The next morning was Saturday, November 5th. I was already in the Dining Hall with my breakfast. Theo had made pancakes, waffles, and crepes for breakfast for everyone. I had taken three pancakes, putting maple syrup and sliced bananas on them, before sitting next to Theo, Leon, and Chiaki at the end of the table.
Chiaki was mostly focused on her game, eating her breakfast bar while playing her Nantendo Gamegirl DR with one hand. She seemed to be playing some sort of puzzle or strategy game, though I didn't recognize what it was.
Leon and Theo, meanwhile, were discussing the Costume Room.
"Dude, there's some cool outfits in that room. We gotta check 'em out!" Leon told Theo.
"Yes, indeed, there is, good sir. Did you wish my opinion on some wardrobe options?" Theo replied, seemingly interested in Leon's sense of fashion all in a sudden.
"Hells yeah, dude! Let's check out some of the duds in there, and see what rocks!"
I pipe up. "Hey, mind if I join?"
Leon looks at me oddly. "Huh? What for?"
"Well, if you like something, but it doesn't fit, I could make some modifications to it."
Leon continued to look at me, confused. "Modifi-what?"
"He means if something doesn't fit right, he will make it fit right, good sir," Theo responded.
I nodded back.
Leon finally got it. "Ah, no shit, huh? Cool!"
The three of us headed up to the Second Floor, where the Costume Room awaited us. As Leon went inside, Theo and I stood outside the door, giving Leon some privacy.
First, Leon tried on an interesting suit, consisting of a white dress shirt, a red vest and pants with yellow plaid stripes, grey shoes with black soles, and a blue blazer over it.
Leon came outside of the Costume Room, showing himself off. "Whatcha think?"
Theo nodded approvingly. "You look like a proper gentleman in that suit."
"You look like you're going to an anniversary party or something," I comment.
Leon cracked a grin. "Damn straight! I could wear something like this to the Grammy Awards!" Leon looks down at his outfit. "But I can't rock out in this."
Leon heads back inside to change. After a few minutes, Leon came out wearing a rock band T-shirt, denim jeans with holes in the knees, and white sneakers.
Theo looked Leon up and down approvingly. "I see. Going for the Punk Rock look, are we?"
Leon nodded. "Absolutely! I was looking for more of a 70s Punk vibe, but I think I might pick up more chicks with a more modern look."
I glanced over at Theo. Did Leon REALLY want to be a singer? Or did he just want to get a date?
Leon went back into the Costume Room again, and returned again with his normal outfit.
"Alright, I'm done in there for now. Really digging that blue blazer though. Makes me feel like a superstar! Maybe I can make it my trademark, make myself famous somehow."
Theo nodded, but said nothing to Leon or me.
I had nothing to add, either, but I was glad Leon was happy. He always seemed so high-strung; it was nice to see him somewhat relax a bit.
Theo and Leon departed, talking about clothing options for rock stars, leaving me by myself. Curious, I decided to check out the Computer Room.
Inside the Computer Room, I headed to the PC and turned it on. It did its usual boot-up stuff, then went to the desktop, which featured a TUTEC logo with Monorakun underneath it.
Of course, that furry robotic pest would find its way onto here, too.
I quickly went into the C: drive, where I found Program Files, Program Files (x86), Users, and Windows.
Users only had a Public file, with Public Documents, Public Documents, Public Music, Public Pictures, and Public Videos. None of them showed the size of the files.
Curious, I poked around each of the files. Public Downloads, Music, and Videos were empty. Public Documents just had our profiles from our E-Handbooks.
However, Public Pictures showed many photos of the TUTEC building, dated from before this nightmare started. In each of them, it appeared that renovations were being made. Walls were being knocked down, items were removed from rooms, other items were placed inside rooms.
There were also pictures of the dorm rooms. before any of us moved into them. They all looked more or less the same; the beds didn't even have sheets on them yet.
I also found the usual MacroSoft programs: Words, Spread, Slide Show, and Easel. They were for word processing, making spreadsheets, creating slide shows, and creating pictures in various ways with your mouse.
There was a Games folder, but it just had the usual standard games; Solitaire, Hearts, FreeCell, Minesweeper, Spider Solitaire, stuff like that. Nothing too exciting.
All in all, it was nice to have a communal computer, but I understood why there wasn't much in here for us. Still, it was a nice addition to have, and it wasn't completely useless in my eyes.
Leaving the Computer Room, I took a look out the window, into the Courtyard. There, Kenchikka was talking to Makoto and Mukuro about something near the fountain, but I couldn't make out what was being discussed, due to the soundproof glass. Mukuro was standing slightly in front of Makoto, who seemed relaxed, though their backs were both to me.
However, the conversation seemed friendly, so I didn't worry too much about it. Instead, I headed into the Exercise Room to try to build some muscle.
There, I found, to my surprise, Chihiro working out on one of the machines, a curling machine where you sit down, adjust the weights, and do reps to increase arm strength.
"Chihiro?" I questioned. "How is this going to help you with programming?"
Chihiro looked down sadly. "Now that my secret is out, I don't want to be weak anymore. Kaito suggested a training regimen, working on different parts of the body each day. I'm gonna try it, and hopefully some day, I won't be so weak anymore."
Chihiro's comments got me to thinking. I wanted to develop a little muscle tone, too. Maybe I could work out with Chihiro a little bit, too.
While Chihiro worked on the curling machine, I decided to try out the bench pressing machine. This one had a weight system you set in the front, then you lift the bar above your chest and do as many reps as you can. The bar stops above your chest, so you can't drop the bar and injure yourself. The weights were set in increments of 25, from the looks of it.
I set the weights, then bench press a few reps. Finding them a bit light, I set a few more on, then try a few more reps. I found the increased weight more to my liking.
Together with Chihiro, we worked out our arms for about half an hour, then moved on to leg exercises for another half an hour before taking a break.
At 3:05pm, Chihiro and I thought we heard a shout or scream from the hallway.
"What was that?" I asked Chihiro.
Chihiro shrugged, looking uncertain, and moved behind me.
Cautiously, we moved up the hallway towards the Biology Room, but saw nothing in the hallway or in the Biology Room. The gate leading to the next floor was still shuttered and locked.
Together, with me leading the way, we headed into the Music Room. While we saw nothing in the Music Room, the Jam Room door was open within, and I saw a shadow moving around in there.
"Oh, no," Chihiro whispered. "Do you think something bad happened?"
Taking a deep breath, we entered the Jam Room, and were met with a gruesome sight.
Kenchikka was leaned over Kaede, who was laying on the ground. I couldn't tell what condition Kaede was in, because Chihiro had tightly grabbed my arm and gasped.
I looked over at Chihiro, whose eyes and mouth were hanging wide open, pointing at something.
I looked over, and my blood ran cold.
Sayaka was crumpled in the floor on the stage, with some sort of harness on her upper body. There was a small pool of blood underneath her head, and part of a speaker was damaged on top. Sayaka's hair obscured her face, but she didn't look like she was moving, or breathing.
Suddenly, Monorakun's face appeared on the monitor.
"We've got three sets of eyes on a dead body. Everyone get to the Jam Room, NOW!"
Chihiro looked at me. "Wait a minute. Did Monorakun say 'a dead body'? Not two?"
I processed his question for a moment. Yes. Yes, he did.
But who was dead? Kaede, who Kenchikka was checking on?
Or Sayaka, who was clearly injured by the speaker in some way?