first victim

After everything that happened we all agreed to rest a little and tomorrow morning will talk about everything. We don't have a specific place to rest so we decided to sleep in the guest house together. Separate rooms for boys and girls of course. I thought I wouldn't be able to rest but I slept surprisingly easily and really well. I wished and thought for a second this would all be a dream but when I woke up and realized where I am, I knew there was no hope for this to be a simple dream. Only me Shinji and Hajime were awake at that point, Hajime and Shinji apperently are doing exercise or something like that, meaning I was the only one who woke up that was still at the guest house.

I went for a walk early in the morning and process all that has happened. In short, I was kidnapped with alot of ultimates that apperently are my classmates, then apperently this wizzard guy burns alive a stranger and launches someone who probably is already dead really high in the air with real magic. Then apperently I am trapped in a killing game and know I'm here. What would I say when everyone si awake? I'm pretty sure we can't be as relaxed as before when we know the possibilities of dying.

On the way there I was surprised to see Nikei, he asked me what I was doing and I responded with "taking a morning walk."it was something I did sometimes to refresh my mind. He didn't buy it at first but still wrote it down on his journal. He told me he was looking around the area, he was creating a short map or something like that. He was even writing down important things around the island. I separated from him later. He was doing something important but right now I wasn't in a mood to care.

I kept repeating everything that has happened in my head while walking, the breeze of the air and the sound of crushing waves helped me relax a little. A little. I lost count of time and have no idea what time it is when I came back, everyone was awake when I returned and was gathered in the guest house, both boys and girls. Hajime and Shinji were there as well.

"Yuko! Where were you? We were worried something happened to you, especially after…." Setsuka paused remembering what happened the other day "that."

"Soooo, know what?" Hibiki asked "I don't want to just die here you know?"

"Well, that's exactly what we should be discussing." Yuki said

"So, how exactly can we discuss this? There isn't much to go about apart from surviving, we have no clues of what's this game, how Mikado does his fire tricks, and how that weird lookin crow can move and talk! This scoop really is too big for me." Nikie said

"Well, we can start with that. What do we do?"

"That… isn't exactly a question you can just answer."

"Well, we must remember that we have something to look up too. Remember what Monocrow said?" Kokoro explained

—————————-

"Wait a second! Mr. Hashimoto, I haven't explained the rules of the killing game properly yet! You can't just kill put of the blue like you yourself just did, I'll explain everything further tomorrow at the same place arouns 10 in the morning. Do NOT be late or make such foolish actions till then." With that said, Monocrow went flying away leaving us all there.

—————————-

"That's right. Maybe he'll tell us important information?" Nikie said "no, he'll probably just say the rules of this 'killing game', at least we can know how exactly this works."

After that the room went quiet, nobody was brave enough to speak and everyone was afraid of what will happen.

That is until one person decided to speak up.

"That's it! I am not letting this back us down!" Shinji suddenly spoke up, I jumped a little not expecting someone to actually raise their voice.

"We can't give up on hope just like that, we have to do something about this! Mikado's plan already has flaws, and we aren't just going to kill to escape from here are we? No! We are ultimates, and there has to be a way to escape from here! If you guys seriously want to escape from here and live then don't just stand there and do something! For now, let's do what we can!" Shinji continued " Even if this isn't hope's peak academy yet we should all still get along to end this killing game and escape together! We barely know this island so how about we start by investigating and survive together!"

And just like that, some people seem to light up and get some hope.

"Yeah! Shin's right, we can't let a simple crow and a wizzard stop us, we should all work together to defeat Monocrow and Mikado! Now let's investigate like Shin said, Big sis hasn't taken a good look of this island so let's start with that." Setsuka agreed with Shinji

"Y-yes, let's … investigate t-together… like I said." Shinji became nervous once again

"Did you forgot the girls were here big bro?" Yuki asked

"Big bro?" I said

"He makes me call him that, if I don't I have to do push-ups."

"What's so bad that girls are listening to him anyway?"

"I-I've never really spoken t-to a girl too much. Firefighters are mostly men s-so… apart from saving all kinds o-of people I don't get to… talk to girls…. Much."

"Still."

"Well, before we investigate how about we wait till Monocrow tells us the rules of this field trip. After that will investigate, so how about it?" The ultimate billiards player said

"Sounds good to me" Yuki said

We all agreed with the plan and waited about five minutes to go to the place where the 'entrance ceremony' was made once again.

"Oh, it looks like you all are already here. I didn't even need to make an announcement this time, how exciting. But we still need to wait for Mr. Hashimoto." Monocrow explained

"So Hashimoto is that guy's name, it doesn't matter anyways, he is a degenerate male after all." The ultimate spaceman said "no matter, monocrow can we skip him? That degenerate isn't worth it anyways."

"My appologies, but it is on the school rules that all students must participate on the events or announcements made of the killing game. All students who don't follow the rules will be punished accordingly."

"How exactly do we know what are the rules?" Nikie asked

"You will know very soon, for know we need mr Hashimo-"

"I'm here"

"Woah, he actually came!"

"Don't misunderstand, magic boy over here dragged me. It was either coming or dying, you can guess which one I chose."

"Great, know that everyone is here allow me to explain the rules lf this killing game, first I will need to give all of you a specific tool you can use. It is called a student-e handbook. There you can chat with a person, see each one of your profiles, see the rules of the killing game, and other functions."

After Monocrow said that he gave every one of us a strange looking phone that appears to be the e handbook he was talking about.

"This will only activate with the fingerprints of the owner, please open it and see for yourselves how it works.

Upon opening it I saw a clear screen, profiles of the other students, the rules, the chat, and a map. Right now the main focus was the rules so I began reading.

Rule 1: there is no time limit for the field trip of mutual killing.

Rule 2: once a murder takes place, everyone must participate in a class trial.

Rule 3: if the blackened is exposed during a class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule 4: if the blackened is not exposed, the remaining students will be executed.

Rule 5: as a reward, the surviving blackened will be forgiven of their crime and allowed to leave the island.

Rule 6: in the case of multiple murderers in quick succession, the first murderer will be considered the blackened.

Rule 7: nightime is from 10pm to 7am. The monocruise's main gate and the dorms' door will be locked during this time.

Rule 8: during nightime, you are only allowed to sleep in your own dorm aboard the Monocruise. Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitories will be seen as sleeping in class and will be punished accordingly.

Rule 9: violence against both peers and monocrow is forbidden on Utsuroshima. This also includes destruction of property. However violence with the intent of murder is excluded.

Rule 10: monocrow will not interfere or help with murder.

Rule 11: the e-handbook+ is limited to one per person and can only be operated by fingerprint. So if it is carelessly lost, it is a violetion of the rules and you will face execution.

Rule 12: after three students discover a body, a body discovery announcement will play. Wether this includes the culprit's sighting is on case-to-case basis.

Rule 13: you are freely allowed to investigate Utsuroshima. There are no specific restrictions.

Rule 14: if in a murder the culprit does a trick to specifically not show the time of death, murder weapon, how they died, or things such as that. It will not be specified on the monocrow

Rule 15: Mikado cannot use magic on anything that involves murder unless extremely nessesary

Rule 16: additional field trip rules may be added or removed as nessesary.

"Why are there so many rules?" Hibiki said

"Dammit, this doesn't help us at all." Shinji said. "Well, no worries, since we are free to investigate let's start now."

"Wait just a minute mr Kasai" monocrow said "first I need to show you your dorms and where you'll be eating."

"Oh yeah, here it says we have to sleep on our dorms but we didn't exactly do that." Nike said

"Ah, yes, since I haven't shown you where you'll be staying I didn't apply the rule this time. Only this time of course, from now on you cannot sleep at the guest house or any other place that is not your proper dorm. Now, follow me to the cruise over there, you may call it the Monocruise."

We all didn't complain much and just followed Monocrow, not much we can do anyways. No matter how frustrating it was, there is nothing we can do right now.

"Woah, this is much bigger up close." Iroha said

When we entered we saw what it looked to be a mansion, it had a closed balcony, dinning area, dorms for everyone, bathrooms, billiards place, arcade place, and more.

"This is the Monocruise, as I said each one of you has a private dorm that only the fingerprints of the owner can open. All the doors will be closed at nightime and will only open at 7am exact so do keep that in mind. There is also a dining area which you can choose to eat in, if not it is acceptable to eat wherever you like."

After Monocrow gave a really short trip around the Monocruise everyone agreed to gather at the didning hall. Shinji said that after we finish out investigation we should all gather at the dining hall, both for eating and sharing what we learned.

I didn't want to investigate alone so I went over to the person for now sho seems the most trustworthy.

I knocked on the door, they thankfully answered.

"Yoruko? What's the matter?"

"Ah, Sora. Nice to see you."

"I was looking around my room, we gotta start the investigation now."

"Um, if it's okay with you, could I tag along? It'd be boring to search alone."

"I do not mind…"

"Really? That's a relief. Let's head of right now."

We both agree to search on the beach for no real reason just the first thing that came to my mind. We went there and didn't find much of anything, the weird thing is that literally anything. The only things there were sand, rocks and the ocean water.

"This is strange."

"What is it Sora?"

"I'd at least thought we would see one bird or bug or anything, but there is not a single trace of animals."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. There's just sand, rocks, and… more sand."

"…"

Even if we didn't find anything important, I feel I got a better understanding of this place. Then, setsuka walked in.

"Hmmmm? Well if it isn't ra-ra and yuko. What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Setsuka"

"We're looking for clues, obviously." I said

"A girls only date? And I'm not invited?" The ultimate billiards player said mockingly

"Wh-what!? What do you mean by a d-date!?" I said flustered " It's not a date to begin with! It's just a girls hangout!"

"It's just a joke, Yuko. No need to be so serious. Anyways, don't over exert yourselves, take a break once in a while." With that, she left.

"… are you sure you are not a tsundere?"

"S-Sora!"

We continued investigating for a while talking a bit on the way, I felt as if our bond was a little stronger now.

After that I headed back to my room, at least I found some mineral water on the way. Wonder what would be the use of that.

I decided to take a break after that and talk with someone. Who should I talk too? I decided to talk a little with Yuki.

"Oh, hello Yoruko."

"Hi Yuki."

"Found anything yet?"

"No… sigh… this is all so frustrating, what did we do to be in this killing game?"

"I understand how you feel, I'm not even an ultimate. But let's listen to big bro and Setsuka for now, we just need a little patience and I'm sure it'll work out…. Somehow."

"I guess you're right."

After that we took a break together and talked about nice simple and normal things. I then felt as if my bond with Yuki was a little stronger than before. I continued the rest of the investigation alone, after the break. Once again I didn't find anything but I did understand my surroundings a little more. I headed to the dining hall for dinner as we all agreed too, I was one of the first people to come. Along with Shinji, Hajime, and Setsuka. We waited for the rest to come.

"I guess Hashimoto and Mikado can be left out, at least for now." Setsuka said

Something I've noticed about her is that she uses nicknames for people like Sora or Shinji, people that at least for now are nice. But for Hashimoto and Mikado she uses their name with no special nickname whatsoever. At least I know she doesn't think badly of me.

There isn't anything important we discussed not one clue or special thing that would lead us out of here. Even if I didn't expect it I still got a little dissapointed, the only thing was how Nikie can be surprised and take note of the most dumbest things. I didn't really have a big appetite so I ate a little of my lunchbox and went to my dorm. I still got a little time before 10pm, should I do something?

.

.

.

No, I don't have the energy.

Before going to sleep I should take a good look at my dorm. It has a bathroom with a shower (obviously) a bed, closet, and everything you'd expect a dorm would have. There is a difference however, it has some hostess-like stuff too, not that I'd really use it much, the only thing I can for now do is make tee. I just went to bed and once again slept easily, no matter how stressed or nervous I was the beds were strangely comfortable and soft. I closed my eyes and in a few seconds.. dozed off…

————————

I moved a little and blinked a few times, didn't dream of anything or even remember going to sleep at all. Must be that I slept really deep once again… that worries me a little. Ignoring that I take a look at the clock, my dorm doesn't have any windows so I couldn't tell the time. To my surprise it was 6am, I thought my body would at least wake up at 6:30am. Well, the earlier the bettr I guess. My dorm isn't open so even if I wanted too I couldn't take another walk to refresh myself. I took a deep breath and stood up. Took a shower, brushed my teeth, and you know… bathroom stuff.

When I went to the closet I saw that it was just full of copies of my hostess dress. Guess I won't be having any new clothes any time soon. I sighed and dressed myself. I looked at the clack to see it was now 6:38am. Just two minutes more and I can go to the dining hall, not in the mood for a walk.

Two minutes passed and suddenly the television went green.

"Huh?"

"Good morning comrades!"

"eek!"

I got startled when Monocrow went on the screen it was apperently a morning announcement… ignoring that. I went downstairs and finally got to the dining hall. I almost forgot this was a cruise, shouldn't be there a way to control it? Nah, it's probably locked or brocken anyways. This is the Monocruise after all, definetely not a normal cruise.

I was one of the first persons to come, there was only Shinji and Hajime who I assume are planning to go with their morning routine again. At least their getting pretty close, the other day they investigated together, and also share same interests. If they can have a strong bond on a killing game I guess we can all do that.

I just sat and waited for people to come, soon enough there was Emma, Setsuka, Kokoro, and Yuri. After another while Yuki, Nikie, the twins, and Sora came. Sora being the last. We then all said our good mornings.

"I think we should keep doing this." Setsuka said

"Keep doing what?" Yuki asked

"You know, investigate and meet up here, it is a good routine. Heh, even if the other day we sayed to meet up here one time we all came here again, I assume everyone is okay with that being the plan for now?"

"Fine by me" "yeah!" "Not much of an option anyways" "y-yes, I…. i agree.. with you"

"No, that isn't why I came here." Kokoro said

"Huh?"

"Do not be mistaken, I only came here to eat breakfast, not meet others."

"Eh? Don't be like that, stay with us! It's dangerous to stay alone, people like Mikado or Syobai might be after you." Iroha said

"There's no need to worry about that. I feel there's no danger...… for now. I will join the group if strictly necessary. Excuse me….." with that she left

"Well, leave her be. Some people are just like that. Koko doesn't seem like she'll go down easily anyway. More importantly, let's eat soon. There's still a lot of those boxed lunches we brought yesterday." Setsuka said

"Se-s-setsuka…. It seems we're all getting a bit tired of boxed l-lunches." Shinji shyly explained

"Sorry shin, but we can't do anything about it. There are ingredients at the mart, but no place to cook."

Then, we heard a voice behind us. A very recognisable, hateable voice just behind us. The same voice of our kidnaper and master mind… that voice is..

"When your heart's cries of desire pour out, do not worry! For I am here!"

It was Mikado, the ultimate wizzard. He was holding plates of delicious looking good food with a bright smile on his mask. His face was still emotionless. He then place it all at the table, basically enough food to call it a feast. Of course I would not eat food for the mastermind, thag would just be stupid.

"W-wait, you poisoned it didn't you!?" Hibiki said pointing her finger at Mikado

"Perish the thought. Had I done that, we'd have to endure a troubling class trial, correct? The quivering hand of friendship I'm extending could not be more sincere. Why do you insist on bullying one of your fellow classmates?"

Is this guy serious?

"Do you seriously believe we would ever be friends with you!?" Hibiki shouted

"If you truly wanted that you should've at least hidden the fact you were the mastermind." Hajime said "actually that would be worse"

"Let's just ignore them" setsuka said "we're thankfull for your cooking, but can you go somewhere else? No matter how hungry we are, we won't eat your food"

"Is that so? It appears most of you don't share that solidarity…"

What does he mean? Of course non of us would be eating food from the mastermin-

"Ñam ñam ñam" Yuri was eating already with a plate full of food. "Whass whe prowlem?"

"At least swallow before you talk, jeez. Sis can you belive this guy-?" Hibiki then looked at her sister who was doing the same "are you serious!? Ugh! This is why you're always so fat!"

"Eek! I'm sorry big sis!" Kanade appologied

"I assume it is now clear that I am not trying to trick you now, correct?" Mikado said

"Well, that looks finger-licking good. Seeing what Yuri and the sister ate, it doesn't seem like it's poisoned or anything like that." Nikie said

"Geez… for now, get out! It's a mess now because of you!" Setsuka said with a sigh

With that Mikado left and other people started eating his food. Shinji, Hibiki, Nikie, Yuri, Hajime, Emma, Kanade, and Iroha started to eat.

"Yoruko, try this. Lobster, it's lobster."

"You too Sora!?"

"Well, there was lobster so… try it."

"No! I won't eat it! I won't lose to some mastermind…! *grumble*"

"Now Yuki say 'aah'" Emma was trying to feed Yuki

"Even if you do that Emma….. even if it's you... nggggghhh.. I won't eat it...!"

"Ah! Me too, feed me too!" Yuri suddenly wanted Emma to feed him too

"What is this mess?" Setsuka said, eventually she gave up and started eating. Yuki did too and was feeded by Emma. The only one who hasn't eaten the food is me.

"I'll just eat from the lunchboxes."

"Well, there are a lot of lunchboxes, so you can grab whatever you want." Sora said, she tried one last time to give me lobster but I refused. She gave up and I sat next to her. We all ate, talked, and laughed together then. It felt like we weren't in a killing game anymore, maybe everything would be okay. Maybe there is hope.

"Today is... the third day since we'be come to the island." Iroha said

"It's been three days already, you've gotta be kidding me!?" Hibiki said

"It's been three days already, and not a single breakthrough" the ultimate journalist sighed

"Now, now, don't be too impatient. There are still a lot of places we haven't investigated." Setsuka tried to cheer the mood a little

"Ah, but I just thought of something" Kanade said, grabbing the attention of others "it's been three days since we've been kidnapped and left on this island… shouldn't there be some movement of the outside rescue team to find us?"

"Well, you did see what Mikado is capable of… such unrealistic un-human things. Are we sure a rescue team will be much of help?" Nikie asked

"Well, we are ulitimates, we should be a more important case than others. Emma is a super famous actress, Nikie is a really well known journalist, me and big sis are an extremely famous and important band, and the list just goes on and on. Real professionals should be willing to help us and would notice immediately we are missing."

"I didn't think of that until know" I said "you're right, surely people will come rescue us and overcome Mikado."

"I still have my doubts." The ultimate journalist said

"Aww come on, have a little hope for once." With that comment Setsuka patted his head and ruffled it a little playfully with his hat still on. Nikie blushed a little and became flustered.

"H-hey!" He pushed Setsuka's arm off him "s-stop that!"

"Well, returning to the disscussion, Kanade might be right after all." Yuki said changing the subject.

"Ah! I've gotten a little hope!" Iroha said cheerfully

The atmosphere became relaxed and hopefull once again, until the stuffed animal pop out of nowhere again.

"Haha, are you truly that naive? A rescue team won't come. So throw away that trivial hope."

"That's not true! Why wouldn't someone come to rescue us?" Hibiki said annoyed at Monocrow

"Because this island is an unvisitable island."

"Huh..?"

"Those two people from the kisaragi foundation are the first and last invading outsiders. They've already disappeared, and there's no reason for heathens to enter this island a second time. I've reinforced the boundaries as well… your assumption that a rescue team is coming was faulty from the start, so… it's as if you all don't exist right now."

"What do you mean?" Setsuka asked

"No, it's nothing. I suppose it makes no difference if you choose to believe salvation will arrive." And just like that, as quickly as he appeared he disappeared.

What does he mean by that? He's got to be bluffing… right?

"Ignoring Monocrow, should we continue our talk?" Nikie suggested " that Mikado guy did manage to burn that women into ashes right before our eyes."

"You could see that as an example. Not behaving and following the rules gets you turned into ashes." Yuri added

"Why is everyone so down again? Nothing happened yesterday either, right? It'll definitely be tranquil from now on." Iroha said

"That's right. Regardless, the rules don't effect our investigation in any kind of way, and Mikado seems to be not as annoying as I thought he would be. So as long as we don't break the rules and be carful with what we do we'll be fine." Everyone agreed and Setsuka said one last thing before leaving " well then, let's do it everyone. Investigate carfully." With that everyone left to who knows where to investigate…. At least until a suddon sound alerted us all.

We all came rushing outside after hearing a crashing sound. And what we saw was nothing like we expected. Mikado was flying up in the air launching fire to Syobai who seemed really hurt and with a knife at hand. Monocrow then got mad at them for breaking the rules, Mikado had fake tears all around his mask and explaining how he shouldn't habe broken the rules and so on. Syobai just looked mad and hurt, he went over to heal himself at the infermary I assume.

"How are we suppose to react after seeing all of this? Geez, this place sure is a mess. Well, let's just go investigate everyone! The day is still yet to end and we still need to find clues to escape this place!" Even with Setsuka's words, we could all tell she was also reaching her limit. Everyone went quiet and then Kokoro suddenly appeared right besides me.

"…something big happened right? I came here as soon as I woke up…"

I jumped a little not expecting Kokoro to be next to me

"What is with you people scaring me!?"

"Koko, what do you think abot Mikado? To think that kind of guy is the mastermins who kidnapped us…" setsuka asked to Kokoro

"You guys lost your confidence, right? You're torn as to what to do."

". . ."

"Well… as for advice, just ignore stuff like that. The first time I witnessed Mikado's magic, I went ahead and erased it from my cognition. He's not someone who'll answer any questions, and he's not a person you'll get anything from opposing either."

"Is that all we could do?" Setsuka said

"…"

We all knew that just, didn't want to accept it. Our confidence was falling apart. And there was nothing we couod do about it… or so we think.

"Don't know if this'll lighten the mood but, did you know that there's plentiful variety of machinery and parts at the mart? Well I thought about combining those to make a simple SOS transmitter… well, I'm not sure if it'll work but it's worth a try. Well, how's that? Do you all feel a little bettr know?"

"Koko.." setsuka putted on a big smile once again "geez, even a girl like me! To go and get depressed like that…"

Shinji joined in "th-that's right! Nothing's happened yet, and I'm not a real man if I let some oberwhelming pressure stop me! Ah!"

Yuri joined in too "hm? I feel better just by looking at Kokoro's face."

"Everyone…" yuki said "alright… but only because it's the third day. Even if there's not much time left, let's investigate some more!"

After that the heavy atmosphere once again began to light up with hope. I was quiet the whole time but really happy everyone is relaxed once more. At first I thought it was weird, but now I see it is necessary for situations like these. I couldn't help but smile a little. Supporting each other through this is tye best thing we can do to perserve our sanity in a place like this.

Now that everyone went investigating again, what should I do? [freetime event]

I decide to go over to the weird looking vending matchine and buy some stuff with my crowcard. (I forgot to say that the crowcard is with the student e-handbook+, basically money but Monocrow money.) the vending matchine gave me more mineral water.. an americano? Someone's portrait and…. A ring? What kind of random stuff is this? I'm more surprised the americano is still hot and intact. Why am I so surprised anyways, aftef Mikado's magic everything is possible.

After that I decided to go talk with Setsuka.

"Oh, hey Yuko. Do you plan to invite me to a girls only date this time?"

"Wha-! No! I just approched you, geez."

"You're so cute when you get flustered."

"Setsuka!"

"It's just a joke Yoruko, no need to be serious."

"Well, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to chat for a bit with me for a bit, you seemed a little pressured before so I just want to check on you."

Setsuka paused for a little before laughing

"What's so funny?"

"Awww, Yuko is worried about me."

"I-it isn't because of anything special, but seriously are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me Yuko, big sis is fine as always."

"…"

"You aren't gonna stop until I tell you huh? Well, I'm obviously not fine, no one is really. I mist admit I am a little nervous abot what's to happen. Even if I appear confident that's not all the truth."

"… setsuka.."

"But, Yuko, how about we relax a little for now? Maybe you'te right, I'll take a little break. And i've got just the perfect idea! Let's go play billiards! I saw a room on the monocruise that has it and other games!"

After that she pratically dragged me all the way to the room, and we played together for a while. For a moment I thought i'd win but somehow she made one perfect last shot and won. Of course, she is the ultimate billiards player. We had fun and I think we both feel a little more relaxed. I felt as if my bond with Setsuka has increased.

We both then got back with the investigation. I decided to investigate the uehara tower and other places on the beach the rest of the day. Didn't found anything usefull but I did find more "money"… and more mineral water. I guess this place has a lot of mineral water.

We made the same thing again at dinner (lunch was only lunch, no exchange of information) not one clue but we still have our hopes up for finding something or the SOS transimiter Kokoro is making right now. I went to sleep once again and prepared for the next day.

—————————

I woke up once again and did what I'd normally do, take a shower, get dressed, the morning announcement plays, and I go to the dining hall to wait for everyone. I was one of the first once again followed by Hajime and Shinji doing their morning routine. Once waiting for everyone, Mikado once again gave us food which I refused to eat and we all kicked him out. We all started making a normal conversation until Sora made a comment that surprised us.

"By the way, I ran into Hashimoto on the way here"

"…"

"Waaaah!?" Iroha said

"Yeah, apparently his name is Syobai Hashimoto."

"How did you get him to even say that?" Nikie asked

"I annoyed him, payed him a little, and annoyed him more. He even told me his ultimate talent."

"Really!? How much did you annoy him?"

"He is Syobai Trashimoto, ultimate brocker."

"Trashimoto?"

"It's a nickname I gave him, suits him well."

"Ignoring Syobai for a minute" setsuka said "it's wise to just ignore anything Mikado or Syobai do. For the time being we can't afford to care about them, considering the situation"

"…okay"

"Huh… We are already almost finishing breakfest and they haven't come back yet." Yuki said playing a little with his food.

"Who are you talking about?" Nikie asked

"Big bro and Hajime. They shouldn't be this late."

"D-Did something happen to them….?" Hibiki asked, her comment got me worried.

"Biki, what's the matter? You seem more troubled and less talkative than usual." Setsuka said

"Of course I'm troubled. We've been living in fear if being killed for four days and we haven't found a single thing… I wanna see my parents… I want to sing as much as I want…. And… and.. *sniff* waaaaahh I wanna go home."

"It's okay sis, I'm here for you." Kanade said comforting her sister.

"Kanade…"

"Don't worry everyone, she's just a bit frightened. It's been worse since yesterday. I'll take good care of her, so we can give our full effort in today's investigation. Now…. Come here, sis. Let's chill for a minute, okay?"

I sighed a little and said "I want to cry too, you know?"

"I guess Ms. Big sis' exhausted. We'd better do something for her sake." Nikie said

"Yoohoo!~ Morning training's the best!" Shinji suddenly said as he ran up to us with Hajime close by.

"Sorry for coming late. We were figuring out which course to take for our training." Hajime said

"Do you only care about your training!? Hurry up and eat so you can start investigating!" I said at Shinji and Hajime, I was mad that they arrived late and got us worried for nothing.

"Woah… I got yelled at cause of you, Hajime" Shinji said embarrased

"So-sorry! But, what did I do….?" Hajime appologised

Then we exchanged our observations but nothing significant came up. Since out only option was to keep investigating and moving on I just returned to investigating. I searched and looked but… not one clue.

I mentally sighed. This investigation is going nowhere, is there really nothing for us to find?

To keep myself from stressing put I decided to do another thing or at least investigate with someone else. [freetime event]

I saw Sora walking up around this way and decided to spend some time with her.

"Take a break together? I'm fine with that but only for a little while, we still have to investigate after all."

I spend some time chatting with Sora.

After a while I decided to give Sora a gift, I bought some stuff after all. Most of it isn't something I'd use wither way. I decided to give her the Americano, she seems to be the type of person who'd like things like that.

"Oh… is this for me? I really like all types of coffee so I appreciate it a lot." Sora smiles a little, she usually doesn't smile or anything like that so it really felt special. I blushed a little.

Sora seems happy

"For now we've done a good job investigating. If we keep this up maybe we'll finally find something usefull." Sora said

"We didn't find any clues though… let's just take a break for now." I said

"Alright."

" *sigh* I hope we can get out of here as soon as possible. I don't even care about school or whatever, I just wanna go back to work…"

"That reminds me, you're the ultimate hostess, right? But you're also a minor. How were you able to become a hostess despite that?"

"Hmm? You mean my job? Well…. There's nothing to gain from knowing about it."

"I really want to know since it's about you.."

"R-really?" I blush at Sora's comment "I don't mind talking about it… it's just that... well… it isn't a happy story. But now's not the time, I'll tell you later. My heart isn't ready yet. I'm sorry."

"I don't want you forcing yourself if you're not comfortable with it."

"No, it's fine. You just wanna know about me, right? Well how about, in exchange, you tell me something about you?"

"That sounds fair, what do you wanna know?"

"Well, you want to know how I became a hostess right? Then how about you tell me how you became a debater."

"Alright then, how about next time we talk we dedicate the break into telling that."

"Yeah, it's better to continue investigating now."

"Well, then. I'll be looking forward to hearing that story."

After that I investigated a little more and went back to my dorm. I decided to rest for the rest of the day.

——————-

Once again I did my morning routine. Prepared myself, hear the morning announcement, and go to the dining hall.

I was one of the first to come and with time came Setsuka, Emma, Nikie, and Yuri. We all talked a little before someone annoying came once again.

"Good morning dear classmates!" It was Mikado

Mikado delievered the food but this time didn't let us kick him out.

"Such rudeness! To think you would still be on about bullying one of your classmates."

"Shut up and get out already!" Nikie tried to push him but failed on doing so

"Be carefull, violence is against the school rules."

"Shut up!"

Sora, Iroha, and Yuki arrived later, then Hajime and Shinji arrived from their morning routine. Mikado still stayed as if being part of our group, he was determined to "befriend" us.

"Hibiki and Kanade haven't arrived yet…" Yuki said "and Kokoro is eating alone."

After that we ignored Mikado and just ate in silence, we didn't pay much attention to the twins and Kokoro.

"Now that we're done with the meal, let's exchange our observations and get to the investigation." Shinji said, smiling as always. He smiled almost all the time.

"Yeah… expect we have nothing new to share" th ultimate journalist said worried.

"Th-that's true, yes." Shinji said

"Today's day 5….. we're starting to lose patience" setsuka said

"Indeed, it seems that a murder is inevitable."

"Th-that's nonsense!" Iroha said to Mikado

"Anyway, you wizzard… if you really want to make us kill each other, aren't your methods a bit ineffective? 'Kill to escape' is what we're given right now. But, we don't have any expirience in killing."

"The motive you say? I'm sure the past killing games had plenty of those. Even if the current situation should be enough for you guys to finally commit murder, if you want a motive you can just say it. The other 'chapters' will have interesting ones. I can simply steal the original idea and give it to you, either way it does not matter."

"You-! Why would we ever agree to that!?" Shinji said "no matter the motive we will not kill one another! Will look for a way out together!"

"You say that but… I'm afraid your plan isn't working. If you want to talk about efficiancy maybe take a look at your current status. Just living our lives here on this island should be about enough to faciliate murder."

"I wouldn't mind anything if I'm with my cute ladies, I do not know about the rest."

". . ."

"W-well, now guys, let's start investigating. There must be a clue to escape somewhere." Setsuka said trying to lighten up the mood.

"Sure, of course we shou-." Emma got cut of by someone crying

"Calm down sis…"

"No…. no more….. I can't…. i've gotta get out of here…..!!! Let me go home….!!!"

"Hibiki and Kanade?"

"Ah geez. Sorry everyone, my sis' a bit noisy, right?"

"… you've all gathered here…" Kokoro walked in "..huh? There's something up with Hibiki….. a nightmare, something related to her family." She paused for a little and looked at the floor. "…hmmm…. Not sure if this is the right time, but anyways. It's hard to put in words… the SOS transmititer, the one I mentioned earlier. It lacks any structural defects, but there's no signal. Theoretically it should pick up at least a weak one. I'll try a few times… but don't expect much. That's what I came for." After saying that Kokoro left

"I-it's hopeless. We're trapped forever…! We're trapped here unless we kill someone…. Waaaaahhh!!!"

Hibiki started to cry and everyone just standes there… confused on what to do. Everyone was doubting if the situation we're in is actually hopeless and if we're just running away from reality. Kanade tried to comfort Hibiki but eventually gave up and let Hibiki cry. Eveyone probably also wanted to just sit on the floor and cry all they want but.. we can't just do that…. We're all in the same situation and yet…

"My precious Hibiki, do you wish to escape?"

"Of course…. *sniff* I wanna see mom and dad.."

"I can grant your wish"

"What..?"

"Kill me"

After saying that we all froze unabke to responde to his words.

"I have this dream, to put it simply. I'm taken this one life I'm given, and safrificing it for a single women. Then she will remember me forever. I can live for eternity inside her heart, even after death. You can kill me yourself or use me to kill someone else, whetevr you desire. I'll be going to me room now, if you want to use my life you are invited to do so. And if it's a men who opens the door… you'll see the worse I can do." Yuri comes out of the dining hall to his dorm I pressume, leaving us shocked.

"W-what the hell!? He can't be serious right?" Nikie said

". . ."

"Let's just… keep investigating. We'll maybe find something." Setsuka said, she was reching her limit like everyone.

I went to my dorm withought saying much, Yuri's insanity was beyond my compriencion. Just what is he thinking? I slept through the rest of the day, call it lazy but was else am I supposed to do? Investigate? I just need a little rest for now.

When I woke up, I saw a chat notification on my e handbook+. Who could that be? When I checked who it was the name Setsuka popped on the screen of notifications. She was inviting me to go over to the guest house, she needed me for something. I went there as soon as I saw tge message, maybe she found something important or needed my help with something important.

When I arrived Sora, Yuki, Setsuka, and Hajime were in there as well.

"Guys look, Yoruko arrived."

"Uhh, hello?"

"So, what did you call us here for?"

Setsuka smiled a little and said "I'm planning a party, everyone is kind of down lately and simply need a distraction. So I'm planning to have a party and you guys helping me. It's sorta last minute but I realized something. We've been so busy and focused about investigating and escaping that I dorgot a crucuall thing we need. We need to stay together…. Like a bond of friendship? I know that sounds kinda lame. My point is that we should all connect before escaping this island, and what better way to do it then to have a party?"

"Well, I'm not sure that's the best thing we cam do right now but… I guess it's for the best. Alright, I'll help." I said

"Alrighty then, Yuki and Sora will help with the set up's. Io've got a simple idea on how this should look like. Yoruko, can you call Mikado? He's for now our only source of good food here. Hajime help me with tge tables for now, this one should…."

And like that we started working on the party. We invited everyone exept Yuri, Syobai, and Mikado. We didn't want much drama. We needed to finish tonight so we horried theough the process. The end result was honestly pretty good.

"Phew, I think that'll do." Yuki said out of breath, he was kind of tired.

"Good job everyone."

"Now that we finished I'll call everyone else around dinnertime, so you can all wait till then.

The preparations for the party ended without much trouble, and all the five of us decided to leave for now.

Dinnertime soon began and Setsuka like she said invited everyone to the guest room to the party. At first everyone but Syobai and Yuri were in the party, but then Monocrow said it was nessesary for everyone to participate since it is a school event or something. Syobai, Kokoro, and Yuri HAD yo join.

At first people were hesitant at participating in the party but soon everyone was having "fun", well not everyone. Syobai didn't look happy at all and Kokoro seemed annoyed.

Emma was trying to feed Kokoro some food while Kokoro tried to not eat the food. Mikado was in the kitchen happy or at least pretending to be since he was participating with all his " classmates ". Iroha and Hibiki at some point went to the bathroom since they ate to much food, Kanade being with Hibiki on the way.

"Wha-! Since when was alcohol here!?" Yuki said "It wasn't here when we did the preparations or at the start of the party!?"

"Woah! Alcohol? I wonder who snuck this in, what a scoop!"

Shinji since being the oldest out of all of us drinked a little and then asked who could join him.

"H-hey! Shinji, alcohol is terrible for your health. Do not drink it!" Hajime snatched the bottle of alcohol from his hands "Even if you can legally do it, it is not acceptable under my watch!"

"Aww come on. I can't remember the last day I got to drink some."

"Come on Mac, don't be such a downer! Let him have his fun. This is a party after all." Setsuka said "and since I'm very close into being an adult, I guess I could join him."

"What! No! You can't just drink alcohol!" Yuki interfiered "and is no one going to ask who brought it!?"

"I dunno, I just found it on the table."

"Exactly!"

At the other side of the party there was Iroha who came back and sat down a little. The twins in one table, and Kokoro with Emma trying to feed her."

"Now Kokoro say ahh~"

"Stop taking pleasure in treating me like a child."

"Kanade! Don't drink that stuff, it's basically poision! Who gave you permission anyways!"

"A-ah! S-sorry big sis."

"Geez, I remember the time you git drunk… I do not want to repeat that."

At the end Hajime just gave up… Setsuka and Shinji had a competition on sho can drink the most. Yuri joined in too. Syobai was just at a corner hating every second of the party.

"H-hey! No drinking until you're legally allowed too!" I said to them

"Kind of rich coming from the girl who faked her age in order to work at a bar." Sora said

"W-well." She was kind of right to be honest.

"I've never had it before, I wonder what it tastes like. With the smell I can guess it isn't really good."

"Sora, don't you dare drink that!"

"… just to taste it."

"Sora!"

Sora didn't listen to me and drank one sip… she immediately placed the drink where it was.

"Wow, this tastes awful. How can you guys drink some much of this?"

"Just please don't drink more."

Then there was Yuki who watched over Shinji and tried to stop him from becoming drunk. He failed…

Even with the alcohol and everything, the party was really fun and distracting. It made almost everyone cheer up and forget the situation were in. Call it running away from reality but it is much better than stressing out and commiting…. you know what.

At the end of the party Shinji, Kanade, Setsuka, and Yuri went drunk. I decided to take care of them for a little bit and return them to their dorms. Yuki and Sora wanted to help but I refused, I have already taken care of situations like this before. Nothing bad will happen anyways….. right?

After taken care of the drunk people, I decided to got to sleep in my dorm.

——————

The next day I did once again my morning routine. I got a little worried that I'm getting used to this but ignored the feeling. The morning announcement played but this time instead of going to the dining hall. I decided to take a short walk outiside and refresh my mind a little. It wouldn't matter if I'm a little late by the time…. Right? I saw Shinji and Hajime at the door. They were probably going to do exercise once again.

I went outiside and walked slowly at the beach, wasn't sure where I was going too. I just relaxed and began thinking of my situation. I didn't expect enything on the way, maybe seeing Hajime or Shinji but nothing…. Right?

Right?

.

.

.

But that was the problem

.

.

.

I didn't see anything.

.

Everything turned black

.

.

.

This wasn't suppose to happen…

.

.

.

————

"Yoruko..?"

Huh?

I looked up to my surroundings, I saw Nikie and Sora.

"Ughh my head… what happened.?"

"Yoruko Kabuya, answer me right now. Did you do this." Nikiw asked surprisingly serious

"What are you talking about?"

"Yoruko, why do you have that in your hand?" Sora asked me

"What are you talking about? There's nothing in my-" I noticed I felt something in my hand I hadn't seen before. I had a knife at my left hand, covered in….

"What the-!?" I immediately dropped the knife. "Since when did I have this?"

"Don't play dumb! You… you were probably the one who-"

"Nikie, calm down. Yoruko, do you really not know what's happening?"

"No! I just woke up here, I-I swear!"

"Will discuss wether you did it or not later… Yoruko, you are at one of the rooms in the guest house. Do you remember where we did the part at?"

"Yeah… why are you asking me that."

"Go there and you will understand."

I did what Sora said. I went up to the door of the 'party room' of the guest house. A chill run down my spine, as if I knew what was about to happen, I couldn't bring myself to open the door first. What was seconds felt like hours and as time runned by I really hoped it wasn't what I think it is. Maybe it's just that I always assume the worst…. maybe it isn't what I think it is….. maybe it's something else…..maybe… maybe no one died and everyone is alive and well…. maybe.....maybe.

But no matter how much I hoped, things don't always go as you wish for.

It wasn't any of the normal feelings. It wasn't sadness, anger, fear, disgust, emptiness, or any other emotion. Behind that door there was only one thing I could feel and see… behind that door was the thing that would start this field trip… behind this door there was only one thing with one way to describe it… behind this door was a room….. a room full of Despair.

Behind the door was laying one of our classmates dead just laying on the floor. That person was no other but the ultimate artist, Iroha Nijiue.

No way…