Tsubasa smiled at Yua, grateful to see she was doing alright. He glanced at her arm, wanting to be sure she was still safe after being attacked the day before--it didn't seem to be bleeding, so Tsubasa assumed it had been treated adequately. Bringing it up now would probably only freak everyone out--it could be ignored for now.

"I just realized I never answered when you asked how we slept," Tsubasa said suddenly. "Sorry, still a bit distracted. I slept fine."

It wasn't a lie--he had slept through the night, at least--but he had also been up for hours late into morning trying to come up with the most simplistic design possible to transfer everyone safely off the island. The more basic the design, the more likely it was they would find the materials needed to actually build a plane. Granted it also meant less room for passengers, but that was one of the issues he had been working to fix.

Wakabayashi nodded, dipping her finger in the pool curiously. "Did anyone already eat? I suppose I should have thought to get something. Maybe I'll go get some food from the main resort if everyone takes too long."

"I got breakfast pretty early," Tsubasa replied.

Futami looked like she would speak up--but then she trailed off, squeaked, and went bright red, immediately looking to the opposite of the pool from the gate. Curious, Tsubasa glanced at the gate...and shrieked.

"Kagakagari! Why are you naked?!"

Kagakagari yawned. "I told you you can call me Yoshi," he said casually. "Just got back from grabbing breakfast. I should probably shower, but that means going inside again..."

"Answer my question, d*mmit!"

Kagakagari shrugged, wandering to one of the lounge chairs as far from everyone else as possible. He crawled onto it, closing his eyes. "Eh, I spent the night outside and I didn't feel like going back into the dorms to grab clothes."

"What kind of person sleeps naked outside?!"

"Aren'tcha at least a bit embarrassed?" Futami muttered, staring intently at the pool. "I-I mean, because there're girls here and all..."

"Is 'shame' a foreign concept to you?" Wakabayashi asked.

Tsubasa pointed at them. "What they said! You've got to put pants on, dude!"

Kagakagari huffed, sat up, and wandered towards a desk near the opposite end of the pool. He crouched near it, muttering to himself, then stood, now carting a towel. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he returned to his lounge chair.

"Better?"

"Better than nothing," Tsubasa sighed. "Seriously, man, you've gotta stop doing that."

"Eh, you guys are just prudes. In the early stages of humanity there were no clothes. It was just man and nature."

"You know clothes are considered an advancement in humanity, right...?"

Sachiko squeaked, poking her head out from behind Wakabayashi (she had taken to hiding) to make sure Hideyoshi wasn't naked anymore. Thank goodness, he at least had a towel now--Sachi didn't like to be reminded of naked men and the various reasons why they were naked. She laughed nervously, trying to maintain a smile though just a bit shaken-up.

Yamada coughed, seeming awkward. "Kagakagari, for those of us who have become rather accustomed to wearing clothes, would you mind keeping at least a towel on in the future? I'm not...critisizing, it's just that it makes some people uncomfortable. And the more comfortable we are..."

The less likely a murder is to happen, Sachiko finished for him in her head.

He cleared his throat, shifting. "...The more comfortable we are, the better. So, uhm. Has everyone had breakfast yet? I can bring a plate of food for everyone if not. I-I'd probably prefer a few people came with me, though, if that's not too much of a hassle."

"I don't mind coming with you," Sachiko offered, smiling. "I can help you carry so we can bring even more food for everyone else. That'll be helpful, right?"

"That'll be super helpful. Thanks, Hayashi. One more person wanna come?" He seems pretty optimistic. That's good! I hope it lasts a while before I get beaten to a bloody pulp and everything inevitably comes crashing down. Or maybe I won't die first? I sure hope I die first. If not me, then...well, I guess we'll see.

Sachiko hummed, scanning the crowd of people that were already here--Wakabayashi, Yamada, Futami, Susugihara, Yoshi, Yua, Shimizu...what was that odd look in Yua's eyes? Sitting stiffly, she stared at Yoshi for a stretch of time before quickly glancing down at the floor and muttering things to herself. She shifted, then scooted closer to Susugihara.

Weird.

The gate latch unlocked--Sachiko looked over and saw Nakano walking into the pool area, smiling. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late, I had to finish burying Fukui's bloody and beaten-up body. How are you guys doing?"

Yamada shrieked. Yua clung to Susugihara's arm and cried out in panic.

"Ah." Nakano nodded. "Screams. Screams mean panic. Panic is not good, usually. Is there any way that I could solve that panic? Perhaps play some relaxing music to calm you down?"

"Relaxing music doesn't bring dead people back!" Yamada screeched. "What did you do?!"

Fukui walked up behind Nakano, blinking. "Wh-what's happening? Why is everyone panicking? I-is someone dead already...?!"

"Don't worry, everything is fine," Nakano soothed, patting Fukui's head. "I was just looking into something. How are you feeling today, Fukui? Ready to be buried in the sand?"

Yamada shrieked again. Sachiko laughed. "Ah, I think I get it! It's a joke, right, Nakano? Because Fukui's right there! No one's gonna die today."

Nakano clapped. "That's right! Thank you for understanding, Hayashi. Though, Fukui, next time I pretend you're dead, try not to enter so early. I was hoping to see the effects of my claim over a longer period of time, see. I think I would have collected much more interesting data had you all believed me for a bit longer."

"D-don't do that again!" Yamada cried.

Tsubasa cautiously moved to touch Yua's back as if in comfort, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. As much as Nakano seemed to be pleasant enough, the very fact that he'd brought up a death was...unsettling, to say the least. It was unlikely there was anyone there actually considering taking the psycho bear up on his offer, but it also wasn't impossible. That was what worried Tsubasa most.

If someone snaps, will it be Nakano?

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, Tsubasa tried to offer a pleasant smile instead of the anxious frown he was suppressing. "Not sure making jokes about death is the best plan right now. Speaking of plans, I got to work on some blueprints for a ride out of here last night. Give me a few days and I should have something all sketched up. Then it's just a matter of gathering materials...I can help everyone put it together."

Maybe assuring people that he had already gotten started on a plan would discourage anyone from committing murder. It was a safe bet, right?

...Right?

Futami raised her hand. "I'll go with ya, Yamada! It'll be nice bondin' time, eh? 'Sides, I could use the exercise."

"Of all of us, I suspect you're the one who least needs exercise," Wakabayashi admitted, seeming content with Hayashi's closeness. It seemed the two girls had rather quickly taken to sticking together, Tsubasa noticed--good. The more bonds we start to form, the less likely things are to go horribly wrong.

"Nah, not even remotely!" Futami frowned slightly, leaning back and beginning to remove her feet from the pool. "Athletes gotta exercise like crazy to stay in shape. I mean, just 'cause I can run don't mean I can slack off, eh? If I lose my endurance I won't be a very good marathon runner anymore."

This seemed to satisfy Wakabayashi, who nodded contemplatively.

A sound near the gate caught Tsubasa's attention. He looked over, noticing that Tomomi had finally arrived alongside Katsuro, who waltzed to the gate with his usual swagger. The blonde then froze and cleared his throat, waiting for Tomomi to obediently open the gate for him before sauntering over to a nearby lounger chair.

"Rejoice, peasants, for your king has arrived!" the TV star announced grandly. "I trust no important information was shared while you were waiting?"

Tsubasa tried to keep his eye from twitching visibly. "Only that I've started work on designing our ticket out of here. Tomomi, you don't have to let him boss you around, you know."

"Oh, I don't mind," Tomomi cooed pleasantly, lingering nearby Katsuro in case he made a request. "I'm happy to do things for all of you. After all, Prince Katsuro is famous."

Katsuro puffed out his chest, satisfied.

"Aren't you a model, Tomomi? You've got status too, you know."

Tomomi merely shrugged.

"Isn't everyone here famous in some way?" Nakano pointed out, moving to take a seat in one of the lounge chairs. He paused, sneezed, then took a few tissues from out of his pocket and noisily blew his nose. Fukui stared at him for a moment, apparently decided sitting next to him wasn't a good idea, and took a seat next to Shimizu instead, shifting. Shimizu was looking at her nails.

"Guess so, but he's TV famous," Sachiko pointed out. "Maybe that's kinda different from everyone else's famous. You're really good at TV, right, Wakabayshi? What do you think?"

Of course, Sachiko was nothing close to famous. In fact, she was the only there that wasn't famous--in a weird way, did that almost make her famous among these people? Or did it make her even less important? Though her mind immediately assumed the latter, it was fun to think about anyway.

Yamada rubbed his temples, taking a deep breath. He muttered something to himself, swallowed, then straightened his posture, seeming rather awkward. "A-ah. Okay. Hayashi, Futami, thank you. Is there anything in particular someone wants to eat, or should we grab whatever qualifies as 'breakfast'?"

"Ehm, if you don't mind, wash your hands first," Nakano called. "Before touching the food, I mean. I don't need any more diseases than I already have."

Yamada smiled nervously. "Right, of course. Don't worry, I always wash my hands before serving food to anyone."

Shimizu tilted her head curiously. "Do you make a habit out of making yourself a slave?"

"Wh-what? No, no, that's not what--I just like to help people, that's all," Yamada clarified. He paused, thinking. "...Is Saito here yet? If he isn't out of bed in ten minutes, I can bring him some food and check to see if he's alright..."

Futami frowned, rising to a stand and slipping her shoes back on her feet. "Y'know, it's okay to let other people do some o' the work, eh? You don't have to do everything just 'cause ya like helpin' people. Anyways, ain't the air out here nice?"

Wakabayashi shrugged. "TV famous...well, I suppose it depends. People have different tastes, but generally the more someone puts themselves out there the more 'famous' they'll be. The actors and actresses I cast generally become far more well known in the grand scheme of things than I do, for instance--I direct, but they're the ones who bring the film to life. In that sense..."

She paused, glancing at Katsuro for a moment. "...In that sense, I suppose it's a bit different, but I wouldn't exactly call him an 'actor'."

Katsuro gasped. "How dare you! I am not just 'an' actor, I'm practically 'the' actor! Everyone and their grandmother knows who I am!"

"Is grandmothers knowing who you are something to be proud of?" Kagakagari asked with a yawn.

"I fail to see how it wouldn't be."

"We're still missing Saito, Nagisa, and Mizushima," Tsubasa announced, ignoring whatever ramble Katsuro had gotten himself into. "Other than them, everyone else is here. I guess I expected Saito to be late, but as for Nagisa and Mizushima..."

Oh gosh. Did Mizushima kill him?!

It was no secret that the brunette baker was unstable--if her immediate attack on Yua didn't prove that enough, her subsequent mental breakdown most certainly did. Saito was bigger than her by quite a bit and somehow didn't seem like the type not to fight back, so it was doubtful he'd been targeted...but Nagisa?

If Tsubasa had learned anything from spending a short amount of time with Nagisa, it was that the boy couldn't hurt a fly. He'd be dead meat in seconds up against a maniac like Mizushima.

Suddenly more worried, Tsubasa scooted even closer to Yua, tentatively moving as if to wrap his arm around her shoulders protectively. "Has anyone seen Mizushima? Has anyone seen Nagisa? Saito's probably fine, but...okay, I'm gonna go look for Nagisa. Who wants to come along?"

Please don't let us find a body, please don't let us find a body, please, please...

"Oh!" Tomomi pointed out towards the direction of the dorms, grinning. "There he is!"

Ah...!

Tsubasa immediately looked out where she was pointing. Sure enough, Nagisa was wandering off in the distance, seemingly admiring the sky. Tsubasa let out a long sigh of relief, which quickly turned into a groan of annoyance.

D*mn kid scared me half to death.

"Hey, Nagisa!" he called, waving to try and catch the boy's attention. Nagisa glanced over curiously, then waved back and began making his way over to the pool. Tsubasa went to meet him, grateful when the boy drew closer and Tsubasa could see more clearly that he was perfectly safe.

"Is it 8:30 already?" Nagisa asked curiously. "I just woke up and then I decided to go for a walk but then I got distracted because the sky is so pretty out here!"

"It's 8:45 by now," Tsubasa chastised. "You're late, and beyond that, so is Mizushima. You had me worried sick, don't do that again!"

Nagisa saluted. "Yes sir! From now on, walks are for after the meeting. Okay! Then, did everyone eat yet? I kinda forgot to get breakfast, haha..."

Tsubasa sighed, but offered the boy an awkward smile. Frankly, he was just glad they could make it through one day without losing anyone--so far it seemed like everything was fine and everyone was getting along, but it was hard to predict how long that would last.

He turned around to head back inside--and jumped. Someone had apparently made it right past him and Nagisa without him even noticing--after a moment of examination, Tsubasa recognized her.

"Mizushima. Sure took you a while, where have you been?"

The girl didn't turn around. Tsubasa sighed, wandering closer to her.

"Oi. Mizushima. Answer me."

After a moment, she turned to face him. The girl blinked, then smiled politely and waved.

Tsubasa rolled his eyes. "Come on, Mizushima, quit stalling. I asked you where you were. Have you seen Saito?"

The girl blinked again, then frantically shook her head and made a series of strange motions.

"Oh," Kagakagari said casually. "It's the Ultimate Ghost. When did she get here?"

The girl wilted.

"Oh!" Tsubasa snapped his fingers triumphantly. "Right, right, you're that one girl. Sorry, it's just that you look a lot like Mizushima. Except without the ponytail, I guess."

The girl sighed, then sadly trudged over to an empty lounge chair and curled up on it. Satisfied, Tsubasa brought Nagisa over to a nearby chair and returned to sitting with Yua.

Sachiko was almost disappointed that Nagisa hadn't turned out to be dead. Was it that she had a grudge against him? Not at all! In fact, aside from Wakabayashi, he was one of her favorite people there so far (not to say she disliked anyone at all--they were all wonderful in their own ways.) It would have just been really cool to see a dead body again.

Ah, I wonder how the first person is going to die, Sachiko thought, humming to herself. Do they have axes here? I sure hope so. I think a decapitation would be really cool-looking. Hm...maybe I should bet on who'll die first with Mizushima. She wouldn't think I'm weird for that, right?

It was hard to say. Maybe she needed to get to know her a little better first, and then she could judge. Of course, as long as she didn't end up dying first--and that went for both her and Sachi.

"So we're just missing Mizushima and Saito now," Yua sighed from her place next to Susugihara. She seemed awfully comfy. "I almost want to say that maybe we should just let them be, but I don't really know if that's a good idea...maybe someone--a-a few people can go and get them? I'd offer to help, but I don't really...I-I'm a little...I-I'd prefer not to, if that's okay."

"Don't want to get your arm sliced open again?" Nakano assumed, wiping his nose with a tissue that he'd apparently been keeping in his pocket. "I think that's understandable. Who wants to go poke the psycho instead?"

"W-well, um," Yua shifted, "Yoshi looks...really strong. I b-bet he'd be able to handle himself around Mizushima. So--so maybe he could go? And..." She trailed off, some strange look forming in her eyes. Her cheeks suddenly went bright red. "...A-ah! S-sorry, yes, um, Yoshi and--Yamada! Yamada likes helping people, doesn't he? Yes, yes, u-um--maybe they can go get Mizu and Saito?"

"Oh. Well..." Yamada scratched the back of his head. "I already offered to get everyone breakfast with Hayashi, but I guess I can do that and then help with Saito and Mizushima...it might take a bit, though, so I'm not sure if that's the most efficent option."

"Right, o-of course. So Hayashi and Yamada are getting breakfast, and then maybe--" Yua briefly scanned the crowd of students already there, "--N-Nagisa can go with Yoshi? How does that sound?"

Tsubasa shrugged. "That sounds good. You guys okay with that?"

Kagakagari sat up slightly, shifting. "I don't mind. Mizushima's weird but she doesn't seem that strong."

"I think she's cool," Nagisa decided, heading towards Kagakagari. "She's probably just scared, because something freaky happened and all of us are a little scared now. But if we just show her that nothing's going to happen because there's just absolutely no way any of us are going to die, she'll be amazing!"

That, or she's a freaking psycho. Tsubasa kept that thought to himself--even if Mizushima was completely insane, saying anything would likely only aggravate her and drive her to attack when she otherwise might not if everyone just kept quiet. Being wary was one thing--being rude was another.

Humming pleasantly, Nagisa reached out to gently take Kagakagari's wrist and pull him towards the gate. The second the boy's fingers brushed Kagakagari's skin, the mountain climber's expression changed immediately to--was that fear?

Before Tsubasa could speak up and say anything, Kagakagari's fist flew from his side and struck Nagisa straight in the nose. Nagisa stumbled back a few steps, clearly caught off-guard. Tsubasa let out a cry.

"Dude! What the h*ll?!"

Kagakagari stared at Nagisa, wide-eyed and clutching his hand close to his body. When Tsubasa looked closely, he swore he could see Kagakagari's body trembling, his chest rising and falling at a surprisingly rapid pace.

Nagisa tentatively held a hand to his nose. "Wow...you're really strong! That hurt a lot, haha. Now I feel super safe taking you along!"

Futami quickly headed to Nagisa's side, moving his hand to check his nose. "You're bleedin'! Hey, you made him bleed! What kind of person punches a guy for no reason?!"

Kagakagari drew in a deep breath, glancing at the floor. "I don't like being touched."

"So wandering around naked is totally fine, but gently brushing your wrist is off-limits. Right. Because that makes sense." Tsubasa rolled his eyes, glancing over at Nagisa.

Kagakagari bristled. "Don't talk like you understand. You have no idea what my life's been like."

Something in the surprisingly vulnerable tone of Kagakagari's voice made Tsubasa decide not to bother him about his weird quirks anymore. Instead, he focused on Nagisa, who somehow remained chipper and cheerful.

"I'm fine, don't worry!" he insisted. "Maybe I can use my sleeve. Oh, you're supposed to pinch it, right?"

"It's purple! Holy crap, is it broken?!"

"I don't think so! Ooh, but if it is does that mean I get to wear a cool bandage like Nakano does? Then we could be bandage buddies!"

"I'm pretty sure it's broken!"

"Woohoo, bandage buddies!"

Despite himself, Tsubasa found himself wishing Nagisa would stay a part of their little group as long as possible. There was something oddly comforting about how...optimistic their amnesiac friend was.

He sighed. "Feel free to stop somewhere and pick up a bandage or something on your way back. I can come with you to make sure nothing else goes wrong if you want."

"The more the merrier," Nagisa decided, heading for the gate. "Sorry for making you upset, Yoshi. I won't do it again, promise!"

Kagakagari stared after him for a moment, then slowly stood, trudging after him. Though his shaking seemed to have stopped, he was surprisingly stiff considering how relaxed he normally was--Tsubasa promptly decided never to go anywhere near the point of touching him.

After watching Hideyoshi for a moment, Nakano muttered something to himself, looking down at a notepad he'd apparently brought and scribbling something down on the page. Sachiko shifted in her spot, starting at Nagisa's bleeding and apparently broken nose. That looks like it hurts. Wonder why Hideyoshi doesn't like being touched so much...

"Perhaps this will teach everyone a lesson in how important personal space is," Shimizu said, almost quietly enough that Sachiko couldn't hear. Unlike everyone else, the acrobat seemed oddly non-taken-aback by the mountain climber suddenly punching someone in the face.

"I'd like to say we could teach that lesson without violence, but..." Yamada trailed off, seemingly thinking to himself. His eyes took on an odd look for a moment--but as soon as it was there, it was gone, and he turned to fully face Sachiko. He smiled slightly. "Hayashi. Shall we get everyone food now?"

Ah! That's right! Sachiko jumped to her feet, smiling. "Yep! We'll make sure to get everyone things that look like they taste really good. Nagisa, feel better, okay?"

Hopefully your nose doesn't contort so badly that you're stuck forever looking like someone who got their face smushed into the side of a mountain, Sachiko added in her head, remembering someone that'd happened to before. Poor guy.

Yua stood, frowning slightly. "I, uhm...my little brother used to get himself into trouble all of the time, so I'm pretty good at treating stuff like that. If you need my help, just say so, and I'll be happy to do all I can! In fact, if it's already both bruised and bleeding, then there's a very good chance his nose is broken."

"Geez, Hideyoshi. One day in and already breaking bones," Nakano muttered, looking up from his notepad. "What is it that hip kids say these days? 'Savage'? Also, we are totally bandage buddies now, Nagisa. Do you want to be disease buddies too? If I breathe near you for too long we can probably make it happen."

Everyone simultaneously seemed to scoot further away from Nakano. He shrugged, then wrote more things down in his notebook.

"Maybe we should cut Yoshi some slack," Yamada suggested carefully. "It's like he said, we don't know what he's been through. That's true for everyone, really, so sometimes giving people benefit of the doubt really helps to take a step toward understanding."

"Unless that person ends up being psycho and you're totally wrong about giving them benefit of the doubt, then you'll probably end up getting murdered or something," Nakano pointed out casually. Yamada frowned.

It is always best to be careful," Sachiko said knowledgeably, "but I think we can all trust Hideyoshi! He seems like a really nice person."

Nakano shrugged. "If you want, I guess, but aren't we all the ones in a killing game? We shouldn't be trusting anyone."

There it was again. Was there anyone in this hellhole who wasn't insistent on reminding everyone every two seconds that they were supposed to kill each other?

Tsubasa crossed his ankles, then uncrossed them and stood. "This killing game thing is bullsh*t," he declared confidently. "No psycho teddy bear can make us do anything we don't want to. We're human beings with agency and we can make our own choices. H*ll, I say we take the little f*cker apart and see what makes him tick. Maybe I can use his parts to build us a plane out of here--he's gotta have some kind of engine in there, right?"

We're human beings. We're not your puppets.

"If you guys want to keep rambling about how we're 'in a killing game' I'll find some rope and tie you to something until the plane's done. We're not 'in' anything we don't choose to be in. And I don't know about you guys, but I did not choose to be in a killing game! I'm getting out of here and I'm taking you with me!"

Nagisa cheered. "Yeah, what he said! We're definitely going to make it out of this because this is just a weird experiment and we're totally fine!"

"We can totally make it outta this, eh?" Futami agreed. "Yeah...yeah. We're gonna be fine, 'eh? Yeah. Yeah!"

Something in her tone didn't sound convinced--Futami slapped her cheeks and pumped her fist in the air, jogging in place.

"Okay! I'm ready for a run! Yo Yua, make sure Nagisa here don't end up with a broken nose for all eternity or anythin'! Hayashi, Yamada, ready when you are!"

Katsuro huffed. "You all are so loud. How am I supposed to enjoy my island vacation with you shrieking in my ears?!"

"Vacation," Tsubasa repeated. "That's all this is. Life's what we make of it, so let's make it a vacation."

Kagakagari stared at the ground for a moment, then suddenly stalked out of the gate and began heading back towards the dorms. Startled, Tsubasa quickly hustled behind him, Nagisa trotting obediently at the back.

"Kagakagari," Tsubasa called. "Hey, come on. I'm sorry for yelling at you. Look--won't you just say something?"

"Sure. How 'bout this?"

Kagakagari turned back to face Tsubasa, something dark and dangerous reflected in his dark blue eyes. Tsubasa reeled back, struck with shock at the clouded look in Kagakagari's gaze.

Kagakagari...what happened to you...?

"You're saying all we need to do to get out of this killing game is to choose we don't want to participate in it." Kagakagari's hand curled into a fist; he rested it on his hip. "So what happens when one of us chooses to want one?"

Tsubasa opened his mouth to protest, but Kagakagari cut him off.

"Go ahead and keep preaching autonomy, man," he insisted. "But you can't act like you can promise anyone anything when you can't make our choices for us. For all we know Mizushima's choosing to kill us all right now. For all we know Ultimate Ghost's plotting some elaborate revenge scheme. None of us can understand a thing she's trying to say anyways."

"Keep talking like that," Tsubasa shot out. "See where it takes us. If we just remove the killing game as an option then--"

"But then we lose free will," Kagakagari countered. "Which is it? Are we in charge of choosing our own reality, or are we boxed into one choice? And if we're able to be boxed into the choice of not killing, who's to say that bear can't box us into the choice of killing?"

"You're not boxed in, I'm just trying to say that we should take advantage of the free will we have to make the right choice!"

"Who says it's the 'right' choice? You? Who gave you the right to make that choice?"

"What are you trying to say?" Tsubasa finally demanded.

Kagakagari was quiet for a moment; he gazed off at the horizon, face slowly filtering back to his usual nonplussed expression.

"I'm saying," he began, "that everyone has something they'll kill for. ...All that bear needs to do to box us into a choice is figure out what that thing is. Free will can be dangerous too. People hurt other people for selfish reasons--that's human nature. People lie, cheat, steal, beat, rape, drug, kill...just to instill their own free will on someone else. People can use autonomy to steal free will from other people. We're not doing ourselves any favors by not preparing to fight them off when they try."

Tsubasa bit his lip, glancing down at the ground. "Everyone has something they'll kill for." ...That's true, though, isn't it? Even I...

He shook his head, taking a deep breath. No. Never again. It isn't worth it. We're getting out of here and that's final. "Pessimism does us no favors either. Let's just focus on finishing up this plane so we can get out of here, okay? I'm almost finished with a really good set of blueprints and then we can raid the place for parts."

Kagakagari shrugged. "What you call pessimism, I call realism. But whatever, man, not my place to say. As for me I'll be bringing a knife with me next time I sleep outside. Don't wanna be too easy of a target."

As the mountain climber again began heading towards the dorms, Tsubasa couldn't help but feel his words resonate.

A target...

No...I won't be anyone's target.

I choose freedom.

Haha...oh Susugihara, you're acting so naive.

Sachiko maintained a faded smile, staring at Hideyoshi as he left through the gate. There was a silence left in his absence--glancing down at her reflection again, Sachiko surprised even herself as she was the first to break it. Even if I have no hope left, at least I can try and convince them they do. "It...it'll all be okay! We can get out of here, guys, I know we can! We just...just have to go really really fast with this plane, and keep an eye on each other, and keep our spirits high. We don't have to let that bear beat us."

"H...H-Hayashi's right," Yua said after a moment, smiling warily. "In order to get out of here, we just have to outsmart the bear, right? So long as we don't let it box us in, we'll be okay. If anything, it's almost like a mind game..."

"Oh!" Nakano perked up, grinning. "Did you say 'mind game'? I love mind games! In fact, I'm great at them! You know, if we look at it that way, then this murder game has the potential to be pretty fun. ...Without the murder, I mean. It sounds like you guys aren't that keen on the murder part."

"Yeah," Yamada muttered. "In fact, it'd probably benefit conversations more if you didn't bring it up so casually."

Nakano nodded, writing this down.

"I'm going to go check on Nagisa's nose," Yua declared, rising from her seat. She crossed over to where he was, pausing before him and flashing a warm smile. "I hope you don't mind, but it'll probably hurt when I touch it...but maybe we can get the others to get you some deserts from the cafeteria to make up for it."

"Then I guess we should go and get the food, then?" Sachiko said, pulling her legs out of the pool and coming to a slow stand. "I'll make sure to get you the yummiest food I can find, Nagisa! And for you too, Yua! I'll just get really great food for everyone, because that's what everyone deserves!"

Yamada chuckled, standing as well. "That's a good attitude to have. Say, can a few people check on Mizushima and Saito as well? It'd be nice to have everyone accounted for so we can start the day as efficiently as possible."

"Not it," Nakano immediately called.

Shimizu frowned slightly. "...I'll go. Would anyone like to join me?"