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?

14. Dual Disposition (Part 3)

Chapter 2: Dual Disposition (Daily Life Part 3)

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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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Today had been any other day for the young girl, who sat neatly in front of the TV. While the program she had on wasn't anything interesting, it was the only thing mildly keeping her attention.

Besides that…

Nothing.

Nothing ever was enough to keep her entertained.

So here she sat, silently watching it, as if there was nothing better to do.

She heard footsteps approaching her, and she glanced to the side to see her father, Kumar, holding something behind her back. "Lakshmi, guess what I got you?"

Looking at him only momentarily, she turned her attention back to the TV. "What?" It came off as sounding like she didn't care.

Already off to a bad start, but he wasn't going to let that dissuade him in the slightest.

Revealing what he had behind his back, it was a doll. "I got this for you." From the looks of it, it had a rather costume made look to it. Not something you'd find in stores.

She spared the doll a single glance before turning her attention back over towards the TV. "Oh. OK." She had no interest in it.

Letting out a sigh, the father placed it right next to her. "It's here, if you want to play around with it."

Moving away from her, he turned into the next room, where her mother, Devi, was waiting.

"Did she like it?" It wouldn't have been the first time she had asked this about something they had gotten her.

The emotions on his face slowly shifted into one of sorrow. "I… Don't think so."

At this point, they had tried almost everything from dolls, to games, to even art supplies.

Nothing that they showed her seemed to catch her attention.

The only thing that would keep her occupied was the TV. Even then, however, it only barely got her attention.

Kumar sat down at the table, taking a deep sigh. Nothing seemed to work. He had checked all the possibilities to see if her symptoms aligned with anything, and yet he wasn't able to find anything. "Maybe she's just bad at showing her emotions." That's what he had hoped. The only thing he could do was keep trying, no matter how long it took.

…

…

…

It was now her sixth birthday. And it was spent almost like any of her other birthdays. A small gathering of people, food they knew she liked, and a cake.

The only difference this year… There wasn't a huge pile of gifts that she could unwrap. She never cared about any of them anyways.

She didn't seem to mind either. As soon as the food was done, she was ready to head back to the room.

However, her father called out to her. "Lakshmi. Come outside, we have a present for you."

Well, a present outside was certainly out of the norm, but she decided to check it out for herself. When she stepped outside, both her parents were standing behind something.

It was a bike.

For once, she didn't turn away. She spent a few seconds looking at the bike. "For me?" It looked interesting.

Seeing that small sparkle in her eyes, her father couldn't help but put on a smile of his own. "Yes! For you." He walked over to her, extending his hand out.

She took it, letting herself be guided towards the bike.

They moved it over to the sidewalk so she would have more room to test it out. He put her helmet on, making sure it was secured properly. After that was done, he placed her on the bike.

Her mother crouched down so they could see eye to eye more easily. "Listen carefully." A bike was a bit dangerous, especially for someone who hadn't done anything like it, so she wanted to get all the precautions out of the way quickly. "I don't want you to go too fast, alright. If you fall off, you might hurt yourself-"

However, she never got the chance to finish her sentence.

Because, Laki had already zoomed off on her bike. Or at least attempted to. It was her first time, so she wasn't very good at it. The only experience she had was with watching other people do it on TV.

"Lakshmi!" Kumar called out, trying to run after her.

This was the first time she had felt this much adrenaline in her body.

Sadly, it didn't last very long, given she had quickly lost balance on the bike, sending her falling to the ground, and even scraping her knee.

Quickly, her parents managed to catch up to where she had crashed, hoping to comfort her when she started crying.

However… The tears never came.
Instead.

Laughter.

For the first time in her life, Laki had begun to laugh at something.

"Again! Again!" She called out lifting her arms up in the air.

For a moment, Kumar was unsure what to think. He just slowly turned to look at Devi, before a smile soon plastered itself across his face.

Even with Laki having the scraped knee, it was the first time ever she had shown any sort of emotion.

Even Devi had a smile on her face as she wiped away the small pebbles that had accumulated on her knee.

Once her knee was cleaned up, she was put back on the bike. "Ready?" Her father asked with a bit more excitement in his voice.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

As she was let to go back down the road, her giggling quickly filled the morning air.

…

…

…

…

…

It was now several years after the fact, and Laki had found herself even more enthralled with those types of activities. She had gone through several bikes with just the way she handled them.

Not just that, but her bored demeanour had completely shifted over to an overactive personality. Almost as if she had to do something exciting or else she'd die on the spot.

To the point that even at school, she had gotten a reputation for the trouble she was always getting into while in recess.

To the point where she had almost completely lost her recess privileges a few dozen times

However, today was different.

Today, one of her fellow classmates had approached her.

It wasn't someone she had talked to often, so it was quite the change of pace.

"Lakshmi, was it?" The boy had his hands in his pockets, and he had a small curious smile on his face.

It was always nice to have new people talking to her, so she quickly nodded her head. "Yup! That's me! But you can call me Laki if you want." It's what she allowed friends to call her, and this boy was in her class. That should make the two of them friends out of the gate.

For a moment, the boy spent a few seconds looking at her. She had been covered in bandages, probably from past injuries. "I saw what you did yesterday."

It took a moment to recall just exactly what she had done yesterday, given she had done so much in such a short span of time. "Oh! You mean the backflip off the monkey bars?" That was pretty cool.

The boy nodded. "You could have hurt yourself." Or worse, but the boy was young enough that his mind didn't immediately wander to death.

Still, seeing just how lucky she was sometimes, it got him thinking. "Could I join you in what you do?"

"Oh?" That was a proposition she hadn't heard. "You want to join me?" She had been so used to people mostly just ignoring her antics, so it was a nice change of pace to have someone actually interested in her.

Well, join wasn't exactly the right word. He was more just curious to see what she could actually do. "Are you able to do a backflip without standing on the monkey bars?"

Well, the best way to answer that was to try it right now!

Laki crouched slightly to ready herself to jump back.

When her feet left the ground, the entire world turned around her, until she was barely able to land on her feet. However, she stumbled forward, and fell on the ground.

The only evidence that she had even fallen was a slight cut. "Oh! Another bandage!" She didn't really seem to mind one bit.

The boy on the other hand, was more than happy to have witnessed what he did. "Awesome!" He'd never attempt something like that himself, but she seemed to have zero hesitation at his suggestion. "What else can you do?"

It was nice to have someone who was just happy for her when she did these things, instead of always getting yelled at.

Even her parents had grown increasingly worried with what she wanted to do, when other times, they would have been happy to just see Laki having fun. "Hmm…" However, doing things on her own wasn't fun, so she got a better idea.

…

…

…

…

"What do you want me to do?"

---

Motive Room

Now this didn't make much sense. Why was she…?

May for once was awake early enough to cause an anomaly, given she shouldn't be up for another five hours. However, due to the motive, she didn't want to be separated from anyone for too long.

And yet… She didn't wait by the vacant rooms. No. She had another goal in mind.

Like she did last night, she was checking out the coin score to see if anybody went out and did some gambling.

Especially after she saw the figure last night heading over towards the Psi sector. "Let's see…" She had gone early so she could be there for when it actually updated.

As soon as it hit 7am, the screen changed, to show new results.

.

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: 233 Coins

Lorelei: 350 Coins

May: 100 Coins

Melody: 100 Coins

Michael: 871 Coins

Seira: 50 Coins

Tatiana: 100 Coins

Winter: 100 Coins

.

Nothing had really changed, it seems. Well, except for… She let out a yawn. Not that it meant much at the moment, but it would be good to keep note of it. "Time to head to Gigi…" Before she lost her mind at her absence. Knowing her, she might already be knocking furiously on her door.

---

Vacant Rooms

And she would be right. As soon as she returned to the room, she could see that Gigi was already knocking on her door. "May! I know you like sleeping, but you should get up!"

From the looks of it, everyone else was already awake. Letting out a small yawn, she approached the group. "I'm already up… Sorry, I wanted to check on something."

This caused the referee to stop what she was doing and turn to look at the sleepy girl. "Oh." Well this wasn't what she was expecting. Taking one look around, the sixteen other people were also awake. "Then I think we have everyone we need to talk about a strategy."

"Huh…" Laki hummed out, tilting her head. "Can't we all move to the cafeteria so we can at least eat while we do this?"

"Fine." She couldn't say no to that if everyone was here. "We still don't know the range, so it's probably best if we all eat at the same table, though."

Nobody really had a problem with that. Maybe it was because most had less than two minutes of time left before they passed out. The world may never know.

---

Cafeteria

Another rare occurrence. Everyone was actually here this time. In large part to Gigi's excessive knocking to get Lorelei and Gennosuke out of their room.

However, even with everyone here, she didn't exactly know where to steer the conversation. So, she just remained silent, staring ahead.

The first to actually speak up, was Gemini, who let out a sigh. "What's our game plan? Should we focus all of our time today to figure out who's partners with who?"

Hae-Won shook her head. "With all the restrictions we have on this motive, doing that would prove pointless, unless we intend to drain all of our coins down to zero."

True. Because the total wouldn't update normally, they would have no way of knowing until either someone passed out, or the totals updated at the end of the night. "I don't really feel like relying on that as a method."

Which meant they didn't really have many choices for what to do.

Ian shrugged. "Maybe we just focus on getting our coin total to a high enough number. If we all get to over a thousand, that gives us a lot of wiggling room."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Gigi crossed her arms. "I don't have any coins."

The gambler shrugged, glancing to the side. "That was your fault. You gave me all your coins."

"Um…" Seira spoke up. "Either way… I'm not sure how good gambling would be. We have no way to guarantee that we'd win. We could just be throwing all of our coins out for no reason."

Atlas shook his head. "Hey. Didn't you remember what Nova said?"

---

"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."

---

This put a bright smile on Melody's face. "Then what are we waiting for? We should make haste and go there now."

"Hmm…" May hummed out, shaking her head. "No… Not right now."

"Huh?" The tap dancer tilted her head to the side. "And why not?"

"I want… To test something." This was the only time they'd be able to do it. Especially while someone had zero coins. "We should figure out who Gigi is partnered with?"

Her facial expression didn't change upon hearing that. "How so?"

"It's easy to do now, since you're already at zero coins." The academic prodigy began to explain. "We can easily ascertain the range as well as your partner."

That didn't sound too bad, and it would help her immensely to know who her partner is. "Very well."

"So what?" Gemini ran a hand through his hair. "Are we just going to keep trying until we figure it out?" This could take some time.

Moving over towards the door to Tau Sector, May stopped by the scanner. "We should be able to test this out by using this floor. If we use the hallway, we could figure out how far someone has to be… to be out of range." But they needed to see, so. "Someone stand by the door to keep it open."

The lucky volunteer was Edison, who walked over to it. "On it!" He seemed to be eager. "Who's going to test it out first?"

Letting out a yawn, the sleepy girl stepped out into Tau Sector. "Me…"

Keeping the door open, they all watched her make her way to the other end of the hallway, with Gigi still fully conscious. After she touched the wall, she slowly made her way back. "Hmm…" She hummed out. "Either not far enough, or I'm not your partner."

"What if the range is larger than that?" Lorelei pointed out, annoyed at the attempt that was happening. "Doesn't that just mean we're wasting time here?"

True, but then they wouldn't be able to figure out a range. "It's the longest straight path we have." May pointed out. "And… if the range is longer, then it means we don't have to worry about the motive too much…"

"Who's next?" Edison kept standing by the door, keeping it open.

Stepping up was Hae-Won. "I'll go." She kept her hands in her pockets as she walked. Similar to May, she was able to reach the back wall with nothing happening. When she finally returned, she shook her head. "We just have to do this… fifteen more times." That wasn't going to get annoying quick or anything.

Stepping up to the task next, was Melody. "I wouldn't mind trying it out." She didn't mind losing coins as well anyways. She could always make them up later.

Stepping through the door, she managed to reach the end of the hallway too. "Nope." She commented as she walked back. "Are ya sure that it's far enough."

Gemini frowned slightly. "We won't know until we've tried everyone." Having said that, the escapist took a few steps forward. "I'll go next."

As he stepped through the door, he made it about halfway to the end of the hallway before something happened.

"Nng-" Gigi groaned as she felt the slight pain of something injecting into her skin. For a second, she stumbled around.

The first to move quickly was Benoit, who managed to prevent her from falling down.

"That…" She tried to keep her eyes open, but fighting the drug proved to be rather difficult. It only took another thirty seconds for her to be knocked out completely.

Seeing that something had happened, Gemini ran back to take a look at her. "Is she alright?"

"Damn…" Dae-Hyun mumbled out. "This thing is more effective than I thought." Only took less than a minute for her to be knocked out completely. "And this keeps you out for ten minutes?"

May let out a small sigh of relief. "That's one confirmed pair we know of. Figuring out the rest of them might take a bit more effort, though."

Well, Lorelei had an idea to make it easier, but she wasn't just about to blurt it out for everyone to hear. "Guess there's no way for now. We'll just have to wait for someone else to drop close to zero."

Slowly, Benoit placed Gigi down on the table, at least giving her a better place to rest than the floor. "Should we… Should we stick by her?" Felt weird watching someone sleep.

Hae-Won slowly nodded her head. "Once she wakes up, it'd probably be best to discuss it with her."

Slowly, the physiotherapist nodded his head. "Alright…"

…

…

…

After approximately ten minutes… Gigi finally opened her eyes. "Huh…?" Her memories were a bit fuzzy, likely a side effect from the drug. However, when she finally gained her bearings, she realised what happened. "Who was… Who was my partner?"

Gemini raised his hand up. "I was." Which meant those two probably had to spend some time together! Exciting! Seira in shambles.

That wasn't the worst… She could have been paired up with someone more problematic. The only problem was that now people knew who her partner was. Getting off the table, she looked at everyone else. "Alright."

"Our next order of business should be trying to make the most money." Ian pointed out, hands in his pockets.

May slowly nodded her head. "With a range like this, we should be able to explore the Psi Sector safely." Given how compact it was. "So maybe we take the time to look at what was added to the other stations." She suggested.

Atlas had already moved over towards the elevator. "Fine by me." He seemed rather impatient. "Don't keep me waiting. I want to actually earn coins before I'm knocked out for good."

Looking around, the entire group seemed to be in consensus about what to do.

---

Psi Sector

One elevator ride up, and a little walk there, and they'd find themselves back in the new sector.

"So…" Michael hummed out, looking at the ground. "How are we dividing ourselves now…"

Ian walked past the group. "I don't really care too much about the other two stations. I'm probably going to head to mine."

"We're eighteen, so maybe we split up in groups of six." Edison suggested. "Those who don't want to check out the new stuff can go to the casino." Not that he would be one of those people. He was interested to see what had changed about the Ultimate Referee Station.

There didn't seem to be anyone disagreeing, so the groups split up.

---

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Atlas was the first into his own station, looking around to see what had changed. And that's when he noticed it. There were now scanners on pedestals protruding out of the ground on the edge of the field.

"What the hell…" He walked over towards it to examine. "Huh?" In total, he counted three. "Why the hell are there three of these…?"

The rest of the group followed him in. Melody danced her way behind him, taking a look for herself. "Oh. I see." She caught on. "There's a team mode, and a solo mode."

Solo mode? That's all Atlas needed to hear. He moved over towards it, scanning his bracelet against it. All he had to do was score goals and win coins? Easy. "Ah, it sucks to be all of you." He had the easiest time here. As if he'd miss a goal.

Hae-Won moved over to inspect the team one. Reading it over, she got a pretty good idea on how it worked. "Hmm… As for the team one. You have to wager money against the other team. Winning team takes all of the money."

Melody frowned slightly. "Huh? But that doesn't help the group increase our overall coins…" So to her, it was pointless.

Benoit slowly nodded his head. "Yeah… We should use the solo one."

Atlas hadn't started it, as he was still reading over it. "From the looks of it, the solo one functions as such… You pay the fee to enter, and then you must score a certain amount of goals. If you fail to do so, you lose all your money that you bet."

Hae-Won placed her hands in the pocket. "At least with the team one, the total amount of coins isn't lost." Something they'd all need to worry about. "Do we want to test it out?"

"Um…" Benoit hummed out, shaking his head. "I'd rather… not." He glanced the other way. He was worried he might get hurt.

Hae-Won shrugged, looking over towards the others.

Atlas shook his head. "No, not right now." He wanted to try the solo one to increase his coin total. Winding up a kick, he knocked the ball all the way towards the goal.

Except…

Out of the ground rose a goalie that blocked his shot off.

"What the fuck? Are you kidding me?" Why could nothing be easy? "Goddammit!" At least he only had to make a certain amount of goals. "Should have figured… This wasn't here before."

Melody moved closer to inspect the goalie. "It's made of cardboard." She hummed out, turning back towards Atlas. "Maybe it was added after yesterday."

It was the only logical explanation. "Get out of the way." He called out, getting another kick ready.

The tap dancer moved out of the way, letting the soccer player have the field.

With a ferocious kick, this time the results were different. Even with the goalie moving to block the goal, Atlas still managed to get it into the corner of the goal. "That's what I'm talking about!" He blurted out, a grin on his face. "Even with a goalie, this is nothing!" Seems he was in his element.

While Atlas was having his fun, Hae-Won decided she wanted to do something else entirely. She moved away from the field, making her way towards the storage door.

"Um…" Benoit had followed her. "You aren't going to try out the new features."

At first, she didn't answer, only scanning her bracelet to register herself with the new job. "I will in a bit." She held back a smile. Atlas would probably hate to know the job went to her. They didn't really like each other, after all. "I want to check out the storage room. According to Atlas, he was the only one to explore this room."

"Oh…" Well, Benoit wasn't going to let her explore the room on her own. "I'll explore it with you." He offered her a smile.

She raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, but she wasn't going to turn down the companionship. "Suit yourself." She scanned the bracelet again, opening the door.

As the two stepped in, it was in the same state Atlas had left it, meaning he probably hadn't opened it since then.

Looking around, it seemed like any typical sports storage room.

"Why… Why are we here?" Benoit didn't mind, but he at least wanted to know if Hae-Won had something in mind.

The tattoo artist shrugged. "Just looking for any sort of equipment. If we're made to play sports, it would be nice to just have stuff for it." Like gloves or whatever.

When she finally reached the lockers, she noted that all of them were open. "Ah, right." She knew why. Atlas wouldn't be able to open them otherwise. Looking inside, she spotted the jerseys with the numbers. She pulled them out. "We might need these."

"Oh… right." Benoit picked one up, looking at it. "There was a mention of the penalty box." Something about numbers, so this might be relevant.

Given that Atlas hadn't really mentioned much else, Hae-Won moved over to inspect the other lockers.

Sure enough, there was much more than just jerseys. "Typical…" She shook her head as she examined them. In each locker were a different set of clothes. Like gloves, boots, and pants. "Seems like we got the entire ensemble here." She removed a pair of gloves to try them on. They fit pretty comfortably!

Benoit slowly nodded his head, pulling out some of the boots. "These probably work really well for soccer…" He mumbled out, looking for one in his size. Oh! There was!

Taking some of the equipment out, Hae-Won turned back towards the entrance. "Alright, we should make our way out now…"

Benoit nodded along, taking out some of the jerseys as well.

Once they got outside, they'd see an interesting sight.

Melody had gotten a hold of a ball, and she was making quick movements with her feet to keep it out of reach of Laki. "I've never played before." The tap dancer commented, but she was used to moving her legs in this manner.

Laki on the other hand, seemed to be having a blast trying to take it out of her control. "Hey!" She called out, very giddy. She went to strike at the ball, but it was quickly moved out of the way.

Atlas had been watching from the side, slowly getting more impatient. "Are you assholes just going to keep standing there?"

"Oh!" Melody quickly manoeuvred herself and the soccer ball out of the way. "My apologies." She smiled sweetly at him, giving him the space he needed.

Now that he had space again, Atlas winded up a kick, sending the ball flying into the net again. "Hell yeah!" Now that this station was here, he had almost endless entertainment. Almost.

Hae-Won let out a cough, just to ruin his fun. "I got gloves and jerseys if we ever feel the need to play a game together."

This stopped Atlas from taking his next kick, almost furrowing his brows. "Why would I want to play with you guys?" They weren't even sports people.

That seemed to tick off Hae-Won slightly, and her eye twitched slightly, but she was going to remain calm. "Because while this is your station, this is a facility we can all use." She took a deep breath. "Asshole." Had to add that.

"Tsk, whatever." This was his only way to guarantee he had coins, so he wasn't about to give it up.

Melody took a step forward. "Well, there are two nets." She had already remembered that there were three scanners. "Couldn't another solo one use the other one?"

The closest person to the third scanner was Benjamin. "Master!" Dolly called out. "Let's try it!" She loved games, so might as well. Benjamin brought his watch over to the scanner, scanning it.

"Tsk…" Now Atlas had to share the center field with someone else. "Whatever, just don't get in the fucking way."

Benjamin approached the soccer ball that Melody had been using, given that it was the only other one available. After looking at it for a few seconds, he kicked it over to the goal and…!

It didn't even make it close, stopping about three quarters of the way there.

"Seriously?" Atlas called out, having witnessed the entire thing. "Pathetic."

"Hey!" Dolly called out, coming to Benjamin's defense. "We're still learning how to play, give us a break. Besides, we're not a soccer."

"Heh… Sucker." Hae-Won hummed out, looking out at the field. "Are you sure you don't want to try the team mode?" She wanted to, and there were only two solo modes.

If he didn't do anything, Atlas felt like Hae-Won wouldn't stop bitching. "Fine!" He took the final shot, netting him a hundred coins ."We can do the damn team mode."

Perfect. That's all she wanted. "Heh." She waited for Benjamin to take his ten shots. Once that was done, she moved over towards the team setting. "So, who wants to join in?"

Benoit glanced off to the side, shaking his head. "I… I think I'll sit this one out."

Dolly crossed her arms. "Master isn't that good, so he'll only get in the way. He'll sit out too!"

"So, just four of us." That wasn't AS fun, but Hae-Won could work with it. "I could team up with Laki if you want to team up with Melody."

Hearing this, Atlas' frown grew slightly. "What, trying to put me at a disadvantage?"

Melody did not like that response from him, and she left her mouth slightly open in shock. "What? Ya think I'm bad at this? Did ya not see me earlier?"

"No." Why the fuck would he pay attention to someone else when he was trying out the solo mode.

Hae-Won shrugged, holding back a smile as she moved over to the team scanner. She scanned her own bracelet, and it allowed her to choose a team. She went for the team on the left. "Should we put on the jerseys?" She still held them on.

Melody tilted her head to the side. "It would make it more authentic." She grabbed one for the opposite colour of Hae-Won. The one that matched Atlas the closest.

Now that those two had a jersey on, all that was left was Laki, who bounced her way over towards Hae-Won. "Gimme! Gimme!" She demanded.

Sorting through to find the shirt that matched her own colour, she eventually handed a jersey over towards the lucky student. "Let's crush them."

"I love those words!" Laki slipped on the jersey, bouncing her way over towards center field.

"How many coins are we betting?" Atlas called out, standing in front of the scanner.

Hae-Won moved herself over to stand next to him, looking at the scanner. After thinking a bit, she let out a sigh. "I don't want anyone to have a low amount of coins, so I was thinking of just twenty five." She entered in her own amount, and was about to leave before she saw something.

Sure, Atlas could scan his bracelet, but he couldn't really choose a side given the touchscreen.

Letting out a small sigh, Hae-Won moved over and clicked the screen for him. "There."

"I could have done it myself!" He barked at her, pissed off. He turned his back towards her before mumbling a small "Thank you" under his breath.

All that was left was for both Laki and Melody to register, which went better than Atlas' attempt.

"I'm going to crush you!" Laki called out towards Melody, who only saw this as competitive talk.

The tap dancer placed a hand on her hip. "We'll pipe about that."

Laki didn't understand what that meant, but it's what the translator said, so I'm rolling with it until someone calls me out.

With both teams formed, Hae-Won took one last look at the scanner. "Oh, we have an option to add in the cardboard goalie." Given that they were only two per team, she opted for that option. "That makes things easier for us." She slowly nodded her head, turning towards Laki. "Alright, we're good to go."

Benoit had been holding onto the ball for a bit. Slowly, he approached the center, placing the ball right in the middle. "I figured I'd help…" He didn't want to play, but that didn't mean he didn't at least want to contribute.

Benjamin, on the other hand, had moved over towards the seating portion of the station. More specifically he was standing in the referee area. "We're finally here on the day we've all been waiting for!" Dolly called out, taking on the role of commentator. "On the left side! We've got our fiercest competitor yet!" She pointed over at Atlas. "Some may call him an Ultimate, but he's got an attitude! In fact, he's angrily walking towards me-"

Atlas stopped right outside of the seating area. "What the hell are you doing?"

Dolly slowly turned to look at Benjamin, mumbling out something to him. "Can you believe this guy?" After turning back to Atlas, she shrugged. "Just having fun is all."

He wanted to make a further comment, but concluded that it just wasn't worth it. "Whatever…" He stepped away, turning to head over towards his side.

Now that he was gone, Dolly could continue. "Joining him, she might not be great at soccer! But she knows how to move her legs, it's Melody!" Dolly pretended to cheer like an audience would, raising her hands up in the air.

After enough time, she continued on with the other team. "On the right side, with a talent that has nothing that will help her, it's Hae-Won!"

Benoit cheered for this one :D Good for her.

"And last but not least, the girl who has too much luck on her side, let's give a warm welcome to Laki!" Dolly did not imitate an audience cheer this time. "Tough crowd!"

Laki pointed at the pretend audience. "I'll win this and prove you ALL wrong!"

"Jesus Christ…" Atlas was getting annoyed by this entire bit. "Let's just get it over with…"

Maybe she was dragging this along too much. "Three two one go!" Dolly called out rapidly, allowing for the game to start.

The first to react was of course Atlas, who took control of the ball right away.

Melody broke away from the group, heading over towards the other side, leaving Atlas to deal with both Hae-Won and Laki.

While that was happening, Benoit had moved over towards the audience seat, that way he wouldn't be in the way.

This invited Dolly to talk to him. "What say you, fellow commentator. Who do you think has the highest chance of winning?"

Oh- He didn't know he would need to comment on this. "Oh… Well… I'm not sure who will win, but I'm rooting for Hae-Won and Laki."

"Fuck you!" Atlas called out as he passed the ball over to Melody, given she was pretty much left alone.

Dolly placed her hands on her hips. "The players are booing us." She turned to look at Benoit. "Normally it's the audience! I love this nice change of pace."

But who cares about the actual game. This was the Dolly and Benoit show now. You better appreciate these characters.

"Anything you're hoping to see happen?" Dolly turned to look at him again. "You know, besides a winner."

Well, there wasn't much Benoit wanted from this game. "I just hope nobody gets hurt."

She quickly shook her head. "Even if nobody gets hurt, they'll pretend like they did. Isn't that right, Atlas?"

"Literally fuck off."

Dolly nodded her head along. "I'll take that as an agreement." She turned to look back at her commentator friend. "Do you think Gigi has this much fun with her job?"

Benoit scratched his head, thinking for a moment. "I don't believe she gets to comment like this… I believe she's just there to point out fouls and the likes."

Wow. That sounded BORING. "What? But just pointing out fouls! What's so interesting about THAT?"

Benoit frowned slightly. "Well, someone has to be there to point it out… If she was also worried about commentating, then she might miss a penalty…"

Well, given that Dolly was there in the referee portion of the seating area, that meant she had to also point out mistakes. A little problematic because she didn't really know all the rules of soccer. Quickly, she sorted through the buttons, until she landed on Laki's number. Then she slammed the yellow button. "Yellow card! Laki!" The penalty box lowered, allowing anyone to enter.

The lucky student stopped in her tracks, looking over at the seating area. "Huh?" To her knowledge she hadn't cheated yet. "What for?"

"Um!" That was a good question. "You had a foul! If you didn't notice it yourself, there's no point in telling you what it is."

Atlas seemed slightly annoyed that the game had stopped, given that Laki had the ball with her. "What the hell are you doing? You don't even know what foul she had." Not that she had any. It was clear Dolly didn't know what the hell she was doing.

The doll flailed her arms around, clearly annoyed. "Well! Someone has to point out fouls! And since I wasn't fully paying attention…!"

"Dolly…" Hae-Won let out a sigh, shaking her head. "You don't need to point out stuff like that. It would best be left for someone like Gigi."

"We're just here for fun anyways." Melody pointed out. "No need to call out fouls." She was the one who had the ball at the moment, and she was idly playing around with it while holding the conversation, almost as if to include it in her dance.

"Tsk!" Atlas kicked the ground, clearly pissed off. "I knew this was going to be pointless." He started marching his way over towards the scanner. "There's no point continuing something like this with people who can't seem to understand."

"Hey!" Laki called out, not ready for the game to be over. "We can just ignore her, so at least continue the game."

He wanted to. He really did. But he didn't think these people were good competition. "Maybe another time." He quickly ended the game with no winners, allowing the coins to return to their respective people.

Melody frowned slightly, crouching to pick up the ball. "He seems in a bad mood, someone should drift jaw with him."

Hae-Won had to take a moment to even process what that even meant. "You mean talk to him?" That's the first thing that came to mind, and let me tell you, she was not the person for the job. "You want my honest opinion?" She was going to give out anyway. "He should learn to grow up. Just because things don't go his way, doesn't mean he has to throw a fit every chance he gets." She placed her hands in her pockets, walking over towards the ball. "The rest of us can enjoy soccer without him."

Still, Melody didn't feel too great about that.

Meanwhile, at the referee stand, Dolly slowly lowered herself. "I was just trying to have some fun!" Maybe she should have just joined in with soccer instead.

---

Ultimate Gambling Station

True to his words, Ian had entered his own station again. Although, he wasn't expecting five other people to have followed him here. Maybe Laki, but even SHE wasn't here.

"What do you guys want?"

Gennosuke was the first one to speak up. "Hey, I like poker. What can I say?" Oh yeah? Where were YOU during the last chapter? Checkmate, liar.

It would explain why he even wanted to face off against Ian last time. "Hmm… That's fair." But still, he didn't really have any reasons for the other people to be here.

Dae-Hyun moved past the group, taking a look at the casino. "Haven't been here before." His eyes landed on the bar in the back.

Winter hummed out. "I don't want to risk having zero coins." Although, she wasn't one to gamble often, so this was new territory for her.

And Michael…! Well he just followed her. "I just really wasn't interested in the other rooms…" If he could explore the garden again, he totally would.

And Tatiana was here too or whatever.

Ian didn't really care about all their explanations, so he just moved back over to the slots. "Well, knock yourself out." He pulled the lever, letting the slots spin in front of his eyes.

The other five soon dispersed to the rest of the room.

The first place Dae-Hyun went to was the bar. He didn't want to start gambling his money right away.

"Here?" Gennosuke called out from behind him. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

"Last I remember, yes." Out of the participants here, he felt like he was the oldest one. "Whiskey." He called out towards the robot bartender, which delivered him a drink in a timely manner. He took a sip, hitting just the right spot.

However, Gennosuke didn't bother getting a drink. Instead, he turned around, and leaned against the bar counter. "Shouldn't you be trying to win some money? Who knows what would happen if you pass out."

That was true, but the talent manager didn't see any good reason. "And risk losing it all?" He didn't want to find himself in the same situation Gigi was in. "There's a high chance that nobody will help me out."

The psychic let out a small laugh. "Melody seems like she'd offer you her coins if you ever reach zero."

Slowly, Dae-Hyun shook his head, his eyes fixated on his drink. "I'd decline. She shouldn't waste her coins on me."

Gennosuke shrugged, looking closely at what he was drinking. While he didn't want one, he felt tempted to get the same one at the very least. "Whiskey too." Quickly, he was served a glass. This bartender was fast.

The talent manager slowly turned his eyes to look at the psychic. "Are you trying to copy me?"

"No, not really." Gennosuke shrugged. "You just seem to be an expert on the matter, so I thought I'd trust your judgement."

He wasn't sure what to make of that, so instead Dae-Hyun ignored him entirely, taking a sip from his drink. "Why would I be an expert on something like this?"

Good question. A question Gennosuke didn't feel the need to answer. "Let's worry less about that, alright?" Turning back to face the bar, the psychic remained silent for a bit.

Finally, he opened his mouth again. "What do you think this motive will lead to?"

"Why would I know that? It hasn't even been a few hours. Give it some time." The only thing to have happened so far was Gigi passing out on the ground. And, according to her, it was a painful experience. "All I know is that it's probably a bad idea to test it out."

"Maybe…" Gennosuke had seen that look on Lorelei's face. She had thought of something, but apparently refused to tell her findings. "There might have been some ideas brewing, you know."

However, his words mostly went into one ear and out the other with Dae-Hyun. Seems he was still down about something. "I came here to be alone." He eventually specified, looking over at the psychic. "Shouldn't you be gambling?"

Right. He had his own coin total to worry about. "You're right." Slowly, he stood up, leaving his drink behind.

In fact, Gennosuke hadn't even taken a sip with his drink, which left Dae-Hyun with two whiskey's. Hell yeah!

…

…

…

Not far from there…

Tatiana had stopped at the slots, looking at them. "This shouldn't be too hard for me!" She struck a pose, a grin on her face.

Ian was standing next to her, an eyebrow raised. "Are you sure? Even Laki was struggling, and she's the Ultimate Lucky Student."

"Nonsense!" Flashing a different pose, she pulled down the lever for the slots. Once the slots stopped spinning, she let out a laugh. "Haha! I am broke." She won nothing.

Ian let out a small sigh. "This is probably one of the worst things you could try and win money on. The prize for winning isn't even that great." No, instead, he'd show her a REAL game. "Follow me."

Given that she didn't want to have no money by the end of the day, Tatiana tagged along with Ian. "You better be right about this." She crossed her arms.

However, the game he stopped in front of wasn't poker, or roulette. Instead, it was blackjack.

"Hmm…?" The knife thrower hummed out in thought, her eye scanning the table. "Why this game in particular?"

The gambler shrugged. "Honestly, it doesn't matter what game. Any of the table ones are sure to have a decent payout." Not to mention he had better odds when he was in control of his actions.

She was still sceptical, but she wasn't just about to doubt Ian as the Ultimate Gambler just yet. "Show me how it's done!"

Ian shrugged, taking a seat at the table. "Alright, I will."

This is where I'd describe a large ass blackjack scene, but after doing the 5k poker scene last chapter, I think I'd be lynched if I put anything else into this scene.

So instead…

Ian had started the game playing it rather safe. He never busted, but he lost a few games, given that he never had a high enough total..

However, as the game progressed, Ian grew more ballsy with his actions. To the point where he'd take an extra card during games where Tatiana herself would choose to opt out of it.

"Hmm…" She had been watching his gameplay for a while, and it was clear that he was only getting better with every round that came.

After the game was done, Ian had won himself a hundred and fifty coins. "See? Easy stuff. Didn't even have to break much of a sweat doing it."

"How can one be so good at such a game?" Tatiana had a bit of doubts. Ian seemed to be winning way more than a normal person should.

The gambler had to hold back a smile. "You want to know a secret?"

Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was listening, the knife thrower took a step forward. "Lay it on me!"

"Counting cards." He quickly revealed, which should have been obvious. "Casino's don't want you doing that, but it's so easy to do." He started another game, just to prove his point. Looking at the deck, all the cards hadn't been shuffled in again yet.

Tatiana furrowed her brows, trying to piece together just how he could do that. "But aren't there so many cards to keep track of? How does one man do such a thing?" Her memory wasn't exactly the best.

Ian shrugged, taking a look at his cards. Odd were in his favour, so he took one more card, putting him at a nice twenty. "It's a skill you need to learn if you want to become a gambler. I didn't become an Ultimate through pure luck alone. There's a lot of skill involved. Keeping track of many different cards, it's child's play."

That was amazing to see. "Haha! I see! You have proven yourself to me!" She did a quick movement with her hands, revealing a knife. "Be my opponent in this game of blackjac-"

Quickly, Ian stood up, stretching. He didn't even bother to complete his current game. Taking the coins he won. "No thanks. I have better things to do than to humour you. Besides, I already won enough coins from people already. No need to win any more."

That was… disappointing to hear, but Tatiana would make due without it. "Very well!" Looks like she'd need to pester someone else entirely. Scanning the area, she eventually landed on Michael, who was at the prize corner.

He was standing there, examining each of the prizes individually. "Hmm…" He hummed out. However, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps from behind. "Hmm?" He turned to look at who they belonged to, only to see it was Tatiana. "Come to take a look at the prizes too."

Honestly, she had completely forgotten about the fact that there were prizes in the first place. "Of course!" He didn't need to know that. "Anything catches your attention?"

Slowly, he shook his head. None of the nine items really interested him. "The teddy bear is cute." He eventually reasoned.
Tatiana thought about it for a moment, before tilting her head. "Why is there one here in the first place? Clearly, it must hide SOME secrets!"

Michael gave it another look before shaking his head. "I doubt it… Maybe it's just to add something to your room." Still, he couldn't discount the theory. His eyes slowly trailed over to the other section, with the limited time items. Still… He couldn't see any uses for those out of the blue. "Maybe they can be used for things later on…"

That was a disappointing answer, but Tatiana wasn't going to let that bring her mood down. "Shouldn't we try and figure out just what they are for?" She suggested, placing a hand on her hip. "It'd be fun, trust me."

It could be… But still, Michael didn't feel like putting the energy into something that might need not even hold actual results. "Sounds more like something for Gemini."

"True, true." The knife thrower slowly nodded her head. "We could try and get him to do something about it." She suggested.

Slowly, Michael shook his head. "No, I wouldn't want to pester him about it." He stepped away from the prize corner. "Shouldn't you be betting?"

"HAHA!" She let out a loud laugh before quickly getting more quiet. "I… I am not good at this." She covered her one eye with her hand. "It would seem that being good at throwing knives does not help when it comes to gambling.

Who would have thought. "I suppose… But even if it's a small amount, we should be trying to get more coins."

Tatiana knew a hypocrite when she was one. "And what are you doing? You don't seem to be gambling either. Should you really be saying any of that?"

"You… have a point." He lowered his hood even more, obscuring even the shadows. "I'm just worried about the experience Gigi talked about, and knowing my luck, I'm only going to lose coins if I gamble."

Right, Gigi did describe it as painful. Tatiana turned her eyes away. "Then perhaps we should go gamble together. At the slots, one of us is bound to win!"

That didn't seem accurate at all, but Michael couldn't deny the spirit she seemed to have. "Alright, we can do that." He turned his attention over towards the slot, spotting Winter was there, with Ian standing besides her.

"Not bad, not bad." Ian crossed his arms, looking at what she got. "It's only a net gain of ten coins, but it's something."

Winter, on the other hand, didn't seem to like this one bit. However, she kept her smile on her face. "I don't seem to have much luck when it comes to this." Sure, she had a net gain of ten coins with this one spin, but this was her fifth spin, and the first time she had actually won something. "How do you have luck on things like this?"

Ian raised an eyebrow at the question. "What? I don't have luck on things like these. I avoid them like the plague. They are completely rigged without any player input. That's why I stick to the card games. At least I can apply some skill with those."

"Hmm…" Winter hummed out, standing up from the slots. "Then should I move over and do those instead?"

That would be two people that Ian convinced to stop playing slots. What a roll he was on. "That's up to you, honestly." He stuck his hands in his pocket, an indifferent look on his face. "I'm not about to dictate what you should and shouldn't do. I'm only here to offer advice about my own Ultimate Station."

As much as Winter wanted to raise her coin total, the only way she'd reasonably be able to do so is via other people. She doubted she could lie to a robot, and the slots were not going to help her in the slightest.

The only problem that arose from that, was the people she'd have to play against. Ian would always be down to play, but that was just inviting him to take her coins. Michael would gladly offer himself as an opponent, but she didn't want to take his coins. In the end, her options were very limited. "Is there anything else besides the card games that this place has to offer?"

"There is one more thing…" He trailed off, moving over towards the tables.

When the duo finally arrived, Winter would be looking at a large roulette table. "Oh… Well this is certainly something." She had never played roulettes before, but somehow it seemed just as dependent on luck as the slots. "What's the difference here?"

Ian figured she wouldn't understand it at first glance. "Unlike slots, you actually have some control on what you can bet here. Besides, you could just go for the fifty fifty bet every time." He pointed over at the board, where there was an entire section dedicated to black and red. "The payoff won't be the greatest, but it's the safest bet."

That was tempting, but she still wasn't sure how she felt about betting her money just yet. "And there's nothing else around here, right?"

"Nope."

That was disappointing, to say the least. "Hmm… Maybe the other rooms would offer me something better." She doubted it, given that there were just board games and soccer left. Maybe she could rely on Michael for this. He seemed like the type that would give her money. "Thank you for at least trying to help me." She bowed respectfully before stepping away from the tables.

Ian just stood there, a small frown on his face. Damn! Almost got another sucker into gambling. Maybe next time.

---

Ultimate Referee Station

Stepping into the room first this time was Gigi, who scanned her station, looking for any changes that might pop out to her.

Of course, with her keen eyes, it didn't take long to notice that the table had changed. "Over here."

Stepping in the room with her were the remaining people, Edison, Gemini, Seira, Lorelei, and May.

"Oh, yeah." Gemini moved over towards the table, noticing the scanner embedded right in it. "How does this one work?"

"I assume like all the other scanners, dumbass." Lorelei rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. "Use your bracelet."

Well, that wasn't a way to talk to him. "I think what he meant is that… How does it apply to each individual game?"

From the looks of it, the table could be used for a variety of games.

Gigi was the first to inspect the table closer, finding a small compartment in the table. "You can place the game box in here, and it will scan the game. That will affect how the coins work."

"Interesting." Edison adjusted his goggles. "Shall we try it out with one of the games?"

Lorelei moved past the group, shaking their heads. "No, you guys can do that, I'm just choosing this place to hang out." She plopped down in one of the chairs away from everyone else.

Oh, that was disappointing. Oh well, Edison would get her to play a game with the rest of them one day!

"So." Seira sat down at the table, looking at the various games around the room. "Do we want to try and play anything?"

"I wouldn't be able to, even if I wanted to." Instead, Gigi had opted to instead sort through some of the shelves.

Seira had completely forgotten about that part. "We could give you some coins if you want."

Slowly, the referee shook her head. "No, there'd be no point. I already know who my partner is, so I don't care about the coins."

Gemini let out a small sigh. "Are you just going to drag me around wherever you go?"

Gigi didn't see why he had to put it that way. "You were the one who decided to join me here, so the blame lies on you." She pulled out a book, moving it over to the table. "I was thinking of starting this game, given that it requires no coins, and it's something I could host.

Now, Edison didn't have much to say about the DnD content that was dropped on the table. However, for a moment, he had a horrified look on his face. Almost as if a spirit had taken over his body, a spirit named Gold, yelling out in agon-

"Sure." He finally said. He had no problems, and he had always been interested in playing. "Do you want to run the rul-"

The smart person in this room was Seira, who quickly covered his mouth with her hand. "How many pages is that book?"

Gigi thought for a moment before remembering the answer. "A very low amount. Only three hundred and twenty."

Edison quickly understood why Seira had stopped him. "Is it something we could read in our own time?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "You won't need to know everything that's in this book. Most of it is stuff I have to know." She scanned everyone that wasn't Lorelei. "Do you all want to play?"

Gemini was the first to answer, a smile on his face. "Something to pass the time never hurts. And while it isn't going to help us get any coins, I don't mind if I'm going to end up cooped up in this sector anyways."

Since he was joining, Seira slowly lifted her hand. "I think I'll join too." Perfect! Two people.

Not wanting to be left out, Edison let out a sigh of resignation, looking away. "I guess I shall join too. Hypothetically speaking, it could be really fun."

Lastly, the only other person to have not provided an answer was May, who was just staring absentmindedly at the table. When she realised that people were waiting for an answer from her, she shook her head. "I could try…" She finally said, letting out a small yawn. "Not sure how good I would be at it."

Four players was definitely a suitable amount to host a game. "Perfect." Gigi opened up the book, showing it off to everyone. "All you really need to do right now is build a character. Don't worry about anything else."

Upon looking at the book, Seira felt herself feeling dizzy by just how wordy it was. "Do we have to read… all of that?" God she needed to stargaze soon or she'd die.

Edison took the book from everyone, flipping quickly through the page. It didn't take him long to understand the process. "Yes, I see!" He adjusted his goggles.

Gemini reached over to try and get a look at the book too. "What did you find out."

After a few moments, the chemist let out a small laugh. "There's a lot of math involved in this!" Perfect for someone like him.

Realising just how lost her group was going to be, Gigi made the decision to step in herself. "If you are having issues trying to figure out what to do, I could lend a guiding hand when it comes to picking out a class." She scanned the three of them. "Based entirely on talent and personality."

Seira always loved having a bit of guidance, so she slowly nodded her head. "Yes, I'd like that."

"Warlock."

"I don't know what that is."

This was going to be a long session…

Lorelei, on the other hand, had been paying slight attention to what was going on. They were playing some nerd game or whatever. Nothing she really had any interest in. She leaned back in her chair, trying to get comfortable.

"You aren't going to join them…?" A tired May hummed out, looking at her.

Here was someone, intent on annoying her. Slowly, her eyes lazily drifted over towards the sleepy girl. "I just want to be left alone. Is that a problem?"

"If you wanted to be left alone, why come into such a small room?" A fair question.

Ugh. Lorelei leaned their head back, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds. "Because this room has a certain vibe to it."

That was interesting to hear from her. "Certain… vibe?" She could somewhat see it, but she hadn't expected that from someone like Lorelei.

She rolled her eyes. "The security room has all the monitors, but it doesn't really have any other atmosphere. It feels like I'm working a job there." However, here. They turned their attention towards the monitor she was sitting in front of. "At least this room feels better." They didn't really have any other reason. Maybe she was just making up bullshit.

"If you say so…" May didn't seem like she was going to move.

"Are… Are you just going to stand there?" Lorelei narrowed their eyes. "You're in my personal space, buzz off." She tried to shoo her away.

Of course, May wasn't going to listen. Instead, she decided to watch the monitors.

Seeing that she had no chance to get her to leave, Lorelei instead just continued the conversation. "Why are you interested in these?"

Humming out, the sleepy girl responded. "Well… It's just very strange to have two sets of monitors." She knew the reason, but did that make some of the screens in the security room obsolete? However, May did notice something. "Hmm… It seems to only look at the tables and slots." Ian did mention that. "I think he said it was to prevent cheating or something…" Which made a lot of sense for why it would be in Gigi's room of all things. From what she remembered, Gigi hated gambling, but she wasn't exactly able to figure out a reason why. Maybe she had some run in with it before.

However, May's attention wouldn't be on the cameras forever. Given she had found something else that interested her. "Oh…" A door. A locked door, to be precise. That was mentioned too, wasn't it?

She hadn't really paid much attention to when they were talking. "What do you think is beyond this door?"

Lorelei spared a glance over towards it. "As if I'd know. Didn't they mention that the Ultimate Stations might contain something from our past?"

May pondered what this could mean for Gigi. "Are you saying that there's something about her past she wants to keep a secret?"

"Fuck, I don't know. Probably." It was clear that Lorelei did not care in the slightest. "Don't we all? It's an entire category after all."

Curious, but as of now, there was nothing May could do about it. "Well… I'll leave you be."

"Thank fuck…" Lorelei mumbled under their breath as she went back to doing nothing.

Back at the table, it seems that the trio had a better idea of what they wanted to do.

Edison had already finished his character, but he had been absentmindedly rolling the dice.

Seira glanced over at him, before picking up her own dice and rolling them as well. It made a nice noise, and it helped alleviate the silence that had quickly drawn upon the room as Gemini tried to figure out what to do with his character.

"I… I think I've got it." He placed down his piece of paper.

Gigi looked up from the book she was reading. "What will you be?"

Flashing a grin her way, Gemini turned the paper around. "I'm going to be a thief rogue." He seemed proud of himself. "They have a few skills that interest me." Namely getting the fuck in and out of a room. Just the way he wanted.

Slowly, Gigi nodded her head. Seira had already allowed herself to go the Warlock route because she wanted to be a Celestial Warlock. All that's left was Edison. "And what about you?"

He adjusted his goggles. "I've decided… To be an Artificer."

Gigi looked back at the book. "Oh, that wasn't an option in here." She was fine with him playing one, she just didn't think he'd know about it.

Edison slowly revealed a book he had found. "It was in here."

Oh, there was another handbook? She hadn't seen that. Then again, she wasn't looking for it. "Alright, that should get us settled for now. What about alignments?"

"Neutral Good." Seira quickly responded.

"Lawful Good." Edison answered right after.

Putting a grin on his face, Gemini was the next to answer. "Chaotic Neutral."

"No."

Well, he hadn't expected to be shut down so quickly. "No? What do you mean?"

Gigi didn't even bother looking at him this time. Her eyes focused on the book she was reading from. "Being Chaotic Neutral is just an excuse to be Chaotic Evil without actually choosing it. Besides, neutrality in morality doesn't exist. Either choose good, or commit to evil."

What the hell…? Gemini was going to point out that Seira had chosen Neutral Good, but he decided against it. "Alright, I'm going to choose Chaotic Good." He didn't want to raise any problems.

Gigi kept her neutral expression as she nodded her head along. "That's all we'll do today to start. I would need to set things up, and I don't want to spring upon you an entire game with zero warning."

Edison's face slowly shifted towards disappointment. "So we're not going to start today?"

Closing the book, Gigi shook her head. "No, we are not." She stood up from the table. "This book will be available for all of you to read. I advise you to read up a bit more on it. We can start tomorrow, if that sounds fine?"

"Yeah, hold on, let me check my schedule." Gemini said before looking at a blank piece of paper. "Yup, I can fit you in."

"What time would work best tomorrow?" Seira wanted to get into a little more of the specifics here.

Thinking for only a moment. Gigi walked away from the table. "I'd say around 3pm should do nicely." Then, she walked away, leaving the table to do what they wanted to do.

Seira remained silent for a bit, before her eyes slowly trailed over to the scanner. "Do you all want to test it out?"

The two guys slowly nodded their heads.

---

Ultimate Gambler Station

Having had enough of the Ultimate Soccer Player Station, Hae-Won had retired to one of the only other rooms she hadn't really explored here.

That being Ian's station. "Hmm…" She hummed out as she took a look around the place. It sure felt grande, didn't it. "Of course Ian got something like this." She couldn't help but let out a small amused chuckle.

She was going to make her way over towards the slots to try them out, but she noticed something else instead.

It was Lorelei, who was sitting at the bar.

Now, she wasn't sure of her age, but she didn't look old enough to drink. Now that was one to care, but it clearly meant that Lorelei had drank before coming here.

Moving over, Hae-Won took a seat right next to her. "What brings you here of all places?"

Oh great, another person who wanted to talk to her. "Does something have to bring me here?" They rolled their eyes.

Despite being at the bar, Hae-Won didn't seem to order anything, and only shook her head when the robot wheeled it's way over to her. "I don't know, but it looked depressing, drinking alone." She was going to be honest and speak out her thoughts.

This got on Lorelei's nerves a bit, and she turned in her seat. "I don't need to hear something like that."

Despite Lorelei not mentioning it, it was quite clear that something had to be up, right? Or at least that's what Hae-Won thought. "Must be the motive you were given." From what she could recall, Threat was given to Lorelei. "I'm assuming they must have threatened your family or something." Not that she'd be able to talk about it.

"As if." Was the only thing she said. "They wouldn't be on there, ever. I don't care enough about those fucks to even want to kill for them."

Oh? That was the first she's heard of it. Then that meant that something else was threatened. "That's…" Well, she had never suspected Lorelei had a bad relationship with her family. "You shouldn't be like that." She finally said.

Oh, she was not going to take this from Hae-Won, of all people. "Don't tell me how I should be." Lorelei narrowed their eyes. "I can choose to hate who I want to hate. Sorry, not everyone was blessed with such a good family."

While Hae-Won didn't have a drink, she was starting to wish she did. "You think my family is perfect, don't you." Seems that Lorelei might have struck some kind of nerve.
With the tone of voice Hae-Won had, Lorelei couldn't help but laugh. "Wait, are you telling me you also have a shitty family life?" She had to cover her mouth.

"Laugh again and I'll hit a glass over your head." It was clear that she wasn't going to take this attitude from her.

Well, Lorelei didn't want to test out whether or not she'd make good on her promise, so she stopped laughing for now. Most people wouldn't resort to violence, but there wasn't anyone paying attention right now, so she knew Hae-Won could get away from it. "Then why are you telling me that I shouldn't think like that about my family, when you're clearly the same." She pointed out, trying to point out how much of a hypocrite she was being.

For a while, Hae-Won didn't answer. Only absentmindedly staring at the drinks ahead.

Finally, she let out a small sigh. She didn't like talking too much about the bad things in her life, but she felt like if she at least wanted to get through to Lorelei, she had to make some effort. Or else she'd continue to be a bitch.

"I don't exactly get along with my parents, so."

That was news to Lorelei. Probably. "Oh wow, I never would have guessed." Hae-Won did have the appearance of a rebel, so she wouldn't put it past her. "What did you do to anger them?"

"Haha…" Hae-Won let out a small laugh. "Nothing big, honestly. I was just a little too obsessed with art.

Slowly, Lorelei's eyes trailed over to Hae-Won's skin, which had been filled with tattoos. "So I'm guessing they don't take too kindly to that."

"Not. One. Bit." She rested her head on her hand, keeping up a smile. "But it's whatever, I don't really care what they think about me anymore. I tried to please them in the past, but it never got me anywhere I wanted to be."

Well, what Hae-Won was saying early was conflicting with what she was saying now. "You say I shouldn't think like that, but look how you are with your parents."

"Yes. My parents." She felt the need to emphasise. "There's more family than just that, y'know."

Lorelei placed a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Then who don't you hate?"

That was a much tougher question to answer. And one Hae-Won felt like she didn't want to tell Lorelei. "Does it really matter?

Well, it kind of did if she was going to lecture them. "Yes, it does." Rude ass bitch. But she wasn't going to verbalise that thought. But she also knew she didn't have the most trusting aura, so might as well focus on the parents aspect. "I know what it's like to have parents forcing you into a position you don't really care about."

Hae-Won raised an eyebrow at that. She would never have thought that. "Really now?" Maybe they had a bit more in common than she would have thought. "They can just be the worst, huh? Not caring a bit about what we want to do with our lives."

Lorelei wasn't going to mention anything more than she needed to. "They sure are." They took another sip of her drink. "What did your parents want you to do?"

"Nothing much, they just didn't want me getting into art because it kept lowering my grades."

Oh? Hae-Won was bad at school? That was laughable, given how easy Lorelei passed her courses. "You seem like the smart type."

"I think I'm more wise than I am intelligent." Hae-Won kept her eyes fixated on the counter. "But they blamed all my art for why my grades were being lowered. Heh, can't blame the fuckers for thinking that, but it was also the pressure they applied onto me."

Pressure. Lorelei knew a bit about that. She finished her drink, slamming the glass onto the ground.

Hearing that, the robot slowly moved over to grab the glass, wheeling away, leaving the two alone again.

Letting out a sigh, Hae-Won got off her chair. "I came here to gamble, so I'll be doing that. It was a nice talk." A much nicer talk than she would have expected with someone like Lorelei.

"Likewise." Was the only response they gave as the tattoo artist walked away towards one of the slots.

It seems the two have grown closer.

---

Ultimate Referee Station

Alright, it was take two for Edison here. This time, there wasn't anybody annoying like Lorelei to get in the way. Well, she was here, but she was one of the few people who left after a bit. Most of the people were still in the room.

At the moment, he was setting up one of the various games that he found interest in. However, before he could set himself up, someone walked over to him. "Oh…! Hi May."

She had her eyes closed at the moment, but she didn't seem to be sleeping. "What are you setting up?"

"Ah! Well!" It was weird having May talk to him, given she didn't really seem to talk much. "Well, nobody really wanted to play, and Gigi is currently busy setting up the game she wants to play with us, so I was just going to play solitaire." Alone like always.

That was sad. Letting out a sigh, she sat down at the table across from him. "Then allow me to play with you." She had no problem with card games.

"O-oh!" Well, he would be stupid to decline the offer. "Yes!" He adjusted his goggles, happy to have someone join him. "Let's do this!"

He quickly put the cards he had laid out back into the deck, then, he switched to a different deck of cards entirely. "Why did you decide to join us?"

"Bored." Was the only answer she felt like she could provide.

That made sense. "Well, you'll no longer be bored now." He dealt out cards to the two of them. "I've always been curious." You know, if they were going to be playing a game, might as well have her answer some questions he always had. "You aren't someone I would expect to have the Ultimate Talent that you do."

She took a glance at her cards. Oh, she hadn't even realised that they switched to Uno. It was fine. "What about it?" She hummed out, looking at each card she had. Not the greatest hand, but it could be worse.

"Well… I just…" How could Edison phrase this without sounding too awful. "How did you get to this point?"

That… "Huh?"

"I mean!" He lifted up a finger. "You are great at school, but you always seem tired. How do you study?"

"I… Don't…" May revealed, playing a card after Edison had. "I don't need to study."

That didn't exactly sit right with him, and it was very visible on his face. "You… Don't have to study? Like at all."

"Maybe checking notes every once in a while, but my memory is pretty solid when it comes to stuff that I've learned. Once I'm told something factual… It will stick with me."

All the time Edison spent studying for tests and exams… only to be outdone by someone like this. "Oh… Well… That's amazing!" He then grumbled some things under his breath. How could someone reap the benefits without putting in any effort?

Of course, May wasn't stupid, and could easily tell Edison was a bit ticked off. "You seem to think that makes me the best… But I'd never try to do anything chemistry related." Honestly, she'd probably want to stay far away from anything dangerous if she had the chance to fall asleep randomly. "So, your talent is pretty safe in that regard."

That did reassure him that someone like May couldn't just swoop in and do his job better than he could. "You mentioned the other day… Narcolepsy…" They had talked about it briefly in the Ultimate Physiotherapist Station.

Slowly, May nodded her head along. "Yeah, I've had it since a young age… Type one."

"Oh…" Edison wasn't well versed in that stuff, but he knew type one was the worst one here. "How is life with that?" He played one of his cards.

She shrugged lazily, playing her card next. "It's done nothing but drag me down… But I've grown used to it by now… However, people are always discounting what I do."

"Haha… Who'd do that?" Edison let out a nervous laugh, despite wanting to do the same exact thing only moments ago.
She wasn't dumb, so she noticed it anyway. "It's fine… Once again, I've grown used to it." She kept one eye open, that way she could focus on the game. "The real problem is the muscle weakness that comes with it… I can handle the sleepiness."

Right, that did come with it. "How often does muscle weakness affect your life?"

"All the time. Like that time with…" She remembered when she and Lorelei faced off in arm wrestling. Safe to say that she was easily beaten, but she found it best not to bring that up. "Let's just say I sometimes have a problem performing a basic task." It was almost embarrassing to talk to, but she was talking to Edison, so she didn't really care.

That made the chemist feel a bit bad. "Ah… Well…" He adjusted his goggles. "I can't imagine having difficulties performing tasks and the likes…" Poor May. "What kind of tasks?"

He just had to ask a question like that. "Walking can sometimes be annoying, but it's nothing big."

Edison quickly adjusted his goggles who almost fell off his face. "Walking is a big thing."

There he was, making such a big deal out of it. "Don't worry… I can still walk… Sometimes I have to stand still for a long period of time. Or sit down."

While Edison had to work really hard to get to this point in his life, he was glad that he didn't have to deal with these problems.

"What about yourself…?" May finally asked him, putting down her next card. "Uno." She called out rather quietly.

Edison looked at his cards, trying to figure out the best move . "What do you mean?" He played a card, forcing her to pick up two cards.

Oh? She had to specify… "I meant with your talent, sorry… People discount me for what I do, but do you feel like people do something similar for you…?"

"Well… Yeah." He had spoken about it before. "But I've talked enough about that with other people." Mostly Lorelei, but that was already enough for him. He adjusted his goggles. "However, I am proud of the talent I was given. It's proof of all my achievements, and I worked hard to get it." However, the very thought that someone like May could put minimum effort into any of this… It did make him feel like some of his effort was worthless.

She figured as much, and decided to change the subject slightly. "What do you want to be when you grow up? Why did you pursue chemistry?"

"Oh!" He put down another card. He hadn't expected a question like that to be asked. "Well, isn't it obvious? I want to be a chemist!" However, even answering that, something tugged at the back of his head. "Or… That's one of the things I could see myself being."

Slowly, May tilted her head to the side. "Mind… Elaborating?"

For a second, a frown slowly appeared on his face, before it was replaced with a smile. "I want to teach people. I think something like that would be really cool." The smile had grown warm. "Since I was the smartest of my family, sometimes I was tasked with tutoring my youngest brother. And even when he didn't pay attention, it was nice to be in the position to teach someone." Maybe he wanted this more than he thought.

That was nice to hear. "Uno." Back down to one card. "Spreading the joy of learning is always reassuring." Besides, imagining Edison as a teacher was funny.

Edison frowned as he looked at the cards he had. Nothing he could really do to stop her, so he just had to pray he could change the colour to one she didn't have. He put down a wild, changing the colour to green. "Teaching others about the joy of science." He sounded like he was reminiscing. "I would make a great teacher!"

Unfortunately, green was the exact colour she had. Putting her last card into the pile, she stood up. "I think you'd make a great teacher." She probably still wouldn't pay much attention in class, but it would be nice to have someone so dedicated to teaching. "Good game." She called out, moving away from the table.

Edison was still staring at the pile. May had beaten him, which was to be expected since he was only half paying attention. "It was nice playing with you!"

It seems the two have grown closer.

---

Ultimate Gambler Station

Here he was, back here again. Benjamin stepped into the room, holding Dolly close to him. He hadn't had much success in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station, given that Atlas raged quit, and he was too scared to even approach him.

But that wasn't why he was here. He was here to make money! Kind of like how Hae-Won came here. But this time, he was hoping to actually make some money.

He moved over towards the table, when he saw Tatiana not too far from there.

"Dammit." She brought a hand to her head as she had just lost money on the roulette. "Ian was wrong about this. How could anyone win at this?" She said that, but she had at least won a few times.

"What are we doing here?" Dolly called out as she made her way over to Tatiana.

"Losing all the money I've acquired, no big deal." However, the way she said it made it sound like a big deal. "You!" She pointed over at Dolly. "You should play too."

Dolly looked at the roulettes, before shaking her head. "Where's the fun in chance? Shouldn't we play a card game or something!"

"Well! You see!" Tatiana didn't know how to reveal just how badly she was at reading cards. Instead, she shook her head, letting out an amused laugh. "We shouldn't do that. Random chance is how it should be!"

Dolly let her arms fall to her side. "That just sounds like we're letting fate decide our coin total."

Tapping her foot on the ground, Tatiana struck a pose. "And where lies the problem?" She flashed a smile. "That is how all stage shows are, no? Based on your act, am I wrong to assume you, too, are from the circus?"

Dolly raised her hands in the air. "How did you figure that out?" She was actually shocked to hear any of that.

"In my circus, the Yorke Troup, there too, was a ventriloquist. Tell me, from what circus do you hail from?"

Dolly seemed rather excited to talk about her circus. "We're part of the Vargling travelling circus!"

Thinking for a bit, Tatiana eventually had to relent, and shake her head. "Unfortunately, I am not familiar with that one. Where is it located?"

"Oh, that might be because it's in London!"

Tatiana let out a laugh. "Of course! My circus is located in Las Vegas, there'd be no reason to worry about what goes on in London."

"Las Vegas? That means you must be a master gambler!" You know, because that's the only thing that goes on over there.

Tatiana began to play around with one of her knives to pass the time. "Not exactly. I am far too busy with the circus to worry about something like that. Though, if you include the gambling I do during my shows, then HAHA! I am a master, yes."

Oh? "Gambling during your shows? You stop mid-show and play cards?" Dolly seemed a bit lost, and it was hard to figure out if it was a bit or not.

For a moment, Tatiana dropped her theatrics to put a frown on her face. "No. That's not- The art of knife throwing is VERY dangerous!" She extended her arm out. "When performing my show, there is no risk on my part. HOWEVER, the person who trained me in this art is in danger." She let out a small laugh. "Although, I wouldn't say she's actually in danger, given I am very skillful at what I do."

"Wait wait wait!" Dolly raised her arms in the air. "Are you throwing knives at her?"

Tatiana seemed a bit confused. "Why would I not be? It's a circus! There must be excitement! Who wants to see me throw knives at a boring target? There must be danger!"

Dolly lowered her hand. "The circus in America sure is something…" They would never do that with the London circus. "Has an accident ever happened?"

"Haha! What weird questions you are asking me today." She didn't answer the question.

And Dolly forgot that she had even asked her, or maybe she realised it was a touchy subject. "How long have you been doing that for?"

"Well." Tatiana had to take a moment to think back. "I was ten when I started-"

Dolly's arms flew into the air. "Ten? That young? That's absurd!"

"Haha!" Tatiana struck a pose, clearly not bothered by the age she was. "Well, if you want to start on the path of greatness, you must start young. Had I started any later, I wouldn't have been as great as I am now!" But, maybe she shouldn't just be talking about herself. Lowering her arms, she looked over at Dolly. "What about you? When did you start?"

"Oh!" Dolly was on board talking about herself. "Master was… Eleven! When he got picked up to perform in the circus."

"Haha, see? That's not too different from how old I am."

"GAH! But master only uses dolls, you use knives!"

Tatiana waved her hand dismissively. "Nonsense! The circus is all the same!"

Dolly obviously didn't think so. "Why did you join the circus?"

"Oh! Well, because my father was someone inside the circus, so I spent a lot of time there. It was only natural that I would grow an interest there!"

Oh! It made so much sense now! Her father had to be the knife thrower. "Was your father the knife thrower?"

"Nope! He was an animal tamer."

For a few seconds, Dolly remained silent, only staring at Tatiana. Slowly, she turned to look at Benjamin, who did the same thing. Then back to Tatiana. "Then why didn't you become an animal tamer? That's much tamer than knife throwing."

Letting out her same laugh, she only shrugged. "Because knife throwing was clearly my calling. I'm not too into animals!"

Well, that didn't make too much sense, but Dolly wasn't going to make a comment about it. "If you say so!" She felt like any other question would only confuse her further, so it was best to stop that now.

Feeling proud of herself, Tatiana turned back towards the roulette. "Alright, twenty five coins on black!"

"Choose red! Choose red!" Dolly chanted.

"Nope. Don't like red." She watched as the ball rotated around the roulette, before landing in red. "..."

"Hey! I won!" Dolly heard the sound of coins being added to Benjamin's watch.

Tatiana took a step back. "When did you even bet?" She hadn't even noticed Benjamin moving. Or maybe it was simply because she was focusing on Dolly too much. "Congratulations!" She was happy for her anyways. But she felt like she was done with gambling. "I shall be making my leave now!"

Dolly lifted her hand up in the air, waving as she left. "Bye!"

It seems the two of them grew closer.

---

Ultimate Physiotherapist Station

While he didn't really have any reason to be here, Gennosuke still found himself in the room. For what reason? He had followed someone here. Why? Well duh! To kill them- Ah wait he isn't doing that. Bummer!

No, the real reason was because-

"Why did you follow me?" The person he had followed was Laki. Now why was SHE here- Now we're getting a little sidetracked here.

Gennosuke held back a grin, looking around the room. "Honestly, I'm just trying to figure out who my partner is."

"And you think that's me?" Wow! He must have amazing intuition if he's figured it out that quickly.

Gennosuke brought his hands to his head, almost like he was trying to focus on something. "Yes, I have this strange feeling that…" He paused, lowering his hand. "I'm a psychic, not a clairvoyant… If you knew who your partner was, I might have an easier time figuring this out, but as it stands, none of us really know."

And that's what made it fun! "Oh, so you're just testing things out. Aren't you worried about passing out?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Hmm…" The psychic hummed out in thought, looking away. "It did look a bit unpleasant when it happened to Gigi, but if that's what needs to happen, I wouldn't mind having to take a nap." He stuck his hand in his pockets, pulling out a lollipop. "Doing nothing sounds like the best solution anyways."

Doing nothing? But that was BORING. "How could you say doing nothing is interesting? Especially when there's so much stuff to do. We don't even need to worry about who our partner is if we keep our coins total up."

That was true. "Hmm… I wonder." Gennosuke turned his eyes away from her. "But aren't you just a bit curious about who your partner is?"

"Yeah." Obviously. "But there's no point if I don't intend on fainting." Laki pointed out.

Frowning slightly, the psychic shook his head. "Sure, you might not want to faint, but I thought you of all people would at least want to try and fight the drug."

Now that sounded somewhat interesting. "Now we're talking! Maybe I should go and find my partner right now."

Thinking for a moment, Gennosuke flashed a smile her way. "From what we've learned from this morning, being alone in Tau Sector is enough to drain your coins. If you're really interested, I'd go there if I were you."

She was just about ready to bounce out of the room, but was stopped by him.

"This isn't the only reason I followed you." Gennosuke admitted, pulling the lollipop out of his mouth. He waved it around his hands before figuring out how best to proceed with the conversation. When he finally found the best words to use, he let out a sigh. "Looking at you, it's like looking in a mirror."

"We don't look anything alike." Amazing observation, Laki. "So how could it be like looking in a mirror?

She wasn't getting it… Oh well, probably best if he explains. "No, no. Nothing physical, at the very least. In that aspect, we are two completely different people. I meant more so…" He trailed off, glancing off to the side. It was much harder to find the right words. "You seem to be lacking something, right?"

Had he caught on so quickly. "H-huh?" Laki took a step back. "What do you mean?" Time to play dumb.

Letting out a small amused laugh, Gennosuke shook his head. "When the game was revealed to everyone, you were one of the few people who didn't really have a negative reaction. Ian being the other."

Laki tilted her head to the side, acting confused. "And what about it? Not everyone needs to hate it."

Alright, she was going to beat around the bush, so time for Gennosuke to call it out for how he saw it. "You don't feel anything like fear, or sorrow, do you?"

"Is that a problem?" She didn't really see the issue. Or maybe she did, and was just playing clueless. However, instead of giving Gennosuke the chance to answer, she was going to move onto the attack now. "But if that what makes me a mirror of you, what does that meant about yourself."

With a grin, Gennosuke stuck the lollipop into his mouth. "What does that mean exactly." He repeated what she said. "Well…" He let out a small chuckle, before the smile faded away slightly. "I find it hard to feel some emotions at times." However, for the most part, he presented himself as pretty happy. "And since it's almost impossible for you to feel anything negative, I guess I just saw myself in you."

Now Laki was beginning to understand just what he meant. "Alright, what emotions can't you feel?"

Letting out a small chuckle, Gennosuke shook his head. "Would you believe me if I said it was almost identical to you."

Oh? That was interesting. "You can't feel the same emotions that I can't feel?" That did make them pretty similar. Which was a good thing, honestly. At least now she had someone she could get along with.

Gennosuke turned his eyes to look the other way. "Probably why I'm in no rush to leave this place. I try not to worry too much about things… Why waste the effort when help is going to be here eventually." Given a space station was far more unlikely to actually come, he just had the feeling in him.

Help was going to come? "Do you really think that?" Laki tilted her head slightly to the side. "You'd think help would have come by now."

Pulling the lollipop out, Gennosuke investigated it slightly. "Maybe, but it takes a bit to get into space. We don't even know where we are yet." Still, he wasn't going to stop believing. "And until then, I'll continue to laze around."

Laki couldn't exactly agree with his methods here. They were far too… boring… if she had any say in the matter. "Well, we aren't completely alike then. Can you not feel excitement?"

Playing around with the stick of the lollipop, Gennosuke shrugged. "Something like that. Everything just feels on the same vibe, I guess. Can't really feel much fear is the problem." He stuck the lollipop back into his mouth. "Honestly, it's become kind of a problem in my life."

Now that was something Laki was interested in hearing. The way she was had also caused a few problems, especially when it came to her parents. "I'm listening."

He waved his hand dismissively. "It's a boring tale, and I don't have the energy to talk about it." It sounded more like he just didn't have the energy in general.

Of course, it would take more than that to get rid of Laki. "I'm not leaving till you tell me!" She just had to know.

Thinking quickly, Gennosuke shook his head. "Didn't you want to try and fight off the drugs?" He flashed a grin in her direction.

"Oh! Right!" She had completely been distracted by this entire conversation. In a flash, she was out of the room, leaving the psychic on his own.

As he watched her leave, Gennosuke mumbled something under his breath before moving towards the door.

Seems the two grew closer.

---

Omicron Sector

Michael had wandered off from the group a while ago. Even without knowing his partner, he wasn't too worried about wandering off with a hundred coins. He'd at least be safe for a little under two minutes.

He did take notice of the footsteps behind him, but upon taking a glance, it was Benoit, who was lost in his own thoughts. Hardly something he had to worry about.

As he kept walking the circular hallway, soon, something caught his attention. "W-what?" He knew what the motive was, but to find someone passed out in the hallway already… Quickly, he ran over to the person unconscious. "Winter!" He called out, trying to shake her awake. When that didn't work, he turned to look over at Benoit, who he knew was close by. "Benoit!"

It didn't take long for the footsteps to move with a bit more urgency. "Huh? W-what happened?" From the looks of it, she wasn't dead at the very least.

Michael tried to lift her up, but being the weak bitch he was, it wasn't enough. "I think she was out of range from her partner." She had left only a bit ago… To have such little time to be anywhere else.

Benoit, on the other hand, was able to lift up Winter. "Where should we bring her…?"

Thinking for a moment, Michael's attention turned towards the elevator. "Let's bring her to the kitchen for now." He knew a group had gone there, so it's possible that her partner was amongst them. "But wait…" He reached over to grab her watch.

Fiddling around with it, he opened up the transfer app. "We should make sure she doesn't pass out again as soon as she wakes up." A minute wasn't merely long enough to get one's bearings.

However, when he opened up his own transfer app, he was confused. "H-huh…?" He stared at his coin total for a bit before shaking his head. He didn't make another comment while he transferred his coins over to her.

There we go. Michael literally giving money to Winter. The jokes write themselves.

"Let's move down…"

---

Slowly, her eyes opened up, adjusting to the light she was now looking at. "Huh…" She seemed to be sitting down, leaning on a table. As she looked around, she found that several other people were in the cafeteria. However… She was sitting directly across from another person. "Michael…?" She mumbled out, rubbing her eyes. Her memory was a bit fuzzy. She glanced to the side, and found that she had a recently prepared cup next to her. Did he… make that for her?

Hearing his name, that seemed to have gotten Michael out of the trance he was in. "Winter." He called out. "Do you remember what happened?"

Looking around the cafeteria, she couldn't seem to recall. "No… Not really. All I remember was leaving the casino…" Although, it didn't take long to figure out what went wrong. "I passed out, didn't I?" She rubbed her watch, still feeling the sting from when she was injected. Slowly, it was all coming back to her. "I didn't think it would be so painful."

"I found you passed out in the Omicron sector…" Michael mumbled out, looking down at the table. The entire time, he was counting down the seconds in his head.

Quickly, Winter took a look at her own watch, which still displayed zero coins from earlier. "We should try and find who my partner is… I don't want to pass out again."

Slowly, the hooded figure shook his head. "I transferred some of my coins to you, you should be fine." Although, those could only last for so long. So long…

However, nothing seemed to happen, and Winter was fine. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Given that she was fine, he took a look around the cafeteria. "Because your partner is in this room." He hadn't put too much into her bracelet, so if they weren't around, she would have passed out again.

Hearing that, Winter took a look around the room. The only people that seemed to be in the room were Tatiana, Lorelei, May, and Gennosuke. That certainly did help narrow things down. "Hmm…"

"We could do something like we did with Gigi this morning." The hooded boy suggested, but it was quickly shot down.

"No…" Winter turned her attention back over to him. "I'd like it if nobody knew who my partner was." Especially in a game where that could be taken advantage of. "I hope you understand. Besides, the drug had a very negative effect… I kept having… weird dreams."

Michael was afraid she'd say that, but he had planned for something like that. However, hearing about the dream part did catch his interest. "Weird… dreams…?

Slowly, Winter shook her head. "Just know that they are unpleasant."

"Then…" He opened up his watch. "Let me send you more money."

The love guru would never say no to money. She opened up her own app, and awaited a transfer. "How much are you sending over?"

"A little over a hundred." The familiar dinging sound could be heard, meaning that a transfer happened.

"Are you sure you can afford that?" Winter didn't mind the money, but not if it meant that Michael would pass out instead.

"It's…" He was going to say something, but the elevator opened, letting in a few more people. Namely Ian, Melody, Laki, and Benoit.

When the latter saw that Winter was awake, he gave a nod in their direction.

This got a faint smile from Michael, not that anyone could see it. Back to looking at Winter, he continued what he was saying. "Don't worry about the amount… I managed to get a lot today."

Something she knew wasn't true. "You barely touched the slots, so that can't be it."

He quickly glanced the other way. "No, I guess it can't be…" He was honestly pretty confused about the entire thing. "When I went to transfer money to you, I realised that I almost had a thousand coins saved up."

That got her to raise an eyebrow. "And you didn't collect any of those coins yourself…?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "Nope. I don't understand where all the coins came from…" It's not like he had gambled in his sleep or anything.

Humming in thought, Winter shook her head. "Maybe somebody transferred coins to you?"

"They would have needed to be really close. I would have felt something had they done that… Even if I was sleeping."

This was strange, but Winter couldn't figure out an exact answer. "I don't know then. Maybe you should just be thankful you have all those coins."

That's true. There was no reason to complain about what he had been given. "I should probably look into it a bit more when I have the chance…"

"You know…" Winter spoke up, after thinking about it for a bit. "You're an odd person. You're so secretive, and yet you would go out of your way to help me out. Why?" There was so much she wanted to learn about Michael, but he wouldn't budge on the subject, making her job near impossible.

"I…" He tilted his head down, looking at the table. "Do I… Really need any reason to be nice? I'm nice because it's the right thing to do."

"It just makes me curious about your talent…" Even after the conversations they have had, she was still drawing a blank.

Slowly, Michael shook his head. "It's best not to know…"

Taking a sip from the tea she had been neglecting up to this point, she let out a soft sigh. "Speaking of which, does your secret have anything to do with that?" She knew he couldn't talk about it, but she was still curious.

His silence told her all she needed to know. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." So even if Michael wanted to tell her, his stupid motive would prevent him. "Hopefully that doesn't last much longer." Her curiosity couldn't handle it anymore. "Make me a promise, will you."

"A… promise?" Michael didn't like the sound of that. But he wasn't going to say no to it. "Yes… I can make a promise."

In a game like this, Winter needed someone that she could put her trust in. And she wanted Michael to be that person. "Under that hood, you're a good person underneath." She wanted to trust him, but his secrecy was really throwing her off.

For a moment, Michael remained silent, glancing back to the side. Almost as if he was trying to formulate the best answer possible. After an agonisingly long time, he let out a sigh, turning his head to look back at her. "Whatever I might end up being, I promise to you that I'm a good person."

Hearing him say it himself was oddly comforting. Slowly, a smile formed on Winter's face. "Thank you, that's all I needed to hear." If she couldn't trust Michael, she doubted that she could trust anyone else around here. "Thank you… For earlier too. I'm not sure what would have happened had you not found me and brought me here. The experience was rather painful." She took a sip of her tea. "The dreams were awful too, I'm not sure what kind of drug it was…"

Hearing that, a thought appeared in Michael's head. "I should try and talk to Benoit about it… Maybe he knows something." He glanced off to the table across the cafeteria. "Maybe another time…" He seemed to be eating peacefully, and he didn't want to disturb that.

Slowly, Winter stood up, adjusting her kimono. "I should get some food. Being knocked out has made me hungry." She let out a giggle. "And I'm guessing you didn't eat while you were waiting for me?"

"Well…" He couldn't lie. He hadn't, so he was getting pretty hungry too. "Yeah, let's get something to eat." He stood up.

The two seemed to have grown closer.

---

Ultimate Referee Station

There were still a few people left over from the initial group. This time, with a newcomer. Dolly and Benjamin have made themselves known! "Mind if I join you?"

The only people here actually playing any games seemed to be Edison, Gemini, and Seira. Gigi had opted to stay out, given that she didn't even have the coins to bet. "I see no problem." The latter crossed her arms.

Gemini raised an eyebrow. "Aren't we the ones playing."

"True, but I'm refereeing." She kept her eyes locked on him.

Well, since an actual player had to answer, Edison was going to answer instead. "Yeah, you can join!"

Quickly sitting down at the table, Dolly tried to see what they were playing. "Are we betting anything?" She had made a few coins in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station, but it was difficult to make any more. And she sucked at gambling, so this was the only other choice.

Gemini flashed a grin. "We're playing Clue."

It was at this very moment that the irony dawned on Seira. "Should we… Really be playing this game at this time?"

The escapist kept the same grin. "It was either that or Monopoly."

That got all the doubt out of her mind. "Clue is fun." Although she wished they found a board game about the stars. That would have been the real winner. However, she got the sneaking suspicion that Edison would shoot that idea down.

Suddenly, however, they heard a new voice for the first time. "Nggg-" It was coming from Benjamin, as he instinctively moved Dolly over to where his watch was. Despite that, he still attempted to do a voice for her. "M-Master-" However, it was strained, and it sounded like he was losing consciousness.

Gemini was the first to react, but even he wasn't quick enough to catch the duo from falling. Being the first to reach him, the escapist lifted him off the ground. "Did the other groups leave?"

Seira went to see if he hurt his head or anything. "I thought we had all agreed to stay here today."

Gigi's expression didn't change, but she moved closer to look at Benjamin. "We did, but we should have planned a time to eat. I bet you most people have gone to do just that."

"Then…" Edison trailed off, standing up from his seat. "We should go see if anyone is at the cafeteria."

Looks like they'd need to put their game on hold for now. Gemini nodded his head. "I'll carry him." He also made sure that Dolly was with him. Didn't want to separate the two of them.

---

Cafeteria

When the group of five finally made it here, most people had found themselves here as expected. Seems the group in the Ultimate Referee Station was the only one who hadn't.

"What the hell…" Gigi crossed her arms, looking at everyone with a slight frown. "If we were going to eat, we should have scheduled a time so that nothing bad would happen."

Ian hummed out in thought, not really caring. "I thought it was obvious that we'd want to eat soon." He frowned slightly. He was wrong in his assumption, then.

Tatiana stood up upon seeing that Benjamin was out. "Wait, he was away from his partner?"

Gemini moved over towards the table she was at, placing him down on the bench. "He should be up in a few minutes. He went under four minutes ago." He took a glance around the room. Seems almost everyone was here at the moment. "He'll be fine once he wakes up." Still holding Dolly, he placed it under Benjamin's arm.

Letting out a small sigh, Gigi looked around. "Nobody here passed out while that happened?" She was trying to figure things out for Benjamin, at the very least.

Dae-Hyun slowly shook his head. "Not that I know of. For the most part everyone has been fine."

Michael was going to say something, but chose not to mention what happened to Winter. "No, nothing has happened."

"So…" Gennosuke trailed off. "The only thing we learned today was that Gemini and Gigi are partners, and that Benjamin isn't partners with any of you." Less than he would have wanted to know, but he could make due with it.

Edison adjusted his goggles. "Should we make a chart of it? To easily track any information we might have."

May hummed out. "Could be useful…" She tilted her head to the side. "But what if somebody used it against us."

Dae-Hyun shook his head, not really agreeing with May's thoughts. "If someone wanted to abuse the system, then they would do it regardless of the partner. All it takes is to seclude someone."

Melody frowned slightly. "But having the information wouldn't be bad, no?" She wanted to find her partner as quickly as possible.

Gemini stood up from where he was, having made sure Benjamin was alright. "I think it's probably better if we're all on the same foot. If we know whose partner is who, we could keep them in groups, and not have to worry about coins, like with Gigi." Who was sticking close to Gemini.

However, before the conversation could continue, a groaning noise could be heard coming from Benjamin.

"Haha!" Tatiana exclaimed, looking down at him. "He has awoken!"

Benjamin took a look around, before realising he was surrounded by people. Quickly, he reached over for Dolly, using her to block his face off. "Back off! What weird things were you doing to master while he was sleeping." However, once she realised it was Gemini… "Oh! It's you. Continue!"

The escapist shook his head, looking at the rest of the group. "He's fine."

Benoit approached the boy, looking down at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm a doll! I don't feel anything!" She lifted her arms up in the air. "But master is a bit drowsy. That drug sure is a kicker!" For effect, she kicked Benjamin

Hae-Won let out a sigh. "Let this be a lesson learned, then. We should try and schedule time for eating and such. We don't want a repeat of today, after all."

"Agreed." Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "We should all meet up here in the morning, as soon as the elevator opens up. Then, we should meet up again at noon, and lastly we can meet" up one last time around six."

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to work around a schedule. I'll go when I want to go."

"Um…" Melody hummed out, a small frown on her face. "Are you not worried about your total reaching zero? What if someone decides to bump you off?"

Using an important tool called context clues, Lorelei rolled her eyes again. "Please, as if I ever have to worry about my total reaching zero. Not if I win coins fast enough."

Ian let out a small laugh. "Nobody here is me, winning coins might be-"

He was cut off by another pain groan, once again coming from Benjamin, who had only recently woken up.

"W-what?" Gemini was able to catch him this time. "Aren't we all here?"

Despite her vision, Tatiana quickly scanned the room, spotting the one person who wasn't here. "Wait… Where's… Where's…"

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"Where's Laki?"

After surveying the room, everyone would notice that she's currently the only person missing at the moment.

"Ah fuck…" Gennosuke mumbled out, placing his hands in his pockets. "The little-" He held his tongue for a moment. "I know where she might have gone. She shouldn't be too far." He began making his way over to the door for Tau Sector. "Bring him with you."

Gemini was still the closest, so he lifted up Benjamin again. "Why do you know where she went?"

Well, he couldn't exactly admit it without looking bad himself, so he tried to sugarcoat it. "She wanted to find out who her partner was, so I jokingly suggested she should isolate herself. And from what we know, nobody was going to be going to the Tau Sector anytime soon." When he scanned his bracelet, the door opened to the hallway. The group of people stepped in.

---

Tau Sector

The group that stepped in was Gennosuke, Gemini, Gigi, and Tatiana.

Gigi made sense, given she was basically tied to Gemini. But… "Why did you join us?" Gennosuke looked over at Tatiana.

She let out a laugh. "Why would I not join? Isn't it only natural to be concerned?"

The psychic didn't really care, so he kept walking forward.

It didn't take long to find exactly what they were looking for.

There, on the ground, was Laki, currently unconscious. Gemini rushed over, or at least as quickly as he could with Benjamin. "How long has she been here?"

Gennosuke had to spend some time thinking before shrugging. "It couldn't have been too long, I only told her that half an hour ago." But at least this confirms another pair.

"We can't stay here." Gigi pointed out. "We still don't know the pairs for both of you, so it's best we lift her up, and head back to the cafeteria."

Gennosuke moved over to try and lift Laki, with Tatiana jumping in to help. Quickly, the group made its way back to the cafeteria.

---

Cafeteria

"Seriously?" Was the first thing out of Ian's mouth when he saw the unconscious Laki being carried in by two people. She knew she could be a bit reckless, but even this was too much.

The duo placed Laki on the bench, letting out a sigh. "At least… That narrows it down for us?" Tatiana tried to be optimistic.

"That's ignoring the point…" Hae-Won shook her head. "Laki had a decent amount of coins, and she wasted them all in an instant."

"Well maybe if someone hadn't put ideas in her head." Atlas narrowed his eyes, looking over at Gennosuke.

Quickly, he raised his hands in defense. "How was I supposed to know she'd actually go and do something like this? Besides, why would I risk it when there's a chance she was my partner?"

Gigi shook her head, closing one eye. "There's no point in arguing about who's at fault. It doesn't change what happened. We'll just have to be more careful."

Benoit slowly nodded his head. "I… I don't know how much we can take of this drug. Remember what Nova said?"

---

"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.

---

Quickly, Gemini's expression paled up. "We shouldn't be going out of our way to figure out who our partner is. Who knows what lasting effect a drug like this could have on us."

"We can't even know how many times it was injected into Laki." Ian pointed out, frowning. "Hopefully it was only once…" He began to look through his watch. "Gigi." He called out, finally.

The referee looked over at him. "Yes?"

"I'm going to transfer you your coins back." The gambler revealed. He felt like the coins he had gotten weren't earned properly.

But before he could, Gigi shook her head. "You won those, so I have no need for those. Besides, it'd prefer not to have any." She was more of a referee than a player, after all. Besides, Gemini didn't seem to mind hanging out around her. "If I spend all my time in the Psi Sector with everyone else, it shouldn't matter."

The gambler let out a small sigh. "It's your funeral…" He wasn't going to help those who couldn't even help themselves. "But I will be giving out coins to the other two." As… soon as they wake up.

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The first person to even open their eyes was Laki. Seems she had gotten injected first. "Where…?" She was a bit confused, but one look around told her everything she needed to know. "So! Did you find out who my partner is?"

Gennosuke shook his head. "So reckless…"

In an instant, Laki felt her arm being grabbed. When she looked over, it was Ian. "I am saving you. Please don't resist." He opened up her app, moving over towards her transfer function.

Soon, she had been given a hundred coins.

"Oh…" She seemed a bit disappointed. Now she couldn't live on the edge…

However her mind didn't stay there for long as she scanned the room, her eyes eventually falling on Benjamin. "Is he my partner?"

Before anyone could answer, the ventriloquist began to stir, slowly opening his eyes. As soon as he pieced together what happened, he quickly sat up, holding onto Dolly quickly. "Master! Now's not the time for a nap!" She began to freak out. She was going to panic even more, but something caught her attention. Ian was staring directly at them. "Gah!" She blocked off Benjamin from view. "Are you trying to rob us?"

"Honestly, it feels like I'm getting robbed…" The gambler mumbled out as he transferred another hundred coins. Once that was done, he eyed the two people who had fallen unconscious. "Please, don't waste these coins. I will not be giving out anymore after this."

Dolly looked at the watch for a few seconds before crossing her arms. "Hmph!" She looked the other way.

After transferring over the coins, Ian took a step back. "Let's please try and not be reckless." That was aimed more at Laki than anybody else.

Gennosuke raised his hands in the air, almost like he was turning himself in. "This is my fault, the blame lies entirely on me. I filled her head with ideas."

Gigi slowly narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I didn't think she would actually do it." He shrugged, a smile still on his face from earlier. "But at least we learned something from this."

Dolly quickly nodded her head. "Yeah! Ian's going to give away money to anyone who has zero."

"No…" How did he get dragged into this? "I'm not giving anyone anymore money. I earned this fair and square." He had already given up all the money he had won from the large poker game between the five of them.

"We shouldn't rely on someone else to keep us safe." For once, Gigi was in agreement with him. "If you forcibly get yourself to zero, that's on you. Please remember that your fate is attached to another individual."

"I think it's time we head to bed." Gemini finally pointed out. "It's gotten late, and we have to all go together."

"Based on our test from this morning…" May hummed out. "As long as we sleep in the same set of vacant rooms, we should be fine. So we won't be losing out on any coins."

That was reassuring to hear, which meant everyone could sleep soundly.

"Do we really need to sleep?" Dolly pointed out. "Master and I just took a nap-"

Gemini had started to shove the duo forward. "Unless you want to pass out again, I advise you to get moving.

"Hey! Hey!" She called out, being pushed towards the elevator.

Slowly, everyone else got on, letting the doors close behind them.

---

Motive Room

Once again, same as last night, May found herself standing inside this room after everyone else had gone to sleep. Her focus was on her own watch as she watched the seconds tick away. She wasn't sure how much she had left, and she definitely felt like she was out of range now, so she'd need to return to her room quickly before things got out of hand.

As soon as the watch hit ten, an announcement played out. "It is now nighttime, and the sun sets on- Wait the sun doesn't really set here, does it? It is now nighttime, and the metaphorical sun sets on another day. Hopefully nobody here has had the misfortune of passing out. See you all tomorrow."

And as expected, the score had updated as well.

.

Invalid User: 202 Coins

Atlas: 654 Coins

Benjamin: 100 Coins

Benoit: 39 Coins

Dae-Hyun: 112 Coins

Edison: 214 Coins

Gemini: 312 Coins

Gennosuke: 412 Coins

Gigi: 0 Coins

Hae-Won: 326 Coins

Ian: 1,623 Coins

Laki: 100 Coins

Lorelei: 817 Coins

May: 95 Coins

Melody: 314 Coins

Michael: 471 Coins

Seira: 252 Coins

Tatiana: 124 Coins

Winter: 225 Coins

.

As expected, she was out of range, and it had begun to tick away. "Oh well…" All she had to do was make sure she was back in her room before the minute was up. Letting out a small yawn, May turned around, leaving the motive room. At least most of the people weren't on the verge of falling unconscious anymore.

---

Hey what up guys! Hope you enjoyed another great chapter of this totally amazing fanf- Anyways. This concludes part three of the daily life, which brings us one step closer to a body dropping. Oh! Who could it be? So exciting! It could be anyone!

Now we get to finally see the motive in action, and a few people have already fallen victim to it. And there's still a lot of time left for more people to faint! At least we have some confirmed pairs to start off.

And this time we didn't have any huge poker games that took almost a third of the entire chapter! Instead, we had DnD running rampant.

Gee, I wonder what I'm interested in. Either way, I've been looking forward to starting the DnD arc, so let's have those characters be nerds for a bit :D It won't hurt anyone. There wasn't much to write for it for now, but let me tell you, it should take off soon. At least until one of them dies horribly, and I'm forced to bring the whole thing to a grinding halt. But that won't happen, right?

This chapter took much longer than I would have wanted, but that's just because of how much longer it ended up being. I had no way to predict that it would end up being my longest chapter in the fic so far, so XE

Hopefully part 4 isn't as long, but I don't have faith in any of that. In Chapter 1, the only plot intensive stuff that happened was the games. Now, the motive is much more involved in their everyday life, so there need to be more scenes where the plot is just allowed to happen. This one's way better than the Chapter 1 motive :D

See you all next time!

---

Participants Remaining: 18

---

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]