Red and White, Black and Blue

Chapter 6: Aftermath

There are no classes the following day, to give the faculty and police time to tighten and adjust the security of all areas of campus. And maybe they wanted the students to have a little break - though Ryumi actually would have preferred otherwise.

The dragon girl groans sleepily as she fumbles for the phone on her nightstand, to silence the overly cheery tune that has woken her. When she's finally got it, she rolls onto her side and idly scrolls through the notifications that came in overnight. She plucks a soft pastel blue plush gryphon from the floor near her bed as she reads, tucking it under her arm. "Sorry about that, buddy."

Most of the news is focused on the USJ break in. No surprise there, but very little is anything new to her. Details are sparse in the articles, even thinner than what her and the others had figured out during the attack. UA and the police must be suppressing some of that for investigation purposes. There's a public statement from Principal Nezu, the usual stuff you'd expect about safety being a top priority, reexamination of systems, all that. And of course, every article has the standard 'reached out to UA for additional comment, have not heard back at time of publication'.

"They gave a statement, obviously they don't want to elaborate further... Especially since the media was kind of involved. Even if unwittingly." She pets the head of the plush gryphon as she scrolls through the last headlines and stretches her legs under the soft blankets.

She sighs as she lowers her phone, staring into the gryphon's glossy black eyes and sinking down to rest her chin on the pillows. "What the heck am I supposed to do all day, huh?"

The plushie obviously has no answers for her.

After another couple minutes spent summoning the heroic will needed to get out of bed, she delicately places the little gryphon next to her pillows, alongside the other plushies. The pile consists largely of mythical creatures and various dinosaurs, with one very cute crocodile mixed in. Of course, there are a handful of different dragons. She takes another quick look around the floor to see if any more of them escaped during the night. Once satisfied that they're all where they should be, she throws off the covers and sits up.

Her room is windowless, and thus dark, but with her eyes she doesn't need the help. It's a small space, disorderly in a way that would offend Iida's sensibilities, but not messy. The furnishings are limited to the bed, nightstand, and a simple desk with a chair. Her school bag lies dumped unceremoniously on the floor - it should be propped against the leg of the desk, but she must have missed the mark when she got back, as it's tipped over flat on the carpet. A few notebooks and a math textbook lay atop the desk, some unfinished homework she'll have to get back to later. Above the desk is a poster of the pro hero Hawks, and over the bed hangs another showing the main cast of Devil May Cry V.

She finds her slippers by the end of the bed and stands, stretching out her arms and wings with a yawn. As she starts to walk out, she kicks something small - a little plastic star. Looking up toward her ceiling, she scans over the collection of faintly glowing stars to find where this one fell from.

Ah. She notes the spot, near the center of the room, collecting the star and laying it on the desk. She'll fix it after breakfast.

The bed is left unmade, a tangled mess of blankets and pillows, as she retrieves her phone again and stuffs it into the pocket of her pajamas. Her eyes linger on a pill bottle on the nightstand for a moment. Last night wasn't too bad. Today won't be either, if she can find a reason to get out of the apartment for a while. She decides to hold off, for now.

Ryumi shuffles out to the living room first. The legs of her pajama pants are a few centimeters too long for her, and they drag on the carpet as she walks. It's a dark colored two-piece set, patterned with tiny white dots that suggest the night sky.