A light rain dripped down from the dark gray clouds above, blocking the sun from view, breaking the unusually long period of hot summer weather in Gotham, and bringing it back to a more familiar status quo.

The raindrops landed all around the schoolyard of Gotham High, colliding against the head of one particular darkhaired student standing in the middle of the yard, out in the open, so unlike his usual location of choice beneath the large tree in the corner when waiting for school to start.

His uniform was getting soaked as he kept staring resolutely upwards, unconcerned about the water trickling down his face and ignoring the odd looks cast at him by the arriving students who all hurried past him to get into the building.

Damian Wayne couldn't care less about the rain, or the attention he was gathering. He'd thought the rain had been long overdue for a while now, and since he'd always been of the opinion that the sun was vastly overrated anyway, welcomed the change of pace. As a result, he had no issue getting a little wet as he stood here, waiting. His clothes would dry again in due time.

Although he had to admit that following the recent events that had transpired, the rain had certainly picked a poor time to arrive. While he rarely let his mood get affected by the meteorological advances outside of his control, he knew that the same couldn't be said about certain others, as he kept his eyes determinedly scanning the skies above, looking for signs of movement. Certain other people who had already gone through a rough enough time the day prior probably didn't need to have their emotional state impaired by the negative annotations typically associated with this type of gray weather.

He was so concentrated on spotting the flying figure descending beneath the clouds to land on the roof of the school building like he had the previous days, that he nearly missed the unmistakably messy black hair of Jonathan Kent walking straight past him towards the front doors of the school, moving fast with his head down, not acknowledging Damian at all.

It was such an unexpected change from the way the half-alien usually arrived, that Damian probably wouldn't have noticed him at all if it hadn't been for the wide berth the other students were giving him, seemingly afraid to approach him while not being able to help themselves shooting him many curious stares.

Damian turned on the spot to look after the boy who kept up his steady pace towards the school, ignoring the looks that were sent his way. Damian thought he could guess the reason for this increased interest in the Boy of Steel.

Lois Lane had been busy last night, calling both Dr. Leslie Thompkins and the School Staff to inform them of the... episode, that her son had relayed to her about his visit to Sayori's home. She'd wasted no time in arranging an extended period of time for Sayori to stay at Thompkins' Clinic, where hopefully the girl would get the care and therapy sessions she needed, which given the unique relationship between the Thompkins and the Wayne family, Leslie had agreed upon giving her, free of charge.

After that, Lane had called the Gotham High Principal to let her know that due to these circumstances, Sayori would be taking some days off from school, and since the girl in question apparently didn't have any legal guardians to speak off, coupled with the fact that Lane had a very convincing (not to mention dominating) way of speaking where only very few people could find it in themselves to tell her "no" when she wanted something, the Principal had quickly given her permission to let Sayori get a break from classes until further notice, and had agreed with the Investigative Reporter to keep all of this in the strictest confidentiality.

Which naturally meant that there wasn't a single student at the school who didn't know about the exact nature of the suicide attempt and Jon's involvement in it, as they so elegantly showcased by staring at him in such awe that you'd think they knew about his status as a half-Kryptonian.

As Damian kept staring after Jon who was well on his way in reaching the school doors, he noticed that the gray school uniform he was wearing seemed... off. It was subtle, but it seemed as if it was stretched a little bit tighter around his body than it usually was, the body which in itself seemed a bit burlier around the torso area. And looking to the boy's arms, dangling by his side in typical teenage fashion as he walked, Damian noticed a hint of a blue sleeve underneath that of the gray uniform.

Damian raised an eyebrow, and started moving towards Jon when he realized what was going on.

Jon was wearing his Superboy jacket underneath the school uniform.

It's worse than I thought.

"Kent!"

It didn't take long for Damian to catch up on his partner, colleague and friend who stopped up abruptly upon hearing his name called out. Damian stopped as well, a few feet behind him, unsure of how exactly to tackle the situation.

Jon turned his head slightly, not enough for Damian to be able to see his face.

"Not today, Damian." He said in a hoarse, muted voice, speaking over his shoulder. "Whatever it is you want to gloat over, or criticize me for this time, I can't do it today. I remembered to put on the glasses this time, so if that's all, please, just go away and leave me alone."

While normally, Jon would have been right in his assumption that Damian would have little else to offer him besides scolding, since it was arguably way worse for one's secret identity to wear your actual super costume underneath your clothes than it was to forget your glasses, Damian knew that this wasn't what Jon needed today. Despite what people might think based on his behaviour, Damian wasn't completely blind to social etiquettes.

Damian wasn't put off by Jon's less than welcoming response, and kept approaching from behind, undeterred. After all, it was still miles better than how he would usually greet the boy, and now that Jon found himself in a state of increased vulnerability, Damian had to try and showcase some of that patience that Jon usually had to show him, and be there for his friend, whether he wanted it or not.

Because he knew Jon would do the same for him if their roles were reversed.

When he had deemed himself close enough to Jon who still had his back turned, he raised a hand, putting it gently on Jon's shoulder in what he hoped would be taken as a comforting gesture.

"Come on, Kent." He said, in a low voice of his own. "Even I'm not that big a dick."

Slowly, Jon turned his head towards Damian, letting him see the magnified eyes behind the thick-rimmed glasses, usually blue and bright with hope, now bloodshot from what had to be crying, staring in silent surprise into Damian's.

Damian kept his hand on Jon's shoulder, and tried giving his best approximation of a friendly smile to Jon, hoping that he wasn't making himself look too creepy by doing so.

And to his relief, the corners of Jon's mouth slowly turned upwards as well. The smile was faint and weak, but it was there.

"How is she?" Damian asked.

Tears started forming in Jon's eyes as he responded, the smile disappearing again.

"N- not well." He said, voice quivering a bit. "I- I went down to her house this morning to s- see her off, make sure she g- got to the Clinic safely. That's why I walked to school instead of f- flying. She thought I was i- inconveniencing myself by doing it, and I think I j- just made her even more s- sad. We- we managed to make a deal, though, and agreed we'd text each other once per hour, just as a p- precaution. She- she o- only sends one word r- responses back, b- but-"

Jon's voice finally broke completely, and the tears started flowing freely down his face as he began sobbing, bending his head down.

"A- a- atleast she's replying! That's g- good, r- right?"

"It is." Damian said, and without further ado, he embraced the crying boy in a hug.

He felt Jon's shoulders tighten up in surprise at this uncharacteristic gesture from him, but they soon relaxed again, and he felt Jon's own arms around himself, hugging him back.

Damian was by no means a hugging person, as anyone who'd spent more than five minutes with him could attest to, and even now that he'd for once taken the initiative to do it, he despised being this close to another living being.

But right now, as of this moment, he knew that Jon's needs outweighed his own by quite a large margin, and as a result he had to throw away his selfish preservations to comfort his friend.

"T- thank y- you." Jon whispered gratefully into Damian's ear, still crying. "T- thank you s- so much. If- if it wasn't for y- your help yesterday over the p- phone, I- I don't know w- what w- would have- have-"

"Shh." Damian hushed him, clapping his back. "There's no need to thank me. You were the one who did all the work, I just gave a push and a few tips over the phone. You're the reason she's still breathing right now, not me."

Not a lot of things shocked Damian these days. With the upbringing and training he'd had, along with the missions he'd been on, fighting side by side with God-like heroes, sometimes against other God-like villains, and even coming out on top in most of these confrontations, it was easy to claim that he'd seen it all, and that nothing could surprise him anymore.

But even his heart had skipped a beat at the sudden turn Jon's phone call last evening had taken. He... hadn't expected that. At all.

He wasn't going to pretend like he had much emotional investment in Sayori. It took a lot of time for him to even start caring about his own teammates enough to learn their real names, so the attention he'd been paying the young bubbly bow-wearing girl had admittedly been minimal.

But even with that said, he should have been able to pick it up if someone this close to a friend of his was going to try and kill herself a few hours after getting home. He'd been trained in the art of detection by the Batman himself after all, so at least some of the responsibility to notice these things fell upon him. It didn't matter from how many angles he looked at this case. Jon's finding of her in the noose was at least in some part a result of his failure as a detective, and he would do his best to make up for that blunder.

"...thank you, Damian." Jon said, clutching his arms tighter around him, and Damian sighed. He raised his head above Jon's shoulder to catch the movement of a slightly taller than average student making their way towards them.

His eyes widened when he made out the mane of purple hair, so long that it easily reached down to her thighs.

"Crap!" He exclaimed, and broke the hug without hesitation.

"What's goi- hey!" Jon started asking, but Damian wasted no time in explaining as he grabbed hold of the boy's arm, dragging Jon with him straight into a nearby bush, pushing some leaves to the side to be able to look out and see if she had spotted them.

"What the...!" Damian silenced the protesting boy with a palm to his mouth.

"Be quiet." Damian whispered, keeping his eyes glued to the girl who'd stopped up exactly where they'd been moments before, looking around confused, searching. He hoped they were concealed decently enough as her gaze lingered over the bush they were hiding in.

Jon easily managed to remove Damian's hand from his mouth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He whispered, angrily. "WHY are we in a bush right now?"

"Yuri." Damian whispered back, gesturing towards the purplehaired girl who'd begun scratching idly at one of her sleeves before shaking her head and moved into the school building. She was carrying three large, rolled up pieces of fabric which he recognized as being the banners he'd helped her make at her house the day prior.

Her house. He couldn't quite suppress a shudder at the memory.

Damian sighed, relieved as the crisis was averted.

"I think we managed to lose her. That was way too close."

"I repeat." Jon started, as he made his way out of the flora. "What the hell, Damian? Are you really this afraid of girls that you have to divebomb into the nearest bush when one approaches?"

Damian crawled out of the bush as well, forcing himself to refrain from scoffing. Jon was still emotionally compromised, and thus he couldn't be too harsh in his retorts, although he really thought he had more reasons to complain about the current situation. Unlike him, the sharp twigs from the bush had no hope of puncturing Jon's skin.

"I'm not scared." He said, and brushed off his uniform for spare leaves. "Just not exactly keen on reliving what can only be described as a deeply upsetting experience from yesterday. That girl is weird, Kent."

Jon rolled his eyes.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're a pretty far cry from the definition of normal yourself." Jon retorted.

"She had a knife collection. Something like twenty unique knives, all on display in her living room. And she kept... touching me." Damian said, cringing inwardly as he relived the way her cold fingers would constantly find a place on his hands or shoulders.

Jon didn't seem impressed.

"You have a knife collection in the Batcave yourself, and-"

"They're swords and katanas from ancient times,it's different-" Damian interjected, but Jon talked over him.

"-and, did you try explaining to her that you didn't like being touched?"

"That wouldn't have worked."

"You sure?" Jon asked. "Unlike you, I think Yuri actually respects boundaries. I don't think she throws her friends into bushes, at any rate."

Jon really seemed to be focusing on the bush thing, for some reason.

"She hardly even listened to half the things I said." Damian said. "It was like she was stuck in her own little world, just... staring at me, distractedly. It was a wonder we even got any work done. I-"

Damian crossed his arms, and looked away from Jon.

"...I think she might actually be in love with me."

"Oh. Well in that case, I fully agree with you." Jon said, and Damian looked back to see an expression on his face that clearly didn't respect the seriousness of his retelling. "She has to be completely insane!"

Damian resisted the urge to hit him, as futile as that would have been anyway, and instead opted to send a glare his way.

"Alright, I'm sorry." Jon said, sobering up. "I think I just might be a bit more irritable today than usual."

"Understandable, given what you've been through." Damian said, in a soft voice.

"Yeah." Jon sighed. "And then there's the whole Club thing today, which... won't be pleasant, given the circumstances."

"You know, you really don't have to go, if you don't want to." Damian said. He had his own problems and reasoning to dislike the Club, but even if he didn't, he could imagine how rough it would be to subject yourself to something that would without a doubt remind him strongly of a recent trauma. The Literature Club should be the last place for Jon to go, in his opinion.

"No, no, I do have to go." Jon said. "Sa- Sayori made me promise not to abandon the Club because of her, since then there'd be too few members for it to keep going, and... and she doesn't want to be the reason it disbands."

Jon sniffed once, and dried away the tears that had once again swelled in his eyes at mentioning Sayori's name, with his sleeve.

Damian nodded to show that he understood, then sighed.

"Alright. In that case I'll attend for a while longer as well."

He hadn't planned on returning to the place after the unpleasant home visit to Yuri's, but he knew that if he stopped now, it would be little better than if Jon just straight up broke his promise to the girl. And besides, he couldn't just let him be alone up there with someone like Yuri present.

For Jon's sake, he would endure the Club.

"Thanks Damian." Jon shot him a grateful look. "I really appreciate you doing this for me, since I know how you feel about the girls up there."

"I think she took my pen when I wasn't looking yesterday." Damian muttered, not knowing how to properly respond to Jon's gratitude, and instead looked to the school door Yuri had just gone through. "Seriously. Who steals pens?"

Jon sighed as he started heading into the building.

"Come on." He said. "Let's get to class."

"Damian! You're here!"

Getting greeted by the shrill, excited voice of Yuri the second he opened the door to the Club room was almost enough to make him consider turning around on the spot, leave the room, and throw Jon directly to the wolves, his promise to the boy be damned.

Instead, he opted to close his eyes for half a second in an effort to find his inner patience and strength, sighing inwardly before opening them yet again, seeing the tall girl standing right in front him, a wide, nervous smile visible on her face as she stared down at him with tiny, purple pupils.

"Hello, Yuri." He said, warily, staring back into her eyes. She seemed to be in even more of an intense mood than yesterday, as unlikely as that may sound.

Jon was a little behind as he too shuffled into the room discreetly, head bent low as if he was trying not to get noticed by anyone. He'd acted much the same way throughout the classes, only speaking up when directly spoken to, a thing most teachers and students avoided doing anyway. Although even the staff hadn't been able to keep themselves from staring a bit too long and hard at him.

While it seemed everyone had gotten the broad strokes of what had happened with Sayori, they were clearly starved for the full details of the story, which naturally made them give a bit more notice to the boy who could provide them with it. It was a good thing their common human decency prevented them from walking up to Jon and bombard him with questions.

Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Damian had been following around Jon all day, taking on the mantle of being his bodyguard, with everyone knowing full well that if they were to bring up Sayori where he could hear it, he'd break their damn legs.

One of the two possibilities for certain. He didn't really care about which it was.

From behind Yuri, Damian saw that Monika was standing by the conjoined table, littered with white banners.

She looked up at the sound of their arrival, and smiled weakly when she saw them.

"Yuri was just showing us the banners you two made yesterday." She said, approaching them. Her eyes lingered on Jon's downcast head for a few seconds before she turned to make eye contact with Damian. "They look great, downright professional. Both of you really did a fantastic job with them."

"Yes, Damian was a great help!" Yuri said in a breathy voice, reaching up with a hand to caress Damian's shoulder, causing him to suppress a shudder. "In fact, he made everything better! There's no way I could have ever made them without him, and he's always welcome to visit me again, whenever. I have so much to show him, since I feel like we barely scratched the surface yesterday!"

I've faced down actual killers who didn't creep me out as much as this girl.

"That's good to hear." Monika nodded vaguely at Yuri, clearly not listening, as she turned her attention to Jon who was still just standing silently a little behind Damian.

"Hey, Jon." She said, quietly, in a gentle voice. "I'm glad you could come here today. I know how... hard, this must be for you, considering the circumstances."

"Yeah." Jon replied hoarsely, without looking up.

"If you need anything, anything at all, just let us know. We're all here for you."

Damian looked at Yuri, still staring at him, smiling that oblivious smile. He sincerely doubted that she was one of the people "there" for Jon like Monika said. He wondered if she even knew about Sayori, and whether or not she would care if she did.

"Thanks." Jon responded, and Monika reached around to clap him on the back.

"Let's head over to the meeting table." She said, gesturing for them all to come along. "I have something important I need to tell you."

As Damian followed her further into the classroom, he noticed that Yuri was walking right beside him, going so far as to very clearly deliberately sync up her legs to his walking pattern, her face flushing up when he looked up at her.

He rolled his eyes, and removed them from her to take in the rest of the room instead, noticing Natsuki was present too, leaned up against the wall at the far corner of the room, arms crossed in a stand-offish manner as she stared them all down with her fiery pink eyes, frowning.

But when her eyes fell on Jon, currently being guided along by Monika's hand on his back a little ahead of Damian and Yuri, her expression seemed to soften a bit, and she nodded once at him, with him nodding back.

This voiceless exchange seemed to go by unnoticed by everyone except for him. His feelings towards it was pretty neutral; while he had nothing except negative experiences with the pinkette, she and Jon seemed to get along decently, and she wasn't actively trying to get on his bad side like she did to him for some reason.

"Okay, everyone." Monika said, her voice much more muted than it normally was when she announced what at this point might as well be her catchphrase. "As I'm sure you all know, the Festival has been delayed to tomorrow instead. The Principal said the reason for this was that a certain villain attack in a nearby city required the attention of most of the Justice League, including our special guest."

Pretty reasonable, as far as justifications go.

Despite the fact that Damian hadn't seen any alert logs this morning on the direct feed he'd personally hacked into from the Watchtower that would warrant the attention of multiple League members, and certainly not any from the original Seven, he knew that it would be a hard thing to argue against for anyone who didn't have his kind of inside information.

"I... think we can all agree however, that there's a far more likely explanation for this delay." Monika sighed.

It was a pretty big telling point of people's priorities, that the school had somehow managed to keep the identity of the League member they'd gotten a secret from even Damian, while leaking almost everything about Sayori's situation.

He really hated humans.

Nobody spoke up after this, and Monika went on.

"Jon? I'm really sorry to bring up what must be such a sore subject for you, but..." The girl hesitated, and Jon's shoulders seemed to tense up at being addressed, but he managed to look up regardless to make eyecontact with Monika. "...if- if what I've gathered is correct, I understand you and your mom helped Sayori get to a Clinic, after... what happened?"

"Yes." Jon said, nodding once at Monika. Damian paid close attention to his body language, fully prepared to interfere with this confrontation the second it looked like Jon might need backup. "We did."

"I see. I'm so happy you did." Monika said. "Do you think maybe... you could tell me which Clinic she's at? Ever since I heard the news, I've been thinking about our time together at her house yesterday, and I just feel like I didn't... do enough, if that makes sense. I'd just really like to see her again. So I can... talk to her."

Jon swallowed, and lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry Monika, but she's... really not up for visitors at the moment." He said. "Of anyone. Even... even me."

He spoke the last two words with a voice that sounded just on the verge of breaking, and Monika seemed to get the hint.

"I fully understand, say no more." She said, clapping his back again before turning her attention to the rest of them.

"Okay, so, due to the unforeseen changes in the scheduling, and the shock I'm sure we all took regarding what happened to one of our own, I think we can allow ourselves a normal Club session today." Monika said. "We got the pamphlets, banners and I know Natsuki carried the cupcakes she and Jon made up to the fridge here so they can stay fresh for tomorrow, right?"

She looked over towards the pinkhaired girl who nodded once in confirmation.

"Alright. So, I'm thinking we just start off with some individual reading, and then later, if we feel like it, we can try and share the poems you made the other day. I think that's what Sayori would have wanted, if she'd been here today."

Nobody said anything, which could easily be translated to agreement throughout the Club, until Yuri broke the silence at Damian's side.

"You'll read with me again, right Damian?"

He looked towards the downright pleading voice, seeing Yuri was looking down at him with pure desperation in her eyes. It looked like she'd been waiting to ask this all day, barely able to contain her anticipation and excitement.

Damian glanced over at Jon for a quick second, noting how he sat down at the far end of the table, having grabbed the fantasy novel he'd been reading with Sayori previously. He still looked distraught from Monika's questioning.

He turned back to Yuri, who was still staring at him, patiently awaiting his response. If he stuck to his original plan in rejecting her wish to read together, he was quite certain she would cause a scene, which in all likelihood would be very loud, very long, and would easily grab the attention of everyone here, which was the absolute last thing Jon needed to happen today.

That was all Damian had to consider in order to make his decision.

"Sure." He half-said, half-sighed, signing his own funeral.

"Oh, thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me!" Yuri exclaimed happily, already dragging a chair over way too close to his, before sitting down next to him.

You better appreciate what I'm doing for you, Kent. Damian scowled as he reached into his bag to pull out Portrait of Markov, preparing himself for how slow and irritating this would be.

"Maybe we can have some cupcakes while we read?" Natsuki said, speaking up for the first time today as she approached the table. Her voice seemed quieter, less confrontational than what Damian was used to. "Me and Jon made a ton of them yesterday, so we can definitely all have one today without there being a shortage tomorrow for the Festival. Maybe they could... help take our minds off things."

She wasn't making eye contact with anyone, staring down at her own feet as she spoke.

"I like that." Monika said, smiling. "Great idea, Natsuki."

"I'll get a plate of them." Natsuki said, hurrying over to the fridge at the other end of the classroom.

"Hey, Jon?" Monika spoke up as Natsuki fumbled with the refrigerator. Jon looked up from his book with wide eyes. "Since you don't have a... partner today, would you want me to come and read with you? It would be no trouble at all."

"That's... very kind of you to offer, Monika." Jon said, in a strained voice. "But I think that I'd really just prefer reading alone today, if that's okay."

"Of course. I understand." Monika said, smiling kindly at him.

Lucky him. Damian thought, thinking he would very much like to have the option of refusing reading with his "partner".

Monika sighed, and sat down at the middle of the table herself.

"Well, credit where it's due;" She said, pulling out her own book. "It was a good thing Sayori got as many members as she did. Even now with one absent, we still have enough to keep the Club running."

"Oh yes, I agree." Yuri said from Damian's side, reaching up to caress his shoulder once again, a gesture he tried to ignore as he paged forward in his book to find the spot they'd reached last time. "I much prefer our numbers as they are now. It's much more intimate this way."

A loud crash made them all turn their heads to see Natsuki standing at the half-way point between table and fridge, a collection of broken porcelain pieces and cupcakes strewn across the floor at her feet.

She had an expression of pure shock on her face, as she stared down at the mess, her face flushed.

"Natsuki? Is something wrong?" Monika asked, looking concerned.

Natsuki turned her wide, almost fearful-looking eyes towards the Club President, and then her expression immediately returned to its usual vaguely annoyed frown.

"I seem to have dropped the plate." She muttered, in a deadpan tone. "Whoops."

"Do you need any hel-?" Monika tried to offer, already starting to rise from her chair, but Natsuki shook her head, interrupting her before she could complete the sentence.

"Nah, don't get up, I got it. You guys pay no mind to me, it's just clumsy old Natsuki being Natsuki as usual." She said, keeping up the monotone of her voice, almost sounding like she was trying to force an air of casualness into it, as she bent down to pick up the pieces. "You all just go back to your reading, and I'll have this cleaned up in a flash!"

Monika raised an eyebrow, but settled into her chair again without further arguments. She looked towards Jon who had already buried his head in his book again.

"What a clutz!" Damian heard Yuri whisper into his ear, an unmistakable sound of barely contained glee in her voice. "I bet you would never be careless enough to drop a plate like that, Damian!"

"That's correct." He responded back, uncaringly. No reason to deny the truth. He turned his attention away from the small girl still trying to gather up all the pieces of porcelain. "Shall we get started reading?"

"Oh yes, let's!" Yuri said, happily.

He suppressed a sigh, preparing himself for the upcoming hell, and looked down to start reading.

He felt an intruding poke on his shoulder blade, and looked up in annoyance to see Natsuki standing behind him with a needy look on her face.

"What?" He whispered, not quite able to keep the impatient growl out of his voice.

"I need your help." She whispered back.

He had to suppress a groan.

It hadn't even been two minutes since Yuri had had to excuse herself in order to go to the bathroom, after the downright eternity of their "reading session," if one could even call it that. He'd been 99% sure the purple-haired girl hadn't even attempted to pretend she was reading this time, with the way she'd had to be reminded to turn the pages by him, and instead using all that time to breathe heavily down his neck. It had been a downright miracle when she'd told him he could continue reading without her while she took care of whatever business she had in the bathroom, allowing him to finally read at an acceptable pace.

Only to have one annoyance replaced with another, in the form of this obnoxious, pink gremlin.

"What is it?" He asked, looking at her with all the indifference he could muster.

"I finished Volume One of my manga." She whispered, raising her hand to show him the book she was holding with the same scantily clad cat-eared woman on the cover as he'd seen last Tuesday. "I need to get Volume Two, but Monika put it on the top shelf in the cabinet for some reason, and I need you to reach it for me."

Damian raised an eyebrow. This problem of hers seemed very contrived.

"Can't you just get a stool or something?" He asked back, wishing she would just go away so he could finally gain some page count in his book before Yuri returned.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Natsuki whispered back in a mocking tone. "I'm not about to stand on a podium to give you of all people a chance to peek up my skirt!"

"-TT-" Damian scoffed, rolled his eyes at her childish suggestion, and turned his attention back to the book again. "Do what you wish, just don't bother me with it."

Through the corner of his eyes, he caught her shrugging uncaringly at his dismissal of her.

"Fine, l'II ask Jon instead then. He's taller than you, anyway."

Damian's eye twitched.

"Where is this cabinet?" He asked, rising from his chair, mentally throwing all the vast amount of curses he knew at the girl.

"Right over there!" Natsuki said, pointing towards the end of the room where two closed doors could be seen. Damian tried to ignore the smugness in her voice, as he moved towards the doors, consigned to his fate. It wasn't her thinly veiled insult about his height that made him do this, that would be ridiculous. He just didn't want her to bother Jon with this today, that was all.

Yes, that was it. Totally.

Having arrived at the doors, he sighed as he took hold of the handles and opened them, revealing the dark room of various school supplies and books on the other side. He glanced upwards to where he could see, as Natsuki has said, the white backs of manga volumes on the top shelf.

He considered the best way for him to reach them, briefly thinking about using Natsuki's shoulders as a foothold, before a hard push to his back made him stumble fully into the cabinet room.

"What the-!?" He exclaimed, his brain already in fight mode, as Natsuki stepped inside as well, plunging the room into total darkness by closing the doors.

"Shh!" Natsuki's voice shushed him. "Shut up, and be quiet."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Damian sneered. If this irritating girl thought she could ambush the son of Batman just by tricking him inside a dark room, she had another thing coming. His eyes were already getting accustomed to the darkness, and he could make out her faint silhouette right in front of him in the cramped room. Standing this close, she had no hope of winning.

"Keep your voice down, dummy. I need to talk to someone about this, before I go insane." Natsuki whispered, annoyed.

"I suspect you're already way past that if you think you can keep me trapped in here-"

"Oh, give it a rest, will you?" Natsuki whispered back, impatiently. "I didn't 'trap' you anywhere. I just needed an excuse for us to talk in private, away from Monika and Yuri. Now, are you ready to listen, or will you keep being a drama queen?"

Damian was tempted to blow her off and kick his way out of this room he'd been forced into. He didn't need the shenanigans of another cracked girl in his life, and if she would be foolish enough to try and stop him, well... she would discover her mistake the hard way.

But something about the desperation in her voice when she'd mentioned the two other girls, peaked his curiosity just enough to want to hear her out.

"Fine." He said, crossing his arms. He was starting to be able to make out the pink of her eyes in front of him, staring. "Speak. This better be good."

"I shall try to make it worth you while, your Highness." She sneered back at him, before she spoke up in a more level voice. "Something... weird, is going on here. People are behaving really strange."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You don't say." He said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable of his voice. "I've noticed this too, actually. There's this particular annoying girl for instance, who shoves people into school cabinets at random!"

"Hardy har." Natsuki fake laughed. "You're so hilarious. Shut up."

He scowled back at her, but kept quiet.

"Lately, I've noticed that the girls here have been acting... really out of character. Originally I thought it was just us being awkward around eachother going to this new Club all together, coupled with the strange headaches everyone seems to be suffering from, but given what's happened lately, I don't think so anymore. Something else is going on here, and I think it's got something to do with Monika."

"What do you mean?" Damian asked, crossing his arms skeptically. He didn't know where Natsuki was going with this, but atleast it was more interesting than whatever was going on in the classroom, and it was nice to finally have someone else who agreed with him that the girls were odd. She just so happened to be one of the odd girls herself.

"Take Yuri for instance." Natsuki went on. "I've known her for the longest time, and while I'm aware we're kinda opposites to eachother, I know she's kind, sweet and a good person, who'd never let that fucking insensitive comment Monika said about Sayori fly like that."

"Insensitive?" Damian asked. There was a sound of an impact, and he could just make out that Natsuki had slapped a palm against her own face.

"Sorry, I forgot I was speaking to a sociopath for a moment there. Yes, saying that it's a good thing that the suicidal victim got enough members for a Club so it wouldn't shut down while she's at a Clinic after almost dying, IS very insensitive, big shock! And Yuri just agreed with her, like that, even saying she prefers it like this while making googly eyes at you! That's not normal, and that is not the Yuri I know!"

"Maybe you just don't know her as well as you thought?" Damian suggested.

"I know her better than anyone in this entire school!" Natsuki said, with such conviction in her voice that there was no doubting the fact that she at least believed it wholeheartedly. "And because of that, I know how much she treasured someone like Sayori as a friend, and wouldn't let a new crush like you distract her to the point of disregarding her like that. Seriously, I've seen Yuri get obsessed over boys before, but nowhere near the amount she currently has- totally unjustified, by the way- on you. Atleast with her other crushes, they had the excuse of being somewhat attractive and nice to her, not to mention she didn't just meet them three days ago!"

Damian grit his teeth, being as ticked off as only Natsuki could make him, while still feeling kind of relieved that someone else besides him had noticed the absurd amount of affection he'd gotten from Yuri lately. Natsuki still annoyed him, but at least she wasn't blind.

"It's like-" She hesitated, trying to find her words for it. "It's like she's completely stopped caring about everything. Like there's no room in her mind for anyone or anything besides you. She's always had a bit of trouble being around other people, but this... this is just creepy."

A hint of insecurity crept into her voice, as she hesitated further, and Damian decided to move the conversation along impatiently.

"So that's your reason for thinking something's going on? That a girl is acting differently from what you thought you knew?"

"Nah, that was just the final nail that confirmed it beyond doubt for me." She responded, her voice returning to normal. "Even someone as robotic as you has to admit that the change in Sayori was all too sudden, right? No one goes from being the happiest they've ever appeared in weeks, to trying to hang themselves through the course of less than a day. I know she's had a habit of hiding her true feelings, but she's not that good an actor."

Damian had to begrudgingly agree with her on that one, seeing how that aspect had bothered him as well. Still, as far as theories went, it didn't seem to hold much water to him.

"So what makes you think it's Monika? How would she even have gone about doing this?" He asked, trying his hardest to give Natsuki the benefit of the doubt here.

"I don't know." She said, sounding frustrated. "I don't know her nearly as well as the others, so I don't have an exact read on her yet. And while I think she's begun acting off too, compared to how she was the first week, it's... different, somehow."

Damian's eyes had gotten so used to the darkness now that he could clearly make out the look of pure determination she flashed at him with her bright, pink eyes.

"Whatever it is, and whether or not she's behind this, I don't trust her."

Damian considered her words, still skeptical about the case as she was presenting it to him. There were quite a few flaws he could find already, a big one in particular that he had to ask about before this went any further.

"Why tell me?" He asked.

It was the thing that had bothered him ever since she'd pushed him in here and told him she had to talk to him. He might not be the best at using his "social skills" as people kept telling him, but he'd been under the impression that both him and Natsuki shared a mutual dislike for eachother, if not downright hatred, and letting your enemy in on suspicions you were obviously trying to keep a secret from the rest of the group, didn't exactly seem right with him.

"Believe me when I say that you weren't my first choice at all." Natsuki explained, sounding grossed out at the very idea. "I would much rather be telling Jon all of this, but Monika has been watching over him like a hawk ever since he entered the room. I couldn't get close to him without tipping her off to something, and if she really does have something to do with this, I can't raise her suspicions. I had to make do with the next best thing when Yuri left, and in case you couldn't tell from the dark, I just used huge sarcasm quotes when I said 'best.'"

Damian considered her. During the extended periods of waiting in vain for Yuri to flip a page, he had noticed that Monika's green eyes would more often than not be pointed straight at Jon instead of the book she was supposed to be reading. He'd originally chalked this up as her being just another curious student who wanted to know exactly what happened at Sayori's house yesterday, and he stood by that since it still sounded much more likely than whatever it was Natsuki was suggesting, but it was something to think about.

"Besides, you and Jon seem pretty chummy, if that hug I caught this morning in the yard was anything to go by. The moment I saw that, I knew you couldn't be a complete dick." Natsuki said, smirking smugly.

He scowled. Of course she'd seen that.

"Anyway, if you could tell Jon about this, that would be great. And just... keep your eyes open and alert, and tell me if you find anything, because something fishy's going on here, I just need to find out wha-"

Natsuki went silent as heavy footsteps from outside the cabinet could be heard fast approaching, before Damian was blinded by the massive cascade of light illuminating everything when the cabinet doors were violently opened without ceremony.

His body tensed, once again in attack mode, as he raised a hand to shield against the bright electronic lights, whilst squinting to identify the tall, humanoid shape who had opened the doors.

At last, he started to be able to make out the purple colours of the figure's long hair, and the feminine features of her face as she glared down at them.

Yuri did not seem happy to see them.

"What," She started, in a furious voice she was clearly trying to keep as calm as possible. "Are you doing in here?"

Damian relaxed, calmly meeting her eyes, unconcerned with the clear anger on her face. It wasn't like he had done anything wrong, and even if he had, he wouldn't let this girl think she could intimidate him.

But he noticed as his visibility got clearer, that Yuri's purple irises, which had definitely gotten smaller than they'd been before, was trained directly on Natsuki instead of him.

"Yuri!" Natsuki exclaimed, in a surprisingly friendly and casual tone, a wide, sweet smile stretching along her face, uncharacteristically void of her usual smugness or cynicism. "Fancy meeting you here, what's up?"

She's a good actor. Damian thought, mildly impressed by just how quick she'd switched over to this mode from how she'd been before. But ironically, because of how unexpected her sudden change had been, it only made her seem more suspicious to Yuri as her eyes narrowed at her.

"Why are you in here?" She repeated harshly, ignoring Natsuki's attempt at appearing nice. "And why is Damian with you?"

"Oh, I just borrowed him for a few seconds." Natsuki said, in the same casual voice, meeting Yuri's eyes without blinking. "Monika placed my manga on the top shelf, and I needed him to reach the second volume for me, but he somehow managed to shut both of us into the cabinet, and then we both started laughing at how clumsy he is!"

Damian furrowed his brows at her unflattering lie as she giggled innocently to further sell her story, but decided against correcting her. He really could not bring himself to care about how it must have seemed to Yuri, finding them both in this cramped dark room, so close to eachother. He'd outgrown being embarrased at such things by the age of two.

Yuri kept her eyes narrowed at Natsuki, as if she was scanning her face for lies. Finally, she looked up, and with a quick movement she snatched one of the manga from the top shelf, reaching it effortlessly, and pushed it into Natsuki's open hands with such force that the smaller girl actually had to take a few steps back.

"Next time, get a stool." Yuri sneered at Natsuki, before grabbing a firm hold of Damian's wrist, dragging him ungently along with her when she turned around to walk back to the meeting table.

Annoyed by being treated like some sort of toy by the taller girl, Damian looked behind him as he was forced to follow Yuri, seeing Natsuki still standing in the opened cabinet, her expression having been reverted to one of worry and concern as she looked after him. She opened her mouth, and he saw her lips move in exaggerated movements, allowing him to read her unspoken words.

"Tell me if you find anything!"

Damian furrowed his brows.

So, fun fact about this chapter. Ever since I first planned out this whole story and wrote down the guidelines, I knew this was going to be long, just with the sheer amount of stuff I wanted to have happen in it. Back then, I was very much of the mind that it didn't matter how long a chapter was, even if it was like a hundred pages, and even then, I was hesitant about this chapter's length.

Cut back to months ago, when I had finished writing the first three chapters, and suddenly I got this particular scene in my head, (which will come up in a few days- I'm actually making this a three-parter!) and I just immediately wanted to add it to my story. Problem was, the only place I could find where it would fit, was the chapter I'd already dubbed "The Long Chapter" in my mind.

So naturally, I added it, making the overly long chapter a couple of thousand words longer than it needed to be. And now I'm making it even longer by writing these notes.

It's The Long Chapter. Might as well go all the way, right?

Thank you, mr. wolf54543, for your kind feedback on the previous chapter. Regarding your comment about Superman needing air, it's... not very consistant, and seems to vary from writer to writer. In some comics he's able to carry full conversations with others while in space, while in other comics and the Animated Series in particular, he needs a space suit to be able to survive. I've always liked the idea that despite all his powers, he still needs to breathe like the rest of us, so that's what I'm going with. My idea is that he can hold his breath for quite a while, enough time for him to have at least one dragged out fight scene on the surface on the moon, but once that's done, he's going to need some air, or he's done.