"I can't lose!"

“Gee I dunno pink, take 3 guesses.” Marie puts the cigarettes away. “And the first two are wrong.” she then puts the vibrator away.

She wasn’t going to try and guess, because she probably knew why she had it.

“…” Marie takes out a pack of cigarrettes and a vibrator.

“What the-” Of course she can recognize a vibrator when she sees one, and her cheeks flush a very bright red. “Put that away! It’s-... Why do you have a vibrator with you?”

“Now you’re talking. I got some super glue here…ah, got it.” She takes it out.

“What else do you have in there? Do you have some cigarrettes, by any chance?” Of course, she had her own. She let out a small laugh.

“Duh.” Marie takes out a small can of glitter and a spring from her large blue bag.”I’m always prepared.” she hands them to Yukari.

“Lame. Besides, the water could leak out of via the sides and he’d notice. Then what?”

Yukari was a little too surprised by the fact this girl was ready for anything in this situation. She took the glitter and spring, blinked at them and offered them back to Marie.

He let out a sigh he had been holding in for a while. “Of course you were. Everyone here is kind and love gossiping about anything and anyone behind their backs.” He clicked his tongue, mainly out of habit and wondered if any of the survivors had any interesting tales besides the usual ‘We’re going to die’ attitude. Not that he cared. “The only good thing about this town is that it’s eerily quiet, unlike my hometown.”

Her response was expected and he nodded firmly. “Glad we agree on this, then. Naturally, the people who claim that means that they’re lying through their teeth. We’re all interesting in one way or another. But I’d rather do things my own way. I never was good with people as you can tell.”

Yep, and Yukari could tell that this guy wasn’t good with people. Then again, there was no time to meet people and find solace in someone’s company when people all around agreed that they were doomed from the start. Yukari, too, let out a sigh.

“I hate gossiping, even though I’m a girl. It’s different in a town, because it’s not harmless... You can’t tell anyone anything because it eventually comes back to you.” She wished she was back in Iwatodai, sometimes. At least there, she could be by herself without having to worry about, say, fitting in or making friends.

Or meeting creepy guys in malls.

“Glue, no wait. Glitter. Put a spring and when he opens it, BAM! Glitter all over.”

“Where can we find glitter or a spring at this hour? Do you have it?” She was the one who had the plan to do this prank in the first place, so perhaps... Wait, that probably wasn’t probable, given she was coming up with all of this on the spot.

Marie grins at Yukari “Then lets be off Pink~”

And they walked towards Yasogami High School. Yukari didn’t have a plan, and she would’ve definitely preferred to have one, but... What’s the issue about not having it just yet? She knew what she was doing.

Marie rolled her eyes, almost wanting to face-palm at Yukari’s persistence for a reason. “There’s a teacher causing trouble to my friends. Kinda might wanna check his desk for stuff to shut him up and get him to behave. Happy?” 

She left the water in front of her and stood up. “Good enough of a reason. Was that so hard?” Of course, she had a general idea of who that teacher might be, and yes, he deserved it.

“Don’t do it then?” Marie isn’t sure why is Yukari so touchy on the subject if she doesn’t want to do it.

“…We need a reason?” she asks “…Fun, I guess. You only live once, go do crazy stuff. Live a little.”

“I think we do need a reason.” She crossed her legs on her seat, still holding the water between her hands. “Otherwise we’re just... doing it for the sake of doing it. Nothing comes out of it.”

“Water it is.” Marie returns with a glass full of water for Yukari and hands it to her. “Here you go.” 

“Oh there’s no guards. At least not any that I’ve seen.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel better, you know?” What if Yasogami had guards, what if they had policemen? With what’s been happening in Inaba, Yukari wouldn’t be surprised about that kind of security.

[~☪~] He lifted his head and gave her a look when she decided to mention that he had a lot of time on his hands to do that… was that supposed to be a jab at him cause he didn’t go to school right now…? Probably. Was he going to get on her for that? Probably not. He didn’t know the full reasons for what he did. And he was going to keep it that way.

“Mmm… I suppose you’re right.” Shinjiro mused, “But not everyone deserves to know that you are a certain way behind closed doors. Especially those who can use and hurt you. It’s up to you to decide who sees the real side and who gets to see the side who doesn’t want you in your barrier. Being completely open has as many pros as it does cons.”

“I believe that, too.” She nodded to what he said, and decided to eat her pride and pick up Shinjiro’s plate, even though she wasn’t going to go and wash them just yet. She was talking to him, it’d be rude to leave him like that, even if it was for two minutes.

“I think being yourself is something only you can do with people you trust in... but at the same time, I don’t know why you’re showing me this side of yours.” It couldn’t be that he trusted her, truthfully. She probably was at the right place, at the right time.

Minako rolled her eyes though with Yukari’s words she felt that her heart was going to stop in her chest. God damn it Yukari was good at playing around like that, wasnt she?

The redhead stuck her tongue out at her friend. 

“As if! I feel if I was confessed to in such an intense manner I’d simply just die!” She laughs, clearly happy that Yukari was playing around with her so much. It was so much fun to hang out with Yukari, Minako wanted to do it all the time!

All…the time…

Minako froze a moment, taking her feelings into consideration. Why did she want to spend all her free time with Yukari? What..exactly set Yukari apart so much from the other girls? From Fuuka? Mitsuru? Aigis? Why was Yukari the one Minako wanted to spend all her time with? 

Team Leader had to clear her throat again as her feelings began to get to be too much for her to comprehend, and she turned back to Yukari. In all, she was only frozen for maybe a second, at most. But even if it wasn’t very long, it felt like years on years. Oh jesus…

“So are we heading back to the dorm now?” She asked, trying awkwardly to get her mind away from the situation.

It didn’t seem like her whole confession deal did anything to faze the girl, which was good, she was good. She was totally not asking that the girl showed any reaction to Yukari’s words, or actions, or anything, nope.

“Yeah, and I wouldn’t do a confession like that... I mean, I’ve never actually fallen in love.” Oh, so cliché, but so true. With her whole mother’s deal, there was so much she could think about without going for the extremes. “And I feel like needing someone is a bit too much...” And yet, she said it... Because maybe she wanted someone to need her.

His neutral, stoic expression hadn’t changed at all as he rolled his eyes at her in slight annoyance. When she was finally done with that absurdly simple task, he had no real answer to her question, truth be told. He was trapped here by his own free will, so he had nowhere to go. All he did was wander the empty, foggy streets in search of salvation.

“Nowhere in particular. Why?” He arched a curious brow at the woman. Had she planned to talk to him some more in hopes of getting to know him? “All I do is wander the streets alone. I have my reasons. I’m not an interesting guy at all, I assure you, Takeba.”

Well, at the very least, he didn’t have a place to go. A little sad, considering tonight was Christmas Eve, so he should have a place to come back to, right? He was buying medicine... Then again, he could be by himself and all.

“I was just trying to be friendly, I guess... It felt like the natural question.” She could be wrong, of course. He could always be just wandering, for no reason other than... just that. There wasn’t much to do with the fog still up. “I’m headed home, but rest assured, I don’t mind nor care about your reasons.”

“Nothing serious. Just go in and see how the school looks at night. Its a bit creepy, but cool. Its ok if you don’t wanna. I might not either. Ah, here we are.”

A click later, and Marie lets Yukari into her apartment. It’s nothing luxurious. A 3 room apartment. 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, small living room and kitchen. “Make yourself at home. Want anything to drink? eat? I don’t have alcohol so sorry about that.”

Okay, at this point Yukari was sure the girl was just trying to bother her, but she refused. “Maybe some water, for once... As for the school idea...” She wasn’t sure, but the whole idea of exploring the school at night felt like... a bad choice. The fact that she called it creepy didn’t help, either.