When they gather in the dining hall for dinner later in the evening, Ichiro is in charge of cooking, while Yukiji sets the table.
"Hey, s-since when do we have new c-cups?" She asks the others.
"Who gives a shit? A cup is a cup." Maeko responds.
"I think Monokuma is trying to mess with us by changing small things." Tatsuya suggests.
Kaida nods "I wouldn't put it past him."
"O-okay, then I'll just use th-those." Yukiji tells them while preparing everyone's drinks.
After eating together, most of them go to their respective rooms or research labs. Yukiji and Ren stay back in the dining hall to clean up.
"Say, Shintani-san, why do you like cats so much?" The chess player decides to talk to the shy girl a bit.
"Th-they're cute." She answers.
"Is that really your only reason? I mean, it just seems a bit shallow." Ren places a tub in the sink to clean the dishes and fills it with water.
"W-well, I'm not really g-g-good at socializing. I j-just prefer the c-company of cats..." Yukiji admits, while getting a kitchen towel.
Starting to clean the dishes, Ren hums in agreement "That's understandable. I agree, cats are often easier to deal with than humans."
"You like c-cats, Kimura-kun?" Yukiji asks him, slightly surprised.
Said boy shrugs "I guess, they're good company and unlike dogs aren't begging for attention."
The amber-eyed girl smiles happily, which is pretty rare "I k-know right."
They talk a bit more about what they like about cats until they're done cleaning and go their seperate ways.
~*~
The next day Ren spends the entire morning playing chess against the programmed computer in his lab. Now that they don't have to be stressed out by another murder, he can spend some more time by himself to recharge. As much as he enjoys talking to his classmates every now and then, he appreciates his alone time a lot.
In the afternoon, he decides he can socialize a bit again. The only people he hasn't spent much time with are Ichiro and Aika, and it's obvious that he's not going to hang out with the latter any time soon.
He finds the power hockey star in his lab "Hello, Kisaragi-kun."
Ichiro looks up and gives him a nod to aknowledge his presence.
"I was wondering if you'd like to hang out a bit."
"Sure." The silverette responds "Do you play hockey?"
"I've only played during PE classes in middle school." Ren admits.
"That's okay, get a hockey stick and try to score." Ichiro moves his wheelchair to defend the goal.
Although a little hestitant, Ren gets a hockey stick and ball. He swings the stick and hits the ball.
Ichiro stops it with ease "On a normal field you would've hit someone in the face. You're not playing golf, keep the end of your stick below your hip. That's a rule in normal field hockey." He plays the ball back "Try again."
Ren barely manages to stop the ball and hits it again, following the rule this time.
"I see that you haven't played often." Ichiro picks the ball up "Even with a handicap, this is way too easy."
Sighing, Ren puts the hockey stick back "Say, Kisaragi-kun, are you going to apologize to Kaida for doubting her so much during the last trial?"
The power hockey star narrows his eyes "I don't see why. I had enough reasons to doubt her, you can't deny that."
'I don't think he likes apologizing...' Ren decides it's better to change the topic "Then, mind telling me how you ended up in a wheelchair?"
"Why do you want to know?"
The ravennette shrugs "Just curious."
"At least you're honest." Ichiro states "Car accident. I was walking home from school when an idiot in a car hit me. It damaged my spinal chord and I lost my ability to walk."
"That must suck." Ren mentally facepalms again 'That's all you can say? Seriously?'
"You can say that." The silverette sighs "The worst part is that the driver got away with a broken arm and car. They deserved to be paralyzed from the neck."
"I suppose you hate the driver."
Ichiro grits his teeth "Of course I do."
Ren nods "We should go to the dining hall. It's almost time for dinner."
"You're right. Let's go."
~*~
After dinner, Ren returned to his room. He let's himself fall on his bed. He notices the sheets are a slightly lighter shade of blue. Monokuma is probably trying to mess with them by changing those little details. It's not going to work.
His doorbell rings and, groaning, he gets up and walks to the door to open it.
He's met with Aika's way too bright grin "Hey, Kimura-kun!"
"Go away." Ren starts closing the door but Aika puts her foot between it.
She pouts "Why so rude? I just wanted to hang out!"
"I don't want to. Furthermore, it's almost nighttime."
"C'mon, let's break that dumb rule! It's unnecessary now that only friends are left, right?" A serious expression that doesn't really suit her flashes across Aika's face "I want to look at that book Fujioka-chan showed everyone in the library. There's something with it and you're the only one here who's got enough brains to recognize those patterns." She smiles again "Please?"
Ren sighs "Fine, but only until midnight."
"Yay!" Aika beams "Come on." She drags him to the library and takes the book from the shelf "This only gives us a list of every class of Hope's Peak Academy and the talents, but we should look at the bigger picture. There must be other books about Hope's Peak Academy or its students and I want to find them! Let's search, anything that has something to do with Hope's Peak Academy is good!"
Thus they begin their search. After an hour or so Ren has finally found something related to Hope's Peak Academy, a novel written by a student, Fukawa Toko. He reads the title 'So Lingers the Ocean', a romance novel.
"Found something." He announces.
"Oooh, So Lingers the Ocean, huh?" Aika questions "I read that one. The romance is a little predictable, but despite that it's really good!"
"I'm not even surprised. I guess you live up to your talent, huh?"
"Tee-hehe, why thank you." She smiles "But it's true, I can spot a good couple from a mile away. I even managed to help my brother get a girlfriend!"
"So you have a brother?" Ren asks while walking towards another shelf.
Aika plops down on a desk and flips through the book's pages "Yup. He's kinda like you, but less of a stick in the mud."
"Thanks." Ren says sarcastically.
"You're welcome~"
They don't find any clues and when it's midnight Ren decides it's enough and they return to their rooms.
On their way they come across a terrifying scene. Tatsuya is lying on the stairs, blood drippling from his mouth.
"Yano-san, get at least one more person, I don't care who. I'll watch the crime scene." Ren orders.
"Yes!" Aika beams and dashes up the stairs.
Ren kneels down to check for a pulse. He's just placed his fingertips on Tatsuya's wrist when Aika arrives, dragging Ichiro and Yukiji with her.
"What the-" Ichiro stops mid-sentence while Yukiji just screams.
Bing bong, dong ding!
"A body has been discovered. Please assemble at the staircase on the ground floor."
Renfeels, not a heartbeat, but the cold that's started to set in.
YOU ARE READING
Living Danger
FanfictionWhat are you going to do when you're locked up with your fifteen classmates in a building and the only way out is by killing one of them? This is the question the students of the 94th class of Hope's Peak Academy have to ask themselves when they're...
