The rest of that night… and most of the following day is a bit of a blur, really. Despite struggling to get to sleep with my concerns over what Mitsu told Hikaru and I about the previous killing game, I finally fall into a fitful doze, waking up with seconds to spare before Monokuma's Morning Announcement.
"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am, and Night-time is officially over – time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beautiful day!"
In contrast with the past couple of days, I'm pretty much the last one to arrive for breakfast that morning, and I find the others all talking quite animatedly about the party. I remember just in time to wish Yuki a happy birthday and she gives me a giant grin and wraps her arms around me, squeezing the life out of me in a bone-crushing hug, bouncing up and down excitedly.
"Oh, Kei, you look awful!" Blessing says as I sit down at the table. "Haven't you slept?"
"Not much," I admit. "I'll be fine."
"Well, once you've had something to eat, get back up to bed for a few hours," Miniro says. "Can't have you missing out on the party tonight!"
"U-unless you aren't feeling up t-to it, Mr Kamiya," adds Daisuke, politely. I shake my head and force a smile on my face.
"Don't worry, guys, I'll be fine," I tell them. "I think I just need caffeine."
All throughout breakfast, I listen to the others as they discuss the arrangements and battleplan for the day. Kimi was insistent that the girls all returned to the Salon to get ready together.
"Plus, it's pretty much next door to the Ballroom," Ino points out. "Saves having to hike up all the stairs again once we're ready."
"Exactly," Kimi nods. "Fabulous functions like tonight's requires a certain… extra flair. And, yes, Mitsu, you are to attend our Salon preparations too."
Mitsu tries to hide her disappointment. It doesn't quite work.
"Well, while you lot are doing that, us guys can get everything set up in the Ballroom," Miniro says. "Daisuke and I have a checklist of everything here, if you guys are happy to help out?"
"As long as there isn't too much heavy lifting involved," Yamato says, "Orochi and I'll help with whatever! Isn't that right, lil buddy?" He coos at the little snake coiled around his finger and boops its tiny snout gently. In response, Orochi does a little figure-eight around his middle and index fingers.
"I think the Ballroom's fairly well kitted out already," Hikaru points out. "There's drinks and some snack stuff, but for proper food we'll probably have to bring it up from the Kitchen."
"Oh, I hadn't even thought about that," Yamato says. "There's like boozy stuff up there, right?"
"Y-yes," Daisuke nods, consulting a few pieces of paper he's pulled out of his pocket. "B-but they're all cl-clearly marked so that sh-should prevent us accidentally d-drinking it."
"No 'accidentally' about it," Yamato mutters to me, conspiratorially. I try to hide my grin as Daisuke looks over at us.
"Well, how about after lunch, when the girls go to the Salon, us guys can meet up in the Ballroom and get everything sorted?" Miniro suggests.
"Sounds good to me," I nod.
"I suppose so," Haru shrugs.
There's general mutters of agreement from the other guys and, with a plan now in motion, we get on with finishing breakfast.
Despite my worries from the night before, I find that I start to relax and feel more comfortable as the day goes on. Really, it's easy for us to get into a panic and assume the worst, but I've got to know these people over the time we've spent together – is it really possible one of them could be betraying us all? I'm fairly certain someone would have noticed something by now if that were the case.
The morning slowly passes into afternoon, and after meeting with the other guys in the Ballroom, I help prep the place for the party that evening. The girls are just down the hall in the Salon, but one of them's left the door ajar slightly, and the corridor is thick with the scents of perfumes and products – a kind of heady cherry and chocolate aroma.
"I guess they're going all out, huh?" Yamato says to me as we make our way along the corridor, boxes of decorations from a nearby storeroom in our arms.
The Ballroom, which had already looked pretty amazing, now looked even better than I'd expected. Hikaru was hunched over one of the control stations for the lighting, and the room now had a low, atmospheric vibe to it. Small spotlights in the walls and ceiling were starting to swivel about and beam small, bright rays of light across the room, dancing like fireflies around us.
The main dancefloor had been pretty big to begin with, while the bar hadn't taken up much space, but now, thanks to the efforts of Miniro and Masashi, a fair amount of the floor was now occupied with long tables, waiting to be weighed down with food, and a bunch of smaller tables had been arranged with chairs around them so that we could sit together. At the top end of the room, over the bar, Daisuke and Haru stood on top of stepladders, trying to pin up a long 'Happy Birthday' banner.
"Do you think this is the right height?" Haru calls down to Yamato and I as we make our way over to the bar and place the boxes of decorations down. Yamato takes a few steps back and looks from Daisuke's side to Haru's.
"Looks good to me, man!" he says. "Kei?"
I mirror his actions and then nod my approval. "Perfect! Nicely done!"
"Good stuff!" Haru says, nodding with satisfaction as he finishes thumping the pin into the wall. He hops down the ladder, and Daisuke does the same a moment later, both stepping back a little as Yamato and I had done, admiring their handiwork.
"Do you think Miss T-Tadeshi will b-be pleased?" Daisuke says. "I was w-worried she might be a l-little disappointed we weren't able t-to get g-gifts for her."
"Well, it's like they say: it's the thought that counts," shrugs Haru, nonchalantly sliding his hands into his pockets. "Throwing a party for someone is a gift in itself."
"Though the party idea kind of came up before we knew about Yuki's birthday," points out Yamato. Haru glances at him from the corner of his eye.
"Still, we went to the extra effort," he replies. "Better than nothing at the end of the day."
"I-I suppose y-you're right, Mr T-Takezaki," Daisuke says. "I th-think I better get on now. I n-need to see if I can find a p-particular recipe from the cookbooks in the L-Library. See you all soon!" And with an enthusiastic smile and a polite bow, Daisuke crosses the Ballroom and disappears out of the large double doors leading back out into the corridor.
"Wonder what recipe he's talking about," Yamato says. "Probably not cocktails, huh?"
"Oh, speaking of," Haru says, "I noticed the bottles are all labelled clearly with what is and isn't alcoholic. That should hopefully prevent any mix-ups."
"I prefer the good ol' fashioned taste test," Yamato shrugs. "But yeah."
"So you're definitely planning on drinking?" I ask him.
"You mean you weren't?" he asks me.
"Oh, no, not Mr Tee-Total Barista Boy!" cackles Monokuma, leaping up from behind the bar. He's wearing a red bartender's vest over a white shirt and bow-tie. In his hands, he's throwing about a cocktail shaker – the ice cubes inside it are rattling wildly.
"What do you want?" Haru sighs, crossing his arms. Monokuma keeps rattling away, humming under his breath.
"Oh, well, it would be terribly remiss of me to let you all go drinking unsupervised," he says. "Most headteachers would have a total alcohol ban on campus, but y'know, you kids are so slow with getting your murder thang on that watching one of you get liver poisoning might be more productive."
Yamato grunts in disgust. "You even manage to make getting drunk depressing."
"Alcohol is a depressant," Masashi points out, coming over to join us. "What's the bear here for anyway?"
"Just to be annoying," I say. "Business as usual."
Monokuma deflates a little. "You kids are so hateful," he sighs. "A bear can't even come make himself a Decapitated High Schooler without getting abuse."
"A… what?"
"A Decapitated High Schooler!" Monokuma cheers. "A cocktail of my own devising. I'll leave a recipe under the bar for ya!"
"Please don't."
"The secret ingredient is tears," Monokuma says in a mock-whisper, leaning forwards a little as if he's imparting some great secret to us. He straightens up, finishes rattling the cocktail shaker, and then decants it into a glass. "Well then," he says, "I'll be off. Got important… uh… headmaster duties to take care of… or something."
He waddles off, leaving the four of us a little dumbfounded.
"If you'd have told me a few weeks ago that my life was going to be ruined by a day-drinking teddy bear, I'd have called you crazy," Yamato says, shaking his head at Monokuma's retreating form.
"Where do you suppose he goes when he isn't harassing us?" I ask. The others all shrug.
"Hell, wherever it is, let's hope he stays there tonight," Yamato says. "I'm not playing drinking games with that psycho. He'd probably rig the beer pong to… detonate or something."
"Beer pong?" Masashi says with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk. Yamato shrugs.
"Just a suggestion," he says. "God, I haven't played beer pong in forever!"
"Maybe you should run it by Miniro," Haru suggests. "I get the feeling Daisuke wouldn't approve."
"He's a nice guy," Yamato says, "but he could do with unwinding a little. Way too highly strung!"
"I think we've all been pretty highly strung in this place so far," I point out.
Yamato looks a little uncomfortable for a second and then smiles. "Well, that just means now is as good a time as any to loosen up, huh?"
"Can't argue with that," I laugh.
"Good!" he beams. "I guess that means you guys are game for some prinks?"
"Prinks?" Masashi and I echo, looking at one another in confusion.
"It means pre-drinks," Haru explains.
Yamato can clearly see we still don't look much the wiser. "It's when you have like a couple drinks just to sort of ease in before you start like… properly drinking."
"I don't quite get the concept," Masashi admits, "but I suppose it could be an experience worth trying…"
"Way to go, Masashi!" beams Yamato, slapping him on the back enthusiastically. Masashi wrinkles his nose, apparently disturbed by this sudden interaction. "I knew you couldn't be a total loser."
"You could really work on the whole charm thing," Haru comments, though he's smirking a little. Masashi looks like he can't quite process what the hell is happening. I find myself fighting a grin – I guess he really is starting to warm up to us!
"Tell ya what," Yamato says. "You guys keep going with the decorations and stuff, and I will knock up a lil Nagai Special punch!"
"Sounds like an excuse to get out of decorating if you ask me," Haru says, but then he shrugs. "Guess we won't know until we try it."
"Oh, seriously, guys, you're gonna love this!"
"Shouldn't this be more Kei's area of expertise?" Masashi asks. "He is the Ultimate Barista after all."
"Ultimate Barista, maybe," I say, "Ultimate Bartender, not so much. I don't have much experience with serving alcohol, to be honest."
"Oh, hey, that gives me an amazing idea!" Yamato grins. "How about later – once everyone's here and the party's in full swing – we all try and make a cocktail each? Like as a competition kinda deal!"
"What would the prize be?" I wonder.
"Exemption from cleaning duty for the rest of the week?" Yamato suggests.
"Doesn't this give you an unfair advantage, Mr 'Nagai Special punch'?" Haru points out.
"I mean… I'll be real with you," Yamato says sheepishly, "it's mostly improvised."
"Oh, you do surprise me!" Masashi drawls sarcastically.
"Well, y'know what, to hell with it, let's do it," Haru shrugs.
"I wonder if any of the girls have made cocktails before," Yamato says, stroking his chin. "I'd reckon Kimi and Blessing are more the kinda girls who get drinks poured for 'em!"
"Well, I guess we'll find out later – if they're gonna take part, of course," I say.
"Until then, we'd better get a move on," Yamato says, "or Daisuke will kick our asses when he gets back."
"I don't think you have much to worry about," I say, nodding over towards the door, where Miniro is just making his way out. "Miniro's off to find him by the looks of it."
"Good, that should buy us a while," Haru nods. "It isn't gonna do itself."
A few hours later, the preparation is all done. I'm back in my room, having just went for another quick shower just to freshen myself up after all the heavy lifting and stuff. It kind of sucks that all I have available to wear is multiples of the same outfit. I'd packed my favourite purple shirt amongst all the other stuff I'd arrived at this castle with, but now that was probably locked away in some secret warehouse that only Monokuma can get into, along with all my other personal belongings.
The thought makes me feel a little uneasy – I mean, I'm still weirded out that someone had to touch my clothes to put them in this room in the first place – but I shake my head and try and dismiss the thought, trying to distract myself by taming my hair a little. Kimi had burst into the ballroom earlier and thrown a bundle of hair and skin care products at us, informing us that if we didn't make any effort she would be 'beyond furious, do you understand me?'.
Still, my hair and skin smells of blueberry and watermelon now so that's quite nice.
After trying – and failing – to tame a particular tuft of hair on top of my head, I step back and check my reflection in the full-length mirror. I do look a little less shabby than I have lately, I guess. I've got a little colour back in my face, and the bags under my eyes have already faded a little too.
I spend a few minutes trying to decide whether or not to wear my tie – in the end I keep it on, but I make sure and leave my top few shirt buttons undone so I don't look too formal.
Fairly satisfied I was tidy – but not too tidy – I reach into my pocket and pull out my ElectroID, swiping its screen so I can check the time. Turns out I have about two minutes til I'm due to meet the other guys in the Common Room for a few pre-drinks – I hadn't realised it was that late already, jeez!
I stuff the ElectroID back into my pocket and back out of the bathroom, switching the light off on my way. My trainers are by the door, and it takes me just a second to slip into them. I take one last look around my room, more as a force of habit, as if I'm checking for my phone or wallet or something, but of course, there's nothing to pick up, and – shaking my head – I close the door behind me as I step out into the Dormitory Corridor.
Yamato and Haru are both already sitting down in the Common Room when I arrive, each holding a green glass bottle. Yamato chucks one my way as soon as he sees me and I yelp with surprise, only just catching the bottle in time.
"Whoops, my bad!" he says, snorting with laughter. "Bottle opener's on the table."
My favoured seat is a little too far away from them both, so I sit at the opposite end of the couch from where I usually would, and pop the lid off with the stainless-steel bottle opener. On closer inspection, I see a small Monokuma face is engraved in the handle, and I roll my eyes before I take my first sip from the bottle. It's kind of bitter, but there's a kind of zesty taste to it that I really like.
Yamato's hair is the flattest I've ever seen it – he's somehow managed to tame it enough that it still has all the volume, just without all the chaos. It sparkles a little in the light from the fire, and I wonder whether he's used some kind of glittery hairspray. Haru, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have done anything different at first glance, but then I notice that he's not wearing his uniform jumper under his coat like he usually does. There's something kind of effortless about him where he seems to look good despite… not really doing anything. Some people are just blessed like that, I guess.
"I was just saying to Haru," Yamato says, "there's not really anything special about doing a pre-drink or whatever, but I noticed a few bottles of prosecco and wine were already missing, and I bumped into Blessing when she was going to the bathroom – she told me Kimi and Ino had went and got them before we got there at lunchtime, so it looks like the girls have got a big headstart on us as it is."
"So they're all gonna be wrecked before the party even starts?" I laugh. "That seems a bit counterproductive."
"Nah, between the five of 'em, they'll probably be okay," Yamato says, shaking his head. "I mean, unless they're lightweights."
"I'm probably gonna be a bit of a lightweight," I admit. "I've not been drunk much before."
"Ooh, this should be fun then," Yamato chuckles, glugging down the last of the beer from his bottle and cracking open another. I glance at Haru, who just offers me one of his usual enigmatic facial expressions and shrugs. He's not drank much of his own beer so far.
A few seconds later, we're joined by Hikaru and Masashi. Masashi is actually wearing his hair down for once, and the way his bangs fall frame his face in a way that makes him appear far less grim and unapproachable. Hikaru looks pretty great too – he's done the opposite of Masashi, and tied some of his hair back into a short ponytail. He's only opted for one bobby pin tonight too, and there's something about the way he looks that puts me in mind of a character from an RPG I'd loved when I was a little younger.
"Lookin' sharp, guys!" Yamato says, nodding approvingly.
"I said to Daisuke and Miniro, like you asked," Hikaru tells Yamato, taking the beer that's already held out for him. "But they said they'd just get us up there. They want to make sure everything is perfect, I guess."
"Maybe they're just making the most of the calm before the storm," Masashi says, popping the lid off of his bottle. He takes a sip and then pulls a face. "Oh, god… that's... something."
"Yeah, tastes like cat piss but it gets you started," Yamato laughs, taking another swig.
"I thought it tasted alright," I admit.
"Oh, god, we need to get this boy a cocktail," Yamato says, looking at me with mock sympathy. "If that tastes good to you, you're in for a treat."
"Of all the things I thought would happen when I arrived here," Hikaru says, "getting drunk was not one of them. But, hey, I'm not complaining."
"I think I'll wait until we get upstairs," Masashi says. "Here, Kei." He shoves the bottle into my hand. "I'd rather have wine."
"Pace yourself," Haru tells me as I finish my first bottle. "Especially if you're not used to drinking."
"I'm starting to think I'm the only one who isn't," I admit. "Do you guys do this at home like… often?"
"I like the occasional drink," Haru shrugs. "I prefer vodka to be honest."
"You're in luck then," Yamato beams. "There's plenty upstairs!"
"It's still kinda surreal to me," Hikaru says, "like… having all that booze there. I get that this place was meant to be like a whole other world from normal high schools, but still."
I nod my agreement. "Well, it's a learning opportunity, huh?"
"Don't make it nerdy, man!" Yamato protests. "Tonight is all about relaxing and having fun, yup!"
"For tonight we might die," Masashi murmurs, quietly. I raise an eyebrow at him and he looks back at me blankly for a second. "Oh, it's a quote I remember reading somewhere. Not very appropriate, I admit…"
"Yeah, well, less of that," Yamato agrees, frowning at him. There's already the slightest little slur in his voice. With a smile, I find myself wondering if he's as used to getting drunk as he made out.
Music is already playing from the ballroom as we make our way along the Fifth Floor corridor. It's some slow kind of house music, all bass and build up. After three beers, I feel a little tipsy, but I don't really have it in me to be anxious about it. Like Yamato said, tonight's about relaxing – and I think we've earned that after all we've been through.
My body feels a little lighter than normal, I notice as I walk along behind Hikaru and Yamato. There's a weird kind of warm feeling as well, and it's not an unpleasant sensation. I realise I've not actually ate since this morning though, which could explain why it hasn't taken long for me to get to this stage.
The ballroom doors are wide open, and bright, jagged lights spin and spill out of them from within, appearing in fragments and patches of colour on the walls and floor as we approach. The music is changing too, with the pulsing house music fading away to an electronic violin screech. It reverberates through the walls, and through my body for a few long moments, and then the bass drops, changing to a high-energy dance track.
Hikaru's efforts with the lighting wasn't in vain, I notice. None of the main lights are on, but there are enough bright spotlights and multi-coloured beams, including one reflecting off an enormous glitterball suspended from the centre of the ceiling, sending small squares of white light bouncing off of every surface like shooting stars.
The girls are all already here. Even with the club-style lighting, it's pretty clear to see they all look incredible. Whatever witchcraft Kimi and Yuki performed yesterday, they amped up to eleven for tonight. I find myself gravitating over to Mitsu up at the bar, sipping kind of half-heartedly at some sort of cocktail which was either purple and pink in colour, or dark green and blue depending on the lighting.
"You scrub up well," she comments with a small smile as I prop myself on the bar with my elbows.
"Thank you," I grin. "You don't look too bad either."
Yuki's clearly been hard at work with the hair dye again, as Mitsu's green streaks and highlights have been replaced with a sort of caramel colour with part of it styled in a braid that tucks behind her ear.
"The hair and make-up stuff isn't really my thing," she says, "but it feels like a nice change. Kind of makes tonight feel more special… or something."
"Or something," I chuckle. "But yeah, you look great! What's that you're drinking anyway?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest," she admits. "Kimi asked Miniro to make a batch of it up based on some cocktail recipe she tried at some make-up company launch event thing. It tastes like a fruit basket got in a fight with a bath bomb. Wanna try some?"
"With that glowing review, how could I not?" I laugh. She grabs a cup from the bar and ladles some of the stuff from a large punch bowl before handing it to me.
"Bottoms up," she says, tapping her plastic cup gently against mine in a mock toast. I take a deep gulp of the weird, perfumed booze and feel the inside of my mouth tighten as it goes down. What was it Mitsu had described it as? A fruit basket got into a fight with a bath bomb – yeah, sounds about right…
"Your face!" she smirks. "You look like you've just bit into a lemon."
"I feel like I just have," I grimace, "except the lemon was full of fire."
She laughs, "Yeah, that sounds about right." She looks over my shoulder and smiles, fondly. "Oh, we've got the first dancers of the night, it'd seem."
I turn on the spot to see Blessing and Yuki in the middle of the floor, dragging a protesting Hikaru along with them. They both look pretty amazing – Blessing's hair has been meticulously braided, and glittery beads dance around her head as she throws her head back to the music. It looks like she's borrowed one of Kimi's blouses for tonight too, as opposed to her usual uniform, and the colours really stand out along with the dark red eye makeup she's got on.
Yuki's own hair is no longer a mane! It's long and smooth, most of it framing her face, while the rest is styled in some elaborate kind of high ponytail. She's somehow convinced Kimi to give her mismatched colours with her eye makeup. She's even got some kind of rhinestone thing going along her eyebrows like a popstar or something!
Once again, I find myself totally blown away by Kimi and Yuki's combined efforts – they're like artists!
"It is pretty impressive," Mitsu says, as if reading my mind. "I mean, they were able to work on us three, and each other pretty much simultaneously. I could barely drink the prosecco they'd brought because I was too mesmerized."
"I think it's cool that we've all had a chance to do this," I say to her. "We get to pretend to be actual teenagers for a while."
"Including underage drinking," she points out. "This is clearly our rebellious phase starting."
"Ah, that'll be it," I laugh, taking another sip of the weird cocktail stuff and almost managing to conceal my wince.
I look around to see what the others are doing. Blessing, Yuki, and Hikaru are doing what looks a lot like a tribute to the dancing scene from The Breakfast Club in the middle of the floor – despite the song not matching at all. Haru and Miniro appear to be having a conversation by the music equipment, while Daisuke is pointing out what's what on the food tables for Kimi and Ino. Meanwhile, Masashi is squinting at the labels on some of the wine bottles that have been left out at the far end of the bar while Yamato is yammering something in his ear about different flavours of vodka he's been dying to try.
"All in all, it's looking like a good night," Mitsu says to me.
"Let's hope we remember it in the morning," I smirk, firing the last of the cocktail down my neck and turning back to the bar to see what else there is to try. I've got a nice buzz from the booze now, but I just want something that'll take the taste of that particular concoction away.
"Don't ask Yamato for suggestions," Mitsu warns me. "I overheard him recommending tequila to Daisuke earlier this afternoon."
"Tequila? Isn't that like… battery acid?" I laugh.
"Well, only if they've started selling it in glass bottles," she says, pointing out a sort of gold-coloured liquid in a bottle behind the bar. "I was going to hide it just in case, but I thought that would be unfair on those of us with common sense."
"Have you tried it before?" I ask. The music's changed a few times, but I recognise the song that's playing now – a club mix of a song I remember my mom listens to on some compilation CD she's had for as long as I can remember.
Mitsu nods. "It's… pretty strong."
"Is it nice?" I ask her. A tiny, sober part of me is going: please just leave it be. But the larger, tipsier part of me is yelling: it's a party – try it!
Obviously, Mitsu's probably having the same internal conflict for a second, because she looks like she's thinking about her answer, and then… before I realise it, she's reached across the bar and brought the bottle over. There's a few plastic shot glasses on the bar too, and she quickly pours even amounts into two of them.
"Is there a salt shaker anywhere?" she asks me.
"I think we brought a couple up from the Kitchen earlier," I nod, a little confused. "Why though?"
"We need some salt and a slice of lime ea-"
"Woah! Are you guys doing tequila shots?!" Yamato's voice cuts in and he throws himself in between us, rubbing his hands together excitedly. It seems like he's probably a little drunker than me at this point. "You got the salt and lime?"
"We were just checking for that," Mitsu says. "There should be limes behind the bar, right?"
"C'mon, barkeep!" Yamato says, shooing me around the bar. "If anyone's gonna find… bar stuff, it's Kei!"
As I start to fumble around beneath the bar, a little bemused, I suddenly hear him yell, "Hey, guys! Guys! We're gonna do tequila shots! Who's all game?"
I rise from beneath the bar, having found a few limes in a cooler. Mitsu catches my eye and her expression pretty much says 'god help us', as Yamato goes to work pouring out a few more tequila shots for the others who are gathering around the other side of the bar. I quickly get to cutting up the limes, while I hear someone slur, "Oh, I've got a salt shaker!"
When I'm done, I place the plate of lime slices up on the bar. The small group gathered around now includes Hikaru, Yuki, Blessing, Kimi, and Miniro.
"Okay, I know some of you've probably never done this before, so just do what I'm doing," Yamato says, losing his balance slightly and nudging over the remains of Mitsu's cup of that weird punch stuff.
"Or just do what I'm doing," Mitsu says with a weary smile. She licks a small part of the back of her left hand then shakes a little bit of salt onto it, then picks up a slice of lime with the same hand. Then, she picks the tequila shot up with her right hand. We all follow suit, taking turns to pass around the salt shaker. Once we're all done, Mitsu nods approvingly.
"Okay, fellow underage drinkers," she says, "now first you lick the salt off your hand, then you take the shot, then you bite into the lime, got it?"
"Salt, shot, lime," I repeat back. Easy, right?
"Okay, count of three then!" Yuki yells. "Special birthday tequila powers go! One, two, three, go!"
I lick at the salt on the back of my hand, then throw the tequila back right after it. I've never tasted anything like it in my life! If that weird cocktail thing I'd had before was lethal, this was just instant death in liquid form! It was hot and burning down my throat and I felt myself involuntarily gag, but then I remembered the lime, and I sunk my teeth into it as quickly as possible. Instantly, the bitter citrus taste filled my mouth and I nearly gasped in relief. My eyes were watering a little, and I blinked the water away to see pretty much everyone else had reacted the same way as I had, with the exception of Miniro and Mitsu.
"That was… vile," Hikaru giggles, catching my gaze as he drops the remains of his slice of lime onto the empty plate on the bar. I find myself giggling as well, as the booze really starts to kick in. The inside of my mouth feels too hot for a few seconds, like when the cold air bites at you on a winter morning.
"Maybe just stick to special birthday other alcohol powers, huh?" Miniro tells Yuki, who is still grimacing and trying to flick the last little bit of salt off of the back of her hand.
"Maybe," she croaks, nodding in agreement. "I think I'll just go back to that nice bubbly stuff we had earlier."
I can easily say I've never experienced a night like this before in my entire life. Every so often I find myself drifting to the dancefloor with one or two, or all of the others, either making up a dodgy attempt at a dance, or roaring out the lyrics to the songs I recognised while Yamato dramatically ran around me in circles yelling backing vocals and playing air guitar.
In between the bouts of singing and dancing I'd end up either over at the bar, pouring drinks for myself or whoever else was nearby, and then migrating over towards the food tables for a bit, picking at cubes of spiced meat or vegetable assortments with dips, or potato chips, and at one point, an amazing slice of cake that Daisuke had prepared earlier that afternoon all by himself.
At one point, Hikaru had faded the music down, and then changed the track to start playing 'Happy Birthday', and we'd all sang in chorus to Yuki, who had convinced Miniro to lift her up so she was above us all, crying with laughter as Yamato trapped Daisuke and Masashi in a crushing bear hug and sang the words completely out of time with everyone else.
At one point, I'd caught Monokuma crouched behind the bar, trying to assemble another cocktail, and I managed to 'accidentally' spill the last of Kimi's gross punch onto him. He'd yelled something about his fur being expensive to dry clean, and how I'd be footing the bill if he didn't just execute me, but by now I was too drunk and too happy to care at all about anything Monokuma had to say. He'd stumbled off, sticky and in a rage, and we didn't see him again for the rest of the night.
And then, as the hours ticked away and things started to die down, there was the games…
Yamato hadn't quite got beer pong like he'd suggested, but we did end up playing a game called Ring of Fire that Miniro remembered from some of the crewmen aboard ships he'd been on. By now, the twelve of us were seated on the floor in the middle of the ballroom, drinks in hands and knees just touching. In the centre of the circle we'd formed, there was an empty pint tumbler, and around the tumbler were a pack of cards, laid face down and in a circle around the glass. The music's been turned down to a low background volume, and the lights have been turned up enough that we can see what we're doing. I keep finding myself bobbing my head along to the music – some electronic stuff I'd never heard before.
If I wasn't before the first few cards, I'm pretty wasted now. And I'm not the only one! Looking round the circle, just after Ino picks up a 5 of Hearts and all the girls have to drink, everyone looks drunk as hell, even – to my surprise – Daisuke and Masashi! Daisuke is hiccupping, and he's leaning against Miniro, his head barely reaching the sailor's shoulder. His hair is mussed up a little from all the dancing, but there's a strange serenity to his expression as he takes in his surroundings.
"Okay, your turn, Yuki!" Miniro says. Beside me, Yuki cheers, scrabbles forward, and picks up a card from the floor, keeping it just hidden enough that we can't see it at first. Then she turns it round with a dramatic flourish.
"Jack off Spades!" Yamato hiccoughs.
"Jack off?!" echoes Daisuke, looking a little confused. To my side, Yuki suddenly shrieks with laughter. I find myself bent over, joining in the varying degrees of amusement. When I can finally sit up again, I could swear I even see Masashi wiping a tear of laughter away from the corner of his eye.
"Anyway…" Mitsu says with a faint smile, "what does the Jack mean, Miniro?"
"Well, it's the first Jack chosen," Miniro says, "which means Yuki get to make up one rule for what happens when the other three Jacks are picked!"
What can only be described as an evil grin suddenly appears on Yuki's face.
"Nothing explicit, Yuki," warns Mitsu.
"Ugh, don't be boring, Mitsu!" she whines. Mitsu meets her gaze across the circle and Yuki deflates. "Oh, alright then! Damn, it's meant to be my birthday…"
"Not anymore," Haru points out. "It's past 1am."
"Oh, my!" Blessing says, "I didn't realise how quickly the time had gone by!"
"Well, the night is shtill… shtill… still young!" Yamato says, his head swaying from side to side now. He raises his glass and manages to spill a little down his shirt.
"Maybe we should start winding down," Hikaru suggests, reasonably.
"No way!" whines Yuki. "I was just about to choose my rule!"
"I guess it can't take too long, right?" I shrug, trying to remember how to blink both eyes at the same time. My vision's bleary as hell, but after rubbing at them a little I can see a little better again, even if the room is kind of starting to spin.
"Well, once the fourth King card is found, it's game over," Miniro says. "It's up to you guys!"
"I think I might call it quits," Masashi says. "As… interesting as tonight has been, I think I might have pushed my limits a little."
"And I think I could do with switching to water for the rest of the night," Haru admits.
"Oh, do not be so weak!" Kimi cackles, knocking back some of the prosecco straight from the bottle she'd had at her side. "Surely now we have begun, we can't call it quits!"
"W-well, it can't hurt to keep g-going," Daisuke says, his voice slurring a little.
"Are you sure you haven't had enough?" Miniro smiles. Daisuke manages a fairly bad attempt at a shrug.
"I'm n-not as weak as I look, Mr Shirane," he says with a wobbly grin.
"And Miniro, you're the only one who knows all the rules," points out Haru.
"So we're all still in the game then?" Hikaru asks.
"Til the end, I guess," Ino shrugs. "Let's get even more wasted."
"Good!" Yuki beams, throwing her arms in the air. Then, her smile twists into another wicked grin. "Because I've just decided on the Jack rule!"
The music's mellowed down now – kind of dreamy burbles of electronica, interspersed with fingers clicking along to the beat, and the lazy strums of a guitar. A woman's vocals quietly murmur to the Ballroom as the night reaches its final act.
After the fairly ridiculous and unfathomable Ring of Fire game, a few of the others had decided to call it quits. Daisuke and Miniro were the first to call it a night, with Daisuke going out of his way to hug everyone good night and thank us all for our efforts. Even then, he somehow managed to look even more elated when Miniro took his hand in his and they made their way out of the Ballroom.
After them was Kimi, Blessing, and Mitsu. Kimi was easily the most wrecked out of the three – though she still insisted on having another drink of peach schnapps before Mitsu was able to prise it out of her talon-like fingers and hand Hikaru the bottle.
"Blessing and I will make sure she gets to bed okay," Mitsu tells us. "See you tomorrow at some point, presumably."
"If the hangovers don't kill us," I chuckle, feeling my head droop slightly as I wave Mitsu goodbye. I'm suddenly very aware that I need to pee.
"Ugh, that's a thought!" groans Hikaru.
"Don't be… la-lame, guys!" Yamato says, before letting out an enormous burp. He looks like he's fell off the ceiling into his chair, one leg cocked over the arm. He grabs the schnapps from Hikaru and takes a long drink, before pulling a face. "Oh god, no, not for me…"
"Luckily it is for me," Hikaru beams, taking it back off of him. I look over to see Yuki and Ino making their way out of the Ballroom doors now.
"Oh, g'night, you two!" I call over.
"Yeah, goodnight, bye," Ino says, hurriedly, disappearing around the corner. I could swear Yuki winks back at me as she disappears after her.
"Just us left then," Haru says. I realise Masashi is also still here, though he appears to have fell into a kind of quiet spell, gazing intently into the pint of water Haru had placed in front of him. Haru had been pretty consistently drinking water, so out of the rest of us he was easily the soberest. Even still, I could see that kind of lazy drunk smile playing on his face. Suddenly I feel something cold prod me in the cheek and I turn with a start.
Beside me, Hikaru chokes with laughter at my reaction – he was trying to offer me the schnapps bottle. I stick my tongue out at him and take the bottle from him, sniffing at it cautiously.
It smells nice and sweet. Very… peachy, in my not so professional opinion.
I take an experimental taste and I'm pleasantly surprised. At first, I expected it to be like the tequila – of which I'd definitely had a few too many. I could already feel the beginning of some lethal heartburn. But this stuff was really nice – sweet and sticky – and not like drinking fire, which was pretty much what I'd equate most of the booze I'd experienced tonight to.
"I think it's time to make tracks, guys," Haru says after a few minutes of companionable quiet, during which time I realise I've started slumping against Hikaru as we pass round the schnapps. "We can make a start on cleaning this place once we're all awake in the morning."
"Ugh, dude, don't talk about cleaning up," Yamato groans. "Or being awake… I plan on sleeping all day tomorrow."
"Well, we'll see how that plan goes," Hikaru chuckles. Then, with a sigh, he starts to rise from his seat. This sudden change in altitude catches me offguard and I flail a little as I try to stay upright, only to fall off my chair onto my ass.
"Kei, are you okay?" Hikaru asks. I hear a chair scraping as Haru gets up, and between the two of them, they pick me up from the floor. I take one look at them both with their near-identical looks of concern, and snicker a little.
"What are you laughing at?" Hikaru says, looking a little confused.
"I'm not okay," I tell him, suddenly very seriously, and then my face breaks out into a grin. "I'm… O-Kei."
"That was… possibly the least funniest thing I've ever heard in my life," Masashi grunts tiredly from further down the table. And suddenly, we're all howling with laughter.
"So stupid," Haru snorts, still smiling. "But seriously, get to bed."
"Ugh, okay, mom!" Hikaru teases, sticking his tongue out at him. He takes another drink from the schnapps bottle and then hands it to me again. I go to take another sip, only to discover the bottle is pretty much dead – just two little solitary dribbles of schnapps fall onto my tongue.
"Aw, lame…"
"Can I trust you all to make it downstairs without breaking your necks?" Haru asks.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, I've got my carer!" I say, poking at Hikaru's shoulder.
"Well, you better get going then," he says. "I'll hang back and make sure all the music and lights and whatever are switched off properly."
"Just leave it to Monokuma," Yamato says. "Shitbag might as well make himself useful."
"I think he might be sulking," I admit.
"Ugh, whatever," grumbles Yamato. "Let's get going."
"Good idea," I nod, slurring a little. My feet seem to want to tap-dance as I take a step, but I just about keep them in control by propping myself against Hikaru, who slides his hand just under the crook of my arm to support me. "Onwards!" I cheer.
"Yessir!" Hikaru says, and we start stumbling our way towards the door. We're just about there when we realise the other three haven't moved.
"Uh, you guys coming?"
"In a minute," groans Masashi.
"Yeah, just gimme a s- oh god…" Yamato goes to stand, only for his face to turn ash-white.
"Oh, don't you dare!" Haru yells, grabbing an empty punchbowl from the table and thrusting it into Yamato's arms just a split second before –
"Anyway!" I say, as loudly as I can while I try and block out the sound of Yamato retching his guts up. "Um, see you guys later?"
For a second Haru looks like he's going to protest, but then he seems to resign himself to it and says, "Yeah, you two might as well go ahead. I'll make sure Sleepy and Sicky get down okay. Night."
I manage a drunk little wave in his direction and then let Hikaru lead me out the door and down the corridor.
"I'm pretty sure Ino and Yuki are… y'know…" he says, conversationally as we make our way towards the Fifth Floor Landing. From behind us, I hear the music cut out with a brief roar of white noise.
"Are what?" I prompt him. He looks at me with raised eyebrows as if to say, 'you know what I mean'. Realisation dawns. "Oh… that."
"Yeah. I mean, the way they kinda rushed out and stuff seemed a bit… y'know…"
"You seem to know," I tease him, nudging him gently.
"Well, it's a… a lovely evening for it!" he says, sending us both into a fit of giggles. "I didn't really expect Ino to be into girls, if I'm honest."
"I don't really know what most people here are into," I say. "I like peach schnapps though. I'm into that."
"Yes, well, maybe a bit too much," Hikaru murmurs. I close my eyes and yawn widely, only for it to turn into a groan.
"Do you think we could just all sleep here?" I ask, already nodding off. "I mean… it's a lot of stairs."
"Don't worry," I hear Hikaru laugh, "we'll get back to the Common Room in just a minute."
"Ugh, longest minute of my life," I murmur, losing my footing slightly and bumping my hip off of a table. "Ignore that! I didn't do that! Shhhhhh…"
I point at the table and wrinkle my nose at it, before I turn to Hikaru.
"Can we keep going? I don't want to lose my dignity by fighting with a table."
"Very good choice," he nods, wisely. "The table wouldn't stand a chance."
The journey down to the Common Room seems to last forever. Or no time at all, depending on the position of the moon and the stars and whether or not I need to tie my shoelace. Wait, no, that's not how time works.
God, I'm drunk.
Hikaru's drunk too, but he seems to have just reached a phase where it's made him extremely tranquil and relaxed. He hums a little under his breath as he gently steers me along corridors, occasionally having to double back when I've stumbled down a side passage, or stopped to admire a particularly stupid painting – "That's a mirror, Kei."
But finally, the eight hundred flights of stairs come to an end, and I'm drifting along the corridor to the Common Room. I look out the window only to see snow. So much snow. Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.
"It's snowing," I point out to Hikaru.
"It is," he confirms. "Do you think it's a storm?"
"I think it's snow," I say, knowledgeably.
"I think you might be right," he giggles.
We stop and gaze out at it for a few minutes, and at one point I feel his head droop and press itself against my right shoulder. I reach up with my left hand and pat his head playfully, watching the way drunk-Kei-in-the-window reaches up and does the same to drunk-Hikaru-in-the-mirror.
"C'mon," I say, eventually. "If I don't get to bed soon I'm gonna cry."
"Bed sounds good," he agrees, lifting his head off my shoulder and straightening up.
I go to turn round, but he cuts me off, and suddenly we're face-to-face, almost nose-to-nose. His, big, sad eyes are kind of glazed over, like he's ready to just close them. His breath is warm and sweet against my face – the ghost of peach schnapps teasing me. I close my eyes and I can still taste it.
I can still taste it…
It's all I can think about. In that weird drunk haze, with the pale blue light casting long, dark shadows over my world, there's me, there's Hikaru… and there's a thousand things that could be happening, but they aren't… there's just the here and the now.
And then we're walking through the Common Room and the stairs are in sight. One last flight of stairs separating me from...
From whatever happens next…
And I can still taste the schnapps…
12 STUDENTS REMAINING