Killing Game Quarter

Chapter 4: Burning Questions with No Answer Part 3

. . .

After some intense thinking, my thoughts landed on Urkstin, who didn't seem to fit in the library setting with the few also in there. Or at least that was the explanation my brain came up with, as a way to stay as far away from the showers as possible. So I did a complete one-eighty and headed back to the library, where the reading group was still hanging out.

"Ah, welcome back hun. You seem indecisive today." Risa remarked, leaning on the back or her hand.

"I've got nothing better to do." I responded, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Urkstin, "Plus I wanted to spend a little time with Urkstin and you guys."

"I feel so special." Mia said, rolling her eyes before reading again. Urkstin on the other hand looked amazed that I wanted to spend time with him, and placed his book down to turn towards me.

"I'm totally fine with that! Oh- Are you two ok with us talking here?" Urkstin asked, bouncing in his seat in excitement.

"You're completely fine Urkstin." Risa replied with a smile, while Mia just waved her hand in an 'I don't really care' motion. With that, Urkstin turned back to me, with a goofy smile on his face. It was then that I realized that he was missing a tooth on his left side.

"What did you wanna talk about Aka?" He asked, giddy as could be.

"Well, how'd you end up with that missing tooth?" I questioned, motioning to my own left sided teeth. Urkstin gasped in response.

"Oh you noticed!" He said, flashing another smile, "It's kinda a long story though… "

"I've got nothing but time." I said, endorsing him to continue.

"Oh, if you say you." He said, before sitting up and clearing his throat, "So a while back, before I came to Hope's Peak, I had a group of friends that pretty much encouraged me to become a racer!"

"How so?" I asked, getting invested in his story.

"Well before I became a race car driver, I used to race them on our bikes! Mine was named Champion Biking Teammate! We were perfect for eachother, and we won almost every race against my friends." Urkstin explained, his expression slowly growing a bit sadder.

"What happened?" I questioned, starting to worry where this was going.

"Well, one of my friends, Kiera, was getting really upset with me always winning, so during one of our races, he tripped C.B.T. and I, which made me fall into a ditch with them. I got roughed up real back, with a fractured ankle, and my missing tooth." He explained, holding his arms together, looking really down.

"I'm so sorry you got hurt-"

"Oh no, that's not why I was so sad. Kiera broke C.B.T.! They had a handlebar broken off, and the chains were completely snapped!" Urkstin explained, looking more angry now, "I stopped being friends with him after that, but some of our friends went with him, so I lost a lot of stuff that day."

"Some of your friends still stayed with you though, right?" I replied, leaning in to try and cheer him up.

"Oh yeah, those guys are still my best friends, even now!… I think." He said, looking confused.

"You can't remember what happened after you got your talent, right?" I shot back, remembering Poppy's same issue when we first woke up.

"Uh huh, that's right. I just hope that after I went to Hope's Peak, we were still friends!" Urkstin answered, showing a much smaller, melancholic smile.

"Hey, don't worry Urkstin," I reassured, placing a hand on his thigh, "Friendship is a lot stronger of a bond than some talent." Once I said that, I felt Mia's glare on me for a brief moment, but it dissipated a moment later.

"Right, you're right!" Urkstin said, feeling a lot more confident about his friends, before realizing something, "What about you?"

"Me?" I asked, confused as to what he was referring to.

"Yeah, have you had any friends, or any funny or interesting injuries?" He questioned, trying to bounce the topic over to me.

"Well, I remember one time that I accidentally spilled coffee all over my hands as a kid, and burned myself pretty bad." I said, smiling as I recalled the experience, "My mom helped soothe the burning, and let me have whatever I wanted for dinner that night. I had a lot of ice cream"

Urkstin and I laughed at the goofiness, and I swear I heard a snicker come from Mia. Once we had calmed down, he got an interesting expression.

"What about friends? Did you have any close friends as a kid?" He asked, leaning in as well, looking like a mock-up interogater. He was smiling, but he had no way to know the truth, so I sighed as I readied my response.

"I uh, I didn't." I explained, tearing my eyes away from him, "I never went to school."

"You didn't? How's that possible?" Urkstin interrogated, sounding as naive as I assumed.

"Well, my dad was a detective, and my mother was a teacher, so they assumed that they could teach me better than school could. So I was home-schooled." I explained, smiling thinking about my parents, but losing that smile thinking about my lack of school interactions.

"Oh geez, that sucks." Urkstin said, trying his best to comfort me, "But hey! You can make some friends here!"

"You… really know how to find the good in a bad situation." I said, snickering at his optimism, "But you're right. I've already made 100% more friends than I've had my whole life, so that's a plus."

"That's right! You're going to make so many more friends than you'll ever have! And I'll help you if you need help!" Urkstin offered, acting as a friend wingman for me. I smiled and laughed a bit at his attitude. Urkstin then looked over to Risa, and called out to her,

"Hey, Risa! Did you wanna be Aka's friend?" Risa looked a bit shocked at his sudden attention shift to her, but smiled and moved her chair closer to me, just a bit too close for comfort.

"Of course hun, I heard the whole thing. You could really use some sweetie." She said, leaning her arms on my chair, staring up at me. I appreciated her effort, but was a bit taken aback from her lack of personal bubbles.

I glanced over at Mia, and met her glance for half a second, before she moved her eyes back to her book. I felt bad for her, but if she didn't want to involve herself, I wasn't going to stop her.

Urkstin, Risa, and I all spent the rest of the morning chatting about our living conditions and friendships, laughing and having a genuinely good time together.

As the morning ended, and the afternoon started, the three of us decided to get lunch together, and we ate with a few others in the cafeteria while I pondered who the next person I wanted to hang out with would be.