Access Denied!

"Absolutely not!" Monorakun called out. "You are not staff!"

Kaito turned to face Monorakun. "You just don't want us in there, don't you?"Monorakun

Monorakun remains silent for a moment, then nods. "Well, that too, but seriously, that room's off-limits."

Kaito and I exchanged glances. Why would all the other rooms be open, even the Headmaster's Office, but not this room?

Kaito grumbled. "You know what? Fine, whatever! If you won't let us in, we'll figure out our own way in!"

Monorakun chuckled back at Kaito. "Heh, good luck with that."

Monorakun then scurried off on all fours, leaving the two of us in front of the Staff Meeting Room door.

The two of us exchanged glances, then looked at the door.

"Eh, forget it. I don't know how to pick locks, anyway. Let's deal with this door later, alright?" Kaito conceded, walking away from it.

We walked back downstairs together, not saying much, before splitting up on the First Floor. Kaito headed to his dorm; I decided to head to the School Store instead.

Inside the School Store, I looked around at the various merchandise, as well as the Mono Machine, which shows items that can be purchased as well as how much it costs for the item. I decided to spend some Monocoins on a flashlight and a glow-in-the-dark measuring tape, in case I need to work on a project in a dimly lit area.

Items in hand, I return to my dorm for a bit, sketching out some designs for a men's polo shirt. I tried out a few different button styles, as well as various sleeve lengths and collar styles.

After about 45 minutes, I decided to head into the Art Room to work on coloring my designs. While I had colored pencils in my dorm, the Art Room had a much wider variety of supplies for me to use.

I grab some paint and a few paintbrushes, then start working on some color combinations for a while.

White polo shirt with a black collar and sleeves. Black polo shirt with a white collar and sleeves. A blue shirt with a green collar, but blue sleeves.

I tried out a few other combinations, and before too long, it was 6 pm. Dinnertime.

I put my things away and headed to the Dining Hall, where Theo was working on a Japanese dinner for everyone: Onigiri (rice balls stuffed with salmon) with Ramen noodles, served with green tea.

We each got a plate, sitting down to eat together. I sat between Chihiro and Leon and across from Chiaki. Next to Chiaki was Kaito and Kenchikka, as Theo sat at the end of the table as we all ate together.

"So. Anything interesting on Fifth Floor? Or dead end?" Kenchikka asked.

Kaito answered rather quickly, "Yeah. An Archery Room, a Botany Room, a mostly empty office, and a locked door."

Kenchikka scoffed. "And no exit. Right?"

The rest of us nodded.

"Figures," Kenchikka flatly replied.

"I'm gonna make Monorakun unlock that damn door, though," Kaito announced. "There could be an exit in there!"

"De-Nied!" Monorakun declared, entering the Dining Hall on all fours. "That is the Staff Meeting Room, and as I stated before, you are NOT staff!"

Kaito stood up, facing Monorakun. "You said we could explore TUTEC with limited restrictions. A locked door is NOT a limited restriction!"

Monorakun stood his ground. "You. Are. Not. Staff."

Kaito, however, counted with, "With. Limited. Restrictions."

"Enough, both of you," Theo interrupted. "This squabble is getting us nowhere."

"Plus, getting headache from arguing. Either unlock, or keep locked, but shut up," Kenchikka snapped at us.

Kaito and Monorakun continued to glare at each other before Monorakun finally spoke.

"You know what? Fine. I'll unlock the door to the Staff Meeting tomorrow at 7am, and you'll all regret it. Trust me..."

With that, Monorakun scurried away, leaving us to wonder what he meant by "you'll all regret it."

After we finished our lunches, I spent the next few hours in the Art room, sketching designs for boots for men and women. I came up with several good designs that I decided to keep, putting them with some of my other sketches from previous days.

Around 4:30pm, I decided to check in on the Group Chat, something I had barely paid any attention to.

*Bera Haikiko has entered the chat.

Bera Haikiko: So, what's going on?

Kaito Momota: Dude! I was wondering if you would ever get on here!

Bera Haikiko: Sorry, I'm just not always the most sociable person.

Kaito Momota: Hey, I get it. Been playing this "Stay or Go?" game in the Arcade room, having a blast!

Kenchikka Kowareta: Honestly, I try to be careful what I type in here. Asshole Raccoon likely monitors this chat, after all.

Kaito Momota: Wait a minute. Aren't you supposed to talk all, like, broken and stuff?

Kenchikka Kowareta: I told you this before, moron. My traumatic brain injury only affects my speech. My typing is completely unaffected.

*Bera Haikiko left the chat.

I decided there wasn't too much of interest going on and left the chat. Chihiro and Chiaki didn't seem like the social butterfly type, and I didn't feel like watching Kaito and Kenchikka argue.

I decided to skip dinner, as I wasn't particularly hungry, but I did grab a root beer to bring with me to my room. There, I drank my root beer while contemplating Monorakun's words with Kaito and glancing over my previous sketches of various articles of clothing.

I had a pretty good wardrobe going so far, with a variety of different clothing sketched out over my time here. Whenever I got out of here, I could use these sketches to try to start my own clothing line. I could do more than just repair or mend clothing; I knew I could.

I skipped dinner, sending a message in the Group Chat that I wasn't hungry, and that I was in my dorm room. I then continued to work, this time on a few sketches of signage I could use for my prospective clothing brand.

"Bera's Boutique"... Nah, too girly.

"Second Chances"... Hmmmm, no. That's a name better suited for a resale shop, not a clothing company.

"Haikiko". I considered this one, but it felt too... egotistical.

Maybe I could ask the others later for some ideas tomorrow.

Unfortunately for me, tomorrow would something far more important to deal with...

And MUCH more troubling.