a fair dance."

That was fair, but… "Ah, don't be like that. A dance would be swell for your mind."

He let out another laugh, shaking his head. "Maybe another time, after this motive is over with."

That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, but she also didn't want to force him to do anything. "Alright, that's fine by me. You owe me that dance." She placed a hand on her hip.

The psychic slowly nodded his head. "I'll make sure I fulfil that promise." He moved towards the door, scanning his bracelet. "See you later." He lazily waved as he exited the room.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Cafeteria

It was growing closer to the designated nighttime, and only five people were still in the cafeteria about this time. Those five were Gemini, Tatiana, Ian, May, and Laki.

The reason for them all being here? Well they were just getting some food before it was time to call it a night.

Gemini took a look at his watch to check the time. Only about twenty minutes before it was considered nighttime. He looked around the room, noticing that it was mostly just the ideal group, with May sleeping at the table. Letting out a sigh, he spoke up. "What do you think our chances are?"

"Pretty good." Ian didn't put much thought into it. "We're leading 3-2, so I don't see how this would end horribly for us."

"Yeah!" Laki nodded her head. "And my game is tomorrow, so might as well make it 5-2."

Tatiana shook her head. "I think you've miscounted there!"

"Nope! Nova will give me two wins tomorrow."

Gemini let out a small laugh, enjoying the confidence she had.

Although, they were being a little too loud, so they managed to wake up May. "Hey… Don't take us out of the running yet." She tilted her head to the side.

Now that she was awake, Ian was going to take the opportunity. "Oh? Is that so?" He leaned his head on his hand. "But when it comes to games, our team stands leagues above yours."

"That's not… true." They just had a few lucky breaks, even if some of the people she thought would have won ended up losing. "There's still five games left."

"Yes, I do believe there's still a chance." Tatiana seemed rather confident. "Because my game is last, and we have to reach it." She stood up, pointing down at May. "So tell your team to try their very best!"

Ian's expression changed slightly. "Shouldn't we be trying to win instead of having a close game?"

"Oh! But that's boring!" Laki pointed out. "The closer to the wire, the better!"

Gemini didn't agree with either of them. "I'm much prefer it if we didn't need these games. But if the games lasting longer gives us more time to find a way out, then I hope this whole motive isn't one sided." A quick victory, or a close victory… Either way the only victory he wanted was for everyone to get out.

"We'll… try." May glanced over at her watch, looking at the time. "Oh, it's getting pretty late." Which meant it was time to sleep… some more. "The next game is pretty early in the morning."

"It's at 11:30." Ian raised an eyebrow. No way this girl considered that early.

She didn't respond as she made her way to the elevator.

Looking at the three people left in the room, the gambler stood up. "I'm done eating." He moved away from the table.

"Oh! Oh!" Laki bounced after him, standing a few feet back. "I should get going too!"

Which left only two people in the room.

"Hmm…" Tatiana glanced at the three people leaving.

Gemini let out a sigh. "And my game is tomorrow." He wasn't looking forward to it one bit. "Knowing my luck, it's going to end in me losing." Which could be for the best if he didn't want the motive to end so quickly.

"Going to lose to Benoit?" There was only one way she could see this happening, and it was pretty likely.

"Or maybe I'll just lose on purpose."

The knife thrower froze up a bit. "Huh… It's probably best if you don't do that."

The idea was there. He shook his head. "You don't have to worry about that. I won't lose on purpose."

"Good." This was a matter of life and death after all. Tatiana took a glance at her watch. "Ah, it's nighttime in a few minutes. I should get going." She moved over towards the elevator. "Are you not going to join?"

He remained silent for a bit before a grin appeared on his face. "I'm going to grab a pizza. I'll go to bed shortly."

Him and his pizza. "Alright, see you tomorrow." With a wave, she entered the elevator.

Vacant Room

When the elevator finally opened up, she saw one person hanging around the entrance to the rooms. "Ah! Winter! What are you doing here? Heading to bed?"

"Hmm?" She tilted her head, looking over in the direction of Tatiana. "I was thinking about it, yes."

And yet, here she was. Not going to sleep. "Any reason you are still here then?"

Wow, Tatiana was starting to pry like Winter normally would. "I'm not quite sure." She offered a cheeky smile. "Guess I'm not quite tired as of now." Or maybe she was just bored.

Suddenly, an announcement went off, with Monokawa being the one to speak. "It was a fun day of games today in the motive room, and with progress growing further, the score now sits nicely at 3-2! We are halfway done with these games, and the ideals are winning. Don't let them curb stomp you, truths! Or do… I wouldn't be opposed to half of you dropping tomorrow. However, for now, it is currently the nighttime period, which means some utilities will be offline at this time. Please proceed with caution."

After a while, Winter tilted her head to the side. "We seem to be in a good position. If the rest of them do well enough, we might not even need to participate on the final day."

"Uh-" Tatiana was looking forward to her game, and given she was last, odds were fairly low. "But then that means that everyone else would…"
The love guru tilted her head to the side. "That is true, I suppose. But either way, someone would need to die." Not a thing she wanted to think about, but it was the truth.

"Haha! Or so you think!" Tatiana crossed her arms. "It's only a matter of time before we are saved!" She knew it not to be true, but she was choosing to continue to ignore reality for as long as she could.

"Hmm… I wonder." Her eyes slowly trailed away from Tatiana, looking at something behind her.

"Evening, ladies." Gemini showed up out of nowhere to greet the two. Seems he was already done with the pizza.

Tatiana jumped back. "H-hey! Where did you come from?"

He tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

She pointed at him. "I left you downstairs. How did you get up here?"

Now he was really confused. He pointed over towards the elevator. "I just took the elevator like anybody else."

That… was odd. She hadn't heard the elevator at all. "Are you ly-"

Winter decided to put this to an end. "Tatiana, I think you might need to get your hearing checked out as well. I saw him walking off the elevator."

Well now she didn't know what to think. Placing a hand on her forehead, she let out a sigh. "Maybe I'm just getting tired." She took a few steps back, looking over at her door. "I think I'm going to head to bed now."

"Good night." Winter bowed with a smile before turning to look at Gemini. She inspected him for a few seconds before nodding her head his way. "I think I'll be calling it a night as well."

Watching the two girls leaving for the night, Gemini let out a sigh. Tomorrow would be his game, and he had to prepare himself to face off against Benoit. "Right." He said to nobody in particular, given that nobody was there. "Let's get some rest too." He moved over towards his door to scan his bracelet. Once inside, the rest of the facility slowly quieted down, leaving only the ambient sounds around.

And with that, part 3 is finally uploaded. It's been due for a while now, and I was hoping to release this in April, however! There were some applications I needed to get to, so I was distracted (and now, somehow, there's even more applications that I have to make.) Unbelievable. People have to stop being inspired to make Danganronpa SYOC. You are ruining my writing schedule. Anyways!

This part was much harder to write compared to the first two, given that I wasn't sure what to do with certain scenes, and I was a little more unsure how to handle some of the free time events. But in the end, I like how I handled them :D Still, some of these were a little rough in my opinion. That's what I get for having no plans ever :eyeroll:

Now this would normally be when I send you over to Gold, but there's something else I have to do. It's related to something I just mentioned. Extra shoutout to ExtraMeme for starting his own Danganronpa SYOC! It's named Danganronpa: Obscurity's Disgrace. I'm hoping to send a character his way, and you should all too :D (Although you have to make sure I get in first). He's the creator of second best girl Tatiana (Sorry, Gigi is better). Now Kadachi needs to make a Danganronpa SYOC and then the people who made my three favourite girls would have all written one.

Hopefully the gap between part 3 and part 4 isn't as long as the gap between part 2 and part 3. Then again, I've written a lot for the next several parts. Hell, Part 5 and part 8 are both around the 8k mark, so there will significantly be less to write! And also I've been pulling all-nighters left and right to get them down. Maybe my goal by the end of May will be doable. If not, I will try within the first week of June.

Participants Remaining: 20

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]

Benoit Chevalier - The Ultimate Physiotherapist [Epifanio Therion]

Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23]

Winter Hibiscus - The Ultimate Love Guru [Grandma Sue]

Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja]

Gemini Strela - The Ultimate Escapist [secretnobody]

Benjamin Mason - The Ultimate Ventriloquist [NSPunny]

Alan Buteaux - The Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist [zendroxp]

Lorelei Kaiser - The Ultimate Computer Security Specialist [CandleFire45]

Michael ? - The Ultimate ? [Omakin]

Melody Eleanor Hopkins - The Ultimate Tap Dancer [Prince PokePersona]

Kim Dae-Hyun - The Ultimate Talent Manager [oddlyillregular]

Lakshmi "Laki" Krishna - The Ultimate Lucky Student [Sempi]

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]

Ian Santiago - The Ultimate Gambler [Animeboy15]

Tatiana Novak - The Ultimate Knife Thrower [ExtraMeme]

Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple]

Gennosuke Yagami - The Ultimate Psychic [theotakureader101]

Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro]

Sakura Gambino - The Ultimate Security Guard [PROJECT DRAMA]