Chapter Text
This plan had to work.
Shuichi may not have one confident bone in his body, but he did have a very minimal amount of faith in his intelligence. So far, the plan he had made was going.. fine. Miu had created the sensor cameras for them, albeit with a little begging, and she had even added a little extra. The angles of the cameras assured that no one would be getting in or out of that library without being captured on film. There had been a minor scare when a strange group of seven went downstairs, but a little peeking assured him that their only destination was the game room. He did wonder why they were there, but answers could come once the mastermind's identity was safely secured.
Despite all of that though, Shuichi was still nervous. His hands trembled uncontrollably and even with Kaede by his side, promising companionship, he was so uncertain. Doubts trickled through his mind; would this really work? Even if they did successfully call out the mastermind, what would stop them from just unleashing the Exisal's or their supposed army of Monokuma's upon all of them? Had he doomed everyone to an even more terrible end?
But Kaede's encouraging speech had planted some sort of warmth in his chest, one that couldn't be crushed as easily as Monokuma wanted it to. He had been given a rare opportunity of strength, so he would use it. He would reveal the mastermind and stop this killing game before it began, and then maybe, once they were all out of here…
His dusty-yellow eyes traveled to the Ultimate Pianist, standing sheepishly with a broom in hand and a small smile on her face.
Maybe it won't be so hard to look you in the eye…?
The sound of Monokuma chirping an exaggerated "ding dong, dong ding~♪" suddenly played from the monitor, and when he looked up, he was disgraced with the sight of the robotic bear himself up on the screen, the words In 1 hour… everyone dies displayed repetitively in an artistic, dark red strip across the entire width of the visual. He couldn't help but cringe slightly, wondering if all of the gruesome content had to be so decorative. Pairing that with the unnerving excuse of a song playing over the death video, and yeah, this made a pretty oppressive atmosphere. The perfect type for a murder to occur.
Shaking his head to dislodge himself of that traitorous thought, he inspected the screen for only a moment more before returning his gaze to his friend.
"There's only one hour until the time limit," he observed, voice undeniably grim. This could be our final hour alive…
"Yeah, it's almost time…" Kaede agreed as she set the broom back in place, quickly rejoining his side. She clutched her hands together as a nervous stim, giving the monitor a worried look.
"I'm sure that the mastermind will make their move soon," Shuichi said in an attempt to ease some of her nerves. "If Monokuma is going to show up when time runs out, the mastermind will go to the library–"
The foreign sound was so sudden that it made the both of them jump, his heart hammering painfully in his chest. The receiver he had been clutching tightly in his shaking hand had suddenly started blaring with sound, which could only mean one thing.
"S-Shuichi, the receiver!" Kaede exclaimed with a gasp, her the two of them exchanging looks as realization dawned on them.
"Someone moved the bookcase!" Shuichi stuffed the receiver into his front pocket after hurriedly turning it off, adrenaline hitting him like a freight train. "Hurry, Kaede!"
Without waiting for a response from his newfound friend, Shuichi all but flew out of the classroom, determination replacing every fraction of fear he had felt just moments before. His heart may be racing, but that was because he was only a staircase and a door away from unmasking the mastermind!
There was no time for the usual doubts that followed any detective work he did, because this was it. He had to be right. In the rush of the moment, he couldn't think of any other reason that someone else might know about the hidden door and the moving bookcase. That knowledge had to have been reserved for his observation skills and the mastermind themself, later to be passed onto Kaede. Please, this has to be it!
The killing game can finally end-!
Just as his foot hit the bottom stair, as he put his weight into that one step, he heard something splinter. Or maybe crack was a better word to describe the sound? Either way, it didn't matter as his foot suddenly plunged deeper than intended; deeper than he had expected.
Shuichi's eyes went wide as the rest of his body lurched forward, caught in one place as the rest of his momentum forced him forward and leaving him no choice but to painfully slam into the ground, all of the wind knocked directly out of his lungs. His vision went completely white, all sound replaced by a loud ringing sound deep in his ears. And out of second instinct, he blindly pushed himself onto his side, totally dazed.
A rush of wind, and suddenly, a heavy, metal, round object slammed into the ground just a hair away from his head.
Silence, accompanied only by the sound of the deafening ringing. He stared at the shot put ball just a mere centimeter away from his nose, unable to even breathe. His mouth hung open uselessly, and he made no move to do anything about his predicament.
Oh, right, his predicament. Shuichi somehow mustered the courage to look back-- back at the stairs, back at his leg. His ankle, to be more exact.
It was sticking halfway out of the stair, the heel of his shoe visible, but something was wrong. While Shuichi couldn't tell if his eyes were telling him that something wasn't right or if it was his body, there was something irregular about the way his ankle appeared.
His body?
His ankle.
Pain.
Whatever air had made its way into his lungs evaporated instantly as he finally felt it, the excruciating, twisting agony shooting through his body, originating at his very broken, so absolutely broken ankle, still halfway stuck in the broken stair. He couldn't help the guttural scream that ripped out of his throat, because what else was he meant to do in such a grueling position? It'd be weirder if he didn't cry. Also, a sixteen pound metal ball had just crash landed directly next to his head, he felt like he had every right to start freaking out.
On the edge of his awareness, he somehow registered that Kaede, Kaito and Tenko had now come to his aid, all saying something in a rather frantic manner.
"Shuichi! Shuichi, are you okay!?" Kaede was yelling, one hand on his shoulder-- likely for moral support. "What is-!?"
"He just went flying!" Kaito shouted, but Shuichi couldn't see him because he was trying to keep his eyes on Kaede's slightly blurry form. "His foot fell through the stair and a freakin' ball came outta nowhere!"
"I feel like we should have noticed if one of the stairs was broken!" Tenko cried out, looking completely frazzled out of the corner of his eye.
"It wasn't, he fell through it! Oh, shit, I think it's broken," Kaito cursed, and Shuichi gave a full-body flinch as he felt someone ever-so-slightly brush against his wounded ankle.
"The stair?" Kaede demanded incredulously.
"His ANKLE," snapped Kaito. Shuichi looked back at him, and saw that he was bent over to inspect the damage. "We've gotta sit him up, I think. He hit the ground pretty damn hard! Tenko, go find toilet paper or something, so he doesn't bleed all over the place."
"Degenerate male ordering ME around!" Tenko snarled, but despite that, made no other disgusted remark as she ran off and out of sight.
Am I bleeding? Shuichi could feel something on his lips and chin, and it tasted strangely metallic, so logic dictates he was bleeding from his nose. He hadn't even noticed that from the pain in his ankle, which was so overpowering he could barely comprehend what was being said to him.
"Ah-! The cameras!" Kaede suddenly exclaimed, quickly leaving his side. It took a moment for him to remember that right, the mastermind is in the library.
Recognition was followed by immediate, soul-crushing guilt. I probably scared them off. Dammit…! Should have kept my mouth shut, but god dammit, this hurts! It REALLY FUCKING HURTS-!
It faintly occurred to Shuichi that Kaito must have at least some semblance of medical training, being an astronaut and all. His body was shaking too hard for him to move it, but that didn't seem to be a problem for Kaito as he carefully positioned Shuichi upright, helping him scoot back and against the wall. He was facing the stairs now, and he could now see why he had fallen. Despite the spiking pain, he saw that the last step had a fairly wide hole in it with jagged, sharp edges. He glanced down nervously at his ankle, which didn't appear hurt, but he knew that that was far from the truth.
By now, the people in the game room must have gotten curious, because out came Maki, Angie, Himiko, and lastly, Gonta. They must have heard him scream.
That was pathetic, he thought miserably, gaze turning back towards the stairs he had fallen through. And then he glanced a little further down, at the object that had fallen. A shot put ball from the warehouse…? It landed right where my head would have been… that would have killed me, surely!
Shuichi's blood ran cold.
Does that mean someone tried to kill me?
Two fingers snapped in front of his face, making him flinch.
"Hey, Shuichi! Stop zoning out!" Kaito barked with, quite frankly, unnecessary volume. "We have to make sure you're not concussed."
"Nyeeeh.. that's a lot of blood…" Himiko commented queasily, positioning herself behind Angie.
"GYYUUAAAAAHHH! I'M BACK!" announced Tenko, who practically came flying down the stairs with two rolls of toilet paper. She lugged them at Kaito, who just barely fumbled to catch them. "It took so long because I had to contemplate whether I wanted a degenerate's prying nose near a girl's toilet paper, or if I wanted to go into the males' restroom. In the end, Tsumugi just told me to go to the warehouse! Also, everyone else is on their way."
"...okay?" Kaito replied, looking a little caught off guard. "Hey, Maki! Can you help? I need to check his ankle."
Maki gave Kaito a cold, unreadable look. "No."
Self-consciously, Shuichi regained enough feeling in his arms to reach up and cup his nose. Oh, that was a lot of blood for some who didn't even know they had been bleeding. No wonder Himiko looked so freaked out.
"Gonta do it! Blood not freak out Gonta," offered the entomologist, scooting past his smaller classmates and taking position by Shuichi's side. Shuichi, for one, felt a little better that it was Gonta helping. They may have only known each other for a few days, but out of everyone, the one with the purest intentions would be Gonta.
"I'm not freaked out by blood," Maki protested, though no one acknowledged her.
Kaito handed off the toilet paper to Gonta, who assisted in stopping him from, embarrassingly, gushing blood everywhere. As much as he was starting to feel a little coddled, he didn't mind the help that much. It was just embarrassing for everyone else to see.
"This might hurt, man. Just stay still," Kaito told him, sitting down on his knees next to his outstretched leg.
That was all the warning got before Kaito leaned down and started pulling off his shoes. He distinctly wished that the earth would open up and swallow him and his entire existence whole, because he was never going to live this down. Though, all those worries vanished from his mind in an instant as Kaito moved to his injured leg and he flinched with a gasp, wincing in disgust as he got blood in his mouth. God, he hoped he hadn't broken his nose.
As Kaito rolled up his pant leg, Shuichi could see the difference now. Despite the other one looking fine, his right ankle had a very noticeable and sort of gross lump on it, the skin around it beginning to swell and turn sort of purple. It was still slightly twisted in the same way that it had been when he fell, though that detail would probably be lost on someone who wasn't looking for it. Shuichi didn't know much about leg and foot injuries, but he could say with confidence that that was not good. And as a bonus, actually seeing the injury seemed to remind his brain that it really fucking hurt, because he felt about four times worse now. He grit his teeth, trying not to cry harder.
The other's reactions weren't much better, either.
"What even happened?" Maki demanded while Himiko gagged, turning away from the scene fully.
"I.. I was… to the library," Shuichi stammered, his voice hitching as he tried to conjure comprehensible words for everyone. "I f-fell through.. the stairs…"
"Through stairs?" Gonta repeated in surprise.
"It was so weird! He literally went flying forwards," Tenko added in before jabbing a finger towards the shot put ball. "And then that thing came out of freakin' nowhere! I think the degenerate fell so hard it fell from the light."
"Woah, he hit the ground that hard!?" Kaito gaped at the Aikido user in shock, and then at Shuichi, looking him up and down as if he was searching for some indication that that was true.
"Don't be an idiot. Even if that was the case, a twig would be heavier than Shuichi," Maki retorted dryly.
Before he could contemplate whether to be offended by that remark or not, the caregiver moved to the stairs, eyes narrowed as she bent down. He could probably guess what she was looking for, but he was in too much pain to think about it. He began wishing that the fall had knocked him out, that would have been infinitely more bearable than this! Besides, he didn't have much pain tolerance; or a tolerance for anything, actually. One stuffy nose and he would completely fold.
"SHUICHI!" Kaito all but yelled in his ear, making him jump. "Jeez, I think you hit your head way too hard. Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?"
Before the test could be carried out, everyone else came running down the stairs, carefully avoiding the hole thanks to Tenko's loud warning to the girls. There was a pile of bloody toilet paper growing next to him, and he made a mental note to apologize to Gonta, Kaito, Kaede, Himiko and probably Tenko too, although she might be offended by it. He wasn't too sure, he was starting to feel even dizzier than he had been before.
One thing made him worried though, and that was the two missing people from the group.
Where's Rantaro and Kaede?
According to Kaito and Tenko, Rantaro had gone up to the bathroom. But Tenko had just been at the bathroom, and she didn't report seeing him, only Tsumugi (who looked a little pale, eyes locked onto the shot put ball). Kaede had run into the library but hadn't yet come out, because the mastermind was supposedly in there. Who else could have moved the book case? As far as he knew, only he, Kaede and the mastermind knew about it.
Shuichi stiffened. Is... Rantaro the mastermind?
But he couldn't even remember his own talent… unless that was a lie. But he said he was going to end the game… oh God, unless that entailed that the game would end because we ran out of time.
Actually, speaking of the time limit…
"The music stopped," Shuichi pointed out weakly.
Everyone fell silent upon those words, and sure enough, no eerie music filled that void. The school was quiet, and although there were no monitors in the hall they were gathered in, the noise from both the game room and the library should have been audible.
"If the music's stopped… does that mean someone…" Tsumugi began, but quickly trailed off.
"We're missing two people. Kaede and Rantaro are not present," observed Kirumi, causing everyone to frantically look around.
That couldn't be good. That was absolutely not good. Shuichi took to holding the toilet paper to his nose, scooting away from Gonta and immediately regretting it as he shifted his injured ankle. Clenching his jaw, he looked towards the library, feeling ill.
"Kaede just went into the library, but I haven't seen Rantaro for a while," Kaito mused, putting a hand on his hip with a thoughtful frown. "The music stopped when Kaede went in there, right…?"
Shuichi's heart plummeted. No. No, no no, please don't tell me I just led Kaede to her death because of my stupid deduction.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Maki spoke, standing up from whatever she had been looking at. "There's a chance it stopped because someone tried to kill Shuichi."
That wasn't as bad as the first guess, but it certainly didn't help Shuichi's nerves.
"Who would try to do that?" Ryoma grunted skeptically, momentarily taking his cigarette out of his mouth.
"And how can you even tell?" asked Kokichi, squinting at Maki as if she were the most suspicious one in the room.
Maki glared right back, unfazed. "Because there's a wire leading up to that light." She pointed up at the referenced object, and Shuichi followed her gesture. "The wire is thin but strong, so I doubt you'd see it unless you were looking for it. When he fell, it pulled the light back so the ball would drop. It's a really simple trap."
"So if the degenerate hadn't rolled, his brain would've been squashed?" Tenko guessed, making him grimace at the mental visual. "Hey, why did you roll, anyway? Some sorta sixth sense?"
"N-no. I always roll if I trip," Shuichi replied, taking his hands away from his nose. There was less blood on the tissue now, so he assumed that meant the bleeding was lessening. Good. "My uncle got me into the habit."
And that saved my life, Shuichi realized-- truly, properly recognized. Even a small, seemingly ridiculous habit had just saved his skull from being caved in. He may have gotten a broken ankle and a furious headache from it, but at least he could feel that pain. At least he was breathing now, head intact.
For a moment, he completely zoned out of reality. Someone had tried to kill him. Fear squeezed his heart, and he couldn't help but cast an anxious glance at everyone gathered. Someone in this group, assuming the mastermind existed, had tried to kill him. They had taken the time to rig the stairs- he assumed- set up the wire and carefully place that shot put ball. Someone here wanted him dead, and yet he was alive. He survived.
"But who the hell would want Pooichi dead? That virgin's more timid than a fuckin' mouse!" Miu pointed out, her voice dripping with scorn. Shuichi could think of a few reasons why. "'sides, whoever it is did a real lousy fucking job."
Before anyone could respond, Kaede suddenly came back out of the library, as white as a ghost. For only a split second, Shuichi felt a wave of relief, because she's not dead. He hadn't gotten her killed. But that relief quickly melted into even more anxiety as he saw the haunted look on her face, an expression never meant to show on Kaede, the optimistic Ultimate Pianist.
He wanted to ask what was wrong, but the words died in his throat. That might be the concussion from slamming face first into the ground coming into effect, which definitely wouldn't bode well for any further critical thinking. Considering the fact that he had already forgotten she and Rantaro had been missing from the group, he felt like there was a chance he would walk into something if he tried to stand.
Or not. His ankle was broken. He doubted there'd be any walking around for him for the next few days.
Slowly, Kaede pointed a trembling finger to the inside of the library. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out for a few moments. Then, she swallowed thickly, lips thinning into a straight line, before she managed to speak.
"I…"
Kaede swallowed, inhaling a deep breath.
"I found Rantaro."
Nobody needed to ask her to elaborate. They already knew. He had a feeling that they knew the minute the music had turned off.
At least half of his classmates abandoned him to rush into the library. The ones who remained were Kirumi, Ryoma, Maki, Korekiyo, Gonta and Kaede. Now that his nose had stopped bleeding, he lowered his hands to his side, glancing down at his ruined coat. He was almost surprised by how much blood had come out of his nose, and momentarily wondered if he needed to hydrate more before reminding himself that it was the product of falling.
"I think I'm concussed," Shuichi announced with a light groan, leaning his head against the wall. "Everything hurts."
"Shuichi…" Kaede started, but whatever she was going to say never came out as she looked away, biting her lip.
A loud sound chimed from the monitors, making him flinch.
ding dong bing bong!
Faintly, Shuichi heard Monokuma's voice.
"A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the library!"
Horror appeared on the less composed faces, matching expressions with Kaede. Ryoma only let out a sigh, sticking his hands in his pockets as he turned and walked towards the open library. Gonta and Maki followed suit, though the entomologist was a bit more hesitant to leave him. Korekiyo let out a quiet "kukuku.." before departing, and only Kirumi and Kaede remained.
All the while, Shuichi wasn't able to move. He sat uselessly against the wall, left to dwell in his dismayed thoughts. His suspicions had been confirmed; Rantaro Amami was undoubtedly dead.
Had they gotten there only a fraction of a second earlier, then maybe Rantaro would still be alive. If Shuichi hadn't fallen, would Rantaro have also rushed out to see what the commotion was? Would he have crouched down next to Shuichi as well, offering his aid?
A lump formed in his throat and he dropped his head, intending to hide under the wing of his hat but finding that it was missing. Realizing that he was exposed, he tensed, eyes darting around in search of his mandatory accessory.
"Here you are," said Kirumi as she placed his hat firmly upon his head. She must have seen him realize it's absence. "I will support you to the library, since I doubt Monokuma would let you off that easily."
"O.. okay," Shuichi mumbled with a small nod, immediately regretting it as the world spun around him. Note to self, do not make any head movements. There is a wide chance that he will hurl.
"Are you alright, Shuichi? That ankle looks really, really bad…" Kaede asked him. Her voice was layered with worry, immediately making him feel bad. "And you're, uh.. covered in blood."
"I know," Shuichi replied grimly. "I hurt my head, and got a really bad nosebleed… ah, sorry, Kirumi."
"There is no need to apologize, though I don't have a clue what you could possibly feel the need to be sorry for," Kirumi told him, her voice firm and leaving no room for argument.
"I'd get on your case for being a little pathetic, but you're pretty concussed right now, huh?" Kaede commented, smiling for the first time since she had come out of the library. "Did you feel your brain hit your skull when you fell?"
"What?" Shuichi stammered, blinking at her in disbelief. "Uh.. I don't think so? It kind of took a second to realize that everything really… really hurt."
While he was talking, Kirumi had positioned herself by his side, crouching down to her knees to drape one of his arms over her shoulders. When she did that, she snaked her hand behind his back to grab his side, and with a small grunt of effort, lifted him.
The movement of his broken ankle reminded him that yes, he was still in a lot of pain and he once again wished that the fall had knocked him out. The reintroduction of pain made him freeze, a small, sort of embarrassing whimper escaping from his mouth as he subconsciously leaned further onto his human crutch. At least he had managed to stand up and not vomit, although he was too overwhelmed to figure out whether he felt nauseous or not.
"I believe there are chairs in the library," Kirumi stated thoughtfully, not acknowledging his sudden quietness. "Kaede, may you pull one out?"
"Of course!"
The pianist rushed back into the library, leaving him and the maid alone. He tried desperately to keep his eyes open, although whether he was just tired or he was losing consciousness was lost on him.
"Sorry," Shuichi said again, consciously meek.
"You needn't apologize so much," Kirumi told him. All of her movements were cautious, ensuring that she didn't jostle his injury more than necessary. "Though I suppose you can't take that to heart if you are concussed."
"Yeah… sorry." That time, he caught himself and cringed slightly. "Ah.. sorry- oh."
The fact that he wasn't even given a response for that spoke volumes in itself.
It didn't take as long as he had been expecting to hobble into the library. Gratefully, he slumped into the chair awaiting him, letting out an exhausted sigh and reaching up with trembling hands to adjust his hat, hoping to obscure his face from his classmates' view.
"Jeez wal-eeze!" Monokuma, whose presence had gone unnoticed by Shuichi until now, exclaimed in surprise. "That ankle looks gross. You should probably call a doctor or something and get that checked out."
"You trapped us here, remember!?" Kaede reminded the bear snappishly. "We can't call anyone, and none of us have medicine-related talents."
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Well, that's not my problem, and it definitely isn't to a certain someone here," Monokuma said giddily. Shuichi hated how vague it could be sometimes, forcing them to prompt an answer.
Gonta, unsurprisingly, took the bait. "Certain.. someone?"
"The blackened who killed Rantaro, obviously!" Monokuma answered with delight. "And because of the First Blood Perk, they get to walk right on out of here. So, if you killed Rantaro Amami, please raise your hand."
The pre-existing sinking dread that had been pooling in Shuichi's stomach only worsened with those words.
One of us. One of us killed Rantaro. Meaning that Rantaro wasn't the mastermind… I wonder what he was doing down here, then.
It took him a couple of seconds, but he realized that nobody was raising their hand. The only thing that happened was that everybody began looking to each other with nervousness and distrust, eyeing for any and every sign of betrayal. The room was so deathly silent that Shuichi could hear his own heart beating a rapid rhythm in his chest, still having yet to come down from the adrenaline rush.
"The one who… killed Rantaro?" Tsumugi finally had the gut to speak, her voice wavering dangerously. In fact, if Shuichi didn't know any better, he'd say she sounded a little relieved.
The concussion's kicking in, he speculated deliriously. I need to stop thinking. Nothing I say is going to be worthwhile.
That train of thought brought a tear to his eye, although that might be the pain in his ankle. Also, he probably said some of that out loud, given the way Kaede was staring at him. Oops.
"I knew it!" Tenko cried out, head swiveling back and forth to glare at each one of her classmate's individually. "A degenerate male killed Rantaro, didn't he!? Whoever it is, fess up!"
"H-How you know boy do it!?" Gonta yelped anxiously, looking almost comically surprised.
"I just know, okay!?" snapped the Neo-Aikido prodigy. "Violent crimes are almost always committed by violent, disgusting men! I'd bet one of them attacked Shuichi, too!"
Shuichi was starting to believe he had never furrowed his eyebrows as much as he had in this one conversation. His forehead was beginning to hurt, although that could be the headache. He didn't know anymore. Assuming a boy had committed both crimes without any evidence was a little unjustified, though.
"That dumbass!" Kaito suddenly shouted, making him wince. Everything sounded so much louder now. "How dare he go and get himself killed! Who the hell did it!?" The astronaut's angry, violet eyes raked over everybody, muscles tensed. "I'll friggin' punch you into orbit!"
That's… not how you get someone to confess, Shuichi forced himself not to say. He knew when to keep his mouth shut.
Monokuma let out his signature chuckle. "Don't get so angry. Send off your graduating classmate with warm farewells."
Another, more discreet attempt to get the culprit to announce themselves. Another attempt that was unsuccessful, without so much as a guilty wince.
Once the Monokubs showed up, Shuichi tuned out of the conversation a little bit. He didn't do it entirely on purpose, it was just that he couldn't ever really bring himself to pay attention to the Monokubs. He couldn't figure out what their purpose was or why they existed, and every time they popped in to have some outlandish, completely off-topic conversation, he'd give himself a headache trying to make sense of it. And really, Shuichi had enough to deal with today. He didn't need this right now.
Speaking of headaches, he had forgotten about his. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that taking away one of his natural senses would ease the pounding in his skull. The background noise wasn't helping, but he could only do so much. In fact, with his eyes closed, everyone's voices were almost louder. Even then, he couldn't understand a word. All of it was just white noise, an incomprehensible ambience that filled the usual silence of the dusty library.
Had Rantaro heard that, with the video promising death in less than sixty minutes blaring in every room? He would have never heard his murderer coming, assuming he was the one that opened the bookcase. Maybe the real mastermind had come in right behind him, initially going to prepare for the seemingly inevitable Monokuma gorefest, before switching gears and killing him? Maybe Rantaro had seen too much.
"–ichi…? Shuichi, hellooooo?"
Guarded, purple eyes bore into his. He stared back, mouth partially open until he realized that he was looking deeply into the eyes of Kokichi Ouma, who was mere inches away from his face. He flinched back, painfully conscious that his reaction was probably noticeably delayed, and blinked hard. Monokuma and the Monokubs were now gone (thankfully).
"Yeah, he is definitely out of it," Kokichi declared, placing his hands behind his head with a grin. "I don't think he even heard any of what Monokuma just said."
"Shoot… and he's the detective out of all of us, too!" Kaede cursed, a brief look of panic appearing on her face.
"It will be alright. He is still able to help, it will just take a little more time," Kirumi assured the pianist. "Shuichi, how much of Monokuma's explanation did you hear?"
How much did he hear? He briefly closed his eyes to try and think, opening them again when Kokichi poked him particularly harshly. Note taken, shutting his eyes was apparently not an option.
"I zoned out when the.. the little ones came. The Monokubs," Shuichi admitted after a moment of thought. "Someone's got to claim the First Blood Perk, right?"
"They were meant to, but no one stepped forward." That immediately struck Shuichi as odd. Why wouldn't the culprit claim a perk that guaranteed their freedom? "According to Monokuma, we are meant to conduct an investigation. Afterwards, a class trial will take place, where we will figure out who the culprit is. If we don't, then we will all die."
Of course, the one time my talent could be useful, I'm useless, Shuichi thought, biting his lip miserably. No, not now, Shuichi. You can still help. It's just… going to be hard.
But what if I bring everyone to the wrong truth? How can I investigate if I can't even keep my eyes open for more than five minutes?
"I'll try," was what he said out loud, because who was he to turn this down? "I'll investigate. I probably won't be much help… but I'll try."
"Aw, now it's boring," Kokichi whined, shoulders drooping sadly. His sad act quickly dropped, and he was smiling again. "Welp, I'm gonna go do my own investigation. Have fuuuun~!"
Without waiting for any of their reactions, Kokichi turned and sauntered away. Shuichi stared after him, eyes narrowed. That guy made no sense sometimes.
"Then let's begin, shall we?" Kirumi stated, seemingly ignoring Kokichi's somewhat rude departure.
"Right," Shuichi replied with a small nod, once again regretting it. He closed his eyes until the nausea subsided, before opening them. "Um… I need a cause and time of death… other injuries too, preferably. And, uh.. alibis. I need everyone's alibis."
For some reason, Kaede only responded with a startled shriek, leaping away from him. Even Kirumi took a step back. For a moment, he genuinely wondered if what he said had been that mortifying, before he realized that Monokuma had all but spawned next to him. And since he didn't have the energy to react, he just stared blankly.
"What?" Shuichi demanded impatiently.
"Relax! You people act like someone died, sheesh," Monokuma snarked, and at this point, Shuichi didn't know whether he was being ironic on purpose or not. "Anyways, I come bearing gifts, so keep your socks on. Da-da da da~! ♪"
With a song of excitement, Monokuma held up some sort of tablet resembling his student handbook, but somehow seeming different at the same time. It was shoved into his hands, making him look down at his reflection on the black screen. Yikes, he did not look too good.
"I proudly present the first Monokuma File!" Monokuma cheered, his sharp, toothy smile somehow widening. "Take a good look at it, 'cause it has some pretty useful information in there. The only thing it won't tell you are any clues that could point you towards the blackened."
"Oh. Um, thanks," Shuichi blurted out, more out of instinct than anything.
"Anything for my precious students~!" Monokuma chirped in response, before wobbling away to one of his nearby classmates. Shuichi presumed it was to pass out all of the Monokuma Files.
Speaking of which, he should look at that. There was a chance that it might not be accurate-- he already knew that it was somewhat leveled in the culprit's favor. But any information would be good information here, so he'd give it a try.
Only then did Shuichi remember that screens and concussions did not mix well, making him stop short. He was in enough pain as it is, as much as he was trying to ignore it for the sake of the investigation, he was sure that so much as a pinch would leave him sobbing uncontrollably. Not even one piece of evidence in, and he was already second guessing himself; that didn't bode well for the investigation.
"Do you need me to read it to you?" Kaede asked him as she noticed his struggle. He nodded wordlessly, and she flashed him a small smile before turning her pretty pink eyes towards her own screen. "Let's see… 'The victim is Rantaro Amami…' it doesn't say what his Ultimate talent is."
He died without ever remembering, Shuichi thought with a small grimace. That was just another reason why he had to avenge the male.
"'The victim's body was discovered in the library,'" Kaede continued reading aloud. "'The estimated time of death is 9:10pm. The victim was subjected to blunt force trauma to the back of the skull resulting in cranial fractures and immediate death. No other injuries were detected.'"
"I'm assuming that the lethal weapon is the shot put ball," Kirumi added as Kaede finished.
That struck him as odd. "Shot put ball?" Shuichi echoed. "Wasn't I also attacked with a shot put ball?"
"It's too strange to be a mere coincidence," hummed Kirumi. "I remember that I joined everyone downstairs at around 9:13. If I had to guess, you were attacked simply moments before Rantaro's death."
"...that means that the killer was counting on me coming down the stairs and falling into their trap as they attacked Rantaro," Shuichi concluded. "Maybe.. they were worried about us walking in on them? But who would have known about our plan…?"
"Your.. plan?" Kirumi repeated questioningly, now looking to Kaede for answers.
Leaving the pianist to answer, Shuichi put as much of his functional conscious mind into thinking everything out with the singular piece of evidence he had.
Did they target me specifically? Or… maybe they were just trying to catch anyone, as a distraction? That guess didn't feel right, but Shuichi couldn't place why. A shot put ball would make sense for both of these crimes… but it's way too coincidental. Are we facing the same killer? Or is it really just a coincidence? Unless they used the same ball to kill Rantaro on me…? No no no no no, they wouldn't have had the chance to swap them at all, and killing someone with it would have left a blood mark; that was a stupid thought, damn it…
But if it is the same culprit… why try and kill two people at once? Would it have given them an opening to sneak to the scene of my crime while leaving behind Rantaro's…? Did they think they needed to buy time, thus a distraction? Maybe that's all my attack was; they might have never intended to kill me.
They dropped a sixteen pound ball on your head, Shuichi. They wanted you dead.
If they wanted me dead so badly, why am I still alive? Why go for such a risky plan?
Nevermind. Thinking was getting him nowhere.
"Kaede, can you read it to me again?" Shuichi cut into her and Kirumi's conversation, immediately feeling bad for interrupting her. "Ah- I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's okay! What'd you need?" Kaede prompted him again, all of her attention diverting towards him within the second.
"Um.. the facts. The Monokuma File."
"Allow me," Kirumi stated, turning his attention towards her. She cleared her throat softly and read from the file again, her voice slow, allowing him to absorb every drop of information.
Shuichi closed his eyes tightly, prodding at his knowledge in medical terminology.
"A cranial fracture is… a broken skull, right?" He asked the maid, risking a glance up at her.
"A break in the skull bone, yes." Kirumi tucked away her Monokuma File for safe keeping, giving him her full attention. "If you need this information again, I will gladly resupply."
"Me too!" Kaede immediately offered. "We're both here to help. Even if you aren't that reliable right now, Shuichi, I can tell you're trying to be. And you're pretty brave for that."
For some reason, his face suddenly felt a lot hotter. He reached up self consciously, dropping his gaze to the floor and hiding his reddened cheeks beneath the safety of his hat.
"...I, um. I need to see the body," Shuichi stammered, growing increasingly uncertain. "If possible."
"Of course. Do you wish for me to carry you?" Kirumi inquired, throwing both him and Kaede very off track for a few moments.
"Wha- can you really do that?" Kaede gaped at her in surprise.
A small smirk tugged at the corners of Kirumi's lips. "If I thought myself unable to perform the task, I wouldn't have offered."
"You've already carried me around before, it's fine. I can walk," Shuichi tried to reassure her, not wanting to be any more of a bother than he already had been.
"Not on that ankle, you're not!" Kaede interjected swiftly, placing her hands firmly on his shoulders when he made a move to get up. "Maybe… we can push the chair?"
"I don't want him falling off of it," Kirumi pointed out. "Shuichi, please allow me to carry you to the scene of the crime. It is actually directly in front of you; I am surprised you didn't notice it."
Shuichi was surprised he didn't notice it, too. He leaned to the side a little, looking past the two girls and at the far end of the room, where Tsumugi and Miu were near. He could see specks of blood dotting the spines of the shelved books, leading down to an unmoving heap on the floor. Somehow, he had overlooked that.
With a sigh, Shuichi accepted Kirumi's offer, lifting his arms for Kirumi to hoist him up. He knew that he was going to be crying out of embarrassment when he was in his right mind, but for now, he was grateful for the extra help. (However, he was not liking the way Miu was staring at him. It was unnerving.)
Rantaro was lying on his side, his knees drawn up and one hand curled near his face, his eyes hidden by his hair. His other hand was stretched away from his body, the top covered in blood. The spatter itself appeared to be surrounding only his head, matching what had been provided on the Monokuma File, and the impact wound appeared to be the back of his head. The bloody shot put ball laid harmlessly a few feet away from his lifeless body.
The culprit.. hits him with the ball, and then runs out, Shuichi tried to imagine. Can you kill someone with that? It'd be hard to hit someone with it, because it's so heavy… but maybe if you lift it high, and then let gravity pull your arm down… can gravity do that?
Maybe that's why they left the ball. The ball was put down by the culprit after the murder was done… but why leave such evidence? Maybe… maybe they couldn't carry it out? Was it too heavy to get up the stairs?
There was something he needed to do here, he realized. He had been staring at the body for an uncomfortable amount of time, and he only had so long before the class trial. He needed to get a move on.
"...um.." Shuichi finally mumbled, squinting down at the corpse.
"If you need me to do anything, tell me so and I will carry out the task without complaint," Kirumi informed him.
"Sorry," was his first response for some reason. "...'kay." That's even worse. "Um. Thanks– oh. What does he have on him?"
"You wish for me to check for his belongings?" Kirumi guessed, as he apparently hadn't been clear enough.
When he nodded slightly, she moved him to lean against the bookshelf for support before elegantly crouching down next to the body, her gloved hands searching his clothes. Kaede, who had momentarily parted from the two of them for reasons he wasn't able to immediately discern, looked a little alarmed at the sight of the maid patting down Rantaro's corpse, and she gave Shuichi an expectant glare.
"...investigation," Shuichi answered vaguely, because that was the only explanation he was able to conjure at the time.
"Rantaro only had two personal items on him," reported Kirumi, coming back to him and holding out a key and a student handbook. "The key to his room and his student handbook, supplied by Monokuma."
"But no card key…" Kaede murmured, crossing her arms with a tight frown. Noticing his puzzled look, she hurried to explain, "if Rantaro was the mastermind, he'd have the card key to get into the hidden door. Oh! We should check that!"
"Wait, but if you open the door, won't it set off the… uh…"
Shuichi trailed off as he went to point at the camera set up on the bookshelf where Rantaro had died, only to realize that it was gone.
Alarm bells immediately went off in his head and he shot Kaede a wide-eyed look. "Where'd the camera go?"
"I was going to ask Kirumi to develop the film, but then Monophanie came and took them from me," Kaede huffed crossly. "I figured that we caught the mastermind on film."
Oh, so it's not related to the murder. Shuichi let out a sigh of relief, nearly losing his balance in the process. "You think the mastermind killed Rantaro…?"
"Who else could have?" The pianist pointed out. She said that as if it were common sense, but…
"Let's not be so close-minded for now," Kirumi advised. "What is this about a hidden door?"
After guiding Shuichi back to the chair, he watched as Kaede pulled open the bookcase with a large effort. Kirumi stood by and watched, a flicker of surprise on her face as the black and white door was revealed.
The two girls fell into some discussion he was too disoriented to listen to. Since he was unneeded for now, he closed his eyes. His vision had become blurry with tears of pain, likely from the throbbing in his ankle that had yet to be tended to. Or maybe they came from the headache, which was still present and starting to get difficult to ignore.
Was he pushing himself too hard? Logically, he should be laying down in bed, preferably passed out by now. Also, he should probably get his nose looked at; falling face-first likely didn't do any wonders for him.
Already, he was starting to doubt himself. Would Monokuma let him sit out of the trial if he couldn't be of any help? Were there any rules on passing out mid-trial?
A loud snap by his ear jerked him back to reality and he jumped with a startled "ah-!". He looked up to find, much to his surprise, Miu staring down at him, an odd looking device in one hand and the other placed on her hip.
"You listening to me, dipshit?" Miu demanded, jabbing a finger towards his face. He flinched a little, but nodded. "Good! Listen up, Pooichi, 'cause this is the only other time I'll be helping your pervy ass."
Before he could protest, she held up the thing she had been holding which turned out to be a remote to some sort of drone. Shuichi only glanced up at it, knowing that if he stared upwards for too long, he would throw up.
"This sweet baby can take pictures, like your little cameras I stayed up all night to make," Miu explained with pride. "I can use this to create an aerial map of the entire library. How's that for investigating, huh? Me and my golden girl genius brain will figure out this murder in no time, so you should rest up your stupid brain."
Shuichi didn't have a clue on how to take that. Was she.. trying to tell him to rest? Did he look that pathetic sitting here?
"...sorry," he said instead of giving his thanks, though he wasn't entirely sure why. He needed to stop apologizing so much.
"H-huh?" His response seemed to confuse Miu. "T-the hell you saying sorry for, creep!? Sorry for being useless?"
"Uh… yeah. Sure," Shuichi answered with a small shrug. "I- I mean, what you're doing is helpful for the investigation, Miu, so, um, thanks."
"Hey, stop harassing Shuichi, Miu." Tsumugi walked up to the two of them, giving the inventor a stern look. "Can't you see he's plain concussed? He's not thinking enough to understand your drone right now!"
"EEEEEK!" Miu squealed, her cheeks flushing impressively scarlet as Tsumugi told her off. "I- I wasn't harassing him! He's too dumb-brained to even be harassed right now! B-besides, he told me th-that I'm helping with the investigation."
"Well you can help somewhere that won't hurt Shuichi's already vulnerable head," Tsumugi retorted protectively. "We plainly need the detective in the best condition possible for the trial! Plus, I had a question for him."
Looking as if she were on the verge of tears, Miu and her drone stormed away, presumably going to sulk near the back door of the library. That left Shuichi sitting in front of Tsumugi, still struggling to grasp what was happening. The library seemed emptier then it had before he spaced out, though he couldn't figure out why.
"By the way, Kirumi and Kaede went to investigate the game room. I'm not sure if you heard either of them, though," Tsumugi informed him, answering his unspoken question. "I think you blacked out for a second there."
"Oh. Did I?" That was worrying. "I'm sorry, everything just… really hurts…"
"Figures. Your ankle looks really purple right now," she grimly commented with a short glance downwards. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something. The promotional video that was playing; did it turn off after you were attacked, or after Rantaro was killed? 'cause the Monokuma File says he died instantaneously at 9:10pm."
"...um. I'm not sure," Shuichi admitted, straining his memory. "I think it turned off after Rantaro died. Monokuma wanted a murder, not an attempted murder."
"And instead he got both… that makes plain sense, though," Tsumugi hummed. "I was just coming out of the bathroom when it turned off, and that's where Tenko told me you had fallen. Do you have any leads yet?"
"I don't have enough evidence for that," Shuichi admitted with a small wince. "It is strange that a shot put ball was used in both attacks, though, making me believe that we might be looking at the same culprit. This entire murder is really odd, though… lots of things don't add up, although that could be because I can't think straightly."
The smallest of smirks appeared on Tsumugi's face, although he could be seeing things.
The libraries' front doors were pushed open as Kaede and Kirumi reentered the room, much to his relief. Right behind them was Gonta and Kaito, for some reason. The three of them headed straight towards him, with Kaede looking relieved that he was actually awake again.
"Hey! You said you needed alibis earlier, so I dragged these three back over here," Kaede greeted him cheerfully.
"Oh! I can give my alibi!" Tsumugi rushed to offer, making him jump slightly. He had forgotten she was there. "Me, Kiyo, Kirumi and Miu were all in the dining hall together, but I left to use the bathroom a little before you fell."
"I can corroborate this," Kirumi agreed.
"I called everyone down to the game room so we could make a plan to fight Monokuma when the time limit expired," Kaito sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Me, Angie, Himiko, Gonta, Tenko, Maki, and Rantaro were all in the game room. But Gonta had locked himself in the A/V room, and then Rantaro left to use the bathroom… or at least, we thought so."
"Gonta locked himself in the A/V room?" Kaede echoed in surprise. "Huh?"
"Gonta was watching bug videos," the entomologist sheepishly explained. "Bug video fill Gonta with fight, so Gonta can fight Monokuma! 'sides, Gonta not smart, so Gonta not think he be of much help when planning…"
"Did you have to lock yourself in there, though?" Kaito pointed out in faint exasperation.
"Help Gonta focus! Fill up with focus and fight," Gonta responded with a smile.
Shuichi didn't know what to do with that, so he instead sighed and tried to organize the information he was given. He didn't want to suspect anyone, but if Gonta had been locked in the A/V room the entire time… the game room entrance wasn't the only way out of the A/V room… in fact, he was pretty sure that that door and the rear entrance to the library were directly across from one another.
The pictures should tell us who the culprit is, Shuichi figured with a subconscious nod. Once… if we get those back… would Monokuma even allow us to see the photo revealing the culprit?
That was something to worry about once they got to the trial grounds. Shuichi already had enough to think about.
"So Ryoma, Keebo and Kokichi are unaccounted for," Kirumi stated. "I will seek them out to confirm this."
"Wait, Kirumi," Shuichi hastily called out before she could exit the room fully. "The A/V room; what was the rear door, um.. like?"
"The rear door to the A/V room is a sliding door, but it gets stuck after a few inches," the maid informed him. "The gap is large enough to fit at least a baseball or an arm through."
"What about the track?" Shuichi pressed, hoping that he wasn't making his suspicion too obvious.
Kirumi hummed, lifting her gloved hand to her chin in a thoughtful motion. "I believe it was coated in dust."
"Oh… okay. Um, thanks. Sorry."
"We should get a 'sorry' counter," Tsumugi commented in faint amusement as Kirumi exited the room with a small bow. "It's almost impressive, honestly."
"A man shouldn't apologize so freakin' much," Kaito grumbled sourly, putting a hand on his hip as he shot Shuichi a disappointed look.
Another "sorry" nearly escaped his mouth, but he managed to swallow it down, his face burning in embarrassment.
"I'd agree, but he has a concussion. I don't think he's thinking before saying anything," Kaede reminded the astronaut. She placed a hand on Shuichi's shoulder, making him jump slightly. "So, Shuichi, anything else on your mind?"
"...um.." Shuichi cast a nervous glance around at his audience- Tsumugi, Kirumi, Gonta, Kaito, and Miu, who was very obviously eavesdropping. "I- um. I think the placement of the body is weird. I-if Rantaro was the one to open the hidden door, then he would have had to walk away from the bookcase after he opened it."
"That is weird.." Kaede murmured in agreement, furrowing her brows thoughtfully. "Any ideas, guys?
"Maybe something caught his eye," Kaito suggested, not sounding too into his guess.
"Or maybe something fall?" offered Gonta. "Maybe book fell from bookcase, and he go to pick it up. That's what Gonta would have done."
"We should save our guesses for the trial, shouldn't we? We still have time to investigate," Tsumugi reminded the group. "Where else do we need to check?"
"Maybe… the classroom where me and Shuichi were? The vent that's up there connects to that classroom; it's why we chose it for lookout," Kaede explained, gesturing to the referenced vent. When Shuichi looked up, he noticed that the grate was still pushed inwards.
That might not be too important, Shuichi thought. No one would be able to sneak in or out of the library through it, even if they did somehow manage to squeeze into the tight space. Not without being caught by him and Kaede, at least.
It all depends on the photos. But the thing about those pictures was that if he and Rantaro shared an attacker, then the culprit had to have known about the cameras-- or, at the very least, they knew about the motion sensor. Assuming that the culprit had been targeting him or Kaede specifically, they would have been counting on either of them to come rushing down the stairs and towards the library, resulting in the deadly fall.
That meant that the culprit knew about the receiver. If the culprit knew that there was something that could send two different witnesses running towards the scene, then why would they risk killing Rantaro? And if they did know about the cameras, that gave the culprit even less of a motive to go after Rantaro. Did they become desperate because of the time limit? If so, then why didn't they use the First Blood Perk to escape the Academy? None of this was adding up.
So if the culprit knew that they couldn't enter the library without being caught on camera… how did Rantaro die?
Nothing was coming to mind, much to his frustration. He wished that he was able to walk, he wanted to tear this room apart to find the truth behind this mystery.
A sudden thought struck him. Unless…
The arrival of Kirumi, K1-B0 and Korekiyo snapped him out of his half-dazed musings and he forced himself to sit up straight, immediately regretting it as the pain from his head spiked down his spine. Ow, he didn't know it could do that.
"I could not convince Kokichi to follow me. My apologies," Kirumi reported solemnly. "Though he did say that he was alone during the time of Rantaro's murder."
"I was as well," said K1-B0 with a small grimace. "I was in my room the entire time, until Tsumugi came to tell me about Shuichi's fall."
"Which happened at around the same time as Rantaro's time of death…" Kaede finished with a small hum. "I'd say by at least 9:15-9:20, we were all together. Can someone really kill Rantaro and then rejoin the group within that time? The Academy is pretty big… not to mention getting out of the library would be impossible since me, Shuichi, Kaito and Tenko were all outside."
"What a puzzling mystery…" Korekiyo commented lowly, his bandaged hands crossed over his chest.
"That brings me to my next query." The robot perked up, giving Shuichi and Kaede a meaningful look. "What is your alibi?"
"We were together the whole time," Shuichi answered, pointing at the ceiling. "In the library- I mean the classroom, um, by the stairs."
"The lack of confidence in your answer is not very convincing…!"
"What he means is that me and Shuichi were together the entire time in the classroom right by the stairs," Kaede corrected him with a nervous smile. "We had a plan to catch the mastermind right before the time limit, so we needed somewhere nearby to keep watch on the library. The vent up there connects to that classroom, which is why we chose it for lookout."
"The entire time?" prompted K1-B0 skeptically.
Kaede hesitated, before uncertainly admitting, "well… Shuichi left the classroom for a few minutes, but that's all."
"I was going to make sure the game room group didn't go into the library," Shuichi explained quickly when he saw Keebo's eyes narrow slightly. "I didn't go into the library at all."
"So for a few minutes, the both of you are left unaccounted for," K1-B0 concluded. He nodded, perking back up with a smile. "I see. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Now comes our next issue," Kiyo suddenly spoke. "Now that I'm sure the investigation is nearly over, just how are we going to transport Shuichi to the trial grounds?"
The library was silent, save for the faint whirring of Miu's aerial drone.
…oh, I didn't think about that part.
"We could carry him up the stairs. Gonta can hold him like a baby," Tsumugi suggested with a small, amused smirk.
"Gonta can do that!" agreed the entomologist, lifting a hand with a genuine smile. "Gonta hold Shuichi veeeery gently, like baby."
"He is kind of baby-able, isn't he?" Tsumugi contemplated. "He looks so soft, yet depressed and sad. He's like a baby of divorced parents--the kind of baby that knows something happened, but doesn't know what. I think he just needs to be held."
Shuichi was mortified.
"Please never say that again," Kaede choked out, sounding suspiciously close to either laughing or crying.
"I'd pay money to never hear you talk about any of us like that ever again," Kaito added as he took a very large step away from the blue-haired cosplayer.
"...let's… let's focus on the investigation," Shuichi said in an attempt to put everyone back on track, and to preferably forget about that humiliating description. "What do we still need?"
"We're waiting for the photos to finish developing," answered Kaede. "But I did want to ask Tsumugi about something real quick."
"Oh?"
While the two girls stepped aside, Shuichi lowered his head slightly and tipped his hat further down, hiding his eyes. While having everyone around was nice and provided a fair distraction, the investigation kept his mind on something other than what had happened to him, it was difficult to ignore the lingering pain in his entire body. His ankle hurt-he was surprised he wasn't still crying from it-and by extension, his chest and nose were still aching from falling face-first into hard concrete. Not to mention the headache that worked itself up every time someone spoke too loudly or the lights became too bright.
The whole experience felt similar to when he had had a particularly bad sensory overload. If that wasn't the most agonizing and overwhelming thing he had ever experienced, then this would be number one. Oh, how he longed for the comfort of a bed… maybe some ice on the injury to numb it… if he was lucky, some painkillers…
"Shuichi." Kirumi's voice made him look up quickly, blinking back oncoming tears. "Are you still in any pain?"
"...a lot," Shuichi admitted quietly. "S-sorry, um– it hurts a lot. "
"It is quite alright. I would be more concerned if it didn't hurt," soothed Kirumi. "I believe it would be in our best interest to create you a cast. Kaito, as an astronaut trainee, I believe you would have the most medical experience out of us all. May you assist me?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure." Kaito clapped his hands together, making Shuichi flinch. "I know some stuff about breaks and fractures and all that crap. We wanna keep the bone straight while it heals, sooooo… yeah, a cast would be our best bet."
"I found various bandage rolls in the warehouse. Those should suffice," Kirumi stated as she presented some of said bandage rolls. Shuichi looked around in alarm, wondering where on earth she had pulled those out from.
"Alright, sweet!" Kaito swiped the roll from her, dropping to his knees in front of Shuichi. "Hey man, this is probably gonna hurt a lot. Do we got anything he can bite down on? He's kind of a screamer."
"He may use one of my gloves," offered Kirumi, already moving to take one of them off.
"Ah- n-no! It's okay!" Shuichi reassured her quickly. She gave him a quizzical look and he swallowed, shrinking back under her gaze. He hesitated, before forcing out, "I- I can bite my hat."
"Awesome! Kirumi, hold his leg down in case he kicks," Kaito ordered.
As the three of them get situated, Shuichi hid his face in his hat, the darkness feeling like heaven on his aching eyes.
"Shuichi, you sure you're gonna be okay?" Kaito prompted him one last time.
Shuichi winced, pointedly looking away from Kaito as he lowered his hat. "...it's gonna hurt no matter what. So… yeah. Just do it."
"Alright…" the astronaut still sounded doubtful, but he seemed to accept Shuichi's answer. "This'll take a few minutes."
Despite the fact that Shuichi didn't have much of a pain tolerance, it didn't hurt as badly as he had been anticipating. Maybe he was going into shock, he didn't know, or maybe he had reached a pain limit for today and his body was too exhausted to actually process it. Either way, Shuichi kept his eyes closed and his teeth clenched around the fabric of his hat, body as stiff as a brick as Kaito tightly started bandaging his leg and foot.
Shuichi found that maybe it was better if he closed his eyes. He was pretty sure that seeing his injury was what had triggered the pain the first time, so if he couldn't see anything, then maybe it'd hurt less. Sure, he could feel everything so much more now– every time Kaito's cold fingers brushed against the skin of his leg, he shivered slightly, and every time he gave the roll a small tug to tighten it, Shuichi could feel the bandages constrict, but at least he didn't have to see why he had to be such a burden on this entire investigation.
Really, if Shuichi had been looking where he was going–
"Oi, Shuichi." A loud snap in his face made his eyes pop open, and he watched Kaito retract his hand, gazing at him seriously. "Once this trial is done, you've gotta stay off this for a day or two. I'd recommend some serious icing."
"I am happy to offer you my assistance when you are on bedrest," Kirumi told him, finally releasing his leg.
"Oh, n-no, it's okay. I don't want to take up your time," Shuichi tried, though his protest was weak. He didn't have enough energy to try and convince her that she had better things to do than to waste her time on him.
"I insist," the Ultimate Maid pressed stubbornly. "My time is devoted to those who need my help. Out of everyone here, I believe that you need me the most right now, Shuichi. You are practically immobile."
If he wasn't feeling miserable before, he was now. That was probably the kindest way he had ever been called "useless" before.
At least the conversation kept his mind off of his foot. The bandages were compressed tightly around his bruised skin, placing an unshakable pressure upon his injury. He knew it was meant to be that way, he would trust in Kaito's medical abilities, but it was still distracting. At least this was more uncomfortable than it was painful.
The thought of putting his trust into anyone sent a shiver down his spine. He would trust Kaede with his life, but only because he was one hundred percent confident that she wasn't the one who had rigged the stairs. That trap had been set up after he had already come back upstairs, meaning that either one of the people downstairs created the trap, or someone managed to sneak past their lookout. There were a few times where they got pretty distracted, after all…
Kaede said she wanted to see me without my hat, but can I do that here? Shuichi wondered, swallowing down the growing lump in his throat. He gingerly touched the tip of his cap. As long as I don't know who tried to kill me… I don't think I'm going to feel comfortable.
Random or not, I'm the one who paid the price. That's… too scary to be let go.
Shortly after his ankle was tended to, Tsumugi and Kaede returned. Shuichi had honestly forgotten that they had left in the first place, but that thought was quickly crushed as he saw tears rolling down Kaede's cheeks as she approached him.
"Kaede!? Wh-what happened?" Shuichi fretted, his eyes darting between Tsumugi and his friend in alarm.
"T-Tsumugi couldn't have done it…" the pianist sniffled vaguely. Shuichi glanced over at Kirumi helplessly, before looking at Tsumugi, about to demand answers.
"I told you," Tsumugi sighed before he could say anything, shaking her head disapprovingly. "I can't cosplay as real people– only fictional."
Oh, that did seem important, Shuichi thought. It ruled out Tsumugi committing any murders disguised as somebody else, at the very least. He'd have to try to keep that in mind.
Wiping her eyes, Kaede straightened up, a contemplative look reappearing on her face. "So the mastermind must have been downstairs to kill Rantaro… that means our list of suspects has been narrowed down a lot, right, Shuichi?"
"...huh? Oh, uh.." Shuichi hesitated with his answer. She was following his deduction, but what if he was wrong, and he led them to the wrong culprit? "...right."
ding dong bing bong
"Huh?" Kaede perked up. "This chime….!"
"It's time, you bastards!" Monotaro(..? Shuichi couldn't tell them apart sometimes) announced with unnecessary volume. "Time for the long-awaited class trial!"
For a split second, Shuichi's stomach dropped. He had collected a significant amount of evidence, but he still didn't have the slightest idea who the culprit–or the mastermind–could be! He needed more time, more clues–
"No, it's not!" yelped Monophanie, visibly alarmed. "We're just announcing that the photos are ready! Don't interrupt meeee! Anyway, I'll be waiting at the warehouse."
One of the other ones mumbled something borderline incoherent before the Monokubs harmonized a signature "So Long, Bear-Well!" and the monitor switched off.
Shuichi relaxed, relief spreading through his body. They had more time. And, most importantly, the photos were done.
"The photos are done!" said Kaede eagerly, her eyes sparkling with excitement. That enthusiasm quickly died as she cast a glance down at his bandaged ankle. "Oh…"
"You should go grab them," Shuichi urged, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach at being left behind again. He'd much rather prefer to stay beside Kaede, but he knew that he'd only slow her down. "I'll, um.. catch up."
"By what? Crawling?" Kaede challenged. "What if you fall through the stairs again, huh?"
Shuichi stared at her, mildly perturbed. "...I don't think that's going to happen."
"You should go collect the photographs. Me and Gonta will assist him up the stairs," Kirumi stated, shooing Kaede away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he also saw Tsumugi, K1-B0 and Korekiyo exiting the room. He hadn't even realized that they were here, and why they hadn't left before, he had no idea. Their departure left him with only Kirumi, Kaito, Gonta, and Kaede, who was also heading for the door.
"I'll show you the pictures when we get there, Shuichi!" Kaede called to him before running out of the room.
Trying to ignore the tug in his chest as she left, he turned to the remaining people in the room.
"Gonta, you must understand that you must be very careful, okay?" Kirumi was telling Gonta. "If he hurts his ankle any more, that would be very bad."
"Yeah, and if he's shaken around anymore, his brain might implode," Kaito added.
"Shuichi's brain might implode!?" Gonta yelped in horror. "Gonta definitely not shake him around, then! Gonta be very careful with Shuichi. Hold Shuichi gently.. like bug."
"Uh.. yeah, that," Kaito agreed, giving Shuichi a mysterious side-glance.
The reality of what was happening hit him suddenly and he felt his face go beet-red as Gonta leaned down and lifted him bridal-style from the chair. Moving his ankle did hurt, but he was too embarrassed to even think about that. He was never going to live this down (although, being held was admittedly nice, he thought with great reluctance.)
"Woah! I didn't even know a human could turn that red!" Kaito exclaimed in surprise as Shuichi's face burned. "You good, man?"
"Um… yeah, s-sorry." Shuichi could barely fumble out an answer, hiding his face in his hat. "W-where are we going?"
Before Kaito or Kirumi could answer, the monitor chimed, making him jump. Gonta's hold on him tightened a little bit, almost.. protectively. This whole situation was getting way too weird, and Shuichi didn't like it–
"Alright!" Monokuma's voice interrupted his thoughts. "It's time for what you've all been waiting for--the class trial! Please assemble in front of the Shrine of Judgement in the courtyard! Remember that red door surrounded by plants? It's just on the other side. From there, you'll be escorted to a delightful class trial! Puhuhuhu! See you all there~ ♪"
"W-wait, I still don't know who it could be-" Shuichi stammered before he had the mind to keep his mouth shut.
"Then let's go over the evidence while we walk," Kirumi suggested calmly. "Let's go, everybody. First, let's discuss the body…"
***
This doesn't make sense.
That was the only train of thought parading through Kaede's head as she gazed in disbelief at the developed photographs. It was also the thought that followed her all the way to the Shrine of Judgement, where they awaited Gonta, Kaito, Kirumi and Shuichi's arrival.
The photos did not reveal who the mastermind was, like Kaede had been so desperately hoping they would. Instead, all that was revealed to her was that the mastermind hadn't once stepped foot into the library, which only proved to make this case even harder. There was no hint of the mastermind, and by extension, no hint of who had attacked Shuichi.
Kaede might be a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that the mastermind had done that, she had no doubts about it. If it wasn't somebody downstairs, then that meant that somebody snuck past their lookout to set up the trap before managing to escape without any eye-witnesses.
She could still feel the way her heart had plummeted in her chest as she watched Shuichi suddenly lurch forward, his body hitting the ground with a painful sounding thud. And moments later, he had rolled to the side– Kaede had had a split second to wonder why he had done that before a shot put ball from the warehouse came crashing down directly where Shuichi's head would have been. Had Shuichi not instinctively moved, then he would have met the same fate as Rantaro.
That entire situation had been terrifying, but Shuichi's gut-wrenching scream would likely haunt her until her very last breath. That, followed by the urgent panic of "the hidden door-" Kaede had reluctantly sprinted for the library, not wanting to leave her friend alone but knowing how important catching the mastermind was to everyone. And instead of coming face to face with the monster behind this cruel killing game, all she had seen as she entered the room was the bookcase shifting shut, and the bloody remains of Rantaro. She remembered standing frozen in shock, grief and horror and maybe even anger as she stared down at his lifeless body, her body shaking uncontrollably as she wondered whether she wanted to cry, scream or do both.
All of that had happened within the span of, what, five minutes? Followed by Monokuma announcing that Rantaro wasn't the mastermind's true identity and that one of them had murdered him. With no one to claim the First Blood Perk, the first investigation had commenced, and Kaede felt as if that would have been infinitely easier to do if the Ultimate Freakin' Detective wasn't a trembling, concussed mess with critical comprehension issues.
(It wasn't Shuichi's fault in any way that he had been attacked, Kaede knew this with every cell in her body. She felt terrible every time she watched Shuichi tear up over the undeniable pain in his very swollen ankle, clearly trying to hold himself still lest he worsens it. But some selfish part of her wanted to shake him a little, because even if he was concussed, she felt like there was something that he wasn't telling her that might relate to the case.)
Kaede had originally been hoping that receiving the photos would clear up this entire case so that they could call out the mastermind, kick their butt and… figure out what to do from there. She may not be religious at all, but even she found herself distinctly hoping and praying that Angie's God would send some sort of miracle down to the sixteen-- fourteen, subtracting Rantaro and the mastermind--of them, and that the photos would be the nail on the coffin to end this cruel game.
But no. Instead Kaede got nothing. She just got a bunch of kind-of-useless pictures, and the only thing that they proved was that Rantaro had been screwing around with the hidden door. But why? How did he know about it if he wasn't the mastermind? Why was he in the library in the first place?
The sound of Kirumi's even voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked over to see Gonta carrying Shuichi, Kaito and Kirumi flanking either side of him. The maid was talking to Shuichi, and from the small snippet that Kaede caught, she assumed that they were going over the evidence or something similar to that. She wasn't sure how well it was going, considering that Shuichi looked as if he had suddenly spawned someplace entirely new and had no idea what was going on, but she decided to have faith in Shuichi's head rather than his confusing (and somewhat amusing) facial expressions.
"Is everyone here?" Kaito called, pushing a few steps ahead of Gonta to address the whole group.
"We were just waiting on you. Shuichi! The pictures came back," announced Kaede as she hurried to her friend's–and Gonta's–side. Even if she didn't know what to make of them, there was a chance that Shuichi might.
"Did they show anything good?" Shuichi asked her hopefully, and she winced as she was reminded of how small and uncertain his voice seemed right now.
(The worst part was that he might not even be aware that he sounded like that right now. Did he know about the small whimpers and cries he occasionally let out? Did he know that Kaede could hear his voice wobbling as he tried so hard to keep himself together, even after almost being killed?
Why did the mastermind want him dead? Kaede wondered a multitude of times as she hurried about the basement, double-checking every speck of dust to make sure she didn't miss anything important. Did they know about our plan? If so, how? Did Shuichi figure something out, or was that trap meant for anyone, and Shuichi was simply unlucky?
If the latter was the case, then Shuichi was probably the unluckiest lucky person in this entire academy.)
"Not really…" Kaede admitted with a small frown. She wrestled each individual file out of her backpack and presented them to Shuichi, holding them up for him to see. "These are all of the pictures that each camera took. There's 6 in the front door, two in the rear entrance, and two from the bookcase."
"Why so many in front door?" Gonta suddenly inquired, reminding her that he was actually listening.
"Well… there's one of me coming in, one of me leaving, and then the next three are of everyone else coming in, followed by me again when I went to go pull out a chair for Shuichi," Kaede explained slowly. "I thought it was weird how it never showed Kirumi and Shuichi coming in, though…"
"Mmph.. probably 'cause of the intervals," Shuichi mumbled, his eyes drooping dangerously.
That was something new. Kaede was very confident that she had absolutely not heard about these "intervals." And to be honest, she was a little bit upset that this was her first time hearing about them.
As she was about to demand why he had waited so long to tell her, the scraping of stone kept her mouth shut. She turned around quickly, startled to see the questionable Monokuma statue moving. It broke the thing it was holding by crushing it with its muscular arms as it sank lower into the ground, covered by a bridge that led to the splitting waterfall. There, she could see a door appear, leading to what must be…
"An elevator?" Kaede observed in surprise. The trial grounds must be further down.
Immediately, she grimaced. That's not going to feel good on Shuichi's foot.
From the blank look on the detective's face, she assumed that he hadn't figured out his next side-challenge yet.
"He can lean on me in the elevator," Kaede offered to Gonta, lowering her voice a little. "That might be better than being carried in an-- well, I'm assuming it's gonna be a rocky ride. That thing doesn't look like it follows public health codes."
"Huh?" Shuichi squeaked nervously.
"Sure! Gonta put Shuichi next to Kaede in elevator," Gonta decided with a bright smile. Kaede couldn't help but give him a small grin back, feeling some of the weight on her chest lift. At least somebody was able to smile in a situation like this.
All of the surviving students boarded the elevator one by one, taking their own individual places somewhere in the somewhat claustrophobic space. Kaede tried to stay near the wall, giving Shuichi something to lean on (although he seemed intent on leaning towards her, which she wasn't that opposed to.)
A few moments after the doors closed behind them, the elevator rumbled to life. Shuichi blanched as it began descending, visibly nauseous.
"Woaaah! That's super cool. It's actually an elevator," Kokichi commented in awe, though Kaede found it insanely difficult to distinguish any emotions from that guy.
"E-even so… this elevator is going pretty far down…" said Tenko with a noticeable shake in her voice.
"Kehehe…" Korekiyo chuckled wheezily. "We're falling… I wonder how far we will plummet… ♪"
The faint look alarm on Shuichi's face made Kaede have to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.
"Nyeeeh…I suddenly have to go to the bathroom real bad," Himiko complained.
"By all means, go ahead," K1-B0 told her kindly.
Kaede watched as a somewhat evil smirk formed on Kokichi's face. "Of course! A robot wouldn't understand how inappropriate that is!"
As K1-B0 sputtered in protest, Kaede's eyes trailed to her injured friend, who seemed to be deep in thought himself. This would probably be the last time she'd get a chance to talk to him one-on-one today, so she gently nudged him to get his attention, not trusting her voice to be enough.
"Um.. Shuichi… about that talk from before…"
"...what?" asked Shuichi quietly.
"In the classroom," she clarified, hoping that he would remember that. She didn't know much about concussions, so she was working off of what she had heard in passing. "I think.. I think that everyone is afraid of learning the truth. But the people who are willing to find the truth are the ones who can decide their fate. If you never know the lies from the truth, you can't choose a path." She took in a deep breath. "You won't even know you're on a path…"
Her friend was quiet, blinking at her with a blank expression.
"So… fight for the truth… even if it is frightening. I know you can do this," Kaede told him encouragingly, allowing a smile onto her face. "I know it's scary… especially because of what someone tried to do to you… but you were strong enough to survive that. I don't know who did it, and it makes me upset because.. I'm afraid that they will do it again, and succeed next time. So Shuichi… I believe that we can do this. We'll find out who did this to you and to Rantaro, so that you can feel safe here and make friends, okay? I believe in you, Shuichi, and I'll be here to help you."
"K.. Kaede…" murmured Shuichi, his voice so quiet that she almost didn't hear him.
"Alright.. let's go!" Kaede clenched her fists, silently hoping what she said was actually true. "It's better to end bad stuff like this as soon as possible!"
"Okay… end it as soon as possible..." Shuichi murmured with a small, weak nod. "We'll end it… as soon as possible."
Even after everything… Shuichi still smiled as he said those words. Kaede's heart soared when she realized this; Shuichi's fragile determination solidified Kaede's, and she found herself able to steel her growing nerves and face the elevator doors, prepared for whatever she would have to face on the other side.
After a little while, the elevator came to a complete stop, and the doors leading to their uncertain future slowly opened. The unwilling participants of the killing game unloaded from the elevator, stepping into a rather unique looking courtroom. Had the situation been any different, Kaede would have dared to say that she thought it was pretty. At least it wasn't too bright-- she wasn't sure Shuichi would be able to handle anything brighter than a flashlight right now.
Much to their collective displeasure, the Monokubs made themselves known on five individual podiums beneath who she guessed was Monokuma's seat.
"Welcome to the class trial!" the Monokubs greeted the remaining fifteen of them in perfect unision.
"Oh boy! The class trial is finally starting!" cheered Monotaro, giddy with excitement. "Finally, a game that feels like a game!"
"...just like the prophecy foretold!" Monokid agreed dizzily.
Beside her, Shuichi groaned quietly, reaching up to clutch his head.
"Hey! Quiet down, your voices are giving him a headache!" Kaede called up to them, allowing as much venom as possible to slip into her voice.
"He's not even supposed to be alive!" Monosuke argued, looking offended that Kaede would dare to interrupt their unneeded spiel. "Surviving an attempted murder in a killing game is just boring. I couldn't care less if survivor-boy has a headache, he's getting on my freakin' nerves by still breathing."
"C-can we degrade Shuichi later, please?" Tsumugi requested, looking a little nervous to be speaking up at a time like this.
"This is an authentic replica of a courtroom," K1-B0 took to speaking, his icy blue eyes having been scanning the architecture of the room.
"Hmph," Ryoma grumbled, lowering his hat over his forehead slightly. "What bad taste."
Kaede grimaced as she stole another glance around the courtroom, before focusing her attention back on the Monokubs. "Why are you making us do this? Is this fun for you?"
On cue, Monokuma appeared on the grander looking seat, popping up from practically nowhere. Usually, she'd question how he was able to defy basic physics like that, but she couldn't care less right about the robotic bear right now.
"Of course!" Monokuma chirped all too happily. "Putting strangers in life-or-death scenarios is the best entertainment!"
Entertainment!? Kaede seethed in outrage.
"You are seriously the worst!" shouted Tenko, jabbing her finger accusingly up at the bears.
"Puhuhu… worst or not, those who have fun are the real winners in this world!" Monokuma had the audacity to laugh in their faces. Kaede grit her teeth angrily, wanting nothing more than to kick him or something. "It doesn't matter what terrible things you do or are done to you--" he shot a very obvious look at Shuichi. "--as long as you're having fun!"
"Wow. This is so sickening it's almost refreshing," Kokichi spoke up with a carefree smile. The sight made Kaede have to do a double take, shocked that anyone was able to wear a laid-back expression like that at a time like this. "So, how do we get this game going?
"There are podiums over there," replied the headmaster, using one black paw to gesture to a circle of podiums in the center of the room. "Please stand behind the one with your name on it."
As much as Kokichi drove her up the wall, she was relieved to actually get things going now. What she was worried about was leaving Shuichi on his own, especially since he already seemed to have overexerted himself and looked dangerously close to falling over.
Kaito pointed her over to Shuichi's podium, right next to his own, and she felt a little better knowing that it was Kaito beside her friend-- he would be able to help if anything happened. As she helped him to his designated podium, Shuichi mumbled an apology, followed by a hasty thanks. She offered him a smile in return before rushing off to find her own, not wanting to test Monokuma's patience.
As she took her place, an image of Rantaro's lifeless body made itself known in her mind. Her chest squeezed tightly and she bit the inside of her cheek, fists clenching. He died without knowing his own Ultimate talent… no. He was murdered… by some horrible, lowlife scumbag…
I'll never forgive his killer… that's why.. we're going to expose the mastermind and end this killing game! That's all I can do for Rantaro now… her eyes landed on Shuichi, leaning on his podium and breathing a little too heavily to be normal. And for Shuichi, who survived such a brutal attack…
Rantaro's killer and Shuichi's attacker are in the room with us. Kaede scanned her surrounding classmates, all tense with distrust and anticipation. The mastermind… I don't think I'll ever be fully prepared to find out who that person is. But we have to, so we can stop suspecting one another; to end this killing game. That's why I'm here.
I can't show any fear here. I must fight till the bitter end. For Rantaro, and for Shuichi… I will face this life-or-death class trial!
The gates closed and the trial grounds seemed to come to life, some sort of holographic text circling the ring of podiums. It felt all too flashy and lively for Kaede's personal taste, especially considering the circumstances that had led them here. But the scenery wasn't important right now! She had a mastermind to weed out!
"Ahem!" Monokuma cleared his throat, throwing his paws out. "Now then, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial. During the trial, you'll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for 'whodunnit'. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person… I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will graduate everyone from this academy!"
Kaede grimaced. Punishment. She'd better make sure to make this trial count, or else everyone could die here.
"Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you'd better vote for someone!" added Monokuma. "Now let's get this crazy, awesome, crazy-awesome class trial underway!"
Too many theatrics, but she didn't care about what Monokuma said right now. She gripped the edge of her podium, fully intending to be the one to lead the beginning of this trial.
"I think there's something we should all address," Kaede announced firmly, letting her voice rise above the rest.
"Oh? Already?" Korekiyo hummed, tilting his hat towards her in interest.
"Wow, that was fast! Does Kaede have experience with trials?" Kokichi gave her a wide-eyed look, a childish grin on his face. "It's good to know someone else does, then. It's been a while for me."
"H-how many more previous offenders do we have in this school?" squeaked Tsumugi, visibly paling as she cast a nervous look around at her classmates.
"Well? What is it?" Ryoma prompted, ignoring the other two.
"I think that Rantaro's killer--the mastermind-- and the person who attacked Shuichi are one in the same," Kaede declared with a glare at Monokuma. "And… I think we owe it to Shuichi to find out who tried to kill him."
"Huh? But he's still alive. Rantaro's the one we should be focusing on!" argued Tenko. "This class trial is for him, after all."
"It's as Kaede said– if Rantaro's killer and Shuichi's attacker are the same person, then we have a better chance of finding them because they left behind more clues," K1-B0 pointed out, much to her internal relief. "I agree that we should first discuss Shuichi's case. Besides, it'd give him time to catch his breath."
Kaede cast a worried look over at her friend, who sort of looked like he was wilting.
"It might be for the best…" Tsumugi mused, her finger on her chin. She clasped her hands together, tilting her head slightly to the rest of the class. "He wasn't looking too good during the investigation, and I know a few of us promised to help him out."
"But where do we start?" Ryoma grunted with a thoughtful furrow of his eyebrows. "As much as I'm for giving Shuichi a breather, none of us know how discussions like this work. The detective would be our best bet in uncovering even an attempted mruder."
"Until that detective is the victim…" Himiko pointed out dejectedly. "Nyeh… I cast a small healing spell over him, but I don't have much MP left."
"Let's just start at the beginning then," Kaede decided simply. That'd make things less complicated for everyone. "We'll make a… a timeline of events! That'll put everything into perspective, and we can go from there."
"Kaede…" Shuichi called quietly, making almost the entire room fall completely silent. "The classroom... before the promotional video."
"The.. oh! Alright!" Clearing her throat, Kaede began. "I'm sure we all know about the hidden door by now. Well, Shuichi found it first, and then he showed me. That's where Shuichi told me that the mastermind behind this killing game was among us, and that the door might lead to their room. We set up some cameras to try and catch them on film just before the time limit ran out, and out a motion sensor on top of the moving bookcase, so that when it moved, a reciever would go off. We staked out in the classroom just by the basement stairs, so that all exits to the library would be sealed off."
"You must be referencing the vent," K1-B0 stated.
"We sort of doubted anyone could fit through there so easily… but we didn't want to take any risks," Kaede explained with an awkward smile. "While we were there, we saw Kaito, Himiko, Maki, Tenko, Angie, Gonta and Rantaro go down the stairs."
"We headed to the game room," said Kaito. "I wanted to try and form a group to fight Monokuma when the time limit hit zero, so we went down there to plan."
"What good that did," Kokichi teased, placing his hands behind his head in an infuriatingly leisurely way.
"There's only so much you can do here, y'know," Himiko argued as she shot a hard look in the supreme leader's direction.
"Yeah! Shut it, male!" Tenko spat.
"Shuichi went down the stairs to check that you guys didn't go to the library," Kaede continued before an argument could start. "He came back up fine… and not too long after, the reciever went off. That's when we ran downstairs, and Shuichi fell."
"Me and Tenko were there when it happened," Kaito interjected. "Rantaro had left to use the bathroom a little while before, and the time limit was running out, so we wanted to go and find him before it did. When he hit the ground, he rolled to the side, and that's when a shot put ball fell from the light–"
"–where his head would have been," Tenko finished for the astronaut. "He was quiet until he looked back, and then he started screaming. I ran upstairs to get some toilet paper, since he was bleeding everywhere, and there's when I ran into Tsumugi, who had been adjusting her outfit in the bathroom."
"Yeah… you were freaking out about Shuichi potentially being a pervert, so I just told you to go to the warehouse," Tsumugi hummed nonchalantly. Across from her, Shuichi lowered his head, half-leaning over his podium and looking dangerously close to passing out. "After you left, I went to go tell everyone what happened."
"After he fell, I went to the library to try and catch the mastermind," Kaede admitted, her eyes trained on her friend. "I wanted to stay with him, but I was the only other person who knew about our plan… but when I got there, I saw Rantaro's body, and the bookcase sliding closed. I was… really shocked, to say the least."
"When you came back out, the rest of us had already gathered," Kirumi unexpectedly took over. "Then a majority of you went to the library, and that's when the body discovery announcement played. The Monokuma File states that Rantaro died hardly a few minutes after Shuichi fell."
That's a really close call, Kaede thought with a guilty look towards her friend.
"So the stairs were fine when he followed us down… but trapped when he came down a second time," Maki concluded with a frown. "Someone must have rigged them somewhere in that timeframe."
That was new information to Kaede. It occurred to her that while she knew someone had tried to kill Shuichi, she was never told exactly how. She had been too thrown off guard by Rantaro's murder to think about it.
"Trap?" Kaede prompted curiously. "What trap…?"
Maki did not seem pleased to have the attention diverted to her, but she didn't brush the question off. "The stairs broke beneath his foot. When he fell, there was a transparent wire that he pulled, causing the light above him to lean to one side. The shot put ball's weight did the rest of the work."
"It's a basic yet effective trap," Ryoma summarized.
"Truly something an intelligent culprit would devise," Korekiyo agreed with a hum. "Props to you, culprit."
"Hey, don't compliment the killer!" protested Kaito.
"How long would it take to set up a trap like that?" Kaede questioned, mostly directing her query at Maki.
"As an expert prankster and evil leader myself, I can easily answer that," Kokichi responded to her with a smile. "The tripwire would take, at the very least, a minute. But then you have to tie another two separate knots for the trap to work the way it did!"
"Two?" Gonta echoed in confusion. "Why not attach string directly to light?"
"Becaaaaause, stupid, if Shuichi fell forward and the string was connected right up to the light, it would have been pulled down," Kokichi explained. Kaede closed her eyes as she formed a mental image in her mind, subconsciously nodding along. "Then the ball would have had to roll along the rim of the light before its weight made it drop. But! A fourth knot would cause the light to pull upwards, allowing the ball to drop right where the culprit wanted it to. That's how the trap was set up."
The fourth knot… if one is connected to the light and two form the tripwire, then the fourth would be located…
…above the light!
"The knot was connected to the ceiling?" Kaede guessed in surprise.
"Bingo~!" Kokichi sang affirmatively. "A four-knotted plan with the world's longest invisible string! Pretty lazy, if you ask me."
It'd make sense, if Kaede was imagining this correctly. She didn't know exactly how the culprit managed to tie a knot on the ceiling as fast as they did, but they somehow managed it. The wire having a three-part system was the only way to guarantee that the light would be yanked upwards when Shuichi fell, as when the wire was pulled downwards, the wire above was pulled up, the edge of the light following suit.
"But wait, how the hell did somebody here manage to tie a knot on the fuckin' ceiling?" Miu demanded. "As far as I know, none of you pipsqueaks can fly!"
"She's right. You'd have to be as tall as Gonta to reach the ceiling with ease," K1-B0 agreed. "Kiyo and Kaito might stand a chance, but…"
"Are you accusing me…?" Korekiyo asked coolly, though there was a dark edge to his words.
"N-Not at all! I'm just making an observation based on your height!" K1-B0 rushed to defend himself, waving his hands a little frantically.
"Kiyo has an alibi and so does Kaito, so neither of them could have set up the trap!" Tenko declared fiercely. "Although I can say with complete certainty that it definitely wasn't a girl!"
"Well… what if you use a stepladder, or a stool?" Kaito suggested. "Height wouldn't matter if you had one of those with you."
That was true, but Kaede liked to think that she really would have noticed if somebody carried an entire stool downstairs.
"Hmmm… Atua has spoken! He says that how the trap was set up should not matter," Angie suddenly spoke, her hands clapped high above her head. They lowered as she squeezed them together, holding them near her chest. "Rather, when the trap was set up is the only matter of importance. After all, there are only so many opportunities to create such a creative trap."
"Not that creative…" Miu grumbled crossly.
"She brings up a good point." Korekiyo, who had spoken, gestured a bandaged hand to the artist. "Very few of us would have had the opportunity to plant the trap."
"It had to have been someone who had an extended period of time alone, unaccounted for," K1-B0 mused. "That places suspicion upon myself, Kokichi, Ryoma, and Tsumugi."
"Wh-what!? Why me?" Tsumugi yelped skittishly, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.
"You went to the bathroom for some time. That puts you under suspicion," Kirumi told her calmly. "However, that does not mean that you did it."
"Besides, it had to have been someone who was able to sneak past me and Shuichi," Kaede added, hoping to ease some of the cosplayer's nerves, although the notion did raise some questions. She faintly began wondering if Tsumugi was able to cosplay an effective camouflage, when–
"Or maybe it was someone who didn't have to sneak past you two at all."
All eyes in the courtroom turned to Kokichi, a majority of her classmates wearing a look of shock or surprise. Kokichi himself seemed totally calm for what he had just insinuated, wearing a smile that displayed no true emotion.
"Wh… what?" Kaede dared to ask.
"Maybe the guy you're looking for was already downstairs," Kokichi continued, his guarded violet eyes meeting hers.
It took a moment for Kaede to realize what he was talking about, and when she did, she stiffened.
"No way you're suggesting Rantaro set the trap…!?" Kaito shouted, gaping at the smaller boy in bewilderment. "He wanted to end this game as much as the rest of us! There's no way Rantaro would do something like that."
"He is the only one who had the opportunity…" Maki pointed out thoughtfully. "He was 5'10 too, so there's a chance he could have reached the ceiling from the stairs, from where that fourth knot was connected."
"And maybe his way of ending the game was by winning it," Ryoma added.
Kaede looked between her conflicting classmates, her mind reeling. Rantaro… set the trap? There's no way… there's absolutely no way he would do that!
…right?
It didn't make sense in the slightest. It was like trying to forcefully connect two puzzle pieces that don't match. Kaede simply couldn't believe that Rantaro, the one whose death had initiated this trial, would be the one to try to kill Shuichi. She refused to believe it.
Actually, speaking of Shuichi, he looked incredibly thoughtful for someone who was minutes away from collapsing. His skin was ghostly white and one of his eyes was drooping more than the other, but despite that, he was still clearly deep in thought.
When he noticed her staring at him, he ducked his head a little, visibly nervous under his cap.
…did he figure something out?
That was something for later– Kaede needed to get this class trial back on track. She knew for a fact that Rantaro couldn't have set up the trap. All she needed to do was prove that it was impossible…!
"The trap that almost killed Shuichi… was set up by Rantaro?" K1-B0 murmured.
"It makes sense when you think about it," said Kokichi, who was still as nonchalant as ever. "Say you're using the bathroom, but in secret, you're setting up a murder! And then you're being murdered, but that's not important right now."
"That's not a very foolproof plan…" Tsumugi argued without any real heart in her protest.
"Yet we were none the wiser…" Himiko sighed dejectedly, her shoulders slumped.
"Yeah! I never thought twice about Rantaro having to use the bathroom," Tenko agreed.
"But how would Rantaro even set something like that up?" asked Kaito, who still looked and sounded unconvinced. "I mean… come on! It just doesn't make sense!"
A wide smile spread across Kokichi's face, and he brought a finger to his lips. "On the contrary, Captain Space-boy, it makes perfect sense. All he had to do was sneak some of that invisible wire downstairs with him–"
"No, that's wrong!"
Kokichi looked almost stunned that Kaede would dare to interrupt him. But she did, and she wasn't intending on letting this opportunity slip by her.
"Rantaro may have been able to sneak down a long wire. All you have to do is wound it up and stick it in your pocket," Kaede began carefully. "But he wouldn't have been able to sneak an entire shot put ball down the stairs! If a ball like that was heavy enough to kill him from a single hit to the head, then it wouldn't be an easy task to sneak it into the game room."
"I definitely would have noticed if he had something like that with him," Kaito agreed with a harsh glare in Kokichi's direction. "Rantaro didn't do it, case in point."
"Mmm… okay, fine. He didn't do it." Kokichi shrugged, giving up impressively fast.
"You–!"
"Anyways," Kaede interrupted before Kaito could start yelling at Kokichi. "What other leads do we have…?"
The trial collectively fell into thoughtful murmurs as everyone began aggressively brainstorming.
"Could we consider that Shuichi set this trap himself…?" Korekiyo suggested after a few heartbeats of nothing.
Kaede was so mortified by the idea she almost didn't catch Shuichi's confused, "huh-?"
"Shuichi definitely didn't set the trap himself. He lacked the materials to do so. I definitely would have noticed if he was lugging around a shot put ball," Kaede immediately defended her friend, her gaze hardening into a glare.
"Why would he walk into his own trap, anyway? Seems stupid…" agreed Himiko, sleepily rubbing one of her eyes.
Tenko was nodding. "Even for a degenerate, that would be outrageously stupid."
Everyone began going back and forth, arguing about details they had already solidified. Kaede cut in when she needed to, but everyone was getting loud and rowdy and no one could agree on anything. It was as if they had collectively rammed into a roadblock head-on, trying desperately to push past it with the limited information they had.
They had cleared virtually everyone, right? Rantaro and Shuichi didn't have the materials to create such a trap, and while they hadn't talked much about the three who didn't have alibis, Kaede knew it wasn't them. Ryoma had no reason to kill--he had offered his own life for their escape--and while Kokichi was a devious prick sometimes, Kaede didn't think that he would do something like this. As for K1-B0, Kaede doubted that that guy could even tie a knot, let alone four.
"What about Tsumugi?" suggested the robot she had just been thinking about. "She was unaccounted for for a short amount of time."
"All I did was go to the bathroom," Tsumugi protested with an anxious edge to her voice. "I swear! T-Tenko can vouch for me, I was just coming out of the bathroom when we met up."
"Yeah! She must have been in there for at least the whole minute I was up there," Tenko confirmed.
It's useless to try and get everyone to calm down… and Monokuma looks thrilled. Kaede shot a withering look at the bear, who somehow looked absolutely ecstatic. This is getting us nowhere… I promised Shuichi we'd find who tried to do this to him, but… I can't think of any other clue.
I won't just give up though! We will find who hurt Shuichi, I just have to think a little harder. If we discuss this some more, then I'm sure--
"I think you're w-wasting your breath."
Everyone stopped talking, though a few quiet, confused murmurs followed those words. Shuichi was staring ahead at nothing, tears pricking the corners of his hazy yellow eyes.
"We're not going to figure out who it is," Shuichi pressed, his voice wavering. "C-can we just.. talk about Rantaro? Please? I don't know who tried to… tried to kill me… and I don't think I'm awake enough t-to care. I'm really sorry.. but you're all too loud. Nothing is m-making a-.. a-any sense."
Shuichi hung his head, gripping his podium with shaking hands. He heaved out an agonized breath, his elbows quaking as he struggled to hold himself upright.
"I'm not the point of this trial," Shuichi continued weakly, lifting his head again. "Rantaro is. Rantaro died, and that's all that matters. I'm.. not… the important one here."
"But Shuichi–" Kaede tried.
"No!" Shuichi unexpectedly shouted, banging one of his hands against the podium. "Please, Kaede. I-.. I'm begging you… to move on."
His words broke her heart a little, because why didn't he believe that he was just as important as Rantaro was? Kind-hearted Shuichi Saihara, who only wanted to stop the killing game before it even began by uncovering the mastermind among them, had fallen victim to something excruciatingly painful. And now he was shrugging off his own attack! He had almost died, and he just wanted them to "move on"? She knew him better than he thought. She knew the deeper meaning behind his words.
On the other hand… she supposed that Shuichi was right. They had yet to discuss Rantaro's case, and she didn't want to imagine what would happen if Monokuma got bored of their constant back-and-forth. This trial was for the one who died after all, finding the murderer should have been objective number one. But Kaede just wanted to prove to Shuichi that his attack wasn't going to simply be swept under the rug! All Kaede had wanted to do was show him that she still cared about him while she could. If not for him, then…
"...okay, Shuichi," Kaede finally responded, a note of sadness in her voice. "If you don't think it will help us find Rantaro's killer as well… then we can move on."
Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, was undeniably a talented young lady. Sharing her talent with the world--seeing their smiles--was what she thrived on. If she could make another person smile with her music, then that's all she needed out of her talent. Money, extensive praise, trophies and medals… that was all nice, but what Kaede truly cared about was the changes she could make in the world as long as her fingers were able to touch the keys of a piano. A simple song could brighten someone's day.
So when Shuichi gave her a relieved smile, a rare look on his usually serious or uncertain face, she decided that she would cherish it for the rest of her life. The way his eyes softened as his lips perked upwards, some of the stress melting from his shoulders as she accepted his plea… she'd hold onto that memory, no matter what was to come her way.
And I hope… when you take off that hat and look someone in the eyes again, Shuichi… you won't be afraid.
Kaede straightened her back, the phantom weight of a shot put ball and unbridled guilt in her backpack no longer weighing her down.
I can do this. I don't have to be afraid. I tried, and.. even if I failed… that's okay.
I just hope you can forgive me, Rantaro, my classmates…
…Shuichi.
It was time to begin the main event.