CW for this chapter: Smoking and dead bodies.

Eden reached for her glasses as she woke up, stretching herself. Her back felt weird, but it was probably from sleeping on the futon, since she had never slept in one of these before. "Good morning, Eden." Levi yawned as he carefully got up, making sure Ace didn't wake up, letting the jockey get the sleep he needed. Considering his state back in the killing game, Levi wanted to make sure Ace took good care of himself, and if he didn't, that's what the personal stylist was for.

"Morning Levi." Eden smiled as she grabbed a change of clothes she left ready before she decided to sleep. Levi stretched his arms a bit, still feeling sleepy. He did get a better sleep that he had gotten all the time he had spent in the killing game show, but that just made him exhausted.

"Are you still tired?" the clockmaker asked, raising a brow. He nodded.

"Mhm. But I'm sure that I'll wake up when I splash water in my face. That usually wakes me up." Levi said, rubbing his eyes "I'll wake up the others if you need to." he added.

"No, thank you. Let them rest." Eden told him, giving him a smile before heading to the bathroom to get a nice shower.

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"We'll be heading off now, leader." a girl informed Caleb, who nodded, twirling a cigarette in between his fingers.

"Be safe, you three. It may be just a simple supply hunt, but with the Monokumas roaming around, I want you all to be safe." the albino told them, taking a puff of his cigarette.

"We will! And stop smoking, leader! Your lungs will rot." a smaller boy huffed, faking annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Elliot." Caleb chuckled. The girl laughed aswell before waving goodbye to the leader of the hideout, the trio exiting through the entrance Teruko discovered. He watched them disappear behind the secret door, waiting for a few seconds before sighing.

"Heh. I wish." the albino whispered, forcing out a laugh as he exhaled out the smoke, creating a small cloud of white smoke. He laid against the wall, placing the halfway done cigarette between his lips.

"Ah, sometimes I wonder why I got named leader..." he mumbled, burying his hands in his pockets, looking up at the ceiling

"Ah, good morning." Levi yawned, seeing Caleb leaning against the wall. The man waved at Levi, taking a puff out of his cigarette. The personal stylist frowned when he saw the tobacco.

"That's... not really healthy, Mr. Lee..." he pointed out, seemingly concerned. Caleb chuckled at the boy's words.

"I'll be fine, kid. A little smoking won't kill good ol' me." he insisted, flashing Levi a smile as he exhaled the smoke yet again. Levi sighed, just nodding.

"Me and my friends are going to make ourselves breakfast, just letting you know." the personal stylist informed the leader as he headed to the kitchen. Caleb just hummed, taking another inhale of the lit stick that danced between his fingers.

"...Mmh... That certainly was tobacco... I could recognize that horrible smell..." Levi mumbled, uncomfortable at the smell of the cigarette. It really wasn't something he liked, it brought him back bad memories.

"Levi? Are you okay?" Eden asked as she entered the kitchen, now in a clean change of clothes. A warm, long sleeved, blue hoodie over a white t-shirt, black pants and brown boots.

(^ For reference)

"Ah, Eden... It's nothing, don't worry about it." Levi lied, not wanting her to worry about him. Eden sighed, knowing that Levi was lying. Either way, she decided to not press in the matter. Instead, she decided to grab some ingredients from the working fridge.

"What do you have in mind to make?" Levi asked as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Well, since we have a somewhat functioning kitchen, how about we make a good ol' omelette and sausages?" Eden suggested, grabbing a dirty apron and putting it on. Levi nodded, not against the idea. It sounded delicious, if he was honest. And it's been a while since he has eaten one. Last time he did was before...

'Before the third trial, when I was helping Ace in gaining the courage to apologize to Nico...' he thought, frowning. He remembers that day very vividly. Ace had asked him to help with preparing an apology to Nico. It had surprised him, if he was honest. Ace and him hadn't talked in a while, and he wasn't as determined as he was to fix the broken friendship the two had back then. But, he felt happy that Ace was willing to apologize to Nico.

He remembers going with Ace to the relaxation room in the second floor for the redhead to relax, since he looked anxious. And...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

He remembers hearing the blood curling scream the jockey let out as the two discovered the pet therapist's contorted body, blood spilled everywhere in the room, even on the pond. The minnows had long died, too. How surprising. Perhaps they had died because their only friend had died too.

And the fact that, the same day, Ace lost both Arturo and Veronika, just broke the poor jockey even more. He had considered those two somehwat friends. Well, acquaintances would be a better word. Close acquaintances? Close acquaintances sounds right, yes.

Ace considered Arturo and Veronika close acquaintances. Despite them bonding because Veronika dragged them to watch horror movies with her, he still enjoyed hanging out with them somewhat. So you could imagine his horror when he saw Arturo's dead body in the third floor, and when it was revealed that Veronika had manipulated Arturo into killing Nico brutally, and then she killed him in a more brutal way. And the fact that Veronika even went out of her way to frame the jockey just because she wanted to. It made Levi sick to his stomach.

As Eden grabbed a pan from one of the lower cabinets and placed it on the stove, Levi grabbed a bowl from the upper cabinets, getting the eggs from the freezer as well. He could feel the worried glances sometimes Eden snuck on him. It made him just ignore those glances and concentrate on making the food. He could feel his hands shaking from the anger as he remembered the third trial. He was sure that he'd end up crushing the eggs in his hands if he didn't control his anger.

CRAAAAAACK

"Eeeeeeeek! L-Levi, the egg!" Eden exclaimed as Levi felt his hand become stickier. He stared at it, seeing it was stained with the insides of the egg.

"Oh..." he let out, surprised. He really was angry. Eden grabbed his hand, inspecting it closely with a worried look on her face.

"It doesn't look like parts of shell got stuck in your skin, just the yolk staining your hand... You should go and clean it, I'll crack the eggs, don't worry." the clockmaker assured him with a smile. Levi just nodded, going to the sink and opening it, letting the cold water hit his skin. He thoroughly cleaned his hand, frowning at the memory.

'...Just thinking about that vile woman makes me mad... It's hard for me to control my anger after what she did...' he thought, pissed. He really hated the horror fanatic to his very core. But, for his sake and for his friends', he needs to keep his anger under control. He doesn't want to snap at them like he did in the trials back in the killing game.

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Sorry to the Veronika fans btw-