Chapter Text
Mai is almost always one of the first few people to arrive to class.
To her, she enjoyed reading in the ambience of a silent classroom, and found joy in watching it metamorphosize into a babble of lively conversations as the students slowly filled up the room.
She’s gotten accustomed to guessing who’ll get to class first. Her friend Nano is always early (but not as early as Mai) and Mio comes to class on time, though some days she’ll nearly miss the bell and scamper into class with a fatigued look on her face.
Yuuko’s the wild card, and a very fun one. Sometimes she’ll arrive on time with Mio, and other times she’ll barely make it in before the teacher finishes their attendance. Rarely would she arrive before Mio could, and it was always fun to try and guess who would make it to the door the fastest.
Today, however, Yuuko came to class way earlier than she usually does.
"Good morning, Mai-chan."
"Hi, Yuuko."
"Good morning, skibidi rizzler!"
"Mornin', Ohio edgelord!"
Mai nearly broke her neck turning in their direction.
There her friend was, chatting up with another girl standing in front of her desk. She wasn't from their class, but she was still comfortably lounging around.
"Hey, Yuuko, did you catch the latest episode they just put out?"
"Not yet, Fecchan..." Yuuko smiles sheepishly. “I gyatt to watch it at home sometime. Hey, how’s the mewing streak going, by the way?”
They continue talking and laughing, but Mai can't seem to make out the rest of the conversation. Her head is occupied with her own troubled thoughts.
The way Yuuko is talking with that other girl...is different. It's not like how she usually laughs and talks—and it's definitely not how she acts around Mai. In any other case she would have talked with Mai about it—hell, she would have been the one to start a trend in her in the first place.
So why did she never talk to her about this?
Her eyebrows furrow ever so slightly as she thinks to herself: What is ‘skibidi’? What in the world is Yuuko saying? And why didn't she know about it? Why couldn't she have been the one to talk about it with her?
She stares at the two girls a little longer, trying to hear more about what they're talking about and the conversation they're having.
She's so hyper-focused on them, she doesn't notice the cold yet gentle hand tugging on her shoulder.
"..nakami...Minakami-san?"
She jumps a tiny bit in her seat. She turns to glare at whoever snuck up on her like that and finds herself looking at her friend Nano, startled by her harsh gaze.
"Oh, I...I didn't mean to startle you!" she apologizes, a worried look on her face. "I'm sorry! It's just...well, you've been staring at something for a few minutes..."
Mai eyes widen a little, snapping out of her ire, and she looks down at the book on her desk. It's fallen flat. She must have dropped it when she heard Yuuko and that girl talk.
"Is there something on your mind, Minakami-san?" Nano asks politely. "Um, I'd be glad to listen..."
Mai pauses for a second. She's only known Nano for a few months, give or take, but she's come to know her as a very kind person. She can trust her, probably.
"Skibidi Toilet..." Mai muses. A word she caught, and one that carried with it something important, she thinks. "Do you know what it is?"
In a matter of mere milliseconds Nano's face loses all its color.
"No...not you too..." she cries.
"Nano-chan?"
"Eh? No, I'm sorry...It's just...first Hakase, and now you're...!"
The large silver key attached to her back is beginning to rotate frantically. Her breathing gets concerningly faster.
"Ah, Nano-chan..."
"What? No! It's fine—I just...don't..."
Her breakdown is creating a bit of a scene in the classroom. Everyone had been staring at the two with visible concern, including Yuuko and Fecchan who had dropped their entire brainrot conversation in apprehension.
Mio, who had just been reading through the newspaper by the sidelines and idly listening, looks at Nano with worry.
“Uh…Nano-chan, are you ok-”
“No!” Nano snaps at her.
Maybe it would probably be better if she got out of the classroom for now, Mai thinks, but before she can ask her, Nano suddenly runs off, leaving the classroom in a hurried panic.
…well, that works as well.
Mai gets up from her desk and leaves the classroom as well.
