"Phew, now I got all that cleaned up!" the junked Monokuma let out a sigh, wiping his forehead like he had a hard day at work. "How dare he trash my vases! Did he really think that rubies would be in there? Cause there's not!"
The rusted machine sat there for a while. "Monocoins, maybe, but definitely not rubies! I shall never forgive him! That troublemaking bastard!"
"Didn't you give him that role?" my cold tone caused the bear to collapse in defeat.
"Well, that's... definitely true," the bear shifted in place. "Ah, damn it. Guess he's off the hook this time."
I didn't pay the bear any mind, at least when it came to looking at him. A sense of curiosity swelled within me. The bear was here after all. Would he still be able to notice someone breaking their role from here? No, it wouldn't be that easy. He is a robot after all and the cameras just might have been connected to him too. Heh, despite only having two eyes, it seemed he made up for the loose rolling one with having cameras all around this school.
"Remember Suisei, never hunt for rubies, hunt for monocoins."
I'm pretty sure you're calling them wrong, but whatever.
"Now, are you going to buy something or are you just going to keep window shopping?!"
An opening appeared as I began to head out of the store, ignoring whatever the bear had to say afterwards. It was no concern to the person I was currently living out as.
"Damn window shoppers!"
I continued to tune the bear out as I walked out of the store, I still had nothing to do to kill time asides from practice my new role. The incident in the store was just one brief time waster. A rather forced, disgusted sigh escaped my lips as I glanced towards the entrance to this place.
I suppose going outside would do me some good.
For now, as I walked to the entrance that had kept us locked within for a couple of days, I was greeted to the same dark green skies that haunted above us.
I suppose while I'm taking a walk outside, I could use it to go over some sort of daily plan. First and foremost was to check on everyone, see what kind of role they were playing for the week.
…
That was it. That was my only plan right now. It was very improvised, but thinking about it, I had no idea what to do afterwards until I saw everyone's new personalities.
Urgh. I just hope the rest have some workable personalities that aren't too out of hand.
I didn't get too far in my thoughts before I heard...growling?
Reminding myself to keep up this cold act, I started looking for the source of the growling. Surely, it can't be a wild beast...right? If a wild animal made it onto the school's grounds, that means there would be a way out of here. Our previous exploration of the outside grounds didn't go far however, the walls seemed to have no small gaps or holes.
So that meant…
"Come out you filthy beast." as I called out to wherever the growling was coming from, I saw movement in the tall, uncut grass. It shook as something slowly peeked out. The head of a wolf.
"What?!" I tried my best to keep in character as the head of the wolf stared unblinkingly at me while I took a step back.
No way. A wolf?
It growled some more, but this time, probably due to how close the wolf actually was now, the growling seemed odd. Then and there, I saw what came out of the grass on all fours.
"...Akahana?"
The response I got was just more growling. Her eyes had that teary dry look to them. Was she okay? I couldn't ask with the way I was so I stepped back again, putting more distance between us as she snarled at me.
Great. She was a wolf. Speaking about that, I noticed that her red hood had been replaced by that of a wolf's pelt. Like one of those hunters that wear the skin of their hunts on top of them. No wonder I got so surprised when I saw the wolf's head poke out of the grass.
Where did she get that?
I stepped back again as she went for a swipe, baring those teeth at me, it would have been intimidating if it weren't human teeth. I got the hint though.
"Tch, I don't want to walk around with a dirty animal on the loose."
A scary thought entered my mind when I started to walk away, the feral growling growing softer before stopping completely. What would have happened if I didn't leave? Would Akahana bite me?
I looked over my shoulder, seeing her lay back down in the grass. I didn't get far out of the school and it seems that the great outdoors might not be the best place for us to spend our time for a while.
Turning back around as I opened the door, I spotted something from the corner of my eye. It was a man I have never seen before, he had a scar that ran down from the upper right brow down to his lower left jawline. There were burn scars too that reached from his upper forearms as both sleeves of his black dress shirt looked like they had been ripped off.
Our eyes made eye contact for only a few seconds before he had darted off so skittishly.
Before I knew it, I had already begun following him. I probably looked like Tadakatsu hunting down someone to punch right now, wasn't I?
Well I hope, cause that meant I was in character, sorta.
Turning corner after corner, I ended up back at the dorm rooms again. "Tch, lucky bastard." before I could collect my thoughts on the matter and who that was, I noticed something.
From Renji's door, I heard soft muffled sobs. This might be the best time to get a look at just who Renji was now. Thankfully, the door was unlocked, but that's where my thankfulness ended.
"What the hell?"
As I gazed into the abyss, I found myself staring at a rather odd sight.
"Oh god why!" the sobs, no longer muffled by the door, were quite loud as tears ran down Renji's face among the sniffles and blown tissues while trying not to curl himself up into a ball...too much. It was what he was crying about was odd about this whole thing.
There, right in the middle of his room was a small makeshift shrine complete with a little photo frame with a black ribbon tied around the top.
He was mourning the dead.
The person he was mourning however—
"Why did they have to take you so soon!" he cried again, only sending brief glances to the frame as he sobbed. It looked like he was trying to avoid looking at it.
—was the goddamn cockroach.
I stepped back from Renji's room and proceeded to close the door as he continued to cry over the roach. Poor guy. I couldn't believe he got stuck with a role like that. I couldn't imagine keeping that act up for a week, that sounded like hell.
While it was good to see him away from the bar for once, that was quite concerning. I think I might have to avoid large lengths of time with him for a while.
With no other idea on where to go at the moment, I decided to check if anyone was on the second floor. Making my way over was rather easy, no one jumped out but I did pause and looked back to our rooms. There could still be people in there, but then again, that could involve endless waiting.
Proceeding up the stairs to the second floor, I came across a familiar face sitting on the steps.
He had his eyes closed but the most jarring thing about it was that he was smiling. No, not that smile that spelt death and pain to whoever was pissing him off, a smile you would receive from a sweet soul. A smile that would fit someone like Astin way more than some yanki.
I decided to walk past him, but as I did. "Walking past someone without conversation is quite rude, you know."
I fought any surfacing expressions as much as I could, I couldn't break but really?! I wanted to laugh. Tadakatsu, the mad dog of Shibuya was acting like this? What a laugh!
I scoffed, "like I care." I saw it! I saw a twitch in his expression! He's trying his hardest not to break. It must be really hard for him to act like this.
Shit. The bleach blonde yanki stood and reached out his hand, going for my shoulder. I quickly smacked the hand away and what surprised me was that he held it like he had just had it crushed by an intense weight. "You shouldn't hurt others." I could feel the seething rage underneath the forced kindness. It rolled off in waves.
"Don't touch me you low witted insect."
"That isn't something you should say to a fellow classmate or a friend."
He smiled at me, it was clearly forced like before, now that I thought about it, perhaps Takeo talked to him about it? "I saw Yozora in the infirmary, please check up on her for me, will you?" he asked, hiding his enraged expression pretty well.
"Anyone else you want me to check up on?"
"Isa, in the library." he held his hands together, forcing that smile to widen. "Thank you."
Aside from the underlying rage of his words, I already liked the role he was assigned. I gave him a sharp glare before I continued up the stairs. I think I could get used to that!
Wandering around the second floor, I headed into the infirmary. Might as well check if Tadakatsu was telling the truth.
When I opened the door to the infirmary I did indeed see Yozora. So Tadakatsu wasn't lying about that. That was good to know, but I think I could tell what Yozora's new role was.
She was going through the medicine cabinets, digging into the back of it, trying to find something.
It wasn't her looking for medical supplies that tipped me off to her role. Rather, it was that she was even awake at all. Maybe there was more to it, of course, but the tired look in her eyes yearned for sleep.
She must have heard me enter as she was now looking right at me, showing me those tired eyes. "Oh...it's just you." she did sound the same. "Hey."
I scoffed in response, but maybe she was too tired to care as she continued like nothing happened.
Poor Yozora, she was trying so hard to stay awake. "And what do you think you're doing, rummaging around the medical supplies like that? Don't get them dirty with your filth."
Biting her lip to prevent a yawn, struggling to keep her eyes open in case she fell asleep straight away if she did. She did finally manage to get around to saying, "looking for something to help me stay up."
Knowing Yozora's tendency to sleep anywhere at any time, she must be fighting a lot of it off right now. What a trooper.
On the plus side, I won't be tripping over her for a couple of days, but this must be hell for her. I couldn't even imagine.
"If you're worried that I might not be able to stay awake, don't worry. I handled more difficult flights. If I can't find anything here, I'm positive I can stay awake."
"I'm not worried for you, don't mistake something for what it's not."
"...Right." she said, with closed eyes. Her hand slowing down as she rummaged through the cabinet.
"At least keep your damn eyes open."
Luckily for her, she did open her eyes before she could go back to dreamland. "...almost dozed off. Thanks."
Instead of replying to her, I just had a look at the cabinet she was digging through. I hope she finds what she was looking for, but it was time for me to move on.
"Hey, since you're here. You didn't happen to use or know anyone that used syringes, do you?" she asked out of the blue.
"Like I would care what others would do."
Thankfully for me, she carried on like I wasn't being incredibly rude. "I was trying to find drugs to help me stay up, but found...these." she put some syringes down onto the table, trying to muffle her yawning as she did.
On the table, were a bunch of empty syringes. From a quick look, they definitely held some liquid in it at some point. It was hard to tell how long though. It could have been a recent one too.
"Perhaps one of those others is taking these substances...of whatever they may be." I gave her a frown, looking down at the syringes again.
"Maybe. This kinda reminds me of one flight. After our passengers got off, we cleaned some of the seats and we found one seat with a syringe."
Listening to Yozora, I think there was more to her role than meets the eye. She was a lot more talkative, wasn't she? Or was that to just keep herself awake?
Yozora yawned, "well, it sucks that someone has to do this because of their role."
I wanted to nod, but instead could only shrug. "Better them than us."
That...was a bit cold, huh?
"...I guess it could be the bear?" she held up a syringe. Hmm, empty syringes would look very suspicious. "That's if he would go out of his way to make us worried for other people's roles."
Putting my hands in my pockets, I shrugged once more. "Even if he did or didn't, it's not my problem to deal with."
I think now was the best time to leave before I make things worse, or say more bad things.
"Oh, see you then," she yawned as she turned her attention back to the bottles and boxes of drugs.
I headed out and immediately headed to the library to see if Tadakatsu would be two for two. I kept my eyes out for anyone that might have popped out.
Reaching the library, I could already hear someone inside.
Isabi was in the library huh. Let's hope and see if it is. Upon opening the door, I saw a pile of books, all flung open and tossed wherever. Shooting a glance around, I didn't see that robotic zombie anywhere, but I did see the master of puzzles quite well. Though that bear would probably come in to bark about how she messed the library up though.
When I got closer to the puzzle solver, I noticed that she had a book in hand. "BORING!" she called out rather loudly, throwing the book over her shoulder. Thankfully I wasn't in the line of fire as the book landed on the ground.
She pouted as she dug through another book, giving it a quick skim before she threw it like the one before.
"What are you doing, imbecile?" my voice got her attention as she then smiled at me.
"Looking at books!"
I could see that. I gestured to her to explain a bit more than that. "Ah, looking for fun books! These are all too boring!"
I raised a brow as I picked up a tossed puzzle book, it could have been in better shape. "Even this?"
"That one's too hard!"
"Pathetic."
I flipped through the book. It contained crossword puzzles, sudokus and other types of book puzzles you'd see. What struck me when flipping through it was that the beginner's page wasn't even touched. Not even the expert pages were touched!
Closing the book I asked, "this might be above you, but have you even attempted a rubix cube?"
"Nope!" was the cheery reply. "That's too hard for Isabi, so I threw it away." she giggled to herself even after seeing my scowl.
Just what was that bear doing with these roles of ours?
I shook my head, leaving Isabi to her own devices. "Spending any of my time here with you is worthless then I see."
"Awww, don't be a party-pooper, Suisei!"
"Whatever." I closed the door behind me. However, I saw the door to the music room open up with Hudson walking out. What timing!
Hudson looked the same as before, nothing changed with his appearance. Spotting me, Hudson then glided over. Time to see what he was like for the week.
"I see yet another peasant has made their appearance before me." Didn't you come to me though?
"The only peasant I see is you, bottom feeder."
Hudson laughed. "You poor delusioned fool. You don't even recognize the caliber of the person in front of you."
"I know what I'm looking at."
Hudson smirked, looking very proud of himself.
"Don't mistake it for something good, because it's not."
The split singer's smirk immediately did a one-eighty. "Of course, I held my expectations too high. It would seem that you, a low classed peasant, can't even fathom just how outclassed you are to me."
"Whatever you say, Hudson."
"That's Hudson Kusuma Mega Nyoman Ratna Wayan Amir Buana Darma Hasan Ilham Surya Wahyu Yuda Wibama to you peasant. At least use the rest of your brain cells to remember that."
"...Whatever."
...Now he was ignoring me. I glanced over to the music room behind him. Why was he in there? Perhaps I should take a look, in case there was someone else there.
Holding his chin high, Hudson huffed suddenly as he looked back to the music room. "I wouldn't enter that place." Hudson pointed to the door. "Unless you want to see pure vanity."
Pure vanity?
That was one way to get me interested. I guess. It did confirm that someone was in there. Hudson huffed as he walked off, heading downstairs. Probably not wanting to waste sharing the same air as a 'low class peasant' like myself...I wonder how he will deal with Tadakatsu on the stairs? With him gone, I turned my attention to the music room.
The door, still open, invited me in and low and behold, there she was. In the music room, sitting on one of the sets was Astin, looking at a reflection of herself.
I guess this was what Hudson said about pure vanity. Literally. It didn't feel like it though, yet. Conversation could make it more apparent.
"Oh, Suisei, hello." she greeted me and she sounded the same as before. The only thing different that I could tell was that she refused to take her eyes off the mirror.
The only time our eyes locked with one another was when she spotted me in the mirror.
Astin seemed really focused on her reflection. "Is there something you need?" she asked, not bothering to actually look at me.
I ignored her question however. "Checking to see if you're not a vampire? Don't worry, you're definitely not since you're staring at that hideous form of yours."
She didn't even budge. "Like you're one to talk." her tone was full of pride as she turned away from the mirror. "You can't keep your eyes off me, then again, you're not the only one."
"Sounds like you're just wasting time sitting in front of a mirror."
She stood up, tall and proud. "Wasting time? Foolish. As an idol, I have an appearance to withhold. How many people have you encouraged? Look up to you? None, even if you somehow did, it was all attributed to another person. I've helped thousands, even millions."
I had to admit. That hurt.
"You mean useless bottom feeders? Those kind of people are unnecessary, useless. Just a waste of time."
"It seems that you are in denial," she gave me a smile, it felt like one you would see on stage or TV. An idol's smile. "But I don't care what you do, unless it's worshipping me, then go ahead."
Looking away from her smile, I ignored her words. "You're delusional."
She started to hum as I kept my gaze away. "Hmm...oh! How about you act as my paparazzi and mirror carrier? It sounds like a win-win for both of us."
"Hell no."
Her attention moved onto a photo she picked up from the recording desk as soon as I declined. "Then you're useless to me, begone."
I...had no idea how to deal with this any further but thankfully she gave me an out.
"I wonder if Anju has a camera? I wouldn't mind having an interview~!"
She seemed to have moved on, and so did I.
As I left Astin without a word, I came back down to the first floor and saw Fox, however it seemed that he didn't see me at all as he eventually went into the cafeteria.
Following the witch, I entered the cafeteria right as the potion brewer turned around to see who it was. I wasn't exactly quiet...
"Witch."
"Suisei..."
We stared at each other for a while. He was a lot more calmer than what I've seen of him. Unlike his usual...craziness. Fox wasn't teasing or anything, yet.
"Try not to get in my way."
Fox stared at me, forming a pained expression with his lips. "Okay."
"Good, at least you know your place...unlike some people." I walked past, looking back at him. He wanted to say something. "If you got something to say, spit it out already."
"No." Fox refused, playing with his hat instead.
He was trying very hard to avoid conversation. I wonder what his role was to make him avoid conversation like that?
I gave the witch some space and just watched from afar, he still had that grin on his face and that general energetic attitude to him when left to his own devices.
Time to test something. "Oi, Fox!"
He immediately shifted back to how he was with our last conversation.
"Shut it, you're being too loud."
Instead of giving me a reply, Fox only saluted and continued to do what he was just doing. Yep, still the same old Fox, just not very talkative.
As I watched Fox enter the kitchen, I turned my attention to the rest in the cafeteria, there were only three people here, but who first? So I went for the closest person here.
Seiren, much like Hudson and Astin, had quickly taken the acting role quite well. It was eerily natural like the previously mentioned two, but there was something about this I couldn't place my finger on, but then again, I only really know what they show me.
Moving over towards the entertainer who was eating from a large pile of food on the table, she immediately shot out her arms, as if that would protect her food. The way she consumed that food would make even that pink ball Kirbo look jealous with the amount of food being consumed, but at least Kirbo didn't make it look disgusting.
Huh. This was the first time I have actually seen her eat, now that I thought about it.
After swallowing her food, she suddenly shouted at me. "It's mine! All of it's mine!"
Damn.
"...Is that all the food from the kitchen, you gluttonous freak?"
She immediately went back to snacking on some corn. "No, but it's mine! My kitchen! Don't touch my food!"
Great, so did that mean all the food belonged to her? Great...
"You surely don't expect us to not eat anything here, do you?" I asked, seeing her still act defensive over her plate full of whatever the hell she picked up.
"Of course!" at least she sounded a bit friendlier here. "The food here is mine and mine alone, go starve cause I don't want to."
A part of me just wanted to pick up some food on the plate and take a bite out of it. Then I remembered, oh yeah, acting. So I did. I picked up a small, cut up piece of steak and ate it in front of her.
"THAT WAS MINE!"
"I don't give a shit." I stood, already leaving. I could hear her making her way too me. "You'll leave your precious food right open for others to snack on, idiot." I spat and could hear her grumble to herself.
Glancing over my shoulder, I could see her back at her table, scoffing the food down her piehole. A part of me wondered...what would have happened if I didn't say a thing when she tried to get me?
Not something I should think about. My thoughts could go to some pretty bad places if I let it wonder.
I then saw Seno sit at one of the tables, just watching Seiren gulf down all the food she had in front of her, he turned to me and gave a short wave.
He seemed pretty comfortable as I made my way over. "You got something to say? Spit it out." I threatened, raising my leg to kick him. I found myself a little surprised as he raised his hands up, waving them in a nonsensical manner before he put a finger to his lips.
"Cat got your tongue?" I asked, lowering my leg to which he nodded along.
Seems like he got pretty lucky with the role...well in terms of keeping the act up at least.
The internet personality titled his hand, waving his hand for me to continue with something. "I got nothing else to say to you." Seno gave a silent sigh as he tapped on what appeared to be a school book.
Out of nowhere, he pointed over my shoulder towards the bar. "Guess with one gone another takes its place." I ran a hand through my hair as I glanced back. "How pitiful, to succumb to such low temptations."
When I looked back to Seno, I saw as he just shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets as he decided to walk out. "Well aren't you just a well of information."
That left one last person that I had yet to talk to in the cafeteria.
While Renji was no longer behind the bar, someone else took the spot instead with a bottle in their hand that definitely shouldn't belong to a student.
The person was none other than Nanako as she sent a wary glance to the bottle she held.
Hesitantly putting the bottle to her lips, she quickly put it down.
Probably thanks to seeing me, I presume. "What are you looking at?" her words were slurred in that fake drunk impression kind of way. "You want a drink too?"
"No." short, simple and very cold sounding.
"Tch, whatever." she picked up the bottle she was trying so hard to avoid. "Drinking alone is the worst." she fakely slurred her words as she sloshed the contents with the bottle around.
Her 'drunken' frown smiled a bit. "Guess that means more for me then, huh?"
"If you want to drink yourself dead, go for it. I'm not going to stop you." I scoffed as I wondered if I should even drink in the first place.
As Nanako tried to find more ways to avoid drinking from the bottle, I studied her expression. While her face was trying to convey someone drunk, the soul in her eyes were trying to escape this situation entirely.
They say that the eyes were the window to the soul and that seemed to be true.
While watching her try and avoid the bottle of booze, that brought something else up: is that acting out of character?
"Just drink already!" I growled. "It's annoying, so hurry up."
Nanako jumped a bit as she grabbed hold of the bottle. "Don't mind if I do." she tried to look excited as she slowly but surely consumed the contents.
Sorry Nanako, but if you keep trying to avoid drinking it, the bear could see it as breaking out of character. Better for you to drink and stay in the role or punished for it.
Looking back at the pyrotechnician, she was still drinking from the bottle and I decided to take my leave before anything else could happen and now, I was almost done.
There was only one person that I had left to meet today. The bishop. I wonder what she was going to be like compared to everyone else that I've seen so far. Something caught my eye, something red. Small little dots and splats of red paint (I hope it was paint) led to the gym from the gift shop. As I now stood in front of the gym, I took a deep breath as I entered. There, I saw Maria, the bishop.
There she stood, in the middle of the gym in a bright red circle of (thankfully) paint. I spied the cans that were off to the side. Inside the red circle was that of a red five pointed star.
Oh boy.
Her arms were raised into the air as I noticed briefly that the cross on her silver rosary was turned upside down.
"Aha! It seems I got myself a willing sacrifice!" When I refocused on Maria, she had a cocky smirk which was unusual on her face. Her eyebrows kind of gave it away that she was not used to her current performance.
"I am not your sacrifice, witch." I guess she would be the better witch now compared to Fox.
Placing her hands on her sides, I noticed that she was actually wearing makeup around her eyes. Dark eye shadow. While it was clear on what she was doing with the circle, I decided to ask anyway. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Heh, you don't know? I'm summoning one of the loyal pillars left behind by our dearest dark lord Satan."
Okay, that bear was clearly fucking with some of us with these roles. Seeing most people's roles, it sort of proved that.
"After witnessing that spirit medium conjure the deceased, it proved to me that if the souls of the damned and corrupted could be summoned in spiritual rituals to take on an ethereal form, then that just proves I too can summon one of the dark lords into our realm! Not only as an ethereal being, but a corporeal one!"
…
Please don't go around sacrificing others to summon a demon into our world. Unless...no, bad brain. Stop.
"I don't care," I scoffed, "just don't try and bring me into your demon sacrificing mess."
Maria scooted a bit closer, "does that mean you'll find me a worthy sacrifice?"
"I just said, don't try and bring me into your mess. Are you perhaps deaf too?"
"If I sacrifice my hearing to the depths of hell, sure."
I felt her gaze on my back as I headed out, she was a bit too much for me right now.
What a colourful bunch we turned out to be, huh.
Nightfall was already upon us as the windows showed nothing but darkness, the night time announcement was still a ways away to go then. I couldn't help but feel the exhaustion hit me as I slipped out from the doors.
Returning from the gym and what that entailed, I made a beeline for my room. Just wanting to get it over with already. Fumbling with the door took a while and making sure it was locked, I sent the camera a scowl as I turned the lights off.
Exhausted from the events that took place today, I fell face first onto the bed as I drifted off into a blissful sleep, even if it was earlier than usual.
At least I didn't have to keep up any false appearances in my dreams.
"Guess I really dozed off last night." I didn't expect to fall asleep so fast, but I guess yesterday really took it out of me.
I glanced around my room, right over to the clock. Judging from the time, the morning announcement had yet to go off. So I had an hour of time to kill before I could eat.
A realization played out in my mind. Acting. That's right, this was day two. Thankfully now that I have met up with everyone, I got a grip on their new personalities.
The first day wasn't that bad, but there wasn't anything stopping that from getting worse of course.
Since I had an hour to kill I decided to head over and wait for the cafeteria to open, but I got a bit of a shock once I headed over. There, I saw Yozora waiting on a nearby bench. I took the time to sit next to her. She didn't look like she had a good night. Who could blame her?
I didn't say a word and neither did she. We just sat there in silence together. Probably for the best, given our roles.
"Oh, you two are already up." we heard Seiren as she walked over and took to the spot on the other side of Yozora.
It seemed when food wasn't involved, she was alright.
The tired looking Yozora just groaned at the mention of being up already.
"Hnrgh, I wanna eat already!" Seiren whined. Not even a minute went past! I take back what I said.
I tapped my foot against the ground rather impatiently. "You can wait, can't you mongrel?"
"Hngh...food..."
"Oh, you guys are already awake? Damn, I know teens need a lot of food but god damn, this early for it?!" the mechanical screeching of the bear was heard as he dragged himself into the hallway.
"I wanna eat, can you let us in? Please!" Seiren begged, already off the bench as she grabbed a hold of the clunky robot with a missing limb.
"Eh? I don't know, I have rules for a reason..."
"Come on! I'm starving! I'm gonna die if I can't eat! I'll do any—"
The bear however, just patted her like a loyal dog. "I know you will, just hold on for a few minutes then the cafeteria will open."
"THANK YOU!"
"Right, yeah. Whatever." came the uncaring tone of the bear as he dragged himself away. Not too long after, the cafeteria unlocked. Not a second too soon after that, Seiren barrelled herself inside, probably straight to the kitchen.
Yozora and I followed suit and we already saw Seiren consuming everything on a plate. That was fast, way too fast! "This is amazing! A plate of food was already prepared for me!" Seiren rejoiced in between munches.
Oh. Was this the bear's way of letting us get food from the kitchen without much fuss?
"Better get some food..." I heard Yozora head off and that wasn't a bad idea. Knowing how Seiren was with her food now, it was better to get that now before she noticed, especially if the bear gave us a chance to get food.
The morning announcement went off not too long after with that familiar ding dong.
"Rise and shine my lovelies, it's a brand new day as a brand new person! New year new you!" the bear laughed over the speakers. "Remember, you gotta stay in character or else you'll be punished severely. You don't want that, trust me."
Walking out of the kitchen, the cafeteria was starting to pile up nicely as it seemed that we were all going to sit silently around at different tables as I watched people enter. Probably for the best, but soon, we'd be talking. Maybe try to figure some workarounds to our limits.
Charlotte was the first to walk in as she was talking with Renji, or at least trying to, but the latter was too busy crying over the picture of the cockroach he brought with him. Tadakatsu followed suit smiling very creepily, but what would you expect from someone being forced to smile like that.
Fox shuffled in beside him as Anju was dragged in by Isabi who was not even aware of the look Fox shot her. Nanako made a beeline for the bar as Seno walked in without a word.
Akahana ran in next and I couldn't help but notice that she had some grass sticking to parts of her wolf pelt before she shook them off like a dog getting out of a bath. Did...did she sleep outside?!
Fumi was the next one after her, frowning at the wolf acting girl and the one standing behind her. "Stop it, both of you. Be serious for once." she grumbled, arms crossed. It was still weird to see Fumi act like that. Hopefully the week passes soon.
Standing right behind her was Sunako, looking over her shoulder, standing very, very closely like a personal haunting spirit. She looked especially creepy today as her hair covered her face completely, one single eye piercing out like it was going to curse or kill someone.
I wonder what curse Fumi brought onto herself to have Sunako sticking like glue to her. Sunako was really bringing out that haunted VHS vibe.
When Hudson and Astin arrived, the two weren't paying attention to anyone. They were absorbed in their own world. Hudson acting like royalty, like the ground he tread on was the most important thing as Astin was focused on herself with a small, hand mirror before she noticed Anju. She immediately made a beeline for her the reporter.
Before I could even keep my attention on her, Maria made her appearance. A large grin on her face as it looked like she was just done trying to do a satanic ritual and I think I heard her say something about summoning spirits from hell.
Kyogen was right behind her, looking quite grumpy as he did. From the way he acted during the last trial, he probably wasn't enjoying that conversation. He did look like he wanted to kick something, but that was more so the role given to him.
He looked like he was about to say something, but someone gained all of our attention.
"Hey! That's mine!" We turned to see the wild beast that was now Akahana eating a large plate of meat while the glutton tried to stop her.
When Seiren went to reach out and pull the plate away, she got a very nasty snarl in return. You'd think she'd learn, but what happened next definitely made the morning more interesting.
"Are you challenging me?" Seiren looked appalled as she was pretty much ignored by the former red riding hood. "Very well! I'll accept your challenge!"
It didn't take long for Seiren to begin gorging herself on her own large plate in front of her while the wolfish Akahana just focused on her own slabs of meat on the table.
"At least they have a friendly rivalry." smiled the mad dog, or I guess it would be the playful pup now, huh.
Though, I don't want to see him smile like that again. It was too unnatural!
Speaking about Tadakatsu, I couldn't see Takeo anywhere. Hopefully he was okay wherever he was.
"Oi, did any of you bastards see that scar face guy?" Kyogen asked as he kicked a nearby table.
"Scar...face guy?" Anju timidly poked up from the table that was kicked. "I...sorry."
"Hm? I don't think so!" the puzzle solver giggled as she threw a heaping of food at the forager and entertainer but got (lightly) slapped on her back. If anything, it was closer to a pat.
"Act your age." Fumi growled before dusting herself off. "No, I haven't."
When Kyogen shot a glare at Seno who happened to have a smile at the time, the internet personality just shrugged. "Think this is funny, huh?" the troublemaker stepped closer to the poor guy, gripping onto his shirt.
Man, he really is a troublemaker now, isn't he?
"Cat got your tongue, huh?!" As soon as Kyogen grabbed Seno, Seno nodded vigorously. I couldn't help but feel deja vu with that.
"I suggest letting him go," smiled Tadakatsu, the corners of his smile trying not to break. "It's clear he is unable to talk, violence will do us no good here."
"Well fuck you too."
That almost made Tadakatsu drop the act, but somehow, he managed to hold on.
Astin chimed in saying, "There's only one thing I kept my eyes on." she held a photo of herself in her hands, smiling as she did.
"Come on! At least one of you had to see that freak!"
Crossing my arms, I joined the conversation. "Hn, I did. Briefly. Wasn't my concern though."
"At least someone fucking saw him." Kyogen pivoted, facing the others. "Anyone else?"
In the distance, we heard Nanako garble. "I don't know, maybe?" she was already at the bottles. Only taking a sip once we looked in her direction.
Isabi laughed. "It doesn't matter, does it? Maybe it's a friend!"
The promoter shook her head. "Friend or not, it's better to play this safe rather than drop our guards."
"Oh… Any thoughts, Renji?"
"Oh god." cried Renji as he laid on the floor, curled up holding the photo frame.
Yeah...don't think we're going to get anything from him...
"Oh, yeah." a yawn escaped a tired Yozora, "I did happen to see someone last night. I got a bit bored in my room so I walked around with nothing to do...I saw Akahana outside, but there was a person inside who ran away when I called out to them..."
The now wolf pelted girl perked up briefly at the mention before going back to devouring the rest of her meat. Swiping at one of Seiren's wandering hands.
"So whatcha guys gonna do?" asked Fox, there was that normal tone again. Did he forget his role?
"Tch, why do you want to know?" Kyogen growled as Tadakatsu held him back...just in case.
"What...are you going to do?" Anju shot him a wary look, hiding behind Astin.
I watched with silent curiosity as Fox shifted in place. "Pardon?"
"She asked what you are going to do about this. Isabi thinks you should share any plans, but you gotta keep it simple! Hehe!"
Fox gave Isabi the oddest look. It was as if he was both envious and taunted, to say the least.
"Have you seen this scar face man?" Hudson asked, joining the conversation. "Consider this a blessing and reveal all you know to me. This is surely a golden opportunity for you, peasant."
"Fooor sure, later though~!"
I narrowed my eyes at the witch, he was dodging the conversation. Hmm. My thoughts were rudely interrupted and the reason why made it sure that they had our attention.
"Well, I know what I would do!" grinned Maria, stealing the spotlight. Before anyone could even ask her what she meant, she immediately told us. "I'll see if he would be willing to act as my sacrifice to the lord of darkness!" I had a feeling that was it...
"You can't be serious..." a very tired groan came from the promoter while Isabi seemed really into the whole summoning satan.
As they were all talking, I took the time to actually eat! I looked down at the plate I had placed on the table sometime. I couldn't exactly remember when, but it was time to chow down. Grabbing my plate and making sure to stay far away from Seiren, I sat down and began to chow down...
Only to see Sunako sitting across from me, that one singular eye starting right into my soul. Hell, maybe even past it.
Also how did I miss her? Was she always there?
"..."
She continued to stare as I promptly decided to ignore her. I would say that the table was silent, but the sobbing of Renji was pretty loud thanks to him rolling around.
"You have to eat, Renji," yawned Yozora. "Just grab something from the kitchen."
"No!" the mixologist cried, sending looks to the photo frame as if that refreshed the dried tears. "This way, I can meet him again!"
The entertainer however overheard the loud sobs, "No one is touching my food!"
"It's not your food." Fumi's stern tone caused the small girl to shrink, if only for a few seconds.
Watching Renji get picked up off the ground, his chin held tightly. "I can help feed you, if you want." offered Charlotte, showing off that glasgow smile of hers.
That only caused the spiky oranged haired teen to wail further. "He would have fed me!"
Refocusing on the food on the table, I noticed that Sunako had a slight selection of food off to the side of her. Food that was more commonly placed on the graves of the dead. Compared to everyone else though, she didn't have a lot. It was more like finger food.
Charlotte held up some food, but Renji wasn't having it. "Open wide."
Yeah, that's it for me. I stood, finishing most of my meal before pushing it towards Sunako. "I can't eat among you lowlives, have my leftovers, that should suit you just fine."
Power walking my way out, unaware if Sunako took my plate, I came face to face with the bear, sitting on the bench Yozora, Seiren and I were just at moments ago.
Junkuma held a lit cigar in his paw. His elongated arm held it out pretty far as his equally long legs didn't even dangle in the air off the bench.
Watching his one bulging eye roll around in its socket, he turned to me. "Don't smoke, it's bad for your health."
It seems like I wasn't the only one that left the cafeteria as I heard a pretty rude tone right behind me. "Like we care about your concerns." Oh, it was Kyogen!
"I might want you guys to kill each other, but not by smoking yourselves to death. Then again, that might be fun to watch, actually." the junked machine shook his head, flicking the cigar in our direction. "Oh well, not like a cigar would do much."
"How about you smoke yourself to death." Kyogen huffed.
In between the scratching of metal, the bear shrugged. "Not like it will kill me, and even if it did. I don't have any cubs to live for, nor can I! So I don't care about death! Bring it our reaper!"
"We don't care about your pathetic love life."
The bear got quite angry, damn Kyogen. "Oi! That's really fucking rude! You're lucky you're following a predetermined role for the next few days. I'll have you know that I'm an endangered species! So endangered I cannot have cubs! That's how endangered I am!"
"Go extinct." Both Kyogen and I spoke in unison.
"Grr! Lucky bastards! I would have called down the wrath of Zeus upon you if it weren't for my genius motive!"
"Would you even follow through with that?" I frowned as the bear sighed, scratching the side of his neck.
"...no." It was a total shift from seconds before. "I can't stay mad at my favourite little potential murderers. So feel free to kill each other as much as you please! I have no favourites!"
Make up your damn mind.
"I'm out of here..." Kyogen stomped off, heading straight for the gift shop right as Junkuma's arm dropped to the ground in realization.
"Oi! Don't go destroying my vases you punk!" the bear gave chase and by that, like one of those legless zombies in horror games. No threat unless surprised.
Now alone to my own devices for a while, I sent a glance back to the cafeteria, hearing the ruckus within.
The second day of our acting lessons was just beginning.
Man, it's been a while since the last update to this, huh? Sorry about that! Thanks for being patient! Time to get back into the swing of things and get the show rolling!
