Momo made it to the dining hall fifteen minutes before it closed so she had plenty of time to decide. While looking in the display case and trying to make up her mind when she sensed someone watching her. She ignored it assuming the person would go away after a few minutes. The sensation did not go away though, which made her uncomfortable. Quickly she made up her mind to get one of each kind rather than four of the same. Straightening, she waved the attendant over and from the corner of her eye saw a male slightly taller than herself with spikey, light brown hair leaning against the display case, watching her. She stiffened and continued to ignore him as she placed her order and gave over her card.
"Four sandwiches, you must be really hungry." He said flirtatiously. She blushed and responded without looking at him.
"They're for my friends." Momo mumbled. The attendant had come back with her card and the sandwiches in a bag. "Thank you." She told the woman as she took them from her. Momo began walking away. The male followed her. She looked at him then and recognized him immediately. "Shiki." She said in confusion.
"Yep." He said. His light brown eyes were dancing in mirth, and his mouth was smiling. He was chewing on a toothpick while he walked. "I am pleased a cute girl like you knows who I am." He said with a wink. Momo blushed again.
"Why are you talking to me?" she asked quietly.
"You are in class 1-E, aren't you?" he asked, and she nodded slowly still confused. "Good! I've been searching for one of you for days now with no luck. I just wanted to ask you some questions about your teacher." Momo's eyes widened. She didn't like where this was going.
It was no secret that Rage, the leader of the top six was Ky's brother. It also wasn't a secret that there was bad blood between them. It was rumored that Rin enjoyed making Professor Arzandia miserable and would stop at nothing to do it. Momo's mind instantly jumped to Ro's protection necklace, visible proof of Ky's affection for her. To protect her friend, Momo resolved to play dumb.
"Professor Arzandia? What about him?" she asked quietly. Shiki frowned at her. The rumor was he had started to teach again. Wouldn't his class had heard that this was abnormal for him?
"Professor Arzandia has changed recently. Did the professor get any news or anything recently that he seemed excited about?" Momo thought about this and realized she could plant a false trail here. She brightened.
"Um, he did have a letter on her desk the other week. He was smiling when he read it during exercises." She did her best, but she couldn't meet Shiki's eyes when she said this. Shiki saw this happen. For all he pretended to be a little slow he was quite smart, and he was good at reading people. He could tell right away that there was something she wasn't saying.
"Okay, a letter. Do you know what he did with it?" He asked seeing if she would slip.
"I think he put it in his desk." Momo said with a smile.
"Oh, really?" She nodded.
He sighed inwardly. To verify that he'd have to go through Ky's desk and alert him that someone was snooping around. She was a clever girl. He switched topics.
"Are there any students he seems fond of?" He asked. Momo frowned in thought. She could mislead him by saying Angelique but that might be too obvious a lie after Ky's recent outburst. She could say herself to draw attention away from Ro but that could also backfire because of her proximity to Ro. She smiled then as she seized upon the solution.
"Nope." She stated. Shiki looked at her sidelong.
"You wouldn't be lying to me would you, cutie?" he smiled at her and met her surprisingly pretty, violet eyes. Momo's face turned red and she felt uncomfortable, but she made herself hold his eye contact. It was he who blinked first. He laughed, "You have a little bit of steel in you after all." She blushed deeper and looked down. "Well does he have a student that he spends more time with than others?" Shiki asked finally. They had reached the girl's dorm now and he appeared to be coming in with her.
"You're coming in too?" Momo asked startled. She had assumed he'd leave her alone once she got here.
"Yep. I'm very interested in our conversation and I like talking to adorable girls, so I am planning on walking you back to your room." Momo paled. She didn't want him knowing where she lived especially with Ro always in her rooms, as she probably was right now. He might see the necklace! She made another snap decision and began to walk.
"To answer your question yes he does." Momo said quietly.
"Huh? Oh, a student he spends time with." Shiki said remembering his earlier question. The fact that the girl was volunteering information made him believe she wouldn't tell him the truth at all now. "What's her name?" His tone was cool as he expected another lie.
"Well it's not a girl." Momo said slyly. "But he seems to have a lot of chemistry with this student and he spends a lot of time with him. Whenever they interact its always tense and frustrated but I'm not a gossip, so I won't tell you his name." Momo stopped in front of a door and knocked. Inwardly she prayed she had the right room. "Please open up my hands are full." She called through the door. Footsteps sounded, and the door opened wide enough to reveal Angelique's pretty face. Her brown ringlets were being held off her face with a sweat band and she had a green mud mask on. She regarded Momo peevishly.
"What do you-" She cut off mid-sentence as she saw Shiki. She screeched and flung herself back into the room allowing Momo to enter behind her.
"Well goodbye." Momo told him shutting the door in his face. He chuckled, leaning against the wall.
Shiki replayed their conversation in his head. He was fairly certain that the only true thing he heard was that she was in class 1-E. However, he still had to investigate what she had said in case she was speaking some of the truth. He was willing to bet that this wasn't even her room. In fact, he was waiting to confirm that suspicion. He heard the face mask girl yelling through the door.
"What are you doing here?" She screeched. "You brought him here to embarrass me! You evil harpy, it's your fault Shiki saw me like that! Get out! Go back to your own room!" Shiki laughed to himself thinking in admiration of how interesting sly females were. He left, deciding to make himself scarce before the door opened again.