Himiko slouched in her seat during class with her head propped into the palm of her hand as her history teacher, Mr. Tezuki, droned on. Her eyelids were about to droop completely when, suddenly, a small, flat, square object flew onto her desk. She snapped to attention, too afraid to scream. She realized that it was just a folded piece of paper. She smiled and turned around to see Kokichi, who was waving to her a few desks behind. Even though they could have just texted each other like normal teenagers, Kokichi loved the old school way of passing notes because they were more likely to be caught by Mr. Tezuka, which made things challenging and far more exciting. Himiko opened up the folded note, and read in Kokichi's playful handwriting:
Mr. Tezuka's kinda boring, huh? Himiko smiled and rolled her eyes.
Well...kinda, she replied. I am trying to keep myself from falling asleep. Feeling safe enough to pass the note back, she turned to Kokichi and swiftly flung it back to him. He opened the note and giggled at what she wrote. He wrote his response, and chucked the note back to Himiko.
Sooo...what'cha doin' after school? Himiko thought to herself. She didn't really have any plans other than the usual: go home, take a nap, wake up, eat dinner, then hang out with Kokichi until bedtime. Nothing different. She finally scribbled her response.
Same old, same old. She then folded the note back up. Making sure Mr. Tezuka's back was still turned to her, she quickly whirled around and tossed the note back to Kokichi. Some of the students rolled their eyes in annoyance. Kokichi scribbled his next response, then tossed it back.
Boooring! Wanna hang out after school, instead? Himiko frowned in confusion. She turned back to Kokichi, who was grinning slyly at her. She turned back to the note and wrote:
But...we pretty much always do that. She tossed the note back to Kokichi. She watched Kokichi grinning mischievously as he wrote. He tossed the note back to Himiko.
I have a feeling we'll have no choice this time. Himiko stared at it, completely puzzled. What in the world was he talking about?
"Miss Yumeno, are you paying attention?" the teacher asked. Himiko gasped and looked up. The teacher had his arms crossed, and was tapping his foot expectantly.
"No!" Taka answered. "She and Kokichi have been passing around notes while you weren't looking!"
"Geez...nobody likes a snitch, y'know?" Kazuichi said.
"But, it's true!" Taka continued. "And not only is it true, it's also very disruptive!" He looked back and forth between Kokichi and Himiko. "Kokichi, Himiko, you should think more about your classmates, and not yourselves! Think of all the learning you're missing out on!"
"Wooow, you're right, Taka!" Kokichi replied with a cheeky grin. "My bad! Hey! Maybe Mr. Tezuka can totally forgive us for not paying attention in class, riiight, Mr. Tezuka? Besides, there's nothing juicy written on that note, anyways, so it's not like we'll get in trouble for it!" Himiko's eyes widened as she remembered the first thing Kokichi had written down, and her response to it. She turned and shook her head furiously at him, trying to get him to shut up. Kokichi merely kept grinning at her. "Yup! There's no reason why we should be in trouble!" Mr. Tezuka narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Kokichi.
"Miss Yumeno...the note?" he said, holding his hand out to Himiko. Himiko sighed as she gingerly handed him the note, glaring at Kokichi. Mr. Tezuka read it and sighed. "Glad to know I bore some of my students, and that you two find it very amusing. If you think it's boring in here with me, Mr. Ouma and Miss Yumeno, just think how bored you'll be...in detention." Himiko gasped and stared at him in horror.
"Nyeeeeh...detention?!" she exclaimed.
"May Neptune have mercy on your soul," Mr. Tezuka droned. "Now...moving on..." Himiko couldn't believe it. She'd never been in detention before. She felt like shaking some sense into Kokichi. She turned to him with an incredulous expression, but all he did was smile and shrug in response. She felt a lump in her throat as she tried to keep tears from falling out of her eyes. The only thing that stopped them from falling was Usami suddenly appearing seemingly out of nowhere in front of the classroom.
"Attention, students! I have an important announcement!" she announced grandly.
"Greeeaaat," Mr. Tezuka sighed, plopping himself in his chair.
"I would like to announce that Hope's Peak will be doing the annual surprise field trip next month!" Usami continued.
"Surprise field trip?!" Sonia repeated. "You mean...a field trip that is completely a surprise?!"
"Yes...hence the words, 'surprise field trip,' " Usami said. "Next month on the 11th, all students at Hope's Peak Academy will be taken to a surprise location! But...in order to make the trip possible, some of you students will have to volunteer for the ever-popular cookie sale to raise money!"
"That shouldn't be too difficult, right?" Sayaka said, glancing over at Teruteru. "After all, Teruteru is the Ultimate Coo-...er, Chef. I'm sure he can bake the best cookies ever!"
"That's right!" Hina agreed. "On his own, he can raise enough money for, like, two trips, or something!"
"I'm very happy to hear two amazingly cute girls like yourselves have so much faith in my abilities as a chef," Teruteru said, eyeing Sayaka and Hina lustfully. "By the way, what are you two doing after school?"
"Ugh...not you, creep!" Hina scoffed in disgust, holding her hand up to him.
"No need to worry, Usami," Angie chimed in. "We can leave this all up to Teruteru!"
"Ha! We'll be goin' on that surprise trip by the time this week is over!" Miu said cockily.
"That's a relief," Kazuichi said. "I sure as heck didn't think anyone would wanna do this."
"I actually did," Rantaro admitted. "But, if it's going to be that easy with Teruteru around, I guess there's no point in the rest of us doing anything, huh?" The others murmured in agreement. Kokichi had to admit that selling cookies sounded like fun, especially if it meant conning people. He eyed Teruteru deviously. Everyone was relying on him to sell cookies, but Kokichi had other plans for him.
After class ended, Himiko stomped out of the classroom, not bothering to wait for Kokichi. She didn't care about cookies. She didn't care about the surprise field trip. She didn't care about anything but wanting today to end already. She angrily threw open her locker door, thrusting her history book into it.
"Himiko!" Kokichi ran up to Himiko. Himiko ignored him, grabbing her book for next class. "Himiko...come on." Kokichi gently tugged at the hem of her jacket, trying to get her attention. Himiko continued to ignore him as she slammed her locker door shut and marched off. Kokichi blocked her path and sighed with a look of genuine guilt on his face. "Okay, okay...I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Himiko." Himiko eyed him like she wanted to strangle him.
"Why did you do that?!" she growled. Kokichi gently pulled her to the side so they could talk without getting in the way of the other students.
"Just thought it'd be something different," he replied with a small shrug.
"Something different?!" Himiko repeated.
"Yeah, I mean...like you said in the note, you're always doing the same old thing everyday after school," Kokichi explained.
"And, so you thought you'd drag me to detention?!" Himiko hissed.
"Not you, us," Kokichi corrected. "And, sure, why not?" Himiko stared at him in utter disbelief. Kokichi chuckled. "Look, Himiko, detention's not that bad. Especially if this is your first time. All you do is just sit in a classroom and talk or do homework for, like, an hour, or two. You're not gonna get suspended, or expelled, or go to prison, or anything like that. It's not bad, I promise." Himiko calmed down a little.
"And you mean it?" she mumbled.
"Yup!" Kokichi replied. "It's only bad if you keep getting detention over and over again, but seeing as this is your first time, you'll be alright, Monkey Buns." He patted her shoulder comfortingly. Himiko sighed.
"Well...okay, then," Himiko said. "But, I'm still a little mad at you." Kokichi poked his lower lip out and leaned his forehead against Himiko's.
"Aw...I just wanted to hang out with my Monkey Buns," he said.
"Then all you had to do was invite me to the park, or to the ice cream parlor, or something not related to delinquency," Himiko said.
"But we've been to those places already," Kokichi said.
"You've been to detention before," Himiko pointed out.
"Mm-hmm, but you haven't," Kokichi replied, wiggling an eyebrow at her. Himiko sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Okaaaay," she mumbled.
"Sweet!" Kokichi said, and kissed her cheek. "I'll pick you up from your last class, and we'll go to the detention room from there, 'kay? Besides, we have some things to talk about!"
"Nyeh? Like what?"
"Nee-heehee...I'll tell you in detentiiiooon," Kokichi sang. Himiko shook her head at him.
"You're not making this any easier for me," she said.
"Tell you what, HimiCocoa Bean, on the way back from detention, we'll swing by the convenience store, and I'll buy you aaanything you want, m'kay?" Kokichi offered. A smile crept across Himiko's face.
"Nyeh...now you're talking," she answered.