EXITronpa ; Escape, Exit, Elucidate!

[5] Fun & Games.

Waking up felt like a chore.

Well, sorta everything was now... I groaned a little as I went to rise out of bed, tiredly going to grab the comb on my bedside table and beginning to brush my hair with it. It was pretty messy from the night's sleep and I intended on going to breakfast today.

I didn't check the time until I had finished brushing to realize it was still fairly early in the morning. I knew it would be a little while until everyone would be there, spending the time wisely by heading into the bathroom of my room and washing myself up to get myself ready. I slipped on my jacket as I looked around a little before stepping out of my room and walking down the hallway of the dorms.

I watched as Loser was heading out of his dorm, yawning a little and messing with his sunglasses, and beginning to walk to the cafeteria. Hm, might as well. I went to approach him, intrigued. "Hey, Loser!" I called over to him. He jumped a little after I had called him, turning over to him. "Huh? O-Oh. Hey Pencil.." He waved a little, smiling. I grinned a little at him. "Heading to get breakfast?" He nodded. "May I join you?" I nudged him a little, watching as he looked to the side. "Oh? S-Sure! Come on, now." He went to go and lead me to the cafeteria, myself following close behind him. We both had approached the cafeteria after a short walk, as we all said our goodbyes and parted. I went to look around, relieved to see everyone alive and eating. I went to join Ruby as she was sharing a waffle with Dora. 

Ruby turned over. "Oh, hey Pence!" She eagerly said, going to shove her half of the waffle in her mouth. Dora let out a small giggle as she was nibbling a little at her waffle, before looking up and waving at me. I waved back at the both of them, making my seat. "Sup, what are you both up to?" 

Dora shrugged. "Oh, nothing... I was planning to go and play in the arcade with Ruby today." She informed me. I nodded. "Oh, sure! I was planning to investigate the place. I might go and join you guys later today?" Ruby gave finger guns, chewing down her waffle. "Sure!" She said through her muffled voice, probably spitting out chunks of waffle as she spoke. Dora gave a small smile, flinching a little over Ruby talking while she was eating. "Finish eating before you do that-!" She exclaimed a little

I nodded, going to get up. "I'm gonna go get a glass of water and then head out to check around the place. Kay?" I spoke, the other two nodded as I looked around a bit to see how everyone else was doing. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. I headed into the kitchen, going to grab a glass cup and going to pour the contents of a water bottle inside of it. I put away the bottle of water before turning around and nearly dropping my glass overseeing Gelatin. 

That little shit scared the fucking daylights out of me...

"W-WH- Oh.. It's you.." I growled a little. "What the hell do you want?" I raised an eyebrow, frowning as I was trying to leave the kitchen. Gelatin smiled, shrugging. "Oh, can I not get a snack?? I'm just hungry~" He teased a little, brushing past me and going to look through the fridge. "Hmm.." I rolled my eyes, not saying anything as I took a sip of my glass and left as soon as I could. 

I looked around, counting them in my head... 

5.. 

Wait, 5? 

That's not right.. There are currently 8 of us alive and I'm one of them.. Gelatin's in the kitchen so... I noticed Liy was missing from her seat, with half-eaten pancakes from the moved seat. I was a little worried, wanting to check up on her. I hadn't talked to her in forever and she's been really off lately. I rubbed the back of my head as I drank my drink and I went to leave the cafeteria and tried to think of the possible places she could be. 

After a bit of trial and error with my thoughts, I had an idea that she could possibly have been in the library investigating more of her talent. To my surprise, she actually was in there. Liy was sitting in a chair, her legs on the library table as she was invested in reading a book. I worried had finished my drink, walking over to the table she had been sitting at and putting down my empty cup. "..Liy." I frowned as she didn't respond. 

"Liy," I said, a bit louder and firmer. I had a feeling she was ignoring me now.. I hesitantly went to approach her, going to grab the book she was reading out of her hand and glaring at her. "LIY!" She nearly fell back, surprised over the book being snatched out of her hands as she looked over at me. 

"What."

"Why are you ignoring me?? I just wanted to check up on you." I felt a little hurt, holding my arms. 

"..I'm busy." She rubbed her eyes a bit, going to stand from her seat and put her hands on her hips. "I have my own things to do. I don't want to talk, Pencil."

"...B-But.. You're worrying me, Liy. Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes.. Pencil, why are you worrying so fucking much?"

"B-Because.. I ca-"

"If you cared, you'd leave me the hell alone!" She snapped at me angrily, before going to snatch back her book and walk back to read.

"..." I looked away a little. "P-Please at least do something with the rest of the school sometime.. You can't just stay away from everyone else forever." I murmured before walking away. I didn't want to look at her anymore.. I felt things had changed.

She had changed.

The idea hurt me inside.. I didn't want to lose her. I didn't want to let go. I felt so goddamn weak and useless against everything that was happening to the point it was driving me insane. The talk was quick but painful. It felt like hundreds of needles were piercing my heart and I felt like I wanted to just snap and..

God, I hate to admit it...

..Kill someone.

That was the point. Wasn't it. I was being driven insane from the lack of care anyone had at this point and I felt selfish and alone. I gripped my hands into fists as I remembered the plans Dora and Ruby had about being in the arcade.. I was hoping it'd calm me down from everything. I didn't want to be reminded anymore. I wiped the tears that were slowly trickling down my cheeks, tiredly going to the room that I knew was located on the same floor. Once I entered, I had noticed Ruby and Dora both there as they had said.

"Hey."

The two of them turned over to me, Ruby waving excitedly as Dora glanced over. The two were at a claw machine, filled with plushies. "Hi! I'm so happy you came!" She went to hug me playfully, making me nod. "Yep. So... You guys just wanna play some games in here or?" I looked over as Dora made a small wince over the plush barely missing the chute as it was dropped.

Dora nodded, sighing a little. Ruby went to let go of me as she noticed Dora finish playing. "Sure, why not?! We have the arcade to ourselves!" She confidently said. She went to run off to play one of the other machines in the place, Dora about to follow before stopping and looking at me. "Do you want to stop her when erm, it's time to eat?" She awkwardly asked, fidgeting with her hands. I nodded, putting my hands in my pockets. "Of course," I replied, watching as the two ran off.

We went to play lots of games and machines in the arcade together. There was a large variety such as pinball games, classic arcade games, and the more newer and advanced games. I never really went to the arcade to check it out, so the sight of all of this was truly amazing. 

Ruby was trying to play one of the pinball machines, grunting and having her tongue out in determination to win. "Come on.." She muttered, continuing to play against the ball. Dora and I were on both sides of her, cheering her on as she was playing. "Come on! You can do it!" Dora cheered. "Yeah!" I added on, grinning a little at how fun the experience was.

Ruby made a loud groan as she watched the last ball miss her attempts, looking at us. "Darn it.." She crossed her arms a bit, sighing. I laughed a little. "It's alright, Roobs. There's always next time." I reassured her, laughing a little with Dora. That was pretty fun, though. Ruby frowned a little before breaking into playful laughter as well. We were pretty thrilled, before hearing a growl. "Huh?" Dora looked over at us both. Ruby bit her lip, giggling a little. "Oops! That was me.. My stomach says I'm pretty hungry." She told us.

I nodded. "Sure. Let's head to the cafeteria.. I bet we can think of something super fun to do with everyone like we did here!" I smirked a little at the thought. Ruby clapped at the idea, smiling. "Ooh, yeah!! We hadn't ever done that.."

"Sounds good, come on before we're too late to eat." She went to take both of our hands as we left for the cafeteria.