Disclaimer: Aya Aya Aya Aya Aya
"WHAT?!" I didn't even realise when I fell backwards onto the dirt, after pulling the robotic arm from out of the pile. It remained still in my arm, this was the bear's arm wasn't it? What was it doing here? No, could it possibly be a leg? Just thinking about the bear standing on two legs made me sick. Oh god. What a terrifying yet somewhat hilarious image.
That thought was so many types of wrong on so many layers.
"Oh, you found it!" oh god not now. The bear had popped up near me with its shit eating grin. "I see you found my lost limb. Also nice flower."
"So it was yours." that was alarming. "Oh and thanks?" why am I thanking him?
"Of course it is!" the bear shouted back, "who's else would it belong too! Tadakatsu?! Seno?! Charlotte?! None of them, only your precious headmaster~!"
My hold tightened around the arm, leg, limb, whatever you want to call it. "I'm guessing you want it back?"
"Nah, you can keep it as a souvenir, or you can exchange that for scrap, you might get around four to ten scrap for that, depending on the condition." the bear shifted closer to the pile of junk. "Are you curious? About this stuff?" he then pulled out an identical looking eye, similar to the bulging, blue one he had.
"What?" what was this zombie-esque imagery I was looking at?! Then the bear ATE its eye! DON'T SLURP IT UP LIKE IT'S SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS!
The bear spat it back out, "gross." it mentioned, wiping its mouth with its paw. "Anyway, you see, I'm a one-of-a-kind type of bear you know." that's true, I haven't seen something this horrifying before.
"I know what you're thinking, cause I'm an esper." the bear straightened itself up as much as it could with its paws on its hips. "You're thinking, how lonely it must be for such a glorious bear like me, and you'd be right. It's been a lonely three hundred years."
That year gap is bullshit, no way can you be three hundred plus years old, also, "I wasn't thinking tha-" the bear cut me off, lost in its own fabricated story of lies.
"I travelled around the world for aeons," oi, that's longer than what you said before! "I searched for the holy grail, and lost a lot of friends in the war." the hell kind of war is this?!
"I...I even killed my own brother and gained my eye, the Mangekyo Despairingan!" Whoa, slow down there! "It was during that time I discovered my powers of a Shinikuma."
I stood up and dusted myself off, yeah I ain't listening to this garbage. "I'm going."
"No, wait! Come back! I'll tell you the truth!" I stopped in my tracks, still holding the limb as the bear whipped its forehead like there was sweat there. "Phew, anyways, to cut a short story long. I'm one-of-a-kind type of bear, so that means, there's only one of me~" despite how he said that, I could see that being true, but at the same time, he must have been lying, right? If he is destroyed, the killing game is over, so that means, we can stop with the killing game.
My hand tightened around the limp robotic limb. If that was the truth, destroying him now will be the end of everything! No more killing game! Yet, no matter how hard I tried, my hand kept relaxing itself, as if everything was a-okay. "So, I thought to myself, 'what if I was found with mortality?' Sure, I'll still carry on in a way, but my body won't, so I tried to make some backups or at least have some spare parts if I get damaged, and that limp thing your holding that isn't your-" I gave him a mean look as he coughed into his paw. "-holding that limb, I mean, is just one of many spare parts."
"So...its just you?" the bear shrugged.
"Am I?"
I gritted my teeth behind my lips, best not to show him how he's getting to me. "I'll keep that information to myself about all that spares or just being a lone renegade bear nonsense, but it's good to still have some spare parts lying around for repairing my damage."
As the bear talked, I approached the conveyor belt and went through the process of earning some scrap from the arm. "Oh, you got a bonus." the eye was also put through the machine as I collected my scrap.
"So, are you done?" my question didn't really do much to the bear, honestly. It just sat there, staring. Which, admittedly, after a while started to creep me out.
"Yep." it broke the silence. "You're free to go, young cricket."
I hastened my pace as I left the scrapyard, as I did, I hear the bear shout out, "remember to come by the store later!"
I guess I should keep that in mind, but for now, I continued on my way to nowhere. I decided to enter inside as I walked through the first floor. Well, we had a new 'floor' opened up to us, and I'll admit, I do like the idea of swimming. Might go for one later if everyone else is up for the idea. As I walked through the main hallway, I took a detour into the men's restroom.
I have yet to enter here, in fact, its the only place I didn't really check, maybe something will be here? Probably not. As I walked to the sinks, I noticed the door on the far end, had a sign on it. Approaching it slowly, the sign read 'OUT OF ORDER'.
Looking down at the simple locks, it was much like the others, but it was engaged instead of vacant. I think I still have that monocoin from the first day with me. I fished out the coin and put it to the lock and gave it a turn. Nothing. Must have been jammed. I put the coin back in my pocket as I went to have a look at the lock and determine if it was damaged.
As I took a look, I heard a voice speak up, "Oh, you're here too." I turned to see who spoke, it was Seno of all people. "What are you doing?" yet as he asked, he was looking at the flower in my hair.
"Just checking to see if this is really out of order, you'll never know what that bear has planned up its sleeve."
Seno nodded, walking to the sinks. "The good thing about these is that there are no cameras." I looked around, it was true. No cameras in sight.
"That means it would be the same for the girl's restroom too." I added. "I still find it odd with the out of order...but, enough about that, so Seno, how did the footage turn out?" it was going to be a hard topic, especially with...Kanata.
Seno stopped as he looked into the mirror. "The footage came out nicely, editing it was a breeze too." he then turned the tap on and washed his hands.
"You already edited it?"
Seno looked at me via the mirror. "Of course," he replied, "there was nothing else to do here, and besides, I think we all need something to keep us occupied after that." Seno's tone didn't sound like his sarcastic self as he turned off the tap.
"Something to keep us occupied huh." I supposed that was true. I might need to find something to do myself in that case, but I'll save it for tonight. "Going back to the editing for a second, you edited it?"
"I wouldn't be an internet personality if I didn't know how to edit my videos." there it was, there was the sarcasm.
The teen with the messy dark brown hair shrugged. "We all got stuff related to our talents right? Well, in my room I have cameras, a computer with a lot of restricted functions, and before you ask, no, I couldn't try and communicate with the outside world." he sighed in a bored way. "Hopefully there is help on the way."
So that explains why Seno edited the footage, but what if...there was a way around that? Does anyone else here have any computer experience asides from the basics? Shame we don't have a programmer or hacker, whatever.
"What's the matter? Don't tell me you fell for your own reflection." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked towards Seno.
"I-I was thinking about something, not my reflection!"
Seno smirked, drying his hands. "Sure, sure, flower petal."
"Actually, while you're here Seno, I got something to ask you." he looked back at me with a 'ask away' look. "What made you become a internet personality?"
Seno blinked, having his hand push up his hair with his other hand immediately fixing the mess up he had created with his other hand, I think I saw something, but it was too quick. "What is there really to say? I mean, becoming a internet personality kind of happened."
"One video went viral?"
"I can't believe we're having a conversation in the bathroom of all places, but no. It wasn't a video." Seno looked back into the mirror. "You know that a talent like mine was only a matter of time, right?" I nodded.
Seno stared at his reflection as he continued, smirking as he did, "believe it or not, but it was actually a video game." Oh, like an online match? "I was playing an online multiple player game, where apparently my dry humour, flat voice and sarcasm made everyone laugh. So I started a channel and well, the rest is history."
He broke eye contact with the mirror as he looked at me. "Originally I just wanted to go through these final three years and be done with it, and get back to work, but it seems plans have changed."
Damn that bear and its killing game. Why do we have to go through with this shit? Well, no use crying over spilt milk.
Seno then walked to one of the stall doors, pulling it open. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Don't we all?" I asked back, which caused him to smirk.
"Oh believe me, if I stayed here any longer, we will have bear meat to eat tonight. One from a two toned bear," he said opening the door. "But rotten meat might not be a good idea."
As the door closed, I took that as my cue to leave.
Leaving Seno to powder his nose, I headed back out, and luckily avoided Kyogen, who was carrying...multiple gacha prizes? They were still in the ball though.
"Oh, hey dude, look at what I got!" yeah, I can see. Thanks Kyogen.
"Are those...gacha prizes?" Kyogen nodded enthusiastically.
"Yep!" wait, does that mean he went around and got monocoins or scrap? "I built up some coins and had a blast over in the store."
"You sure...won a lot." while it wasn't too many, it definitely caused him to carry it with his arms.
"Want to see what I won?" he asked, beaming a smile my way. "While the feeling of gacha is surprisingly fun, it's a bit boring to open prizes alone."
"Yeah, sure, why not." I got nothing better to do.
"Sweet! Then let's go do." Kyogen then smile at me, looking at the flower. "Nice flower, it suits you." I looked away at that.
We huddled over in a corner of all places as Kyogen laid out all the gacha balls on the floor. "Some of them actually contained a few coins."
"...what?"
"Yeah, dude. I put a coin in, turned the knob and WAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM, more coins. Well, it was actually two per ball inside, but still, it was quite thrilling!" he laughed. Who are you? A luckster?! Also why are there coins in the gacha?! Are the other prizes that bad they have to put more coins to use on the gacha to make up for it?!
There was about ten gacha on the floor, as Kyogen opened up the first gacha while saying, "since there's two of us, how about taking turn opening the gacha?"
"They're your prizes," I shook my head, declining the offer. "You should open them, but thanks for the offer."
"Come on man, it's better to do this with friends." he grinned. "Plus, I did it a lot with my siblings."
"You have siblings?" I asked as the troublemaker nodded.
"Three siblings." he revealed, having a smile on his face as he zoned out in a nostalgic trip. "A younger sibling, older sibling and a twin."
"Must be nice to have siblings."
Kyogen nodded. "Mhm. I wonder how Gendai and the others are doing?"
"Gendai? Is that your brother?" Kyogen grinned at me, the ones closed shonen type of grin.
"Gendai is my fraternal twin! I have an older sister, Katsura and a younger brother, Kiri." he smiled proudly, speaking of them as if they were his pride and joy. His reason for existence. I couldn't help but be in awe.
"Anyone else?"
"There is also our grandparents, they took care of us since we were babies!" his hand rubbed the back of his neck as he laughed.
"What about your parents?" I was a bit confused to why they weren't mentioned.
Kyogen dropped his hand. "Never around. My grandparents say that they were not mature or responsible enough to take care of children, and well, I never saw nor heard of them. Just small titbits from Gramps." he then continued talking about his family, more specifically his siblings.
As Kyogen talked about his family, my mind drifted off. I wonder what that would be like.
"Dude? Sui?" I didn't register Kyogen until he nudged me. "Suuuuuuuuuuuuui?"
"Huh? What?" When I came back into it, Kyogre was giving me a concerned look.
"Are you okay? You looked pretty bummed."
"Ah, I'm fine." however, Kyogen wasn't having it.
"Due, I have siblings, I known when something is up."
"I swear Kyo, I'm fine." the look continued.
"We'll keep it between us, okay?" he then realised what I called him. "Hey, that's the same nickname Fumi gave me!" seems Fumi was just handing out nicknames.
I sighed. "Okay, it's...I was just wondering what it was like is all, nothing too important."
"Wondering what?" Kyo tilted his head.
"What having a family is like." Kyogen froze, well halted all actions before looking a bit shameful.
"S-Sorry dude, I didn't know."
"It's okay, not your fault." I decided to get the conversation back on the happy track. "How about we actually pop that first one open?"
Kyo did just that. He took the gacha and popped it open finally. Now on the ground was a...splinter?
We both looked at the small splinter, and I swear that the words 'menacing' were coming off it! Yet at the same time, it feels familiar. Could this be one of those things that if you keep on you, something good would happen?
"Huh, a splinter?" Kyogen picked it up and looked at it from every angle. No matter how you dice it, it's a splinter.
"Why was that a prize?" my sigh didn't deteriorate Kyogen's enthusiasm.
"Cool." ...beg your pardon? What? "This might be a splinter that has rich history."
"It's a splinter..."
"Who knows how long this might have been in someone." he continued, the madman. "this could've been a major plot device!"
"I think you're taking this joke too far now, stop it."
He put the splinter back in the gacha ball. "Now onto the next one." you're not seriously thinking of keeping it, are you? Kyogen held up the second, and popped it open.
"A meal voucher?" I looked at Kyogen.
"Do you think that means we can get a free meal?" he asked.
"It is a voucher after all, but it seems to voucher for one to eat more fancy food than what we have here."
"Oh, that makes sense." he then popped open a few more, gaining some more prizes. Kyo won a small snap-lock bag filled with grains of sand, another similar bag but with sugar as both were apparently labelled, a needle, a band-aid, a real one yen coin, a die, and a thumb tac. What the hell are these prizes?! Now we were down to the last gacha prize as Kyo popped it open, as a small ring fell onto the ground. Now it wasn't a real ring, or at least I hope not, but it didn't look real to be. It gave me a great idea, putting a smirk on my face.
"So, Kyogen. Gonna pop the question?" I started nudging him. "I mean, you got a nice little ring here, I bet Eshe would love that."
Kyogen was a stuttering, blushing mess. "Well, I mean, er, you see." he continued like this for a while as I stood up, stretching.
"Well, hope I can be your best man. See you around Kyo." I then left Kyogen where he sat, collecting his prizes as he, I assume, got up and headed for his room.
I then headed into the store, I had enough scrap thanks to the scrapyard, still odd how we had that. As soon as I entered the store, I was hit by a wave of aroma, incense? Whatever it was, it was both pleasing and strong. God damn.
"Ah, you have come, as foretold in the prophecy." the bear was there again, sitting behind the counter. "How may we of DeepSea help you today?"
"What?"
"Hm?"
"Never mind, so, what's new?" it was fairly obvious, really. It was right in front of me after all. A gacha machine with the words 'MONO MONO' on top of it. Most likely the same thing where Kyogen got all those gacha balls.
"It's the Mono Mono Machine! Use your monocoins to win something good!" the bear pitched the sail, here, use this coin, it feels better to use a real coin then your e-handbook.
Thanks, but, these aren't real coins either. Shaking my head, I took the coin and inserted it into the gacha and then, turned the knob. I watched as a ball rolled down the tube before finally coming out from the bottom. Seems I got to crack it open.
"Oh yeah, depending on the size of the prize, it'll just be a note with an authentic seal on it." the bear spoke up as I picked up my prize.
With a twist and a pull, I opened my prize.
It was a small, rusted key. Huh? Maybe there's some locked doors I can open with this. I put it back into the ball it came in and quickly put it away in my pocket.
"Get something good?" it asked, tilting and swaying its head from side to side.
"I don't know yet, possibly." as I walked away from the bear, I heard its squeaky arm that need some oiling wave goodbye.
"Come again soon~!" sadly, I think that might be the case. Now that I think about it, I have yet to empty my pockets. I better do that.
The trip to my room wasn't as exciting as discovering the arm, but I did approach relatively quickly. As I entered the room, I headed straight for the desk, dumping all but the e-handbook and room key onto the desk. A monocoin, a gacha ball with a key and the small carving of the bat Isabi gave me.
Hold on a minute. I opened up the gacha ball, dropping the small rusted key onto the desk and fished out my room key. The room key had a clean, singular key with a connected name tag with my name in pixelated font, on the other side of the tag was my talent, also in the same font. What connected the two, was a key ring.
I picked up my newly acquired key and attached it onto the key ring and dumped the keys in my left pocket, keeping the e-handbook in my right one. I then closed the gacha ball, I didn't really have any more use for it, so I opened up a spare draw and dumped it in. Closing the draw before I approached the bed and getting on my knees and leaned closer til I looked under the bed where I stashed the dvd player the bear gave us.
I opened the dvd player and pressed play. Nothing. I opened the cd-tray and there was nothing there. "That bear must of have taken it." it was the only plausible thing I could think of, I even looked in the trash can, and the note in there was gone, and now that I thought about it. I looked around the room in a hurry, re-checking my pants too. The note with the secret, was gone.
Wait, hold on. Did...did that bear...! "Did that bear take the videos and secrets?!" if it was used to cause a murder, then it wouldn't be viable to keep it around. In the end, he got a death through execution, but we all have the thought, in the back of our minds, that someone here has our secrets, saw our family, our friends...and their possible fate.
That's...a bummer to think about. I closed the dvd player and placed it down on the desk, maybe I could get a dvd from the store? Or perhaps...I stopped in my thoughts, no. I shouldn't think like that, it's the same as feeling that 'home sweet home' feeling. It shows I'm getting used to this place, as if it was my home. No. I released a sigh as I sat on the bed.
I turned my head in the direction of the knocking, of course it came from my door. I sprang onto my feet as I walked over and opened the door.
"Hey, Sui-chan~!" Oh GOD NO! NOT TODAY! WE JUST MET EARLIER! "Fox has come to collect the potion favour~."
Guess I have no choice. "Alright," let's get this over and done with.
"Yay~!" Fox grabbed my wrist as he pulled me away, I grabbed my door and closed it as I was pulled away by Fox. "Let's go Sui-chan~."
Man, Fox's hands were quite soft. Soon he opened up his room, and I feared for my life as I was dragged in.
I think I entered the witch's lair.
Fox's room, was exactly what I thought I entered. There were witch decorations around the room, there was a broom hanging on the wall above the bed, those fake spiderwebs around the top of the walls all around the room with even black bats and spiders decorations as well, some of the spiders being on the webs or on the wall with the bats.
The main thing that caught my eye was the big fuck off cauldron in the middle of the room! Why is there a cauldron here?! Well I know it was because that Fox was a 'witch' and that, but why though? Also around the room were the standard desk and bed, which I think the pillows were a bit bigger than the other pillows I've seen in here. I looked around the room some more and notice that Fox had some cabinets with glass doors around the room and besides the whole witch motif, there was also a chemist lab motif to it. It had multiple types of lab equipment like vials and beakers, as well as some minor stuff like a white board that seemed to have written down chemicals and formulas. It also had that nice, cool, chemist feel in the air.
"The amazing and mischievous Fox has a big surprise for you! See this bottle. It's poison gas, if you breath in it, you instantly die!" Fox brought out and threw me a purple potion which actually looked like a potion you'd see in fantasy genres. Wait...POISON?! I fumbled around the potion, tossing it on the bed, luckily the potion didn't open. "Hehehe! Kidding! That just water and food colouring mixed together." he laughed, enjoying my suffering.
"You little shit." I growled at the 'innocent' yipping fox. "I thought that was actually poison!"
"Aww~ Fox was just kidding, no need to be rude. If you keep acting like that," Fox's look became sinister, "Fox might actually create poison for you." the shadow that covered the upper half of his face... it was actually quite scary.
I wasn't going to fall for it this time though as Fox's face went back to normal. "Oh well, Fox loved your reaction~." Fox picked up the 'potion' and but it back with the rest. The chemist went to his desk, cluttered with various vials, beakers and the more potion looking bottles as he began searching through it. "Take a seat on the bed, Sui-chan~."
I'd rather not, but I guess I have no real choice. I did promise after all. I sat on the bed patiently as I waited for Fox, only for the mischievous little devil to come back with a 'witch potion' in his hands.
The witch popped the bottle's lid off as he brought it over. "Have a taste~," I had no chance to react as the chemist forced it into my mouth, and started pouring the liquid in. Aw, it tasted bad! Horrid! Why do you do this to be Fox?! You are tearing my soul apart!
He pulled the potion out, still some liquid in it as I coughed, spitting out any excess potion. "Agh, what was that?"
Fox winked and did a sideways victory sign with his fingers near his eye as he leaned (or popped) his delicate feminine, porcelain doll-like body to the side and said without missing a beat, "Cyanide~"
I felt the world shattering around me. "Just kidding~." the little demon cheered again before going to his desk. "Hm? Sui-chan?" I then felt a finger poke my cheek.
"Suuuuuuui-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan?" the poking continued faster before I feel back and remembered how to breathe.
"What was that?"
"Prune juice." really?! Prune juice?! I slapped my face.
I then watched him open up a notebook as he jotted down some notes, it seems. "What are doing?"
"Writing down some spells, hehehe." oh no. "Now come on Sui-chan, let's continue~" with a roll of his hand, another vial appeared as I felt a bead of sweat roll down my face.
Help me.
Fox kept on making me drink his potions, and each time a part of me died. Now, I just finished an orange one.
"How do you feel, Sui-chan? Not feeling touchy-feely are you?"
I spat out any lingering liquid. "No! Why would I feel like that?!"
"You did see Fox without his shirt~" he cooed, "and who knows what side effects that potion has." even though he wasn't looking at me, I could tell he was grinning!
"It better not be-" I was rudely interrupted.
"Nah, that potion wasn't harmful in anyway, learn to trust Fox~." that's gonna be very, very, very hard.
I got off the bed, which was softer than my own, damn it (why?), and I think I am pretty much done here for today. "If that's all, I'm going."
"Hey, Sui-chan?"
"Hm?" I paused after turning the knob to see Fox holding his witch hat in front of him, hiding his face from the eyes down as the eyes shimmered and twinkled.
"T-Thanks for ingesting Fox's potion~." WHY DID YOU SAY IT IN THAT WAY? WHY IN A WAY THAT PEOPLE COULD TAKE THE OPPOSITE MEANING?! WHY WAS THAT LOUDER THAN NORMAL? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET EVERYONE TO STOP AND LISTEN? STOP BLUSHING AND HOLDING YOUR CHECK DAMN IT!
The cheeky bugger then laughed it off. "Kidding~."
You're dead to me.
"Hehehehe, see you next time with the potions Sui-chan! Fox will be sure to try out my spell next!" with that, I closed the door.
As I left Fox's room only to notice that Kanata's door was ajar, then the feeling of guilt returned. I swallowed and push the door open, only to see, "Astin?" how did she get in here?
"Oh hey, Sui." she forced a smile.
"What are you doing in here...how did you get in?"
"The door was unlocked," she moved her hair behind her ear. "And Kanata's key was just on the bed."
So does that mean, when we die, our rooms are just left unlock for the other's pleasure?
As I looked around Kanata's room, it was clearly a painter's room with cans of paint, brushes, sprays, palettes and canvases were around the room, of course with other painting supplies. Even the walls were just blotches of colour varying colours for wallpaper. Reds, pinks, blues, greens, yellows, and many others.
"He shouldn't have gone like that." Astin closed her eyes as she walked around the room.
It still amazed me how Astin didn't trip over or stand on her thick, wavy knee-length powder blue hair. "No one deserved what happened with Kanata, not even Kanata himself. The rusted down junk pile is sick in the head." or rather, the mastermind among us. Speaking of which...no, it's best not to think of that just yet, but at the same time...I want to tell someone.
But what if the mastermind is the one I tell?
...
What do I do?
"Sui?" huh? I snapped back to reality as Astin gave me a concerned look. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just thinking," of when the mastermind will strike next.
"I'm sorry for bringing this up." she apologised once more. "I just reminded myself about the talk me and Kanata had about his paintings."
"You guys talked about paintings?" I didn't see that coming, but at the same time. I only knew of a few groups personally like Maria and Sunako or Takeo and Tadakatsu. It wasn't that surprising, I mean, people talk with each other all the time.
She nodded politely, "he talked a great deal about it, even one of his more earlier works." the smile that briefly graced her face dropped. "Sui, do you think what we did was selfish?"
"The voting, right?" I sighed. "I do, but at the same time, I don't."
She looked at me for an explanation, "well," I coughed into my hand, "I do feel guilty about Kanata's death, it was very unfair to him, and we did vote him off, we practically killed him, but Kanata was also fighting for his life. Its...its a mixed feeling."
I took a deep breath before I started again, "we got to keep on living for Kanata right? Sure, in the end there, there were some...altercations," more like Kanata fending for himself in the end. "We're alive aren't we? Everything is trying their best to cope right now and sometimes, sometimes the things we do to numb the pain, creates more pain."
"Thanks for listening Sui." Astin took her leave, now I was alone in the room. "That flower suits you." she added as she left at the last minute.
Checking the time, it was almost time for lunch, and that would mean, nearly everyone might be in the cafeteria. I'm actually getting a bit hungry.
"Getting some lunch too?" I turned to see Anju, lacking her microphone in her hands, before spying it in her pocket.
"Yeah." I then looked around and back to Anju, "how are you holding up?"
"Just like the rest of us, surviving." she smiled sadly.
I placed my hand on her shoulder. "I...I know." I removed my hand as we continued walking to the cafeteria. "I kind of feel guilty, but at the same time, we were about to die. In the end, I took a leap of faith as Kanata lied about his can of paint of being stolen, and there was no evidence to back either claim of it being stolen or not."
It was her turn to comfort me as I felt her hands hold my face firmly in place. "Sui...its...its okay. I feel bad for Kanata, but we need to keep living." she said removing her hands. "Plus, next time, if this happens. We'll make sure that we have evidence for it!"
I nodded at her words. "Right."
"Now, let's think about that stuff later when we escape. Let's go get some lunch." Anju opened the door to the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, I spied Akahana, Charlie, Hudson, Maria, Renji, Sei and Sunako.
Well, not in that order, but here they were. All in different parts of the cafeteria. Some where they most felt comfortable being, especially with their talents.
Akahana was sitting at a table with what appears to be her harvest from the foraging, sorting them out into different piles.
When I approached the red riding hood, she smiled at me. Maybe because I still had the flower in my hair. "Seems we meet again." she smiled, sorting out her harvest.
"Whatcha doing?" I pulled up a seat.
"Sorting out the berries and flowers out from my foraging." she fixed up her hood, speaking of which. I coughed into my hand, getting her attention.
"Aka, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Akahana stopped sorting her provisions and nodded at me. "I know you like fairy tales, but, do you like...cosplay?"
"Ah! Well, I won't deny that!" she seemed to hide deeper into her hood. It was actually quite adorable to see her flush and hide in her hood.
Guess that can explain the hood. "I think it suits you."
She started messing with it, "...thanks..."
Charlotte however was reading a book, a very familiar book that is. She adjusted her glasses as she continued reading. "Do you two mind? It's just getting good here."
"Sorry." I looked at the book and back to Akahana.
"Oh yeah, I recommended a book that you might have written to Charlie." she started putting her stuff back into her basket.
"Really? What makes you think that?" I looked back at the book, 'The Rose and its Thorn' was the book, a romance novel written by 'some lady', it was quite popular among youths.
Akahana shrugged. "Similarities in writing for starters, and it just felt like yours." she explained, "was I right?" I nodded and turned to the billiards player.
"You enjoying it, Charlie?"
"Huh?" she glanced to me, the page and back to me. "I only just started, and uh, well it's interesting I do like it."
"Is it up your alley?" I asked, "it universally it sold quite well with the romance being the main draw as it was the crowning achievement of the story."
"W-wha?! No-n-no that's ridiculous!" she laughed awkwardly. "I don't read stuff like that!"
"Charlie?" the billiards player had stood up, closing her book in a way that left a bookmark and left the cafeteria. "I can sign it! ...was it something I said?"
"Who knows darling," the familiar voice of Hudson chirped in.
Hudson wasn't eating anything, but he was sitting down with a small hand mirror, perhaps checking his make-up? Now that I get a better look, specifically he was doing his eye liner.
"How does this look, dear?" he blinked, looking in the mirror before looking at me.
"It...looks good?" I have no clue about make-up, please don't ask me.
"Hm," Hudson shrugged, putting down the hand mirror and began to put his make-up and other gear away. "I suppose this should do for now."
So was my opinion worthless?
"Sorry, I don't know much about make-up."
"Hmm," I didn't like that smile. "I could teach you darling~." once again, he used the female voice.
"T-That's quite alright."
Hudson then circled me like a shark. "A bit of eye shadow here and make some light make-up there. I think I can make this work."
"Wow, hold on. I didn't agree to any of this!" I stood from the chair until Hudson just sat me down, holding his make-up gear.
"Now now, dear," he ran a finger over my eyebrows. "I think we can make you shine~"
"No! I'm fine!" Please!
Hudson then took a step back and giggled like a woman of nobility behind his hand. Oi...
"Fufufu, I'll leave you be now dear~." Hudson used his female voice before giving me a wink and blowing a kiss. Stop it! STOP IT NOW!
I watched as Hudson left, and as he did, my head landed onto the table with a thud. "Ow." I moved my head to the side as I looked around the room again, raising my head up a little.
Maria and Sunako were sitting together, which was now quite the common sight. Maria then excused herself as she got up and headed back into the kitchen.
"Afternoon, Suisei." she greeted, "I hope the day has been treating you well."
"It's been a pretty good day today," I then remembered Fox force feeding me potions...or was it force drinking? "And what about you?"
"I've been working on my spiritual connections." oh...OH!
"R-Really?" that was quite the news. "So, how is it going?"
"It's been going fairly okay," she made a circle on the table. "Usually I strengthen my connection through mediation."
"So, uh, is Kanata out there?" Sunako didn't respond for a while (hope I wasn't too blunt), her eyes were closed as her hands were together in a prayer. She must be mediating.
"Of course. The deceased are always with us. Just cause their bodies perished, doesn't mean that they're truly dead." she was always smiling. "The same goes for Kanata, he is still with us. Kanata is still looking over us."
"I wonder if that's a good thing..." we did get him executed after all, who he even care for us, or would it be more of a watching over us, waiting for our death?
"Do not fear, Suisei," Sunako seemed to be reading me like a book. Heh, a ghostwriter being easily read. "There is no need to think of such things, Kanata in his final moments wasn't in the right mind. In fact, that situation made me face a side not even he was aware of."
"Huh?"
"We all have another side to ourselves we are unaware of," she started explaining, "when Kanata was in the trial, it turned into a battle of survival, something we all possess, but never really encounter on a daily basis." oh, I see where she was going with this.
"Kanata was only experiencing basic survival instincts, he is quite in the right mind now as he is watching over us."
"Thanks, Suna."
She raised an eyebrow as her smile remained in its permanent position. "I didn't do anything."
"No, thanks to you, you've set my soul at ease. Thank you, Suna."
With nod and then a glance to the kitchen, she turned back to me. "Do you mind helping Maria?" the medium asked, "she's taking some time..."
"Sure, I'll be bring her back."
I then entered the kitchen were our bishop was getting some food. She was reaching for the top shelf. "Need a hand?"
"O-Oh, I-I should be fine."
I looked to see what she was getting. If it was at the front of the cupboard, it would have been fine, but what she was after was at the back. Not even I could reach it without help.
Right beside her was a kettle and two teacups. So she was making tea? That means she was after biscuits in the back, but why were they out of reach?
Eventually, she had gotten the biscuits (with a bit of effort), almost dropping them too. "A-Are you having a nice afternoon, Sui?" she asked politely, as she opened the biscuits up. "Biscuit?"
I took a biscuit she handed me, "pretty good, just came to make sure you were alright. Sunako was getting a little worried."
"S-Sorry."
"Hey, no need to apologise." the biscuit was pretty good. "Making tea?"
"Oh, yes. Would you like a cup? I can easily make you some." she placed the biscuits down as she went to go get another cup.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good." I reached for another biscuit. "Need a hand taking it out?"
"O-Oh, you don't need to do that." she held her hands out to stop me. I ate the biscuit and picked up the kettle and a cup.
"I'll take the kettle, you bring the other cup and the biscuits, okay?" I carried the kettle out as she followed behind before setting it on the table.
"Welcome back you two." Sunako greeted as Maria took to her seat across from Sunako before looking at me.
"Are you sure you don't want a cup?" Maria asked as I shook my head. It wasn't that I wasn't thirsty, it was more along the lines of I was really feeling tea at the moment. I bid them farewell and decided to check up on Renji.
Renji, was of course, behind his bar serving drinks as per usual. "What drinks are you serving, Renji?"
The mixologist looked up to me as he did one of those employee 'this is what we have on the menu' type of wave. "Mainly juice. However, I can mix up some milkshakes, coffee or tea. Or if you wish for it, I can just provide milk." he told me.
"Uh, I'll have," don't say a number nine, "a milkshake."
"Any flavour?"
"Strawberry." Renji nodded as he went and got the required ingredients. Sorry Maria.
"I must admit, that my skills lie solely in mixing beverages in drinks like cocktails." he gave a formal nod of the head. "So I must apologise if a mixed milkshake might not be up to scratch with my other drinks."
"It's fine, Renji, besides it's actually quite something to watch you mix drinks like that."
"You give me too much credit."
I just shrugged. "I do have to ask, what got you into this kind of business?" you certain don't look like your over eighteen years old.
Renji kept his eyes on the soon-to-be milkshake. "I've devoted the latter half of my life to become the best mixologist in the world, I still strive to reach those heights," his voice contained clear pride. "It all started with my family, they owned a club for over seventy years, you might have heard of it. The club called Eclipse."
"I've heard of it." it wasn't that big of a club, but it was gaining more attention everyday, mainly because of the wandering mixologist here I bet.
"It was passed down my family for the last three generations." he pulled out a glass and began filling it. "It's tradition for the first born to take up the mantle of owner and led it to success."
"So you go a club to run?" Renji shook his head, guess he wasn't running it.
"I'm not the first born." oh, so he had an older brother or sister then.
"Oh, uh, sorry?"
"No, it's fine. I knew of it when I was little and I considered it to not be my problem." he continued with the drink as I just simply watched.
I glanced to one of the tables and back at Renji. "Can you make that two?"
Renji raised an eyebrow but nodded regardless. "Very well."
"Thank you, please continue."
"Well, one thing lead to another and before I knew it. I was doing some minimal work after some convincing, what could I say? I wanted to help. It was just cleaning, throwing out trash and stocking the inventory. I was given the honour to give the bartender a hand."
"Sounds like they didn't want your help in the business." convincing to help work and only to get the basic of jobs from family, kind of irked me the wrong way, as if they didn't want their oldest son to be out-shined by the younger. However, I could be looking to deep into this, I mean, Renji is around our age. So it would be illegal for him to work there.
"Well, it took some convincing to help out there after all." he smiled as he handed me the first drink. "It was then I found my talent for mixing drinks." he started on the second one. "He gave me a hard time, a lot of tough mixes, but other night, I shocked him with my progress."
"And the rest is history?" he nodded.
"Pretty much. I was instructed on what to do and I learnt from those experiences. My mentor taught me everything and well, here I am today." the story felt short, but hey, at least he was helping out his family in any way he could. "Here's your second drink."
Whoa, that was much quicker than the first time. I took the drinks, gave Renji a nod while thinking about if I could pay him in monocoins, and headed towards the table.
The table had white plate with a few crumbs on it as I placed one of the milkshakes down. "Hey, Sei." I greeted the mostly white haired doll of a girl.
The skinny and pale girl looked up right at me, a smile on her face. Seems she just ate? "Afternoon, Sui." she greeted, eyeing the milkshake. "Is one of them for me?" I nodded, as she gingerly took the milkshake.
"Thank you, but you didn't have too." her short peach-pink fingernails tapped on the glass she held.
"No, it's fine. Besides, we kind of missed getting breakfast together."
"Sorry." she apologised, bowing her head.
"Hey, hey," I spoke quickly. "No need for apologises, these things happen. Especially with...that." I didn't feel like talking about the trial, it made me feel ill.
We then started talking, mostly about random topics as we drank our milkshakes.
As we talked, her dark onyx eyes stared into me, as if looking into my soul as she smiled. "Um, do you mind if we talk about something else?" I asked as those dark pools swirled.
She blinked as I had to remind myself that I wasn't talking to a thirteen year old looking doll. "Sure, how about...some books?"
Was she asking me that because I was a ghostwriter? Well, anyway, "I have a book called Crownvetch if you're interested in it. Akahana's been giving it a read lately."
"Just how many books have you written?"
"Well, let's just say, a lot." I got plenty of work, and it was fun to go out of my comfort style when writing. "I can show you them later if you want."
Sei clapped her hands together with a large smile on her face. Aww. "That sounds like fun!" It did, didn't it?
She asked me a few questions about some of my other books, and before I knew it, I was having a good time.
"Oh, look at the time," I was brought out of our conversation as she stood up. "Sorry, Sui, but I kind of promised to help Charlotte with something."
Huh, wasn't expecting that. "Well have fun."
"I'll see you later!" she gave me a wave as she hopped away. Now that I look around, the cafeteria was empty. I took our glasses to the sink, gave them a quick clean (which Monokuma would probably clean them more thoroughly) and left the cafeteria. I had no idea where to go now, but I guess the gym could be a good stop.
Entering the gym, I witnessed Leon shooting some hoops. Leo lived up to the title of the Ultimate Basketball Star as he continued to score shoot after shoot, and even some slam dunks on the hoops. Then again, you could argue that it wasn't as impressive as he wasn't playing against someone, but from the distance of those shots, they were indeed impressive as they went straight into the hoop, a clean shot every time!
Leo grabbed the basketball as he noticed me. "Hey, Sui."
"Um, hi?"
Some light-bulb went off in Leo's head as he asked, "wanna play some basketball?"
"Uh, I'm not that good..."
"It'll just be a friendly game. We'll play it by one hoop equals one point." he then threw me the ball. Seems I'm playing...great.
No matter how I tried when the game began, the ball was easily stolen. I failed to block, defend or steal it back and no matter where Leo was on the field, he scored a basket. In the end, the total score was fifty to nil. I didn't even get a single point as I lied on the cold floor, panting.
"I guess I got a bit too into it?" he asked, holding the ball as I was sweating on the floor.
You think? I was too exhausted to tell him my thoughts. "Hold on, I'll get some water." he said, leaving on the floor. Thankfully, he didn't take too long as he handed me a bottle of it.
"Thanks," I took the bottle as I sat up as I proceeded to gulp down the water. Ah, much better.
"Sorry about that though," he referred to the game.
"It's fine." That reminds me. "Leo, you were originally from America, right?"
He blinked as he held onto the basketball. "Huh? Yeah, I was, why?"
"Just curious is all, I never left Japan, so I kind of wanted to know what is must be like moving from one country to another."
"Well, yeah. I lived in America up until the age of fourteen." he sat down and started to tell me.
"Fourteen?" then that means he moved to Japan before becoming an Ultimate. "What caused you to move?"
"Parents. Japan is my mother's home country." Ah, so you're actually half-Japanese? Maybe the profile on the e-handbook will update now?
"So you and you're folks moved here together? Must of been the culture shock."
"Yeah, the culture shock was something, but my mother help me out." he smiled, rolling the ball on the ground.
"And your father?"
"No, just me and my mother. My parents are divorced, rocky relationship." Leo explained. "You're probably wondering why I moved to Japan then? Well, I lived with my father five years prior to moving to Japan after their divorce."
I think I should end it here, while it didn't really end up explaining why he moved from America to Japan as a citizen, it did make me think about it, but it would be better for Leo if I just kept quiet about it for now.
"Sorry if I brought up some sour memories." I took to my feet as I finished the bottle. "I'm going to go now."
"Thanks for the game though," he then asked himself, "I wonder if Takeo or Tadakatsu can play basketball?"
Leaving the gym, with a bit of walking, I noticed that Takeo was standing near the entrance. I wonder what he was doing there? He had one hand on the left side of his shirt, staring outside.
"Takeo?" he immediately turned his head, dropping his hands slowly as he spoke.
"Yozuru."
"What are you doing?"
"Keeping an eye out." was all he said, so not much then?
"Did Tadakatsu attack you again?" Takeo looked down at me.
"Well, he tried. I can stay that at least, but he's rate of attacking me on an hourly basis has dropped significantly. I cannot tell if he is getting bored or simply found something productive to do."
I can't really help you out there buddy. "But no need to worry about me, I'm fine." he said, almost reading my mind...even if I wasn't worried for him. He already proved himself, but, Takeo was quite kind, just how did he gained a talent such as interrogator? I didn't want to know honestly.
"Have you encountered anything like this as your time as a interrogator?" any information will help here. "Anything about jamming signals maybe?"
Takeo sadly shook his head. "I helped with the police, but this is nothing compared to what I had to do." So not even his torture was on this level?
Well, now I had nothing to talk about with Takeo. "So, what's everyone up to?"
"Well, I cannot say for everyone, but it seems Mikami wanted some fresh air." he started, of course it would start with Tadakatsu. "Fumi also went outside, as did Hanh carrying her flute."
"Huh, well I going to go get some fruit fresh from the garden."
"Stay safe." he nodded as I took my leave, scratching my neck as I did.
As I walked a bit outside, I stopped to see quite the sight. The scoop of the century! There was the Mad Dog of Shibuya himself, Tadakatsu, sitting on a bench as a bird seemed to be perched on an outstretched finger.
Tadakatsu had a smile on his face, how alien. It wasn't that 'fight me' smile, it was a 'aww' type of smile. Didn't know that big guy had it in him. Still gonna keep my distance though.
"Who's a good boy?" he scratched the bird's chin with his finger lightly as the bird chirped. "Hehe, alright." he held out his other hand which had a small amount of bird seed, which was probably from the store, and the bird dug into its meal.
Then our eyes locked. Oh no, I have gone and healed my team up yet!
"Oi." the dog growled.
"Yo." I calmly replied, don't you stand up now.
The bird flew away as Tadakatsu stood. "You didn't see anything."
"Did I?"
Tadakatsu punch his fists together. "You want to lose your throat?" he threatened. "Or maybe your hands?"
"For what? Seeing you be a decent human being for once?"
Tadakatsu frowned even deeper. "You don't fucking know me."
"We all don't, and with the way you're acting, your making it harder for us to consider getting to know you." I scoffed.
"Tch, so what? I like animals. Is that a fucking problem?"
I shook my head. "No, actually the opposite." I smirked. "Shows you're human, rather it shows you aren't some twenty-four seven arsehole."
"You want to go?!"
"Where are we going?" Oh yeah, I'm going to get punched. Why do I act like this around him?
"Tch, don't say a fucking word about this," as he said that, the bird took to the tree as it chirped.
"Hmm, I won't, but I wonder if what they say about the tough guys being secretly teddy bears?" I smirked, and he definitely knew I was trying to tease or get to him in some way. His eyes conveyed a 'I'm not a fucking teddy bear, you shit eating dumbass' as he clenched his fists.
Tadakatsu, now red (surprisingly not from anger) put his hands in his pockets, as he began to walk away. "Just don't spread this around, god damn it." and then he was gone.
Guess I now have some ammo to use against Tadakatsu, that was nice.
As he left, I heard some music coming from the garden, among the crownvetch and roses, I followed the sound of the pied piper playing their flute, and before I knew it I tracked down the tomboy jazz musician or 'dude' as Tadakatsu called her.
I wonder if she can play the song that makes storms happen? But she might need another instrument for that.
Hanh stopped playing as soon as she saw me. "Are you sure you aren't a siren? Cause nearly every time we met, I keep getting lured in by your song."
She looked down at that and I could no longer see her face. Oh, was it cause how I said it? Oops.
"Sorry to interrupt you, I was just on my way to grab something from the gardens here."
"No, it fine." Hanh mumbled looking back up. "Besides, you're not the only one here."
Not to far away, Yozora was still asleep. Good going Yozora.
"My flute playing hasn't woken her up, and I'm kind of glad for that." seems she was sweating a bit before going back to playing her flute.
However as I sat down, I could help but think back to Kanata. I had the idea early, but I was saving that for tonight. Sadly, I cannot see the future, so I better start doing it now.
"Hey, Hanh. Do you mind telling me the more about the story of you getting into Jazz?" she looked at me oddly.
"W-Why?" it was a fair request. "You got to tell me first."
"Well, it's about Kanata." Hanh was silent as I looked at the ground. "He's story was cut off, nor did I learn about his story fully. Already lost to the unwritten pages of history. So, I want to catalogue all our lives. So that we will be remembered no matter what might happen to us."
As I talked, Hanh played her flute softly. "That's why I'm asking." Hanh put her flute down.
"That's..." she stayed silent for a while. "I can see where you coming from, but, I'm also not really comfortable about telling you my story, but...as you said, Kanata..." she bowed her head.
"It's okay, most people normally won't be."
"No, it's not that I'm truly uncomfortable with telling," she mumbled. "It's more of a, what if others see it, it could be embarrassing in the eyes of others."
I shook my head. "That's not true." I gave her a reassuring smile, it wasn't as good as Kanata's, but hopefully it would work. "You don't have to tell me everything."
"Well, as you know, my dad loved jazz and its also how I ended up with my flute, my very first instrument and it grew to have saxophones, trombones, guitars and even a piano, kind of like my dorm room. At school I always hanged out in the music room." she smiled at the memory. "The jazz band club, I quite enjoyed it, even if we didn't perform for the school body."
"Do you want to stop it here?" I asked, noticing that she stopped, perhaps lost in memory.
Hanh snapped back into it and nodded. "Oh, um, yeah?" I then stood up and made sure to keep where Yozora was sleeping, making sure I wouldn't trip over them.
"Thanks Hanh, see you." I gave her a polite bow and walked off as I heard her play a song on her flute as I continued onward toward the pool.
On my way, I went over the thoughts in my head. I should try to limit how many stories and backgrounds I've heard today, to keep the information accurate.
My thoughts were broken as I then saw the lime green haired promoter sitting by the edge of the pool.
"Hey Sui! Where's Sei?" I shook my head at the joke.
"Inside, what are you doing?" Fumi just looked back to the water of the pool.
"Just testing out the waves," she sang, kicking the water with her feet.
"Is it nice?" it must have felt nice.
"Then why don't you take off your shoes and try it for yourself?" Hm, I do want to try, thanks for asking, but, uh, as long as you don't push me in, then I'll be fine.
I took my shoes and socks off as I sat next to Fumi, putting my feet in slowly. "It's cold." I noted, but it was a nice kind of cold if that makes sense. It's not making me freeze up or wanting to get out immediately.
"Hey, Sui, I was thinking of a plan, do you want to hear it?" I raised my eyebrows as she continued kicking the water.
"Let me have it," I was kind of curious to see what she had in mind.
"A pool party."
"Come again?"
"A pool party," she repeated, "we'll have a pool party where we can all have fun swimming!" she moved her hands around, as if swimming herself.
"I'm not gonna lie, but I kind of wanted to go swimming too." I moved one foot slowly in the water. "It's been ages since I last went swimming."
"See? Same!" she took her feet out of the water. "That's why we should have a swimming party! Of course, we'll have those that can't swim have fun with sunbathing or just relaxing, or maybe even teach them how to swim?"
She then stood up. "I'm so hyped for it! I'm gonna go jog!" and with that she was gone.
"You forgot your shoes...!" I removed my feet and tucked my socks into my shoes. I wasn't going to get them wet, hell no. I also picked up Fumi's shoes and put near the changing rooms. She'll find them.
After drying my feet with some provided towels, I but my shoes back on as I walked around some more and then I had to make a choice. To go, or not to go.
Making a careful decision, I went back around to the scrapyard. I know the bear went back to the store, but there was nothing stopping the crawling abomination from coming back here. Thankfully, that wasn't the case as a puzzle solver with deep green hair and sky blue eyes waved at me.
"Hey Sei Sei!" was she getting some scrap too?
"Hey, Isa, what're you doing out here?"
Isabi just had a wide smile plastered onto her face. "The sign over there next to the belt said that we can earn scrap to buy stuff at the store, and Isabi spotted a nice puzzle." ah, makes sense.
"So you're saving up." god damn it, reminds me of what the bear said about being a 'responsible bear' when it comes to making us work to buy at the store. "Remember you can exchange scrap to coins."
I thought about telling her about how she can just steal from the store when the bear's not there, or even with the bear there.
"Huh? I think I got something." Isabi said suddenly as she put her other hand into the pile of scrap she was holding before suddenly pulling out more scrap, but seemed to be in the shape of a shield as she held it with one arm above her head as if she just got the treasure chest in the middle of a dungeon.
Isabi smiled before she turned to me. "Come on Sei Sei!" she jumped down from the mountain of scrap, holding the scrap shield, well, like a shield.
"Where are we going?" then Isabi gestured me over.
"On a journey!" seems we were exploring the scrapyard. A wonder if we'll find triple golden triangles on the way?
So that's what we spent our time doing, exploring the vast scrapyard, and god damn was it big. "You seem to be enjoying yourself," I smiled, it was hard not to as Isabi was having fun.
"I love going on an adventure, I often ventured around my small town when I was young. Exploring and searching for new and interesting things." she was like a ray of sun peering through the clouds, kind of what we needed in this place actually.
We came to a metal sheet in a pile of scrap as Isabi stepped closer to it. "Hey, Sei, is it just me or does it seem more like a door?" as she said that, I spied how the sheet of metal had a small hole on it.
"Now that you say it, it does look like a door." but is it really a door? "Can you look through the hole there?"
Isabi bent over a bit as she looked into the hole. "Huh?" she looked through the hole. "It's definitely not more scrap behind here. It seems like a room."
She then stood back up and backed off from the scrap door. "Have a look."
I then had a look through the hole, which might have been for a doorknob, and it was indeed a room I suppose. It was quite clean and there was no scrap around inside, and this place where we found this door was pretty far and deep into the scrapyard.
"Just what is that room?" I wondered aloud, hoping Isabi might have an idea. Sadly she did not, but she did come over. "Hey, Sei Sei, your flower is falling out." Isabi's hands went to my hair and fixed the flower up.
"Ah, thanks."
"I guess we should call the adventure here until he find something to open it up." that sounds like a good idea, and she was still holding onto the scrap shield.
"You going to keep that?"
"Mhm." she nodded. "I'm going to make it into a shield!"
"Whelp, good luck with that oh hero of time." Isabi laughed a bit, rubbing the back of her neck.
"All I need know is a sword, don't I?" she asked with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
I nodded, "a master one."
Isabi's somewhat embarrassed expression turned into a smile. "Haha, I had fun today Sei Sei." I couldn't help but I agree. "Let's come back and figure out that puzzle!"
"Sure thing, Isabi." guess our time together was up as he began to leave the scrapyard.
We came back out from the scrapyard and were about to go back inside as well as some others like Takeo and Tadakatsu. "Hey, Sei Sei, look." I stopped and looked at what Isabi had pointed out. It was fireworks lighting up the sky.
I, and those around me, watched as fireworks went off in the distance. Instead of popping or bursting, they fizzled out as soon as they entered the sky. It gave us something to watch though. Quickly locating Nanako out in the fields, she launched firework after firework until it just stopped. The skies were filled quite nicely and as I approached, the pyrotechnician had a happy smile on her face.
She must of been glad to be able to set her fireworks off again out in the open. At least she got something out of this.
As the firework show came to an end, I resumed my approach. "You seem happy."
"What gave that away?" she asked rhetorically.
"I suppose this means we're going to regular firework shows?" Nanako seemed to take that into consideration as she began packing up.
"Who knows, maybe." as she packed up her stuff, she began talking. "If I do, it won't be every night. It'll lose its charm if it was constant."
"It would," I agree, it wouldn't be special if it happened constantly, it might get annoying if it happened everyday.
"If you're just going t stand there, you can help me clean up. It's a mess out here."
I decided to lend a hand, and it was very silent between us, I need to think of a topic. "You like cleaning?" Not that one, I could've done better.
"It's not that I don't like cleaning specifically, I just like everything to be clean is all." I didn't think she'd actually respond seriously to that. "But, I'm quite use to it with my crew."
Crew? "Guess I slipped up, yeah, you heard me. Crew." I still didn't follow, it wasn't a crime related crew was it? "It wouldn't hurt to tell you. Remember what I said about the short version of my story? Well, it's a part of that."
"About your knack for fireworks?"
Nanako nodded. "Yep. Well, my family isn't exactly the richest, we were poorer than dirt. That kind of poor, anyways, for the most part I had to provide for myself during my time in the Kamagasaki district in Osaka." my eyes widened, that can't be true!
"Wait, wait, hold on. You mean one of the slummiest parts in Japan? That Kamagasaki district?" Nanako responded with a 'that's right' and I couldn't believe it. "And what of your parents?"
"Eh, my father was barely home and my mother was too busy addicting herself to the next high." she shook her head. "But that's not really important, during my time in the district, I found several other kids and gathered them up in a new home you could say. They're like my family, you know? We were even called 'The Backstreet Kids' haha."
The look in Nanako's eyes were similar to that of pride, or if not, much like Kyogen's eyes from earlier. "They're the reason I started my hobby. I wanted to give them something fun, and I discovered my knack for fireworks, and I don't regret it at all."
Aw, that put a smile on my face. "I'll take these to the bin now, you go on ahead."
Nanako stood up and handed me her trash. "Well, if you insist."
"I don't think we're going to see each other until tomorrow, so good night." I then headed off to the nearby bin as Nanako stood back for a while.
Nanako then moved her well-kept, thick, black waist-length hair. "Well I'm going to go now." I nodded as she took her stuff and left. "Good night then."
Guess this is enough outdoors for me today. Nanako walked off as I looked back to the sky, the trails of her fireworks still remained in the air, slowly blown away by the wind.
I checked the time on my e-handbook, it was already past six. Not too long til nighttime.
Guess I was right about that, however it was still earlier than I expected.
I took this chance to walk outdoors one last time before heading back in, and of course, on this walkabout, the sleepy flight attendant remained in the soft grass. Wow, she actually stayed sleeping in one place, I'm impressed.
The grass must be really soft. I reached out to the grass, and it indeed was! Oh, this was quite nice. No wonder Yozora was sleeping here.
Should I spend time with Yozora? Yes. The answer is yes.
I laid on the soft, enveloping long grass. Oh, this was nice as I stared up at the dark green, polluted-looking sky. Even through the thick green skies, small and bright stars shined.
At the same time, a gentle breeze blew on through and before I knew it, I found myself yawning as my eyes slowly closed. I'll just rest them for a while.
...
...
...
"Hey...wake up, it's almost time for the nighttime announcement." I eyes cracked open as I was shooked and nudged.
"Uh? Yozora?" I blinked tiredly up at the sleepy-looking, light brown haired girl as she fixed up some of the wavy strands that framed her face.
"Yeah, it's me, come on sleeping beauty." oh that's rich coming from you. "We don't know if the off-limits apply to being outside."
That was true, but, "it's so nice here."
Yozora's hand went to the bun in her hair, "well, yeah, it is." she agreed. "But, we shouldn't put it past the bear to punish us with this as an off-limits area."
She had a point, and while a shame to move, I took her offered hand. "Okay, let's go." I got to my feet, ready to go as I noticed her looking at me. "Um, yes?"
"What were you doing?" it was all that was asked, and I would have asked the same thing. "When I woke up, you were right next to me."
That close? I was pretty sure I left a good gap between us. "I decided to go for one last walk out here, and I saw you were still here. I was going to wake you up, but..." this was going to be embarrassing. "The grass looked soft, so I decided to give it a try, next thing I knew, I fell asleep."
Yozora yawned, cracking her neck somewhat. "It was quite nice, wasn't it. Shame there's the whole killing game." oh yes, the killing game. I'm kind of worried that the bear will pull out another motive relatively shortly after this. "I wouldn't mind sleeping out here." more like you wouldn't mind sleeping anywhere.
The taller girl started to walk off as I dusted myself off and followed suit. "Mhm. It was quite relaxing. I don't mind doing it again."
"Then do it again," the flight attendant said. "Nan pigonhae."
Huh? Can you repeat that? "Pardon?"
"Oh, just saying that I'm tired." she corrected.
"You're bilingual?" my question was met with the shake of her head.
"Nope, try multilingual." she tried to smile, but it was more of a tired smile. My eyes widened at the new information. "When you travel the world as much as I did, you'd learn how to speak multiple languages one way or another."
That was actually pretty cool, to be able to speak multiple languages is quite the skill to have.
Then the announcement played as we began to enter the building. "It is now officially nighttime, areas will be locked and considered off-limits." well, that was close.
I gave the doorknob a turn after we entered. It was still unlocked, which could have meant multiple things. One, it wasn't considered off-limits, and knowing the bear, he probably opened up more areas for us to get 'creative' with our murders. Two, it was going to get locked in a minute. Three, it had to be locked manually.
"Night." Yozora walked down the hall, swaying to the side a bit.
Hopefully she gets back to her room safe and sound. I too decided to call it a night as I headed back to the dorms.
As long as I don't get nightmares I guess.
But first, I opened up one of the lined books and began writing, an account of what had happened up to this point, everything I've learnt while in the confines of this academy, of each of our pasts and how we got here, how we watched as one of our own was executed and how possibly more were to come.
Yet something else should we fail in our attempts of survival.
A will and testament.
Reader: Yes, I think I explained a little here. Also thanks ^^
RioA: o-oooh~ O/O o-oh my. Wow. *blush blush*.
Swordsman795: Don't forget about the Bermuda Triangle Interference Radar (BTIR)!
Also, Anonymity Round has closed submissions (for a while now, oops) so thanks to all who submitted for that.