Chapter Text
Wolfgang spent the better half of his downtime looking for the one person he hated conversing with the most. As he rounded a corner, he found the familiar head of plain brown hair he was searching for. “Ah, Damon there you are. Care to have a chat?” He greeted him with a smile. He’d found Damon in the pharmacy, near the strange gachapon machine that Tozu explained they were free to use whenever. Damon had been trying to get a prize from it when Wolfgang walked in and found him. He glanced at Wolfgang with an annoyed look on his face, before turning back to the gachapon and pachinko.
“What do you want?” Damon asked. “You’re not calling me ‘Maitsu’ so I guess that means you’re here for something lame.”
Wolfgang bristled at his words, but recovered quickly. “I realize we may have gotten off on the wrong foot earlier. I don’t know exactly what I did to…upset you, but I’m here to make amends.” He really didn’t want to even be there, and from the way Damon had patently ignored him in favor of opening up one of the prize balls he’d won, he could guess Damon didn’t care for him to be there either. Well we can’t always get what we want, can we Wolfgang…It’s for the best if I just get it over with and talk to him.
Damon squinted his eyes at him with wariness. “Someone put you up to this, didn’t they? Any other day, you’d be off in your room or something…and you’re telling me you’re here to ‘make amends’?” Damon chuckled cruelly at him.
“Okay look, I know that sounds…that it’s seems like-”
“Like bullshit?”
“Yes! But! It is not. I am here simply to smooth things over between us. The others have grown a bit uncomfortable with how we sometimes get into disagreements-”
Damon’s eyes widened, and he pointed a finger at Wolfgang’s tie. “Oh so you are here on someone else’s behalf. Got it.” Damon turned back to the gachapon, turned the handle, and was once again disappointed in the prize. “Look, if it’ll make you leave me alone, I’ll back off sometimes, let you get away with your whole groupthink cult courtroom situation.”
Wolfgang sighed deeply, and ran a hand through his hair. “Seriously, just…what is your problem? I don’t get it.” He had tried just about everything when it came to understanding Damon Maitsu, and he was no closer to even knowing the surface. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you, all of us have. I don’t think it’s fair for you to treat everyone so unkindly.” Damon then tossed the useless prize in Wolfgang’s direction, who awkwardly caught it. The Lawyer was surprised to find it was a very elegant pen and ink set.
“There. We made amends. Happy now?” Damon said with a bored expression.
“What is this?”
“A gift. That’s what you give people you’re trying to…hm, ‘befriend’ is too nice of a word…But you get the idea. So will you leave me alone now?” He put his hands in his pockets and made his way to the door. Wolfgang stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, and Damon actually looked disgusted for a moment as he stared up at him expectantly.
“I would like to debate with you.” Wolfgang knew this was a last ditch effort but it was his only attempt at making a real connection, so he went with it. For the first time ever, he’d seen actual confusion cross Damon’s face as he raised a brow at him.
“Excuse me?”
“I’d like to debate with you. Either tomorrow, or even today! Since there’s not much for anyone to really do, we could have the others as moderators, and-” Damon scoffed and pulled away, letting Wolfgang’s hand fall to the side. He genuinely looked offended at the idea of debating him, and Wolfgang guessed it was probably because he felt insulted at the idea of someone like Wolfgang “challenging” him.
“Are you serious right now? A debate would be a waste of time. I’d win, you’d lose, the rest of the class wouldn’t even know what was going on.” Damon exasperated. “And besides, what would we even debate?”
Wolfgang smiled, “Whatever you’d like us to debate.” He had half a second to rethink that choice before a snake-like grin appeared on Damon’s face.
“Whatever I want? I get to pick the subject? Well, that’s real generous of you, Akire.” Wolfgang did not like the tone he said that in, it was laced with too much satisfaction. As if he had been caught in a trap by a hunter, Wolfgang had no choice left but to go through with what he had begun. “‘Trusting each other in a Killing Game is naive thinking’. This is the statement I’d like to argue in favor of. We’ll begin whenever you’re ready to.” Wolfgang nodded with a heavy weight on his shoulders. He’d agreed to die in a different way just now, and Damon Maitsu was going to be the one to kill him.
“Great! That’s a good subject. I’m sure the others will be thrilled to listen.” Wolfgang said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. Damon’s pleased smile never left, even as he turned away and walked out of the pharmacy. Wolfgang sighed, I can’t believe I’ve just agreed to something like this…a debate, with the Ultimate Debater! What is wrong with me!? He berated himself in his own mind as he sulked back to his dorm, and prepared himself mentally for the upcoming confrontation.
A few hours passed by, he’d eaten dinner and informed everyone of the debate that was happening between him and Damon. “This is a friendly debate, I think hosting one will give everyone an opportunity to have their opinions voiced and heard.” Wolfgang explained after some of the others, namely Grace, voiced their opposition to the idea. “Besides, I’ve spoken with Damon before and he’s really not that bad. He’s just a bit…uh…” He searched for a word that wasn’t negative.
“He’s a massive douchebag!” Grace answered. “Really, you shouldn’t waste your time trying to make friends with a jerk like him! If he doesn’t want to play nice, then he gets what he deserves. The cold shoulder!” He agreed with her, but saying it out loud wouldn’t have helped him any.
“I don’t know, I think it could be kind of fun! A debate between the Ultimate Debater and the Ultimate Lawyer…we could finally find out if Damon’s truly a ‘bargain bin’ version of you once and for all!” Cassidy chirped with vigor. “Oh! Can I be one of the moderators? I’ve got some experience, you know. I’ve been on, like, 5 political podcasts debating the ethics of communism. I think I could get the hang of this kind of debate too.”
Wolfgang chuckled, “Well I thought of maybe letting Ulysses be a moderator, or perhaps Wenona could-”
The Entrepreneur cringed, “I want no parts of this vapid event. You all have fun, I’ll just be a spectator.” She said, “If anything, all this will do is make you both stop picking petty fights every day.”
Diana nodded next to her, “I agree, I’ll be honest when I suggested you talk it out, I didn’t imagine you debating him…” She laughed softly. “But if it keeps the peace, then I’m all for it. Maybe Eva could be a moderator? She seems to have some experience with it, having gone to competitions similar to Damon’s.” The energy in the room shifted at the mention of Eva Tsunaka, but Diana wasn’t deterred. “She and Damon seem pretty close, a friendly debate could really smooth things over.”
Wolfgang just nodded, “The debate will be happening after dinner. I’m sure most of you have eaten already anyways. We could host it here, since there’s enough seats for us all.”
As dinner came and went, the dining hall had been converted into a makeshift debate hall. Damon followed into the room behind the others, and Wolfgang noticed Eva Tsunaka had also come along. He’d hoped maybe she’d be too intimidated to join in, but Diana had seemingly convinced her as they linked arms together. Two small round tables had been placed in the center of the room, while the sofas were pushed along the walls for extra space. Wolfgang had prepared notes for him to read as was customary during a debate, but as Damon joined beside him at his own round table, he noticed The Debater had nothing with him at all.
Slowly, the other Ultimates filed in, all sitting on the sofas or makeshift chairs. “Well? Get on with it already, Cassidy said this would be cool.” Kai complained from his spot on the sofa.
“I’ll let Wolfgang go first since the debate was his idea. And I got to pick the subject, so it’s only fair I let him kick things off.” Damon said, sitting comfortably in the chair provided.
“I noticed you didn’t bring any notes…” Wolfgang glanced at him.
“I never bring notes for a debate. It’s just how I do things.” He gestured lazily for Wolfgang to begin, and it was then that Wolfgang knew he could stall no longer. He turned to their captive audience who was polite enough to be quiet for about 30 minutes while they had their debate.
“The subject of today’s debate is as follows: ‘Trusting other people in a Killing Game is naive’. Now, I can see that some of you may feel tense after that reveal, but I assure you that this is again, a very friendly debate. It’s just meant to get everyone’s opinions out in the open.” He hoped that was enough to assuage their worries, but he could still see that many of them looked uncomfortably away from the podiums up front. “To start, I personally think there’s nothing wrong with trust in a situation like this. It’s the one thing we need to make it out of here, and working together requires we trust one another to the fullest extent. If we don’t trust one another, how can we expect to work together? Distrust is the thing that will tear us apart, and if we’re not careful it will hinder us in our efforts to escape.”
Wolfgang finished his short opening statement and actually felt good about it. The longer he stood by the podium, the more comfortable he felt speaking. He could pretend this was a very loose courtroom and he was just practicing his own defenses for the future. Damon stood up from his seat then and began to talk.
“Trust means nothing if there’s no honesty, and quite frankly none of you have any to speak of. Wolfgang included. It’s meaningless to try and put your faith in other people if you can’t even be honest and say you don’t trust them in a dangerous situation. There’s no shame in admitting that, it’s smart and puts everyone on an even playing field.” Damon explained shortly. “And to answer the question, you can still work together even if you don’t trust someone entirely. A common goal is all that’s needed, one that’s greater than whatever dumb motives that freak with the goat mask cooks up. And I would think getting out of here together would be greater than any prize Tozu comes up with.” Wolfgang shifted a little on his feet, and looked around nervously at the room.
“Uh…I don’t think anyone here has been inherently dishonest…” He said.
“Your actions all betray what you really feel. When people are scared, it’s natural for them to form a group, and to look towards a leader. Which is what happened here, even though Wolfgang doesn’t want to admit it.” Damon rolled his eyes. “But we don’t need a leader, we need a way to get out of here. Or a way to survive long enough that Tozu doesn’t try something new, something worse than a shitty blackmail envelope. You don’t have to trust each other, and it’s holding you back to waste time thinking about whether or not trust is what’s needed in this situation. But you can work together, even if you don’t agree or get along very well. I’m sure many of you have done things you didn’t exactly agree with, or had to work alongside a person that aggravated you. This is the same as that.”
Wolfgang felt as if he were quickly losing the argument, from the way some of the others were almost enraptured by Damon’s speech. I can’t let him take control of the audience this way…!
“I think you’re just misinterpreting the natural fear of others as distrust and dishonesty.” Wolfgang answered. “I have faith in everyone here that they won’t murder one another because they trust each other. They’re kind, and agreeable-”
Damon scoffed, “That doesn’t mean they ‘trust’ anyone though. It just means everyone here knows how to read a room.” Suddenly, a series of short beeps rang through the room and the Ultimates on the couch swiveled to Mark’s keyboard that he had brought with him.
“Uh…sorry, this was the only thing we had…that could act as a timer…” He said, as he made it stop its noise.
In that short debate, the tension in the room had seemingly risen until that moment when the timer rang and it was over with. “Well, I’ve made my point I guess. How will we decide the winner?” Damon asked, he yawned afterwards as well. “I’d like to get to bed soon too…so let’s decide a winner now.”
Cassidy stood up from the couch, and clapped her hands once to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, so that was really intense for a friendly debate BUT we still need to pick a side. So, show of hands: who liked Lawyer Man’s argument the most?” She looked around, a few raised their hands, in total there were 7.
“And who liked Bargain Bin’s?” Cassidy asked, followed by the rest of the room raising their hands. All in all, it seemed it was a tie. Damon looked almost disappointed as he shook his head.
“Ugh, a tie…well that’s a first. I’m heading to bed now. Goodnight to the rest of you.” The rest of the room however did not go to bed after Damon left, as it soon erupted into another debate (this one far less refined and full of more arguing.) Wolfgang tried to reel everyone back in, but it was too late.
Even though he managed to go toe to toe with the Ultimate Debater, he felt as if he’d lost anyways. Any modicum of control he once had seemed to be stripped away from him. A nightmare come to life in 30 minutes.