CHAPTER TEN
"Ta da!" Monomi was looking a little worse for wear. "I've defeated another Monobeast! Please, enjoy exploring the fourth island!"
I patted her head. "Thank you, Monomi-chan, for all of your hard work."
Her eyes sparkled. "I'm happy to help!"
"Hey, Hinata-kun, want to explore with us?" I asked the brunet who gave me a surprised look.
"S-Sure!" He got up from the table and joined Komaeda and me at the doorway.
When we arrived at the fourth island, my eyes lit up with glee. It was a giant amusement park! "Come on! Come on!" I ran forward and was nearly mowed down by a train if Komaeda hadn't pulled me back in time.
"Rin…" Hinata sighed in exasperation.
Oops! Sometimes, I forgot about my bad luck when I was with Komaeda. "Sorry!" I laughed, not deterred by this mild misfortune.
Komaeda leaned down to my ear. "That looks like a good place to have some fun, doesn't it?" He pointed to a castle with a cute cartoon mouse.
Why did it feel as if he was referring to more than just what the place was intended for?
"Komaeda!" Hinata scolded. He, too, seemed to have picked up on the innuendo.
The Ultimate Lucky Student merely laughed and pulled us forward.
Nezumi Castle was rather ordinary. It reminded me of a bit of a fairytale with talking animal animatronics.
Several times, Komaeda corned me with kisses. He didn't even care that Hinata could see everything. What a pervert!
I went forward, running to get away from him as Hinata sighed, looking as if he was the parent of two rowdy kids.
When I tired myself out, I plopped down on to a four poster princess bed. Hinata sat on the edge as we waited for Komaeda to finish satiating his curiosity.
"The two of you are going to give me premature grey hairs," he muttered, tugging at his short strands.
I smiled. "But you had fun, right? You like spending time with us?"
He looked down at me, slowly nodding. "It's almost as if life is normal again and we've not trapped on this island, forced to play a Killing game."
"Yeah… I wonder what Komaeda is doing now…" I mumbled.
"Knowing him, he's scheming something to keep us on our feet or trying to take apart Monokuma's plans" he groaned back. He was right. That was exactly what Komaeda would do.
He meant well, but his methods were just a tiny bit unorthodox.
Hinata fell backwards and rested beside me.
That was how Komaeda found us and just as expected, he laid down on my other side. Moments later, he rolled on to his side and draped an arm over my stomach. He whispered dirty suggestions into my ears, knowing full well that he was loud enough for Hinata to hear.
The brunet was blushing from head to toe, trying to pretend that he wasn't in the room.
We remained in our relaxed positions for a moment longer before moving on to our next destination – Usami's Haunted House. It was there that we found out Hinata was a big scardy cat and Komaeda took great pleasure exploiting it.
I happily snatched a couple of photos from the booth outside the haunted house. There were a couple that showed Hinata screaming, Komaeda dressed as the grim reaper after taking it from a prop (Monomi wasn't happy about that and made him put it back after and also scolded him about scaring fellow students), me peering behind a curtain, and both Komaeda and me jumping on a freaked out Hinata.
Needless to say, Hinata wasn't very happy with us after that. He had his arms crossed and refused to say anything.
Komaeda was unhindered and laughed as he somehow managed to get the brunet talking again.
We met up with everyone at the food court where we gorged on junk food. I had a large blue cotton candy and was happily sharing a crazy heart-shaped straw with Komaeda who was holding the giant cup of soda. He, himself, was eating a pretzel and was trying to get me to try some, but I was content with all my sugary treats.
"Should we go on the rollercoaster, next?" Hinata asked, garnering everyone's echoing agreement.
We gathered in front of the giant roller coaster where Monokuma was waiting for us.
"There you are! Puhuhuhuhuhu!" He seemed oddly happy. "I have a gift for you~!"
He handed Hinata a black book with a symbol of Hope's Peak Academy on it. "What? This is…"
Inside, were photos and small descriptions of everyone who had been in the last Killing Game. There were a total of sixteen students and all were killed, except six: Naegi Makoto, Kirigiri Kyoko, Asahina Aoi, Hagakure Yasuhiro, Fukawa Toko, and… Togami Byakuya?
Indeed, the photo was of the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, but he seemed to have been much skinnier back then. I guessed some people dealt with surviving something so horrific differently than others.
"Why are you showing this to us, now?" Hinata asked, frowning at the bear.
"Puhuhu! There is a traitor among all of you – one that even I don't know~!"
"Traitor?" Komaeda tilted his head. "Hey, Hinata-kun. You don't remember your talent, right? Is there anything else you don't remember?"
I turned to him with a frown on my face. "Komaeda-kun…"
"What are you trying to say?" Hinata crossed his arms, looking irritated as he was being accused.
Komaeda smiled cryptically back at him. "Nothing. I'm just thinking over what Monokuma said."
The bear laughed again before ushering us all in. "Have fun and I'll see you on the other side!"
I was a little unsettled by the conversation just now. Why was Komaeda trying to put suspicion on Hinata? There was no proof that he was the traitor nor was there any proof that what Monokuma told us was true at all.
We all climb into the cart. Hinata ended up choosing to sit beside Nanami near the front, while Komaeda made sure everyone else chose their seats before getting on into the last cart. I went with him, tucked against his side as the rollercoaster slowly roller forward before picking up speed. There were screams – the loudest coming from Nidai. Who knew he would be scared of something like this? He even took a missile to the chest with more grace!
"Haha! Everyone sure looks like they're having fun!" Komaeda laughed.
And of course, he was completely unaffected by the plummeting ride that made my heart drop with it. As much as I liked rollercoaster, I would never be able to have a normal conversation on one. I didn't think it was even physically possible, but there he went…
Was Komaeda even real?
As the ride raced into a dark tunnel, we were suddenly all hit by thick smoke that made me feel nauseated and seconds later, the world faded to black.
I was woken up by something small and furry nudging my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was one of Tanaka's hamsters, San-D. He had a sunflower seed in his tiny hands and cuddling against my cheek.
So cute…
I poked its soft stomach, watching him squeak and head butt my finger.
"You're awake… I knew San-D's powers would be sufficient to wake the dead!" Tanaka declared, laughing in triumph as I sat up, cupping the hamster in my hands.
I looked around to find Jump-P sleeping in Komaeda's fluffy hair.
Ah… Too cute…
Definitely too cute.
"Ne, Komaeda-kun…" I gently nudged him and when that didn't work, I placed San-D on his face. The little hamster rolled around, causing Komaeda's nose to crinkle when the fur tickled it. After three passes, he let out a sneeze, scaring San-D enough to scurry back into the safety of Tanaka's puce scarf.
Jump-P, however, managed to stay asleep and also stay in the snowy white hair as Komaeda sat up. Impressive…
"Nagito-kun."
"Rin-chan…" He checked me out to make sure I was alright before letting out a relieved sigh. "You're okay?"
I nodded. "I'm fine." I grabbed his wandering hand to nuzzle it against my cheek.
"Good… I thought… I thought my luck cycle had finally caught up to me…" His luck cycle was a strange thing. He would have bouts of good luck before bad luck struck and once it did, he'd be blessed with even better luck! After meeting him, I found my own luck seemed to have adapted something similar. It was a truly surreal experience.
The Despair Disease was at the end of my last round. That should mean I was going to be alright for the next few days, but I hoped nothing worse than the disease would arise. That had been close calls for both of us.
Once everyone woke up, we began to look around the strange room. It was so pink that my eyes started to burn. What was this atrocity?
"Tada~! This is the Strawberry House!" Monokuma popped out, throwing his nubbly arms excitedly into the air. He proceeded to go over the layout of each of the three floors, including something called the Final Dead Room.
What kind of name was that?
Why did it feel as if anyone who dared to step inside would die?
"This is the motive – an escape room! Puhuhuhu… This is a completely closed space and the only way to leave is when the killing begins!" With that, he was gone again.
"That was quite straightforward," Komaeda sighed.
My shoulders slumped. I knew the amusement park was too good to be true! Monokuma wouldn't even let us enjoy it for a while longer.
Nanami tilted her head. "I think… We should all try to look for an exit, anyway."
Komaeda shook his head. 'If there's an exit, then this wouldn't be a closed space, which would make this motive useless."
"Don't fuck with me!" Kuzuryu shouted. "There's no way I'm going to lay down and die here!"
My snowy-haired lover hugged himself. "Ah… This must be hope… Hope when there is none. Hope that your friends will not kill you to escape. How wonderful…"
I tugged his jacket sleeve, causing him to smile at me. "Stop being weird, Nagito-kun."
He chuckled, ruffling my hair. "Let me show you how I feel…" He leaned down, pressing his lips against mine as if he could somehow transfer his deep obsession through this contact.
It made me feel better about the situation, but that might just be because I really like his kisses.
"Oh! That is so romantic!" Sonia gushed.
Souda immediately piped up, "M-Miss Sonia! I can show – "
"Disgusting…" Kuzuryu scoffed.
When Komaeda straightened his back once more, both our cheeks were painted pink.
"So… cute…" Sonia continued to coo, eyes turning into hearts as she gazed at us.
Hinata cleared his throat. "Let's go have a look around and see if we can find anything. Does anyone want to go with me?"
No one volunteered. What Komaeda said seemed to have affected everyone else. Did they really think he could be the traitor? It was hard to imagine, but…
Didn't we all think that of Tsumiki? It wasn't until she started remembering what she was like before that she became a killer.
"I'll go with you," I offered, smiling softly as I tried to alleviate those hurt eyes.
Komaeda sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess that can't be helped. I'll go with you, too."
Hinata frowned and glared at the snowy-haired boy. It appeared as if he wanted to confront him about what was said earlier, but decided against that at the last moment.
I felt bad for him. Since the very beginning, Hinata had been the main person helping to solve each murder. Besides, if everyone was suspicious about him because we didn't know anything about his talent, then that would be hypocritical. It wasn't as if we really knew much about everyone else either.
"Are you okay, Hinata-kun?" I asked, placing a hand on his arm.
He started. "Huh? Wh-Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's okay to be sad and feel betrayed," I started. "What's important is getting through it. Besides, none of us are bad people. The truth will come out and everything will turn out fine."
Hinata shifted his gaze to Komaeda who was looking at everything without a care in the world.
I shook my head. "Ignore what he said earlier. You know how he could be. He didn't mean anything by it, just saying strange things like he usually does, so please… Don't let it bring you down, Hinata-kun."
Slowly, he nodded, but didn't appear as convinced as I hoped.
Feeling annoyed by what occurred earlier, I went over to Komaeda. "What was that about? Why did you say all that stuff about Hinata-kun?"
"I wasn't lying, Rin-chan. I was only asking questions that everyone was thinking. We all have Talents, but Hinata-kun seemed have forgotten his. Why is that?" He looked thoughtfully to the side. "To solve anything, you have to look at every angle without bias. I don't mean any harm with what I said, just to incite thought. Are you angry at me, Rin-chan?"
He wasn't entirely wrong. I just hated seeing any distention between the two of them.
"Can you please make up with Hinata-kun? The two of you like this…"
He tilted my chin up. "I'll talk to him later. You know I'd do anything for you, Rin-chan."
I smiled and nodded.
We continued to look around. There was still tension as the important conversation to mend their relationship hadn't happened yet, but I had hoped it was going to be alright.
"Who's this?" I wondered, looking at a portrait of an old man.
Hope's Peak Academy Founder: Kamukura Izuru
"Wow…" That was kind of cool, but why was his photo here? Did he have anything to do with what's been happening to us – these Killing Games?