Cabin Fever

Chapter 2 - Daily Life 5/5

After dinner, Juro heads to the stage and pulls one of the chairs to the window in the room. He liked the mesmerizing view he got sight of the last time he was up here, and with the sun slowly setting, orange rays enter the room through the window, the scenery has become beautiful. There's some chatter coming from downstairs where the others still are, and creaking from the chair he's sitting on, but all in all it's very serene.

Juro puts his backpack on his lap and takes out his sketchbook and a few pencils, which he arranges on the windowsill on his right. Afterwards he puts his backpack next to him on the ground, the floor protests with a small creak, and starts sketching out the landscape.

Minutes turn to hours while time passes. Orange light turns red as it slowly fades away and Juro has to rely on the light from lamps. He is mostly drawing from memory at this point - the only thing he has ever been good at remembering is scenery and images. Besides, it's fine if the sketch ends up not being a perfectly accurate representation of what he has seen. He doesn't always have to make the most realistic art possible.

He barely notices how it's getting dark already, since he has lost track of time, and how quiet it is downstairs. Most people must have returned to their dorm rooms.

Suddenly, he hears a scream, an utterly terrified and harsh scream.

Juro drops his sketchbook on the chair, a pencil clattering on the ground, and bolts down the stairs. He almost trips over his own feet. His own heartbeat overwhelms his hearing, and it's accompanied by the sound of that scream still echoing in his mind.

He slams the door open and sprints to where he sees the blue light of a Monopad on the landing. He skits to a halt, nearly toppling into the gaping hole in the wood and almost stepping on the pale hands of Ryoko. She looks up at him and for the first time ever the mask is off and she reveals this look of pure and utter terror. Her feet just break the shimmering surface of the water.

Gritting his teeth, Juro falls to his knees and grabs Ryoko's wrists.

"Trust me." He does his best to speak clearly, but his entire body is shaking.

Grey eyes wide, Ryoko lifts one trembling hand to grab his wrist too. He pulls her up and, as soon as she can, she uses the hand still holding onto the edge to push herself up. Her Monopad lays long forgotten on the landing, as they nearly step on it.

Still on his knees, Juro exhales when Ryoko suddenly collapses against him. At first he thinks she's fainting, but when her arms hug him tightly he can tell what's actually happening. Her entire body is shaking and her breathing is frantic.

Knowing he can't give her words of comfort right now, Juro simply wraps his arms around her in an attempt to make her feel secure. He lowers his head slightly, trying to calm his own racing heartbeat and heavy breathing. He doesn't even want to think about what might have happened if he hadn't been a forgetful idiot who loses track of time more often than not. Would she have been able to swim back? The water is deep here and they are pretty far from the shore. Especially with the hit her arms took from grabbing on, she might not have made it.

'Someone tried killing her.'

The realization dawns on him and Juro immediately tries to push it away, to make excuses. Maybe the wood was just rotten, this place is old after all.

But Monokuma would never allow someone to die in an accident like this. It would be too boring for him. Juro harshly bites down on his lip, but forces himself to relax a little when a metallic taste fills his mouth.

He takes a shaky breath, his head lowered slightly but eyes wide open, darting around to not lose sight of his surroundings. It's alright. She didn't die and they don't have to go through another trial, for now at least.