DAY TWO ; 6:30 A.M.
Chihiro Fujisaki was so close to hacking in he was shaking. A few more hours, maybe two, three at the most, and he would have the collars shut down and danger zones disabled. At that moment… well, he didn't know what they'd do. He'd left that sort of thinking to Kirigiri, but he was absolutely positive that she had it all under control.
He let out a shaky breath and kept typing. His fingers were getting a bit sore, and there was a bit of tiredness pounding behind his eyes, but he kept going. He hadn't been able to sleep, and after a few snatches of sleep caught between nine at night and three in the morning, he'd decided to get back to work. He didn't know if Kirigiri knew he was awake. Ishimaru knew, though. He'd been sitting at the doorway since before Chihiro had woken up.
Ishimaru wasn't speaking. He hadn't spoken very much to Chihiro at all – Chihiro had heard him talk to Kirigiri a few times, but most of the time, he was silent. It was a little scary, but a different kind of scary than Ishimaru usually was. Ishimaru was loud, and Ishimaru's voice got angry sometimes, but now… he was so different. And instead of being scary in an overwhelming way, he was scary in a quiet way.
It was a weird way to describe it, but that was what it was.
There. Ten minute break.
Chihiro leaned back, propped his hands against the floor, and breathed out. Ten minutes, and he'd get back to it.
Ishimaru stood up and walked over to him, offering some food. Chihiro took it gratefully and devoured it within a few seconds. "Thank you," he said once he was done, looking up at Ishimaru. He looked different, somehow. Maybe his eyes were more intense, or maybe it was the strip of cloth tied around his forehead as a makeshift bandanna. Or maybe it was just the way he was holding himself. He wasn't standing with his back straighter than a ruler. He still held himself like he aspired to be the most important person in the room, but he didn't quite look so stiff.
"Is Kirigiri-san keeping watch?" he asked. He hoped that he'd get a spoken response.
"Yes," Ishimaru said. Then he turned and walked out of the room, presumably to relieve Kirigiri of watch. Chihiro sighed and glanced back at the computer. It was still loading, filling the room with a whirring sound that Chihiro only noticed if he concentrated. Maybe it was louder to other people, though – people who weren't used to computers being used to their full capacity. He could tell himself that that was why Ishimaru was acting so strange, and not because… well, not because he absolutely despised Chihiro.
Kirigiri joined him a few moments later. "How's it going?" she asked. As always with her, Chihiro felt a bit awkward.
"Pretty good," he said. Kirigiri nodded and studied him, and he shifted. "What's up with Ishimaru?"
"He killed Souda-kun," she said. "After Souda-kun killed Oowada-kun, I believe. Ishimaru-kun… he made a sort of friendship with Oowada-kun. That's as much as I know. Tell me when you're about to be done."
"Okay," Chihiro said. The computer let out a long, slow beep.
He could get back to work now.
12 STUDENTS REMAINING
I, uh, took a second look at the spreadsheet I have keeping track of stuff for this fic and I've actually got twelve remaining, not thirteen.
But other than that, yeah.