(D/C until further notice) THE MISSED SPIRITS

[1-3] - Dining Hall + Introductions

After I walked through the hallways, I seemed to have found myself in front of the dining hall.

The doors were shut, but I could hear multiple conversations happening at once.

Feeling... non-nervous by all means, I opened the doors and walked in.

...

The place was big.

There were multiple tables, a lot of chairs, and certainly a lot of food choices.

SHIORI NAKANO: "Ah! Morning, Haruki."

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "Huh...? Hey..."

I immediately walk to the... place where the food is at.

!!!

???: "H-Hey!! Finally caught up with you..."

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "Huh?"

???: "I haven't seen you before... and... practically all of them haven't either. Probably except for Shiori and Yuki."

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "Yeah...? Go ahead."

???: "I'm Yuka Kaneko. If it's alright with you, should I tell everyone who you are so you don't have to?"

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "Ah, that'd be... efficient?"

YUKA KANEKO: "Great!"

I forget that my tag is still on my shirt.

Yuka looks at it briefly, and then looks up.

YUKA KANEKO: "Alright. But first, let me tell you everyone else's names. Ones that are here, I mean."

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "I already know Shiori and Yuki. You can tell me everyone else's though."

YUKA KANEKO: "Alright!"

...

She stands beside me and points at everyone, clearing distinguishing who was who.

...

Takeru Nakatani...

Haru Matsukawa...

Nana Sasaki...

Aoi Tanaka...

Sato Yamanaka...

...and Yuna Takamine.

Those were all of the new people at the table.

YUKA KANEKO: "Do you have them all down?"

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "I mean, I can always look at their tags if I have trouble..."

YUKA KANEKO: "Great! Now, get your food and come sit with all of us!"

HARUKI KISHIMOTO: "Okay...?"

I feel like that happened a little too fast...

But, I did what Yuka said.

I grabbed a plate, snatched whatever appetizing thing I could find, grabbed a water bottle, and slowly walked over to the table to sit down.

I pulled out the chair from in front of me, sat down fully, and scooched up.

NANA SASAKI: "So, now that we're all settled..."

"I have a question."

YUKA KANEKO: "What is it?"

NANA SASAKI: "Uhm... I don't expect any of you to know this, but..."

"...Doesn't the guy on the announcements seem... familiar?"

...

TAKERU NAKATANI: "Familiar... how?"

NANA SASAKI: "It occurred to me the first time we heard his voice."

"After the intercom turned off, I could've sworn I knew him from somewhere..."

SATO YAMANAKA: "Why didn't you ask him, then?"

NANA SASAKI: "Are you stupid?! He would obviously play dumb!"

SATO YAMANAKA: "Then... I don't know! You're the one that-"

AOI TANAKA: "Maybe we should ask him, but in a group. No harm in doing that, right?"

"It's not necessarily a rule breaker, after all..."

YUNA TAKAMINE: "It's worth a single try, but I still have my doubts."

SHIORI NAKANO: "He'll just play dumb, there's no point in doing so."

HARU MATSUKAWA: "So, what are we supposed to do?"

AOI TANAKA: "If we aren't gonna try, we might as well lay it off... until we find another thing."

YUKI SHIRAKAWA: "Another thing?"

AOI TANAKA: "I don't have ideas, so don't come running to me. It's just a possibility."

YUNA TAKAMINE: *sigh* "This is pointless... Are we sure the food here is safe?"

SATO YAMANAKA: "You would think if it wasn't, then we'd all be dead right now."

Right...

Speaking of food though, I'm practically finished.

I've been here for long enough.

I get up silently, not disturbing the conversation, and I walk to the trash can to throw the plate away.

After which, I inevitably walk out of the dining hall.