Chapter 4: Burning Questions with No Answer Part 4

. . .

As I ate, my choice started to land more and more on Mia, who hadn't entered the cafeteria at all. I felt bad for her, and even through all of the bitchiness, I could feel an actual person down there in her heart. So I picked myself up, told Urkstin where I was heading, and made my way to the Library once more.

Once inside, I noticed that Mia was reading a new book, and had started a small pile next to her. She didn't seem to notice me though, so I took a deep breath and approached.

"You've got quite the collection building up." I said, trying to meet her usual snarkiness. She simply looked up for a brief moment before continuing her read. This was not going to be easy.

"Do you have a favorite genre?" I asked, sitting down across the table from her.

"Movie adaptation books." She replied, and I cocked my head slightly to the side, prompting her to explain after a sigh, "Books that have been adapted into a movie. I enjoy reading how much better the book is compared to the film."

"That seems only natural for the Ultimate Film Critic. Are there any adaptation movies that you like more than the book?" I questioned, reading through her small stack of books. All books I've either read or heard of. Mia simply shrugged, slowly putting her book down.

"None that I can instantly remember. They all usually drop or change the best parts of the book, so I prefer the original almost every time." She replied, sounding less like a bitch and more like an actual critic.

"Do you have any favorite novels?" I questioned, feeling like I was making significant progress.

"Can't have any favorites," She replied with a sigh, "It would most likely get in my way of critiquing a movie if it gets adapted."

"Geez, you take your talent really seriously." I responded, taken aback by how much she had to do as a critic.

"I have to. It's practically my life job." She answered, flashing her cold glare. I knew I had to retreat if I wanted to keep hanging out with her.

"Right right, I guess it's just harder for me to understand that since I don't have an Ultimate." My response seemed to get Mia to break her glare into a more sympathetic glance.

"Ah, yeah… Forgot about that." She said, almost as a whisper.

"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked, curious as to her new found emoting.

"Nothing pertaining to you, so you don't have to worry." She said, looking away from me.

"Well, what if I want to worry about it?" I rhetorically asked, which seemed to make her let down her barrier, even slightly.

"You just… remind me of someone I used to know." She said, solemnly.

"How do I-" I started, before she abruptly continued.

"He wanted to have an Ultimate talent, and tried his hardest to earn one." She started, crossing her arms and looking down, "However, the last memory I have before I woke up here was going into Hope's Peak for my talent registration. He watched me go in, and wasn't able to follow behind me."

"Oh… That… must not have been good for him." I said, feeling the sting that her friend must have felt.

"All of that hard work just to get rejected…" Mia shook her head, before taking a deep breath, "It infuriates me more than anything in the world."

"That just sounds unfair. Do you know why he didn't get in?" I asked, as she shook her head.

"I can't remember. I must have asked when I entered the school, but because of this stupid game, I can't remember anything past that." She said, clenching her sleeves and staring at the table.

"It's frustrating, yeah. Especially considering I don't even have a talent, the fact that I've also lost my memories just sucks." I said, resting my face on my hand.

"It seems wholly unnecessary, but what do I know. The dickhead behind this whole game could have some dumb reason for it." Mia mocked, flipping off the Loudspeaker. I joined her, feeling like we finally had something in common.

"Do you want to read anything? I can give you a pretty good book if you're the kind to read." Mia suggested, looking at me with a much less cold look.

"Oh, yeah, I love to read. What do you recommend?" I asked, leaning in to accept whatever book she gives me.

"Well… Have you ever heard of Shuffle? It's written by that Howard guy, and I'd say it's a pretty well constructed read." She said, handing out a decently sized novel. I took it with stride and opened it up.

"Never heard of it, but I'll trust your word on it." I answered, giving her a small smile. Even if it was for a moment, she gave one back, before moving back down to her own book.

For the rest of the afternoon, I read the novel with Mia, and we shared critiques about each other's books. In those hours I spent with her, I felt as though she considered us as equals, and put us intellectually on the same level. I had a feeling that it wouldn't last, but it was nice to see her open up to me bit by bit.

Once we had both finished our books and critiques, it was already nighttime, and we could finally get ourselves dinner.

"Did you want to get dinner? I didn't see you during lunch so you're probably hungry." I said, standing up and stretching.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I'm pretty hungry, and there's

something I want to say to everyone." Mia replied, also standing up, "So let's go."

So we both headed for the cafeteria, and got ourselves something to eat,

and sat down. Surprisingly to me, a lot of the group had come in to get dinner as well, with the atmosphere feeling a lot more intimate with the feeling of sleep and fatigue affecting all of us as we ate.

I worried about what Mia had to say to everyone, but now seemed like the perfect time as I sat down with my usual group. After a few minutes, Mia was ready to start her announcement.

"... Just as a warning for everyone, the next 'motivation' will most likely be announced tomorrow. That would follow what happened the first time." She announced, trying to let us all know of the potential danger.

"What if it just turns out to be starvation again, hun?" Risa retorted, sounding worried.

"I doubt that is the case," Liam started, sipping on his tea for a short while, "They initially spoke to us by stating that every motivation is meticulously chosen to get us to break underneath the pressure. I do not see them making that claim, and then only having one single idea."

"That do be true, they seemed way to prideful about their 'motivaaations' to just have it be one thing." Poppy chimed in, poking fun at the dickhead on the Loudspeaker.

"I'm only trying to inform you guys so no one gets caught off guard by the motive once it's announced." Mia continued, "I don't want another Nishinzu situation to happen."

"You didn't have to add that in." I said, cold and angered by Mia's continued bitchiness, especially after spending time with her minutes ago.

"Whatever the motive is, we can't think about it right now. Whether it's a lack of nosh or something else, we ought to figure it out when we know what it is." Jambo interrupted, "There ain't a point bothering about it now."

"I agree with Jambo, worrying about it now will just be making things scarier. At least, it will for me…" Urkstin added in, voicing some similar worries. After saying that, Mia let out a long sigh before finishing off her statement.

"Alright, I get that. We can worry about what the motive will be tomorrow. I just want everyone to prepare for it." To that, everyone replied with a nod, while we continued eating. We all ate at our own pace, and people started to get up and leave for their cells one by one after they finished their meal. I was around the sixth person to finish eating, and felt too tired to interact with anyone, so I headed for my cell.

Once I made it to my cell, I saw none other than Mia scouting around past my cell.

"What are you doing?" I asked her as she stopped to stare.

"It's my turn to be on watch of everyone. Adebayo was too lazy to notice whatever his name was leaving his cell, so I'm taking it upon myself to do it now." She replied, being an absolute bitch, which just angered me more than before.

"His name was Jinju." I replied, upset at her taunting forgetfulness.

"Right right, I'm sure you remember his name more than anyone here, since his blood is on your hands." She mocked, starting to sashay away. I quickly grabbed onto her arm, furious at her continued antagonizing.

"What's your problem? I've apologized multiple times and everyone except you has forgiven me. We also just spent an entire afternoon together, so why are you being so much of a bitch!?" I questioned, louder than I probably should have said.

"There are two things you should know, Nishinzu. Firstly, I do not pride myself on forgiving manslaughter, regardless of how well I know you," She started, tearing her arm away from me, "Secondly, if you think that anyone has forgiven you for your crimes, that you are disturbingly naive."