Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 16: Dual Disposition (Part 5), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 2: Dual Disposition (Daily Life Part 5)

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.

Some people are born with exceptional gifts…

Some people are born with such opportunities.

Great families, great wealth…

Others… End up like me.

…

The sound of a baby crying could be heard as the doctor held onto the baby. He spent some time inspecting the arms, before realising that… They just weren't fully there. In its stead, there were nubs.

It didn't take long for the mother to notice that something was off with the baby. "Where… Where…" She was still pretty weak from just having given birth, but the lack of arms was alarming.

It didn't take long for the doctor to realise what this is. Adjusting his face mask so as to make sure it didn't slip off, he turned to face towards the mother. "It would appear that your son was born with amelia…"

And while she tried her best to hide her expression, it was clear that his mother was not happy with what she just heard. She quickly turned her head away, trying to avoid looking at Atlas.

…

Amelia… The condition when one is born with incomplete limbs… Could you believe my luck?

Born into this world, and I'm already at a fucking disadvantage…

And because of that, my luck only got worse from here.

Maybe it could have all been saved had I been dropped into a caring family… But to them? I was just nothing but a fucking burden…

…

"Atlas!" The voice of his mother called out. "School starts soon! Don't make me come up there!"

Easier said than done… Atlas found himself in his room, struggling against his clothes. He managed to pull them out of his closet easier than one would think, He had even managed to put on his shirt without too much struggle.

But the pants… It was always the pants that he struggled with. Still, he managed to get them off without their fucking help. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm coming down!" Using his foot, he managed to turn the handle, before pushing the door open.

Once through the door, Atlas turned around and shoved the door closed.

Of course, he knew he would never get help.

…

Even at school, things were the same. With the small school I attended, they didn't have the resources to make sure I could function like everyone else.

So to the teachers? Once again, just some burden.

It was aggravating…

Every step of the way…

…

Atlas found himself sitting at the dinner table with his family. However, like normal, no help was even considered his way. So here he sat, staring down at the bowl of soup in front of him.

At this point, Atlas was done asking for help. He knew it wasn't going to come. If it did, his parents would have offered it a long time ago.

Unable to grab onto the spoon they so rudely gave him, he was forced to think up a different method when it came to eating.

Scooping up the bowl with the portion of his arms he did have, he very carefully managed to bring the bowl to his face.

Slow and steady… slow and stea-

Of course, Atlas wasn't able to do it without any hitches. Just as the bowl got close to his face, he felt it slip out of his grasp.

The contents of the bowl spilled out, splashing his mouth, his lower face, and most of his neck.

By instinct, he screamed out in pain as it burned his skin. Atlas fell out of his chair, almost as if to avoid the pain he felt, but it followed him to the ground.

For once, his mother actually seemed to be concerned. "Atlas!?" She called out, rushing to his side..

Care that he would never again get to see.

…

As if she even cared… Because shortly after I was admitted into the hospital, here she was, pulling me out.

Maybe the bills were too much, or whatever. Either way, the burn scar never went away… Fucking asshole…

…

"Mom…" A young Atlas called out, attempting to scratch his neck, but being unsuccessful. For the past five years, his throat had been in agony almost the entire time. To the point where his voice sounded grating to listen to sometimes.

It almost felt like the inside of his throat was burning.

"What is it?" She didn't spare him a single glance as she prepared dinner for the family.

"It… It hurts…" Atlas knew complaining now wouldn't do anything… She never actually did anything. He wasn't a bright kid, but even he knew that there had to be something that could help him out. And yet… Every time… Nothing.

"Does it hurt to speak?" She finally asked, still not looking at him.

Was she finally going to provide him with some form of care? "Y-yeah…"

"Then stop talking, that should help out."

Of course… It always turned out like this…

…

Years after all those incidents, Atlas found himself outside the school, standing in their soccer field.

At this moment, classes were going on, but he didn't care in the slightest.

Why would he? His teacher had given up hope on him. What possible kind of career could Atlas even build for himself? Almost everything required hands. The only thing he could find of interest that didn't was soccer.

With a fierce kick, he managed to send the ball into the goal without much effort. "Fucking Christ…" He mumbled out, walking over to where the ball was.

If the world wanted to treat him like this? Then he didn't care. He would just treat the world back with the same shit it gave him.

Collecting the ball, Atlas began to bounce it back towards the center of the field. The only thing he could do in his life is play this one sport.

Kick!

Into the goal.

All he could do…

…

As school ended, he found himself having missed the last two of his classes. Not that Atlas cared in the slightest. He had plans either way.

His life at school had only gotten worse, because when he did actually show up, he was the victim of a lot of harassment.

Peeling away from school before things could get ugly, Atlas found himself walking down the street. He wasn't able to hold a map, but he memorised the way to get there quite easily.

After about a ten minute walk, he finally found himself in the location that he wanted to be.

Looking at the sign, a rare smile appeared on his face. "Here…"

He had found himself a Taekwondo dojo… All the other martial arts had a heavy reliance on hands… But this one… There was stuff he could do here.

Pushing against the door, he stepped into the dojo, looking around.

"And you are?" A man called out, stepping out to greet him.

"Doesn't matter." Atlas answered, as rude as ever. "I'm here to learn."

The man was quick to notice what was wrong with Atlas, and figured exactly why he was here of all places. "I see…" He was always content on taking in new students, no matter where they might have come from.

Atlas began to move past the man standing in his way. "Just go ahead and-" In an instance, Atlas found himself on the ground. "Urg-" He had no time to react.

"I have no problems teaching you an art such as this… But please, learn to be a bit more… disciplined." His dojo was open to all. However, he couldn't just let a student like that roaming around without any sort of control.

"Fine… Whatever…" Despite having no hands, Atlas was able to get himself up by just using his feet and some momentum.

Now, the dojo master did see some promise with this kid. "Now, come this way." He guided Atlas down into the dojo.

Motive Room

At this point, these visits were starting to eat into May's sleeping time, but she wasn't going to stop herself from visiting this place every time the total changed. In fact, she was probably the only person who went out of their way to do this. Letting out a yawn, she saw that the total had been updated.

Invalid User: 160 Coins

Atlas: 1,237 Coins

Benjamin: 120 Coins

Benoit: 0 Coins

Dae-Hyun: 126 Coins

Edison: 316 Coins

Gemini: 512 Coins

Gennosuke: 853 Coins

Gigi: 0 Coins

Hae-Won: 747 Coins

Ian: 1,587 Coins

Laki: 100 Coins

Lorelei: 1,523 Coins

May: 156 Coins

Melody: 623 Coins

Michael: 1,124 Coins

Seira: 428 Coins

Tatiana: 274 Coins

Winter: 278 Coins

As per usual, nothing too big changes overnight. But it makes it easier to figure out when people are being sketchy. Turning away from the monitor, May left the room. She'd have to meet up with the others for breakfast now.

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

It was early morning.

In fact, it was around the time everyone should be gathered for breakfast.

And yet, here Atlas was, not doing exactly that. He agreed to a game today, even though he didn't really want to face off against the people who signed up.

"Dammit…" He mumbled out, kicking the ball weakly towards the goal. He didn't put much effort into it, given that he didn't even register for the solo game.

"There you are." A voice he didn't want to hear.

Turning around, he spotted Hae-Won, who had just entered the room. "What the hell do you want?"

"You weren't at breakfast, so I volunteered to go fetch you." Hae-Won didn't seem very happy. "What are you even doing here? You know you can't just wander off on your own."

To Atlas, it didn't really matter. He had gathered enough coins to not have to worry about such a stupid thing.

If the others hadn't, then it's their fault in the first place. "Whatever." He gave the ball another kick, this time with a little bit more force.

"You know, you don't have to be an asshole all the time." Hae-Won wanted this well needed conversation between the two. Ever since they got here, Atlas had been like this, and he hadn't improved in the slightest. Getting mad at the smallest thing.

"What is it to you?" She must have been barking up the wrong tree, given that Atlas had little to no care in his voice.

"What is it to me?" Hae-Won repeated, her demeanour not changing in the slightest. "Your shit attitude starts to become too much to handle after a while." She placed her hands in her pockets. "Let's start with that, alright?"

Atlas narrowed his eyes. Why the fuck does she care? "Just avoid me, then. Goddamn! You don't have to go anywhere near me. And yet, here you are!"

He really wasn't getting the problem, was he? "This is a very enclosed space. You can't just tell people to go away when you feel like having a fit." Hae-Won took a step forward. "We don't have to be forced to deal with your shitty attitude."

"Tsk." Atlas turned to look the other way. This time, he managed to kick the ball with enough force that one could barely keep track of it as it flew into the net. "Like I said, I don't give a fuck what you and other people think of me. I'm not here to please anyone. I'm not here to make sure I get along with everyone."

"That's exactly what I mean." Hae-Won took a step forward, narrowing her eyes at him. "Your god awful attitude is fucking with everyone around you. At this rate, someone is just going to pick you off and do everyone a favour."

Hearing that, Atlas didn't stop the ball as it rolled past him. Instead, he tilted his head back to look at her. "I'd like to see those fuckers try and kill me." They wouldn't stand a fucking chance against him.

Nothing Hae-Won seemed to say was getting through to him. Anything she said, Atlas would just brush off like it was nothing. "You're not getting the point I'm trying to make!"

"Because whatever shit point you're trying to make, obviously doesn't matter to me." Atlas took a step towards her. "So shut the fuck up, please."

Hae-Won's grimace only intensified with every word Atlas said.

She was trying to help him out.

But clearly, he didn't value anything she had to say. To him, her opinion was practically non-existent. "Then fine, whatever." Hae-Won turned around, intent on leaving the room. "I don't care anymore, you piece of shit." She couldn't stand his attitude, and it was clear that Atlas wasn't going to change his ways anytime soon. So what was the point in even trying?

"Oh, now you're just going to run away?" Now Atlas was trying to start a fight.

This caused Hae-Won to stop in her tracks. Slowly, she turned to look at him. Anger apparent in her facial expression. She was going to say something-

Suddenly, the door opened up, and Ian stepped in. "What are you two doing here?" He frowned, looking at the two of them. Looks like it was some kind of fight. Ian glanced on the ground, noticing the soccer ball. He began to kick that around towards the wall.

"Whatever." Hae-Won took a step back. She had no reason to fight with Atlas.

Ian moved over towards the wall, standing right next to the storage door. "Don't tell me you lost an argument against him." Almost embarrassing.

Since Hae-Won was leaving, it left Atlas to do whatever he wanted. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Ian had just shown up to see what was going on. "Was hoping for more whining. Unfortunately I seem to arrive just as things ended."

Step by step, Atlas closed the gap between the two of them. "I am not in a good mood. I'd prefer it if you left my station."

Was Atlas trying to intimidate him? Ian couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Maybe what she was talking about was righ-" Quickly, he had to move his head to the side as Atlas slammed his foot against the wall next to his head, causing a small beeping sound to play out, and the storage door to open.

Atlas spent a few seconds looking at him, before calming down. "Whatever…" He moved his foot off the wall, heading towards the exit of the room.

Watching him walk off, Ian couldn't stop himself from frowning, shaking his head.

Cafeteria

The elevator door opened, and out stepped Atlas and Hae-Won. She had a content smile on her face, mostly because she won the entire thing.

"I'm here now. Happy?" Atlas almost barked as he moved over to take a seat.

"Very." Gigi would prefer if everyone stuck together for the time being. However, she did notice something else. "Where's Ian?"

Hae-Won shrugged. "Hey, I was only sent there to get Atlas."

May let out a small sigh. "I'm not too worried about Ian… He has enough coins to not make himself a problem."

Gigi shook her head, tilting her head down. "I'm more worried about who he has as a partner."

"Haha! I myself am not too worried." Tatiana stood up on her chair. "For we have all made GREAT strides to increase our coin total."

"Most of us." May mumbled out, looking over at Laki, Benjamin, and Benoit… But, she already knew the first two were safe together, and Ian was clearly not Benoit's partner, so there was nothing to worry about.

Still, it filled Gigi with unease. "I think we should finish up here and head upstairs shortly." She placed her fork down.

Winter took a sip from her tea, shaking her head. "I think I might stay down here today." She knew that the coin total was a problem, but it was starting to get rather dull, and she felt like she'd lose her sanity if she kept having to be cooped up in the same set of rooms for another day.

Tatiana nodded her head along. "See? I'm not the only one who is getting tired of this!"

Gigi wanted to counter them, but they seemed pretty adamant. "Just know, this not only concerns you, but your partners as well. Unless you know who they are, I don't advise-"

"Just let them." Gemini finally said, placing a hand on his hip. "By now, we should be getting a better idea on who's with who. I'm sure if people are fine staying away from the second floor, it might mean that they know who their partner is."

Gigi failed to see how that would even be possible at this time. Nothing had changed yesterday, so nobody should have figured out anything. Yet, nothing would be learnt if they didn't do anything. "Fine." She closed one of her eyes, glancing away. It was clear she wasn't happy, but she wasn't going to fight it anymore.

Soon, she stood up from the table, glancing over towards the elevator. "I don't want to leave Ian upstairs alone for too long, so we should probably head up."

"Tsk…" Atlas was annoyed that they were already going back up. "You call me down here, just to tell me to go back up here. What the hell are you even talking about?"

"You're free to stay down here if you want." Gigi began to approach the elevator, not once sparing a glance towards Atlas. "Gemini and I shall be heading over to the top floor to prepare."

While she expected Gemini to follow, Gigi hadn't assumed Atlas and Hae-Won would actually follow them.

"So much for that?" The referee said as she stepped into the elevator.

"Shut up." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "I wanted to stay up there the entire time to practise."

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. This group was a mess…

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Finally, Melody was here! Although, she wasn't the first person here. She could already see that other people were already here.

Well! There was still time before the game started! Which could only mean one thing.

Time to earn coins!

Melody scanned her watch on the scanner, and moved over to stand in the center of the field, getting the ball ready. She had gotten a decent amount of coins before, so she was ready to get more.

"Oh? You've practising this?" Hae-Won moved over to take a look at her. "Nice. If you're put on my team, I think we have nothing to fear." Her attention shifted over to Atlas.

He was a menacing force, but Melody didn't really seem to think so. "There's a chance Atlas picks me for the team."

That is true, but Hae-Won wasn't going to bank on it. She watched Melody take a shot. "So, have you always had an interest in soccer, or is that just here?"

Quickly, Melody shook her head. "Oh. No. I just practised here to earn dough. I've never really played soccer back home."

Still, she was doing better than Hae-Won would have thought. "You seem almost like a natural." She knew she was still better than Melody, but it still wasn't anything to write off.

Tapping her feet on the ground while she waited for the ball to arrive. "This isn't too different from what I'm used to. I could be a deb in soccer, I know it." As the ball reached her foot, she managed to kick it into the air. "A natural." She tried to kick it while it was in the air, but completely missed it, almost falling in the process.

Quickly, Hae-Won managed to stop her from falling. "Watch it, kid."

Melody let out a small laugh, adjusting herself. "I'm fine." Another kick, this one barely missing the goal. "Aww…"

"I've been meaning to ask." Hae-Won watched as the ball slowly rolled back to Melody. "Who taught you how to dance like this?"

"Huh?" Who taught… her? "Oh!" Melody let out a small laugh. "No one in particular. I taught myself." Placing the ball down, she got her next kick ready. "I did watch some videos of people who did dance like this, but my parents would never afford the time to teach me how to dance."

Self taught? "Heh… I was pretty much self taught too."

"Really?" Melody's eyes sparkled slightly hearing that. "How'd ya do that?"

"Well, it's not completely the truth." Hae-Won hummed out, a small smile forming on her face. "Drawing wise, I was self taught. Same boat as you. My parents didn't want to spend anything on me learning a skill like that." The smile quickly faded from her face as she glanced away. "In fact, if anything, they'd want to make sure I didn't do anything like that."

The sparkle in Melody's eyes had quickly vanished, now replaced with a bit of anger. "Huh? Why would they want to prevent ya from doing something like that." She placed a hand on her hips, pouting slightly. "They shouldn't step on your dreams like that."

"Heh…" Hae-Won didn't feel the need to explain it to another person, so she left it vague. "Either way, the career path I chose for myself… They frown upon it. But, I don't regret the path I chose." There were some aspects of it, though, that maybe-

"Good!" Melody nodded her head at her story. "You should never regret your passion." Her focus was back on the ball. With another kick, she managed to score a goal this time. "I wouldn't trade away my talent for the world."

"For the world, huh." Hae-Won glanced off to the side. "I mean, there's probably one thing I'd trade my talent for, but it's far too late for something like that."

"Hmm?" Well, that got Melody's curiosity. "What do you mean?"

Hae-Won shook her head, crossing her arms. She tried to keep up her smile, but it seemed to falter a bit. She didn't want to say…

"Oh…" Melody seemed a bit disappointed, but she wasn't going to pry any information out of her. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me."

"Let's just say I don't really speak to my family anymore." Hae-Won finally revealed, crossing her arms. For some reason, Melody just exuded a trusting aura, so for now, one of the only people she could even talk to about this. "Happened a few years ago."

"Huh?" Melody wasn't expecting something like… that. "Why don't you?"

Hae-Won let out a small chuckle. "Because they made it clear they don't want anything to do with me." Despite the fact she was laughing, it quickly cleared away as a frown appeared on her face. "And there's not much I can really do about it. I've moved on with my life, so it's probably for the better."

Melody… Couldn't imagine a world where she didn't see her family. "Hey, that's not right!" She placed her hands on her hips, pouting slightly. "What reason would they have to not want to see you anymore?"

"..." Hae-Won's eyes drifted to the side, almost as if to avoid answering the question. However, when she looked at Melody, she was giving that same look. "I was a bad influence, alright." She finally answered. "I wasn't what they wanted from me."

Now there was a sentiment that Melody could get behind. "Ah… I see." She moved her hands away from her hips. "For a while, I believe my parents saw me as that too." Melody knew that her mom had a hard time seeing her as the person to inherit the business. There was always so much more focus on her siblings… "But, you said you were a bad influence?"

Letting out a sigh, Hae-Won shook her head. "They said I was a bad influence on my brother." She finally admitted. "Kid loved me, so he always did what I did." While saying that, she had a warm smile on her face. It was clear she cared a lot. "So much so that…" She glanced away. "He was doing as well as I was in school, which was to say… pretty fucking poorly." She turned around, so she was no longer looking at Melody. "They felt it was better if he grew up without me influencing him."

"That's-" Melody couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's… Awful. You should have just told your parents to beat it!"

"Heh…" Maybe she should have, but Hae-Won thought differently. "They were right, though. My brother always followed in my footsteps, maybe this was what was best for him." Slowly, a frown appeared on her face. Quickly, she turned to look back at Melody, a smile quickly replacing her expression. "But let's not worry about that, alright?"

"Don't think like that." Melody frowned, hearing what Hae-Won had to say, and how quickly she brushed it off. "To say he's fine without you…" Melody knew that if she had to be separated from her siblings… She would hate it. They didn't always get along, but still…

Looking at her with a neutral expression, Hae-Won shook her head. "Now's not the time to be talking about things like this." Clearly, she was trying to steer the conversation away from here. She hadn't hoped to get someone to make her feel better. She just felt like venting. "We should get ready for the soccer game."

"Right…" Still, Melody wanted to say something to cheer her up. She just couldn't figure out what it was. Instead, she opted to put on a happy expression. "Do you want to practise with me?" She offered the ball to Hae-Won.

"Gladly." She grabbed it, placing it on the ground.

It seems the two have grown closer.

Cafeteria

While a chunk of people had moved up to the Psi Sector, there were a few people who remained on the ground floor. Either refusing to always be forced to move up to the floor above, or just because they were still eating.

Personally, for Dae-Hyun, it was a mixture of the first one and a secret third thing.

For one, he had no interest in anything on the second floor besides the bar. And even then, he wasn't really a drinker.

However, there was another reason Dae-Hyun wanted to stay on this floor.

Slowly, his eyes moved over to look at the second person who caught his interest on this station.

Tatiana was sitting at the table, with Benjamin across from her.

However the two didn't seem to be talking to each other, and we're just enjoying their food.

Slowly, Dae-Hyun stood up, making his way over towards the other table. "Mind if I take a seat?"

Glancing up at him, Tatiana shrugged. "I have no reason to stop you, so sit as you please!"

Sitting down across from her, Dae-Hyun took a glance at Benjamin.

Getting the hint, the duo slowly shuffled over with their food.

Letting out a small sigh, Dae-Hyun shifted his attention back to Tatiana. "I've been meaning to have a conversation with you?"

"Oh? And what business does Dae-Hyun have with the amazing Luna?" Tatiana struck a pose. To prove she truly was great!

Glancing at her theatrics a bit, Dae-Hyun soon shifted his focus back to her. "I guess… I can't really ignore my own talent, even while I'm here." He crossed his arms. If he could, he would have leaned back in his seat.

"Could it be that I was simply too much to ignore?" Tatiana knew she radiated amazement to all those around her.

Dae-Hyun couldn't help but let a small chuckle go. "Something like that…" As of yet, he hadn't really spoken to Tatiana, so it was definitely a new opportunity. "Have you already performed on the stage before?"

"Is it possible you have no idea who I am?" Tatiana stood up on her seat, twirling a knife around. "I am known far and wide as Luna!"

Waiting for her to finish her little routine, Dae-Hyun shook his head. "Sorry, but I haven't heard of you before. I'm from a different country, after all."

"Right!" Tatiana plopped back down into her seat. "Yes, I've performed for the stages. My father works at a circus, and thus, so do I." She seemed pretty proud of that fact.

To her story, Dae-Hyun slowly nodded his head along. "So you have performed in front of an audience."

"Yes! I adore the attention I get." Just thinking about it puts a smile on Tatiana's face. "However, I feel like you aren't here to hear my life story." Because she probably wasn't going to give it out anyways.

While hearing the story might help, Dae-Hyun didn't want to take the detour. "No, let's focus on something else instead." Specifically… "Would you love to perform on a greater stage? I can't help but think that you could do so much better than a circus."

Tatiana let out another laugh before shaking her head. "Why would I ever perform for anyone else? The Yorke Troupe is all I need! That's where my friends and family are!"

Actually… Yorke Troupe did bring up some memories. He swore he actually heard about it in the news, but Dae-Hyun quickly shook that idea out of his head. "Really?" Still, he wasn't going to give up on the subject. "How about the rest of the circus? Maybe they could grow further beyond what they already have."

The circus itself, growing? At that, Tatiana quickly glanced the other way. "P-probably not the best for us! We are content where we are right now!"

Dae-Hyun frowned slightly, resting his hand on his hand. "Is that so?" He knew something was up with her attitude. He just couldn't prove what it was. "Why wouldn't you want more eyes on you? That doesn't seem like a bad thing."

"Hahaha!" Nervous laughter! "Well, let's just say right now might not be the best time! And let's leave it at that!" Tatiana was definitely hiding something.

And while Dae-Hyun wasn't one to pry… In fact, he wasn't one to care in the slightest. He still knew what it was like to get involved in things that shouldn't really be in the public's eye. "Did… something happen with the circus?" Besides, he recognised the circus from some news article he had to have read.

Tatiana started discarding knives left and right. "Haha! I think not!" It was very clear that she was lying. "The Yorke Troupe is an amazing circus! Accidents never happen!"

"... I never mentioned any accidents." Dae-Hyun hummed out in thought. Was it an accident?

"Oh!" Tatiana placed her hands on her hips, remaining frozen. She couldn't think of anything else to say. "Well, I just assumed that's what you meant. Because, what industries don't have accidents?" Long pause, followed by her usual laughter.

Dae-Hyun let out a small sigh. Potential clients were always so difficult to work with. But, he also didn't want to pry into anything she didn't want to talk about. "Things like that happen. Scandals, accidents. It's all part of the entertainment industry." He would know that very well.

Letting her arms relax, Tatiana glanced off to the side. "Did something like that happen in anything you did?"

"Like I said, those things happen all the time… They shouldn't… But…" Dae-Hyun glanced off to the side. "I've been caught up in a scandal before. One that really shouldn't have happened in the first place." He crossed his arms.

While Tatiana couldn't see his eyes, that frown he had on his face told her most of what she needed to now.

"Not pleasant, wasn't it?"

Dae-Hyun gritted his teeth, trying to recall most of the details. "No… Can't say it was." He wanted to complain, but he held it within him. "Even after such a thing, though, I didn't let it destroy my career." Although, he did stop looking for a while. "And now, I'm an Ultimate." Something he feels like is pointless, given their current situation.

"Haha!" Tatiana let out a laugh. "I too, became an Ultimate after the situation!" She stopped when she realised something. Her energy quickly drained as she looked away. "Although, I really shouldn't have."

From what Dae-Hyun could piece together, Tatiana was definitely involved with something. The only problem was that he didn't want to probe her for information.

Thus, he was relegated to letting out a small sigh. "Thus is the way of life." Slowly, he got up from his seat. "I'd be willing to check out your talent myself once we get the chance." Even with what she said, she had the potential to go even further beyond the circus life. To be stuck on the same stage all the time… No. She had far more opportunities than just that. "I hope you'll at least consider my offer…" He reached his hand out to her.

Tatiana looked at his hands for a few seconds before reaching out and shaking it. "I'll consider it!" She used her other hand to cover her eye. "Truly, I, Luna, am deserving of the biggest stage of all!"

It seems the two have grown closer…

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Some of the people for the soccer game had already arrived. Atlas, Gigi, Hae-Won, and Melody were here, leaving only Benjamin, Ian, and Laki to not be here.

However, it shouldn't be long before they make their appearance.

There were also a few more people who had shown up.

Benoit slowly made his way to the audience seats. While he wasn't going to be playing, he wanted to be by the sidelines cheering people on. However, he quickly noticed something. "Um… Why are you two here?"

The person he was looking at was Nova, who was holding a tiny flag with Atlas' face. "It's not everyday we get to see two Ultimates in action." The other flag had Gigi's face on it, for some reason.

"O-Oh! So you're here to watch the game too…?" Benoit smiled, before his eyes shifted over towards Monokawa, who was also there. "And you…?"

"I'm hoping someone dies."

"O-Ok…" Why did Benoit even bother?

Soon, the door opened, and Michael stepped in. "How much time left…?" He had forgotten when the game was starting.

Gigi took a look at her watch. "There's still about an hour and a half." She was surprised that Michael of all people would go and check this out. "I didn't think you were into sports…"

Slowly, Michael made his way over to the audience, standing besides Benoit. "I'm… not really into it… But I thought it would be fun to watch." He had nothing better to do today. He had just checked his total and he had a shit ton of coins. If anything, he didn't need to raise it anymore.

"Hi Michael." Benoit turned to face him. "Seems like we might be the only ones watching today…"

"Yeah… Seems so." Although, Michael did take notice that Nova and Monokawa were here. But he didn't bother asking any questions about it.

On the field, Atlas was still practising, taking shots into the net. "Can't we just start early or something?"

"Negative." Gigi called out, taking a look at the panel she had access to. She hadn't messed around with it yet, so she was going to take the chance now. "When I decide a start time, it means we don't start until that time. Not a minute sooner or later." Once she found the right number for Atlas' jersey, she pressed the yellow button, causing the penalty box to open up.

After a few seconds, it rose back up. "So that's how that worked." If Gigi was going to referee this game, she wanted to make sure that she knew how this place worked.

"Having fun?" Turning to face the voice, it was Nova.

Gigi couldn't help but frown. "Why are you here right now?"

"Ah! Well, it was the first time I've seen you inspect this station, so I was just making sure you knew how it worked." Nova took a few steps back, making sure there was distance between the two of them. "But as expected, you figured it out rather quickly."

"Of course I did." Gigi stepped away from the referee station. "There's a total of four buttons. I think I'm smart enough to figure that out."

Monokawa floated over, shrugging. "I don't know, sometimes people are just really dumb. Maybe you were one of them."

Darting her eyes over towards him, Gigi shook her head. "I don't appreciate your presence."

"Aww…" Monokawa let himself droop. "You didn't say that to Nova…" He floated away.

Nova waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't mind him. He's just a little sour. "I dragged him here, which is why he's wishing for someone to die."

"N-Nobody will die…" Benoit called out from his seat. "At least I hope not…"

Well, unless someone got hit in the face… Michael looked at the field. There weren't many ways for someone to die here anyways. "I'm sure it will be fine…"

"It won't be fine!" Monokawa called out. "It's so boring! If something interesting doesn't happen, I'll personally kill someone!"

Nova let out a small laugh, her visor turning to one of joy. "You know you can't do that without someone breaking a rule, right?"

Mumbling under his breath, Monokawa slowly floated to the edge of the field. "Hey!" He called out to the two people who were on the field right now. "Do something interesting!"

Normally, this would be fine. However, one of the people on the field at the moment was Atlas, who didn't take too kindly to that.

"What do you want, asshole?" Atlas narrowed his eyes, kicking the ball around in the air, trying to make sure it didn't hit the ground.

Monokawa crossed his arms. "I'm saying you guys are boring! Do something interesting! Anything. I don't care."

Contemplating this, Atlas continued to bounce the ball in the air, slowly nodding his head. "Yeah… Yeah… You want something interesting? How about this?" As he said this, he twisted his body, turning his attention over towards the seats. With one swift kick, he managed to send the ball flying towards Monokawa.

"Hmm…" The otter said, before floating to the left. "Clos-!"

The sound of someone getting hit right behind him could be heard. Turning around, he noticed that because the ball missed him, it decked Michael right in the face.

With the force of the ball, it was enough to send Michael falling over his seat, landing in a rather awkward position between the seats behind him. "O-Ow…"

What? Did Atlas just want him dead? That's twice now. Yikes!

"Michael!" Benoit quickly stood up, looking over the seats. He looked at Atlas. "W-what was that for?"

"How the fuck was I supposed to know he was there?" Atlas tried to defend himself. "Maybe if Monokawa hadn't fucking moved-"

"You'd be dead." Gigi said, plain and simple. "Please don't attack Nova or Monokawa. You know what happens if you do."

"Tsk…!" Atlas moved away from center field, looking for a new soccer ball.

"Oww…" Michael mumbled out, still in pain. "I… I think I hurt my back…"

"Um…" Benoit moved over to be on the same side as Michael. Slowly, he lifted him up. "I think I can do something… about that…"

At this point, Michael couldn't exactly decline whatever Benoit had in mind. "Fine…"

Slowly, and delicately, Benoit lifted up Michael, making sure not to uncover his hood in the process. Only his back seemed to be hurt! No reason to check his face. "I'll… Be right back." Benoit stepped away from the seats, heading towards the doors to the hallway. There was only one place he knew to go to.

His own station.

Psi Sector

May had one goal in mind. And that goal was just to wait out in the Ultimate Referee Station until Gigi was ready.

She didn't have any reason to go anywhere else, after all. Sure, she could go to the casino to raise her coin total, but she had already done that yesterday, so she felt no reason to.

However, as she passed by the hallway, she ran into Ian, who seemingly had just come back from the Ultimate Soccer Player Station. "Oh, May." He called out, stopping in front of her.

May spent a few seconds looking at him before even bothering to respond. "What is it?" She let out a yawn. He was getting in the way of her plans, and she didn't like that.

Judging from her attitude, Ian knew what he was about to ask had a low percentage chance, but he asked anyway. "If you aren't doing anything, do you think you could go get Benjamin and Laki? The game is going to start soon, and I want them to be there for it."

Really? He was going to ask her to do that? Couldn't Ian just do it himself? Then again, May didn't really have anything else to do today. "Hmm…" She hummed out, tapping her chin. "Sure…" At this point in time, she didn't have too much problem with Ian. She saw no reason to turn it down. "I recall they were in the cafeteria anyway… Not too far from here…"

Ian offered her a smile. "Thank you. Then you can do whatever you want." He turned back around, heading back towards the Ultimate Soccer Player Station.

Watching him leave, May let out a small sigh, turning back to look down the hallway she just came down. "Maybe I should have said no… That would have been easier."

Ultimate Physiotherapy Station

With the door opening, Michael only had one question. "Why… Why are we here…?"

"Well…" Benoit slowly brought him to the adjustable table. "I figured if I was going to use my talent… it should be here."

Right… Physiotherapy. "I… I don't think my back is injured that much." Michael tried to move, but his pained groan would say otherwise. "God…"

"Where exactly does it hurt?" Benoit spent some time walking around the table.

"I…" Well, to say it just started hurting now would be a lie. "Honestly… My back has been in pain for the last several days… But more specifically my lower back…"

Benoit frowned slightly. "You should have told me about this… I could have done something." Moving over towards his legs, Benoit stopped to look down. "I want you to bend your knees, and keep them together."

Michael did as he was told, but not before noticing a change in Benoit's demeanour. "Alright… What now?"

Nodding his head, Benoit continued. "Slowly roll them from side to side."

At first, Michael didn't understand what he meant, but he eventually figured it out, tilting his legs to the right, before slowly tilting them to the left. The pain flared up again, but he knew that it must have clearly been doing something.

After doing it almost a dozen times for both sides, Benoit spoke up again. "Alright… That should be enough for now…" He moved over to stand more near where Michael's stomach was. "For this one…" He lowered himself, trying to see if there was a gap between his back and the table. "This time… Can you arch your back slightly?"

That sounded like it was going to hurt, but Michael did it nonetheless. A somewhat pained groan left his mouth as he did what he was told.

"Flatten it." Benoit continued, making sure to inspect how well Michael was doing.

While this did hurt, part of it felt relieving. Flatting his back out, Michael took the liberty of doing the slow motion again a few times until Benoit would tell him to stop.

"That's good…" Benoit could make him do some different exercises, but it would be more convenient if he just did all the ones that required being on the back. And it was probably easier, given that Michael's knees were already bent. "Slowly bent your knees towards your chest."

Now, Michael wasn't exactly sure how flexible he was. "Alright…" He tried his best without his hands, but Benoit soon stepped in.

Benoit grabbed onto his knee, guiding it towards his chest. "If you need to use your hands to do it, don't be afraid to. This isn't a flexibility check…"

Michael let out a sigh of relief, bringing his hands to his knees. "Thank you… I should do the other knee too, right?"

Benoit nodded his head along. Yes… And keep alternating."

What Michael was doing wasn't fixing the problem entirely, but it was definitely making it better, at the very least. After he couldn't do it anymore, he let himself lie down straight, staring at the ceiling. "That… Thank you." He would offer Benoit a smile, but the man wouldn't even be able to see it.

"I'm just doing my job." Benoit offered a smile to Michael in his steed. "This is what I've dreamed of becoming. It just makes me happy to see that I can help people out."

Help people out…? Michael wished he could do that. Slowly, he sat up.

"Right." Benoit moved over to adjust the table so that Michael could sit up, but still have something against his back. "It's probably best to not spend too much time lying down. That could make it worse."

Now, Michael himself had a few questions he wanted to ask. "You seem so… Calm while you do this. You rarely stutter, and you're filled with confidence…" Unlike himself.

"Oh!" Benoit's eyes glanced the other way. "It's just… When I do this stuff, I feel right at home. For once, I know exactly what to do. I guess it feels like the only time I can be honest with anyone, really…"

"Honesty…" Michael looked down at his knees, trying to think of something.

Benoit quickly noticed that someone was on his mind. "Is something wrong?"

Slowly, Michael shook his head. "I just wish… I could be more honest, myself." He leaned back onto the table, looking at the corner of the room. "There's things I want to talk about, but knowing about them will just make things worse…"

"Oh? Like what?" Benoit moved a chair over so he could sit beside Michael. He was normally only able to offer physical help, but being able to use his talent put him in a rather good mood. "Is it… about the motive?"

No other words had to be spoken, and Benoit had already nailed it down. "Yeah… You could say that."

Benoit pretty much understood. "Not like you could talk about it anyways…"

Michael let out a small nervous laugh. "No… I guess not." Slowly, he turned to look at Benoit. "What about you? Is the motive getting to you? You got a threat… so."

Now, a frown was visible on Benoit's face. "Yeah… It's hard to know that Monokawa would do that. Especially if we only have a day left before something happens."

"Would you… You know…?" Michael didn't want to say it outright.

Benoit quickly shook his head, understanding the implication right away. "N-no! I would never…" He let his body slouch slightly in his chair. "They would never want me to anyways…"

Michael let out a small sigh. He pretty much knew the feeling. "Seems we're both tied by the motive at the moment… I want to tell people things, but I can't. And you don't want your loved one to die…"

"Is there anyone specific you want to talk to about it?" Benoit knew he couldn't get the info out of Michael, but he wasn't going to try. He just wanted to know what Michael thought of the entire thing.

Leaning his head back onto the adjustable table, Michael slowly shook his head. "Honestly… I… I only really want to tell Winter… But it feels like anything I say will blow out of proportion."

"That bad…?" Benoit couldn't even begin to figure out what Michael had as a secret. All he knew was that it was related to his talent. "Well…" Once again, taking on a more serious approach. "If something does happen… And Monokawa doesn't reveal your secret… Maybe you should tell her on your own?"

That was always an option. Just one Michael wasn't sure he should go for. "It's… I'm not sure I can."

Benoit let out a small sigh, turning his head away. "Well…" His head turned back to Michael. "Continue doing the exercises I told you about." He adjusted the table so Michael could lie down. "Like you said earlier… You wouldn't want that information to come out without your consent, right?"

"..." Michael tilted his head to the side as he repeated the same exercise Benoit had told him. "I guess so… I'm just worried Winter would get mad at me for what I told her before."

"What did you tell her?" Benoit stood up from his chair, trying to make sure Michael was doing the exercises properly. It was his job, after all.

Michael couldn't bring himself to admit it here. "I… It's not important."

Still, Benoit was a person of trust, so he wanted others to be able to be truthful with him while he worked. "If you don't tell her soon, it will probably blow up against you when she finally finds out… Right?"

Benoit was right. Michael knew that, but he couldn't admit it. Once his round of exercises was done, he let himself rest up against the adjustable table again. "I… I don't know. Everytime I think about it, it all becomes such a scary thought…"

Benoit shook his head. "It might be a scary thought… But once it's over, you won't ever have to worry about it. Personally, I think it's best if it's out in the open… Some people might not be willing to trust you unless you reveal it."

The probably was that Michael was sure nobody would trust him if they knew anyways. "It's… I…" He brought his hands to his hood, pulling it down to obscure even the shadows. "Maybe I would be tempted if it wasn't part of the motive…"

This motive was making it harder for everyone else, wasn't it. "Like I said… If you have a chance after the motive is over… You should tell her. If you want, I'll be there for you when you tell her." He offered him a smile.

Benoit would be there for him. Slowly, Michael let out a soft laugh. "You'd do that for me…?"

"Well… I said so, so it must be true." Benoit nodded his head along, rubbing his arm. "When I put my mind to something… I just can't stop myself." He got closer to Michael. "I'm sure with me there… You'll have the confidence to tell her…"

Michael continued to consider the offer, before letting out a small sigh. "You know… I think…"

Suddenly, Benoit let out a soft sound. A sound Michael couldn't quite make out. "Hmm…?" The hooded boy turned to look at him. "What was that?"

"O-Oh… It's… It's nothing." He quickly shook his head. "Sorry about concerning you…" He was rubbing his arm.

Michael let out a small sigh. Maybe he was losing his mind. "Thank you… For talking with me. I think I know what I have to do now."

"A-any time… I'm always here to give advice…"

Seems like the two grew closer together.

Cafeteria

As the elevator to the cafeteria opened, May stepped out, scanning the area around.

And that's when she finally noticed the two people she had been sent out to get. "Laki… Benjamin…" She walked over to the table, letting out a small yawn. "Ian's been looking for you."

Quickly, Laki stood up. "Oh right! The soccer game!" Seems her mind was so distracted she had forgotten about it. "Dolly! Dolly! Let's go!"

She was practically bouncing around, ready to run off.

Slowly, Benjamin stood up from his seat. "Let's go master!" Dolly called out, following behind Laki.

May watched the two of them leave, letting out another yawn. "Ugh… Why am I feeling sleepy now?" Sitting down at the cafeteria table, she rested her head on the table. "Whatever…" It didn't matter where she slept, so might as well just sleep here.

Besides, she wouldn't be alone. Tatiana was there for the time being- Oh no she left too.

Neat.

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Things were almost ready to start. In fact, everyone that needed to be here was pretty much gathered. Only Ian was really missing.

Atlas stood in the center of the soccer field, looking around.

Did he still want to play this game? It was nice to have Gigi here to help things run smoothly… But nobody else here seemed like they'd be any good at keeping things running smoothly.

Atlas was about to kick the ball, when he saw movement besides him. When he glanced over, he noticed that Benjamin had approached him.

Obviously, however, Dolly was the one to speak. "I'd like to apologise for what happened a few days ago!"

"Tsk? For what?" So much as already happened, that Atlas couldn't possibly narrow it down.

Dolly's body lowered slightly. "For ruining the first soccer game." She then moved back to an upright position. "But as a player! I should hopefully not ruin anything!"

At first, Atlas didn't say anything. Maybe he had acted childish back then. But he also didn't like the one thing he enjoyed being treated in such a way. "Whatever…" He wasn't going to let it bug him too much.

Slowly, he turned to look over at Dolly… Except, he decided to focus his attention on Benjamin instead. He only spoke through Dolly, so it was hard to figure out what his deal was.

However… While looking at Benjamin, he noticed something. "What's with the scar?"

A rare instance of Benjamin himself reacting. He quickly took his free hand to reach for his neck, glancing away. He tried to hide the scar that was faintly visible.

"Hey!" Dolly called out, blocking the view. "Don't ask master questions like that! That's personal."

"Tsk…" Atlas tilted his head back, showing off his own scar. "He's not the only one who's been hurt in the past…"

Dolly spent a few seconds looking at the scar on Atlas' neck before responding. "O-oh! Wait, you too? Did somebody hurt you?"

Turning his body, Atlas shook his head. "Technically, no. But it was through negligence, so it might as well have been caused by someone else hurting me." He took a few steps forward. "And you? You made it sound like someone hurt you?"

"W-well!" Dolly raised her arms in the air. "Nothing bad happened to you, right master!" She looked over at Benjamin, who didn't respond.

"Tsk… If you don't want to talk about it, fine by me." Atlas was getting ready to leave before…

"Hey." Dolly called out, rather calmly. "Do you want to talk about what happened to you?"

Atlas stopped moving for a moment, staring straight ahead. "Why would you care about what happened to me? I'm not really well liked around these parts."

Slowly, Benjamin got closer.

"But!" Dolly called out. "We're all stuck here together! So we have to make some effort to work together. Besides…"

Benjamin reached over for his own scar, flinching in pain.

"Wouldn't it be nice to talk about something people have in common?"

Considering his options… Atlas wasn't exactly sure what to do. A large part of him just wanted to tell Dolly to fuck off, and walk away angrily.

But that talk he had with Hae-Won earlier this morning did slightly resonate with him.

After some silence, he let out an exasperated sigh. "I burnt myself when I was younger."

"Burnt?" It wasn't what Dolly had imagined, but she wasn't going to call him a liar.

"Yes. Burnt." He didn't care whether Dolly believed him or not. "Not by a fire or anything like that… I spilled soup on myself."

"That doesn't sound soup-er."

"Say another pun, and I kick your head off." Atlas tilted his head to look at her, a dark look in his eyes.

Best to not test that luck! So Dolly covered her mouth to prevent herself from saying another pun. When she felt like she could speak normally, she removed her hands. It didn't take long to figure out why he burnt himself with soup. "Did nobody help you eat?"

"Tsk!" Atlas kicked the ground, sending some dirt flying out. "As if anyone would help me. To my family, I'm just some disgrace." This was seemingly where his pent up rage came from. He began to walk away. "Those burn scars? I've had them for years, and they show no signs of ever going away. And all for what? Because they didn't feel the need to go out of the way to help me?"

He didn't ask to be born like this.

So why did he have to pay the fucking price.

For a moment, Dolly remained silent, only letting her arms fall to the side. "W-well…" She knew nothing she said could really compare. Not unless she spoke about things she'd rather forget.

"Go silent, I don't care." Anybody who spoke to him didn't really know how to handle it. This was something that Atlas was used to.

"Hey!" Dolly yelled out, almost as if to defend herself. "I'm not going silent because I don't care! I'm going silent because…" Well… She couldn't really think of a reason. "Master went through something similar! He didn't even do anything wrong, and he got hurt for it."

"..." Atlas took a glance at Benjamin, who quickly averted any forms of eye contact. Just from that look alone, Atlas knew it was probably a serious topic for him as well. "So what?" He turned his attention to the ground. "This is just one of the many ways my parents fucked with me." He could list off so many other ways. "My voice is another one." His voice had always sounded harsh, and even almost pained. "Another issue my parents couldn't be half-assed to even pay attention to. Just like everything else about me."

Atlas took a few steps forward with no real destination in mind. "They gave me the bare minimum, and sometimes, I think even that is giving them too much credit. When I burnt myself, they provided no aid." To him, his parents were the lowest pieces of shit in this world. "Fuck!" He just had to let that out.

"Your parents were awful…" Dolly mumbled out, looking at the ground too. "I… Master's father was pretty horrible too…"

"Just a world of shitty parents… huh." Atlas glanced over at Dolly. "And? What did your parents try to do?" One step towards the duo.

Dolly began to panic slightly. "T-The scar! That's what they did to master!"

Atlas found himself calming down again, taking a look at the scar he had pointed out from earlier.

It was straight, and it seemed to go around his entire neck.

It became very clear what that scar was from exactly. "Tsk." As much as he wanted to rage like normal, even he could see when someone else was in the same shithole as him. "Aren't you angry?"

"Huh?" Dolly tilted her body to the side. "Why would I be angry?"

"... What?" Atlas couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why would you be angry…? Why wouldn't you be angry?" It didn't make sense to him. How could someone like Benjamin go through this and not be angry about anything. "I don't understand you."

Dolly felt her body droop slightly, a little saddened. "I can't be angry! Then I would turn everyone away!" Similar to what Atlas was doing at the moment.

Glancing away, Atlas mumbled something under his breath. "That's not a good reason." He finally said, looking directly at Benjamin when he said that.

"Huh?" Dolly raised her arms in the air. "Of course it's for a good reason! Everyone needs friends! Do you… not have any?" Dolly was beginning to feel bad for him.

"Tsk…" Atlas looked away again. "Stop asking me questions like that. It's stupid."

Still, Dolly wasn't going to give up on someone who clearly needed help. "You know what! I'll be your friend!"

What the hell was Dolly talking about now. "You? My friend?" That was dumb. Why was she even trying so much? "Trust me, you don't want to be my friend." Atlas shook his head. "Nothing good will ever come of that." The more Atlas looked at Benjamin, the more Atlas realised just how much better Benjamin turned out Maybe he even felt a little bit of jealousy. "Now buzz off." Atlas stepped away, leaving Benjamin alone.

Slowly, Dolly turned to look at him. "I think we made some progress!"

Master master! It seems you've grown closer!

Ultimate Gambler Station

What was an escapist to do in times like these?

Gemini found himself betting at the roulette table. A small frown on his face. He would have loved to see the game unfold, but he knew that any time wasted there, he could have been increasing his score.

His eyes shifted over towards the prize corner, humming to himself.

A million coins?

That was near impossible, and yet… here he was. Praying for the total to be reached. Gemini knew it was pointless… And yet.

"What are you staring off at?" A voice snapped him out of his trance. Looking at who it belonged to, it was Tatiana.

Gemini let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "Just trying to figure out if that escape pass really is attainable."

Playing around with a knife, Tatiana shrugged. "I don't see why it wouldn't be possible."

Well, Gemini could think of multiple reasons why it wouldn't be possible. However, instead of answering that to Tatiana, he just let out a sigh. "Maybe I should make my goals more manageable." There were other things to be won. Things that might be more attainable. "There was a map, right?"

"I… Believe so?" Tatiana hadn't taken the time to memorise the prizes, so she wasn't too sure herself. "But isn't that also expensive?"

"Yeah, but it's not worth a million coins." Gemini ran a hand through his head. "That means that I should be able to reach it eventually." He moved away from the roulette table passing by some of the other tables before stopping. "Hmm?" He glanced down at the table.

Tatiana followed his gaze, but didn't notice anything out of the usual. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just…" Gemini narrowed his eyes. "Someone started a game of poker, but never finished it."

Cards were on the table, and the robot was active. But… Nothing.

"Hmm…" Gemini hadn't noticed it when he first got here. But it was clear that it didn't matter too much at the moment. Instead, he moved over to the prize corner.

"Those sure are some steep prices." Tatiana noted, only barely able to make out what it says.

"It sure is…" Staring at the prizes, Gemini couldn't help but feel like something was… off. Then again, he had never bothered to pay attention to anything but the escape key. "If we can get the map, we might be able to use it." He pointed out. "It's sure to show us some secrets, right?"

Tatiana nodded her head along. "Absolutely! I believe it to be true!" She had no way of knowing, but she didn't want to ruin what Gemini thought.

"Haha! That's where you two are!" Edison walked into the casino, taking it all in for the first time. "I had asked May, and she said you weren't in Gigi's station."

Next to him was Seira, who had followed him. "You better not be gambling all your coins away again."

Gemini let out a nervous laugh, shaking his head. "Don't worry, it's nothing like that. I was just debating if I should reach a more attainable goal."

Tatiana moved away from the prize corner, waving the trio goodbye. "Well then, I'm starting to grow hungry! So I shall bid you all farewell! See you later today." She left the room, ruining any potential for a unique interaction! Damn!

Edison adjusted his goggles, looking at the prizes. "Ah, were you thinking of perhaps purchasing the map? Hypothetically speaking, it would be of great use!"

Slowly, Gemini nodded his head, humming in thought. "Right, if we got a map of the entire layout, we might be able to uncover some form of truth."

Now, here was an idea that Seira could get behind. "Well, we could try and pool all our coins together to try and purchase it."

"Well…" Edison rubbed the back of his neck. "Hypothetically speaking… We shouldn't do that now. With the way the motive is, we should hold off on trying to acquire a large sum of money."

Gemini shrugged, glancing the other way. "There's a high chance this motive doesn't end, though. Do we really want to wait?"

Somehow, this was the most optimistic approach, given that Gemini wanted to believe that nobody would die.

Of course, Edison wasn't one to be told he was wrong. "The way the motive is, it's very difficult to ascertain how many coins you have at any one moment unless you wait for it to shift to nighttime or daytime." That wasn't the only problem. "And if we are out of range of our partner, we'd just be wasting our time."

Letting out a sigh, Gemini knew he couldn't counter that argument. "I guess you're right. We can't exactly counter the motive. And only I know my partner."

"We know two pairs." Seira began to think. "We could try and narrow it down until we know for a fact all the pairings."

Gemini ran a hand through his hair. "But that would require the cooperation of everyone to figure out. Unless you have an easier method, I don't want to risk injecting anyone."

A frown slowly formed on Seira's face, knowing that so far, there wasn't any other way. "Maybe not…" She took a glance at the prize corner.

Letting out a small sigh, Edison turned around. "I don't feel like spending my money here. Statistically, I'm going to lose all my money." He made his way over towards the door. "I shall be awaiting everyone in the Ultimate Referee Station for when the soccer game ends. You are free to join me if you wish."

Watching him leave, the duo made no attempt to follow him. Instead, Seira spoke up to Gemini. "Are you sure that the map would be of use?" She didn't want to doubt him, but she also didn't want to waste her time doing something that wouldn't yield any results.

There was no way to know for sure. Gemini knew this, so instead, he shrugged. "It's expensive, so it has to be like that for a reason. I don't see a reason for them to hide something so basic behind such a price tag."

Seira could understand his reasoning… But still, it felt like it could be misleading. "But… I'd prefer you worry about that instead of…" Something like a million coins. Over something that would benefit one person.

Moving away from the prize corner, Gemini turned to look at Seira. "We should probably go join up with Edison now." There wasn't too much time left for the soccer game, so there was no point staying here. He took a glance at his watch, just to check the time. "Might as well keep him company."

Seira wasn't too interested in keeping Edison company, but she had no other reason to decline going. "Yeah, let's go." She smiled at him.

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

It was only ten minutes before the game started, and finally, all the players made their appearance.

"You were almost late." Gigi noted from her stand, crossing her arms.

Ian shrugged, stepping through the door. "But I'm not, and that's all that matters." As he approached the group, he looked around. "Have teams been decided yet?"

"Yes, asshole." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "You weren't here, so you got stuck with Hae-Won."

Ian didn't really seem to mind. He approached her, looking at what the team had to offer. However, it just seemed like the only other person on the team besides Hae-Won was Benjamin. "Are these teams balanced?" From the looks of it, Atlas had the better team.

Atlas kicked the ground. "Stop complaining already. If you wanted something better, you should have shown up early."

It was a bit rude, but Ian wasn't going to make any comment. "Are we using any equipment?."

"Right…" Hae-Won turned to look at Gigi. "The penalty box only works with the jerseys, so we might want to go get those."

Gigi nodded her head. "While you're at it, can you see if there's any boots and gloves?

"I remember seeing them, so I can go get them." Hae-Won stepped forward.

However, behind her was Ian.

However, Hae-Won didn't really seem to mind. "Are you here to help me?"

"Might as well." Ian shrugged. "Save you the time."

Hae-Won moved closer to the door, using her bracelet to unlock the door.

"Hmm." Ian tilted his head to the side. "I thought only Atlas had access to it."

Shaking her head, Hae-Won snickered a bit. "As if I'd let that uncooperative asshole have the only access to this room." She stepped through the door. "There was a spot available for two people, so I took the second one."

As they made it through the storage room, they eventually arrived at the lockers. Sorting through the journeys, Hae-Won pulled out five. Two with a colour similar to Atlas, and three with a completely different colour.

While she was doing that, Ian opted to get some shoes. "I don't know what size everyone is, so I'm probably just going to bring some boxes."

"Don't really care." Hae-Won reached into the last locker, pulling out five pairs of gloves. "Huh…" SHe frowned slightly, before actually only pulling out four pairs. "Well…"

However, Hae-Won knew she felt another pair in there. It just felt… off. She put her hands in it again, pulling out some rubber gloves that seemed like they went up to the elbow. "How did this get in there?"

Ian raised an eyebrow. "Should we just take it anyways?"

Hae-Won didn't really care, so she just shrugged. "Whatever." She moved over towards the door. "I'm sure one player won't mind wearing this.

"Give it to Laki or something, she'd probably be happy to have something different." Ian moved through the door after Hae-Won opened it.

Atlas watched the duo step out of his storage room, growing impatient. "About damn time…"

Ian dropped the boxes on the ground, looking around. "Just come take whatever pair works for you."

Quickly, everyone was able to find a pair of shoes that worked for them, as well as a jersey.

"Now…" Ian grabbed the rubber gloves. "So we didn't have enough-"

Laki nabbed them without hearing any other questions. "Mine."

"..." Ian stood there, not surprised in the slightest. "Alrighty, then." He grabbed a pair of gloves for himself.

"About three minutes before we start." Gigi called out, moving towards the center of the field. She had the soccer ball in her hands. Placing the ball, she made her way over towards the scanner. "Are we playing for coins?"

"Obviously." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Unless any of you fucks think otherwise."

Hae-Won shrugged. "I don't have any preference either way." She stepped towards the ball.

"Well…!" Dolly hummed out. "Master and I don't have many points, so we'd rather not have to bet on them."

Ian slowly nodded his head. "I have a lot of coins, but I'm willing to not bet them if it risks putting someone under."

"Tsk. Whatever." That just meant Atlas wouldn't be able to get any coins, but that was fine by him. He had enough anyways.

Nodding her head, Gigi made it back to the center of the field, making sure that the ball was placed neatly in the center. Once that was done, she made her way back over to her referee section.

Making sure everything was in order, Gigi checked the timer on her watch. Just thirty seconds left.

Reaching over for her whistle, Gigi held it inches away from her mouth. "I'd get into position if I were you." Then, she put the whistle in her mouth.

Watching the clock tick up, she made sure to keep her focus on the field as well, to make sure nobody tried to start early.

And… Then finally, the time arrived, and she blew the whistle.

The first person to react was obviously Atlas, who managed to reach the ball first.

But he wouldn't be unopposed for long, as both Hae-Won and Ian moved to block him off.

With the limited number of players in this game, Atlas didn't really have many options, now did he? The only people he could pass too were Melody and Laki, and neither seemed like good choices to him.

However, out of the two, Benjamin was blocking off Laki, which meant…

With one swift kick, he managed to send it to Melody, who did a good job at stopping the ball in its tracks. However, she wasn't able to get very far either before Benjamin and Ian stopped her.

However, Melody didn't pass the ball right away. Instead, she messed around a bit, managing to avoid Hae-Won, who tried to swipe the ball away from her.

All while Melody hummed to herself, not realising just how good she could be. In fact, all she was really doing was dancing. "This ain't so bad." Clearly she was having fun with it. With a quick pass, she managed to send it to Laki.

Now, Laki here- Oh wait she already passed it to Atlas, confusing Ian, who was still running towards her. Way to go Laki.

As the ball made its way towards Atlas, he wasted no time in preparing a kick. As soon as it lined up with his leg, he sent the ball flying towards the goal.

The goalie wasn't able to block it off, and the fireworks went off

"Amazing Atlas!" Melody called out, picking up the ball, and bringing it to the center of the field.

"You should just give up." Atlas narrowed his eyes at the other team.

Once everyone was in position again, Gigi blew the whistle, commencing play again.

As if an exact copy of last time, Atlas was the first one to reach the ball again. However, this time, things went differently after that.

Hae-Won managed to get the ball away from him, contrary to what she did last time. She wasn't about to let him score another goal.

Given that she knew that Atlas would be on her tale, Hae-Won passed it over to Ian, who managed to stop it, running towards the goal.

However, he quickly found himself blocked by Laki. "Come on! Give it to me."

Ian frowned slightly, looking for an alternative. He couldn't send it to Hae-Won, given Atlas blocked her off.

Instead. He found a direct path to Benjamin, who wasn't being blocked off. Did they not see him as a threat? Whatever it was, Ian managed to kick the ball past Laki, towards Benjamin.

As the ball flew towards Benjamin, he instinctively blocked it with his hands, only to realise that it was probably a bad idea as Dolly got hit instead.

She was fine, but she didn't take too kindly to it. "Hey! Master!" Dolly turned to look at him, pissed off. "What was that for?"

However, before anything else could happen, a whistle could be heard from Gigi. When all eyes were on her, she began to speak again. "I was going to let it slide once, but I don't think I can let it slide anymore." She pulled out a yellow card. "Benjamin, you aren't allowed foreign objects in the field-"

"What? But master needs me!" Dolly began to panic.

Shaking her head, Gigi didn't seem to care. "Like I said, I let it slide at the start, but I can't do that again. Not only did you bring a foreign object into the field, you would have handled the ball anyways." Gigi pressed some buttons, opening up the penalty box. "It's just for five minutes."

"This is unfair!" Dolly called out as the two made their way towards the penalty box. Once it closed up, there was silence.

"Tsk. How does it feel there?" Once again, ruining the game. At least this time, Atlas felt better that they got punished.

"Wow! It sure is breezy!" Dolly joked out.

This only pissed Atlas off, who decided to kick the penalty box. "Oh, shut up there!" He walked away, getting himself into a better position.

Once Gigi whistled, the game resumed itself.

Off to the side, Nova couldn't contain her joy. "It's so nice to be able to see you in action."

Gigi frowned slightly, not taking her focus off the game. "I'm working. Please find another time to talk to me."

Monokawa let out a small sigh. "It doesn't seem like you're very popular, huh?"

Nova's visor turned to blue sorrow. "It would seem so… And to think I was so excited to see the two of them in action…"

Back in the game… Hae-Won and Ian found themselves as a disadvantage. Not only did they just lose Benjamin for a few minutes, but now the other team got a free kick.

And who else to take it but Atlas, who was standing next to the ball.

While this wasn't the size of an actual soccer field, given that the station wasn't that big, he still found himself a bit away from the goal. Hae-Won's team had managed to almost make it to his goal.

Charging back, he managed to kick the ball all the way to the other side.

Being too far, the person who managed to get the ball was Melody, who bounced it off her leg, before gaining control of.

The only person near her was Ian, who couldn't really do much against her.

In fact, Melody was able to kick the ball right into the goal, narrowly avoiding the goalie. "Yes!" She called out as the fireworks shot out.

"How are you letting her score?" Dolly called out from inside the penalty box. "I mean! I know I'm not there, so that's why you're doing awful, but come on!"

Hae-Won let out a sigh, shaking her head.

As Melody brought her celebration to a stall, she turned towards the scoreboard, but couldn't help but frown. "Gigi." She called out.

"Hmm?" Gigi glanced over at her direction. "What is it?"

Placing her hands on her hips, Melody pouted slightly. "The scoreboard isn't working!"

Gigi wasn't able to check on her own, but she was going to take Melody's words for it. "We don't need a scoreboard. I'm able to keep track of the score myself." Long pause. "2-0 for Atlas' team."

Hae-Won moved over towards the center of the field, placing the ball down. "How much time left for Benjamin to be back in the game?"

Gigi took a look at her watch. "Only two more minutes. You can all survive that."

The only problem Hae-Won was facing was the fact that she had to pass it to Ian, but he was being blocked off by both Laki and Melody. "Hmm…" But she couldn't just wait for Benjamin to be back in the game.

With no other choice, once the whistle was blown, she kicked the ball over to Ian.

However, of course, Laki was able to block it off, and began running towards the other side.

Trying to intercept her, Hae-Won began to block her path, but she only passed it to Melody, who had begun to run towards the goal.

However, before she could get there, someone stood in her way.

"I'm back by popular demand!" Dolly called out, blocking her from the goal.

Still, Melody was feeling rather confident with herself right about now. She had just scored a goal, so she was flying high. Even with Benjamin standing in the way, they weren't going to stop her!

As Melody got ready to kick, something she hadn't expected happened. She let out a pained groan, and eventually found herself slipping from her footing.

Before anyone could stop her, Melody fell onto the ground, clearly taken out by the drug.

"Melody!" Hae-Won yelled out, running towards her.

Even Atlas didn't want to continue the game. "What the hell?"

Gigi got out of the stands, slowly making her way over towards the spot where Melody fainted.

"What should we do?" Dolly looked around. This happened in the middle of their game, so it was probably going to come to an end.

"That's not what our focus should be." Hae-Won opened up her watch, trying to gaze at how many coins she had. "Hmm…"

"Out of the way already!" Atlas barked out as he knelt down. He wasn't going to let this damn game end just because someone couldn't get the right amount of coins. Absolutely pathetic. "Coin transfer." He called out, opening the app on his watch.

Hae-Won narrowed her eyes. "Why the hell are you doing that?"

Ian was surprised too. He was about to do it himself to keep the game going, but he wasn't going to stop Atlas from doing it. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets.

"Why the hell am I…? Why the fuck do you think I am." As he transferred a thousand coins to Melody, he stood up. "I'm not letting this ruin the fucking game."

Gigi looked at the group, slowly nodding her head. "To make it fair, someone from the opposing team should also step off for the time being."

"Dolly." Atlas said as he turned away to stand where he was before.

Hae-Won slowly lifted up Melody. "Let me just bring her somewhere safe." Thankfully she was pretty light.

Bringing her over to the seats, Hae-Won laid Melody comfortably down.

"Oh my…" Nova seemed saddened. "I will take good care of her." Her expression shifted to one of joy. Reassuring.

Dolly had joined the people at the seat, given that Atlas had kicked her out without much warning. "I'll be back! Mark my words!" Dolly raised her fist in the air. Seems she was just having terrible luck when it came to actually playing the game.

Now, however, it was two versus two. Hae-Won and Ian VS Atlas and Laki. This seemed like a much farer fight.

"Oh! Oh! Let me do the kick!" Laki called out, running over towards the ball, pulling her hand out of her pocket.

Atlas didn't want to let her, but she seemed active enough to not miss the shot. "Fine, whatever."

Charging back the kick, Laki kicked it over toward the goal.

Unfortunately, the goalie managed to bounce it away, and Ian was easily able to correct it. "Some luck you have." He joked as he passed the ball to Hae-Won.

"Dammit!" Atlas yelled out. "You had one job! How do you fuck that up?"

Laki had a sheepish look on her face as she offered a shrug.

Hae-Won managed to get the ball pretty far, even preventing Laki from getting the ball. The only problem was that Atlas existed.

So she'd need to avoid Laki on her own. Sending it to Ian right now was out of the question, given Atlas was blocking him off.

"Dammit…" Hae-Won mumbled out, as it became increasingly more apparent that blocking Laki off was near impossible. She would just need to put a bit of faith into Ian. With one kick, she managed to send it his way.

Ian had to move quickly. Any time the ball was in his possession was just another second Atlas had to steal the ball from him. Now, while he might have played sports back when he was a kid with his close friend, it didn't mean he was any good.

Still. Sometimes, you had to gamble a little.

As the ball made its way towards him, he didn't plan on stopping it to take control. Instead, Ian shifted his focus over towards the goal. With one kick, he managed to send it towards the goal before Atlas even had a chance to stop him.

And…

Fireworks.

"Yeah!" Dolly called out from the stands. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Fucking goddammit!" It was clear that Atlas was not happy. He moved over back towards center field.

Laki moved over, grabbing the ball to place it back in the center.

"Score is 2-1 for Atlas' team." Gigi called out, watching them bring the ball back. They were pretty far into the game now, so things wouldn't shake up too much.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Nova decided to pester Gigi again.

Grabbing onto her whistle, Gigi waited to answer, examining the field instead. "It's obvious Atlas' team is going to win. Especially with Laki being there. Those two are better than Hae-Won and Ian." Then, she put the whistle in her mouth. Besides, Atlas was literally the Ultimate Soccer Player, so there was no competition.

Nova clapped her hands together, nodding her head. "Well said, well said. That's who my bet is on as well."

"Hey now!" Monokawa called out. "We can't just discount the other team! Everyone loves a good underdog story."

"Oh, I guess those do make good stories too." Nova nodded her head along.

Underdog… Gigi's mind became clouded for a moment, before she shook the thought out of her head. She blew on the whistle, signalling the continuation of the game.

Wasting no time, Atlas kicked the ball over to Laki, who took off like a racehorse to the other side.

However, Ian was quick to block her off. "Not going to let you do that." They were still down a point, so he couldn't let another one go by.

"Aww! Come on, Ian! For me!" Laki tried to plead, with an innocent smile on her face.

Ian let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "No-"

He didn't have the time to finish his response as the ball flew past his head, scoring another goal.

Fireworks!

"You didn't even give me the time to finish my response." Now Ian was just disappointed.

Laki stuck her tongue out at him as she made her way back to center field with the ball.

However, before they could resume, a very low groaning sound could be heard coming from the stands.

"Ugh…" Melody slowly sat up, bringing a hand to her head. "What… What happened?"

Gigi turned to face her. "You were put under due to the motive. Your partner isn't on this floor."

"H-huh?" Panic filled her mind as she looked around. "Doesn't that mean I only have a minute left?" She needed to try and get some dough quickl-

"No." Gigi turned to look back at the game. "Atlas spared some of his coins for you."

He… Did that? "Why would he…?" Melody slipped off the seat, looking at the game. "I'm going back in."

Which also meant Dolly could join back up. "Let's go master!" Benjamin stood up, joining back with the rest of the people.

"Finally…" Atlas narrowed his eyes, seeing the two of them join back up. "One step closer to an actual game." All they really needed now was a larger playing field, a full team, and actual players. And then it would be perfect.

"There goes our minor advantage." Hae-Won hummed out, getting ready for the kick off.

Gigi blew her whistler, signalling the continuation again.

Hae-Won moved over, passing the ball to Benjamin, who wasn't at all ready for it, but still managed to stop it from going out of bounds.

The only problem was that Laki was running at him like a madman, which forced Benjamin to pass it over to Ian.

He didn't really want the ball, but Ian didn't really have much of a choice. Given that Atlas was currently running at him, and that was a scary sight. Quickly, he passed it over to Hae-Won, with Melody attempting to stop the ball, and failing.

Now that it was in Hae-Won's possession, it seemed like Atlas had made her his target as he quickly closed the gap between the two of them.

"Dammit…" Hae-Won mumbled out, as she kicked the ball over to Benjamin.

He managed to stop the ball, but Benjamin had no plans going with this. "Master master!" Dolly called out, looking over to where Ian was. "Ian is open! Pass to him!" Quickly, Benjamin tried to kick the ball towards Ian.

Unfortunately, he was a bit off on his aim, and the ball didn't quite reach him.

"Really?" Ian mumbled out as he was forced to run after the ball. However, his eyes locked with Laki, who was the closest person to it.

"I call dibs!" Laki yelled out as she closed the distance between the two of them.

As Ian and Laki both ran towards the ball, it was anyone's game on who would be able to reach it first.

However, Laki decided to start sliding on the ground in an effort to kick the ball first.

She did! She hit the ball first!

But with the momentum Laki had gained, she also managed to kick Ian's leg, sending him falling onto the ground.

"Oops!" Laki held in between laughter.

Ian fell onto the ground. More specifically, his knee as he let out a small pained groan. "Laki… What the hell?" When he lifted himself up, some blood had formed from his scrape on the ground.

"Shouldn't have bee-"

A loud whistle.

"Laki!" Gigi called out, a frown on her face. She was holding up a red card. "That's going to be a penalty for violent behaviour. Especially since you seemed to have done that on purpose."

"H-huh?" They would dare red card Laki? "But we were just having fun!"

Ian slowly got up, moving his leg around. "Say that to my knee…" The pain was there, but it wasn't too intense, so he could keep playing.

"I don't care." Gigi called out, pointing towards the penalty box. "In there. Now." She pressed the button to let the penalty box lower.

"Aww…" Laki mumbled out, moving over towards it. She sat down neatly in the chair before the penalty box rose up.

Hae-Won looked at the teams now. Finally, they had the player advantage, and Atlas just lost a great player. "I think it's time for our comeback."

Ian wobbled over to where the ball was. From where he was, he could easily score a goal… And yet. "Hae-Won!" He kicked the ball her way, while Atlas and Melody were both intent on blocking Ian from scoring a goal.

When Hae-Won received the ball, she was currently unopposed. No use wasting an opportunity like this. Quickly, she managed to kick the ball into the goal, scoring them their second goal of the day.

Fireworks! Yay!

"3-2." Gigi called out, holding onto her whistle.

"Fucking goddammit!" Atlas was now pissed. Laki just had to go and get herself a ten minute penalty?

Melody quickly approached him, trying to calm him down. "H-hey!" Ah… He was always so difficult to talk to when he was like this, but it didn't mean she was going to give up. "Don't be a wet blanket." She patted him on the back. "We're still winning, and the day is young." For once, she boasted a confident smile. "So don't take any wooden nickels."

W h a t? Atlas looked at her, almost dumbfounded, to the point where he forgot why he was mad originally. What a success! "Whatever." He turned to look at the ball that had been placed in the center of the field. "I get the kick this time."

Melody nodded her head along as she moved into a better position. Being on Atlas' team was fun, so she's happy with where she was.

Atlas charged up before kicking the ball over to Melody.

Once she had it, she was running off, trying to create some distance between herself and the other three. However, she wasn't nearly as fast as Hae-Won, who stopped in front of her.

"Nothing personal." Hae-Won chuckled, blocking her path.

"None taken." Melody kept the ball behind her, to try and make sure that she didn't steal it. All while she made sure to keep an eye out for Atlas, who was being blocked by both Ian and Benjamin. Amazing.

Hae-Won moved in towards Melody, attempting to get the ball away from her.

However, she wasn't going to go down that easily. Moving the ball around her legs, Melody had invented a makeshift dance to keep the ball in her possession, while still making sure she could pay attention to the rest of the field. "Asking for a dance off?" She said rather playfully.

"Heh…" Was all Hae-Won could offer as she tried to kick the ball away from Melody. The girl wasn't good at kicking, but holy shit could she prevent someone from taking from her.

When an opening finally presented itself, Melody kicked the ball over towards Atlas, who had just pushed past Ian and Benjamin.

However, Hae-Won was quick on shifting targets, as she managed to block off Atlas as well. "Look, we need the point." She tried to argue with him. "Just let us have one more so the score can be tied up."

"Yeah, not fucking happenin-" Atlas didn't get the time to finish his sentence as Ian stole the ball from him.

"Thank you!" He called out, making a beeline for the other side.

"Fucking godda-" Atlas had been distracted, so he didn't even see him coming. "After him!"

Well, there wasn't much Melody could do in her situation. Ian was faster than her, so really, it was all up to Atlas.

However, even he was too slow to stop Ian, who scored another goal.

Fireworks!

"3-3. It's tied up." Gigi noted, looking down at her watch. Now was about the time for…

Suddenly… the penalty box lowered itself… revealing…

…

Laki was still alive. Lol. No random body appeared in the penalty box. Maybe next time!

She bounced out of the penalty box. "Put me in coach! Are we winning?"
Atlas narrowed his eyes. "No! We're fucking losing!"

Laki stood there for a few seconds, that smile still on her face. Slowly, she tilted her head to look at Atlas. "I thought you were the Ultimate Socc-"

"Get on the fucking field."

Laughing to herself, Laki joined up with the rest of the team. "Alright, this is where we make our comeback!" She cheered.

"Actually, we're tied." Melody felt the need to point out.

Laki slowly turned to look at Atlas. "I thought you said we were losing."

"Might as well fucking be." He grumbled as he got closer to the ball.

When Gigi gave the whistle, Atlas kicked the ball right over to Laki. Hopefully she wouldn't injure someone this time.

But with that look in her eyes, it was hard to figure out what Laki was thinking. Once she received the ball, she ran off, passing Benjamin on the way. "Should I score another goal for myself?"

"No, no. I should score the goal." Ian countered, trying to take the ball away from her.

"Oh! No, that doesn't sound very good." Laki shook her head. "Maybe after we take the lead?"

That was a tough thing to contemplate. "Hmm…" Ian hummed out before shrugging. "Yeah, sure, why not-"

"Take the ball!" Dolly yelled out, trying to snap them out of it.

"Oh, right." Ian went for the ba- And Laki didn't even have it anymore. Where the fuck did it go?

Nova was watching the game with fierce intensity. "Oh, it's down to the wire. Tell me where else you can see a soccer game this intense."

"Literally anywhere else." Monokawa answered at first, before realising something. "Wait a fucking moment. Soccer is boring. Why am I even watching this?"

"Why indeed." Gigi sounded slightly annoyed. "You can leave at any time, you know."

"Hmm…" Monokawa could, but then he wouldn't be able to annoy Gigi. "Naaaah!"

Gigi shook her head, still focused on the game. "Then quit complaining.

Nova turned to look at Monokawa. "Do you have any favourite player?"

He floated to the side, thinking for a moment. "Laki, because she hurt Ian."

"That's… certainly a reason." Nova let out a laugh before, turning back towards the game. "Personally, my favour-" She never got to finish her sentence as she was cut off.

"Oh!" Monokawa floated up from his seat. "I have to go!"

Nova frowned at him, turning to look at him. "What? Why? The game only has about fifteen minutes left."

Monokawa covered his mouth, holding back a laugh. "Oh, there's something that's leagues more important than this of all things." With that, he floated away.

"Hmm…" Nova watched him a bit before turning her focus back towards the game.

Atlas managed to get possession of the ball. With Laki back in, things were looking up. "Laki!" He called out, getting ready to kick the ball.

Except, he instead sent it to Melody, who everyone else had lost focus on. "Got it!" She called out. If she knew soccer was this fun, she would have played a while ago. Good exercise for her legs!

The first person to actually reach her was Ian, who was used to bluffing, so he knew what Atlas was planning on going. "Not another step." He frowned, blocking her off.

"Huh…!" Well, until someone got in her way. The best Melody could do was keep Ian away from the ball, but she wouldn't be able to make any progress like that.

Instead, she opted to pass it back to Atlas, who had to get past Hae-Won to prevent her from stealing the ball from him. Now, he was in the prime position to send the ball to someone else- Nope. Atlas wasn't about to share the glory with someone else. Charging up a kick, he sent the ball flying towards the goal, completely missing the goalie.

Fireworks flew out, signalling another goal. "YES!" He cheered out to himself, given nobody else was going to be this loud.

"4-3." Gigi called out, given the scoreboard still wasn't working.

However…

Suddenly…

Out of nowhere…

Everything would come to a stop.

Because…

…

"A body has been discovered! That's right! You heard me! A bodyhas been discovered! Please, everyone, meet up in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station for more details!"

As if everything had come to a grinding halt, Ian had stopped mid motion to pick up the ball. He looked around at everyone else, unsure of what to say.

"A… A body?" Melody mumbled out, looking around.

Everyone in this room was safe.

But then… That begs the question…

Who died?

Psi Sector

Edison had been by himself for most of the day. With a soccer game going on, he had next to zero interest watching the game play out. So he had opted out of even playing the game in the first place.

And while the motive should have meant he needed to go up to the second floor with the others, he didn't go until much later, and joined Seira and Gemini in the casino.

Now? Well, the game should be over soon, so he was making his way to Gigi's station. Their second session of DnD would be starting soon anyways.

He was never one to be late unless something happened, so he was going to be there twenty minutes early if he had to.

As he stopped in front of the door, Edison brought his watch to the scanner, and allowed the door to open up.

Stepping inside, he noted that he was the first one here. Made sense. Gigi wasn't going to be here, and he just left Seira and Gemini in the casino.

And last he saw May, she was sleeping in the cafeteria.

Making his way over towards the table, Edison frowned at the cart of games that blocked his way. "Who put this here?" He slowly pushed it out of the way, a little more difficult than intended, given that the cart was full of games.

Once that was out of the way, Edison let out a sigh of relief. Glancing around the room, he noticed something was off. "Huh? What happened to the water dispenser…?" Maybe somebody had toppled it over? Either way, it would be out of his nature not to check out what it was.

…

As I stepped past the shelf of the games, I found exactly where the water dispenser had gone. It was lying flat on the ground, with all its contents spilled all over the ground.

However… That wasn't the only thing that was on the ground at the moment.

Surrounded in a pool of water was… was… was…

It was a body. I felt myself freeze up, looking down at it. Hypothetically speaking… They could very much be alive. They could have been unconscious due to the motive…

However, something told me otherwise, as I spied their watch to the side.

There was… no denying hard evidence…

As I looked upon the body, my eyes were drawn to the burn marks that covered the visible skin of the victim. They were awful, and I had never seen anything quite like it…

Still, my mind almost refused to acknowledge that this was someone that I knew… And yet… It was clear as day. The person lying dead on the floor was…

…

Benoit Chevalier… The Ultimate Physiotherapist.

Damn! I can't believe Gold nailed it as soon as he read part 4! D: What the hell man! Oh well! Yes! It is indeed the truth. The third death of this story is indeed Benoit Chevalier. I'd like to send out a large thank you to Epifanio Therion for allowing me to use his character in my story.

I did struggle a bit to write him in chapter one, but chapter two I think I had a much easier time doing so, and had more I could do with him.

My plans for him definitely changed as the planning process began, and I know a lot of people would have loved to see him live longer, but that could be said about a lot of characters I'm about to kill off now :o

While planning, one of the scenes I really wanted him for was for a FTE where he gets to utilise his talent on someone, so I'm glad I was able to get that written down finally, this part!

All in all, I'm very glad I was able to accept him, so once again, thank you Epi for sending him to me :D

And hey, a few people did have Benoit on their radar for a potential victim.

Now, it's time to get down to business. Let's see if they can figure out the killer! Last time a lot of people went to Sakura almost right away. But I'm hoping for a way better murder case this time around, so maybe it'll be harder to figure out the killer.

As for trial progress, Part 1 is at 11k, and Part 2 is at 7k, so I've made a lot of progress compared to when I first got to this point in chapter 1, so you hopefully don't have to wait too long to figure out who the killer is!

Until next time!

Participants Remaining: 17

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]

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]