Despair on Display

~ C h a p t e r I - P a r t I I I~

It took another few seconds for Seto to reply. He held up two fingers.

"By the stairs. Felt a draft."

He put down one finger.

"And by the rooms. Hollow sound. That is all I found. Follow, and I shall show you."

Without another word or bothering to wait for anyone, Seto turned and left the main lobby.

Everyone else, in shock, confusion, and excitement, hurried after Seto. Rei heard Artemis mumble something about how Seto managed to find something but not her.

Once upon entering the lobby, Seto stood by the side of the grand staircase.

"Wait. It's hard to feel it."

And so everyone stayed silent and still.

Rei, who was towards the front of the group, suddenly shivered as a very faint breeze swept by her.

"Ah- I felt it."

Seto turned to Rei, nodding. "And look-" He lightly tapped on the side of the stairs and... it wobbled.

Numerous gasps erupted from the group, and Seto smiled.

"Wallpaper. It's covering up whatever is behind here." Seto then suddenly raised his arm to punch through the wallpaper. He was seconds away from punching through the paper when an all too familiar voice spoke up.

"Woah woah woah! Were you going to tear that down? And break into an off limits area and thus breaking the rules?! Ohohohoho! I think the heck not!"

Out of nowhere, Chronokuma appeared besides the group, folding his stubby arms and not looking happy.

"Consider yourself lucky that I stopped you, Mr. Daichi! Or else I would have executed you on the spot! AHAHAHAHAA!!" The bear statue threw his head back and laughed obnoxiously.

"Consider myself feeling lucky and this a warning. Don't. Break. Into. Rooms. You. Aren't. Supposed. To. Be. In. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Seto stared blankly at Chronokuma, seemingly unfazed that he was just saved from death. Instead, he started walking to where he claimed there was another hollow wall.

"Woah woah woah, hold on there, Seto. I'm sure you're excited to face everyone else in the trial room, but you gotta hafta kill someone first before you can do that, got it? That's when that room will open up! So all of you, start killing!" Chronokuma had to reach out to grab Seto from wandering off as he spoke.

Seto shrugged at this new piece of information, and simply headed off into his room, leaving the rest of the group confused and filled with unnecessary dread.

Kill someone.
Start killing.

Once again the group of students were reminded of the reality of their situation as Chronokuma's words echoed in their heads. The gravity of the situation once again sank their hearts, and a wave of uneasiness washed over the group. Rei tugged at her braid, feeling herself get nauseous. Despite the restlessness in the group, Rei found herself seeking out the one person who seemed to know what she was doing: Hestia.

Upon finding Hestia, Rei stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to approach her. Luckily for her, as the group started to break up as people started to leave, Hestia noticed Rei and turned her attention to her.

"Heya, Rei!" She smiled, though her smile dropped when she noticed Rei was not in a good mood- worse than normal.

"Here, you wanna talk, right? Let's go to my room. Let's get away from here for now, alright?" She said, once again smiling softly.