It had been 14 days since Rena Koboko made her departure. After an episode that nearly resulted in her death, the First-Seat was sent to a hospital, and afterwards a psych ward with the intention to put her harmful behaviors to rest.
But, for the rest of the school, rest was never an option.
Even in Rena's absence, Arthur Roma was quickly realizing that he wasn't the big fish he thought he was.
Itsuki Saito was the first person he could truly claim was his friend at this new school, and though it wasn't as competitive as the one he shared with Rena, they became rivals after finding themselves quite comparable in skill-level, which obviously led to them elevating their game in competitions against one another. Roma generally was the one to have the edge, but very rarely was it a runaway like how Rena's dishes were.
There was also Yuuta Sarito. Roma still withheld his thoughts on that strange classmate. It always felt as though there was something strange going on with him, like he either had major depression, or was hiding something heavy- like a body of some sort. Maybe several.
Regardless, as stoic as he was, he was also rather accomplished in the kitchen, though there may have been a growing feeling that he may have been plateauing a bit as far as class was concerned. Whereas Roma and Itsuki constantly traded for 1st place, Yuuta was almost consistently in 3rd behind them. Of course, apparently like everything else, it never really seemed to get to him, but after the first week, Roma slowly stopped seeing Yuuta as a threat.
Instead, he was a guy with a bravado larger than he could back up. Admittedly, Roma and Itsuki set the bar pretty high, but it was still worth stating.
There were also a few other wildcards in the class. There was actually a group of students who were triplets in-class who regularly ranked rather high, as well as a 'Miko Suzuki' who was almost never seen in the second half either.
Roma was slowly starting to come into his own within the school. He was still pretty unknown outside of his own class, but the eyes that mattered were the ones watching his progression, and the slow, but steady realization of his potential.
An evening spent with Itsuki had led him to being out much later than usual. The clock was nearing midnight when he finally made his way to the dorms. He tiredly slogged his way through the hallways, sighing when he finally made it to room 1001.
"...!"
Roma's eyes widened when he looked across the room. There was no warning, no paparazzi, no press, only Rena.
Rena Koboko.
"R-Remma..."
The girl slowly but surely looked in his direction, her eyes narrowed with an emotion she managed to hide for so long. For too long. And that emotion was exhaustion. Heavy eye bags were casted under her golden eyes, and the far out look in her eyes slowly but surely centered in on reality again.
"Y-You... oh right... I... share a room with-"
"REMMA!!"
She didn't notice Roma's charge, or expect what followed. Once he made it to the bed, he opened his arms, and wrapped them around her, beyond ecstatic to see his dear rival again.
....though when he recalled how she felt about close contact, he pulled away from her, not wanting to cause some sort of intense relapse again so soon from her being discharged.
And... going by the wild look on her face, that seemed to have been exactly what almost happened. Rena hurriedly backed away from Roma, reaching for her forearm to presumably pinch herself again... but just before she did, she froze, flinching instead.
"...ngh!" At that point, she put her hand on her head, following that by hugging her knees close to her chest, both shaking and whimpering very quietly, two things very out-of-character for the First-Seat. It was finally starting to dawn on Roma. Now he noticed just how much she had changed.
He wasn't sure what exactly it was that they did, but they seemingly reworked her entire brain... Sure, she was clearly trained not to harm herself anymore, but Arthur still couldn't shake the feeling of... intense guilt. He wasn't sure why, but seeing her in this state... it was getting to him a little.
Roma kept his distance, but placed his hands on the bed, tilting his head a bit to come off as a little less direct. "Wanna come with me to the roof?" He asked in a tone softer than she was used to him hearing.
Rena glanced at him and didn't offer a response - verbally at least. What she did do however, was slowly uncoil herself and let her feet touch the floor below. There was still a very quiet whimper, but she slowly rose to her feet from the bed, giving a small nod. As she rose, she seemed to have attempted to pinch herself again, but for a second time, her body winced prior to the action.
This happened a number of times as they walked through the halls and up to the rooftop. It wasn't until they made it to Rena's personal hangout spot that Roma turned around and openly questioned her.
"Say," He began, his voice gentle as he addressed her. Both of his hands were folded behind his head casually, and he didn't want to come off as confrontational, "Tell me, why do you do that pinching thing anyway?"
Rena stepped past Roma, paying no mind to his question. Rather, she went to the railing, looking out at the view that she had come to love. For some reason... it looked brighter and prettier than usual, and she absentmindedly began to climb, making it to the top, and staring down at the campus below.
"...No more..." She placed a hand on her arm, but didn't pinch it, her breathing growing heavy as she stood in place.
"Remma." Roma called to her sternly, approaching the girl who was quickly reaching her last straw. He wouldn't move or even peel his eyes away from her until she came down. Sweat quickly built on his face as he stared up at the girl.
"Remma... it's okay... You can tell me whatever it is that's going on... Just, come down here fir-"
"No." Rena cut him off, despite him being the voice of reason. "I can't... I just can't.. Please,.." Rena stared at the ground with wide eyes, her entire body shaking, and just barely able to balance on the railing. She tried to pinch herself again, but again failed to do so. Finally, she moved her hand away, and up to her neck instead, placing it on a bruise that Roma hadn't seen before.
It was where they had stabbed her with a needle and sedated her, though even through that, she wasn't able to find slumber. Finally, she took a deep breath, and the shaking stopped for a moment. Rena Koboko seemed to have finally come to terms with herself.
"...I'm sorry." She quietly murmured.
As she began to take action, Rena found herself beginning to fall.
Though instead of forwards to the campus grounds, it was backwards, back onto the rooftop. She glanced backwards to see that her arm was grabbed and yanked backwards, leading her to fall right into Roma's arms.
And once she landed, his arms wrapped around her abdomen tightly, with no intentions to let her go. The boy was silent, and Rena squirmed a bit, trying to break free. She herself was speechless though, and after a few seconds, her thrusting and kicking grew weaker and weaker.
And in under a minute, they stopped entirely.
Replaced by small, defeated whimpers.
"I..." Rena could no longer hold back the tears that were welled up within her eyes, finally allowing them to cascade down her cheeks, "I can't sleep... I can't.. I just need to die so I can sleep forever... Please..."
Rena's sobbing was the most emotion that Roma had seen her display, but the intensity of it was something that made him frown. She cried like she was heartbroken, helpless even. Her voice echoed off the rooftop barriers, and if anyone saw, they'd assume a tragedy occurred.
She looked into Roma's eyes with her tear filled ones, accompanied by a pained expression, "I just want to sleep Arthur.... But my mind... It's so... Plagued, tainted... It won't let me sleep... and I can't... I just can't see it again..."
Roma gently pulled Rena's head into his chest, and there were no protests as he did so. Her sobbing, as loud, and as distressed as it was, continued on. Even as he picked her up, and carried her back to their room, she was unable to hush herself, making a tissue out of Roma's shirt.
~