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“David?” Teruko questions through the doorframe to the living room, where she spotted someone laying on the couch, staring in space. Nothing else was going on in the room. The television was off; the kitchen was clean and empty. It almost seemed eerie, like something was supposed to be happening, but it was idle.
The seconds were ticking by with no response as the person started shuffling around on the couch, and Teruko gripped the side of the doorframe, as she began to grow anxious.
After ten seconds and a long exhale, an answer came.
“Sorry Teruko, I didn’t see you there.”
Teruko’s grip on the doorframe loosened as David sat upright on the couch and fixed his hair with his fingers. His matching pajama suit was heavily wrinkled, and a button was undone. She was admittedly caught off guard still, and her heart rate was high. At this point she could clearly see it was David Chiem sitting on that couch, but the David Chiem she saw the voice she heard sounded too sullen and withdrawn to be his. Usually David was prim and proper, giving confidence and energy to everything he did; he was the role model for the class. It scared Teruko in a way. Even someone as positive as David could be so depressing at times. Despite that odd fear, she let go of the doorframe and took a step into the living room.
“Well, what are you doing here? It’s 1am,” Teruko asked, making her way over to the couch, “I thought you’d be asleep.”
David looked at Teruko and smirked a bit, “I could be asking you the same thing, Teruko, but if you must know, I fell asleep here watching re-runs of Seinfeld on the television. Someone must’ve come and turned it off at some point.”
“I’ll get going then, if you wanna go back to sleep-” Teruko started, but a sigh of his interjected. She froze in her place behind the couch, staring at him.
“Since I’m up, I’m not going to be going back to sleep, and I’m assuming you aren’t either,” David smiled a bit and pat the left, empty side of the couch. His eyes were starry and glowing, “Would you like to watch something on TV? I’m not sure Seinfeld is on anymore, but I’m sure some old sit-com is.”
Teruko walked over to the empty seat and grabbed the remote from the couch handle, “Sure. When Xander can’t sleep he’s up here watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I seriously don’t understand how he can stand Guy Fieri, he’s obnoxious.”
“I’m with you on that one, Teruko,” David commented as he watch Teruko flicker through the channels. Irritation painted her face even though they only went through a few channels so far, but once she made it to Freeform, her face relaxed. David didn’t think Teruko would be a fan of The Simpsons, as Teruko didn’t usually indulge in that kind of humor. David personally preferred South Park. He found it interesting as to how four fourth-graders could be so deranged and chaotic.
Teruko smiled briefly, but then she looked to David, “Are you okay with The Simpsons?”
“Yeah,” David replied, wishing Teruko would’ve flicked up another channel and saw South Park playing.
But he didn’t say anything, the two of them relaxed in their seats.
—————————————————————
David got bored of the potty humor after awhile, so he casually looked around and checked the clock during scene changes. The episode had finally ended, and David turned his head toward the clock in a slow, lazy motion. The digital cable clock’s numbers were the only light in the room besides the television, but if you looked hard enough you could see the blue light glowing off of them; the reflection made the ground beneath it a nice blue shade. David zoned out and fixated on the light, but before that he did get to see that the clock read 1:30am.
The closing credits for the episode stopped and Bart Simpson’s voice shook David out of his trance. Just as David started to regain his focus, there was a voice shrieking and rushed footsteps, growing ever louder. David cocked his head toward the noise, as Teruko jumped out of her seat and started running towards the entrance.
The owner of the voice made their way to the entrance of the room at the same time as Teruko, and their collision was something that David had to try really hard not to laugh at.
“OH MY GOD, HOLY SHIT!” the voice yelled, “FUCK! GODDAMMIT-”
David had turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to him to see just what in the world was going on, and it revealed the scene of Ace Markey screaming in terror on the floor, and Teruko standing over him, clutching her head due to the pain of the impact. David had to resist the laughter even more.
“Ah, are you two alright?” David asked, rubbing the back, no- clutching, gripping the back of his neck with his hand.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK!?” Ace shouted. His eyes and words were directed towards David, but he didn’t mean anything by David. He was just shocked and frustrated, like he always was.
“It wasn’t that bad of a bump, I’ve gotten worse,” Teruko explained, getting up herself. She brushed off her kneels and stood up before she bent down again to offer Ace some help. “Need a lift?”
Ace scoffed, but he took her hand and she hoisted him up. It was after a brief pause and looks around the room, that he remembered what he’d been running from.
“OH FUCK! OH FUCK!” Ace shouted, and he started to pace. His footsteps were heavy and uneven as he walked around the living room area, crossing into the kitchen. He quieted down a bit, but the anxiety was still there, “Oh crap… he’s gonna get me…”
Teruko stared at the scene unfolding infront of her, “Um… Ace? What exactly is going on? Who is going to get you?”
“He was chasing me! I saw him!” Ace shouted, his hands moving to clutch his face in fear.
“This is ridiculous.” Teruko muttered, facepalming.
“Could you tell us who that person is?” David inquired, getting up off the couch and moving towards Ace.
Ace who had abruptly stopped in his tracks whipped his head to look back at David, “I couldn’t sleep. And then… I SAW A SHADOW!” He yelped, twitching so bad that it looked like his skin was jumping off of him.
Teruko and David shared a look, but David nodded and proceeded, “Ace, sit down at the table and I’ll get you some water. Teruko, could you check in the hallway to see if you see anyone?” He went to make a step towards the kitchen, but he recoiled and looked at Teruko. “Of course, if that isn’t too much trouble.”
Teruko sent a nod back in David’s direction, and exited, David made his way to the kitchen and Ace took a seat on the stool of the island. The unrest was in the air as David went and got a glass, filling it with water from the tap. It was like he could hear Ace’s thoughts and feel Ace’s anxiousness from where he was standing across the kitchen. It made him uneasy, and he frowned slightly. As David went to deliver the glass of water to Ace, he heard footsteps coming from the hallway.
Teruko entered the room and before David was going to reassure Ace and tell him that there was nothing there, but Arei walked into the room, laughing like she’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.
“Ace, you're such a pussy!” Arei commented snidely, laughing with her hand up over her mouth, “I was just walking by and you got so damn scared!”
David set down the glass of water next to Ace as Ace bolted out of his seat, standing up to face Arei, “Hey! How the hell was I supposed to know that it was you!? I could’ve been being stalked, getting attacked, being trailed…”
“Hope’s Peak University has got a great security system. If there’s someone who shouldn’t be here, they would know,” David explained, placing his hand on Ace’s shoulder, attempting to sit hin back in the stool. “Drink, you’re pale. Would you like any food?”
Ace rolled his eyes, “I’m not a fucking damsel in distress, David.”
Arei giggled, “You sure look like one!”
“Arei…” David chastised lowly, looking from Arei to Ace, “you’re not a damsel in distress, you just needed a bit of support. Not a big deal.”
The room got quiet as David took a seat next to Ace, as Ace rolled his eyes. Everyone looked around the room, and at each other and then back to the room through the awkward silence.
“Um… what are you guys doing awake at this hour?” Teruko asked unconfidently, hoping it would bring a bit of stability and peace back to the room.
Crickets.
Teruko sighed, “I just couldn’t sleep.”
Ace gave her a look, “None of your business,”
“I for one,” Arei smiled and ran towards the couch, leaping onto it once she got there. Her smile didn’t falter once the entire way, “just don’t sleep! Sleep is for losers, like you guys.” She stuck her tongue out at Teruko, and Teruko rolled her eyes.
David smiled with fake sympathy at Teruko, and his words came out roughly but nicely toned, “I couldn’t sleep either, sometimes people just have restless nights.”
Arei pointed her finger at David, her grin going almost cynical in nature, “Well you’ve surely got a lot of restless nights buddy, because I see you down here all the time at this hour.”
The air went stiff and silent as David’s expression went dark. He paled ever so slightly, and his eyes which were once starry and only slightly weary, were dull and stone cold, just glaring at Arei. David spoke after a few tense seconds, “The same must be true for you then if you’re up, because you always seem quite restless.”
Arei’s face turned into one of shock and disgust as everyone in the room suddenly became uncomfortable. Ace tensed up and suddenly all of his attention was on his water, while David’s slight smirk went away and he went into a blank expression. Teruko was looking for the right words to say as Arei just stood there, dumbfounded.
None of them noticed the footsteps of Arturo Giles walking down the hallway, but once his voice rang out through the room…
“Ugh, are you serious? I can’t believe there’s so many of you hideous creatures down here at this hour-”
Everyone’s attention snapped towards him.
Arturo’s mint green hair was bright under the light under which he’d stopped, causing the shade of his eyes to clash with his hair. His mask was hastily put on, and his gloves weren’t on. His hands were just barely lying on his hips, and that oddity was the first thing that caught Teruko’s attention.
“Where are your gloves?” Teruko asked.
Arturo scoffed in response and looked at her like she had the IQ of a toddler, “Are you serious? Are you so stupid to believe that people sleep with gloves on?”
Teruko weakly smiled, “You aren’t exactly sleeping, Arturo.”
“An imbecile such as you shouldn’t be making such a rude statement,” Arturo chastised, pointing a finger at Teruko, “since you’re cursed with ugliness, being nice could redeem you a bit.”
Meanwhile, Arei had gotten off the couch and sat in front of the cabinet that held the cable box on top. She was shuffling through the cabinet, but as Arturo’s harsh words rang out, she found what she had been looking for.
“Okay losers,” Arei called out, waving a box of Uno cards in the air, “get to the table because I’m about to whoop your asses in this game!”
—————————————————————
Ace angrily smacked his last card onto the table, and began laughing, as he practically jumped out of his seat in excitement, “I finally didn’t fucking lose, you assholes! Eat my shit!”
“You’re such a child, Ace,” Arturo commented, hiding his mouth behind the fan of cards he held in his hand. Arei slammed two +4 wild cards on to him a few moments ago, and he was still irritated. But then again, when ever was Arturo not irritated?
Ace smirked, and pointed his finger right into Arturo’s chest, “You’re just mad because you’re a looooser!”
Ace was so caught up in his victory that he didn’t notice when Arturo visibly recoiled, and David chimed in, “Arturo is right, you’re just a sore winner.”
Teruko was bored stiff since she had lost every round anyway, so she’d just been lazily looking at the room around her for the time they had been playing Uno, and as Ace had started to do a victory dance, something at the front entrance had caught her eye at the entrance.
“Charles…?” Teruko asked the shadow she saw at the entrance. She couldn’t make out who exactly it was because the figure was still in the dark of the hallway, but by the shadow of long hair in a ponytail, she could guess. The figure shook violently; even if the movements were small, they were rapid.
Once everyone heard Teruko’s whisper, their heads snapped to the entrance where Teruko’s was turned; they all stared at the shaking figure. Suddenly, there was a liquid of some-sort dripping from the figure in the shadow, and Teruko rushed into action. As she leaped off her seat at the table and walked towards the figure, she could see that it was Charles, and he was frozen in place.
Charles’s right hand was clutching his nose that had blood pouring out of it, and his left hand was shaking by his side. He had gone pale and his eyes were wide; he looked like he’d rolled fresh out of bed into a full fledged panic.
Teruko grabbed Charles’s wrist, since it was obvious he didn’t see her at first, but even with the touch, he was still shaking like a leaf and showed no signs of even knowing that Teruko was there. Soon enough David had came over, and looked at Teruko.
“I’ll drag him in, David, the rest of you need to clean up the blood in the hall, and someone needs to help me clean him up,” Teruko ordered, looking from David into the general direction of the kitchen’s island since she couldn’t see anything the dark room, “Arturo, you’ll stay and help me, you’re a medical expert after all.”
“Ugh, need I remind you I do plastic surgery, and not charity work,” Arturo replied, his face recoiling at the bloody Charles in disgust. He had gotten up and slowly approaching the scene shortly after Teruko had, “You people never can keep that simple fact in your brains, can you?”
Arei sprung up from her seat and went to go fish out the wipes under the kitchen sink, as Teruko rolled her eyes at Arturo, “Oh, I know. I just don’t care.” Teruko started dragging Charles forcefully by the wrist, clearly struggling, “Now help me out here.”
Arturo returned the eye roll and took Charles by his left wrist, and the two of them dragged Charles over to the island. Ace was screaming at the trail of blood streaming down Charles’s nose and the tracks it had left all over the floor. Arei and David had made it to the hallway, and he was doing most of the cleaning since she had forced tears from her eyes saying, ‘she was scared of the blood’. As David was on his knees scrubbing, she now laughed and pointed joking insults at him.
The scene moved slowly, particularly for Ace. Since he just had to scrub a bit of the floor where Charles had stood and walked; especially with the fact he didn’t have a nuisance by his side: grunting and finishing early was the blessing that came to him. Ace watched the scene around him for a bit, almost reminded of his childhood. Having nine siblings caused this level of chaos almost every day, and his heart felt like it had been shoved. The nostalgia rang as Teruko and Arturo hushed and fussed over Charles, who’s nose had stopped bleeding, but he hadn’t stopped shaking. Teruko had to try to make sure he didn’t tip over and off the chair multiple times, and Arturo practically snatched his face at one point to make the man stay still. It was clear Charles was still very out of it, but once Arturo had grabbed him, his eyes contracted ever-so slightly, and his face went from gray to pale.
Ace personally tch’ed at the whole scene, even if this happened in his childhood household many times before. This wasn’t even the first time Charles had panicked like this; when they first started the year, when getting equipment from the gym for class, Teruko’s arm had gotten slashed open from something she couldn’t see in the dark garage. Ace was amazed yet slightly frightened as to how a human could have that much blood coming out and still live, whereas Charles had vomited and bolted out of the room after a few seconds. He was never the same man after Whit had chased after him.
“Awww Ace, are you scared of the blood too?” Arei grabbed the back of his shoulders, cooing in a high-pitched voice. Ace screamed and jumped out of his skin at the sudden touch and Arei bursted out into laughter, “You’re scared of everything!”
Ace rolled his eyes, then stared her down, “At least I wasn’t afraid of my own family.”
David, who had finished his cleaning and started paying attention, doubted that was true.
That was the second time that night Arei’s face had turned into disgust. Around their 3rd month at Hope’s Peak University, Xander had suggested a bonding activity of sharing everyone’s deepest-darkest secrets. Arei ended up being surprisingly honest, although nobody could say the same for most of the class. Arei cried and showed vulnerability, and people supported her. She was growing and changing as a person, just as Charles had started to when his weakness was exposed. Who knew that sacred information would be used against her by the people she had just started to trust the most?
“Ace, that was extremely rude and insensitive. Apologize to Arei,” David swooped in. Arei started to look like a mad dog, and David patted her on the back, “don’t engage, he isn’t worth your time.”
Ace might’ve just did the biggest eye-roll in the history of eyerolls before he said, “Sorry, bitch.”
He was lucky that his confidence remained in the moment as he went to sit at one of the island’s chairs.
David grumbled and muttered under his breath, “He’s gonna get his ass beat one day…”
Teruko wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand as she slumped next to Charles’s seat, in the middle of his seat and an empty seat. Ace was staring into space across from where Charles was slowly coming back to his senses, and Arturo had found his way to the right seat in Ace’s row, so he could sit far away from his ‘hideous’ classmates.
Unfortunately Arturo’s wish was short lived, as silence engulfed the room as Arei sprung into the empty seat next to Teruko, and David was forced to sit between the two biggest assholes he’d ever met. This night would’ve been so much better for him if Teruko could’ve just ended up sleeping and didn’t have to come wake him up at 1AM. Even with Teruko it wasn’t terrible, but of course nothing ever went right in David’s life, and then Ace, and then Arei, and then Arturo, and then Charles all showed up and made the night hell.
—————————————————————
For such a noisy group of college students, you wouldn’t expect six of them at 2AM to be able to sit in silence at a table with each other for five minutes, but the aftermath of chaos would surprise you.
Ace leaned on his head and stared at the refrigerator, mostly because in his current position, there was nothing else to stare at, that wasn’t one of his classmates. Arturo did the same, but occasionally looked at his peers.
Charles was slowly coming back into his senses, and he’d scan the room with his eyes slowly, but most of the time he was just staring at Ace, who was ahead of him, completely zoned out. Both Teruko had their heads in their hands mostly, but every few seconds they’d tilt their head up to make sure Charles was doing okay.
Arei was more of the fidgety type, and she squirmed in her seat; her eyes darted to each of her classmates occasionally. After enough awkward silence that one girl could handle, she decided she’d break it.
“So, did you guys hear that Mr. Naegi is really, actually a hologram,” Arei smirked, “makes sense, because someone as ancient as him shouldn’t even exist.”
“Arei, Mr. Naegi is not a hologram…” David sighed, then yawned. His hand quickly covered his mouth, and it lingered as he spoke, “That would mean Mrs. Kirigiri, Mr. Hinata, Mr. Mitarai, Ms. Mekaru…”
“Ugh!” Arei interrupted, clearly annoyed. She cleared her mind and throat before she continued, “What I meant is, we get it. You guys are just so boring, I don’t know what to bring up with you people.”
—————————————————————
“Can you stop rattling your damn seat!?” Ace suddenly shouted, staring at Teruko, “it’s fucking annoying.”
Teruko glared at Ace, “Shut up. Nobody wants to hear your stupid voice making stupid complaints anyway. If you have something useful to say, then you can open your mouth.”
“Fuck you,” Ace mumbled, looking back to where the refrigerator and laying his head back down in his hands.
—————————————————————
Two minutes passed, and luckily for Arei, she remembered something interesting, and luckily for everyone else, she was daring enough to make conversation.
“I heard Ms. Mekaru got engaged.”
“Huh?” David questioned, as he perked up from his trance.
“You guys didn’t know?” Teruko questioned, almost in shock. “She’s had that ring on her for months, she’s even brought her fiancée into the school.”
“What!?” Ace yelped in surprise,, “When!? Is her fiancée even allowed on school grounds?”
“Hope’s Peak is a heavily guarded place Ace, if the woman shouldn’t have been here, she wouldn’t have been here,” David calmly explained, patting Ace on his right shoulder.
“Get your hand off of me you puss-”
“There’s no need to be afraid. Who is this woman, if you don’t mind me asking?” David continued, inquired, and fake-smiled along the whole string of words, as Ace sat in his pissed-off misery.
“Miss Kabuya, she was the old social worker from this school,” Teruko replied, “I recognized her from her portrait in the retiree wall. There’s even a photo of the two of them sharing a kiss in Miss Mekaru’s office. I’m surprised none of you noticed anything.”
Ace stared at Teruko and then facepalmed, “Thanks Teruko, now I feel fucking stupid.”
Arei pointed and giggled at Ace, “That’s cause you are stupid!”
“Not stupid enough to get my sisters illegally set to reform school and then admit it, in front of people,” Ace shot back, glaring at Arei.
Arei’s eyes went dark and she couldn’t hold in the smirk she had for this comeback, “At least I’m not so emotionally constipated and I shared my secret at the group meeting. It’s so obvious you lied.”
“Excuse me!?” Ace stood up infront of his seat, banging the table with his hands for effect. He started leaning over the table to get a good and closer look at Arei.
Within an instant, David put his hand in front of Ace, blocking him from getting any further over the table, and he cleared his throat.
“Can you two please not?”
Ace laughed cockily and turned to face David, and stuck his pointer finger pointing right in his chest, “Ohhh! Someone wants to play mediator. Well I’ve got news for you, Mr. Goodie-Two-Shoes, nobody wants your fucking help! Go shove your morals up your damn ass!”
“Ace,” Teruko interjected, “That was uncalled-”
“That was uncalled for… Ace,” Charles said, trying to speak as loud as he could, while still coming out of a panic, “David is trying to put you in line… because you’re acting like an imbecile.”
Ace laughed, and whipped his head towards Charles, “Oh but you can act like a jerk and you get excused for it because you have little panic attacks,” Ace cooed at him. “Well here’s some news: just because you’re pathetic doesn’t mean anybody forgives you for being an asshole at the beginning of the year.”
“At least he’s trying to change,” Teruko argued, looking at Ace like he was an idiot, “All you’ve done this year is yell and be a cuck. At least Arturo at least keeps his complaints at a reasonable volume.”
“I’m never complaining, Teruko,” Arturo chastised, rolling his eyes at her, “I’m just speaking facts. You’ve changed too by the way, for the worse, so I’m not sure how you can be talking right now.”
“You don’t even know what I went-”
“Teruko needs time, Arturo. The fact Xander snapped and tried to kill her… while they were dating is raw,” Charles explained, his voice cracking but still continuous, “Everyone can change at one point, and there’s no reason that we shouldn’t trust each other in this class… or else-“
“Some of you aren’t going to change.”
David interrupted, and his eyes went dark and almost gloomy, the stars in them fading away. He stifled out a sad chuckle and continued, as everyone looked at him in horror and wonder.
“Some of you will stay traumatized. I haven’t changed one bit since I’ve gained my talent, and even if you try, you are not going to change.”
Everyone looked around the room at each other, sharing nervous and confused glances. Ace was shaking; Teruko was biting her bottom lip.
David looked around, and continued, “Ace is too much of a coward, Teruko uses her trauma as excuses, Arei is trying and failing, Arturo is too obsessed with his beliefs, and once something bad happens to Charles, I’m sure he’ll fall right down his arrogant path again,” David said, looking at each one of them as he said their sentiments.
Everyone was too stunned to speak. It chilled each one of them to their core. Even the most positive person that you rely on and count on can…
“This night just made me realize how much none of us grow as people. Even if we try, we’re stuck to our roots.”
Teruko started to look angry, and snapped, “David, are you fucking shit-”
“Don’t,” David commanded, shooing her with his hand. “I’ll be on my way, I don’t want to be here with you all anymore.”
David got up from his seat at the table and walked towards the entrance, only stopping to look back once; once he had made it to that entrance:
“Goodnight.”
David walked down the dark hallway, and left everyone else in the room with dark feelings and thoughts about who they really are and who everyone else might be.