"Thank you, really," he insisted for the fourth time in a row at the poor and unsuspecting waiter. "You didn't have to go out of your way like this."
"Sir, you were only sitting two tables away." The tired man peered off, obviously trying his best to politely disconnect to get back to his work. "It is literally my job to give you people drinks."
Sadly for the waiter, Yorokobi Ida did not know the meaning of the word 'codependent.' "And a wonderful job at that! The beverage industry is lovely, isn't it?" He cupped the glass of not-quite champagne in his hand, peering into its milky foam with wonder. It probably tasted terrible, he figured, but he thought not to engage his inner drink snob. "I mean, even just back at the brewery, it was so nice to-"
He paused when he noticed that the waiter had already left, nowhere to be seen. A sigh escaped his lips.
Yorokobi was normally a social young man, but his weakness had always been meet and greet parties. He was the friendly type and he tried to be the approachable sort that one could always engage with and get any sort of help from. His issue here though was that he had a definite deficit when it came to openly meeting and approaching complete strangers.
Even back at home, it was usually his dad or one of the other co-workers that started up conversation with the new patrons. He would join in eventually, but it was always after someone else proved them to be trustworthy enough. More often though, he would just find himself comfortably talking to the regulars.
Still though, he wanted to be there for anyone that needed him. It was what made him feel valued.
As such, he sat silently in his leather chair as he watched everyone around him mingle like an array of stars in a galaxy. His eyes would notice a few of them being more unusual than others, and some that seemed to be avoiding interaction entirely. He considered trying to go after one of the fellow wall flowers, but he didn't want to be rude or impose- another weakness of his when it came to these sorts of parties.
"Man, Hope's Peak really is nice, huh?" Leaning forward in his seat with a chin in his palm, he looked up at the oddly detailed array of golden arches and swirls that covered the ceiling like the waving curls of the ocean. His other hand came to fiddle with the buttons on the breast of his leather jacket. He always liked the design for Another Sun better than the others, it had more personality he thought. Still though, it all reminded him why he was here in the first place. It made him feel needed. It was nice.
As much as he felt proud of what he could do for the world, part of him couldn't help but think that he wouldn't fit in as much among the fanciness of Japan's upper class shenanigans. After all, he was no more than a simple country boy at his roots. In fact, he-
"OwO?"
Yorokobi flinched.
":D"
What was that infernal sound? Immediately bewildered, he squinted and looked around, only to find the physical manifestation of hell that had been trying to get his attention. Too weirded out to reply, he stared in awe and shock for a good few seconds.
"hewwo!1!" She was the oddest thing that he had ever witnessed. "How r u? Is gud?" Her pastel soft eyes of blue flickered and blinked with rapid pace, glittering in the dim lighting of the high-end club.
He took a long moment before he could figure out what to say. "... I'm good?" He answered with fear like the little bitch that he was.
":O" She said. Yorokobi wondered how she said that, but he found himself unable to come up with an answer. Her talent with whatever this was seemed extraordinary.
Without another word, she crawled out from behind his chair and sat herself both awkwardly and stylishly on the table, peering down at him with an odd and vacant smile all the while. He wondered how safe it was to be sitting on the table like that, but he was more concerned for his own selfish safety at the sight of this cryptid.
"So, uh-" He awkwardly began to talk but was quickly interrupted.
"M'lady." The blue-haired mystery tipped her navy colored fedora at a random passerby.
Neither of them said anything, though the odd girl looked back to him with an expectant look.
"Who are... Uh... Who're you?" Yorokobi tried his best to smile like he would for any paying customer, but this felt different. It was as if his life was on the line. Despite this, he wouldn't let it ruin his reputation of trying to be nice when it counted. "Are you one of the new students too? I don't think I've seen you online- oh, wait, sorry if that came out wrong! I don't go on the internet very-"
":D" Once again, he was cut off. He didn't even know how he was, but he was. It was as if some sort of fourth dimensional force that this woman was capable of wielding had somehow prevented him from even speaking. Her smile was befitting of a plastic toy doll, and he wasn't sure if his already fragile masculinity could handle that.
An awkward silence came and went as the muffled jazz music continued to play in the distance.
Eventually, she spoke. It was one of the most perplexing introductions he had ever heard. "aaAAA? u's wants 2 kno? im Velvet Soft!1! ;D" Her voice was bouncing all over the place and as high as helium, only making the entire thing more surreal. For a moment, Yorokobi felt as if he had been trapped in some sort of children's anime. " i am ultimate talent is has!? Marysue!111! Is I Ultimate Mary Sue its cause i am perfecc tee hee!"
Yorokobi had troubled times in his life before. Sometimes he considered self-harm, or even suicide... But this? This was definitely one of the strongest arguments for not wanting to be a part of this world that he had ever seen.
All he could muster was a simple, "What?"
"aaAAA? u's wants 2 kno? im Velvet Soft!1! ;D" She repeated the same lines with terrifying accuracy. " i am ultimate talent is has!? Marysue!111! Is I Ultimate Mary Sue its cause i am perfecc tee hee!"
He blinked. He blinked again. Much to his terror, she was still there no matter how much he blinked. "Nice... To meet... You...?" His words were intentionally drawn out. He didn't want to seem as if he was trying to get her to go away, but he would take any opportunity to get out of this situation if he could.
"ye"
"..."
He hated this. He didn't hate her, he tried not to hate people whenever he could, but he wasn't comfortable with the uncertainty in the air. He wanted to make people happy, but he didn't know what the fuck was going on.
"My name's, ah," he tried to speak running his thumb over the glass of children safe champagne-like drink as a means of fidgeting away his nervousness. "Yorokobi Ida?" He sounded almost uncertain, which was fair considering how much this woman challenged the concept of reality itself. "I was chosen as the Ultimate Craft Brewer this year, and-"
":0 brewings? liek alcohol and beer and stuffles?" She made an anger expression. "Dats illegal!"
Starting to sweat, he took a sip of his predictably mediocre drink before replying as a way to buy time before having to initiate more conversation. "All I do is just design the recipes..." In truth he tasted his own works on several occasions, drinking laws were pretty lax in his town, but he thought it best to not mention that. "I really just make beer though. I help my father and his brewing company with creating all of the-"
"I'm better at it," she interrupted without hesitation.
Yorokobi wasn't sure how to respond. "Uh... You mean brewing? That's... Cool?" He knew that if she was in his field he definitely would have heard about some weirdo named 'Velvet Soft,' but he didn't mention that either.
"I'm better than you at it." She stated simply.
After a long breath, all Yorokobi could do was give a simple response of his own. "... Okay?"
Velvet looked into his green saucer eyes with an unreadable expression, almost as if trying to judge him. He squinted, a little uncomfortable by the sudden examination. She squinted back, mimicking him for some unpredictable reason.
"K" she left.
Yorokobi flicked his chestnut hair of fringe back to the side of his face before looking at himself deep in the mirror. He wouldn't let anything awkward like that happen once he stepped back out to the party floor. Determination held in his face as he rested his hands on the sink.
"Look at you, pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. C'mon, man, you're not gonna let that one weird moment define your entire next two years of high school, right?" He took a deep breath. "Besides, it's not like she's here right now or anything."
After taking a moment to cautiously check around him in the men's bathroom for the Mary Sue, he looked back to his reflection. "What the hell am I saying? It's just one person that I talked to for a few seconds! They were probably just trying to mess with me or something, maybe one of those flash mob things. Now, you're gonna go out, make some friends, and make yourself useful to someone, and you're gonna like it! Just like dad said."
After splashing another sblib of water on his face and wiping it off, he looked at his mirror copy one last time before letting out a deep sigh and leaving back to the world unknown.
The night was approaching, and the lights had dimmed appropriately in the expansive catering hall. Part of Yorokobi's troubles was that of how new to him everything was. Back at home he hadn't even been inside a building with more than four stories, but here he was on the twelfth level of some weird bigshot skyscraper in Tokyo with the most elite youth in the country. At the very least, he was going to try some of the weird fancy sounding sushi that his dad had been bugging him to try. Yorokobi didn't even know what half of the species of fish listed on the buffet menu were.
Unfortunately for him and his poor education in marine life however, the first thing that caught his eye was the unmistakable white and blue blur that was Velvet Soft herself. This time, it seemed that she had found herself a new target who was being much less passive about things than Yorokobi was. Regrettably, Yorokobi's personality also compelled him to try to mitigate any sources of conflict, which brought him walking right up to the scene.
Standing against the glimmering lights of the city below was a relatively lanky and nerdy man who brimmed eccentricity. To further add to his oddness, her wore some sort of galactic print apron over his fine clothes- something that Yorokobi figured was just a part of the weirdness that he would have to get used to attending the school. Either way, he could easily tell that he wasn't having a good time with the "Mary Sue."
"Just back off, you crazy bitch!" He also seemed very capable of raising his voice. A crowd was already starting to gather around the two. "Don't you know who I am!? I could boil and eat a sow like you for breakfast!"
"o" Velvet simply replied. "Dat's awfully dewogatowee wanguage foww a wittle girl liek me..."
The man pointed a finger back at her aggressively, despite her seemingly passive remark. "Listen here, you miserable waste of space... I came to this bloody academy to get my damn degree and that's all I'm here for! I don't give a damn about whatever 'education' or agenda they're gonna push on me, I'm just out here to prove myself! To prove that I'm perfect at everything that I try for-!"
"Wats ur name" she batted her pwetty eyes liek the magical miracle gorl princess that she was!
Yorokobi considered trying to step in as the black haired man took his time, but he didn't have the time before the reply came. "Piano." His face relaxed, and a certain smug look rose on his face. "Call me Piano. I'm the Ultimate Patissier. I make baked goods, cakes, and pastries and the like. I make sure to always be perfect with every recipe I craft." He quickly regained composure, standing straight up as he whipped a strand of his hair away from his face. "Unlike those filthy casuals that call themselves bakers, I strive for-"
"ur monologuing 2 much mister."
The man named after a large musical instrument stopped in place, pausing perfectly as everything around him froze for just a moment. "Excuse me?"
Velvet shrugged. "idk ur tell me man, I'm not named after a large musical instrument. :D"
"At least I'm not the slut with some unrespectable fucking name like 'Belvet Boft' or whatever! The hell are you supposed to be, anyway!?" In an instant, Piano had snapped again and was approaching her with a triggered look in his eyes. "The cake you were supposed to pop out of isn't supposed to arrive for another half hour, you second rate-"
"Again," Velvet wasn't phased by his sudden approach. If she was anyways, she showed no signs of it. Instead, she simply looked him in the eye with a sudden narrow glare. "That's awfully derogatory language. I recommend you stop before you start running someone else's name in the ground." For whatever reason, the squeak in her voice had vanished and been replaced by a deadly serious tone.
Yorokobi stepped towards the two after noticing that no one around him seemed to take issue, holding a hand out passively despite the fact that realistically it would do nothing since he's a beta male. "Hey, guys, let's calm this down, okay?"
Piano ignored him. "You can't tell me what to do, you posing bitch!" He reached out, grabbing Velvet by the shirt on the inside, pulling it closer towards him. "Is this just cause you're ashamed you don't have any breasts!? Is that it!? Why else would you be dressing like some common street whore with your bra on display like that! It's like you're asking to get-"
"I would now heavily that you don't finish that sentence," she interrupted without hesitation. "Either way, you already did more than I expected." Firmly, her hand grabbed onto his wrist with a sudden and frightening grip. "Not only is this derogatory language," she dug her nails deeper into his skin as she spoke with cool composure, "But you've also committed sexual harassment. I feel bad for the Hope's Peak faculty that have to deal with you."
The moment stuck for longer than it needed to. A tense air filtered through the area despite the contrasting warm and flamboyant atmosphere around them.
After a sigh and a smile slowly starting to cross his lips, Piano retracted his hand and Velvet hers. "Ah... Okay... I see, so that's how it is! Clever, clever... So you're one of those women that plays bait and then plays the victim card, huh? I've heard all about your type back over in America..."
A smug face starting to come back to him, he turned away as he spoke and approached the large window to peer down at the anthills of people beneath him. "They don't always go over that well. No one respects the dishonest. I think that's all you are. Even going to the extent of using a fake name just like her? No shame...!"
Despite his incredibly fluctuating mood, he turned back to peer towards her with a grin cocked. "But not me, no," he began, "that's not me! I'm full of pride! I do what I do, and I'm the best at everything I try. I don't hide my talent, and my name is hidden for the honor of a legacy, dearheart. Now what do you have? False promises and broken dreams? I imagine you cretins in Japan are too busy gouging on anime to care much about reality anyway."
Yorokobi was discomforted by this blatant racism, but didn't say anything. This man was too imposing for him, somehow.
":D" Was all that Velvet... Said?
Piano's smugness ran off yet again, replaced this time by a grimace of the face. "What on Earth sort of reply is that? Answer me, you mutt."
":D"
"Stop that!" He snapped back, clearly agitated by her method of fucking with his mind.
":D"
All Piano could do was grunt. His fists balled up and wound tense as he started walking towards her again.
":D"
Yorokobi tried to step in, but it was too late. The easily triggered man launched at Velvet, holding his fist high in a desperate attempt to vent his anger onto the annoying enigma. Before he could push his hand down to attack the flinching girl though, something else stopped him.
"Oi, oi... That's no fun. Violence always leads to the same end, Monsieur." A red headed man, seeming to have come from nowhere, held Piano's arm back effortlessly. With a tired and vacant look, he stared over to the crowd amassed. "You all can go along your merry ways, ladies and gents. Today is meant to be magnifique! You needn't worry yourselves over petty drama such as this. Just how the new students always are, it seems."
Flinching himself, Piano slowly craned his head to look up at the charmingly faced womanizer of a person. "You're... You're one of the third year students, aren't you? I remember you."
He let go of Piano's wrist, causing the patissier to stumble downwards and fall to the ground. "Qui qui, you got me!" His previously uninterested glaze seemed to dissipate as he looked towards Velvet and Yorokobi, the only two still hanging around after his statement. "My name is Takumi Kikuchi, it's a pleasure to meet the new class of students! Mwah!"
A wide and playful smile came onto his lips as he edged closer to the two. "Ultimate Con Artist! Focus on the -tist, people! I focus on art above all else, it's what keeps people like me alive, after all."
"Let's see... I already know that this young troublemaker on the ground here is 'Piano,' but..." He peered between Yorokobi and Velvet with speculative looks. "The other troublemaker is obviously whoever 'Velvet' is, and if I remember correctly, then... Yorokobi?" He squinted towards the brewer with his best guess.
He carefully nodded in reply. "Yes, sir. You're in the class above mine then? I appreciate your preparedness! That's some pretty good foresight of-"
"Get used to it, kid. That's how the best of the best operate. Don't talk about the mundane like it's exciting, it just bores the rest of us eventually." Takumi dismissed.
Grunting, Piano got back up and peered over at the three of them. "Hey! I have unfinished business with that girl! She's trying to make a fool of me!"
Once again, Yorokobi attempted to be the middle man. "Hey, listen, the crowd's gone now, okay? It's over, can't we all just get along and have some fun? It's a party-"
"It's a boring party," Takumi chimed in daintily, stepping quickly over to Yorokobi as the other two started to fuss again. "I say let them go at it," he spoke quietly. "Things get so predictable, even in a place like this. But watching these two is the most fun I've had all day!"
"Um...?" Yorokobi wasn't immediately sure how to respond to the request. Still though, his good samaritanism refused him to find anything other than a healthy compromise. "Can they at least do it in private though? This could get messy for the school if it goes on for too long, not that this is that good in the first place."
The redhead paused for a moment as he considered the perspective, peering over to the other two again to watch their squabbling slowly heat up. After a short moment, he looked back. "Alright, you have sense where it counts. I'm pretty sure there's a karaoke bar a few stories down, that should work, non? They allow minors! I'll even let you come, you're the only witness I have left, after all!"
Begrudgingly, Yorokobi agreed. "Alright, fine I guess, I just don't want anyone getting hurt."
"Brilliant!"
Takumi Kikuchi was the last to sit down in the private room, opting to rest himself on a simple wooden chair as he faced the three others, all of whom had been lounging on the enormous U-shaped leather sofa. "So then... It seems that there's only one reasonable deduction when it comes to what went down, though I think it best that we all keep our opinions to ourselves, yes?"
Yorokobi, Piano, and Velvet gave muffled replies of confirmation, though Yorokobi was a little miffed that he had been called in for a judgement call that didn't seem to need to happen in the first place.
"Very well then, I like the enthusiasm." Already leaning back, Takumi extended his hands out in a welcoming gesture to the two most involved with the situation. "Velvet? Piano? I wonder what reasons you'd all have for hiding your names on a day like this... The internet exists, you know! I'm sure I could find you guys out there..."
Crossing his arms, Piano scoffed at the idea. "I doubt it. All I do is bake goods. That doesn't need a public name behind it."
"Maybe not," Takumi mused with a smirk, "But you being here would absolutely mean that someone in the Hope's Peak building knows your name, even if you don't know that. The faculty here don't like to mess around, after all! If they didn't, who knows what sort of weird terrorism could ensue? Riots, bombings, theft, games of killing, all sorts of weird stuff could happen, so therefore it's in the school's best goal to be proactive and know without a shadow of a doubt how much of a risk each student is."
The two of them stayed silent for a moment, peering at each other with tense and narrow eyes. Yorokobi felt awkwardly trapped in the situation.
The trickster of a man let his arms back down, glancing between them all with a tilted smile. "Look, I think I know what this is about. There was that one person with a fake name in the last class and you're just inspired by her, right? All it takes is one young lady calling herself 'Ratto Osore' and suddenly it becomes a craze!"
Noticing the odd yet thoughtful looks of those around him, Yorokobi spoke up. "Uh... Who's that? I don't really pay attention to too much news or anything like that," He said, allowing for the reader to gain even more exposition, as that is the main appeal of reading a piece of fiction.
"woman" Velvet added helpfully.
"Ratto Osore, the Ultimate Servant. She just recently graduated and was a year above Takumi. She was so reclusive and distant that no one learned her real name. Apparently she somehow got her legal name changed and all previous records had gone missing." Piano added unhelpfully. "Why should you care anyway, you barnacle worm? Your pride isn't on the line here!"
"pwide?" The you-know-who of the room chimed in. "u think dis is aboot pwide? :O ur evan dumbr then i thot!1!"
Now distracted once again by the most important person there, Piano snapped back. "Of course it is! That's how it is for both of us! We're both trying to make a statement about who we are here. Now that Ratto Osore is gone, there's a power gap for-"
"no"
Piano opened his mouth to quip back, most likely with more vague (yet oddly specific) and mildly offensive insults, but Yorokobi quickly piped in and directed attention back to Takumi. "Hey! I just came here because you needed help sorting this stuff out. Didn't you want to help settle this?"
The con artist closed his eyes and pondered before leaning forward and grabbing a glass of water from off of the table. He looked over to Yorokobi and spoke, "Fantastic idea, monsieur! I could think of no better way to handle this situation." He didn't drink from the water, and only waved it around in his hand to make himself seem more important and eccentric. "Whether it's pride or something else, the fact of the matter is that this school isn't big enough for the two of you, right? You want to be known for who you are, and not the fact that you're one of the two people who are affiliated with being shady about what your parents gave you at birth."
Again, neither of his two targets answered, though their silence was easily taken as affirmation. All Yorokobi could do was watch the man as he went on, not trusting his easygoing and almost drunken demeanor.
"I propose a game! With a bet, at that," his voice devolved into a rampant giggle before he went on. "Loser of the bet gets themselves fessed up to the public, how about that? This should help settle your little dispute, non?"
"Wot? y?"
"Hm? 'Why?' Whatever could you mean? I'm simply offering my own inputs..."
Shuffling in his seat, Piano glared over at the man. "As much as I hate to say it, you're so blindingly suspicious that even someone like her can have a point. You said yourself that you're a con artist. It might be good for us, but what do you have to do with all of this?"
"Nothing, I suppose." Takumi fairly replied. "That's what makes me perfect for the role of an overseer. All I want is a good game."
"A game?" Yorokobi piped up with muzzled eyebrows and an edge to his tone. "I thought we were going to help resolve things!"
He just shrugged back. "A game would do that, would it not? Life is so boring nowadays, so I take any chance I can to make it interesting. You'd be surprised at how depressingly easy it is to predict what's going on in the heads of all the little men and women around this place..."
Velvet leaned back in her spot, bringing a finger to her chin to overdramatically think as she looked at Takumi. "OwO? Ur weird mistew but continwue"
"Hope's Peak Academy... The idea is simple and noble enough, sure," He slouched back on the chair, shrugging to his small audience with ease and lack of remorse, "But it's still the same as the rest of the world. People bicker, get petty, and repeat the same patterns over and over again. When a carrot dangles in front of the pig, it walks towards it. The same applies here, except that carrot just so happens to have billions of yen in potential funding."
Piano smiled. "True enough I suppose, but what's your point? Isn't this a simple dispute between two people? What does your philosophy special have to do with anything?"
"Maybe it's nothing, maybe I'm just rambling or venting about how annoyed I am..." He stretched his arms out and gave a high pitched groan, faking a yawn. "Or maybe I'm setting the stage for something else! This world is filled with elites, and the clever are the ones already destined to win... So it is up to us that are clever to amuse ourselves in the meantime!"
Yorokobi held back his temptation to tell the man that he was insane.
A pounding came at the door, interrupting the pleasantries of the night. The locked doorknob jiggled furiously, and a muffled myriad of shouts came from the other side. The four couldn't help but stare in varying levels of curiosity as the commotion continued.
"Not it!" Takumi exclaimed.
Shortly after, Piano followed. "Nor me."
Velvet and Yorokobi gave each other uncertain glances, both of them seeming to be too polite to speak up. He hadn't expected her to restrain herself like that, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
They both awkwardly got up at the same time and went to check on the door as the other two watched. Insistent on trying to do as much for others as he could, Yorokobi was the one to cut ahead and pull on the handle.
"Izanami Yawarakai!" A grungy looking teen pounced in past Yorokobi, yelling without restraint. "Ultimate Critic! Izanami Yawarakai, the Ultimate Critic!"
Yorokobi flinched and looked at him with wide eyes. "Wh-what? Hey, what's going on!? Is someone hurt?"
All the messily dressed man (though calling him a man would probably be too much of a compliment even by Yorokobi's standards, just judging by his demeanor alone) did was point aggressively at Velvet Soft. "Her! That bitch! The fucking liar! Her real name's-"
":D"
He yelped, taking a step back with a pissed expression. "Goddamnit, you witch! Witch bitch! Bitch witch! Wbwitch!" That's not a word, but he said it anyway?
"dewogatowee wanguage! dewogatowee wanguage mistew" velvet said back to him because she speaks 4 women right
"Of course I'd degrade you of all people!" He hissed back. "Cut the act out, you're not fooling anyone here, Izanami! What sorta fooling did'ya expect to be doing around here with a stupid ass name like that, anyways!?"
Yorokobi took a step towards the two, but 'Velvet' signalled a hand for him to stop. "It's alright, I've got this," she calmly stated in that shockingly normal voice again.
She tilted her gaze over to the newcomer and spoke with a convicted confidence. "You trying to belittle my name isn't funny anymore, Junsei. All you're doing is being sour again. Don't you have better things to do that be petty?"
"No! Wait, yes! Fuck you!" Junsei snapped back without much thought. "You can't just run away from us and expect me not to follow! I had to spend half a goddamn hour trying to figure out that you guys came all the way down here!"
Piano calmly sipped from his own glass of water, though Yorokobi doubted that it was actually water and not just another clear type of beverage. "I pity the gremlin folk that had to play a part in your little investigation, then. I send my condolences."
Junsei flipped aside his brown bangs and snarled at the composed and dignified man. "Watch it, muffin man! I ain't dumber than a piece of coral, y'know."
"Excuse me, but I'm the one who reserved this room." Takumi reminded with a calm attitude. "May I please request a formal explanation of the situation? We were just getting to the good part of things before someone had to rain on our parade, you perdante."
After a short moment, Junsei took a sight and scratched at his ear mildly. "Aight, aight, I get it. I'll explain."
The poser of a human being sauntered closer to Velvet, who seemed to be eyeing him with contempt. "This loser over here is technically my sister, though she's adopted of course." He turned back to look at Takumi with a casual grin. "It's a long story, but basically she's just annoying. Her name's Izanami Yawarakai, she's the Ultimate Critic, and all she ever does is pester me."
"I wonder why," She hissed out, though obviously restraining herself from harsher words.
Junsei tried to reach his hand over to poke at her hat but she swatted it away. "It's okay, one day you'll admit you love me with that weird brother-sister love stuff, right? You'll learn to stop being a disrespectful cunt some day, I have faith!"
Yorokobi desperately attempted to change the subject, sensing the potential train wreck about to occur. "Uh, you said you were her... Brother? But you're just not blood related, right? And she called you Junsei? Junsei Yawarakai then?"
Like a goldfish, he turned to peek at the brewer with open and smiling eyes. "Yupperonis, you've got it correctomundo, except for my name. She never got her name changed to match ours cause... I don't actually know, really. Maybe she was too old or something." His smile widened and he gave a shrug at the thought. "Either way, my name's Junsei Ino."
"Ino...?" Piano's interest had been piqued. "As in the prolific Motoichi Ino?"
Junsei snapped a finger gun towards the fellow asshole with a confirming smile at the mildly racist assumption Piano had made.
As if he hadn't just insulted the other a few moments past, Piano smiled back in response. Yorokobi noticed it was the first time that he had smiled without some sort of condescension. "Oh really? I don't find myself reading too much fiction, but I appreciate what I have seen. If I had to choose, I'd say that he's my favorite Japanese author, disregarding many of the scientists that-"
"I'm already stopping you from talking because I know it will be boring," Takumi interrupted.
"Thank you," Junsei groaned. "I hate people going on and on about my pops like that... It's just annoying!"
"I think he might be the only person alive who still likes him after what he's done," the woman that Yorokobi figured was just 'Izanami' now slithered with her words, "I suppose that's just another difference betwen mii and u, pinny!1!" she winksed piano!
Junsei rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but Takumi cut him off.
"Excuse me, but we were having our own independent discussions. I must kindly ask that you give us our time to allow us to finish what we were doing, yes?" He asked, hiding several layers of irritation. "Now before you ask what we were doing and attempt to sabotage this fine lady any more, please understand that the answer to whether or not you can help prank her and get her onto your meme board on the internet is a firm no, okay?"
"Hey, how'd you know I was gonna do that? You a damn psychic or something?" Junsei muttered as the glittering red haired man approached him with kind menace. "What's up with-" He was again cut off.
"What's up with me, huh? Why do I look like some sorta 'weird Hollywood gangster?'" He started to push the greaseball away and towards the door. "What's up with me is what's down for you, and you're going to be 'down' to learn that I still reserve the right to kick people out of here because I paid for this room! And you'll be up to learn that I'm down to make you pay for it if you intend to be so steadfast on crashing down on this little game of mine, understood?"
By the time he shut the door on Junsei's face, all he could mutter out was a simple, "Huh?"
After slamming away the interruption, Takumi leaned his body back against the door to make sure it didn't get forced open. "You'd think they'd get better at keeping this stuff private and locked, considering the reputation these rooms can sometimes have with certain crowds of people..."
"haha drug and sex joke!1 fonny"
Piano gave a glare to her as Takumi went over to take his seat again.
Yorokobi tried to find the best silver lining in the situation and cracked the silence. "Well, uh... I guess that makes the whole 'game' thing pointless now, right? We can just all agree that her name's Izanami and move one without doing any of this silly stuff, can't we?" He gave a smile brimming with hope yet expecting failure.
"Hell no," Izanami replied in a far more usual and composed voice notably deeper than the :D stuff. Yorokobi was impressed by her vocal range. "I want to win against this scumbag," she continued as her eyes narrowed at Piano, "he's exactly the kind of man I hate, y'know. You just think you're really that important, don't you?"
He scoffed at the notion with that same smarmy amusement he had shown before. "Oh please, really? Spare me with that, it's not like you're doing much better miss 'star of the universe.' How can you expect anyone to take you seriously with all the stuff you do?"
"How can you expect anyone to take you seriously when all you do is bake?"
Before Piano could snap off at that well deserved and amazingly executed comeback, Takumi interrupted with a loud presence. "Alright then, I think that makes this about as easy as it has to be. Me and Yorokobi shall be acting as the referees in a match of seeing who can publically uncover the other's real name and talent before the other!"
"What?" Piano tilted his glare towards him. "But that annoying peasant boy just came in and gave me both of those, shouldn't that just make it easy for me?"
Takumi gave a warm smile to Piano, trying to sell the idea as hard as he could. "Ah! But that is such an ease to handle, monsieur! All that needs to be done is we focus on the public part of what I declared!" His words bounced energetically off the walls like a madman's ramblings; he was clearly interested in this idea. "It's a matter of who can show that there's a way that the average person could find out your name with enough dedication! All you need to do is prove that you've done a better job at being sneaky!"
"... That doesn't answer my question. I can still just tell the public what her name is," Piano reminded.
The youth and vibrant color in Takumi's face slowly melted. "Oh? Is that really what you think?" His words were oddly accusatory as he slowly glanced down with arched eyes to grimace at him. "Why do you think I said we'd have refs, you nitwit? A game's not a game if it's too predictable, nor is it fun. The world we live in is too boring and predictable, so I want to make it fun. You won't be allowed to do that, you shelf-headed mop with glasses."
Piano took the point and nodded in silence.
"Excuse me, but I also have something to mention here..." Yorokobi slowly raised his hand up, a little hesitant to speak after Takumi's display. "I never signed up for this, and I don't really get what's going on here... All I wanted to do was to help settle a dispute," he muttered awkwardly, "This feels a little weird is all."
"Of course it's weird, it's fun. Things that are fun aren't common around here, so people always call them weird," Takumi dryly stated. It seemed that he wasn't very keen on changing his mind on this.
Yorokobi frooze for a moment. He couldn't empathize with this at all, but maybe the man had a point that he just couldn't get. Perhaps, on some level, it was all just humans trying to be comfortable with themselves. He asked another question. "Alright, sure, but we should at least check if the other two want to do it, right?" A large part of him hoped that someone wouldn't be just so that he could run away from this rabbit hole he found himself trapped inside of.
"I don't see any issue with going along with this little match." Piano tilted his glasses upwards as he looked over to Izanami. His glasses did the thing in anime where they glare and light up in a really cool way. "I do everything that I do as perfectly as possible, I don't intend to break that streak anytime soon. I will be the one on top, you know."
Izanami caught his glare back, stoically keeping a straight poker face as she spoke, "I'll go with it too. I want to make smug assholes like him drop where they stand, so this may as well be a good start. It'll make up for having my name out there, at least."
"Hm? Already expecting to lose, you harem starter wannabe?" Piano retorted with a completely nonsensical remark. "Expected more of a fight."
Izanami was stoic in silence.
"... So, uh," Yorokobi cleared his throat. "It's just about researching and finding a way to show the public what their names really are, right?" He inquired meekly.
"What a fabulous summary of something I explained less than five minutes ago, monsieur!" Takumi clapped his hands condescendingly like a thirty year old woman sick of her job working at a daycare congratulating a child that just figured out that the square box goes inside of the square hole. Yorokobi wasn't sure what to make of it. "I shall act as referee over Piano, whilst you shall watch over Izanami to ensure that no naughty business occurs."
Everyone seemed content for a moment, before Yorokobi spoke up again. "Wait, what sort of illegal stuff could she do? Isn't Piano the one you're worried about?"
Takumi shifted from his seat, placing the glass of water back on the table as he did so. A low and soft chuckle flowed from his canine lips as he stared into Yorokobi's direction, mischievous intent clear in his sparkling arched eyes. "Why do you think I assigned him to myself, and her to you? I work with what I have, dear. It's only fair to give the person with the biggest advantage the biggest handicap."
Piano scoffed a little at that last remark.
"This could be a valuable lesson since you're one of the new students... If there's one thing I want from a game like this," Takumi continued as he slithered away from his seat, starting to pace Yorokobi's direction. "It's gotta be fun. And to be fun, a game has to be even and unpredictable. Otherwise the victor would be too obvious."
And that's the end of our first part of this unusual adventure. Feedback is always welcome! Sorry if there was a lot to take in here, but I hope that over time this series can grow into something special. I have the next two chapters written out already so those might come out fairly soon, but after that there might be a bit of a wait. I'll provide more updates in the future, so stay tuned!