Dangan Ronpa: Unser Sommerende/Chapter 2 - Daily Life (1)

Continued from Chapter 1 - Class Trial.

[1]

[2]

MONOYAKI HOROSCOPE

Leo!

In the coming days, you will breathe at least once. If you find that you don’t breathe any more than just once, take out life insurance.

[3]

“Wakey wakey, here comes the sun! Come out to play and greet the brand new day!”

[4]

Despite the command from the speaker system, I really didn’t want to get up.

I could probably ramble on and on about everything, but it’s kind of obvious I was still tired after yesterday.

And scared.

But, lying in my bed, I wondered if the daily meetings that we were having were still being held. James was usually the one conducting them, but since it had become a routine, I figured that there’d still be some people going, even without him.

I guess I had to go, really.

[5]

Arriving in the cafeteria, most people were already there, clueing me in that I was a bit late. Mary and Robin weren’t there as usual, though the absence of Sadie and James was definitely a major change.

As we all sat there at the table, there actually wasn’t much speaking at first. Nobody had much to say. Of course, usually we’d get started off by James or Sadie. Seeing that we weren’t getting anywhere, I decided to try and instigate the conversation.

“So... What now?”

“What do you mean, ‘what now’?” Charlotte seemed a little cross for no apparent reason.

“I mean... We need to have some sort of plan to, at the very least, prevent anybody else from dying...”

“How?” Dan muttered, looking drained. “We’re doomed. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Well,” Terry interrupted, “There surely must be something that somebody can do to help us stay together, right?”

“Well, for one thing,”, Charlotte resumed, “No more ‘leaders’, okay? There’s never been any leader ever who didn’t just care for themselves...”

“That sounds like an exaggeration...” Molly sighed.

“No, it’s just facts. Okay?”

“Well,” Rocky said, looking at me, “If we’ll be doin’ somethin’ ‘bout the situation, then what is the plan?”

“That’s, uh.” Well, I sort of started this conversation in hopes of getting someone else to have an idea. “That’s a good question.”

“Um...” Mia raised her hand apathetically. “I propose that we all just stay in our rooms and stuff.”

“For the rest of our lives?...”

“Well, you’ve all got video games with you, right?”

“No?”

“Oh. I have.”

“Hey, wait!” Charlotte spoke up again, “How? How did you get them?”

“Eh. When I first woke up in this place, I still had my Nindando Swap in my front pocket.”

“Yeah? And how about everyone else? We don’t have anything to do...”

“Dunno. Oh well.”

I sighed. “There has to be something to, at the very least, distract everybody from the entire idea of murder.”

[6]

“Hey hey, I have an idea!” An all too familiar voice, from under the table. Monoyaki crawled out from under there, as if that was a normal thing people did.

“You kidding?” Jo rested his elbows on the table. “Why can’t you just show up through the door?”

“Well I just happened to be down there...”

“Excuse me,” Molly stamped her foot on the ground, “Will you just say what you will and leave? I assure you that not a single one of us are going to do whatever it is you’re-“

Bing! Everybody’s Monopads went off again. Getting it out and taking a look, a new rule had been added.

Rule #11: With every case solved, a new floor within the school will open up and give way to exploration.

Rule #12: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

I remembered the bars from earlier on the floor above us, stopping anyone from going to the next floor up.

“So, since you’ve managed that, just as it says, there’s a whole new section of school for you to check out!”

“And there’s no weird traps there or anything, right?” Dan scratched his head.

“Uh... There aren’t. I don’t think. Uh. Bye bye!”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

As the goat left as promptly as he always did, the rest of us sort of sat around for a bit, until, without a word, we headed out to look at the opened floor, perhaps with some hope of finding an escape route.

[7]

Arriving at the second floor, the first thing that was obvious is that the halls were just as blank white as the rest of the school. We also noticed that there was another set of stairs to a third floor, blocked off by more iron bars.

People ended up dispersing randomly. As I wandered, I got an idea of the place; a main hallway with a couple turns, which linked to three large rooms.

The first room I entered was some sort of recreation room, by the looks of it. It was once again blank like the rest of the school, though it had a couple of comfy-looking lounges. Said lounges were made of black leather, and had a couple white cushions on both of them. They both faced a television set embedded into the wall, which was off at the moment, though a remote was laying on one of the lounge’s armrests. There was also a chess set upon a table with two chairs, and an impressive grand piano with a stool.

“Oh, how wonderful!~” Molly had just entered in behind me, gazing at the piano in excitement. Amber was close by her side.

“What is it?” She was looking up at the far taller girl, not really paying attention to where the other was staring.

“The fine instrument over there! It’s astonishingly well crafted!” She went over to it, with Amber following. The entire time, neither of them seemed to have noticed me. At all.

I decided instead to examine the television area. Sitting upon one of the cushions, I got a closer look at the TV, which looked very much like it was just a glass panel in the wall. Grabbing a remote and pressing the power button, the screen turned to life, with... An actual TV feed. I was expecting nothing, considering that our captor, whoever they are, is trying to keep us sealed off from the rest of civilisation... Then again, there wouldn’t be anything we could do with a TV to contact the outside world.

As the elegant sound of the piano echoed, I began to ponder the whole situation. It was only now that I was really considering that there was someone behind all of this. The talking goat thing was probably some sort of remote control puppet, and that leaves someone, or a group of people, as the controllers. But what motive would they possibly have? There’s nothing to gain from just making a bunch of teenagers kill each other...

Getting lost in thought meant I didn’t actually pay attention to the television programme, which was just a news broadcast. No news about students being held captive, so it makes sense that we’re still stuck here.

Nothing left to do, I exited, and looked at some of the other spots the new floor had in store. Entering the other room attached to the main hall, I found myself in what looked to be a classroom specially dedicated to home economics; it contained various sewing machines, aside from in the back third of the room, which contained a kitchen area, though it was still probably easier for us to make meals in the cafeteria’s kitchen.

Looking around, there didn’t appear to be anyone there. I suppose this was probably one of the less interesting rooms in the area... After getting my bearings of the layout, I exited.

The third and final room I entered was a large workshop which appeared to be made with both metalworking and woodworking in mind. The space was divided in two, with the left half dedicated to woodwork, and the other to metalwork. There were plenty of saws, drills, and planks of timber in one end, while the other end had... Metalworky stuff. I don’t know, it’s all rather strange-looking compared to the wood tools.

The back end of the metal section was kind of crowded, at least, compared to the other rooms. It was kind of difficult to make out what was going on. Entering the group, I heard a bit of chitter chatter, but, without prior context, I couldn’t make out the topic before...

“Hi.” Lucy initiated a conversation without me even seeing her.

“U-uh, hey!...”

“You are... Late. Correct?” She still speaks really strangely...

“Y-yes. What’s-”

“Going on, yes. Terry is offering to make things for people. And for free, too.”

“Shouldn’t we be focusing on finding a way out, now that we have a new floor open?”

“But... It’s free... It’s rude to refuse, correct?...”

“I-I mean, well-”

I was again interrupted, this time by Terry himself, who was right up near me.

“And you, what would you like?”

“I-I didn’t ask!...”

“But surely you need something, right? I can help, let me make something please!”

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying please? I mean, if I’m requesting something then-”

Lucy prodded my side. “Hey hey... Maybe you could... Ask for a spoon?”

“Spoon!” Terry nodded his head. I guess that’s my request? “Got it! And you!” He turned to Lucy. “What do you need?”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“A scythe.”

[8]

A bout of silence. Um... “Lucy?” I said.

She turned her head to me as if nothing strange had happened. “Yes?”

“Why... Do you want a scythe?...”

“It looks cool...” Another long bout of silence followed, including people awkwardly looking around at each other. “What?...” She tilted her head.

Mia rubbed her eyes, yawning. Despite the tense situation, she was still really tired, although she did seem as worried as the rest of us. “Is someone gonna tell her?...” I mean, it was really obvious why that was a concerning request, but that’s probably what made it so hard to point out. It just felt weird, really. But before anyone could say anything...

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“Okay, one scythe for Lucy! Who else?” Terry seemed oddly tolerant of the idea... Generally having had enough of all this, I backed out of the crowd, hoping nobody would notice me.

[9]

“Ey.” Someone noticed me. It was Jo, who was leaning against a wall on the other side, next to a stack of timber. “Bored, right?”

“Err, I’m just a bit overwhelmed, I guess?”

“Mm, even the best of us would get overwhelmed, trying to tolerate this sort of crowd... Or, MEOWED, rather. Anything else you’d preFUR to do?”

I snickered a little. Again, he kept making these cat puns, even though there aren’t any cats here. It’s really not funny in the slightest, but, somehow, through his delivery, he got me to giggle. “I-I guess I’ll, uh...”

“Ditch this spot? Sounds good.” He went off, and I followed him without really thinking about it.

[10]

The boy lead me downstairs to the ground floor, and into a... Storage closet? I mean, it was bigger than a closet, it was more like a whole room for storage. Weird that I hadn’t noticed it earlier, though from the outside, the doorway definitely looked like it was just a closet. As for how it looked, it mostly just contained shelves of crates and boxes and the like, with a few cabinets, a couple of which were locked.

Jo leaned against one of the many shelves, and, reaching into a crate behind him, brought out a ball of yarn, which he stroked during the ensuing conversation. “So, how are things, then?”

“Not the best.”, I sarcastically noted. “We both know what happened yesterday...”

“Yeah, I’m aware. Things are pretty overwhelming.” He had a small chuckle afterwards. “But, even with everything that’s happened, I’m fine.”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“That’s strange. You weren’t fine yesterday, right? We witnessed the brutal deaths of two people... Two of our friends, and you’re grinning like it’s nothing. You were so worried during the trial, right?”

“Yep.” He turned and threw the yarn back into the crate, then turning his head back at me. “Thing is, I’ve come to a bit of a realisation.”

“And what’s that?”

“It’s a joke.”

[11]

“A j... What?”

“It’s all a big farce. The absurd situation, the bombastic trial and execution... This is all a bit like a movie, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

He chuckled once more. “What I’m saying is, it’s all a story. Even the very participants, rather than normal folks, are all just a teensy bit eccentric, literally, they’re characters.” His tone sounds so confident, yet the words aren’t sane in the slightest... “Whoever has set this game up is wanting us to act a certain way, fall into their traps. Even the motives seem like they’ve been set up to target certain students, I think.”

“But what are you getting at with this? That the mastermind behind this is just in it for some sort of thrilling story?”

“Exactly. And, the only thing to do then is, well...” He displayed a toothy grin. “Don’t give them what they want. Act like a fool. Do the stupidest things imaginable, and never, ever, EVER act like you normally would. They want the story to make sense, so, the more we derail the plot, the closer we drive them to frustration... Or... FURstration.”

This idea made... A tiny amount of sense, but for the most part, it felt like a shot in the dark despite that. Even if it sounded somewhat plausible, there wasn’t much evidence to support it, and acting based on a loose theory would be far too reckless. “This sounds a bit too far out for me to really consider it...”

“Really? Huh. From how the first trial went, you seemed like one of the smart ones. You sure you don’t believe me?”

“I am sure.” I looked away from him. “It’s silly.”

“I see. Well, play along then! I’m sure the mastermind is happy for you to bend to their will. I’ll just do what I think’s gonna get us out of here. Sooner they get too annoyed to continue, the sooner we’re free.” He shrugged, and got the yarn out again, starting to ignore me.

Fed up, I started walking away, except there was one more thing I was wondering about this idea... “If... We frustrate the mastermind, aren’t they just going to kill us all? Why would they let us go free?”

He laughed again in response. “Well, better than dying the way that they want us to. We’ll be the real winners in the end.” My god, he really is loopy.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

Leaving that whole thing behind, the rest of the day was mundane in comparison. I eventually just went to bed, exhausted as usual.

[12]

MONOYAKI HOROSCOPE

Virgo!

With the horrid state the market’s in nowadays, financial trouble is up and coming in your future. My prescription; rob a bank, preferably before all the money becomes worthless thanks to inflation.

[13]

Another day. Another day. Another day.

I was starting to feel really cooped up. Aside from the ever present threat of murder, the lack of fresh air and the sense of claustrophobia that the featureless halls induced was getting to me.

Nothing could be done about it, at least not at the moment.

Maybe there would be answers at the meeting.

[14]

Arriving at the same cafeteria as every morning, the usual people were there, everyone except Mary and Robin. I felt that if they attended as well, then we’d all stick together a lot better, but for now, we had to make do with the rest of us.

... Actually, on closer inspection, Jo wasn’t there either. Just as he said, it looked like he was doing senseless actions that’d increase the danger, for instance, not going to the meetings. Hence, the cohesion broke just a little more.

“Jo has yet to arrive...” Molly pointed out, though it was somewhat obvious. “I assume that we should check on him?”

Amber anxiously twitched a little as Molly spoke. “B-but he has to be okay, right? Nothing bad’s going to happen again, right?”

“Ugh...” Charlotte was just a bit peeved. “I think he’s trying to trick us.”

“Hang on, how would that work?” Terry mentioned, seeming slightly more tired than usual.

“It’d be so easy for someone to not show up and make everyone split up and look, and then kill one of the searchers, right?”

“Well...” I felt that didn’t really make sense. “Then they wouldn’t have time to hide evidence that they did it. And besides, yesterday, Jo told me something...” I proceeded to recount yesterday’s events, and Jo’s esoteric plan of action.

Rocky adjusted his raccoon hat, leaning back in his chair. “That boy’s really off his rocker, huh?”

“Well, he doesn’t seem unstable. It’s just that he’s very confident in his plan, I think...”

“Uh, I don’t care about whether he’s sane or not.” Dan was sweating a little. “I just don’t wanna be in the same building as someone who’s going to act like that.”

“...” Archie slammed his pot plant on the table, as if to attract attention. “Is nobody going to mention the fact that Lucy asked for a scythe yesterday?”

“It looks cool...” Lucy tilted her head.

“That’s not the point...”

“Hey, wait,” I said, feeling that Lucy was telling the truth when she said she just likes how it looks. “If you’re worried about if she’d use it as a weapon, maybe we can have it just hung up somewhere? On a wall, perhaps? That way it can be shown off, without being available as a weapon.”

“Possibly, but... Shouldn’t we try and do that for everyone?”

“If that’s the case,” Charlotte stood from her chair and pointed at Archie, “Get rid of that plant! You could bash someone over the head with it!”

Molly scoffed. “The body would get covered in dirt. Anyone would be able to tell that he did it.”

“I mean...” Archie sighed, and picked the plant up. “I guess I should probably keep it in my room anyway. It’s fine. Carry on.” He went back to his usual state of silence.

“So,” I began, “are there any other, erm, ‘weapons’ people should be getting rid of?”

“Hm, can’t recall any.” Rocky stated, shifty eyed. “Anyway, I think that’s it for today’s meetin’.”

“Wait, are you just... Ending it?”

“None of you said I can’t.”

Mia yawned. “I’m fine with it ending now...”

The crowd began to clear up.

[15]

As I sat there, my mind started wandering. Something felt wrong about how quickly it ended... Why would Rocky want to...?

Oh yeah.

He carries around revolvers.

Of course he’d end the conversation.

He doesn’t want to give up his guns.

Okay.

Crap, he’s planning something, isn’t he?

I stood up, ready to track him down and get to the bottom of it, when suddenly, I felt a tug on my arm.

“Hi hi!” Looking down, Amber was there. “We haven’t hung out yet, right?”

“Well, I’m a bit busy with-”

“Pleeeeease, it’ll just be ten minutes! I think! Just a biiiiiit!” She started dragging me off... Well, maybe I should have just let go of her hand, but she’d probably start crying or something.

[16]

The petit girl brought me into her personal room, which looked mostly like my room, other than having her bed made, and an elegant, old-fashioned cloth doll sitting by the pillow.

“Here we are! Would you like some tea?” She asked, though there didn’t appear to be any tea anywhere in the room.

“Err, I’m fine, thanks. If we were going to drink tea, we’d have gone to the cafeteria...”

“Maybe... Anyway! What do you wanna talk about?” She was very attentive and excited. I couldn’t actually think of anything to bring up though. “Hmm, you don’t have anything to say, do you...”

“I mean, you just sort of brought me here out of nowhere.”

“Well, that’s just because you’re the last person left I haven’t really talked with, you know? I wanna know everyone.”

Not exactly flattering to find out I’ve been picked last. “Well, if it’s about getting to know me, then I, uh... I’m not really that interesting.”

“I’m interested in how uninteresting you are, then!”

“Um... Can you talk about yourself first, then? I don’t know where exactly to start.”

“Okay... My name’s Amber!”

“I know that.”

“Well, tell me what you don’t know, then.”

I paused, and figured I’d just ask about the first thing that comes to mind. “... Your penguin?” She was carrying it as she always did.

“You wanna talk about Mr. Penpen? I thought we were talking about me...”

“I mean, he’s your toy...”

“Well, I can say how we met!” She’s talking about him like he’s an actual person... “When I was a little itty bitty girl...” (She still is itty bitty, really.) “I had a whole buuuunch of plushies like him. All kinds of animals and things. But every night when I went to bed, I felt really scared and lonely, even with all of them to hug... So I made my own, one that I could have a deep friendship with!” She giggled. “I was about four.”

“You already knew how to sew at that age?”

“I just sort of did it. I had to. If I was ever REALLY alone, then I’d probably... Cry... A lot...”

Looking at Mr. Penpen, he’s a very well crafted toy. Truly impressive, taking her age into account... Well, I suppose that’s to be expected of the Ultimate Seamstress.

“My newest creation is over there!” She pointed to the doll by the pillow. Looking at it more closely, it had a light blue 18th century dress and a bonnet, along with long blonde hair. “She’s called the Duchess of Kicardie, and she’s... Um, a doll. She doesn’t have a big personality like Mr. Penpen does. I made her yesterday in the sewing room...”

We talked on for a while, until eventually parting ways. I looked for Rocky for a bit afterwards, but couldn’t find him. Giving up, I retired to my room for the day, and went to bed.

[17]

MONOYAKI HOROSCOPE

Libra!

My prediction for tomorrow is that your horoscope will have a scary prediction in it!

[18]

Waking up, I got out of bed a bit more promptly than usual. I had a task to complete, and our safety depended on it. Combing my hair in the mirror, I repeatedly practiced various ‘introductory phrases’ that I’d use to question him, and figure out his plan... It may have seemed dramatic at the time, but my head was racing, I was actually super frightened. If he’s planning to kill somebody, then if I’m not careful, it could be me...

[19]

... I hesitated. Why should I endanger myself for everyone’s sake? They might be just as eager to kill me as Rocky could be... except... I still think that it’s entirely Monoyaki’s fault that we’d turn against each other. I still believed in the goodness of humanity. Really, if I had tried to talk to James before he did what he did, I could have convinced him not to kill Sadie.

I just didn’t want it to happen again.

[20]

Upon arriving at the cafeteria meeting, I quickly glanced over everyone there. The usual missing ones weren’t there, so no Mary or Robin... Or Jo. I still wasn’t used to the way he was acting... Not that I had seen him since he announced his plans to me. I didn’t want to see him anyway.

Thing is, Rocky wasn’t there. I was thinking I could confront him with everyone watching so that he wouldn’t try anything dangerous, but of course, he didn’t show up.

“Perhaps he’s simply yet to arrive...” Molly pointed out.

Honestly, it went over my head. With our new plan to get rid of anything that could be used as a weapon, it made perfect sense that he’d stop showing up to meetings. The fact that he could be doing anything at that moment made me really stressed...

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

So I left.

I mean, people got really confused since I didn’t say anything, but this was too urgent for explanations.

[21]

I briskly paced through those blank halls, in no particular direction. After ten seconds or so of that, I ended up slowing down a little. Since I could run into him at any time, the nervousness only built up more and more. I continued to slow until eventually I was just standing still, shivering a little.

“I-I know you’re out there, R-Rocky.”, I murmured, probably too soft for anyone to actually hear. “J-just come out.”

“You sound so frightened.” A voice from behind; it wasn’t Rocky, rather, it was that other person who carried a gun everywhere who I didn’t exactly feel comfortable around. Walking in front of me, I could see that Mary was scowling, almost looking insulted. “Pathetic.”

“D-did anyone ask?”

“It’s simply the fact of the matter. If you cannot harden yourself in the face of danger, you might as well be worthless.”

“Worthless...” I crossed my arms. “So I guess you’re completely perfect, if I’m so useless, then?”

“Sarcasm is another sign of a cowardly personality.”

“But ARE you perfect?”

“Hmph, insisting on the question, how annoying...” She grumbled.

“... But why are you avoiding the question?”

She paused, before resuming with a slightly shaky tone. “... I do what needs to be done, and it’s good enough.” Maybe I’m getting somewhere... If I could somehow get her to stop being so aggressive, that’ll defuse a lot of our worrying about her.

“Why do you act so righteous anyway?”

“Because I am.” Great answer. “Anyway, I don’t have the time for this, I have to see Rackham.”

“W-wait, what does Rocky want to see you for?” Okay, I forgot about that other plan I had. Rocky was the main priority.

“A competition.”

Well, that sounded, um, worrying. “I-I... Can I come and, uh... Watch?”

“Go ahead. Maybe it will teach you some sort of resilience.” She swivelled and marched in the opposite direction.

“Thank you, oh great and enlightened leader...”

“Quiet!...”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

Mary lead me to the laundry room, of all places. Already scanning the room for Rocky, I noticed him leaning against one of the corners nonchalantly. I promptly approached him, only to stop in my tracks when I remembered about the fact that he literally had firearms and could have shot me at any time. Except Mary was there, so he wouldn’t try anything while she’s watching... But what if he killed us both?

“You alright, missy?” He was looking right through me. “Y’seem startled.”

(SOUNDTRACK RESUMES)

“I-I’m completely fine.” For the most part, it seemed that he wasn’t going to kill us or anything, since he probably would already have done it by now. “I’ve come to ask you something important.”

“Yeah yeah, I get it, you’re scared ‘cus of my guns.” He sighed, clearly a bit aggravated. “All I can say is that they’re for self-defence, alright?”

“I see... But, if everybody gets rid of their weapons, you won’t need any to protect yourself, right?”

“Fists. Can’t get rid of fists.” He shrugged, before turning to Mary. “So, the competition, right?”

“Of course.” She responded briefly. I would’ve preferred if Rocky had actually gotten rid of his firearms, but at least he’s promised that he won’t use them for anything.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

Then, as if to spite my thoughts, three gunshots rang out through the air in sequence. Before I had really figured out what was going on, I saw three washing machines with shattered windows. Rocky was leaning against the wall opposite, blowing the smoke off his revolvers.

[22]

“So how’s that?” He snickered a little before putting the guns back into his holsters.

Mary paused to consider. “Taking into account the technological era of the weaponry... Impressive, at the very least.”

“... What... What did you just do?...” I was in shock, and nothing else.

“Shootin’ competition.” Rocky chuckled again. “We both figured these would be the best targets, so we thought it’d be a good way to pass the time.”

“But... We need those to... W-wash... Our clothes...”

“Look, all we’re doing is havin’ a quick game. There’s no other way to entertain ourselves, ain’t there?”

“I mean, there’s a rec room with a TV, there’s probably cowboy movies on there or something-”

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

“There are?!” As if his life depended on it, the gunslinger dashed out of the room.

“I-I was just pointing it out...”

(SOUNDTRACK RESUMES)

Mary scoffed. “Hmph, suppose he’s too scared to be beaten by me...” Turning to one of the remaining washing machines, she aimed her musket, and fired, breaking it as the others had been.

She then proceeded to take out a tiny white paper bag from her uniform, then bite the end of it in order to open it, then poured a bit of gunpowder out of the bag into a small compartment on the musket, and then poured the rest of it down the the barrel, took out a long, thin metal rod from the front of the gun, rammed it down the barrel a few times with vigour, and then adjusted a small handle-like protrusion further down the firearm, then, after all of that, aimed it at the next washing machine, and fired.

“How cumbersome.”

“E-excuse me?!” Her eyes flared up in rage, although she seemed somewhat embarrassed as well. “This is an exact replica of the operation of a Modèle 1777 corrigé, used extensively by the armies of the French empire in the early 1800s, and a highly important firearm in the history of humanity! How DARE you disrespect such an item!”

I sighed. Though she was directing all her anger at me, her sudden nerdy rant about the specific details of the gun made her seem a lot less threatening. “Doesn’t change the fact that it’s slower than a revolver.”

“That’s not what matters! At least it’s accurate... I mean, Rackham doesn’t look anything like an actual cowboy... Besides, the whole ‘Wild West’ thing is a highly exaggerated version of-“

“Save the lectures for later, thanks.”

She growled, albeit in a soft, meek kind of way. “B-be quiet, Attebury...” She went about the lengthy process of reloading once more.

“I might just head off.”

“N-no! You’re going to watch!”

“... Heh, alright, fine.” I figured the washing machines would get repaired anyway, so if five of them are broken, might as well break the last one.

(SOUNDTRACK PAUSES)

We ended up talking a little bit longer after that. Aside from the whole superiority complex thing she had going on, she wasn’t THAT bad, really.

She didn’t seem like too much of a threat after that day.

Afterwards, I retired to my room, and, as usual, flopped onto the bed immediately. That day was kind of exhausting... But, it felt like I made progress, at least.

[23]

After a bit, as I went to sleep, the usual night time announcement played.

“Now it’s time to say good night, gooood niiiight, sleeeep tiiiight… Remember, some parts, like the cafeteria, are closed tonight, so watch where you’re going! And, another thing... Washing room repairs should be finished in three days... I don’t feel like doing it right now... So you bozos better not break them again!”

Continued in Chapter 2 - Motive