Going uphill had been hell in itself. But I had at least assumed that the walk downhill would be better. Scenic, refreshing, invigorating... But when you have to carry a crate packed to the brim with ore while trudging down the mountain path, it's even worse. Much, much worse. And it appeared that I wasn't the only one feeling the burn, because the collective grunts from my teammates were replacing the chirping birds in the background.
"Fucking... Bitchass... Rabbit..."
"I don't think... I like... Field... Trips..."
"We can do it... I think I see the bottom..."
With every slow step the four of us took in unison, the ground began to even out to a more flatter state. Pretty soon, we were walking past the sign pointing to the mountain and towards the growing form of Jabberwock Park. "We're... Nearly there..." I wheezed out, which caused the rest of us to quicken our pace towards one of the park's entrances. The moment I could hear stone below my feet, the fatigue instantly faded.
All I cared about was getting over to the plaza. We were just a few feet away! Just a little more and we'll be done!
As we entered into the park, what stood out was that there was another crate placed beside the statue in the middle. Might as well place our load next to that one. Fortunately, my group had the same idea, as we were now trudging over to drop our load beside it.
As soon as we did, I'm positive that each one of us collapsed onto the stone bricks at the same time, all of us having our own side of the crate to lean on as we caught our breath. Through my breaths, I could hear Hajime pant out, "Do... Do you think that we're going to have to do that every time we need materials?"
"If so, then we'll die before the end of the trip," Kazuichi replied with genuine concern in his voice. It might be an exaggeration, but it really did feel like it was a possibility.
A thought then sparked into my head.
"Hey... Added with the whole physical labor, if we have to carry the crate at the end of the whole material-gathering thing... You think we'll all end up looking like Nekomaru after this is over?"
My question was met with silence.
Before I could mentally beat myself for saying something like that, all three of them began to erupt into laughter, which resultantly caused me to join in as well. It might have been because of our exhaustion that my stupid joke was considered funny to us. In fact, I'm more than positive that if I said that when we weren't as tired, it would only result in them staring at me like I'm some weirdo.
After our laughing fit, we managed to stand up with help from the crate's corners and take a look towards what was in the other one. Glue... Water bottles... Oil... Everything inside seemed to not really be from the tropics or anything. Rather, they seemed to be things you'd find in a convenience store.
"Nice to see that you're back. I got here with my team not too long ago."
Jumping in surprise at the sudden voice, I spun around only to find Chiaki giving the rest of us her usual owlish stare. She definitely knew how to sneak up on people, huh? "Usami said that you only have to move crates over here once. There's gonna be another crate set up where you were before, but you'll only need to put the materials into the crate there and it'll appear in the one here. Kind of like a fast travel sort of thing. It'll also get rid of things that aren't considered materials and gives you only what you need."
Okay. Well, at least that was a one-time thing. I still felt pretty tired though... And now I realized that there must be a few other places that still need to have crates moved over here. I'm normally someone who loves to help out, but the thought of going through something like this again was really making me think of any possible way to not do it.
"So, uh. You were on a team with Miss Sonia, right? Can you tell me where she is?" Kazuichi asked Chiaki with a twinkle in his eye... God, he's so desperate but so cute about this whole crush thing. Hopefully he realizes the reason why it's called a 'crush' in the first place.
In response to his question, Chiaki hummed in thought. After a while of thinking, she shook her head, "Well, we went to Rocketpunch Market. It might have been a pretty easy place to find things, but it was a hike from there to here and carrying that huge crate was really tiring. She said that she was going to her cabin for a little bit—"
"Perfect! I can give her a massage or something!"
"—and asked Gundham to make sure that no creepy stalkers try to break in and mess with her."
Upon hearing that, Kazuichi looked absolutely offended. At first, I figured that it was because Sonia considered him a 'creepy stalker', but my assumption was apparently wrong once I heard his reply, "I'm completely capable of driving off anyone that would dare harm Lady Sonia, whether they be creepy, a stalker, or both! I'm far better at protecting resting maidens than that rat-loving freak!"
Well, at least his heart is in the right place. I guess.
Speaking of resting, it wasn't a half bad idea to take a nap in the meantime. I was pretty sore from carrying the 'fast travel' crate and sleeping for a few hours would help ease that a little bit. "I'm gonna go to my cottage too. I'm pretty tired and a nap would really help with making my limbs not feel like rubber. I'll be back for dinner tonight, so... Yeah," I told the teens before making my way out of the plaza and towards the direction of the bridge that led to my temporary 'home'.
It definitely had been a full day. Sure, I only picked flowers, but to be honest, it was just as exhausting as mining in its own special way. Having to sift through thousands of flowers that look exactly the same in order to find one you're looking for really starts giving you a major headache. It's almost like it's Where's Waldo 2.0.
Before I even knew it, I had arrived at the door to my cottage. Time really flies when you're stuck in your own head. Upon opening the door, I was about to make a V-line for my bed until I noticed Usami appear from the corner of my eye, skipping over to me. "Hi, Ginevwa! I have a little pwesent for you!" she chirped. I didn't really know what kind of look I managed to give her in my fatigued, I'm-two-feet-away-from-bed-and-you're-keeping-me-from-it stupor, but it resulted in a scared "K-kyaaaa!" from the magical stuffed bunny.
Frantically, I tried to calm her down. "I-I'm sorry! I'm just really tired! Really, it's nothing bad! I'm not angry!" I stammered. My explanation made Usami sniffle a little bit before wiping her eyes from the tears that had almost become present. Nodding, she gave a smile to me (I assume) as her little wings flapped cutely.
"Okay! I had a feewing that something wike that was going on! You don't seem wike someone mean!" Usami chirped, then spun around a bit, "Pwesent time now!"
As she waved her large wand in the air, the usual gleam of sparkles materialized onto the coffee table. After they began to gather together, a cartoonish puff of smoke caused a small white box to appear where the sparkles once were. And to top it all off, the box was complete with a cute pink ribbon on top of it. Eagerly, she motioned towards it, indicating her anticipation to see me open it.
Well, I didn't really want to leave her hanging. Stepping towards the table and picking up the box, I undid the ribbon, opened it, and peeked inside it to find...
The crude hairpin that the kids and I had made.
Looking to the bunny-teacher, I gave her a puzzled look. "Why're you giving me this?"
"Weeelllll... I was thinking that having to tell evewyone that you awen't Nagito all the time would be weally hawd. So, I thought that you could use the pin to show that it's Ginevwa inside!" Usami explained cheerfully. I had to admit, it was a good plan. Putting this cute hairpin in my hair to stop having to deal with the whole identity thing really would ease a little bit of my perpetually growing anxiety.
"Thanks, Usami. I'll try it out at dinner to see what everyone thinks, yeah?"
Usami responded with a giggle and an energetic nod before vanishing out of view, leaving me alone in my cottage once more. Now that she was gone, the exhaustion I had been feeling hit me like freight train. I could keep awake for the rest of the day, but I know that the grouchy expression I gave Usami would translate to my attitude sooner or later.
And that bed looked like it was comfier than usual.
So, after setting the hairpin onto my nightstand, I snuggled into the covers and began my nap.
My eyes opened to a dark void.
I knew that I had fallen asleep, yet for some reason, I felt as if I had already been awake... But my eyes might as well still have been closed, because the darkness around me obscured my vision. As far as the eye could see, there was only the the same black nothingness that followed.
Maybe it was a curtain? Holding my hand out to see if my guess was true, I froze. My hand—no—my entire arm was a flickering, transparent mass of GREEN LIGHT! Hell, it didn't even LOOK like an arm! It looked more like a flame than anything else! Pulling it back, I frantically checked around myself only to find that my entire being was the same. Clusters of the same earthy green light. In fact, upon closer inspection, I was floating... FLOATING? It didn't feel like I was floating!
As I continued to inspect the lustrous light that I was composed of, a flash appeared above me, seemingly imitating a stage light. What followed were steps approaching me from the darkness. "This must be you, right? Well, not in the flesh."
That voice... It was familiar. Really familiar. Looking up, I was almost convinced that I was facing a mirror. Fluffy white hair, pale skin, mint green eyes... Yeah, it was the appearance I had grown accustomed to seeing as myself. So at least I knew that this light illuminated enough to show a mirror. Well, that's what I thought it was until the 'reflection' gave me a friendly wave without my influence.
"Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves properly. Sure, you might know who I am already just by looking, but we've never actually met, right?" the pseudo reflection suggested as he gave me a gentle smile, "I'm Nagito Komaeda."
As he introduced himself, I couldn't help but be in a slight daze as I processed what was said. If I heard that correctly... I was finally meeting Nagito. The student that I was currently in the body of. The Ultimate Lucky Student. But, was it really? Was I just dreaming this? I've been here long enough to make something like this into a dream.
But if this weren't a dream and I was actually speaking to him somehow, he seemed like a pretty relaxed person. Unlike how I spoke with his voice, which sounded like a mix of a nervous wreck and the full definition of the effeminate 'gay friend' stereotype in rom coms, he spoke in a more calm and collected tone that seemed to just ease my nerves when I listened to him.
Be him a figment if my imagination pieced together to what I believed he was like or not, I replied with my own introduction without a second thought about it, "I'm Ginevra Harris. Same as you, you probably already knew that, but it's nice to meet you regardless."
When I said that, I sputtered a little bit in surprise. That wasn't Nagito's voice, but it wasn't my own voice either. Instead, it sounded like a strange array of sounds that came together in order to make the sentence.
That's just plain weird.
My response was returned with a nod as Nagito looked me up and down, seemingly inspecting my form with intrigue. I uh. I really don't blame him for that. I'm a wispy looking light show now and I must look like I belong in the sky floating amongst the northern lights or something.
After a few moments of studying me, Nagito's demeanor shifted dramatically, going from a calm and relaxed persona to a more stern and serious one.
"I would assume that we don't have too much time to talk like this. After all, sleeping makes hours seem like minutes. So, let's get right to it. What Monokuma said... He said your dream was to be me and to be friends with the Ultimates, right?"
"Yeah, that's what he said. I don't really understand much of what he meant though," I confirmed, though I wasn't too sure how Nagito knew about my encounter. Maybe he was seeing everything I was seeing? It would make sense if he were. And if he were seeing everything, then... Well, fuck. He's going to have a front row seat of me being a dumbass.
After my reply, Nagito crossed his arms, going deep into thought as he seemed to mull over the events. "This is just my opinion, but there might be an ulterior motive for you being here. He claimed to not have a plan, but that might not be the case. From what he said to you, he doesn't just do something to do something... It's also implied that we knew him in some sort of timeline opposite to this one. If that's true..." he trailed off, then blinked as the stage light began to dim around us. Giving me a small smile, Nagito sighed, "This might be the indication that our time is up for now. I'll think more about it and give you my input the next time we can meet up again. Meanwhile, you keep on with doing the whole school trip thing for the both of us... And if you have the chance, try to talk with Monokuma again! Ask about—,"
The light was gone.