The average test scores on display continued to descend a bit until it hit an apparent plateau within the mid 60s range. It looked like the team's place was secure, with the seven questions answered between them and no penalties. Others were not so lucky... As the rules piled up, this meant that anyone with four or more penalties would be instantly disqualified- assuming they got every question right. That wasn't really the case...<br/><br/>"Sharp ears, huh?" Ichimaru remarked, scratching his cheek. Himawari pursed her lips thoughtfully as Azuki spoke, "Oh, Naomi. Where<em>is</em>she, anyway? Saw her team up with some kinda puppet master. Big..." Himawari bobbed her head, "Mecha-lookin' thing."<br/><br/>Kasumi elbowed Yuki, "Sounds like Makoto, huh? What's this Naomi person like then? Has our little puppeteer found herself someone to get her out of a jam?"<br/><br/>"Well..." Himawari began with a wide smile and then shrank down, "Um... Should we, uh, talk about our teammates like that? Aren't we gonna... compete now?"<br/><br/>The Kirigakure kunoichi shrugged, "Ah, since you all know eachother... does that mean I'm an enemy, Yuki-kun?" She gave Yuki a... significant look. It suddenly became obvious that with all the teams mixed up, maintaining 'alliances' would be very difficult... especially if they would be vying over limited resources in the second stage of the exam.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Consider this something akin to that scene in the manga/anime where Kabuto has his big dumb deck of cards detailing everyone and he gives the skinny on some of their competitors. Everyone else has been doing stuff with their own week so they've no doubt acquired some intelligence on their own. Plus, you can try and find Kay, Teru, Kodoku, Makoto, or Kotone and see how they did/who they teamed up with.<br/><br/>If you're tired of these social shenanigans, I can always move forward too. Feel free to vote in spoiler text or in the OOC thread.</div></div>