café au lait

It was the first time most of you had to bear the sickly, metallic stench of blood in this place, only vaguely perfumed with what else lay around the cafe. Your eyes looked for the source of the smell, which certainly didn’t take long. Staining the stone floor was lashings and lashings of bright red blood.

Amongst it all lay Francois de Lune Morhange, who just a few days ago had been serving coffee with a smile in this very cafe. That warmth and light was gone now, the barista clutching his bloody chest. Naomi was kneeling by the body, already looking quite focused. The scene embodied a traditional murder quite well - put up some bright yellow police tape, and you might have had something right out of a crime show. This was no show, however, and what you saw in front of you was in fact very real. While it was the first thing in the main area to draw your attention, it didn’t take long for you to realize what was on one of the tables.

There lay none other than Spydr, who, on first glance, looked more like she was sleeping peacefully than anything, but closer inspection confirmed her demise. You hadn’t really heard much from her, especially not after the death of her girlfriend, so maybe this was better for her. Still, you couldn’t help but notice the care and delicate placement of her compared to the Barista, hands delicately clasped over her chest. Keiko seemed to be looking over her, whereas Kiryuu stood by neither as if absolutely frozen. Shortly after a good number of you arrived, Kino surprisingly made an appearance in person as well. She was carrying what looked like a shoe box, and headed straight towards the strategist with little regard for the death and chaos in the room.

With the complicated scene in front of you, it left you with questions. Would you investigate? Who did this much? Why was it this different?

“Yeah so now that you egglords have seen what’s going on, you get two hours like last time!! Make the most of it.”

Kyo wasn’t the most attentive person out there, but even they weren’t stupid enough to be in denial about this situation. That didn’t stop them from hoping, but the moment those kids talked about killing eachother… they’d thrown in the towel pretty quickly. Sure, sure, they were an Ultimate, which was something so big they still struggled to wrap their head around it sometimes, but the situation their class had found themselves in seemed almost inescapable. The technology and money needed for such a stunt, and with how fucked Kyo knew Hope’s Peak Academy was, they figured the school wouldn’t even bother with a rescue. Too much work.

…yeah, they’d toned town their cynicism for the papers, but that didn’t stop their mind from immediately wandering into a dark abyss if left alone at literally any opportunity. 

They hadn’t slept too well following the announcement, either - in fact, they didn’t sleep at all, and failed to grasp how their roommates were able to. They’d spent the whole night pacing up and down the room’s length, and up and down the hallway and through the facility a couple times for good measure. It wasn’t until morning that they’d started to wear themselves out, and they silently cursed themselves for managing to fuck up their sleeping schedule even in a murder game.

Regardless, there in the gamer lounge they were in the morning, somehow looking more exhausted than usual as they paced back and forth. By the tracks on the ground, and how clearly-in-the-middle-of-something they looked, they’d been at it for a while. They’d occupied themselves with reading the backs of video game cases, cycling through their stack of about five like they were reading a novel. They fumble a step occasionally, either too preoccupied or too tired. They didn’t even like video games that much - could never afford them, and they’d probably just get addicted and burn away daylight, yet here they were.

Thinking about the café, and who he left it to, Francois felt drawn to the game lounge that morning. Yeah… this looked almost exactly as they anticipated. At least it was kind of nice? Maybe nice was too generous. Oh, that’s rude, can’t say that. However the room was, there was someone else in the room, so naturally, that’s where Francois’s attention shifted.