Some days have passed since the incident with Vito. The guards and the drones from the armourers had already patched up the damage the wandering Monster of Venice had caused and making sure no other inmate would cause any more trouble. The first thing to be fixed was the wall into the co-ed ward.

None of the prisoners dared to get close or try their luck with trying to sneak through. Especially with the presence of one of the warden's lurking around with the addition of some of the more stricter guards that were more than fine with harming a prisoner. Even if they glanced in the direction of the hole in the wall.

In the end, the wall was fixed while some minor touches were fixed up such as Rin's cell door getting an upgrade, the replacement of a ripped and damaged table, and so forth.

Things were starting to get back to normal for Styx. At least, as normally as it usually was.

Most days were quiet, some people just trying to spend their days without problems so they could do their time and leave. Playing cards, reading, working out or just exercising, etc. There were always those prisoners that weren't like that, of course. Those who wanted to cause chaos, fight and whatnot. Styx was a home for these sorts, it was one of the best prisons in the world and it definitely lived up to the title with its prisoners.

While there were the prisoners that just wanted to get things done with as fast as possible, if they were lucky with their sentence, there were the bad eggs that wanted to ruin it for everyone at any given moment. Whether they be a regular prisoner in the wards or one of the more dangerous, locked away criminals the world had the misfortune of experiencing.

It was only natural for those bad eggs to be more varied within Styx than say a regular prison. Yet, despite all the outbreak of prison fights or the recent rarity of one of the solitary confinement ward prisoners breaking loose, the guards of Styx stood tall. No matter what problem arose within one of the best prisons in the world, Styx was unshakeable.

For now, things were slowly going back to normal, it was almost peaceful compared to how it usually was.

Within a dark room, a figure paced back and forth as they nibbled on their finger, a panicked look in their round eyes. If it wasn't for a small light that just emitted from a nearby phone, then this person would have either: made a small trench or consumed their finger entirely.

"Master!" the voice cried as they scurried over to the phone.

The lone figure shivered as they waited. "I heard you slipped up again," came the cold, unamused tone, "you were careless."

"Master! I'm sorry! It won't happen again!" the figure fumbled the smartphone in their hands, the blinding blue light emitting from the small screen caused them to wince at the image of a blank silhouette.

They could only hear a voice, a voice of their beloved master. "You're quite lucky things turned out the way they did."

"Yes! I'm sorry!" they pleaded, leaning a bit too close to their phone. "I can explain!"

'Master' was silent. It caused this sorry figure to pace around the dark room once more.

"Very well."

"Thank you, Master!" the figure sighed with relief. "I had no idea Vito would break out of his cell! I didn't think he would even get out with the amount of security there."

The voice huffed, "focus. Stay on track."

Gulping, the figure nodded, only to realise that the call was solely a voice one. "Sorry. As I was saying, I had no idea that Vito even got out! Especially with the night before his breakout..."

"Ah yes. The slip up." the silhouette in the room, blinded by a blue light froze at the mention. "You let them find a body. You made a body."

"It wasn't my fault master!" the person panicked. "I knew Vito was dangerous. I'm sorry, I didn't calculate the risk factor in this particular venture with him. It caused the body to be dis-"

The voice hummed. "You're quite lucky, you know. It's a good thing that it benefits us no matter the outcome."

"Master?"

"It doesn't matter where the body was discovered. Death isn't something new when it comes to our current project, you know that right?" As if watching, the voice continued once their loyal minion nodded. "This happened last time remember? A body popped up which raised some alarms. This is nothing new. You have managed the same thing again: a body appearing in a suspicious way that gained unwanted attention."

Now bowing, the figure cried, "I'm so sorry for my mistakes, Master!"

A chuckle came from the phone, "don't be. It has knocked us back a bit. The body is now locked away for the time being and should be dealt with shortly by now and Vito is now off limits for good. You have to resort to other, regular methods now."

A weary sigh escaped the lone person's lips, it was as if a cold breeze rolled through the room. "How? How could I possibly recover? I ruined your hard work-"

"Trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"

That got an immediate reaction. "Of course Master!"

"...Listen closely. Leave the body alone for now, don't worry about it. That will be dealt with in time, focus on your work. Both of them. These things can be covered up." Now, the lonely person standing in the dark room, gripped the phone with determination as they listened to their dear master. "This isn't a major setback, you still have the methods to achieve our goals."

"But what about the knockback?"

Master, as they were known, hummed in amusement. "Yes, but only in how active you can be. Whether that be a slow down or complete, temporary stop."

The minion gulped again, "That means...I have to cease for now...doesn't it." they went to speak, but their master stopped them.

"Before you can even manage to say what I know you're probably thinking, no. It doesn't worry me. Nothing is halted forever, remember what I said before."

Were they that predictable? They almost blushed in embarrassment. No, their master was just proving their greatness again.

"Now, I am quite busy and must get back to work. I believe you can do it. After all, you are my successor."

The successor's eyes widened, "Master…!"

A chuckle followed, "your quirk is also instrumental to the operation too."

The successor shifted, uncomfortable, "but Master, I'm not suited to being a worthy successor. I cannot live up to your legend! I'm unworthy of such a title like successor and your praise!"

"But you are my successor. I chose you after all. Are you saying that I, of all people, chose the wrong person?"

"Mas-"

Master sighed, disappointment clear in their tone, "suppose I did then. I guess I just have to raise a new, worthy successor then-"

"No! Master stop! I'm worthy of being your successor, out of everyone you chose me, and I plan on living up to your expectations!"

The voice of their master laughed. "Very good. I knew I chose well."

As the successor looked around the dark room, they soon whispered, "so what should I do? Lie low and wait, or continue like usual?" they listened to the hums of their master, oh how it soothed them.

"Depends on the current situation. If it's safe to continue, then by all means, but with recent activities, best to not cause yet another slip up."

"Ri...right."

"One last thing: you need to come up with a plan." Master informed. "You are still following orders and once you take over, you'll have no more orders to follow. So take things into your own hands, my dear successor."

The phone holder nodded, their grip on their smartphone loosening. "Understood."

"Now get out there, lie low and continue with the plan."

The successor saluted. "Yes, Master!"

Eris stood in her office, phone to her ear. "I see. Do you think it's related?" she paused for a brief moment as she walked around her desk. "No, best not to act in any way just in case. Thank you for this sudden call, Furore. Please send the details by email later on. Thank you. Goodbye."

Ending the call, she placed her phone down with a light little thud on her desk.

The phone call was sudden and she would have ignored it if it wasn't for who exactly was calling her. It really only meant one thing, that it was important. Sadly though, an sudden urgent call like this ate up her time, so she had to leave the questioning of the week's most talked about inmate to the staff.

Was the information she got worth it? Yes, she'd say so.

Now, all she had to do was wait until Furore sent her that email, when he could of course.

"I hope they managed to get something out of Vito." She frowned at the thought. With the recent information they got from the doctors, they now had to not only deal with Vito's breakout but the other time he killed a prisoner when he was supposed to be locked up.

How many times had he left his cell before the incident? They really needed the information now, especially if some third party had been helping him out. She would have to thank Carna later but with all the revelations, it didn't look good for Vito.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock on the door.

"Ma'am?" a guard asked as they popped their head in.

"Come in. What's the matter?"

Now entering the room, the guard gave a short lived salute. "It's about Vito, ma'am. While he has regained consciousness, he was tight-lipped with the questions we asked."

That came to no surprise. Once Vito had been restrained and locked back up in his undamaged cell, she was the one to lead the interrogation, however the phone call with Furore was just as urgent.

"Ma'am?"

The eyepatched woman shook her head as she came back to her senses. "I will personally retake control of the interrogation as I was supposed to. I apologise for putting that burden on you while I had to deal with other matters."

The guard shook their head, "it's fine, ma'am! Does this mean, you'll be the one interrogating the inmate?"

"Naturally."

Smiling, the guard placed down a clipboard that they had been carrying. "If it's you, ma'am, then Vito will surely crack."

Picking the clipboard up with a quick scan of its contents, Eris walked past the guard with only one destination in mind.

It was time to get some answers.

Sitting alone in the comfort of the co-ed ward's library, Sae took the time to organise her thoughts as she waited for the other two people she was supposed to be working with.

It was odd. To think she would be helping out with this problem, to think that she ended up agreeing to it. It definitely came as a shock to her.

"To find some third party criminal that tampered with the corpse, more or less." she thought, looking at the sole clock in the room.

She would say that her waiting here was a waste of time, since she didn't really have any contact with the other two when Shi first reached out to them, but thankfully Shi had managed to set some kind of meeting up.

Whether that was by force or not was up in the air.

"Hopefully they're not a handful." she thought. It wasn't something she was looking forward to, especially if the other two had a vendetta against her, like a few of the other inmates that lurked in the shadows.

All she could do until then was try to quell her thoughts about it.

Not much time passed as she heard someone enter the co-ed ward library. The fact that the other inmates were a part of the co-ed ward did indeed ease her a bit.

"Hey," the newcomer greeted as they pulled up a chair opposite of her. "I see we're working together, Sae."

The one sitting across from her was none other than Ashita Insatsushi.

So this was one of the two inmates she would be working with. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she of all people was chosen. It did make her question why she herself was chosen if Ashita was here, but it was best not to question that for a few reasons…

"I heard you were approached by Shi as well?" the information broker asked, making herself comfortable.

"Yeah, I assume you already know why we're here?"

The dyed haired woman nodded, "I do. A classic prison murder with a twist."

Sae found herself nodding after her, "I'm glad you're one of the ones chosen." It definitely made things easier, but that also brought up another question. Ashita would make the search easier, but did that mean she (herself) was just an extra pair of hands to help the info broker search? Or was she some type of bodyguard?

Shi didn't really specify anything…

Ashita shot her a playful grin as their conversation slowly turned into pure silence.

"Do you know who the other one is?" the emerald eyed inmate asked out of the blue.

"Mhm," of course she did, "she'll be here shortly."

She? "Not an inmate from the male ward? I would have thought that there would be at least one to search around the male ward."

Ashita however shrugged, "it is a matter of trust and with what happened with the male ward recently, probably for the best not to involve any of them."

"I guess that's true..."

"Plus, those inmates would have to be a part of the co-ed ward too," came the playful tone. "Though I guess there are those who already met those requirements, but in the end, it's for Shi to decide. If you want, you could bring that up with her."

"At least it wasn't the battle hungry Inyoku," Sae thought to herself. "But that is a good idea." Well, at least to consider. Hopefully Shi would be open to the idea of a convict's opinion.

Ashita turned towards the entrance right as the third member of Shi's prisoner investigation team walked in. "Sorry if I kept you waiting," the stoic tone already gave away who it was to the long haired inmate.

"Morning, Yua."

The calm, green haired woman had gracefully taken a seat at the table. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nah," Ashita yawned, "we were just about to start."

Taking that as an open opportunity, Sae took a deep breath.

It was now or never. "We should start with the investigation, correct?" as soon as she asked, she didn't even wait for a response. "Let's go over a general plan of action."

Nozomi watched as the others went about their day. Whatever happened the other day had been quickly detained as quickly as it arose. It barely lasted long but that was nothing too unusual in these parts, well, aside from the sound of the alarm being a bit different this time around.

"Ugh, morning." she turned to see Sora take the seat on the opposite side of the table and immediately slumped forward.

"Rough morning? Or rough night?"

Sora shifted slightly, enough for eye contact. "Rough everything..."

"You want to talk about it?" asked the older woman as Sora slowly but surely sat up properly, giving Nozomi a clear look of her face. A light frown had settled on Sora's face as she stretched back a bit.

"It's hard to even say, I don't even know the cause!" the light, bluish grey haired woman groaned. "It does feel a bit better now, though, but still..."

Only one person came to Nozomi's mind, "are you sure it's not Chie's doing?"

Sora shook her head. "After what happened to her last time, no. It's not and that's the problem!"

"Huh." Nozomi hummed in thought, a bit surprised. "I thought she'd come back at you for revenge, she seems the type."

"Right?! You'd think after the beating she got, she'd come looking for revenge but no, haven't even seen her. I must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed..."

"That's always a possibility," nodded the milky white skinned prisoner.

It was then that a timid voice had made itself known, like a squeaking mouse. "Morn...morning," the duo turned to see the younger prisoner, Koneko, waddle on over as she quickly sat down at the table.

"Morning," as Sora gave a half-assed wave, Nozomi just sent her a motherly smile, like always.

The woman with cat features made herself comfortable in her hood. "...are you okay, Sora?"

She got a groan from that.

"It's best not to touch on that subject right now," Nozomi jumped in as the trio now spent their time at the table in brief conversations.

"So," Sora coughed, looking around, "I see that Demelza isn't here. She was with me before, but now she's gone."

"Yes," Nodded Nozomi, "I wonder where she could be?" It was now her turn to slightly frown. She hoped that Demelza wasn't in trouble, she was still a fresh face in the prison after all.

Watching Nozomi lost in her thoughts, Koneko turned to the more energetic prisoner out of the three of them. "If...she was with you, you could retrace your steps?"

All Koneko got in return was a scoff, "I don't want to hunt her down, Koneko. It's not like some misplaced trinket that I put down and lost the next day."

"Sorry..."

Despite the conversation they were having, it was like Nozomi was in another world. "So, if Sora was feeling irritation that wasn't being caused by Chie, then who?"

She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off until something clicked. "Ashita and Yua had to talk about something after Chie was taken care of, they might know something about it."

"Earth to Nozomi!" the sudden shout from Sora had knocked the senses right back into her.

"Pardon?"

Sora huffed as the brown haired Koneko shyly asked, "did... you figure something out?"

"Hard to say," Nozomi closed her only visible eye that wasn't under the magnetic eyepatch she had to wear. "It's something that I-"

Before Nozomi could get a word in, Sora took over. "Well, as I was saying, did you hear about what happened?"

"I can only gather that it was about the different alarm that went off the other day?"

Sora nodded, "seems that a prisoner went on a rampage. Apparently trying to break into the co-ed ward or rather, they did. Didn't last long though, at most whoever that bastard was, they didn't get far."

As Nozomi stared wide-eyed, Koneko just curled up into a ball, thankful that she was nowhere near the co-ed ward at that time.

If she was there...then what would happen? "Would I..." she dug deeper into her seat, trying not to think too hard about it, but no matter how she tried to distract herself, the thought kept reappearing.

"If I was there that day, I would have died."

She jumped once a hand gripped her shoulder, she even let out a squeak that made her reconsider if she even had a cat-type quirk. "You okay?" she looked up to see Sora's gaze.

Words escaped her, the only thing she could do was nod slowly.

"Don't force yourself to pretend like you're fine," said Nozomi as she stood. "Now, if you excuse me, there's something I want to check."

"Oh? Alright…?" Sora blinked, scratching the side of her head as the other inmate nodded after a minute.

As she walked away, Nozomi went back to her thoughts as she pursed her lips in thought as she made an effort to avoid the other prisoners.

She had questions, questions that only two other fellow inmates could help her with. Despite taking time to think things over, she couldn't jump to conclusions. There was no time to deal with them anyway.

She stopped suddenly once she spied Demelza in the distance, sitting at a table with Fushiko of all people who seemed to be going off about something while the masked inmate just nodded along, looking quite enraptured if it were for the mask she wore.

"Wonder what they're talking about?" she found herself watching the two talk before Fushiko jumped up and dashed off somewhere with Demelza following behind.

"..."

Nozomi shook her head, even going as far as lightly slapping her cheek to snap her back to the task at hand.

"Now, where can I find Yua or Ashita?"

"Seems the wall's repairs went smoothly," Alexios hummed as he looked over the wall that once had a giant hole in it. Those drones sure worked fast.

Good thing too.

After his inspection of the now stronger, sturdier wall, he continued on with his patrol. Ever since the event, prisoners seemed to be more subdued, more timid. Of course there were still the troublemakers that took the recent rampage as a sign to cause more destruction and chaos, but generally, things had been quite peaceful.

Asides from a few moments.

He couldn't help but smile as the prisoners went about their day, bettering themselves.

Alexios took this time to check up on some of the prisoners. Didn't want any of them to be at each other's throats. While he checked up on some prisoners, making sure they were keeping in line, he made a beeline to a certain prisoner who carried a now empty tray.

The inmate with those flame-emitting hands.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, seeing a smile appear on the prisoner's face.

"I think I'm doing well."

Alexios returned the smile. "I'm glad to hear that."

Suddenly, the inmate's face lit up. "I have to thank you for the help earlier, it really meant a lot."

"Don't worry about it. Consider that a reward for your hard work up to now. Keep up the good work."

Just as Alexios was about to keep on walking, the prisoner shifted somewhat.

"Hey," the prisoner spoke up, softly enough that he could have missed it. "I was wondering..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"...nevermind. I need to get going, this tray isn't going to return itself."

With that, the prisoner had disappeared into the crowd of orange jumpsuits and black and white striped uniforms.

Just about as he was going to continue his patrol, yet another prisoner caught his eye.

He spotted an inmate in the distance, sitting alone outside. It wasn't that uncommon to see prisoners alone, but it was the far off look in his eyes that caught Alexios' attention.

"Isn't that the new inmate from a couple of months ago?" thought the olive-skinned guard as he began his approach. "Inmate Spade. Are you feeling alright?"

Johnny snapped back to reality with a jump as he locked eyes with the guard.

"I'm sorry if I scared you there," Alexios' laugh eased the sudden stiff caution that etched itself on the inmate's face. "I couldn't help but notice you just staring off into space. Is everything alright?"

The young convict turned back to the view, the wide open sky covered in patches of soft, white clouds. "I don't really know. I guess everything has been building up recently."

"It must be tough, you're still quite young after all."

"Please don't remind me."

Alexios shook his head, "I don't mean anything bad by it. I might not be the prisoner's counsellor, but feel free to just talk your heart out. If you really need it, I can get you an appointment with them."

Johnny sighed, unsure what to do. "Well, if you must know, just recently I got into an argument with some of the other inmates. They...they weren't really planning anything good, stuff like group wars or something."

"Ah. So a clash of two small groups, I heard about that."

"Yeah, while it was dealt with, we didn't really see eye to eye when I tried to stop them. It just makes me think about my mistakes... and how I ended up here." he sighed, "I guess it's like they said. I have no moral high ground, I'm a prisoner too."

It was now Alexios' turn to look at the clouds. "There's a lot of mistakes we make in the world. The fact that you're reflecting is a sign of improvement for your rehabilitation."

"Even if I was sent to Styx?"

The guard just grinned, "doesn't matter what prison you were sent to, you can still turn things around. It struck us as odd for you to be sent here at first, Ace of Spades. Your record is more suited for a regular prison, but I can see why you were sent here."

Johnny flinched, "I don't think I can handle hearing any of those...can you please stop talking about that too?"

"Besides," the beige haired man continued, "you're not the only one in the same situation. There's a few others that are in your predicament."

"Really?"

"Absolutely! There's one inmate in the female ward that is reflecting on something similar. They committed a crime and are reflecting on themselves with their guilt or rather they are atoning for their crime instead. A great sign of rehabilitation."

The american prisoner rubbed the back of his neck. "You're really keen on the whole rehabilitation thing, huh?"

When Johnny looked up, he locked eyes with the guard's stunning electric blue eyes.

"I want to see inmates like you rise and better yourself, to become the people you can be proud to become."

Johnny could believe what he was hearing. It sounded too good to be true, but…

"Is there a point though? Wouldn't I just be sent back here even after I leave? There's no way I'd be accepted back to society."

The blue eyed guard shook his head. "While that is true, let me tell you a story. There was once a prisoner that freely walked these halls, his life was one of many troubles. All because of his quirk. There was only so many times that the world would give him a pass, but for the safety of others, he was deemed too dangerous to live."

"Is this supposed to be uplifting?" Johnny frowned, focusing on the clouds instead.

"It didn't change that he was a good man, an innocent one at that. There was still hope for him, but that hope is something that only he could decide." he sighed. "Sometimes, support is also needed."

Soon the story fell silent as Johnny waited for more of a story that wouldn't come. "That's enough of that story though, you catch the main point, right?"

Johnny nodded, causing the slightly muscular guard to grin. "Perfect." Alexios stretched as he looked back to the inmate, holding out his hand. "I believe you can get through this rehabilitation."

Not knowing what to do, Johnny reached out. "Thank you."

Hokori titled his head as he followed the monocle-wearing guard, Shimaru, down the hall. "So...where are we heading?"

The guard, who carried himself more like a butler, chuckled. "The cafeteria."

"Oh." Hokori didn't really understand, after all, he had already checked out the cafeteria.

Noticing that he was falling behind, the smaller of the two guards quickly increased his pace to catch up. "I suppose you're wondering why we're heading back, are you not?" Shimaru asked, looking down towards the fox-eared rookie. "After all, this isn't your first time there."

"A little," replied the fox. "Are we going to make that loaf stuff?"

That got a chuckle out of the guard. "No, at least, not today." the gentleman patted the fox on the shoulder. "I believe there's someone you need to meet."

Hokori tilted his head. "Hm?"

As the rookie wondered who he had yet to meet in the kitchen, he continued to follow Shimaru until they reached their destination. All Hokori could think of until then was, "is it the cooks?" no one else sprung to mind, the kitchen was empty save for Osamu, Tai and him last time.

When they arrived, Shimaru scoped out the area. "Now, try not to bother any of the cooks while they're working," when he saw Hokori nod, he gestured for the fox to follow, "now, let's introduce yourself to the staff."

Now, walking around a working kitchen, Hokori watched the cooks get to work as Shimaru talked, "now, as you know, we have three main wards when it comes to Styx. The male ward, female ward and the co-ed ward. However, the more, shall we say, quality ingredients are used for the co-ed ward."

"Oh! I think Osamu talked about that briefly, I think..." the fennec fox quirked guard tapped his foot, "ah! Yeah, he mentioned how we'd have to help work with meals from time to time and that the co-ed ward has somewhat better food and they can get some other snacks."

"That's correct, good job." the older guard clapped. "Now, as I was saying, with three wards, the kitchens can be quite busy, but they manage to get food out for our incarcerated guests."

Hokori scratched the back of his neck as he watched the cooks go about the kitchen while the two guards hanged back. "With three wards, it does sounds difficult..."

Shimaru nodded as he cleaned his monocle with a clean, white handkerchief that he pulled from his pocket with the pair of white, butler gloves he wore. "Indeed."

"Wasn't there someone I was supposed to meet? The way you worded it sounded like there was someone specific."

The older guard grinned, "once again, good job. Remember what I said about three wards? Someone has to keep the busy kitchen in control." Shimaru took delight in the 'O' shape that Hokori made with his mouth. It was like the final puzzle piece was figured out. "Speak of the devil, he's here."

Turning his head around, faster than he thought he had anticipated. Seeing that Hokori had seen the other cooks, he would have an easy time seeing just who the head cook was. However, it was a bit too easy as they entered the room. He completely stood out!

But that was mostly due to their appearance, whether that was from their quirk or a trait from their parents.

This man was of average height compared to cooks within the kitchen, definitely taller than him that was for sure. While the outfit wasn't the first thing that drew Hokori's attention, the head cook of Styx wore an outfit similar to the other cooks.

The cooks of Styx wore white uniforms. The standard white chef jacket with matching white pants, it was quite simple as it lacked both hats and aprons. The head cook's uniform only had one difference, its colour. Instead of being white, it was black.

Though, what really stuck out was his appearance. Well, he definitely had a humanoid appearance, that was for sure. Instead of having the flesh of a man, it was that of an insect. While most of his body was hidden behind the cooking uniform, his arms and legs were definitely a combination of human and insect, though the only real human part was that the hands looked to be more modelled after a human with fingers and thumbs, the feet however, not so much.

His natural appearance was that of a bug or perhaps a bug's exoskeleton, either way, to Hokori it didn't really matter. He was unsure of what kind of insect the cook was, maybe an ant? He didn't want to ask, that would just be rude.

The cook did have a set of mandibles and two large compound eyes as their skin or exoskeleton seemed to be a darkish green shade.

It was then that the head cook headed towards them once he took notice. "Hokori, meet Myrmex, the head cook of Styx."

"Nice to meet you," the polite little fox bowed.

The insectoid bowed in turn, "it's a pleasure." the chef's mandibles clattered together. "As Shimaru might have told you, I'm the guy who keeps these cooks in line when making the main meals for the prisoners. Hm, perhaps I'll see you in the kitchen later if you're ever tasked with the nightly meals."

"Nightly meals? Like the nutraloaf stuff?"

"Sort of," the cook began, "that's always a part of it, but you could also be tasked with that in the day. Rather, in Styx, we have a few nocturnal prisoners, but compared to the daywalkers, it's not that many to handle."

It was then that Shimaru jumped in. "Did you know that the cooks also help make some meals for the guards too here and there?"

"Whoa, you must be a master chef then!"

"Hahaha, while there's a lot of work to be done, I wouldn't say that I'm a master." Myrmex chuckled.

A sudden clap got the rookie's attention. "Okay, that's enough time meeting the cooks, it's time to get back to work. We'll be off now, Myrmex."

"Roger!" saluted the fox and before they knew it, they were long gone from the kitchen.

When Osamu opened his eyes, the world was incredibly blurry, just like last time. The taste of iron was still fresh in his mouth, though the pain he once had the last time he opened his eyes had thankfully passed.

He looked around the infirmary, or at least the guard infirmary. A sigh escaped his lips as he noticed the glass of water on the nearby side table right as the world started to come into focus. Finally, his lenses were being cleaned!

At least, that's what it felt like.

Reaching for the glass to parch his throat, he winced a little at a sudden spark of pain. Seems he still wasn't fully recovered...damn.

"Osamu!" the door to the infirmary swung open. It almost made him jump, it would have made him jump if he wasn't pushed back down into the comfortable bed. Still hurt though. Looking over to whoever rushed him, he caught the sight of the familiar, messy, ultra violet hair. "You...you had me worried there...I'm glad you're okay."

"Muika…"

When she leaned back, it gave him some breathing room but that was at the cost of seeing her round, droopy red eyes brimming with tears. While his body wasn't feeling the pain like before, a new pain replaced it.

"I...I thought..."

He immediately silenced her, "it's okay. I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you." all he could hear was her sniffles as the growing silence was starting to become a bit awkward for him. He never really thought over this kind of scenario…

I mean, why should he? He didn't really expect to be in this situation.

"Come on Osamu, break the ice or something. Maybe lighten the mood?" Shifting in his bed, he brought out the brightest smile that he could, "I hope I wasn't out for long."

"...it's been a couple of days..." the way she carried that tone, like she was trying to walk on a tightrope, really hit him hard with just how long it might have been as the tears started to fall. "I didn't think you would ever wake up. I thought..."

"I'm sorry." That was all he had as she wiped her eyes. "You...must have stayed up worrying, didn't you? I'm sorry."

Muika slowly nodded, her purple painted nails dug into the pristine, white sheets. "How about you tell me about your days?" her brother quickly changed the subject. "I hope you didn't cause another spillage...again." he forced out a fake little giggled that just caused her to grip the sheets tighter.

"...I messed up again." she sniffled once more. Oh no. "I accidentally spilt a cup of hot chocolate on today's report, so I have to do that again. I also knocked over one of Yukiko's tea cups, shattering it...not to mention losing-"

"Best not to dwell on it," Osamu found himself interrupting as the tears rolled down his sister's face. "Better apologise to the wardens and that later-"

He lunged forward, coughing harder than he thought he could. It felt like his body was trying to force out a lung. "Osamu!"

After what felt like a minute of coughing violently, the elder Yomaura sibling managed to ease back down with a wince. "Seems the pain didn't completely go away...haha..."

Muika however, was the same as she was a moment ago, if not worse. So Osamu held his breath, with a hand on her shoulder. His display a moment ago must have looked pretty bad. If it were her in this bed, instead of him, he would probably be in tears too, especially after that display.

"Let it all out," he breathed out, as he moved on to pat her head as her face was now buried into the mattress as she let loose, her sobbing muffled by the bed as she wet the sheets.

What a terrible older brother he was. Making his sister cry. How horrible.

There were many activities for the prisoners to do within Styx, some were time wasters of course, but others provided them with a purpose. Activities that meant that they would contribute to society instead of just wasting time within their god forsaken cells until the day they were transferred back to a lower security prison, released entirely when their sentence is met or die due to varying reasons.

One of these activities was the woodwork course.

Standing at one of the desks was Juro. The inmate tapped on the desk as they looked around the shop. There were a few other prisoners, some willingly here while others...not so much.

Standing at the front was a prisoner that Juro only saw here and there.

He was wearing the regular orange jumpsuit and would have just been some nameless nobody if it weren't for the shades he wore for some reason despite being indoors, but more notably his skin.

Sandpaper.

"Hey, stop shoving there, officer." Juro turned to see Zuko shoved by some tall guard into the room. "Be a bit more gentle, at least." he ended with a wink.

All the guard did in response to Zuko's 'kind' advice was to kick the clouded eyed inmate into a desk. "Work for once in your life, inmate."

It didn't catch only Juro's attention though, but Arai who stood at the main woodworking desk like a teacher would, the other guards sprinkled throughout the room and the other inmates.

All eyes were currently on Zuko.

"Bastard..." the scarred convict thought as he caught the guard's disgusting smirk. It was like that bastard was taunting him! When he finally realised that everyone was watching him, he silently groaned.

"Good of you to join us, Zuko." came the polite voice of Touya, as he stood at another desk.

Zuko just rolled his eyes as Arai coughed. "Hey, now that everyone is here, welcome to the woodwork course. Where you contribute back to society, etc, etc." he prattled on. "We all know how this goes, so let's get on with it."

The sandpaper skinned man picked up a block of wood as he immediately started to rub his palm over the rough surface. "For those of us just joining however, the newbies, what you want to do is just run your hand over the edges to smooth them down," he placed the now smoother block back on the desk, like some demonstration piece. "If you don't have a quirk like mine, then you're stuck using the tools provided. I was also told by the guards to inform you, yet again, that you shouldn't try any funny business."

It was then that Juro shot a look towards Zuko in that regard.

Seems that he wasn't the only one to send a look his way. What an example.

"Don't waste daylight, get to work." a guard called out as the prisoners got to work on the provided wood, working on whatever.

As they worked, Zuko popped his head up. "I'm surprised the newbies aren't here. I thought they would be."

"Well, considering how one of the new inmates in our ward is in the infirmary, I doubt they'd let him come."

"And the other two?" Zuko's voice was as smooth as ever as Touya shrugged.

"They are still quite fresh in the prison, perhaps they have them working elsewhere instead?"

Juro listened in as they worked on their leg post, it was coming along smoothly. They did debate entering the conversation though as the two continued to just chat.

Not their fault if they got caught chatting more than working.

"Stop gossiping and get back to work, you two!" came the bored tone of one of the guards stationed at the rear of the room.

Juro couldn't help but mentally scoff as they were caught chatting. How timely.

"Now, once you're done smoothing down the edges, we'll continue onto the next step, keep up."

Juro huffed as they got back to work, narrowing their eyes as Zuko glanced around the room, with a slow, growing smirk.

For now though, it wasn't their problem.

"Care to run that by me again?" Seimei asked, looking at the stoic guard dog as she saluted.

"With some recommendations on some of the inmates, I've chosen three inmates to help look into the problem with the third party speculation when it came to the recent murder that happened a while ago."

The male warden leaned back from the hunched over position on his desk. "That's unlike you," Seimei mumbled. "We're more than equipped to handle this ourselves. What purpose do they serve in this search?"

"To help shave time off the search, sir."

Standing from his chair, the warden walked around the desk. "I suppose it would help to have some insiders look around for clues..."

Shi's eyes widened with a sudden thought. "Sir, about the murder-"

Seimei was already on it, "as you already know, since we have the murderer's identity we're currently looking into how he escaped his cell. Right now, Eris is leading the interrogation on Vito on how he escaped and hopefully that will shed some light on this mystery." he calmly stated, turning back around to face the jackal headed guard.

Eris. It didn't look good for Vito then. Out of everyone in Styx, she was the one to get any answers out of anyone without too much difficulty, really.

"However, there is a chance that there might be some inmates that might know something that Vito might not, so while she's screening Vito and some other high profile inmates, I shall leave your selected prisoners to search around Styx."

"Understood sir."

Seimei headed back to his seat, "and I assume you're gonna try and join the search on top of your guard duties?"

"Yes."

The loyal guard dog watched as the male warden rubbed his temple with a sigh. "Very well, then proceed with your shift."

Nodding, the jackal was about to leave the room if he wasn't for the warden's sudden call.

"One last thing, Shi."

"Sir?"

Seimei smiled as he rested his arms on the desk, his entwined hands almost hiding the smile. "Next time, please inform Eris or I before you go ahead with these plans. I know you mean well, but please consider it."

The guard dog bowed. "My apologies."

"It's fine. I wish you luck in your search."

While there was no certainty that Shi and her selected convicts would be able to find something related to this mysterious third party, especially with Eris' interrogation, he'd wish them luck if finding at least a sliver of information that could help shave time off, as Shi had put it.

It just had to happen now. That thought would have made him frown if it wasn't for the muscular guard still standing in the room. For now, he'll wait and compose his thoughts later.

With a silent salute, Styx's Cerberus left as Seimei turned his gaze downwards to the desk and the papers that were left on it.

There was still the matter of the bodies that they needed to deal with.

"Time to get back to work then."

Eris walked through the hallways, on her way to the solitary confinement cells. The place was mostly empty, asides from a couple of other guards that paused slightly to send a nod or salute her way.

Compared to the main wards, this place was a lot emptier in comparison, of course there were some other cells in use, some with grand locks, warning signs and some other details and precautions.

It wasn't long until she approached the cell she was after. The two guards stationed in front of the cell gave her a salute. "Ma'am!"

"At ease. I'm here to interrogate the prisoner."

The two guards stepped aside, "we'll open the cell then." As they went to work on opening the cell, she took this time to look over the clipboard she had received early.

The clipboard was full of the latest interrogation's details, Vito's answers about his recent escapades. Claiming that he had 'broke' out of his cell when it clearly wasn't damaged among other things.

When the cell opened, the prisoner within was slumped against the wall, unable to move thanks to his snazzy new straitjacket. Though, it seemed he didn't have the energy to do it either.

"Seems I have the pleasure of meeting the other warden. Welcome to my humble abode, it's a bit cramped but what can you do when you have shitty landlords?"

The eyepatched woman frowned as she hissed, "silence." she held up her clipboard, Vito's name clearly visible at the top in red ink. "Now, I got some answers from some questions here, of course, mostly clearly told lies."

"So you're here for more?"

She nodded as she reached for her eyepatch. "I'm here to get the real answers out of you."

What surprised her was the prisoner before her said. "Fine. I got nothing to hide anymore."

Well that made her job easier.

The more she looked at the straitjacket wearing man, the more he seemed different from when he was captured. Still, there was no telling if he was truly going to tell her everything or hide it.

"So what do you want to know?"

"I'll be the one handling the questions here," she reached for her eyepatch one more time. "I still don't trust you to tell the truth completely. So you will tell me everything about your releases, all of them."

She kept a good eye on the convict as he tensed at that last part. "Knew it." she thought. Ah well, even if he was going to hide something from her, she knew he couldn't. She will get everything out of him.

Vito continued to stare at the warden, finding it incredibly hard to look away as all she had to say was...

"You cannot hide anything from me, so tell me everything."