Everything and everyone in the room froze, staring at Temp, confused by his sudden scream that was seemingly unprompted.
'I hadn't even said it yet…'
"Temp… how'd you know what I was going to say?"
"Because... uh…"
Temp raised his hand, brought his fingers together, and snapped.
…
Curiously, Talon twisted the lock and heard a clink. In the next second, the clock started up and left behind a red aftertrail as the hand swiveled around.
Talon dropped to the floor and took the paper and pencil from his pocket. To the best of his ability, he scribbled a message then tucked the paper back in his pocket.
When sixty seconds passed, the lock clicked again, unlocking itself, and the timer began slowly moving in reverse. Talon stood up and tried to lock it again, but it wouldn't budge.
He reopened the door and looked at the others who stared toward Temp. Temp had fallen again and was quietly writhing in pain on the floor, clutching his chest as if it hurt and coughing violently.
Talon glared at the fallen man and said:
"On the floor again, wretch?".
Vitty, the closest, questioned the pudgy man:
"Are you… alright?"
Talon was utterly confused. Had Temp just been attacked by someone using their Privilege? Was his current state the cause of a Restriction?
…Why do Crow and Remi both have a beyond bewildered expression on their faces?
Talon had guesses as to why Remi did… but Crow?
'I just can't get a read on her…'
Talon looked over at Crow, who was mouthing something. Of course, no sounds were coming out.
The girl was staring toward Temp with an odd look as if she'd just realized something… No, like she was on the cusp of an epiphany.
'It's 2:16? It feels like less time should have passed?'
The group, one by one, slinked over and surrounded Temp. Crow was last to arrive because she went to retrieve something from the fridge and placed it on the closest desk to the refrigerator.
"Y-yeah," he spoke while coughing a few times. "I have a heart condition, that's all."
'Ha! Like a heart condition would follow you into the afterlife… It wouldn't, would it?'
Remi snapped out of his daze and gave the man an assuring smile.
"Well, as long as you're alright... While we're together like this, let's discuss our findings. I'll go first."
Remi cleared his throat, then continued:
"I looked hard out the window, but all I saw was a black void. I tried to open it, but failed. We could try to break it, but the glass seems very thick; so… I doubt we could. I also tried to push the ceiling tiles up, but they didn't budge either."
'Useless information...'
Vitty went next:
"I uh… I didn't find anything. It seems like a usual classroom. Oh! The only thing odd was that the apple didn't have a single bite!"
"Huh?" Remi questioned and looked over at Talon, who glared back. Talon had no idea what was going on in that regard either…
Remi mumbled:
"That's quite the mystery…"
Talon decided to speak next:
"This plebian bathroom was disgusting… There was a crude, filthy toilet only a peasant would use. A low-class, mundane sink and a mirror. Not much else in there…"
In truth, Talon had been fascinated by everything… but he wasn't going to let them know that.
Remi's face randomly paled and looked as if he'd just seen a ghost. Was he afraid of toilets?
Remi slowly responded:
"A-alright…"
'Huh? Did I miss something? Or am I wrong about him?'
Talon couldn't quite understand that weird reaction of his. Had he discovered something a couple of minutes ago? What had he seen to look so surprised? What had Talon missed…
Talon's guess for Remi's Restriction was already proving its own fragility. He still felt confident, but the likelihood that he was wrong began to increase.
Temp finally finished his fit of coughing with an odd series of four coughs and went next. Temp said:
"I didn't discover anything… The chalk is normal. The wall is normal. Everything is normal."
'Seriously, why is he speaking like that?'
The group looked toward their last member, Crow. The girl awkwardly scooted around the group and made her way to the front, where she picked up the chalk.
Right under her previous message, she began scraping away, nearly destroying the chalk in the process. When she finally relented to the assault on their ears, three more words were added to the wall: 'Food,' 'Water,' 'Melt.' The word 'Melt' had a slash through it. Crow tied to pantomime what she meant by the third word, but Remi and Talon decided to look at the refrigerator themselves. Temp stayed in his chair, unmoving. Vitty backed away and stood near Crow.
Curiously, the two approached the shiny metal box.
Remi spoke first:
"This is high quality… Inspecting it up close, I can nearly see myself in this polished steel."
Talon had a quick retort:
"This would look high quality to a wretch…"
Remi swung the door open while giving a retort of his own:
"Is this how 'The Prince' would treat emissaries? No wonder you died young…"
Even if he was playing a character… that one stung.
Inside the fridge were a couple of glasses of water, a block of cheese, a slab of dried meat, and the large block of ice keeping it cool.
'This really is top of the line…'
Talon had been relegated to lower kitchen duty a few times, and the ice box here dwarfed that dingy wooden box in usefulness easily!
Remi reached in and heaved the block of ice out, showing a glaring problem with this top-of-the-line refrigerator… it had no drainage pipe. Even a dreg like Talon could tell that once the ice melted, bacteria would spread and food would mold and spoil. Yet…
There was no pooled water at the bottom of the fridge. Meaning, it hadn't melted at all.
However, in Remi's hands, the ice did start to melt, slowly, albeit. The drips of water coalesced into droplets on his hands before sliding and dropping to the floor.
Remi mumbled:
"So… does it melt or does it not? What if…"
Remi bent down and returned the block of ice from where he had once picked it up and backed away. For a time, nothing happened. All five of them just stood around.
Then, slowly, very slowly, the water droplets on the floor glided toward the fridge.
Remi spoke his thoughts aloud:
"So… does this room have some method of returning things to their original state? With everything that's happened and reading our souls, it's pretty hard to deny our reality now."
Talon looked down at the crouching Remi and scoffed:
"Does that somehow change our situation? Still going to look for a way out?"
"Yeah… yeah, it does," Remi cast a downtrodden expression, refusing to meet the group's eyes. "This discovery means that no matter what Restriction someone has, they can stay here forever if needed… It also means breaking out is probably impossible…" Remi stood up and lifted his gaze, looking back at the other four. "It might be the only way out after all, someone will have to be expelled."
Talon smiled at the man before him.
"Give me command. I'll lead us toward the rightful conclusion."
Remi spoke:
"Command? Pathetic that you think I'm commanding us… But, have it your way… The Prince. Lead us toward this rightful conclusion."