Upon entering the room, Yu and his friends were amazed. Their apartment was beautiful!
The hardwood floors shone, and each of the walls were painted a bright white.
To their left was the living room, complete with a large, sandy brown couch, glass-top table, flatscreen television, and a few shelves. Behind the couch were the windows, of which were very large and clear. Simple, brown curtains adorned the panels of glass, and a modern, rectangular carpet laid under all the furniture.
Across from the living room, to the former Investigation Team's right, was the kitchen. It was nice and open, with plenty of counter space. A stainless steel fridge was placed in the corner, surrounded by shelves and cupboards. The shiny marble counter formed an "L" shape, and included a few stools to sit in.
In the center of the room was a narrow hall, which was where all of the adolescents' rooms were. Due to the large windows, the room looked very bright and welcoming.
"First one to reach a room gets it!" Rise abruptly announced. Coming to their senses, everyone dropped their things and scrambled down the hallway in an attempt to get the room they wanted. Yu managed to get the one right at the end of the hall, the most valued room of them all. Almost everyone had their hand on a doorknob. Three unfortunate people didn't.
Those poor souls were Teddie, Kanji, and Yosuke.
"You have got to me kidding me," Yosuke sighed. "Why us? Why is it always us?"
"Jeez, what are we gonna do, sleep on the floor?" Kanji cried.
"I wouldn't mind... Yow!" Teddie declared, earning a smack in the head from Yosuke.
"If that's what you want, go sleep on the couch. We'll... Share Yu's room," Yosuke decided.
"Wait a minute," Yu objected. "The both of you? Do we even have space?"
The silver-haired boy opened his room door, only to find that it wasn't a bedroom.
It was a bathroom.
A nice one, of course, with shining tiles and plenty of counter space. In fact, the bathroom had a modern glass shower, vanity, and a regular toilet, as well. However, that left Yu stranded with the other guys.
"...I think that the only option is to partner up," Naoto stated after a significant silence surrounded the apartment. "There are four rooms, and eight of us, so it is evident that each one of us will have a roommate."
There was another long silence.
"How about we all have to share with someone of the opposite gender?" Yu suggested out of the blue. The group looked at the boy like he had lost his mind.
"... Dude, are you going insane?" Kanji asked, but he was drowned out by Yosuke's excited screaming.
"I'm in!" The boy yelled.
"Oh, me too! Don't forget about me!" Teddie cried.
As she watched the boys argue and heard Yukiko's laughter, Chie sighed.
"You're kidding, right, Naru— mmf!" The tomboy was silenced by Rise's hand.
"Senpai, these kinds of chances only come once in a lifetime," the idol whispered, "you have to accept it, no matter what!"
"Rise is right, Chie," Yukiko agreed, looking at her best friend with a serious expression on her face. "You must seize these opportunities whenever you can!"
"As much as I treasure you all," Naoto sighed, "I have to admit that you can all be such imbeci—"
"We all agree!" Rise loudly announced, tuning out Naoto's remark.
"Okay then, since I brought up the idea..." Yu pulled something out of his suitcase. Upon further inspection, one could see that it was a group of chopsticks, with one marked red at the end. The adolescent then walked to the kitchen and found a plastic cup. He placed the chopsticks in it.
"Oh, are we playing the King's Game?" Yukiko excitedly asked. Yu nodded.
"Whoever's the King gets to pair up two people as roommates," the silver-haired boy explained. "Also, remember, the King's orders are..."
"Absolute," Rise finished. Yu nodded approvingly in response.
The group then began to surround the sticks, most of them hesitantly. Yu shuffled them around. With all of their eyes closed, each person pulled out a chopstick from the cup.
"Who's the King? Who's the King?" Teddie sang. From behind him, Rise squealed happily.
"I am," she smiled mischievously, then turned around to look at her friends. "Now now, who shall I pair off? Oh, I know!"
The auburn-haired girl pulled Yosuke's arm, then Chie's arm, and hooked them together. She bowed, and formally told them, "I now pronounce you roommate and roommate."
Both Chie and Yosuke looked shocked.
"Rise, are you sure about this?" Yosuke flashed a nervous glance at the idol.
"Yep. I, as the King, or should I say Queen, am always right!" Rise cheered.
Chie looked up at her distressed friend.
"Don't try anything funny," she told him with a malicious tone in her voice. Yosuke blushed profusely.
"Wh-What the hell are you thinking? I'm not that much of a perv," Yosuke stuttered.
"Tell that to the times you called me at 3am to tell dirty jokes!" Chie retorted.
"Hey, I've stopped doing that ages ago," the sandy brown-haired boy insisted.
"Two weeks ago isn't a long time at all, stupid!" Chie yelled. The pair's bickering seemed to go on for hours.
A few minutes later...
"Okay, now that you two have settled down, let's continue on with the game," Yukiko caroled. "Who's the King now?"
Once again, Yu shuffled the sticks around in the cup and everyone blindly picked one.
"I'm the King," Naoto announced, hesitantly holding up her chopstick. "And uh... A-As the King, I order that someone else choose a pair this round!"
Smiling, the rest of the girls exchanged glances and approached the detective.
"Kanji and Naoto!" They cried in unison.
"What?" Both Naoto and Kanji screamed as they were pushed against each other. Their cheeks were both a bright red. Hesitantly, Kanji looked at his new roommate and nodded.
"W-Well, there's no way out of it..." The boy mumbled.
"Then, I-I'll be in your care," Naoto nodded.
"Oh man, this is the situation you've been waiting for all your life, huh, Kanji?" Yosuke winked.
"You shut up!" The embarrassed adolescent yelled.
"It's now time for the final round," Yu announced, changing the focus of the conversation. He mixed the sticks around in the plastic cup again. Afterwards, he held it out and waited for everyone to take a pick.
"All ready?" He asked. Sticks in hand, the former Investigation Team members all nodded.
"Okay then, who's the King?" The silver-haired boy inquired.
A proud Yosuke waved his winning stick in the air. "I am!" He announced. "Oh boy, who should I pair up? Hmmm..."
The boy then proceeded to observe the remaining people. There was Yu, Rise, Yukiko, and Teddie left ungrouped. The sandy brown-haired boy frowned.
"Dammit, this is a tough decision..." He sighed. An idea suddenly sprung into his head. "Ah, I know. Yukiko, Rise, play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Winner gets to partner up with Yu!"
"Why am I the losing prize?" Teddie cried. "Yo-Yosuke, you're so mean..."
"Well, it's kinda true that'd people would rather be paired with Senpai than with you," Kanji told the bear bluntly. His words felt like arrows digging through Teddie's heart. In response, the blonde-haired boy began to sulk in a corner.
"Hey!" Rise cried, ignoring Teddie. "That's not fair!"
"Well, it does add a bit of tension to the end result," smiled Yukiko. She held out her hand towards Rise. "Are you ready?"
"... Guess I've got no choice," the idol sighed, before smiling back at Yukiko.
They both closed their eyes, then chanted, "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"
The two girls slowly opened their eyes to see that Rise's hand was a rock, and Yukiko's was a paper.
"I won!" The black-haired girl squealed.
"Congratulations, roommate," chuckled Yu. Yukiko looked at his happy face and replied with a smile of her own. On the other hand, Rise pouted.
"This sucks," she thoughtlessly remarked, before looking at Yu and Yukiko's happy faces again. "...Well, Senpai did win fair and square, so I guess I'll have to live with it."
The celebrity then glanced over at Teddie. "If you try anything on me while I'm asleep, you're outta here. Got it?"
"Y-Yes, ma'am! I'll be beary sure to remember that!" Teddie saluted, intimidated by the idol's threat.
"Well, now that that matter has been settled, let's unpack," Naoto suggested. The rest of the group nodded, then parted into their separate rooms.
Yu swung open the door to his room. He walked in and observed his surroundings, with Yukiko trailing behind him.
"Which side of the room do you want?" The boy looked at his roommate.
"The left side," Yukiko replied, looking very serious. "Whenever I sleep over at Chie's or whenever Chie sleeps over at the Inn, I always get the left side. That is how it is and always will be."
Yu chuckled at Yukiko's childishness.
"H-Hey, don't laugh," the girl stuttered. "It's a serious matter!"
"Of course," Yu smiled and then proceeded to put his stuff on the right bed. "Left side's all yours."
The black-haired adolescent smiled and began to unpack her belongings as well. A few minutes passed in silence as the pair individually organized their things. Suddenly, they heard muffled yelling coming from the room next door.
Out of curiosity, the two of them peeked their heads outside. The yelling became much clearer, and it could only be identified as none other than Chie's and Yosuke's voices. Yukiko and Yu proceeded to observe them through the large glass window on the room door.
"Wow, two fights in one day," Yu remarked. "They really are like an old married couple."
"They're so alike that both of them had not even figured out that they could put blinds over this," laughed Yukiko. She watched as the two of them bickered.
"You've got way more space than I do!" Yosuke yelled, pointing at the divider that Chie had placed on the floor.
"Looks pretty equal to me," Chie replied. "Maybe you're just crazy!"
"No, maybe you're just a space hog. Why do we even need this, anyway? Can't we just share the room like normal roommates?" Yosuke kicked the two sports bags aside.
"I don't believe that you'd not try anything on me at night," defended Chie.
"Oh, c'mon, you're still okay after that tent incident, and don't get me started on that one sleepover we had," Yosuke retorted. "Chie, I've been your friend for five years already! You trust me with everything else, so why not this?"
There was a long silence, before Chie looked back at Yosuke, her eyes stern.
"...Fine," she concluded, setting the two bags aside. "Although, if you do do anything, let it be known that you'll owe me five whole filet mignons!"
"Deal," an exasperated Yosuke grinned.
The pair continued to help each other unpack, occasionally cracking jokes and shoving each other around in the process.
Outside their door, Yukiko resisted the strong urge to giggle. She quickly ran towards the kitchen, and broke into a huge laughing fit by the sink.
"They're so funny together, ahahaha," she managed to mutter, still laughing. "It was like they were in their own little world!"
Yu nodded, smiling. To be honest, he wanted to see Chie and Yosuke get together, as well. However, he didn't particularly notice any non-platonic feelings between the two of them.
"Shouldn't rush them, though," instructed Yu, helping Yukiko get up. He was surely one to speak, as he hadn't developed a crush on anyone during his whole time in Inaba. Sure, there were a ton of cute girls, but Yu wasn't particularly interested in any of them.
"Haha, guess so," agreed Yukiko, who was slowly calming down from her laughing fit. The two stood there in silence for a bit, continuing to hold hands. Suddenly, Yukiko noticed their contact and quickly let go, her cheeks turning a light pink. Yu witnessed this, and looked shocked.
"You've never held hands with a person before?" the boy asked.
"Oh, n-no, it's just that..." Yukiko fidgeted. "That was a little unexpected."
"Sorry," Yu apologized.
"Don't be," the black-haired girl smiled gently. The pink promptly disappeared from her cheeks, and the pair continued on with their idle conversation.
A panicked Kanji rushed out of his room door, scaring Yu and Yukiko. His face was stained with blood.
"I need a tissue, dammit!" he yelled. The tall boy took the tissue box from the kitchen counter and shoved a handful of absorbent papers onto his nose.
"Are you alright, Kanji?" Naoto peeked her head out of their room, worried. Kanji waved at her, signaling that all was well. His face was flushed as he did so.
"Something happen between you two?" Yu asked. His comment made Kanji redden. Yukiko laughed teasingly.
"I-It's none of your business," insisted Kanji, who then ran off to the bathroom.
"His shoulder probably brushed against Naoto's arm," Yukiko whispered to Yu, "or something like that."
The silver-haired boy nodded in agreement. Such little things made the rowdy Kanji Tatsumi react so heavily. It was always a funny sight.
Evening
The former Investigation Team spent the rest of the afternoon settling into their new abodes. In a flash, dusk washed over the large city of Onayama.
Everyone lined up for the bathroom in an attempt to prepare for bed. At the moment, Yosuke's angry voice could be heard from the room.
"No, Teddie! Don't mess with Naoto's stuff! We're going to be killed!"
"Eh, but it's so cool, Yosuke! What's this squishy thing, anyway?"
"...Oh my god. Put that down."
"Wha, but—"
A series of clatters and incomprehensible screaming followed. Eventually, a tired Yosuke and disheveled Teddie left the premises, sighing, and both exited into their proper rooms.
The already prepared Yu and Rise sat there in silence, holding their hot mugs of tea.
"Those two are really fun, huh?" Rise laughed, sipping her drink. "Anyway, Senpai, this tea's really good."
"Yeah," Yu nodded. "So, how's rooming with Teddie like?"
"I set up a bunch of dividers and made it clear that he's dead if he comes to my side of the room without permission," Rise declared. She had a murderous tone in her voice. She set down her tea. "...Although, I still want to room with you."
"How come?" Yu asked.
"Yukiko-senpai gets to spend a lot of time with you. Way more than me," Rise began. "I was excited to go around and have fun alone with my Senpai, too."
"Well, we're alone now, aren't we?"
The idol blushed.
"Yeah..."
"And how about we go explore the city tomorrow?" Yu added.
"Just you and me?" Rise asked. The silver-haired boy nodded, earning a squeal from Rise.
"I can't wai—"
Abruptly, the whole group heard a panicked knocking on their room door. Yu ran to open it. As the door swung open, he came face to face with none other than Kou.
His indigo hair wet with sweat, Kou looked up at him, eyes filled with alarm.
"I-It's Daisuke... He's..."
In that moment, it was clear that their University days weren't going to be so carefree after all.
AUTHOR'S COMMENTS
Oh boy, a cliffhanger! To add to the anticipation, Chapter 5 and onwards need to be written, so the wait will be a little longer... I can guarantee you that this project is active and ongoing, though!
Also, thanks for all your great reviews! The answers to your questions will be revealed in later chapters, I promise!
(EDIT: Added some YuxRise in this chapter. Sorry for keeping the Yu pairings so imbalanced. I like both pairings equally, but I didn't realize...)
- Minhie