Yonamine:
I didn't sleep well that night.
What did my letter say? Who had it? Was I in danger?
These questions plagued my thoughts until Monoguin’s morning announcement came.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
“Good morning, abominables! It's 7:30 AM. I let you all sleep in today, since I was so rude last night. But now it's time to waaaake up! Breakfast is at 8! Brbrbrrrr!”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
I managed to drag myself out of bed to shower before breakfast, and made my way to join the others in the cafe area. Upon arriving, I scanned the faces of my classmates, noticing that I wasn't the only one who must've missed out on precious sleep last night. I did a quick head count and realized that I was the last person to show up. Whoops. But, wait, someone else was missing...
…
… Where was Kamada?
“Yo!” I called, walking over towards the tables where everyone was seated. “Anyone seen our lovely mime this morning?”
No one answered. Everyone must've been on edge due to the motive; I couldn't blame them. “Well, alright then...” I sighed, taking one of the few empty seats left.
It would have been rude to start eating without Kamada, but I could tell everyone else was getting hungry. I looked at the dining room clock—8:10. Still no sign of her cute face. Was I... worried?
I stood up quickly, my chair shooting out behind me. “I'm gonna go check on Kamada! Does anyone want to come with me?”
Again, no one answered. Idiots. I slammed my hands down onto the table and smiled, deciding to do things my way. I really didn't want to go alone, so I decided to pick the first two people who made eye contact with me at the noise.
“Mmm... Mori! Tatsuda! Would you gentlemen be so kind as to accompany me?” I pointed at the architect and the taxidermist.
The silver-haired architect stared at me for a moment, blinked, and sighed. “I suppose I can help you go find your girlfriend.” He frowned. “And it's Morioka.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Eh, what's wrong with a nickname? We're friends, aren't we?”
“We've known each other for two days.”
“Exactly! More than enough time to cultivate a friendship.” I smiled and turned to Tatsuda. “You in, big guy?”
The taxidermist hesitated a moment before nodding slightly. “I'll go, for the blonde girl. Upu!”
“Excellent! I really appreciate this, you guys.”
And so, the three of us walked to the hallway containing our rooms. We reached Kamada’s room, and I took in a deep breath before knocking on the door. “Kamada, are you in there?” I called, hoping the edge of tension in my voice was unnoticeable.
There was a brief period of silence. Then Morioka tilted his head and said, “I can hear her coming.” Tatsuda jumped a little and added, “Yeah, yeah, I-I think I hear her too...” I let out a small breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The three of us glanced down as Kamada slid a folded note from underneath her door. Morioka leaned down to pick it up, examined it, and then handed it to me. There, written in a fancy script, it read:
“I feel ill, so I won’t be joining you all for breakfast. I hope you can forgive me. - Kamada”
She was okay. Well, not okay, but also not dead! I passed the note to Tatsuda, who frowned upon reading it. “Oh no… I hope she’ll feel better soon...” He said with great sympathy in his voice.
I smiled. “Kamada’s tough. She’ll be fine!” I pocketed the letter and stretched, my own stomach rumbling. “Well, that takes care of our missing person. I guess we can eat now?”
Morioka and Tatsuda nodded, and the three of us returned to the dining room. After explaining the situation to the others, we all ate breakfast together (minus Kamada), and attempted to make small talk despite the motive situation and our ill comrade.
After breakfast, some of the students decided to hang out in the lobby and play games. Others went to go do some more exploring, and some just went to their rooms. I stayed in the lobby. Naturally, I kicked everyone’s ass at BS, although Kimiko and Matsushita were rather good, too. I’d have to keep an eye on them. They say you can tell a lot about a person’s character by how good they are at BS--okay, I don’t know if that’s actually what they say, but… you know.
Morning turned into afternoon, but Kamada never came.
We all reconvened at lunchtime, and it was Kimiko who spoke up upon the matter this time. “The poor girl hasn’t had a meal since last night! Is it not our duty to care for our sick and injured? We should feed her!” the designer declared.
The other students mumbled agreements, and we soon put together a tray of food to deliver to Kamada. I was in charge of delivering it, along with Tamaka and Etsuko. Despite it being Kimiko’s idea, she’d somehow wormed her way out of taking part...
And so, I found myself outside of Kamada Shizuka’s door for the second time today. We knocked, but this time there was no answer, note or otherwise. I sighed. She must be sleeping. I tried to open the door, but upon jiggling the handle, found it was locked.
-- Crash!
We all jolted and turned to see Monoguin lying on the cold hard ground. The doll jumped up, brushed itself off, and then covered its beak with a wing in what I assumed was horror.
“Yonamine! Trying to break into a girl’s room? How scandalous! I mean, gee, I knew you were a pervert, but this is going too far!” Monoguin pretended to faint in shock.
“But I’m not--” I cut myself off and sighed.
Tamaka stepped forward. “He’s just helping us deliver food to Kamada. Calm down.”
Etsuko nodded, fiddling with his fingers. “Mm. S-she said she’s sick, s-so we decided to bring her lunch.”
Monoguin tilted his head. “Huh. Well, okay! Look at you all being friendly with each other, even though you should be murdering each other! It warms my heart….”
Ignoring his statement, I decided to ask a question instead. “Hmmm… Monoguin?”
The stuffed penguin stared at me intently. “Yes, Yonamine? Are you here to declare your love for me?”
“Kamada’s door is locked, but we really want to deliver this food to her for when she wakes up. Is there any way you could let us in?”
Monguin made a long drawn out “hmmmm” before producing a shiny silver key out of nowhere. Where was he hiding that…? I was probably better off not knowing.
“Behold, Monoguin’s master key! A true key among keys. Opens every room in this lodge! Brbrrheee! You may borrow it for this and this only. Think of this key like a genie in a bottle! It’s got limited uses for you kids. Brbrbrrr!” The doll tossed the key to the empty-handed Tamaka before rolling down the hallway, out of sight.
“Man, I hate that thing,” I sighed, and the other two nodded in agreement.
We opened the door, and what I saw before me confirmed my worries from earlier.
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