Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Something about this party didn't feel right to Hinata.

True, most of the others that he could see around him looked like they were having fun. Owari, good as her word, had gone right for the food and was practically crying with joy as she ate it. Hanamura had taken the opportunity to boast, while Sonia and Souda laughed and laughed at them both. Koizumi was standing at the head of that table, taking photo after photo, perfectly in her element.

But a part of him couldn’t forget what he couldn’t see. He couldn’t see outside, for one, because the windows had all been bolted shut with steel plates. He couldn’t see Nanami and Pekoyama, because Togami had assigned them to watch over the lodge entrance and the “dangerous item”-filled duralumin case, respectively. He couldn’t see Kuzuryuu, because he’d refused to come. And he couldn’t see Monobear, and when he couldn’t see Monobear it was so easy, too easy, to forget that they were all trapped on the island, with the murder of a classmate as the only way out.

And yet…he didn’t think he minded it so much, the forgetting. The threat didn’t entirely feel real, anyway. 

As he was filling his glass with orange juice, Koizumi came over with her camera in hand. Mioda threw up a peace sign, and Hinata laughed to himself as the flash went off.  It was such a normal moment, and in that moment he felt more united with these strangers than ever.

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself, Hinata-kun,” a voice said from just behind his ear. “Even if nothing much has happened yet.”

So that was where he’d been hiding all evening. He turned to face (could he call Komaeda his friend yet? He wasn’t sure how loosely he could use the word) his friend, who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. “The way I see it, not much more needs to happen,” Hinata said, holding up his glass in Komaeda’s direction.  “Don’t you want anything?”

Komaeda shook his head. “Oh, no, I’m good, thank you.”

“Are you sure? There might not be much left soon.” Hinata looked back over at Owari, who was already on her second plate, and also shot a glance at Togami, though he hadn’t moved from his position next to the duralumin case, far from the food.

“But won’t there be more tomorrow, and the next day too?” Komaeda lifted himself off the wall in one fluid motion and walked over to stand next to Hinata. “We have a Super High School Level Chef with us, after all. The possibilities are endless.”

“Well, yeah.” Hinata set his glass down. “But you put so much effort into decorating, so I thought-”

A loud, masculine grunt cut him off, and he looked to see Nidai walking away from the table, his fists clenched. He didn’t look very well, or so Hinata thought. “Hm? Nidai?” he said. “What’s wrong?”

Nidai didn’t seem to hear him. He clutched his stomach, approached Togami, and announced that he was going back to the hotel. Togami refused to let him go, leading Nidai to yell at the top of his lungs that the lodge toilet was occupied and he was about to shit himself.  “You have to go to the toilet?!” Hinata said in disbelief – all this noise just for that? - but once again neither party heard him.

Then Tanaka started shouting something about a lost earring, and Togami had to divide himself between yelling at him and yelling at Nidai. It was quite a sight – Saionji and Mioda were laughing themselves hoarse. Hinata almost wanted to join in, but the expression he saw on Togami’s face – one not simply annoyed, but frustrated, even angry – didn’t strike him as particularly funny.

He’d tried to ignore it, but Togami had been acting oddly ever since the night began. And it wasn’t just his draconian security measures, either – it was the mystery he’d set over why all the security was necessary.

(“SHIT! MY SHIT IS COMING OUT!” “Shut up and hold it!”)

Earlier, when he’d pulled Hinata away to help him confiscate every sharp object he could find in the kitchen, he’d told him that he’d developed his caution after some non-specific past experiences made it necessary. “There were people I couldn’t trust, and people who couldn’t trust me,” he’d said. “My life was like a nightmare…it is only natural my personality would be affected."

(“Heeeey, ish it really okay if I ee’ erryfing?” “D...Don't be ridiculous! At least set something aside for me!”)

Hinata didn’t want to doubt that he’d been through what he’d said, but he couldn’t really picture what kind of hardship a Super High School Level Heir could be referring to. He’d heard time and time again that money couldn’t buy you happiness, but really? A nightmare? From what Komaeda had told him, Togami had lived quite the charmed life. But still, from what he’d seen of his behavior…

(“Hey, Togami! Everyone! I'm taking another picture!”)

“You look worried,” Komaeda said suddenly.

“Eh?” Hinata turned back to face him. “No, I mean, worried isn’t the right word.”

“You don’t have to say what it is or anything.” Komaeda held his hands up. “I was just pointing it out.”

“It’s not a big deal.” (“For heaven's sake, can't you all act a little more responsibly?”) “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Then I hope it is.” Komaeda laughed softly. “Of course, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Hinata wanted to ask what Komaeda had meant, but before he could a loud beeping noise cut him short. (“Hm? What was that sound just now-”)

=====

During the half-minute that the lodge lights were out, it can be understood that this is what happened.

Togami dove to his left, opened the duralumin case, slid the night-vision goggles over his head, and looked around the room. For a second he only saw partygoers stumbling and shouting. (“Uwah, the power’s out!” “The hell happened? I can’t see nothing!” “I…it’s too dark! Everything’s too dark!”) None of them seemed to be in danger, nor did they appear to be moving with any immediate purpose –

But then he saw him. He was walking toward the empty end table, following along the cord of the lamp. Of course. He should have known. He launched himself off the floor in Komaeda’s direction, and went along fine for about three steps before his foot caught on a snag in the carpet and he fell headlong into one of the tables.

There was a crash of breaking plates, and the whole lodge seemed to shake. There were more shouts and yells than there were before – “Huh? What was that?” “Did something explode?” “No, it sounds like something collapsed! Is everyone alright?”

Hinata grabbed the edge of the table to keep himself from falling. Because of the metal plates over the windows the darkness was absolute; he couldn’t tell if someone had just stepped into a table, or if…no, he wasn’t going to think about that. He was going to keep calm and stay still. There wasn’t anything he could do right now.

Togami’s goggles had flown off his face during the impact, but he quickly found and put them on again. The table had overturned, and he, Tsumiki, and the floor were covered in food (and what a waste, he thought, what an utterly tragic waste). Tsumiki didn’t appear to be getting up, but she also didn’t appear to be dead or about to kill anyone, so he set her aside for now. He stood, slipped, found his footing again, and looked up over the table.

Komaeda couldn’t have planned everything. He couldn’t see anyone, didn’t know what was in the duralumin case, didn’t know what Hanamura had planned, if anything at all, and especially didn’t know if, perhaps struck with his same mad desire for hope, any other student might have planned something even larger and grander. Wouldn’t that be a surprise – but no, he thought as he approached the table, not really. His own pathetic plan would surely pale in comparison to anything Hanamura or any of his other exalted classmates could do.

So when the table collapsed and he heard a soft “Yipe!” from under the floorboards, he smiled a small smile to himself. This much, he knew, he could count on.

After a wink, smile, and wave to whoever might be watching (and he hoped, more than he felt was his share for the last moments of his life, that someone was watching), he lifted the cloth, slid under the table, and took the knife out from under its glowing tape.

=====

“Hey, everyone! Where are you? T...This power outage... it isn't just in the kitchen?”

“Could someone perhaps have flipped the circuit breakers?”

“W...Wait here! I'll use the walls as a guide and-”

“KOMAEDA!”

The lights flickered back on with a loud ka-chack! Hinata squinted against the sudden brightness, and lifted his hand to his forehead to cut the glare.

One of the tables had indeed collapsed, and its contents had fallen all over the floor and also everyone nearby. Tsumiki was lying spread-eagled at the foot of the table, crying loudly. Souda was near the door, kicking at the wall, and Owari had half a chicken leg sticking out of her mouth and looked about as confused as Hinata did.

The others, all spattered to varying degrees with Hanamura’s cooking, were running in Hinata’s direction. They were all yelling over each other: “What’s going on?” “Where’s Komaeda-san?” “Togami, what are you wearing?”

Hinata spun round, and Togami ran past him as he did. His suit was soaked in food grease, and he was wearing the most bizarre headgear Hinata had ever seen in his life. He almost asked him what was going on, but if he wasn’t listening to any of the others he knew he wouldn’t listen to him.

He stopped at the empty table just behind Hinata, which had nothing on it but a lamp, and grabbed the edge of the tablecloth. “I know you’re under there,” he growled. “There’s no use –”

He pulled the cloth away, sending the lamp crashing to the ground – and then all Hinata could see was blood. Blood on the tablecloth as it flew by his face, blood soaking into the floorboards and dripping through the gaps…and blood creeping through the back of Nagito Komaeda’s jacket as he lay face-down and motionless under the table, right next to a bloodstained knife.

=====

Hinata was the first to scream, and he screamed long and loud.

He didn’t want to look, he didn’t want to believe it, but at the same time he couldn’t look away.  It was impossible, completely impossible – it had to be a bad dream, but he wasn’t waking up – Komaeda – his friend was – Komaeda – someone had - !

The anger in his chest was clouding his brain; he was only dimly aware of everything else going on around him. Sonia burst into tears, Koizumi screamed and clutched at her face, Tanaka howled, Nidai roared, and Mioda foamed at the mouth and swooned. Souda and Hanamura ran over from the door, yelling over each other. Tsumiki scrambled up from the floor, her indignation giving way to a loud wail of shock, and Owari charged from the opposite direction, looking more determined than anything else. “I knew it,” she yelled on the way. “I knew I smelled blood!”

Togami removed the goggles with his free hand and set them on the ground, next to the tablecloth. His expression, now that Hinata could see it, was far from sad or angry – it looked blank, almost hollow. He knelt to the floor, reached under the table, pressed two fingers against Komaeda’s neck, and waited. After a second, he lifted them and pressed them down again, harder this time.

“How…?” he was saying to himself. “Why…how…?”

“Upupupu, what’s this? Do you really think he might be alive, Togami-kun?”

Hinata stumbled backward and yelped – against all reason, Monobear had appeared right at his feet. He ignored Hinata and sauntered in Togami’s direction. “I mean, usually the giant stab wounds would convince most people,” he said. “But you’re just hoping for a miracle, aren’t you?”

Togami set Komaeda down, but did not turn to look at Monobear. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he said in a monotone. “Nanami and Monomi are supposed to be keeping you out-”

“Silly, silly Togami-kun. Bears don’t need front doors to enter buildings. They come and go when and where they please!” Monobear laughed. “But let’s not waste any more time.” He motioned up at the nearby screen, where a pre-recorded announcement of Komaeda’s death had just started. “You bastards have a trial to prepare for, after all!”

A whirlwind of activity followed his words. Shouts of anguish intermixed with vocal denials that anything like this could happen. Pekoyama, Nanami, and Monomi arrived – spurred by the announcement, no doubt – and added their own voices of shock to the mix. Monomi begged them not to listen to Monobear, but even if Monobear hadn’t punched her in the face Hinata wasn’t sure it would have made a difference. Monobear vanished soon after, leaving everyone to talk over each other in confusion.

“I-Investigation?!” Koizumi was still digging into her cheeks with her fingernails. “I don’t understand…why?”

“Even if one of us did kill him...” Sonia shivered. “How could I possibly accept sending another one of us to their deaths?”

“Yeah! How can Monobear force us to do this?!” Souda yelled. “How do we not have another choice?”

Most everyone else was going on in the same vein, but for a few. Nidai had run off somewhere. Saionji was silent, but trembled with anger. Togami still knelt by the body, his face invisible to the rest. Hinata found himself as a loss for words. He wanted to deny the situation, just like everyone else, he didn’t WANT to treat Komaeda’s death this way, but –

“Why are you all still carrying on?” 

Togami stood as he spoke, and turned to face the rest. He had something of his usual look of haughty condescension, but there was a noticeable tension in his voice and in his bearing. “Do you really think that denying this situation is going to fix anything?”

His words cut some of the noise, but most everyone still looked shocked and confused. “B-but…” Hanamura trembled, and rubbed his hands together. “There’s no way anyone could have… I-It’s just a dream, or an illusion…or…”

“You don’t, do you?” Togami continued as if Hanamura had not spoken. “You only want to. We all do. But ignoring the truth solves nothing.” He clenched a fist. “Komaeda is dead. One of us killed him. If we don’t find his killer, the rest of us will be in danger as well. Therefore, finding his killer is our first priority. If you feel the need to grieve, you’ll have to do it later.”

Tsumiki burst into tears, and most everyone else, Hinata included, looked as though they felt quite uncomfortable – apart from Mioda, who let out a loud whoop and clapped enthusiastically. Pekoyama was the only one that spoke up directly. “Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh, Togami?”

“Of course I think it’s harsh. But it’s what has to be done. Haven’t I said that already?”

“B-but…” Monomi shivered, and held her head in her hands. Hinata hadn’t noticed that she was still there. “You really shouldn’t suspect each other…how can you suspect your friends…?”

“Are you trying to get us all killed? We can’t think like that anymore.” Togami pointed forward. “There will be no more of this. We must hurry and gather all the information we can.”

“But-but-” Hanamura continued stammering, and Monomi was fretting as usual, but Togami’s words were having an effect on most everyone else, Hinata included. As painful as it was, they were, at the moment, locked under Monobear’s power. They had no choice but to play under his rules, at least until they found a way to twist them.

For a moment he thought of saying something, of expressing his support despite his shock, but Saionji took the chance away from him. “I actually think Mr. Porkfeet’s the only one in here making any sense,” she said.

“Well, thank you.” Togami looked rather surprised. “But-”

“But if we are going to investigate, he’s also pretty suspicious, don’t you think?”

Everyone in the room looked at Saionji, then over at Togami, whose expression was unreadable. “Go on?” he said.

“If anyone here actually had any brains they’d be thinking real hard about all the weird things you’ve been doing,” Saionji said. “First you set up this party and forced us all into one place. Then you frisked us like some kind of pervert, so it’s not like any of us have any weapons except you. And then the power goes out, and you just happen to have a pair of night-vision goggles?”

The room erupted with talk. “That is pretty suspicious, isn’t it?” “How did she know those were night-vision goggles? Are they really?” “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it!” For a split second Hinata believed Saionji – the knife lying by Komaeda’s body did look somewhat like the ones he’d seen with Togami in the kitchen. But if it was true, if it had all been a long con…his imagination was poised and ready, but something in the back of his mind told him not to jump to conclusions without solid evidence.

“No, that isn’t – how could you think – this is utterly ridiculous –” Togami paused, and took a deep breath. “No, no, that won’t do. Considering the situation, I do look suspicious to you. You probably don’t understand my actions, and right now I can’t explain them completely. But I assure you, everything I did, I did to keep this party safe.”

He turned to Saionji. “Everything I confiscated is locked in the lodge office. The key is still in the duralumin case where I left it. I didn’t know that the power would go out. I didn’t know what would happen. If you look in the case, you’ll see that I was prepared for any non-lethal confrontation. I have no need to defend myself any further.”

Saionji grunted. She didn’t look particularly convinced, and neither did anyone else. Hinata had a flash of inspiration. “I don’t think you killed Komaeda,” he said. “If you had, wouldn’t you be covered in blood, just like him?”

“Yeah, he’s right!” Mioda piped in. “And killing in a white suit goes against all logic! You’d have to wear black or red, right?”

“I… appreciate the thought, but none of us appear to be covered in blood,” Togami said, as a hot flush of embarrassment burned at the back of Hinata’s neck. “But at least we no longer have a one-track mind about who the killer might be. So I suggest we –”

“Ah, before that, I have a question,” Nanami said. “If you had those night-vision goggles, Togami-kun, wouldn’t that mean that you saw what was going on when it was dark?”

“W-what kind of a question is that?” Hanamura shouted. “He could say anything! How can we trust him?”

“Simple,” Togami said. “You can’t. But to answer you, Nanami, I could indeed see what was going on. And I suppose I should say that the table collapse had nothing to do with the murder.” He paused. “That was me. I tripped on the carpet and fell into the table.”

Nidai snorted with laughter – Hinata hadn’t realized that he’d returned – and Souda, Saionji, and Mioda covered their faces before they could make any sound. Togami ignored it all. “But nothing I saw would lead, one way or another, to the identity of Komaeda’s killer,” he went on. “And even if it did… well, I think I would keep that to myself until the trial. We can’t give the killer a chance to defend themselves by telling them things that might implicate them. So I think you should all be careful not to reveal too much to each other in your investigations. And in that vein, at least two people should keep watch over the body. I don’t want it tampered with.”

“I-I’ll do it…” Koizumi held her hand to her heart. “I’m no good in investigations, and if I can do something to help…”

“And I really should examine the body further.” Tsumiki shivered as she looked at Komaeda.

“Then you’ll do well, both of you.” Togami pointed towards the door. “Now, let us begin!”

“Indeed, substantial one, for we have little time to lose.” Tanaka struck a pose. “For the sake of the continued well-being of the universe, the Devildog Earring must be found!”

He was the first to dash out of the room, laughing maniacally. Everyone else filed out somewhat more slowly, and Hinata followed them, leaving only Koizumi, Tsumiki, and Togami behind.

=====

The victim’s body was discovered at the main hall of Hotel Mirai’s old lodge.

The time of death was around 11:30 PM.

The cause of death was stabbing with a sharp object. The victim was stabbed multiple times in the region between the abdomen and the throat…

Hinata had read the text countless times, and each read just made his lack of insight more depressing. So instead he looked at the silhouette of Komaeda, which highlighted his wounds in pink, and studied it as he walked.

He’d investigated just about everywhere he could think to. He’d found a bloody sheet and several irons plugged in in the storage closet, a set of fire doors just outside the hall, and Nanami and Tanaka rooting around outside, looking for some way to get under the lodge to get Tanaka’s earring (because, Hinata thought, that really is top priority right now). He’d talked to everyone he could find, as well. Most of them couldn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know, but Nidai had boasted about how he’d finally made it to the bathroom, and Nanami had told him that, while Kuzuryuu had come by during the party, she hadn’t seen him since the body discovery announcement.

The body itself hadn’t revealed much new, but he did see a strip of duct tape on the top of the table painted glowing green, and the same green paint on the knife. He guessed that this would have helped the culprit see the hidden weapon in the dark, but then Tsumiki informed him that Komaeda had been stabbed with a long, thin blade, too thin to have been the knife, and that he had more wounds on his stomach than on his back.

He didn’t know what to make of it at the time, but he was beginning to make a connection with something Togami had said – that he couldn’t identify Komaeda’s killer. If there were more wounds on his stomach, there was every chance that, despite all reason, he had been stabbed from below. This made sense with the bloody sheet and the gaps in the floor - but how could the killer have gotten down below to stab him? How did they know when, in the darkness? And for that matter, no matter how they’d done it, who was the killer? He had absolutely no idea. And the knife…where had the knife come into play?

He’d reached the office, the one room in the lodge he hadn’t searched yet. He could hear muffled voices coming from inside, which was a good sign, he thought – it meant that something inside was stirring up conversation. He turned the knob, opened the door –

“You weren’t here? How could you not have been here?”

And swung it back again, leaving it open only a crack. He could see a tiny sliver of the room, and in that sliver he saw Togami and Pekoyama standing under what looked like a large lever, set high into the wall. Togami had his back to the door, but Pekoyama looked quite distressed. “It was out of my control, Togami,” she said. “I didn’t intend to leave the room unguarded.”

“But you could’ve come and told someone you were leaving. They could have taken over for you. Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t have time. I don’t know why I have to explain myself to you.” Pekoyama gritted her teeth.

“All of our lives are on the line, Pekoyama. If the culprit managed to get in here under your watch-”

“I told you it was out of my control!” Pekoyama’s eyes flashed – then flicked to the door. Hinata didn’t feel like being discovered eavesdropping, especially not by a Super High School Level Swordswoman, so he threw the door open.

“Oh, I, uh, didn’t know you guys were in here,” he said, entirely too loudly.

“Hinata?” Pekoyama looked legitimately surprised to see him, thankfully.

“Have you found anything?” Togami turned to face Hinata, folding his arms across his stomach.

“Nothing new, no.” Hinata grinned. “How about you guys?”

“Monobear came in a few moments ago.” Pekoyama folded her arms as well. “He was the one who turned the power back on, or so he says.”

“But we still don’t know who turned it off.” Togami pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Pekoyama was…not here at the time of the blackout.”

“Togami, as I attempted to tell you, I don’t see any signs that anyone tried to reach the circuit breakers –” Pekoyama stopped suddenly, and clutched her stomach. “I…uh… I have to…”

Togami nodded, and Pekoyama dashed out of the room. They stood in awkward silence until they were sure she was out of earshot, and then Hinata turned to Togami. “Is she okay?” he asked.

“It would appear not.” Togami looked back up at the circuit breaker, and Hinata followed his gaze. Right next to the switch was an air conditioner, turned up all the way. Hinata shivered – and then realized something.

“I found a bunch of irons plugged in in the storage closet,” he said. “That, combined with the air conditioners coming on…”

“Would be enough to cause a blackout.” Togami put his hand to his chin. “That must have been the noise we heard. I thought you said you had nothing new to share.”

“It wasn’t really something I saw,” Hinata admitted. “I figured it out when I saw the air conditioner in here.”

“Very well. One of us should inform Pekoyama, the next time we see her.” Togami paused, and lowered his voice. “Perhaps I was too rough on her,” he said. “But there’s nothing to be done about that now...”

“I’m sure there is,” Hinata said, but Togami didn’t respond. Hinata had the sneaking suspicion he had been talking to himself, not to him.

After another moment, he noticed Hinata was still there. “Do you need anything else?”

Yeah, he thought, some real answers, though he wasn’t sure whether he was thinking of the murder or of what Togami had said in the kitchen, a moment that felt a million miles removed from him now. “Togami,” he said, “You said if you knew anything, you’d keep it to yourself until the trial. Are you hiding something?”

Togami was silent for a long time. “I will tell you everything at the trial,” he said. “It’s not anything particularly vital for your investigation.”

That didn’t make any sense to Hinata, but it was clear Togami wasn’t going to back down from his position. He had turned away again; something about him seemed distant, or distracted. “I…should get back to work,” Hinata said awkwardly.

“I will tell you one thing, Hinata,” Togami said suddenly. “I did not see anyone else get under the table, nor did I see anyone leave it.”

Hinata had already figured this out. Komaeda had been stabbed from below, after all. “Well, yeah,” he said. “But…why was he under the table at all? Did someone chase him under?"

“Hinata…” Togami’s shoulders shifted. “Komaeda was your friend, wasn’t he?”

“Well…” Hinata thumbed the Monobear File in his hands. “I only knew him for three days, but I’d say he was –”

The screen in the room lit up and began playing another message – it was time for the trial to begin. “Well, that’s a matter for another time,” Togami said. “Go ahead of me, Hinata. I have some business to attend to.”

Business? Hinata was suspicious, but he didn't press the matter – he nodded and left the room instead. He encountered Sonia and Tanaka in the hallway and walked with them out of the lodge. He tried to keep calm and lose himself in the conversation – Tanaka had found his earring, it seemed, and Sonia was eating up his story of how he’d battled a Pomeranian to get it. Neither of them were talking about the murder. He didn’t even know if either of them might know who the killer was.

When they got to the designated spot, everyone was there, apart from Togami. Even Kuzuryuu was there, standing apart from the group with his arms folded. Hinata attempted to ask him why he hadn’t joined the investigation, and he was told to fuck off in response. All things told Hinata didn’t really suspect him - Nanami hadn’t seen him go in, after all - but he could see Saionji and Souda giving him the stinkeye.

He wondered if any one of them looked more nervous than the other. Or what Komaeda’s murderer was thinking. Or what Komaeda would think of all this, were he alive. But of course, if he had been, nothing like this would be happening at all. They’d still be at the party, still united, still safe…

Soon Togami showed up, apologizing for his lateness. He told Pekoyama what Hinata had said about the power overload, then asked Kuzuryuu the same question Hinata had and got the same response. Soon enough Monobear and Monomi showed up – the former gleeful, the latter weeping. Monobear somehow produced an escalator from a nearby mountain, which they all used to enter an elevator, which creaked and shuddered as it fell down, down, down into the mountain.

No one said a word. Hinata could see a few signs of grief from some – Mioda’s moans, Owari’s stern expression, Sonia’s wistful frown – but others, particularly Togami, were still unreadable. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why Togami would ask whether Komaeda had been his friend. He didn’t want to think about what it might mean at all.

=====

They arrived at the trial room and were directed to their places by Monobear. Each of them had one, and there was even a framed portrait of Komaeda with a pink X through it directly in front of where Hinata stood.

Monobear sat in a throne-like chair in the middle of the room, next to a tied-up Monomi. He ran through a quick explanation of the trial, and he’d just barely finished when Togami pounced. “I believe I should start,” he said.

“Well, well! Someone’s an eager beaver!” Monobear kicked his legs up and down in his seat. “Is what you have to say really that important? Or do you just love the sound of your own voice that much?”

“I did say I would start. Not you. Stop speaking.” Togami cleared his throat. “Earlier tonight I said that, while I was able to see what was going on in the main hall during the blackout, I was not able to discover the identity of Komaeda’s killer. That is true.”

“But he was killed literally right in front of you!” Souda said.

“I know. We’ll get to that. While I do not know who killed Komaeda, this does not mean that I did not discover something important about this murder.”

“What…what does that mean?” Tsumiki stammered.

“I considered telling you right then and there, and the less simpleminded among you may have figured it out,” Togami went on. “But at the time I believed it would distract from the case at hand. I did not believe it to be relevant to finding the culprit, but whether it is or not, I believe you all have the right to know.”

“Then why are you stalling?” Kuzuryuu yelled. “Spit it out already!”

“Very well.” Togami’s voice was suddenly heavy with an emotion Hinata couldn’t place. “Based on his actions during the blackout, I believe…” He hesitated, then gritted his teeth. “I believe Komaeda was attempting murder at the time he was killed.”

Chapter Text

There was no reason he shouldn't have figured it out.

Everyone around Hinata was screaming and shouting their rage or disbelief, but he felt no need. He couldn't feel anything. Not grief, not sadness, not anger. The pieces were coming together in his mind and there was no way to stop them. The knife. The glowing paint. The blackout setup. The fact that the murderer knew when and where to strike...

“But how can that be? He was never anything but kind to anyone!” Sonia’s voice felt as though it were coming from a million miles away. He didn’t want to see it. He hadn’t wanted to see it. But then he started thinking of things that weren't evidence - Komaeda’s calmness, Komaeda’s incredible self-assurance, Komaeda asking him whether he was worried…

Nidai punched the railing of his stand, and the sound brought Hinata back to reality. “I will not believe this until I know the full truth!” he shouted. “Explain yourself, Togami!”

“Well…” Togami’s expression was neutral, but Hinata could swear his hands were shaking. “When I put the night-vision goggles on, I saw Komaeda following the lamp cord to the table. I attempted to go after him, but by the time I arrived, he had already been killed. The knife found near Komaeda’s body –”

“Must have been the murder weapon!” Mioda yelled.

“N-no…” Tsumiki said. “He was stabbed with a very thin object …”

“Precisely. It was not Komaeda’s murder weapon.” Togami did not meet Tsumiki’s eye as he spoke. “The knife was covered in glowing green paint, as was a piece of tape found on the bottom of the table. I believe Komaeda placed the knife there while he was cleaning the lodge, based on this and other factors.”

“Other factors?” Koizumi said. “That’s awfully vague.”

“I’m not withholding anything, if that’s what you think. I’m just not going to deprive a detective of his credit.” Togami looked over at Hinata. “Hinata, you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

“I…” It was right on the tip of Hinata’s tongue, but his mouth felt like lead. There were so many things he could say, but so little motivation, now, to say them.

“Would you prefer if I said it?” Togami folded his arms. “You look distressed.”

“No, no…” Hinata shook his head, and gritted his teeth. “It was…the air conditioners and the irons, wasn’t it? He triggered the blackout.”

There were more gasps of shock. “He must’ve rigged the chopstick thing, too!” Owari said.

“I knew something was suspicious about that,” Pekoyama said. “But the way he strung us along, how could anyone suspect him?”

“But if he wasn’t killed with the knife, then where IS the murder weapon?” Saionji said. “We could talk about big bro Komaeda forever and ever, but he didn’t kill himself and I don’t want to die.”

“B-b-but what if he did kill himself?” Hanamura gripped his stand and trembled. “T-t-there’s no proof he didn’t!”

“Alas, if he had, the proper instrument would be there, wouldn’t it?” Tanaka said.

“That is true,” Togami said. “And I should also mention, though you may choose whether or not to believe me, that I did not see anyone enter or exit the table but Komaeda.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Kuzuryuu said.

“The floor. The floorboards. Someone could’ve gone under,” Hinata said, barely aware that he was speaking. “That’s how.”

“But who? And when?” Togami said. “Do you have any idea, Hinata?”

“I…” Hinata tried to remember everyone he’d seen in the room after the blackout, or anything else that could possibly be evidence. Nothing was coming. He’d run out of conclusions. “No. I don’t know.”

“All the other evidence they left behind, and you don’t know?”

“No, I…I can’t remember very clearly...”

“Are you thinking about Komaeda?” Togami narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you remember what I said about letting grief get in the way-”

“Togami-kun, that’s enough.” Nanami’s voice was soft, but it still brought the conversation to a halt. “There are fifteen of us here. There’s no need to drop all the responsibility on Hinata-kun.”

“That’s not what I was doing.” Togami folded his arms.

“I know that. You wanted information. But Hinata-kun’s told us all he can, and there’s no reason to bring up Komaeda-kun anymore. We need to focus on finding the culprit for now.” She turned to face Tanaka.  “Tanaka-kun, how did you find your earring again?”

=====

Compared to the hullaballoo around Komaeda, the task of finding his killer was more straightforward than it had seemed. Tanaka’s earring (“You mean the Devildog Earring?” Tanaka insisted twice) had fallen into the crawlspace under the lodge, which Tanaka had entered through a secret passageway in the storage room. This revelation led to several more, namely confirmation that the killer must have known about Komaeda’s plot in order to move during the blackout.

The discussion loosened Hinata up a little. He soon concluded that, in order to find the trapdoor, the killer must have needed a light source. This led Togami to recall the portable stove he’d found in the kitchen – and that, faster than anything, led suspicion to fall on Hanamura.

Hinata wasn’t sure which was ghastlier: what he’d learned about Komaeda before, or what he, in those next few moments, learned about Hanamura. He grew more and more frantic, and his speech less and less intelligible, with every offense mounted against him. The murder weapon in particular was the subject of much debate – but in a flash of inspiration, Hinata brought up the missing skewer.

When he did, a change came over Togami’s face. His eyes widened, and his mouth hardened to a thin line. “Hanamura,” he said, “you told Hinata and I that the fifth skewer was missing. Where was it?”

“TH’NOFIFSCKR!” Hanamura shouted. (“There’s no fifth skewer,” Monomi said.)

“There was a fifth skewer and you know it.” Togami slammed his fist on the trial stand. “I searched every inch of that kitchen. Where could it possibly have been?”

“NWHR!” (“Nowhere!”)

“No, it wasn’t. It was…” Hinata tried to remember what he’d seen in the kitchen, anywhere the skewer could have been hidden – and one large object leapt out at him. “It was the meat.” He tried to look at Togami, and not at Hanamura. “He hid the skewer in the meat on a bone.”

If Togami had been shocked before, it was nothing compared to now. His face froze, and he gripped his trial stand with both hands. He hardly moved as the others debated whether this could be done, and didn’t even turn to look as the meat was produced and eaten by Monobear. “That can’t be,” he repeated, too quietly for anyone to hear. “It was right there…I passed right over it…”

“I think we’ve heard all we need to hear!” Monobear said, waving his paw. “Now, please use the switches in front of you to vote! Oh, and I won’t have anyone refusing to vote! If you do that, I’ll feed you to the Monobeasts!”

It was interesting, in a twisted sort of way, to see who voted when. Kuzuryuu, Tanaka, Owari, Souda, and Saionji pressed their hands down immediately. Nidai, Pekoyama, Sonia, and Koizumi hesitated for a moment, perhaps while they thought about what they were doing, before hitting the button. Hinata knew he couldn’t wait any longer – he was the next to vote, for Hanamura, of course. Mioda and Tsumiki came after, both looking heartbroken. Hanamura moaned, long and loud, before he too voted – for whom, Hinata could not tell. Once he had, Nanami lowered her head and pressed her own button.

There was a tense pause. Hinata was just wondering why nothing was happening when Monobear leapt up. “Togami-kun,” he singsonged, “What did I just finish saying?”

Togami didn’t answer. He continued staring at the switches, his face twitching with anger.

“You may not believe this, but I really don’t want to have to kill you, Togami-kun.” Monobear sat back down, and slouched against his seat. “There’s no pomp, no circumstance, no point to it at all! You don’t really want to throw your life away for something that abstract and immovable, do you?”

When there was still no response, Monobear laughed. “So there we have it! And what will they do without your amazing leadership, I wonder-”

“Enough.” Togami slammed his hand hard on the switch. “It’s done. You can stop.”

=====

“Upupupupu, I’m very impressed with you! By a unanimous vote, the student who killed Nagito Komaeda is…Teruteru Hanamura!”

Monobear leapt and danced in his chair, and Hanamura shrieked and wailed louder than before, denying his guilt with every breath. The rest of the courtrooms’ occupants looked about as numb as Hinata felt. Mioda fidgeted wildly with her hair. Koizumi bit her lip and held her hand over her eyes. Nidai didn’t even attempt to hide that he was weeping, while Tsumiki looked remarkably dry-eyed. Togami was looking down, and his hair had fallen over his face. His nails were digging ridges in the trial stand.

Hinata couldn’t take his eyes off Hanamura. He hadn't been particularly close to him, but he’d never once thought him capable of murder. Why this had happened, he couldn’t imagine, but he didn’t have to wonder for long. Nidai asked Hanamura, tears still streaming down his face, just why he had done it, so he told them what he’d found Komaeda doing, and what Komaeda had said to him.

"If not tonight, it’ll happen tomorrow. Or the day after. I don’t care how long it takes... I will start this mutual killing... no matter what.”

With the urgency of the trial, no one had had any time or desire to consider Komaeda’s motive, least of all Hinata. He’d figured he’d just wanted to get off the island, like Monobear had said he could.

“I love every one of you ‘Super High-school Level’ students. I revere the ‘symbols of hope’…I don't want you to lose to something like mutual killing…”

He wasn’t prepared for this. He couldn’t comprehend it. He could understand desperation, or fear, but the logic entering his brain was beyond his understanding. It was impossible to imagine Komaeda could say anything like this. Komaeda was his friend, Komaeda could never…but he could, and Hinata was hearing the proof.

“The stronger the despair that stands in its way, the stronger everyone's hope becomes. Isn't that so? I want to make your hope shine... That's all there is to it...The thing I desire is the strongest hope -- the hope that can crush all despair!

No one was numb anymore. They were terrified. Tanaka muttered to himself in confusion. Sonia cried out, saying just how horrific this was to hear. They were two of the few; most, like Hinata, were silently running through memories of Komaeda in their minds, trying to find any sign, any justification for what they were hearing. “Is this real?” Hinata felt himself mouthing. “Is this…really real…?”

“Is that what you think? You think... I'm a little crazy? But... isn't that what love is all about?”

“He was…” Hanamura shook with a fresh wave of anguish. “He was a m-monster… a-and I thought…if I could stop him…I…I…could…p-protect…everyone…”

“Really? Really?” Monobear laughed so hard Hinata thought he might fall out of his chair. “What a little liar we’ve got! That, or just an idiot. Go on, Hanamura-kun. Tell us why you really wanted to kill someone. Anyone.”

Togami’s head snapped up. Hanamura cried harder than ever, but the motive that came out through his tears was somehow…simple, compared to what they’d heard from Komaeda. Lost memories. An ill mother. It was almost a relief.

Soon Hanamura could no longer speak. He simply stood at his post, crying and crying as everyone looked on, many with tears in their own eyes. Hinata didn’t feel any coming. After all that had happened, he didn’t know what to feel at all.

“How awful, how awful! Don’t you all think so? I see you do!” Monobear was sitting lopsided in his chair, tapping his paw against the banister. “But now that everyone’s had their quaint little moments of truth, it’s time for –”

“Hanamura.”

Everyone looked at Togami, and as they watched he released his grip on the trial stand, stood up straight, and pushed his hair out of his face. His expression was unlike any other in the room, as it looked neither fearful nor upset. Hinata might have called it determined, but for an unusual hollowness in his eyes.

“Yes, yes,” Monobear said, waving his paw, “it’s time for Hanamura to –”

“Hanamura,” Togami said, turning to face him, “if I have any time before that bear keeps talking, there are a few things I need you to clear up for me.”

“Hey! That’s Monobear to you!” Monobear raised a shaking fist.

Hanamura looked at Togami, then at Monobear, then back at Togami. His wails had stopped, but tears still slid down his face. He nodded vigorously, and Togami returned the nod in acknowledgement.

“Thank you,” he said. “Your murder…you chose Komaeda above any of us to kill because of his behavior towards you, correct?”

Hanamura rubbed his hands together nervously. “Ha…hoawawa...”

“A simple yes or no will do.”

“Yes, no, I mean, yes!” Hanamura looked down at his hands, as if in awe that they were still moving, that he was still living.

“And by extension, you decided to kill because of Monobear’s motive, didn’t you?”

“I…I…” Hanamura looked over at Monobear, who was tapping his paw ever faster. “I don’t r-r-really understand w-what you’re doing, here…”

“Yeah, neither do I,” Kuzuryuu interrupted. “What do you think you’re trying to pull?”

“It looks like he’s stalling,” Souda said.

Togami shot them a look, and then turned back. “If you can answer any of my questions, Hanamura, then answer this one. Without Monobear’s input, or even without Komaeda’s, do you think your concerns for your mother would have affected you to the point you would kill for them?”

“Th…” Hanamura was now rapidly slamming his fist into his palm. “Th-that’s an unfair question…it d-didn’t happen that way at all…”

“Then let me try again,” Togami said. “If anything had stopped you, any hitch in the plan…perhaps the discovery of your weapon, or the assurance that there were other routes of escape, other ways to find out what had happened…” Much to Hinata’s surprise, his voice had grown thick with emotion. “Do you think you would have attempted the murder again? Ever?”

“Other ways…” Hanamura’s hand stopped. “B-but…what? What was I supposed to do? Huh?! It would’ve taken…t-too m-much time…!” Despite his words, Hinata could see that something had changed in Hanamura’s expression. Was it regret? He wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t.

“I see…that was all I needed to hear. Thank you.” Togami looked askance for a short period of time, enforcing an uncomfortable silence.

“Your cooking was excellent,” he finally said. “Truly worthy of your title. I’m going to miss it, I know. But I hope, for the sake of everyone else, that you continue to improve.”

“Continue to improve…?” Hinata wondered aloud. “What are you talking about-”

Before Hinata could finish his sentence, Togami turned to face Monobear and Monomi, folding his arms. “Monobear, there is no need to execute Hanamura. I volunteer myself to go in his place.”

For a second, one could hear a pin drop in the courtroom. Then, all at once, everyone exploded.

“Volunteer?” Owari slammed her fist on the trial stand. “What? What the hell?!”

“The darkness of the soul…required to even fathom such a thing…!” Tanaka’s voice was distorted with shock.

 “Nononononononononono…” Mioda clawed at her face, her eyes wide with terror. “Nononononononono…”

“Wha…wha…” Hanamura shook more than ever. A wild grin was fighting its way to his face, but he held it back with a shout. “WHAYE THINK YE’DOIN?!”

“Exactly what I said,” Togami said, folding his arms. “I trust I don’t need to repeat myself, Monobear?”

“Hm…volunteer, huh…” Monobear made a show of tapping his paw against his chin, then lifted that paw high in the air. “Okay!” he said cheerfully.

Hanamura made a soft, keening noise and shook violently, but everyone else’s shouts doubled in volume. Hinata felt so numb, so out of touch with whatever he might be feeling, that everyone else’s emotions became crystal clear to him. Sadness, fear, anger, confusion…they were all there inside him, but he didn’t know which ones to assign to anyone else.

“But you didn’t do anything!” he finally shouted. “It’s like you said, isn’t it? Monobear and, and Komaeda - they’re the ones responsible!”

“Togami-kun, you’re not under any obligation to do this,” Monomi said, looking down on him with concern. “Pwease reconsider…”

“None of the rest of us feel the need to sacrifice ourselves.” Pekoyama was clearly trying to sound stern, but her face betrayed her horror. “Do you even understand – ?”

“Of course he doesn’t!” Kuzuryuu shouted with such force that Hinata could see a tiny vein throbbing in his forehead. “He thinks he’s better than us. That’s what this is about, isn’t it?!”

“What I think is a matter between me and myself, and I’ve considered as much as I need.” Togami kneaded his temples. “Monobear, can we begin soon?”

“Sure thing, Togami-kun! Just step on over here and I’ll – GNAAAAHH!” Monobear leapt forward, baring his claws in Togami’s face. “Did you really think I was going to let you do something so STUPID?”

The silence fell again. Everyone’s eyes were on Togami. He’d flinched slightly at the claws, but now he stood motionless as Monobear jumped up and down in his seat. “The rules are very clear – only the culprit gets executed!” he shouted. “No one else! No heroic sacrifices or last-minute martyrs or anything! None! No negotiations! NOTHING!”

He sat back in his seat in a huff. Hinata could hear someone hyperventilating to his left, and knew immediately that it was Hanamura, but he couldn’t look at him, or away from this. Togami turned slowly to face the rest, and his expression surprised Hinata – he looked sad, defeated. He took a deep breath, and lowered his head. “I suppose it was worth a shot,” he said softly.

“Worth a shot…?” Koizumi shook with anger. “Is that all you can say?”

“Yes, Koizumi, yes it is.” Togami looked at Hanamura again. “I’m…sorry.”

“Y…you…” Hanamura had gone very, very quiet. He sniffled many times before he could continue. “You…”

“This could have been avoided.” Togami looked at the floor as he spoke, and Hinata could only just hear his words. “If you had come to me, I would have been willing to listen to your concerns. I could have told you that we would work together to find a way to restore your memories and find information about your mother. For you, and for everyone here right now who is afraid of anything at all, I would have doubled and redoubled my efforts-”

“Arrgggh! Why do you keep assaulting my ears with all these speeches, speeches, speeches, speeches?” Monobear threw his hands in the air, and waved them with anger. “It’s as if you actually think you’re an important character or talent or human being! Nope, I’m done, I’ve decided. Done listening to people who think they’re in charge. I think it’s time I showed you bastards who really was.”

“No…” Monomi sobbed. “No…no…this isn’t right at all…”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion, little sister, or your existence at that. When you were born I begged our mother to have some good sense, and sell you rather than raise you, and yet she insisted on raising you! What’s the sense in that? But I digress.” Monobear grinned. “Teruteru Hanamura, it is now time for your punishment…!”

=====

“Upupupupu! EXTREME! What an explosive beginning to our island life! And it went off without a hitch, I’d say…”

If Monobear said anything else, Hinata blocked it out. Just when he thought things couldn’t sink any lower, just when the thought of the actual execution had gotten lost in the trial, it had happened, and it had been far worse than he’d imagined. It had been comical. Unrealistic. Cartoonish to the point where he could hardly comprehend that Hanamura had really just been killed.

All around him, emotions ran high. Some were in tears, others looked about ready to punch Monobear, and the rest looked neutral, almost hollow. Hinata was sure this fit with how he felt, even though he could feel the anger boiling in his bones.

Kuzuryuu was the first to strike, demanding their memories back from Monobear. Monobear gave an answer that amounted to laughing in their faces and vanished, closely followed by Monomi when they posed the same question to her.

Everyone began talking at once. Souda was convinced Monobear and Monomi were working together, and was talking loudly and enthusiastically about it to Sonia, who was politely disagreeing. Owari announced that she was going to beat Monobear’s ass and was inviting anyone who felt the same to join her; Mioda agreed enthusiastically, while Nidai attempted to talk her down with little success. Hinata ended up contributing smaller pieces to larger topics – “They do look pretty similar”, to Souda’s, or “I don’t think that’s going to work,” to Owari’s. He did get into a conversation with Tsumiki about how unbelievable it was that Komaeda had done what he had, but it ended up falling apart when she interrupted him to apologize for wasting his time.

Nanami was the next person he spotted after that. She was looking outside the circle, where Togami stood. Hinata hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t participating, and neither had anyone else – or so it seemed until he saw Koizumi make a split second’s awkward eye contact with him before biting her lip and looking away.

When Hinata looked back at Nanami, she had just turned away from Koizumi. As he watched, she walked over to Sonia and stood on tiptoes to whisper something in her ear. Sonia’s eyes went wide when she finished. “Well, of course,” she said softly, “But are you sure we’re the right people for it?”

“Huh?” Souda said. “What’s this all about?”

Nanami said something Hinata couldn’t hear. Souda’s eyes went wide, and he grinned awkwardly at them and said something else. Nanami nodded and turned away. “I understand. We’ll be right back, Souda-kun.”

Nanami and Sonia walked away from the crowd and over to Togami. For a moment Hinata wanted to join them, but a split second’s hesitation locked him out of the situation as Nanami approached Togami. “Ah, Togami-kun,” she said. “Are you alright?”

Hinata could swear Togami looked startled, but not for long. His eyes narrowed, and he folded his arms across his stomach. “Why are you asking?”

“We…” Nanami put her finger to her chin, but when she didn’t speak again for several seconds, Sonia jumped in. “We were concerned, Togami-san,” she said. “You’re over here by yourself, after all.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Togami said. “Shouldn’t you already know the answer? You’re not “alright” either, are you?”

“Well, no. Not at all,” Sonia said. “To have two of our friends die so horribly, and for Komaeda to behave in such a way…but that’s another matter. You, in particular…” She bit her lip. “My Japanese isn’t very good. I fear saying it wrong…but you seemed rather forward, back there...”

Your Japanese is better than mine half the time, Hinata thought – but he’d save that comment for later. He knew exactly what Sonia was trying to say, because it was exactly what had been on his mind. He stepped forward. “I think what she means is, you jumped at the chance to sacrifice yourself. That’s not…really normal.”

 “Hinata…” For a moment Hinata thought Togami looked surprised, but then it passed, and his scowl returned. “Hmph,” he said. “Is that all?”

“Is that all?” Sonia looked quite stern. “Togami-san, your life is-”

“Important? Of course it is,” Togami said. “My name is Byakuya Togami. By my nature, fiscally and intellectually and cosmically, my life is worth more than most others. Wouldn’t it make sense, then, for me to forfeit my life for a noble cause?”

This didn’t make a lick of sense to Hinata – it was actually kind of making his head spin – and Sonia was looking quite confused herself. “Whatever you perceive your life to be worth matters less than a monkey’s uncle,” she said. “This cannot be sensible in any situation!”

“Any situation? I’m surprised you’re reacting this way, Sonia Nevermind.” Togami stepped closer to Sonia. “As the princess of Novoselic, I would think that you, more than anyone, would understand. Under the right circumstances, wouldn’t you be willing to die for even one of your people?”

Sonia’s eyes went wide. “Well, of course, but, I-”

“Hey! You’ve got some nerve, talking to Sonia-san that way!” Hinata did a double take – he hadn’t even noticed that Souda had been paying attention, let alone the small crowd that had gathered around him. Tanaka was stroking his chin with one hand and a hamster with the other, Kuzuryuu was scowling, Saionji was rolling her eyes, and Mioda was looking at Togami and rocking back and forth on her heels.

Sonia narrowed her eyes at Souda. “Souda-san, it’s really alright-”

“Not to me it ain’t.” Kuzuryuu folded his arms and looked over at Togami with about as much malice as he could fit onto his childlike face. “I was right, wasn’t I? About you thinkin’ you’re better than the rest of us?”

Togami returned Kuzuryuu’s glare, but he didn’t look vindictive so much as exasperated. “I don’t feel like getting in an argument right now,” he said. “It’s late. We should be heading back.”

“Byakuya-chan doesn’t mean we’re going back to the party, does he?” Mioda said. “Or…”

“Do you actually think the party’s still happening?” Saionji said. “If you do, your head’s even emptier than your music.”

“Of course it isn’t happening. It’s more important now to get as much rest as we still can. We’ll regroup tomorrow.” Togami turned and walked toward the elevator. “It’s good we pulled through this. It is.”

For a moment Hinata thought this might have been a lead-in to another speech. Perhaps one about how they should unite as a group, or learn from the mistakes Komaeda or Hanamura had made. But Togami stepped into the far corner of the elevator without another word, and the rest of them followed just as silently. Hinata could only imagine what any of them were thinking.

He was the last one to leave the trial room. As he left, he passed Komaeda’s portrait, and found himself thinking of the party, and the very last moments he’d seen him alive before the room had gone dark. His serene expression remained in Hinata’s mind even as he tried to think of other things.

=====

It was three in the morning when they emerged. Some of them remained in front of the mountain, continuing their conversations, but Hinata knew that he didn’t want to be around anyone else any longer. He said a blanket good-bye to whoever happened to be listening, and headed back to his cottage.

Once inside, he kicked off his shoes, turned out the light, and threw himself onto his bed fully clothed. Twenty minutes later, he hadn’t even shut his eyes. Hanamura’s screams were filling his ears, and his execution was playing over and over again in his mind.

He grabbed the sides of his bed and yelled as loudly as he could, but it didn’t come close to drowning out the noise. He pushed himself up and punched his pillow in frustration, then punched it again, and again, and again. But then Komaeda’s face flashed in his mind, just as his fist connected with the pillow, and suddenly he couldn’t bear to touch or even be in the same room as it anymore.

He got out of bed, put his shoes back on, and headed outside, bracing himself against the chilly night air. There were no lights in the windows and no one on the boardwalk, and when Hinata laid eyes on Komaeda and Hanamura’s cottage signs he was sure he didn’t want to be there, either.

He started walking, leaving the cottages behind. He didn’t have a destination in mind at first, but when he saw the poolside in his peripheral vision, it seemed like a good one. It was tranquil, it had a good view of the stars, and it was completely deserted…or so he thought until he got there.

Togami was sitting on the beach chair farthest from the path. He had changed from his food-stained suit into a fresh one, and his wet hair suggested that he had washed the grease out of it. He didn't see Hinata at first, as he was looking up at the sky with the same unreadable expression he had slipped in and out of all night.

Hinata wasn’t sure whether or not to leave Togami to his thoughts, but before he could decide, Togami turned his head. “Hinata,” he said, his eyes wide at the sight of him. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Shouldn’t you?” Hinata walked closer, but stopped several feet away. There was a beach chair near him, but he did not sit.

“Perhaps,” Togami said. He folded his hands in his lap, and looked back up at the sky.

There was a short silence, which made Hinata feel very awkward. “If I’m interrupting you –”

“You’re not,” Togami said. “You and I are out here for the same reason, aren’t we? In that case, it’s more like you’re joining me.”

“That’s reasonable,” Hinata said. His legs were beginning to ache, likely from all the standing he’d done during the trial, so he did sit, one chair away from Togami. 

“Of course.” Togami paused. “Hinata, should I be alive right now?”

“Huh?”

“If I hadn’t tripped on the carpet, I might have reached Komaeda before he reached the knife. If that had happened, it is likely that Hanamura might have killed me, instead of Komaeda.”

“That’s…” Hinata felt his vision begin to swim at the very thought of such a scenario. “That’s a big logical leap to make. You have no way of knowing that.”

“I don’t, but that’s not the point.” Togami turned to face Hinata. He could read him all of a sudden – he looked subtly, but unquestionably, sad. “Do I have any right to be living right now, when Komaeda and Hanamura died due to my negligence?”

“Hold on.” Hinata folded his arms and leaned them against his knees. “To be honest, Togami, this all sounds like a lot of hyperbole. I don’t think you’re to blame for anything, especially not anything they did.”

“Do you really?” Togami laughed bitterly. “I suppose that would make sense to you.”

“And why just to me?”

“There’s another thing I withheld from you all during the trial. Not on purpose, but simply because there was never an opportunity to share it.” Togami reached into his suit pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and unfolded it. “I received this letter last night. I’m sure you can guess who sent it.”

Hinata looked at the message on the paper. In neat handwriting, it read: Watch out. The first murder will occur tomorrow night. It is inevitable.

“I…I can.” He not only guessed – he imagined. He saw Komaeda bidding him goodnight with a smile. He saw Komaeda taking a sheet of paper and a pen, and writing the words. Had he been smiling? Laughing? He could hardly stomach either thought.

“This letter is the entire reason I arranged tonight’s party,” Togami said. “I wanted to catch whoever wrote it, and keep everyone safe, including its writer. And yet, two deaths occurred. And why?”

He folded the letter back up. “I didn’t search any of the lodge rooms beyond the main hall and kitchen. I didn’t even know they were unlocked. If I had, I might have located and neutralized the irons and trap door. No blackout for Komaeda, no access route for Hanamura. I didn’t question the needless lamp on the needless table. If I had, there would have been no knife and no signal.”

Togami’s hands balled into fists in his lap. “And the meat on a bone…it was right there. I passed directly over it. I didn’t question Hanamura when he said one was missing. I didn’t stretch the limits of my suspicion, and because of that…”

“Togami, I was there too. I didn’t think to search it either –”

“But you weren’t responsible for everyone!” Togami rounded on Hinata, and the anger and pain in his expression were nothing like he had ever seen on his face before. He felt his own eyes widening in response.

After a second Togami jerked back, covered his head with his hand, and took several deep breaths. “I’m not…” He shook his head, took another breath, and began again. “I’m not…don’t get the wrong idea, Hinata.” He removed his hand, revealing neutral features. “This isn’t a collapse.”

“Are…you sure?” Hinata felt, more strongly than ever, like he really was intruding on something. “It’s not anything shameful –”

“Whatever you think is shameful isn’t happening,” Togami said. “Maybe your inferior mind is imagining something, but how can I expect a simple commoner’s judgment to trump my own?”

It was such a radical shift back to typical Togami behavior that Hinata was no longer sure what exactly ‘typical’ was. “Well, okay,” he said, not entirely believing it. “But…you’re not responsible for everything just because you got a letter.”

Togami looked blankly at him for a time, then at the ground. “I appreciate your attempt at input,” he said. “But this letter gave me knowledge you did not have. I could have used it to its fullest extent.” He sighed; Hinata watched his stomach rise and fall as he did so. “I could have caught them. I could have talked to them…”

“You really don’t know if that would’ve worked, though. On Hanamura, maybe, but Komaeda?” Hinata felt a twinge of tension. “The way Hanamura spoke about him…well, I don’t know. I’ll never understand what they were thinking. I’ve never had the urge to murder anyone.”

“Not even now?”

“Especially not now.”

“I see.” Togami nodded. “I hope you’re not trying to trick me.”

Something in the way Togami spoke unnerved Hinata. “Not at all,” he said.

“Good.” Togami nodded. “Don’t let him trouble you, Hinata. Much could have been different, but where is now, he can no longer hurt any of us.”

“I don’t know about that,” Hinata said.

“He’s in the past. The past only has the power we give it.” Togami shifted slightly in his chair. “Nothing I have said to you tonight is to be shared with any of the others. Do you understand?”

“I literally had no plans to say anything.”

“I would hope so.” Togami stood up. “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping any time soon. I’m going for a walk.”

“Hmm,” Hinata said.

“And it’s nothing against you, but I’d like to be alone.”

“Hmmm.” Hinata hadn’t had any intention of following him in the first place. “I’ll…try to go back to bed, then.”

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, Hinata.”

Togami walked away from the poolside and towards the beach. Hinata watched him until he disappeared into the palm trees, then got up and walked off in the opposite direction. He tried to think of what he’d just heard on the way back to his cabin, but with little success. He was very, very tired all of a sudden, and his brain was not working as well as he usually preferred.

=====

19 DAYS LEFT

Chapter Text

komaeda theater

“So how do I feel?

"Well, having a skewer shoved through your heart is unimaginably painful. But it also killed me instantly, so I didn’t feel any of the other wounds, or anything else at that. But I guess I’ve come to expect this kind of thing. Anyone else might’ve been stabbed five or six times and slowly bled to death, but once again my luck conquers all, doesn’t it? If I had I might have screamed, and then they might have found me faster, and then I might have had to look into their faces as I died.

“But really, I couldn’t be happier or more proud of you all. And I think I’m feeling very good about what I did. I guess I could be hurt that Hanamura-kun called me a monster, even after everything I’ve done to help him…but I suppose I deserve it, useless as I am. And besides, this is death, isn’t it? It’s the state of being where nothing anyone does in the world of the living can ever hurt you again. So I’ll be forgiving. I’ll understand that Hanamura-kun didn’t even realize the hope that he was invoking. And Togami-kun…don’t even get me started on him. I’ll bore you if I haven’t already!

“Teruteru Hanamura-kun, Super High School Level Chef, in that brief moment when you thought you weren’t going to die, that Togami-kun was going to take your place and you could walk free of your crime with no consequences, what were you feeling? Regret? Joy? Anger? Or was it another feeling, the one that Togami-kun sacrificed so that you could have it if for only a moment?

“But I’m not talking to Hanamura-kun. He’s gone somewhere even I can’t reach him. Perhaps a Super High School Level Medium could, though. Do you think that might be your talent, Hinata-kun? We might as well give it a sho –

=====

“Um, this is an announcement from Hope's Peak Academy's Field Trip Executive Committee... Good morning, you bastards! It’s another perfect tropical day! Let's enjoy it for all it’s worth!”

It took another moment before Hinata could find the energy to open his eyes. He could practically feel the sleep he didn’t get, but now that he was awake there was really no turning back.

He sat up, stumbled out of bed, and headed for the bathroom. He’d been dreaming, he knew. Something about Hanamura and mediums…something Komaeda had been telling him, in the dream. He couldn’t remember exactly - but he did remember Komaeda attempting to kill. And Hanamura succeeding. And the trial, and everything that came after.

He didn’t want the memories, but he could do his best to pretend they weren’t there, at least for the walk to the restaurant. He was quite hungry – dinner had been interrupted somewhat – but he was reluctant to see everyone. He knew he’d have to face them, knew life would have to go on, but “going on” didn’t feel real when it hadn’t happened yet.

Just as he’d expected, several people were at the restaurant when he arrived. Awkward hellos were exchanged as Hinata sat down to eat, but no conversation could sustain itself. Everyone knew just whose faces were missing, but no one wanted to be the first to acknowledge it – at least not until Saionji bounded in with a smile on her face.

“Eh? What’s with all the long faces?” she said once she got a good look at everyone. “Geez, it’s dead as Komaeda and Hanamura in here!”

A shiver ran down Hinata’s back at her words, and everyone else looked at least uncomfortable, but Tsumiki’s shaking was the most dramatic. “B-but…how…how can you –”

“I didn’t ask to see or hear you, ugly.” Tsumiki whimpered and apologized, but Saionji paid her no more mind. “Really, guys? Really? I don’t get it. How can you get all worked up like this over two murderers? We should be grateful they killed each other before they killed any of us.”

“While it is true that their souls have flown from us, their judgment is still at hand.” Tanaka posed dramatically, with a hamster in his hand. “Ibis awaits to weigh their sins on the scales of justice. If their hearts are lighter than the featherweight, let them pass safely to the other side, but if not –!”

“I can understand how you feel, Saionji,” Pekoyama said, ignoring Tanaka. “But in the case of Hanamura…”

“Whatever excuse you want to make, I don’t want to hear it.” Saionji gave Pekoyama a look that scared even Hinata. “Maybe you actually think that Mr. Porkfeet should have died in his place?”

The atmosphere somehow grew even thicker. Hinata hadn’t even wanted to remember what Togami had done – but now it was clearly on everyone’s minds. “No,” Pekoyama said. “That is absolutely not what I was going to say –”

“Um, I’m sorry, but s-speaking of Togami-kun…” Tsumiki spoke so quietly Hinata could hardly hear her. “He and Kuzuryuu-kun, they’re the only ones not here…”

“I saw Kuzuryuu earlier,” Pekoyama said quickly. “He’s not coming.”

“That’s not surprising. But…” Hinata looked around the restaurant again. “Is Togami really not here?”

“I think if he was we’d know by now,” Souda said.

“Yeah, but it’s weird, isn’t it?” Owari put a hand to her chin. “I wouldn’t think he’d be late for breakfast…”

“Or anything at all, at that,” Nidai said quickly. “Does anyone know where he is?”

“Not really, no,” Koizumi said. “And he calls himself our leader?”

“Ibuki knocked on his door this morning, but he didn’t answer!” Mioda said. “Maybe Ibuki didn’t knock hard enough? From now on Ibuki will always knock and yell at the same time! That way there’s no mistake!”

“No, your knocking was loud enough,” Owari said. “And I thought the Monobear announcement was bad…”

“We can check again, Mioda-san,” Nanami said. “But for now, when was the last time anyone saw Togami-kun? That might give us a clue…I think.”

Everyone’s answers were the same – they hadn’t seen Togami since they had exited the trial chamber. Before long Hinata was the last one who hadn’t spoken. Nothing I have said to you tonight is to be shared with any of the others, Togami had said, but Hinata didn’t know how far that extended, or whether what he knew would be at all helpful anyway. “I don’t know,” he said for the time being.

“Maybe he went and did himself in?” Saionji said. “He seemed pretty eager last night. Or maybe –”

“Enough, Saionji-san,” Sonia said. “We shouldn’t be making those kinds of assumptions.”

“Someone should probably go and find him, though.” Hinata looked to the stairwell. “Just to make sure he’s alright.”

“Are you volunteering, then?” Pekoyama said.

“Well…now that you’ve put me on the spot, looks like I have.” He tried to laugh it off, but the best he could manage was a strained smile. “It might take a while to comb the island by myself, though.”

“Ooh! Ibuki’ll come too!” Mioda said, already rushing for the stairs. “Can she? Can she?”

“Well, sure,” Hinata said. “I don’t know why you’d need my permission.”

“You know what, I’ll come too,” Owari said. “Anything to get away from this smell.”

“Smell?” No sooner had Hinata spoken than he suddenly realized what she was talking about – and clamped his hand over his nose as fast as he could. “Wait a minute – what IS that smell?”

The smell turned out to be coming from Saionji, who confessed in tears that she didn’t know how to tie her own obi and had thus not been bathing.  Koizumi offered to help her, but Hinata never heard Saionji’s response – Owari yelled at him to hurry up, drowning it out, and so he left the restaurant with Mioda at his heels.

=====

Once out of the building, the three of them split up. Mioda claimed the hotel grounds and beach and Owari the supermarket and airport, leaving Hinata the old lodge, the farm, and the central island. The lodge had been excluded from Mioda’s claim due to its size, but as Hinata walked towards the building he felt a bit wary of what he might find inside, and was certain Owari and Mioda had felt the same. This is where Komaeda died, he remembered with every step. And I’ll never understand why.

Still, he knew he wouldn’t be surprised if Togami were there – so he was even less surprised when the office, supply closet, bathroom, and kitchen were deserted. It took some time for Hinata to work up the nerve to open up the banquet hall – he had to tell himself quite sternly that there was nothing to fear. But when he did, he found it bare. All of the tables were gone, and all traces of the murder, including Komaeda’s body, had been completely cleaned away. Only the food-stained carpet remained as evidence that the party had ever happened at all.

Hinata turned to go, stood in the doorway for a moment, then turned right back and walked to the edge of the carpet, where Komaeda’s body had lain. He examined the floorboards and scrutinized every fiber of the carpet, looking for a strand of hair, a fleck of blood, anything that might have been Komaeda’s. But he found nothing. He stood, and put his hands in his pockets.

“I guess…I’m glad I didn’t have to see that again,” he said aloud to himself. “But where could his body have gone? And who took it?”

“Upupupu! Secrets, secrets!”

A pair of feet appeared in Hinata’s peripheral vision, and he turned to see Monobear leaning against the wall. “You,” Hinata grumbled. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Don’t you already know that, Hinata-kun?”

“I’m not really in the mood to talk to you.”

“No? Not even me, an adorable ball of fun?” Monobear laughed and laughed. “If I can be so bold, I’m looking for a good friend of mine as well! Well, no, that’s not quite right – I know exactly where my Monobeast is, and I’m looking for the dirty rat that destroyed them!”

“Wait – what?” Hinata’s eyebrows furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Hey! It isn’t my responsibility to tell!” Monobear threw his paws up and stomped his feet. “But really, if you find who I’m looking for, do me a favor and kill them, would you? It would spice things up a bit, and it’d be our little secret!”

“I don’t have time for this.” Hinata turned and started for the exit. “I need to find Togami. And I’m not killing anyone.”

“Upupu…that’s what they all say, and the ones that mean it make wonderful victims. But I have better things to do with my time than talk to you. Go on, keep wandering around until you’re satisfied!”

Hinata reached the doors of the main hall and shut them behind him, blocking out Monobear’s voice. He exited the lodge, and once his feet hit the ground he broke into a run. If the second island had been opened, he’d need a lot more help than he had.

He found Mioda checking behind all the cottages as he was passing through the hotel grounds. He convinced her to come back to the lobby with him, where they ran into Owari right in front of the entrance. Neither Mioda nor Owari had found Togami, but they had both also encountered Monobear and been given the same cryptic message about the Monobeast. Owari told Hinata that she had run right back to tell everyone, and they agreed that it was likely that Togami was on either the central or second island, though what he was doing there none of them knew.

As they entered the lobby, they were surprised to see everyone else exiting the restaurant – and even more surprised to hear that they already knew the second island was open. Nanami explained that they had been visited by Monomi, who told them she had “obwiterated” one of the Monobeasts, opening up the second island for them to explore. Hinata, in turn, told them that they had been unable to find Togami, and shared their hypothesis that he was on one of the other islands.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to explore ahead of us, even if it is odd that he didn’t tell anyone,” Sonia said. “This second island might hold a clue as to how to leave. We probably have nothing to worry about at all.”

“I dunno.” Saionji grinned. “If we wait a little while he might wash up in the next tide –”

“Saionji-san, enough!” Sonia made a sweeping motion with her arm.

“Sonia-chan’s right, Hiyoko-chan,” Koizumi said. “We need to look on the second island before we jump to those kinds of conclusions."

“But you promised to help me with my obi!” Saionji’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m not going to go around with everyone telling me I stink!”

So Saionji pulled Koizumi back towards the cottages, and the rest of them headed away from the hotel, all deep in talk about what they might find. They took the bridge, passed through the central island (also empty, apart from the other three Monobeasts), and crossed the next bridge, over to the new island.

=====

After they had all gone their separate ways, the first thing Hinata approached was the ruin. It was tall, greyish-brown, and covered in vines in various stages of death and decay. It looked somehow familiar, though Hinata couldn’t place where he had seen it. Nanami was the only other one there, standing fast asleep. When Hinata woke her she told him that she planned to explore the ruin on her own, and directly told him to leave.

Hinata kept an eye out for Togami as he continued down the road, but he saw nothing but flowers, trees, and another, fancier building looming ahead.  He didn’t want to be as worried as he was – Togami was a businessman, after all, the very definition of someone who could take care of himself. But being mystified by his behavior was an acceptable substitute. But you weren’t responsible for everyone, he remembered him saying. This is not a collapse. 

There were multiple conclusions he could come to from this alone, but they were all assumptions, none of which fit Togami’s mold just right. He’d need more information, and he didn’t know exactly what he would get, if anything.

He entered the fancy building and found himself in an expansive library, which, upon examination, he found to be full of books in languages he could not read. Only Sonia and Pekoyama were inside of it. Pekoyama was looking at the spines, trying to find something in Japanese or so she explained, while Sonia told him quite cheerfully about the occult magazines she had found and the serial killers described therein.  

Hinata listened to her for a while, but soon left. If he couldn’t read any of the books, there was nothing else to interest him there. He walked some distance around the island, and was just about to enter another building – a pharmacy, from the looks of it – when he heard a series of indistinct shouts from several buildings away.

Immediately he knew the pharmacy would have to wait. He set off down the road, each step taking him closer to a metallic building labeled “DINER” in large, English letters. As he crossed into the parking lot he saw someone standing in the building’s doorway, and was just about to walk up and ask what was going on when he realized who it was.

He doubled back and hid around the corner. He couldn’t see what was going on – not without being seen, he was sure – but he could hear the voices loud and clear. “Maybe I wasn’t clear,” Kuzuryuu said. “Either you get out of my way, or I ram my foot up your ass!”

“What a childish threat.” Togami. “I won’t be bullied out of here, and you’re wasting your time trying. Either you behave like a civilized human being, or you leave.”

“I don’t have to listen to you,” Kuzuryuu said.

“But you should. I’m not done exploring this area yet. I won’t be leaving until I’m satisfied with my conclusions.”

“Conclusions, my ass! All I saw was you sitting there stuffing your face!”

“And if I was, what’s it to you? Everyone eats. Weren’t you, just now, coming here to eat?” Kuzuryuu made a brief, indistinct sound before Togami talked over him, speaking very quickly. “But that doesn’t matter. There really is no need for this argument to be happening.”

“Then book it,” Kuzuryuu said.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean that you have no need to confront me. I understand if you want to be alone. You may get your food and do that.”

“What, with your permission? You really think we need that?”

“I don’t think you understand,” Togami said. “I’m conceding. In fact, there are things I need to check outside.”

There was a long pause. “I’ll take my sweet time,” Kuzuryuu said, followed by the opening and closing of a door.

There was a short silence, then the sound of footsteps. Hinata inched closer to the edge of the building, and then looked out to see that Togami had stepped outside the diner. He turned his head to the side, and Hinata ducked away again - but the next thing he heard was Togami’s footsteps coming closer. “Oy, who’s there?”

“Uh-” Hinata looked out from behind the corner to find Togami farther away than he had thought, and looking in the opposite direction. “Me.”

Togami started, and then turned to face him, oddly unsurprised. “Hinata,” he said.

“Togami.” Hinata stood and walked into full view, brushing himself off. It felt very odd to be seeing Togami again, given the way their last conversation had gone. “How’d you know I was here?”

“I thought saw you out of the corner of my eye.” Togami folded his arms. “But I suppose there’s no harm in you overhearing anything, if you’re going to reveal yourself so easily.”

“Reveal myself? But – wait, no, that doesn’t matter right now.” Hinata walked closer to Togami. “Everyone’s been looking for you. How long have you been here?”

“Not long.” Togami paused and looked askance for a moment before continuing. Hinata looked up at his face, and for the first time noticed his unkempt hair and the dark, heavy circles under his eyes. “I’ve explored the entire island, looking for anything that might help or hinder us. Thus far there are only…very few…items of concern, but I digress. How did you discover the island was open, Hinata? And how did Kuzuryuu, for that matter?”

“I don’t know about Kuzuryuu,” Hinata said, “but Monomi found the rest of us at breakfast –”

“Wait, breakfast? What time is it?”

“Uh…noon?”

“Noon?” Togami’s face contorted. “But – no! How did it get to be that late already? I can’t have been –”

“What? Wait, what time did you think it –”

“Where is everyone, Hinata?” Togami said, sounding desperate. “Are they all on the island? Are they –?”

There was a soft jingling sound; Hinata turned to see Kuzuryuu exiting the diner, a burger in hand. He brushed past Hinata and walked briskly down the street without looking at either of them. Togami waited for him to get to the road, and then turned for the diner. “We have work to do,” he said. “Come inside.”

“Huh?” Hinata said, but Togami didn’t answer him – he went inside, and so Hinata followed.

The diner was a dull, metallic place, covered in neon signs. There were several booths off to the right, and as soon as Hinata saw that one of them was covered in empty plates Togami rocketed toward it, stacking the plates at high speed.

“Now, you didn’t answer me,” he said.

“You didn’t finish your question.” Hinata looked over at the serving counter.

“I didn’t? Yes I did. Or did I…it doesn’t matter. Is everyone on the island? Where are they, exactly?”

“I think they’re all here,” Hinata said, “But I can’t really say for sure. They’re moving all over. And why do you need to know, anyway?”

“This is new terrain, Hinata. Monobear could have put anything here.” Togami picked up the stack of dishes. “Dangers, traps, hidden motives…”

“But didn’t you just say there wasn’t anything to worry about?” Hinata looked over at the plates Togami was carrying. “Do you…need any help?”

“No.” Togami deposited the dishes behind the counter and turned to face Hinata. “And of course there is. This is a catastrophe. If I’m not there to keep everyone together, what do you think would happen?”

“Well, honestly, Togami, we’ve been fine all morning –”

“But what if you weren’t?” Togami closed his eyes, and pressed a hand to his temple. “But perhaps I’ve got it wrong – do you think I’m incapable of protecting anyone, Hinata?”

“I… didn’t say anything like that at all –”

“You didn’t tell anyone anything I said last night, did you?” Togami pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What – no!”

“Then you have no reason not to answer this.” Togami removed his hand from his face. It hit Hinata just how red his eyes looked. “Is there anyone at the large building with the vines? The one with the gun turret?”

“Gun turret?” Hinata didn’t remember seeing anything of the sort. “Just Nanami, she wanted to explore it herself –”

“This is worse than I imagined.” Togami rushed back down the aisle, towards the exit. “How could any of you have thought this was a good idea?” he mumbled. “How could you be so disorganized? No, no, how could I be so negligent –?”

“Wait, Togami!” Hinata ran in front of him, trying to position himself in front of the exit. “Slow down for a second-”

“Byakuya-chan?”

Togami stopped, and Hinata jumped back. Mioda was leaning against the door, smooshing her face into the glass and waving enthusiastically. Behind her, Hinata could see Owari and Nidai stop in their tracks and then rush for the door.

“Mioda –!” Hinata opened the door, and Mioda bounded in with a smile. “There you are!” she said. “Oh, and Hajime-chan! Why didn’t you tell us you’d found Byakuya-chan?”

Hinata shrugged. “I haven’t really had the chance…”

“I didn’t need to be found, Mioda.” Togami’s expression shifted inside a second – his usual condescending look was back. “I knew where I was.”

“Aw!” Mioda pouted. “But Ibuki looked all over for you!”

“Yeah, us too!” Owari leaned against the door, swinging it back open. “You could’ve at least left a note.”

“I didn’t think I’d be gone long enough to warrant one, and in any case you had no need to be alarmed.” Togami covered his mouth, suppressing something that sounded like a cross between a cough and a yawn. “I…what was it…”

“Lost track of time?” Nidai offered from outside.

“Of course not, that would be foolish. I was on a walk. That was all.”

“An all-morning walk all alone?” Mioda scratched her head. “Ibuki’s more confused than ever…”

“Look, does it matter?” Togami scowled. “For that matter, why do you think you can question me like this? Isn’t it well within my right for your leader do things you won’t understand and not have to explain them to you?”

This is definitely not what Togami told me a second ago, Hinata thought – and then realization struck him. “Togami,” he said, “did you sleep at all last night?”

Togami narrowed his eyes at Hinata, and now more than ever it was clear he was struggling to keep them open. “And why does that matter at all?”

“TOGAMI!” Nidai shouted. “DID YOU SLEEP AT ALL LAST NIGHT?”

Hinata jumped, Mioda whooped and laughed, and Owari lifted an eyebrow. Togami covered one ear and grimaced. “…No,” he said after some time.

“And the night before that?” Hinata said, remembering the letter.

“An amount,” Togami mumbled.

“That would explain a lot,” Nidai said. “Disjointed thoughts, inconsistent behavior…Togami, we understand what you’re trying to do, but right now it may be best for you to go and get some sleep.”

“No…” Togami forced his eyes wide open. “What are you talking about? I’m perfectly fine.”

“No you’re not, take my word for it,” Owari said. “After day two without sleep you start seeing things.”

“Ibuki completely agrees!” Mioda said. “One time when Ibuki was on tour she didn’t sleep for three days straight. But she doesn’t actually remember what happened!”

“But that’s just you. I’m not seeing anything, and in fact I have business elsewhere.” Togami folded his arms. “Out of my way, Hinata. You’re blocking the door with your body.”

“Togami, the door’s over there.” Hinata took a step back, avoiding Togami’s attempt to move past him. Behind them, Mioda giggled. “Look,” he started, then racked his brain for a second, desperately searching for wisdom that Togami wouldn’t reject. “Isn’t part of being a leader sometimes accepting that the people around you can see things you can’t? I mean, you can’t be right all the time.”

“And what makes you so sure of that?” Togami said, his voice oddly low. “Isn’t my name Byakuya Togami? Aren’t I qualified to carry out my duty, no matter what may hold a lesser person back –”

“Look, we’ll be fine,” Owari said. “If anyone tries to hurt anyone, I’ll punch them in the face. You can count on me!”

“Wouldn’t that just be you hurting someone, though?” Hinata said.

While Owari laughed at Hinata, Togami stood still, as if frozen, then put a hand to his chin and closed his eyes. “Perhaps this is the price I have to pay,” he mumbled before looking up again. “Alright. I’ll go.”

“A wise choice!” Nidai laughed. “Then let’s go! There’s no time to waste!”

“Tch. I don’t need an escort. But you may accompany me if it suits you.” He turned back to Hinata. “Hinata, I designate you leader in the interim. You are to keep everyone together until I return. Do you understand?”

“Wait – what? Togami, you can’t –” Hinata’s protests went unheard. Togami had already left with Nidai, stumbling slightly in the parking lot as he went.

=====

Hinata’s first order of business was to make Mioda and Owari swear not to breathe a word about him being “interim leader”, but even then he wasn’t sure whether it would pop out at the worst moment. He went back to the pharmacy, where he saw Tsumiki positively enraptured with all the medicine, and had just reached the beach on the far end of the island when Nanami appeared to tell him that everyone was meeting at the ruins, and he should head back as soon as possible.   

As it turned out he was the last one she had tracked down, so he ended up walking back with her as the sun inched lower in the sky. Hinata told her about Togami’s discovery, which, to his surprise, she already knew about – she’d passed Nidai and Togami on her way to get the others. Togami had warned her not to go near the ruins, saying they were dangerous. She’d thanked him for his input, then continued to the library to call Sonia and Pekoyama to the ruins. She didn’t seem to understand why Hinata was laughing so hard at this.

Everyone else was there when they arrived, apart from Togami. Even Koizumi, Saionji, and Kuzuryuu had shown up, and Nidai told them that Togami had left him at the bridge, saying he would go the rest of the way himself. He, Owari and Mioda had already told everyone about Togami, leaving in rather more details than Hinata might have, and everyone was discussing the news, along with their findings on the rest of the island.

“Yay!” Saionji said, jumping up and down. “Mr. Porkfeet’s not dead! For now!”

“But what was he even doing?” Souda said. “If he really wanted to explore the island, why didn’t he wait for us?”

“If you ask me, he’s acting pretty irresponsibly,” Koizumi said. “A leader needs to serve the people they lead. He can’t just do all this impulsive stuff nobody understands.”

“I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose,” Sonia offered. “He puts an immense amount of pressure on himself. And taking responsibility for everything that has happened may be too great a weight to bear...”

“But do we know whether or not it is?” Pekoyama said. “He’s a Super High School Level Heir, so I’d imagine he’s handled worse.”

“From my understanding, his behavior came from a lack of sleep,” Nidai said. “He should be back to normal after he has some rest.”

“Then that’d be a good time to ask him about it,” Hinata said. If he was going to be interim leader, whether anyone knew it or not, he might as well assert himself. “But for now – Nanami, what did you have to show us?”

“If it’s not a way out of here you’re wasting my time,” Kuzuryuu said.

Nanami shook her head. As it turned out, she had explored the entire perimeter of the building, but hadn’t found a way in – or anything at all except a bulkhead, a number pad, and the gun turret Togami had mentioned. The bulkhead’s door looked like it had once been covered in dirt, but a good amount of it had been wiped off. There was a word carved into the door: Future.

At that point, Monobear and Monomi showed up, both saying that they had absolutely no idea what was behind the door. Monobear then told them about an organization of “World Destroyers”, of which Monobear and Monomi may or may not be a part, and gave them more information about the supposed traitor in their midst – particularly that they were a member of these World Destroyers, and that they should be found and killed.

By the time they disappeared, no one really understood what they’d said or why. Given that it was getting late, Nanami suggested calling it a night, which everyone readily agreed to.

The sun sank below the horizon as Hinata walked back to his cottage. The lights in Togami’s cottage were out; he was either asleep or not there. Hinata chose not to concern himself with that right now. His legs and eyelids felt heavy; he only wished he’d had this kind of exhaustion a day ago. He fell right into his bed without doing anything else.

=====

komaeda theater

“Have you forgotten me yet?

“I lived down the road from you, but you could go for days without passing my nameplate, or even remembering that it still exists. You could forget my cottage completely. Did you ever know it was there at all?

“Have you forgotten me yet? There’s no sign I’m gone. The crowd’s so large two people gone don’t make a difference. You can replace me, and easily have.

“Have you forgotten me yet? You only knew me for three days, after all. Will you remember me briefly, and wonder why you did? Will you know what I meant to you? How will you know if it matters? How will you know if I know?

“Have you forgotten me yet? Do you wonder what could have been? Do I weigh on your mind night after night? You would, if I were there and you were here. The difference might be that you would wonder what you did to deserve this, and I would know exactly.

“Have you forgotten me? Well, I won’t be insecure anymore. After all, I know you won’t.”

=====

Togami not only showed up to breakfast in the morning, but was one of the first to do so.

He arrived not long after Hinata, who had just greeted Koizumi, Saionji, Sonia, and Tsumiki when he saw him coming up the stairs. He hadn’t realized just how long it had been since he’d seen Togami looking well-rested. It was a definite improvement, he thought.

When Togami reached the top, he looked up at all of them and cleared his throat. No one reacted, so he did it again. “Good morning,” he said when at least two of them had looked up.

“Oh – hey,” Hinata said, but he was the only one to do so immediately. Koizumi scowled, Tsumiki wrung her hands, and Saionji grunted. Sonia hesitated for an uncomfortable second before she could say anything. “Ah, hello…are you feeling better, Togami-san?”

“Feeling better?” Togami looked at Hinata, then over at Sonia. He pushed his glasses up his face. “What are you talking about?”

“W-well…” Tsumiki seemed frightened of the sound of her own voice. “We didn’t see you at all yesterday…and Mioda-san and Owari-san, they said…”

“Whatever they said, it was an exaggeration. I had matters to attend to yesterday. I’m fine.” Again Togami glanced at Hinata; Hinata wasn’t sure if he was trying to tell him something. “But no doubt you believed them? How pathetic.”

“Isn’t she, though?” Saionji laughed, and Tsumiki whimpered.

“Hiyoko-chan…” Koizumi shook her head, and then turned to Togami. “Hey, where do you get off talking to Mikan-chan that way?”

“To Tsumiki, you mean?” Togami folded his arms. “I wasn’t speaking to her. I was speaking to everyone. I don’t recall you having a complaint before.”

“And that means I can’t complain now? Is that a law you just made up?” Koizumi rolled her eyes. “Congratulations on showing up, by the way. It’s not like the rest of us do that every day or anything.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide. Sonia made a soft “oooo” sound, and Tsumiki whimpered more loudly. Togami was silent for a beat. “Do you have a problem, Koizumi?”

“Do I have a problem?” Koizumi stood from her chair so fast she practically knocked it over. “You…okay, it was bad enough that you appointed yourself to something we should’ve chosen as a group. And I accepted it, I knew that no one else wanted the job, but given your behavior –”

“Koizumi, I don’t think…” Hinata instantly regretted speaking, as he didn’t know how to finish his sentence. He saw that Mioda, Gundam, and Souda had arrived in the meantime, and they stood at the top of the stairway in stunned silence. As Hinata watched, Owari swung herself up by the banister, grinning all the while.

“This is not your argument, Hinata,” Togami said. “Koizumi, are you angry that I didn’t keep my promise?”

“Promise? That… I don’t know what you would’ve done,” Koizumi said, “But you know what you could’ve done? Oh, I don’t know, maybe not intentionally keep secrets from us? Would we really have fallen to pieces if we knew Komaeda was going to kill someone?”

“Koizumi-san,” Sonia said, “secrecy is a vital part of leadership and I would have done the same –”

“And maybe if you want to be a leader, why don’t you actually lead instead of disappearing for a full day without telling anyone?” Koizumi looked around at everyone that had arrived – which was now everyone, apart from Kuzuryuu. “But don’t you think we got along fine without Togami, everyone?”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t pull us into this!” Souda said, holding up his hands. “Long as I’m not dead, I’m cool!” Several other people made general noises of assent.

“Don’t pull you into this? If he’s your leader, you already have been.” Koizumi walked up to Togami and glared straight ahead, which, given the height difference, meant she was staring into his tie. “Come on, Togami. Where were you yesterday? We have a right to know.”

Togami tilted his head down, his formerly immovable expression broken by a twitching eyebrow. Hinata saw Mioda and Owari look over at each other, and Nidai clear his throat, but say nothing. “If you must know, I was cleaning the lodge,” he said.

Koizumi blinked. “You were…what?”

“Cleaning the lodge. I meant to retrieve Komaeda’s body, but it had been removed, though nothing else had been touched.”

“Then why was Byakuya-chan on the second island?” Mioda said.

“Yeah, why were you?” Koizumi said. “Akane-chan said you were hanging around the diner talking nonsense-”

“All I said was he was a little out of it –”

“Whatever happened, that is an exaggeration,” Togami said, hitting the final word hard. “It’s true I didn’t sleep last night. I meant to go ahead to the second island and report my findings to all of you at breakfast, but it took much longer than anticipated, and Hinata found me before I was done.”

“Hinata?” Koizumi looked over at Hinata as though she had just noticed he was there. “Why didn’t you say anything? How typical.”

“I didn’t really need to. You already knew.” Hinata shrugged. He didn’t know what made him more uncomfortable – Koizumi’s glare, or just how much Togami was covering up about what had really happened the previous day. 

“Didn’t say anything?” Togami raised an eyebrow. “Well, I suppose that’s not surprising. But either way, once found I was advised that I was not in any condition to carry out my responsibilities until I had been rested. And now I’ve told you the truth. Are we done here?”

 “Sure, whatever, but that doesn’t change that a leader should –”

“Oy, are you still blathering about that?” Togami glared down at her. “Don't you realize the danger we’re in? Does it truly matter what I’m doing at every moment? Do I ask the same thing of any of you?”

“If you did, you would not be able to handle the truth!” Tanaka bellowed.

“Sure,” Koizumi said, rolling her eyes. She still looked mad, but not nearly as worked up. “It doesn’t matter if it’s us. If you’re going to be our leader, we need to be able to trust you.”

“I know. But I have nothing more to offer you than that. It’s your decision whether or not to trust me,” Togami said. “Yesterday has passed. Today has its own challenges. Our responsibility from here forward –”

“Mr. Porkfeet, can you get to the point so I can leave?” Saionji folded her arms.

“Our responsibility from here forward,” Togami continued, “Is to find a way off the island and to prevent any more murders from occurring. There is no more that can be done for Komaeda and Hanamura. But we can learn from their memory so as not to repeat their mistakes. And if anyone is feeling as if the murder of another student is their only escape… please consider coming to me first, for other options.”

Togami sighed, and looked around. While he had been speaking, several of the others – Saionji, Owari, Souda, and Tsumiki – had moved from their spots and begun to get their breakfast. Most of the others headed there now without another word to Togami, but Mioda and Tanaka still stood as if enraptured, and Nidai was rooted to his seat by Nanami, who had been sleeping against his arm the entire time. Koizumi gave him a look that was somewhere between animosity and confusion, then turned her back on him as well.

Hinata looked over at Togami. “That was…intense,” he found he needed to say.

“It needed to be.” Togami nodded, but did not continue the conversation. Hinata waited a moment, then turned as well, and headed for the breakfast tables, where the conversation had moved on to other things.

=====

From there it wasn’t a particularly eventful day, for the most part. Hinata spent his morning walking around the beach with Koizumi and Nanami – but mostly Nanami, Hinata liked to think. Koizumi still seemed to be in a bit of a foul mood, and she hardly spoke to Hinata, but the walk seemed to do her some good. In the afternoon he, Souda, and Tanaka hung out in the diner and had an intense conversation about hamster breeding and the sociopolitical sphere of the wizarding world – or rather, Tanaka talked and Hinata and Souda sat stunned.

He didn’t really interact with Togami, though from time to time he saw him on one island or another, examining the buildings or simply staring at the waves. From what he could learn in conversation he knew that no one else was really interacting with him either.

For some it wasn’t for lack of trying. During a lull in their education about magic and hamsters, Souda and Hinata got to talking about the ruins, and Souda told Hinata that he’d run into Togami earlier and tried to strike up a conversation. They didn’t have much in common, but Togami had grilled him excessively about the ruins and what had been found there. He’d listened with rapt attention, until Souda mentioned what Monobear had said about a traitor. At that point Togami cut him off, saying “This foolishness again? There is no traitor, Monobear is a liar,” and stomped away.

“That almost proves he isn’t the traitor,” Souda said to Hinata. “’Cause denying it like that's like painting a big target on your chest.”

“And besides,” Hinata replied, “If we’re going to say anything for sure about this World Destroyers business we’re probably going to need some more proof first. We can’t just go around accusing people of being the traitor just because we think they’re weird.”

“If we did, there’d be a lot of traitors on this island.” Souda laughed.

Still, it was a normal day through and through. Or so it went until about eight o’clock, when, not five seconds after Hinata arrived back in his dorm  to rest before dinner, Monobear appeared on his room’s screen, telling everyone to go immediately to Jabberwock Park.

It was odd, he thought, but up until that second he’d almost forgotten about Monobear again.

=====

“That’s right, this game is you bastards’ new motive! A motive to make you bastards kill one of your classmates! I mean, unless someone does something soon, I'm going to get very bored!”

It was not, in the least, what Hinata had thought it would be, even if he’d always expected some kind of new torture. Still, he didn’t think he looked as surprised as the others. Nanami in particular looked thunderstruck at the idea of the game being a motive. They’d all been confused when they first arrived, that much was for sure, but now that confusion had some anger mixed in, both for Hinata and for those around him.

There were a few scattered shouts about not playing the game, but Monobear laughed them off. “How can you be so sure everyone’s thinking the same way?” he said. “In fact, I can make sure you’re not sure – this game’s theme is missed connections, after all. Between those who make the connections and those that don’t…who do you think is going to have the advantage?”

“Advantage? Missed connections?” Hinata looked down at Monobear. “What the hell does that mean?”

“That’s for me to know and you to…” Monobear pressed his paw to his chin in an exaggerated manner. “Well, I suppose we’ll see, won’t we?” And then he was gone, laughing as he disappeared.

Everyone around Hinata exploded into chatter. “Really?” Souda yelled above it all. “Is he really going to pull something like that on us?”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Koizumi said. “What are we supposed to do with this?”

“One thing’s for sure,” Pekoyama said. “None of us should go near this until we have a better idea of what it is.”

“Until?” Togami gave Pekoyama an incredulous look. “Are you implying we should wait to take action on this?”

“That’s…not what I said at all.” Pekoyama folded her arms.

Togami didn’t respond – he walked away from her and towards the front of the group. “Have you all forgotten what kind of situation we’re in, or do I need to remind you again?” He gestured wildly towards the game cabinet. “If this game could make someone decide to kill someone else, then it’s the most dangerous thing on this island as of yet. That, along with our own curiosity.”

“But no one’s going to play it,” Sonia said. “Right?”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know who could be planning to play it right now.”

“But if that’s the case…” Tsumiki trembled. “Maybe if we all play it right now, we c-can protect ourselves from it…”

“That’s the kind of thinking that will get someone killed, not protect us. As your leader, I’m putting a stop to this completely. No one is to touch the game.” Togami glared down at all of them, and Hinata could swear his eyes were full of fear. “At all.”

Some among them looked awed, others confused. Hinata felt a mix of both. He was about to ask how Togami planned to do that when Kuzuryuu preempted him. “And how are you gonna stop that?” he said, grinning. “Are you gonna block the screen with your double-wide ass?”

“Actually, yes, in a manner of speaking,” Togami said without any change in expression. “From now on this game will be under guard twenty-four hours a day. Until we can leave this island, I will not have it leaving our sight.”

“Isn’t that kind of extreme?” Koizumi said.

“We are in kind of an extreme situation.” Hinata could see everyone around him talking to each other, but wasn’t sure what they were saying or whether they supported Togami’s logic or not. “But who’s going to guard it? Togami can’t be here all the time…”

“Of course not. That would impair my vigilance. And for that matter, I can’t be here alone. We must all keep an eye on each other, as well as on the game…” Togami pointed directly at Hinata. “Hinata, you and I will take the first watch!”

“Wait – what?” Hinata stepped back. “Why do you guys always think I’m volunteering for things?”

“Rest assured, Hinata, I volunteered you.” Togami folded his arms. “Why? Do you have any objections to helping me?”

“Well, I was kind of looking forward to sleeping – I wasn’t going to say no,” he backpedaled when he saw the look on Togami’s face. “I’ll do it, it’s cool.”

“Yes, good.” Togami chuckled. “That’s what I thought you were going to do.”

“Will we all share the responsibility?” Tanaka said.

“Wow, did you really just say that?” Saionji said. “You’re like the kid in class who asks the teacher if there’s going to be any homework. You know, the ones that always get beat up.”

“I don’t believe full involvement would be practical, actually.” Togami put a hand to his chin. “Protecting this will require a certain degree of physical skill. Now, who are the most physically capable people here…” He pointed into the crowd. “Nidai! Owari! Pekoyama!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Owari threw up her hands. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“No,” Togami said.

“If this is what needs to be done, then I will do it.” Pekoyama nodded, but did not look up at Togami. Nidai also nodded his ascent.

“Very well.” Togami looked out at all of them. “That’s five. We need one more person.”

Sonia began to raise her hand, but couldn’t get it above her waist before Mioda’s hand shot up, bobbing above the crowd as she jumped up and down. “Ooh! Ooh! Ibuki volunteers!”

“Very well. Then Nidai and Owari will take the next watch, and Mioda and Pekoyama the next, and so on. These teams will rotate every six hours –”

“Six hours!” Nidai exclaimed. “That is entirely too long to stand in one place!”

“Too long?” Togami’s eyes narrowed. “Why, do you think you have something better to do than defend your friends?”

“CERTAINLY NOT!” Nidai bellowed. “BUT WHAT IF I FEEL AN URGE? WE MUST BE MINDFUL OF OUR PHYSICAL NEEDS!”

“Then you can dig a little hole in the ground and conduct your business there. But you’re not leaving your position.”

“A little hole will not suffice!” Souda sputtered with laughter, but he was the only one that dared to move a muscle.

“Fine. Four hours,” Togami said. A screen nearby flashed to life, and Monobear’s Night Time announcement began to play. “And now that that’s settled, you can rest easy, can’t you?”

There were a few nods, but Hinata thought most of his classmates looked more uncomfortable than they had before. Saionji, Koizumi, Owari, and Mioda set off immediately; Kuzuryuu attempted to get ahead of them, but Sonia walked in front of him and said something to him Hinata couldn’t hear.

“We should take our positions, Hinata,” Togami said from behind him.

“Uh, sure.” Hinata turned to face Togami. “Are we going to be right next to the game?”

“As long as we have it in our sights we can probably be anywhere we like.”

Hinata looked around. “Do you see anywhere to sit?”

“You can sit. I’ll stand.”

“Alright.” Hinata walked over to the pedestal and leaned against it, while Togami stood some distance away, equidistant from him and the game. Only three of the others remained now – Nanami, who was standing by the game with a wistful look on her face, and Sonia and Kuzuryuu, who were still talking. As Hinata watched, Sonia grabbed Kuzuryuu’s arm and marched him over to where Togami stood.

“Togami-san,” she said, releasing Kuzuryuu, “I believe Kuzuryuu-san owes you an apology.”

“Really?” Togami looked surprised at first, but then gave Kuzuryuu a look as if he were daring him to run. “Does he think he owes me an apology?”

“Yeah, I do,” Kuzuryuu smirked. “I’m sorry you have a big ass.”

“Kuzuryuu-san!” Sonia looked about ready to slap him, but Togami held up a hand, stopping her.  

“You know, that’s funny,” he said, “because I’m not. Get out of my sight, Kuzuryuu.”

Kuzuryuu grunted. He turned away, but did not begin walking. “Hey, Togami,” he said. “What if I killed someone? Just to spite you?”

Togami did not answer, nor did he show any sign of considering it. Kuzuryuu laughed and walked away, his hands in his pockets.

Sonia glared after him for a moment, then shook her head and turned back to Togami. “Togami-san, I apologize. If I had known he was going to say that I would have –”

“You meant well,” Togami said. “Don’t dwell on it.”

“Ah…alright.” Sonia looked worried for a moment, but her smile soon returned. “If it’s not a bother to you, then I won’t.”

“I would hope not. Goodnight, Sonia.”

“Goodnight, both of you.” Sonia smiled, then turned and walked back down the path to the first bridge. Nanami lingered only a moment longer before wishing them goodnight and joining Sonia.

The island suddenly felt very large and very empty. Hinata didn’t really have anything to look at apart from Togami, and so he saw him take off his glasses, clean them on his lapel, put them back on, and stare intently down the path.

It didn’t take long for the silence to grate on Hinata’s nerves. He stood up, still leaning against the pedestal. “Togami?”

“Hinata?” Togami didn’t take his eyes off the road.

“You didn’t really answer my question earlier,” Hinata said. “Why do you keep volunteering me for things? This is probably the third time.”

“You’re usually nearby,” Togami said. “Why? Do you not want to be volunteered?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hinata said. “I don’t know. I’m no more special than anyone else.”

“I think you forget you’re in a gathering of special people,” Togami said. “Even if I know I am the greatest among them, I can see that.”

“I don’t think I’m getting that the way you think I am.”

“Does that mean you still don’t remember your talent?”

“No.” Hinata felt a sharp pain in his forehead. “But I can’t think of why I wouldn’t.”

“Perhaps we’ll know when we’re able to extract answers from Monomi.” Togami pushed his glasses up his face. “Or Monobear, for that matter. Souda told me about your visit to the ruins, incidentally. These ‘World Destroyers’…I’m not sure if it was Monobear or Souda being so vague that it’s as if I haven’t learned anything at all.”

“It was Monobear,” Hinata said. “I thought you said they were too dangerous to go near.”

“Did I?” He paused long enough that Hinata was tricked into thinking that the conversation was over. “Hinata, do you trust me?”

“Huh?”

“As a leader. Do you trust me?”

“Well…” Hinata wondered whether this was another one of those conversations that would go back around to Komaeda. He didn’t think he was in the mood for that. “I don’t think you’ve done anything to make me not trust you, if that’s what you mean.”

“I see.” Togami nodded. “And the others?”

“You mean Koizumi?” Hinata said. “She’s –”

“Koizumi’s a capable leader in her own right,” Togami said. “She isn’t so esteemed as myself, but I know she is a respected – do you hear footsteps?”

Togami put a finger to his lips, and looked down the road that led to the bridges. In the nighttime quiet, Hinata could, indeed, hear a series of footsteps coming closer. “Someone’s coming,” he said.

“If it comes to an altercation, run,” Togami said.

“Wait – if I’m just going to run, why am I here?”

“Stop asking silly questions.” Togami raised his voice. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

There was a loud yelp, followed by several stomping footsteps. Then – to Hinata’s considerable surprise – Mioda came into view, running down the path at top speed. As odd as this would have been on its own, it was made even stranger when Hinata saw that she was carrying a plastic lunch tray with three bowls of instant noodles on it, balanced perfectly even as she ran.

“What in the name of –” Togami shook his head. “Mioda, what are you doing?”

“Hooah! Ibuki’s been spotted!” Mioda stopped just short of the pedestal, slopping some of the noodle broth onto the tray. “Don’t shoot! Ibuki is only bringing snacks!”

“Snacks?” Togami looked down at the noodles as if seeing them for the first time. His mouth fell open slightly. “That’s...unexpected of you, Mioda.”

“Heehee! Rule number one of Ibuki is Ibuki is always full of surprises. Byakuya-chan should always remember that!” As she spoke, Mioda set the tray down, sat down next to it, broke her chopsticks apart, and picked up one of the styrofoam cups. “Time to eat –”

“Hold on,” Togami said. “Take one of the other ones.”

“Huh?” Mioda immediately set the cup down and picked up another. “Why?”

“That’s all I needed to see. It’s alright, Hinata, they’re not poisoned.” Togami sat down and took the bowl Mioda had been about to take, but waited until Mioda had begun eating before diving into his.

“Really, Togami?” Hinata sat down between them and picked up the remaining cup. “Why would anyone ever do that?”

Mioda laughed. “Thorough and careful about everything! Just as I expected from Byakuya-chan!”

Togami had a mouth full of noodles and thus could not reply, but his eyes went wide at Mioda’s words. Hinata knew he needed to pick up the slack. “Come to think of it, why are you doing this at all? You didn’t really need to.”

“Oh, right, that’s the other thing!” Mioda pointed skyward. “Hajime-chan! Ibuki’s taking your shift!”

“Taking my shift?” Hinata picked up some noodles with his chopsticks. “Wait – why?”

Togami swallowed. “Yes, why?”

“Well, Hajime-chan said he was sleepy, right?” Mioda grinned. “Ibuki had a five hour nap today! She’s so awake she’s not even blinking!”

“That’s nice, I guess, but I’m not that tired.” Hinata tasted the noodles experimentally; they tasted like every other bowl of instant noodles he’d ever had. “You don’t need to take over for me.”

“But...” Mioda bit her lip. “But Ibuki was so excited about this she just couldn’t wait! She –”

“I didn’t mean you had to argue,” Hinata said. “It’s okay, you can take it.”

“She can?” Togami stopped his next mouthful of noodles halfway to his mouth. “Are you sure?”

“Yes he is! Isn’t he, Hajime-chan?” Mioda winked at Hinata, then winked again. Hinata wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that, but he did nod. “See?” Mioda turned to look at Togami with an expression of delight. “He is! So can Ibuki stay here? Tonight? Maybe?”

Hinata was surprised by Togami’s expression at first. Was it bewilderment? It wasn’t something he’d seen on his face before. But then his familiar smirk returned. “Heh…you’re quite enthusiastic about this, aren’t you?  Very well. Hinata, you will join Pekoyama tomorrow morning.”

“Eeeyeas!” Mioda jumped up. “You hear that, Hajime-chan? Get to bed right this instant!”

“Okay,” Hinata said, “Just as soon as I finish –”

“Ibuki said right now! Why is Hajime-chan still here?” Mioda knelt down and pushed against Hinata’s back.

“Alright, alright, I’m going…” Hinata stood, taking his noodles with him. “Uh…stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Hmmmm, maybe!” Mioda winked again. “Go away, Hajime-chan!”

“G’night,” Hinata called back as he walked down the path to the bridge. He could hear Mioda’s voice behind him, but not what she was saying, and soon even that sound was lost to him.

Chapter Text

komaeda theater

“Luck is in its nature adversarial, Hinata-kun. If I were a gambling man, and I won an enormous amount of money, wouldn’t my good luck spell bad luck for everyone I was playing with, as well as the establishment that would be losing money on me? When one person benefits, doesn’t everyone else have to suffer? With my talent I’ve learned that again and again, though I won’t bore you with the details.

“But more on point, it must be fortunate for many that I died and you didn’t, isn’t it? Your talent could be world-changing. It could elevate you to the status of a god. But what can my luck do for anyone but hurt them, or act beneath their notice? The world’s won it all, Hinata-kun. It’s lost me, but it gets to keep you.

“Of course, that’s how I’d like it to be. But the truth is much different. I’m Super High School Level Good Luck. I’m always going to win, even if an ultimate win means the exchange of an ultimate loss. And a split second’s difference between two wildly different decisions isn’t good or bad luck in and of itself. It’s just a spiral into a different kind of good or bad luck.

“You just have to wait until things are played out to decide what kind of luck it must have been. Sometimes that might even mean waiting until long after you die.”

=====

Hinata woke to a dark room and a loud knock on his door, which must have startled him awake, given the cold sweat he felt. He grumbled that he was coming, then got up, threw on a shirt, and answered the door without flipping on the light.

He honestly didn’t know how awful he looked, but he couldn’t help but feel self-conscious when he saw the look Pekoyama was giving him. “Um...” He bit his lip. “Morning?”

“Indeed.” Pekoyama looked, as ever, perfectly put together, though she was quite determinedly looking at his face and not anywhere else. She unfolded a piece of paper that she held in her hands and held it up. “I found this under my door when I was leaving for the central island. Is this correct?”

Hinata had to blink several times before he could see the note clearly. It read: Pekoyama, Hinata will be joining you this morning instead of Mioda. – Togami. “Oh – yeah, that’s right,” he said. “Mioda took my shift last night.”

Pekoyama folded the paper. “I see. It’s 5:45. Nidai and Owari will be expecting us.” She stole a quick glance down, then looked away, blushing. “Will you need long to put on your pants?”

“Ack – no, sorry,” Hinata said quickly before shutting the door. He pulled on the first pair of pants he could find, shoved his shoes on, and joined Pekoyama outside without tying them.

The two of them walked to the central island in silence. Pekoyama seemed perfectly content not talking to Hinata, and Hinata didn’t have anything to say that he was sure she’d be interested in hearing – at least until they got to the central island, where they found Owari and Nidai violently sparring in front of the countdown clock. After laughing at them for being shocked, Nidai told them that all had gone well and that there had been no disturbances during the night. Owari corrected him – Monobear had shown up around 3 AM, mocking them before telling them that no one would ever know if they played the game. Togami and Mioda had reported the same thing happening to them before they left, so they had, of course, brushed him off.

With that they headed back to the first island, leaving Hinata and Pekoyama alone. Hinata went back to his position against the pedestal, and Pekoyama stood nearby, her braids waving slightly in the breeze. They were silent for an unimaginably long time. But soon Pekoyama began to fidget, then shifted from one foot to the other, and then, finally, turned to face him. “Hinata…”

Hinata started, and then shook himself awake. “Uh, yes?”

“Forgive me, but I can’t get this out of my mind.” Pekoyama gritted her teeth. “You…you don’t think Nidai actually pooped anywhere around here, do you?”

“What?! Oh, right, because…” Hinata shifted his eyes, but saw no signs of freshly turned earth nearby. “I think it was just a joke, Pekoyama…”

“Right, right…ha…ha ha…” She smiled and Hinata immediately wished she hadn’t, but he couldn’t help but smile back. For a while they tried to hold back the laughter that was coming, but then Hinata sputtered and doubled over and Pekoyama didn’t take too long to give in after that.

It was stupid, they both knew, but it did the job of breaking the ice between them. The common topics – the ruins, the World Destroyers – went fast, though the especially sensitive ones were never touched. Hinata tried to ask about kendo, but found her oddly tight-lipped on that and other personal subjects, and she never really returned with questions about his own past. From there it wasn’t a conversation so much as a trade of one-liners every so often – not comfortable, but not closed.

Monobear’s morning announcement went off at seven, and not long after Monobear himself showed up, as promised. He followed the same general script Owari had laid out – he mocked them for delaying the inevitable, and then told them that even as they spoke the others were heading to breakfast, and they didn’t have much time if they wanted to play. They refused several times, leading Monobear to screech in annoyance. “None of you are any fun!” he shouted before popping off again.

Half an hour later Nanami delivered their breakfast. She stared longingly at the game console for a time before heading back the way she came. They didn’t have time to begin eating before Togami appeared and demanded to know everything that had happened on their watch, which didn’t take long to tell. He informed them that nothing of importance had happened at breakfast, and then reminded them of the importance of their vigil. Hinata asked him how the previous night had gone, and Togami stood stiffly for a second before muttering that he had important business to do and took off for the second island.

For the next hour there was a slow trickle of people headed the same way. Kuzuryuu spent a good amount of time making fun of Hinata, though he didn’t say a word to Pekoyama. Tanaka offered to construct a protective magic circle around the game console, which there seemed to be no harm in until he said that the contract had to be sealed with a blood offering. Seeing Sonia passing by he demanded one from her, which to their surprise she agreed to, but Pekoyama kicked them out before anyone could actually draw blood, which Hinata saw to be for the best.

Then there was a period of relative quiet. Hinata was sure the shift change time must have been coming closer, but his only sense of time was the Monobear announcement. How long had it actually been? He was just debating whether or not to ask Pekoyama whether she had a watch when, to his surprise, Pekoyama took the initiative. “Hinata,” she said, “do you happen to know what time it is?”

“No, sorry.” Hinata shrugged. “Honestly, I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

“I see.” Pekoyama turned away. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not impatient. I was simply curious.”

“It’s fine, either way,” Hinata said. “I guess we’ll know when Togami and Mioda show up.”

“I suppose. Why did you switch times with Mioda, anyway?”

“You know, I’m not entirely sure. She just kind of showed up last night and kicked me out.” He shrugged again. “She said she was excited to start.”

“That’s not something people are often excited for, especially where it involves spending that much time with Togami. But I suppose there’s no accounting for taste.”

“Wait, do you…not like him?” Hinata remembered the spectacle in the lodge office, and found himself unsurprised.

“His intentions are good. But I find he tends to jump to conclusions too quickly.” Pekoyama folded her arms. “But whatever my personal opinion may be, that does not affect our situation or my position as a capable guard. Mioda’s coming, incidentally.”

“Huh? How can you tell?” Hinata stood and looked down the path – and then heard quick, but uneven footsteps coming closer. A few seconds later Mioda appeared, alternately skipping and hopping on one foot.

“Ha-ha!” she called out as she zigzagged down the path, just barely keeping her balance. “To reach the central island Ibuki must not only walk this way, but walk this way! All other ways will get Ibuki sent back to the beginning! Hup!”

She landed in front of them with one leg in the air and a wide grin on her face. Pekoyama stood stunned, but Hinata clapped a few times. “Mioda,” he said. “Is it time to change shifts already?”

“Nope!” Mioda pushed her leg against the pedestal and made exaggerated stretching motions. “Not for another twenty minutes!”

“Twenty minutes?” Pekoyama raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so early?”

“Ibuki was impatient!” Mioda flipped her leg down and leaned one arm against the pedestal. “Ibuki tried counting backwards from infinity but that didn’t make time go any faster, especially since Ibuki couldn’t figure out where to begin!”

“Wait…impatient to begin your shift?” Hinata tried not to sound too surprised.

“Yes! Well…maybe…” Mioda pushed herself up and paced back and forth for a moment. “Yes! Yes absolutely!”

Pekoyama tapped a finger on her chin, and then looked up. “Mioda, Togami hasn’t returned from the second island yet. You might be able to –”

“Gnaaaaaahhh!” Mioda shook her head rapidly. “No! That’s not how it works!”

“Not how it works?” Pekoyama said, raising an eyebrow.

“Wait,” Hinata said, “Not how what works?”

“The form, Peko-chan, the form’s all wrong!” Mioda shouted, thrusting her finger skyward. “When you meet with someone somewhere to do something, then you focus less on the you and more on the thing! But when two people are alone together for hours and hours with nothing else to do, there’s no distractions whatsoever! You have no choice but to cling tightly to one another!” Mioda put her hands on her hips. “But what does Ibuki mean by that? Hmmmmmmmmmm!”

Hinata and Pekoyama looked at each other, and then back at Mioda. “Uh…”

“For example!” Mioda interrupted. “Last night, when Ibuki was with Byakuya-chan, neither of us knew what to say at first! Typical, right? But eventually Byakuya-chan says “Mioda, is there anything you’re concerned about?” And Ibuki says “Nothing! Nothing at all! Okay Ibuki lied, maybe a little, but with Ibuki and Byakuya-chan on duty, then it’s nothing!” So Byakuya-chan says, “Exactly. As long as I am your leader you will have nothing to fear from anyone!’” Mioda rocked back and forth on her heels. “Gnaaaaaaah! That’s so COOL!”

Hinata’s mouth fell open slightly. “Well, it sounds like you had a good time…”

“But that’s only the beginning!” Mioda went on. “After that Ibuki and Byakuya-chan didn’t know what to say again, but we were off to a good start and Ibuki was determined! So Ibuki asked Byakuya-chan, tell me about your most favorite thing in the whole world! And he said that was meats!”

“Meats?” Hinata recalled having a similar conversation with Togami at one point, but did not care to share this information.

“Meats! So Ibuki said, tell Ibuki all about the meats, and he told Ibuki about all the meats there ever were!” Mioda stopped, and then grinned. “Well, maybe not all the meats… but when he was done we still had half an hour left, so he asked Ibuki, what’s your most favorite thing? So Ibuki told Byakuya-chan the entire history of punk rock!”

“In…thirty minutes?” Pekoyama said.

“Ibuki went really really fast!” Mioda said. “But she still isn’t done! She needs to finish today even if she goes at super hyper speed! Do Peko-chan and Hajime-chan understand? Punk rock is very important!”

Hinata was pretty sure he understood more than Mioda had intended to let on. “Well, sure,” he said. “But are you saying –”

“I see we’re all very focused.” Hinata jumped at the sound of Togami's voice. He was standing right behind him, his arms folded and his expression stern. He’d gone unnoticed until he had spoken, even by Mioda, but the moment she saw him a grin spread across her face.

“Togami,” Hinata said, hoping he didn’t look too ridiculous. “You’re here to take over, then?”

“I am.” Togami nodded. “Nothing else suspicious happened, correct?”

“Nope!” Mioda winked. “Ibuki hasn’t done a single suspicious thing yet!”

“If you mean there were no threats to the game, that is correct,” Pekoyama said.

“Then that is what matters.” He stood awkwardly for a moment, and then gave a small smile. “Go. Get some rest, both of you. I expect you back here at six this evening.”

“Understood.” Peko immediately turned and walked away, while Hinata took the time to say some goodbyes. Mioda waved enthusiastically, while Togami nodded and assumed his position by the game. As Hinata walked he turned some of what he’d heard over in his mind – the thought of Mioda bombarding Togami with the entire history of punk rock was too funny to let go of – but soon the idea of a morning shower dominated his thoughts.

=====

Compared to the morning, the rest of Hinata’s day was relatively carefree, and almost – could he even say this in such a situation? – fun. He explored the second island a little more thoroughly, and took a look around Chandler Beach for the first time. Occasionally he ran into the others, and when he did they had pleasant conversations. No one spoke of the ruins, or the World Destroyers, or even of Komaeda and Hanamura. Hinata only realized this when he passed the lodge and realized how long it had been since anyone had approached it.

That evening, Hinata and Pekoyama went back on shift again. They had somewhat more company than before; Souda hung out with them for about half an hour, Sonia and Tanaka stopped for a lengthy chat on their way to dinner, and Nanami told them all about the previous games in the Twilight Syndrome franchise, which all sounded quite engaging, when she brought their food. Even when Hinata and Pekoyama were alone their conversation went much more smoothly than it had in the morning, and before they knew it the Night Time announcement had gone off. Monobear showed up immediately afterward, lamenting that he’d forgotten to pressure them to play, but they ignored him and headed back for the cottages, leaving Mioda and Togami behind to continue their conversation.

=====

komaeda theater

“Hey gang! What are you guys up to? Hanging out? Having fun? Oh, that’s nice. Remember when we used to do that? No?

“Oh, you don’t want to hear me air my grievances about that again, do you? Wait, grievances? What kind of a word is that? It’s something a spoiled brat who’s never known suffering might use. I must seem entirely too self-important to you, don’t I? Maybe you’d like to show me my place? I bet you would.

“No, no… no, I was about to say I didn’t mean any of that, but at this point I don’t know myself. If anything, this is proof that my plan is working. Your hope is propelling you forward, and all thanks to me! How lucky I should really consider myself to be!

“At least, that’s what I’d like to believe. Everything could always change in a heartbeat.”

======

There were two major consequences of Hinata’s given shift times. He missed mealtime gatherings in the morning and evening, and saw Togami far less often than before. This did feel odd to him, as he didn’t think that was the case with Owari, Nidai, or Mioda, but that might have been because they were much more talkative during the changes.

There was only one period where Hinata and Togami were free and awake at the same time – 2 P.M. to 6 P.M.  Hinata didn’t completely intend to run into Togami, though the thought had been in the back of his mind. He was taking a late lunch when he happened to come in, presumably fresh off his shift; the restaurant was deserted otherwise.

Togami didn’t seem to see him, but when he was halfway to the food tables Hinata figured he’d better not be a stranger. “Uh, Togami,” he said.

“Hinata!” Togami turned on his heels. For a second he looked on edge, but relaxed quickly. “I didn’t see you there.”

“Ah – sorry.” Hinata stood from his seat.

“’Sorry’? What’s with that kind of response?” He folded his arms, but did not move any closer to Hinata or the food. “Never say that again, unless it’s demanded of you. You sound like a coward when you do.”

“Wait, I wasn’t really apologizing for being here,” Hinata said. “Just for sca –”

“It looks like I’ll be joining you,” Togami interrupted. He turned for the food tables and took a plate. “An unusual event, lately, it seems.”

“I was just thinking that.” Hinata looked at his own plate, feeling suddenly self-conscious. “But it’s been…busy.”

“You say that as though it’s a bad thing.” Togami smirked, piling his plate high with everything he could reach as he spoke. “Our work has successfully protected everyone on this island, Hinata. When we leave here, everyone will remember our sacrifices.”

“I hope so,” Hinata said.

As he spoke, Togami made his way for Hinata’s table and set his plate at a seat across from him. He sat down, but did not touch his food. “Hinata,” he said, “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”

“Hm?”

“Even with the successes we have had so far, we cannot consider that guarding the game will solve everything.” He put a hand to his chin. “In your interactions with the others, have you noticed any unusual or suspicious behavior?”

“Suspicious behavior?” Hinata furrowed his brow. “Not any more than usual, but –”

“What do you mean?” Togami said quickly. “Explain more thoroughly.”

“I don’t really need to. I mean, they’re acting like themselves, which is pretty weird when you think about it –” Hinata paused. “Are you asking me if they’re acting like they might kill someone?”

“I thought that was clear from the beginning. Honestly, Hinata, I expected better of you.”

In all honesty Hinata had expected better of himself – he’d known this was coming, thanks to Nanami. He’d spent the morning losing track of time with her in the library, along with Sonia and Souda. Between failed attempts at getting Sonia’s attention, Souda had gotten him caught up with current events. Nothing new as far as escape had been found, Monobear and Monomi had been relatively quiet, and Togami had, once again, been wandering the islands and not heavily interacting with anyone.

Except, Nanami added, he’d pulled her aside after breakfast and asked her whether any of the others had been, quote, “acting suspiciously” or “talking about the game”. Sonia supported this story, and though she hadn’t and swore up and down she’d told the truth, she said that he’d had a look in his eyes as though he didn’t entirely believe her.

“Well, either way, the answer’s no,” Hinata said. “It’s been pretty quiet.”

“I see.” Togami looked at him another moment, carrying his attention as though he were about to say something else, then bowed his head and dived into his food without another word. Hinata went back to his own food, and they ate in silence.

He desperately wanted to talk, but he didn’t know where to start. There was so much he wanted to ask, and yet so much he wasn’t sure he could access. He’d noticed some shifts in his behavior, frequently brief and often without warning; it almost seemed to him like there was another Togami, a Togami hiding underneath the one projected to the rest, one that came out in fits and starts as if slipping through cracks. He had seen a piece of this Togami in the kitchen before the party with the talk of his past, but ever since Komaeda’s death that particular piece had withdrawn from his reach, its roots or meaning a mystery to him.

It wasn’t his responsibility to make these moments happen, he knew. Nor was it in his best interest. But he couldn’t help but wonder about rhyme and reason, about what input led to what outcomes.  Could he just start a casual conversation? Was this something of which Togami was even capable? He had to try, he knew.

He could think of a thousand ways to cleverly introduce what was on his mind, but he knew he had to be discreet. “So,” he said. “How are your shifts going?”

Togami looked surprised, but then nodded. “Successful,” he said. “We’ve discussed this.”

Perhaps too discreet, he thought. “It makes a lot of time to fill, though,” he said. “And Pekoyama’s not always that talkative. But that’s never really a problem.”

Togami’s eyes went wide. There we go, Hinata thought. “Pekoyama is loyal and attentive. It makes her very effective. Mioda’s effectiveness…takes other forms.”

“You probably never run out of things to talk about.”

Togami’s hand flew over his mouth. “Not yet,” he said after a pause.

“She, ah, always seems really excited to talk to you.”

“Really? Is that…” Togami pressed his hand closer, and didn’t say anything for a time. Then he removed it, and smirked. “Heh. Her appreciation is wise. Ordinarily I would call her behavior frivolous… but there’s no harm in keeping her mind off other things, if nothing else can be done with the time.”

“That’s an interesting way to look at it,” Hinata said. “Well, what I mean is…I don’t think there’s any harm in relaxing a little sometimes.”

“That attitude is something I’ve had to accept I can’t change about commoners,” Togami said. “They necessitate distractions in order to function even at the lowest levels.”

“I think everyone’s doing the best they can,” Hinata said.

“They are. I agree.” Togami looked down at his food.  “It will work, won’t it?”

“Will what work?”

“It has to. There can’t be another murder. There won’t be.” He looked up again, determination burning in his eyes. “You must do everything in your power to make sure of that. Do you understand?”

“Er,” Hinata said.

“I have a great deal of faith in you, Hinata.” Hinata didn’t know how to respond to that. “Our responsibilities are great. If we let them overwhelm us, nothing can be accomplished.”

Hinata remembered the pool, the diner, and the bags under Togami’s eyes – but only for a second. “I know,” he said. “I’ll do my best.”

“We’re succeeding. Remember that.” He looked over at Hinata’s plate. “You haven’t finished.”

“Oh –” Hinata moved his food around his plate self-consciously. “I was talking to you, I couldn’t really –”

“Are you eating enough, Hinata?” Hinata was startled by the look of concern on his face. “I just said you can’t let stress overcome you, and the work we have before us requires strength.” He took a large bite off a chicken leg between sentences. “For the sake of everyone else, you must be prepared!”

“I, er, appreciate that, but I’m fine, really. I eat as much as I want or need.” Hinata stood. “I should go. I promised Nanami…”

He really had promised to meet Nanami later, but it was incredibly obvious that Togami at least suspected that he was lying. “Very well,” he said. “Do not forget what I have said.”

=====

Hinata didn’t know why his mind went back to this conversation when Koizumi appeared on his evening shift. He saw her coming from a distance, but she stopped many times on the road, as if hesitating.

Pekoyama was examining the game console and hadn’t seen her, so Hinata took initiative in her stead. “Koizumi!” he called.

“Oh!” Koizumi stood up straighter and walked toward them more briskly. “Hinata, Peko-chan!”

“It’s rather late, Koizumi,” Pekoyama said, looking up. “Is everything alright?”

“Sure, everything’s fine.” Koizumi looked from Pekoyama over to the game, and then back at Pekoyama. “Well…actually, I’m not sure.”

“Not sure?” Hinata said.

“You guys are around this game all the time, so I need to know. How dangerous do you think it really is?”

Pekoyama’s eyes widened. “We have no way of knowing, Koizumi…”

“I know. But I can’t stop thinking about it. If it really is that dangerous…if it could make us kill someone…what could it possibly be?” Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me the truth. Has anyone played it?”

Hinata and Pekoyama looked at each other. “No,” they said in unison.

“Not that I know of, anyway,” Hinata added.

“Okay. I just…” She shook her head angrily. “I just can’t stand it, you know? Being manipulated like this. If we were really looking to defeat this game, shouldn’t we be a little more proactive about it? Smash it to bits, maybe?”

“Nidai and Owari already tried that,” Hinata said. “What was it Monobear said… “I poured my heart and soul into that game! If you attack this game it would be as if you’re attacking me – and you’ll be punished accordingly!””

Pekoyama gave him an odd look – he knew he shouldn’t have tried to imitate Monobear’s voice – but Koizumi looked deadly serious. “Of course. Why should I expect anything different?”

“Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Pekoyama said. “The game is well guarded.”

“Maybe. I know you’re doing a good job, anyway.” Koizumi smiled at Pekoyama. “Oh, and before I forget, Peko-chan, I have something I need to ask you!” She turned and pointed towards the trees. “Hinata, go stand over there.”

“Huh?” Hinata raised an eyebrow.

“You heard me!”

Hinata shrugged and headed for the trees. Once there he watched Pekoyama and Koizumi talk enthusiastically for about fifteen minutes before Koizumi left, waving goodbye in her wake. Once she was out of sight, Hinata re-approached Pekoyama with caution. “What was that about?” he asked.

“Koizumi explicitly told me not to tell you,” Pekoyama said. “Or rather, not to tell any of the boys.”

“That’s not that surprising.” Hinata leaned against the pedestal.

“She did tell me not to tell Togami that she was here. I suppose I can share that.” Pekoyama paced in front of the game. “I should have asked her the time. I’m sure Mioda will be here soon.”

=====

komaeda theater

“The theme for tonight is “the buildup of meaning over long periods of time.” What does that mean? Well, when I was in elementary school, I was cutting across an empty lot on my way back to where I was living at the time when I saw a woman who was looking frantically all around her car. She said she’d dropped her keys. I offered to help her, and we looked for a very long time, but found nothing. I was kind of a foolish child, so I wandered out into the road to look there. The woman saw me just in time and pulled me away, but she wasn’t quick enough to save herself from the oncoming vehicle.

“Well, that’s not quite the right way to put it. She did live! And as I was waiting in the lobby, as the paramedics had mistaken me for her son and I just kind of went with it, what do I see outside in the hall, but a ring of keys! They were indeed the woman’s. It seemed she had just been visiting a sick coworker. But if she’d never gotten injured, would she ever have seen them again? I admit, it’s not something I like to think about a lot. The injury, I mean.

“But five years later, when I was accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy, whose name do I see on the bottom of my letter but this woman’s! Not only was she a member of the Hope’s Peak admissions committee, but she was one of the strongest supporters of the Good Luck student initiative! But does this mean anything, in terms of good or bad luck?

“Honestly, I’ve never been able to figure that out. Is it possible for there to be luck that has no alignment at all, that’s simply coincidence but neither good nor evil? There’s no way this woman could have remembered me, after all, or that our connection affected my acceptance. I did have it in mind to find her, but she’s quite a distance away, isn’t she? I wonder if she’ll be sad to hear of my death, if she ever does.”

=====

Hinata’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the Monobear announcement – then realized that that was not what was supposed to be waking him. But this actually relaxed him somewhat, and he lingered in bed for a few moments before getting up, because if he was already this late, he could stand to be later.

The first thing he noticed once he did get up was the paper that had been slid under his door. Rubbing his eyes, he walked over and picked it up. It read: Hinata, due to certain plans in place, I will be on guard with Mioda this morning. You will join Owari at 10 am. Further plans will be discussed afterward. – Pekoyama

It didn’t occur to Hinata to be curious about why this was the case. In fact, he was just turning around to climb back into bed for a little while longer when he heard a loud knock on his door. For a second he thought the letter might have been a prank, and that Pekoyama was just about to come and beat his ass – but then Togami spoke. “Hinata!” he shouted. “Hinata, are you awake?”

“Togami?” Hinata knew what was coming – he dropped the letter and headed to where he’d thrown his clothes. “Yeah – just a second!”

“Make it faster than that,” Togami said. “Did you get a letter from Pekoyama?”

“Yeah, I just did.” Hinata buttoned his shirt with some attempt at speed. “Why?”

“We need to go to the central island immediately. Are you quite finished?”

“I am now,” Hinata said, as he had opened the door while Togami had been speaking. “Look, I don’t really understand –”

“You will.” Togami walked ahead, and Hinata practically had to run in order to keep up. In no time at all they reached the central island, where Pekoyama stood guard while Mioda wandered around, throwing rocks.

She was the first to notice them, just short of throwing a rock at them. “Ehhh? Byakuya-chan? Hajime-chan?” She threw the rock behind her back. “Is breakfast over already?”

“It hasn’t started.” Togami walked past Mioda without looking at her, approached Pekoyama, and thrust the note out in front of her. “Pekoyama, what is the meaning of this?”

Pekoyama looked at the note, then up at Togami. “Are you asking me why I wrote that note, or what it’s supposed to communicate?”

“I think you know."

“Very well,” Pekoyama said. “I was told to keep this secret, but I don’t entirely see how that’s possible in this situation. Plans have been made for this afternoon which require all of the girls to be available. At least one girl is on duty at any given time, so I was told to shift the schedule so that only the boys would be on duty this afternoon. Given Mioda’s shift in groups I assumed this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“It’s not a problem at all. Or it wouldn’t have been, if you’d told me beforehand.” Togami crumpled the note in his hands.

Pekoyama sighed. “I was given instructions, which I then carried out. I didn’t make these plans.”

“We’re all going to the beach!” Mioda added. Clearly, Hinata thought, she’d missed the memo about this being a secret. “Ibuki’d invite you guys but Mahiru-chan said no boys allowed a heck of a lot!”

Togami’s eyes went wide at the mention of Koizumi’s name. “I don’t think there’s much there I’d be missing, Mioda,” he said, trying to re-adjust his face. “Like I said, the plans themselves aren’t the problem. And you’ve done nothing wrong, either of you. Come, Hinata. Koizumi should be heading to breakfast about now.”

Pekoyama looked over at Hinata, who shrugged in a desperate attempt to communicate that he wasn’t entirely in on Togami’s plan. “And just what do you plan on doing?” she said.

“I think I’d like to know that too,” Hinata interjected.

“It’s alright. There’s no need to panic. You’ll see.” Togami strode back up the path to the first island. Pekoyama gave Hinata another look, and he mouthed “I’ll keep an eye on him” before following after him, though he wasn’t sure his presence was all that reassuring to her.

Back on the first island, everyone else was just heading for the restaurant. They passed Sonia and Nidai on the way to the cottages – both of them looked very surprised to see Hinata so early in the morning, but Togami barreled by them before Hinata could explain himself. All too soon he spotted Koizumi leaving the cottage area hand in hand with Saionji, and headed for them with a stony expression on his face. Hinata, wisely, kept his distance. “Koizumi!” Togami called.

Saionji heard him first. “Hey, Porkfeet at ten o’clock,” she said without bothering to modulate her voice.

“Huh?” Koizumi stopped short, and then threw her hands on her hips. “What is it, Togami?”

“Listen,” Togami said as he approached, speaking more calmly than Hinata had expected. “I have no problems with you making plans. Or even with you changing the group order to accommodate those plans. But why was it necessary to make a point of not informing me of this before carrying it out?”

“What are you talking about?” Koizumi said. “Who told you?”

“Snitches get stitches!” Saionji interjected.

“Once again, I don’t see the importance of this secrecy,” Togami said. “It was not possible for Pekoyama to rearrange the schedule without informing me at least of your plans. She said so herself.”

“Okay, fine. But you just said you didn’t have a problem.” Koizumi tilted her head upward, so she could glare at Togami more properly. “So it sounds more like you just want an excuse to talk down to me again.”

“Is that what this is to you, then? A power play?” Togami laughed. “There’s no reason for it to be. I am merely cautioning you to inform me next time, especially if you are going to arrange such a large gathering. The unstable are drawn to such spectacles, and if you don’t take the necessary precautions –”

“Wait – what are you implying?” Koizumi’s eyes went wide. “Why would any of us do anything like that?”

“I’m not implying anything about anyone.”  A heavy tone entered Togami’s voice. “I’m simply making sure you remember that there’s a precedent of such things occurring, and that no matter what you may think of someone, you don’t know what they’re thinking.”

“That’s not news to me,” Koizumi said. “But since I actually talk to the people on this island, I think I know them better than you do, especially the girls involved. And I think we’ve learned a thing or two from Komaeda and Hanamura’s mistakes.”

“Besides,” Saionji said, “just because your party was a disaster doesn’t mean Big Sis Koizumi’s is going to be.”

“Hey, guys…” Hinata held up a hand, but he wasn’t entirely sure how to back up his remark. Koizumi gave him a look, but Togami didn’t appear to react to his words at all – Hinata couldn’t tell whether he looked angry or distressed. He moved closer to Koizumi, and, after a moment’s hesitation, extended a hand that seemed to be heading for her shoulder. “Koizumi, I don’t –”

“Don’t touch me!” Koizumi pushed Togami’s hand away, and he pulled it right back to his side. “Just – keep your nose out of my business, okay? Keeping us safe doesn’t mean controlling everything we do. Is that really that hard for you to understand?” She turned on him. “Let’s go, Hiyoko-chan.”

Koizumi took Saionji by the hand again, and they headed for the restaurant. Hinata took a few steps closer to Togami, who was looking after them. He still had that same expression, but now Hinata was sure it looked more like distress. “They’ll be fine,” he said suddenly. “They’ll be fine.”

Hinata wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. “Look,” he said, “I’ve told you, Koizumi’s kind of –”

“I know what you think of Koizumi,” Togami said. “I’m going back to my cottage. You should go ahead to breakfast.” He turned and walked away without waiting for a response, his gait far slower than it had been before.

=====

Hinata wasn’t sure whether everyone else felt tense that day, or if it was just him. Owari certainly didn’t – she spent the four hours of their shift together either telling him about her terrible home life or challenging him to fights, which, as two o’clock came closer, he was worried he was about to accept.

But then Nidai showed up, along with Souda, against all reason. He didn’t plan to guard the game, he said – he just didn’t have anything else to do. But when he was followed by a long succession of girls, his motivation became clear. Koizumi, Saionji, and Tsumiki arrived first, walking together. All were at the moment fully clothed, but when Owari saw them she ripped off her clothes, revealing a bikini underneath, and ran after them, leaving said clothes behind.

Nidai laughed, and Souda nudged Hinata in the ribs and said he couldn’t wait for Sonia-san to arrive. Mostly this all made Hinata feel very uncomfortable, though he couldn’t help but go red in the face when Nanami showed up in a bikini and stopped to chat. Mioda, also in a bikini, came next, and Hinata noticed that she remained with them, even after Nanami had left with Pekoyama, until Togami showed up, though he didn’t seem to react one way or another to how she was dressed.

At that point Hinata had no obligation to stay, and so he did not. He greeted Sonia politely as he passed her, though once she was gone he couldn’t help but laugh at Souda’s expense when he saw what she was wearing.

He was supposed to go back and relieve Nidai at six – Togami had agreed to a double shift, an unusually gracious move on his part, Hinata couldn’t help but think. But until then he was strapped for things to do. The only people left on the first island were Kuzuryuu and Tanaka. Kuzuryuu was scarce as usual, so to pass the time Hinata tracked Tanaka down.  After working through several refusals, wherein Tanaka insisted again and again that his presence was toxic to mortals, they spent a solid half an hour playing with the Four Dark Gods of Destruction at the Usami Corral.

At that point Souda passed by in tears; upon confrontation he explained that he had not been allowed to attend the all-girls’ swim. Hinata rolled his eyes, but invited him to hang with them out of sympathy. Monomi showed up not long after, wondering where everyone had gone; they directed her to the beach, and to their relief she vanished quickly. At five-thirty they parted ways, and Hinata headed back to the central island. Nidai handed the watch off to him with a high five, and he went to sit at his usual spot, while Togami still stood in his.

Togami didn’t seem to notice his presence for some time, not even after Hinata greeted him, but then, entirely unbidden, he spoke. “Hinata, I believe I gave you incorrect information yesterday. Or rather, an inaccurate conception.”

“I…don’t get what you’re referring to,” Hinata said.

“I believed that the frivolous actions of our classmates were a coping mechanism. A way to strengthen themselves in order to confront the issues before us at a more convenient time. Now I’m…beginning to think that they may not, in fact, be looking to confront them at all.”

Togami put a hand to his chin. He had a quizzical look on his face, but if he was expecting Hinata to explain everything he was mistaken - he couldn’t do much more than shrug. “I guess it’s just hard to conceptualize,” he said. “I mean, everything that's going on…it’s so out there, it doesn’t feel real. So right now, no one’s really acting like it exists.”

“But is that a good thing? Is it a sign of victory, or is it letting our guard down?”

“I’d like to think it’s the first one.”

“Wouldn’t we all. Feh. It doesn’t matter.” He rubbed his chin. “But take Nidai, for instance. During our shift today he said he’d been observing my 'physical abilities’, and, in his words, wanted to know what I was capable of. At first I was quite confused, but it was clear that this was important to him. So I…sparred with him briefly. He seemed…impressed.” Togami paused. “Do you think that means he respects me?”

Hinata was having trouble getting over the fact that he’d heard this story at all. “Uh.”

“And, well, you know about Mioda.” Togami sounded bewildered. “There’s…there’s been no end to the things she’s been trying to get me to do. When we’re together it’s as though she never takes her attention off of me for a second…” He looked back at Hinata. “If I were more like Nidai, or Mioda, or anyone else on this island, would I, generally, be more well-respected?”

“I…” Hinata found himself unsure of what answer Togami was looking for, or even where his train of thought had come from. He was sure he’d never find out. “I think you’re fine just the way you are,” he decided to say.

“You always answer so safely.” Togami laughed a very small laugh. “Hold that thought. I think I hear the girls coming.”

And so they were. For all the secrecy Koizumi had enforced, going was just as noisy an affair as coming. Mioda was the first to arrive, dragging Tsumiki in her wake. She bounded right over to Togami and began speaking a mile a minute: “So first we had a breath holding contest and Hiyoko-chan won but Ibuki thinks Hiyoko-chan cheated and she can’t even swim so she wasn’t even underwater so how do we even know?” Tsumiki stood to the side with her hands across her swimsuit, whimpering and looking back and forth at Hinata.

Next were Pekoyama, Owari, and Sonia, who helpfully had a towel for Tsumiki. Pekoyama and Owari exchanged only goodbyes, but Sonia briefly took Togami’s attention and had a short, but enthusiastic conversation with him that Hinata could barely understand. Then she left, with Tsumiki in tow. Mioda immediately resumed talking: “And then we went back to the beach house and we had secret conversations so secret not even Byakuya-chan can know what we said! Hmmmmmm, but can Byakuya-chan guess what we talked about? Ibuki wonders if he can!” By Hinata’s estimation Togami didn’t seem to mind, though he wasn’t quite sure as he hadn’t yet gotten a word in edgewise.

Then came Nanami, who was, to Hinata’s surprise, walking next to Monomi. They gave Hinata and Togami brief greetings before moving on. Finally, Koizumi and Saionji came through together, saying nothing to the group by the game as they passed.  

======

Hinata lay awake just a little later than usual that night, and, perhaps as a direct result, he began thinking about Komaeda again.

He’d been dead for five days, and yet the time Hinata had spent with him felt like it had been another lifetime. Yesterday he’d had had a sudden but brief thought of him, and asked Pekoyama if she, too, had had any of those kinds of thoughts, which he was embarrassed to find she had not. But this wasn’t like that thought – it was sustained, and it traveled on a path from one memory to another. He’d almost thought he’d forgotten Komaeda’s face, and yet there it was at the front of his mind, vivid as ever. He wondered what he was trying to find in it. Clues? Answers? Answers to what? It frustrated him, to be drawn to something and yet not know what he was looking for.

He did not think of Hanamura, not until he was almost asleep and it occurred to him that he hadn’t. But then his thoughts dissolved. He didn’t know whether Komaeda remained, but he had the vague feeling that he did.

Chapter Text

komaeda theater

“I never wanted any of them to suffer. And I wanted them to know that. I could never entirely explain what I was trying to do, no matter how many times I tried. The language I spoke, and the language they spoke, they slid through each other and each side came out saying something different than what they’d meant.

“And that’s why I can never explain myself. Why you’ll always react with fear. Why my words bounce off your mind without ever entering.”

=====

Hinata had been wondering when he could have a conversation with Togami that didn’t make a sort of ambiguous space in his chest that felt like it might be his soul hurt, but he hadn’t expected to find success so soon. 

“Sonia came around a lot this morning,” he said to him as they approached the bridge to the central island. They hadn’t planned to walk together to their next shift – it had just kind of happened. “I couldn’t understand half of what you guys were saying, but she sounded excited.”

“Heh. That would be French you heard.” Togami smirked. “I encountered her in the library the other day, and after a short conversation I lent her a book of my own I thought she might like, and she certainly has.”

“I remember her saying she talked to you a few days ago,” Hinata said, though Sonia had not shared this side of their meeting. “A French book? What was it?”

“The Vicomte of Bragelonne, by the nineteenth-century novelist Alexandre Dumas. You may have heard of its third volume, The Man In The Iron Mask.”

“Uh.”

“I’m not surprised you don’t know it. But that third volume is a particular favorite of mine. It concerns an entirely anonymous prisoner, hidden and punished simply for being the brother of the King, portrayed in such a way that anyone could relate themselves to him and his plight…” Togami paused. “It’s the kind of thing that fascinates me.”

“Really?” It occurred to Hinata that he’d never really thought of Togami’s interests, or what he did in his free time. During their shifts they’d mostly ended up talking about Hinata – Hinata’s family, Hinata’s past, Hianta’s interests. “I never would have known.”

“Do you think it foolish? What a pity your mind is so small.” They had reached the island, and turned the corner to head for the park. “I would loan it to you when she’s finished, to change your mind, but I don’t imagine you read French.”

“Yeah, no. I mean, I would if I did.”

“Then when we leave this island, I’ll buy you a translation.” Togami turned the corner to the path to the park. “We’re here.”

When Hinata turned after him, he saw that Owari was not in her position by the game. She was waiting at the entrance of the park with her arms folded and a grin on her face, and when Togami approached she spread herself out in front of him, blocking his path. “Yo, Togami!” she said. “Took you long enough!”

Togami shot Hinata a bewildered look, and then turned back. “What do you mean? I’m several minutes early. Why are you over here?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Owari said. “Listen, old man Nidai told me all about what you can do. Do you know how long I’ve been looking for someone else on this island to fight besides him?” She pounded her fist into her palm. “Come on! If you can fight him, you can fight me!”

“Fight him?” Hinata said, his eyebrows narrowed in disbelief. He looked over at Togami, who looked even more surprised than before.

“Owari –” he began, then regained his composure with a chuckle. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, both of you. But I have no intention of joining your lifestyle of –”

“Yeah, yeah,” Owari said. “I thought you’d say something like that, so I’m way ahead of you. If you won’t fight on my terms, I’ll fight on yours!”

“On mine?” Togami’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I mean we’re going to have an eating contest!” Owari said. “At the restaurant, right now. Loser takes the next two shifts!”

Hinata had never seen such a look on Togami’s face as he had at the sound of her words, nor did he know how to interpret it. His best guess would be rage mixed with something like awe, or impatience. “An…excuse me?”

“You heard me!” Owari shouted. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Owari, we can’t begin a contest your competitor has not yet agreed to!” Nidai, too, had left his post by the game and was now approaching Togami and Hinata. “Togami! What is your answer?”

“My answer?” Togami sounded as though he was having difficulty forming words. “What could you possibly have thought I’d say? How could you ask me to abandon my post on such a frivolous premise?”

“Making excuses, Togami?” Owari grinned. “Sounds like something a chicken would do.”

“A chicken?” Togami looked livid. “Absolutely not. Haven’t I told you before? There is no way for you to prove your superiority to me in that field. It will only lead to your ruin. I am simply saying that the logistics for such a thing aren’t workable.”

“AN UNTRUTH!” Nidai roared. “From the passion in your words I can tell you are burning to prove yourself! You cannot let such a small thing as logistics stand in your way!”

“I’ve already told you. Don’t try to impose your standards on me.” Togami’s voice grew louder with every word. “This will not be happening. At a more convenient time I may…consider it.”

Owari’s face fell, and at the sight – really the sight of them both together – an idea entered Hinata’s mind. “But that’s not really a problem, is it?” he said. “I could stay here with Nidai until you’re done.”

Togami’s eyes went wide again, but Nidai spoke before he could. “I understand the logic of this, but not to be present for such a thing…I would not allow it of myself!”

“And for that matter, what exactly are you suggesting?” Togami said. “You will be attending this contest, Hinata. To only have Nidai as a witness would not be enough.”

“Hey, weren’t you just saying that it wasn’t happening?” Owari said. “You’re talking like it is!”

“If you are asking for a no or a yes, I have said neither,” Togami said. “Do you hear me, Hinata? That is an order!”

“Well…if you say so,” Hinata said. He sounded reluctant, even if he was curious as to how this would play out, deep down. “We could get Pekoyama and Mioda to take over.”

“Yeah, about that…” Owari put a hand on her chin. “I dunno about Pekoyama, but Mioda came through here earlier and I kind of ran my mouth. She said she wanted to be there no matter what.”

“Are you even giving Togami a choice?” Hinata said.

“It’s more like her arguments are getting more convincing,” Togami said. “As much as I would appreciate having Mioda there to swell the number of witnesses to my victory, this leaves only Pekoyama to guard the game.” He put a hand to his chin. “For this to occur at all, we must call on one of the others. But who?”

“There’s got to be someone willing to sit in for half an hour,” Hinata said. “And if anything happens Pekoyama’s more than capable of handling it.”

“Very well,” Togami said. “Hinata, thank you for volunteering. Go and find them!”

“Hey, wait, I never said I was volunteering!” Hinata said, but he knew his fate was sealed. As he walked away from the park and back to the second island, he tried to turn what had just happened over in his mind – particularly why Togami had accepted such a strange challenge. He wondered if this was something like his sudden desire to hold a party. But then he remembered the role of Komaeda’s letter, and stopped thinking along those lines.

He ran into Souda on the way, and thinking he might be reasonably strong he made his offer, but ended up with another spectator instead – “You’re really asking me to choose between standing around doing nothing and watching a contest like that?” he’d said. He then found Pekoyama in her cottage; to his relief, she not only showed no interest in the contest, but agreed to take over the shift.

They were just about to leave the hotel and ask around for volunteers when Kuzuryuu happened to pass them on his way to the cottages. Hinata hadn’t planned on asking him, but to his surprise Pekoyama took the initiative – and to his even greater surprise Kuzuryuu actually stopped and considered it.

“Hm, okay,” he finally said. “Why not.”

Pekoyama nodded calmly, but Hinata was thunderstruck. “You really will?” he said. “But you…”

“What, do I have to explain myself before I can do it?” Kuzuryuu shouted. “You’re desperate, aren’t you? Just get us over there and leave me alone, shithead!”

“Fine, whatever,” Hinata said. They walked back to the island in silence, and arrived to find Owari and Togami entrenched in an intense trash-talking session (“And why exactly are you so confident, Owari? I can’t imagine you have anywhere near my levels of experience.” “Hey, I’ve never needed experience!”). Kuzuryuu’s presence did silence them, but it was clear no one wanted to be the one to tell him to go away.

“If he’s willing to do the job, there’s no reason to refuse him,” Togami finally pronounced. “But given that his role in the watch is unofficial…I would ask you to keep a close eye on him, Pekoyama.”

“I’d watch my own ass if I were you,” Kuzuryuu snipped, but Pekoyama nodded and said nothing. They took their places in the park – Pekoyama by the game, Kuzuryuu by the pedestal – while Togami stepped off for the first island bridge, closely followed by Owari, Nidai, and Hinata.

=====

When they were just out of sight, Kuzuryuu’s hands began to twitch, but he did nothing, not then.

After several moments he stood from his position against the pedestal, and then leaned back. Pekoyama did nothing. He stood again, walked across the park, and stopped at the game console. Pekoyama did nothing. He turned it on with the press of a button, and watched the opening sequence play.

Pekoyama looked back at him with her eyes wide – not with shock, but with interest. Kuzuryuu glanced over his shoulder, and froze when he saw her look.

He lifted his hands, but only for a second. Then, he put them back. “Make sure no one enters the park,” he said.

“No one will, young master.” Pekoyama turned away from Kuzuryuu, and kept her eyes on the road.

=====

They met Souda and Mioda in the hotel lobby, along with Tsumiki and Nanami, to their surprise. Apparently they’d been playing video games together when Souda had arrived and filled them in on the situation. Tsumiki apologized for intruding, but did say it might be in their best interests for her to supervise the event. Nanami said the contest sounded exciting before falling asleep briefly where she stood. 

Owari rushed upstairs without stopping to talk to anyone. Togami was about to do the same, but Mioda accosted him and began filling his ears with words of encouragement. “There’s no way Byakuya-chan is going to lose in eating or anything else he does!” she said. “Even if someday Ibuki and Byakuya-chan had a headbanging contest, Ibuki would make sure to teach him all she knows!” Togami nodded, but said almost nothing as they walked up the stairs.

The rest of them followed after. “S’gonna be an interesting night,” Souda said to Hinata as they went up. “Eating contests, they’re kinda like, you can’t understand them but you can’t look away. You know what I’m saying?”

“I get why you’d think that, but I don’t think it’s really like that at all,” Hinata said. “Especially since they’re so passionate about it.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Souda laughed. Hinata got the feeling he was trying to cover for a comment that hadn’t gone over well.

“Whatever the medium, what matters is the competitive spirit,” Nidai added. “And that will be very thick tonight!”

“And it is nice to see Togami-kun being social like this,” Nanami said softly. But no one had the chance to answer her – they had reached the top of the stairs, or at least as far as they could get given that Owari, Togami, and Mioda had stopped in their path.

“Upupupupu! And there’s everyone else! It’s about time!” Hinata groaned at the sight of Monobear, who was leaping up and down on a chair, clapping his paws together. Right next to him were two tables labeled “TOGAMI” and “OWARI”, each laid with precisely identical spreads of food.

“Howaa!” Tsumiki whimpered. “It’s you!”

“It’s me!” Monobear laughed. “Well, what do you think? This setup is much fairer for a contest, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, probably!” Mioda said. “But that’s so far from the point Ibuki can’t even see where it is!”

Hinata was too stunned for words, but Nidai surged forward. “What is the meaning of this?” he shouted. “What motive could you possibly have?”

“My motive? You guys would all know if you ever considered my feelings for once!” Monobear said. “There haven’t been any murders for six days, and we’ve gotten to the point where this is the only interesting thing going on! I’m practically dying of boredom, and if I do you bastards’ll have to go on trial for killing ME!”

“This will have to be something for you to get used to, then,” Togami said. “There will not be another murder. Get out.”

“Ack! How ungrateful you are, Togami-kun!” Monobear held his head in his paws. “But how do you know that? Do you know your classmates as well as you think you do?”

Togami’s eyes widened, but only briefly. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear. Get. Out. Now.”

“Gnaah! Again! Well, I’m a bear that knows what he wants. If I stay here you guys are just going to yell at me, and you’re not going to get started stuffing your faces! Looks like I’ll just have to watch through the security cameras. Just in case you bastards forgot I could do that.” Monobear hopped down from his chair. “But, if you’re in this kind of mood, maybe I can just get my sister to come over here and watch you up close! I bet you’d hate that!”

“Monobear, if you’re going to leave, you should,” Nanami said, her tone dark.

“Hey, you’re the ones blocking the road!” Monobear waited until everyone had cleared out from the stairs before he vanished without using them.

For a moment the room was silent, apart from Tsumiki’s whimpers. “I don’t know,” Souda finally said. “It feels weird having Monobear involved like this…”

“But like he said, it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Hinata said. “It isn’t any different now than it was before. And if you’re worried about the food, it looks like the same thing he gives us every day.”

“Hinata’s right. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire point of his appearance was to undermine us.” Togami pointed toward the tables. “The contest will go on!”

“Alright! Finally!” Owari sat down at her table and rubbed her hands together. “Let’s eat until we puke!”

“Wait – until we puke?” Togami looked between Owari and Nidai with a horrified expression as he too sat. “This is not what I agreed to. Why would you ever want to create a situation where eating is made unpleasant?”

“We’re not,” Nidai said. “Togami has a point. It would be best if we lay down some rules for the contest.”

“How about a time limit?” Nanami offered. “That way no one gets sick…I think.”

“An excellent idea!” Nidai said. “I’m imposing a fifteen-minute time limit! The winner is the one who consumes the most food within that time! And no puking! If any food leaves your stomach, you’re disqualified!”

“Heh. This will not be a problem, especially not for me.” Togami split his chopsticks and eyed the food with determination. “Will we begin soon, Nidai?”

“So Nidai’s just in charge now?” Hinata said, but Nidai seemed to roll with it, all the way down to the stopwatch in his hand, which for all Hinata could tell just happened to be in his pocket. “Contestants, take your places!” Nidai bellowed. “Three – two – one –”

Before he could finish saying “NOW!”, Togami and Owari bowed their heads and began eating as fast as they could, glaring daggers at each other all the while. Mioda let out a wild whoop and began stamping on the floorboards in a steady rhythm, chanting Togami’s name – “By-a-kuya-CHAN! By-a-kuya-CHAN!” Tsumiki looked unnerved by the sudden noise, but also absorbed by the sight before her. Nanami and Souda cheered along – Souda for Owari, Nanami for them both – while Hinata stood silent, first stunned, then impressed.

It wasn’t just their intake – though that was pretty impressive, Hinata had to admit. He wasn’t sure he could eat in a day what they'd eaten in five minutes. But greater still was the way that everyone’s passion was coming alive, that everything that had happened and could happen had been forgotten in the spirit of the competition. But soon he realized it hadn’t been forgotten; the contest was a sign that they were conquering their situation and moving ahead.

As time passed it became clear that, for all that he’d said, Owari was eating far faster than Togami was, likely because she’d ditched the chopsticks entirely, while Togami had not. She did slow down around the ten minute mark, but then she paused, belched loudly (Togami wrinkled his nose, while Souda bust out laughing), unbuttoned her skirt, and went on. But it was only a temporary reprieve – at the twelve minute mark she started slowing down again, and a few seconds later she pushed her last plate back. But she was far from defeated – Togami was still several plates behind. Everyone cheered, even Tsumiki and Hinata, and Ibuki switched from stomping to jumping up and down, but Togami neither sped up nor slowed down, and just as it seemed he was catching up –

“TIME!” Nidai yelled. “I SAID TIME! STOP!”

“What?” Togami let the last of the noodles fall from his chopsticks. “What do you mean? Are you sure –”

“All RIGHT!” Owari leapt up from her seat and pointed skyward. “I did it! I beat him!” She swung around and aimed a grin right at Togami. “In your face, Porkfeet!”

Togami glared at Owari, and stood in order to raise himself above her. “I am not yet even close to full,” he said. “Given more time I would have eaten far more than you. This contest was in your favor.”

“I don’t think anyone had any way of knowing that before now, Togami-kun,” Nanami said. “Owari-san won fair and square.”

“Though if you’d gone for the “eat until you puke” option, maybe you would have won,” Hinata felt compelled to add.

“T-that wouldn’t have been a good option either way,” Tsumiki said.

“Of course it is! Ibuki demands a rematch!” Mioda shouted. “Ibuki would say right now but she sees that’s not really possible!”

“I think I would like that idea,” Togami said. “Owari, I will challenge you again tomorrow evening.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Owari said. “Everyone knows you’re only saying that because you lost.”

“Of course I am.” Togami smirked. “But it wouldn’t be the same contest, would it? This was a contest of speed, not sheer consumption.”

“He is correct,” Nidai said. “And you still performed admirably, Togami.”

“So it’d be different? I getcha.” Owari smirked. “But don’t expect it to be as easy as you think, old man!”

“Oh, it won’t be,” Togami said. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Mioda let out a loud “OOOOOOOOOO”, and no one could hold back at least some laughter. Souda elbowed Hinata in the ribs. “Did you hear her call him old man?” he said. “That’s usually just Nidai she calls that.”

“A term of respect,” Hinata said, more to himself than to Souda. “How about that.”

“Alright!” Mioda yelled. “The event’s over! Where’s the afterparty?”

“There will be nothing of the sort,” Togami said. “Hinata, come. We have a long night ahead of us.”

“Wait…” Hinata felt numb. “Do I have to do the two shifts, too?”

Togami looked scandalized. “Are you refusing?”

“No, no…”

“Ibuki could do it for you!”

“It’s fine, Mioda, really…”

“Can Ibuki hang out, at least?” Mioda said, looking expectantly up at Togami.

“That’s not something you need my permission for.” Togami headed for the stairs, beckoning behind him with one hand. “Come on, Hinata.”

“One second.” Hinata, feeling a sudden burst of inspiration, turned to his left. “Hey, Nanami…want to come hang out for a bit, too?”

Nanami was still for a few seconds before she spoke. “I was in the middle of a game. Maybe another time.”

“Right…okay.” He grinned to hide his disappointment, then joined Mioda and Togami as they entered the stairs, leaving everyone else to follow behind. Nanami and Tsumiki stayed behind at the game consoles, and Owari headed back to her cottage, citing a stomachache, but Souda and Nidai followed them to the central island, talking and laughing all the way.

They found Pekoyama and Kuzuryuu exactly where they had left them before, motionless and silent. Pekoyama gave them a brief goodbye, while Kuzuryuu did not, and they walked away from the park several feet apart from each other.

Souda and Nidai returned to the central island after chatting for a few minutes. Mioda stayed much longer, but soon even she began showing signs of fatigue (from all the stomping she’d been doing, Hinata was sure), at which time Togami gently nudged her to head back to her cottage and rest.

=====

“How could she do this? How the FUCK could she do this?”

“Young master, until we know the full context of these photographs, we can’t assume what we’re seeing is real.”

“But it’s her! You can’t deny it! She’s dead, Peko!”

“I can’t deny that’s what it looks like, but Monobear is both powerful and deceptive. I wouldn’t think image manipulation is beyond him.”

“But how does he even know what she looks like? And where the hell is she, anyway? And how did all these people know each other? These uniforms…this is…this can’t be…”

“Young master, I didn’t mean to imply that I was certain that the photos were faked. I merely wanted you to consider the possibility. But I trust your judgment. Given what we’ve seen of Monobear’s moral codes, I suppose it is more likely that these photos are real.”

“And they’re hers, aren’t they? She took them and then she lied.”

“A flagrant act of disrespect against the Kuzuryuu family. Not to mention conspiracy in the murder of your sister.”

“But she can’t remember. And we can’t remember. And these rules… what are we supposed to do? Peko, what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

“I live by your orders, young master. I don’t give you yours.”

“I’m not asking you for orders, I’m asking you for advice! And stop calling me that!”

“Calling you what?”

“’Young master.’ You call me by my name around everyone else, don’t you?”

“Wouldn’t that be what a stranger would do? Didn’t you say we were to be strangers? That you didn’t need the help of the Kuzuryuu family? And yet you just asked me for advice, and retracted your previous orders –”

“I know what I said, Peko!”

“Very well. If you are willing to take that advice, it looks to me like we have only two options. We do nothing, or we kill her.”

“…What?”

“You can’t show anyone these photos. In fact, I would recommend destroying them at the earliest opportunity. If anyone discovers them, or anything we’ve learned from them, it’s likely they’ll report directly to Togami. If Koizumi learns anything about her past, it should only be in the last moments of her life.”

“I don’t care about that. But if we kill her…”

“Why would you be hesitating? The people on this island are nothing more than the means for your escape, you’ve said it yourself. Mahiru Koizumi attempted to hide the slayer of a key member of the Kuzuryuu family from those that would need to exact revenge on her. She has taken that burden on herself. I don’t need to tell you what this means.”

“Of course you don’t! But – Peko –”

“Say the word and I’ll strike her down. If it’s by your command it would be as if you carried the sword yourself.”

“That’s not the point. She’s not worth it, Peko. She’s not worth what we’ll have to do.”

“If only one of us can leave this island, it will be you. I will not allow anything else, no matter what our connections are. You understand that, don’t you, young master?”

“I told you to stop calling me that!”

“…I apologize.”

“I can’t accept that, Peko. And I can’t do nothing, but if I do…that god damn fucking bear…”

“It is your decision. I will not force your hand one way or another. But one of those things must be done.”

“You want me to kill her.”

“I want to kill her in your stead. But if it is your order to hand this over to you, I will.”

“I’m not ordering you.”

“If it is your will, then.”

“That’s not any better. I’ll…I’ll decide on something. But not right now. Right now I can’t think of anything.”

“When you make this decision, will it be one I can know about?”

“You’ll know that tomorrow. Tomorrow for sure.”

“I understand. What will you do with the photos?”

“I’ll get up early and burn them on the beach.”

“I may join you.”

“Won’t you be stuck by the game?”

“I’ll see what I can do. It’s getting late. I’ll have to go while I can. Goodnight, young master.”

“Fuyuhiko.”

“Hm?”

“You can call me Fuyuhiko.”

“…I understand. Goodnight, Fuyuhiko.”

=====

“I could have won. Given just a few more moments I could have won.”

“And that makes the fifth time you’ve said that.” Hinata absently shredded a blade of grass. It was quite dark; the only lights they had were the moon and the dim park lamps.

“And why does that surprise you?” Togami was sitting next to Hinata instead of standing by the game, but other than that and some shortness of breath he didn’t seem to have been affected by the amount of food he’d eaten. “When someone presumes themselves superior to you, aren’t you consumed with the desire to prove them wrong?”

“Consumed is a strong word,” Hinata said.

Togami did not say anything for some time. He didn’t look especially upset about losing – in fact, he looked content, more so than Hinata had ever seen. But then his expression slid to one more thoughtful. “Did you happen to see Koizumi come in, Hinata?”

“Wait…are you asking or telling me she did?”

“She did. Around the eight minute mark.” Togami stood up. “She came in, took one look, and turned right back around.”

Hinata was impressed that Togami could have seen that. “I guess she didn’t want to be seen. I didn’t see her.”

“I’ve been negligent.” Togami turned away from Hinata. “I had no need to act as I did toward her. I did not gauge how she would react, and now I’ve waited too long to apologize.” His head fell. “I’ve made an enemy of her.”

It took Hinata a moment to remember what he was talking about. “Look, if you really want to make it up to her –”

“What are you presuming?” Togami turned back, his expression neutral. “Tch, how foolish. As long as everyone is safe, it shouldn’t matter what they think of me. Great leaders often do not receive their due until long in the future.”

That completely contradicts what you just said, Hinata thought. “Well, okay,” he said. “But if it ever occurs to you to want to fix things, it’s really not too late.”

“That…hm. I understand. Thank you, Hinata.”

“Anytime.” Hinata looked up at the moon, then around the park. “Do you have any idea what time it is?"

“None. But based on the moon’s movement I would guess that it’s just after –” Togami looked up at the moon, then froze, and extended his finger skyward. “Hinata…get up and tell me what you see.”

“Hm?” Hinata stood and looked where Togami was pointing. He didn’t see anything at first – and then against the black backdrop he saw a thin grey column of smoke, which he soon realized was much thicker and darker than he had initially assumed. It had climbed about halfway up his view of the sky; Hinata looked down the column to see it disappear into the trees around the first island.

He was just about to speak when the screams began.

Togami looked at him, then back at the game, then took off down the path without another word. He was a good distance away before Hinata could react and run after him.

=====

Pekoyama’s cottage was near-engulfed by the time they arrived.

Flame spurted from all the windows, and already the roof was crumbling to cinders, though the rest of the building looked intact from the outside. Many of the others were scattered nearby, a good number of them in their pajamas. Hinata was just wondering why they weren’t doing anything when Souda and Owari ran in from the hotel entrance, carrying several buckets strung up and down their arms. They shed them, kept one each, and bent over the side of the boardwalk, filling their buckets with water while others ran to grab the rest.

Without a second thought, Hinata grabbed one as well. Togami had run past this operation; he was shouting something to Nidai but Hinata couldn’t hear or concentrate. He looked at the cottage, he watched the flames leap into the air and reminded himself of just how powerless his small bucket and highly flammable body would be against them, and then he examined those around him, hoping against hope that he’d see Pekoyama, and realized from the looks on everyone’s faces that he’d not been the first to search.

“We pulled as hard as we could on the door,” Nidai said, his voice coming through loudly and suddenly. “It’s stuck, or locked…”

“Mioda-san called out to her, to see if she could open the door,” Sonia added. Hinata turned and saw her standing with Togami and Nidai, biting her lip and wringing her hands. “But we haven’t gotten an answer…”

“Then keep trying!” Togami shouted. “In the meantime, if we can get the fire around the windows down, we may be able to use one of them to get in…” Togami stopped suddenly, and looked around wildly. “Koizumi. I don’t see Koizumi. Where’s Koizumi?!”

“Hey! I’m right here!” Hinata turned to see Koizumi not far off, standing in her pajamas with a bucket of water in her hands. “Stop shouting and help us!”

Togami’s brow furrowed, but he ran for the buckets immediately, with Sonia and Nidai at his heels. Hinata threw his own bucket; the water mostly splashed against the wall, but a bit did get into the window. This had no visible effect on the fire’s size, but then again neither did Nanami, who got all the water in the window on the first try, and neither did anyone else.

As he bent to refill his bucket Hinata saw that Monomi had arrived; she had attempted and failed to pick up a bucket, and now stood by the sidelines, whimpering. Tsumiki, Sonia, Tanaka, and Mioda were with her – there hadn’t been enough buckets for everyone, so they were yelling Pekoyama’s name, though she didn’t reply.

Hinata threw his second bucket, which once again uselessly hit the door, but as he bent to get another he was stopped by a loud crack. Half of the cottage roof fell in before his eyes, and the other half was wavering, along with the front wall, and burning timbers were falling onto the path –

“EVERYBODY MOVE!” five different people shouted. Hinata dropped his bucket and ran as fast as he could, and had just crossed over to the boys’ side of the hotel when several more cracks were followed by a CRASH as the cottage collapsed. Smoke billowed from the wreckage, thicker and blacker than ever, and splinters and ash flew through the night air.

Koizumi screamed, and Hinata screamed along with her. Saionji swore loudly, Sonia closed her eyes and shook her head, and Nanami stared, her mouth open and her eyes hollow. Mioda trembled, pulling at her hair with her hands. “She’s dead,” she said. “She’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead, Peko-chan’s dead…”

“No.” Togami was looking at Mioda, so Hinata couldn’t see his expression. “Don’t say that. Not until we’ve found her.”

Mioda hesitated. “Ibuki won’t lose hope,” she said, though she still looked uncertain.

Togami turned back, and Hinata could see that, far from the horror on everyone else’s faces, he looked quite determined. “I don’t see anything flying through the air anymore,” he said. “We need to head back.”

Togami took off before he finished speaking, and everyone followed after him. Hinata was about to run when a light came on in the cottage next to where he stood. Kuzuryuu ran out the door a split second later, hastily tying a bathrobe around his waist. “The hell’s going on?” he yelled, stopping in front of Hinata. “What was that noise?”

Hinata hadn’t even noticed Kuzuryuu wasn’t there. “Pekoyama’s cottage,” he said, his words feeling wooden as they exited his mouth. “It’s on fire – it collapsed –”

As Hinata spoke, the color drained from Kuzuryuu’s face. “Where is she?” he said. “Peko – yama – where is she?”

Hinata knew the answer, but he couldn’t say it. “She… she…”

“Don’t fuck with me!” Kuzuryuu shouted. “Where the fuck is Peko?”

Peko? Before Hinata could say anything Kuzuryuu tore off, racing for the smoke plume. Hinata ran after him, yelling as he went. “Kuzuryuu! Kuzuryuu, wait!”

Kuzuryuu did not wait – he kept running away from Hinata, into the cloud of ash that surrounded what had been Pekoyama’s cottage and the path that had led to it. Hinata saw the others coughing as they attempted to reach or fill the buckets, and ended up held back by his own coughing fit. The wreckage had fallen into the knee-deep water, but it was still burning fairly steadily. Those few that did manage to get their buckets full were throwing them on the flame. Kuzuryuu reached the edge of the boardwalk, then – to Hinata’s utter disbelief – jumped down into the water, waded toward the remains, and began picking through them with his bare hands.

“What the – Kuzuryuu!” The second Togami saw him, he picked up the nearest bucket, dropped into the water, and headed for the spot where Kuzuryuu knelt. “What do you think you’re doing? You don’t know what’s under there!”

“Go away!” Kuzuryuu shouted back, still tossing pieces of wood aside. “Leave me alone! Go –”

Kuzuryuu stuck his hands between two wooden beams, and there was a sudden, agonizing silence before he let out a bloodcurdling scream. Everyone turned their heads to look at him, but Hinata could already see his eyes bursting from his head and his face turning red with shock, and when Togami pulled him out he could see his hands flaming and blistering before his eyes – but only briefly, before Togami shoved them into the water.

For a second, Hinata thought that Togami was going to let Kuzuryuu have it – and the look on his face supported that theory. But then the moment passed, and it changed to one of determination. “We’re going to get her out,” he said in a voice Hinata could barely hear. “Do you understand?”

Kuzuryuu was no longer screaming, but he was still trembling and whimpering in pain, and tears and sweat were pouring down his cheeks. “We’re going to get her out,” Togami repeated. “Go up to Tsumiki, now.”

Kuzuryuu shook his head rapidly. Near Hinata, Tsumiki fretted. “Oh – oh no – that won’t do – I-I’ll get some supplies! Just a moment!” She headed immediately for her own cottage.

In the meantime, Nidai, Owari, and Mioda had gotten to the wreckage, bringing full buckets with them. They poured them around the section where Kuzuryuu had been burned, and only then did Togami reach his own hands in. When he did, he stopped, and swung his head around. “She’s under the beam!” he yelled up.

“YES! Hold on, Pekoyama, we’re coming!” Souda leapt off the boardwalk and joined the fray. The rest of them broke into excited whispers; Hinata didn’t say anything, but he felt an immense wave of relief, albeit one mixed with trepidation. When Souda reached the rest they were just pulling the beam up and away. Hinata couldn’t see Pekoyama through the crowd, but he heard them excitedly yelling her name. Kuzuryuu stood behind them, trying to look through.

“No announcement…”

“Huh?” Hinata turned to his left, where Nanami stood. “What do you mean?”

“More than three people found her, and there’s no announcement,” Nanami said with a small smile. “She’s still alive!”

“Oh dear…” Monomi stood at Nanami’s feet, shaking and trembling. “Oh dear, oh dear, she must be in so much pain…”

“But she’s alive!” Koizumi craned her neck to try and look over the others. “I think they’re pulling her out!”

“Where? I can’t see! Everyone’s too tall!” Saionji jumped. “Big Sis Koizumi, put me on your shoulders!”

“That will not be necessary,” Tanaka said. “Observe! She has risen!”

Saionji presumably turned her head back, but Hinata didn’t need to. The crowd below had broken, and Nidai and Togami were carrying a huddled form between them, wrapped in each of their jackets. Everyone by the edge of the boardwalk stepped back; Nidai and Togami set Pekoyama down some feet from the edge, then hoisted themselves up, followed by the others that had gone in.

Everyone crowded immediately around her, but Hinata got one of the best views. It had to be Pekoyama, it couldn’t be anyone else – but she was unrecognizable. Where her body wasn’t red and blistered it was charred and black, and all of her hair had burnt away to wisps. She didn’t scream – Hinata wasn’t sure she could. She seemed to be channeling every ounce of energy remaining to her into taking short, jagged gasps of air.

“Pekoyama.” Togami knelt by her side, though he kept his distance. Hinata recognized the look on his face – it was the same one he’d had just after he’d checked Komaeda’s pulse. “Pekoyama, can you hear me? Tsumiki’s coming, she’ll –”

 “Out of my way! Out of my way!” Kuzuryuu pushed Koizumi and Sonia apart and entered the circle, wincing with pain as he went. He knelt by Pekoyama’s side and extended a trembling, blistered hand, but did not touch her.

“Peko…” he said. “Peko, it’s me…”

Pekoyama did not appear to react to Kuzuryuu’s words, and he did not repeat them. After what felt like an eternity of gasps, between one and what may have been another she stiffened, then lay slack. Her eyes did not close.  

No one said a word. No one could. Tsumiki pushed past Hinata, carrying enough medical supplies for two, and found she only needed them for one. She attempted to pull Kuzuryuu away from where he sat, but to no avail – he refused to move his body, and his face was frozen, so Tsumiki muttered an apology and began dabbing ointment on his hands. Togami’s expression did not change, but Hinata could see his fingers trembling as he pulled Nidai’s jacket over Pekoyama’s head.

In the remaining cottages, fifteen screens came alive at once, and Monobear’s voice rang out strong throughout the hotel. “Pin pon pon! A body has been discovered! After a short period of investigation, we will start a school trial!”

Chapter Text

Even as he was watching her die, Hinata tried to remember Pekoyama as he had always seen her in the park – strong and silent, unknowable on some level but never hostile. He felt like he’d gotten to know her better than he’d ever expected to over the past few days, and he wondered if that was why he didn’t feel nearly so numb as he had when Komaeda and Hanamura had died.

But then, the length of their acquaintance aside, the deaths had been quite different. Komaeda’s had been a shock, and Hanamura’s over in less than a minute, but Pekoyama’s had carried on to the point where the actual moment of her death had hardly sunk in for Hinata at all. More comprehensible was the anticipation vanishing from the faces of his classmates, the beginnings of tears in the eyes of people like Koizumi and Nidai who cried at times like these, and the tension of the announcement still ringing in the air.

The trial. There was going to be a trial. And whoever the killer was – and Hinata remembered with a jolt that her killer was standing among them at that very moment – they would either have to die, just like Hanamura, or they would be the only one to live. So he wasn’t yet done losing friends. At least one, he knew, was already lost.

=====

The announcement ended. Nidai lowered his head. Tanaka bowed and shook his fist. Nanami pulled her hood over her head and apologized softly. Kuzuryuu yelped, but only because Tsumiki had rubbed ointment across a split blister. He bit his lip to prevent any other sounds, then looked down, so Hinata could not see his face.

“That…” Owari grabbed Nidai by the wrist. “No way…that’s too much…”

“Peko-chan…” Koizumi crouched down, tears streaming freely down her face. “No, don’t…don’t do this…”

“This can’t be happening…” Sonia held her hand over her mouth, and behind it her voice was hardly more than a whisper. “After all we did, and how hard we worked…”

“What – no, no!” Souda turned to face her, looking more scared than reassuring. “It’s not our fault, Sonia-san! Especially not yours!”

“I am agreed,” Tanaka said. “In this game, we were but pawns placed in a realm where only the puppetmaster can be victorious. Our only escape is not to lose heart...a difficult path for many, but be assured that they have vastly underestimated my power!”

“I…I see. Thank you, Tanaka-san.” Sonia smiled at Tanaka, and wiped her eye with a flick of her hand. “I only wish I knew what we could have done, and when…”

“What we could have done?” Togami took his hand off Pekoyama’s body and stood to face them all, his hands straight at his sides. Far from the stony calm he had held through the last investigation, he now looked absolutely furious. “Are you saying you don’t know the answer to that?”

Several people gave him uncertain looks. “What, and you do?” Saionji said. “Good job keeping that to yourself.”

“I think you know that preventing Pekoyama’s death would have been a simple matter of not setting fire to her cottage.” Togami folded his arms and straightened his back, as if to look even taller. “Yes, you heard me, and I know you’re listening. We’ve solved a murder before, and we’ll do it again. You know what this entails, and you can save us all a lot of trouble by confessing now. Go on.”

No one said a word. Togami didn’t look disappointed – Hinata wasn’t sure whether Togami actually expected a confession. Perhaps this was just a test, his way of determining whether he was up against passion or confidence. But the only one who actually looked intimidated was Monomi, and until she began shaking and trembling Hinata had, once again, forgotten she was there. “N-no one’s saying anything,” she said. “M-maybe that means no one did it…M-maybe it was just an accident…”

Togami was just opening his mouth when Hinata cut him off – not intentionally, though this didn’t stop him. “Monomi, do you even believe what you’re saying?”

“I…ohh…that would be…” Monomi shook her head. “I know you’re all better than this…I know… oh, if only I’d kept my Magic Stick, nothing tewibble would ever have happened…”

“But you didn’t, and good riddance, I’d say!” Hinata looked over at the wreckage with a tinge of annoyance – Monobear was standing by the edge of the boardwalk. “I mean, can you even imagine my little sister bossing you around all the time? What a bore, am I right?”

“What makes you think we’re even interested in answering that?” Hinata said. There were various voices of assent all around him, plus an uncertain whimper from Monomi.

“Yeah!” Souda shouted. “Just give us the file or whatever and go!”

“I wouldn’t be so polite as that.” Togami directed his stare at Monobear. “You want us to investigate, and we will. Once you leave.”

“Wow, what are you going to do, make me? Just for that whole spiel, I’ll celebrate extra long!” Monobear jumped up and down, spinning and bouncing as he went. “WOOOOO!!! WHOAAAA!!! KABOOM! POW! Wasn’t that exciting? The correct answer is yes – I don’t care about your opinion!”

“Ibuki is a big fan of things that are on fire,” Mioda said, “but not people! People are not things!”

“Nope, don’t care! Upupupu!” Monobear produced a popcorn bag out of nowhere and held it up over his head. The popcorn fell, bounced off his grin, and clattered uselessly to the ground. “How bombastic! How entertaining! How romantic, even! It’s just the kind of death Taeko Yasuhiro might have wanted. Isn’t that right, Togami-kun?”

“Taeko Yasuhiro? Who…” Togami hesitated, and then gritted his teeth. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, never mind, it’s just a joke,” Monobear said. “You bastards really are no fun! It would have been so much better if you were struck so numb by despair you couldn’t even bear to begin the investigation…but, fine!  If you want the file, take it! I’ll even throw it on the ground, just for extra emphasis! But first, I have an announcement for the culprit!”

Kuzuryuu’s head snapped up, clunking Tsumiki in the jaw as he went. “For the culprit?” he said.

“Oh, don’t get so excited, it’s just some technical stuff!” Monobear waved his hand dismissively. “You see, when you destroyed the cottage, you also destroyed the security camera and monitor inside in direct violation of the school rules! Ordinarily I’d kill you right now, but I’ve decided that, if you hide your guilt, all your crimes will be forgiven in accordance with the school rules. But if not, your punishment will serve for them all!” Monobear scratched his chin. “Well, that isn’t always how I’ve interpreted that rule, but I may be going easy on you just because of how spectacular this was. I wouldn’t have put so much effort into that stupid eating contest if I’d known this was coming!”

Monobear pulled the File out of nowhere, and threw it to Hinata’s feet as promised. “There! And may the screen forever be greasy!" He dumped the remainder of his popcorn on the tablet, smeared it across the screen, and then vanished.

There were some whispers between pairs, but no sweeping pronouncements from Togami or anyone else. Hinata bent to pick up the tablet, and as he did he ended up on level with Tsumiki, Kuzuryuu, and Pekoyama’s body. Kuzuryuu had lowered his head again. Tsumiki was tapping him on the shoulder. “Kuzuryuu-san…” she said softly. “It’s…this environment …we need to move inside…”

Kuzuryuu did not respond. Hinata straightened up, frowned at the popcorn-covered screen, and used his shirt-tail to try and wipe it off. He tried to focus on this and not on anything else, but he could still hear Tsumiki growing louder. “Your wounds… if I can’t sterilize them properly, they’ll get infected –”

“I’m not moving,” Kuzuryuu snapped.

“But –” Tsumiki jerked back, and let out a small sob. “But – no – I’m sorry –”

“Mikan-chan, if you need any help –” Before Koizumi could finish her sentence, Kuzuryuu stood under his own power, bandages trailing from his hands, and marched straight through the rest of the group toward Tsumiki’s cottage.

“Ah – Kuzuryuu-san, wait!” Tsumiki set off after him, leaving half her supplies behind. Kuzuryuu got to her door before she did, and slumped himself against it until she could open it.

“I think we’ve spent enough of our limited time gawping.” Hinata expected to see Togami looking annoyed with him when he turned back, but it was clear from the shuffling of feet that his words had been meant for everyone – and the look he gave to him alone was more inquisitive. “Hinata, I believe you have a file to show us.”

“Oh – right, yeah.” Hinata held the file so that everyone could see it, and opened it to display a silhouette of Pekoyama. There were several cartoonish bursts of fire across her body, plus a splatter of blood on her head and several pink marks on her right arm.

The victim was removed from the rubble of Peko Pekoyama’s burned-down cottage at 1:55 AM and died shortly afterwards, the text read.

The cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma, third- and fourth-degree burns, and carbon monoxide poisoning. The victim also has several cuts on her right arm from her attempt to break down her door to escape.

There are no other wounds on the body, and no traces of drugs.

“So that told us a lot of nothing.” Saionji said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, what did you expect?” Souda said. “This is Monobear we’re talking about.”

“Actually, I think this tells us something very important,” Nanami said. “If she tried to break down the door, then it means that she couldn’t open it.”

Togami’s eyes went wide. “And would that directly lead to the culprit?”

“If we can find out why the door wouldn’t open, then maybe.” Nanami looked over at the wreckage. “We should start looking for more clues.”

“An excellent idea. Other important details would be the source of the fire, or anything here or in your memory that would tie this to a specific person.” Togami paused, and scanned the crowd. He lingered longest on Hinata. “Above all, remember that all of our lives are at risk. But do not let that knowledge trouble you. I promise –”

He paused again, and before he could continue, the majority of the crowd left for the wreckage. Only Sonia, Mioda, Hinata, Nanami, and Monomi remained, all searching his face curiously. His brow had softened, Hinata could see, and he looked distracted, or turned inward. Between them, Pekoyama’s body lay like a barrier.

“I promise I will not let any harm come to you, no matter how great the odds. I swear it on my family name.” Togami spoke so softly Hinata could hardly hear him. His eyes fell briefly on Pekoyama, then turned back up to all of them, their power restored. “Don’t you have something you should be doing?” he said.

=====

Hinata began his investigation by joining Mioda, Koizumi, Tanaka, Souda, Nanami, and Nidai in the wreckage. Saionji sat at the edge of the boardwalk, watching them. Sonia stood guard by Pekoyama’s body. Togami was with her for a short time, but soon began pacing back and forth along the girls’ side of the hotel, occasionally crouching to examine the boardwalk or a cottage. Tsumiki and Kuzuryuu were still in Tsumiki’s cottage, to the most of Hinata’s knowledge, and Owari had gone to check the supermarket for anything flammable. Monomi had vanished to parts unknown.

Hinata picked through an area by the east wall between Mioda and Koizumi, hoping to find a lighter or other source of the blaze, but found nothing more than shattered beams and the charred remains of Pekoyama’s possessions. While they were searching, he asked Mioda about what had occurred before he had arrived – not with any goal in mind, but simply out of curiosity. As it turned out, she was just the right person to ask.

“Ibuki was going to go visit Byakuya-chan and Hajime-chan, but when she left she saw Peko-chan’s roof and windows on fire!” Mioda gestured wildly with her hands as she spoke. “So she started yelling, but Peko-chan didn’t answer, and Ibuki couldn’t open the door…”

“No one could, it seems like,” Hinata said. “I wonder what was holding the door shut.”

“Something strong, because Nekomaru-chan couldn’t open it and Ibuki thought Nekomaru-chan could pull the door off and throw it halfway across the island! But when Ibuki couldn’t get in, she started banging on doors and waking people up. Kazuichi-chan and Akane-chan went to get the buckets, and a bunch of people went to get Byakuya-chan and Hajime-chan but then they showed up.” Mioda tossed a bit of wood over her shoulder.

“Okay, the –wait a minute.” Hinata’s eyes narrowed. “You said you woke everyone up. Why was Kuzuryuu still asleep?”

Mioda cringed. “Ibuki never left the girls’ side, so she didn’t know Fuyuhiko-chan wasn’t there until he ran by…”

“You don’t have to apologize, Ibuki-chan,” Koizumi said. “It was a stressful situation, and you weren’t responsible for him. The rest of us forgot, too.”

“And anyway, oversights happen,” Hinata said. “I can understand perfectly.”

“Especially with Kuzuryuu. The way he keeps to himself, I’m not surprised this happened.” Koizumi looked down. “It’s strange, though. He seemed so distressed, and now his hands…”

“I didn’t even try making sense of it,” Hinata said. It was true – Kuzuryuu’s frenzied behavior and efforts to save Pekoyama went against everything he knew about him. And it didn’t make sense for them to be on first-name terms. As far as he knew they’d only been in each other’s company during the eating contest.

“Exactly. And if I keep thinking about it, it’ll just distract me from…from…” Koizumi picked up what looked like the remains of a bath towel, and sighed. “I hate this. I hate this whole setup, I hate the mutual killing, I hate that we just have to jump right into the investigations…Peko-chan was my friend, and we don’t even get time to mourn for her…”

Koizumi buried her face in the towel. Hinata debated whether to extend a hand to her, but before he could Mioda interrupted him. “Ibuki is really sad about that too! But she’s channeling her sadness into the investigation, and that’s why Ibuki will not rest until the culprit is caught! Not even the sight of Byakuya-chan’s rolled-up sleeves will distract her from this goal!”

Mioda looked back over at the boardwalk, and Hinata turned to see Togami standing near Saionji’s cottage. His sleeves were indeed rolled up to his elbows, though he failed to see what Mioda found so exciting about this. After just a quick peek she began to turn back, but halfway there she paused, pounced into the water, and came back up with what looked like an overlarge, unburnt tube of toothpaste.

Everyone in the wreckage crowded to see it, and their examination revealed it to have once contained industrial-strength rubber cement. “Aha! So that was it!” Nidai said. “No wonder none of us could pull the door open!”

“I’ll say!” Souda said. “This stuff won’t come apart unless you ram a truck into it.”

“Or set it on fire,” Saionji called down from above. Her legs swung from under her kimono.

“Great observation,” Hinata called back. “You know, you could help us.”

“I’m supervising,” Saionji says. “It’s like what Mr. Porkfeet does, except he’s over there and I’m over here.”

“But Byakuya-chan isn’t a supervisor!” Mioda called back, looking indignant. “He’s a leader!”

“Not so loud, you guys,” Koizumi mouthed, but the conversation didn’t continue. Tanaka, who had not joined them to see the tube, came over to announce that Pekoyama’s plumbing had been cleanly cut, likely to prevent her from using it to put out the fire. Once this was discussed they went back to their positions, but Hinata didn’t find much more of interest, and from the sound of things he wasn’t going to.

He moved back up to the boardwalk, where Pekoyama’s body still lay. Togami’s coat was wrapped around her legs like a blanket, while Nidai’s, pulled over her head and torso, looked more like a shroud. He reached for the collar of the jacket, but hesitated. “I…really only need to see her arm, don’t I?” he said, mostly to himself.

“That is true,” Sonia replied. She knelt by the body, her hands folded in her lap. She was looking at the contour where Pekoyama’s face had been, her expression melancholy. “Sometimes I wonder why we cover our dead, and whether it is out of respect or fear.”

“I’ve…never thought of that.” Hinata lifted the corner by Pekoyama’s right arm, and sure enough there were shallow gashes and large splinters in the red, raw skin. “Her hand’s all curled,” he said.

“Togami-san told me she was holding her wooden practice sword when they found her, but that it crumbled to ash when she was moved,” Sonia explained. “Perhaps it was what she used on her door?”

“That makes a lot of sense.” Hinata examined her hand. Sure enough, it was smeared with grey ash.

“She was always so resourceful.” Sonia turned her head away from Hinata. “It was one of the things I admired most about her.”

Hinata covered Pekoyama’s hand. Something in Sonia’s tone of voice had stirred a pang in his chest. “I know what you mean,” he said. “And I thought everyone else did, too…I can’t think of why anyone would kill her.”

“You spent quite a lot of time with her,” Sonia said. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you.”

“Yeah, but…it’s weird. It’s not that I’m not sad… I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.” In truth, Hinata hadn’t had the chance to focus much on his own feelings at all, and he didn’t want to start now, not before the case was over. But he wasn’t sure how much of that he wanted to explain to anyone else. Before he could decide, he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye. “Owari’s back. I should go see what she found.”

“Alright,” Sonia said. “I should stay here. But you’ll have to tell me all about the sweet loot she found.”

Not the words I would have used, Hinata thought, but he did not comment further. He stood and met Owari by the boardwalk entrance, where several others had already gathered around her.

She was carrying two items – a cigarette lighter and a matchbook – and explained that they were the only two fire-starting items for sale at the supermarket. Nanami said that several metal items had survived the fire, but no one had found a lighter anywhere around, and if the culprit had disposed of the rubber cement by throwing it in the water there was no reason to believe they wouldn’t have done the same with the lighter. Besides, Koizumi added, they would have had to throw the lighter onto the roof in order to set it ablaze. So the murder weapon was determined to be a matchbook like the one Owari had brought.

But how much did that really matter? Hinata thought as he returned to the body. It did give him a clearer idea of how the murder had occurred, but, just like last time, he had little to no idea who had done it. The matchbook might have provided a clue, but only if the murderer had kept it on them, and from the look of things they had not. He arrived to find Togami having a conversation with Sonia, which cut off abruptly when his presence was noted.

“Hinata,” Togami said, looking up at him. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“For me?” Hinata said. “Why –”

“Pardon me, Sonia.” Togami stood, walked over to Hinata, and steered him toward the central path with a wave of his hand. “Over here,” he said in an undertone. “We have important work to do.”

“Wait, what?” Hinata said, but Togami set off without answering him, so Hinata had to follow after him, taking long strides just to keep up. “I think I’d like to know what we’re doing, if it’s this important.”

“Isn’t it clear, from where we’re going?” Togami came to a sudden stop in front of Tsumiki’s cottage. “I would hope you understand that this can’t be ignored.”

Hinata’s memories of Kuzuryuu flew back into his brain. “Then you think Kuzuryuu knows something?”

“I’ll find out soon enough,” Togami said. “And I’ll have your judgment to assist me.”

“That’s…a pretty tall order,” Hinata said.

“Then you’re overestimating the role I’m giving you,” Togami said with a humph. “Assistants allow a person of power to transcend human error and the limits of perception. They do not presume themselves superior.”

“I hadn’t really thought anything like what you said,” Hinata said. “I guess…it’s a compliment. In a way.”

Togami took a step towards the door, and then stopped. “Hinata, are you aware of your position in this case? Our positions, in fact?”

“I think I missed whatever it is you’re thinking of.”

“We’re the only ones whose night locations can be confirmed. You know I didn’t leave your sight, and neither did you leave mine. I can trust, without a doubt, that you are not responsible for Pekoyama’s death.”  Togami’s shoulders fell. “I'm glad, at least, for that trust.”

Togami continued for the door, and as he did Hinata felt it again – the ache in his soul that acted something like an alarm bell whenever he was thrust into some part of Togami that he didn’t understand. But it was over quickly. Togami knocked on the door, and when they heard a shy “I-It’s open!” from inside he opened it and he and Hinata stepped in.

=====

Hinata had never been in Tsumiki’s cottage. It looked like a doctor’s office, which was more or less how he had expected it to look. Tsumiki sat in a chair by a desk, fastening a cloth bandage around Kuzuryuu’s left hand. Both of his hands were completely encased in bandages, and looked more like paddles than anything else. 

Kuzuryuu looked up, then did a double-take and jerked away from Tsumiki. “You!” he said, and Hinata knew he wasn’t talking to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Ahh…!” Tsumiki fumbled and dropped the roll of bandages. “Kuzuryuu-san, you only need to hold still one more moment…”

“You think I give a shit?” Kuzuryuu snapped back at her. Tsumiki crouched, apologizing in a steady stream, and moved her chair to better reach his new position. “Are you gonna stand there or answer me? Huh?”

Togami waited until Tsumiki had fully fastened Kuzuryuu’s bandage before addressing her. “Tsumiki, if you will, I would like to have a private word with your patient. I will not take long.”

“Oh –!” Tsumiki stood immediately. “Y-yes…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean –”

“Tsumiki, you have done nothing wrong. There is no need for this.” His expression was neutral, but soft. Tsumiki nodded, and stepped past them and out the door.

As soon as she had left, Kuzuryuu moved to her chair and sat backwards on it. He draped his bandaged hands over the backrest and swiveled the seat back and forth with his feet. “A word in private?” he said. “Thanks for letting me know. If it’s so private, what’s he doing here?” He inclined his head towards Hinata.

“Hinata is here as my security,” Togami said. Hinata shot him an odd look.

“Always thought that worked the other way round.” Kuzuryuu set his elbows on the backrest and waved his wrists. He looked positively cocky – not uncommon for his interactions with Togami, but odd when Hinata remembered him screaming in pain. “Are you mocking me?”

“No, you’ve misunderstood me.”  Togami stepped forward. “Kuzuryuu, why are you injured?”

Kuzuryuu’s smirk vanished in an instant. Hinata thought he looked uncomfortable, even threatened. “Stop fucking around,” he said. “Ask your real question.”

“Very well,” Togami said. “What is your connection to Pekoyama?”

“None.”

“Don’t take me for a fool,” Togami said, a hard tone entering his voice. “What is your connection to Peko Pekoyama?”

Kuzuryuu turned away, trembling slightly. “None of your business.”

“All of our lives are in danger. This is very much my business.”

“I don’t have nothing to do with nothing.”

“I don’t think you understand that you do,” Togami said. “I have looked over every inch of this hotel and considered every known movement of everyone on this island in the last twelve hours. I have found nothing to lead me anywhere, except for you. You are the only means we have of finding her killer.”

Kuzuryuu shook more violently than before – then, suddenly, he stopped. “I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t know anything.”

“You don’t?” Togami said. “Kuzuryuu, you seem to think that I am going to somehow dismiss that you ran to stick your hands into a burning pile of wreckage on the off chance you might save her. Or that in the moments before her death you not only referred to her by her first name, but begged her to recognize you.”

The emotion in Togami’s voice had grown with every word, but after a brief pause, it leveled abruptly. “Kuzuryuu, when the rest of us were at the eating contest, what were you and Pekoyama doing?”

Hinata’s blood ran cold. For the first time that evening he remembered Pekoyama asking Kuzuryuu to guard the game, Kuzuryuu accepting, and the looks in their eyes as they walked away from the park. He wanted to say something, wanted to be shocked, wanted to be accusatory, but the words weren’t coming in any way that wasn’t hysterical.

Kuzuryuu didn’t turn around, but he did shift slightly, and leaned back in the chair. “I already told you to stop with the fake questions,” he said. His voice sounded just as restrained as Togami’s. “If you’re going to accuse me of something, then get on with it.”

“From the look of things, I don’t need to.” Togami moved back several steps. Hinata realized that he was blocking the door. “Are you going to confess, or will I have to pry it from you at the trial?”

Kuzuryuu swung slightly, and began to shake again. Hinata quickly realized that he was laughing, but his expression was far from anything Hinata would call mirth. In fact, tears were staining his cheeks. “God, Togami,” he said once he could. “Are you that convinced I killed her?”

Togami’s eyes went wide, but he said nothing. Kuzuryuu turned all the way round and stood up, his hands hovering near his pockets. Then, without warning, he banged his left hand hard against the desk, biting his lip to hold back any signs of pain. The clasp fell off, the bandage loosened and unraveled, and Hinata could see the raw, blistered skin underneath.

“You know what Tsumiki said about these?” Kuzuryuu came closer to Togami and Hinata, holding his hand up for them to see. “Three weeks. Three weeks and maybe it’ll stop hurting. And maybe I’ll be able to use my hands again. You know how many things I use my hands for? I can’t dress myself, I can’t eat by myself, I can’t – I’m rapidly running out of time before someone else has to wipe my ass. And you know who that’ll be? Tsumiki. Do you think I want Tsumiki that close to my ass?”

“Kuzuryuu-”

“I’m completely defenseless,” Kuzuryuu went on, cutting Togami off. “If anyone wanted an easy way off the island they could do just about anything to me. Ain’t that right, Hinata?” Kuzuryuu rounded on him. “You’ve been quiet, what do you think? Wouldn’t it be easy to walk up to me and snap my neck?”

“Wait, hold on!” Hinata had never seen any expression like Kuzuryuu’s – it was despair and mockery rolled into one. He took several steps back. “Why would I ever do that?”

“Heh. Never mind. You’re too much of a goody two-shoes to try.” Kuzuryuu turned back to Togami. “I think you get the point. But you know what, Togami? I’d do it a thousand times over again if it meant I could get her back. So, no, I didn’t fucking kill her.”

He sniffled loudly, and a pained smile stretched across his face. “But maybe I did play the game. And maybe I do know who the killer is. Actually, I have a very good idea of who it is. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Kuzuryuu tilted his head up. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?”

Togami’s overall expression hadn’t changed very much, but Hinata knew that silence from him meant nothing good. “Togami?” he dared to say.

“Who is it?” Togami said. “Who did it? Who killed her?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you,” Kuzuryuu said. “But not yet. This is my revenge, not yours.” The screen next to them flashed to life, and Monobear appeared, announcing the trial. “I don’t have to stay here anymore.”

He walked past Hinata, made a point of shoving past Togami, and stopped at the front door. “I can’t open this,” he said after several seconds, so Hinata walked over and opened the door. Kuzuryuu walked through, and then slammed it behind him with his foot.

Monobear vanished from the screen, and Hinata could hear voices outside, presumably as everyone headed for the central island. Hinata looked over at Togami, who remained rooted to the spot. “We should probably get going,” he said. “Everyone else is –”

“She let him play the game,” Togami said.

Hinata’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t really had time to process this information, nor was he completely sure how or why it had come about, but now it felt like a knife through his chest. “She did,” he said, “I know. But there’s nothing we can really do about that.”

“But didn’t I tell her, explicitly, to keep an eye on him? Did I have any reason to doubt she’d keep her word?” Togami clutched at the sleeves of his shirt. “I gave her the clothes off my back. I did everything I could to keep her alive…”

“Togami…” Hinata remembered Pekoyama, and the nod she’d given them just before they’d left – and then, unbidden, he remembered Komaeda, and his betrayal, and the calm, determined expression Togami had held throughout that investigation. He wondered, suddenly, how much effort it had taken him. “I-I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t really know what to say. Really, I’m as confused as you are, and –”

“No, no no no. I can’t do this. Everyone’s in danger.” Togami spun around, threw the door open, and marched out. Hinata followed after him, but no matter how fast he went he couldn’t catch up. 

Chapter Text

By the time Hinata and Togami arrived at the central island, everyone else was in the process of entering the mountain. Once they’d fielded all the questions about their absence – “So how’s he kiss?” was Saionji’s contribution – they followed the rest of them into the mountain and entered the elevator.

They descended in silence. Fear and apprehension were the most common emotions on everyone’s faces. Kuzuryuu was an exception; he looked morose, but confident. Togami was looking into a corner with his arms folded across his chest, and Hinata could not see his face.

They soon arrived at the trial room and took their places. Hanamura’s and Pekoyama’s portraits had joined Komaeda’s – Hanamura’s X was in the shape of a knife and fork, and they lost about thirty seconds while everyone reacted. Monobear opened the trial from his seat, no differently than he had the last time, and from there the debate began.

Hinata had expected swift action from either Kuzuryuu or Togami regarding Pekoyama’s killer, but Mioda and Nanami led the conversation towards the circumstances of Pekoyama’s death. Much of it Hinata had already figured out for himself, and he added details where the others were confused – Tsumiki had somehow gotten it into her head that Pekoyama’s lock had been stuck. Togami did the same, while Kuzuryuu remained silent.

It was likely, Hinata thought, that Kuzuryuu was waiting for the right time to act, and it wouldn’t surprise him if Togami was allowing him to determine what time that would be. The only time Kuzuryuu reacted to any of the discussion was when Owari mentioned that Pekoyama had attempted to break down her door, at which point he’d looked down and smiled to himself. Hinata hadn’t realized that Kuzuryuu hadn’t known about that.

After what seemed like ages, Nanami suggested a recap of everything they’d figured out. “Apart from Hinata-kun and Togami-kun, who were both by the game, everyone says they were in their cottages by 10:30 PM,” she said. “Sometime between then and 12:30 AM, the culprit left their cottage and went to Pekoyama-san’s. They disconnected her water supply, sealed the door with the rubber cement, and threw the empty tube under the cottage. After waiting for the rubber cement to dry, they lit all of her paper windows on fire with a match, then lit the entire matchbook and threw it onto the roof. Then they returned to their own cottage.

“We can assume Pekoyama-san woke up not long after and discovered both the sealed door and the disabled plumbing. Given the windows were inaccessible she performed her last resort, breaking down the door with her wooden practice sword, which created the cuts on her arm from the flying splinters. But she was overtaken by the flames before she could break through.

“Around this time, Mioda-san found the fire. She yelled to Pekoyama-san, but it was too late. So she woke everyone, including the culprit, but despite their best efforts the cottage collapsed and Pekoyama-san was killed –"

“Yay, wow, we figured it out again,” Saionji said, rolling her eyes. “But we still don’t know who the killer was, so it’s still all useless.”

“But was there really nothing we found that could lead to their identification?” Nidai said. “No chance observances? Nothing?”

“Upupupu…that’s a bit of a problem!” Monobear rocked back and forth in his seat, grinning. “Have we got the perfect crime on our hands? That’d be stressful, wouldn’t it?”

“That can’t be, though,” Hinata said. He waited for a second for Togami or Kuzuryuu to interrupt him, but it didn’t happen. “Maybe if we look somewhere else…somewhere we haven’t considered…”

“Okay, okay, I get the hint,” Kuzuryuu interrupted. “Shut up for a second, will you?”

Togami turned his head sharply toward Kuzuryuu, and everyone else followed suit. Kuzuryuu folded his arms, and a grin spread slowly across his face. “Got a bit of a surprise for you guys,” he said. “I know exactly who the killer is, not to mention why. But if I hear any of that shock and awe bullshit Komaeda got,” he yelled over the wave of noise that was beginning to form, “I’m stopping and you’re on your own. Got it? No reactions ‘til I’m done.”

“You’re building yourself up a whole lot,” Souda said.

“I have also observed this,” Tanaka said. “How do we know you are worthy of our trust?”

“I said shut up!” Kuzuryuu shouted. “I think you’ll find me very convincing. And I’ve got Togami to back me up. Don’t I, Togami?”

He grinned mockingly at Togami, who did not turn to look at him. “We’ll see about that,” he said.

“Alright, enough waiting around.” Kuzuryuu folded his arms and looked down at his trial stand. “So…wanna know a little something ‘bout Peko? We’re not exactly strangers. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Actually, that’s puttin’ it a little too lightly.” He looked back up, his expression harder than Hinata thought it would be. “She was my hitman.”

Several people stifled gasps, but just as many didn’t bother to hide their reactions in the least. “Your hitman?” Koizumi called out. “That’s absolutely ridiculous!”

“I’d shut your lying mouth if I were you,” Kuzuryuu said. “Like I said, hitman. So when Togami and Owari wanted to see who could stuff the most food in their faces, who’d Peko choose to come guard the game with her? Me. And when I got there, I decided I’d go play the game. So I did. And you know what Peko did? Nothing.”

No one called out this time, though most wore expressions of shock and disbelief. Koizumi still looked indignant, and Togami’s head fell into his chest. Kuzuryuu ignored them all. “Now, you wanna know what was in that game?” he said. “I’d say it doesn’t matter anymore, but that wouldn’t technically be true. At first it didn’t make any sense. It was just some dumb story about some girls finding a body and another girl ending up dead. But once I got past the dull start, things started coming together. Things like the names in the credits. Let me see if I remember right… Satou, Kuzuryuu, Kuzuryuu, Tsumiki, Mioda, Saionji, Koizumi.” As he said each name, Tsumiki, Mioda, Saionji, and Koizumi looked at each other in confusion.

“And then there’s these photos.” Kuzuryuu put heavy emphasis on the last word, and Koizumi blanched unmistakably. He reached inside his bathrobe, and after some struggling a manila file folder fell out. He bent to pick it up, wincing in pain, and used his half-unwrapped hand to open the clasp on the envelope.

“K-Kuzuryuu-san,” Tsumiki stammered, “you shouldn’t be using your hands until they’re fully healed…”

“And I don't wanna see 'em, either!” Souda said, looking away determinedly.

“I said shut up!” Kuzuryuu pulled four photos out of the envelope, and held up the first. “So Monobear gave me these ‘cause I was the first to finish the game. Like this first one…one of the girls in the game took a photo like this. These girls look familiar to you?”

Hinata could hardly see the picture, but as Kuzuryuu held it up an enlarged image was displayed on the screens around the room. It was unmistakably a photo of Tsumiki, Saionji, and Mioda, all wearing vaguely similar school uniforms. “Ibuki doesn’t remember that being taken at all!” Mioda called out before catching herself and covering her mouth with her hands.

“What part of shut up do you guys not understand?” Kuzuryuu folded his arms. “Of course you don’t. It’s from the memories we lost, at Hope’s Peak. But that’s all that one does. This one…” He held up a photo of a blonde girl, dead from a blow to the head. “This one is my sister.”

In the corner of his eye, Hinata saw Koizumi do a double take, then cover her mouth with her hands. “Now, I’ll go quick with this,” Kuzuryuu went on. “But let’s just say this next picture–” he held up a photo of a broken vase – “would’ve implicated Satou without a doubt. But it didn’t. The photographer let her get away with it. Not that it made any difference for her.” He held up a photo of a girl with her face hidden by her hair, also dead from a blow to the head.

Koizumi’s eyes went very, very wide, and several people in the trial room looked at her with confusion or concern. “But back to me and Peko,” Kuzuryuu continued, putting the photos back. “My sister’s a key member of my family. And when someone hurts your family, you hurt ‘em back. I don’t need to say what we were sayin’, but what I am sayin’ is we’re not the only ones that heard what we were sayin’.”

“Wait a moment.” Sonia’s eyes went wide. “Kuzuryuu, what exactly are you admitting to…?”

“Now you may be thinkin’, plottin’ revenge isn’t anything you want anyone to know.” Kuzuryuu looked briefly at Sonia, then forward again. “Why would I ever admit to it? Well, I’ll tell you this. It isn’t about you. I still don’t give a shit what you think of me or whether you live or die – unless you’re Mahiru Koizumi and you’re the piece of shit that killed Peko!”

Kuzuryuu pointed at Koizumi, and Hinata turned to look at her, along with everyone else. Her eyes had gone wide with shock, and she still covered her mouth with her hands. “I – I didn’t do it,” she said, her voice muffled. “I didn’t know, I – what? – ”

“You killed her!” Kuzuryuu’s face contorted, his voice became a hoarse scream, and tears flew from his eyes. “You killed her like you killed my sister! And now you’re lying about it again!”

The entire room broke out in whispers (“What’s he talking about? Didn’t he just say that Satou girl killed his sister?” “I can’t even follow all this!” “What’s going on? What’s Koizumi-san got to do with anything?”), but Hinata kept his eyes on Koizumi first and foremost. Her expression was changing as well – her eyes were still wide and staring, but her expression had hardened.

“I’m not lying about anything!” she said. “All this stuff you’re saying, I didn’t know about it, I don’t remember any of it, and in any case –”

“Liar!” Kuzuryuu shouted. “You heard us talking after you saw us at the game, then you killed her like a fucking coward –”

“Hey, don’t talk to Big Sis Koizumi that way!” Saionji pulled herself up on her trial stand and leaned so far over Hinata was sure she was going to fall into the center. “If you don’t stop I’ll pour so much salt on your hands you’ll shrivel like a slug!”

“Hiyoko-chan, that’s not really necessary…” Koizumi shook her head, and put her hands at her sides. “Listen, Kuzuryuu, you know I didn’t kill your sister! I didn’t even know you had a sister! And I definitely didn’t kill Peko-chan!” She gritted her teeth. “I don’t care what she was to you, or what you were making her do – Peko-chan was still my friend!”

“Making her do?” Kuzuryuu laughed. “Are you serious?”

The screens above them flickered to life, and both Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama appeared on what looked like security camera footage. “You can’t show anyone these photos,” Pekoyama said. “In fact, I would recommend destroying them at the earliest opportunity. If anyone discovers them, or anything we’ve learned from them, it’s likely they’ll report directly to Togami. If Koizumi learns anything about her past, it should only be in the last moments of her life.”

“I don’t care about that.” Kuzuryuu looked very distressed in the footage, at least as far as Hinata could tell from his wide eyes and pleading tone. “But if we kill her…”

“Why would you be hesitating? The people on this island are nothing more than the means for your escape, you’ve said it yourself. Mahiru Koizumi attempted to hide the slayer of a key member of the Kuzuryuu family from those that would need to exact revenge on her. She has taken that burden on herself. I don’t need to tell you what this means.”

The courtroom fell silent. Hinata felt his stomach twisting in a knot – he had never seen Pekoyama look so menacing. “I can’t believe it,” he heard Sonia say. “All this time, she was capable of saying such horrible things…?”

“No, she…” Koizumi held her hand to her chest. She appeared to be having a stronger emotional reaction to the footage than to the accusations. “Even if I had known, I wouldn’t…I’d never…”

“You’re wasting my time!” Kuzuryuu interrupted. “Everyone knows you did it! They’ve seen proof!”

“Proof?” Koizumi looked round the room, perhaps spot-checking to see if anyone actually believed Kuzuryuu. Most looked uneasy, but none but Kuzuryuu appeared truly angry. “That wasn’t proof at all! If you’d just shut your mouth for once, I’d be able to tell you I do have an alibi!” She looked right past Hinata, over to Saionji. “Hiyoko-chan and I were having a sleepover. I was at her cottage the entire night!”

Hinata gasped, and several others followed suit. “That’s right!” Saionji folded her arms in midair and grinned. “Big Sis Koizumi didn’t even leave once!”

“And Ibuki can vouch for them too!” Mioda said. “They both came out of Hiyoko-chan’s cottage when I came to get them!”

“See?” Koizumi turned back to Kuzuryuu. “I…don’t really deny I did this thing I don’t remember doing. But you’re using a motive I didn’t know about to accuse me of a murder there’s no way I could’ve committed!”

There were palpable signs of relief on many faces – all except Kuzuryuu’s. He shook and trembled with renewed anger. “No…she’s…they’re lying!” he shouted. “They must have conspired to kill Peko together!”

Hinata shot Kuzuryuu an incredulous look. “Where the fuck did you get that?” Saionji shouted from next to him.

“That’s absolutely ridiculous!” Koizumi now looked well and truly angry. “Didn’t Monobear say you can’t work with someone else?!”

“Well, I did say that only one culprit would get to walk free,” Monobear said, “But I’m not going to say you bastards are all completely rational…”

“Of course she isn’t!” Kuzuryuu said. “She must’ve brainwashed Saionji, like Komaeda brainwashed Hanamura! And now she’s protecting the guilty party!"

“What are you even talking about?” Koizumi’s brow furrowed. “You can’t make stupid accusations like that without proof!”

“I don’t need any more proof,” Kuzuryuu said. “I have all the proof I need. Why would anyone else want to kill Peko?”

"Could it be that the murder was done at random?” Nidai said. “It may not have had anything to do with this.”

“I don’t think we should consider that yet,” Nanami said. “The Twilight Syndrome motive is the only lead we have, and it’s a pretty strong one. If we abandon it as a motive, our investigation will fall apart. We need to examine everyone’s relationship to it before we can discount it.”

“You already have it!” Kuzuryuu shouted. “Koizumi conspired with Saionji and killed Peko! No – even worse – Saionji did it to protect her from what she deserves! There’s no other way!”

“What?” Saionji waved her fists menacingly over the trial stand. “Did you burn your brain, too? That doesn’t make any sense at all!”

“She’s right. I don’t even believe this anymore,” Souda said. “Is there any way to reassure this guy?”

“I think there is.” Hinata had a sudden flash of memory. “Kuzuryuu, you’re saying that Koizumi being vouched for by Saionji isn’t reliable enough evidence that she didn’t commit the murder. But you’re also saying that in order to commit the murder, she must’ve known about the motive. There was no way Koizumi could’ve been on the central island while you were playing the game, though. Togami saw her at the eating contest!”

Koizumi froze, and turned to face Togami. “You…did?” she said in a voice that was barely audible. “I did go in at one point to get dinner, but I saw something going on, so I left. I didn’t even know there was an eating contest…”

Togami did not speak for an awkward moment. He had raised his head while Koizumi was speaking, and for the first time Hinata got a good look at his face – he looked shaken, but determined. “There was, and I can confirm I saw you,” he said.

“So there you go,” Hinata said. “I’m willing to say Koizumi’s innocent.”

“Of course she is.” Togami turned to face Kuzuryuu, a fierce anger in his eyes. “Kuzuryuu, even taking your unfounded and nonsensical insistence on a conspirator into an account, there is no way Koizumi could have been at the central island park in time to see you. And we already know there is no way she could have committed the murder. Continuing to insist on her guilt will only hinder the trial.”

“But –” Kuzuryuu was breathing very heavily, and shaking his exposed hand. “Saionji – what about –”

“Koizumi has vouched for Saionji,” Togami said. “Considering this, if Saionji had truly killed Pekoyama to protect Koizumi as you claim, either she would have confessed or Koizumi would have revealed her. It is therefore impossible for her to be the culprit.”

“But the photo – my sister –”

“You are referring to an event none of us remember and which is not the subject of this trial.” Togami looked briefly at Koizumi, but did not say a word before straightening up again. “But this wasn’t a complete waste of time. We have a motive. We must consider that someone else may have acted on it, for whatever reason.”

“And not only that, but we have a timeframe.” Hinata closed his eyes for a moment and skated through the twists and turns of his mind, assembling the pieces of the night into something he could use to help the investigation. “In order to have committed the murder according to the motive, someone would have to be unaccounted for between 6:15 and 7:00 PM, when the eating contest was taking place, or between 12:00 and 1:30 AM, when the murder was being committed.”

“But what about the period we saw in the security footage, when Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama were talking?” Nidai said. “Isn’t that also important?”

“I don’t know about you, but if anyone ever makes noise in the cottages I can’t hear it from the road,” Owari said. “If you wanted to listen to anything you’d have to know what you were listening for.”

“Ibuki agrees!” Mioda said. “Ibuki can hear anything but the noises in the cottages may as well not exist!”

“And few of the suspects would even pass Kuzuryuu-kun’s cottage on the way back to their own…I think,” Nanami said.

“That’s enough evidence for me,” Nidai said. “But we all say we were in our cottages after 10:30 PM, so that’s not going to be a very useful time interval.”

“Not all of us,” Togami said. “Hinata and I were at the game. We can account for each other.”

“And I know Owari-san, Tsumiki-san, Nidai-kun, Souda-kun, and Mioda-san were at the eating contest, along with Hinata-kun and Togami-kun,” Nanami said. “They can account for me, and Togami-kun already accounted for Koizumi-san.”

“That’s a lot of you!” Monomi said, sounding joyful.

“And I can account for Saionji after 10:00 PM,” Koizumi added. If her emphasis was directed at Kuzuryuu, he did not react to it, or to anything happening at all. He had assumed a position not unlike the one Togami had been in, with his head down and his arms folded.

“So that’s ten of us with alibis now.” Togami looked around. “That leaves…Tanaka, Sonia, and Kuzuryuu.”

“Wait – what?!” Kuzuryuu’s head jerked up. “Why am I still a suspect?”

“We still don’t have proof of your whereabouts after 10:30 PM.” An edge was entering Togami’s voice. “For all we know, this could all be a very involved con.”

Kuzuryuu’s mouth fell open. “Are you shitting me right now?!”

“Togami-kun, I know where you’re getting this,” Nanami said, holding up her hand. “But I think I’m going to trust Kuzuryuu-kun. Without this information, we wouldn’t have been able to eliminate seven people from suspicion. And we know he and Pekoyama-san were close.” Nanami looked up at the screen, where Pekoyama’s face was frozen. “I…really don’t believe he intended to leave this island without her.”

Togami looked over at Kuzuryuu, who was quite determinedly looking away from him. “There’s no proof,” he mumbled.

“There’s no proof he did,” Tsumiki said, trembling. “But there’s also no proof he didn’t…”

“There could be, but only if Tanaka and Sonia are accounted for,” Hinata said. “I think we should put Kuzuryuu aside for now.” Or forever, Hinata thought. He really didn’t think Kuzuryuu had done it. He wasn’t too familiar with emotional displays, but his grief over her death had seemed genuine.  And from the looks on most everyone else’s faces, it appeared they agreed with him.

“You’re functioning exactly as I thought you would, Hinata,” Togami said. “Now… that leaves Tanaka and Sonia. Neither of them can be accounted for during either time.”

Everyone looked from one suspect to the other. They each had very different reactions to the news, Hinata noticed. Sonia’s eyebrows lifted slightly, but otherwise her neutral expression did not change. Tanaka, on the other hand, had gone very pale, and his mouth hung open as if in shock. His arms were folded across his chest; the Four Dark Gods of Destruction peeked out between them.

“But…that means Tanaka did it, right?” Souda looked wildly from Sonia to Tanaka. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “‘Cause t-there’s no way Sonia-san would–”

“Souda, enough.” Togami turned to face Tanaka. “Tanaka, where were you between 6:15 and 7:00 PM last evening?”

“Last evening…” Tanaka took a deep breath. “I was in my cottage, reading aloud to the Dark Gods, as is my custom. I remained at this task the entire evening, until they grew tired.”

“That’s…weirdly adorable,” Koizumi said, her eyes wide.

“No, it’s ridiculous!” Souda shouted. “Reading to a bunch of hamsters? What kind of an excuse is that?”

“You dare doubt the importance of the rituals of the Four Dark Gods?” Tanaka thundered. “Is it so different from your slavish devotion to your metal machines?”

“Yeah it is!” Souda yelled, “You’re a delusional murderer, and I’m –”

“Souda-san, if you will, I need to offer my own alibi,” Sonia interrupted.

“O-of course!” Souda gave Sonia a simpering look. “You can do it, Sonia-san!”

“Thank you,” Sonia said. “I too was in my cottage the entire evening. I was also reading, if not to hamsters. I did leave at one point to eat, but this was shortly before the nighttime announcement. I met Nanami-san in the lobby. She can account for me.”

“I can,” Nanami said.

“Very well, but one of you is lying,” Togami said. “Does anyone remember seeing either Tanaka or Sonia between 6:15 and 7:00 PM?”

“Ooooh! I do!” Monobear raised his hand. “But what does that mean? Hm, I don’t know!” Several people rolled their eyes, but no one else spoke.

“Then we haven’t made any progress,” Nanami said. “We can’t prove either of them innocent or guilty …”

“Does this mean we have to guess?” Mioda said.

No one answered, but not because they weren't sure. Hinata himself couldn't make the call. If no one could disprove either of their alibis, then guessing would come down to who they might think would be most likely to kill Pekoyama. And even if one of them really had... even if Hinata knew one of them had...

“Wait.” Koizumi raised a shaking hand. “I have something that could eliminate Tanaka.”

Tanaka’s eyes went wide, and he began shaking even more violently. “S-speak, then,” he said.

“Well, Hiyoko-chan and I were up all night,” Koizumi said. “We saw the fire around the same time that Ibuki-chan came to get us…but that’s beside the point. If anyone had come past Hiyoko-chan’s cottage after 10:30, we would have seen them.”

“But no one did,” Saionji said. “And Big Sis Sonia’s cottage is past mine...”

Hinata’s heart was just about to fall into his stomach when Souda interrupted them. “That isn’t proof!” he shouted. “You had your lights on! Tanaka could’ve gone around the other side to avoid you!”

“But…couldn’t Sonia-san have done the same thing?” Tsumiki said.

“She didn’t. She came through just before 10:30. Peko-chan came through shortly after she did –” Koizumi froze. “Kuzuryuu…what time did you meet with Peko-chan?”

Kuzuryuu looked up again, his eyes slowly widening. “We met at ten,” he said. “And she left just before 10:30…”

“And Chiaki-chan,” Koizumi said, turning to Nanami, “What time did Sonia-chan leave the restaurant?”

“She left just before ten,” Nanami said.

This time, Hinata’s heart really did fall. He looked over at Sonia, who didn’t appear to have reacted to the discussion about her at all. Her hands were set neatly at the sides of her pajama bottoms, and her lips were halfway between neutrality and a smile. “Sonia…” he said. “Where –”

“That doesn’t prove anything!” Souda shouted. “If Sonia-san had been there someone would’ve seen her! She wasn’t there! She was reading in her room!”

There was an uncomfortable silence, which Tsumiki broke. “Like I said, she could have gone around the back, into the water…oh, that’s just stupid, isn’t it…”

“Tsumiki, I will be the judge of that.” Togami’s eyes narrowed. “If that were to be the case…her clothes would be wet, wouldn’t they?” He turned around. “Monobear, is there any way to confirm whether the clothes Sonia wore during the day are wet?”

“Hey, if you want to snoop around in a girl’s laundry that’s your own prerogative!” Monobear shouted.

“You’re one to talk!” Monomi yelled down from above.

“Oh? What’s this you’re accusing me of, little sister?” Monobear jumped up in his seat. “Are some of your panties missing?”

“Oy, shut up!” Togami slammed his fist on the trial stand. “This is necessary for the investigation. If you can produce the meat on a bone, you can –”

“Monobear’s lack of cooperation won’t be a problem, Togami-san. My clothes are wet, at least from the knees down.” Sonia’s smile faltered, and lowered her head slightly. “This ties me directly to the crime, and I don’t mean to make a scene about it like Hanamura-san. So I confess. I killed Pekoyama-san. My methods were exactly as you said.”

=====

An eerie silence descended on the courtroom. Kuzuryuu’s mouth fell open, and several others followed suit, including Hinata. Tanaka’s shaking had quieted, but not entirely gone away, and he stared wide-eyed at Sonia, still hugging the Dark Gods to his chest. Everyone else was regaining the ability to speak little by little, and as they did the noise level built in stages.

“Sonia-san…” Souda’s lip twitched, and his gaze shifted rapidly from left to right. “You don’t…you don’t have to defend Tanaka like that…”

“Such a calm confession…” Mioda tugged at her hair. “S-s-so scary…”

“Why…” was all that Hinata could say. “Why…why…?”

“Why?” Sonia folded her hands on her lap. “It’s…a simple matter of economics, isn’t it?”

“Economics…?” The determined expression Togami had held seconds earlier had melted. What remained was something like anger, but for the hollow look in his eyes. “What…what are you…”

“The foundation of economic theory is the manipulation of factors available to you in order to create the greatest profit,” Sonia said. “That’s…the basis of my killing of Pekoyama-san.”

“Wait, so…” Owari’s voice was far more subdued than usual. “You killed her for…money?”

“You’ve completely misunderstood, but it’s not an uncommon mistake, Owari-san. Usually one’s first thought of economics is of money.”

Sonia looked up, her smile returning just a little, but Hinata couldn’t look at her smile, not now. He couldn’t comprehend it in the context of the Sonia he knew and this other Sonia who was speaking in her voice. But when he averted his eyes they fell on Komaeda’s portrait, which stared back at him with a similar serenity. He had misremembered his appearance; his eyes were wider than he had thought, and the shape of his face much sharper.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said in Komaeda’s direction. “You told me once…you said you had no intention of killing, or of being killed…”

“I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Hinata-san…” Hinata turned back to face Sonia, whose deep-set look of concern was almost worse than her smile. “It may be hard for you to believe, but I wasn’t lying, not at the time. I had no intention of killing anyone, especially not Pekoyama-san…not until I was given a reason I couldn’t avoid.”

“But what reason could you possibly have?” Nidai shouted, his voice full of heartbreak.

“No different than the one that was figured out,” Sonia said. “I didn’t intend to go to the central island at that time, but I had just finished the first volume of The Vicomte of Bragelonne and I simply had to intercept Togami-san and demand the next one! But by the time I had arrived…”

“Sonia-chan saw Fuyuhiko-chan and Peko-chan playing the game,” Mioda said, forlorn.

“I did,” Sonia said. “And when I saw that the two were in concert with each other I definitely did not mean to be discovered – but at the same time fleeing was not an option! So I hid in the trees until everyone from the eating contest had returned. I left following Kuzuryuu-san and Pekoyama-san, and I heard them making plans to meet just before ten. So I returned at that time and listened outside Kuzuryuu-san’s cottage. Then, when Pekoyama-san spoke of leaving, I hurriedly made my way back as well, so that Pekoyama-san would not see me.”

Sonia looked over at Kuzuryuu, who still stood motionless, his jaw slack. Her serene face hardened at the sight of him. “My first thought, when I saw them in the park, was that what I had witnessed was a great misunderstanding. I never wanted to believe that Pekoyama-san and Kuzuryuu-san had betrayed our trust! But I found I couldn’t deny that at all… so instead I hoped that, after having seen the game, they would regret their actions and stand strong against this motive, just as they had against the motive of escape! At that time I was still determined to go to Togami-san with all this information, but as I knew of their later meeting I knew I couldn’t do this unless I had the straight poop on the situation.

“But what I heard…was not what I had wanted to hear at all!” Sonia’s head fell, and a choking tone entered her voice. “They had not resisted the motive, but were making plans to act on it out of revenge! I learned that and many other terrible things… among them that seeking Togami-san’s help would not be a solution to the problem.”

“Not a solution?” Togami’s hands had found the ridges he had made in the previous trial; he dug further into them now. He was breathing slowly and heavily, with great determination, and his voice shook as he spoke. “And are you trying to tell me that murder was? Are you expecting me to accept that?”

“Togami-san…” Sonia fixed him with a surprisingly pitiful look. “I have nothing but the utmost respect and gratitude for your concern for us. But I don’t think you understand the workings of murder motivated by revenge.”

She looked over at Pekoyama’s portrait. “When someone wishes for revenge they cannot be reasoned with. Their motive cannot be removed, and they will destroy any and all restraints put on them until the object of their revenge has been eliminated. You may reason with them all you wish, and even they may attempt to restrain themselves, but the desire for revenge cannot be extinguished, especially when it’s a matter of honor.”

Sonia turned to Koizumi, and Hinata could swear there were tears in her eyes. “And it was for that reason that I was quite troubled! I was so sure that you were doomed to die, Koizumi-san! Even if Kuzuryuu-san had decided against killing you, Pekoyama-san did seem determined in her efforts to convince him otherwise!”

Hinata looked at his neighbor to find her face frozen in horror, her eyes wide open and staring. She opened her mouth, but said nothing, so Sonia went on. “Again I considered telling Togami-san, but I came to the same conclusion as before. Pekoyama-san was a highly skilled killer, and fiercely loyal to the Kuzuryuu family.  Even if any other deaths had been required to reach Koizumi-san I do not doubt Pekoyama-san could have carried them out… and it was in thinking of this that I hatched my plan, the one based on economics.”

“No, you didn’t,” Souda interrupted. “Tanaka did…Tanaka killed Pekoyama...”

“Tanaka-san killed no one, Souda-san.” Sonia fixed Souda with a far more restrained look than before, and then faced forward again. “I knew it was wrong. And I can’t even imagine the pain I put Pekoyama-san through. But it would have been so much worse if I had done nothing. If I had, Koizumi-san would, sooner or later, have a one-hundred percent chance of dying, and either Kuzuryuu-san or Pekoyama-san would have a fifty percent chance of dying, pitted against the rest of us also having a fifty percent chance of dying.

“But if I were to intervene, and kill Pekoyama-san, Koizumi-san would gain a fifty percent chance of dying, and no one else’s chance of survival would change. In essence, by killing Pekoyama-san, I gave Koizumi-san the chance to live. And Kuzuryuu-san, too. I don’t believe he will go through with killing Koizumi-san without Pekoyama-san’s influence.”

“Shut up,” Kuzuryuu muttered suddenly under his breath. “Shut up, just, shut up, shut up…”

Sonia lowered her head again. “Sometimes a leader must do something horrible in order to achieve something greater,” she said. “I’ve read about this, many times over. But I’d hoped I’d never have to carry it out myself…”

“You didn’t,” Togami interrupted, his voice rising in volume. “You’re feeding us logic built on nonsensical assumptions. How could you know that Pekoyama couldn’t be stopped if you denied us the opportunity to try? How could you jump to such a ridiculous conclusion?”

“Togami-san…” A pitiful look returned to Sonia’s face. “You are not a cruel man, no matter how you try to convince us that you are. But we both know this world is cruel, even if we wish it weren’t. Believe me…I wish I could believe Pekoyama meant us no harm.”

She raised her head. “From there events went largely as you had figured,” she said. “I chose the method, crept past Saionji-san’s cottage back to the supermarket, and obtained the items I needed. I then returned to my cottage, donned my wetsuit and a swim cap so that I would not be recognized in the dark, and did all you said.”

Kuzuryuu ceased muttering, and lapsed back into shaking silence. Hinata couldn’t help but notice the number of people struck the same way – Tanaka, Koizumi, even Saionji now, though she looked more surprised than horrified. Nidai, Owari, Tsumiki, and Mioda looked dumbfounded. Souda was still babbling softly to himself, Nanami was still the picture of calm, and Togami was still wide-eyed, still breathing heavily, still gripping the trial stand for dear life, and now looking as though he were barely restraining himself from calling out.

Hinata wasn’t sure what they thought of his behavior, or if they could see the burden weighing on his mind. Had no one else seen the biggest issue of all? Or were they too caught up in the moment to bring it up? “Sonia,” he said, “you’re trying to tell us you killed Pekoyama to save Koizumi. But if that’s really the case…wouldn’t she have died if you hadn’t been discovered? Why didn’t you just confess when Togami asked you to?”

“I was…hoping you wouldn’t ask that,” Sonia said, her smile faltering. “I was unsure myself. Certainly I wanted to escape. I’m sure we all do. And if the world truly has been destroyed, as Monobear says…”

“It has!” Monobear interjected gleefully.

“Then there are concerns out there that I had to consider as well,” Sonia went on. “My country, my people… but returning to them would mean killing all of you! It was another difficult decision, one which I could not live with myself with if I had chosen one over the other…so in this case, I did believe that inaction was best. I decided neither to help nor hinder the investigation. I left my fate up to you all…although, looking back, I don’t think I really had any doubt you’d solve this.” She smiled with renewed strength, the last thing Hinata had wanted to see.

“Okay, sure, but that doesn’t change that you were totally okay with killing all of us!” Owari shouted. “Did the rest of our lives just not matter to you?”

The corner of Sonia’s mouth twitched so quickly Hinata was unsure if he’d imagined it. “Owari-san…again, you fail to understand economics.” She laid a shaking hand on her trial stand, and it was clear to Hinata that she had moved into position to press her own button. “That is all. There is no need to delay the vote any longer, Monobear.”

=====

“Yahoo! Correct again, you bastards! The student who killed Peko Pekoyama is…Sonia Nevermind!”

Monobear laughed and leapt in his seat, grinning at the silent circle of students. Hinata couldn’t speak for anyone else, but he didn’t see any reason to react very strongly to Monobear’s words. The moment of shock had passed, and there was no continually screaming Hanamura to deal with. Sonia’s serenity, which had not broken even after Monobear had said her name, seemed to have fallen on him and many of the others.

“But the vote wasn’t unanimous this time!” Monobear chirped, interrupting Hinata’s thoughts. “Not one, but two votes were given to the wrong student! That’s dangerous and irresponsible, you know. You’re lucky the majority saved you!” He sat down again, and leaned against the armrest. “Not only that, but both votes were for the same student! Souda-kun, are you really so convinced of Tanaka-kun’s guilt? And Tanaka-kun, the dramatic device of voting for yourself is one-use only! Why are you boring me to tears?”

“Wait – what do you mean?” Sonia said, surprised. “Souda-san, I appreciate the gesture of goodwill, but you know as well as I do that’s not correct! And Tanaka-san, why did you do such a thing? You know you’ve done nothing wrong!”

“No…” Souda did not look Sonia in the eye as he spoke. A shaking smile had spread across his face. “No, Sonia-san, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay…it’s just a joke, it’s just a mix-up, you’ll see, he’ll say it in a second, he’ll say Tanaka did it…”

Souda looked over at Tanaka, but Tanaka did not pay him any mind. Instead he fixed Sonia with a hollow look, then turned his head to the side, away from her. The Four Dark Gods of Destruction disappeared inside his scarf, and he hugged his arms closer to his chest.

“Oooooohhh! This is almost better than the murder!” Monobear spun in his seat. “All this despair, from all corners of the room… what do you think, little sister? Should I execute her now, before anyone can start talking my ears off? Or let her live for a while so the despair can grow?”

“Y-you could start by not executing her at all!” Monomi’s gaze darted back and forth between Monobear and Sonia, who, despite it all, was still looking at Tanaka with worry.

“But do you really want a murderer loose on this island? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. It’s not happening.” Monobear laughed. “Maybe there’s something else you want instead? Like a punchline? Or a blackjack to the head?”

“W-what are they even talking about?” Tsumiki whimpered.

“Nothing. Foolishness. This is a complete waste of my time!” Togami straightened himself, his eyes flashing. “Sonia!”

Sonia started, then directed her gaze forward. “Togami-san,” she said.

“You – this – how?” Togami paused, put a hand to his temple, and took a deep breath before continuing. “How can you be so calm?” he said, hardly sounding calm himself. “How can you insult us like this?”

“Insult...?” Sonia began to fidget. “Togami-san…I can’t say I’m confused by your reaction, but wasn’t Hanamura-san also willing to risk all of our deaths to achieve his goal? And you were about to sacrifice your life for Hanamura-san’s, weren’t you? Is your risk any different from mine?”

“You – that – Komaeda manipulated Hanamura into killing him!” Togami shouted, his face contorted with fury. “Did you think I wanted Hanamura to do that? Did you think I ever wanted that to happen again? You weren’t manipulated. You killed Pekoyama by your own volition for fully selfish reasons. How dare you compare yourself to him!”

Togami gritted his teeth, and his whole body heaved with his jagged breaths. Hinata opened his mouth to say something, but Togami began again before he could. “I trusted you. I thought you, of all people, could be reasonable. I can’t even comprehend you trying to justify your actions like this. You can’t. You won’t. You’ve done nothing but play into Monobear’s hands!”

Several people looked surprised at Togami’s outburst, but none looked inclined to disagree. Sonia’s smile disappeared, and she did not speak for a time, but when she did her voice sounded hollow. “You’re right,” she said. “I can’t justify myself the way I wanted to. There was really no way to do that at all. But you’ve already caught me, and the vote’s been cast.”

Sonia looked over in Hinata’s direction, and Hinata started before he realized she was looking at Koizumi. “Koizumi-san…no matter what may have happened in the past, I do believe you’re a very strong and responsible person. If you will…please remember the sacrifices I’ve made for you, and use your life to its fullest potential. I have strong faith in the great things you can do.”

Sonia attempted to smile, but did not do so as strongly as she had before. Hinata wondered whether this was a reaction to how Koizumi was looking at her – her face was blue with shock, and she tore at her hair with both hands. “Stop…” she said. “Stop using my name…I didn’t ask for this…I never wanted this to happen!”

“Upupupu! You might say that, but would you really rather be dead?” Monobear said.  

“Uwaa! That’s unnecessarily cwuel!” Monomi said. “Everything is, of course, but this especially is just…just…”

Monomi did not finish her sentence – she whimpered into her hands instead. Koizumi shuddered and hunched over her trial stand, tears falling onto the wooden rail. Sonia looked down, her smile now faded completely. “I know. I’m sorry,” she said. “But what’s done is done…”

“Yeah, and you know what you did? You made Big Sis Koizumi cry!” Saionji slammed her fists on the trial stand. “You’re just as rotten as you look, you dirty foreigner!”

“Saionji-san…” Sonia looked around the room, from face to face, but Hinata found no sympathy on any one. Nidai was looking at the ground, Souda was still shaking and making eye contact with no one, Mioda looked apologetic but unsympathetic, and Hinata hoped his scorn and betrayal showed clearly enough.

Eventually, to Hinata’s surprise, she came to rest her eye on Kuzuryuu, who had, Hinata now realized, been looking over at her the entire time. “You’ve been quiet,” Sonia said, an odd tone in her voice. “You were so angry at Koizumi-san. Do you not have the energy to be angry at me?”

Kuzuryuu blinked, then looked over at Pekoyama’s portrait. It hardly showed any of her face, and almost none of her hair. “You knew.” His voice sounded oddly dry and hoarse. “You knew I’d suspect her.”

Sonia looked to the side. “I said I’d neither help nor hinder.”

Kuzuryuu sniffed loudly, and it was only then that Hinata noticed the redness around his eyes and the tearstains on his cheeks. “She’d kill you. She’d kill you in a heartbeat…I’d kill you myself…I don’t care…”

His bandaged hands shook; without warning, he banged them both on the trial stand, howling in unrestrained pain as he did so, then banged them again, and then again, crying louder and louder each time. He was the only one making any sound – no one else was able to speak. Sonia only watched for a moment before she looked down at her stand.

“Woooow, really?” Monobear shouted. “Nothing else? I thought I could milk a good amount of despair from you bastards! Whatever. I’m getting tired and I kind of want to get this over with.”

“But we can’t,” Monomi said. “Not again, not like this…”

“Actually, Monomi, I think I understand how Monobear feels.” Sonia walked several steps away from her trial stand, towards Monobear and Monomi, and then turned back, giving a small bow. Her face looked oddly blank, as if she had purged herself of all emotion. “Goodbye, everyone. I really can’t stay any longer. I…wish you the best of luck in your efforts to escape.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Hinata yelled, but to what end not even he would ever know. His words were drowned out by Monobear’s gleeful announcement of Sonia’s punishment, and Sonia turned her back on them for the last time, standing still in the face of the large metal chain rising from the doorway to meet her.

=====

As the curtain rises, observe our culprit. See the ropes binding her to the stick – they are merely an aid in playing her part, for she has been negligent and has not read our script. Our other players are preparing, not tied to the sticks but piloting them as a means to tell our tale, but witness her in the meantime, for your entertainment. How serene her face. How blank her eyes. How ambiguous the curve of her lips.

But that is enough. Now they are ready to begin, and our play shall be entitled: 

Love Like Salt

Witness the Queen – no, not the culprit, not at the moment, but the Queen, bedecked in her finest robes and jewels, a wise and clever ruler whose judgment is never doubted. A banquet has been laid, and her three daughters have come before her with answers to a question she has previously posed – “What is it that you love your mother more than?”

Her eldest daughters are wise – one loves her more than gold and diamonds, the next more than these original copies of the entire Nirvana discography – what a treasure, what a compliment! But the youngest, the Princess Monobear – how dare she bring her mother something so worthless as salt? We move her finger forward, we banish the princess –

Oh, but would that it were so easy. Of course the Princess Monobear had been expecting such a response, and what better chance to prove the worth of salt than this? This play is set before the invention of modern refrigeration – and now don’t you smell the rotting meat lain before you, and perceive the value of her gift as a preservative?

But that simply won’t be enough to teach her mother the proper lesson. So the Princess Monobear had an alternative prepared, and lo it has arrived with a splintering of wood. Big, Bad Wolf meat, fresh from the wrong fairytale, so fresh it’s still alive.

Ulp! goes the sister with her gold and diamonds, less worthy than her mother but more worthy than their bearer, and Ulp! goes the second princess and her discography – All Apologies, my sister, but you were just Something In The Way. And now the Wolf rounds on the Queen, his teeth thick with slaver, and he runs but the chain around his neck holds him back, though only for a moment as the bolt in the opposite wall grows ever weaker.

How serene her face. How blank her eyes. How ambiguous the curve of her lips. We have not bound her head, and yet she does not shrink from death, she gives it who knows what regard, but the chain does not break as fast as she’d expected –

But her concentration is broken, along with our fourth wall. Her gaze slides away, the audience fills her eyes, and now that she has seen them there is no going back. She looks, she searches desperately, but where is it? Wasn’t it supposed to be there, if it was there for Hanamura-san? It could very well be the last thing she sees, someone must have it, the vision most valuable for her right now, the assurance, the justification she craves in order to be able to look back, why oh why did she ever look away –

Togami-san. Togami-san, what are you thinking? Why are you looking at me that way? Hinata-san, too? And Souda-san, and Tanaka-san, and Koizumi-san, even…  One after another after another, they allow her none of what she needs…

She cannot look back, and the moment has passed. The chain breaks, the wolf pounces, and Sonia Nevermind dies screaming.

=====

Hinata didn’t remember very much of what happened after that. Maybe it was the exhaustion, given he hadn’t slept for more than twenty-four hours, or maybe it was – no, he couldn’t pinpoint one thing that might have affected him over another. It was all too much to sort out, not before he could sleep, or find the strength to berate himself for wanting sleep so badly.

He remembered rage and pain, his and everyone else’s. He remembered Monobear saying something and Monomi saying something. He remembered Tsumiki’s tears, Kuzuryuu’s laughter that hardly felt like laughter at all, Koizumi and Tanaka’s silence, and his own hollow sense of betrayal, not to mention his wonder at whether there were yet more potential betrayers he would soon encounter.

He remembered Togami, stuck staring at the place where Sonia had died while everyone else spoke and fretted and feared. He remembered him turning and heading for the elevator before anyone else. He remembered loud stomps, much louder than usual. Mioda had followed after him, had tried to reach his shoulder, but he had walked too far ahead of her for her to catch up before they disappeared into the elevator. By the time Hinata entered some moments later they were standing next to each other, neither touching nor speaking.

It was six-thirty in the morning when the elevator doors opened to bright sunshine. He had been aware of Souda slumped against the door on the way up, but it wasn’t until they’d reached the surface again and he fell to the ground that anyone knew he’d fainted. Nidai knelt to catch him, and Owari ran to get some water. She was the first to leave the island; Kuzuryuu left not long after, stomping away with his hands over his eyes, and Tsumiki followed him, trying to catch his trailing bandages. Tanaka followed them, pulling his scarf up over his face and not speaking with anyone.

Then Hinata left with Nanami, just behind Togami and Mioda. Koizumi and Saionji did not follow for quite some time, and when they did Hinata looked back to see Saionji leading Koizumi by the hand. Mioda took occasional looks at Togami, and once tried to reach up and pat him on the shoulder, but he did nothing but assure her that he was alright, though in Hinata’s eyes he looked anything but.

They entered the hotel area. Pekoyama’s body was gone from the boardwalk, but the ruin of her cottage remained. Before they parted, Hinata asked Nanami if she was okay. Mioda followed suit. Nanami said she was fine. Togami bid them goodbye, headed to his cottage, and shut the door.

Hinata entered his own cottage, pulled off his shirt and pants, and fell into his bed, but after ten minutes he got back up, put his clothes back on, and left again. He wandered the hotel grounds for a time, looking to see if anyone had stayed outside, but he found no one. Briefly, as he stood by the pool, he considered knocking on Togami’s door, checking to see if he really was alright, but he felt he already knew the answer to that question, not to mention whether Togami would be willing to answer it himself. In any case, he thought, it was a stupid idea. If he got some sleep he wouldn’t have it anymore.

He returned, pulled his clothes off again, and climbed into bed. No sooner had he shut his eyes than the screen next to his bed lit up, playing Monobear’s morning announcement. He pulled his pillow over his ears until it ended, then slammed himself back down, screwing his eyes shut. He did eventually sleep, but with far more difficulty than before.

 =====

komaeda theater

“Do you see it, Sonia-san? Do you see the wild, maddening hope flowing from your every deed? And you, Pekoyama-san! With every move you’ve used your talent to the fullest! I don’t know how I could be more proud! Your goals, your mission, the changes you’ve wrought…I’m sure now this will unite them more than ever. It’s changed them, that’s for sure! It’s shown them an entirely new definition of hope! I just hope, if I can use that word, that they can comprehend it, like you did. I hope you’ve taken them that far. I hope, even, that you’ve been an inspiration to them for the future.

“I welcome you even though no one is coming, even though the only memory of your existence lies in the minds of those that witnessed your deeds. But in that memory there is hope, and that hope comes to me wherever it lies. I may not be Super High School Level Hope. But I don’t have to have a talent to covet it with every fiber of my being.”

=====

13 DAYS LEFT

Chapter Text

Item Get: Ibuki’s Greatest Ambition

A charm said to contain the hopes and dreams of young girls. It will grant wishes for a certain price, but for wishes that turn the hearts of others the price may be too great to pay. For our use it has taken the form of a ramen noodle cup.

=====

Ibuki didn’t expect to pay him too much mind in the beginning, at least not more than she paid anyone else.

It wasn’t because anything about him was unappealing to her – far from it, in fact. But she’d had bigger things on her mind then, bigger even than the biggest things she ever thought could exist. One minute she’d been walking backwards up to the gate of her new school, then the next thing she knew she’d been dropped onto a tropical island with fifteen people she didn’t know and a talking pink teacher-bunny telling her to make friends with them.  Her brain was so full from the effort of not imploding on itself that, to all available witnesses including herself, she had completely conquered her confusion and registered her environment as perfectly normal and actually quite interesting. And it was, though the nagging feeling of I shouldn’t be here why am I not at school what is this never left her, even if it never came out of her mouth.

So his short introduction and cold dismissal of her weren’t anything she thought about too much. Sure, it was disappointing, but there were so many people she’d just had to meet she could hardly get them straight in her head. She figured maybe she’d gotten a bad first impression; it had happened with a lot of people who had become her best friends. But that was an issue for later. When they got their swimsuits on and dove into the water she hardly even noticed he wasn’t among them.  

But then everything started going wrong. Monobear, mutual killing, Monomi’s apparent death… in one move everything she’d built up to protect herself from one unimaginable situation had broken down in the face of something even more outlandish. She couldn’t comprehend it at first, and almost forced herself not to, but the knowledge bothered her to the point where she couldn’t sleep at all, not with her imagination running wild in her head.

She didn’t want to think of whether anyone might participate in the mutual killing game they’d been given, and yet it was the only thing on her mind. And they’d all seemed like such awesome people, too. She’d never wanted this view of them, never wanted this uncertainty, never wanted any secrets between her and anyone else ever again. But, as she thought around 3 am, perhaps it was just her getting what she deserved, for keeping her own secrets from those she cared about.

But just as she’d resigned herself to wondering whether the friends she was making would all turn on her – not that her smile would ever fade, or her energy level would ever drop, or anything would indicate how she felt – Byakuya-chan emerged at the forefront of the fifteen as if he had appeared among them for the first time. He proclaimed himself leader (that was the end of not noticing him) then assured them that, under his leadership, they would all figure out a way to escape. He’d even started them on the path to figuring out who was responsible for their imprisonment.

It was all unlike anything Ibuki had ever expected. Given how Byakuya-chan had behaved towards her, his concern for them was surprising. But it was also profoundly reassuring, as she was sure to let him know. At first she was grateful that there was there was at least one person on the island that wouldn’t listen to Monobear, but as the day went on, she saw that Byakuya-chan’s words were affecting the others, as well. They were calmer. They talked more freely. Some even smiled and laughed when Ibuki jumped and cheered, and Ibuki found herself feeling those jumps and cheers much more than before.

More and more troubling things occurred – the countdown clock, the lost memories, Fuyuhiko-chan’s behavior – but now they slid easily away when it came time to clear her mind for sleep. Byakuya-chan’s words had taken their place, repeating again and again. We have no time for foolish ideas such as murder, she remembered with a smile, kicking her legs up and down on her mattress. We have to concentrate on the things we must do right now. Let us observe, infer, perceive and understand. If that much is impossible for any of you, at the very least move your bodies. Most importantly, follow me. I will return us all to normality.

Sleep still came with fits and false starts – she felt more excited than anything knowing that such a cool, strong, intelligent person was there to help them. It even carried over to the next morning, especially after Byakuya-chan announced the party. Ibuki hadn’t been to one since her last tour, and she was sure Byakuya-chan was trying to bring them back into a more familiar state of mind, something to make them – her – feel better despite everything. She didn’t understand the full body checks at the door, or why her breath caught in her throat when he touched her, even if it was just on her shoulders and hips. But she was still ready to give it her all as if she were on tour again.

And then Nagito-chan was killed. For a fleeting second Ibuki shut down, sure this was the end of everything. But Nagito-chan’s blood was hardly dry before Byakuya-chan stepped in with his guidance and direction, moving everyone forward through the investigation and the trial, his calm implacable even in the face of death. It did scare Ibuki stiff when he tried to take Teruteru-chan’s place to be executed. She managed not to scream, but she was sure she would have if it had actually happened. And yet she was fascinated by the attitude he took to the sacrifice, at the same time that she was terrified.

She didn’t want Byakuya-chan to hurt himself, she thought in bed that night as she fought back tears, even if it meant helping someone else. No matter how important Byakuya-chan thought he was, it was more important that he stayed alive to keep everyone together, wasn’t it? And for his own sake, at that. She worried, now, that he might not realize how important his own safety was to her. Or to all of them.

She wanted to tell him this in the morning – after breakfast, maybe, when she could pull him aside. But he was nowhere to be found until noon, when he turned up at the new island’s diner with Hajime-chan, groggy from a lack of sleep just as Ibuki had been that first night. Like everyone else she encouraged him to rest, though she knew she’d lost her chance to speak to him. She tried checking on him that evening, but after she’d knocked several dozen times Nekomaru-chan spotted her and told her it was likely not the best idea to disturb him.

And yet, Ibuki thought, once again in her bed, would it have been so bad if she had? She wondered what Byakuya-chan was thinking about, or what he’d thought before he’d fallen asleep. She wondered if he was lonely. She wondered if she could get up and go across the hotel and knock again, and tell him everything she was feeling, everything she wanted him to know. Maybe then she’d see him smile, though it happened so rarely. But she remembered every detail of the times he had: the sparkle that lit up his eyes, the movement of his lips and the curve of his cheeks, the way his shoulders fell and his entire body seemed, just for a moment, to relax…

She stopped suddenly, realized what she was doing, and felt her face burn bright red. She slammed herself into her pillow, then took that pillow and threw it across the room, followed by every other pillow she could get her hands on, and when she ran out of pillows she jumped up and down on her bed, squealing and whooping to herself.

“Byakuya-chan!” she yelled, rolling and kicking her legs in the air, “Byakuya-chan, Byakuya-chan, Byakuya-chan…!” She spun onto the ground, did a full cartwheel across the floor, then grabbed her pillows again, holding them tight as she fell asleep with ease.

=====

The upshot was that Ibuki now knew exactly what she had to do.  She’d been through this before, even if it had been a while since she’d been so close to a boy, as her single-sex school had dominated her market for potential love interests. But through experience, both with confessions and everything that came after, she’d discovered that hiding and fretting her affections away was simply a waste of time. If she wanted anything to come of this, as she certainly did, she’d have to act now and act fast.

She found it hard not to be distracted by everything that came with her feelings: the hot flush of excitement when she saw him in the restaurant first thing in the morning, the thoughts and plans and aspirations she couldn’t stop herself from having…but the evening brought her just what she needed to focus. Twilight Syndrome may have been a murder motive, but now that Byakuya-chan had it under control it became, for Ibuki, an opportunity. And it was because she’d taken that opportunity that she was here now, watching Hajime-chan leave Jabberwock Park and making sure he didn’t suddenly step back for anything.

Byakuya-chan sat nearby, bent over his ramen cup, pushing the last of the noodles into his mouth. Ibuki had hardly started on hers, and his speed boggled her.

“Howaa!” she shouted. “Byakuya-chan’s finished already!”

“Hm?” Byakuya-chan swallowed, then cleared his throat. “Does that surprise you? How ill-informed. One ramen bowl is hardly a challenge for me.”

“Then Byakuya-chan’s skills are more powerful than I ever imagined…” Ibuki put a finger to her chin and grinned. “So next time Ibuki will bring more snacks!”

“I didn’t intend for you to get worked up over this.” Byakuya-chan set his empty cup back on the tray. “I would prefer more, certainly, but I’m not surprised you assumed this would be enough.”  His brow furrowed. “I…do appreciate your efforts.”

“And Ibuki appreciates Byakuya-chan’s appreciation!” Ibuki rocked back and forth where she sat, while Byakuya-chan folded his arms and looked over at the game.

They sat in silence for a time, while Ibuki raced through her noodles. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Byakuya-chan shifting where he sat before he stood. “I should move to a closer position,” he said.

Ibuki’s head jerked up, and she slurped her noodles into her mouth.  “Woah! Byakuya-chan takes charge as soon as he can!” She jumped up. “Quick! What are your plans for Ibuki?”

“Plans?” Byakuya-chan made a grunting noise. “You’re the one who took this responsibility on yourself.  Do as you see fit to fulfill that.”

“Oh…right! That’s right! Ibuki is dependable at most times and now is one of them!” Ibuki saluted Byakuya-chan, but Byakuya-chan didn’t see it. He walked over to the game, folded his arms, and stared straight ahead, looking just off from where Ibuki stood.

Ibuki picked up her ramen bowl and finished the rest of it in a hurry. Then she crouched, stacked the bowl on top of Byakuya-chan’s, jumped back up, skipped over to where Byakuya-chan stood, and came to a stop next to him. She rocked back and forth on her heels for a time, hopping up and down every other rock. She looked up at Byakuya-chan and smiled; he looked back, and even smiled, but only briefly.

Eventually she found herself looking down at the ground, wondering just how to say what she wanted to say. She was sure she’d had it all figured out before; she could swear it had once been easier. For all she’d thought before, about acting now and acting fast, now that she was in the moment it was as though the million things she felt she could say weren’t anywhere near what she’d wanted.

“Oy, Mioda.”

Ibuki jumped. “Huh? Yes?”

“You’ve been fidgeting for quite a while now.” Byakuya-chan looked down at her from his impressive height, his eyebrows raised. “Is there any reason for that?”

“Gah! No!” Ibuki planted her feet firmly on the ground. “Ibuki will stop immediately!”

“That isn’t necessary. I simply observed that you looked…rather nervous,” Byakuya-chan said. “Is there anything you’re concerned about?”

Ibuki blinked. “Con…cerned?”

“That is what I said,” Byakuya-chan went on. “Is there anything about our situation that frightens you?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all!” Ibuki said. Byakuya-chan’s eyes went wide, and Ibuki rubbed her hands together. “Okay, Ibuki lied, maybe a little. But with Ibuki and Byakuya-chan on duty, then it’s nothing! Right?”

Byakuya-chan fixed her with a curious look, then chuckled and smiled. “That’s quite right,” he said. “You’ve done well to put your trust in me, Mioda. Monobear has made the mistake of tailoring his motives to the whims of those he believes can easily fall for them, but he’s underestimated the scope of my ability to combat his influence.”

“Exactly! Thanks to Byakuya-chan, no one’s going to touch this game at all!” Ibuki felt jitters welling up in her chest again, this time for different reasons. She stamped up and down, swinging her arms back and forth. “Gnaaahhh! Byakuya-chan’s confidence is really, really cool!”

“That’s…well, that’s a fine thing to think.” Byakuya-chan’s expression was determined. “If you remember nothing else I’ve said, remember this. Whatever danger there was on this island, it will never touch us again. As long as I am your leader you will have nothing to fear from anyone.”

“Ibuki will remember!” Ibuki saluted him again. “But Ibuki’s never forgotten a single word! Not one!”

“Your attention is impressive.” Byakuya-chan turned away again, this time facing the path to the second island.

Ibuki didn’t know if this meant he didn’t want to talk anymore, but even if she did know, she’d talk even more if she could. His confidence, his wisdom, his reassurance…even with the memory of Nagito-chan and Teruteru-chan’s deaths fresh in her mind, his words felt no less true than ever. It was such a happy, triumphant moment – not only that, but one where she was sure he was happy about her.

“Ibuki knows Byakuya-chan is working hard, but Ibuki doesn’t want Byakuya-chan to hurt himself even if it’ll help Teruteru-chan, and she doesn’t want him to not get any sleep either, because sleep is very important, and if Byakuya-chan can’t sleep –” She swallowed her thoughts at the last moment. She couldn’t say anything negative, not when she couldn’t gauge how he’d react, or how it would help him. Three days ago she could have said this without that consideration, but now whatever she said had to come from somewhere closer that didn’t exist yet…

“Gnnnnn,” she found herself humming in frustration. “Gnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…!”

“Hm?” Byakuya-chan looked back over at her. “Use your words, Mioda.”

“Ibuki will...” Ibuki paced back and forth. “Ibuki’s thinking…”

“There’s no need to make conversation at all times,” Byakuya-chan said, facing forward again, “and no point pressuring yourself to do so.”

If only Byakuya-chan knew how important this was to Ibuki. She had to start something, something that would help her form the words correctly. She rubbed her temples while Byakuya-chan eyed her in confusion, until an idea popped into her head and she whirled on him with a grin. “What’s your most favorite thing in the world?”

Byakuya-chan’s eyes went wide. “My…most favorite thing?”

“Anything you ever wanted to tell anyone about!” Ibuki pointed skyward. “Ibuki wants to listen!”

“You…that’s a very sudden question.”

“But Ibuki still wants to knoooow!”

“I didn’t say I won’t answer.” Byakuya-chan held a hand to his chin. “But…well… that is, I would, but my interests may be incomprehensible to you.”

“Hmmm…Ibuki thinks someone’s dodging the subject!” She winked – and when she did she could swear Byakuya-chan flinched. “It really doesn’t matter to Ibuki!”

“Well, then…” Byakuya-chan stroked his chin several times and gazed into the distance, though he stole some glances back at her. Ibuki tried to wait patiently, but soon started rocking back and forth again, and found her own eyes scanning the outline of his body, from the curve of his hips all the way up to his hair fluttering in the night breeze.

“Mioda,” he finally said, “Do you know of the saying, ‘A chicken in the hand is worth more than beef in the refrigerator’?”

Chicken…beef… hand? It sounded familiar to Ibuki. “Yep!” she said.

“And do you know what it means?”

“Not at all!”

“Heh, that’s not surprising. Sayings can often circulate without their meanings attached.” He chuckled. “It means it is better to have something inferior close by than something better far away.”

“But why is it saying chicken’s worse than beef?” Ibuki said. “Ibuki likes chicken!”

The change that came over Byakuya-chan’s face at that moment was indescribable. “Precisely,” he said. “Why should such a saying pass down what is clearly someone’s personal preference as if it were universal folk wisdom? Just because chicken may generally be less expensive than beef does not necessarily mean one is less desirable than the other. Chicken may be less costly to prepare, but this has no bearing on the quality of its taste!”

“Hmmm, Ibuki’s never thought of this before!” Ibuki put a hand to her chin. “But now she sees it’s an unfairness unnoticed by society at large!”

“And price isn’t necessarily an indicator of quality,” Byakuya-chan went on. “Wouldn’t a beef hamburger at a fast food restaurant be less expensive than a chicken dish prepared by a gourmet chef? And aren’t there situations where that hamburger would taste better or otherwise be more desirable than a luxury meal?” He looked very concerned all of a sudden. “Why wouldn’t the price of the meal account for this? How far are we influenced by the costs of production?”

“Quite suspicious indeed!” Ibuki said. “Is there a conspiracy behind this?”

“Naturally, but chicken and beef are only the beginning,” Byakuya-chan said, pacing nervously. “One mistake you must never make is to allow these comparisons to overlook pork!”

And from there Byakuya-chan took off, speaking loud and long and hardly pausing for breath. Ibuki had never met anyone so knowledgeable or passionate about meat – and he wasn’t one of those boring people that went on forever and ever, either; he had her hanging on to every word. He knew each and every part of a chicken, pig, and cow, along with its nutritional content and every way it could be prepared or used, food or otherwise. He told her about all the dishes he’d had and the ones he’d heard about and wanted to try in the future. Then he moved on to every different kind of fish he knew of (“Don’t listen to anyone that says they aren’t meat, Mioda”), and from there to every other meat – turkey, lamb, duck, venison, even alligator, to name a few.

When he got to bear, Monobear showed up right on cue, leaning against the pedestal with his arms folded. “Huh? What’s that, Togami-kun?” he said. “You were saying something about me, weren’t you? Go on now, don’t be shy, I haven’t received any other confessions lately!”

“I had no intention of being shy,” Byakuya-chan said, scowling. “I was just telling Mioda how well you’d go with curry.”

“Oooh, I would, wouldn’t I? Imagine that, Togami-kun, me preparing curry in an apron with no other clothes on…not that I ever wear any other clothes, so what’s the point of me even saying that?” Monobear stomped up and down. “But that’s not what I came here to say! What are you doing here if you’re not going to play the game I put together for you bastards so lovingly?”

“Protecting it, of course!” Ibuki announced.

“No, no, I didn’t need to hear that again! I already watched that whole conversation happening!” Monobear waved his fists. “I mean why are you actually doing it? Why would you bastards put this together if you weren’t just going to play the game without anyone suspecting you?”

“Because some of us like to keep our promises,” Byakuya-chan said.

“Ohohoho, is that so… but aren’t you curious?” Monobear said. “Aren’t you wondering what power that game could possibly have?”

“Not really!” Ibuki said.

“Gnaah! This is embarrassing!” Monobear threw his hands into the air. “You’ll be the first targets when someone does want to play, you know that, right?”

“We’ll handle that when it happens,” Byakuya-chan said.

“Sure, sure you will.” Monobear hopped off the pedestal and headed down the path, his laughter ringing through the woods. “We’ll see what you think in a few days.”

He vanished halfway down the path. Byakuya-chan groaned, and rubbed his hand against his temples. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “Ignore him, Mioda. He’s only attempting to manipulate us.”

“Ibuki’s way ahead of you. She doesn’t even know what you’re talking about!” Ibuki grinned, and she was delighted to see Byakuya-chan chuckle.

“Well…” Byakuya-chan paused, and held his chin. “I’ve told you everything I know, I’m afraid.”

“Awwwww!” Ibuki swung her arms back and forth. “But Byakuya-chan sure does know a lot, doesn’t he?”

“You asked me what I’m passionate about,” he said. “The heir to the Togami conglomerate is a man of his word.”

“He definitely is! And now Ibuki knows more about meat than ever!” Ibuki laughed to herself. “This is a victory for a more enlightened age!”

“I’m…glad that held your interest.” Byakuya-chan’s face softened, and then – could it be? Yes, the corners of his mouth were turning up – there it was, there it was – Ibuki’s heart was fluttering so fast she was sure Byakuya-chan could hear it, but if it meant just another second of fully enjoying this moment she’d gladly let him hear every single one of her thoughts.

 The smile faltered, but only slightly, and he turned back to her. “Well, now I’m curious,” he said. “What are you most passionate about?”

“Eh – wha?” Ibuki’s eyes went wide, and she vibrated where she stood. “Y-you’re asking Ibuki?”

“Usually these topics are reciprocal, aren’t they?” Byakuya-chan’s grin reached its full extent. “It’s only fair.”

“It’s true, it’s true, it’s true…” Ibuki rubbed her own temples at lightning speed, but it was largely for show – she knew in an instant what she had to do. A happy feeling was welling up in her chest, and she felt her energy growing in leaps and bounds. “Byakuya-chan!” she shouted. “How much do you know about light music?”

Byakuya-chan blinked. “Nothing,” he said.

“Well, psyche! Ibuki isn’t going to tell you about that!” She swung her arm forward in a sweeping motion. “The topic for the evening is punk rock! Pay attention!”

=====

“SopunkwassweepingthemainstreamintheninetiesbutnotsomuchinJapanexceptforthesetwoAustralianbandscalledFreznalRhombandBodyjarhaveyoueverheardofthemByakuyachantheywerebighugemaybesomeoneyouknewknewthemIbukiknewsomeonethatwasbornataBodyjarconcertormaybedowntheroadIbukiforgetsbutstillIbuki’llintroduceByakuyachansometime –”

“Mioda.”

“ButtheninAmericapeoplelikedGreenDaymoreforsomereasonprobablybecausetheyhadanalbumcalledDookiethatstheenglishword
forpoopbutIbuki’sheardDookieandIbukithinksiftheyusedlikesixmoreguitarstheyreallywouldvegottenthesoundtheywanted –”

“Mioda…”

“AndpeoplesaiditwasntrealpunkbecauseitwasalltoomainstreambutIbukithinksthataslongasyoucarrythespiritofpunkrockinyoursoulandyourmindandyourheartandyourinnerandouterorgans –”

“Mioda!”

“Eh? Byakuya-chan?” Ibuki gave him a quizzical look. “What is it?”

Byakuya-chan looked a bit startled himself by her response, and blinked several times before speaking again. “I’ve been listening very carefully, but…Mioda, you’re going too fast. I haven’t been able to understand a word you’ve been saying for about the past half hour.”

“Whaaa?” Ibuki swung her hands back and forth. “But if Ibuki doesn’t go this fast Ibuki can’t tell Byakuya-chan everything he needs to know!” It was true – last night she’d hardly gotten out of the eighties before Nekomaru-chan and Akane-chan had showed up, and though she’d started again as soon as Byakuya-chan had shown up for their shift the next day she doubted she’d have time to do her Michio-chan impression, even though lunch had come and gone.

“I don’t understand your hurry,” Byakuya-chan said. “We have several of these shifts in our future and just as little to do during each of them. So if you’re going to talk I’d prefer to absorb what you’re saying than listen to endless noise.”

“Endless noise?” Ibuki didn’t know whether she looked offended or not, but in the next instant Byakuya-chan’s eyes went very wide. “That’s not –” He paused, then started again. “I meant that as a point of constructive criticism, not a petty affront, but I admit it –”

“Huh? No, no, Ibuki knows!” In truth Ibuki was quite relieved, but she’d had a feeling she knew what was going on – this definitely wasn’t the first time. “Sometimes Byakuya-chan tries to cover up compliments. But don’t think Ibuki doesn’t notice!”

“Compliments?” Byakuya-chan’s eyes narrowed. “When did I compliment you? You’re inventing it.”

“Nooooope!” Ibuki grinned. “You said you liked listening to Ibuki!”

“I said I wanted to absorb what you were telling me –”

“No no no, don’t say you didn’t say what you said!”

“I’m saying I said what I said.” Byakuya-chan made an odd face. “You reworded what I said to say something else.”

“But do you like listening to Ibuki?”

Byakuya-chan folded his arms. “I suppose so,” he said. “Is there a reason for your hurry? Did you have anything else planned?”

She did, for sure, but she wasn’t sure how much she could reveal at this point in time. “Hmmmmmmm,” she ended up saying. “Maybe!”

“How vague.” Byakuya-chan chuckled. “And yet it’s as I said. We have all the time we need, and when we discover a way off this island we’ll have even more. So speak carefully!”

“Hell yeah!” Ibuki pointed forward with both hands. “So listen up! Ibuki must now –”

“Hold on. I meant to ask you something first.” Byakuya-chan’s face grew serious, and he looked back and forth between the paths to make sure no one was coming. They’d had several interruptions and guests over the course of the day – most recently Sonia-chan, who’d come from the library with Gundam-chan and a giant stack of occult magazines – but it had been relatively quiet since lunch. Everyone seemed to have found their places for the afternoon.

“Something?” Ibuki tilted her head, her imagination running wild in ways she could hardly focus on. “What’s a something?”

“It’s about the others,” he said. “Have you noticed any unusual or suspicious behavior from them?”

Ibuki was surprised at the question – not to mention by the worried look on Byakuya-chan’s handsome face – but it did get her thinking. She’d failed to get Kazuichi-chan to squirt milk out his nose at breakfast, but that wasn’t suspicious, just disappointing. “Nope,” she said.

“You’re absolutely sure.”

“Yep.”

“And while we’re on the topic, has anyone found anything particularly important to our cause? Such as a clue about our situation? Or a means to escape the island?”

“Ibuki’s knowledge is your knowledge!”

“Alright. But keep vigilant. It doesn’t do well to forget the kind of danger we’re in.”

“Ibuki agrees…” The worry was still on his face – Ibuki needed to wipe it away as fast as she could. “But as long as Ibuki and Byakuya-chan are keeping everyone safe, we don’t have to think about it all the time!”

“Well…if that’s what you believe.” Byakuya-chan smiled again – victory had been achieved. “Then we can continue with the punk rock, if you weren’t finished.”

“Absolutely! Ibuki must now reveal her secret imitation abilities!” Byakuya-chan did a sharp double take, which Ibuki took to mean he was paying rapt attention. “First up! Kadotani Michio-chan!”

=====

“Mioda…”

Ibuki’s eyes flickered open, and she shook her head rapidly, trying to stabilize her vision. A white pillar was standing over her – how strange, she thought, until she blinked and Byakuya-chan came into focus. It took all her restraint not to jump back into the pedestal.

“You’re falling asleep again,” Byakuya-chan said.

“Howaa! Nononononono!” Ibuki looked left and right. “Ibuki’s vigilant at all times!”

“That’s not what I see.” Byakuya-chan lowered himself in a crouch. “Don’t be difficult. We could easily wake Nidai or Owari to take over for you.”

“Ibuki’s fine!” Ibuki opened her eyes as wide as she could, and looked directly into Byakuya-chan’s face. It was illuminated perfectly in the moonlight, and she was so close she could practically count his eyelashes. She realized she’d been staring – but had he noticed? Was anything different in his face? If he had, was that good or bad?

“That is what you may think,” Byakuya-chan said – so he hadn’t. “But it is important to us all that you get enough sleep.”

“Ibuki gets all the sleep Ibuki needs!” Ibuki opened her eyes very wide, this time to demonstrate just how awake she was. Byakuya-chan shook his head slightly – then, to her surprise, he straightened and walked away from her. She was confused for a moment – but then she saw a slight movement in her peripheral vision, and turned to see that he had seated himself next to her, still keeping the game cabinet in his sights.

“How odd this is,” he said. “Weren’t you just telling me about the perils of sleep deprivation a few days ago?”

Ibuki’s blood turned to ice. “I-Ibuki remembers something like that,” she said, though she remembered that moment very clearly – the bags under his eyes, his stumbling confusion, his refusal to acknowledge his condition.

“Then wouldn’t that apply to you as well? Isn’t your duty as dependent on your vigilance as mine?” Byakuya-chan shifted where he sat. “If Monomi comes by, we can utilize her to send a message. But it is up to your judgment.”

“That…” Ibuki was, indeed, very tired – it was late and she’d skipped her midday nap. The elements of her situation floated through her head like dreams. She didn’t want to seem like she wasn’t doing her job, and she didn’t want to leave Byakuya-chan before her time with him was up, and yet – was he helping her? Was he concerned about her? Or was it more about the security of the game? But Byakuya-chan trusted Byakuya-chan, and Ibuki trusted Byakuya-chan, but if he was doing all this –

Suddenly Ibuki felt wide awake. She jumped up, struck a pose, and pointed down with renewed energy. “Byakuya-chan!”

“Hm? What are you doing?” Byakuya-chan raised an eyebrow, then lifted himself to his feet.

“You…” Ibuki hesitated briefly, and then the words poured out at a mile a minute. “You shouldn’t be hurting yourself at all! Even if you think it’s going to protect us!”

“What…” Byakuya-chan balled his hands into fists. “What’s this about?!”

“Ibuki wants you to always take care of yourself, because yourself is what’s most important! If Byakuya-chan’s leading all of us, then he should be leading himself too! If he wants to find a way to save everyone he has to really…save everyone…even Byakuya-chan…”

Ibuki’s voice faltered, and then died completely. It had hit her, quite suddenly, just how distressed Byakuya-chan now looked. Now she’d done it, she thought – but she was stuck in limbo, unable to act or to know what would happen next, until Byakuya-chan’s face relaxed, and he turned away from her.

“Mioda,” he said, “Is this about what happened during the trial?”

That and more, Ibuki thought, that and so much more, but she nodded – he was, after all, correct.

“You know I won’t be attempting that again,” he said, though he couldn’t see her.

Ibuki’s mouth was a thin line. “Ibuki didn’t want Byakuya-chan to do it at all.”

Byakuya-chan turned back to face her, his shoulders heaving slightly. His expression was sad, very sad, but also curious. She’d never seen anything like it before. “Mioda…” He trailed off for a long time – thinking, he must have been – before he spoke again. “I made that decision based on what I felt would be best for everyone. I…I didn’t consider how it would upset you.” He looked down. “But I’m no stranger to dangerous decisions. In fact, I’m more qualified to handle them than anyone else on this earth. So there is no need to be so affected on my part.”

This wasn’t the answer Ibuki had wanted at all. “But that doesn’t matter!” she shouted. “No matter who Byakuya-chan is, or what he’s done, Byakuya-chan still shouldn’t be-”

“There’s no need to continue on this topic,” Byakuya-chan said, very quickly. “We have important work to do, in case you’ve forgotten.” He walked some distance from her, back to his usual position. “Should we contact Monomi?”

“Ibuki’s fine.” She really was, now. There was no way she could fall asleep anymore. She followed him back to her own position, and they stood in silence for a long, long time. But words were rising and falling in Ibuki’s chest, pushing against her mouth and begging to be said. Byakuya-chan was looking down, his face invisible to her. More than ever before she wanted to do something, but it was as though her confidence had disappeared. She had said what she wanted to say, but she knew it wasn’t helping, and she didn’t know what Byakuya-chan would and wouldn’t reject. Or why.

“Ibuki’s sorry,” she said.

Byakuya-chan did not answer right away. “Why?”

“Ibuki trusts Byakuya-chan,” she said. “She shouldn’t have said she didn’t.”

“You said nothing of the sort.” Byakuya-chan folded his arms. “I wasn’t rejecting your concern. I was simply letting you know why it wasn’t necessary.”

Ibuki nodded, but she still felt numbness inside that wasn’t leaving her. “Can Ibuki still be concerned, even if isn’t?”

“I suppose there’s no reason to stop you.” Byakuya-chan hugged his arms tighter to his chest, but only briefly, before he let them fall to his sides again. “I won’t anymore.”

“Won’t?”

“Won’t put myself in danger.”

Ibuki felt a warm swell in her chest, almost as though the past five minutes had never happened. “Promise?” she said.

“Promise,” Byakuya-chan said.

“Double promise?” Without thinking about it – but loving her own genius once she did – Ibuki spit into her palm and held it out to Byakuya-chan.

“Wh-” Byakuya-chan looked down at Ibuki’s hand in surprise. “What is this?”

“It’s how you seal a double promise!” Ibuki said with a grin. “Everyone knows that.”

“But that’s –” Byakuya-chan looked uncertainly from Ibuki, to her palm, to his own palm. “I see. Alright.” He held his hand up to his face, and while Ibuki couldn’t tell whether he’d actually spit into it, she still shook his hand when he offered it – and she found herself amazed at just how warm it was, and how soft, and how gently it held hers.

=====

Her thoughts were a jumble, all night and into the morning. She was sure she’d done the right thing, saying what she’d said and telling Byakuya-chan what he needed to know, but when she least expected it she’d be caught unawares by the sudden feeling that she’d gone too far. But then it’d be gone, and she’d find herself rocking back and forth in her seat at the restaurant, with Hiyoko-chan yelling “Tip! Tip! Tip!” whenever the chair went too far back.

She couldn’t tell if Byakuya-chan was acting any differently. She never seemed to be able to find him when they weren’t at the game, and at breakfast he was often so absorbed in eating that, beyond his morning announcements, he spoke to no one. Normally she didn’t mind - it was pretty cute, after all – but every second she couldn’t know just what was going through his mind, what he now thought of her, was nerve-wracking in the extreme. Ten o’clock couldn’t come fast enough for her.

But when it did come, they’d hardly arrived at the cabinet before the back-and-forth began. Fuyuhiko-chan always came back from the second island around noontime, though he never stopped to talk or even look at them. Sonia-chan went daily to the library, always stopping to share her new discoveries, and Chiaki-chan always brought them lunch while she stared wistfully at the game. But the ones who didn’t have routines hung around the island a lot more that day; Kazuichi-chan somehow showed up at the same time as Sonia-chan, so Ibuki shot him a few sly grins, and Akane-chan and Nekomaru-chan hung around for a long time on their way to the beach.

They never had a truly quiet moment - but Ibuki realized some time after noon that she hadn’t needed one after all. Byakuya-chan didn’t seem angry, or distressed, or even quite as stern as he was sometimes. He was no more talkative in the very brief periods between visits, but when he did talk he didn’t ask anything about the previous day. Instead he asked about her – her life, her family, her old school – and she was all too happy to share. She tried to ask the same of him, but was met with two-word answers and subject changes.

In a way, she thought, this was the fulfillment of his promise, wasn’t it? The one not to hurt himself. And he was still doing a super-cool job of protecting everyone. It was everything Ibuki had ever needed – even if her wants, such as they were, were a bit more ambitious than that.

The crowd dissipated as two o’clock drew closer. Akane-chan and Nekomaru-chan were due to show up again any minute. Ibuki hummed softly to herself and watched Byakuya-chan pace around, looking back at the path to the second island. “They’re late,” he said.

“Huh? How does Byakuya-chan know?” Ibuki squinted down the path, then gasped. “Has he been keeping a secret watch from Ibuki?”

“Why would I have any reason to do that?” Byakuya-chan paced back to the game, then turned round again. “Pekoyama said it was one-thirty when she passed through. Wasn’t that at least half an hour ago? Or more?”

“M-maybe Akane-chan and Nekomaru-chan lost track of time?” Ibuki twirled her fingers around themselves. “They really spend a lot of time together…”

“Whatever they spend their time on shouldn’t be interfering with their responsibility to our survival.” Byakuya-chan sounded stern at first, but after a short pause, his shoulders relaxed. “But then, that may not be the case. One’s personal sense of time can be thrown off when one is impatient for lunch.”

“But didn’t Chiaki-chan already bring us lunch?” Ibuki’s eyes widened.

“And you’re not hungry again now?” Byakuya-chan sounded surprised. “Are you sure?”

“No, but – gah!” Ibuki realized her mistake too late. “Ibuki can still come to lunch!”

“Heh. Very well.” Byakuya-chan put a hand to his chin. “But, Koizumi wanted to meet with you after this, didn’t she?”

She had – Ibuki’d legitimately forgotten. “Gah! You’re right! Hmmm…” Ibuki put her hand to her chin, in imitation of Byakuya-chan. “Ibuki bets Mahiru-chan wouldn’t mind if Byakuya-chan came along for a little!”

“Koizumi invited you specifically, Mioda. I can’t imagine she would want me to intrude.” He paused. “Perhaps…another time.”

“Another time…another time…” Ibuki jumped up and down to burn off excess energy, but it didn’t work in the least. “How about…how about dinner?”

“Well, of course. We’re always together at dinner –”

“At the diner!” Ibuki blurted. “Diner dinner! Dinniner!”

“Wait, the diner…?” Byakuya-chan looked only curious at first, but then his eyes went very wide, and his mouth fell open slightly. “I, well, that’s, that can’t…”

“Can’t?” Ibuki’s jaw dropped. “But why not?”

“It’s not that, I’m…” Byakuya-chan fixed Ibuki with a look of disbelief, then turned away again. “I’m sure you’ll understand that such an outing would consume…quite a lot of time. Time that none of us necessarily have, least of all myself if I’m going to make any progress on our escape.” His body tensed. “Perhaps if the situation were different.”

Ibuki felt a hot spasm in her chest, and another in her mind from the strain of figuring out just what Byakuya-chan was trying to say. What did he think she’d said? What did she WANT him to think she’d said? “The situation?” she said. “So… when we leave?”

“If I were you, Mioda, I would focus on the leaving and not on what might happen afterwards. At least, not until it occurs.” Byakuya-chan shuddered, then turned back to her, his face blank. “Owari and Nidai are coming. I’ll see you this evening, in any case.”

=====

Ibuki didn’t know what to think anymore.

She’d turned Byakuya-chan’s words over and over in her mind. Sometimes they’d leave her, like when Mahiru-chan told her all about the next day’s beach trip and how much fun they were going to have and how there’d be no boys at all, just the girls – but then they’d come back, like when she started imagining just what everyone would look like in their swimsuits during dinner and she realized she hadn’t seen Byakuya-chan in a swimsuit yet, and she wondered if maybe Mahiru-chan could make one exception, just one, but then she thought of just how much effort it would take to convince him to come and whether she could convince him at all. 

She wasn’t frustrated – he was more than worth the chase. But it was a confusing feeling, knowing there was so much more she didn’t understand about Byakuya-chan than she’d expected, but not a disheartening one. Every thing she’d discovered had been more exciting than the last. She loved his dedication, knew that without him so many things would be different, would be worse, but didn’t he see that he could get away with not –

“Mioda?”

“Wha!” Ibuki was about to jump back in surprise, but a strong hand gripped her shoulder and prevented her from smashing into the pedestal. As soon as she was stable, Byakuya-chan folded his arms again. “Honestly, Mioda, you should be more careful,” he said.

“Exactly! Ibuki must improve her focus!” Ibuki saluted Byakuya-chan, pouting in an exaggerated fashion. “Er – what did Byakuya-chan need?”

“I didn’t need anything,” Byakuya-chan said. “You’ve been quiet. I thought you’d fallen asleep again.”

“Nope, Ibuki’s vigilant this time!” Ibuki scratched her head. “Ibuki was just using her brain to think.”

“To think?” Byakuya-chan moved to the side, and with a jolt Ibuki realized he was leaning next to her. “What about?”

“Stuff,” Ibuki said quickly.

“Ah. Stuff.” Byakuya-chan folded his arms. “It was not my intention to interrupt your thinking. Silence just seemed rather unlike you.”

“Ibuki already said Ibuki’s full of surprises,” Ibuki said. “Where normal humans have blood and other organs, Ibuki has surprises. Especially as I’m sure you find this information surprising!”

“You certainly think of interesting wordplay.”

“All day and all night!”

“Heh.” Already Byakuya-chan looked more relaxed, and Ibuki felt relaxed just looking at him. As much as he claimed not to have time to have any fun, he did seem to enjoy it when he did. But the moment didn’t last long – his mouth was a thin line again before she knew it. “Have you had any thoughts about how we can escape? Or any of the other mysteries we’ve been confronted with?”

In truth, Ibuki’d wanted to come up with something, but nothing had come – nothing that could help their escape, anyway. “Ibuki tried yesterday,” she ended up saying. “But everyone already knows about the ruins and the ruins aren’t opening up any time soon…”

“If there’s a password lock, then there must be a clue to the password somewhere,” Byakuya-chan said. “I’ve been looking for that clue since I found that door. I haven’t found anything that remotely leads to it, however –”

“And Ibuki thought a lot about our memories,” Ibuki said. “Who just takes a bunch of years out of your head? What was Ibuki even up to? Did she write any songs that Ibuki wants to hear? Why didn’t she get any new piercings? Ibuki wouldn’t do that-”

“Mioda, I think that’s perhaps the one thing we shouldn’t be thinking about,” Byakuya-chan interrupted. “We don’t know if that information is true, and even if it is, I don’t believe we’ll get anywhere on speculation about our personal lives.” He put a hand to his chin. “Monobear may eventually leave us clues as to how we were led here. We can retrace our steps from there.”

“Ibuki knows, but Ibuki’s still kinda curious.” Ibuki had a sudden thought. “Do you think Ibuki and Byakuya-chan were friends?”

Byakuya-chan’s eyes went wide. “Friends?”

“Friends!” Ibuki piped up. “Ibuki wouldn’t want Ibuki to miss out on someone so cool, right? But now Ibuki’s friends with Byakuya-chan, so maybe it doesn’t matter so much?”

“Mioda –” Byakuya-chan covered his mouth with his right hand. He had an unusual look in his eyes, one Ibuki had never seen on his face before. He looked at her, then looked away, and lowered his hand from his mouth.

“It could be, couldn’t it?” he said in a small voice, one that hardly sounded like Byakuya-chan at all. “But…could it? Could it really? It can’t…”

“Byakuya-chan?”

“No.” Byakuya-chan shook his head rapidly. “No, it’s…”

Ibuki leaned closer to Byakuya-chan, so close she could see his hair fluttering against his cheek. He flinched slightly when he saw her. Ibuki could swear for a second he looked afraid, but then he relaxed, and turned to face her. “Mioda,” he said, “How much trust do you have in me? Truly?”

This struck Ibuki as a strange question, but not a hard one to answer. “Ibuki has all the trust,” she said.

She looked down to find that his hand was free, and on a whim, she took it. The initial touch was brief – he tensed under her fingers, and flinched again, but when she pulled back he reached for her, taking her hand with the same gentle touch she still remembered so vividly. But that too passed, and as quickly as they’d been offered his hands were at his sides again.

“It’s good that you trust me,” Byakuya-chan said, breaking the silence that followed. “Thank you.”

For a moment, Ibuki had an odd thought, an alien one, one where she took everything she’d seen – the expressions, the movements, the words – and put them together to form something she didn’t have a name for, something that could perhaps not be named, something beautiful and terrifying and entirely out of her grasp – like music, she thought, music made mortal. But then the thought was gone, and Byakuya-chan was back – the smirk, the straightened posture, the folded arms, as if they had never left.

“Byakuya-chan –” she began, but Byakuya-chan stood and walked away from the pedestal, cutting her off. “As long as you’re in the mood to think, questioning you will only serve to distract you,” he said. “I hear footsteps. Be sure to give me your findings tomorrow.”

=====

That didn’t end up happening, and not just because she hadn’t found anything. At five the next morning Ibuki found herself awake and opening the door for Peko-chan, who told her all about the arrangements Mahiru-chan had made for the beach excursion. Ibuki didn’t think too hard about this – it was just one day, and it wasn’t like she’d never see Byakuya-chan again. But she did feel quite confused when Byakuya-chan came to find them at the central island, angry that he had not been told of the plans. It wasn’t an unfamiliar side of Byakuya-chan by far, but it still wasn’t one she liked to see.

But that, too, did not last long. He wasn’t at the central island when Ibuki arrived there, though Hajime-chan, Nekomaru-chan, and Kazuichi-chan were, along with Chiaki-chan. She didn’t want to say she’d picked a bikini on purpose, not that anyone would ask, not that she’d even considered whether it meant anything or not, not that it mattered. Even when he arrived she was sure it was more for her own benefit than for his. But what benefit did it have for her? He didn’t seem to pay her outfit change any particular mind, but that really was just like Byakuya-chan, she thought. Perhaps it was what she’d been expecting all along.

She left them when Sonia-chan arrived, and they ran at a good clip to catch up with Chiaki-chan and Peko-chan. They met the others by the diner, where they were held up chasing off Kazuichi-chan, who had followed them, begging and pleading to come along. Then they headed together into Chandler Beach, talking and laughing all the way.

The afternoon went by in a flash for Ibuki. One minute she was diving into the ocean, the next she was chicken-fighting Chiaki-chan while sitting on Peko-chan’s shoulders, then she was helping Mikan-chan out of a collapsed beach chair, then a split second later the sun was going down and Akane-chan and Sonia-chan were pulling her out of the water, laughing and dragging her to the beach house, where everyone else had gone to get drinks.

Ibuki grabbed an orange soda and sat with everyone else in the middle of the floor, her hair disheveled and a towel around her hips. At first the topics were light, accounts of the events of the afternoon mostly, but then Mahiru-chan had to mention Kazuichi-chan again, and just what a pig he was, trying to follow them, and then Akane-chan had to say, “Well, if he wasn’t such a goober he wouldn’t be half-bad as far as looks,” and then there was no way to get the conversation back from where it was going, not that Ibuki minded this lack of control at all.

“Yeah, I guess you have a point,” Mahiru-chan folded her arms. “Maybe if he got a haircut. Maybe.”

“And a new wardrobe,” Akane-chan said.

“And new teeth,” Hiyoko-chan blurted.

“Well, there’s not very much we can do about Souda-san’s personal choices,” Sonia-chan said. “But what about Tanaka-san? He’s quite handsome already.”

“Tanaka?” Mahiru-chan looked at Sonia-chan like she had three heads. “Seriously?!”

“Do I even need to say anything?” Hiyoko-chan was rolling with laughter.

“What Gundam-chan lacks in comprehensible speech he more than makes up for with personal style!” Ibuki offered. “His trenchcoat is so cool Ibuki wants one of her own!”

“That would look really cute on you, Ibuki-chan,” Mahiru-chan said. “I guess I can give him that…but he’s pretty irresponsible. Going on about all that magic business like he’s still in seventh grade…”

“I like Tanaka-kun,” Chiaki-chan said. “He reminds me of the wizard from…from…I don’t remember the name of the game.”

“But you agree he’s fascinating,” Sonia-chan said. “And his hamsters are quite charming.”

“Besides, if we’re talking irresponsible he’s peanuts to Kuzuryuu.” Akane-chan folded her arms. “So many times I could’ve punched him, and you guys just had to hold me back."

“Don’t even talk to me about Kuzuryuu,” Mahiru-chan said with a scowl. “I forget he exists half the time. He’s always shut up in his room or hiding from us or whatever. What a coward.”

“D-don’t forget he said…he wouldn’t hesitate…” Mikan-chan shivered. “To…to…”

“I don’t know if he’d actually go through with that threat if he’s announced it to all of us,” Chiaki-chan said.

“Well, thinking about him isn’t what we’re here for,” Mahiru-chan said. “But as much as I think there isn’t a decent boy on this island at all…”

Ibuki felt a hot flush of excitement creeping up her neck, and was just about to speak when Mahiru-chan turned away from her. “Peko-chan, you’ve been quiet. What do you think?”

Peko-chan took a long swig from her water bottle. “I don’t have strong feelings one way or another about any of them,” she said.

“But what about Big Bro Hinata?” Hioyko-chan leered at Peko-chan.  “You guys spend a lot of time alone by the game…Is it true what they say about guys with spiky hair?”

“Saionji, I just said –!” Peko-chan blushed a deep red and folded her arms across her chest. “He’s a fine person. No complaints, nothing stands out. That’s all.”

“Yeah, that’s about all you can say about Hinata.” Mahiru-chan looked askance, and Ibuki could swear she saw her blush. “He’s…got a decent face, though.”

“I think that’s rather an understatement,” Sonia-chan said. “He has quite an unremarkable face, much like a certain Novoselic folk hero –”

“And he’s sensible, too,” Chiaki-chan said, apparently unaware she was cutting Sonia-chan off. She let her gaze drift over to the stack of board games she’d brought, which had lain untouched the entire time.

“I-I think he’s nice,” Mikan-chan said. “C-c-can I say that? You all disagree, don’t you…?”

“Nobody cares what you think,” Hiyoko-chan spat. “This is getting old, anyway. Big Sis Pekoyama’s not the only one spending a lot of time alone with boys…”

“Hey, all old man Nidai does is go on and on about my technique,” Akane-chan said.

“Your technique?” Mahiru-chan gasped, and several of the others followed suit.

“I know what you’re thinking, but he and I really aren’t like that.” Akane-chan wrinkled her nose. “Kissing him’d be like kissing my brother.”

“So? Kiss him anyway!”

“That’s not how it works, Saionji,” Peko-chan said.

“Ugh, bo-ring…” Hiyoko-chan pouted for a moment, then rounded on Ibuki with a wild grin. “Big Sis Miooodaaaa…!”

“Hoho!” Ibuki was way ahead of Hiyoko-chan; she folded her arms and grinned confidently. “Is Ibuki on the spot now?”

“Well, now that you say it…” Peko-chan stretched her arms behind her back. “You always seem rather…enthusiastic to spend time with Togami.”

“Enthusiastic?! What do you mean? No, hold on, that’s not proper at all!” Sonia-chan whirled to face Ibuki, and pushed her hand forward in a sweeping motion. “Mioda-san! You must elaborate on what Pekoyama-san has told us!”

There was no getting out of it now – such was the power of a Super High School Level Princess. But Ibuki didn’t even need Sonia-chan’s orders – she’d been waiting for this moment since the conversation began. But as much as she wanted to gush, to tell them everything, that just wasn’t how she could communicate. Instead she grinned and put a finger to her cheek. “Hmmmmmmmmm,” she said.

“Hmm?” Mahiru-chan said. “Wait, what does that mean?”

“Hmmmmmmmm…” Ibuki said again, raising her volume ever so slightly. Then she threw up a piece sign. “You’ll just have to wait and see!”

“But what do you mean?” Sonia-chan said. “What will we be seeing? Are you pursuing Togami-san or not?”

“Maaaybe!” Ibuki winked. “Who knows?”

“You are!” Sonia-chan jumped up and down and clapped her hands together. Akane-chan, Chiaki-chan, and Peko-chan grinned, while everyone else’s jaws dropped to the floor. “Oh, this is magnificently tubular!” Sonia-chan went on. “A tropical island romance…it’s the perfect setting for such a thing! Oh, what have you attempted so far? What situations have occurred? You must tell us everything!”

“Everything?” Ibuki’s eyes went wide. “But now Ibuki doesn’t know where to start!”

“Then tell us what you find most appealing about him!” Sonia-chan sat down by Ibuki and clapped her hands together. “Was it his eyes? That is what they always say, isn’t it?”

It was, and Ibuki could probably say it and it would be true one way or another, but could that really give them the full picture of just how cool he was? She was just trying to think of a clever way to phrase what she was feeling when Mahiru-chan spoke up. “Ibuki-chan…I get what’s going on here, but are you really so sure about this?”

Ibuki felt her insides grow still. “Huh…?”

“What could you possibly mean, Koizumi-san?” Sonia’s mouth became a thin line.

“Well, I mean, I kinda get why you’d…y’know,” she said. “But he’s overconfident, he’s snobbish, he thinks he can order the rest of us around… I just don’t want to see you disappointed.”

Disappointed? Ibuki wasn’t sure what to feel or react to at all. She was about ready to make an impulsive strike back, and Sonia-chan looked about ready to join her, when Chiaki-chan raised a single finger. “Koizumi-san, I know you’re concerned,” she said, “And I know how Togami-kun’s been behaving. But Mioda-san’s spent a lot of time with him. She’d probably know him a lot better than we do, and see things that we don’t…I think.”

“But…” Mahiru-chan looked to the side. “That was kind of out of line, wasn’t it…?”

“I don’t think it’s our call to comment,” Peko-chan said.

“True…this should be exciting, shouldn’t it?” Mahiru-chan smiled. “I’m…sorry, Ibuki-chan.”

“Ibuki understands!” She still felt a bit odd – but she’d known Mahiru-chan had a powerful personality, one that clashed against Byakuya-chan’s fairly often. Her words had stung, but the backtrack was enough. “Maybe Ibuki can convince Mahiru-chan otherwise? Actually, Ibuki’s convinced she can convince!”

“Yaaay!” Hiyoko-chan threw her hands up in the air. “Mr. Porkfeet’s going to get his mack on!”

“But that’s jumping too far ahead too fast!” Sonia shouted.

“Yeah, whatever!” Akane-chan grabbed Ibuki round the shoulders and dug her knuckles into her skull. “Ibuki-chaaan! Remember me when you’re rich, okay?”

Oh, right, he’s an heir, Ibuki thought. She was amazed to see them all so happy for her – Mikan-chan smiling and crying at the same time, Sonia-chan so enthusiastic, even Mahiru-chan managing a smile. She remembered when she’d felt so afraid of all of them – just a week ago, in fact – and relished in how distant that feeling felt.

She told them everything, or at least everything she could. She kept some things to herself, like her concerns, her failed attempts, and his more incomprehensible moments. But as she went through everything else, every connection great or small, one by one, her confidence surged and came alive in every word she said. Byakuya-chan had to be her friend – there was no way he couldn’t be. And despite everything that was going on, over time, much like the stories she’d heard again and again, perhaps something else could occur. But for now she was happy at least to talk and think about it. The actual next step could come later.

Chapter Text

It was mid-afternoon when Hinata woke.

He’d been dreaming, though he couldn’t remember now what kind of a dream it had been. He remembered the remnants of speech, and a vague sensation of movement. He remembered Pekoyama, but he wasn’t sure if that was his dream or just his own memories bubbling up from his subconscious. Soon, as more memories came, it was clear that the latter was the case. The fire. Pekoyama. The trial. Sonia.

He was nowhere near fully rested, but his thoughts wouldn’t let him shut his eyes. He was sure everyone else was thinking about the same things he was. Sonia, who’d seemed so noble and kind. Pekoyama, who’d seemed so loyal and strong. There was a pattern developing, one of trusted friends acting one way and thinking another. It’s all Monobear’s fault, he’d tried to think, but with every death it was becoming harder and harder.

It was getting uncomfortably hot under the covers, so he got up and entered the bathroom, moving robotically through his morning routine. It took him much longer than usual, and once he was fully dressed he stood staring aimlessly out his window for a time before he could work up the motivation to step outside.

He hadn’t expected to see anyone, and when he looked in the direction of the girls’ cottages he didn’t, but then he heard a loud banging noise from his right. He turned his head to see Owari by Tanaka’s cottage, banging hard on his door.

“Hey,” she yelled, “are you awake?” When she got no response, she lowered herself into the water by his cottage, moved around the side, and hoisted herself up to look into his window. “Hey!” she yelled again. “Hey!”

“Uh…” Hinata hesitated, but only briefly before he found himself running toward Tanaka’s cottage. “Owari?”

“Hinata!” Owari waded back to the edge of the boardwalk and lifted herself up. “There you are! You didn’t answer a second ago.”

“I was in the shower, sorry,” Hinata admitted. “Are you waking everyone up?”

“Well, not really. More like I’m trying to see if anyone’s up already.” Owari smoothed her skirt, then stretched her arms up over her head. “Mioda and Nanami are already at the restaurant. We were gonna eat, if you wanna come.”

“Sure, alright.” Hinata shrugged. “Anyone else awake?”

“Souda’s coming, and old man Nidai’s still asleep.” Owari pointed across the aisle, where Souda, Kuzuryuu, Nidai, and Hanamura’s cottages sat. “But...I dunno about Kuzuryuu.”

With all the yelling she’s doing, I’m surprised there are people asleep at all, Hinata thought, but kept it to himself. “Did you…check?” he said.

“Yeah,” Owari said. “I think I heard something inside, but he didn’t answer. Well, fine by me. If he doesn’t want to come out then he doesn’t want to come out. And this guy…” Owari’s eyes narrowed as she looked back at Tanaka’s cottage. “I hate this,” she said suddenly. “I hate Monobear. I hate this island. I don’t care what he says about rules or punishments. Next time I see him he’s getting the stuffing kicked out of him!”

Hinata wished he’d been able to blame everything on Monobear with as much ease. “I get where you’re coming from,” he said. “I do. But I don’t know if that’ll change anything.”

“So?” Owari grunted. “Ugh…whatever. I’m not thinking about this anymore.” She looked past Komaeda’s cottage. “Think old man Togami’s awake?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Hinata said. Owari didn’t answer – she walked down the row of cottages until she reached his. Hinata followed her, and reached Togami’s cottage in time to see her do the same as she did with Tanaka – she banged on his door and peered into his window. “Hey, Togami!” she yelled. “Up yet?”

She waited a few seconds, but there was no response. She shook her head, then turned to Hinata. “Maybe if he hears you he’ll come out,” she said.

Is this what I’m known for? Hinata thought. Still, she had a point – so he approached Togami’s door and knocked on it. “Togami?” he said. “It’s Hinata! We’re, uh, heading to breakfast…I mean…not breakfast, you know what I mean…”

There was still no response. Owari jumped into the water again; Hinata could hear her splashing around the sides. “All the curtains are shut,” she said.

“That sounds like asleep to me,” Hinata said, though in the back of his mind he felt uncertain. “Or…”

“Or he ran off again?” Owari hopped out the other side, her skirt sopping wet.

“We don’t know that.” Hinata looked over at the other side of the cottages. “Did you try all the girls?”

“Not the others, so let’s get them next.” Owari grabbed Hinata by the wrist. “C’mon, we’ve got work to do.”

Once again volunteered against his will, Hinata followed Owari around the girls’ side. There was no response from Tsumiki or Saionji, and Hinata felt a chill run down his spine as they passed the ruins of Pekoyama’s cottage. From there they went to Koizumi’s cottage, and were quite surprised when Saionji answered the door. Through the entryway they could see Koizumi sitting on her bed, her arms around her knees.  Saionji demanded to know who else was awake before agreeing to come to eat, then insisted on a shower first, so the door was shut in their faces with a promise to “be there whenever.”

Hinata and Owari shrugged to each other and headed back up the boardwalk only to find Togami walking down the boys’ side to the center path. Owari called out and ran to meet him; Hinata followed her at a somewhat slower clip.

He hardly reacted to their arrival, beyond a greeting and a wave that did not extend to a smile. Owari asked him why he hadn’t answered the door, and he said he hadn’t heard her knock, though Hinata found this doubtful unless he’d woken and gotten ready in under five minutes. But then, given the state of his hair and clothes, that may not have been too far off the mark. Hinata found himself reminded of how Togami had looked when he’d found him near the diner, but without the bags under the eyes.

A hundred questions rose in his head, but he forced himself to swallow them – he wasn’t sure whether they’d make everything worse, let alone whether he’d get any answers at this point. So he invited Togami to the restaurant meeting instead, and Togami agreed to join them with a slight nod of his head and followed them as they left the cottage area.

He didn’t speak the whole way to the restaurant. Hinata tried to make some light conversation – “Kinda weird going to breakfast in the middle of the afternoon, huh?” – but while Owari agreed, Togami nodded but did not respond. Hinata didn’t know what else to say, so he smiled instead. Togami smiled back, but only briefly before facing forward again, his arms folded and his expression blank.

=====

Hinata had expected a very quiet, very awkward meal. He’d thought people then would trickle in, share half-hearted assurances that mutual killing would never again occur, not after this. And then Monomi might come in and tell them about a new island they would get to explore as their reward for not dying. Perhaps Togami would make a speech, or perhaps he wouldn’t. Hinata had no way of predicting his behavior.

But he couldn’t make any more assumptions before Owari threw the hotel lobby door open, and a loud yelp told them she’d slammed it right into Mioda’s face. They all ran inside to survey the damage; Mioda stumbled away from the door with her hand on her nose, but none of them saw any blood.

“Whoa, shit, didn’t see you,” Owari said anyway. “You okay, Mioda?”

“Ibuki’s fine, Ibuki’s fine!” Mioda hopped back several steps, shook her head, and moved her hands down her face. “Ibuki would say she was shocked – but she was actually waiting down here to tell Byakuya-chan and Akane-chan and Hajime-chan about an even bigger shock!”

“A bigger shock?” Hinata didn’t know where to begin imagining what Mioda might mean. He could see Togami tensing up next to him. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“The things Ibuki’s seen…” Mioda turned to look over at the restaurant stairs. “There are horrors upstairs not meant for mortal eyes! Whoa, did Ibuki really just say that?! Ibuki didn’t mean to emulate Gundam-chan but in this situation she felt that word choice was necessary!”

“Spare us the pedantics, Mioda,” Togami said, his voice oddly rough. “What’s going on up there?”

“Pedantics?” For a moment Mioda looked uncertain, but then she jumped back, her expression restored. “Never mind - even Ibuki’s words can’t describe this! Quick! Follow Ibuki!”

Mioda ran for the restaurant stairs, and the rest of them followed after. Togami quickly outpaced her, but when he got to the top of the stairs he stopped cold - and the rest of them stopped after him when they entered the restaurant and happened to have a look around.

A large assortment of junk had been piled on the far wall of the room, just past the food tables. A massive, fully lit chandelier lay sideways across several stacked tables, and the wax from its candles dripped to the floor. In front of this display sat another – an upended white divan sofa, which held the top half of a vanity drawer. A large number of flowers had been placed around two of the vanity’s mirrors, and a piece of paper was taped to the center mirror, though whatever was on it, if anything at all, Hinata could not see from that distance.

“What is this…?” Togami said. Hinata turned to find him staring wide-eyed at the display. “Where did all this furniture come from?”

“Don’t ask me,” Hianta replied. “I can’t even think of why it’d be here.”

“Maybe it’s a trap? There could be a bomb in there or something!” Owari pounded her fists together. “Only one way to find out –”

“Wait, no, Ibuki doesn’t hear any ticking noises!” Mioda held an arm in front of Owari to stop her from charging ahead. “But if she had that would probably just make it less creepy. And not all bombs tick anyway, do they…?!”

“I don’t know if we should assume it’s dangerous,” Nanami said. Hinata did a double-take – he hadn’t seen her, though she had been standing past Togami the entire time. “It might be here for some other kind of purpose.”

“Yeah, maybe." Hinata’s skin prickled at the sound of Souda’s voice, and he turned his head sharply to his right. Souda was standing at the top of the stairs, casually leaning over the rail. He looked fairly calm, and a sharp-toothed grin had spread across his face. “Looks like you guys got here before me. Well, can’t really say I’m surprised!”

“Me…either.” Hinata looked over at the others, who looked about as unnerved as he felt. Mioda bit her lip, Owari folded her arms, and Togami and Nanami stood still, their expressions unchanged. “Hey, are you…doing okay?”

“Huh?” Souda rocked back and forth on the rail. “What do you mean?”

“You fainted this morning,” Nanami said, though it was only a small part of what Hinata had meant. “We were worried.”

“Oh…that?” Souda froze briefly, giving Hinata a clear view of the circles under his eyes, and then resumed his rocking. “That’s…that wasn’t anything.” He looked back over at the pile of furniture, and an odd expression crossed his face. “So, kinda weird, huh? All that stuff just appearing where everyone can see it?”

“Yeah, we just said that several times,” Hinata said.

“But there’s gotta be a purpose to it, right?” Souda pushed himself off the rail, then walked around them, sat at a table, and leaned the chair back as far as it could go. “I mean, it’s got some kind of structural harmony. All that stuff, and the way it’s arranged, and the flowers…” He leaned forward again, and leaned his chin into his shaking hands. “It kinda looks like a shrine, doesn’t it?”

“A shrine?” Togami looked back and forth between Souda and the pile of junk, and a deeply troubled look crossed his face. “Souda, what are you implying –”

“Well, I guess it’s not really a shrine,” Souda went on, ignoring Togami. “It’s not just honoring a memory…it’s got more of a statement than that. You know what I mean, right? Lies, injustice, the cruelty of the world against the most defenseless and innocent…it’s all here, isn’t it?” Souda stood from his chair, pressing his hands against the table. “And isn’t that something we should remember?”

“Maybe it’s just me, but I have no idea where you’re getting any of this at all.” Owari raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah… I know you said you’re okay, Souda, but –” Hinata stopped when, in a flash, he remembered that he’d seen the furniture before – and from the looks on Nanami and Mioda’s faces, they’d just realized the same thing he had. “Wait a minute.” His eyes went very wide. “Are those from Sonia’s cottage?!”

“Huh? Sonia-san’s cottage?” Souda laughed, but the laugh didn’t last long. “Kinda looks like they could be, couldn’t they? But how could anyone get in there –”

Souda was cut off when, after racing past everyone else at breakneck speed, Togami slammed his hand down on the table where Souda sat, making a tremendous noise. Hinata jumped slightly; he couldn’t see the look on Togami’s face, but from the look on Souda’s he was sure it wasn’t anything good.  “What is this?” he could hear him growl. “What are you trying to pull?”

“P-pull?” An uncertain grin spread across Souda’s face. “T-that’s not the right word at all – and hey, why are you saying I did it, anyway –?!”

“I want this dismantled immediately,” Togami interrupted. “I don’t care what you do with it – throw it away, keep it in your room, just don’t leave it anywhere we can see it.”

“Whoa, Byakuya-chan got really scary all of a sudden…!” Mioda put both of her thumbs in her mouth and bit down hard. She looked uncertainly at Togami, and Hinata followed her lead. “But Ibuki can’t say she’s surprised, at least not at this,” she mumbled. “Or is she? Ibuki doesn’t know…”

“I mean, I can understand, but…” Hinata took another look at the shrine. On closer inspection he could make out a picture drawn on the paper taped to the mirror – a crude human face, with too-large eyes and the vague impression of a ponytail. “You did make this, right?” he said. “You’re not going to deny that or anything?”

Souda’s smile vanished, and tears swam in his eyes. “H-h-h-huh? T-that’s…I…s-s-so what if I did, huh? Is that so w-w-wrong?”

“I said I wanted this dismantled,” Togami thundered. “When I said immediately, I meant immediately. Why aren’t you doing it?”

“You don’t understand at all!” Souda shouted with renewed vigor. “S-S-Sonia-san…she’s all alone…I’m the only one who hasn’t turned against h-h-her-!”

His voice cracked under the force of his next sob. Hinata felt a hollow pit in his stomach, and he couldn't form any words while it was there. Togami and Mioda were just the same, but Owari had no such restraint. “I think I have good reason to,” she said. “Did you miss the part where she was totally fine with killing all of us or something?”

“Souda-kun, we know how you might feel,” Nanami said, moving quickly to cut Owari’s bluntness. “And we can’t forget that, in the end, Monobear is really the one responsible… But you know the situation, and you really should understand that keeping this here is going to be stressful for a lot of people…”

“But you’re right! You’ve gotten right to the heart of it!” Souda jumped up from his seat, toppling the chair in the process. “If Monobear’s the one responsible, how do we know it isn’t just a trick? Sonia-san’s a noble, golden-hearted princess! She c-c-c-couldn’t possibly kill anyone! And that’s why…” He froze, trembling, then went on. “That’s why we have to stand by her and expose the truth! Monobear’s just – just keeping the real killer alive to –”

“Souda, if Sonia hadn’t killed Pekoyama Monobear wouldn’t have executed her,” Togami said. “There is absolutely no rhyme or reason behind anything you’re telling me. And if you really thought that Sonia couldn’t possibly kill then I would say I’ve never met anyone less qualified to build anything to honor her.” Togami turned and pointed towards the shrine. Hinata had expected to see anger on his face, but what was there didn’t look like any deliberate expression. It was more like unrefined emotion without any particular direction. “Dismantled. Now.”

Souda narrowed his eyes at Togami, but did not respond. He looked over at the rest of them. Mioda looked startled, Owari ready for battle, Nanami still calm, and Hinata shocked – and worried, certainly, but unable to comprehend his behavior. Souda looked askance for a moment, still silent, then actually turned towards the shrine, but couldn’t take a step before – 

“Huh? Why’s Mr. Porkfeet shouting?” Hinata turned to see Saionji and Koizumi standing at the top of the steps – or rather, Saionji standing at the top of the steps and Koizumi standing several steps back. “Is someone in trouble?”

“Saionji, Koizumi…” Togami’s mouth hardened into a thin line as he looked down at them, and Hinata followed suit. Saionji looked perfectly energetic as far as Hinata could tell, but Koizumi’s arms were crossed tightly across her chest, and she was staring resolutely at the steps. “Everything’s fine,” he said. “There’s no trouble at all. We were just about to eat.”

“No, you were definitely yelling at someone. Now spill the beans or I’ll pinch you on the gut –” Saionji’s eyes slid over to the shrine, and she turned away to give it a better look. “Wait, what’s that pile of junk?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Hinata began, but before he could think of a way to explain things Souda spotted the new arrivals. “Hey, Koizumi!” He ducked around Togami and approached the stairs, his hands folded casually behind his head. Hinata was shocked at just how quickly his mood had whiplashed. “Just the girl I wanted to see! D’you happen to have any pictures of Sonia-san? I’m not that great an artist, and I thought we could add them to the shrine –”

“Shrine…?!” Saionji did a double-take back at the pile of furniture, and Koizumi joined her. Koizumi’s eyes went very wide, but she did not move or speak; Saionji, on the other hand, looked positively enraged. Before Hinata could comprehend what was happening she grabbed at Souda’s jumpsuit with such a fury that Hinata was half-sure she would knock him over. “Are you delusional? Are you completely out of your mind?!”

“Hey – let go – get off me –!” Souda tried to push Saionji off him, but to no avail, and he swung back into the wall. “Help! Someone help!”

“Ibuki’s not getting in the way of that!” Mioda gritted her teeth. “M-Mahiru-chan…?”

Koizumi looked over at Mioda, then at the shrine, then away again, back at Souda. She regarded all she saw with silence, but saved her coldest stare for Souda as he stumbled across the restaurant with Saionji clinging to his chest. “That dirty bitch foreigner doesn’t deserve to be remembered at all!” she screamed all the while. “She killed Big Sis Pekoyama, she tried to kill everyone else, and she made Big Sis Koizumi cry! Did you want her to cry? Is that why you did this? I won’t let go til you say it! Look at me and say that you wanted Big Sis Koizumi to cry!”

“That’s not – you don’t – she isn’t –!” Souda looked around wildly, sweat beading on his forehead, then cried out in desperation. “Togami! Togami, she’s attacking me! Why aren’t you helping?!”

When Togami didn’t immediately answer, Hinata looked back over at him, noticing on the way that Mioda was looking at him too, with genuine trepidation. Togami stood stiffly, and his eyes were locked on Souda and Saionji. He looked concerned, and his lip trembled slightly, as if the slightest further provocation could open it.

“Could you get any stupider?” Saionji shouted over the pause. “Mr. Porkfeet’s not going to side with you! He hates her as much as I do –”

“I don’t hate her!” Togami shouted.

Everyone fell silent, but not in a way that suggested peace. Koizumi’s eyes went very wide, Mioda’s eyebrows flew into her hair, and Hinata wondered if he looked as confused as he felt. He remembered the look that Togami had given Sonia during the trial, one similar to the one he wore now, and between his face and his words he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“Wait…you don’t?” Saionji looked even more confused than Hinata did. “You said she insulted us. You called her selfish. Don’t tell me this stupid side character changed your mind!”

“Hey, stop calling me that!” Souda shouted. “And who cares what he said before, right? He knows the truth now!”

“I haven’t changed my mind about anything,” Togami said. “I’ve never hated Sonia. I’ve never hated any of them, or any of you –”

“H-howaa! Fighting alweady?” 

Togami’s entire body stiffened at the sound of Monomi’s voice. Hinata looked down to see that she had just appeared at his feet, clutching her head in her paws.

“Holy cow,” Mioda said, staring down at her in bewilderment. “Can we give out an award for worst timing ever?”

“W-weally?” Monomi rubbed her paws together and looked nervously at the ground. “Ohh, I wish you wewen’t fighting, but there weally is nothing I can do, is there…Saionji-san, you, you can’t hurt Souda-kun, he’s your fwend –”

“Hey, fuck off,” Saionji interrupted.

“You’re here to tell us there’s a new island open, right?” Hinata said. “If that’s the case, we've figured it out."

“Ohhhh…the students are all getting ahead of their old teacher…” Monomi looked briefly in Nanami’s direction, then mumbled to herself a little more before vanishing.

“So, you were saying?” Hinata didn’t realize that it was Koizumi who had spoken at first - her voice, which usually had so much force behind it, sounded small and still. She’d moved away from the stairs, and now stood much closer to Togami, though she was still looking at the ground.

“Saying? What else does he need to say?” Saionji hopped down from Souda’s chest, and Souda took the opportunity to scramble behind Hinata. “He already took Big Bro Souda’s side!”

“I don’t think that’s what he meant at all, Hiyoko-chan.” Koizumi turned to face Togami. “Go on, explain yourself. Clearly your opinion matters to them.”

Togami returned her glance with hesitation. “Koizumi, you’re-”

“I’m fine,” Koizumi said. “You’re avoiding the topic. Answer their question.”

“I wasn’t avoiding the topic.” Togami turned back to face the rest, who were all now regarding him with curiosity. “I don’t mean to say I excuse Sonia’s actions or anyone else’s. But I can’t understand why you’re treating her like she’s the source of all these problems. Her actions don’t exist in a vacuum. Without Monobear’s influence –”

“Then you’re saying that any of us could have done the same thing in her place?” Koizumi interrupted.

“I can’t know that. Monobear is playing to our weaknesses, our connections, our ideas of justice…that’s the point of his motives, that they all affect us differently.” Togami’s eyes narrowed. “That’s why it was my duty to make sure those affectations were either interrupted or didn’t occur at all. To let you know that killing wasn’t the answer. That Monobear isn’t the most powerful or most influential presence on this island...”

“Kupiiiii!!! Byakuya-chan always says exactly what we need to think!” Mioda swung her arms back and forth. “Alright, now who wants dinner-breakfast –”

“But he got to them in ways I couldn’t. I didn’t have to agree to that eating contest. I didn’t have to let Kuzuryuu watch the game. I didn’t have to loan Sonia that god-forsaken book.” His brow furrowed in anger, and his voice fell to a mumble. “If I’d been more vigilant, if I could have predicted this –”

“Whoa, slow down, old man,” Owari said. “The eating contest was my idea in the first place..."

“And we can’t just keep looking at little things we didn’t know would make a difference,” Hinata said. “It could have been anything.”

“Anything I could have stopped as much as this!” Togami thundered. “As a leader, aren’t I supposed to be vigilant? Isn’t it my duty to keep my promises? Shouldn’t I be held responsible for the things I haven’t been able to prevent?”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Souda mumbled from behind Hinata’s ear. “I thought we were talking about Sonia-san…”

“Togami-kun, you really didn’t do anything wrong,” Nanami said. “It’s okay, it really is.”

“Byakuya-chan always tries his hardest and everyone can see that he does!” Mioda ran past Hinata and stopped at Togami’s side, grabbing his hand as she went. “Even if bad things happen, that doesn’t mean Byakuya-chan isn’t still our leader and that you don’t help us as much as you can –”

“But how much does trying matter, if I don’t have anything to show for it?” Togami gave Mioda a pained look, then, with a snap of his wrist, pulled his hand out of hers, and turned away from her blanching face. “You see it now, don’t you? I don’t even have to say it. You already know. I say time and time again that there won’t be a single victim and I still expect you to believe me even as you’re dropping like flies…”

He chuckled weakly. “The perfect heir, Byakuya Togami,” he mumbled. “But what does a name mean, anyway? Does it mean I can really live up to that name? Does it mean that name is invincible? That’s right…I was a fool to think I could be more powerful than Monobear, wasn’t I? You’re following his leadership more than you’re following mine...but isn’t his more satisfying?”

“Togami…” Hinata didn’t know what to say, and from the looks on everyone else’s faces, none of them did either. He wasn’t shocked by Togami’s behavior – he’d seen it before, the first time around – but he hadn’t expected anything like this. He desperately wanted to say something, but he knew he was in over his head. What could he say? What was everyone else thinking? Had they even known that Togami could be like this?

“No…that’s not…yes? No, I don’t…” Togami gripped his jacket tightly with both hands, shook his head, then suddenly relaxed and straightened again, as if the last minute had never occurred. “I’m sorry, Mioda. I’m afraid I’m not particularly hungry.” He turned for the stairs. “And I think I’ll stay in my cottage for the evening, actually.”

“Wait, hold on! You can’t just walk out like that!” Koizumi jumped up, looking more energetic than she had all day, and attempted to make a grab for Togami’s shoulder, but he sidestepped her and raced down the stairs at top speed, his footfalls loud and heavy. Mioda was after him like a shot, yelling his name again and again, but with a slam of the front door her yells died out entirely.

Hinata realized that his mouth was open and shut it – but this made him the exception to the rule. Even Saionji looked shocked, and not even in a menacing way. “What just happened?” she said.

“I just wanted him to explain himself.” Koizumi looked white as a sheet. “I didn’t think he’d react like that…”

“I’m not that surprised, actually,” Owari said. “Isn’t this just like what happened after the first trial?”

“It’s exactly like what happened after the first trial,” Hinata said. “We should go after him –”

“It may be best if we leave this to Mioda-san,” Nanami said. “She’ll know what to do. I think.”

“Y-yeah, that’s all taken care of!” Souda leaned unexpectedly against Hinata’s shoulder, his grin rather wider than it had been before. “So, Hinata, how about that dinner-breakfast –”

“Oh no you don’t. Either you have it in your room or you don’t have it at all.” Saionji rounded on Souda, her expression menacing. “And actually, I don’t ever want to see you anywhere near Big Sis Koizumi again. Got it?”

“Hiyoko-chan, it’s…” Koizumi began, then shook her head and let her voice trail off. “Never mind.”

She stepped forward, took Saionji’s hand, and led her towards the food tables. Souda grin fell into a scowl. Hinata was fully expecting another outburst from him, but then his expression softened, and he walked away from the rest of them, toward the back window. He waited until Koizumi and Saionji had gotten their food before getting a share for himself, taking a long, wistful look at the shrine, and then leaving the restaurant with his food, dragging his feet behind him.

The rest of them retrieved their food and sat down at their places. Hinata feared another silent meal, but to his relief, Nanami broke the tension after a few bites. “Ah, I did want to give the third island a look a little later,” she said. “If anyone wants to come with me, I’d really like it.”

“Sure, why not.” Owari swallowed loudly. “Gives me something to do.”

“Alright, good,” Nanami said. “Anyone else?”

“Not really, no,” Saionji said, stirring her food around her plate.

“Are you sure?” Koizumi said. “I thought it might be an interesting distraction…”

“Oh! In that case, I’m going to walk around with Big Sis Koizumi!” Saionji leapt from her seat and hugged Koizumi round the middle. “The rest of you can walk somewhere else.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind staying with everyone, Hiyoko-chan. Actually, I’d really prefer it.” Koizumi smiled down at Saionji, who shrugged her shoulders as best she could, then looked back up at Nanami. “Are we getting anyone else?”

“We can go around the cottages and see if anyone else is up to going,” Nanami said. “But we can still all go as a group tomorrow, so it’s not too big a deal if the group is small.”

“And you-know-who’s not answering his door,” Owari said. “Just so you know.”

“Right.” Koizumi’s eyes slid askance for a moment, but then she shook her head and returned to reality. “Are we going, then?”

“Just a minute.” Nanami stood and turned to face Hinata. “Hinata-kun, are you coming?”

“Oh, well…” As much as Hinata liked the thought of going around the third island with Nanami, his legs felt like lead, and his mind felt too full to absorb anything else. “I would, but…I dunno. I don’t really feel up to it.”

“Oh…” Nanami stared blankly at him for a moment, but then smiled sweetly. “If you’re looking for anything to do, the games are right downstairs.”

“Well, games aren’t really my thing as much…” Hinata scratched at his head. “But I could give them a look, just to pass the time.”

“Well…do whatever you need to,” Nanami said.

“I think I’ll head back to the cottages for now, actually,” Hinata said. “So I can come with you guys, if you’re headed that way.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Owari said. “Come on, guys, we’ve got sleepyheads to wake up.”

=====

They found Mioda in front of Togami’s cottage, knocking and trying to talk through the door but getting no response either way. They made their offer to her, but she didn’t seem especially interested. Hinata did manage to convince her that Togami probably just needed some time to himself – they both knew it was an understatement, but what else could they do? – and she returned peacefully to her cottage. Hinata bid them goodbye after that, and returned to his own.

After ten minutes of pacing back and forth, Hinata left again and headed back to the hotel lobby. The island party was just leaving when he arrived, now including Nidai and Tsumiki with toast in their hands. They exchanged brief greetings before they headed for the central island. He started up one of the game consoles and began to play, but after several false starts tried his patience he gave up and returned to the cottages.

Instead of entering his own he wandered up and down the aisles. All of the curtains in all of the windows were drawn, and there was no sign of Mioda, Souda, Tanaka, Kuzuryuu, or Togami. He tried to avert his eyes whenever he passed an uninhabited dwelling, but given that Sonia had lived right across from Pekoyama he found it difficult. Eventually he knew it was now or never – he approached Togami’s cottage, knocked, and loudly yelled his name, but Togami’s silence was as resolute as ever. Maybe he isn’t even here, Hinata thought, but at this point it didn’t really matter one way or the other.

He didn’t know what else to do with his day, or who else to do anything with. It was too late to join the island party, and in any case he didn’t feel like he had the energy. Eventually he decided on a walk around the island, but that took less time than he thought it would. Momentarily he considered knocking on the doors of the people he knew might be there, but felt he wouldn’t have any more luck than anyone else.

The sun sank lower in the sky as Hinata headed back to his cottage. The Monobear announcement hadn’t even gone off yet, but he felt so dull with himself that all he could do was throw himself down on his bed. After a few minutes he did get up and remove his clothes, then got back under the covers. His mind cycled through everything that it had to think about – lost memories, Monobear, mutual killing, Sonia, Pekoyama, Hanamura, Komaeda, Souda, Kuzuryuu, Koizumi, Togami, Togami, Togami. His distressed face was fixed in his mind, and Hinata could hardly describe the feeling it brought, not at first.

But soon enough, he had a word. Despair, he thought. Perhaps it’s despair. Once it entered his mind it didn’t leave, no matter how Hinata tossed and turned. He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, or if he ever even felt as though he were asleep at all, but at some point he felt, if only momentarily, as though he were losing control of his own thoughts, and then his awareness was gone altogether.

=====

“Oh, it’s tewwible, weawwy vewy tewwible…”

“It’s okay,” Nanami said. “It really is okay. Everything’s going to be alright, you know it is.”

“I know, I know…but…but…”

“But? You can say it, Monomi-chan, I’m here to help.”

“Ohhh…I wish I was as sure as I say…” Monomi’s head hung almost to her knees. “All this despair…and nothing I can do about it…”

“Monomi-chan, no.” Nanami reached over to stroke her sister’s fur, and smiled down at her when she lifted her face. “You know not everything’s lost. It won’t be, not ever.”

“It’s easy to say, and easy to think,” Monomi said. “But I can’t get to the outside, not without my Magical Stick, and I don’t even know if they’re there anymowe…”

“They are,” Nanami said. “They have to be. They’re struggling as much as we are.” She hung her head down as well - not in defeat, but with determination. “We have to try and carry out the original mission as much as we can. If we can do that…we might be able to buy them some time.”

“She’ll hear you,” Monomi whispered.

“She’s already heard everything. The best we can do is try.” Nanami held her chin in her hands. “We can’t expect them to be as strong as they claim in the group. We know the dangers of that, and we know how powerful she can be. We have to do what they can’t. We have to use what we know.”

“But we don’t weally know what they’re feeling,” Monomi said. “Not deep down inside.”

“We know how she got to them the first time,” Nanami said. “And I know them now, and I’ve seen how they are. I wish you could know them, too.”

“I’m their teacher,” Monomi said. “I’m supposed to know them better than anyone.”

“You will. When all this is over, I can introduce you, I’m sure.” Nanami turned and smiled at her sister. “I don’t think there’s anything we need to do for Nidai-kun or Owari-san directly. They have fortitude. They work well with the group. We just need to make sure the group is there to work well for them. And Tsumiki-san, too, although for different reasons.”

“Are you sure?” Monomi rocked back and forth on the edge of the television on which she sat.

“I’m very sure.” Nanami faced forward again, looking directly into the semidarkness of the electronics store opposite them. “But they’re not the ones I’m most concerned about. Souda-kun’s grief is setting him at odds with everyone else, Tanaka-kun won’t leave his cottage, and Kuzuryuu-kun, Koizumi-san, and Saionji-san…” Nanami shook her head.

“They need support and direction,” Monomi said. “I should be the one giving to them, but…you can do that, can’t you?”

“I could…but they need to find the resolve to go directly to each other. I can only do so much.” Nanami shook her head. “I can make suggestions, but it’s up to them to act on them.”

She stood, stretched, and looked up into the sky, where the same stars sparkled on the same black backdrop each and every night. “And I’m going to need their help, too. Hinata-kun and Mioda-san, in particular. They’re the closest to that person, after all.”

“That person?” Monomi’s eyes went very wide. “Nanami-chan, you’re not going to –?”

“Never.” Nanami folded her arms. “But…I can tell it’s weighing heavily on them, and the pressure of keeping it secret is holding them back from everything they want to do. But they haven’t recognized that yet.” Nanami nodded to herself. “So what I have in mind may be the first step. And after that…the rest may not seem so impossible.”

She looked from side to side, across all the displays in all the stores. The first rays of moonlight reflected beautifully across the cell phone screens, creating an illusion of illumination, as if they could be picked up and used to call for help. Nanami only wished that were the case. “It’s almost ten,” she said. “They’ll be looking for me. I should get back.”

“Be careful,” Monomi said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Nanami looked back and smiled at her sister. “I love you, Monomi-chan.”

“And Monomi-chan wuvs you too.” Monomi returned her sister’s smile, and nodded her goodbye. Nanami turned and headed back to where her friends were waiting for her.

=====

komaeda theater

I’m lost.

“How lost?”

Lost like everyone else. We all want to help, but not as much as we want to be helped. Everyone’s hurting. Everyone’s falling.

“It’s nothing to fear, Hinata-kun. It’s merely a stepping stone for the shining things to come.”

They say they can give us freedom. But they also say they can wipe memories from our minds. If they can remove my talent they can remove everything else.

“It’s not your privilege to leave adversity behind. I’m hurt, Hinata-kun. You’ve hurt me more deeply than death ever did.”

Are you talking about my talent?

“Hajime Hinata, shining above the shining stars. Super High School Level Endless Creative Potential in the body of anyone who could otherwise have been ordinary.”

Whatever it is, it’s not helping me now. If I do have a talent, then what could it be?

“You can tell yourself your talents are those things at which you’re really just mediocre. Like smiling, or careful speaking, or being a loyal student or brother or son.”

As a child you’re told to help people in trouble. But they never expect just what kind of trouble you’ll get into when you grow up, or just how much you can actually do.

“This must be such an odd experience for you. One so loved by talent they had to wipe it from your mind, living without that talent for the first time. I wonder what the world was like for you, before they took your talent away.”

Things were ordinary, then. But it’s almost as though the moment I became ordinary was when everything started going wrong.

“That’s what I feel every day, Hinata-kun. That my complete and utter uselessness brought about my own destruction.”

But is this what I want? How much does it matter to me anymore? If this could be undone, then what happens next?

“Hope, Hinata-kun. Hope is what you want.”

Despair is the beginning and the end.

“Hope exists beyond beginnings and endings. It persists beyond both and winds itself around infinity.”

Despair will be with me forever. Not as long as I live will I ever be freed.

“But from where does hope come?”

Despair.

“And from where will I take you?”

Despair.

“And from where shall you shine when you rise to confront the demons you leave behind?”

Everything that’s been taken from me and everything I have yet to find.

“It is now 10 pm. Please rest peacefully, along with the soothing sound of the waves. Well then, pleasant dreams. Goodnight, Hinata-kun.”

Chapter Text

The restaurant was empty when Hinata arrived the next morning, but that didn’t surprise him – it was only a quarter past six. He’d woken at five on the dot, and though he’d tried to go back to sleep, at least until the Monobear announcement, he couldn’t and had no interest in doing so. Either he’d slept too much to sleep anymore, or with all the times he’d had to go guard the game – did he really not have to do that anymore? – he’d just gotten into a rhythm of getting up early.

He’d planned on grabbing a bite to eat and going off somewhere to keep busy until the announcement, anything to keep him out of his cottage and his mind occupied. He hadn’t expected Kuzuryuu to show up at the restaurant about thirty seconds after he did, and he definitely hadn’t expected him to stay once he knew Hinata was there.

True, he’d turned around and walked back down the stairs as soon as he’d seen him, but within a few seconds he returned, as if he’d never left, and headed for the food tables. He stared at Hinata for a moment, searching him with his eyes, but when Hinata finally greeted him – “Uh, hey,” he’d said – he didn’t respond. He balanced his plate on one arm and tipped food onto it with the other, and sat two tables over from Hinata. He fumbled with his chopsticks for a moment, then, scowling, scraped his right hand's bandage clasp open against the side of the table, unraveled it with a wave of his arm, and picked up the chopsticks, his hand trembling as he held them.

“Er…” Hinata wasn’t sure what any of the others might think of what he was about to do – he wasn’t even sure himself – but the words that came out of his mouth were automatic. “Are you –”

“No,” Kuzuryuu growled.

“Well, okay.” Hinata shrugged. “I just don’t know if Tsumiki’d want you doing that.”

“She isn’t here.” Kuzuryuu winced as he brought the chopsticks to his lips.

“Yeah.” Hinata went back to his food, but just when he thought the conversation was over, Kuzuryuu spoke again.

“What are you doing here?” he said.

“Couldn’t sleep anymore. You?”

“Eh.” Kuzuryuu set his chopsticks down. He looked down at his food, then, slowly, he turned to the far wall. Sonia’s shrine was still there, though the flowers were now wilting slightly. “So, we’re ignoring the pile of crap?”

“Hm?” Hinata looked over at the shrine. “Well..."

“Was it there yesterday?”

“It was..."

“You’re not going to tell me what it’s for?”

Hinata was about to answer him, but a second later he thought better of it and kept silent. Kuzuryuu grimaced at him, then laughed bitterly to himself. “Heh. Guess you’d better not tell me. Something might happen if I know too much.”

It was a deliberate barb. Hinata shuddered, but resisted the urge to say the first things that came to his mouth. All that came out was a sputtering noise, and Kuzuryuu laughed again.

“See, this is why I wanted to get here early.” Kuzuryuu’s tone was oddly lighthearted, but Hinata could see that he was shaking. He reached back for his chopsticks, but his fingers twisted and scattered them on his plate. “Cause if I run into anyone they’re just going to tell me the same things I already know. But maybe you think I deserve that, huh? Maybe I should hang around and let ‘em at me.”

“You…” Hinata felt a sudden anger welling up inside his chest, licking wounds he hadn’t felt the previous day. “You knew what playing that game would do and you did it anyway,” he said without thinking. “You put everyone’s lives in danger. Pekoyama and Sonia are dead, and if you knew what happened yesterday-”

“Yep, you’re doing exactly what I said you would.” Hinata had been expecting the same kind of anger in return, but Kuzuryuu wasn’t even looking at him – he was staring at his hands, mumbling so softly that Hinata wasn’t sure how much of what he was saying he was supposed to hear. “So keep it coming. It doesn’t matter. If it could bring them back it would have by now.”

“You don’t have to tell me that either.” Of course Kuzuryuu was mourning, perhaps even more than they were. “But there’s still things happening you’re responsible for, and hiding isn’t going to solve anything –”

Kuzuryuu gave Hinata a long, hard look, enough to cut him off. Then, without responding, he stood, walked past him, and stopped at the shrine. He studied Souda’s drawing, the one that Hinata could only assume was of Sonia, for a long time.

“So it’s all me?” he said. “I’m responsible for everything?”

He was silent for a moment, but then, with a loud yell, he banged his hand on the top of the vanity drawer and kicked at the legs of the divan. Then he stood still, as if nothing had happened, picked up another tray of food from the tables, balanced it across his arms, and glared at Hinata, as if daring him to react or respond. He could only look stunned, which appeared to satisfy Kuzuryuu enough.

He turned and headed for the stairs, and Hinata looked after him as he left, wondering just who was responsible for what. Kuzuryuu had played the game, but that had really been the end of his role, he realized. Pekoyama and Sonia had taken over from there. And even before him, Monobear had been the one to set the motive in the first place. Monobear… Monobear is playing to our weaknesses, he could hear Togami say in his mind. Our connections, our ideas of justice…that’s the point of his motives, that they all affect us differently.

Had Togami had Kuzuryuu in mind, too, when he’d said that? Was it fair to make any exceptions at all? Hinata wondered how he might have responded differently to Kuzuryuu if he’d just remembered all this a little sooner. Then his thoughts shifted, and he wondered about Togami – what had happened to him, what he was thinking, whether or not he was right about everything he’d accused himself of.

But soon he pushed those thoughts aside. They were moot, after all, unless he could find a way to share them. At the very least he’d ask around about him if he didn’t show up to breakfast. And Tanaka too – he hadn’t seen him since the trial. Anything else he had to do could probably come out of that.

=====

The morning announcement went off some time after Kuzuryuu left, and to Hinata’s surprise Monobear showed up before it ended, somehow materializing an inch from his face. He shouted at Hinata for getting his paws dirty, as he’d landed right in Hinata’s eggs, then moved on to making fun of him for being at breakfast so early. “Is there someone you’re trying to avoid, perhaps?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows and rubbing his paws together. “Or maybe you’ve finally come to your senses, and you’re lying in wait with a concealed weapon! Oooh, I’ve hit the nail on the head, haven’t I? Come on, Hinata-kun, don’t disappoint me!”

Hinata snorted, left the table, and went to get a new breakfast plate, turning on Monobear. “Well, fine!” he could hear him say from across the room. “See if I ever try to make small talk with any of you bastards ever again! Well…no, I don’t have to say that just because you’re being difficult. With all this delicious despair going around, it’s only a matter of time! Oh, speaking of that, has Togami-kun had any bright ideas about the countdown clock in Jabberwock Park, after all the time he’s spent around it? Or have you not had the opportunity to ask him about that?” He chuckled. “He hasn’t exactly been very forthcoming lately, has he? Aren’t you wondering about that?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Upupupu, Hinata-kun thinks his problems are too high and mighty for his headmaster, doesn’t he? Eh, never mind. I think what I’ve said is enough to sit on.” Monobear jumped down from the table with a loud squelch and marched across the room to the stairs. “I’ll just catch up on a few of my stories while I’m waiting for the fun to begin.”

Hinata turned to give him a piece of his mind, only to find he’d vanished. Only a trail of crushed scrambled eggs remained to prove he’d been there at all. Hinata felt a bit awkward about leaving the mess on the floor, so he gathered it up in a napkin before, struck with a sudden loss of appetite, he sat back in his seat and left his food untouched.

Owari and Nidai arrived not long after that, talking as if it were any other day. They joined him at his table and gave him the basic rundown of everything he’d missed on the third island. It was abandoned like the rest, with no exit in sight, but there was a hospital, some kind of nightclub, a shopping district, a motel, and a movie theater where Monobear had tried to charge them millions of yen to not see a movie. Owari wouldn’t hear of spending that much, so they both saw “a disturbing, low-budget Wizard of Oz type production”, to hear Nidai tell it, and got two tote bags for their trouble.

In exchange Hinata told them about Monobear’s visit and Kuzuryuu’s behavior – particularly that he was deliberately avoiding people. “That’s not a surprise,” Owari commented. “Hey, if it means he’s not around to make trouble that’s fine by me. ‘Sides, if I need someone to fight I’ll just track down Monobear again!”

“Owari, there’s many, many reasons you shouldn’t do that, and we have other fish to fry first.” Nidai turned back to Hinata. “I did hear about what happened to Togami, and even for a man of his ability I can’t say I’m surprised. But I haven’t seen him and I don’t think anyone else has. The same goes for Tanaka, though I can’t imagine why he’d be scarce.”

“I think he was close to Sonia,” Hinata said. He was surprised that he hadn’t even had to bring up the topic himself. “Do you think we should check on them at some point? Or on anyone that doesn't come, really. Even if it doesn't help anything..."

“OF COURSE!” Nidai shouted. “ANYTHING TO RE-IGNITE THE SPIRIT OF A MAN!”

“Well – that’s one thing, I guess,” Hinata said, a bit taken aback. Owari was laughing so hard she had to lean against a chair to steady herself, and this set the rest of them laughing as well. They didn’t see or hear Mioda come in until she was already up the stairs. This struck Hinata as odd, as she usually came in yelling, but he only got a split-second’s look at her defeated, forlorn expression before she asked them what the “early morning newspaper funnies” were, and Nidai roared again about re-igniting Togami and Tanaka’s manly spirit. Her mood lifted in an instant, and she whooped and clapped with enthusiasm.

“Alright, here’s how it’s going to work!” she yelled. “Nekomaru-chan'll go and send Byakuya-chan's front door flying, then Ibuki'll go in and execute Step One of Secret Operation Cheer-Up Byakuya-chan! But wait…to prepare for Step One, Step One needs to be more like Step Seven, and to prepare for Step Seven Ibuki needs more time!” She bounded over to the food table and began filling two separate plates, muttering to herself and not answering any questions about anything she was talking about.

Tsumiki was next to arrive, and surprisingly enough she looked quite chipper, though she was torn between gushing about the hospital and everything she’d found there and fretting about whether she could get Kuzuryuu over to the hospital for more advanced treatment. Hinata told her about Kuzuryuu’s unraveled bandages, which set her worrying about how, if he kept undoing his bandages and using his hands, his wounds would never heal correctly. She didn’t seem to have much to say about his behavior otherwise, but she’d already resolved to see him after breakfast, so Hinata didn’t feel the need to make any effort on that front.

Saionji and Koizumi arrived downstairs not long after – Hinata could hear them talking to Nanami, who was down playing games as usual. He had been wondering how they were feeling, or whether they’d say anything about the previous day, so he was a little surprised when they came up with wide grins on their faces, then somewhat more so when Saionji made a beeline for him, grabbed his neck, and swung around him, practically choking him as she went.

“Big Bro Hinaaataaa!” she singsonged as she swung. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the news!”

“N…new…s…?” Saionji was holding Hinata so tightly he couldn’t speak. “I…”

“Hiyoko-chan, you’re going to choke him,” Koizumi said, looking uncertain. “It’s not really anything, Hinata, it’s –”

“It’s a Titty Typhoon!” Saionji dropped down from Hinata’s neck and began moving gracefully across the floor, waving her arms in circular motions. “Zoom zoom zoom, round in the air, titties all over, titties back and forth! Zooooommm! Wheeeee!”

“Titty…taifū?” Hinata struggled to pronounce the unfamiliar first word, and his coughing didn’t make it any easier. “Is that…ack…is that some kind of English word?”

“Well, kind of, but it’s nothing,” Koizumi said. “Well, it’s not really nothing. Or at least it's nothing any decent man on this island should be interested in.”

“Wait…decent man?” Hinata felt more confused than ever. “What does that have to do with typhoons?”

“I’m not saying that women shouldn’t have the freedom to do what they want,” Koizumi said. “But really, why would those places exist at all if not for the perversion of men? Figures Monobear would leave such a –”

“Titty Typhoon!” Saionji shouted. “Typhoons of titties, typhooning titties! Titty Typhoon, fun for the whole family!”

“Whoa, what?” Mioda’s head snapped up from her food, a massive grin on her face. “Typhooning titties? What is this and where does Ibuki sign up?”

Hinata shrugged at Mioda, then turned back to Koizumi. “Okay, I guess it sounds funny,” he said. “But I still don’t know what you’re referring to at all. What the hell’s a titty?”

Saionji snorted, then burst out laughing, and when Koizumi looked back up at Hinata she sputtered and doubled over as well. Mioda joined in, though Hinata was sure she only understood about as much as everyone else did. Nanami came in at about this time and ended up being the only person to explain to Hinata that Titty Typhoon was the name of the nightclub - though what a “titty” was remained a mystery to them both.

She was followed by Souda, whose presence silenced Saionji in a heartbeat. He couldn’t have looked any different than he had the previous day if he’d tried – his shoulders drooped, his hair stuck out at all sides, and his expression was forlorn. Saionji gave him the stinkeye as he passed her, but he didn’t turn to look. He sat hunched over at the table nearest to the shrine and ate quietly, not talking to anyone.

But, not long after everyone else had gotten their food and ceased to pay him any mind, Nanami got up from her own table and joined him at his. He glanced over at her, looking confused. “Yeah?”

Nanami stared at Souda for several seconds before she spoke. “Ah, Souda-kun, yesterday we found a shopping district with a large number of electronics stores on the third island. I thought you might want to know.”

“Electronics…stores?” Souda hesitated, but then stood up straighter and regarded Nanami with more interest. “What kind of stuff did they have?”

“Cell phones, television sets, computers…I don’t know if any of it works, but it’s there if you want to give it a look.” Nanami’s eyes narrowed. “Though they don’t have any video game consoles, so that’s pretty disappointing.”

“Disappointing? Are you kidding?” Souda grinned, and gave Nanami a weak thumbs-up. “Heh, that’s better’n nothing! Looks like I’m going to the third island today, huh...”

Nanami smiled, and Souda resumed eating with a bit more enthusiasm. Hinata smiled at her, though she didn’t seem to see, then sat back in his chair, surveying the faces around him. It was more than he could have expected – no one was fighting, no one had said anything about the still-standing shrine, and everyone seemed a touch less gloomy overall, Koizumi and Souda in particular. Sure, Togami and Tanaka hadn’t come yet, but if the rest of them could come together like this, getting to them couldn’t be much of a problem.

There was no way Hinata was going to say any of that, or even believe it, but just as he was thinking that he should at least bring up the topic again he heard a sudden thump on the stairs.

The restaurant went quiet – in anticipation of whom Hinata couldn’t say, but when Togami emerged from the stairs no one looked surprised. He stopped at the top, and kept one hand on the rail. Hinata had been expecting a new level of dishevelment, but he actually looked very well put together, as least as far as anyone could tell with his head lowered against his chest.

“Huh?” Owari said through a full mouth. “Olff mhhn?”

“B-Byakuya-chan!?” Mioda spit her drink all over Tsumiki. “The power of miracles just upset all of Ibuki’s plans! Hold on, hold on –” She tried to get out of her chair, but slipped and faceplanted in the process.

“Forget the plans,” Hinata said quickly. “Togami, are you –” Are you okay? Can I even ask that with everyone around? Hinata couldn’t answer that before he found himself shoved into the nearest pillar; he caught his balance and turned in time to see Koizumi rush past him, pulling Saionji by the arm.

“There you are!” she shouted in Togami's face. “Why haven’t you been answering your door? If you’re here that better mean you’re about to give us an explanation for everything –”

“I’m only here to make an announcement,” Togami said.

Koizumi opened her mouth to continue, but closed it when the room fell silent again. Togami’s hair fell into his face, and his hand trembled against the rail. “As of this moment, I will no longer act as your leader," he said. "If you would like to have another then you should decide that amongst yourselves.”

He took off from the stairs and headed for the food tables. Hinata’s insides had frozen, but around him the room exploded. Some were shocked, most disbelieving, but Mioda skipped right to protest. “Nonononononono,” she said over and over as she struggled to her feet and ran across the room. “That’s not true, that doesn’t have to be true, Ibuki already said Byakuya-chan didn’t do anything wrong, and she can describe why not in excruciating detail…”

“Oh, forget that!” Koizumi cut Mioda off and marched after Togami, apparently not noticing that Saionji had wrenched free of her grasp. “Look, if this is about yesterday, then at least come out and say it before you – hey, look at me when I’m talking to you!”

But Togami didn’t – he ignored Koizumi’s protests, and stormed right past Mioda when she ran to flag him down. He only stopped when he’d reached the food tables; once there he took three full platters of food, balanced them on top of each other, and headed back for the stairs with Koizumi and Mioda at his heels.

“Hey – no – what do you think you’re doing?” Hinata pushed past Souda and jumped onto the railing, balancing himself on his hips and swaying dangerously over the stairs. “You can’t leave without giving us an explanation!”

Togami stopped at the middle of the steps, but didn’t turn back. “I’ve said what I have to say,” he said, speaking so softly that Hinata wouldn’t be surprised if he was the only one that could hear him. “Please don’t follow me or knock on my door.”

He disappeared from view, again at top speed. Hinata looked after him for a time, then, with a tug on his shirt, he remembered how precariously he was perched and allowed Nanami to pull him back. He heard Mioda shouting Togami’s name from behind him, but when he turned back Owari had caught her by the collar, and she didn’t appear to be struggling. No one moved or spoke. Hinata couldn’t tell who was struck dumb and who had nothing to say.

“He’s gone.” Koizumi looked past Hinata at the stairs, her eyes wide with indignation. “He just left – the nerve of him –”

Tsumiki shivered for a moment before composing herself. “Then…does this mean we should choose a new leader?”

“What – NO! Of course not!” Mioda tugged at Owari’s hand, but Owari didn’t let her go. “If Byakuya-chan isn’t our leader, then why should we listen to him saying he isn’t? By that logic, if he isn’t, then he is!” She rocked back and forth on her heels and spoke faster and faster with every word. “But that is actually a bit circuitous, but Ibuki actually believes he is no matter what, and –”

“He resigned,” Saionji said, more harshly than Hinata expected even from her. “And I’m not going to pretend he’s still bossing us around if he’s not.”

“I wouldn’t say it like that…” Owari gave Saionji an uncertain look as she raised her hand. “But while we’re on the topic, I vote for old man Nidai.”

“Wait, no one said we were voting,” Hinata said, before Nidai could voice his own complaint. All eyes turned to him, some curious, some stony, and he found himself blurting the first things that came to his head. “I know this is all really weird, and I don’t even know what’s going on, but we can’t just jump into choosing a new leader without considering everything.”

“What else is there to consider? He forced himself out like he forced himself in.” Koizumi did not look at Hinata as she spoke.  “Are you saying we shouldn’t have the leader we actually want?”

Hinata was surprised to hear Koizumi speak so directly. “That wasn’t what I meant at all,” he said. “I mean, I’m not saying we need to have him back. But we don’t know what he’s going to do in the future or what he’s thinking. Just because he’s not our leader doesn’t mean he isn’t still one of us.”

Mioda and Nanami nodded their assent, but everyone else looked stiff and uncertain, Tsumiki in particular. “Well,” she said, “when we find another leader, we could decide what to do about him, couldn’t we?”

“Let’s leave the leader question aside for now,” Nidai interrupted. “Hinata has a point. I wasn’t at dinner yesterday, but in light of this Togami’s recent behavior shouldn’t be something that we ignore.” He put a hand to his chin. “I’m reminded of his actions after the first trial, actually. This might be a stretch, but he might have recognized that behavior surfacing again, and stepped down before it could affect us.”

“I think it goes deeper than that,” Nanami said. “Togami-kun deeply blames himself for not preventing the murders. I think…I think he believes he was actively causing us harm. That may have had more to do with his reasoning. But his behavior…I’m sure it was a direct reaction to his own guilt.”

“That’s pretty selfish of him,” Saionji said. “Did Mr. Porkfeet actually think he could just save everyone with the power of being rich?”

“Prob’ly did,” Souda said, half-mumbling. “Isn’t he supposed to be some big ruthless company head or something?”

He’s been taught the secrets of leadership ever since he was very young. Hinata could hear Komaeda saying in his mind. Despite his age, he's already held a variety of management positions, and acquired a considerable fortune of his very own. “Well, business is one thing,” Hinata thought aloud. “But this – okay, I don’t want to make excuses for him –”

“Then don’t.” Koizumi whirled to face him. Her eyes were wide, and her expression devoid of emotion. “I don’t even know why we’re giving him all this attention to begin with. It’s like I said, isn’t it? He forced himself in. He told us he was destined to lead and he actually believed that was all we needed to see or hear. But Komaeda, Hanamura, Peko-chan…S-Sonia-chan…” She shuddered, and her voice cracked. “They all died because that wasn’t enough for them to trust him – and don’t tell me that’s not the only reason, because I already know.”

Mioda closed her mouth, hung her head, and put her hand to her chin, but only for a moment before she looked up again, her confidence restored. “Maybe Ibuki’s playing devil’s advocate even though she thinks she’s right, but even if they didn’t trust Byakuya-chan, they didn’t trust anyone else either, right…?”

Koizumi sighed, and gave Mioda an exasperated look. “Well, no, but we didn’t…we’ll talk later, Ibuki-chan.” She turned back to Hinata, her stony look back in full force. “He told us he could do everything, didn’t he? But look at him now. Turns out he was only reliable as long as nothing went wrong. So if he’s just going to go hide from everything he’s done to us, then whatever. We’re more than capable of handling ourselves.” She turned her back to him. “Just let him throw his temper tantrum and stop letting him run our lives.”

“I wasn’t…” Hinata stopped, shook his head, and looked up at those around him. Saionji was standing by Koizumi, patting her arm and giving Hinata an ugly look. Souda was lying face-down on his table and didn’t appear to be moving. Nidai and Owari were looking from him to Koizumi, their uncertainty growing at every turn. Mioda stroked her chin again, looking unusually contemplative, and Tsumiki’s teeth chattered. He couldn’t get a real read on any of them, or on the effect Koizumi’s words had had on them. He had to admit she was right – really, he’d known it all along – but he, like the rest of them, didn’t know what the right course of action was about it. He didn’t even know if Koizumi had offered one, or even could.

Nanami was the only one of them who didn’t look troubled at all – and as Hinata was thinking, she raised her hand to attract the attention her voice could not. “If this would help,” she said, “It looks like everyone has different ideas about what to do, but none of them are mutually exclusive. Whoever wants to deal with Togami-kun can do so on their own terms, and everyone else can do whatever they think needs to be done. There are nine of us here now. There’s really no need to convince everyone that they only need to do one thing.”

There were scattered nods around the room, and the atmosphere as a whole relaxed slightly. “I didn’t think of that,” Tsumiki said. “But don’t we need everyone here to choose a new leader?”

“Why are you so hung up on this new leader business, ugly?” Saionji said. “Don’t tell me you think a stupid bitch like you can do it.”

“Wh-n-no! I just didn’t want anyone to forget…” Tsumiki buried her face in her hands.

“Then we can set a time to choose one,” Nanami said. “But not everyone is here right now. So we need to find a time that works for everyone.”

“Because we really need Kuzuryuu’s opinion,” Souda mumbled into the table.

“You’re forgetting Tanaka,” Nidai said. “I already agreed to visit him. I can take care of that, if the rest of you would rather not.”

Did Nidai forget I was the one he agreed with? Tsumiki spoke up before Hinata could. “And I do need to check on Kuzuryuu-san,” she said. “If I wasn’t so stupid and ugly, he wouldn’t keep using his hands…”

“And someone should probably at least keep an eye on the old man,” Owari said. “Just to make sure he doesn’t…you know…”

“Doesn’t what?” Hinata said, but when he saw the looks on everyone’s faces he understood immediately. Of course that would be on their minds. It was strange, but he’d almost forgotten that Togami could participate in the mutual killing if he wanted. “Okay, but if he resigned for the reasons we think he did…”

“Then you don’t think he’d kill any of us?” Saionji said, a hollow tone in her voice. “But didn’t we say that about everyone else? For all we know Mr. Porkfeet doesn’t care what happens to us anymore.”

“But isn’t that jumping to conclusions?” Hinata said. “Just because he messed up doesn’t mean he’s –”

“Hinata, if you don’t know anything, then keep your mouth shut,” Koizumi mumbled.

“I think Tsumiki and I will be able to handle him if anything goes wrong.” Nidai folded his arms and looked over at the window facing the cottages. “Given yesterday I don’t know if talking to him will do any good…but if he shows any sign of leaving one of us will let you know.”

“Ibuki’s staying with you,” Mioda piped in.

“Someone’s determined,” Owari said.

“More like someone’s thirst-mmmf!” Saionji couldn’t finish her comment before Koizumi covered her mouth. 

“Hmph, very well,” Nidai said. “Anyone else?”

“Actually, I feel a larger group may do more harm than good,” Nanami said, before Hinata could speak up – and it didn't look like anyone else was about to. “We can count on you…I think.”

Hinata didn’t quite get Nanami’s logic, but he couldn’t think of how to disagree, and neither did anyone else. “So…what are the rest of us doing?”

“Well…it's not like we have an assignment, but I was going to go back to the third island,” Nanami said. “You haven’t seen it yet, have you, Hinata-kun?”

=====

The first and last thing Hinata saw on the third island was the entrance to Titty Typhoon – or at least, as the sign was in English, he assumed that “Titty Typhoon” was what it said. The gritty façade and flame theme contrasted oddly with the pop-art of the sign, and overall it was the most confusing building Hinata had ever seen. Saionji laughed at him as she and Koizumi passed, but they were soon out of sight, and no one else joined him at the entrance.  But before he could enter, just to have a look around, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He started, turned around, and jumped back when he found Nanami standing so close to him that her chest was practically touching his stomach.

“Whoa, Nanami! I didn’t see you.” He brushed his shirt off, trying to look more nonchalant than he had. “Er, what’s going on?”

Nanami was still for several seconds before she spoke. “Hinata-kun, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Well, sure.” Hinata shrugged. “You could have said that to begin with..."

“Over here.” Nanami beckoned him away from the door, around to the other side of the building. When she got there, she looked left and right, then stood still again for so long that Hinata’s heart beat faster in anticipation. “There’s something I need your help with, and you’re one of the only ones who can help me,” she finally said.

“Something you…need my help with?” A shivery sort of excitement built up in Hinata’s chest. “That’s, uh, that’s…vague.”

“It’s a very important task that needs to be done right away,” Nanami went on. “And I’m sorry, but it’s going to have to interrupt your exploration of this island, possibly for several hours. Follow me.”

She turned and walked back down the path, and Hinata followed behind her, still feeling confused. “Several hours…?” he said. “Well, okay, but if you were just going to take me out of here, why did you tell me to come here in the first place? And…” He tugged at his shirt collar, half-hoping to strangle himself before his imagination ran away from him. “What are we even doing?”

Nanami was quiet as they crossed the bridge, but resumed as they crossed the central island. “Like I said, you’re one of the only ones who can help me.” She paused. “We’re going to get Togami-kun out of his room.”

Hinata felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach. “Wait – we are? But…how?”

“You’ll see,” Nanami said. “It’s going to work this time.”

“That’s a lot of confidence you’ve got.” They were at the first island bridge now, and crossing swiftly. “You’re not going to use me to try and get him to open the door, are you? Cause that’s not going to work.”

“I know. Like I said, you’ll see, Hinata-kun.” Nanami put her hands in her pockets and didn’t answer any more of Hinata’s questions as they crossed the first island and approached the cottages.

There was no sign of anyone at first, but as they rounded the corner they saw Nidai and Mioda walking back from the boys’ side. From the looks on their faces Hinata was sure they hadn’t been expecting them. Nidai raised an eyebrow, but Mioda’s reaction was far more dramatic. “Hoooah! Chiaki-chan? Hajime-chan?” She ran at them at top speed. “Was the third island really that boring?”

“Well, no, I hardly saw any of iiiiii –” Hinata cut himself short when he saw the small, grey creature fast asleep on Mioda’s shoulder. “That’s a hamster,” he blurted.

Mioda gasped. “Hajime-chan noticed already?” She cupped the hamster in her hand and patted its ear. It squirmed slightly, but did not wake up. “Jum-P-chan’s power is just as potent as Gundam-chan claims, then!”

“Ah, then you saw Tanaka-kun?” Nanami stepped forward and looked down at the hamster with a small smile. “How is he?”

“Alright enough,” Nidai said as he approached them at last. “It took us some time to convince him to let us in-”

“Ibuki serenaded him!” Mioda interrupted.

“But we did bring him breakfast, and he promised to be at breakfast tomorrow.” Nidai looked to the side, his mouth a thin line. “He didn’t seem to want to talk about why he hasn’t been at the last two meals.”

Hinata remembered just how heartbroken Tanaka had looked the last time he’d seen him, then, just as quickly, he buried the memory. “Well, if you say he’s alright, I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “But…why do you have one of his hamsters?”

“How little Hajime-chan knows. Jum-P-chan is on a quest of the spirit!” Mioda set Jum-P on her shoulder again, and folded her arms. “And this is where Ibuki would say, “And no, he’s not trying to win the love of Akane-chan,” but we’re too young to know that reference!”

Hinata decided not to think about what that might mean. “So, what you’re trying to tell me is…”

“We told Tanaka about everything that had happened with Togami,” Nidai said, “And when we were done, well, he informed us that his hamster –”

““Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P has heard your pleas with an attentive ear!” Mioda said in a mock-deep voice. “His desire to commune with his fellow lord and leader overwhelms his tiny body…if you will hear his pleas and assist him, songful one, you will share in the great fruits of his quest!” Mioda coughed and laughed. “My ability to channel Gundam-chan is as potent as ever!”

“Is that so?” Nanami looked back at “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P, whom Hinata had never once seen awake, let alone communing with anyone. “As it happens, we were just coming to try and talk to Togami-kun. We might need your assistance…and Jum-P’s, too, if that would help him on his quest.”

Mioda’s expression changed in an instant – her mouth drew itself into a thin line, and she looked at Nanami with grave seriousness. “Hmm, another quest of the spirit…does Chiaki-chan have a plan?”

“I do…I think.” Nanami looked over to her left, where Togami’s cottage stood. All the curtains were shut, and Hinata couldn’t see any lights on inside. “Come with me. We’ll need all the time we can get.”

“Should I come along?” Nidai said, fixing Nanami with a curious look.

“Actually, Nidai-kun…” Nanami beckoned Nidai towards her, then motioned for him to crouch to her height. She whispered in Nidai’s ear for what felt like ages, and then Nidai’s eyes went wide, and he nodded vigorously. “Hm. I see. Alright, I understand perfectly.”

He straightened and folded his arms with a grin on his face. “In the meantime, I’ll check on Tsumiki and Kuzuryuu,” he said. “She may need some assistance.”

“Thank you, Nidai-kun. I’m counting on you.” Nidai nodded and turned away, heading across the divide to Kuzuryuu’s cottage. Nanami turned back to them, a small smile on her face. “Are we ready?”

“Eurgh…” Hinata gave Mioda an uncertain look. “I guess?”

“Alright.” Nanami walked down the path to Togami’s front door, and Hinata and Mioda followed close behind. She knocked softly, and then knocked again when she got no response. “Togami-kun?” she said. “It’s Nanami… oh, and Mioda-san and Hinata-kun are here, too…”

“Ibuki has a hamster!” Mioda held Jum-P up in the general direction of the window, as if Togami could see him. “Ibuki doesn’t know if that changes anything!”

“Uh…” Hinata suddenly felt like his jaws were made of cement. “Look…you kind of ran out on us, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t think this conversation is over –”

“We’re not going to ask anything you don’t want to answer, Togami-kun,” Nanami said. “All we want to do is talk…I think…”

There was no response, and no sound from inside. Hinata could think of a million things he wanted to say now, but none of them stood any chance of opening the door, and he was beginning to lose hope. “Well, okay,” he said. “I guess if you really want to be alone that’s just how it’s going to be –”

He heard a soft rustling to his left, and turned to see the curtains in the nearest window inch apart, then quickly shut again. Hinata could hear soft footsteps pacing back and forth, and then the door opened, but only a crack before a chain-lock stopped it. I definitely don’t have one of those on my door, he thought. He could see the right half of Togami’s face through the opening, but little else. He examined them for a moment; Hinata and Nanami stood still, while Mioda bounced rapidly up and down in anticipation.

“I’ll be out in five minutes,” Togami said before he closed the door again.

Nanami gave Hinata a wide-eyed look, and Mioda slapped frantically at her cheeks. There was a long and worrying silence, then several sudden bangs, followed by the soft jingling of a chain before the door opened.

“Ah, Togami-kun,” Nanami said softly. “We –”

“I thought I told you not to knock on my door,” Togami said.

“I know,” Nanami said, and then fell silent again. Hinata wondered suddenly just how confident Nanami had actually been in whatever plan she’d had.

“If you know, then why are you here?”

“Huh…?” Mioda’s fingers were twisting and twitching madly, and she looked more nervous than Hinata had expected. “Does Byakuya-chan really not know? Maybe Ibuki wasn’t clear, or Ibuki wasn’t loud enough?”

“I directly told you not to come here and you still did.” His words were stern, but his voice had no trace of anger in it. If anything, he sounded tired. “Are you so thick-headed that nothing will stop you?”

Despite his words, Hinata couldn’t help but notice that he hadn’t shut the door in their faces yet. “Well, that’s one way to put it,” he said. “I mean, it was worth a shot.”

“Worth a shot…” Togami mused in silence for what felt like an age. The intense, even intimidating expression he had held just seconds before was gone – on anyone else Hinata might describe what he saw now as trepidation, but with Togami there was no way to know.

“Worth a shot,” he repeated. Then, without another word, he turned and walked to about the center of his cottage, leaving the door open behind him. “Aren’t you coming in?”

“Hoaah! Ibuki almost missed her cue!” The change in Mioda’s demeanor was instantaneous – Hinata found himself with a hamster in his hands as she charged through the doorway and took a flying leap for Togami’s back, her arms outstretched. “Operation Cheer Up Byakuya-Chan is –!”

She was almost to Togami when he whirled round in a flash and grabbed her arm, forcing her to a stop. They stared at each other for a moment; Hinata couldn’t see Mioda’s face, but Togami’s eyes were far wider than before, and his breathing far heavier. After a moment Mioda said something Hinata couldn’t hear, and Togami shook his head at her. He headed for the side of his room where Hinata assumed his bed was, and Mioda followed after.

“Go in,” Nanami said from behind him. Hinata looked back at her, hoping against hope she knew what she was doing, and then entered the cottage ahead of her.

=====

Hinata hadn’t thought about what Togami’s cottage would look like, but it hardly looked any different from his own, apart from the bookshelves and massive piles of books scattered across the room. The dishes Togami had taken from the restaurant were stacked neatly on a desk, and from the look of them he’d washed them after he was done with them. Like them the room was plain and immaculate, without a singular hint of personality to be found – apart from the books, but Hinata couldn’t see any of their titles.

Togami seated himself on the edge of his bed, but didn’t make any move to invite them to join him. So Hinata and Nanami stood awkwardly in the center of the room, while Mioda sat down next to Togami, kicking her legs back and forth. She stole a glance at him and smiled in what struck Hinata as a subdued manner, but Togami only gave her the same neutral look. Then his eyes trailed over to Hinata’s hands, where he carefully held “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P. “You…do have a hamster,” he said.

“Oh! Right!” Mioda leapt from her seat, grabbed Jum-P from Hinata’s hands, and knelt before Togami in a dramatic fashion, holding Jum-P up over her head. “Ibuki presents to you a dark god on a quest of the spirit!”

Togami looked down at the sleeping hamster without a change of expression. “Why?” he said.

“Because,” Mioda chirped. She held Jum-P closer, and Togami’s fingers twitched for a moment before, with some hesitation, he lifted the hamster out of Mioda’s hands and placed him further up the bed. Mioda clapped her hands together, then stood and returned to her seat.

Hinata watched this scene with a mounting sense of unease. This was not how he’d imagined his next meeting with Togami starting off. “Uh….so, nice place you’ve got here,” he said. “It has books.”

“It does.” For the first time since he’d opened the door, Togami fixed his full attention on Hinata. “Well? What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Hinata didn’t know where to begin, and the girls weren’t doing him any favors – Mioda’s attention was on him, and Nanami looked just as silent and spacey as usual.

“To know why I resigned, I’m sure.” Togami’s expression was harsh, as though he were angry at Hinata for even potentially asking such a thing.

“Well…no. We kind of already know why you did that.” Hinata remembered dinner-breakfast the previous day, and the hollow, surreal look in Togami’s eyes. With the image fresh in his mind, he didn’t know just how much of that he could still see now. “You said all that stuff yesterday…but what I still don’t get is how you could’ve done anything about that.”

Togami was silent for a time before he spoke. “What’s there not to understand? I took power with the understanding that there would not be a single victim, but now four people are dead. I don’t know how I can make it any plainer.”

“But you’re making it sound like you somehow made them kill.” Hinata was only half-sure of every word he was saying, but there was no way he could stop now. “Look – remember what you told Hanamura?  Without Monobear or Komaeda, he never would have done what he did. They’re all the ones at fault there, so it’s not really worth it to beat yourself up over circumstantial nitpicks that none of the rest of us noticed either.”

“Those circumstantial nitpicks were our last line of defense, Hinata. Our first was trust.” Togami’s expression froze. “If you’re going to cite the dead, so will I. Sonia told us all outright she didn’t trust me. She thought I couldn’t stop Kuzuryuu and Pekoyama, but if she’d come to me for help, they’d still be with us now. Or no, perhaps not. Perhaps I don’t understand revenge. Perhaps Koizumi would be dead.”

Hinata wasn’t sure whether Togami was really talking to him at all anymore. “Is it her fault? Of course it is. But it was my responsibility to make sure those faults never occurred. Mine, not anyone else’s. I’ve made that clear to you before.”

Yes, and you’re repeating yourself, Hinata thought. He was starting to feel frustrated, but Mioda interrupted him before the feeling could really form. “But Byakuya-chan’s still done a lot for the rest of us, hasn’t he?” she said. “His speeches really helped Ibuki when she was feeling rock-bottom hopeless, and no matter what else has happened you can’t say Ibuki can’t say that much is true!”

“Mioda, don’t,” Togami said. “That has nothing to do with any of this.”

“Ibuki disagrees!” Mioda folded her arms and smirked. “If Ibuki only looked at her failures without also considering her successes she wouldn’t be the Ibuki she is down to her very soul. Instead, she learns from her mistakes! And that’s something she knows Byakuya-chan can do.”

“That’s an easy thing to say.” Togami still stared at the floor, and his voice sounded as though it was having trouble leaving his mouth. “But there will always be new mistakes to make. New ways to get past my defenses. Even if I restricted everyone’s movements there would still be someone determined enough to pass under my notice. And if anyone will even try…then I’ve failed from the moment they have.” He looked up. “I have no other explanation to give. Now, if you’re satisfied, you really have no other business here.”

Nanami’s eyes widened, but she still did not speak – and Hinata felt his frustration prickling again. “Togami, you’re speaking nonsense,” Hinata blurted. “You didn’t have to take on nearly the responsibilities you did. I’m starting to think there isn’t anyone who could. If you’d just admit that, we could come up with a plan –”

“Didn’t have to?” His voice dropped to a low grumble, and he gripped the sides of the bed. “You’re the ones speaking nonsense. You know nothing about what I’m meant for. The name of Byakuya Togami carries a legacy of perfection. My achievements go hand in hand with my destiny. But if you’re treating me as though I could never have done any more than anyone else, as though I were exactly like yourselves… then what does that mean for that destiny? What does that mean for that name?”

Hinata had no idea how to respond. Togami’s intensity was almost impossible to understand, and before he could sort it out, Togami spoke again.  “You’re very direct, Hinata,” he said, his voice measured once more. “It’s a difficult trait, but a useful one. And there’s no one on this island who doesn’t trust you. You’ll make a fine leader, if chosen.”

“Wait – what are you talking about?” Hinata’s eyes narrowed. “I definitely don’t want to be leader!”

“Koizumi and Nidai have their strengths, as well.” Togami tilted his head, and his hair fell into his eyes. “But that shouldn’t be for me to say, should it…?”

“Togami-kun…” Hinata jumped and looked over at Nanami, but couldn’t tell whether or not he’d just imagined that she’d spoken. She gave Togami a long, lingering look, and then turned away from him to face Hinata and Mioda. “Hinata-kun, Mioda-san, I’m sorry, but I’d like to have a word with Togami-kun in private. I need you to go back to the third island.”

“Back…?” Hinata exchanged looks with Mioda. “But we just got here!”

“It’s very important,” Nanami said. “I really, really need you to go back.”

If Hinata looked at all confused, it was nothing compared to Togami, who didn’t dare take his eyes off Nanami for a moment. Mioda didn’t share their feeling – she looked more curious than anything. “But can’t Ibuki stay a little longer?” she said. “She hasn’t even executed her secret plan yet!”

“This has to be done now,” Nanami said in an undertone. “You’ll understand soon. Please…I need you to go to the third island.”

“Well…if it’s that important.” Hinata took one last look back at Togami. “Looks like we’re going, then.”

“Very well.” Togami did not look back at him.

“Byakuya-chan…” Mioda gave Togami an uncertain look, then grinned. “Come join us on the third island after this, okay? Ibuki has a Titty Typhoon she needs you to see!”

“I’ll…I’ll keep that in mind.” This was all the answer Mioda needed – she jumped up from the bed and followed Hinata as he headed for the door.

The last thing he saw was Nanami walking across the room, heading for Togami’s bed – but then the door shut behind him and Mioda. The sunlight hit him right in the eyes, and he had to squint before he could get a good sense of his surroundings.

“Ack! Ibuki forgot Jum-P-chan!” he could hear Mioda say. “But that only means his quest continues!” Hinata saw her pass on his left, and ran to catch up with her.

“So…we’re leaving?” he said as they hit the main path. Nidai, Tsumiki, and Kuzuryuu were nowhere in sight. “We’re not listening in or trying to go back or anything?”

“If what they’re saying is something Ibuki needs to know, then Ibuki will find out soon enough.” She winked at him, but he didn’t know what to make of that. “But what Chiaki-chan doesn’t know is that Ibuki has her own plans!”

“Plans…” They were just approaching the bridge to the central island. Hinata wondered why Nanami was so insistent that they go to the third. “What kinds of plans?”

“Hmmm, Hajime-chan’ll know that soon, too!” Mioda smirked. “He might even be able to help, now that Ibuki thinks of it…”

=====

Even after the door was shut, Nanami did not speak – not immediately. First she walked to the window, pulled the curtains back, and watched there for a time. Hinata and Mioda stood in front of the door for a moment, but soon walked back to the path and towards the hotel entrance again. They were talking, but Nanami couldn’t hear what they were saying through the walls.

“They’re gone,” she said, both to herself and to Togami.

“How strange,” Togami said. Nanami turned back to face him; he had shifted slightly on the bed, and now sat facing her. His expression was neutral, but he looked at her as though he were trying to read her mind.  

“Strange?”

“It’s just as Hinata said. You called them here, had them stay for less than ten minutes, and then sent them away again.”

“I did.” Nanami was silent for a moment before she spoke. “But did they help at all, while they were here?”

Togami looked to the side, and appeared to think carefully before he spoke. “They’re misguided,” he soon said.

“Because they wanted to help?”

“Help…help is an irrelevant concept. I don’t see why you should be so concerned.” Togami folded his arms. “I already told them. I’ve said all that I have to say. What more could I possibly have to discuss?”

Nanami stared at Togami for a long time before she spoke again. “Togami-kun, do you want to know why I sent them away?”

“Why would that matter?” Togami said.

“Well…they know we’re here alone, now. If one of us were to…kill the other…”

“The culprit would be clear. You created a situation where mutual killing is impossible...” Togami’s eyes widened. “But you haven’t answered my question. Why is this necessary?”

“Because that’s not the only reason,” Nanami went on. “You’re a sensitive and suspicious person…and I really needed you to be sure you could trust me on this subject.”

“Trust you…?” Togami’s eyes went wide. “What are you –”

“I’m sorry, Togami-kun,” Nanami said. “This really isn’t something I could have avoided. And ordinarily, I would never even have brought it up…”

“Nanami, I’ve already said I have nothing I wish to discuss,” Togami said suddenly. “Whatever it is you’re concerned about, I assure you it’s nothing. I’d like to be alone now –”

“But you were compromised from the moment you set foot on this island,” Nanami said. “Myself and the other person…we’re somewhat acquainted. I knew in an instant…”

An enormous change came over Togami’s features from the beginning of her words to the end. What had been confusion and indignation gave way to a slow-dawning look of horror. His posture stiffened, and he hardly appeared to move or breathe. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said very quickly. “What other person?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Nanami said. “There’s no way you couldn’t. I can’t be mistaken.”

“You are. Whatever you’re thinking it’s a mistake." Togami gripped the side of his bed. "You're going to have to leave."

“I’ve told you, I wanted you to be sure you could trust me,” Nanami said. “If there’s anything else you’d want me to do, I can do that.”

“No...there's nothing to do, there’s nothing to trust...” Togami began shifting further back on his bed, towards his pillow. “I already told you to leave!”

“I’m sorry. Like I said, it was unavoidable.” Nanami said. “It wasn’t something you could have considered.”

“There’s no considering. There’s nothing.” Togami hit his bedpost, then stumbled off the bed and moved further back. “You’ve been lied to. It’s a lie!”

“No one lied to me.” Nanami turned toward the wall. “I’m really sorry it had to happen this way. But I think-”

“No…no no no no no no no no no…” Togami was now flat against the wall, groping madly at his bookshelf. “No, it’s…it can’t…don’t come any closer…!”

“I won’t,” Nanami said. “Whatever it is you need –”

“How many?” Togami grasped a large, thick book in his hand, but didn’t pull it out of the shelf. “How many people have you told?!”

“I haven’t told anyone, and I won’t,” Nanami said. “It’s okay, I understand –”

“Understand…” Togami’s fingers trembled around the book. “No…that can’t…you’re…I don’t…”

“It’s alright,” Nanami said, her voice pleading. “Even if you don’t believe me, I’m not going to do anything –”

In the split second before she could say another word, Togami ripped the book out of the shelf and jerked it high above his head. He trembled where he stood, his eyes wide and staring –

But then their hands went rigid, and the book fell to the floor with a heavy thud. They froze at the sound, then looked at Nanami, then down at the floor, then sank to their knees and fell over where the book had fallen, burying their head in their hands with a loud sob.

=====

“I'm sorry."

Nanami knelt to their level, examining them for any sign of a response. Their hair fluttered with their breaths, and a sniffle escaped every now and then, but as far as voluntary movement they were just as still as they’d been for some time.

They'd knelt in silence for about a moment when their head twitched, then lifted slightly. She caught sight of their left eye before they turned their head back again, but a moment later they’d lifted their head completely, and this time she could see curiosity in their eyes, rather than fear. Nanami gave them a small smile; their expression didn’t change, but they didn’t look away, either.

“You’re not going to tell anyone,” they said.

“I haven’t and I’m not going to,” she said.

Their gaze drifted to the side, and then, with a slight grunt, they slid back on their knees and pulled themselves to their feet. Nanami stood as well, and ended up at their side, viewing them in profile. Even in such a short time their entire bearing had changed. Their expression had softened, their shoulders lay slack, and their hands were folded together, rather than crossed.

“Not even now?” they said.

“Not even now,” Nanami replied.

They wiped a hand across their eyes, sniffling as they went. Then they blinked several times, and looked back at the bed, where “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P still lay asleep. They gave him a long look, then turned and sat down, their head tilted towards the floor.

Nanami considered joining them on the bed, but instead she moved closer, and came to a stop by their desk. They looked up at her, searching her with their eyes, then looked down again. “How much do you know?” they said.

“About you?” Nanami wished she could say more than her story allowed. “Nothing.”

“I would rather you never knew anything at all.” Their voice was softer now, and less imposing. It trailed into mumbling every now and again, and they had quite a lot of difficulty bringing it back to a level where it could be heard.

“I’m sorry,” Nanami said.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” They folded their hands on their lap, and moved their fingers back and forth. “I almost told Hinata, once.”

“Recently?”

“During the party,” they said. “Just before Komaeda’s death. I backed out."

“And you haven’t told him anything since?” Nanami said.

“I could have. If I’d stopped Komaeda, I could have told him.”

“He does trust you, though,” Nanami said. “I know that for sure.”

“He trusted Togami,” they said. “Togami was prepared for any threat. Togami could protect his classmates from Monobear and from themselves. Togami could lead them off the island.”

Nanami gritted her teeth. “I…I don’t know about that.”

“But you know him.” They looked up at her, their eyes wide. “The other person…”

“Even if I do, he hasn’t been tested the way you have.”

“That’s true.” They considered this for a moment, then shook their head and looked down again. “If you weren’t going to tell me that you knew, then why tell me now?”

Nanami reviewed what she wanted to say in her mind one last time, just to be sure she had it all down. “I don’t know why, and you don’t have to tell me, but I can tell this is a secret you really want to keep,” she said. “But it’s also a secret that’s made you fearful…and I think that fear is interfering with everything you want to do.”

They shivered, but did not speak, so Nanami went on. “You want to lead us off the island, don’t you? Or at least, you want us to get off safely. But at the same time you’re afraid of discovery, and that on top of the mutual killing… as much as you wanted to protect us, you had to protect yourself from us, too.” She paused. “…I think. Am I wrong?”

They were still for a time, then slowly shook their head. “I’ve betrayed them. I’ve lied to them from the beginning. And that on top of everything else…” They looked up. “I don’t know what you’re trying to make me do.”

“I’m only saying what I think,” Nanami said. “And what I think is that nothing you’ve done so far means you can’t do anything else anymore, or that you’ve failed. Terrible things have happened, but what matters is learning from what’s happened and moving ahead. “

“You sound like Mioda,” they said. “Always making excuses for me.”

“I’m not, and neither is she,” Nanami said. “But learning from faults also means acknowledging them. There’s been a lot of talk about trust among the group… I don’t know very much about leadership, but I know that it isn’t just about making plans and preventing actions. It’s about understanding the dynamics of the group, and improving the bonds between the members. If we do that…we have nothing to fear from mutual killing, or anything else.”

“You don’t know that,” they said. “We don’t know what they’re thinking.”

“But we can build our trust with them.” Nanami walked over to the bed, stood over them for a moment, then stuck her arm straight out and moved it up and down over their shoulder, just barely touching their jacket. They tensed, then looked up at her in surprise, but they didn’t move away from her. “Thank you,” they said.

“You’re…welcome.” Nanami looked far more uncomfortable with the situation than they did, and not long after that she withdrew her arm. It was then that she happened to notice that “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P had found his way into their lap; she hadn’t seen him crawl there, but as they had not mentioned it, neither did she.

“Everything you’ve been saying…” They stopped for a moment, buried their face in their hands, and then continued. “It’s easier said than done. It may even be impossible.”

“Or it may be easier than you think. I don’t know very much about you…but I can tell that you really care for everyone here.” Nanami’s expression softened. “It’s something you and I have in common.”

They put a hand to their chin, looking contemplative. “I…I suppose I do.” The knowledge didn’t seem to faze them at all. “I’ll think of something,” they said. “I can do that much.”

“You can.” Nanami shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for their response, but none came. “Do you need anything else? If you want me to leave, then that would count.”

“I…think I would prefer that.” They set Jum-P down on the sheets before they stood, putting their hands in their pockets. “But before you go, I have one question.”

“A question?”

“More like an observation.” Nanami could see something of an edge in their eyes – Togami was returning, just a little. “A reclusive video game player and the heir to a major conglomerate aren't a likely pair."

“It’s not impossible,” Nanami said. “Aren’t we acquainted now?”

“That’s not the point." They sighed. "I know everything there is to know about him. If you did know him, then I would have known everything he knew about you from the start. And yet, I can’t mistake it…” They turned to face her. “Who are you?”

Nanami stared blankly at them for a long, long time before she spoke. “I’m a lot like you,” she said. “I also have secrets, and a lot of the time I wish I didn’t have to keep them.”

“Secrets…” They fixed Nanami with a long, hard look, but it faltered quickly. “I think I'd like to be alone, now.”

“I understand.” Nanami gave them one last smile, then turned and faced the door. “I’ll be on the third island if you need me. You’re always welcome to come along, you know. I think Mioda said something to that effect.”

“The offer’s still in mind.”

“Understood.” Nanami headed for the door, bouncing slightly on her feet. “Thank you for listening.” She exited the cottage without waiting for a reply, which was just as well, as they didn’t give her one to work with.

=====

“Don’t tell me you actually believed any of that.”

They turned to face their pillow, where “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P lay, still asleep. They watched him for a time, observing the rise and fall of his breaths, before they rolled onto their back and sat up.

“Wouldn’t trusting the others just be foolish? They have so much to miss, after all. They have homes, and families, and lives waiting for them. No matter what they say, you and I both know they’re desperate to get back to them.”

Monobear was in their line of sight now; they had no choice but to look at him, or to let his words enter their ears. But they neither acknowledged him nor replied, and as soon as they could they turned back to the pillow and carefully scooped Jum-P into their hands. He was such a small creature, they thought. And with hands like theirs, they could crush him just as easily as they could protect him.

“You’ve really disappointed me, Impostor-san. Isn’t your body the only precious thing you have? Wouldn’t you want to protect yourself with all you have? If you ask me, you’re really going about this all wrong. This could all be over in one move if you’d only take initiative for yourself.”

They stood and straightened their shoulders – here, at their full height, Monobear was all but invisible. They turned and headed for the door of their cottage, moving as briskly as they could; Jum-P squirmed and stirred in their hands.

“I knew you'd be boring right off the bat, but you could've at least been a boring killer!" Monobear yelled after them. “Then you'd have at least one thing to your name, wouldn't you?"

They cupped Jum-P in one hand and opened the knob with the other – but before they left they turned back, taking in the sight of the cartoon bear in the middle of their room. “Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I don’t have time to talk,” they said. “I don’t know how long Mioda had this hamster with her, nor do I know what or how often they eat.”

Then they stepped outside, and shut the door behind them.

Chapter Text

komaeda theater

“If you don’t understand hope, I’d be more than happy to explain it to you.  But before I do, you have to understand that we all live in isolation from each other. We have our ideas of our personal hopes and our ideas of our personal despair, and we may even go through life thinking that our hope and our despair is more important than anyone else’s, by virtue of our being born in our bodies.

“But I let that disappointment pass me by a long time ago. Personal hope and despair are illusions created when a mass of worthless, talentless humans want to think that they’re gods unto themselves. Whatever measure they have, what little, useless part they call their own, they naturally only carry to the whole, and they can only act and feel based on that whole. Any of them who say that they run contrary to that whole are really only lying to themselves. Hope is collective. Hope is potential. What matters in the end is your degree of influence. The powerful are the ones with the ability to warp hope and shred despair, not for themselves but for the world. And that’s the meaning of this mutual killing; your purpose in the grand scheme of the world.

“I hope you can understand that a little better, now. You seemed so distressed before, and I thought an explanation would clear things up.

“Tonight’s lucky numbers are 14, 56, 79, 8, 13, 20, 27, 39, 43, 41, 55, and 71.”

=====

You’ve only made things worse, Hinata thought, but before he could remember why he’d had that thought it vanished along with its context. His eyes were still closed, but he felt more aware of his surroundings then he had a moment before. Right, he realized. He must have gone to sleep at some point.

Out of habit he opened his eyes, and then shut them against a sudden dull throbbing at the base of his skull. He hadn’t felt anything like this yesterday, but he had a pretty good idea of where it might’ve come from: the “training session” Mioda had roped him into the previous night, on top of all the walking he’d done around the third island. The last thing he remembered was the floor of the Titty Typhoon spinning out from under him, followed by several stumbling scenes from his trip back to his dorm. He did have to admit he was pretty impressed that he’d headbanged himself into exhaustion.

The Monobear announcement made the headache a moot point, so he got up and headed for the bathroom. Other memories crossed his mind as he went: the scene at breakfast, Togami’s resignation, and the confrontation in the cottage. He still wasn’t sure what would come of it.  He hadn’t seen Nanami since she’d shooed him out, and Togami hadn’t taken Mioda up on her offer to come to the third island, not even after she’d insisted on waiting for him until sunset. No one else he’d run into had seen them, nor had they seemed particularly concerned about their whereabouts. Nidai and Owari were content with being confident they’d “know by now if something was wrong”, Tsumiki had certainly been worried, but only in her usual general sense, and Souda hadn’t seemed keen on talking to them about anything that didn’t involve the walkie-talkie set he was rebuilding.

None of those responses had seemed reasonable at first, but Hinata supposed they’d gotten used to blocking out their situation whenever they could. He could understand – he didn’t count himself an exception to that. But there was a time to block and a time to confront – he knew that well enough, and he was confident everyone else did, too.

We’re choosing a new leader today, he remembered as he buttoned his shirt. He wasn’t sure how much he liked the idea itself, but he’d seen enough Jabberwock breakfasts to know that they rarely went as intended. Even if his questions had nothing to do with the leadership of the group, it stood to reason that they might be answered anyway. He just didn’t know if he’d like the process that they’d have to take to get there.

=====

It was past seven-thirty when Hinata arrived at the main building, but the lobby was empty and he couldn’t hear any voices from the restaurant. He could hardly believe he was the first one there, and in fact he wasn't. When he went up the stairs he found Tanaka on the other side of the room, next to Sonia’s shrine – which, though somewhat worse for wear, had still not been dismantled. He had his back to Hinata, and if he had heard him come in he did not react.

Hinata felt a chill run down his spine. He didn’t know if he was disturbing anything, but given that the others had to be coming, it was now or never. “Er, Tanaka,” he said.

Tanaka turned his head slowly, and gave him a hard look. “You,” he said.

“Yeah…me.” Hinata hardly knew what to say to Tanaka in the best of times, but now he felt so lost his mouth ran without any thought at all. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” he said. 

Tanaka stared another moment, then turned back to the shrine. “The certainty of this world disintegrates with alarming rapidity,” he said. “‘Turning and turning the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer.’ The black curse on the hearts of the desperate, unliftable by mortal means…how quaint of you, to think a mere council can erase it.”

“Yeah, well…” Hinata had been thinking something similar. “Yeah.”

“The quest of “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P has led me to see the necessity of this journey of my own,” he went on. “But my own private purposes must continue if anything is to be solved. At this I will but cast my vote and leave.”

“Yeah…sounds about right.” Hinata looked back at Tanaka for another second, but when he didn’t continue the conversation Hinata headed for the food tables.

The others started to come in as he took and ate his breakfast. Nidai and Tsumiki were early as usual. Nidai greeted Tanaka with great enthusiasm, which Tanaka did not return with nearly the attention he had given to Hinata, while Tsumiki apologized for her lateness despite Hinata’s assurance that she wasn’t late in the slightest.

“I wanted to be here earlier,” she said, hands clasped to her heart, “But Kuzuryuu-san…he didn’t know about the meeting, so I went to get him…b-but he wouldn’t answer me, or open the door…”

“That’s about normal for him, though,” Hinata said, hoping he sounded comforting. “I’m not surprised he wasn’t interested.”

“But I was supposed to, and I couldn’t do it!” Tsumiki said, a tinge of panic in her voice. “And I couldn’t change his bandages, either… if he keeps using his hands, they’ll…!”

“We can try again after breakfast, Tsumiki,” Nidai interrupted. “But I think we’ve done about all we can do for now.”

“Yeah, if he forfeits his vote it’s not really on you,” Hinata said.

“Y-you’re sure?” Tsumiki looked surprised to know that she wasn’t at all to blame. “Hee…heehee…that’s amazing…!”

Tsumiki laughed and clapped her hands, her concern for Kuzuryuu’s health apparently set aside. Hinata looked over her shoulder and saw that Saionji and Koizumi had gotten their breakfast unnoticed; they were sitting now, casting glances at Tanaka and speaking in an undertone to each other. Hinata couldn’t hear most of what they were saying, but when the phrase “dirty bitch foreigner” leapt out at him he immediately turned away.

Owari was next up, yawning and stretching, closely followed by Nanami, who greeted him almost too calmly before following Owari to the food tables.  Hinata couldn’t let her get away – he slipped away from Tsumiki and Nidai, followed her to the food tables, and caught her just as she was leaving. “Hey, uh,” he said entirely too loudly, then slipped into an undertone. “How’d everything go?”

“Everything?” Nanami’s eyes widened. “Oh, with Togami-kun? He’s fine.” She paused. “I think.”

“You think?” Hinata said, though the “fine” surprised him more. “Well…what happened? He didn’t show up on the third island yesterday.”

“He didn’t? That makes sense, I guess. He told me needed some time to himself.” Nanami set her plate at the nearest table. “But I don’t know what happened after that.” She yawned loudly.  “I…fell asleep.”

Hinata wasn’t surprised. “Well, whatever you did, I hope it worked,” he said.

“Me too. But it may take some time to know for sure.” Nanami stared out the window as she spoke. “I can’t really be more exact.”

“Right. I know.” Hinata hoped he looked like he was satisfied, even if, deep down, he really couldn’t be. What could Nanami, of all people, have to say to Togami that no one else could know? And what effect could it have? Was it something she knew about him, something no one else did? If so, what? How? He couldn’t begin to imagine anything, not until he got at least one more hint that for now no one was giving him.

While they had been speaking, Souda had entered the room. At first glance he looked somewhat more animated than he had the previous day, and didn't even seem fazed by Saionji's fierce look. But the moment he saw Tanaka any of the good cheer he’d had vanished. He positioned himself behind the food tables, his hands in his pockets and his back turned to the rest.

Nanami tried to greet Souda without avail, and Hinata turned away just in time to see Mioda bound up the stairs and take a look around the room. “Whoa, Ibuki’s pretty late!” she announced. “O-kay, somebody grab some buckets, Ibuki needs to stand in the hall!”

“Buckets?” Saionji said. “That only happens in anime!”

“I’m sure she knows, Hiyoko-chan. It’s just a joke.” Koizumi stood up from her seat, cleared her throat, and raised her voice. “Hey…this is everyone’s that coming, right?”

Hinata looked around to see who hadn’t been counted. Most everyone was already standing in a kind of semi-circle in the front of the room, conveniently enough – except Souda and Tanaka. Neither of them had reacted to the call at all – in fact, Hinata could swear that Souda had moved closer to Tanaka.

“I think I see everyone except Togami and Kuzuryuu,” Owari said. “I guess we’re not going to wait on them?”

“I tried to get Kuzuryuu-san to come,” Tsumiki said. “But I couldn’t…I’m sorry…”

“M-maybe Byakuya-chan’s changed his mind, though?” Mioda said, rubbing her hands together. “I could go get him –”

“If they’re not coming, they’re not coming,” Koizumi said. “Besides…if they’re not going to act like they’re part of the group I don’t think we need their input.”

“Well, if they show up, we’ll figure that out when it happens,” Hinata said. “Until then…are we taking a vote?”

“Just like that?” Nidai said. “Are we going to nominate anyone?”

No one said a word. Souda was definitely moving closer to Tanaka – they were both at the shrine now, on opposite sides. “That might be a bit messy,” Nanami said. “We should go around to everyone one at a time, discuss whether or not they’d be fit for the job, and then take a vote.”

“But where should we start?” Tsumiki said. Silence still – no one wanted to be the person that began the conversation, Hinata could tell. Or was he just projecting his own discomfort onto everyone else? He couldn't focus with the commotion in the background. Souda and Tanaka were inches apart – Souda was reaching for Tanaka’s collar –

Wait, Hinata thought, why the hell am I not doing anything?

“SOUDA!” he shouted – but only in time for Tanaka to counter-grab Souda’s jumpsuit and divert him into a nearby table. Tsumiki screamed, several others recoiled, and out of the corner of his eye Hinata could see Koizumi’s mouth drop open.

Souda didn’t appear seriously harmed, but he also wasn’t getting up, as Tanaka still had him pinned. “An attack from behind?” he said, his expression as hard as before. “I expected nothing less from one with no Gifts of which to speak.”

“Shut up! S-shut up!” Souda thrust his weight against Tanaka’s arm, to no avail. “Y-you’re just here to mock her, aren’t you? Just to rub it in her face –”

“Then you still entertain your delusions?” Tanaka said. “I am told the weak take comfort in such. Go on, accuse me again of conspiracy. You will do nothing but make a fool of yourself.”

“Oh, so this is what I get? This is what you think?” Souda grabbed Tanaka’s arm with both hands. “It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks now! You, and Monobear, you can’t keep tricking them forever! They’ll see – I’ll show them –”

“HEY, HEY!” Nidai was already halfway to Souda and Tanaka, fists raised. “Break it up, right now –”

“This is not your battle, sportive one! Those who refuse the proper grief of body and soul must be taught a personal lesson!” Tanaka raised a fist at Nidai, but it didn’t stop his advance – he pulled Tanaka off Souda with ease and held his arms behind his back.

“I’d like to see you try!” Souda was just about to lunge for Tanaka when Owari moved and pinned his arms, but unlike Tanaka he struggled fiercely against her. “I know the truth! There’s evidence and I’m going to find it! Even if I have to beat you and Monobear black and blue, I’ll expose the traitor – I’ll have proof!”

“Th-the traitor?!” Mioda said. “Ibuki forgot that was even a thing!”

“Souda-kun, Tanaka-kun definitely isn’t the traitor!” Nanami said.

“He's the only person who could’ve killed Pekoyama! I can prove it, I…” Souda shuddered; tears and snot were running down his face. “Why aren’t any of you giving me a chance?” he moaned, almost inaudible. “D-d-do you want Sonia-san to be guilty that badly?”

Hinata hardly knew what to say, and yet he found his mouth moving, if only to convince himself that he understood. “Look, Souda –”

“Shut up!” Koizumi shouted over Hinata, her face red with anger. “If you’re just going to interrupt our meeting, then get out! That goes for both of you!”

“But – but –” Souda looked up at Koizumi as if her words had come as a surprise to him.

“But what?” Saionji said, her voice venomous. “You’re just a side character. You’ve lived too long anyway. What makes you think we want you to lead us? We already told you we didn’t want to see you!”

No one raised any objection, but Hinata was growing more uncomfortable by the second. Did it make sense to ostracize two members of the group at a meeting about choosing who was best to unite them all? Not only that, but Tanaka was vengeful and Souda was clearly unstable. Shouldn’t they be keeping a closer eye on them? That was what Togami might have suggested – but would that advice work?

The words were in Hinata’s mouth, but he couldn't speak over Koizumi. “This shouldn’t be a big deal if you weren’t participating in the first place,” she’d said, pointing her finger at the stairs. “Go ahead and fight for all I care, but don’t get any of the rest of us involved –”

“My humble greetings to you all!”

Koizumi fell silent, and her jaw went slack again. Hinata couldn’t help but do the same the moment he recognized the voice, but he still looked, just to be sure.

Kuzuryuu stood at the head of the stairs, his entire body sunk in a low bow. He held one hand in front of him, and the other on his knee. “I wish to speak, if you’ll see fit to hear me!” he stated. “Before you stands Fuyuhiko, of the family Kuzuryuu! A novice, still untrained in the family business! I beg to intrude upon your notice!”

Hinata’s mind went blank. Souda went limp in Owari’s grip, his passion checked. No one said a word, or appeared able until Hinata heard Tanaka speak behind him. “What…was that?”

“I…It was nothing. Just a simple greeting…” Kuzuryuu looked from the main group, who were looking at him as though he had seven heads, to the group by the shrine, taking in Nidai and Owari’s restraints and Souda’s tear-stained face. “Wait, what the hell’s going on?”

“None of your business,” Owari spat.

“Fuyuhiko-chan’s timing is even worse than Monomi’s!” Mioda said. “It’s so bad it went out the other end and become his best timing yet!”

“We’ll…explain,” Hinata said. “But what are you doing here?”

Kuzuryuu was silent for a long time. “Who knows,” he said. “Could be the same reason you are. Togami’s cracked, right? And you’re here to replace him. With a lot of yellin’ and screamin’ involved.”

“That’s not what he meant,” Saionji spat. “Why are you here at all? No one wanted to remember you exist!”

Kuzuryuu’s expression, already somber, now grew dark. “That so?” he said, looking at Saionji.

“Is that even a question?” Saionji looked about ready to deck Kuzuryuu, but to Hinata’s surprise Koizumi held her hand firmly. “You threatened Big Sis Koizumi! And then you went and betrayed everyone –”

“Hiyoko-chan…” Koizumi herself was opening and closing her mouth between false starts, and she had fixed Kuzuryuu with a look unlike any Hinata had ever seen on her face before. It occurred to him that this was the first time the two of them had seen each other since the school trial. Everyone else looked on them with caution, but no one looked to interfere yet.

“Yeah, I know, I’ve already been told.” Kuzuryuu shuddered, and then shot a look at Sonia’s shrine. “S’my fault. All of it. Peko dying…oh, and Sonia too while we’re at it. Not to mention Togami and whatever he’s up to. List just goes on and on, huh. All kinds of aches and pains I’m causing.”

“Er…” Hinata couldn’t predict Kuzuryuu’s next move at all. His tone was somewhere between casual and morose, but he almost looked sad since Saionji had spoken. It was nothing like he’d expected and he didn’t really have a rebuttal. “Well…”

“Wait, Kuzuryuu’s responsible?” Souda said from the back of the room. “That doesn’t make any sense –”

“SHUT UP!” Saionji shouted. “Is this all a joke to you? Like it doesn’t matter? It is, isn’t it? I’m not going to let you stand here and mock us!”

“Like it doesn’t matter…” Kuzuryuu shook his head. “No…no, that’s not how it is at all…”

Suddenly Kuzuryuu sunk to the ground, with his head between his knees. Hinata could hardly wonder why before he saw something small and metallic flash in his jacket. It took him a second to register that it was a knife – but before he could yell it slipped through Kuzuryuu’s unmoving fingers, falling to the floor with a clatter.

Hinata hadn’t realized until that moment that Kuzuryuu wasn’t wearing any bandages. His fingers were frozen at odd angles, and it was clear he’d tried to slide some of his rings back over his blisters without success. In a swift move he grabbed for the knife again, trying to hold it, but his fingers refused to open – and the others hardly waited for them to cooperate.

Nidai and Tsumiki were on him in a moment. Nidai grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away from the knife; he struggled at first, but gave up the fight when he saw his efforts weren’t making a difference. Tsumiki ran over and examined his hands.  “I…I told you…” Tsumiki mumbled. “If you use your hands, you’ll just make your injuries worse…”

“I think that’s the last thing we’re concerned about!” Owari shouted. “W-what the hell –!”

“If he was sitting the way he was,” Nanami said quietly, “The only place the knife could go –”

“That wasn’t for any of you,” Kuzuryuu interrupted, apparently not hearing her. “It was for me. Looks like I’ve fucked up my apology, too. Anyone want to help? Koizumi? Saionji? I’m dead serious –”

“Kuzuryuu, enough,” Nidai said, looking scandalized. He said something in a lower tone to Tsumiki, and she nodded in response before turning back to the rest of the group.

“W-we…we…we need to re-bandage his hands,” she said. “Just have the meeting without us!”

There were a few scattered nods, and the three of them headed for the stairs. Hinata was still reeling, and he was sure the rest were too. Saionji was frozen in place, her eyes wide with shock; Koizumi’s head was tilted down, her hair in her face.

Tanaka stormed across the room and down the stairs without a word to anyone. A second later Souda followed – not with any purpose or look of vengeance, but with his head down, as though he were trying not to be seen. Koizumi trembled, then set off herself. She stopped at the head of the stairs to kick the banister, then followed after them with Saionji at her heels.

=====

They couldn’t continue their meeting after that.

After Hinata finished his food he had no reason to stay at the restaurant. Only four people remained – himself, Owari, Mioda, and Nanami – and he made sure to say his goodbyes so it didn’t look like he was storming off too. He didn’t know if they would have cared. None of them looked like they really knew what to do, in the face of…

In the face of all this despair, Hinata thought as he left the lobby. The word felt heavy and unsteady on his mind, but it was the only one he could think to use to describe his own feeling. He couldn’t think of any way to approach any of their problems, and he already felt like he was at the end of his rope. And even then, if they didn’t do anything, any minute someone could…someone could…

“Hajime-chan! Hajime-chan!”

Mioda’s voice came closer with every word, so Hinata was surprised – but only barely – when he turned around and she was directly behind him. “Mioda!” he shouted. “What’s going on?”

“’What’s going on?’ That’s copyright infringement! Playful cluelessness is Ibuki’s endearing character trait!” Hardly, Hinata thought. “Ibuki won’t accept Hajime-chan ACTUALLY forgetting about the master plan!”

“Master plan…?" Hinata said. "Wait, are we still doing that?”

“Huh?” Mioda looked confused. “Why shouldn’t we?”

“I…don’t really think people are in the right mood for it."

“Hmmm, Hajime-chan has much to learn!” Mioda pointed forward and set off for the cottages, leaving Hinata to tag behind her. “This only makes Ibuki’s Master Plan even more vital to everyone’s well-being! You and Ibuki, as caretakers of the plan, have to make sure it goes off without a hitch!”

“I...” Hinata felt more doubtful by the second. “I guess we can see how far we get.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mioda turned and held a stack of papers up to Hinata’s face. “Ibuki has all the invitations ready. We have to slide these under everyone’s doors!”

Hinata squinted to read the bright purple lettering: “Summer Fireworks Festival at the first island beach! Meet Ibuki at the supermarket at 8:00.” He found himself very glad that he’d been able to stop Mioda from putting anything about “the special return of Byakuya-chan” on them. “We’re not going to talk to them in person?” he said.

“Ibuki’s plan is to prevent hasty judgements!” Mioda said. “It’s easy to say no to something that sounds like Ibuki just made it up on the spot, but with an invitation it sounds official and not like a plan thrown together the night before!”

“You did throw it together the night before,” Hinata said.

“But they don’t know that!” Mioda winked. As they talked, passed through the gates of the cottage areas, and stopped at the divide between the boys’ and girls’ sides. “Ho-kay, first up is buh- buh- BAH!”

Mioda swung around to face the boys’ side, and Hinata followed suit when he looked after her. Togami was standing outside Kuzuryuu’s cottage, apparently deep in conversation with Tsumiki. Togami’s back was to them, and he doubted Tsumiki could see over his shoulder, but he could hear their conversation clearly.

“Nidai assisted you, then?” Togami said. “Is he still inside?”

“He left a while ago,” Tsumiki said. “Kuzuryuu-san hasn’t really been a problem, and I said I could take care of him myself…”

“You’re sure, then.” Togami paused. “How is he?”

“I bandaged his hands the best I could, but – ah, t-that’s not what you meant, is it?” Tsumiki appeared to be even more on-edge than usual. “He hasn’t been difficult, but he seems…disappointed. But I don’t know, he hasn’t really been talking to me…”

“I see,” Togami said. “Well…I’d ask to see him, but perhaps this isn’t the time. If you need any help, however, I’m right across the aisle.”

“Are you sure? B-but that’d just be a burden on you –” Tsumiki’s eyes shifted to look at Hinata and Mioda, and she flinched. “Ah! Hinata-san! Mioda-san!”

“What?” Togami turned and looked at them, his eyes wide. “You two –!”

“Byakuya-chan!” Mioda shoved the invitations into Hinata’s hands and rushed for Togami, stopping just short of crashing into him. “I-is this an illusion? Ibuki might be imagining things!” She reached up and poked Togami’s left cheek. “But she’s not! It really is Byakuya-chan!”

“What th – of course I’m not an illusion,” Togami said. He looked startled at Mioda, but regained his composure within a second. “Breakfast is over, then?”

“Uh, yeah,” Hinata said. Togami did, at least, look more composed than he had the previous day, but with Tsumiki and Mioda around he wasn’t sure how much he could say. “We, ah, don’t have a leader yet…”

“I’m aware. I heard about everything from Tsumiki.” Togami inclined his head towards Tsumiki, who reddened, then turned back to them. “It’s…well, I’m sure you will soon enough,” he said tonelessly, before turning his back. “Now, if you don’t mind, I should probably get my own breakfast. I’ve been delayed on that too long.”

“No, wait, not yet!” Mioda rushed out into Togami’s path, blocking his way with her arms outstretched. “Ibuki is on a mission that can even overcome the importance of food!”

Togami hesitated. “I’d love to stay and play with you, Mioda, but there are things I need to accomplish after breakfast and I can’t afford a delay –”

“But Ibuki won’t take more than five seconds!” She pointed two fingers at the sky, then swung around and pointed at Hinata. “My lovely assistant is holding an invitation you need to see! Mikan-chan needs to take one too!”

“Lovely assistant...?!” Hinata tried not to look Togami and Tsumiki in the eye as they took and read the invitations. Togami’s eyes widened considerably; Tsumiki looked startled, but pleased. “A s-summer festival?” she said, squeaking out her words. “R-really? Do we have everything for one?”

“For a true summer festival Ibuki’d need flimsy masks and carnival games to scam little kids out of their money. But there’s definitely yukata and fireworks!” Mioda put her hands on her hips. “Ibuki won’t say attendance is mandatory, she’ll just say that if you don’t come she won’t leave you alone until you do!”

“This is…” Togami stared at the invitation for a moment, then looked up with a confused expression. “Why are you doing this, Mioda?”

“Hmmm? Cause it’d be fun, of course!” Mioda folded her arms. “Building bonds on a summer night is what the Japanese summer festival is all about!”

“So you’ve said. But…” Togami shook his head. “Won’t such an event take up a large amount of the time we have? Don’t we have other things we should be doing?”

Mioda tapped her chin. “Well, we could do anything, really. But even if it wasn’t the right time yesterday, or the day before…Ibuki thinks this is the right thing to do, right now.” She looked up at Togami. “Do you trust Ibuki?”

Togami looked Mioda directly in the eye, and wrinkled his brow, but he didn’t hesitate for long. “I don’t…doubt your thinking.”

This sounded like an uncertain answer to Hinata, but Mioda took it wholeheartedly. “Oooh, I knew it!” she shouted. “So you’re coming?”

“I…” Togami looked over to his side. “Hinata.”

“Eh – huh?”

“Do you agree with her?”

“I mean…” Hinata stopped himself from shrugging - he had to be confident. “Yeah. It sounds like fun.”

“Then I will give it some thought.” Togami’s expression did not change. “You’re…giving those to everyone, aren’t you? Then everyone is able to come to this gathering?”

“I-I’m coming for sure!” Tsumiki piped up. “Ah – do I count?”

“There’s no reason you wouldn’t,” Hinata said before turning back to Togami. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like.”

“Then perhaps it would be…” Togami mumbled so softly that Hinata could hardly hear him, but spoke up again when he realized Hianta was listening. “No, I’ll consider that later. I’ve delayed breakfast too long."

“Ooo-kay!” Mioda stepped to the side, and Togami passed her without looking at her. “Eat your breakfast, Byakuya-chan! Remember, supermarket! Eight o’clock!”

Togami did not answer – he was already almost out of sight by the time Mioda was done speaking. Mioda didn’t look fazed, however – she turned to Hinata with a grin. “Ah, Byakuya-chan,” she said. “Ibuki hates to see him leave but she loves to see him go. And she’ll see him tonight for sure!”

“Er, okay,” Hinata said. “Are you…really that sure?”

“Maybe Ibuki is, maybe Ibuki isn’t.” Mioda rubbed her chin. “But Ibuki can hope harder than anyone has ever hoped!”

=====

The morning preparations for the party didn’t take long at all. Tsumiki asked them for Kuzuryuu’s invitation and took it back into the cottage with her, and they divided up the rest and slid them under everyone’s doors. From there all that remained was gathering the crowd, changing into yukata at the supermarket, and taking the fireworks to the beach. This didn’t have to be done for quite a long time, so they split up for the day, leaving Hinata to his own devices.

His afternoon was relatively uneventful. He spent most of it walking around the islands, looking for people to pass the time with, but there were very few to be found. Saionji shooed him away from the Chandler Beach house, Nanami seemed spacier than usual, and though he did find Nidai and Owari by the airport they looked to be deep in an intense conversation, and Hinata wasn’t keen on interrupting them. Monobear popped up around four o’clock, taunting him about his victories, but he didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know. He couldn’t find Togami, or any of the others that had disappeared after breakfast.

Mioda had asked him to meet her back at the supermarket half an hour ahead of time, so at seven-thirty he arrived. He found Mioda leaning against a SPAM display, her arms folded and a grin on her face. “Hajime-chan,” she said, in a low, triumphant tone. “Hajime-chan, Hajime-chan, Hajime-chan.”

“Yeah, uh, hello to you too.” Hinata always felt odd answering Mioda’s overly informal addresses. He saw she’d already changed into a yukata – it was a dull-pink color, and fairly basic looking. “Wait, where’d you find those? I’ve never seen them in here.”

“In the clothing section, but Ibuki put them on a rack by the bathrooms for easy changing purposes! They’re nothing super special, but they have one for each of us. They even all have our names on the collar. That’s what Ibuki calls a convenience store!” Mioda pointed towards the bathrooms. “Ibuki even put yours near the front!”

Hinata turned, saw the yukata racks, and balked. “Wait, wait, wait,” he said. “I never said anything about wearing a yukata –”

“If you’re coming to the party, you’re wearing a yukata!” Mioda interrupted. “Ibuki’s plan is very specific! It’s a summer festival, so there have to be yukata! No exceptions!”

“But that’s not –” Hinata stopped in his tracks – he knew from the look on Mioda’s face that he didn’t stand a chance against her. “Alright, alright. I’ll wear it over my clothes.”

“Grr, that’s a major technicality…but Ibuki’ll let it by. Now change! There’s not a moment to lose!”

But we still have half an hour, Hinata thought, though he didn’t dare say it. Instead he moved to the back of the supermarket, where the yukata racks sat. He located HAJIME HINATA right behind BYAKUYA TOGAMI, took it off its hanger, and pulled it on. Though he left it untied, it felt like a perfect fit.

He was about to turn back when he happened to look up at the next yukata, and did a double take at its label: NAGITO KOMAEDA. He was half-sure he could see a shorter, stouter one behind it, one that looked like it might have fit TERUTERU HANAMURA. A chill ran down his spine at the sight of them – but before he could process it he picked them both off the rack and shoved them into the nearby wetsuit display. He did the same with PEKO PEKOYAMA and SONIA NEVERMIND, wondering vaguely why Mioda hadn’t done this herself.

A loud grunting noise snapped him back to reality; he turned to see Mioda struggling to carry several boxes of fireworks to the front of the store. Immediately he moved to help her out, despite her insistence that she could absolutely take seven at a time, and before long they were surrounded by what looked like the store’s entire stock. “This looks like more than enough,” he commented. “So, should I take these to the beach?”

“As quick as you can,” Mioda said. “Ibuki needs to stay and greet our guests, but we can’t have them go expecting fireworks and have to wait for them to be set up!”

“Speaking of guests, did anyone tell you whether they were coming?” Hinata said, picking up two boxes. “No one said anything to me about it.”

Mioda’s grin faltered slightly. “Ibuki’s human contact’s been pretty small today, but we do have Chiaki-chan and Mikan-chan! The others are a mystery, and Ibuki hasn’t even seen Byakuya-chan since after breakfast. Gnnn, the anticipation’s too much!”

Hinata didn’t really want to see what would happen if Togami happened not to show up. “Well, I’d hope he comes, anyway,” he said.

“Of course he will!” Mioda said. “We hardly need to hope! But there’s still half an hour to go, and if Ibuki keeps being stuck between knowing and not knowing-”

A bell tone sounded, interrupting Mioda. Hinata looked up to see the glass front doors sliding shut – and Togami standing in front of them. He turned his head from left to right, then faced them directly, looking suddenly surprised at the sight of them.

Hinata was fairly certain he looked just as surprised. “Togami?” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” Togami said, but before Hinata could respond Mioda preempted him. “N-no way – that’s just supernatural! Byakuya-chan really is a ghost! But that doesn’t matter right now!” She shot past Hinata, again coming to a stop in front of Togami. “You came! But you’re way too super early!”

“Early? Absolutely not. To come this early would be ridiculous. I’m…here on unrelated business. I wasn’t expecting this to already be underway.” Togami crossed his arms, and turned away from Mioda, looking rather more awkward than usual, by Hinata’s estimation. “But if you expect me later, would you rather I leave for now?”

“No! No way!” Mioda pumped her arms rapidly up and down. “Earliness is next to godliness, that’s Ibuki’s motto! In fact, we can even move up the time, so that everyone else is late! I’ll even make it explicitly clear-”

“That’s not necessary, Mioda.” Togami put a hand to his chin, and furrowed his brow for a moment. “You mentioned yukata earlier. Given your own I assume you’re distributing them here.”

“Oh – yeah! By the bathrooms, in fact!” Mioda made a swirling motion with her arms and pointed back to the racks. “Byakuya-chan’s is right up front!”

“Then I will put it on this instant.” He started for the bathrooms, then stopped and turned to look at Hinata. “You haven’t tied yours, Hinata,” he said.

“I…didn’t really intend to,” Hinata said.

“Do you not know how?” An odd look came over Togami’s face. “You cross one part over your shoulder, wrap the other part around, and tie the ends.”

“I’m fine, really." Hinata grimaced.

“Very well.” Togami kept going, stopping only to pick up his yukata before closing the bathroom door. For a second there was silence in the supermarket – then Hinata noticed that Mioda was making a kind of keeing sound, and watching the bathroom door intently.

“Are you…okay?” he said.

“Does Hajime-chan really not know?” Mioda grinned, and shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet. “An extremely vital moment is coming! Ibuki has to be prepared!”

It didn’t take long for the penny to drop for him. “Wait, don’t tell me –”

“Ibuki’s plan is full of little surprises,” Mioda said with a wink, “but it’s only one vital moment of what could be many! Example one! Hajime-chan knows that thing boys do where they stretch and then their shirt rides up so you can see their stomach, right?”

Hinata’s eyes went wide. “That’s…a thing?”

“An extremely important thing!” Mioda said. “But while the tucked-in dress shirt is perfect in every other way, its strength is legendary! And a yukata has no division between top and bottom at all…hmmmm, Ibuki’s going to need a new plan with new surprises…”

Why am I hearing about this? Hinata thought – but before he could say anything, the bathroom door opened. Togami stood in the doorway for a moment, looking back – into the mirror, Hinata presumed – before he stepped out, holding his folded day clothes under one arm. Hinata didn’t see anything particularly striking about what he was wearing – it was the same kind of yukata he was in, albeit much larger and tied properly – but Mioda’s jaw dropped open, and she clutched her cheeks in her hands and froze, her eyes wide.

Togami started in their direction, but saw Mioda about halfway to the front and stopped, giving her an odd look. “Mioda? What are you doing?”

Mioda shook her head, her mouth still open – which only confused Togami more. “If this is a game of some kind –”

Mioda snapped her hands off her cheeks and took a loud gulp of air. “Ibuki wanted to answer Byakuya-chan but Ibuki saw something amazing and she was struck speechless for thirty whole seconds!” she said in one breath.

Togami stiffened, looking back and forth between Mioda and Hinata. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about –”

“And now she’s filled with the opposite feeling! She wants to yell and yell about the amazing things she’s seen!”

“T-that isn’t necessary, Mioda –”

“And Ibuki isn’t saying this is related to any of that, but Byakuya-chan’s yukata suits him perfectly!” Mioda pointed straight forward at Togami. “Ibuki never had a doubt, of course, but the actual results are beyond anything she could’ve –”

“Mioda, I’ve finished my business here,” Togami said rapidly, turning his back. “If the beach is where you’ll be directing us, then I’ll go ahead.”

Mioda’s smile faltered; she relaxed her arms, and gave Togami a worried look that he couldn’t see. Hinata watched as Togami headed for the door. His shoulders were hunched, or so Hinata thought, and he seemed oddly melancholy. Hinata was feeling more and more like an intruder on the scene. Awkwardly, he bent down to grab another box of fireworks.

“Hey,” Mioda said suddenly, prompting Togami to turn around. “If Byakuya-chan’s ever not having fun, let Ibuki know, okay?” She grinned. “And Ibuki’ll change whatever it is!”

Togami looked surprised – for a moment Hinata thought he saw him smile, but so briefly he wasn’t sure he’d seen it at all. “I’ll expect you to keep your word,” he said. “I’ll see you later, Mioda.”

“Yes you will!” Mioda said, looking somewhat more buoyant. “When everyone’s been greeted and changed, the real fun begins!”

“Indeed.” Togami looked away again, then, as if as an afterthought, turned back. “I assume you were about to leave, Hinata?”

“Yeah, I was just bringing the fireworks –” Before Hinata could finish, Togami bent to pick up the remaining boxes, stood back up, and marched out of the supermarket, leaving Hinata to catch up with him.

=====

“You really didn’t need to carry those,” Hinata shouted, panting between words. “I could’ve made two trips.”

“That’s a completely foolish insistence to make. Two sets of hands make the job easier. It’s common sense.” Togami’s arms were piled so high that Hinata was surprised he could see in front of them. “But it’s exactly the kind of overestimation I’d expect from you.”

“What? No, that’s not it at all.” Hinata sped to keep pace with Togami – he hadn’t quite kept up his sprint, but he was still going forward at a fairly steady clip, and they were already almost to the beach. “It’s just that Mioda told me to do this, not you.”

“And what difference does that make?” Togami lowered his arms slightly, looking out at the sandy expanse in front of him. “This argument is irrelevant. We’re almost there. Was there any spot you had in mind for these?”

“Wherever I can put them down,” Hinata said. “These things are heavy.”

Togami nodded, but did not respond. They set the fireworks down some distance from the path, but still close enough that Hinata didn’t feel completely winded.  Looking back he saw no one else around – no other students, no Monobear or Monomi, nothing but the stars in the sky and the faint purple glow of the sun disappearing over the horizon.

Togami crouched to take the fireworks out of one box. Hinata wasn’t surprised, but he wasn’t sure this was something he should be doing. “Really, I can set those up,” he said. “You don’t have to.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t.” Togami moved to place the first firework on the beach, and then started assembling the next. “I don’t understand why you keep insisting otherwise, unless Mioda’s word was that specific.”

“Well, you’re our guest,” Hinata said quickly. “That’s really all it is.”

Togami paused, absently tapping the firework rocket he was about to place. “I shouldn’t be,” he said. “This party shouldn’t have to be necessary at all.”

Hinata felt a sharp, stiff feeling in his stomach. “Wait, no, that’s not what I –”

“No,” Togami interrupted. “Don’t try to say anything. Just forget it.”

“But –”

“I said forget it, Hinata.” Togami placed the firework down, but did not move to pick up another. “I said nothing you had any reason to hear.”

He continued his work in silence. Hinata picked up another firework, but couldn’t think to place it – a hundred things to say were swarming in his head, and he couldn’t decide which one to use, if he used any at all. “Look,” he started saying before he could stop himself, “It’s not like I think any less of you or anything. So –”

“That’s not what I meant.” Togami did not continue for some time. “The things I said yesterday, and again just now…you and Mioda were right about them. I was being unreasonable. And going back to them is only going to put me back where I was. I have to confront things as they are.” He turned to face Hinata, tapping faster and faster. “Hinata, from your position among the others, tell me truthfully. When I see them in a few moments, will they think there’s anything I can still do for them?”

Hinata knew in an instant how general this question was. He remembered the anger in Koizumi’s eyes, the hope and enthusiasm in Mioda’s, and then the others, mired in their own emotions, their own despair. He remembered how things were, and what they’d become, and everything that had led from the past to the present. Then he stopped thinking of the others – his own answer, he knew, would work better than trying to guess anyone else’s.

“You’re still alive,” he said. “And you have determination. We’ve all seen the things you can do. And as long as you’re alive, you can still make new ideas, and work with the rest of us.” Hinata shrugged – he felt he was repeating his ideas too much. “Because, no matter what, you’re one of us. No one’s given up on you, if that’s what you think.”

“That’s…that’s an interesting possibility, Hinata.” Togami moved away from the other fireworks, setting the one he’d been tapping far closer to the water. “No matter what they may think…I suppose I could hold that as true.” He chuckled. “I could even make it so. Byakuya Togami can direct events in just such a direction if he wishes.”

“I know that much,” Hinata said. Odd as Togami’s pronouncements often were, it was a good sign, in Hinata’s estimation, to be hearing them again. For a second he considered asking Togami what Nanami had talked to him about, but before he could second-guess the idea, Togami turned his head towards the path. “I can hear voices up ahead,” he said. “The others must be coming.”

Chapter Text

Not long after Togami had heard their voices, Koizumi and Saionji entered the beach in silence. Saionji was in her usual kimono – Hinata supposed she’d had no need to change into another – but Koizumi wore a yukata roughly the same as Mioda’s, though she still carried her camera across her shoulder.

They stopped several feet from Togami and Hinata, but they didn’t move or turn in their direction. Hinata felt the best course of action was to make them think he thought they were lost. “Koizumi! Saionji!” He waved his hand above his head. “Over here!”

“Hinata...” Koizumi stopped, and then continued more slowly, closely followed by Saionji. Hinata couldn’t tell whether he was seeing tension or simply curiosity in her expression.

She approached without giving Togami any notice. “I thought you’d be closer to the path, but this’ll do, I guess,” she said. “Are you almost do –”

“Well, hey, it’s Mr. Porkfeet!” Hinata turned to find Saionji’s full attention had been trained on Togami from the start. “Golly gee, I had absolutely no idea you’d ever come out of your pigpen! Big Sis Mioda totally didn’t go on and on about it!”

“Saionji…” For a moment a sort of intense apprehension crossed Togami’s face – but then he chuckled. “Mioda intended for all of us to attend. I don’t see why you should expect otherwise.”

“Oh, wow, you’re right!” Saionji threw her hands in the air. “There’s no reason I should be surprised to see you at all! Come on, name one, I bet you can’t –”

“We should go sit down, Hiyoko-chan.” Koizumi looked out at the firework stands. “Where did Ibuki-chan want us?”

“She didn’t really say anything about that,” Hinata said, clenching his teeth. “Anywhere, I guess.”

“You might want to sit some distance away,” Togami interrupted. “The fireworks would be going off right here.”

“I knew that,” Koizumi said without looking back. 

“I’d imagine you did.” Togami nodded. “Hello, Koizumi.”

“Hello.” Koizumi looked briefly at Togami, then took Saionji’s hand and led her to a nearby palm tree, where they sat and turned their attention to each other. Out of the corner of his eye Hinata saw Togami take a deep breath. “We should finish this before too many others come,” he said.

“Right.” Hinata reached into the box and pulled out the next firework. He was a bit unnerved by the exchange – but, in the context of everything that had happened, it was at least conciliatory, if not entirely civil. It was proof, at least, that they were trying not to fight.

Tsumiki arrived several minutes later, with only a brief greeting and a gesture of excitement about the fireworks as her fanfare – an understandable move, as she’d already seen Togami that morning. She attempted to join Koizumi and Saionji, but after a rebuff she sat closer to Togami and Hinata, though she chose to stare and shiver rather than to dare initiate conversation.

There was silence for a time, only broken when Hinata half-overheard Koizumi and Saionji talking to each other, before they heard more voices from behind them. Hinata turned to see Nanami standing at the top of the path, apparently talking to a palm tree. He was thinking this was a bit too quirky, even for her, when Souda stepped out from behind the tree. Nanami spoke a little longer, then started down the path; Souda trailed behind her at first, then straightened his posture and pushed ahead.

“Hey, guys!” he said with a burst of energy. Tsumiki, Hinata, and Togami returned the greeting, but Saionji scowled and Koizumi turned her head away. Souda made a pained show of ignoring them and headed over to the fireworks; Nanami followed behind him more slowly.

“Well, look at that!” he said as he approached. “I didn’t even know we had all this stuff!”

“Yeah, uh, me neither,” Hinata said. “But I wouldn’t really be surprised at anything the supermarket has at this point...”

“Right, right.” Souda put his hands on his hips and bounced awkwardly on the balls of his feet. He gave Togami a glance, looked away, then looked back again. “Sooo, Togami! S’been a while!”

“It certainly has been.” Togami chuckled again, but Hinata could tell he was still on his guard. “You’re…looking well.”

“Really? Huh, how about that.” Souda looked distracted for a second, but regained himself quickly. “So, are you thinking of being the leader again at all? Cause there’s something –”

“I’m not in a position to talk about that at the moment,” Togami said. “This is neither the time nor the place.”

“Oh, right. I get it, I get it.” Souda shrugged. “Mioda said something about that, right? ‘Bout this being a time to relax. That’s probably not such a bad thing.” His gaze trailed to the side. “Yeah… not such a bad thing…unless…no, no, it’s not…”

“Souda?” Hinata said, but Souda didn’t respond right away – he looked over at the beach, where the others sat, then back at Nanami, who had just approached. “I’ll see you guys later,” he mumbled, before going to join the rest.

“I’ll join you in a minute, Souda-kun,” Nanami said, though Souda didn’t appear to hear her. She looked after him for a moment, then turned back to the others. “Good evening, Hinata-kun, Togami-kun.”

“Evening,” Hinata said quickly. He was hyper-aware now of every move either of the others made – Nanami was the picture of calm, but Togami’s shoulders had tensed considerably, and for a moment he almost looked afraid.

“Nanami,” Togami said. “Good evening.”

Nanami nodded and smiled at Togami, holding the look perhaps a second too long, then looked behind her, over at the others. Hinata found his eye drawn to the fan she was holding to her chest. “I wonder how many people are coming,” she said. “I can’t remember how long it’s been since we’ve all been together.”

“I…don’t think we’ve all been together since the trial,” Hinata realized as he spoke.  

“On that note,” Togami said, “why was Souda behind that tree? You were talking to him up there. He must have told you.”

“I did, but he didn’t,” Nanami said, without turning back. “But if I were to guess…I’d say he might have been afraid to go alone."

Because of Tanaka? Hinata thought, but Nanami spoke before he could make a fool of himself. “But it’ll be fine. I’m sure.” She blinked, then pouted. “I’m giving up an entire evening of video games for this, so it better be.”

Hinata started. “Er –”

“I was joking,” Nanami said almost immediately. “You looked tense, so I was trying to make you laugh.”

“Well, okay, but –” Hinata re-thought his reaction half-way through, and choked out a few laughs. Nanami chuckled; whether at him or her own joke, he did not know. “I’ll see you when you’re done,” she said, smiling in Togami’s direction, then turned again to join the rest.

There were only a few fireworks left to set up. As Hinata took the next, he happened to look back at the group. Koizumi and Saionji were still only talking to each other, but Souda was lecturing wildly at Tsumiki and Nanami, who were listening with what looked like rapt attention.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Togami looking in the same direction.  He stood still for a moment, his face invisible to Hinata, but as he started to turn back to the fireworks Hinata knew he had to act fast.

“You can join them if you want,” he said. “There’s not that many left.”

Togami stopped his stride halfway, his face silhouetted in the last of the setting sun. “Join them,” he said. “Just to talk, then.”

Hinata couldn’t tell whether or not this was a question. “That’s what they’re doing,” he said.

“You’re sure,” Togami said.

“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t,” Hinata said.

Togami did not move for several seconds. Then his arms tensed, then relaxed, and he turned away from Hinata, looking towards the others.  “I’ll leave you to your work, then,” he said, before he moved away across the beach.

Hinata couldn’t go back to his work right away. He watched Togami approach the group and sit near its edge, relatively close to Nanami. He couldn’t hear their conversations, but he saw Nanami and Souda greet him directly, while the others looked on - some, like Tsumiki, with only a glance, others, like Koizumi, for a long time, though they didn’t quite approach the point of conversation. In any other situation there might have been shouting, there might have been demands and accusations, things might have picked up where yesterday had left off – but there was something different in the air tonight, something checking and tempering the others, if only for a moment.  Hinata found himself wondering if Mioda had created this, or if they had, by accident, come up with it themselves.

Nidai and Owari arrived as Hinata was finishing up. They spent a moment standing some distance from the group, speaking to each other in low tones, before they made a more boisterous entrance and joined Nanami and Togami. Not counting Mioda, only Tanaka and Kuzuryuu were missing now. Hinata didn’t know where they were, or if Mioda would let them go without a fight –

Hinata heard a rustling sound behind his ear, and turned to see one of the palm trees behind him shaking. It was the signal Mioda had set up for him – but he was surprised to see it when not everyone was there. Are they really not coming? Hinata thought, but he didn’t have the opportunity to ask questions. He rushed to the back of the firework setup, supermarket lighter in hand –  

But before he could get into position, an overpoweringly loud guitar chord shook the beach without warning. Mioda leapt out from behind the tree, ran across the beach, and skidded on one knee to the front of the group, sending sand flying all around her. She held an electric guitar high above her head, and had a mini-microphone clipped to the front of her yukata.

“Thanks for coming this evening!” Mioda’s microphone squealed loudly, but she spoke right through the noise. “The name’s Ibuki Mioda! One time when Ibuki was little she threw a firework into the neighbor’s bush and no one ever knew it was her! But even now Ibuki can’t walk past there for fear of curses!”

Everyone had put their hands up to their ears to cut the microphone squeal, but as it faded they lifted them off, cautiously. “Wait…what?” Souda said. “You’re playing us a song? What does that story have to do with that?”

“There isn’t usually this kind of music at a summer festival,” Nidai said, stroking his chin as he brushed excess sand off the side of his yukata, “but the drive to create a fusion of tradition is truly admirable!”

“Exactly! Ibuki’s been so desperate for a captive audience that her summer festival idea came with an ulterior motive!” Mioda positioned her fingers on the frets and placed her pick at the first note. “With choreography by my assistant Hajime-chan, Ibuki presents a special song to lift everyone’s spirits! It’s called, “Congratulations On That Baby, But Who The Hell’s The Dad!””

“Wait, what?” Hinata said, but his was the only comment that could be heard before another guitar chord hit his eardrums, followed by a loud, unholy scream. He could hardly call what followed a song – and even if he could have distinguished the lyrics he wasn’t sure he would’ve wanted to. Mioda had told him his cues earlier – set off the first firework in the middle of the first verse, then two at each chorus, and three at the end – but he could hardly distinguish what was what. So the first fireworks of the night were several beats off cue and largely unnoticed, as far as Hinata could tell from everyone’s horrified expressions.

After an age the song ended, and Mioda took a bow, brilliantly backlit by the fireworks above. Saionji clapped and cheered, and Koizumi faked a grin, but most everyone else looked like they’d had a heart attack. Even through the ringing in his ears Hinata could still hear Souda begging her to make it stop, though he was hardly heard over Mioda’s magnified cheers.

He shook his head to clear it, and wandered closer to the rest of the group. Nanami and Tsumiki were talking in an undertone to each other – Hinata caught something about “creative differences” as he approached them. As they greeted him Hinata happened to see Togami out of the corner of his eye; with a double-take he saw that he was staring at Mioda, slack-jawed. “Togami?” he said, but Togami did not appear to hear him.

“Alright, it’s time for the next song!” Mioda yelled into her microphone. “It’s called, “You Are Cute And I Am Angry!” Ibuki wrote it because cute people are the bane of her existence, and –”

“NOOOO!” Souda shouted. “NO - MORE - SONGS!”

“It…might be better if we did things more like a traditional summer festival from here, Ibuki-chan,” Koizumi said. “I think our ears need a little time to recover…”

“Hm…a compelling argument! If Ibuki’s friends have sensitive ears there’s only so much of Ibuki’s music they can hear!” Mioda removed her microphone, pulled her guitar off her shoulders, and set them both in the boxes the fireworks had come in. “Instead they’ll only hear the boom-boom-boom of the fireworks and their own beating hearts! Case in point…”

Mioda set her eye immediately on Togami, and in a flash she seated herself next to him, so close their thighs were practically touching. “Byakuya-chaan!” she singsonged. “Did you like Ibuki’s song? Hmmm?”

Togami had clamped his jaw shut, but as far as Hinata could tell he still looked mortified. “So that’s punk rock, then,” he said.

“In the flesh!” Mioda rocked back and forth where she sat. “C’mon, answer Ibuki’s question!”

“Well…your performance was very passionate,” Togami said, in a halting, subdued tone. “And energetic, that’s another word for it.”

“Energetic is everything Ibuki strives to be!” Mioda gleefully folded her arms. “And the passion she’ll put into her next song is guaranteed to –”

“Hey, Big Bro Hinata!” Saionji shouted. “I thought we were here to see fireworks!”

Mioda hadn’t stopped speaking over the interruption, but Hinata got the point well enough. “Alright, alright, just a minute,” he said, then excused himself from Tsumiki and Nanami and headed back to the firework setup. He had about enough to last him half an hour; he lit three with the lighter, then stood back, waited a moment, and went to light some more.

Even though they weren’t the first fireworks of the night, the charges still went up with a collective “Ooooooh!”, and exploded to laughter and cheers. “TAMAYAAAAA!” Nidai roared over everyone else, and after another burst he yelled it again. Saionji, Mioda, and Owari followed his lead, and Koizumi and Nanami stood from their seats to get a better look.

From what Hinata could see as he went about his work, they were, if not always transfixed, at least enjoying themselves, and he was able to catch smiles on everyone’s faces at least once. Tsumiki was consistently in awe, and Owari’s shouting kept perfect pace with Nidai’s. Togami never moved from his seat, and while Hinata couldn’t tell his expression, he hadn’t once taken his eyes off the sky.  Mioda was just as still, though her gaze was moving all over. She was speaking in a steady stream, to which Togami occasionally nodded in response.

About five minutes into the performance, Hinata happened to see a dark shape at the top of the path; the next time he looked back Tanaka was on the beach, seated some distance from the group. He was in his usual day clothing, rather than a yukata, and sat with his legs and arms crossed, the Four Dark Gods of Destruction peering skyward from his shoulders. Hinata could swear Owari had called out to him, but he did not respond to her, or to anyone, if anyone else had tried to interact with him.

Some minutes later Nidai tapped Hinata on the shoulder and offered to take over for him, so that he could enjoy the fireworks himself. Hinata graciously accepted the offer, and headed to join the rest of the group. Owari, on seeing him, waved and patted the space next to her, which wasn’t far from Mioda and Togami. “Hey, there he is!” she yelled. “Hinata! Over here!”

Feeling his spirits lift somewhat higher than before, he ran over to his seat, holding the sides of his yukata as he went. Mioda waved and yelled enthusiastically at him as he sat down, while Togami took his eyes off the sky to give him a nod. “Hinata,” he said.

“Togami, hey.” Hinata took his seat next to Owari, pulling his knees up to his chest. The sky was empty for the moment, as Nidai was only just lighting the next rockets. “I haven’t had the chance to look yet. How’s it been?”

“Hajime-chan’s skill at setting things on fire surpasses even Ibuki’s,” Mioda said. “In fact, you’re way overqualified. You’re fired.”

“Setting things on fire is hardly a skill, Mioda. But I understand your point.” Togami folded his arms, but smirked. “You’ve performed acceptably, Hinata.”

“Acceptably, huh…?” Hinata smiled to himself. In truth, he hadn’t had any notion that he had any skill to be noticed. “That’s good, then. That’s good.”

He looked out across the semicircle, which had gotten somewhat tighter since the last time he’d looked. Saionji, evidently bored with the lull in the fireworks, had broken off from Koizumi and was now pulling at Tsumiki’s hair, laughing as she cried. Nanami was comforting Tsumiki as Koizumi attempted to pull Saionji away, but she couldn’t break Saionji’s grip, which was only making things worse for Tsumiki. Souda perked up briefly to notice and greet Hinata, then withdrew again still and silent. Even from a distance he could see him look back and forth at Tanaka, who still hadn’t moved an inch, as though he couldn’t decide which way he actually wanted to look.

“You look pretty worn out,” Owari said from beside him. “If you need to, you could use my boobs as a pillow!”

Hinata froze. “I-I-I’ll pass. I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Owari folded her arms under her chest. “They’re right here if you change your mind!”

“Really, I’ll pass,” Hinata said as quickly as he could.

“Tsk, tsk, Hajime-chan’s way too innocent, isn’t he? He hardly knows the comforts he’s giving up!” Mioda took a brief look at Togami, and a mischievous smile spread across her face. “Hmmm, but maybe he can follow Ibuki’s example…”

Mioda pulled herself closer to Togami, and Hinata noticed that, while she’d been speaking, she’d put her arm as far around Togami’s waist as it could reach. She playfully tapped his stomach, alerting him to her presence – and the look of surprise that crossed Togami’s face was beyond anything Hinata had ever caught him capable of. “Wh –” he tried to say, but he was stuck for a moment, frozen under Mioda’s grin, before he could finish, his voice unnaturally calm. “What are you doing?”

“Nooothiiing,” Mioda said, but she was clearly doing something – she inclined her body towards Togami’s, moving onto her side, and slid her left arm around the front of his body, hugging his middle. Then, her position secured, she moved her head forward, aiming to rest it just below his collarbone –

But Togami moved quickly, catching her shoulder before she could go any further. Mioda’s eyes went wide, and immediately she tried to pull back, but Togami’s hold prevented her from going far. For a moment he looked agitated – but then he relaxed, and removed his hand. “Mioda,” he said, “how sharp are those spikes?”

“Huh…?” Mioda tapped one of the spikes. “Sharp enough to stick through Ibuki’s whole ear! Why?”

“If you must do what it is you’re doing,” Togami said, speaking through gritted teeth, “then I’d prefer you removed them.”

“Oh – right, right!” Mioda moved back and pushed the spike out with her finger. “Removing, Ibuki’s removing…”

“I see. Thank you.”  Togami faced forward again. “I know it’s not what you intended. But I’m sure you understand.”

“Ibuki knows, Ibuki understands!” Mioda moved swiftly up her ear, leaving oddly macabre little holes behind. “Stabbing Byakuya-chan is the last thing Ibuki wants to do –”

“I prefer if it weren’t the case,” Togami interrupted. “Those spikes…I’ve never seen anything like them on anyone else. They must be very important to you.”

“Important…?” Mioda cupped the spikes in her left hand, then picked one up with her right, studying it as though she were seeing it for the first time. “They’re…cool, and all,” she said, “but they’re only a tiny part of what makes a full and vital Ibuki –”

“That’s true. But everything that you consider important to your understanding of yourself…each part of that works as hard as every other.” A sudden softness had entered Togami’s voice, and he looked rather distracted, focusing neither on Mioda nor on the fireworks. “You have a unique and valuable identity, Mioda. I would advise you never to let go of it.”

Hinata was surprised enough to hear Togami say this himself. But Mioda, for the first time in Hinata’s memory, was struck speechless – not as a put-on, like earlier in the supermarket, but sincerely wide-eyed and awestruck. It was a moment before she could move again – she moved her arm quickly up to her forehead, saluting him. “Ibuki promises!” she shouted.

“Heh...very well.” Togami straightened again, folding his arms across his chest. He gave Mioda a nod, which she returned, and soon enough she was back in the position she’d taken before, though this time she rested her head in its intended spot. A soft smile spread across her face, and he met it with another look of curiosity, though he otherwise remained still.

“Well, well, look at that.” Hinata tensed at the sound of Owari’s voice – he’d almost forgotten that she was watching, too. “I didn’t think she’d get that far that fast, did you?”

Hinata looked over at Togami, sure he’d heard, but he didn’t appear to be paying anyone else any attention, so he turned back. “I…wasn’t thinking anything like that at all,” he said as low as he could. “That’s Togami’s business, not mine.”

“Really? But I thought you guys were like this.” Owari twisted her pointer and middle fingers together. “Don’t friends always get in each other’s business?”

“Well…sometimes, not always,” Hinata said. “And even if I did, I don’t know if I’d just be talking about it.”

“Fine, fine.” Owari stretched her arms behind her head, grunting as she went. “It’s just kind of…cute for old man Togami, don’t you think? All that touchy-feely stuff…and he’s been like that all night, too.  He hasn’t really been himself since the second trial –”

Hinata saw a swift movement in his peripheral vision – Togami was looking straight at them, his eyes wide. It took all of Hinata’s willpower not to look. “But maybe that’s just me,” Owari went on. “Maybe he’s been like this the whole time.”

My guess is as good as yours, Hinata thought, but he only shrugged in response. Togami stared for another second, then faced away, exhaling deeply.

“Yeah, maybe.” Owari looked back up at the fireworks, then down and around the beach. Hinata was just about to turn away when she beckoned him closer with her hand. “Hey,” she whispered, “do you think if I waited until his back was turned, I could get out of here before old man Nidai sees me?”

This was the last thing Hinata had expected her to say. “Uh, why?”

“No reason, just asking.” Owari looked back at the path and tapping her fingers against her arms. “Yes or no, come on.”

“Well, I don’t know,” Hinata said. “What are you even thinking of doing -”

“The old man's been riding my ass for days,” Owari interrupted. “And all because he thinks he knows better than I do about everything...that just means he thinks I can’t win, doesn’t it? And why should he think that? When have I ever lost a fight?”

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about at all,” Hinata said. “What do you mean, “lost a fight”? Who are you fighting?”

“That’s…” Owari scowled for a second, then suddenly swapped it for a grin. “No one! Never mind.”

“Wait, what?” Hinata gave her an incredulous look. “You can’t just bring that up and then-”

“Never mind,” Owari said, standing and arching her back. “I’m gonna go stretch my legs. I’ll be back in like a second. Probably. No, definitely.”

You’d better be sure about that, Hinata thought, but only nodded up at her as she left – she did stay close, but he could see Nidai keeping a close watch on her, despite his own duties. He couldn’t think of a reason for it – something personal between them, likely as not. If Owari wasn’t going to give him the details, then there wasn’t any reason he should dwell on it.

Saionji had given up on Tsumiki in the meantime. She’d moved on to Souda, and was kicking sand into his lap. Koizumi wasn’t trying to stop her at all – she was standing alone at the edge of the semicircle, looking from one group to the other. Tsumiki and Nanami had finally approached Tanaka, and were seated on either side of him – and given the choice between Tanaka, Souda, and Togami, she opted for Hinata.

She sat in Owari’s place, folding her knees up to her chest. “Hinata,” she said.

“Uh, Koizumi,” Hinata said. “Hey. How’s…the fireworks?”

“Good. They’re good.” Koizumi furrowed her brow at Hinata, then looked up at a particularly large burst. “No, no…that’s not doing it justice. Ibuki-chan put this all together so we’d enjoy it. We should be making that effort, for her sake.”

Hinata could easily have mentioned that he was the one that did most of the setup, but it wasn’t an argument that needed to be had, especially not now. Despite her weak smile Koizumi looked distressed, and it was that distress that made him even more aware of his position as a last resort. “I mean, you don’t have to,” he said. “She’s not really forcing you.”

Koizumi did not directly reply. Instead she looked past him, out into the ocean. “Sonia-chan would have loved this,” she said. “She would have been so excited about the yukata, and the fireworks. And Peko-chan, she would’ve looked so lovely…” She sighed. “No. Forget I said anything.”

“Koizumi…” Hinata’s tongue and brain felt like lead. “Yeah. That’s true.”

“I thought I told you to forget it. Just because I said something doesn’t mean I wanted a response.” Koizumi’s face was hard and solemn.

“Alright,” Hinata said, but they weren’t silent for long.

“It wouldn’t just be them,” Koizumi said. “Everyone…we’d all be enjoying the fireworks together.”

Hinata looked around at everyone again. One way or another, despite the separation, they all seemed to be having some kind of fun. “I thought we were,” he said.

“It’s not going to solve anything,” Koizumi said. “It’s not going to make us a team.”

“Well, I know it’s not perfect, but…”

“Never mind. Just forget everything I said.” Koizumi stood again, adjusting the strap on her camera. “Have fun over here –”

“Wait, hold on!” Hinata stood up after her, stumbling slightly in the sand – the sight of her camera had given him an idea. “I just noticed – you haven’t taken any pictures yet.”

Koizumi looked down at her camera, surprised. “No, I haven’t. Why?”

“Well, it is kind of a special event,” Hinata said. “Some pictures of everyone together would be nice - especially from a Super High School Level Photographer. Right?”

“Well…” Koizumi hesitated in answering, but she still picked up her camera and held it carefully in both hands. “That is what I brought it for, but…yeah. Now might be a good time to start.”

“See?” Hinata said. “I’m sure everyone’ll appreciate it-”

“Just sit down and act natural if you can,” Koizumi interrupted – but she didn’t sound quite as stern as Hinata was sure she had wanted to. He sat down, leaning back against the sand, and looked up at a particularly large firework burst. He heard a snap as Koizumi took a picture, but before he could ask to see it she was off, headed for the others.

Hinata had half a mind to follow her, just to see what they were all up to, but before he could he spotted something – someone – at the top of the path. It was, beyond all reason, Kuzuryuu, standing right where Souda had been before, half-hidden behind the palm tree. He was dressed in a yukata, though how he had put it on was a mystery, as his bandages were still wrapped around his one visible hand. He was watching the scene intently, looking from the fireworks to Koizumi taking pictures of smiling groups of two and three – Nanami and Saionji, Tsumiki and Gundam, Nidai, Owari, and Souda – but not once did he make a move to join them.  

No one else noticed him, apart from Koizumi, who happened to catch him as she was returning from the firework pit. She stopped short, staring in his direction. Hinata couldn’t see either of their expressions, but after a brief, still moment, he saw her lift her camera to her face and snap his picture.

Kuzuryuu bristled, then took off for the main road. Koizumi looked after him for a moment, then turned and walked back to Hinata, looking for all the world as though nothing had happened. “I think I’ve got almost everyone, then,” she said. “Except for…”

She looked over at Togami and Mioda. Neither of them had moved much – Mioda was still resting on Togami’s chest, though she had slid off somewhat, and Togami was holding her steady with his arm, still transfixed by the sky. “Except for them?” Hinata said.

“Except for them.” Koizumi took a short breath, eyeing Togami with what looked like trepidation, before approaching them. Hinata followed not far behind. “Ibuki-chan, Togami,” Koizumi said, “do you want me to take your picture?”

“Our picture?” Togami looked up at Koizumi – while seated, he was about a head shorter than her. “Why?”

“I’ve taken everyone else’s. If you wanted one, I have the camera right here.” Koizumi looked down at Mioda. “Wait, is Ibuki-chan okay?”

“I think she’s asleep,” Togami said. Hinata looked over – and sure enough Mioda was asleep, and drooling all over Togami’s yukata.

“Wow.” Koizumi smiled, but only a little, and it faded fast. “Well…I know she’d probably want the picture. But it’s up to you. I guess.”

“If you’re willing to take it,” Togami said.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Never mind.” Togami nodded, then turned to look at Hinata. “Were you looking to be in the picture?”

“Oh – sure, okay.” Hinata walked over and sat down near Togami. He unsure of what either of them expected him to do – throw up a peace sign, maybe? – but as Togami did nothing, neither did he.

Koizumi held her camera up, then moved some feet away and crouched to their level. “Alright…that’s, that’s good,” she said. “I’ve got all three of you…alright, we’re going in three, two…one…”

Before Koizumi could hit the button, there was a loud BANG – Nidai had just set off the finale, and explosion after explosion filled the sky. Hinata and Togami both recoiled, and Koizumi scowled at the camera display. “Hold on, I’ll get it again!” she yelled over the noise – but then Mioda jerked her head up and clunked Togami in the jaw, sending them both flying backward.

All around them their classmates clapped and cheered, some at the fireworks and some at their fall. Hinata joined them, whooping loudly. Mioda answered his whoop through her laughter – but then he realized when she sat up that she hadn’t been laughing, and neither had Koizumi. Togami held his hand over his mouth as he stood, so Hinata could not tell what he was doing, but when he moved it away, at around the time the fireworks faded, his expression was just as calm as ever.

=====

It was about eight-thirty when the last firework went off, and the first thought on most of their minds was dinner. Some, particularly Togami, wondered aloud why no food had been provided at the festival itself, but while Hinata would have liked that, he shuddered at the logistical nightmare of trying to set up a fryer or barbecue outside.

They were all fairly happy with the idea of going to the restaurant as usual – at least until Mioda suggested the diner instead, which most everyone agreed would be more of a treat. They attempted to leave right then and there, but Monomi appeared just in time to remind them not to forget their litter, as well as bemoan that she had not been invited. So they cleaned it all up, groaning and grumbling, and took the debris back to the supermarket before setting off for the second island.

The walk was quiet, but hardly solemn. There was some conversation here and there, and Mioda was keeping up her usual patter, but there was little to argue, and nothing to shout. Hinata found himself with Nanami and Souda on either side; they talked mostly about the fireworks, though Souda attempted a few questions about Mioda and Togami (“I guess she’s what they call a gold digger, huh?”). But things were very different in the diner – it was so small, and so crowded with the twelve of them (minus Kuzuryuu, plus Monomi) that the noise and chatter seemed even greater than it actually was.

But it was a noisy occasion already. Everyone had their own story to tell about the night, their own way of dominating the noise, and every story led into another – to memories of other times on the island, or memories from home, of school and friends and long, boring days, long ago and far away. Even Tanaka spoke up once or twice, if only to hint of daring forays into the underworld that he never fully explained. And Togami – he’d spent every mealtime that Hinata could ever remember eating rather than talking, but he’d somehow found a way to both contribute as much as anyone else and eat almost as much as he usually did. If there was any sorrow in their memories, any reminder of their situation or what they had lost, it never came to the surface, not with food and company and a comfortable atmosphere all around.

Though he’d tried to lose his thoughts in the chatter, Hinata couldn’t help but wonder what kind of fun the others – the dead ones – would have had. Sonia would’ve loved the experience of a Japanese summer festival, as Koizumi had said; he could clearly imagine the delight in her eyes. Pekoyama would’ve enjoyed herself too, in her own strong, silent way, and between complaining about the food and ogling the yukatas Hanamura really would have had his hands full. And Komaeda…

What would Komaeda be doing? Could Hinata even know? He hadn’t thought about Komaeda in a long time. He’d even forgotten most of the details Hanamura had given them about what he was. What came to mind now was a corpse bleeding under a table, connected only with snatches of conversation and vague sense of nostalgia. He couldn’t make any more of it than he ever had before, and so he let the memories fade. A moment later, he didn’t miss them.

The Night Time announcement came and went largely unnoticed. It was only when Nanami and Mioda fell asleep right on top of each other that it was generally agreed to be time for bed. Owari led the parade back, supporting the sleepers on either shoulder, while the rest of them tagged behind at varying speeds. Hinata was in the back, behind Tanaka – who, while silent now, had something more of a swagger in his step than before.

He didn’t quite keep track of the shifting dynamics of the group, but by the time they reached the central island Tanaka had moved somewhere further forward, and Togami had taken his place. As they passed through Jabberwock Park, Hinata found himself looking back at the pedestal and remembering the days he’d spent there, guarding Twilight Syndrome with Pekoyama and Owari and Togami. It had hardly been a week since then, but it felt like a lifetime ago, before –

“Hinata.”

A firm hand wrenched him forward, and he found himself facing Togami. “You weren’t watching where you were going,” he said. “You could’ve run into something.”

“Well, uh, thanks.” Hinata looked back at the pedestal for a moment, then over to the wide, obstacle-free path. “But there isn’t really anything in front of us to run into.”

“That would be because we’re also falling behind,” Togami said. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

He let go of Hinata’s shoulder and walked ahead of him, going briskly but not too fast for Hinata to keep up. “It’s…been an interesting evening,” Togami said when he did.

“I’ll say,” Hinata said. He’d been expecting more silence, and this saved him the trouble of having to break it. “But you seemed to be having a pretty good time.”

“I suppose I was.”

“I wouldn’t say 'suppose',” Hinata said with a grin. “You and Mioda were –”

“The only time we will ever be discussing Mioda’s actions is if I bring them up first.” Until that moment Hinata hadn’t thought that Togami was capable of blushing at all – but to his credit, it didn’t last very long. “Back to the point,” he said. “They didn’t act the way I thought they would.”

Hinata didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. “What did you think they were going to do?”

“Well…I’d think you know the answer to that question,” Togami said. “I understand you couldn’t choose a new leader this morning.”

“Yeah. Because everyone was fighting.” The first bridge had come and gone; they were passing the farm, the market, and the airport. “But nothing happened tonight,” Hinata realized as he spoke. “Sure, not everyone was talking to each other, but…we came together as a group. I was thinking about that before, too. I can’t remember a time we’ve done that since the trial.”

“Mioda was right, then. Her and…” Togami trailed off, then began again without finishing his thought. “It was something I wouldn’t have done, or even thought of.”

“Really?” Hinata said. “But the party –”

“Was only to gather everyone in one place.” Togami furrowed his brow, but when he spoke again his voice was low and soft. “But despite it all, you were right. No matter what…I’m one of you.”

“Togami…”

“Even without a position as leader, I haven’t been contributing my share to the rest of the group,” Togami said. “Tomorrow morning I mean to formally apologize for my behavior. As important as tonight was, discussion and progress will have to be made.” He turned to face him. “I hope I can count on your support, Hinata.”

Hinata had never seen such an earnest look on Togami’s face before. “Well…there’s no reason you shouldn’t,” he said.

They reached the cottages and said their goodbyes to those who were left. Soon they were alone in the middle of the path, standing between their respective cottages. “Then I will,” Togami said, looking toward his own. “And I’ll see you for that in the morning.”

“Alright. See you then.” The assurance was more than Hinata could have hoped for. “Goodnight-”

“Hinata, one minute. There’s something that’s been weighing on my mind.” Togami looked up at the sky. “It’s about Nanami.”

“Huh? Nanami?” Hinata stopped short. “What about her?”

“Has she…” Togami paused, and shook his head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”

“It sounded pretty important to me,” Hianta said.

“It’s not,” Togami said quickly. “No…that’s not something I can be sure about right now. I’ll need more time before I can say anything.”

“I don’t really get what you’re trying to say.” Hinata felt an odd twist in his stomach. “What’s going on with Nanami?”

“Hopefully, not anything,” Togami said. “But as I said, I can’t be sure. But if there’s anything you’ve noticed about her, any details that don’t seem to add up –”

“Byakuya-chan!”

Togami and Hinata did a double-take at the central path. Mioda was standing just in front of Hinata’s cottage, swaying slightly from one foot to another.

“Mioda,” Togami said. “Shouldn’t you be in your cottage? You’ve been falling asleep all evening.”

“Details, details!” Mioda stumbled slightly, but found her way over to them with little other trouble. “Hmm, what are the chances of this? Ibuki was just coming to find Byakuya-chan, and pin pon pon! Here he is!”

“Yes, I am,” Togami said, looking quickly at Hinata before speaking again. “But if you can make your business quick, I was just about to go to bed –”

“Bed? But but but, the night is still young!” Mioda leaned towards Togami, and with alarming speed for her half-asleep state she wound her arm around his. “So Ibuki’s going on a midnight walk, and she really doesn’t want to go alone…”

“A midnight walk…?” Togami looked quickly back and forth between Mioda and Hinata, his eyes frozen wide.  “Well, that’s…”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Mioda said. “But Ibuki reaaallllyyy wants to…”

Togami made no move to answer, but Hinata knew that if he was going to refuse, he would have done it already – and he was feeling more and more like a third wheel every second. “Just to be sure,” he said, “I’m not invited on this, am I?”

“Nope!” Mioda said. “Not at all!”

“I thought so. Well, have fun, guys. With whatever it is you end up doing.” Hinata waved and turned away from them, trying, for their sakes, not to think of anything but sleep as he entered his cottage.

=====

komaeda theater 

“We would have worked well together, Hinata-kun.

“Don’t get me wrong, of course. You know I’m talking about our potential for the good of the world, don’t you?  No…your potential, that’s what I meant. I could never be anything more than a spectator. No, not even that…how could a mere mortal look into the face of the sun for more than a moment? What I mean is, I would’ve been open to whatever use you had for me. With your tremendous amount of talent, there’s no way any of my shortcomings could hold you back!

“But don’t get me wrong. That hope can’t be the only thing I appreciate about you. On a surface level, I did always think we shared a lot more than we were really aware of. Like love. A great love for those around us. And ambition, and a need to act and interact. And maybe there was even more we had in common I could have seen in the days to come, had I lived.

“But perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe dying was the use you had for me. And I already know there’s nothing that I regret about that. After all, even when we’re divided, with the bonds we have we’re really not so far apart after all. I can remember you so clearly, the curves of your face, the angles of your body...everything I’ve ever noticed about you, really. And those memories are worth a lot to me…but I don’t know how much weight you could put on what a worthless person like me finds worthy. That’s okay, though. I think I can hazard a guess.

“But don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I’m in love with you or anything like that.

“Tonight’s lucky numbers are 131, 134, 143, 265, 266, 363, 533, 551, 552, 554, 951, 1073, 1141, 1145, 1623, 1631, 1733, and 1743.”

=====

For a moment the only thing Hinata could think about was how alone he felt. It wasn’t a conscious or fully developed line of reason, but it was there in the aches and pains of his back, the cavern in his chest and the pounding in his head, the tingling in his fingers as they grasped the sheets – but then the feeling was gone, just like the others, and only the vague impression of it remained. Hinata couldn’t even remember why he’d had it at all, and now that he was awake there was no going back to where he’d been.

It was unusually bright for the early morning, and quiet – he hadn’t heard the Monobear announcement go off. Had he really woken up that early after everything that had gone on last night? Or had he just slept through it? He’d find out one way or another soon enough. He’d get up, get dressed, and head to the restaurant, and then Togami would show up and –

A loud knock interrupted his thoughts, closely followed by Togami’s voice. “Hinata!” he yelled through the wall. “Hinata, open the door!”

“Huh?” Hinata sat stunned for a second. Why was Togami yelling at him? Was he really that late? Was Togami really that desperate for him to be there to hear him apologize? It wouldn’t do him any good just to wonder. He ambled out of bed, and at another imperative – “Come on, Hinata!” – he pulled his clothes on as fast as he could.

He opened the door to find Togami standing directly in front of it, looking nothing short of livid. “Morning, Togami,” he said, his mind still unfocused. “I’m sorry, what time is it –”

“It’s almost 7:30,” Togami said. “Why aren’t you at the restaurant? Where have you been?”

“Uh…here?” Hinata looked back into his room. “I overslept, that’s all –”

“Overslept?” Togami said. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Hinata said, more confused every second. “You were out even later than I was, unless you didn’t –”

“One second.” Togami stepped closer to Hinata, then reached over, placed his hand on his forehead, and kept it there for several seconds. Hinata was just about to protest when he took it away again, placing it on his chin.

“Normal. Good, that’s one less thing to worry about.” Togami grabbed Hinata by the arm. “We’re the only ones left at the hotel, so the others must be at the restaurant. We have to get there as soon as we can –”

“If we must, as you say, get there as soon as we can, then I will recommend hurrying ahead, sir!”

Hinata was confused by the voice at first – it sounded vaguely familiar, but off somehow. Then he happened to look behind Togami, and saw Mioda standing stock-still at the end of the path, her arm pressed against her forehead in a salute. “Mioda?” he said. “What are you doing?”

“Indeed I am Ibuki Mioda! My purpose is waiting for instructions!” Mioda wavered slightly, but did not move from her position. “Query as to whether this man is to be included in the “we” you mentioned, sir! If we must go together then I will stand still until we all leave, sir!”

Togami sighed through his teeth. “Yes, we’re going. Go ahead, Mioda.”

“Yes, sir! I will charge ahead until I reach my destination!” Mioda’s words faded into the distance as she marched down the cottage path, turning at a sharp wide angle onto the main road. Togami ran after her, pulling Hinata behind him. They were going so fast Hinata was practically flying.

“Was that –” Hinata could hardly wrap his head around what he’d just seen, especially not when he was concentrating on not falling over. “What was that? What’s wrong with Mioda?”

“She came to my cottage like that this morning,” Togami said, breathing heavily as he ran. “Burning fever, erratic behavior – and if it’s truly what Monobear told me it was, then this may just be the beginning.”

“Monobear?” Hinata’s eyes went wide. “Wait, then that’s –”

“Our next motive,” Togami said. They were almost to the door of the Hotel Mirai lobby – Hinata could see Mioda charging past the game consoles and up the stairs. “And he made a point of assuring me it’s not so easily contained as the last.”

Chapter Text

Togami ran into the lobby faster than Hinata had expected, and he found himself pulled along by the arm as they raced up the stairs. They entered the restaurant directly behind Mioda, but couldn’t go any further in as she had stopped right in their path.

There was already a large crowd inside – not a big surprise, considering the hotel had been empty – and from the look of things they’d interrupted quite a lot of activity. Gundam, Owari, and Nidai were clustered in a circle in the back, shouting over each other. Saionji was with Koizumi and Nanami, raising a plate high over Nanami’s head, and Tsumiki was running between the groups, looking rather harried.

Hinata couldn’t quite tell what any of them were doing, but before he could ask them anything, Togami pushed past him. “Oy,” he shouted, “has anyone here gotten sick –”

"May I have your attention, please?!" Saionji’s arms stopped mid-strike, the back group fell silent, Tsumiki slipped, falling flat on her face with a loud cry, and Togami stumbled back as Mioda flung her arm out in a salute. "With your permission, I would like to give the morning’s greeting!” she said as if nothing had happened. “Good morning! Let today be yet another productive day!!"

Hinata could see alarm on everyone’s faces, but somehow not quite shock. “Mioda!” Nidai yelled from the back. “What kind of a greeting is that? Your energy is far from where it should be!”

“Oh, don’t tell me she’s got it too!” Koizumi snatched the plate out of Saionji’s hands. “Ibuki-chan, you’re not…running a fever, are you?”

Her eyes slid to Hinata and Togami as Mioda spoke (“Absolutely not, ma’am, for I am standing quite still!”). Hinata had a feeling she hadn’t been expecting any kind of a straight answer – he certainly hadn’t.

“She does,” Togami said, cutting off whatever thought Hinata had of answering. “I checked her earlier. Who else has a fever?”

Koizumi gritted her teeth before looking back at the group. Hinata noticed the same collective hesitation on many other faces. The only noise was a whimper to Hinata’s left; he looked down to find Monomi standing near his feet, trembling and holding her paws over her head. "T-there's N-nanami-chan," she said, her voice unusually low. "We’ve twied evewything, but she won’t wake up…”

“Everything?” Saionji whirled on Monomi in anger, grabbing another plate as she went. “All you’ve done is stand there and cry! I’m the only one actually trying –”

“Hiyoko-chan, no!” Koizumi dived for Saionji again, grabbing at the plate she’d been about to smash on Nanami’s head. Togami took the opening – he maneuvered past Mioda (who slid to the left, her expression unchanged) and headed for Nanami, closely followed by Hinata.

“Nanami!” Togami shouted – but Nanami, fast asleep on her feet, didn’t even twitch. Hinata had noticed she was asleep, but given this wasn’t abnormal behavior for her he hadn’t paid it much mind. But he’d never known her to be so heavy a sleeper. She continued not to move as Togami grabbed her by one shoulder and felt her forehead with his other hand.

“She’s burning up,” he muttered under his breath. “How long has she been like this?”

“W-we found her like that when we came in,” Tsumiki said, leaning on a chair to balance herself as she stood. “That was ten minutes ago, and she hasn’t moved…”

“So no one knows how she got here?” Hinata said.

“No one knows and no one cares.” Hinata did a double-take and saw Kuzuryuu leaning against the opposite wall, his arms folded across his chest. He hadn’t noticed him until that moment, or even expected him to be there at all. “We’ve got a bigger problem, unless everyone’s just trying to forget about it.”

He glared at Koizumi, who only met this look for a split second before Kuzuryuu turned away, but when she turned back to retort, Togami spoke over her. "A bigger problem?” he said. “Then why wasn't that the first thing we were told?"

“I-I’m sorry,” Tsumiki said, dropping her voice to a bare whisper. “S-Souda-san’s been difficult, and we don’t want to get him worked up again...”

“Souda?” Hinata took a look around the room, taking a brief mental head count – and coming up one short. "Hey, wait a minute, where is–”

“Oh, it’s Hinata-san! There you are at last!”

Hinata saw Owari stumble, and then Souda run out from behind her – from the look of things, she’d just released him from her grip. He headed for Hinata, completely ignoring everyone else, and skidded to a halt at his feet, grabbing his wrists in his hands and holding them together at chest level. “How lovely it is to see you again!” he said. “Don’t you feel it’s been quite an age?”

Hinata had to blink several times before he could focus on Souda’s face. His expression – it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to Souda looking cheerful, but something about it was distinctly off. On his left he could see Koizumi turning quite deliberately away, a look of extreme agitation on her face, and Saionji clinging to Koizumi's skirt, eyeing Souda with an inexplicably hostile glare –

“Hinata-san?” Hinata started and looked back, meeting Souda’s concerned look. “Is anything the matter?”

Hinata felt his teeth clenching behind his lips. He had the slightest bit of an idea of what this was supposed to be, based both on the reactions of the others and on the behavior itself, but he couldn’t say for sure, not without the enormous risk of being wrong. “N-no, not at all,” he said.

Souda gasped, and pulled his arms even closer. “You do mean that? Truthfully and truly?” He let go suddenly, and furrowed his brow. “Then you must align with me, Hinata-san, for there is quite a lot amiss! I do believe the others have lost their minds!”

Hinata looked briefly past Souda, to scan the others’ expressions. He was sure they’d already known for some time, so whatever initial shock there had been must have worn off, but he could understand why they hadn’t wanted to excite him. Kuzuryuu’s arms trembled at his sides, Tanaka’s back was turned, and Akane and Nidai, while not explicitly distressed, were keeping a stern but watchful eye. “T-that so?” he said, looking back.

“Quite unfortunately!” Souda said. “The very moment I encountered Koizumi-san and Saionji-san, my own dear friends, they began making the wildest of accusations against me! Oh, I can hardly bear to repeat them!” Inexplicably, tears welled at the corners of his eyes. “And the others, too, when I saw them…such horrible and untrue things they had to say…”

He buried his face in both his and Hinata’s hands, wailing loudly. Hinata looked over his head. “Uh,” he said, trying to keep his voice down, “Is this...what I think it is?"

“Good question,” Owari muttered. “Did Sonia ever act like this?”

“I’m…not sure,” Hinata said. “But the horrible and untrue things…”

“Oh, come on,” Saionji shouted over him. “Don’t tell me you’re actually playing along with this!”

“I wouldn’t call it playing along.” Togami's eyes were on Souda, but beyond an intense focus Hinata could not tell his emotion. “Hinata’s question is valid. What happened?”

“Why does it matter so much?” Saionji said. Koizumi looked down at Saionji, her expression uncertain, but ultimately lifted her head without rebuking her. “We found Souda on the boardwalk after the morning announcement,” she said, crossing her arms as she spoke. “We didn’t know about the fever…we just thought it was another stupid stunt…”

“And do we not know if it isn’t?” Hinata jumped – he hadn’t expected Tanaka to speak. “Even in a fever state, the actions of the body are based in the conditions of the mind. By its very nature, this must be a product of his own design…”

Souda snapped his head out of his hands, and whirled to face Tanaka, thrusting his arm out in front of him. “You! Have I not warned you of the dangers of such language?”

“Dangers?” Tanaka chuckled darkly, and put his hands in the pockets of his coat. “And what effect could your words have on the one who would be king?”

“You will cease your speech at once!” Souda shouted. “Were this my country, you would be drawn and quartered in the palace square for your insolence!”

I highly doubt that, Hinata thought – but before he could get away, Souda grabbed him again. “Do you not see, Hinata-san, the very madness that has consumed them?” He interrupted himself with a sob – tears were streaming down his cheeks again. “Even poor Tsumiki-san has fallen victim! Now who will help the rest of them? Oh, who?”

“I’m sorry…” Hinata was surprised at Tsumiki’s words until he saw she had been talking to Togami, and not to Souda. “I don’t know what to do about any of them...they brought him to my cottage, b-but I was busy with Kuzuryuu-san’s m-morning duties, and there was not much I could do for him in so little time...!”

“Morning du –” Kuzuryuu’s face contorted. “HEY! Nobody said you could talk about that!”

“I-it was only what happened!” Tsumiki shouted, her whole body shaking. “And until your hands are fully healed, it’s not shameful at all for a nurse to –”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

“Indeed, I will shut up, sir!” Mioda shouted suddenly, closing her eyes. “All that can be shut will be shut when I cease talking, sir!”

“And worse still,” Souda said, oblivious to all else around him, “I am afraid Souda-sama has not yet come! And it is my fear that he may have met with some terrible fate!”

Souda…sama?! He could hardly believe what he was hearing. “Come!” Souda went on, grabbing him by the arm. “We must make haste and seek him! Surely one such as he will know how to break this curse –”

“Hey! Stop being such a pussy, noob!”

Hinata couldn’t have turned his head back faster if he’d been doing it on purpose – and when he did he couldn’t believe what he saw. Nanami was not only wide awake, as if she’d never been asleep, but was pointing directly at the two of them, a fierce, active look in her eyes.

“Hiiiii!” Monomi recoiled, her mouth open. “N-Nanami-san…?!”

“You’re one of those casuals, aren’t you?” Nanami said, as if Monomi had not spoken. “You only play games because your boyfriend does, and the only reason you have any weapons or armor that aren’t shit is because he got them for you. But you put a pig on a lipstick and it’s still a lipstick, right?”

From the look of things no one knew how to respond, or even what she was talking about – least of all Souda. He looked agitated more than insulted – Hinata had a feeling he hadn’t understood a word. “Nanami-san,” he said, “I know you may be feeling taxed, but this talk of games cannot be appropriate when Souda-sama could be –”

“Hey, shut up,” Nanami said. “If you’re not going to work hard to be as good as the boys, then you’re not worth any of our time. Now go back where you belong before I frag your ass.”

The corners of Souda’s mouth twitched, but he wouldn’t let himself be confused for long – he grabbed Hinata’s arm again and started pulling him for the stairs. “Hurry, Hinata-san! Every moment we waste is a moment lost!”

“Wait – no, hold on!” Hinata pulled on Souda’s arm, but to little avail. “I’m sure Souda’s fine, he’ll probably be here soon. But something’s really wrong with Nanami, and we need to –”

“Huuuuuh? What’s the problem, Hajime?” Nanami’s tone had changed on a dime – now she sounded almost playful. “Do you think a girl shouldn’t swear? Huh?”

H-Hajime?!? Hinata tried not to let the address distract him. “Wh- wh- no, that doesn’t matter,” he said. “And I wasn’t even talking about –”

“I’m not here for you to play with, Hajime, I’m here to play hard! So if you’re just gonna waste your time trying to get in-in my pa-pa-pa –” Nanami froze, unblinking, and stood still for a second before her arm fell and her eyes closed.

“She’s asleep again!” Nidai shouted. “What is this?!”

“Another symptom of the fever for sure,” Togami said, fixing Nanami with an agitated look. “It matches up with the others, as much as it can be expected to, but…”

“Indeed, their condition is a mystery!” Souda said. “But if one as knowledgeable as Souda-sama were here, he’d know just what to do!”

“I’m not listening to this anymore,” Kuzuryuu said. “Can someone grab him already?”

“In his state that may cause more problems than it solves,” Togami said, holding his hand out at Owari before she could rush for Souda. Kuzuryuu didn’t look entirely satisfied with the answer, but he also didn’t seem to have a retort - at least, not at that moment. From the twitching of his arm, and the impatient tapping of his foot, Hinata could tell he was desperate to do something, but didn’t want to fly into a rage.

“But you have a point,” Togami went on. “We’ve already wasted too much time. We need to come up with a way to contain this fever before it spreads to anyone else. If we don’t, then Monobear –”

“Monobear?” a familiar voice cut in. “Hmmm, what’s this, Togami-kun? Taking charge? Making plans?”

Hinata didn’t have to look to find Monobear – he had materialized right on the table in front of him. He leaned against a tower of plates, crossed his legs, and lifted a paw at Togami. “Weren’t you just doing a whole big song and dance about stepping down as leader? I guess old habits die hard!”

Togami tensed for a second, but quickly shook it off and stomped over to where Monobear stood. “You’re here to explain the Despair Fever, aren’t you? If so, then skip the pedantics."

“What? What what what what what?” Monobear lifted his paws and stomped on the table. “Don’t tell me you’re expecting me to repeat all that! I spent so much time explaining it to you, and you haven’t even told them anything?”

“Wait a minute…Despair Fever?” Nidai said. “Monobear told you about this, Togami?”

“When I found Mioda, yes,” Togami said. “I would have explained once I’d established everyone’s state of health, and in fact I was about to, just before he showed up…”

“Oh really? Then I could just make you say it now, and save my voice for more important things,” Monobear said. “But I think I’d want to hear myself talk more than I’d want to hear you! So here we go, loud and clear…”

Monobear went on to describe what Togami had already heard – that the disease was called the Despair Fever, that it was caused by tiny invisible bugs native to the island, and it caused a “variety of despair inducing symptoms”, along with a high fever, that varied from person to person. “But I’m sure you’ve already seen that, haven’t you?” he said. “For example, Mioda-san seems to have something like the “humorless fever”, doesn’t she? Or the “gullible fever”? I’d say either one works – riiight, Mioda-san?”

“Either one does work, sir!” Mioda shouted. “I am, at this moment, both humorless and gullible!”

“Exactly! Or are you? Who knows!” Monobear laughed, then grinned at Souda, who was weeping again, his head in his hands. “And Souda-kun – that’s an especially interesting case, isn’t it? The “Sonia fever”…how much more specific can you get? But Sonia-san would never do anything like this, would she? The characterization is way off!” Monobear paused, and rubbed his chin with his paw. “Hmmm…but don’t you agree, Togami-kun?”

Togami froze. “Agree? What are you talking about?”

“I just said it! Souda-kun's behavior is absolutely nothing like Sonia-san’s at all! Doesn’t that grind your gears? Allow me to read your mind… ‘Even I can do better than that’, isn’t that what you’re thinking?”

“They’re nothing but a fake!” Nanami yelled, but by the time Hinata looked back at her she was asleep again.

Togami’s eyes went wide, but he said nothing – and Monobear laughed and laughed at his reaction. “But why am I even saying anything?” he said. “Why does this matter to you at all? Hmmm, that’s something interesting for all of you to think about, isn’t it? But…oh, no, never mind! You don’t have nearly enough information to make anything of that yet! Or do you?”

“Wait, I lost you back there,” Hinata said. “What are you talking about?”

“He isn’t talking about anything,” Togami said quickly.  “Unless it relates directly to the fever, we shouldn’t listen to a word he says.”

“Doesn’t it, Togami-kun? Doesn’t it? Well, whatever. I think you’ve got your hands full enough anyway. But, that reminds me! Surely you want to know what kind of fun title Nanami-san’s fever has, don’t you?” Monobear held his paws up to his mouth. “Well…to tell the truth…I don’t know!”

“Don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?” Koizumi said. “You’re the one that did this to us!”

“I already told you, it wasn’t me! It was the bugs!” Monobear laughed right up at Koizumi, then hopped down from the table and skipped over to the stairs. “Really, I’m only making my best guesses! But whatever’s happening to her…well, that’s not really my department! It’s not even my organization, or my universe at that!”

“What’s so hard about that, though?” Owari said. “She’s acting just like my half-sisters do when they play co-op on the PlayStation they stole. But I don’t know how to say that in one word...”

“What’s that? You think every girl is the same?” Nanami was back again – still motionless, still pointing. “Maybe in your virt-virtual world they are, but I’m not like other-other girls, you know! It’s called –”

“N-Nanami-san!” Monomi shrieked – and only then did the rest of them see that she was swaying – no, shaking, and so rapidly that her voice sounded almost distorted. “It’s called - called - called –" she repeated, again and again. "Called being - being –”

The next thing Hinata could comprehend was a flash of green light – and in another instant Nanami was on the floor, twitching and spasming, her eyes glassy and unblinking. “Being - being –” she repeated in the same distorted tone, “being real - real - real - real - real - real –”

“Nanami!” several people shouted at once, Hinata included. He, Togami, and Koizumi rushed to her side, but Tsumiki beat them all. As soon as she got there she pulled Nanami’s head off the ground, but this did nothing to stop her spasms. “W-we need to get her to the hospital!” she yelled. “Quickly!”

“And not just her,” Togami said. “All of them, as soon as possible!”

“Oh, really? And without listening to the rest of my speech?” Monobear said. “Then this is as good a time as any to say – the Despair Fever hasn’t spread to any of you yet, but be careful! It can be transmitted from person to person by air!”

“By air?!” Saionji recoiled back from the crowd, but for what it was worth Hinata wasn’t particularly surprised. “Hold on!” he shouted. “Is there any kind of cure?”

“A cure…? Now why would you need a cure?” Even with Nanami flailing behind him, he did not react or turn back to look. “I mean, despair fever exists to make you bastards suffer. You might say it is a cure! A cure to your softness, your moping around, your attempts to “reestablish unity” or whatever! A cure to your inhibitions regarding the whole point of this trip – mu-tu-al kill-ing! Just in case you forgot, of course!”

Monobear laughed and laughed – and then, in a flash, he was gone. In the meantime Tsumiki, Togami, and Koizumi had gotten Nanami into a standing position, and Owari had lifted her into her arms, struggling against her spasms. The girls set off for the stairs with Monomi and Saionji in tow, while Togami ordered Mioda to follow him, which she did loudly and without complaint.

Tanaka set off after Togami and Mioda without so much as an offer of help with Souda, who was still weeping by the staircase. This left Hinata and Nidai to tell Souda that they were finally going to find where “Souda-sama” had gone, as odd as it was for Hinata to say. He followed them readily after that, and Kuzuryuu followed further behind, his head down and his arms at his sides.

=====

It took them almost half an hour to get Souda, Mioda, and Nanami from the restaurant to the third island hospital. Hinata walked close enough to Souda to make sure he kept on the right path, but also kept enough distance to feel safe from contracting his fever.  It was a bit unsettling to hear him talk about how important it was to find out where “Souda-sama” had gone, as he did the entire way to the third island, but unlike some of the others, his concern was stronger than his emotional response.

Not that the others could be blamed, in some part. Even the fireworks show couldn’t have erased everyone's connection to the recent past. But even then, it had seemed like Souda had finally been coming to terms with Sonia’s circumstances. He hadn’t heard a word out of him about Sonia during dinner, and he’d even been able to keep up a comfortable conversation with most of the others. He’d almost been acting like his old self. But now…he couldn’t be sure of anything. Was Souda aware of what he was doing? Was there any way to cure the fever at all? He couldn’t say. And thinking about it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

When they reached the hospital, Owari had just handed the still-shaking Nanami over to Tsumiki, who staggered briefly under her weight. “I…I’m going to help them change into hospital gowns, and set them up in the patient rooms,” Tsumiki said to the rest. “The rest of you, stay here and wait for now, please!”

“The patient rooms?” Souda said with a wide-eyed look. “Why would we be going there? And where’s Souda-sama?”

Tsumiki froze, apparently unable to think of an answer, so Hinata stepped in. “Oh, he’s in there, Tsumiki checked,” he said. “We’re all going in, actually. Just to make sure what everyone else has doesn’t spread!”

“Hey, no we’re not!” Saionji shouted, and Hinata tried his best to shake his head and drag his finger across his throat. But thankfully, Nidai caught on. “Ah – right!” he said. “So just do whatever Tsumiki tells you. Understand?”

“Well…” Souda paused for a moment, then thrust out his hand. “If it is for the good of all my precious friends, then I concede willingly!"

Hinata forced himself to look down as Tsumiki attempted to grab Souda’s hand and balance Nanami in her arms at the same time, refusing all offers of help from Togami and Owari. As soon as she was stable she entered the main hospital, with Mioda following behind under her own power. Monomi went after them at the last moment, just far enough behind not to be seen.

Nanami’s continuous “real-real-real-real-real-real –” came to an abrupt halt as the doors shut, leaving the lobby eerily silent. Around him Hinata could see that the shock had worn off for most people; they looked uncertain now, or otherwise worried. “I’d hope they’re going to be okay,” he could hear Koizumi say, but only because she was standing near him. “But I don’t even know if they will be…”

“Of COURSE they will be!” Nidai yelled, startling Koizumi. Hinata was sure she hadn’t wanted to be heard. “Illness cannot pierce spirit! Not theirs, and not ours!”

“Don’t tell me you thought that was actually going to help,” Kuzuryuu said.

“Oy, enough,” Togami said. “We can’t afford to lose our focus. We need a plan, and fast.”

“We need a plan?” Koizumi’s tone shifted, and she looked away from Togami. “So you don’t already have one for us.”

Togami gave Koizumi an odd look, but when she didn’t look back, he looked away as well. “In order to effectively counteract this motive, we must find a method of handling it that we can all agree on,” he said, his voice slow and steady. “Only then can we have full confidence in that method. Did you have the same idea? Or am I wrong?”

Hinata couldn’t help but feel surprised to hear Togami sound so conciliatory – and it did take a few seconds for the others to mumble their agreement, so he wondered if they were thinking that they couldn’t decide whether or not Togami had realized he wasn’t the leader anymore, even after all the drama he’d caused. Still, it wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. “I don’t get what we’re supposed to do, though,” he said. “The only one of us who has a clue about medical stuff is Tsumiki, and the rest of us…”

“Need to not get infected!” Saionji said. “I’m not getting any kind of fever just because we keep breathing the same air they did, and I’m not gonna wait around for that pig bitch to do anything about it. We need them as far away from us as possible, and fast.”

“Wait, then you mean…a quarantine?” The word was harsh on Hinata’s ears. “Do we really have to go that far?”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Owari said. “’Cause if it keeps the fever from getting to us, then it sounds good to me.”

“I agree,” Togami said. “As long as we remain in contact with the infected our chances of contracting the fever only increase. For our safety and theirs, we must separate the groups. I think we can handle ourselves until the fever is cured.”

Until that moment Hinata had been sure that quarantine was the most ridiculous idea he’d ever heard – but then, he’d thought the same thing about the summer festival, or guarding the game, or throwing the party. He should have been used to these kinds of measures by now – this wasn’t anything new. “Alright,” he said. “If it’s what we have to do. But where will the rest of us go?”

“For a quarantine to truly work, we must stay close to Tsumiki,” Tanaka said. “Should the worst come to pass, we must be able to reach the hospital quickly, and further… if this fever is truly airborne… it is probable that the Hotel Mirai is already contaminated.”

“Well…there is the motel on the other side of the island,” Koizumi said. “It’s livable, we know it’s not infected, and it’s close enough for us to come help Mikan-chan if anything goes wrong.”

There were a few more noises of agreement, if reluctantly made. “I can understand her needing extra help in times of crisis,” Nidai said, “But can she really handle them on her own? They’re quite a handful already, from the look of things!"

“I would imagine not,” Togami said. “Which is one of the reasons why I will be staying here to help her.”

“Wait, you are?” Hinata said – even if, deep down, he wasn’t all that surprised. “Why do you have to do that?”

“I’ve spent much more time in close proximity with the infected than any of you. If I can use that position to our benefit, then I must.” Togami paused. “And, now that I think of it, so should you, Hinata.”

This was not the direction Hinata had expected Togami to take. “Huh –?!”

“Yeah, he’s right!” Saionji shouted. “Souda was touching you all over! I don’t wanna live near that!”

“He…he was, you’re right.” Hinata groaned. "Well. Looks like I’m staying.”

“You sure are!” Saionji began backing for the door, a wide grin on her face. “So, good riddance! Come on, Big Sis, let’s get out of here –”

“Hold on just a second,” Koizumi said, running and grabbing Saionji by the collar. “How are we going to keep in contact if there’s trouble? If you’re over here, and we’re over there, and we don’t want any cross-contamination…”

“Hmmm…excellent point. I hadn’t thought of that. If we still had our phones, or any kind of electronic communication, that problem would be easy to solve.” Togami tapped his chin. “But for that to be feasible…”

“I think Souda was working on something like a walkie-talkie system,” Hinata said. “But I don’t know if he ever finished, or how to find or work it if he did...”

“Given a period of three months, an inscribing wand, and the blood of a virgin,” Tanaka said, “I could open a path through a parallel astral plane and –”

“Oh, shut up,” Kuzuryuu said. "I’ll do it."

Hinata turned to him, surprised, and he could see the others were doing the same. “Do…what?” he said.

“I’ll run liaison,” Kuzuryuu went on. “You know. Between the groups. I’ll meet you guys somewhere every day and we’ll keep in touch that way.”

“Are you…sure about that?” Togami said.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Kuzuryuu grunted. “You think I’m just going to sit around and be useless? ’Sides, it’s not like anyone else wants the job, right?”

"Sure, fine, just do what you want," Saionji said. “The less time you’re with us, the better.”

“Yeah.” Kuzuryuu folded his arms, but his stern expression did not change. “You said it.”

Hinata wasn’t sure what Kuzuryuu was fully trying to say – but Owari spoke before he could. “Actually, wouldn’t it be better if you stayed at the hospital, too?” she said. “I mean, don’t you need Tsumiki to, you know…”

“Shut up,” Kuzuryuu said. “I still have some use in my left hand. I can make do until this is over. Besides, that’s just another thing for Tsumiki to deal with. And if I get the fever it makes her work twice as hard. That’s not fair.”

Hinata was beginning to lose his ability to believe he was really hearing Kuzuryuu say this. “Uh – are you feeling okay?” he blurted.

“Go ahead and check,” Kuzuryuu said. “Actually, no, don’t, you’ve been touching everyone else.”

“We should still do a quick check of everyone,” Togami said, pointing his finger forward. “Just to confirm no one else is sick before we go our separate ways. Quickly!”

After several awkward forehead touches everyone came up healthy, but it was still agreed that Togami and Hinata should stay at the hospital given their exposure. They arranged to meet Kuzuryuu at opposite ends of the Titty Typhoon entrance twice a day, at 7:30 AM and 9:30 PM – half an hour after the morning announcement and before the nighttime one.

Tsumiki showed no signs of returning, so talk turned to the uninfected heading for the motel as soon as possible, and Hinata and Togami going to see if Tsumiki needed anything. “I see helping her as our major function,” Togami said in a manner of information, “But we will also try to get to the source of the fever if we can, and perhaps find a cure, or get information about one out of Monobear. But it may be more likely that we will have to wait for the fevers to run their course.”

This answer didn’t seem to satisfy anyone, but no one looked anything more than powerless in the face of it – Koizumi least of all. “You don’t think the fever’s going to kill them,” she finally said.

"That’s…that’s highly unlikely," Togami said. "Monobear wouldn’t give us a motive that would kill us directly. And as long as –” He paused, then put a hand to his temple. “As long as we work together towards the same goal, none of us are in any danger at all.”

Koizumi nodded once, then headed for the exit, with Saionji on her heels as ever. The others followed behind them, passing Hinata on their way out. Only Nidai wished him good luck; the others looked more distracted than anything else.

=====

"Hinata."

Hinata shivered, and buried himself deeper in the thin bedsheets. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so cold. Was it winter already? Had his parents turned down the heat for some reason? Wait, no, that wasn’t right at all…

No…he’d helped Tsumiki and Togami get the others settled in their rooms, and then… right, then they’d decided to take turns resting in the spare ward on the second floor. He’d said he’d only needed to close his eyes for a minute, but he felt so heavy, and still so sleepy, that he figured another few minutes wouldn’t hurt…

“Hinata, wake up.”

Hinata’s eyes snapped open - and the first thing he saw was Togami’s face. He yelped and jumped back, throwing out his arm to prevent himself from crashing into the metal railings. “H-hey!” he yelled, a little too loudly. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sneak up on you?” Togami straightened back up to his full height, and Hinata could see now that he was standing by the bedside. “You were asleep. Did you have any better suggestions?”

“Never mind, s’not that big a deal.” Hinata yawned, and rubbed his eyes. “W-what time is it?”

“Almost ten.”

“Almost ten?” Hinata felt a chill run though his entire body, and threw the covers off. “But Kuzuryuu –”

“I’ve just returned from meeting with him. You didn’t miss anything important.” Togami paused. “For the most part, we were trying to figure out how close we had to get to each other before we could communicate without shouting.”

Hinata took this to mean that they had spent several minutes trying to shout at each other. “But everyone’s settled over there,” Togami went on. “Saionji has barricaded herself in her room, and will only let Koizumi in to see her.”

“Perfectly settled, then.”

“I wouldn’t say that. But there’s little to be done about it from here. We’ll have to entrust her to Koizumi.” Togami turned away. “That, and cure the fever as quickly as possible.”

That’s a bit of a tall order, Hinata thought – not only curing the fever, but believing that Koizumi was in any position to control Saionji’s behavior. But he said nothing about either – instead, he yawned again, and pulled himself out of the bed. “So, does Tsumiki need anything?”

“That’s what I was about to check,” Togami said. “I would have let you rest, but the hospital guidelines say we’re not allowed to sleep here overnight. We’ll have to go back to our cottages.”

Hinata couldn’t imagine why they wouldn’t be allowed to stay. “But aren’t those supposed to be contaminated?”

“If you ask the others, so are we.” The room’s screen lit up behind them, and the nighttime announcement began to play. “Come. We should confer with Tsumiki before we go.”

Togami left the spare ward, and Hinata followed him downstairs. The door to the first ward was open, and they found Tsumiki there, adjusting Nanami’s IV bag. She’d put her under sedation, so her convulsions had stopped, and she was now in a deep sleep. Tsumiki assured them her condition was stable, if unchanged, and insisted she was fine to take care of them all for the night, despite Togami’s offers to stay. If they hadn’t managed to get Tsumiki to rest earlier that day, Hinata might have insisted on staying as well – but as it was, he was sure Tsumiki wanted to be alone.

They took a quick peek at Mioda and Souda, as well. Mioda was no different than before (“Indeed, sir, I am feeling quite terrible! Would you like to know the intimate details?”) and Souda was pacing back and forth across his room (“Oh do forgive my behavior, Hinata-san, but I simply cannot contain my feelings any longer…”). Togami and Hinata didn’t need to do much more than convince them to go to bed. Mioda did so immediately, but Souda required the reassurance that Souda-sama would arrive tomorrow. This said they left the wards altogether, and headed for the lobby.

Hinata had expected Togami to go directly for the front door, but to his surprise he stopped by the bulletin board, studying the notice that he had already told Hinata about. Hinata stopped when he saw Togami wasn’t with him, waited for a second, then walked back to the far wall and leaned against the reception desk. 

He felt more and more uncomfortable with every second that passed in silence. “Um, are we going?” he said.

“Are you in a hurry to leave?” Togami said.

“Well, I don’t really have anywhere else to be, but I didn’t know we had a reason to stop.” Hinata looked askance at the bulletin. “I thought you’d already read that.”

Togami stiffened, and quickly adjusted his posture. “I was making sure we hadn’t missed anything. Shouldn’t we be as thorough as possible right now?”

Hinata narrowed his eyes at the bulletin. It was a list of hospital rules, none of which appeared to be particularly relevant to them. “I’m…not sure I buy that you’d think Monobear would make it that easy,” he said.

For a second Togami almost looked angry at Hinata – but then his expression softened, becoming something that resembled defeat. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“Well, stalling, at the worst.” Hinata studied Togami’s expression. “You’re doing that thing again.”

Togami’s eyes widened. “Thing? What thing?”

“The thing where you…” Hinata knew exactly what he wanted to point out, but not quite how to put it into words, or even if he should. “Where you want to tell me something but you act like you don’t.”

The corners of Togami’s lips twitched for a moment, as though he were exerting a herculean effort to keep his expression still. “That’s a bold statement,” he said after a moment. “Do you really think you know me that well, Hinata?”

Hinata wondered if he looked less tense than he really was. “I wouldn’t know,” he said. “Do you think I do?”

“That depends,” Togami said. “If you do, then you should be able to predict what I’m about to say. Go on.”

Hinata could practically feel his brain seizing up – but before he had the chance to answer, Togami shook his head. “Never mind. That’s not going to work for any of us. None of this is.” He turned to face Hinata, all pretension gone from his face. “After all I’ve said, I’m still expecting to lead you without a problem, aren’t I?”

Here we are at last, Hinata thought. “Um…if you’re talking about today, you didn’t really do anything wrong, far as I could tell.”

“No. I’ve made a grave mistake.” Hinata realized that Togami wasn’t looking him in the eye. “Do you remember what I said last night? About apology, discussion, progress?”

“Of course,” Hinata said. “But we didn’t really have time for any of that –”

“And if I’d actually thought it would have helped, then I would have acted on it no matter what,” Togami said. “I never would have thought it at all, if no one had died. It wasn’t progress, Hinata. It was defeat, and I knew it.” He stepped to Hinata’s left and leaned against the reception desk, ignoring the loud creaking that resulted. “It wouldn’t have changed anyone’s perspectives. It wouldn’t have prevented the Despair Fever. It won’t help us find a cure. And it won’t stop anyone who’s determined enough to kill.”

Hinata felt something drop in his chest, almost like a lead weight. “I know it won’t, not directly,” he said. “But…at this point I don’t really know what to tell you.”

“Heh. You misunderstand me, Hinata. I’ve gone beyond wallowing in self-pity. And I know that if I’m going to face Monobear and win, then I can’t do it as a coward anymore.” He took a quick, deep breath, and held it for a second before speaking very fast. "There’s something I’ve been holding back from the rest of you, Hinata. Something…rather significant about myself.”

Of all the ways that Hinata had thought the conversation would go, this was the one he had expected the least. He felt a mix of confusion, fear, and excitement rising in his chest. “O-okay,” he said, his voice heavy and awkward on his tongue. “What is it?”

He saw a sheen of sweat on Togami’s forehead where none had been before, and when he did speak his words seemed to come in gasps, matching an expression that was more exhaustion than fear. “If I could, I would,” he said. “But I can’t. Not right now. Believe me, I want to tell you. But it would be better if I told everyone as a group.” He sighed. “It’s strictly a practical concern, you understand.”

Hinata didn’t know how he could possibly understand, or even react. But whether Togami understood this, or simply couldn’t stop the words once they were there, he didn’t wait for a response. “It’s not anything dangerous, or beneficial at that. And as far as the broad strokes of our situation, it changes very little. But…” He hesitated. “It will change everyone’s perception of me, irreversibly, and without question. And I have no way of knowing what that will mean on an individual level. Some of them may make an effort not to change their opinion of me at all. Some of them may not. They might be angry. They might even be violent.”

“Violent?” Hinata’s blood turned to ice. “Why the hell would they be violent? Look, you’re going to have to tell me what it is now –”

“I’ve told you, I can’t. Not right now. And I would appreciate it if you did not try to guess or assume what it is.”

Hinata hadn’t even begun to do either, though he’d definitely been planning on it when he could get some time to think. But now he felt more agitated than ever. “If I’m not supposed to know and I’m not supposed to guess, then I don’t even know why you’re telling me all this. What am I supposed to do if I don’t know what we’re talking about?”

“You’re acting as though I’m in immediate danger, Hinata. I assure you, I’m not. I don’t even know if I will be.” Togami pressed a hand to his temples. “I don’t need you to do anything but listen. None of this will be relevant until I reveal this to everyone. Do you understand?”

It took a second for Hinata to decide on his answer, but in the end he nodded. “If you say so."

“Good. That’s good.” Togami took a deep breath before going on. “To answer your question, as to why I’m telling you now…well, there are multiple reasons. One might be as a declaration of resolve.”

“Resolve?”

“I’ve never told this to anyone. Not…not willingly.” He wiped the perspiration from his forehead. “Telling you that it exists is the closest I’ve ever come, and that was difficult enough. But I’ve still done it, haven’t I? If that’s the case, then telling everyone can’t be impossible. Can it?”

Hinata hardly had the secret itself in mind anymore – if any of the others could see Togami acting like this, they’d be shaken enough. But to him it felt quite the opposite. It was as though Togami had finally acknowledged something that Hinata had known was there all along. “Never,” Hinata said. “Not at all.”

“Heh. You believe that, then.” Togami sighed again. “The other…well, it’s a bit selfish. It pertains to you in particular.”

“Me? Why?”

“You’ve proven yourself very trustworthy, Hinata. Even when I’ve been unreasonable, even when the others have been hard to predict…I can’t think of a single moment where I’ve doubted your fortitude in this situation. You’re above and beyond what I could have expected from any of my classmates.”

“Wait…no…” Hinata hardly had a clue what to say in response. Of course he’d known that Togami had liked him, but… “That’s…I don’t know. Whatever I did, you’re making it sound like a lot more than it actually was.”

“Are you saying that because you can’t remember your talent?”

A shiver ran down Hinata’s spine. “I…I don’t know.”

“Because I wouldn’t,” Togami said. “A talent is nothing more than something someone is better at than the average person. And haven’t I just outlined the areas in which you’ve excelled? Even if I can’t put a title on it, or even be sure if it’s what Hope’s Peak accepted you for, I know it’s there.”

Hinata had no idea what to do in the face of Togami’s words. Thank him? It seemed like such a strange thing to do in this context. “Well, I…”

“But I’ve digressed enough,” Togami said. “The point is, I had hoped I could count on you, at least, to be on my side when the time came. There are others I might have told as well, had they not been under the influence of the Despair Fever at the moment. But for now, your support is enough.”

Mioda and Nanami? Hinata thought. “Although, of course, I can’t assume you’ll support me just because I’ve told you,” Togami went on. “But can I ask if you will? Even if you don’t know what it is?”

Hinata knew his answer from the start, but he still scanned Togami’s face before he spoke, taking in the fear, the anticipation, and more than anything the trust. “That’s…not really something I can promise, Togami,” he said. “I’m sorry. I can’t say until I know what I’m agreeing to.”

“I understand. That’s fair.” Togami chuckled slightly, and for the first time in the conversation a smile appeared on his face. “The third reason relates to what I told you before, that I cannot face Monobear as a coward. You may be wondering why I’ve chosen to reveal this now, when the group is at its weakest.”

Hinata still didn’t know why he was revealing it at all. “Wait…is this going to help stop Monobear?” he said. “But you said it wouldn’t!”

“I did.” Togami put his hands in his pockets. “Monobear has made it very clear to me over the past several days that, once the Despair Fever is done –”

“Wait,” Hinata said, “he knows what it is?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Togami hesitated, looking nervous again. “Once the Despair Fever is done, or if it claims no victims, Monobear plans to use my secret as the next motive for murder.”

In retrospect Hinata shouldn’t have been surprised, but his jaw still fell open. “Wh–?!”

“I believe he expects me to fear the others too much to ever tell them what it is, but his own predisposition towards taunting me is something he’s too late to take back. It’s only made revealing it all the more urgent. If I can take the upper hand from him, then I can have some control over the group’s reaction. I might even gain the trust of those who still doubt me, if I can reveal my full hand to them in the apology I must make.” He turned back to Hinata, his face full of determination. “And this is why we must find the cure for the fever as soon as possible. To reduce the time we have to waste before we can come together as a functional group again. Do you understand?”

Hinata froze for a second, but then nodded rapidly. He still couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but the logic was certainly sound. “Y-yeah,” he said in a manner of emphasis. “I mean…I’m still confused. But if you say it’s going to undermine Monobear, well, I can’t disagree with that.”

“I thought you wouldn’t.” Togami put a hand to his chin, and tapped it there once or twice. “There’s another thing, as well. Something very important.” He looked from left to right, as though checking for eavesdroppers, before dropping his voice to an undertone. “I feel I’ve come across a vital piece of information,” he said. “One that may be instrumental in solving the mysteries that remain to us.”

Hinata’s eyes went wide, and he was about to call out when Togami shook his head, then jerked it in the direction of the security camera. “I can’t tell you what it is right now. It would…not be fair to reveal it until I have revealed myself, and I can’t even say for sure what it will help. But given a stroke of luck…it may lead us to a way off the island.”

“A way…off...the island…?!” Hinata could feel his vision swimming in front of him. He’d almost given up on the idea of escape altogether…but whatever it was that Togami was talking about, if it could really help them… But almost soon as the hope rose inside him a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach twisted and crushed it.

“No, no no no no no,” he said. “That’s not…that can’t be…”

“I don’t know if it can,” Togami said. “I only know it might. But –”

“But then why don’t we do it now?” Hinata said, paying his volume no mind. “Whatever it is – even if it’s unfair or whatever, I don’t get why you’re holding back! Mioda and the others, they’re –”

“That’s just it,” Togami said. “The very fact that three of our number are ill eliminates our ability to take advantage of what I know. When they are well – and we must make them well, Hinata – then we will be free to explore it, and no sooner.”

“But I don’t understand,” Hinata said. “What the hell do they have to do with escaping? Or – anything else you’ve been saying? What am I even supposed to do with all this information?”

“For now? Nothing,” Togami said. “Believe me…I wish it were different. But we have something now that we didn’t before. We have a plan of attack. And if we can dismantle one motive, we can take on another.” He sighed. “I’ll be honest, Hinata. I know no more about medicine than you. But if it’s anything like the world of business…then our victory will come with time and perseverance, I’m sure.” He looked up, directly into the security camera. “Am I wrong?”

Hinata had no idea how to answer that, and he was sure to make that plain on his face, even if Togami wasn’t paying full attention. He had no idea where to begin, on the cure or on anything else. Like this violent secret Togami was keeping from him, just in case he’d forgotten. Did he expect him to just swallow and forget about it until everyone was well again? Was that the role that he played for him? Why would he tell him so much, and yet so little –

A sudden chill struck his spine. He’d realized just how familiar his behavior felt. “Togami,” he said, “Are you the tr –”

“Aha! I have found them!”

Hinata turned toward the main hospital door and found it wide open, with Mioda standing in the entryway. She was swaying back and forth, hopping from one foot to the other as needed, and fixing them with a wild, wide-eyed stare. “Mioda!” Togami shouted, his voice back at its full power. “What are you doing outside your room?”

“If I can be honest, sirs, I have run out of amusements in the space to which I am confined!” Mioda said. “And I had hoped that one such as you would be able to provide me with proper stimulation, sir!”

Hinata felt a sudden and overwhelming urge to elbow Togami in the gut, but Togami’s own quick thinking saved Hinata’s skin. “Mioda, you can’t be running around in the halls like this,” he said before turning back to Hinata. “I’ll take her back to her room. Just hold on for a moment.”

Hinata could have repeated his question, but now that the moment had passed he hardly felt the need. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer, anyway. He lowered his head. “Alright then.”

“Very well.” Togami said. Hinata watched as Togami approached Mioda and took her by the collar. “I’ll let you know if Tsumiki’s changed her mind about extra help,” he called back before he closed the door behind him.

Just as before the hall was still and silent, and it felt like an age before Togami returned. He informed Hinata that Mioda had gone back to bed with only a little more trouble than before, and that Tsumiki had again refused his help. With this done, Togami headed for the exit, and they left the hospital once and for all. Despite all that Hinata was feeling, and all the burning questions he had, he couldn’t find the words to express them, and Togami didn’t give him a chance. So they walked back to the first island in what struck him as an eerie, impregnable silence, both inside and out.

=====

komaeda theater 

“Is there anything more to be said? I can’t tell – I can’t gauge your reaction or see your response. I’m honestly not even sure you can hear me. But if you can, and if I could make a visible impression on you, or even just get a sign that you’re listening…

“Well, that’d be a flagrant and irresponsible misuse of my luck. I’ve learned the hard way that any thought of ever achieving any of my selfish desires could have disastrous consequences. And in the end, whatever benefit I get from anyone else’s misfortune would probably be more than I ever needed or wanted. It wouldn’t cause anything but despair for either of us, really.

“But I know that’s the nature of this talent. It makes you realize just how powerless we are against the will of the universe, even when those with talent can shape its smallest parts. So just forget I ever said anything at all. Believe me, it’ll be for the best.

“Tonight’s lucky numbers are 27, -3, 2, -64, 8, -16, 6, -34, 8, -2, 29, -9, 9, -2, 44, -18, 5, -39, 3, -6, 5, and -18.”

=====

Hinata had trouble sleeping on the island as a rule, but he’d never been kept up so fitfully or consistently by his own thoughts as he had that night. More often than not he could find a way to block them out, or a way to tell himself that the next day would bring something better…but now he was stuck. Now he didn’t know what today would be like at all. Not for the patients, not for the ones in the motel…

And not for Togami. He couldn’t get his words out of his mind, but at the same time he couldn’t comprehend them. Why couldn’t he tell him whatever it was he wanted to say? As long as he didn’t, the fact that there was something was barely tangible. It was little more than a vague threat, its scope and impact all the worse when it couldn’t be measured. He found himself reminded of how he’d felt about the mutual killing itself, in the three peaceful days before Komaeda and Hanamura had died. It was not a feeling he liked to remember he’d had, or one that he wanted to come back in any form.

Togami had told Hinata not to guess what the secret was, but it was the only thing that calmed his nerves – the only thing that made it all feel real. But the possibilities were endless and in the context of all he knew each seemed less likely than the last. He could figure it was something very personal, but also quite critical – something that, when revealed, would affect everyone on the island at some level. It was the threat of violence, more than anything, which gave him pause. What could cause that kind of reaction in someone? Had he had a specific person in mind? Or would he just be creating a general sense of betrayal…

It was that line of thinking that led him back to the same question: Is he the traitor? He didn’t completely understand the World Destroyers or their relation to Monobear. He didn’t even know enough to say whether Togami’s own actions, in particular his opposition to Monobear, would have lined up with the World Destroyers’ goals or served as a front for them. But the threat of violence certainly added up, as did this apparent knowledge of a way off the island. But why would he need to find the fever cure before using it? What about that could possibly be holding them back?

And in any case…if he was wrong, and Togami wasn’t the traitor, that would mean that someone else was – and Togami’s own secret was as unknowable as ever. And that was harder to comprehend than anything else he’d thought.

He felt he’d only just pushed it all out of his mind when the morning announcement went off – and from there he had no time to lose. He left his cottage and went to Togami’s, only to find the curtains open and the cottage empty. Hinata figured that Togami must have gone ahead to the hospital, but as he left the hotel he found he was only half-right – he ran into Togami by the lobby, his arms loaded with large boxes. On a closer look Hinata realized they were full of food, cooked and pre-packaged alike.

“It’s for the others,” Togami explained before Hinata could ask. “I can’t imagine the unsubstantial theater fare will keep us for very long.”

“You know, I didn’t completely think that through myself,” Hinata replied. “Need a hand?”

“I’ve got them,” Togami said. “We don’t have long to spare before we have to meet Kuzuryuu. Come on.”

“Right.” Togami took off ahead of Hinata, far faster than Hinata ever could have with one box, let alone two. They crossed the central island and reached the hospital in what felt like record time; the wall clock in the lobby told them it was 7:20.

“That’s more than enough time to check in on the others,” Togami said, setting the second box down. “And Tsumiki should eat before she rests.”

“You really have this all worked out,” Hinata said, but Togami only nodded in response – he seemed distracted, or rather, dedicated to the task at hand. He picked the first box back up and set off through the lobby doors, and Hinata followed after him toward the wards.

All four of the doors were closed, and there was no indication of where Tsumiki might be, so they tried Nanami’s room first. At first Hinata thought the room was empty – apart from Nanami, asleep as ever – but then his peripheral vision caught his notice, and he looked down to find Tsumiki on the floor, her arms and legs wrapped around the base of Nanami’s IV stand.  “Uh – Tsumiki –?!”

“Tsumiki!” Togami shouted.

With a start Tsumiki jerked awake, shrieked, and kicked at the wall in shock. Hinata feared the worst and ran to prevent the IV from tipping, but there was no need; Tsumiki disentangled herself quickly, if not elegantly, and stood by the bed, wide-eyed and shivering. “Aa-aaah! I’m sorry!” she said. “I didn’t realize – it was only for a minute –”

“You don’t need to make an excuse.” Togami set his box down by the nightstand, and pulled two slightly squished breakfasts out. “Has there been any change in Nanami’s condition?”

Tears welled in the corners of Tsumiki’s eyes. Togami’s hurried reassurance clearly hadn’t done much. “N-no…not that I know of…she’s still running a fever, b-but I can’t say there won’t be any change when she’s awake…”

“Do you think she can wake up soon?” Hinata said.

“I …” Tsumiki wiped her eyes on the bandages on her arm. “I’ll check on that today. And if there’s any change…” She smiled a small smile. “Well…that’d be wonderful. But I have no way of knowing now…”

“But her condition is stable for now. Good.” Togami picked the box back up and headed for the door. “We’re in a bit of a hurry, but we should check on the others before we go. Isn’t that right?”

“Oh – yes!” Tsumiki said, moving after him. For a second Hinata had thought Togami was addressing him, but he let that slide and followed them into the hall.

Their next stop was Mioda’s room, where they found her standing by her bedside, swaying slightly on her feet. She greeted them by telling them how tired she was, which they solved by telling her to go to sleep. As far as Hinata could tell there was no change in her condition, and Tsumiki confirmed this for them. They left her breakfast and moved on to Souda’s room.

Souda was sitting up in his bed and staring out the window when Hinata saw him, but when he heard them enter he turned to face them, and his mornful expression broke out in a smile. “Ah, Hinata-san!” he shouted, then ran from the bed, grabbed him by his wrists, and shook him up and down. “How perfect of you to visit so early, and when you must have known I needed it most!”

“Wait - no - Souda - Sonia - don’t –” Hinata wrenched himself out of Souda’s grasp, but Souda didn’t seem to mind terribly. He pulled his arms up to his chest, still rocking back and forth on his heels.

“You are full of news for me I am sure,” he said, “but I simply must tell you of the miraculous event of this very night before all else!”

“Miraculous…event?” Togami said, giving Souda a searching look.

“Indeed, miraculous!” Souda said. “It was just the stroke of midnight, in fact…I had just settled myself enough to lay down to sleep, but not long after I had, not long at all…I was roused from my slumber by the faintest of voices!”

“Voices?” Hinata was already sure he’d just heard Tsumiki or Mioda next door, but he didn’t stop Souda to say this.

“A voice, to be sure, and not just any!” Souda said. “I could hear it loud and clear, as though he were right beside me – it was my very Souda-sama’s voice!”

“Wait – Souda’s voice?” Hinata blinked at Souda in clear disbelief. “Are you…sure?”

“Absolutely, I am! I do not recall his words, but he must have come to me, to reassure me!” Souda said. “Oh, how I wish I could see him soon! Perhaps on his next visit he will stay longer, do you not think? Or could you bring me to him immediately, if he is here as you say?”

“Ah…” Togami narrowed his eyes. “He’s resting at the moment, but I can confirm that you’ll see him later.”

“Oh – Togami-san, you are much too kind!” Souda burst into tears again, not even attempting to stop them, and might have run to embrace Togami if Tsumiki hadn’t caught him and coaxed him back. Togami set his breakfast on the side table while she did this, and once he was settled they left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Hinata gritted his teeth and looked back and forth, from Togami to Tsumiki. “Okay, so…”

“I-I can explain,” Tsumiki said, looking as though she had made a heroic effort to assert herself. “It’s very simple…I was talking to Souda-san last night, and I discovered…”

“Discovered?” Togami said.

“Well, h-he thinks his own traits are Sonia-san’s traits,” Tsumiki went on. “His appearance, his body, his voice…it’s the nature of his fever, he doesn’t question them. But…if he perceives anything from the outside, like a picture, then he perceives Sonia-san as himself, and Souda-san as someone else… I tested it, too, with the student handbook…”

“So he heard his own voice, is what you’re saying,” Hinata said. “But he didn’t realize it? Was he sleep-talking or something?”

“Yes…I was in Mioda-san’s room around midnight, and I heard something from his,” Tsumiki said. “When I came in, he was fast asleep, but speaking nonsense. He must have perceived that as Souda-san’s voice, because he didn’t remember saying it.”

“An interesting quirk of the fever, then,” Togami said. “But overall a fairly useless one. Well, at least we’ve seen they’re alright. But we’re already late to see Kuzuryuu.” He moved away from Tsumiki and Hinata. “We’ll be back within a half-hour, Tsumiki.”

Tsumiki nodded rapidly, and Hinata took off after Togami. They stopped in the lobby to pick up the second box of supplies, and then set off down the road, for the Titty Typhoon.

They found Kuzuryuu standing halfway between the doorway and the east wall, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. “Hey, took you long enough,” he said bitterly, by way of a greeting. “Nice of you to join us, Hinata.”

“Sure is.” Hinata had almost forgotten what it was like to talk to Kuzuryuu. “We’ve, uh, got food for you guys…”

“It’s all from the supermarket,” Togami said, moving to the middle and setting the box down in a neutral territory. “I figured you wouldn’t want anything that had been opened.”

“Tch…well, it’s better than hot dogs.” Kuzuryuu stared at the box, then looked down at his hands. “I guess I’ll just kick that down the road, then.” He paused. “No, no, that was stupid. I’ll get Nidai to get it later.”

“Speaking of the others,” Togami said, apparently ignoring Kuzuryuu’s outburst, “how are they? Do you need anything?”

“Perfect,” Kuzuryuu said. “Saionji still won’t come out, and Owari and Nidai were doing who-the-hell-knows-what in the room next to mine and banging on the walls all night.” He gritted his teeth. “No idea about the other two. Won’t talk to me.”

“Well…” Hinata felt very awkward. “If they don’t need anything, I guess they’re alr –”

“Actually, I don’t think we can let that be,” Togami interrupted. “If we are going to keep ourselves together as a group, we need full and open communication on all sides. And I’m going to have to count on you to facilitate that.”

“Wait, I don’t get what you’re asking me,” Kuzuryuu said, suddenly looking very tense. “Or what it has to do with anything!”

“We have no way of knowing whether the quarantine is perfect,” Togami said. “Or anyone’s mental state, overall – except through you. And you did volunteer for this job, didn’t you?”

“Tch.” Kuzuryuu was hesitant for a long time. “Haven’t changed, have you? Alright. Whatever.” He unfolded his arms, and for the first time Hinata saw that the left one was hardly as well – wrapped as the right. “What about you? Any luck with the fever?”

“They’re…all stable,” Togami said. “Tsumiki’s checking on Nanami’s recovery today.”

“Alright.” Hinata waited for a moment for Kuzuryuu to continue, but when he didn’t they stood in silence for several seconds. “Well, I guess that’s it,” he said, just as Hinata was thinking the same thing. “I’d better head back. Oh, and, ah, if you could…get some fresh bandages for the next meeting, that’d be good.” He looked down at his left arm. “Yeah.”

“Very well. We’ll meet you in the evening, to update each other on our progress.” Togami nodded at Kuzuryuu, then set off for the hospital again. Hinata took the time for a small wave goodbye, but Kuzuryuu only returned a nod before he turned away, moving back towards the motel.

=====

It was about nine in the evening when the hospital had a visitor.

Hinata was on his break – his third that day, as he’d been trading shifts with Togami. He’d spent the past two hours largely on supervision; Tsumiki had needed him to help her pinpoint Nanami’s progress, to determine when the right time would be to stop her sedatives. Mioda had been somewhat more demanding – she required constant attention, and if she did not receive it she had a habit of getting up and leaving the building. Hinata usually caught her before she got out of the lobby, but once he’d had to chase her almost halfway across the third island bridge. But she usually wasn’t hard to get back, once you got within her hearing range.

She hadn’t shown a shred of change in her condition, but Souda was another story. Hinata couldn’t tell if what he was seeing was an improvement, or simply a loss of hope, but while Souda had spent the morning in eager anticipation of “Souda-sama”’s arrival, over the course of the afternoon he’d spoken about it less and less.  In truth, he’d been speaking less overall; whenever Hinata came in to check on him he’d seemed lost in thought, though he’d answered Hinata’s questions politely enough. Tsumiki had run more tests on him, trying to determine what might have caused the change, but thus far she’d found nothing that produced any significant result. Hinata wasn’t even sure if it had anything to do with the fever at all, if he was being honest.

But he couldn’t do anything about it when he was supposed to be resting. He hadn’t felt willing to try sleeping again, so he’d chosen to stay in the lobby. But by then he’d already paced back and forth across it until his feet ached, and he hadn’t found anything else to do. He’d considered balling up the hospital rule bulletin and throwing it against the wall a few times, but when he’d moved to take the poster Monobear had shown up to stop him.

So he’d been sitting in one of the lobby chairs, rocking back and forth to while away the remaining half hour. That was when he happened to look at the front door, and saw Monomi standing outside, looking in and rubbing her paws together. She started when she saw him, but made no move to enter.

Briefly Hinata considered leaving her there, but, more for his own benefit than hers, he got up, moved across the room, and opened the outside door. “Er…Monomi?” he said.

“H-Hinata-kun…” Monomi trembled for a second, and then, to Hinata’s surprise, she stood up straight, her hands on her hips. “L-look at you, taking such good care of your cwassmates, Hinata-kun! Y-your teacher’s vewy proud, you know!”

“Er…” Hinata wasn’t sure if he could believe that was all she wanted to say. “Thank you. I mean, I was just on my break, but –”

“Even if you are, you were working very hard before!” Monomi said. “So you’re very welcome…yeah…y-you’re welcome…”

Either Hinata's eyes were deceiving him, or Monomi was shivering as she spoke. “Um…is everything alright?” he said.

“W-well…” Monomi looked rapidly back and forth – Hinata could almost swear she’d been looking at the security camera. “H-how are they doing?” she said, her voice overly loud. “The others…with the fever…”

“Oh, well -” Hinata scratched his head. “Tsumiki’d be able to answer that better than me, but there’s still no change to Mioda, and Souda, there’s no telling –”

“And Nanami-san?” Monomi shouted, looking especially agitated. “I-is she awight?”

“Huh?” Hinata could almost swear Monomi was about to cry. “Well, I was just about to say –”

“She’s awake. The anesthesia’s worn off.”

Hinata jumped, then turned around – Togami was standing in the doorway to the hospital wards, holding the door open. Monomi went stiff, and threw her hands over her mouth, but Hinata paid her little mind – he was far too distracted by the news. “So, is she okay?” he said, moving for the door. “She’s not shaking or anything?”

“Not as far as we know.” Togami turned back again. “I came to see if you’d like to visit her. And Monomi, as well.”

“Well, yeah, of course,” Hinata said, and Monomi nodded rapidly. They crossed the room and left the lobby, with Monomi muttering and shaking at Hinata’s heels. They didn’t have far to go to get to the first ward, which was wide open. Togami entered the room first, and when Hinata followed behind him –

“Ugh, well it’s about time!”

He heard Nanami before he saw her, but once Togami had moved over far enough he saw her, standing right in the middle of the room. Her hair was lank and disheveled, and she had one arm wrapped around her IV stand for support, but she was pointing straight at the three of them with the other, and her eyes were as fierce as ever. “You two have been holding up the entire game,” she said. “What were you doing? Being scared? Scared to lose to a girl?”

“Er…” Hinata forced an awkward grin. “No, it’s just…kinda been a long time in general. It’s good to see you awake again –”

“Shut up, Hajime, I’m not here to be friendly.” Nanami swung the IV stand around and behind her, stumbling wildly on her feet. “You can’t just give me special treatment because you think I need it. Hell, if you think I need it to beat you, then maybe you’re the one that’s a pissbaby –”

“Nanami-san, if you keep moving like that, you’ll fall over!” Hinata had been so focused on Nanami he hadn’t seen Tsumiki on the bed. As he watched, she got up, worked the IV stand out of Nanami’s hand, and supported her on her shoulder. “I-I think you should stay in bed for now…”

“You think you can tell me what to do, Mikan?” Despite Nanami’s words, she didn’t seem to be able to struggle against her. “I’ll take you one on one – I’ll pwn you with my eyes closed –”

“Nanami, enough,” Togami said, sounding more tired than he did authoritative. The words did nothing to help, of course – Nanami continued to threaten Tsumiki as she put her back to bed, and Tsumiki cried and apologized as she went, apparently for being too pathetic to even know what “pwn” meant.

“Well,” Hinata said, surveying the scene, “at least she’s not as bad as she was. Now she’s just kind of like the rest of them.”

“B-but she is doing better…” Monomi held her head in her hands. “That’s…that’s got to be a relief…wight…?”

“It’s an excellent sign. Any kind of progress is.” Togami folded one arm across his chest, and put the other to his chin. “It’s another step closer to unraveling the workings of the fever. It could be that her unconscious state allowed it to work its course, or even that the drugs were a factor… but we may need more time to figure that out.”

“Still…” Hinata turned to Togami. “With this, and Souda…maybe this’ll all be over with sooner than we thought.”

“Indeed.” Togami took a quick look at the clock in the room. “It’s almost time. Tsumiki, we need to be off.”

“So you’re just gonna run away, Byakuya?” Nanami said. “That’s just like you, isn’t it–”

Tsumiki covered Nanami’s mouth with her hand before she could say anything else, and nodded her goodbye before she tried to get her back under the covers. Togami immediately headed for the door, but Hinata couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment, looking back at Nanami. He knew she was sick, he knew she couldn’t control what she was saying…but something about her words had struck a certain chord. “That’s just like you, isn’t it?” It reminded him of something…of something else she’d said, of something else she’d done…

“Hinata!” Togami called – and the thought was gone. He turned back, joined Togami, and headed with him for the lobby.

=====

The meeting at the Titty Typhoon was somewhat more eventful than the last.  Kuzuryuu reacted well to the news of Nanami’s recovery – at least from the worst of her fever – and even held out the same hope that this meant the fever might wear off given a few days. He had little news on his end. Saionji was still locked away, but the others were going somewhat stir-crazy. Koizumi had made an effort to organize them, but it had broken down fairly quickly when it was clear that there was very little they could do but wait. Now she too spent most of her time in her room, staring out her window, or so Owari had said. From the sound of it, he’d had to ask her to check on the others for him.

Togami handed the new bandages over, and then they parted with nothing else to say. After checking in on Tsumiki, who swore up and down that she didn’t need any help for the night, they headed back for the first island. The walk wasn’t as silent as the last – they talked a little about Nanami, and about their hopes for everyone’s recovery. But Togami still seemed reserved and distant somehow, more than ever before.

He had his confessions to anticipate, Hinata knew. Perhaps that was weighing on his mind, along with everything else...as much as Hinata was thinking about it, he could imagine it was worse for Togami. But his curiosity still overwhelmed him.

“Uh, hey,” he said.

“Hm?” Togami turned his head. “What is it?”

“Well…” Hinata swallowed. “I was thinking, when I saw Nanami. What does their health have to do with anything? Is it something to do with the fever…or is it a specific person?”

Togami’s eyes went wide, and he hesitated for a long time before answering. “I… I don’t have any more to say on the subject,” he said. “Not until the time comes to address it.”

“I…” Hinata paused. “I mean, okay, but I don’t really get why not –”

“Monobear has eyes everywhere, Hinata,” Togami said. “The less he knows, the better.”

Hinata admitted to himself that he hadn’t considered this. “Right. You’re right,” he said. “Never mind.”

They parted at the cottages, and Hinata practically fell on his bed when he entered his. He had the vaguest thought of getting out of his clothes and taking a shower, but he hadn’t realized until then just how tired he was. That could wait, he thought as he closed his eyes. He was so comfortable now, more than he’d been in the past few days…one little rest wouldn’t hurt anything, for sure…

For a moment his mind was clear… but then a certain scene floated dimly into his mind, unbidden. It came slowly, from somewhere deep within his subconscious…Like a watercolor painting, slowly filling in…

Slowly… and dimly…

=====

komaeda theater

Beware of the powers that act around you.

                Beware of the ghosts, the Lives we’ve lived and lOst. Beware the iNner workinGs, the wires and circuits and breathing apparatus and waLls and buildings and water and sky.

                                                Beware of the dangers you see and the omIssions you don’t.

                                                                Beware the balance and eVErything THat can upset it.

                Bewar E yo urs elf and the  QUEstions you havE.

                                                                                                                Beware the powe rs that be. Beware N ature. Beware wha t must come and what must pass away.

                Beware the past. Beware t e m p t a t i o n. Beware the despair tha t must come and be ware the hope that will rise t o destroy it.

                 Beware
                                the

                                    F uture

=====

“I mean, it’s not like he has the kind of talent Hope’s Peak are looking for…he’s…just a normal guy, like everyone else.”

“Well, he’s free to revere whatever he wants, but it must be hard for his parents. It’s their money, after all.”

“Hinata…Hinata…”

Just…leave me alone…I just… I just want to be able to stand proud…

“Hinata! Hinata, open the door!”

…Wait…what is this? Who’s speaking? Why can’t I remember? …Who –

 “HINATA!”

Hinata jerked up, and had to grab the edge of the bed with both hands to keep from falling off entirely. His lower half had somehow slid off during the night, and his clothes felt oddly sticky, as though he had sweated them through. But he couldn’t focus on that now, or anything swimming in his head. Someone was yelling and banging loudly on his door, and a second later he knew it could only be one person. “HINATA!” Togami yelled again. “HINATA –”

“I’m up, one second!” Hinata planted his feet to steady himself, then pulled himself away from the bed. He didn’t know why Togami was there, why he was so desperate to see him, or even what time it was – but he knew there was no use asking himself those questions when in a second he would be opening the door.

When he did, he only had an instant to take in Togami’s appearance – his wide eyes, his disheveled hair, his heaving chest as he struggled for breath – before he spoke.

“Tsumiki’s dead,” he said. “And Souda’s gone.”

=====

He could hardly remember the journey back to the hospital.

From the moment Togami had spoken he hadn’t been able to hold any thoughts at all. He couldn’t even think about what he’d heard. He followed Togami when he grabbed his arm, and he had the vaguest feeling that he was running, but he couldn’t think about it. Or where he was going.

It had to be a mistake. He hadn’t seen either of them yet. Not Souda, and not…not…no. He wasn’t going to believe it until he saw her. He couldn’t…she wouldn’t… she was right in the hospital, she had to be…

He saw the front of the hospital, and then the blur of the interior door – then the doors of the wards, first Nanami’s, then Mioda’s, and then Souda’s, standing slightly ajar –

And then his vision cleared, and he was in Souda’s room, shivering and staring at Tsumiki.

She lay on Souda’s bed, her head on his pillow and her body above the sheets. He couldn’t see any wounds, or any sign of a struggle, but her limbs were splayed at odd, crooked angles, and her mouth, her eyes – her eyes were wide and glassy, her mouth half-open, and taken together he could hardly recognize the expression as human –

He couldn’t look away, but it occurred to him that he hadn’t felt the urge to cry or scream. He still couldn’t believe it – and he could tell he was still looking for a way out. “But…” was all he could say. “But how…how…?”

“Her throat.” Togami pushed past Hinata, and knelt by the side of the bed. “I saw it when I found her. Look at the marks.”

He pulled Tsumiki’s shirt collar down, and Hinata moved just far enough forward to see deep, dark gashes and bruises along the bottom of her neck. “Strangulation,” he said to himself. Suddenly it became very clear to him that Mikan Tsumiki was dead. She’d died…been killed…someone had killed her…and then…and now…!

“We can’t spend too much time here.” Togami pushed Tsumiki’s collar back up, then stood and faced Hianta. “We have to find Souda as soon as possible. Do you understand?”

“What – yeah!” Hinata said with a start, even though the second part of the problem had almost slipped Hinata’s mind. He’d thought he couldn’t think of Souda at a time like this, but given the circumstances…

“Do you think he killed her?” he blurted.

“We won’t know for sure until we figure it out,” Togami said. “But right now, finding him is our priority. He could have moved anywhere in the time I was gone.” Togami moved to the door as he spoke, then looked back again. “You search the upper floor. I’ll check on the others again, and the spare ward as well. If he’s not here, we’ll call the others and search the rest of the island.”

“Right. Yeah.” Togami nodded, then took off for Mioda’s room. Hinata left as well, and headed up the stairs.

He searched the break room, and then the conference room, but both turned up empty, of Souda or otherwise. Now that he couldn’t see Tsumiki anymore, it struck him just how routine this situation had become. Togami, distressed as he looked, was able to stay on task, even in the face of death… but then, he always had. And Hinata was beginning to feel like it was rubbing off on him. He’d been shocked to be sure, but now it was as though he’d entered a state of survival, where none of that mattered until –

“HINATA!”

He froze at Togami’s voice. Had he really found Souda already? He couldn’t think anymore – he left the conference room and raced down the stairs, only to find Togami at the foot. “Did you find him?”

“Kuzuryuu’s here,” Togami answered. “He’s in the lobby. Come on!”

Kuzuryuu? But it’s not even seven yet – and why is he here? Hinata didn’t voice his thoughts. He followed Togami through the ward and out into the lobby.

Kuzuryuu was there as promised, standing right by the outside doors. “Hinata!” he yelled as they approached. “You saw Tsumiki too, right? So she’s –”

“Y-yeah,” Hinata said, stopping by the door. “She’s - she’s dead –”

“Ohhh…. oh fuckin’ hell –!” Kuzuryuu’s face contorted wildly – but before he could show any more emotion he slammed his body against the outside door, opening it just wide enough for him to get through. “You guys have to come with me! Now!”

“What – why?” Hinata said, but immediately knew he shouldn’t have – Kuzuryuu was off like a shot, and Togami went after him, wide-eyed but without question.

They were halfway down the road when Hinata started seeing blood on the ground. At first he thought he was just seeing things – it had to only be a few flecks – but then there were distinct splatter shapes, which finally resolved themselves into footprints as they got closer. Kuzuryuu got to the doors first, but given the state of his hands there was very little he could do. Togami was the next to arrive, looking more shaken than before, and with a mighty shove he threw the doors open –

Hinata was only dimly aware of the others around him as he looked inside. They must have been shocked, there was no way they couldn't be, and he thought he could hear someone shout – but who it had been, or even if he'd done it himself, he had no way of knowing. All he could see or care about was the blood – the blood that ran in a thick, ragged trail across the floor, starting at the splatter at edge of the stage and ending not far from their feet, where...where...

He was sure for a second that it had to be a body. He saw the gashes on Souda's back, the blood that soaked his hospital gown...but then he heard him groan, and he saw him prop himself up on one arm as he pulled himself forward with the other. He looked Souda directly in his bloodshot, terror-stricken eyes, and watched them widen with shock before his strength failed him entirely, and he passed out on the ground.

Chapter Text

Hinata dropped to the ground, grabbed Souda by the shoulders, and rolled him onto his back, while Togami lifted his head and torso to rest upright on his leg. Hinata couldn’t see if Kuzuryuu had followed them, or even where he was. He was focused on Souda’s frozen expression, his ripped, blood-soaked hospital gown, and the deep, crisscrossed gashes across his chest.

“SOUDA!” he yelled, “Souda, it’s me!” Souda’s eyelids flickered open and shut, but it was clear he wasn’t fully conscious. “Come on, stay with me –”

“I don’t think he’ll respond,” Togami said, his voice strained. He pressed two fingers against the side of his throat, just like he had with Komaeda, though Hinata could see Souda's chest moving up and down with each jagged breath. “But he’s alive – Kuzuryuu!”

Hinata heard a strangled sound from behind his ear, and looked to find Kuzuryuu staring wide-eyed down at Souda. His teeth were clenched, but it was impossible to tell just what kind of emotion he was – or wasn’t – trying to convey. “Go and get the others,” Togami said without waiting for him to answer. “Tell them everything and meet us back at the hospital.”

Kuzuryuu stood frozen for what felt like an age, looking back and forth between Togami and Souda. “Kuzuryuu?” Hinata said, but before he could say anything else Kuzuryuu was off like a shot, not once looking back or acknowledging him.

But he couldn’t think about that now – he had to focus on Souda. He scooped his arms under Souda’s legs, and lifted him together with Togami, who held him by the torso. Together they ran for the door as fast as they could; Souda moaned and shook, then fell limp in their arms, fully unconscious. Hinata could still see him breathing, but it was clear he didn’t have much time. “We’re going to make it,” he repeated to himself, focusing on Souda and any sign that he was alive. “We’re going to…we’re going to do something…” He felt his mind go stiff. “Wait, when we get there – what are we going to do?”

“We’re better off at the hospital than we are here.” Hinata knew immediately that Togami knew as little about what to do as he did. “We’ll find something.”

“Well, yeah, but –” Hinata tried not to panic. He hadn’t felt anything like this for anyone else, but now there was a deadline, a pressure to save his life, and it was making his thoughts run faster than he could think them. “I don’t know the first thing to do, and Tsumiki, shit, Tsumiki’s –”

“Dead? Is that what you were going to say?” Hinata jerked to the side of the entrance, just in time to avoid Monobear, who was waddling next to him, keeping perfect pace. “Or was it something like, “our only hope?” or “the only one that could save Souda-kun?” Cause that’d be pretty pathetic!”

Monobear laughed and laughed, but if he had anything else to say, Togami didn’t have the patience to hear it – he pushed ahead without a word, and Hinata followed behind him, struggling to keep up. He could still hear Monobear talking behind them. “Oh, what’s this for?” he said. “Am I slowing you down?”

“Hey, shut up!” Hinata shouted. Souda’s eyelids were still twitching, but his breaths were slower and shorter than before.

“Then you don’t want my help?” Monobear held his paws to his chest in a mock exaggeration of heartbreak. “Then I’m not sure I even want to give it! I could’ve taken him right out of your hands and given him back good as new –”

“And what makes you think we’d ever take you at your word?” Togami said darkly. “One of us attacked him. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Monobear stopped and stared blankly at them all; Togami stopped as well, and without him Hinata couldn’t go any further. “I only said I could’ve,” Monobear said after a moment, “not that I would’ve. But doesn’t it eat away at you, Togami-kun? That the despair of not knowing whether he’ll live or die could’ve been resolved with something out of your reach?”

They were almost to the hospital now; another twenty seconds and they’d be in the lobby door. Togami didn’t answer Monobear, and Hinata couldn’t find a way to before Monobear got tired of waiting. “But it’s not impossible to save him,” he said. “There’s bandages, blood packs, and painkiller shots inside, but it’s on you to figure out what to do with them, or even if that’s enough! You bastards are the ones playing this game, not me!”

Monobear pulled ahead and stopped by the hospital door, leaning against it and folding his arms. “Not to mention…we’re still having a trial, whether he lives or dies. So I don’t think any of the despair to come can be avoided at all…”

He laughed and vanished then, but Hinata couldn’t get what he would have said to him out of his head. “The trial,” he said out loud. “Tsumiki’s trial…”

“I know, but it’s going to have to wait,” Togami interrupted. He slammed the hospital door open, and pulled them through into the lobby. “We’ll have to time to investigate when Souda’s stable. Come on!”

=====

Hinata could swear they’d gone from the Titty Typhoon to the hospital in no time at all, but the trip to the spare ward felt like an eternity.

The morning announcement went off the moment they stepped in the door. Hinata forced himself not to listen to Monobear’s voice any longer, and focused on getting across, getting through the door to the wards, and running past the third ward and into the spare one, where they placed Souda on top of the bed.

He was still breathing, but only faintly, and the bedsheets were quickly soaking through with his blood.  “Alright,” Hinata said, struggling not to panic. “Bandages, blood packs, painkillers…”

“And disinfectant,” Togami added.

“Right, yeah,” Hinata said, surprised he hadn’t thought of it himself. “I’ll go get them.”

Togami gave him a quick nod, and he sped out of the room and up the stairs to the supply room. He found the bandages and disinfectant pretty easily, and while he only vaguely recognized the medical name on the syringes he found, the label did say they relieved pain. A refrigerator near the back of the room held the blood packs – or rather, blood pack singular, as there was only one small unit, labeled O-negative, connected to a needle.

Hinata grabbed everything, left the room, and ran down the stairs, but as he came close to the landing he heard footsteps running down the hall. “Hoeehh!” he heard a familiar voice say.  “Ibuki heard running, but now she can’t see anyone!”

“Mioda!” Hinata yelled as he ran by her. She’d stopped in the middle of the hallway, still wearing her hospital gown and looking very confused. “Aha!” she said when she saw him. “So Hajime-chan was making all the noise!”  She grinned, but only for a second before her eyes went wide. “But wait, what’s Hajime-chan doing here? And why’s he got a bag of blood? Is this a robbery?”

“No time to explain,” Hinata said, opening the door. “Come on!”

He ran into the spare room, with Mioda following behind him. “No time? But Ibuki still has about a billon questions – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” Hinata didn’t look back to see her - he was too focused on what she was seeing. “Kazuichi-chan?! Wh –”

“Souda’s dying,” Togami said, grabbing the disinfectant from Hinata’s hands. “Quick, take the bandages. Hinata, get the IV set up!”

“Dying –!?” Mioda was only frozen for a second before she ran and grabbed the bandages from Hinata’s hands.  Hinata set the syringes on the stool and hooked the blood pack up to the IV stand, while Togami lifted Souda onto his side and Mioda applied the disinfectant to a sterile napkin. Souda’s eyes snapped open the second the napkin hit the wound, and he howled in pain until Togami grabbed a strip of bandage, tied it around Souda’s arm, and jabbed the painkiller into his elbow. The effect was immediate – he relaxed, though Hinata couldn’t tell whether or not he was still awake.

This done, Togami took the IV needle from Hinata and inserted it just above where he’d administered the painkiller. By this point Mioda was done with the disinfectant, so all three of them attempted to stretch the bandages across the gashes on Souda’s chest, but they bled through within seconds. “Shit,” Hinata said, "it’s not working!”

“Of course it isn’t –!” Togami gave the IV stand a quick glance, then took off without another word – Hinata could hear the thumps of his footsteps as he ran upstairs. He looked back at Souda, who was shuddering but still bleeding, then to Mioda, who looked horrified beyond belief.

“This is bad, this is bad!” she said. “Ibuki already had a million questions, but now she has a billion more! She doesn’t even know where to start!” She paused. “Wait, no, she does! Why was Ibuki sleeping at the hospital? And if Hajime-chan and Byakuya-chan are doing all the medical magic, then where’s Mikan-chan?”

“S-she –” Hinata was about to answer, but then stopped. Perhaps it had been the stress, but he hadn’t considered that Mioda shouldn’t have been any state to ask any questions at all, unless...

He reached forward and put his hand on Mioda’s forehead. “The fever,” he said. “It’s gone!”

“Fever?” Mioda’s eyes went wide. “What fever? Ibuki isn't sick!”

“Wait – then you don’t remember?” Before Mioda could answer Togami returned, balancing medical-grade sewing kits and an IV bag.  He passed the sewing kits to Hinata and Mioda, and then placed the IV bag on the nightstand.

“I can’t believe I forgot about this,” he said, rolling up his left sleeve as he spoke. “If we don’t get those closed before the blood runs out…”

“Wait, what are you –?!” Hinata winced as Togami stuck the IV needle into his wrist. A thin flow of blood ran down the tube and into the bag, but the look on Togami’s face told Hinata he couldn’t stay to stare – he opened the sewing kit and took off after Mioda, who was already set to go.

Hinata only half-knew how to sew, and while Mioda and Togami took up much of the slack it was still a long and horrifying process. Before they could finish and bandage him, they heard a loud series of footsteps in the hall. Hinata turned just in time to see Kuzuryuu burst into the room, followed by the others from the motel.

Hinata’s mind was so overwhelmed that he could hardly distinguish the yells, the expressions of shock and concern, and the attempts to intervene and help. He was sure that only a few people had rushed forward, and that at least one of them was Nidai holding Souda still as they wrapped him again, this time with much less difficulty.

Only when the bandages were fastened did Hinata’s adrenaline leave him. He dropped to his knees, panting heavily, and only barely registering that Owari was asking him if he was okay.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled, then took her outstretched hand and stood, leaning against the rails of the bed for support. For the first time he noticed that he was splattered with Souda’s blood, as were Mioda and Togami. Souda lay peacefully on the bed, apparently asleep, his entire abdomen wrapped in bandages. The empty O-negative bag had been replaced with Togami’s blood, though Hinata couldn’t say when it had happened. Mioda, Togami, Nidai, Owari, and Koizumi were still gathered around Souda’s bed. Saionji was standing some distance back, Kuzuryuu was sitting on a nearby stool, and Tanaka was leaning against the wall, looking down.

“I don’t know enough to say when he’ll wake up,” Togami said. Hinata got the impression he’d tuned into the middle of a conversation that had already been in progress. "But he’s out of danger, for now.”

“Yeah…but it’s unbelievable,” Owari said, looking Souda up and down. “That you guys found him in time, I mean.”

“Well, we didn’t really find him,” Hinata said. “Kuzuryuu saw the tracks outside the Titty Typhoon.”

“Kuzuryuu?” All eyes turned to Kuzuryuu, who met them with a surprised look. “Hold on,” Nidai said, “What were you even doing up that early?”

Kuzuryuu’s expression hardened. “I was just walking,” he said, his tone rising with every word. “And for the record, the last time I needed to stab someone I couldn’t hold the knife. You were all there, so you can stop thinking what you’re thinking.”

“We…were not,” Tanaka said, his words muffled through his scarf.

“You sure sound like you were,” Kuzuryuu said.

“Yeah, I wonder why we’d ever suspect you of murder,” Saionji said, “especially if it was an easy target –”

“Hiyoko-chan, that’s enough,” Koizumi said. Her eyes were on Souda, and her expression was unreadable.  “They all worked together to save his life,” she went on, “but we should’ve been here sooner to help...”

“There’s no use in dwelling on that now.” Togami sighed, and looked back down at Souda. By Hinata’s estimation, he looked very tired – but the look was only fleeting. In a second he was looking back at all of them, and his expression was stern. “Especially as I’m sure you know our work is far from over.”

An eerie silence fell over the room, and everyone’s expressions grew stiff. “So it’s true, then,” Koizumi said, looking even more distraught. “About Mikan-chan…”

“Huh? What about Mikan-chan?” Mioda tilted her head, spilling her hair on Souda’s lap. “Hajime-chan wouldn’t tell Ibuki where she was! Does Mahiru-chan know?”

“Well, we were kind of in the middle of everything...” Hinata tried his best to keep eye contact with Mioda. “But Tsumiki’s in the other ward. She’s…she’s dead.”

Mioda’s eyes went wide, and with a yell she pushed past Hinata and ran for the door. The others took off behind her without so much as a discussion, and Hinata joined them in the rear, while Togami stayed behind with Souda. 

There was a crush at the door as everyone tried to enter at once, and by the time Hinata got inside the body discovery announcement had already finished. He found everyone gathered around Tsumiki’s corpse, coming as close as they could without touching her. “Jesus,” Kuzuryuu said. “I mean, I knew, but …”

“Mi…!” Mioda was in too much shock to speak, but tears were leaking out of her eyes. “Mik…Mikan…!”

“She doesn’t even look like she was harmed,” Nidai said, rapidly looking her up and down. “Did someone poison her?”

“Togami said she was strangled,” Hinata said, stepping forward and pulling Tsumiki’s collar down. “See? There’s marks on her neck from whatever the killer used.”

“How horrible…” Koizumi was looking right in Tsumiki’s eyes, which were still wide open, rendering her expression grotesque. “This…what did Mikan-chan ever do to deserve this…?”

Her voice was small, almost scared – and if Hinata could believe his own intuition, he could say that it sounded more like a question than simple indignation. “I don’t know,” he said, looking at her. “Nothing, I’m sure… but there’s nothing we can do about it now, except...what we always do.”

“Right…solve the murder, you mean.” Koizumi clenched her teeth. “And…Souda’s attack, too…”

“But Souda survived his ordeal,” Tanaka said. “Mystery it may be, but we have not the same urgency in solving it.”

“It still happened around the same time Tsumiki was killed,” Hinata said. “So if there’s anything from his attack that might help solve her murder, we need to examine them both as closely as we can.”

“I hope there isn’t,” Saionji said. “That’d be even more disappointing. How do you mess up murdering someone that badly?”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Saionji – apart from Koizumi, who kept her eyes on Tsumiki. “Hiyoko-chan,” she muttered under her breath, “Don’t do this now…”

“I mean, someone had to get to the side character and the pig bitch eventually,” Saionji said, clearly buoyed by the attention, before anyone could interrupt her. “But why wouldn’t they check if the side character was dead before they just left him there? You really wasted all that effort if you weren’t even going to do it right.”

“Hiyoko-chan, I’ve told you, that’s enough –”

“And would he even be that hard to kill?” Saionji went on over her. “Unless they’d already killed the pig bitch and they just wanted to see him suffer –”

“I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH!” Koizumi shouted, whirling on Saionji. “Why don’t you ever listen when I tell you to stop?!”

Hinata heard a few gasps from behind him, but no one looked nearly as shocked as Saionji – her mouth hung open, trembling as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Koizumi stared her down, her body shaking with every breath – but then she relaxed, and hung her head again. “Forget it,” Koizumi said. “Just forget it.”

“But –” Saionji squeaked, looking, if it was possible, scared. “But –”

“I said forget it. Don’t we have more important things to talk about?” She turned to the rest of the group, as if daring them to intervene. Hinata wasn’t going to be the one to say anything. Certainly he wanted to, on some level, but this looked more like something best left between Koizumi and Saionji, something none of them were meant to see. And Koizumi was, after all, right. There was a corpse in the room – they couldn’t let anything else get in their way. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Hinata saw Mioda look left, then right, and then lift her hand – but she didn’t want for anyone’s attention before she spoke. “Um,” she said, “Ibuki didn’t want to bring this up, because a lot of other things were happening at once, but now that Mahiru-chan mentioned more important things…” She lowered her hand, and raised an eyebrow. “Hajime-chan said something about a fever.  Is that why Ibuki can’t remember coming to the hospital?”

A spark flashed in Hinata’s mind – in all the hubbub, he’d forgotten that issue. “So you don’t remember anything?” he said. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Uh, going to bed?” Mioda said.

“It may be more productive to ask what happened last night,” Tanaka said.

“Huh? Last night was the fireworks show!” Mioda said. “Did something else happen that Ibuki missed?”

“I don’t know how much I can explain right now, but the fireworks show was three days ago,” Hinata said, stunned but somehow not surprised by her answer. “You’ve been sick the entire time.”

“For three whole days?!” Mioda seemed more surprised by the timeframe than by the fact that she’d been sick. “And Ibuki can’t remember a thing?”

“Then is that a part of the fever?” Nidai said, his eyes wide. “The memory loss?”

“There isn’t really any way to know,” Hinata said. “Not until Souda wakes up, or Nanami –” Hinata’s stomach did a backflip. “Wait a minute – where’s Nanami?!”

“Wait – she’s not here?” Koizumi looked back and forth, and her eyes went wide. “How did I not notice –”

“Did we really think she was here the entire time?” Kuzuryuu said. “Where the hell is she?”

“She was asleep when we were here, but, shit, that was ages ago –!” Hinata turned on his heels and ran for the door again, ahead of the others. He ran past the room Mioda had been in, grabbed her door, and threw it open –

He stopped short of the doorway, and the others piled up behind him, pushing and shoving to get inside. Nanami was standing right in front of him, rubbing her right eye with her fist, and looking not at all surprised that her hospital gown was covered in blood.

=====

Nanami blinked at the sudden crowd, looking confused, but only for a second before her eyes went wide. “Hinata-kun, Mioda-san, your clothes –!”

“Forget them,” Kuzuryuu yelled, cutting Hinata off. “What happened to you?!”

“You’re not hurt at all, are you?” Koizumi pushed past Hinata and grabbed Nanami by the wrist, looking her all over. “Did anyone come in here and do anything to you?”

“You don’t think she’d remember, do you?” Owari said. “Hey, Nanami, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“Is it nothing?” Mioda said. “’Cause if you were sick like Ibuki, Ibuki remembers nothing!”

“Everyone…” Nanami looked back and forth from Koizumi to the others to her own gown, looking overwhelmed. “If you’re asking me questions like that, then there must be a reason I might have lost my memory. I think. Right?”

Hinata was surprised Nanami had come to that conclusion so easily. “Well…that’s the short answer,” he said. “You seem pretty calm about this…”

“If I've lost my memory, then you guys know more than I do, right?” Nanami said. “There’s no reason to panic if I know you can tell me what happened. The last thing I remember is going to bed in my cottage, the night of the fireworks show…” Nanami looked up at Hinata, her eyes full of worry. “But there’s something that’s happened between then and now, isn’t there? Otherwise, why would we be at the hospital?”

Nanami gave the group a searching look – and it hit Hinata that she’d noticed who was missing. So he started to explain, and some of the others pitched in with their version of events. Eventually the whole story got out – first the despair fever (though no one brought up Nanami’s specific symptoms), then Souda’s attack, and finally Tsumiki’s death. Nanami was grimly silent through the explanation of the fever, and only asked a few questions about Souda’s condition, but didn’t waste a moment after they were done.

“Tsumiki-san…” Her face was contorted with grief, but even then she looked far from defeated. “I know I’d like to see her, but that’ll have to wait. Until you’ve gathered your evidence I probably shouldn’t leave this room.”

“Evidence?” Nidai said, surprised. “You mean your clothing!”

“I do. Hinata-kun and Mioda-san were saving Souda-kun’s life... but I can’t remember how this happened to me. And if none of you were there to see it…” Nanami held a hand to her chin. “Oh, I see. Mioda-san and I can’t remember the past two days, because we were under the influence of this fever. But during the time, Souda-kun was attacked…”

“Then the culprit framed you!” Mioda shouted. “Because you wouldn’t remember!”

“That’s…what I’d like to think.” Nanami suddenly looked very forlorn. “But we don’t have enough information to know one way or the other. We’ll have to investigate whatever we can find, just like before.”

Saionji opened her mouth, then looked at Koizumi and closed it. Hinata realized she hadn’t said a word since they’d left Tsumiki’s side.  “There is the possibility of a witness,” Tanaka said, his voice soft. “But we can only know that when he wakes…”

“But Souda had the fever too,” Hinata said. “He might not remember anything either.”

“We don’t know when the fever went away, though,” Koizumi said. “For all we know, he could tell us right away who it was.”

“So this’ll either be easy or impossible, got it,” Owari said. “Either way, we better go back and tell old man Togami.”

“There’s no need. I’m here.” Hinata turned to the doorway to find Togami standing in it – and if he looked at all surprised by what he’d found in the room he wasn’t showing it. “I haven’t heard everything – but, Nanami, you believe you were framed?”

Hinata felt a faint twinge of confusion. “Wait, did you leave Souda alone?” he said before Nanami could answer. “Why are you over here?”

“Because it’s a pain having you bastards run back and forth all the time!” Monobear sauntered out from behind Togami, kicking his legs back and forth as he went. “You’re starting to look like characters in an old mystery-solving cartoon! But I can’t have that at all – I’m the only lovable mascot character allowed around here! I won’t have Hinata-kun taking my spot!”

“Wait,” Hinata said, wishing he didn’t have to listen to this at all, “I’m a what? And that didn’t answer my question –”

“Anyway, congratulations on saving Souda-kun or whatever,” Monobear interrupted, pulling a tablet out of nowhere. “I don’t know how much you think it was worth the trouble, or even how much help the Monobear File is going to be with your real problems! But it’s just the kind of thing that you’d expect at a time like this, so here it is. Have fun trying to puzzle out its meaning! Catch!”

Monobear threw the tablet right at Hinata, and by the time he’d caught it Monobear vanished. He pulled it down and opened it to find a silhouette of Tsumiki, black but for a few pink lines on her neck. The victim’s body was discovered in the third ward of the hospital, the file read. The cause of death was strangulation. There are no other wounds on the body and no traces of poison or other drugs.

“He was right, this is useless,” Saionji said. “We already knew all this!”

“And it’s pretty vague already…” Hinata gave the information another look. “The time of death’s missing, for one thing!”

“It’s a mystery that defies mysteries!” Mioda said. “Not even Monobear knows what’s going on!”

“Is there anything about Souda on there?” Owari said, peeking around Hinata’s shoulder. “That’s gotta at least have more meat to it.”

“There wouldn’t be,” Togami said. “Not unless he’d been killed. But it’s likely he was slashed with a sharp object.”

“Well, probably – but hey, speaking of Souda, you didn’t answer my question,” Hinata said. “Did you leave him alone to come here?”

“Of course I didn’t,” Togami said. “Monomi’s with him, and I imagine she won’t be alone for long. His testimony will be vital in solving this case, as I understand you’ve already figured out.”

“Then you plan to go back and wake him up?” Nanami said.

“We’ll have to do what we must,” Togami said. “We’ve lost enough time as it is.”

“And we have a lot of ground to cover, between here and the Titty Typhoon,” Nidai said, balling his fists. “We’ll have to use every ounce of energy available to us!”

“Precisely,” Togami said, a look of steely determination in his eyes. He’d gotten better, since the last time, at hiding the distress that Hinata knew was there. “We need to cover all the ground we possibly can, and not miss a single thing that might be crucial evidence. We’re not novices at this anymore. We know what to look for and what not to do.”

Hinata felt the same twinge of realization he’d had just after Pekoyama’s death – that someone in the room with him had committed a murder, had strangled Tsumiki and attacked Souda, and that there was no way to tell the guilty from the innocent. “We do,” he said. “It’s like you said last time. We’ve gotten through this before. We can do it again.”

Togami gave Hinata a curious look. “I would have preferred that you wouldn’t have had to remind me,” he said. “But as it is…” He turned away from the rest. “Come with me. We’re going to back to Souda’s –”

“Actually, I’d like Hinata-kun’s assistance this time.” Hinata turned to see Nanami directly behind him. “Would you mind, Hinata-kun?”

Hinata blinked. “I don’t really see why I wouldn’t,” he said.

“But wouldn’t you rather have a girl helping you?” Koizumi said.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it, Koizumi-san,” Nanami said. “There isn’t any deeper reason for choosing Hinata-kun beyond his deductive reasoning skills.”

I have deductive reasoning skills? This was news to Hinata. “It’s Hinata’s prerogative to conduct his own investigation,” Togami said. “We’ll be getting Souda’s answers one way or another. Do as you will.”

“Hmmm, then Ibuki’ll help Byakuya-chan instead!” Mioda said, bouncing forward and landing close to Togami’s side as he left. “She’ll spend her time and energy on hard-hitting interrogation techniques!”

“I don’t think we’ll have to go that far, Mioda,” Hinata heard Togami say as they went down the hall. The others left after them, some after some scattered discussion of where they were going to investigate and promises to share what they’d learned at the trial. Koizumi asked Nanami again whether she would be okay alone with Hinata, much to Hinata’s intense embarrassment, before she too left. Hinata couldn’t help but notice she hadn’t left with Saionji.

When Tanaka had closed the door behind him, Hinata turned back to Nanami, clapping his hands together awkwardly. “So…uh,” he said. “I may as well get to the point. Is that really the reason you singled me out like that?”

Nanami stared at him for a second. “I meant exactly what I said,” she said. “I simply thought we could help each other out. And if you’re able to prove that I might or might not have been framed, then you could know whether or not to trust me.” Her expression turned grim. “I want to do whatever I can to solve this case and get everyone out of danger.”

Hinata wanted to be surprised, but he knew he couldn’t be. He’d always had a feeling that, spacey as she was most of the time, Nanami seemed to pull herself together for these investigations. “Well…me too, of course,” he said. “What were you thinking?”

“You’ve seen Souda’s crime scene,” Nanami said. “Tsumiki’s death appeared relatively bloodless, but you and Mioda are both covered in his blood. Is the crime scene the same? Could I look like this, if I were there?”

Hinata’s heart dropped into his stomach – he remembered that Nanami hadn’t exactly been happy with Souda when they were sick. “You mean, if you’d attacked him? The blood’s…” He remembered the inside of the Titty Typhoon, and the trail of blood he’d seen, and from that memory he had a brainwave. “Nanami, can I see the bottoms of your feet?”

Nanami sat back on a stool and lifted her foot. It was completely clean – and Hinata realized that the only part of her with any blood on it at all was her gown. “Okay, you were clearly framed,” he said. “There’s bloody footprints leading away from the Titty Typhoon.”

“There are?” Nanami’s eyes went wide. “Then why didn’t the culprit consider that? Did they not know?”

“I don’t know, but you definitely didn’t attack Souda.” Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. “And there’s no reason to frame you for Souda’s death if you’d killed Tsumiki.”

“That’s good. I’m relieved.” Nanami gave Hinata a small smile. “I wish I could say the same for you. You don’t have the same alibi as last time. None of us do.”

Hinata hadn’t even considered he could be a suspect. “Well, I can’t really give you my word I didn’t do it, can I?”

“I wish I could take it.” Nanami looked to the side, by the dresser stand. “I don’t think there’s anything else in here for us. And I should probably get out of this gown. It’s uncomfortable in many ways.” She blinked. “I’m telling you to leave the room unless you wanted to see me naked.”

“WHA-”

“It was a joke,” Nanami said. “I knew you would know I wouldn’t actually do that.”

The corners of Hinata’s mouth twitched as he headed for the door. “Glad to have you back, Nanami,” he said, not sure whether he was amused or mortified.

=====

When Nanami had finished getting dressed, she came out into the hallway, holding the straps of her backpack. “It was just like you said,” she said when she’d closed the door. “There wasn’t any blood anywhere else on my body. Only on my hospital gown.”

“So you were definitely framed,” Hinata said. “That was pretty obvious from the beginning…but, how would the culprit know that you weren’t going to remember anything?”

“I don’t think they did,” Nanami said. “It was a very haphazard job overall, especially given that Souda wasn’t actually dead. But they might have thought the fever would confuse things, so they took a gamble.”

“Yeah, I guess. That’s still a whole lot of effort for nothing.” Hinata looked down the hall. There was no one else around – he assumed they were all in the rooms. “If Souda wakes up, I think they’ll let us know,” he said. “You wanted to see Tsumiki, right?”

“I did.” They headed down the hall to the third ward, and gingerly pushed the door open. To their surprise it was almost empty. Kuzuryuu was the only one in the room, sitting on the stool next to Tsumiki’s body. “Well, look who it is,” he said grimly when they entered. “Finished your…examination?”

Hinata didn’t want to think of what Kuzuryuu meant by that. “There wasn’t any blood on her feet, it was a frame-up,” he said quickly. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Other places,” Kuzuryuu said. “Lot of ‘em next door. When I left they were trying to stop Mioda from singing to ‘im.”

Nanami’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then…they all think Souda-kun’s going to tell them who the killer is?”

“Nah, they're not that stupid,” Kuzuryuu said. “You just missed a few of ‘em. They couldn’t find anything and neither could I.”

“Then why aren’t you in there with them?” Hinata said.

“Did I ask you to ask?” Kuzuryuu snipped – then seemed to reconsider, and lowered his head. “It’s like a zoo in there. I don’t get how Souda can sleep through that.”

He didn’t elaborate, and Hinata didn’t know to answer, so he was surprised when Nanami spoke. “Your action saved Souda-kun’s life. He’ll be grateful for it when he wakes up.”

Kuzuryuu looked at Nanami as though she had three heads, but quickly turned away and gestured towards the body. “You’re here to look, right? Then look. Leave me alone.”

There was no use arguing the point, so Hinata approached Tsumiki’s body, and looked it up and down. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary at first, but when he happened to lean on the bed he noticed it was damp. Kuzuryuu stepped in and pointed out he had noticed this, but he wasn’t sure whether it had anything to do with the body, given the body wasn’t wet. Hinata wasn’t sure either, but he kept it in mind.

He was stumped again until, after examining Tsumiki’s face, Nanami asked him whether Tsumiki usually had a mole under her left eye. Hinata did vaguely remember her having one, so Nanami showed him a smear of gritty-looking dust on her finger – her mole had been covered with foundation makeup.  This sounded incredibly odd to Hinata – why would Tsumiki be wearing makeup if she was busy caring for the sick students, especially if she didn’t usually wear it?  He couldn’t make any sense of it.

There was no sign of whatever had been used to strangle Tsumiki, but Hinata could at least guess it was a rope, pulled with a lot of physical force. He was just thinking of who might be strong enough to cut her that deeply (Owari or Nidai?!)  when Nanami pointed him towards a pipe near the ceiling. A series of marks had been scratched into the metal – marks that looked a bit like Tsumiki’s wounds.

“I don’t know if those were there before,” Nanami said. “But if she were tied to this pipe, then the force of gravity might’ve been strong enough to make those marks…”

“But she couldn’t have hung herself,” Hinata said in surprise. “Otherwise, how’d she get to the bed? Someone would’ve had to put her there.”

“We have no way of knowing now, but you’re right,” Nanami said. “There was most likely a second person in here when she died –”

She couldn’t continue the thought before he heard a loud series of footsteps outside the door, and a split second later a fully-clothed Mioda threw the door open. “Kazuichi-chan’s kind of awake!” she hollered, waving her hand forward as she ran back down the hall.  “Come on, come on!”

====

Hinata, Nanami, and Kuzuryuu followed Mioda back to the fourth ward, where they found Togami and Koizumi clustered near Souda, Saionji sitting against the opposite wall, and Monomi shivering some distance away. Souda was still lying in the bed, and didn’t appear to be speaking; when Hinata reached the side of the bed he saw that, while Souda’s eyes were open and he could say he was awake, he didn’t seem to be able to focus on his surroundings.  He was tossing back and forth, looking from left to right and groaning as he moved.

“He’s been in and out of consciousness for several minutes,” Togami explained. “But he does appear to be recovering. He spoke just before Mioda ran to get you.”

“He spoke?!” Hinata said – then remembered himself and continued in an undertone. “What’d he say?”

“Just asked where he was.” Koizumi didn’t take her eyes off Souda as she spoke. “He sounded frantic…”

“He might be in shock. But he’s fighting it…I think.” Nanami leaned over Souda’s bedside, a comfortable distance from his face. “Souda-kun? It’s Nanami. Can you hear me?”

“How many fingers is Ibuki holding up?” Mioda pushed past Nanami and held up a clenched fist. “One? Three? Five?”

“Hhh…huuuh?” Souda jerked his head toward them, but he seemed overstimulated. He looked from Nanami to Ibuki’s fist, his eyes wide and staring. “Nanami…? What…what’s going on? Why s’everyone here?”

“We told you, you’re in the hospital,” Koizumi said.

“Hospital?” Souda’s eyes went wide. “What hospital?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Hinata heard Saionji mutter - but Kuzuryuu spoke over her, and no one else seemed to hear. “Uh, the third island one,” he said. “Aren’t really any others…”

“Island? We’re on the island?” Souda gripped the edge of the bed and attempted to sit up, but winced and grabbed at his chest before he dropped back down, panting. “No, no…I gotta get outta here…!”

“Souda-kun, it’s okay,” Nanami said, worry crossing her face. “It’s over. You’re fine.”

“I’m fine?” Souda spat the words out in one breath, then took several more. “I’m not…no, shit, I gotta get outta here –”

He tried to sit up again, but Togami and Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders and held him in place. “You’re going to get out of here,” Togami said. “We all are. But first we need to know who attacked you. Who was it?”

“Attacked…” Souda’s eyes went wide, and he lifted his arm up to the bandages on his chest, waving it back and forth. “That…I was…”

“Souda-kun, I know this is hard,” Nanami said, “But you need to tell us whatever you can remember about what happened. Then you can go right back to sleep.”

“I don’t know!” Souda spat, then held his hand up to his head, panting heavily. “I just…I woke up…and…”

“He doesn’t remember, then,” Koizumi said, folding her arms. “Just like Chiaki-chan and Ibuki-chan…”

“I couldn’t move,” Souda went on. “I couldn’t…I tried…I was getting there, and then…”

“Do you know how long it took for you to get there?” Nanami said, even though Hinata knew she only had an anecdotal idea of what had gone on.

“No…” Souda shook his head rapidly. Hinata noticed a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and tears running down his cheeks. “It hurt… it really hurt…I don’t wanna die. I wanna go home… I don’t wanna die…”

“You’re not going to die,” Hinata said.  “And you’re going home. I promise.”

“Just…rest for now,” Koizumi said. “You’ll be fine. There’s a painkiller if you need it.”

Souda shook his head again, then turned away, looking out the window. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low. “I’ll be good, I’m sorry, I don’t wanna die…”

His voice faded, and his eyes closed – evidently he’d taken Koizumi’s words to heart. A heavy silence filled the room, broken only by his light snoring. Nanami bowed her head, Koizumi wrung her hands and stared at the floor, Kuzuryuu tried to look anywhere that wasn’t at anyone else, and Togami stayed staring down at Souda.

“Is he going to be okay?” Koizumi said.

“He should be, as long as we keep an eye on him,” Togami said. “But it would appear his memory is gone, as I understand all the Despair Fever patients’ memories are, so his role in this case –”

“No, not that, I mean…what was he apologizing for?” Koizumi bit her lip, and it hit Hinata how distressed she looked. “It couldn’t be for being attacked, right? He said he’d be good…what does he think he did?”

Hinata was surprised to hear her say this – especially given that, up until that moment, he was sure that she hated Souda.  They’d never had compatible personalities to begin with, but with how worked up he’d gotten about Sonia …

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Saionji’s voice was louder than it had been – Hinata could tell she wanted to be heard. “He doesn’t deserve any kind of pity for anything he’s done, and he’s not the only one.”

Hinata heard a loud SLAM, and they all turned to find that Kuzuryuu was no longer in the room. Koizumi either didn’t or couldn’t comment, but she turned back to Saionji with the same look in her eyes he’d seen in Tsumiki’s room. “Hiyoko-chan, this is –” She stopped, and took a breath. “We’re going outside. Don’t follow us.”

“Mahiru-chan…?” Mioda covered her mouth with her hands immediately after she spoke, but Koizumi didn’t admonish or even acknowledge her – she grabbed Saionji by the wrist and pulled her out of the room.

Togami stood up when they left, acting as though he was about to follow them, but when he was halfway across the room he stopped, then turned back. “They’re not in the hallway,” he said. “My best guess is they’ve gone to the lobby.”

“Then you don’t think we should go after them?” Hinata said.

“I don’t think they would share anything if we did,” he said.

“It may be something they have to work out on their own.” Nanami looked back at Souda, who somehow had slept through the entire thing. “Togami-kun, Mioda-san, did you need to investigate anything? We could take over for you.”

“Monomi is still here, if you hadn’t seen.” Hinata saw Monomi out of the corner of his eye – she was holding her head in her hands, whimpering slightly. Hinata wondered why she hadn’t moved or spoken the entire time. “We’re free to leave the room as we please,” Togami continued. “I wanted to wait until Souda woke, and now he has. Is there anything I should be looking more closely at in the room where Tsumiki died?”

Nanami shared the evidence they’d found – the damp bed, the makeup, and the scratch marks on the pipe, as well as the fact that she had clearly been framed for Souda’s attack. This said, she told him that they were going to go investigate the Titty Typhoon, which was news to Hinata. But as much as he was concerned about Souda, there was little he could do for him beyond waiting for him to recover, or at least to regain some of his energy.

They left Togami and Mioda behind and exited the hospital wards. To their surprise they found Koizumi alone in the lobby, sitting in a chair and facing away from them. Nanami asked her if she was okay, and Koizumi beckoned her to come closer with her finger, apparently leaving Hinata out of the conversation. They had an exchange in an undertone, but Hinata still caught snatches of it. “I’ve been so selfish,” he heard her say, after a remark from Nanami that he couldn’t hear. “And Hiyoko-chan…she thought she was doing what I wanted her to do…but I never wanted anyone to speak for me…”

Nanami tried to sit down next to her at this point, but Koizumi waved her away. “I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine,” she repeated, then got up and returned to the wards. Nanami returned to Hinata, told him everything was alright, and pressed him onward without stopping to explain what had happened.

=====

Nidai, Tanaka, and Owari were all at the Titty Typhoon when they arrived, examining the various bloodstains. Nanami and Hinata informed them of Souda’s change in condition, which sent Nidai and Owari running back to the hospital. Tanaka stayed long enough to inform them that they had found neither clues as to how Souda’s attack had played out nor a clear connection to Tsumiki’s murder before he left as well. A quick examination of the nightclub floor revealed exactly what Hinata had seen on sight – that Souda had been attacked by the stage, then crawled to the door.

“I’m only sure of one thing,” Hinata said when they met again. “If the murder weapon isn’t here, then the murderer didn’t take off in a hurry. They had time to dispose of it. Didn’t they?”

“They did,” Nanami said. “Not only that, but if Souda-kun had time to crawl across the room, then there was a long period of time between his attack and his discovery.”

“A long period of time…” Hinata’s brow furrowed. “Enough time to kill Tsumiki?”

“We don’t know if that happened before or after.” Nanami paused. “Or if they did that at all. Have you noticed how different the attacks were?”

“Different?”

“Souda-kun’s attack was brutal. And whether or not he died, it was meant to cause him a lot of suffering. But Tsumiki-san…I can’t say she didn’t suffer, but her death was far less violent than Souda-kun’s, wasn’t it?”

“Are you saying there were two different attackers?” Hinata said.

“I’m not sure,” Nanami said. “But it’s a significant detail. It could mean there were two attackers, but it could also mean that the culprit had a reason for attacking Souda-kun the way they did.”

“Well, if it’s two different ones, it doesn’t matter, does it?” Hinata said. “Since Souda didn’t die. But if it was the same person…”

He was cut off by an electric hum as the nearby monitor lit up, and Monobear came on the screen. “A difficult problem with an easy conclusion,” he said in an airy tone, “All twists and turns and complicated segments! Whatever happened to just stabbing someone and getting it over with, that’s what I want to know! Well, what’s done is done, and what must begin must begin – and by that of course I mean the school trial! Everyone please proceed to Monobear Rock – and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. As long as you have a pulse, you have a way to show up!”

The announcement ended, leaving Hinata with a feeling of unease. “As long as you have a pulse…he must be referring to Souda,” Hinata said. “But he can’t even get out of bed. How’s he supposed to come to the trial?”

“The way Monobear worded it, it doesn’t sound like he expected us to have a lot of trouble,” Nanami said. “But I don’t know that for sure.”

“I guess the people with him know are taking care of that.” Hinata sighed. “I still can’t make heads or tails of anything…but hopefully what everyone else found makes sense. We should get going –”

“Hold on,” Nanami said, stopping him in his tracks. “I just remembered, we haven’t checked the back room.”

“Back room?” Hinata turned around, and noticed a pair of double doors between the stage and the bar, marked STAFF ONLY. “Has that been there the entire time?”

“It hasn’t moved, no,” Nanami said.

“Har har. But aren’t we going to be late?” Hinata said. “I’m not really sure what happens if we are –”

“It’ll be fine, Hinata-kun.” Nanami moved across the room to the door, and Hinata joined her as she was turning the knob and opening it. At first Hinata didn’t see anything suspicious inside, just instruments and stage crew storage, but just as he was about to suggest turning back he saw something sticking out of a box in the back of the room - something bright green, and splashed with blood.

“No, no way…” He ran to the back of the room, and pulled the object out of the box - or rather, the wad, which unfolded itself in his arms. It was Souda’s boiler suit, the one he’d seen him wear a million times – and he could see his hat and white tank top still in the bottom of the box.  All of them had some amount of blood on them. “What the hell…?” he said in disbelief, turning the boiler suit back and forth. “This is supposed to be in Souda’s room –!”

“Then this…was it involved in the murder?” Nanami said, also looking surprised. “Or was it another plant?”

“I don’t even know. How much blood are we supposed to think he has?” Hinata didn’t know the answer to his own question, and he didn’t have the time to come up with one. “What are we even supposed to think?”

“I…” Nanami’s voice trailed off, and as it did Hinata realized just how white her face was, and how blank and expressionless her eyes seemed to be. But he couldn’t comment on the look before it faded, and she stood and faced away from him. “We’ll have to consider that at the trial,” she said quickly. “As much as I wanted to check this room, we really should join the others. I think we’ve seen all there is to see.”

Hinata looked back at the boiler suit, committing every inch of it to memory. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s like Togami said. We’ve done this before. We can do it again.”

“We…” Nanami took another look back at the box, and then turned back for the door. “We can. We’ll have to.”

=====

Hinata had expected to meet everyone in front of the Monobear Rock – he couldn’t see any reason for them to wait for them – but to his surprise they met Togami just outside the Titty Typhoon entrance, as he had come to retrieve them.  He led them back to the lobby of the hospital, where most of the others were.

Kuzuryuu, Saionji, Tanaka, Koizumi, and Owari were all sitting in the lobby chairs, far from each other, and Mioda was leaning against the wall, tapping her foot in a steady rhythm. Souda and Nidai were missing, but before Hinata could ask where they were Togami explained that the hospital had been stocked with wheelchairs for patient transportation, and that Nidai was inside helping Souda into one. Koizumi added that they’d decided to give him the bare-bones details of what had happened – the Despair Fever in general, Tsumiki’s death, the fact that they were going to the trial. Nothing too heavy, but just enough for him not to be confused.

Within a few moments Nidai appeared in the lobby, pushing Souda in a rickety wheelchair. Souda had been put in a fresh gown, and piled high with sheets and pillows. He looked slightly more alert than he had the last time Hinata had seen him, but it was clear his mood had only gotten worse. “I-I’m not doing this,” Hinata heard him whimper as they passed. Only then did he see that his arms had been tied to the chair. “I’m not going to the trial…if I don’t go they can’t kill me…”

“Souda-kun, it’s going to be fine,” Nanami said. “You don’t have to think about any of this if you don’t want to.”

Souda didn’t seem to want to hear her. He bowed his head, shaking, and repeated that he didn’t want to die as Nidai wheeled him out the door. Hinata couldn’t imagine any of this stress was doing wonders for his health – but as long as he had to go to the trial there was nothing else that could be done.

They walked together to Monobear Rock, waited for Monobear and Monomi to appear and lower the escalator, and rode it up to the elevator, which took them down into the mountain as usual. They hardly spoke, and all looked tense; no one appeared to have any unusual shred of confidence on their faces, as far as Hinata could tell. Togami stood in the corner again, his arms crossed and his head bowed. Hinata, shaken by his own lack of direction, found himself doing the same. 

After what felt like an age the elevator stopped and the doors opened onto the trial room. Nidai wheeled Souda into his stand, and all the others took their positions. Sonia and Tsumiki’s portraits had been placed in their trial stands, and in his wheelchair Souda’s head was only just visible over the rail.

“And before we really begin,” Monobear said, after opening the trial in the standard way, “I’d like to remind you all that this trial is strictly for the murder of Mikan Tsumiki-san! As mysterious as Souda-kun’s situation is, I wouldn’t forget that he failed to die –”

“No, no, no, I’m not gonna die!” Souda pushed himself forward in his chair against the bonds on his arms. “I’ll do anything, just let me out of here –”

“Souda, we told you, it’s going to be okay!” Hinata said. “Just – stay calm, alright? We’re gonna figure this out. You know that.”

"No, no, I…” Souda’s eyes went wide, and Hinata remembered that he happened to be splattered with Souda’s blood, which couldn’t be the picture of reassurance for anyone, least of all Souda. “ I don’t know,” he muttered. “Everything’s happening all at once…”

“You can deal with it later,” Togami said. “Just remember you’re going to be fine –”

“So like I was saying, whoever attacked him, congrats, you’re off the hook!” Monobear yelled over Togami. “Unless you also killed Tsumiki, in which case, who cares! But which is the truth and nothing but the truth? Hm…can you figure that out or can you not?”

“Mmmm-mmmmfff!” Hinata looked up above Monobear’s seat to find Monomi in her usual tied-up position, but with a cloth gag tied across her mouth – something she certainly hadn’t had in the other trials. She was swinging violently back and forth, struggling and trying to speak through the gag.

“Ah, perfect timing, little sister!” Monobear gestured up to Monomi, who struggled still harder with everyone’s eyes on her. “You may all be wondering, “Why does Monomi look even more ridiculous than usual?” Well, you see, Monomi can’t be trusted to keep her fool mouth shut, so she just keeps talk-talk-talking and driving her older brother to the edge!  So she’s been perhaps preemptively been punished, and she won’t be talking this time…unless of course someone says the password!”

“Password?” Kuzuryuu said. “The hell’s that mean?”

“You’ll know when you say it!” Monobear said. “Okay, chop-chop! Time’s a-wasting!”

=====

To Hinata’s surprise, the first thing to come up when the debate began was Nanami’s bloodstained hospital gown. In all the commotion, Owari hadn’t gotten the memo that it was a clear plant. But Kuzuryuu set the record straight, and the idea that Nanami was involved in Souda’s attack was neatly dismissed.

“But that doesn’t get her off the hook,” Saionji said. “It only proves she didn’t have any blood on her. She totally could’ve killed the pi –” She paused, and looked at Koizumi. “She totally could’ve killed Tsumiki.”

Everyone gave Nanami uncertain looks, but she didn’t appear fazed. “Hinata-kun and I discussed that,” she said. “But it wouldn’t make sense for anyone to frame me for Souda’s attack if I’d already killed, would it?”

“Perhaps the assailant did not know that Tsumiki had expired,” Tanaka said, his words muffled through his scarf. “The two incidents do not necessarily need to be related.”

“But that doesn’t mean Nanami definitely killed Tsumiki,” Hinata said. “There’s really no proof connecting anyone to her death right now, least of all her. It’s all guesswork, and honestly it’s kind of hard to believe.”

“Hmmmm, but Chiaki-chan could’ve killed Mikan-chan, and then gotten some blood from upstairs and put it all over herself for kicks,” Mioda said. “But that doesn’t make any sense at all, so Hajime-chan’s still right!”

“If we introduce the possibility that the attacks are unrelated…” Togami put a hand to his chin. “Then Monobear’s remark about the focus of this case being the death of Tsumiki is cast into a new light. I say we focus on all incidents pointing directly to her, and introduce evidence relating to Souda if we can’t figure anything out.”

The list of evidence in Tsumiki’s room turned out to be as short as ever. Most everyone who’d investigated had found the damp bed, and Nidai and Owari had noticed the scratch marks on the pipe, but only Nanami had discovered the makeup on her face. No one was inclined to think this was important, but Togami said they’d “keep it in mind”. They agreed the scratches pointed to something tied there, and came to the same conclusion Nanami had – that Tsumiki had been hung there, and posed after death.

“But…doesn’t that mean she could have killed herself?” Owari said. “That’s the first thing I thought.”

“It could. But there was definitely a second person that removed the noose and put her on the bed,” Hinata said. “I can’t think of why anyone would want to hide that. It’d just mean us all dying if we didn’t figure it out, the second person included.”

Monobear chuckled, and Souda whimpered. “That, and why would Mikan-chan ever kill herself?” Koizumi said. “She was consumed with helping everyone that had the fever.”

“Again, we have no proof,” Togami said. “And in that case…is there anything significant anyone noticed related to Souda’s attack?”

Nanami opened her mouth, but Nidai preempted her. “I do not mean to go back to this, but there’s still something that bothers me,” he said. “If the cul – rather, if the attacker left footprints, why wouldn’t they add that detail if they were trying to frame Nanami? Is it possible they didn’t know their own traces?”

“Probably not,” Togami said. “And it proves another thing, as well: the attacker didn’t know that Souda wasn’t dead. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to frame Nanami for his attack.”

“But why wouldn’t they check to see if Souda was dead?” Owari said. “That seems like kind of a basic thing.”

“They could have left the scene in a hurry,” Togami said. “That would explain Nanami’s unfinished frame-up.”

“But that’s not it at all,” Nanami said quickly, before anyone else could speak. “There’s plenty of concrete proof Souda-kun’s attacker didn’t leave right away.”

“Really? S’better than whining that we don’t know,” Kuzuryuu said. “But what was it? All I saw was blood…”

“For one thing, the weapon Souda-kun was attacked with was never found.” Nanami said. “The attacker must have had time to dispose of it. But that’s not the biggest thing. We found something rather strange in the Titty Typhoon’s back room. It was Souda-kun’s usual clothing.”

An image came up on all the screens – Souda’s bloodstained boiler suit. “Wh –” Souda’s eyes bugged out at the sight of it, but he looked away quickly, mumbling again. “Why does this keep happening? Why is this still happening...?"

“Wait a minute!” Nidai shouted over him. “Souda’s clothes – they were missing from his room! I tried to find them when I was moving him, but they weren’t in any of the wards!”

“And the blood…” Koizumi’s eyes narrowed. “Were there any shoes that you found with the clothes?”

“There weren’t,” Nanami said. “But why would there be two frame-ups for the same murder? I think we’re all thinking the same thing…that, as strange as it sounds, whoever attacked Souda-kun did so while wearing Souda-kun’s clothes."

Everyone looked stunned beyond belief – Souda especially – but no one could deny it was the hardest evidence they’d had so far. “That’s even weirder than Ibuki’s idea!” Mioda said. “But you’re saying it’s true? Truth really is stranger than fiction!”

"And it only gets stranger," Nanami said. "If they had enough time to dispose of the murder weapon and change out of Souda-kun's clothes..."

"Then how could they have overlooked that Souda wasn't dead?" Koizumi finished.

"The killer must have been in close range to attack him with a short blade," Nidai said. "And even if they couldn't immediately tell he wasn't dead, if Souda was still mobile enough to crawl to the door..."

"Then it couldn't have been an accident," Togami said. "Souda was left to bleed to death. That's what you're trying to say, isn't it?"

Nidai nodded, and bowed his head. The knowledge gave Hinata pause; he felt as though he'd just been stabbed himself. "They must've been counting on no one being awake," he said. "Whoever it was, they..." They wanted him to suffer, he thought, but didn't want to finish it, not with Souda looking as disturbed as he did. Hinata really wished he'd been allowed to stay at the hospital. "They guessed wrong," he said instead.

“But then...who the hell would've wanted to do that?” Owari said. “Who was actually wearing the clothes?"

“It’d have to be someone that’d fit in them,” Saionji said. “So that rules out Mr. Porkfeet!”

That doesn’t narrow it down very far, Hinata thought, though he didn’t dare say it – out of the corner of his eye he saw Togami scoff, though he didn’t say anything. “There has to be something,” he said, almost to himself. “Something to…”

He’d intended to go over the evidence he knew of in his mind, bit by bit, but then the pieces fell together almost in an instant.  He was almost shocked he hadn’t seen it before. “It’s all there,” he found himself saying. “It’s right there…”

“There?” Souda said. “What’s there?”

“The suit’s big, but it’s baggy enough to disguise your body even if you’re smaller,” Hinata said. “And then the makeup, that’s not something she usually wears…and the bed, the bed even works, if she washed the blood off the rest of her body, and who knows how long she was there…” He gripped at the trial stand. “It’s Tsumiki. Tsumiki attacked Souda.”

The room fell into stunned silence. Souda’s was the first to break it – he looked right as Tsumiki’s death portrait, his fingers trembling against his armrest. “But…” he stammered. “But that’s – I don’t even remember –!”

“She’d never…” Koizumi shook her head. “She couldn’t…how could she…?”

There were several other outbursts across the room, all in the same vein – shock, disbelief, emotions that hardly surprised Hinata at this point. Togami gripped at his trial stand with one hand, almost as if to steady himself as he looked at Tsumiki’s portrait. “That’s…that’s barely an assumption,” he said. “How do you think it functions as conclusive proof?”

“If it was the only thing, it probably wouldn’t,” Hinata said. “But…there’s something else. A specific reason she might’ve dressed as Souda to attack Souda. Do you remember what Tsumiki told us about the ‘Sonia disease’?”

“Wait… ‘Sonia disease’?” Souda’s demeanor had changed as soon as he’d heard the word “Sonia” – he wasn’t fighting against his bonds, and his voice was calm and measured. "That...wait...what does that mean…?”

“Uh, well…” Nidai gritted his teeth. “It’s difficult to explain…”

“I do remember,” Togami said. “By the nature of his Despair Fever, Souda would perceive any of his personal characteristics as belonging to Sonia, whom he perceived as himself. But he would identify any pictures of himself as pictures of Souda, whom he perceived as someone else. She tested this with the Electronic Student ID.”

“And we saw it, too,” Hinata said, speaking as he realized. “He told me directly… Tsumiki said he’d been talking in his sleep, but he said he’d heard “Souda-sama” speaking in the middle of the night.”

“That's...” Souda's voice was softer than ever, but he hardly looked calm – simply stunned. “That doesn’t make any sense …she'd never call me that…”

For a second Hinata thought Togami was going to answer Souda – and perhaps he was, but when he looked away it was clear he'd changed his mind. “That could have inspired the method of the murder," he said. "That particular quirk of his illness.”

“Then, if Mikan-chan dressed in Kazuichi-chan,” Mioda said, foreboding in her voice, “then Kazuichi-chan thought Mikan-chan was Kazuichi-chan when Kazuichi-chan thought Kazuichi-chan was Sonia-chan? That’s too many -chans!”

“She used his appearance to lure him out of the room,” Nidai said, trembling as he spoke. “And then, when his guard was down… but, no! Tsumiki only ever had the welfare of everyone else on the island in mind! Why would she attack him? Or ANYONE?”

“You have seen four of our number betray us, and yet you say such things?” Tanaka pulled his scarf over his face. “You know nothing of the game the Gods play with mortals.”

“Maybe she wanted to leave,” Koizumi said, heartbroken.

“But if that were the case…” Nanami’s brow furrowed suddenly. “Could it have been the Despai –”

“Could it have been the something that didn’t matter ‘cause Souda-kun’s still alive?” Monobear interrupted. “I already told you, this is the trial for her murder, not her killing! Do I need to repeat the chop-chop?” Monomi screamed behind her gag, and swung back and forth even more violently.

“We get it, we get it!” Saionji said. “Shut up already!”

“He’s got a point, though,” Kuzuryuu said. “Who the fuck killed her?”

They all looked at each other in silence. No one stepped up with anything decisive, or showed any signs of hiding anything. “Perhaps if we figure out why,” Tanaka said after a few seconds, but his words hung in the air.

“Revenge, maybe?” Owari said.

“That would require someone knowing ahead of time about the attack,” Togami said. “And if they had, they would’ve helped Souda first.”

They lapsed into silence again. Hinata tried his hardest to have a bright idea, but none were coming. He looked back and forth at everyone again, as if their faces would inspire him – but the only one that caught his interest was Nanami’s. She had a look of determination on her face, but he could swear it was mixed with unease – particularly given she was muttering something under her breath, and looking back and forth. Was there something she’d noticed? If so, why wasn’t she saying anything?

“Where was everyone last night?” Koizumi said, cold fear in her voice. “Is there anyone that we can’t account for?”

“That doesn’t help if we don’t know when she died,” Owari said. “Can we even figure that out?”

“She was fine when we left last night,” Togami said. “That was at 10 pm. I discovered her body at six in the morning when I came ahead with the next food delivery.”

“The last time I saw anyone at the motel was at 10 pm,” Nidai said. “I thought I heard someone passing at about six-twenty, but that must have been Kuzuryuu, who couldn’t have killed her…”

“Yeah, I heard it too,” Owari said. “I thought it was just the wind, though.”

“Hold on,” Saionji said, “Shouldn’t the people who were at the hospital be the most suspicious? They were the closest to the…her…and I don’t think any of you have any alibis…”

“That’s a rather wild guess, Saionji…” Togami’s brow furrowed, and he stared out at them all. “Have we really…gotten this desperate?”

“Ibuki could tell you everything if Ibuki remembered anything,” Mioda said.

“Maybe…if we did try to figure out what happened when, then we’d get somewhere,” Hinata said. “So, from what we have so far…”

Suddenly, he stopped. He couldn’t continue his thought, or at least not out loud – not until he could make sense of what he’d found. According to the version of events they’d plotted out, Tsumiki had attacked Souda, then gone back to the hospital, where she was killed by someone else… but if that had happened before six AM, then when had Nanami been framed? Togami had checked on her when they were at the hospital together, and if she’d been framed then he would have said something…had it happened between when they’d left and when they’d returned? It had been a short span, but maybe it had been long enough for someone to go in, grab a blood pack, splatter it on her, and leave…

But who could it have been? No one seemed to have noticed anyone missing, or walking around where they shouldn’t have been. If others were up to hear Kuzuryuu leave, would they have heard someone else return? And even with that aside... if Nanami had been framed after Tsumiki’s death, then whoever it was would have to have known about Souda's attack. Did they not know he wasn't dead? If they didn't, then was the point of framing someone for a murder the framer hadn't committed – or a murder committed by someone who was dead? And for that matter, if they'd come from the motel, they would have passed the bloody footprints and known that was a vital clue. None of it added up. But if she had been framed beforehand…

And then it hit Hinata, like a misstep he wished he hadn’t taken. Togami had never said he’d checked on Nanami, had he? Only that he would. It was possible he hadn’t had the time…but knowing him, he would have insisted on checking that they were all safe, and the blood would have been something he’d be concerned about. Ordinarily that would have confirmed for him that she’d been framed afterward…

But instead, it got him thinking. He’d gotten quite a few details about the case from Togami alone, and he’d taken them all for granted. Togami had insisted on searching the lower level for Souda, where quite a lot of evidence had lain in plain sight, and somehow he had not found any of it. Togami had gone ahead to the hospital without him, despite the fact that they should’ve gone there together. Not only that, but Togami had gone all the way back to the first island to get him, when it would’ve made more sense for him to go to the motel and gather the others from there, right where they were supposed to be in case of an emergency. And for that matter, if he’d ever had ANY thought that Souda had killed Tsumiki, why would he have left anyone alone on the third island, least of all Nanami and Mioda, asleep and with no way to defend themselves...!

“Hinata?” Togami’s voice cut sharply through his panic. “You were going to say something. Have you not collected your thoughts?”

Hinata looked right into his friend’s eyes, and he realized for the first time that he was shaking. He found it difficult to focus, and could almost swear his life was flashing before his eyes, but it was really Togami’s life, for all the time he’d known him. The first time he’d seen him in the classroom, the moment Komaeda had died, his attempt to die in Hanamura’s place, the meal they’d shared on the central island, the moment he’d pulled the jacket over Pekoyama’s eyes, the resignation, the fireworks show, the lobby, the promises…the secret he still didn’t know, the one he’d wanted to share…

He went over the details in his head one more time, but they all led to the same place. He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t have any conclusive proof. He only had questions. And knowing Togami he could answer them. Togami always had the answers – it was his responsibility, his destiny to have them. But if it turned out he was at all wrong, he’d always regret asking them. But he knew Togami would want him to, if it meant solving the case…

=====

“Hinata?” Togami leaned forward on his trial stand, his face etched with concern. “Are you alright? You look pale.”

“Have you been thinking too hard?” Mioda cut in, pushing herself up and swinging her legs. “You have that thinkin’ look on your face…”

“I…” Hinata relished the last moments he could where his thoughts were still inside his mind. He knew, after all, that this was now or never. He took a deep breath, and spoke on the exhale. “Togami, there’s some things I’d like to ask you about.”

He could tell the others had sensed the weight behind his words. They looked curious, searching – he could almost tell that they were trying to figure out what he would say next. He tried his best to block them out. “It’s not anything big, but there’s some details that don’t make sense to me,” he said. “If Nanami was framed for Souda’s attack, I assume by Tsumiki… then why didn’t you tell us about it when you searched the lower floor? You had to have checked on her, right?”

Hinata would have loved a quick answer, but instead Togami stared at him, as if he had spoken gibberish. The thoughts came too fast for him to focus on that. “And – for that matter – why did you go to the hospital so early to deliver the food? You didn’t go until almost an hour later yesterday. And – when you saw Tsumiki dead, and Nanami and Mioda were alone in the hospital, why did you run back and get me, instead of going to the motel? That’s what they were there for, to help in cases like this! And –”

He was sure there had to be another and, but he couldn’t think of one. Someone would have to talk, soon enough, but whether they’d be ridiculing or calmly refuting him, he had no clue…

“I’ve been curious about those things too…I think.” Hinata nearly jumped – he hadn’t expected such a calm response, though he wasn’t surprised Nanami had given it. “And there are other things, too,” she said. “Things I wasn’t sure if I should bring up, until Hinata spoke. But I think you do need to answer for them.” She hung her head. “Will you, Togami-kun?”

Hinata looked back at Togami, afraid before he did of what he would see. Togami had not said a word through the accusation, and even now he showed no sign of speaking. In any other situation Hinata might have assumed that he was shocked, that or lost in thought, but now he couldn’t see any emotion at all. The look he had that reminded him of the one Tsumiki had in death, but he could still see the spark of life in his eyes, shining with an intensity that betrayed neither hope nor despair.

=====

CLASSROOM TRIALS - SUSPENDED

Chapter Text

Item Get: Shocking Criminal Tales

A cheap newsprint magazine, covering conspiracy theories, gruesome crimes, political intrigue, and alien sightings. This issue contains a special feature on serial killers, including “Kirakira-chan” and “Genocider Syo.” Despite the name, the magazine is published in Spanish.

=====

“This ties me directly to the crime, and I don’t mean to make a scene about it like Hanamura-san. So I confess. I killed Pekoyama-san. My methods were exactly as you said.”

Souda hadn’t realized until that moment just how important she’d become to him.

He knew he’d liked her. From the minute he’d laid eyes on her he’d known something amazing had come into his life — and changed it for the better, no doubt about it. Even if he’d known they existed outside the movies, he never would have thought he’d ever meet a real live princess. And not just a princess, but a perfect princess, with perfect skin and perfect blonde hair and a perfect ratio of hips to waist to chest…

“Sonia-san…”

Really, he’d never doubted any part of her was anything but perfect. And perfect didn’t just mean kind, and perfect didn’t just mean beautiful. Perfect was the way she attracted your eye. Perfect was the way she stood out in a crowd. Perfect was the transcendent nature of her being, something that couldn’t be touched by all the dirt and grime and technical imperfection of every other human being he’d ever encountered.

Perfect was the concept of maybe leaving the island, and taking her back home, and living in some kind of a future where he never had to lose her…

“You don’t…you don’t have to defend Tanaka like that…”

Perfect was everything he’d ever hoped the others could be. Everything he’d hoped he’d been right about. Everything that could take all the evil and ugliness in the world and on the island and banish it with an act, a thought, a prayer. Everything that could accept him, and lift him up, and make him perfect, too...

He’d always been disappointed, in the world and in himself. But by her very nature, she was different. She had to be. She couldn’t…

She was still talking. He’d hardly heard a word she’d said. Her voice was sweet and clear as ever, but her words… they weren’t hers. They couldn’t be. There was no way she could possibly say them, no way they could be true. They didn't match. They weren't perfect. And if they weren’t perfect, then they had to be a lie.

Togami had said Tanaka was the other possible culprit. He was covered in lies, and terrible at faking his own innocence. He may have had the others convinced, and he may have had Sonia’s good, pure heart thinking this was the only way to keep him in line, but he couldn't let this stand. “No, you didn’t,” he said. “Tanaka did…Tanaka killed Pekoyama...”

“Tanaka-san killed no one, Souda-san.” Her voice was level, her words sad. Her composure stood even when she was forced to lie. He hadn’t done enough — she was still in Tanaka’s thrall. He needed to act. He needed to push her aside, he needed to act in her defense, he needed to tackle Monobear, wrestle the secrets of the island out of him, and Monomi too when he’s done, and he needed to lead the rest of them to safety — with Tanaka as their prisoner, of course — and he needed to pull Sonia-san into his arms and tell her she was safe now, that someone as beautiful and sexy as she is should always be safe, and then she’d kiss him and call him her hero and…

His fantasy crumbled as the voting started. He still retained enough composure to push Tanaka’s button, to tell them all the truth. The results came up. The vote is wrong. Monobear corroborated the lie, then had the audacity to call him a liar…

The cracks in Sonia-san’s face broke his heart. The meaning of his intent came through, but there really was nothing he could do. “Souda-san, I appreciate the gesture of goodwill, but you know as well as I do that’s not correct! And Tanaka-san, why did you do such a thing? You know you’ve done nothing wrong!”

“No… No, Sonia-san, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay…it’s just a joke, it’s just a mix-up, you’ll see, he’ll say it in a second, he’ll say Tanaka did it…”

He was at the end of his ability. He was useless, worse than useless. He let a killer run free, and because of him the conspirators against the most beautiful and innocent girl in the world were going to have their way.

The punishment comes. The ropes bind her to the stick. The chain breaks, the wolf pounces, and S on nia Never mi nd di e s   s c r e a m i  ng …

=====

He remembered the sun flickering in and out as his eyes blinked open and shut. He remembered Nidai and Owari pouring water on his face. He remembered the hotel twisting and turning around him as he stumbled back to his cottage, supported on Nidai’s shoulder. Then his ceiling. Then his own voice telling Nidai he was fine. His tears. His ceiling again. His tears…his ceiling… then nothing, nothing…

He woke at noon, drenched in cold sweat. He could tell how hot it has, somewhere at the end of his nerves, but he was still shivering. He tossed back and forth, his body shaking harder than ever, his memory only working in short bursts. She’s dead, he thought. She’s dead. She was eaten alive…

He felt a fresh wave of nausea and threw himself toward the side of the bed, hanging his head over the edge in an effort to make it pass. It did, eventually, but the thoughts were harder to shake. He’ll never spend another moment with her. He’ll never relive that rush of giddy endorphins he’d felt whenever he was around her. He’ll never get the dozen beautiful golden-haired children he’d been hoping for ever since he’d resolved to marry her. He’d never…

I’ll never be happy, he thought, throwing the other, less focused thoughts away. He’d known from the beginning the island was only going to destroy everything he cared about. He’d thought he was going to die at first, and he’d even tried to barricade himself away, just to delay the inevitable. But this was worse than death. It was the destruction of hope, hope beyond his wildest dreams – and then the onset of despair, with the knowledge that he was powerless to combat it.

But I’m not powerless. His nausea cleared in an instant. I have what they didn’t think I’d have. I have the truth. I know Monobear’s cheating at his own game. I know he’s doing this just to destroy us, just to be evil. I know Tanaka’s conspiring with him. Pekoyama’s just as much a victim as anyone else. And Sonia-san…they’re making Sonia-san seem like a villain…!

He was on his feet in a second, though he forgot to put on his shoes. The splinters on the boardwalk brushed his feet as he ran out the door, but he could deal with that later – his goal couldn’t wait another second.

There was no one out, even at midday. The ruin of Pekoyama’s cottage was still smoking when he reached it. Sonia’s own cottage was just across the way. His reason, or perhaps just a part of his mind that wanted to torture him with lies, was telling him how easy it would have been for her. She could have slipped back inside without anyone spotting or suspecting her… no. He wouldn't let himself think that way anymore. He leapt to her door and pulled on the handle, cursing when it didn't give way but not giving up.

After thirty seconds he heard a voice behind him, one that sent his blood boiling under his skin. “Huh? What’s this? What are you doing?” He turned back and shouted something, more like a wail than words. “Well, I guess there’s no harm in letting you in. There’s no good in it, either, but that’s neither here nor there…”

The door swung open and he fell into a dazzling white light, hitting the carpet with a thud. He heard the door slamming behind him, and tried to get up to follow after Monobear –

But what he saw in front of him stopped him cold. It was something he never thought he’d see – a beautiful, dazzling white room, full of expensive furniture, all neatly arranged. He couldn’t have imagined something more majestic if he’d tried, or something less suited for the horrible fate she’d suffered.

The dirt from Souda’s boiler suit stained her carpet as he rolled onto his side. He took a deep breath. The room still smelled like her. He was reminded of her smile, her kindness, the way she’d always loved and cared for everyone – and he was sure, deep down, she’d always loved and cared for him most of all. He was sure of himself before, but now he knew the others would be convinced. He just needed to show them. And he didn't have much time – he needed to start now.

=====

They’d been deluded. They were too far gone to listen to reason.

Togami screamed at him to disassemble it. He tried to get him to listen, he told them the truth, told them Monobear couldn't be trusted, but they persisted in thinking he’d play by his own rules. That he could somehow be counted on and Sonia-san couldn’t.

“If you really thought that Sonia couldn’t possibly kill then I would say I’ve never met anyone less qualified to build anything to honor her.” They looked at Sonia-san’s purity and they only saw Monobear’s ugliness. Even when he tried to get Saionji and Koizumi to listen they only attacked him. They wouldn't listen to a word. And here he thought Koizumi, of all people, the one Sonia-san was trying to protect, he thought she’d see that same truth…

For a glowing second he thought Togami believed him. He saw the fear and anger in his eyes, and his body shook as he thought he'd gotten through, that he had someone on his side that he knows can convince the others. But then he started talking about something else, saying things about Monobear and Sonia-san that aren’t even close to real. He ran away.

Perhaps he couldn’t handle it after all.

He still held out some hope for convincing them over breakfast, for explaining just what he meant to do when he erected the shrine, but Saionji pushed him away, and the others didn't rush to his defense. He was powerless again, just like he was during the trial.

He got his food, trying to stare the rest of them down as he went, but found himself looking at the shrine instead, the one he spent hours crafting with his bare hands for Sonia-san’s sake. He should never have trusted them with her. He should never have put her out in the open where the outside world would only pollute her, where it would only tear him away from her. He burned the image into his mind before he left.

He didn't go right back to his cottage. He stood at the door for a moment, holding his food, then put it down, walked over to Tanaka’s cottage, and banged on the door several times, using all his restraint to stay silent, to control his next move. Tanaka didn't respond. He banged again. No response. He banged again. No response.

=====

The next three days were a blur of failure.

He didn't leave his room for the rest of the first day. He drifted in and out of sleep. He braced himself against the ebb and flow of anger and longing in his mind, and he channeled it into action, or tried to. He wrote an elaborate plan on his notepaper, and was about to throw it out the window when Monomi came in and warned him about littering. He cried in her face as she tried to help him, but when she couldn't say anything he hasn’t already heard or rejected she left, whimpering. Then his remorse kicked in, followed by the knowledge that he’d already done wrong, and he kicked at the walls until he left dents. 

He made more plans and woke up the next morning in a pile of them. The Monobear announcement rang in his ears, reminding him of his responsibilities. He knew today would be better. He knew they’d have time to sit on the knowledge he’d given them…

But then Togami resigned not long after he arrived.  He should be shocked, but all he could think was that he couldn’t understand his reasoning. Really, on some level, it enraged him. How could Togami delude everyone by saying this is his fault, when the truth is right in front of him and he refuses to see it? He thought Togami could do better. But perhaps that’s his own burden, for not doing better.

He knew in the back of his mind that he couldn’t do anything now, thanks to that stunt. He could feel their eyes on him, daring him to make a move they don’t understand. He could hear them already, berating him in his mind – “How could you do something like that at a time like this? Togami just resigned!” So he kept his composure. But only barely. His chopsticks trembled against the table throughout the rest of the meal, and by the time the others started leaving he was practically banging them with all the force in his hand.

He went to the third island with some of the others, not because they invited him, but because Nanami told him about the electronics district. And Nanami may be a ditzy space cadet, but bless her, he thought; bless her naïve soul for giving him this small bit of hope. He almost felt happy again, looking at everything there – the TVs, the cellphones, the wiretaps, everything.

But not just for the sake of it, oh no. Even if he couldn’t get the cell phones to place a call to the outside, he could still do something with this technology, more than he ever could before it. He only found one thing that worked on its own – a laptop on top of a stack of TVs – but when it didn't connect to the internet he left it for later. But it confirmed for him that something could be made to work here, especially with the help of a Super High School Level Mechanic. Like…

Like that walkie-talkie set, he thought after accidentally destroying two or three smaller wiretaps. It was big, and clunky, and it turned out to be more difficult to finagle with than he thought, but it sent his imagination soaring as he worked at repairing it. He could attach the camera end to Tanaka somehow, or hide it in his room, and then when he’d inevitably talk about his master plan, he’d know, he’d have proof. Or…

Or…or…something. Something that’ll give him the proof he needs. Something that’s undeniable, something that’ll break through.

By the time the day ended he had a transmission function, and then all he needed was to be able to record the footage itself. Even still, it gave him enough confidence to try again with the group the next morning – and it only helped when Tanaka not only showed up, but had the gall to think he could show remorse for all he’s done. Or that he could stand anywhere near Sonia-san’s shrine. In his eyes it was only growing dirtier and dirtier with their touches, and in a flash of rage he knew he had to do something about it –

He'd hardly touched Tanaka’s coat before Tanaka turned and pinned him. This was it, he thought, this is what he’d been waiting for – but even that confidence dissipates after a second.

“Then you still entertain your delusions? I am told the weak take comfort in such. Go on, accuse me again of conspiracy. You will do nothing but make a fool of yourself.”

He could swear, for a moment, that Tanaka almost sounded sincere. But he couldn't believe it, not when it meant giving up on Sonia-san…

But what if it’s true? he thought for the first time as the arguments raged around him. What if I really am making a fool of myself? What if everything I’ve been doing is for nothing…what if she’s looking down on me, and not even…not even…

He repressed the thought, and in a flash of newfound emotion he hated them. He hated every single one of them and he hated them even more when Kuzuryuu came and distracted them with his own self-serving bullshit. He could hardly comprehend what was happening, especially not when…

The moment passed. The meeting broke up, and the crowd dispersed. He was one of the first to leave. He doesn’t remember the trip to the electronics district. He pulled the walkie-talkie set out of its hiding place and tried to power it up, even though he knew it wasn’t ready. It didn’t work, not even as well as it had the previous day. He tried again. It didn’t work. He pulled out his screwdriver, without any particular plan in mind, but before he could stop himself he slammed the screwdriver into the wiring, severing it.

Then he slammed it again, and again, and again, and again. He stared at it for a moment, then picked the entire set up and hid it behind the tower of computer screens. Then he walked back into the center of the electronics district, lay down in the middle, and looked up at the sky, watching it blur in and out of focus.

“Why aren’t any of you giving me a chance? D-d-do you want Sonia-san to be guilty that badly?”

=====

He woke up to find an invitation on his face.

He looked back and forth, wondering who could have put it there, before reading it in more detail. The writing was warped, stained by his tears, but he could still make it out clearly. “Summer Fireworks Festival at the first island beach! Meet Ibuki at the supermarket at 8:00.”

At first he couldn’t believe it. Why would Mioda do something like that at a time like this? She could’ve at least woken him up. Then he remembered – of course she would, and she probably would have found letting him sleep hilarious. For the first time he started to feel a little excited. It’d been ages since he’d been to a summer festival. He’d often forget about them at home, and even when he did go he’d never worn a yukata or had the spare change to buy anything…

But no one would want to see him there. For the first time in a long time, a sense of loneliness overpowered his sense of duty. He’d be turned away for sure. Called crazy, or a host of other names. And then he’d have nowhere to go except back here, to the ruin of broken machines, to plans that hadn’t worked and never would, to his own thoughts, to his own memories…

He saw the sun setting, and knew it had to be almost eight, so he left the electronics district and headed for the first island.

He passed Koizumi and Saionji on the way to Rocketpunch Market, and despite his attempts to greet them they didn’t even look. He entered the store to find himself alone with Mioda, and from her he got the first honest welcome he felt like he’d gotten in days. Something had got her excited, he could tell – but before he could get a word in edgewise she’d shoved a yukata in his hands and pushed him toward the boys’ bathroom.

He changed into the yukata, which had to be the cleanest thing he'd worn in weeks, and stepped back out. Mioda definitely seemed impressed. “Lookin’ good, Kazuichi-chan!” she said, pointing finger-guns at him, and in the moment he felt confident enough to point back.

He’d almost rather Mioda went with him to the beach, but she said she had to wait for the others, so he went on alone. He’d just started imagining the warm welcome he was sure to get when he reached the beach, saw the others, and immediately hid behind a palm tree. After confirming he hadn't been seen, he looked out to assess the situation. Koizumi and Saionji were at one end, talking. Tsumiki was sitting by herself. Hinata and Togami were by the fireworks, strangely silent.

He didn't know which encounter to risk first. Koizumi must hate him, Tsumiki must hate him, Togami must hate him, Saionji he knows hates him, and Hinata…he didn't know and couldn't say for sure. He knew he was his friend once, but…

“Are you okay?”

He jumped back a foot – but felt far more calm when he saw it was only Nanami, looking at him with a concerned expression. (And looking pretty cute in her pink yukata.) “You look…a little jumpy,” she continued, her expression unchanged.

“What, this? Ah, no, no…” He scratched his head, trying to recover from the embarrassment. “I’m…just…tying my shoelaces!”

“You’re wearing sandals, Souda-kun.”

“Sandal laces.”

“Oh…well, that works.” Nanami looked down at both their feet, and he desperately wished she would leave. “Do you need any help?”

“Tying my sandal laces?”

“Going down to the festival.”

“What – no, no, no!” He almost leapt back again. “What are you trying to say, huh? I-I’m not scared! Not at all!”

“It’s okay,” Nanami said. “They’ll think we came together.”

His face burned bright red. “Well…nothing bad about that…”

“Of course not.” Nanami took a few steps down the path. “It’s okay to relax. Honest. That’s what the entire evening’s about.”

Her words struck something inside him – and so he actually ended up following along. He almost doesn’t care that the others' eyes went wide when they saw him, or that his attempts at conversation with Togami kind of failed and he had to leave in order to salvage some sense of his self-worth. But from there…things almost got better. He got Tsumiki and Nanami to listen to him talk about the electronics district, even if he never quite got to reveal his grander plans. And he was surprised when Togami actually come to join them – he thought he’d messed that up for good, and he was glad to be proven wrong.

And then the fireworks themselves started. He really could have done without Mioda’s singing – he had to scream at her to get her to stop – but the display in the sky, the oohing and aahing and general collective enjoyment, was more than worth it. He almost felt normal again, sitting there. As though they weren’t on the island to begin with, and were back home instead, just hanging together as though they’d all been friends in a more stable life…

He was only taken out of it when he saw Tanaka on the opposite side of the beach. He wasn’t talking to anyone; he was just sitting with his stupid hamsters, looking up at the sky. He felt a faint twinge when he looked at him, but he wasn’t sure it was anger. Was it regret? Was it shame? He couldn’t stop thinking about it, not even as the night went on and Tanaka didn’t end up talking to them.

He went over the memories in his mind, even as they were happening. The picture with Nidai and Owari. The spectacle of the finale. The conversation as they all headed to the diner, the chatter in the diner itself… he could hardly believe that hours ago he’d been crying alone in the electronics district. He’d thought himself so unforgivable, so terrible, such a failure, and yet…he’d been so happy, these past few hours. And all because…

And all…because…

Because you forgot about her.

He had the thought as he arrived back at his cottage, stumbling with exhaustion. He felt some part of his strength leave with it, and he leaned against the door, the key stopped in the lock. He took a few seconds, then turned it, letting the force of his body open the door.

He forgot about her. He joined the others that were denying the truth, and for what? A night to mock their sacrifices? Not just them, too, but Pekoyama’s, and Hanamura’s, and…that other kid, what was his name?

He should know his name, they said it so much…Kojira…Kaneda…Ko…something with a Ko…no…that’s not right…none of them are right…

You didn’t use the hope that her sacrifice created. Or is it more correct to say that her sacrifice didn’t create enough hope for you to use?

His head was fogging over; he could hardly remember which way was up and which was down. He could see his bed, but it looked like it was at the end of a long tunnel – he walked, he took a step, and then another...

And to think I had such high hopes for Sonia-san… If the hope she created wasn’t enough to crush your despair, then it was a worthless hope, wasn’t it? And pretending it was never invoked at all…a truly strong hope would never pass with so little notice!

He took another, and then the ground rushed to meet him. He hit it, he felt pain…

So the outcome of that hope isn’t anything worth being concerned about. And there’s nothing to be done about it, really – after all, Sonia-san is dead.

He can’t feel pain anymore. He’s floating.  He couldn’t see, he couldn’t think…he felt an idea repeating and repeating, but it was so far away, so impossible to even grasp it…

But there’s really no use to me saying this, is there? I’m not even sure if you can hear me. You’re close, very close, but not enough for me to be sure we’re in the same place. If I could reach out and try to grab you, would I even make a connection? Would a worthless person like me be able to save you, or save the world from all the despair you’ve polluted it with, if Sonia-san couldn’t?

Ahhhh…I didn’t think so. But it doesn’t matter, in the end, at least not to you. Because you’re about to die, too. I’m sorry to be so direct, but I didn’t know if you knew...

=====

No words.

Nothing but pain.

There’s red in his eyes. Blood. There’s blood…! The blood magnifies the pain. He screams. He lurches, he moves several inches, he falls, he feels pain, he feels blood. He screams until his throat cracks and shatters, shaking in a desperate attempt to move.

There’s nothing, no thought of when or where. Nothing but blood, blood and pain… He sees above, below, to the side…a door. If he could get to the door…the door…the door could… could…

He can only think in bursts of feedback from his nerves.  His adrenaline surges and he lunges forward again – there’s one word on his mind now, and that word is door, the door shakes as his vision shakes and spins and he moves, he moves, he comes closer, closer, closer…he can’t move, but he moves, he can’t, but he can, he must…he…

The door opens. The door is gone. And then…there’s pain. Pain but no more adrenaline. There’s an ebb and a flow, a rise and a fall…he sees blurred images, Togami, then Hinata, then Togami again, then black, then white, then blue, then…

Then, for a while, the vague impression of touch. Then pain, horrific pain. Then nothing.

=====

But in the nothingness he had a dream.

He saw something like a burst of white light, not quite like the light in Sonia-san’s room, but…but not as imaginary.  It was formless, it was incomprehensible, but it was real. It had something like a physical form, and it felt like a gentle caress when it touched him, folding itself around his body and holding him close to itself, as if it wanted to make him a part of all it was.

You’ve done a good job, it said. You can rest now. It’s okay.

Its voice moved him to tears. I didn’t, he thought. I didn’t save you. I didn’t even save you in their hearts.

You didn’t have to, the voice said. What I did was my own decision, and that’s the truth. I thought it was what was best, but I know it wasn’t perfect. I’m sorry. Really…you don’t need to hurt yourself for my sake.

For a moment he was fully awake, and the fear was insurmountable. He heard voices in the back of his mind, battering him from all directions, but when he closed his eyes he was back in Sonia-san’s arms. You need to leave, she said. They need you out there. But you don’t need me.

Was it real? Souda would ask himself later. Was he actually talking to her, or was he only hearing what, deep down, he wanted her to say? I know, he still said. I’m sorry.

You don’t need to apologize, Sonia-san said. You weren’t really doing anything, anyway.

=====

He snapped awake then, and couldn't go back to sleep. He was panicking, he was absorbing new information like cannon blasts to the face, but he was alive, he was alive, he was surrounded by voices and he was overwhelmed and he was scared but he was alive.

He couldn't think about the dream, not until he could comprehend everything else. Three days have passed. He was ill. He was attacked, and Tsumiki is dead. The investigation is starting, and a trial is happening. They need to know if he saw his attacker, but all he knows is the pain and the crawling. They’ve bandaged his chest and back, and somewhere along the line he saw the blood on Togami and Hinata and he knew that they saved him. He knew they cared…he knew…somehow…

He wasn’t sure if his fear would ever go away. He drifted in and out of sleep for the next hour, going from dreamless nothingness to waking terror and regret. He was attacked because he didn’t succeed, he tells himself. He wasn’t good enough. He’s sorry. He’ll be good…he’s sorry…

In the meanwhile, the others took care of him. He saw Monomi crying by his bedside. He saw Togami adjusting his painkiller doses. He saw Nidai helping him out of bed as if it’s another universe – he knew he didn't want to go, he knew he didn't want to get hurt, but he couldn't seem to get his body or his mouth to say it.  He only comprehended kindness, assistance, the kinds of things he thought he wasn’t worthy of.

He tried not to think about the details of the trial, even as they took him to his stand. He knew he wouldn’t be experiencing them as fully as if he’d never had to feel that pain, as if it didn’t concern him. But, a part of him said, perhaps if he does listen, then part of him will feel whole again, more whole than it did before Sonia-san ever died. He tried not to think about Sonia-san, either. He doesn’t have a concrete plan anymore. He only had to live in the present, moving forward until something else changed and his mind settled into a steady rhythm.

Chapter Text

CLASSROOM TRIALS - REOPEN

=====

“I’m sorry.”

Hinata couldn’t exactly place when Togami’s expression had changed. A second ago he couldn’t have read it at all, but somewhere it had become softer, but only subtly, just enough for it to look more natural. “Huh?” he said. “Sorry…?”

“F-For what, Byakuya-chan?” Mioda was leaning over the edge of her trial stand, angling herself as close to Togami as possible. “That “sorry” could mean a lot of things…”

“You wanted me to answer for what I’d done, and so I am,” Togami said. “As you pointed out, I’ve made unwise and dangerous decisions under duress. It’s not uncommon in world of business, actually. Whether it’s a junior salaryman taking on too much responsibility in order to impress his superiors, or the superior themselves faced with a situation they have no idea how to solve, and the duty to do so, for the sake of their employees. But despite this…”

Togami folded his arms across his chest. “It isn’t something Byakuya Togami should have allowed of himself. I know that very well.” His eyes narrowed, and he looked over at Hinata. “But I can’t help but wonder why you would bring it up now. As it stands, it isn’t concrete proof of anything. What are you using this to accuse me of?”

Hinata didn’t want to answer that, not even in his mind. He half-hoped that someone might step in, but no one said a word – all of their attention was on him, and they were waiting in expectation of his response.  Mioda was rocking back and forth on the trial stand, her teeth chattering with every movement.

He tried his hardest not to look at her, but he couldn’t look at Togami, either. So he looked at the floor as he spoke. “I know it isn’t concrete proof. But it’s all we have. And if we want to solve the case we’re going to need to explore anything that seems out of place. Just because we did something under stress doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant. I mean…we could say any of the murders we’ve had so far were done under stress.”

Togami gave Hinata a searching look, one that seemed to last an eternity. “I never said I wouldn’t answer your questions. As much as I regret it…you are correct. I didn’t have the chance to check on Nanami before Kuzuryuu arrived. At that time, Souda’s well-being was the priority. I have as much idea of when she was framed for Souda’s attack as any of you.”

There was a pause as everyone waited for Togami to continue, but to Hinata’s surprise he didn’t. “So…that’s it?” Koizumi said instead. “You really didn’t have the time?”

“If they’re suspicious of me, then perhaps they’ll believe you, Hinata,” Togami said, without acknowledging Koizumi. “You were there when we searched the hospital for Souda. How much time elapsed between the beginning of our search and Kuzuryuu’s arrival?”

“Well…” Hinata couldn’t remember precisely, but it hadn’t been long. “A minute? Two minutes?”

“Precisely. Very little time,” Togami said. “I was able to ascertain Mioda’s safety, but before I could get to Nanami, Kuzuryuu rushed in. Isn’t that right, Kuzuryuu?”

“Hey, I don’t know anything about that,” Kuzuryuu said. “I didn’t even know what you were doing, I just found you in the hall.”

“That doesn’t sound very useful,” Owari said.

“But the assumed restrictions of this time period matter not,” Tanaka said. “What about before you went to retrieve Hinata? Tsumiki was in the leftmost occupied room…are you saying you did not check on the others before finding her?”

Togami was silent for a painful second – one Hinata couldn’t bring himself to make any assumptions about. “When I went to deliver the food and found her corpse, you mean.”

“Togami did check on them,” Hinata said, remembering suddenly. “He told me he was going to check on them  again , when we split up after finding Tsumiki.”

“And if we’re thinking of whether someone would have been able to frame me in that time, I think the answer’s yes,” Nanami said. “But I think I’d like to know more about morning as a whole. Hinata-kun asked you why you were there so much earlier than yesterday, and I don’t think we ever got a response.”

“The answer is simple,” Togami said. “I couldn’t sleep. I’ve come to understand many of us have had that difficulty.”

Kuzuryuu stared down at his trial stand, clenching his teeth, but no one else made any move of acceptance or suspicion. “Did anyone see Togami before he went to get Hinata?” Nidai said. “If so, can they vouch for him?”

“I dunno," Saionji said. "I was sleeping, like someone that doesn’t mope around when things get too difficult.”

“That brings me back to what I was saying,” Hinata said, cutting off whatever reaction Kuzuryuu might have had. “Going back to the first island to get me doesn’t make any sense. Even if Togami was afraid of contamination, I think we had bigger problems on our hands.”

“Well, maybe…but…” Mioda had forgotten to support herself; she stumbled back to a standing position, fidgeting her hands against the trial stand. “I-Ibuki doesn’t really understand how that could affect anything…”

“It was reckless,” Nidai said. “But if we’re trying to look for a purpose beyond that…”

“We can find it. But we won’t know where to look without direction,” Koizumi said. “Togami? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Togami folded his arms, and looked down into them for a long time before he spoke. “You asked me for an explanation, and I gave it to you. Unstable as it is, it’s the truth. Have I not given you all the information you need?”

“Togami…” Hinata had at least expected another apology, or something less evasive. But it was evasive in a way that he couldn’t really refute, not without any more information – and as Koizumi had just said, they had nothing. The silence told him that much. If that was the truth, and that was really all Togami had to say, then was it possible that…

“ I  have a question for Togami-kun,” Monobear said, cutting off his thoughts and breaking the silence. “Why is it that every time I tell you bastards what the trial’s for, you all  insist  on getting off track? If you’re just going to go around in circles about who was where and not give me any solid evidence of who killed Tsumiki-san, then I’ll just have to start –”

“But aren’t you being a little hasty?” To Hinata’s surprise, Togami’s words stopped Monobear clean in his tracks. “You haven’t given them the chance to absorb the information. Are you really in such a hurry that you’d prefer to end your game here and now?”

Monobear was silent for a long time, though Monomi still screamed behind him, muffled by her gag. “Aaaarrrggghhhh,” he finally said, the grunt rising in volume as it went on. “But if you’re going to prove yourselves worthy of living, you’d better do it fast. I may be generous, but I don’t have all  the time in the world!”

“I’m aware.” Togami nodded, and turned back to the rest. “Well?”

The quiet was deafening, but Hinata could see sparks of emotion return to the others’ faces. They were all muttering to themselves, or tapping their chins – even Souda, uncertain as he looked, seemed at least to be in focus. Their determination buoyed him; if he were in any mood to examine himself, he could almost say Togami’s stunt had restored his hope.

“If he had one person instead of six…” Koizumi watched as a few people turned their heads, then continued. “Would the number of people have made any difference? For any reason?”

“Why would it be –” Hinata paused. “Wait, you mean because of the body discovery announcement?”

“It just occurred to me…it went off pretty late, didn’t it?” Koizumi scowled, looking unsure. “I’m pretty sure it didn’t go off until the whole group of us went to see Mikan-chan. And that’s because only Togami and Hinata saw the body.”

Togami’s eyebrows flew into his hair, but didn’t otherwise react or respond. “So he kept us all asleep to make sure the body discovery announcement didn’t go off?” Saionji said. “Was he trying to make us think she wasn’t dead? Or was there something else he was doing?”

“H-he?” Mioda’s hands twisted wildly around themselves, and she kept her gaze fixed firmly on Togami, who didn’t seem to show any sign of seeing her. “Then we’re really making accusations?”

“We really gotta remember we don’t have any proof,” Owari said, sounding strained.

“And I don’t see why it matters,” Kuzuryuu said. “I mean, sure, it went off late. But was there any reason we shouldn’t have seen Tsu –”

He stopped short. “Souda,” he said. “If Togami’d gone to the motel, or if the body discovery announcement had gone off, then everyone from the hotel would’ve gone past where Souda was.”

“Huh…?” Souda turned and focused all his attention on Togami, his eyes wide. “Wait…what does that mean?”

The others had similar reactions, but with somewhat less energy and certainty. They were all uncomfortable, if they felt anything like what Hinata was feeling, but it was the discomfort of not completely having the truth in their hands. “But he didn’t know,” Hinata said. “There’s no way he could’ve known…”

“But it’s a good point, isn’t it?” Nanami said. “Kuzuryuu-kun only found Souda-kun because he woke up early and found the footprints. If he hadn’t, and Togami-kun had been any later finding him –”

“He would’ve died, right?” Owari said, drawing a pained look from Nanami – Hinata had a feeling she’d deliberately left that out of her observation. Souda was already agitated, but Hinata could tell the remark hadn’t helped any.

“Y-yeah, but, anything you take away from that, it’s just an assumption…” Mioda cringed. “Ibuki knows it’s a really good assumption that makes perfect logical sense given the circumstances, but…”

“Despite our  misgivings , it all seems a little too convenient.” Tanaka gave Mioda a look that seemed too preemptively pregnant with meaning. “That the one who is sworn to protect us, even in a state of self-imposed exile, would execute an unreasonable and foolish action, one that would directly have led to the death of his charge, but for the intervention of Fate…”

“It doesn’t make sense, does it…?” Togami’s voice was so soft Hinata could hardly call it an interruption. “But how could you connect that to Tsumiki’s death? How could you possibly produce any concrete evidence? I don’t know if I can think of any…”

Togami trailed off, his words so soft that Hinata was half-sure they’d gone unheard. Those words should have comforted him, but there was something about them that didn’t strike him quite right.  “That’s…I don’t know,” he said. “We have something…we have something strange. But I can’t understand it. How could…”

“Hinata, don’t start.” Even though Koizumi was standing next to him, she was unwilling to look Hinata in the eye. “We can’t assume the best of anyone. We know that.”

“I know,” Hinata said, but softly, only to himself. He knew where they were all coming from – they’d been betrayed too many times to trust anyone fully, even someone like Togami. But he still couldn’t believe it himself. And he didn’t have the proof necessary to fully accept betrayal.

“There’s nothing…but there’s, no, no, no, there’s something…” Just as Mioda's voice was about to trail off, it jumped back to full volume. “Ibuki has it, the elusive proof! She knows Byakuya-chan’s innocent!”

Togami’s eyebrows flew into his hair, and Hinata felt as though his insides had turned to ice. “I dunno, he looks pretty guilty to me,” he could just register that Saionji was saying. “So if you want to play tonsil hockey you better do it fast.”

“Ibuki’s going to ignore that for now!” Mioda announced, drowning out everyone else that had tried to respond. “Listen, listen – Byakuya-chan gave Kazuichi-chan his blood. Ibuki was there, she saw the whole thing!” She pointed at Togami with a dramatic flourish, looking quite proud of herself. “But if Byakuya-chan was going to save Kazuichi-chan’s life, why would he put Kazuichi-chan in danger in the first place?”

The knowledge hit Hinata in a way he couldn’t describe. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before – had it been the heat and frenzy of the trial? – but now it was perfectly clear. “That’s right,” he said, barely able to contain himself. “I was there too, and he definitely gave Souda his blood. He basically jumped at the chance…”

“Then you remember the exact details of when Togami-kun gave Souda-kun his blood.” Hinata was surprised to hear Nanami speak, as she’d been oddly silent during the rest of the trial. Her expression was determined, but something in her voice didn’t quite match – it was melancholy, almost hopeless.

“Er…” He hesitated for a moment. “Yeah, I do…”

“If that’s the case…. can you give me an exact account of what happened?”

Hinata felt as though he’d been yanked back by the scruff of the neck – but he didn’t know why, and he wished he could hold on to that lack of knowledge. “Well…” He closed his eyes, thinking back. “Togami ran out to get supplies to stitch Souda’s wounds closed. He was gone for maybe a minute. He came back with the empty bag, then started drawing his own blood –”

“That was all that happened?” Nanami said. “You’re not leaving anything out?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Then he didn’t check for Souda-san’s blood type?” Nanami said.

“…No. No, he didn’t. Really, in all the commotion, I didn’t even think…”

“Then, Togami-kun,” Nanami said, turning to Togami, “When did you check to see what Souda-kun’s blood type was?”

Hinata could barely focus on Togami’s expression. Now that he thought of it, he hadn’t seen him check Souda’s blood type, or even thought about Souda’s blood type at all. In the heat of the moment, he’d only assumed that Togami had taken care of it.

“But it doesn’t matter, right?” Mioda jumped in before Togami could respond. “B-because, in the end, B-Byakuya-chan’s blood was the right type for –”

“But that’s the problem. His blood isn’t the right type .” Nanami lifted her Electronic Student ID out of her jacket, pressed the screen several times, and then held it up for all of them to see.  “According to our electronic student profiles, Togami-kun’s blood type is B. But if you look at Souda-kun’s…” She swiped Togami’s profile aside, replacing it with Souda’s. “It’s A. Their blood types are incompatible.”

=====

There was a moment where Hinata could have believed he’d misread. Many of the others pulled out their IDs and started navigating to Souda’s profile, but just from Souda’s horrified expression Hinata could tell what he would find before he got there. In any case he didn’t have time to open his own before Souda and Togami’s student profiles both appeared on the overhead screen, and there it was unmistakable .

“I don’t get it…” Souda’s voice was oddly small, given the intensity of the look on his face. “I don’t…how the hell am I not dead…?”

“Dead?” Owari took a step back. “Wait, would it really be that serious?”

“Absolutely!” Nidai shouted. “Incompatible blood types are a major medical emergency! He should have gone into critical condition hours ago!”

“But he didn’t,” Hinata said, his voice shaking despite his efforts to stop it. “There hasn’t been a single ill side effect. Is that even possible?”

He half-expected Tsumiki to speak up; some of the others looked to her portrait, just as confused. “If it isn’t, and I’m sure it’s not,” Nanami said, “then the blood Souda-kun received had to be from a blood type compatible with his. There’s no way around it. But, what does that mean, and why…?”

“Let’s assume you’re correct, Nanami.”

Hinata’s gut twisted as he looked at Togami. He’d been expecting a quick explanation, or at least a look of panic, but somehow Togami’s expression hadn’t changed at all. “Not necessarily that you’re correct about Souda receiving a blood type compatible with his. That’s entirely unmistakable. But let’s assume you’re correct in your assumption that it’s relevant. So what if one, or both, of the listed blood types is wrong? It could very well be a clerical error. We don’t know where our blood type data came from, but however it happened it could have been entered wrong. Isn’t that so?”

“But that just brings up even more questions,” Hinata said. “For one thing… you’re the only one who would know whose blood type was correct, because you’re the one who gave Souda his transfusion. But you haven’t given anyone a straight answer about that.” He looked Togami in the eye. “That’s not a logical thing to do, especially when we’re short on time…”

“Is there really anything I need to say?” Togami’s voice was so soft Hianta could barely hear it. “Is it something you really need explai–”

“Hey, leaving that aside for time’s sake,” Koizumi said, completely drowning Togami out. “It has to be Togami’s blood type that’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“Togami’s?” Owari said. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, Souda wasn’t conscious when you did the transfusion.” Koizumi gripped at her arms. “If his blood type had been anything else, then they would have been incompatible anyway.”

“Indeed,” Tanaka said, slightly muffled by his scarf. “He could not have personally communicated his status unless he had mastered the art of astral projection, which at a glance I can tell he has  not.”

Souda whipped his head around. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean–”

“Souda-kun, it’s okay,” Nanami said. “Yours has to be right.”

“I dunno,” Saionji said. “What if it was some other blood type that just happened to be compatible?”

“No, you’re right.” Souda shook against his restraints, trying to pull himself up to look Nanami in the eye. “Yeah…it’s A…”

Hinata didn’t have to act surprised, because he wasn’t. Somehow, he’d known all along. “But that brings us back to where we started,” he said. “Togami…why didn’t we know this before? It would’ve been easier just to tell us right then and there. Hell, I’m type A. If I’d known, I could’ve helped Souda too. S o why are you–”

“Why am I what?" After so many instances of Togami speaking so softly, his volume filled Hinata with a momentary burst of fear. “Being so unhelpful? Not telling you exactly what you want to know exactly when you think you would have wanted to know it?”

He folded his arms. “Very well. I’ll tell you now what I had no chance to tell you before. My blood type is wrong. It’s O-negative. I did know Souda’s blood type from the Electronic Student ID, but no matter his type my blood would have saved him. I didn’t happen to share this because we had other things on our minds.” He narrowed his eyes. “As I recall, you never asked to know his blood type, Hinata.”

“Well…” Hinata gritted his teeth. “When the transfusion worked, I didn’t really have a reason…”

“Precisely. Does that prove anything about you?” Togami said. “I’m not stating an objective fact. Go on. You tell me. Give me your conclusions. Solve the mysteries you created. Isn’t that the entire point of the school trial? To examine and nitpick until there’s nothing left?”

“But that’s not all there is to this, Togami-kun,” Nanami said. “You’re right. It doesn’t prove anything, not directly. But you just said it was a mystery, and you’re making us solve it for information that you've withheld from us for no good reason.” She suddenly looked very sad. “Togami-kun, we’re all very confused, and this is the last thing we need. Please…”

“Nanami…” Hinata stopped short, unsure of how to continue. Instead he looked around at the others, who'd all at least caught wind of the same thing he had, and looked unsettled by it, if not outright scared. All except Togami, who looked calmer than ever before, even outside the trial.

“What am I doing…?” Togami's glance slid to the side; if Hinata had to put a name to it, he’d say he looked almost dreamlike. “Ah…that’s another question you’re posing to yourselves. Am I deliberately hiding things? Or do I simply know you can solve them? That’s another mystery on top of the mysteries…this really is getting boring, isn’t it…”

“Ah, Byakuya-chan?” Mioda said, her hands shaking as she attempted to twist them together. “Y-y-you’re not usually…this…”

“I wanted you to be further than this by now, but I can’t stand watching you go around in circles all the time,” Togami said, speaking over her. “Should I reveal everything, just to speed things along? Or should I go little by little, and see if you get any smarter? Any revelation could send things in an entirely different direction…”

“Hey, shut up!” Kuzuryuu pounded his bandaged fist on the trial stand, gritting his teeth against the pain. “What does this have to do with Tsumiki’s killer, anyway? I don’t know why you’re stalling, but–”

“Kuzuryuu-kun, I don’t think that’s going to work.” Nanami looked back up at Togami. “I can figure one thing out. The blood transfusion…you did it on purpose, didn’t you? You were trying to bring attention to the error. Of course…” Her face darkened. “If it was a simple error…would it matter so much?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone!” Mioda interrupted. “What would a blood type have to do with anything? It’s just blood! Everyone has blood! Even Ibuki has blood, believe it or not!”

“Nanami...” Togami gave Nanami an odd look – almost a condescending one, Hinata thought. “If you have something to say, then say it.”

All eyes turned to Nanami, and Hinata could feel the hush in the room. Nanami’s lip twisted, and she looked from Togami, to Tsumiki’s portrait, to her own card. “Is it an error on the card…or an error in the person?” she said. “And which would you be the most eager to hide?”

“In the person?” Nidai said. “But how is that possible…?”

“Chiaki-chan, what’s going on?” Koizumi said. “What are you-”

“Oh, is that it?” Togami said. “You’re saying and not saying it at the same time… you’re clever and you’re noble, what a combination. Well…should I say that’s close enough? Or should I watch you be forced to say it? Go on. You tell me what you think would be best.”

Nanami didn’t speak, not for a long time, and in that hesitation Hinata found himself trying not to call out in fear.  It wasn’t the games that were frustrating him. It was the fact that Togami was playing them at all. He’d always strove for clarity, for the quickest way to safety…and even if he was implicated, even if he  did…  wouldn’t he have had a reason? Wouldn’t he have at least explained? What was the point in torturing them if he was… about to die? Really…in that light…was the meaning of anything he was doing?

Why?  was all he could think, over and over.  Why is the school trial going in this direction?  He didn’t have an answer. He only had the vague feeling that he was trapped.

=====

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, take a breath.”

Nanami did take a breath, though her eyes were still wide, and then looked over at Togami, confused. Something in his voice sounded softer than before, and Hinata desperately wanted to believe it was a voice of compassion.

“There’s no point in putting you at an impasse if nothing’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s just the same situation as before, and I’m only going to get bored if it goes on like this… but given you know what I know, and I know you know what I know… well, I’m not going to let you get in the way.”

He pulled his shoulders up straight, and a smirk played its way across his features. “There’s one thing you’ve all gotten wrong. Byakuya Togami’s blood type is correct. Byakuya Togami’s blood type has been B from the day of his birth, and his Electronic Student ID card reflects this accurately.”

A burst of chatter rolled through the crowd, banishing any attempt at further thought from Hinata’s mind. “But that’s the opposite of what you said before!” Nidai was the first to say. “You said your blood type was -”

“I did,” Togami said. “But I didn’t say it was Byakuya Togami’s. An error in the card, or an error in the person… Now, think. Why do you think Nanami would ask me that kind of question?”

Hinata didn’t have to think. He wanted to think, he wanted to question and delve and probe into everything. But for the first time all night – no, for the first time in a very, very long time – Togami was being perfectly clear. And he hated every second of it.

“It’s because…” He stopped. He couldn’t go that far yet. “No, what you’re trying to say is…you’re not Byakuya Togami. Is that right?”

If he’d come out and said it at the beginning, Hinata was sure there would have been more of a collective sense of shock. As it was, Hinata knew the others were smart, and he knew their skills had been honed by two trials already. He was sure they’d already figured it out. They were just feeling the same kind of stillness he was - the crushing weight of confirmation. 

The majority of them were looking down, not yet able to confront it. Mioda alone kept her head held high, looking the person that had claimed to be Togami in the eye, confused and curious rather than shocked. Her lips were moving, but only slightly. Hinata was certain he could sightread them. She was saying “Byakuya-chan”, over and over, but he was sure only she could hear herself...

“Do I even need to say it?” the person in front of them said. “I think there’s not much I could do to prove otherwise. If you want a “yes”, then yes. Is that enough?”

Was this…it, then? Had this been the secret Togami had been so worried about telling the rest? But…no, somehow it didn’t match up. Togami had been so concerned, so afraid of the consequences, so careful about whatever that secret could be . B ut in the trial he’d dangled the secret over them like bait, playing with them before throwing it in their faces…

“But, wait, if you’re not Togami, then when did you switch?” Owari tapped her chin, looking more confused with every word. “And how’d you kick his ass? He’s huge! I mean, you’re also pretty big, but-”

“Akane-chan…” Koizumi’s face colored with anger. “That’s completely impossible. How could anyone switch with Togami without us noticing a difference…?”

“And there could not be a seventeenth individual on the island,” Tanaka said. “And as I detect no hint of shape-shifting magic…truly, this is the same individual who appeared with us in the classroom at the beginning. But whether or not he is whom he has claimed…”

“There’s plenty of reasons someone could be acting dog-face-banana-patch, though!” Mioda said, quickly. “Even Kazuichi-chan and Chiaki-chan and Ibuki, we saw them all acting weird, and…” She grinned, suddenly. “The Despair Fever! It’s – that’s it! Byakuya-chan’s just got the Despair Fever and there’s no way he’s–”

“Except Despair Fever can’t switch a person’s blood type,” Saionji said.

“But he could be lying about the blood type thing–!”

“But they’re not!” Monobear interrupted. “Byakuya Togami’s blood type is B! There’s never been a single mistake on any of the Electronic Student ID Cards!” 

Monobear’s words struck a nerve in Hinata’s mind. “Wait, how did you know that?” he shouted. “Did you know about this the entire time?” Monobear was silent, but Monomi screamed more shrilly than ever, and swung violently back and forth.

“I never thought you’d think that you’d known the real Byakuya Togami, or that he’d been replaced,” the person said, speaking over Monomi. “But why would you think that? Is it because you think it’d be too hard for someone to disguise themselves as Byakuya Togami? Is it because you think, “How could anyone make themselves look like  that ?” A change in the voice or clothes can be vital for personal reasons, but what good are personal details when your marks have never –”

“ Voice .” Nanami’s words brought them to a halt. “Just like with the blood types, you said “voice” on purpose.”

They didn’t respond, and neither did anyone else. The room had come to recognize that Nanami had information that none of the others did – but given what he’d just learned, Hinata didn’t want to think about that just yet.

“Wait…” Kuzuryuu’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that has something to do with the case?”

“Not just  something . It’s the most vital piece of evidence we could have. It points directly to this person’s involvement in Souda-kun’s attack and Tsumiki-kun’s murder.”

Mioda froze where she stood, her mouth open and her hands clutching her trial stand. Hinata found he couldn’t look - he had to keep his attention on Nanami. “This person’s already told us that they knew exactly how Souda-kun’s illness worked. They said that they would perceive Sonia-san’s face or voice as their own, and Souda-kun’s face or voice as someone else’s. In the darkness, just a little makeup would be enough to disguise Tsumiki-san’s face. But Souda-kun also heard his own voice, the previous night. This person just admitted they could disguise their voice… and not only that, they could also have come up with the idea to disguise Tsumiki-san’s face in the first place…”

There was a quick, pointed silence, one that Hinata wished could last forever. “It fits the mold, then,” Koizumi said, her voice small. “We know there was a second person the hospital ward. Someone had to strangle her, and position her on the bed…”

She looked across the room, her hands shaking with rage. “Well?” she said. “It was  you , wasn’t it? You killed Mikan-chan!”

=====

From the moment it became clear to Hinata who the person in front of him was, and what they’d done, he’d been watching the anger building in everyone’s eyes – and he knew it for what it was, because it was building up inside him, too. And it wasn’t just about Tsumiki – as much as that hurt, he’d been long prepared for that. And he’d been trying to hold it in. He’d been trying to hope that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. But hearing that everything he’d known and grown to trust was a lie, and that person…

It wasn’t that they weren’t Byakuya Togami. That was the farthest thing from his mind, and he couldn’t even stand to think of how that information might have gone over if not for this. He’d thought they were his  friend , someone he could count on and trust to be honest, to be sincere, to try their best no matter how many mistakes they made, and now…

He couldn’t pray for a denial. He knew he wasn’t going to get one, or an affirmation at that. He couldn’t trust this person to do anything but stand and look at them, with that sick smug look on their face, watching them flounder in their own fear, and confusion, and rage, and…

“How could you?” He heard and barely absorbed Koizumi’s voice from within the dull roar that had grown up around him. “After all we’ve been through, and all you’ve done…how could you be lying to us this entire time…?”

“You  bastard !” Souda pushed hard against the restraints on his wheelchair, and craned to look the person he’d once known as Togami in the eye. “You – and Tsumiki – ”  He winced, grabbed at his stomach, and sat back in his chair.  “I’m gonna – ”

“No, no, we don’t know if they did anything…” Amazingly, though her voice was weak and her body was shaking, Mioda was still determined to speak. “That can’t be  concrete  proof…and they still haven’t said yes or no…and we can’t just jump to the worst without making sure the best is totally impossible…” She lifted her head, and looked the person she’d once known as Byakuya-chan in the eye. “R-right–?”

Her voice trailed off, but when it did Hinata heard a faint chuckling – and he wasn’t surprised at the grin on that person’s face, or the faraway look in their eyes. “I’ve underestimated all of you,” they said. “Just a half hour ago you thought you had nothing, and now…”

“Then you’re admitting it,” Kuzuryuu snarled. “You killed her!”

They opened their mouth, but Kuzuryuu didn’t wait for them to go any further. His breath was coming in rapid gasps, and Hinata could see his shoulders were shaking. “You know what, I don’t want to know. Why you killed her, why you teamed up with her, whatever. I don’t even want to think about caring. We’ve been down here for hours, and now that we’re not going to die it doesn’t matter.” He raised his bandaged fist over the middle of his trial stand. “I'm voting–"

“NO YOU'RE NOT!” Nidai bellowed, stopping Kuzuryuu in his tracks. Tears were rolling down Nidai’s cheeks, and Hinata could barely stand to look at his face. “None of us can let our emotions get the better of us, not unless we take hold of those emotions and use them to achieve victory!” He took a deep breath, and clenched his fist. “If we must vote for this person, then that is how it must be… but we must find out all we can before we do. Togami was my friend…and for the sake of our memories together, I must know the full truth!”

Kuzuryuu still scowled at Nidai, but the scene didn’t have time to play itself out. “The full truth?” 'Togami' folded their arms across their chest. “That’s as vague as it comes. You have an answer you’re satisfied with…what more could you possibly want to know? Go on. Say the first thing that you can think.”

They looked directly at Hinata as they spoke. It wasn’t so much a denial, Hinata knew, as a challenge he knew he had to take. He turned to face his friend, his eyes narrowed. “If you’re not Togami,” he said, “then who are you?”

Their eyes went wide, and they fixed Hinata with an unsettling stare. “Who am I?” they said. “That’s about as loaded a question as they come. If I said I was Byakuya Togami, would that be true or untrue? There are some who are born as Byakuya Togami who live as Byakuya Togami and die as Byakuya Togami and then there are those who are born as nothing, and live as nothing, but for one fleeting moment they become something that is and isn’t Byakuya Togami, someone for whom Byakuya Togami can be everything they never could and bring them into a new way of–”

“Hey, how hard is it to give us a name?” Owari shouted. “Whoever you are, shit or get off the pot!”

“The answer is, without him I’m  nothing !” The volume of their shout sent Hinata backward – and their sudden quiet startled him even more. “But when I entered your class, they told me that because I was nothing I could become anything I wished,” they said in a voice that was barely a whisper. “Anything…or anyone…”

None of this makes any sense,  Hinata thought – but only for a second before the pieces fell together in a way he could comprehend more easily. “Then…you’re the traitor,” he said. “It’s just like Monobear said… You’re one of the World Destroyers, and you took Togami’s place in–”

“Are you  serious?”  They jerked their head up and shot Hinata a plainly condescending look. “No, really, is that  actually  an answer you’re satisfied with? I never said that Byakuya Togami was a member of your class. Nothing about the Electronic Student ID Cards tells you that he was meant to be a student. But, me, as my own person…” They gave a large, exaggerated sigh, and their voice grew low and languid. “Ah, it’s true, isn’t it, what she said to me…? Now that the secret is out, even my own classmates are rejecting me. It’s quite a disappointment. Enough to drive anyone into despair .”

They put an especial emphasis on “despair”, sending a chill down Hinata’s spine. “She?” he mouthed. “Who’s…”

“Okay, where exactly is this going?” Saionji said, “I don't wanna do this anymore – I wanna go home!”

“Just what the hell happened to you…” Souda’s fingers were drumming against the armrest of his wheelchair, and he looked more angry than shocked. “None of this is making any sense anymore!”

“Byakuya-chan…” Mioda’s voice was so quiet Hinata could barely hear it, but only when she said Togami’s name – for the rest, she spoke up. “It wasn’t all a lie, was it? Everything you ever did…for everyone? For Ibuki...?”

Her voice trailed off, and for the first time Hinata thought he saw what she looked like in defeat. “Ibuki-chan, we’re past this,” Koizumi said, sounding grim. “You’ve–”

“In the interest of truth?” For the first time in what felt like an eternity, their voice sounded familiar. “No. It wasn’t.  But,  that might leave you wondering. Why would an  heir apparent , brimming with hope, suddenly commit an act dripping with despair? What experience could create that kind of a distance in action…”

“No! Just – shut up!” Koizumi shouted. “If you don’t have anything useful to say, then don’t say it!”

“It wasn’t a lie?” Mioda lifted her head, looking curious, and ignoring Koizumi entirely. “But…then…”

“Do I really have to fuckin’ spell it out for you?!” the person shouted, their voice screeching. “You just said it, and you already dismissed it! Does it really take so much to think about it? A trigger that changes mindsets and worldviews?”

The personality change was so rapid Hinata could hardly process it, but as much as he didn’t want to think about that anymore, he knew his ordeal was far from over. “The Despair Fever,” he heard Nanami say. Her voice sounded raw, and her eyes were red-rimmed. “That’s what you’re looking for me to say, isn’t it? It can’t change blood types, but…”

“But that’s impossible.” Hinata looked instinctively at Nanami. “The Despair Fever was definitely…”

“It was expunged by mysterious means!” Tanaka said. “If you say you contracted the fever…then why were you not cured with the others?”

“How disappointing…” the person said, now sounding oddly forlorn. “That’s it, and yet it isn’t it. The fever was never the behavior. It outlived its purpose the moment it was born. It was only…” They turned to look at the screen behind them. “Never mind. I think I’ve gotten bored with waiting for you to puzzle it out...”

Without warning lights dimmed in the trial chamber, and the room’s screen flickered to life. “Perhaps you know the context of what you’re about to see, Hinata,” they said. “I had just left you in the lobby, to return Mioda to her room, and make sure Tsumiki didn’t need any additional help…”

Hinata recognized the scene. It was the inside of one of the wards, seen through a security camera view. He could only see the back half of the room, mainly the door, which someone had opened and was entering. It looked like the person standing in front of him... but there was something different about them, something he recognized immediately, and hadn’t realized he’d been missing. It was the person he’d been used to knowing. The Togami he’d been used to knowing.

“Tsumiki,”  Togami said,  “there you are. Mioda wandered into the front hall, and I put her back in her room.”

He stood silent for a moment, his expression curious. Tsumiki wasn’t visible in the footage, but in the stunned silence of the trial room Hinata could just barely hear a faint rasping noise, as though someone was breathing in and out very close to the camera. Hinata assumed that Tsumiki – if it was her breathing – was standing in a blind spot, perhaps just to its side.

“Hinata and I are about to head back to the hotel,”  Togami said, after she didn’t reply for several seconds.  “If there’s anything you need from us before we leave –”

“Miserable...”

Togami stopped, his eyes wide.  “Come again?”

“How miserable you must be…”  A shadow fell in front of the camera, then receded as Tsumiki stepped forward. There was something unsettling about her movement, Hinata thought, once she was far enough away from the camera for it to register: it was slow, unsettlingly slow. “ Alone, friendless, and afraid … day in and day out, it tortures me…”

Togami blinked several times.  “Er, Tsumiki…?”

“But deep down you knew what I’d do for you, didn’t you? You knew…you believed…”  Her head grew larger in the camera’s view as she slowly advanced on Togami.  “You won’t have to be trapped in this prison of a mind any longer…”

Togami looked stunned, but only for a second before he started heading for the door.  “Tsumiki, I think you’ve contracted the Despair Fever. Stay where you are, and I’ll be back in a moment with help –”

 “I remember now…”  Tsumiki grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.  “I remember who I am…and who you are. I’ve come to do your will…I’ve come to awaken your despair…”

“Tsumiki, don’t move!”  Togami took another large step back.  “I’m going to the motel to get the others. Don’t –”

In the blink of an eye, Tsumiki lunged – and the next thing Hinata saw was Togami stumbling back, clutching his neck. Then he shuddered, and stood still for a moment, as Tsumiki stood some distance away, watching him. Then, slowly but surely, he stood up straight, brushing the dirt from his shoulders and adjusting his collar.

“Enoshima-dono…”  Tsumiki spoke slowly, haltingly, as if in reverence, and bowed her head as the rest of her body shook. 

Then the video cut out.

=====

“Enoshima…?”

Hinata rolled the unfamiliar name on his tongue. Something in the way Tsumiki had said it chilled him to the bone. “Who…who’s Enoshima?”

“Hmm…now what is  this ?” Hinata looked slowly in Monobear’s direction. He stood still in his chair as he spoke, and it occurred to Hinata that he couldn’t remember the last time he  had  spoken. “Did someone say “Enoshima”? Is that what I heard?”

Monomi’s eyes went wide, and the rope holding her went still. “Do you…” Hinata’s voice echoed in the silence. “Do you know what that means?”

“Hmmm, maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” Monobear said. “But that’s not what matters right now. What matters is that “Enoshima” happens to be the password!” He raised his paw into the air, and waved it around his head. “O-kay, Monomi can speak now! Not that I think you’ll want to hear what she has to say!”

In a flash of light, the cloth gag fell from Monomi’s face. Hinata only had a second’s glance at her shocked face before she whipped herself back and forth, shouting at the top of her lungs. “E-everyone! You have to run away! You’re in tewwible danger – the Impostor, they’re trying to trick you, it’s a trap–!”

“It looks like that dramatic device didn’t work out quite as planned.” The person – the Impostor, Monomi had called them – gave Monomi a hard glare, and Monomi stopped, shaking and shivering. Hinata couldn’t tell if they'd intimidated her into silence, or if she truly could not talk. “After all, that was only the beginning, and she needs to wait for the end…”

“But…” Hinata couldn’t speak before the others overpowered him. “What was Tsumiki doing?” they were saying, or “Enoshima? Who’s that? It sounds familiar…”, or, “Then everything you’ve said, what does it mean?” or “Run? But where are we running?” Only two of them weren’t speaking – Mioda, who was rocking back and forth on her heels with her hands clamped over her mouth, and Tanaka, who was looking down into his scarf.

The Impostor showed no sign of answering any of them. They had their path and they were sticking to it, and nothing anyone else could say could drown them out or stop them from being heard. “My loyal servant,” they said, looking over at Tsumiki’s portrait next to them. “None of this would have been possible without her. Whether she had her orders, or came up with it herself, I don’t know, but that she actually remembered…well, I suppose I’m not surprised. But she knew the form the Impostor’s fever would have to take, and that one not unlike her own…”

“In case you haven’t been following along,” Monobear interrupted, “that means both of them had what I like to call the “Memory Fever”! Now what do you think that did to them?”

The “memory fever”?  Deep in the back of his mind Hinata knew what that meant, but everything was happening too fast for him to understand. What had happened to finding Tsumiki’s killer, of all things–?!

“NO!” Monomi shouted. “Stop it, you're deceiving them, you’re–”

“Oh,  they  thought they could destroy me,” the Impostor said. “They thought they could give my body back to something worse than the nothing I’d destroyed long ago in a fit of  despair …oh, but now he’s dead and destroyed for good!” They crossed their arms across their chest, pointing devil-horns with their hands. “And I’m done impersonating a fucking impersonation forever! There’s nothing to call nothing now – nothing but  despair !”

They sighed, and their hands settled back on their hips. “Ah, but I’m getting off track… though there’s not too much I have to say about what happened next, is there?”

“Like hell there is!” Souda said. “Why’d–”

“Why’d we target you?” the Impostor said, resting their chin in their hands. “Because…you were there? You were vulnerable, you were suffering? Something like that… or do you mean the broad strokes? Because that part’s easy enough for even you to understand. For despair, the fear of death is like a calling card…a simple but effective way of spreading their word .” They sighed. “And here I thought you of all people, the one they once called the “Architect of Death”… oops, but that’s just a little too much information…”

“Architect…of death…?” Souda rolled the words over on his tongue, and Hinata could tell he was about as confused about them as anyone else – although he looked significantly more afraid. “Wait…that’s…”

“Or was it "why" as in, why'd I  save  you? Well...it just made this trial all the more interesting, didn’t it…? Really, it never would have been without your help. If you'd just died, then where would your classmates be, without the  despair  of knowing you were never  saved  at all? Without the  despair  of knowing their great leader only condescended himself to the lowest and most pathetic of their classmates in order to make the simplest and most insignificant of statements?” Despite the Impostor’s words, their eyes glazed over as they spoke. “But that leads us back to the point of the trial, doesn’t it? With dear, sweet, Tsumiki-san…”

“Okay, we get it, we know you killed her,” Kuzuryuu said, shaking with what looked like anger, and looking back down at his stand. “I said I’d heard enough  ages  ago…!”

“And do I hear the voting starting? I don’t fucking think so!” the Impostor shouted. “But…hmmmm. I think it will, in a second, when I say it starts.”

Something in their words sounded very off to Hinata – more so than it had ever been. “Wait…when you say?” Owari said. “But that’s up to Monobear–”

“Alright, I think I’ve heard all I need to hear!” Monobear interrupted. “Your time’s up, and it’s time to get those votes a-rollin in!”

Monobear? Why aren’t you reacting a little more to this?!  He seemed too fresh and flippant about the situation – and more than ever Hinata felt like he had nowhere to run. “And I’m going to give you a hint,” the Impostor said. “It’s going to be very subtle, so you might need a little while to figure it out. So here it is: vote for Tsumiki-san, if you want to live.”

The hall, already quiet, somehow seemed to get quieter. Everyone had heard what the Impostor said, but none of them wanted any reason to believe it. “Tsumiki…?” Hinata said. “But…”

“But why would we do that?” Koizumi said. “Even after all she did, you already said you killed her…”

“Wait…you did say you killed her, right?” Saionji said. “Is this one of those tricks…?!”

“All I’m saying is, if you vote for  me , then you’re all going to  die , and so am  I …” The Impostor buried their head in their hands, making a loud sobbing sound, before they lifted it up again, revealing twisted rage. “So you better fucking vote the way I fucking told you!”

“The voting has begun!” Monobear said, lifting his paw. “Use the switches in front of you! Chop-chop, time’s a-wasting!”

“Oh dear,” Monomi mumbled, shivering. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…I need to…I need…to…”

Monomi stopped – for whatever reason she couldn’t continue. But whatever she was going to say, Hinata doubted it would have helped him much – there was really only one thing he could do, and that was take a leap of faith. He pressed Tsumiki’s button, and as far as he could tell only Mioda had beaten him to the punch.

There was a long, long pause as the others hit their buttons. The Impostor was the last – they considered the panel for a long time before making their choice. Then Monobear appeared to stir; he sat up, scratched his chin, and then spoke. “Hmmmmm…” he said. “And wouldn’t you know it, you bastards are right three times in a row! That’s right, the student who killed Mikan Tsumiki…”

“Was Mikan Tsumiki herself!” The Impostor said, speaking in unison with Monobear. Hinata wasn’t extremely shocked – really, given the evidence, it all made too much more sense than ever. But how, with the Impostor’s involvement –

“Tsumiki…killed herself?!” Nidai shouted. “But…was it out of remorse? Was it–”

“ Remorse ?” The Impostor tapped their glasses twice with their fingertips. “Oh, I should know very well. You already knew I was there. You already knew I took her down from the pipe, that I disposed of the rope and positioned her on the bed for you to see… but, oh. She was loyal. She was loyal to the bitter end… she knew this wasn’t her victory to have, she knew the despair that needed to occur within the moment… and there were still the conditions of this ridiculous game to fulfill. She knew what she had to do for me. She knew the role I had to play. So you could say it was my order… but really, it’s more accurate to say she came up with it herself…”

“No…” Mioda looked as though she was forcing herself to keep looking at the Impostor. “No…that’s not…you’d never…this isn’t…”

“But as a servant, she did what she was made for,” the Impostor said, putting their hands on their hips. “And I still had another. Well, I  have another . In fact, they’re in this room right now…”

“A second servant?” Hinata looked around at the others, who all, for certain, looked just as surprised as he did. Was it another lie, or – was it even something he had the time to think about? Tsumiki had killed herself, the trial was over – but even then, without an execution, it didn’t feel like it had even begun –

“Well, maybe “servant” isn’t the right word. But never mind the details.” They folded their arms, and gave the crowd an unambiguously sinister look. “We have other things to take care of. We’ve had the trial, and we’ve had the vote, but there’s one more condition of the mutual killing we’ve got to get out of the way before this is done. The killer may be dead, but to satisfy the viewers, we just can’t have a trial without an execution…!”

“An execution?!” Hinata blurted.

“Wait, who’s getting executed?” Nanami said, her voice dark with worry.

 “You can’t just SAY people are going to get executed!” Kuzuryuu shouted.

“But that’s…oh, you don’t know, and you don’t understand…” Monomi started, then shuddered. “Oh, dear…I have to say it…but…I don’t know what’s better or what’s worse…”

“If you’re not gonna say anything useful, then shut up,” Owari said. “Oy, Monobear! What’re they talking about, an execution?!”

“Hm? Monobear? Oh…you mean  that , don’t you?” They turned and pointed at Monobear, keeping their distance. The entire time they had been talking, Monobear had sat perfectly still, without moving or making a sound – and this time was no different.

“Yeah, what else would we mean?” Saionji said. “He’s the one who has to say it, not you!”

“I think I’d like a few more answers than that,” Koizumi said. “What’s really going on? We’ve made our vote…why aren’t you saying anything?”

Monobear sat still, without making a sound, but the Impostor did nothing of the sort. “I really don’t understand any of you at all,” they said. They lowered their arm, then, to Hinata’s surprise, stepped down from their trial stand and started walking toward Monobear’s throne. “You’ve placed all this trust in him, even after all he’s done…”

The Impostor walked up to Monobear, put their hands at his sides, and lifted him right up into their arms. Monobear yielded directly to them, following their movements and offering no resistance, as if he were really the stuffed doll he claimed to be.

“Wait…” Tanaka’s voice was quiet, and his hands were quivering around his scarf. “This is…what is this…?!”

“How is he doing that…?” Nanami clenched her fist around her heart. “How is he not resisting?”

“Because really, without an operator, he’s nothing but a puppet!” It was Monobear’s voice, that much was for sure – but it was the Impostor’s, too, weaving in and out of Monobear’s in a kind of unison, one where it sounded like the voices were battling for dominance. The Impostor turned to face them all, holding Monobear up over their head, as if his mouth was speaking in both their voices. “And if you really want him to say it so badly…then yes, there’s going to be an execution! But who is it going to be…”

There was a cacophony of confused protests, but the Impostor and Monobear ignored them all. They scanned the crowd, slowly but carefully - and then, as if it had been their target all along, they came to rest on Monomi. “Ah, of course,” they said. “Of course, of course, of course…”

“Monomi…!?” Nanami gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. “But…no…she didn’t do anything wrong at all!”

“N-no, no no no…” Monomi’s eyes went wide, and she swung back and forth on her rope. “How could you do this…how could this possibly – ?!” She looked up to the ceiling, and started to scream. “HELP! ANYONE! Pwease – the Impostor – they’ve taken over the entire program – you have to help them – you’ve –”

“Huuuh? What’s that, Monomi?” The Impostor moved Monobear’s paw to his mouth. “Trying to send a message to the outside? You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. But you’ve known it was against the rules from the beginning, haven’t you? And even now you’re not sure they can hear you…”

“The outside…” Souda looked in the same direction Monomi had. “Wait, what do you mean by that–”

“Forget that,” Kuzuryuu said. “What the hell do you mean by these “rules”?”

“Do they mean…the school trip rules?” Nidai said. “But there’s nothing in there about the outside! …Can someone hear us?!”

“Hey, it’s none of your business!” Monobear said, throwing his arms up in the air before slumping back into an inert state. The Impostor dropped their arms as well, looking up from over Monobear’s head. “You know, I kept up our end of the bargain, Monomi-chan,” they said. “I didn’t harm a single hair on the traitor’s head. That’s what you’ve been worried about, isn’t it? That’s why you’ve been so…compliant, still?”

Nanami gasped behind her hands, but Hinata was one of the few that noticed. All eyes were on Monomi – who, far from looking scared, almost looked braver than ever, perhaps because of this admission. “You’re not going to get away with this,” she said. “They’re going to come in – they’re going to get you help –”

“But you didn’t keep up your end of yours. You betrayed my trust, and above all you broke the rules…and I could very well have killed the traitor in the first place, you know I could have. But that was never what I had in mind to begin with. The spares were taken care of before we ever got here, but now…”

“Pwease,” Monomi said, now appealing to the ceiling again, “You have to understand, this isn’t their fault – there’s a way to help them – you have to keep going, you can’t lose your hope in these kids, they’re –”

It was all over in an instant. One second Monobear had flown out of the Impostor’s arms, heading for her with his claws outstretched – and then the next second he was on the floor, lying inert next to the remains of what had once been Monomi. She’d been sliced directly down the middle, and the floor around the rope was spread with loose cotton.

=====

For a moment the Impostor stood still, staring at the remains of what had once been their teacher. The others were nowhere near as quiet. Nanami had screamed but her scream was only one of many, including Hinata's own. It wasn’t just Monomi’s death. It was how it had happened, the impossibility, the destruction of every limit he thought he could stay within and how he couldn’t possibly predict what could happen next.

The Impostor looked up, decidedly ignoring all their screams, and a grin spread across their face. “And now that that’s over…a new game is about to begin,” they said, fixing them all with a hollow stare. “Not one with mutual killing. Now that we’ve fulfilled the trial and the execution, that one’s run its course. This one’s a lot simpler, and it only has one condition…”

The screen behind their head lit up, displaying – to Hinata’s surprise – the countdown clock in the park. He could clearly see the display – 9 DAYS LEFT.  “An ultimatum,” the Impostor continued. “That, and the lives that need to be sacrificed for it.”

They laughed, a cold, cruel laugh. “I could tell you to go to the rules for the rest, but there’s one in particular that I think I might need to demonstrate – the potential consequences for the  hostages  when the  objects  of the game don’t comply with the rules.” Now they were the one looking up at the ceiling, as if someone up there could see them. “Are you all watching?  Every – single – last – one – of – you? ”

Whatever consequence the Impostor was about to demonstrate, Hinata never knew. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Nidai had vanished – and then an enormous hand clamped itself over the Impostor’s mouth, and another grabbed them around the middle from behind. 

Nidai pushed his hands in, holding them fast, and despite their best efforts the Impostor showed no signs of breaking free. “EVERYONE  RUN !” he shouted. “GET TO THE ELEVATOR, NOW!”

Hinata didn’t know if the same sudden fog was building in everyone else's minds, but they were running, and he wasn’t. He didn’t know what was holding him back. Was it fear? Was it desperation? He needed to move. Every fiber of his being was telling him to  MOVE –

But he wasn’t. He could tell Nidai was watching, he could tell Nidai was scared for him – but the Impostor wasn’t. The person that looked like a cruel parody of someone that had once been his friend wasn’t struggling, not anymore – no, they were  smiling …

“Nidai, Nidai, Nidai. Were you listening to a word I was saying?” they said. “Ordinarily I’d congratulate you on volunteering…but there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, you know. Violence against the headmaster is forbidden.  It’s against the rules …”

It was only then that Hinata saw the dark, swirling black shapes that had formed above Nidai’s head. He hadn’t seen them before – half-because he’d been focused on the people below, half-because he’d thought they were somehow tricks of the light – but then they sharpened into points overhead, and he saw them shooting down, right into Nidai’s neck.

A spray of blood shot from his mouth, and he crumpled to a heap on the floor.

Hinata ran, then. He ran despite the tears burning in his eyes, he ran despite the screams and shouts, he ran even though he wasn’t sure what kind of an action might get him killed, he ran barely knowing who he was passing. He was sure he saw Owari pulling a struggling, shouting Mioda along, covering her mouth and eyes as she went, and he was sure he saw Nanami pushing Souda’s wheelchair. But his focus was on the elevator, praying for it to open –

And it did, as soon as Nanami and Souda approached. Hinata was surprised before he realized that of course the elevator would be open – the trial was over, and they were all supposed to go back to the surface. But he couldn’t think of what could have been. He leapt inside, one of the last to get in, and as he turned around he couldn’t help but look back.

He couldn’t see Nidai’s body anymore, but he could see the Impostor adjusting their jacket and brushing themselves off. He braced himself for the next threat, the next malfunction – but it didn’t come. Instead, he heard Nanami’s voice, raw and tragic, speaking from behind him. “Tanaka-kun! What are you doing?”

Hinata hadn’t realized until that moment that Tanaka hadn’t gotten in the elevator. He was standing just outside, his back turned to all of them. He almost seemed to be staring the Impostor down, and, miraculously, the Impostor seemed to be staring back…

“TANAKA!” Koizumi shouted, lunging for Tanaka’s shoulder. “We have to GO–”

“There is dark magic at work, the likes of which can overpower even our captor,” Tanaka said, grabbing her hand and pushing it back. “It is not the time or place for me to run, not when this is the only battle I can possibly fight –”

“What – NO!” Koizumi was screaming now. “You’re completely delusional!  Magic – isn’t – real –! ”

“It is, and you’ve seen its work on the substantial one,” Tanaka said. “Whether or not my own can match up… I have at least the power to buy the rest of you some time.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Owari shouted. “If anyone’s fighting, it’s gonna be me–”

She let go of Mioda and pushed forward to grab Tanaka's shoulder, but he turned suddenly, and stepped into the elevator. He ignored all the others and approached Mioda, who despite her struggle was now standing perfectly still, and looking Tanaka directly in the eye. 

“You were a great ally to the Dark Gods in their time of need, songful one,” he said, reaching into his muffler and pulling the Four Dark Gods of Destruction out from the inside. He looked sad, there was no doubt of that – but there was a power behind that sadness Hinata felt like he could have faith in. “I trust you will continue to practice your loyalty to them.”

He placed the hamsters in Mioda's hands, and she cupped them slightly, unwilling to let them go even as they squirmed. She looked at Tanaka, as if she were about to speak, but only nodded. Tanaka nodded back – and then, before anyone could stop him, he mashed the elevator’s button with his fist. “Now, go,” he said, his voice small. “And protect them with your life."

Thre was a loud, metallic CLANG as the elevator doors started to close – but Tanaka leapt out before they could. They seemed to take an eternity to shut, and in that eternity Hinata saw the Impostor stepping closer and closer. “So you’re the one that gave in to temptation,” they said, folding their arms across their chest. “There were a few of you I was counting on to be willing sacrifices, but  this  is a surprise…”

“The Ascendant Ruler of Ice will never be a mere sacrifice!” Tanaka shouted. “If you believe I do not have the power to usurp you –”

It was the last thing Hinata heard before Tanaka disappeared behind the elevator doors, completely silencing him. The elevator  clanged , loudly, then began to move up at a snail’s pace.

=====

“If you believe I do not have the power to usurp you, then you have made a tragic underestimation.” Despite the power of his words, Tanaka made no grand gestures or poses. He stood firmly still, with his hands balled into fists, looking the Impostor directly in the eye.

“It’s not a matter of belief,” the Impostor said, without taking a step forward. “I’m not in a position where I need to  believe  in anything. The strategies you have, the abilities you possess… the only way they can exist is within the framework that I control. But, go on, Tanaka-kun. I’ll give you the chance you wanted.”

He heard a tiny  clink,  and a thin piece of chalk rolled to his feet. He didn’t know where it came from, but it was nothing to him. He pulled out his marking wand from within his cloak, extended it, and swirled it around him, drawing from memory, focusing his energy, not knowing whether the forces of the universes meant for him to complete the spell he needed –

And that was when he heard the faint  beep  in the back of his ears, and looked to the walls and noticed the odd metal boxes and the blinking, flashing lights on their surfaces.

His last conscious thought was that, despite the absence of any trace of conjuring magic, he could swear they hadn’t been there a moment before.

=====

For a long time, no one spoke. There was no sound except a silent movement of leather against leather, as Nanami began to undo the restraints on Souda’s arms. Then the whispers began, and the whispers drew Hinata’s attention to the hollow faces, the silent stares, the tears, the terror…

But Hinata couldn’t participate. He couldn’t comprehend any of it, no more than any of the others could. His mind was an eternity in the past, back in the hospital lobby, back where he could have pressed Togami more, and perhaps prevented this…or could he? Was this just the rambling thinking of a mind that had nowhere else to go?

He had to say something, he couldn’t bear the silence – but before he could, he heard a loud  BOOOOOOOOOM  from beneath his feet, one that, far from silencing everyone, seemed to snap them all out of their own minds.

“What…” Hinata looked back and forth. “What was that?”

“Did something explode…?” Mioda looked down. “Are we about to...?”

There was another second of deathly quiet before the elevator shot up at breakneck speed. Hinata was thrown against the ground, shaking and trembling against the floor. He could see the others doing the same, slipping, screaming, trying to grab the wall –  the wheelchair,  he remembered, if that thing goes flying and hits anyone in the head –

But he couldn’t see the wheelchair, and he couldn’t focus on what anyone else was doing. He crawled for the wall, desperate to hold on to one of the latticework bars. He knew it might cut his fingers to ribbons, but if there was a chance that anchoring himself to something might save his life – he felt like he was crawling at a turtle’s pace, getting closer and closer to the wall, and when he’d finally gotten it –

The last thing he remembered was a sudden dropoff in speed. And then everything went black.

=====

“Hinata…”

He never thought he’d be still again.

He’d been sure he was going to die. He’d registered flying through the air, and the sharp latticework on the walls…and then nothing, not until now. Perhaps he was dead, and the constant rocking was a part of dying. And if that was the case, then he’d just have to accept it…

“Hinata…!”

He just barely heard his own name being called, as though it were being said through some kind of fog, or maybe a wall. He opened his eyes a little, just to get a sense of where he was, but the image wasn’t steady enough for him to focus…

“Oy, Hinata! HEY!”

A splash of cold water hit his face, and he gagged as a salty taste filled his mouth. He scrambled into a sitting position, sputtering and coughing, and braced himself against what he now recognized as one of the walls of the elevator.

“Alright, he's alive!” Hinata recognized Owari’s voice, and looked up to see her standing over him, also on the wall, holding what looked like Nanami’s soaking-wet backpack. “That’s good…that’s eight for eight…”

“Hhh…huh…?” He could see a light above her – and while he couldn’t quite see out of it he could tell it was coming from the wide-open doors of the elevator. “Where…where are we?”

“Did you hit your head at all?” A pair of hands grabbed Hinata’s head suddenly, holding it still, and the next instant he recognized Koizumi’s voice. “Do you feel anything when I do this?”

“Uh, no…” Hinata tried to shake her hands off, but to no avail. The movement gave him a good view of the rest of the elevator car – it had been tilted sideways somehow, as what was once the floor was now one of the walls, and they were, as he’d thought, gently rocking up and down. Souda’s wheelchair sat empty against one of the walls, tied to the latticework by the arm restraints, and someone else was sitting near it, their arms folded. Hinata could only just tell it was Kuzuryuu, and he couldn’t see anyone else.

“That’s good, I think.” Koizumi removed her hands, and moved around to face him. Her hair was soaking wet, and her expression seemed even sadder than it already had been. “I just hope we can be sure…”

“S’probably no way to know.” Kuzuryuu slid himself up the wall, putting his hands in his pockets. “Now that we don’t have Tsumiki…”

“Yeah, that’s a shame.” Saionji said, though Hinata couldn’t see her. “Now you’ll have to wipe your own–”

“Hey, what is  wrong  with you?” Kuzuryuu shouted.

“ Hiyoko-chan!”  Koizumi shouted at the same time, clashing with Kuzuryuu. They gave each other awkward looks and fell silent, but they didn’t have long to wait before Owari broke the tension. “Wait, Hinata,” she said, “your hands…”

His hands …? He looked down at his hands for the first time, and braced himself against the pain he hadn’t felt until right that moment. In the dim light he could hardly see the details, but he could distinguish the blood running down his palm from the gashes in his fingers.

“Oh, that’s – I’ll be fine,” he said, though he only half believed it. He waved away the others, who were just as covered in scrapes as he was, even if his seemed a bit deeper. He clenched his fist, and tried to pull himself into a standing position. “Everyone else – are they alright?”

“Yeah.” Hinata looked up to see Souda’s hand poking down through the elevator doors, giving him a thumbs up. “We’re up h– hrrk!”

He covered his mouth, pulled his head away, and made a loud retching sound that made Hinata’s stomach churn. He tried not to focus on it. “So they’re outside,” he said. “Then we’re…?”

“In the ocean,” Saionji said, sounding somewhat muffled.

“The ocean?” Now the rocking made sense, but it was the only thing that did. “How’d we get all the way to the  ocean?”

“See for yourself.” Owari walked over to the opposite wall, grabbed the latticework, and gestured to her back. “Hop on. S’a long way up.”

“H-huh? Well, alright.” Hinata nodded, and started stumbling over to the wall. Kuzuryuu, Koizumi, and Saionji followed next to him. As they entered the square of light from the door he saw Saionji for the first time – her ponytails were disheveled, her kimono ripped, and her expression about as forlorn as he’d ever seen it. Koizumi was walking some distance from her – the lens cap had vanished from her camera, and there were large cracks in the lens itself. Compared to them, even with his bandages, Kuzuryuu almost looked perfectly put together. Owari he could only see from the back, and he realized he hadn’t taken any notice of her expression.

They were all silent, and even in his confused state he could tell what they weren’t trying to think about. 

He knew he wouldn’t be able to climb the wall himself, so he held on to Owari, trying not to think about the blood soaking into her shoulders. One long climb later they’d reached the doors; Owari left him at the edge to get the others, and for the first time he looked out at his surroundings.

He was sitting at the mouth of the mountain’s giant Monobear head – he’d never known it before, as he’d always been inside, but the entire head must have been the elevator. He wasn’t sure how it could possibly be floating, but that was the least of his concerns. They were in open water, as far as he could tell. He could see one of the bridges between the central and outlying islands in the distance – enough distance to swim back, but not enough that it looked easy.  

Souda was sitting at the edge of the rock with his head out over the water, and Nanami was next to him, close but not too close. She was still until, when he tried to approach her, she started, and turned her head. “Ah,” she said, “Hinata-kun.”

“Nanami…” Hinata’s breath caught in his throat as he looked at her, and he moved his hands behind his back. There were more cuts and bruises on her face than the others combined, and her sleeve had been torn off at the elbow and tied around her arm, which had already bled through the makeshift bandage. “You’re…”

“I’m fine, really.” Nanami tried to cover her arm with her hand, more as a symbolic gesture than anything that actually hid it. She smiled, but he could tell in an instant that it was only there for his reassurance. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m glad everyone’s okay.”

Hinata couldn’t trust himself to answer, not without completely breaking his composure. He nodded just enough to assure her he’d heard. “Ah…where’s…”

“Over there.” Nanami pointed at the opposite end of the bear, and Hinata turned to look. Mioda was seated at the top of the Monobear’s head, standing with her arms folded across her chest. Beyond her he saw the last thing he thought he’d see – a giant, waterlogged parachute, patterned with Monobear’s likeness, connected to the Monobear head.

“S’how we landed so soft,” Souda said, speaking without breaking Hinata’s focus. “It must’ve activated when we were in the air. And whatever this mountain’s made of, it can’t be real rock. Otherwise we would’ve sunk a long time ago.”

“They want us alive.” He was surprised to hear Kuzuryuu speak - he hadn’t realized he’d come up from inside the elevator already. “Otherwise, why save us? No point in dead hostages. But that’s it.”

Hostages.  Hinata couldn’t focus on this or what it meant. He couldn’t even register Nanami at his side, or Saionji and Koizumi coming up from inside the elevator. His eyes were on Mioda. He couldn’t see the look on her face, or even where the Four Dark Gods of Destruction had gone, but as soon as he remembered them he remembered the last moment he’d seen Tanaka before the elevator had shut, and the last moment he’d seen Nidai before he’d been  killed,  and the video and Monomi and –

There was one more name, one more he couldn’t bring himself to think. The name that twisted and pulled in and out of his mind, the one that both did and didn’t belong to the person that had once been his friend. The name he’d repeated over in his mind as he’d wondered what their secret could possibly be. The name they’d said was dead, destroyed, the deception they’d put on, the lies, the confusion…

He could see them as clearly as if they were still there. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he could turn his head and see them on some other part of the bear. But they couldn’t. They never would. None of them would, and all because…

He couldn’t think anymore. He was going to cry. He was going to cry and he was going to look like a useless fool in front of everyone else...

“I’m sorry.” Nanami’s voice cracked . He could tell she was holding back tears too, but her concern didn’t help. He wished she wouldn’t put her hand on his shoulder. He wished he couldn’t hear everyone else choking back their emotions. He wished he could go anywhere, anywhere but here, or back to the moment where T-T-Togami had been dancing around their secret so he could grab them by the collar and –

He trembled, and Nanami removed her hand. No one spoke. No one could. Hinata couldn’t even think anymore, but he still found himself looking at Mioda, who hadn’t once moved. There was such a gulf between her and the rest, such a distance no one wanted to cover. But he had to, he knew. He stood and walked toward her, bobbing Monobear’s head back and forth as he moved.

He stopped some distance behind her. She didn’t turn to face him. As far as he could tell, she didn’t look injured. He hadn’t thought of what he wanted to say. He’d only felt drawn by some force, some need he couldn’t understand. “Hey.”

She shuddered, but didn’t respond. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Whatever it is, whatever’s happening… we’re not… it’s not…”

Mioda bent down on her hands and knees as he spoke, then lifted something from her arms and placed it on the Monobear head. Hinata saw it was one of the Four Dark Gods - the big fat one, though he couldn’t remember its name. She placed two more beside him, but kept the fourth in her hand. “Mirage Silver Falcon” Jum-P. He remembered the name of that one.

“This isn't the end,” he said, speaking more to himself than to her. “It can’t be… we can… y’know…”

He wanted to say something about the Impostor. But he couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t hurt her twice as much as it’d hurt him. “Look…whatever happened to–”

“Hajime-chan.” The weight of her voice startled him, but it wasn’t weighted with anger, or with fear, just with difference. She pointed out in front of her, towards the horizon. “The island…”

Hinata realized then that he hadn’t actually looked at either end of the visible bridge. But now he looked up above her, just aware of the others also following Mioda’s command. The sun was just setting behind the islands, and night was about to fall. And he wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, or if it was only his imagination, but the closest island – the second island – almost looked like it was shifting, or shimmering.

But it wasn’t a trick of the light. He knew that in an instant, and from the looks on the others’ faces they knew it too. They saw the movement of the buildings, they saw the jagged holes in their exterior walls and the flashes of pink and blue light in their windows , and they saw the dark columns reaching far into the air, farther and higher than any building could reach.

It was enough to make Hinata wish he’d never woken up, or at least that he could stay frozen forever, without ever having to make sense of what he was seeing.

=====

k̴̨̺͍̥̜̭̠͉͟ò̭͈͇̦͞m͚͓͖̪̻͖̗̕ͅa͏͍͓͎͉̻͕͍é̷̡͎̣̠͔̳ḓ̥̠a̭̜͡ͅ ͏̰t̵̶̫͍̝̫͎̺̦͢ͅh̵̠̦͙͓̯́͘é̡̗̰̠̦̯̖͖̝̀a̲̠̬̲͘t̨̝͖͝e̡̟̰̳̲̻̺͡ͅr̥̙̗̬͓̞̥̖

“̴̧̳̠́T̢̹̥͝h̴̛̹e̲̻̱͠ ҉̷͓͓̮m̸̰̪̳̤̮u͕̫͟t̴̗̣̠̣̪̗̱͍͘ͅụ̠͚̩͠a̶͈̰̹͕͎̩̗͜l̪̖̦̭̼͍̦̕ͅ ̥k̨̙͈͙̘͇̮̝̭i̗̖͕̝̰̘l̸̺̯̤̭l̴̥̪͍̤̥̬̮͠i͓͝n̢̥̞̟̜̖̹g͏҉͕̖̼͚̘ ͉́́ǵ̥͙͉̮̭͘͟a̺͢m̵̟̖̜͚̺e̡̨͍̕ ҉̜͕h̗͔̞̳̻͙a҉̦̺͖̟̫̦͎̀s̸̖̣͢͝ ҉̶̯͖͎̟͜ę̴̬̖̳n̹̺͟ḓ̣̫e̢̯͍̰̠̕͢d̴̷̺͕.̮̝͜͟͟ ͈̝̳͇̫̙̠̗͢  
̮̙̰̬̟̖̦͞͞W̟̲͔̺͙͕̥̪e̻̘ ̛̹̤͈́͟h͏̜͚̗ͅo̧̱̙͈͇͓̙̠̯̫͟ǹ̮̳̯e̳̙͢s͉͕̲̻̰͘t̸̩̠̗̤̝̙͟ĺ̛̬̖̹͠y̷̛̤̼̠͈̖ ̗͎̪̥̗̖̰̳hope ̘͓̝̹͓̥̯͉͝͞y͈̤̝͎̗̼͝ͅo̷̗̫͈̫͍̟̬u͚͖̲ͅ’̵͍̱̰̭͉͇͕͙̩̕v̀҉̙̥̫̟͢e͔͕̲̩͈͍̲͞ ̡̠͔̩̯̫́e̤̰ǹ͓̜̹͇̗̬j͚̙̬̺͓͘o̞̼͎̝̰͉ͅy͔̝̹͍͝e͏̸̘̤͡d̞̜̳͈̘ ̶̨͙̼̦̯̻̬̳ṱ̺̼̳͍̖͇͡h͏̨̰̺͍͓̯̣̯̭e̪̻̯͙̰̖͓̳͜͠ ҉͈̜͎̱̹̪e̥͔̺̻̦͚͟͡x͉͇́p̷̰̫͍̼͓e҉͖̙̗r̻̼͚̝̞̬i̧̱̮̬̬͍͢ͅè̡̩̠̩̙̘͔̩ͅṋ̢̙̹̙̼̩̭́́c̺̼̣͈̼͠e̙̰̰ͅͅ.͏̧̡̟̣̝̫͔̘̜̞̳ ̡͙͎̣̗͟͜

A̱͔͉̙n̨͍̯̣̩͚d̶̯̮̯͇̣̮͎͍̜ ̵̸̼͇͎̗͖̜w̗̼̞͎̞͍̳͜͝e҉͖͓̼͔̙̝ ̸̸̼̞̫̱̤̩͟i̵̴̧̬̬m̳͜ͅą̨̯͔͇̦̥̦g̩̪̜̘͟į͖͟ņ̰̙͔͎͢e̴̲͟ͅ ̭̖̘̼̜͙͟t̪͎͝ͅh̨̠͇̫̭e̸̯̩̫͘ ̞͎̳͔̣͝hope ͠͏̝̝͉̲̪͚͉̪y̻̺̫̭̜̩o̶̠͖̗̲͉̪͜u̪̹̠̰͇̬̮’̴͙̀v̨̪̤̼̻̪͇͓e̴̱ ͏̲͚̬̫̞̤c̶̛͈̪̹͓͍̤̪ŗ̲͕ȩ̜̼̥̼͉̬̺͟a͙̱̗̜͖̹̤̙̥t̷̠̗̺͉̜͈e҉̜̺̠̺͞d̺͖̟̪̦̙̹͉͢͞͠ ̠̩̥̕m̧̪̜̹̪͓i̼͘g͕̘̟̞h̛̟̰̣̘̰̠͔̕͜t̵̢̟̪̖̘̙̱̦̜͠ ͕̣̬̦̼̜̼͎̀b͈̣͖̳é̱̲̜͘͘ ́҉̪͇͖̳̘̦̱̙͞e̙̱͍͇̟̲̼̕n̷̖̜̥o̴̖̘̬̖͔̺u̵͉̩̼̺͍ͅg̸̸̩̦̼̰̤̤h̷̸̤̜̙̹̰̺͎͘ ̛͙̲̘̮̥̻̼̫ṭ͓̖̣̗͎͍̀ợ̵̛̬ ̣͍͎̰̠͇͚͜ͅo͏͉͉̰̞̩͚ͅf͉͚͔̼͉f̧͉̣̥̘͎͢s̷̯̯̹͢͡e̘͕̱͓̱͞t̠̻͉͔̬̣̜̫ ̫̭͇̥͖ţ̠̲̻̀h̸̻e̸̞̗̳̲͚̤̦͡ͅ ̦̫ḑ̨̞̤͕̲̞̜̹͖͈é̢̘̳͔̥̞̕ṣ̖͚̩̺̝́p̴͈̠a͍̗̙̻͎͎͎̗i̸͏̣̺̬̹̺r҉̩͕̪͢͜ ̹̣̳̬̹̼́t̨̛͍̙̬̟͍͠o̲̪̬͍̠͉͠ͅ ̵̖̭͘͠ͅc̨̺̖̼͞o͔͕̟̜̞̖̤̫͠m̛͇̳̼͚e̖͉̩̪͢.̭̗̖̱̟͍͉̮͡ ͏̹̼̩
W̘̫̺̭͘͢ẹ̘̩ ̴̡̻͕͈͖c̷̤͓̠̣͇̲̰̺a̱̞̗͚̮͈n̜̘̤͘’̜͓̙͙͓̝̮͠͝ţ̤̗̺̫̗̭̝͍ ͏̮͓̩̘͉͝͡s͓͍̝̩͚̣̘a̢̫̥y̨̞͙͓̳̞ ̵͙͈̦f̢̨͚̫͚o̺̭r̗̘̫̭͝͞ ̰͟s͡͏͖̼̯̘̥̲͓̖̯ù͏͓̼̙r̨̥̠e̼̣͖̱,̵̦͇͍̼̺̀͝ ̵̩̩̝͎̬ó̞̭̬̺̫͍̝͘f̢͔̯͈͕̹̹͔͈͟ ̸̜̖̮͓̙̭͜c̡̦͔̺͓ò̬̹͓̜̰̞̺́͢ͅṳ͙͉͔̮͔̜̀ṛ̸̲̤̫̦̻s̢̰̥ͅe̪͚̪̖̺̘͉̕.̣̭̤͈̳ ̷̱̜̞̠̟͕͚̺́͡

B҉̢̻̼̭u̢̦̳̝̯̤̟̤t͝҉͇͇̜̺̺ ͍̻̪͙̹̮̬͢t̷̯̕͠ḩ̶̫̼̕e̡̙͔͈ ̜͔̯̭̩̻̺̰͜͠r̷̻̮̘̺̜͜ȩ̗̙̩̞͉̦s̩̰̦̖͖̪̺̕ͅt̷̞ ̴̣̞͉̦͢ì̥̣̝͡s͍̮͖̭̝̗̪ ͏͏͍̻̯u̸͔̮͓͟͜p̞̯͕̻̪͢ ̛̫̤̻̪t̶̖̖ͅo͏̵̨̱͈̝͙͓ ̠̲   y̴̧̡͇o҉̥̺̥ų͏̹̲̤̼͖̱.

R͙̻͢e̷̛̙̳̳̙̟̤̼ͅm̸̴̛̠̰̮̰̟̼̘͖ḛ͈m҉̡͔b͙̝̥̫͈̫̟̱̮e̗͕̠͕̲͞r̵͕̮̮̤̟̞ ̝̜̲̺̙̠͇͙t̯́͝h̨͚̹̯̮͈̬̺͍͟͝ͅa̟̼̠̩̠t͙͉̪̪͔́ ҉͏͏͎̞̗̪̗̫̫h͉̭̳̬̠͓̠̜̬e̥͔̩͢͢ ̶̷͖͍̩͙͕̲d͙̜͙͖̝̙͎̖̀̕͢e̳̖͖̺̬̼c͍̰̘̙͕ͅi̮̫̘̫̠͘͘s͇̙̜̯͙i͞҉͇̖͕ò͎̳̫̹̜̙̟n̶͍͚̱͇̮̜s͜҉̠̞̖̰̞̜ ̸̪̦̭͔͕͖̪̪́you҉̝̰͈ ̶̵̠͎̮̗̱̮̼ͅm͝͏̬̯͇ạ̴̙͞k͈͍͈̰͔̕è̜̗̫̯̜͖͎͟ ͏҉̴̙ẃ͉̰̫͔͜͡i̴̧̲͕̳̱͘l͏͏̩̪̪̪͙l̷͕͔̕ ̮̱̥̹̙̼͜͡

u͎͇̙̗͙l̨̲t̲͇̀i̲̬͎͝m̶͙̜͔͜͢a̜͓͚̪t̗͚͈͉͝͡e̲ļ͕̲̩̯͇̺͚y͚̮̝͕ ̷͕͈̕͡d͕̦̦̳͢e͎̹ć̣̯̟̭͜į̨͓͕̦̻͞ͅd̵̻é̛͓̬̩̘̲̗͍͎͠ ̶̰̮͕̣̠̬͡ͅy̷͢͏̼̙̫̮ò̤̣̝̜̙u̡͓̤̪̞̮̯̻͟r̩̟̯̗̯̰͠ͅ ̥̭̫͕̟͕͉̀͘͞f̨̼̗̦͇̫̰͡ u͔̤̖ t͖͞ u̴̩̻̯̼̤̻̳̠ ŗ̜͚̥͘ e̶̮̳̠͝ .̞̩̗̬̼̰͙̜͟ͅ

=====

8 DAYS LEFT

Chapter Text

They couldn’t do anything before they figured out how to get to shore.

Hinata had initially judged the distance between the elevator and the second island as swimmable, but on a second look at their surroundings it was clear this just wasn’t possible. Four of them were injured, four of them were hamsters, and Saionji couldn’t swim. This led to a half-hour of frustrated debate about whether any of them could support a second person, or if Souda’s stitches could even survive the trip – but then Hinata remembered the supermarket, feeling like a fool for not thinking of it before. There might be life rafts or preservers they could use, he explained to the rest, and only two or three people would have to swim to shore to get enough of whatever they could find to get everyone else.

“Two or three” ended up being all the able-bodied people they had – Owari, Koizumi, and Mioda. Owari dropped into the water and started for the second island about as soon as the trip had been suggested, but Koizumi stayed long enough to insist that Mioda should stay on the rock and wait for them to return. Mioda protested, but Koizumi insisted, leading Kuzuryuu to mutter something under his breath about "preferential treatment." While Hinata couldn't confirm that Mioda had heard him, the next thing he knew he had four hamsters in his lap and Mioda was swimming after Owari. Koizumi huffed, took off her broken camera, then dropped into the water and swam after them.

They were gone for almost an hour. Saionji and Kuzuryuu made their way to opposite ends of the rock not long after they left; Kuzuryuu stared at his bandages, Saionji kicked her legs back and forth off the edge of Monobear’s ear, and neither of them said a word.  Hinata couldn’t move to talk to either of them anyway, as he had no hope of controlling the hamsters if he let them free of his lap. But he didn't find this to be a problem, as he really had nowhere to go. 

Souda and Nanami were closer at hand, but they weren't very talkative either: Souda was still throwing up, and Nanami had busied herself with making makeshift bandages for Hinata's hands out of his tie, and didn't seem keen on being distracted. After a few minutes he wondered aloud about when the others would get back, but that didn't start a conversation, presumably as no one really had an answer. So he kept going, mostly talking to himself. What was it that they were seeing from the rock? he asked. Was it an optical illusion? Was what they knew still even there? How could that be possible?

The silence didn't last long, to Hinata's surprise. “It has to be some kind of a trick,” Souda said, pulling himself up and wiping his mouth. “I mean, you can’t…you really can’t…not even if…”

“We shouldn’t worry about that right now,” Nanami said, tying Hinata’s tie across the back of his palm. “The others’ll be back soon. It’d be best to discuss this as a group, and come to our decisions together.”

“Right.”Hinata nodded his agreement, then stared out at the bridge in front of them. It, at least, appeared to be staying in one place, though he would rather have also seen someone crossing it.

“Yeah…when they come back…” Souda gave Nanami a nervous grin, but it didn’t last very long. “I mean, they are gonna come back, right…? If there’s a reason they wouldn’t–”

“Hey, shut up!” Kuzuryuu cut in, before turning back to his hands and leaving the rest of them to lapse back into silence. Kuzuryuu had probably only wanted quiet, but it was just as well for them not to freak themselves out. Hinata didn’t know what he was up against, and he was scared enough of that as it is. He didn't need to expend any more energy on fear.

He didn’t remember falling asleep, and he didn’t know how he could have in the first place. He was sure he was too high strung, that he couldn’t even think of sleeping, but the next thing he knew Nanami was shaking him awake. Once he sat up he found himself looking down at the water, where Mioda was holding on to a cheap pink plastic innertube and waving him down.

It was only a three-foot drop, but the stinging in his hands as he hit the water made it all the worse – his bandages were instantly sodden and useless. He stood it long enough to get himself in the innertube, and together he and Mioda began paddling for Chandler Beach.

To his surprise, Mioda looked, if not chipper, at least a little more energetic. She described some of what they’d seen on the islands on the way, speaking in a somewhat distracted monotone. “Ibuki thinks Mahiru-chan saw the buildings shimmering like Ibuki did. She said it was just a trick of the light, but if two of us saw it then Ibuki’s not so sure, and there was this palm tree Ibuki swears wasn’t there before anyway, and the supermarket wasn’t always so big, was it? And Ibuki’s not even sure it had anything like a boat, otherwise Ibuki would’ve been all over that for living out her dream of being a pirate…” 

She trailed off then, and lapsed into silence. Hinata didn't make any more effort to talk – he was busy enough paddling to shore. They weren’t the fastest or most efficient system around – by the time they got to the island, both of them freezing cold and soaking wet, all of the others had already arrived, and had moved into a huddle at the top of the beach, with their backs to the water.

As Hinata got closer he saw that they were all gathered around the beach’s monitor, the one on which all of Monobear’s announcements had been broadcast. Hinata thought he could hear some kind of a faint hum in the air, much like an audio capture of ambient noise in an empty room, and while he could tell from a distance that the screen was dark, it was the kind of darkness where you couldn’t tell whether what you were seeing was a darkened room or no image at all.

And then, before he could ask what was going on, a voice replaced the hum. It was bright and clear, with no trace of audio static, and while it could only be one person, while the notes of familiarity could be found if one knew who it was, it was, if Owari, Koizumi, Saionji, Kuzuryuu, Nanami, Souda, Mioda, and Hinata were being completely honest with themselves, entirely different from anything he ever heard or wanted to hear.

“To the Future Foundation’s 14th Division,” it said. “As you saw, the demonstration I’d planned for the school trial …didn’t quite work out as it should have. But I’m sure you got at least the bare bones of the urgency I’m trying to impress on you.”

The voice's pitch wavered between high and low, and the timbre and volume were just as changeable. “But don’t think of this as a takeover,” they said, “Think of it as me changing my mind, changing my approach, twisting in a different way toward the same ultimate goal… buuuuuut, overall, think of it as something less boring! The six of you aren’t just passive end-game revelations anymore – in fact, you’re the overall objects, and isn’t that exciting?”

They laughed, a low, deep laugh that suddenly changed mid-breath, becoming high and shrill. “The hostages have their own rules,” the voice went on, “but now I’m going to give you yours, and you only have one. If all of you – and when I say all of you I mean all of you, no more and no less –”

A face flashed on the screen in that instant – a familiar face, but one shot so close that it was without the framing context of hair or clothing, and if any other change had been made this was distracting enough to hide it. “If you don’t arrive at Jabberwock Island by 7 AM, I’ll kill one of the remaining students. And if you don’t arrive tomorrow, I’ll kill another one the day after that. And if you don’t arrive the next day, I’ll kill another one, and so on, and so forth…but if you do? Well, then I won’t! And after that...that depends on whether it happens or not. So…come to the island. Or not. It’s up to you.”

“As for the rest of you…” Their eyes widened, and they looked directly into the camera. “If you haven’t checked your Electronic Student IDs yet, then it’s your own fault if you break one of your own rules. But if the Future Foundation arrives before 7 AM, then the rules won’t have to apply at all, will they? But it’s good of you to know, at least. And one night isn’t a very long time to wait. So take that as my gift to you. That I recommend that you wait.”

A loud burst of static followed their words, and then the screen went dark.

=====

The silence that followed was like nothing Hinata had experienced in weeks. Even the ever-present background noise of the ocean seemed to be holding its breath, though it couldn’t be, when the ocean was only a couple yards off, but thoughts like that had no place here, not when he could barely support the ones he was thinking already.

Someone had to speak. He had the thought in his mind, he knew he could do it, but he couldn’t trust himself to do it alone. But what was it he was seeing in the others’ eyes? Was it anger? Frustration? Defeat? Would he have to support them? Could he? Or was he misinterpreting the length of the space, creating fear where there really was already confidence, or was he just so used to confidence coming after fear that he couldn’t comprehend not having it at all.

“I don’t know,” he said aloud. He saw them all turn, he felt their eyes on him, but somehow it felt good, admitting it. He put his hands to his head, somehow relishing the relief. “I don’t know what to do, I really don’t–”

“Shut up!” Kuzuryuu said.

Hinata didn’t dare say another word.

“Don't you dare do this.” Kuzuryuu pushed past Nanami and shoved his bandaged fist into Hinata’s shoulder, nearly knocking him backward. “You’re not gonna leave the rest of us dragging your ass just because –”

“Then what are we gonna do?” Hinata found himself spitting back. “Come on. I’m all ears.”

He fully expected to be dead within the next several seconds, but to his surprise Kuzuryuu hesitated, though he still looked angry. “I… I'm... fuck, that’s not fair…”

“Kuzuryuu-kun, Hinata-kun, this isn’t going to solve anything!” Nanami got to her feet, and despite her volume her voice had power. “I know this is hard, but –”

“No, Kuzuryuu’s right,” Owari said, getting to her feet and pounding her hand in her fist. “And I know exactly what we gotta do. We gotta find that bastard and beat them ‘til they let us go!”

“Owari-san, no!” Nanami whirled and grabbed Owari by the arm. “You know that’s not going to work –”

“Who cares if it’s not going to work? They killed old man Nidai!” Owari shouted, pulling away. “If we go down fighting then it’s what we gotta do!”

“B-but that’s pretty counterproductive in more ways than one…” Mioda’s voice was so small, and so still, that it hardly sounded like her own. “Jumping to conclusions…figuring we have to fight…”

“If we fight, we’re just gonna be killed faster!” Souda interrupted. “But until then...all that stuff they said, what the hell does that even mean...”

“Whatever it means, we won't...we can figure it out,” Nanami said. “We just need to–”

“Forget figuring it out!” Owari yelled over her, wrenching herself out of her grip. “Why are we still sitting here wasting time when we could -”

“Hey, ENOUGH!” Koizumi shouted, pulling away from Saionji and approaching Owari. “Fighting isn’t going to solve anything!”

“Of course it is!” Owari shouted. “That’s what I’ve been trying to say this whole time!”

“No, we’re NOT!” Koizumi’s voice broke into a screech on the last word – Hinata winced against the sound, and the whole group fell silent. Koizumi fell limp, wide-eyed, apparently surprised at her own voice, before she lifted herself up again, rubbing her arms.

“Guys…I’m scared,” she said. “I’m scared, and overwhelmed, and if I could I’d say I don’t know what to do...” She looked over at Hinata, her expression blank. Hinata gave her a smile that he hoped was reassuring, but she didn’t seem to react. “But that’s…well, you guys are right. It’s stupid. And it’s not doing anything.”

“As if you’re any better,” Kuzuryuu grumbled.

“Hey, nobody asked you to talk!” Saionji shouted. “If you’d just fallen off the rock and drowned it would’ve been better for everyone–”

“Hiyoko-chan, please, not now,” Koizumi said, a tired tone in her voice. The change in Saionji’s demeanor was instantaneous – she went from livid to tearful within seconds. “But…” she said in a small voice. “But it’s true…you heard him…”

“We really can’t spend time on this,” Koizumi said, looking both at Saionji, who looked to be far from accepting what she'd said, and at Kuzuryuu, who'd turned away, grumbling to himself. “What I was trying to say is, we’re not powerless. We can still…we can come up with some kind of a plan.”

She didn’t seem confident in her words, not in the least, but they’d been said, and the act of speech was enough to pull Hinata away from where he’d been. “You’re right,” he found himself saying. “You are right. I knew that, even if…yeah.”

There was no direct response to his words, but now he could see something other than dead shock in everyone’s eyes – there was curiosity, and purpose, and he couldn’t help but bask in that. "But a plan to what?” Owari said, looking impatient.

“To…to live, okay? We can figure everything else out…soon.” Koizumi shivered, then looked around at the others. Whatever had reassured Hinata wasn’t doing the same for her. “I…I…”

“We need to do what we can, and fast,” Nanami said. “If the announcement can be trusted, we’re safe until 7 AM…”

“But how do we know we can trust that?” Souda’s voice was cracking even more than Koizumi’s. “Y-you saw what they did to Nidai! They could kill us any time they wanted–”

“But if Ibuki plays devil’s advocate, then we don’t know if t-they'll do t-that, either,” Mioda said, speaking very quickly.

“You’re both right, because we really don’t know anything right now,” Nanami said. Hinata noticed she’d taken a firm hold on Owari’s hand. “But we do have at least one thing we can trust. It’s the rules, in the Electronic Student ID. They’ve never been broken by Usami or Monobear before–”

“So you’re just gonna go and do what they told you to do?” Kuzuryuu grumbled.

“I never said that,” Nanami said. “I'm only saying they might tell us more about what the..." She hesitated. "About what the Impostor is planning."

The Impostor. The word seemed to burn a hole in Hinata's mind. “But how could they change the rules?” Saionji said. “They’re not Monobear, they don’t have that kind of power-”

“We don’t really know what they have, right now.” Hinata pulled his Electronic Student ID out of his pocket as he spoke. “But there’s no reason we shouldn’t look.”

The others pulled their IDs out in unison, apart from Souda, who didn’t appear to have his, and looked off Hinata’s as he navigated to the rules. Usami’s rules about excessive violence and littering were the same as ever, though Hinata realized as he read them that he hadn’t looked at them in weeks. Monobear’s rules about the mutual killing game, the destruction of property, and the free investigation of the island followed, but after the eleventh rule, instead of the usual warning screen about the creation of additional rules, there was a twelfth rule, just as the announcement had said.

In place of the Monobear icon there was a pixelated image of a girl – a girl that Hinata had never seen before. On the tiny screen he could hardly distinguish any details beyond pink-blonde pigtails, a black sweater, a red skirt, and black boots. Like the others she was speaking the rules in a word balloon, with a clear, crisp, and imposing font.  

Rule no. 12

The Island Life of Mutual Killing has ended. Its structures and traditions no longer apply.

“That’s…what they said during the trial,” Hinata said. “That the game was over.”

“Then…they must’ve somehow gotten the power to do that, if they could change the rules.” Koizumi shivered. “But…but how…?”

“Ibuki doesn’t know,” Mioda muttered, “not even after thinking of almost nothing else for hours on end…”

“We can think about that in a second,” Hinata said to himself, trying not to get distracted as he swiped to the next rule.

Rule no. 13

Any student who attempts to harm the headmaster will be executed.

“Wait, don’t we have that rule?” Saionji said. “It was that two-faced excess violence thing!”

“But it wasn’t clear before.” Koizumi eyes narrowed. “They’re making it explicit.”  

“That bastard…” Owari’s hands shook as she held her ID, but she didn’t make any sudden moves. The others moved on to the next, and Hinata followed suit.

Rule no. 14

Any student who attempts to communicate with the outside will be executed.

“The outside?” Souda’s eyes went wide and he crammed himself against Hinata in an attempt to look at the screen. “What do they mean, the outside? Is someone watching us?”

“Souda-kun, don’t, we don’t know how this rule works yet,” Nanami said, very quickly, without looking him in the eye. “Hinata-kun, the next one, now.”

“Er…” Hinata didn’t know what to make of this exchange, but he swiped to the next one all the same. For this rule, the text was so crammed he could hardly read it.

Rule no. 15

If all six members of the Future Foundation’s 14th division do not arrive at Jabberwock Island within eight days, all life on the island will be exterminated. The headmaster will execute one student each day until this demand is met.

It wasn’t as shocking as it might have been if they’d been seeing it for the first time. But he hadn’t quite internalized it, the first time – it had felt to him like the ever-present knowledge of the mutual killing game. But there’d been an element of uncertainty there, an element of possible safety. But he hadn’t heard everything, then.

Eight days. All life on the island. All six members of the Future Foundation’s 14^th division…

“We’re going to die,” Saionji said. No one responded, for several seconds. “We’re… we’re going to die…”

“No,” Koizumi said, immediately cutting her off, though her voice was shaking even more than his. “Really…don’t say that…”

“They wouldn’t…” Mioda’s ID was shaking in her hands, and an odd, uncertain grin had crossed her face. “They can’t…”

“If it's in the rules...” From the look on Nanami’s face, Hinata could tell that she was exerting an enormous effort in order to keep her composure. “Then it must be set in stone, but…”

“You don’t know that,” Kuzuryuu said, without looking up from his ID.

“I…” Nanami gave Kuzuryuu a strained look. “No. No, I don’t. But we know they’ve already followed their own rules. Executing one student each day… that must have been the “demonstration” they were talking about, meaning that today counted as one of the days. Although…at the trial, two students died…”

“Nidai broke a rule,” Hinata realized. “He attacked the - the Impostor, and that’s why he was killed. But Tanaka…”

There was a short silence after Hinata’s words. If the others were anything like himself, Hinata knew they hearing the names repeated in their own thoughts, and remembering the faces that weren’t there.  “Tanaka was…” Souda gritted his teeth. “But, wait… if he was trying to save us…”

“Who cares if he was trying to save us? He didn’t!” Saionji pressed her hands against her head, and her entire body seemed to shake. “We’re gonna die – and I’m gonna die – and all of us are gonna die and there’s no escape –”

“Don’t say that…” Souda was clearly trying to sound calm, but Hinata could see he was shaking as well. “I don’t wanna think about it…I’m not gonna think about it…”

“NO!” Hinata could feel it starting for him, as well – the panic, the fear, the need to shut down. But the shout brought him out of it, if only for a moment.  “We can’t get stuck here. We already said it…”

“I was the one who said it,” Koizumi mumbled. “But no one’s listening…”

The feeling Hinata had gotten before was coming back. The feeling of being trapped, the feeling of having nowhere else to turn – but now he knew that if he could do anything, he could stop the others from succumbing. “No, I’m listening,” he said, turning to her. “I am, really.”

Koizumi didn’t respond – she just gave Hinata a desperate look. There was a long, pregnant pause as they looked from one to the other, or down at their own shoes – but then Mioda lifted her head, and took a step forward. “Ibuki’s listening, too,” she said. “Ibuki’s…” She paused, as if she was considering what to say next. “Ibuki’s here.”

“You…” Koizumi gave Mioda a wondering look, then looked at the others. “And, you…”

Saionji said nothing. She looked away, and Hinata could see tears in her eyes. And Owari, who’d been standing quietly at the edge of the circle, didn’t seem to be paying attention to Koizumi at all, opting instead to tap her foot and look down the road. But Souda had stopped shaking, Kuzuryuu was at the very least looking up, and Nanami… Hinata didn’t know what to make of Nanami at all. She still looked sad, but somehow, now, she looked stronger. She didn’t say anything, but her smile was back. Hinata had almost forgotten what a smile looked like.

“Well…” Koizumi took a deep breath, and straightened her posture. “What we’ve been trying to do is figure out what we know. And we were doing that through the rules…” She paused. “Was that all of them?”

“Wait, I don’t know if we know –” Hinata pulled his Electronic Student ID back out of his pocket, and navigated back to the rules. Sure enough, when he swiped left, he found the another rule waiting for him –

Rule no. 16

Any student who disobeys the direct orders of the headmaster will be executed.

There were no rules after this one – just the usual warning about the potential addition of more rules. “Direct orders…?” Hinata didn’t like the sound of that. “Wait…have we gotten any direct orders?”

“I don’t think so. But we can’t let ourselves get distracted. All this is to us right now is a possibility,” Nanami said.

“You say that like it's no big deal," Kuzuryuu said. "All the changes, all these rules – how the hell do they have this kind of power? And how'd they GET it? It doesn't make sense, it's not even realistic..."

It was the exact question Hinata hadn’t wanted to ask himself. If he did, he’d have to encounter the fact that they’d gotten it at all, and beyond that the fact of what and who they were… “It’s the same kind of power Monobear had,” he said, instead of saying what he was thinking. “The rules, the games… so, whatever they did…”

“Hey, Chiaki-chan just said we shouldn’t get distracted,” Koizumi said, an edge in her voice. “If we don’t know, then we just don’t know, okay? We’re not…” She shook her head. “Forget it. All we know is they’re waiting for something. They want something to happen, and they’re…they’re putting our lives on the line for it.”

“The Future Foundation.” Hinata turned the unfamiliar phrase over in his mouth. “They want them to come to the island.”

“But we don’t even know who they are,” Owari said. “And what do they even have to do with anything out there? How do they know anything about a Future Foundation?”

For a second, no one spoke. “Do we know if they’ll come?” Souda said. “Or if they even exist…?”

“If the Impostor invited them to the island, then they must have something they want,” Nanami said. “And if our lives are on the line, then they must want us alive…”

“Or it’s just another trap, and we’re going to die anyway,” Kuzuryuu said. “We wouldn’t know what they want. We don’t know anything about them at all. We never did.”

Mioda slammed her fists into her thighs; the resulting thud was barely audible. “Kuzuryuu,” Koizumi said, “we already said we weren’t going to talk about that–”

“And why not?” Kuzuryuu said. “Never mind, I already know the answer. You can’t stop thinking about it. You want to find some excuse. If you just keep pretending that the “Impostor” is some big scary enemy that just came out of nowhere and got rid of poor innocent Togami…”

Hinata’s blood ran cold at the sound of the name, and he could tell it’d had a similar effect on the others. “Ibuki’s not pretending,” Mioda muttered, her fists turning white. “Ibuki’s not going to pretend…”

“Then maybe you can ignore how much of this is Togami’s fault.” Kuzuryuu stood, looking down at Mioda even as she refused to look up at him. “Or whoever they are. How do we know how much of this was the Despair Fever? And that’s assuming the Despair Fever wasn’t just bringing out everything they were hiding–”

“We don’t!” Mioda leapt to her feet, holding the Dark Gods close to her chest. “We already said we don’t know anything and we already said we shouldn’t think about it! And Ibuki was trying!” She stopped for a moment, panting heavily. “Ibuki’s not giving up until she knows anything for sure!”

“Giving up?” Kuzuryuu glared at her. “What do you even have to give up? Togami’s gone. He never existed.”

“You don’t know that,” Mioda said, her breath coming in gasps. “None of us do–”

“Kuzuryuu-kun, you wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t upset about it,” Nanami said.

“And it’s not even important,” Koizumi said quickly, “so if we just get back on track–”

"Track? I don't see any track.” Kuzuryuu turned his back on the rest of the group, and started for the path. “I’m not wasting the last week of my life on this–”

“Wait – KUZURYUU!” Hinata leapt up, but something was stopping him from running after him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To die in peace,” Kuzuryuu said. “S’not like I have anything to live for.”

“Oh, no you DON’T!” Koizumi leapt up, pushed past Hinata, and ran to Kuzuryuu, grabbing him by the shoulder. “I don’t care how much trouble you cause, you’re not going to screw things up by running off on your own – HEY!” Kuzuryuu pulled hard against Koizumi’s grip, yanked himself away, and took off at a run, disappearing down the tunnel.  

“You know what, I never thought I’d say this, but he’s right. There’s nothing happening and I’ve waited long enough.” Owari pulled her arm out of Nanami’s grip, then took off down the path. “That son of a bitch is going DOWN!”

“Akane-chan, I understand how you feel, but we really need to stay together – AKANE-CHAN!” Even as Akane disappeared into the distance Koizumi took off after her, but there was no hope of her catching up. She collapsed to her knees before she could get to the path.

For a long time, no one moved to approach her. Saionji seemed afraid to confront what she was seeing. Mioda was holding the Dark Gods close, focusing on them and nothing else. Souda was doing his best to hide behind Hinata. And Nanami, for all she’d spoken before, seemed to be at a loss for words.

So it was up to Hinata, as long as he was the only one with this in mind. He got up. He walked over to her, and he knelt by her side. She didn’t move, or look at him. “I, uh–”

“They’re gone,” she said. “They could die out there, and we’d never know it.”

“But that’s…I mean, it’s not your fault,” Hinata said. “Togami, he, uh…he told me…he thought you’d make a great leader, if...”

“And why would I care about that?” Koizumi stood suddenly, leaving Hinata at calf-level. “Come on. Before anyone else yells at me for wasting time.”

=====

No matter how much more they talked, or how much time they had, there turned out to be not much more they could do.

Their fates depended on the “Future Foundation.” That was all there was to it. But they still couldn’t determine what the Future Foundation was, or whether they were good or bad. Nanami made a decent guess that the Future Foundation might have been the “outside” the rules referred to, and Souda brought up the World Destroyers that Monobear had mentioned, but that reassured no one, so long as it made no change in their situation.

Togami didn’t come up again, not directly. Not by name. But the name was never far from Hinata’s mind, or the memories or actions attached to it…or what Kuzuryuu had said, about their lack of innocence. But how could they confront that, with all the threats already hanging over their heads? They couldn’t. Kuzuryuu was just stirring up trouble, that’s all there was to it. It had to be abandoned, or they’d drive themselves mad.

Eventually, after a long silence, Mioda suggested that they go back to the cottages. Koizumi resisted the idea at first. “Are we just supposed to go back – and go to breakfast – and live like normal?” she’d said.

“Of course not,” Nanami had said. “But…we’ve done all we can for now. And we know it. If we keep trying to plan, then that’s wasting time. We’re all cold, and filthy…and sleepy…”

Hinata looked down at his own soaked, blood-spattered clothes. He hadn’t showered in two days, and the salt water certainly hadn’t made him feel clean. “Right,” he said. “That’s right.”

“But, so are Akane-chan and Fuyuhiko-chan,” Mioda said. “And if we don’t know where they are…”

“Nope,” Saionji said immediately. “I’m not dying for their sake.”

“They’ll…we’ll find them,” Koizumi said. “But Chiaki-chan’s right. I...I couldn't even keep up with Akane-chan when she was here. If we don’t take care of ourselves we’re only going to die faster.” With that, and little more discussion, they left the beach and headed for the path, walking almost entirely in silence.

The distortion Hinata was sure he’d imagined from a distance had only gotten worse while they’d been there. Mioda was still commenting on it, though only under her breath – “Is it just Ibuki or did the pharmacy just not exist?” – and Souda clung to Hinata's side all the way across the bridge to the first island, muttering about collapse and missing floorboards. But they couldn't say anything else about it, or even ask any more questions – like how this could possibly be happening, despite every known law of physics. He was sure this was not something they were ready to confront. Until then they could assume it was some unknown mechanic of the island, something set up to scare them, perhaps by Monobear...

Somehow Monobear still felt like an acceptable excuse for everything that was going on. Perhaps he was used to it. He couldn’t completely comprehend having to be afraid of…of anyone else. And somehow the 7 AM deadline, as little foundation as he had to trust in it, helped him feel safe, as though the threat would never be present. 

The hotel seemed to be stable, and Hinata tried to take this as a sign that everything else was some kind of collective hallucination. Saionji refused to leave Koizumi’s side, which led to the girls agreeing to stay together, and leaving Souda and Hinata to fend for themselves. They made an agreement to meet up again at six, to eat before the end of the deadline, before the girls set off for Koizumi’s cottage, talking in whispers as they went. 

There was a light on in Kuzuryuu’s cottage, but all the others were dark. Hinata left Souda to knock on Kuzuryuu’s door, but as soon as he did the light went out, and Kuzuryuu didn’t come to answer him, not even after he shouted through the door.

So he went back to Souda’s side, unsure of what to say or do next. Souda didn’t look to be in any state to talk, either – but not for the same reasons, Hinata knew. He was shaking, and for the first time Hinata noticed that his cheeks were red, and his face was streaked with tears. Had he been crying through the whole meeting? Had Hinata not even noticed? He felt ashamed of himself.

“You, uh…” He swallowed. “You okay?”

Souda looked down, briefly, then lifted himself back up with a shudder. “I’m fine,” he mumbled.

“You, uh…” Hinata tried not to look down at Souda’s bandages. “You sure?”

“I’m fine, okay?” Souda folded his arms and hiccuped.

“Alright. Yeah.” Hinata looked away, and rocked back and forth on his heels. “We should, ah, get inside,” he said. “We can go to my cottage.”

“Ah – yeah. Alright. Sounds good.” Somehow, the suggestion had Souda looking a little brighter. Was it the normalcy? Hinata wasn’t sure.

After a quick stop at Souda’s cottage to get him a change of clothes, they headed into Hinata’s, which was just as he’d left it the day before – a mess. He felt a chill when he saw a pair of underwear lying right on the bed, and even more when Souda laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. But at the same time he couldn’t help but crack a smile – it was a gesture that brought back good memories. 

He ended up cleaning his room, for lack of anything else to do, while Souda washed his hair in the sink  – he couldn’t shower, or else risk getting his stitches wet. It was near-immaculate by the time Souda came out, toweling off his hair. He was wearing a white tank top, which covered his stitches and what looked like cargo shorts. Hinata supposed the boiler suit currently sitting in the Titty Typhoon was the only one he’d had.

“Feeling better?” Hinata said.

“Eh…” Souda was trying not to look at him. For the first time, Hinata realized it was hard to look at someone who was covered in your blood. “Kinda.” He looked down. “No.”

He trembled, wringing the towel between his hands. Hinata didn’t really know what to do next  – there was nothing he felt he could say to even address the scope of what Souda’d been through. So he settled for awkwardly patting him on the shoulder. But he seemed to appreciate it, if the two-second hug he gave him was any indication. He wasn’t sure if he’d pulled away out of embarrassment or abdominal pain, and once he did he collapsed on Hinata's bed, groaning.

Hinata went in to take his shower then, and for the first time in over four days he got a good look at himself, complete with the cuts on his forehead and the bloodstains that spread all the way up his neck. He suddenly saw clearly what Nanami had implied about a shower improving things - it wouldn’t, and didn’t, heal everything, but he felt a bit more normal when he stepped out.

Souda was still awake, and lay staring up at the ceiling. He didn't move at all when Hinata approached him, or when he took several steps towards the light switch. "Er," he said, "are you ready to go to sleep?"

Souda nodded slightly, not making any moves to get up or speak. "Alright, then," Hinata said. "I'm turning out the light."

He flicked the switch, walked across the darkened room, and curled up on the couch opposite the non-functional TV. It was only about three-quarters of the length of his body, and so firm that he found himself wondering if he'd be more comfortable on the floor. But he could handle it. He could deal with a lot worse than this. He could shut his eyes, and go right to sleep, and not think for too much longer about everything that'd been going on...

"Hey, Hinata..."

"Hmmh...huh?" Hinata started, not realizing until then that he had actually almost fallen asleep. "Wha' is it...?"

"Do you think... I dunno... this is so stupid..." Hinata lifted his head to find Souda hadn't moved, although his one visible arm was twitching. "The Future guys. D'you think they're actually gonna come?"

"The Future...guys? The Future Foundation?" Hinata blinked, suddenly feeling extraordinarily weary. "I dunno. I don't even know if I should think about it-"

"That whole time at the trial, I was just thinking," Souda went on, as if Hinata hadn't spoken. "Thinking about being dead, and it was...it was almost like I was half-dead, and then I was just thinking too much, and...and now it's like... I'd almost just got out of there and then they want me to go back, you know? Are they jerking us around for a reason? Is it something I did?"

"Ah..." Hinata couldn't make heads or tails of what Souda was trying to say - only that he was upset, and he didn't know how to reassure him. "No, no, it's not... I think we should -"

"It's like, I keep thinking about her, even when I don't want to..." A strong sadness had entered his voice. "Is it like that? Is it a punishment? Is it a second chance I did all wrong? I did something all wrong, that's for sure... weak and pathetic, that's what they said. That's why they almost killed me... there was all that blood, and..."

"Well, you're not being punished," Hinata said, now sitting straight up. "You're not. This is none of our faults."

Souda turned his head towards Hinata, looking him in the eye, then sighed, and looked away again. "It's almost like they did," he said. "I keep thinking they did... not anyone in particular, just... sh-she... she didn't have anyone to stand up for her... and... should I? I shouldn't... she was... she wasn't..."

He shook his head back and forth across the bed. "I thought she was gonna be the only thing that made me happy," he mumbled, trailing off has he spoke. "All that stuff.. that stuff about getting married and having a dozen children... but was it even worth anything, no matter what I did..."

"Souda?" Hinata stood and took a step towards Souda's bedside, but by the time he got there Souda's eyes had closed, and he wasn't responding to Hinata when he called his name. 

For lack of any other solution he went back to his couch, and spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of consciousness, kept awake by Souda’s snores and his own thoughts. He scrolled through the new rules again and again, trying to align them with the memories his brain was already trying desperately to repress, and consistently failing. Again and again he asked himself - how could the Impostor possibly do what Monobear had said was impossible? How had they taken control of Monobear in the first place? And if their behavior really was the fault of the Despair Fever…then how? And why hadn’t it been cured like the others? And the most painful question of all - if they really were an impostor all along…then what does that mean for the person we all knew? Did he ever exist? Is he still…in there…somewhere?

Now he knew why it was so hard to think of this - because it hurt so much, and so deeply. But in the end he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, stop.

Chapter Text

The next time Hinata woke it was for a knock at the door.

It was still dark, and he could hear Souda snoring from the bed – at least he'd had a peaceful night. Was it really always this dark at six? he thought. Or had the girls come super early? He couldn't bring himself to move just yet – he thought instead about how mad Koizumi would be that they weren’t ready to go, or that Souda was still asleep. But then whoever it was knocked again, and he forced himself up, grumbling and cracking his joints as he went. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” he mumbled, moving quickly past Souda to the door.

He opened it to find Kuzuryuu walking away from the cottage. Somehow or other, Hinata wasn’t as surprised as he should have been. “Uh,” he said, and then raised his voice. “Kuzuryuu!”

Kuzuryuu froze, and then turned his head back, wide-eyed. “Er…”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Kuzuryuu turned completely. “Can I come in?”

Hinata blinked. “O…kay,” he said, without thinking it through. “Souda’s still asleep…”

Kuzuryuu grunted, and pushed past Hinata to get inside. He took one look at Souda, who’d kicked all the blankets off and drooled all over Hinata’s pillow, and then sat on the opposite side of the room, leaning up against the glass wall of the bathroom with his legs pulled up to his chest.

Hinata tried not to stare in any one direction for too long, but he kept finding himself looking back at Kuzuryuu, whose attention seemed to be fixed on his hands. He didn’t speak, which made Hinata feel very awkward. “Uh, is there…any reason…you’re here?”

“I don’t know.” Kuzuryuu grumbled, and tilted his head back, looking more frustrated than anything. “Couldn’t sleep. Or whatever.”

Hinata grimaced. “Well, then, uh...”

“Can you undo these?” He looked up at Hinata, and held up his hands.

Hinata hesitated, but only for a moment before he bent down and opened the clasp on both bandages, after which Kuzuryuu did the work of unraveling them. The hands underneath were red and heavily scarred, and given the way Kuzuryuu winced as he flexed his fingers he still had to be in some sort of pain. 

“S’been a week,” Kuzuryuu said, flexing his stiff fingers. “Not even. Six days. But who’s counting, right?” He grumbled. “It doesn’t even feel like the same lifetime. And Peko...it almost feels like I made her up. Like she’s just in my imagination.”

“I…” Hinata felt the same strange feeling he'd had with Souda last night, like he didn’t quite know how to respond. “I know. I get that.” He’d never shared the thought with anyone, but somehow things had seemed simpler before Peko had died. But he didn’t like to think that way. He didn’t know how he liked to think at all. 

“No, you don’t.” Kuzuryuu curled his fingers into a fist. “You don’t know what it’s like, having someone there day after day, your entire life, and then… and then you just start forgetting about her. How unfair is that? Her cottage’s right there…you can stare and stare and stare at it, but it isn’t…it’s not…”

He shivered, and looked down, away from Hinata. “I…didn’t…know what to do either,” he said. “Yesterday, I mean. How pathetic... all I did was get a little scared, and I ran my mouth off…”

“Yeah,” Hinata said. “You did.”

“Not that I was wrong,” Kuzuryuu said. “But I wasn’t any better than any of you.”

Hinata hesitated. He almost felt jealous of Kuzuryuu, and Souda too, for still having someone like him they felt they could actually unload on. “I’m…not really sure what you want me to say.”

“Say I was an asshole,” Kuzuryuu said. “Say I don’t even deserve to be part of the group. I’ve never thought anything else.”

“Well…” Hinata couldn’t in all honesty be reassuring, but he didn’t want to get him angry, either. “I don’t think it’s about deserving it anymore. We’re all we got, and if we don’t stick together –”

“If we don’t stick together we’ll die anyway. Sticking together’s just about feeling good.” He made a noise that was half a laugh, half a sigh. “And you think Koizumi’d really want me around?”

I don’t even know if she knows, Hinata thought. “Do you…want her to want you around?”

“Want… no, I just…Forget it. If you chase me out, I’ll go, otherwise, I’m here.” He folded his arms. “But it’s not about you. She…she wouldn’t want me to die a coward.”

“No. Probably not.” Hinata smiled despite himself. “I’m, uh, glad you came around. Or whatever this is.”

“Pffft. Not what I expected.” Kuzuryuu cracked a smile. “Remember when you were yelling at me that one time at breakfast –”

Kuzuryuu stopped, and his eyes went wide. Hinata looked up to see Souda sitting bolt upright, sporting the most impressive bedhead he’d ever seen. Hinata hadn’t even seen him wake up. He was squinting in their direction, looking alarmed. “Dude,” he slurred, “What the hell…?”

“Hey, we’re having a man’s heart-to-heart,” Kuzuryuu snapped. “Go back to sleep.”

“Heart…to heart…?” Souda slapped around his bedside, picked up a large pair of glasses, put them on, and gave Hinata an unbelieving look. “But we –”

“Forget it, moment’s passed.” Kuzuryuu looked away, covering his mouth. “You think the girls think we’re awake?”

“Uh, not in…a million years,” Souda said, wincing as he pulled himself across the bed. His stitches didn’t appear to have bled through, but Hinata could tell he was still in a lot of pain.

“Should we go get them?” Hinata said, looking at Souda. “Or just…not move any more than we have to…”

“I dunno…s’kinda awkward, just…sitting here…” Souda laughed, but Hinata could tell his heart wasn’t in it. Kuzuryuu’s presence had definitely brought a change in his demeanor – he’d closed himself off again. “’Sides, time is time…”

“You guys go ahead. I’ll just show up at some point later.” Kuzuryuu stood as he spoke, paused, then, grumbling, sat back down. “No, I won’t. I’m coming now.”

“Uh, yeah. Whichever, ah, works.” Hinata gave them each forced smiles, which they seemed to accept – Kuzuryuu nodded, and Souda grinned before reaching out for his support to stand up. Hinata took his arm, wondering why they both thought he was somehow put together enough to support them. They did both at least look better for the little he’d said. He’d be satisfied with that, and save his despair for the moment.

=====

The girls appeared surprised on many levels when Hinata and Souda showed up at the front door of Saionji’s cottage at what turned out to be 5:45 in the morning. Koizumi cracked the door open for them, showing enough of herself for them to tell she was half-dressed and bleary-eyed, and stared at them in shock for a second before mumbling to herself. "You could've waited," she said. 

Hinata just shrugged, giving Koizumi enough time to notice that Kuzuryuu was there as well, skulking around the edge of the path. They made eye contact for a second, their expressions unmoved, and while Hinata couldn’t see Kuzuryuu’s expression, Koizumi suddenly looked much more awake. “We’ll be out in a second,” she said before shutting the door.

After another few minutes of loud banging, at least one shriek, and a constant level of babble from someone that sounded like Mioda, Koizumi opened the door again, wider this time. The other three were visible now – Mioda was on the edge of the bed, kicking her legs back and forth, Saionji was kneeling on one of the floor cushions, looking cross, and Nanami was standing on another cushion, fast asleep. Koizumi wouldn’t let the boys inside; instead she called out to the others, who nudged Nanami awake and left the cottage with her in tow, closing the door behind them.

They walked together down the path, though the girls stayed in front, and the boys followed behind. They passed the ruin of Pekoyama’s cottage in silence, but after that their conversation was limited only to what they needed to know. For one thing, there’d been no sign of Owari all night. The girls had all tried to keep an eye on her cottage – and had in fact chosen Saionji’s cottage for its view of her door. But none of them had seen anyone enter or exit, or any lights go on inside.

“We need to look for her before we do anything else,” Koizumi said, sounding confident at first, but losing steam with every word. “But there are four islands to search, and Akane-chan is stronger and faster than any of us…”

“Akane-chan’s reverted to the ways of the wilderness,” Mioda mumbled, sounding more tense than whimsical. “Braving the treetops, stealing to survive, drinking her own pee-”

“With any luck, she’ll come to her senses and come back to us,” Nanami said, her voice hollow. “She has the rules, she knows the consequences…”

"But what if she doesn't?" Saionji said. "Is she just gonna..."

She paused, then, and turned to Koizumi, who gave her a look that Hinata could only interpret as tired. She looked down again, and said nothing else. 

"She's not going to die," Nanami said. "I'm...I'm positive she's not going to die. But if we can find her... then that won't be a concern." 

"That is something we can control," Hinata said. "But she's still safe until seven, right?"

"As long as she doesn't do anything dumb," Kuzuryuu mumbled. 

They'd left the cottage paths by then, and walked past the pool and the old lodge up to the hotel lobby. There was no sign of any of the disruption they'd seen the previous night; Hinata didn't want to bring it up, for fear of the others confirming that it hadn't just been an illusion. They bypassed the lobby this time, choosing instead to take the outside stairs directly into the restaurant.

The inner layout mostly seemed the same – but there was now at least three times as much food in the room as there needed to be. All but a few tables were overflowing with bacon, eggs, toast, rice, miso soup, natto, and more besides, including things Hinata wouldn’t dream of eating for breakfast, like roast pork, gyoza, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Even after Komaeda and Hanamura died, there’d still been enough food for sixteen, but now…

"Th-the food!" Mioda said, clamping her hands to her mouth. "The food is covering everything!"

“What is this…” Kuzuryuu said, through clenched teeth. “What the hell are they doing…?!”

“I’m not eating any of that!” Saionji said. “You can't make me!"

“But we can’t just not eat,” Koizumi said, looking uncertainly at the food.

“Then Big Bro Hinata’s going to taste-test!”  Saionji pointed at Hinata, then at the food. “Come on, go stuff your face and see what happens!”

“Huh? But –” Hinata took another look back at the food, which apart from its abundance seemed perfectly unsuspicious. “You guys really think there might be something wrong with it –?”

“There isn’t.” Nanami stepped away from the others, walked up to one of the tables, and picked up a piece of toast. She bit into it, chewed, and swallowed, without appearing to suffer any ill effects. “It’s just like it was with Monobear," she said. "The Impostor isn't going to kill us with our food when they still need us for the rest of their game."

The others were silent for several seconds, before Koizumi spoke up. "But then...what's the point of all this, anyway?" She scowled at the display. "Is it just supposed to be wasteful?"

"I...I don't know." Nanami folded her arms across her chest, and Hinata could tell she'd only been working off context clues – there was no reason for them to assume she knew more about the situation than the rest of them. And anyway, they all shared the tacit realization that she was right on one front – the food wasn’t going to hurt them, and they had to eat. So they took their normal portions, sat across the empty tables, and ate in perfect silence.

Hinata hardly had an appetite, but he forced himself to eat – he didn’t know whether or not he was having his last meal. Most of the others were doing the same, apart from Koizumi, who beyond a small bite did not touch her share. She spent most of breakfast fiddling with her camera, attempting to get it to work. Eventually, Hinata saw a reflection from the camera’s digital display screen on her face.  “6:15,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Forty-five minutes.”

"So..." Souda twisted his natto around with his chopsticks. “If the Future guys were gonna show up...they'd let us know somehow. Right?”

Hinata found he'd lost his appetite. He was suddenly very aware of the lack of activity or information on that front – no boats on the horizon, no airplanes in the sky, no communications, no nothing. “They’ll show up,” Koizumi said, before he could say anything. “They’ve got to.”

“That is what we’d expect,” Nanami said, her voice shaking. “But we don’t know what kind of difficulties they’re having, or even where they’re coming from. And the rules forbid us from contacting each other..."

“They could be on the other side of the world,” Hinata said. “And who knows how long it’ll take them to get here…”

“If they wanted to get here at all,” Saionji said, trembling. “They probably don’t even care about saving us...”

“They do,” Nanami said, much more loudly than Hinata had ever heard her speak. “They have to. If they didn’t…”

“‘If they didn’t, then why would they put our lives at stake?’ Is that what you’re about to say, Nanami-chan?”

Saionji screamed, as did Hinata, out of shock.  He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but it seemed to have come from every inch of the room, sounding without a source of sound. Nanami alone looked and pointed at the monitor at the other side of the room, which, like the night before, had turned itself on, but remained pitch black. She walked over to it, silently beckoning the rest of them with a wave of her hand.  

“That’s right. That’s exactly right,” the voice went on as they approached. “The despair of a loss of control compounded on the despair of the resurrection and reformation of that which they wished to restrain, compounded on the despair of a simple regard for human life…” They made a low, guttural noise. “What? Isn’t that enough? Are they just completely fucking indifferent now? Has my despair really driven them that far?”

Nanami didn’t respond, but kept looking at the screen, as if that was all the communication she needed.  Hinata could see Mioda just behind her – she was staring at the screen with what looked like wonder, heavily mixed with shock. “I don’t get it,” he could hear Kuzuryuu saying behind him. “What are you trying to pull –”

“Ah, you’re all angry at me, aren’t you?” Without warning, their face appeared on the screen again, the one that was and wasn’t familiar, the one Hinata only half-recognized. They seemed to be pulling at hair that was just out of shot, and their eyes were glazed over. “Well… there’s really nothing to be done about that. I’ll make one thing clear. I don’t want to kill you, and the question of whether you die is honestly out of my hands. Buuuuuuut!”

They suddenly looked very cheery, and the shrillness of their voice cut into Hinata’s ears. “Since the Future Foundation’s being a bunch of meany-weenies, then that means at 7 o’clock sharp, the first ultimatum will be up! I’m not going to waste my precious time wondering why you’re not here, but I think you’ve made your stance pretty clear, hmmm? Of course, if you show up at any time between now and ten o’clock, then I’ll cancel the order –”

“Order?” Hinata said. With a chill he remembered the sixteenth rule: Any student who disobeys the direct orders of the headmaster will be executed. “Wait, what order?”

“Ahhh, someone’s eager…”  A grin spread across the Impostor’s face. “Say, Hinata-kun…where’s your friend, Owari-chan?”

Hinata’s blood ran cold. “You don’t know, do you?” they went on. “Well, as it happens, neither do I. She's disappeared, gone off the grid. But I’d like to know where she is. I need to know where she is. And that’s why…you’re going to look for her. We could call that today’s student activity. And if you don’t find her by ten o’clock tonight, well…you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“What…” Hinata said. “What are you saying –”

“But of COURSE, if the Future Foundation would just rear their ugly heads, then what do I care where Owari-chan is?” They laughed  a cold, cruel laugh that did not work at all with the face Hinata was used to. “Well, we’ve said enough to you all for today. Go on, chop chop –”

“Hey! Hold on!” Souda pushed his way to the front, wincing against the pain. “You keep talking about the Future Foundation, but who the hell are they?!"

“Oh? Oh oh oh oh oh?” The Impostor’s expression went blank. “Where, and point me to it directly, is the rule that says “you have to answer every single stupid question Souda-kun asks you?” Ah…there isn’t one, is there? So, instead, I’ll tell you this.” They leaned into the camera, and the angle made their face appear grotesque. “If I hadn’t had to save you, I would have left him to die.”

“Wait, Byakuya-ch – HEY!” Mioda spoke too late – the monitor screen had gone blank. She balled her hands into fists, but whatever she would have said to the Impostor, Hinata did not know. At any rate, it was the least of his concern.

“They’re not here,” he said to himself. “And they aren’t coming…”

“They’re trying to mess with our heads,” Nanami said. “Trying to make us think they’re against us…” She looked over at Souda, who was looking at the ground and shivering, and didn’t seem to be in any state to talk anymore.

“But they’re not here,” Mioda said, gathering the Four Dark Gods of Destruction into her hands. “They’re right about that.”

“Hey, guys, I'm sorry, but we don’t have time to waste on this!” Koizumi was slinging her camera across her shoulders as she spoke, and pulling herself out of her seat. “Akane-chan’s in danger. We need to find her before the ultimatum's up.”

There was almost no reaction to her words, which surprised Hinata. Had their hope really been sapped so quickly? “Y-you’re right,” he said, trying to resist the urge to join them. “I’m sure. But you just said this morning it was impossible –”

“I…I know. But do we have any other choice? This is about her just as much as it’s about us.” Koizumi stopped halfway to the stairs and turned around, looking at Kuzuryuu. “And don’t any of you say anything about “following their orders.” This is first and foremost about staying alive.”

“What made you think I was going to?” Kuzuryuu muttered, not looking at her.

“You –” Koizumi clenched her teeth, and shook her head. “Come on! Please!”

=====

None of the rest of them could match Koizumi’s haste. Nanami was the first to follow her down the stairs, and Hinata followed close behind, but the others didn’t move for quite some time. But, in their defense, they looked more bewildered than reluctant. Of course they all wanted to find Owari. Of course they all wanted to stay alive. But either of those things alone felt more and more impossible by the minute.

Seven o’clock passed as they stood outside, arguing over the best way to split their search. There were four islands to cover and only seven people to cover them, and nobody wanted to go alone or leave any space uncovered. Before long they degenerated into collective despair at the impossibility of the task – including ghoulish exaggerations of Owari’s physical abilities (“Who even knows if she’s still on the island. She might’ve swum off without us!”), and eventually outright hostility at her actions (“If Big Sis Owari hadn’t run away we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place!”).

But while they couldn’t quite dispel these feelings, not even with the assurance that they had no basis in reality, they did manage to divide themselves before seven-thirty. Koizumi and Saionji would cover the first and central islands, Kuzuryuu, Nanami, and Souda would cover the second island, and Hinata ended up with Mioda and the third island in his corner. They left Koizumi and Saionji at the hotel after promising to bring Owari back to the restaurant if they found her, and set off for the central island, where they and the Kuzuryuu-Nanami-Souda team split off in opposite directions. 

Hinata and Mioda walked for a time in what seemed to him like a deathly silence. He tried not to look like he was staring at her, but… he couldn’t help it. He was curious. The last time they'd walked to the third island together she'd been talking a mile a minute, formulating plans and appearing unflappable even in the face of... well, the despair of someone she loved and counted on. But now...now he couldn’t pin a specific different behavior on her, but there was just something off about her. It had to be a reaction to Togami’s – the Impostor’s – betrayal, but not something he could consider conventional, if it was even there at all, and not just a reflection of his own reactions...

“Ibuki bets she can crack the case by using the power of Ibuki’s imagination!” Mioda said suddenly. “If Ibuki were Akane-chan, then where would the Ibuki who is Akane-chan be?”

Hinata blinked. “Uh…that’s…a good question. I don’t really know…”

“She’s gotta be planning some kind of sneak attack.” Mioda tapped her chin. “Coming down from the skies in a helicopter, ringing a doorbell and running away, digging a hole in the sand and waiting for the target to fall in…”

“Ah. Sure. Yeah, that's reasonable.” He fixed his eyes back on the shoreline, which seemed to go on without a break. Weren’t they supposed to pass Monobear Rock by now? Or had he missed it entirely?

He realized then that Mioda had stopped speaking. One of the Four Dark Gods of Destruction had crawled up to Mioda’s shoulder, and she’d busied herself with trying to get it back into her arms. “Hajime-chan didn’t laugh,” she said suddenly.

“Hm?”

“He didn’t even smile.” Mioda sighed. “Now, not even Ibuki’s jokes are working.”

“What – hey, no, no!” Hinata grimaced. “Really, it was great. I’m sorry. I just –”

“Ibuki’ll try something else. She’ll just have to think.” Just for a second, her smile faltered. “It’ll be okay. Ibuki’ll be okay.”

There was a weight to her words that they didn’t often have – it felt like she was trying to tell him something, a message he could only guess at. Don’t think about what Ibuki’s thinking, it seemed to say. In all honesty, it only made him want to talk about Togami more, but not if the conversation wasn’t what Mioda wanted. Besides, they would need their focus to find Owari – especially given what they found when they turned the corner.

A pile of mechanical wreckage blocked the path between the third and fourth island bridges. The Monobeast that had once blocked the bridge was nowhere in sight, but it was all too easy to put two and two together. “Did…did someone destroy that?” Hinata wondered aloud. “That’s…no way…”

“Hajime-chan’s thinking it and so is Ibuki,” Mioda said with a grin. “Akane-chan’s taking them out one by one…”

“Whatever it was, does that mean…” Hinata looked over at the fourth island bridge. “Does that mean we can go there?”

“If Akane-chan did it, then that might be where she’s hiding!” She curled one arm around the Dark Gods, and pointed the other forward. “Come on, let’s –”

A sudden mechanical CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP noise cut her off. The horse Monobeast – the one that usually guarded the fifth island – stomped down the path and came to a stop in front of the fourth island bridge. It looked around briefly, passing them over as beneath its notice, then turned and galloped back in the direction it had come.

“Er,” Mioda put her arm down. “Never mind.”

“You can say that again.” Hinata shook his head. “We’ll…come back to that. But we should let the others know. Somehow. If there’s any chance she’s there…”

“Is it some kind of trick?” Mioda said. “Is Akane-chan somewhere we can’t find her?”

Hinata sighed. “I hope not,” he said. “Let’s…search the third island first. Just so we don’t miss anything.”

=====

Ten o’clock. Twelve o’clock. Two o’clock. The hours seemed to melt by without any reason or logic. They must have circled the island six times, looking in every nook and cranny, every single room in the hospital and the motel, but apart from what she’d left in her motel room the previous day there was no sign of her or anything she might have left behind. There was no word from any of the other islands, so he could only assume that none of the others had found any trace of her, either.

By mid-afternoon Hinata could feel a sunburn baking the back of his neck. It was so hot, now, that the buildings seemed to be shimmering before his eyes. Or maybe that was new, and had nothing to do with the heat. He didn’t want to think about that.

At four they sat to rest against the movie theater. Mioda bounced the hamsters from hand to hand, humming to herself, while Hinata wiped the sweat off his temples with his hand, which stung as the salt hit his wounds. Four, he thought. Six hours to ten. Six hours where this Future Foundation, whom Hinata was imagining as a group of stern-looking men in black suits, could conceivably arrive at any minute or not at all. Six hours where they were deciding whether or not one or the other of them deserved to live. Six hours they'd be adding on to the eighteen they'd already spent...

But what, if anything, had this Future Foundation wanted with them in the first place? The easy answer was that they were the ones that had put them on the island …but he still didn’t know why they'd wanted them there in the first place, or if whoever that was had wanted them dead or alive. Was it because of all of their talents? If they were important enough to warrant taking them away from Hope's Peak, were they important enough to be worth saving? And whatever his talent was... would he be able to count it among that number? If they hadn’t come yet, was there any hope of their coming at all? And if they did come... what would happen then? Would the Impostor have something planned, and dig them into some deeper trap? Or, if they overpowered the situation... what in the end, would become of the Impostor?

None of them had talked yet of why the Impostor was acting like this, not since last night. No guesses, not even a single reference to the person they'd been just a few short days ago. Nothing that suggested that the Impostor was anything more than what Monobear had been. An enemy. Something to be feared. Something separate from the friend and leader they'd lost. 

He thought of sharing all this with Mioda, but in the end he decided it wasn’t anything that she wanted to hear. Instead he told her, “There’s no way she’s here. Come on. Let’s go tell the others about the Monobeast.”

“No way, hm? Then Ibuki's mysteries are compounding on each other.” Mioda got to her feet, and tucked the hamsters into a Monobear-printed tote bag she’d found, of all places, in Owari’s motel room. “And Ibuki’s thinking there’s many too many mysteries for Ibuki to solve…”

“You’re telling me.” Hinata got to his feet – but when he did, he could swear that he saw something, or someone, out of the corner of his eye. But when he looked back, whatever it was had gone, leaving him unsure of whether he’d seen anything to begin with. "Hey, Mioda," he said, "You didn't see anyone there, did you?"

"Huh?" Mioda blinked. "Ibuki doesn't see anyone but Hajime-chan."

"I know, but..." Hinata turned, and took several steps back – but if someone really had been there, they wouldn't have been able to run away in the time it took for Hinata to look back. "Never mind. It was nothing. Let's go."

=====

The walk back seemed to take even longer than the walk there, and every step reminded Hinata of the time he was losing. Five and a half hours. If they didn’t find Owari within five and a half hours…

Would they all die? Was that how the rules worked? But… that didn’t work, not with what the Impostor had told them about their purpose, or even the meaning of the ransom. But then, why make the threat? Was it only to scare them? Was it because they'd assume this was something that they could carry out?

He wanted to ask Mioda about it, but couldn’t think of how without directly referencing the Impostor. So he thought instead of the alternative. They find Owari. They talk her out of her plan, they bring her back into the team, and then the Impostor doesn't slaughter them all for not obeying their order. But then the Future Foundation doesn’t show up. And the ten o’clock ultimatum passes, or the Impostor simply gets bored….

Hinata stopped right in his tracks, just as they were passing the first island beach. "We’ve been had,” he said.

“Huh?” Mioda stopped, and turned back to face him. “What’s going on?”

"We're delivering Owari to her executioner. If she's even lost at all." He could feel his hope ebbing away with every word. “We need to hurry –"

"Hurry? But what for?"

The voice was so loud it nearly knocked Hinata off balance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the monitor near the entrance to Jabberwock Park, which had turned itself on again, and remained as black as usual. "But it's not even close to time," he said to himself. "Why –"

“Good news, everyone!” the Impostor interrupted again. "You’ve shown a truly commendable ability to follow orders, and We are very impressed. But, you no longer have any need to find Owari-chan. Whatever she does is her own business... but it would assist you to know that she might appear at six o’clock on Chandler Beach. Might.”

The voice paused. “But only she’s willing to face me.”

The screen turned off again, hissing as it released its static. Mioda’s face appeared to have drained of color, along with it. “They’ve got her,” she said. “They found her first.”

“Or they’re calling her out.” Hinata felt too shaky to think. “We need to  go to the hotel – no, the beach –” He shook his head rapidly and picked himself back up, running as soon as he knew his feet were stable. “We've just gotta go back! Come on!"

Chapter Text

Hinata didn’t see anyone within their immediate line of sight when they got back to the first island.

He looked wildly around before he went anywhere near the beach, and even ran ahead of Mioda for some distance in the opposite direction, just to make sure he wasn’t missing anyone. The announcement had to have played across the entire island, if it was anything like the others. But wherever the others were, either they hadn’t gotten back yet, or they were meeting somewhere else, or…

Or whatever the “or” could mean. It would do Hinata no earthly good to occupy himself worrying, when he couldn’t be sure. He ran back to Mioda, who’d followed him most of the way, panting with exertion. “No sign of anyone here yet,” he said. “Should we head to the hotel?”

Mioda, who had been looking off into the distance, took a second to come back to reality. “Ibuki doesn’t know if they’re there,” she said, “but she knows they’re coming here.”

Hinata wiped a layer of sweat off his forehead. Even if the sun was sinking in the sky, it only seemed to be getting hotter. “We don’t really have to wait here,” he said. “There’s still another hour…”

Mioda looked back over at the beach as Hinata spoke, and something in that move, even if she wasn’t conscious of it, pinched a nerve in his chest. “But we can if we want to,” he said quickly, hoping she couldn’t tell it’d been a second thought.

They walked back to the beach, which loomed larger and larger on the horizon until finally Hinata could feel the grains of sand making their way into his shoes. He stopped then, but Mioda kept going, walking down the path and into the sand, stopping only briefly to look left and right before she walked towards the ocean.

There wasn’t a single sign of the party she’d held there, four days and an eternity ago. They’d been very thorough in cleaning up; Monomi had made sure of that. He saw no debris from the fireworks, nothing anyone else had left behind, not even any indentations in the sand to mark where they’d sat…

But Hinata had a good idea of where everything had been. For a moment he resisted the urge to retrace steps, unwilling to face what would happen if he did, but he knew he had no other choice. He stepped down the path, down to the spot where he’d set up the fireworks – where he and Togami had set up the fireworks, he’d almost forgotten that. From there, from the distances to the palm trees on the opposite end of the beach, he could very nearly estimate where he’d been, and where the others had sat.

He stumbled across the sand to that spot, and set himself down. He didn’t know if he’d remembered right, but he knew he didn’t have to. His mind was filling in the blanks, and recreating the landscape as he remembered it, if there was anything in reality that didn’t match up.  Like the size and shape of the dunes. Or the darkness of the sky or the roar of the fireworks in his ears as Nidai set them off...

Or any of them, as he’d fixed them in his mind. Saionji pulling on Tsumiki’s hair. Nanami listening raptly to Souda. Tanaka on the opposite end of the beach, looking back with what Hinata now realized was longing; Koizumi standing at the edge of the path and taking Kuzuryuu’s picture as he tried to hide behind the palm tree; Owari wandering away, disappearing into the distance…

And Togami, or the person that had used that name, looking up at the sky, mesmerized by the fireworks, lightly wrapping their arm around Mioda as she rested her head on their stomach... and then looking back, looking at Hinata, smiling at Hinata, communicating in a way that somehow no longer required words…

But did that have to be a memory? Or was Hinata only making up the second Mioda he could see in the distance, sitting and looking at the ocean by herself…?

“Get a hold of yourself,” he said aloud, burying his head in his knees so he wouldn’t have to look anymore.  “There’s no one here.”

He sat in that position for what felt like an age, willing himself not to look up. This was ridiculous, he knew, and if anyone found him like this, they’d…

No, they wouldn’t make fun of him. But they’d be horrified, or angry that he was wasting time. They’d be just as hurt as he felt, and in any case he didn’t want to open his eyes and find out what he was or wasn’t going to see.

At one point he thought he heard footsteps. Was it Mioda, coming to join him? Or one of the others, just approaching him after they’d arrived? Either way, they might serve to bring him back into reality, and perhaps that was what he needed.

He looked up. And then a hand grabbed his arm, and another grabbed his mouth.

He moved as if to scream, but the grip was so tight that he couldn’t make a sound. His captor shoved him behind a nearby palm tree, then released him. In a second Mioda was by his side, also held by the shoulder and mouth.

Now that Hinata wasn’t captive himself, he could see who’d captured him, and even if he was surprised he knew it couldn’t have been anyone else.

“O-Owari!” he sputtered.

“AKANE-CHAN!” Mioda shouted, at the top of her lungs, before Owari clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Shh! Not yet!” Owari did a shoulder-check of the empty beach. “You’re gonna ruin my advantage!”

“Advantage –?!” Hinata could hardly believe what he was seeing. Owari looked an absolute and utter mess – her uniform was ripped in a dozen places, her hair was sticking up at odd angles, and dirt and sweat had been smeared over most of her skin. But there was a fire blazing in her eyes – the same fire he’d seen back at Chandler Beach. “Well, alright, but – where were you?! We’ve been –”

“Looking all over for you? Yeah, I know.” Owari released Mioda and scratched herself behind her ears. “Guess I should’ve said something after the announcement, but if I did you guys would just try and pull me back to the hotel.”

“Well, what do you think we’ve been doing?” Hinata sputtered. “The Impostor – they said if we didn’t find you –”

“I know! I just told you I heard!” For all her insistence on quiet, Owari’s volume was getting to a worrying level. “So what? Are you here to convince me to come back?”

“No, we’re here to take you back.”

It wasn’t Mioda speaking – it was Koizumi. Hinata spun to find himself at her eye level, with Saionji at her heels. He hadn’t heard either of them approach, although looking up he could see Nanami close behind her, followed by Kuzuryuu and Souda. She wasn’t looking at Hinata, though – her eyes were locked on Owari, and in the two weeks he’d known her, he’d never seen her so furious.

He could tell Owari thought the same – her grin was nervous more than anything else. “Uh, hey, Koizumi-chan –”

“I thought I told you we needed to stick together,” Koizumi said. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“And Hinata-kun, Mioda-san, what are you doing here?” Nanami didn’t look angry – but she did look disappointed. “Why didn’t you come and find us?”

Mioda tensed, and twisted her fingers together. “Ah, well. We tried to find everyone, but we figured that if this was where we were told to go –”

“But we weren’t,” Nanami said. “The announcement was a call-out, but it wasn’t an order.”

Hinata’s stomach twisted – he hated the looks on all their faces. “I wasn’t thinking of it as showing up to a fight,” he said, though he was realizing the folly of his actions. “And, anyway, we found Owari –”

“And we shouldn’t be acting rashly like this.” Koizumi grabbed Owari by the arm, just as she had the previous night. “If they want to kill one of us that bad, well – let them come and find us, but I’m – none of us are going to let you go into a fight you’re not going to win!”

“And what makes you think I’m not going to win?” Owari wrenched her arm out of Koizumi’s grasp, which was not a difficult feat. “I beat them last time, didn’t I? I can beat them again!”

“Yeah, but you beat them at an eating contest, stupid,” Saionji said.

“Yeah, t-this is totally different!” Souda said. “You don’t even know what you’re up against!”

“Yeah, I do.” Owari pounded her fist into her palm. “Sure, they have a lot of advantages I don’t. But if we’re just fighting hand to hand, it doesn’t matter!”

“Just fighting hand to hand?” Kuzuryuu said. “Who told you that?”

“They did,” Owari said. “I ran into them –”

“Wait, you RAN INTO them?” Hinata couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Where were they?”

“On the fifth island.” Owari pointed across the ocean, past the bridges. “It’s really different over there, too. All this smoke and broken down-machinery. Kinda reminded me of home a bit –”

“Back up a second,” Kuzuryuu said. “The fifth island is open!?”

“Yeah, and the fourth one, too,” Owari said. “I’ve been bouncing back and forth. One of the Monobeasts’s been smashed up, so the other one’s doing double duty. But it’s kinda like that smasher machine at license plate factories – you gotta wait til it’s gone to go through.”

“That – never mind. That doesn’t matter right now.” Koizumi lifted her arm again, as if to grab Owari’s, but this time she hesitated – and she even looked afraid. “Akane-chan – listen to me. You can’t do this. This is a suicide, and you know it!”

“Huh? No, I don’t, and neither do you.” Owari folded her arms. “You’re just assuming it is.”

“You don’t know what the Impostor is capable of, Owari-san,” Nanami said. “Everything that Monobear was, they could be now. And if you take them up on their challenge…”

“What, you think I was afraid of Monobear?” Owari said. “I wasn’t, and even if the Impostor is just the same now, I’m not afraid of them either.”

“You saw what they did to Nidai and Tanaka,” Hinata said. “You can’t seriously think of beating them, not when –”

“Of course I can!” Owari whirled on them. “The Future-whatever’s not here, and if we all just go back to the hotel and wait to get killed, then that’s what’s going to happen. If I don’t give this a shot, then we’re all going to die. For sure.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll tell you one thing I don’t get, though. The Impostor…” She paused, thinking for a second before she spoke again. “They’re different from before. I mean, they look different. It’s…” She screwed her eyes shut, and shook her head. “I don’t know how to describe it. It doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Mioda said, sounding surprised. “But how does Akane-chan not know how to describe someone?”

“It’s almost six,” Owari said, as if Mioda hadn’t spoken. She put her Electronic Student ID back in the waistband of her skirt, and started stretching her arms. “They’ll be here any minute –”

“Owari-san!” Nanami stepped forward, past Koizumi, looking Owari directly in the eye. She took a long pause before she spoke again. “Don’t you remember the rule?” she said. “The one that says that you’ll die if you attack them?”

“Nanami...” For just a second, Owari seemed to hesitate, and Hinata could almost believe she was going to turn back. But then she smirked. “Of course. Old man Nidai drilled that into my head already. But I only have to worry about that if I lose.”

“Owari-san, NO!” Nanami and Koizumi stepped forward at the same time, but Owari had already walked out from behind the palm trees. From there Nanami didn’t dare follow her, and neither did Koizumi, or anyone else.

=====

Owari stepped out to the middle of the beach, just between the path and the palm grove. She smacked her hands together, pummeling her fist against her palm. “HEY!” she shouted, looking back and forth. “Impostor! Or whoever you are!”

She paused, but there was no response – not from the monitor and not from anywhere else. Hinata didn’t see a single thing move, or anyone coming up in the distance. “All that talk and you’re really not gonna come out?” Owari balled her hands into fists. “The old man never stood down from a fight, y’know? Even when he was losing, he wasn’t a coward!”

The beach sat empty and still. If anyone was listening, they showed no sign of having heard. Next to his shoulder Hinata could see Koizumi’s hands trembling, and could hear the cold, constant clatter of her teeth, but she didn’t dare move, and neither did anyone else. Saionji was curled into a ball at Koizumi’s feet, her hands over her eyes, Kuzuryuu was glaring down at his bandaged hands, and Nanami… she was forcing herself to look, but Hinata could see the fear in her eyes…

“So that’s how you are, huh?” Owari cracked her knuckles, first on one hand, then the other. “You already know there’s no winning by default!”

Hinata could barely stand to look anymore. “I don’t understand,” he said. “If they’re not going to face her the way they said, then…”

“Then they’re going to cheat? Is that what you’re thinking?”

“I…” Hinata turned to Koizumi. “I don’t know, but we still don’t know if…”

He stopped when he realized Koizumi was staring blankly at him. “If…what?” she said.

“If they might just…kill her,” Hinata said, mouthing the last two words. “Wasn’t that what you were saying?”

“Hinata, I didn’t say…” Koizumi’s eyes went wide, and her face blanched in shock.  Behind you, she mouthed.

“Huh?” Hinata whipped his head around – just in time to see Mioda, Nanami, and Souda jumping back from the person who, until a few seconds ago, had been shoulder to shoulder with Hinata. He knew in an instant who it was; not only from their body, but from the look on Mioda’s face.

But how did they get here without anyone seeing? he thought. And how in the hell did I mistake their voice for Koizumi’s?!

“HEY!” he shouted, but the Impostor didn’t turn back to him, or to anyone else who’d called out – they stepped out from between the palm trees and set off across the beach. Hinata had been well within distance to grab them, though of course he hadn’t dared – but now his legs seemed to be moving on their own, and they were running away from the trees, and across the beach, out to where Owari had placed herself.

He only got a few paces beyond the palm trees before he felt a rough jerk at his shoulder, forcing him to come to a stop. He looked down to find Nanami at his side, staring up at him.

“We’re staying here,” she said. “We can’t do anything right now.”

Hinata couldn’t speak – he could only nod, and look back. He was the only one who’d run out, and only Koizumi and Kuzuryuu were still visible behind the trees. But he wasn’t about to move again. He wasn’t going to retreat, and if Nanami was going to hold him back, then so be it.

The Impostor moved to place themselves with their back to the water, facing Owari, whose back had been to the path. “It’s only just now six o’clock,” they said, stepping into position. “If I’m a coward, then you’re a fool for not taking the extra time.”

If Owari was at all surprised to see them, then she’d taken great care not to show it. “What do I care about time? I’ve wasted enough!” She slammed her hands together. “What are you waiting for now?”

“Only for you to start,” they said. Owari had been right about the Impostor. Their appearance… it wasn’t that it was outlandish, or that he couldn’t find the words to describe it. He couldn’t realize a fully accurate picture of them in his mind at all. He’d never experienced anything like it before, unless the experience could be likened to looking directly into the sun and seeing spots at the corners of his vision.

Details did come through, little by little. Something about their hair wasn’t what it’d been before. The color was darker, and the length was different. And their voice, their voice was different too – the tone had shifted, and the cadences were rougher. The shirt was the same – a white-button down – but even then something about it was still…

He couldn’t watch for long. Owari flew forward, blurring Hinata’s view, her fist aimed directly at the Impostor’s face.

Their arm flew up, blocking hers, and she was knocked back across the beach – but she crouched, braced for the impact, and then jumped back up, and raced forward with all she had.

From there, the flurry of the battle went so fast Hinata could barely follow it. She punched, they dodged; they charged, she sidestepped; she kicked, they grabbed and they threw; she fell and she stumbled again and Hinata could see the raw pink marks on her thighs from where the sand had scraped them, but she still got up, and she still ran back. They exchanged no words, and they hardly even made any sound, but neither of them seemed to tire, and neither of them showed any break in their resolve.

Every bone in Hinata’s body was telling him to do something. To run in. To interfere. It was the hardest thing in the world to accept that he couldn’t. That the difference between life and death lay beyond him, and that it might even hinge on a split second.

He could focus on the others, but there wasn’t much more he could do for them either. Koizumi was even more far gone than he was – she couldn’t take her eyes off the fight, and her face was still bone-white. “She’s dead,” she said. “She’s going to die…”

“Not if she wins.” Kuzuryuu’s voice was toneless; he sounded like he didn’t entirely believe in what he was saying.

“But… can she win?” Souda, Hinata noticed, had moved to stand directly behind him. “I mean…they’re…they’re the way they are...”

“If you think about it, her odds are pretty good,” Hinata said. “She’s a trained gymnast, and they’re…” He looked back up at the fight. “They’re…evenly matched…”

“She’s not going to win.” Hinata was surprised he could hear Nanami at all. Perhaps it was only because she was still standing close, and holding him by the arm – now with her nails digging into his flesh. “This was a losing battle from the beginning.”

“Nanami?” Hinata said, but Nanami didn’t answer. She let go of his shoulder, and turned away, as if to pretend she hadn’t spoken. But he couldn’t get her words out of her mind. He remembered the swirling shapes above Nidai’s head, and in the back of his mind he wondered if she really did have a chance.

He realized he hadn’t heard Saionji or Mioda speak. Saionji was standing not far from Koizumi, looking extremely agitated. Had she sensed Koizumi’s distress? Was she simply too afraid of the situation at hand to assert herself at all? Those were the only two guesses he could make about someone he barely understood. And Mioda…she was standing far away from the entire group, following every one of the Impostor’s movements with her eyes, never daring to look away, hardly seeming to blink, and muttering to herself, under her breath, as if she were saying what she was thinking aloud only to herself.

And now things were starting to change. They both appeared to be tiring. They were missing shots they shouldn’t have missed, and letting in blows they could easily have avoided. He could see both of their chests heaving, and sweat glistening on their faces, but even then there was no talk of giving in, not even as a taunt.

But as the minutes went by, even when the punches connected they didn’t seem to be doing much damage. Owari’s nose was bleeding profusely, the Impostor had a black eye swelling on their left side, and both their legs were purple with bruises, just to start. But they’d been sustained at the beginning, and they were taking their toll over time.

Owari aimed for the face again, but only barely connected with the nose before the Impostor shoved her back. She kicked, they shoved, she lunged, they blocked. Hinata had never seen Owari look so worn out, never seen her truly struggle with any kind of physical task. Even if she had a will, Hinata wasn’t sure she had a way… but her will was still strong, and her will was propelling her forward…

But then, she didn’t. She hesitated for longer than Hinata had expected her to, clutching her shoulder, teasing her fingers against her bruises, looking the Impostor dead in the eyes. All the while they stared down at her from their height, their expression stone. Her shoulders heaved, and she lunged again –

But then the Impostor’s arm flew forward, with inhuman speed, and their hand closed around her flying fist, stopping it in its tracks. Her eyes went wide, and she pushed hard against them, and for the first time in the fight she called out in a wordless yell. But they didn’t move, and she was rapidly wasting her energy.

“You’re not conceding defeat,” the Impostor said, straightening their back. Then, without warning, they kicked Owari in the gut with a speed and strength they’d all thought they no longer had, sending her flying into the sand. 

Hinata’s screams mixed with the rest. Owari landed some distance from them, so they stepped forward, cracking their knuckles. For the first time in the fight he got a good look at their face – but even then, had he only imagined the sweat, the heaving, or the black eye? Because either he had, or they’d disappeared in an instant. But that was impossible – there was no way he could get himself to accept that…

“You’re not going to beat me,” they said as they approached. Owari didn’t answer – she was just getting to her hands and knees. She was shaking, and only making progress by halves – but she was moving. “I agreed to fight you, hand to hand. I didn’t agree that would make us evenly matched.”

For a second Hinata feared they’d kick her again, but they didn’t. “It was never a fair fight,” they said. “Did you not realize that? Are you really so thickheaded you’ll –”

“You don’t get it.”

Owari lifted her head, and pulled herself to her feet. Her legs were shaking, her body was at its limit – but she was still standing. “I’m not…gonna lose,” she said. “I can’t. And I’m not.”

“What…?” Koizumi’s voice was small and still in the ensuing silence. “What… what does she mean, she’s…”

“That’s the same as saying you’ve lost.” The Impostor fixed her with steely precision. “What are you trying to do?”

Owari laughed, weakly, painfully. “If I’d just listened… if I’d gone with Koizumi and everyone else, and I’d just run and hid… then I’d be the one who’d lost. You would’ve killed one of the others, or me before I could fight…”

“No,” Hinata said, speaking under his breath. He looked around at the others, whose eyes were just as wide – with awe, or with terror, or with despair, he had no way of telling. “That’s not…that’s not worth –”

“So it doesn’t matter whether I could win or not,” Owari went on. “If I knew I couldn’t, that’d be different, but still…” She laughed again. “Old man Nidai… either way, I still got your revenge…”

But he wouldn’t want her to do this, Hinata thought.  He’d want to get her as far away from this as possible. He gave his life so she could live…

“So that’s it,” the Impostor said. “That’s how it is…”

For a moment, they remained still – but then they began to tremble, and their face contorted, twisting into a look of disgust. “Then… then all this time, and all this despair, and you still aren’t going to – RAAAAGGGHHH!”

With a roar they thrust their arms out in front of them, and the next thing Hinata could comprehend was a burst of light over his vision. He didn’t know if it was some kind of reflection off the bridge, or if his eyes really weren’t deceiving him, and there was some kind of beam of energy shooting from the Impostor’s hands…

And then the light died down, and Hinata could see in front of him again. Owari’s expression hadn’t changed. She still held her arm across her body, and her face was frozen in a smirk. But a perfectly round hole had been burned through the top of her chest, straight through her heart – and without the will remaining to hold them up, her legs were beginning to shake.

Her body fell to its knees, then dropped to its side, without a single twitch or other sign that she’d somehow made it out alive. She didn’t bleed, but only because whatever it was that had made the hole had also cauterized the wound.

=====

“OWARI!!”

Hinata charged ahead of the rest, his vision blurring and stinging as his sweat flew into his eyes. He was closely followed by Nanami, but as he approached Owari’s body Koizumi pushed him aside. She knelt above Owari’s head and pulled her up onto her lap, and though her back was turned Hinata could see her shoulders heaving up and down, and her hands shaking as they drummed against her arms.

“No…” she was repeating, over and over. “No, no, no no no, you idiot…”

She didn’t say anything else, and she didn’t move. She could have hunched over in despair, or she could have screamed and cried and lashed out in some way – but if her thoughts were anything like Hinata’s, then she knew neither of those things would satisfy her, and nor would they bring Owari back.

Saionji was standing near her, staring fixedly at Owari’s frozen face and hugging herself across her chest, at the level of her heart. The rest of them stood some distance back, but not too far – apart from Kuzuryuu, who had stopped far enough out that Hinata couldn’t read his face. Nanami still clutched Hinata’s arm. Souda stood hunched, his hands clamped tight over his mouth. And Mioda stood some distance away from them all, looking back and forth between the girl on the ground and…

And the Impostor, who stood across the beach, watching them. Their arms were extended in front of their body, their palms open as if in giving, and their entire body seemed to be heaving and shaking with exertion, or some other kind of distress.

“And that’s it,” they said, struggling to speak through their own laughter. “That’s all it is, that’s all there is… all the reasons in the world to give up, to acknowledge she couldn’t win… ”

“Shut up,” Souda said, starting at a whisper and getting louder. “Shut up, shut up, shut UP –”

“But isn’t it worse that she didn’t wait for you?” they said, lowering their arms and looking up at the sky. It was clear that whoever they were talking to, it wasn’t them. “Is the hope of victory the product of the despair of abandonment? Could the despair of having the despair that you can’t control take over the despair that you were expecting?”  

Hinata expected someone to run forward. Someone to shout an insult, someone to take Owari’s place in the fight or attempt to avenge her. But Owari had run that impulse out. They’d all seen what would happen. They couldn’t even tell themselves that they could tough the Impostor anymore.

“Six twenty-four,” they went on. Their voice was slowing down, and drawing itself out. “It’s a while before the deadline, but I told you that I’d kill them at any time. It didn’t have to be anywhere near ten o’clock. Even if you’re the slightest bit late in the morning, I could always cut to the chase…”

“SHUT UP!” Souda shouted, clutching at his head.  

“Yeah, GO ON!” the Impostor shouted back, snapping their head back. “Scream if that’s the only despair you have to give!”

A wicked grin spread across their face, and one look was enough to stop Souda in his tracks. “What? What are you stopping for? Keep going! Scream, or I’ll kill you! Scream at me if you’re stupid enough! Beg me for mercy if you’re stupid enough! Appeal to my humanity if you’re stupid enough! What the fuck are you waiting for, huh?!”

An odd change came over Souda’s face – far from looking afraid, he looked confused. His mouth was open, and he could have screamed – but somehow he no longer could. Instead, Saionji screamed, looking more like she was forcing it out to keep from dying than anything else.

“Ah…you can stop, now. That was all a joke, actually.” Their voice dropped to almost a whisper, and they tugged at their hair. “As it turns out, as soon as you order someone to despair, that despair becomes fake, tarnished, weak, unusable. The true despair in this situation comes out of their silence – HEY, I TOLD YOU TO FUCKING STOP!”

Saionji slowed to a stop, shaking in surprise. Or so Hinata thought, as far as he could tell. He could hardly look at her, not without looking down at Owari, and when he looked down at Owari he felt his blood boiling under his skin.

“This isn’t right,” he said, mumbling at first, and then speaking more loudly. “This shouldn’t be happening. You shouldn’t be doing this -”

“…Huuuuh? I shouldn’t be doing what?” The Impostor pressed their finger to the side of their lips, and stared Hinata down with an unthinkable intensity. “I shouldn’t be ‘killing’? I shouldn’t be ‘following my own rules’? Is that what you’re going to say? There’s not anything else you had in mind, right? Because if there is, I don’t want to hear it.”

“You still killed her,” Koizumi said, pulling herself to her feet. She wasn’t shouting, or trying to start a confrontation – but then, she wasn’t saying anything they didn’t already know. “You killed her – after you promised her a fair fight –”

“I shouldn’t be wasting my time on this,” they went on. “Not when the Future Foundation isn’t taking any of your despair to heart. You know that, don’t you?” They looked back up at the sky. “I could put all of this to a stop at any time. Any minute. Any second. It’s your insistence on not arriving that’s keeping this game going –”

“That’s not going to work, Impostor-san.” Nanami released her grip on Hinata’s shoulder, and stepped in front of him, blocking him from the Impostor’s view. “You’re reusing Monobear’s tactics, you know? You’re trying to make us doubt something we don’t know anything about, and shifting the blame off yourself …”

Hinata heard Mioda drawing breath from just next to his ear. He turned to find her staring, mouth open, moving her lips as if she were speaking, but making no actual sound. If the Impostor had taken notice of this, they showed no sign. “But does that matter in the end?” they said, tugging at their hair again. “If you believe what you say, and you trust in them so much… then where are they? Can you answer that, Nanami-chan?”

Nanami’s lip trembled. “They’re…they’re coming.”

“You don’t sound very con-fi-dent –”

“I have faith in them,” Nanami interrupted. “I know they’ll come.”

“You ‘know’…” Their voice trailed off again. “But I know that you can’t know for sure. And isn’t that more properly ‘hope’?”

Nanami remained still, and she did not reply. The Impostor stood their ground for some seconds, and then they started moving, pacing back and forth, looking each of them over, again and again, each time with an increasingly odd half-interest…

And then they stopped, and lingered on Mioda. For ten agonizing seconds they caught her gaze and held it. They didn’t blink, and their hair didn’t even seem to move in the breeze. Mioda’s lip trembled, but the Impostor remained still, as though she had not moved.

“You –” she started, but then they turned their head, putting her entirely out of their vision. “I wonder if you’ll have them with you when I see you again,” they said, before, in a blink, they were gone.

Before Hinata could even begin to wonder how they could’ve disappeared, he heard a series of shouts from behind his back. He turned to find the others gathered around Koizumi, who was crouching, mouth agape, at the top of the empty patch of sand where, just minutes earlier, Owari’s body had lain.

=====

“She’s gone,” Nanami said. “Owari’s gone!”

“But where did she go?” Hinata said. Even as he said it, he didn’t feel like he was able to process the proper level of shock. He felt as though all the blood and adrenaline in his body had rushed into his head at once, and rest of his body felt remarkably light, as though it had ceased to exist altogether. “Who could’ve taken her? And how?”

“M-maybe this is a good thing!” Mioda said, looking unsure of herself even as she spoke. “M-maybe she got back up again, and –”

“That’s not funny,” Koizumi snapped, stopping Mioda’s words in their tracks. “How can you joke about something like this!?”

“Mahiru-chan…” Mioda took a step closer to Koizumi, then thought better of it. “Ibuki wasn’t trying to be funny, she was…” Her voice trailed off as it became clear to her that Koizumi wasn’t going to turn around. “Never mind.”

No one moved, and no one spoke, not for a long time. Saionji shook where she stood, Nanami hung her head, and Souda clenched and unclenched his fists, looking both terrified and frustrated. “We should’ve done something,” he said, a tremor of fear returning to his voice. “We should’ve … why the hell was I just screaming…”

“What would we have done, though?” Hinata hated to hear himself say it.

“We already knew we couldn’t beat them with blunt force.” Koizumi said. “And even if Akane-chan hadn’t done this…”

“We’re all still going to die. She killed herself for nothing.” Kuzuryuu didn’t look at her as he spoke. “You’re thinking it. We all are.”

“Shut up,” Koizumi said, but there was no energy in the response, not even any anger. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, it does matter.” Nanami stepped past Hinata to stand between Koizumi and Kuzuryuu. “We’re not going to be stuck in this forever. The Future Foundation, we all know they’re coming –”

“We don’t know that,” Kuzuryuu said, rounding on Nanami in anger. “So stop saying we do!”

“Kuzuryuu…” Koizumi gritted her teeth. Hinata had never seen her look so defeated. “There really is nothing else we can do but wait,” she said. “And if they don’t come…”

“Hey, no!” Saionji grabbed at Koizumi’s arm, pulling her back to face her. “We’re not gonna die, you already said!”

“They are gonna come,” Mioda mumbled. “And no one else is gonna die, not Ibuki or anyone else…”

“I know that, I know…but…” Koizumi turned away again, balling her hands into fists. “Let’s…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, and none of the others finished it for her. Kuzuryuu didn’t even have a retort, beyond the shaking of his hands. It was as though they were still under the Impostor’s eye, and they were still talking to them, shouting over them, emphasizing just what they’d gotten themselves into. He didn’t want to admit he’d lost his hope. He could tell the others didn’t, either. But could he honestly lie to himself like that? Could he really believe that there was anywhere else to turn? Or anything else he could do but wait for a help that might not come? And worse still…if they all gave up on hope, would they tear themselves apart?

Is this our message to the outside? he thought. Can they hear us? Do they know what we’re experiencing? Wherever they are… do they really know or care what’s happening?

He felt his vision blurring, but it wasn’t the kind of blur, all too familiar now, that came with a flow of tears. It was something inside, something that was making his head feel like it was lurching back and forth, even when he was standing still. Was he going to be sick? No, this was different…

This was worse. He could feel himself losing his sense of where he was. He didn’t want to pass out, he couldn’t pass out, but he also couldn’t stay awake. He had to be alert, he had to stay on task… But something seemed to be pulling him away from the moment, and the voices around him felt as though they were blurring at the edges…

He fell to his knees, and had the vaguest feeling that he’d caught the others’ attention, and that they were yelling his name. He tried to call out to them, to tell them that he was okay… but he couldn’t move his mouth or keep his eyes open, and once he closed them he knew no more.

=============================================

“Hinata-kun? Hinata-kun!”

Nanami ran to Hinata’s side as soon as she saw him drop. She placed one hand at the bottom of his stomach and the other behind his head in an attempt to pull him back up, while Mioda and Koizumi held him from the other side. His eyes were still open, but they were glassy and unseeing, and all they got out of him was a moan before his head dropped and his body slumped.

“Water – someone get some water!” Nanami shouted back at the rest.

Kuzuryuu looked briefly at the ocean, then right back at Hinata. “With what?”

“One second, one second!” Mioda let Hinata’s head go, leaving Nanami and Koizumi to struggle to set him down, and pulled the Four Dark Gods of Destruction out of her Monobear tote. “Ibuki’ll be back in a flash –”

“No, I’ll get it!” Kuzuryuu ran forward, wrapped his arms around the Monobear tote, pulled it out of Ibuki’s hands, and sped for the ocean.

“Fuyuhiko-chan?” Mioda shrugged, and then turned back to Hinata. “HEY! HAJIME-CHAN!” She grabbed him by the lapels and shook him back and forth violently, but this did nothing to bring him out of his stupor.

“Mioda-san, that’s not going to work!” Nanami grabbed Mioda by the shoulder. “We should wait for Kuzuryuu-kun to come back –”

She was cut off when Saionji pushed past her and slapped Hinata full across the face. But there was no response – he didn’t even groan. “Saionji-san!” Nanami said, indignant.

“What? That’s all I wanted to do,” Saionji said, stepping back.

Nanami gritted her teeth, and looked back at Hinata. “Well, he’s breathing,” she said. “If the water doesn’t work, we should get him inside, or get something from the supermarket…”

“But what’s going on with him?” Souda crouched by the top of Hinata’s head, looking into his closed eyes. “He was just fine a second ago…”

“I didn’t think he’d be making a scene now.” Koizumi folded her arms, and looked away from Hinata. “Typical, unreliable Hinata-kun. Always making everything more difficult for everyone else…”

“We should just leave him until he wakes up on his own,” Saionji said.

“That’s not what I was saying,” Koizumi said, more for Nanami’s benefit than for Saionji’s. “Let’s just – never mind.” She looked out across the beach. “Where’d Kuzuryuu go?”

Souda scanned the coastline. “Uh…he’s…far away, where he should be.”

“I can’t even see what he’s doing,” Koizumi stood, and cupped her hand around her mouth. “HEY, HURRY UP –”

“Wait, look!” Mioda pointed down at Hinata. “Ibuki thinks Hajime-chan’s coming to!”

Koizumi dropped down in an instant, joining the others as they gathered around Hinata. His eyes were still closed, but his arms were moving, and his hands were feeling their way through the sand.

“Hinata-kun!” Nanami said. “Are you alright? Can you stand?”

“Did Hajime-chan get sand in his eyes?” Mioda tapped her hand against her chin.

There was no way Hinata couldn’t have heard them, but he didn’t react to their words at all. Instead, he rose to a sitting position, then pulled himself up on his hands and knees, and stood still in the center of the group.

“Hinata-kun?” Nanami’s face was crossed with confusion and worry. “Are you really feeling okay?”

Hinata ignored Nanami entirely, and remained standing still. Koizumi bit at her lip, hoping her nerves weren’t showing through too strongly. “Well, if you can stand,” she said, “we should probably get inside. Or to the supermarket, we can get some water there –”

SPLASH! Koizumi been so focused on Hinata that she hadn’t seen Kuzuryuu return with the rapidly-leaking tote-full of water hanging from his wrist until he’d sloshed the remains of it across the back of Hinata’s shirt. The others’ eyes widened with surprise, but Kuzuryuu simply shrugged. “I got it,” he said, before nonchalantly extending the soaking-wet bag to Mioda.

“Er…” Koizumi gave Kuzuryuu a look, but she still didn’t want to hold his attention for too long – so she gave it to Hinata, instead. “Does that help?”

Hinata didn’t respond, and didn’t even have any kind of reflexive reaction to having water dumped on him. But after several seconds of standing so still he hardly seemed to be breathing, he started to move. He walked away from the group, almost plowing through Kuzuryuu on the way, and headed up the beach at a fairly brisk pace.

“Hey –” At first Kuzuryuu looked annoyed, but then he saw Hinata’s face, and his eyes bugged out of his head. “Is he still asleep?”

“I have no idea,” Nanami said, taking a few steps forward. “Hinata-kun! Where are you going?”

“Hinata!” Souda took off ahead of Nanami, clutching his chest as he went. Running as fast as he could, it took him several seconds to catch up and grab Hinata by the arm. “You’re kinda weirdin’ me out –”

Hinata wrenched himself from Souda’s grip and continued on at the same pace. Souda stumbled backward, clutching at his chest. “HEY!” he yelled back, once he’d gotten his breath. “Th-the hell do you think you’re doing? This isn’t funny!”

Hinata continued up the path without looking back. Nanami stared after him for a moment, tapping her trembling lower lip, before she turned back to the rest. “We need to follow him,” she said. “Come on!”

She took several steps backward towards Souda and the path, but only Mioda ran to join her, skidding to a stop at her feet. Koizumi and Saionji stayed still, with Kuzuryuu standing just behind them. “Well-” Kuzuryuu gritted his teeth. “How do we know this isn’t another trap?”

“We…we don’t,” Nanami said. “But we don’t have a choice.”

She took off without another word from the others, but the sound of footsteps in the sand told her they were all close behind. She still looked back to make sure; not only was she correct, but Koizumi had come forward to join her and Mioda.

By the time they caught up to Hinata he’d left the beach, and was heading for the bridge to the central island. His eyes were still closed, and his pace still somewhat faster than the rest of them. “I don’t understand,” Koizumi said, narrowing her eyes. “Where does he think he’s going?”

“He’s going crazy,” Saionji said.

“Or maybe he’s cursed by the spirits of the dead…” Mioda hugged the Four Dark Gods of Destruction closer to her chest.  

“We don’t know,” Nanami said, as they crossed the threshold of the bridge. “And we can’t make any assumptions until –”

“They may think they’ve considered everything.”

Nanami skidded to a stop. It was Hinata’s voice, she could tell, even when he wasn’t facing her. He’d stopped in the middle of the bridge, and was now looking up at the sky, even though his eyes were still closed.

“Er,” Koizumi said, her voice barely audible. “Hinata…?”

“They may think they’ve mastered all that they have and that they can’t understand,” the voice went on. “That if they can take despair’s name and they can wear despair’s face, then they can embody despair, and take charge of despair’s destruction…”

“What…” Kuzuryuu looked rapidly back and forth, and then met Souda’s eyes. “What the hell’s going on…?”

“That’s not his voice,” Souda said, staring wide-eyed at his friend. “A-and I’ve heard him say a lot of weird stuff, but this…”

“But the bounds of this world and the bounds of the world outside are not for hope or despair to take. They may press against each other and they may fight and they may consider themselves opposites….”

For once in his life Souda was right, Koizumi thought. It wasn’t Hinata’s voice. Its tone was soft and slow, where Hinata’s voice had been sharp and fast. If Hinata had been deliberately faking the voice he might have been able to recreate the sound, but Koizumi didn’t think he’d go to those lengths. Unreliable as he’d be in the worst moments, he could always be counted on to be genuine, and clear, and steadfast…

“But until the ultimate hope can form and show itself, the only thing their despair can be is an imperfect force cowering in fear.” Hinata’s voice trailed off, and then, just as suddenly as he’d stopped, he started moving again.

The rest of them looked back at each other, but they didn’t stop to work out what he’d just said – they continued on behind him. All they had was the wordless understanding among themselves and with the “sleepwalking” Hinata – they had to follow, if only until they could catch him.

He led them across the bridge, and around the perimeter of the first island, all without looking back or making another sound. Any attempts they made to try and get ahead of him only resulted in him walking faster, and after the second attempt Saionji complained that her feet were hurting and she didn’t want to try again. Koizumi concurred – mostly because, if Saionji were to grow tired, she feared that she might want to be carried.

As they passed the remains of Monobear Rock, a thought entered Nanami’s mind. The Impostor. If they had the power that she thought them to have – that she knew them to have – they must have seen that this was happening. And if so, where were they? Weren’t they the least bit concerned, or at least just as frightened? She couldn’t say for certain what had come over Hinata. But she hoped against hope that it wasn’t a repeat of the past.

The humidity seemed to thicken with every step, even as the sun went down. In the distance the buildings of the third island shimmered in the haze – or was it something else? None of them wanted to think of that. But just as the fourth island bridge was coming into sight, where the moisture was at its greatest, Hinata stopped again, and turned to face them. His eyes were still closed, and water still dripped from his shirt. He held out his arm, with his palm directed toward them.

The message was clear: stay here. They all obeyed without a word, except for Kuzuryuu. “Oy, Hinata, this isn’t funny anymore,” he said. “Spill the beans or – HEY!”

Hinata turned away from Kuzuryuu in mid-sentence and continued up the path. Kuzuryuu continued calling after Hinata until it was clear he wasn’t coming back, but before he could comment on that, Mioda pushed past him. Her face was lined with shock; Nanami had never, not once, seen her look so upset. “Hajime-chan!” she shouted. “The Monobeast –”

CLOMP. CLOMP. CLOMP.

A loud, mechanical noise grew louder and louder –and Hinata took off at a run for the bridge. Just as he’d crossed the planks, an enormous mechanical horse leapt into view, and dropped with an earth-shattering THUD across the entryway to the fourth island bridge. They could see Hinata still running across the boards, until, as the bridge disappeared into the distance, he was out of sight. The horse remained by the bridge for several minutes, and then turned to CLOMP back the way it had come.

“H-Hajime-chan avoided it…” Mioda sported a shaking grin, and then stepped back, holding the Four Dark Gods of Destruction close to her chest. Nanami couldn’t always predict what Mioda was thinking, but her body language spoke volumes. She was beyond exhausted of having close friends act in ways she didn’t understand, too.

They waited by the bridge for a long, long time. Every few minutes the beast would come back, cast its glance around, and then leap back again, but it never gave them any notice, not as long as they didn’t move. The sun sank lower in the sky, and the sound of cicadas filled the air, making the hairs on the backs of all of their necks stand up and adding another dimension to the emptiness.

“T-this is bullshit,” Kuzuryuu said suddenly. “We gotta get out of here –”

“Hey, quiet,” Koizumi said. “We have to wait.”

“Why? Cause Hinata said so?” Kuzuryuu gestured wildly at Saionji before putting his hand to his head. “It’s like you said, he’s lost it.”

“We’re safe as long as we stay here,” Nanami said. “I…I think…”

Kuzuryuu gritted his teeth, and kicked at the ground – but only once. Then he sat down on the path, and several of the others followed suit. Mioda sat with her back to the rest, holding on to the Four Dark Gods of Destruction for dear life. Saionji rested her head on Koizumi’s lap, and in the back of her mind she wished she wouldn’t. Nanami and Souda remained standing, staring at the path. Souda was shaking, but Nanami was standing still.

The humidity didn’t let up, not even when the air fell heavy and wet on their shoulders, and they’d sweated through almost every inch of their clothes. Kuzuryuu had pulled his suit jacket off, and was just attempting to rub it across his face with his arm when he paused. “Hey,” he said. “Do you hear that?”

Nanami started, and then looked back. “Hear what?” she said. “The cicadas?”

“No, not them… I’m not the only one hearing this, right…?” Kuzuryuu lifted his bandaged hand up to his face, and then held it over his mouth.

“No, it’s something…” Souda’s fingers twitched across the sides of his arms. “Something like…like a voice, it’s…” His eyes went wide as well, and he said nothing else. Nanami looked around at each of them in turn, very confused, as they all turned their heads back and forth and then froze.

At first Koizumi thought she’d been left out as well, that she’d somehow missed what this voice could be – but then she heard something, the vaguest of impressions, as though it were only being spoken in her mind. But they were familiar, terribly familiar, and the thought of them chilled her. Koizumi, she could imagine they were saying. Koizumi-san…

“I don’t want this anymore,” Saionji said, shuddering. “I don’t…”

“Quiet, quiet,” Mioda said. “Ibuki can’t hear them anymore…”

“They’re…you’re right, she’s gone…” Kuzuryuu shook his head rapidly. “No, that can’t be, she’s…”

And then his voice died in his mouth. Hinata was coming back, starting as a pinprick on the horizon and growing larger as he grew closer. His eyes were still closed, but now he was holding something large and green across the top of his shoulder. At first Koizumi couldn’t tell what it was – and then she recognized something she’d seen a hundred times before, in all her mother’s old war photographs.

“A bazooka,” Souda mouthed, and then spoke louder: “That’s a fucking bazooka!”

The rest of them looked at each other, then back at Hinata. They hardly knew which strange thing to focus on first – but now that whatever had happened had stopped, if it was ever anything but a hallucination, the top priority was clear. “HINATA!” Koizumi shouted. “What the hell – HEY!”

Hinata stopped, beckoned briefly to them, and then ran back to the bridge at breakneck speed. “Hajime-chan’s heading for the fourth island!” Mioda said. “At least that’s Ibuki’s guess based on the things she doesn’t want to do –”

“But we’re not going to let him take off with it by himself!” Souda said. “Come on!”

Koizumi very highly doubted that Souda’s presence would make a difference. He was very quickly tiring – the brisk pace was the last thing he needed in his condition – but now that the firearm was involved he took off even before Nanami, pushed forward by adrenaline if nothing else. There was no other question – they had to follow.

The Monobeast CLOMPED past them on one occasion, but as long as it didn’t directly catch them trying to enter one of the islands it paid them no mind. The shaking of the ground nearly knocked Saionji off her feet, but as long as Koizumi held on to her, she was able to stay steady.

Just as Mioda had predicted, Hinata stopped at the fourth island bridge. He looked to his left, then his right, and given that the Monobeast was nowhere in sight, he charged ahead, just across the threshold, and then turned back again. He held out an arm to them, beckoning them ahead with a speed that communicated his urgency.

“I’m not doing it,” Saionji said.

“We have to,” Nanami said. “Before the Monobeast comes back.”

“I’M NOT GOING –” Koizumi scooped Saionji into her arms, cutting her off mid-sentence, and charged ahead before she could get too scared to go herself.

The rest of them quickly followed suit. Souda was the last one to reach the bridge, and just as he did, the Monobeast pounced behind him. Then it turned and CLOMPED away again, without having caught a single one of them.

=============================================

The fourth island met their eyes with a flash of color and sound.

It appeared to be set up like an amusement park, given the tents, the stalls, and the midway rides they could see poking up in the distance. This, Nanami knew, was where Monomi would have taken them to see, if the third trial had gone as planned. But now it felt as though they were treading on forbidden ground, and that anything at all could try to stop them from going on. But while the place was certainly strange – Nanami could swear they’d passed the same rollercoaster three times – it was not, for the moment, threatening them, and nor was it hiding the Impostor behind any of its many structures.

Hinata stayed several steps in front of them, leading the way through the endless twists and turns of the park. The RPG sat on his left shoulder, its barrel bouncing slightly with every step he took. Nanami followed its every movement with her eyes, as did every one of the others.

As they walked across the park, a large castle loomed in the distance. It was all white stone, with several streamers flying across its ramparts, and it stood out from everything else in the park in that it wasn’t lit up like the rest of the buildings. As they grew closer they could see an entryway in front of it, topped with a dim cartoon caricature of a mouse, leading to a very large and very sturdy-looking closed door.

Just as it came into view, Hinata turned and held out his arm again. He didn’t take it down again for several seconds, not, it seemed, until he was certain that none of them were going to move.

Then he turned back and continued on, before stopping at the entryway. He dropped to one knee, slung the strap of the bazooka over his shoulders, and appeared to be adjusting the gun, readying it to fire.

“Does he really know how to fire one of those things?” Souda said.

“No he doesn’t!” Koizumi shouted. “HINATA –”

BANG. The missile flew out of the gun and connected with the doors of the castle with a CRASH. They crumbled to dust and splinters in an instant, and several of the surrounding bricks fell in their wake.

Hinata waited for the cascade to stop, and then he took the RPG off his body, set it on the ground in front of the entryway, and walked inside, as though he were in no danger.

Many of the rest of them were frozen in their tracks, but Nanami walked ahead of them, without showing a shred of fear in her eyes, and entered the gap in the wall. Buoyed by her confidence, Koizumi followed behind her, and the others trailed behind, waiting to see what would happen before they dared step in.

The great hall of the castle was unlike any building Koizumi had ever encountered in Japan. It looked more like the photographs she’d seen of ruined European cathedrals.  The ceiling was high, and vaulted, and seemed to carry the lingering sound of the explosion into the heavens. There were no other doors that she could see, and the only windows were stained glass, set high into the wall. The only other things in the room appeared to be several large decorative spears set into the wall, too high for any one of them to reach.

And there was Hinata, in the middle of it all, standing on a small, square plaque in the floor. It appeared to have some writing on it, but none of them could see what it said, as it was obscured by his feet. 

“Hinata-kun, please,” Nanami said. She looked back, to see if any of the others were dying to speak, but they didn’t appear to be. “What is this place? And why did you bring us here?”

“The future has outwitted the past,” Hinata said without looking back. “The forces of hope have collected themselves and the hour of despair is at its end. The end result of that despair is impossible to say. But that’s not anything that you should be worrying about. They’re mistaken, after all, if they think they can kill me.”

He lurched backwards when he’d finished his words, stumbling as his knees buckled beneath him. Mioda rushed forward just in time to keep his head from hitting the ground, and the others gathered in her wake, examining his face and waiting with bated breath for whatever came next.

But whatever had come over Hinata had left him. He’d fallen completely limp, and now appeared to be in a calm, deep sleep, as though he’d never been active at all.

Chapter Text

Hinata couldn't tell what he was supposed to be seeing when he woke up.

He wasn't in his room, or in any kind of bed. His sore back and stiff neck told him that much. But the blankness above him… was that the night sky? He didn't know what else it could be. But he'd never seen anything quite like the columns on either side of his head, and even if he had, he couldn't understand why he'd be sleeping in the middle of the path. But he wasn't on the beach anymore. If he was he'd be feeling sand underneath him, instead of…

He turned over to examine the spot where he'd been sleeping. A bundled mass of what looked like clothing had been placed under his head, but otherwise he'd been lying on a grey stone floor. It didn't look anything like the outside road, or indeed like anything he'd ever seen on the island before.

Had the others brought him somewhere to rest? He knew it wouldn't make sense for them to just leave him outside. But if they had, then why not take him to his cottage, instead of wherever this was? And come to think of it, where was he? And where was everyone else?

He sat upright and scanned the area. There weren't just two columns, he saw now – there were several rows of them, extending to either end of… whatever this place was. It had to be a building. But the ceiling was extraordinarily tall, and the room unfathomably wide. He couldn't think of any building he'd ever entered before with those kinds of dimensions, let alone any on the island.

Besides the ruins, he thought, but he dismissed the idea. Even if they had the password, he couldn't think of any reason they'd be sleeping in there.

But there had to be a better clue somewhere. He got to his feet, stretching as he stood. The back of the hall was just a few paces from his head. A high, vaulted window with divisions that suggested stained-glass hung over an odd tableau of items – four long spears, surrounded by four European-looking shield crests. They were far too high up for Hinata to reach, and he wasn't accomplishing anything just by looking at them. So he turned away, leaving this odd discovery for the moment, and stepped, cautiously, down the long center aisle.

It was the only part of the room that was in any way illuminated, though the light was dim and he couldn't see its source. Everything beyond the first row of columns was shrouded in darkness, and the only thing he could see in the aisle was more empty stone. He was starting to feel concerned. Were the others here? If not, where had they gone…?

No, no. He couldn't get caught up in that kind of panic, not until he knew for sure what was going on. But he still wasn't getting any answers – at least, not until he looked down and noticed that one of the stones he'd just stepped over was much bigger and wider than the others. It looked more like a plaque than a floor stone, and it had some kind of inscription across it.

From his vantage point the writing was upside-down, so he stepped across it in order to read what it said.

To All Subjects:

The password that will bring you into the future is

11037

Hinata reread the inscription, and then read it a third time. Maybe it was his head, or the sleep he hadn't gotten, but he couldn't make heads or tails of it. Was this something he was supposed to know the meaning of? "Subjects?" The "password"? The word "future" was the only one that struck a chord with him. But the only thing he could think of that required a password was –

"Hinata-kun!"

Hinata turned sharply, nearly losing his balance. Nanami was standing just a few yards away, looking at him with a mix of shock and confusion. Her jacket was missing, but Hinata didn't have the time to care where it had gone.

"Nanami!" He ran down the hall and stopped just short of her. He felt the urge to hug her, but hesitated – and then he went for it, pulling her close and ending up with a face-full of her hair.

"Hinata-kun –" Nanami froze for several seconds, and then Hinata could feel her hands at his sides. "What are you –"

"I've been looking all over for you," Hinata said. "You and –"

"Shhhh!" Nanami pulled back, but only far enough for her to hold a finger up to her lips. Her left hand still rested lightly on his hip. "Keep quiet. Everyone else is asleep."

"Everyone else?" Hinata relaxed his hold on her. "Then…where…"

"They're around." Nanami looked back and forth, and then pointed to the columns near the end of the path, to his left. Sure enough, he could see Koizumi and Saionji lying against a column, very near each other, and the faint outline of Souda against an adjacent column. On the right Kuzuryuu snored on the floor, and Mioda had formed a protective circle around the Four Dark Gods of Destruction. "They're taking the chickens," she was mumbling. "They're in the hands…and the fridgerator's…"

"They are here," Hinata said, speaking in a whisper. "I thought I was alone, but you guys – you scared me half to death!"

He grinned at her, but she didn't return it right away. She stared at him, wide-eyed, the same way she always did when she was thinking, but he thought he could detect something different – something that felt like an examination. "I'm sorry, Hinata-kun. We would've woken you up, but…" She hesitated, and then smiled. "But, never mind that. I'm just glad you're okay."

Hinata couldn't help but think that, as dim as the room was, her smile had made it look just a little brighter. But he couldn't tell her that, not now. "Anyway, listen," he said, pointing back at the plaque. "This thing on the floor –"

Nanami looked down at the plaque. "Yes, it's –"

"It's the ruins password!" Hinata said. "The 'future'… 'the password that will bring you into the future'! The ruins had the word 'Future' on the door! Don't you see?"

"I do," Nanami said, though she did not look nearly as excited as he would have thought. "That's exactly what it is."

"So, what are we waiting for? We can go through them now!" Hinata paused. "Or, is that why we're inside? Wait, no…it wouldn't make sense for the ruins password to be…inside the ruins, would it…"

"We're not in the ruins, Hinata-kun," Nanami said, looking down the hall. "We're…there's a lot that we need to explain."

Hinata looked in the same direction, and was surprised to see what he hadn't seen before. He could have called it a door, but it was more like a gaping hole in the wall, surrounded by the wreckage of what looked like a door. Outside he could see two tall stone walls extending toward a sea of flashing lights, just below the actual night sky.

Hinata took a step closer to the hole. "That's…"

"We can't leave." Nanami interrupted, taking him by the arm. "Come with me. We shouldn't be anywhere near it."

"But –" Hinata said, then remembered his volume and stopped. Nanami was pulling him towards the nearest pillar, right next to where Koizumi and Saionji slept. "We can't leave? Why not? And where are we, anyway?"

Nanami took a seat by the pillar, and Hinata sat down next to her. Nanami pulled her Electronic Student ID out of her skirt pocket; Hinata moved to do the same, but found, to his surprise, that it wasn't on his person. "On the map, this place is known as the Mouse Castle," she said, holding the ID out in front of him. "You see, it's right here."

Hinata took the ID from Nanami's hand and looked down at it. The area they were in was indeed labeled Mouse Castle, and all seven of their personal icons lit up when he touched it. But that didn't solve the problem of where exactly the Mouse Castle was. The entire map was full of unfamiliar locations. Roller Coaster, Haunted House, Fun House…

"Is this…" Hinata looked at the corner island map. "This is the fourth island. But how'd we get here? We would've had to go past the Monobeast –"

"And we did." Nanami was silent for several seconds. "Hinata-kun, do you remember anything that happened after you passed out?"

"Passed out?" Hinata pressed his hand to his forehead. "So I did pass out…"

"You did." Nanami rummaged with something at the other side of the pillar, and then turned back with a full plate of takoyaki, to Hinata's surprise. "Here. I don't know if you've eaten since yesterday."

"I...wow, okay." Hinata's stomach rumbled as he looked at the dish, and he took it carefully from Nanami's hands. In the absence of chopsticks, he picked the takoyaki up with his fingers and popped it into his mouth. It felt stone cold and tasted just the same, but it still reminded him of how hungry he was. "Where did you find these? I've never seen them at the restaurant."

"There's a line of food stalls just outside the castle," Nanami said.

"I thought you said we couldn't go outside," Hinata said.

"We can't. And we shouldn't have at all, if not for the food." Nanami looked back at Hinata. "But I'll get to that. You haven't answered me yet."

Something about this situation felt off, but he knew he wasn't going to get any more information out of her. "Well...I don't remember anything. I was on the beach, and then I was here. It looks like a few hours went by…"

Hinata suddenly became aware of a short blast of hot breath at the back of his neck. He turned slowly to find himself at waist-level with a yellow kimono, and looked up at a very cranky-looking Saionji. "Er –"

"If you make another noise I'll pull so hard on your tie you'll stop breathing," she hissed, just as Hinata felt a sharp tug at his neck.

"Saionji –!"

"You already woke me up, and if you keep making noise you'll wake up Big Sis Koizumi," Saionji said, tugging again on his tie. "And if you do –"

"Saionji-san, you're making more noise than any of us," Nanami whispered.

"Yeah, well…" Saionji stopped for a second, working this out in her head, then scowled even more. "We're still trapped in here because of you. So I'm not letting go until you get us out."

"Because of me?" Hinata was more confused than ever. "What are you talking about? I don't even remember coming here."

"Saionji-san, he's back to normal," Nanami said. "There's no need to make a fuss."

"Back to normal?" Hinata looked from Nanami to Saionji, uncomfortable with their stares. But the pieces were starting to fall together for him, as unbelievable as their solution was. "Nanami, Saionji…what happened while I was out?"

Nanami fixed him with a nervous look. "Well…"

"Huuuh?" Saionji said, dropping Hinata's tie. "You really just forgot about breaking the door down with a bazooka?"

Breaking the what down with what? Hinata wasn't even going to entertain this notion until Nanami could deny it for him. When he turned to face her, however, she avoided his gaze. "After you passed out on the beach, you… well, you stood up without opening your eyes, and started walking." She hesitated after most of her words, as if she were unsure whether she should be letting this information on. "You led us to the fourth island, smashed the door in as Saionji-san said, and then passed out as soon as you were inside."

Hinata blinked several times, and looked around him. He saw the rubble of what had once been the doorway, the open air, the night sky, the others curled around their posts…and then he turned inward, trying to dredge up some kind of memory that could match what he'd been told. But the effort was only making his vision spin. "I…I didn't…" he started. "I don't…"

"If you don't remember… well, we can discuss that when everyone is awake." Nanami gritted her teeth, and slumped back against the pillar. "For now, we should inform you about our current situation."

"Situation?" Hinata clutched at his forehead with his hand, and looked back at the door. He remembered why it'd caught his eye. "You said earlier that we couldn't leave. Is that what you meant, or…"

"Yep!" Saionji snatched the takoyaki dish out of Hinata's hands and ate one quicker than Hinata could object, making a face after each bite, but still licking the sauce off her fingers. "Nothing can go in, and nothing can go out. We're stuck in here forever."

"Forever?!" Hinata turned to Nanami. "But, that's impossible –"

"Well, no," Nanami said. "It's not quite impossible. If you wanted to walk through the entrance, then nothing will stop you from getting outside. That's how we got all this." She gestured toward the takoyaki. "Koizumi-san, Mioda-san and I left to search for food not long after we arrived. But we could only get a few dishes of takoyaki and some water bottles before –"

"Before Porkfeet showed up!" Saionji said, eating another takoyaki. "They're so greedy they even wanted our food."

"No, not exactly. At first they just stood at the end of the row of stalls, staring at us. And then…" Nanami's eyes went wide. "I felt as though the air had gotten heavier. And we heard a rushing sound, coming closer and closer…"

"And then you ran back like scared babies," Saionji said.

"We ran for our lives," Nanami said, sternly. "We didn't want to lead them to the Castle, so we'd planned to hide somewhere else until they left. But as we passed the Castle, they stopped, right in their tracks. They wouldn't cross in front of the building, and…" She knit her brows. "They looked terrified."

"Terrified?"

"Big Sis Koizumi said they were shivering all over," Saionji said. "And they said something about…mice?"

"'It's full of mice… it's full of mice...'" Nanami looked over at the entrance. "They wouldn't cross the threshold either, even when we stepped across and ran inside. They just stood there, staring in, for hours. After a while they ordered us to come out, but they wouldn't step in or do it themselves. And then, at ten o'clock, they left. We haven't seen them since."

"A direct order," Hinata said. "So if we step outside…"

"We'll die," Saionji said. "We'll be squashed flat like Mr. Ant."

"So we have to stay here," Nanami said. "For who knows how long."

Hinata couldn't answer her with more than a grunt. He wanted to sort through everything he was thinking, and come up with something brilliant to reassure her, but he felt as though it was out of his hands. He'd only been sleeping, as far as he knew… but he'd never had a reason to doubt Nanami before, no matter what kind of impossible things she'd said. Had he really led them somewhere the Impostor couldn't enter? And why did such a place even exist in the first place? And on top of everything else…

Nanami looked across the floor, toward the plaque in the ground. "Whatever this place is, we're safer here than were before. Not as safe as we'll be when the Future Foundation comes, but for now…"

"As long as we're here, the Impostor can't hurt us," Hinata finished for her. "That's…"

"That's the best we can hope for right now," Nanami said. "Or, at least, that's what we decided last night. But between seven people, I don't know how long this food will last..."

She turned to Saionji, who was just about to take her third takoyaki from the plate meant for Hinata. Saionji caught her eye and scowled at her, but then unexpectedly shoved the plate back into Hinata's hands. There were five left, but despite his clear and present hunger, he couldn't bring himself to eat.

"So we're stuck," he said. "And either we leave, and the Impostor attacks, or-"

"Or the Future Foundation will come to help us," Nanami said. "We can't forget about that."

"They're not gonna come for us, dummy," Saionji snapped. "If they were going to they would've done it by now."

Saionji was right, as much as Hinata hated to admit it, but it was a much more hopeful option than the one Hinata had been about to offer. "I don't understand," he said instead. "I led us here…and I kept us all safe, but…"

"We'll figure it out in time," Nanami said. "But until then, do you really not remember anything?"

For a moment, Hinata wasn't sure how to answer her. But then he shook his head. "I don't think so. I think I was dreaming, but... I feel like it was a dream about my childhood."

They sat in silence for several seconds after that. Then, Saionji shifted her legs, and gave a big yawn. "I'm tired," she said. "And Big Sis Koizumi is all alone…"

She cast a forlorn look at Koizumi's pillar. After several seconds, she got up, wiped her sticky hands on her kimono, and walked back, without saying goodnight to either Hinata or Nanami.

Nanami yawned, and rubbed at her eyes. "There's still several hours until morning," she said. "You need to…ah…get some rest."

Hinata nodded, slowly. "You go ahead, Nanami. I don't think I could get back to sleep if I tried."

"At least try, if you can. We'll talk more in the morning." She hugged her knees close to her chest and closed her eyes. Within seconds, she was snoring faintly.

Hinata envied her that, he really did. He tried to lie back and close his eyes, but they stayed stubbornly open. He didn't want to sleep, but he didn't want to move, either, and the thoughts in is head weren't cohering themselves into any kind of decisive speculation or insight. So instead he stared up at the ceiling, examining the stonework, or down at the floor, where the 11037 plaque lay just out of his line of sight.

=========================================

At about six-forty-five, Kuzuryuu lifted his head, but he just squinted into the sun, grumbled, turned himself in the opposite direction, and lay back down. After a few more minutes, Mioda started giggling in her sleep, but stopped when she opened her eyes. As she sat up and stretched, Koizumi stood and did the same while looking down at Saionji, who was still out like a light. Then Souda slowly shuffled across the room into his sight, clutching at the bandages around his chest. He and Koizumi looked at each other, but Hinata couldn't hear if they'd said anything.

After a few seconds of waiting, Hinata cleared his throat. "Er," he said. "Morning."

They all turned and gave him identical shocked looks. "Hinata," Koizumi said, taking a step back. "You're awake –"

"Dude! Hinata!" Souda turned sharply, wincing at the pain, though he still took off at a good pace for the pillar where Hinata lay.

"Hajime-chan!" Mioda scooped the sleeping Dark Gods into her arms and ran across the hall, stomping loudly on the stone floor.

They reached Hinata at about the same time, but Mioda stopped just short of him, while Souda set himself down nearby. "Uh, you're back to normal, right? No more weird sleepwalking or bazookas?" He reached out for Hinata's shoulder. "W-what was all that, anyway –"

"Aaack! Don't touch him yet! He could just be pretending not to be possessed!" Mioda pulled Souda's arm away, and turned back to Koizumi. "Does anybody have an ofuda?"

"Nobody just carries ofuda around, Ibuki-chan," Koizumi said, cringing in secondhand embarrassment. "And they don't work like they do in anime –"

"Then Ibuki will move on to Plan B!" She pointed to Hinata. "Tell Ibuki your name, date of birth, and favorite kind of mochi!"

Pretending not to be possessed? It sounded like the most ridiculous thing in the world, but he could see from the look in Mioda's eyes that she was deadly serious. "Hajime Hinata, January 1st, um, kusamochi...?"

"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" Mioda dropped down on Hinata's other side. The Four Dark Gods of Destruction were spread out across her lap, still asleep.

"Well…that's good." Hinata was amazed that all the racket hadn't woken Saionji or Nanami, or thrown Kuzuryuu into a fit as he was clearly awake. "I think I'm back to normal," he said, to answer Souda. "I don't remember anything. I just thought I was asleep the whole time. Nanami explained everything to me last night. It's still hard for me to believe…"

He tried to look for signs of relief in their eyes, but he wasn't sure whether he was reading them correctly. They'd definitely looked afraid before. He supposed it was hard to get rid of…whatever had happened. "I saw it myself and I still don't believe it," Souda said, hugging himself. "That was some scary stuff…"

"And now it's just another thing we don't understand," Koizumi said, her tone dark. "But, at least now we're safe. Even if we're –"

"Imprisoned and starving," Kuzuryuu finished. He'd gotten tired of trying to sleep, apparently, and was making his way across the hall.

"Right," Hinata said. No one else looked inclined to deny Kuzuryuu. He stopped at the edge of the pillars, even further away from Hinata than the rest. There was a long, long silence, punctuated only by Nanami's snores, as they looked back and forth at each other. Mioda rocked back and forth on her heels, but she was the only one that was moving.

"Well…" Koizumi rubbed at her arms. "As long as we're awake, we should get some breakfast. And then…we can…"

Make a plan? Try to escape? Hinata was sure he could tell what Koizumi was thinking, and as she looked at Kuzuryuu he knew she didn't want to say it. "We can figure out what to do next," she said.

"It'll be a whole lot of nothing," Kuzuryuu said.

"And if it is, then so be it." She gave Kuzuryuu a cursory glance, and turned back to Nanami. "Well…"

"Oh, yeah," Souda said, looking back. "Should we wake them up, or…"

"Shhhhhh."

When Hinata looked back at Mioda, she was standing up, with her back to him. The Four Dark Gods of Destruction were still on the ground, and she was slowly stepping towards the door, leaving them behind her. "Listen," she said. "It's coming from outside…"

In the silence that followed her words, he heard a whisper. It was indistinct at first, just a breath of air behind his ear, but then it grew louder, just loud enough to be heard.

"Mice, mice, little mice…swarming and squirming and gnawing at scraps…"

Hinata scrambled to his feet, ignoring the strain in his back and his limbs, and stepped forward just far enough to look out the door. There was no one anywhere in the entrance corridor, and certainly not anyone close enough to be heard, but they could still hear their voice echoing through the hall.

"Crawling over and over…nibbling at your eyes, tearing off your ears…"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Kuzuryuu muttered, not much louder than the voice itself. Souda had taken his hands off his sides and clamped them over his ears, while Koizumi clenched her hands into fists. Mioda's reaction was invisible to Hinata, as she stood with her back to him. Saionji and Nanami were stirring at last; Saionji was shivering, and hadn't dared stand up, but Nanami was pulling herself up and rubbing her eyes.

"You won't survive for long in there… the mice are hungry…they're very, very, very hungry…"

Hinata stood with bated breath for several more seconds, but the voice didn't continue. Then he took a frantic look around the hall, but he saw nothing in the immediate area but themselves, and certainly not any mice. But they were safe. Imprisoned, as Kuzuryuu had said, but safe.

"They're just trying to scare us," Nanami said. "But unless we step outside, there's nothing they can do."

"I don't like this at all," Souda said, shaking as he removed his hands from his ears. "We need to find a way to get out of here…"

"We will get out, Souda-kun, but not yet. For now, we'll have to stay here." Nanami stared ahead for several seconds, and then turned back to the food bags. "So now would be a good time for breakfast… I think."

==========================================

Their entire remaining food supply turned out to be seven bottles of water and seven plates of eight takoyaki each, plus five more from the plate that Hinata had left unfinished and a supply of seeds for the Four Dark Gods of Destruction. Nanami and Koizumi distributed one full plate to each of them, cautioning them that they shouldn't have more than three. Hinata had the feeling that they'd made the more difficult rationing decisions while he was asleep. There was a definite undercurrent of discomfort, and a low whine from Souda as he looked down at his food, but given the state of affairs no one gave any further protest.

Hinata was even hungrier now than he'd been last night, and still was even after his third takoyaki was gone. He washed them down with a swig of water, then passed his plate and bottle back to Nanami. He didn't want to look at them anymore. The others did the same, at varying rates. Mioda poured several capfuls of water for the Dark Gods before she passed her meal back.

They tried to talk about their options, but none of them could think of any options to speak of. They were trapped in the Mouse Castle, and they would be until the Future Foundation arrived – if they were coming at all, and if they could last that long. It was nothing any of them were happy about, least of all Kuzuryuu, who alternated between directionless anger and dull, silent listlessness throughout the meal. But they could find no way around it, no matter how much they talked.

Still, none of them could deny that they were safer in the castle than they'd ever been outside, even during the mutual killing game. Nobody could guess why the Impostor couldn't come in, or why the thing they'd chosen to be afraid of was mice. It was the Mouse Castle, but none of them had seen any mice, or other rodents, or anything else that was alive. There wasn't even any mouse imagery in the castle interior, and with the door blown open the Impostor could certainly see that.

It was, as Koizumi had said, just another one of the many things they didn't understand.

After about an hour the conversation petered out, and they sat together in silence for some time. They all looked very tired, Hinata thought, and not just from a lack of sleep. They were tired of being angry, and being frustrated, and being scared. They hadn't given up – but he could tell that they were close.

Eventually the group began to drift apart. Kuzuryuu returned to the pillar where he'd slept, Mioda followed the Dark Gods to a distant corner, and Nanami stepped up to the castle's back wall, to examine the crests and the spears. Hinata felt awkward just staying with Saionji and Koizumi, so he and Souda moved away as well. They tried to talk about happier topics, but they weren't able to sustain them for very long.

==========================================

They spent most of the rest of the morning at the same pillar, largely in silence, trying to conserve as much energy as they could. When Hinata's legs started to ache he took a short walk around the castle, joined by Kuzuryuu and Nanami. They exchanged a few words about what they saw – pillars, blackness, spears, crests, rubble – but ultimately found nothing new or interesting about the interior.

So Hinata returned to his pillar, sat back down, and pressed the back of his head against the stone. Souda had fallen back to sleep while he was gone, and honestly, Hinata couldn't blame him. He was still recovering from serious injuries, and all this moving around wasn't helping him any. He just wished they had something more comfortable for him to rest on. Of course, there were a lot of things he was wishing for right about then, and each was just as impossible as the last.

Across the hall Kuzuryuu and Nanami sat together, still talking, though he couldn't hear their conversation. Mioda was some distance away from them, tapping her foot rapidly against the stone floor. Saionji had fallen back to sleep, curled up near the food supplies. And Koizumi was on the opposite side of the pillar, cradling her camera in her lap.

At first Hinata thought she was just staring at it, but then he saw that she was tapping a button on its side every so often. She didn't seem frustrated at all, so it did appear to be working, but she looked more and more distressed as time went on. As he watched, she looked up from the camera, closed her eyes, and took several steadying breaths before she looked back.

Hinata considered the consequences, hesitated for a moment, and then pulled his knees to his chest and used the pillar as a support to stand. Then he walked across the room, stopping just a few paces from where Koizumi sat. "Uh, hey," he said. "Your camera's working again?"

Koizumi took her hand off the button, stared at the camera for a moment, and then looked back at Hinata. "It was just the lens that got cracked," she said. "The pictures are still here."

"Oh. I didn't know. That's good." Hinata took a glance down at the viewscreen and saw a photo of Saionji, taken somewhere on the third island at sunset. It was simple, but still very beautiful. Even nostalgic, given the circumstances. "Can I look at them?"

Koizumi gave Hinata an uncertain look. Carefully, she pulled the camera away from her lap and out of sight. "Looking at them isn't going to help anything," she said, pushing the camera under the food bag. "I shouldn't have this out at all."

Out of the corner of his eye Hinata saw Mioda turn to look at them. "Well, alright," he said. "I understand."

He put his hands in his pockets and moved away, but stopped after some distance and rocked back and forth on his heels instead of going back to his pillar. He didn't want to be relieved or disappointed, but somehow he was both, at the same time. If he could just get away, then perhaps that would be best.

But instead he looked back, and when he did he heard footsteps from across the hall. Mioda emerged from behind one of the nearby pillars, crouched down to Koizumi's level, and said something in a whisper that Hinata couldn't hear. He did hear Koizumi's response – "I know, but I don't want you to make yourself mi –" before she was cut off by another inaudible whisper.

"You...you really want to. Then…" Koizumi fixed Mioda with a look that Hinata could only describe as pity, and then shifted herself slightly to face Hinata. "Hey. I'm taking the camera out if you still want to look."

"Oh –?" Hinata's eyes went wide. "Alright, I'll be there in a second."

Koizumi retrieved the camera from under the food bags while Hinata approached and took his seat next to Mioda. Koizumi pressed several buttons next to the screen, and then handed the camera to Mioda. "You press the arrow button on the right to advance it," she said, before she pushed herself back against the pillar. She kept an eye on the camera, but made no move to look at the viewscreen.

Hinata was sure his nerves would've been shot to bits if he'd had to hold Koizumi's camera, but Mioda was looking very steady, even solemn, as she cycled through the photos. The earliest shots were mostly landscapes taken on the first and central islands, with only an incidental human presence. There were a few portraits scattered between them, but only of the girls. Mioda chuckled when she got to hers, in which she was throwing up a peace sign and holding a can of SPAM in her other hand, but that good humor didn't last for long after she'd moved on. Hinata's heart gave a jolt as he saw a picture of Pekoyama, and he knew it wouldn't be the last. Mioda skipped over her quickly, and did the same with Sonia and Tsumiki.

There weren't any more photos before the ones Koizumi had taken at the lodge party. Hinata had already seen them, before the first trial. That had been torturous enough when the memories were fresh, but now it was even worse, and not just because the enormous spreads of delicious food were twisting his empty stomach in knots. There were so many people in those pictures. So many laughing, smiling people…

"Hey, look, it's Hajime-chan," Mioda said, pulling Hinata out of his thoughts. "He looks pretty psyched up about that orange juice!"

Hinata's face burned with embarrassment at the sight of himself. The very first picture the Super High School Level Photographer had taken of him, and that was the expression he had on? Of course, if he could have a glass of orange juice now, he'd probably have an even more intense reaction. But that wasn't something he could focus on for long, because Komaeda was directly behind him, right next to the table where he'd hidden the knife. It was just where Hinata had found him not seconds after the picture had been taken, in one of the last moments of his life. He looked so relaxed, so serene, that Hinata could hardly believe that he'd been about to orchestrate his own murder, or that he'd even died at all…

And then Mioda clicked ahead, and Komaeda vanished. The next picture had been taken across the room, just seconds after the last. Hinata remembered seeing this with his own eyes, so vividly that it felt unreal to be exposed to another angle on the scene. Nidai was straining and bellowing on the left, Tanaka roaring in anguish on the right, and in the middle, and Togami - no, the Impostor, the person who'd never been Togami - was yelling at them both just as Hinata had remembered. In the moment he'd thought they were only frustrated, or scared. But now he could see the desperation in their eyes, and the fear, and the determination to do as they'd promised, to keep them all safe.

Mioda moved to skip ahead of the image, but then she stopped, and she stared down at the Impostor. She set the camera down, then picked it up again, as if she were willing herself to push ahead. Hinata was sure he couldn't have done the same. Then she chuckled, and clicked ahead.

The next images were mostly portraits of the island residents going about their daily business - Sonia reading in the library, Owari aiming a high kick at Nidai's face, Nanami teaching Tsumiki to play video games, and so on. The crowd around the camera grew as they progressed; Souda and Saionji arrived as soon as they woke up, and together they added a more lively running commentary than before. ("Wait, is this from the girls' beach trip? This is from the girls' beach trip, isn't it!" "Hey, who cares about that?! Shut up!") Nanami joined them at about the same time, but she'd chosen to sit in silence, staring down at the pictures with her hands folded in her lap.

And then he saw the ruin of Pekoyama's cottage, smoking slightly in the early morning sun. There were several pictures of the scene, in varying levels of light; it was the only series without a single human in sight. At about the third picture Hinata heard a sharp intake of breath behind his right ear, and turned to find that Kuzuryuu had somehow snuck up on him without making any noise.

He turned around. "Kuzu –"

"Shh." Kuzuryuu put a finger to his lips. Hinata paused, then nodded and looked back to find that Koizumi had turned away from the crowd altogether, hugging her arms close to her chest. Kuzuryuu pushed past Hinata and gave Koizumi a look that Hinata couldn't see, before he focused on the screen again.

There were only a few exploratory shots of the third island taken over the following two days. The atmosphere was tense until Mioda clicked ahead to a moment Hinata remembered very well – a shot of himself, looking up at a particularly colorful firework. "That's the festival," he said, stating the obvious. "I remember, I told her to take that picture..."

"Wait, Mahiru-chan took pictures of the festival?" Mioda waited for a response, but all she got from Koizumi was a nod. Apparently satisfied, Mioda looked back down at the screen and examined the rest of the shots with growing interest. They saw Nanami and Saionji, Tsumiki and Tanaka, Nidai, Owari, and Souda… and Kuzuryuu, whose portrait caused a bit of a stir, as none of the others had known he'd been there. Hinata had honestly forgotten it had been taken at all.

After that, there were only two pictures left. Hinata had never actually seen them before, though he remembered when they were taken. He'd just been posing for the first when the final volley of fireworks had gone off. Hinata looked like was screaming, and Mioda's mouth was wide open, mid-snore. The second must have been taken as Hinata was falling, because only the end of his right leg was in the photo, and Mioda's head was thrown back, as though she were sneezing. And Togami…

"Byakuya-chan," Mioda said, her voice trembling as she spoke. "Look at them…they're smiling."

Hinata could hardly believe it himself. He certainly hadn't seen it at the time, given how busy he'd been falling into the sand. It could have been another grimace, or one of their knowing smirks, or maybe something Mioda was only mistaking for a smile. But no, it was real, full-bodied mirth. Their smile was wide and open, their eyes bright and sparkling, their shoulders low and relaxed. He'd never even imagined they could be so carefree, let alone that he'd ever be able to see it.

"Is Byakuya-chan really gone?" Mioda whispered into the silence. "No… there was never any Byakuya-chan at all, was there? That's what Fuyuhiko-chan and Chiaki-chan said…"

"Mioda-san…" Nanami gave Mioda a pained look, but Mioda didn't look back to see it.

"But Byakuya-chan was right there," she said. "Ibuki could hold Byakuya-chan, just like this…"

She set the camera down on the floor and then wrapped her arms around her chest, tightly clenching what skin she could hold. She stared at the ground for a moment, and then shut her eyes tight, shuddering and pulling her head down between her knees. Hinata could swear he saw something welling in the corner of her eye, but if it was a tear, it never fell. He couldn't tell whether he'd imagined it or not.

And then he started slightly, as Kuzuryuu got to his feet and approached Mioda, standing at twice her seated height. Mioda did not look up, not even when his shadow fell over her. After several seconds of staring he sat next to her, crossing his legs and setting his hands in his lap.

He took a deep breath and looked up, staring again at Mioda, before he exhaled, and let his head drop. "So," he said, then cut himself off, holding his haphazardly bandaged hand to his face. "What are you getting out of all of this, anyway?"

Mioda tensed, and her eyes flickered toward Kuzuryuu's face. By Hinata's reckoning she looked legitimately curious, but he could feel the tension doubling in the rest of the room. "No, really," Kuzuryuu continued, once it was clear he wasn't going to get a reply. "It's a serious question. I want to know." He set his hand back in his lap. "This entire time I was thinking… even though I know you think the sun shines out their ass –”

"Hey, if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." Koizumi turned to face the rest of the group, her eyes wide with fury. But Kuzuryuu paid her no mind, and neither did Mioda.

"You still know that they're…they were a sneak," he continued. "A sneak and a liar. And now they're even less than that. But you, you're still…" He fumbled, unable to find the words to finish that sentence, and then started again, his volume rising. "You didn't even know them for more than two weeks. None of us did. What does it really matter if they're gone? There's no point getting attached to someone if they're just going to –"

"Get out."

Koizumi stood between Mioda and Kuzuryuu, blocking their view of each other, and holding her hand up high, as though she were about to slap him. "Get out," she repeated, looking down on him with death in her eyes. "And don't you dare ever speak to her again."

"Get out?" Kuzruyuu pulled himself up to his feet. Hinata had expected him to be smirking, or looking confident – but to his surprise his expression was grave. "And go where? Outside?"

"I-" Koizumi froze, as though she'd only just recognized the gravity of what she'd suggested. Saionji and Souda had both trained furious eyes on Kuzuryuu, and Hinata readied himself to stand as well, though he had no idea whose side he should be on. The last thing he wanted was a fight, but if Kuzuryuu and Koizumi were going to go on the way they were...

"Mahiru-chan," Mioda said. "Fuyuhiko-chan wasn't finished."

Koizumi whirled on Mioda, a pained look in her eyes. "H-Huh? But…" She took a deep breath, and then spoke very fast. "He's just trying to get a reaction out of you, Ibuki-chan. Don't let his words –"

"Ibuki isn't upset," Mioda said. Looking at her Hinata could believe it – her voice was level, and her gaze steady.

Koizumi stared, bewildered, for several seconds. But then she nodded, and lowered her hand. She stepped away from Kuzuryuu without a word, but didn't go back to her previous position – she sat close to Mioda, next to the camera, and kept a careful eye on Kuzuryuu.

The rest of them relaxed as well, Kuzuryuu included. He shuffled closer to Mioda again, making hesitant eye contact. "I'm not trying to get a reaction out of you," he said. "Or make you upset, or anything. If I sound like I'm insulting them, it's because…well, that's my perspective. And yours…well, it's different. I wanna know why."

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. I'm just talking to fill the time you're not using, really. I mean, you don't have to answer. I'm not going to die if you don't."

Mioda didn't speak right away. She pursed her lips, and loosened her grip on her own back, and then extended her hands behind her, leaning against the ground. Around her Koizumi and Nanami still looked ready to interfere, but they were holding back, for the moment.

"Ibuki was scared, the first day she was here." Her voice was cold, and still, and low, as though it had come from someone much older than her. "She was so happy to meet everyone, and learn so many amazing things about all their talents and hopes and dreams. But then Monobear started the mutual killing…and no matter how many jokes Ibuki told, or songs she said she'd sing, everyone was still sad in a way that Ibuki couldn't fix. And Ibuki was sad, too. She...thought she was going to die. She was thinking so hard about it she couldn't even sleep…"

Her voice had trailed off to a mumble, but it picked up again as she lifted her head. "Byakuya-chan was sad, too," she said. "But even if they were, they still knew exactly what to do and say. They knew we wouldn't have to kill anyone to get out. Not even when we lost Nagito-chan. Even if they were sad, they still picked themselves back up and they still wanted us to work together. They used their sadness to protect us. Even when… they left… they did it because they thought it would be better for us. Ibuki didn't want them to give up on themselves… but they never gave up on us. Not even once.

"Whenever Byakuya-chan spoke, or whenever they were around, Ibuki knew she was safe. And even though she knows Byakuya-chan wasn't really Byakuya-chan, Ibuki knew Byakuya-chan's emotions when she saw them! She knows who they are, deep down inside – and when they cared about us, Ibuki knows they weren't pretending!"

She stood then, her passion clear in her eyes. "Whoever this is now, they're not Byakuya-chan, not at all," she said. "But as long as Ibuki remembers Byakuya-chan, then Ibuki knows Byakuya-chan isn't gone!"

Her words echoed across the ceiling for some time after she'd finished. Hinata couldn't see the look he was giving her, or interpret his own feelings. But there was something that felt raw inside him now, something that hadn't been before she'd spoken. Maybe it was a memory he'd repressed, or a desire he hadn't wanted to voice. "Mioda," he said, though he hadn't any idea how he'd finish his thought.

"You really…" Koizumi didn't take her words anywhere either, but unlike Hinata she seemed to be trying, turning her tongue around in her mouth as she attempted to form the next sentence.

"You really want that to be true, don't you?" Kuzuryuu was sitting now, and looking down at the ground, away from Mioda. "You want to just...think you can bring them back by looking into their eyes and wishing really hard."

Souda opened his mouth, but changed his mind before he could speak. He shut it again, and looked down into his lap. "They said it themselves," Kuzuryuu went on. "Whatever they did, and however strong you thought they were…" He shivered, and buried his head in his knees. "They're not gonna survive everything, okay? They can't… they're still… they're not any different, or any stronger…"

"Kuzuryuu-kun?" Nanami said, getting to her feet.

"I thought she was invincible," Kuzuryuu mumbled. "I'd never… I'd never even seen her cry, you know? I thought we'd be together all our lives, just the way we'd always been. And then she was just… she just… burned away and died. Right in front of me..." He sniffed, loudly. "All her hair… was gone… she didn't even look like herself…"

He pressed his eyes closed, and then exhaled. Nanami took several steps forward, and Hinata felt the strong urge to join her, but before he could, Mioda had approached Kuzuryuu, and knelt by his side. She patted his back, but with such an enormous level of awkwardness that it looked more like she was trying to force him to breathe. "There, there. Don't be cry."

"I'm not crying," Kuzuryuu grumbled.

Mioda nodded, but kept slapping him on the back until, grumbling, he shifted away from her. She lowered her arm and sat back down, but she held her head high this time, and rocked slightly back and forth with her arms wrapped underneath her legs.

The awkwardness lasted for a time Hinata couldn't measure. Mioda rocked, Kuzuryuu shook, and Hinata fiddled with his fingers, examining each knuckle as he lifted it and set it back down. Nanami sat motionless, Koizumi hunched her shoulders, and Souda took quick glances back and forth between Hinata and Kuzuryuu.

Saionji seemed to be the most animated of the bunch. She was kicking her legs back and forth, and tapping her finger against her chin. "You know," she said, "according to the rules, if the Future Foundation doesn't show itself, we're all going to die in about five days. And that's if we don't starve to death in here. So I'm not wasting the rest of my life listening to everyone whine about dead people."

Hinata felt a shiver run down his spine, and the look on Mioda's face wasn't making things any better. "W-Was Hiyoko-chan listening to anything Ibuki said?" she said. "We don't know if Byakuya-chan's –"

"Yeah, yeah, we all get it," Saionji said. "You never got to suck their face. Big deal. We're all going to be just as dead as they are if we don't stop moping around."

For the first time Mioda's expression faltered; she didn't seem to have a retort at the ready. Koizumi, however, was faster to act. She turned to face Saionji, her face inches from hers. "What were you thinking of doing instead?" she said.

"Well…" Saionji folded her arms. "We'll… we're…"

She kept her mouth hanging open, as if that would fill the silence that ensued. Then she gritted her teeth, and averted her eyes from Koizumi, looking distinctly nervous.

"We're doing more than we were," Hinata said. "I mean… we were just sitting around doing nothing until now, weren't we?"

He was surprised at himself for speaking up, but he knew even before he'd formed the rest of his thoughts that he believed every word he said. "I think that this was good. Our goal right now is survival, like you said. But survival isn't just physical. It's emotional. And even if we hardly know the Impostor… well, we could say the same of the rest of us. Or… any of the others. And we're still feeling their losses. Even if we tell ourselves not to. I mean, I know this is very different, but…"

He wasn't sure he believed his own words, or even if he was making any sense to the others. But something was burning inside him, and forcing him to speak. "We can't just shove this away," he said. "We'll just destroy ourselves if we do."

"And if we destroy ourselves," Nanami said, surprising Hinata slightly, "There's not any way that we're going to be able to get out of here at all."

The others' stares were softer, now, as if something that he'd said had gotten through to them. But it wasn't enthusiasm that Hinata saw – not by a mile. "But what are we supposed to do?" Souda said. "How is this gonna help us?"

"We can examine everything we know about them," Hinata said. "Look at everything backwards and forwards. Try and see what it is we haven't wanted to think about."

He smiled, but he wasn't even sure why he was. He was hoping the others would make more sense of his own words than he did – but they still weren't looking inspired. "And… what does that even mean?" Kuzuryuu said.

"It sounds like something the Impostor would say," Koizumi said. "Something that's really only reassuring."

"Next he'll be making some kind of ridiculous speech," Saionji said.

Hinata's cheeks burned with shame. "I-I don't know, I don't have that answer," he said. "But…"

"You're trying. You really are sounding a lot like them now." Koizumi sighed, and then pulled her knees up to her chest. "That's one thing they did right. They got us all to listen. They had passion, and a lot of fancy words, but none of the experience or skill they needed to make it work. But it's not like any of us did any better..."

"Koizumi…" Hinata felt a wave of nervousness wash over him as he looked at her. "It's a rough job. It's good that you tried. You both did. And… I don't know about anyone else, but I appreciated it."

He gave a small smile. Koizumi only gave it a cursory glance, but he could swear a blush had crept across her cheeks. "I… I don't need any pity," she said. "But, thanks."

"Yeah." Hinata sat back, and directed his head toward the ground.

He couldn't tell if any of the others agreed with him, apart from Saionji, who'd whirled on Koizumi in distress. "Big Sis, you don't have to listen to them! You didn't lie to everyone about who you were, and that already makes you better than that piece of shit."

"That's…" Koizumi glanced back at Saionji, looking conflicted. "That's a raw wound you're hitting, Hiyoko-chan."

Saionji's face fell, and she looked almost pitiful, but Koizumi still went on. "You're right, of course. And I know we thought we knew them, and I want to be fair to Ibuki-chan. But we didn't know them. Not their name, or where they came from, or even their real talent –"

"But we knew a lot more than we thought."

Koizumi's eyes went wide, and they all turned their heads at once with her to face Nanami. For a moment she looked surprised, even intimidated. But then her face relaxed, and she looked down. "I think," she finished.

"You think?" Souda fixed her with a suspicious look. "What do you think? Don't keep it from us."

"I think…" She hesitated, rubbing her hands over the tops of her knees. Was she scared? Was she unsure? Hinata could never have guessed from the look on her face. "I think Mioda-san was right. They were telling us more than they intended to let on. They might have been trying their hardest to be Byakuya Togami, but they would find themselves bending the rules of the deception here and there, for their own needs… or even their own wishes."

A long, tense silence followed Nanami's words. Kuzuryuu had started fidgeting, and furrowed his brow. "So, let me get this straight," he said. "Are you saying what you really, really want to be true, or are you telling us you know this for a fact?"

"I…" Nanami fell silent, but not for any longer than she usually did when she seemed to be staring off into space. "Well, I couldn't know it for a fact. But…"

"But even if it isn't," Koizumi said, finally turning around, "what do you mean, 'the rules of the deception'? What kind of rules would they have?"

"And how do you know what they are?" Souda said.

Nanami opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She lowered her head, and traced small circles into the stone floor, but didn't answer the questions put to her, not even after several seconds of silence.

"You don't, do you?" Saionji said. "You don't even know what's real and what's not. Do we know if they really got the Despair Fever, anyway? They're the only one that said so –"

"HEY!"

Hinata's rage had bubbled through his lips before he could take hold of it, and before he knew it he was at his feet, panting. The room fell deathly silent again, and seven cold pairs of eyes locked themselves on Hinata. There was… was that fear, on their faces?

"They weren't going to kill us. At least… they weren't in disguise to do that." He tried to sound as calm as possible as he spoke. "I don't want to claim I know it for a fact, but… they were about to tell me about it. About being the Impostor. They were going to tell everyone. The first night in the hospital, they pulled me aside, and told me they had some kind of secret. They said it wasn't dangerous, but they seemed...really scared."

The silence persisted for some time. Nanami looked shocked, in a way that almost made her looked elated, and Mioda had started shaking dangerously fast, but the others' faces were motionless. "Okay," Saionji said slowly. "And you didn't tell us about this why?"

"They told me not to tell anyone," Hinata said, a bit unnerved at the tone in her voice. "Like I said, they were scared –"

"And so what?" Souda said, his voice cracking. "They're going around killing everyone and you're just keeping their secret for them?"

"I didn't know the secret!" Hinata said. "They never told me. I just remembered and figured it out. Unless they had some other kind of secret, but that does seem like a big one." He hung his head, and felt that if he stood for another second his knees might be the next things to go. "Honestly...I only thought they were going to tell me that they were the traitor –"

"The Impostor isn't the traitor." The way that Nanami had said it, Hinata could hardly believe she'd been the one to speak. Her tone was cold, firm, and strong, and her glare was boring a hole in the back of the pillar. "They're not. That's...that's certain."

"Certain?" Koizumi's eyes were wide, but her voice was still and quiet. "Again? And why's that?"

"I…" Nanami gripped her knees, but kept her gaze level. "I don't know."

"You don't know, or you can't tell us?" Hinata said.

"I don't know," Nanami repeated. "I don't know if I can or I can't."

"I don't understand," Souda said. "If you're not sure, then why the hell did you say it? You're making a lot of big claims you can't back up!"

Nanami's eyes widened. "I just –”

"She's just being a shitty sentimentalist like Big Sis Mioda," Saionji said. "Look, we're all really sad about Mr. Porkfeet, but unless you can tell us for sure that they're not the traitor, then there's a pretty big body count that tells me they are!"

"That has nothing to do with it!" Nanami shouted. "I just –"

"A body count has nothing to do with being the traitor?" Kuzuryuu said. "'Cause that sounds like betrayal to me."

"W-we already went over this, Fuyuhiko-chan," Mioda said. "W-we don't know if –"

"It doesn't matter whether they were or not, at this point," Koizumi said. "If they were, then it doesn't matter anymore."

"That's true," Hinata said. "But the thing is, if they aren't the traitor…"

The tension in the circle thickened, even more than it already had. Each of them looked from face to face, searching, hoping for some kind of a hint or a tell. But they all seemed to be wearing similar expressions of panic and fear, enough to mask the traitor's reaction, if they'd even reacted to this information at all...

"I just remembered what they told us during the trial," Hinata said. "They said they'd made some kind of deal with Monomi, that they wouldn't harm a single hair on the traitor's head…"

"Of course," Koizumi said. "But then... It could've been Nidai. Or Owari –"

"Or T-Tanaka!" Souda said. "Yeah, it's gotta be –"

"Gotta be the guy that blew himself up?" Saionji said.

"Or they could've been bluffing and covering themselves up," Kuzuryuu said.

"They could've," Hinata said. "But they weren't. Isn't that right, Nanami?"

Nanami's eyes went wide, but she didn't answer. "You said you're certain that the Impostor isn't the traitor," he continued. "And you said you didn't know why. But they claimed themselves that they weren't, and we were all there to hear it."

"So… why is Chiaki-chan so sure?" Mioda said. "Is there another reason?"

"That's…" Nanami tensed, just for a moment. But then she relaxed, and even formed a small smile. She fixed Hinata with a look that reminded him just how long it had been since he'd seen someone look so serene, so at peace. It was as though she was expecting something out of him, some newer insight. But he couldn't think of any way to answer her. Not without…

An inside source, he realized.

The doubts he'd been harboring for ages fell into place. Her strange knowledge. Her unusual behavior around the Impostor. Her determination to keep others happy. Her sudden bursts of confidence and logic during trials. Her strong bond with Monomi, and her horrific scream when she had died...

He didn't know why he hadn't seen it all along. "It's you," Hinata said. "You're the traitor."

Chapter Text

The New Game, Part Five

Nanami sat silently for a very, very long time, but the others had no pretensions towards waiting for her to speak. “The traitor?” Koizumi said, looking pale. “But that’s… I don’t think we should be pointing fingers right now, especially not at Chiaki-chan –”

“She IS the traitor!” Souda shouted. “She's gotta be! It’s definitely not me, and it’s definitely not Hinata, so it’s either her or Kuzuryuu!”

“Me?!” Kuzuryuu jerked his head up. “Now wait just a second –”

“Souda-kun, Kuzuryuu-kun, that’s enough.” Nanami folded her hands in her lap, and cast her eyes down at the floor. Then she slowly turned to her left, towards the plaque. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s true. I’m the traitor.”

A smile spread across her face, and she relaxed her shoulders, as if a weight had been taken off them. But the rest of them, far from returning her sentiment, recoiled in horror. Mioda’s jaw dropped. Saionji scrambled as far away from Nanami as she could get, hiding behind Koizumi and peeking over her shoulder. And Hinata… he’d made the guess, and seen the proof, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it was true…

“You’re...you're really not fucking us around, right?” Kuzuryuu said, his fists trembling.

“No, I’m not,” said Nanami. “I wouldn’t gain anything by lying about it.”

“Then start talking,” Kuzuryuu said. “I want to know everything that’s been going on here from start to finish, and I mean everything. For one thing, what’s the Future Foundation, and what do they want with us?”

Nanami stared blankly at Kuzuryuu, her eyes wide with what looked like curiosity. If she was going to answer, though, she didn’t get the chance before Souda interrupted. “Yeah! And why did they bring us here?” he said. “Why did they take our memories? And what was up with all the Hope Shards?”

“And for that matter, who was Monobear?” Koizumi said, moving closer to Nanami, with all traces of doubt now gone from her face. “Who was he really working for? How’d he get to the island at all?”

“How’d all this weird stuff happen, anyway?” Saionji pulled roughly on her pigtails. “The talking bears and all the other magic – bullshit – whatever stuff –”

“Who even is Chiaki-chan?” Mioda said, eyes wide. “Is she really a Super High School Level Gamer? Or is she a secret double agent?”

“And, hey, what’s going on outside, anyway?!” Saionji interrupted. “Someone’s gotta be looking for us, right?”

“Can you talk to the Future Foundation?” Koizumi said. “Can you tell us why they’re not here yet?”

“I…” Nanami opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She tapped her fingers against the edge of her skirt, and looked from one face to the next. Perhaps she was confused. Even Hinata could hardly remember half of what they’d asked. But she didn’t say anything for a long time, and her eyes grew sadder with every second that passed. “All this… that’s…” 

“Hey, spit it out,” Kuzuryuu said.

Nanami shivered, and then squinted her eyes shut, and lowered her head into her chest. It almost looked as though she was having a seizure. Hinata’s heart dropped into his stomach, and he felt frightened to his very core – but just as he was thinking of extending a hand to her, her eyes opened again.

“I can’t,” she said.

Look of confusion spread across everyone’s faces. “You…can’t?” Kuzuryuu said.

“You can’t what?” Hinata said. “You can’t answer us?”

“I’m sorry,” said Nanami. “I can’t…I really wish…”

“Why not?” Saionji spat. “It’s an emergency! We’re all gonna die!”

“T-that might be what she wants,” Souda said quietly.

“NO!” Nanami scrambled toward Souda, and extended a hand, but he pulled himself away from her, and fixed her with a terrified stare. She sat frozen for a second, before she retreated. “No, that’s not true. I…”

“You?” Mioda said, looking heartbroken.

“I… can’t.” Nanami looked down. “I’m sorry. I really can’t.”

“Can you…tell us why you can’t?” Koizumi’s fingers tapped rapidly against her wrists, and her expression was etched with concern.

“I just can’t.” Nanami screwed her eyes shut, trembling.

“You already said that like five times!” Souda seemed to be getting more and more agitated with every word he said. “If you really want to help us, then why can’t you just do it!?”

“You…you don’t understand.” Nanami shook her head, and Hinata could swear she looked as though she were about to cry. “I would. I really would. I desperately want to. But I can’t.”

“You…” Hinata gave Nanami what he hoped was a reassuring look, but she did not look at him, or say anything in return. He bit his lip, trying to put two and two together again. “Will they do something to you? Or…”

He trailed off, expecting Nanami to finish his sentence, but she didn’t, and he simply felt awkward. He had nothing to finish it with, and no reason to even think of what might be stopping her. If the Future Foundation had threatened her in some way, it couldn’t be anything worse than what she was already involved in. And if it came down to her life, he wanted to defend her with all he had. Even if he truly didn’t know who this person in front of him was. Even if yet another friend of his had betrayed him…

“They already have,” Kuzuryuu offered. “Whatever they’ve done, you couldn’t talk even if you wanted, could you?”

Nanami’s eyes brightened, but she said nothing. It was still all the answer that Kuzuryuu had needed; his face relaxed, and he sat back. “There’s not much to be done about that,” he said. “This is even more fucked up than I thought...”

“I don’t understand.” Hinata gave Kuzuryuu an odd look; he didn’t know why this should reassure him. “How could someone stop someone from talking?”

“Lots of ways,” Kuzuryuu said. “But it’s not like she can tell us.”

“It could be dark magic,” Mioda offered.

"Or a bomb in her digestive tract!" Souda said.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!” Koizumi turned to face Nanami. “They have to be threatening you somehow. Or your family, or…”

Kuzuryuu scoffed, but Koizumi was too focused on Nanami to respond. Nanami shook her head. “It’s… it’s not anything I can explain,” she said. “But it’s not important.”

“I’d say it is,” Hinata said. “I mean, this is stuff we need to know. Isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Nanami said quickly.

“Then Chiaki-chan’s secrets are just that?” Mioda said, dropping her head.

“N –” Chiaki started, but then paused, and closed her lips tight. “I don’t know,” she whispered through them. “I just…don’t know…”

“Nanami…” Hinata paused there, reconsidering what he was going to say next. “I have a question. Well, a lot of them. But one, in particular.”

Nanami stared into empty space for a moment before she looked up at Hinata, saying nothing. “So, you know…you know something, but you can’t tell us about it. But you told us that you were the traitor, just now. Why couldn’t you tell us before?”

Nanami kept looking, and kept her mouth closed. Hinata bit his lip, trying to put the pieces together. “Could you tell us before?”

More silence. “You couldn’t, could you?”

“No.”

Hinata’s eyes went wide. “But… you couldn’t tell me that. You couldn’t, because...” He snapped his fingers. “Because I hadn’t guessed it yet. If we can guess what you’d say if you could tell us, then… then there’s no reason for you to keep it a secret anymore. You can tell us if we’re right, like what you did when I said you were the traitor –”

“Yes!” Nanami said, jumping up onto her knees. “Yes, I can absolutely do that!”

She rocked back and forth in her seat, by all appearances eagerly awaiting Hinata’s response. That was an empathic answer if Hinata ever saw one, so he smiled back at her.  “It’ll work, won’t it?” he said

“It should,” Nanami said. “I know you’re all very intelligent. That’s how you got to be Super High School Level in the first place.”

Mioda beamed at the compliment, while Koizumi and Souda shifted uncomfortably in their seats. They appeared to be the most uneasy around Nanami now; Saionji was angry but interested, and Kuzuryuu the pinnacle of calm. “The first questions were yours, Kuzuryuu-kun. You wanted to know what the Future Foundation was, and what it wanted with you.”

Hinata half-hoped she would keep talking and answer her own question, but she sat in silence, watching them with inquisitive eyes. “Seriously?” Saionji said. “This is life or death and we have to play twenty questions?”

“It’s not twenty questions, it’s just really hardcore guessing,” Mioda said. “And Ibuki can do really hardcore guessing because that’s the way she goes through her own daily life!” She tapped her finger against her chin. “Hmmm… Ibuki’s got it! They’re an international organization of super villains, and they’re holding us hostage for all of the world’s gold!”

Nanami was perfectly still and silent. Mioda pursed her lips, and tried again. “Nooooooo, wait! They’re a bunch of studio executives, and we were randomly selected for one of those TV reality shows –”

“Okay, enough,” Kuzuryuu said. “They’re part of Hope’s Peak. That stupid rabbit already said they put this together.”

“She’s not stupid,” Nanami said, gritting her teeth, but that was all she said.

“In the beginning,” Koizumi mused, “Usami said that our purpose was to ‘form bonds’ with each other, and gather Hope Shards by forming those bonds… that must have been what the Future Foundation wanted, if she was a part of it. But… did they have any other motive?”

Nanami nodded, but kept quiet. “That still leaves the question of who they are,” Hinata said. “Clearly they have the resources to carry something like this out, but…”

“You don’t even know where to begin to guess,” Nanami said.

Hinata paused. “No.”

“That’s alright. We can move on for now. Souda-kun, you asked about why you were brought here, and the Hope Shards, and your lost memories.”

“Yeah, well…” Souda scratched his head. “That’s kinda why I asked. I’ve got no idea…”

“As far as why we were brought here,” Hinata said, “Well… the only thing I can think of is it had something to do with us being at Hope’s Peak –”

“Yes,” Nanami said. “That was very much a deciding factor.”

“And it was really important for all of us to make friends,” Mioda said. “Ibuki knew that from the way Usami kept going on and on about it!”

“That doesn’t tell us why,” Koizumi said. “But I can’t even think of why…”

“Then…our memories,” Hinata said, interrupting Koizumi. He felt grim all of a sudden, as if a darkness had settled in the middle of his chest. “We did lose them. That wasn’t some kind of lie Monobear told.”

“It wasn’t,” Nanami said. “You did lose your memories.”

“But how can they just take someone’s memories?” Hinata said.

“The Future Foundation’s resources are extensive,” Nanami said, in a monotone that implied she had no more to say on the subject.

An awkward silence ensued, until Koizumi looked up from her lap to face Nanami. “The pictures from the Twilight Syndrome game,” she said, a choking sound making its way into her voice. “They’re really real. I really took those pictures.”

“You did,” Nanami said, hanging her head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Then…” Kuzuryuu caught himself mid-breath, and closed his mouth. “That must have something to do with it. Something to do with my sister’s death…”

“But not everyone here was involved with that,” Hinata said. “So it can’t be the reason we all lost our memories.”

Kuzuryuu gritted his teeth. “That’s not…”

“Was there some reason they needed to take ‘em?” Souda clutched his hands to his head. “Really… w-what happened to us?”

“I…don’t…”  Nanami looked from one face to the next, looking more and more uncomfortable.  “I can’t…”

“Chiaki-chan can’t what?” Mioda said.

“The Future Foundation would never have taken your memories without a reason,” Nanami said. She spoke in the same monotone as before, as though the words were well-rehearsed.

For a moment Hinata thought she was dodging the answer they needed, just as she had before. But then something long-forgotten, or perhaps long-repressed, pricked at him from the edges of his awareness. The Memory Fever. Monobear had mentioned it, before the Impostor had destroyed him… but he’d never had the chance to properly explain what it was.

He’d said that Tsumiki had had it, and that she’d given it to the Impostor. But nothing about their behavior had suggested anything to do with memories. He hadn’t even noticed any common behavior between them. None except their joint attempts, and successes, at murder…and at despair, he thought.

For a split second he knew some part of the real answer, and his mind was overcome with the effort to understand it. But then he pushed it away, in the hope that he would never have to find it again. “It’s something big,” he said. “Something so big, we can’t even imagine it. It’s… it’s dangerous.” He hugged his knees to his chest. “It’s something we needed to forget.”

Nanami said nothing, but the mournful expression on her face told him all he needed to know – or didn’t, for that matter. The others looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for him to elaborate, “I don’t know anything else,” he said. “I don’t even know where to begin –”

“Then Ibuki thinks we should forget about it and move on for now!” Mioda said, speaking very quickly. “Let’s see, let’s see… What about Monobear? He’s not really Monomi-chan’s older brother, is he?”

“Absolutely not,” Nanami said. “Monobear has never been affiliated with the Future Foundation in any way, shape, or form.”

“Then he’s some kind of enemy!” Mioda said.

“I hardly need to tell you that,” Nanami said in a small voice.

“But you can’t exactly tell us who, can you?” Hinata said.

Nanami lowered her head. “No. I can’t.” She paused, and then spoke more quietly. “To tell the truth, I don’t completely know…”

“You don’t know who Monobear is?” Hinata said. “But, I thought –”

“I’m sorry,” Nanami said, sounding curt. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

“Then what about Chiaki-chan?” Mioda said. “Can Chiaki-chan tell us who Chiaki-chan is?”

Nanami paused for several seconds before she replied. “You already know a lot about me, Mioda-san.”

“We don’t know anything about you!” Souda said. “We didn’t even know you were the traitor!”

“I really don’t have that much to hide,” was all Nanami had to say in response.

“Then you’re saying you’re really a Hope’s Peak student,” Kuzuryuu said, slowly enunciating the words. “You’re not just some plant they hired to pretend to be one of us?”

Nanami stared down in silence. Kuzuryuu furrowed his brow. “Then you’re not. It’s a lie.”

When she still didn’t speak, Kuzuryuu pounded his hand against the floor, wincing as the pain moved through it. “Well, what is it?” he barked. “It’s gotta be one or the other!”

Nanami’s lips were trembling, and her fingers twisting in her lap. “Not everything is so easy to understand,” she said in a monotone.

“That’s not an answer!” Saionji shouted.

“And if it’s not, then there’s no chance of getting one, is there?” Koizumi gave Nanami an odd, desperate look – one that suggested betrayal above any other emotion. But, again, Nanami didn’t answer. She lifted her hand, reaching out to Koizumi, as if she were about to comfort her – but when Koizumi didn’t take the offered hand, she set it down again, and turned her head away.

After the briefest of pauses, Koizumi spoke again. “Can’t you just – tell us what you can tell us? I don’t have any more idea what’s going on now than before, and if I just have to keep guessing… well, it’s just not getting anywhere, again and again and again...” She grumbled. “It’s not that I’m mad. I’m just…never mind.”

She pulled her knees up to her chin, and hung her head between them. This time Nanami moved closer to Koizumi, and set a hand on her shoulder, but Koizumi didn’t move, and neither did anyone else.

“I’m sorry,” Nanami said. “We can drop the subject, if you’d like.”

“No,” Koizumi said. Nanami leaned even closer, waiting for Koizumi to continue, but when she didn’t, Nanami moved back again.

The silence fell again, feeling more oppressive than ever. It did feel to Hinata as though something had changed, but not as though anything had gotten any better; he couldn’t look at Nanami without seeing her as something different, something untouchable, and so he tried not to look at her at all. And the others… he could almost swear they’d looked more hopeful when they hadn’t had any hope of knowing the truth. But now…

“She could probably tell us all about the Impostor,” Kuzuryuu said. “If any of you would actually bother to ask.”

A chill swept across the back of Hinata’s neck, as Togami’s face flashed through his mind. “Wait, she can?” Souda said, trying hard not to look at Kuzuryuu. “But we didn’t even ask about them yet…”

“But that doesn’t even matter…she CAN!” Mioda’s eyes went wide at the realization, and within a second she was up on her feet, rocking back and forth on her heels. “She was talking and talking and talking and talking about Byakuya-chan earlier and Ibuki didn’t even realize what she was trying to say, even with her razor-sharp realizing skills!”

“That’s right,” Hinata said, perking up as the gears in his mind began to move again. “You hadn’t told us you were the traitor yet, so you claimed you were being vague. But everything you said about them and their nature, you knew it for sure!”

“I did!” Nanami said, with a level of enthusiasm so sudden that even Koizumi perked up. “That’s exactly it!”

“Then you must know a lot about them,” Hinata said, laughing despite himself. “And if you do, can you explain all this?”

His heart skipped a beat as Nanami’s face fell – but it didn’t fall far, and she was still smiling. “I can tell you what I know,” she said. “But what I know isn’t as much as what you might want. In a lot of ways, I’m just as curious about them as you are…”

Nanami looked as though she were about to say more, but Hinata could tell there was no need for her to make excuses for herself. All six of them were now sitting at attention, and if they felt anything like how Hinata felt, they were eager for the chance at new information. Even the Four Dark Gods of Destruction seemed to be listening; they’d all gathered at the top of Mioda’s head, staring and staying remarkably still.

“Hinata-kun,” Nanami began again. “You know much of what was classified, don’t you?”

“I know…” Hinata put a hand to his chin. “I know that they were always meant to be a member of our class. And I can figure the Future Foundation knew who they really were. But they were still brought here as Byakuya Togami, so chances are that y– that the Future Foundation kept their identity secret for a reason.”

“That’s all correct,” Nanami said. “If not the whole truth. It wasn’t necessarily us that made the decision to keep the Impostor’s identity secret.” She twisted her hands together. “Directly speaking, it was Hope’s Peak Academy that initially made the decision to enroll them as Byakuya Togami, the Super High School Level Heir. Indirectly… neither of us really had a choice.”

“Didn’t have a choice?” Saionji said. “What, were they threatening them or something?”

“That’s not something so simple,” Nanami said. “For the Impostor to live a life as anyone but Byakuya Togami at that point in time, to be truly exposed for who they were, would have been impossible.”

Hinata couldn’t wrap his head around what he was hearing, and from the look of things neither could anyone else. “So, they’re a master of disguise or whatever,” Souda said. “How hard is that to understand? It’s kinda stupid for them to be in disguise all the time.”

“Disguise is putting it too lightly,” Koizumi said, her voice hollow. “Isn’t it?”

“You put a disguise on and take it off,” Hinata said. “But this… this is different…”

“It may be very difficult to accept,” Nanami said. “But you will have to, without reservation or hesitation, if you ever hope to understand them.”

That didn’t quite calm everyone, but it did stop their questions, giving Nanami another chance to talk. “In the interest of telling the truth…my superiors and I know very little about the Impostor as a person,” she said. “Of course, Hope’s Peak did their own research on them when they were enrolled as a student. We have reason to believe that they’d compiled an extensive historical and psychological record on them, but if it ever existed, it has long since been destroyed.”

“Destroyed?” Hinata said. “By who?”

Nanami stared at Hinata for several seconds, and then went on, ignoring his question. “Their personal record is incomplete to the point that we know nothing about them as an individual. We do not know their name, age, gender, place of birth, or true appearance. We don’t even know how much of this information they could tell us. No birth records exist for them, and no outstanding reports of missing persons can be traced back to them.

“They were only brought to the attention of Hope’s Peak by a rumor in the criminal underground of a certain city, concerning a person with an extraordinarily talent for impersonation. I don’t know the full history of how they came to be found and enrolled in the school, but we know that for years they’d been wandering across Japan, adopting the personalities and likenesses of persons across a wide range of appearances, male and female alike. Whenever they were discovered to be a fake, they would disappear, never to be found again. We don’t know exactly how many personalities they have taken on, or how long they may have spent in any given place. We attempted to replace some of their lost historical record when they entered into our hands, but we were unable to do so. But by then…well, it didn’t matter so much.”

The group was silent for several seconds. Hinata, at least, was trying to form a picture of what he’d just heard – but he’d found it hard to reconcile with what he’d thought he knew for a fact. Togami had claimed to be the richest of the rich, and Hinata had always imagined Togami in the lap of luxury. But to think of them wandering from city to city, changing identities wherever they went… always running, running from the kind of discovery that could be their undoing…

“Is that it?” Saionji said, snapping him out of his own head. “That’s all you know?”

“It is. They were always a very secretive and mysterious person,” Nanami said. “And they have…a particular discomfort with the possibility of discovery. I could never learn any more about them, and by the time we’d arrived on the island there was no way for me to treat them as anyone but Byakuya Togami...”

Hinata felt as though a pin had dropped in his mind. “Wait,” he said. “That time in the cottage, that’s what you were doing. You told them all about this, didn’t you?”

“That time in the cottage?” Koizumi said. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“You’re…that’s very observant, Hinata-kun,” Nanami said. “I told them that I knew their secret, but I didn’t go into any more detail. They were in pain. They desperately wanted to protect us, and they were in danger of collapsing under the pressure. They felt they had done too much harm for you to be able to trust them again, and that it had all begun with the very first moment they’d lied to you about themselves.” She turned to Hinata. “I’m not surprised that they would want to confess their identity. Even if it was too late.”

Hinata remembered the look he’d seen on Togami’s face, just moments before he’d had to leave their cottage. Their pained expression, their apologies… and then in the next second he remembered the joy on their face when he’d directed them to interact with the others at the fireworks show, and the tenderness with which they’d held Mioda close. And then, in the end, that night at the hospital, the fear in their eyes, the desperation he’d seen just before they’d vanished…

“So you do know more about them,” Hinata said. “You just said you didn’t.”

“Those are only personal observations,” Nanami said. “I couldn’t tell you anything you don’t already know.”

“That’s… that’s right,” Hinata said. He did know, though. He’d always known those moments had been genuine; he couldn’t imagine them as some calculated part of a disguise. It didn’t matter whether that disguise was Byakuya Togami, or… or if…

“But Byakuya-chan was wrong.” Hinata was surprised that Mioda had been so quiet. She’d absorbed all the information that Nanami had had to give her about the Impostor with wide, expressionless eyes, and Hinata could only imagine what might have been going through her head. “Byakuya-chan thought we’d hate Byakuya-chan if we ever found out that Byakuya-chan wasn’t Byakuya-chan. But Byakuya-chan didn’t even realize how many secrets Byakuya-chan wasn’t keeping…”

“That’s a lot of Byakuya-chans,” Souda mumbled, then snickered to himself when the mumble caught everyone else’s attention. Hinata tried not to return the snicker, but found himself doing so anyway. Then Mioda joined in, more loudly, but it didn’t lead to any kind of cascade of laughter. Nanami, Saionji, Kuzuryuu, and Koizumi were still taciturn, and gave no reaction to the others’ laughter.

“Speaking of that,” Koizumi said, preventing another silence, “is Byakuya Togami a real person? Or…did they just make him up?”

Hinata felt an odd, strangled tension replacing the darkness in his chest. “The Togami Conglomerate’s definitely real,” Kuzuryuu said. “The family does dealings with them all the time...”

“It is real,” Nanami said. “And there is a real Byakuya Togami. The Impostor patterned themselves off of his personality and appearance.”

“A real Byakuya Togami.” Hinata hadn’t yet had the time to think of just where the Byakuya Togami persona had come from. The Impostor had engaged in enough theatrics for it to be completely made up. But, he’d been wrong… somewhere out there in the world, there was someone who shared their name and their face…

“So… there were really two Togamis?!” Souda shouted.

“Twogamis?” Mioda looked far more shocked by this information than the rest of them.

“And I thought one was bad enough,” Saionji said. 

“There is truly only one heir to the Togami Conglomerate,” Nanami said. “But both of these people shared the same name at the same time.”

“But why were they imitating this guy, over anyone else?” Hinata said. “It seems like a pretty random disguise…”

“And it seems like a pain in the ass,” Kuzuryuu said. “Putting on all that weight just to imitate this guy? That’s a lot more trouble than it’s worth.”

“That’s…” Nanami hesitated, but only for a second. “Byakuya Togami’s persona was the one they had adopted when they were admitted to Hope’s Peak. It was determined that we should allow them to continue, both to ease the transition to the island and to create continuity with Hope’s Peak’s decision to do the same.”

“That’s not an answer,” Saionji said.

“It’s the one I have,” said Nanami. “Although… I do have my own guesses as to their motives.”

“And what are those?” Hinata said.

“They’re…not really relevant,” Nanami said.

“Because Byakuya-chan isn’t Byakuya-chan, anymore?” Mioda said in a small voice.

“I…” Nanami stared at Mioda for a moment, before her eyes went wide in horror. “No, absolutely not, that’s not what I meant –”

“Is there gonna be any way to get Byakuya-chan back?” Hinata heard the beginnings of a sob in Mioda’s voice, but only one, before she quickly stabilized herself. She didn’t look desperate, or even upset – just inquisitive, as if she were asking about the weather.

“To get them back…?” Nanami’s face fell, and she did not speak for several seconds. “If there is, or isn’t, I don’t know. It was Monobear that implemented the Memory Fever. I can’t know why they never recovered, or even how they could be recovered at all.”

“The Memory Fever,” Koizumi said, haltingly. “Then, what happened to them… it had to be something to do with their memories?”

It was exactly what Hinata had tried not to acknowledge, and to push away from the forefront of his mind. Their memories… the Impostor’s memories… but what in their memories could turn them to the kind of person that would kill three of their friends? He didn’t understand at all, and he could see from the looks on their faces that the others didn’t, either. And Nanami only looked more distressed than ever, even if she wasn’t speaking.

In the midst of his confusion, he remembered something he’d forgotten. Enoshima-dono. Tsumiki had called the Impostor by that name just after she’d transferred the fever, if that was indeed what she’d done, and that same name had been the ‘password’ that had allowed Monomi to speak during the trial. It had certainly shocked and confused him at the time. But he’d let it slip his mind for days at a time, because Impostor had never called themselves Enoshima, or even given them any clue as to who Enoshima was. If they’d considered it so important, and if Tsumiki had called them by that name, then why hadn’t they been told anything else about it…?

“Listen,” he started. “I –”

“Urgh! Why are we still doing this?”  Saionji bashed her fists hard against the ground, making an enormous thumping noise, before she jumped her feet, fists still clenched. “Big Bro, you said that crying about the Impostor would help us. But you agree with me, right? We’re just crying about them even more. This is stupid, and I don’t care.”

“Wait – what?” Hinata blinked, his mind suddenly blank. He’d lost whatever train of thought he had, and he didn’t know if he could get it back. “Saionji –”

“Let’s get down to business,” Saionji interrupted. She left Koizumi’s side and set herself down at Nanami’s, pulling roughly at her hair. “The Future Foundation. Tell them to get their butts here before we starve to death or get ourselves killed!”

“Hey!” Hinata shouted, but Nanami sat silent, and didn’t react to the hair pulling. But she still looked sad, even sadder than she had when she’d been talking about the Impostor.

“Well?” Saionji said. “Come on!”

“She’s not able to contact them at all, Hiyoko-chan,” Koizumi interrupted, a snarl in her voice. “We’ve been over this. Do you really think she wouldn’t, after all this time?”

“I have no idea,” Saionji said, without looking at Koizumi. “She was lying to us as much as the Impostor was. Why should we believe anything she has to say? For all I know, she’s the one that’s telling them not to come for us.”

“Saionji-san, I assure you, I’m not,” Nanami said in a small voice.

 “But why would they put you out of the loop?” Kuzuryuu said.

“Is it something the Impostor did?” Souda said. “Did he mess with… wait, do you have some kind of secret cell phone or something?!”

“I don’t.” Nanami looked up at the ceiling, and stared into the nothingness. “Monomi was the only one ever able to contact them. She had to be. But after Monobear cut her off, we were unable to reach them altogether…”

“Then you’re a piss-poor excuse for a traitor,” Saionji said, pulling harder on her hair.

“Hiyoko-chan!” Koizumi ran to Saionji’s side, grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, and pulled her away from Nanami. She was clearly livid – and even more than with Nanami, she looked betrayed. “What do you think you’re doing, anyway? You – this entire time –”

“NO! Don’t yell at me!” Saionji scrunched her eyes shut, and folded her hands over her ears. “You’ve been doing this the entire time! Just yelling and yelling and yelling!” Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes. “All I try to do is help, but all you do is hate me –“

“I don’t hate you!” Koizumi shouted. “We’ve been over this, already, a hundred times –”

“It’s alright,” Nanami said, in a small voice. “It’s a difficult thing to deal with –”

“You can’t keep doing this, Hiyoko-chan,” Koizumi said, talking right over Nanami. “This hostility, to everyone and everything… I know you’re scared, but we can’t –”

“Damn right I’m scared!” Saionji shouted. “We’re still here, and all the traitor has done so far is talk! Maybe if she’d just talked before Hinata got us stuck here that’d be different –”

The mention of his name snapped Hinata out of the shock he’d fallen into. “I did not get us stuck here!”

“You kind of did,” Kuzuryuu mumbled.

“But I wasn’t –”

Hinata gripped at his head, scrunching his eyes shut as a sudden pain split his head. It was gone just as quickly as it had come, but he held his head in his hands for several more seconds before he looked up. He heard some shuffling as the others came closer – or as they moved further away, he couldn’t tell. He almost didn’t want to look, no matter that he knew he’d have to.

The silence returned, and hung heavy and still for several more seconds before, unseen by Hinata, someone rustled and moved to stand. “You’re right,” Kuzuryuu said, though Hinata couldn’t tell who he was talking to. “About one thing. We don’t have any more way to get out of here than we did before.”

“You –” Koizumi started, but didn’t get the chance to finish. Kuzuryuu’s footsteps receded into the distance, before they stopped altogether. Koizumi swore under her breath, before she fell silent again.

“We don’t have to stop thinking about it,” Mioda said in a small voice, but when she only got mumbles in response, Hinata heard another shuffling of feet. Then he heard small, rapid steps, which he could only guess belonged to Saionji.

By the time he opened his eyes, he’d been left alone. Koizumi had moved back to her place by the pillar, where she sat, alone, without looking at anyone. Saionji and Kuzuryuu were nowhere in sight. Souda and Mioda were pacing by the front of the door, and Nanami had retreated to the back of the room, kneeling at the foot of the spears and crests, as if in prayer.

He had a mind to approach one or the other of the groups, just to make conversation or bring reassurance, but he had the feeling that no one wanted to meet his eyes. Perhaps it was all in his head, but…

But he sighed, instead of finishing the thought, and moved his head back. As it bumped against the stone of the nearest pillar, he wondered what else he could possibly have done to help – and in the next instant he realized that he’d never gotten back to bringing Enoshima up. He could easily stand up and do it then and there, though. He could bring them back together, and see if there were any clues that they’d missed…

…but to what end? he thought. He had nothing constructive to say about the name, and if he didn’t then there was nothing that Nanami could tell them about it. It would only be another dead end in a line of dead ends, another layer in their layers of despair. In the end, despite the protestations, Saionji was right. They’d run in circles and gotten nowhere.

=====

The light from the outside faded as the day wore on.

Hinata couldn’t say for sure how much time had passed, since didn’t have his Electronic Student ID anymore. He could only think that he’d lost track of it when he’d been on the beach, or… or when he’d been sleepwalking. Either way, it wasn’t as though knowing the time would help him much. Day and night were the only times that had ever mattered on the island, even from the beginning, and they mattered even less when there was nothing exact to wait for.

For another, he’d spent so much time drifting in and out of sleep, keeping his mind as blank as it could be. He exchanged some scattered words with Souda when he came to stay with Hinata at his pillar, and made no secret of being grateful for the company, but none of the others came within his reach, not even Mioda or Nanami. It was almost mid-afternoon when enough of them got together to have a lunch of two takoyaki each, and even then no one spoke very much, not even to ask more about everything they’d just heard. Perhaps it was because they knew that there was nothing new to say, and nothing that would get them past the threshold. So they parted in just as much silence as they’d come. Their dinner, also two takoyaki, passed in much the same fashion.

At about nine forty-five, when the threshold outside the front door had gone dark but for the lights of the carnival, Koizumi took out her Electronic Student ID and began checking it obsessively. Then, after some time, she announced that it was ten o’clock. This stirred some level of interest in their ranks – an entire day had gone by, and none of them had fallen victim to the Impostor’s execution threat. It was something to acknowledge and be relieved over, but it wasn’t the biggest of conversation topics.

So they settled back into their places: Hinata and Souda against their pillar, Koizumi and Saionji against separate pillars, Kuzuryuu far out of sight… and Nanami, curled up on the ground underneath the shields and spears, fast asleep. Hinata stared at her for some time. He hadn’t noticed when she’d fallen asleep. Had she been sitting in silence the entire time, waking and sleeping? No one had tried to approach her, not in the entire time they’d been trapped. Were they afraid of her, and what she might do? Was he afraid of her, as much as anyone else? He did feel a kind of tension in the back of his mind, as though he wasn’t looking at the person he’d known for so long. As though she’d been taken away, and been replaced with someone that only looked like her.

He wondered if the others felt the same way, and he hated himself for thinking about it at all.

Mioda had been pacing back and forth across the same spot of ground for several hours, and continued to do so as ten o’clock passed. Hinata was surprised there wasn’t a significant dent in the floor, or at the very least that Mioda had the energy to continue walking. He watched her for some time, trying to interpret the look on her face, but it seemed to change every time her hair swung in front of her face. One minute she was angry, another miserable, and the next happy, if only faintly.

Only when Koizumi had stood and started towards Mioda did he notice that she’d been staring, as well. She stood awkwardly in Mioda’s path, her hands straight at her sides, waiting for her to return. When she did, she stopped at a respectful distance from Koizumi, and said something that Hinata couldn’t hear. They continued in this fashion for some time, until, unexpectedly, Koizumi raised her voice just enough to make her words clear. 

“You’re not even listening to me, Ibuki-chan,” she said. “You just said yourself you have no what you’re doing, or even if you can. It’s just going to be more danger than you’re already in!”

“Ibuki knows that,” Mioda said. “But if Ibuki’s already in danger, then taking even more risks won’t even matter!”

“And what are you going to do if you can’t even get outside?” Koizumi’s eyes went wide, and lines of fear were drawn on her face. “This is a losing battle and you already know it!”

“Ibuki does know!” Mioda tapped her foot rapidly against the ground. “But it won’t be a losing battle if Ibuki wins…”

“I don’t want you to end up like Akane-chan!” Koizumi’s voice tilted up to a shout, before she caught herself and lowered it to a whisper. “If you put yourself in a vulnerable position, you’re going to die!”

“Ibuki didn’t even say what she was going to do!” Mioda said. “All she said was that if there’s a way, she’s going to find it – and the danger doesn’t matter if she’s already in danger!”

 “But it does!” Koizumi looked as though she were about to burst into tears. “Ibuki-chan… this is your life. And you don’t even know what to do with it yet.”

For a moment, Mioda still looked confident. But then her hand touched her chin, and her smile began to fade. Koizumi’s did, as well, and for a moment she looked tense. Hinata considered trying to intervene and learn more – but he decided quickly against it when Koizumi spoke again. “Waiting for the Future Foundation would be less of a risk, you know.”

Mioda mumbled something inaudible, but Hinata thought he could hear “Chiaki-chan.” Koizumi nodded, and was silent for a time, thinking, before she spoke. “You know…there is the other Togami. Whoever he is. He’s gotta be at least a little like the person we knew. Right? He’s probably just as pompous and self-serving, anyway. I’m sure … if you want to, you could… well, y’know. Look him up.”

She grinned, looking not entirely confident in what she’d said herself.  “Of course, he is a pretty important guy. So he might not be all that easy to –”

“Mahiru-chan…” Mioda turned to Koizumi, looking like she was about to laugh. “Does Mahiru-chan even believe what she’s saying?”

 Koizumi was surprised, but only for a second before her brow creased. “No,” she said.

“But at least Mahiru-chan tried! But Ibuki knows you can do better than lying.” Mioda winked. “Still, Ibuki doesn’t think Mahiru-chan can convince Ibuki that she’s wrong.”

 Mioda beamed at Koizumi, who looked about as downtrodden as Mioda had ever seen her. She shuddered, then turned away from Mioda, and stepped away. “Don’t go outside, Mioda,” she said. “Just… just don’t.”

Mioda didn’t reply, at least not in any way that Hinata could hear, and even before Koizumi was back in her seat she’d started pacing again, now audibly mumbling to herself. As far as Hinata knew, he was the only one that had heard their conversation. No one else had reacted, at the very least. Had they all been awake, thinking the others were sleeping? It was certainly possible.

He looked over at Souda, who lay not far away. He was definitely asleep, curled up under the tattered remains of Nanami’s jacket. He was whimpering and shaking; Hinata could only imagine the horrors he was dreaming about. Not that Hinata’s own horrors would be any better… but he was holding up remarkably well, given where he’d been just days before.  Was it the adrenaline keeping him together? It might be. But he couldn’t hold up forever, he knew. None of them could, and least of all Mioda, if what he’d seen was any indication.

He felt a stroke of inspiration, one he knew he had to share. “Hey,” he said. “Souda.”

“H-Huh?” Souda shifted slightly, wincing in pain.

“I was thinking… we can break whatever rules we want in here, right? It’s not like there’s anything they can do about it.”

“Y…y’think so?” Souda blinked sleepily at him, before he shook his head, not entirely waking himself up. “Whysat?”

“The one about contacting the outside,” Hinata said. “The Impostor, and Monomi… both of them acted like they were talking to someone, in thin air. How d’you think they did that?”

Souda was silent for a second, before he turned away again. “Some kind of earpiece, probably.”

“Probably…” Hinata shivered. “I didn’t see anything, though. Do you think…?”

Hinata heard a light snore; Souda had fallen back into the sleep he’d never quite woken up from. Hinata considered poking him, but in the end decided to let the moment go. “G’night, Souda.”

Souda mumbled, but didn’t wake up again. Hinata turned away, and, once he’d mustered the nerve, looked up at the ceiling. He couldn’t see anything that looked like a recording device, but if he looked closely enough he thought he could see something like a shifting shadow – nothing even remotely human, but enough to suggest a presence that could see him.

“Are you really out there?” he said. “Can you hear me like this?”

For a second Hinata wondered if he’d get a response from somewhere – but of course, he knew he wouldn’t. “I’m just going to assume you can,” he went on. “I don’t really know how that would work, but that’s what the Impostor’s been doing, and that’s what Monomi did, too. Maybe they had some kind of microphone hidden, I don’t know. But I guess it doesn’t matter –”

“Keep it down,” Souda mumbled.

“Right.” Hinata took a deep breath, and continued in a lower tone. “I don’t know what’s stopping you from helping us. Maybe it’s something important we don’t know about. But whatever it is… we’ve all come up with ways to get out of horrific situations before. We’ve survived up until now. And we can keep trying. But we’re still counting on you. We can’t get over anything. We’re just a bunch of defenseless kids, even if we all have Super High School Level talents…”

Not that I would know what my talent is, he thought. Have I been using it somehow all this time and not knowing it? “So we need your help. That’s all there is to it. And if you can’t…well, a sign of why would be nice. Then at least we could feel like we’re getting somewhere.”

 He stared up at the ceiling for several seconds, watching the light from above play tricks on his eyes. He thought he could see the shadow moving, and something vaguely human dropping down from the eaves. But he didn’t see it fall any further, and in the end he decided it was a trick of the lights.

“And, hey,” he said, in a much quieter tone, as Mioda’s downtrodden face flashed in his mind. “If you can find some way to get them back to how they used to be… well, that’d be…”

That’d be a lot more than I can possibly ask for, he thought.

“Never mind,” he said.

He tilted his head back again, but only for a second before he closed his eyes. He felt his worries dissolve a bit, just as they had the last few times he’d tried to sleep, and for a few moments he only allowed himself to focus on the flashes of color at the back of his eyelids. It wasn’t long before he’d stopped, assured that he could fall asleep with only minimal difficulty.

=====

THUNK.

THUNK. THUNK.

Hinata ignored the first two THUNKs, unsure of whether he’d imagined them or not. But as the sound grew louder, he shuddered, and opened one eye.

He could see Nanami and Kuzuryuu stirring some distance away, rubbing their eyes and muttering things he couldn’t quite hear from where he was. “Hhhh… Nanami?” he said. “Kuzuryuu… what’s-”

THUNK. Nanami and Kuzuryuu started and ran for the door, leaving Hinata behind. Hinata followed their lead and stood, pulling Souda by the arm until he woke. Once he was standing – a process that took remarkably little time – he waved him wordlessly toward the center aisle of the room, to which he ran without checking to see if Souda had caught up.

The others had gathered in a semicircle around the rubble that surrounded the doorway; Hinata and Souda were the last to join them. On top of still being half-asleep, Koizumi looked curious, Saionji terrified, Mioda anxious, and Kuzuryuu tense. Nanami was nowhere in his field of vision; whether she stepped away, or was she hiding behind someone, he couldn’t tell.

Hinata heard the THUNK again, but couldn’t tell its exact source. All he knew, for now, was that it had definitely come from the outside. “Oh, come on,” Kuzuryuu said. “What do they think they’re doing now?”

“I-It might not be them!” he heard Souda say close to his ear. “Could be the Future Foundation! They’re finally here!”

“The Future Foundation?” Nanami stepped forward on Hinata’s other side, breaking the semicircle. “But…”

“But it’s only one guy,” Saionji interrupted. “There’s supposed to be six! Mr. Porkfeet said!”

“Only one guy –?!” In the darkness, Hinata didn’t see the context for Saionji’s statement at first – but when he did, his stomach did a backflip.

There was a man standing outside the castle, just inside the threshold between the road and the entrance. His face and the better part of his body were obscured by the darkness, but Hinata could tell that he was tall, and powerfully built – far too much so to be the Impostor. But very little else was apparent. He couldn’t even tell what kind of clothes the man wore. But he could see the smallest, shadowy details, like the way his collar fluttered in the breeze – the only movement, thus far, that he’d observed the man making at all.   

“It has to be the Future Foundation,” Koizumi said. “It couldn’t be anyone else.”

“No,” Nanami said, in a small, still voice. “It couldn’t be. It’s not. But…”

“But what?” Mioda said. “But Chiaki-chan’s not sure?”

“Then w-who is it?” Souda said, shaking with fear. “If it’s not them, and it’s not us…”

“Then we’ll just have to find out who it is!” Before anyone could stop her, Mioda bounded forward and cupped her hands around her lips. “HEY! Guy! Are you from the future?”

“Mioda!” Hinata and the others looked at her in horror, but the man outside the door offered her no answer. He stood perfectly still, and for the longest time he didn’t appear to respond or react to them. Then, with another loud THUNK, he took a step forward. THUNK. And another. THUNK. And another. THUNK.

“What is he doing?” Kuzuryuu said. “Why isn’t he answering us?”

“And why’s he making all that noise?” Hinata said. “Those are some heavy footsteps…”

“Maybe he has really heavy shoes?” Mioda said.

“That’s...” In the dim light of the castle, Hinata could kind of see the man’s shoes – and as he did, he took a few steps away from the door, nearly backing into Souda. The man’s legs were thicker around than Hinata’s waist, and his boots were made entirely of a metal that glinted unmistakably in the light. They were more like the lower half of a suit of armor than they were like any kind of ordinary footwear. He wasn’t even sure how the man could move in them, or why he’d chosen to wear them at all…

And then he realized it wasn’t just his shoes. His hands, his chest, his face…  the only explanation he could think of was that he had to be wearing some kind of full-body armor and mask under his clothes, because they were made entirely of metal that glinted at he stepped into the light. Hinata found himself reminded of a mecha’s face, or the kinds of cheap plastic Kamen Rider masks he’d seen at festivals…

Souda made a strangled sound, somewhere between horror and delight. “I- I can’t believe it,” he said. “It can’t be… it is, but it –”

“It?” Hinata swallowed.

“It’s a robot!” Souda shouted, pointing directly at the man. “A real, live robot!”

“A what now?” Koizumi shot Souda an angry, desperate look. “That’s ridiculous, it’s definitely not a –”

She took another look back at the man, as if to accentuate her point, but when she did, her face went white, and her jaw fell open. One by one the others looked up in curiosity, only briefly questioning her reasoning before they, too, shrunk back in shock.

Up close, the man’s face still looked like a Kamen Rider mask – but it was though it had been made with a certain set of specific features in mind. The eyes. The scar. The earring. And on top of that, the shirt, the coat, the scarf… Hinata couldn’t comprehend it. Not if he had a hundred years to mull it over. But the details were unmistakable…

“Tanaka…kun…?” Nanami’s voice had risen to a shout – and in the next instant she’d turned on her heels, grabbing the collar of Saionji’s kimono as she went. “Tanaka-kun –!”

The machine that resembled Tanaka lowered its head and charged forward. It had no trouble entering the castle, and crossed over the pile of rubble at the entrance with a flying leap. Its thick, metallic legs made even louder THUNKS as they slapped against the flagstones.

The shockwave sent Hinata tumbling into one of the pillars, which connected hard against the side of his arm. He fell to his knees, trying to orient himself, but the sudden surge of pain was keeping him from making rational decisions. He could hear screams from all sides, and the continuing THUNK THUNK THUNK of the robot’s footsteps, but he couldn’t tell who was screaming, or where, let alone just where the robot had gone.

Until a shadow fell over him, and a final THUNK hit his ears.

He tilted his head, looking all the way up.  The robot was much taller than Tanaka – in fact, it was three feet taller than any human being Hinata had ever seen – but despite the metal the resemblance was unmistakable.  Even up close the clothes on its metal body were scrupulously accurate, although he could see that it was not wearing a shirt under its jacket or scarf, or boots on what he now realized were its bare feet.

Not that he got to examine them for very long before it lunged at him. The next few seconds were a blur, but before he knew it he’d dodged, and the robot’s metal fist connected with the pillar with an enormous CRUNCH.

A hail of rocks hit his back at high speed, hard enough to bruise, and he felt the lesions on his hands reopening as he attempted to crawl away. He was moving without thinking, panting and struggling for breath, unable to find the words or the higher brain function needed to scream.

He saw Koizumi pass him without looking down, holding Saionji in her arms. He wanted to call out to her, but he still couldn’t speak. He felt as though he were in a dream, one of those ones where your voice didn’t work, and no matter how hard you screamed you couldn’t make yourself heard…

CRACK. SMASH. SLAM. The THUNK of the robot’s feet had disappeared under the sound of the building’s destruction. His vision blurred as he looked back around and saw it barreling into walls, collapsing pillars, reaching and grabbing and collecting empty air. It never stopped moving, not for a second, and its head was always turning, scanning, and pinpointing its next target whenever it happened to find it. It would have had all the distinguishing features of Tanaka’s face, if Tanaka had no mouth, no nose, and glowing yellow eyes –

His thoughts were cut off by a loud SMACK, and then a wet, splattering sound, followed almost immediately by a scream – “HIYOKO-CHAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!”

He turned his eyes to the floor. He couldn’t look. Not when he didn’t want what he knew he would see. Another scream split the air, a wordless scream of sheer pain and anguish, but it wasn’t Saionji’s. He didn’t hear another word from her, and he couldn’t turn himself to see where she was.

He was going to die if he stayed here. He’d come to think of this place as the only safe spot in the world, but now that Robo-Tanaka was here, he didn’t know whether  he’d be safe ever again. He couldn’t even think of WHY it was there. Had the Impostor sent it? Was this their way of crossing the threshold, of overcoming that fear of mice? And why the actual hell did it look like Tanaka?

Every moment he wasted thinking about this was a moment he or one of his friends could be dead. For now, there was only one place they could go.

He scrambled to his feet. The castle entryway swam before his eyes, but he couldn’t see anyone near it – or hear anyone, anymore. But the room was big. He had to assume they were alive.

“RUN!” he screamed, until his vocal cords were hoarse. “RUN – EVERYONE – RUN!”

He saw someone materialize in the corner of his vision, too far into the darkness to be distinguished, and then he saw them run for the exit and disappear. Who was it? He would never know. But it didn’t matter. They were safe, weren’t they? They had to be safe, after all they’d survived…

He took a quick look around. Collapsed pillars. Another scream. “RUN!” he shouted again, if it would reach anyone, and then, on his own advice, he ran. He couldn’t go back for the others without risking his own safety, and then they’d both be dead. They’d have to regroup outside, decide the best course of action, and then, if they encountered the Impostor –

“Ngh!”

He felt something soft under his feet, and immediately jumped back. “Nanami –!”

He bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming aloud. Nanami was alive – blessedly alive – and he’d almost stepped over her without seeing her. He hadn’t done any damage himself, thankfully – but her chest and upper thighs were covered in broken rubble, her face and neck were streaked with blood, and her breathing was shaky, and shallow…

Without another thought, he bent and pushed the rubble aside, utilizing a strength he didn’t know he had. He found her blouse had been torn open, but her stomach was only bruised – her leg, unprotected, had a series of gashes crisscrossing the sides. He felt panic filling his mind, and for precious seconds he stared, unsure of what to do.  “Nanami,” he said. “Nanami, please…”

Nanami moaned, and opened one eye, but didn’t respond. Her gaze was glassy and unfocused; Hinata looked again at the specks of blood on her forehead and realized he didn’t know where they’d come from. Had she hit her head so hard that she’d suffered damage he couldn’t counteract…?

Go.

He couldn’t stay. He couldn’t leave her. He didn’t know if anyone else needed saving – but she was here, and he could save her. But if he tried to save her, he didn’t know if he could save himself… but she was his friend. And she had so much more to tell him…

You have to go.

He knelt by her side, and wrapped her arms around her waist and shoulders.  She wasn’t as hard to carry as he’d expected, but adrenaline could have been fooling him there.

 She has to go, and so do you.

“Hinata…” Nanami mumbled, her voice a low, weak whine. “Hinata…kun…”

“No, not now.” Hinata clenched his teeth, tears streaming from his eyes. He’d never, ever been happier to hear her voice. “Don’t try to talk. You’ll be okay… I know…you will…”

“Hinata-kun…” Hinata couldn’t reply, or stop her for that matter. He took a step, and then another, and then another. He knew that if the thing that looked like Tanaka were to come after him that he’d have no chance of outrunning it. He was running, but he felt as though he were getting nowhere. The ruined pillars stretched on for as far as he could see, and the darkness was just as long and impassable…

But then it was gone, and his heart gave a jolt as he crossed the threshold. He was outside. The walls around him still seemed to go on forever, but he was still running, still going…

He couldn’t say he’d left because he’d preferred a possibly painless death to a certainly painful one. THUNK. He wasn’t dead. THUNK. He was still running, and he was even picking up speed…

THUNK. He wasn’t going to live. He wasn’t going to make it. Any minute the Robo-Tanaka would catch up to him, and he’d be squashed flat like Mr. Ant – like Saionji, if she’d been squashed at all – and he’d die, they’d all die. But he wasn’t dead. He saw the lights of the carnival pass before his eyes, and he felt Nanami living and breathing in his arms, and she wasn’t dead, he wasn’t dead, he wasn’t dead…

This isn’t the right kind of despair for you.

He felt his feet leave the ground. He stumbled, scraping his knees bare, and struggled to keep a hold on Nanami, to protect her head and every other part of her. Her eyes were opening and closing, but he needed to keep her awake. If he didn’t, he’d lose her, that much he knew…

The despair you deserve is the one that wipes out all its lesser forms. That stands at the gates of hope and opens itself to its own destruction.

He struggled back to his feet. He had to hold on. He had to take another step. And another step. And another… and another…

This is only a distraction. A pathetic display. A showing unworthy of the talents I know they have.  

He took another step.

But it won’t be long, now. Not long until the truth of the matter comes out, and not long until the day we can all test our luck.

He took another step.

Run until you find the future, Hinata-kun. Run until the very last shreds of despair have been raised and crushed by the greatest possible forces of hope.

And then he stopped, staring ahead, and let the lights dance in front of his eyes until his knees gave out, and they fell away. Then his head hit the pavement, and from there he remembered nothing. 

=====

FIVE DAYS LEFT

Chapter Text

Hinata-kun.

Hinata’s fingers twitched, but he couldn’t move any more, no matter how he tried. He was lying on a hard surface again, but this one was even and slick, unlike the rough stone floor of the castle. It didn’t feel like the pavement, either, but that was the only other place he could imagine he was.

Hinata-kun, wake up. You can do it…

He didn’t want to do it. He couldn’t let himself wake up to another sight he couldn’t explain. But if he didn’t, then he’d be risking Nanami’s life with every moment of inaction…

Hinata-kun…!

“Nanami!” he shouted, shocking himself fully awake. He lifted his head and looked from left to right, trying to find Nanami, but she was nowhere to be seen, not even when he tried to twist his body back.

Only then did he realize just how much pain he was in. He didn’t think he could feel any blood, but his joints were screaming against any attempt to bend, and every inch of his body was sore on top of sore. But he couldn’t let this stop him. If he was already in pain, then a little more pain wouldn’t make much more of a difference. He braced himself for the effort, and then slid his forearms under his shoulders to create some leverage.

Once again he couldn’t make any sense of his surroundings. He was in a room of some kind, that much he could tell – an enormous, pale-pink room, slightly curved at its edges, the like of which he was sure he’d never seen on the island before. Or, at least, he was sure he’d remember any room that was covered floor to ceiling in strawberries. Not real strawberries, of course, though he would’ve given anything for a strawberry right then. It was the same cartoon image of a strawberry, repeated again and again…

Hinata didn’t have the energy to think of how odd it was. He twisted himself slowly into a sitting position, wincing as his upper body moved. From left to right he saw nothing but more strawberries. No Nanami, no furniture, not even any sign of where he’d come in, or for that matter where he’d be able to leave. Briefly he bent over again, with his head between his knees, taking a few slow breaths to steady himself. Then he turned all the way around, to face the back of the room.

Or was it the front? Either way, he’d never been happier to see an open hallway and a set of stairs leading down. Collected around the hallway was the largest arrangement of junk he’d ever seen, divided from the rest of the room by a series of orange cones and lines of yellow CAUTION tape. Mostly it just looked like a jumble of unrelated parts – cardboard boxes, a line of picket fence, bags on bags of potting soil. But the large, upside-down playground side by the edge of the pile gave Hinata a much better idea of what it was all supposed to have been for. But why would there be a playground inside a building – a building on this island, no less? And why hadn’t it been finished?

Most importantly, there was still a clear path to the stairs from where he sat, and lying face-down in the middle of that path was –

“NANAMI!”

Hinata scrambled to his feet with a burst of adrenaline and ran to her side. She was unconscious, and only now could he see the bloodstains on her clothes and the enormous array of half-healed wounds across her arms and legs. Frantically he pressed his fingers against her throat, just as he’d seen others do before.

For a few anxious seconds he was afraid he couldn’t feel a pulse, but then he realized he could feel her chest moving up and down against his knees, as well as the flutter of her nose as she exhaled. He relaxed, and as he did he felt a faint, steady rhythm under his fingers.

“Nanami…” No matter how many times Hinata repeated her name, she didn’t respond. He looked frantically around at the junk piles, but saw nothing looked like it could be useful in ensuring her safety. But he couldn’t just give up hope there – he dived for the nearest stack of boxes, pulling them open at random.

The first two boxes just had a bunch of construction equipment in them, but the third had a cooler inside, stocked full of sealed bread buns and bottles of milk, against all odds. He was so hungry he couldn’t even consider whether the food was safe; he tore two of the bread packages open and ate eagerly, sighing as the taste of soft bread and sweet red bean paste filled his mouth. He washed it down with several gulps of the milk (which was cool and fresh, against all odds) and then took a deep breath and finished the bottle.

Within seconds the fog in his mind cleared, and some of the pain in his joints even started to fade. He pulled himself up on his side, just to get a better sense of balance, and then grabbed a bottle of milk and two buns before moving back to Nanami’s side.

“Nanami,” he repeated, twisting the cap off the milk bottle. “You have to wake up… please…”

He wished he had water on hand instead, but it would have to do. He pulled her up into a sitting position, and tipped some milk into her mouth. Of course this didn’t instantly wake her up – she mumbled, and moved to swallow, but didn’t open her eyes. Still, he felt like he’d done something right.

“I’m sorry,” he said out loud, just so he could keep his voice in her ears. She was still breathing, and her eyelids were fluttering now; he let her head rest against his chest, and in his mind he held on to that movement, to those signs that she was still alive. “I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how we can get out, and I don’t even know what’ll happen once we do. But it’s okay. You’re going to be okay. It’s okay…”

You have to go.

“What?” Hinata blinked, and looked down at Nanami. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t spoken. She was moving slightly more, and even curling up against his chest (oh jeez, some part of him with its priorities mixed up couldn’t help but think), which he hoped meant that she was okay, but not as okay as she should be.

Of course he’d go. But he couldn’t do it now, not when Nanami couldn’t move or stand –

You’re dying as we speak. You’re dying of inaction. You’re dying to death.

“You’re not making any sense,” Hinata said, again out loud. But where was the voice coming from? Somewhere in the room? His own head? He couldn’t distinguish its tone, or even whether or not it was familiar…

You’re wrong about that, you know. You should be worried. You should be running. You’re not going to get lazy on me, are you? You’re a Super High School Level. You’re not supposed to let the common scum down.

He couldn’t really justify why they were still sitting on the floor. They needed to go. They needed to get… somewhere. Somewhere safe.

“Nanami,” he said, but when he got no answer, he gave up. He stood, took Nanami around the shoulders, and then, with a monumental effort, pulled her up to a standing position.

But then, I know you won’t. I know you know what you need to do. You have to go, Hinata-kun. You have to go…

Nanami finally started to stir as he hauled her arm up over his shoulder. First she coughed, and spat some of the milk he’d given her onto the ground, then took some deep breaths, her eyelids fluttering open and closed. “Hinata-kun…?” she said. “What…”

“We have to go,” Hinata said. “We have to…” His mind fogged over again, but only for a second. “We have to find somewhere to stay.”

“To…stay?” Her voice was dim and faraway, but it was there. “What do you –?”

“We have to.” Hinata stood, holding Nanami by the arm, and ignoring the pain in every other part of his body. “We’re not safe here,” he said, though he couldn’t think of why. “We have to find a better place to…”

He couldn’t think of how he was going to finish that sentence, and it was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment to find a way. He turned them both around, and started slowly toward the stairs.

At first Nanami didn’t seem to be able to walk on her own, but as they approached the stairs he felt a burden lift from his shoulders, as she started doing some of the work herself. She did still feel weary, but he would never call her weak, not even in this state.

“How are you feeling?” he said.

“Hmmmm.” Nanami mumbled into his shoulder. “I’m alright.”

“Are you sure?”

“No,” Nanami said. “Sleepy…”

“You can’t go to sleep,” Hinata said. “Not until we know where we are.”

“I’m fine,” Nanami said. “I was fine…”

“Just stay awake,” Hinata said, without knowing why. “Let’s just keep talking, okay? That should help, right?”

“I don’t know,” Nanami said, but Hinata still felt a movement against his shoulder that might have been a nod.

“Okay…you told me once about your family,” he said. “About your father. He’s a computer programmer, right?”

Nanami mumbled an assent. “That’s nice,” Hinata said. “That’s really interesting. Is he why you like video games?”

They were at the stairs, now, and heading down. “He was,” Nanami said. “And my brother, too. He’s… a lot like my father was.”

He didn’t like her melancholy tone of voice at all – or, for that matter, her past tense. But he couldn’t push her farther, not without making everything bleaker, and going places that were already too far gone. “Wow,” he said. “That’s amazing. No one in my family was nearly that interesting.”

“What were they like?” Nanami said.

He answered her question as they reached the end of the stairs. They’d landed at a low, narrow hallway, with two doors on either side, next to a large, yellow barrier of CAUTION tape that obscured Hinata’s view of the rest of the hallway. He thought he could see another door beyond it, so he assumed there must be more, but for now the two in front of him were the only ones that were accessible. There was another set of stairs to their right that seemed to lead further down.

“I’m going to try the doors,” Hinata told Nanami. “Are you okay to stand, or…”

“I’ll sit,” Nanami said.

“Are you sure?” Hinata said, and Nanami only murmured in response. Reluctantly, Hinata knelt to the ground, allowing Nanami to slide off and lean against the wall closest to the door on the left. She felt weaker than ever, and her eyelids were fluttering – open, closed, open, closed. Frankly he didn’t know what to do about it, beyond checking her forehead (thankfully she wasn’t feverish) and leaving the red bean bread and milk with her.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and approached the door. Nanami murmured again. Immediately Hinata felt a pang of regret, but if there was something that would help him beyond the doors that he could access… then he owed it to Nanami to find it for her. As scared and confused as he was, he wasn’t about to give up. Especially not on her.

He opened the door, but didn’t quite know what to do when he had. He would never have guessed it was a bedroom, much less the most ridiculous and garish-looking bedroom he’d ever seen. He didn’t know what was weirder: the enormous fireplace, the four-poster bed, the decorative human skull with lollipops sticking out of its eyes, or….well, any number of things. But he didn’t have time to ogle – he knew at a glance it was exactly what he needed.

He knelt down by Nanami again, and put her arm back over his shoulder. “There’s a…bed in there,” he said. “I’m gonna…you need to rest…”

“A bed?” Nanami said. “But…”

“I don’t know,” Hinata said. He led her through the door and towards the bed, shoving a lamp out of the way in the process. He couldn’t tell what Nanami thought about the room, because she hadn’t said anything. But at least her eyes were open, and she did manage to get into the bed under her own power. She even pulled the covers up over her head.

“Is that better?” Hinata said.

“It’s… yeah.” Nanami nodded. “Hinata-kun… I…”

She stopped, and bit her lip. Hinata knew in an instant what she was about to say. “No, no, please. Don’t worry about it. Not now.”

“I’m…” Nanami sighed. “Do you…know where this is?”

“No,” Hinata said, placing the red bean bread and milk by her side. “I still don’t have my Electronic Student ID. Ah…” He hesitated. “Do you?”

Nanami’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. Hinata noticed a slight smear of blood on the pillow where her forehead had touched it. “Well… wherever it is, I don’t remember getting here.” Hinata looked warily at Nanami. “Do…you?”

Nanami stared at Hinata for several seconds. “Hinata-kun…why do you think this is happening?”

A dull throbbing filled the back of Hinata’s head. “Happening…? I…”

You need to go. I told you.

Hinata froze. It was the same voice as before, he could tell. He didn’t think that was Nanami’s, but…

“Did you just tell me if I needed to go?” he said.

At his words, Nanami was suddenly more alert than ever. She pushed herself up on her hands, and looked him directly in the eye. “Hinata-kun,” she said, “We need to stay here. Do you understand?”

We can’t let anything stand in our way. We hold the future in our hands, Hinata-kun.

“I… that’s… I know, but…” Hinata balled his hands into fists, and turned toward the door. “I… I need to see if I can find an exit.”

“Hinata-kun!” In his peripheral vision, Hinata could see Nanami trying and failing to sit up.  Something in the back of his mind told him to run back to her, but it was as though his body wasn’t obeying his thoughts. “We don’t know anything about this place. If the Impostor –”

The Impostor is not here, a voice told Hinata in his mind. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ll take care of it…”

“You can’t think like that, Hinata-kun,” Nanami said, her voice strained and desperate. “They sent Ta – I mean that robot. They were looking to kill us –”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, though it came out quite a lot louder than he’d intended…

And the next thing he knew, he was outside the room. He pressed his ear against the door, waiting to hear some kind of protest from the other side of the wall, but he heard nothing. Was Nanami really not going to call after him? The thought scared him more than the prospect of being lost or hurt. He reached back for the knob.

You need to go. She already has hope. Make sure that hope stays alive.

No… he couldn’t concern himself with her anymore, and didn’t even question his line of thinking as he set his hand back at his side. She was safe. He didn’t know why he knew she was safe… but she was. She had to be.

So he set off back down the hall, towards the second set of stairs.

=================================

Every time Saionji opened her eyes, she relived the moment she’d been thrown against the wall.

So she just kept them shut. Darkness was easier to handle than pain, and she had enough of that already, in every corner of her body. Pain, blood, pain. She should have died, she could have died. But what was it that kept her alive? Was it luck? Was it spite? She didn’t have the spare brainpower to think on it; it was enough just to keep herself conscious.

But she had to remember she was safe now. She was safe, she was safe, she was safe… After all, Big Sis Koizumi had her.

Even if she was mad at Saionji – even if she was mad at her a lot – she still loved her. Saionji was sure of it. If she didn’t, then it wouldn’t make any sense. She’d been the only one who’d really defended Koizumi when Sonia had tried to frame her for murder.  She was the only one who ever defended or cared about her at all. Didn’t that mean more than just one stupid argument? Or even a lot of them?

If she had even the slightest ability to talk she would. But she didn’t. She could feel pain and she could feel running. Big Sis Koizumi had her. She’d run and picked her up off the floor after the burst of unimaginable pain, and she’d screamed and thought she was dead. But then Saionji had coughed – she could remember coughing, and screaming herself – and Big Sis Koizumi had cried, and started running faster. She hadn’t felt any change since. For all she knew this was the rest of her life. It wasn’t as though she had the strength to resist.

“I don’t understand.” Koizumi’s voice pounded against Saionji’s eardrums, creating even more pain. “We should’ve been back to the path by now!”

“You don’t…. know that,” another voice said. She couldn’t see the speaker, but it was a disgusting voice, from a shitstain that should’ve died long ago. “Just… keep going –”

“If we don’t get Hiyoko-chan to the hospital she’s going to die,” Big Sis interrupted.

“That’s not my fucking fault!” the shitstain shouted back.

“I didn’t say it was.”

“I’m looking, okay?” The sound of his steps grew fainter, hopefully as he moved further away. “It’s an island. We’ll get to the coast if we go in a straight line.”

“We could be going in circles.”

“We’re not.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I – we’d know, okay? We’re not gonna get there any faster by arguing. Come on.”

Saionji wished she could shout at Kuzuryuu, and make him crumble and cower and run away just like he always had. But her mouth was so dry that she couldn’t make anything come out. She just made a rough, sputtering sound that nobody heard.

“So I’m arguing,” Big Sis Koizumi said.

“Yeah. You are.”

“Then I’ll just stop talking.”

“Yeah. Go ahead. Not like you were talking much before.”

Big Sis didn’t respond. All that Saionji could feel from her was the endless rocking motion of her arms as she carried her, only interrupted when she stumbled, probably over twigs and rocks.

Some level of worry must have compelled her to open her eyes. When she did the boundaries of her reality expanded to include the sight of Koizumi’s hands on her waist, and the endless blurry rows of pine trees, and the back of Kuzuryuu’s suit as he walked further and further ahead. There was a buzzing noise coming from somewhere around him – he was mumbling something she could just barely hear. Only a few phrases came up that she understood – like “stupid”, and “no point even trying”.

“What was that?” Big Sis said.

“Nothing. Never mind.”

“No. You were saying something.”

“It was nothing,” he repeated. “It was me being stupid. There’s no point getting mad about it.”

“Look, whatever it is, I don’t care,” Koizumi said. “Not right now. Maybe when I’m not being hunted by –”

“No, I get that. I said I was being stupid.”

“Then why’d you say it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Big Sis sighed. In front of her, Kuzuryuu seemed to slow down – or was Big Sis catching up? Either way, within a few seconds they were walking next to each other and Saionji was about level with Kuzuryuu’s blurry head. “If it doesn’t matter, why do you want to talk about it so badly?”

“No, that’s not…” Kuzuryuu paused. “I meant all that stuff… you know, in the game… with my sister...”

Saionji felt her big sis’s chest grow hot, and her heart beat faster. “Y-You’re not the one who gets to say that doesn’t matter –!”

“I thought I was such a big shot,” Kuzuryuu interrupted. “That my way was the only way that meant anything. I thought I didn’t have to care about anyone else… and then Peko, and Sonia, they… All because I had to play that god damn game…”

Again Big Sis Koizumi was silent. Saoinji always hated these moments; she always wanted to be able to count on her big sis to defend herself. And when she couldn’t… that was a sign that she needed to defend her. But she couldn’t. She could hardly squirm, let alone kick him in his lying mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Kuzuryuu said. “I don’t know if it means anything. Or even if you care. But I’m telling the truth. If I could go back in time, and… well, no point in that. I can’t.”

“It’s alright.”

Kuzuryuu stopped short – or so Saionji assumed, given she should no longer see him. “Wh-”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Koizumi mumbled. Her voice was so faint in Saionji’s ears that she could not determine her emotion. “It’s not… I know you wish it hadn’t happened as much as I do.”

He grunted. “Guess that’s good enough.”

“You blamed me because you needed someone to blame. Can’t say I haven’t done that.”

“You haven’t gotten anyone killed over it.”

Koizumi sighed. “Look… I know what I wanted to know. We really can stop before we forget what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Kuzuryuu grumbled again, but didn’t protest – perhaps his silence was a manner of agreement. But even in the haze of her pain Saionji wasn’t about to let that rest. She could recognize remorse when she saw it, and she’d seen it many times, but it wasn’t remotely within the scope of her abilities to care. How she wished she could kick him. But then of course Big Sis Koizumi would be angry, and that was the kind of thing that did her feel remorse, even when she was certain she was right –

CRACK.

The sound stopped Koizumi so abruptly that she very nearly dropped Saionji. Saionji could barely process the world as it was, especially as pain filled every inch of her body, but there was something cold about what she’d just heard, something that was more than a sound.

“Mmmmnnnhhh!” she groaned, trying to fight against the pain.

“Hiyoko-chan…!” Koizumi steadied her grip on Saionji’s tiny body, but stayed on her knees, unwilling to take the risk of jostling her any more. Saionji could see Koizumi’s arms stained with her blood, out of the corner of her eye. “Did you hear that?”

“Did I hear – of course I heard that!” Kuzuryuu barked. “What are we supposed to-?”

CRACK.

Now Saionji could process just what was happening. The world really had gone cold, because time had stopped for a moment in its tracks. Her blood no longer flowed, her wounds no longer festered and her head no longer throbbed. For that matter she no longer moved or breathed, and neither did anyone else. All there was in the world was stillness, punctuated by the reverberation of a noise that never seemed to end.  

Reality righted itself within seconds, just as it had the last time. But before she could be surprised or even scared, she heard a voice she didn’t recognize – something she never thought she’d hear again – close by and clear as day.

“Whoa, hey, I made it! And all my limbs are here, too.”

Kuzuryuu’s eyes went wide with terror. “Who was that,” he said. “I don’t know who that is…”

“It’s… that’s not Souda, right?” Koizumi slowly lowered Saionji onto the ground, as Saionji struggled to keep her eyes open. “Or Hinata? Or…”

“Hey, hello?” the voice interrupted. “Fukawa-chi? You in yet?”

Fukawa-chi?! Saionji only had enough time to process her disgust at the regionalism when she heard a rustling in the trees, and a low, keening sound, as though someone were in distress. “Oh, there you are!” the voice continued. “What are you doing up there?”

“H-How do you think I would know?!” a new voice said. This one was high, and thin, and it stumbled over its words. “Just get me d-down before anyone sees!”

“I’m… not really sure how I’d do that, Fukawa-chi…”

Without another word to Kuzuryuu, Koizumi scooped Saionji back into her arms and together they broke into a run, going closer and closer to the voice. Part of Saionji’s semi-conscious wanted to leap out of Koizumi’s arms and run, or possibly grab Koizumi and take her as far away as she could, but the only thing she could do was find comfort in the fact that she was alive. Alive, alive, alive…

“Y-You can’t just leave me up here!” the second voice keened.

“Hmmm…well, if I had a knife or a pair of scissors, I could –”

“Y-YOU’RE NOT GOING TO CUT OFF MY HAIR!”

“But I thought you said you wanted to get down, right? It’d just be a little bit off the ends, and besides, it’s not like it’s really -”

A guttural scream cut the first voice off. “Okay, okay, no cutting!” he said. “First we’ll wait until Naegi-chi gets here. And then –”

The voice stopped short as Koizumi broke through a layer of leaves, and entered an enormous clearing in the woods. At first, disoriented glance it seemed like the kind of place Saionji would’ve found on some feudal woodcut - overgrown, underpopulated, and all in all too boring to care about. But then she saw the tree in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by a series of gnarled and overgrown roots, and the unfamiliar person at the foot of that tree.

He was the ugliest, scruffiest, most disgusting-looking man Saionji had ever seen in her life - and she’d seen a whole lot of ugly, scruffy, disgusting-looking men.  He did have a decent enough black suit on, which was more than she might’ve expected. But the tops of his hands were hairy, his face was stubbly and unkempt, and his hair – she couldn’t even find the words to describe it.

Next to him, but a few feet higher in the air, was a woman – still older than Saionji, but not as old as the man. She also wore a black suit, with a much more feminine cut, and a knee-length skirt instead of slacks. By herself she wouldn’t have been remarkable at all – she was plain bordering on ugly in Saionji’s view. But here she was, dangling ten feet off the ground, kicking her legs and swaying back and forth by her ridiculously long braids, which had somehow gotten tangled in the high branches.

If she’d had the energy she would’ve laughed. However she’d gotten herself caught there, it must’ve been stupid. The absolutely livid expression on the woman’s face made it all the better – or was she terrified? Either way, it was enough to make Saionji feel like she was going to make it.

The man did a double take at Saionji, Koizumi, and Kuzuryuu, and after a second’s delay he ran back towards the tree, holding his hands up over his head. “G-GYAHHH!” he shouted. “You! What are you doing here?”

“What are we doing here?” Kuzuryuu took several steps back. “What are YOU doing here?! You…you’re not-”

“Rrrrraaaggghhhhh!” the woman shrieked, cutting Kuzuryuu off. Her braids were pulling heavily at the sides of her head, and her face was turning a strange shade of purple. “N-now you’ve done it… they think I’m some kind of circus f-freak…it’s all your f-fault for just standing around…”

“Ah, no-!” Saionji could tell from the way Big Sis Koizumi spoke that she was concerned about this strange screaming woman, for some reason. “We definitely don’t think you’re a freak – look, we’ll find a way to get you down!”

“Hey, I was gettin’ to that when you showed up!” The man stumbled back to his feet, now apparently perfectly calm. “Uh… any of you guys got a knife?” He turned to Kuzuryuu. “Shrimpy Yakuza guy, ‘right? Kuzuryuu-chi?”

“Shrimpy?” Kuzuryuu stomped in front of Saionji, looking and sounding a lot more shocked than he was angry. “Shrimpy?!”

“Yep, it’s Kuzuryuu-chi!” The man’s voice was just as ugly as his face, and Saionji could barely understand what he was saying through his thick Kansai accent and dialect. “You kinda look familiar, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen ya. And the, uh…” He paused, probably to give the broken and rusty gears in his brain some time to turn, before he pointed up at Big Sis Koizumi. “The photographer! Koi-chi!”

“Koichi,” Koizumi said, with a similar level of disbelief – but not as much shock. If Saionji could see Koizumi’s face, she was sure she had to be righteously, viciously outraged.

“Yeah, that’s what I said!” The man gave Koizumi a casual, vulgar thumbs-up. “S’your name, right? And that’s…uh… that’s whatsherface! I don’t actually remember that one, right?”

Saionji screamed at loudly as she could muster when she couldn’t form words – which was only loud enough for this man to give her an uncertain look. “That doesn’t sound like a name…”

“Q-Quit wasting time!” the woman shouted. “We already know what they are!”

“And I think we already know who you are,” Koizumi said. Saionji felt herself being lowered down to the ground again, and then heard Koizumi’s soft footfalls against the grass, followed by several grunts and crunching noises as, for all Saionji could assume, she ascended the tree. “You’re the Future Foundation. Aren’t you?”

“Oh, well…” The man’s face fell, but only for a second, before he put his hand to his chin and grinned. “Yup! We sure are! Two of them, anyway.”

“Two of them…” Kuzuryuu still sounded furious, but in a calmer, stiller way. “What do you mean, two of them? There’s supposed to be six of you!”

“Well, they’re coming, right? But I dunno yet where the others ended up. Anyway…” The man pointed to himself. “Name’s Yasuhiro Hagakure, and that’s Touko Fukawa-chi in the tree. S’nice to finally meet you guys, ‘right?”

Chapter Text

No.            

Hinata stopped to catch his breath.

No. This is wrong. You’re not going where you have to be, Hinata-kun.

He put his hand against the wall, just to steady himself, but the hand slipped further away from him as he sank to his knees.

You’re running in circles and you’re denying the truth. You have to follow the path of hope.

He didn’t think he’d been away from Nanami’s room for very long. A few minutes? Half an hour? Certainly he wouldn’t have let himself stray far, even if he’d wanted to explore, which he still wasn’t sure he did. And yet his legs ached as though he’d run a marathon. Had he, though? Or was he simply so tired that he couldn’t tell the difference?

You’re not going to live here, and you’re not going to die. Not living or dying is the way of the future. Was I wrong about you, Hinata-kun? Is the future not as important to you as I once believed?

“No,” he said aloud, though a second later he couldn’t remember why he’d spoken. “No, I’m not…”

He blinked, looked around, and realized he had no idea where he was, or how he’d gotten there. He dimly remembered finding an elevator sometime before he’d hit the wall, but he couldn’t remember leaving that elevator, no matter how hard he tried. He’d at least expected to be back on the third floor of wherever this was, but the clashing green-and-lime color on the walls wasn’t at all what he remembered.

Wherever he’d ended up was just as empty as the third floor first sight, although he couldn’t see any piles of junk or caution tape. The only anything in the room was in the middle, where a statue lay on the floor, as though it had been knocked to the ground.

Hinata couldn’t tell what it was from a distance, but on closer examination it was a woman in a school uniform - the most muscular and fierce-looking woman that Hinata had ever seen. He felt a chill as he looked at her, even though she was neither real nor moving, and for that matter had lost her head and right arm in whatever fall she’d taken. But she still looked imposing, even in a state of clear defeat.

He didn’t know what to make of her, but he didn’t have to wonder too much before the pedestal caught his attention. It stood slightly off the center of the room, and it might have been the one from which the woman’s statue had fallen. But it wasn’t empty – another statue had taken its place.

A statue of Byakuya Togami.

But it wasn’t the Byakuya Togami that Hinata had known, if it was any Byakuya Togami that had ever existed at all. The hair was right, and the eyes, and the scowl. But his limbs were longer and thinner, his jaw sharper and more pronounced, and his silhouette slim and toned. He stood with his arm extended, as though he were some kind of Greek god cast in marble, although the harsh green light on his skin made him look a lot more like a demon.

He’s coming, you know.

Hinata clutched at his head. He? Who was he…? He had the vaguest feeling he knew, but he couldn’t think. It was impossible… he could barely stand to think of the Impostor, even at the times when he forced himself, and besides, he had other priorities. He had to go… he had to get back to Nanami, and find a way out…

He’s not going to like what he sees. He’s an Ambassador of Hope, after all, don’t you know?

The effort he took to even think of Nanami at a time like this was tremendous, far more than it should have been. But he tried to keep her face in the front of his mind, and tell himself to go back to her, to tell her everything he was thinking and feeling. If there was anyone who would know what to do about it, it was her…

But was he the only thing that drew you here, Hinata-kun? Was his presence in your heart more powerful than mine? Is he really someone you love that much?

The next thing he comprehended was the vague shuffling movement of his feet, followed by a loud thunk as his face hit the wall. Then he was back in the elevator, pressing the button on the wall, and standing perfectly still in the center as he moved down. Or was it up? Or…

Your hope is the only thing that stands in their way.

The elevator doors slid open, and he stepped back out into the pink haze of the first floor. Nanami. He had to focus on Nanami. He had to go up another flight of stairs, and go back into the leftmost room, and beg for her forgiveness, and her guidance, and her help…

But he didn’t. Instead he felt revulsion so strong that he doubled over, and by the time he stood again he couldn’t remember what he’d thought in the first place. 

He started walking. He knew something was wrong. Very wrong. But he hadn’t the presence of mind to figure out what it was. He only had the dim awareness that the movements of his limbs weren’t quite connected to the impulses of his mind, or at least that those impulses came from somewhere that wasn’t the same as usual. As though some other force in his body had awoken, and tried to take control, and succeeded without even trying.

The next thing he knew he was across the room, staring into the eyes of an enormous painted clown face.

He bit his lip to stop himself from yelling, and took several steps back. Clowns were terrifying in the best of times, which only made this one worse. But when he stepped back he saw this one was a lot smaller than he’d initially thought, though it was still pretty big. Not only that… but the clown’s mouth was ringed with two iron handles, and bisected in the middle by the gap between two doors.

The entire face was a door, and now that he was further away, he could see the words written above the face, at the top of the door.

Final Dead Room.

The lingering fear in the back of his mind dissipated in an instant. For the first time since he’d left the bedroom, he felt serene. Secure. He could even tell himself he hadn’t felt anything strange at all – that all along, being of sound mind and body, he had come to this strange place only to open this door.

He took a step forward, and then another. I should go check on Nanami, he thought. No, another thought said.  I should go check on Nanami, he thought again, very firmly.

But he didn’t. The clown loomed larger as he drew closer, and he extended his arm long before the handles were in reach. It wasn’t very long before he was able to close his hands tightly around them.

Only briefly did he wonder just what he would find. He knew it had to be something to do with death, but strangely he wasn’t afraid. He’d already faced death a dozen times, and yet here he was, still living and breathing. Couldn’t he believe that the luck of the universe was on his side? Somehow, despite all his fear, that seemed like the most sensible thing in the world at the moment. 

He threw the doors open, and stepped into the room.

============================

“You couldn’t do it. All your bluster and you couldn’t even resist me properly.”

Souda slowly opened one eye, and for the fourth time in as many days he braced himself against the realization that he wasn’t dead. Of course he’d much rather be alive, but there was little comfort in being alive if he wasn’t safe. In that case, being alive only meant that he could die, any minute, without warning.

But he seemed to be in a safe spot now, which took out a lot of the sting. Grasses and the roots of trees stretched out as far as he could see, but there was no sign of the carnival he knew he’d run away from. He’d seen the forest on the island before, when they’d been heading for the castle in the first place, but how he’d gotten there, how far he’d run, and for that matter anything that had happened between the escape and now was a complete blur.

What he would have given to be able to run another step. From his neck down to his chest he was a mess of pains and nerves, matched only by a throbbing in his legs. He could barely sit up, let alone stand.  He must’ve been on some kind of adrenaline rush. Maybe he’d get it back if he really was in danger again. But then again, maybe not.

But the fear remained. He wasn’t alone, and he didn’t know who – or what – was with him. If he stayed outside for very much longer, anyway, the Impostor would find him. Heck, he was surprised they hadn’t tracked him down and sliced him to bits already.

“Is this what I spared you for? To see you turn your back? To make yourself think you had a choice?”

Souda’s energy jolted back to him, just long enough for him to pull himself up on the nearest tree. He couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from, or for that matter who was speaking.  But somehow he knew. Only one person could mess with his head like that.

“I know what you’ve deluded yourself into thinking. You still want to sacrifice yourself, don’t you? Am I wrong? Are you just incompetent?”

He followed the voice around to the back to the tree, swinging himself around by the tips of his fingers – but he stopped himself before he got too far. The carnival path hadn’t been out of sight at all – it was only a few meters off. It had simply been where he wasn’t looking, because of course he couldn’t have run very far. But what really caught Souda’s attention was the robot, the one that had broken into the castle and killed Saionji, sprawled on its side in the middle of the path.

He didn’t dare move any closer, but he examined it as closely as he could from his vantage point. It only looked a little bit worse for wear, though he couldn’t quite tell why it wasn’t moving. One way or another it was still a marvel of engineering, one he would’ve been eager to get his hands on if only…well, if only it wouldn’t kill him. If he’d been able to move more quickly, he might have been able to subdue it and break it apart piece by piece, right there in the castle. Then he would’ve been able to find out how it worked, and given enough time he could have put it back together.

And even if it looked like Tanaka, that didn’t matter at all.  It was just someone’s idea of a joke. It had to be. Even if Nanami had said his name…

And then he saw the Impostor, and his curiosity drained right out of his body. They stood in front of the creature, with their back turned in Souda’s direction. Their leg was raised high, and with a jolt Souda realized that their foot was planted firmly on the robot’s head.

“What are you thinking, hm?” they said, looking down. “Would you talk back to me if you could? I know you well enough. I know everything about everyone on this island.”

A loud mess of whirring gears and clashing metal, the likes of which no human could make with their mouth, cut them off mid-word. The robot hadn’t moved, but Souda couldn’t think of anywhere else the sound could have come from.

“Oh, it’s not just knowing,” the Impostor said. “It’s being. And I think you understand what I mean by that. I am you when I consume myself with your thoughts and your imaginings, Tanaka. I am you when I feel the desire to crush my enemies and conquer their armies. And when I lose myself in your despair I am more of yourself than you ever were.”

CRACK.

The robot was easily twice the Impostor’s height and weight, but somehow the kick to the head completely destabilized it. The chassis flipped completely onto its side, and crumpled onto its back. It gave no sign of life, or even of resistance.

A sharp pain ran through Souda’s chest, and he clutched his hands close as he bent to brace it. He didn’t see any reason why he should be hurting, though. Was it a sympathy pain? He’d hate if it was.

I am you, the Impostor had said. In the moments when Souda had been alone with his thoughts he’d tried to understand just how the Impostor worked, breaking them down to their composite motivations as though they were a machine. But even if they could understand someone to the point where they could claim to know them inside out, the thought of becoming someone they weren’t was still completely alien. He still couldn’t register them as anyone but Togami…

Except then, for a second, he did register Tanaka on them. He saw the grey-purple stripes in their black hair. The trenchcoat that swept to the ground. The boots that clomped against the road as they closed in again on the robot, slowly but surely…

“You know that I killed before, didn’t you?” the Impostor said. “I killed a thousand times and I’ll do it again. And so will you. You’ve killed hundreds. Thousands. Millions. Humans and animals alike. Do you want to kill again? Do you know how you loved when your despair overtook you?”

The robot didn’t respond, not even with the metallic noise it had made before. But then, slowly, its arms trembled. With a click and a whirr, it pushed its hands against the ground and tried to sit up –

CRACK.

The noise of metal on metal was deafening, earth-shattering. This time, when Tanaka flew, he stayed on his side, and didn’t move again.

“I was there when you laughed,” the Impostor went on. “I’ve seen the glory of your fulfillment. Your joy in your pain. Isn’t that something you want again? Is it something I can give you?”

The robot didn’t answer, and the Impostor kicked him again, CRACKing over and over while Souda watched, frozen in place. He had to run. He needed to run. He had no idea why he was still there, watching this thing that wasn’t Tanaka, putting himself in danger when he could be saving his skin…

And then he heard footsteps.

They were soft, muffled by the grass, but the very fact that he could hear them at all meant that whoever was making them, they were close – uncomfortably close. He couldn’t see anyone around, not even when he squinted through the trees, but if they were that close, and that good at staying hidden…

“We still haven’t been able to make contact,” a voice said.

With a shock Souda realized that he didn’t recognize it. It was low in tone, and feminine, but… it was someone besides the seven people still on the island. Someone new, someone else…!

“I’ll keep trying,” the voice went on, “but Alter Ego’s having enough trouble as it is, getting us through what the Impostor set up. It would be so much easier if we could talk to them directly.”

“Or find them in an instant,” another voice replied. This one was also feminine, but it was higher, and more energetic. “Wait, Kirigiri. They have their electronic student ID maps on them. If we can just find one of them, then we’ll know where they all are!”

“It could take us hours to find even one, Asahina-san. That’s time we don’t have.” The footsteps stopped, just behind Souda’s ear. “We shouldn’t say anything else until the rendezvous point.”

“They’re not going to do anything to us, though,” the second voice, Asahina, replied. “They can’t.”

“I…” Kirigiri’s footsteps stopped, but only for a moment. “We can’t make any assumptions about what they’re planning. If we do, we’ll only end up underestimating them-”

The Impostor chose that moment to speak again, and when they did the footsteps stopped, along with the rustling of the nearby trees.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” they said, in a voice that was almost plaintive. “You’ve broken the rules one too many times. It’s not yours to have. No one’s despair is theirs, not anymore…”

“It’s them,” Kirigiri said, pulling Souda’s focus away from whatever the Impostor might have said next.

“Are you sure?” Asahina said, just barely loud enough to be heard. “They don’t look like they did before…”

“It can’t be anyone else.” Kirigiri paused. “But the android…”

“That’s…!” Asahina said. “We need to do something. Should we wait until Naegi gets here?”

“Naegi-kun wouldn’t be of any use to us right now,” Kirigiri said. “Stay put, Asahina-san. Don’t make any sudden moves.”

The pair fell silent, but whatever Kirigiri had planned to accomplish by staying put, she didn’t have the chance, at least not as far as Souda could see. Not a second after she spoke the Impostor froze, mid-kick, and stayed frozen for a few moments before they lowered their leg. Then their head turned, slowly, until they were staring at a spot somewhere to Souda’s left.

They said nothing, and betrayed nothing in their expression, but Souda could only assume that they’d just found wherever Kirigiri and Asahina were hiding, given the intensity of their gaze. Then, for a few seconds, he thought he could hear one of the others speaking in tones so low that he couldn’t understand who she was or what she’d said. But the Impostor must have heard, because a wicked grin spread quickly across their face.

“GET DOWN!” Kirigiri yelled, before a bright, terrible flash filled Souda’s eyes, and he heard the crunch of metal twisting and snapping. He shut his eyes against the glare, though it did nothing to stop stars from flashing behind his eyes. When he opened them again, both the Impostor and the robot were gone.

Before he could act, he heard a loud, sharp cry. A woman ran out from the edge of the woods, around the same spot where the Impostor had been looking. Souda didn’t have a chance to see her face, but she was tall, with short brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Her long legs covered the span of the path in no time at all, and she slid to a halt a few feet from the path.

Behind her, another woman emerged, much more slowly. The most he could see of her was her long, flowing hair, which waved behind her in the light breeze as she walked.

“He’s not…” Even through her tears, Souda recognized the first woman as ‘Asahina’ by her voice. “They didn’t…”

“No, they didn’t.” The long-haired woman, who had to be ‘Kirigiri’, came to a stop by Asahina’s side. “But we can’t waste any time making assumptions about that.”

Asahina sighed. “We had them right here. And we could’ve at least let them know the rest of us were coming, and then –”

“They already know we haven’t fulfilled the terms yet.” After a brief hesitation, Kirigiri put a hand on Asahina’s shoulder. Souda noted, with some surprise, that she was wearing wrist-length black leather gloves. “Until Naegi-kun and Togami-kun get here, we can’t guarantee the safety of any of them. At least… not in here.”

Togami-kun?! Souda was so shocked that he could barely feel his body. Nanami’d said something about another Togami, hadn’t she? The real guy. But how could he trust that what she’d told them about him was true? She could’ve been talking out her ass to try and save herself. But… these guys had to be the Future guys. There was no other way. And he could trust for sure that the Future guys were there to help, and if they were here to help then they were here to tell the truth…

“Listen, Asahina-san,” Kirigiri said. “You know it’s not the end.”

“I know.” Asahina wiped her hand across her face. “I’m just… I don’t want to see anyone else die.”

“I don’t, either.” Kirigiri gave Asahina an awkward pat. “That’s why we need to find the remaining students as soon as possible. The Impostor has no reason to kill again, not until ten o’clock tonight. But based on their own rules, they very well could.”

“Would we be able to stop them, if they tried?” Asahina said.

“That’s not a question I can answer for certain right now.” Kirigiri bowed her head – and then, to Souda’s surprise, she raised it again and looked out into the woods. “But Kazuichi Souda would be able to answer the other questions we have. He’s right behind that tree, if you want to talk to him.”

Chapter Text

The first clear thought Koizumi had after that was about just how much she wanted to slap this Yasuhiro Hagakure across his big, dumb, grinning face.

And so she did.

He scrambled away from her pretty fast, but she managed to get another slap in before he got far enough away to be out of her reach. “Hey, hey, whoa!” he said, his eyes wide. “What’d you do that for?”

“You – were supposed - to be here - three days ago!”  Koizumi forced her words out through her teeth as she stomped across the clearing, her fists clenched so tight she could feel her nails digging into her skin. “Akane-chan, Tanaka, Nidai – they were supposed to live and you could have saved them!” 

Her face was burning, and her eyes were swimming with tears. Hagakure had backed himself up against the same tree Touko-chan was hanging from, and no matter how close Koizumi got he didn’t move any further away, as if somehow the girl stuck screaming in the tree could protect him. All of the color had drained from his face, apart from the red patches where Koizumi’s slaps still stung. Good, she thought. He should have been mortified, more so than he looked.

But, to her surprise, Hagakure was still smiling. “Ah...right. That’s… yeah, huh…” He spoke with excruciating slowness, and tried hard not to look Koizumi in the eye. “I get it, I get ya. Look, I can explain –”

“That doesn’t matter now.” She turned away from Hagakure, and started back towards the edge of the clearing. Saionji still lay ground, still motionless, while Kuzuryuu looked just as angry as she did – but then, he always looked angry. “Hiyoko-chan is dying. If I don’t get her to the hospital-”

“Hey, it’s alright, she’s fine!”

Koizumi whirled back on Hagakure. He was still smiling, but now he actually looked confident. At least, he did, until he took a second glance at Saionji lying curled up on the grass, actively bleeding from just above her hairline. “…I mean, she’s gonna be fine, right?” he said, his smile fading. “She’s… not looking too bad…”

“HEY, S-SHUT UP!” Touko-chan interrupted, yelling down at Hagakure from up in the tree. “D-Don’t make us look like we’re s-stupid!”

“Hey, I’m just trying to defuse the situation, right?” Hagakure whirled angrily on Touko-chan. “’Cause it’s true, even if it’d take a while to explain-”

“Right now I couldn’t care less how you look or what you’re talking about,” Koizumi said, speaking through her teeth. “You already got here; that’s all you were supposed to do. So either help us save her, or stop holding us back!”

Now Hagakure’s smile was more of a grimace, and he looked more nervous than ever. “Aright, yeah, of course,” he said. “First things first, gotta get things under control from the inside…”

“Makes more sense than a-anything else you’ve said,” Touko-chan mumbled. “B-but just what what do you expect me to do? I can’t do anything from up here…”

Koizumi made a grunt that changed to a scream halfway through. She couldn’t believe that they were still standing here at all. She’d been hoping for the best-case scenario of the Future Foundation as some kind of miracle problem-solver, one that would make the Impostor or whoever they were now regret ever crossing them.  But at the very least she’d expected them to have some sort of agenda at hand, or at least to be more organized. Instead of course she’d gotten these two, who could literally look at a little girl bleeding on the ground and still need to be convinced to act like it was an emergency. Why did she even feel the need to rescue them? Why did she have to do any of this at all?

“I’m going to get you down,” she said, pulling her camera off her shoulder and storming towards the tree. “And once I do, we’re going straight to the hospital, and once we’re certain that Hiyoko-chan is stable you can give me all the explanations you want.”

She was fully prepared to ignore any other comments from Hagakure, but none came. So she diverted her focus to climbing the tree, which was not something she’d done in a very long time, but still had some idea of how to do. On the way up she took a quick glance over at Touko-chan; she wasn’t too far up off the ground, and her braids could easily be moved out of the branches they were stuck in. She gave Touko-chan what she hoped was a reassuring but not altogether friendly smile; Touko-chan didn’t seem to react to it before Koizumi turned away. She could only hope that Touko-chan’s own lack of helpfulness was a direct result of being stuck in the tree.

“Hold on, forget the hospital,” Kuzuryuu said when Koizumi had just reached the ends of Touko-chan’s hair. “Where’s your stuff?”

Koizumi started; she hadn’t been expecting him to talk. “What do you mean –”

“Yeah, what do you mean?” Hagakure interrupted. “Stuff’s kinda vague, right?”

“Your emergency medical supplies?” Kuzuryuu spoke slowly, making himself seem twice his size with only his voice. “You didn’t bring any?”

When neither Hagakure nor Touko-chan answered immediately, Kuzuryuu exploded, and Koizumi felt her own blood pressure flaring. “Where the fuck did you think you were going?! Almost all of us are injured!” He pointed one bandaged fist, very angrily, at another bandaged fist.

Hagakure looked shiftily from left to right, and then up at Touko-chan, as if expecting her to cover for him. When she didn’t, he looked back again. “Why would we need to, though, right? There’s a hospital around here. You know that.”

“Why the hell not!? That’s nowhere near what we need – and it’s a half hour walk at least!” Koizumi said through gritted teeth. She’d made it to the middle branches, and the point where Touko-chan’s braids were caught was in sight. “Didn’t you come on a boat? Or a plane, or…”

“Yeah, well, about that… explaining’s a bit of a tricky business,” Hagakure said, biting his lip. “Should prob’ly wait until Naegi-chi gets here…”

Naegi-chi? That was the second time she’d heard that name. Was Naegi their boss? If so, she hoped they were halfway competent – but at least they were making some progress without them. “I’m about to drop you,” she mumbled down to Touko-chan, before she grabbed the ends of her braids and yanked them out of the branches they were stuck in.

She couldn’t support Touko-chan’s weight for long, and with a yelp Touko-chan collapsed on the ground in a heap. She was on her feet again by the time Koizumi dropped down from the tree, but without so much as a word of thanks Touko-chan stormed over to Hagakure, looking unmistakably surly.

“I t-told you to stop making us look suspicious!” She grimaced, but despite the clear strength of her anger it took her a few more seconds to speak again. “We c-couldn’t come with anything but the clothes on our backs,” she said to Kuzuryuu. “And even then we’re lucky to have those…”

“’Cause we parachuted in!” Hagakure interrupted. “Makes sense, ‘right?”

“What…” Kuzuryuu looked absolutely incredulous. “Why’d you do that, though? We have a friggin’ airport right on the first island!”

Touko-chan screwed her eyes shut, as if she were racking her brain for a solution, before she opened them, looking altogether calmer. “D-do you think it’s been easy for us, either?” she said.  “That… bastard… it’s like they’re toying with us for t-their own amusement…”

Touko-chan’s words sent a shiver down Koizumi’s spine; for the first time in the entire conversation she realized that perhaps things were not all that they seemed. But at the moment, this was the least of her concern, and she had to make that clear.

“Forget about that for now,” she said, through gritted teeth. “I’ll tell you this much – even if you’re on our side, I can’t trust you to protect us. There’s only two of you, and we’re only safe if there’s six. And as far as I’m concerned, you still owe us a world’s worth of explanations. But if you slow me down, then your excuses aren’t going to mean anything. Got it?”

Hagakure and Touko-chan shared a quick, wordless look as Koizumi knelt back by Hiyoko-chan’s side. She was now only semi-conscious, and the wound on her head wasn’t bleeding as badly. But she had no way of knowing what internal damage had been done, or if Hiyoko-chan was just inches from death.

She wished Mikan-chan was there, to give her a better idea of Hiyoko-chan’s chances. She wished they were all there: Nidai and Tanaka and Akane-chan, Peko-chan and Sonia-chan, and even Hanamura, and Komaeda, and… and Togami. She would’ve taken them all if it meant being surrounded with people with the resolve to survive.

Instead she had these two. Plus Kuzuryuu. But then… at least Kuzuryuu was on her side. She never thought she’d be thankful for that.

“W-we can carry her for the rest of the way,” Touko-chan said, interrupting Koizumi’s thoughts. “Y-you guys have been through enough already.”

“Yeah,” Hagakure said. “Just point us back to the path and we’ll be back there in no time, ‘right?”

For a second, Koizumi hesitated. But her arms were weary to the point of collapse, and she couldn’t afford to waste any more time. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s go before it’s too late.”

=================================

Hinata solved the Final Dead Room as though he were walking through a dream.

There was no need for him to assess the situation; he already knew every detail about his surroundings, even without looking at them. He walked up to the beaten desk, removed a pair of pliers from the first drawer he opened, and took them to the nearby closet, where he used them to bend a coat hanger into a long, hooked wire. Then he bent down by the side of the bed, slid the wire under, and retrieved a small key, which somehow he knew would open the locked drawer on the desk.

He retrieved the scissors from the drawer, and then walked back to the bed. He sat down at about the middle of the mattress, picked the Monobear doll up off the covers, and then, slowly and methodically, began to hack the scissors into the stuffing of the doll’s head.

He worked at this for quite some time, moving the scissors down the Monobear’s body, feeling nothing but the satisfaction of a job well done. No, that wasn’t all of it at all. He was terrified. He was out of control. But at the same time… he wasn’t in any danger, and he certainly wasn’t about to stop. Not that it was possible, if he’d wanted to try.

Buried about the middle of the Monobear’s chest was a set of small batteries. Hinata removed them from the bear and walked with them to the doorside console on the other side of the room. The exit was sealed behind a row of thick iron bars, just like the entrance had sealed itself when he’d come in.  His first guess was that the keypad would open the door, but when he punched in the numbers he’d seen on the walls, all that moved was a nearby hidden panel.

He retrieved the camera and USB stick from the cubbyhole inside the panel, slid the batteries inside the camera, and headed for the computer after only a split second glance at the image inside. He plugged the stick into the computer, typed in a password he’d pulled out of the thin air of his mind, and then headed back to the console for a second try at the code.

9 8 7 5. Much like the password, he entered the numbers without quite knowing how he’d come to the conclusion that they were correct.

With a slight ding, the door proceeded… not to open. Instead, a small depression opened up in the ground, and a circular dais rose out of it, slowly and smoothly.

On that dais was a gun. A regular revolver, not that Hinata had ever seen one so close.

He stood still for several seconds, before he realized that in order to move he would have to command his own body. Then he stumbled, suddenly fatigued, and held onto the dais for support.

All you have to do is shoot, Hinata-kun.

A few quick blinks returned him to his senses, but he couldn’t bring himself to look back at the revolver. He tried to tell himself he was confused. That he didn’t know what he was expected to do. But even then, deep down, he knew.

Pull the trigger and penetrate the Octagon.

What’s the Octagon? he tried to think in his own voice. But he didn’t get a response back – and he hated all the more that he was even dignifying whatever this was. He hated the voice. He thought he’d been rid of it, told himself that it was all in his head, but now he knew he would never convince himself of it. He couldn’t understand it, either, but he’d gone far beyond trying.

Pull the trigger, Hinata-kun.

Whatever it was that had pushed its way into his mind, it wasn’t forcing him to do what it wanted, at least not as subtly as before. It was talking again, and giving him orders, but it wasn’t guiding him, the way he was sure he’d been guided to solve the rest. Was the preservation instinct too strong to be overridden? Was…whatever this was giving him the free will to refuse, or at least the illusion of it?

Why do I have to do this? he thought.

Pull the trigger, Hinata-kun.

I can’t.

Do it.

I can’t.

You have to.

I won’t.

You’ll die if you don’t.

I’ll die if I do.

You’re not meant to live forever.

But I don’t want to die now.

But if I could keep you alive for a thousand years I would.

For a moment he wondered if he’d thought those last words himself. They didn’t feel like a command, but he felt the emotion behind them as strongly as if they were. Was it concern? Or empathy? Or even remorse?

He picked up the revolver, and the next thing he knew he’d opened it, with an expert precision that he knew he lacked. Six slots, six bullets. He could play a standard round of Russian Roulette (and how he knew he would have to play Russian Roulette was something he simply could not explain) by removing five of the six bullets, spinning the revolver, placing it against his head, and firing.

He slid exactly one bullet out of its place, but then, instead of going on to the second, he spun the revolver and pushed it closed. He realized what that meant within a split second, and his blood turned to ice in his veins.

You’re not meant to die today, the voice said.

I can’t do it, he told himself.

You can, the voice replied.

But it’s suicide, he thought. I –

It’s not what you think, the voice interrupted. You’re not doing this alone.

I’m scared, he thought.

It’s alright, the voice said. I’m here. I’ve taken hold.

But how?

You’ll see, Hinata-kun. You know this is how it has to be done.

…I do. I…I know.

I’m so glad, Hinata-kun. I’m amazed that you trust me, even though I’ve done nothing but scare you… but it’ll be alright. You know, and so do I. And we can show the world what happens when hope accomplishes the impossible. 

Click.

Hinata’s finger fell from the trigger, and his arm fell slowly to his side. He didn’t know if he could hold onto the gun at all anymore, but rather than put it back on top of the pedestal he bent down to set it on the floor.

Another, slightly louder click came from somewhere behind the door, along with a chunk as the bars disappeared. Hinata approached the handle, and on turning it he realized it was no longer locked.  He opened the door, and stepped through into the room beyond.

It was not at all what Hinata had expected, because it was not at all like the rest of the building. It was brighter, angular, not oddly patterned, and filled from tip to toe with weapons. Every available wall space was crammed with them, arranged in various fashions on a series of hooks. They all looked to be in good condition, and for that matter ready to use.

He stood stunned for several seconds, taking it all in. He could not for the life of him figure out where he was, or how he’d gotten there, or why of all things this had to be hidden in some kind of candy-coated wonderland. Was it Monobear’s idea of a joke…? It had to be.

Or the Impostor’s, of course, but… he had the feeling that this wasn’t the Impostor’s doing. If they’d wanted anyone to see this, they would have brought them here themselves. Or at least used some of the weapons to… no, he didn’t at all want to think of that.

He lingered for a time at each of the displays. Against one wall was a series of blades, from tiny pocket knives to axes larger than Hinata was. Across from that was a series of refrigerators which, on frenzied examination, appeared to contain nothing but various vials of poisons. A third wall had two sets of hooks mounted into it – and those hooks held even more hooks, hooked together, as it were, into one of the most disgusting-looking whip weapons that Hinata had ever seen. Another had only innocuous looking items – ropes, razor wires, and even some good-sized cinderblocks – but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they could be weapons, and were there to be used as such.

Eventually, overwhelmed, he slumped against one of the few spaces of empty wall. The silence in the room was deafening, and he wondered if he’d get some sense of where to go, or what to do next. Was there a reason that he’d felt compelled to risk his life to get here? He was starting to get angry at the very concept. He couldn’t figure out how he’d gotten here, or why suddenly he seemed to be losing control of himself. He even wondered if giving up on this, on life itself, would be more rewarding than trying to figure it out.

But he didn’t want to let that thought take over. Instead, he pushed off against the ground, and attempted to stand.

“So you’re back, are you?”

And then he froze.

He didn’t dare make another sound. The voice… the voice was familiar. Too familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he’d heard it. It was high, and girlish, and animated. But, most importantly, it didn’t belong to anyone he’d known on the island.

“Are you going to try again? Won’t that be interesting… I wonder what you’ll try, this time…”

Every ounce of Hinata’s fear was back, and he felt weak and vulnerable, even though he’d just played and won a fool’s game of Russian Roulette. Her voice… it wasn’t angry, or even upset, but something about it sent a chill down his spine. He found himself thinking that he could easily run away, and leave this mystery well enough alone, and even be better off in the end. But he was curious – and not just about the voice. He’d been brought here for a reason, and he had to find out what it was.

He finished standing and then crept along the narrow corridor, passing rows and rows of weapons without giving them more than a passing glance. Maces, whips, guns, crossbows, bombs, semi-automatics… each was just as terrifying as the last, but nothing compared to what he was afraid to find alive.

“Stabbing, strangling, slicing, dicing, torturing, tearing, despairing…it doesn’t matter what you do, and I know you’re not the type to torture for fun…”

The voice trailed off as Hinata rounded the final corner. Strangely enough, the racks of weapons came to a stop there. The eighth and final side of the Octagon was entirely empty… apart from a girl of about Hinata’s age, the first unfamiliar person he’d seen in weeks, who lay slumped against the farthest wall.

Her hands were held behind her back – literally, as they’d been bound by a chain that hung from about the middle of the wall. A similar pair of chains held her legs at the ankles, connecting her to a metal tether in the middle of the floor.  Her only clothing was an over-large white dress shirt, which covered her hands and fell past her knees. Her hair, which was bleached to a shade somewhere between red and blonde, fell limp and disheveled down to her waist.

She was staring into the distance, with her head slumped over her shoulder, and hadn’t moved or reacted when Hinata had entered or spoken. All he could think was that she was purposefully ignoring him, though he couldn’t think of why, or otherwise that she really had not noticed that he was there. She almost looked like she’d been drugged. Or had she been poisoned? he thought. Is she even alive?

No, she had to be – who else could have spoken? But it didn’t make any sense. One way or another, her presence disturbed him as much as her voice. Was it the shock of finally finding someone here, or finding someone in this state? Or was it the way she seemed to hang between life and death…? No, it was something else. Somehow… somehow this girl was familiar. He’d seen her somewhere before, but not like this. She’d been full of life there, full of power…

It took him several silent minutes to see it, but if she put her red hair up in pigtails, and wore the outfit he’d seen on the girl from the rulebook… even if that girl was only a pixelated image, she’d look enough like her to be her. He didn’t know how to explain how he leapt from that conclusion to the next one he made. But he did have one more mystery to solve, and he was willing to take a leap of faith on it.

“Enoshima?” he said.

At the sound of his voice the girl’s head snapped up, her listless expression gone in an instant. She had the kind of big blue eyes he’d only seen on magazine covers before, and the kind of manic grin he’d only seen on a cartoon character. Both were now aimed straight ahead – and their power seemed to grow as she absorbed the sight of him.

“Well, well, well, this is not what I was expecting at all!” she said. “Hajime Hinata, how the hell did you get in here?”

Chapter Text

Souda’s first instinct was to run and hide, or at least to duck further behind the tree. But then his curiosity got the better of his fear – that and the instinct he’d built up over the course of his time on the island to run from anything that was new or unfamiliar. He stayed put, which was an accomplishment for him, and peeked out from the sides, just enough that hopefully Kirigiri couldn’t see him too clearly.

“Huh? He is?” Asahina took a few steps closer to Souda’s tree, and turned her head from side to side. “I don’t see him!”

“What do you mean? He’s right over there.” Kirigiri strode past Asahina, and raised her voice as she came closer. “Souda-kun, we’re with the Future Foundation. We need to talk to you.”

The Future Foundation…! Actually hearing the words sent a jolt of excitement through Souda’s body. Before he knew it he’d stuck his head out from behind the tree, and when the girls both turned to look at him he sprung out in a split-second of panic.

“Gah!” he said, but he couldn’t form anything else coherent. Now that Kirigiri and Asahina were closer, he could get a much better look at them than he could from a distance. Kirigiri looked like some kind of businesswoman or class president; she was tall and stately, and her long, straight hair was braided at the side, much like Souda’s. The other girl, Asahina, was shorter, curvier, and darker-skinned. Her hair was a lot longer than he’d thought it was, and she wore…were those dress shorts with tights?! He’d never seen anything like them before.

“I-It’s alright. We’re not going to hurt you…” Asahina extended an arm, but then paused, and pulled herself back. “We’re not going to hurt him, right?”

The pallor that came over Asahina’s face made Souda feel as though he were already a ghost. “H-Huuuh?” he said, dribbling the words from his mouth. “But, wait, aren’t you supposed to –”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Kirigiri said sternly. She took another step closer, and Souda realized then that he’d been wrong about her height. He was rather taller than she was, but he still felt disoriented from the strength of her presence. “My name is Kyoko Kirigiri, and this is Aoi Asahina. Do you know where your classmates are?”

Where my classmates are? It was surreal enough to think of Hinata and everyone else as his classmates.  But did he really want to admit to this terrifying girl that he had no idea? “Th-there was this explosion,” he said instead. “At the castle. That guy… the robot…”

“We already know you’ve been separated from them.” Kirigiri folded her arms. “But what you might not realize is that you’ll be able to find them with your Electronic Student ID. Do you have it with you?”

“H-huh?”

“It’ll give us an instant look at the locations of your classmates,” Kirigiri said. “You understand it’s absolutely vital that we find them.”

“Before the Impostor does,” Asahina said.

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Kirigiri said, furrowing her brow.

“No, no, uh, yeah!” Souda babbled. He hardly felt more nervous from Asahina’s statement – he was already pretty much at his limit. “Sure I got it! It’s just…”

He moved for his breast pocket, only to find that he didn’t have a breast pocket, as his boiler suit was long, long gone. Instead he patted his sides, and then stuck his hands deep into the waistband of his long, loudly-colored shorts. Then he checked his shoes, just for good measure. “It was right here… I-I dunno what happened to it –”

“Right.” Kirigiri clamped a powerful hand on Souda’s shoulder, and pulled him into an upright position. “There has to be someone on this island with a working map. When we meet with the others at the rendezvous point, we’ll know what our resources are and how to plan our search.”

“R-Rendezvous point…?”

“We don’t really have time to explain, do we?” Asahina looked over at Kirigiri as she spoke. “If we don’t find them soon…”

“You mean your ship, right?” Souda interrupted. “Or your plane, or whatever you came on?”

Asahina fell silent, and she and Kirigiri exchanged wide-eyed looks. “Ah,” Kirigiri said. “That’s…”

“Listen, y-you’re gonna take us out of here, right?!” Souda barked. “I don’t care what I have to give you, just get me outta this place!”

“You don’t have to give us anything!” Asahina said, a little awkwardly. “But… well, given the situation, it’s going to be difficult…”

“Yeah, but who cares?” Souda’s voice grew louder as he spoke, until his voice was very clearly cracking. “I’ve been waiting so long… I almost died, man… and It’s not like they can stop us. They can’t stop you, right? You guys got here, so you can definitely get us out –”

“Souda-kun, this isn’t helpful,” Kirigiri said. “I’m sorry, but getting you or anyone else off this island is going to be a much longer and more complicated process than you think.”

“I’ll hide! I’ll stow away in the cargo hold if I have to!” Souda shouted, cutting off whatever she was going to say next. “Please, you gotta take this serious –”

“I am,” Kirigiri said. “The only remote chance of any of us getting out of this situation alive involves your cooperation. Do you understand?”

“But…” Souda wanted to retort, but one look in Kirigiri’s eyes told him that it wouldn’t be worth his while. He was scared, but he wasn’t accomplishing anything. Beyond being Future Foundation, whatever that meant, Kirigiri seemed to know what she was doing. It was reassuring, in a way that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Good.” Kirigiri turned away from Souda. “Alright. Let’s go while we can.”

“It’ll be dangerous out there alone, though.” Asahina bit her lip. “Maybe we should wait until Naegi gets here.”

“Not necessarily,” Kirigiri said. “Of course, when it comes to the situation at hand… well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Naegi-kun isn’t here, and we have to get moving.”

“Naegi…?” Souda turned the name over in his mouth. It was a little difficult to say. “Uh, who’s Naegi?”

Kirigiri’s gaze shifted from left to right. “Naegi-kun is…” She sighed. “I’m afraid we don’t currently have the time to spare for explanations. When we meet with the other members of our division, we’ll be able to inform you all at once. Indeed, if the Impostor puts their plan into motion, we may not have the time for anything else…”

Souda had a sudden image of a guy who looked a lot like Nidai punching the Impostor – as close as he could picture them, anyway – in the face. “Then you know what they’re doing,” he said in a small voice. “I mean… there’s gotta be a reason they wanted you guys to come, right?”

Kirigiri furrowed her brow, and brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “That’s not… no. I didn’t mean to imply that I did. It’s actually more likely that you’d have more clues about that than I would. All we can do is guess, based on…”

She hesitated, but then seemed to think better of hesitating. She shook out her hair, and took Souda by the arm. “We’re out of time. We can talk as we walk. Unless…” Kirigiri did a double take at Souda, and glanced down at his chest. He remembered that his bandages were clearly visible, and certainly not in good shape.

“I’m fine,” Souda said quickly, though it was mostly a lie. “I’ve done a lot worse.”

Asahina nodded, apparently not feeling the urge to question him, and took off for the path without a word. She didn’t look back to see if Kirigiri and Souda were following behind her, but it wasn’t long before they were. At first Kirigiri pulled Souda along  by the arm, trying her best to get them caught up to Asahina, but she let go after a few seconds, apparently confident that Souda could hold his own. Thankfully Asahina wasn’t going too fast, so they were at her side before she got too far away.

They walked in silence for what felt like an age, passing rows of trees and dead, half-constructed carnival rides. Somehow Souda must have made his way to the opposite side of the island when he escaped the castle, as he didn’t remember seeing a rollercoaster or a fun house on his way over from the bridge. “So… uh…”

Kirigiri and Asahina turned to look at him together when he spoke. “Where are we going?” he continued. “You didn’t tell me that yet…”

He gritted his teeth as Kirigiri and Asahina looked at each other, conferring wordlessly. Finally, Asahina turned back, her expression unreadable. “If nothing else happens to us, then there’s only one place we can go,” Asahina said. “The place the Impostor wanted us to be.”

“The entrance to Hope’s Peak Academy, on the second island,” Kirigiri said. “Of course, you would know that place as the entrance to the ruins.”

==============================

Hinata stood stunned for several seconds, but Enoshima – if indeed that was who she was – seemed pretty content to wait on him. By the time he was ready to answer again she’d moved into a much more alert position, with her legs crossed under her, which had to be a feat given the weight of her chains, and her posture as perfect as she could manage.

“You know my name,” he said.

“Oh yes I do,” Enoshima said. “Name, height, weight, date of birth, irrational fear of spiders, you name it, I got it.”

For a second Hinata was stunned – and then a feeling of revulsion shot up his chest. “That’s – Hold on, I’m not afraid of spiders –”

“Oh, you certainly are,” Enoshima said, in a brusque, authoritative tone. “When you were eight years old, you were at a public bath when you discovered a spider’s nest under one of the washing buckets. The spiders were harmless, of course, but you never quite recovered from the experience –”

“Alright, alright!” Hinata blurted, much louder than he’d meant to. “I get it –”

“You do?” Enoshima said, gracefully stretching one of her legs. “That doesn’t look like the face of a man who ‘gets it’, Hinata-kun.”

If this girl was trying to get Hinata frustrated and angry, she was really doing an excellent job, no matter how chained-up she was. “What – no, not like that, definitely not like that,” he stammered. “No, I don’t ‘get it’ at all! I’ve been hearing your name everywhere I go, and trying to figure out what it means, and now…”

“My name?” Enoshima interrupted. “What do you mean by that?”

Hinata blinked. “I said it when I came in,” he said.  “Enoshima…”

“And how do you know that’s my name?”

Hinata’s throat went dry. “Well, didn’t you –”

“I could’ve just responded because you seemed like you wanted to talk, even if you were just yammering nonsense.” Enoshima shook her head. “But either way, you were totally wrong. My name is Yuki Koyuki. I’m actually the secret seventeenth student. I was admitted to Hope’s Peak as the Super High School Level Psychic, but my powers were so super powerful that if they don’t keep me chained here –”

“What?!”

Hinata hadn’t even finished turning this new information over in his head before Enoshima chuckled, and shrugged her shoulders best she could. “Hmmm. It doesn’t seem as though you bought that one.” She screwed her eyes shut, and then opened again. “Well, how about this? I’m actually one of the members of the Future Foundation. My name is Kotoko Totoko. I already tried to come in and save you, but –”

“I already know you’re lying,” Hinata interrupted. “There’s no point to any of this. What are you doing it for?”

Enoshima sighed, and rolled her eyes. “Oh, nothing. I’m just trying to make the biggest fool of you that I possibly can. You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you? You’re still wishing some part of what I was revealing about the world around you was true! Creating hope at the same time that you’re crushing it, without control over your desires and fears…!” Her chest heaved, and she let out a shuddering sigh. “It’s the most delicious despair there is…”

Hinata didn’t answer, because he didn’t know how. But he took a step back, and when he did Enoshima slumped, and rolled her eyes. “But what’s the point of you knowing the truth, anyway?” she grumbled. “If the name “Junko Enoshima” makes a difference to you then I know some great twelve-step programs you could join. Only teenage girls and perverts would know her for whatever she did in magazines, you know?”

Hinata blinked. “Whatever you what?”

“Did in magazines,” Enoshima went on. “Stood around, wore clothes, you know. No, no, you’re a good boy. You don’t take notice of those kinds of things. Buuuut…” She tapped her foot against the ground. “Would you recognize me if I sounded like this?”

Her mouth curved into a wicked grin, and when she spoke again her voice had been twisted into a strange and very familiar falsetto.  “Upupupupu!” she said. “Hello naughty children, it’s murder time!”

Hinata felt a spike of fear in his gut. He thought he’d never hear that voice again, not after he’d seen him torn in two. “No…” he said. “You can’t, you’re not…”

“I sure the fuck am!”  Enoshima screeched in Monobear’s voice. “Mono-fuckin’-bear in the HOUSE!” She laughed. “See, it’s funny, cause we’re in the Fun House, and I said house just there.”

Hinata had barely heard the second half of Enoshima’s words. As soon as he’d heard the voice of Monobear from her lips his head had started spinning, making connections faster than he could comprehend them. The latest and most vivid image Hinata had of Monobear was of the Impostor holding him over their face, speaking through his lips, but his mind didn’t stop there; he remembered every school trial he’d been forced through, and the gleeful look in Monobear’s eyes as he watched them all struggle, and laughed at their pain, and activated the devices that sent Hanamura and Sonia to their deaths, and lied, and cheated, and manipulated…

“Why…?” Hinata could barely form words of his own. “Why would you ever admit it…? Just – at least tell me you’re lying again.”

“Nah,” Enoshima said. “It’s not actually any fun to lie to you. You’ve taken all the despair out of it. Should I rattle off my exhaustive list of events and facts that only Monobear could know, instead? It’ll be real boring!”

He didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe it. She’d lied to him by her own admission, and it wasn’t like she had any proof. He couldn’t even begin to think of how a girl his age could set up a situation on this scale… but he’d saw her react to the name “Enoshima.” A name she’d heard from Mikan’s own lips, before she maimed Souda, and killed herself. It was the name Monobear himself had used in the third trial, as a password. And she’d added on a first name, too, just now…

“You’re a monster,” Hinata said, uncomfortably aware that he’d used the same words Hanamura had used for Komaeda. “You murdered my friends…!”

“Ohhhh, my god. Are we really going to go through this?” Enoshima’s eyes glazed over, and she looked almost as inert as she had when Hinata had entered. “Okay, first of all. ‘Friends’? You didn’t know Komaeda-kun or Hanamura-kun for more than three days. You hardly know anyone now. Second, did you see me murder anyone? No, you didn’t. But you saw the evidence. You figured it out yourself. And the culprits merely got what was coming to them- hey, who said you could leave?”

Hinata didn’t pay any attention to her – or at least, he tried not to as he turned and made his way back down the hall. He didn’t have time for this. Nanami was gravely injured, and nothing in this room was getting him any closer to finding her treatment, or an exit. Even if Enoshima was who she claimed… well, she was so full of double-talk anyway that nothing she could say to him would be of any use. If she’d been locked away, it had to be for a reason, and until the Future Foundation got there it was just as well that he left her where she was…

But just as he was about to round the corner, he felt it again – the urges in his limbs that most certainly were not his own. At their command he stopped and turned back around, though he would only let himself take as many steps as he needed to be back in Enoshima’s line of sight.

“Well, aren’t you conciliatory,” Enoshima said, when she could see him again. “What, did you think I’d shoot you full of holes if you didn’t come back?”

Hinata would never tell her that he’d been afraid of just that, on some level – or, even less, why he’d actually come back. “You didn’t,” he said.

Enoshima was silent for a good long time, and her eyes even started to glaze over again. “I didn’t, and I can’t,” she said. “I can’t actually do anything. Not anymore.” She paused. “Come on, ask me what I’m talking about.”

When Hinata didn’t respond fast enough for her liking, she groaned loudly, and rattled at her chains. “Oh, come on! You’re not even a little curious? You’ve been here for two weeks, you’ve seen what Monobear could do. What, do you think I’d really keep myself chained up if I could turn all the chains into fluffy bunnies and burst my way out of ‘em?” She snorted.

For the first time, Hinata thought a bit too hard about everything he’d seen Monobear do. “You mean all the stuff that should have been impossible,” he said. “All the magic. The distortions. The robots…”

“Yep, you got it. I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word. But now the worst I could probably do is fart on you or something.” She pursed her lips. “Okay, unless you’re into that. Oh well, too late. I’ve farted like eight times since you got here!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“What? The farts?”

“No, no!” Anything but that, he thought. “All this… I haven’t even had the energy to think about it. But it’s impossible. How are you able to do all this stuff…?!”

“How was I able. I told you.” She nodded. “Well, it’s simple, really. All I have to do is –” She stopped, and then grinned haughtily. “Oh, I just remembered! You have no idea, do you? Well, never mind then! Here’s the short version. Once upon a time I could do whatever I wanted on this island! And then the Impostor came along and took all my powers for their own and locked me up here. The end.” She leaned back. “Even if you don’t understand it, Hinata-kun, you have to admit it’s the only logical explanation.”

Hinata’s mind was racing so quickly he could hardly parse out any explanation. Oh how he wished he could just leave. “But they’re just…” He stopped himself from saying “they’re just a normal kid.” It reminded him far too much of who they’d been, before this all happened. “They could never do anything like this before,” he said instead. “Even if you’re right… even if you did do all this, and I don’t understand… how could they ‘take’ whatever you had?”

“That’s really not up to me to explain to you.” Enoshima shrugged again, way too quickly. “It’s so unfair, Hinata-kun… all I wanted to do was keep you on this island forever unless you killed each other to death, and now that fatass is going ahead and just… well, why should I tell you what that fatass wants in any kind of detail? I’m not your mommy, I don’t need to tell you how the world works.”

She glared directly into Hinata’s eyes as she spoke, and punctuated every word very clearly. But then, suddenly, she relaxed, looking very forlorn. “And now I can’t even do anything. I’m just a helpless little girl.” She pointed to one of the nearest weapon-filled shelves with her immaculately manicured feet. “You could go ahead and take one of those axes, and chop my arms and legs off, and even my head, and there’s nothing I could do to stop you…!”

Hinata did a double take at the axe she was pointing to. “Oh, come on!” Enoshima yelled. “I know you’re not actually going to! Fuckin’ hell!”

“Of course not…!” Hinata had to take a few seconds to steady himself before he could begin to form a response. “If you are telling the truth… if all of this is true, even if I don’t understand it… then what are you looking for me to do? Really?”

“Huh? I dunno!” Enoshima shook her head, in a “look-at-this-idiot” kind of fashion.  “I wasn’t expecting to be conscious ever again, honestly. I don’t how you got here, or even why…”

Neither do I, Hinata thought, but there was no way in hell he was going to talk about that. A part of him was relieved that Enoshima had played her whole hand before he let that slip.

“But I’m really not useful to you at all. I can’t help you, I can’t harm you. The only reason I’m here… well, I don’t quite know myself.”

“The Impostor left you here,” Hinata said, though it was painful to even consider. “After they took your… power. They left you alive…”

“Oh… I wouldn’t say ‘alive’.” Enoshima looked to the side. “I was alive when I had everything. I’m only a shell now, a collection of the bits and pieces they didn’t need.” She perked up. “I guess you could take revenge on me or something, but I know you won’t. But if you were going to, I wonder if I’d try to save myself by telling you I knew how to beat them…” She laughed. “That’s a lie, of course. I have no clue.”

Hinata wrinkled his nose. “I thought you were done with lying.”

“Oh, I could be. That’s only what I said. But what is the meaning of a lie, anyway? Is a lie really a lie if I could possibly not know what I’m talking about?” Enoshima grinned. “I could have hit my head, and lost my memory, just like someone I could mention.  I could even be some girlfriend of yours you forgot about! And you wouldn’t want that to be the case if you just forget about me, right, Hinata-chan?”

“That’s not –!”

“Or maybe everything else I told you is a lie, even all the parts about being bored of lying!” She laughed, a high and cold and cruel laugh. “You don’t know at all, do you? All you know is that I’m here, and that someone chained me up for a reason. All you have left to go on is what I say. But I can tell you one thing. In fact, it might be the only useful information I have to offer up, out of the goodness of my heart…”

Enoshima grinned. “It’s about that Future Founation, the one that’s so precious to you. They’re here now. Right as we speak. And you’ll never want them near you once you find out what they did.”

Chapter Text

Makoto Naegi was alone when he woke up.

He had the vaguest memory of flying through the air, and seeing the entirety of Jabberwock Island laid out below him. The clouds had parted very dramatically as he’d passed, revealing a shimmering landscape that didn’t look too different from the real thing. He saw the mountain at the center fly by him, growing larger as he headed for the fourth island, the one with all the spires and amusement park rides… and then he’d woken up on the forest floor, spitting out a mouthful of dirt.

He got to his feet, and brushed the dirt off his suit pants. There was no clearing in this area of the wood, so he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to land on the ground without seriously injuring himself, but the smarting in his knees and chest told him that he might’ve crashed into a tree or two on the way down.

He couldn’t see Togami-kun anywhere around, which was not surprising at all given the way that Togami-kun tended to avoid him when he could help it. But he didn’t dare assume he was free to move before he checked behind every tree in his vicinity, looking out for anyone, or anything, that might be hiding from him. On the one hand, if any of the survivors were cowering back here in fear, he needed to find them and give them what they needed to feel safe. On the other hand…

Well, if he ran into that kind of a problem alone, there wasn’t much he could do to save himself.

Naegi had no compass or any useful navigational landmarks, or anything at all except the clothes on his back. So, knowing he could do nothing just standing around, he closed his eyes, picked a direction, and started on it. He knew the island wasn’t very large, and that sooner or later he’d get back to the path, as long as he stayed in a straight line. “Togami-kun?” he called out as he walked. “Er… Togami-kun? Kirigiri-san? Anyone?”

He didn’t hear any response, or much of anything at all – just the quiet rustling of the wind in the branches of the endless expanse of pine trees. Pine trees… that didn’t seem quite right for a tropical island. If he hadn’t watched the video feeds from the rest of the island, day after day after day, he could have believed he was somewhere in a northern mountain range, if not for the flat land and scorching heat. Was it some kind of error in the programming? Or an attempt on Alter Ego’s part to fill in the blanks in the landscape…?

A noise at the back of his ear gave him pause, but when he stopped walking and listened more closely he couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary – just the wind in the trees, constant and benign. But he stayed still for several more seconds, just to be sure, before he started walking again. But before long he heard the same sound, louder this time. It was a frenetic rustling, too fast and too uneven to be the wind – and along with it, he heard the sound of footsteps.

They weren’t what he’d expect from someone trying to navigate a dense and treacherous wood, either – they were big, and fast, and coming up quick. Who did he know that could run like that? “Asahina-san?” he called out. “Is that you?”

There was no response, apart from another rustling noise behind him. He turned around in place, still seeing nothing, but the rustling continued, moving around and around, so that it was always somewhere just behind him, no matter where he looked. It was as if an unseen force was circling and cornering him, like a cat closing in on a mouse…

And then, just as it was close enough that whoever it was could pounce, the sound stopped moving. Whatever was rustling was now rustling perfectly in place.

This didn’t sit well with Naegi’s sense of reality, but he’d come into this simulation expecting to have it dashed to bits. “Who’s there?” he said, without turning around. “I’m not going to harm you. Or… I’m not here to fight. One way or another…”

Nobody responded, but the noise filled his ears, drowning out all his higher thought. “M-My name is Makoto Naegi,” he offered. “I’m a member of the Future Foundation …”

Again the rustling continued, but now Naegi could hear a faint voice underneath the sound of the leaves, growing slightly louder with every second that passed. “Wooosh…” It said. “Wooosh, wooosh….”

“Er…” Suddenly, Naegi felt a lot more confident about turning around. When he did… he found Ibuki Mioda standing only about a foot away, deliberately shaking a tree branch and making faint “woosh, woosh” noises.

He stopped, stunned, and so did she, or so he thought for a few seconds. Then she shook the branch again, and said “wooosh” just one more time.

“Did Ibuki fool you?” she said.

Naegi’s silence probably gave her enough of an answer – but fooled as he was, he tried not to be surprised.  He’d read all the survivors’ psychological profiles cover to cover, at least the ones that they’d been able to pull together from data past and present. This was about as typical a brand of Mioda behavior as you could get, and it was to her what a simple “hello” just wasn’t enough for.

“Ah, well,” he said, biting his lip. “You did, actually…”

“YESSS! Victory for Ibuki!” She shook the branch a few more times, and then leapt up in celebration, grabbing a higher branch and swinging back and forth on it. Her remaining shoe fell off on the way up, but she didn’t seem to notice – and from the look of her left sock the other shoe was long gone. The rest of her clothes weren’t in much better condition, and her ubiquitous hair-horn-things were only held together with twigs and leaves, which Naegi did not at all doubt that she’d put in there on purpose. “How about startling? Did she startle you?”

Naegi could not, for the life of him, think of why she needed to ask. “A bit…”

“Because you definitely startled Ibuki!” Mioda-san dropped down from the tree, and took a moment to brace against her impact before she leapt up again, good as new.

Then she started to pace around Naegi, moving back and forth, rubbing her chin and examining him with curious, but red-rimmed eyes. “Naegi, Naegi, Naegi…hmmmmm,” she said. “Makoto-chan’s nobody Ibuki’s ever seen before.” She tapped her chin. “That means Makoto-chan’s a Future Foundation, like he said, or a hallucination, or a Future Founducination…”

Founducination? Makoto-chan?! Naegi had to try hard not to laugh, which was an accomplishment given that seconds earlier he’d been trying not to run scared. “Well, I don’t think I’m a hallucination…”

She gasped. “Then you’re a Founducination!”

“Uh…” Naegi blinked. “Sure?”

“YAHOOOO!!!” Mioda-san yelled, shaking Naegi’s eardrums before, without warning, she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “You’re here! You’re real! You’re – whooooaaaaahh!” She backed away quickly, though she kept her arms outstretched. “You’re really short! You’re even shorter than Ibuki is short, and Ibuki is pretty short, Ibuki thought!”

Naegi’s eyes widened. He found himself looking down at his feet. “I… yeah, I am, I know that, but… why does it matter so much?”

“Well, when Ibuki thinks of the Future Foundation she thinks of a bunch of big tall bald guys in black suits! Kinda like fancy nightclub bouncers!” She folded her arms and smirked. “She was thinking she’d befriend them and we’d smoke cigars and play cards in dingy nightclubs after this was all over! Is there anyone in the Future Foundation like that?”

Naegi blinked. “Er, I’m sure there must be someone like that in the organization, but as for those of us who … well, no, not really.” Maybe Hagakure-kun, he thought, but he wasn’t sure that was what Mioda-san had in mind.

“Oh. Well, that’s alright. Ibuki can still take Makoto-chan to karaoke and trendy cafes!” Mioda moved her hand to her chin, and examined Naegi closely. “Is that why they call you Naegi, ‘cause you’re like a teeny-tiny tree?”

“N-no, they call me that because that’s my name.” Naegi cringed, despite himself, and mumbled under his breath. “And I grew an entire centimeter this year...” 

“Ooooooh, a step closer to victory! Congratulations!”

“Ah…thank you?”

“Annnnytime!” Mioda-san winked at Naegi, and then, without warning, she slid to his side, put her arm around his shoulder, and gave him a sincere grin. “Soooooo, Mako-chan – can Ibuki call you Mako-chan?”

Naegi hesitated, but only because he couldn’t help but think of how unnerved any of his friends or colleagues would be by this, by her, knowing what they knew, and seeing what they’d seen. Even if they hadn’t considered the past, and only judged her on her avatar’s own merits… well, it wouldn’t take much for the Foundation to argue that the pressures she’d been under might trigger similar levels of emotional collapse. But this was nothing like a collapse – it was more of an unthinkable, impossible triumph. “Well, I’m fine with –”

“Ibuki thinks you look like a decent dude, and she isn’t just saying that to be nice, Mako-chan,” Mioda-san went on, without waiting for Naegi to finish. “And she doesn’t really know what the Future Foundation does, and she knows she might be totally wrong. But she knows a good-looking man when she sees one!”

There was no way Naegi wasn’t blushing in the most embarrassing way possible. “Ah – wha?”

“And she isn’t just talking about looks,” Mioda-san said. “She’s talking about good-looking vibes, an element of goodness that envelops the entire being! A spirituality of good!” She tapped her chin with her free arm. “Is it your face? Hm, might be. If it is, then it could be that when people look at you they think, ‘Hey, I gotta follow this guy! I’m gonna be rich if I do!’”

She said this all in an exaggerated imitation of an older man’s voice. When she was done, she looked back at Naegi for a reaction, which he wasn’t quite ready to give her. “Er,” he said. “That’s a lot to say about someone. Especially if you’ve already said you don’t know or trust me…”

“Ibuki knows,” Mioda-san said. She began tugging slightly on Naegi’s shoulder, leading him along, though she did not appear to have a destination in mind. “But Ibuki also considers herself an expert in intuition! So Ibuki’s been thinking. And Ibuki’s thinking she can’t really think what she’s thinking, not unless she knows what she’s thinking is something she can think she can think!

“Did Ibuki make sense just then, Mako-chan?” Mioda-san stopped, and turned to face Naegi. “She was really just trying to see how many times she could say “thinking.””

“Ah…” Naegi tried not to show that he felt overpowered. He was in control. He had to be. “I don’t,” he said. “Not at all. I don’t have any idea what you’re thinking.”

To his surprise, Mioda-san didn’t answer, at least not right away. She started pushing him forward again, but much more slowly, as if only to give her hands something to do.

“The Future Foundation,” she said, in a somber tone. “They’re not… no, no, no, Ibuki’s not gonna assume the worst. They’re here to help us, right?”

That was a loaded question, but Naegi wasn’t about to discourage her. He had to tell her the truth, impossible as it might be to back up. “We want to help you more than anything else,” he said. “And we’re here because we think we can. And right now – well, things might seem bleak, or even impossible. But if our plan works…”

“…Your plan.” Mioda looked from left to right, her expression growing grave. When she spoke again she dropped her voice to a whisper. “You’re not just here to kill them, right?”

“Them?” Naegi said, confused – but then he realized who she was talking about, and a trickle of icy fear ran through his chest.

He… oh god, how he wished he could promise her everything. How he wished he could shape her dreams and desires as easily as he and Alter Ego had been able to shape the world they’d trapped her in. Because that was the other important part of her psychological profile: the crush. Or was it actual, deeply held affection? Kirigiri-san didn’t seem to think so, mostly because of how long Mioda-san and the Impostor had known each other. But love wasn’t often something that was dictated by logic, and given the kind of stress that Mioda-san had been under… it wasn’t unknown for those kinds of bonds to form under stress, as Naegi knew all too well.

“No,” Naegi said, finally. “I don’t want to kill them. I would never want to kill them.” It didn’t seem fair, not at all. It wasn’t the Impostor’s fault. It could have happened to any of them, and it had happened to Tsumiki-san, too. But… if he said that to her, would it sound like a promise? Would Kirigiri-san and the others, and even the greater Future Foundation, accuse him of pushing an impossible agenda on an unstable group that couldn’t be trusted? If they did, and they thought this would make the survivors more dangerous…

“I don’t want to disappoint you, Mioda-san,” he continued, looking crestfallen. “And I definitely don’t want to lie. I’m not… I can’t be sure of what we can do. We want to stop them. But before we can, we have to figure out just how they came to be… how they are. And if it’s not something we can stop…”

“Ibuki knows.” Mioda-san stopped, rocking back and forth on a ground-level root. Her face betrayed her grief more clearly than ever, now. “She’s prepared to know the truth. She can take that it’s impossible.”

“I…wouldn’t say that –”

“She already had her good times, anyway.” Mioda-san let go of Naegi’s arm and skipped ahead slightly, goose-stepping through the underbrush. “She got to meet Byakuya-chan to begin with, which is already better than Ibuki not meeting Byakuya-chan at all. And Byakuya-chan’s speeches kept Ibuki afloat when everything else was sinking around her, and they inspired Ibuki to keep her friends as happy as Byakuya-chan wanted them to be! And she got to see Byakuya-chan in a yukata, too, and rest her head on their belly, and have a breathtaking experience with them in the moonlight…

“But she hasn’t nearly had enough!” She stopped, suddenly, and spun around on her threadbare foot. “And Ibuki needs Mako-chan to know she’s prepared to die for more!”

The energy and life she’d had before had bounded back into her voice, and she leapt up again, swinging from a tree branch before falling back down. “Even if it’s impossible, Ibuki’s not going down without a fight! Living at the edge of Ibuki’s seat kinda gives Ibuki a new lease on life, and suddenly she’s willing to risk it all! She doesn’t just want a smooch, either! We’re talking old age and two dogs. Maybe three! Or is Byakuya-chan a cat person –”

“M-Mioda-san!”

“Hm?” Mioda-san said.

Naegi shuddered, and realized he was out of breath. Had he been swept away by her words? It was pretty likely. Kirigiri-san had warned him about being pulled in by her impulsivity. “She has a history of throwing herself into danger for her ideals and beliefs,” she’d said to him, before they’d stepped into the pods and closed their eyes. “And not all of that history has been good. You understand what I mean, of course.”

“But that’s not who she is anymore,” he’d said in response. “You and I have worked so hard for that, for all of them.  And can we really give up on the Impostor, after all we’ve done for them?”

“We… we can’t let what we want affect what we have to do, Naegi-kun.” Kirigiri-san’s words had cut him deep, but he could tell it had hurt her just as much to say them. “We already decided this was a great risk, and it’s gone wrong enough already. But I’m going in because I have faith in you. I’ve always had faith in you.”

“You think Ibuki’s crazy,” Mioda-san finished for him, before he could get out of his own head. “But you think Ibuki’s got a point, right? You think she’s got her heart in the right place?”

Naegi had to tell her the truth. “I do,” he said. “I really do.”

“But it sounds like you don’t know what to do about it, do you?”

“I –”

“Well, then you’re in luck,” Ibuki said, grinning madly. “Because Ibuki knows just what she’s going to do to save Byakuya-chan, and she’s been wandering and thinking about it for as long as she can remember since the castle blew up.  She’s going to need help, though, and even if it’s crazy she knows in her deepest and downest self that she can succeed –”

CRACK.

The world around them froze, just for a second, as the fabric of spacetime opened up somewhere in the simulation landscape, just long enough for someone to come in. Why had he taken so long? Naegi thought. And would the Impostor realize they’d fulfilled their game’s conditions, and start to put their plan into motion? Or was it not too late? Did they still have time?

“– And when she does she’ll just have to find out if Byakuya-chan’s a cat person,” Mioda-san finished, continuing as though she’d never been stopped. “Well? Are you with me, Mako-chan?”

Naegi swallowed. He felt more out of control now than ever before. “Well, hold on,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I want to believe in you, but you still haven’t said what you’re doing –”

“Ibuki’ll tell you on the way! Don’t worry, it won’t be that complicated!” She grabbed Naegi’s hand, and jerked hard on it as she ran ahead. “C’mon, Mako-chan! There’s no time to waste!”

================================

Hinata knew in an instant that Enoshima’s words were a trap.

He’d thought of almost nothing but the Future Foundation for weeks. He’d tried his hardest not to funnel all his hopes into them, or to pray that whoever they were, they’d show up and save the day… But he knew enough about trust to know that this was something he had to know, even if it was a lie.

“What was it?”

Enoshima blinked. “What was what?”

“What did they do?” Hinata said. “I already know they trapped us here and took our memories.”

“Oh. You do?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Do you.” Enoshima nodded, and pursed her lips. “Well… is that the end of it, do you think? Do you want to know if there’s more, and spend a few minutes puzzling it out with me? Because –”

“I’m not in the mood for these games anymore,” Hinata said. “Are you going to tell me or not?”

“Oooooh. Someone’s gotten bold.” Enoshima leaned back, smiling up at Hinata with all her perfect teeth. “Fine, whatever. It’s not like it’s some big secret. In fact, knowing Naegi-kun and how sickeningly goody-goody he is, he’ll probably want to air out all the dirty laundry as soon as he can.”

Hinata had never heard of this Naegi-kun before, though he had to be a member of the Future Foundation, from the way Enoshima spoke of him. He couldn’t say whether he was a friend or foe, but “sickeningly goody-goody” could only be an advantage in a situation like this.

“At least, he will now that he knows he could be killing you if he doesn’t,” Enoshima said. Or endangering his friends! He was perfectly happy not to talk about anything when you’d just arrived, remember?”

When you’d just arrived… Hinata could barely remember when he’d just arrived, in that short time before Monobear took over. But he did remember the strangest part of the experience the most vividly – the singing and dancing rabbit that was always avoiding all their questions. “Naegi…was he the person controlling Monomi?”

“Egggghhhh,” Enoshima said. “Controlled? Hardly. You can’t control something that acts on its own. But created? Maybe. Kinda. It’s tough to explain.”

Hinata bit his lip. “That doesn’t make any sense. Monomi had to be some kind of robot. How could she –”

“Act on her own? Have a mind even if she didn’t get it from a living brain?” Enoshima grumbled. “Can we just skip all the parts where you don’t believe in the impossible?”

Hinata very well could, and at this point it’d be very easy. But he wasn’t about to give in to her. “Fine, whatever,” he said. “That’s not the point.”

“The point is what they did and why.” Enoshima said. “Who told you all this, by the way? Was it the traitor? Did she really say that much?”

“Don’t call her that.” Hinata felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He hoped he hadn’t let Nanami in any kind of danger, now that he couldn’t go back to get her.

“But that’s who she is.”

“I know.”

“And you trust her completely, I’m sure.”

“I…” He wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to tell Enoshima the truth. “I don’t know. They… the idea of kidnapping us and making us be friends with each other was weird as hell, no questioning that. And I still don’t know why they did it.” Because Nanami wouldn’t, no, couldn’t tell us, and we couldn’t figure it out. “But they’re not the ones that pitted us against each other...”

“But why do you think they’d want to do that?” Enoshima said. “Pull you away from anyone you knew and everything you’d known, wipe away all recollection of having known each other, or having spent any time at Hope’s Peak…?”

She leaned back against the wall. “Why would they go through that effort? Invest all that time, and all those resources? I think that’s a lot more impossible to justify than intelligence that works on its own. At least, not without a little critical thinking…”

For a moment Hinata was confused – and then he realized he’d already had all the answers. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he’d watched Nanami explain all he should – at least, all that he could get her to say by guessing. “The Future Foundation would never have taken your memories without a reason,” she’d said. And it didn’t take him long to go down the same path that his mind had taken back then

The Memory Fever. The contagion, the destruction of the Impostor’s mind... “It’s something big,” he repeated. “It’s something we need to forget…”

“You’re almost there, you can do it.” Enoshima said. “But remember, I didn’t say a word. It was all you. And the traitor too, of course…”

He couldn’t say for sure what it was. But he couldn’t stop the pieces from coming together, and he didn’t like where it was getting him. If a “Memory Fever” could make monsters out of Tsumiki and the Impostor… and if the Future Foundation was so desperate for a bonding, healing experience for them… and if his own memory was so fractured that he still couldn’t remember his own worthless talent…

He felt panic welling up inside his chest, but tamped it down just as quickly, and stored it away until he needed it. He still knew for sure what Enoshima was trying to do. And he wasn’t about to let her win.

“I’m not going to learn the truth by standing here and talking to you,” he said. “If the Future Foundation’s out on the island, then I want to hear their side of the story, first.” He turned away, and tried to put her face out of his mind. “I’m leaving.”

“So you are.”

“…And I’m taking you with me.”

It was a split-second decision, made in sound mind, and one he certainly still had the wiggle room to get out of. But he wanted to watch Enoshima’s reaction first, and more than anything she was surprised – even intrigued. “So you are,” she repeated.

“You’re staying in the arm restraints,” Hinata said. “I’ll… I’ll find a way to take the chains off your legs, so you can walk. But…” He took another look at her, and then back at the nearest shelf, where the assortment of handaxes stood waiting for him. They looked terribly sharp, but also very heavy – and very cumbersome to smash through iron with. “Oh no…”

“You don’t need to go through all that,” Enoshima said. “In fact, I’m going to show you how you should.” She pointed her toes at the shelf again. “One of the many gadgets and doo-dads up there is the key that unlocks these chains. Attached to THAT key is ANOTHER key that unlocks the cuffs, but I’d suggest keeping the cuffs on my feet, so I can’t run very fast!” She grinned. “Isn’t that exactly what you were hoping for? A way to get me from place to place without having to be afraid of me?”

Hinata gave the shelf another look, and sure enough hidden between two of the handaxes was a ring of four silver keys. He took the ring off its hook, and looked over the keys in his hands; they were all of different, but similar configurations.

Then he moved back across the hall, coming much closer to Enoshima than he had before. She grinned as he approached, but did not speak. He went for the chain that tethered her to the floor first, unlocking it with the third key he tried. Then he moved up to her ankles, trying his best not to look at her as he unlocked the tether from the main set of cuffs – though, as she had suggested, he kept her ankle cuffs on. 

“Soooo,” Enoshima said, “If I just headbutted you in the face and ran off, how betrayed would you feel, on a scale from one to ten?”

Hinata didn’t answer, but he made a mental note to keep one hand on Enoshima's chain at all times as he moved up to the wall. Briefly he wondered whether cuffing it to himself was a bad idea, but it wasn’t one he could put into practice, as the ring that connected the chain to the wall was too large to stay securely on his arm. He still hooked the ring into his elbow before he unlocked the upper chain, and immediately took hold of it as soon as the keys were out of his dominant hand. The chain was heavy, but as long as he held it she only had about a four-foot berth.

He felt another rash decision coming, one that he could do a little more feasibly. He struggled to his feet and started walking back down the hall, tugging slightly on Enoshima’s chain to signal her to follow, which she did without complaint.

As they walked, Hinata searched each of the shelves, looking desperately for something that would be quick and easy. The closest he could find was a blowtorch, which hung next to a metal mask on the opposite end of the Octagon. But just as he was about to work himself up to using it, he spotted something better on the nearby wall – a window.

He walked over to it, and discovered a latch on the bottom that he could unhook. Once he had, he pushed the pane open and looked outside. It was probably the middle of the day; Hinata didn’t know what direction he was facing, but he couldn’t see the sun. He could see a forest surrounding whatever building he was in (a pine forest, strangely enough), one that extended so far that he could not see its end. He could see one of the walls of the building out of the corner of his eye – a large, ugly expanse of nondescript red brick.

What was most important here was that they were very high up, and that the woods were thick and inaccessible. Hinata wound his arm up, stepped back, and threw the keys out the window with all his might. They didn’t sail too far, but they still landed somewhere in the trees and out of sight. Not even he was able to spot where they’d landed.

“If the Future Foundation really wants to release you, they can find another way,” Hinata said.

“Fair enough,” Enoshima said.

Again Hinata did not respond. His second step was to search for something that he was only half-sure would be in the Octagon, which he found on the table of objects that could be tools and weapons alike – a carabiner, or rather a carabiner attached to several other carabiners in a variety of sizes. He took the largest on the ring, hooked it several notches down the chain, and hooked it again to his own belt loop. His belt would probably have a good sized dent in it forever, but the carabiner held, and his pants didn’t fall down.

“You’re a resourceful boy, Hinata-kun,” Enoshima said. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Mmm.” On a whim, he took a length of rope, tied it around his left wrist, and tied the other end to the ring at the end of Enoshima’s chain. It would be easier to undo than a cuff, but still thick enough to be secure. Then he took hold of the ring again. “Alright. We’re going.”

“If I pull hard enough, you’re going to lose that hand,” Enoshima said.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

He looked back at the door he’d come in through. The opposite door, the one that had led into the Final Dead Room in the first place, was open and unbarred. He could see the blinding red expanse of the rooms outside through the small space. “I’m going to see what Nanami has to say about you, before anything else.”

Chapter Text

“Hinata-chan… Hinata-chan… Hinata-chan, what’s the plan?”

Enoshima’s last three words were in English, so Hinata had no idea what she was talking about. It couldn’t be anything good, though. He groaned, but didn’t pay her any more mind – he wasn’t in the mood to get lectured by her again.

He was trying to cross the bottom floor of wherever-this-was and get back to the second floor stairway, but Enoshima had been just as hard to tote around as he’d expected. For one thing, he was chained to her in some very awkward places, and the chains themselves were difficult to carry. For another, she was a very unpredictable guest. She might be conciliatory for a second – and then suddenly she’d stop, and wouldn’t budge until she’d said whatever inane thing was on her mind.

“I actually already know the plan,” Enoshima said, during one of the stops. “I was just looking to get the rhyme down. Did you know there’s a special kind of despair in wordplay? Don’t you just groan inside whenever someone makes a pun? And an interlingual pun in a language you don’t speak? It’s the kind of thing that clears my acne and balances my checkbook. You know?”

Hinata didn’t answer, and indeed had no plans to speak to her at all, not unless he had to. He pulled once on her chain, sharply, to signal her to move.

“Oh, look at you,” Enoshima droned, in that slow, halting way she did sometimes. “Mister Big Tough Angry Boy, so beyond help that you’re not going to acknowledge my puns, even if it means endangering your friends…”

He wanted to tell her to shut up, but he didn’t want to break his silence, because that would mean letting her win. He knew exactly where he was going, and if she was going to try and tell him that he was the problem when she was only holding him back…

“If you think Nanami-chan knew where the exit was, don’t you think she would have told you before you went wandering off?” Enoshima said. “Not that it matters, of course. I can tell you all about the exit, but only if you get down on your hands and knees and lick my shoes. Or… oh, you’d have to kiss my feet, wouldn’t you. I just remembered I’m not wearing shoes…”

Hinata hoped his silence was enough of an answer to that as he started up the stairs. Even if there was no exit, he’d still find a way. He always had, and he always would.

“Oh, never mind,” Enoshima said, as they approached the stairs. “I wouldn’t want your lips there anyway, not unless you buy me dinner first. Of course, you do already have me tied up...”

This time, Hinata had to try hard not to respond, or just to bark at her to leave him alone. “You really aren’t going to let me have any fun, are you?” she groaned. “Tell you what, Hinata-kun. It’s a farce. There is no entrance or exit. There’s only a conduit, a point where the digital signatures of your avatar get transmitted from one point to another without any of the pretense of a door that needs to be passed through. Doesn’t that sound convenient? Isn’t it perfect for a place that needs an entrance, but no exit? It’s everywhere and nowhere, too. That’s the important part. You can’t actually find it unless you have the proper keys…”

Hinata had stopped listening to her around the point where she started talking about “digital signatures”. Or at least, he’d tried, with varying levels of success.

“Ho’, you still don’t believe me,” Enoshima said, her voice suddenly low and haughty. “No, no. At this point, you do, don’t you? That this is a place where the laws of reality don’t apply?”

He did. Of course he believed her. Something about this place was very wrong, had been from day one, and the only explanation he could think of was that they’d been taken somewhere else, and fallen through the cracks of reality somehow.

But if they had… Nanami had already admitted that she was the traitor. And he trusted Nanami, and relied on her about as much as he feared and hated Enoshima. If Nanami had anything to tell him about this world – and she might, now that he’d figured something out – then he wanted to hear it from her, and not anyone else. (Or, at least, he wanted to count on her patience in dealing with difficult people, if she still had any to spare.)

As he got closer to the landing he heard a strange, faint humming sound, one that sounded exactly like a pair of human voices filtered through a thick wall. This was alarming in and of itself, given that he’d left Nanami alone, but as he got closer the voices grew more distinct – and then he hit the second floor, and found that the door to her room was ajar.

“…can’t say for sure where he’s gone,” the first voice said. Even from a distance, he could tell this was Nanami. “But he was very agitated, and he didn’t seem to want to leave at first. He kept saying he had to, and before I knew it he was gone…”

“And what makes you think that his whereabouts are a priority? If he has any designs on interfering, then I’ll deal with him when the time comes, and not at any time before.”

This second voice… even distorted by distance, there was something about it that disturbed Hinata to his very core. Was it the roughness of what it was saying, or the cold, cruel tone?

“He’s not a threat,” Nanami said.

“You’re naïve and underexposed, and you should have recognized that in yourself before you had any notion of trusting Hinata or anyone else,” the second voice said. “You’ve never seen them as they really are.”

“That’s not who they are anymore.”

“You’ve seen enough to know that you’re willfully deluding yourself. I would have thought you were programmed better than that. The second chance they had was hard enough to arrange. They won’t be getting a third.”

The voice grew louder as Hinata came closer, and with every step he tried to tell himself that it wasn’t as familiar as he knew it was. But as much as he wanted to deny it, and as much as he wanted to tell himself that there should be any other explanation…

He was still trying to justify himself when he turned the corner and opened the door wider, stepping in silently with Enoshima in tow.

“Hinata-kun…” Nanami’s eyes went wide at the sight of him. She was still on the bed, and looked pretty shaken and pale on top of her injuries. But Hinata’s attention was locked on the person seated at her side – a slender young man in a well-tailored black suit, looking very much like he didn’t belong in the ridiculously gaudy chair.

Hinata supposed he should have been surprised to see Byakuya Togami. Or angry, or overjoyed, or something. But he felt nothing. Nothing at all. The only reaction he could get out of himself was a soft “oh” that he couldn’t stop.

Was it because he found everything about him so familiar, even if it wasn’t the Togami he’d known? His hair was a lighter shade of blond than the Impostor’s had been, and his eyes a darker shade of blue, and the shape of his face was entirely different… but everything else was the same, apart, of course, from his size. But his posture, and his bearing, and the way he held his arms folded across his chest, and even the style and shape of his glasses… they were all exactly the same, as close to a perfect match as any human could get.

“You’re…” Hinata’s throat felt like sandpaper. “Are y –”

“You.” Togami pushed himself up from the chair and stomped across the room, a disarmingly familiar look of rage in his eyes. But he wasn’t looking at Hinata – he was looking at Enoshima, and he was getting angrier with every step.

If Enoshima was at all fazed by this behavior, she didn’t show it. In fact, she brightened, and gave Togami a wide grin. “Heeeey, Togami-kun!” she said as he approached. “How’s it been, long time no see! I’d reach out and hug ya, but as you can see I’m a little tied up…”

Togami did not answer her. Instead, he grabbed her round the head and pushed her against the nearest wall, yanking Hinata around by the arm as he went.

“Oh, you don’t like that joke?” Enoshima said. “Should I make a different one?”

“I don’t want to hear another word out of you unless I ask it,” Togami said.

“That’s a pretty foolhardy thing you just did,” Enoshima said. “For all you know I could destroy you with a thought.”

“Don’t pretend I don’t know your rules.”

“That’s fair,” Enoshima said. “And even if I didn’t have them, well, if I COULD destroy that fat oaf with a thought, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point to begin with –”

“And you,” Togami said, speaking over Enoshima as he turned to face Hinata. “What was the name of your previous school?”

“Huh-?!”

“Answer me,” he growled. “What was the name of your previous school?”

Hinata gulped, and then answered the question, stumbling a bit over all the syllables. “Though I don’t know why you need to know…”

“It’s a security question,” Nanami mumbled. “He wants to be sure you’re really who you look like you are –”

“Where did you find this?” Togami interrupted. His words were slow and measured, in the most terrifying of ways. “And why have you brought it here?”

He was a little taller than the Impostor, Hinata noticed. It couldn’t be by much, but he still felt like Togami towered over him in a way that the Impostor never had, even given the difference in their bulk. In a way the little difference was a comfort. It made him think of the person he’d known, the Super High School Level Impostor, as an independent human being again, for the first time in days.

He couldn’t lose his composure, especially not now. “She was downstairs,” he said. “In the Octagon. She was chained to the wall, and she said –”

“They completely overrode my systems,” Enoshima interrupted. “Kicked me right out from under Alter Ego’s nose! And then they stripped me of all my cute cosmetic applications and locked me up. Oh, but first they tried to kill me, of course. Think it might’ve been a lot less drama if they’d succeeded?”

Hinata could tell Togami was trying hard to keep his composure; he’d seen the Impostor do the same thing so many times. But his surprise was still unmistakable, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

“How?” he said. “How did they do it?”

“Ehhhhhhhhh.” Enoshima shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I don’t understand this mumbo-jumbo any better than you do.”

“But that’s… they couldn’t.” Togami furrowed his brow in anger. “Unless…”

“Unless, what?” Hinata gave both Enoshima and Togami curious looks. “What do you mean, ‘overrode your systems’?”

“I mean exactly what I said, Hinata-kun,” Enoshima said. “In more technical terms –”

“In more technical terms, you’re wasting our time,” Togami interrupted, tightening his grip on Enoshima. “I’ve established control and ensured the safety of Foundation personnel. I don’t require anything else from you except arrival at the rendezvous point – and even that isn’t strictly necessary.”

He aimed this last remark directly at Hinata. Apparently he’d irritated Togami just enough in two sentences to make an enemy of him.

“You’re still wasting time trying to hide what you did here,” Enoshima said. “I already told him that Naegi-kun is going to flap his gums.”

Togami tensed, clenching and unclenching his free fist. “That… will be Naegi’s prerogative,” he said. “Every moment we spend here is a moment we’re letting that fool think they’re still in control. According to the entry protocols, I was the last to arrive, and they probably already know I’m here. Whatever reason they had for goading us into coming here, our window for eliminating it is very short.”

He grabbed Enoshima’s chain out of Hinata’s hand – with a lot more force than Hinata had expected – and looped it around his own. “We need to be in a position to execute the Override as soon as we have the opportunity,” he said. “Nanami, get up. We need to get to the ruins as soon as possible.”

A sharp pain seared through Hinata’s arm as the rope that he’d tied around his wrist tightened around what was probably a vein. Togami had either not noticed or not cared, and while he spoke Hinata tried his best to undo the knots around his wrist. He was still struggling when Togami turned back to him. “Will we have to wait on you to finish?”

“No, it’s  –” Hinata winced as he undid the last loop, but his now-free hand moved immediately to the carabiner around his belt. He was about to try and tell Togami off for nearly cutting his circulation when he caught Nanami moving out of the corner of his eye. She was clutching at the multi-colored bedside table in an effort to steady herself as she got out of the bed.

Hinata tightened his grip on the carabiner. “Look – I know we’re in a hurry, but Nanami can barely walk,” he said, his voice dry and raspy. “There’s no way she’s going to get all the way to the ruins.”

Togami stared blankly at Hinata, as though he’d just spoken another language, but this didn’t stop him at all. “I mean, I’m not stopping you, but I can stay here with her,” he said, moving to the side of the bed. “Or we can get her to the hospital, it’s on the third island, I can show you where it –”

“I know where the hospital is,” Togami said, enunciating every word with care and precision. “And we’re not going there, as we have no need.”

“No need?” Hinata gestured at Nanami, and then looked back just to make sure that he really was seeing a heavily injured girl struggling even to stand. “But –”

 “There really is no need, Hinata-kun,” Nanami said. “I have to go to the ruins.”

“Wh – but – ” Hinata could feel his heart breaking as he looked into Nanami’s steady glance. “Nanami, really, you don’t have to just do what this guy says.”

“Hinata-kun…” Nanami looked meekly up at Togami, and then fell silent.

Togami gave Nanami only a cursory glance before he refocused on Hinata. “Am I really hearing this kind of nonsense from you?” he said. “Did you really come stomping in, with this in tow for me to deal with, and think that your decisions are informed on any level?”

“Togami-kun, please,” Nanami said. “He couldn’t have known who she was.”

“That doesn’t change anything. If you care about living that much, then let me tell you this. You’re acting blindly against forces you barely understand, and you’re not making any more progress in understanding them by acting out against me.” Togami’s eyes narrowed. “I am doing all that I can for the sake of a possible future. That is all the explanation I have to give in our limited span of time. Do you understand? If you do, then I shouldn’t expect any more out of your mouth.”

“No… I really don’t understand,” Hinata said. “But if it means keeping my friends safe…”

“It will only mean that if we get moving,” Togami said. “I imagine you don’t want to hold us back.”

He eyed the carabiner at Hinata’s waist, which Hinata still gripped tightly. For a second Hinata wanted to keep it on, just to spite Togami… but when he couldn’t figure out just why he wanted to spite him so badly in the first place, a strange numbness washed over him, and he unhooked it from his belt loop.

“See? Now, that wasn’t hard.” He gave Enoshima’s chain a sharp tug, and with only a minimum of mocking “Bark, bark!” noises Enoshima followed Togami to the door, which he opened and stepped through.

But Enoshima stopped and turned back in the doorway, standing still even as Togami drew her chain taut. “Well, that whole security-fastener deal didn’t last long,” she said. “This guy, Hinata-kun, I’m telling ya. He’s kind of an asshole, isn’t he?”

The chain pulled hard against Enoshima’s wrists, causing her to stumble through the doorway. “Alright, alright!” she shouted, sounding quite a bit nastier than she had a second ago. “Don’t rip my fucking arms off! I need those to stay tied to you!”

Hinata slipped over to Nanami’s bedside after Enoshima had left, arriving just in time to offer his arm. Nanami took it, but didn’t lean against him as she had before. This was alright, Hinata thought, though he had been looking forward to the scant comfort of having another human being close by. He was scared, and tired, and was willing to look for comfort wherever he could get it.

He pulled her forward, and they walked together out of the room, keeping a safe distance behind the other two. By the time they left Togami was already halfway down the next flight of stairs, while Enoshima followed at the greatest distance possible, humming to herself.

“Are you alright?” Hinata said.

“Yeah,” Nanami said. “Yes, I’m alright.”

“Good,” Hinata said. “So…Togami.”

“Yes.”

“The real Togami.”

“Yes.”

“He’s a member of the Future Foundation.”

“He is.” Nanami paused. “I’m sorry, Hinata-kun.”

“It’s alright,” Hinata said. “I know you couldn’t tell me.”

“No,” Nanami said. “Even if I could have…”

“Ah.” Hinata felt a pang of betrayal, but buried it quickly. “I understand.”

He lapsed into silence, but only because he didn’t quite know what to say. He’d seen so much, and he had so much at stake, that as much as he wanted to question her more the notion struck him as completely and utterly irresponsible.

Togami and Enoshima had to be on the first floor by the time they reached the stairs, but Hinata could still hear Togami’s footfalls, followed by the clanking of Enoshima’s chains. He had to be looking for the exit, or otherwise already knew where it was. Either way, he didn’t seem to be overly concerned with whether or not Hinata and Nanami were behind him.

An aching shudder ran through Hinata’s body. He didn’t want to say it, but he was beyond trying not to admit it to himself. He missed the Impostor. He missed them so much. And he would have given anything in that moment to have them guiding them all towards safety instead.

======

Hinata found himself thinking about the Impostor for a long, long time.

He supposed that they’d left the Fun House at some point, but somehow he couldn’t remember the details. They’d definitely been heading for a pair of double doors at the end of a long hallway, doors he hadn’t remembered seeing before – but he had no memory of passing through them, or of what was on the other side. He’d come out on the fourth island path with no sense of what he’d gone through to get there.

It felt…

At first it was simply a curious happenstance, as he could swear it had been perfectly sunny an hour ago. But as he went on, he realized just what it was didn’t feel right – he’d never seen a single cloud in the sky in all the time he’d been on the island. He’d never even felt any change in the temperature, and yet here he was, shivering in short sleeves as a light wind brushed his shoulders.

As they passed the Mouse Castle, Hinata felt a few drops hit his skin. He was startled, to be sure, but he didn’t pay it much mind until he felt them again, and then a few more times. He looked up at the sky, and then back at his feet, where wet spots had appeared on the pavement.

“Tut tut, it looks like rain,” Enoshima started to say to herself. “Tut tut, it looks like rain…”

Togami said nothing. Hinata saw him press his hand to his forehead once or twice, likely to wipe away a raindrop, but he never broke his stride or even looked back at the group he was leading.

“It’s not a normal thing, is it?” Enoshima said. “Rain, in… this part of the world?”

She looked back and scowled as she was met with more silence. “What’s up with that, do you think?” she said. “Something big, perhaps? Something… powerful…?”

“Er…” Hinata furrowed his brow. He swore he’d learned something about this at some point, though he didn’t know why he cared. “Tradewinds?”

“Don’t talk to her, Hinata,” Togami cut in. “You’ll only encourage her behavior.”

“Ahhhhhhh, just as sunny as ever, huh, Togami-chan?” Enoshima skipped a little closer to her captor, which had to be difficult given her chains. “Hey, remember when I told you about what was happening in the outside world, and you were so broken and distraught that –”

Togami gave Enoshima a blistering look, and to Hinata’s surprise, Enoshima backed down. “I’m just making sure,” she said with a smile.

Togami did not respond, and marched on as if Enoshima hadn’t just tried to undermine him. It struck Hinata then that he had to be constantly vigilant around her – that she was dangerous, that she’d killed over half of Hinata’s friends, that she truly had been the mastermind behind Monobear even though she looked like just a ditzy teenage girl trying to mess with their minds in no other way but with words.

Not that Togami seemed to have been affected – or if he had been, that he would have let it show. It was something Hinata was very familiar with, given his experience with the Impostor. In fact, the Impostor had gotten a lot of the details about Byakuya Togami’s personality pretty spot-on, even though none of them had had the original to compare them to. They had a similar kind of leadership complex, for one thing, and an apparent need for control and submission. But, much like the weather, he was so much colder than the Impostor had been, and for the life of him Hinata couldn’t figure out why.

Really, he’d never understood why anyone had to be unpleasant to anyone else if they didn’t have any reason to be, especially not if it was just because they thought they were better than someone else.  Even if this kid was some big-shot business guy, it wasn’t like he was a celebrity or anything. Hinata certainly hadn’t heard of him, anyway.

He felt a pang of guilt, as if it were his friend that he was insulting. He had to tell himself stiffly that it wasn’t, and that for all he’d suffered he had no need to treat this guy with kid gloves. But at the same time… he wondered what benefit he could get from not always trying to be belligerent.

“Hey, uh… thanks.”

Togami didn’t respond. Nanami gave Hinata a curious look, which Hinata answered with a small nod. “For coming to get us,” he continued. “You saved our lives.”

“…Of course,” Togami said, without stopping or breaking his stride.

Hinata could have asked him then why he had chosen not to appear for three days, not until after Owari had been killed… but before he could, Togami asserted himself. “Don’t consider yourself safe yet,” he said. “The Future Foundation would not have been called here without a reason for us to let down our guard. If we don’t hurry to the rendezvous we’ll lose what little advantage we have.”

“I know,” Hinata said. “We’re hurrying.”

As they approached the bridge to the central island, Hinata spoke again. “So… this rendezvous point,” he said. “What is it? And what are we supposed to do when we get there?”

To Hinata’s surprise Togami responded in a timely fashion. “Before we…arrived,” he said, “we were able to construct a solution to this island’s problem. It would allow you and your classmates to safely leave… and for the restoration of the proper balance of power in this environment.”

A dead, scorching pit formed in the depths of Hinata’s stomach. “What do you mean?” he said.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed how little this island’s environment matches with your notion of reality,” Togami said.

“No duh,” Enoshima interrupted.

“I have no reason to destabilize you with precise explanations as of yet. I’ll leave that to Naegi, and his bleeding heart and uncontrollably loose lips.” He trailed off to a mumble at that last sentence, and then spoke up again. “I can assure you that we have a greater understanding of its inner workings, and the easiest removal of its… abnormalities.”

“Abnormalities.” Hinata furrowed his brow. “You mean the Impostor.”

Togami stopped in his tracks, and for a second he was so still he didn’t even appear to be breathing. Enoshima covered her mouth, but before he did, Hinata spotted a grin on her face. “They’re not an object,” he said. “They’re not in control of their own actions, you have to know that. And if you’re so determined to keep us all alive, then doesn’t that include them? Or is there something else going on here?”

Nanami squeezed Hinata’s hand, hard, and he mumbled a silent apology. Togami remained still for another agonizing moment, but when he turned back, he spoke through his teeth, and his eyes were blazing with fury.

“The only time I should be hearing you speak about the Impostor is in the context of the need to eliminate the threat they pose,” he said. “Do you understand?”

Hinata could feel his insides shriveling under his skin. “Absolutely,” he lied.

============================

The rain had started to fall in earnest as Hagakure, Fukawa, Koizumi, and Kuzuryuu arrived at the third island hospital, carrying Saionji between them. She had been lapsing in and out of consciousness throughout the entire journey, though the rain had done a good job of keeping her at least semi-awake.

The scent of blood lingered heavily in the lobby as they entered, and as soon as Koizumi realized where it must have been coming from she rushed ahead to close the hospital room doors. Tsumiki’s body was gone, of course, but three out of the four beds were still heavily soiled.

Hagakure and Fukawa waited until she was done to proceed to the remaining spare room. Koizumi had mostly closed off the rooms for Saionji’s sake, but she couldn’t help but notice that Fukawa was looking a little out of sorts, even after they’d closed the door. She retreated immediately to a nearby chair as soon as Saionji was situated on the bed, and covered her nose with her hands.

None of them had any medical training to speak of, and least of all any idea how to treat a head injury. Together, Kuzuryuu, Koizumi, and Hagakure figured that watching over her and keeping her stable was probably the best course of action – along with disinfecting and treating the rest of her wounds, which was within the sphere of their common knowledge.

Fukawa had recovered by the time they were finished stabilizing Saionji, but she still didn’t seem to show any interest in Saionji’s well-being. On the contrary, she asked if they were done yet, and when they answered her she said that they had to hurry to the “rendezvous point,” which to Koizumi’s knowledge she hadn’t yet mentioned. “We’ve w-wasted enough time as it is,” she said. “Y-you’ve gotten her under control now, so w-we don’t need to stand around here…”

Koizumi wrinkled her nose. She’d gotten used to this strange contradiction in the Future Foundation’s manner – that they were always willing to help but at the same time strangely callous about the active threats they faced. It hadn’t stopped making her angry every time it happened, but every time she called them out on it they never seemed fazed. Hagakure would insist, as now he insisted, that Saionji was going to be fine, and that there was no need to worry. Fukawa always hushed him before he could explain why he’d made these ridiculous claims, and for some reason he’d always obey.

Still, Koizumi figured she’d better stay at Saionji’s side. Knowing Saionji, she would likely not respond well to being handled by anyone else, and moving her was out of the question. Kuzuryuu wasn’t anywhere near as attached to staying – maybe he figured there was strength in numbers, or maybe despite it all he preferred the company of unpredictable strangers to predictably awkward classmates.

Fukawa and Hagakure exchanged another awkward glance, and then, to Koizumi’s surprise, Fukawa stepped forward. “W-we’re not supposed to leave you alone once we’ve found you,” she said. “I’ll s-stay here.” She paused. “To protect you.”

Koizumi tried not to look too surprised. As much of an enigma as this woman was… well, she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. “Thank you, Touko-chan,” she said in a flat voice.

Fukawa mumbled her response, and then moved to stand by Saionji’s bedside. Hagakure and Kuzuryuu gave each other another awkward look, and then Kuzuryuu looked back at Koizumi, and asked if she could check where the others were. “Y’know,” he said, “Just in case they need us. We don’t know what where they went…”

Koizumi nodded in agreement, and felt her cheeks burn with shame. She’d been so focused on keeping Saionji alive that she hadn’t even thought about Hinata and the others. Slowly, she pulled out her Electronic Student ID and navigated to the map, twitching as she feared what she might find.   

To her relief all of her classmates’ icons were available, at least the ones she knew to be alive. Hinata and Nanami were together on the fourth island path, moving quickly toward the central island. But Mioda was alone in the woods, and Souda was standing in front of the second island ruins, also alone.

This confused Koizumi and Kuzuryuu initially, but Fukawa quickly figured that Souda had no reason to just hang around there by himself. Someone else had to be there with him, one of their own. Kuzuryuu figured the same was the case for Hinata and Nanami – “Unless she’s the one dragging him around,” he added, while Hagakure and Fukawa give each other panicked looks.

They did only a bit of strategizing before they took off. Hagakure figured that they would run into Hinata and Nanami on the central island, plus “whoever they were with.” Kuzuryuu tried to ask about who that would be, which didn’t earn him a very clear answer, in Koizumi’s opinion.

 “Well, Naegi-chi’s a pretty straightforward guy, so chances are he’s at the ruins with Souda-chi,” Hagakure said. “And Kirigiri-chi’s also pretty straightforward, so she’s not messing around for sure. And Asahina-chi’s real fast, so maybe she ran to get Hinata-chi and Nanami-chi. And…”

Hagakure stopped at that point, and tapped his chin. “Well, uh… we oughta get goin’, right? Faster we find the others, faster we can really help Saionji-chi!”

“And?” Kuzuryuu appeared to do some swift mental math. “Aren’t there supposed to be six of you guys? Who’s-”

“Don’t worry about it!” Hagakure clamped a massive hand on Kuzuryuu’s very small shoulder. “We’ll, ah, tell you when you’re older!”

“When I’m older?” Kuzuryuu started, and moved out of Hagakure’s grip. “Wait, what?”

“Y-you’re only going to ask too many questions if we tell you now,” Fukawa muttered under her breath. “When y-you see Master, he’ll put you in your place for sure…”

She said this so quietly that only Koizumi heard her; Kuzuryuu was still distracted by how Hagakure was handling the situation. They ran out the door then, leaving Koizumi and Saionji alone with Fukawa.

Saionji was sleeping soundly now, apparently stable, and no longer bleeding. Briefly Koizumi considered trying to wake her up, or at least brushing the hair away from her face a little bit. She settled for the latter, and then moved to sit in the chair that Fukawa had left, holding her head in her hands in much the same fashion.

She stayed there for a few minutes before she looked up, her head only a little bit clearer than before. Fukawa was still by Saionji’s bedside, tapping her foot and looking down. Koizumi had a feeling that if she didn’t initiate conversation, Fukawa would never step up to the task. And… if Koizumi was being honest with herself, she didn’t want to leave relations with her saviors on this kind of unsteady footing, even if they were extremely strange.

“Ah… Touko-chan,” she said.

“W-why are you calling me that?” Fukawa muttered.

“That’s… I’m sorry, Fukawa-san.” She didn’t know if she should have realized that Fukawa had expected a more formal address. “I was just curious, since I heard you mention it earlier. Who’s...Master? And why wouldn’t Hagakure talk about him?”

====

In the short time that Kuzuryuu had spent in the hospital, the sky had darkened considerably, and the rain had grown more intense. His clothes were soaked through before he left the hospital property, and by the time they got to the third island bridge he had stripped off his sodden bandages best he could, leaving them in a misshapen trail behind him.

He knew Monomi would have given him a hard time for that, but Monomi was dead. And what did he care what she thought, whether she was alive or not?! No… he felt like scum for even thinking that. She’d never done anything wrong, beyond being annoying, and ineffective, and caring much too much…

He looked down at his hands as he ran across the bridge, flexing his fingers experimentally. His left hand moved only a bit stiffly, but his right shook with pain as he tried to open his palm. He grumbled, and shoved it in his pocket. He’d have the wrath of Tsumiki on him, too, if she hadn’t gone and…

Well, if it meant the difference between life and death, he’d just have to keep his hands at the ready. He’d deal with the rest of his life once he was certain he was going to live it.

“Hey, Kuzuryuu-chi! Which way’s the second island?”

Kuzuryuu grumbled and raced to catch up with Hagakure, who took off in the wrong direction before he’d stepped off the bridge. He righted his course and quickly overtook Kuzuryuu, somehow not slipping on the pavement even though all he appeared to be wearing on his feet was sandals.

In an ideal world Kuzuryuu would have pulled Hagakure aside and interrogated him as thoroughly as he would have liked, but the distance between the bridges was short and his brain was swirling. He kept his Electronic Student ID open in his hands and checked it frequently as he ran, just to see if Hinata or Nanami had moved. He saw no sign of them on the way to the second island bridge, nor did they appear to be in Jabberwock Park on a quick glance down the center path, but they were still both listed on the central island by the time he got to the bridge.

“Are they just… waiting around?” Kuzuryuu said to himself, and then turned back to Hagakure. “Hey,” he said, not even caring that Hagakure might not appreciate being given orders. “You can go ahead to the rendezvous or whatever. I’m going to go around the island and find them. If it doesn’t make any difference to you, I don’t care whether it’s dangerous.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Hagakure paused, and then closed his mouth. Kuzuryuu hoped this was because he realized how ridiculous it would sound to say that he was afraid – but then Hagakure kept talking, just after a very long pause. “If I leave any of you guys alone Naegi-chi’s gonna kick my ass.”

From the way Hagakure was talking about this “Naegi”, Kuzuryuu hoped that their boss (whom he pictured looking not unlike his father, possibly plus an eyepatch) was a little more competent than his underlings. “And…?”

“I’m not just being facetious, man! It’s a real prediction I just had!” Hagakure thumped his fist against his chest. “There’s at least a 30% chance that Naegi-chi will kick my ass for something I did!”

“A prediction…?” Kuzuryuu did not nearly have the time to pursue this thread of conversation. “Listen, asshole, your priorities are seriously messed up. M –”

“And would you look at that, I think I just figured out what he’s gonna kick my ass for!” Hagakure laughed nervously, his eyes darting back and forth. “So, another spin around the island, eh? Not hard, not hard at all…”

Kuzuryuu didn’t press the subject, and they took off in opposite directions. He didn’t find any sign of Hinata or Nanami, and nor did Hagakure, as he found when they met up again. Their icons were still in place, so they couldn’t be dead, but…

But they’d wasted enough time, and Kuzuryuu had to concede to that. The two of them left for the second island, where Souda’s icon stood, hopefully actually marking where he was.

=====

Naegi heard the rain starting as they moved through the woods, but the canopy kept the worst of it off of their heads until the worst got worse. The sound reminded him more of the rain sticks he’d made out of cardboard and rice in elementary school than they did of actual rain, and he found himself wondering if the New World Program’s sound banks were drawn from real sounds, or if they were just sourced from their users’ minds.

“Ah, Mioda-san,” he said, and then repeated himself when he saw that Mioda-san had not all heard or paid any attention to him. “Mioda-san, we should find somewhere to take shelter. A-At least until the rain stops, and then –”

“De-nied!” Mioda-san leapt over a fallen branch, one that Naegi had to stop and stumble over as he followed behind. “Even if she wasn’t in a hurry, Ibuki hasn’t seen a good rain in weeks!”

“I… well, I guess that’s not a problem...but how much farther do we need to go?” Naegi shook his head. “I really want to help you, Mioda-san. But…”

“But?” Mioda-san said, without looking back.

“But it’s not safe to keep going this far away from the rendezvous point without really knowing that it’s going to work,” Naegi said. “This plan you said you have, I mean. If you’re trying to surprise me, well… I appreciate it, but I think I’d rather just know, right now.”

Mioda-san was silent for some time, but she still kept up her pace through the forest. A low rumble of thunder had begun in the distance, but it was so far off that Naegi couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from.

“Weelllllll,” she said after a few more rumbles of thunder, “The thing about that is, that makes Ibuki think that maybe Mako-chan thinks that Ibuki’s lost her marbles.”

Naegi felt his face burn red. “Mioda-san, I don’t think –”

“But Ibuki knows that she can’t just click her ruby red slippers together and wish and pray and make-believe and suddenly bring Byakuya-chan back,” Mioda-san said. “But what she DOES know is that she can shock anything and anyone! She’s the master of the element of surprise and at least a dozen others! So if she can’t just get to Byakuya-chan’s heart by talking, then she’s going to run a giant robot right into where they least expect one and supercharge her surprising skills!”

Naegi’s heart began to sink. “A… giant robot…”

“Yes-sir-ee, a giant robot!” Mioda-san stopped suddenly, and thrust her hand out in front of her. “Like that one, and also actually that one.”

For a moment, Naegi was sure he was about to see an empty stretch of woods – and then he was kicking himself for ever doubting Mioda-san, because holy shit, there was a giant robot right in front of him. And it truly was giant, over ten feet tall by Naegi’s guess.

He recognized it in an instant, of course: it was the Impostor’s metal man, the one that they’d used to breach the seal on the Mouse Castle. The one that they’d built around – or was it from? – Gundam Tanaka.

His body was scraped and dented, and a section of the metal molding that made up his hair had been caved in by some unknown force. River-like raindrops were running down his body and seeping into his joints, no doubt causing otherwise preventable damage. But the bright yellow bulbs that had replaced his eyes were shining bright, and his entire body hummed with a force of life that Naegi could feel even from four or five meters away.

“Ibuki was running through the woods being a lot more pathetic than she is right now when suddenly she heard some big ol’ steps, and saw this guy running through the woods too!” She placed her hands at her hips and grinned. “Of course she was scared at first, and like Ibuki said, real pathetic…”

“Wh – WHA –?!” Naegi interrupted, his jaw slammed open. “What is this?!”

“He’s our ticket to victory, is what he is!” Mioda-san bounded over to the android’s side, and knocked her hand against the side of his solid metal abs. “He may have broken into our only safe hiding place, and smashed Hiyoko-chan against the wall, and separated Ibuki from her friends – BUT Ibuki knows that he didn’t do it because he wanted to, and Ibuki knows that he’s willing and able to help!”

Mioda-san whirled round and leaned against the side of the robot’s body, which sparked no response beyond a slight turn of the head. The dark-red scarf around his neck parted at its folds, and Naegi could swear that four sets of small, beady eyes were peeking out. “He doesn’t talk much, or, at all. Very much the strong, silent type. But he and I talked enough to put our plan in place, and he’s 100% behind it! Right, Gundam-chan?”

Tanaka’s head turned, and definitely inclined before it righted itself again. “Plan? But…” Naegi narrowed his eyes. Whatever it was that Mioda-san had in mind, he now believed in it that much more, but he still had no idea what it was going to BE. “Are you going to…”

“Going to ride him to victory? Silly Mako-chan – of COURSE we are.” Mioda-san grinned, and then, to Naegi’s surprise, walked around the back of the robot and leaped onto him, wrapping her hands around his neck. He crouched in turn to receive her weight, his eyes shining with a renewed intensity.

“To the supermarket, Gundam-chan! And then to the rendezvous-whatever!” Mioda-san said. “Giddayup!”

=====

It felt as though they had been on the central island for an age.