The sight of the scene appeared rather normal. Who would question a group of teens sitting around in the living room with a game console at the center of attention. However, for Hakuta and Shiuka, this was the worst possible thing to occurring at this moment.
Their guests had come in unannounced, which was rather rude in his eyes. Though since she gave her friends a key to the house, it wasn't an issue of any legal terms. The bigger problem was they were only saved by the skin of their teeth by pretending he was over here first to hang out and play a popular game with her.
"How come you guys didn't invite me?" He asked as they booted up another game. Hakuta was given the reins when it came to the controls while everyone around was talking out loud as to who they thought were the fakers. Provided that he wasn't playing as one of those characters.
The reason for his question was that since they never shot him a message on his phone, he was unprepared for their arrival. A quick check on his phone was proof enough they didn't bother update him on the situation. However, in those boy's minds, he was still living back at his old house. So they were perfectly fine that he wasn't going to be here.
"Well, Ninka's boyfriend was coming too…" They sheepishly admitted their reasoning. With that boy, that made for what they thought was a total of three boys. Completely balanced seeing as there were three girls attending this hangout session. Seeing as they were still interested in the gyarus in a romantic sense, they believed he would feel left out.
"I'm sure glad you two are my friends." He sarcastically quipped about them planning on not telling him. Even if they made a good point, the least they could done was ask him if he was going to come. They never gave him the chance to say no. "Whatever, at least we're all here together."
Though, despite knowing most of the people here. Hakuta had to admit to not being partially close, or even in the same ballpark, with Ninka's boyfriend. He couldn't even remember that boy's name because he went to a different class. This guy also wasn't very memorable either.
One would refer to him as classmate A in a traditional light novel story. However, there were probably going to be more important classmates over this type of guy. So perhaps the term, classmate C or D was more fitting.
Either way, the most important factor was Hakuta was comfortable with most of the people here. And wasn't worried about acting too nervous in front of any of them, including classmate D since that guy seemed nice.
"I'm just going to drop by the bathroom for a moment." He got up and handed the controller to Shiuka. Then, he left the living room, but did not head directly towards the restroom. Instead, the boy looked back to make sure no one was watching him then headed up the stairs.
While playing, a thought came into his head that made him realize the risk of leaving the door to his room unlocked. If someone were to walk in there for some reason, any reason, then they'd know he was living here. That room had all his things, his clothes, his school stuff, everything. So a quick drop by to lock it with a key was all he needed for peace of mind.
With that out of the way, he prepared himself to head back down the steps when trouble hit him.
"What are you doing up here?" There standing in front of him was Ninka. "Thought you said you were going to the bathroom?"
"I did…" He spoke nervously. His acting job was pretty poor when confronted with stress. Obviously it would seem weird to anyone that he used the toilet upstairs when there was a bathroom perfectly working down on the first floor. "Shiuka just told me the one down there is… Dirty and we shouldn't use it." Hakuta used the advantage of supposedly being here first before any of them to his advantage.
"Really?" She was suspicious of him. "You're acting pretty sus right now." There was another one of this gal trio using that word. Though it was more appropriate now given the group had been playing the game using the term.
"That's really all there is to it." He tried to walk past her and get out of this conversation. Even if she was suspicious of him, at least when he returned she most likely wouldn't bring it up.
"I think there's more." She put an arm to the wall, creating a barrier to keep him from escaping. "You pervert." That was a sudden and unnecessary accusation in his view. What did he supposedly do that warranted this insult? "Did you sneak into her room?"
"Huh?" Never once in his mind did he think he appeared like someone who would do that. Sure, he has been in her room, but it was never without the girl's knowledge. Of course, Ninka wouldn't know about that either way since she wasn't supposed to know about the living arrangement. "N-no, you've got it all wrong."
"Of course you'd deny it." He would've denied it regardless of the truth. So his word wasn't going to be enough for her. "Did you cop one of her panties? Or maybe you're one of those sickos who get off on sniffing?"
"You're really mistaken." He defended himself. Hakuta took note of her squirming a bit as she talked to him in an aggressive manner. If there was any time he was glad for a girl who waited til the last minute to use the toilet, it was right now. Just like with the game everyone was playing downstairs. Sometimes, you can't be certain of your accusation. That was a good thing for those being fakers, as people can choose to not vote after time ran out. "I'll even prove it to you."
"How?" She asked, expecting for him to say something stupid that wouldn't clear his name. Then, he took her arm and pulled her into the bathroom.
"See." He pointed out the toilet paper roll. It was neatly placed with just the right amount of paper sticking out for someone to grab. "Obviously I just used the bathroom. It was a mess when I got in here, so I guess Shiuka's a bit careless." He counted his lucky stars that he was the last person to use this toilet. He was also glad to take advantage of her messy nature. Something that normally annoyed him actually came in handy for once.
"F-fine." His plan of taking her into the bathroom also worked if she wasn't convinced about his toilet paper trick. Being in the place where she would normally be pulling down her pants to relieve herself made her bladder become more active. "Unless you're a perv who wants to see a girl pee. You better get out before I make you leave."
"No problem." He was quickly out the door and heading for the stairs before she was even able to finish that sentence. That was closer than he'd liked, and it definitely shaved off a good few years for him. "Hey guys, I'm back." He announced upon sitting back down on the couch. This resulted him the boy regaining his duties on the controller.
"We just can't figure out who the faker is." Shiuka told him as they were in the middle of a discussion on who killed red. "Whoever they are, they're really good at the game."
"Well, I haven't seen anything from this match." He commented on his lack of knowledge to the events leading up to here. "But, just think about why people are suspicious. It's because they're doing things you don't expect them to do." That was what drew girls like Ninka and Rouko to call him sus. While Hakuta had the best intentions, it was true he was hiding something from everyone. Surely eventually something would come up revealing the truth. "By the way, the bathroom downstairs is filthy."
"It is?" She was confused what caused him to make such a random statement. Especially when she knew it was false the last time she went to use it.
"It is." He repeated her words in a tone hoping she'd understand what he had to lie about without actually having to say it. "So no one should use it."
"Yeah, right I forgot." She played along, bonking herself on the head as if acting that she somehow forgot an important detail.
"I think it's blue." Said Yuusen. "What you said, it fits a lot with the way they've been playing.
"How can you tell?" Asked Rouko.
"Because, isn't it weird he's been the one reporting most of the dead bodies?" Something that Hakuta wasn't aware of, which was why he asked the others to try and think of things. "Plus, he never accuses anyone."
"Right, we only assumed it was because whoever was doing it was making great escapes." Itsuku followed up. "That why all of the deaths so far have been from fakers getting their kills."
"Then let's bring it up." Hakuta called for an emergency meeting with the remaining players. At this point, Ninka had returned to the bathroom and was getting the explanation of the idea from him describing it to the players.
At first, no one seemed to believe him. If anything, the doubt cast on him only served to make the others think of voting him off instead. "I swear people never believe anyone actually putting up theories." He muttered his complaints.
"Tell them he's sus." Ninka told him. During the entire time of gameplay, Hakuta had yet to use that term when making an accusation. Personally, he got a little tired of the word so he didn't use it in his vocabulary. With her suggestion, he decided to try it this time.
As it turned out, it worked. The other people in the lobby listened to him and voted off the person. While he wasn't glad about how the situation only turned to his favor because he used one specific word. Their intuition and teamwork were able to get the faker out and win them the game.
This garnered some cheers as they secured a fun little victory as a team.
"I'm bored now." Said Rouko after their short celebration was complete. "We should go somewhere."
"Yes." Both Hakuta and Shiuka agreed to the idea immediately. If they all went somewhere, then that meant these people weren't going to be in this house making them all uncomfortable with losing their secret. "Let's go right now." they continued to speak in unison. Which only served to weird out the others, but they did go along with their suggestion.