Chapter 8: Yuffie and Namine Suck at Cooking

Time of Day: ?
Weather: Foggy
Place: The Velvet Room

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," Margaret greets me. "I'm afraid Master Igor is not here today." She smirks. "Or did you perchance intentionally come here while he's out?"

I smile back. "It's called a coincidence, lady."

A card appears in blue light above Margaret's book. She opens it, and the card lands on it, bursting into a small blue light. Margaret opens the book, and on one page I see a picture of Riku, and the other, an arcana card.

"I see you have obtained yet another Arcana, the Emperor," Margaret tells me. "I wonder just how far your unparalleled Persona's abilities will evolve." She looks at me and smiles. "I daresay, you have piqued my curiosity."

The Velvet Room fades into the fog outside

June 13, 2015
Time of Day: Afternoon
Weather: Cloudy
Place: Destiny High- Rooftops

Yuffie slurps her noodles obnoxiously. "How were you even able to have hot water at school Sora?"

"I just bought a couple thermoses full 'em," I tell her. "We had a couple at my house."

Namine and Yuffie continue to talk to each other. "Psst," I look toward Roxas. "Doesn't this rock?" He asks.

"What?"

"Summer clothes!" Roxas peers at the girls.

"Seriously dude?" I ask him.

"What are you talking about?" Namine asks.

"Summer clothes!" Roxas replies happily.

Yuffie scowls. "You have a perverted look in your face."

"You do sound like a creep," I tell him. "At least try not to act like one."

"Whatever!" Roxas yells back.

"Anyway, I think we all need to watch the Reflection every night," I tell everyone. "It's supposed to be raining more frequently."

"I heard it's supposed to rain a ton," Namine says. "I hope it doesn't rain this weekend."

"Hm? Why's that?" I ask her.

"You didn't know Sora?" Yuffie asks. "It's the school camping trip!"

June 16, 2015- The day before the school camping trip
Time of Day: Afternoon
Weather: Sunny
Place: Moogle Co.- Produce Section

"So each team has to prepare their own meals?" I ask

"Yup!" Yuffie replies. "We've always been with people who can cook, so me and Namine are going to handle the cooking."

"What should we cook then?" Roxas asks.

"I was debating between a stew, or pasta," Namine tells us.

"I'd go with the stew," I tell her.

"Stew sounds good." Roxas adds.

"Anyway, what do we do on the trip?" I ask. We walk around as Namine searched for ingredients.

"We just pick up trash on the beaches and the forest in the afternoon." Yuffie grabs potatoes that Namine hand her and puts them in our cart.

"What, seriously?" Roxas asks. "No one told me that!"

"Well, the other stuff is kinda fun," Yuffie tells him. "We get to cook outside and sleep in tents by the beach."

"I'm guessing even though we're a team, girls and guys sleep in different tents. Am I right?" I ask.

"Yeah. So don't get too excited Roxas," Yuffie tells him.

"I don't know what you mean by that, but I feel like I should be offended," Roxas tells her.

"After we're done picking up trash, we get to do stuff at the beach, so it's not entirely bad." Namine puts beef in our cart.

"Sweet. Hey Roxas where are the-" I turn around and Roxas was gone. "Where'd he go?"

"Why do you need him?" Yuffie asks.

"I don't have swim trunks."

"Seriously?" Yuffie has a surprised look on her face.

"The only swimming I've done is in gym class, and they only lent us some to use. All of the places I lived at were no where near the ocean." I shrug. "Do you mind if I head off and find some to buy?"

"Not at all. With Namine helping me cook, I'm sure we'll be fine. Her family does cook for people all the time, so I'm sure they've taught her."

"By the way, what are we going to wear? I'm pretty sure that a polo shirt and dress pants aren't made for the forest."

"Oh, we can just wear whatever. Normally they'd give us something sorta like a track suit, but I think the school is being less restrictive this year."

June 17, 2015- School Camping Trip Day 1
Time of Day: Noon
Weather: Cloudy
Place: Beachside Forest- Camping Ground

"ROXAS!" I hear Yuffie scream. I track the destination of her voice and I see Roxas on the ground, foaming by the mouth.

"What happened?" I ask Roxas. He still seems to be conscious, so that's good. I think.

"Mo-mo-mos…" Roxas attempts to talk.

"What'd you say? Mosquitos?" I ask.

"W-w-w-wo…"

"Worms? Did you say worms?

"Mosquitos and worms?" Yuffie asks. "We didn't put any of those in the stew."

"What was in that stew?" I get up and lie Roxas on the table. I head toward the cooking pot the girls used to cook. I don't even want to- Ugh, oh my God. I think I'm staring into hell. The stew smells waaayyy too spicy. I take the ladle and mix the contents of the pot. It's chunky and thick like unhealthy mounds of syrup and its color alters constantly, from blood red to muddy puddle.

"Why don't you try it Sora?" Namine asks.

What did she just say? "Um, yeah sure. I'll get my bowl." I grab a bowl and head toward the pot. My hand slowly inches toward the ladle. Then it hits me. I quickly push the pot off the table, spilling its contents onto the ground. Even the ants on the ground left the area when the food landed on the ground.

"Sora, what the hell!" Namine screams.

"I'm not dying anytime soon! That shit's freaking dangerous!" I scream back.

Yuffie suddenly became interested in her sneakers. "But we put so much love into it…"

"The only love in that thing was love from Satan himself!" We hear heavy coughing from our table. Looks like Roxas came back to life. "Listen, I'm going to bring Roxas to the Medical Tent. You two, just don't make any food. None!"

I pick up Roxas, who's slowly gaining the ability to walk again, to get something for his stomach. We head toward the medical tent and I see a boy with blonde hair and a black beanie on. "Hey, can I get something for my friend here? He ate something bad."

The boy has a scowl on his face when he sees me and Roxas. He turns around and grabs a small bottle of antacids. He hands me them. "Thanks, um…" I see a name tag on his chest. Seifer Konishi. Larxene had a brother? "Thanks Seifer."

He directs his attention to his phone. "Whatever."

I bring Roxas back to the outdoor cafeteria to sit. He seems in a much better state after taking the pills. "That was Larxene's brother." Roxas drinks more water.

"Yeah, I saw his name tag."

"We talked a couple times when I was with her. A friend told me he's been alone a lot since the murder."

"Hey you guys!" Roxas and I turn to the left. We see Riku waving at us behind a tree. "Over here!" We walk towards him. "So I heard the girls nearly killed you."

"Practically, yes," Roxas tells him. "Anyway, why are you making us follow you?"

"The girls ordered food. See?" Riku points at Yuffie and Namine taking bowls from Olette.

"So Olette's place was able to bring orders here?" I ask. "So they really do deliver everywhere."

"We should probably eat up before our teachers find us," Riku says.

"Come to think of it, why are you here Riku?" I ask him.

"My teachers threatened to hold me back a year if I skipped the trip." Riku sits down and starts to eat from his bowl. "It's also super quiet at the junior tents. It's like someone died there."

"It's probably only like that because you're around," Yuffie tells him.

"I could care less. You guys are much more interesting anyway," Riku says.

"Hey Riku, do you know Seifer Konishi?" I ask him.

"Seifer, huh? Sure I know him. We used to be friends," Riku says. "We used to hang out as kids, but we grew apart."

"Is it true he's always being left out?" I ask.

"I dunno."

"How come?" I ask.

"It's 'cause I don't share any classes with him. He's a Sophomore like you guys."

"Thanks for the help." Roxas says sarcastically.

"Excuse me?" Riku asks. "Like you do much around here." Riku gets up from the ground

"You're done already?" I ask.

"I'll be back," Riku tells us. "Just don't touch my food or else you're gonna have a bad time."

About 5 minutes later, Riku comes back. And he's also dragging Seifer by the collar to us. "Riku, what the hell?! Let me go!" Seifer complains.

"Well, here he is." Riku lets go of his captive's collar, and shoves him forward. "If you want to learn more about him, just ask him directly."

"What do you mean?" Seifer asks. "If you wanted to ask me something, do it yourself and not have Riku drag me here you buncha chicken wusses!" Chicken wusses? Really?

"Well we wanted to ask you, um, uh…" Roxas tries to form a question.

"Are you being left out in class?" I ask.

"That was a bit too direct Sora!" Namine tells me.

"So?" I ask her. What's the use in delaying a good opportunity when you could just get straight to the point? I always take situations head on. Otherwise, we'd be scrapping for answers all day.

To my surprise, Seifer lets out a small laugh. "That's the first time someone's asked me that straight to my face. It's actually refreshing for a change." He crosses his arms. "It's true. Honestly, I feel left out. Even my friends Fuu and Rai are distant from me. People have always been babying me, and it's startin' to get on my nerves! Sometimes I have to skip school to keep the reporters away from my parents. It gets in the way of running the liquor store."

"I know how you feel," Namine says. "I have to do it all the time. They always come whenever there's nothing newsworthy happening."

"Yeah, same here." Seifer adds. "Sometimes when my neighbors come over to help at the shop, they always come to me. They always tell me to live my life to the fullest for my older sis. Then they start to bawl, which makes everything super awkward for me. It's suffocating."

I grab one of the food containers and hand it to Seifer. "It's yours if you want it."

"Huh? Food from the Secret Place?" Seifer asks. "You sure? That place is my favorite!"

"Hey! Those are my seconds!" Riku yells as Roxas and Yuffie hold him back.

After eating, we all headed back to the Sophomore tents. "Hey, sorry for acting like a jerk back at the medical tent," Seifer apologizes. "I feel a bit better after talking with you guys. Let's hang out again in the future."

"Sure!" I answer him.

"Thanks," Seifer tells me. "Anyway, I have to get back to the medical tents, so see you guys later." Seifer walks away.

"Sora." Roxas says to me seriously.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"We gotta catch the culprit." He tells me.

"Definitely." Everyone nods in agreement.

Later, we were told to pick up trash by the beach. This sounds like a perfect time to discuss the case! "So, Riku's incident disproved out idea that all of the victims would be women." I pick up a can and put it in my trash bag.

"Maybe we're overlooking something," Yuffie adds. "I can't really think of any other connection."

"Well we need to come up with something, anything!" Roxas says.

"Oh yeah," Riku says. "My mom told me after Councilman Eraqus got fired, he came back here and inherited his family's business."

"I heard that too," Namine says. "Isn't he a deliveryman now?"

"Didn't he have a fling with Ms. Yamano?" Roxas asks. "That's probably why he got kicked off the council."

"Didn't he have an alibi?" Yuffie asks.

"He doesn't seem like our guy." I pick up an old newspaper and throw it in my trash bag. "Anything else?"

"I actually just thought of something!" Namine snaps her finger. "Remember how Ms. Yamano appeared on the news over her affair? And Larxene was on the news as the one who found the body."

"Wait a sec, weren't you interviewed too Namine?" I ask.

"Yup." We all start to huddle in a circle so we won't be overheard.

"And Riku was on TV for beating up that biker gang!" I add.

"Yeah, what about it?" He asks.

"So that means everyone was on TV before they vanished," I tell everyone. "I don't think it was a coincidence. But why do they appear on a mirror? Why not a TV instead? It would make much more sense if the victims were shown on TV…"

"Details, Details!" Roxas says. "What matters is that we found out a way to find out who the next victim is!"

"Yeah!" Yuffie smiles. "So that means the culprit is going to go after the next person featured on TV!"

"It's highly likely," I say. "Looks like we'll need to watch both the news and the Midnight Reflection everyday. Our only problem is that we don't know what the next motive of the culprit is." We all sigh.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU GODDAMN SLACKERS ARE DOING?!" I turn to my left and I see our teacher Vexen stomping toward us. We break apart as soon as he gets close. "Quit yer yappin' and pick up the damn trash!"

Day 1 of School Camping Trip
Time: Night
Weather: Clear Skies

The tension in our tent was rising, as I, Riku, and Roxas tried to sleep. I was on one side, Roxas on the other, and Riku in the middle. Roxas and I were trying to keep as much distance as we could away from Riku.

"So do you really swing that way?" Roxas asks Riku.

"What way?"

"Considering our situation, I'd like you to be honest with us."

"No."

"There are things in this world, I wish not to try," I tell him.

"Wh-What the hell?!" Riku sits up. "I've had about enough crap from you guys! Let it go already!"

Roxas sits up. "Then why are you so touchy about it?!"

I sit up. "It does make you seem a bit more suspicious."

"Like hell it does!" Riku retorts.

"You know what they say, all good friendships are based off of honesty, right?" Roxas says.

"Sleeping next to you does take courage," I tell him.

"C'mon! I like cute things, so what?!" Riku asks. "I thought you guys accepted me?"

"Just setting some boundaries," I tell him.

"Whatever!" Riku kneels and makes a fist. "In that case, I'm going to go to the girls' tent! They have more balls than you guys!"

"For some girls, that's true," I tell him. "But, you'll get into too much trouble if you're caught."

"Don't underestimate Riku Motherfuckin' Tatsumi!" Riku charges out of the tent and heads over to Yuffie's and Namine's tent.

"What now?" Roxas asks.

I turn our lamp on and take out some cards. "Wanna play some Blackjack while we wait for him to come back?"

"It's been ten minutes." Roxas says. "I wonder how Riku is doing." At that moment, Yuffie and Namine walk into our tent.

"Hey," Yuffie says. "How's it hanging?"

"What are you two doing here?" I ask. "Actually, what happened to Riku?"

"He's probably unconsciously cuddling with a snoring Selphie," Namine says. "Honestly, she snores so loud, we could barely get any sleep!"

"The point is, we're not going back to our tent anytime soon." Yuffie tells us. "One, it's too crowded, and two, Selphie's snores are way too loud."

"If I had my my rotten shit lisht-" We hear someone slur and hiccup.

"It's Vexen!" Yuffie warns us. She turns off our light. "Hide in the sleeping bags!"

We all panic, and Roxas ends up with Yuffie in his bag, and Namine in mine.

"Roxas, you're too close!" I hear Yuffie whisper.

"Keep quiet! And don't complain, you're the one lying on me!" Roxas tells her

"Namine! You're squeezing too hard!" Namine was squeezing me like her life depended on it.

"Hey!" I hear Vexen slur. "You ashleep in there? You better friggin' answer if you're in there!"

I tried to sound as sleepy as possible. "Huh? Wha- We're asleep…"

"No you're not!" He yells at us. "Shut the hell up and go to-" He hiccups again."-sleep! Shit, I drank too much!"

Namine finally let go and I could finally breathe again. We all sit up. "So, what are you two going to do now?" I ask Yuffie and Namine. "It's not like you can go back there with him walking around."

"We'll just leave before anyone wakes up later." Yuffie separates the sleeping bags, and puts mine and Roxas' backpacks in between. "This'll be our side, that side will be yours."

"I'm fine with this," Roxas says.

"Well good night," Namine says.

June 18, 2015- School Camping Trip Day 2
Time of Day: Afternoon
Weather: Sunny
Place: Beachside Forest

"So now that we're done picking up trash for the day, we can finally go swimming!" I announce. All of us cheer except Riku. "What's wrong with you?"

"Your friend Selphie snores too much," he says. "And when she woke up, she got all clingy, saying that she finally had an upperclassman like her and all that overheard and overused, 'Senpai noticed me!' crap."

"Yeah, I'm sorry you had to go through that," I apologize. "If I had known the girls were sleeping with her, I would have just told you to sleep outside."

"Whatever."

"Anyway, let's just all dress up at that small shack over there," I point toward some small shack that was by some tree houses that were connected by wooden bridges. "The teachers said there are changing rooms there."

"In that case, see you guys later." We all split up.

5 minutes later, we all come out. Roxas has checkered trunks on, Riku's are purple, and mine are red with a fleur-de-lis.

"Woah," Roxas says. I look over at the girls. Namine has a white one piece, and Yuffie has a black two piece that has a small skirt. "You girls look great!"

"Watch where you're staring Roxas." Yuffie warns him.

"Well, he's not lying." I tell them. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to swim. Anyone else coming in, or what?"

"Yeah!" Everyone says in unison. We played in the ocean and on the beach the rest of the day.

This chapter definitely took me a while to write. I got sick, and then I had to catch up on school work. But enough about that! Thanks for reading this chapter, make sure to review the story, follow, and/or favorite!