4.2 - Mechanical Emotions 101

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"..."

"...Hey, again. So...I needed someone to talk to, and honestly no one else really ever seems to want to listen, so who better to talk to than you?"

"Not that it's very fulfilling, for obvious reasons. No offense. You get what I mean though, right?"

I nod in response. It's involuntary for the most part though. They usually nod and smile whenever things like this happen, right?

"Good! I'm glad! So...I've been having this feeling that I'm not being true to myself. It's nothing super serious or anything, but I've noticed that the way people treat me makes me uncomfortable. And I don't exactly know how to tell them without confusing them. Actually, I honestly don't really know how to tell them when it's something outside of their understanding."

...

"I feel like you'd understand the best. Because you're different too, I mean. Even if we're different in our own specific ways."

I smile in response. Because that's what I'm supposed to do in this situation.

...

",,,Let's get out of here together then. Right now."

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"...Ann goh wherh..." I mumble in my sleep, only to slowly realize I was dreaming. Although I'm still half asleep, I replay the dream in my head a few times. Once I've decided I probably won't forget it, I wiggle around and shove my head under a heavy arm so it rests against my cheekbone comfortably. It's warm with a weight that is less uncomfortable and gives a feeling of security as I go still and relax.

The owner of the arm doesn't react, allowing me to snooze for just a little more before I decide to open my eyes to see I've shoved myself under the bend of Rantaro's arm. He's still fast asleep, although he's removed that striped sweatshirt of his in favor of sleeping in his tank top and a loose pair of plaid red and black pants.

I guess he got uncomfortable in his clothing? I wonder when he left...at least he's not sloppily sleeping on top of the blankets like he was when we first dove in for a snooze.

I shift to get out from under his heavy arm and sit up with a sigh as I rub my eyes. Rantaro's probably not waking up anytime soon by the look of his state, sleeping belly up on the bed next to me without a care in the world. I'm not interested in napping anymore even if he does look incredibly comfortable.

...I still need to look over those Monokub blueprints. I need to get those bombs out of the bears.

With a yawn, I turn to give my room a glance and climb out of bed carefully. Where did I leave that bag of blueprints and tools? I'm pretty sure I won't finish examining those blueprints by the time he wakes up, but I might as well use the free time to get a head start. Rantaro will eventually wake up and we can finally talk, but for now there's no rush.

...Or I guess I can be a little cruel and try waking him up now. We fell asleep in the late afternoon, didn't we? If we keep sleeping, we'll end up being unable to sleep when it's night.

I glance down at the volatile kidwatch around my wrist and hum in interest. It's already a little past nine pm, we must have slept nearly four hours by the looks of it...okay, so maybe he's already headed for bed and that's probably why he's in pajamas. Still, it's plenty enough time for Rantaro to wake up now! If I'm staying up all night, he should stay up with me too!

Turning to face the Ultimate Adventurer clearly on an adventure in dreamland, I pause to reconsider. Maybe I should be merciful. He wasn't sleeping well because of all that gambling he did just so he could see me, so he's bound to need more sleep than I would...

Right?

...

No! I want him to wake up now!

I leap on the bed with a big smile, making the mattress bounce like a gelatin snack. Knowing Rantaro, he's likely to let me get away with disturbing his sleep since he likes me so much, so I'll be an annoying kid just this once!

"Rantaro!" I chirp, jumping up a few times to bounce the bed. Maybe he'll wake up if he thinks there's an earthquake? Still, when I get up and start recklessly jumping on the bed, Rantaro remains in a state that is quite nearly dead to the world.

Once I get tired, I go for a more direct approach and push his shoulder with both hands to shake him awake. Maybe I'm too light for jumping on the bed, it wasn't actually shaking that much with my weight. Either that, or his ability to stay asleep is a force to be reckoned with.

"Wake up! No more sleeping!" I order firmly, grabbing his arm and yanking on the heavy limb in hopes of getting him to respond to something. He doesn't though, and I'm eventually forced to drop the dead weight of his arm on my lap to catch my breath.

Rantaro's certainly not dead, I can see the infernal man breathing like the doofus he is.

"Rantaaaroooo...!" I complain, crawling closer to pull on his hair firmly. No response. I pull at his ear piercings and get no response again. I poke his cheek a few times and he still doesn't wake up. Heck, even when I pinch his dumb nose to get him to wake up, this man just cracks his lips open in his sleep to keep breathing.

He's hopeless!

For a moment, I consider covering his mouth as well, but I eventually lower my hand and let go of his nose. I resolve to simply glare at his face from beside him, pouting grumpily at my foiled plans and his dumb serene expression. He's so unfairly handsome, it makes me sick.

Back when he told me about his twelve sisters, he mentioned that the girls were all step-sisters from his father's several marriages. I'm not sure about his mother, but Rantaro didn't sound like he liked his father much based on how he spoke about him.

Well! I don't like his father either! That womanizing barf-brained man spawned a creature like this? I hate him. Why couldn't he have given his son a normal looking face?!

Rantaro stretches out his legs and arms with a little grunt of relaxation, alternating his body position to sleep on his side much to my surprise. Wow, the most signs of life he's shown in the last ten minutes. I guess this is normal...which explains how I was able to get away with writing on his forehead and leaving lipstick prints all over his face that time when he fell asleep in Miu's lab. Who the heck sleeps like this?!

The teen's expression hardly shifts as he traces a palm over the bed and eventually finds my hand. As soon as it slides over mine, he pulls it to his chest and hugs it against him with a soft smile.

I wrinkle my nose at the charming display.

What an absolutely despicable creature.

Giving it one last go, I remove my hand from his grip with a scowl and resort to throwing myself across his abdomen with puffed cheeks of annoyance. He shifts a little at that, making me look to his face to see if he's going to finally wake up.

Unsurprisingly, he doesn't though. He just sleepily slides an arm under me where he can straighten me out properly and pushes me off to the space right next to him again. It's probably something he's done with his younger sisters that sleep in sloppy manners, considering how it almost seems like a paternal reflex rather than a conscious movement.

"Rantaro!" I complain, pulling at his tank top to get him to pay attention. He's not awake though, the idiot is still visibly asleep like a rock- albeit one that can move a little when necessary...like to readjust the migration patterns of siblings that move around in their sleep.

With a whine of exasperation, I decide to leave the moron to keep sleeping on his own and get off the bed again. Guess I will mess with those monokub blueprints until he wakes up then. I mean, there's no waking up a guy like that. He could sleep through a category five hurricane and his only reaction would probably just be rolling over to get on his comfier side!

Anyways, so those blueprints are...

...

With a slow realization that creeps up on me while I'm trying to get my thoughts organized, I eventually turn to throw the blankets straight over Rantaro's head and rush to grab a clean set of my usual orange outfit Kirumi must have washed back when I disappeared into the underground offices. Along with that, I also grab clean socks and an extra pair of my boots since my last pair was left behind in the trial room. I don't put on my bow, sleeves, or gloves, choosing to just put on the necessities since I'm in a bit of a hurry.

Shoot, I left my dumb bag in the love hotel! Please let it still be there intact and untampered with!

I carefully examine my calf and the surprisingly clean gauze taped over my stitches, gently pulling my socks and boot over the injury which no longer aches all that much. At least I'm not limping around everywhere anymore. Resting really did help with the recovery it seems!

As I step beside the night table on Rantaro's side and scoop up my keys, I momentarily halt to glance at the form of Rantaro under the comforter I covered him entirely with. What if he wakes up while I'm gone and worries? It's happened before, even if that other time was because I decided to go to my room so I wouldn't get blood on his floor for testing my intuition.

With that in mind, I open my night table drawer and pull out a notepad and pen to write Rantaro a short note.

"Please wait for me to come back, I've only stepped out for a moment. I'm not doing anything dangerous or mean, I promise! :)"

Once I've peeled the sticky note off the pad, I look back to Rantaro and pull the comforter to look at his sleeping face. Despite all the ruckus I've made so far changing clothes and throwing things around, he's still fast asleep!

...

I reach out and stick the note to his forehead with an impish giggle before writing another note with the word "LAME" scrawled out on it. I stick the new note over the first one on his forehead, just so it's the first one he sees of the two. As to be expected at this point, still no response out of the sleeping beauty. Perfect!

To be fairly honest, I almost hope Rantaro wakes up just so I can see his reaction to finding those notes on his forehead. Sadly, chances are that he'll still be asleep by the time I get back, or he'll wake up and see them while I'm gone. What a joy I'll miss out on...

I cover him with the blankets entirely again just for fun and exit my dorm room, making sure to lock the door behind me so Rantaro and his sleeping habits don't get himself killed.

"Oh boy! Welcome back to the waking world, Miss Marble! How did you sleep?" A voice exclaims as I turn away from my door, making my heart nearly lurch from my chest until I see the familiar monochromatic bear. He lands on the rails of the dormitory's second floor with a painfully loud clang that intimidates me for half a second when it catches me off guard. "Puhuhu~! We were all starting to worry for a moment there, but you seem to be doing well!"

Huh. I guess after what everyone saw in the trial and how exhausted I became, they were worried about me? They probably should have been a bit more worried about Rantaro- he's the one that abused his sleep schedule.

"They're making a big deal over nothing a nap couldn't fix. I have things to take care of- none of which concerns you, by the way," I state clearly, causing Monokuma to chuckle.

"Oh, I see...you have no idea. Well then, I'll leave you to it!"

"What? 'No idea' about-" I start, only for the bear to cut me off cheekily.

"Don't you have things to take care of? None of which concerns me? Puhuhu, Toodles~!"

Just like that, the bear bounds out of the dormitory building quickly, leaving me to attempt jumping down from the second story to dash after him just as the memory of my injury flickers to the forefront of my mind. I'm concerned for just a second, but I discard it when I land with little to no discomfort on all fours. As I race to the exit and shove open the dormitory doors to step outside, I eventually halt and click my tongue in dissatisfaction when I see no sign of the new mastermind of the killing game.

Jeez, how do those bears move so fast? They're so tiny...! Besides that though, what is Monokuma talking about anyways? "I have no idea" about what? Clearly I must have missed something while I was asleep. And considering Rantaro had time to swap into something akin to pajamas, there's a possibility that something must have happened in the three hours I was out and Rantaro didn't wake me up...

If he didn't, I'm definitely going to be having a long talk with him about those "issues" he needs to work on. Namely his overprotectiveness and secret keeping if he insists he truly trusts me.

Reaching Hotel Kumasutra, I pause to look down at my leg, carefully stretching it out behind me. Wow, my leg feels much better. I guess all the stress I put myself through abusing my intuition is what made it feel so bad in the first place.

I can probably peek under the gauze one I get back to see how everything is looking...most likely with Rantaro's help so I don't screw with it too badly. He's the one with medical knowledge, not me.

I push open the hotel doors, the first thing that stands out to me is the fact the lights are still out. There's the dim light of something by the staircase up ahead, which I immediately walk to since it's so dark inside. Bending over to lift it up, the source of light is actually one of the flashlights I brought for myself and Kokichi when we were looking around the hotel for clues. What's it doing lying outside the bag switched on though? As far as I can recall, both Kokichi and I turned our lights off and tossed them back in their carrying bags, one of which is still in a closed bag down at my feet when I flash the light down to find it.

Comforted by the presence of brightness in the dark hotel, I direct the light around the first floor to see if anybody is around. Maybe Monokuma left it out for me? No, that doesn't seem like something he'd do.

Maybe Monokid left it, but I also can't see that as possible. Not because I don't trust him or don't think he would help me out if he could, but because if he was trying to help, he would have no problem making his presence known like he's done before.

Whatever, I'm done with this hotel. I just need that bag I left behind and then I'm out of here. I have no reason to keep investigating this stupid place.

Also...I don't want to think about what happened to Ryoma too much. I don't want to give myself more stress over the fact I could have done something. I mean, he died in the room right next to mine- how did I not hear it happen? Was I just so lost in thought? Kokichi heard me when Tsumugi attacked me, and this room door was closed, so how did I not hear anything when I was attentively waiting for Shuichi to show up?

I grunt and wipe my mind clear of those thoughts. What's done is done- I can't bring Ryoma back no matter how much I beg for things to have been different. I can't recover all the time I could have spent getting to know him.

Taking the stairs one step at a time into more darkness, I hit the second floor and make my way to my old room. So far, nothing usual has happened, though I still think it's pretty weird that the lights are off. Even the room I migrated to after the Momota incident is completely blacked out and-

The lights suddenly turn on in all of the rooms, making me jump. It's still dark in the hallway, but I can see the outlines of the hotel room doors glowing from the insides.

What is-?

"Hup, hup! Let there be light in this here joint!" A familiar voice announces loudly from behind me, prompting me to leap nearly a foot in the air from the surprise with a shriek of terror.

As the lights flash on, the hallway becomes enveloped in the comforting embrace of bright creamy baby yellow hues, accented with rose orange shades and poppy red sprinkles of color that decorate the entire hallway. It's enough of a color and light overload to nearly blind me compared to the stark contrasting darkness the hallway was cloaked in before.

And next to me, Monosuke suddenly howls in horror as a response to my piercing shriek.

"Fuckin' hell, Ugly?!" The yellow bear exclaims, enough time for me to put a hand over my heart and keel over to get the rapid beating of the pumping organ under control from the near heart-attack I just had. "D-Don't just sneak up on me like that! The hell are you even doing here?!"

"I...I could ask you the same thing. I'm just here to get my bag and the blueprints for you bears. I'm surprised though, why were the lights still out?" I inquire as I flick off the flashlight I had a white knuckled grip on when Monosuke gave me the scare of my life. I set it down at the side of the hallway, where I notice a tool bag. It's only then that I realize Monosuke's wearing a yellow hard hat- the kind worn by construction workers and electricians. It matches his colors so well that I almost didn't notice it. Is he fixing something?

"Fixin' lights like a good samaritan! They've been out since the trial, y'know? The wires were burnt here and near the hotel generator in the basement, but I figured out how to fix it all on my own! Monotaro may have been our best technician and mechanic, but I'm learning to cover the gap in our team he left behind!...no thanks to you," Monosuke stresses, prompting me to wince with guilt.

I don't want to think about how I failed Monotaro either.

It's always my fault someone dies...

"...I'm sorry," I say, not sure if I'm trying to apologize to Monosuke, myself, or Monotaro himself.

Monosuke seems caught off guard by my words for a moment, but he soon brushes it off with a grunt to turn away from me and focus on the exposed wires of a light switch that's been removed.

"I didn't know Tsumugi messed with the lights that badly. I could see her accessing the breaker and switching the lights she didn't need off, but burning wires...?" I speak up, looking around until my eyes land on the room door where the crime was committed. I look away quickly.

"Tsumugi didn't have anything to do with this. Your detective was off on that point, this happened at random and had nothing to do with the murder," Monosuke states, tinkering with the wires using a dual pair of pliers.

"Eh?" I ask, confused by the information. "But then...she just had night-vision goggles at hand? I couldn't see her, but I knew she could see me at least. And there's no way she would have just had those kinds of goggles lying around if she didn't plan to mess with the lights in advance."

"She didn't. She used her mastermind perk to get help from Monokuma. He brought her a pair of night-vision goggles and left her to deal with the rest of the problem herself. Hey, don't you have something to do? I don't wanna chit-chat right now. Much less with your death-marking ass," Monosuke huffs, not once turning to glance my way.

Feeling rather pitiful, I start to turn and make my way to the hotel room I left my stuff in, only to hear the bear add something that digs deep in my core.

"And stop apologizing for Monotaro's death. I don't wanna hear that meaningless shit out of you. We both know you care more about your classmate's deaths more than his death."

I stop in my tracks, feeling my face fall as soon as I process his words. I am sorry though. I didn't want Monotaro to die. Monotaro's death affected me too, even if Monosuke doesn't think it does.

"...But I mean it..." I can't help but say, only to feel something hard hit the back of my head. I let out a sharp yelp of pain, reaching back as I stagger to regain my balance from the unexpected assault. There's a blossoming ache of pain but no blood when I touch the area of trauma and bring my hand back to see the damage. Looking behind me, I notice the weapon on the ground to be a wrench- one that was clearly thrown at me by the working yellow bear that flings off his hard-hat carelessly to address me head on.

"Oh, I'm sure you do. You must feel awful! You know who probably feels worse though? Monotaro. The one who you got killed. The one who isn't here anymore, because of you.So yeah, you feel like shit because you're responsible. That's nice, but it doesn't matter. I don't care how good of intentions you think you had. I don't care how happy you made him!"

Monosuke surprises me when he suddenly bounds forward in my direction, launching himself against my belly full force. He tackles me so hard that my stomach even objects internally, both from lack of food and the direct assault as my backside slams into the hallway floor with a thud. I grunt, taking a moment to recover the air he violently knocked out of my lungs.

"Monophanie has thought about going soft on you because Rantaro cares about you. Maybe it doesn't seem like it may happen from your perspective, but she's considering it. She still hates your guts, but you know what?" Monosuke states as I sit up, the bear casting me a piercing glare with his left white eye. "I can guarantee I hate you more than anyone else.You can be sorry all you want, but you deserve to feel like shit. And I'll always cherish how much I actually hate you."

I can't say anything, breaking into a cough when I try to speak up in an effort to console him. Sadly, a little voice in the back of my head tells me even if I could speak right now, there's nothing I could say that would make him feel better.

"...I'm sure my hate for you will keep me alive. I don't care about you at all. I don't like a single thing about you. Nothing about you is worth dying for."

Monosuke stares at me for a full minute, watching me struggle to catch my breath. Everything he's saying...he sounds like he's trying to convince someone. Maybe himself? I've noticed he's changed quite a bit himself since we all met. Him and Monophanie, at least, even if both still hate me to the moon and back. For all I know, with how much Monophanie has come to like Rantaro, maybe Monosuke is actually starting to like me a little too.

Or I could be totally off the mark with that assumption, but still...my efforts to push Monotaro away were hardly considered "hard work". So maybe I need to...

"I guess you really hate me as much as you're saying then," I say, noting how Monosuke tenses up at the sound of my voice again. "...You're right. My words don't mean anything. Nothing about me is worth dying for."

I meet Monosuke's eyes, feeling my stomach swirling angrily at what's about to come out of my mouth. I'm going to make myself sick saying this, but...it's for a good cause, I'd like to think.

I can only hope Monotaro can forgive me for my cruel lies.

...

"It's too bad your stupid brother didn't get the memo."

Monosuke appears stunned for a moment. He takes so long processing my words that I almost think he didn't hear me. The moment he fully realizes what I've said, he's shaking violently from top to bottom.

"What...what the fuck did you just say?"He asks in a slow and deliberate manner, his voice careful and almost devoid of all emotion. Like the calm before a storm.

"...I said your brother was stupid. And he didn't get the memo even though I warned him. You're right, I'm feeling sorry for nothing when I shouldn't be feeling sorry at all. It's Monotaro's own fault for sticking around," I remark, staring at Monosuke for his response.

His fur bristles on either side, white and yellow-gold fur strands alike spiking up almost like an angry animal in defense mode.

To my surprise, Monosuke suddenly launches himself at me again, aiming straight for my face and prompting me to snap my eyes shut with a violent flinch. Prepped to grit my teeth and stomach the attack, I wait for the final blow...which doesn't come following the loud thud I hear from two hard forces crashing. Puzzled, I open my eyes to see the hold up.

Unexpectedly, the reason Monosuke is unable to tackle me a second time comes in the form of a certain blue bear's sudden appearance. From what I can tell as the two land, Monokid must have tackled Monosuke out of the way just before he could hurt me.

"For real? You're going to defend her even after she says that about Monotaro?!" Monosuke shouts, angrily gesturing my way. "She's going to get you killed! And then she'll say the same shit about you too! How could you just let her talk about Monotaro like that?!"

"That's enough! There's heckling- Monokuma doesn't care about that- but you're literally trying to kill her now! Which means I'm allowed to FUCKIN' step in! If you can't control yourself around her, Monokuma's going to boot you away anytime you're in Prairie's proximity. Got it? I may be following Monokuma's orders here, but don't think for a second that I'll tolerate this SHIT out of you either!" Monokid snaps, turning away from his "brother" to face me. Although he came to rescue me from Monosuke's rage, Monokid doesn't look too happy with me either. He gestures for me to stand up with a mildly aggressive motion- like he's trying to control his own temper.

"Come on. Let's get your stuff and go," Monokid says as I climb back up to my unsteady feet carefully. Monosuke looks pretty irritated by Monokid's intervention, but evidently turns away with an angry snort to snatch up his hard hat and place it back on his head, resuming his work on the hotel lights.

With Monosuke's focus no longer on me, I make my way to my old hotel room and open the door with Monokid's supervision. Once I've located my bag, Monokid escorts me along the hall past the other bear, down the stairs, and out of the hotel- only stopping the moment we're outside. I'm sure he's angry with me at this point, and I keep my mouth shut rather than apologize.

If Monokid changes his mind about me over this, then that's better in the long run. So be it. I'll miss this, but-

"IDIOT!" Monokid suddenly blurts out loudly, startling me when he delivers an unexpected swift kick to my good leg. I yelp, startled by the assault but generally unsurprised by his resentment. I expected anger, but not in the form of physical objection...he could have just let Monosuke beat me up, couldn't he?

"I know exactly what you're doing! You think you're slick or somethin'?!" Monokid snaps, clearly agitated, though I slowly realize it's not for the reason I had hoped for.

Of course Monokid wouldn't be fooled. He's gotten to know my habits and behavior pretty well, I guess.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I meant what I said," I try again, even though I can feel my cheeks getting warm with the shame of lying to someone I genuinely care about.

"...You can't push me away. Not like that, at least," Monokid responds dryly with a huff as he crosses his arms. "And Kokichi is right- you're a shitty liar."

I swallow down my feelings, trying to act in accordance with my resolve. It's so hard. I want to do anything else right now. I'd rather have Kirumi try to drown me all over again. Still, I bite my emotions away and turn my attention towards Monokid.

"Then how?" I ask, watching the blue bear cock his head to the side thoughtfully as he takes a moment to actually think about it.

"Hm, good question. Well, I guess...you'd have to kill me yourself. With your bare hands.Do that and then I'll be successfully pushed away for good! LITERALLY too!" Monokid claims, making me glower at the conflicting blue bear before me. Can I maybe scare Monokid into losing faith in me?

"Okay then," I respond, walking closer to him.

Despite my words and the clear acceptance to his challenge, Monokid doesn't move an inch. My initial efforts to contest his faith in me aren't surprisingly effective. Once I'm close enough to him, I kneel down in front of him and wrap both hands around the bear's neck. I'm not even sure how I should attempt to threaten him...he's a robot. I can't just pretend to aim to strangle him.

"Oh, by the way, if you stick your fingers right in the intersection of my head and body, an upwards yank should pop my head right off and snap the wires that process the majority of my energy!" Monokid states brightly in a helpful manner, prompting my eyebrows to knit together dryly. This bear is certainly devoted...

I follow his directions and gently place my fingers where he told me to. My grip isn't very tight at all though. It's careful and soft, like I'm handling something invaluable and precious. Something that can't possibly be replaced or replicated.

...

A heavy sigh escapes me as I drop my hands from Monokid, making the blue bear snicker in amusement.

"There's not a bad bone in your body, Prairie," Monokid comments as if it's a fact of life, a statement somewhat irritating in a way. I wish he hated me as much as Monosuke does.

"You can only say that because you don't know enough about me," I accuse, looking away from him and standing up so I'm not so close to the bear anymore. "And don't say you do, because I don't even know enough about myself."

Monokid shrugs at, easily admitting to it despite how it may come off.

"I know. That's okay though, all we need to do is get you and your friends out of here. Then we'll have all the time in the world to all get to know each other!" Monokid says before seemingly realizing what he's implying and clearing his voice box suddenly in embarrassment. "U-UM! Y'know, if you still want me around after all of this 'n' stuff..."

When I look back at him, he's fidgeting with his paws nervously, up until he seems to snap out of his daze and jumps forward to hug my leg. It's the same one he kicked before, although the pain is already long gone from how much force he initially held back.

"I'd like to know more about you after this. You're like...a cool big sis," Monokid admits sheepishly, making my heart melt at the confession. A big sister? Me?

I wonder if I'm actually a big sister from whatever family I have...

On impulse, I reach down and pat his head even as my nerves scream at me to stop fawning over the little bear. Monokuma is definitely watching this- and I can only imagine what he'll want to do to Monokid. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about losing Monokid too.

That's why you need to keep your space though. The more you want to defend me, the more expendable you are to Monokuma. How can you know this and keep gravitating towards me?

"If we get out of here, I want to go where you go. I want to be more like you. And if I don't make it out, well...there's no amount of code or mathematical equations to express how special you are to me- and I think Monotaro would feel the same," Monokid says, hugging my leg a little tighter. "Please stop blaming yourself for what happened to Monotaro."

The bear releases my leg and steps back to look up at me.

"I've gotta go, but remember what I said, okay? Don't give up hope on getting out of here just yet," Monokid says, offering a final smile before he turns and bounds off into the darkness of the academy. Probably heading back to wherever Monokuma is since he's not allowed away unless given orders or dismissed by the larger bear.

...

"So you're finished trying to escape? You don't want to leave so badly anymore?"

Kokichi's words after I told him I was done trying to leave the killing game echo in my mind, stirring up discomfort in me now that Monokid is also urging me to keep trying. I don't know if Monokid bounded off before a response because he was being nice and knew I'd be unable to say I'd keep trying, but...then again, I don't think I could say "I already gave up" to him to his face either. Not with everything he admitted to me about wanting to stay with me after the killing game.

I was under the impression there was no reason for me to escape myself because I'd be alone if we left. Rantaro, Tenko and the others...they would have lives they would want to return to. Places I don't think I'd belong in without an identity, or places where I'd be more of a nuisance to my friends rather than a comfort. Maybe it's weighing heavier on me than I thought if I was subconsciously preferring to give up and resist escape just so I could stay around everyone here...Monokuma even flung that fact in my face after I had a meltdown when I gave Angie a black eye.

But if Monokid wants to stay with me if we escape...that's not a bad idea at all. I'd actually really like that.

There's a tense pain in my chest as I start walking away from the hotel, hands tightly clenched around the strap of the bag hanging over my shoulder and across my thorax.

There's something about that feeling of hopefulness that scares me.

As happy as it makes me to have heard Monokid's words despite Monokuma separating us, I have a feeling there's a high chance my emotions will backfire on me if something happens to him. Maybe I was doomed from the start. I can't control how I feel. I get irritated quickly, I can get worked up really fast...it's like I have no regulation on the level of emotions I experience. I never even know what's coming next half the time. Even right now, it's like I'm already grieving for Monokid before anything terrible has happened- just because of something good that happened. How does that make any sense?

Alright, you need to calm down. Stop thinking about it, or you're gonna spiral and get nothing done. You don't need to reconsider just yet, you just need to focus on removing those bombs in the other three monokubs.

One step at a time.

So I have the blueprints, but I don't think it'd hurt to head on over to the library to see if there's books on the subject of coding and robots that I can reference for anything confusing in the blueprints. Although I remember the kubs all seemed to have different schematics, Monphanie's design specifically looks much stranger than the other bears.

They all have bombs, yeah, but her schematics have a complexity that almost looks like there's way more mechanical parts shoved into her body. Monosuke's was the simplest one to deal with, Monokid's seems like the second-most easiest to deal with, followed by Monodam, and then Monophanie.

I enter the school building and make a sharp turn to head for the basement, feeling my stomach growl slightly in objection when my eyes flick past the door to the dining hall. It's already ten, so I don't think those doors are open anymore.

Grimacing at the pain and ignoring the urge to throw whatever monocoins I have in my coin pouch to try and get food from the monomachine in the student store instead, I make my way down into the basement and look around at the dark hallways. It's much darker in here than the rooms usually are, but it's a little more foreboding with it being night and all...

I walk over to the main doors of the library and open one to peer inside. No one is in here right now, giving me just a little more security as I slip inside and shut the door behind me. For a moment, I lean back against it and look up at the ceiling with a sigh of relief. The smell of old books is oddly comforting, inviting me to push off the door and approach one of the bookcases to begin looking around at the spines of the books shoved and scattered across the entire room.

Sadly, none of the books are actually organized and I can't help but start rearranging some of the interesting books, getting lost in the unattainable task simply to silence my thoughts for a bit. It feels like completing a crossword puzzle or playing a word search game, one that I do for quite some time. I even have to set my bag down as I remove books and exchange them around with others I'd like to return to.

I'm halfway through arranging the middle shelves of one bookcase with things I'd like to read later when I hear something outside in the hallway that gives me a pause. Stepping back from the bookcase to approach the other side of the library quietly, I eventually hear a door shutting along with a heaving grunt that manages to reach my ears in the silence of the library. It sounds like someone entered the game room and was lifting up something heavy just now...

What if it's Kirumi?

Should I leave and go back to my room? I didn't even start looking for the books I needed- I let myself get distracted!

Curiosity eventually gets the better of me, prompting me to abandon the book in my hands and set it down beside my bag to slip out of the main door to the library. There's no one in the hall, so they must have entered the game room...it might be hard to be sneaky about peeking in there.

Still, I walk over to the game room anyways and carefully open the door to peek in.

...

I don't see anybody.

Alright, well they certainly didn't disappear, so they must have moved to the AV room. In that case...

With a nervous jitter, I quietly open the door and slide inside despite my gut saying this might be dangerous. Ignoring the insisting urge I have to just run back to the library to grab my things and leave the basement altogether, I make it to the end of the room...and notice the red and orange flame designed sliding door open just a crack. It's open just enough for me to peek in for some answers.

As soon as I see who it is, I realize I've made a horribly risky mistake. The only good thing about this is that I was being careful when I entered the game room, or else they would have noticed me much earlier and I'd be doomed. This person in the room is even worse than running into Kirumi.

He hums a happy tune I don't recognize as he kneels down between two blue couches, shuffling through a brown cardboard box a little and then reaching up to brush aside a dark lock of his hair that gets in the way of his vision.

"Boring, not that one...not that one either..." Kokichi says to himself softly, up until he eventually pulls out something that looks like a disk, which he stands up with and makes a funny face like he's surprised to read what's written on the front of it. With a bit of a wry smile of confusion playing on his lips, he kicks off his shoes and jumps up on the couch to stick the disk in the overhead projector, pressing a few buttons until there is a visual projection on the wall ahead.

With the video display opening to something that's hard to see on the fabric of the wall, I squint a little until Kokichi steps off the couch and hops a little to grab the pulley of the white screen and yank it all the way down where he can properly see the video. As soon as it's down and doesn't roll back up, he steps back and sits on the couch. Thankfully, he's out of the way enough for me to see what kind of video was on the disk.

"A Life of the Prairie Dogs of North America: Graduate Thesis" rolls up on the screen, prompting my eyes to narrow suddenly.

He found...a video on prairie dogs? Real furry prairie dogs? And that's what he decided to play on the stupid projector? He couldn't find anything that may be useful to us? Like...I don't know, self-defense instructional videos?

The intro sounds like the kind of music you'd hear maybe from a time in the wild west where cowboys ran amok on horseback. There's a clear harmonica and banjo playing in the background, upbeat and bright as the camera scans over a few of the animals on the American prairie.

Is he really going to watch this? ...What a weirdo.

"Prairie dogs live highly social lives in communities called 'towns', made up of dozens of prairie dogs with expansive burrows where they reside during the night and retreat in to get out of the extreme weather. The prairie dog is highly territorial towards outsider prairie dogs, and will become ferocious to drive away unwelcome intruders."

My eyebrow raises when I see a prairie dog pop out its head from a burrow on the screen, making its silver screen debut as it blinks it's dark little eyes around. Even I can't help but gush in my head when I see it looking around all adorable like it does. I had a blurry image of what they looked like in the back of my mind, but seeing one now, I feel just a little less resentment against the nickname Kokichi gave me.

Kokichi chuckles at the sight of the little face. "Cute."

I turn my blue eyes in his direction, ducking a little more from where I'm peeking through the door to make sure he can't see me. He called them cute too...

My brain begins to spin up stupid little assumptions, prompting me to pinch my cheeks hard to snap me out of my thoughts.

Dummy, he's saying that about actual Prairie Dogs, not you! Stop getting all worked up over this! He's stupid anyways!

"These little creatures hold the record of having the second most complex language in the animal kingdom second to us humans and far more sophisticated than even whales, chimpanzees, and dolphins alike. Unlike humans, they can cram several different details into a single bark-like chirp, which is where they get their namesake from as they share information among the colony."

And then the sound of the prairie dog chirps fill the AV room, a little chorus of warning chirps at the sight of a predator.

Kokichi seems to think this is pretty funny, his chuckles evolving into laughter that gradually grows into something hysterical when the prairie dogs on screen start doing something the narrator calls "jump-yips".

They throw their little heads up in the air and get up on their two back feet to cry out into the sky, dropping back down or even falling back into one another as they yip loudly. It looks like they're cheering a little, a cute display that even the narrator says they aren't quite sure of the meaning of in the language of prairie dogs.

"PFFT!" Kokichi can barely contain himself, struggling to breathe as he even slides off of the couch amid his laughter. "She even squeaks like them...!"

My mouth pops open with a sharp flash of offense. Okay, yes, I think they're cute, but he's totally saying that in a mocking manner! He's totally looking down on me and making fun of the way I sound! This isn't the way I wanted him thinking of me when he was calling them cute!

You don't want him to think about you AT ALL, remember?!

Grinding my teeth angrily and ready to swing open that sliding door to teach that leech- which is frankly an uglier species- a valuable lesson of underestimating the biggest and rowdiest prairie dog in this town, I'm just about to get up on both feet when I feel something tap my shoulder. It's not Kokichi, who is still laughing on the floor of the AV room ahead of me, completely oblivious of my presence lingering outside the room.

I turn my head and look up, flinching slightly when I see Korekiyo silently observing my reaction from where he's half leaned beside me. He looks rather amused by what he's caught me doing, prompting me to squeak sharply. Realizing my fatal mistake, I slap both hands over my mouth in horror at the sound that's escaped me.

Oh no! Please tell me he didn't hear that!

Upon looking back into the AV room, I see Kokichi clearly hasn't noticed any difference between my squeak and the prairie dog squeaks coming from the speakers at the four sides of the room. That in itself is pretty embarrassing, considering it sounded quite like the prairie dogs on screen, but I just resolve to carefully shutting the AV room door the rest of the way and promptly turning to take Korekiyo's arm and quickly lead him out of the game room and into the hallway where we're safe.

"Spying on Kokichi, I see? Did you perhaps learn anything novel and interesting after your time crouched there by the floor?" Korekiyo asks in an uncharacteristic tease once we stop beside the main doors to the library. My cheeks are probably red considering how warm they feel. To think I was caught watching Kokichi like that...Korekiyo probably thinks I'm weird now!

"I-I just heard a noise while I was in the library and wanted to make sure it wasn't Kirumi. When he started playing that prairie dog video though, I got distracted and couldn't help but stay and watch too! They're just...kinda cute," I half lie, considering I was also definitely watching for the exact reason I probably shouldn't have been. As in just watching how Kokichi behaves when he's alone. Not that I'll admit that to anybody.

Korekiyo doesn't look like he believes me, but evidently gestures into the library.

"Since you don't seem quite too keen on Kokichi becoming aware of your presence here, how about we continue our chat within the confines of the library? I'm sure you've experienced enough embarrassment thus far with how I found you huddled up beside the AV door..." Korekiyo comments, stepping around me to push open the library door. He glances back my way to see my answer while I grab my hair and hide my cheeks.

Still, when he holds the door open for me, I walk in and wordlessly accept his invite to keep me company.

"I must say, it's wonderful to know you've finally awoken from your strange slumber. Many of us were rather worried about your state of health as soon as we realized you were unable to awaken," Korekiyo starts up the conversation when he seems to understand I might not be in a state to begin talking on my own.

That being said, what he brings up first is surprising enough for me to drop my hair as my face slowly cools down. "Strange slumber"? I couldn't wake up earlier? Well, I guess I could attribute it to my intuition rebound, but I'll just have to brush it off since I'm talking to Korekiyo here. If I revealed anything about my intuition to him, Monokuma likely wouldn't hesitate to tranquilize me. Or worse, inject that scary drug into me through the watch.

"Oh...I guess I was really tired? I think it was warranted, that trial was a pretty intense one we had to deal with. Plus, my leg definitely needed some rest, so it was only natural I'd take a nap along with Rantaro," I answer, hopeful that it's a good enough answer for him.

"...Prairie, may I ask for your estimated length of sleep?" Korekiyo inquires after a moment of examining me with a critical eye. Strange question, but since this is Korekiyo we're talking about, I guess strange questions are to be expected when holding a conversation with him.

"Oh, uh, maybe four hours? I don't exactly remember when I fell asleep, but I'm fairly sure it was a little under four hours. Why?" I ask, even though my brain is already coming up with assumptions from the question in general.

Did I sleep longer than that? Like...maybe I skipped a day or something? And the nine pm I saw in my watch when I woke up was me waking up nearly thirty hours later?

"Prairie, you have been asleep for five entire days," Korekiyo explains rather casually to me, leaning back against one of the low shelves as I take a moment to process his claim.

Five days?!

"Wait, five days? Kiyo, are you joking around or are you being serious? C-Can anyone sleep for five days like that without any type of response? What about using the bathroom or eating? I know I'm hungry right now, but I'm not five days hungry. I don't even feel like I need to go to the bathroom right now!" I state, hoping he's about to cackle and tell me he's done that to watch my "beautiful humanity" in action.

Unfortunately, he just stands there and watches me without another word. Like he's waiting for me to accept his words as the truth. I could probably run into the other room where Kokichi's at and ask him for a second testimony, but chances are that even if Korekiyo was lying, Kokichi would just grin and lie along with him to fan the flames of chaos.

On the other hand though...Korekiyo isn't exactly the type to make jokes or play tricks like this. Even if it was just a small exaggeration, he doesn't strike me as that kind of person.

"I-I didn't know. There wasn't anything weird when I woke up. I mean, I saw that Rantaro was wearing pajamas when I remember him falling asleep in his usual clothes, but I just thought he had woken up sometime while I was asleep and snuck off so he could let me sleep longer..." I trail off, half guilty for being upset with him for thinking he abandoned me sometime while we were napping to keep me "safe". He must have been trying to wake me up like I had done before I ran off to get the bag of monokub blueprints.

All the more ironic he ended up not getting up when I tried waking him from his sleep...

"No, that certainly was not the case. I assure you we all attempted to try awakening you from your slumber. Rantaro indeed let you sleep longer when he was unable to get you on your feet at the night of the trial and execution, but after returning to make another attempt, he became aware of the unfortunate predicament," Korekiyo explains, his gold eyes shifting to meet my blue ones as he turns and leans a bit lower to get a better look at my face. I feel my heart skip a beat at that, the little attribute that gets nervous around good-looking guys activating on impulse. Korekiyo either doesn't seem to notice the change in my demeanor, or he simply doesn't care for it. "I believed you would have felt it, however Angie quite spectacularly slapped you across the face in an attempt to rouse you. To be fairly honest, I wasn't quite sure the mark would disappear, however your skin appears clear of the trauma from what I can see."

I guess that's payback for throwing a can at her face and giving her a black eye? Well, if she slapped me that hard, I'm sure glad I didn't feel it.

"What else did they try? Maybe a spritz of a water bottle would have been enough?" I suggest, prompting a dry chuckle out of the anthropologist. Going by that response, I guess they tried it and no dice. Bummer.

"'A spritz of water'..." Korekiyo cackles a little in mild amusement, pushing his hat up slightly atop his head to compose himself. "Gonta was kind enough to carefully set you within your shower to spray water across your face with the shower head. I'm sure you're well aware of how that fared, if you neither reacted nor remembered it occurring."

Holy crap...this has to be a side effect of my intuition. That's all way too weird for it to be normal exhaustion. Especially since I don't feel like I'm starving and since I was able to avoid using the bathroom that long. I know I pass out whenever I overuse my ability, so...maybe this is a result of abusing it so often. Problem is that I need it though, and I might have to keep abusing it at times. The situation sucks, but...I can't just not use it if the occasion calls for it.

"Rantaro failed to find an appreciation for most of the methods the other students applied, whether successful or not. He had been forced to dismiss Kokichi specifically for attempting to line the boys up to see who's 'true love's kiss' would be the solution to the dramatic hypersomnia you were experiencing...which then devolved into less than acceptable behavior due to Tenko trying to get violent with him. There wasn't much any of us could do, so we all came to the agreement that it was better to simply wait," Korekiyo says as he runs a finger over a spine of a book to his side. "It would appear that this was the best course of action, considering you've finally woken up and don't appear worse for wear following such a strange occurrence."

"Yeah..." I trail off, not quite too sure what else to say about it. I snap out of my momentary daze and shake my thoughts out of my head to dismiss the topic. There's no sense in keeping Korekiyo asking questions and making observations on something I know he probably shouldn't. "Anyways, um, what brings you down here?"

It is a little weird he's down here, to be honest. It's past ten and he's up and about? I expect it out of Kokichi since he seems to be the type that enjoys staying up late, but Korekiyo?

Actually...now that I think about it, I still don't really know that much about him, so I guess I shouldn't be making assumptions expecting anything out of him.

"When I found a bag of blueprints and tools left abandoned in the library, I had a small suspicion someone else might have been in the immediate vicinity. As much as Kirumi has reassured the rest of us that she only intends to murder you, no one is all too keen to be in her presence for obvious reasons, as you would expect. I too went around to investigate who could be awake at this time. Regardless of that, I'm simply in search of finding something I can invest my time into reading. As far as activities that are to my specific tastes, this is really all that will satiate my curiosity. Perhaps until my lab opens, that is," Korekiyo explains, pushing away from the shelf to walk a little around the library.

As soon as he allows the space between us to grow, I ease up a little. He's still a little creepy, but I can't deny he's one of the more interesting characters in our group. Admittedly, Korekiyo can be a bit difficult to understand and he talks a lot, but that's okay. I still want to get to know him more.

"Khehehe...!" Korekiyo cackles a little, rubbing his arms over his shoulders a little as if he's a bit uncomfortable. "I see you're still wary of me despite our previous time spent together."

I can feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment, one that's more along the line of horror that he's noticed something I didn't want him picking up on. I don't want to hurt his feelings...! He's just different!

"No! No, I promise it's not that I'm wary of you or think you're dangerous. You're just a little different and I'm still trying to understand you. I'm not good with boys!" I blurt out, only to feel just a little worse with those last words escaping my mouth. Yeah, everyone already knows that at this point, but maybe I should try harder to allow new memories to bury it from existence. Embarrassed, I wave my hands up and try again. "Look, I just don't know you enough...I'm curious and I want to know you better even if you're different."

Korekiyo is staring at me. I can't quite pinpoint his reaction, not only due to the mask over the lower half of his face, but due to how much of a poker face he seems to have. It's close enough to the level of blankness that Kokichi's poker face can hit. Korekiyo is impossible for me to read right now.

Somehow, the fact I can't tell sort of alleviates my embarrassment a smidgen.

"In that case, I'm flattered you'd still like to engage with me despite my...'creepiness'," Korekiyo comments, visibly amused as he steadily walks back towards me and promptly peeks in the direction of my bag. "On another note...may I ask what you intend to do with those items in that bag of yours?"

I laugh nervously at the query. Should have known he would bring it up...actually, he probably already looked in that bag before he went looking around to see if Kirumi was in the game room or AV room.

"M-Monokub blueprints. I'm studying them to see if I can remove the bomb from inside..." I trail off, a little nervous to admit I'm also fully intending on helping more than Monokid- if the other two remaining bears with bombs will allow me to at least. It's a bit surprising that I'm more hesitant about revealing that tidbit to Korekiyo than I am admitting it to Kokichi. I guess that goes to show how much unnecessary time I've spent with Kokichi over the others here.

I really do need to branch out and get to know the others better. I definitely want to spend even more time with Tenko. Maybe I'll try talking to Kaito and Kiibo later as well...and Himiko too.

"I see. You legitimately care for Monokid, don't you? It's certainly one of your most charming aspects. As much as someone seems to bother you, you still go out of your way to try and help them regardless of conflict..." Korekiyo states, crouching down to pull out one of the blueprints.

My stomach churns slightly when he unrolls the diagram of Monokid and stands up to examine it. Something about him touching the document immediately puts me on edge.

What if he tries to rip it up...? Would he? It's not like anyone else seems to like the monokubs, Rantaro is probably the only one I'd be comfortable handling such important papers. From Kiyo's perspective, I can't imagine the bears are of any importance to him like they are to me.

I eye him like a hawk the entire time that he's looking at the paper, only relaxing after he rolls it back up and holds it out to me.

"Would I be correct in guessing your presence here has to do with finding material related to mechanical schematics? I'm not a mechanic myself, but I have had plenty of time to explore the library. Perhaps I can help search for books on the subject matter."

I feel a smile form on my face as I take the blueprint from him, gradually becoming comfortable in his presence at his offer.

"You're willing to help me?" I ask, tilting my head slightly to the side and watching the corners of his eyes wrinkle a bit in what I assume is made from a smile I can't see under his mask. It's such a big library, so his help would be much appreciated!

"Of course. Unless you have somewhere to be?" he says, just as I give a happy jump and turn to grab the other blueprints from my bag.

"Alright, I'm gonna lay these on the floor then. I was going to bring these back to my room since Rantaro is still sleeping there, but whatever. He'll live, I left him a note I would be back in a bit if he wakes up while I'm still gone," I explain as I take the papers and spread them on the ground in the middle of the room where we're less likely to step on them.

The smile of relief on my face from Korekiyo's offer of assistance, despite it being for the monokubs, is nearly impossible to remove at this point. It remains even when Korekiyo picks up my bag to bring it to my side. He hovers over me for a moment where I'm knelt down, almost looming over me and observing as I eventually begin digging the bag he offers me so I can set heavy metal tools on the corners of the relevant blueprints to keep them from rolling up.

The specific three blueprints I have set out are the ones for Monokid, Monodam, and Monophanie. I flatten the large blue pages to the best of my ability and then set aside my bag to squint down at the painfully tiny text of notes on Monokid's schematics for a moment. Even if I didn't say I was intending on working on Monodam and Monophanie, he'll probably just attribute the presence of their blueprints as a second and third example for me to work on Monokid.

"...Is Rantaro aware of your location in that note of yours, perchance?" Korekiyo inquires, his words nearly slipping past my attention as I'm reading some of the notes to Monokid's unique details. He seems to have some sort of a modem for hyper-accurate timing that I don't see in Monophanie's or Monodam's diagrams. Sheesh, I need a magnifying glass big time, I feel like I'm going to give myself double-vision trying to read this.

"Hm? Oh. No, he has no idea. I didn't intend to come here, and I didn't bother to tell him where I intended to head out to either. It's okay though, he could probably find me if I got lost in a labyrinth with the way he doesn't give up on things. I mean, he did destroy his sleep schedule by being stubborn on those slot machines in the casino..." I trail off, leaning down closer to the paper.

What does that say...? Why is the text on this so dang small? What, was this written by hamsters or something?!

"You made your way down here solus and not a single soul besides me knows of it...or that you're awake once more," Korekiyo reflects out loud, like it's far more interesting than it really is.

"Well it's an awkward time anyways, most people are asleep besides you and I guess Kokichi. I don't see any reason why I ought to have woken anybody up to announce I woke up from what I thought was just a nap of a few hours. It just seemed like unnecessary input," I answer, finally getting up on my feet and looking around the room. I'm not the one that's searched the library extensively, so I turn to Korekiyo and look up at him. He's already staring at me. "Where should we look first?"

...

"How about we begin over there? I recall displacing quite a few books on technology in that pile a few times I've been in here. I'm unable to guarantee they'll still be there with the amount of us that come in and move books about, but with the two of us searching, we may find them yet," Korekiyo states, pointing to several stacks of books at the back of the library to the right of the moving bookcase.

No one else really knows the hidden door is there besides Rantaro, Shuichi, and I. I guess there's no real need to keep it a secret, right? ...Well, I won't say anything for now. I'll probably talk to Rantaro and Shuichi about telling the others now that we know exactly who was walking in and out of that door. And the fact that the individual in question is very much dead.

"Alrighty! Let's get looking then~" I say, invigorated with energy. I leave the blueprints out and take Korekiyo's hand to lead him over to the stacks of books.

We look through quite a couple, falling into a comfortable silence as we search titles, read summaries, check indexes, and eventually go through the process of rejecting book after book when they don't match the content and key words I'm searching for based on text on the blueprints I return to every now and then.

I already knew there were way too many books about murder littering the library from the other times I've spent walking around in here, likely Monokuma's attempts at desensitizing us into trying to commit atrocities of the like so we can play his horrible game. There's books on murderer biographies, true crime non-fiction, books glorifying murder, murder mystery books...but hey, Rantaro managed to find the fictitious book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, so it's not totally hopeless.

About maybe thirty minutes of sharing a few comments here and there on findings we collect- of which we have only two books on robotics and coding- I eventually find a book on specifically mechanical work with electronics.

Ah-ha! Here we go, one of only a fraction books that have nothing to do with murder!

During the time I'm reading through the index of the book that is starting to look like a winner, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end inexplicably.

What's that feeling for...? Maybe I'm cold or something? I do have a bit of goosebumps from the slight chill in the library, I guess. The temperature definitely ought to be a bit warmer in my opinion.

I frown slightly, unable to focus on scanning the index. I've glossed over it three times without absorbing what it says, mostly distracted by the creeping feeling I'm getting.

That's weird, maybe Kiyo and I should just take what we have and-

Something passes over my line of vision, prompting my blue eyes to eventually settle on the object and register it as a satin blue ribbon. Either end of the ribbon is held by the familiar white bandage wrapped hands of Korekiyo. It's shiny under the light of the library, giving of a royal blue tone that I'm momentarily entranced by.

Admiring the ribbon, I eventually notice it get lower, brushing against the tip of my button nose as I stare curiously. It's as soft as it looks, that much I can say.

Korekiyo extends the space of the ribbon's length between his hands casually without a word...

And then he pulls it back against my neck unexpectedly.

I squeak a little in surprise and then I hear the unmistakable sound of something very large and heavy falling from somewhere outside the library.

"Hm?" Korekiyo hums curiously, just as the front door of the library is thrown open.

"PRAIRIE!" Kokichi blurts out upon entry, only to stagger to a stop when he gets the door out of the way to see us. Korekiyo seems unconcerned by Kokichi barging in, but I on the other hand am very concerned.

First of all, how the heck did he notice us here? We weren't exactly being loud, and not even because we're respecting the rules of a library.

"K-Kokichi?" I ask the new visitor in confusion, squirming just a little as Korekiyo eventually finishes tying the ribbon off into a bow at the side of my neck. His careful motions are what initially surprised me after he pulled the ribbon taut around my neck, gently sliding it across my throat until the ends were even enough for him to make a nice bow. Since Kokichi has gotten rather quiet now despite my confusion, I focus my attention on Korekiyo. "And, um, what's the ribbon for, Kiyo...?

"It's a prize I happened to have been fortunate enough to win from the monomachine. However, I have no need for this type of accessory and had the notion you'd possibly enjoy it far more than I would," Korekiyo explains nicely, prompting a small smile on my face before I notice Kokichi bypassing his pause to make the rest of his way across the room where we are.

"Why are you hanging out with Creeps McGee when the coolest person in this place- and I mean me, if that's not obvious enough- is literally just a room away?! Do you have any idea how long you've been sleeping?! I've been waiting ages only to find you getting cozy with the Ultimate Necrophiliac!" Kokichi complains, stopping way too close to me for personal space to be in the forefront of his mind and jumping up and down impatiently. The locks of his dark hair bounces with him, followed by a frustrated whining noise of contempt as he stops jumping to face Korekiyo. "Go away."

"Necrophiliac"?! He's WAY out of line here!

"Kokichi! You don't have to be so rude! Kiyo's around because I wanted him around. You can't just barge in and chase him away for absolutely no reason!" I snap, quick to come to Korekiyo's defense considering he doesn't seem like he's about to fight back. He's got a personality more on the type B scale...that's fine though, I have no problem speaking my mind for him. "Besides, you're the one inserting yourself here! Why don't you leave?"

Kokichi hardly seems to pay attention to me, still staring Korekiyo dead in the eye unblinking. I let out a noise of annoyance, turning to face Korekiyo instead.

"Don't listen to the dumb leech, okay? He's just being stupid," I say in hopes of making him feel a little better after such an uncalled for and nasty remark. Korekiyo seems appreciative of this, but simply pats my head and hands me four other large books we found in our search.

"That's perfectly fine, he doesn't bother me at all. I can only imagine the kind of life he's lived for him to be as closed off and untrusting as he seems to be..." Korekiyo states, surprising me with the flicker of shade he's dropped. Then again, he's dropped rather questionably rude comments a few times before around me, so I guess I shouldn't be. Still, that's only happened when we're having legitimately important conversations with the whole group. Not when we're together on our own. Just like the last time I spoke with Korekiyo alone, he's a lot more pleasant to be around when it's just us.

Kokichi still doesn't respond to that, not even after Korekiyo's comment. He just turns away and walks over to the blueprints I've left in the middle of the library floor to give them a curious look.

"Kokichi's demands aside, I do think I'll be taking my leave in any case. It was engaging while it lasted, but eleven pm is hardly a time I ought to be up and about. Thank you for making my night a little more eventful than it otherwise would be," Korekiyo surprises me with saying, causing my face to fall slightly.

"I hope it isn't his behavior making you say this..." I huff, a little annoyed but mainly at Kokichi for ruining what was a relaxing night. Since I don't want to be sending him off with a scowl though, I relax my features and flash the taller teen a sweet smile. "But if you insist, have a good night then. Thanks for helping me and thanks for the ribbon! It's really pretty and I love it."

Korekiyo smiles under his mask (I think) and then turns to head for the exit.

"Goodnight, Prairie," he says, though saying nothing in Kokichi's direction for obvious reasons. When they cross paths on Korekiyo's way to the exit, Kokichi maturely sticks his tongue out and uses his finger to pull at the skin under his left eye like a child.

It isn't until Korekiyo leaves that I march on over to grinning Kokichi with my five books to furiously yank on a lock of his hair just as he turns away from the closing doors.

"Ow! Heey, that's not nice!" Kokichi complains, pouting sadly. "I chased the creeper away from you and everything, why are you hurting me?"

"Stop calling him creepy. The only creepy one here is you! You were so freaking rude just now to him! What is your problem anyways!?" I accuse, setting my books in my bag and collecting the tools and blueprints I had left out to run back to for information.

"Fiiine...I do have a problem," Kokichi sighs, suddenly looking very tired as he runs a hand over his face and turns towards the side uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, I know that was all really mean. I just couldn't control myself..."

Huh? He's...actually sorry?

I look up at him, eventually standing up with my bag to examine him for any sort of tricks he may be trying to pull. When I'm unable to detect anything that may be disingenuous, I hum in exasperation.

"If you really mean that, you should apologize to him. You could probably still catch u-"

"NO! I'm a baddie, this sort of behavior is in my BLOOD. I said what I said and I'd do it again! I regret nothing!" Kokichi suddenly complains, grinning widely as he evidently grabs my hand tightly with his. In the middle of being disappointed but not surprised, Kokichi catches me off guard with the sudden capture of my hand unprompted. "Now let's go watch scary movies in the AV room! I found some really popular old ones that are super scary!"

"Hey!" I complain with a bewildered stutter, unable to pull away as he starts dragging me off out of the library with him. Being around Kokichi is the ONE THING I didn't want! I don't want to be around him anymore- I don't even want him as a friend! This isn't going to help me get him out of my head! "I-I don't like scary movies!"

"Oh, don't lie to me, you don't know that! You probably don't even remember what scary movies are like!" Kokichi laughs, eagerly hauling me into the game room and then the AV room. He shuts the door behind us amid my mild panic, prompting me to turn towards the side door of the room and quickly stride towards it to make a fantastic getaway.

When I try to slide the door open, my heart drops in dismay at the sharp stop it gives as it opens up barely five inches- enough for me to stick just my arm out of it, but nothing more like the rest of my body. I'm small, but I'm not a beanpole!

"Nishishi~! Nice try, there's no escape!" Kokichi cackles, making me look back at him as he finishes dragging a couch back and propping it up sideways against the sliding door to block off the exit. He drags the second couch to the middle of the room, only for me to finally notice one of the large tower speakers that had been a few feet behind the left couch completely collapsed and broken on the floor. As if noticing my confusion, Kokichi laughs. "I got excited when I saw you and totally broke it running out of here. Who cares, we don't need that many speakers anyways."

I blink down at the speaker as he kicks it off to the side, making sure it's out of the way entirely before moving the good speaker towards the middle behind the single couch he's arranged in front of the projector screen. He isn't watching the prairie dog video anymore, instead the display is completely blank altogether as it projects a square of light on the pull-down screen ahead. Once Kokichi turns out the main light, all that's left is the glow of the projector, and the blue lights of the three remaining speaker towers.

He seemed like he was in a hurry to run out of here, and I don't know if it was because of "excitement". What would he have had to see for him to run out of a room without a care for what's in his path? He came in like an olympic sprinter, it's not like I was...

My thoughts suddenly flutter to the blue ribbon I'm wearing and how Korekiyo had moved to tie it around my neck, taking a moment to imagine how it may have looked like to anyone else that didn't find Korekiyo as comfortable to be around.

...

"Did you think he was going to strangle me to death?" I ask bluntly, making Kokichi look up from the box he's digging into on the floor.

"What? Strangle you?" He asks curiously before he seems to put the pieces of my query together upon the realization. "Oohhh! You think I was worried about you!"

He snorts in amusement at that and returns to looking through the box of discs.

"Please. The man may be tall, but he's also twig. You could probably snap him in half if you wanted to. I'm more worried about him considering your track record," Kokichi chuckles to himself before he finds something he likes and gets up to jump on the couch. With a little nudge, he pushes it into the projector's disk reader, presses a few buttons, and then takes a seat. When he sees I haven't moved from where I am by the unopenable second door, he pats the seat next to him with a grin. "Now sit and watch movies with me. You owe me for helping you weed out Mastermind Blueberry Moo-berry at the trial the other day."

I can't tell if he's lying about being worried, but I guess there's no way to be sure. He'd never tell the truth about it if he was...and I don't want to kid myself into thinking he was concerned since that's just going to make me feel even more weird about him.

Despite the urge to run away, my legs carry me over to the couch beside him as the intro credits and a few unfamiliar old movie trailers play. I take a seat awkwardly and set down my bag on the floor beside the couch, only to feel my nervous state spike when Kokichi scoots unbearably close to my side.

"Yay! Our first date!" he cheers, prompting me to suddenly stand up and grab my bag.

"Goodbye," I don't hesitate to snap until he grabs my hand when I try to leave and pulls me back so he can sit me down on the couch beside him. Just as I'm about to argue and call him names so he can just let me go, he reaches over to the other side of the couch and produces another box- this one chock full of snacks and drinks that give me a pause.

"Five days of no eating...that's gotta make you just a teensy bit 'hangry', am I right?" Kokichi says more than asks, a knowing smirk across his face since he's noticed I've suddenly relaxed at the sight of the food.

",,,It's not a date though, don't make this weird," I huff reluctantly, pulling a bag of teriyaki flavored beef jerky out of the box and opening the pack as Kokichi fishes out one of three bottles of grape panta.

With that, Kokichi and I focus our attention on the projector screen as the title of "The Thing" eventually makes itself known. I don't know what the movie is about at all, but hopefully it's nothing too scary...

Why did I let myself be roped into this? I don't think beef jerky is worth it...

Still, I shove a piece in my mouth and get to chewing, momentarily wondering if Rantaro is still sleeping like a rock as I begin to let myself become enraptured in the snowy setting of the movie playing for us.

❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀

End of 4.2 - Mechanical Emotions 101