Sweetest Flower, Darkest Desire (Part 5)

Instantly, I grab the little shit's collar and drag him to the dormitory hallway while Isami finishes counting.

We're the only two in there, and as soon as the door closes, I push him away from me, causing him to stumble.

"I'd know that conniving ass personality anywhere," I glare, clenching my teeth at the sight of him. "You're not fooling anyone, Kuro."

Kuro(?) looks at me with concern, still seemingly trying to replicate Shiro's personality. "T-Takahashi, no, it's me, I p-promise…"

I roll my eyes. "Really? This again?" I scoff. "You're not a very good actor, leave that to D-Lister. And you're not a good liar either, leave that to Ritz Crackers and Soba noodles. Point is, you may think you're this sneaky little asshole but I can see right through your charade. Trying to steal Dory's notebook? Yeah, how very Shiro of you."

Kuro(?)'s face turns red, and just as I think I got him to drop the charade, his eyes suddenly begin to water. "T-Taka, I'm sorry, but please believe me! I-I would usually never do something like that, but l-look! Here's p-proof…"

I raise a brow as Kuro(?) digs into his pocket and pulls out an all too familiar card. He shakily hands it to me and I read it.

ROLE: Mischievous Thief

TASK: Must steal Isami's notebook by the end of day 3.

Well shit.

I look him over. Beady teary eyes, clammy skin, a tense jaw…

…

"Shit, I guess you're Shiro after all." I sigh, handing the card back. "...My bad."

Shiro sighs in relief, putting his card back in his pocket and nodding. "I-it's no problem…I understand how my a-actions could look l-like Kuro's…"

"That's why you suggested Hide and Seek." I realize. "So you could steal her notebook in secret."

Shiro nods. "Only now…"

"I wasted your opportunity…" I finish, lowkey feeling a little bad. "I'll, uh, help you get another chance another time…"

Shiro shakes his head with a small smile, glancing at his hands. "I-I think I can do it on my own. I've been feeling so much s-stronger, lately. Like I don't n-need Kuro to protect me anymore. Don't you t-think my stutter is getting better too? And I-I'm talking to more people…I m-mean look at us right now! I-I could have never had a full c-conversation with you when we first m-met.

You honestly t-terrified me…You and everyone else…

But now, I f-feel like I'm becoming more confident. I still have a w-ways to go, but I don't want other p-people to help me any more. I think I can d-do it on my own!"

The look on Shiro's face is one I don't think I've ever seen before. A mixture of determination and pride, the Ultimate Occultist really does look different from when I first met him. He's still a meek little bitch who t-talks l-like t-this, but it's a vast improvement from Mr. Panic Attack every five seconds.

I look him over, his cheerful expression getting my gears turning. "You know…not that I care, but I guess I'm a little curious…just how the fuck did Kuro even come to be? Not the story he tells about being some spirit, but the real truth. Did you really need that asshole to get through your life?"

Shiro brings a hand to his cheek, presumably touching Kuro since they technically have the same body.

"Well…I-I did have kind of a hard childhood…" He starts, moving his hand away from his face and staring down at the ground. "My d-dad…he's a famous businessman. Mr. K-Kuragari…"

My eyes slightly widen in surprise. "Oh word? That guy owns one of the companies I like to buy airplane parts from."

Shiro nods. "Y-yes, my dad works in many different industries. B-but, because of me…of how 'w-weird' and d-different I am, he d-disowned me…"

Ohhh, I guess that makes sense. Shiro, the boy without a last name, actually does have a last name. Kuragari. But cause his father is a dick and disowned him, he just goes by Shiro.

"A-Anyways," Shiro continues. "I g-got teased all the time f-for my interest in the supernatural, and even p-physically assaulted.

I-I tried my best to defend myself, but to no avail. I was always just a little too w-weak. B-but then, one day, I blinked, and the people i-in front of me were on the f-floor, bleeding and bruised all over. T-that's when I met Kuro.

H-He told me he was h-here cause I was too weak, and I needed s-someone to show him not be a little, u-um, b-bitch. A-at first he scared me, but over time I r-realized his h-harsh personality was a-all to protect me. I d-don't always agree with his methods, b-but I can't help but be t-thankful for him always having my b-back."

I take in Shiro's story for a moment. Do I give a fuck? Not really. But does it kinda make me feel for the guy? A tiny bit. I'm no loser, but let's just say kids are fucking brutal when they see another kid being so obsessed with something. And cause of my love for airplanes…

…

I guess I have a little bit of a newfound respect for Shiro. I always just saw him as a fucking wimp loser bitch, but maybe he's just a loser like everyone else.

I sigh. "Well, like I said before, I'll help you steal Isa-"

"Steal my what?"

Shiro and I scream, jumping away from the door at the sight of Isami, who looks at the two of us curiously.

"Steal my heart?" She asks, approaching Shiro and putting her hand in his. "I thought you'd never ask."

Fucking gross.

"You caught us, can we go?" I groan.

"You can." Isami nods. "But I want Shiro to myself for a little while longer."

Before I see anything that'll scar me for life I escape the dormitory hallway.

A few hours later, we're all gathered in the common room lazing around on the couch. There's absolutely nothing to do in this fucking place besides reading some of the books from the library or playing with the arrows in the ballista room.

I look around at my five other teammates…

And realize maybe there is something I can do.

Being the Ultimate fucking Pilot, I'm used to holding a fuck ton of information in my head. You don't exactly have time to look at your notes when you're in the middle of an emergency while piloting your aircraft.

Cause of this cool as fuck skill, I'm going to start a list in my head of my teammates tasks, which might prove to be useful later on.

I look to Shiro, the only one whose task I know for certain. The occultist is cuddled up next to Isami; although it looks more like Isami is forcing him to stay down in his chair as she squeezes him in an embrace. He must steal Isami's notebook by the end of day 3.

Then of course, there's Isami, who was willing to tell me her task. I don't know exactly what it is, but if I had to guess, it must be related to how weird she's acting with Shiro. The strange thing is, it seems she only displays this behavior around Shiro and no one else. Is Shiro apart of her task like Isami is in his?

Next to Morticia and Gomez is Fran, who is staring at the ceiling in silence. Huh. Wannabe Lara Croft is usually more upbeat and energetic, but lately she seems drained of her energy. Is it cause she's separated from the other two people that make up her polymarous lesbian love affair? One of which will not be coming back to her. Or is it something else?

After Fran I turn to Jackass, who seems to be bothering Akumu who's sitting next to him. What's his fucking deal? I'm supposed to be the douchebag here, but Jack has been a fucking dick lately. If someone here kills someone else I hope he's the victim.

Abracadabra is probably the only one here who seems most like himself - still annoying cheerful as ever. Given he's separated from D-Lister, I'm honestly a little surprised. The only thing slightly off about him is a troubled look on his face every time someone mentions D-Lister. Like he's worried about him or something. Does he know something we don't?

I close my eyes, wracking my brain of every possibility I can think of for my teammates' tasks. I need to be vigilant and on guard considering my task; and if I think even one of these assholes is willing to commit murder to forego their task - I need to be on top of things.

There's only 12 of us left in this killing game, and Monokuma is clearly trying to thin the herd. From 20 to 12, we'll be almost half of what we were when we originally got here. These tasks are going to kill a lot of us fast - if I can't figure them out.

If I can…

Maybe I can help these losers.

After a little while longer of sitting around and eating an ungodly amount of apples, I decide to take a stroll around each room. Every room is boring and the same, but what catches my eye are two things in the ballista room.

Jack is exploring this area with Fran, each one looking at a different thing. I approach Jack first since he's investigating the more interesting of the two things.

"The hell did this come from?" I ask as I walk up to him.

Jack shrugs. "It's probably always been there, but was covered by this shelf holding extra arrows." He says, motioning to a broken shelf on the ground surrounded by a number of arrows.

Jack's standing in front of a window - which displays the setting sun coloring the sky a bright orange.

"I guess it's nice to have more windows to look out of than just our room." I nod.

"Yeah, and get some fresh air too." Jack says suddenly, pushing the window open. "Here, get some." He adds, shoving me out of it.

"GAH!" I scream as I begin to fall out, but luckily someone pulls me back. My heart racing, I turn to see Jack laughing in my face.

"What the FUCK are you thinking?!" I scream at him, my face burning hot with rage. Who the fuck tries to kill Jirou Takahashi?!

(Actually, scratch that. Apparently a lot of people do.)

"Oh c'mon, it was just a joke." Jack claims, rolling his eyes. "What? Are you going to do something about it?"

…

…

…

Jack's face is the utter expression of snarky and I realize that it's like looking into a mirror. An asshole who's an asshole for no reason at all. When I got here, my behavior was just like it's always been my entire life: vulgar, rude, and brash.

"Fuck me..." Sunrise groaned. "This shit's annoying..."

"We're all going to do our part to help," Scarlet frowned. "I don't see why you have to complain about every minor inconvenience."

"Fuck off," Sunrise rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Hey, back off," I quickly intervened. "You don't have to be a douchebag when she's just stating the truth. You've been complaining this entire time."

"Why the hell are you talking for her?" Sunrise sneered. "Are you her puppet master or some shit?"

"No, he's just not a roach like you," Scarlet answered. "Some people here actually want try to be friends with each other instead of pushing other people away with their awful personalities."

Sunrise simply rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever, I could care less about the opinion of a stripper." What a fucking dickhead, modern dancer isn't a codeword for stripper...

"Remember, breaking a rule results in a painful injection of Despisocide..." Sunrise commented.

"Is that a threat?" Sage inquired, setting down his sketchbook and glaring at Sunrise.

"No, it's a promise." Sunrise answered with a smirk.

Sunrise opened his eyes and he instantly glared at Scarlet. "What do you want? You should be working, not fooling around."

"I have been working," Scarlet yelled. "We all have. Meanwhile, you've been sitting down doing nothing but barking orders!"

Sunrise rolled his eyes. "I've been doing nothing but barking orders, huh? I guess personally getting all these supplies doesn't count as something..." He said, gesturing to all the supplies Monokuma had given him.

"Oh, please," Scarlet scoffed. "That took five seconds. We've been setting up for hours. We deserve a break!"

Sunrise stood up and faced Scarlet, his face inches from hers. "If you want a break, then fine. Be my guest."

"You don't tell me what to do!" Sunrise screamed back. "I'm the leader, not you!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't be the leader, anymore." Sage yelled. "It's almost a week since you've made yourself leader. I think it's almost time for impeachment!"

Sunrise rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, I'll just get to Monokuma before you do and make myself leader for another week. And then a week after that. And a week after that. A week afte-"

Sage pushed Sunrise, to which everyone stopped talking, watching the scene with wide eyes. "...If you refuse to be impeached, then perhaps assasination is a better route."

Sunrise's eyes widened. You could tell he was seething with anger and rage.

Sunrise raised his fist, and he quickly moved it towards Sage's face until...

"AHHHHHH!" Someone screamed.

I also thought about Shiro and I's conversation from this morning about growth and character development. Becoming a better person after all we've been through on this ship.

Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in acting all kumbaya with everyone and becoming overly cheerful and hopeful like D-Lister, Abracadabra and Koko Puffs. However, I don't have it in me anymore to call people strippers or punch them in the face.

I developed this personality of mine at a young age as a defense mechanism. To protect myself from bullies and people who could hurt me. You don't need to worry about being bullied or pushed around if you yourself do the bullying first.

But is that really ok?

Spending time with these people hasn't changed who I am at my core - but it has made me reevaluate what's truly my personality and what I've just made up to defend myself.

I've kept my guard up this entire time on the HFH Enterprise. Maybe it's time to finally lower it.

Just a little bit.

Being a nonchalant douchebag is cool and all - but when you're being a complete fuckhead for no reason to someone who's supposed to be your friend, that's when you become unlikable as hell. And looking at Jack act like this makes me think this is how probably a lot of my classmates view me…

I took a deep breath, using all my willpower not to sock him in the face. Then I turn around, and walk towards Fran.

"W-what?" I can hear Jack call, slightly surprised. "You're not going to do anything?"

I ignore him.

"H-hey! I'm talking to you!" He continues. I keep walking.

From my own experience, when someone's being an unreasonable instigator; sometimes it's best to just walk the fuck away from them until they cool off.

Fran is investigating the wall in front of the targets, which has unfortunately been the victim of being hit by a few arrows.

Some of the arrows were shot with so much force that half of them are sticking out of the wall.

"This walls built pretty fucking weakly." I comment as I try to pull one out - to no avail.

Fran laughs. "That or maybe these arrows are just really, really strong."

"Either way, it wasn't the brightest idea to build a weak ass wall like this." I frown, observing the wooden wall in its entirety.

Fran turns towards the ballistas, then back to the targets. "The only thing I can think of is maybe whoever built this room took into account that people were probably going to misfire and accidentally hit the wall instead of the target. So, rather than making a super strong wall like the rest of the castle, they just decided to build this weak, unsightly wall instead.

"You might be right." I nod. "Either way, this room has probably got to be the only 'fun' room in this fucking castle."

Fran sighs dejectedly. "You are right. There really isn't much to do. The weird thing is, you would think there would be. I mean, the common room is plenty big, right? But it's built with such a disregard for the use of the space! There's practically an entire half section of the wall unused: no doors, decorations, or anything."

She's right. It's like whoever built the common room only built half of it - the other half is empty and boring.

Fran yawns, causing me to raise a brow. "I know it's almost nighttime, but are you really that tired?"

Fran blushes, averting my gaze and turning away from me. "I-I have had a hard time sleeping…" She claims. "With, you know…Eve and all…"

Hm.

"Liar." I call her out, causing her to gasp.

"H-hey! That's a pretty messed up thing to call someone a liar for!" She says, putting her hands on her hips.

"Tch, I know." I roll my eyes. "Which is why I'm confident you're a fucking liar. You're too good of a person to trauma dump on anyone else. You'd rather sit there and smile than admit what's really going on in your head."

Fran bites her lip and finally sighs, looking defeated. "Fine…you were correct. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you, but please do not tell the others. It makes me a bit unnerved divulging secret information."

I look at her strangely before I see her hand reach into her pocket, which is when I realize what must be keeping Fran up at night.

She pulls her card out and hands it to me.

ROLE: Righteous Archer

TASK: Must not sleep until after the end of day 3.

"Damn…" I say, handing her the card back. "That's fucking rough."

Fran nods with a small smile. "Right…so it's not that I've had trouble sleeping: I can't get any sleep at all until after day 3. I know the human body is capable of going that long without rest, but it's still proven to be exceptionally difficult."

"I definitely wouldn't want to be in your shoes, that's for sure…" I mumble. Then I clear my throat as Fran glares at me. "But like you said, it's possible. Stay strong, ok? We don't need to lose anymore smart people. Leave the dying to Seizo, Koko, or Mari this time around."

"Your incredibly rude comment aside…" Fran rolls her eyes. "Did you just call me smart?" She smiles.

I walk away from her.

"Hear ye, hear ye! The sun has risen up to the sky, and now the moon has decided to take a nap! Welcome to a new night. Team Dawn, please proceed to your rooms to get some rest. Team Dusk, you may exit your rooms two minutes after this announcement and begin your day. Good day and good night!"

The announcement was not my alarm; I had already been awake for about an hour before it sounded.

I couldn't help it. I have an overwhelming sense of anxiety about my current situation…

I moved away from the group and sat down on the last step of the staircase. Turning over the envelope in my hands, I ripped it open and pulled out the small piece of paper.

ROLE: The Dark Wizard

TASK: Must be the only male student uninjured by the end of day three.

What the…

First of all, Dark Wizard? I'm supposed to be the hero!

Second of all…how the hell can I guarantee that?! Every other male student has to get hurt besides me? I don't know how Monokuma expects me to guarantee their injury without-

Oh.

Ohhh…

FUCK!

I figured out how to complete my task: injure the other male student's myself. I've already gotten both Norikazu and Takahashi, however…

Jack, Akumu, and Shiro/Kuro are all untouched from my wrath. And the thing is, I literally can't touch them! I'm in Team Dusk, while they're all in Team Dawn. Not only are we in different parts of the castle, but we're awake at different times too.

I think today is technically our day 2? Which means I have the rest of today and tomorrow to think about how to hurt the male students of a team I won't see until after day 3.

Monokuma wouldn't make any of our tasks impossible…right? I mean there's Koko's starvation task, which in hindsight sounds totally impossible, but really isn't with perseverance and strength.

Then there's my task: hurting all the males except myself, which in and of itself is difficult, but then that coupled with the fact that I can't even come into contact with certain men for the duration of our time at Castle de Monokuma makes it seem completely impossible. But that just can't be the case! I need to start wracking my brain and figure it out. Monokuma is a cruel tyrant who bestows motives onto us meant to arouse distrust and lead us to kill each other, but one thing he's always been is fair in his punishments and rules. He isn't going to give one person an easy task that they can surely complete without batting an eye, and then another person a task that can't be completed.

I just have to figure it out…

My only problem is…

I have the IQ level of a computer mouse.

"Good morning…er, evening, Seizo." Leonia is the only one in the hallway when I exit my room. She looks as stoic as ever, but I have sensed a slight shift in her since we got to Castle de Monokuma. Spending more time with the 'Divine Priestess' has made me quite the fan of hers.

"Good morning, Leonia." I greet with a smile. "How'd you sleep?"

Leonia sighs softly, putting a hand on her forehead. "I slept alright I suppose, however…" She looks uncomfortable and I feel like I know what's troubling her…

"Is it…your task?" I ask quietly. Sharing tasks isn't necessarily forbidden but in certain cases could be dangerous. Someone could easily exploit someone else's task, like kissing Koko with a piece of candy in their mouth and causing her to break her task.

Leonia pauses for a moment. She looks me up and down, presumably gauging how much she can trust me. After a few more uncomfortable seconds of undressing me with her eyes, she nods. "Alright…yes. My task is this."

She reaches her hand in her pocket for the ever so sacred role card, and hands it to me.

ROLE: Divine Priestess

TASK: Must reveal secret information about a deceased classmate by the end of day 3.

My eyes widen in surprise and I hand the card back to Leonia. That's…

"An interesting ass task." I say bluntly. "But one that I don't really know how you can fulfill…I mean, we're not even onboard the ship which is where you might find info. We're in this stranger castle that doesn't seem related to the HFH Enterprise at all."

"Precisely." Leonia nods in a dry tone, probably already knowing full well of her situation. "Yesterday, I tried to search as many of the rooms as I could, but to no avail. I fear there isn't enough time, either. We do have 3 days, but we're only allowed about 12 hours of exploration. 12 hours sounds like a decent amount of time, but when you're trying to find a singular shred of evidence about someone who is no longer with us, it really isn't that long at all."

Leonia has been more vulnerable than ever with me, and has shown an expression of worthy that the New Yorker has not displayed before. Not only is she smart, but she doesn't seem like the type to betray someone easily…

"Not to sound like Jack, but how about we make a deal?" I smile, holding a hand out. "I help you with your task, and you help me with mine."

Leonia raises an eyebrow questionably at me, glancing at my task. "Oh? But I don't even know your task."

I wave my hand. "C'mon, c'mon, the deal's expiring soon…"

Leonia frowns, looking at my hand, than at my sly expression. Reluctantly, she puts her hand in mine and we shake.

"Perfect." I beam, proud of my success.

"So, what is your task?" She questions, a hand on her hip. I reach into my pocket and hand her my role card with no hesitation.

"WHAT?"

For 'breakfast', Norikazu has stepped up to the plate yet again! Is his task cooking for all of us?

"This is really delicious, Nori." Clara comments, munching on some seaweed rolls. "Where did you learn how to make this?"

Norikazu smiles. "Thank you, Clara. My family and I once had the opportunity to visit Korea for a press tour involving a novel I helped to illustrate. There, we tried these absolutely delectable seaweed rolls and I just had to ask the chef how he was able to make them."

"You?" Mari snorts. "Asking about how something was made and in turn complimenting the chef? I'm surprised you didn't complain about how the food wasn't aesthetically pleasing enough!"

Norikazu's eye twitches. "Never. I greatly respect every chef and cook and believe their craft to be one worth complimenting. After all, food is a type of art."

Koko giggles, sneakily handing her seaweed rolls away to Mari. "That isn't true, Norikazu! Remember, I think it was about the fourth day on the ship? I made breakfast for everyone and I accidentally spilled a little syrup on your notebook. That's when you called me an incompetent child who is good for nothing!"

Norikazu's eye continues to twitch. "Ah, did I say that? I apologize, I must've been in a terrible mood that day. After all, we had just been told the only way to escape a situation we have no idea why we got into is to kill each other."

"Oh, remember when Hiiro made us all coffee and Norikazu burnt his tongue so he suggested for Hiiro to 'learn how to do his own job' right?" Clara adds with a chuckle.

His eye keeps on twitching like the Disney channel movie. "That was a joke, of course…Hiiro and I had that type of relationship."

"Really?" Leonia raises a brow. "I can't seem to remember you two having any conversations at all."

"Yeah, the only ones out of the 20 of us that you tolerate enough to hold a conversation with are Isami and Shiro." Mari rolls her eyes. "Even I'm not that much of a bitch." ("Yeah, you talk to everyone, it's just the way you talk to us that makes you 'that much of a bitch'..." Clara mumbles)

Norikazu swiftly stands up from his chair with a pained smile on his face, almost like he's forcing it. "I'm going to take a bath! I heard that although the lye soap is dangerous, it's pretty sudsy! BYE!"

The blonde boy leaves in a flash, running into the bathing room.

We all look at each other confusedly and Mari shrugs.

"Wonder what his problem is."

After 'breakfast', I start investigating for Leonia. She takes the kitchen (one of the bigger rooms in the castle), while I knock out the most unsettling room in this place…

Inside the ritual room (in which the signature creepy tune rings out as soon as I walk in), I'm quite surprised to find Clara again.

"Liked it so much the first time?" I chuckle, walking up to the dancer.

She quickly turns around and smiles as soon as she sees me. "Seizo, you scared me!"

"Sorry," I nervously smile. "But then again, I think anyone doing anything in this room would scare you."

"You got that right…" She sighs, sitting down on one of the pillows, motioning for me to sit down next to her, which I do. "Still, no one ever comes to this room. It's nice to get away from all the chaos once in a while. Mari's…personality, Koko's whining, Leonia's strange attitude as of late, and Norikazu's overly cheerfulness. Um, no offense to any of them…"

"Hey, I wasn't included in that list…" I smirk.

Clara rolls her eyes but smiles. "Oh stop it…you know I view you differently from the rest…I mean…you were going to be the person I used the Savior Perk on."

My smile falters and my eyes widen slightly. "R-Really? I didn't know you had it planned out…"

Clara nods, her smile growing bigger. "Mhm. I had it all figured out. I was going to kill Takahashi, fool everyone, and win the class trial. Then you and I would leave this place. Together."

She scoots closer to me. "Back then, our names were Scarlet and Crimson, which totally go together, don't you think?"

The expression on her face is one I know well: an obsessed fan with a Flitter and Monstagram account dedicated to my life (or like some crazy stalker, like the famous paparazzo who gets just a little too up close and personal, Tasumi Endoscopy or something)

But Clara has never stricken me to be that kind of girl. I mean sure I think there's always been some ~tension~ between us (to be fair, I think there's tension between me and everyone on the ship; it's hard for there not to be when you look like me), but I always thought she was too independent to ever act on it.

"Y-You're right, they do kinda go together," I blush, starting to feel a bit flustered at the sudden mood in the air. "B-but still, that's the past, right? You never even ended up killing him…"

Clara nods, glancing at the ceiling. "True, true…but…I still think about it sometimes. What it would be like if you and I had gotten a chance to get out of here. We'd be much happier, plus we'd get the chance to do so many things together. You told me you're an awful dancer, right? Well I would've loved to show you a couple dance moves…in more ways than one."

That's when my face began to burn hotter than Hiiro's ashes, as Clara moves herself even closer towards me. It feels nice to have this much attention, but it all feels so sudden! I don't even have protect-

"Seizo, when we get out of here…do you think we could…um…talk? Like, more than just about the things we talk about in here?" Clara bats her eyes at me, slowly reaching for my hand and holding it.

"I-uh-er-um-ugh, y-yes! S-Sure!" I nod enthusiastically.

She smiles. "Good…um…do you think it'd be too soon if we started…now?"

"I, uh, don't see why not…" I nervously answer, sweat forming all over my body as anxiety spreads through me. "But, um, h-how do we start?"

"Like this." She smiles, pulling her face towards mine.

And planting a big fat smooch on my lips.

A/N: Sis isn't going to be happy :ralph:

THE OBLIGATORY FILLER CHAPTER

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Next chapter.