"Good morning, Kyoko." Yukiko said, walking up on the way to school.
"Good morning." Kyoko responded.
"School camp starts tomorrow. We'll be in the same group, but what should we be cooking for dinner?" Yukiko asked.
"I'm not sure myself." Kyoko said.
"Hey, why don't we get everyone and go buy ingredients after school?" Yukiko suggested.
"That's not a bad suggestion." Kyoko said. "We should do that."
"Okay. I'll be sure to let Chie and Yosuke-kun know, then." Yukiko said.
And so there's someone to supervise you… Kyoko thought, remembering the past attempts of Yukiko's cooking.
Kyoko found herself waiting by the shopping cart, as Chie and Yukiko were looking at all the ingredients.
"What do you put in curry again?" Chie asked.
"Carrots, potatoes, onions...mushrooms, green peppers, and… radishes?" Yukiko listed off, sounding unsure.
"Are radishes… the same as turnips?" Chie asked.
"No. No they're not." Kyoko said. "So you're planning on making curry?"
"Curry's fine, right?" Chie asked. "It's practically our national food."
"We were going back and forth between cup ramen and curry, but I thought ramen might not be enough." Yukiko said.
"Good." Kyoko said, quite quickly.
"Your hatred of cup ramen offends me." Chie said. "Hmm, I wonder what kind of ingredients Yosuke likes. I get the feeling he's real picky."
"He's on another floor, isn't he?" Yukiko remembered.
"Do you want me to go ask?" Kyoko said.
"Nah, no need. Plus, he said he needed to get ready for something." Chie said.
"He did?" Kyoko said, curious.
As she pondered why Yosuke was busy, she ended up distracting herself as Chie and Yukiko's conversation steered into a slightly different direction.
Though it would be more accurate to say they were driving into a ditch.
"Hey, Chie. You use potato starch for curry, right?" Yukiko suddenly asked.
"Huh? O-Of course you do." Chie said, trying to make her voice as confident as possible.
"Otherwise, the sauce wouldn't thicken." Yukiko reasoned. "Then we need potato starch and… some flour, too?"
"Th-There's… different kinds of flour…" Chie said, looking at the variety. "Which one should we get? All-purpose? Whole wheat?"
"Hm, whole wheat sounds healthy. Let's get that one. And…" Yukiko walked over to another stand. "Here they are! Chili peppers! It's not curry if it isn't spicy."
"Oh well...Let's just get everything that seems right." Chie said. "How about some kimchi, too? Ooh, and some ground pepper!"
"There's two kinds, though. Black and white." Yukiko said, looking at the options.
"Whoa! Way to go, Yukiko. The Amagi family sure knows their stuff! Let's get both, just in case." Chie suggested.
"Oh yeah...We'll need some special ingredients, too, to spice things up." Yukiko added.
"Hmm, I remember seeing something on TV about that… I think it was… umm, chocolate… coffee… yogurt…" Chie recalled. "How about mint chocolate!? I love that stuff! I don't like coffee that much, though… Oh, I can drink mocha, so let's get that."
"How about some seafood? That should make the sauce taste better." Yukiko added as well.
As the two kept on discussing how they were going to prepare their so-called "curry," Kyoko was brought out of her thoughts when she saw Yosuke waving to her from behind the corner. His hand gestures implied that he was asking for her. Raising a brow, she walked over to him, where they were out of earshot and view from Chie and Yukiko.
"What is it?" Kyoko asked, seeing the bags Yosuke was carrying.
"Kyoko… this is something I can only ask you." Yosuke said. "I trust you with my life on this… you're the only one that can do this."
Kyoko crossed her arms, and her eyes widened once she heard Yosuke's request.
"Is this absolutely necessary?" Kyoko asked when he was finished.
"If you want to have a great experience at camp, we need to do this." Yosuke said, determined.
"...alright. I'll do it."
"So you're going?"
Kyoko had arrived back, and explained the situation to Nanako.
"Only for the weekend." Kyoko said. "I'll be back afterwards."
"Oh, okay…"
Nanako sadly turned to the TV. Kyoko stuck her hands into her pockets. She hated having to leave Nanako by herself, but there really wasn't anything she could do. Her fingers brushed upon something in her pockets, and she pulled it out to see a rubber band. She forgot how that got there, but remembered a trick her friends once taught her.
"Look at this." Kyoko said.
Nanako watched intently at Kyoko, who was wrapping a rubber band around her index and middle fingers.
"And then… it goes like this…" Kyoko said.
Without Nanako noticing, Kyoko had wrapped it around her ring and pinky fingers.
"What are you doing?" Nanako asked.
Kyoko held up her now closed fist, opening it up. Almost magically, it appeared that the band traveled between the sets of fingers.
"I saw it! It went like, zoom!" Nanako said. "Do it again! One more time!"
Kyoko obliged to the request, doing the trick once more, before giving the band to Nanako so she could try. She was glad her friends at Hope's Peak taught her this, even though this was something pretty minimal all things considered.
Yosuke was practically lying down on the picnic bench, exhausted. The moment they arrived, they had to pitch the tents. And the moment they were done that, they were sent to pick up the garbage around the campsite.
"Ugh, picking up all that trash was murder on my back…" Yosuke groaned. "I can't believe someone threw away an entire bike. Dammit, litterers should have to deal with their own garbage…"
"I'm surprised it actually took us all morning." Kyoko said as she sat down. "It's quite depressing just how much garbage there is here. It's quite beautiful without it."
"Anyways, time for dinner! Man, I'm starvin'. Can't wait to see what you and the other two whipped up." Yosuke said. "Not that I expect much outta Chie, but Yukiko's got the full tradition of the Amagi Inn behind her food! You know it's gonna be out of this world!"
"I… actually didn't help." Kyoko said. "There was something I had to do. And aside from that, I highly recommend against eating it."
"Ohh, no way. I'm not falling for that. I know you've been taste-testing for Yukiko." Yosuke said. "My own "detective intuition" is kicking up! You just want it all for yourself, huh? I can't wait to dig in!"
Kyoko sighed. "Fine. Don't heed my warning…"
Back at the cooking pot Chie and Yukiko were looking at the curry… which was somehow letting off a visual aroma of purple. They were able to physically see the smell.
"Should we… taste this…?" Yukiko asked.
"Huh?"Chie said. "O-Only if you do it first…"
They glanced at each other, before nodding… as the prepared two plates and brought them over to Yosuke and Kyoko.
"Oh man, here it comes!" Yosuke said.
"Uhhh, sorry for the wait." Chie stammered. "Um… We...put a lot of love into it…"
Kyoko stared at the "curry", as Yukiko desperately tried to avoid her gaze.
"Whoa, really?" Yosuke said. "That's kinda cliched, but still awesome! Okay then, chow time!"
Yosuke put a spoonful into his mouth… before immediately choking and hacking. Kyoko had wisely predicted the outcome and had moved out of the way as Yosuke spit it out. The teen fell over on his side, almost as if he had been physically punched.
However, it seemed like Yosuke would have preferred getting punched at the moment.
"H-Hey...?" Chie said, concerned.
Yosuke sat back up and slammed his fists on the table. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
Chie and Yukiko took a few steps back, while Kyoko coolly drank a cup of water.
"I mean, what kinda-" Yosuke stood up, and tried spitting out the taste in his mouth. "Curry's supposed to be like "really spicy" or "kinda mild. "This just stinks! And it's gritty too! It's somehow both gritty and slimy... And it's got squishy parts in it... It's so frickin' nasty I can't even swallow it!"
"Well, it just didn't mix too well…" Chie said. "But it does offer a wide variety of textures…"
"It's nauseating!" Yosuke shouted.
"C'mon, it's not THAT bad!" Chie defended herself. "That's just your opinion!"
"I believe that the Ultimate Chef once said that every cook should taste test their own food." Kyoko said, as she held up a spoonful of the "food" and observed it.
"...huh?" Chie said.
"It's quite intriguing just how you managed to create this concoction." Kyoko said, using a spare fork to run through it. "The consistency is around the same level of an old corpse."
"Wait, how the hell do you know that-?" Yosuke started to say. "Oh right. Detective. Kinda messed up, but makes sense."
"You've touched corpses before?" Yukiko asked.
"A few times, yes." Kyoko said. "But admittedly, those were far less nauseating than this."
"Wait, are you saying-?" Chie realized.
"I get what she's saying." Yosuke said.
"N-Now, hold on a second-" Chie said, before she realized Yukiko restrained her arms. "Yukiko?!"
"Sorry, Chie." Yukiko said.
"Ha ha, open up, Chie!" Yosuke laughed.
"I promise I'll make a thorough autopsy report afterwards." Kyoko promised.
Kyoko slowly approached with the spoon, and Chie screamed.
"...we're sorry." Chie said, once she had recovered from the food.
"Sorry…" Yukiko apologized.
Yosuke sighed. "What're we gonna do? Our group's the only one without food. I mean, if it was even slightly edible, that'd be one thing… But I'm not taking another bite of this… this Mystery Food X."
"A good name to classify it." Kyoko said with a nod.
Chie smelled the air, as most of the Mystery Food X's aroma had faded. Instead, she smelled something far better. Kanji walked up to them, carrying a cooking pot.
"Whoa, you guys look beat." Kanji said. "Didn't work out, huh?"
"Awful… just awful…" Yosuke groaned.
"Wait… Kanji, you have curry?" Chie asked.
"Yep." He said, putting the pot down on the table. "Senpai's orders."
"Huh?" Yosuke said. "What do you mean?"
"I had a feeling that this would happen." Kyoko said, as she tossed out the Mystery Food X. "So I took some of the ingredients and gave them to Kanji so he could prepare a backup. It's not a full pot, but it should be enough to provide for us."
"It was the least I could do." Kanji said with a shrug. "I'm not the best chef around or anything, but it's curry. Easy as pie, yeah?"
Chie and Yukiko looked away at that.
"Well, pie's a lot more difficult than curry, but who cares?" Yosuke grinned. "Kyoko, Kanji, you two are absolute lifesavers."
"No big deal, Senpai." Kanji said.
"It was nothing." Kyoko said. "But we should eat now. We're halfway through dinnertime."
"Yeah, got it." Yosuke said. "After trying out that slop, I'm twice as hungry!"
Chie and Yukiko grumbled as Kanji helped serve it up.
After a fairly small, yet filling meal, they all retreated to their tents to sleep… though that was proving to be difficult.
"We should've pitched the tent somewhere else." Chie said.
The girl was pacing back and forth in the tent. Yukiko was kneeling in a corner, while Kyoko lay on the floor between them. From the tent next to them were very loud snores, the culprit being Hanako.
While it was pretty painful for them, they pitied whoever had to share the tent with her.
"I can't sleep…" Yukiko grumbled.
"And I'm hungry too…" Chie groaned.
"I had a feeling it wouldn't be enough for you." Kyoko said, not opening her eyes as she tried to tune out the snoring to no avail.
"Maybe I should've eaten more of the first batch…" Chie thought.
"It might've knocked us unconscious…" Yukiko added, exhausted.
"Sheesh… We can't sleep, we can't walk around…" Chie said, annoyed as she tried to take her mind off it. "I wonder what Teddie's doing right now."
"Teddie?" Kyoko repeated, opening her eyes.
"Being alone all day's pretty rough when you think about it…" Chie said. "You know, a while ago he-"
The loud snores from the other tent completely destroyed Chie's train of thought. The girl screamed in rage.
"That does it! Yukiko, Kyoko, we're outta here!"
"Where'd we go, though? I don't think climbing down the mountain is a good idea…" Yukiko said. "...if I went over to that tent, do you think she'd stop snoring if I covered her nose and mouth?"
"N-Nonononono! Yukiko, NO!" Chie said. "I will not let you do that when we have a member of the law in the tent with us!"
"...I'll overlook this incident." Kyoko said, staring up at the ceiling. Chie could've sworn she saw flames rivaling Yukiko's own in Kyoko's eyes.
"Great. She snapped too." Chie grumbled. "Ugh… I can't take it anymore…"
"If I can't do that, where do we go?" Yukiko asked.
Kyoko thought for a moment, before sitting up. "I got it."
"'Preciate you lettin' me crash here, Senpai." Kanji said, laying in the boys' tent.
"You basically saved my life with the curry. It's the least I could do." Yosuke said. "Though, why are you here, actually now that I think about it?"
"My teach threatened to hold me back a year if I didn't show." Kanji explained as he sat up. "And the first-year's tent is all quiet, like someone died."
"Well, if you were in there with 'em, I'm not surprised." Yosuke joked.
"Hey..." Kanji was riffling through his bag. "Wasn't your teacher some guy called King Moron?"
"Yeah, why?"
"That guy stopped me outside earlier, and he pissed me off so bad I was about to lose it." Kanji grumbled. "He was going on and on about when I was in middle school, when he doesn't know shit about any of that… Not only that, he was bullshitting about how I'll be expelled immediately if I cause trouble… That ain't funny, man."
"Yeah, that guy's set a speed record for jumping to conclusions…" Yosuke said, rolling his eyes.
"Check this out, right?" Kanji said, pulling out a box and putting it in his lap. "I heard it from a guy in my class. He said that asshole was talking shit about the two girls who died.
"King Moron was talking about Ms. Yamano and Saki-senpai...?" Yosuke asked.
Kanji nodded. "It was like, "It's no surprise that people who are unfaithful or run away from home meet a bad end..." I dunno, maybe he was exaggerating. Everyone seems to hate that son of a bitch Morooka."
"Damn, I can just picture him saying that…" Yosuke said. "He never shut up about me either when I moved here last year. Not that I remember anything he said…"
"Even if it's only a little true, it still pisses me off… The dickhead's a damn teacher, for god's sake." Kanji said.
"Ahh, don't waste your energy getting pissed at that clown." Yosuke said, patting him on the back.
"Yeah, you got a point..." Kanji said, opening the box he had. "Let's see if lady luck is on me."
"What are you doing?" Yosuke asked.
"Oh, these are animal crackers." Kanji said, looking through the crackers. "There's a secret penguin cracker that they release in 1 in every 7.5 trillion pack."
"Dude… you're never gonna fine it." Yosuke said, hearing those odds.
"You never know unless you try!" Kanji said with a small fist pump.
"Hey… are you guys still up?"
The two boys looked at the tent entrance, recognizing Chie's voice.
"What're you doing here!? This is the guys' side!" Yosuke said.
"Let us in!" Chie whispered.
"Don't be ridiculous!" "If King Moron finds out, we'll all be expelled! Go back to your tent!"
"We can't!" Chie said.
"Are there any rotten apples out and about!? Any indecent students out there...?" Morooka's voice called.
Yosuke grumbled. "A-Alright, hurry up and get in!"
The boys watched as Chie slipped in. Yukiko was expected as well, but Kyoko being here was surprising.
"You too…?" Yosuke said as the girls sat down. "So, why're you three here?"
"We can't sleep." Chie said. "Hanako's tent is right next to us, and her snores are too loud…"
"Seriously?" Kanji asked as he put away his crackers. "Can't be too bad-"
"Kyoko can't stand it." Yukiko said, pointing at the bags under Kyoko's eyes, as well as the very irritated expression on her face.
"Oh wow. That is bad." Yosuke noted, considering how unflappable Kyoko was.
"Listen up! Being insolent and being indecent are very different things!" Morooka shouted.
"It's him! He's right outside!" Yosuke said. "H-Hey, Kanji, turn the light off!"
Kanji fumbled a bit, but switched off the lamp. They could hear King Moron's footsteps outside as he stopped outside the tent.
"Hey Hanamura, you in there? You asleep?"
"Yessir! Fast asleep, Sir!" Yosuke shouted.
Everyone had the temptation to facepalm at Yosuke's answer.
"Don't get cute, Hanamura! Shut up and go back to sleep." King Moron yawned before groaning. "Ugh, I think I had one too many. I'm so sleepy…"
Morooka stumbled off, and Yosuke sighed. "There goes a couple of years off my lifespan."
"No joke…" Chie shivered. "We were nearly expelled…"
"Hey, this is your guys' fault!" Yosuke said.
"I made the suggestion. Sorry." Kyoko apologized. "Poor judgment on my part, from what I presume is lack of sleep."
"It's fine. What else were we supposed to do?" Chie said. "Anyways, we can't leave now. We'll sneak out before the others wake up tomorrow. Is that good enough for you!?"
"What're you so pissed off for...?" Yosuke asked.
"You better not try any funny stuff while we're asleep, is that clear?" Chie added.
"H-Hey, we didn't say you could-"
"If he tries anything, I'll beat his ass in." Kanji promised.
"Hey!" Yosuke said.
"Thanks, Kanji-kun." Yukiko said.
"Dammit, you owe me for this!" Yosuke grumbled.
Kyoko gave Yosuke a small thumbs-up, as they went to sleep.
They set up a barricade using the bags, as the boys slept on one side while the girls slept on the other. Admittedly, it made a tight squeeze and was quite cramped, but they all managed to get some sleep.
Though Chie took a lot longer, since she was sandwiched right between Kyoko and Yukiko.
"Ahh, that night is finally over." Yosuke said as they walked along the path.
The students had all been dismissed, and had some free time before the bus would take them back home. They arrived by a cliff overlooking a small lake. A waterfall was flowing down and providing the water.
"Looks like we're the only ones here." Yosuke said. "Alright, then let's get swimming!"
"Are you seriously taking a swim?" Kanji asked. "I'll pass… I'm still all stiff."
Yosuke turned his gaze to Chie and Yukiko.
"What're you looking at us for...? If you guys wanna swim, go right ahead."
"You know, you two still owe me." Yosuke reminded her.
"Huh? Whoa whoa whoa whoa, we're not going in there." Chie said. "I mean, we do owe you, but… Oh yeah, we don't have swimsuits with us! Man, of all the luck!"
"Y-Yeah, it really is unfortunate." Yukiko added.
"Oh, really?" Yosuke said, rubbing the back of his head. "Damn. I brought mine as well…"
Chie was relieved internally, but then noticed that someone wasn't with them. "Hey, where's Kyoko?"
"Am I late?"
The group turned, and were all taken aback at what they were seeing. Kyoko was holding a few bags… but what she was wearing.
"Wh-Whoa." Yosuke stammered.
"Holy…" Chie's mouth was open.
Yukiko blinked a few times, as if trying to make sure of what she was seeing.
"Yo, that's a nice color, Senpai!" Kanji said with a thumbs-up.
Kyoko was in a rather impressive black two-piece swimsuit that showed off her figure. She still had her gloves on, which surprisingly meshed quite well with her bikini.
"Are we going to swim?" Kyoko asked. "I came prepared."
"W-Well…" Yosuke cleared his throat as he tried to focus. "I brought my trunks, but apparently Chie and Yukiko didn't bring theirs."
"It's a good thing I brought these then." Kyoko said, putting down the bags and pulling something out.
"What is it?" Kyoko asked, seeing the bags Yosuke was carrying.
"Kyoko… this is something I can only ask you." Yosuke said. "I trust you with my life on this… you're the only one that can do this."
Kyoko crossed her arms, as Yosuke handed her two pairs of new swimsuits.
"On the camping trip… I need you to give these as presents to Chie and Yukiko."
Her eyes widened as Yosuke finished saying the request. She looked down at the swimwear.
"Wait, why me?"
"If I suggested it, Chie would kick the crap out of me." Yosuke said. "And I think they won't agree to swimming otherwise."
"Is this absolutely necessary?" Kyoko asked when he was finished.
"If you want to have a great experience at camp, we need to do this." Yosuke said, determined.
Now, normally Kyoko would have refused this request without hesitating. But… something was telling her that she had to do this. It was like her detective intuition, but in a different category.
"...alright. I'll do it."
"Are these for us?" Chie asked, as she took one of the swimsuits.
"Well, I wanted to repay you in some way for being welcoming when I first came to Inaba." Kyoko said. "And since we had the option to swim, this was what came to mind. I'm no Ultimate Fashionista, but-"
"Ooh, this is a cute color." Yukiko said as she looked at hers. "A nice mix of red and white."
"Yeah!" Chie said. "It's got a bit of green on it too!"
"So… you like it?" Kyoko asked.
"Heck yeah! Thanks Kyoko!" Chie pulled Kyoko into a brief hug, causing the detective to blush. "C'mon Yukiko, let's go change!"
Chie ran off and Yukiko followed her.
"I'm pretty sure this is morally wrong… but I'll let it pass." Kyoko said.
"You're the best, Kyoko." Yosuke said, as she gave him a small peace sign, expression unchanging. "I'd better go change too."
"Damn… you two are terrifying..." Kanji muttered.
"How far did those two go off to get changed?" Yosuke asked, tapping his fingers. He had already changed into a pair of red trunks, as Kyoko was talking with Kanji.
"Gotta say, the swimsuit works really well with the gloves, Senpai." Kanji said. "Y'know, it would go really well with a light scarf."
"You think so?" Kyoko asked.
"Yeah." Kanji said. "You know, I could probably whip that up for you at one point."
"Really now?" Kyoko said. "That would be nice."
"We're back!" Chie called. "C'mon, let's get in!"
The two of them quickly ran back to the others, now dressed in their swimsuits.
"This is the greatest day of my life…" Yosuke grinned. "Alright, let's get in!"
"Yeah!" Chie punched the air. "Let's-!"
"Huh?" Yukiko turned her head. "Do you hear something over there?"
Kanji stood up and looked up the river. "Hey, ain't that King Moron? Guy looks like he's heaving his guts into the river."
"O-Oh…" Chie said. "So that's why no one else was here. Good thing we noticed before we went in."
"On second thought… swimming can wait." Yosuke said. "We can plan a beach trip or something."
"Good idea." Chie said.
They looked away from the water, trying not to imagine how it would look, flowing down the river. They counted their lucky stars that they didn't jump in so quickly.
"Welcome back Big Sis." Nanako said as Kyoko walked back into the house. "How was the camping trip?"
"It was… something." Kyoko said as she slipped off her shoes.
"Was it fun?"
"I… suppose so?" Kyoko said. "It was an experience."
"I'm gonna go to Yasogami when I get older, so I'll probably be able to do it too!" Nanako said cheerfully.
Kyoko prayed to whatever God out there that Nananko's future trip wouldn't go as badly as theirs.
A/N: A few overall changes to the camping trip. I wanted to do a bit of my own take on it, so it's not just a total copy and paste.
Kyoko's swimsuit is based on the one from Danganronpa S. The scarf Kanji's talking about is from promotional art from Danganronpa 3's anime.
I think something that I should probably address is that I'm removing most of the scenes where Kanji's sexuality is the topic for comedy. A lot of scenes that were considered "funny" back then but aren't nowadays will probably be gone. Part of it is because of my own uncomfortability towards it, but another is that since Danganronpa takes place in modern day (presumably, if not a little later), I'd imagine they'd have progressed like we have as well.
With that aside, we'll be able to get back into action soon.
Feel free to leave a review. See you all next time.