After a surprisingly eventful first day, everyone returned to their rooms to get some sleep. The train wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon, so there would still be plenty of time to enjoy the hotel’s facilities before then.

Mr Anderson woke them all up bright and early the next day. “Come on, kiddos, we’ll be keeping regular school hours once we’re at the facility, so best get used to it!” he said cheerily, leading the students to the restaurant for breakfast. “Look sharp there, Ms Hale, a hearty breakfast will set you up for the day!”

Many of the students glared groggily back at the radiant man, trudging along reluctantly. Some slipped off to go back to bed, and a few had outright refused to be roused at all, despite all of Mr Anderson’s attempts to get them out of their rooms. Nicos at least seemed in high spirits as usual, spinning Akrasia around dangerously; the others all kept a wide berth.

As they entered the main lobby, Nicos stumbled as Kyoya’s RC groggily veered close to his legs. His grip on his beloved sword slipped, and Akrasia went hurtling towards the back of Vic’s head. In a flash, the Ultimate Challenger whipped around and intercepted the flying blade with a chair, shattering it and sending Akrasia clattering harmlessly on the floor next to him.

“Funny way to challenge me,” Vic smiled, not seeming perturbed by his brush with death. “Sure you’re not the Ultimate Clumsy Assassin?”
“Akrasia!” Nicos yelled, ignoring Vic and running over to pick up his sword. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? No? You vanquished that chair like it was nothing! See that? Nothing can stop Akrasia and I!” he declared, holding the sword aloft.

“Hey. What did I say about that sword?” Marshall growled, taking a step towards Nicos. “I thought we understood each other?”
“Hey man, it’s cool, no harm done,” Vic said plactingly, holding his hands up in peace. “If he wants a challenge I’m happy to oblige.”
”A challenge?” Nicos repeated, looking at Vic properly for the first time since nearly killing him. “That’s right, you’re the Ultimate Challenger! In truth, Akrasia’s been wanting to test her might against you ever since we first met. En garde!” he abruptly declared, pointing the sword at Vic.

The others weren’t really sure what was happening, but they hastily backed away as Vic picked up a leg from the broken chair, grinning. “You’re on! I never back down from a challenge. No holding back, you don’t want to underestimate me.”
“Hey, really? Is this okay?” Althea exclaimed, glancing around at the others. “I-I-I mean, maybe I can re-attach anything that falls off, but... “
“I don’t think we can stop them now,” Annabella commented neutrally, putting her hands over her doll’s eyes so it wouldn’t have to watch. “I’m sure Vic knows what he’s doing.”

Everyone began to clear a space in earnest, edging towards the walls of the spacious lobby so as to not get caught in the crossfire. Nicos and Vic eyed each other, motionless apart from their respective weapons bobbing in search of an opening, grins on both their faces. The tension in the air became palpable, and no-one seemed willing to break it, not even Marshall. Then all of a sudden, starting on some unknown signal, the two lunged forward and clashed with a resounding impact.

It was a fight for the centuries, hopelessly outclassed as Vic may have been. Splinters flew everywhere as the chair leg deflected blow after blow from the Swordsman, and Vic managed to get in for a few strikes of his own from time to time, forcing Nicos to make awkward parries that he didn’t seem to expect to have to make. Despite this Vic was being pushed back, and he was starting to run out of chair leg too, the wood unable to stand up to a properly-crafted weapon.

Vic gritted his teeth has he felt his foot knock into the reception desk behind him, unable to retreat any further. “This is it! Let Akrasia strike you down!” Nicos cried, raising his sword for one last strike. It wasn’t clear if he really planned to go through with it in the heat of the moment, and Vic tensed up, ready to act; just at the last second, he dodged to one side, and Akrasia cleaved through the desk instead.

This was the last straw for Marshall, who bellowed at the pair to cease, marching over to take matters into his own hands. Nicos decided now would be a good time to get breakfast and ran off for the restaurant, Marshall in hot pursuit.

The remaining spectators let out a collective sigh of relief. “That was so scary! That desk could have been you, Vic!” Nana exclaimed, shivering from behind a support pillar.
“Nah, I had it under control,” Vic replied confidently, leaning back against one half of the desk. “Doesn’t matter who I’m challenging, I can always put up a good fight. It’s like… I guess I can keep up with their talent long enough to have a contest with them, or something. Just a knack I have,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Still, with a chair? There’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity,” Taylor muttered, as they all drew closer to Vic. “And besides… actually, huh? What’s that?” he suddenly stopped, pointing at the other half of the desk. Everyone turned to look, and were surprised to find what seemed to be some kind of hidden compartment in the wood, exposed by the battle damage.

“Let’s see, they appear to be letters of some kind, how peculiar,” Siri said thoughtfully, pulling them out. “They’re out of their envelopes so they’re not addressed but they’re definitely letters. Letters contain all kinds of thoughts and feelings, even if they’re a bit old-fashioned there’s things you can only convey in written form, I like them.”
“So? What do they say?” Evelyn asked, leaning in awkwardly to try and get a better look.

“Hmm, let me read one for you,” Siri replied, picking the top one.

‘Dear sis,

Today was my first day at Alabaster Corp! They really are everything they seem, this place is crazy! You wouldn’t believe the stuff I’ve seen… oh, but, I probably shouldn’t write about it. I signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Well, that’s a bit of a shame, you’ll just have to use your imagination. You’re good at that, I’m sure you’ll be pretty spot on!

It’s just a short letter today, I’m beat after such a long day. But I’ll write to you again at the end of the week! I’ll try to find out what I can and can’t talk about in my letters home.

Until next time,

Gawain.’

“The others are more of the same, really. All from this Gawain guy to his sister,” Siri explained, rifling through the pile of letters. “How strange for them to be all here, in one place, hidden away.”
“That’s not the only strange thing,” Eli commented, not looking away from the compartment as he examined it. “You ask me, those letters never made it to their intended destination. They were intercepted and stowed here.”
“Really? How can you tell?”

“They’re not folded, but they’re too big to fit in an envelope without folding,” Eli explained, turning and indicating at one of the letters. “Quite common for letters sent from companies like this. The sender passes the letter on to a secretary, who vetoes it before handlin’ the mailing process themselves. But for some reason that last bit never happened. These letters were written, handed on and then just stashed away in this compartment here.”
“Why would anyone do that? It’s so mean!” Nana exclaimed, taking one of the letters to look at herself. “All these thoughtful messages and they never reached his sister?”
“Looks like it.” Eli nodded, standing up now that his impromptu investigation was finished. “Nothing more we can find out about it here, though. Anyway, I need my breakfast. No point worryin’ about it now, we can just ask Adam later or something.”