Kirumi sat on her bed, listening for the sounds of the other students returning to their rooms. She'd held off on rejoining the group the previous evening out of respect for Maki's anger, but she couldn't delay her return any long. Waiting would only serve to make them more suspicious of her.

Besides, she was growing tired of staying in her room all day. It would be nice to have someone to serve again, however temporary the arrangement was.

She could acknowledge that she was nervous. She shoved the feeling down and ignored it immediately after acknowledging it, but she felt justified in a certain amount of anxiety. She didn't know how her classmates would react to her resurrection. She wasn't entirely sure how she herself would handle seeing her classmates again. It was their fault she had died in the first place.

Her nerves faded as time continued to pass with no sign of anyone's return. Even her patience could wear thin, and she couldn't imagine what was keeping them. There couldn't be anything that fascinating that would come up during breakfast.

Surely if Maki wanted to betray her, she would have done it already.

There was no reason for her to be upset by the thought. Maki had made it clear that this was where their partnership ended, and Kirumi could accept that. They'd both known from that first night that this fragile peace wouldn't survive the academy.

She stood up and, before she could second guess herself, walked out the door. She'd deal with her classmates as she encountered them. If that meant surprising them all in the cafeteria as they debated some new motive, so be it. At least it would be over with.

But the school seemed to be deserted. She made it through the cafeteria and into the kitchen without seeing anyone.

By then she'd come up with dozens of possible explanations for the quiet. She did her best to consider it rationally. While Monokuma could be inflicting some horrific punishment on everyone, for instance, she doubted she'd have escaped his wrath if that were the case. It was more likely that they were just spread out. From what Maki had said, there were only ten students left to fill six floors of the academy.

She shook her head. No matter what was keeping the others, there wasn't anything Kirumi could do about it, and sticking to the plan would hopefully make this slightly less awkward for everyone. She set to work preparing lunch.

She managed to lose herself in the familiar process for a while. Nothing seemed to have been moved in her absence, which said worrying things about everyone's diets but made her life easier.

She was beginning to feel almost herself again when the monitor in the corner switched on. Monokuma's face filled the screen, and Kirumi tensed. She could feel the urge to scream building in the back of her throat. Distantly, she was aware that her reaction was overblown and unbecoming, but she couldn't convince her muscles to unclench.

She was so caught up in trying to regain control that she didn't realize what his appearance meant. "A body has been discovered!" he announced, in his typical sing-songy fashion, and Kirumi had to force herself to keep breathing. "Everyone, please gather in the computer room!"

Her Monopad was in her hand in an instant, her fingers flying to the map to figure out where she needed to go. Judging by their portraits, the rest of the class was already there, but she couldn't worry about that now. Everything was going wrong. She hadn't accounted for another murder, now all her plans were ruined and she had to figure out what was happening or she might die again and there would be nothing she could do.

She took off down the hallway. Running only brought up more unwelcome memories, but she didn't have time for that, so she ignored them and kept going. She focused on her breathing, on the glimpses she caught of the new floors as she raced past, on anything but the situation she was in.

She rounded the corner to approach the computer room, and the shock of the scene in front of her jarred her out of her thoughts. She'd been expecting a room full of desks and comfortable chairs. The reality was more reminiscent of a science fiction movie. There were chairs, at least, but everyone in them wore bulky goggles that connected them to the massive machine in the center of the room.

It was so much to take in that she almost missed the body. Kokichi sat in a chair like the others, but his visor had been removed, revealing an expression of terror. His arms stretched in front of him in an aborted attempt to push someone away. Kirumi couldn't quite suppress a shudder.

This was a stroke of luck, though. Kokichi was too much of a wild card to include in her plans. His dying here would give her a much greater chance of success. As for him, however he'd died was probably kinder than what Monokuma would do to the rest of the class when she graduated. Even if his expression was going to haunt her.

"Kirumi?"

Kirumi reflexively pulled herself into her most professional posture. Her mind caught up a moment later and told her that it was Gonta who had spoken, that he was standing by the door with a worried expression. "Gonta thought Kirumi was dead," he said slowly.

"I was," Kirumi said. She was proud of how little her voice wavered. "And if we don't solve this murder, I might be again. Could you explain the situation to me?"

Gonta looked pained. "Gonta would, but… how Gonta know Kirumi isn't the killer? Kirumi killed Ryoma."

It was a reasonable point, but Kirumi still found it frustrating that she'd have to deal with suspicion before even killing anyone. It would be much harder to defend herself when she didn't know what she was being accused of. "I admit I don't have an alibi," she said. "However, it looks like everyone's been here for a while. I wouldn't have had a chance to kill him if you were all here."

Gonta's brow furrowed further. "Maybe… But everyone was asleep for murder. Kirumi could have snuck in then."

Asleep? Was that the purpose of that machine? That seemed far too simple. She didn't expect Gonta to understand the finer points of the technology, though, so she simply nodded. "Perhaps I could have. Nonetheless, I'm afraid you'll have to trust me. Everyone else is asleep, and we're the only ones who can investigate. If we keep arguing, neither of us will be prepared for the trial." She swallowed, not looking forward to returning to the trial grounds. "I propose a compromise. I'll investigate, with you watching to make sure I don't tamper with the evidence. Then you can vouch for me during the trial."

"Gonta suppose that will work." He sighed. "Gonta wish the others were awake. They'd tell Gonta the right thing to do."

"Why are they asleep?" she asked. "You said they were asleep for the murder, but for the announcement to be made, someone had to be awake to see the body."

"Gonta doesn't know! Miu said that she had a way to end the killings, but when Gonta put the helmet on like she said, Gonta just fell asleep. When Gonta wake up, Kokichi was dead." Gonta looked at the floor, tears in his eyes. "Then everyone went to sleep instead of investigating. Gonta doesn't know what to do."

That confirmed Kirumi's suspicions that the machine wasn't just for going to sleep, at least. The question was what that meant for the murder.

She opened her mouth to ask another question, only to be cut off when someone screamed in the hallway. "G-GHOST!"

Kirumi hadn't noticed that Kaito hadn't been with the others. It made sense, though, with how her day was going. Now she'd have to deal with whatever nonsense he was yelling about instead of starting her investigation. "I'm not a ghost," she said, as calmly as she could manage. "I'll explain later. Right now, we have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Because you being a zombie isn't pressing?" Kaito had stopped yelling, at least, but his voice was still high-pitched and thin.

"My presence isn't going to kill you. Monokuma will if we don't solve this murder."

"That isn't even remotely reassuring!" Kaito shook his head. "But you have a point. You should start investigating, and I'll supervise from over here."

Kirumi decided that was probably best for both of them. She didn't need him getting in the way of her investigation. She did have some questions, though. "Before that, could you explain why everyone is wearing those visors?"

Thankfully, Kaito's explanation was more coherent than Gonta's. It also raised more questions. Neither Kaito nor Gonta had any idea of what had happened in the Virtual World at the time of the murder, and everyone who did was still inside for whatever reason.

She could wait for them to log out, but she thought there was an easier way. At the very least, it wouldn't require her spending quite so much time explaining why she was alive. She cleared her throat. "Are the Monokubs available?" she asked.

"Rise and shine, ursine!" The bears in question appeared immediately. Their obnoxious theme music blared, just the way it had the last time she'd consulted them, before things had gone so catastrophically wrong.

She shoved that thought to the side to join all the others. She could have this impending breakdown later. "I need to know more about the Virtual World," she said. "Could you go through the files on this machine for me?"

"Wait, who are you?" Monotaro asked. "I don't remember anyone like you in the Killing Game."

"That's because she died a while back," Monophanie said. "But why are you here now?"

Kirumi narrowly resisted the urge to strangle her. "I just need some information."

"I don't know…" Monophanie said. "We aren't supposed to interfere in the trials."

"You developed the film for Kaede's trial, right? This is similar," Kirumi reasoned. "While I imagine I could gather the information myself, it would be long and time-consuming. Having you do it saves time and eliminates accusations of bias."

"I can try," Monophanie said slowly. "But I don't know very much about computers, so don't expect much."

"I believe in you!" Monotaro said.

Kirumi walked away before they could get caught up in another meaningless spectacle.

Kaito whistled from where he'd positioned himself in the doorway. "Wow, the Monokubs are actually contributing for once. I'm impressed."

Kirumi took advantage of the brief calm and finally walked over to Kokichi's body. His expression wasn't any less disturbing up close, and she found herself averting her eyes. She didn't think his face held any clues to the crime anyway. She was content to examine the area immediately surrounding his body.

Despite his posture, there were no signs of a struggle. Perhaps he'd been reacting to something in the Virtual World at the time of his death.

She took a step back and noticed a bottle of poison lying at his feet. Was it possible that his apparent terror and his actual cause of death were unrelated? She'd want to look at it in more detail later.

"Here," she said, handing it off to Gonta. "Take care of this until the trial. That way, no one can claim that I tampered with it."

"Okay!"

She made her way methodically around the rest of the room, but found little else of interest. She'd just finished when Monophanie popped up behind her. "It's not a lot, but I think I found something," she said. "It's a text file describing the rules of the Virtual World." She held up a sheet of paper. "I hope that's enough…"

"Thank you," Kirumi said. If nothing else, it would help her fill in the gaps left by Gonta and Kaito's haphazard descriptions.

She'd just started to read through it when the people in the chairs began to move. Kirumi took a deep breath and straightened her posture, trying to look as dignified as possible. This was promptly rendered irrelevant, as the first person to take off her visor was Miu, who could suck the dignity out of any situation. "What the shit? I thought you were in the dirt, where submissive bitches like you belong."

Kirumi was spared having to come up with a response by Tsumugi, who was the next to wake up. She screamed when she saw Kirumi. "Is this a zombie?"

Kirumi waited as the others awoke in turn and contributed to the confusion. They all felt the need to say something, no matter how unhelpful or repetitive. Only Maki was silent. Her glare was intense enough to make Kirumi look away.

Eventually the noise died down, and Kirumi spoke. "Hello again, everyone. I'm sorry that we had to meet like this. I'm sure you all have questions, but right now, I don't think my existence is our biggest concern."

Shuichi shook his head. "Maybe not, but the fact that no one knew you were alive until the murder makes you a suspect. If you could tell us more about how you're here, it could help us trust you."

His words were direct and focused on the case at hand, but the hope shining in his eyes was obvious. He wanted to know if any of the others would be coming back too. Kirumi almost felt bad for him.

She wouldn't be able to help him, though, and it would be irrelevant soon enough. "I'd be happy to tell you later," she said.

Himiko frowned. "That doesn't make you sound less suspicious."

Shuichi looked like he was about to say something else, but he was cut off by the monitor switching on. "I can't help but notice that you've all gotten sidetracked," Monokuma said. "I guess this case was so simple, you already know who the blackened is. So let's get right down to it and start the trial! I want to see what a class trial speedrun looks like."

"What?" Shuichi looked stricken. "We barely got a chance to investigate!"

"It can't be helped," Maki said. "We'll just have to figure it out at the trial." She walked away, coming so close to Kirumi that she had to take a step back. She still refused to meet her eyes.

"I guess…" Shuichi didn't sound particularly confident. Still, he hadn't needed confidence to ruin Kirumi's plot last time, and this seemed to be a much simpler situation. Kirumi imagined that having knowledge of what had happened in the Virtual World would be enough to solve it.

"Let's go," she said. "We all want answers, and the trial is the best place to find them."

She was careful to maintain a steady pace as she made her way to the Shrine. The thought of returning to the trial grounds made her want to run, but that hadn't worked out for her last time. There was no sense in throwing away her last shred of dignity over this. She imagined she'd have enough trouble maintaining it during the trial itself.

Maki was careful to position herself in the opposite corner of the elevator. Kirumi wasn't sure why she noticed, other than her desire to think about anything but what was about to happen.

She wasn't remotely ready for this.