Hinata stretched as he woke up, noting how his body didn't feel as rested as usual, but still energized enough to go through his normal routine. He glanced over towards Komaeda and saw that in the space between his their beds was a plastic bucket filled with various food items, including some fresh fruits. Kamukura probably got them from somewhere on the island, he thought as he picked up a banana. Well, might as well have some breakfast.

"Good morning, Hinata-kun!" Looking up, Hinata saw Komaeda lying on his mattress, smiling at him.

"Morning, Komaeda," Hinata replied as he opened the pack in his hands. "Did you rest well?"

"Not really, it's kinda hard to sleep when I've been unconscious for several days already." Komaeda laughed. "I think I annoyed Kamukura at one point, I told him I had to go to the bathroom and he didn't seem to pleased to have to carry me there."

Hinata blinked. "I never told you about Kamukura, how did you know-"

"I tried talking you, but you wouldn't say anything or even react each time I tried, which isn't really… well, it's not really like you. So I kind of assumed I was talking to Kamukura, and not you."

Why Komaeda had assumed the person who helped him in the middle of the night was Kamukura and not, well, a tired Hinata who wasn't in the mood to speak at 3 in the morning, Hinata couldn't guess, but he chose not to think too hard about it. He knew Komaeda was a lot more intelligent than he usually let on, so it probably wasn't too much of a stretch to assume he managed to piece it all together somehow. He took opened a bag of white bread and held it out towards Komaeda. "Want some breakfast?"

"I couldn't possibly take food from somebody like you!"

Rolling his eyes, Hinata said, "Well, you're going to have to. Eat, alright? You need to get your strength back somehow."

As they ate breakfast, Hinata heard the door open, and looked up to see Sonia walking in with a basket, its opening covered with some clean linen. "I hope I did not wake you two up?" she said as she approached them.

"Hardly, we've been up for a good twenty minutes now," Hinata said as he finished his banana.

Komaeda, still lying on the bed, turned over to look at their friend. "Good morning, Sonia-san!"

"Good morning, Komaeda-san." Sonia turned the corner of her lips upward, though her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

She doesn't trust him, Kamukura pointed out. None of the others do.

Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to when it's so hard to read him He isn't exactly the sanest guy in the world.

Knowing the other personality was now up, Hinata stood up and tossed his banana peel into the box of trash next to what used to be Owari's bed. "Thanks for coming over and looking after everyone, Sonia."

"It is my pleasure. As a princess, it was my duty to make sure that my subjects received only the best that I could offer them. And now, as a friend, it is my honor to make sure that my friends receive the best care that they can get." The smile she shared with Hinata was warmer and friendlier, and he had to force himself not to bow down and worship her as his own ruler.

"Right, well, it's going to get pretty boring here today. I don't think Kamukura really enjoys talking to people."

"That is fine. I have brought some fresh bedsheets and pillowcases, so that our friends may lie on clean sheets when they awaken. But, of course, I am also here to accompany you so that you may not feel so alone."

"That's- well, um, thanks, Sonia. I really appreciate it." He glanced over towards Komaeda, who was finishing up the crackers he had. "You gonna be okay there?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Komaeda said as he waved his good hand in a shooing manner. "Do what you need to do, Hinata-kun, and let your hope shine bright enough that our classmates can wake up!"

That's gonna get irritating, Hinata thought as he walked over to the monitor.

It's only irritating if you let it get on your nerves. You're free to ignore him, Kamukura replied as they switched off and began typing on the keyboard.

Hinata inwardly sighed. You're right. Why are you always right?

It might be because I was made-

That was a rhetorical question.

And I was humoring you with an answer.

You're really annoying as well, you know?

I'll make sure to continue to be so.

The next few hours went on mostly in silence, the clacking of Kamukura's hands on the keyboard the only sound echoing throughout in the room. Occasionally, Hinata could hear Sonia and Komaeda talking, though the conversations were usually fairly short. He guessed Sonia probably wasn't in a chatty mood that day.

Four hours after he had begun, Kamukura felt something tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Sonia holding out a covered plastic tray towards him. Kamukura took it and removed off the cover, revealing some hamburger steak and stir-fried vegetables on the side.

"It is not much, but I cooked what I could before coming here. I might have burnt the meat a bit, and the vegetables might be stale. I am not as good at making food as Hanamura-san, but-"

"This will do." Kamukura took the chopsticks, which had also been neatly placed into the box, and took a bite out of a carrot. The texture was much too soft, and there wasn't enough salt to make it palatable, but at least it was edible to some degree. Sonia watched him eat, looking at him expectantly. Realizing she was waiting his response, Kamukura said, "Thank you."

"You are welcome." She turned around and went back to examining the pods, situating herself next to one pod in particular.

Is that-

Tanaka Gundam's pod, yes. She has been with that pod the longest.

You haven't looked away from the screen this whole time, how on earth do you know that? Hinata asked incredulously.

Her footsteps and her breathing allow me to estimate her location at any given time.

After lunch, Kamukura continued to work quietly, though he could hear Komaeda and Sonia talking behind him. The two talked in low voices, as if afraid of disturbing him, though it was clear Sonia had finally stopped being so cautious of Komaeda. He couldn't clearly hear what the two were saying, as the humming of the pods around them distorted some of the wavelengths of their words, but he could still deduce most of their conversation despite all the extraneous noise. He chose not to interfere; after all, it was not part of his job to deal with everyone's business.

When the others finally returned, Kamukura turned off the monitor and walked over towards the beds, joining the rest of group there. He quietly switched off with Hinata as they moved, who was more than happy to finally get to do something other than staring at code. The day had been mostly uneventful; Souda, having done all he could to the pods, decided it would be best if he started working on possibly building a communication tower so that they could call each other should they walk out of the usual range of their walkie-talkies. Owari had decided to help by doing most of the heavy lifting, and Kuzuryuu did most of the housekeeping by making them food and carrying the tools around.

"It'll probably take me another couple days to finish it," Souda said. "Usually wouldn't need this long, but having to make all the parts basically from scratch means I'll need at least a whole day for that."

"So, what about you guys?" Owari asked. "Any news?"

Sonia's eyes sparkled. "Komaeda-san has introduced me to a book series that he believes I might enjoy! I was hoping I could go to the library tomorrow and see if it is available."

"What? No! You can't just go read a book when we have so much shit to do!" Kuzuryuu exclaimed.

"Why not? All of you have been working so hard to revive our friends, but you've forgotten about keeping your own hope alive," Komaeda said, leaning over from his bed.

"This is my bloody damn hope, you bastard! I just want our friends to wake up, and here you are without a damn in the world pretending to give a fuck about our so-called 'hope'. I'm sick of it! You don't know a damn thing about what we've done, what we have to do. You don't get a say-"

"Er, Kuzuryuu?" Owari said while raising her hand.

"What?"

"Maybe he has a point." Owari scratched her head, as if she was thinking. "Like exercise, overworking ourselves so much can't possibly be good for us. Maybe taking a day off is a good idea? Or else we're gonna burn ourselves out."

Souda nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired of doing all this work. D-don't get me wrong, I love being a mechanic! But a guy's gotta take a break, y'know?"

Kuzuryuu groaned loudly. "Why can't you guys see how important this is?"

"Perhaps Kuzuryuu-san is correct," Sonia said. "It would be foolish of me to abandon my responsibility to my friends just to pursue my own interests. Besides, I can always read the book after we have revived everyone."

Hinata thought for a moment. "What if you just read at night? When you all go back to your cottages and there's nothing else to do, you could read the book then and enjoy yourself. As for Souda, you could give instructions to Owari and Kuzuryuu to help you do your work so that you can have some time off. You've been working pretty hard for the past few days, and definitely deserve a break."

"I knew I could count on you, man!" Souda said with a grin and a thumbs up.

Kuzuryuu sighed. "I guess that's okay," he muttered to himself.

Beaming happily, Sonia said, "Well, since it is still not too dark, I shall go to the second island to pick up this book to read."

"Oh, oh, Miss Sonia! I'll go with y-"

"Owari-san, would you like to accompany me to the library?"

"Eh, sure, why not. I'll pick a bite to eat at the cafe as well, if you don't mind."

"Alright, that seems to settle it," Hinata said with a grin. Ignoring Souda's whimpering, he said, "Let's call it a day, then. We seem to be making some good progress; Kamukura's working on rebuilding our friends' data from the backup files, and he says it should be just less than a week before he's done."

Everyone cheered loudly at that, the mood in the room lighter than any of them had ever felt.

"Alright, I can't wait to see everyone again!" Souda said.

"This is so great, I'm gonna give everyone a good beating when they wake up!" said Owari, cracking her knuckles in anticipation.

Sonia laughed nervously. "Owari-san, I am not sure that is the appropriate action to take."

"Those bastards deserve it for having us worry over them for so long," Kuzuryuu said, though his tone betrayed his own excitement.

Hinata sighed happily. He felt a hand patting his head, and he looked up to see Komaeda beaming down at him. "What a bright, shining hope you have! I could feel it spread to everyone else; you truly are amazing, Hinata-kun"

"Er, thanks, I guess. Though it's not really me doing the work, it's Kamukura."

"Do you really think Kamukura-kun would do this himself?" Komaeda laughed. "He might have done all the manual labor, but it's because of your hope that he chose to help you out in the first place!"

"I- I guess." Komaeda's words left him feeling self-conscious for some reason, and he felt his face turn red. Well, to be fair, anytime Komaeda rambled on about hope, he felt uncomfortable, so maybe that was why he looked so embarrassed.

As the two of them chatted, Hinata saw the rest of the group leaving the room, a light spring to all of their steps as they happily chatted with each other about what they'd all do once their classmates awoke.

None of them are staying with us tomorrow, Kamukura noted as they watched Sonia close the door behind her.

Guess that means they trust you enough to watch over everyone without someone keeping an eye on you, Hinata said as he picked up some dirty napkins. Seriously, just because they weren't living here anymore didn't mean they could trash up the place. He was going to have to talk to them about it tomorrow.

Komaeda had passed out, probably from exerting himself too much doing whatever. Hinata carefully moved the blankets over the other man so that they covered his shoulders. Komaeda was beginning to look a lot healthier, with some of the color having returned to his pale skin, though the hand on his left arm still made Hinata feel uneasy. He carefully tucked the appendage under the covers as well, shuddering as his fingers ghosted over the long, red nails of Enoshima's severed hand.

Hinata sat down on his bed, his heart thumping not from the excitement he'd shared with his friends earlier, but the stress he felt from being around Komaeda. He was exhausted, not so much physically as he was emotionally. He hadn't realized dealing with Komaeda would be so draining, but the mere fact that he was now well and conscious seemed to put a constant strain on him. His obsession with hope, his poor physical condition, his rotting momento of Ultimate Despair... He felt his chest tighten painfully. He knew he wanted to help Komaeda get better, but a part of him was also afraid of what Komaeda could be capable of once he was. His madness in the game was not something easily forgotten, after all. He recalled seeing Komaeda's lifeless body on the Fourth Island, eyes wide open with the spear having penetrated through his torso-

Hinata.

I'm fine, just… let me be.

Kamukura moved his left arm up to hug his right arm. You're going into another panic attack. Your breathing is shallow.

I'll be fine.

Hinata, you need to calm down or you're going to shut down again. Try controlling your breathing, perhaps I could take over and-

"Leave me alone!" he yelled. He felt Kamukura mentally back away into his corner of their shared mind. He panted a few times before curling into himself, not even caring enough to pull his covers over himself.

He heard Komaeda stir behind him, but he didn't turn to check up on the other man. He didn't need to see a physical reminder for the source of his anxiety, not right now. It took several minutes, but Hinata finally managed to get a hold of his breathing again. He felt like he ached all over. He closed his eyes, hoping he'd be able to pass out quickly enough so that his body wouldn't act up again.

In his last few conscious moments, Hinata accepted that tonight, he was going to have a very, very restless sleep.