COTE: Self-Preservation

Y2V1: The White Room Student's Task

"Kiyotaka..."

I glanced at Kei who was scrolling through videos on her phone, "Yes?"

"What subjects do I do? I got no clue if I'm being honest," Kei grumbled as she let her phone fall to her side on the bed.

"I guess you'll have to find out, won't you?" I mumbled while taking a bite of the dinner I prepared.

Kei stood up straight and looked at me with a pout, "Come onnnn, just gimme a recommendation. Easy, right?" she whined.

I sighed.

"If I give you a recommendation, aren't you just going to do that without giving it a second thought?"

"Hey, you're smart. If you said it, it's probably true, right?" Kei praised.

"Then do Chemistry and Accounting."

Kei's mouth grew wide open, "E-eh?!"

"If I said it, it's probably true, right? Then do those two subjects," I replied nonchalantly.

Kei stood up and cutely stomped over to me as she put a firm grasp on my shoulder, "You suck."

"You'll live."

"Will I, Kiyotaka? Maybe I was never alive in the first place? Maybe I was a figment of your creeping dementia? Maybe you're in a psych ward, huh? You ever think about that?" she rambled.

"At least I don't have to think about subject selections in a psych ward. Three meals a day, no special exams, a nice comfy jacket, sounds nice."

"That's an asylum, moron. Ooh! On that note, let's watch shutter island!" Kei happily said as she went to grab the remote.

I put my plate away and sat down next to her to watch the movie.

Kei has a habit of keeping the TV on no matter what. Every time she comes over, we always watch a movie of some sort. It could be Japanese or Western, she had no qualms.

"Where do you find out so many movies from?" I mumbled as I sat on the couch.

Kei cocked her head to the side and looked at me as if to say 'you don't know shutter island?'.

"My Mom and Dad never wanted to watch anything, they never had time. So I was pretty much raised by TV," Kei shrugged.

"Hmm, the opposite for me," I muttered as I rested my cheek on the palm of my hand.

"What was the first movie you watched, then?"

"A New Hope."

Kei's expression turned twisted, "Star Wars sucks!"

Now that was just uncalled for.

"You've watched Star Wars?"

"Yeah, I've seen the new three. They were garbage! Well, the one called force awakens wasn't that bad, but the other two made me fall asleep. The older ones were probably trash, too."

Ah, I see why she thinks that.

"Kei, the new ones don't count."

"Huh?!" Kei exclaimed as she turned her body to face me.

"Okay, let's say your friend was holding trash and another friend wasn't holding trash. Who would you rather hang out with?"

Kei tilted her head in confusion, "Obviously the second one."

"Exactly."

Kei pointed her finger and looked to be beginning to say something, but she stopped herself as the gears began to turn.