Kotori was returning from the bathroom during lunch one day when she noticed Mari scurrying down the hallway.
Intrigued, Kotori decided to follow her. Seeing as Mari was the heroine, there would certainly be interesting events wherever she went. Kotori made sure to be quiet as she followed Mari all the way to the nurse's office.
When she noticed where she was, she frowned. It just had to be Masao, couldn't it?
Kotori considered turning back around and just leaving, but in the end her curiosity got the best of her and she snuck up to the open door, peeking in through the crack to see what was happening.
She could see Masao inside tending to Mari's fingers. She must've hurt them accidentally, though by doing what Kotori couldn't guess. Perhaps she was witnessing one of those famed events her sister loved to talk about?
The way Doki Doki High School Paradise worked was usually by a day to day schedule. The player got to pick different locations to go everyday. Where to go before classes started, where to spend lunch, and where to go after school. Depending on the location the player picked, a different character would pop up in different locations. If Kotori recalled correctly, Hiroki was usually found somewhere in the gardens, Kazuki in the gym, Sosuke in the student council room, Sota on the rooftop, and Masao in the nurse's office.
Usually most of the gameplay was having conversations with the boy of your choice and making sure to pick the correct type of dialogue to increase their love points, but every once in a while there would be something called an event. During those events instead of dialogue options the player would get action options instead, and if they picked a good one they would get twice as many love points as usual.
Kotori watched Mari carefully, wondering if she'd be able to spot what the action option would be.
She wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but suddenly there was a lull in the conversation and she watched as Mari searched her pocket for something before taking it out and giving it to Masao. Kotori thought it might have been a bandaid, which was a little strange considering they were already in the nurse's office, and Mari was the one who was injured not Masao.
Masao looked strangely pleased by the bandaid though, so whatever Mari was doing she clearly was doing it well. It seemed she picked the right action option. Kotori wondered what his love points would've amounted to if she could see his relationship bar.
They spoke for a couple more minutes before Mari stood and he ushered her out, saying that she was all fixed up and should go before the bell rung. Kotori hid herself around the corner, watching as Mari walked away with a skip in her step.
Having witnessed a scene like she wanted, Kotori turned to return to the classroom, only to find herself knocking straight into Masao's chest.
She cursed, then rubbed at her nose, having hit it when she bumped into him.
"You again." He said.
She was hoping he would've forgotten about her. "Yes."
"Are you here to flirt with me some more? I know you girls like to bother me but I do actually have work to do, you know."
Masao looked at her while smirking, and Kotori reaffirmed just how much she did not like this man.
She decided to channel the real Kimiko just this once, and turned her nose up in the air, mimicking the innate haughtiness that most rich kids possessed. "Me? Flirting with you? As if I would ever lower myself to that."
Only, her attitude didn't deter him, and instead seemed to pique his interest.
Crap.
"Oh, little miss rich girl doesn't think I'm good enough for her, does she?" He asked, grinning, looking like he was enjoying their exchange entirely too much.
Kotori couldn't exactly drop the snobby rich girl act now that she started it. "A commoner like you certainly isn't worth my attention. Now If you'll excuse me."
She turned and tried to stomp away, but he caught up quickly with a few steps. "Now, now, despite my commoner status surely my looks make up for it?"
She stopped and assessed him properly, eyes dragging up and down his form. "There's not much to look at, though, is there?"
That seemed to shock Masao so much that he could only stand there, gaping, and Kotori took the opportunity to finally escape.
Never in his life had anyone ever implied that Masao was ugly. No one would dare! He stared after Kotori's retreating form with a strange smile on his face. She was definitely an interesting one.
As Kotori was rushing to get back to her classroom, she wasn't paying proper attention to her surroundings and managed to trip over a strangely placed rock in the middle of the hallway. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact of hitting the ground, only to land on something much softer.
She snapped her eyes open in surprise, looking up into grey eyes that were oddly familiar. She only just now noticed that there were also arms wrapped around her. Someone had caught her before she fell.
As she continued to stare into this stranger's eyes, she realised why they seemed so familiar to her. They looked just like Sosuke's. Realising this, she figured out that she must now be in the arms of his younger brother, Sota, another capture target. Bumping into two capture targets within seconds of each other? What a strange coincidence.
Someone nearby coughed, and that was enough to snap Kotori out of her thoughts. She scrambled to get herself back upright, lifting herself out of Sota's arms, blushing a little as she did so. She hadn't meant to stay in his arms that long.
"Um, thank you, for catching me."
He shot her a dark look, but the tips of his ears were red. "Whatever. Try not to be so clumsy next time."
He then turned and left, leaving Kotori behind. She was a bit surprised by his behaviour, but then remembered after a moment that he was meant to be the tsundere type. He seemed not at all like Sosuke.
Kotori then glanced back towards the rock, wondering why there was one just lying in the middle of the hallway inside the school, when she then noticed that Mari was standing not so far behind it with a look of surprise on her face.
Kotori looked at the rock again, then back at Mari, and realised that she might have just accidentally interrupted a scene that was meant for Mari. The random rock, the way Sota was standing in just the right position to catch her. It must've been Mari who was meant to trip and fall into his arms. It certainly sounded like a typical otome game first meeting scenario.
She turned away a little guiltily and continued making her way back to the classroom. She hadn't meant to steal something like that away from Mari, but oh well. He was just one boy of many, after all, Mari would probably be fine. It wasn't like it meant much that he caught Kotori instead. She felt sure that Mari would be able to make it up later and get to know him further down the line. She was the heroine after all, there was no way Mari wouldn't be able to charm her way to Sota eventually.
Deciding not to worry about it anymore, Kotori simply put the entire incident behind her as she strolled into the classroom.