As it turns out, it was dinner time, not lunch. Somehow, our one class of the day had managed to stretch through lunch into the evening without anyone noticing. I was more or less dragged over to the meal counter, which like breakfast was set up like a buffet. I grabbed a tray and grabbed myself a few chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs.
Why chicken nuggets you ask? Firstly, they are meat, so significantly less contradictory to my actual diet. Secondly, they were easier to grab in smaller portions, and I knew they were just going to come back up later, so why waste perfectly good (for most people) food? My team and I sat at the solitary table that we had eaten breakfast at.
Fortunately, we were able to sit down and converse without the preceding drama that had been present at breakfast. While we were talking and the rest of my team was eating, a redhead's eyes flicked to me.
"Not gonna eat, Fearless Leader?" Nora asked, voice full of curiosity. Damn it Nora. Now all three of them were looking at me expectantly.
"Not hungry."
"Considering that we did not eat lunch, I find that hard to believe," Pyrrha added in.
"Jaune, it isn't healthy for you to skip meals. At the very least eat what you have there," Ren added from my right. Sure, like they hadn't missed any meals in the past few days. This was pure hypocrisy.
I looked down at my six chicken nuggets with apprehension. I slowly picked one up and put it in my mouth. Repulsive texture. I chewed. It tasted like shit. I look back up to my team. "There. Happy?"
They all continued to look at me expectantly. I wasn't going to be able to weasel my way out of this one. I steeled my nerves and repeated my actions five more times. Swallowing the last of my last chicken nugget, they were finally satisfied, and the conversation resumed as it had before, though I didn't join in. I was still recovering from my own personal hell. Once everyone had finished dinner, we took care of our trays, and returned to our dorm rooms.
The moment we arrived at our dorm, I excused myself to go to the restroom, where I lost my supper. One thorough mouth rinsing later, I returned to the dorm, finding everyone lazing about. Nora was listening to music through some pink headphones, while Pyrrha and Ren were looking over our class schedule. I figured that I should probably have a general idea of what's going on, so I walked over and joined them.
I was probably imagining it, but I felt like someone was watching me, but when I looked around, there was just Nora, still looking at her scroll, presumably searching for a different song to play. I shook it off as bad nerves and continued to go through our classes, their times, and assigned homework.
The time flew by, but, I was now confronted with a new problem: sleeping. Or rather the appearance of sleeping. In a not so surprising lack of foresight, I didn't own any sleeping garments. I didn't really have any other alternatives, so I changed into my pants and undershirt from my school uniform. I'd considered just the pants, but aura evidently healed me at a much slower rate than consumption of human flesh, because I could still see the spots on my torso where bone had poked through.
Stepping out of the dorm bathroom, everyone else was already dressed in their sleeping garments and getting ready to sleep. Pyrrha took notice of my attire, and spoke up.
"Why are you wearing that?" she asked.
The truth was the best answer to this question. "I don't have anything else.
"Then why also wear the dress shirt?" she further inquired.
The truth was not the best answer to this question. "I'm shy." It was a pathetic excuse, and I knew it, but Pyrrha let the question drop, so that was enough for me.
Each of my three teammates climbed into bed, and drifted off with various degrees of ease. Pyrrha zonked out instantly. Ren looked at Nora every couple of minutes, until he eventually dozed off too. Nora, on the other hand, appeared to fall asleep quickly, but I could smell the tension on her. She was pretending, and very good at it.
This was an inconvenience, as I had planned on spending the night further researching Remnant and practicing my reading ability. The information accumulation I had gotten from my first and only human kill on Remnant had partially revived my literacy, but it was still a struggle.
Back to the topic at hand, I didn't want to spend the night pretending to sleep so that another person pretending to sleep wouldn't notice and ask questions. Still, I had little choice on the matter. I placed my scroll on a charger, one of many that I had bought, and climbed into bed, feigning sleep, and waited.
A lot of time passed, but eventually Nora drifted off into a restless sleep. I could tell she was no longer conscious by her smell. I opened my eyes and quietly reached for my scroll. Three hours. Nora and I had been pretending to sleep for three fucking hours.
There was something up with this girl. There was no way the incarnation of sugar, who appeared to be unable to be attentive to one topic for more than five consecutive minutes, was able to fake sleep for three consecutive hours. I don't honestly know what I should do about it, so I decided to just be cautious.
I returned to my current task at hand, opening the internet browser and contemplating what I should research next. Then I had an Idea. I tapped on the search bar. 'Definition of tournament'