*ding dong, bing bong*

"Rise and shine you poor losers! It's 7 am and the perfect time to kill a fellow participant and get some cash!"

I haven't seen Tiger the Dog since the first day here, but these more personalized announcements that she does are really making my blood boil.

I got up and my put my now clean hoodie on when I got ready this morning. I was already getting used to my routine here, waiting outside my sister's room and chatting with anyone who passed by.

I'm getting comfortable here, when I don't think I should be.

"Good morning, Felix," Minerva greeted me. "Why are you just standing in the hallway?"

"I'm waiting for my sister." I explained to the journalist. "We usually walk together to the dining room. Wanna join us?"

"Sure." The red haired girl agreed. "I have questions for you two, anyways."

"Questions?" My sister fearfully gasped.

"Oh! I love questions!" I countered my sister's reaction.

Fawn didn't need an explanation today. She simply walked beside me, pulled her beanie down in hopes of hiding from Minerva's questions.

"I've been trying to piece together any possible similarities, anything really, that we all have with each other." Minerva explained, readying her pencil. "Talking to everyone is taking me a while, though."

"Is l-like an interview?" My sister asked.

"Yeah," Nodded her. "But if you can't answer something that's okay."

"I'll probably do all the talking for the both of us." I explained to her.

"Oh, alright then," She pulled out her pencil and flipped to a clean sheet of paper on her notepad. "When were you titled and when was your titled revoked?"

"I got mine when I was 14 and then lost it when I was around 16, close to 17." I told the journalist. "Fawn got hers when she was 13 and then her title was revoked earlier this year."

"Mhm," Minerva quickly wrote down our replies. "How many times have you arrested?"

"What?!" My eyes widened from shock.

"You have my word as the Ultimate Journalist—" Minerva began to say.

"Ex Ultimate Journalist." Fawn quietly corrected her.

"Oh, right," Minerva blushed, covering her mouth from embarrassment. "You have my word that I won't share your answers will anyone else here without your consent."

"Your credibility isn't the problem," I shook my head. "It's the question."

"You'd be surprised with the answers I've gotten from some of the others," She stated. "It seems worth asking if there's a potential connection to be made."

"Zero." I answered. "For both of us."

"Alright," She seemed to cross two names off a list. "Any family or close friends that are or were Ultimates?"

"Just Fawn." I smiled, glancing to my sister. Her expression changed to bashful as she cover her eyes with her hands. "She was the first one in our family to get one."

"Interesting," The journalist gave another short reply. "This is the last one. Who scouted you? This is more for Fawn than you, Felix."

"Yeah. I didn't really get scouted." I said.

Fawn pulled her beanie up, messing with the hair that was frizzled because of it. She then pulled at her sleeves, desperately trying to place a name with a face.

"She never told me her name," My sister recalled. "But she was an older lady. Strawberry blonde. Pink floral dress. Thick glasses."

"That bitch." The other girl nearly snapped her pencil at the mention of this old lady.

"D-Did I say s-something wrong?!" Fawn panicked, hiding behind me as a result.

"No, you didn't Fawn," Minerva hastily clarified. "I... I know the exact scout."

"You do?" I raised an eyebrow. "Did she scout you as well?"

"Yeah." The red head nodded. "She also revoked my talent for a bribe."

"How is she still a scout then?!" I questioned.

"It was covered up by my... replacement." She told us. "The current Ultimate Journalist spun the story to make it look like I had lied about my skills, forcing my scout to revoke my talent and give the title to them instead."

Since I was never scouted, I can't really say much on the experience. But from what I've heard from Fawn and now Minerva, I have a feeling that it's not always a fair process.

"I've leave you two to enjoy your breakfast," Minerva told us, spotting a certain game show host. "I catch you with two later."

Minerva ran off, leaving Fawn and I enter the dining room ourselves. There were more people in here than normal, though when Rory and Zenith brought out the food I knew why.

Cinnamon rolls.

Skyler was actively trying to steal a cinnamon roll from the plate, but Rory was quick to push them away from the plater.

"Hey! I showed up just get one of those things!" Skyler complained, continuously getting their hand smacked away by the food tester.

"And I got up early to make them." Rory scoffed. "Sit the fuck down and wait for me and Zenith to pass them out."

"I saved you some extras," Zenith whispered to the hacker, before walking away with Rory to pass out the breakfast.

Skyler sat down a seat away from Tabitha who was glued to her phone. She couldn't look away from the screen, smiling like an idiot at whatever she was looking at. Remembering the agreement of yesterday, Fawn and I sat down across from those two in hopes of discussing tonight's game night.

"He might actually be the world's nicest person," Skyler mumbled to themselves.

"Who?" I asked, making my presence known.

"Zenith." They answered, not really thinking about how their tone could be interrupted. "But he's completely stupid for doing so!"

"H-How?" Questioned my sister.

"We meet like 3 days ago." They pulled at their mesh gloves as they spoke. "That wouldn't really mean much, except we're in a killing game. And the prize just doubled yesterday. Now anyone who kills gets their talent and money."

I want to refute their point and say that their just anxious, but I can't help but agree with them. The reward for killing someone nearly outweighs the consequences.

Nearly...

"It's that rather pessimistic of you to think like that?" I pointed out. "I mean, I don't think that blinding trusting someone is a great idea either. But you should try to trust people a little more."

"I never said I didn't trust anyone." Skyler huffed, sticking their nose up. "C'mon. Pay more attention, Felix."

"My bad." I apologized.

It didn't take long for the food to be handed out. As promised, Zenith had saved some less pleasant looking cinnamon rolls for Skyler to eat. However, the food's imperfections didn't bother them and they ate them up instantly.

Once we had mostly finished breakfast, Tabitha started asking the the important questions.

"What are we playing for tonight's game night?" The influencer titled her head. "I gotta make sure I put on my most aesthetically pleasing outfit to match whatever we play."

"It's a surprise." Skyler smirked.

"I recommend wearing your most comfortable outfit to exercise in," Zenith suggested.

"Exercise?" I questioned, fearing grabbing my of my hoodie.

"It's not a deadly amount." The hacker stated. "We're not monsters."

"I dunno..." My voice trailed, an unwanted anxiety bubbling in my chest. "I don't know if I can do it."

"We won't make any ill-mannered comments about your performance in anyway whatsoever, Felix," The chauffeur promised, his voice sounding genuine.

I glanced to Fawn who seemed to getting secondhand anxiety from this scenario. She then looked up at me and nodded, before going back to avoiding the conversation.

Most of the people here are nice. While I may not have known these 3 for long, I know that they aren't going to judge me.

"Alright." I finally said. "We're on for game night tonight."

"Yes!" Tabitha cheered. "We're gonna have so much fun, besties!"

"Another thing," The chauffeur suddenly remembered. "The room will need some preparation and cleanup afterwards. I don't mind cleaning up, however I made need some help beforehand."

"I can help," I volunteered. "What am I helping with?"

"We'll need to switch out the gaming console and move the couch." The orangette nonchalantly explained.

"Move the couch?!" I panicked.

"I'm not strong enough," Skyler gave their excuse.

"I'm too pretty to be lifting couches." Tabitha smiled.

Both of them definitely couldn't move a couch. But I don't know if I can either.

"I'll do my best," I assured the chauffeur. "What time are we meeting up?"

"How about 7:30 pm to set things up and we'll start playing at 8:00 pm?" Zenith suggested. "That gives us roughly 2 hours until nighttime."

Everyone nodded in agreement. After a little more light chatting, I was volunteered (via a game of nose goes) to bring our plates to the kitchen. My sister took my leaving as an opportunity to crawl back to her room.

"I got some plates for you Ror–" I said, quickly stopping myself. "Oh, Isaiah?"

"Hello, Felix," The romance novelist greeted me from the over by the sink.

"Just set the plates on the counter by the sink," Rory told me, as they scrubbed a glass cup with a sponge. "We'll get to them eventually."

"Are you two doing the dishes all by yourselves?" I inquired.

"Well, originally I was going to do it myself since Zenith has the rest of his day booked with Tabiblah." The cyannette stated.

"But then I came in and basically demanded to help out," Explained the blonde male, happily looking to the food tester. "How could I not? They've been cooking for everyone everyday."

Rory does do a lot for the group that gets unnoticed. Zenith as well.

"I'll help out too." I impulsively decided. "I've got the time and I want to show my appreciation for you as well, Rory."

"Y-You don't need to do that! Really!" Their face went red. "...but if you insist, there are aprons in the pantry and rubber gloves under the sink."

I did dishes with Isaiah and Rory for a couple hours. At one point, we got a little carried away and started flinging soap at each other. We managed to wash all the dishes that had been piled up from our stay here. Once everything was sorted and clean up, we parted to go on with the rest of our day.

I figured it was time for my sister to socialize with someone, but on the way to her room I ran into someone. Well, more like they ran into me and knocked me to the ground on impact.

"Shit." Muttered the tennis player. "Sorry, Felix."

Oww... My chest is killing me.

"Are you okay?" He asked when I didn't reply, offering me a hand to help me up.

"Yeah." I nodded, smiling as he pulled me up. "I'm good."

We both stood in a silence for a few minutes. As my chest pain slowly faded away, the silence grew more and more awkward.

"You busy?" I finally asked him.

"No." Gabriel answered.

"Do you wanna chat for a bit?" I offered. "We can go in my room."

"Yeah, alright," The athlete nodded, his eyes lighting up briefly.

I lead Gabriel into my room, leaving the door open to make things less awkward. He didn't seemed to mind the horrendous green that my room was painted with.

"Your room is cooler than mine." The tennis player commented.

"Thanks." I sat on my bed and gestured for him to sit beside me.

We sat down together, before I leaned back and lied down. My goal in doing so was to make Gabriel feel as though my eyes weren't on him. It helps my sister, so I decided to try it for him since he appeared nervous.

"I'm sorry for running into you," Gabriel finally said. "I wasn't feeling well and I wasn't paying attention to were I was going."

"It's okay. I'm alright." I assured him. "Are you okay now? Do you still feel sick?"

"It's not that I felt sick," The male in dry fit clothes corrected. "I was reminded of something I don't like to think about and it made me storm off."

"We're you talking to someone?" I guessed.

"Yeah." Gabriel nodded. "Running girl."

"Vanessa?" I sat up, surprised. "She said something to you? She seemed a lot nicer when I talked to her."

"I don't think she did it on purpose," The brunette explained. "She kept asking me questions about my talent and how I lost it."

It makes sense that Vanessa would be a bit pushy.

"Did you tell her to stop?" I questioned.

"No..." The tennis player sighed, leaning back on the bed like me. "I'm bad at talking."

"I think you're doing pretty good," I winked at him.

"...thanks." Gabriel blushed as he quietly thanked me.

The tennis player took a breath to regain his focus.

I should probably let him finish his explanation.

"Most of the time, I come over as aggressive or rude when I try to talk to people." He explained. "I don't mean to, but I do. And that leads to more problems, because then the person I'm talking to gets actually angry. And a fight breaks out and... You understand, right?"

"Yeah. I get what you're saying." I nodded. "Words and tone are pretty hard to master. You mean to say one thing, but then you slip up or use the wrong tone and it has a completely different meaning."

"I'd rather just not communicate at all than miscommunication and have to worry about fixing it." Gabriel admitted.

"I guess you have a point, but communication is pretty important." I pointed out.

"I'm shit at it, though," He refuted.

"Maybe I can help you then?" I offered. "I can tell Vanessa to be less pushy towards you and the topic of your talent."

"Really?" He asked in shock.

"Sure!" I bounced excitedly to my feet. "I love talking and I'd be happy to do it for you."

Talking seems to be all that I'm good for, anyways...

"You're cool, you know, Felix." Gabriel stood, smiling.

...

"You're cooler." I told him.

Gabriel led me to the laundry room where Vanessa was investigating the washing machine. She much have heard our footsteps, because turned to us in an instant.

"Hey." Gabriel git her attention.

"What's up?" Vanessa replied, turning to us. "Hey Gabe. Hey Felix."

"Hi." I greeted her. "I wanted to talk to you about something?"

"Hmm? What's that?" Asked the female brunette.

"Gabriel told me about the conversation you two had earlier." I refreshed her brain. "He said you were asking him questions that he didn't like you asking."

"I was?!" She panicked.

"You were." The tennis player himself confirmed.

"Sorry, about that." She rubbed the back of her neck with her arm. "I get don't really think sometimes. I just kinda do."

"Just don't ask me about my talent or sports." Gabriel clarified to her.

"Got it!" Vanessa nodded. "I'll make it up to you guys by doing the laundry for you tomorrow."

"Oh, thanks," I thanked her, slightly caught off guard by her sudden request.

I guess that'll free up my day tomorrow.

Having nothing else to do in the laundry room, Gabriel and I left to do our own thing. I decided that it was time to get have lunch, so I brought my sister out of her room to socialize while I made something.

Though, nothing ever goes as planned in this mansion.

"Ding ding ding!" Nora cheered. "We have a winner!"

"Winner for what?" I asked, as Fawn and I entered the dining room.

Before us was Nora, along with various microwaved foods on plates. Nikolas and Isaiah sat on the other side of her.

"Nora said she would tell us where we are if we won her impromptu gameshow." Isaiah explained.

"It's been fairly simple so far." Nikolas commented.

"Yeah, I'll join." I agreed, without much thought. "Can we eat the food afterwards?"

"You can have it now." Nora said, sliding a plate to everyone. "We've moved on to the quiz portion!"

The quiz portion?! I'm awful at quizzes!

But I've done pretty well with my luck so far.

"Nikolas." She looked to the ice skater. "What is the average temperature water freezes at?"

"About 28.6 F°." Answered he.

"Ding ding ding!" Nora's voiced echoed through her fluffy microphone. "Naturally, the Ex Ultimate Ice Skater would know that."

Nikolas flinched when she said his proper title. Then it hit me was she was doing.

Nora doesn't to care if we win her little fake gameshow. All she wants is to rub salt in a wound that could drive us to murder.

"Isaiah." The female bluenette looked to the romance novelist. "Which of the current Ultimate Novelists has the most published?"

"Uh," He froze. "Is it the Ultimate Horror Novelist?"

"Ding ding ding!" The gameshow host cheered. "Somebody knows their competition."

Competition? Do the Ultimate Novelists compete with each other for the spotlight?

"Felix." Nora's eyes fixated on me. "Are you feeling lucky?"

"Yeah." I gulped, nodding my head. "I am."

"Ohhh. How daring." She commented, a grin growing on her face.

Which of the following statements is false about talent scouts?

a). Talent scouts cannot scout someone they are related to.

b). Talents scouts can become Ultimates as long as they give up scouting.

c). Talents scouts can revoke and renounce talents from Ultimates they've scouted previously.

Come on... I paid attention during this lesson in history class, didn't I?

"Talent scouts can never be Ultimates." I confidently answered.

Correct answer: b). Talents scouts can become Ultimates as long as they give up scouting.

"Ding ding ding!" She enthused. "Somebody paid attention during history class."

Clearly, it wasn't enough.

I should know this kind of stuff without having to rack my brain.

"Oh? What's this?" Her head titled, her echoed voice softening. "It appears that we have a three-way tie."

"How?!" Nikolas inquired. "Isaiah and I have answered more questions than Felix. He just got here."

"My show, my rules," Nora chimed. "Since we have a tie, we'll need to have a tie breaker question."

"How do have a tie breaker question?" Isaiah asked.

"Whoever answers the fastest will win if they get the answer correct," The blue haired lady explained to the three of us. "But if you get it the wrong, the next person will go."

"But there's only three possible answers." I pointed out. "If the first 2 people get it wrong, then the last person to go will win."

"That's why I've added a fourth answer to this question." She told us with a devilish grin. "And it's one of my harder ones."

Which of the following talents has the highest chance of the person becoming an Ex Ultimate?

a). Ultimate Model

b). Ultimate Streamer

c). Ultimate Puppeteer

d). Ultimate Intern

It has to be the Ultimate Model, right? Quartz said that the modeling industry is pretty competitive.

"It's the Ultimate Intern." Nikolas was quick to answer. "After their internship, there's no point for them to be an intern anymore."