"...ngh.."

Rena sat on the floor against the wall, her head aching much more than she had anticipated. Morning had finally hit, but the dark circles under her eyes were horrible, and her skin was pale. Not to mention, she didn't even have the energy to wake Arthur up, and was craving either her sleeping pills, or energy shots, but didn't even have the energy to get up and get either of them.

With that being the case, it seemed as though Roma was going to have another day in which he was skipping school, snoring slightly and thoroughly enjoying his slumber. The male cuddled his pillows like his life depended on it, and… may have been murmuring what could've loosely been translated to 'Koboko'.

And… Rena couldn't help but smile a little at that. Still, she tiredly laid on her side and stared at the wall, waiting for Roma to finally stir awake.

Little did she know, a full hour would pass before that happened.

Roma's eyes slowly began to open to the sunlight peering in from outside the window, but it took no more than a moment for him to leap out of the bed in a panic. He was accustomed to showing up late to class, but today, he woke up at the time that he normally *went* to class. The student's eyes darted towards Rena, who was still on the floor,

"REMMA!!" He roared and pointed in her direction, smoke coming out from both of his ears,

"...ehhhh?" Rena couldn't even turn to face him. At this point, she couldn't move her body at all, just her eyes. At least she had been responsive, though she didn't have it in her to look confused.

Roma wasn't so understanding though, jumping off of the bed and storming over to her, yanking on her ahoge while the smoking doubled in size and darkness,

"WHY DIDN'T YOU THROW SHIT AT ME OR WAKE ME UP?! YOU'RE MY ALARM CLOCK Y'KNOW!!"

"I-It hurts.. Ouch…"

Rena whimpered as her eyes began to close, "I can't move… I can't even feel my body… I guess the exhaustion is really killing me, huh?.."

Rena's response prompted a calmer one from Roma, and he slowly but gently laid her back down, sitting next to her as he spoke, "You didn't get any sleep last night?"

"I haven't slept in months, Arthur, that's why I've been taking sleeping pills and energy shots… The pills weren't working because I was growing a resistance to them… That's why.." She sheepishly looked away, softening her voice, "...that's why I overdosed."

Poor thing. Everything was really starting to check out. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, and the sight made him sigh a little. It genuinely upset him to see Rena look so uncharacteristically defeated. He reached out and gently stroked the top of her back, and along her shoulder a bit, just wanting to comfort her in any way that he could.

"Want me to help you up?"

"Yes, please, I can't move." Rena sighed a little, still looking away. Even breathing felt like it took a genuine effort. Her ahoge suddenly stood up straight as she remembered something, however, "Oh, uhm, I'm supposed to report to the Director's office today… But I don't think I can make it."

Though she spoke, Roma's mind was elsewhere. He crawled over and pulled Rena up by the small of her back, "W-Wrap your legs around me. I'll pick you up."

Roma… couldn't help but blush a bit towards the situation. He was making things much more lewd than intended, and with him holding her upright, his placement between her legs was already awkward enough as is.

'Calm.' He demanded of himself, knowing just how easily flustered he could become.

"I can't move an inch, Arthur. I can't even move my head." Rena's admission was accompanied by a little chuckle. Though Roma was internally panicking, she seemed to have kept very casual about the situation.

It at least did well to ease Roma's anxiety. He smiled a little, and pet her head twice, before manually wrapping her left and right legs around his waist. Then, he carefully took Rena by the bum, and lifted her up while he himself stood, all in one motion, though it was now Rena who seemed to have been elsewhere, mentally.

"The Director seemed serious though, so I'm a little worried."

"If it's a big meeting, maybe you should show, y'know?" Roma made his own suggestion, gently placing her on the bed, and thankfully for her, in an upright position. After that, he went to her dresser, taking two of the painkillers that Dr. Light provided the day previous, and offered them to her, alongside a bottle of water.

'Can it be something that's… non-abusable??...'

'Is it that you can't trust your girlfriend, Arthur?...'

Rena's stomach slightly turned at Roma's offering. She couldn't help but glance off to the side, "...I don't want to take them… and I don't want to go either."

Her words were punctual, but she still had no control over her own movements, so even though Roma placed her down in an upright position, it didn't take long for her to topple over anyway.

'Cuuuuute…'

All that composure Roma had coached himself into having was slowly starting to boil over. She may have been in pain, but at least, it did have perks like this. He couldn't help but get into the bed next to her, and wrap his arms around her waist, holding her close.

He had nothing he wanted to say - he just wanted to hold her. Just like this.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Rena didn't have any concrete reaction to his holding her, but her ahoge did move a little. She hated being unable to move, and if she really had to go to this meeting, she'd have to be able to get up and do it under her own power.

"Can I please take an energy shot? I can't overdose on those, so no worries." She asked softly, a little hesitant to bring up the topic of medications at the moment.

"If it's necessary, then there should be no reason against it." Was the response… but it was not from Roma.

Arthur whipped his head around in the direction of his bed to see someone.. Sitting there. That man… the one sitting there, scrolling on his phone…

'I was given my orders, Arthur Roma, I'm just following them.'

'Might as well come to class. You aren't permitted to be in there right now.'

Roma ripped himself away from Rena and jumped out of the bed, marching towards the intruder. He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, not having been so livid in a number of weeks.

'YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I HATE YOU!'

The man who had managed to enrage Arthur Roma to this point, and the one who sat on the bed in such a casual manner was one and the same.

And that man was one Yuuta Sarito.

"YOU ASS!" Roma roared at his classmate, raising his casted hand, preparing to strike it down on Yuuta's head as a weapon, but he stopped moving entirely at the very last second.

The reason? Yuuta had taken out a paring knife in a split-second, and held it to Roma's neck, and if he was carried on by any more momentum, he would've been in deep, deep trouble.

And all the while, he had never broken eye contact with his phone. At least, not until he directly addressed him, finally pulling his dull, black eyes off the screen, and looking Roma into his enraged, brown pair.

"I hold no ill-will towards you, Arthur Roma-san. Although your antics are outlandish, and your words are often times arrogant, I've grown fond of your company and ego."

Yuuta's sudden and unprompted admission did well to freeze Roma, and un-furrow his brows that were just so tight with rage. Ironically, it also did well to make him drop his guard, and though he knew not to move to avoid having his neck impaled, he wasn't expecting Yuuta to raise his leg and kick Roma backwards, sending him crashing into Rena's bed.

With him addressed, Yuuta now turned his attention towards Rena, "Rena Koboko-son. Contrary to my actions yesterday, I hold no ill-will towards you either… well, none that I can directly blame you for…"

Yuuta's words were noticeably more vague this time around, though that wasn't the only surprise. He took the knife he held to Roma's neck, and threw it like a dart, watching it stick in the wall behind them. With Rena unable to face him, she could see how close it ended up being to her head…

…though going by the rising blood from her cheek, she didn't come out unscathed anyway.

Yuuta smirked proudly towards the way he managed to do such a fine job, rising from the bed and walking to her dresser, casually pulling out her energy pills. He held them within his hands, and examined them with intrigued, narrowed eyes, before tossing the set to Roma.

"Hurry it up. The two of you are already late, and even further behind everyone else in class."

Those would turn out to be Yuuta's parting words. He stood up and began to walk away, exiting their dorms, and presumably returning to class.

And Rena?... Rena said nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing until he left.

Then, she laughed. And laughed, until she had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hey? Hey, Arthur, you okay? Give me the pills, right now! Give them here!"

Roma was admittedly worried about Rena's mental state now. He wasn't sure what emotion she was currently feeling, but it was eerie enough to make him uncomfortable, and wasn't a good look for her in the long term anyway.

Still, he got up and grabbed the water from earlier, offering both the medicine, and the beverage to Rena, who downed it all with relative ease.

At that point, she rose to her feet, almost as if she was never injured at all, and approached a mirror, looking at the cut. It was sure to leave a scar. She cleaned it, and placed a band-aid over it, swiftly freshening up and preparing for class, while Roma himself sank back into her bed, returning to her blankets.

It took no more than 15 minutes for her to finish up her morning routine, with the last step being her applying her makeup to hide her tired look, and putting her hair into its ponytail, "Oi! Arthur, hurry and get ready."

"I will in a minute. Go ahead without me." He replied, seemingly in seven-heaven as he openly admired Rena's scent.

She didn't need more convincing than that.

Rena hurried to class, opening, and closing the door quite loudly, and walked straight to Yuuta, slamming her hands on the desk while she leaned over to speak to him at eye-level.

"You *will* meet me on the roof after this class, or I will *hunt* your ass down, and beat you into a bloody pulp, got it?"

Her threat came in the fashion of a hushed whisper, making sure that he was the only one who could hear her. Naturally, as a result, there were whispers beginning to stir within the class, and a dumbfounded teacher, confused about what was occurring.

A slight smirk crossed Yuuta's own face however, and his eyes never left the whiteboard he was staring at prior to her rude arrival, "Now, now, Rena Koboko-san, you don't want the others to get the wrong idea, do you?~ I can see them, hear them, and taste them already… All the rumors and lies spreading around this classroom…"

That's when his eyes suddenly redirected to Rena's, and with a slight, but noticeable flash of purple within them as well, "But I'll be there, so you needn't worry, Rena Koboko-san."

Then, in a split second, her other cheek was sliced in the same fashion that the first was.

"Let's work hard together."

But all it took was a second for Yuuta to find both of his own cheeks cut in the same fashion that hers were, blood immediately cascading down his cheeks.

There was a scary and dead serious look on her face as she glared at him, clearly growing even more pissed by the smug expression that still hadn't worn off of his face,

"Don't fuck with me, Yuuta Sarito. I won't hesitate to slit your neck as a public execution."

"I may have to take you up on that, but unfortunately, it'll have to wait." Yuuta nudged his head in the direction of the board. Rena slowly turned, finally finding out why his gaze was so fixated on it.

~

MANDATORY TEAM PROJECT

…

-Arthur & Itsuki

-Rena & Yuuta

-Matthew & Rindou

-Shinji & Shuji

…

~