Despair on Display

~ C h a p t e r I - P a r t I I ~

Lachapelle Yvette: You called for me? I didn't hear you at all!

Rei frowned. "Really...? That's strange..."

Yvette grabbed Rei's hand and gently tugged at it. She pointed down the hall.

Rei blinked. She was momentarily confused on what Yvette was referring to, and it took her a second to remember.

"Oh, breakfast- yes! We can bring it up there with everyone! Though-" she gently pulled her hand away from Yvette. "Let me put my hair into a braid real quick- you'll wait for me, right?" Rei asked, and Yvette nodded enthusiastically.
Rei thanked her and quickly went to brushing her hair and then putting it up into her usual messy braid. She then flattened out her shirt, adjusted her collar, pushed her glasses up her nose, and then finally turned to Yvette. "Alright! Let's go!" Yvette grabbed Rei by the arm this time, and lead her down to the cafe, where they saw a few others already there, including Hestia.

Hestia waved at the two and invited them to sit down.

"Hey there lovelies! How're y'all doing today? I sure hope you're all rested?"

Yvette nodded enthusiastically while Rei walked over to the counter.
"I rested well, how about yourself, Hestia? Do you need any help?"

"Oh, I'm doing quite well! Slept very well, too! And don't worry, I've already gotten help from the others! You just sit down and enjoy a nice meal!"

Rei frowned but complied, taking a seat next to Yvette.

"Aww, don't get your hopes down, honey! Tell ya what. I was planning that, after everyone gets here and eats, we would discuss how to escape here. I'm sure you can help me out there!" Hestia exclaimed, setting down a plate in front of Yvette and Rei.

Rei, despite still being tense, felt better that she could help out. "Of course. That doesn't sound like a bad idea at all- ah that reminds me- Yvette and I discovered something earlier today."

Hestia glanced over at the entrance to the cafe, seeing as more people were entering.
"You can announce it when we've all had a chance to eat! I'm sure whatever you two found will prove to be useful, but as of now," Hestia gestured to the plates, "eat up!" She exclaimed.

Rei began to eat her food, occasionally stopping to make small talk with Yvette and the others around her and watching more people enter the cafe.

For a small moment, everything seemed almost normal: everyone was chattering, laughing, and enjoying each other's company as they ate the meal that was graciously provided for them. If she didn't know any better, they were all simply enjoying a nice meal on a field trip at the local museum.

The bittersweetness stung Rei's heart, and she forced herself to shovel down her food in order to distract herself from the thought. The food tasted bland: it was nothing against Hestia's (and, as Rei noticed, Tadashi's) cooking, she simply couldn't help but feel the gravity of the situation she was in dulling all of her senses.

She felt a nudge.

She was startled out of her thoughts and she looked around frantically.

Hestia was looking at her, worry written all over her face.
"Is there something wrong, dear? Is the food not good enough? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Rei shook her head firmly.
"No, no, it's not that, it's lovely, thank you. You should eat as well. Thank you for checking in. I'm fine, really."

Hestia didn't seem convinced.

"Listen Rei, I know it's a rough situation, but you really don't need to suffer alone, you got it? If ya have any problems, just come to me, alright? Please, I care for ya!" Hestia smiled reassuringly.

"Besides, if it makes you feel any better, we can start discussing what you found now- everyone seems to be finishing up."

Rei looked around to see everyone had seemed to finish eating and now were just chatting idly amongst themselves.
Rei, still scanning the crowd, nodded.

"Yes. Thank you, Hestia. I appreciate it. I'm glad you're taking on the leadership role." She said, now directing her attention back to Hestia.

"Aw, it's nothing, really! Now, let me call everyone's attention-!" And with that, Hestia gave Rei a wink before leaving to gather everyone's attention.

The talking died down, and Hestia explained that she wanted the group to share anything that they had found.

Shirou reported the closed staircase- which was something Rei and a few others were already made well aware of.

Hestia then turned to Rei.

"Rei, do you want to share what you found now?"

Rei nodded and pushed her glasses up her nose.
"Yvette came to visit me this morning and she couldn't hear me telling her to give me a moment."
Yvette nodded enthusiastically and began to scribble something down in her notepad before handing it to Rei to read.
"She says that she's assuming all of the rooms are soundproof."
Another nod from Yvette.

From the group, Takao folded his arms.
"Tanji and I were discussing this earlier as well. He told me that it wasn't usual for a room to be sound proofed."
The Architect coughed awkwardly.

"Well, no, usually people install sound proof paneling afterwards unless the room was specifically designed from scratch to be sound proofed- gah that doesn't make sense nevermind- anyways it's just weird in general. Cause... well, museums don't have bedrooms. And they definitely don't have beds and bathrooms that suddenly appear."

Ah. So Rei wasn't the only one who experienced that.

"Ah, you experienced-"

"Oh, so you all randomly got new rooms? And a bed? Does this mean rooms may suddenly appear in the future? That's going to be fun to keep track of through a map! Is that even possible to do, what's your name?"
Artemis spoke up.

Tanji frowned. "It's Tanji Hotaka, and no. That usually doesn't happen. Unless there was a fake wall, but that doesn't explain the sudden bed appearing or anything. Perhaps we need to recheck all of the walls? If we find anything hollow, we might be able to find something."

"If we must do that, perhaps we should check all of the paintings as well. Maybe there is a secret entrance behind any of them?"
Kanon spoke up.

Artemis nodded in agreement.
"Architect boy. Tanji, right? You're coming with me to figure this out. I'll map things out while you test the walls."

"Oh- um, okay! Sure!" Hotaka stood up and made his way over to Artemis.
The two of them then left.

Hestia, upon seeing the two of them leave, smiled. "Well! It seems we all know what we are doing now! It's best we all triple check the walls to make sure that we fully know the extent of the gallery! We should all report back here later with our findings!"

Just like the meeting before, there was a wave of agreement from the remaining students, and a few started to leave.

Rei herself decided to stay. Perhaps she could check the walls here in the cafe.

Time to start the second part of her investigation.