#mg mo3

Unfortunately, Riku had been elsewhere at the time of Tomo’s accident, that elsewhere being far enough away from his chosen part of the hedge that even their keen ears hadn’t picked up the scream. This was mostly because seriously if Riku had heard Tomo screaming they would’ve been there in a flash, ready to fight. As it was, they didn’t learn of the occurrence until quite some time later, when they chanced to overhear something about it from someone else. Possibly Ren. In any case, they didn’t bother to get details once they’d learned Tomo was injured, they just made their way to the Hospital as quickly as they could.

“Tomo-kun...?” Riku realized only after they’d tapped their way back behind the reception area and into the hall that they may have been a bit hasty. They didn’t even know which room Tomo was in. Troublesome. In hopes of finding him they felt along the walls and pulled open the door to the first examination room they came across.

This was such a bad idea. If Riku weren’t so profoundly desensitized to sleep deprivation, they would have blamed that for their lapse in judgment. Unfortunately what would have served as a fine excuse for anyone else after a day and a night of no sleep was really not sufficient for them. The simple reality was that they’d come to the Butterfly Garden simply because they hadn’t explored it already.

It would’ve been wiser to bring someone with them to begin with, but this was the second day of the motive and Riku was fully aware that most of their classmates weren’t as resilient as they were when it came to sleepless nights. In fact they were pretty sure most of them would be stumbling around trying to find a place they’d be hidden enough from Monokuma to sleep, or just passing out and repeatedly getting woken up again. Free them all.

So Riku was alone as they awkwardly brushed aside the chains and stepped into the miniature glass building. It was a lot warmer in here than out there, where snow had been softly falling. Probably climate control for the poor fluttery insects. Butterflies didn’t do so hot in snow. Ba-dum-tsh.

They also didn’t hold up well if stepped on, so Riku took very slow, careful steps, trying to give any potential butterflies in their path plenty of time to take flight. They felt an absurd amount of anxiety over it anyway. They really didn’t want to crush any butterflies. They were also incredibly tense, senses piqued and on alert for any that may land on them. Not that they were scared it was just... uncomfortable to have tiny things you couldn’t see crawling on you. Riku was very grateful to hear the rattle of chains indicating someone else had arrived.

In the interests of beating the almost inevitable rush, Riku had made their way to the Kitchen not long after their conversation with Addy. Their intention was to monopolize the coffeemaker before anyone else went for it. Most likely others wouldn’t bother until later in the evening or the next morning, when the exhaustion really started to set in. Riku was going to be prepared. They located a thermos in one of the cupboards and set to work.

It was while waiting for the coffee to brew that they heard the door open, and quickly positioned themself as a barrier to their section of the counter. Understandably, Riku wasn’t about to let anyone near something they intended to drink.

Short stride, soft steps, a faint hint of vanilla and dog... how did Kanta still manage to smell even a bit like dogs after so long in the gardens? It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, mind, but still somewhat baffling. Maybe it was something to do with his clothes, perhaps enough dog hair clung to them to perpetuate the smell.

This was not the kind of thing Riku had been expecting when they’d approached the Gazebo as per Monokuma’s instructions. Sure, they’d realized that given the previously established pattern the bear would probably be giving them all another added incentive to kill someone, but this? It was... almost laughable. Almost. 

“Seriously? You’ll wake us up if we fall asleep? Nice.” Setting aside the irony of telling an insomniac they weren’t allowed to sleep, Riku tended to avoid it as much as possible anyway. The last few days had been the exception for them, not the rule. And this was actually a nice contrast to the times Monokuma had gassed them all. He was actively preventing them from falling unconscious, as opposed to his usual trick of forcing it on them.