TK was walking around the dorm hallway with no plan in mind. He had already checked every room for a way out and was hoping that he would've found something that either he or the others had missed, but there was nothing. What did he expect? The others said they found nothing, and it's not like they would lie. He's annoyed that there's nothing he can do at the moment. He just has to wait for someone on the outside to come save them.

'I just wish there was something I could do! It doesn't help that both stairways are locked and we're only limited to the first floor!'

"Why is that?" Izzy pondered. "What exactly is there to gain by keeping them trapped on the first floor."

"Maybe the mastermind was only able to secure the first floor," Mimi suggested.

"If that's the case, they would've done a better job at blocking off the stairs," Yolei said. "I bet Mondo and Sakura would have opened a hole in those gates already if they didn't have to worry about dying."

"What if the mastermind is hiding something that would reveal their identity?" Davis threw out there, and Ken shook his head.

"They're too smart to do that. When I was the Digimon Emperor, I made sure not to leave any evidence that would tie me to the Emperor."

'I just need to do something to clear my mind. Maybe I should take up Hina's offer and work out with her and Sakura. I'll probably be too exhausted to do anything else, but at least it's something,' TK was soon brought out of his thoughts when he heard someone sighing. He quickly rounded the corner to find Junko with a bored expression.

"God, I am seriously freaking bored…! I'm gonna die… I'm gonna die from being so bored!" Junko groaned. She hasn't noticed TK watching her. "I'm infected! I've got terminal boredom disease!"

"OK, I know it's bad, but I think she's overreacting over the wrong things," Yolei said.

"You should've seen Mimi during our first adventure," Tai chuckled. "She always whined about the food we managed to scrounge up."

"I remember you guys complaining, too. Don't make it sound like I was some spoiled brat," Mimi said defensively.

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" TK said, making his presence known. Junko jumped, not expecting someone to hear her.

"Oh TK! How long have you been there?"

"TK, huh?" Matt said, noticing what Junko said.

"Making your move on the Ultimate Fashionista, TF?" Davis teased.

"Come on, guys, let's not do this," TK whined

"Yeah, it's getting a little embarrassing," Kari added. When everyone looked at her, she quickly added to her statement. "B-Besides, this is the first time we've seen TK talking with Junko. Do you think TK is the type of guy to ask out random girls?"

A few agreed with what she said, but Mimi chuckled.

"We know, Kari, we're just having a little fun."

"Not long, and when did you start calling me TK?" He asked, and she chuckled.

"I've heard both Sayaka and Hina call you that and thought I should join the party! Unless you don't want me to?" Junko asked, and TK brushed her off.

"It's fine, I actually asked you guys to call me that day one. But what's wrong?" TK asked, going back to the original subject, and Junko groaned.

"I just hate being bored. Hate it!" She exclaimed. "I never noticed how much I hate it. But once we got trapped in here, it finally hit me!"

'That didn't take long.'

"I'd rather be living homeless on the street than stuck in here!"

"Really?" TK asked, and Junko nodded.

"Yeah, you know! Like, the hobo life! I've done it before, ya know," Junko revealed, surprising TK.

"Really!? You'd think more people would know about that," Yolei said.

"It was probably the worst time of her life," Ken told her. "There are things that we go through that we don't want to talk about again."

Matt, Tai, Sora, Kari, and TK shared an understanding look at what Ken said.

"You have!"

"Yeah. It's… a long story," Junko solemnly said.

"And now you're a model!"

"Well… that's a long story, too."

'With all these long stories, she could write a novel,' TK thought. Junko was something of a mystery to him. She didn't entirely act like how he pictured a model to act, though he's not saying that all models act a certain way, but to him it seemed like Junko was putting up an act to hide something.

"Her line of work is akin to that of Sayaka's. It wouldn't surprise me if she had to do something similar," Cody said with a dark undertone.

"Cody, don't say that!" Yolei reprimanded the young boy.

"He has a point," Sora spoke up. "There's all these horror stories of models being taken advantage of by scouts, agents, and businesses."

"Not to mention the damage they do to their bodies to maintain their figure," Joe sadly added.

"It's a cruel occupation that takes more than it gives," Mimi glumly said.

"Seriously, if I had to choose between staying here and being homeless again, gimme the street!" Junko said.

"I can understand. It's probably safer out there than it is in here," TK said, but Junko looked offended that he even said that.

"Oh, hell no! Homelessness is totally dangerous! You never know when a pack of wild animals might show up," Junko retorted, which surprised TK because he didn't know that huge cities had packs of wild animals.

"Wild… animals?"

"Oh, I don't mean literally. I mean people who attack the weak, who want to hurt you. The world's full of animals like that, ya know?" Junko clarified, and TK could sympathize with her. When he was younger, he and his friends had to be alert when they were in the Digital World, especially at night when they were being hunted by evil Digimon.

"Staying up and being the lookout was so stressful," Mimi squealed.

"Especially when Etemon and the Dark Masters were coming after us," Izzy added.

"What about Devimon and Myotismon?" Davis asked.

"Myotismon had DemiDevimon do all his dirty work, and we didn't know about Devimon for the longest time when we were on File Island," Matt answered. "We were mostly on edge about sudden movements and random noises."

"Agumon burned so many bushes because we heard a twig snap," Tai joked.

"But I think having to live like that made me way stronger," Junko sadly said, and TK was worried about her.

"You're not thinking about doing anything… drastic, are you?" TK asked.

"Drastic? Oh, you mean the whole 'kill someone' thing?" Junko laughed and gave him a huge smile. "Don't worry, I could never kill someone! What do I look like I would? Do I seriously look like a killer!?"

"Now I think you're crazy," TK said sarcastically.

"Nothing says 'I'm not a killer' more than snapping at someone who's worried about you doing something dumb," Davis also added.

"How would you react if someone said the same thing to you, TK?" Mimi argued.

"I wouldn't get in their face and make them think I could snap in a moment's notice," TK responded.

"No! You don't look like a killer!" TK defended himself, and Junko gave him another big smile.

"Right? I don't, right!?" TK nodded, and Junko sighed. "But anyway, are you saying you were worried about me? Gotta say, TK… that's kinda cute. You almost killed me with cuteness here!"

TK was speechless. He couldn't seem to find his words after hearing a model call him cute.

"Maybe there is something between the two of them," Yolei said teasingly.

"Good job on making up for saying she's not pretty enough to be the Ultimate Fashionista," Sora added.

TK slid down his seat and covered his eyes with his hat to hide his embarrassment.

"C'mon, I'm just screwing with you! You didn't take it seriously, did you!?" TK quickly shook his head and felt a ping in his chest.

"Oh, that's cruel," Tai said sympathetically.

"She must still be upset about you saying she's not fit to be the Ultimate Fashionista and implying that she'd kill someone," Matt added.

"Serves him right," Mimi said poshly.

"But ya know… there's something about you. I don't get sick of talking to you like I do most people. Let's hang out sometime, 'kay?"

Junko chuckled to herself as she playfully walked away from the blond, leaving feeling all sorts of mixed emotions.

"I don't understand her."

"That's probably for the best," Ken said. "Some people are just unreadable."

"And it's not like you have to be friends with her," Cody added. "Some people are just incompatible."

"I know, but you saw there was a connection between us," TK pointed out. "Maybe I should keep pushing until she opens up more."

"Do what you think is right, but remember to back off if she tells you to," Sora advised the young blond.

The scene changed, showing TK getting out of bed after Monokuma's morning announcement ended. After his encounter with Junko the other day, he spent the rest of the day alone in the gym playing basketball. The only time he interacted with the others was either in the dining hall or if he passed any of them in the hallway. He knew that he should be talking with the others more, but TK just wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a little bit.

He kept thinking about his friends and Patamon and how worried they must've been. He still hopes that they'll come and rescue them, but he couldn't help but wonder what's taking them so long. He knows that they would've assumed that something was wrong after he didn't pick up Patamon because he would never abandon his partner. It made him think that they weren't in Hope's Peak, but in another building, because his friends and family knew where he was going, and it would've been the first place to look.

"We should've busted down that door by now," Davis whined.

"Greymon would be able to melt it, no problem," Tai said confidently.

"Do you think something happened to us?" Kari worriedly asked.

"Pfft, no," Yolei scoffed. "We're Digidestined. We've gone up against monsters that were worse than Monokuma and whoever's controlling him."

"Yeah, but…" Cody started with a forlorn look. "Why are we taking so long to save TK?"

"Because…" Yolei didn't know how to answer his question. None of them did. All the firepower they had, and knowing where TK is, there was no reason for them not to try to save him. It made the wonder what happened to them.

He also didn't talk with Sayaka until dinner because he wanted to give her space to calm down after her little panic attack in the trophy room. Though he did see her talking with the other girls so it's good to know that she's keeping her mind off being trapped in the school.

TK walked to the dining hall for breakfast, but Leon stopped him.

"Takeru, my friend! Listen, I wanted to ask you something…"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well, I wanna start up a band, right?" Leon asked, and TK nodded. "I was wondering if you know anyone who's good at writing music. Oh, but nobody too popular! I don't want anyone to overshadow my own popularity as the lead singer."

"You don't have to worry about a songwriter stealing the spotlight as long as they work backstage," Matt said, and hoped he lightened the mood by changing the subject. "Even then, multiple bands and artists ask other musicians to help write some songs."

"Speaking from experience?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, bands we've performed with helped us write some of our songs."

"You're serious about being a musician?" Leon smiled and nodded.

"Absolutely! And I don't wanna be a George, ya know? Gotta get that Paul action!" TK had no clue what Leon was talking about, but he nodded along like he understood.

"Do you even know what type of music you wanna make?" TK asked.

"What if I said I wanted to be like The Damned, The Clash, The Sex Pistols," Leon said, and after quickly thinking it over TK knew what genre of music Leon wanted to make.

"So Punk."

"Damn straight! My plan is to conquer the world with punk!" Leon exclaimed. "Cuz I mean… when it comes to punk, it doesn't really matter if you can actually play or not."

"You have to know how to play, or you're just making noise," Matt said. "I'm not going to say all those bands had great musicians, but they still knew how to play."

"It's starting to sound like he doesn't have much of a plan," Mimi said.

"He knows what he wants to do, but I don't know if he can do it," Matt said.

'I think a lot of punk bands would disagree with you on that.'

"Anyway, by the time I got to this school, I'd already decided I was gonna quit baseball. I was just gonna use it as a stepping stone once I got into Hope's Peak to propel me to stardom. I was gonna use my time here to become the Ultimate Musician!" Leon looked annoyed as he sighed. "That dream's dead now, though. I came here chasing a dream, but I never imagined it'd turn into such a nightmare…"

Leon became extremely frustrated. "Dammit…! I have to do it! I have to become a famous musician!" Leon got really angry as his face became extremely red. "Stop screwing with me, world! Give me back my youth! Give me back my dreams!"

"He is passionate, I'll give him that," Matt said.

"You should help him when they get out of there," Sora told him.

"I'll think about it, but he has to really want it and put in the work."

'This is Leon's dream, and it has nothing to do with baseball. He was never really serious about baseball, and from what he told me, I can't really blame him,' TK thought, and he saw that Leon started to calm down.

"I…I swear to god, I have to do it! Then that girl at the hair salon will go out with me!" Leon revealed.

"Huh?"

"Huh?" Matt repeated.

"Oh yeah, she told me that she only dates musicians," Leon smirked and winked at the blond boy. "Her face is only okay, but she's got a smokin' hot body. I gotta get some of that!"

"Women aren't just some pretty object for you to impress," Sora yelled.

"Yeah, you have to do more than that to garner our attention," Yolei yelled in agreement.

"I swear, Leon's starting to annoy me just as much as Hifumi," Mimi huffed.

"That can't be the only reason, right?" TK asked, and Leon gave him a puzzled look.

"What better reason is there!? The whole point of becoming a musician is to be popular, right?" Leon said, and TK couldn't help but sigh. He was a little like Matt when he first formed his band. For the most part, he wanted to make music, but there was always a small part of him that liked the attention. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting attention, but he didn't like it was Leon's sole reason for being a musician.

"Like TK said, there's nothing wrong with wanting attention, but that can't be the only reason," Matt yelled.

"He also said you like the attention,"Izzy pointed out.

"I do. There's no better feeling than a crowd of your fans chanting your name, but you have to work hard to get that. Or else you'll just make crap and no one would care."

"You really care about this," Tai said, surprised by his friend's emotions.

"Nothing annoys me more than people who look at music as a quick way to get popular."

"Speaking of which, do you know what kind of guy Sayaka's into? Is she into musicians? Or maybe actors? Maybe I should become an actor!" Leon chuckled to himself as he walked away.

"What about the girl from the hair salon?" Kari asked rhetorically.

"He doesn't care. He just wants some arm candy," Mimi grumbled.

"I feel like I'm understanding Leon a little better… I think?" TK said to himself and walked into the dining hall for breakfast.

"You are, and you're not at the same time," Joe said.

"At least we have a better understanding of what kind of guy Leon is," Yolei said.

After a quick breakfast, TK realized that his clothes stink. He quickly went back to his room to see if he had any new sets of clothes that he could change into, but only found a pair of black basketball shorts.

"Of course, I don't have a new set of clothes, as if being trapped in a school couldn't have gotten any worse!" TK groaned. Though he remembers seeing that the others were wearing the same clothes they had on when they were trapped, so at least it wasn't just him without a new set of clothes.

"The mastermind just wants you to suffer, huh," Davis said.

"It could just be another way to urge them to kill," Cody assumed.

He quickly changed into his shorts and made his way to the laundry room. "At least I don't have to wait in my underwear until my clothes are clean."

TK walked into the laundry room and sighed, annoyed that there were only washing machines and no dryers. Guess he has to air dry his clothes for the time being. He chose a washing machine when Junko walked in.

"Hey, TK? Can I tell you something? I mean, you and you alone…"

"Sure, what is it?" TK asked, concerned about Junko's out of nowhere seriousness.

"My true intentions," Junko said bluntly.

"So maybe she does have feelings for TK," Yolei said.

"I guess it doesn't take long to get her to fall in love," Sora added.

"I didn't really do much," TK explained.

"You listened to her vent, and that's more than what 'some' guys would do," Mimi said with an accusing glare at some of the boys.

"Don't look at me. I listen to what Sora says," Matt said in his defense. Sora snickered, causing Matt to become more defensive. "I do!"

"You do, but not all the time," Sora told him.

"Like when?"

"Yesterday when I was asking where you wanted to go for dinner, you tuned me out and agreed with everything I said," Sora told him. "I even said random things for you to notice, and you never did."

Matt stuttered out a response, and everyone laughed at his plight. Sora playfully rolled her eyes and kissed Matt's cheek.

"But I wouldn't change a thing."

"Huh?"

"To be honest, I'm kinda fed up with all this. We're all ultimates, right? So we get carried away and rush face-first into stuff," Junko then sighed and had a somber look on her face. "Even I have to wonder if it's okay to live like that…"

"Are you thinking of quitting modeling or something?" TK asked. Junko was silent for a few seconds like she was thinking about what to say next.

"What!?" Mimi exclaimed. "Why?"

"She might be getting burnt out," Cody told her. "It happens to everyone."

"But she hasn't entered her prime yet," Mimi whined.

"Dreams are meant to change as you grow up, right? Depending on where you're at—kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school…" she said before getting a little frustrated. "But I've had the same dream since I was a little kid, and I've been rushing toward it ever since. So I've never really had to think all that hard about my dreams."

"That's not a bad thing. You just feel the same way about it," TK told her, but she didn't see it like that.

"That's what I used to think. But if it doesn't change, your possibilities can't grow, right? That's how new opportunities are born. All I saw was that one dream. I put everything I had into that one narrow little world," Junko said, and TK understood what she was saying.

"When she puts it like that, then it's not hard to see why she wants to quit," Mimi said.

"Imagine how unfulfilled she must be," Yolei added.

"It makes you think how lucky we are not to be considered Ultimates," Kari said.

"Yeah, we have the option of trying other things and not have to feel pressured to stick with what we're good at," TK said.

"Though, there's nothing wrong with working hard to achieve your dream," Izzy argued.

"No one's saying that, Izzy, but imagine putting everything you got into something, achieving it, and realizing it's not all that you expected," Tai told him.

"She must feel like she wasted her life," Joe said sympathetically.

"Imagine what her life could've been if she tried something that wouldn't help her achieve her dream. Would she still be there, or would she be happier?" Sora wondered.

"I feel like there's so much more I could be doing that I'm not, and I don't like that feeling. So I think I'm going to start looking for it…" Junko declared before blushing. "Is it childish of me to think like that? Am I just being a baby?"

"No, not at all," TK told her. "I actually feel the same. I don't completely know what I want to do with my life, and sometimes I feel like I will never find out. But maybe it's not about finding it or not, maybe the important thing is that you're looking for it."

"It's not about the destination. It's about the journey. My grandfather always tells me that," Cody said.

"My dream is opening a noodle cart, but after hearing this, I should try to broaden my horizons. Maybe I could achieve more than just a noodle cart," Davis said.

"And maybe I could do more than being a doctor," Joe added.

"We can do a lot of things if we work hard," Tai told everyone.

"TK, you… You actually sounded cool right now!" Junko said, causing the boy to blush.

"Someone's flustered," Mimi said in a teasing voice.

"Please stop," TK begged.

"N-No, I was just-"

"But you could be right. Getting lost can be a good thing! As long as you're looking for it, maybe that's enough to be happy," Junko interrupted. She had a bright smile on her face with a new sense of determination. "Yeah. I'm gonna remember what you said. Thanks, TK."

"You're welcome."

"In return, I promise that if I do decide to kill someone, it won't be you!" She joked.

"Don't ruin the moment," Yolei whined.

"How about she shouldn't joke about killing anyone," Ken told her.

"She obviously didn't mean it," Yolei said, ignoring his worries.

"Please don't," TK said, and Junko laughed.

'After all the conversations I've had with Junko, I think we might've become friends.'

"That's great!" Tai cheered. "He finally has someone else he can trust."

"And if he's friends with her, she'll be friends with me!" Mimi squealed.

"I think your priorities differ from ours, Mimi," Izzy chuckled.

"But before I can do what you said, I gotta get out of here first! So I'm definitely gonna find out how to get out…!" Junko yelled as she left the laundry room.

'If she spends less time yelling about finding a way out of here, she might find it,' TK thought as he turned back to the washing machine. 'Now let's see if there's anything in here to kill time as I wash my clothes.'

"Let's see, TK's friends with Sayaka and Junko," Cody started summarizing.

"He's also close with Hina and Leon," Ken added.

"So that's four people he could trust to help him escape," Izzy concluded. "It's not a lot, but it's a start."

"It would be better if they all could trust each other, but that might be asking for too much," Sora said glumly.

"That doesn't matter," TK interjected. "As long as I have at least one person I could trust, then that's enough."

"I hope you're right," Matt said quietly to himself.