(A/N: Haha, long time no see! School made me super busy, sorry. To make a long story short: I was actually planning on uploading chapters only after I had completely finished Part 02, but since I finished Chapter 14 quite awhile ago I got impatient and decided to upload it now. Part 02 is already mostly finished, sans editing.)

The first thing the remaining participants saw when they reached the second floor was a rather large pool, the bottom of which had a large picture of MonoWither's middle face. "...That smells really nasty," Jerome complained, crinkling his nose with disgust.

"How much chlorine is in that thing?" Husky wondered aloud.

"Fun fact!" MonoWither interjected loudly. "Contrary to popular belief, a smelly pool isn't because there's too much chlorine in the water, but because there are too many chloramines! Chloramines are the combination of chlorine disinfectants and perspiration or oils from swimmers! Chemically, hypochlorous acid reacts with ammonia to form-"

"Can you speak English please?" Ashley asked exasperatedly.

"Basically, a pool smells because, ironically, there actually isn't enough chlorine added in the water! But, uh, this smell's probably different or something. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't remove the smell! And no one's really swum in that pool yet except for us, so... Whatever! Just ignore it! It'll stay on you until you take a shower, but the water's still clean!"

"No one wants to swim in your stupid pool!" Ryan declared. "What the hell is the point of this floor anyway?"

"R-Ryan-senpai, please don't yell at us like that!" MonoWither whined. "We just wanted to show you guys the recreation floor so you can have some fun for once!"

"Recreation floor?" Mitch echoed.

"Yep! This floor has got all you need for a great time! Besides this pool, we've also got an extensive weight room to keep those muscles in shape!"

Silence.

"...And?" Jason asked.

"Er, well..." MonoWither stammered.

"...Is that seriously all you have?" Annie deadpanned. "Some 'recreation floor'."

"Hey! We're on a tight budget here! Don't complain!" MonoWither shouted. "You guys may be rich celebrities, well most of you anyway, but still! Be grateful with what you have and don't be spoiled! So what if we've only got a pool and a weight room?!"

"What's that room over there?" Bodil asked, pointing a shaking finger at a door to their right. "You didn't mention what that was..."

"Oh, that's the infirmary! That's in case one of you guys accidentally gets yourselves hurt! Now anyway, we know you guys all love hearing our adorable voice as we blabber on, but enough is enough! Go explore the floor yourselves! Just don't explore past Night Time, or you'll get locked inside! After all, there's no intentional sleeping allowed in places other than your assigned room..."

"Hold on a second, MonoWither," Seto said, raising his voice.

"Eh? What do you want, Seto?" MonoWither questioned. "Oh! Are you going to profess your undying devotion to us? Are you going to grovel on your knees and agree to be our loyal servant for life? Are you going to proclaim to the whole world how your long, wooden staff hardens when you see us-"

"Henri Rennet," Seto muttered.

"Huh?"

"Henri Rennet," Seto repeated. "That's the name you put at the bottom of that letter you gave us, right?"

"The hell is your point?" MonoWither snapped.

"That's not your real name, is it?"

"Well obviously!" MonoWither declared, rolling their red eyes.

"...So you admit it. You gave us a false name to trick us."

"Yeah, yeah, so what? It's not our problem none of you bothered to do your research! All of you are idiots who got into this mess due to your carelessness! Also, another fun fact! Henri Le Rennet is a pseudonym of Edgar Allan Poe, who used the French version of his brother's name, Henry! Heh, funny how that idiot fanfic writer never noticed that... Anyway, Seto here needs to do a better job if he wants to win our affections! Now stop your pointless questions and give the audience some proper entertainment already!" MonoWither disappeared, preventing Seto from asking anything else.

"What... What do we do now?" Bonks asked, looking around uneasily.

"We do what MonoWither said," Jordan said calmly. "We explore the second floor."

"Why do we have to obey that stupid machine?" Jason demanded. "Whoever this Henri Rennet guy is, they're enjoying every second of this! We're just playing right into their hands!"

"No we're not," Seto said. "We'd only be doing that if we murdered one another. That's what MonoWither really wants." He stared solemnly down at the floor. "We... We have to remember what Sky told us. He told us not to make the same mistake he did..."

"Jade trusted us not to kill each other, our friends..." Annie whispered.

"And Seth died trying to save our lives... We can't just make his sacrifice meaningless by killing each other..." Steven said softly.

Seto nodded. "Let's do our best and live this communal life. We can't let what happened last time repeat itself. Maybe we'll be rescued by someone from the outside world. At worst..." Seto swallowed nervously. "At worst we'll spend the rest of our lives here. But we'll spend it without losing anymore of our friends, okay?"

Ashley pursed her lips into a grim smile. "You're right. We'll just have to adapt to this new lifestyle. That's our only option."

"So... do we split up like last time?" Husky asked.

"I don't see the point in that," Seto said honestly. "MonoWither already gave us the general layout of the floor. There's no reason to report back with what we saw. I think we should all just... take it easy, and relax as best as we can. Let's try to accept what's already happened and move on. We can't lose hope now, can we? We're in a bad situation at the moment, but we just have to make the best out of it. That's all we can do right now."

"Relax, huh?" Mitch muttered, a faraway look in his eyes. "That sounds pretty good to me..."

"Ever since we got trapped in this place, I've been so stressed..." Bodil admitted, laughing a little.

"I'm going to the weight room," Ryan said, standing up a little straighter, his blue eyes gleaming with determination. "Just because I'm stuck here doesn't mean I can slack off on my workout, can I? I've got to keep in shape!"

"Sounds like a great idea, Ryan," Jerome said, grinning.

"The more I think about it, this seems like a nice environment for me to draw in..." Bonks murmured.

"I was thinking the same thing," Steven said, smiling slightly.

Gradually, everyone dispersed as they explored the new floor. The feeling in their hearts certainly could not be described as joyful; however, for the first time in a long while, the remaining 13 participants all felt something that they could call...

...hope.

~~~

The first place Seto went was the infirmary. He figured that if some sort of accident were to happen to someone, he'd need to know where everything was. He pulled out his e-Handbook and scanned it, waiting until the scanner flashed green before opening the door. When he stepped inside, Seto noticed a small screen on the wall near the entrance. The screen read: SETO. ENTERED 8:56 AM ON DAY 6.

Huh. I wonder why it logs who entered the infirmary...

...Also, it's already been 6 days? It feels like it was only yesterday since everything started...

6 days. 6 days, and three people were already dead. Seth... Jade...

...Sky...

Seto cleared that thought from his mind, ignoring it. He breathed in and out, forcing himself to think of something else. He couldn't go back in time, he had to focus on the present. He had to remember that.

To Seto's surprise, the infirmary was well-kept. There were 8 gurneys lined up on each side of the room, making it 16 in total, and they all had clean blankets and pillows. Between each gurney were nightstands with battery-powered lamps. It looked like a rather comfortable place to sleep in, but unfortunately it was against the rules. Right at that moment, Seto felt his e-Handbook vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and noticed that the "Rules" tab was blinking. He clicked on it and scrolled down, finally stopping at the bottom.

7. If a participant is in a debilitated condition and must rest in the infirmary, Rule Number 3 will be overruled for that specific participant only.

Seto had a strong hunch that MonoWither was watching him right now.

Filled with annoyance, Seto shoved the e-Handbook back in his pocket and continued examining the room. He walked to the back and opened the cabinets there. In the left cabinet were shelves all containing labeled potions of different colors. Seto could tell that they were all Potions of Healing or Strength, and he sighed in relief when he realized that there were no harmful potions inside like he'd been expecting.

In the right cabinet were packets of blood, each labeled with the blood type it contained. Seto checked, making sure all the blood types were there. Suddenly, the blood type listed for every person in their "Character Cast" page made sense.

In the back corners were two doors. The one on the left was a locked door that wouldn't give way, no matter how hard Seto tried. It seemed to lead to a closet of some sort, but whatever was inside was a mystery. Seto had a feeling MonoWither was hiding something in there, but he couldn't think of why. It probably wasn't important anyway. The door on the right led to a unisex bathroom, which had a toilet, a shower room with a seat, and a sink.

"You'd think that MonoWither wouldn't even have an infirmary in the first place, since they want more deaths..." someone behind him muttered.

Seto flinched in surprise and whirled around to see Ashley standing there. "A-Ashley! Don't sneak up on me like that!" he cried out.

"Oh, did I startle you? Sorry, I tend to have that effect..."

Seto looked behind her and noticed that Bodil and Annie were there as well. Bodil jumped onto a gurney and laid down on it, sighing loudly. "This is really comfy!" he remarked, patting the mattress with his hand. Bodil closed his eyes blissfully. "Ah... It makes me feel so peaceful... I wish I could sleep on this thing forever..."

"You could always pretend to break your leg," Annie joked. "MonoWither would let you, then."

Ashley smirked. "Or maybe I should really break your leg, both of them in fact, for good measure."

Bodil's eyes shot open as he jerked up and practically flew off the bed, his face now as white as the sheets. "N-No thank you Ash, I'm good!"

"Ash? You call her Ash? You gave her a nickname and she didn't kill you? Okay, that's it, you two really need to stop flirting and confess, seriously," Annie said, now exasperated. "It was funny at first, but now it's just ridiculous!"

Bodil let out a sound similar to that of a squeaky toy and buried his face in his hands. "Confess?! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"For the last time, we're not 'flirting'," Ashley said, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. "Bodil just calls me Ash to keep it short, that's all."

"Y-Yeah... We're just friends..." Bodil said, staring down at the floor awkwardly.

Seto noticed Ashley glance at the Bulgarian before looking away quickly, seemingly flustered as well. He knew next to nothing about romance and whatnot, but even he could tell what was going on between them.

He started to sympathize with Annie...

"Anyway," Annie said, switching the topic, "notice these wheels?" The SDML Archer used her foot to lightly tap one of the gurney's wheels. Said wheel actually consisted of three small wheels positioned in a triangular orientation.

"Half of the gurneys have these wheels," Seto noted, looking around. "The other half have regular wheels."

"Wow, how observant you two are!"

Bodil let out a shriek of terror and Ashley sighed. "Here we go again."

MonoWither hovered above them, grinning. "We're so glad you noticed this ingenious invention! These specially-crafted wheels are actually for transporting people up and down stairs! These three wheels put together will essentially "walk" over stairs! Oh, and Ashley, before you say anything, we know you're thinking, 'How does that work! I don't get it! I don't get what you said at all because I'm slow!'"

Ashley raised an eyebrow."...Excuse me?"

"H-Hey, you take that back!" Bodil said indignantly. "Don't insult Ashley that way! She's very smart and you have absolutely no right to talk to her like that!"

Ashley's cheeks were now dusted with a bright pink. "B-Bodil..."

"Ah! Success! We caused an OTP moment!" MonoWither gushed. "Ahhh happy, happy day!"

"What the hell's an OTP?" Annie asked, bewildered. "What's an OTP moment? What?"

Seto knew, but he felt like if he told her then Ashley would have a rather... violent reaction.

"Not important!" MonoWither replied dismissively. "Anyway, that's how the wheels work! If someone on another floor was injured, you could just wheel the gurney down, strap them so that they don't fall off, and carry them back up! Wow, we are just so helpful today! Causing OTP moments, explaining stuff to simpleminded people, we're doing so well as your hosts! If you need anymore help, you can always ask us! Toodles!" The machine vanished, leaving the four in the infirmary.

"Rude..." Ashley muttered with disdain.

"I mean, I'm glad they gave that explanation and all, but ugh! That stupid machine always gets on my nerves!" Annie complained.

"They really creep me out," Bodil confessed, shivering.

"We just have to ignore them," Seto said. "Anyway, I think I'm done exploring here..." After making sure that he hadn't missed anything, Seto left the infirmary.

~~~

As Seto walked by the pool, he noticed that there was a large bench sitting in front of the back wall between two doors. The left door said "MEN'S LOCKER ROOM" and the right door said "WOMEN'S LOCKER ROOM". Sitting on one side of the bench were Steven and Bonks, who were each drawing in their own notebooks using pencils. They both seemed very preoccupied with their work, and didn't notice Seto walk past. The artist and the animator, Seto mused thoughtfully. How fitting.

Sitting on the other side of the bench were Bart and Dave. From the look in his purple eyes, Bart appeared to be extremely bored; although, the more Seto thought about it, the more it seemed like Bart was always that way. Dave, on the other hand, was hunched over and tapping frantically on his Gameboy. There was nothing unusual about that either. Seto felt that these two mobs were the only ones who hadn't changed very much since the killing game began. Or maybe, they just never showed it on the outside. Were they unaffected by all the deaths so far? After all, they had never made any significant connection with someone other than Steven...

Seto suddenly remembered the look of horror on Bart's face when he'd seen Jade's body.

Don't think about that, don't think about that, focus on the present, focus on the present...

Bart was looking up at something on the ceiling. Seto raised his head and gave a jolt when he saw two giant Gatling guns hanging there. "Wh-What the hell?!" he exclaimed loudly.

Bonks flinched and Steven let out a shriek as he dropped his sketchbook. "Oh, Seto, you startled me! I didn't notice you were there!" Steven said, laughing nervously.

Seto pointed up at the heavy artillery. "What are those doing there?!"

Bonks' face grew dark. "Oh, well you see-"

"We are so glad you asked us, Seto!"

Bonks pressed her lips together into a thin line of annoyance. "He wasn't asking you-"

"We're happy to answer your question! Those guns are there to prevent anyone from entering the bathroom that they're not supposed to be in! After all, this isn't that kind of show, and it's not like any of you are transgender or something like that! Anyway, as your respectable hosts, we have high standards for what content is allowed on this show, and so no one can enter the wrong locker room or they'll automatically get the firing squad! Bang bang bang! Pew pew pew! Avada Kedavra! Begone, perverts!"

"But what if someone took another person's e-Handbook and entered the locker room that way?" Seto asked. "What then?"

MonoWither's eyes widened. "Woah, that's... actually a question we don't have an answer for... um... Well then! That means it's time for another rule!"

Seto felt his e-Handbook vibrate again. He, Bonks, and Steven all pulled theirs out and saw what MonoWither had added.

8. No participant may use another participant's e-Handbook to enter rooms.

"There, now we've effectively stopped all possible illicit activity from happening!" MonoWither declared proudly. "So keep that in mind, Bonks and Steven! No using each other as nude models, no nsfw stuff, all right? Do that in your personal rooms, but don't do that in the locker rooms!"

"Wh-What?!" Steven cried out, his voice an octave higher than usual. "N-Nude models?!" Bart placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head, unamused. Dave was actually compelled to pause the game and look up, horrified.

"E-Ew, I think you're the perverted one here!" Bonks shouted.

"No we're not, we are a Wither and Withers have no such thoughts! You should be thinking about your own thoughts, Bonks! Don't be a hypocrite!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Anyway, what's more important is that we just caused another OTP moment! This is a new record! Two OTP moments in a day! Ahhh, today is just going by so wonderfully!" MonoWither shrieked with glee, cackling madly before disappearing.

"What's an OTP?" Steven asked, tilting his head with confusion. "Bonks, do you know?"

Bonks suddenly looked embarrassed. "I- I don't know either..." she lied.

"Oh... Oh well. There's no point in trying to understand MonoWither." Steven shrugged noncommittally before picking up his sketchbook again.

...Does MonoWither ship Bonks and Steven? That's weird...

Seto walked up to the boy's locker room, figuring that it wouldn't hurt to check inside. He scanned his e-Handbook before entering. Inside he saw a room for bathroom stalls to the left and another room for shower stalls to the right. In the main room there was a row of 12 iron lockers sitting by the wall, each with a name tag and keyhole. Seto found the locker with his name on it and used his room key to unlock the door. He opened the locker and saw a pair of swim trunks, a razor, and bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and shaving cream all lying on a shelf. Did MonoWither have some sort of obsession with personal hygiene or something?

Seto lifted up the swim trunks, which were pure black. For some reason Seto felt relieved that it wasn't designed to look like MonoWither's face or something like that.

"Aren't you going to try them on?" Seto didn't even bother to turn around to face the machine hovering behind him. He just stayed put and remained silent. "Oopsies, did we scare you into silence?" MonoWither asked innocently.

"Leave me alone," Seto muttered, tossing the swim trunks back in the locker.

"You didn't answer our question! Aren't you going to try on the swim trunks we so generously provided for you? They fit perfectly!"

"Why should I? I'm not a swimmer."

"Is that so? Or is it really because you don't want to remove that hood of yours?"

Seto grit his teeth, refusing to say a word.

"Aw, you're so tense! Relax, Seto! We're not going to hurt you!" MonoWither chided. "You know, your magical cloak has a really cool creeper design, so we get why you wouldn't want to take it off, but still! Why don't you just remove the hood?"

"Because I don't feel like it," Seto replied as calmly as he could.

"Oh really? You know, you have no problem with taking off that cloak when you go to sleep. But when you're around people? That hood and cloak stays on! In fact, the only time you went out in public in something other than that cloak was during Sky's wedding, when you wore a proper suit for once!"

"What, did you expect me to show up at his wedding without any formal clothes?" Seto asked through his teeth.

"No, it's just... Maybe you just have some problem with a certain scar on the back of your head that you don't want others to see!"

Without thinking, Seto slammed the locker shut and whirled around to face MonoWither, whose grin widened. "Ooh, did we touch a sore spot there?" they asked, giggling devilishly.

"Sh-Shut up!!!" Seto yelled, all self-control going out the window as he let his emotions get the better of him.

"It's not healthy you know," MonoWither pointed out candidly. "How bad can a scar be? What, are you afraid the rest of them are going to ask questions about it? Like how you got it?"

Seto clung onto the sides of his hood, instinctively lowering as much of it as possible over his face. "Get out! Leave me alone!" he cried out, hunching over.

"Or maybe it's not just the scar, you did use a spell to hide that scar for the wedding after all... But maybe it's not a physical thing. Maybe you're not just afraid others will see the scar. Maybe wearing that hood makes you feel safer... Like it's a shield protecting you from the outside world..."

"The hell do you think you are, a goddamn psychologist?" Seto asked with contempt, his hands beginning to tremble as they continued clutching onto the hood.

"Well it seems like we're right, aren't we? You have a serious social anxiety problem, and your hood is your only comfort zone! Take it off in front of the others, and you might just totally lose it and freak out!"

"Shut the fuck up!!!" Seto shrieked. "Why don't you just fuck off! Get the hell out of here, goddamn it!"

"Wow, sudden cursing too? Clear indication that you know we're right! You're like an open book once you get riled up, honestly Seto, you have absolutely no control over yourself!"

No control over yourself...

No control...

No control...

Seto felt his whole body quaking violently as he pressed his back against the cold metal locker, his weak legs giving way as he slowly sunk down to the floor. "F-fuck off... fuck off... Sh-Shut the hell up..." Seto whispered, struggling to keep his breathing steady. It didn't really work.

"We wonder how much you're hiding underneath all that... What secrets you're keeping inside, locked away..." MonoWither said, still giggling madly.

Seto's hands flashed a brilliant purple as he quickly formed a force field around himself, desperate for anything to shield himself from MonoWither. MonoWither was cackling like the Devil himself, gleefully taking pleasure in Seto's agony. Seto brought his knees to his chest, which ached tremendously. It felt like his pounding heart was about to burst out of his ribcage. Seto's brown eyes were wide with panic as he hyperventilated, staring into space as his mind began to swirl.

He lost track of time. The seconds slowly trickled into minutes as he sat there, muscles all tense, shivering erratically and clinging onto his hood as though it was a lifeline. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't shake off MonoWither's words... He couldn't focus...

Seto?

Seto didn't react at first. He didn't even register someone had spoken.

Oh my god, Seto, what happened? What's wrong? Seto?! Can you hear me?!

Oh, was someone talking to him? Seto slowly raised his head and found himself staring up at Steven, Bart, and Dave, who were all standing outside the magical barrier.

"Seto? Seto what's going on?" Steven asked frantically. "Seto, answer me!"

Seto didn't respond. He just stared back down at the floor and shut his eyes tightly, trying unsuccessfully to cover his whole face with his hood.

Terrified, Steven tried to hit the force field, but Bart put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head, signaling him to calm down. "...Seto, just put the force field down," Steven said quietly. "Everything's okay. I'm... I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

Seto's chest heaved as he desperately gasped for air. It was so hard to breathe, he felt so lightheaded, like he was about to throw up...

"Seto? Are you listening to me?"

It took a few seconds before Seto slowly let the force field fade away, watching as it dissipated into the air. Steven knelt down in front of the sorcerer, who was still quivering in fear. "...Are you okay?" the SDML Mob Observer asked, not sure what else to ask.

Seto opened his mouth to speak, but his mouth felt too dry. "I..." He swallowed nervously and did his best to regulate his breathing. "I..."

Steven reached out a hand to Seto, who flinched and shied away. He drew his hand back quickly, afraid he'd made things worse. "It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you," Steven repeated.

Seto hated the... pitying look in Steven's face. He didn't need pity. He didn't deserve pity. Steven didn't understand at all. "I'm fine," Seto muttered, finally letting go of his gray hood and letting his hands drop to the floor. God, he must look absolutely pathetic right now, just sitting there after having completely lost it...

Steven bit his lip. "You were in here for a long time... 10 minutes I think... Bonks and I were worried you'd gotten hurt somehow..."

"I'm fine," Seto said again, his tone a little more spiteful.

"Are you sure? Your face is really pale-"

"I said I was fine, didn't I?!" Seto said, glaring at Steven.

Steven cringed. "S-Sorry..."

Seto stared down at the floor, filled with remorse. He shouldn't have done that. Steven was only trying to help him.

Steven piped up again. "Did... Did MonoWither-"

"No. No they didn't."

"I didn't even finish what-"

"They didn't do anything."

Steven helplessly looked up at Bart and Dave, as though asking them for advice, but neither of them had any to give. They did look very worried though.

"L-Look, Steven, I appreciate your concern, but..." Seto swallowed again. "I just really need to be alone right now..."

Steven stared at him, unsure of what to do. "...Okay Seto, if you say so..." he whispered, standing up. "If... If you want... You can always talk to me, you know? I'm not really good at giving advice or stuff like that, but... I'm a good listener at least..." When Seto didn't respond, the three walked away, their footsteps echoing in the cold, empty locker room.

The moment Seto heard the door close, he leaned his head back against the locker, exhaling loudly as he looked up at the ceiling. He sat there for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts. Seto was afraid MonoWither would take advantage of this opportunity and return for more "entertainment" at his expense, but fortunately for him, they did not.

After he felt like he'd calmed down for the most part, Seto slowly stood up, leaning against the locker for support. With shaky steps, Seto walked out of the locker room to see that Bonks and Steven were still there, as well as Bart and Dave. "Oh, Seto! You're back!" Bonks exclaimed.

"Are you all right?" Steven asked quietly.

Seto nodded. "I'm better now...Thanks Steven..." he said in a hushed voice.

"I didn't do anything though..." Steven admitted shamefully.

"I couldn't go in the men's locker room..." Bonks muttered.

Seto shook his head. "No, it's fine. Thanks for checking up on me. It... really means a lot to me." Without waiting for a response, he headed over to the steps and walked down to the first floor. It was still about 10 in the morning, but Seto felt like he was done with everything for the day. He was extremely tired, exhausted even. He didn't feel like he could handle anymore of this.

Maybe he should take another warm shower, and then take an afternoon nap before coming out for dinner. Actually before all that, he'd seen some chocolate ice cream in the fridge, right? A bowl of chocolate ice cream... a warm shower... a long nap... Yeah, that all sounded really nice... He deserved to give himself a treat after all that had happened these past few days, right?

Filled with slight hope, Seto quietly made his way back to his room.

~~~

MONOWITHER THEATER

Wow, it's been quite awhile since we've done one of these, hasn't it? Our deepest apologies! We were just so caught up on recent events, as well as the ever-so-intriguing topic of bats.

Why bats, you ask? We're sure most of you have heard the popular idiom "blind as a bat". But did you know that most bats can see perfectly fine in the daylight? The idiom is utterly false! It's an outrage! An injustice! How dare human beings defile such a unique animal species by accusing them of such a falsehood!

But anyway, in conclusion, it is a pure misconception that bats cannot see just because they lurk fearsomely in the darkness of the night...

We wonder what else is commonly misunderstood by the majority of people?