We all just stood in the gate of Olympus room… none of us wanted to talk to one another, well actually that’s not entirely true! There was one person who was the life of the funeral.

  Hikari: “Hey! Come on everyone, why are we just standing around here? Let’s all have a big feast in the dining room! I’m cooking!”

  Shichiro: “I… really doubt your cooking would taste good…”

  Hikari: “Well you’ll just have to come to the dining room and find out.”

  Shichiro: “You really think I’d ever indulge in your stupid antics? Don’t think I forgot what you did either… you stole my flute!”

  Hikari: “For the last time I didn’t take it! But you can prove me wrong by talking over it with my famous pasta!”

  Avrom: “Pasta? … mind if I join you?”

  Hikari: “Course not! Come on kid, follow me!”

  Hikari and Avrom left, not far behind was Shichiro but only because Avrom went with Hikari.

  Oscar: “Oh what the hell I’m hungry, pasta here I come!”

  Valentinia: “Maybe this’ll get Jeremy sober…”

  Jeremy: “H-hey WAIT A MINUTE! SOBER!? I’m PerFEctly fINE!”

  Yoshiharu: “Oh no you ain’t! Come on Juno help me out here.”

  Juno: “Do I have to? … No wait I’m actually kinda hungry, alright I’ll help.”

  Next was Oscar leaving for Hikari’s pasta, and the only reason Valentinia, Yoshiharu, and Juno went was so they could find a way to sober up Jeremy… well Juno had a double reason, they did mention they were hungry.

  Cain: “Fuck this! I’m going to go find my room!”

  Abel: “Wai! All this crying isn’t good for your skin care!”

  Nina: “R-rooms? Wait, we have rooms? Wait for me!”

  Kanji: ~Yawn~ “Wowee I’m tired… If we get rooms then I’m sleeping for the rest of my time here.”

  The next few to leave were Cain, Abel, Nina, and Kanji, mostly because they were exhausted from today.

  Penelope: “Mutt, follow me.”

  Makoto: ~sigh~ “I suppose I have nothing better to do…”

  Noir: “Hey wait a minute! I’m not done talking to you!”

  Lapti?a: “Oh gods… I need to make sure they don’t kill one another…”

  Haru: “Oh killing?! Count me in!”

  And the next five leaving were Penelope manhandling Makoto towards the study room, Noir was still looking to oppose Penelope which Lapti?a took as a sign to follow after to tone down the intensity, and Haru followed just for the potential intensity… Which left me alone…

  Atropos: “Well, well, well! Look who’s all alone! Mr. Jac and Jak!”

  I turned around to find Cthulhu mask swaying back and forth.

  Jac: “Do you ever take off your mask?”

  Atropos: “Not unless I’m showering! … You wanna see?”

  Jac: “I didn’t ask for an invitation to a horror movie.”

  Atropos: “Hey! I’ll have you know I’m the cutest girl you’ll ever get to know!”

  Jac: “You look old…”

  Atropos: ~Gasp~ “I am twenty one for your information!”

  Jac: “Look what do you want?”

  Atropos: “Just getting to know the students of course! Think of me as the cool substitute teacher!”

  Jac: “A cool substitute would let the class leave early…”

  Atropos: “Nuh uh! You aren’t gonna trick me! Look, I may be the cool substitute, but I also really love this game!”

  Jac: “A game where we kill one another?”

  Atropos: “YES! It may seem messed up to all of you but we test the limits of mortal selfishness! Along with whether or not mortals can be trusted with dishing out divine justice!”

  I was already out the door leaving Cthulhu behind in the building and stepping into the meadows.

  Jac: ~sigh~ “What to do now?”

  I could join Hikari and his pasta feast, or help Lapti?a out in the study room… or just call it a day and find a place to sleep…

  ————————

  I entered the main building, the mannequin was removed along with the snare, blood, even the scratch marks Jeremy mentioned, they seem to have done a complete cleaning of the halls. All this thinking was making me hungry… aw shoot pasta sounds so good right now! I guess I’m off to the dining room. I opened the dining room door and discovered quite the scene…

  Hikari: “Hey look, I'm adding the right amount of butter!”

  Shichiro: “No! You’re adding too much! It’s gonna make the sauce too creamy when you mix it with the shells!”

  Avrom: “I’m just hungry!!! Hurry up!”

  Juno: “Patience Avrom, all good things come to us in time.”

  So Hikari and Shichiro were fighting over cooking, and Jeremy was fast asleep on the couch.

  Valentinia: “Oh hey you! You came here to check up on Jeremy or are you here for the pasta?”

  Jac: “Would you believe me if I said both?”

  I sat down and simply continued to watch everything unfold.

  Hikari: “Look, these pasta shells are usually really hard if you don’t butter it before boiling it! Then you have to butter it right after as well!”

  Shichiro: “How does that make any sense? Come on, just hand me the damn wooden spoon and let me finish cooking this!”

  Hikari: “No! This is my famous pasta! Pasta shells, old cheese sauce, and a pinch of garlic! Let me show the kid how an older sibling should cook for them!”

  Shichiro: “Hey I’m his step sister! I decide what’s best for him!”

  Juno: “If you two continue to bicker you’re going to kill the kid from starvation… if you don’t finish this meal in a minute I’ll make sure to cook both of you in the oven just so I don’t starve myself!”

  Yoshiharu: “Woah! Woah! Hey slow your roll Juno! Look I get it, sometimes we need to flip the serious switch but we also need the fun switch every once and a while right?”

  This little ragtag group was a nice peaceful moment in times of tragedy.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Jeremy: “Ugh shoot… my head is throbbing like crazy…”

  Valentinia: “Just keep your head down idiot… your hangover is gonna be crazy.”

  Hikari: “Alright everyone! Are you ready to feast on my great and famous pasta!”

  I watched as Hikari passed out individual bowls to each of us.

  Juno: “No plates?”

  Hikari: “Oops! Sorry I’m used to eating out of bowls, all of my plates lay broken in my trash.”

  I took my spoon and scooped a few shells into my mouth…

  Jac: “Oh my god… Hikari this is-“

  Avrom: “SO GOOD!”

  Avrom was already scarfing down his entire bowl.

  Avrom: “Seconds please!”

  We all seemed like one big happy family… I wish it could stay like this forever.

  Shichiro: “Okay… I’ll admit… this is much better than I initially thought…”

  Hikari: “See! What did I tell you! Let it be known that Hikari Teruya never goes back against his oaths!”

  Avrom: ~Munching~ “Your oaths?”

  Hikari: “Yep! Remember this Avrom, a true man will always swear oaths with your loved one's best interest at heart.”

  Shichiro: “Tch~ A true man wouldn’t need to delude themselves with such humbug to protect their loved one’s…”

  Hikari: “No that’s not true! When a man makes an oath they can never go back on that, and if they do… then you know that they are the lowest of the low, they aren’t even men at that point! Remember that kid, a real man never goes back on his word.”

  Avrom: “…A real man huh?”

  Yoshiharu: “The gambler has a point you know, you can’t fully throw away his point Shichiro, right everyone?”

  Valentinia: “Huh? What I wasn’t listening at all to what was being said, now come on Jeremy eat!”

  Jeremy: “No way! I’m not into garlic!”

  Valentinia: “Stop being a baby and just eat it! Or else your hangover will never get better!”

  Jeremy: “G-get back! Look my hangover is healed already! See? All bet- AH MY HEAD!”

  Juno: “You should probably stop stressing yourself out, talking isn’t helping either if you have to think about what you have to say all the time.”

  Jeremy: “Jeez thanks mo- AH!”

  Jac: “…Hey maybe we should get Jeremy some water to drink instead.”

  Valentinia: “Oh right… where do we find water here again?”

  I’d approach the sink and turn the faucet on while holding a cup under it, however before I handed it to Jeremy I whiffed the top of the cup to make sure the water wasn’t poisoned… smelled fine to me.

  Jac: “Here, now mind answering why the winemaker can’t handle wine?”

  Jeremy would chug down the cup of water.

  Jeremy: “Well… I’m a bit embarrassed to admit but it doesn’t really take much to make me drunk.”

  Valentinia: “Are you an alcoholic?”

  Jeremy: “WHAT!? No of course not!”

  He’s lying… to an extent, but I shouldn’t just put him on the spot like this.

  Hikari: “Hey where did Haru find the wine anyways? She’s the one who served it to him right?”

  Jeremy: “Well… at first she claimed she just wanted me to examine it, so I did, but then she poured me a glass and that’s when she asked if I could give it a taste test, Makoto attempted to talk me out of it but I simply said I would only take one sip… I should’ve known better of course.”

  Shichiro: “Seriously? This is who I have to depend on now?”

  Yoshiharu: “Hey no one knew we would be forced into this kind of situation! Let’s all just get along please, that’s all we need right now…”

  This was my cue to leave, why? Trust my sociology and study of behaviorism, things were getting gloomy.

  Jac: “Thanks for the meal Hikari, and thank you everyone else for making tonight a lot easier to swallow.”

  I approached the doors and exited the dining room… I should see if we have bed rooms at all.

  ———————

  Cain: “Woah! Look at my cool door knocker guys!”

  Oh jeez I should probably turn around now…

  Cain: “Hey caramel! Is that you?”

  My hair isn’t even caramel colored! But I couldn’t just turn my back now… it’d give off a bad social image, so I decided to walk towards Cain and the group.

  Nina: “Hey Cain, I don’t think your knocker is anything special compared to the others…”

  Cain: “What? Come on, look at it! It’s a peacock!”

  Nina: “Yeah, and mines a stupid lamb!”

  Kanji: “We sure it ain’t a sheep?”

  Nina: “What are you implying….”

  Abel: “Can we just sleep and talk about this tomorrow…”

  I took a glance at the doors, there were actual names on the plaques this time, and now door knockers in the shape of animals were drilled on. Cain’s was a peacock, Nina’s was a lamb, it seems Abel had a fox, but I couldn’t make out Kanji’s, I wonder what mine was.

  Cain: “Yo caramel! Wanna have a sleepover?”

  Nina: “Is that even allowed?”

  Abel: “Well… nothing in the rules state otherwise…”

  Kanji: “That’s- such a bad idea my god do you not think things through at all?”

  Cain: “Oh? Why you jelly?”

  Kanji: “Fuck no! But who’s to say one of you won’t kill the other? Aw fuck this I’m going to sleep…”

  Kanji opened his door and left us alone.

  Nina: “The clown does make a good point… but at the same time at least we’d know who killed who right?”

  Abel: “Theoretically speaking, Kanji makes a good point based on the situation we’re in, however the point you’re making would make things a lot easier for us… For I have no problem with Jac sleeping in my brother’s room.”

  Nina: “Hey wait, is this you actively putting your brother up on a silver platter…”

  Cain: “Nah I’m sure bro here just gets what I want, come on caramel let’s gossip till we drop dead!”

  I was barely looking his way, sure I heard all of that… I wasn’t gonna entertain it however, as I was busy searching for my own door. My door was the same as everyone else’s, except that my door had two knockers, a dog and a cat… cute.

  Cain: “Hey are you even listening?”

  I felt Cain tapping my shoulder.

  Jac: “Huh? Oh no sorry, I was busy trying to find my room.”

  Cain: “Ooo how come you have two knockers? Maybe there’s something interesting in there! Perhaps I can see?”

  Nina: “Oh! Oh! I wanna see it too!”

  Abel: “…Meh, why not.”

  Aw great, now I had three individuals prying their way through my door… No going back now. I unlocked my door, actually all I did was turn the doorknob, there doesn’t seem to be a lock, but there was a set of stairs leading to my room, six stairs, six concrete stairs leading to my rather middle class room.

  Cain: “Wow… this is boring… I love it!”

  Nina: “You know I’m not as disappointed as I thought I would be, there’s a strange comfort here.”

  I guess I can understand what they’re saying, the floor was literally all carpet, the rough course type, three bean bag chairs, an inflatable mattress, the walls were a calm tone of tan, the ceiling was a light gray, and the only light was a desk lamp on my nightstand, this entire room… was basic, boring, and the only reason it was the life of the party was because I was there.

  Jac: “No place like home I suppose, I guess make yourselves comfortable, and I’m pretty sure there are extra blankets, hoodies, pillows, and other comforts in the drawers, closet, and shelves if I know myself well enough.”

  Just like I thought, there were all kinds of blankets and pillows stored in my room. I noticed there were a bunch of random trinkets in my room, a lava lamp, a fan, a heater, building blocks, Russian dolls, these were all things that my “friends” have gifted me… but to be honest, I’m pretty sure they just wanted to dump their junk somewhere and excused it as gifting.

  Cain: “Neyh~ man your room is so ordinary it’s a bit relaxing…”

  Cain was laying spread out on the sofa bed… which ironically might be more expensive than the air mattress due to the material and padding.

  Abel: “B-brother it’s really rude to not ask permission for your actions! Not only did you impulsively slip one of his hoodies on, but you just unraveled his sofa creating clutter!”

  Jac: “It’s fine, I already said to make yourselves at home.”

  Cain: “Seeee Abel? Caramel says it’s fine…”

  Jac: “Okay how come I’m being called caramel? My hair doesn’t even resemble caramel coloring…”

  Cain: “Ain’t that what everyone’s calling you nowadays? I think it’s cute.”

  Wait what!? Who started this!?

  Abel: “Cain… it’s pretty clear Jac doesn’t like the nickname started by Haru…”

  Aw well that makes sense actually.

  Cain: “Really? Fine, then I’ll just call him honey…”

  Jac: “No.”

  Cain: “Alright then, how about-“

  Jac: “Just call me Jac, these nicknames are getting to my head…”

  Cain: “Ugh, but Jac is sooo~ bleh… what’s the word?”

  Nina: “Average?”

  Cain: “For lack of a worse word, yes, average.”

  Abel: “I’m friends with idiots…”

  Cain: “Hey that’s no way to speak about your bro!”

  We all spent time talking in a roundabout way, it was nice to see what life could’ve been as school students, just hanging out in our dorms discussing trivial yet fun topics. I sat on the edge of my mattress, Nina in between the bean bags, and Abel on the ground. Cain meanwhile laid on the sofa bed with his legs kicked up behind him and his head resting on his open palms.

  Abel: “I think it’s time for us to depart to our own rooms, please?”

  Abel was desperate, desperate for what exactly? I don’t know.

  Jac: “Agreed, it’s getting a bit late after all.”

  I pointed to my green alarm clock, 9:40PM.

  Cain: “Wait, we're not having a sleepover?”

  Nina: “When did you think we were ever doing that?”

  Abel: “Please forgive him he’s dense…”

  With that all three left… hey wait I didn’t even get my hoodie back! So I followed after looking to retrieve it, but Cain was already couped up in his room… it would be a bad idea to just barge in there even if the doors had no locks, not only because it’d be suspicious, but also because I wouldn’t exactly be in a safe space, maybe the study room group were still up?

  ——————

  When I walked over to the study room area, the doors were wide open.

  Lapti?a: “Can you all just calm down… you’re turning our butler pale.”

  Penelope: “Do not blame me for the coal lungs mistakes.”

  Noir: “Coal lung! Rich coming from a inbred BIT-“

  Lapti?a: “ENOUGH! My ears are ringing and this is getting annoying! I’m putting my damn foot down!”

  I’ve never heard Lapti?a be this loud before.

  Makoto: “…I wonder if they have dry cleaning here…”

  And Makoto was as detached as always… I should probably not even get involved.

  Haru: “Heya caramel! Where have you been?”

  I felt Haru press their forearms against both my shoulders.

  Jac: “Hiding from you of course.”

  Haru: “HA! That’s funny, you’re funny, say what’s your ultimate? You never really told us!”

  That’s right, I never told anyone my ultimate… and I’d like to keep it that way.

  Penelope: “Oh sweet Haru, please refrain from chasing away the prey.”

  It seems Penelope noticed me standing outside the room, and in response to Penelope, Haru was moving me into the study room.

  Noir: “Why do you speak like we’re lesser! It’s annoying and crappy! Come on Jac you don’t like it either right?”

  Jac: “To be frank… actually no this entire thing is stupid and a waste of time, Penelope you know exactly what you’re doing, and Noir I don’t get why you’re entertaining them.”

  Noir: “I’m not entertaining anyone! I’m simply defending myself…”

  Penelope: “Defending who exactly?”

  Noir: “MAKOTO!”

  Suddenly all eyes were on the butler.

  Makoto: “I suppose I can’t stay silent for long, as much as I hate to voice my own opinions, I will say that the way master addresses me does raise my concerns…”

  Noir: “HA! See!”

  Penelope: “Okay, okay, I’ll negotiate a deal then, we’re all familiar with diplomacy correct?”

  Noir: “Course we are… but why would we ever make a deal with you?”

  Penelope: “Cause it keeps me from annoying you… right?”

  Noir: “…Fine…”

  Noir’s treading dangerous territory, but I’m intrigued as to what Penelope has planned.

  Penelope: “All I ask is that everyone in this room calls me “Master” from now on, it’s a simple request really.”

  Aw, so that’s the plan, funny as it is smart.

  Noir: “Really? That’s it?”

  Penelope: “Of course, and if you were all to agree then I’ll reconsider how I treat you, such as how I talk and act in reference and regard to my fellow classmates.”

  Noir: “…Fine, I don’t see a problem with it… master.”

  She said that so begrudgingly, by all means this was a nothing deal! But I’m sure Penelope knows that, this is more of a petty victory than anything else.

  Penelope: “Now that wasn’t so hard was it?”

  I don’t necessarily understand why Noir took this deal, I mean this deal is simply an agreement between words so I suppose Noir has no real reason to uphold it, but we’ll see… because Penelope’s deal didn’t change shit! She just tricked the others into degrading themselves instead of her doing it for us, because instead of her insulting us, she’s forcing us to elevate her to a higher level since the deal consists of calling her “master”.

  Jac: “Hang on, before I leave I need to ask you something Penelope.”

  Penelope: “…”

  Jac: ~Sigh~ “Master?”

  Penelope: “Yes, what is it?”

  Jac: “How did you find those radio buds to begin with?”

  Penelope: “It’s simple really, I found it odd how since these buildings have no windows we have to rely on the electricity to light the halls, however most of the lightbulbs were turned off, hence I decided to check why. At first I thought it was a malfunctioning problem, but in reality I found those buds that can transmit audio.”

  Jac: “Aw well that makes sense…”

  Penelope: “I’ll admit though, it would be a crime if I didn’t give you and Lapti?a the credit for directing the trial, even if you did almost throw us off you quickly brought the class to the right direction.”

  Lapti?a: “I- uh- thanks?”

  Haru: “Ew things are getting too sappy… where’s all the fighting!”

  Makoto: “It appears things have calmed down now that Noir and master have made that deal.”

  Penelope: “Muuuu-aaaakoto, please refrain from putting Noir before me, as you should know, the order of names imply who has the most relevance in the situation, hence I should always be the first one you address.”

  Noir: “Didn’t we just make a deal about this!”

  Penelope: “Of course we did, but I never said I'd disregard my principles.”

  Noir: “Why you little shit…”

  Lapti?a had to separate the two again as Noir berated Penelope, the deal was called off of course all the while I stood by on the sidelines with Haru behind me and Makoto checking his wrist watch every few minutes.

  Makoto: “Mr. Miyata, would you perhaps join me in doing the laundry tomorrow?”

  Jac: “Laundry? Wait, we have a laundry room?”

  Makoto: “It’s literally my sole duty to know the ins and outs of whatever building I’m keeping in order, I can not stress how important a laundry room is in a situation like this…”

  Hey where did that formal tone go?

  Jac: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you so stressed before.”

  Makoto: “Yes… look I’m finding it rather hard to keep myself calm, let alone keeping the others calm… do you have any idea how many times I’ve wanted to tell the individuals here off?”

  Jac: “So why don’t you?”

  Makoto: “Because that is a horrid idea! Do you have any idea how much panic and discourse that would cause? It’s my responsibility to keep things here in check, even if it means degrading myself… I have already planned a schedule based around the chores around the main building here, every 9:00PM will be laundry hour, and it would be helpful if I had an extra pair of hands… especially if you also helped me at 3:00PM with maintaining the meadows.”

  Jac: “Sure, I don’t really have anything else to do.”

  I don’t think Makoto expected such a quick response, but I’m use to doing favors for people so this isn’t anything new.

  Haru: “O! O! Can I join!?”

  Makoto: “I- Sure? The more the merrier.”

  Haru: “Yippee!”

  Oh crud…

  —————