#pohopen

The days had become an endless blur to her. How long had it been since she first awoke in her cabin, how long since she'd first spoken with her fellow classmates, been poisoned and bed ridden, nearly meeting death itself as well as coming to deal with it itself. The mutual killing had become her every day life. Ever moment of every day, the concept of kill or be killed hung over her, weighing her down with every step she took.

Mari recalled at first, things had been much easier even though it was still very hard. She held the deaths of her classmates in her mind, reminding her and motivating her towards the goal of escape and teamwork. She was filled with such a hope that they could all cooperate and become a group that would understand one another and realize that everything would have been solved if they had just worked together. If they had just--

... But it was all futile. It was just in human nature itself to distrust one another and to work for one's own self benefits and agendas. She was foolish to even think or try such a tactic. Complete and utter foolishness.

Laying on her bed, arms and legs sprawled out as she stared at the ceiling with eyes dulled and jaded, Mari let out a sigh as she decided to drag herself to her feet. She'd spent the past day or two since the trial, sleeping and just laying on her bed, her mind whirling with tormented thoughts of the past and the empty future that lay before her.

Not even bothering to tie her bandanna in her hair, Mari decided to go for a stroll. After all, there was a new area to look through. Walking past the lodge, she made her way to the new area, her body felt stiff and every movement she made felt like she had to use every fiber of her being to drag herself down the path. Glancing over at a dirt path that evidently lead to a camp ground, she frowned an image of a certain red haired survivalist popped into her head. Gritting her teeth, she quickened her pace till the campground was far behind her.

And that's when she saw it.

Mari's eyes widened as she saw a building... But not just any building. As she ran towards the doors, all exhaustion forgotten, an excited smile working it's way onto her face.

Throwing the doors open with a slam, a cool breeze greeted her face. Her smile twisted into a scowl as she narrowed her eyes at the monobears present on the ice skating rink. Grumbling about the stupid fucking bears to herself, Mari made her way over to the equipment station, grabbing a pair of size 8 ice skates. Sitting down roughly on a bench, she tore off her heely sneakers before quickly slipping on the skates, doing the up the laces before she stood up and grabbed her shoes, placing them in a cubby nearby.

Walking over to the entrance to the rink, Mari paused, taking in a breath of the cold refreshing air of the skating rink. She closed her eyes as she stepped out onto the ice, the sound of a cheering crowd filling her mind.

Getting into a starting position, she could hear the countdown, the anticipation for the start. And then there it was the signal to go. Go. Go. Go as fast as humanly possible.

Mari felt herself racing around the track, faster and faster with each lap, eyes still closed as she felt the wind begin to nip at her bare skin, her hair whipping behind her. Slowly opening her eyes, she gritted her teeth, leaning down farther as she picked up speed. She had to go faster. Faster. Faster faster faster faster faster-- She had to run. She had to--

Letting out a yelp as the blade of her skate caught on something, Mari lost her balance, falling and feeling the roughness of the ice come to meet her as she skidded to a stop, finally slamming into a hard fiberglass wall of the skating rink.

And there she lay, feeling the sting of the cold ice and the raw pain that filled her entire body, once again sore and exhausted. Opening her eyes, her vision blurred, she slowly began to raise herself up only to fall over once again as her arm protested, sending a shock of pain up her spine.

Looking down she saw... Blood. Looking over from the way she'd came, Mari realized that she'd gone around so many times in the rink, she'd torn a clear track, fragments of ice strewn everywhere along with a smeared track of blood from her scrapped arm. 

Trying one again to lift herself up, Mari fumbled, falling flat once again onto the ice. Attempt after attempt, she stood up only to fall back down again and again. After a final attempt, Mari lay out on the rink, filled with regret as she resigned herself to her fate...

Perhaps a rest might be something she needed.

     With her years of being a bounty hunter and living on the streets. It was reasonable for her to assume she was untouchable. She honestly, truly felt as if she couldn't be scared of anything anymore, and that she could stand her ground regardless of the situation at hand.

     However, inside the confines of this lodge, locked in the tight walls of her own cabin, everything had suddenly switched for her..

     As such, the confines of her cabin proved as one of her only solstices for her now. Rai wasn't there to cheer her up or make her smile and forget the world anymore... Yukio had murdered his friend in an attempt to escape... Kikyo had been caught in the crosshairs... and Shuu... 

Oh god Shuu...

     Try as she might to forget the situation they were stuck in, the things that had once made her happy was truly gone this time... and the rest of the students hated her guts. Sure, Yuuya, Ryuusuke, and Mari were always there, but how could they have understood? It was hard being blamed no matter what you did or who you were... all over some stupid fucking title and an intimidating appearance.

     For once, she just wished she hadn't taken this chance. Wished she hadn't been so bitterly lonely, dying for a friend or two out there as she accepted the invitation to Hope's Peak and had just stayed home. But... on the other hand, she really did care... she honestly wanted to see her friends be safe!

     But as minutes turned to hours, her own isolation in her room turned more and more unbearable... more desperate and lonely than anything.

     She just wanted her friends back... for it to be all normal again.

     But... with the silence of isolation came a surge of thoughts. Yukio... had broken his promise. That and she failed to prevent it. God dammit... She saw it coming... why did she let feelings of friendship slow her instincts? Was she was losing her touch?! Either way... He'd done it cold... there was a burning hate for that name now, though she couldn't deny that she had actually [i]liked[/i] his company at some point.

     She just wanted her friends back... for it to be all normal again.

     She forced herself to sit up from her bed as he let out a sigh, trying desperately to relax. She had nothing much left to hide anymore - not that her secrets had gotten her far anyways - and now... it was all honesty for her. What did she have to lose anyways?

     All that was left to do now was live for the others... or die trying.

     She slowly exited her room, looking up at the clear, blue sky for a moment. It was weird, seeing that again after so long... regardless, she ripped the hard feelings from her... after all, Shuu wouldn't have wanted that. She remembered his words... and that flickering monitor as it smiled back at her as clear as day...

"Remember I’ll always love you, bye!"

      That smile - as fake as it might have been - and those words were enough for the moment to set her mind straight as she cracked her knuckles, pulling out for a quick moment Shuu's ID card as she smiled, muttering something small under her breath.

It's like every other time before.

The room that once belonged to Mayu lies dark and dormant well in to the morning, the thick curtains drawn by an occupant who'd been warm and alive mere hours before. Still and silent it remains, with no notion of the investigation or trial going on beyond its door: everything is in its right place, down to the tiny cactuses (arranged in order of size) and the corner of the bedspread, turned down just so, a reminder that this was the room of a girl who went willingly to her death and stopped to clean the place beforehand. Now, she is just another ghost to haunt this mountain, another story to be told around the campfire.

There's only one thing that seems out of place. There, tossed haphazardly upon the sheets - a laptop, identical to all the others, the screen as dark as the rest of the cabin. It's not until the trial is over, and the remainder of the class emerge from the courtroom in to the late morning sun, that it finally starts to show some signs of life. She'd always been an early riser, but not today.

Gradually, the room is washed in a sickly green light, and filled with the faint whirr of processors. Something moves under the screen; a simulated curtain of pale water and, behind it, a familiar face, shifting slowly in to focus as if surfacing from some great depth.

The program finishes loading all too quickly. The thing that now takes the name of Takagi Mayu forgets to breathe.

The computer starts up quietly at first, the soft whirring noises filling the cabin as if to drown out the silence. The screen remains dark, however and as there's no light on in the cabin, you wouldn't be able to tell it was even on if not for the noises emanating from it.

The screen flickers only for an instant.

And then the noises increase; an unholy mix of static and the voice of the recently departed archer. You can't make out any words, but the angry yet terrified tone it carries indicates that her last moments must not have been all that pleasant. The sounds grow louder, nearly breaking the poor laptop's speakers before it suddenly quiets down. It seems the system has managed to get the program under control, as the static quiets down to a soft hiss, and the voice becomes more audible-audible enough to make out what its saying, although the continued static blocked out most of what she was saying.

"-gi-san? Why did you call-"

"-going on?! Why is Kumag-"

"No! Let g-"

Then suddenly all becomes quiet as the screen flickers on, filling the room with a green static-filled light. The static-ridden image of the archer, but only for a few seconds at a time before flickering back to static. The audio finally stabilized and the voice seemed to mellow out as it took in the familiar interior of the cabin; namely, the dresser, where a red hairpin in the shape of a maple tree leaf sat next to a pretty purple bow tie.

"-llo? What's-what is going on-?"

The screen flickered, enough times so that the shadow of the person entering the the cabin wasn't noticed by her until they were almost in front of the screen, and therefore her. She quickly tried to almost will the screen to cooperate and it finally did-whether by her will or by the program was unknown. The screen now depicted her image clearly.

"...Someone's there,right? I don't-do not think I have this under control, but I think I can see you..."

She wasn't sure exactly what was going on; she knew she'd been turned into an Alter Ego as was the case with everyone who'd met their end here, but this whole...technology thing was confusing her; it seemed she was unable to move, and her vision was tainted by green and why did her neck feel so...oh my god the neck wound was still there. That explained why her neck felt so...off. What a terrible thing to show her visitor, whoever they were.

"O-Oh I am so sorry I don't know what happened. Give a second..."

The screen rippled into blackness for only a second before a new image reappeared, this time devoid of any blood.

"There we are. Sorry about that, I'm not used to...well, technology, let alone one that seemingly controls myself. 

Approaching the pool, she spotted a small container that sat on the edge of the pool. Her face immediately paled as she slowly walked up, kneeling down on the floor in order to look inside the pool..

She hoped for nothing to be in the water, but something was at the bottom, a corpse. That corpse was Mayu, tied to a rock at the bottom of the pool. Karin swallowed, about to vomit at the scene of the dead body. She backed up, tripping on her feet and landing on her butt next to the container. 

"..Ah.." She paused, letting out a loud scream. "M-mayu-san!!" Tears filled her eyes as her body began to shake. Karin slowly got to her feet, gazing at the view of her own dead classmate. "..No.." How could this happen?

She prayed every single day, she hoped and hoped. It wasn't enough to save the others, it should be safe enough to save the remaining students. It still wasn't enough to save Mayu. Unsure of what to do, she stared at the body as the waves gently splashed at the edge. She wasn't sure if she should get the others, she was still in shock..

Despite the emotionally draining trial, the days following that had been surprisingly peaceful-save for the clue that Yukio had found, anyway. She had spoken to quite a few people, each with unique results that would hopefully come of use in the future. She'd gained some new insights-and for one, a new honorific to use-as well.

But such times come and go and soon enough, the face of Monobear invaded the television screen and her train of thought. She had just finished showering and was preparing to head out again when the announcement came, this time with the threat of destroying their most prized possessions. Immediately, her gaze went to the dresser where she had last seen her own prized possession; she saw her ribbon and an arm guard she'd procured from the sporting goods store but...oh no. Oh no no no.

Her precious hair pin was missing. Instantly she knew it was in the paws of Monobear; she only took it off to shower, and always put it on the dresser. She never deviated from this, so that it was gone only meant that it had been taken while she had been showering.

She didn't know what to do or say. That pin was incredibly important to her-how Monobear knew of its importance,however would have to be a mystery she'd solve another time-and she wanted it back as soon as possible. However...to kill for it was asking for too much. She could never kill for such a thing like a hair pin no matter what the significance behind it.

Maybe that was why she starting to feel incredibly guilty. That what was supposed to be the most important thing to her wasn't worth a human life...well it said a lot about her. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if the rest of the students were facing this feeling of guilt as well-or if they were willing to murder for it.

She finished her preparations, grabbed her bow and left her cabin as soon as she could, intent on heading for the range as she'd grown accustomed to doing ever since she discovered its existence. Every morning she would get up early, perhaps grab something small from the kitchen and then spend a good few hours in the range. It had become somewhat of a daily schedule for her; every other facet of an orderly life had gone to hell ever since this game started, so to have some modicum of order and perfection back into her life was incredibly helpful for her.

On her way, she kept thinking about her questionable guilt. A human life for the one thing she cared about the most; it wasn't like she had any real ties to the remaining students, and the ones she had created ties with well...how much did their lives hold up against her pin, the representation of a memory she longed to keep?

She was so enveloped in her thoughts that she didn't see the other person headed her way, and bumped into them rather abruptly. She looked up, surprise and embarrassment on her face at having been so careless as to bump someone.

The trial had come and gone but the end result and the impact of its aftermath had left Kikyo at a loss of what to do or what plan of action to take next.

The killers of Rai Maeda and Mariko Suzuhara...were the victims themselves. In some sick sense, they had found and executed the killers well before anyone else. Still, the idea of someone killing themselves...Was it bravery or cowardice that led them too it? She would never know now.

Then there was the issue of one Mariko Ikemizu. She had nearly gotten them all killed by proclaiming to have killed Rai. She didn't know why Mari had done what she'd done during the trial, but what she did know is that had they all voted wrong-and they nearly had-then everyone would have died. And there wouldn't even have been a killer to walk free as they were already dead. 

And finally, there was the "execution" of the digitized form of Shuu Shizumiya. With his death, does this mean that the other dead students were liable to be killed as well? Would killing or destroying an Alter Ego count as murder? Could an Alter Ego murder?

Furthermore, there was what Shuu had gotten killed for, and the mention of hidden clues around the lodge that would evidently help them realize why there were here. This was the biggest concern of hers, and the reason she was walking towards the newly opened up area. She hoped that she would find as many of those clues as she could-whatever would ensure safety for her friends, she would find it.

She began opening up the various doors, sneaking quick peeks into them to see what was inside them. The administrator's office was locked, but the others revealed such places such as a zen garden, a shrine, a sporting store-perhaps she would find some better arrows in there?-until she finally opened the door to a large shooting range.

A small smile worked its way onto her lips; finally, some familiarity in this place. With this place, she could get back into the swing of practicing as it had been far, far too long since she'd fired an arrow. She could also test out the solidarity of the ones she currently had, re-modify them to fix whatever flaws they had in them, and possibly get some new ones if it came to that.

Wasting no time at all, she set up a target a ways away from the firing line, stepped back behind it, and began to go through the practiced motions of shooting that were so familiar to her. 

Address. Ready. Nock. Aim. Draw. Release and Hold. Listen for the sound of arrow meeting target. Repeat until your quiver is empty. Retrieve. Repeat procedure.  It was all a list of commands, perfectly orchestrated without a hint of spontaneity. Breathe. Clear your head. Practice. Focus. Everything would be alright-once she finished practice, she would continue to search for clues.

They escape the trial in the early afternoon, this time, rather than late at night, like she's accustomed to.  As a result, Mayu doesn't quite know what to do with herself: it's too early to go back to bed, yet she still feels drained enough - emotionally, moreso than physically - to merit it.  Dutifully she avoids the eyes of her fellow students as they ride the elevator back up to the lodge.  She can feel their gazes on her - some less forgiving than others - even when her back is turned.  Like a cold prickle at the base of her spine.

She'd been a fool, of course, to think she would get away with this.  When Maeda was found dead - just that morning, too, time dilated so much in this place - she'd thought it a sad, simple end to a problem she'd had ever since that day she'd lost it with him: what happens when he goes around and tells everybody what I did?  She wondered now what had possessed her to think anything could be so easy.  Even from beyond the grave he'd found a way to dick her over.

I should've come clean, she thinks, as she moves towards the newly opened area - outdoors this time, what a quaint twist - not knowing where she's going or what she wants.  She'd been so determined not to let her temper ruin things for her, and look: though she'd never understood why, Maeda had had allies, and now they were her enemies by association.

Mayu doesn't need to pop her head in to each room this time.  Simply by turning on one heel she can see everything new afforded to them.  She wonders how come none of them noticed this area before; notes the administration building, wearily; notes the shooting range too, and thinks of how happy it will make Kikyo.  None of it does anything to lift her mood.  Yasu is many things, some of them not so favourable, but it doesn't make her totally wrong: like it or not, Mayu knows she is at least partly responsible for the suicide of Rai Maeda and, therefore, also Mariko Suzuhara.

Still, it's not that which has condemned her.  Rather, by her reckoning, it was her actions at the trial that sealed her fate.  Normally it was easy to stay cold under pressure, for her, but there's such searing anger in her now, constantly threatening to flare up and cause her to crack.  If I only hadn't risen, she thinks - can't stop thinking, in fact, as she picks a path that looks interesting and drags her feet down it, to the zen garden.

But it's so hard to stay angry at herself, angry at the others, when she lays eyes upon it.  Against all expectations, it's beautiful - a small, surprised smile leaps to her face - well looked-after and very neat.  She picks her way down the paths carefully so as not to disturb the sand, her regrets banished from her mind - for now, at least.

She chooses the small bridge to sit down, dangling her feet over the side so they don't quite skim the water.  Mayu reaches up to pet Hayato, then - and though he has some inkling of her mood and is reluctant, she shoos him away.  He soars off to explore, and feed, more than likely, since she hasn't had time to do it yet this morning.  There's a tug at her heartstrings as she watches him fly away - a familiar sight, reminding her painfully of home - and an unbidden thought that springs to her mind: I am defenceless now - and marked, no doubt.