Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

One fateful lunch break, I had not brought a single lunch box. I sat down on the table, and stared at Nagito as he retrieved his own lunch like usual, until he finally noticed nothing in front of me. I would always bring lunch from home, so the fact that I didn't have anything ready earlier than him was an unusual occurrence in our newly-established routine of having lunch together. I was smiling deviously at Nagito, who was eventually forced to ask, “What happened to your lunch today?”

I was waiting for him to take the bait, paying no mind to my friends eyeing me from the side. That lunch table had Yui, Manami and Kanade opposite of Nagito, but while they had already asked about my lunch situation beforehand, I couldn't rely on them for the same results. With contrasting composure, I answered, "Nothing happened… Because I didn't bring any lunch to begin with!"

Nagito was setting his own tray over the table, marvelling at the intensity of my gesture. I'd gripped the edge of the table with both hands, smirking Nagito's way as he blinked incredulously. "So you don't have anything to eat right now? That's terrible!" For a moment, he was still standing, staring at me with wide eyes until his posture relaxed, and he was only frowning. "But, if that's the case… You could have just gotten lunch from the cafeteria, right? You could have never forgotten something like that, so if you're telling me this now…"

“Yeah?” While I knew my interjection would momentarily break Nagito's focus and snap him out of his train of thought, I was sure it would soon recover. My smirk remained intact, satisfied with the predictable outcome before me. Though it hadn't been long since I'd gotten to know Nagito, there was something about him that led me to stick to him in particular: the fact that he would seriously consider my every move if given the chance. His interest in me was convenient, and I could spend an early morning looking forward to seeing if he would bite even into a plan so unconventional. It was going to be my first attempt, so the favorable first impact boded well for me.

The pause given by my input had Nagito blink once, only to bring that same contemplative stance to his seat, finally settling there. Instead of taking up his lunch, though, a hand supported his chin while he stared at the center of the table. “You definitely didn’t bring anything on purpose, but… What does that mean? Are you actually trying to starve yourself for whatever reason? That can't be, right? Then… Are you planning to get food from somewhere unconventional?”

"It's technically not unconventional if it's between friends, but sure! It's less conventional than it being my own food," I answered, loosely mimicking his thinking pose by placing a hand to the edge of my jaw.

"Between friends…? You mean… Me?" Nagito pointed to himself with a weak and trembling index finger, and I nodded enthusiastically in turn. He noted him gulp, before he asked tentatively, "You want my lunch? But… This is just today’s cafeteria lunch. It’s no different from anyone else’s, and you can even get your own, but is there anything to this tray right now that you want in particular?

The different food portions were separated neatly, yet they hardly looked appetizing. The rice was dry and in small amount, and the fish accompanying it just as modest. in its own portion was a basic salad, whereas there was a mandarin off to the corner and a bottle of water. I could understand why Nagito would believe I had no business with the school lunch, considering I could have either my housekeeper or grandmother make more delicious meals for each day, but I answered casually as I stared at the tray, "Well, it's said food tastes better when you eat together, right? But I don't feel any different about the food when I'm eating with you."

"That should be obvious." Nagito's voice was palpably crestfallen, forcing a small smile from me while I pondered my counter. "If anything, it's more surprising you don't feel any worse eating in my company…"

"My theory is the opposite. I haven't been in your company enough! So, let's share!" I slid the tray towards the middle of the table, so that it could be at equal distance between us. In other words, I was assuming Nagito would comply with my idea, and I retrieved the sole item I brought from my bag for this occasion: the chopsticks with which to effectively take from Nagito's lunch.

"Huh?" It was a difficult reality for Nagito to process immediately, but I was already hovering with my utensils near the salad. However, I wasn't exactly rude enough to take it fully without Nagito's consent, so I was staring at him, smiling with expectation in my heart. In Nagito terms, that could even be called hope.

"This cafeteria food won't be anything like what I get from home,” I said, “but if we share it today, then it will feel different and more appetizing. Doesn’t that sound closer to the meaning behind ‘a meal tastes better if you eat together’? It would be the same meal, so we’d be together for sure!”

Like many others before it, it wasn't a very flashy idea. Only sharing food would be easy, but talking about the concrete effects of that on the food itself was something I wanted someone's cooperation on. My goal was to prove a point, and I was willing to go the lengths necessary to see it come to fruition. However, I was sure that I had no other friends that would go all that way enthusiastically besides Nagito. That prospect was important to me.

“That’s…" Nagito's hand hovered near his mouth, and his already pale face appeared even more so that moment. "Horrifying." I didn't flinch or gasp, or anything that would qualify as an apparent reaction, but it was no mistake that wasn't the word I wanted to hear. "You're better off not eating something from my place. It might have a worm… O-or even a cockroach…"

I realized that he was covering his mouth from the sheer fear, and though it sounds contradictory, it brought me relief back then. It hadn't been long since I'd known Nagito, but one of his distinctive traits I'd noticed from early on was the tendency to see the worst case scenario to multiple scenarios. For instance, he would ramble on about all the different ways books I lent him could never return to me, or how a single fall could be the end of the line for me… At the time, I saw that solely as paranoia, something I could easily overturn with the correct rhetoric.

“At that point, we’d just throw that plate away! There’s probably not going to be anything in there, but we can check just in case!” Nagito's gaze, however, was still on his tray rather than me, and I noticed him flinch.

“Ah. There it is…” His voice was shaky, barely audible even as his hand was coming off from his face. I didn't follow his gaze immediately, the minimal shade of blue in his features more concerning to me.

“What…?” I peered into his strangely hollow gaze, as he was in the process of pointing to the cause.

“The worm in question…”

It was my turn to go stiff then. I looked down, to Nagito's plate… And I stood from my seat. "Eek!!" It was closer to me than to Nagito, having monopolized the salad relentlessly. Panic settled in, but I didn't want to cause more of a scene and bit my lip, looking away from the worm and to the horizon, where students were still in queue. "Even if you happened to be right, it doesn't mean we can't just get another tray! Let's go right now and—" I had to jump back from the shock, hearing shrieking from the side I was just pointing to. The noise they had been reacting to was not as audible from my position, but I'd understood it to have been for an explosion while noticing the escaping staff from the kitchen.

Nagito had only turned around for a brief five seconds, before he faced me with a smile. The same one he could use while greeting me in the morning. "Well… I figured it wouldn't be that easy. At least you didn’t end up in the blast range!”

"You were expecting that, too…?"

Nagito didn't pay my question any mind, instead taking off from his seat, and looking back to me with the same smile. "We should leave," he said softly, like just any other recommendation, "It might have been a gas leak."

Seeing Yui gasp from the side, I found the composure in me to address her instead of taking in Nagito's guesses, "Right. Yui, let's go!" I threw my school bag to my back, but didn't find Yui and her group nodding along with that intuitive order.

“No, you go on ahead,” Kaname said in Yui's stead, “It’ll be safer.” Her gaze wasn't on me, but in Nagito's vague direction, her frown speaking louder than her stoic words.

“Huh?” I'd known my friends weren't so fond of Nagito, but the implication was outlandish to me. I wanted to argue, but as the alarm was being sounded…

“If they say so, why don’t we listen to them?” Nagito interjected, and I exchanged glances with both parties. Persuading either to stick together would take time, and acting fast was the higher priority. I nodded decisively and took off from the cafeteria with Nagito, though I couldn't help but glance back to the three, who were just as quickly making their separate way out of the cafeteria. I didn't have any evidence of it, but I felt that day like they just didn't want to be with us both after the events of that lunch…

The situation had turned chaotic, as different adults were seen heading to the cafeteria in droves, while students had apparently been drenched by a fire alarm. School hadn't been called off, but rumors from the surroundings implied the cafeteria was off-limits because of the incident that occurred, and there were hospital cars coming into the building. Nagito and I had returned to our classroom in the middle of that panic, and I found myself sighing because of my failed plan.

I didn't end up able to share any lunch with Nagito, on account of the cafeteria being unusable. That disappointment had nothing to do with Nagito personally, but likely because he was self-conscious, he muttered from behind me, "I’m sorry. I just ended up causing you trouble…”

And conversely, I turned around to admonish him as soon as I processed his words, "What are you talking about? You’re probably the only good part about that lunch. You’re the only one here, too." I was sure that Yui, Manami and Kaname had gone to the courtyard to eat, and that was another factor weighing on me. I didn't necessarily want to neglect them, but they weren't interested in being near Nagito, even though he was only ever eager and kind to me. I didn't feel like he deserved it, and that frustration had leaked for a second, which had Nagito blink idly. I looked aside, towards the sky reflected on the classroom windows. "It just sucks we didn’t get to go through with the ‘lunch tastes better together’ experiment...”

Nagito had followed my gaze, and the murmurs of other students chatting was the only other sound in that room for a few seconds. I wanted to do something fun before properly returning to class, but lunch break wasn't long enough to guarantee anything would be finalized. Nagito was afraid of sharing food with me, so I wanted to consider my next move, until I heard Nagito speak: “Hey… Can I ask you what results you were expecting from that experiment? I tried to think about it, but I really only see it end with you eating less than usual… That’s not your objective, right?”

I turned back to him, knowing his hesitation was only because of his own doubt rather than lack of interest. Nagito wanted to know more, like he could solve the problem. Whether or not he could, I wanted to hear what he had to say. So, I told him what I felt I could.

“Well, I’ve shared bits of food with friends before, but it’s always something like, one piece so they get to taste it, and it ends with that. Afterwards, nothing really happens, right? But, isn’t it kind of a shame if something as basic as eating gets boring? It might be fun to talk, but it doesn’t mean anything to the actual food we’re eating. So, I was thinking that if we say food tastes better in the company of other people, then that food should also be a part of that interaction. Otherwise, we can’t say it tastes better, right? Since we can’t prove it for everyone’s portions. By making us share the same food, we would have to decide how we split that portion, and because we’d have less for each other, it would prove it’s an improvement if we enjoyed it more that way, right? Even if it turns out that it’s still not that big a deal, it wouldn’t be boring for that day so it’d be a win-win situation.”

It wasn't the full story, but it still described the premise. I wanted to test the idea of sharing food as a means to experience the saying, and in case nothing happened that very day, the plan was to return with a new and refined idea the next, and the next… Until I would eventually get boring, but at least I would be entertained for the amount of time taken to gather the arguments. Nagito was nodding while listening to me, and once I was done, he was muttering pensively, "In other words, you were trying to turn something ordinary like eating food into a meaningful activity by involving a point you want to prove..." It was exactly that, and it was a mark of Nagito's own quick wit that he was on par with the situation just listening to me ramble. I already felt myself smiling faintly, but it became certain when Nagito faced me with one of his own. "I shouldn’t have expected anything different, but I’m impressed every time! Just the other day, you were trying to decorate your shoe locker with a letter of challenge, right? And before that, you were signing every page of your notebook with different handwriting… Every time I ask why, you always have a complex reason, but you really can’t stand to leave boring things as they are, huh?”

“They’re not boring for everyone, so of course not!" I answered quickly, noting the implication in his words. To Nagito, everything I did was boring inherently, but it was regardless of his interest to watch. I could understand the mindset, and it fired me up thinking of proving his viewpoint wrong once again by entertaining him. "We’re on the losing side if we just think it’s boring stuff. There’s so much in the world, and so many opinions out there… If someone tells me food tastes better with people there, I wanna back them up!”

“Ahahahaha! So this is how bright a strong hope shines up close! You won’t even let the most useless things become meaningless… With your talent, any opinion can become hope! This is great!" Nagito had thrown his arms out, speaking loudly enough classmates around us could hear him essentially fawning over the resolve in my life philosophy. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Nagito to express that admiration, though, and it was no excuse to push him away when I was already used to similar attitudes before. There was more to Nagito than that, and it was because of it I could look forward to him when he was actively contributing to my ideas. "You’re committed to that experiment you wanted to try for today, right? But you unfortunately chose the wrong guinea pig for it. Because of me, your plan is now in shambles but what will you do? Dumping me for someone else is a given, but—”

“Stop right there! Of course it has be with you!” I pointed Nagito's way assertively, being even louder than he had been. Some students went quiet from my objection, but Nagito had been shocked enough not to even glance around him and was instead tilting his head to the side in pure confusion.

“Huh? Why? After all, you just want to confirm if you feel any different by sharing food with someone else, right? How am I necessary…?”

“Well, if I had lunch with someone I don’t know at all, it wouldn’t have any effect,” I explained, “I’d be too focused just trying to get to know that person to think of the food! Besides, out of my friends right now, you’re the only one who’d take me seriously so you’re the best candidate for sure!”

"Hahaha…" That chuckle rang hollow, similar to his gaze in my direction. "I’m at a loss... I mean, I’m happy you can rely on someone like me after everything that’s happened so far, but I have to admit I’m also a little nervous. You said I was the best candidate, and it’s not like I want to doubt your judgment or anything, but… I’m pretty sure that sharing food with me is going to be much harder than with anyone else, you know? Every time someone tried to take food from me, it ended up sour, dirty, or with a bug in it… Or, are you saying that doesn’t matter to you either? Is something like that insignificant to you?”

Nagito’s smile was a crooked one, and his arms were brought close to him as he looked downwards, as if he was imagining the tragedy he was describing by himself. At least, it would have been terrible if I ever assumed my food could be constantly full of hazards, but Nagito appeared almost excited. I couldn’t understand it at the time, so I ignored it to say, “Well, I’d hate to catch something like that, but… If the condition for that weird mechanism you’re talking about is it being your food, it should be okay if it’s mine, right?" While my first plan was to play with semantics to soothe Nagito's concerns, I had somewhat of an epiphany, breaking me away from that train of thought. "Ah… I just thought of something really cool!”

“Something cool? What is it?”

“Sharing the food is okay and all, but wouldn’t it be even more at the heart of the premise if we made the food? Then, it wouldn’t even be mine or yours, so I don’t have to feel bad about limiting it to mine! There’s the Home Economics room, and a supermarket is just around the corner, so… Let’s make something and then share it!”

The moment it was cooked, it would technically be our food, but that only meant that it was no longer a matter of lending or sharing food as it was before. Therefore, it would not fall into the law where Nagito would be prone to misfortune from other people being involved with his food. Or, so went the theory I wanted to push to convince Nagito, because I was already thinking of how efficient it would be to have fun and secure lunch at the same time.

“You want to sneak into the Home Economics room to make food when the cafeteria just caught fire?” Meanwhile, Nagito's voice was more grave than excited, trying to ground me and my idea in light of the situation. However, that had truthfully already been in my mind. I just didn't care.

“Who said we’d light any fire? Onigiri, salad, sandwiches… With all these options, we don’t need to be in danger at all! Well, I guess that means we don’t need to go into the Home Economics room at all, huh? It can be somewhere else, so I think it would be a really fun idea. How about it?”

What was completely mundane before turned into a risk, which involved sneaking in and out of school while struggling against a time limit… And it was all over lunch, so I wanted nothing more than to see it happen, even when it could be a pain to someone else. Nagito was taking seconds in silence to think, but my smile did not falter. With nothing but faith, I waited, and…

“I see… So I not only get the privilege of being useful to you, but I also get to cook with someone for the first time, right? Such unbelievable luck! I never had someone willingly give me their food to try before other than free samples, but I guess the cafeteria didn’t explode for nothing! Yup, this will go well for sure!" It was confidence I didn't expect coming from Nagito, who was glancing behind him, towards the exit. "You want a room in this school that’s safe from interruption or hazards, right? We don’t have a lot of time right now… But you can leave all of that to me! In the meantime, why don’t you go buy the ingredients?”

“You’d take care of the rest for me?” was the first question to pop to mind, because it appeared so natural to him. Even though he had his own reservations earlier, Nagito was grinning as if unstoppable.

“Of course! I assumed you wouldn’t mind since you asked for my help, but it's not a problem, is it?”

While unprecedented, it was if anything welcome. I hopped in place, answering, “No way! I’m really happy! Thank you, Nagito!”

Nagito chuckled faintly enough it was barely audible, with a smile just as transient. “Actually, I’m the one who should be thanking you right now, but still… I’ll try not to disappoint you this time.”

“And I’ll make sure we both don’t starve no matter what! Where should we meet up, though? I’d stand out if I was at the entrance…” It was customary that people's eyes would be on me if I was there, and I could easily be stopped if I had an extra bag or two unrelated to school material. While not impossible to speak to faculty, it was inconvenient, so my mind was occupied with thoughts on how to avoid them entirely.

“You might also be caught by a teacher or something, and that would easily foil our plans,” Nagito supplied, “but don’t worry! I actually know a secret passage I found on my first day here so you should use that and wait for me there. Today’s been really unlucky, so I probably won’t take too long.”

A secret passage… Noting I heard that correctly, I didn't make a show of being surprised with how casually Nagito mentioned it, and instead said, "I don’t get it, but you’ll probably tell me later so sure! I’ll trust you! Where’s that secret passage? I’ve never been to something like that ever so I’m really excited!!”

“Well, do you know that tree by the back of the school? As it turns out, its roots are so strong that they broke the wall, but it’s impossible to tell because of the branches of that tree covering it up. If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, should I take you there?”

“No, I got it! I’ll get going!!” I laughed on my trek out of that classroom, waving back at a similarly grinning Nagito saying goodbye to me. I was running across the hallways, but maybe because the faculty was busy over the incident in the cafeteria, I wasn't stopped by anyone along the way. Rather, even if I was, I just didn't even take that in. All I had in my heart was the excitement for what was to come, an outcome that was not only not boring, but involved someone just as willing to see it happen. I had many friends back home, but they were more so forced by me when necessary. Even people who enjoyed pranks didn't see eye to eye with me, because whatever I suggested was too boring for them, and their suggestions were too predictable for me.

Meanwhile, Nagito wanted to see what I could come up. It didn't matter why that was. Even if it was in the name of something as vague as hope, it meant he was there for me when I wanted him to be. In other words, I could rely on him to stave off my boredom exactly how I wanted to. And that day, I had been resolute in defeating that boredom, so to find that I truly had no need to come to school without food to coerce him… That he was willing to offer his help wholeheartedly was a rare and welcome experience. It made me really happy.

I quickly passed through the leaves drooping from the old tree at the back of the school, and was rolling out of the school in no time through a significant crack in the wall, just as Nagito had indicated. I was giggling to myself over the first secret passage I’d ever traversed, but it didn’t stop me from moving in the direction of the supermarket. Nagito didn’t ask, but I did have an allowance, and I was confident I could get the ingredients with it. The queue wasn’t very long, and I already knew exactly what I would do in school, so the trip was so quick I was starting to wonder if I’d have to wait for Nagito once I was back.

“That was fast!” I flinched, almost hitting my head on the wall behind me that I’d just crawled under, but my head had dived into the leaves. While scratching the back of my head, Nagito said, “Oh, did I scare you? I’m sorry! I figured things would go well on my end, but I was a little worried if anything could happen to you so I tried not to dawdle. I’m glad to see everything went smoothly for you, too!”

I sighed in relief, smiling at Nagito while still on the floor. Like he promised, he did meet me by the secret passage. If he was there, it could only mean he actually fulfilled his end of the plan. “Me too! So, you’re taking me to our base of operations?”

"Haha! You could say that! But, are you okay? Can you stand?"

"Uh-huh!" I used the ground as the support to rise from the ground, and wiped the leaves from my clothes. There was no showy dirt on them, so I took a deep breath, and took the bag with groceries that was still on the ground.

"Then, follow me," Nagito said, and I immediately skipped over to his side. "If we follow this route, we shouldn't run into a lot of people along the way." Our walking speed was quick, because we both knew we didn't have much time left, and I nodded to Nagito's statement. Even if we did find someone, I was confident I could fend them off somehow, so I had no anxiety about experiencing that at that stage of the plan.

"So, where are you taking me? Is it the Home Economics room after all?" I asked, though from the direction we were walking, I could only find a small door lodged near the edge of the building. I wasn't sure where it led, and it wasn't enough information that I could guess at Nagito's choice.

"No… But then again, we're about to get there, so why not wait and find out? I also don't know what exactly you have inside that bag, so let's leave it as a surprise." It was probably in an effort to build up suspense, out of consideration for my entertainment. I wasn't even thinking about that, though, and only looked straight ahead. I could see Nagito's profile from the corner of my eye, but he was smiling as per usual.

"Sure, but I don't have anything special planned for lunch, you know?"

"Is that so? Well, whatever it is shouldn't matter. After all, it's meant to be good because it was made and shared between us, right?"

"It's meant to be better because of that, so we can't mess it up too badly!"

"I better not get in the way, then!" I took a step forward, ahead of Nagito to point straight in front of me.

The door I'd been eyeing since the beginning of our small trip was brushing the tip of my index finger, and while the destination was a surprise, I was still curious enough about the journey to ask, "What's this door supposed to be, by the way?"

“You see...” Nagito opened the door for me before answering the question, motioning me to enter. “It actually leads to the auditorium!" I was glancing around after stepping inside, hearing Nagito shut the door from behind me. Like he said, the seats belonging to the auditorium were lined up, while we were on the side of the stage, to a corner that would be barely visible to a hypothetical audience. "We usually enter from the other side, but this is the fire exit you take from the podium’s side. It’s meant to be locked from the outside, so we’re not supposed to be coming in from it, but you don’t mind, right? Since we’re already going to be borrowing a room from the school, using a shortcut to reach it shouldn’t be much different.”

“Sure! But, if the door is meant to be locked from the outside, how did you open it just now? Did you unlock it beforehand?” I asked, and Nagito’s smile grew wider, like he’d been waiting for me to ask.

“The lock’s been broken for a while now. Since it still opens, I might be the only one who knows. Just to be clear, I wasn’t the one who broke it!" Nagito had raised both arms near his chest in his own defense, while we calmly advanced through the empty room. "It already opened from the outside when I first used it. Back when I entered school, there was this scary delinquent in our class, you know? He actually used to occupy your seat, and no one even dared look at him. But one day, I accidentally spilled soda all over his clothes while I was leaving the cafeteria. Just my luck! Obviously, he wasn’t very happy about that. I was chased down through the whole school, at which point I got to the back of the building and went for that door straight away, since there wasn’t anywhere else to hide. I only realized it was the fire exit when I was already inside, but it thankfully opened for me! He never figured out where I was and didn’t assume that door was unlocked, so nothing ever happened to me.”

“But the delinquent’s no longer here, right?” It was an obvious question, but also the easiest to extract the information I wanted. I'd heard of no delinquent in our class when I transferred, and as I was apparently on his old seat, it was a point of curiosity.

“After he couldn’t find me, he apparently got into a fight with a teacher. The teacher was sent to a hospital, and well… I never saw either of them again. But anyway, that’s why I knew the door would open!" He glanced at it briefly, since we were already far away enough from it that we couldn't see it easily. "It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? It says clearly that it’s a fire exit from inside the auditorium, but it doesn’t have any sign from the outside. It’s the only fire exit in this building like that, but I wonder why!”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad you ended up okay from that!" I said in return, processing the story. Nagito already didn't have a lot of self-esteem, so it didn't seem very far-fetched that he could be getting pushed around by delinquents… Or at least, that's what I was thinking at the time. "I can at least promise you I’m not as scary as that delinquent! Or as violent!”

"Of course! There’s a world of difference between a thug like him and someone talented like you. Ah, but you might just be scarier…”

“Me?”

“Well, don’t worry about it! If you ever get mad at me, I’m sure I must have deserved it!”

“Do I look like the type to be scary when I’m mad? It’s the first time I’ve heard that…” Nagito denied that claim straight away as we were already out of the auditorium, and I noticed instantly that the school was quieter than normal for lunch break. We were going up the stairway, with no one in the vicinity, until we surpassed the floor where the Home Economics room was meant to be. Instead, we only stopped once we were on the second to last flight of stairs, just before the stairs to the rooftop. Nagito stared into that hallway, which students almost never traversed, and nodded to himself contentedly.

“It looks like no one was here while I was gone! Thank goodness,” he remarked before walking through that hallway, and I followed inquisitively.

It wasn’t long before he stopped, and the door in front of us was one that made me take a step back to re-read the plate over the door. “Is this it?” I asked, glancing to both sides. “But it’s the headmaster’s office.” It was awkwardly positioned between the hallway, but the plate did not lie. I had gone into the headmaster's office before when I transferred in, though I hadn't met him since. It seemed like he was busy with the high school building, and would visit the middle school sparingly in comparison.

“Yup!” Nagito pulled out a key from his pocket, inserting it in the keyhole for that door without hesitation. I took another step back when the door opened instantly as he pulled the key out, and then gestured for me to enter like we were back at the auditorium. “Let’s go in for now! There shouldn’t be anyone on this floor right now, but it’s better to be cautious.”

I hesitantly walked past the door frame for that room, noting the office and desk which were pristine, and of a quality of wood that reminded me of my own home in the United States. Nagito closed the door behind me, while I said, “You look really confident, but if this is just an office, then how is it the best place in the school to make food?”

Nagito didn't answer me right away. Instead, just like before, he closed the door carefully behind me, without making a noise… And walked past me, so that he could look me in the eye. Maybe so he could watch me think, because he eventually said, "If you consider the school's architecture, I'm sure you'll figure it out in no time. You see the door next to that shelf, right?" I'd noticed it since the first time I visited, but was never guided inside. I wouldn't have intuitively believed a headmaster's office to have another room adjacent, but that room was an exception, and Nagito seemed confident I could understand why.

Thankfully for him, I did. The office was positioned near the center of the building, where a particular structure remained despite not being used: a clock tower from olden times, which affected the construction of the stairs we used every day. It was visible from the outside, but the bell that would ring was not a real one by that point, so the tower was more for decoration. "So there's space inside the clock tower?"

"Correct! I knew you'd figure it out without even going inside! It's more spacious than it looks from the outside, really," Nagito said as he made his way to the small door, assuming I would follow him, "I was also surprised when I went to check." I was also curious, so I was nearby when he opened the door, and just as he had stated, the room that stretched out from there was more than the spiral staircase necessary to reach the bell. There was an extension to that floor, which conveniently had a table and two chairs. The table was facing a window, the sole window in the building that made up that clock tower, but it didn't seem to have regular maintenance. It was like a secret room, located in just as fantastical an abandoned location of what was meant to just be a middle school. "But, it's really convenient, isn't it? From the looks of it, no one ever goes here, but it's been cleaned enough we don't have to deal with dust. The headmaster is also barely in this school, so this area should be perfect to do something without being found out."

Technically, that was true. It would certainly incur heavy consequences if we were found out, but there was no way someone could assume we would have access to the headmaster's office, and less so that we would be inside the clock tower. "I get how it's convenient but, Nagito… How do you have the key to this office?” I placed the bag over the table, but my mind couldn't drop the circumstances, seeing Nagito still smiling as if proud, without the usual fears and insecurities I would see from my peers if something of this caliber were being performed. It was like it wasn't significant in the grand scheme of things… Like he'd experienced worse.

“I got lucky,” Nagito answered plainly, gazing towards the window. “I knew that I could find my way into the best room to use if I just went into the faculty office to grab the key, so I went there the moment you left. It would normally be impossible to sneak in there, but you remember the explosion in the cafeteria, right? Something as urgent as that was bound to attract all faculty to the area, so I managed to enter undetected. Then, all that remained was finding the key, but whoever was last there must have been in a hurry because all the keys were scrambled when I found them. A lot of the tags on them were old and deteriorated, making it impossible to tell which one was which… But I was sure that whatever I picked would have been the right answer, so I just took a random key and tested it on every lock I could think of. It was honestly surprising that it ended up being the key to the headmaster’s office, but it made a lot of sense in hindsight!”

Nagito believed he would find the correct key. He had already factored the idea of sneaking into the faculty office. However, despite already having gone that far in his mind, the crucial location was not mentioned. “So this was all random?”

Nagito turned to me to answer, maybe because my voice was on the lower end while confirming my conclusion with him. “Not all of it! Up until the part where I had to pick the keys, I already knew the route that would make sure I wouldn’t be found. If everything was still in place, I was going to pick the backup off of the janitor’s room since I’ve been there before, but this ended up being better so all’s well when it ends well… Or so I thought, but was I wrong? You don’t look very happy.”

“Huh?” I blinked at Nagito, who was frowning similarly to when he first saw me depressed in our classroom. Whether or not it was an absurd turn of events, and how risky it was that he ended up leading us to the headmaster’s office that day, I couldn’t deny that it was all for my sake. I wasn’t used to that. Most people were selfish, me included. Seeing Nagito saddened, believing I could be disappointed dispelled some of the shock, so that I could protest, “That’s not it! I was just surprised. No one’s ever done all of this for me before. Well, maybe for other things, but never for something like making lunch without anyone knowing! We’re not doing anything ominous, so it should be fine as long as we’re not caught! So, thanks, Nagito. You say a lot about me, but you’re amazing, too!”

It was the most I could retrieve from the chain of events, even if I couldn't tie them together with conventional logic. Nagito was confident in his odds, and despite the chance he could have been found at any point, he had somehow entered the faculty office and gotten a key, going as far as to test the locks, without being seen by anyone. Even if Nagito had a route in mind, it was still an incredibly bold move. It completely surpassed what I could risk in a plan of my making, because I wouldn't have faith in the events lining up so conveniently for me. However, it worked for him, and I'd experienced something akin to an adventure as a result. I couldn't help but shift in my perspective of Nagito that moment, while he was smiling nervously.

“I didn’t do anything special," he said, "It all amounted to luck, after all. Still, if it ended up entertaining you in the end… I’d be really happy.”

That modesty seemed out-of-place for me, so I turned to the table, where the bag was. “It’s too early for you to be happy. We still have to eat! I’m starving…” From there, I took the materials I'd bought from my trip, starting with the bowl where the food would rest.

I heard Nagito's footsteps from behind me, as he said, "You’re right! We only have ten more minutes, after all!”

“Ten minutes?!" I had to figure Nagito deduced that from checking the clocks along the way, but I was otherwise taking out the rest of the ingredients quickly over a small table cloth. "Then hurry up and help me! We can’t say we made it without you!!”

“R-right!” I didn't believe I had the time to gesture, but thankfully Nagito had reached my side just as fast. However, I hadn't given him any context on what I'd prepared, leaving him to stare for a moment and piece it together. “This is…”

“Revenge for your lost lunch!" I announced while taking out the lettuce, one of the center pieces of the salad that I was planning on making. It required no fire, and while it could be complex depending on the recipe, the principle behind it was simple enough that I trusted it could taste fine no matter our skill level. I didn't have much experience cooking, though, so I brought a hefty assortment of ingredients and prayed for the best. "That worm was right in your salad, and it wasted the entire meal, right? But this time, we can check for any bugs before they make it into the food. We can also add more into the salad, like cheese, ham, sauce… I brought a bunch of stuff, so you can exclude whatever you want. I’ll bring any leftovers to my grandmother!”

I was already tearing through the lettuce, based on salad I would eat back home. I had onion, tomatoes, and about enough that I did end up carrying the leftovers to a confused housekeeper in the afternoon, but Nagito was staring at a bag of carrots.

“All of this has already been cut…” Nagito muttered, maybe because he was fearing what could happen if we did have to cut the vegetables. I didn't think as far as his worst case scenarios, but I did at least not want to bring a bag of salad that was already made, since that would make the only step be to insert that into the bowl. At least, with the respective ingredients, we would still have to pick, tear and mix them accordingly.

“I can’t bring a knife to school, so yeah,” I answered while focused on the onion, “It’s mostly just gonna be seasoning and mixing things. But, even that’s considered cooking, you know? I’ve never made salad before, but it should turn out okay in theory!” I ignored the humidity in my eyes as I spoke, learning of the properties of onion inadvertently in that moment.

I glanced briefly at Nagito to distract myself, and he was finally setting that bag on the table. “That’s true. You’re right...” Nagito said idly, as if deep in thought. “I’ll try to be thorough with checking for any hazards. Ah, but we don’t have a lot of time, huh?”

“Well… Maybe we can run a little late,” I said while opening a small box of cheery tomatoes, smiling mischievously. Nagito finally seemed to be opening the bag himself, bringing me relief despite the ticking time.

“In that case, I might know a good excuse!”

“You do? Yay! I guess I can count on you for everything!" I said while mixing the vegetables already present to gauge the amount, eyeing the vinegar to the corner. "I was thinking I could pretend to be sick while you took me to the infirmary, but I’ll do whatever you come up with.” While not as focused as usual, I still could afford to keep talking to Nagito, as if we were somehow on the same page about the ingredients so far.

Nagito had been silent for a few seconds, but just as I was thinking of glancing his way, he muttered, “I’m shocked… As it turns out, I wasn’t too far off from your idea.The only difference is that the roles were reversed. Of course, if you still want to be sickly person, I don’t mind… But I go in and out of the infirmary all the time, so I think it would be easier the other way around. What do you think?”

“I think that sounds better, so we’ll go with that. But more importantly, how do you feel about feta cheese?” I crushed it with a bare hand in my enthusiasm for it, believing strongly that Nagito would not deny its inclusion.

Maybe my question wasn’t exactly a question, and Nagito was quick to pick up on that as he immediately answered, “I think I like it, probably!”

“Then we’ll find out for sure today!!” By a stroke of miracle, my chaotic mixing of the salad and willingness to smash ingredients resulted in no showy stain whatsoever, though Nagito did not appear the least bit surprised when I made that remark. He was giggling to himself, taken by some thought that I didn’t really care to prod for because I was also happy at the time. It was such a ridiculous situation. I almost forgot what the point of it had been at all until we did finish that salad, and Nagito offered to help pack everything back into the bag while I set the table in the secret compartment Nagito found. After I was done, I sat on the chair to the right and stared out the window of the clock tower. I had never expected my idea would get so far. More than anything, though, I was thinking how nice it was that it was adventure not for anything life-changing, but just to hang out with a friend who wanted to see it happen. “I’ll help you out later, so just get over here! The food’s not getting cold, but I can’t protect it from all bugs!”

“Right!” Nagito rushed to the opposite seat, breathing out after he settled in. I was already with a plastic plate layered with salad to my side, grinning winningly.

Nagito only stared, no longer pressed for time we'd long but surpassed. Class was in session, but we were still inside that clock tower, unless the student body had been moved elsewhere. We couldn't tell. For that moment, we were shut out from the world, but Nagito's silence was broken by none other than himself. "Ahahaha… Ahahahaha!"

“What’s so funny?”

“What’s so funny, you ask? Everything about this is! I don’t really believe it yet, but… I really am lucky!”

It was true that the method he used to get to the headmaster’s office in the first place was lucky, but I wasn’t sure how the salad itself was related. If anything, it didn’t even feel like the actual heart of the matter. Whether or not he was lucky wasn’t relevant to how he would be feeling. If there was no luck involved, wouldn’t he have been happy anyway? It was more like… The only way he could justify what was happening was that luck. I didn’t understand why, but that wasn’t important. In the end, that justification just meant Nagito was happy about the situation to the point he was being slow, so I slid my plate to his side and stole his to fill it with what would be my portion.

“Huh? Wasn’t this meant to be yours? Is something wrong with it so you’re passing it to me?”

“No! It’s all the same, so I might as well make sure you don’t take forever to get your portion,” I said as I quickly depleted that bowl, and then clasped my hands. “Let’s eat!” It was well past the end of lunch break when we spoke those words, but that only made them more amusing.

The salad itself wasn’t anything special. I seasoned it randomly, based on my common sense knowledge of basic seasoning. There was vinegar, as well as soy sauce, and fundamentals like salt, but I didn’t want to stretch my allowance too tight and couldn’t fetch any random herbs that would have seemed to fit like oregano. It was really just cabbage, onion, cherry tomatoes, carrot, olives, and cheese mixed together. It tasted a little salty, even. However, Nagito trembled opposite of me, so I eyed him in concern.

“It’s edible…” I couldn’t even be offended. The idea that it would have turned out inedible in the first place was so outlandish to me that I was more so wondering why he was so surprised. But then again, I couldn’t immediately voice that, because I remembered what he said before. Any time he tried to share food with others, the result was catastrophic. It wasn’t that often I was at a loss for words, but Nagito’s bizarre circumstances were a consistent source of that feeling. “So this is what’s it’s like. Haha…”

“Nagito?!” My hand immediately reached for the side with a tissue, because I was sure I saw a tear shed from his eye. “Are you okay?”

Nagito did not take the tissue, instead blocking my hand with his before dragging himself away from the table. “I’m fine!" He was smiling despite his shaky voice, but it betrayed his words: "No, I’m not okay. I’m sorry for getting in the way of your lunch! I’ll get out of your sight if it makes you more comfortable!” It was beyond my expectations that he would leave, so it took me a second to process that he was standing up, planning to dart out of the clock tower he introduced me to in the first place.

“If you leave, then it won’t be a meal shared together, though? Nagito?!” I shouted for him, if only because it seemed more efficient than chasing him from the get-go. It was thankfully successful, because Nagito flinched, stopping in place. He turned around, though he'd barely made any distance between himself and the table, and stepped back to it slowly.

“Now that you mention it, that’s what this was all for, huh? That’s right… You had an excuse like that for this time killer… It’s a good thing you still remember!”

“That’s a rude way to refer to something you said was hope just an hour ago."

“Ahaha! Don’t get worked up over someone like me! Time killer or not, this is without a doubt hope. And to think you chose me to witness it…! I’m so lucky it’s starting to scare me!”

“Well, you’re welcome! I guess!” I munched on the salad, looking to the side as I pondered. When someone cries, it’s intuitive to cheer them up, but Nagito looked happy enough that it felt redundant to tell him anything of the sort. I hadn’t dealt with anyone happy to the point of tears before, and I didn’t even understand why he was affected like that, so I wasn’t sure about what I had to say.

“Hahaha…” That laughter rung a bit hollow, as far as I remember. He was staring at me again, and I noticed that from the corner of my eye, forcing me to focus back on my food for peace of mind. “Considering everything you’re offering me, I better make myself useful too. Wait a second…” Nagito finally took another bite from the salad, but did not interrupt his meal that time. Instead, he took a few more, and I also took the opportunity to almost finish my plate until I heard from Nagito again: “Hmmm… I’m sorry! I can’t tell if anything’s different about the taste. But, you know what? Out of all salads I’ve had, this is probably the one I’ll remember the most. If we think about it that way, then maybe we don’t need to care about the taste to make the food important. In the end, that’s what the saying is about, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s about how the time you spent with those people make that meal better, but… I guess there’s no saving this salad, then? Is it just a salad if we take out the part that we made it?”

“Yup! Well, no amount of debate can turn a ball into a square. That’s been obvious from the beginning, but if it’s whether this salad is important or not… Can’t we conclude that it is? Without it, we wouldn’t be here right now. In other words, your idea of making this food so that it has meaning to the time we spent together wasn’t wrong. It’s at the center of this moment for sure. It’s nothing close to my area of expertise, so it might be impertinent of me to say it… But I think that’s a good enough argument if you want to defend that stance.”

I finished the salad just as Nagito had finished speaking, focused on his words even more than his strangely serene expression. Honestly, the salad didn’t taste that good. At least, I can’t remember its taste even now. I only remember I felt like it didn’t taste that good. Maybe someone was bound to think differently. For example, someone who had so far never eaten anything better would have potentially thought it was a great salad. Even then, it didn’t change the meaning behind the saying I was contesting: ‘A meal tastes better eaten together.’

I don’t think there was ever any time I ate alone, but the meal itself was just a boring backdrop to whatever conversation I made up at the time. It was why I thought about the saying in the first place: I didn’t personally agree with it. But, there were definitely people who felt that deeply… I wanted to be like them. I figured I could make that boring backdrop into something fun, and it would turn that vapid meal time into more than just the time killer it was, but I nodded at Nagito’s words, because I felt like I understood the people who agreed with that saying.

Maybe the company did matter, and I just hadn’t found the right company until then. “You convinced me, so I think so, too!” I had come prepared to conclude the experiment a failure, and pursue the matter of making food entertaining with some other random hypothesis, but I stood from that seat, peeking out the window. “I got not to starve, and I found weird secret passages… This looks like a success to me!” I turned around to face Nagito, who was eyeing me curiously. “The next time I think of something, I know just who to call! Thanks, Nagito!”

“It’s the third time you’re thanking me, you know? I don’t even know what to say anymore! If you can still tolerate me, then I’d be happy to help you.”

“Then you might be happier for longer because I tolerate you a lot! Anyway, hurry up! We still need to make it to the next class!” I took the bowl from the table, as well my plate while looking over Nagito’s half-finished salad. Nagito gave a half-hearted apology before I left to finish what he had started in packing everything inside the bag I’d placed the purchased items in, before I stuffed that just barely into my school bag. The plan was that the school bag would become lighter if I stored everything else in my shoe locker, successfully hiding the fact that I’d been outside in the first place. Nagito joined up with me midway to help, and we closed off the clock tower door with some regret.

It was sure to be the last time we could go there. It would have been nice if we had another chance, but we regardless left the headmaster’s office, with Nagito throwing the key off a window. It could have been found by anyone, and as we descended the stairs, we headed straight for the infirmary while reciting some of the script we improvised for the moment. I held onto a convincingly lethargic Nagito, and the nurse truly did not hesitate to believe he was sick ‘again’. Past that hurdle, I gave Nagito the high five I believed he deserved and we made our merry way into the classroom, where I admittedly paid little attention to the teacher that day.