Fuyuhiko x Peko

Part III; Alone Time

After heading back to my dorm room, I watched the sun set over the lively yet calming surroundings of Hope's Peak Academy. Everything looked so perfect... the pure serenity of the sun's bright orange and gold rays spilling over the rose-tinted Sakura trees; the way that they shone through my window and into my room, illuminating my long silver hair as I began to unravel my tight double-braids. Still, it felt weird. It was all new to me, of course. Coming to Hope's Peak opened me up to the world of opportunities of any other high-school girl, so everything felt new, but I couldn't let the others know that, of course. Over the past few weeks, I had grown to love that unfamiliar feeling. Back home, I lived for one purpose and one purpose only, to serve and protect young master, but here? Here, I was slowly beginning to rediscover the world for myself. Never before had I seen such beauty in something as simple as a sunset, or a breeze blowing through Sakura petals, or even my own hair-but here, here I could learn to find happiness in things other than protecting young master. I still didn't have many friends at Hope's Peak though, I spent most of my time alone or with young master, but then again, I'm not really sure what a friend is. Through my keen observation skills, I've been able to notice that he himself often tends to stay away from our classmates. Always sitting in the back corner of the room whenever he gets the chance, being his typical asshole self. I've noticed a lot of things about him.
Practicing with a sword takes a lot of energy. I much prefer to practice by myself, but young master insists that I work with a trainer roughly once a day. So much for a trainer, as I almost always end up triumphing greatly over him. Either way, I still manage to work up quite a sweat. With this in mind, I waited for the shower to warm up before slipping my uniform off, discarding of it carefully to be washed later and stepping into the shower.
Great. More time with my own thoughts, I pondered as I let the hot water pour over my shoulders. I hate showering, too much time to think, too many ways for your mind to drift, especially easy for me due to the very active imagination I built up as a child, from spending much time alone. But most importantly, I hate showers because they leave you vulnerable. No glasses, no clothes, nothing to defend yourself with other than something as trivial and ineffective as a bottle of shampoo, I hate feeling vulnerable. Still, before I let my paranoia get the best of me, my mind once again began to race, I thought back to the encounter that I had had with Hiyoko roughly an hour before, in the hallway with young master after training. I thought back to her language...
Read your opponent...
"Since when were you two friends?"
What did she mean...
"Or did Peko's skank ass..."
Predict her next move... why did Mahiru cut her off? What was she implying? Surely she couldn't think...
No. That wasn't even a possibility, right? I mean, I barely even know what feelings are, nevermind having them for someone. Especially young master. Yeah, that sounded right.
Feeling the chill of the air on my body after jumping out of the now-empty shower, I planned the rest of my night. I robotically grabbed another set of clothes from my drawer, cringing at the horrid screech that it made as I coaxed it shut. I began changing into my uniform right as my phone lit up with a message from a chat containing all of my classmates. The brief message from Ibuki served to remind us of our plans to get together and use Chiaki's consoles to play video games together as a class. This was new to me, like most things, but sounded enjoyable nonetheless. Suddenly, my phone lit up again but this time to a text from a direct chat with young master:
Meet me to walk together? Bored as fuck rn
Sure. I briefly responded.
Any chance to protect young master is a chance that I'm willing to take, even if it just means walking him to a silly gathering. I'd had enough alone time for my own good anyways, it was probably a smart idea that I interact with my class for once. Optimistic about the rest of my night, I wrestled my hair back into two neat braids, wiped off my glasses and set foot out of the door to go meet young master.

Author's note: yes, the next chapter is gonna go over that one god awful scene in the anime. Get ready I guess LMAO I will be making it less gross tho:)