Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 7: Continuity Error (Part 5), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 1: Continuity Error (Daily Life Part 5)

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)

Another day… Another disappointment.

It was another day where he hadn't found anyone worthwhile. The man in question was Dae-Hyun, having just returned from a talent school. Not a single one of them could even compare to the standard he had in his mind.

None of them were even close to the level of…

His mind drifted off as he continued to walk down the sidewalk. Another day with nothing gained.

How long would he be able to keep this up if nobody even fit his criteria?

However, it wouldn't be long before his silent prayers were answered.

The more he walked, the more he found his thoughts being interrupted by a voice. To the point where he could no longer ignore it. Stopping, he looked around for a source.

Eventually, his eyes landed on a girl standing by the sidewalk. Next to her was a chair with a case that had money inside.
Spending some time listening to her sign managed to take some of the edge off. Eventually, he walked over to her. "Hello there." For once, his sombre tone had been put on pause to give a friendly greeting.

The girl stopped singing mid verse and turned to look at him ."H-hello there!" She hadn't expected someone to speak with her, so she wasn't sure how to react. "Did you… like my singing?"

Well, had he not liked it, he wouldn't even have noticed it. "Yeah, I can say that. You don't hear singing like that very often."

The girl took a glance at her case of money, thinking of what to say. "Well it's nice to meet you… mister…" She trailed off.

Right, he should at least introduce himself. Maybe this would make things easier. "Kim Dae-Hyun."

Judging by her lack of reaction, the name meant nothing to her. "It's nice to meet you… I'm Ryom Eun-so." She took another glance at the case she had. "I'm just… collecting money." Was the only thing she admitted.

"Hmm…" He reached into his pocket, looking for something. "While I don't have any money I could give, I think this might be better." What he pulled out was a card. More specifically a business card.

She couldn't hide the disappointed look on her face. "O-Oh!" Well she didn't want to be rude and turn it down. She slowly reached over for it. "T-thank you…" She wasn't sure what to think of it. It wasn't the first time she had received a card like this, but they had all been busts before. Almost made her not want to take it. "You have a lovely day."

Without saying much, he continued on his way, hoping that she would at least give him a call…

…

It was later in the day now, and Eun-So had made it to her destination after she spent hours singing on the street. She had collected enough money for today, as well as the weird encounter with Dae-Hyun.

Her destination wasn't home, however. Instead, it was a hospital. Once she had gotten to the right room, she knocked on the door before stepping in. "Father?" She called out, seeing him on the bed.

He was awake, so she decided to step in, placing the case of money she had earned down on the table next to him. "I managed to get some money today…"

The man didn't want to have to rely on his daughter. He wanted to pay the medical bills all on his own, but right now he was in no state to do it. And he knew telling her otherwise wouldn't work. "Thank you…" He mumbled out, before he spotted something in there. "What's this?" He reached over, pulling the business card out of it.

"Oh, a man gave me that after listening to me… But it's probably just another prank like last time…" She frowned slightly at the memory.

However, her father reacted differently. He recognised the name on the card. "I… I don't think this is a prank." He reached over for his phone, before pulling up some articles. "He's the real deal."

Once the phone had been handed over to her, she scanned all the articles about Dae-Hyun, and her eyes slowly began to widen. "Wait, he was her manager?" Why would someone like him give her his card?

"An opportunity like that comes only once in a lifetime… You should take it." He knew she wanted to go far with her singing, but till now she hadn't been able to get anywhere with it.

She looked back down at the card, inspecting it a bit longer. "My only chance…?" She mumbled out.

…

Once she had stepped out of the room, she took the card out of her purse again. She felt her emotions swell up at the very thought of making it big. All the money she could gain from this… Looking back at the door, she knew she had to do this for her father.

Nervously, she called the number on the card.

It took a few rings, but soon, Dae-Hyun picked up. "Yes. Dae-Hyun from Bright Honor speaking. How may I help you?"

She felt her own voice get caught in her throat as she tried to figure out what to say. "H-hi… It's… It's me. Eun-So. We met earlier today, and I was just calling because I recognised the name…" She lied, but she felt like it would be embarrassing to admit she had no idea who he was when she first met him.

The line was silent, which didn't seem like a good thing. "So." The talent manager finally spoke up. "I'm a bit busy tomorrow, but if you'd like a meeting with me, we could schedule one for Saturday, if that works for you? Around two in the afternoon."

Her eyes sparkled a bit. "Ah! Yeah, that works for me! See you then."

"The address should be on the business card." Oh, she had forgotten about that. Luckily he was prepared.

"T-thank you." An opportunity like this… She heard the sound of the phone hanging up ."Oh…" Was that all he wanted to say? It was disappointing, given she had so much more to say, but she didn't want that to sour her mood.

…

Dae-Hyun put the phone down, glancing out of the window next to his desk. "Hmm…" What was he thinking at a time like this? He had constantly gone out of his way to try and find talent. And yet, at every turn, there was nothing. For him to see talent in someone who was just singing on the side of a street.

He began to write down some details for the meeting, including questions he'd need to ask her. This wouldn't be his first time, but it had been a while since he had anybody to manage. Luckily, he knew he wouldn't have lost his edge. "Am I really alright going back into this?" He knew what happened last time, and yet, he was still hopeful. Glancing down at the name he had written down for his company… Bright Honors.

Yes. It was about time to start doing this again…

Vacant Rooms

Slowly opening his eyes, Dae-Hyun looked around the room, trying to gain a sense of where he was. He knew the last thing he remembered was getting the result that the score was now 5-3 for the ideals.

That made sense.

The part that didn't make sense was just how dark it currently was.

He hovered his hand over his head, but he couldn't even see that. "What the hell…" He was sure he wasn't in purgatory, or something dumb like that.

Using his other arm, he was able to see the faint glow of the watch.

8:40… That meant it was half an hour before his game was even to begin.

Slowly getting out of bed, he was forced to use the light from his watch to navigate himself to the door.

However, the moment he attempted to try and scan his watch, nothing would happen. "What now…?" He tried it again, but it wouldn't seem to pick up. ."Is this thing busted too?" That would mean he would be stuck here until the doors opened back up.

Which normally wouldn't be a problem, given his circumstances, but… His game was next, and if both he and Winter failed to show up, he'd pay with his life. "Goddammit…" He tried to scan his watch again, but nothing.

If he had more energy, he would have given the door a kick, but now it seemed rather pointless. "Dammit…" Instead, he let himself fall back onto his bed. He would have no choice but to wait here until something changed.

…

It wasn't until another ten minutes had passed that something would change.

While the lights in his room were still off, the scanner was now producing some light. It was the only chance he had, so she attempted to scan his watch again.

To pleasant results as the door opened to him, only to reveal a barely lit hallway. "Here too?" Unlike his room, however, the lights weren't as bad. He could faintly see, but it was unreliable.

After his door opened up, a few more did.

"Free at last…" Seira mumbled out, stepping out.

Shortly after, Gemini stepped out of his room when the door opened. "Man… what was any of that?" He looked around, spotting the other two. "Same thing happened to you?"

"Yeah." Gemini shook his head. "I've been trying to get out for the past two hours."

"As have I…" Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "The alarm didn't go off, but I still woke up at the same time."

"What caused this?" Seira tried to find her way around, using the faint light from her watch to walk around.

Suddenly, the elevator door would open up, and Tatiana would step out. "Finally! Everything seems to be working fine now!" She spotted the three others. "Oh! Fancy meeting you here!"

Behind her, sitting down on the elevator floor, was May, who had one eye open. She glanced at everyone else before closing the eye again.

"Were you… trapped on the elevator?" Gemini raised an eyebrow.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Something like that!" She checked her watch. "Oh wait- Twenty minutes before the game starts."

"And there's no way to know if the others are awake yet." Gigi glanced back at the room. They would need to get Winter up soon. "Everyone else should get to the motive room."

Seira nodded her head. "Right."

"What are you planning on doing?" Dae-Hyun turned to look at Gigi.

She moved over to stand in front of Winter's door. "The next game will begin shortly, so I'm going to wake her up."

"Don't." He warned her. "We're behind right now, and there's no point in waking her up. Especially if we can just get the free point." Besides, He didn't want to play any dumb game right now.

The referee narrowed her eyes. "Why would I do that? That's not fair." She began banging on the love guru's door. "Winter! Wake up!"

The talent manager was a bit baffled by all of this. "So you'd rather risk losing, then to take the free point?"

"I'd rather a fair game, instead of whatever stunt you are trying to pull." Gigi turned to look at him, still banging her hand on the door.

He couldn't understand what was going on in her mind. "If I lose this next game, we all die, you know."

For a brief moment, there was a bit of hesitation in her voice. Yet, she didn't falter. "It matters not that I'm on the same team as you, I have to remain unbiased in situations like this." A referee through and through.

"Either way." Gemini spoke up. "Even if she didn't wake her up, I would."

Seems like Winter was going to be up no matter what. "Whatever…"

Suddenly, a flash of light came from down the hallway, almost blinding everyone.

"Oh, the doors are open now?" It was Sakura shining her flashlight around. "I was unable to get into my room."

"Good. Some light." Seira felt relieved. It was near impossible to make any other details from this place besides the very basics.

Checking her watch, Sakura pointed the flashlight down the hall. "We should get to the motive room now. I'm not sure if Nova is there, but I don't think she'd miss the game."

"Right." Gigi was still banging away. "She's punctual, so she's probably waiting there. Monokawa might be fixing the issue right now."

After annoying the hell out of her, Winter finally opened her door, her hair a bit of a mess. "What?" It was a bit ruder than she wanted.

Though, the referee didn't seem to mind. "There's only about twenty minutes left before your game is up, so I was waking you up."

What the hell? Quickly, the love guru checked her watch. "I'll be out in a moment." She'd need to get herself ready! In the dark. Good luck girl.

The noise didn't seem to just affect Winter, as several other doors opened up as well.

"Is it time already?" Ian mumbled out, not minding the darkness one bit.

"Hahaha!" Laki laughed out, looking around. "I always knew I had night vision!"

Those were amongst the more vocal ones. Most of the participants had woken up by this time now, and had left their rooms. Mostly wondering what the hell was even going on.

Turning to the rest of them, Gigi spoke up. "What are you all waiting for? Get going. We don't have much time left."

"Yeah, yeah…" Dae-Hyun mumbled out as he made his way towards the motive room, guided by Sakura and her light.

Motive Room

Like the rest of the station, this one was shrouded in darkness the moment the door opened.

Sakura shone her flashlight into the room. "How are we supposed to play games like this?" Video games hadn't been chosen, so if that didn't work… then what were they supposed to do?

Tatiana let out a small laugh. "I'm sure there will be a way!" As she stepped further into the room, she had this ominous feeling wash over her. Slowly, she turned to look at the source, and quickly reached for her knife towards the illuminated face staring at her.

"That wouldn't be a good idea!" The face belonged to Nova, who glowed in the dark. "Remember the rules."

The knife had stopped a few inches away from her neck, but Tatiana played it off. "Haha! I knew that. I was just trying to scare you!" She quickly put the weapon away.

The overseer let out a sigh, looking at everyone who had joined. "It's a shame that this is the state of affairs at the moment." She tried to get the table to work, but none of the games would pop out. "However, times are still important, so we'll just have to think of some alternatives."

Laki lifted up her hand. "Well martial arts was a simple one! We don't need anything for that."

Nova shook her head. "I'd prefer something… new."

Taking a few steps forward, Ian had an idea. "Then how about we make our own game?"

That seemed to perk up the overseer. "Oh? And what did you have in mind?" She had high hopes for the Ultimate Gambler.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his deck of cards. Shuffling them around a bit, he turned his attention over towards the table. "It's a simple card game of deception."

"Hmm?" Winter tilted her head to the side. "Sounds amusing, but you're going to need to tell us a little bit more than just that."

"Wait, before any of that." Sakura spoke up. "Shouldn't we get some flashlights?" She was getting tired of only having her own.

Seira slowly nodded her head. "It would probably be for the best, yes." She would prefer it if she didn't have to rely on someone else.

Gigi was a bit unsure about it. "Does anyone else want to go with the two of them?"

Laki quickly raised her hand up. "Oh! Send me! Send me! An adventure in the dark seems exciting!"

Now that there were three volunteers, Gigi nodded her head. "I'll be here to watch the game. You three can go."

Sakura moved over towards the referee, handing her the flashlight. "You might need this to keep the game functioning. We'll be back shortly."

Grabbing it, she shone it at the table. "Alright, Ian, explain your game."

The gambler had taken the liberty of taking one of the chairs for himself. "The game of deception relies entirely on who has the better card." He dealt two cards as an example. To make his point understood more, he flipped both cards. One was a six of hearts, while the other was a Jack of diamonds. "You want to finish a round with the highest valued card. To do so, you either have to make sure you keep your card, or try and give your lower valued card to the opponent."

Nova sat down across from him. "Oh? And how do you switch cards?" She was interested in the rules.

"Simple, at the end of a discussion period, both players will have to play a card in secret. That card will dictate whether they want to switch their cards or not. If only one person chooses to switch, then the cards switch around. If nobody chooses to switch, the cards remain where they are. However, if they both choose to switch, the cards still remain where they are."

Seemed simple enough to Gigi. "You said rounds. How many rounds are there?"

He didn't exactly have an answer for that. "Whatever would be appropriate with the time we have left." Given that there's only half an hour between this game and the next… "Best out of five, with three minutes to discuss each time."

That sounded reasonable enough, so Nova was on board. "The next game starts in approximately three minutes. Are the two participants ready?"

Winter sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs. "Yes, I am ready."

Dae-Hyun, however, didn't make a move just yet. Instead, he was staring at Ian. "How do I know you don't just rig this whole thing." He volunteered too readily to make a game, almost as if he predicted something like this would happen.

He didn't appreciate the accusation, but he could understand the concern. "There's no point for me to rig the outcome of a game. Besides, in the end, it's ultimately up to both of you to determine what the outcome of each round is."

That was true, in the end he had to choose whether to switch cards or not. "Fine." He moved over to take the last available seat.

"Now…" Winter turned to look at Gigi. "I'm assuming that she'll be the one shining the light onto our cards. How can we know she won't cheat?"

She went over this a dozen times, so it felt redundant to even have to say it again. "I have no intention of cheating in a game like this. As always, I remain unbiased."

"I believe her." Ian reached into the deck, pulling out the four ace cards. He handed a red and black one to both of the players. "Red means you don't want to switch, while black means you want to switch. This is how you will decide your choices. Once it's made up, you place the card face down on the table and wait till your opponent does the same."

Winter had been following along with the rules the entire time. "Seems easy enough." She eyed Dae-Hyun, trying to gaze at his expression.

However, true to nature, he didn't let his emotions show on his face. "Then can we just get started?"

Impatient bunch, they were. Ian tilted his head to the side. "Let me just reshuffle the deck, then." This would be a very interesting game to watch unfold.

Tau Sector

It took a bit, as the entire bottom floor was shrouded in shadows, with not even a flashlight to help them out.

Despite the difficulties Seira and Sakura were having navigating, Laki seemed completely unphased and didn't hesitate in her movements. "Come on guys!"

"Be careful!" The astrologist called out, extending her arm out. The only hint of light they had were the watches they had, so she could roughly make out where the lucky student was.

"Just ignore her." Sakura was sticking by Seira's side. "You might end up running into a wall if you chase after her."

Lowering her arm, the astrologist nodded her head. "Right…" She trailed off. "Say…" She tried to listen a bit in the darkness, getting an uneasy feeling. "I've never realised it before, but the station is normally so loud."

"Guess once everything is deactivated, you tend to notice things." Sakura was having the same thought. "There's no noise right now…" Besides their voices and footsteps, no other sound could be heard.

It gave Seira a slight shiver at the thought. "Makes us feel… alone." The silence itself was haunting… At least Sakura was around to provide some company.

The sound of something hitting metal could be heard, and after a few seconds, Laki spoke up. "Over here!" She waved her watch around like a beacon in the darkness.

The two girls joined up with her. "Are you sure this is the right room?" The security guard still felt herself a bit lost in all of this.

"Nope!" With the confidence of an eel, she scanned her watch against the door, opening them up to more darkness. "If I remember correctly, they were on the right!" And without feeling around the wall, she went straight right.

"Wait, slow down-" Seira tried to warn her, but the cluttering sound of flashlights at least told everyone they were right!

"Got them!" Laki turned on a flashlight, accidentally pointing them directly into Sakura's eyes, who really couldn't give less of a fuck.

"Give me that." She swiped it from the lucky student's hands. Turning it around, she flashed it at the ground. "Grab enough for everyone." So… nineteen in total.

Seira moved over towards the flashlights. "Maybe we should have gotten more people to help out."

Sakura spent some time putting some flashlights in her utility belt. "It'll be fine."

Laki quickly amassed a large sum. "Got them!" She had roughly six flashlights all stacked together.

As for Sakura, she managed to carry ten flashlights herself.

Which only left… Three for Seira. "Hey, let me help a bit." She moved over to Laki, given she had nothing to help her carry all of them.

"Hmm…" While contemplating the aide, she managed to get a seventh flashlight by kicking it up with her foot. "Nope!"

"Alright…" She reached over, grabbing the last two.

The way back was less chaotic, given that they now had a light source to use. No more bumping around in the night!

When they finally made it back to the cafeteria, they wouldn't even need to open the elevator door, as someone had done the work for them already.

Gemini was standing inside the elevator with May still sleeping on the floor. He had his eyes closed, but once he heard footsteps, he opened them to look in the general direction. "Ah, you guys are back."

"Flashlight!" Laki called out, chucking one at Gemini.

He was caught off guard, but still managed to catch it with ease. "Nice try."

"What are you doing down here?" Sakura narrowed her eyes.

He let out a sigh. "Was trying to see if there was any food available. None of us have eaten yet, so."

Seira took a glance over towards the normal service station, but the presence of food seemed absent. "No, it doesn't look like it."

"Figured as much." No point in going back, however. "I think I'll just stay here."

"If you want to." Sakura moved past him, stepping into the elevator, followed closely by Laki. "We have to return these to everyone."

Seira remained motionless for a bit before shaking her head. "I'll catch up in a bit, so go on without me." She was only carrying two flashlights, so she didn't need to go back. She had one for herself, and one for Gemini.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" She didn't want to leave the two alone with things so tense because of the motive… But it should be fine. "You should join us back soon in case a tie breaker is needed."

"Will do." Seira moved over to sit at one of the tables. She handed over a flashlight to Gemini, who had no problem in taking it.

"Thank you." he glanced over to the elevator, seeing the doors close.

Motive Room

Now that the explanation of the rules was done, both Dae-Hyun and Winter were ready to begin the game, with Ian acting as the dealer.

Shuffling the cards a bit, he handed one card to each player. "You may start now."

Winter checked her card first, her consistent smile never faltering for a moment. "And what would you have?"

Dae-Hyun waited a bit before checking his own card. Looking at it, he tilted his head to the side. "Nothing good. Do you want it?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly take your card." She shook her head. "I'm no thief, after all. You've rightfully earned your card."

It was hard to get into her head, so he had no idea if she was being coy about the whole thing. "I'm not sure what discussing would do. I might as well be better off giving my vote at random."

"Oh?" An interesting strategy, but she wasn't sure how much it would end up helping. "I would be fine with that. You must consider yourself lucky, then."

"..." He tilted his head downwards, obscuring his eyes more than they were before. "I wouldn't say that. It just feels like these types of games are pointless. In the end, it doesn't matter what we say, right? There's no way I would give you any worthwhile information."

"Hmm…" She hummed to herself. "I suppose not." Then she would throw him a freebie. "My card is the nine of diamonds."

Hearing that did catch his interest. "Is that so?" He quickly went back to pretending like it didn't matter to him. "Why tell me that?"

"Because it doesn't really matter, now does it? In the end, you won't know my final decision. You don't know how I will react."

True, he had no way of knowing that. In the end, it was still a gamble. "You could be lying to my face."

"Tee-hee… Do I look like a liar to you?" She had such an innocent looking face when she said that. "I assure you, I'm telling the truth."

Still, it was a rather large gamble to be taking.

"Time's up." Ian called out. "Please, make your choice."

"Hmm…" Dae-Hyun thought for a moment before moving one of his cards into the center.

Following him was Winter, who already had her card ready. She was just waiting for him. "Let's see."

Both players had their eyes trained on the other. At the same time, they both flipped their action cards.

Both of the cards were black, meaning they both wanted to switch.

"Nothing changed." Ian pointed out, just in case anyone was stupid enough to forget which card did what.

With both cards flipped, it was obvious who the winner was. Dae-Hyun only had a five of clubs, while, true to her words, Winter had a nine of diamonds. "I was being truthful. No reason to doubt me."

That was the problem, he had believed her, but he should have known she only did it to force him to try and steal.

Dolly looked between the two of them. "And we have to do this… four more times?"

Winter shook her head. "No, not really. Only two more times."

Her cocky attitude only irritated Dae-Hyun. "Quit talking."

"Did I strike a nerve? I apologise." However, for once, the words felt slightly empty. She slid her card over to Ian.

The gambler waited for Dae-Hyun's, but it became increasingly obvious that that wasn't happening, so he collected his card on his own.

After shuffling them around, he dealt the two of them their next card.

"I quite like this game." Winter commented as she looked at her own card. That smile of hers never faltered, so it was hard to gauge what she had gotten. "Social games are far better than anything else."
Dae-Hyun didn't make a comment. Instead, choosing to silently look at his card. "Do we have to wait till the three minutes are up?"

Wow, glad to know he was already bored of Ian's game. "You don't have to." He felt like he was getting pushed aside already. "But it would be nice if the full time was used."

Good to know for the future. "Are you going to tell the truth again this time?"

"Oh my." She covered her mouth slightly. "Were you under the impression I'd tell you every time? This time, you won't be getting that sort of information out of me." She took another glance at her card. "Tough, it might be in your best interest to swap again this time."

She was hard to read, and he felt like if he didn't say anything back, she'd just walk all over him. "Whatever you're trying to pull won't work unless I cooperate." Given she still had to predict what he was going to choose, he was careful not to reveal too much.

"True." The one downside of this game. At that point, it was just a game of luck. "However, I find it boring to play the game like that." So instead, she moved one of the aces up, and flipped it. It was revealed to be a red card, meaning she didn't want to swap. "There, now all you have to do is make your move."

At this point, Winter was really starting to get on his nerves. He wasn't that great when it came to games like this, so he wasn't sure what the best move was.

"Times up." Ian called out, leaning on his hand. This isn't how he'd play the game, but Winter seemed like a fun opponent. He'd have to keep that in mind.

Grumbling under his breath, Dae-Hyun eventually played a card. He flipped it to reveal that it was a black card, meaning he wanted to swap.

"Oh?" She was surprised that he went for it. Given that's the move she wanted him to make.

After the two exchanged cards, they were flipped, revealing who the winner was.

"I see…" While Winter had started off with a four of hearts, it would have beaten Dae-Hyun's two of clubs. "I suppose that's what I get."

"Don't play stupid and this won't happen." He glanced down at the table, his hair obscuring his eyes.

And yet, the smile remained on her face. "I was just trying to see what kind of game you would play."

Soon, a loud sigh could be heard. "This is boring!" Dolly yelled out. "Can't we make this next round for all the marbles?"

"Dolly…" Ian shook his head. "I'm having fun, so just stay quiet."
"I agree with the doll…" Dae-Hyun shook his head. "It's getting rather annoying." Especially since he felt like Ian made this sort of game specifically with Winter in mind.

"Ian, we still need to figure out what to do for the next game." Gigi pointed out.

That was true. He'd need time to hash out the rules for that one, given that the tie breaker was only twenty minutes after the last game. "Fine. One last round." Though he wasn't going to like it. Shuffling the cards around, he handed them over to the two players.

However, before even looking at his card, Dae-Hyun moved one of his aces up, still face down.

That caught Winter off guard, but her smile remained. "You're not even going to bother checking your card?" That ruined the entire point of a social game, now didn't it?

"It means you won't be able to influence anything I do, and you won't be able to read my face… Seems perfect to me." It was mostly done in protest to Ian's stupid game. It was clear he was trying to give Winter the win here, and he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Well…" The love guru took a look at her own card. Ten of spades. Pretty decently high card. But that didn't matter when she didn't know what Dae-Hyun did as his choice. "Well, you already made your choice, so it wouldn't be a problem to flip your card now, would it?"

He didn't budge. Not even an inch. "No." Was his sole answer.

Seeing all of this, Ian couldn't help but enjoy it. "It's always so fun seeing how different players approach games." He also could admire that Dae-Hyun was leaving this one up to luck.

As the seconds ticked down, Winter was running out of choices. There was no way to try to read Dae-Hyun if he wasn't at least going to cooperate. "Fine." She had made her choice. Sliding her card over towards the center of the table, she flipped it, revealing her choice. A black card. She would switch. "Do you even know what card you chose?"

"Not really." He'd be just as surprised as her. Flipping the card, he showed off a red ace, meaning he wouldn't want to switch.

That wasn't the choice she had been hoping for. "Alright." She took his card, taking a deep breath. Odds were low, but there was still some hope. When she flipped the card, however, her ideals were shattered into pieces. "You had a four." She deadpanned, placing it down.

"Good to know." Dae-Hyun didn't bother flipping Winter's old card. "Judging on your reaction, I'll say I won that."

"... Yes." She smiled at him. "Your strategy was risky, but congratulations on your win." She could at least act civil, even if she didn't mean it.

Ian quickly stood up. That left him only about fifteen minutes to think of a new game. "Give me some time."

"Are you sure?" Nova tilted her head to the side. "Some facilities should be running again shortly."

The gambler waved his hand dismissively. "Sit down and watch greatness." He didn't want Nova to interfere with any of this.

Cafeteria

The two of them were alone now, in the darkness, and Seira was having a hard time trying to figure out what to say to the silent Gemini. After a while, she took a deep breath, turning to look at him. "Why did you come down here?"

"Hmm?" He glanced over at her. "Ah, I think I just needed some fresh air."

Fresh air… in the space station. "That doesn't… exactly make sense."

"No, it didn't." He couldn't lie about that. "Truth is that I'm still holding out hope that there's a way out. If we win this last game, then the truth team… Your team will be up for death."

Placing the flashlight down, Seira tilted her head to the side. "That's true… No matter what happens, one of us will be at risk of dying."

"We can't have that. Not after recently forming the Gemini Gang™." He placed a hand on his hip, before letting out a sigh. "Do you want to try and do something with me?"

"H-huh?" What an oddly vague request. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

He had but one idea on what to do at a time like this. "I want to go check out the exit again. See if there's anything we can do."

Oh! That was something they could do. "Yeah, let's go."

Without waiting for her to shine the light in the direction of the elevator, Gemini moved over and pressed the button. It didn't take long for the doors to open, and for May to still be on the ground.

"Don't mind me…" She mumbled out.

Ignoring her as to her wishes, the two waited patiently in the elevator. "Do you think we'll be able to do something at the exit?"

"I'm hoping. I've been too scared to try because of what lies beyond."

The elevator dinged open, and the two were allowed to walk out, leaving May behind.

While the exit was on the other side of the Omicron Sector, it didn't take long for them to reach their destination.

Gemini spent a few seconds looking at it, his eyes fixated on it.

Seira was doing the same thing. Despite being here for almost a week, she hadn't gone to explore this room for herself. "It really is…" She couldn't tear her eyes away from the small windows. The stars were lovely today. "It brings some solace…" Maybe she was waiting until now to see them. That way the impact would be increased.

On the other hand, Gemini didn't have time to worry about the stars. "Since this is the exit, there has to be a way to open it." Sure, Alan and the others might not have found a way, but they weren't like him in the slightest. "If we can get this open." Freedom would await.

Forcing her eyes away from the windows, Seira looked over at the escapist. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if we just get thrown out?"

That was always a possibility, but he wouldn't let fear stop him. "Clearly it's set up like this so we don't try it." Now he was starting to sound like Alan.

Maybe, but was the risk even worth it? "What do you want me to do?" But this was Gemini, and out of everyone here, he was one of the people who always seemed to have his head screwed on right.

He brought Seira along, and yet he wasn't even sure what he wanted her to do. "I'll see if I can climb up the entire door." There were barely any places to climb, however he was confident in his own skills. "I'm a master at this, watch." He grabbed onto part of the door protruding out, and slowly managed to make his way up.

Seira watched on with interest, given she didn't think it was possible. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"You know…" He stopped climbing to think for a moment. "I don't know." Nor did he care at this very moment. All that mattered was reaching the top. Alan and the others had mentioned that there was a puzzle about this entire thing.

After almost slipping to his death a few dozen times, he finally made it in a more advantageous position. "Let's see…" He could see the piece they had been talking about. While it was pretty high off the ground, he didn't seem at all concerned about falling.

"Aren't you afraid of heights?" Seira wasn't but he was being rather casual about the entire thing.

Grinning at the very thought, he shook his head. "If I were, I wouldn't have become the Ultimate Escapist."

"How… how does that…?" She couldn't connect the two dots, so she gave up entirely.

Given that he seemed to be busy at the moment, she recalled something that was mentioned. "They spoke of some statues here, right?" She moved over until she found the Monokawa one. Looking down at it, she narrowed her eyes. "Kaye…" There it was. Plain as day.

"Something to you?" Gemini called out as he fiddled around with the puzzle. He wasn't a genius by any means, but he wasn't going to lose to something like this.

"It's…" It was at the back of her head. "A person." She finally realised. "Some person I've spoken to, I'm sure of it."

That was enough to cause Gemini to stop what he was doing. "You know someone who's related to this entire thing?"

"Well… I…" That sounded bad, but it wasn't like that! "I don't remember exactly. But Kaye is their last name."
"Did you meet them through astrology?" While solving this door was important, getting to the bottom of who Kaye was, was just as important.

Thinking about it deeply, Seira shook her head. "I just… don't remember. I think I met them because of something related to astrology, but they weren't really into it themselves." The more she probed her thoughts, the hazier her memories got. "Thinking about it some more won't lead to any answers…" How could she forget something so important at a time like this?

A loud sigh could be heard. "Hate to bring even more bad news, but…" Gemini had finished the puzzle, but nothing happened. "This door is a bust."

"What do you mean?" Seira moved away from the Monokawa statue. As she approached the exit, she figured out what he meant. Sure, the puzzle was finished, but nothing else appeared. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Accept whatever fate may bring them was an answer that popped into Gemini's head, but he wasn't the type to say that out loud. "We pray, I guess." For someone to come save them. As the escapist, he felt like he had failed here today. Then again, escaping wasn't always instant.

Glancing at the ground, he mentally measured the distance he would have to fall. When he concluded he could make the fall with minimum injuries, he let himself drop.

Of course, that didn't come without Seira panicking. "What are you-"

As soon as he connected with the ground, he rolled, softening the blow. Although it still caused a fair bit of pain. Once most of it had subsided, he quickly stood up. "Perfectly fine, as always!" He would not be doing that again.

While he was disappointed that the exit ended up being a dead end, they were still able to learn some information. "So this Kaye person, was it anyone you were close to?"

"No, I don't believe so. I wouldn't have forgotten someone close to me. I think I only spoke to them a handful of times. I also never saw their face. Our interactions were via emails."

That's information he'd do well to remember. "Alright, the first game of today should be concluding. We should see what fate has in store for us." For now, he prayed that his team hadn't completely won by now.

Seira wanted to say something else, but the results of the ninth game were a bit more pressing right now. "Right, let's go now."

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Ideals Room

Winter had moved over here after her loss. Not that she was really feeling down or anything. The truth team still had to win two games for them to be in danger. And given their track record… She knew her team would be fine.

However, she wasn't the only person in this room. Slowly shifting her eyes to the side, she noticed that Dolly, and by association, Benjamin, were in the room.

"You did great!" Dolly called out.

"Tee-hee, thank you, but I lost." No running from that truth.

The doll crossed her arms. "Doesn't change the fact that you were great! You did better than I did!"

That's because you went all in when you really shouldn't have. "I suppose." She did play a better game. It's just that Dae-Hyun was an impossible opponent. "But any reason you joined me here?"

"Oh!" Well! No! Dolly hadn't thought of that. "Just trying to make friends, I guess!"

Make friends? In this economy- "Oh? And you believe I'd be a good candidate for that?"

"Of course!" Dolly moved over closer. "I want to be friends with everyone here!"

That certainly was a goal… during a killing game. Winter's smile faltered slightly. "With everyone? Even with someone like Atlas?"

Well, that was going to be more of a challenge, but she was always down for it. "Yup! Nothing is going to stop me from being friends with him!"

Except maybe Atlas himself. "Honey, I'm not sure he'd want to be friends with you." Or anyone, for that matter. "You saw what he did to Michael the other day, right?"

"Nope!" Dolly had been missing during that game. "Did he give him a hug?"

"Crushed him."

"So a hug?"

This was going nowhere. "But hey, instead of him, I'd happily offer myself to be your friend. And, who knows, I might even be willing to use my talent to help you."

That sounded great! "Oh! You should set me up with a cute boy!"

She raised her eyebrow, before she glanced beyond Dolly to look at Benjamin. "For you, or Benjamin?"

"For me! Duh! Master doesn't go that way!" Dolly quickly responded. "There were a few choice people I've seen."

Hmm… "Well, I do have to warn you, I don't do anything for free. So I'll have to charge you. But don't worry, as a friend, you'll get a discount." Long pause. "5% off."

"What a steal!" Dolly loved the idea.

Not that she could charge them right now, but it was good to keep in the future. "And if not with money, you could offer some help to me here." Which would probably be the better pay off.

Seeing no problem with that, Dolly agreed with the terms.

"So, who is your ideal man?" It felt strange for Winter to be doing this here of all places, but maybe it was comforting.

"Oh!" That wouldn't take very long to think of. "They've gotta be athletic! I love myself a muscle man." So Benoit- "Who's also confident." -not Benoit. Oh Atlas- "Who's also kind-"

Winter let out a sigh. "You're asking for too much already, I'm afraid."

"What?" She flailed her arms around. "That feels like the bare minimum!" She couldn't possibly be asking for too much… right?

Well, maybe it wasn't asking for too much, but given the people who were even on this station, she'd have better luck surviving the killing game and finding someone after this whole ordeal is done. Easier said than done, however. "If you had to make a compromise on one of those things, which would it be?"

Dolly mumbled some things under her breath. "I guess I can make do without the muscles… But they need to be confident and kind!"

That was far more manageable, and it opened up to more possibilities. "There's Gemini, for one."

"Ah yes! The pretty boy!" She had found him decently attractive. He seemed confident and definitely had kindness. But he wasn't the most muscular person out there.

"Hmm…" Winter had to think for a moment. "But do remember that they'd have to be alright going for a doll." She knew she wouldn't be.

Dolly struck a pose. "What do you mean? I'm stunning to look at! Have you seen my clothes? Master picked them out for me himself."

Slowly, Winter's eyes drifted over towards Benjamin. During this entire conversation, he hadn't made a single facial expression, nor did he seem to talk. She knew the voice was coming from him, but it was remarkable how good he was at hiding it. There was only the slightest movement. "He seems to have good taste." While it wouldn't be something Winter herself would wear, she couldn't lie and say that it looked nice on Dolly.

"He does!" She seemed excited. "He knows best. Oh! Wait! Back to getting the best dream boy!" However, a thought appeared in her head. "Say, what's your dream boy?"

Oh? Well she wasn't expecting the questions to be directed towards her now. "Well isn't this a bit of a twist." Still, she didn't mind one bit. Especially not if it warmed up Dolly to her. Having a return customer was always nice. "I'm not too picky myself." Compared to Dolly, at the very least. "I wish to be with someone formal. Someone like Atlas simply isn't my style." Damn, none of these bitches wanted Atlas.

"You hang around Michael a lot, right?" The doll pointed out. "But he doesn't seem too formal."

"No, he isn't." Which was disappointing. "But he's at least polite." And wow, what an ally for letting Melody choose the game she wanted without complaining. "However, formalities aren't the only thing I'd like. Traditions are important to me as well, so I'd want someone who could respect that."

Wow, compared to Dolly, Winter had way less criteria. "But you look great! You could afford to be pickier."

Letting out a giggle, Winter shook her head. "Now, now. This whole thing is to focus on who you would love as a partner, not to focus on me.

For a moment, Dolly had completely forgotten that this entire conversation was dedicated to her finding a love interest. "Right! Right! Pretty boy!" Referring back to Gemini. "Oh! There's also Gennosuke." She really liked her G's.

Hearing that, her smile faltered again. "Ah, I'm not sure if Gennosuke would be the best fit. He seems more on the lazy side." With the amount of times she had seen him lounging around and all. It's like he didn't care that they were in a killing game.

"Then…" That really only left Gemini in her eyes. "I will focus all my attention on him!"

"Glad to hear." After a bit of pause, she tilted her head. "Now, comes the price." She began running the numbers in her head, after her calculation, she tilted her head in a different direction. "And then apply the 5% off…" Oh wow. That was expensive. "Maybe it's best I tell you the price later."

That sounded ominous. Slowly turning towards Benjamin, Dolly trembled slightly. "Master… I'm not sure we'll be able to afford rent anymore…"

"I'm always looking forward to your services again. And if you make any leeway with Gemini, bring him too." That way there were two people paying this time.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Motive Room

There were only about ten minutes left before the next game, and Ian had just figured out what he wanted the next game to be.

"No, no. I insist." Nova took a step towards him. "We really should just wait a bit longer for the games to come back online."

Still, the gambler wasn't having any of that. "Nope! I already figured out what the last game would be." Although, he knew it wasn't going to be the last one. He'd hate for the fun to end here.

Shuffling his card around. A smile appeared on his face. "Besides, this one uses the dark to its advantage."

Hearing that did seem to interest Nova. "Oh? In what way?" Her sour attitude had changed on a dime.

Having his cards fly from one hand to the other, he tilted his head to the side. "It'll be a very simple game. The goal is to find the card I called out."

… "Sounds boring." Tatiana didn't see how this could even compare to a grand finale of the motive. Not that the other two games would have been the case either.

"You can make up the games if you want." Ian wasn't going to take this attitude from her.

"Gladly!" The knife thrower took a step forward, brandishing one of her knives. "Then-"

A collective no could be heard from all the truth team, including Nova and Ian.

"Hey, as much as I want to win." Ian shook his head. "I still think this should be played fair. Isn't that right, Gigi?"

"Huh… Yes." She had no idea why he targeted her of all people. "I wish it to be a fair game."

Hae-Won let out a small sigh. "Can you just get along with what the game is?" She was running out of patience, and the time was ticking dangerously close to the start time.

Shuffling his cards around again, a grin appeared on the gambler's face. "Like I was saying. This game is about finding the one card I described. It could be the queen of hearts, it could be the five of spades. All you need to do is find it." As an example, he began tossing cards in the air.

They could only see the front of the card for a few seconds before it flipped around.

"Using your flashlight, you're supposed to look for the card. You'll each have a small list of cards you'll have to look for."

Seemed like it could be a short game after all. Hae-Won didn't really seem to mind. "And who would be throwing the cards?"

This was the hardest part. "I will." Ian admitted. "But if you think I'm going to cheat." He pointed over to Gigi. "She can always stand right next to me to prevent that."

At first, the tattoo artist was hesitant at Ian having any hand in this game. However, her trust in Gigi was pretty high. "Very well."

"Oh." Ian added. "No collecting the cards from your opponents. If you try and claim them as yours, it will go to your opponent."

Simple rules. Find your cards, give them to Ian.

Once both girls had received their list of cards, they inspected them.

Hae-Won had to collect the two of hearts, the seven of spades, the nine of hearts, the jack of clubs, and lastly, the ace of spades.
As for Tatiana, she had a different list. The two of diamonds, the seven of clubs, the ten of diamonds, the queen of hearts, and lastly, the king of diamonds. "Ah-HA!" The knife thrower pointed out at Hae-Won. "Prepare for your defeat!"

"If I lose this, my entire team dies, you know?" She felt the need to point out.

"W-well! Yes! I see!" But the knife thrower also didn't want to die, so instead she just coughed awkwardly.

Ian had the entire deck in his hands again. "Are you ready?"

Both girls nodded their heads. As they did, all flashlights turned off, except for the ones that belonged to them.

"Then begin!" He announced as cards began to fly through the air.

As the cards began to fly around, Tatiana realised immediately just what kind of problem she would be facing. "Huh…" It was difficult for her to see the cards as they were. While she could tell that a card was red or black, the number was harder to deduce unless she quickly counted. And the suit was a different problem altogether.

The first card she managed to crab was the queen of hearts. "Yes." Looking at Hae-Won, she still hadn't collected any cards. Which meant the lead was hers. She couldn't play recklessly here, or else she'd pick the wrong card.

Hae-Won wasn't as pressed as Tatiana was. She shone her light around the various cards. She spotted the two of hearts, but let it fall to the ground. Her real concern was getting the nine, the jack, and the ace of spades.

The latter being the easiest to spot. "There." Before it landed on the ground, she managed to swipe it out of the air, followed by the jack of clubs. Two out of five this early wasn't bad.

"Ugh…" Tatiana had witnessed that, and grew increasingly worried. Her eyes weren't doing her any favours, but she managed to nab the ten of diamonds out of the air. Or at least what she assumed was the ten of diamonds. It was either that or hearts, but she was confident!

As for Hae-Won, it didn't take long for her to find the nine of hearts. Although, to find this one, she had to rummage on the ground, given most cards had landed by this point. Two left, and they'd be safe until the tiebreaker.

Now Tatiana herself was picking up the pace. Her next card was the seven of clubs, which was one of the last remaining cards floating around. Now she just had the two, and the king left.

Now that the knife thrower was on the ground, she was able to blaze through a lot more cards in her search. Ultimately, it allowed her to find the king of diamonds with ease.

Which put Hae-Won behind by one card too. "You aren't half bad." At this game Ian made up five minutes ago.

"Ah-HA! Of course I'm not bad! I'm a master of details! The champion of all! Luna of the night!" All she needed was her trusty flashlight to win this game.

While she was off being dramatic, Hae-Won managed to find her next card. The two of hearts. Not that it was too hard to find. She remembered where she had left it fall. Now, there really was a chance-

"Done!" Tatiana called out, having all five cards she needed. "Easy game, Ian. Next time, come up with something more challenging."

Oh, that was quick. Ian was almost impressed. Almost. "Show me what you got."

"Read them and weep!" She didn't know why she was saying that to Ian, given he was her teammate… But she wanted someone to weep, goddammit!

Looking at it, his neutral expression slowly changed to a smile. "Tatiana." He tilted his head to the side. "That seven of clubs you collected… was actually the seven of spades."

Oh! Well! That's embarrassing. "Ha… ha! Well! Back into the fray I go!"

"No." Ian collected the cards. "The game is over." He eyed Hae-Won, who put down the cards she had collected.

Although, she only had four on the table. "I was only missing one card. The seven of spades. Which you so kindly collected."

"Huh…?" Wait, how was any of this fair? They had a card that looked almost identical. Same number, same colour. Her vision had betrayed her.

"Then it seems that the winner is Hae-Won!" Nova announced, which meant they had even more games to play!

Gigi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow how this all turned out, but chose to remain silent for the time being.

Suddenly, the lights flashed on, bringing some much needed light to the room.

"Ah!" Nova called out gleefully. "It seems the power is slowly being restored. Some more facilities should now be functional…" She trailed off. "On this floor."

"Is the other floor still inactive?" Gigi shook her head.

"Well, the doors on the lower floor should be fine. But most functions are still offline as of now. Which is fine, given that all that matters right now is this room. The tie breaker will begin in ten minutes. Please make sure you are there for that."

Right, most people would need to be available. "I will go find the others." Gigi announced as she left the room.

"Good game out there, kid." Hae-Won greeted Tatiana. "In all honesty, it was a real shitty matchup for you. The game itself, not being against me."

"I… I swear my vision isn't that bad!" She tried to defend herself. But not even being able to differentiate clubs from spades… Wow it was far gone from where it used to be. "Hopefully I'm picked for the tie breaker so I can fix my mistake!"

There was a chance that the two would be up against each other again. Though, the odds were rather low. "I'm looking forward to that."

Omicron Sector

Given that the final round was about to begin, Gigi wanted as many people to be there as possible. Especially with the rules of the tie breaker. Given that anyone could end up as the participant chosen. The first stop she made was to knock at all the remaining doors. "Hey! Get up!" The few people who were missing included May, Lorelei, Alan, Gennosuke, Edison, and Michael. Although, she already knew where May was.

After knocking on the five doors, she only got responses from three of them.

"What?" Lorelei moved out of her room, adjusting her hair. It looked like a mess, but she was quick to fix it. She could not do a bad hair day.

"Huh?" Edison stumbled out into the hallway. "How did I oversleep?" He quickly looked around. "That's unlike me!"

Gigi could have explained it to everyone, but the game was much more pressing.

The last person to step out of their room was Gennosuke, who seemed annoyed at the thought of even being woken up. "Hey… I don't go around waking you up."

What she could explain was the scoring. "I need everyone in the motive room, now. The tiebreaker is about to start."

"What?" The cyber security didn't take that too well. "What the hell happened to the lead I so carefully created!?"

The referee rolled her eyes. "You only added one point, so don't act like you are some grandmaster. Hae-Won and Dae-Hyun both won their games. Monokawa is about to declare the last two players, as well as what game will be played."

"Then let's go!" If it was going to be Edison, he had the chance to redeem himself after a humiliating loss.

The other two weren't so keen on hurrying up. "There's still time left." Lorelei looked at her watch. "We still have three minutes left."

They were being difficult, but Gigi had to move on. Seemingly Alan and Michael didn't answer the door, so she'd move onto May, who was still sleeping in the elevator. Once the doors were opened, she looked down at the girl. "Get up."

The academic prodigy opened up one eye. "Hmm…?" Tilting her head to the side, she looked up at Gigi. "What time is it…?"

"It's time for the tiebreaker. I wish for everyone to attend."

Oh? That time already? How long had she been sleeping? This elevator was surprisingly comfortable. Slowly, she staggered to her feet, leaning on the wall for some support. "I'll be there… soon…"

While May was far more lazy than the likes of Lorelei and Gennosuke, she also believed her to be smarter, so there was no point in worrying about her. "I believe you." Now, it was time for Gigi to make her way to the motive room.

One last game to decide the fate of the teams…

Motive Room

With the scores tied up, it was now time to figure out what the tie breaker was going to be.

Nova let out a small sigh. "The lights are back on, but some things are still offline. The entire bottom floor still needs to be repaired."
Gigi had managed to gather almost everyone, with a few people missing. "I tried to wake everyone else up, but some people were adamant on sleeping." Still, odds were that the people here would be chosen for the tiebreaker. "So how exactly is any of this being decided?"

"Glad you asked!" Monokawa floated over towards her, completely blocking her from Nova. "I made a very neat contraption specifically for this tiebreaker!" Monokawa revealed just how they were going to randomise everything! It waaaas… A wheel.

"Underwhelming." Laki shook her head. "Couldn't there have been a better way?"

"Hey! You make something better when the power isn't working!" The otter began to mumble some obscenities under his breath. "First up, since the truth team is losing-" the scores were tied. "-we'll figure out who's going first for them!" He moved his paw over the wheel, giving it a hearty spin.

So much so that it spun around for a solid minute before it showed even a hint at slowing down.

Slowly, Laki moved her finger over to stop the wheel. "There." She wanted to get this last game started.

The person it landed on was Dae-Hyun.

"Again…" He mumbled out. He had already gone up today, so he wasn't expecting to go up again.

"Sorry champ, them the rules." Monokawa shrugged before spinning the next wheel. This time, he put less force into it.

Even so, Laki went to stop it, but she was blocked by the otter anyway.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" He warned her. "Don't do it again!" He didn't want this one to be ruined.

Slowly, the wheel began to come to a crawl, before stopping unexpectedly on the participant for the ideals team.

"Nice." Ian didn't really seem to mind that he was going up.

"Odd…" Edison hummed out. "The wheel should have kept its momentum a bit longer."

The gambler shook his head. "You just don't want me to go up." He moved over to stand next to Dae-Hyun. "Looks like I'll be your opponent." He offered his hand.

The talent manager did not return the favour. "What are we playing?"

"I'm getting there!" Monokawa had to move some stuff around, so he was a little bit busy. Replacing the wheel with the game wheel, he turned to look at everyone. "Well… Not all of these will work, so we'll spin until we find one that does. That said!" Spinning time!

He spun it with the same ferocity as the first time. All while making sure Laki didn't stop it prematurely.

As the wheel slowed to a crawl, it revealed the final game that would be played for the tie breaker…

…

Russian Roulette.

"Oh?" Ian tilted his head to the side. "I was hoping for poker again, but there's a bit of gambling involved in this one." He turned his back over to Dae-Hyun, who didn't really seem to care that much. "What's the matter?"

At first, the talent manager didn't reply. His eyes were fixated on the gun that presented itself on the table. Once he realised he was being spoken to, he turned his attention back to the annoyance. "Nothing. Just not sure how it's good for you to have me as an opponent."

Oh? A little fight. That was always welcomed. A sly grin appeared on Ian's face. "We'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" He reached over for the gun, gripping the handle tightly. He weighed it around a bit before spinning the cylinder. "Let's see how long we can make this last." He pressed the gun right against his skull, and pulled the trigger.

CLICK!

Placing the firearm on the table, he slid it over towards Dae-Hyun. "Your turn." He taunted him.

However, that more or less fell at deaf ears, given he wasn't going to play his games. Picking up the revolver, he wasted no time in spinning the cylinder. "Your words won't work against me." Pressing the barrel against his head, he pulled the trigger.

CLICK!

The gun was returned to Ian.

"No, I suppose not." That wasn't fun. It worked on Sakura, but Dae-Hyun didn't even humour him like she did. "We should make this quick, right?" A spin and trigger pull later…

CLICK!

Edison let out a small sigh. "At this rate, there's a chance that the game doesn't end." It was a small chance, but it was still a chance nonetheless. "Maybe we should make a new rule?" He suggested.

"Whaaat?" Monokawa floated over to him. "And ruin the suspense? Never! This needs to be intense! Someone's life could end at any moment!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Nobody is going to die. We've already seen this game before."

"Have you?" The otter titled his head. "I guess technically you have. But I can assure you this one is leagues more intense."

CLICK!

With another empty shot, Dae-Hyun passed the revolver over to Ian.

"You know." The gambler began to say, taking the revolver. "There's a lot on the line here, given the motive." CLICK!

Receiving the revolver again, he placed it against his head after spinning the cylinder. "Your point?" CLICK!

He let out a small mischievous laugh. "Well, since we're the representatives of our teams, I feel like we should make this more interesting." CLICK! "Who ever loses offers up their life to end the motive."

Dae-Hyun stopped momentarily when that was said. "Why would I agree to that?" He resumed the song and dance of picking up the revolver and spinning the cylinder. CLICK! "Besides, there's no way to enforce that. It'd be on the honour system. There's no way I can trust your words."

Letting out a semi defeated sigh, it was now Ian's turn. "Don't you have the smallest semblance of trust in me?" CLICK! "I have no reason to lie to you. If I lose, my life is also forfeit."

Getting the revolver back, Dae-Hyun was growing increasingly annoyed with this entire game. So much so that he didn't even bother to spin the cylinder. He pulled the trigger once the barrel was pressed against his head. CLICK!

"Oh?" That caught the gambler by surprise. "I didn't know you were that kind of man." Following suit, Ian refrained from spinning. "Let's end this now, shall we? Winner gets to walk away. Loser offers up their life to end the motive."

"Oh! This is so exciting!" Monokawa couldn't contain his joy as he floated around the room.

Sakura glanced over at him. "Why are you so energised by this?" Normally he'd be deemed the lazy one. That's how he was for the other games. And yet… This time it was different. Her eyes shifted over towards the game.

Dae-Hyun pressed the gun against his temple. "Anything to get you to stop talking."

Tilting his head to the side, Ian's expression shifted ever so slightly, almost eerily similar to Monokawa's.

Something was going on… And Sakura wasn't going to wait around to see it happen. She quickly moved over to Dae-Hyun, putting her hand on the barrel of the revolver. Quickly, she moved the revolver so it was no longer facing towards Dae-Hyun.

As the revolver changed trajectory to the ground, the trigger was pulled as originally intended.

Except, unlike last time, the noise was entirely different as a bullet was discharged out of the chamber, hitting the floor a few feet away from Dae-Hyun.

After it ricocheted off the floor, it lodged itself into the wall, inches away from Nova's head. Her visor quickly turned to a furious expression.

"Oh wow." Monokawa didn't show even an ounce of surprise. "How did that get in there?"

Melody paled up slightly. "L-Live ammunition?"

Sakura stepped away from the two of them. "What's the meaning of this?"

Meanwhile, the talent manager said nothing. Instead, only choosing to look at where the bullet landed.

"Huh…" Ian seemed a tad disappointed. "And that's how it ends?"

"Monokawa." Nova turned her head towards him, a bit of anger apparent in her voice. "Why was the revolver loaded with actual ammunition? It was to remain like it was last time."

The otter shrugged. "I thought it'd raise the stakes. Besides, someone made me do it." He shrugged.

Slowly standing up, Ian stretched a bit. "So someone spoke to you about this?"

"Don't play dumb." Monokawa floated over to him. "You're the one who asked me to do it. But only under the promise that you'd participate."

The gambler glanced the other way, proving his guilt right away.

"Ian!" Sakura took a step forward, grabbing him by the shirt collar. Effortlessly, she was able to pick him up off the ground. "What the hell were you thinking?"

He didn't seem too phased by the entire thing. "What? I don't see the problem. The motive was ending anyways, so we should have just let it happen."

Gemini reached his hand over. "Put him down, it's not worth it." Although he could understand some of the rage that was being felt.

If it was just him and her, much worse would have happened. But seeing as nobody was actually hurt, and people were watching, she politely placed him on the ground.

Naaah she just dropped the fucker. "Fine."

Dusting himself off, Ian shook his head. He was going to say something else, but Nova spoke up.

"And that concludes the tiebreaker for the motive. While technically Dae-Hyun was not hit by the bullet, that was due to outside interference. Since he would have lost regardless, I will attribute the victory to the other team, making the final score 6-5 for ideals." Her expression changed to a sad one. "Which means that the truth team has lost, and thus, will fall victim to the penalty at the nighttime announcement."

"H-how… How will the punishment be handed out?" Benoit felt like maybe knowing would put him at ease.

Monokawa shook his head. "What's the benefit in telling you? If you know, you'd be able to prepare yourself."

"W-we have a right to know!" Seira called out. "Please…"

Nova held her hands together, shaking her head. "I'll have to agree with Monokawa here. Knowing would ruin the fun, so you shall remain in the dark." She took a bow. "It was a pleasure knowing you all."

With that, she made her exit, leaving the room in silence.

"Wow!" Monokawa looked around. "Sure is depressing over here." After receiving several glares, he shook his head. "Tough crowd." After being mentally booed, he flew towards the door.

"Now what…" Atlas looked at the ground. "We're just supposed to accept our death?"

"Well!" Lorelei didn't really seem to care too much. "You could always just kill someone."

"How about I start with you, then?" He took a step towards her.

Looking up at him, she couldn't help but plaster a smirk on her face. "Go ahead. You have an audience."

Even he wasn't stupid enough to kill in front of a group. Besides, he had other reasons not to kill her. "Fine…" He stepped back, looking the other way.

"Besides…" Gennosuke spoke up, tilting his head ever so slightly. His eyes drifted to look at the gambler. "Wouldn't Ian make for a better target? Given he just tried to kill one of you?"

The gambler rolled his eyes, infuriated that they still weren't getting his point. "I don't think you've realised that my life was on the line too. I could have died as well. I doubt Sakura would have stepped in to save me."

The security guard chose to remain silent at such an accusation, which only strengthened its validity.

"See?" But hey, nobody was able to see the bigger picture here. "Instead, how about you all go enjoy your final moments here." He placed his hands in his pockets, showcasing a mostly neutral expression.

A few people wanted to say things to him, but the mood had already grown so grim, so they opted to just leave the room instead, leaving him mostly alone. "Hmm…" Things hadn't gone the way he had hopped, but at least he was still alive for the time being…

Cleaning Room

Edison couldn't help but stare at his watch. His team had lost, which meant his time here was now limited. Not a negative thought he wanted in his mind. "Dang it…" If only he had won that game against Gennosuke, then things would have turned out differently. But now, he was going to be dead soon.

"Hello!" The voice of someone he hadn't been too eager to hear spoke up. It was Laki. "What are you doing here all alone?"

Of course, he couldn't show weakness in front of her, of all people! "Enjoying… the scenery?" Yeah that's about as best as he could muster right now.

Looking around, she couldn't exactly piece together what scenery he was talking about. But maybe it just wasn't her style. "This just seems like the cleaning room."

"Astute observation…" He trailed off, not adding anything else to it. "I just wanted to be alone. And given… Nobody uses this room." Poor cleaning room, with it's zero screen time. "I thought it would be best to come here." Which now begged the question. "Why are you here?"

She had to think about that for a moment. "Hmm… I saw you come in here, so I wanted to see what fun things you were up to." Last time, he tried to blow up a cabinet. This time… "But it's boring, so I'm leaving."

"S-so soon?" He didn't really like Laki, given she was too high energy for him, but it would be nice to talk to someone else at least. "Your team won." He pointed out the obvious.

"Duh! We had myself and Ian. It was impossible to lose." Hell, the two of them combined contributed to half of their teams wins. "And then the other team had you, so."

"H-hey!" Now she was just putting him down for no reason. "I like to think I'm better than that…" He adjusted his goggles. It had been two days since his humiliating loss against Gennosuke, and people were still making fun of him. Well, only really two people, but that was still two too many! "Well, not everyone can have easy opponents like you did."

"Haha!" The lucky student let out a laugh, a sparkle in her eyes. "None of the games compared to mine! I got to go on the hunt for a target!" Well, calling him a target might have been wrong- "I wish he put up more of a fight. But nonetheless, it was thrilling."

"Is that how you became the lucky student?" She always seemed to be waiting for the next thrill, so it was a fair conclusion to make.

As if she even had to say it. "Duh! I've very rarely been hurt." She began poking at one of her bandages. "These were only a few rare instances! And since being here, that number has been zero."

Someone like her sounded dangerous. "So, if I were to attempt to hurt you, what would happen?"

"It simply wouldn't work." Bold statement from Laki over here. "You can try if you want!"

The chemist quickly shook his head. "I'd rather not!" He didn't want to accidentally kill her with a chemical or something. And physically… He wasn't going to be able to do much damage. "Hmm…" He thought for a moment before an idea appeared in his head. "You remind me of one of my sisters."

Uh-oh! That couldn't be a good thing! "In which way?"

"Well…" How could he best describe this? "She's always doing things that could get her hurt. And she's pretty sporty!" Long silence. That was it.

"..." Reasonably Laki had nothing to say right away. "What? That's it. I'm much more than someone who's sporty and almost gets hurt all the time!" Said the girl who almost gets hurt all the time. "Besides!" She poked at one of her bandages. "I haven't been hurt in a long time!" Instead, it seemed like she was the one to do the hurting. Poor Alan.

He figured that he might have gone about describing her wrong. "No, you really do remind me of her. She's always down to try crazy things."

"Oh, then yeah that's me!" That changed everything! "Why does she sound so much cooler than you?"

"H-hey…! I'm cool!" He lied. "But my entire family is like that. I'm the oddball."

That only disappointed the lucky student. "So out of all the cool people we could have gotten, we're stuck with you?"

This felt less like a free time event, and more like Laki just insulting Edison for a thousand words.

Not liking where any of this was going, Edison figured the best way out of this dilemma was to just start talking about Laki instead. People loved talking about themselves! "What about you? Why do you love thrill seeking?" A fair question.

Oh, that was a fun one! "Because it's fun!"

Not the answer he was hoping for. "Hypothetically speaking, why is it fun?"

What is this? A test? Tests are for nerds. "It's fun because it's fun! Nothing more to it!"

Really, how would she ever succeed in school with such a basic answer like that. "Don't make me have you write an essay…" He swirled his flask around, which started to change to a dark purple.

"Oh!" That was boring so she'd avoid that at all costs. "It's fun because it's one of the only things that makes me feel… anything!"

Now that was a better answer- "What do you mean by that?" Thinking about it, it only confused him. "Like you don't feel emotions?"

"No, I feel emotions. I can be happy, excited, thrilled…!" She was running out of emotions.

Edison noticed right away that she struggled to name anything else except positive emotions. "Do you feel sadness, fear?"

She tilted her head to the side, a bit confused. "I don't believe I've ever felt those, no."

No fear? What was she made of? "How can you never be sad?" Clearly, she was an anomaly. "You must be studied."

"That sounds fun!" She always wanted to be a test subject. "For what?"

"Your brain. Clearly something is wrong with it." Unfortunately, he was a chemist, so it was out of his area of expertise. "Maybe Nova would be good for this."

While this conversation had started off boring, given she had to spend time with Edison, he really turned it around. "Wonder if I could feel negative emotions after that."

"... Do you want to feel negative emotions?" He couldn't see why someone would want to, but here he was. Then again, there wasn't anything bad about feeling them. It just made people more human after all.

Given she always wanted to know what it was like, it was a definitive yes! "It's always fun to experience something new. Maybe I should go ask them now."

"Hmm… Do you even know where they are-"

"Nope!" She ran out of the room calling. Having her brain picked apart would be a blast!

Edison stood around awkwardly, not really knowing just what kind of damage he might have caused. "Eh, she called me boring." He put away his flask and left the room.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Vacant Room

With certain doom just waiting around the corner for the truth team, Gigi found herself pacing back and forth in front of her own room. Was this how it was all going to end? On some space ship? With nobody knowing their fate? All while the other half got to live? She didn't… She didn't want to die. Biting her thumb, she glanced over to see some people had approached her.

"Hey…" It was Hae-Won. She was looking off to the side. "Not much we can do now, is there?" Moving over to the wall, she leaned against it. "Though, I suppose this would be the other team thinking of this had we won."

"We tried our best…" Benoit mumbled out. Which was entirely true because the three of them had won their game! It was the others who were slacking! Get them! "Do we… just wait now?"

The referee didn't like the idea of just waiting for death to come to them. "Maybe we just prepare ourselves…" Not for death, but… "There might be a chance we might have to end this motive in a different way. Nova made it specifically so we had the rest of the day to come up with a decision."

"A decision to kill…?" Hae-Won hadn't expected to hear that from Gigi of all people, and yet here they were.

"I…" It was a hard decision to come up with. "That's just if nothing else happens." But someone would have to bite the bullet and kill if they wanted any chance of surviving. The life of many outweigh the life of two. This reminded me of the trolley proble-

Soon, footsteps came down the hall from the upper portion of the Omicron Sector. "Ah, that's where you are." It was Sakura. "What are you speaking about?"

Letting out a sigh, Gigi spoke up. "Talking about ending the motive." Although she knew Sakura wouldn't take too kindly to it.

"Don't do anything stupid." The security guard narrowed her eyes. "There's no reason to give up hope right now." As much as a body dropping now would make everything easier.

"I don't want to think about this…" Benoit mumbled out. But if the others needed a sacrifice-

"Heh…" Hae-Won shook her head. "It's easy to read what you're thinking. Please don't do anything stupid." Mimicking what Sakura said, given she agreed with 100%. "There's still a lot of time left. So let's try and enjoy the time we have left." Stepping away from the doors, she began making her way over towards the elevator. "I'm off to do whatever. You should all find something to do as well."

Checking the time, Sakura also made her leave. "I'm going to go patrol around. These are dangerous times right now…" She left, heading back the way she came.

Gigi remained silent, watching her leave. Which left her alone with Benoit again. "I'll find something to do as well."

Which left Benoit alone. "Uh…" This looming feeling didn't bode well with him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. "I should…" He didn't even know what he was able to do. So instead, he found himself wandering around aimlessly.

Motive Room

By now, everyone had pretty much left the room, leaving Ian alone in solitude. Or… At least he thought he was alone.

"Why'd you do it?" A mumbling voice said from behind him.

He wasn't really spooked. He simply turned his head over towards who it was. "What is it to you?" It was May.

In all honesty, it wasn't really anything to her at all. If anything, she was just a little bit curious. "Just answer the question…" She mumbled.

There wasn't any reason to tell her anything, but avoiding her also did nothing. "Because I wanted to raise the stakes, it's that simple."

Pondering that answer, she glanced up, tapping her chin. "Is that really the only reason?"

What was she thinking about? "What other reason would there need to be for what I did?" Was she trying to analyse him?

Letting her head drop to the side slightly, she looked at him with one eye closed. "I just thought… you did it because of the motive."

"The motive was in part the reason why, yes. But not for whatever reason you were thinking." He had no reason to lie about his intentions, so he didn't want someone to get the wrong idea.

That… Didn't make any sense to her. "It looked like you just wanted to end the motive without someone having to kill. If Dae-Hyun shot himself… Then that would end the motive because the body discovery would go off."

Seriously, she was having all the wrong ideas. Placing a hand on his hip, Ian shook his head. "It wasn't really about ending the motive. It was about making the last game as theatrical as possible." He trailed off, letting out a sigh. "Until Sakura got in the way and ruined it."

"Ah…" Despite what he kept saying, she knew it wasn't the entire truth. "Then if you wanted to make it theatrical, why did you include yourself?"

He laughed a bit at that. "Oh? That? It was for two reasons. One, it was the only way to get Monokawa to cooperate with what I wanted. And two, it wouldn't be fair for me to throw someone else's life into the ring without also throwing myself in there. I'm a gambler, no point in a game if I can't gamble a bit."

"You speak as if you've done something like this before…" She couldn't imagine going out of your way to gamble one's life away, literally.

Ian shook his head, glancing to the side. "Never did something like that before, but gambling never steered me wrong before." In fact, had Sakura not gotten in the way, he would have won the game. "I've gambled everything from money to possessions… How is a life any different?"

May remained silent for a few seconds. Either because she was thinking about it deeply, or she had fallen back asleep. Seconds later, her voice spoke up again. "You don't seem to feel even the slightest guilt about what you just did."

Why would he be? "Yeah? So? I didn't do anything wrong. In the end, nobody died. So there's no use in hounding me."

"True…" While there was no doubt about him being in the wrong, he was raising some fair points. "And yet…" She yawned. "Would the others think like that?"

The gambler placed his hands in his pockets, frowning slightly. "Why would what others think matter to me? It's never affected my actions before, so I doubt it'd do something now."

Hmm, like her, almost. "I guess that's fair… it's the same for me." She let out a yawn. "Most people at school didn't like how I was. Apparently they don't like it when something is easy for everyone else… But I never let it affect me. I didn't even really care." She didn't really make many friends in her class, as they all seemed to resent her. "However… I feel like it's a bit different here."

Ian let out a small laugh. "Obviously it's different." He didn't feel like him and May were even comparable. "But people are always just like that. Jealousy seems to drive them."

"Hmm…" That was probably true. They were just jealous of her. "They don't like natural talent."

"Exactly." He didn't expect he'd be here agreeing with May of all people, and yet she wasn't stupid either. "They don't like natural talent, they don't like earned talent. They don't tend to like anyone better than them." Which could hold true for the people here. "Edison is proof. You saw how he reacted when Gennosuke won, right?"

"No."

Figured. People had to stop missing these games all the time. "Either way. When someone thinks they are the greatest, only to get outshined by someone else, they act bitterly. It's happened in my life before." He sat down at the table, spreading some cards out on the table. "When I first became a gambler, I had to take a risk with every move I made. I was inexperienced, and I couldn't read my opponents that well. But with each game, I got better and better. Until I got the name Demon Gambler." He frowned slightly. "It's a cool name, but unnerving to think everyone considers me some kind of demon."

But he felt like they were starting to get a bit side tracked here. "The point is…" He leaned back in the chair. "Here it works the same."

Does it? May didn't seem to believe so. "How so?" Sure, she was smarter than everyone else here, but she didn't feel the same level of resentment she did at school. People mostly left her alone here.

Of course he was asking too much of her. "I expect people to think of me the same here. As some demon just doing whatever he wants." Which is pretty much what he had done the entire time. "Don't mind." A smile slowly appeared on his face. "It's funner that way."

"There you go again…" How anyone could find this fun was beyond her. "This is a killing game. How could it be fun?"

"I've bet on many things in my life. Never my life." It was a different thrill. He also wasn't a stranger to betting someone else's life. But his own? He was starting to see just how Laki saw that world. "This game is going to be won by the people who aren't afraid to make a move. Those who keep to themselves are likely to be picked off when the time comes." For now, he was making a name for himself.

Was that really the truth? "I don't think so… The game is going to be won by those who play smart. You're just making yourself a target." Not that she was doing any better. She spent the entire morning sleeping in an elevator. If anyone wanted to kill her, it would have been easy.

"I would play like that, but it's boring." Ian frowned slightly. As he had figured, May couldn't understand him at all. Slowly, he stood up, moving over towards the doors. "I still expect someone to drop before the nighttime announcement is up." And while he knew he was a target on a lot of people's list, he was pretty confident in his chances. "See you at the trial.."

To call for a trial so early like this? She couldn't even call him out for it, because she was hoping there was also a trial… "Right…"

The two seemed to have grown closer.

Exit

The place he had first explored… Dae-Hyun found himself back here, staring right out of the glass portion of the large circular door. At the end of the day, he would be dead. Not like it mattered in the end, whether it was from the motive, or from the bullet he almost took to the end. Results would have been the same.

"Hmm? Thinking deeply about something?"

The talent manager made no attempt to look over at the person talking to him. Instead, he kept his eyes transfixed on the window. "And what do you want, Gennosuke?"

A smile plastered itself across his face. "I grew curious, so I thought I'd see what you were up to. You almost died just then, so you must be thinking of something."

"As the Ultimate Psychic, shouldn't you be able to just read my mind, or are you just a fraud?" Although that part was obvious. No way something like that existed. Especially since they hadn't even caught his interest.

"My, my…" He didn't like the tone, but he could understand where he was coming from. "Yes, I've been called a fraud in my times, even while here. But I've learned to ignore such harsh criticism. Especially since they're founded on nothing. Just because people tend to not believe it, doesn't mean I'm immediately a fraud." He placed his hands in his pockets, before procuring a lollipop. "Want one?" He offered.

"Pass."

"Suit yourself." The psychic took off the wrapper and stuck the lollipop in his mouth. "Besides, it doesn't take a psychic like me to know what's on your mind."

"Is that so?" He wasn't buying it. Given the general lack of emotion he allowed to show through his face, he doubted anyone else could know what was even on his mind.

"Like a book." Gennosuke grinned at him. "I've been in the business for years, so I know what I'm talking about."

Business? "That's the first I've heard of that. You run a business?"

The psychic let out a small laugh. "Yes, something like that. It was set up by my parents when they found out how exceptional I was. I personally don't like the attention, but hey… What can you do as a kid?"

"Is that business still going?" If he really didn't like it, he would have gotten away from it by now.

Shaking his head, Gennosuke spoke up. "Unfortunately, it's still up and running. But in a few years, it should be mine to keep, instead of being my parents." He removed the lollipop from his mouth, spinning the stick in his hand.

Now, if he actually believed in any potential Gennosuke would have, he would have offered him a deal with his company. Unfortunately, looking at the man, he saw nothing worth fighting for. "Well, I wish you luck." Seems he wanted to end the conversation now.

Seems the two grew clos-

"You're just trying to end the conversation." Gennosuke wasn't going to have any of that. "Let me think a bit…" He grew deep in thought, trying to think of what was on his mind. "Ah, that's it. You don't want me probing. Because as much as you don't believe me, you don't want to take the risk."

"There's no risk involved." The talent manager just didn't feel like humouring him.

"... Were you perhaps hoping that Sakura wouldn't have stepped in?"

Why the hell would…? Dae-Hyun turned to look at him. "Why would I want that? I don't exactly want to be dead."

"True…" He placed the lollipop back in his mouth. "But I'm just trying to see what that brain of yours is thinking. Not pleasant things." Still, what a weird thing for him to be thinking. Maybe it was worth digging deeper. "You don't seem to be the type to care about others around you." Except maybe someone like… Ah… Melody, huh? "Unless you seem to think they're talented."

… "We haven't really spoken, you and I." The talent manager pointed out. Which made it weird that he would catch onto that. "But what is it to you?"

Technically, it didn't really mean anything to him, but it was just fun to point out. "Nothing, nothing." The psychic shook his head, his expression mostly staying the same. "I might not have caught your interest, but you sure have caught mine."

"Is that so…?" Dae-Hyun had a hard time believing something like that. "And how did I do that?"

"You radiate pain." Gennosuke called him out. "More so than anyone else here on this station. But it doesn't seem related to anything that happened here, so that begs the question. Why?"

Here he was, probing around again. "I don't want to talk about anything to you." Couldn't he just take a hint for once?

The answer was no. "I should come clean and admit that I've heard of you before, actually."

"..." For the first time, Dae-Hyun tore his eyes away from the window to look directly at him. "And how did you hear of me?"

Letting out a small laugh, the psychic continued. "My parents were obsessed with the idea of making me international, so they tried to get someone who could act as my agent. They heard of you, and tried to get you to take an interest in me."

After hearing that, it soon began to click to him. "Right. I remember." He didn't mess with psychics. "I only deal with real talent. The moment I heard anything like psychic, I hung up. I wasn't going to waste my time with someone like you."

That was disappointing to hear, but Gennosuke wasn't too torn up about it. "Makes sense. I heard you were rather picky with your clients. You only had four, right?"

Seemed the psychic knew more about him than he would have liked. "Yes. Only four. They were the only four who were worth a damn." And besides his family, they were the only people he cared about.

Gennosuke remained silent for a bit, playing around with the stick from the lollipop, which was almost gone by this point. "It must be an honour to be managed by you. Those four students of yours must be the luckiest people on Earth."

"You can stop now." The psychic hadn't said anything wrong, but Dae-Hyun didn't want to spend any time thinking about it at the moment.

Frowning slightly, the psychic took the hint. "Hope I didn't hit on any sensitive topics. Besides the basics, I don't know anything about those four students. Although there's a lot of talk about your first student."

Stop. "Do words just go in one ear and out the other?"

Alright, he should really stop now. He could tell that saying anything else would just enrage him more. "I apologise. I'll drop the topic." But because of that, there was nothing else to talk about. "It was nice talking to you."

As if. Dae-Hyun had moved back to staring at the stars through the windows. "How are they doing…" He mumbled to himself, his students still on his mind.

Seems the two of them grew closer. For real this time!

Letting out a sigh, Dae-Hyun moved out of the room. He'd make his way back to his Ultimate Station just to relax there until the time limit was reached. Or who knows, maybe a body will drop before then and he'd be safe.

As he stepped out of the hallway, he was greeted by Melody. "Ah! There you are!"

And as much as he couldn't be mean to her, he had to turn down a conversation with her. "Not right now, I want to be alone."

Ah… She wanted to respect his wishes, but at a time like this, it felt bad. She saw him enter the elevator. "Dae-Hyun…" She wasn't sure what she could do at the moment. If nothing happened, he would wind up dead by tonight.

Still, she had to make some effort. She moved over towards the elevator, waiting for it to come back. Once it had returned, she stepped inside.

Cafeteria

As he opened the door to Tau Sector, Dae-Hyun only had one goal in mind. To head to his Ultimate Station and to wait for the time limit to run out. There was only a little over six hours left until then, so he wouldn't have to wait for long.

"Dae-Hyun!" Melody called out as the elevator door opened, but it seemed like she was a bit too late. "Ah…"

At that moment, the lights on the bottom floor began to flicker to life, causing her to block the light with her arm. "Ugh…" It was far too bright when she had been used to the darkness of this floor. After a few seconds, her vision readjusted, and she couldn't see him anymore. "I wish he'd just let me talk to him."

It wasn't worth fighting over, though. There was still plenty of time, and she wasn't going to push him to talk right now if he didn't want to. Instead, she turned towards the elevator.

However, something caught her attention now that the lights were back on. When she turned towards the elevator… Something was different. "H-huh?"

Her eyes remained completely frozen on something covering part of the elevator door. It was a large splotch of blood, almost impossible to miss. Panic filled her mind as she tried to process what she should do.

But she wasn't made for situations like these.

So instead, she quickly turned her heel and ran after Dae-Hyun. He was the closest person, and she needed to warn someone. "Dae-Hyun!"

However, he was already in his own world, blocking off any sound from anyone else. Anything else became a blur in the background for him…

Until something caught his attention. As his hand grew closer to the scanner, he paused.

He heard something he didn't think he would hear… The sound of something mechanical… It almost sounded like machinery was jamming and stuttering. But that wasn't the issue. The problem lies in the volume of the object.

"What…" He mumbled out, running a few ideas through his head. Steeling himself, he scanned his watch, opening the door.

However… there was no way to prepare oneself for the scene displayed in front of him…

The loud noise I heard only grew more intense as the door opened, and I found my eyes moving over towards the source of it all. The walls of my station seemed to be flipping through different room states, but never able to completely shift.

As my eyes trailed around the room, they eventually landed on the floor, where a long severed rope lay scattered all over the floor, leading to my desk…

The chair had been positioned a few feet away from where it would normally be, with something on it…

Even if the lights would still be out, it'd be damn obvious what was on the chair. A body. Something one can never quite get used to… Along the body, there was blood splattered on the lower parts of the pants, and as my eyes slowly looked up, I saw a few more spots of blood.

A cut on their right side, and then, some blood on their face, with marks around their necks.

I spent a few seconds looking at the person situated on the chair. Either with my mind being too slow to react, or having grown used to a scene like this. Or maybe it might have been just how little I knew about the person sitting dead in front of me…

The person slumped back on the chair was…

…

Alan Buteaux, the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist

Damn, a body. In MY Danganronpa fic? It's more likely than you think! But yes, finally! A body dropped. I know it took a bit, but we're finally here! The first death of the fic! And let me tell you how much it hurts to even have a first victim. When it's my own character, it's easy to think of a potential victim. But when it's someone else's character? Especially when they worked hard on it? That's an entirely different beast altogether!

And yet here we are! Thank you to zendroxp for allowing me to use Alan in my story. Although I feel really bad because he was a fun character and I wish I didn't have to kill him off first :( Although I'm hoping he had at least got a decent amount of screentime for a first death.

When I saw his app, I didn't immediately accept him, but he was at the top of the list for a very long time. I kept going back and rereading the app over and over again before realising this was the kind of character I needed for the first chapter. A really well made character, and had the cast shaped up differently, I could see him coming out as survivor or final victim. Unfortunately, he was placed in this cast, so he got this position.

Once again, thank you for allowing me the honour to write Alan in this story, and I will miss him greatly! And I'm sure some others will as well. But hey, doesn't mean the content involving him ends just yet. We still have to find out who killed this poor man! So make sure you all stick around for that.

Moving on, I probably won't be around on Discord to say this, so I'll say it here instead, but happy birthday Omakin! I can't believe I forgot to kill off Michael for your birthday! I'm disappointed in myself!

Also the fact that I was predicting that I would be off yesterday and today, only to be scheduled to work yesterday, and then got called in today… Honestly, the fact that this chapter is coming out today at all is a miracle. But hey, once I set myself a goal, I have to see it through to the end!

Hope you all enjoyed the daily life portion of chapter 1. Just got four more parts before chapter 1 ends in its entirety. Will I be able to finish this by the end of May? Only one way to find out!

Participants Remaining: 19

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]

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]