SDRA2 Redux: Trouble on Jabberwock Island

Chapter 3 - Part 3

POV - Mikado

I didn't remember when I woke up, but still I fell out bed. I got up, and I got dressed. My legs wobbled and buckled, forcing me to grab onto my bed in order to remain standing. I felt... hungover.

"Amou...p-put me down d-dammit....c'mon big guy...you really shouldn't go to Teruya to learn stuff...this ain't what he meant by "pick up line" ....ugghh...I'm gonna kill that bastard." I groaned.

I remembered that I still had to give Kanade her breakfast.

So I got out a donut and skipped to her motel room.

The air was immediately sweet and fragrant as I walked in. It smelled like... Muffins? I wasn't sure. "Ah... What is that?"

The room was quite plain, near identical to mine. The only difference being the lack of a corkboard and an empty desk and chair to the right of the room. They were sat hunched over on their bed. "That's simply a candle I bought earlier. Cherry cobbler scented." Said candle was the only item on her slanted desk.

"You must really like cobbler."

"I don't have much of a preference for any food. It just smelled nice."

Her mattress felt different from mine as I sat, certainly stiffer. Or was it just the innards being displaced to my side? "So you just really like food." ... Wait, did I say that out loud? Why do I keep saying the wrong things around them!?

"That's a fair assessment, nothing dishonest about it." I let out a sigh when I heard no trace of offense in their voice.

"Well, that's good. Because-" I offered her the doughnut.

There was a sparkle in her eyes as she slowly took it. She sighed. "Mikado, you really didn't have to."

"Think of it as paying back for yesterday!"

"... Thank you." Shs immediately began to munch on bits of the pastry.

It was a nice moment we shared, just enjoying the silence only broken by Kanade's messy eating. It allowed me to focus on my thoughts... My tense, racing thoughts... I don't know how, but she read me like a book.

"How are you doing today?" I asked the Ultimate ???.

"Well, I am recollecting more about my talent." She said.

"Wait, really?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did." Kanade said.

She put her hoodie down.

"I'm... the Ultimate Alchemist."

"I-I'm sorry, hold on..." I started, completely shellshocked.
"You're the Ultimate fucking WHAT NOW!?"

"Ultimate Alchemist. I literally just said, Mikado." Kanade raised an eyebrow. "I know you're not deaf."

I then left the girl alone in her room, sighing.

It was breakfast when I arrived at the dining hall area.

I sat next to Teruya.

I slapped him across the back of his head.

"Hey!" The merchant said. "You could have knocked my hair off!"

"That's what you get for getting us all drunk last night!" I retorted.

With a grunt, Teruya twisted open the top of his bottle of protein powder. He dumped a few spoonfuls of it into his cup. To me, the powder looked almost indistinguishable from a pile of brown dust... Certainly, it looked horribly unappetizing. It could have been my imagination, but it even seemed to smell bad.

I must have made a face without realizing it, because Teruya nodded sadly.

"As I said before, this is cheap swill," he growled. He poured a pitcher of water into the cup, and the water turned a nauseating shade of brown. He dipped the spoon into the cup and swirled the concoction. "I would call it an insult by Monocrow, but the rest of the material here is generally of decent quality."

He drained the glass over the course of a few seconds.

Meanwhile, Nikei was eating a bowl of porridge.

"This porridge is good for a journalist." He noted.

I tapped him on the shoulder.

Nikei screamed.

He accidentally fell facefirst into the bowl of porridge!

When he got up... miraculously, the bowl stayed on his face for several seconds before sliding off and landing on the floor.

His clothes ended up covered in porridge because of this.

His face was covered in porridge, some of it had gotten in his hair, and there was even a dot of it on the tip of his nose.

"Hey!" He said. "Don't go sneaking up on people like that!"

Behind me, I heard Hibiki laugh. "Nikei looks so silly!"

Then everyone burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," said Nikei, looking cross.

Then we heard Monocrow's announcement, and we headed to the park.

Monocrow and Yuki stood upon a stage.

Suddenly, they started laughing over Nikei's ridiculous appearance.

"What? What's so funny?" Nikei asked.

"You have porridge in your face!" Yuki giggled.

"Anyways," Monocrow laughed. "Let's present the motive - this is a keycard. Kill, and this keycard is yours! It will reveal the truth about outside!"

Then he left.

That's an okay motive...

Nikei Yomiuri's day had gone perfectly, and now, as he entered Setsuka's bedroom, he couldn't help but feel gleeful. His hair, still wet from the shower he'd just taken (he was hardly going to walk around covered in porridge, now was he?) was quickly remedied with the towel in his hand, which he rubbed against his head firmly. A calm smile rested on his lips, and he sighed.

Setsuka was there.

"Wanna play paintball?" She asked. "It'll be fun hell!"

Ugh...

If Setsuka was right about one thing, it was that paintball was hell.

Nikei screamed, running around as Setsuka chased him endlessly.

Suddenly, something hit him in the face.

Pink paint splattered all over Nikei's face. He coughed and sputtered as he was pelted with more paintballs. Soon, Nikei was splattered in kinds of paint. "S-Setsuka, stop!" Nikei said.

"But I can't stop." Setsuka said.

She then got new paintballs and shot some more.

The right side of Nikei's body was covered in black paint while the left half of his body was covered in white paint. Setsuka rushed over to his body and delivered the finishing touch. He now had a red menacing eye just like Monocrow on the right side of his face.

"You look fun!" She laughed.

Nikei eventually got out of the paintball.

He needed another shower.

"Hey, Setsuka." I asked the figure skater.

"Hey, Kado?" She asked.

"You and Shinji are leaders, but you seem divided on who should lead? What about you fight overnight?"

"Good idea." She said.

"I'll get Shinji."

I didn't notice the figure skater getting two hammers, and putting them into her backpack as she left.