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Chapter Text

Ever since Sora woke up on this strange island, she was always disturbed with the fact that all her memories were gone. But even when she couldn't remember, she was in no real danger, and her classmates encouraged her to remember at her own pace.

When she had first arrived with her new classmates, a strange bird introducing itself as Monocrow called them to Utsuroshima Park and announced itself as their teacher. He had also said that because of a 'tragedy' in the modern world, they were to remain on this island, Utsuroshima, for an indefinite period of time to preserve the hopes of the next generation...whatever that meant.

She and her sixteen new classmates had been living on Utsuroshima, an island consisting of five different islands, for a week now, and they were encouraged to become close by their teacher. Monocrow had even planned scavenging activities and projects for them to do, claiming that it was for the sake of building bonds.

Sora waited on the second island impatiently at the Kurokawa Shrine, though she tried not to show it. She had asked Yuki to partner with her for scavenging materials and he had agreed, but now he was late to their agreed-upon meeting time. She checked her handbook again, wondering if she should send a message or just start without him.

As it turned out, she didn't need to as Yuki came stumbling to the shrine, his face flushed as he gasped for air. "Ah, there you are. Where were you?" The albino asked, concerned about his complexion.

"T-Take the long way around, Big Bro said... It'll be good for your health, Big Bro said..." The lucky student panted. "Told me to...climb the mountain."

"Oh, I caught you in the middle of exercising." Sora chuckled. "Well, we should get started on collecting resources. Do you want to search inside of the shrine first? You look like you need the shade."

"Y-Yeah... Thank you." Yuki wearily smiled as the girl led him into the shrine. Sora looked back at him with a smile of her own, stretching her hand out to offer him help. He accepted it and walked into the Kurokawa Shrine with her.

Inside, the room was covered wall-to-wall with religious items and symbols. A statue with a large number of unlit candles surrounding it rested behind a mat for worshippers to kneel at. Yuki sat down at the mat not to worship, but for comfort from the wooden floor, and Sora decided to sit beside him.

"Hm, you think Monocrow would let us melt down some of the statues or steal a candle or two? They might come in handy for any future projects." Sora suggested. "I mean, it's not like they've been used. I haven't seen anyone come in to pray yet."

"The candles probably haven't been used to avoid a fire hazard in a mostly-unused wooden building. And Monocrow probably wouldn't let us melt anything in the first place. He'd probably scold us for even trying." Yuki chuckled. "Hey, Sora, are you religious?"

"No, I'm an atheist...I think." The albino replied with a shrug. "I'm not sure if I was before I got amnesia, but I know I'm not now."

"Oh, so that's what you think, haha..." The lucky student felt a wave of awkwardness wash over him. "Well, even if you don't know what you were like in the past, at least you know yourself now!"

Sora was silent for a few seconds before sighing. "Yuki, do you ever think I'll get my memories back?" She asked. "It's been on my mind for a long time, and though I'm happy with how my life is right now, it's like I was born on this island with no influences from the outside world. 'Sora' isn't even my real name, it's only a placeholder...what do you think?"

"...I can't answer that for you. I don't know that myself." Yuki confessed, putting his hand on her shoulder. "All I know is that you have the power to make your own choices now. After all, you don't have any past regrets or dreams tying you down now, so you can make some new ones for yourself."

The white-haired girl blinked in disbelief before smiling again. "Yeah, you're right...except maybe the regrets part." She joked. "Thanks, Yuki, I really needed to hear that."

"A-Anytime!" The ginger smiled, putting his hand behind his head and scratching bashfully.

The two of them were so focused on each other that they didn't notice anyone coming up behind them. "What the you two doing, goofing off like that?" They asked.

Yuki whirled around with an alarmed expression on his face. "Ahh!" He yelped, then realized who it was. "Jeez, Utsuro, at least make your presence known before you sneak up me like that!"

"Heh, all these years and you still get scared by your twin?" Sora teased, making Yuki's face heat up from embarrassment.

"More importantly, aren't you two supposed to be collecting materials right now? You two agreed that you were doing that today." Utsuro reminded. "You shouldn't be slacking off right now."

"Come on, killjoy, isn't having fun what this trip's all about?" The albino let out a breathy giggle. "Fine then, emo boy. We should get back to investigating, Yuki. Let's check the shrine for any materials." She stood up from the mat, helping Yuki to his feet.

"O-Okay!" He agreed, ignoring the huff from the other ginger behind him.

Chapter Text

"Ah, hello." Sora greeted when she noticed Syobai reading a book in the library. "Didn't expect to see you here, Trashimoto. I thought that you'd be exploring and stealing things from Higa City."

"The whole 'stealing stuff' thing only applied to those abandoned houses on the second island, and I only did it once. Are you a cop or something? Just drop it already, dammit." The broker shot back, not even looking up from his book.

Sora huffed and sat down beside him. "Jeez, you're like a housecat, staying away from everyone like that. People are gambling in the game room right now and you're in here, not even enjoying the festivities and possible money-winning." She remarked.

Syobai rolled his eyes, knowing just how persistent Sora was from the times he's seen her. "So, what exactly are those idiots doing in the game room, huh?" He questioned.

"Well, the Voids are playing poker to see who has the strongest power of Divine Luck, and my bet's on Mikado." The albino chuckled. "First to thirty wins, and it's just begun. Don't you want to place a bet as well?"

"Nah." The broker deadpanned, turning the page of his book. "Let the idiots duke it out or whatever. I'm busy."

"Too busy to try and get money fairly? And possibly illegally, but that's besides the point." Sora shrugged. "Turning down that opportunity, that really isn't like you."

"Can you shut up for five minutes?" Syobai demanded, looking away from his book. "I told you that I wasn't interested. Just fuck off, you annoying girl."

"But Kanade's placed 100000000 crow cards on Hajime. You couldn't have forgotten that when we get out of here eventually, Monocrow will repay us with yen in a one to one ratio." The albino explained. "Well, if you aren't going to come, you won't get to reap the rewards..."

The broker sighed as he closed his book. "Tell me, how are the bets for some of the others? Are they high?" Syobai asked, fed up with the girl's pestering.

"So far, a lot of people are betting on Hajime, and I'm pretty sure Teruya's betting on him too. In fact, I'm certain that he bet more crow cards than Kanade did, seeing how much he's managed to get." Sora recalled. "Hibiki's matched Kanade's bet though, but she bet on Emma."

Syobai sat up from his seat and stretched. "Alright, you say they're doing it in the game room? Let's go." He reluctantly agreed as he headed towards the door.

Sora jogged to catch up with him, and she walked by his side with a sly smile. "I had a feeling you'd agree in the end, especially if there's money involved." She cheekily pointed out.

"Shut up." He harshly shot back. Sora's smile never wavered, even as she was snarked at, and they continued to walk together for the short distance to the game room.

When the two of them entered the game room, the rest of the class was gathered around the five Children of Utsuro sitting at a table, plus Utsuro himself due to him being the card dealer. Sora led Syobai over to where the betting pool was, where there were piles of stacked and organized crow cards. The broker observed the hands and current state of the gamers before deciding to discretely bet on Mikado as well.

As Sora and Syobai joined the circle of students, Utsuro dealt cards for those who wanted theirs exchanged, and a few seconds later, the cards were laid flat on the table. To everyone's surprise, Iroha won the round with a pair of tens. The group broke out in murmurs.

"Woah, I think this might've been the first round she's won." Sora whispered in surprise. Syobai didn't care much for the albino's mutterings, but he focused on the game in front of him with an interested gaze. Not for the game itself, he couldn't care less about that, but for the money he could potentially win from the betting pool.

After several rounds of poker, the thirtieth round finally arrived. Syobai was so focused on the final game that he didn't notice Sora slipping her hand into his. Utsuro dealt the cards, and the players looked over their cards carefully. Nikei and Emma needed two cards replaced, Iroha replaced four cards, Mikado replaced one card, and Hajime kept his full hand.

When the cards were revealed, the boxer had won that round. As everybody turned to the scoreboard keeping track of who won through all thirty games, they quickly found that Mikado was the winner. There were a lot of cheers and groaning, and Sora raised her hands in celebration, forgetting that she was still holding Syobai's hand.

The broker quickly realized what was going on, and he tugged his hand free from her and simply walked over to the betting pool, where the money was being evenly distributed to the winners of the bet. The girl chuckled in exasperation and continued to follow him to the table. 

After Syobai had collected his winnings, he seemed to disappear into the crowd. Sora didn't bother to follow him, having a feeling that he had retreated to his room to 'calculate transactions' or whatnot, though counting his new winnings was probably what he was going to be doing. The albino sighed, happy that she at least got to be close to him without him noticing for a while.

Chapter Text

"What?! Why the hell do you want ME to go into the haunted house first?!" Nikei protested, standing outside of the ghost house of Satsuki Land.

"What, are you too scared to?" Yoruko teased. "Honestly, I thought people who are willing to charge headfirst into things were fearless. But you won't even step into a haunted house!"

Nikei grit his teeth, a hint of blush from embarrassment on his face. "Fine, I'll go. Jeez, making me go in, you're probably too scared to go in yourself." He retorted.

"Am not! I can go in, but you don't seem to be able to take a step in!" The hostess argued.

"You two, please stop shouting. You're hurting my ears." Sora sighed. "How about we all go into the ghost house together then? And you two can hang onto me if you get scared."

"Do you really have that little faith in me?" The journalist complained. "But yeah, that seems to be the most fair option. I guess we'll all go in together."

Yoruko immediately latched onto Sora's arm and began to lead her in. "Come on, Nikei, no chickening out!" She called, and the boy quickly caught up to walk beside them with a huff.

The three of them slowly began to walk through the dark haunted house attraction, making their way through the silent halls as the duo on either side of the albino shivered. It didn't surprise Sora that this place would have the best soundproofing from the outside, it only made it easier for any visitor to be scared by the noises of creaks and their own heartbeat.

Suddenly, all three of them walked into a few nearly invisible strands of cobwebs. "Gah! What is THAT?!" The hostess yelped, drawing back while still holding onto Sora.

"Get it off, get it off!" Nikei repeated as he frantically clawed at his face and hair.

Sora quickly managed to stabilize herself before the two beside her accidentally knocked her over. "Alright, I think we just walked into a web of something." She analyzed, rapidly managing to calm herself down. "We should just duck under it and keep going."

"Y-Yeah, that's probably for the best." The journalist sighed, immediately fixing his hair before walking beside the girls further into the ghost house.

Soon, the three of them accidentally made a wrong turn and came to a dead end. "Shit, looks like well have to turn around." Sora told the others.

"Hey Nikei, why don't you go look for the centre of the ghost house and come back when you find it?" Yoruko suggested. "I mean, you said that you're brace, right?"

"Y-Yeah, totally am!" Nikei insisted. "Y-You guys wait here, I'll come back when I find something useful." And with those words, the journalist left on his own while the girls stood at the dead end.

After a minute, the hostess turned to Sora with a smile. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now we can have some alone time, you and I." She giggled.

"In a haunted house? Weird kink, but okay." The albino laughed. "I'm just kidding. I'm just glad to be somewhere that I don't have to investigate at the immediate moment."

"Aren't we all?" Yoruko chuckled and shook her head. "Wait, did I ever finish telling you that story about why our bar now uses a playlist and radio for our music now?"

"No, I don't believe you have. Please, continue that story." Sora encouraged.

"Well, we used to have a jukebox in the corner, like a lot of diners did back then to seem classy. But then John Mulaney came out with his Salt and Pepper Diner story." The hostess sighed. "A bunch of people would come in and try to recreate that, but since the story was spread to a large audience, those acts would not only make people unfazed yet annoyed, but someone had to keep an eye on the jukebox at all times."

"Um, I don't know what the 'Salt and Pepper Diner story' is." The taller girl reminded.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot about that." Yoruko quickly apologized. "It's basically describing the comedian and his friend going up to a jukebox in a restaurant and putting in a bunch of plays of 'What's New Pussycat' and one 'It's Not Unusual' in the middle before sitting back and watching the chaos in the diner."

"That sounds really chaotic; I can imagine how bad that would be for your bar." The albino remarked.

"Yeah, things were hectic until we got the jukebox removed." The hostess then looked around them. "Say, where'd Nikei run off to? I thought he'd have found something by now."

"He's been gone for quite a while. I wouldn't be surprised if he just ditched us here." Sora shrugged. "Oh well, I guess some alone time isn't so bad after all. Can I kiss you?"

"Wh-What?! I mean, sure, if you want-" Before Yoruko could finish, Sora wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her close into a kiss.

The hostess didn't fight against the taller girl's movements, melting into the affection she was given as their lips touched. They occasionally paused to get some air, but they went back to kissing in the dead end of the ghost house soon afterwards.

However, the two of them were interrupted by a scream coming from the back of the ghost house. "EEEEEEEEEEK! PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!?!?!" Could be heard, and Sora and Yoruko were snapped out of their makeout session.

"That...sounds like Nikei." Sora chuckled. "We'd better go rescue him."

Together, the two girls navigated their way to the heart of the ghost house, the devil's alter, and found Nikei huddled on the ground with the symbols on the ground and the pillars glowing. After a few moments of concern and laughter, they took him out of the ghost house and went back to their respective investigations.

Chapter Text

Today's investigation for Sora was at the mysterious Tower of Babel, which even Monocrow knew nothing about. The tower went high above the clouds, but with a bunch of information inside, Sora was more content to start on the lower levels and work her way up.

The most troubling thing for Sora to do at the moment was try and reach the higher shelves, but she didn't really care for those right now. As she looked over the books on the shelf at her eye level, she thought it was strange that some of them seemed to not have titles on their spine. 

She took one of these books out and opened it fully, but found that the pages were blank. She flipped through them all, but only found one page that had something in it, and that was only an unintelligible string of random numbers and letters. "What the hell..." She muttered, closing the book and putting it back on the shelf.

Sora decided to go check another floor of the tower, making a mental note to ask Monocrow about the books like the one she just discovered, but she stopped in her tracks when she noticed that the break room's door was open. Filled with curiosity, since she hadn't checked the room yet, she quietly stepped inside to see if she could find any loose materials there.

Sora walked into the break room and spotted Teruya up on his toes trying to reach a very high shelf. The albino found it funny and unusual that somebody as tall as the former merchant would have difficulty getting to a higher place. "Hello, Teruya." She greeted with a smile. "How's your investigation going?"

"Not very good." He admitted, pausing his actions for a moment. "I swear I saw something up on that big shelf there, but I can't reach it."

"Huh?" Sora walked over to Teruya's side and strained her eyes trying to look for what he had spotted. "...I can't see anything."

"Wait, I have an idea!" The merchant exclaimed. "Why don't you get on my shoulders, and you can try and get the thing I saw?"

Sora thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I think that might work. Could you lean down?" She asked.

Teruya dropped down to kneel on one knee, and Sora put her shins on both his shoulders. As he slowly stood up again, the albino had to hold onto his head for dear life due to her precarious position she was in. Finally, the two of them got their act together and slowly moved to the bookshelf.

"Can you see it up there now?" Teruya questioned, holding on to her thighs in an attempt to keep her stabilized.

"Not quite- Oh! There it is!" Sora exclaimed, seeing a small object on a high part of the shelf. With her and Teruya's combined height, the object was barely in her reach. "Dammit, I just need to go a little bit higher...!"

"Hold on!" The merchant went up on his toes again, and Sora moved from sitting on her shins to extend her body and reach for the object.

After nearly losing her balance twice with Teruya struggling to not let her fall, Sora finally grabbed the object in her hand. "Got it!" She called, and Teruya stepped away from the bookshelf and fell to his knees.

When Sora got off of his shoulders, the merchant sprang up and faced the amnesiac with an excited face, almost like a puppy. "So?! What did you get?!" He asked in anticipation.

Sora opened her hand and looked the object over. "I think it's a box cutter. What the hell was a box cutter doing on the highest shelf?" She questioned before shaking her head, dismissing the question. "Actually, I think Shinji needed this to cut through some rough material. I'll give it to him."

"Hey, Sora, don't you think it's weird that we're in a place named after a tower in the bible?" Teruya suddenly pointed out, rubbing his shoulders from the weight on them.

"Hm? We are?" She prompted.

"Yeah, the Tower of Babel was made after the flood in the Noah's Ark story. Apparently, God wanted humans to spread out throughout the world, but they all stayed in one place and tried to make a tower to the heavens." Teruya retold. "God got mad and punished humans for their hubris by destroying the tower and changing people's language to be different, forcing them to spread out."

"How do you know about something from the bible? Are you Christian?" Sora inquired.

"No, I was just dared to read the entirety of my classmate's bible in my years at Hope's Peak." Teruya chuckled. "Sometimes, I really hate my really good memory."

"I believe you." The albino laughed. "Now, how about we go deliver this oddly-placed box cutter to Shinji?"

The two of them left the break room and headed back towards the Monocruise, with Teruya telling random stories on the way and Sora listening attentively.

Chapter Text

At the ten o'clock nighttime announcement, the doors to the outside of the Monocruise were always locked to ensure the safety of the students inside. In addition, said students were encouraged to go to bed until the morning announcement played at seven, but it wasn't a rule that had to be followed.

Sora checked the messaging feature of her handbook again as she waited inside her dorm room. Setsuka had texted her earlier and told the albino to wait until she could pick her up, and they would go to the gaming room in the middle of the night to play around without anyone disturbing them.

After waiting for a long time, Sora finally heard the sound of her doorbell being rung and quickly ran over to open it. "Hello, Setsuka. Is it time?" Sora asked.

"It sure is, Ra-ra." The billiards player smiled proudly. "I just checked, and nobody's in the game room. I think they all went to bed, but people like Hashi, Koko, and Kado probably won't be in the game room this late at night. I'm pretty sure they prefer the library anyway."

"That's good. Trashimoto doesn't like people anyway, so he won't bother us if he's awake." Sora put her student handbook away and stepped outside her room, closing it behind her. "Come on, we should hurry."

The two girls began to quietly walk down the hall, holding hands as they listened carefully for signs of any other students that weren't sleeping. To their relief, they didn't hear anything as they crept down the stairs, past the boys' dorms, down the stairs again, and to the game room. Once inside, the girls relaxed as they were greeted with the red carpet and decorated walls.

"Alright, Ra-ra, let's play a few games!" Setsuka smiled. "How about darts first?"

"Sure." Sora smiled, walking over to the game and taking a handful of darts. She and Setsuka competed against each other as they threw the objects at the dart board, smiling and laughing as they tried to outdo the other. After they got bored of that, the two of them played at the pinball machines, helping each other to get the high score, which was currently set by Hibiki.

After the two girls beat Hibiki's high score, they labelled it 'Suka+Sora' and went to the poker table. Suddenly, the billiards player froze. "I heard a noise." She whispered, putting a finger to her lips as Sora stood still and quiet. The two of them waited and listened, but whatever Setsuka heard did not come back again. Setsuka sighed as her body relaxed. "Sorry, I must've been paranoid."

"Don't worry, I get it. After all, we're up really late at night with nobody around." Sora smiled. "Now, weren't you going to teach me how to play 'go fish'? You said that it was the easiest game of cards to learn."

Setsuka wasted no time in dealing out the cards and instructing Sora on how to play several types of card games. From games like go fish, war, and crazy eights to solitaire, gin rummy, and poker, Sora played against the taller girl until they decided to stop playing cards and move on.

Finally, they decided to play a game that they were both the best at: billiards. With Sora adapting quickly to the situation and Setsuka's experience, though she refrained from using her Devil's Eye to make it fair, the two of them were good opponents to one another.

Finally, the two of them got tired. "It's almost three in the morning. We should probably get back to our dorms now." Sora informed.

"If you want, you can come sleep over in my dorm." Setsuka invited. "Monocrow made the rules say that it's allowed."

The albino was surprised by this fact. "Wait, when was the rule changed? I didn't hear anything about it." Sora questioned, wondering if she was asleep and there had been an announcement after all.

"You didn't? Well, Monocrow got rid of the 'students can only sleep in their own dorm' rule, but he told us to at least come back onto the Monocruise to sleep at nighttime." The billiards player explained. "He also said to at least sleep in one of the dorms at nighttime so that the cruise could be cleaned without having to move students."

"Well, that's good. He wanted us to be closer to each other, so letting us cuddle is a pretty good incentive for that." Sora agreed. "Come on, let's head back up. I can't say this for sure, but I think your bed might be more comfier than mine."

"Well, I guess there's one way to find out!" Setsuka chirped, grabbing the amnesiac's hand again and beginning the return to the dorms. Later, when Sora was tucked into the embrace of the billiards player, she decided that this bed was a lot comfier after all.

Chapter Text

Sora entered the journalist's room, a movie case in her hands. "Hey, Nikei. I brought the movie." She greeted, holding up the case as proof.

"Sweet! I got the snacks for our movie night!" Nikei cheered. "There's some blankets in front of the TV and I've moved the table back a little! Come sit down!"

Sora and Nikei had been planning a movie night for a while ever since the two of them discovered that the library had a shelf of movies that could be borrowed while they were going around conducting interviews. Nikei had told Sora to bring a random movie, so she had grabbed one quickly on her way from the dining hall to Nikei's room.

With a smile on her face, the albino walked over to the carpet of blankets and sat down with the movie case. "By the way, I never told you what movie I was bringing, did I?" She remembered. "Whoops. Well, I really only grabbed it off the shelf without looking at it first."

"Well, it can't be that bad. Just put the movie in already!" The journalist huffed impatiently. "As long as it's a movie, then it's fine, right?"

Sora shrugged, walking up to the TV and putting the DVD disc into the player. After the two of them lightheartedly bickered over the remote, Sora had won and skipped past the previews to the main menu screen.

Nikei's face paled when he saw which movie it was. "How the hell did you manage to get 'Pet Sematary', especially the original movie?! Jeez, what kind of shitty luck do you have taking random movies?!" He exclaimed.

"Hm, you don't like horror movies?" Sora asked. "If you want, I can go put this back and grab another one really quick-"

"Nah, keep it in. Scary movies are for chumps." The journalist scoffed, playing off his nervousness. "But if you want to see it, I guess I can watch it with you."

"That's good. I've never seen a horror movie - well, I can't remember one - so this will be an interesting experience." The albino pulled a blanket over her legs as Nikei grabbed a fistful of another sheet.

As the movie began playing and the plot began progressively building up, Sora continued watching with rapt interest while Nikei tried his best not to shake while watching. As the first death arrived, Sora was horrified and spooked at Victor's demise, dying in surgery rom head trauma, while the journalist assured her that nothing like that would happen to her if she got a medical examination for her amnesia in an attempt to hide the fact that he jumped when Victor grabbed Louis and spoke to him.

Other deaths arrived; Missy, Church, Zelda, Gage, Bill, Jud, Rachel, Church and Gage again, and even Louis, and the progressive shock and fear of the duo rose with each one, Nikei more so than Sora. By the time Rachel's corpse was revealed, Nikei had screamed and clung onto Sora while the albino only gasped and stiffened.

When the movie ended, she got a glass of water for both of them. Sora took small sips to calm her nerves and she noticed that the boy's hands shook as he held the glass in both of his hands. "Hey Nikei, you alright there?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah. Couldn't be better." He lied, drinking the water as well. "At least it's over now."

As the nighttime announcement suddenly played, Sora yawned. "Hey, is it alright if I crash on your couch for tonight? I mean, I might as well put these blankets to use." She requested.

"Odd reason, but okay." The journalist agreed.

Later that night, Sora was woken up by the sound of whimpering. Sitting up on the couch, she looked around and found that the sound was coming from Nikei's bed. Standing up and slowly creeping closer, she spotted the journalist shaking and curled into a ball under the sheets.

Carefully reaching out and grabbing his shoulder, the amnesiac began to shake him. "Nikei? Nikei, wake up." She whispered loudly.

Eventually, Nikei was roused from sleep, breathing heavily and looking around. "S-Sora?" He whimpered.

"I think you were having a nightmare." The albino spoke quietly. "Was it because of the movie?"

Nikei said nothing and turned over to look away from Sora, embarrassed at the situation. However, she wasn't deterred by this, picking the covers up and slipping under them. "What...are you doing?" The journalist asked, giving her a confused look as he turned back over to face her.

"Sleeping beside you, what do you think?" She asked rhetorically, pulling him closer and wrapping her arms around his shoulder. "You know, there's no shame in wanting to be with someone when you're scared. I'm gonna stay with you, okay?"

Nikei never answered her back, but by the way he rested against her chest, Sora knew that she already had her answer.

Chapter Text

As Iroha adjusted her shawl to be looser around her shoulders and loosened her suit a bit to let air in, she did her best to try and keep up with Sora as they searched the fifth island for materials to build the item that Monocrow assigned to the class this time. But even when she agreed the day before that she would be Sora's investigation partner, the painter was having difficulty with her own body.

Ever since she woke up that morning, Iroha had been experiencing a feeling of unnatural heat in her torso and the feeling of something hot in her throat. As such, the painter had been using Sora's distraction to slip away from her in buildings and go the bathroom to see what the problem was. But even when nothing happened, the feeling had stayed with her throughout the day.

"Alright, Iroha, let's go investigate this building next. Maybe we'll find something that might help us, like a defected mechanical thing we can take apart." Sora suggested, walking at a slow pace so that the tiny girl could catch up. "What do you think?"

"Well, um, that's a great idea!" Iroha chirped, still struggling to match Sora's speed. "How many floors does this one have?"

Suddenly, the albino stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Iroha, are you feeling alright? I'm getting concerned about you." Sora asked, catching the painter off-guard.

"O-Of course I am, what are you talking about? I'm fine~" She giggled, trying to keep herself from panicking under the taller girl's gaze.

"You've gone to the bathroom fifty times today. It wasn't that hard for me to notice." The amnesiac refuted. "Please tell me the truth, Iroha."

After a few moments of silence, Iroha suddenly burst into tears, holding her sketchbook close to her chest. "I'm sorryyyyyy!" She wailed.

"Wh-What? Why are you crying?" Sora questioned frantically. "I'm not mad, I just wanted to know!"

"I'm sorry I hid it, I'm sorry that I don't feel well, I...!" Iroha was beginning to apologize when she suddenly felt that heat again. "I need to go find a bathroom!"

"There's one over there." The albino pointed to a door and Iroha sprinted through it, and Sora could hear the sound of her vomiting a few moments later. Sora decided to walk inside the room and help Iroha, holding her hair and rubbing her back as she threw up.

After the mess was dealt with, Sora brought the tiny painter back to the Monocruise in a bridal carry, telling Yuki that Iroha was sick and couldn't investigate. After the lucky student left the cruise while dragging Utsuro along, Sora continued to carry Iroha to her room.

After using Iroha's student handbook to enter her room, Sora walked over to the table and placed the painter down on it. "I'm just going to grab you a bit of medicine from the infirmary, please change into your pyjamas while I'm doing that." The albino instructed before turning around and carrying out her task.

When she came back, the painter had changed into bright green pyjamas and was sitting on the chair waiting for Sora. "Am I taking the medicine now?" She asked.

"No, this is for later. For now, you might want to rinse your mouth to get the taste out." Sora advised, walking to Iroha's bed and pulling the cover back while the painter went to her bathroom sink. When Iroha came back, she went under her bed covers and Sora pulled up a chair to her side of the bed.

"I'm surprised that you aren't mad at me at all." Iroha confessed. "As a child, if my parents ever found out that I was sick, then they'd beat me..."

"I'm not going to do that to you, I promise." Sora reassured, reaching out with a cold hand and rubbing Iroha's head, which the painter leaned into. "You're really warm, I think you might have a fever. I'll check it out later."

"So, how long am I going to be in here?" Iroha asked, looking up at the albino with innocent eyes.

"Until you get better. Until then, you're only moving from this bed if you need to use the bathroom." She instructed, remembering what Yoruko had told her about taking care of others. "You aren't having food either, and only small sips of water are allowed. You don't want to throw up again, do you?"

"N-No, of course not!" Iroha protested in a weak voice. "I'm...really sleepy. Can I go to sleep now?"

"Of course. I'll get you off of investigation duty until you're better, so rest for as long as you need." Sora reassured with a smile.

Iroha yawned and closed her eyes. "Fueeeh..." She sighed as she finally went to sleep, happy that she wasn't in any danger from something she couldn't control. Even after her breathing finally evened out and the painter went to sleep, Sora continued to rub her head.

Chapter Text

Sora and Hajime skidded to a halt at the entrance to the guest house, and the two of them sat down on the grass there as they caught their breaths.

Sora had made it part of her morning routine to go on a morning run with Shinji, Hajime, and Yuki before breakfast, but Shinji and Yuki were not here today because they stayed up almost all of the night before helping Kokoro, Nikei, and Teruya complete the very large robotic project that Monocrow had assigned the group. Hajime let them have the morning off so that they could catch up on their sleep.

As for the remaining two training partners, they got up in the early morning like usual and began their run. Today, they had decided to make their run on the first island. Each island was connected by a bridge, and though the Monocruise could go anywhere, it usually stayed docked at the beach of the first island.

Hajime took out two bottles of water from his coat pocket, handing one of them to Sora. "Here, help yourself." He invited.

The albino wasted no time in opening the bottle and drinking half of it down. Once she had finished, she closed it up tightly before putting it in the bag she always kept with her. "Thanks, Hajime. Can we take a breather for now? We've been running for almost fifteen minutes straight for now." She asked.

"Not yet, we're almost back at the Monocruise. We just have to go past the water houses, then we'll be at the beach again." The boxer reassured as he stood up. Stepping over to the amnesiac, he offered her his hand and pulled her up as well. After brushing themselves off, the two of them resumed their run back to the Monocruise.

By the time they had arrived at the staircase to the Monocruise, they were exhausted and covered in sweat. "I guess we'll need a...a quick shower before we go get breakfast." Sora panted, climbing the stairs.

"That goes without saying. If I show up without showering, Yoruko and Yuri will be mad at me again." Hajime chuckled at the memory. Once they entered the air-conditioned ship, their bodies relaxed as a relieved sigh left them.

After walking up three flights of stairs together, Hajime left for his dorm while Sora climbed another set of stairs to get to hers. After taking a brief shower and scrubbing herself down, Sora left her room and went back down the stairs to the boys' floor to wait.

Hajime showed up a couple minutes later. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He apologized. "Were you here long?"

"Nope, only a couple minutes." Sora assured. "I'm hungry, so let's go downstairs and get some breakfast."

"That's a good plan." The blonde agreed, and the two of them went back down the stairs to the dining hall.

Sora opened the door with Hajime behind her, and walked straight into a loud conversation. "Good morning. What kind of mess have I walked into?" She asked, getting the attention of a few people.

"Oh, Ra-ra, Mac! I saved you guys a couple plates!" Setsuka called over, beckoning them to their seats. 

Hajime and Sora were about to head to their normal places when Hibiki suddenly shouted "The floor is lava!" 

In a quick reflex, Sora ran and jumped up onto the boxer's back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his stomach. "What the-?! Woah!" Hajime yelled, trying his best to keep his balance so that he didn't fall over. Thankfully, he was able to remain upright.

"Pfft- Sosie, what are you doing?!" The vocalist laughed as Sora came down from her position.

"Well, you did tell me that when somebody says 'the floor is lava', that you need to not touch the ground. And Mikado would kill me if I went in the table." The albino explained.

"Damn right. Don't even think of stepping on the food." The wizard commented from the other end of the table.

The boxer turned to her with an amused smile on his face. "Well, there are worse fates than being a cat tree." He laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. At least I can say that I paid you back for making me wait." Sora pointed out. That statement earned a round of laughter from the rest of the table.

"Guys, lets just calm down and have our breakfast already!" Setsuka stepped in, diffusing the chaotic atmosphere. "Kado made some good Yorkshire puddings, and it'd be a shame to let them get cold!"

Everybody settled down at last and Hajime and Sora finally sat down, beginning to enjoy their breakfasts. After an early morning of running, they had a large appetite and finished what Setsuka had put on their plates. Luckily for them, Mikado had made a lot more food.

Chapter Text

"Wow..." Sora marvelled as she walked into the psychologist's room. "There's a lot of machines in here!"

"Yes, they came with the room when I moved in. Thankfully, they seem to work." Kokoro explained, walking up behind Sora and closing the door behind them.

Sora looked around the room curiously. "There's no incense here. I thought you needed it when I was around because of the crazy curiosity you feel around me."

"I don't need it today, so don't worry." The psychologist assured. "Recently, Monocrow had given me my proper research equipment from home, hence the new machinery on the table. This means I can finally complete the things that I was either putting off or unable to do."

Sora paused in thought as she looked at the table. "...Last time we hung out in your room, you told me that you were curious about how my mind was empty, and you wanted to study my primal emotions. Now that you have your machinery back thanks to Monocrow, did you bring me here so that you could begin your project?" She questioned.

"...Yes, that was the reason." Kokoro sighed. "If you want to back out-"

"I'm not backing out. The last time I was in your room, I agreed to be your test subject for the project." The albino quickly interjected. "It is a lot better than your original plan with the baby, so you can study me all you want."

Kokoro stared at Sora in shock before blushing as she looked away. "I need to set up my equipment before the project can properly begin, so please make yourself at home." The psychologist turned around and focused on her technology.

When Monocrow delivered her machinery to her, he said that she was lucky that he was able to find what she properly needed. According to him, the reason that they were all on this island was because something bad had happened in the real world, a 'tragedy', and the hopes of the next generation were to be preserved. Thankfully, her machinery was kept out of the way well enough that it wasn't damaged, and Kokoro could now use it for its intended purpose.

The psychologist started picking up and moving her machinery to beside her bed, where her subject would be lying down for the process. After she had finished moving her machinery and setting up a workstation for herself, Kokoro walked over to Sora. "I'm finished setting up; please go over to the bed so that I can attach the connectors to your head." She instructed.

"Alright. How long will I be lying there?" Sora asked.

"A few hours for the beginning of my research, at the very minimum. I have to make sure that the connectors synch up with your brainwaves. Before you ask, yes, you're allowed to sleep. It'll help me if you feel things in your dreams, if you have any. I'll get some medication to put you to sleep faster." Kokoro explained as she walked over to her fridge. Opening it, she found that all her medication was there, but... "Where's my food?"

"Uhh...Emma probably took it." Sora lied, though this did not slip past Kokoro.

"...Well, I did tell you to make yourself at home." The smaller girl sighed. "Please lie down on my bed while I prepare your dosage."

Kokoro poured the sleep medication into a cup as Sora did as she was told, and Kokoro gave the cup to her. Sora drank it all down, kissed her on the cheek, and reclined on the bed as the psychologist tucked her in. Kokoro attached the connectors to the sleepy girl and turned on her equipment, watching Sora fall asleep as the machine quietly whirred to life.

Her lifelong dream was to research primal emotions, the first emotion that humans ever felt in their life without interference from other sources. She was initially planning to keep a baby in a room without human contact to research it, but Sora was a complete empty slate that drove Kokoro into a frenzy with her curiosity. Now that the albino's slender body was lying limply on the bed, Kokoro could finally achieve her lifelong dream.

And what's more, Sora agreed to the project and would help her collect her research willingly. With her machinery, a bunch of papers and prompts, assorted drugs to prompt emotions, and a bunch of food and drink to care for her, the albino would be kept safe as the tests continued. Of course, the two of them would have to help with investigations for these 'goals' that Monocrow made, but Kokoro could probably get Emma on her side to help convince everyone to let her and Sora be alone to continue the experiment.

She looked at Sora's face, which was calm and still since she had fallen asleep, and wondered what miracle had blessed her to allow her lifelong dream to come true. With a content sigh, Kokoro got to work tuning the machine.

Chapter Text

"Come on, Sosie! The karaoke machine is this way!" Hibiki exclaimed, dragging Sora into Department C of Satsuki Land and towards the casino.

"How much time have you spent at the casino to know that the karaoke machine is there?" The albino questioned, holding back her laughter.

"J-Just shut up and come inside!" The vocalist protested, her embarrassment clear on her face. Still holding onto Sora's hand, she pulled her into the casino and towards the back, where a small machine awaited them. Hibiki let go of Sora and walked towards the karaoke machine to set up a song. "Alright, Sosie, are you ready to do some karaoke?" She chirped.

"I don't exactly know how to do it, but I'll try my best." Sora promised, mostly trying to assure herself than assure Hibiki. "If it's okay, could you show me how to do it first? I'll copy you afterwards."

"Alright, if it makes you feel better." Hibiki agreed, setting the song to one that she personally liked that wasn't of Melody Rhythm's own making, 'Hush' by EVERGLOW, and grabbing the microphone to start singing along to an instrumental version.

Sora sat down and watched Hibiki do her karaoke, marvelling at the talents of the Ultimate Vocalist. The albino was surprised that somebody who sounded so childish could have a mature, graceful, and captivating voice, but she couldn't deny the proof staring her in the face when she saw it.

After a few minutes of the smaller girl singing, the song ended and Hibiki turned around to face Sora. "Alright, Sosie, it's your turn!" She exclaimed, handing her the microphone.

Sora took it hesitantly before Hibiki went to the karaoke machine, setting the song to one that she had helped Sora to learn, "Chou" by Tsuki Amano. The vocalist had wanted Sora to listen to music from the real world, hoping that it would trigger a memory in the amnesiac. But even when Sora couldn't remember, Hibiki reasoned that she at least now had music that she could sing along to now.

Hibiki turned on the music and Sora kept her eye on the words on the screen, following along with the instrumental as she recalled how she had sung the song with Hibiki back in the smaller girl's room. She did her best to keep up with the track, eventually relaxing and getting into the song emotionally.

In Hibiki's opinion, Sora wasn't doing a bad job. Sure, she may not have done karaoke before or even sung before, but the amnesiac had lost her awkwardness and started to enjoy the song while displaying her pretty voice. Hibiki then resolved to show Sora as many songs as she could and help her eventually learn them by heart.

When Sora sang the final lyrics of the song and the music faded out, Hibiki skipped over to the albino. "Good job, Sosie! I bet you feel like an artist, huh?" The vocalist chirped, grabbing Sora by the hand again. "I have an idea! We should go back to my room and listen to more songs! Don't you think that's a good plan?" 

"Yeah, let's go do it!" The taller girl giggled. "I don't think I'm needed to investigate tomorrow, and since I finished searching Department A of Satsuki Land a couple hours ago, I'm free for the rest of today and tomorrow!"

"That's awesome!" Hibiki exclaimed, dragging the albino in the direction of the Monocruise. "That gives me enough time to introduce you to a lot of songs! You'll know so many songs that your brain will become a jukebox!"

"That's...kinda scary, when you put it like that." Sora remarked with a troubled face. "Well, you should go easy on me. It hasn't even been a month yet since I woke up with amnesia, so-"

"Don't worry, Sosie, I won't do anything bad to your head! Music isn't supposed to hurt you anyways!" The vocalist laughed. "Maybe I should show you some of Kanade's favourite songs too! It's not bad to hear some variety of genres once in a while!"

Hibiki ran with Sora back to the Monocruise, where they grabbed a snack of ramen from the Monomono Machine - that was the label on the machine, but Monocrow say that the name was outdated - before they returned to the smaller girl's room to listen to more music. Sora nearly paled as she saw all the music that Hibiki had collected for her to listen to.

Sora spent the rest of the day and the next day reclining on Hibiki's bed with the tiny vocalist in her lap as the two of them listened to different kinds of music. Sora had to admit, she fell asleep a couple times from her position, but for the music that she was able to hear, she enjoyed it a lot. She also enjoyed Hibiki snuggling up to her throughout.

Chapter Text

On Utsuroshima, where no threat of killing games occurred and the students could live in harmony, they had assigned three different roles to each other during the first half of the day. The second part of the day was when the group could hang out with each other and bond more. 

The roles given were either they could clean, search the islands for materials, or go back to sleep and count the materials gotten later to determine how much more they needed. Each person was usually assigned a different role per day, and there was about five people doing a task at a time, with the addition of two outliers.

Today, Sora was assigned to help clean the second island, which meant that she had to sweep the streets and floors, dust the houses, museum, and statues, and make sure that nothing was out of place. Luckily, she didn't have to do it alone. The sixth student that was assigned to cleaning today, Hajime this time, was doing the Tower of Babel, which meant that Kanade could come over and help Sora with her task.

Sweeping the dirt off the stone path, Sora leaned over with a sigh. "At least Monocrow cleans the cruise himself at night." She reassured.

"Yeah, but that means that we have to clean the islands. Not much of a trade-off, honestly." The guitarist remarked, coming out from dusting the inside of a house. "I feel bad for the poor sucker who has to clean the third island. God, all of the equipment that needs to be cleaned..." She shuddered to think about it.

"You mean Mikado? He's gonna get that done in record time, just you wait." The albino chuckled. "I think he's in another bet with Nikei."

"Pfft, again?" Kanade giggled. "When will they learn..."

"I'm pretty sure I heard them say that the last one to finish cleaning duty has to wear a maid dress for the rest of the day." Sora added. "Nikei's cleaning the first island and Mikado agreed to not use magic, but he's a fast cleaner."

"So...shutter chance?" The smaller girl smiled.

"You betcha. No matter who loses, get pictures. I need blackmail." The amnesiac requested, standing up straight and resuming her sweeping. "You know, actually doing some cleaning is easy, but it's hard because there's a lot of things I need to do."

"Believe me. I've told you about my home life, right?" Kanade sighed. "The favourite child was Hibiki, which meant that she has never cleaned anything in her lifetime. I'm pretty sure that this the first time she's had to, but I had to learn to cook and clean the entire house all on my own."

"Did you ever clean the attic? I've never been in one I think, but I've heard that they're messy." Sora asked.

"The attic was where I could learn guitar and a lot of my skills on my own, so that was a place I cleaned for my own benefit." The guitarist explained. "Without Hibiki or my parents around demanding things of me, I could learn how to do things like chop foods, improve my aim, and study medicine."

"Oh, wow. That sounds..." Sora trailed off, a troubled look on her face.

Kanade noticed Sora's expression and perked up immediately. "Don't worry about me, I told you I'm fine with the way I'm treated. I'm still better than them, so I take comfort in that." She assured. When the amnesiac still looked unconvinced, the smaller girl sighed. "Sora, if I were you, I would stop questioning the little things. What happened has happened, so there's no need to get hung up over it."

"If you say so, I guess." The albino agreed with a sigh.

The guitarist skipped over to the monster museum with a smile on her face. "Oh Sora~! Come on, we still have to clean in here!" She chirped in a sing-song voice. "If we get it done fast enough, then we'll be able to sneak in some time to ourselves before the others finish their tasks."

"Okay!" Sora immediately picked up her broom and hurried into the monster museum to clean, detaching the dustpan from the middle of the broomstick to get rid of the dirt while the smaller girl began dusting the statues, signs, and books. Kanade even helped hold Sora's dustpan after all the dusting was finished.

When the two of them managed to finish their chores, they didn't go back to the Monocruise right away. Instead, they slipped into the dressing room of the monster museum and shared a few kisses while holding onto each other. When they stopped to check the time, they quickly hurried back to the ship and showered off the dirt and dust before rejoining the class.

That night, Sora enjoyed looking through the pictures of Nikei sulking in a maid dress.

Chapter Text

Shinji hadn't been to amusement parks many times in the past, either because he was too busy at his job or he was hospitalized. He vaguely remembered going to the amusement park with his dad and his brothers when he was very little, but he didn't think that it was nearly as difficult as the conundrum he was facing now.

After Shinji had done his morning jog with Sora and Hajime, gotten breakfast, and then did cleaning on the fourth island, he decided to spend some of him time in the afternoon checking out some of the attractions in Satsuki Land. He didn't run into many people on the third island, so he was free to explore as he pleased.

One of the rules Monocrow stated about the third island was that they had to swipe their student handbooks before entering and exiting an attraction and have it generate an input or an output record, else the crow would give them an extra shift of cleaning duty on the Monocruise. So far, Shinji wasn't having any trouble with the machines - besides the merry-go-round breaking under his weight - until he came to the rollercoaster attractions.

The firefighter wanted to go on the Hope's Peak Queen of Thrills, which Yoruko had told him was a huge ride full of twists, turns, and even loops. He was excited to try it, and Monocrow had said that this rollercoaster's weight limit was even greater than his weight. He stepped to the gate and swiped his handbook...

...but he didn't hear the beeping sound that he normally heard when his hand was properly registered as an input code. Shinji thought nothing of it at first, remembering how he had accidentally missed his aim while scanning it and got told off by Monocrow as a result. Shinji swiped his handbook again, paying attention this time. Still, his handbook didn't get registered.

The firefighter was starting to get annoyed. Sure, he wasn't the greatest with technology, but even he knew that something had to be wrong. After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Shinji tried to swipe again, and then again, but there was still no input code. The firefighter knew better than to knock on the machine and accidentally damage it with his strength, so he looked around and got ready to call for Monocrow's help.

"Can I be of assistance?" He heard directly behind him, and he wheeled around in alarm to see Sora standing there with a curious look. He hadn't heard her coming or even seen her walk up, so the albino had caught him off-guard.

"O-O-O-O-Oh, Sora!" Shinji stuttered in alarm, flustered by the appearance of a girl suddenly behind him. "I-I-I was just h-having trouble with the m-machine here..."

"Oh, this one?" Sora walked around him and looked at the Hope's Peak Queen of Thrills handbook registration machine. "Right, this one. I don't think Monocrow told you, but this one's a little tricky. He says he'll get to repairing it soon, and he'll let us know when he does."

"S-So, how do we g-get in?" The embarrassed firefighter questioned.

"Well, this specific machine only scans the front of handbooks, like so." With those words, Sora took out her handbook and turned her screen in the direction of the machine before swiping it. It beeped in response and registered an input code. "See? Now you try."

"O-Okay..." Shinji did as the albino had done, turning his handbook's screen to face the machine before swiping it. He was surprised to hear it finally beep in response, and he put his handbook away. "S-So, did you c-come for the ride too?" He asked.

"Yes, I thought that I should try going on a ride that I haven't before." Sora replied with a smile. "Sure, I might have been scared of the height for a bit, but I decided to ignore it. I figure that Hope's Peak Academy has a good healthcare plan for its students."

"Th-That's not reassuring." The firefighter commented, looking away with a red face.

He nearly yelped as Sora took him by the hand and began to drag him inside. "Come on, let's go ride the rollercoaster together! Let's see who screams the loudest!" The albino laughed, bringing Shinji to the rollercoaster as she was practically bouncing on the spot.

"Y-You don't need to drag me..." Shinji protested, holding a hand over his mouth as his face blushed a deep red. Even so, Sora dragged him to a rollercoaster car and got in with him, making sure that they were both strapped in.

As the Hope's Peak Queen of Thrills shot off like a rocket, Sora had the time of her life as she screamed out loud. On the other hand, Shinji was trying not to die of embarrassment as he screamed internally.

Chapter Text

Normally, Sora was one of the sanest ones in the mornings, helping to prompt group discussions and generally making sure that nobody tries to stab one another with the table knives. She would get her breakfast, quickly eat, talk, get seconds, then hurry off to begin her morning task. Nothing was wrong with that.

Until she found herself in a drinking contest with Kanade and passed out in her own bed, hammered beyond belief.

That morning, Sora woke up with an ungodly headache, but thankfully no urge to throw up. Stumbling out of bed, the albino decided to not participate in anything other than breakfast before she had her coffee. After a brief struggle to change her clothes with the vertigo of standing up too fast and her ongoing headache, she took her handbook and walked out the door.

Sora's biggest challenge now was to get down three flights of stairs to get to the dining hall. With her head pounding worse than anything she's ever been hurt by so far, she kept her hand on the wall as she slowly walked down the stairs, trying not to collapse on the spot. 

As she walked down the halls on her way to the dining hall, she almost ran into Yuri, who looked greatly concerned for her state. "Oh, goodness! My dear Sora, are you alright?" He fretted, moving close beside her and bracing to catch her if she fell.

"Get out of the way before I murder you." The amnesiac threatened, fixing him with a glare as if she were death himself. The spaceman backed off and let her have room, but still hovered nearby to help if he was needed. She ignored him, staggering to the doors of the dining hall and opening them up.

When she walked inside, the first thing she noticed was Kanade, who didn't seem to have taken the aftermath of the drinking contest well either. She was nearly faceplanted in her breakfast, with Hibiki needing to occasionally tap her to her her attention and sit her up before she fell. She had lost the drinking contest and was considerably worse off than Sora, but she still waved to the albino as she came in, with Sora waving back. What she didn't notice was everyone else looking at her in concern.

She ignored the murmuring around her as she began her daily hunt for the coffee, though more groggily and unfocused than normal. Finally, someone put a hand on her shoulder and got her attention. "Sora, are you quite alright?" Emma inquired.

"Need coffee." Sora replied bluntly, reaching for her white mug when the actress gently pulled her back away from the table. "Huh...? Emma, why are you...?"

"Judging from what Kanade told us, you must have a bad hangover. Here, let's go get some headache medicine." The taller girl pulled her close and began walking to to the door. Just before she left the room, she looked back and called "Mikado, could you bring some light food to my room later?"

"Of course! At your service!" The wizard happily replied, and Emma smiled as she escorted Sora out of the dining hall. The rest of the class was still concerned, but they relaxed a little knowing that Sora was in good hands.

The actress first immediately took the hungover albino to the infirmary to get some headache medication. Even if Sora nearly gagged at the taste, she managed to swallow it all down, to Emma's relief. The next thing she did was take Sora to her own room, where she could keep an eye on her.

As Sora laid on top of Emma with her eyes half-lidded, the latter reclining on the couch and watching an old movie, she sighed and relaxed further into the actress. "How do you know how to help me like this...?" Sora quietly questioned, not moving from her position.

"Well, I know how to handle my own hangovers from experience. Sure, I have an insane tolerance, but even I have my bad days. I haven't had many extreme bad days, but I think you and Kanade 'smashed' my record!" She giggled as Sora groaned at the pun.

"That one was terrible. I think my headache might be getting worse." She joked, and Emma cooed while rubbing Sora's head, making the albino relax even more. At one point, Sora felt Emma remove her scrunchie as she carded her hand through the smaller girl's hair.

After that exchange, Sora's consciousness began to drift in and out. Emma never moved or made her move, but she saw snippets of the movie, heard Mikado teleport into the room, tasted the snacks that Emma was feeding her, and felt the actress kiss the top of her head. Soon enough, Sora succumbed to sleep as her hangover slowly began to wear off.

Chapter Text

Sora was no stranger to going inside the ghost house. In fact, she had gone into the house many times before with other people. She never really saw why people were scared of an empty, decorated house, but she had always supposed that it was the atmospheric creepiness of the house that made people scared. Even so, Sora walked in and out without a problem, holding and comforting the person she often went in with.

But now that she was standing outside of it in the middle of the night, the lighting made the ghost house look much more intimidating. With Yuri beside her and armed with flashlights, the two of them advanced into the haunted house.

When nighttime came and Monocrow would make his announcement, the doors to the Monocruise would be locked and anyone still outside the ship would stay out there until morning came. Yuri had invited Sora to stay outside with him to try the amusement park after the nighttime announcement, which still functioned as normal, so she had drank a bunch of coffee and made sure that the next day when the daylight returned was a day off for her.

As she and Yuri wandered into the building with a flashlight each, they stuck by each other as not to lose sight of one another. "Wow, the ghost house sure is creepier after dark." The albino observed, looking around with a flashlight as they went down the halls.

"Do not worry, my dear Sora! You will be safe with me, I promise!" Yuri exclaimed. "I would never let a beautiful woman such as yourself be hurt!"

"I think you forgot who wears the pants in this relationship." Sora dryly remarked with a chuckle. Even so, she gave him the benefit of the doubt by letting him hold her hand. When the two of them got to the Devil's altar, they took in the sight before them for a few minutes before turning around and finding the way out together.

The next attraction they went to was the casino in another department. After the long walk to get there, with Yuri often offering to carry Sora and her declining, they arrived at the building and began to play its activities.

The first thing they began to play was darts. Sora was surprisingly good at throwing them and getting near the centre of the target, and she did her best to concentrate until she had thrown all of her darts. As for Yuri, he wasn't so great at it. "I think you're not suppose to throw them from overhead." Sora suggested. "Try throwing them from eye level instead."

After the albino did her best to help the smaller boy, the two decided to stop throwing darts and play chess against each other instead. Yuri was very good at chess, as Sora quickly found out, and the spaceman slowly taught her how to play the game in full, even letting himself lose to her on purpose. Even if Sora was a little untalented at playing chess, Yuri never held it against her and did all he could to help.

The last game they played were the slot machines. Sora bent down in front of the machine, inserted some crow cards using her student handbook as a transaction, then pulled the lever. Sora didn't manage to get any money, which she huffed at. Looking towards Yuri, she noticed that he wasn't gambling at a machine. "Aren't you going to try, Yuri?" She asked.

"There's no need, Sora baby. The Kagarin family has plenty of money to spare." The spaceman assured. "But even so, I may as well try and make this machine get you some money." Yuri stepped up to the machine and did the same thing that Sora did, getting nothing at first but trying again until he managed to get some money. "Here, please take it!"

"I- Thank you." The albino thanked, not wanting all the money when he had spent so much of his own but not wanting to make him upset. As she accepted the money onto her handbook, she made a mental note to try and trick him into getting the money back.

The last attraction the two went on was something that they hoped would keep them away in the early hours of the morning, the rollercoaster rides. "I hope the adrenaline will keep me up." Sora chuckled as she slid into one of the seats of one of the largest rollercoasters. "When I get back into my room, I'm going to sleep like a rock."

"If you permit it, may I sleep beside you, my dear?" Yuri asked, sliding in beside her and helping her buckle her safety straps. He did up his own and put down a large safety bar before pressing a button on the front that started the rollercoaster.

"Well-" Before Sora could answer him, the rollercoaster shot off at a fast speed, and any words were replaced by whooping and cheering. The two of them enjoyed the rollercoasters until dawn came and the door to the Monocruise unlocked, in which they both went back to get some sleep.

In the end, Yuri did end up getting cuddled by Sora in her sleep, and he was blessed out as if it were heaven on earth.

Chapter Text

Sora huffed as she walked into the Tower of Babel, annoyed that the project didn't have enough paper to be able to hold it together. Thankfully, Monocrow allowed the students to take paper from the blank books in the tower, since those specific books were of no use to them.

About half an hour into searching, Sora was on the top floor when she heard a strange whimpering noise, followed by the sound of a light thud on the floor. She managed to ignore it for a few minutes, but her curiosity eventually got the better of her. After she put the book she was cutting up, the papers, and the scissors into the bag she carried her abnormal amount of items from the prize machine in, she headed off in search of the sound's source.

Turning a corner and entering a room, she was surprised to see Mikado sitting on the ground, holding his ankle and whimpering with an upset expression. "Mikado? What's going on up here?" She questioned.

"Ah, Ms. Sora!" The wizard exclaimed, suddenly noticing her appearance. "I didn't think you would be at the tower at this time!"

"Well, I was sent here to get paper for the project, and I was allowed to cut up the blank books." The albino explained. "Now that I recall, you were here because you had to clean the tower, right? Why are you whimpering on the ground?"

"Ah, that is..." Mikado began to explained, looking embarrassed. "I was up on that stepladder over there, cleaning the dust off the shelves, when I lost my balance and fellon my ankle. I think I might have sprained it, but I can't teleport outside because my magic simply won't work here. I try to leave, but it seems that I can't put weight on my foot at all."

"Hence the whimpering and thudding." Sora sighed. "Here, I'll help you walk to the entrance of the tower, but from then on, you're on your own.

"Aw, and you're not going to help me find out what's wrong with my ankle?" The blonde whined. "You're breaking my heart, babe!"

"Call me 'babe' again and I'm leaving your ass in the tower." The amnesiac threatened with a death glare.

"EEK! I'm sorry!" Mikado squeaked, quickly hurrying to apologize. "I won't do it again! Just please help me out of here!"

Sora rolled her eyes, slightly amused at the wizard's dramatics. "Alright, just stop whimpering. Now, which ankle did you sprain?"

After a brief minute of struggling, Sora had placed herself beside Mikado with her arm across his back and his arm over her shoulder. Getting him down the stairs was tough thanks to his limp, but they managed to get down the stairs eventually, making conversation all the while.

"Did you know that this tower is based off a religious story?" Sora asked, looking over at Mikado.

"No, I don't quite know that." The blonde denied, his voice surprised and curious. "Could you tell me a bit more?"

"Well, all the information I have is secondhand, so I'm not urd on all of the details." The albino admitted, looking forward to concentrate on helping Mikado to the next flight of stairs. "I heard from Teruya that the Tower of Babel is a tower that humans built to try and reach the heavens, but God destroyed the tower and punished the hubris of humans."

"Like what happened with that brat..." Mikado quietly spoke in a spacey tone.

Sora looked over with confusion, not quite hearing what Mikado had said. "Hm? What was that?"

The wizard shook his head, his mask smiling. "Ah, I think I'm mistaken. I thought there was a certain person that tried to reach the heavens but was punished." He corrected.

"I think you're confusing this with the Greek story of Icarus." Sora remarked. "I read a bunch of Greek mythology books in the library, so I know how easy it is to get mythologies mixed up, even for you."

"Ah, right. It's been a while since I've read Greek mythology, perhaps I can catch up on it while my ankle is healing." Mikado then sighed, his mask making a disappointed face. "This means that I won't be able to scavenge or clean for the next few days. What a shame, I actually like those tasks."

"Well, you'd be the first." The albino chuckled. "Jeez, you cook for the group, you enjoy cleaning, it's almost as if you're training to be a househusband."

"Ah, the prospect of marriage is quite far off, but to be honest..." The wizard hummed. "Having someone who devotes themselves to you, cares for you, and you can project your affection on them in return? That doesn't sound bad at all."

"But, of course, that first requires you getting a date." Sora reminded.

"And therein lies the rub." Mikado sighed. He then brightened as he saw the entrance to the tower. "We're almost out, Ms. Sora!"

"I can see that. Let's hurry there so you can get yourself some ice." She helped move Mikado a bit quicker down the hallway, and they had soon reached the outside of the Tower of Babel. As soon as Sora let go with him, he teleported away

Sora just shrugged to herself and sat on the ground, taking out the book and scissors and continuing to cut up some papers.

Chapter Text

As Yuki and Utsuro wandered through the halls of the Monocruise, they noticed that Syobai was leaning against a wall and reading a book. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be investigating today?" Yuki questioned, getting the broker's attention.

Syobai looked up from the book, annoyed already from being disturbed. "Nah, today's my day off. I'm counting the supplies later." He responded curtly. "Are you finished with your investigations?"

"Utsuro and I am, but I don't know about the others." The lucky student replied. "We've already placed the things we've found in the dining hall, but the others should be arriving shortly."

"Huh. Well, guess that means I've got to get to work." The broker closed his book and put it under his arm with a sigh. "Maybe if I start it early, it'll be done faster."

"Do you want me to help you with that?" Yuki suggested. "It'll go even quicker if the two of us are counting the supplies together."

"I don't need your help, why don't you just go- What the-?!" Syobai was suddenly interrupted by Utsuro shoving the lucky student into the broker, making them fall into a heap. "What the hell was that for? You just want me to babysit your younger brother, don't you?" He groaned.

"Cry me a river." Utsuro replied and walked away, leaving the other two to struggle to their feet.

"Wait, Utsuro!" Yuki yelled out as he got to his feet, but the other ginger had disappeared. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into him."

"It's fine. If I don't take you along, he's just going to bother me later. Come on." Syobai grabbed Yuki by the arm and quickly walked from his spot in the hallway to the dining hall, where a couple people were dropping off their collected items.

The two of them stepped inside, seeing the slowly growing pile. Syobai just sighed and stepped over to a chair, where a list and instructions were left by Monocrow. "Alright, let's see this... He wants spare parts for the ship's engine? Alright, nothing out of my range." The broker turned to Yuki. "Hey, normie boy. Do me a favour and sort the metallic items from the non-metallic ones. If you find any hardware tools, put them in a third pile. I gotta see how to put this shit together."

"A-Alright!" The lucky student replied, quickly getting to work. Syobai just looked back at the instructions, seeing that Monocrow had made a step-by-step guide on how to make spare engine parts. The broker found this amusing, but he continued to read it over to refresh himself on how to make them.

When he looked back at Yuki, he saw that the smaller boy had finished sorting everything into three piles. "Well damn, you work fast." He remarked.

"Ehehe, um, I tried my best." The lucky student blushed at the praise. He then gathered up the pile of tools and moved them towards Syobai, and the broker organized them based on whether he needed them in order to make the spare parts or not.

"Here, I'll tell you what to hand me. Got it?" He asked. "I need the metal sheets there and a few screws."

"Got it, here!" Yuki replied, handing him the materials. With their system of Yuki handing objects to the taller boy, who proceeded to put the parts together quickly and strategically, the two of them had finished in no time. "Wow, that was surprisingly fast! I don't think the other sorters are here yet!" The lucky student remarked.

"Well, they can count the remaining materials for all I care." Syobai huffed.

"Hey, why don't we go get some food from the mart?" Yuki suggested. "You're probably hungry now, right? That was a lot of work..."

Syobai looked at him silently before sighing. "You know, you'd probably be good in the broker business with those puppy eyes of yours. Come on then, normie boy." This time, Yuki began dragging Syobai towards the exit of the Monocruise, and Mikado quietly watched from another hallway, jealous that they could run while he was stuck with a pair of crutches.

At the O-Mart in Higa City, Yuki surveyed the foods and tried to pick some out that Syobai might like. The broker raised an eyebrow at him but took the food anyways, not being a person who would waste a free meal. Even when Syobai tried to be alone, Yuki kept following him like a puppy trailing after their owner until Utsuro finally came to pick him up.

After the ginger twins left, Syobai was finally alone again. He was happy that he wasn't going to be disturbed anymore, but he would never say out loud that he might have enjoyed his time with the lucky student.

Chapter Text

As afternoon arrived on Utsuroshima, the students stopped doing their daily searching tasks and began to interact with each other, forming bonds of camaraderie as Monocrow encouraged them to do. Some students would go all over the islands, others would just stay inside the Monocruise.

Two such students were Yuki and Yoruko, who had gone to the game room on the second floor of the Monocruise. The two of them had wanted to play a simple card game together to just pass the time until Setsuka would inevitably find them and drag them into something either hilarious or stupid.

The lucky student and the hostess read their cards without showing the other, playing a game of go fish with some random poker chips in the middle. They didn't want to actually gamble with money as they only wanted to play a casual game between the two of them, but even so, they still wanted to take the game a little bit seriously.

As the game continued on, Yuki and Yoruko had taken to idly chatting while they were looking over their cards. "So, have you ever played Animal Crossing before?" The lucky student asked. "When I eventually get back home, I want to try and continue it, but I haven't played it in a while. I'm kinda a little lost in regards to something."

"I only really know a little about it thanks to my older sister playing it, but I can try to help." Yoruko replied. "What is it that you're stuck on?"

"Well, I want to help my villagers get to the different islands in the new game, and the first thing that comes to mind is 'build a bridge'. But I don't really remember how to make one or if it's even possible at all." Yuki explained.

"No, it's definitely possible. I'm pretty sure you'll have to go to Tom Nook to construct one or something." The hostess recalled. "I saw my sister do it, it was under the 'infrastructure' section on that menu."

"Oh, alright! Thanks!" Yuki chirped. "Do you have a five?"

"Go fish." Yoruko smiled, pleased that she didn't have the card. However, he was getting close to winning, so she had to choose her guesses more carefully. "Anyways, I can't wait until we get off of this island. We can return to our normal lives."

"Either that or attend Hope's Peak Academy for real, like we were selected for." The ginger added with a chuckle.

"O-Of course, it's not that I'm turning down the opportunity to be an Ultimate student, I'm just still pissed that I was caught at my job." The hostess huffed. "Way to out me, Hope's Peak. Do you have a three?"

"Here." Yuki passed a card across the table. "But yeah, even if you were supposed to be selected as the Ultimate Hostess, I think it's kinda unfair that they gave you an ultimatum instead of you explaining to your boss that you're going to Hope's Peak Academy. Well, I guess the alternative was being arrested."

"Yeah, my choice was either going to Hope's Peak Academy or going to juvenile court." The girl sighed, laying a pair of cards down. "My sister didn't care much, but she said that she was happy that I made it into the academy. My parents, on the other hand, were not happy in the slightest when they found out, I'm surprised that they didn't disown me on the spot. They already were confused at why I dyed my hair, but now that they knew the reason..."

"Oh, that's got to be terrible. At least you have some family that isn't mad with you." The lucky student reassured. "Wait, you dyed your hair? And do you have a queen?"

"Yep, it actually used to be black before I went into the hostess business." She smiled, passing a card over to him. "Well actually, my upperclassman that helped me get into the business suggested that I dye my hair so that I can be more confident about myself. I don't get what she means now, but it seemed to work at the time."

"Wow, I really couldn't imagine dyeing my own hair. Utsuro gets enough jokes of being the emo kid in our family, I don't want them to be shifted to me!" Yuki chuckled. "I guess our versions of 'normal' are really different, huh? Well, I guess I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Me neither. Do you have a six?" Yoruko asked. Yuki passed his last card over to her as she put it with the other card in a pair. Even so, Yuki still had more pairs than her and had won their little game. "Drat. Good game."

At that moment, Setsuka came in to help prank Teruya and Mikado when they went to go swim in the pool.

Chapter Text

Late in the afternoon, Setsuka had dragged Yuki and Yoruko into pulling a prank on Teruya and Mikado at the pool in Satsuki Land. Setsuka's plan was for the three of them to jump out and scare the guys as a harmless prank, then laugh it off as they were scolded by the merchant in his thick country accent.

However, when they did jump out at the duo, they scared the almighty out of them enough to make them back up, which made Mikado fall into the pool. As it turned out, Mikado didn't know how to swim and he was too panicked to concentrate on using his magic, so Teruya had to dive into the pool to fish the wizard out.

After the trio apologized for everything, Mikado sulked back to the Monocruise for a change of clothes while Teruya looked for a towel to dry himself off with. Setsuka and Yoruko had left the pool area while Yuki stayed back to help the merchant look for a towel, hoping to apologize some more on his own behalf instead of Setsuka's.

"There isn't a towel in here..." Teruya grumbled as he continued searching a pool storage room.

"I found some in the change room!" Yuki called over, walking towards him with two towels in his arms. He handed them both to Teruya, who had only his swimsuit - or rather, rainbow speedo - on while his clothes were hanging off of the benches to dry.

"Hey, thanks!" The merchant exclaimed, chipperly going over to his wet clothes and sitting beside them.

Yuki went over and joined him as he rubbed himself down with the towel. "Listen, I'm really sorry for what happened." He apologized. "Setsuka dragged Yoruko and I into her prank, and we didn't know that Mikado was going to spook like that."

"I told you, Yuki, it's alright. I'm not mad." Teruya assured. "Though I'm going to bet that Mikado is, if not serious annoyed. You might want to apologize to him later."

"Yeah, I'll do that. If I don't, he might put extra salt in my supper." The lucky student joked. "But knowing him, he's probably going to play it off and say 'get over it' or something along those lines. Probably in a nicer way, since I don't think he says things that bluntly."

"Yeah, but you should still be prepared for some petty revenge on his part. Let's just hope that he goes easy on Yoruko and Setsuka." The taller boy laughed. He then paused and thought for a moment. "You know, this trip isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."

"Huh? But you're supposed to be on a mission from the Kisaragi Foundation, right? But you lost your memories..." Yuki recalled.

"Yes, but I remember a bit of what happened. The last time I was in a class and we got isolated from the rest of the world, we were forced to play a killing game. That's not happening now, so I'm grateful for that." Teruya explained. "Still, why was I sent here if there's no threat? And why on earth do you look so familiar?"

"I look familiar? I don't think we've met before." The ginger hummed in confusion. "Maybe you met Utsuro? We do look very similar."

"Maybe... but I can't remember for sure. It's really frustrating sometimes, you know. I guess Sora can understand everything I'm going through, but she can't remember anything at all, so I think she has it worse." The merchant paused for a few seconds. "I think I've seen her before as well, but where...?" He shook his head and sighed. "Maybe I'm just confused."

"Well, maybe Monocrow can help...?" Yuki regretted that question the second it came out of his mouth. "No, Monocrow doesn't have any power over anyone's memories, I think. Never mind, sorry."

"It's alright, it was a good idea." Teruya replied with a smile. "Maybe I should as Mikado instead, see if he has any magic to get my memories back. He did fly me into the air when we had a brief misunderstanding, but I'm glad that he let Rei head back unharmed." 

"Yeah, I thought he was going to toast her for sure! I'm glad that Monocrow managed to calm everyone down in time." The lucky student agreed. "Rei said that she was going to go back and let her boss know that you were here to supervise us, so I guess things turned out well in the end."

"Yeah, I agree. In the meantime, waiting for my clothes to dry is like staring at wet paint on a wall." The merchant sighed. "I can't just walk back in my swimsuit because Sora or someone else would scold me again, and if I change into Mikado's, which fits me, he's never gonna let me live it down."

"So you're stuck here, huh?" Yuki laughed.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Teruya exclaimed, reaching into his wet coat and fishing out his student handbook, which was thankfully waterproof. "Can you run back to my room and grab some spare clothes for me?"

"But we aren't allowed to loan each other's handbooks."

"...Crap."

Chapter Text

As Setsuka was investigating the second island for materials, she passed by Yuki, who was on his knees while searching one of the houses for materials. "Hey, Yu! Whatcha doing?" She called over, getting the lucky student's attention.

"Oh, Setsuka! Hey!" The ginger greeted, smiling as he saw her approaching. "I'm just checking out this house to see if there's anything that can be used to help us. And also to see if there's any crow cards in here."

"I think Syobs took them all when he first came to tell island. Unless Ra-ra caught him and told him off for it, that is. She seems to keep an eye on him more than the rest of us for some reason." The billiards player shrugged. "Well, I'll ask her about that later. In the meantime, have you found anything useful yet?"

"Sorry, not yet. Well, unless we need an extra bottle of water, but I highly doubt that." Yuki sighed. "I'll keep trying my best though, I'll search until I can find something more useful than a water bottle."

"Pfft, this kinda reminds me of the time that my friends and I almost got robbed and frisked by security guards at the same store." Setsuka laughed. "Man, that was a fun day!"

"You got WHAT?!" The lucky student exclaimed. "How could that be fun at all?!"

"Alright, let me start from the beginning. I didn't have many friends after I obtained my Devil's Eye, but Aiko and Narumi were two of my closest friends during that time. Narumi was visually impaired, so she couldn't care, and Aiko worked retail, which meant that she couldn't care even LESS." The billiards player began to retell. "The three of us decided to go on a shopping spree at the closest mall to our houses, and we had a lot of fun."

"Uh-huh, that seems reasonable..." Yuki slowly nodded.

"We then got thirsty after a bunch of running around, and I was hoping to get an iced tea or a green tea drink when we went to a small store in the corner of the mall. My two friends wanted energy drinks or just a smoothie." She continued. "But since they didn't have any of those options, our last choice was to get some water bottles from the store. The trouble started when we were going to pay for them."

"What, did you not want to pay for them?"

"We did, but we were going to get more trouble than we bargained for. And we didn't even do anything!" Setsuka exclaimed. "We picked out a bottle each and we went to the cashier, but our three bottles apparently didn't scan so she had to scan then twice more for each bottle. Narumi's card then suddenly declined, so she got another one out from her coat."

"Another credit card?!" Yuki repeated with wide eyes. "From her coat?!"

"Yeah, I didn't know how many that girl had. I think she went shopping a lot. Anyway, it was only after that the purchase went through. I think she tried to stop us from getting our receipt, but I took it with to read it and throw it out later." The billiards player added. "Before we went out of the store, I decided to check the receipt out of curiosity, and I saw that the purchase on it was for nine bottles, not three! I showed this to my friends, and they were pissed too."

"D-Did you just get robbed?"

"That's what we thought, so instead of leaving, we just turned around and took two more bottles each. The cashier snitched on us to security, saying that we were stealing, and a bunch of large people went to confront us." Setsuka continued. "So I explained what had happened, how the bottles 'didn't go through', how we had apparently bought nine water bottles, and we showed them the receipt and the bottles we had. I think the cashier might've gotten fired because I haven't seen them at that store again."

"As they deserved. Man, those people are really the worst." Yuki sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry that you had to run into that kind of person."

"Don't worry, it's just an exclusive part of the capitalist dystopia we live in!" The girl laughed with a smile. "Anyways, I think you might have better luck investigating at those houses over there." She advised, pointing at a string of houses far from the one Yuki was in. "I'll help you out too, and we can get our investigations done faster."

"R-Really? That's be great!" The lucky student brightened up, and he got up from his knees and bushed any dirt off of his pants. "I haven't found anything in this house, so we should go over there now!"

"Right behind ya." Setsuka smiled and followed Yuki as he began walking to the far houses.

Chapter Text

People around Yuki would often say that he had the patience of a saint growing up. He could tolerate most of the antics of the people around him and be the voice of reason when there was none. Even if he was overshadowed by the craziness and energy, or just plain ignored, he could still be the calm person that anchored another to sanity.

Such a situation began to unfold when Nikei had asked the lucky student to help him explore all around Higa City on the fifth island and help him to gather information on another article of his. Yuki tagged along with the hyper journalist as they went around the city.

"So, what exactly are you looking for here?" The ginger asked as the two boys went into the O-Mart. A blast of frigid convenience store air hit them both, but Nikei was not deterred.

"I'm looking for things that you simply can't find in the rest of the world, and I'm going to write reviews and a paragraph Each for them!" Nikei exclaimed. "For example, food items that were discontinued and pulled off shelves, buildings that you can't find or sightsee anywhere else, things like that! And where better to look than a store on a completely deserted island!"

"Well, you did find that drink that was discontinued years ago in the first island's mart on our second day here." Yuki chuckled. "Speaking of that, why don't we start with the food items? We can wash them down with the drinks next, so to speak."

"No, I'm gonna taste test them all! I have to be able to describe the tastes of all of them for my readers!" The journalist proclaimed, running to the snack aisle with Yuki on his heels.

"Nikei, wait! You're gonna make yourself sick!" With a sigh, the smaller boy paused to catch his breath. "Well, if you have to, why don't I help? We can split them so that neither of us will be sick for eating too much."

Nikei was practically bouncing on the spot when he heard the idea. "Yeah, that's a great plan! Ooh, we should do it in my room! That way, I can type out all of the descriptions right away!"

"You have something to type with in your room? How the hell did you get that?" Yuki questioned.

"Uh, I asked Monocrow. It's the same way everyone has a working joint Netflix account, Kokoro has research supplies, Setsuka has a goddamn minibar, and I have my work laptop." The journalist explained. "Even if Monocrow says that this is a school trip, I'm pretty sure he wants us to live here for our foreseeable future, so he can probably get you

"Is that the same reason why Iroha has a PlayRotation 4 in her room?" The ginger suddenly spoke up.

"Nah, she got it from Sora, who got it out of the prize machine." Nikei shrugged. "Don't ask me, I have no idea how Monocrow got a whole gaming console in a prize machine."

Pushing down a burst of confusion at the screwy logic on this island, Yuki decided to just drop the topic and start searching the shelves for the items that the journalist was looking for. He stifled his laughter as Nikei seemed to go through the shelves much faster than he was, his expression filled with excitement.

Finally, Nikei got everything he needed and piled it into a basket. He ran outside with Yuki close behind him, unaware that it had sudden started to rain. The journalist immediately tried to backpedal, but he backed up right into Yuki and almost knocked them both down. "Gah! Is this rain?! Why the hell is it raining here?!" He exclaimed.

"Well, it's always cloudy on this island, so I think that raining was inevitable." The lucky student pointed out, pushing Nikei away from his back and stepping around the journalist. "We should head back to the Monocruise and continue the rest of your note taking when the weather is better."

Meanwhile, Nikei wasn't listening as he hid his notepad underneath his jacket to keep it dry. "Oh god, I'm getting soaked! My notepad isn't going to make it!" He cried out as the rain grew heavier.

"It's just rain, you aren't gonna melt! Come on, we have to head back!" Yuki motioned for Nikei to follow him as he began running back to the Monocruise, which the journalist did with a basket in his hand. When they came through the entrance, soaking wet, Utsuro just sighed and pointed them in the direction of the laundry room.

Later on, Yuki went to Nikei's room and saw the journalist grumpily wrapped in a large towel as he typed things on his work laptop. The lucky student chuckled as he sat on a spare chair next to Nikei, ruffling the taller boy's hair as the latter exasperatedly huffed.

Chapter Text

"Ugh... I hate cleaning duty." Iroha grumbled, sweeping dust across the guest house's floor into a pile to put into a dustpan later. "I don't even know how to do it, so why make me clean...?"

"You know that it could be worse, right? You only have to clean the buildings and roads of the first island." Yuki pointed out, searching for materials in the same place. "Monocrow could've asked you to clean all five of the islands plus the Monocruise. Thankfully, Monocrow cleans the ship himself, so all you have to do in the end is sweeping. Besides, when's the last time YOU cleaned the bathroom?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It really could be worse." The painter sighed. "My old house didn't make me clean, but I'd rather do that than go back to my family."

"Huh? What did your family make you do?" The taller boy questioned.

Iroha stopped her sweeping and stared at the ground with a depressed expression. "...I don't want to talk about it." She murmured. Yuki looked at her with concern in his gaze, wondering what had happened between Iroha and her family.

He decided to quickly change the topic. "Anyways, at least you have to clean the buildings of this island. Cleaning the buildings and things of the third island is a nightmare, believe me. At least we get breaks on Sundays." Yuki chuckled.

"To be honest, I actually forget when Sundays are since we do this so much. It's basically a routine by now, and none of us have calendars." Iroha remarked.

"Monocrow won't let us have them either." He added. "I tried to ask him why, but he refused to tell me. Don't you think that's weird?"

"W-Well, at least Kokoro has the time and date on her tablet! She said something about a 'backup chip' that she keeps with her, so all you have to have to do is ask her for the day!" The painter then paused in thought. "I wonder if that 'backup chip' is tasty? And why's Kokoro not eating it? It's going to go stale!"

"Um, Iroha, that's not what a backup chip is..." Yuki awkwardly interrupted. "She means a piece of plastic and metal that has a bunch of data that goes into her tablet. It's not edible, and I doubt that shell let you near it in the first place. It's already in her tablet anyway."

"O-Oh... I didn't know." Iroha stuttered. "I never heard of it and never went to school, so-"

"Wait, you've never went to school? Then how were you enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy?!" The lucky student questioned. "One of the prerequisites for coming here is to already be in high school!"

"Well, it wasn't an education school that helps you learn. My parents enrolled me into Egakijaka School of Art, it was a private school that the Nijiue family helped to fund. They told me that they wanted to create painters that would at least be worthy of the Nijiue family name..." The smaller girl sniffled.

"Oh my god, why would they say that to you? That's awful! Nobody should be saying that to a kid!" He exclaimed. "I can already tell that your parents weren't very good at all. How did you put up with them?"

"I...I ran away. As soon as I was able to get a single bit of freedom, I used it to run." Iroha confessed. "I-I couldn't take it, a-and..."

All of a sudden, the painter dropped her broomstick and ran towards Yuki, wrapping her arms around his midsection and beginning to sob into his chest. The taller boy wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed her back, tracing small circles with his fingers.

Utsuro came into the doorway of the guest house to help collect materials, but paused when he saw the tiny painter crying into his brother's chest. The emotionless boy did the only thing that was logical to him and left the two, opting not to disturb anything important.

Yuki didn't know how long Iroha had cried for, but by the time she lifted her head up and tried to regain her composure, it was almost noon. "Here, do you want me to help you with sweeping? You can hold the dustpan, I'll do the work. It's not like I've found that many materials around today anyway." Yuki offered.

"...Y-Yes please." The painter wiped her tears away with her sleeve and bent down to grab the dustpan while Yuki went to get the broom.

The two of them were able to get the cleaning work done faster with them both working together, and by the time the 'morning chores' were over, the cleaning had been finished. When the duo went back to the Monocruise, they went to Iroha's room so that she could clean herself up and have some TLC before she rejoined the others.

Chapter Text

As everybody knew, Shinji, Hajime, and Sora went out for a jog every morning. But after breakfast, the albino would trade places with Yuki, who was always dragged into daily training by his 'big bro'. The ginger had no idea why the firefighter had taken specifically him under his wing, but he wasn't able to protest against it in the end.

Most of the time, Shinji and Yuki only trained by themselves, but Hajime would sometimes make their training duo into a training trio. The three of them enjoyed exercising at the first island's park or the second island's mountain, where there was plenty of nature to collapse on to catch their breaths and cloudgaze when they were finished.

One bright afternoon, where there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, Hajime, Shinji, and Yuki were all training together at the mountain on the second island. According to Shinji, the three of them were going to trek up the mountain, do a bunch of exercises at the top for as long as they could, then trek down and ask Mikado for a healthy snack before they showered and rested.

When they managed to climb up the mountain and get to the top, the three boys started exercising with jumping jacks, push ups, and sit ups until they decide to take a quick water break in the shade. As Hajime pointed out, exercising without drinking water to hydrate yourself isn't healthy, to which the other two had agreed.

After fifteen minutes of rest, Shinji had to go somewhere away from the other two to use the bathroom, leaving the lucky student and the boxer alone together. "He should be back soon, shouldn't he?" Yuki asked the blonde.

"Yeah, he never really takes long." Hajime shrugged, taking another sip of water. "I've got a question for you. How did Shinji actually manage to rope you into our training sessions? Are you a training fanatic too?"

"Well, uh, I'm actually not." The lucky student began to explain. "On our first day here, when I was exploring the island with Sora, we went to the park and found Big Bro there. He made me speak louder to him and say that I was the world's greatest guy, then he took me under his wing, so to speak. He did get flustered by Sora being there, but when I laughed, he made me exercise with him until Sora pulled me away."

"Yep, sounds like Shinji. I'm glad that Sora was able to save your hide though, especially since you hadn't even warmed up before the exercise. That wouldn't be good for your muscles." The boxer remarked. "But hey, even if you aren't a training fanatic, it's great to have some company while training!"

"Um, if it's okay to ask, why are you obsessed with training?" Yuki inquired. "I mean, if I was as crazy about it as you and Big Bro and still wanted to continue my life plans, I'd probably get a partner that'll be confused about my habits and say 'I don't know why I married you' while still loving and supporting me."

"W-Well, I can't miss a day, you know!" Hajime suddenly became frantic as he spoke.  "The unhealthier you are, the more likely that you'll get really sick, so I have to keep this up to stay strong and healthy! I wouldn't miss a day, even if a war broke out!"

"H-Hey, it's okay! I'm not criticizing you!" The ginger quickly interrupted. "I just wanted to know why! But if you don't want to say, then it's okay!"

The boxer took a deep breath and settled down. "Nah, it's my fault that I overreacted like that. Well, I guess training was something that was instilled into me long ago when I was just becoming a boxer. Before that, I was young and dumb. I ran with a bad crowd and did stupid things to my health, like doing drugs and drinking alcohol. When a retired boxing pro showed up, all of the gang, including me, were beaten, and I was basically adopted by that man and taught how to be healthy." He retold.

"Woah...I wouldn't never thought." The smaller boy commented with wide eyes. "I could never imagine someone like you to be unhealthy now!"

"Well, that's because the old boxing pro whipped me into shape and gave me new morals." Hajime chuckled. "And later on, I became the Ultimate Boxer!"

"I wouldn't have guessed that you had a past like that, but I'm glad that you're doing better now!" Yuki smiled cheerfully. "Maybe Hope's Peak Academy I'll give you a fresh start! After all, it's supposed to guarantee success for its graduates!"

"Heh, looking forward to it." The boxer then looked down the mountain and saw a blur of red approaching. "Looks like Shinji's coming back. Hurry, make it look like you're doing sit ups before he arrives!"

Chapter Text

As Yuki was walking out of his dorm room, he spotted the psychologist attempting to carry a bunch of machinery down the stairs on her own. With the lack of physical strength in her body, she was having a hard time, but she soldiered on with determination in her actions.

"Woah, Kokoro?! That looks heavy!" The lucky student exclaimed, heading towards the stairs. "H-Here, I can help carry it for you! I don't think hurting yourself is a good idea!"

Kokoro looked over at Yuki running up to her and sighed. "Well, I suppose that some help would be beneficial to me. This is a little heavier than expected, but it can't be helped when it comes to moving it down a staircase." She agreed.

With a little bit of effort, Kokoro handed the machinery in her arms to Yuki and rubbed her sore limbs. Since Yuki had trained a lot with Shinji, he was able to carry all of it in his arms without a problem. "Alright, where do you want me to take this?" The lucky student asked.

"To the library. There are a few books there that I want to research in order to input their data into the machinery." The psychologist explained. "It's for my work on researching emotions, I need a few references."

"Okay!" Upon hearing where he was supposed to go, Yuki got to work bringing the machinery down the stairs and to the library. Kokoro trailed behind him as he went, and he realized that the psychologist was right about the weight increasing when moving down the stairs. Yuki had a feeling that it would be tougher moving the machinery back up the stairs and that Kokoro would want his help for that as well.

A few minutes later, the two of them had arrived in the library on the second floor. Per the smaller girl's direction, Yuki placed it on the table and Kokoro helped to set it up. "You're wondering how I'm planning to use the reference books for my emotion research, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically. "I needed to refresh myself on what parts of the brain are used for what reaction, like excitability, distress, and lying. I've seen quite a lot of people lie on this island. They aren't very good at it."

"Yeah, you can't exactly lie to an Ultimate Psychologist, especially not to your face." Yuki chuckled. "Have you ever lied to me?"

"Only small white lies." Kokoro assured. "For example, 'the outside world is probably fine. We should leave matters like that to Monocrow.' or 'I can get a small signal from the radio detector, but we don't need rescuing since we aren't in danger.'"

"Wait, those were lies?!" The lucky student yelped,then lowered his volume once he remembered that he was in a library. "In that case, what's going on in the outside world?! And what about the signal?!"

"...In truth, I have no idea about the status of the outside world. I have no way to tell if anything had happened or not, but Monocrow's words are concerning, to say the least." The psychologist admitted. "As for the signal, it wasn't small in the slightest. It was dead silent, but I wasn't lying when I said that we don't need rescuing since we aren't in danger. Monocrow probably cut it off so that nobody can find us on this island."

"He did mention that something had happened and that he was keeping us safe." Yuki recalled. "But the question is who is our enemy?"

"I don't know that. But there are a few students here who are suspicious and behave irregularly." Kokoro mentioned. "Iroha, Hajime, Mikado, Emma, Nikei, and Utsuro. I believe that they either are affiliated with Monocrow or brought us to this island."

"My own brother?!" Yuki exclaimed. "But I've spent almost my entire life with him! How could he have brought us here?!"

"'Almost' your entire life with him?" She repeated.

"Well, he just looks similar to me, but he's adopted." He confessed. "We're not actually twins, my mother found him wandering the streets, thought he was me, then brought him home and realized her mistake. She let him stay since he had nowhere to go."

"Well, he feels really suspicious to me. I have to keep an eye on him, just in case." The psychologist walked over to a shelf and picked out a book. "Could you bring over any psychology books you can find, as well as books on the human brain?"

"Yeah, sure!" The lucky student replied, heading to the shelves and searching carefully. He wasn't really sure why Kokoro suspected those six students, including his brother, who were friendly and hadn't done anything wrong. But another thing's for sure, he wouldn't enjoy carrying the machinery back up the stairs.

Chapter Text

The afternoon was sunny and the sky was clear, and Yuki was spending some of his afternoon at the third island's casino. He wasn't planning on gambling with his crow cards, but he wanted to try out the karaoke machine in the corner. He had been told that there were a lot of songs on the machine, so he was enthusiastic to try while Shinji had let him go for the meantime.

While Yuki was singing 'I Don't Need Your Love' inside, Hibiki was passing outside and heard the music. Kanade wasn't with her because she had gone to bother Syobai in some way, which meant that her sister wasn't there to stop her from spying on whoever was singing inside.

When she saw that it was Yuki singing inside, she was surprised and impressed. For all the lucky student's talk of being absolutely normal and lesser than his classmates, he was surprisingly good at singing. Her eyes lit up, thinking that she could even recruit him to be a backup singer for Melody Rhythm.

But to do that, she'd need to try and give him some singing lessons. And in order to do THAT, she'd need to keep listening to him and hear how good he is so far. Staying as silent as she could, she leaned closer to the sound while still staying out of sight.

A couple minutes later, Yuki had finished his song and was about to choose another when he heard a shrill scream outside. He ran outside and saw Hibiki catching her breath against the wall of the casino while Utsuro stood nearby, his face as emotionless as ever.

"I saw her spying on you, so I came up behind her and asked what she was doing." He explained. He looked over at Hibiki, then back to Yuki. "I'll leave the rest of this to you." Utsuro spoke before walking away.

Yuki looked over at Hibiki. "Wait, why were you spying on me?" He asked.

The vocalist stood back up with a chipper smile. "I heard you from out here! Why didn't you tell us that you had a good singing voice, Yuyu?" She asked with a giggle. "I simply couldn't ignore it and had to listen in!"

"Th-That's kind of weird, isn't it?" Yuki stammered, his face turning red. "I-I'm not that good of a singer, a-and I'm not good with big audiences. I was just interested in the karaoke machine I was told is here."

"Aw, and I was planning on recruiting you as  backup singer too." Hibiki whined, then perked up right away. "Well, if you want, I can give you some tutoring with singing! With some practice, you could become an amazing singer!"

"T-Tutoring? Well, I guess-" Yuki didn't get to finish his sentence before the smaller girl grabbed his hand and immediately began to pull him in the direction of the Monocruise.

"Great, let's go!" The vocalist exclaimed, hyper and ready to tutor.

A few minutes later, they had gotten back to the Monocruise and had gone to Yoruko for some tea before entering Hibiki's room. Since she had Kanade around her room a lot, some of the guitarist's things were littered across the room.

Hibiki nearly stumbled on one of her shoes and grumbled. "If I trip over one more of your shoes, I'm throwing them all away." The vocalist sighed.

"Wait, but isn't that your shoe?" Yuki questioned.

"No, we have the initial of our first name on the inside of them, see?" Hibiki held up the shoe, showing him the 'K' written in sharpie on the sole. "That way, we'll never mix up our shoes! Trust me, we have the same foot size, so only one of us needs to go shoe shopping with our parents!"

"Oh, I see. It must be pretty convenient to be twins, huh?" The lucky student chuckled. "Though, I guess that doesn't really apply to the rest of your clothes. You're a lot skinner than Kanade, so you probably need smaller clothes."

"Ugh, tell me about it! Going back-to-school shopping is a nightmare! We have to find clothes on two different sizes while trying to keep our identities hidden to avoid paparazzi!" The vocalist huffed. "Well, Hope's Peak Academy is supposed to have a store, right? And besides, Monocrow has a bunch of clothes in our size that we can wear without paparazzi around...well, Kei doesn't count."

"Even if we don't know why we're here, at least Monocrow is generous enough to provide living accommodations. And Mikado can cook too, so even the celebrities of our group can have some time off!" Yuki agreed.

"Wait a second, we're getting sidetracked. I'm supposed to be giving you singing lessons." Hibiki reminded both Yuki and herself. "Well, let's go grab my radio, and we can sing 'I Need a Hero' to warm up our voices a little bit!"

Chapter Text

"This is the last time I get myself roped into one of Mikado's little 'plans'!" Kanade fumed. "The next time he wants something of me, he can shove that request up his ass!"

"Aren't you supposed to be the adult between us? I mean, all that ranting..." Yuki nervously chuckled. "On the bright side, at least it won't be that hard, right?"

"Yeah, because going into Higa City while there's a storm to collect metal components so that we can complete this week's project in time is clearly going to go well." The guitarist huffed. "I told that wizard to come, but he was like 'oh no, I'm scared of lightning and power outages' so he wouldn't come with us!"

"Sounds like he needs to spend a bit of time with Big Bro, don't you think? With him, Mikado will be too tired to be scared." The ginger suggested. "Unless he has some sort of phobia against it, like how Hajime has one against illness, but couldn't a wizard be able to manipulate weather in the first place?"

"Hm, good point, Yuki! That adds another to the list of why I'm going to throw something at Mikado after this." The shorter girl giggled. "That is, of course, if neither of us don't get struck by lightning while carrying metal objects."

"Come on, don't say scary stuff like that! We're going to be fine!" The lucky student exclaimed in a panic. "We should hurry and grab the items before the storm gets worse."

With the guitarist by his side, Yuki started walking faster and into one of the many storage buildings on the fifth island, where he was sure that there were many spare parts around. Kanade was much faster at spotting them compared to him, and she darted forward to pick up the spare tools and scrap materials lying around.

Once their arms were full, Yuki looked around and spotted a large bag for them to put the items in. The guitarist once again praised him for his smarts and found another bag for them to use. Now, with their hands free and a lot of room still left in the bag, they continued searching through the storm for spare parts.

Finally, when their bags were full, Yuki immediately turned around. "Let's head back to the Monocruise and hand the items to the rest of the group!" He suggested.

"Yeah, and maybe dry ourselves off too!" Kanade added. "And after that, that wizard better have a thousand apologies ready for us!"

The two of them started running back to the Monocruise as fast as they could, trying not to slip on the wet pavement as they did. When they finally climbed the stairs to board the ship, a small crowd had formed to welcome them back.

"Kana, Yu! I'm glad you're safe!" Setsuka greeted, getting out of their way.

"Here, I brought some towels." Sora added, then motioned to Shinji. "Just pass the bags to him, then he can take them to Kokoro and Syobai."

"Thanks, guys." Yuki sighed in relief, passing his bag to the firefighter and taking a towel from Sora in exchange. Once Kanade did the same, Shinji started walking to the dining room to deliver the materials.

Mikado clapped his hands in delight. "I'm glad you made it back safe and sound, my comrades!" He cheered. "And with the materials I asked you to get too! My, you're amazing workers!"

Kanade's smile began to grow eerier as she stepped towards the wizard. "Oh, Mikado~" She cooed with dark eyes. "Why did you have the 'bright' idea of having us collecting metal resources in the middle of a thunderstorm?"

"We could've gotten electrocuted!" Yuki joined in. "You didn't even come with us!"

"I-I told you, right? I'm terrified of lightning. I might be able to deal with fire and darkness, but storms are completely off-limits for me." The blonde whimpered. "Had I not been scared of it, I would've gone with you! I'm being honest!"

Kanade looked at the panicking wizard with a deadpan expression, unsure on whether she should slap him or not. In the end, she just settled for ignoring him and drying herself off. "Yuki, we should go change into some dry clothes, then we can go to the dining hall to help out." She decided, beginning to walk towards the stairs.

Agreeing that it was a good idea, the lucky student began to follow her to the stairs as the rest of the small group headed to the dining hall. They had to part ways when Yuki got to his floor before Kanade did, but he managed to change quickly and waited at the stairs for Kanade to join him.

It took her a little bit longer to change, mostly because she spent half the time plotting how to get even with Mikado.

Chapter Text

"Alright, Yuki! We're going to do our run through the forest today!" Shinji proclaimed, pointing to the seemingly endless forest at the end of the fifth island. "It might not be as much of a challenge as climbing the mountain on the second island, but this forest looks pretty dense!"

"Isn't this the forest that Mikado warned us about?" Yuki spoke up. "I'm pretty sure he told us that this is a forest you can't get lost in since it magically turns you around and sends you back to the beginning without knowing it. So I guess that's a plus, but we should still be careful."

"The only thing we need to be careful about is the regular things in a forest, like making sure we don't trip over roots and such." The firefighter advised. "But this forest shouldn't be too difficult to handle! Come on, Yuki, let's go!" He exclaimed, beginning a jog into the overgrowth.

"Ugh... I'd take mountain climbing over this." Yuki sighed, but he began running after Shinji anyway, not wanting to know what Shinji will do if he didn't catch up. Probably make him do some other intense exercise, which made Yuki hurry faster.

He quickly caught up to the firefighter and slowed down to jog beside him. "There you are! Alright, watch your step! There are a lot of roots over in this area!" Shinji warned, jumping over them while Yuki struggled not to trip over them. The lucky student sighed, wondering what god had blessed Shinji with strength and what temple he had to go to so that he could pray there.

As he and Shinji ran through the woods, he noticed that it was slowly beginning to get darker. It wasn't from the time, as the two of them had left the Monocruise at noon sharp, but it was the branches covering the sky and barely letting any light through. Yuki was a bit nervous, but he could see Shinji with the little light he had, so he soldiered on.

When they thought that they had reached the heart of the woods, they saw an oddly-shaped rock that looked a bit like a triangular prism. "Huh. Wonder why that's there." Shinji remarked, slowing down to touch it. "Yeah, that's not a fake rock. It's fascinating to see what nature can create, isn't it? All that erosion made it into a smooth shape."

"I don't think that rocks form into stuff like that on their own." The ginger commented. "Maybe I can ask Monocrow or Mikado about this later."

"Yes, later. For now, we should get back to our run." Shinji turned around and started jogging again with Yuki hurrying after him.

After a few minutes of jogging beside each other, the dirt suddenly started to cave in under Yuki's feet. "WOAH!" He cried, losing his balance and falling into the hole. He groaned and stood up, then tried to scale the wall. Unsurprisingly, the dirt crumbled under his hands. "B-Big Bro, I'm stuck! Help me!" He yelled up.

Shinji looked over the edge and sighed in relief, seeing that Yuki wasn't hurt. "I'll find something to pull you up with, just hold on!" He called back, his rescuing instincts from years of firefighting kicking in.

While Yuki calmly sat in the sinkhole and waited for rescue, Shinji went to the nearby trees and collected some vines from them, tying them together into a rope. He ran back over to the side of the hole and threw one end of it down to the lucky student.

Yuki took a deep breath and grabbed the end of the vines, holding onto them tightly as he climbed the dirt wall. At the top, the firefighter slowly pulled the vines up as Yuki stepped closer to the top. Finally, when the lucky student was near the top, Shinji reached one arm out and pulled Yuki over the side.

Yuki lay on the firefighter's lap, exhausted from his climb. "...Thanks, Big Bro. I couldn't even tell that there was a sinkhole." He confessed.

"Neither did I, all the dirt looked the same colour to me. It might've been because of the lighting here that we couldn't tell." Shinji agreed. "Maybe we shouldn't use this as a training site again, we don't want to risk our health. Maybe we should ask Monocrow about the sinkholes."

"Does that mean that we're sticking to climbing the mountain on the second island when we want to do something with nature?" The ginger asked.

"Yeah, or the forest on the first island. But not this place." The firefighter ushered Yuki to his feet before standing up himself. "Now, let's head back to the Monocruise and get you a new change of clothes. You're covered in dirt."

"Y-Yeah, sure!" And with that, the two boys began their jog again.

Chapter Text

After a brief interval of rain over the third island, Monocrow had cleaned up the water and deemed the rides of the amusement park safe to use. Only a handful of people had wanted to go there today anyway, so the problem had quickly been solved.

One of the people who wanted to check out the amusement park was Emma, who had just spent the early afternoon posing for one of Iroha's paintings and sharing small talk with the other girl. Now, she wanted a thrill to light up her boring afternoon, so she wanted to try going on a few of the rollercoasters again. Of course, she made sure that she hadn't eaten before she left for the third island, she had spent enough time with Nikei to know that eating before moving around a lot could lead to some very bad results.

As she walked over to Department A, where all the rides were, she almost ran into Yuki, who was sitting to the side and writing something down in a notebook. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" The actress apologized, stepping away from the lucky student so that she wouldn't run into him again.

"Oh, it's fine, don't worry!" Yuki quickly assured, closing his notebook and putting it into his pocket. "You didn't run into me, I'm okay."

"Hm?" Emma leaned to the side and looked at his pocket. "What do you have there? A notebook?"

"Yeah, um, I'm keeping a journal of everything that happened on this island so that I can show my mother when I get home." The lucky student explained. "She's probably worried sick, so I at least want to tell her that Utsuro and I weren't in any danger during our stay here."

"Yes, I see. I should probably do that for my parents as well." The blonde mused. "Well, I'm happy that you and your brother came to this island. You're very nice, even if you treated me overly formally at first, and I have actually been looking for Utsuro for a long time now."

"You have? Do you know him?" Yuki questioned.

"He...well..." Emma paused, trying find a way to not give away too much information to the ginger. "...He helped me out of a bad place when I was younger. I'll always be grateful for that. And now that I've seen him again, I'm sure that I won't go back to the place I was before."

"Oh...that must've been before we adopted him. I wonder if he's saved other lives." The lucky student hummed.

"Yes, many more, a lot more than just I." The actress sighed. She then brightened up, changing the subject. "Anyways, our parents must be worried sick. At least we'll be able to come home safe and sound, am I right?"

"Yeah! I mean, Monocrow hasn't said when we get to go home, but I like it here! It's almost like everyone here is becoming closer!" Yuki agreed. "But I think that's what Monocrow was aiming for all along, for all of us to learn to cooperate together."

"Hmhm, well, I'm not opposed to his agenda. I'm actually having fun on this trip!" Emma exclaimed, giggling to herself. "A place where I can just be myself instead of trapped in the role that society wants, this is all ice ever wanted!"

"Haha, I'm glad that you're happy in a place like this!" The ginger chuckled lightheartedly. "Anyway, what are you doing on this island? Are you planning to go on one of the rollercoasters?"

"Yes, I wanted to enjoy the thrill of being in motion after being a subject of a painting after lunch." The taller girl replied. "Say, do you want to go on one with me? I think it'll be quite fun!"

"Uh, sure! I don't have much to do this afternoon, so I don't see why not." Yuki stood up and walked to Emma's side. "So, which one do you want to go on first?"

"Hmm... I want to try that big one over there!" The actress pointed to a nearby rollercoaster. "Unless you're to scared to?"

"I swear, I'm not scared. I'm pretty sure your puns would kill me faster than a rollercoaster ever could." The lucky student commented. "Besides, Monocrow wouldn't let us get hurt by these machines anyways. He keeps saying that our safety is of top priority."

"Yet he didn't stop you and Kanade from running out into a storm to collect metal materials." Emma remarked.

"I think he was busy fixing something in the game room. I think that Big Bro might've accidentally broken the pool table again while leaning on it." Yuki recalled. "He told me that his billiards game with Setsuka was a draw, so I think that's what happened there."

As Emma laughed at the offhand story, the two of them arrived at the rollercoaster and strapped themselves in. Needless to say, Emma's afternoon wasn't boring anymore.

Chapter Text

Because it started to rain again, Yuki decided to spend the day inside the Monocruise as to not get wet. He didn't want to wait for the dryer to be free in order to clean his clothes. Instead, he settled for going to the library to see if they had comic books.

Apparently, Yuki hadn't been watching where he was going, and he bumped into Yuri, who was admiring the grandfather clock outside of the library. "Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" Yuki frantically apologized. "I was lost in thought, I didn't notice you!"

However, the spaceman didn't seem fazed and only sighed. "Typical. Of course males don't pay attention." He spoke, not even turning to face the lucky student.

Yuki had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "If we're going to live here for a long time, would it kill to be a little more civil?" He sighed, already having a feeling that his request was going to be a lost cause.

"Why on earth should I be civil with scum like you? This is even a poor excuse of a kidnapping!" Yuri scoffed. "I'm not tied up or put anywhere, but having to cooperate with men is a new form of torture!"

"Torture?! You've been tortured before?!" Yuki exclaimed. "Yuri, this is a school trip! It's not a kidnapping at all! Sure, I don't know how we all got here, but nobody's lives are in danger or anything!"

"You say that, but you truly have no knowledge of what being kidnapped is like." The spaceman huffed. "A bunch of talented students taken from their homes with no prior knowledge of their predicament, being told that this is a school trip but refused their memories of how they arrived... As an expert of being kidnapped for ten years, I must say, this is a well-thought out kidnapping."

"Ten years?! Good god, Yuri! How many times have you been kidnapped?!" The ginger questioned.

"I only remember the exact details of thirty-seven of my kidnappings. I may have lost count after the fiftieth. You forget that I am the heir to a conglomerate in Russia, but that should be expected of a male." Yuri practically rolled his eyes through his words. "At least this kidnapping is accommodating, but there's no doubt that the culprit is planning something horrible."

"Something...horrible?" Yuki hesitated. "What do you mean by that? We were promised that we could go home after something was over. Monocrow said something along the lines of 'preserving the symbols of hope for the next generation', so I don't think he's planning anything."

"Preserving? Then perhaps he's just keeping us here and taking care of us while our real captors are negotiating something. I must say, he's doing a good job." The spaceman acknowledged. "This reminds me of my thirty-seventh kidnapping, but I doubt that I could use the same method of escape like back then."

"Yuri...what happened on your thirty-seventh kidnapping?" The taller boy asked.

"Hmph, why should I tell a male that? You would only try and make sure that I cannot escape again." He turned his head away. "That knowledge is dangerous in your hands."

"Huh? But I can't kidnap anyone for the life of me! It's just wrong!" The lucky student reasoned. "And besides, you're a lot stronger and smarter than I am. If the rest of us know what happened back then, then we can use that knowledge to escape this situation if it gets dangerous. You'd at least want the girls to be safe, right? Then maybe telling me would remind you and help you make a plan!" 

Yuri turned his head back and silently considered his options. Yuki prayed that he at least got through to him. "Fine, but only because it will remind me for the ladies' sake." The spaceman huffed. "I was on a business trip to Saudi Arabia with my father, and we took this strange plane with these seats with holes on the arms. I saw a woman put her drink in it, and it held it up. I thought it was strange at the time."

"What do you think a cupholder is for?" Yuki awkwardly chuckled.

"Don't interrupt. Anyway, when we arrived at Saudi Arabia, I was told to wait at the front while he talked with some officials about our lodgings. Soon, a man in a suit told me that my father had arranged for me to go with them to a room for my lodgings. He took me onto another plane, this one quite first-class and luxurious, and it took off into the air." Yuri continued. "I only realized that I was kidnapped when I looked out the window and saw the plane circling the city. Otherwise, a few men served me and took care of me while I was up there. I managed to escape to challenging the captain to a drinking game at night. He put the plane on autopilot and lost the game, so I was able to get to the plane while all the men were asleep. I landed the plane and found my way back to my father."

"Wow, you're really smart. I don't think I would've thought of challenging him to a drinking game." Yuki marvelled. "But on the other hand, you were on a plane, so it's probably going to be tougher to escape this island."

"I simply need to find the controls for this ship, incapacitate Monocrow, then steer the ladies to safety. You makes are just bonuses, I suppose." The spaceman huffed.

"But thanks for telling me your story. It was very interesting, and I'd like to hear more of them!" Yuki thanked. He quickly ducked into the library as Yuri processed his statement.

A few seconds later, he heard muffled shouting. "What the-?! Insolent male, how dare you trick me! Пошел ты, сволочь!"

Chapter Text

It was no secret that when Mikado had any free time that he wasn't spending with anyone, he would go somewhere secluded and meditate. The first step to handling magic was to have a focused mind, and the wizard had to tame his temper in order to use it.

Today, nobody he usually talked to was available, so Mikado decided to walk to the Tower of Babel. The place gave him the creeps, especially since his magic didn't actually work inside that place, but it was quiet, cold, and served as a good place to relax his mind and focus on the emptiness around him.

Today, he walked to the break room and closed the large wooden door behind him before sitting down cross-legged on the carpet. The brisk, stagnant air weighed down on Mikado as he put his hands on his knees and closed his eyes, clearing his mind and allowing himself to fall into a trance...

...which kept getting interrupted when his student handbook started to buzz and wouldn't stop. The wizard grew annoyed with this and took it out of his pocket, placing it a distance away from him and casting a silencing spell on it. He returned to his previous position and attempted to get back into his meditation.

However, since the spell did nothing to stop the vibrations, Mikado gave up and checked what was making his handbook go off. Once he turned it on and looked at the screen, his mask's eye went wide and he quickly began running out of the tower as fast as he could into an area where he could teleport.

Yuki waited impatiently in his room as he stared at his handbook, looking at the messages that he sent to Mikado. The handbook had silently indicated that they had just been read, and the lucky student was hoping that the wizard was going to come over soon. He occasionally glanced at the two thick books that he had on his table.

A few seconds later, Mikado teleported into his room. "My sincerest apologies for being late!" He anncounced, quickly walking over to the table and grabbing one of the books.

"You know when your handbook buzzes, it means I'm trying to talk to you, right?" Yuki chuckled. "Well, at least you showed up."

"I was meditating in the Tower of Babel, I didn't expect that you'd want to read beside me today." The wizard sat down on the bed next to the lucky student, taking off his shoes and opening his book. "Hm, 'Maze Runner'? I think I saw Utsuro read this the other day."

"Yeah, he said that he liked the book, so I figured that you might want to read it. This was actually a book I recommended to him." The lucky student explained.

"Hm, you two share the same tastes too?" Mikado asked. "I thought you said that he was adopted."

"He is, he's just so similar to me that we just say that we're twins to avoid confusion." Yuki mused. "It's kinda weird how Utsuro looked a lot like me, but my family took him in as their child anyway. He acts like he's never been in a normal house before."

"You think you can indoctrinate a person like him to normalcy?" The wizard chuckled sarcastically, nearly rolling his eyes. "That would probably be impossible, even for you, Mr. Maeda."

"I'm completely normal, so I'm used to normal things." The ginger assured. "Even if my new twin doesn't know normal, I have all the experience I need to help him!"

"Utsuro's life is anything but normal." Mikado muttered, almost in a trance-like state. "I don't think it's a coincidence that he looks like you..."

"What do you mean by that?" Yuki asked, alarmed from hearing those words from the wizard.

Mikado snapped back to reality and paused as he thought about what he said. "...I'm not sure. My head's been having weird thoughts lately. I think I need to lie down." He sighed.

"Why don't you lie down here? You can use the rest." Yuki offered. "I don't mind you lying on me while I read."

"Thank you." Mikado nodded gratefully as he removed his mask, hat, and cape and placed them next to his shoes on the floor. He reclined on the bed and turned onto his side, wrapping his arms around Yuki as he rested his head on the smaller boy's chest.

The lucky student blushed as he watched the wizard close his eyes and begin to drift off to sleep. Yuki continued reading and tried to make as little movement and sound as possible, especially when Mikado's breathing finally evened out and the blonde finally fell asleep. The smaller boy could only smile, seeing the wizard's emotionless face finally display one of total peace.

Chapter Text

As Syobai sat in the library alone, he looked around and listened closely to see if anyone would enter before pulling a comic book off of the shelf. He didn't remember if he had read comic books before his parents left him in Vietnam, but he was curious about what the appeal was. Was it to gain back lost childhood? Who knows.

As he flipped through the comic book while being cautious of his surroundings, the lights suddenly flickered. Though he thought it odd, considering how many spare parts the class had collected to easily make repairs, he payed no attention to it until the lights went out. A few seconds later, some dim lights came from above and barely illuminated the area.

"What the hell is going on?" The broker muttered, putting the comic book back on the shelf. He decided to leave the library and go outside on the balcony, even though it was nighttime. As he wandered through the halls to get to the balcony, the announcement display suddenly turned on and Monocrow appeared.

"My apologies, students, but the power seems to have gone out. The fault is directly on my end, so no actions are needed from you. However, as the main power has gone out, there is no air conditioning, heating, and the washing machines and fridges have turned off." The teacher informed. "As such, you will need to spend the night in Higa City's hotels until the problem is fixed. Please note that I have made key cards for you all, but the ones I managed to clean and prepare on short notice are some rooms with two beds inside."

"Tch, I need to share a room?" Syobai practically rolled his eyes. "Let's hope that the person I gotta room with doesn't snore. Hell, I'll sleep outside if I have to."

"I have already chosen partners to a room, and I will be handing out the key cards at the entrance to the Monocruise." The crow continued. "The partners will be Sora and Yuki, Kanade and Hajime, Hibiki and Emma, Yuri and Kokoro, Shinji and Nikei, Yoruko and Syobai, Setsuka and Mikado, and Iroha and Teruya. As it is evening, please hurry to your hotels rooms. I don't want my students to lose any sleep."

Syobai huffed as he began to walk to the stairs. He never really talked to Yoruko that much, especially since he mostly avoided people in general. But from his interactions with her, he could tell that she was bubbly and had a few more braincells than a few of her other classmates. Not enough to make him respect her in his business, but enough to see through a bluff and keep a conversation going.

He quickly managed to get to the entrance and took his card from Monocrow before the bird had a chance to speak. The boat was docked on the fourth island today, but since there were bridges connecting all the islands, the Monocruise moving was unnecessary. But Syobai was thankful that they were at the fourth island since there were cars and other means of travel in a parking lot beside the bridge. Hopping on a motercycle and turning it on, he sped off down the bridge in record time.

He soon managed to get to his hotel room, but he heard the sound of music coming from inside. He opened the door without knocking and ignored the fact that Yoruko was singing karaoke. "Turn that shit off, I'm going to sleep." The broker sighed, kicking his shoes off at the foot of his bed and climbing under the sheets.

The hostess turned her music off and looked over at Syobai. "You seem grumpier than normal. I won't pry, but I just gotta let you know that Setsuka's holding a party downstairs." She walked over to his bedside table and placed a small package down. "Here, some earplugs. I was supposed to bring extras for myself, but you look like you need more sleep than I do."

"How the hell are you able to tell if a person needs sleep or not compared to if they want to relax?" Syobai questioned. "And these are free, right? No take-backs."

"Those are free, you need them more than I do. And seeing signs of sleep is one of many things a hostess has to notice." Yoruko walked away from his bed and back to her own. While she was out of his line of sight, the broker quickly put the earplugs in and rolled over going to sleep.

Yoruko looked over at him and sighed. In truth, she had gotten those earplugs from the prize machine and didn't know where to buy them, but he was surprisingly tolerant of sharing a room with her. She chalked it up to his sleepiness that he was able to fall for a lie like that, and she got into bed and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the sound of the music downstairs.

Chapter Text

"Come on, we're almost there!" Teruya called over behind him, ascending the stairs of the east tower in Higa City. In his hand was a picnic basket filled with food.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Jesus, you're impatient." Syobai replied as he climbed the stairs at a much slower pace. Today, Teruya had paid him to stay for lunch, calling it a 'date' and making their location be in the middle of the bridge connecting the twin towers.

As Teruya opened the door, the wide bridge awaited them, spreading across a large space until it reached the other tower. The merchant was practically giddy with happiness as he walked out onto the bridge. "When's that last time we went on a date?" He asked, looking back at the broker.

"You mean the last time you paid me to have lunch with you?" Syobai replied. "It was last week. And it's not really a 'date'. This isn't romantic, so quit your bullshit."

"Ah, alright then." Teruya lightly chuckled, not fully convinced of Syobai's words. He sat down in the middle of the bridge and placed his basket in front of him, opening it to get to the food inside. "I made a lot of food from different countries I've been to, so I hope you enjoy this!"

Syobai sat down, deciding to stick around and humour the taller boy. After all, he was getting paid to be here and free food as well. And besides, he's had a lot worse 'food', if he could call it that, when he was alone as a child, so how bad could Teruya's cooking possibly be?

The answer to that was not bad at all, because when Teruya took out all the food in their containers, the smell was both stronger and more delicious than what he had smelled from street vendors. As the merchant had said, there were foods from different cultures there.

Crepes, roasted sausages, takoyaki, meat pie, souvlaki, and paella all sat in little containers, steam coming off of them as Teruya set out plates and cutlery for him and the broker. Syobai pretended that he wasn't very interested in the food in front of him, but it looked a lot better than what he normally ate AND he wasn't being charged for it. If he were younger, he probably would've started drooling.

When the merchant finally served the food, Syobai initially ate slowly to keep up his facade, but when he saw Teruya digging in less than politely, the broker dropped his pleasantries and ate his food as fast as possible, his old habits unintentionally kicking in. The taller boy didn't seem to notice, at least, not at first.

When Syobai thought that he was in the clear, Teruya suddenly spoke up. "Wow, you sure ate your food fast! Are you sure you're not starving?" He remarked. "Well, there's lots more in the basket, so help yourself to as much as you want."

"I'm not starving, rainbow dipshit. Old habits just die hard." The broker shot back, but served himself a couple more sausages and a crepe anyway. He had to admit it, the food tasted really good as well. Not as good as Mikado's, but pretty decent. "At least you don't have Vietnamese food here."

"Oh, do you not like it? I'll keep it in mind for next time I bring you somewhere again!" The merchant chirped. 

Syobai internally cussed, hating that he unintentionally gave Teruya an opportunity to invite him out again. "Vietnamese food makes me ill, especially the street vendor foods." He confessed, deciding that he might as well show a couple more cards of his hand if he accidentally let one slip.

In reality, the food made him ill not because of taste or allergies, but because of the memories attached to the food. Being left homeless at the age of eight in the middle of Vietnam gave him more mental wounds than physical ones, and he was forced to learn to be cold in order to survive in that place. The food was a reminder that he couldn't go back now.

"Don't worry, I won't make any. How about I make Russian foods instead, like borscht or smoked salmon, maybe even honeycakes!" Teruya suggested.

"I told you not to treat this like a date." Syobai reminded.

"But I didn't say it, you did." The merchant smiled. "I'm not treating this as a date, I'm just making suggestions for the next time I pay you to be here. Are you jumping to conclusions?"

The broker stiffened and grit his teeth, startled and slightly embarrassed. If it weren't for the 'no violence' rule and the fact that Teruya was a paying customer, Syobai would've just stabbed him and ran. Instead, he just kept siting and shoved a piece of crepe into his mouth, trying to focus on literally anything else as the merchant silently smiled.

Chapter Text

"Come on, Syobs!" Setsuka whined as she bothered the broker. "If the group doesn't talk about our feelings and past, then Monocrow's gonna make us do group therapy! He's been threatening to for a while now!"

"Eat shit, I'm not telling you anything about myself." Syobai spat. "There's no point anyway, we'll all be away from this island soon enough."

"Well, Monocrow will probably drag you to group therapy anyway and make you do icebreakers, whether you want to or not." The billiards player sighed. "Listen, Syobs, if I give you money, will you at least tell me a story from your past?"

"Cough up a thousand, then we'll talk." The broker replied with a roll of his eyes. Setsuka immediately got out her student handbook and got on the screen to transfer crow cards to Syobai's handbook. He huffed when he saw how persistent she was being and helped with the transfer. "Jesus, I guess you really want to hear some traumatic shit."

"If it'll let me know a bit more about you, then I'll sit through what I must." Was the girl's reply.

Syobai shook his head, but began his story anyway. "Alright, I was nine at the time and living in an alleyway. I just got the shit kicked out of me by a gang, so I was nursing my wounds and trying to stomach the scraps of edible food I fished out of a dumpster. You know, restaurants throw away a lot of good food for some reason. Oh well, it kept me alive, so I can't complain."

"Why were you living in an alleyway at nine years old?" Setsuka questioned, concern written all over her face. "And why was a gang hurting you? Where were your parents?"

"That story will NOT be given to you, no matter how much you pay for it. Albino girl knows, but I've sworn her to secrecy." The broker glared before returning to his neutral expression. "Anyway, I'm having a hard time swallowing some of my food since I was hurting all over, and then some alleycat comes up to me. It was a grey tabby cat, and it had an expression that was practically a resting bitch face."

"I thought you didn't like cats?" The billiards player remarked.

"This was an exception. So I start feeding this cat some scraps of what food I had, and it purred and rubbed itself against me. I was distracted from the pain for a few moments, so I split up my food between myself and the cat. It ran away after a loud noise spooked it, but it came back the next day, meowing for my food." Syobai continued. "Day after day, the cat came back to my hiding spot. I loved it and treated it like my own. I was really young and naive at the time, huh."

"So, what happened to the cat?" Setsuka asked. "Did old age get to it or...?"

"Well, the years went by and I got into the broker business, but the cat still came back. I think it was the last living thing I ever got attached to." The broker nodded, then began to look a little depressed. "One day, I accidentally pissed off a bunch of bad folks and they found my hideout. When I got back, I found that they trashed the place while looking for my money, which they couldn't find, and the cat got shot through the head."

"Oh god, that's terrible..." The billiards player breathed, putting a hand over her mouth. "What happened next?"

"I took my money and anything I could salvage and changed hideouts, then I went and killed the bastards in return. But even after that, I never looked after another cat. I couldn't get attached to things anymore because it's only going to hurt when they inevitably leave you." Syobai concluded. "There, that's what happened. You happy now?"

"Yeah, thanks for the story. I'm sorry about your cat..." Setsuka began.

"Save your sympathy for someone who needs it. Now that you have the story, you can leave me alone now." The broker then walked away, turning the corner and quickly escaping the billiards player.

But even so, the story only raised more questions for Setsuka. Instead of bothering the broker further, she went to ask Sora for what he had told her. Once she had told the albino the story of Syobai's cat, Sora filled in the missing details of Syobai's life on the condition that Setsuka tells nobody else about it.

Once she heard about Syobai's past, Setsuka felt pity for him, but she kept her promise to Sora. In her mind, she was already planning on how to get Syobai to integrate with the group...even as Sora discouraged her from acting on those plans.

Chapter Text

As Syobai walked around on the first island, trying to smoke a cigarette without Hajime or Sora getting on his case about it, he heard the sound of light footsteps rapidly approaching, as if someone was running towards him.

When he turned around, he spotted Nikei running towards him, nearly out of breath. "H-Hey! Wait up!" The journalist called, nearly tripping over his own shoes as he finally skidded to a halt in front of Syobai.

The broker sighed, seeing the sparkles lighting up Nikei's eyes and having a feeling that he couldn't escape like this. "What the hell do you want?" He grumbled.

"Monocrow asked me to collect information so that he could make an extended profile for our classmates, so I...I've been running around all day...!" Nikei panted, flipping to a new page in his notepad. "I'll only bother you about this once, then I'll leave you alone, alright?"

Syobai rolled his eyes, figuring that he might as well just get this over with quickly so that he could smoke and Nikei wouldn't bother him again. "Okay, shoot."

"Alright, to start off with, what is your blood type, dominant hand, and favourite colour?" The journalist began, switching from a happy-go-lucky manner into a professional persona.

"Blood type is B, right hand, and grey." He replied. "I'm guessing that your questions don't end there?"

"No." Nikei replied. "What is your hobby, specialty, and do you have any family in your life?"

"Saving money, knife spinning, and my family's all gone. Bastards must have killed themselves or something." Syobai continued.

"What was the high school you were at before you came here, and what are your likes and dislikes?" Nikei went on.

"Hitei School of Commerce, my own money and life, and wasting." The broker sighed. "Are you done yet?"

"No, just two more questions to go." The journalist kept writing all the information down. "When it comes to the items in the prize machine, which ones can you say that you actively like?"

"Oh, now you're drilling me on items? Alright, I'll try to remember what you idiots gave me..." Syobai took a moment to think. "I like the gold bar, wedding ring, gold ring, knife, white devil, alcohol-free wine, crowbar, champagne, strange vial, kitchen knife, silver ring, Japanese sake, seven-branched sword, hot seven, and holy lance."

"You like the strange vial? How interesting..." Nikei murmured, continuing to write everything down in his notepad. "By the way, do you know what that weird, green liquid inside is? I don't think I've seen it in my lifetime!"

"Of course you haven't, you probably haven't been to the black market before." Syobai sighed, hating that he had to keep talking. "It's a powerful anesthetic that has to be injected into your bloodstream for it to work, and you can accurately measure how long you want the effects to last."

"With a medication that powerful, why isn't it known to hospitals?" The journalist questioned. "If it's on the black market, is it a recreational drug?"

"Sort of. The effect of this anesthetic is that you get into a heavily dazed state and your mind gets cloudy. I know what it's like, I've been under the effects before. I've seen some people become addicts to its effects, clamouring to get more." The broker explained. "This type of anesthetic isn't just used for recreation, but it's commonly known in the black market as a tool for kidnapping, smuggling, and slavery since it keeps the victims dim-witted and non-resistant. I'll give you a warning now, Newsie, if a journalist like you shows up in the black market unprepared, you're going to be well acquainted with this drug really quick. They don't like journalists there."

Nikei's eyes went wide and he flipped to another page to write Syobai's warning down. "Thanks for that, I'll write it down and keep that in mind. Is there a counter-drug to this anesthetic?" He asked, adding another point to his already-started long list of what dangers to avoid when researching dark sides of society.

"Well, it can be countered by citric acid or white wine, but I doubt that the victim would be able to reach either of them in that state." The broker finished. "Otherwise, they'll wear off in time, provided that no more doses are added."

"Wow, you really know a lot about this." The journalist remarked, flipping back to the page he was originally writing on. "Now, do you have any items from the prize machine that you actively dislike?"

"This is the last question, I assume." Syobai held back a sigh of relief. "I dislike the ball gag, artist's mannequin, cool glasses, memo pad, maid clothes, go stones, bondage clothes, porn magazine, stapler, spring toy, aloha t-shirt, candy ball, antique doll, old radio, ukulele, fountain pen, rose-scented shampoo, cup noodles, coconut juice, fashion magazine, letter set, potato chips, potpourri, high heels, headphones, cosmetics, tissue, a woman's fantasy, groucho glasses, and green drink."

Like a switch had been flipped, Nikei's personality lost its professionalism and he returned to his excited self. "Thank you for your time! I think I'm gonna need to sit down now." The journalist went over to the door to the guest house, but it wouldn't budge. "...The door's locked."

"Did you notice the sign above it, dumbass?" The broker deadpanned.

Nikei looked up from the doorknob, seeing a sign hung on the door stating that the guest house was closed for repairs. "Oh."

Chapter Text

Having thankfully lost sight of everyone that could lecture him about his smoking habit, Syobai sat down on a bench and pulled out his Black Devil cigarettes from his coat. He enjoyed their quality, but the marts of Utsuroshima unfortunately did stock them or any other type of cigarette. There was alcohol, but the broker wasn't hopelessly desperate.

As he kept sitting, he looked around, doing a double take when he noticed Iroha nearby. The painter had been so quiet that Syobai never even thought that she was there. Normally, this silence would be strange for Iroha, but she was focused on painting a landscape in front of her.

Syobai just decided to ignore her and pulled out lighter from his coat, taking a cigarette out of the pack and putting the small box away. He lit the cigarette and put it in his mouth, putting the lighter back. As he casually smoked the cigarette, he reflected on how he knew that the small drug was bad for him. But with no other source of stress relief in his life, he didn't see a reason to stop.

A instinctive chill went up his spine, a feeling he had grown accustomed to. It meant that something important involving him was happening, usually when his life was in danger. He began looking around in alarm, putting his hand in his coat to grab his knife as he tried to identify the danger. He saw nobody there. Concerned, he let go of his knife and continued smoking, thinking that he might need another after this since he was so on edge.

As the chill happened again, Syobai looked around again, but once more, couldn't find anything. He looked over at Iroha, who was painting with a more determined face and...a pencil? That was odd, she held a paintbrush just moments earlier. He went back to his smoking, but took small, subtle glances at Iroha while barely moving his eyes. As the chill came again, he noticed Iroha taking a quick look at him before going back to her painting.

Knowing that she was the cause of his chills, he silently slipped from the bench and soundlessly stepped up behind her to see what she was doing. To his surprise, she had a sketchbook hidden in front of her blank canvas. She had been doing a very realistic sketch of him smoking on the bench. But when she looked over at the bench next, she looked puzzled when she saw that Syobai had disappeared.

"The hell's this?" Syobai demanded, pointing to the sketchbook.

"FUEEEEEH?!" Iroha yelled, recoiling from him in reflex. "D-D-D-D-Don't scare me like that!"

"Answer my question, bubblehead." He spoke darkly.

"I-I-I just wanted to draw you since you weren't moving a-and I wanted to see how to accurately draw smoke..." The painter whimpered. "Please don't be mad. I wanted to ask you to stay still, but you would say no..."

"Well, I guess you're right." The broker shrugged. "I thought you came here to paint, but your canvas is completely blank."

"I-I didn't have any ideas since the lighting wasn't working for me and the water was being rough, so I decided to sketch you instead." Iroha answered. "But I was thinking of drawing an old memory of mine."

"A memory?" Syobai prompted.

"Remember when you were a kid and you would go to the library with your parents?" The tiny girl continued. "And they'd let you pick out a book and you would read it until they finished their work and you had to put it back? Mine did that all the time until...until they locked me away..."

"No, I barely remember my parents' faces at this point." The broker sighed. "The furthest thing in my memory is being on my own."

"I can try and draw it?" Iroha spoke up, moving her sketchbook and getting ready to outline the piece on her canvas with her pencil.

"Eh, why the hell not? I want to be reminded of my memories one more time. Plus, I've got nothing better to do." Syobai agreed. "It was a small suburban Vietnamese town, and there were a bunch of orange lights everywhere. The buildings were brown and grey, and trash was everywhere you looked."

"Alright..." Iroha concentrated harder as she sketched out the landscape Syobai was describing, as well as recalling a picture of Vietnamese streets that she saw in a textbook once. "What did you look like as a kid?"

"Eh... Brown hair, same hairstyle but shorter, had a bunch of injuries everywhere, and I had a green and yellow-striped t-shirt." The broker described.

"Ooh, like Chara from Undertale?" The painter asked. When Syobai gave her a confused look, Iroha picked up her sketchbook and showed him a coloured sketch of the person in question.

"Nah, more like the white dog-headed thing next to it." He answered. "Except with thinner stripes and more of 'em

"Oh, like Asriel's sweater, but a t-shirt instead!" Iroha got back to sketching out the picture and picking out her colours. "He's a goat, not a dog..." She muttered under her breath.

A few minutes later, Iroha had finally finished her painting, and just like the rumours had said, her painting was practically indistinguishable from a real photograph. "So? Wh-What do you think about it?" The small painter nervously asked.

Syobai looked it over, seeing that she had accurately managed to portray a figment of his memories. "Not bad, bubblehead." He admitted. "Not bad at all."

"You can have it, b-but I can't let my parents find out." Iroha whimpered. "If they find out that I give away my paintings, much less sell them at a low price... Oh god, if it ends up on the black market, th-they'll be able to find me again!"

"Relax, I'm not going to sell it to some asshole who doesn't know shit about the context." The broker sighed, hating how much noise the girl was making. When she wasn't calming down, he rolled his eyes and reached into a bag he kept with him, pulling out an antique doll. He had been given it earlier, but he didn't like dolls at all, so he carefully gave it to the trembling painter. "Here, we'll trade. I'll give you this, and I'll get the painting. Deal?"

Iroha looked at the doll with wide eyes, wiping her eyes and nose before taking it from his hands, her face lighting up. "Yes! You can have it, this looks so cute! Thank you for the-"

When Iroha turned to thank Syobai, he and the painting were already gone. Meanwhile, the broker had decided to hang it up in his room before he found another place to smoke.

Chapter Text

Syobai was getting really tired of people bothering him while he was just trying to smoke.

When evening fell over the Isle of Nowhere, the broker had gone out before the nighttime announcement to have a quick cigarette to calm his nerves before he went to sleep. It had always been his nighttime routine so that he could go to sleep quickly and easily, and it hadn't failed him many times before.

But as he took a cigarette out and was about to light it, somebody called out to him. "Hey, what the heck are you doing?!" A high-pitched voice exclaimed, which he recognized as Hibiki's.

"...What does it look like, little shit?" Syobai sarcastically turned to the vocalist, his displeasure clear on his face. "What are you doing out here anyway? Just fuck off, would you?" He huffed, turning back to his cigarettes.

"You really shouldn't be doing that! I know enough from school to know that smoking's gonna kill you!" Hibiki continued.

"Good, an early grave means that I can get more sleep. No skin off my nose." The broker rolled his eyes. "What are you going to do, cry to your younger sis? What's the littler shit going to do to stop me?"

"No, I'm not going to call Kanade. I'll just tell your mom on you." The vocalist replied with a shit-eating grin. Before Syobai could react, Hibiki turned around and called down the hall. "Hey Haji, Syosyo is smoking again!" She yelled, quickly darting back into the Monocruise soon after.

The broker fumed as he heard heavy footsteps coming. If it weren't for the fact that there was a 'no violence' rule and that Hibiki was out of range of him, Syobai would have stabbed her right then and there. Now he had to deal with yet another lecture from the group's resident health enthusiast.

"Seriously?! You're smoking AGAIN?!" Hajime shouted, as if he couldn't believe that it was still happening.

"Why are you surprised? It's not like I don't do this everyday. Why are you on the warpath for me specifically when Newsie can't even eat a proper meal to save his life?" The broker grumbled, putting back his lighter and preparing to tune out the boxer's incoming rant.

"Do you know what cigarettes are even made with?! Half of the ingredients can kill you on their own, I have no idea who thought it was a good idea to make them into a drug!" The boxer began, and Syobai was barely paying any attention to him. "They're terrible for your body and taste bad too, you'll die of lung cancer if you keep smoking them!"

"Two things wrong with your little lecture. One, drugs wouldn't be sold everywhere if they didn't work in any way. These help me relax, and I haven't found anything else that works." Syobai refuted. "And two, they taste bad? How would you be able to know that if you haven't tried them yourself?"

"You're right, I did try them long ago. I joined a gang as a stupid and young teenager, and I did a lot of terrible things to my body like drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco. Stuff like that." Hajime admitted. "But a while after that, I was set straight by an old boxing pro, and he taught he to actually give a damn about my body. Honestly, you should too."

"Look, that's the difference between us." The broker began. "You had someone to help you, be it a gang member or an old fool, so you weren't alone. I had no one, just material possessions and a will to live. I never had anyone to guide me or calm me down, so I've had to rely on these little things. We can't change the past."

"But you can at least change your future. Or at least alter it enough to not die from lung cancer." The boxer contested. "There are a lot of people here now and some snacks at the mart, so there's still hope that you can find a way to kick the habit, somehow."

"You say that like people can be trusted. The only thing you can trust is what they have." Syobai sighed. "If I put this out, are you gonna fuck off?"

"Yeah, at least until you light another one." Hajime agreed. "I won't even get mad if you switch to snacks for your smoke cravings instead. I temporarily used some small candies to kick mine, you I think you should-"

Ignoring the boxer, Syobai reluctantly tossed the cigarette into the ocean and put back the cigarette pack in his coat. He had a feeling that Monocrow would either get on his case about it or not care, but at least Hajime looked satisfied.

True to his word, Hajime silently nodded and left in peace, not bothing the broker more. Syobai huffed and waited until he was out of sight before slipping into the Monocruise, not wanting to be locked out for the night.

Chapter Text

As noon approached swiftly, Syobai had finished counting up and making a list of materials that the group had just brought back, adding it to the list of things already brought. Before anyone that was in charge of constructing the project could arrive, the broker left the building manual that Monocrow gave them on the table next to the materials before escaping the dining room.

Thinking quickly, he went to a place that nobody would typically check while looking for him: the bathhouse. There was no steam in the air from the warm water yet, but it was humid in a pleasant way to allow the bathers to be comfortable. The other students had never seen Syobai in the bathhouse, so they would probably check everywhere else.

As he entered, he saw a clothed Kokoro sitting on a stool while looking at her tablet. As she watched the broker enter, she just sighed and put her device on her lap. "Did you come here to escape the others too?" She asked.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Syobai replied sarcastically. "Those idiots need to get a brain and realize that I'm not going to be able to do everything for them. Even for someone of my caliber, there are some things that I'm just not able to do."

"It's the same for me. They are friendly, but they rely on me a little too much and make things more complicated than they need to be." The psychologist agreed. "We might as well use a sink-or-swim method to get them to realize that they need to solve things on their own."

"Damn. I thought you were nice. Well, 'nice' in their terms." The broker chuckled. "But you're right. If they rely on the smart ones of the group all the time, then they won't get any actual thinking done."

"But with us gone, there's no doubt that they'll turn to Kanade or Yuri next." Kokoro reminded. "Kanade is a wild card when it comes to things like this, but Yuri will do anything if a girl asks for it. That might be a detriment to everything we're trying to tell them. I'll have to talk to them about that."

"Yeah, you do that." Syobai sighed, finding another stool to sit down on and getting out his student handbook. "Damn, I've probably missed so many transactions by now. Maybe I'll drop by the casino later and see if I can score some extra dough."

"Each point you win gets converted to crow cards, and each crow is equal to one yen. When we get off of this island, all of our crow cards will be converted into yen. Personally, I'm looking forward to using it to help fund my research." The psychologist noted. "But since Sora has agreed to cooperate with my work and Monocrow has brought all my equipment, I hypothesize that I'll be able to achieve my lifelong dream before I have to leave this island."

"Well, at least one of us is benefitting from all of that." The broker huffed, looking over at the smaller girl. "But seriously, how do you put up with all the others. You're a smart girl, I'll give you that, but why spend time with them?"

"It wasn't my initial choice, but I got dragged into so many events that I suppose that I got a little used to it." Kokoro answered. "But then again, I'm here hiding from them with you."

"But that's because you want to teach them something while I mostly don't want to put up with their stupidity." Syobai refuted. "Well, I guess it could be worse. They're not after my money and they do pay me when they need me, even if they're annoying."

The two of them stayed inside the bathhouse until one in the afternoon, when they were sure that the daily construction time was finished. Just for the hell of it, they decided to go to the dining hall to see what the others had created with the materials. But as soon as Syobai laid eyes on the creation, he immediately facepalmed with a sigh.

This week's project was supposed to be a flower pin that was to go in somebody's hair. What the rest of the group had created was nothing short of a table centrepiece that one would see at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. Syobai stood dumbfounded that the rest of the group could mess up that badly.

"...Call it a hunch, but maybe the rest of the class shouldn't be let off their training wheels just yet." Kokoro spoke up, nearly as exasperated as the broker was. "Maybe we'll just have to teach them the ropes a little more before we hide away again."

"You know what? For once, I think I agree with that. That 'pin' is just painfully pathetic to look at." Syobai reluctantly agreed, walking over to the manual to figure out where the rest of the class went wrong.

Chapter Text

"For the last time, little shit, I'm not going to search for materials with you." Syobai sternly spoke, trying to literally walk away from the conversation.

Unfortunately for him, Hibiki was fast and energetic. "Aw, come on, Syosyo! I'm supposed to investigate the fifth island and I haven't gone searching for materials with you yet! With the two of us, then we'll get a lot of materials and be done a whole lot faster!"

"Does it look like I care? Go bother albino girl if you want to partner up with someone. She's assigned to be gathering materials too." The broker turned another direction to walk away, but the smaller vocalist cut him off by walking in front of him once again.

"Hell no! Would it kill you to be social at least once?!" The tiny girl complained.

Syobai rolled his eyes and looked down at her. "Why the hell do you care so damn much? You're as annoying as that boxer." He huffed. "I'm practically nothing to you. You don't need to pretend that we're obligated to be friends when you don't even have me as a side character in your dreams-"

"I had a dream about you. I have dreams about everyone on this island. Besides my parents and Kanade, you guys are the only people who have stayed with me the longest without disappearing." Hibiki spoke with a strangely emotionless face. "It's been about two months already, I think. I've already started to lose my sense of time here, but that just makes every minute with my new friends a lot better."

"...What the hell are you on about? 'Disappearing'? The fuck does that mean?" The broker questioned.

"Ever since I was a kid, people around me just began disappearing one by one. Sometimes, they had to go to a hospital, and other times, they had to go to a morgue. Kanade would tell me all about it, but I'd always have some weird gap in my memories before she told me that." The vocalist began to explain.

"And what does that have to do with us? Or even you bugging me for something?" Syobai questioned.

"Everyone I care about is slowly going missing. I want to at least spend as much time with you guys as possible before you might disappear." Hibiki sighed. "And that includes you as well."

"Everyone around you disappears? What are you, cursed or something?" The broker remarked, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.

"No, but the rumour that Melody Rhythm is a cursed band is pretty popular. Since a lot of people around us disappear, the media caught onto it and so many stupid conspiracies were made!" The tiny girl huffed. "They call it the 'curse of Melody Rhythm' for such a stupid reason! It's not our fault that this is happening! It's just so unfair, but..."

"But?" Syobai asked.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I have to deal with this. Do I have the worst luck or is this just what's supposed to happen? I know I've been around Mika too much and that half the things he says are delusions, but what if he's right about fate?" Hibiki mused, half to herself. "My friends either disappeared, got hurt, or even died, my memory is kinda out the window, and nobody seems to be giving a damn! Even Kanade doesn't seem to care much about what's happening, so the only people I can really confide in are outsiders that can keep a secret, like you. Don't get me wrong, I like Kanade, but she's not the best at comforting, even if she can solve my problems."

"Damn, sounds like you're dealing with some shit. Unlucky for you, I'm not a goddamn therapist. I can't do shit, even if you pay me. There's probably a private detective out there that will listen to you and try to help, but I can't guarantee that you'll get what you want." The broker suggested. "The only thing I can help you with is memory loss, and I think that Kokoro and her fancy machines can help you with that."

"I thought you didn't call people by their names?" The vocalist questioned.

"She's earned it, she's smart and is one of the only fuckers I respect in this hellhole." Syobai shrugged. "If she can't help, try hypnotism or see a doc or a shrink. Otherwise, you should probably watch your back. I think today's Kokoro's rest day, so go bother her."

"I will, thanks!" Hibiki took off towards the stair for a few moments. Suddenly, she skidded on her heels and turned around. "Wait a minute, I'm trying to collect materials with you! Hey, wait up!" She called as she ran back to Syobai, who was trying to exit the Monocruise as quickly as he could.

Chapter Text

"Wow! You're so amazing, Kanade!" Iroha gasped with delight as she held a small music box in her hands, this week's project. "I would've never been able to do this without you!"

"Yeah! Our little Kanade has a bunch of tricks up her sleeve!" Hibiki chimed in, hugging her younger twin. "Now that we're done the project, let's go play on the third island! I wanna go ride the carousel again!"

"U-Um, Sis? Is it okay if I walk around alone for a bit? I need to clear my head after that much concentration." The guitarist requested. "Focusing on all those tiny gears kind of started to hurt my eyes."

"Oh, okay! We don't want you to lose your skills, after all!" The vocalist began sprinting for the entrance of the Monocruise. "Roro, let's go ride the carousel together!"

"O-Okay!" The painter yelped, running to catch up with the older twin.

Kanade watched them go with a smile. In truth, she didn't need to clear her head after a bunch of concentration, but she wanted to be alone to stop her headache after dealing with their stupidity and the pressure being put on her. She believed that an uneventful walk around the Monocruise and a nap would get her back to normal.

As she walked up the stairs and rounded the corner in the direction of the library, she caught sight of Syobai. "Oh, hello. I thought that you would be avoiding everyone in Higa City today. I guess I was wrong." She smiled with false sweetness.

"It's odd to see you without that annoying little shit attached to you. Did you finally manage to ditch her?" The broker questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"In a way, yes. I twisted the truth a little, and she ran off to the third island with Iroha in my place. Poor girl, Hibiki's going to drag her around so fast that her tiny brain will be ricocheting off the inside her skull." The guitarist giggled. "Oh well, at least that means that I get a short break."

"Did you do whatever that project's instructions said to do for those idiots?" Syobai paused for a brief moment. "Well, to be fair, building a music box is a little tricky, take it from me."

"That's because your hands aren't small, even though they're skilled, and you also don't have someone to read off the instructions while you have your eyes on the little gears in that tiny, dark box." Kanade remarked. "And after that, you get praised and rewarded for your work, usually with a tiramisu by that pushover wizard if you can figure things out on your own."

"Damn, who would've thought that despite being more dangerous than me, you'd be a social butterfly?" The broker scoffed. "I mean, I work pretty hard around here, but you get all the credit."

"That's because I do something called 'socializing', you should try it out sometime." The tiny guitarist replied without missing a beat. "But then again, you must be too occupied with getting early onset lung cancer to care."

"At least it's better than being a doormat to a bitchy sibling. Besides, my life was already fucked long ago." Syobai shrugged. "I really don't care what happens, just as long as I get paid in the end. In the end, I'll find a way to stay alive, like I always have. What have you done to stay alive, other than mooch off your sister?"

"Wow, you actually think that I live off of her skills? Pfft, you've got it all backwards." Kanade sighed. "Useless Hibiki can only rely on me, so I have to do all the work for her. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, lifting, I've had to learn a lot of skills to keep up with her demands."

"But in the end, you really have no reason to stay with her. If you're so independent, why don't you just let her sink or swim?" The taller man questioned.

Kanade stayed silent for a few moments before answering. "No idea. It...literally just slipped my mind. Why was I with her again?" She murmured.

"Hm, you don't look like you're lying." Syobai observed, having seen a bunch of good liars in his lifetime. "Heh, you must be spending too much time with albino girl. Well, I'd better leave you and your shitty memory alone before I catch it too." He joked as he walked away.

Kanade rolled her eyes and turned around, deciding to just take a shower before having a nap. But during her walk, the question was ringing in her brain. Why was she so close with her older sister, even if she abused her daily? There had to be a reason, but it had suddenly disappeared from her mind as she tried to recall it for Syobai.

She had to be going insane somehow, there was no other explanation. But she just couldn't identify the cause. Was it some onset of a sudden illness...or was it the island itself?

Chapter Text

As Syobai was slung over the firefighter's shoulder and being carried off to a place he couldn't see, he gave up on struggling when he realized that he couldn't escape to arms holding him in place. "Just fucking end my life." He groaned.

"Come on, this will be good for you!" Shinji argued encouragingly, picking up the pace to get to their destination. "I've invited all the guys, this will be a manly bonding event! And you're coming with us!"

"Didn't you guys get walked in on by the girls last time you wanted a 'manly bonding event'?" The broker questioned. "How do you know that it won't be as disastrous as that? And why are you insisting on bring me, dammit? Just let me down and maybe I won't stab you."

"Sorry, Syobai, but you're gonna participate no matter what!" The firefighter continued carrying Syobai across a bridge and down a stone path, and the broker had a feeling that he was going to be taken to the monster museum. He sighed as he realized what was going to happen.

A few days ago, most of the girls had gone into the monster museum to dress up and play around together; Setsuka was an oni, Iroha was a vampire, Sora was a yurei, Emma was a kuchisake-onna, and Yoruko was a witch. Hibiki and Kanade had to help out with cleaning for the day because of them breaking the 'no violence' rule to hit Nikei, who had asked them a perverted question. Kokoro didn't want to dress up, but she took pictures of the costumed girls.

Shinji entered the monster museum with Syobai over his shoulder, greeting the six other boys that had been waiting. "Big Bro, you're finally here!" Yuki exclaimed with a smile.

"Sorry, it took a while to catch him." The firefighter apologized, finally putting the broker on the ground.

"Well, now that we're all here, we can finally get this started!" Hajime chuckled. He then turned to the journalist beside him. "Hey, is your cheek okay?"

"I put an ice pack on it, so it's getting better." Nikei sighed. "Jeez, I was just doing what Monocrow asked and trying to get physical measurements. How is that my fault?"

"You mean like how you were measuring my chest size?" Mikado asked. "If I recall, you made me take off my shirt and then wrapped measuring tape around my chest."

"How indecent! How dare you ask a lady to do that!" Yuri declared, and Syobai rolled his eyes.

"Let's just get this over with already." The broker grumbled.

"Sure! Come on, there are plenty of costumes for all of us!" Teruya called, and the guys finally started moving to the dressing room.

Once they all piled in, they began searching for costumes to try on. "Yo, Syobai! What color do you like better?" Shinji called over, holding up two shirts. One was green, the other was brown, and the broker didn't want to be a part of this.

"Can't I just go out and hold the camera like Kokoro did?" Syobai sighed.

"...How about we make a deal instead?" The firefighter reasoned. "If you put on at least one costume and stay for a photo, you can leave and I won't bring you back."

"Fine." The grey-haired broker grumbled, knowing that he didn't have many options. He walked up to Shinji and took the brown shirt out of his hands before walking back to the prop section.

Ten minutes later, the boys had stopped fighting over their costumes and had come out to take a picture together. "Hah, it's about time that we did this!" Shinji cheered, wearing a werewolf costume.

"And all of us will be in this photo too!" Nikei added, dressed as Frankenstein's monster. "Suck it, twins!"

"Huhu, isn't that a little childish to say, Mr. Yomiuri?" Mikado teased, dressed as a kitsune.

"Let's just take the damn picture already." Syobai urged, wearing a tanuki costume. Teruya wore a mummy costume, Yuri wore a demon costume, Yuki wore a jiangshi costume, and Hajime wore a vampire costume. The boys all grouped together and took the photo, satisfied with the outcome.

As soon as he made sure that the picture wasn't blurry, Shinji turned around and looked over at Syobai. "Alright, the picture's done. As agreed, you can go now." He recalled.

"Don't mind if I do." The broker replied, darting into the dressing room to take off his tanuki outfit. Shinji told him that the tanuki was a shapeshifter and suggested the costume to him, so Syobai just went along with it to get out of there. He didn't care much for symbolism anyway.

As he changed back into his normal clothes and walked back past the rest of the boys, Shinji waved at him with a smile as he left. The broker wasn't sure what on earth made the man act as social as he was, but he hoped that he would never get it.

Chapter Text

Emma believed that she was having a nice day. Cleaning hadn't been too hard since she was supposed to clean the buildings of the first island, there hadn't been any rain for a while, and Kokoro had told her that they could talk a little more about acting and psychology after dinner! Indeed, today was a wonderful day for Emma.

As the actress left the library and began to walk through the halls of the Monocruise, she planned on going to the Tower of Babel to read some more. As long as she avoided the cabinet full of blank books, then she could read a little novel, encyclopedia, or even an art book inside the break room. And then after that, Yoruko invited her to come sing karaoke with her before dinner.

As she was about to leave the Monocruise, she heard the sound of someone running up behind her. Turning around, Emma saw that the person was Syobai, who looked a little frantic and out of breath. "H-Hey, I need you to pretend that we're in the middle of a conversation!" He quickly whispered.

"What? Why do you-"

"Just do it!"

Soon enough, the actress saw Hajime and Shinji come around the corner and assumed that they were trying to get the broker to come exercise with them. Taking pity on Syobai, she played along. "So then, my makeup coordinator told him 'Am I your husband or your taxi service?' Hehehe!" She giggled, making up a story on the spot. "And that's how my last agent got sent to federal prison for several counts of fraud. Pretty crazy story, right?"

The broker quickly joined in the conversation as the two burly men stopped in front of them. "Not gonna lie, that's pretty crazy. I can't believe that he survived jumping out a window like that. The security guards must not get paid enough." He remarked, adding to the fake story.

"Yes, he owed a lot of money to the emergency services who saved him now. I wonder if it was paid off yet?" Emma pretended to be puzzled, then she turned and looked at Hajime and Shinji. "Oh, hello! Do you need anything?"

"Uh, yeah, we're trying to get Syobai to come exercise with us." Hajime responded. "I mean, if he isn't gonna quit smoking anytime soon, then he should at least take care of his body to make up for it."

"Jeez, can't you see I'm busy right now?" Syobai questioned, indicating to the actress. "I'm getting some good Hollywood stories from this girl over here. Unless you've got any stories too, then you should move on."

"Yes, I was just going to start telling him the story about how this annoying producer was trying to hire me while he was making a creepy cat movie based off a musical. I didn't take the offer, of course, I do like my reputation." The actress giggled. "Unless you think that I should tell him about the time that you, Iroha, and Nikei accidentally stole an ice cream truck?"

"No! For the love of god, no!" The boxer protested. "I didn't even do anything, I was just trying to get them to stop!"

"W-Well, maybe we should just leave them be for now." Shinji urged. "Come on, bro, let's just get started on our jog."

Hajime sighed and shot a quick glare at Syobai before he and the firefighter left to pick up Yuki and do their daily training session. As they left, Syobai sighed in relief as Emma giggled. "Was that enough for you?" She asked.

"Yeah, but...I'm kinda curious about that ice cream truck story. I need a bit of blackmail on Newsie." The broker requested. "Listen, I'll pay ya."

"I don't need money, I have enough. But I'll tell it to you anyways!" The actress chirped. "I was living with Hajime, Nikei, and Iroha for a while now, and let me tell you, those last two have a big sweet tooth. So big that, in fact, I lost them at a circus after they saw a lot of food concessions. According to Hajime, there was an ice cream truck with no employees there, so Nikei and Iroha climbed in to get some ice cream. Iroha then got worried that people will think that they're employees and they might get in trouble for being in there, so Nikei drove the truck away. Hajime noticed them and chased them all the way to our little home at the time. I came back to find Hajime yelling at them while they were eating ice cream. The end!"

"Did you ever give it back?" Syobai inquired while chuckling, enjoying that story.

"I did, I told the real employees that I found it several lots away, but all the ice cream was melted and gross, so I threw all of it out. They completely bought it too!" The actress laughed. "Say, are you interested in some more stories about us four?"

"Hell yeah I am." The broker replied with a smile, and Emma changed her plans for the day, continuing to retell funny stories to the broker.

Chapter Text

As Yuri walked away from a small group of girls, he was feeling disappointed in himself that the girls didn't seem to like him that much. But if he was a being made solely for women and the women didn't like him, then what was he supposed to do?

As he walked down the cold streets of the fourth island, he spotted Syobai around the corner having a cigarette. If he could buy an answer from the broker, then maybe the girls would like him a little more! He briskly walked over to Syobai and got his handbook out, ready to make a deal with him.

"Greetings to you, Hashimoto." Yuri started, getting the broker's attention. "I'm here to make a deal, if you are interested."

Syobai had to stop himself from cracking up in front of a customer. "Let me guess, you're confused about why the girls don't really like you at all, so you're asking for my help." The broker sighed. "This is a new low, but give me 1000 crow cards and I'll show you what to do. Ten minutes is the maximum of my time, got it?"

"I understand. But how did you know that I was going to ask you that?" The spaceman questioned. "And I'll give you 2000 for twenty minutes."

"Simple, it's from the glimpses that I've seen of you. Plus, I saw you and those girls over there talking. But in term of money, I'm game." The taller boy shrugged. "So, first lesson: don't insert yourself into their life. Just get what you want and let them be. I'll demonstrate, so stay right behind the corner."

As Yuri peered out from behind the wall, Syobai casually walked up to th group, consisting of Emma, Yoruko, and Hibiki. "Oh, Syobai? Did you need something?" Emma inquired.

"Yeah. Where did Monocrow restock the instant foods this time?" The broker demanded in a deadpan voice.

"The third island, I think." Hibiki answered, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Thanks." Syobai immediately left and went back around the corner to Yuri. "Take notes, sweetheart." His voice was dripping with sarcasm on the last word. "If you stay around someone who doesn't like you for too long, you'll make them uncomfortable and want to leave. Alright, your turn."

"Mine?" Yuri questioned. "But what am I to do?"

"Go around the building so that it seems like you came from another direction, then ask the group where I went. Keep it short and sweet." The broker instructed.

Yuri was puzzled but did as he was told, walking around the side of the building and coming back to the girls. "Excuse me, have you seen that broker around here? I'm trying to make a deal with him." He lied, following Syobai's instructions.

"Oh, um, he went in that direction." Yoruko pointed to the building that Syobai disappeared behind. "I'm pretty sure that he's on his way to the third island."

"Thank you very much!" The spaceman replied, then jogged off behind the building, where he lowered his voice to a whisper as he faced the broker. "Yes, I did it! Is that all I need to do?"

"Nah. The twenty minutes isn't up yet, so I guess I can give you another tip. Come on, let's go back to the boat." Syobai instructed, leading Yuri back to the Monocruise.

Once the two of them arrived there, they spotted Hibiki looking at a grandfather clock at the wall. "So, am I to go and talk to her next?" Yuri inquired in a quiet voice.

"Second lesson: drop any and all pet names you have for girls. It makes them very uncomfortable. Also, try to refrain from your blatant misandry, legit nobody cares." The broker whispered. "And lesson three: if someone says no, then just accept it politely and move on. Now, go ask the little shit to investigate the island with you for materials tomorrow."

Yuri walked over to the vocalist as Syobai hid behind a wall. "Greetings, Hibiki! You seem to be alone." He began, remembering not to compliment her as Syobai said. "If you're still alone tomorrow morning, would you like to search for materials with me?"

"Sorry, Ri, but I already was asked by Jiji to search the Tower of Babel tomorrow." Hibiki awkwardly replied. "Sorry about that."

"It's no matter! I hope you find lots of materials then!" The spaceman answered, then went back in search for Syobai. After ducking behind a wall and finding the broker, Yuri began to question him again. "So, that's all I need to do?" He whispered.

"Just keep it up and don't forget what I've taught you." The broker sternly told him in a quiet voice. "Well, the twenty minutes are up. Pleasure doing business with you, customer." He replied as he walked away.

Chapter Text

"Ah, so you really came, Mr. Hashimoto!" Mikado chirped as he sat in the Monocruise's warehouse. The wizard had moved a table and two chairs into the room, and on the table were two large cups and ten dice. These were divided evenly in front of the chairs, so each side had a large cup and five dice.

Syobai walked into the warehouse, surveying the setup in front of him. "This is where you impress me, right?" He remarked sarcastically before pulling out a chair and sitting down. "So, what exactly are you paying me to do?"

"Well, I need to learn how to play the game 'liar's dice'. You see, Ms. Chiebukuro bet a whole week of cleaning that I wouldn't be able to beat her in liar's dice, and even though I like cleaning, my pride is a lot bigger." The wizard explained, sitting down across from the broker. "I would like you to teach me how to play this."

"Liar's dice? Alright, that game's pretty easy. And you got all the right materials, nice." Syobai chuckled. "Alright, so first, I have to tell you what you do in the game."

"Alright." Mikado nodded.

"Basically, you shake the dice in the cup and then slam the cup onto the table, but you don't pick it up. Instead," Syobai tilted his cup on an angle to demonstrate to Mikado, "you open it like this so that only you see the dice underneath."

"Got it. So, you don't want the other player to see your own dice?" The wizard questioned.

"That's right, the main goal of the game is to strategically guess how many of a dice number are on the table at once. That means all the players, not just your dice." The broker continued. "But if the other person says a bid that you don't think is true, you can take the cup off to reveal their dice."

"What's a bid?" Mikado chimed in.

"Every turn, a player starts out with a bid, or a guess at how many number of dice are on the table at once. For example, two threes or five twos." Syobai explained. "Each turn, a player has three options to adjust the existing bid: you increase the number of dice, but keep the same face, like increasing three fives to four fives; you increase the number of dice and change the face, like increasing three fives to four twos; or you keep the same number of dice, but change the face, like increasing four twos to four threes. Keep in mind that when you up the number of dice, you can only do it by ones, and the number of dice can't lower."

"Okay, I think I've got it. So, what happens with the bid and the 'taking the cup off' thing?" The blonde inquired.

"Well, if the bid is lower than the amount of dice on the table, the one who takes the cup off loses. But if the bid is too high and the player with the bid can't put their money where their mouth is, they lose." The broker concluded. "Sometimes you have to be honest, sometimes you have to bluff. That's the only way to win liar's dice."

"Well, that makes sense. But I hope that what you had taught me is st least correct." Mikado hummed. Dropping his voice low, he spoke as if he were in a trace, "I just don't want to be betrayed again."

"What do you mean? As long as a customer pays me, I won't go back on my word." Syobai reminded with a raised eyebrow, able to hear the wizard's muttering. "This should be enough to suffice for you to win your little 'competition' or whatever, but I guess I should play once with you to make sure that the lesson sinks in."

As Syobai reminded Mikado of some of the instructions as he went along, they shook the dice in the cup before slamming it on the table. Mikado tilted his cup and looked underneath. He had one four and four fives. That seemed to be the result of Divine Luck in the end.

"I'll go first." Syobai began. "I bet two twos. Your turn, and remember the rules I taught you."

Mikado looked at his dice again and swallowed his nervousness. "Three twos."

"Four fours." The broker replied. Mikado was beginning to get nervous.

"Four fives." The wizard spine, being a little too honest.

Syobai looked under his cup again. He had three fives, a two, and a one. He had a feeling that Mikado had at least one five so he decided to try and bait the wizard to see if he'd stick with the fives or not. "Five threes."

"Six fives." Mikado replied. At this point, Syobai was suspicious. He already had three fives of his own, and it would be unlikely that Mikado had three fives as well. After a brief moment of thinking, he stood up and took Mikado's cup off.

To his shock, Mikado didn't have three fives, but four of them. The bid was lower than the number of dice, and Syobai had lost. The broker sat down and took his cup off his dice, revealing them to the wizard. "You won. Good game."

"That was fun! Can we do it again?" The wizard chirped, looking like an excited puppy.

The broker had to resist his laughter. "Sure. This time, we're gonna bet money on the game. Get your handbook out and get ready to roll your dice again."

Chapter Text

After a couple months in the Isle of Nowhere, the class decided to throw another party since the first one was very successful. Even with somebody sneaking in drinks, nobody actually died from alcohol poisoning or otherwise, so the group agreed to formally bring alcohol on the condition that the group drink responsibly. And since Monocrow believed that debauchery was par for the course, the decision was put through.

Just like with the first party, the same committee had gathered together to plan for their second party. Setsuka, Hajime, Yoruko, Sora, Yuki, Mikado, and Monocrow were sitting around an empty table in the amnesiac's dorm room to share their ideas.

"So, gang? First things first, where should we hold the party this time?" Setsuka began. "Should we do it at the guest house again?"

"No, we've already did that, we should add some variety." Yuki countered. "What about in Higa City? Surely there's a place that can hold all of us, right?"

"I'm afraid that may be too perilous to your safety." Monocrow interjected. "As a teacher, I have to make sure that my students don't get hurt or lost in their drunken stupor."

"Then how about the break room in the Tower of Babel?" Hajime suggested. "If I guard the door, then nobody can get out and nobody will get hurt from anything on the outside."

"Good idea! We can definitely use that!" Yoruko chirped. "But what about the food and drinks? Mikado can't use his magic in the tower, so it would be tiring for him to keep going back and forth between the tower entrance and the break room."

"Never fear, I will be able to manage!" The wizard chuckled. "Though I will admit, I am quite tired from using my magic to clean. Would you mind if I crash in your room while you're out, Ms. Sora? I need to recharge my energy before preparing my mana."

"Sure, go right ahead." Sora permitted. "If we have everything in order, then I'll gather all of you at six in the evening to set up the break room for the party. Mikado, you better have prepared the first round of food by then."

"In addition, I will also suspend the rule about the Monocruise locking its doors just for tonight. Please make sure that there are a few sober students to help the drunk ones back to their dorms." The crow requested.

Later that evening, the party had been set up and the class was slowly making their way into the break room of the Tower of Babel. Yoruko, Mikado, Hajime, Hibiki, and Iroha had decided to stay sober, though only the hostess, boxer, and wizard actually played an active role during the party. Yoruko would take the food items from Mikado and put then on the tables as well as take requests, Mikado would make the food, and Hajime would guard the door to prevent anyone from getting out.

An hour into the party, and a lot of people were various levels of drunk. Kanade had somehow snuck a stereo into the room, so the highlights of the party were Yuri stripping while dancing to the music and Utsuro downing a bottle of sake. If Yoruko weren't a hostess, she would be at her wit's end by now.

As she set down another platter of sandwiches from Mikado, wondering how the hell her classmates seemed to have bottomless stomachs, she heard Teruya stumbling up beside her. "You look tired." He slurred his words as he looked at her with a concerned expression. "Why don't you enjoy the party? I can do your job for you, I'm technically qualified to handle things..."

"Teruya, you're drunk out of your mind. Go dance with Nikei or something, I'm a little busy at the moment." She declined with a smile. "Don't worry about me, just go enjoy the party." She knew that she had to at least fake a smile to make sure that the drunk person in front of her wouldn't be too unhappy, that was a lesson that Karia had drilled into her head.

"Ehehe, you're a pretty on the outside as you are on the inside, you know?" The merchant continued with a light smile.

"Pick up lines only work when I'm drunk." The hostess rolled her eyes with a smile. "Or rather, they work when you're sober. Otherwise, I won't take you seriously. Come on, let's go find somebody for you to dance with."

Grabbing Teruya's hands, she led him to the sleepy journalist and instructed the merchant to keep an eye on him if he wanted to help her. Yoruko later stayed late at the party and made sure that everybody got back to the Monocruise, safe and sound. After she and Mikado finished cleaning up the room, they both collapsed and fell asleep in the break room and had to be carried back over Hajime's shoulders.

Chapter Text

As Yoruko finally arrived at the pool, she looked around in confusion. Setsuka had invited her to go swimming there, yet there was no signs of the billiards player being around. The hostess shrugged, thinking that Setsuka was either hiding and waiting to surprise her, was just running a bit late, or was being made to do something by Monocrow. While she waited, she figured that she might as well get herself changed into her blue two-piece swimsuit.

Once she left the changeroom after putting on her swimsuit, she looked around once again. Just like before, the one who had invited her was still not there. The girl assumed that Setsuka was definitely running late and sat down on the bench with two towels, one for each of them. For fifteen minutes, she waited for the billiards player to show up, but the other girl never did. 

Annoyed at this point, Yoruko went back to the changeroom and got her handbook out of her clothes, sending a quick text to Setsuka to remind her about their pool time before going back to sit and continue her waiting. Finally, after another ten minutes, Setsuka finally showed up in her swimsuit with her clothes under her arm.

"Sorry about that, Ruko! My alarm was supposed to wake me up from my nap, but it never did!" The billiard player sheepishly chuckled. The taller girl quickly ran into the changeroom to drop off her clothes before heading back out to join the hostess. "And after that, I was too groggy to think, so sorry for not thinking about it at all!"

"Jeez, I can't believe you didn't remember..." Yoruko huffed under her breath, but she wasn't really angry at Setsuka at all. She was only a little annoyed at the inconvenient bad luck that befell her. Seriously, how does Iroha, the clustiest person out of the whole group, have more luck than someone who has most of their act together?

While her mind was rambling, her eyes drifted to the billiards player and looked over her swimsuit. Setsuka also wore a two-piece swimsuit, but this one was coloured black and a bit more revealing than her own. The hostess quickly snapped out of her internal rambling and stopped staring at the blue-haired girl.

"Well, let's go into the water! I might be late, but I see no reason that we can't still have fun!" Setsuka encouraged, grabbing Yoruko's hand and dragging her towards the shallow end of the pool. Under the billiards player's other arm was a large beach ball, and the hostess assumed that she would probably need to get a net later for if they wanted to play beach volleyball, or the pool version of that.

As soon as the girls got into the water, Yoruko stiffened and gasped. "It's cold as ice in here!" She yelped. "Can't we at least go into the hot tub and just do some girl talk instead?!"

"But Ruko, if we go into the hot tub first, then wouldn't the pool be a lot colder to us then?" Setsuka replied, and Yoruko reluctantly agreed with a silent nod. "After we get used to the water and finish playing around, then we can go into the hot tub and do some girl talk before supper. How does that sound?"

"N-Not bad..." The hostess stuttered and looked away as Setsuka walked closer to her. Suddenly, the billiards player wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and hugged her tightly. "Gaah?! What on earth-?!" She exclaimed.

"What's wrong, Ruko? You said that you were cold, so I thought that a hug would warm you up!" Setsuka laughed. "Aww, your face is redder than Shin's hair!"

"Sh-Shut up! Just get off of me and let's just play with the beach ball already!" Yoruko sputtered, shoving the laughing girl away and into the water. In retaliation, Setsuka splashed some water back at the smaller girl, and the two of them kept going back and forth until their torsos were utterly covered in water.

After that, they decided to toss the beach ball and hit it back to each other from each side of the shallow end of the pool, laughing all the while when they had to jump for it and leave the pool to retrieve it. Eventually, they did end up in the hot tub, which was much smaller than the rest of the pool.

"So, I heard that Mikado's making Oktoberfest sausages, cream of broccoli soup, and takoyaki for supper tonight." Yoruko began. "How on earth does that guy remember all of them? Maybe he has a cookbook somewhere..."

"Ooh, are you thinking of trying to cook for us too? I did see you make soup on the second island the other day." Setsuka added. "Maybe you should go get some lessons from Kado! He seems like he'll teach you if you ask!"

"Have you asked him?" The hostess inquired.

"Nope! He banned me from the kitchen after I spiked the stew he made for his group of five." The taller girl chuckled. "That was the day that they didn't show up until supper came."

"So YOU we're the reason we had to eat packaged foods that night!" Yoruko fumed, and the only thing that Setsuka could do was laugh and laugh.

Chapter Text

"...My hobby is singing, my specialty is fashion, and the high school that I went to before being accepted into Hope's Peak is Rotponjuku Academy." The hostess explained as she sat on the piano stool in the auditorium.

Yoruko had wanted to try learning an instrument, so she had found a book on how to play the piano in the Monocruise's library and borrowed it. When she had finally arrived at the auditorium to start learning to play the large instrument, she had been confronted with Nikei running up to her and demanding an interview to expand the information of the current profiles that Monocrow had in the student handbooks.

"I see, I see..." The journalist murmured as he wrote her answers down. "And what are your likes and your dislikes?" He asked, not looking up from his notepad.

"I like gorgeous and showy things, and I dislike prejudice and stereotypes." She answered, slightly impatient as her mind kept drifting to how much she just wanted to play the piano at the moment.

"Alright, I've got it." Nikei smiled and flipped his notebook back to the first page, putting his pen behind his ear. "Alright, interview over! I have to go now!" He turned on his heels and began running towards the door.

"What are you in such a rush?" Yoruko snickered, finding it funny how big the journalist's mood swings were.

"I need to conduct an experiment upstairs, and I don't need Kokoro to do it!" He exclaimed. "You know how the prize machine in the game room opens when it's given crow cards and stays like that until you take the prize? Well, if you reach in while the prize is still there, then you can grab as many as you want! At least, that's what I think!"

"Pfft, hahaha! That's so childish!" The hostess laughed. "You just want all the prizes for yourself, don't you? I don't think that Sora's gonna be happy about that!"

"If that makes me a child, so be it." The journalist huffed, quickly heading through the door to test his experiment. Yoruko giggled to herself before opening her book and beginning her solo piano lesson.

Half an hour later, Yoruko decided to stop her lesson for the day and pick it up tomorrow. As she carried her book under her arm, she decided that she wanted to check on Nikei and see if his 'experiment' had worked or not. She had a feeling that he had given up and went to his room, but she decided to check the game room just in case. As she opened the door, her eyes widened at what she saw.

Nikei was sitting on the ground with an more than annoyed face, his expression darker than anything she'd ever seen. But the thing that had caught her eye was his right hand, which was deep inside the prize machine. From the way that the journalist was tugging on his hand and trying to wiggle it, she presumed that it was stuck.

"Pfft, ahahahaha!" Yoruko couldn't stop herself as she burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Nikei! Did you seriously get your hand stuck in the prize machine?! How are you going to tell this to the others?!"

"I paid for my hanami dangos, and I am getting my hanami dangos. That's all they need to know." Nikei grumbled. "If you say anything else-"

"As funny as this is, I don't want anyone else getting their hand stuck while trying to perform a stupid experiment. I won't tell them about that, don't worry." The hostess giggled. "Do you need me to get the vaseline or something? Or should I go ask Monocrow to help?"

"N-No! Um..." The journalist's face went red as he frowned and looked away. "I-I think Mikado might have some cooking oil that'll help me slip out. I'll pay him off or give him what he wants to keep quiet, just hurry up and get him."

"Alright! Good luck over there!" Yoruko teased as she turned around, listening to Nikei's hushed obscenities as she walked through the door.

After she explained the situation to him, it took two minutes for Mikado to stop laughing and let Yoruko lead him to the game room. It took another five minutes after the wizard to burst into laughter upon seeing the disgruntled journalist with his hand stuck in the prize machine.

Getting Nikei out of his situation was thankfully short, and Mikado had made Nikei help him around the Monocruise for the day in repayment for freeing him. The journalist had helped hold things in place while Mikado repaired, get miscellaneous items that the wizard asked for, and assisted in cooking, and Mikado and Yoruko never said a word about the incident.

Yoruko knew very well that she had to save her blackmail for when it was necessary.

Chapter Text

As Yoruko searched the second island in the morning to collect materials, this time for a mini-shrine, she spotted Iroha sitting at the base of one of the torii on the island. Looking up at the mountain, she was sketching out its silhouette so that she could set up a painting for later.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be investigating this island too?" The hostess suddenly spoke from behind her, and Iroha yelped as she pressed her sketchbook to her chest.

"Wh-Wh-When did you arrive?! I never even heard you coming!" The painter exclaimed with a frightened look in her eyes.

"I'm a hostess, I've mastered the art of walking around drunks without disturbing whatever they're doing." Yoruko huffed. "Now, answer my question. Why are you just sketching instead of investigating?"

"W-Well, I need to keep practicing my paintings and get the right angle for certain things, plus this helps me calm down..." Iroha attempted to justify. "I dunno why it's a big deal. The deadline for the current project-thing isn't going to be for a while."

"The 'big deal' is that everyone is supposed to do their part since there's always a bunch of materials to be found!" The hostess snapped. "So get off your ass and do something!"

"Eek! You can't make me!" The painter squealed, scrambling to put some distance between her and the taller girl. "I'll defend my paintings with my life if I have to!"

"With your life? I could beat you up, you know that right?" Yoruko scoffed. "Even with my strength, I can still snap you in half like a twig."

"Ngh...probably." The smaller girl whimpered, getting ready to run at any moment.

Yoruko looked over the brunette and sighed. "Which brings up a good point, you won't be able to defend yourself if you get attacked." She admitted. "Even if there's a 'no violence' rule here, not everybody is as kind out in the real world as we are. I might as well teach you how to defend yourself in case you get attacked."

"Huh? You're going to do that for me?" Iroha squeaked nervously. "B-But I can't hit anyone for the life of me! I can't do any fancy tricks or-"

"You don't need to do all of that. All you really need is a reliable weapon. Trust me, I've needed to use my own too many times." The hostess straightened back up and smoothed down her dress. "If you keep searching for materials, then I'll teach you how." She promised before walking away.

Iroha sighed as she closed her sketchbook, knowing that she didn't have a choice in the matter. Emma hadn't taught her how to defend herself, Hajime's methods relied more on strength, her fear of loud noises meant that Nikei's gun lessons didn't last, and Mikado wasn't around long enough to help her. The painter began searching for materials as the morning went on.

When noon finally arrived, Iroha carried her pile of items to the dining hall and set them on the table. Beside her, Yoruko had finished giving her pile to Sora, who was supposed to count up what was found and see if they were needed. The hostess turned to Iroha and smiled. 

"Alright, good job! That's a lot of materials!" She remarked. "Now, let's head over to the gym and I'll teach you how to defend yourself." At her words, Iroha quietly nodded, never liking the idea of hurting another person. In fact, her group was prepared to kill, but since Utsuro was already at the island by some unknown means, they had been blessed once again and the plan had been scrapped.

When Yoruko and Iroha arrived at the gym, Iroha put her sketchbook and her hat to the side while the hostess set up a few training dummies. "S-So, we're gonna be using these?" The painter meekly questioned.

"Yep! But first, you need a weapon." Yoruko then reached under her dress and pulled out a thin, sharp dagger with a beautiful pink quartz hilt and the slight tint of red on the blade. "This one is my own, so I'll teach you with this first."

"Eeek! Wh-Where did you get that from?!" Iroha gasped, her eyes widening as she glanced at the weapon.

"I actually have a tight garter belt near the top of my leg so that I can have this on me at all times." The hostess shrugged. "But what's more important is how the weapon is used. It can be a kitchen knife or something, it just has to be sharp. So first, since you don't look like you've done this before, I'll teach you how to stab first. Here, come up to this dummy."

The small painter whimpered as she walked up to it, and Yoruko taught her how much force to use to break through the skin, even demonstrating it in front of the painter. When it was Iroha's turn, she whimpered but managed to not think of the dummy as a person and stick the dagger into its 'stomach'. As she looked back up at Yoruko, she was met by praise from the hostess, even if she didn't feel good about her actions.

Chapter Text

As Hajime finished his shower from his daily jog around the island, he walked out of his room and heard the sound of arguing coming from down the hall. As he stepped closer to investigate, he spotted Yoruko and Nikei arguing outside of the bathrooms and sighed. Those two being together was hardly ever a good thing as it often led to arguments and stupid decisions.

"Seriously, Nikei?! Did you have to just leave Hibiki there like that?!" Yoruko scolded, her posture suggesting that she was about to ignore the 'no violence' rule at any second, helping Monocrow clean be damned. She then lowered her voice to a more dangerous tone. "Would it kill you to help people? It's not like the world revolves around you, you know."

The boxer decided that it was best to intervene before either one of them got in trouble. "Hey, I could hear you guys from down the hall." He announced, stepped towards the arguing duo as he made his presence known. "What the hell's going on with you two?"

"...Tch." The journalist scowled as he pushed past Hajime, quickly escaping the conversation. Yoruko and Hajime watched him almost run down the stairs as his glare didn't change.

"Gh...!" The hostess looked like she was close to burning with anger. "That damn guy, he really pisses me off sometimes...!"

"Calm down, Nikei's just not used to handling people. He's more used to either giving orders or working solo because of his job." Hajime explained, putting a hand on her shoulder. "But yeah, he's a bit of a handful at the worst of times, so I get where you're coming from."

After a few deep breaths, Yoruko managed to calm herself down enough to pretend to look calm. "At least Hibiki managed to get down from there with Shinji and Utsuro's help. Still though, I don't know how she got stuck climbing a high shelf in the Tower of Babel in the first place. I mean, who in their right mind would do that?" She complained.

"Eh, I've dealt with worse. It gets harder when your eyes are sensitive to light, believe me." The boxer laughed. "Anyways, you look like you need to cool off. You wanna head over to the gym with me? There's a few punching bags that you might be able to make use of."

"Oh, believe me, I will." The hostess agreed, and Hajime followed her as she walked down the stairs into the gym on the first floor. Even if it was out of anger, he wasn't going to refuse a training buddy!

When they arrived, Yoruko went to the nearest punching bag and hitting it, letting out a bunch of pent-up anger onto it. "Hey, you should probably tuck your thumb below your knuckles, like this." The boxer held up his hand, showing the smaller girl. "You don't want to hurt your thumb by mistake."

"Alright, thanks!" The hostess replied, mimicking the hand position that he demonstrated and continuing to hit the bag, which was starting to sway even with her lack of strength. "I'm surprised that the Monocruise doesn't have a room that you can take your anger out in, like some kind of rage room. Well, I guess that's what the gym is for!"

"If you feel like that a lot of the time, then you should come train with Shinji, Yuki, and myself after the material scavenging in the morning. I mean, if Yuki can survive that, then you probably can too." Hajime joked. "Anyone's welcome to join us, even if Shinji manages to act like a drill sergeant at times. It might actually be good for your job, you could carry heavier things at a time."

"But carrying heavier things won't work if you don't have any balance anyway, and I'm not planning to return as a hostess after I graduate from Hope's Peak Academy." Yoruko explained. "I mean, I can't hold onto that job all my life, so I've been searching up things like random trivia, job opportunities, things that could help me for when I fully become an adult and have to live on my own."

"That's true, I guess I never thought about it." The blonde chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, I never expected that I'd actually live this long. Shows what I know, I guess."

"Well, that does make sense. Adults these days aren't preparing us enough to live by ourselves, with rising inflation rates and climate change not going very well." The girl sighed. "All our lives, we have to raise our hand and ask to go to the washroom, but the second we turn eighteen, they immediately expect us to know how to make money, pay bills, and deal with a corrupt system."

"Yeah, I really hate that." Hajime sighed. "Well, at least we aren't dead. Even if baby boomers control the government and not help the younger generations at all, we can still make an impact with our own hands."

"Amen to that." Yoruko agreed, continuing her assault on the punching bag.

Chapter Text

As Yoruko entered the psychologist's room, closing the door behind her, Kokoro sat on the table with a stack of papers and machinery beside her. "There you are, Yoruko. I was wondering if you were going to show up or not." The smaller girl greeted.

"Yeah, sorry about being late. Turns out that a lot of materials were brought back today and I had to help make a few things with them." The hostess replied apologetically. "So, what did you need me for again? You said that it was some sort of experiment."

"That is correct. I could have selected a few other people for this procedure, but I figured that your frequent interactions with other people would yield better results." Kokoro explained, sliding off of the table and walking over to Yoruko. "Please sit down in the chair over there while I set up the portable data reader."

"Alright, I'll do that." The hostess walked over to the chair and sat as she was instructed, watching Kokoro while she tinkered with a tiny machine. "Um, what exactly did you want me to do for this experiment? Do I have to even do anything?"

"...Well, If I didn't have any proper dignity, I would say 'I bet you can't go 24 hours without cussing'. So pretend that I said that, except more scientifically." The psychologist summarized. "I want to record the data of different forms of frustration, be it with anger, boredom, or sexual. I have seen some of these before, but I haven't recorded it yet, so I wanted to see if it would work on a social person if they weren't allowed to swear."

"Pfft, you should've gotten Nikei for this experiment, I'm pretty sure that he can give you results for all three!" The taller girl joked. As Kokoro finished tweaking the small chip, she walked behind Yoruko and tilted the hostess's head to face forwards before placing the chip at the base of her skull. "Aah?! What on earth?!" Yoruko cried out as the scanner's retractable claws dug into her skin to stay there, drawing blood as it was secured.

Kokoro took out a handkerchief to mop up the mess. "Don't touch the scanner, even if it hurts. I need it for my research. I always make sure tonproperly sterilize all my equipment before use, so you won't have to worry about an infection." She reminded, and eventually managed to stop the blood flow. "The scanner will send me your emotion data, but it doesn't have a very far reach today. Since the Monocruise is docked at the first island for the week, please either stay on this island or on the Monocruise. It will only be for one day, don't worry."

"O...Okay. So I just have to not swear for the entire day to help you, that sounds easy enough." Yoruko let out a breath that she had been holding unconsciously, standing up from the chair on shaky legs. "Um, Kokoro? If you test this on anyone else, maybe numb the spot where the scanner will go before it inserts its claws."

"Duly noted." The psychologist wrote Yoruko's advice down to remind herself in the future. "Anyway, you need to stick to the first island or the Monocruise while going out. And don't swear." She reminded as the hostess left her room.

Throughout the day, Yoruko managed to keep up Kokoro's experiment and not say a single swear word. There were a few close calls when the hostess was pissed off by a fellow student, but she managed to swap out the words before she could say them. She wouldn't be a hostess if she wasn't good with words, after all.

At the beginning of the next day, after the class had eaten another one of Mikado's breakfasts, Yoruko returned to Kokoro's room and rung the doorbell. She was let in without any hesitation, and the hostess went to sit back on the chair. "Alright, I managed to not swear for an entire day. Could you take this off now?"

"Of course, you have given me a good basis for my emotion research." The psychologist replied, walking up behind Yoruko once again and carefully removing the scanner. After cleaning up the blood and giving the hostess some first aid, she put the scanner on her desk, next to a bottle of peroxide to sanitize it later. "Of course, I will need a few more subjects since my results will vary between them, but thank you for cooperating so easily."

"It's no problem! Honestly, you should ask Nikei to come next, he'll probably give you more data than I ever could." The taller girl recommended. "Anyway, I'll see you around! I hope your experiment goes well!" Yoruko smiled as she left the psychologist's room.

Kokoro watched her leave, content with the results that the hostess gave her, and quickly got to work sanitizing the scanner before she invited in the next subject.

Chapter Text

"Come on, Yoru, you said that you can sing! I just want to hear you!" Hibiki complained, trying to drag the hostess to the casino on the third island.

Kanade giggled as she walked beside the duo. "You know, Sis, I don't think that this is working too well." She remarked, and the older twin rolled her eyes when she heard that.

"Then push her from behind, dammit!" The vocalist snapped, and the younger twin quietly grumbled as she went to do as she said. Kanade didn't know how she put up with her sister, it was still a mystery to her.

"What the-?! You two, why the hell are you doing this?! I said I could sing, yes, but I also said I was terrible at it! Why would the Ultimate Vocalist want to hear someone who's bad at singing?!" Yoruko exclaimed. "Besides, we're supposed to be collecting materials right now!"

"First of all, Sis and I already have jobs on the third island, I clean while she searches. Second of all, you're lying since you said that you were supposed to count the materials today." The guitarist refuted. "Third of all, you're a complete tsundere. You're most likely selling yourself short while actually sounding pretty good. You wouldn't have told Hibiki that you could sing otherwise."

While the hostess was left sputtering flustered protests, the twins kept pushing her with persistence to the casino and the karaoke machine inside. When they did manage to get inside, Hibiki quickly blocked the door. "Alright, I'll get the karaoke set up! What song do you want?" The vocalist chirped.

"Wh-What on earth is your deal?! Dragging me here when we're supposed to be doing things- well, YOU'RE supposed to be doing things - and you want me to sing first thing in the morning?!" The taller girl protested.

"Ah, you're right! You should do warmups first, I suggest that you-" Hibiki began, but was cut off.

"No way! Just let me out of there and get back to your jobs!" Yoruko sternly exclaimed.

"Come on, Yoru, pleeeeease? You know how much I love youuuuu..." The vocalist whined and tried to put herself between Yoruko and the door.

"Hibiki, get out of my way." The hostess fixed the smaller girl with a death glare.

"But, I said I love you." Hibiki whimpered, giving the taller girl puppy eyes. Behind the older twin, Kanade coughed to draw Yoruko's attention to her and fixed the light pink-haired girl with a deadpan stare, slowly drawing her finger across her throat.

Yoruko got the message the guitarist was sending and immediately relented. "Fine, I'll do it. Jeez, you guys are pushy." The hostess huffed. "But god help you if we don't do our work because of this! Forget the others, I'll kick your asses myself!"

"Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon!" Hibiki reassured, smiling cheerfully as she bounced back to her usual excitable self.

The taller girl sighed and walked over to the karaoke machine, turning it on and shuffling through the songs. She could tune out Hibiki's hyperactive cheering, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling of Kanade's eyes boring holes into her back. She didn't know how the younger twin could do that, but she certainly wasn't going to ignore it.

After setting up 'Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato on the karaoke machine, Yoruko turned it on and began singing, despite not having warmed up her voice as the vocalist had previously suggested. She just wanted to get this done with as soon as possible.

Hibiki ignored the way the taller girl's voice cracked on some of the notes or that she hadn't warmed up, the vocalist simply sat on the ground and listened with wide eyes as Kanade stayed near the back, leaning on the barricaded door.

 When Yoruko had finished the song, growing flustered again after remembering that she had an audience after being lost in the song, Hibiki applauded enthusiastically with a bright face. "Wow, Yoru, that was amazing! Come on, encore!" The vocalist cheered. The guitarist only chuckled at the back.

"B-But, I already did a song as we agreed, and you said we'd be out of here soon!" The hostess exclaimed, stepping away from the machine.

"Aw, but Yoruuuu..." Hibiki started whining again. At that point, Kanade just pulled out her student handbook to tell the others via group chat that Hibiki was going to cause them to not finish their assigned jobs.

When the vocalist finally pressured Yoruko into singing another song, deciding to make it a duet, Kanade pulled out her phone and decided to record it as blackmail. When she asked Yoruko to help her with her cleaning - or else the video would be sent to Sora and Setsuka - the hostess reluctantly agreed and helped her out when the guitarist asked it of her.