Amidst The Dissonance

A Day to Forget

"Wait, you don't have an Ultimate talent?" Shuichi asked. He studied Sofia's smile as he processed her response to Kaede's questions. "How'd you get into Hope's Peak then?"

The chubby girl shrugged lightly, wrapping her left arm around Emiru's right arm. "You know the phrase 'Money can't buy happiness'? Well, it certainly can't, but it did buy me my way into Hope's Peak."

Emiru chuckled lightly, a thin smile etching through her icy stare. "On the contrary, I think money can buy happiness. Maybe not true happiness, but hey. Happiness is happiness, right?"

Kaede's expression soured. "Not really."

The five students were seated in the grassy area of the courtyard; their eyes focused at each other intently as each of them spoke. The Monday-afternoon clouds loomed overhead, casting dark shadows over half of the school. Fleeting gusts of wind would occasionally surround them, drown out each other's words, make them shiver uncontrollably. The soppy grass from yesterday's rainfall made the situation worse; the drying mud and wet plant strips squished against their shoes and stuck to the back of their pants and skirts. No matter how often Kaede and Emiru insisted they sit on the bench, Sofia and Angie insisted that sitting on the grass would "make the conversation more fun".

As for Shuichi, he neither agreed nor disagreed; in fact, he hardly spoke about it at all.

Emiru rolled her eyes, nudged Sofia away, and pulled out a hair-tie from her pocket. Gathering a ball of hair into her fist, she began pushing it through the circular gap. "How am I wrong?"

The pianist shrugged, somewhat offhandedly. "I just know that you are."

"Okay, then riddle me this." The travel enthusiast suddenly challenged. "Which would make you happier? A buffet, or the man of your dreams?"

"W-what?" Kaede stammered.

"You heard me. Which would you choose?"

Kaede pondered the question for a brief moment. "I don't even have a man of my dreams."

"You know what I mean." the travel enthusiast groaned. "It's all hypothetical, you know."

"I would personally choose the buffet~!" Angie proclaimed. "It sounds much more exciting! Less divine, unfortunately, but still exciting!"

"Thank you for your input, Angie..." Emiru murmured sarcastically.

Chuckling lightly, the pianist put a finger to her chin. "Well...I'd probably go with the buffet. Food is food, so..." she trailed off and shook her head. "What about you?"

Emiru scoffed and finished with her ponytail. "Don't act like it's even a choice. Choosing men over food? I would never! Only a fool would."

"Ooh, I'd choose the buffet, too!" Sofia chimed in, She wrapped a hoodie string around her finger and beamed shyly. "I-I mean, having a man of my dreams sounds great...but they will never live up to the quality of a buffet..." her eyes glistened as the thoughts of food swarmed through her mind. "...Especially a Chinese buffet. Mmm..."

Emiru smiled and playfully shoved her. "C'mon now, idiot. You just ate!" She then faced Kaede and jerked her thumb towards the chubbier advocate. "Can you believe her? She has a Chinese food addiction, I swear!"

Kaede couldn't help but smile in return. Emiru was a lot easier to talk to when she wasn't always on edge. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Shuichi's angry pout, and clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. She felt slightly guilty about the buffet comment, but seeing Shuichi's cheeks redden and puff up made the situation a little funnier.