#mg chapter 2

It had only been a day since the trial- or did it count as two days? Considering the trial had ended the morning of the day before and it was now evening of the second day, it had probably been close enough. Or something. In any case the point was that time had passed.

Was it enough time for Campana to have recovered from her ordeal? Probably not. Riku wouldn’t bet on it. But they were hoping she’d at least be in a condition to receive visitors, because they could only keep a lid on their burning curiosity for so long. There was also some legitimate concern for the girl that drove them to knock on the door of her dorm, but for the most part it was the questions crowding their thoughts that motivated the visit.

The brief description of the Flower Walk from the maps made it sound like a nice place for a peaceful interlude. Which probably meant it was going to end up the scene of a murder sooner or later. Riku shook their head at their own thoughts as they approached the fragrant path, tapping onto the walkway. The entirety of the gardens carried an aromatic overtone of flowers and plants, of course, but the flower walk really upped the ante. The heady, heavy smell of roses among other blossoms was almost overpowering as Riku made their way further down the path, and they were grateful for the opportunity to sit down and clear their head somewhat by the time they made it to the bench.

What a day. What a week. So much had happened, and thinking back on it all definitely didn’t help the dizzying effect of overstimulation, so Riku quickly put the brakes on the introspection mobile.

Instead they just sat there, hands resting over the handle of their cane, the tip pressed into the ground between their feet, and allowed themself a moment to adjust.

It was probably several moments before they actually stirred again though, and then it was only because of the sound of footsteps coming down the path. The characteristic light slapping of sole against heel told Riku that the walker was wearing flip-flops, and as far as they were aware there was only one person here guilty of that.

Had Riku slept at all last night? No. But had they gotten a good amount of investigating done? Also no. Mostly, after their Adventure (tm) with Jae-Ha, they’d taken it easy. Spent some time chilling in their room, read a bit, gone to the kitchen to make some food and coffee. Lots of coffee. The fortifying powers of caffeine were vital to the shark kid’s routine.

The morning had actually progressed a fair bit by the time they returned to the neglected task of checking out the new areas. Something about the concept of having more places accessible as some kind of ‘reward’ for the trial struck them as... distasteful. But that didn’t mean Riku wasn’t going to take advantage.

The shops seemed like good places to find... well, something. Riku wasn’t actually sure what they were looking for here, and they couldn’t very well say they’d know it when they saw it. Mostly they just felt the need to familiarize themself with new occurrences. Keep up to date, as it were. You never knew when information might come in useful... and besides, there wasn’t much else for them to do around here. If they kept reading all the time they’d just exhaust the supply of books they’d packed, and then what? 

Well, there was also socializing, of course. Riku was reminded of this as they entered the shop and heard the unmistakable sounds of someone else already inside, doing something around the shelves?

So after a few conversations with classmates, Riku had finally gotten around to scoping out the new areas. Or their version of that, which was mostly just listening to the screenreader describe the expanded map until they felt they had a decent grasp of its layouts and the new places therein. It was already pretty late by this time, and though there wasn't a motive currently in effect, it was probably a bad idea to go wandering around at night alone...

But after the days events, draining though they were, Riku didn't really feel like sleeping either. And it wasn't like it made any notable difference to them whether the sun was up or down, so they might as well try to be productive. Besides, one of the areas seemed to require you to attend at night...

It was only a little after 8pm that Riku actually made their way to the location of the so-called 'Test of Courage' however. They had the vague idea that they could poke around the outside of it until it opened up, or maybe find someone (or someones) willing to go in with them.

Still they hadn't entirely been expecting it to be easy, so they were slightly surprised when they heard the sound of rubber soles shuffling over the path nearby as they approached the 'haunted' building.

Was that a whiff of cinnamon? Someone was wearing cologne. Riku didn't think they'd met this person yet, they would've remembered a scent like that- but then there were a few people who'd spoken during the trial that Riku hadn't had the occasion to meet one-on-one.