Still stuck to your bed, you tried to think of why a majority of your classmates were sick. Wanting to see how many were affected, you texted all of them.
"Are you feeling sick? Everybody seems to be feeling terrible this morning," was the general message you sent. After just a few minutes, almost everyone replied, agreeing that they could hardly move or that they didn't feel well. Even Hiyoko said she was much worse than she had been earlier in the week.
This is insane. Is it strep? Did we all catch it from Hiyoko?
Suddenly, the doorbell to your dorm rang. Dammit, I have to go get it.
You forced yourself out of bed, struggling to stand on wobbly legs. You tumbled to the nearest wall for support, then pushed yourself to the door. You didn't see anybody through the peephole. Nobody's there? You turned the handle.
The door opened easily with the weight of somebody leaning on the other side. Mikan fell into your room, looking just as sickly as you. You fell to the ground, sitting up and reaching for the nurse.
"Mikan?" You tried to help her up, but your lack of strength proved useless.
"(y/n)!" Her weak voice called out. She pushed herself up, leaning against the open door. "I s-saw your t-text. Did you ask everyone that? A-are they all sick?"
"Yeah, it seems that way." You panted, keeping your eyes shut.
"This is t-terrible. All my classmates, all of us..." Mikan trembled as much as her exhausted muscles would allow. "D-did I do something wrong? Why are we all l-like this?"
"I dunno. But whatever it is, it's not your fault. You'd never do something to hurt us, nor would you make a mistake."
"W-we have to take care of everyone, b-but..."
"We can hardly get up, Mikan. We have to find somebody to help."
"I would tell M-ms. Yukizome, but I don't have her number. She's p-probably in the classroom."
"Yeah." Surely she'll notice we're not in class. School starts in half an hour, so if we just wait until then...
"Can we wait until 8 AM? Ms. Yukizome will notice we're missing."
"If th-this is something serious, we can't wait that long. M-my current symptoms are nothing like streptococcal pharyngitis, so I don't think that's it. It'll be worse the longer we wait."
"What should we do? We won't get anywhere like this. We can hardly move."
"We just n-need one person to alert staff. If there's anybody w-we know..." Mikan's voice grew thinner.
I'll try Hajime. He's the only one.
"I'll call someone. Wait here." You dragged yourself back to your bed, grasping for your phone. Holding it, you found Hajime's contact and called right away.
After a few rings, he picked up.
"Hello? (y/n)?"
"Hajime." You breathed. "Hajime, I need help."
"What's happened? What's going on?" Hajime was immediately concerned at the sound of your voice.
"I'm okay, it's nothing serious. I just need you to contact faculty. Tell them to come to the Main Course dorms in the old building. That's all."
"I'm on it." Hajime didn't hesitate. You heard hurried footsteps on the other end.
"Thank you so much." You slouched against your bed, smiling.
"Excuse me!" You heard Hajime call to someone. "There's an emergency in the Main Course! Somebody has to go help them."
A muffled conversation continued on for a while. You could do nothing but listen and wait for a response from Hajime.
After a few moments, Hajime was talking to you again. "I convinced them. They're sending someone over."
"Thank you."
"Will you be okay?"
"Yeah. I'll explain later. Don't worry about it."
"Okay. I'm gonna go to class. Call me if you need anything else."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
You hung up. "I called someone. People are on their way."
"Thank y-you," Mikan said.
You and Mikan relocated to the outside of your dorm, sitting and waiting for someone. Just a few minutes passed before you heard Chisa's flats tapping down the hall, hurrying to you.
"Mikan! (y/n)! What's going on?" Chisa crouched down to your level, noticing your ailed complexions.
"Everyone i-is like this. All our classmates." Mikan explained the situation.
"What happened to you? Nevermind, we've got to solve the current problem."
"B-but there's only three beds in the infirmary. W-we can't take everyone there."
"You're right. For now, all but three students will have to stay in their dorm."
"But which three?" you asked. "I don't have any issue staying in my dorm, if somebody else needs it more."
"Mikan, with your medical expertise, we'll want you to get better as soon as possible. You'll be one of the three. Can I leave it up to you to decide the other two students?" Chisa asked.
"Wh-what? Me?!" Mikan's anxiety was somehow stronger than her illness.
"Yes. Whoever is in worse condition, or is higher priority. You can decide anonymously if you want. It'll just be between us three."
"I-I have to see the other students first, to assess them."
"Okay. Let's all go." Chisa offered a shoulder to either of you. Slightly carrying her students, Chisa was able to support both of you and guide you to walk.
You checked on all your classmates, confirming that they were just as affected as you. Most of them hadn't left their bed and were relieved at the sign of help. Mikan promised to come back to help them once she felt better, and Chisa would keep tabs on them.
The last student you checked on was Nagito. He hadn't moved, perhaps still asleep, and somehow looked even thinner than usual.
"Nagito..." Mikan touched his forehead. "He's in terrible condition. H-his temperature is exceedingly high and he seems to have fainted. I-I don't mean to p-pry, but I believe he has a history of m-medical issues. He has a h-higher risk of danger due to his conditions." She stepped back, leaning onto Chisa. "He should go in the infirmary."
"Okay," Chisa said. "I'll take you and him to the infirmary. Who else do you want there?"
"Um, (y/n)." Mikan nodded. "Please."
Me? Why?
"You've been such a h-help to me. You deserve it."
"Alright, it's your call, Mikan. We'll get you two there first, then I'll come get Nagito."
Finally relocated and resting, you sighed. You had the middle bed again, with Nagito and Mikan on either side of you. Chisa brought in Nagito who hadn't said a word or even opened his eyes. Both of you laid in silence, while Mikan sat up in bed, tired but desperate to help.
"Mikan, lay down. It's okay." You tried to get her to relax.
"I c-can't. I have to help you guys." Mikan was on the verge on tears.
"You won't be able to do anything in your position. Take care of yourself first."
"O-okay." Mikan slumped down, finally relaxing.
A few minutes passed, then Juzo and Chisa entered the infirmary.
"We're here to check on you," Chisa assured.
"We have to know what's going on. Tsumiki, you got any idea?" Juzo leaned against the wall.
"L-like I said, I don't think it's strep. The intensity of the symptoms indicate some sort of chemical injury."
"Such as?" Juzo asked.
"Uh, like poison."
"Are you saying Class 77 has been poisoned? Who would do that?" Chisa said.
"I c-can't be sure that th-that's the case." Mikan stuttered. "And as to what the chemical is, I w-wouldn't know."
"Alright, I'll get one of your upperclassmen to help. Be right back." Juzo left the room.
"Still, if it was poisoning, we'd have to start looking into who and how," Chisa began. "Considering that all the students of Class 77 were afflicted the morning after evaluations, it likely has something to do with that."
"Yeah, considering that's the only activity that we all had in common yesterday," you added.
"We'll have you all examined to see what caused it." Chisa stood straight, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This is truly a serious issue. I only hope we can resolve it quickly."
Juzo returned, joined by an unfamiliar face. "This here is Seiko Kimura. She's the Ultimate Pharmacist, and your upperclassman. She's gonna help you." Juzo nudged the students next to him.
"Hey," You lifted an arm to wave to Seiko.
"Please, don't exert yourself." Seiko approached you first. Her voice was soft and quiet, though tainted with a bit of coldness. "I'm going to look you over and see what could be the cause."
"I'll help a-any way I can." Mikan shifted her position.
Several minutes passed, with Seiko checking you and Nagito while Mikan told her whatever she could.
"These symptoms could be the results of any number of chemicals. It's quite likely that whatever it was, it was taken orally."
"O-orally..." Mikan festered over the statement.
"Got it. We'll examine all the equipment," Chisa promised.
"Let me join," Seiko insisted. "I've got to see what was used."
Chisa, Juzo, and Seiko left the room. It was a little frustrating, being bed-ridden and stuck as a simple observer. Your only companions were Mikan and Nagito, which, while not awful company, were a bit less exciting than other options.
Nagito finally awoke, having not moved all morning. He blinked a few times before turning his head to see you.
"Welcome back to reality, Nagito." You couldn't feign any joy in your greeting.
"What's happened? Last I remember, you two were in my room, with Ms. Yukizome..." If there was a competition for thin voices, Nagito was winning.
"Don't worry about it. All of Class 77 is sick, but faculty is working on figuring out why."
"I see. That's good."
"Just don't move suddenly or anything. Apparently you're doing worse than all of us."
"Ha, how unlucky." Nagito smiled. "I don't know where my talent even comes from, with bad luck like this."
Yeah, whatever.
"We've figured it out." Seiko entered the room hastily, carrying a familiar jar. Inside were the tongue depressors. "It's in here. Each of these depressors has been tainted." Seiko set the jar on a desk, then took out one of the sticks. "It's barely perceptible, but these sticks have some sort of substance on either end. Not enough to be noticed by touch, but maybe by taste. Did anyone notice anything odd about the depressors yesterday?"
"Yeah," you answered. "They were bitter to taste."
"Bitter..." Seiko examined the depressor. "Well, I'll have to examine these to see if it's deadly or not."
"In the meantime, we'll work on why this happened," Chisa said, standing in the doorway with Juzo.
"It's upsetting to think that somebody was able to get past security measures. We should probably install cameras..." Juzo muttered to himself as he left.
"We'll solve this, okay? Don't you guys worry." Chisa followed Juzo.
"This is wonderful. Isn't it great, seeing our beloved faculty and upperclassmen work to help us?" Nagito wasn't finished with his speech.
Not now, man.
"If only we could meet with our own classmates and work together. Maybe we could find the culprit ourselves!"
"Well, we can't. Not yet, at least. We might as well rest so we can recover as fast as possible." You closed your eyes, engaging in dull conversation with Nagito.
"You're right. You're right." You heard a little breathy laugh from Nagito.
A few more minutes of silence passed, then an announcement chimed on the intercom.
"Students and faculty, this is Mr. Kirigiri. Currently, 16 of the 17 students of Class 77 have been afflicted with a non-fatal, non-contagious poison. It is clear that this poisoning was premeditated and malicious. As such, the school will go into lockdown and an investigation will be conducted. The school faculty intends to be fully transparent about the current issue and will resolve it as quickly as possible. Any student with any information regarding this incident is to alert faculty immediately. Thank you."
The most shocking part of the announcement was the first point. 16 of the 17 students? But there's only 16 students in our class. Who's the seventeenth student?
"I'm impressed that they're willing to be so forward with information. Hope's Peak had a history of sweeping disasters under the rug," Nagito commented. "Then again, Mr. Kirigiri may be bringing about a new era with his virtuousness and integrity."
"Do you know if there's a seventeenth student in our class?" you asked Nagito.
"Not that I know of. We'll have to ask Chisa about it when this is all over."
"I d-didn't know there was one either," Mikan said.
So many mysteries, piling up...