Ren

"Ahem! Everyone report to Meeting Room A for this week's main event!"

"I guess that means it's quiz time. Ready?"

"No... yet, I suppose I am about as prepared as I can possibly be," Azumi confirms. She adjusts her hair sticks in determination, and I tug on my collar lightly.

We make our way to the Meeting Room. "Puhuhu! Perfect! Everyone's arrived! Scurry onto your seats now! There's more than one way to use the simulation machine!" I buckle in wordlessly. "Before we begin, we need to hook everyone up with their shock collars!"

"Can't ye just simulate pain, ye picaroon?" Wakumi points out aggressively.

"Well, sure! But I think we could do with some pain that would actually LAST if you guys decide to run out the clock too many times!"

The pods close around us, and we see in front of us a screen. With oldschool narration, we have explained to us that there will be forty-eight questions split up into groups of sixteen, and we cannot answer questions about ourselves. After we answer sixteen, we find out the right answers, receive any secrets we might have earned, and see everyone's current scores.

And it begins with the "Easy" round. It gives us a question at a time, in big, bold letters. At our fingertips are sixteen buttons, with a cute, anime-esque drawing of each of us. Mine is darkened out. The first set of questions really is pretty easy. I don't know all of them, but at the very least, I'm fairly confident about most of the people still here. I wind up getting thirteen right, so I missed two— mixing up Hachi's and Joanie's— and couldn't answer for my own. Gou comes swinging right out of the gate with a perfect score, which doesn't surprise me— since he tries to learn everyone's talents, it makes sense that he would have surface-level knowledge of everyone. These secrets, as befitting of very basic questions, provide mostly trivial secrets, so I'm not at all worried about whatever anyone could find out about me here. This round, for example, tells us that Fujiko finds the Easter Bunny traumatizing, that Gou's parents don't completely approve of his talent, and that Sayuri accidentally bought an adult movie when she was a preteen and watched it out of curiosity. Simple, light stuff.

The medium round is interesting. They're questions that require you've spent a bit of time with the person, unless you know their personality enough to be able to accurately guess. I get nine of these. Interestingly enough, Chimon does the best in this round, which I think makes sense. He may not always actively engage with everyone, tending to stick to a few people, but he watches diligently and seems to remember a lot of whatever you tell him. I learn that Keiji failed an important paper for Japanese class last year and didn't leave his room for a week, that Kana lost a meaningful present from her sister and paid to make a replica, that Haruto ruined a childhood friendship by impulsively sharing someone's secret (and, of course, leading to said secret getting out).

The hard round lives up to its name. The most anyone gets is four, which Azumi gets, as the approachable parental figure. And, though these secrets are the biggest, they're also the most vague. Azumi's stage fright is the result of some kind of major accident, Nari called CPS on her own parents once out of desperation.

And then shit hits the fan: Tozen lied about the conversations he heard before the last trial. I find myself heaving, panicking because I know what that means.

And one more question pops up. It's a very simple True or False question about Azumi. I check the timer to see if I can just wait this one out, because it feels like a trap— there's no timer for this one. I answer or I'm stuck here. I almost choose to answer wrong on purpose, but I can't make myself. I guess the worst parts of me need to figure out what else I'm missing.

Azumi has already confessed to Tozen.

I'm ejected and brought into reality immediately, and I gasp for breath. My whole body shakes angrily, and it seems like more than one person has this reaction. But I think we all got last "final questions."

I grab Azumi by the wrist and drag her off to my bedroom. "What the hell, Azumi?"

"What did you hear?"

"You CONFESSED? You confessed and you didn't tell me?!"

She looks away a bit, refusing to make eye contact. "I-Indeed. I believed that my feelings might be a secret involved in the game, so I chose to tell him myself."

"It was that time I caught you outside his door, huh? You called that conversation enlightening or some shit like that."

"Yes."

"Well?! What did he say?!"

"He said... he said he needed time to think about it. I'm still waiting on an official answer," she explains, quiet.

"Why didn't you TELL me?!"

"Because, Ren! That discussion was deeply personal, especially on his behalf, and we both decided to hide it! I refuse to tell you everything that happened! Just because you knew about my feelings does not mean you are entitled to every drop of information concerning it!" she snaps.

"Well, does he know about me?!" She stays quiet, facing me with a stubborn expression. "He has to know about me. He lied about the motive. So he knew about both of us."

"That is business between you and him. You needn't tell me anything regarding it. Be an adult and sort it out."

"So much for funnel cake and sad music," I hiss spitefully.

"If you had had this particular conversation... I hope you would have done the same. I will not apologize." She usually enunciates pretty well anyway, but every single syllable is crisp and caustic. "I will see you at bedtime. Farewell." She turns away and strides out of the room, fiercer than normal but with just as much dignity.

Dignity. I don't have any dignity right now, and I know that. But this whole situation is really unfair. They lied to me. My first real friends lied to me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuu

Chimon was gracious enough to pretty much leave me alone, given the revelation about him. In fact, Zu took yet ANOTHER shift of being my caretaker. I think we kind of both need each other right now.

"So. Ren."

"What about him?" she gives an enigmatic wave of her hand.

"Is it about Tozen?"

She sighs, tucking herself into a ball. "Are we both so transparent about that?"

"Sorry to say it, but... yeah."

"I confessed three days prior to today. He said he needed time. I chose not to tell Ren, because I would've been obligated to explain more, which would violate Tozen's privacy."

"Fucking hell. I told him he needed to talk to someone to sort out personal issues. I didn't realize you would wind up confessing to him literally a day after." I play around with the awl in my toolbelt.

"Sort out personal issues we did, if that reassures you of his positive progress." She sighs once again, wide-eyed, as though she's seen some shit.

"WAIT. When you came to invite Fujiko to the spa... ?"

"How very perceptive of you! Indeed. The conversation set me on a rather intrusive train of thought, and it was disrupting my meditation, so I figured company with an unrelated party might be nice."

"Hey, uh..." Words escape me. I want to comfort her, but I hate this part. "L-Let me set up that tightrope for you, like I said I would."

She gives a slight huff of laughter, as though in understanding. "Do what you will. You have my gratitude for the effort on my behalf. It needn't be particularly tall-- if it is, I will need a stepladder and net at the bottom."

"I can fit any of your specifications! Attention to detail is my pride, after all!" I boast.

We make our way to the Warehouse, she finds the proper cord, and I find hooks to drill into the walls as well as a remarkably tall stepladder. I make it to the best of my ability-- I use the exact right length of cord and then tie it just tight enough so there's the perfect amount of slack, according to Zu's expertise. Obviously, I also make sure that both sides are exactly the same height. We can't have any unnatural slants. Then I affix a safety net a bit lower; I'm the tallest one left, so I put in a couple of inches above my head so that everyone can walk under it without a bother. "Ah! I was pleased about the idea prior to this, but now, I can feel the thrill welling up inside of me!" she beams.

"Fantastic!"

"Now for the final touch. I will go grab the speaker from the parlor!" She does so and arrives back quickly. "Would you do me the honor of watching from the rope ladder? I... I'm going to blow your mind today. I'll do a tightrope act AND a contortion act. You get a rare opportunity at a double-feature, and I would advise you not to miss a moment!" she proclaims, sounding bolder and brasher than I'm used to.

"You got it!" I nod with a smirk. She holds a fist out for me to pound, and I gladly bump knuckles with her before making my way to a high enough spot to watch her. While I'm doing that, she pulls out a jumprope. She turns on some hip hop music and begins. She attacks that tightrope with a passion, skipping rope on a motherfucking tightrope and then tossing it aside in favor of dancing on it a bit, even going so far as to do the splits and lay down on it. The whole time, she wears an empowered smile.

"Woah," I hear from above me. Her smile immediately falters, and she nearly slips before catching herself and turning back on the "performance." I look up and find Tozen peering down the trapdoor.

Bruh.

She does a few more flips and balancing tricks on the tightrope before leaping into the air and flipping a few times, landing safely on the net. She hops daintily onto the ground and bows almost aggressively, panting. Tozen applauds. I cheer, unwilling to let go of the ladder to clap. "Zu, that was fantastic. Your acrobatics never fail to fucking blow me away," he says.

"Why, thank you, kind sir! Are you here to find something before it's time to sleep?" Now that I understand the situation, I can feel the mild tension.

"Yeah, looking for some whiteboard markers."

"Allow me." She heads immediately to the proper box.

"...Are you okay?"

"Did he talk to you yet?" she cuts in.

"We promised tomorrow morning."

"Then I am satisfied. But assure me that you will get some rest tonight. If only just to placate me."

"I will." She sends him back up with a baggie full of markers.

"Yuu, come with me, if you would be so considerate. For my next act, I require some equipment, and I fear it would be nigh impossible to transport it down here."

"I know he already asked, but are you okay?" I check in as I climb up the rest of the ladder.

"Feelings are sparsely simple. Far more often, from what I have heard, they are convoluted indeed. I am giving my best attempt at not internalizing any of it. You needn't fuss over me so."

She takes me to her bedroom and digs out some weird piece of equipment with a couple of posts. She does her contortion act with as much ferocity as the other one, effortlessly moving her body in ways I wouldn't think possible. For the climax, she puts herself into a backbend position and then bites down on a mouth grip on the spinning post before removing her goddamn hands, supporting her entire fucking weight that way!!! She was right, she did blow my mind. Once she concludes and curtsies, she proudly explains: "That, my dear companion, was a Marinelli Bend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chimon

I'm shaken awake gently by Gou. Ah, I see. It's my turn to take watch. "Night night," I bid him quietly. Unfortunately, the other person assigned for this watch is... well, Yuu. I cross my arms over myself, partially hoping we can just ignore all of today. He's been giving me glances that are both accusing and wary since the quiz show, and, given that apparently, some people got a "bonus" question that gives out some really important information, I think I understand what's going on.

He scoots over. "So... the question said you weren't capable of feeling love until a really short while ago. Is that... really true?" he asks in a hushed volume. Welp. No getting out of it, I guess.

"Kinda. For about five-ish years, I couldn't feel bonds like you guys all can. I could cognitively understand affection, and obviously I was raised with morals, so it was easy enough to just go on acting as though nothing had changed. But everything was so... boring. And sad. I was purely in survival mode, and I hated it, but, well... that was my reality. Sometimes I could stretch myself and get a little something, like the sensation of being touched or of missing someone."

"So you were faking? You were lying to us this whole time?" he calls me out.

"Uh-huh. Up until the last trial's investigation, that is. You would all think I was a monster if I'd admitted to it. I just... I was scared. I felt helpless. I'm not strong. You guys could kill me pretty easily if you ever wanted to, so I had to try and make it so you'd never want to."

"You know... as much as I'd normally want to be angry about this, if I'd known back when I was falling apart, it would've been way worse."

"It would've been better morally if I wasn't so deceptive, but it was the only way I could see to stay safe, so I didn't think I had a choice," I admit.

"Did anyone know?"

"Monterio and Fujiko."

"What happened?"

"To start it or end it? Cause those are two very different questions."

"Uh... both?"

"I don't think I want to talk about what caused it. If that's okay with you. The end was... Monterio leaving us."

"I'm so sorry," he whispers.

"I... Man, I can't figure out how I'm supposed to feel about you. I... I simultaneously hate you for stealing the dancers from us, pity the mental state you were in while it happened, and... feel grateful, in some twisted way. If it wasn't for what you did, I don't know if I would've been able to break out of that state of numbness. I was crushed beyond belief, and that in itself is the biggest miracle to me. But it cost two lives and the best friend I've ever had. Is it even fair of me to be happy?"

"Jesus Christ. You've been having to deal with that conflict for nearly a month now? And you've had to see me every day for at least two hours? No wonder you're always so sardonic around me. You're only fifteen, you shouldn't be having to deal with stuff this heavy."

I can't help but give a dry, bitter laugh, though I make sure to keep it down. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're all in a death game where we're forced to kill our friends to escape, and you had a mental break. Shit, sorry, I got snarky again. Point is, NONE of us should be having to deal with stuff this heavy. And you're only, what, sixteen?"

"Seventeen now."

"Oh. Your birthday passed?"

He grimaces. "It was during the cursed week. I wasn't doing well enough to ask anyone to celebrate."

"You were hallucinating and panicking all alone on your birthday? Fuck, dude!"

"Yeah... fake Bisque even wore a party hat," he gives an anxious laugh. "I don't think I can like my birthday anymore."

I look back on my own birthday... the dancers made a cake for me, even noticing my favorite flavor without me even having to tell them. I got my new hoodie, and Bisque made homemade birthday candles, and everyone pitched in to get me a drone, and Fuji made the parlor look so festive, and, and...! "I feel so ungrateful. I couldn't appreciate any of it on my birthday. I was always a bit guilty about that."

"What if we have a do-over birthday? Right now? It'll obviously be a lot smaller, but maybe we can enjoy it properly this time. We can get glow sticks from the store, and cheap cupcakes from the pantry, and maybe we can give each other gifts tomorrow."

"Yuu, it's two in the morning."

"You can't tell me you don't want glow sticks and cupcakes."

I think about it for a while, and then sigh. "No. No, I can't tell you I don't want them. I guess we're doing this, then."

He gives a tiny cheer of triumph, and I shush him. We wake the next group up, and thankfully, they're gracious enough to not mind watching while we go to get things. We buy some candles and some glow sticks, and then we go to the kitchen to fetch some treats. They don't have yuzu cupcakes, so I choose a chocolate one, and Yuu goes for raspberry. We deck ourselves out in glow stick headbands, bracelets, necklaces, all of it, and then we put a candle in each of our cakes.

We sing each other Happy Birthday. Neither of us are good-- his voice is naturally cracky and mine is changing-- but it doesn't really matter. For once, all of the nasty shit going on doesn't really matter. The mistakes, the turmoil, the grudges, don't have to dominate our lives forever. I guess maybe I can consider that realization the second miracle that Yuu's caused in me.

Monterio... thank you for making my real birthday so great. I'm healing because of you.