Day Five

Going through the lines of drawers across the room, I stashed whatever I could get my hands on. There was never a moment of doubt if a piece of rope or an expired can be left in the corner gathering dust would be useless to carry over.

I looked back at the door, the blurry window obscuring a figure scanning the hallway in an almost robotic way before continuing down. Must’ve lost him for good. Or else I would’ve been unable to enjoy the small can of peaches.

Hugging close to the door while bearing the enormous weight of the bag, I pressed my ear onto the glass. Almost nothing but the faint sound of moans nearby. By the sound of it, way too far to even get to me from here.

I pushed the door open, scanning down the hallway. The same figure that had passed by the window had stared outside the window, his mouth wide open as if he had found his next prey just outside.

Taking the risk, I reached up the stairs, narrowly avoiding him as he swung his hand towards me. As I reached the first flight of stairs, a shadowy figure walked over, causing me to flinch.

“What are you doing here Ryu-kun?” Kurumi whispered in my ear, placing her shovel over her shoulder.

“Didn’t I tell you I was going to make a quick scavenging run to the Storage Room?”

“Uh… no"

“I mentioned it to you during breakfast…”

She held a blank stare for a moment, before slowly nodding at me. She seemed skeptical but accepted it.

I dug into my bag for a brief moment while Kurumi looked down at the stairs, gripping onto the shovel. The brief and distant moan slowly turned into silence as she lowered her shovel and looked over at my bag.

“Ooh! What’s this?” She crouched down, grabbing a small steel can with the lid slightly bent open.

“Hard-tack. Tastes good despite the can taking up dust"

“Mm… tasty"

“There’s more but of a different brand. Somewhere in this section” I placed my finger over the front pouch of the bag.

“Can I have some of them please?”

“Go ahead"

I passed a can over to Kurumi before sitting down close to the end of the stairs, keeping watch of the distant group of zombies swarming the nearby lockers. Despite being in plain sight, they didn’t notice us.

“This one is way better" Kurumi mumbled while digging herself into the hardtack.

“While you’re eating, I’d like to ask you something, Ebisuzawa-san"

“Hmph?”

“I haven’t been outside of my room lately, so I wanted to ask you this. Has Yuki been doing fine lately?”

“Huh? Are you obsessed with her or something?” Kurumi stared at me, materializing a smug face.

“No" I responded with a steady and clear voice, maintaining eye contact.

I’ve always been asked if I had a crush on anyone, to which I said no. Although, compared to others, I found it easy to control whatever impulse of smiling which can sabotage your statement.

“Admit it… you like her, do you?” She said, pressing her smug face closer to me.

Keeping my composure, I continued to maintain eye contact with her, while placing my bag over my back.

“Can you not?”

“Alright alright” Kurumi moved away from me.

“You can try to prove it, Ebisuzawa-san" I smiled again, this time in amusement, before sliding the bag close to the wall.

“Yea… you’re right Pres" Kurumi grabbed her shovel from the wall, doing a little spin of it.

“Well, can you tell me about Takeya-san?”

“Yuki-sans has been kinda fine… Megunee had tried to get her and Yuuri to play Uno earlier but after a few rounds, she just left"

“I assume she’s been unable to sleep?”

“How could you tell?”

“I passed by her a few hours ago. It’s an understatement to say her eyes were quite tired. Hopefully, she didn’t bother you while you were sleeping. Not to sound weird of course"

“Mhm. You should go talk to her”

“Is there anything that may trigger her to cry? Parents? Friends?”

“Do you think I know?”

Thought you would.

“Right… Has Sakura-sensei planned any Uno games this afternoon?”

“That’s been canceled due to Megunee wanting to plan something out for the future. But we’ll continue the game tomorrow. For now, I’m in the lead"

“Hm…” I nodded, ignoring her boasting statement.

We walked up to the third floor together. As I took glances at Kurumi, I came to realize that Kurumi had been staring at me with a puzzled face.

“Are you usually this curious Ryu-kun?”

“Yes. But I also consider it care"

“That’s… quite unfamiliar. Perhaps you’ve changed"

“I’ll admit it here Ebisuzawa-san. We won’t be getting rescued as we expected, unfortunately, so I should know those I’ll be living with for the time being"

“Quite honorable for you, Ryu. Especially since you’ve been hiding in your room for quite some time"

“Can you do me a favor? Ebisuzawa-san?” I turned over to Kurumi, ignoring her comment.

“Hm?”

“This afternoon, could you help finish up the barricades for me? I’m willing to do the tables for the entire second floor on my own once we manage to clear out that area"

“Eh? Why would you want me to do that on my own?”

“It’s a bargain. I’ll do five barricades around the second floor and you simply do the final one at the end of that hallway"

“Well, you’re going to offer me something. I’ve been tired as hell recently"

I dug into my bag for a brief second, reaching for a plastic bag with a small candy wrapper inside. Pulling it out, Kurumi’s eyes lit up as I passed the wrapper towards her.

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“There"

“Wow! Where’d you get this?” Kurumi’s eyes widened in excitement.

“Got this from the storage room. I noticed that you were often rummaging through the cabinets where Wakasa-san had categorized the food. Later on, the small sweet brands were gone"

“So you are as smart as what people say they are" Kurumi munched on a gummy bear.

“They exaggerate it"

“I hope whatever you’re doing is worth it"

“Don’t worry about it. I’m probably offering more than what I said to you"

“Heh"

“See you later”

She nodded happily while munching on the small sugar candy inside the plastic bag. As I got close to the door, Kurumi walked off, grabbing onto her shovel and resting it over her shoulder.

Later on in the afternoon, I approached the nearby room, my hands dug into my pockets. I slid open the side door, saw Yuki sitting close to the right corner of the classroom quietly snoring.

I placed a nearby chair over to the other side, ensuring it was quiet for the time being.

Let’s see how this goes.

I reached for a pile of shuffled Uno cards, sliding a small pack of cards into opposing sides after a few glances. With each look, I changed each card under the deck. After distributing the cards, I laid back on the chair, admiring the view outside while waiting for Yuki.

“Hm?” A soft voice breezed over to my left as I turned over. Yuki’s almost childish face stared at me. She had only woken up about twenty or twenty-one seconds after I had touched the card.

“Ah, Takeya-san. Apologies if this is a bit instant, but would you like to play a round of Uno with me?”

Yuki looked at me with a perplexed yet tired face. Not only had she woken up to see me sit down close to her, but she had also been offered an Uno game. Hopefully she doesn’t find anything too suspicious.

“But… What about Kurumi-san and Yuuri-san? And Megu-nee?”

“They have other matters to tend to. Consider this my apology since I didn't join the game yesterday"

“I never knew you played Uno”

“Who hasn’t played a card game before Takeya-san?” I smiled at her in the hopes of keeping her spirits back up.

Throughout the brief dialogue, she often glanced across the room and the outside world. I almost had the urge to tap onto the leg of the table to regain her attention, but making her comfortable was the best option for now.

“Alright, let’s play, if you don’t mind" I flipped my stash of cards over, scanning through it.

She looked through her deck of cards, her eyes unaffected as she scanned through the stash. Was she unsurprised? Or was she just like this?

I flipped the top card over the large pile, with a yellow six being laid in the middle. Laying the pile, I leaned backward on my chair, carefully observing each action to avoid making any careless actions that could trigger Yuki.

“Your move” I produced a smile while looking at her. She seemed visibly saddened, almost as if she was bored out by the event.

She placed down a yellow two card followed by a red counterpart, her gaze constantly shifting from the table to the room to even the outside world.

“Is everything alright Takeya-san?” I placed a red light on the pile.

“Huh? Oh… yeah" She followed suit, sliding a red one.

Her actions felt delayed as if she didn’t have the willpower to respond immediately.

“So uh, do you like manga?” I placed a green one on top while maintaining my gaze on Yuki.

Yuki placed down a green eight card.

“Kinda… I haven’t been reading much recently…”

“Ah is that so. If that’s the case would you want a recommendation?” I placed a green four over the pile.

“... No thanks” She lowered her deck, sliding the top card from the large pile over with her eyes slowly lighting up.

I placed down two cards, a green and blue eight. Glancing over at Yuki, she seemed unaffected as usual, yet her finger couldn’t contain the urge to grip the card she was going to pull out.

“Ryu-kun, are you usually this friendly?” She slid a blue draw 2 over the pile from where she had grabbed the cards.

“I just don’t talk a lot," I said seamlessly while grabbing two cards from the pile.

After a moment of glancing around my deck, I slid a blue 9 onto the pile.

“Huh…” She said in an almost monotone and depressing voice as she slid a blue 3 onto the pile.

“Yuki, can I ask you something?” I placed a duo of a blue and red 1 on a neat pile.

“Yes?” She said, her eyes still lowered as her hands lowered down to the table, almost revealing her deck. After a brief moment, she responded with a red 6.

With only 3 cards in the game, my strategy had paid off. Although Yuki seemed unaffected by my advantage.

“I understand that you’re going through a lot… but as School President, I’d like to look out for students who may need some help or guidance" I placed down a yellow six in the process.

Yuki looked at me with an inquisitive look despite the frown, almost visibly surprised if she didn’t look like she was going to fall asleep anytime. After a moment, Yuki responded with a yellow four.

“Well uh, Takeya-san, if you ever need help, you can come talk with me. Despite what people say about me, I’m usually not stuck in my world”

As I said that, I slid a yellow +2 onto the deck.

“Uno" I followed shortly.

Being visibly distraught despite the frown, she placed her hand over the deck, sliding two cards over. As she looked at the two new cards, her eyes widened for a moment, her frown adjusting to a surprised face.

She instantly responded with the two cards she had picked up, placing down a yellow and a blue +2 combo onto the pile, her face almost lighting up in amusement at her payback.

“You got me,” I muttered.

I slid my hand over the pile, grabbing 4 more cards onto my deck. Several different numbers and colors, all an incohesive group. After a brief second, I placed down a blue eight.

Yuki looked up at me for a moment, her face completely lighting up as she placed her fingers over the last two cards in her hand. Placing a blue seven followed by a red counterpart onto the pile, she smiled.

“Uno”

“Wow. You won for once. Well played Takeya-san” I smiled back.

“Yay…” Yuki said in an exasperated yet cheerful voice.

“Well, it’s a bit of a surprisingly short game, but I’m willing to play with you again if you wish" I gathered the cards across the table, shuffling it briefly.

“No thanks Ryu-kun"

“I understand. I probably have some errands with Sakura-sensei anyway. I’ll be making my leave" I slid the neat pile back into the box, stuffing it into my blazer.

“See you"

“Have a nice day Takeya-san”

As I reached close to the exit, I turned over to Yuki.

“Remember Takeya-san. Don’t feel scared to ask me for any help"

I couldn’t help but look back at Yuki again, who seemed to be fiddling with her fingers with a smile on her face.

Was it the first time I’d directly seen her smile? Not childishly cheerful or weird, just a smile.

Despite purposely losing the game, I felt that the loss was a win for me. And for her as well: A win-win scenario. For once in a long time, I was satisfied.

The door in front of me slid open, with Kurumi entering with Yuuri. They looked up at me, as I stuffed my hands into my pockets giving out a smile.

“Did you win?” Kurumi whispered over my ear.

“I could’ve. But that wasn’t my goal"

“... You lost?”

“Yea. But I think I’ve won something better"

Kurumi nodded for a brief second before continuing down. Yuuri looked at me with a puzzled expression, before following suit.

“Wait, so you deliberately lost for a reason?” Yuuri pondered.

“Of course. I know that Yuki had some frustration over the last Uno games since you and Sakura-sensei had kept winning the game, even when holding back"

“Kurumi-san told you that?” Yuuri looked over.

“I didn’t tell him anything,” Kurumi shrugged.

“Sakura-sensei did"

“Does sound like her" Yuuri shrugged, “But you’ve always been so hasty in everything. Watching you play from outside looked like you knew what to do"

“I rigged the cards"

“But why would you do that?”

“Someone like Yuki-san would feel good if they got multiple plus two cards after being forced to draw two before. She wouldn’t really consider it revenge, perhaps more like ‘justice’.

“Are you saying we aren’t doing a good job?” Kurumi leaned against the wall.

“Quite the contrary. You’ve played more of a role compared to me"

“How so?” Yuuri tilted her head sideways.

“You’ve built up her desire to win without either making her feel like it was completely easy or completely impossible to win. If it was her first Uno game, she’d probably get overconfident”

“I’m kinda surprised you did that in the first place"

“There’s a first time for everything"

“Indeed"

It was a gamble trying to ensure Yuki was able to respond to my cards with the best possibility. She wasn’t the brightest, so one wrong card and the plan could’ve potentially failed or I would’ve tried to hold myself back.

Guess we’re on equal footing now, Yuki.