Will you go All-In, Or will you Fold?

As soon as everyone's on the boat, a speaker near a locked off door crackles to life,

“‘Ere’s the deal chucklefucks; Sansy got your families together and yall’re gonna go see ‘em now. No, you don't get ‘ta see my gorgeous mug; no one's gettin’ arrested here. Usually I'd make an exception fer the cute chicks, but I gotta go through the grieving process or just die real quick. I wouldn't suggest hoppin’ off; if the boat doesn't get ‘ya Nessie or some shit will. Bon voyage”

While on the boat, some... items were handed to you. Odd given the situation, but sure enough, there were 2 boxes addressed to Atsuko and Yume, and envelopes addressed to Lilith, Clemens and Kai.

In Yume’s box were a variety of different beauty supplies, a note on top that read

Not sure if you have anything good going on on the inside, but here's some external stuff.

Atsuko’s box, for some reason, had air holes in it. Upon opening, she'd be greeted to a sleeping husky puppy with a note next to it. The dog couldn't have been more than a couple months old given its size, and its note read, 

You deserve a friend. I don't think this one's had enough time to dislike you, but I can't be certain. Please take care of her

Kai’s envelope held two rings and much like the others, a note 

I was gonna give you cash but you'd waste it. These are in case a few months passed and you still haven't fucked everything up with her

In Clemens’ was...cash? Hey, there's a note too though

Honestly I don't know shit about you. Buy some therapy with it or something

Last but not least was Lilith’s envelope, which unlike the others, contained just a note. On one half of it was...a tiktok channel link. Huh.

I'm not sure if she has any social media other than that, but this is just in case you still want to talk to Kokoro after this. She needs an older figure by her side, and she's not gonna touch Titter for a while

After what felt like hours, but in reality had been an hour at most, the boat stopped in front of a small shipping deck. As promised, everyone's loved ones were there, as well as some law enforcement and ambulances. The survivors didn't have much time to reunite with everyone before they were all carried off by ambulances. Weeks later, after everyone was observed and treated for any possible injuries, they were free to go, protected from the stress that came from countless journalists by the ever generous Hope’s Peak. 

Despite the lack of statements from the survivors, there seemed to be coverage of the Twin Hearts tragedy everywhere they looked:

18 enter, 6 leave: The Twin Hearts Tragedy

A family torn apart, what has come to be after the death of Junpei Caado

Twin Hearts resort closed until further notice to recover from the recent tragedy

Hero turned villain: inside the corrupt mind of the former Ultimate Vigilante

It was months until media coverage finally began to die down. By then, nearly everyone had gotten their story out, and a large reward had been put out for any info on the other person responsible for the Twin Hearts Tragedy. What followed soon after, at first glance, had no correlation to the recent kidnapping, but those who lived through the events and knew Chinatsu’s motivations knew the truth.

Crime Rate Rises in Japan: How the Uprise of Gang Activity Affects our Streets

It was almost painful to see that everything she had fought for amounted to nothing at the end of the day, and that the 12 lives lost there at the resort went towards a lost cause, but at the end of the day, those who lived through it all knew a much more dangerous threat had been taken down there. At least now things could return back to normal

And sure enough, they did. The events that occurred there would be engraved in their minds forever, but the rest of their time at HPA proved to be much less eventful. The school year that kicked off with a bang passed quickly, and soon it was already time to go back again, a new crop of fresh faces waiting to join the ranks of the ultimates, spared of the hardships last year's group endured.

...

Or were they? The first day of the new year seemed normal initially, but the large BANG that went off an hour into classes soon proved that to be false. Anyone unfortunate enough to investigate the front of the campus, the source of the noise, would be greeted to utter chaos. Windows everywhere had been busted open; once clean walls were tainted with spray paint and...blood? Amongst all of it was a note written front and center in pink liquid

GOOD CHOICE TWIN HEARTS

What accompanied the message was an all too familiar logo...

She was no sprinter, but Tetsu bolted straight into the unknown, as far away from the noises as possible, as fast as her legs would go. It was during the run that Tetsu discovered her one source of light, a familiar looking tracker beeping and flashing. Unlike the ones she was used to though, the flashing lights emitted from this one seemed to illuminate the entire room with a red hue, giving her a chance to see her surroundings for just a few seconds at a time. There were bars. No, cells. All filled with dozens upon dozens of robots , armed and aimed at her. Perhaps it was poetic justice playing out here. It seemed their vision was just as limited as her's though, for very few shots managed to hit her, and those that did hadn't managed to hit anywhere vital. It didn't mean she wasn't in pain, it didn't mean that there wasn't blood pouring out of her with every step, but it meant that she still had a fighting chance, and that's all that matters. She continued down the linear path, eventually spotting a light that didn't come from her tracker; a small green door followed by an open door. It might've been a trap, sure, but Tetsu wasn't in a sound enough state to question it. Her lungs burned, her whole body was seeming to beg her to stop, every breath left her mouth feeling drier than before. She couldn't stop yet though, that would mean that she gave up right on the verge of success.  It took every ounce of energy she had, but she managed to make it through the door, being greeted to a faint light from above and the cease of gunfire

That, and a shotgun barrel rammed into her stomach as she unintentionally ran straight into it. The blow knocked what little air she had left out of her, and sent her tumbling to the ground as she clutched tightly at her midsection. She looked up, only to see a familiar face at the other end of the gun; a tall grey haired, middle aged  man in a pinstripe suit

Dad? No, nothing but a mirage

That was a face she never wanted to see again, but she was the one in control now! With the little bit of energy she had left, she raised her pistol, aimed, and shot

Only no bullet came out; rather an explosion. It seemed that bludgeoning someone did quite a number on her trusty pistol, and the result was her one good hand being torn apart beyond all return.

 That was the moment that finally broke any shred of confidence she gained from this experience. All she could do was collapse to the ground, out of air and now hope. The recently happy girl bursted into a fit of wheezing and soft whimpering, her body fortunately covering her new injury. Even with everything she had put everyone through, it had to be hard to watch her hit rock bottom again so suddenly.

"Empathy gets in the way of success, Chinatsu" the man said as he cocked his own weapon

She blinked a few times. 

“Um…. He nevew said he woz going to pwetend to die… it woz onwy gonna be evewyone ewse…”

The Queen shuffled forwards nervously, patting her older brother on the shoulder. 

“I know it’s against da wuwes but can you stop pwetending??? It’s a widdwe bit sc-scawy…”

The hiccups lead to a sob as the Queen’s hand brushes against the blood. And another. Another. She wailed, falling to her knees. 

“I-I-I-I wa-w--wanna go b-back home....!!!!! I d-d-don’t wanna p-p-pway thsi game a-a-anymore!!!!!!”

She couldn’t find it in herself to lift herself up, hugging her brother’s legs as his body remained motionless. The loud sobs continued for what felt like forever, until the Queen tired herself out, still holding onto her brother, sniffling here and here. 

“J… J-Junpeiii pwease wake up…”  

She knew it was fruitless. 

There was the King.

A long pause followed, but the small crackles of the speakers indicated more was to come. 

“...I said it before, but please do not leave my sister behind. Please. She’s got nothing to do with any of this, I can’t let her be hurt after all this. All of this, absolutely everything here was because of--”

The desperate plea was cut short. 

What followed next was a series of loud CLANGS that fill the speakers, then complete silence. That….couldn’t be a good sign. It was easy to assume the speakers shut off after that, but what came next only disproved that, making what had to be a bad situation seem worse.

̵“̶.̷.̶.̷.̴.̶.̶h̷-̶.̸.̸.̴t̶h̸e̶ ̴k̴i̵n̶g̷…̵.̶.̴h̵e̸-̵e̸’̵s̸ ̸b̵e̵e̶n̵ ̸d̶-̵d̸e̷a̶l̵t̸ ̴w̷i̶t̸h̸.̵ ̷W̵e̷ ̴d̷-̴d̷o̴n̷’̷t̸.̸.̵.̶w̷e̴ ̸m̴u̴s̴t̷ ̴e̵v̷a̵c̸u̸a̷t̸e̴ ̵i̶m̶m̷e̵d̷i̴a̵t̶e̴l̵y̴”̶ 

She snarled, never giving up with her struggles as she was more, deposited to her execution. From all her prior thrashing, Mari lands unceremoniously inside something, bouncing slightly. It only takes a moment to recognise it as a zorb ball, as every slight movement she makes, the ball smoothly rolls about. Looking up, the opening that she dropped through is sealed once more and she slowly realises she can’t see out. The off-white colour of the plastic opaque enough to blur the outside world to her.. She kicks and punches, anything to get herself out, but only finds herself losing her footing as the ball slowly rocks around. 

The camera stops focusing on her, as the perspective shifts to the situation at hand. It zooms out to show a large, forest green pitch, enclosed by dark wood barriers. There’s a  multitude of balls set up across the pitch, and then it becomes painfully obvious what’s presented to you all. A fitting scenario, a giant snooker table, but the danger is nowhere to be seen but Mari’s own lack of awareness. The white ball on the pitch, with a vague outline of Mari inside rolls slightly, unknowingly edging closer to some of the coloured balls surrounding her. 

Without much warning, an appropriately sized pool cue appears, lining up it’s shot, and promptly sending the white ball flying across the table, crashing into the triangle of balls on the other end of the table. 

Mari was none the wiser, suddenly keeling over with the force of which she was knocked over, unable to stand up as she tumbled and twisted, her limbs scrambling for purchase with every turn. The impact into the rest of the balls found her being slammed into the side of the zorb ball, causing her nose to gush with blood with the sheer force of impact. Mari sits, dazed and nauseous, blood pouring down her face as she tries to come to terms with her fate. There’s not much she can do, aside from wait to either pass out from the pure dizzying experience or see if there’s something worse. She’s thankful she hadn’t eaten much. That would have made this more unbearable.

The game continues, the pace only increasing and the camera flashing to Mari once in a while to show her out of breath, battered and bruised. But still fighting. Her hair whipped around and falling loose, a shoe flinging itself about with each vicious movement and her shirt torn from sudden, uncontrollable movements. There are occasions where Mari fights the laws of the game, rolls herself out of the shot line and claiming small victories, but the tiredness in her eyes and the worse for wear look she sports sells on that she’s on the edge of stopping. 

The game nears completion, only 3 balls are to be potted. Mari still wasn’t sure as to what should happen. Maybe if she lives through the game, she can just… go home? Unlikely, but as she pants, exhaustion climbing through her bones, she believes for a moment that it could be the case. 

There’s a change outside the zorb ball though. One of the ‘players’ replaces the pool cue for something…. Much sharper. The low mood lighting glistening off the blade before it lines up. 

It pierces through the ball, snagging on Mari’s arm before withdrawing. Mari yelps in pain as she realises that scrambling about is now much harder in a deflating zorb ball and if that happens again, well, she’s skewered. 

But the deflating cue ball didn’t stop the players. One more time she was battered about, feeling the blunt force of the cue without a sturdy outer ball to support her, pushed into one of the holes that lined the table. Maybe she trips in actually. The drama.