Living Danger

Chapter 1 - Daily Life 4/4

'Looks like I have some free time.' Ren thinks to himself. He sighs, might as well check up on his classmates.

He swiftly dodges Aika's next attempts to match him with someone before running into Seiichi.

'Ueda-kun is okay, at least he's not loud and annoying like some people.' Ren thinks to himself "Hey, Ueda-kun. Are you okay after that motive?"

The ninja nods "Yes, I'm fine. I've been trained to deal with those things. What about you, Kimura-kun?"

"I'm okay. He couldn't have just done that, right? Someone would've noticed and called the police if what Monokuma showed us was real." Ren reasons, though he realizes it's more for himself than Seiichi.

"Yes, you're probably right about that."

After an awkward beat of silence Ren decides to finally ask the question that's been bothering him for a while now "By the way, Ueda-kun, are you afraid of girls?"

"Well, not of girls themselves, just of physical contact with them." The purple head explains.

Now it clicks "So that's why there's always at least a metre between you and Seto-san."

Seiichi nods shyly "Yes, she's very considerate."

"I see. That makes sense."

"I should go now. I'd like to check on Seto-san. She seemed shaken by the photo she received. Have a good day, Kimura-kun."

"Yes, you too."

Once Seiichi has left Ren decides to go to Kaida's lab. She's quiet but friendly and that's exactly what he needs right now. All this socializing is draining him. He knocks on the door, which is opened by the calligrapher herself.

"Oh, Kimura-kun, can I help you?" Kaida asks.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out." Ren admits.

The bluenette smiles and nods "Sure. Come in."

The lab is still as messy as it was yesterday, it seems Kaida loves her organized chaos. She picks up a notebook from her desk and walks to Ren again, where she hands him the notebook.

"I've been working on this." She admits with a shy smile.

Sixteen pages in the notebook are occupied with the names of the students here, each in beautiful handwriting in different colours. Aika's is pink, Ginjiro's is red and Chuya's is lilac. Ren notices the letters of his name have been checkered, a reference to his talent.

Once he finished flipping through the pages Ren gives Kaida her notebook back "It's nice. I can see why you're the Ultimate Calligrapher."

Kaida blushes at the compliment "I want to have something to remember all of you for when we get out of here. I'm planning on making one for each of us."

Ren furrows his eyebrows "You still believe we can get out?"

The pink-eyed girl shrugs "I have to believe it, otherwise I fear I might go insane." She admits "It's an idealistic Utopia, I know, but it's better than nothing."

The chess player is surprised. He'd expected Kaida to be an idealist with her head in the clouds, but she seems to be rather down-to-earth without losing hope. She keeps on surprising him, but she's still confusing.

Kaida has put the notebook back on her desk and glances at the clock "It's time for dinner. We should head to the dining hall, since we promised to eat together."

Ren nods "Sure."

They leave the lab to have dinner with the others. The tension from the motives is still in the air.

It's quiet during dinner. Chuya attempts to cheer everyone up but the mood stays gloomy.

After dinner almost everyone heads back to their rooms. Ren is standing in front of his room when he realizes he left his pass at Kaida's lab. He quickly goes back there.

Once he arrives there he notices he's not the only one there. Chuya is also talking to Kaida. He clears his throat and the two girls look up.

"K-Kimura-kun, I didn't expect you to be here." Chuya says but smiles anyways.

Ren swears he can see Kaida frown but it doesn't last long. She smiles at him, holding up his pass "Forgot something?"

"Yeah." Ren admits with a small sigh.

Kaida gets up from her chair and walks to him to hand him his pass "Here you go."

"Thank you." Ren puts the pass back in his pocket, he should stop forgetting things.

The bluenette turns to Chuya "Oh, I almost forgot, you needed something, right, Seto-san?"

"O-oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering how the notebooks were coming along." The balloon artist says with her typical friendly smile.

"I've finished one. I'm working on the second." Kaida yawns "But I'm a bit sleepy. I think I'm going back to my room. Good night."

Chuya turns to Ren, still smiling "We should go too. I don't feel comfortable staying in Matsui-san's lab when she's not here."

Ren nods "You're probably right." They leave the room and he closes the door behind them.

"Well, I'm going to clean up my lab. Goodnight in advance." Chuya waves before walking off towards her own lab.

~*~

The morning announcement plays. Ren goes through his normal morning routine and heads to the dining hall. He's given up on trying to tame his hair by now.

When he arrives he wishes he was Kagami and could sleep through the morning announcement.

In the middle of the dining hall Masao is laying on his stomach with multiple stab wounds in his back. His eyes are open and empty, the eyes of the death. Yuna is rubbing the back of a sobbing Kaida, both of them were on kitchen duty today.

Bing bong, dong ding!

"Abody has been discovered. Please assemble in the dining hall."