Cover High/Pekora

Chapter 5: Cheer Up, You Goddamn Rabbit!

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Your eyes groggily open as your alarm forcefully catapults you into the waking world. The familiar sight of your bedroom ceiling helps your brain realign with reality and shake off the morning amnesia. You feel like you were just having a particularly unpleasant dream. But the specifics are already escaping you, more details being forgotten with every passing second, as dreams are wont to do. You remember being at your old school. Receiving a present of some kind. Lots of running. And...something about a duck?

Dreams are fucking weird.

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"Okay, I get it," you mutter in exasperation as you roll over and grab your phone off the nightstand. "I'm up." With a tap of the snooze button, you silence the shrill ringing. The alarm closes to be replaced by the lock screen displaying the current date and time.

Wednesday

Good grief. It feels like this week has gone on for goddamn ever, and you're only halfway through. After the mental torture that was Monday, and the endless scheming on Tuesday, you're becoming conditioned to expect school to be 'eventful' in one way or another. The sooner you can bring Pekora back to her senses and end this mess, the better. For both her and you. Sitting up in your bed, you stretch and let out a long yawn.

Alright. Let's get this show on the road.

Your morning preparations pass as they always do. Brush your teeth. Shower. Get dressed. Have breakfast. The mundane routine is oddly comforting. At least this aspect of your daily life hasn't changed. Finally freshened up, fed and ready for school, you say goodbye to your parents, throw on your raincoat, grab your umbrella and head out the door.

The weather hasn't changed much in the past 24 hours, with thick clouds still choking the skies and rainfall still soaking the ground. Puddles splash beneath your feet as you hustle along the route to school. The good news is that yesterday's torrential downpour has abated into a light drizzle. The bad news is that a stiff breeze is blowing the lion's share of said drizzle around the protective barrier of your umbrella and directly into you. Even with your raincoat absorbing the brunt of the abuse, it's not the most pleasant of experiences. But as you reach the usual hillside path lined with Yoshino trees, a snippet of conversation between two fellow students successfully steals your attention away from your impromptu second shower.

"-sabotaged by Nijisanji."

Oho, what's this now? Could it be that the rumor you and the others (mostly the others) seeded throughout the school yesterday has already sprouted? Intrigued, you slow your pace and quietly move closer to eavesdrop more effectively.

"Nijisanji? Really?"
"That's what I heard. And then as soon as it went down, they set off that explosion."
"Wait, I thought Pekora was behind that. Everyone knows she was there when it happened."
"No no, see, that's what they want us to think. She's their fall guy."
"Ehhh? Is that really true?"
"Think about it. A bomb going off less than five minutes after the ward was shut off? That timing can't be a coincidence. And who could be a better scapegoat than the school prankster? Those assholes want us to turn on one of our own while they get away scot-free."
"...I may owe that rabbit an apology in that case."

You grin to yourself in smug satisfaction. Just as you suspected, the story is making the rounds. Of course, you know full well that the whole thing is bullshit. The timing of that detonation really was just a coincidence, and Pekora really was the one behind it. But you're sure as hell not going to correct them. For once, misinformation is actually working in your favor. You wonder if this is how spies feel when they feed their enemies false intelligence.