"Where am I now?"
Shujinkou looked around. It appeared that he had landed in the courtyard of a gothic castle.
The sky above him was blood red which, to him at least matched the oppressive and foreboding atmosphere that attacked him the moment he arrived.
"I hope Monika didn't end up here. Doesn't seem like a fun part of this world to be blown away to." He thought aloud.
"Wow, another interesting surprise."
A sharp chill crawled up Shujinkou's spine as he heard that voice. It sounded familiar, but also much more menacing then he was used to.
Suddenly, a figure crashed into the ground in front of him; the impact creating a powerful enough force that he was surprised he wasn't blown away by it.
"Even more surprising is that it's you of all people."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as she watched the figure rise to her feet, giving him a chance to see a familiar innocent-looking face.
"Mali?"
The girl simply circled around Shujinkou; her eyes examining every inch of him.
"Hm… You don't seem like the person I know…"
She then stopped right in front of him and stood on the tip of her toes. Her face slowly approaching his own reminded Shujinkou of when she did it to him in the past.
At least, another version of her did. Something about this Mali is scarier than the one I know.
That budding fear grew as a smile stretched across Mali's face. "Your name's Shujinkou, right?"
The young man nodded his head."Y-Yeah."
Unlike him being tricked to reveal information as per usual with the Mali he knew; Shujinkou felt compelled to give this one a quick and honest answer.
Just looking into her eyes allowed him to realize what she may do if he tried to lie.
Mali giggled at his nervous face."Another 'Protagonist' coming out of nowhere. And not just out of nowhere, but in the same way that girl did."
"Girl?" Any fear Shujinkou disappeared once he heard that. "Did she wear a uniform that looked like mine?"
Mali nodded her head "Mm-hmm. Were you looking for her or something?"
"Yeah. Do you know where she now?"
"Yep."
Innocence radiated from Mali's face as she turned around and thrust her hand forward. With a simple flick of the wrist, she summoned a tall column of pure darkness.
"She's in there. You two are lucky that I was the one who found you; who knows what the Boss' would have done."
Giggling one more time, Mali took the opportunity to sneak a glance at Shujinkou's horrified face before quickly disappearing.
Shujinkou dashed forward, extending his hand towards the darkness.
"Monika!"
But just as he was only mere inches away from her, an invisible, yet strong force sent him flying into a nearby wall.
"Ah…!"
He was surprised that he could even move a single finger after a blow like that. A normal human certainly would have died from a random attack like that.
"Oh, you're still alive?"
Mali once again appeared before Shujinkou. Kneeling down, she stared deep into Shujinkou's eyes.
"Still looks like it hurt a lot though…" a bright smile soon spread across her face, once again unnerving Shujinkou. "I wonder if you can take more punishment then the other 'Protagonist'?"
Shujinkou felt intense pain throughout his entire body as he struggled to back to his feet.
"You're trying so hard. Is that girl really that important to you?" Mali asked.
"She's my friend… Please let her go," Shujinkou weakly pleaded.
"Hmm…"
She soon stood up and stretched her hand towards Shujinkou. "Quite bold of you to just storm into someone's place and give them orders."
Suddenly, a small flame formed at the center of her palm. Despite its, Shujinkou could tell that it would turn into a powerful blaze if she unleashed it on him.
"It's not really my job, but I don't mind removing rude guests from the premises every now and then," she said with an innocent smile.
Shujinkou instinctively opened his eyes. No longer was he staring at Mali's cruel smile but at the blue sky above him.
Was that just a dream?
It had to be a dream Shujinkou figured; nothing like that could actually happen in real life. But despite knowing that, what he had just experienced felt like it really happened.
He didn't have long to contemplate his feelings however as he soon felt several slender objects run through his hair. Once they reached the end, they parted from his head before starting again from the top.
Shifting his head ever so slightly, Shujinkou found Mali smiling down at him.
"Senpai's so cute when he's sleeping," she giggled. "Especially when he's dreaming about Ms. School Idol."
Shujinkou's face grew red with embarrassment. I must have yelled Monika's name out loud!
Even though he knew it wasn't the kind of dream Mali was implying, it was still embarrassing.
"Wait… Mali, what am I doing here?" Shujinkou asked.
The last thing he remembered was sitting in his seat during school. Now he was outside the building and just learned that he was previously asleep.
A knowing smile crossed Mali's face as she continued to stroke Shujinkou's head. "How should I know, Senpai? It's not like it's my job to keep an eye on you 24/7."
"That's true..."
"But seeing Senpai lying on the ground like he was, I figured that I could at least let him rest on my lap and look after him."
Shujinkou felt a wealth of conflicting emotions well up in him. Contrasting her tease regarding his dream, her smile and head stroking was gentle and comforting.
A hazy mist descended on his mind and he felt a strong desire to just where he was.
W-Wait!
Shujinkou immediately sat up and tried to catch his breath. Just the act of tearing himself away from such tranquility seemed to use up most of his strength.
"You make it seem like what I was doing was terrible, Senpai," Mali noted.
"N-No. Thanks for looking after me, but…" Shujinkou couldn't find the words to describe why he broke away so desperately.
It felt like his mind was sinking into an inescapable abyss and he had to do something, anything to stop that from happening.
"I get it, Senpai just didn't want to be seen in case one of his potentials came by," Mali teased.
Shujinkou solemnly scratched his right cheek. The dream he just had of Mali callously keeping Monika hostage; could that have been a result of their talk from earlier?
Is this that really how I see Mali now…? Shujinkou wondered.
"What's wrong, Senpai? Is there trouble in paradise?" Mali asked.
"Well, there is the fact that Akuma's on the run…"
"And the fact that Senpai wants to be his Kōhai's knight in shining armor. Plus, there's the fact that Senpai was assaulted by one of his friend's fathers."
Shujinkou's eyes widened with horror after hearing that last part.
"A Kōhai has her ways of knowing, Senpai," Mali giggled.
"Mali…"
"Don't worry, I told you before that your Kōhai will keep secrets for you. Then again, the last time I said that it was for something that would've made you seem insane."
"You did?" Shujinkou couldn't quite recall when Mali said something like that to him, if ever.
"Senpai can be so forgetful, but I can't exactly blame him for that. Plus, he has so many other things going on in his life right now, like how he's late for his club meeting.
"What?!" Shujinkou exclaimed.
"School's over for the day, you know. Senpai should hurry before all his potentials get mad at him."
Shujinkou nodded his head, "R-Right."
He waved goodbye and frantically ran towards the building.
Did I miss the entire day?! I don't remember anything after seeing Natsuki! What is going today?!
Shujinkou running through the front entrance, he was immediately greeted with a sight that pushed those thoughts a side.
"Wow…"
He looked around in awe as he watched students set up Halloween decorations around the building. He felt a little excitement attending classes while the school was adorned with multiple holiday accessories.
Now that I think about it, I ignored the Halloween festival last year. I wonder what it's like…
"Shujinkou?"
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as Monika approached him.
"Where've you been?" she asked.
"Apparently, I've been unconscious," Shujinkou replied.
"Unconscious? Are you okay?" Monika worriedly asked.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Funny enough, me spontaneously falling unconscious is the least of my concerns…"
"Oh… You're mind is also on Yuri and Natsuki too…"
"Yeah… Um… How much do you know about Yuri?"
"Everything. We were going to talk about it before… you know…"
"Oh right…"
It was a strange. Monika and Yuri seemed more concerned about Natsuki's father pinning Shujinkou against a wall then he did himself.
But every time he thought about that moment, it was never that he focused on.
"Have you talked to Natsuki today?" Shujinkou asked.
Monika shook her head. "No… Have you?"
"I tried, but she walked away from me…"
"Oh…" a bright smile soon spread across Monika's face. "Well, give her time. She probably just wants to be alone for the day. I'm sure she'll be willing to open up soon."
Shujinkou wasn't sure if Monika was saying that to him or trying to convince herself. Perhaps both?
"By the way, Sayori's looking for you," Monika said.
"She at the clubroom?"
"Actually, there's no club today due to circumstances. Plus, I volunteered to help put up some of the Halloween decorations."
"Really?"
"Just a little something to make Fuyu's job a little easier."
"Ah."
Another student soon approached Monika, requesting her help.
"Sorry, got to go, Shujinkou."
"Alright, see you later."
The two turned and went their separate ways.
"Wait!"
Shujinkou immediately turned back towards the departing Monika.
"Monika, where's Sayori?" he yelled.
"She said she was heading towards Fuyu's office," Monika yelled back.
"Thanks!"
…
A sense of foreboding hit Shujinkou the moment he stepped in front of the doors that led to Fuyu's office. It was the same feeling from yesterday after the end of the club meeting.
He took a deep breath and steeled himself for what may come next.
Shujinkou knocked on the door and entered the moment he got permission.
"Hey-"
"Shiko!"
A pair of arms swiftly wrapped around Shujinkou and pulled him into a tight embrace from Sayori.
"You're okay!" she rejoiced.
"Huh? But I wasn't in trouble," Shujinkou assured her.
"But we just heard that you've been missing for most of the day."
"We?"
"Um…"
Shujinkou glanced past Sayori to find Yuri meekly waving at him.
"Yuri? I thought- I mean…"
"I know what you're getting at; I didn't really consider coming to school today at first either. But, I've decided to try and not let recent events tamper with my daily life," Yuri explained.
"Oh... That's good," Shujinkou approved with a smile.
"Speaking of recent events…" Fuyu shifted her gaze to Shujinkou. "Is it true that you were recently assaulted by Natsuki's father?"
His natural instinct was to ask how she found out, but he had a pretty good idea who informed her. It helped that her grip on him slowly lessened as she suspiciously looked away.
Not that I'm upset about that.
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek and answered with another question. "Pinned against a wall?"
"Was there malicious intent in his eyes?" Fuyu asked.
"Yes."
"That's assault."
Fuyu leaned back in her chair and moaned. "What is this semester? Pranks, squandering of club funds by the Supernatural Studies Club, kidnapping perpetrated by the sole member of that club, Rei getting stabbed in the hand, sexual assault, physical assault and student masquerade."
"When you put it like that this semester is off to a pretty dark start…" Sayori solemnly admitted.
"Focusing on the physical assault one…" Fuyu's gaze returned to Shujinkou. "Why didn't you report it to the police when you reported the other thing?"
Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. Even though he took a moment to prepare himself, he didn't have an answer that would satisfy an authority figure.
"I guess… I just wanted to about it with Natsuki first," he meekly admitted.
"I understand your feelings there but Shujinkou, a man essentially stormed into our school with the express purpose of lashing out at you. I can't say much for the implications that situation had to have had, but the simple fact is you were assaulted and this needs to be reported."
"I know but… Please, just give me the time to talk to her first."
"Shujinkou-"
"Please…"
Fuyu knew what she had to say. Something like this shouldn't be negotiated.
But... I've already asked a lot of him this year…"
After taking a moment to weigh her options, she finally relented. "…Fine. But promise me something. If something else happens, you report it right away, okay?"
Shujinkou nodded his head, accepting her terms.