Neo Killing Game - Danganronpa x My Hero Academia

Chapter 7 : To Breed Endemic Death and Despair - Part 3 - Daily Life

{ major kudos to my friend Emma for helping me come up with the case for this chapter! you're so creative and sweet and just an overall amazing person ily no homo,, thank you soso much!! }

The next day, the class decided to host another banquet.

Tsuyu was in charge of baking, as per usual. Nejire helped her out, kept a close eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything unpredictable; Tsuyu saw the right in that. She wasn't sure if she could trust herself, either.

As she slipped the tray of pastries into the oven, cautious not to get burned, certain thoughts began to swim around her head.

Ochako. Rikidou. The unlucky bakers...

Haha... baker's dozen is thirteen, right? Unlucky number thirteen, the unlucky bakers who died first.

Aren't I funny? You are funny. Yes, very.

Despite having a job at hand to pin focus on, she couldn't help but get lost in her head again. It was always hard not to.

Ah, the deja vu... baking pastries. Fumikage will come over and ask me if this was my way of remembering Ochako, right? He'll come over any moment, right?

Tsuyu closed the oven -safely, wearing oven mitts, right Nejire?- and took off the gloves, turning in the direction of the grill, half-expecting to see a certain bird-headed boy standing there, making barbeque with Mezou.

And there he is. The sleek figure of Fumikage hovered by Mezou, staring blankly down at the sauce-coated pieces of meat on the fire. Mezou's strong hands were working the tongs and the flame, of course they were; after all, Fumikage didn't have hands.

The pale boy's arms were cut off by the elbow, revealing the bone and cartilage of the joint. Blood did not run; only clotted at the sever. Fumikage's eyes were blank; unmoving.

Right. Just a statue, a figurehead. She'd tried interacting with her presumably dead friends many times before; they never responded. Never said anything, never paid her any attention. She wasn't sure if she cared at this point, even if seeing Fumikage ignore her or Ochako refusing to talk to her stung.

At the end of the day, they were dead anyway, right?

We can only move forward, right?

Right?

Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Ri-

"Tsu." She was snapped out of her train of thought by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Nejire gazing down at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Tsuyu turned back to her oven. One glance at the timer revealed she had just half a minute left before she had to swap out the trays. "But thank you."

She finished up her baking job in twenty minutes- slipping the last tray into the oven, decorating them after they'd cooled a little. She had to eat a few herself because she majorly messed them up after spacing out; one was drowned in precious red berry gel when Nejire poked her and got the Swimmer to center herself. But the end product was still the same; a nice, ornate plate of delicate cookies. Nejire carried it into the dining hall last, showing Tsuyu her seat, before racing back into the kitchen to make drinks with Mezou.

Tsuyu sat down. Looking at the meal, the class had managed to pick up some cooperation -at Mirio's urging, obviously- and prepared some edible objects. Edible objects. Haha. I have a way of words, don't I?

A few minutes later, Nejire and Mezou stepped back into the cafeteria, acting as the waiter and waitress. Drink servers. The silver trays held tall, cool drinks in glasses, paired with cheery straws, slices of fruit, and paper umbrellas to top it off. They began setting one before each person seated around the dining table. Tsuyu thanked Nejire as she set a lemon seltzer by her plate; the pale yellow fizzled and bubbled, a slice of the sour fruit clipped on the rim of the glass.