Along with Saitou and Takeshi, we discovered the waterway completely and thus we went back and forth to see if the map on the tablet was complete. Once three hours had passed, we were at our starting point with new information to unravel.

Saitou had the tablet in his hands and me and Takeshi were talking. Over the past three hours, I've already become endorsed with them as I was obliged to know what Ryousuke had gotten himself to. Apparently, this is an exam and the conditions that must be cleared for his success are the almighty ten words.

That does sound like fun, but it comes with a price.

"Arcturus Waterway is the name!"

"I see. Does that mean anything, Saitou?"

Right now, we are standing on the left stair's degrees from the initial starting point's perspective. Our bodies are facing the entrance of the elevator while we are turning our backs on the entirety of the waterway. To be more specific, this is more than a waterway. It appears to be a deep sewer. However, despite being a sewer, the water is undoubtedly clean. There are also many staircases that reign above the waterways below. Clearly, those waterways have already provided us with information.

Yet right now, I am leaving the majority of things to Saitou, as he seems to enjoy what he is doing.

"Every section we have come across has a name to themselves. I was hoping that you would find anything that connects us to a clue to our success."

"I see. That does seem to be helpful. What do you think, Takeshi?"

Takeshi on my left spoke his mind about this.

"Aren't cha the one who has the answers to this?"

"Do I now? Well, can I take a closer look at the other sections, Saitou?"

Saitou's face resembled confusion and it was clear why that was the case once he handed me the tablet that he was holding. He was standing up instead of sitting down on the degrees like me and Takeshi.

"It was you who obtained this tablet in the first place. I don't think we have any right to take away what's yours."

I received the tablet and went to the other sections and thus clicked on the talking balloon icons.

"That's not quite right, Saitou. If I am the leader; what is mine is yours too. Same with you, Takeshi. Don't hesitate to make use of our components here."

But still, I now understand the terminology of the names here. Henceforth, I handed the tablet back to Saitou and explained what was going on to him and Takeshi.

"It appears that each section is connected to an astrological etymology. The second brightest star is called "Canopus" and as such, the second section is called "Necrohol of Canopus". The third section is called "Rigil Kentarou Mines" because the third brightest star in the sky is Rigil Kentarou."

Having understood what I was implying, Saitou didn't hesitate to further speak his mind about this.

"I get it now! The fourth brightest star is Arctucus Waterway!"

I giggled a bit because his take wasn't fully correct, but not in a disrespectful way.

"Not quite, Saitou, but you were close. It's simply "Arctucus"."

"......"

He looked embarrassed so I said some compensating words to ease his mind.

"It's alright. Not everyone has knowledge in the science of stars. Don't beat yourself over it. As a matter of fact, it's better to understand now than never, am I right?"

"I suppose, yeah. I sometimes wonder why you even know these things. We didn't learn this in school. Just what would you intended to do should you have all this knowledge and do nothing with it?"

"I will give it to you, you are right."

He's right, Ryousuke. Why do you know this? But look at the bright side; you are helping others by having this knowledge. That is a good deed.

"Then what's the next section called?!"

Enthusiastic, Takeshi was curious to know what the next section was called. Saitou was additionally looking forward to this piece of information, but unfortunately, I couldn't give them a fully correct answer.

"All I know is that if it follows the terminology then the next section should revolve around Vega; the fifth brightest star. I, however, don't know what it's supposed to resemble."

"Ooooh. That's nice! We already know what's ahead then!"

Despite Takeshi's enthusiasm, I asked a more important question as I thought it was the correct time to do so.

"Takeshi. Saitou."

They both looked at me with serious eyes.

"Where are our other friends?"

Saitou was the first one to reply. His eyes looked somewhat tired.

"We don't know. The last one we saw was Sagasuga, but from the moment we split up with the others there were no signs of life. We are perhaps alone in this island."

"I see."

Takeshi then spoke after I confirmed Saitou's opinion.

"Don't say that, Rayazaki... That's horrifying. There's no way that we are all alone in here, is there?"

"As it stands, we are alone in here."

They seemed to be having an inner fight, so I quickly put a stop to that.

"That's alright. We'll eventually find the rest of our friends. How many are there? You know, the rest of our friends?"

"You mean the total of boys in this island from our class?"

I was under the assumption that there were girls too, but it appears not from the looks of it, so I went with a simple nod towards Saitou's question.

"Seven."

"Seven friends? That's a whole lot. Alright, we have to get them out of this island too!"

They didn't exactly oppose my opinion but Takeshi had a more factual opinion in regards of my own take.

"But we don't know where they are, do we?"

"We will find them along the way. With that said, shall we get going?"

I got up and so did Takeshi. Our bags were adjoined to our backs and Saitou was climbing the stairway that we were seating on. He was leading the way. Our path forward was already clear because we found what looked to be our final destination along the way. It's just that we had to cover all the waterway for the tablet to process the entire name.

There is a central waterway control at the exact center of the map. No matter how much we discovered the waterway, we found five locked doors located in five different locations. There is one in the central waterway control. One in the northwest direction. One in the northeast direction. Another one in the southwest direction and ultimately the last one in the southeast direction.

They were locked manually, most likely. However, what gave us the true hint here is that this central waterway control holds five switches. Furthermore, there are five other additional switches a few meters in front of the previous five switches. Something to additionally mention is that all the water from this labyrinth sums up in the central waterway control because there are five water channels. Each water channel is separated by five barrages but they are the source of the clean water in this labyrinth. It has become evident that pressing the switches would empty out all the water, but we nonetheless haven't discovered it yet.

As we made our way to the central waterway by climbing the stairways whilst only marching forth in north direction with a timelength of thirty minutes in our journey, I began to talk with Saitou who was in front of us. Takeshi was on my right side at all times.

"Saitou, could you describe yourself to me?"

"...What..."

Though his response sounded negative, he kept on looking forward without looking back.

It's true, I don't know much or anything at all about Saitou or Takeshi here so I have to start somewhere.

However, it's pretty unlikely that he will feel comfortable speaking about himself, so I will do some self introduction for myself.

"As already mentioned, I am called Izayoi Daku. But I like it better when people call me by "Daku". I am currently, 17 years old, I believe. I was born in Shibuya, Japan. I like to surf, which is not something that many actually seem to do. It takes a lot of courage to start surfing, but once it's done, it's amazing. It's a very good feeling. I was also born on November 15th. I forgot to mention. My father and mother both died in a robbery assault when I was little so I was forced to come and live with my aunt alongside my little sister when we I was 6 years old. My sister is highly irresponsible and doesn't take her studies seriously. She believes she is so pretty that she doesn't need to study at all because she will be selected as a model soon enough. In other words, she is somewhat delusional too, but I understand her dreams and support her. And I---"

Saitou felt the need to interrupt me midst my long speech though he did not look back.

"You are really going through with this lie?"

To this, I answered with the truth.

"You're free to think as you might, Saitou. I just wanted to know you better. I'm sorry if I was offensive."

"..."

And then, a silence spanned for a good thirty seconds.

Saitou opened a door that would lead to yet another section. That's right, there are other doors outside of the ones that are locked. They are shaped differently, regardless. It's evident that the locked doors contain far more weight as these doors look like prison cells shaped in doors. Around the waterway, there are staircases that lead below but they are swiftly met with water. Essentially speaking, soon enough, should the water switches be pressed; free access to such stairs without being submerged by water will be possible.

"Well, I..."

Against my expectations, Saitou decided to speak, which was great news.

"I'm not gonna do a whole essay like you just did. I'll get to the point."

As we were turning on a curve, Saitou spoke in our direction this time, with regret.

"I shoot up my old school. In total, I killed 18 people."

Certaintly, I was not expecting that. Considering I described myself as fairly average with my speech earlier, I wasn't expecting something like this.

"Saitou, why?"

Calm and reasonable, I asked. I'll admit that I am shocked, but if it's someone that Ryousuke has befriended, then it's important that I get to know the core of Saitou.

"I was being bullied. My teachers never helped out and the local police wouldn't do shit about it."

"I see..."

What drove him to do what he did was the fact that he suffered from a tremendous lack of help. In other words, he is not someone who often expects help yet he trusts you to do so, Ryousuke. Do you have any idea how hard it is for someone who has trust issues to open up like this?

"I know where my father hid his guns since he was a hunter. One day, I showed up in my black leather coath along with my black jeans. Furthermore, I started wearing black paint in my eyes and drenched my neck in black ink. It was supposed to resemble a skull and that they were all going to die. But it turned out to be quite messy. At first, they laughed at me, but when I begun to spin my revolvers, they all quieted down."

As much as I would like to scold Saitou here, the helplessness that comes from school and those around you can drive you insane. Most certainly, they can drive you into making decisions that you never once thought you were capable of doing.

But still, I just have one question.

"Saitou, how are you not in juvenile or simply put; locked up?"

He began to walk again and so did we.

It appears that the answer to this was fairly simple, from the looks of it.

"I don't know why, but I was selected as the subject of this program. I mean, it's great that I'm not locked up, but... I sometimes question if it's actually better... Like, I know I'm not alright. I shoot up 18 people and got arrested for that. The only reason why I wasn't executed was because of this program that for some reason revolves around young criminals, but... It makes me wonder just how insane and nuts the ones behind this really are. What if one of us decided to shoot up the entire school, like what then?"

I see.

Ryousuke, you got yourself stuck in the same situation. It appears that there was some sort of consequence for what you did to me.

Regardless, against unfathomable odds; despite everything, you are in the midst of these damaged individuals. Did you for once began to think that you could use this opportunity to fix them? If a school shooter can reason and speak words that don't resemble savagery, then it is possible.

"You're right, Saitou. Tell me, do you still feel that way sometimes? Do you just want to go around and shoot people up?"

"Even if I did, I don't have a gun. It's very impossible to have a gun nowadays. We are strictly tied up with a security every time."

"Really now? But I don't see any of that security around here."

"That's true. But I don't want to kill anyone anymore. I will complete this program and live a good life. Our criminal records will be erased once we complete this program. That's why me and Kuzan are with you. You said that you would give us a way to victory in every exam."

I see.

I really do now, Ryousuke. This bond is fragile. Although they care about you, they nonetheless care for you for other reasons. I am beginning to understand more about your circumstance. But, why couldn't you have just done this without putting up conditions? What do you gain by playing with these people's emotions?

It's all abhorrent if you don't do it because you truly care.

"Am I wrong here...?"

"No, not at all. I keep my word."

We were near the central waterway control but I decided to talk with Takeshi on my right.

"What about you, Takeshi? What's your story? Does it involve a school shooting like Saitou's story?"

He laughed it off a bit and then told the truth.

"No way. I'm just a petty thief. It's a compulsion."

"I see. What kind of thievery did you commit? Surely it must've been something beyond the usual thievery. Otherwise, I don't think you would end up in here."

At last, we arrived at the central waterway control. Saitou opened the brand horizontal golden door and thus our eyesight were opened to a control switch area. There were two ways around it; one linear way to left and another to the right; both would lead to the north. In front of us was an area surrounded by water but a water that couldn't reach the surface of the area ultimately. Unlike the entire labyrinth, this area is blessed with artificial light, so our vision was better.

Now in front of the first wave of switches, Saitou's eyes and my own were placed on Takeshi's figure who was close to the initial golden door.

"I steal corpses!"

"Hold on, what?! I thought you were just a casual thief!"

Apparently, this was very shocking to Saitou. Admitedly, I am shocked too. Because I am surrounded by psychopaths; in theory.

It's hard to take this in nicely because no one sane would just be able to digest this type of information.

"Takeshi, why do you steal corpses?"

Instead of showing any sort of remorse, Takeshi spoke enthusiastically, which was frightening.

"Because it's sad that their corpses have to be buried and be left alone for centuries to come! I take them from their graves, bring their bones back to my basement and store them up. That way, they won't have to feel alone because there are other corpses in my basement!"

A school shooter and a necrophiliac. But, if that's the case, then I have no reason to be afraid. No, that's not the correct way of thinking.

I first need to check something with Takeshi.

"Takeshi, do you still hold that compulsion with you?"

"Sure I do! But it's not something I will be capable of doing in a while because our school doesn't have a graveyard. I was hoping to steal Yulia's corpse but... I wasn't very successful with that."

Saitou felt the need to interrogate Takeshi suddenly. He was nervous in face of Takeshi as he asked his question.

"Kuzan....! What exactly did you do?!"

Takeshi laughed a bit and then said to us.

"Aniki would be all alone so I got him a gift. In my room, I have Yulia's right hand! I plan on giving it to him once we are out of this island!"

"You what! That's fucked up on so many levels! Kuzan, once we get to school, you have to give it back!"

"No way, Rayazaki! Aniki's all sad! It also looks like Ma--- I mean, Kawahara, had a change of heart! What do you say, Kawahara?! Isn't this the right thing to do?!"

For reasons unknown, I didn't know how to properly react to this. There are so many questions that I don't even know where to start, honestly.

"First of all, who is this "Yulia"? Is she a friend of ours?"

Takeshi happily answered all my questions to come.

"No! But she was Aniki's girlfriend. She died though."

This brought forth more questions so I didn't hesitate.

"Alright, so who is this "Aniki"? And why did she die?"

"Aniki is Daniel, one of our friends. He has his heart broken right now because his girlfriend committed suicide not so long ago."

"That is tragic! Why did she do that?!"

Saitou answered instead of Takeshi this time around.

"No one really knows. Anyway, can you just tell what Kuzan is trying to do is obviously wrong and won't actually work?!"

"You don't know that! Seeing a body piece of your lost one can invoke a lot of emotions!"

"Not good ones, I fucking bet!"

They were starting to get up and close; personal. Furthermore, their distance slowly increased as they both disagreed in terms of ideas.

I put myself in the middle in order to stop them and directed my words to Takeshi.

"Takeshi, I might not know what truly happened, but Saitou has a point. What you are trying to accomplish is very wrong. The dead want to rest and by putting a stop to that process you are disturbing them."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"...I don't agree with that."

"Why you...!"

It wasn't me who said that, but Saitou.

Saitou truly regrets what he has done, from the looks of it, but Takeshi fully supports what he has done.

It appears as though this conversation won't go anywhere, thus I put a temporary stop to it by advancing to the first wave of switches.

"Shall we place our efforts into something else? We can discuss this later, if you want."

"Fine..."

"I don't think it's gonna change a thing, but alright!"

And thus, we left it at that. We then faced the first wave of switches and I asked them their thoughts of this.

"What do you think we should do now?"

Saitou was the first one to answer my question.

"No other choice but to press them. However, what's the deal with the other switches? There are ten in total but there are only five doors. Got any clue?"

I spoke in Takeshi's direction this time.

"What do you think, Takeshi?"

"I think that the other switches are connected to the water channels. If you look at them closely, you can see a green gleaming light emitting from the top which goes all the way down to the boarder of this area. I think that if you press one of them, then the water channel that's connected with will empty all the water and we'll be able to walk onto the areas that had the water in it. But why would there be five other switches? Is it just because of water channels?"

I liked Takeshi's analogy, but what Saitou said to complement it gave me a bigger portion of happiness.

"Maybe it's connected to the secret passage? That would explain why there are two waves of switches. Perhaps one is for the normal passage and the other one for the secret passage."

"That's it! Then we should clear the normal passage first, right?"

This was when I intervined.

"First of all, we should really confirm what all the switches do. Let's start with the front ones, what do you two say?"

They didn't object this at all and Saitou offered himself as a volunteer to start this.

In front of the first switch of the first wave of switches that control the water channels; all the way to the left, Saitou pressed it, which resulted in the predictable outcome.

All the water from the long linear water channel began to deplete the moment Saitou pressed the switch.

However, we also noticed something that completely alerted us from behind the switch.

The switch from behind that was mirroring the switch that Saitou had just pressed emerged itself with the ground; thus disappearing.

"I see now. It would all be too easy if we could just press the five switches and then access the whole area."

"Huuuh, can't we still do it regardless? Don't we just have to press the switch again and the switch that was mirroring it will reappear?"

Perhaps I reasoned a bit too early and didn't focus on explaining what actually happened as Takeshi was quick to argue back, but Saitou quickly understood my intention here and thus spoke to Takeshi.

"It's not working. No matter how many times I press the switch, the other switch won't emerge again."

"So where does that leave us?"

The glowing green light that was connecting the two switches faded away. Meanwhile, the other four green lights in-between the switches are still active. In other words, we can't just decide to activate both switches from different waves. We have to make a choice.

Either we pick the first wave or the second wave.

But before we make any more careless mistakes, we should seek out our surroundings and see what they have to offer.

"Let's go down and see what the dry channel has to offer, yeah? Maybe it will give a us a clue. There's a stairway down below to the empty channel midway so we should be able to take it."

And so, we walked a bit and went down the stairway. Then we entered the wet channel and kept on going up ahead. After two curves to the right and walking a bit forward, we found a stairway connecting to the labyrinth and a lone switch in the middle.

"Are we supposed to click this?"

"I don't think there's much choice, Saitou. Should this switch be a soft reset of what we have done, then water will come pouring through the barrage. If you start hearing a powerful sound from the waterway central control, run up the stairs, alright?"

They both nodded and as such, I pressed the switch. Just as I had envisioned after, a quick yet heavy sound of potent water was unleashed.

"Run for it! It's going to flod the entire channel!"

In no more than ten seconds, the entire channel was being flooded by the water it had previously retracted.

Now on the upper labyrinth, Takeshi spoke his thoughts out loud.

"If the water is coming all the way from the waterway central control then that means Rayazaki's past action didn't really matter, right?"

To confirm this, we quickly ran all the way to the waterway central control.

There, we saw the green glowing light connecting the two switches unlike before.

"So it's a reset...? I don't really get it..."

I then proposed that we try what we just did a while ago.

Around ten minutes later, we arrived at the conclusion that the switches in the frontal wave clear up the water and in each channel there is a reset switch.

Therefore, our next step would be to confirm what the first wave of switches exactly did.

I clicked on the first switch from the left and as I did, the green light connecting to the switch in the front that controls the water channel most to the left disappeared alongside the switch.

However, instead of the three of us just seeking out what it could offer, I launched an offer to Saitou and Takeshi who were ready to set out.

"I think one of us should stay here in order to note any changes that may happen once the reset switch is pressed."

"You think there's going to be YET another reset switch?! What would be the point of this then?!"

Saitou's anger was to be expected. After all, if there are reset switches awaiting for us, it would mean that we essentially have no way to get out of here.

"Let the end result be the judge of our actions. Saitou, could you go in the northwest direction and seek the locked door?"

"Alright, but something better happen. What about Kuzan?"

Takeshi most likely thought that he was going to stay here with me, but I gave him yet another task. A fairly predictable one.

"He will press the switch on the right and he will do the same as you. This way we can have the results faster. I'm counting on you two."

Five minutes later, they both came back and delivered me the news. Starting with Saitou.

"No good, it's just a reset switch... I imagine your result wasn't any different, Kuzan?"

"Yup, it wasn't... Did anything happen in here?"

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to deliver them fantastic news, because the truth is; nothing happened.

"Nothing at all. But what exactly did you two see there? I imagine that these switches open the respective door it's connected with, right?"

Saitou answered.

"They do, but it's just a room with a switch panel in the middle."

Upon receiving that, I decided to run some tests.

First of all, we pressed all the frontal switches connecting to the water channels to see if something happened, but nothing happened. Afterwards, we had to reset everything and then tried again but this time around we pressed the switches from the first wave and examined to see if there was any difference and there wasn't.

There's a very obvious problem here.

No matter how much we press the switches, there's only one option to follow and that option is nothing more than a soft reset. Which means that we are missing something here.

With that in mind, we formed a circle in the middle of the central waterway control and had a discussion about this.

"Damn it. Nothing's working. I still don't get what the point of those reset switches are..."

Saitou was trying to think of something that would connect to the reset switches, but he wasn't being very successful with it.

"I was hoping that a secret passage would show up once we pressed all the switches, but we don't have a way to press all the switches... The moment we press one; another disappears... This is unsolvable!"

"From the looks of it."

If one switch is pressed from the opposite wave, the opposite wave's switch that's mirroring it dissappears.

Undoubtely, pressing all the switches is most likely the desirable result yet in theory, that does nothing because all that really happens is nothing more than the water channels being empty on water and the doors unlocking themselves.

But still, this is fairly obvious. There's something that they are both missing here. The key to the outcome here.

Once I collected all my resolve, I started to strip my uniform that I was wearing for a while now.

Neatly, I placed all my clothes; shoes included, in the bag.

"What are you doing?"

Saitou asked, puzzled.

"I'm going for a swim. Could you two stay here?"

"Sure thing. We'll try to think of something."

"That's fine. Oh, Saitou, Takeshi, could you do me one small favor?"

Now that I got both of their attentions, I asked them the most crucial of all favors.

"Would you be as kind as to not press the switches while I'm gone?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Ok!"

As I acknowledged their faithful replies, I set out to discover.

First of all, I started with the first channel. Because everything is reset, I took a wild swim into the first channel and dove deep into the water. Once I reached the exact same spot where the switch of the first water channel is, I submerged even further in the dark water and pressed the switch. This made the switch go down; but unlike in the central waterway control, there are no contrasting switches. In other words, if there is nothing to contrast, they are not intersected with other switches and as such, they can't contrast each other.

This is not a coincidence.

I took a second swim into the second, third, fourth and fifth channel and did the exact same.

By the time I pressed the fifth switch deep down in the fifth channel, a secret door on the right appeared; though once it appeared; it had a manual password entry on the right side of the door. I did not do anything and instead; resurfaced. As I climbed onto the upper labyrinth's stairs, I noticed how the water was still there, but I also noticed that that could be easily solved just by pressing the fifth switch in the central waterway control.

I returned back to Saitou and Takeshi after making a massive discovery. Nonetheless, the first thing I did once there was not to tell them the news but to press the furthest switch on the east which would deplete all the water in the fifth water channel. Thus, our passage wouldn't be met with water.

Furthermore, they did me a good favor by not pressing the switches. At first glance, it might've not been obvious, but if the fifth switch in the central waterway control had been pressed, then the water would've been depleted and that would've conflicted with the result. It's somewhat hard to process what happened but I think that the five switches I pressed in the water channels are independent from these switches; though not entirely.

They are not entirely independent because the switches in the central waterway control swiftly interfere with the water channels. The only reason as to why I was successful in my endeavor was because I thought that the absence of the other switches would allow a result to occur. Because if given thought; the real reason why we weren't successful thus far was because there were opposing switches for us to work around and we would normally be stuck under the assumption that there are only 10 switches to play around with, but in reality, there are 15; if we include the water channel ones.

Without the water present in the channels, this would not have been possible but now that the secret door has emerged, our first victory is here.

"Did something happen?"

Saitou asked, not sure as to why I was pressing the fifth switch.

I didn't hesitate on giving the good news.

"I found a secret door in the fifth channel."

This pumped up Saitou and Kuzan who quickly came to my radius; borderline being all over me.

"You what?! How?! Nothing happened here!"

"Saitou, that's because these switches are nothing more than an illusion. The switches on the water channels are the real deal."

Then Takeshi spoke his enlightened opinion.

"Oh, so that's why you went for a swim! You went to click on the switches in the water channels! But how did that work out?!"

"Nothing was working here but because the switches in the water channels didn't contrast anything, I assumed that they operated independently, so I took my chance. Shall we get going then?"

"You're so fucking awesome, dude! First the cube shit and now this! What is your brain even made of?!"

"Haha, you flatter me, Saitou. I couldn't have reached this conclusion without all of your help. By alternating spots we saw how nothing was working which made me arrive at the conclusion that something partial was the key point here. So, if I am responsible for the success, you are equal responsible too."

"But you obtained the crucial result!"

Takeshi exclaimed his take as he thought that I was the truly mighty one just because I had obtained the crucial piece here. I begged to differ once again, now that I was done putting my uniform on.

"So what? Results aren't the only thing that matter, Takeshi. Everything along the way before the result is what accumulates what the result becomes, and as far as I'm concerned, what accumulated from the actions before the result was you and Saitou's help. Don't make light of yourself just because of "results". That's not fair for you."

I led the way as soon as I was done with my speech. The fifth water channel stays in the southeast direction and because there was a stairway case nearby, all we would have to do was to go underneath the labyrithin in the now empty fifth water channel and walk through a very linear path before ultimately turning to the last right direction which would make us confront the door.

However, before we did all of this, Saitou and Takeshi began to have a small conversation to which I did not take a part of, but could hear nonetheless.

Saitou initiated it.

"Call me crazy, but I'm actually starting to believe that there's another person in there..."

"Or maybe it's just a really good prank..."

"This is too much for a fucking prank, Kuzan!"

"But think about it, Rayazaki! Only Master could do something like this!"

Ryousuke, you don't really have a good image amongst others, do you?

Eventually, we did reach the door and they rejoiced upon seeing that we were in fact on the right way to success.

However, I just had to ask something.

"Why is there a password entry here of all places?"

Saitou answered, which I was very much thankful to.

"In every section, there is a password entry in the normal passage and in the secret passage. But I'm assuming that this is the NORMAL passage, which is very awkward considering what's needed to get here..."

"I see. Then, what's the password that has to be inserted here? Do you two know?"

I asked because I don't have the knowledge here. What I do know, however, is that in the password entry panel it says that I have three other tries left.

Does this mean that someone else was here previously? There is a chance that someone else was here before and tried a password and he wasn't successful. Or it could be that that's the result of inserting a password.

"So far, only you have inserted the passwords; not us. So, only you know."

What Saitou just said was highly puzzling, but I asked something that could've been considered stupid.

"In the other sections, what were the passwords that I inserted? Did I tell any of you?"

Takeshi answered this instead of Saitou.

"You did, actually. Back in the bonfire! In the necrohol, you inserted the password "Ultimate" and in the mines you inserted "The"."

"I see. How and why did I insert the passwords?"

"Because you have them in your bag... Check the contents inside of it."

As Saitou suggested I did exactly that and found out about the seven words in total. He also told me what they were supposed to resemble.

Saitou reasoned that Ryousuke's word was "Way". Saitou's own word is "The". Takeshi's word is "The" too. Then he mentioned a boy named Tatsu and how is word is "For". Tsudo, another unknown person, holds the word of "Will". Meanwhile, someone who goes by the name of Sagasuga holds the powerful word of "Ultimate". Lastly, another boy who goes by the name of Kan has the word of "Words."

In conclusion, there are three missing words. But the fact that it's just three words was enough for me to conclude the puzzle that these words are supposed to assemble.

I see now, Ryousuke. You would have to go through all the trouble of finding the three other students who are not appearing for their own reasons and only then would you be able to obtain their words.

You're inferior for that reason, Ryousuke. They are dragging you into their game by restraining your knowledge.

That ends nows.

"Ten words will light the way for the ultimate passage."

I said out loud while in front of the password entry lobby.

"Yeah, we already know that, duh."

What Saitou just said surprised me. I thought that all along they were trying to figure it out.

"Is that so? So you knew all along, Saitou?"

"What exactly are you going on about...?"

Takeshi asked with an extremely confused expression all over his face.

But maybe they didn't really get what I just said, so I'll be more direct.

"That's the ten words."

".........." x2.

It took them a while to process what I had just said, but after four seconds, they arrived at the conclusion that I wanted them to reach once they saw me inserting the right password without failing even one time.

They spoke with exclaimed tones the moment the door unlocked itself; to which I gave a small push.

"BRO! You can't be serious! Those are all the words?! But how do you know that?!"

"Yeah! How do you know?!"

To this, I explained something basic.

"Because this is the fourth section, I inserted the fourth word which is "Light" and it worked, didn't it? The first word which is "Ten" belongs to the first section. And the last word which is "Passage" belongs to the tenth section. The fact that it worked here with a word that we still did not have is evidence that those are in fact the ten words."

But still, there's something here that doesn't add up. If this order is correct then the password to the second section should not have been "Ultimate" and the password to the third section should not have been "The" as well. In other words, there are two possible conclusions to take here.

The first one is that there is no specific order here and I was extremely lucky just now.

While the second option is that there is some sort of device that lets you change the passwords required for the entry but only under the pool of the ten words. In other words; a password shifting device that only allows you to change the designed password right into another password that is within the range of ten words.

It would be the perfect lie here.

Alas, we made our way into the small entrance and saw beyond it. It was a linear path to yet another switch. This linear path, however, was covered in water; though barely. Around this is nothing but water, but there is a cascade if we look at the right. There is a way out, apparently.

As we moved towards the center, Saitou questioned something.

"Dude, did something happen or something? You got like ten thousand times smarter than usual. It's kinda ridiculous. I'm having a hard time believing it..."

"I too am surprised... This seems a little bit too unrealistic."

Takeshi seems suspicious about me recently. It's almost as if he can't bring himself to talk to me or something without me directing a word to him.

That is very strange because the opposite happened to Saitou, who is far more friendly now. Did I do something to upset him?

"Takeshi, did something happen?"

"What do you mean?"

We were already in front of the switch with a red button to it, but I turned around and spoke my honest words to Takeshi.

"You seem to be very cautious of me lately. Have I done anything to gain your anxiety?"

Not Takeshi but Saitou answered this as he thought it was obvious why what was happening was indeed happening.

He formed a smug expression whilst explaining.

"He just doesn't know how to react to your roleplaying fetish, don't let it get to you. You should be glad we aren't shunning you from being into weird roleplaying shit, hahaha!"

Oh.

I placed my right hand on my chin and reflected on what Saitou had just said. It's true. They don't believe in the words that I told them despite being the truth. No, I suppose it doesn't matter if it's the truth or not if the credibility is low from the start.

"I-I really respect it! I just don't know how to... Well..."

Takeshi was attempting to justify his current shame, but I laughed it off.

"Haha. Don't mind, don't mind. I thought that something else was going on. Forgive me."

Now that I was done clarifying that, I offered a question to them.

"Which one of you wants to press the switch?"

"Me! Me! Me!"

Takeshi absolutely answered without a shred of hesitation and Saitou just allowed it to happen by shrugging it off.

"It doesn't really matter, I suppose. I'm pressing the next switch, if there's another one."

"Hurray! Make way for the great Kuzan!"

Striding, Takeshi didn't show reluctance on pushing the red trigger button.

Beneath the button; practically in the middle of the structure supporting the entire panel, a very tiny drawer emerged and in it continued the essential component of the fourth section.

I allowed Takeshi to take ahold of it first but Saitou was extremely impatient to the point where he just had to get his eyes on it and see what it was for himself.

"Holy shit..."

"What were they thinking..."

I'll admit of being in the same line of thought the moment I saw the component.

"May I have it?"

"It's quite heavy...!"

"..."

This object doesn't even begin to compare to the other ones that Ryousuke has subsequently been accumulated over his course. This one reigns in overall height and utility. There are four flasks of a green liquid that we have no idea what it is at all.

They are all mashed together in a combination of components made to be connected to something else. It appears as though this is a deadly gas toxin compiled inside four flasks.

Furthermore, it strictly says that it's lethal on its front. However, there is nothing that can be used by this. If the gas is pilled up inside the flasks without a clear way to make use of it, it's utterly useless.

"What now? Do we carry that...?! I don't know how one is supposed to use it, but it's meant to kill, right?!"

Just on what Earth were the ones behind this thinking? Why would you place your trust onto something like this to criminals...?

I must take responsibility for these flasks. But first...

"Let's go back to the central waterway control. I think that we might find something there now."

"I think so too. You said earlier that the password changes everything so the moment you inserted that password, something must've changed."

And so, we went back to the central waterway control.

As for the flusks containing the deadly green gas toxin, I stocked them up in my bag. Regardless of their incredibly heavy weight, I didn't express fatigue.

Though I was not aware, Ryousuke had told Saitou that the password entry changes everything within.

That's why once we got onto the central waterway control we noticed nothing at first, but after doing some thinking, I concluded that something must've changed.

Henceforth, I went ahead and pressed a random switch and we noticed that the contrasting switch did not disappear.

Finally, we all pressed the ten switches and as such as secret passage erupted beneath the golden door from which we entered. To be more specific, a stairway case that would go down below the golden door began to unravel itself as if it was leading towards a basement.

"Freaking neat! I always love it when it just comes out of nowhere!"

"Yup! Yup! It gives a great sense of accomplishment doesn't it?!"

Our way down below was highly illuminated and we didn't have trouble finding the door that required the password. It was a black inked door with a strong metallic structure to it. There was nothing more to this linear hall than a straight path towards the door which simply required the password that I didn't hesitate on inserting.

Before we could walk in the room up ahead, on our right, an elevator door appeared due to the rupture of the wall. Simply put, our way out of here was in sight.

However, we went straight into the room which was now unlocked.

Just like the previous scenario where we obtained the flask, it was a water pandemonium with a very linear path towards a blue trigger button in the middle.

With each step we noticed that on our left, we could see the exact area where we obtained the flasks; very far away. More specifically, we could grasp the cascade from far away that we saw in the other area. I am not sure where we would end up in; should we have followed this water cascade or if we took a swim in this water covering us. The only reason as to why we are not being fully submerged by it is because of the borders on the left and right of this path.

"I'm pressing the switch this time!"

Fastly striding whilst on this slippery water, Saitou made his way to the blue trigger switch. Takeshi ran alongside him while I took cohesive steps towards the destination.

They patiently awaited for my arrival and then Saitou pressed the switch which would unfortunately make me nervous.

"What is this...?"

"I don't know, Rayazaki..."

Exactly like last time, the component came from a small drawer, but this time around, I was fast in analyzing it by forcefully taking it away from Saitou.

"Sorry, I just need to see it."

"Dude, it's fine... Just tell us what this is..."

Though I didn't want to explain what it was, the true instance I held it with both of my hands, I delivered the truth to Saitou and Takeshi.

"This is a cloud reactor... As you can see in this square-shaped machine, there are four flask entries alongside one mask which protects you from the toxin."

"Huuuh... What is the cloud reactor for...?"

Takeshi asked, with sweat droplets all over his face.

"It's meant to spread a toxin that contains gas. In other words, it's applicable onto the area as the gas will spread. For example, should I turn on this cloud reactor and insert one toxin flusk then the gas will spread in the room and it will kill us all...!"

"WH-WHAT?! ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS?! WHO CREATED THIS?!"

I placed the cloud reactor on the floor and took out the ax. In addition to that, I took out the flasks from my bag and put them alongside the cloud reactor.

Before I went along with my action, I asked Saitou and Takeshi something.

"Do you oppose me? I am going to destroy the cloud reactor along with the flasks. We already have a way out. There's no need nor a real reason to keep these. They were made for the purpose of killing. As such, it's the logical thing to destroy them."

Saitou spoke first and then Takeshi.

"Hell no I don't oppose you. We already have a way out! Screw these things!"

"I agree with this... If it falls in the wrong hands, then it's bad news!"

I smiled at this. It felt good.

Ultimately upholding utmost resolution, I elevated the ax up high with all my physical strength and clashed right with the flasks.

"......!!"

"No way!"

"But how?!"

I kept on plumbing the flasks and the cloud reactor, but nothing was happening.

"I see. So it's indestructible? What madness!"

The metallic structure covering the flasks are absurdly tough and the ax won't even scratch them. Furthermore, I can't just empty the flasks because they will only be open once they enter the cloud reactor's entries. As for the cloud reactor, the result is the same. They cannot be destroyed. They are shaped by a metal so tough that I am not even sure what could damage it.

Midst this, Takeshi proposed something logical yet risky.

"We should throw them in the water!"

Certainly, that seems to be about the right choice right now, but Saitou had plenty of reason to disagree here. He even began to throw a tantrum at Takeshi.

"Are you out of your mind, Kuzan?! What if that falls into the hands of Sagasuga?! If what happened is true, then he will come after us with it! We can't just leave it wondering in the middle of nowhere!"

"Then what do you suggest we do...?!"

This time, I spoke; administering our upcoming biggest responsibility.

"We will carry it. There is no other choice. None of us will use it and in the worst case scenario, we will disable those who want the cloud reactor. But we must hide it at all costs. Takeshi, could you carry the cloud reactor in your bag?"

"I'm not sure if it'll fit, there's too much fruit in here..."

To this problem, Saitou offered a helping hand.

"Let me carry the fruits. I'll carry the flasks inside my bag. Should we get ambushed, we shouldn't let the hunter have both the components. I think it's logical that we keep them separated for this reason."

In agreement, I said the following words.

"You couldn't have said it better. I hate to say this, but our other friends could quickly become enemies depending on their desire..."

Saitou packed up the flusks inside his bag and felt the abundant weight of them and so, I offered some consolation; while Takeshi was putting the cloud reactor inside his bag; which surprisingly fits; though barely.

"I'll carry two of them while you carry the two others."

"Gee, thanks man. It's amazing you weren't tired along the way with these weights on your shoulders."

"If they get two heavy for you, just tell me and I'll carry the rest."

"Heh, don't look down on me. I am useful, you know?"

Without wanting to disrespect him, I showed a bare smirk and thanked him while making way to the elevator door.

"Thanks, Saitou."

Inside the Arcturus Waterway, we have discovered an enigmatic labyrinth which seemed unsolvable at first but through our collective effort, we found a way out of the seemingly infinite loop. And even though we were successful in our endeavor, what we found couldn't exactly be qualified as a success but more of a staggering responsibility. A curse placed on those with good intentions who were carrying a lethal device only made to harm innocent people. Why such device was placed here is beyond my capacity of understanding but I am sure that Ryousuke will find an answer to it once he comes back.

Until then, we are stuck with the responsibility that we were cursed with.

By climbing this elevator which would take us to the top once again, we three reflected on one singular most important thought that reigned in terms of priority in our minds.

No matter what, these two components CANNOT fall in the hands of the wrong people!

Arcturus Waterway Status: Cleared.