Chapter 14 - The coin

I was in my room one Thursday afternoon laughing at YouTube prank videos. A nostalgic feeling spread through my heart as I remembered the times back in England spent with my friend Lauren as we stayed up until 1 am during occasional sleepovers, watching funny videos and stifling our laughter so that we didn't wake up her sleeping family.

It was then, 5 pm at Hope's Peak, halfway across the globe and much, much later, when I should have been doing my homework that I had a stroke of genius. It was by no means original but it would be fun to do nevertheless. I asked permission to quickly go into to town, lying that I urgently needed a specific tube of paint. Instead, I got super glue at a hardware store.

At dinner, I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face as I imagined tomorrow's events, earning me some strange looks. It immediately fell when Leon shot me a smile. I had been successfully avoiding him for some while now following his semi-confession, since I still didn't quite know how to react to the very prospect of it. I knew that acting a little like Fukawa wasn't the right way to go, but I couldn't help it. I needed a little more time, though not like I was lacking in it in the first place.

Conveniently, the grin which was now gone made my classmates all the more oblivious to my plotting. The conversation took many paths, and eventually it came to money. Hagakure, as always, complained about never having enough despite his successful (more like swindling) fortune-telling business. When he mentioned his, birthday, however, and his wish to get that as a present, our mouths clamped shut as to not reveal our plans. Of course, those who weren't planning on chipping in were neither aware of it nor invited.

"'T's a shame Togami-kun isn't interested," Leon had said once Togami had, as predicted, expressed his displeasure with the idea and left the cafeteria, "his money would have been really useful…"

Maizono had slapped him on the back of the head for that. He had simply looked up at her with a grin, but I was glad to see that there seemed to be no flirtations spark in his eyes. I rolled my eyes at my own thought and wondered if I was becoming a yandere.

'Not like I would kill Maizono, though,' I reminded myself. 'I'd just be a little jealous and upset. Perfectly normal reactions.'

With that minor consolation, I retreated to my room, where I decided to paint. I was in the mood for it, but didn't have any inspiration. After a painstaking hour of pulling my hair out as I tried to come up with something - anything at all - I decided to go to bed. A smile once more decorated my lips as I thought of tomorrow. As the moment faded, I chided myself for taking so much pleasure out of such childish pranks.

Hagakure spent an unusually long time bent down in the cafeteria that morning.

After having accomplished my plan, I had hidden myself in the kitchen to wait, like a predator, for the first victim. I was quite shocked when a usual late arriver, and possibly my victim of preference, was first to arrive.

"Ah man," he groaned aloud, crystal ball in hand so that he looked like it was talking to it, "I hate insomnia."

It took most of my self-control to not burst out laughing or otherwise correct his statement. He had anything BUT insomnia.

He was walking towards the kitchen, towards me, but just then the 300 ¥ played out its intended role as bait.

"Oh! Money!" Hagakure exclaimed, sounding rather childish. He made to pick the coins up, but stopped at the last moment, surprising me once more. "Maybe it's someone else's…." He scratched his stubble-covered chin as he pondered the situation for a moment. Eventually, he mumbled "couldn't hurt," and shot a guilty glance around the room as though to ensure no one caught him red-handed. Then he stooped down and tried to pick up the coins, but to no avail.

A few moments later, half snickering, i stepped out of my hiding place. Hagakure was so focused on his task that he didn't notice the very ungraceful me slinking by.

"Yo, Hagakure-kun!" I called from the doorway as the clock hand inched to the right, now reading 7:00. He stood up and turned around with the speed of light.

"Uh, hey, James-chi! Good morning!"

"You're up so early, it's so unlike you. What happened?" I asked teasingly.

"Insomnia," he said for the second time, and obtained the same reaction. Did he even know what it meant?

"So, what are you up to? I saw you stooped over just before."

A look of guilt and fear flashed through his eyes. After amoment he said, "I encountered some strange coins that have infinite mass - I can't even pick them up! My crystal ball tells me that they are the work of the devil. You must not touch them!"

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed, feigning ignorance to the best of my ability.

At that moment, Yamada walked in, since the morning beel had resounded throughout the school just a minute ago.

Hagakure explained the situation to Yamada as well. The latter, however, had a completely different reaction.

"Ekoekoekoekoekoekoekoekoekoekoeko…" Yamada chanted, then stopped and took a deep breath, before starting again.

"Stop!" Hagakure yelled, hands over his ears, "what if he actually comes?"

"Pfft. The supernatural doesn't exist," I chimed in, playing the part of the nonbeliever, since that role is vital in any group. In any case, I was one in the first place.

"Aha!" Hagakure exclaimed, turning to me, smiling, "you think that? You are wrong!"

"Eh? How so?"

"Well, not supernatural in terms of occult," he corrected himself, "but rather… aliens?"

"Huh?"

"Have you ever heard the urban legend about cattle mutilation? That aliens kidnap cows to examine them and dissect them?" Paused, but didn't allow me enough time to respond. "I once went to get a takeaway burger from a place that was known for their 100% beef burgers. As I was on my way home, a beam of light suddenly came from the sky and snatched up my burger, taking only the meat! It turned out it wasn't really a 100% beef burger!" He pointed an accusatory finger in my direction.

"Um, how is this related?"

"Aliens are supernatural, are they not?"

"I… guess so?"

I abandoned the conversation then, since others had started coming in as well. Asahina was the second to discover the coins and was about to head over to pick up the coins when Hagakure halted her. He once more explained the situation to everyone, getting more and more dramatic, adding in things he hadn't before.

As Hagakure and the situation both got more and more out of hand, so did I. Everyone turned to me, puzzled, as I exploded out laughing.

"Rin-chan? What's so funny?" Asahina asked innocently from across the table.

I simply pulled out the small tub of superglue and chucked it towards the centre of the table for all to see. In a moment, looks of apprehension crossed their faces. Some laughed and shook their heads, others looked at me like I was crazy, others yet remained neutral or looked disappointed. All except for Hagakure, who was perhaps too caught up in his wild ideas.

"I should have expected someone like you to resolve to such primitive methods in order to make the fool amongst us all the more evident," Togami said dryly.

I didn't respond to the taunt. Hagakure did, however. Well…. not exactly.

"James-chi? You did this?" He was silent for a moment, then became angry. "You're as fake as the burger place!" he practically yelled, face red.

"Relax Hagakure-kun, it was just a joke. It wasn't aimed at you or anything." It was the truth - my preferred victim had actually been Togami. I had been hoping that despite saying that he was so rich and not needing any money Togami would still have bothered to stoop down in order to pick up three measly coins.

"Pranks are not welcome in a school environment!" Ishimaru exclaimed. "This is a place of grave seriousness, reserved solely for learning. Speaking of which," he turned to Hagakure, "that is not your uniform! You are to wear one shirt, not three! Go and change immediately!"

And thus, poor Hagakure was shooed out of the cafeteria.

A/N: Wow! It's been a while!

I'm really, really sorry about my slow updates. I, um, abandoned this fic temporarily in a fit of despair... No, wait. That wasn't meant to come out like that.

In anymcase, this was in essence a filler chapter to celebrate Hagakure-kun's birthday. Join me in my non-existent celebrations! *cheers*

I also offer a very late 'Happy Birthday' to Akane-chan, whose birthday was on the 15th of July.

Finally, I'm quite proud of myself, because my writing quality went up once more, I believe.

Ciao!