After his encounter with Honor and the Darkness, Yamikuro had nothing to do but lie on his bed.
His eyes had been open for about an hour or so. But just in case, he double-checked the digital clock on his desk.
The time showed 10:12 AM.
'It's still so early...' He said to himself, rolling his eyes.
He'd been up since nine, but with no one around, he had no reason to leave the warmth of his bed.
Usually, they'd get off after two or three PM if they were lucky.
And Isabella promised to come over after school. She had promised it last evening, before Yamikuro fought to contain control over the Darkness inside his mind.
He was about to roll out of bed when another thought forced him to keep trying to make sense of the situation.
Execution order from Kendra, the head of The Hideout.
What made it worse, some of the higher-ranked elites agreed to it.
It was like yesterday when Yamikuro first met Isabella before joining The Hideout.
Seeing a red-haired girl fight back against Lucian to save someone who was about to be executed.
Something in him forced him to follow her. It happened so suddenly that he barely had time to think about it, when his legs moved and he offered to house her.
A slight smile appeared, calling back to that day.
But that was also the day when he first killed someone.
That night, when Sphairos wanted to take the Darkness from him, granted, he had no idea what Sphairos meant by that. But now he has come to understand how dangerous it could be, but why a god like Sphairos?
He wished he hadn't killed Sphairos and instead forced Sphairos to return to wherever he came from.
That death still haunted him, but he had too many things to carry on his shoulders. He wanted to forgive himself, but no way he could do that.
Yamikuro sighed, running his hand across his face. It was something he liked to do as it helped relieve stress.
'It's alright. I need to focus on getting out of bed and pulling those curtains open.'
With a slight dizziness, Yamikuro stood next to his bed.
Before going to the window, he stretched for a few seconds. He liked the dim room, but he couldn't keep it like this all day.
He pulled open the curtains.
Woosh!
The sun that shone brightly, with no clouds to cover it, blinded him.
Yamikuro didn't expect it to be this bright outside.
But once his eyes adjusted, he didn't see anyone walking out.
'I wish I could take a walk right now.'
He turned to the mirror on his left, trying to ignore the desire for the outdoors.
His hair was a mess, but with a slight adjustment with his hands by shaking it around and styling it a bit, it was good enough.
He then opened the closet, which was near the bed, facing the window.
Yamikuro didn't have many clothes, just his school uniform, and a few clothes Cedar gave him as a gift.
He didn't really understand Cedar's situation, but apparently, he came from a rich family, and he decided to give Yamikuro something to wear instead of having to walk around in a school uniform all day.
Yamikuro couldn't thank him enough at that time, not like he could've now either, but he was grateful.
He grabbed a towel when his eyes fell on the grey baggy sweatpants, which Cedar also gave him.
He grabbed them and headed out the door.
The dorm was quiet, and the corridor seemed longer than usual.
Seeing the corridor reminded him of the day when Kazuhiko first talked to him in the hospital, which happened to be after killing Sphairos.
After getting out of the hospital and spending a night at Kazuhiko's place, Yamikuro's first encounter in the school was with Kaminari Indy.
Kaminari was the person whom he walked through this corridor with and whose room is next to his.
The floor felt warm, luckily, as he stepped on it with his bare feet, and the red carpet helped a lot.
He walked down the stairs, past the kitchen, into another hallway.
There were two toilets on his right and a shower on his left- all of them were always occupied in the mornings.
'Thank god only me, Kaminari, Cedar, Angel, and Rye live here.'
He couldn't imagine what it would be like with more people living here.
Yamikuro pulled open the door with a luxurious shower.
It was filled with black and white tiles and even had a floor heater built into it.
Yamikuro threw his towel, spare underwear, and his sweatpants onto the pegs.
The laundry basket in the bathroom was almost full.
It was Angel who did the laundry around here. He did seem the most mature out of everyone, so it made sense for Yamikuro.
He took his time with the shower, enjoying every second of the calmness.
He then brushed his teeth and made sure he looked good.
After walking out of it, his hair wet and sweatpants on, he stepped into the kitchen. He didn't change out his pajama shirt as he forgot and was too lazy to go back upstairs to change it.
Standing in the kitchen, staring at the empty couches where he played cards with Rye, Cedar, and Angel.
Even though he had just met everyone, he, Kaminari, and Rye got a job the following day to buy the latest console.
It was a disaster.
Yamikuro tried to forget about that day; what mattered was that Angel bought the console in the end.
Yamikuro turned the other way and opened the fridge door.
It was filled with random junk.
Some leftovers, snacks, and stuff that didn't really belong in the fridge. Such as a pack of cookies, an unopened bag of bread, and candy bars.
Everyone was free to take whatever they wanted as long as a name wasn't written on the item. That was the rule Yamikuro was taught by Angel.
After considering for some time, right before the opened fridge would start beeping, Yamikuro grabbed a candy bar.
He then threw himself onto one of the couches, with a controller in his hand.
Sitting quietly for some time, Yamikuro reminisced of the time when they all got together in this lounge to go to the fireworks festival.
It was a fun time, going through stalls, watching the fireworks, writing down their wishes, but that was right before being caught off guard by someone with a sword.
That man didn't show up when Yamikuro and Kaminari woke up in Lucian's underground prison.
There was a man with Lucian called Jacinto, who showed up after Kaminari broke Yamikuro free from the cuffs and saved him from being executed.
Whoever that man with the swords was, Yamikuro wanted to one day reveal his identity and take him down with Lucian.
He didn't bring it up when the council in The Hideout set him for execution, because he was shocked, but it wasn't like they would've believed a story like that.
After snapping out of his zoned-out state, Yamikuro held the candy bar in his mouth and scrolled through the game catalogue.
This wasn't a waste of time, considering he wasn't able to do anything else.
He turned on a single-player game and created a new save file.
Unexpectedly, hours passed since then.
The door creaked open, and Yamikuro was slightly startled.
'What time is it?' He immediately thought to himself as he looked at the built-in clock for the console's home page.
It was 3 PM.
Isabella was the first to step in, followed by Deia, Kaminari, Rye, and Cedar.
"Woah!" Kaminari immediately yelled.
"You're really playing it?! I was planning on begging for you to play it!"
Yamikuro chuckled at it slightly. He didn't know how to respond.
Isabella rolled her eyes at that, the corner of her mouth twitching. Yamikuro caught it and smiled without thinking.
Deia chuckled slightly as she awkwardly stood near the door.
"What game is it?"
Yamikuro suddenly felt someone breathe on him.
It was Rye.
He had appeared next to Yamikuro, his bag on the ground already.
"Uh... Here," Yamikuro pointed at the TV, "I'm not sure how to pronounce it."
Right after, everyone else settled on the couches, and they hung out for the rest of the day, and for the first time in a while, the weight on Yamikuro's shoulders felt just a little lighter.