I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The morning announcement had just woken me up. I sighed, grabbing my glasses and placing them on my face. I pulled myself out of bed, and walked over to the closet. Quickly, I pulled something on and walked out of the room. I wandered over to the cafeteria and opened the doors, stepping inside and sitting down.

Food was already on the table, with everyone already there eating, except for a few people who refused to even touch the food. The room was entirely silent, with a tense feeling in the air. I quickly grabbed something to eat, and began to chow down.

"Why hello everyone!" Taguchi said, walking to the room. He had a bright smile on his face as he sat down.

"Taguchi, can you just leave..." Miyazaki replied.

"Huh? What? Why would you want me to leave?" He asked, with a taunting voice.

"Because you're annoying, and being manipulative." Miyazaki responded. Taguchi stared at her angrily.

"What? Are you scared of me?" He snapped back. "Is it because I can figure almost everything about you based on how you look? How you talk? How you move?" He said, angrily.

"No, it's because I hate you. Plain and simple." She replied. Taguchi glared at her.

"Oh I get it, you're saying that because I know your little secret about your family." He responded a smirk on his face.

"H- huh?" She said.

"Oh yeah it's pretty simple to figure out. Of course, I'm not going to say how, because I'd rather not have you guys observing everything about me." He replied, a sly smile on his face. "After all, it's really easy to understand everything about you guys." He got an evil gleam in his eye. "Maybe you guys are just intimidated because you'll never be able to get rid of me. You'll never be able to hide behind your mask of lies and-"

Suddenly, Otani slammed his hands down on the table, stopping Taguchi's response. Otani slowly rose from his chair, and looked over at Taguchi, who's face was in a state of utter surprise. He got ahold of himself, and glared at Otani.

"Taguchi, I think it's time that you stop." Otani said calmly.

"Stop what? Telling the truth?" Taguchi replied.

"It may be the truth, but you have to understand that some secrets aren't meant to be shared. You wouldn't want something personal about you get out." Otani responded.

"I don't have anything to hide! I've already shown you guys what I'm capable of. And I don't think you understand who you're messing with Otani." Taguchi said. Otani took a long sigh.

"No, I entirely understand. I don't think you understand that you're not going to intimidate us with fake accusations and guesses." Otani replied. Taguchi stood up, and angrily glared at Otani.

"Oh yeah!? You're only saying that because you've done some horrible things in your life, and now you're taking it out on me!" Taguchi responded. Otani stopped, remaining silent. Taguchi gave a sly smirk. "Oh yeah, some absolutely horrible things. I bet it has something to do with your baking, doesn't it? Maybe you put some stuff in it that shouldn't be in there." Otani began moving, walking around the table, and stopping right in front of Taguchi, who's face was filled with a confused fear. "W- what are you-" Suddenly, Otani pulled him into a hug. Taguchi's jaw was agape, as he didn't move from the sudden surprise.

"No one's coming after you Taguchi. No one wants to get to you." Otani said, a reassuring tone in his voice. Taguchi's eyes became glossy, as he remained frozen. Suddenly, anger filled his face.

"NO!!!" He yelled, pushing Otani back, and stepping back towards the door. He wiped something from his eyes, as he stood in a defensive position. "Y- YOU'RE OUT TO GET ME!!! EVERYONE IS!!! I'M THE BAD GUY HERE BECAUSE MY TALENT IS SOMETHING ASSOCIATED WITH THAT DAMN REHABILITATION PROGRAM!!!" He yelled.

"Taguchi, you have to calm down-" Naito began.

"YOU CALM DOWN!!! I'M PERFECTLY FINE!!! I'M AN OUTCAST AND I'M JUST POINTING OUT THE FACTS!!! MAYBE YOU GUYS JUST NEED TO STOP TALKING AND SHUT UP!!!" He yelled. Imamura stood up, and slowly began to approach him.

"It's alright. You're going to be okay-" she began.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" He yelled, slapping her across the face. The whole room filled with a singular gasp, as Taguchi and Imamura stood frozen and unmoving.

Taguchi breaths became faster, as he looked at his hand in fear. Slowly, he backed up towards the door, tears filling his eyes. He fell to the floor, falling onto his back and scrambling to get up. Quickly, he raced from the room, not taking even a glance back.

Imamura didn't move, just frozen in place. A large red mark in the shape of a hand was plaster on her cheek. But her face implied that it didn't hurt. Her eyes were soulless and depressed, with her expression being completely blank. Her body was as stiff as a statue, without any sort of reaction.

"That looks pretty bad. Imamura, would you please follow me to the hospital?" Kajiwara said, standing up and approaching her. She didn't move. She didn't speak. She didn't react. Kajiwara took her by the wrist, Imamura's arm acting as if it was apart of a ragdoll. Kajiwara began moving, with Imamura following behind him, taking slow steps and swaying from side to side.

The room remained silent with no response or movements. The tension hadn't escaped the room when the three of them left. It hung in the air, making its way into each of our minds. Otani took a long sigh, breaking the feeling that had plagued the room.

"This is going to take more work than I thought..." Otani said. There was silence for another moment.

"What... do you mean?" Kawata asked. Otani looked over at Kawata for a moment.

"Huh?" Otani said. Suddenly, a look of understanding came over him. "Oh, that's what you're asking." Suddenly, a bright smile came over his face, as he put his arms out, as if he was going to pull the entire room of people into one big bear hug. "I'm repairing our group!"

"What do you mean?" Miyazaki asked.

"We've all been pretty tense, especially after the last class trial. And the motive isn't helping that. If I don't do anything, everyone is going to split apart again. That's why, I have to make sure that this group doesn't split apart." He said, a bright smile on his face.

"Ugh..." Yamazaki groaned, standing up and walking towards the exit.

"Oop! Angsty teenager coming though!" Sugai teased, nearly getting a reaction out of Yamazaki, but was quickly ignored. He walked out of the door, not even taking a glance back at us. Sugai chuckled to himself, with no one to smack him on the head to stop his chaos.

"Hey, Otani, I have a question." Kawata began. Otani smiled and nodded. "How were you able to get to Taguchi so easily?" Otani suddenly frowned, thinking to himself for a moment.

"I don't feel comfortable answering that question at the moment. But maybe I will tell you later on." Otani said, returning to his bright smile.

"Okay, that's fine." Kawata replied. "How about we continue our discussion from a couple days back?"

"Y- yeah... I'm... okay... with that." Arima responded.

"Okay, so who wants to begin?" Kawata asked. I paused for a moment.

"L- let me go grab something!" I said, before racing out of the room. Quickly, I entered my room, grabbing the file off of my desk and racing back out. I stepped back into the room, panting as I walked back to the table and placed the file down on the table. Kawata paused, taking the file and stared at it for a moment, with his eyes going wide.

"What is it?" Tengan asked.

"It's... a file on Hano Yoshiko?" Kawata responded, surprised.

"Wait, the serial killer? What does she have to do with this?" Miyazaki said, standing up and looking over Kawata's shoulder at the file. Kawata opened it, scanning through the file.

"Well... this is all accurate..." Kawata replied. "But... I don't understand... didn't she complete the restoration program?"

"M- maybe she was lying about c- completing it?" Arima responded.

"But... I don't... think..." Kawata paused for another moment. "I know I said that we would reopen the discussion but..." Kawata stood up, resting his forehead in his hand. "I need some time to think..."

"Hooray! I really didn't want to continue this boring discussion..." Sugai said, a smug smirk on his face. Kawata sighed, and walked out of the room.

"Hey... Hirano, could you show me the room you found that file in?" Naito asked.

"Um... s- sure, why?" I replied.

"I'm just curious." Naito said, a bright smile on her face.

Naito and I walked out of the room, and down the hallway. After a couple of twists and turns, I brought her to the room. I opened the door, staring in at the dreary sight inside.

"Woah... I didn't even know this was here." She said.

"M- me either..." I replied. She stepped inside, a look of astonishment on her face.

"Oh my god..." she blurted out.

"Y- yeah... it's pretty dangerous and worn d- down in there... so be careful." I said.

"It's perfect!" She replied, spinning around as she looked at the room.

"Huh?" I responded, following her into the room.

"Well, it'll need some renovations, but this place is perfect!" She said, a big bright smile on her face.

"Perfect? F- for what?" I asked. Her eyes went wide.

"Oh! Yeah! You don't know about this, I haven't really told anyone, but I've been feeling kind of homesick, and I've wanted to change one of the rooms to look like my hangout space back at home. And this room is perfect for that!" Naito cheered. I stared at her for a moment, almost confused.

"W- well, that's cool. Just be careful. Th- there's a lot of glass on the ground." I said. I began walking away, leaving Naito to do what she wanted. I thought to myself for a moment.

I sighed. Imamura was currently being treated because of her injury. Something inside of me told me I should go and check on her. Make sure that she was doing okay.

I walked out of the hotel, approaching the hospital. I thought to myself for a moment. Does Imamura even want to see anyone right now? She seemed pretty upset... or rather... not upset at all? I shook my head back and forth, getting the thought out of my head.

"Why hello Hirano." Kajiwara said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"O- oh, um, how's Imamura?" I asked.

"She's alright. Her face just need a bandage and a couple of other treatments." Kajiwara explained.

"Um... I- I just wanted to check on her." I said. Kajiwara nodded.

"There should be a name plate on the door. Just like every other door." He replied.

"What d- do you mean?" I asked.

"Apparently, every door has a name plate on it with each of our names. I believe it may be because there's no other patients, so they put our name on the doors to prepare for an emergency." Kajiwara explained.

I nodded, not really to sure what to say. I waved goodbye to him, as I went up the stairs and began walking down the hallway. I paused, noticing that one of the doors was open. Slowly, I grab to approach, looking at the name plate. Imamura Mitsuri? I paused, looking inside.

"Hey... Imamura..." Taguchi said. I sighed. Was I always going to catch Imamura and Taguchi talking to each other? "I'm..." he paused, almost struggling to get the words out. "... SORRY. About the face thing..."

"It's... fine..." Imamura replied. Taguchi began to turn around, ready to leave. "Did... did you mean what you said..?" Taguchi stopped.

"What?" He responded, turning back around.

"About... being my friend... not that I care of anything..." Imamura said, avoiding eye contact. Her face was completely red, as if she was embarrassed.

"Uh... I don't know." He replied. He seemed to laugh to himself. "It just seemed like no one liked you!" He chuckled.

"Well..." Imamura paused. "If it's alright... I'd like to... take you up on that offer. N- not that I don't have any friends!"

"What? You want to be my friend?" Taguchi replied, his posture becoming surprised.

"Well it doesn't have to be friends if you don't want to... just like an alliance or something..." Imamura responded. Taguchi chuckled a bit.

"I really don't understand you." He laughed. "Alright... alliances then. Especially since the fear tactic isn't really working anymore." He said, a funny tone in his voice as he approached Imamura. The two of them shook hands, before Taguchi began to turn around.

Quickly, I moved out of the way of the door, making sure that Taguchi couldn't see me. Suddenly, something came to my head. I walked towards the exit, before turning around and beginning to walk towards the door. Taguchi walked out, and immediately made eye contact with me. His eyes went wide, a tinge of fear hidden inside of them. I paused for a moment. Now I was the one intimidating Taguchi. He was the one that was fearful, and I was the one in the chair. The prey defeating the predator.

"O- oh, hey Taguchi how are-" I began, Taguchi suddenly sprinting down the hallway away from me. I froze, unable to move as I watched him run from me. I didn't quite understand why he ran. Maybe he was afraid of being caught here... or maybe he felt like an outcast. Either way, it had changed Taguchi's behavior completely. Or... maybe he'd been like this before? I sighed, walking into Imamura's room. "Hey." Imamura stared at me for a moment, before looking away.

"Hey..." she replied. I walked into the room, and stood in the middle of it.

"H- how's your cheek?" I asked. She didn't replay for a moment.

"It's... fine..." she groaned. I paused for a moment.

"W- what we're you talking about with a Taguchi?" I asked. Imamura remained silent.

"Being an idiot..." she said. There seemed to be the slightest hint of a smile on her face, but it quickly vanished.

"I- I see..." I replied. "W- well... I just wanted... to check up on you..." she paused for another moment.

"Well..." Imamura began. Her eyes stared around, seeming conflicted. "Thanks..." A small smile spread across my face.

"You're welcome." I said. I waved goodbye to Imamura, walking out of the room. I wandered away, unable to control my face as a grin plastered itself right on top of it. Maybe Otani wouldn't have to do so much work after all.

Words: 2493