Danganronpa: String Theory (DrV3)

1.2 - Ctrl+Z!

"Well..." He begins, snapping me out of my stupor with his deep laid back voice. "I'd say maybe an even sixteen would be reasonable."

"Sixteen...?" I breathe with slight confusion, frowning and look towards the other students. I pucker my lips a little and then direct my attention up towards the ceiling in consideration. Now that I'm looking up though, this gym has a really high ceiling... What is that, twenty meters or something? Sucks to be the guy that has to eventually go up there to change the lights when they finally burn out...

I'm getting sidetracked again, stay on topic, Prairie, I think to myself. He said sixteen students, didn't he? An even sixteen? Why is he choosing such a specific number? ...Does he know something the rest of us don't?

"Yeah. Eight boys and eight girls probably. Not that I have anything to base that thought on though, I'm just making a bit of an educated guess at this point," Rantaro blushes a little, holding up his hands in mild embarrassment.

I want to ask what he's basing that educated guess on specifically, but seeing his sheepishness and doubt almost immediately makes me scold myself for my skepticism in him. He's not Kokichi, he's Rantaro. The person that helped wrap my wounded arm and has been nice to me from the very beginning.

"O-or you could be right!" I chirp, making Rantaro smile just a little more when I catch myself talking again before I can think of what else to say. It's obvious I have no sort of reason for why he could be right- painfully obvious- but I still fumble to say at least something that will raise his confidence a little. "I, uh- um... Well... It'd be cool if you actually guessed right..."

In the end, I'm a victim to his gaze and I stutter an apology, yanking my brunette locks over my face as it floods with heat. I feel Rantaro rub the top of my head gently in an attempt to calm me down. Although it feels nice, my body begins to slide down the wall like a noodle until I'm curled up on the floor and totally lightheaded.

"You shouldn't lay entirely on the floor like that, it's dirty," Rantaro says, half chuckling while I try to stop my head from spinning so much.

"I just need a moment, or I'm gonna faint..." I mumble weakly, before feeling Rantaro right me up himself so I'm sitting up properly. He brushes my hair out of my face until he can see the disaster that is my scarlet features, letting out an amused sigh of resignation and keeping an arm around my back to keep me from toppling over.

Once I'm finally released of the shackles of over stimulation from my embarrassment, I can sit up without Rantaro's help- completely avoiding looking at him since I'm so mortified he had to see me in such a pathetic state. I don't think I could manage eye contact after being so weird...!

More time passes in which Rantaro and I relax against the wall (mostly Rantaro, I'm still nervous sitting so close to him), watching the other teens chatting or relaxing along the walls around as well. The gym is actually a bit chilly, but with Rantaro sitting next to me, he's like a human heater. I gladly leech off of his body heat, glad I don't have to say anything awkward like ask him to sit closer.

...

My arm throbs suddenly and I press down on the area of pain, wrinkling my nose at the sudden feeling. I can feel my muscle twitching under my fingers and under the wound- it's been doing that for a little bit, but now the twitches are hard enough to stretch my gash more...

It's at the moment I'm holding my arm that the doors to the gym are thrown open and a girl with long blue hair and glasses stumbles in, nervously looking around at all our faces. The force in which she throws the door open startles me despite the fact I'd come to expect that more people would be arriving, and I reflexively squeeze and pull on my left arm as a result.