SHSL Cool Kid

Tori smiled a bit when Kai accepted her invitation. To be honest, she had half-expected him to say no so that he could be left to moping alone. Tori nodded when Kai indeed remarked that his roommate was asleep and waited for him to close the door before they made their way down the hall.

As they walked, Tori fiddled with her necklace a bit, before glancing over at Kai when he spoke. She smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I originally got the feeling that she was kind of cold and standoffish, but she wasn’t so bad the more I got to know her.” Tori fell silent for a few moments more as they headed towards the elevator. Where they were going, Tori also didn’t know - she figured it was just wherever their feet happened to take them.

As they reached the elevator, Tori pressed the button for the first floor. As they waited, she glanced back over towards Kai and spoke up once more. “You and Yukari seemed close…did you maybe know her before you came to Hope’s Peak?”

“Pfff-, yeah! Even when you get pretty close to her, she can still be kind of a brat. But the good kind of brat! The kind that’s still kind of cute and endearing in their own way!” Kai said with a grin. Since it was morning now, they might as well get something to eat while they chat? “Well, since it seems like we’re on our way, let’s grab a bite to eat at those food tents. I kinda want a corn dog. Or a shish kabob. Or all of the food.” He was obviously some kind of glutton.

He gave a nod when Tori asked her question. “Mmm, yeah I did. My uncle and her parents were really close, so we practically grew up together. When I was still in elementary school, I spent most of time after school lounging around her house and eating her food. It was fun, it really was.” His tone sounded nostalgic, if almost a little sad. “It’ll be hard telling Auntie Nadia. . I can’t even possibly imagine the kind of reaction she’ll have. . “

When the door opened up, Tori was greeted by Kai’s face. He looked pretty tired, though of course Tori couldn’t blame him. After all, she didn’t look too great herself, and Kai had probably had little to no sleep last night, just like her. She gave him a small nod of greeting before stating her purpose.

“I just…felt like we should talk.” Tori cocked her head to the side a bit. “You know, about the trial last night.” Oh geez, this was awkward. Tori hadn’t realized until now how weird it was to show up at someone’s door and essentially ask if they wanted to have a good cry over their recently deceased mutual friend. She barely knew Kai or had anything in common with him, aside from them both having been friends with Yukari.

Tori glanced over Kai’s shoulder for a moment, wondering if Hiromi was in the room, and if so, if he was asleep and they would have to find somewhere else to sit down and talk privately without disturbing him. She returned her gaze back to Kai for a moment, waiting for his response.

“Oh, “ was Kai’s only response. He should’ve expected this really; he ended up making a huge scene at the trial, beating the shit out out of Oliver and screaming profanities like there was no tomorrow. “Sure, we can talk if you want.” He watched her peek past his shoulders, presumably checking to see if Hiromi around- which he was. “My roommate is taking a nap right, so it would be best to go somewhere else. Hiromi can get pretty grumpy.” Kai quietly closed the door behind him and motioned for Tori to follow.

After the most recent trial, Tori was feeling drained, both physically and emotionally. She was already quietly sniffling and wiping away tears when she reached her dorm room, and when she scanned her ID and opened the door to an empty room, with Yukari’s things laying out on her side of the room as if she was going to come back any moment now, a sob escaped Tori’s lips. She slammed the door shut behind her, kicked off her shoes and quickly crawled under the covers of her bed, the blanket over her head. She could hear Carter trying to console her, but she ignored him.

Tori then spent most of the night in that position, half-awake half-asleep and feeling lifeless. When the morning announcement went off, Tori numbly pulled the covers from her body, sat up, and trudged to the bathroom. Looking herself over in the mirror, Tori could clearly see her own emotions displayed in her reflection - her hair in a mess, her makeup smudged and running, and her clothes rumpled. Turning away from the mirror, Tori thought back to the trial of the night before.

Kai had been just as upset as Tori was, if not more, over Yukari’s murder. Hell, he had beaten that asshole Oliver within an inch of his life when he was revealed to be the culprit. He and Yukari had been close…weren’t they friends before they even were brought to the Cirque? Tori sighed and rubbed her face with one hand. She’d been wanting to try and connect with Yukari’s spirit - Tori knew it was dangerous, since Yukari being recently murdered made her very unstable and thus it wasn’t in Tori’s best interests to try and reach out to her. Carter kept reminding her it would be a bad idea and that she shouldn’t do it, and Tori reluctantly obeyed every time.

Tori’s mind kept on drifting back to Kai, knowing very well just how much he must be hurting. She felt like she should talk to him about it. Sure, he had Hiromi to talk to him and let him cry on his shoulder, but Hiromi also wasn’t feeling what Kai was feeling. Tori, on the other hand, could connect with Kai, and vice versa. Maybe talking things out would be mutually beneficial?

After making a concrete decision, Tori washed her messy makeup off her face without bothering to reapply it afterwards, ran a comb through her hair, and pulled her shoes on. Giving herself a quick glance in the mirror, it was evident that she was exhausted, even though she looked a bit tidier. Tori shrugged - she could care less at this point. Tori grabbed her ID and quickly made her way to the male and non-binary dorm floor, locating the door to Kai and Hiromi’s room and giving it a few gentle knocks.

Kai didn’t get any sleep last night. As soon as he was able to leave the trial, he quickly left the room without Hiromi coming with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be around Hiromi specifically- he just didn’t want anyone trying to comfort him at all. Silently cursing to himself and biting his lower lip, Kai angrily kicked at the ground and pulled his hood over his head. He headed towards the MonoMidway, walking to the roller coaster ride where Yukari’s corpse had been found. 

He didn’t know what he intended to accomplish by coming back here. All it did was make him relive his feelings of anger and sadness. She. . . she really is dead. She’s not coming back. These past murders didn’t phase Kai badly; he knew the layout of these murder games thanks to his uncle and he wasn’t very close to those students. But Yukari was different. Kai spoke to her everyday, engaging in just very casual and sometimes silly conversation. It almost felt like as if they were still back home. And Kai never stopped and considered that Yukari could also end up as a victim. 

Nadia. . How will he be able to look Auntie Nadia in the eyes and tell her that her only child is dead. Auntie Nadia didn’t even want Yukari to come to Hopes Peak in the first place! Kai was the one who let Yukari secretly come with him- so wasn’t it basically his fault that she ended up dead? He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. He was feeling too empty for anything, not enough energy for crying, screaming, or curling up on the ground. Kai walked around the amusement park for a bit longer before spending the rest of the night aimlessly dragging himself around other places.

Kai finally returned to his room the next morning where he found Hiromi curled up on his side of the bed wearing his t-shirt. He felt shitty since it seemed like Hiromi had been waiting up on him. He took off his jacket and put it over Hiromi and layed down on the bed to close his eyes for a bit and try to finally get some sleep.

Then, he heard a few knocks on the door.

Groggily standing up, Kai rubbed his eyes as he walked over to the door. Tori wasn’t someone he was expecting, but Kai welcomed her nonetheless.

Well looking at the Tilt a Whirl, there doesn’t seem to be much there. It’s just a regular carnival ride. 

But looking at the roller coaster, specifically the tracks, Kai would find something particularly interesting.

The satchel seems to contain a number of art supplies, but oddly enough, the mallet seems to be missing! Where could it possibly be?

Upon entering the freezer, Keisuke would find something a bit more important than the mallet though.

“Ding dong kiddies! Another body has been found~”

The number of students continued to dwindle as more and more killed. Monobear’s motives had been doing their work, and with such a tantalizing tone this week, some people were anxious to take their cash and skidaddle. 

As the sun rose, the students groggily rose from their beds, some earlier than others. Little did they know what events had transpired since they went to rest the night before. When you head downstairs on your way to go have breakfast, a panicked Oliver Lancaster exits the kitchen. Approaching you, he directs you into the room, bringing a startling sight into view.

Hiromi stared into Kai’s eyes for several seconds until he finally gave a small nod and let the corners of his mouth turn up a little. As Kai’s fingers brushed gently across his knuckles, Hiromi moved his hand forward and slid his fingers between Kai’s and locked their hands together.

“…If we get out of here, right?” he asks quietly, a melancholic smile wavering into a small frown. His grip on Kai’s hand tightens as Hiromi diverts his eyes from Kai’s- if he laid his eyes on Kai’s expression right now, he might start crying and he didn’t want to risk it.

“I’m sorry, but it just feels so damn far away, Kai. All those nights I spent on stranger’s mattresses and those countless hours I wasted on video games.. it all feels so fucking pointless now. Everything I did, I did it to provide a brighter future for my sister and I… and now…”

Hiromi bit down on his tongue to prevent himself from continuing, his mouth wavering back and forth between a frown and a smile, as if he was struggling to keep in his sadness. He brought his free hand up to his face, where he wiped his eye with his sleeve, keeping silent. Silent he stayed for what felt like several minutes, but couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.

“I want to believe that you will protect me. I want to escape. I want to find Akane and restart. I want everything to go back to how it was before, but.. it doesn’t really matter what I want, you know..? None of these things sound very promising right now, do you understand..?” Hiromi hadn’t noticed before that he was holding Kai’s hand so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, but now that he noticed it, he relaxed the grip and cautiously peeked back up at Kai’s face.

“I don’t know if there is a way to escape this situation other than dying, Kai.”

Kai gave Hiromi a goofy smile when he felt Hiromi hold his hand. However, that grin quickly disappeared and was replaced with an upset frownwith what Hiromi said. Hiromi wasn’t looking at him, which was probably for the best. His frown then softened to his lips being pressed together in a firm line and his eyebrows furrowed as if he were thinking hard about something.

“We are getting out of here, dofus.” Kai said in a silly way that was meant to be comforting. He took his finger and lightly flicked Hiromi’s forehead as if to tease him. “I’m not letting some asshole try to come and hurt you.” He could feel how Hiromi’s grip tightened and Kai gently squeezed his hand. 

He watched sadly as Hiromi wiped at his eyes and continued to listen. Kai wasn’t sure what to do but when Hiromi peeked up at him, Kai gave him a a sllightly pained look, a mixture of sadness with serious looking eyes.

“I. . . I wish I could do something to take away those horrible feelings of yours. . “ Kai began. “But, I know we can get out of here. I know it. I mean, we’ve both made it this far?” He gripped Hiromi’s arm tightly, looking at him directly. “Even if I have to sacrifice myself for you to make it out of here, I’d do it. There’s nothing a this point I won’t do to keep you safe. If all of sudden there was a motive that required me to kill someone in order to keep you safe, I’d do it.” His voice was a little shaky and Kai took a big gulp of air. “I want you to be able to have a nice future with your sister. I’ll do everything I can to help. . though those words probably don’t hold much weight, do they?”

“Cain. . my uncle. . he made it out of here alive. And Auntie Nadia and her husband. . If they could survive that long, who says we can’t do the same? I’m not strong like my uncle, I’m not kind like him, I’m not smart in the way he is. .  but I have you.” Kai gave Hiromi a silly smile and scratched the tip of nose. “You keep me going, even if there are days that really suck. I need you to survive because there’s no point in me escaping if you aren’t there with me.”

Kai moved closer to Hiromi, wrapping his arms around him tightly, afraid that he might disappear any second. Kai’s breathing was stable and even, and Hiromi might be able to hear the breath escaping his mouth.

Hiromi just sighed and shook his head as Kai began pushing blame onto himself again. Hiromi didn’t want Kai to continuously apologize for something that he couldn’t help. It wasn’t Kai’s fault that he had the fever, but it was Hiromi’s fault for giving him the cold shoulder during that time.. he should’ve tried to help him somehow. Hiromi scooted away a tiny bit as Kai wiggled and squirmed on the bed, but finally Kai calmed down and rested himself against him. Hiromi felt himself smile as Kai wrapped himself around him, but then, Kai’s question came and Hiromi wasn’t sure how to respond to that! Sure, Hiromi knew that Kai would probably be curious, but Hiromi couldn’t decide if he wanted to come clean and tell Kai about what happened or if he wanted to keep it secret. If he kept it secret, he could keep that in the past and not have to spend more time thinking about it.. but if he tells Kai about it, maybe Kai would be careful about the things he does and says in the future? It could possibly prevent a misunderstanding like this one from happening again…Hiromi took a deep breath and placed his hands on the side of Kai’s face and just gave him a small smile, blinking back a couple of tears that he could feel rising.

“Kai, don’t be alarmed when I tell you this.. Promise me you won’t… you won’t think I’m.. fucking gross or pathetic.. or something.. please don’t hold this against me, alright?” Hiromi closed his eyes for a second to collect himself. “When I was in middle school, my parents started to neglect my little sister and I. We never had enough money for anything and my parents would only come home a couple times a week. I had to resort to stealing food and pawning shit just to keep us going. I worked really hard to create games to get donations from people on the internet, and I tried to get discovered as a gamer to maybe get sponsored by someone. One time, I got a message from an older man, asking for.. sexual favors. So, I accepted, under the condition that he would have to take me out to eat and pay me.” Hiromi sighed and tilted his head down so he wouldn’t have to see Kai’s expression. “It wasn’t enjoyable, and I was scared, but he did give me a lot of money. More money than I had gained doing anything else, so I continued seeing him. Then, he spread the word to some of his friends and.. before I knew it.. I..” Hiromi grew silent. The video game designer wrapped his arms around himself for security. He stuttered a little, trying to get his thoughts into words that would make sense. “I h-had turned into a f-fucking whore..”

Hiromi slowly slid his hands from his sides to his face where he shielded himself from Kai’s gaze. “Many of those guys were.. nice enough.. but some of them were really very emotionally.. verbally.. and physically abusive towards me. I didn’t care, usually. I just needed them in order to survive and provide for Akane.”

Hiromi winced as he continued, in a more hushed tone, as if it really hurt him to vocalize. “B-But.. that damn fever made you act like one of them, and because I’m fucking in love with you, it hurt so bad!”

After a few moments of silence, Hiromi concluded abruptly.

“..I’m sorry.. I know you didn’t mean any of it. I know you were sick.. but, it was just… difficult to deal with.”

Kai was feeling very relaxed with his limbs loosely wrapped around Hiromi. He finally calmed down and was able to think with a much clearer mind. As Kai was snuggling into Hiromi, he felt Hiromi put his hands on both sides of his face and gave him a small smile. This probably meant that Hiromi was going to tell him something pretty damn important- and Kai was all ears. Though there was a feeling of dread building up in his stomach and judging from the expression in Hiromi’s eyes, this wasn’t a light hearted subject. Kai could only hope that he would be able to understand and give Hiromi comfort. He gave Hiromi an encouraging nod to help him start speaking and softened his gaze as he ran his fingers through Hiromi’s hair.

When Hiromi began talking about his hardships he faced throughout middle school, Kai’s mouth was in the shape of a small gasp but no sound came out. Middle school. . . Kai was an even bigger ass to Hiromi then! To think Hiromi was that deep in trouble. . . and his middle school self probably only made it worse by teasing and bothering him every day. He probably only made Hiromi feel even worse!

“You’re not gross or pathetic. . .! I could never see you like that, especially now. . “ Kai was giving Hiromi an incredibly worried look, trying to find the “right” words to say. “If anything, it’s your parent’s fault. You did what you could in order to provide for your sister and yourself. You were. . .so so incredibly selfless. . Even if what you choose to do was highly questionable, you did everything you could. You. . . you’re so much stronger than me, Hiromi.” When he saw Hiromi wrapping his arms around himself, Kai looked away and wiped some of the tears forming at his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Hiromi. And you’re probably tired of hearing me apologize, but I just can’t say it enough.”

The intercom obnoxiously sprang to life not even a week after Ryuunosuke Inoue was executed, and it surprised no one when they heard the message’s contents.

“Attention, Attention, Attention ATTENTION. I’ve decided that I’m going to let you guys all out of here! Actually, I haven’t, but that seemed like the best way to make absolutely sure you were listening, and I guess it worked! Now please report to the Big Top for a required meeting!”

The sun rose on the Midway, a new day was dawning! The students still found their stomachs barren, without a source of food in sight. Naturally, this had left some of them irritable and cranky, and others exhausted. Some students were even beginning to wonder if anyone would die from the starvation alone, let alone murder. Speaking of murder, most people really had no doubt that someone would kill before long. It had become a sad reality by now, which was why, when a loud screech rang came from the ferris wheel, it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to determine what had happened.

Nearby students ran to the source of the sound, finding a panicked Keisuke Kida staring at the ride. Following his gaze, you’d see what gave him such a fright, dangling from the metal bars.

Hiromi was a little uncertain of what Kai was thinking as the sharpshooter stared blankly at him, but when Kai tilted his face up with his hand and kissed him gently, Hiromi was absolutely delighted by how soft and sweet the kiss was. It felt much more special than any other kiss they had shared together.

The lift, however, was quite unexpected and Hiromi even yelped quietly as Kai lifted him up and spun him around in his arms. Hiromi held on tight and gave an uneasy smile until it softened into a content little grin as Kai carried Hiromi off to their dorm. Hiromi blushed just a little at the Eskimo kisses and reciprocated Kai’s affection by kissing Kai’s forehead gently.

As Kai sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms around Hiromi’s waist, Hiromi grinned up at Kai and nuzzled his face against his neck as Kai played with the beads in his hair. This was a lot better than the awkward relationship they had with each other after the despair fever ended and Kai apologized in the cafe for what he had done. The things Kai did were.. really insensitive and mean, but.. he couldn’t help it. It isn’t his fault.. It was just scary and it took some time for Hiromi to get over it.

When Kai trailed off, Hiromi placed a finger over Kai’s lips. “…S-Shh. You didn’t mean to do that shit…” he whispered comfortingly. Hiromi let his finger fall away from Kai’s lips and wrapped his arms around Kai’s neck. As Kai kissed his forehead, Hiromi let out a soft giggle.

“I love you too Kai, so much…” he murmured, pressing his face against Kai’s neck, embracing the sharpshooter.

Hiromi kept his face hidden as he continued on. “I have.. forgiven you for all the shit that happened while you were sick.. and I still feel sorry for avoiding you.. I was just scared..” Hiromi lifted his face slowly, his eyes teary. “I.. I’ve had.. some bad experiences with… men in the past, and It just.. brought back some unpleasant memories.. and I didn’t really care as much about those guys when they did it to me… but.. when you did it… I..” Hiromi bit his lower lip and shook his head. “..I just felt scared and hurt, that’s all… b-but, I know that you didn’t mean to do it… I’m still sorry for overreacting.. I really love you, Kai…” 

Kai stopped his babbling when Hiromi gently placed his finger over his lips. He wanted to continue to apologize, but it seemed like Hiromi wouldn’t have it. Sighing in defeat and giving Hiromi a quick kiss on the forehead, Kai tilted his head up slightly to give Hiromi room for him to nuzzle his face against his neck. Normally, Kai would find silence like this awkward, but the feeling of Hiromi pressed against his skin made time feel like it had stopped- and Kai wish it did. He would love to be in this moment forever, completely forgetting that they’re trapped in mutual killing game and that one of them could be killed at any moment.

“Y-yeah, I totally understand. . . If someone was treating me like that, I’d avoid them at all costs. . “ When Hiromi pulled his face away from Kai’s neck, he wasn’t expecting to see tears staining his cheeks. Bad experience with men in the past. . . ? Kai stared wide eyed at Hiromi as he briefly explained, biting his lower lip. “You. . . Holy shit, I’m so fucking sorry, I didn’t know. . Fuck, I must’ve made you remember some nasty things, gosh I’m so stupid.” Kai slapped his hand against his forehead and cursed silently at himself. “No, no, it’s not your fault for reacting like how you did! Shit, now I feel like the ultimate scumbag of planet Earth!”

Kai was dragging his hands down his face as he began to roll around on the bed in frustration, carefully avoiding accidentally hitting Hiromi with his legs.