Sleepy Time In Hope's Peak

Sleepy Time At Hope's Peak (Chapter 7)

Breakfast was in full swing in the dining room, idle chit-chat and the sound of cutlery tapping against plates and bowls permeated the air.

Kyoko silently walked into the room and sat down.

"Hey Kyoko, find anything useful?" Makoto looked at her hopefully, while chewing on a piece of toast.

"Nothing that's overtly useful, I'm afraid." Kyoko answered stoically, she knew she wasn't at her best in terms of the analytical and objective headspace that she quietly prided herself on, she was admittedly distracted and each time she let her mind wander to the reason why, she felt her cool demeanor slipping.

Byakuya had sauntered into the dining room by this point, neither of them daring to make eye contact, as they both felt like the facade would be so easy to crumble and would expose the truth amongst everyone at the table. Byakuya pulled out a chair and sat, crossing his legs. Toko started to say something before he held up his hand with a sharp "Don't."

Kyoko stirred her coffee and looked over to Byakuya, her face expressionless. He met her gaze and let it linger for a moment.
"How's your arm feeling, Kyoko?" Hina asked, spreading jam over her slice of toast.
"It's fine." Kyoko responded, "thank you for helping out."
Hina chuckled, "No problem, I'm so used to sports injuries by now, it basically becomes second nature."
Makoto looked concerned, "that's... Probably not a good thing, Hina."
Hina shrugged it off with a wry smile, before turning back towards Kyoko, "oh yeah, why were you--"

Kyoko shook her head slightly with an intense expression on her face, Hina's eyes widened and she let her words trail off, before taking a glace towards Toko, who was holding both her pigtails tightly in her hands as she stared at Byakuya.

Byakuya remained outwardly unfazed, the chatter had mostly faded into nothingness and slowly everyone started to excuse themselves from the table. Kyoko took a final sip of her coffee before standing up and making her way over to the kitchen to wash her mug.

As she held the mug under the water quietly thinking to herself when a voice behind her said "you don't let the mask slip away easily, do you?"

She placed her mug on the drying rack before turning around, loosely crossing her arms. "Almost never if I can help it. Coffee?"
Byakuya nodded, stepping closer and reaching up to the cupboard to fetch the mug he'd designated as his favourite and handed it to Kyoko, she busied herself preparing a coffee while Byakuya leaned against the counter.

"You know, the mastermind is probably having a field day with all the dirt they have on us now."  Kyoko mused, stirring the drink.

Byakuya shivered, almost as if a gust of chilly wind blew through the kitchen, "that thought horrifies me." He pondered if his family could see him and if they were disappointed watching him get emotionally entwined with someone they would probably turn their noses up at. He was also scaring himself with how much less he seemed to care about all that with each passing day.

"I'm honestly surprised Monokuma hasn't gleefully given us a hard time." Kyoko handed the coffee to Byakuya, who tentatively took a sip.
"That has confused me too. It's probably something he might regard as ammunition against us to use at the right opportunity."

"Even so," Kyoko murmured quietly, "I don't regret it. Getting to know you."
Byakuya set his coffee down on the bench-top and pulled Kyoko closer, softly kissing her, his hands tangling in her long hair, she gently reached around to embrace him.

"I knew it!" A voice echoed through the room, Byakuya and Kyoko sprung apart as if they'd been electrocuted. Red-faced and flustered, they both looked over to the kitchen door where Hina was standing, mouth agape. She pointed at both of them, "I knew something was going on with you two!"