Stepping Beyond the Pixels: Loves Intricate Game

Chapter Six: Caution: Wet Floor

That night you stayed up rather late, combing your mind for every minute detail that you could think of that pertained to the game's plot, and then remembered that you had homework to do, so you had to stay up even later to finish it. It was probably around twelve at night when you finally went to bed. Needless to say, if not for your mother, you would have woken up extremely late the next day. Like the morning before, your mother called for you from down stairs, and when you didn't respond she went into your room and woke you up yourself.

"Y/n, Dear, you said you needed to be up extra early today."

Your mother didn't leave until you groggily got out of bed, promising that you weren't going to go back to sleep. You couldn't even if you wanted to, not if you wanted to accomplish the plan you had for this morning. Today you needed to be at school before Yuki got there, that's why you had your mother wake you up at 7:15 a.m. You wanted to be up by seven o'clock, which is why you set an alarm for it, but you knew that you probably wouldn't wake up in time so you had asked your mother to make sure you were awake before 7:20.

It was much easier for you to get dressed and ready today than it was yesterday, no more life changing events to stump you, so you were down stairs and ready to go by 7:25 a.m. This morning your mother prepared a small breakfast for you, saying how she wanted you to at least eat something before you left. You couldn't turn down the hopeful look your mother had, so you quickly scarfed down the food and left, bringing your bento lunch this time.

Your lunch, along with a few other contingency plans, and the papers containing the layout of school were neatly packed away in your backpack. The contingency plans weren't packed with any specific event in mind, at this point you have no idea what Makino is gonna do now that she is most likely not gonna target Yuki, but you know how she thinks when it comes to her bullying methods.

The walk to school was quicker than yesterday, and since you made sure to charge your phone you were able to use the GPS and made it to school as quickly as you could. By the time you got there it was already 8:04 a.m., still plenty of time before Yuki arrived. It was very important that you arrived at school before Yuki did, the reason being that you knew how protective she tended to act towards her friends, the closeness of that friendship didn't matter. She absolutely hates bullies, and your plan involves Makino bullying you. If Yuki saw this happening then she would, without a doubt, stand up for you, compromising your plan. Makino would most definitely turn her fangs back towards Yuki if she thought of her as any kind of annoyance.

In order to keep Makino alive, you would have to become her sole target for bullying, which brings you back to your plan for today. You had to be at school way earlier than normal because Akihiko always arrived at least thirty minutes before school started. He once stated that if he could he would be there even earlier but the school's doors don't open till eight. To try and impress him, Makino also goes to school thirty minutes early.

Opening the door of your homeroom class, as expected, Makino and Akihiko were there. Akihiko was tentatively cleaning up the place, cleaning the chalk erasers, opening the curtains, and sweeping the floor. Makino was apparently minding her own business but anyone could tell that her eyes were constantly following Akihiko's figure, looking as if she was trying to muster up the courage to speak to him. At your entrance, the two of them stopped and turned their attention to you.

"Ah, good morning, L/n-san," Akihiko said. He pushed up his red, square frame glasses before saying, "I wasn't expecting to see you this early." A note in his character profile stated that he always made an effort to greet each of his classmates in the morning, using his high school experience as practice for when he takes over his father's company.

"Good morning to you as well, Fukumoto-san," you say, taking a moment to bow respectfully. "I also wasn't expecting to be this early. It's just that this morning I woke up earlier than usual and couldn't go back to sleep, so I thought I might as well be productive and get ready for school." You paused in your speech to take your seat. "I was also surprised to see that I am not the only one. Do you always arrive this early, Fukumoto-san?"