Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration

by Otterplay

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

35. Abandoned Principles (Part 5)

Chapter 4: Abandoned Principles (Daily Life Part 5)

---

Come on guys, do you still need a warning for this story? You literally saw what happened to Tatiana, it shouldn't get much worse than that. Or it might… Either way, I'm warning you. Seriously.

---

SLAM!

Feeling the pain of slamming into the mat overtake Atlas' back, he let out a small groan, unable to move.

No matter what he tried… This always seemed to be the result. And yet, he still kept coming day after day.

"Get up." The man called out to him, standing a few feet away.

This only seemed to frustrate Atlas. "I'm… I'm trying." The lack of arms did make it a bit more difficult, but he eventually managed to get back on his feet. "Can you at least go easy on me…?"

The man standing before him shook his head. "The world won't go easy on you, so I'm just making you learn the lesson the hard way."

The man before him was a man renowned for his fighting prowess. Especially given he was an Ultimate a long time ago. The man was named William Hants, and he was formerly known as the Ultimate Boxer, but nowadays, he has begun to learn other fighting styles.

"The hard way isn't working." Atlas barked out, using the wall nearest to him as support.

Shaking his head, William let out a sigh. "It's not working because you refuse to let it work."

Like hell any of that advice would work. "Fuck man… I'm not like you."

Normally, William would hate to hear language like that coming from someone so young, but he knew Atlas has lived a rather rough life.

"No, you're not. That's why you have to fight back harder than this." William took a step forward. Not to fight him, but to pat him on the shoulder. "You have a lot of potential when it comes to learning this. While most moves require both the arms and legs to pull off correctly, you have already gotten pretty good at using the legs only techniques."

"It doesn't do shit if my opponent can just use their hands, though." Atlas narrowed his eyes. "What's the damn point?"

"The point of these lessons is so that you know how to fight against someone like that. Out of all the fighting styles out there, Taekwondo is the only one that offers you the same you need." To show a point, he did a rather simple kick, extending his foot out to strike the air. "But, just knowing the techniques isn't enough. You have to know what to do against anyone in any situation."

Honestly, this was all too much for Atlas, who just wanted to let his rage out somewhere.

"Now… This time…" William took a few steps back. "I won't attack you, but I want you to come at me with all you have."

Slowly nodding his head, Atlas got himself in a stance. He had gotten pretty good at fighting a target… His moves weren't bad at all. The only problem was when he was offered any resistance, he wasn't sure what to do.

Taking a step forward, he used the momentum to swing his leg, colliding his foot directly into William's arm.

However, he seemed to take it like a champ. "More than that…"

Moving back, Atlas pivoted on his other foot, before quickly delivering the kick to the side William hadn't been blocking.

Unfortunately, the man was still faster than he was, and was able to shift his arm around to block the new hit. "Nice one, changing it up."

The hits did hurt, but William was used to such a thing by now. "You've definitely got the force down, but that alone won't be enough. You need to strike before your opponent can even know what happened. If you blind them with speed, they won't have time to block, and you won't need to worry about how much power you use."

"But… I can't." The speed Atlas was going at already felt like his limit. Any faster and he felt like he'd tear off his own limbs.

William shook his head. "No, don't say something like that. You're able to do it."

"I'm not an Ultimate like you are." Atlas couldn't help but grow frustrated with each passing second. How could someone like me compare to you?"

"I'm not asking you to compare to me, I'm asking you to put in the effort. You have the strength for this, you're just lacking the drive. But I can't create that drive for you."

The drive.. As if Atlas could have something like that. "Just give up on me like everyone else has." Even his own parents didn't want him.

So what good was it?

"No." William said, taking a step back. "I've never given up on anyone in my life. And I refuse to make you an exception."

It felt weird having someone be so adamant about all of this. Atlas let out a small sigh of defeat. "Whatever…"

William placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think the next part of our training should simply be speed. Once you get that part down, I think you will be able to defend yourself without giving the other person a chance to react."

Part of him still wanted to quit this entire thing, but Atlas just always kept going. "Yeah…" He shook his head…

…

…

…

It had now been several months since then, and Atlas had already improved amazingly.

SLAM!

That wasn't the sound of Atlas falling. Instead, it was the sound from the force he managed to kick the mat that William was holding.

"Getting better." To the point where he almost fell down because of the force. "But I can tell something is ailing you."

"Nothing is." Atlas was bouncing around from foot to foot, eager to get some more kicking in. "I think I might be ready to take you on soon." The fire in his eyes was still lit.

Not being one to turn down the challenge, William dropped the mat to the side, a grin appearing on his face. "My own son hasn't been able to beat me, and he's already an Ultimate."

An Ultimate… Something Atlas was about to be… Just not in this department. "Yeah… Well I'll join up with him. Give him a real challenge."

This got a laugh from William, who shifted his stance. "Come at me when you're ready."

That's all Atlas needed to hear as he booked off towards him. Planting his foot firmly in the ground, he began to twist his body to deliver his first kick.

However, it was much slower than William was expecting. To the point where he leaned his head back to avoid it, instead of blocking it with his arm.

That was part of the trap, as soon as Atlas got confirmation that his kick missed, he placed that leg on the floor, pivoting slightly as it became his new grounded leg. This time, he twisted his body to move his other leg.

William hadn't expected the speed to shift this quickly, and definitely wasn't ready for a double attack.

Still, it wasn't enough to catch him completely off guard, as he used his arm to block the kick.

However, the one good thing… Was that he slid as he blocked off the hit…

Atlas had managed to move him with the force.

"Well…" William shoved his leg away. "I'll say that you surely caught me by surprise." To the point where it stung a bit. "I wasn't expecting that coming from you."

But whenever Atlas was like this, there was really only one reason. "Is there something on your mind?"

"No." Atlas spat out, before glancing away.

William had hit it right on the money… "Why don't we take a break, and you can talk about it?"

Atlas moved over to the nearest chairs, plopping down onto it. "Fuck… I'm so pissed today."

"Yeah, I can tell." William didn't bother to sit down. Instead, leaning against the wall. "Did something happen at soccer?"

Given that his options were limited, Atlas was forced to do activities that required only his feet. Soccer being one of them. "I've gotten so good that I recently got my letter to Hope's Peak… And I even had a chance to play in the World Cup…" Someone his age had never really gotten the chance ever.

So of course, all eyes would be on him the entire time, with how the news was.

Thinking it over, William didn't exactly see how any of that was bad. He knew Atlas had gotten accepted into Hope's Peak, but he didn't know about the World Cup. "I'm guessing you didn't win."

"Course not…" Atlas mumbled out… But that wasn't the problem. He didn't care that much if he won or lost… "But we would have won if the game wasn't rigged."

Hearing that, William raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The damn referee called out everything I did!" Atlas barked out.

Thinking for it for a moment, William let out a small hum. "Did you deserve it?"

"No! I'm at least man enough to know when I deserve it." Atlas glanced down at the ground. "But fuck, I heard rumours about how this would get me taken out of Hope's Peak… All because of the fuckups I supposedly did." He didn't believe it for a second.

Looking straight ahead, the fire was in his eyes again. "They probably paid off the ref to rig the game."

Well, William doesn't believe it that much. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. There could be the possibility that you were too engrossed in the game, that you failed to realise the damage you were causing to your fellow players."

Nope… He didn't believe that for a second.

"Tsk…" Atlas shook his head. "As if… I…" He knew his rage could get the best of him… But when he's playing soccer, that's what he's focused on. "I wouldn't fuck up something like that…"

"Atlas, I understand your frustration, but…" William let out a sigh. "First of all, language. Second of all, can you tell me exactly what happened? And maybe without the yelling? I won't be able to understand you properly if you're yelling at me the entire time."

For a moment, he seemed to calm down. "Right… Right…" Maybe this would help him see things from Atlas' perspective…

…

…

…

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Atlas took a few steps forward to meet up with the referee. "What kind of fucking callout was that? It wasn't a foul! He fell on his own accord, I had nothing to do with it."

However, the referee refused to back down. "I know what I saw. Don't try and play innocent here."

"Let hell you do." If Atlas wasn't in front of such a large crowd, he would have kicked her right there. But he didn't want to get a worse penalty, so he eventually stepped away.

Yeah fucking right that that was an actual foul.

And while he thought it would just be a one off… It just kept happening. Once turned to twice, twice turned to thrice… Almost every single thing he did was getting called out…

But he wasn't the only one… In fact, some of his teammates were also getting the same treatment, although not as bad as him.

Especially whenever they were starting to do well.

But the real cherry on top of it all, was when the other team clearly had a foul, and it was ignored completely.

"What the hell was that?" Atlas took a step forward, approaching the referee.

Not intimidated in the slightest, she didn't move an inch. "What do you mean? I didn't see a single thing, and I've been paying attention the entire time."

Seeing that there was a bit of commission again, another referee stopped by. "Listen, can you stop harassing her? She's just doing her job."

Clearly the fuck not, given how shitty of a job she was actually doing. "Listen-"

Before he could continue, however, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Atlas…" The older man said. "You're causing a scene, please stop."

For a moment, he didn't say anything.

Instead, Atlas opted to just walk away from the entire scene. It wasn't worth getting mad at anymore…

…

…

…

Thinking it over, William was unsure on what conclusion to draw from it. Had he been at the game, maybe he would have a more informed opinion, but Atlas could have just been seeing red the entire time. "Do you feel like it was fair?"

"Obviously not! It's like I was targeted because of how young I was…" He barked out.

William didn't believe that was the reason. "I think it's because you're just more prone to outbursts. When you get angry, you don't tend to realise the actions you take. It's possible all of your fouls came from that, but you view yourself in such a way that you don't believe you're doing anything wrong."

Hearing those words… It only further pissed off Atlas. He thought at least he would take his side, but it seemed to not be the case. "Are you blaming me?"

"I'm not-" William let out a sigh. "Had I been there, I could have given a definitive answer on who was in the wrong. As it stands now, I only have your story to go off of, and it's hardly reliable. You leave out details when you're angry."

Not a single fucking detail was left out. "Tsk… Should have known you would have seen it that way." After all, nobody really sided with him on anything. Even his own team practically turned against him. Hell, they even blamed him for their loss…

What a bunch of fucking losers… "I don't need this…" Atlas moved away from the wall, heading towards the doors.

"And where do you think you're going?" William made no attempt to stop him.

"..." Atlas was going to answer home, but even he knew that place didn't feel like one. He always came here to avoid going home. "Leaving…" Was the answer he finally gave as he left the dojo.

Letting out a heavy sigh, William shook his head. "What am I going to do with you…?"

---

Atlas' Room

Jolting his eyes awake, Atlas spent a few seconds not actually moving out of bed. After all, the entire waking up process was one of the most annoying processes in the day. Right up there with eating unless he got help.

But ever since yesterday… He already knew what fate awaited him as soon as he bothered to check his watch.

Sitting up, Atlas brought his leg up to be able to check his watch.

Of course… He had eleven points when he went to bed… But now?

Only eight points… "Fuck…" Atlas mumbled out of frustration.

Why did it have to be him?

Taking another sigh, Atlas pushed that thought away from his mind. "Open motive app." He ordered, allowing the watch to open up his three options. "Main motive." He called out, allowing him to see just who had voted for him. From the looks of it, Laki had dropped two votes on him, probably as revenge for yesterday.

And then he had a wild vote from someone he couldn't quite tell… The names that popped up were Edison, Lorelei, Hae-Won, and lastly, Melody.

Eh, as if that last one would vote for him… It was probably just Edison again.

Not that he could prove much of anything.

Slowly, Atlas moved out of his bed, making his way towards the bathroom.

At this rate, he'd be dead meat if the motive was allowed to continue any longer… At the end of tomorrow, the seven people with the lowest scores were as good as dead.

And here he was, with only eight points left… What the fuck was he doing…?

Using his nub, he was able to turn on the sink, thankfully. He let the water run a bit before dipping his hair into the water, letting the water drip from his head for a few seconds.

If nobody died… He's fucked… He should have just stayed quiet.

It was that damn Gennosuke. If he hadn't said a fucking thing, he would have been golden. Nobody would have targeted him, but noooo. He just HAD to listen.

"Fucker…" Atlas mumbled out, turning off the water.

If he saw him again, he'd be sure to kick his ass into oblivion as a form of revenge.

Eight points… His fate was already pretty much sealed, wasn't it?

Well, if he was going down, then he was going to take everyone else down with him… Those fuckers…

---

Ultimate Ventriloquist Station

Finally…

It was done…

Benjamin slowly lowered the knife he had to use as a pair of makeshift scissors. He had misplaced them, so he was forced to do it like this.

But finally, the clothes were perfect.

Benjamin had a bit of an obsession with clothes, so he had to make sure he got it right. And, honestly, he thought he did a pretty well job to replicate the clothes that Tatiana wore. Of course, this was with the help of the spare clothes he found in the station.

And yet… Benjamin still wasn't sure how to feel. Taking a look at the doll, there was a part of him that was filled with regret. Anyone else would disprove this action.

He knew it was weird… Especially to someone who had recently just died…

But the memory of Tatiana couldn't just die.

Maybe it ran in the family, given his father did something similar… When Benjamin's mom died, she was made into a doll.

Letting out a sigh, Benjamin did a few forced cough, before he attempted a voice. After all, it had been several days without Dolly, so he would naturally get a bit rough.

"Testing." It sounded like it came from Tatiana, but it didn't sound like her.

It still sounded like Dolly.

This voice wouldn't do… Benjamin let out a sigh, before trying to adjust his voice a slight bit

"Fret not!" Closer to how she spoke, but he still; hadn't quite nailed the mark.

Tatiana was supposed to be a girl with endless energy. She could easily steal the show, and Benjamin was severely lacking that sort of enthusiasm. Sure, he had his own, but it couldn't quite match up to what she was capable of.

Taking another deep breath, the only thing he could keep doing is try. "You got this… Come on, you're full of energy." He reassured himself.

"Haha!" The doll laughed out. "Why so gloomy? I'm here, so everything should be fine!"

This time, it was closer, and his own words got a smile on his face.

It wouldn't be perfect, but it didn't need to be. He just needed someone at his side. "Alright… I think I'm ready." Benjamin told himself as he stood up from his workshop.

It was time to go see the others finally…

---

Cafeteria

For the last couple of days, Benjamin had found himself cooped up in his own station. He tried his best to interact with others, but it still proved difficult. He could do it, as proven the day after the trial.

But it was getting harder to act like everything was normal.

But now…? Everything would be fine.

Slowly, the elevator lowered down to the cafeteria, and Benjamin knew he was ready.

So when the door finally opened up, he felt himself freeze up… Not because he wasn't actually ready or anything like that.

There was fighting.

"YOU!" Atlas called out attempting to kick Laki.

This wasn't very effective, as she was easily able to move out of the way. "Huh? I was just returning the favour with two votes of my own." On her watch, the number nine was visible.

"What the…?" Benjamin mumbled out, stepping into the cafeteria. "What's going on…?" Given he has missed most of the motive, he had no idea the amount of hate that was going on.

"Heh…" Hae-Won was watching the show for herself. "A free show, if I do say so." Two people she didn't like. On her watch, the number nine was visible.

This got a frown from Benjamin. "Isn't anyone going to stop them?" He had almost completely forgotten about the part where he wanted to show off the doll he made.

"Eh…" Hae-Won clearly didn't care about this. In her opinion, they were getting what they deserve.

Quickly, Gigi stood up. "That's enough, you two." On her watch, the number twelve was visible.

"Huh?" Laki ducked again. "I'm just dodging. How am I at fault?" She quickly ducked again.

"You voted for me, you little bitch!" Atlas called out.

Adjusting his goggles, Edison turned to look at him. "Well, technically you voted for her first. And then me." So he threw a flask at him. On his watch, he had the number ten.

"Shit!" Atlas called out as it hit him, causing him to fall on the ground.

"Deserved!" Laki let out a laugh.

At this point, Gemini was getting tired of this. "It's been the same thing every day…" But this was probably the worst it's been. On his watch, was the number fourteen.

She misses one day, and this happens? That should remind Gigi to never rest for a day. Quickly, she moved over to where Atlas was. "Edison, you didn't need to throw that." She helped him onto his feet.

"But he started it!" Edison frowned, narrowing his eyes.

At this point, Gigi was having enough of a lot of people's bullshit. "I said you didn't need to do that."

Slowly stepping closer to the table, Benjamin looked around. "Guys…" On his bracelet was an eight.

Quickly, Atlas turned to look at him. "What the hell do you want?" However, something else caught his attention. "What are you hiding behind your back?"

"Oh!" Benjamin hadn't mentally been ready to reveal this, given that everyone seemed to be fighting. "Nothing…"

"Is that…" Lorelei moved over, pulling out what he was hiding. "Is this supposed to be-"

In Benjamin's hands, was a well crafted doll. The clothes were fitted on nicely, and there seemed to be a lot of personality towards it, even without a voice yet.

Quickly, he struck a pose, similar to how Tatiana would. "Are you all ready for the debut of the newest duo?"

This time, Tatiana responded. The voice wasn't perfect, but for some reason, Benjamin was just naturally good at voicing girls. "Fret not, for my grand return has happened.

"Ohmygod…" Lorelei blinked a few times, taking a step back. "He's lost it."

This got Benjamin to drop the energy he was using. "I didn't… lose it." He glanced away. "I just want to remember her by something."

Hae-Won glanced over, raising an eyebrow. She didn't have much to say, given that she already knew about all of this. "Well… I think it's fine for now." She stood up from the table.

Well, at least one person believed in Benjamin. But now, he had more serious matters to deal with. "Guys, why are you all fighting with the motive?"

Letting out a sigh, Michael shook his head. "That's what I'm wondering."

"Oh, don't act all high and mighty." Gigi looked over at him. "You voted this time, so don't pretend."

Glancing down at his own watch, Michael couldn't lie about this fact. He only had seven points now. He only lost one point.

However, Melody quickly stood up, coming to his defense. "Leave him alone. I got the fella to do that." On her watch, the number nine was visible.

"You got him to vote?" Gigi raised an eyebrow, before realising this was a dull point to argue. She already wasn't in a great mood, so she was just going to let it be.

Seeing that fighting almost happened again, Benjamin took the time to talk again. "Listen, I haven't voted once since the motive started." He's the only one to not vote every time. Everyone should be more like Benjamin.

Hearing that, Michael glanced away, a rather guilty expression on his face. He really had broken his streak for Melody's sake…

"Tomorrow… The motive ends…" Benjamin trailed off. "Are you really all fine with the votes you've placed down?"

Most people remained silent-

"Yeah, sort of." Lorelei shrugged. "Look, if most of us cared that much, we wouldn't have voted like you did."

"H-Hey!" Seira called out. "I did care, that's why I didn't-"

Rolled their eyes, Lorelei placed a hand on their hip. "And yet, you went ahead and voted anyway. You only abstained once, didn't you?"

Seira couldn't even answer the question. Instead she looked the other way. She had broken her streak just to vote for Edison.

"I don't see why voting is a problem." Hae-Won pointed out. "If we all abstained, we'd just be guaranteeing that we'd all die. The motive doesn't care how many of us die. Half of us is just a minimum. If we all have to die, then that's just how the motive will play out."

"Enough!" Benjamin called out, getting a bit more annoyed. He wanted to fight this motive like Michael did, but in the state it currently was…

It was impossible.

"They wouldn't want to kill all of us…" Benjamin mumbled out. "That'd ruin the game they have."

"Well…" May let out a small hum. "They already seem fine killing half of us off…" Thrice, now. They really had to stop doing that. On her watch, was the number fourteen. Another person who hasn't lost a single vote.

Still, Benjamin wouldn't want to believe any of it. "But what would they gain to benefit from that?"

"I agree." Tatiana crossed her arms.

"What do they gain from killing us in the first place…" May hummed out. "And yet they are still doing it…" She wasn't about to make some past mistakes again.

"I… Well…" To that, Benjamin didn't have an answer. So instead, he glanced away to the side. After a few seconds, he tipped his hat down to hide his eyes. "That doesn't mean we have to go along with any of this."

Hearing all of this, for a moment, Michael had a smile on his face. "I agree… I wish we didn't have to do anything… But it's already too late."

A fact Benjamin knew very well. There would be no way to fix the motive now with only one set of votes left. "Still…" He had no other arguments at the moment. Just a dream, really… An ideal that wouldn't be realised.

"Do… We know how much time we have left?" Melody mumbled out.

"I checked this morning…" Gigi glanced the other way. "We have about thirty eight hours left."

That… Was barely any time.

"I see…" Melody glanced the other way.

Looking around, Michael couldn't help but frown. Something had to be done, but he wasn't the one who was able to do anything. If anything, it all relied on whether Edison and Gemini were able to pull through.

The silence slowly overtook the room, with nobody wanting to talk. Why would they? With death so close, it was difficult to even break the silence.

That's why now was the perfect time for the mood to further be ruined…

Suddenly.
Otter.

"Alright buckos." Monokawa looked around at everyone. "My vacation is over, so that means it's time to move things forward."

"You get vacation?" Benjamin mumbled out.

"Duh!" Monokawa began floating around on his back. "I deserve some time off."

"Um…" Melody let out a hum. "Don't you get normal days off?"

Quickly, Monokawa flew over to her, his red eye gleaming. "What the fuck are you talking about? I work seven days a week." He slowly floated away. "What was I here for again… Oh! Right!"

Leaning up, the same dark gleam in his red eye appeared. "It's about the secondary motive…"

Quickly, Seira spoke up. "Is there really a reason for the secondary motive right now…?" She glanced off to the side, a nervous expression on her face. "After all… if nothing happens, half of us will be dead."

"..." Monokawa let his arms fall to his side, rather disappointed. "Well… Yes… You see!" He had nothing to say about this. However, he began to let out a wicked laugh.

"You see! It doesn't matter if half of you die, I'm still going through with my motive."

"That's-" Seira started to say. Now the panic was very visible on her face.

Floating around the room, Monokawa continued. "You all better get to either killing, or dying. Because if you don't do either, I'll go ahead with revealing your secrets, and I'll make the threats a reality."

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. "We're not going to be scared of you, anymore." After all, he had a plan to get everyone out of here.

"Oh? Is that so?" Monokawa didn't seem to care at all. "Keep telling yourself that, kid. They all crumble in the end." A plan that he was aware of, but hadn't done anything to stop yet. "Come tomorrow night, this station will be awfully quiet!" He let out a laugh, before being raptured again.

After watching him slowly rise up to the ceiling, Benjamin turned to the others. "It's not going to happen." It wasn't going to happen because he wanted everything to turn out fine. After Tatiana died… Things couldn't possibly get worse, right?

This caused Hae-Won to let out a sigh as she moved away from the table. "As much as I'd love to believe that too, we all know half of us will be dead tomorrow." She moved past him, heading over towards the door to the Tau Sector. "We just have to do what we can to make sure we aren't the seven unlucky people." And then, she was gone.

The room was mostly silent, before Gigi finally leaned her head on her arm, letting out a loud sigh. "This motive is definitely the worst of them."

"I don't know, giant asteroid flying to kill us sounds pretty bad too." Benjamin said, not even bothering to look at her.

"Yes, I quite like this motive." Winter let out a small hum. "It could be the sleeping one."

Nobody mentioned the first motive.

Tapping her finger idly on the table, Gigi slowly turned to look at some of the people. Specifically Edison, Gemini, May, and Seira. "Are you guys free today?"

"Huh…" Edison had to think long and hard about this. Technically, he wasn't really free, given his bomb assignment. But he might be able to make some time. "Should be!"

Gemini had been expecting a no, so he was a bit caught off guard. "Y-yeah."

"I've had nothing going on for a while." Seira hasn't been relevant to the plot for some time now.

Now it was down to May, and she wanted to say no, mostly because she just wanted to FUCKING RESEARC- "Yeah… Sure…" She already knew what this was going to be for, so might as well take a small break to do this.

Seeing that everyone was free, it did put a rare smile on Gigi's face. "I was thinking we could continue our game today."

Gemini thought for a moment… It would get in the way of the plan for a bit, but they also had so much time to do it. "Yeah, sure. Could it be sometime in the afternoon?"

"I could arrange that… Some time around five is alright with you all?"

Seira nodded her head. "That works for me."

The others also agreed with the time, which meant Gold and some other people had to suffer through another section like that.

Why?

Because I hate all of you.

Given that the morning meeting was a bit more eventful than normal, Gemini found himself standing up from his chair. "Edison, do you want to head out to finish what we were working on?"

"Yup!" He quickly stood up right after.

That caught Seira's attention. "Working on…? What are you working on?"

"Top secret!" Gemini grinned. "You'll all find out tomorrow." With that, he was gone with Edison right behind him.

Humming to herself, Seira didn't really have much else to do. "I think I'll just head to my station…"

When she left, the others slowly began to filter out as well, leaving the cafeteria empty for the time being.

---

Ultimate Chemist Station

Bomb Squad! Bomb Squad! What are they gonna do? Blow shit up!

"Alright." Gemini nodded his head along, watching the word that Edison was doing. "Are you sure you know how to make this?"

"Yeah, I blow myself up all the time." He responded nonchalantly.

Laki quickly turned to look at him, frowning. "Not fair! I want to blow myself up."

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. "Not… Not what I meant, but we can roll with it." Maybe he chose the wrong group to make this with. "So, you've never actually made one before."

"Why would I make a bomb?" Edison asked, blinking a few times. "But hypothetically speaking, I should be able to make one with ease!"

"Right…" Gemini was now beginning to pray that they wouldn't accidentally lose a limb.

As Edison began to work on the bomb, this left the escapist and Laki on the sidelines.

"I want to help." She bounced around anxiously.

"No, not at all." Gemini shook his head. "You're a hazard, so it's best if you don't do anything crazy."

Hearing that, most of the energy Laki had seemed to leave her body. "Aww…"

Something Edison actually seemed to agree with. "It's probably for the best… If we lose these bombs, it could mean disaster."

"How many are we making, anyways?" Gemini had never stopped to consider that question. Even after he collected scrap for it.

Letting out a low hum, Edison leaned his head back. "You know, I never considered that… I was just going to make enough so we use up all the gunpowder."

"Why's that?" Gemini raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better to keep some on the side? In case we need to make more?"

"Nonsense!" Edison adjusted his goggles, light glinting off of it. "With the amount I'm making, there will be no reason to ever make more."

Then… a pause.

"Besides… If we use it all, it would prevent anyone else from using anything." He said this with a sincere smile on his face.

Thinking it over, Gemini slowly nodded his head. "I guess that's a good way to look at it. I'm just worried that when we blow up the wall, there's going to be another one after it." He glanced away.

"Then!" Laki hummed out. "Why not just take the rest of the gunpowder and hide it in your room?"

"Oh!" Edison turned to her with a smile. "That's a great idea!" He quickly ruffled around his lab for an empty vial. "Here we go!" Dumping a bit of the gunpowder inside, he closed the cap. "All good."

"Thank you…" Gemini let out a happy sigh. "We just don't know when we'll need that stuff, so better safe than sorry."

Now that that part was settled, it was time for Edison to focus back on making the bomb. "I'm not sure how long this will take, but I'll have it ready for tomorrow morning."

Hearing that, Gemini nodded his head along. "That sounds good to me." If they could do it tomorrow, there was a chance everyone could be saved. "Should I tell the others about this?"

Edison pondered this for a moment. He wasn't sure how many people he wanted to tell about their exact plan, but it might still be worth it. "Tell them we have a plan, but don't tell them what it is. I don't want everyone to know what I'm making."

That sounded reasonable to Gemini, so he only nodded his head. "That'll do." Telling everyone about the bomb probably wasn't wise in the slightest. It was already bad that Laki knew, so let's try and minimize all of this.

"When will you tell them?" She tilted her head to the side.

Thinking it over, Gemini realised that it would probably be better to mention it as soon as possible. "I can probably go tell them now. I won't really be of much use making this, so I'll probably leave that to you."

That meant that it left Edison with Laki, which was a bad combo when it came to making bombs. But that fact completely slipped his mind, so who cares.

"Works for me!" Edison saw no problems.

Nodding his head, Gemini turned towards the exit of the station, departing without saying goodbye.

Now, it was just the two of them alone. "So…" Laki hummed out. "How do we make bombs."

"Oh no…" Edison realised why this would be a bad idea, but now it was too late to do anything about it.

---

Cafeteria

Just like Edison had said, Gemini barged into the cafeteria- Alright, well not exactly barged, because the doors don't open like that, but- Wait I think this is the third time I've done this joke-

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Gemini flashed a smile.

Not everyone was here right now, but there were enough people. Benjamin, Gigi, Hae-Won, Lorelei, Melody, and Seira were all here.

Upon seeing him, Seira waved at him. "There you are!"

"What makes you in such a happy mood?" Hae-Won was sitting at one of the tables.

A grin still visible on Gemini's face, he tilted his head down. "I think it's finally time we try and get out of here."

"Oh, only now?" Lorelei mocked him. "Why'd we wait so long?"

"Um…" Melody let out a hum. "It was impossible." In her eyes, it still felt like it was, but Gemini seemed to have an idea.

"How do you intend to do that?" It's not that Hae-Won didn't believe him, but it seemed to be a big claim.

Shaking his head, Gemini didn't bother to look at any of them. "Edison wants me to keep the method a secret, but I'm sure it's bound to work."

As soon as he was mentioned, Hae-Won remembered exactly what the plan was… And she was hoping Edison took his advice. "Huh…?"

Looking around, Seira tilted her head. "Is that what you've been working on this entire time?"

Slowly, Benjamin looked over at Tatiana. He had spent the entire time making her, meanwhile Gemini was finding a way out… Maybe he used his time poorly.

"Hey!" She yelled out at him. "I know I'm amazing to look at, but you should focus! Think of it! A way out!"

"He's talking to a doll again." Lorelei shook her head.

Lowering Tatiana, Benjamin turned to look over at Gemini. "Are we able to watch this happen?"

Flashing another smile, he began to nod his head. "Of course, that's why I'm telling everyone about it."

Still, Gigi was a bit sceptical about all of this. "And you refuse to tell us what it is…?"

"Absolutely!" Thanks Gemini.

Seeing that everyone else was a bit nervous, Melody stood up. "Well, I think it's a dandy thing. If it works, we'll be out of here, right?"

"If it works." Lorelei emphasised.

"Fret not! It will work, trust me." Tatiana twirled around the prop knife. "You've seen him escape the locked water tank! He knows what he's doing."

Smiling softly, Benjamin turned to look at the others. "Look, this is the first time he's ever mentioned anything like this. Shouldn't we trust his word this one time?"

Crossing her arms, Gigi began to think, before letting out a sigh. "Fine… But I will personally be going there…"

"That's fine." Gemini ran a hand through his hair. "It will happen tomorrow. Probably pretty early in the morning. I'm still worried about the motive, after all."

That wasn't an exact time, so it annoyed Gigi slightly, but she wasn't going to mention it.

"Where would it be?" Seira wanted to see what his plan was.

Nodding his head along, Gemini didn't even bother to look in her direction. "Remember that path I had been suspicious about? Well we've found a way through."

"Oh, so there was a secret to it." Hae-Won smiled slightly. She knew that her idea to Edison was going to be worth it.

"Yeah… Secret." There was no secret… Only explosions. "Edison and I have been working pretty hard on it." With guest stars May, Michael, and Laki.

"I always knew you would be able to pull something like this off." Benjamin smiled, striking a similar pose to the one Tatiana normally did. In fact, the doll also struck the same pose. "I'll be there for when it happens."

"What's behind there, anyways?" Melody finally asked.

After a few seconds of pause, Gemini realised that only a fz ew people actually knew. "Right, right. None of you know I bought the map app." Then he pulled out a lighter. "And this."

"Why would we need to know you bought that?" Hae-Won raised an eyebrow.

"... Good point!" He placed it back in his pocket. "While looking at the map, I noticed that the hallway that ended abruptly actually led to a room labelled Main Control Room."

"Oh?" Seira hummed out. "You mean… Like the main controls for the entire station?"

"I'm hoping that's the case." Gemini nodded his head along eagerly. "It would explain the need for it to be blocked off, after all."

Yeah, Seira definitely had to check this out.

Looking around, Gemini seemed pretty happy now. "Who else wants to come along?"

"Well…" Hae-Won trailed off. "I would love to stop by, but I'll probably be entertaining myself some other way." She wouldn't have the time for something like this.

A bit disappointing, but not everyone needed to come. "What about you?" Gemini turned to look at Benjamin.

"Oh!" He hadn't expected to be called upon, but now that the focus was on him, he wasn't just going to let it go. "Sure, I can stop by." He twisted the hat on his head slightly. "Count me in."

"And don't forget me!" Tatiana replied right after. "We wouldn't miss a show like this!"

It was a bit weird, but Gemini wasn't going to say anything further. Instead, he nodded his head along. "Perfect, I can't wait to see you all." Or at least the people who wanted to come.

It wasn't exactly everyone's cup of tea, but he figured having more people be there would do wonders. Especially if they could get into the main control room… That meant that there would be more people to investigate.

Someone like Lorelei or May would probably be the best to show up, but he wasn't going to force them to come if they didn't want to.

Turning around, Gemini waved at everyone. "See you all later."

With that, everyone else went back to what they were doing.

---

Ultimate Chemist Station

Now that Gemini had gone off to tell people, this left Edison and Laki in his station to finish up the work on the bomb. And from the looks of it, he should be done tonight. Tomorrow morning, they'd be blowing stuff up.

And, while he originally wanted to be left alone to work, Laki hadn't quite left yet.

Behind him, she was watching his every movement. "So… What exactly are you doing now?" She popped her head over his shoulder.

"Huh…" Honestly, Edison wasn't quite sure. He was just following instructions for the most part as he reached over for the gunpowder. "Getting the rest of the ingredients we need!" To be honest, he wasn't sure if he was making a good bomb, but even if he was, there was no way he was going to tell her about it.

"What ingredients are those?" Laki began to circle around the table in the center of the room.

For a moment, Edison almost told her what she wanted to know, until his mind told him that it would be an awful idea to do so. "Wait wait!" He took a step back. "There's no way I'm telling you any of that."

"Aww…" Laki pouted, crossing her arms. "Why not?"

"Because if I do, you'd make a bomb!" Edison quickly explained.

Standing around awkwardly, Laki failed to see why this was a problem. "Isn't that what we are trying to do? Why would that be a bad thing?"

Could she not see the problem with that? "Well… Huh… I think a task like that should be left to someone like myself or Gemini!"

That's not the news Laki wanted to hear, but she realised fighting it further wouldn't achieve anything. "Fine!" Although, she began to pout.

Now, Edison had to think quickly on how to change the subject. "Let's… Huh…!" Although he had no idea where to even go with this. "Emotions!" He blurted out, without any real thought behind it.

"Hmm?" Laki hummed out, tilting her head to the side. "What about emotions?"

"You said you wanted me to teach you all about them, right? Well, we hadn't really gotten the chance to do so." There we go, Edison! Now she'll be far too distracted to think about bombs.

"Oh! Right!" Yeah, Laki seemed excited at the idea of it. "We can finally worry about that!" Then there was a pause. "What exactly were you going to teach me?"

You see, Edison forgot about what he should even talk about. "Well… Huh…!" He began pacing around the room, mumbling things under his breath. "Have you been able to feel any negative emotions as of late?"

For a moment, Laki was going to answer no, until the interaction with Hae-Won popped up in her head. "I… Well…" She trailed off, a bit unsure. "Is fear one?"

"I'd say fear is a pretty negative emotion. But it's also a good one, I think. Without fear, one would always be reckless." Which would make sense that Laki never felt it, given half the shit she does on the daily. "What made you feel fear?"

"Well-" Even mentioning that was an emotion she felt was a bit much. "I don't know, I just get this rather uncomfortable feeling whenever I talk with Hae-Won."

"Oh…?" That wasn't something Edison wanted to hear, evident by the frown that was now on his face. "I'm sure she means no harm."

"She hates my guts." I wonder why, Laki.

"Well…" Edison trailed off, pacing around the room again. "You did try and kill half of us, so it's reasonable that she'd dislike you a bit."

"Yeah… A bit." Mocking him a bit, Laki leaned on the table in front of her. "She won't leave me alone. She even dragged me into her station the other day."

That was concerning, but once again, Edison didn't fully think it was a bad thing. "I think she just wants to make sure you're on the right track."

Laki… Didn't believe that in the slightest, but she also didn't want to tear down his idea- Ah, who am I kidding? "That's not it at all! She doesn't talk like she wants me to go down on the right track! She's kind of harassing me now. I saved her life, and she still had nothing but complaints!"

Edison hadn't been aware of the fact that she saved Hae-Won's life, so he didn't know what to say about it. "She's a really caring person. I don't think a caring person would be like that."

He really wasn't getting it, huh? Laki let her arms fall to her side, a bit dejected. "Whatever… Let's talk about something else."

"Oh…" Edison thought this conversation had been going along pretty well, so he was a bit disappointed. "What other emotions have you felt since? I know sadness is one of them."

"Well… Anger, I guess." Wait no, Laki! You're just going back to talking about Hae-Won. "I guess things have gotten me more angry than they ever have. When Atlas voted for-" Oh wait this isn't about her "- me during the motive, I felt annoyed. Never felt that before."

Adjusting his goggles, Edison seemed rather eager. "That's almost all human emotions!" Maybe he was too happy. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

However, Laki's facial expression told otherwise. "Maybe at the time… But now… I'd rather do without all of that. I prefer to be happy on end… Now… It just feels so foreign." She wanted to go back to a time before any of this.

"Well… That's what most people deal with on a daily basis." Himself included. He placed the part of the bomb he had been working on down. "Most people accept the emotions they have… Although I guess it's more difficult for you, since you never had them to begin with."

"Well… I was able to accept the happy emotions when I got them." Laki glanced the other way.

That seemed to have caught Edison's interest. "Did you not have them when you were younger?"

For a moment, Laki just stood there, not sure how to answer. Eventually, the concept of an answer crawled her way. "No… As a kid everything was boring. Shows, toys… Nothing."

This seemed to only add a worrying expression to Edison's face. "And you were fine with that?"

"Um, duh!" Laki mocked him again. "I didn't feel anything, which meant I couldn't feel anything."

"Oh… Right…" Edison hadn't considered that. "What made you finally feel emotions?"

"I got a bike for my birthday." Laki explained. "At first, it didn't interest me. Just another toy my parents got me, hoping for me to show any emotion." A small smile on her face. "But going down the street… It was such a great feeling." There seemed to be a fire in her eyes now.

"So… That woke up the emotions in you?" Edison hummed out, trying to think. "Maybe it's just that you needed a strong reaction to something to gain some emotions?"

"Oh?" Laki tilted her head to the side. "Do you think so?"

"Yeah!" Edison was pretty confident in his own theory. "The emotions were just dormant within you. You only have them awaken when you feel an excess amount of that emotion."

Laki thought for a moment, remembering the trial with Ian. "When… When I saw the execution… I was overwhelmed with a new feeling."

"Yeah, that'll do it." Edison shifted his focus back over towards the bomb. "It's possible you were overwhelmed with either horror or sadness." Pause. "Or both."

"... I think it was definitely sadness. I had never seen Ian in… So much pain before. He normally always has a smile on his face. He's not… He's not supposed to lose. He never loses."

And yet, that wasn't the outcome that happened that day. "People lose all the time. Can't be a winner every single time." Despite Edison saying that to her, he meant it more to himself… About trying to always be right. "I've learnt that lesson already."

"Oh?" Laki tilted her head to the side again, doing the same pose as earlier. "You've learnt your lesson?"

Quickly, Edison became flustered. "Woah! Woah! Don't start asking me questions! This is about you, remember." He didn't want to tell her how he had to apologize to Seira. Whether or not she accepted it, he didn't really know.

This got a pout from Laki. "You won't tell me how to build a bomb, you won't tell me about yourself! I feel like I'm the only one losing here."

"Huh- Well!" Edison didn't exactly have a counter to this.

After a few seconds, Laki's eyes slowly trailed over to the bomb. "I'm going to help."

"W-what now?" Edison blinked a few times.

However, this happened mid blink. Laki lunged towards the bomb. "Let me see! Let me see!"

"Woah! Woah!" Edison tried his best to fight her off, but he was clearly not meant for something like this.

They spent the rest of the time fighting over the bomb. You know… Like normal people.

It seems Laki and Edison have grown closer.

---

Nova's Office

Nova hadn't made any appearances in a while, but that was mostly because there was nothing for her to do.

So instead, she sat at her desk, looking at the cameras occasionally, and also praying someone would stop by to talk to her.

Gigi had been the only one so far, and she really appreciated that. However, she was hoping that Edison or Lorelei would show up to entertain her.

But it was fine, it didn't bother Nova that much.

Instead, she moved her hand over to press a button under her desk.

After a few seconds, Monokawa floated into the room. "Yes? You called?" However, the excitement in his voice quickly faded away. "What do I have to do now…?" He was already working doubles to put his kids through college… He didn't want to find out that he had to work a triple.

"Oh!" Nova hadn't expected him to show up so quickly. "Nothing really big. It just gets lonely when nobody wants to talk to me."

"You called me here… to talk?" Yeah, it was pretty obvious that Monokawa was less than enthused at the idea. "I don't get paid for that."

"Last I checked, you didn't get paid at all." Nova poured herself some coffee, before stirring some sugar and cream inside. "Besides, we don't talk as often anymore…" She almost seemed a bit disappointed at that.

"Um, we're coworkers… Why would we need to talk all the time?" Monokawa began to float on his back.

"..." Nova spent a few seconds looking at him, before glancing down at her coffee. "You know, you don't seem to act like you were programmed to anymore. You definitely seem a bit more… vicious."

Letting his arms fall to the side, Monokawa slowly floated over to her. "Well… You do these a few times, and you start to get bored. Besides that, I'm the same as I've always been."

Still, Nova had her doubts. Raising the visor of her mask, it allowed her to freely drink the coffee once it had cooled down enough. "Honestly, these past few days, something has just felt… off."

That caught Monokawa's attention. "Off… In what way?"

"I…" The more Nova thought about it, the less she was certain. "It just all feels so weird. I can't seem to put my finger on it. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

Giving her a deadpan expression, Monokawa just shrugged. "How would I know? I can't really feel anything."

Maybe she had been asking for too much. "You're right." Nova gently placed the coffee back down onto the table. For a few seconds, she pondered this feeling, before shaking her head. "Maybe I'm just lacking some sleep." Oh… Speaking of which… Nova made sure to take a look at the time. "It's almost time for your mini shutdown."

Hearing that, Monokawa began to panic. "Woah! Woah! You gotta stop it! It's a scary time."

This only got a laugh out of Nova. "Oh, stop kidding around, you don't even feel a thing."

Monokawa crossed his arms, almost in defiance. "Do you know how scary it is to have gaps in your memory? I do not recommend it."

"Oh? But isn't that what we've done to everyone here?" Nova tilted her head to the side. "They barely remember their time at Hope's Peak."

As the time hit the hour, the red light in Monokawa's eyes went out for a second, before turning back. "So?"

It did seem like he was still able to have conversations, at least.

"Well, if we're subjecting them to that, wouldn't it make sense that you should be too?" Nova pointed out.

Now, on her monitor, was a bunch of complicated code. Code that she clearly didn't understand. "Ugh… So messy."

On the other monitor, she had cameras up, so she could keep an eye out. "I don't believe anyone is being killed tonight, however." Especially not when everyone else was awake.

However, Nova stopped what she was doing when she noticed something. Not on the cameras, but on Monokawa's diagnostic. "Another missing part of your memory? Do you know what happened there?"

"Nope! No clue!" He was acting a little too nonchalant about that.

"Really…?" Nova didn't believe it for a second, but there wasn't much she could actually do at the moment. "It's happened a few times over the last couple of days.

It wasn't the worst instance of it, though. For some reason, Monokawa had been missing six entire days of memories…

Well… Missing wasn't the right term. They were still there, it's just that Nova herself couldn't access them. "You need to tell me if anything feels weird."

"Yeah, whatever, mom." Monokawa rolled his one eye. No, like, it rolled around actually.

Nova wasn't appreciating the attitude that she was receiving, but there was no point in scolding him now, especially since he wouldn't remember this conversation. "Just because you don't remember what happens during this time, doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want."

Moving on to check other parts, she noticed that some of the damage had gotten worse. "Wow… Tatiana really did a number on you…"

At first, nothing had really popped up, but it became evident rather quickly that the knife had dealt some long lasting damage. "Monokawa…" Nova said softly, looking at him. "Have you been having difficulties with anything?"

After a few seconds, a response finally came back. "I've been having difficulties thinking…" He crossed his paws. "Can't do it too well anymore. Feels like I'm more prone to mistakes."

Oh, well that definitely wasn't good. "I'll have to see if I can get you repaired…" The only problem was that the room she would repair him in was currently blocked off. "Do you think you could wait a few days?"

"Probably." Another basic response from Monokawa. But that was how it was when he was on autopilot.

Nova wasn't exactly the best at repairing… Anything. That wasn't her specialty, after all. But the machines were automated. "We don't have any spares of you, so if something bad happens, you'd need to be rebuilt from scratch. And that would take a few days."

This got a laugh from Monokawa. "What? Worried about me? You really shouldn't be. I won't die."

Worried wasn't exactly the right word… "No, it's just…" Nova didn't feel like saying the last part. The knife wound itself brought back bad memories, so she'd rather not think about it. "You and knives, huh…" She shook her head, a frown on her face.

"Hey there, don't be sad." Monokawa responded. Another basic response. This really was the weirdest part of the day for her.

"I am not sad." Nova reassured him. "I'm just… thinking back to…" No yeah, she was a bit sad. "That doesn't matter right now." Once the diagnostic was completed, she closed the tab, moving her attention back towards the cameras. "You can rest up for the next forty five minutes before I need you again."

"OK!" Monokawa floated away lazily, finding somewhere to rest.

Watching him leave, Nova moved her hand over to her visor, allowing it to lower again. After a few seconds, the visor lit up with her usual face, which was already set to the blue sadness she sometimes had.

It was quickly replaced by her regular green expression. "Take it easy there!" She had to stop thinking about that.

It seems Nova and Monokawa have grown closer- hey wait a minute.

---

Ultimate Love Guru Station

Like normal, Winter had set herself up in her own station. Once again, it was just such a tranquil place. It brought peace of mind.

However, that peace of mind wouldn't last forever, as a certain dinging sound could be heard.

For a moment, Winter found herself confused, given that her station shouldn't make that sound at all. That is until she realised it came from her watch, of all things.

Opening it up, she quickly found that she had a new app on her watch. "How…?" She knew she asked Lorelei to do something about it yesterday, but she definitely wasn't expecting results this quickly.

When Winter opened the message, she was greeted with. "Hey bitch."

Looking at it for a few seconds, she sent a reply back. "I think you have the wrong number."

This prompted the door to her station to quickly open up, revealing an annoyed Lorelei. "Really? This is how we're doing this?"

Covering her mouth in fake shock, Winter tilted her head. "I'm not sure what you are talking about. A strange number just contacted me."

After a bit of silence, the love guru spoke up again. "You got it working rather quickly. Impressive."

"Huh… Duh?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten that I'm an Ultimate? That shit shouldn't take more than three hours. The only problem is making sure they don't notice we have a way to send messages."

Winter, on the other hand, didn't really care if they found out. "It's not against the rules, so why would you care?"

"Well…" That was a good point, but Lorelei still wanted to be cautious. "I guess at worst Monokawa would just delete the app."

While they spoke, Winter took the time to look through the app. "Typing on this is rather difficult, but I suppose that would have been a given." Taking a sip of her tea, she moved it further away from herself. "Thank you for making this."

"I didn't make it for you." Lorelei raised an eyebrow, ignoring the fact she absolutely did. "I just made it because it felt convenient."

Being able to talk to one of the only people she could reasonably trust? Yeah, she wasn't turning an opportunity like that down.

"Well, now that we know it works…" Winter hummed out, thinking for a moment. "I guess it doesn't really matter too much right now, given that we only have one day of voting left." Which did remind her. "How many points do you have?"

"Ugh…" Quickly, Lorelei revealed the ten points she had remaining. "I keep getting ganged up on.

Now, Winter didn't think this was too terrible. "As long as nobody votes for you tomorrow, I think you should be fine." As a fair trade, Winter showed off that she had twelve points.

"Oh, how lucky of you." Lorelei mocked her. "You're practically safe from the motive already."

"Just because I have twelve points doesn't mean I'm safe." Winter wasn't about to act like she had won, without knowing the final results. "If two people decide to drop two votes on me each, I could find myself in trouble."

That thought worried Lorelei. Not because she didn't want it to happen to Winter, but because she was worried it would happen to herself. "Yeah, don't tell me about it…"

"So… What are the plans for today?" Winter hummed out.

Placing a hand on their hip, Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Why are you asking me? You're the one who comes up with the plans."

"I thought I'd shake it up a bit… See if there was anyone you wanted to target." Winter let out a small giggle.

Honestly, if it was up to Lorelei, she'd try and drop four points on Gemini, but that wouldn't really do anything this late into the motive. "I think whoever we vote for, we should use two votes."

"Oh?" Winter was interested in hearing that. "It makes sense… After all, they wouldn't be able to retaliate with two votes of their own next time. Although, we'd have to worry that someone might want to take revenge."

"Ha!" Lorelei wasn't really worried about that part. "I think we're fine from being killed."

Winter wasn't so sure, but she was willing to risk it anyway. Waiting for someone to kill wasn't a strategy that she wanted to rely on. "If you say so… But you still haven't said who you want to target."

Thinking it over, Lorelei didn't really have much care. "We can probably just drop Edison and Seira some more."

That was enough for Winter to nod her head. "Alright, I can take Edison, if you vote for Seira."

This entire motive was just so easy in her eyes.

Still, something nagged at Lorelei's head. "What if I get ganged up on again?"

"Hmm?" Winter let out a small hum. "Why ask me that? I wouldn't be able to do anything, no matter how much I help. My only goal is to get as many people to seven points or below." She had immense doubts that anyone with eight points or above would be in danger.

Still, Lorelei didn't want to go in, expecting any safety. "All it would really take is for three votes on me." And since they were considering voting twice, it was likely others would also think of the same idea.

Taking another sip of her tea, Winter let the thoughts occupy her mind after a while. "I'm sure someone will eventually lose out on stress." Was all she finally said.

People have killed for less on this station already, so it made sense. "I'm sure someone will make the sacrificial play."

"Way to sound so dramatic about it." Lorelei raised an eyebrow.

This got a small giggle from Winter. "I'm only messing around. I don't think anyone will do a sacrificial play. If they kill, it would only be for their own benefit."

Still, it sounded ominous. "I'm going to head off now. If you need anything, just make sure to message me. You've proven it works to me, so there's no need to further test it out."

With that, Lorelei left the room, leaving Winter all alone.

After a few seconds, she placed the cup of tea down onto the table, and slowly got up. "Alright…" She took one last look at her watch. She could send a message to Lorelei to tell her what she was about to do…

But she was pretty confident that nothing bad would happen.

It was time to find Michael…

---

Ultimate Referee Station

It had definitely been a while since they had done a session, and as much as people didn't like there to be one, I hated you all, so I was going to subject you to another one. And I will continue to do so until one of you kills me.

"Sorry it's been a while." Gigi sat down where she normally did, with her books covering her side of the table.

Seira offered her a reassuring smile. "It's fine! A lot happened in the last week, so it's understandable that it would be difficult to set up a game."

"Yeah… It's fine…" May hummed out, leaning back in her chair. Part of her wished she could be doing anything else, but she didn't want to ruin the session.

However, while the other three were pretty happy, Gemini seemed a bit worried. "Is everything alright?"

"Hmm?" Gigi let out a hum, a bit confused. "Why wouldn't they be? Just because I missed a day, doesn't mean anything."

Gemini wanted to press her for more, but he also knew that if she didn't answer the first time, she probably wouldn't answer any of the other times.

Now that he wasn't asking questions, Gigi could focus her mind on something more important. "Do you all remember what happened last time?"

"Yeah…" Seira trailed off. "Somehow Gemini started a bar fight."

"Pure charisma." He flashed a smile. "You can't get any better than that, honestly."

Edison nodded his head. "He really helped us out there. Should he become team leader?"

"Huh?" Gemini blinked a few times. "I thought I was already the team leader."

"We… Never made a discussion." May hummed out. Why was this eating up her time?

Well, that was sort of a summary, but Gigi wanted to be a little more thorough. "Last time, you all decided to infiltrate the thieve's guild. You… Had minor success. You were able to get in, but unfortunately, your cover didn't last for too long thanks to Edison."

"Gah!" He slid his chair back. "Hey! It wasn't my fault!"

"You called out the invisible guy." Seira deadpanned.

Adjusting his goggles, Edison looked around nervously. "An… An honest mistake!"

Having let them banter for long enough, Gigi continued. "Thanks to Gemini's quick thinking, you were able to get out of the bar with your lives. You also managed to kill the invisible guy."

"Go us!" Gemini raised his fist in the air, but he was the only one. "Anyways…"

"Shall we get started?" Gigi looked around the room.

"I don't see why not…" May wanted to rush through this a bit so she could get back to what's really important in life.

Sleeping.

What, you thought I was going to say research? This is May, after all. Don't forget about that.

Nodding her head, Gigi took a look at her book. She did recently have to change a bit of her plans, but she hopes the others don't mind.

.

This takes place shortly after you managed to escape the thieves' guild. You managed to slip away in the night, unnoticed, but now you're in a bad part of town.

You probably need to rest up somewhere, but you aren't sure which inns are even safe. For all you know, they could all be owned by the very people who are hunting you down now.

"Well, we really blew that up." My character says, attempting to climb up one of the many buildings.

Roll for… Acrobatics.

Neat… Huh… 17?

Yeah, that's fine. You manage to easily climb up the building by jumping from the various ledges.

"How are we supposed to get up there?"

"Oh… Yeah… Didn't really think of that? Good luck."

"Don't you have rope…?" My character points out.

Do… Do I?

It should be in your bag, so yeah.

"Neat! Even here, I always have rope." I take that out of my bag, and start letting it fall down towards the ground, while holding onto it of course.

The rope slowly lowers itself towards the ground, until it's reachable by the rest of the party. However, that's still a very high wall to climb.

"Are we sure this is a good idea? What if one of us falls?"

"Good point!" My character points towards Seira. "Climb up first."

I- What? "Absolutely not! You go ahead and do it first."

"What? I can't climb that. My limbs are far too weak for it."

Can't I just… pull them up myself?

I don't see why not.

"Someone just grab onto the rope, I'll pull you all up myself."

How strong is your character, Gemini?

Well, it's not a dumb stat, so…

My character doesn't like those odds… But she'll try anyways. I grab onto the rope.

Grabbing onto the rope, it definitely feels like a good idea that Gemini will be pulling you all up, because climbing this would be a hassle otherwise.

What do I need to roll for this?

Just athletics.

Hmm… Well, we'll try it, but I'm not that confident. Oh… a thirteen. Is that bad?

Given that May is pretty light, you don't have any issue with pulling her up.

Neat! "Alright! Who's next?"

"Ladies first!"

Ugh… Fine. "I'll go next." My character grabs onto the rope, ready for whatever fate awaits her.

Alright… This time… Ooo a sixteen. Things are looking up for me.

Without any issue, you are able to pull up Seira onto the roof as well.

Seeing that everything went well, I think my character is more confident now. "Lower the rope again!"

"Got it!" I lower the rope again, allowing Edison to grab onto it. This time I got…

…

…

…

Gemini just stared down at the table, contemplating what he was looking at. "..."

"What… What did you get?" Edison couldn't see from the angle he was looking at.

Slowly, Gemini picked up the dice, bringing it closer to his face. "Well… Huh…"

With Seira being the closest person to him, she was able to read off the dice. "That's… A one."

The entire table grew quiet as the realisation struck.

"W-wait!" Edison began to panic. "What's about to happen to me?"

Gemini let out a nervous laugh, shaking his head. "I'm sure whatever happens will be fine."

"Gemini, you start to hoist Edison up the rope." Gigi began to say.

…

…

…

See? It's fine. It'll all be fine.

You were confident because of your last two attempts… To the point where you begin to rush. Unfortunately for you, you didn't account for the quality of the rope. When Edison was almost at the top, you felt the rope straining, and, before you can even react, the rope snaps, sending him plummeting to the ground below.

Gah! Can I at least try and save myself?

… Sure… Roll a dexterity save.

I make these! … Five. Why do I always roll low?

Yeah… You're not saving yourself. You attempt to grab onto a windowsill, but instead sort of just hit the ground really hard.

"Oww…"

Thank you for letting me go first.

Shut UP!

Edison take… that's 4d6 for being forty feet… twelve bludgeoning damage.

I… Am almost dead.

Nice.

My character slowly gets up, with the feeling that they may or may not have broken something vital. "What now…?" He looks up.

My magic won't help… So I stay silent…

Scratching the back of my head, I try my best to think of a solution, but nothing comes up. "Alright, you'll have to find your own place to sleep for the night." And then I duck down, because we probably shouldn't be yelling this late at night.

"I- What?" My character begins to panic, as they've realised they've been abandoned! I run into the nearest alleyway to cry my night away.

Alright, well, while he does that, we will have a comfortable night on the rooftop.

…

…

…

Suddenly, Gigi pulled out two dice, and began to roll them behind her book.

"Huh…" Gemini seemed a bit nervous. "What are you doing?"

"Just deciding if anything happens during the night…" Gigi kept looking at her dice, before turning to look at her book. "Nothing happens. You're all able to get a good night's sleep."

"Even me?" Edison asked, with hope in his beady little eyes.

"You get disturbed by rats all night, and can only get a short rest." Gigi had no change in facial expression when she said this, but still, somehow, it looked like she was enjoying this.

Edison kind of just lets his face fall onto the table.

Now that was dealt with, an idea popped into May's head. "So… How are we getting down?"

…

…

…

"... You know… I didn't think about that part." My character reaches over for his snapped rope, and tries to think of an idea.

"Well… Edison survived, so it can't be that bad, right…?"

"A fall like that would kill me…" I only have twelve hit points…

Right… Right… Can I look around to see if there's an easier spot to get down.

Sure, make a perception check.

Alright, got a sixteen.

After looking around for about a minute, you eventually stumble upon a ladder that takes you down to ground.

Why… Why did none of us see that?

It was on the other side of the building.

Can't argue with that. "Alright, come on ladies. Let's go down."

We should look around more often.

Yeah… No kidding.

As all three of you make it down the ladder, you have to move around the building to find Edison, still very much awake.

"I killed a rat!"

"Alright…" I'm not sure how to react to that.

Suddenly, my character points to Seira. "This is your fault?"

Wait, why am I getting blamed? "Don't yell at me for this, I didn't snap the rope!"

"No, you might not have, but you should have let mego first. I was smaller, and thus, would have less chance to strain the rope."

What?

You just wanted the roll I got.

… Maybe! But who's to say?

We're not fighting right now. Enough of that.

"Shouldn't we get going…?"

"Yes, we should." Although, I'm not really sure what we should do.

Shouldn't we try and find the guy that ran off last time? Isn't that one of the people we were looking for?

That's the problem, I'm not sure where he went.

We could always try and gather information…

Because of the sun being up, there's definitely a lot more people out and about at this time, so gathering information isn't out of the question.

"Alright, we should probably ask people around. Although, maybe we should move to a better area."

My character pulls out a map… "There's a town square not too far ahead… Maybe we can go there?"

"Brilliant. We can make that our first stop!"

"Shouldn't we stop to eat some food? I'm a bit hungry."

"We can eat when we reach the town square." Besides that, my character ignores him.

Following your way towards the town square, you pass by many different people. Most seem to ignore you, but there's the odd few people who give you weird looks.

"Why the weird looks…?"

"Remember, we're in the bad part of town. They probably don't want some of you here…" Besides me, I'm so cool and epic.

"They don't tend to like the mages…" My character mumbles out, but she doesn't let the looks bother her…

As you approach the center of town, you notice that there appears to be some sort of strange gathering there. Being led by a person in a cloak.

Odd… But I guess not completely out there. What are they talking about?

At first, it's only murmurs from the audience, but you are able to hear what the preacher is saying.

"Cheer out for Tiamat!" Then, the rest of his speech seems to be in an entirely different language than Common.

As he says this, the audience doesn't cheer. Instead, it mostly feels like a chant of sorts. Once again, in a language you don't seem to understand. Whatever it is, they're listening obediently.

"Can I make a religion check on that?"

Of course, go ahead.

…

…

…

May lazily reaches over for one of her dice, and kind of just lets it plop onto the table. "... fourteen."

"That should be good enough." Gigi checks her notes, before pulling out a piece of paper.

On the paper, was a dragon with five heads, all with different colours.

"Oh…" May had seen this before, but didn't associate it with DnD.

"Woah!" Edison quickly stood up from his chair, moving over to look at the dragon. "Yeah, let's join them!"

"Tiamat is evil." Gigi felt the need to specify, especially with how he was acting.

The image also contained some information, which May spent some time looking over. "Got it…"

…

…

…

"These don't seem like good people…" My character shakes her head. "Either we leave…or we do something about them…" Personally my character was hoping for the former.

"Bad in… What way?"

"They all worship an evil dragon."

Why did you say that in such a casual tone…?

Because I can…

Wait! I know what this is! This should be fun to fight! "Oh neat! A cult leader!"

I fail to see how that is neat… "Should we do anything?"

"Hmm… Maybe… But it sounds like a lot of effort."

"I mean, they aren't really causing any harm. They are just preaching, so is there really any reason to stop them?"

"I would prefer if a cult wasn't just forming in broad daylight… If they feel safe doing that, then who's to say how much influence they actually have-"

Wait, wait, wait… Let's put this on hold… Gigi…

What's wrong?

…

…

…

The room remained silent, all waiting for what Gemini had to say.

"Gigi…" He let out a sigh, placing his hands on his hips. "Why does this feel targeted?"

"Hmm?" She looked up from her books. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Yeah, Gemini didn't believe that for a second. Looking at what was happening now, it was clear that this was an attack against Michael of all people. Not only the cult, but the way the leader was. "This feels like you want to take out your anger on someone."

"No. Cults are pretty common in DnD." Gigi was going to stand her ground.

May let out a small sigh. "But… the way you described the leader…" Not to mention how the cult acts. "Are you… mad at Michael?"

Hearing the accusation, Gigi's face scrunched up a bit in disbelief. "Why would I do something like that? You already know I'm unbiased in things like this. Why would I let something like that intrude in this game."

"It's just that… This is far away from what was established in the other session… It just feels kind of out of nowhere."

"That's what DnD is like." Gigi's frown only increased in size, and there was a fire in her eyes. "Stop making assumptions."

Now, Gemini could back down now, but he wasn't planning on doing anything. "If there's something going on, I'd like to hear about it before it turns into a problem." He said this, mostly referring to Seira and Edison, who had constantly been at each other's throats since getting here.

"There is no problem." Gigi narrowed her eyes. "I'm not one to hold things in." Despite doing exactly that.

"Well… I believe her!" Edison didn't want to spend too much time on this conversation. "Shouldn't we get back to the game?"

"H-hey!" Seira narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you doing? We need to be focusing on this."

Letting out a sigh, Edison leaned his head against his hand. "Hypothetically speaking, if there was something wrong, she wouldn't tell us."

While all of this was going on, May was just being silent… Mostly just watching. She didn't want to take a single side, even if she agreed with Gemini.

Quickly, Gigi stood up. "I came here to play DnD, and take my mind off things. Not to be questioned."

Gritting his teeth, Gemini shook his head. "Yes, but you shouldn't be having fun by bringing someone else dow-"

"Why does it matter?" Gigi crossed her arms, glancing the other way. "He's not even here, after all."

Finally, letting out a sigh, May spoke up. "Yeah… But I don't like the way-"

She didn't even get time to finish what she was saying. Now that the two of them were ganging up on Gigi, it seemed like she had enough. "You know what, fine." She closed the book, and folded up the divider. "I don't need to be doing this right now."

With that, she quickly stormed out of the room, making sure to take her stuff with her.

Letting out a sigh, Gemini shook his head. "I… I think that could have gone better."

Given that this was a failure, May moved from her seat, heading towards the door. "It's getting late, so I think I'm going to head to bed…" Well, not really. She just wanted to do some other stuff. This should hopefully make it so nobody follows her.

This left the usual trio alone in the room.

Gemini shook his head, letting out a sigh. "It's starting to feel like everything that happens is a failure."

"I don't know." Edison didn't seem bothered by how things happened. "We still have the thing tomorrow."

Because of that, Seira frowned slightly. "How can you be alright with how this turned out?"

Quickly getting up, Gemini shook his head. "If you two are going to fight again, I'm just going to leave."

"She started-" Edison had begun to say, but that was enough for the escapist to leave the room.

"H-hey!" Seira called out, quickly getting up. "This wasn't my fault." She ran after him.

This left Edison all alone in the room. "Ah…" There he went and did it again… Typical…

---

Garden (Zeta)

It had been quiet in the last couple of hours, but that was mostly because of the location he decided to hang out.

Michael stood by, looking at the various plants around. They were definitely different from the other plants, but that was the only thing he could say.

Maybe he just needed time away from everyone.

Hearing the door open, Michael let out a sigh. "Sorry… Melody… I just wanted some alone time."

"Melody?" A voice hummed out. "You sure moved on quickly."

Michael froze, slowly turning to look at Winter. "I…" He hadn't spoken to her since the last time he tried to attempt, which was before the trial. "What are you doing here…?" It was strange for her to come and talk to him.

"..." For a bit, Winter didn't actually say anything. Instead, she just chose to look directly in his eyes. Or at least attempt to.

Michael kept looking away again, avoiding any form of eye contact.

"I see… Lorelei was right." Winter let out a hum. "Michael, why do you refuse to make eye contact?"

The first part was already scary enough for him to hear, given what Lorelei knew about him. "I… I just can't."

"I don't think you're doing it out of shame." Winter continued on. "Are you doing it because you're afraid of something?"

Still, Michael refused to look her in the eyes… He just can't… He didn't want to risk her forgiving him because of the powers he had.

Seeing that he wasn't answering, Winter had no choice but to continue. "You're doing this because of your powers, right?"

That was what Michael was worried about… Lorelei had to have mentioned it, didn't she. "I… No… I don't have any-"

"It makes sense, doesn't it…?" Winter mumbled out, rather sadly. "I've been trying to find someone who I can spend my time with. There wasn't really anyone like that back home. But after I met you…"

"Stop…" Michael shook his head. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear any of this, because he was worried his fear would be confirmed.

That after all the talks they had in the past, it was all because of his powers.

"No." Winter said rather coldly. "I'm talking, so you will allow me to speak, alright?" She offered a smile, even if he couldn't see it. "After I met you, I felt like I finally had someone I could easily get along with. Someone who wasn't exactly a childhood friend that my parents were trying to get me to marry."

Another long pause, mostly just to give Michael to digest what she was saying.

"Michael…" Winter said in a quieter voice. "Tell me… Us getting along back then wasn't because of your powers."

She wasn't sure what answer she was hoping for, but at least if she found out one way or another, she'd have some form of closure.

"I…" Michael had started to say, but his voice was a bit shaky as he spoke. "I… I don't know…" He wished he could, but his powers worked without his consent. All he could reasonably do was look away from other people, and pray it never worked.

"You… Don't know?" Winter repeated, a bit disappointed at the answer. If it leaned one way or the other, she could at least be satisfied…

But this? Who would ever accept an answer like this?

Slowly, Michael shook his head. "It's not something I'm conscious about… All my life, I've had people do things for me. I thought they cared for me, I thought they liked me…" He put the hood over his head, to try and hide his face. "But to find out that they were only compelled to do it…"

This got a frown out of Winter. She felt bad, but the main issue was still there. "I…" Was this her own emotions talking, or was it just his powers making her feel this way.

"My whole life…" Michael continued on. "I couldn't know who actually enjoyed my presence… Everyone just wanted to do everything for me…" He wanted to look her in the eyes, but he knew he couldn't.

"I… I'm worried that you were only nice to me because of who I am…" He finally said. "I'm worried that Melody is like that for the very same reason. I can't form any sort of bond without feeling that they are a result of who I am."

He was having similar issues that Winter herself was having. She wanted to believe that she got along well with him, but she now had no way to know.

Everything might as well have been lies.

"Tell me…" Michael mumbled out. "Do you think I'm a horrible person…?"

"I'm… Not the person who should be answering that." Winter glanced away. After all, she had no way of truly knowing. He was a cult leader, but his actions spoke otherwise. "What kind of person do you think you are?"

"I…" Michael wasn't ready for the question to be thrown back at him. So instead, he narrowed his eyes, staring at the ground. "I want to do good…" But he just wasn't sure if he was capable of it, given circumstances.

"I wasn't asking you what you want to do." Winter said a bit firmly. "I'm asking you what you think you are."

That's the problem… Even after all these years, Michael still didn't know. He hated using his powers, and yet he's used them before in immoral ways.

He hated his cult, but has never done anything about it, too scared of what would happen. "I don't think… I'm really anything." He finally answered. "Everyone I ever meet is nice to me by default." Except Atlas, he kicks his ass on a daily basis.

"But don't you need to look them in the eyes?" Winter crossed her arms.

"I…" That's at least how Michael hoped it worked. He couldn't ever be sure, but that seemed to be the most effective way. "Yeah… Why?"

"Have you ever looked me in the eyes?" If he had, then it was a sure fire way for Winter to know her actions were not her own.

Michael had to think long and hard about this… "I… I've definitely looked you in the eye, but I think we both have to be looking at each other." And he always made sure to look away when it happened.

Taking a deep breath, Winter still wasn't sure what to think.

The ambiguity of if the emotions she felt were her own or not still lingered on her heavily.

Even the fact that he was a cult leader… After giving it some more thought, Winter understood why he'd want to hide such a thing. Especially in a game like, he would have been killed if anyone found out about this.

Maybe she acted rashly at the time during the trial, but to her, the reaction made sense. After all, that's how anyone would react to finding out their closest friend here was a cult leader.

"Michael…" Winter trailed off, glancing to the side. "For once, I'm going to believe to put some trust in you again." She had done it at the start, and while it was a bit rocky for a while… She couldn't just rely on Lorelei as an ally.

Especially since she still couldn't put her full trust in her.

For a few seconds, Michael remained silent, still staring at some of the plants. He was a bit… Conflicted. After all, this would be a good thing, right? It's what he wanted, after all… And yet… He wasn't sure. "I… Don't know…" He still remembers the way she spoke to him during the trial… And how she brushed him off when he tried to fix things. "Maybe I'm the one who needs time."

Hearing that, a frown formed on Winter's face. "Why's that…?"

To be honest, Michael had been a bit disappointed in how this motive played out. With one of those reasons being how she played it. "The motive… How are you playing it exactly?"

Hearing this, the frown on Winter's face only deepend. "What- How is that relevant? Of course I'd vote to keep myself alive."

That's not the part he was worried about… "You seem to be having an easy time with it…" More like she was enjoying the strategy involved.

Especially with how every time he saw her at the cafeteria, and he spoke about the motive… She had a smug look on her face.

To this, Winter remained silent. "Michael… I know you want to try and be noble for this motive, but it's not going to work. They've proven that they won't hesitate to screw us over. That's why Tatiana had to kill last time. If not, we'd all be dead."

He knew that, but… "Still… Bringing myself to vote."

"Don't act like you've abstained every time." Winter twirled a finger around her hair. "You only lost one point since last night. So… Who did you vote for?"

A guilty expression appeared on Michael's face. "I… Well… I voted…" He didn't want to admit who he voted for, but she kind of was right about what he did. "I voted for Gigi…"

This seemed to catch Winter by surprise. "Her? Why?" She wasn't exactly in the know for what was going on between those two.

"The other day… We had a disagreement… And she started to vote for me. In fact, I think she voted for me again today." Not that there was really a point to, Michael knew his fate was sealed when it came to this motive.

Frowning at this, Winter shook her head. "This is why you should have been voting for the start." Sure, she still wasn't sure how to feel about him, but that didn't mean she wanted him to die. "Look, I didn't place a single vote on you, so you can be rest assured."

Half of him wanted to ask who she had voted for, but Michael also wasn't in the mood to argue. "Thanks…" At least she didn't hate his guts like Gigi did.

"... You should vote again… I know there's probably no way you can get out of this situation, but it feels more like you've given up, rather than trying to fight the motive." Winter let out a small sigh.

"That's not at all what I'm doing!" Michael took a step forward. However, he quickly backpedaled, glancing away. "But I just can't bring myself to vote anyone for death. I want us all to survive and get out of here."

Slowly, Winter shook her head. "Michael… You know that's not possible. We've already seen several people die… At this rate, it's impossible to save everyone. Instead, we should be worrying about saving the people we care about."

"That's what I'm doing… Even if my plan doesn't work…" Michael shook his head. "At least those I take up one of the seven deaths, so the ones I care about have a better chance of survival." Melody and the others… He'd be willing to die if it meant saving them.

For a moment, Winter was silent. Not because of exactly what he said, but because all this time, she had been keeping her distance because of her own fears of who Michael really was.

But in the end, it was just her that was in the wrong about most of it. "I wish we could have met outside the killing game…"

"Huh?" Michael didn't really seem to understand where this was coming from. "Why…?"

Glancing off to the side, with a rather guilty expression, Winter shook her head. "Because had we met outside of this killing game, I doubt that I would have reacted the way I did back then…"

Maybe that would have been the case, but it's far too late to reverse what happened during the trial. "Maybe…" Was all Michael said before turning to look back at the flowers.

Seeing that this conversation had slowly winded down to a stop, Winter nodded her head along. "It was… Nice talking to you again." Even if it wasn't what it used to be, at least she was able to slowly build back some sort of camaraderie between the two. "I'm going to head off now." She turned towards the entrance, leaving without waiting for him to say anything.

After the sound of the door could be heard, eventually, Michael turned to look at it. "... If we met outside of the killing game…" That would have been ideal… There would have been no reason to hide anything…

It seems Winter and Michael have grown closer.

---

Psi Sector

After having such a horrible day, Atlas knew it was time for him to wind down at his usual spot, that being his own station.

He's been doing it ever since it opened up, especially since it can grant him coins consistently. Not that there's anything he'd really buy. He just doesn't want to get fucked over by a repeat motive.

What he hadn't been expecting was to see someone on his way there.

Given that he didn't think they would come here, and also they were just sitting on the ground outside his station.

"... Gigi, what are you doing here?" The normal bitterness in Atlas' voice was gone.

Slowly, Gigi turned her head to look over at him. "Oh… Hi Atlas."

Now, normally he wasn't someone to care, but there was clearly something wrong here. "What are you doing moping around? And why were you gone yesterday?" Of course he would notice.

"..." For a moment, Gigi didn't answer. Instead, she stared straight ahead. When she felt like enough time had passed, she spoke up. "I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided to sleep in."

Somehow, Atlas didn't believe any of that bullshit. "Really now? You expect me to believe that?"

"Believe it or not, that doesn't change the fact that I was sick." Gigi didn't even bother to look at him when she said that.

"Tsk…" Atlas knew her better than that. "You wouldn't just miss a morning meeting for something like that. Fuck… You've been the first person awake every time. And now you're telling me suddenly, you want to break that streak."

"... It's the truth. I was sick." Gigi didn't seem like she wanted to fight this anymore.

Despite wanting to counter again, Atlas quickly realised that there wasn't any problem. "Then what the hell are you doing here?"

Slowly, Gigi looked over at the door across from her. "Oh… Just taking a break from my own station. Things went pretty wrong, so I just wanted to be alone."

Honestly, after knowing Gigi for weeks, and how she rarely showed any emotion except anger… It was almost foreign to see her be so down about something. To the point that Atlas actually softened up a bit. In fact, he slid down the wall right next to her. "You don't mind if I stay, do you?"

Despite how he was, Atlas was somehow one of the only people Gigi trusted around her. She really shouldn't, but given that she's the one who spends the most time around him, it sort of just came naturally. Maybe it was their sport connection. "Sure, that's fine with me."

For a while, the two just sat around, not saying anything. Gigi wasn't in a rush to break the silence, and Atlas didn't want to start talking.

However, the one who eventually spoke up, was Gigi. "They removed a rule."

Atlas' instincts wanted him to tell her that he didn't care, but he held back. "Why… Bring that up?" It was still a random topic to even bring up.

"... Because I don't think anyone else has noticed, so I thought I'd bring it up." That was Gigi's reasoning. Of course, she had another reason to do so, but she'd bring it up in a bit.

Atlas didn't care about the knowledge, but now that he knew about it, he wanted to know a little more. "Which rule?"

"The rule stating that you can't talk to anyone about your motive." Or show it, but that was a given.

Oh, so one of the many rules Atlas didn't actually care about. He was never going to break it, so he never even bothered to remember. "Why would something like that even fucking matter?"

Not answering right away, Gigi instead opened up her own watch. "I…" She frowned slightly, thinking. "Since it's no longer a rule, I think I want to speak to someone about the motive I got."

"What…?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. Sure, she was one of the only people he trusted in this place, but he didn't actually think that it was a two way street. "And you want to tell me about it?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Gigi didn't even turn to look at him when she asked this question.

No… There wasn't… "Fine… Go ahead, if you want." She had received a secret, but it was Gigi, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

Taking a deep breath, Gigi tried to think of how to start this best. "Well, I think for starters I should at the very least tell you some of my history."

Oh what the FUCK did he sign up? Atlas wasn't pleased to hear any of that, but he also didn't want her to stop. "Fine…"

Letting the silence shimmer a bit longer, Gigi tried to find the best way to start this. Ultimately, she decided to not even bother sugarcoating what she was going to say. "I used to work for the mafia."

Had Atlas been drinking something, he surely would have spat it out upon hearing that. "You- What?" He almost didn't believe any of it.

"It's true…" Gigi leaned her head against the wall behind her. "At the time, financially, my family was in a rather rough spot. I was the only sibling capable of making money, and my parents had both been hospitalised… The bills were mostly fine, but it wasn't sustainable."

"Shit…" Atlas wasn't really sure what to say about any of that. He wasn't really the person people went for comfort.

"Not to mention I wanted my siblings to have a good life ahead of themselves. I couldn't do that if it was impossible to save up money for that." Gigi let out a small sigh, glancing at him for a second, before diverting her eyes. "It was the only way I knew to make money quickly."

"Did… Did you kill anyone?" Atlas'... Now's not the time for questions like that.

"No…" Gigi shook her head. "If I had to kill someone, I would have quit on the spot. I was only there to watch the games they played, and call out any cheating I noticed. The games ranged from a variety of things, like card games, and such…" However, she didn't want to mention what such was.

Atlas continued to listen, not really changing the expression on his face. "Sounds rough… Did you have to see anything you didn't want to?"

Well, looks like Gigi would need to mention what such was. "I… Definitely did. Gunshots weren't entirely rare where I was. I had to turn my eye away more than a couple of times. Games taken too far… Or even me calling out a cheater prompted violence." She hugged her own knees as she sat on the ground. "But I didn't do anything. I needed the money, so I pretended like nothing mattered…" She took a look at her black glove.

"But, once again… You didn't personally do anything, right?" Atlas raised an eyebrow. Why was this the conversation that got him to calm down a bit?

"No… I never hurt anyone." Gigi reassured herself. At least not directly… She might hold herself responsible for the fates of the cheaters she caught.

Letting out a sigh, Atlas shook his head. "I don't know why something like that would get you caught up. It doesn't seem like a bad secret."

Hearing the word secret, Gigi felt her entire body freeze up, before relaxing slightly.
She had already mentioned this much, so it was time to continue. "That's… Not what my secret was…"

"Wait… Are you fucking kidding…?" If that wasn't what she got, how much worse does it get?

Gigi let out a nervous laugh, recalling what it was. "You might think it's stupid… Most would consider what I just told you to be worse than my actual secret, but I have a certain standard to hold myself to…"

Atlas was just utterly confused now. "What are you even fucking talking about?"

For a while, Gigi was silent. Continuing this line of thought could be bad, but she just needed to get it off her chest.

If her motive was out in the open, then it held no power over her.

"Everything was going fine. I was making enough money now, but it still wasn't enough." Gigi mumbled out. "I was still barely making it by… And my parent's conditions were only getting worse. Sure, I could pay the medical bills, but they needed treatment I just couldn't afford…"

"What… did… you… do…?" Atlas narrowed his eyes.

This was going to be the hard part. "Well… I was offered a rather large sum of money. Enough money that I could pay for the treatment, and then never have to work for them ever again. I would be a fool to not take the money." Gigi trailed off, knowing that even now, she regrets taking the money.

Atlas didn't bother to say anything as she continued to explain her story. Mostly because he didn't want to interrupt the flow that she had going on…

"While I was working for the mafia, I still had my normal work to deal with. I started off pretty much locally, but I quickly grew my way to the top. To the point I was actually asked to referee a really important game." Gigi glanced at the ground. She wasn't even able to look at him anymore.

Without waiting for a response from Atlas, she continued. "I got asked to work for the World Cup that year. An honour not shared by most. I was ecstatic at the opportunity to do so."

"... What year?" Atlas asked, out of curiosity.

"Oh…" Gigi hummed out, tilting her head to the side. "It was in 2039…" She mumbled out, knowing that there was a very specific reason he wanted to know this.

However, despite hearing the answer… Atlas said nothing.

He just waited…

"The task I was given was rather simple… He wanted one specific team to win, given he had placed a rather large bet on it. And I was to be the one to make sure it happened. My pay would be part of the bet he received."

"That day, I sold off my morals." Gigi couldn't even look at him when she said that. "I rigged that game as best as I could. Making sure to ignore penalties when it benefited the other team, or to call out stuff that wouldn't be considered penalties. And you know the worst part…? Everyone believed me. I had gotten such a reputation for myself for being unbiased, that nobody except the players even questioned it."

"You…" Atlas felt a bit of rage building up inside.

Because he knew exactly what she was talking about.

Because that was the game he played in.

Not realising what was going on beside her, Gigi continued on. "It didn't feel great, and I put my entire reputation on the line, but thanks to that, I was able to afford treatment for my pare-"

SLAM!

Now, Gigi wasn't one to show many emotions. Anger seemed to be the only one she let slip by. So for once, to have her expression change to something else entirely…

Fear…

Even when Tatiana was throwing knives at her in the trial, she didn't budge an inch… And yet…

Right now… Her pupils were shaking in fear as she almost had her head completely kicked off.

Not even bothering to look at her, Atlas had managed to slam his foot right into the wall, next to Gigi's face.

Inches away.

Any more to the right, and she would have received his cleats directly into her face. "You…" He said, his voice shaking. "You fucking bitch…"

"A-Atlas-" Gigi mumbled out, not even moving away from the spot she found herself.

"I fucking knew I recognised you from somewhere, but your face is so fucking plain that I forgot." Atlas couldn't even bother to look at her. "You were there at my game…"

This was the part that Gigi was always worried about.

She knew Atlas had been at that game… She knew she had carded him for no reason… But that's why she felt she had to get it off her chest.

"You weren't nice to me out of your own merit." Slowly, Atlas started to realise what was going on. "You've only been nice to me because you thought I might remember you."

"N-No, that's not-" Gigi didn't really get much time to speak.

Slowly, Atlas moved his foot away from the wall, stepping back. "I don't want to see you again." He muttered out, tilting his head down to make it hard for her to see his expression. "Unbiased my ass… You just do whatever is convenient for you." Then, he turned around and began to walk off.

"A-Atlas wait!" Gigi called out, but she made no further attempt to move.

Not like she could… It felt like her entire body had frozen up from the fear she was currently feeling.

What she feared had come to pass.

Atlas and Gigi seemed to have grown apart.

---

Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist Station

She checked.

There was nobody in the area…

And everyone was likely to be heading to sleep soon…

May was alone, and nothing was going to interrupt her this time.

She found herself in the room that had complexed her a few times already. She's read every newspaper in this room.

She's fallen asleep in this room with the countless hours she spent.

And yet… May had nothing to show for it. At best, she understood a little bit more about Hope Peak's past, but that was it.

Just a killing game that happened thirty five years ago, which was only ever solved three decades ago.

This time, however, May was pretty confident. She's checked every spot except for the one spot that was blank. She had looked at it a few times, but couldn't figure anything out.

Taking one look at it, she examined the shape… How it seemed to arc in a certain way… It was very strange to her.

And then… May was struck with an idea. The shape reminded her of something… The arc a door took when it was opened.

Then her attention slowly shifted towards the wall it was flush against. "Is it…?" She ran a finger against the wall, eventually finding a hollow point in the wallpaper… There was a crack.

Trailing her finger as highly as she could, May discovered that this part of the wall was more than likely a door. "There really was something…"

There were only two problems… She had no way to cut the newspaper, and even if she could, the door was taller than her, so she'd need something to stand on. Letting out a heavy sigh, she stepped away.

Maybe she could ask someone for help, but for now, May had to give up. It was already getting pretty late, and like hell would she let herself stay the night here.

But… the temptation to do something about this was too strong. "Maybe just tonight…" She hummed out, moving out of the station.

She needed something sharp, and the only spot nearby she knew of was the infirmary.

Slowly walking over towards there, May arrived. Looking around, she took notice of the surroundings.

And then a noise. "Hmm?"

However, looking around yielded nothing… And she was already getting spooked enough just standing around here. Quickly, she moved over towards the drawer, opening it. After a bit, she found a scalpel.

Not the sharpest thing she could find, but May didn't feel like walking all the way to the kitchen. Especially this late at night…

With a slow walk back over towards the station, she made her way towards the suspected area.

It took a bit of extra force, but May was eventually able to stab the scalpel directly into the wallpaper. "There we go…"

She began to cut the wallpaper, inch by inch, until her height became a hindrance. "I need a stool or… Something…" She let out a yawn. Maybe she could ask one of the taller people to reach, but… The only problem was that the two tallest people either couldn't be trusted… or didn't have hands in the first place!

A lot to consider.

May was going to try and cut the other side as well, until… An announcement began to play out.

.

"It is now nighttime, which means you should all be asleep." Monokawa started off his usual nighttime speech. "And don't forget about what I said in the cafeteria. If nobody dies by the end of tomorrow, you'll have a lot more than the main motive to worry about. Tick. Tock. Time is running out! Better hurry up!"

.

May remained silent as she looked up at the ceiling. It was nighttime already…

Which means that the elevator cut her off again. Wouldn't be the first time, but at least now she had the option to take the Monorail back up to the second floor, so not all was lost.

Not that anyone has ever tested if it worked or not, so she would be the first to do so…

Eventually, racing the Monorail, May scanned her bracelet to open the door. Once inside, all she had to do was choose the destination. Given that the distance was closer, she opted for the one in the Psi Sector.

Once that option was picked, the Monorail was off, with her almost dozing off on the train ride there…

---

Vacant Rooms

As the night began, most people were retiring to their rooms. Of course, that didn't exactly mean everyone had already gone to bed.

Instead, Atlas found himself dragging behind a bit, given he had just been with Gigi moments prior.

However, before he had a chance to make it to his room, he was stopped by someone.

"So, how are things going with the motive?" Gennosuke was leaning against the wall, closest to the soccer player's door.

Seeing him, Atlas couldn't help but narrow his eyes. "What do you want?"

Seeing that reaction, Gennosuke couldn't help but frown. "What? We've been talking for the past few nights. Wouldn't it make sense to talk about our last vote?"

"Tsk…" Atlas moved one step closer to his room. "Like hell. All you've done is make it so I've become a target. I have half a mind to drop votes on you."

Now, the frown had become more apparent on Gennosuke's face. He had done so much to try and avoid being a target… To have it fall apart now. "Hey. The only thing I did was give you advice. You were the one who decided that the best course of action was to target someone with two votes instead of one. You chose not to play smart. Don't put this on me."

This only seemed to further frustrate Atlas. "Don't play this bullshit. From this point on-" There's only one vote. "-I'll vote for who I want to."

As long as it wasn't himself, Gennosuke couldn't give a shit, honestly. "I'm already at seven points. Throwing me down further won't help you."

"Tsk, as if I'm talking about you. I have someone else in mind." Pushing past him, Atlas looked over at his door. "Open Sesame." And, as usual, it opened up without any restraint.

He quickly entered his room, not bothering to say anything.

This left Gennosuke alone. "Huh… He doesn't want to be manipulated anymore… What a shame." He had begun to move towards his room, when a slight sound caught him off guard. "Hmm?" He quickly turned towards where the sound was, which was the cross in the hallway.

After a few moments of silence, Gennosuke spoke up. "Come out of there, I know you're there."

When nothing happened, the idea of investigating quickly grew in his head.

However, he wasn't stupid. He wasn't willingly going to walk off to his death. So instead, he simply scanned his bracelet, and entered his room…

…

…

…

Now that he was gone, May let out a sigh of relief.

She had no idea that Gennosuke had pretty much been affecting every single one of Atlas' votes, but it begins to make sense given how he lashed out. Gennosuke should have been the first person he targeted.

But… None of that mattered.

Something else lingered on May's mind… The number.

For a brief moment, she had made notice of the number of Gennosuke's watch…

Nine.

"..." Now that he was gone, May could finally step into the hallway herself. "Well… That's not very fair…" She hummed out, walking to her own room.

She'd need to fix that as soon as possible…

---

Wow, speeding through this now, huh (Nathan you write these like a week or so before the chapter goes up, stop acting like you write these fast)

When I started, I really struggled with what I even wanted to do with this part, given that I needed to set up a lot of things, and I needed to move scenes around a lot. Ultimately, I think this part turned out for the better, but I won't know until it finally gets posted.

I don't have too much else to say though, I'm home now, so I'm hoping to get the body drop before I go back to work, that way I have less stuff to worry about.

And you know how excited I am for when the body drops! It's always so much fun :D So I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's reaction in the next part.

Since I have nothing else to say, I guess I'll just give a shoutout to my friend SilverMark16, who just started chapter 4 of their own fic, Twisted Tragedy. So make sure to catch up on that if you haven't already :D In fact, it took me so long to post this that he released part two while I was busy.

With that, I will see you next time for the last daily life part of chapter 4!

---

Participants Remaining: 14

---

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16] (10)

Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23] (9)

Winter Hibiscus - The Ultimate Love Guru [Grandma Sue] (12)

Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja] (12)

Gemini Strela - The Ultimate Escapist [secretnobody] (14)

Benjamin Mason - The Ultimate Ventriloquist [NSPunny] (8)

Lorelei Kaiser - The Ultimate Hacker [CandleFire45] (10)

Michael Astrophel - The Ultimate Cult Leader [Omakin] (7)

Melody Eleanor Hopkins - The Ultimate Tap Dancer [Prince PokePersona] (9)

Lakshmi "Laki" Krishna - The Ultimate Lucky Student [Sempi] (9)

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova] (14)

Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple] (8)

Gennosuke Yagami - The Ultimate Psychic [theotakureader101] (9)

Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro] (9)