What is this supposed to mean...?

You restrained yourself from allowing confusion to show on your expression, but that didn't stop the onslaught of thoughts that piled in your head. To the far left, there were a few rows that had majority of the students outlined in white. Given that Kasumi was present there, you assumed it was Shichirou's class. Thankfully, she didn't have any outlines.

Doing your best to be discrete, you looked around and continued your search. However, all the other students didn't have any outlines. Well, that was until your gaze fell onto Hayami. Your eyes widened and a foreboding feeling shackled your heart to the ground.

There was a red outline on her.

And it wasn't just her.

Kai?

You swallowed, you should've anticipated this. Why wouldn't someone you just met be involved? Considering it from a game-like perspective, it only made sense. However, what you saw next was something you would've never expected.

Why...

Why did Aimi have a red outline on her?

Before any means of panic could plague your thoughts, students began exchanging confused glances and subtle whispers arose. Ah, right. You needed to start your speech. With the pressure of so many eyes pinned onto your frame and the addition of your newfound information, it was impossible to compose yourself.

Any memorisation of your speech had been overwritten with contemplation regarding the outlines. Your mind instinctively tried sewing a conclusion together and you struggled to start your speech with how cluttered your head was.

Wait, didn't the feature also have a time limit?

The thought successfully snapped you out of your daze and you quickly turned off the feature from behind the podium. Thankfully, you were swift in accessing and deactivating your abilities now. Hours of practice were not done in vain.

Hope it hasn't been two minutes yet. At least you were confident that you examined the entire crowd of students.

Finally, you began your speech. It wasn't the best start, but it certainly could've gone worse. But, as you continued speaking, the questions you had regarding the outlines kept hanging over your mind, distracting and leaving you in an uneasy state.

You kept looking down at your palm cards and forgetting the contents of your speech despite your vigorous practice over the weekends. Every time you had finally managed to pick yourself up and maintain a relatively calm composure, just one quick glance at Kai, Aimi or Hayami broke down your equanimity like a fragile wall of glass.

Your gaze then met Kashi's. The male smiled brightly at you and mouthed an encouraging 'you can do it!'. From the simple action, you calmed down a little.

You'll have plenty of time to worry over it later. Just ignore it for now and finish the speech without too many regrets.

You engraved that thought into your head and repeated it whenever your thoughts began to drift away and think about the outlines again. Though you didn't magically become a proficient speaker, there was a noticeable improvement in your fluency and level of eye contact with the students.

To sprinkle in some insight on what your speech entailed, it mainly revolved around you assuring the safety of the students. For example, you included the idea of installing fences on the school rooftop; the incident with Kasumi and Kashi was enough of a reason why. Though you didn't promise anything substantial in your speech that would've captured the attention of the students, at least you were honest.

Once your speech ended, a round of applause came from the crowd of students. You let out a sigh of relief and thanked everyone for listening. Wasting no time, you headed back to your seat more than ready to dwell in the storm of thoughts that was brewing in the back of your head. If only you could whip out your phone and type down everything to organise your thoughts.

The rest of the candidates continue to present their speeches. On the other hand, your mind was too preoccupied to pay any attention to them.

Okay, let's think it through.

For the students with white outlines on them, they all belonged to Shichirou's class. As for the students with the red outlines, it was Kai, Hayami, and...Aimi. Why was the heroine a target? That didn't make any sense, wasn't the whole concept of this game was to prevent the male leads from hurting others because they wanted the heroine's love?

You pondered over the matter, however, you weren't able to come up with anything conclusive. Did something happen? Was it something accidental? The more you thought about it, the more your confusion grew. You left those questions to the side for now.

The next confusion derived from Shichirou's class. You'd assume whatever was going to happen was going to take place during a lesson, a lesson that will injure the students and will kill Hayami. You shuddered at the thought. But, now that brought up a two new questions: what kind of class was it going to take place in and when was it going to occur?

Your thoughts dated back to when you helped Shichirou out with the boxes, the stuff inside them were equipments for home ec. A kitchen...isn't that a place where hazards thrived if an accident occurred? Well, you couldn't be too sure that it'll be the cause of the injuries. Basing it off with such shaky reasonings wasn't enough to confirm your suspicions.

However, let's assume that you were right. How were you going to intervene? Stress began to build up at the thought. What if you ended up failing and didn't prevent a single injury? Wouldn't that be a mountain of penalties waiting to be dumped onto you?

Think! There must be a way. There has to be, I'm just not thinking hard enough!

In deep contemplation, you bounced ideas back and forth; some too ambitious to execute and some too vague to consider. Whilst you were immersed in your thoughts, you hadn't realised that the speeches had finished.

"What're you spacing out for?"

At the voice, you blinked in surprise and looked up. Mind still entangled with your previous thoughts, you took a moment to register that Kai was right in front of you. You instantly remembered that he was one of the three that had a red outline and your breath hitched

"Uh, I was...just thinking of some stuff," you said, voice almost trembling. Calm down, (Y/n). "Any-anyways, what are you doing here?"

Kai raised an eyebrow at your behaviour. "If it wasn't obvious enough, people are leaving to head to their own class. The ones who presented were supposed to meet up behind the stage."

You looked to your left and noticed that everyone in the front row had left. Well, that was embarrassing. Kai huffed and promptly took a seat beside you. He stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

"That felt way too fucking long. Y'know, some people shouldn't be allowed to give speeches," he said. "Didn't help that I got caught sleeping."

"What? Did you fall asleep during mine?" you joked.

"The hell? Of course not!"

"Oh, sweet."

"Wait, don't get the wrong idea. It was only because yours was first."

"I wholeheartedly believe you. Truly."

"I can tell you're being sarcastic, y'know!"

From a distance, you heard a student––who you assumed was Kai's classmate––call out to him. With a roll of his eyes, the male sighed and stood up.

"If it weren't for the fact that the teacher would throw me into detention, I would've ignored them," he mumbled.

"A+ student material."

"Hah! Well, I am awesome at maths."

"I was being sarcastic."

"You––"

"Oh? Is that the teacher approaching us? He looks kinda mad."

"What? Where?"

"Tis was just joking."

Kai looked completely ready to throw hands at you, to which you only laughed at. Mumbling a string of inaudible words, the male threw you a curt goodbye before leaving to join his class. Your smile was quick to fall when the male left your sights. Though you were anxious at the thought of his death, you didn't have any clue on how to prevent it. For now, all you could do was focus on what you had suspicions on.

Alright, behind the stage, right?

Guess you should get going. When you entered behind the stage, you were notified by one of the teachers that the candidates were having morning tea in the student council room. And when you arrived there and opened the door, you almost ran straight into Shichirou.

"There you are, (L/n)-san. I was just about to go get you," Shichirou said.

Your legs were quick to take a step back and distance yourself from the male. "Great, guess you don't need to do that anymore."

The other candidates were present in the room minding their own business and starting small conversations amongst themselves; some were friendly whilst others clearly saw everyone in the room as competition.

"Oh! You're that student who helped Shichirou-san! Thanks for that! My class is going to have a blast with the new equipment."

The teacher you met the other day approached you and Shichirou. You remembered the male calling her Suzuki-sensei.

"Anytime. Is Shichirou-san a student of yours?"

The woman nodded enthusiastically followed along with a hearty laugh. "Lucky, aren't I? He's such a great student."

You held up a hand to your lips to cut off the sarcastic laugh that was about to escape, playing it off as a cough as you nodded in agreement. "Yup, very nice guy. Did he offer up to help?"

"Of course! When I briefly mentioned it after class, he didn't hesitate to give up his time." She looked at Shichirou with a proud look. "He'll make a great student council president for this school."

The male smiled. "I appreciate the thought."

As the two conversed with each other, a thought crossed your mind. "Suzuki-sensei, is this your free period right now?"

"Oh, it's actually not. But, I couldn't help but stop by and have a quick chat with everyone here."

...Her current class wouldn't happen to be a home ec one by any chance, right?

At the assumption, a thin blanket of disquietness draped over your conscious. If that turned out to be the case, then wasn't this teacher irresponsible for leaving her class like that? Actually, leaving a class unsupervised shouldn't be allowed in the first place!

"Well, I guess you can get away with making it a self-study period," you joked, hoping your comment would prompt a reply that'll confirm your thoughts.

"You have a point, but it's a home ec class so that's thrown out the window." She laughed. "I'm sure they'll be fine, I went through the instructions with them last lesson."

Uh, no. That's not freaking fine.

"Won't you be in trouble if you're not there supervising them?" you asked, apprehension almost slipping into your tone.

The teacher waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, I'll only be gone for a few minutes. Besides, I'll put in a good word for you if you don't mention anything." She winked before she went ahead and joined the other students.

What kind of teacher was she?!

It was a miracle that you didn't get the chance say anything else, you were sure that your next words would've drawn a substantial amount of suspicion to yourself. It didn't take long for you to conclude that the injuries accumulated in this chapter was likely going to happen during the home ec class. It made sense, a kitchen can be a very hazardous place. And Hayami––wait, where was she?

"Where's Hayami-san?" you asked.

"She left early," Shichirou answered. "Would you like to take a seat? I saved one for you. We can chat for a bit––"

You shook your head. "No need, I'm going to leave now anyway."

The male paused. "Already? I'm a little hurt at the rejection, (L/n)-san."

"That sounds like a you problem," you said. Before Shichirou had the chance to reply, you walked up to the teacher. "Suzuki-sensei, I'll be leaving now since I'd like to get back to class. Since you're here, do you need me to take anything to your class?"

The woman brightened. "Aren't you a sweetheart! Actually, I have some of my stuff in the staffroom that I need taken there."

The teacher cheerfully told you the instructions, she seemed a little too bubbly at the idea of someone helping her. You bid a curt goodbye to Shichirou and left the room. You let out a small sigh in an attempt to relax and mitigate some stress. Okay, you now had the directions to the classroom as well as an excuse to go there.

Should I use that other feature? You recalled one of the features being able to determine the future, however, you decided against using it. Right now it was a matter of time, not a matter of knowing what will happen. You decided to save it for a better situation.

As quick as a snap of a finger, you retrieved the items from the staffroom before making your way towards the classroom. You were no stranger when it came to running across the school hallway––despite the irony of it as you were running for student council––and ran towards the classroom.

You arrived at the door and judging from the muffled conversations and lack of panicked cries or chaotic shouts, you were pretty sure that you had made it in time. You knocked on the door, politely excused yourself, and explained your presence. The students didn't make a scene out of it and you entered the classroom to drop off the items. Purposefully taking your time, you cautiously surveyed the area, searching for any potential hazards.

From polished floors to costly equipment; the kitchen was of spectacular opulence. Not to mention, the huge space made it challenging to keep track of everyone. In the midst of your observation, your eyes caught sight of Hayami. She was minding her own business, but the fact that she was near a stove made you feel a little tense.

When you dropped off the items, your heart almost stopped at the sight of one of the students carrying a knife block with several knives still inside it.

"Hey, do you need help with that?" you asked, maybe a little too frantically. "I'll carry it for you so you can work on other things."

Unsuspecting of your behaviour, the student nodded. "Sweet! Thanks."

Without any issues, they handed it over. You were positive that this was breaking some form of safety rule in the kitchen, but there wasn't a teacher around to enforce said rule. And you weren't about to risk them doing it themself. After setting down the knife block as delicately as possible, you reluctantly began heading for the exit. Your backup plan was to literally stand outside the classroom door until a student caught you or a teacher scolded you for truancy.

When you were right in front of the door, a panicked cry captured your attention and prompted you to immediately turn around. Your heart hammered against your chest, your eyes darted around and you tried to locate the source of the sound.

One of the girls had dropped a kettle, spilling boiling water on the floor. Her friends hurried towards her out of concern and you immediately shouted, "don't run, you're going to slip!"

Thankfully, that snapped them out of their frantic state and helped them realise that running in the kitchen with a very obvious hazard in the vicinity was not a good idea. They stopped before any accidents occurred. You instructed them to get something to clean up the spill.

"No one come over here! There's a water spill!" you announced and ensured that everyone heard you clearly. You carefully made your way over to the girl, being mindful of your footing. "Are you hurt?"

The student shook her head and the accident was properly dealt with. After what just took place, your reluctance in leaving the kitchen only solidified.

"I swear, the teacher better be here soon," you mumbled under your breath.

You started up a few conversations with the students and helped out with tasks that you assumed could result in an accident. You also focused on helping the people who were around Hayami so you could keep an eye on her. Though your actions could be interpreted as you buttering up some votes for student council which could look bad on your part, you didn't care.

Since Kasumi was also in this class, you'd walk by or glance at her every now and then. Everytime you waved at her you were blatantly ignored. Just the usual. From the corner of your eye, you noticed that there was a small flame alight from a frying pan.

It felt like second nature that the worst case scenario was assumed. You almost overreacted and dashed towards the fire. Putting a halt on your movements, you told yourself that the situation wasn't as dangerous as initially perceived. As long as it was dealt with responsibly, things should be fine.

Before you could get a metal lid to cover the flame, Hayami had already acted. She grabbed a cup of water and the student next to her paled.

"Wait! Hayami-san, you're not supposed to––"

As soon as the water made contact with the pan, a blaze of orange and yellow erupted as the flames hissed and crackled furiously. Your reflexes sprung into action and you immediately pulled Hayami back and she just barely managed to dodge the fire.

Panicked cries tore through the air. Students haphazardly tried to either alleviate the severity of the situation or to get away from the fire as soon as possible. For the entire duration of your stay here you had waited for something as perilous as this to happen with thick anticipation, and all you had to say now was:

Well, shit.

You let go of Hayami and rushed over to one of the students that was frozen in fear. Grabbing his hand, you distanced him from the fire and yelled at him to snap out of it. You were successful and he quickly evacuated to safety.

Vigorously growing in size and rapidly spreading, the fire ate the cupboards located above, using it as its source of fuel to become more ferocious and perilous. A suffocatingly searing heat oppressed the air, the crackling of the flames increasing along with the danger of the situation.

"Everyone leave immediately and someone call for help!" you yelled. You weren't surprised that no classes nearby hadn't heard the commotion by now, this classroom was located in the furthest corner of the hallway.

You searched for a fire extinguisher. However, due to the flames, it was inaccessible. There was no way for anyone to put the fire out, you needed professionals to handle this.

"There are people still in the storeroom!"

What?!

Your head swerved towards where one of the girls was pointing. The students who came out of the storeroom seemed to have just realised the situation. The flames hadn't reached them just yet, they still had the chance to get away. Circumspect, the students didn't show any signs of moving due to the high risk of the situation.

You, on the other hand, didn't have the luxury to allow any hesitance to restrain your movements. With surprisingly expert footing and sharp reflexes, you dodged the flames and reached them in no time. Warning them of the fire's potential to trap them, you urged them to get out. At your words as well as your bold actions, some of the students gained the courage to move.

For the ones who were still hesitant, you helped them navigate the way. Due to the adrenaline that rushed through your body, you had no problem taking on a few burns here and there to ensure the safety of the students. Their injury was far more detrimental than your own in the long run.

They profusely thanked you for your help and you ushered them to get to safety. Checking the area, you were met with relief that no students were left inside the classroom. The flames were growing dangerously closer to the exit, now it was your turn to evacuate.

As the adrenaline began to settle, you began feeling the repercussions from you exhausting yourself. The smoke made it hard to breathe, the burns you've accumulated began to sting, the high temperature caused haziness and fatigue to cloud your mind, and your body was running low on energy.

Coughing, you made your way towards the exit and saw Hayami standing at the door.

"Hayami-san...?" Another cough escaped your lips, the action prompting you to realise just how dry your throat was. "Did anyone call for a teacher––"

A harsh force knocked you back and you collided onto the floor. A grunt parted your lips and a torrent of pain shot through your body at the impact. Mind overwhelmed with dizziness, you struggled to stand. When you looked up, it didn't take too long for you to comprehend what had just happened.

Hayami had pushed you.

Before you could say anything, the door closed with a loud slam. You rushed to stand up, but ended up falling down due to your body breaching its physical limits. Your arms just barely managed to prevent your face from slamming itself against the floor as a pain cry ripped through your throat.

When you lifted your head up, you found out that the flames ended up blocking your exit.

First, indiginace struck you. Your anger could even match the inferno that was conquering the kitchen. However, that was melted away with the fear that was associated with the gravity of the situation. You slowly stood up and bitterly glanced over your shoulder, sweat pooling down your face from both the heat and your anxious state.

Well, whether you liked it or not, you needed to get ready to do some serious dodging. And, honestly, you had no idea how you were going to get out of this one.

A/n: Things are getting heated! (literally) How would (Y/n) get out of this one? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯