Nagisa smiles at me as she steps into her room and softly shuts the door behind her. 

My chest burns. 

-

I felt silly standing in front of Nagisa's door, so I left as soon as I heard the her lock click. Now, I'm standing in front of the entrance of the cafeteria, trying to push down the left over warmth in my throat before I head in. There's giggling inside, and I realize I don't know who else was invited. 

When my face feels adequately (a big word for me) cooled off, I push the door open and walk inside, trying to seem as casually-confident-but-relaxed-but-also-excited-but-not-too-excited as possible. All of their heads turn to me, and I actually feel excited before some doubt settles in. They're all girls! ...But what if Nagisa gets the wrong idea? I tried to invite her, but what if that manages to actually give her a worse impression of me? 

"Hey, Hyakuya, we're still waiting for a couple people to show up. Come sit!" Momo says excitedly. She has this glow about her, and her eyes actually sparkle. I didn't know they could do that. "You didn't bring anyone with you?"

My options are to sit next to the strong one, the stupid-looking one, or by myself in between two empty seats. I feel like sitting away from them both might be insulting, and I'm kinda scared that Vigor Vixen over there might clock me if I skip her. The safest option is Blondie, so that's where I sit. She gives me this unnervingly blank look as I sit. I go to turn to Momo and Anya, and she's still staring. At least blink.

"Thanks again for inviting me, Yaoyorozu," I reply. "And yeah. I actually invited Nagisa, but she wanted to get some rest."

"Nagisa, huh?" Her friend has a teasing grin on her face, and I feel the warmth I pushed down come back with a vengence. "Are you and Shiota close?"

"Ochako-chan," Momo chastises.

Anya has what can only be described as a shit-eating grin on her face. A twinge of embarrassment runs up my spine, and my cheeks feel hot.

"No, we just ended up hanging out today! I thought she might like to play, too."

"Is that what you two were doing in the storage room earlier? Hanging out?" Anya chimes in. I feel like I'm being targeted.

"Yes, actually. Nagisa– Shiota and I were just looking for our phones and game consoles!"

"Is that what you guys were doing in the storage room? I saw you leaving looking pretty... accomplished." Shinoa slides gracefully into the chair to my left. I have the urge to pull it from under her. 

"That's not– nothing happened! We just wanted our games..."

The Grit Goddess smiles almost sweetly. "You'd better be careful. If Kirigaya hears that she likes games he might steal her from you."

"What? He's so lame though. Surely I could top him?"

"If that's what you're into," Anya quips. Shinoa huffs a laugh. I scoff.

Yaoyorozu looks slightly apologetic as she shuffles the cards, and I think she'll try to come to my rescue again when she says, "I was sure she and Akabane were together... but I mean we don't really know her well." The table goes quiet, and she flushes. "I don't mean to suggest anything bad about Shiota's character, I was just thinking... Well, it's not like it matters! Hyakuya said nothing happened."

"You guys don't actually think that she's, y'know–" two-timing me and Karma– "Right?"

"Surely not!" Yaoyorozu says. She starts dealing quickly. "Now, how do we feel about stacking?"

She's met with affirmatives from everyone but Shiina, who looks vaguely confused. Since Momo delt, Anya goes first. We settle into calmer conversation and collectively get to know each other. Momo and Uraraka are among those in the population with quirks. Momo can create anything she knows the elements for, I think, and Uraraka can float and manipulate gravity. Anya used to go to Eden Academy, which is arguably more prestigious than Hope's Peak. Her parents are a psychiatrist and a secretary, so I dunno how they afford it since she's too dumb for a scholarship. Shinoa is from the Hiragi family, like the guy who worked with Guren, and tamed a demon weapon thing to defeat the vampires. I hate to admit it, but she's actually cool, and kind of nice. Shiina somehow ends up winning four of the five rounds we play. I'd feel offended if the look she got wasn't so endearing. She likes painting, if that matters. Shinoa was the only other winner before the girls decided to star wrapping it up. 

Momo and Uraraka haven't gone back to their rooms yet, so they decide to go check them out in case there's anything important inside. They also plan to go find 'Sonohara,' who was supposed to join us but never showed up. Similarly, Shiina leaves to go find Kanda. As everyone begins to disperse, leaving me, Shinoa, and Anya, Karma, Mikaela, and Nagisa come in. Those leaving exchange greetings, and Momo leaves us her Uno cards. 

They all do some combination of smiling at, waving at, and greeting us as they sit around the table. Mikaela sits between me and Anya, Karma sits on the other side of Shinoa, and Nagisa sits next to Karma all the way across from me. Honestly, it stings a little that she's so keen on being at his side, especially since he's shamelessly giving Shinoa eyes.

"Hey Pop Pixie, long time no see." The way he slumps into the chair slides it closer to Shinoa, and he smoothly throws an arm over the back of her seat. She looks stuck somewhere between being annoyed and impressed. "Miss me?"

"No." She pushes his arm away, settling on looking smug as he fake pouts. Maybe he and Nagisa aren't a thing. "Uno? We were playing with stacking."

The all agree to play, but it's been occurring to me for the last couple hours that I haven't eaten in who knows how long, so I tap out. I tell them that I'm gonna go check out the kitchen. Nagisa ends up coming with me, and I can't help feeling a little giddy as she trots to catch up with me.

-

We, and by we I mean primarily Nagisa made dinner for all of us. I tried to help by cutting stuff up, but nothing I chopped came out as neat and even as what Nagisa did. She showed me a safer way to hold the knife, and my heart nearly flipped in my chest when our hands touched. 

We got to talking, and I learned that Nagisa did a lot of the cooking at home for her and her mom. She also had a really good Home Ec. teacher last year, which greatly improved her cooking. 

According to her, she's never cooked alone for so many people, which makes me feel reassured (and a little guilty). I also feel more confident knowing that she and Karma are just friends.  

I end up on rice duty, which thankfully, I can actually do. Nagisa and I talk on-and-off while I wash the rice, and she adds a cup of water to the pot and stirs before covering it and walking away. She comes to join me at the sink, washing her hands while I pour the rice into the cooker.

The rest of our time in the kitchen goes by peacefully. We talk more about our interests—martial arts, comics, action movies—it turns out we have a lot in common. Before I know it, we're setting stacks of bowls and utensils on the counter and telling everyone to serve themselves.

-

After dinner, Anya & Mika leave in hopes of exploring a little more before curfew. He walks their dishes to the kitchen sink, then volunteers to be on dish duty tomorrow. Nagisa gets up to head to the kitchen as well, and I offer to take and do the dishes since I wasn't any help while cooking. Nagisa accepts, and I actually believe I'll peacefully clean up before falling into bed. Unfortunately, Karma has other plans. Shinoa, who I think actually might've volunteered otherwise, calls it for the night and says she'll clean the day after Mika. 

On our way back to the kitchen, I feel Karma's eyes burning into the back of my head. He doesn't say anything while we put away the leftovers and start the wash-dry assembly line, but I can't help but be a little unnerved. It's similar to the feeling I get from Shinoa, but the joy he seems to get from making people uncomfortable seems a lot more real. 

"...So what's up with you and Nagisa?" Karma asks. He doesn't turn to face me fully, and I feel the hair on my arms stand up. I can't tell by his tone whether he's innocently curious or not innocently curious. "sounds like you guys had some fun today. Oh, and Nagisa said you helped find our consoles."

No honorific? He also seemed to lay off of Shinoa a little. "Uh, yeah, I guess. Nagisa-chan's nice. I asked her to join us for Uno, but she wasn't feeling it."

Finally, Karma turns to face me, and his eyes light up with something best described as sinister. I feel even more unnerved than before, which I didn't know was possible. Karma's lips quirk up slightly. "Yeah Nagisa-chan's always been pretty calm and low-key. She can get really passionate about the important stuff though, y'know? She's the perfect mix of sweet and spicy."

Karma meets my eyes and stares as my face heats up. Passionate and spicy? What is he talking about?! "...Oh really? I never would've guessed..."

"You could always investigate for yourself if you want. I bet you'd love to, and Nagisa-chan wouldn't mind. She's sweet like that, remember?" My face gets impossibly hotter as Karma pokes at my side. He grins in a way that can only be described as evil, and his face suddenly looks very punchable. "If you wanna find out which flavor's stronger, I'm sure she'd let you have a taste–"

"What is your deal?! How could you talk about your friend that way? Is that actually how you see her?" I ask, incredulous. Karma's shoulders drop, enthusiasm leaving him in droves.

"Aw c'mon, don't be a spoiled sport! Maybe if you don't wanna hear those things, you should stop pining so loudly."

"What?"

"'What?' Dude. You've known Nagisa for a day and couldn't be any more love-sick. Everyone whose seen you today has noticed." Karma shrugs, and I feel my stomach drop. Everyone? Like, everyone everyone? "Relax, man. Everyone except Nagisa. Jeez. Guys like you aren't any fun to mess with."

"Wait, what? You were kidding?"

"Nope!"

"So you're teasing me?!"

"Maybe! See ya later chief; my bed is calling."

And with that, Karma smiles, waves, and slips out of the kitchen before I can say anything else. I really want to be more upset with him—which I am, by the way—but I'm more frustrated with his good timing. I mean seriously! I didn't even realize we were done with the dishes, and he started towards the door so discretely that I didn't notice. I haven't even turned the water off.

Shinoa scares the crap out of me the moment I leave the cafeteria. In my defense, she was standing behind the door silently like a total creep. To make matters worse, she smirked at me like something was funny. I'm starting to get what Karma sees in her, at least.

"Do you need something?" I ask, annoyed. Her smirk melts into something almost coy-looking.

Rocking on the balls of her feet, she says, "Yeah, actually—if you're up for it. Mikaela and Anya said they didn't find anything interesting when they looked around, but I wanna check too. I wanna look around more in the rooms around the gym, then check out storage."

"Why me?" I respond, unimpressed as much as I'm intrigued. "Couldn't find more compatible company?"

Shinoa gets an unreadable look on her face, and my chest suddenly feels tight. Creepiness aside, something about her makes me nervous. I wish she'd stop looking at me like that. 

"I wouldn't say we're incompatible," she says thoughtfully, "yet. I don't really know many of the others yet, and you've already been in the storage, so you'd be helpful there. I also think it'd be good for us to get to know each other, since we''ll probable be here for a while and we're both close to Mikaela."

Begrudgingly, I agree. As much as I don't want to acknowledge just how stuck we are, preparing for anything and knowing our surroundings is smart. On top of that, if anything were to go south, we would realistically end up on the same side, given that she and Mikaela don't have a friendship-ending fight the the midst of the chaos. Because of this, I decide to go with her, and we swing a left from the cafeteria towards the hall with the gym.

We don't bother checking the first two classroom. Shinoa said she and Karma looked around pretty thoroughly in the first one when they woke up, and I did the same in the one next door. There's a room straight down the hall, but we don't look in that one, either. According to Shinoa, Mikaela and Anya looked in that room, the student store, and the bathrooms. We're here to check out the nurse and trophy room. Finally, we pass the A/V room and walk through the lounge before trying the nurse's office. 

The door knob turns, but the door is jammed pretty tight. Shinoa tells me that it looks like the door swelled from moisture or is otherwise ill-fitting. I'm ready to suggest moving on, but she kicks it open. It bumps the wall on its way open, and we head inside.

It's just a regular nurse's office if you ignore the cameras and dead-bolted window. There are three beds with their headboards against the left wall, cabinets and a desk on the back wall, and things like eye tests, a couple chairs, and a projector screen on the right wall. Shinoa heads directly for the cabinets, and I follow suite. 

She opens the medicine cabinets first, inspecting the bottles, vials, and packets closely. while she does that, I look in the cabinet next to her. There's some basic medical equipment—the thing to listen your heart, the thing that goes around your arm, clipboards, and other miscellaneous stuff. I skip the files on the second shelf and grab the tool box on the bottom one. When I open it, there's just more medical supplies. It has some needles, a scalpel, and the other sharp things surgeons use. 

"All the medicine is up to date, and it's a good range of stuff too. He even gave up epinephrine," Shinoa says. She looks a little unsure at the toolbox, then glances at the sink against the wall. "You should wipe down everything you touched in there before we leave. It's good to know where the needles are in case we need them, though. Good job."

"Sure. Do we need to check anything else here, like under the beds?"

"I think we're good. It doesn't seem like anything we need is hidden. We should move on to the trophy room."

I do as she suggested, then head towards the gym. We pass the bathrooms and the staircase before we enter. When we get inside, there's nothing that immediately sticks out other than the golden katana on the bottom shelf of the trophy case. The rest of the case is locked with hard glass. It's concerning that this is what Monokuma decided to leave open.

"...Are you cool with me taking it?" I think it'd be best if someone I know won't use it has it in their possession, and Shinoa didn't look like she was considering it for herself. I'll trust her if she wants to take it, though, since neither of us would realistically kill anyone. Even if one of us got out, that'd doom Mikaela. That makes both of us safe as far as I'm concerned. "I just don't think we should, y'know, leave it as an option."

"I know what you mean—I was thinking that too. You can have it. If I start feeling unsafe, I'll steal one of the kitchen knives."

I grab the katana and its stand, and gold dust immediately gets all over my hands, clothes, the case, and the floor. Somehow, there's still just enough left on the katana to continue dusting the floor until we get close to cafeteria again. There's still gold dust on it, but the little that's left isn't coming off on its own. If I had to guess, it could probably be wiped off easily enough, though. I might do that later just to spare my room any extra mess. 

We head to my room so that I can put the Katana away and clean up some, then we head towards the storage. It's starting to get a little late, but Shinoa said it's better to find things when fewer people are out. That way, we can decide when or even whether to tell everyone about what we find. And, considering that Nagisa and I found some of our stuff when we looked earlier, it's safe to guess that other people have stuff there, too. Unfortunately, before we make it to the storage room, he starts speaking over the PA.

"Good evening students, I hope you're all settling in well! Before we turn in for the night, I want all of you to join me in gym for a quick assembly. Be there in five and don't be late! Curfew is in forty minutes, and even I'm not a valid excuse to be late. Hu hu!"

Shinoa looks at the storage room, defeated. I shrug, then start back towards the gym. Despite the short notice, we don't hear anyone else until we're opening the door to the trophy room. It looks like everyone else was in their rooms.

We enter the gym to see Monokuma standing at the previously destroyed podium. He has the same stupid unnerving smile on his face, but his eyes are narrowed suspiciously. As the last couple of people come in, he clears his throat and begins to speak.

"Thanks for getting here so quickly—especially those of you who weren't up!" Monokuma says cheerfully. "I know it's late, so I'll be fast. I'm bored. Watching you all play is terrible! No one has done anything yet, and if I wanted to see a bunch of people play cards, I'd just start a game myself! Since none of you will take initiative, I guess I'll do it for you. Tomorrow morning, report to the A/V room at 9:00 AM sharp! I suggest you all make time to eat breakfast and get cleaned up beforehand. I think some incentives should get things rolling perfectly."

Everyone looks around tensely. Incentives? What could he possibly show us that'd make us kill each other? As if he were thinking the same thing, Ayanokoji steps up calmly.

"Seriously? Incentives? I don't know if you've forgotten, but I think the worst of our secrets have already been shared. We already know about Killua and Ryuugamine, and while Akabane might be an ass, he's not exactly threatening."

"Fu hu hu... Is that what you think? Are you sure the rest of this class has nothing to hide? And who said anything about secrets, anyway? Incentives aren't always blackmail, y'know."

Ayanokoji pauses at that, then his brow barely twitches in annoyance. "So what, you're just gonna ask us pretty pretty please to kill each other? Good luck with that. I knew you had to be pathetic to set something like this up, but that's low even for you."

"I'd watch my tongue if I were you! It'd be a shame to lose it, or worse, God forbid!"

"And what're you gonna do about it, teddy? You're not exactly threatening on your own, either. You're just a stupid toy playing Jigsaw," Ayanokoji says smugly. Monokuma looks put off, and some other people are encouraged by Ayanokoji's actions. Killua and Karma start to chime in too, calling him names and poking holes in his omnipotence. Monokuma fumes, somehow visibly more angry, and Ayanokoji ramps up the taunting. I stay silent in my place next to Shinoa. "Aww... is teddy gonna cry? Can't take what you dish? You look like you could blow a fuse. Uh oh, everyone, take cover! Monokuma's gonna blow–"

"Watch your words..." Monokuma threatens. Ayanokoji's eyes light up like he's won. He stalks towards the podium leaning in not far from Monokuma's side. He gestures at him with his thumb, as if to say, 'get a load of this guy.'

"Or what? You gonna throw a tantrum? Hit me? Ki–"

Shinoa grabs my arm as my jaw drops. In the same moment, Mika whispers my name and grips the bottom of my shirt. I stand there, frozen as Ayanokoji chokes and twitches. Blood quickly stains around the holes in his clothes, and he groans as he slides wetly further down on the spikes. As fast as they appeared, the spikes disappear seconds later, retracting into the floor. Ayanokoji is dropped in a heap on the floor, crying out weakly and coughing as he bleeds. Monokuma stands a few feet away at the podium, unbothered. We all stand there, watching in horror as Ayanokoji's blood drains from his body and pools on the floor. Suddenly, a bell rings.

"Well would you look at that, perfect timing! Five minutes to curfew. You all should start heading back, lest you be late. I'd hate to have to dish out another warning."

"But– Ayanokoji–" Momo stammers. "...I can make bandages! We don't have to leave him here. We can't. I can help him! Please let me–"

"You and what doctor, kid? As much as I'd live to let you swim around in the mess, rules are rules! There's nothing you can do about the gaping holes in his body. All you guys can do is save yourselves." Monokuma claps twice, his word final. He hops off the podium and goes to the body, uncaring of the blood. "Besides, if you cared so much, you should've had him quit while he was ahead. But alas, you couldn't have known... Let this be a lesson, children! There's no use in fighting me. Your only hope is yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's only three minutes to curfew, and I have paperwork to take care of! I'd suggest getting a move on."