"Ugh…" Sayori groaned. The constant pain from her stomach caused the usually plucky girl to tighten her grip on Shujinkou as he carried his friend to her room. "Sugoi…"
"Don't worry, Sayori, we're almost there," Shujinkou gently assured his friend.
He could feel her grip tighten even more as he continued to down the hallway. Not too later, Shujinkou knocked on her bedroom door and patiently waited until Natsuki finally opened it. No words were needed; the petite's girl's expression gave away her feelings regarding the sight in front of her.
"She's finally done stuffing herself?" she asked.
Shujinkou nodded his head. If he could, he would have scratched his right cheek, but he did not want to take the risk of dropping Sayori. He then proceeded to carry her towards one of the beds and gently laid her down.
"Yeesh, Sayori, what were you thinking?" Natsuki reprimanded.
"Sugoi…" Sayori mumbled. Her voice was so low that it was clear that she was just barely conscious.
"You shouldn't get on her, Natsuki. It is my fault that she ate as much as she did," Shujinkou apologized.
Natsuki stared at Shujinkou, her expression one of disbelief and amusement.
"You really think she wouldn't have done this even if she didn't have a gap between the eating the meals made for this time of year?" she questioned.
"Um…" Shujinkou silently scratched his right cheek as he pondered such a question. "Don't be too hard on her, it's mostly my fault she ate as much as she did."
"Meh… Slightly better," Natsuki shrugged. Her gaze slightly trailed off before firmly returning to Shujinkou. "So, I guess you'll be returning to your room then, huh?"
"Yeah. I don't really have any other plans for tonight."
"How's that going? Sharing a room with Kiyo?"
"Kiyo?" Shujinkou shot Natsuki a confused look.
"D-Don't look at me like that! That's just what Sayori wants to call Kiyoko," Natsuki explained, her voice layered with irritation. "I didn't come up with it."
"Oh," Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek." Well, we only shared a room for a couple of minutes so far, but she doesn't seem to mind the arrangements so… I don't think there's going to any awkwardness for any of us to worry about."
"Right…" Natsuki diverted her gaze once more. It was subtle, but he could Shujinkou could tell that something was bothering her.
"Are you okay, Natsuki?" he worriedly asked.
"Yeah. It's nothing. Just a really dumb feeling. Um…" Natsuki glanced up at Shujinkou; his innocent and curious expression filling her with nothing but relief. She then chuckled an said, "Never mind. You better go back to your room and get in bed so I don't have shout you out of bed like I'll have to with her."
"Alright then. 'Night."
"'Night."
Shujinkou turned to Sayori and smiled.
"Good night, Sayori," he waved goodbye as he walked towards the door.
"Good night, Shujinkou," she happily replied.
"Wha-?! I thought you were pretty much unconscious!" Natsuki raged.
"I never said that I was…" Sayori nervously chuckled.
"Yeah, you're totally trustworthy, Sayori," the pink-haired girl sighed as she walked to her bed.
Meanwhile, Shujinkou walked into his room; to his surprise he had the room to himself.
"Kiyoko?" the young man repeatedly called as he glanced around the room. "I guess she's still out somewhere."
He then grabbed the remote to the room's TV, turned it on and jumped in bed.
"I wonder if they're still offering Spirited Away?" he wondered aloud.
Suddenly, Shujinkou heard the door opened and sat up.
"Kiyo-AH!" his cheeks grew bright red as he witnessed a sight he knew he shouldn't have seen. "Kiyoko!"
"Hm? Oh, hey, Shujinkou. Didn't expect you to be back so soon," strolling across the room in nothing but a wet towel, Kiyoko took a moment to look out the window and smile.
"K-K-Kiyoko, why are you-? What happened to-?" As he continued to stumble over his words, Shujinkou could feel the beats of his heart intensify with each passing second. Words soon failed him completely and he could only watch as his roommate bent down and slung over her bag over her shoulder.
"I think someone may have taken my clothes by accident, so I had get back here with just the towel on my back," Kiyoko explained.
She carried the bag with her to their shared bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"How are fictional characters not bothered by seeing that all of the time…?" he mumbled.
Moments later, Kiyoko, now in her pajamas, walked out of the bathroom and back towards the window.
"Hey, Kiyoko…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he struggled to maintain eye contact.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Are you sure the current living arrangements aren't awkward for you?" he sheepishly asked.
"Not really," she shrugged. "Do you trade roommates?
"What?! No! I wasn't implying that or anything."
"No need to freak out, Shujinkou. I would have understood if you wanted to share a room with someone you know better."
"Well… I would like to get to know you better too."
Kiyoko head slightly tilted to her left.
"Okay," she approached Shujinkou and stared into his eyes. "But you know it is a two-way thing."
"R-Right," he nodded his head in agreement. "What do you want to know?"
"That day I bandaged your hand… How'd that happen?"
"Oh, uhm…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek and answered his question.
"Really?" his roommates's eyes lit up with interest.
"Yeah, I like to do it every now and then but I still consider drawing to be my preferred hobby."
"Huh. A person interested in art is in the Literature Club…"
"Uh…" a sigh of acceptance slipped through his lips. He knew what was going to be said next. "I know…"
"I'm not saying you joined it because you would be the only boy, Shujinkou," Kiyoko chuckled. "Unless that is why?"
"No. No. That's not it. It was more of a request from Sayori. But even though I only joined because of her, I really do enjoy being."
"I can tell. Like I said once before, you're pretty much more sociable now than you were at the start of the year."
"Yeah. Um…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek.
"My turn, huh?" Kiyoko said.
"Uhm… So, how's the basketball club?"
"It's okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah."
Shujinkou silently stared at Kiyoko. He knew that she was a pretty casual person, but he still could not help but be confused over such a… "so-so" response.
"Are you looking forward to the upcoming games?" he asked.
Kiyoko simply shrugged.
"Uhm…" Once again stricken with silence, Shujinkou could do nothing but watch the golden-haired girl jump into her bed.
"Is there anything good on?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, I was going to see if I could watch Spirited Away," he replied.
"That's a good one. Let's see."
Shujinkou nodded his head in agreement and started searching for the movie. That was the last thing he recalled until the next morning.
"…jinkou… Shujinkou…"
Shujinkou slowly opened his eyes to find Kiyoko looking down at him.
"Kiyoko…" he whispered before yawning.
"Shujinkou!" Sayori's excited face suddenly entering his field of view nearly caused Shujinkou to nearly jump out of his bed. His face then grew bright red as he realized that she wasn't alone; The rest of the group were gathered in his room too.
"You're out of practice, Shujinkou. It's time to go," Sayori said.
"Go? Go where?" Shujinkou asked, rubbing his eyes.
"To Otamic-Con," she beamed.
"Huh?" his eyes widened with surprise. "We're really going to that?"
"Yeah, we unanimously agreed, didn't we?" Sayori replied.
"Actually, Shujinkou got excited, Monika expressed interest, I expressed surprise to that interest and then we got off of subject until this morning when Sayori woke me up while the sun was still rising," Natsuki recapped, her tone layered with slight annoyance.
"These kinds of things you have to wake up early for," Sayori explained.
"To make a long story short, Sayori organized us on a very short notice," Monika explained to Shujinkou.
"Ah…" he replied.
"So, hurry up and get dressed so we can go, Shujinkou," Sayori continued.
"Okay…" Shujinkou glanced at each of the girls. "Um…"
He silently grabbed his bag and walked into the bathroom.
"I think he may be a little embarrassed," Monika thought.
Rei curiously gazed upon the bathroom door before turning it to everyone else in the room. Not too long later, a now properly dressed Shujinkou walked out of the bathroom and then followed the rest of the group out of the resort.
"Hey, Shujinkou…" Natsuki looked up at Shujinkou with worried eyes.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"These kinds of things… They are just about fans coming together and doing fun things right?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"No big reason. I was just thinking that it would be pretty dumb if people would… you know, tease each other at these kinds of things."
"Well, there's always going to be fans like that, but they're just a very vocal minority."
"Right…" Natsuki turned her gaze towards Yuri. "You know, I don't think that she's going to enjoy this much."
"Yuri?" he asked.
"Yeah. She's not really into the things this convention has."
"Uhm…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he processed Natsuki's words. He began to wonder if- "Huh?"
From the corner of his eyes, Shujinkou saw a sight that rendered all motor functions temporarily unavailable. He quickly rubbed his eyes and silently stared into the distance until he turned his attention back to Natsuki. "Hey, do you think you could tell the guys to go on without me?"
"Huh? Where are you going?" Natsuki questioned.
"There's something I got to do. I'll catch up soon," he assured her before running off.
Annoyance and worry welled up in Natsuki as she curiously watched Shujinkou run back into the resort.
"Eh? Where's Shujinkou going?" Sayori asked.
"He has something to do apparently," Natsuki answered.
"Oh… Well, he'll catch up soon." Sayori happily assured her. "Anyway, I can lead us to the convention."
"You?"
"What do you mean 'you?'? I've been there before too. It was just as much as my thing as it was Shujinkou's. Of course, I could lead us there."
"Really?"
Moments later, the girls stood in the middle of a large crowd of fan in the main Convention Hall.
"Okay, so you can," Natsuki said.
"Ehe! I got praised," Sayori beamed with happiness.
"Wow," Monika glanced around the room they were in. The plethora of positive interactions she witnessed was enough to cause her own excitement to grow. "This place looks more exciting than I thought it would."
"Speaking of which… When exactly did you become interested in coming to these kinds of things?" Natsuki asked.
"Funny enough, it was actually because of a random encounter…" Monika said as she began to reminisce.
Years ago, Monika was patiently waiting on a park bench until she heard a loud collection of voices chant, "Chanting! Chanting! Chanting!"
The small child curiously stood on her bench and tried to catch a glimpse of who were chanting so loudly. Unable to see past the tall bushes, Monika dove into her visual obstacle and crossed through until she was finally able to spot the source of the chants. In front of a large building, a large group of people gathered around a slightly smaller group of cosplayers acting out a fight.
"Ah… Huh?" she heard a few rustles in the bushes until a small child in a dark blue suit rolled straight through. His face was completely obscured by a matching mask that bore an eye patch over his left eye. "Um…"
The child uncovered his mouth and took a deep breath.
"It's hard to breath in this thing…" they said, the tone of their voice emulating one of a person whose lungs have been destroyed by years of smoking.
From what she could infer from the voice, it was clear to Monika that the sudden stranger was a boy.
"Hello," Monika waved.
"Huh?" the boy glanced up blankly stared at her. "Um… You wouldn't happen to be part of a PMC, would you?"
"No?"
"That's good; they'd shoot me on sight."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I'm Solid Snake… or rather Old Snake."
Monika silently stared at the boy. Despite the fact his face was still fairly obscured, she could tell that the boy was becoming flustered.
"I see… You're playing a character," she smiled.
"Yeah. I'm a legendary soldier currently sneaking through South America," he explained. His head bobbed down before returning to its proper decision. "Um… You're not a part of the convention, are you?"
"The one over there?"
"Yeah."
"No. I was just wondering what was going on over there."
"Ah. I think the crowd is making fun of chants by chanting the word 'chant'."
"I see…" Monika's attention was drawn back to the crowd far away. "Everyone really looks like they're having fun."
"Yeah. That's because it's a really fun place to be this time of year," the boy replied.
"Huh. I hear about it all the time, but I never actually caught a glimpse of these kinds of things before."
"Oh… You want to go and see?"
"Eh?"
"I can show what it's like. I mean… Unless you rather go see yourself."
"No, it's not you or anything; it's just that I don't have time to do so. I'm actually supposed to be waiting for my parents right now."
"Ah, I get it. Well, I hope you do get a chance to go to something like the one over there. They really are fun."
"You really like them, huh?"
"Yeah, it's one of the few times of the year when I don't feel like such a weirdo. Anyway…"
The boy laid on the ground and starched his limbs.
"What are you doing?" Monika queried.
"My Octo-Camo suit has the ability to mimic any surface it's touching. I'm waiting the prerequisite amount of time it takes to transform and continue my sneaking mission," the boy answered.
A series of 'whooshes' flew out of his mouth and the boy began to slowly inch his way back to the convention, a sight Monika couldn't help but giggle over.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing. It's just that… You're funny," she replied.
"Um…" the young boy awkwardly scratched his cheek and-
"Huh?" Brought back from the realm of memories, Monika was struck with a sudden revelation. "Hmm… I wonder…"
"What's wrong, Monika?" Yuri worriedly asked.
"Hm? Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something." It was then when Monika realized that only Natsuki, Yuri and Kiyoko stood before her. "Where did the others go?"
"I think something caught Sayori's attention and she ran off. Then Fuyu mysteriously disappeared and Fuyu left to presumably go find her," Natsuki answered. "And now I'm off to have an experience that lasts longer than the Cultural Festival."
"Uh…" Monika moaned as Natsuki took her leave.
"I'm not even sure if that was a dig at you, Monika," Kiyoko said.
"I'm still directly responsible for her motivation…" she weakly chuckled.
"Ah…" Yuri glanced around her surroundings and began to take her leave too.
"Where are you headed too, Yuri?" Monika asked.
"I'm just… I'm just going to look around…" Yuri solemnly answered.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just… I just have to find something to get invested into here," Yuri assured her, before disappearing in the crowd.
"I hope you do," Monika thought aloud.