A/N: Holy crap, this chapter is long. Granted, I figured it'd be, but still. Anyways, I was able to at least end it at the point that I felt would be most appropriate, so I guess it worked out.
It was the day after the preparations had been completed, and it was already approaching noon. The group of fourteen met up in the T intersection hallway that led up to the pool room, as they had previously. There were a couple of nervous faces, but for the most part, people actually seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
"Alright, everyone settle down," Eryu spoke up.
Soon, the small amount of chatter among the group dissipated, and Eryu moved to the front.
"Good," he continued. "As we've promised, we've set up a party for everyone here, independently of IMONO. Quick reminder of the ground rules: No fighting, no arguing, and no dramatic love confessions. Above all else, though, I want to remind people to have fun."
"Hell yeah!" Haru exclaimed. "Let's get to it already!"
Mine gave him an annoyed look. "I feel the same way, Haru, but you shouldn't interrupt him like that," she admonished.
"No, no," Eryu cut in, "it's okay. I don't have anything else to say. You're all free to begin with the festivities."
The nine of them attending the pool party, Naoko included, separated from the other five, and moved towards the pool room. Haru ended up in front of the group, and was the one to forcefully push open the doors to the room, unveiling the room to the nine of them. Looking around, there wasn't much difference compared to yesterday, when most of the work was done. Still, there were some things that had been added only earlier that day. Mainly, there were large stacks of towels by the pool, which Yasuo had very much insisted on people using, citing the dangers of wet floors. Other than that, the folding table they had set up was covered with a wide range of goodies, from chip bowls to soda bottles to various bags of snack foods.
"Wow!" Mine said. "You guys really put a lot of effort into this, huh?"
"I'd say so," Naoko replied.
Kimi looked up at the decorations and frowned. "These decorations are kinda crappy. Where'd you even get these?"
"We didn't 'get' them," Yori clarified. "We made them."
"Made them?" Ishi asked. "Couldn't you have just, like, gotten the streamers and junk from the storage rooms?"
"There weren't any decorations in either," Eryu explained. "We had to improvise."
"Sooo, you had 'em do a little arts and crafts?" Kimi asked, seeming confused.
"Don't knock the work we did!" Haru cut in. "Naoko and Yori here had to make the streamers and shit by hand. And I had to make metal frames for the paper lanterns up there."
Naoko had a really bad feeling about what was about to happen. The others seemed to feel the same way, with Sasa taking a cautious step backwards and Mine's energetic body movements making her look like she was moments away from pouncing on them.
"So what?" Kimi asked, unimpressed. "You slapped some metal bits together, and wrapped some paper around it? Big deal. Yours truly could do way better than that."
"METALWORKING IS AN ARTFORM!" Haru suddenly shouted, having clearly been pushed over the edge by Kimi's badmouthing of his trade.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Mine exclaimed, getting in between the two of them.
"Both of you just calm down," Eryu ordered. "You're already arguing, and we haven't even started yet."
"Ahh," Bankei sighed. "I'd have to agree with him on this point. That was far too loud for my liking. Besides, I fear that your little dynamic is going nowhere."
"You can't just yell like that, y'know," Mine concurred.
"Jeez, alright, I'm sorry," Haru apologized. "Let's just get to changing. C'mon, everyone."
"Hm?" Yasuo vocalized. "All of us?"
"Somethin' wrong with that?" Haru asked.
"Oh, nothing is wrong," Yasuo replied. "Or, at least, I'd rather not say something so negative. It's just that I have no real interest in changing, is all."
"How come?" Naoko asked. "Do you not want to swim?"
"Not particularly, no," Yasuo answered. "I think it would be much better for all of us if I were to focus on helping everyone else have a good time."
"I don't get it," Ishi replied. "You don't care about having fun?"
"Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far," Yasuo replied.
"I say he should be able to abstain from swimming if he wishes to," Bankei weighed in. "I myself would rather not do something as immodest as change into a swimming outfit. However…" Bankei put on a sly expression as she turned towards Mine. "That won't be a problem for you, will it, dear?"
"Oh?" Mine responded nervously. "Um, I guess not."
"Good," Bankei replied happily. "Then you can swim for the both of us."
"Swim...for the both of us?" Mine repeated back.
"Yes," Bankei said, an odd smile on her face. "You can swim, and I can watch you. I can even suggest things to try doing while you're in the water."
"That, uh, sounds…" Mine began, looking increasingly uncomfortable, a fact that Bankei seemed to not be bothered by. "...That sounds okay, I guess. Sure."
"Lovely," Bankei beamed. "This should be quite fun. You'll be able to show everyone how dexterous you are...and I'll be watching with utmost attention."
"Heh," Ishi chuckled. "I'm pretty sure I read a doujin about this once."
The "Wait, what?" that followed came from both Ishi and Mine simultaneously. Bankei, on the other hand, was none too pleased. She gave Ishi a glare that gave Naoko pause. It had a bit of an...ominous undertone.
"Don't worry about her, Mine," Bankei said, relaxing her expression and turning towards her again. "She's just a troublesome girl that doesn't know how to control her basest desires." Her expression shifted again to a warm smile as she brought her hands together. "Now then, Mine, dear, let's remove those pretty clothes of yours, shall we?"
It wasn't long before the group decided to stop with the chatter and actually get to the festivities. Even without taking into consideration the Lita-22 situation, people seemed to not be in the best state of mind. There had already been an altercation, after all. Actually enjoying the party for what it was seemed like it was simply the logical thing to do.
Changing wasn't much of an issue, at least not for the boys. Naoko didn't really know how things were going in the girl's changing room. If he were, perhaps, just a little bit bolder, he might've tried to sneak a peek at the girl's changing room. But, well, it'd be quite the invasion of privacy, wouldn't it? Besides, getting kicked in the groin just wasn't something that was high on his priority list.
But hey, for the boys? No issues. Naoko was able to find himself a nice pair of swimming trunks that fit him, and were in red to boot. Eryu ended up wearing something pretty similar, but blue, and Haru...well, it turned out that he wasn't kidding. Before long, Haru had ditched his normal outfit, and replaced it with a black speedo, with some white trim. It didn't leave much to the imagination, and Naoko avoided focusing on it for politeness' sake. It wasn't like he was the one Naoko had been feeling rather lustful thoughts towards.
Speaking of which, when the three boys exited the changing room, they could see that the girls had also just finished changing. Aside from Bankei, who had previously expressed little desire to change, there was Ishi, who wore a conspicuously revealing red two-piece, Mine, who wore a fairly similar white two-piece, and Yori, who wore a modest gray swimsuit. Despite its modesty, Naoko still unintentionally found himself quite distracted by it, almost enough for him to not immediately register that Kimi hadn't changed into anything.
Yasuo was also fully-clothed, but that much like Bankei, that was a given. He also seemed ready for their arrival, since as soon as they all filed out of the changing rooms he smiled, before manually switching on the music player, letting an upbeat rock song fill the room. The party had officially begun.
Things started out interestingly enough, really. Haru pretty much immediately jumped into the pool and began doing laps. Mine went in not too long after, followed by Ishi. Up on the surface, Yasuo either stood by the table or would go to offer someone a drink or snack, and was almost scarily good at doing so. Meanwhile, Kimi stayed out of the water as well, and managed to get a hold of the music player's remote quickly, and started skipping ahead on the playlist until she found a song she liked, much to everyone else's chagrin.
Naoko thought about going into the pool himself, but was stopped when he thought about an earlier observation. He was curious about something, and he wanted to make sure his hunch about it was correct.
"Kimi?"
Kimi took a break from fiddling with the remote to the music player and spun around to face Naoko, clearly displeased.
"What do you want?" Kimi asked annoyedly.
"Sorry," Naoko apologized, already kinda regretting his decision, "I didn't mean to bother you. I just wanted to ask you something."
"Sounds like bothering to me," Kimi pointed out, rolling her eyes.
"You, uh, never changed into any sort of swimwear-"
"Ah," Kimi interrupted him. "I see now. Yeah, sorry, but I don't wanna have this conversation. Stay in your lane, pedo."
Naoko took an involuntary step back, recoiling from Kimi's bitter words. "Don't call me that, please."
Kimi crossed her arms, her expression shifting to bored annoyance. "Jeez, and I thought that dumb writer girl was sensitive. How the hell did you even stand up to that big oaf? The way you're acting now, you should've shriveled up as soon as he looked at you."
"He?" Naoko asked.
"Michio, of course," Kimi answered. "The big dude. The guy that used violence to solve the last problem he'd been in. You showed him what for, and now you can't handle a little insult?"
"Um…" Naoko...didn't want to answer that question. Sure, in the heat of the moment, he was able to really assert himself, but that didn't mean he was able to just let insults roll off his back. Maybe he should just express this to her, he thought.
"I'm not sensitive," he claimed. "I just don't like being insulted. I don't know who would."
"If you say so, buddy," Kimi replied, somewhat sarcastically. Her expression suddenly became somewhat playful. "Well, tell you what. You weren't exactly comfortable answering that, so as a gesture of humility, yours truly will give you the answer you wanted in return. Sound good?"
"That sounds okay, I guess," Naoko replied, a bit skeptical.
Kimi dropped the act and sighed. "Okay, alright. I didn't change, and I'm sure you know why."
"Is it because you'd be uncomfortable wearing anything revealing?"
"Right on the money," Kimi replied. "A girl like me, in a two piece swimsuit? Around all these sexually-charged teenagers? That's a recipe for disaster, if I've ever heard one. Nobody's gonna be ogling me today if I can help it."
"Aren't there one piece swimsuits?" Naoko pointed out. "Yori's wearing one."
"None that fit me," Kimi explained. "I checked a couple days ago, before we ran into each other. A girl like me's gotta worry about modesty, or else groins will be kicked."
"If you're so worried about modesty, why don't you go and join everyone in the game room?"
"Thought about that already," she replied quickly. "I weighed my options. I've noticed three people I'm sure act differently towards me. Two of them's in there, and the other's in here. As for the 'other', she's currently eyeing up her."
Kimi pointed over to where Bankei was watching Mine in the pool with rapt attention.
"Okay, that makes sense," Naoko replied. "Sorry for bothering you."
"Eh," Kimi said, uninterested. "If it gets you off my back, then...whatever."
Naoko couldn't delay actually going into the pool for very long. It being a pool party, and him being dressed for it, it was basically a given. Naoko was by no means a masterful swimmer (He was the Ultimate Puzzle Solver, not the Ultimate Swimmer!), but given the pool's size, he had plenty of space in the pool to mess around in, even with all the other people who were in it.
Naoko stopped at the edge of the pool, grabbing at the edge with his hands and taking a moment to breathe. After moving around quite a bit and accidentally overexerting himself, he needed a breather. This was not something that he did with pride, mind you. Just a few feet away from him, Haru kicked off the edge with his feet and started doing another lap. Swimming may not have been Haru's expertise, but damn was he good at it.
Naoko stopped watching Haru when he was hit with a large splash of water that came from behind him. He turned around to see Ishi in the water behind him, grinning playfully.
"Sup, cutie?" Ishi asked with a wink. Naoko paused and gave a confused look.
"Are you…?" Naoko began.
"Coming onto you?" Ishi interrupted. "Like, maybe. Just take the compliment, man."
Naoko looked around the room for a moment. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I'm sure that this is just-"
"The Lighter stuff talking?" Ishi interrupted again. "Pfft. So what if it is? You guys have been staying behind closed doors, deciding that we all need to have fun and enjoy ourselves, right?"
"...Something like that," Naoko replied.
"So why not? I've been dealing with a lot of, like, weird feelings, y'know? I'm hoping I can actually enjoy myself, and not just wallow in gross feelings and stuff."
"I get that," Naoko responded. "Most of us have felt that way, I think. We're not in our right minds, is the problem. I think that it'd be wrong to try anything."
Ishi gave Naoko an incredulous look as she leaned back to rest her elbows on the pool's edge. "So, you're trying to be, like, a gentleman, or something?"
"...No?" Naoko replied, a bit weirded out by the question. "I just don't think I'd feel right taking advantage of someone who was drugged into being attracted to me."
Ishi actually looked like she was considering Naoko's reasoning, as she broke her gaze on him and stared off for a moment. "...Huh. I never thought of it like that. It's like if we were all getting drunk and stuff. It's, like, a consent issue."
Naoko nodded, glad he was getting through to her. "Yes, exactly."
"But, wait," Ishi countered, "what the hell am I supposed to do? Am I just gonna have to...I dunno, back off? I mean, I've been looking at you, at Mine, and even at the golden-yellow android in the game room. That's, like, a fifth of us, I think."
Naoko raised an eyebrow. "All three of us?"
"Hell yeah I have," Ishi said nonchalantly. "I don't think they're into me, though. I saw Mareo dragging around that big chick the other day. That, and uh…" Ishi stopped to look over to Mine, who was having a conversation with Bankei and seemed to look elsewhere every now and then. "Yeah, I saw what Mine was like in the locker room. Kinda a shame, really, for me."
"You're...not going to try and share gossip with me, are you?" Naoko asked.
"I mean, I just noticed that Mine was getting all hot and bothered when Yori started taking off her clothes. Like, I dunno what you two got up to in your room, but she's at least bi, right? You think I have a shot? Y'know, after this?"
Naoko found himself looking at her pretty awkwardly. "W-wait a minute. First of all, Mine, was looking at Yori? That's-"
"Ooooh ho hooo," Ishi exclaimed exaggeratedly. "I get it. We got ourselves a classic love triangle! Or...wait..." Ishi began counting on her hand. "You, me, Mine, Yori...Okay, so, like, I guess maybe we have, like, a love...square? Hang on a sec, let me think about this."
Ishi floated off, looking really confused. Naoko was just glad that he was able to let Ishi off easy. He couldn't say that he didn't sympathize with her, really. He was by no means a prude, but he felt like he didn't want to do anything that could be considered exploitative. That'd just be wrong. Hopefully there were other people there with him that felt the same way.
"Oh, I agree with you completely, Naoko."
Naoko had taken a break from swimming, dried himself off a bit, and walked over to the right side of the pool, deciding to have a conversation with Eryu, who got up from sitting on one of the folding chairs to talk. Not too long into the conversation, Naoko mentioned the conversation with Ishi, and that eventually led to him relaying the contents of the conversation to him.
"I don't want to make Ishi's situation any harder than it is," Naoko explained. "I just think that if I were to take an offer like that, especially from someone who I haven't been drugged into liking back…"
"It'd be wrong," Eryu finished for him. "I understand where you're coming from, for sure. From what I'm aware,-"
He paused for a moment to give a quick "Thank you" to Yasuo, who dexterously placed a drink in his hand.
"-there hasn't been a single instance of requited love because of this chemical's effects. I don't know if that's a coincidence, or IMONO isn't telling us something, but if an actual match were to be made, I'm absolutely sure we'd find out somehow."
"Could there be some actual pairings that are being kept secret?" Naoko suggested.
"No, we'd have found out by now. I'm sure of it."
"Really?" Naoko asked. "I'm sure that all it'd take would be for some people to wander off somewhere private together. We've been dealing with this for three days now."
"Three days? Already?" Eryu looked like he had a bad taste in his mouth. "Damn. How much longer are we gonna put up with this? I don't know if I can handle Mariko the way she is any more than I already have."
"Has she really been that bad?"
"Oh, absolutely," Eryu replied. "She's been following around, like I said. I dunno if you've seen it, but I'm sure she has. I'm damn sure she's been hoping we can be alone together so she can…Ugh, I dunno if I can handle the thought right now. Like I said before, she's like a lost puppy."
"Sounds like a harsh way of putting it," Naoko replied. "To me, at least."
"Oh well," Eryu said with a sigh. He, without looking, moved over and sat down at the nearest folding chair. As soon as he did, however, the room suddenly erupted with sound from one side of the room.
"Agh!" Ishi yelled. "What's with all the noise?!"
One look would make it obvious that the speakers were blasting out music much louder than before. The room was in a state of commotion as people turned to see the source of the burst of sound. Eryu suddenly scrambled up and looked where he had sat. The remote to the music player was on the seat.
"How did that get there?!" He yelled over the music.
"Who fucking cares?!" Kimi yelled back from the other side of the room. "Just turn it off!"
To Naoko, it seemed like everyone was looking at Eryu expectantly, himself included. Eryu grabbed the remote and tried turning it back down again. Once he was successful in doing so, the room let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Auugh," Haru groaned. "My ears, man. That fucking sucked."
"Tell me about it," Ishi added. "I didn't even know the music player had a remote."
"What are you talking about?" Kimi asked. "I was flipping through the songs on it earlier."
"Oooh," Ishi said. "That's why it was doing that."
The mood took a while to return to normal after that little incident. People were none too pleased at having their eardrums assaulted in such a manner. The music was noticeably quieter than it had previously after that, and the remote was left on the folding table from then on. It was unfortunate that something like that had to happen during what was supposed to be a fun time, but, well, it continued for a time.
Then, mere minutes later, another incident occurred. Naoko was in the pool at the time, and didn't see how it started, but he certainly heard the start of the argument.
"Oh, come the fuck on!"
It was Kimi's voice. Turning his head, he saw that she and Haru were by each other on the left side of the room, next to the folding table. Haru looked physically uncomfortable, and Kimi was livid. Possibly because Haru's drink had just spilled all over her sweater.
"What the?" Haru replied.
"Don't 'What the' me!" Kimi snapped back. "This is the second time you've done this shit! I dunno if you're doing it on purpose, or if you're really so goddamn clumsy, but you need to get your shit together!"
Haru let out an exasperated groan. "Look, kid, dial it down. It's not a big deal, and I can't just stand around and argue right no-"
"Are you trying to duck out of this?!" Kimi interrupted him. "I've been putting up with you for a week now, and not once have you even so much as given an actual fucking apology!"
This wasn't good at all. Naoko was getting out of the pool, and Mine practically leapt out of it, and began moving in. Yori was eyeing the music player, Eryu looked like he was considering joining Mine, Ishi waded in the pool, and Bankei looked on at the arguing two with an expression that was difficult to read.
"Calm down, you two," Mine said, coming up from behind Haru while giving him an angry glare. "You're making a scene."
"Hey, I'm not tryin' to," Haru replied, looking at her over his shoulder. "I'm just tryin' to-"
"You're just trying to duck responsibility, that's what you're doing!" Kimi interrupted again. "I've been having to clean up everyone's trash for 'acting up' or shit like that, and meanwhile you've gotten off scot free for being an uppity asshole! Well, I'm sick of it!"
"Kimi…" Eryu said sternly.
"Goddammit," Kimi responded. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! It's always my fault, isn't it? Well I'm sick of that shit!"
She got even closer to Haru and began jabbing a finger at his stomach with every word that followed.
"And I'm sick of you, you shithead!"
Something about this act seemed to set off Haru, because he suddenly began to look very angry and pushed her off with both hands.
"Stop that!" he shouted.
Mine, try as she might, couldn't stop what happened next in time. Kimi stumbled back a couple steps before her back hit the folding table. The legs of the folding table seemed to give way at the impact, as the folding table promptly fell back, the objects on the table flying and crashing on the floor.
The room went silent for a few seconds, only the quiet party music being heard. Eventually, Yori moved towards the scene and gave a frown.
"This is unfortunate," she stated, glancing over at Haru. "Anything to say for yourself, Haru?"
Haru grimaced, looking at Kimi, who was no less angry. "Fuck, I didn't mean for that to happen."
"But it did," Bankei noted. "I didn't think much new would happen during your little argument, but...well, here we are. It's rather inconvenient for us, isn't it?"
"Shit," Kimi swore, "I'm gonna have to clean this up, aren't I?"
"Eh-heh," Bankei laughed. "Possibly. In any case, I'll be going to the ladies' room. Hopefully, you'll all have this sorted by the time I'm back."
Bankei promptly left the room, leaving the others to deal with the situation.
"Kimi," Naoko began, "if it helps, we can help clean up." Kimi gave him an indignant look, which made Naoko's frown to droop further. "Also, um, we'll make sure Haru is punished fairly."
"Hmph. You will?" Kimi asked.
"Of course," Eryu replied. "Does that help at all?"
"A little? I mean...shit." Kimi paused to look down at herself. "It's dirty again. What the hell am I supposed to do?"
"There are some other clothes you can wear for the time being in the laundry room," Yasuo helpfully informed her.
"Okay, but what about this?" Kimi asked, gesturing to the fallen table. "You gonna do anything about this?"
"I suppose I can, but...Well, now that I think about it, we'll need more food and drink to replace what was lost. I suppose I should get some more."
Naoko turned his attention to Haru. "Do you want to help clean this up?"
"What, is it a choice?" Haru asked, confused.
"Oh, well," Naoko began, "you probably should."
"I think he definitely should," Mine quickly chimed in. "He made the mess, he should clean it up!"
"I would, but nah," Haru waved the both of them off. "I gotta take a shit."
Yasuo had already left when Haru took his leave as well, with Kimi leaving shortly after. After that, the room was not only much emptier, but also a lot less enjoyable to be in, really. Those that were left tried their best to clean up the mess that was made, cleaning up any spilled liquids with the room's many towels, and dumping the spilled food into the nearest trash receptacle.
It only took a few minutes of work, but it felt a lot longer. Once they were done, Bankei finally returned, followed soon after by Yasuo and, eventually, Haru. Even after most of them had returned, however, the mood in the room wasn't exactly all too joyous. Haru wasn't exactly happy, for one, since after getting into that scuffle with Kimi, Eryu told him he couldn't swim anymore, which made the man grumble. Naoko felt like he, Yori, and Eryu needed to talk about the situation, so he rounded them up.
"Things aren't going very well, are they?" Naoko asked.
"Things were going well at first," Eryu noted. "Then someone left the remote on that chair, and then Kimi and Haru got into another argument."
"If it makes you feel any better," Yori weighed in, "it's only been a little over an hour since we started. We still have about 2 hours to turn things around...Though that also means there's more time for things to go wrong."
"That last part doesn't make me feel any better," Eryu pointed out.
"Do you think the people in the game room are doing okay?" Naoko wondered aloud.
"Possibly," Yori commented. "They've most likely just been playing board games and such this whole time. If you'd like, you can check in on them, and see how things are faring."
Naoko sighed. "Yeah, good idea. Hopefully, things are all good."
"Well, good luck," Eryu said. "We'll try and see what we can do here to liven things up. Oh, and try and find out where Kimi is."
Naoko left the pool room, not bothering to change. He just wanted to peek into the game room, and see how things were going there. Though at the same time, he remembered, he also needed to see what Kimi was doing. She had been gone for several minutes, and it seemed like all she wanted to do was change clothes. The laundry room would be a good place to check. He stopped at the intersection in front of the pool room, and contemplated where he should go first.
Before he came to a decision, though, he heard something. It was muffled, and very quiet, but he thought he heard something going on in the music room. He was...confused. What would anyone be doing in there? He moved through the hallway, and stopped in front of the door to the music room. Before he could actually open the door, however, it swung open for him, and then…
*WHAM*
Something slammed into him hard, knocking him to the ground. He got up slowly, getting his bearings, and took note of the figure on top of him. It was Kimi, and she had been holding something, though whatever it was seemed to fall out of her hands when they connected. He looked over, and it was...a mallet?
Kimi scrambled to her feet in something of a daze and looked at Naoko in an apparent panic.
"Oh, fuck, oh, fuck," she gasped, clumsily stepping back towards the door frame.
Naoko got up to his feet in turn. "Kimi? What happened?"
He approached the door frame, and what he saw inside the room left him stunned.
The room was, for the most part, the same as it had been since Naoko last visited it. However, there were some startling new details. The main ones were around the upper right corner of the room. Next to the grand piano, there was a music stand and a chair, both of which were flipped over. And past them, moving closer, a belly-up figure could be seen. It was Sasa, whose glasses were broken on the floor, whose body seemed bruised and a bit crooked, and whose throat was blocked up by a metal flute that had been jammed down it.