Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration

by Otterplay

A Danganronpa SYOC set in space. Ultimates are trapped on a space station, forced to participate in a killing game to try and escape. But not everything is what it seems to be. Who can you trust?

13. Dual Disposition (Part 2)

Chapter 2: Dual Disposition (Daily Life Part 2)

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Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a good amount of blood, violence, gore, and a little more intense subject matter. You have been warned properly.

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"Happy birthday to you!"

The voices ran out as the young boy saw part of his family walk over to him with a cake in hand.

"Happy birthday to you!"

Today was a much different birthday. While all his others had been rather normal, this was the first time he had been allowed into the building his family ran, and he was all the more excited. He loved his parents, so getting to spend any time with them was well worth it.

As they placed down the cake onto the casino table, they finished the lyrics of the song. "Happy birthday to you, dear Ian."

Today was his fourteenth birthday, and here he was, sitting down at one of the various poker tables that were inside the casino.

He was always curious about things like this, and yet he never had a chance to sit down and play a game. Especially since his parents were always busy with work, it seems.

So today was a day to remember.

Sitting across the table from him was his father. "Ian." He called out, shuffling some cards around. Next to him were different stacks of poker chips. "You want to play a game with me?"

That was the first time he had ever heard his father offer to play poker with him. He had never played before, but just the idea had gotten him interested. "Yeah." He said brightly. "Let's play a few rounds."

It wasn't just the two of them. A few other family members had joined up, so it looked like it was going to be tough competition.

Especially considering he had never actually played poker before. His parents hadn't allowed him until now.

Hell, he didn't even know what combinations were valuable, and had to have a card next to him explain it.

Still… Just the thought of spending this time with his parents like this put a smile on his face, he'd have to give it his all…

…

…

…

…

"Not bad…" His father crossed his arms as Ian managed to knock everyone out of the game one by one, leaving him with the entire pot of poker chips. "I'm impressed." He let out a chuckle, gathering up the card again. "But that was just the first game, boy. You know what they say, beginner's luck." Still, he loved seeing his son able to compete in a game he found very fond. "What say we do a few more games?"

Ian had absolutely no problem with that. He had been having the time of his life playing this with his family. "Yeah!" He cheered out, leaning forward in his seat.

As his father distributed the cards again, he was hoping for a different outcome…

…

…

…

…

But no matter how many games they seemed to play, the results remained the same; Ian finishing the game with everyone's chips.

And he wasn't even struggling to do that at all. He had won over with ease. "Hmm…" He hummed out, a bit disappointed that it was that easy. But he still had fun nonetheless. "Do you want to play another game?"

His dad slowly shook his head, beginning to realise it wasn't just beginner's luck. Instead, it might have been raw talent for the game itself. "Haha, and let you beat us again. No thank you." To think his son would have this much talent for something like that. Hell, he was better than the employees he kept on hand at the casino.

And with Hope's Peak having just recently opened up a year or so ago, he already saw potential to become one if he was a natural at it. "You should join us at the casino more often. I'd love to have you here to play against some of the people more often."

Raising his eyebrow at the proposition, Ian found no reason to decline it. "It's a deal."

…

…

…

…

…

…

It had now been about a year since his fourteenth birthday, and his presence in the casino was ever overwhelming. At this point, he had amassed a large following of people who viewed him as the best poker player, even bringing in some pros.

And yet, nobody seemed to ever be close enough to beat him.

Something he seemed to revel in. As he took all the winnings from his last opponent, he stood up from the chair.

Sure, beating people at poker was the best fun he would have, it was nice to have a change of pace sometimes.

He needed a break. Letting out a small yawn, he stepped away from the table. He had been at it for hours now, given it was the weekend. "I'll be heading out for a bit." He told the random worker who had been walking by the table.

The worker nodded his head before placing a sign onto the table.

The table seemed specially designed for him, so there were a lot of people around it, waiting for a chance to face off against him.

Seeing that he was leaving, they all moved on with slight annoyance. Not that he cared.

He probably shouldn't have left the table without informing his parents, but they wouldn't mind.

As he made his way towards the entrance, he saw someone he recognized walking into the building. "Oh?" It was a friend he made last year at school, but he didn't remember telling her exactly where he would be. "How did you find this place?"

"Duh! As if I wouldn't find this place, you're famous around here." She looked around the area with amazement. "Is this your parents?"

Ian flashed her a smile. "Yup. My parents have had it for years." Screw going outside. She was here now, so everything would be perfect. He turned to walk further into the casino. "Should I show you around?"

That seemed to put a sparkle in her eyes. "Yes! Show me the way!"

The two walked side by side through the casino, and with each new place, the girl seemed to be amazed. "You think I'd be good at gambling?"

That was a good question. One he had the answer to. "I say it depends on your opponent. If you face off against me, you'd lose every game you play."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Well no duh! You're the king of gambling. There's no way I'd beat you. But what about someone else?"

In that case… "I think you could confuse them enough to get a win."

"Confuse?" She liked the sound of that. "Yeah! That's what I'd do. They wouldn't know what to do against me."

Half the time he didn't even know what to do about her.

Soon, they reached the same table as before. "This is where I'm set up, normally." There was even a display to show how many people he had beaten. It seemed to be well in the thousands, and he had only been doing it for a year.

"That number feels pretty low." The girl commented before looking at him. "Let's raise it!" She sat down at the table.

Well, who would he be to decline such an easy victory? He moved to the other side of the table, getting the cards ready. "For you, I'll let you play for free. But after that, you'll need to get some coins from the front." His parents wouldn't like it if let someone play over and over again like that.

The girl shook her head, laughing a bit. "That just sounds like I'd be wasting my money to lose against you."

As he dealt the cards, he shrugged it off. "Hey, don't give me too much credit." Even if it was the truth. As he dealt out the cards, a smile appeared on his face.

Nothing else was better in the world.

---

Cafeteria

Another day, another normal meetup.

Normal.

Yeah.

Most people had gathered, and besides the ones that normally don't bother showing up. Everyone was here!

Everyone.

Yeah.

Seira scanned the room nervously. She had noticed when she first woke up, but she didn't bother bringing it up. Maybe he had decided to sleep in? Or maybe something else entirely…

But now? Now it felt like she just had to bring it up. "Did… Did any of you see Gemini?"

Gigi looked up from her food. "No." She had found it strange too, normally he was part of the first group with her when they woke up. However, she didn't think too much of it, and decided to stick to her own schedule. She didn't want anything getting in the way of it.

"Not just that!" Laki spoke up. "But Ian isn't even here."

Oh. Right. He was also missing. She hadn't even noticed.

Seira quickly stood up, looking around. "Something could have happened, we should go check up on them." Had the game gotten to the two of them?

Edison hummed out in thought. "Maybe they are busy with the new area? Ian seems like he'd hang out around his own station."

"But what about Gemini?" Hae-Won raised an eyebrow. "I doubt he'd really enjoy anything that was in the Psi Sector."

Sitting back down, Seira still couldn't help but feel worried. "Should we go looking for someone?"

"Haha, I doubt someone would kill so soon!" Tatiana pointed out. "Rest assured, they are alive and doing well." Not that she had any way of proving it.

"I know where they are." Dolly said with an air of confidence.

Quickly, Seira turned to look at her. "You do?"

"Duh!" She lifted her hands up in the air. "They're at the Ultimate Gambler Station! I'm sure of it!"

That made sense for Ian… But… "Gemini too?" What would he even want there?

If Dolly could roll her eyes, she would. "You can bet on me that they're there! Come on!" Benjamin stood up from the table, making his way to the elevator.

Laki and Seira shared a glance with each other before following the doll. "I hope she's right…"

---

Ultimate Gambler Station

Opting to completely miss the pointless morning meeting, Ian made his way to his own station. He had gone to bed last night so he could practically spend the rest of the day gambling away.

Colour him surprised when he saw that he wasn't the only person there. "Hmm…?"

Sitting down at one of the slots was Gemini, who had just pulled the lever to spin the slot again. What was he even doing here?

Without much haste, Ian slowly approached him, taking a look at what he was doing. "Have you won anything?"

Placing a hand on his hips, he grinned. "You can bet your ass I did. I won five."

"Five thousand?" Ian went wide eyed. That's a lot considering this just opened up yesterday.

"Nope, five."

… "Five hundred?" Still impressive, but not as much as he figured he would make in that time.

"Five."

"Just five?"

"Just five." He showed off his watch to reveal he had a hundred and five coins.

The gambler stood there, a small frown on his face. Why did people who were bad at gambling always become addicted? "I think you should just cut your losses."

The escapist shook his head. "But I haven't lost any money. I've made a net positive."

Now, Ian wasn't one to comment on other people's habits, but he felt like he had to now. "I don't think it's working out for you. Honestly, you should probably quit while you're ahead. Why even try this hard to get coins?"

Gemini let out a small laugh. "Because if there's a chance of escape, I'm sure to take it."

Escape? "You don't mean the prize worth a million coins, do you?" A steep price, and even Ian wasn't going for that. There'd be no way he would even reach it. "You know that it's only a one time purchase; Once you buy it, nobody else can."

That did damper the mood a bit, evident by the change in Gemini's expression. "Yeah… But once someone escapes, they can ask for help, right? Then everyone else will be saved." His expression shifted slightly when he said that, almost as if he was coming to that realisation.

"But…" He trailed off, pulling down the lever again. "We can't just give up, you know?"

True… "I get that, but this isn't going to help." Ian had already checked how much you could make from the slots, and it was abysmal. "The best way to make money is from the tables, like roulettes or many of the various card games."

That was true, but there was also the chance of losing it all there. "I don't know what happens when I reach zero coins, so I'm trying to play it safe."

The gambler shrugged. "It's not like you'd die. What happens is that you're probably just locked out from playing in the casino. Besides, if you really want to know, Monokawa is probably still in this area. He seems to hang out around here."

That was true. Gemini had seen him last night when everyone should have been asleep.

Which reminded him…

"Say, did you do something weird with the keycards last night?" Gemini placed a hand on his hip.

Where was this coming from? "No, not that I remember. Why?"

From what Gemini could tell, Ian seemed a bit confused. Was it not him? "I encountered May last night, and she said that her keycard wasn't working for the app. We went to grab another one, and it worked. Which meant the keycard she had gotten was already being used."

Oh? Is that why he was being suspected? Ian pulled out another keycard. "This is the one I used for myself. It's likely Monokawa just gave her a defective one."

That could be the truth… But the entire thing just felt weird.

Suddenly, the door opened up, with Benjamin, Laki, and Seira all stepping into the room.

"See?" The lucky student pointed at them. "I knew we'd find them here."

Dolly quickly nodded her head. "I know right! It's the best room so far, so of course they'd be here."

Seira let out a small sigh of relief. "You made me worried. Why didn't you show up at the morning meeting?"

Oh! Right! He did miss that. "I had to maximise my time here." He placed a hand on his hip. "So as soon as morning time hit, I made my way over here."

She didn't even have to ask to know what he was trying to attempt here. "You won't reach that one million prize…" She hated to be the one to break the truth to him-

"That's what I said." Ian shook his head. "Trust me, as a gambler, even I know my limits. If I can't reach it, neither will you. So it's best to just give up now instead of having your hopes crushed later on." In this world, there were only winners and losers, and the way Gemini was going right now, he'd definitely fall into the latter category.

Letting out a small sigh, he stepped away from the slot machine. "Alright, fine. I'll stop for now. But we should all be striving to get that escape. If even one person makes it out, they could get help for everyone else."

Seira let out a sigh, at least happy he wasn't going to develop a gambling addiction. "Still… I don't think that even if we pool our money together that it would be enough to get to that amount." Not before someone…

"Aww!" Laki called out. "Why so gloomy. We're in a casino, we should be having fun!"

Slowly, Ian nodded his head. "Why don't we just play cards, or something?"

Seira was about to turn down the offer, but Gemini was quick to accept. "Yeah, sure. Maybe that'll help."

"Yeah! Let's go!" Dolly wasn't going to turn down an invitation like this. But, it wasn't quick before she picked up on something. "Wait. Are we using our actual coins or."

The gambler shrugged. "I don't mind using them, but if the others don't, then that's fine too."

Laki raised her arms in the air. "We have to use them. It'd be pointless not to, you know?"

Perfect. "Alright, then let's get set up."

The group of four moved over to one of the tables, leaving Seira off to the side. Although, she didn't want to be left alone, so she pulled up to the table. "Fine…" She finally mumbled out, sitting down. "But let's not get too crazy. Some of us still want money."

Shuffling the cards, Ian shrugged. "Hey. I might be the Ultimate Gambler, but you have to remember that she's the Ultimate Lucky Student. Skill might be on my side, but that's irrelevant if I can't get a good hand."

Dolly lowered her head slightly. "You make it sound like none of us have a chance."

"Pfft… Whaaat?" Ian couldn't help hiding his smile as he dealt the cards out. "You look like you'd be good at poker." His eyes examined Benjamin, but saw no change in his eyes. "You have a good poker face."

After the cards were dealt, Ian took a look at his own cards, before looking at everyone else. "Alright, to make sure nobody reaches a zero coin limit, let's only put a total of fifty coins on the line over the course of the entire game. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm telling you to bet them all now."

That did reassure Seira slightly. While she had no interest in the entire gambling thing, she didn't want to lose all her coins. Who knows if it'd come in handy. "Alright…"

Everyone else gave a silent agreement to him. After that, Ian was free to examine his own cards. A two of hearts, and an eight of hearts. Nothing too great, but there was a chance for a flush, so he was going to stay in the game.

After everyone had placed their ante to start the game, the first round of betting was allowed to start.

For the first round, nobody seemed to bet anything, allowing him to check, and go by unnoticed.

As the next three cards were dealt, the only two that really helped his case were the king of hearts, and the nine of hearts. That got him one step closer to his flush. However, there was still the seven of clubs to worry about. And from the looks of it, there was potential for a straight with the seven and nine if someone else had the right cards.

The first to make any sort of move was Laki, who placed twenty of her fifty chips in. "I've got a good hand."

The difficult part about Laki was that he couldn't ever tell if she was lying or not. Of course, he wasn't going to back down, not with a flush imminent.

Dolly played smart and immediately folded when Laki placed a bet, leaving only Gemini and Seira to make a choice. The two of them called, allowing for Ian to also call. He wasn't going to make any further moves until he was certain that he could get the flush.

The next card that was revealed was an eight of diamonds. Cool. He had a pair now. But that only made him more worried overall, given that it was one step closer to someone else having a straight, and if he didn't get that flush, he was fucked.

Laki decided not to check, but it was Seira who put twenty more chips into the center. "Huh…" She tried to keep a straight face, but Ian caught on right away; She had a straight.

Gemini on the other hand, cut his losses, option to fold.

Not wanting to back down right away, Ian decided to call the bet.

As for Laki? No yeah she wasn't stupid. She just wanted to get the game started originally. Now that she had nothing of value, she folded like Gemini, leaving only two people left for this hand.

Ian stared down Seira, who tried her best to keep up a poker face. Finally, the last card was revealed. The ace of hearts.

Perfect. A flush.

It didn't matter if she had a straight now, the game was pretty much his.

And they only had five chips left to throw around. Knowing that, she chose to check, as did he.

When the cards were finally revealed, Seira smiled, not noticing what Ian had. "I have a straight."

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. "Flush beats straight, unfortunately."

"H-huh?" She hadn't even noticed what he had.

Smirking to himself, he was able to take the entire pot. "Better luck next round."

The only problem was… That she had to bet five chips just to participate… So if she didn't win something, she'd be out.

When she got her cards, she took a look at them. A three of clubs, and a five of diamonds. She could try for another straight, but odds weren't in her favour.

The first round ended in nothing but checks, meaning nobody wanted to make any moves. Seira took this chance to look at everyone's facial expression. Gemini had a small frown, while both Benjamin and Ian were expressionless. To counter that, Laki had a big smile on her face, which could mean anything honestly.

As the next three cards were revealed, it was an ace of clubs, a five of spades, and a king of spades. Not looking good for her, but at least she had a pair.

Gemini clicked check, but Dolly actually made a move this time, choosing to bet ten chips. As soon as that happened, Ian folded, not bothering to go on with this hand.

Laki followed suit, and Seira didn't really have a reason to not keep going, given she had already bet everything she had. She wouldn't win big, but at least she could hope to hang on barely.

As the next card was revealed, it was a nine of diamonds. So far away from actually helping her.

This time, the first person in the loop to make a bet was Laki, who put only five coins this time. Seems she didn't want to eliminate herself just yet, but she was also putting herself in a similar situation as Seira did.

"Oh yeah!" Dolly called out, putting in the same amount. "Let's see who's really the best!"

Laki tilted her head to the side, pointing at Ian. "Ian is the best, and he already folded."

He shrugged. "Didn't have anything good. Not going to play a hand I have no chance of winning with." Especially when he already had a comfortable lead.

As the last card was revealed, it was an ace of diamonds. Yup. Nothing Seira could use.

Both of her opponents didn't bother betting anything more, and quickly the cards were revealed.

"Haha!" Laki laughed out, seeing what she had. "Full house." Three aces and a pair of kings, which beat out Dolly's three of a kind, and definitely demolished Seira's pair.

"Oh." She quickly realised what that meant. "I guess I'm out, huh…"

Ian frowned slightly. "Happens to the worst of us."

Slowly standing up, she took a step away from the table. "Then I'll watch everyone else." They couldn't yell at her for that, so. Besides, she was curious about who would win. Moving over to the left, she stood behind Gemini.

This time, the game started off with Gemini as the one making the first bet. He took a look at his cards. Oh sweet! A two of clubs and a two of diamonds. Oh. But if he bet now, he'd look really suspicious. So instead, he opted to not do anything out of the ordinary. "Check." He called out as he clicked the button.

Which moved over to Dolly. Benjamin took a slow look at his cards, but didn't do anything, and passed it over to Ian.

This continued until everyone else had placed a bet, and nothing had happened.

With the next three cards laid out flat, Gemini realised he still had the same odds as the first round. A seven of clubs, a king of hearts, and lastly a queen of diamonds. "Hmm…" He hummed out, but decided to play it safe.

However, Dolly decided to place in fifteen chips, causing Ian to fold.

Ian shrugged, putting his cards away. "Another bad hand, wild." It was hard to tell if he was being serious or not.

Laki followed with the bet, and Gemini figured he had nothing to lose, so he joined suit.

This brought the pot in the center to sixty five chips. Still not as impressive as the first round, but since Ian has been folding, it mellowed out.

Next card was revealed, and it was a 3 of hearts. So close, but Gemini was really praying for another two here.

However, nobody else seemed to bet, which was fine with him. Not that Dolly really could, and Laki didn't seem to want to.

Last card was revealed, and nope! Still no two. It was visible on his face, but he used one of his hands to try and hide his expression. "Give up girls." He had a cocky smile.

Slowly, Dolly looked over at him, before looking at Laki. "I want him to lose."

"H-hey." Gemini quickly stammered as his plan backfired.

Laki slowly nodded his head. "Agreed."

Seira couldn't help but frown. "How did you make two enemies so quickly?"

"Pure skill!" He was so dead.

When the hand was finally revealed, he and Laki had nothing good, but Dolly had a pair of kings, which beat out his pair.

"Give me!" Dolly reached over for an imaginary pill of chips, and slowly dragged it towards Benjamin.

Which meant… "Guess I'm out!" Gemini didn't seem too beat up about it, except for the fact that he had tried so hard to even earn five coins, and now he had just lost so much progress. Maybe he really should have quit while he was ahead.

This left only three people still in the game, two people who had pretty good poker faces.

And Laki who had the opposite of a poker face. She had a face that was always smiling, even if she had the worst hand known to man.

It was a tough battle.

Next round of cards were dealt… And let's follow… Benjamin this time! Yeah. Let's get into his mind.

As Benjamin received his cards, he took a quick glance at them before reverting back to looking forward. Of course, he made sure Dolly had a look too. A seven of clubs, and a ace of clubs.

Ian made sure to keep his eyes on Benjamin this time. From what he could tell, Dolly was the only way he was going to catch him in a bluff, because his actual facial expression didn't change. Still, compared to someone like Laki, he was nothing.

The first round was uneventful. However, the moment the next three cards were dropped… They were an ace of spades, a seven of diamonds, and lastly a king of spades.

"Twenty." Dolly called out while Benjamin pressed the button.

"Raise." Ian kept a neutral expression as he raised the total by ten.

Laki wasn't stupid, so she folded instead of betting thirty of her coins.

Now it was a real game again with an actual pot.

With the next card revealed, it was a two of spades. Not great for Benjamin, but he already had two pairs, so he wasn't going to back out just yet. "Check!" Dolly raised her hands as the game passed on to Ian.

He remained expressionless, before ultimately deciding it was best to not do anything. "Check." He called out as well.

With the final card revealed, there was hope after all. A seven of spades. Just exactly what he needed. He was going to have to pretend like he had nothing. "Check!" From Dolly.

Now Ian wasn't too sure what to think. Did he have anything good? Ian himself knew he had a great hand, but he didn't want to make a hasty bet. "Check." Let's see if his hesitation would pay off in the end.

He was right.

While he had a flush, it was nothing compared to a full house.

"We did it master!" Dolly called out, turning towards him. "Well, it was all my work, but you really tried."

For once, that meant Ian was again fighting for first place, given that Benjamin was now tied with him. They both had a hundred and five coins, with Laki only having thirty five.

Now it was time to follow Laki. That's right! Everyone is getting followed! What's that? What about the thirteen other characters in this story?

Fuck them.

As she glanced at her cards, Laki's eyes lit up!

At the absolute dogshit hand she had. A two of clubs, and an eight of diamonds. She could work with this, of course. She had played it a little too safe sometimes, time to be absolutely deranged for a chance.

She only had thirty coins to play around with, but she knew she could make it worthwhile. "Alright." She smiled brightly as she moved it along to Dolly.

Like always, the first round was nothing but checks. Nobody wanted to put anything into the pot too early.

As the next cards were revealed, they were a king of clubs, an ace of clubs, and lastly, a seven of hearts.

All things she couldn't work with! Exciting! So of course she did the most logical thing-

"Twenty." She called out as she pressed the button.

Dolly didn't want to deal with this, so she folded, while Ian decided to call her bluff. "Nice try Laki." He smiled at her. As if she could fool him. However, if he failed to make good on this bet, then it would mean that Benjamin would pull through with the lead.

Laki's eyes seem to light up even more. Ian was going to call her bluff? She could totally work with this.

As the next card was revealed, it was an eight of hearts. Cool. Now she had a pair. But that was pretty much it. "Check."

"Oh? What happened to your display earlier?" Ian followed suit, seeing no reason to throw away money so pointlessly.

Then, the last card was revealed, showing another eight. This time the eight of clubs.

"Five." Laki called out, pressing the button.

Was she leaving herself enough room to play the next round? He could cut her off now and just win this round. But he liked playing this game with Laki, so he wasn't going to end it here. "Call."

Now, with the pot being worth sixty five coins, this could make or break it for Laki.

When the cards were revealed, Ian was a bit surprised. "Oh, so you did get something." He was hoping she'd have nothing the entire time.

Of course, even with him being the Ultimate Gambler, he couldn't win every round. But he'd win every game, mark his words.

"You know, Seira. I'm starting to think we're bad at poker." Gemini noted, seeing that all three of the others were still in the game.

Slowly, she nodded her head. "My passion doesn't lie on card games." If it was anything else, she might have stood a better chance.

With another round, let's go back to Ian, the absolute king of gambling. (I have misspelt king almost every single time I have written it so far)
Taking a look at his cards, he knew he'd have to play a much riskier strategy now. Which was praying on the luck of the cards this time. He needed to take Laki out so he could solely focus on Benjamin. Because while it was fun to play against her, it was going to ruin his entire game.

His two cards were a four of clubs, and a five of clubs. Great start. Maybe he could go for a straight flush?

Ah… The very thought of it made him laugh. As if that was going to happen here. If it did, he'd have no choice but to assume that the cards were rigged somehow.

As usual, it was a quiet first round, with nobody wanting to-

"Ten." Dolly called out before even getting a chance to see what cards were going to be on the table.

Ian gave her an annoyed look, but followed suit. "Your funeral." It's either she had something great, which was dumb to let people know this early, or she had nothing, and it was dumb to be this early.

Either way, he was just going to follow suit. Same with Laki.

This was a strong starting pot of forty five coins. This game could mean a lot for who wins the entire thing.

The first three cards were flipped. A seven of diamonds, a nine of clubs, and lastly, a jack of spades.

There goes Ian's impossible wish of a straight flush. Not that he ever thought he'd get one. "Hmm…" He hummed out, before taking a look at his total. He only had sixty chips left to play around. And while he didn't get anything great, he had a set up for a potential straight. He was just missing two cards for that to be possible.

Still, no point in playing safe at this moment. "Twenty." He called out, pressing the button.

Laki let out a small laugh. "Are you trying to scare us?" She threw in twenty as well.

Dolly contemplated her choices here, but chose to be smart. "Fold!"

Which was probably for the better, since Ian could adapt his strategy solely for Laki this round. A much easier opponent when blocked off from everyone else.

Fourth card was revealed. Six of clubs. It was really going to break his heart, wasn't it? Now he was one card away from either a flush or a straight. Of course, he wanted to play it safe, so he passed it along to Laki, who was very reasonabl-

"Twenty." She called out with zero hesitation.

Typical.

Gemini slowly slid over towards Laki, looking at her cards. He slowly nodded his head before moving back to Seira to explain what he had just seen.

Of course… This was Ian. He wasn't going to back down. "Call."

It was at this point in time that the author realised he lost five coins.

Anyways. It's getting thrown into this pot. The pot now rested nicely at a hundred and thirty coins.
The last card was flipped, giving Ian exactly what he wanted. A three of clubs to finish off that straight he needed.

Now, time to take Laki out of the game for good. "Fifteen." This time he made the first bet against her.

"Call!" She didn't even hesitate, which worried him slightly, but he was better than that.

As the hands were revealed, it was revealed that Laki had been bluffing the entire time with only a pair. "Huh!" Seems she was expecting a different outcome. "I thought you were trying to scare me."

"Only sometimes." Now Ian's focus was shifted over towards Benjamin.

His last opponent.

The ventriloquist didn't seem too nervous. In fact, he didn't seem too anything. He just kept a neutral expression the entire time.

"Ready for a nice and clean game?" Ian offered a smile, and reached out his hand.

Dolly instead intercepted, shaking his hand. "Yeah! We're having so much fun right now!"

A clean game was the last thing that would be happening.

Ian had a different plan altogether.

As the cards were dealt, Ian took a glance at his cards. However, he didn't even bother registering what they were. At this point, they mattered less, and all that mattered was that if he could bully Benjamin into bankruptcy.

Dolly had the first bet, and chose to check. Something Ian wasn't going to have.

"Thirty."

"T-thirty!?" That obviously got Dolly a bit nervous, but she followed suit.

Perfect. She was in. The trap was laid out.

Once the three cards were laid out in the center, one again, Ian didn't pay it much mind. "Thirty."

This time, Dolly reacted quickly. "Fold!" She couldn't compete against whatever Ian had. Especially since she had nothing..

Perfect.

Next round of cards, Ian kept implementing the same strategy. Barely look at his cards, and intimidate Dolly.

This time, however, he had a better strategy.

As soon as it was his turn. "Forty five." He called out as his bet. If Dolly took the bet, she'd have zero coins left.

"This isn't fair!" She quickly called out with her hands in the air. "Fold!"

And that's all he had to do. Play risky like that. If she kept folding, she'd run out of money eventually, which meant he could keep playing as risky as he wanted.

Gemini frowned slightly, seeing this all go down. "This feels more like bullying than actually playing cards."

Seira was inclined to agree. "Maybe we just call it here?"

Laki, however, was quick to come to Ian's defense. "It's just a game. We all agreed to it. Who cares what strategy gets used?"

"Hey!" Dolly raised her hands in the air. "I'm the one playing so master and I should decide what happens." She took a look at Benjamin. "And he says we keep playing!" She was having way too much fun to give up now. It was like the friend group she always wanted.

"Results won't change." Ian hoped he could save himself some time by having her forfeit, but she was having none of it.

"Next round!" Dolly seemed more determined than ever.

This got a good laugh out of the gambler. "Alright. Your funeral."

This time, Ian forgot to even look at his cards, given that he was going to make the same bet regardless. "Forty."

However, because of his little mistake, Dolly wasn't going to fall for it. "You don't even know what you have! You're just trying to get me to fold!" Benjamin pressed the button for call, causing him to place the remainder of his coins into the field.

"Hmm…" Well, Ian was expecting some resistance on the way. But it didn't matter. "Alright, this is going to be fun." This time, the gambler actually bothered to look at his cards.

Seven of hearts, and ten of clubs. Not the worst hand, but he'd definitely needed to do some leg work if he wanted to win this round.

As the first three cards were thrown into the center, Ian hid his expression rather well, given that there was an eight and nine on the table. Both hearts. The last card was a king of diamonds.

Given that Dolly couldn't bet, the next card was thrown in right after.

Ace of spades.

Nothing he could use. He just needed one card.

With the last card flipped…

A visible look of annoyance could be seen on his face for a fraction of a second, but he quickly got rid of it. It was a two of diamonds. Nothing he could actually use. He needed one more card for a straight. "Well…" He threw his hand onto the table. Dolly had managed to stay in-

"Oh really!?" Dolly called out as Benjamin tossed the cards into the center.

While Ian had nothing, so did Dolly. In fact, Dolly only had a three and a five. Even worse than him.

But he wasn't going to complain this time. Luck was part of poker, and he had an ample amount of it. Standing up he extended his hand out. "Good game."

Benjamin looked at it for a few seconds before he had Dolly shake his hand. "Yeah! Good game!" Even though it was a little annoying to lose like that.

And with that, Ian made out like a bandit for two hundred coins. Granted… He did have to put some work into it. But it beat trying out the slots for five hours. "And that's how it's done." He stood up from his chair.

Laki cheered for him. "Yeah!"

Dolly seemed a bit defeated. "And I was doing so good…" She quickly turned to Benjamin. "Master! You gave it away!" Expressionless. However, she quickly turned to look at everyone else. "Wow, that was fun. Does that make us friends now?"

"Yeah!" Laki quickly looked over at Dolly. "We're friends. If you want to gamble again, I'm always available."

Counting out the people in the room, Dolly seemed pretty happy. "Today I made four friends."

Gemini patted Ian on the back. "Good job. I guess they don't call you the Ultimate Gambler for nothing."

"Obviously." As if it even needed to be stated. He took a glance at his coin total. "Well, I think that's enough fun for me today." He had completely bullied Benjamin and the others, and that was all that mattered. "See you later for lunch." As he left, Laki followed behind him.

After a bit longer, Dolly also followed suit, leaving both Gemini and Seira behind.

---

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

While some of the others had gone to check out the Ultimate Gambler Station again, Atlas had a different idea in his mind. He would check out his own station again.

Alone.

Or at least that's what he was hoping for, but someone had followed him, opening some of the doors for him.

When he finally got to his station, he stopped walking, letting out a loud sigh. "Why are you following me?"

Standing a few feet behind him was Benoit, who quickly glanced off to the side. "O-oh! It just seemed like you needed some help, so I thought I'd…"

"I don't need your help, dick." The soccer player didn't even bother to turn around to face him, only looking over his shoulder.

"O-oh…" Seems he had misunderstood something again. "Sorry…"

After spending a few seconds looking at him, Atlas turned back towards the center of the soccer field, where the soccer ball was placed back. "You seem like you play sports." He finally noted as he approached the soccer ball. With one kick, he managed to kick it across the field and into the goal again, sending off fireworks.

This caused Benoit to instinctively cover his ears at the loud sound. "Not… Not really. If I tried playing anything like that I'd probably hurt myself…"

Really? That was what he was worrying about? "Yeah? That's natural in sports. All it takes is one fuck who thinks he's funny, and all of a sudden you get kicked in the stomach." And he has almost no way to defend himself. "Or maybe you get a ball to the face.."

The more Atlas spoke, the less Benoit actually wanted to play. Quickly, he shook his head. "I'm… I'm good… Thank you."

Which was completely fine by Atlas. He didn't want to play with anybody else. Especially not with somebody like that. After going to collect the soccer ball, he gave it another kick, scoring yet another goal. Taking a glance at the scoreboard, he saw that it updated again. "How do we reset this thing anyways?"

"Oh… I don't know. I haven't explored here yet…" Benoit mumbled out.

"It was rhetorical." Atlas turned to look at him. "You know, like a question I don't expect an answer to." He explained, pissed off that he even needed to.

Quickly, Benoit looked away. "Sorry…" It was really difficult to have any conversation with Atlas, it seemed. Something he should have expected from the small amount of time he'd been around him.

Slowly, the soccer player moved over to collect the ball again. Before he brought it back to the center again, he turned towards Benoit. "What's a big guy like you afraid of anyways? You act so meek, but you don't look the part." If anything, Benoit could easily scare everyone else, but it didn't seem to be the case.

What was Atlas expecting him to do? "Should my body really determine my personality…?"

Well Atlas sure as hell let his! "You look tough, but you don't act it, come on man!"

Sure, Benoit might have come from a line of lumberjacks, and might have developed a body similar to them, but… Slowly, he shook his head. "No… I don't need to act tough…" He was fine with just the way he was. "But… What about you?" He felt like this was coming from personal experience.

"Oh, don't you dare turn it around on me." Who the hell did he think it was? "Are you saying because I'm an asshole at all times? You got a problem with that?"

"Oh! Huh… no…" Now Atlas was mad at him, the last thing he wanted. "It just felt like… you had a lot on your mind… If you want to talk about it."

He didn't need a- Wait no that's a joke for later. "I have about the same amount of things on my mind as everyone else." They were just…angrier things.

Benoit knew better than that. "Do you feel like you're ever in pain?"

"If I'm ever in-" Well… A few times here and there, but what did that have to do with anything. "Why do you want to know?"

"Oh- Well my station recently opened up, and I was wondering if maybe a day there would do you some good." Granted, he wouldn't be able to use most of the equipment, but at the very least Benoit could give him some treatment if his legs felt sore.

Slowly, Atlas shook his head. "The pain I feel isn't physical."

Oh? Mental pain… Benoit wasn't sure how good he'd be against that. "Still… I… Whenever I have a patient… It feels like the one time I can truly talk to them without having to worry about anything…" As for now, he was having a hard time even making eye contact, when his father taught him it was important.

"So what? That's the only time you don't stutter like an idiot?"

Well… He didn't really like that… Slowly, the physiotherapist turned his head to the side. "Well… Yeah… I feel like when it comes to the patients, I have to give it my all for them. To make them feel better."

Atlas remained silent for a bit. A passion behind a talent. Something he could get behind. "Sometimes it feels like soccer is the only thing I can really put my all into." Given that anything else he just couldn't do. With another swift kick, he managed to score another goal effortlessly. "And even then, there's still things that get in the way."

Benoit could understand that too. He felt like he himself only had physiotherapy, and anything else he would mess up at. "I… Yeah.." He offered a smile. "Sometimes you just find something you're good at, and let it carry you away."

"But…" Atlas narrowed his eyes slightly, kicking the ball and scoring yet another goal. "That's because my options are limited. You have all the possibilities in the world."

That was… true… Except… "I found this passion through very unfortunate circumstances…" He felt like he had to defend himself here. "Maybe not as much as you did, but I didn't just strive towards this for no reason…" He lifted up his sleeve, revealing some scars. "I… I took some heavy damage when I was younger that stopped most of my body function… Couldn't use my hands… couldn't use my legs…"

For a moment, Atlas stopped and listened. Sure, he never had hands, but he always had his legs to rely on. A world like that… Felt truly awful.

"I… Slowly by slowly. I had to build my muscles back up to be usable. And sometimes…" He brought his hand up, and it began to shake. "It still feels like it isn't all there yet. But… through that I learned about physiotherapy… And what it does for people. That's when I knew what I wanted to do in life…"

"..." As Atlas remained silent, he took another kick to the soccer ball, scoring another goal. "That's the difference between you and I. Sure, while we both had a stage in our life where we couldn't do anything… You want to know what? You could actually do something about this. You could work to improve yourself. Me?" He didn't even bother going to the center with the ball this time, kicking it off towards the side. "No matter what I do. I'm fucking stuck like this. How did you feel when you couldn't do anything?" He felt like it was pointless even asking such a question. Even taking one look at Benoit would explain that he didn't really feel any sort of rage.

"Um… Well…" That was true. He was able to work towards getting better. Someone like Atlas… "I'm sorry for comparing myself to you…" Now he had just made the entire thing worse. "If… I'll leave if you want me to."

Instead, Atlas didn't say anything. He let his rage do all the talking, and it had ended up like this. Instead, he just began slowly walking towards the ball he had kicked away.

Getting the hint, Benoit stepped towards the door, leaving Atlas behind.

The two seemed to have grown closer… probably.

---

Ultimate Gambler Station

While the other three had left, it seemed that two people had stayed behind. Either to gamble, or just to talk. From the looks of it, it wasn't really apparent which of the two it was, given the silence.

Seira sat down at the table, looking at their recently concluded game of poker. Then, she moved over to check her total. She only had fifty coins left, which wasn't much, but she wasn't planning on gambling too much anyways.

Gemini on the other hand, seemed a bit beat up. He had lost all fifty coins he had bet, lowering him down to a total of fifty five.

"Gemini…" Seira finally spoke up. "There's going to be other ways."

Slowly, he shook his head. "But the only other ways we have involves killing someone… And I'm not going to do that."

"That's not what I meant…" Seira glanced the other way. "We're all trying to escape, but being so adamant about this solution isn't going to help any of us."

He knew that. He knew… And yet… "So far, it's the only presentable goal we have in reach." A goal he needed to reach.

If he couldn't do that, could he really call himself an Ultimate Escapist?

Seira let out a small sigh, trying to figure the best way to tackle this problem. "It's a one time use, isn't it. Do you really want to take that and leave everyone else here."

Ian had already mentioned it this morning, but he still figured this was the best solution. "I don't even have to be the one to leave…" He trailed off. "It can be anyone. As long as they are able to get help, it doesn't really matter." He got off the chair he was sitting on.

His next destination was the prize corner, with Seira following behind him. To his surprise, Monokawa was still there. "Do you just live here?"

"Rent free!" The implications here wrote themselves.

Deciding not to bother himself much with that aspect, Gemini had some questions to ask Monokawa. "There's only one escape, right? Even if there's multiple escape pods?"

"Duh! I need to keep some free in case someone actually gets out with the intended methods." He pointed out.

Seira spent some time looking at the selection. Not because she wanted to buy anything! She was just curious about what they had to deal with. "Why is a bullet cheaper than a teddy bear?"

"Forgot to proofread." The otter shrugged.

After spending some time looking at his only option, Gemini turned to look at Seira. "I think the best thing we can do in a situation like this is maximise all of our chances at escaping."

"Yes, but you've seen how hard it is to get money. Even Ian didn't have too much." Although he did just rob them blind. "And that's the best method to get coins."

At this rate, it didn't seem likely that even Ian was going to reach that goal anytime soon. Until… the escapist's eyes trailed over to the Double or Nothing. "We can use that."

Now Seira was getting more unsure with every second. Grabbing his arm, she dragged him away from the prize corner. "That's enough. You need to stop worrying about this."

Looking at her for a few seconds, he finally let out a sigh. "Yeah… You're probably right." He glanced off into the distance. "Just never been in a place I couldn't escape from, you know?" No matter what the conditions were, he had managed to get out perfectly fine… He was always perfectly fine.

The astrologist sat down on the nearest table. "Things aren't always going to work out the way we want them to." Hell, she didn't want to be here either. But, maybe talking about stuff would get his mind off all of this. "Say. What kind of things have you escaped from?"

In an instance, a smile had formed on his face, like he had just forgotten about their current predicament. "I'm glad you asked. I can tell you the funniest one if you want."

"The… Funniest?" That did catch her interest. "Yeah, please. Tell me about that one." She leaned forward in her chair a bit.

Glad to hear she was interested.

"It was back when I was still in school." The entire time, he'd have the same smile plastered all over his face. "By that point, my friends knew about my tendency to make insane escapes. So they did what any reasonably sane human would do to test that…" Long pause. "They locked me in my room with no way out."

"Gemini, no sane person would do that." Seira had to be the bearer of bad news AGAIN. "Also that sounds like a fire hazard."

Quickly shaking his head, he didn't seem to care about any of that. "My windows were barred; couldn't leave like that. The handle to my door was broken, and the door was locked. That was a bust."

"And… you managed to escape from that?" Not that she doubted him… It just seemed a little crazy. "How did you manage to do it?"

He let out a laugh. "It's easy. All I needed was a simple tool…"

"Oh!" She figured out what he meant. "Like maybe a hatch-"

"Spoon."

"Spoon?"

"Spoon."
"Gemini what the-" How was that going to help him out.

That's the exact type of reaction he had been hoping for. "You might think me crazy, but when I was there at the moment, it worked. With nothing but a spoon, I was able to slowly dig my way through the door." He stopped himself to add something else onto the story. "By the way, the doors were made of cheap wood, which really made it easy to do that." Now that it was out of the way, back to the main story. "It took me a few hours, but after a while, I dug myself through the door."

With each passing second, Seira was slowly realising just how insane Gemini could be whenever it came time to escape. "How did your friends react?"

Another laugh. "Oh, I freaked them out. They knew I was good, but they weren't expecting me to dig through the door." However, the smile soon fell from his face. "After that they replaced all the doors with metal ones… So I wouldn't be able to do that again even if I tried." Whoever called this man the escape gremlin was right.

Oh, but now he felt rude talking only about himself. "What about you? Any funny stories involving your talent?"

"Gemini, why would I have any funny stories?" Even if she did, it would be nothing compared to literally DIGGING through a door.

"Fair point, fair point." Maybe he was crazy. "But you probably did a lot to earn that talent of yours."

"Well…" He wouldn't be wrong. "I read a lot of books back in the day, and that's where my interest came from. Back when I grew up, there was this library I always frequented. Had all the books I'd ever need." A warm smile slowly appeared on her face. Then, she let out a small relieved sigh. "I used to be such a closed off kid, but thanks to all that, I was able to open up a bit more."

Seira hadn't exactly struck him as a shy girl, so she definitely grew out of it. "You discovered the love of stars from that library?"

"Yes, the sections they had seemed to stretch on forever. And, as a kid, it seemed like it had enough content to last me a lifetime. They were as vast as the stars themselves. I'm thankful for it… because with the help of those books… I-"

Gemini slowly nodded his head. "Became an Ultimate, yeah."

That's not what she was going to say, but maybe now wasn't the time to tell everything about her. "Yeah, because of that, I became an Ultimate."

With all the talk they've been having, he no longer felt like gambling. Seems Seira finally managed to bring some sense to him. "Well, I think I'm done here. Maybe I'll give it another crack later."

Seira shook her head. "You barely have enough money left, you should really save it." Granted, he had more than her.

Flashing her a smile, he stood up. "I will always be trying for an escape." But he had enough for today. "It was nice talking to you." He had a really soft smile on his face.

"Yeah… Likewise." He was an interesting person.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

---

Cafeteria

It was around lunch time now, and most people had gathered for lunch.

And by most people, I mean literally everyone.

Winter was sitting at the same table that her and Michael had spoken to like normal. Across from her, he was sitting down. Seems these two liked eating next to each other. "So many people here today. Last few days we hadn't exactly eaten at the same time."

Michael shrugged, not really caring about all of that. "I guess I haven't noticed."

For the most part, the entire room seemed to be rather peaceful. Probably the first day of peace they've had since getting here.

Of course, something like that wouldn't last.

Suddenly, the monitor in the room turned on, showing Nova off. She seemed to be in an office of sorts. "Good ." She seemed to be in… Well… not a good mood. She was pretending to be in a good mood. "I hope you all have had the time to get used to the new areas."

"Haha…" Tatiana let out a nervous laughter. "I have not!" She didn't feel too much appeal to it yet. Besides, most of the chapter was spent on a 5k word poker scene.

"Unfortunate…" Nova glanced down. "Out of all the sectors, this one here offers the most fun.

Still, everyone was still a bit suspicious. "So…" Hae-Won hummed out. "Why are you talking to us right now?"

"Oh!" She had almost gotten completely off track. "This is normally the time where I'd give you all a motive."

"Motive…?" Gigi mumbled out.

"Yes! To kill! That's what I would say… but… It's a real shame, though…" Nova seemed a tad bit disappointed, her visor changing to a blue colour. "I had this entire motive planned out, but from the looks of it, it won't work out at all."

This got an eyebrow raise from Atlas. "What? What do you mean it won't work out?"

Quickly, she shook her head. "Oh! Don't mind me! I was just mumbling to myself. But don't worry-"

"We weren't worrying." Tatiana quickly called out. "We don't want a motive."

That was even more disappointing! "I assure you that the motives can be very fun. Just imagine them as… Games!" That was the best and only comparison she could come up with.

"Well, hold on!" Monokawa floated up to the large monitor. "You might not have anything ready, but I've been building my own motive."

"Oh?" Nova tilted her head to the side. "I wasn't aware that you'd also make something. You said you had no interest in the functionality of the motives."

"Times change." He raised a paw in the air. "But this isn't a singular motive! It's a special ongoing motive."

"Ongoing? Do we really need ano-"

"Yes!" For once, Monokawa was actually excited for something! Which couldn't be a good thing. "Let's see…" Soon, the monitor behind him began to grow staticy, eventually being replaced by a list with all eighteen of their names. Nova couldn't be seen anymore.

"Curious…" Gennosuke placed his hands in his pockets. "What are the things next to our names?" Next to everyone's names, it looked like several other words were spinning around like a slot.

"Oh! That! That's part of the fun! It's boring if everyone has a similar motive, so I decided to spice things up. There are five categories that you can get. After each trial, these will be reshuffled, removing the ones that had already appeared."

"Wait." Dae-Hyun narrowed his eyes. "What kind of categories are there?"

Floating up higher, Monokawa raised his paws in the air. "I'm so glad you asked! Let's go over them!" Floating back down, he stopped a few inches away from Dae-Hyun. "Category one! Secrets!" Floating back a bit, he shrugged. "That one sounds self explanatory. You'll receive in your motive app a secret you don't want the world to know. While that is active, I have no qualms revealing anything that's on it. The only way to stop it is to…"

"Murder…" Gigi lifted up a red card, whistle in her mouth. "You are vile."

"Oh?" The otter floated over towards her. "Why? You got something you don't want others to know."

Her expression didn't change. Instead, she looked at everyone else. "No, but I know other people here might not want their secrets revealed."

"There's… There's no way to verify that, right." Tatiana let out a laugh. "You could just be making it all up."

With a shrug, Monokawa didn't seem to care. "Maybe, but you'll find out soon after if you get that as your category." Still, he was on a time crunch. His favourite cartoon started in twenty minutes, so he needed to hurry up. "The next category is threat. Pretty basic! I threaten someone you love!"

"H-huh?" Edison took a step back. "You don't have the power to threaten them!" Yeah! That made sense.

"Really?" Monokawa floated down to him. "We kidnapped you lot, so I say we're in a pretty good position to do whatever we want. Besides, once again, are you really going to risk it?"

"Well… I…" It sounded absurd. And yet… The chances weren't absolutely zero, so it wasn't worth risking.

"What do you hope to accomplish with something like that?" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes.

Seriously? They still wouldn't believe him? What the hell- whatever. There were still a few more categories to go through. "Next up! Truth." Oh haha like the theme-

"Huh?" Gemini scratched the back of his head. "That one seems a little out there." Who would want to kill for the truth?

"Yeah, I guess this one is a bit weaker than the others!" Monokawa shrugged. "However, there's always someone willing to kill for something. Trust me on that, I've seen it before!"

"Wait, but what kind of truth?" Seira wanted to at least get all available information. "Do we… get to choose what we learn."

"Hmm… Nope! I will offer you a truth that I know will pique your interest. As soon as you see what I have to offer, you'll be jumping in joy at just the opportunity to find out the truth!"

Letting out a small sigh, the escapist shook his head. "You said there were two more, right?"

These people were no fun. "Right, right. Next up! Promise!"

Silence.

"What the hell kind of good is that going to do?" Atlas mumbled out. "You're just going to promise us? You think we'd fall for something as shitty as that?" As if he'd actually pull through with his promise.

That saddened Monokawa, who now looked dejected. "And what if I really would… You'd kill someone just for me to fulfill a promise… It makes me want to…" It sounded like he was going to say cry, but he quickly changed his tune. "Oh wait, I can't feel sorrow. Oopsie! But hey, you don't have to kill. Just know that if you do while that one is active on you, it's a bonus."

"And… the last one?" Michael just wanted to get it over with.

"Fine!" Floating up over the entire group. "The last one… is revelation." He had a dark look in his eyes. "I offer you information for free. What you do with that information is completely up to you. The information will need to relate to you, and you alone. But let me tell you, some of the information I managed to gather…" He couldn't resist the urge to laugh. "Well let's just say it'll definitely change how the game plays out for you."

So that was it… The five categories they would randomly be given over the course of their stay here.

The part that made it uneasy was the uncertainty on who would react the most to which category. They all seemed like they could contain someone who would be fine with lashing out.

"So…" Gennosuke felt like asking. "Are we getting those now?"

"Absolutely!" Monokawa floated back up to the screen. "Let's get this party started!" He tapped on the screen, despite it not being a touch screen.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Monokawa pulled out a remote. "Oh! Right!" He pressed a button on it.

One by one… The results would stop, revealing what everyone had.

.

Atlas: Secret

Benjamin: Promise

Benoit: Threat

Dae-Hyun: Promise

Edison: Revelation
Gemini: Truth

Gennosuke: Threat

Gigi: Revelation

Hae-Won: Truth

Ian: Secret

Laki: Secret

Lorelei: Threat

May: Revelation

Melody: Truth

Michael: Secret

Seira: Promise

Tatiana: Promise

Winter: Secret

.

While some people didn't seem to react, other people weren't so easy going.

"W-what?" Michael took a step back, seeing that he had landed on secret. "What do you…?"

Monokawa couldn't help but laugh. "Oh wow! What are the odds?"

"One in five." Edison adjusted his goggles.

"Shut up, nerd."

Quickly, the hooded figure moved over to his watch, checking out the motive app. "Gnn…" He didn't like what he saw at all.

"Oh!" Monokawa called out. "Don't worry, nobody is allowed to look at it because of-"

"Rule #5: It is forbidden to show your motive app to anyone else, to talk about what might be on it, or to look at someone else's." Gigi recited perfectly, crossing her arms. "So this is what that is for."

"Exactly!" See, this is the kind of nerd people he appreciated. Because now he didn't have to do any extra work. "You aren't allowed to check what everyone else got, so until I decide to reveal it, your secret is safe with me!" His voice seemed to trail off at the end. "Or… Well… Until I get bored and tell everyone."

Winter frowned slightly. "And we all have different things…"

"It's impossible to know how anyone would react to the information they have gotten." Ian took a glance at his own motive, before shrugging. "But hey, it doesn't mean anything to me." He stuck his hand into his pocket. "This isn't something that would make me kill." He walked away from the table he was sitting at. "See you all later." He waved off.

Winter glanced at her own secret, frowning slightly, before shaking her head. Quickly, she turned off her watch. "Not sure what game you are trying here, but it won't work."

People wanted to act like it was nothing. But Monokawa knew better. "While it may be nothing now, just know that some of these might be able to get a reaction in the future. Just look at Michael right now."

He had created some distance between himself and the rest of the people. "..." Lowering his head, he moved over towards the elevator.

"H-hey." Winter wanted to stop him, but found it better to let him go for now. Her attention turned back towards Monokawa.

"Buuuut that's pretty much all I wanted to say." Monokawa floated up. "Let's see how you all deal with this going forward. Remember. It isn't the main motive."

With that, he floated away, leaving all of them behind.

Tatiana let out a laugh. "I will tell you, if they're all like mine, I don't think we have to worry."

"The main problem is that we can't talk about them…" Hae-Won shook her head. "Or else we die."

A rule that Gigi very much hated. If everyone could just know, it would be so much easier. "There's not much we can really do at this moment. We should just go back to what we were doing."

While the others could easily say that, Winter knew it wasn't that easy. Michael had already left in a hurry, so she might need to talk to him about that next time she got. For now, she was done eating, so she excused herself from the cafeteria.

---

Ultimate Gambler Station

As Gigi stepped into the Ultimate Gambler Station, she had only one goal in mind. Her eyes eventually landed on the roulette, until something else completely caught her interest.

Standing at the very table she was intending on using, was Ian. Of note, she noticed that he had purchased three different items with him. "Hmm?" Ever curious, she approached him. "Ian, what are you doing?"

Turning to look at her, he didn't seem too annoyed by the interruption. "Oh? Me?" He turned his attention back towards the table. "Just spending my time here. There's not much else to do, after all."

She had a few things she could have listed off that he could do, but it was a question of whether Ian would even find something like that interesting. "What did you buy?" Her eyes drifted over towards the stack he had.

He had no reason to lie to her, so might as well tell the truth. "These are Double or Nothing. You make back double the money you bet." He explained.

For a moment, it made sense to have something like that… until she realised it didn't in the slightest. "Wait. That doesn't make sense. If you lose, you're already losing the money you bet. Besides, most of the time the amount you bet is minimal." She had taken a glance on her way here, and the max for the slots was only five coins. And in poker, you were already making more than double your money.

"Ah." Ian smiled at her. "It seems you've caught on to what this item is like." He eyed the roulette table he was standing in front of. "This is the only place where you can get any real value." From the looks of it, he bet all his money on the colour red. "See, normally the return for this table is much less, but if I just so happen to double it, then it's meaningless."

Placing a hand on her hip, Gigi shook her head. "But that's still a fifty percent chance you get nothing."

A chance he didn't seem to care about. "But if I win, I get to double everything I have. Do that a few times, and…" He trailed off.

The referee shook her head. "Like I said. Meaningless if you lose. You'd have nothing left, and thus can't bet anymore."

Ian once again, didn't seem to care that much. "I could just ask someone to lend me some money, and I'd be able to bet my way back. Eventually I'd get to a point where I don't even need to bet all my money."

Eyeing the amount he had bought, it was three. "How much does that cost anyway?"

"Fifty coins a piece." He turned his attention back to the roulette as the ball landed in red. "See? Nailed it." He had a cocky look in his eyes.

Letting out a small sigh, she stepped away from that table and approached one of the poker ones. "Are you free?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I am. But why?"

Sitting down at the table, Gigi scanned her bracelet. "Because I want to play a round."

Ian hadn't pinned Gigi as the type to play poker, but he wasn't going to say no to a game like that. "Alright, you got it." He sat down across from her, scanning his own bracelet. "Are you any good?"

"I've seen people play it over a hundred times, so I know what does and doesn't work." Gigi waited for the cards to be dealt to her. When they were finally sent her way, she took a glance at them.

Ian took a look at his own cards. "Yeah, but watching and playing are two very different things. Besides, gambling is my entire brand." He laughed a bit. "I don't think you'll win against me."

Judging from her facial expression, it didn't seem like she cared that much. "I didn't ask what my chances were, did I?"

True… Slowly a smile crept on his face. Using the clicker, he put twenty five chips into the pot. "Well, let's start out strong, shall we?"

Not hesitating in the slightest, Gigi returned the bet, calling it to the exact amount. "I'm not sure if you're trying to scare me, but it won't work."

Damn! Well, he tried. "Didn't think I could."

The next three cards were revealed, a three of hearts, five of diamond, and a nine of clubs.

This helped Ian out greatly, as he was one card away from a straight. Of course, he didn't really let that show on his face.

However, when he took a glance at Gigi, he wasn't able to tell anything. Her poker face was great, because she never changed her facial expression. Almost on par with Benjamin, but there were slight tells. "So…" He decided he wanted to make some conversation while they played. He decided he wasn't going to make any ludicrous bets and let it pass to Gigi. "Why do you hate poker so much?"

Deciding to go against Ian, Gigi placed ten chips into the pot. "Because I've seen the lives of many ruined by such a simple game. They go in expecting to make a large sum of cash, only to come out with nothing to their name."

The gambler had seen that oftentimes too, but it never happened to him. "So? That's just the nature of the game. In a game like that, there's going to be losers." He called the bet she made.

She knew that very well. She had seen many different games. And while they had all different rulesets, one thing was shared amongst them: A winner and a loser. "You don't have to tell me about that. I've seen it all."

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. "Then how can you hate a game for the decisions of other people?" He frowned slightly. "Are the losers just dragging down the reputation of gambling?"

The next card was revealed. A king of diamonds. "It's more than just the gambling aspect of the game that I hate. It's what I associate it with."

Oh? Well Ian had to hear that. "Do tell me." He chose to not make a bet this round.

She had no reason to tell him anything, but she was going to humour him anyway. "It was my first encounter with the mafia, so it left a bad taste in my mouth."

That wording wouldn't go unnoticed by Ian. "First time? How many times have you run into them?"

"That's not the important part here." She made a bet for twenty chips this time, bringing in the total bet to sixty from both parties, if you include the ante at the start.

Did she have a good hand? He couldn't tell. At best, she had a similar hand to his. After examining the table for a bit longer, he called her bet. Back to the conversation at hand. Seems she was intent on not divulging more information to him, which was fair. After all, he might use it against her one day. "So, just because of them, you have a bad view on poker?"

"It's only natural. Like I said, after everything I've seen go on around the game, it's only natural. Sure, there's a chance to win big. But how long does that last? How long before the next bet makes them lose everything."

"And that's why they aren't worthy poker players." The last card was revealed, making it a four of clubs. Perfect. Just what he needed. Of course, he couldn't scare her off, so he only put in twenty chips this time.

However, Gigi wasn't going to be scared down, raising it by twenty beyond that, making the total a hundred chips from both players, given that Ian immediately placed those chips in. "That's not the issue at large here. A game like that, as well as any other games involving gambling is dangerous."

The gambler raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Oh? And yet here you are, playing one of those games with me. Do you even have a reason to do so?" He had noticed that Gigi was out of money to gamble, so that meant it was just time to reveal their cards. He showed his off first, to reveal that he had a straight.

However, he hadn't expected Gigi to show off her cards, only to reveal a low pair. "Really?" He hummed out, a bit in disbelief. "Were you trying to bluff me with a hand like that?"

"I was trying to bluff you, yes. But not for that reason." She checked her watch, noticing she had zero coins left. "I was just getting rid of my coins without making them go to waste." She stood up from the table. "Thank you for allowing me to do that."

He was good at reading faces, but even he hadn't caught on to what she was trying to do. Sure, he had a hundred more coins than before, but he didn't feel great about it. Everything had been a distraction, and once she had used him, she was gone. "Well played." Not like he could complain, he came out of the situation much richer.

The two seemed to have grown closer together.

---

Ultimate Referee Station

Given that he hadn't checked this place out before, Edison had grown curious about what it had to offer. He heard something about board games, so of course he'd check it out.

Stepping into the room, he expected a completely sports filled room… But it was actually much different. "Woah." Then again, Gigi had mentioned that she worked on more than just sports before, so it shouldn't come as a shock.

He made his way over to where some shelves of games were. "They have a lot here." This sector really was just to solve the boredom problem they had the past couple of days.

"Look at you, all alone. Nobody to play with?"

He heard the voice of someone after the door opened. Looking over to see who it was, it was Lorelei. Finally, they could have the free time event that was supposed to happen in the last chapter.

Well, he didn't have anyone to play with at the moment. "Do you wanna play?" He took out a random game of… let's say Uno. It came free with the space station.

Rolling her eyes, the computer girl walked past him. "As if. Why would I want to spend time with you? I'm just here to check out the room." She had been stuck exploring the casino yesterday, so it was only natural to come check here out. "Besides, is this really the time to be playing games?"

"... Yes!" Edison saw no harm in it. "I don't want to spend my time bored, and building bonds could be great to avoid what might happen in this game."

Ha. Building bonds? Did he forget what kind of game this was? "Sorry, I don't have time for that. But you're free to go pester someone else instead." She sat down in one of the chairs, playing around with her watch.

That did catch Edison's attention, and he quickly moved over to look at her wa- "Woah!" He took a step back, expressing shock. "You have games on your watch?"

Rolling her eyes, she paused the game. "Yeah. I'm a programmer. I know how to work with technology." Did he forget what her talent was?

He thought for a moment, glancing off to the side. "I thought you were a computer security specialist…" After putting an extra second of thought into it, he reached his next conclusion. "Oh wait you'd still need to program for that."

"Idiot." She stood up from her chair. "Yeah. I coded myself a game while in my room when we first got here. Need to do something to keep the boredom at bay."

Slowly, Edison raised up the Uno game-

"Besides that. I need something so I can play solo so I can avoid you all." Lorelei placed a hand on their hip.

"But playing with others should be fun." His family never really did board game nights, and he was always so busy studying that he never had the time.

Ugh, he wasn't going to give up on that. "The only time I even bother with other people is when it comes to video games. But since we don't have anything like that here, there's no point."

Well that was interesting. "Why video games specifically?"

Did she have to spell it out for him? "Because they're leagues better than whatever nonsense is in this room." She took a look at the shelves in the corner, grimacing slightly. "Besides, it's easier to cheat at video games. Nobody can really catch you."

"Huh?" Now she just admitted to cheating. "But doesn't that take the fun out of it?"

"Oh no…" They frowned at him. "Don't tell me you are one of those people who have to play fair at all times." What a true nerd. "I don't think I can talk to you anymore, it's going to make me sick…" She turned away from him.

Wait. This isn't a free time event. This is just a thousand words of Edison getting bullied- What? I already did this joke? FUCK!

Edison thought for a moment. "Do you hate board games because you didn't have anyone to play with?"

"What are you, my therapist?" They fired the last one, so. "I don't really care much about my family."

"Oh?" Maybe they could find some common ground here. "And why is that?"

She just said she didn't need a therapi- whatever. "Because I just don't? Alright? My parents seem to think they need to force me in a position I don't really care for."

Now that was a feeling he could understand. "My parents are…" Well he wouldn't say they are the worst, but… "Well sometimes I feel neglected."

"Ha!" That got a laugh from them. "Sometimes I wish I was neglected. Maybe then they'd leave me alone to do what I want to do."

A small frown appeared on his face. "Being neglected isn't that great…" He sat down in the chair next to her, causing her to move back a little. "Although, I guess it's natural when they have nine kids."

Nine kids- "Do they know what a condom is?" But whatever, that was interesting to learn. "So do they just ignore you, or everyone?"

… "Just me, honestly. I don't exactly fit into the family."

Oh brother you don't even fit in here- Those thoughts appeared in Lorelei's head, but they decided to ignore them. "Really? So they give attention to all your other siblings, but just leave you alone?"

Edison turned his body to face the table. "Sometimes it's just better like that. When they try to include me, it doesn't normally go well. See, my family is very sporty, and I'm not."

Alright, that's something she could understand. "I'm not exactly on the strong side either. If my family tried to make me do anything like that, I'd hate their guts. As for myself, the only sibling I have to deal with is my brother."

"What's he like?"

Ugh, don't even get them started on this. "They think they are owed everything. He wants to run the family company, but personally, I don't think he's fit for it."

"But… you don't either?" Edison was noticing a problem here.

Rolling her eyes, Lorelei continued. "Just because I don't want to, doesn't mean I won't. I'd do it just to keep him away from it."

"Huh? Is that your only motivation?" Just screwing over her brother?

"Duh! He's not fit for it, so who else but me to step in?" They said it like it was some noble act. "Of course, as mentioned, I don't really want to do it, so I kind of just don't pay attention to any of my courses."

If anything, it seemed like she was doing it out of spite. "What is the company about anyways?"

As if he even needed to ask. "Huh… Computer security? My fucking talent? Are you that stupid?"

Edison began swirling around one of his flasks. "Did you just call me stupid…?"

Before he had time to react, they grabbed his flask, tossing it to the side. "Stop trying to act so scary." The sound of his crashing to the ground could be heard.

Wow, he really was just getting bullied. "Sometimes people have talents different from what other people want them to be. My parents want me to be the same as my siblings, but here I am as the Ultimate Chemist."

Alright, she couldn't turn down that way of thinking. "I don't really care about the Ultimate title anyways. But my parents are seemingly really happy. It locks me in to the company as well. My brother is practically out of the running now."

She really did seem vicious. "What did he ever do to you?" If she hated him that much, he must have done something horrend-

Lorelei shrugged. "Not really anything in particular. I just hate his guts. Plus, he's annoying, so." She tilted her head to the side.

She really was vicious. "You sound like a horrible person."

"Thank you for noticing." Finally! Someone called it out exactly as it was. "It feels good to get some recognition."

Even if she did want to play cards now, not even Edison would say yes. Honestly, he wanted to be as far away from this person as possible. "I uh… Have to go now."

"Huh? You don't want to play cards anymore?" She leaned forward on the table. "Come on! I was so looking forward to it."

The chemist didn't even say anything else before leaving the room. Maybe he'd find someone else he could interact with.

After he was gone, the fake smile slowly faded off her face. "What a fucking loser…" She moved back to playing on her watch.

The two seemed to have grown closer…

However, just as he had left, and Lorelei was about to enjoy some peace and quiet, an announcement played out.

It was with Nova's voice as well. "Everyone, please gather in the motive room. I have a very special announcement for you all."

"UGH!" She leaned her head back. "What does the bitch want now?"

---

Motive Room

To think they'd be called again so soon. They already had to deal with what Monokawa wanted in the cafeteria…

The group of eighteen all stepped into the room, looking around, until they eventually spotted Nova standing by the monitor.

"Why did you call us?" Gigi crossed her arms, her neutral look remaining.

"Oh! Remember that dilemma I was talking to you all about earlier?" She tilted her body slightly to the side. "I've resolved it!"

"What was the issue again?" Edison hummed out, still preoccupied about the motive Monokawa had given.

There was no way he already forgot! "I was mentioning I was having a hard time finding a motive because the one I wanted to do is impossible now… Well! I found a worthy replacement."

"Huh?" Tatiana narrowed her eye. "But we were already given a motive by Monokawa!"

Shaking her head, Nova continued. "That may have been a motive he gave out, but it's not the main one that will be happening. That's just a background motive. Barely noticeable, honestly."

So they were truly getting another motive right now? Dae-Hyun ran a hand through his hair. "I don't see a reason. Isn't the ongoing one enough? There's going to be too many motives."

Nova's visor turned blue as she began to frown. "But I worked so hard on it."

"Actually, she just kind of threw things at a wall." Monokawa had been lounging in the corner. "So there's no way the motive will work out like she wants to."

Still, she was hopeful. "It's going to keep the people engaged in the new part of the station that just opened up."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Just get on with it, already, will you?"

Wow! Someone was impatient. Standing up straight again, Nova moved to the side so the monitor behind her could be visible. After a few seconds, the total for everyone's coins became visible.

.

Invalid User: 202 Coins

Atlas: 100 Coins

Benjamin: 50 Coins

Benoit: 100 Coins

Dae-Hyun: 100 Coins

Edison: 100 Coins

Gemini: 55 Coins

Gennosuke: 50 Coins

Gigi: 0 Coins

Hae-Won: 100 Coins

Ian: 1,523 Coins

Laki: 234 Coins

Lorelei: 350 Coins

May: 100 Coins

Melody: 100 Coins

Michael: 100 Coins

Seira: 50 Coins

Tatiana: 100 Coins

Winter: 100 Coins

.

"Huh…" Ian frowned slightly. "Why is this being shown off?"

"Because it's going to be important, duh!" Nova let out a small laugh. "These coins are going to be important for the motive."

Gigi frowned slightly. She was the only person who was at zero, so it wasn't boding well for her.

"Hey…" Gennosuke was the first to notice this. "What the hell is that at the top?"

Everyone had been too preoccupied by looking at their own totals to even notice something.

There was a completely blank name at the top, and it had a little over two hundred coins.

"Huh?" Even Nova wasn't sure what to think about that.

Monokawa floated over to the screen, taking a look at it. "Must be a glitch of some kind." He shrugged before floating back down to where he was lying down. "Don't worry about it too much."

It was still cause for concern, but nobody said anything about it if they weren't going to be getting any answers.

"What do the coins do?" Ian continued the conversation along. He had a lot… so he wanted to know for sure.

Nova nodded her head. "Yes, these coins here represent your life metre."

"So is Gigi just dead?" Laki pointed out.
Dolly began to cry. "I… I barely knew her and-"

The overseer quickly shot that down. "No, it doesn't mean she's dead. I'd hate for her to be dead. What this does mean, is that she's in danger for the motive to activate."

The screen was changed to a display, showing off a random watch with a hundred coins. "You can earn coins at the casino, as well as a few other places I will be setting up. Going forward, these will be vital."

Suddenly, the display began to slowly lower. Losing one coin per second. "However, there's now a way for you to lose coins." The display changed to show two people standing besides each other. "You will all be randomly paired with another person. If you are near that person, nothing bad will happen. However, as soon as you step far enough away from each other…"

The display moved back to the watch that was slowly climbing down to zero.

"We lose coins?" Ian really didn't like the sound of that.

Gemini narrowed his eyes. "So all of our hard work for coins would be for nothing?"

"And…" Gigi trailed off, realising something. "What happens if we reach zero?"

"If you reach zero coins, and you are out of range of your partner…" Nova trailed off. "Then your watch will forcibly put you to sleep. You will remain unconscious for a total of ten minutes, before waking up. However, if you are still out of range, after another minute, you will be rendered unconscious again."

The implications for that didn't take long to register for most people. "Then…" Dae-Hyun trailed off. "We'd just be sitting ducks for whoever to come by."

"Tsk! What the hell? This motive is dumb." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Like hell I'm going to let myself be a sitting duck. I can't even play the games." Well, he could try and use his leg to get the slots working, but that was unreliable.

Nova let out a sigh. "Did you all forget what I mentioned? There are more ways than just the Ultimate Gambler Station to make money. I will be adding stuff to the Ultimate Referee Station and the Ultimate Soccer Player Station. These should help add methods."

May slowly lifted her hand. When she was called upon, she asked her question. "Do we get to know who our partners are?" She felt like the answer was going to be no.

Nova shook her head. "Of course not. If you knew who they were, then you would just be able to stick around them the entire time."

So they were going into this blind? "Thank you…" She mumbled out.

Now it was Michael's turn to ask a question. "Does the total still drain even if we are sleeping?"

"Yes. Sleeping on your own does not prevent the coin total from lowering. I would choose where you sleep very carefully."

The hooded figure glanced at the ground. He had switched his room over, but looks like he'd need to do it again. "Alright…"

"Um…" Benoit spoke up. "What exactly are you using… to put us to sleep?" If he could figure out what it was, he might be able to figure out how to counteract it.

However, Nova wasn't even going to give him that avenue. "And why would I tell you? I'm well aware of your knowledge. You can't fight this one." She shook her head.

"Oh…" He wanted to try and be useful, but if he was going to get shot down like that.

Still, there continued to be more questions. This time from Seira. "What's the range? How far away do we have to be?"

"That is something you'd need to figure out yourself. Telling you all the information now would render the fun part of the moot." She took another glance around the room, seeing if anyone else had any questions.

"Couldn't we just cheat the system…?" Gennosuke mumbled out, thinking of something. "We could just perform tests with our watch to figure out who our partner is."

Nova slowly shook her head. "Nope. Because your watches won't update via the motive unless you reach zero coins, or the station changes to night or daytime. In other words, 7am, or 10pm."

May pointed at the screen behind Nova. "Will that also change too?"

The overseer slowly nodded her head, an eager expression on her face. "Yes! This monitor here will remain active throughout the motive. Twice a day, it will update to display the amount of coins everyone has. Use it to your advantage with the motive going forward."

"What if we all reach zero coins?" Gigi frowned, thinking about herself here.

That was important. Barely anybody would be able to do anything if that happened. "If you all somehow reach zero, then I suppose you better try and end the motive, right?" Her visor changed to a more sinister expression. "But, you all won't let that happen, right?" It was back to a joyful one.

Then, she reached over towards the monitor on her arm. "I will be updating your rules app with all the necessary information for this motive.

As always, Gigi was the first one to load up the motive rules.

.

1) With this new motive, you have been paired up with a partner. The identity of that partner is unknown, and up to you to figure out.

2) Whenever you are out of reach of your partner, your coins will slowly begin to dwindle down. If it ever reaches zero, and you are out of range of your partner, you will be injected with a sleeping drug, and rendered unconscious.

3) You should only be unconscious for approximately ten minutes. After which you will wake up. You will have a one minute grace period to situate yourself and find your partner before you are put under again.

4) This is also active when you go to sleep voluntarily. Please be mindful of where you sleep.

5) Your coin app will not update unless two of the conditions are met: A) You reach zero coins, or B) One of the dedicated update times is reached.
6) At 7am, or 10pm, the coins will update on both the watches and the monitor in the motive room.

.

Ian, on the other hand, had a completely different question to ask. "When does it start?"

Oh! That was a question she could easily answer. "It starts as soon as morning time starts tomorrow."

Placing his hands in his pockets, the gambler smirked. "So we still have some time? Got it."

"Is there an end time for this motive?" Winter was the next person to ask a question.

Slowly, Nova shook her head. "It will continue on until a body drops. But if one never drops, I suppose that is fine. Although, I'm not sure how much the human body can withstand the sleeping drug being constantly pumped into the system." As if that wasn't the most ominous warning.

Benoit took a step forward. "This thing can kill us…?" Now he really needed to figure out just what kind of drug was being used. It wasn't like any medication he knew, but he didn't know them all.

However, Nova quickly dismissed their concerns. "I assure you it's nothing horrible." She trailed off, but gave no further reason why it wasn't horrible. "If that is all, I will be taking my leave now." She left through the door, leaving the eighteen of the participants alone in the room.

"We need to think of a plan for tomorrow." Gigi was one of those people with zero coins, so she wanted to figure something out now. "It would be best for everyone to be awake early tomorrow."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "And what? Worry about the motive. Hey, not sure if you noticed, but." She pointed out her total. "I'm good with coins. I can easily find my partner in that time."

Gennosuke shook his head. "Waking up early isn't exactly my moto. Good luck with what you're trying to do, though." Quickly, he left the room.

"Bet you feel kind of stupid now, throwing away your coins." Ian frowned slightly.

He wasn't exactly wrong. She had practically thrown away his points with the sole intent of having zero. But had she known about this motive beforehand, she obviously wouldn't have done that.

Gemini let out a sigh, glancing at his own total. "If we all meetup in the morning, it would be for the best. We should meet up outside our rooms. If anybody wanders off too far, there's a chance that they pass out."

One by one, most of the group seemed to reach an agreement.

"First thing in the morning, everyone exits their room." Gigi pointed out. "After that we discuss what is the best course of action to do. For now, we should get some sleep so we can think clearer."

Soon, everyone began to leave the room except one person.

---

Vacant Rooms

Everyone had decided the best course of action was to head to bed, given that nighttime was approaching. They'd need to be well rested for what was going to be happening tomorrow, after all.

One of the only few people who didn't immediately enter a room was Michael, who was standing in the hallway.

Approaching him was Winter. "You're not going to sleep?"

Slowly, he turned to look at her. "I'm debating if I should move my room back or not…" He trailed off.

"There's no point in staying alone if you are out of range. You'll lose all your coins before you even wake up." A coin a second seems absurd. "At least until you know who you were paired up with."

Letting out a sigh, Michael walked up to one of the three vacant rooms, scanning his watch against the scanner. "It's probably better if I stay here even without the motive." If he had a room on his own, people might get suspicious of him, and he didn't want that. He waited the couple of seconds he needed to, before scanning his watch again. However, before entering his room, he turned to look at Winter. "Good night." He offered, before stepping inside.

Watching the door close behind him, Winter turned her attention to her own room. "Yes. Good night."

As she entered her own room, the announcement for nighttime began to play. "It is now nighttime. Remember that tomorrow the motive starts in full swing. Make sure you are ready for that. I'd say get well rested, but you'll have plenty of time for that over the coming days. Haha… Goodnight…"

---

Motive Room

While everyone else had gone to bed, it was quite odd to see May still up. Had she forgotten to leave the room?

No. She had been awake the entire time, with a few yawns here and there. Her eyes were fixated on the monitor in front of her. True to Nova's words, the total was now frozen, showing the same results that it had shown earlier.

"Hmm…" She felt like she needed to make note of this every time it was updated. Especially with the threat of a murder now looming over, it was going to be a good thing for information. "Alright…" Once she had made a good enough mental note, she walked away, leaving the room. Glancing to the side, she felt like she saw someone heading towards Psi Sector, but she didn't make an attempt to follow them. Instead, she moved over to her own room, heading inside…

---

And that concludes another chapter of this fic. Me and introducing the motive in part 2, name a more iconic duo. That's right Gold! No waiting till the part before! We're doing this shit now. I actually got this idea while reading Gold's fic, which is really funny, honestly. It was during one of the live readings where I was just hit with a random idea for a motive.

I wanted something vastly different from the last motive, which only popped up for the participants to play a game, and then it was mostly forgotten until the next game. Now, this is an ongoing threat for the rest of the chapter, which I find to be fun :D Let's see how this shapes up the rest of the chapter.

Also of course I was going to have the coins be a bigger part of it. At first they weren't, but I decided it would be even better if I incorporated the new app into the motive. It gives everyone an incentive to gamble their lives away. Or in this case, try and save their lives.

So far, trial progress is going along smoothly, with part 1 almost being halfway done. Now that this part is finished, that might be what I move on to. I'm just happy I got this chapter out before the end of the month.

Speaking of which, I made good progress for my writing challenge in June :0 I'm currently in the middle of a writing challenge where I need to write 200k words during the months of June, July, and August, so expect Chapter 2 to be fully completed before my challenge ends. See you next month :D

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Participants Remaining: 18

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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]