AN: Can you guys feel the excitement in the air? Because I know I sure can. I'm getting so giddy and nervous at the same time uploading this, I hope it meets expectations! Before anything else though, let's reply to some reviews!

Glass-Lady-of-the-Opera: I like your thoughts, a shame I can't confirm or deny any of them!

liammarklh88: Plug away to your heart's content. Seriously, go for it. Yeah, Akuma didn't show, but I'd rather have 5 characters get decent screen time in a chapter as opposed to 15 characters getting minimal screen time. I promise you will see more of him though! To what capacity however, I leave unknown. Also, don't beat yourself up over not reviewing, makes me feel guilty, it's totally cool if you don't feel the need to leave one every time.

mayurie: If you thought the last one was quick, this one must be super quick! Glad to see you really liked the two FTES, I hope they served as a good dose of your daily recommended cuteness. I'm happy my updates make your day, the reviews left on them have the same effect on me!

Crimson Spider Lily: The friendship plan is the best plan, plain and simple! Jun hoarding all the MonoCoins to himself seemed like a good way to introduce them as a concept, especially since he seemed like the type to go crazy with them. Who can say how he'll grow? As for who the motive may tempt, well, I'll leave that to you to deduce!

TheRoseShadow21: He's a pretty hateable guy, so I suppose that might have something to do with it. Let's see which of those death flags is correct, shall we?


With the thought of the new motive still lingering over Gen's head, he set out in search of someone. It could be anyone, he just wanted somebody to talk to. Eventually he blindly wandered into the lounge and found Chizuru there, reading a magazine in one of the chairs. She looked up from what she was reading and a small smile graced her face when she noticed who it was that disturbed her. "Oh boy, brace yourself Gen. Things could get a bit touch and go here, and hopefully not in the literal sense."

"Oh my, if it isn't my favorite handsome man. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Chizuru tossed the magazine to the side and rested her chin on her hands, gazing at Gen with passion.

"Oh, well, you know… just dropping in to say 'hey'. Didn't expect to see you here to be honest." Gen was trying his best not to let it show how embarrassed he was from tripping over his words.

Chizuru gave him a playful pout. "So it was just chance we were to meet here? Come now handsome, no need to deny that you wished to see me. At least make a girl feel better and say so, alright?"

"If that's what it takes…" Gen sighed. He was not going to be the loser in this little game they were playing. "You got me. What can I say, I am as a moth to the flame."

"A flame you say?" She seemed to think about it for a moment before her seductive grin made its reappearance. "I quite like that. It is rather fitting for me. I had no idea that you were also a budding poet."

"I am a man of many talents." Gen walked over to the couch and layed down on it, getting quite comfortable. "There's more to me than just my pretty face."

"Is there now?" Chizuru leaned forward in her chair, arms under her chest to exaggerate her assets. "Well, tell me all about it then. I would just love to get to know you better, handsome." It was less that she was asking, and more like she was telling him to do it.

"I suppose this is as good a chance to get to know her better as any."


GEN: What is it that you want to know?

CHIZURU: The only thing I know about you is that you drive cars really fast.

CHIZURU: What else defines the handsome man in front of me?

GEN: You're already mistaken.

CHIZURU: Oh? Do enlighten me.

GEN: I'd be a pretty pathetic Ultimate Racer if my talent were limited to just cars.

CHIZURU: So what else then? Motorcycles? Boats?

GEN: Yes and yes. Also bikes, small engine planes, some running and swimming, horses-

CHIZURU: So you're an all around speed demon? How very interesting.

GEN: What can I say? I'm the fastest thing alive.

CHIZURU: Not all women find that very attractive you know.

GEN: Not that way! Geez…

GEN: Of course she would interpret it like that.

CHIZURU: But surely even someone as fast as you has to take it slow every once in awhile, no?

GEN: Well yeah, can't be speeding away all the time, can I?

CHIZURU: So tell me about it. Any hobbies or interests?

GEN: Hobbies or interests eh? I have a few…

[Assemble model cars.]

[Watch magical girl anime.]

[Unwind with a good drink.]

GEN: I've been known to sit back with a drink or two and just relax.

CHIZURU: ...Are we talking about the good drinks?

GEN: Sometimes. A beer every now and then is fine, but I much prefer the stronger spirits.

CHIZURU: How unexpected. I'm more partial to fine wine myself.

GEN: I'd drink wine more, but the really good ones are just too expensive for my blood.

CHIZURU: If money's an issue, I could hire you as my personal chauffeur. The pay is exuberant.

GEN: And by that, I assume you mean getaway driver?

CHIZURU: Oh heavens no, I work alone handsome. This would be more… personal.

GEN: I'll keep your generous offer in mind.

CHIZURU: Please do. We could have so much more fun together once we're out of this putrid place.

GEN: I wanted to learn about her, but we only really talked about me.

GEN: That's fine, right?


As soon as their conversation came to a close Gen was prepared to get off the couch and say his goodbyes to Chizuru. He did not get that chance however, as Chizuru leapt out of her seat and jumped on top of him, pinning him to the couch. "Wha!? What are you doing?"

"Shh, quiet handsome. Don't want anyone to see us in this compromising position, do we?" She put a finger to Gen's mouth to quiet him, but all this mostly did was make him red in the face. Well, that paired with the view he was currently getting. "We can talk more later." She pulled out a small piece of paper and rested it on Gen before crawling off of him. "Au revoir my handsome man."

It wasn't until several minutes after she left that Gen finally looked at the paper she left for him. He needed a bit of time to calm himself. "Might as well see what it was she couldn't tell me in person." He opened it and found a message written in beautiful handwriting waiting for him. "Lets see… meet in the laundry room after the nighttime announcement... she promises a good time…?" Gen folded the paper up and put it into one of his pockets. "Is this a late night booty call? Can't be… could it?"

Gen sighed and cleared his head. Chizuru was just being a tease like usual, no need to look too deep into it. Keeping that in mind he slowly got up and exited the lounge, only to almost be knocked over as soon as he stepped out the door. "Get away from me! I said I'm not interested!"

Like a blur he saw Akuma run past him, with another individual in close pursuit. "Come back dooooooooc~! I said I'd be gentle~!" Jun was hot on Akuma's heels as he ran after him, also almost knocking Gen to the floor.

"I should set up a speed limit for these damn hallways." It was then that Gen noticed Botan casually walking out of the storage room, where it looked like those two came from. "Hey, what was that all about?"

Botan continued walking, not stopping as he replied. "Seems Akuma is attempting to reject that imbecile's attempts at friendship. Can't say I blame him." A few steps later and Botan was already out of sight, clearly not wanting to give anymore time to Gen than he already did.

"As eloquent as ever I see." Gen poked his curious head into the storage room to find Kanon and Aruna hanging around. Aruna was sitting on one of the steps eating some probably disgusting snacks out of a bag while Kanon was just staring up at the ceiling. Gen figured he may as well spend some time with them. "Hello ladies, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not interrupting, Gen wanting more of Aruna's yummies?" She offered the bag which read 'Mint Seaweed Offal' as it's flavor. Gen politely declined as she stuffed more of her snacks into her mouth. "What can Aruna be of helping to you then?"

"Could you tell me what was going on with Akuma and Jun? They were going pretty fast out there." He left out the part were they both almost made him take a pratfall, that would've been a tad embarrassing.

"Ah yes yes, Jun trying to make Aku having fun together. Big meeting, all invited, much fun to be had." Gen allowed her some more time to enjoy her snacks before she continued. "Later in day we going to lounge room for fun times. Jun is saying party are good for lifting mood."

"Jun is throwing a sort of party?" Aruna nodded in affirmation to his question. "Seems like he's trying to stop a murder in the only way he knows how. I should thank him for his efforts later." Gen was glad Jun was trying his best to help the group, but he was still a little worried. "Do you know of anyone else going to his little party?"

"Aruna going, Aruna like all fun things with friends." Aruna gestured at Kanon, who still hadn't moved or said anything yet. "Kanon also going, Aruna think she need more fun time in her life. Botan declined offer, sad time for him but Aruna is not being personally upset. Others are unknown to Aruna."

"I see. Thanks for the heads up Aruna, I'll swing by if I think of it." Aruna smiled innocently and went back to munching her awful snacks. Gen decided he may as well leave, the storage room was not very interesting to him anymore after all. Before he walked out the door he turned to Kanon one last time. "I'm leaving for now, got anything you feel like saying before I do?"

It took many a moment of silence before she gave him a reply. "...This room is tall…"

"Heh, yeah it sure is." Gen sighed, he should've expected such an answer from Kanon. He waved goodbye to the pair of women and made his way over to the bedrooms. Or at least he would've, if he didn't stop to observe some fellow inmates talking by the entrance to the courtyard.

Talking may have been putting it mildly. Gen could see Yoko and Masuyo interacting with Koharu and Momoko. From the sound of it, the archaeologist and the phobologist were going at it again, with the other two trying to hold them back. "I think I'd rather not get involved. Koharu is more than capable of handling them all on her own, I hope."

Sighing and trying not to be seen, Gen continued on his journey to the sleeping quarters. He figured someone might be in that area since it was a place he hadn't really checked yet. Considering that a new motive was just presented it wouldn't be unlikely for someone to be hiding in their room. "Actually, there is one person I'm a little concerned about."

Gen walked over to one of the doors and knocked. After a few seconds the door creaked open an inch and Hanami peaked out, her bunny hood obscuring her eyes. "...What is it?"

"I was just checking up on you. What with the new motive and all, I was wondering how you were doing." Gen was doing his best to sound as friendly and non-threatening as possible. He didn't want her to think he was being a creep or something.

"I'm doing fine."

"Oh, that's good. Say-" Hanami was about to shut the door on him, but Gen stuck his fingers inside the frame quickly. It hurt like hell, but at least the door wasn't shut. "Ow! Why did you shut the door?"

"I thought we were done talking…" She seemed like she meant no harm, and something about her made Gen imagine himself as a terrible person if he got mad at her, so he let it go.

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to do something together. Beats sitting around in your room all day doing nothing, doesn't it?" Gen was rubbing his poor fingers gently, hopefully they wouldn't bruise.

"...I'm not doing nothing…" Hanami opened the door wider so Gen could see into her room. It looked identical to his, except there was something on top of Hanami's bed. There were tools and a small bunny looking robot which was seemingly under repair.

"Oh wow, what's that?" He didn't want to just barge in, but thankfully Hanami stepped aside and let him walk up to her bed.

"That's Peace-chan. She's broken…" She sounded so sad about it that Gen was half tempted to give her a reassuring hug, but he refrained from doing so.

"What's wrong with her? Can you fix her?" There were several tools Gen had never even seen before sitting on the bed, and judging from what little he could see of Peace-chan's inside, it was a complex piece of machinery.

"...Kinda…" Hanami sat cross legged on her bed and put Peace-chan into her lap. She grabbed one of the tools and began working on it again. "She got smashed real bad. I can fix her outside, but she's gonna be stuck in offline mode…"

"Is that a big deal?" From the look she gave him he assumed it was. He felt a little stupid for asking now.

"She can't do anything but be cute in offline mode…" Hanami grabbed a different tool and started messing with some exposed wires. "Normally she hops along behind me… she can even talk…"

"She talks?" Hanami nodded. "That's amazing! Did you make her yourself?" Hanami nodded again. "Can she do anything else?" Yet again Hanami nodded.

"She helps me with my hacking… she's my personal assistant…" Hanami was now poking and prodding at some part of Peace-chan's inside that was out of Gen's sight.

"That's pretty neat." Gen watched Hanami work on her robot companion for a bit before an idea came into his head. "Hey, why don't I help you fix up Peace-chan? I'm sure it would go faster with two people working on her."

"I don't think you'll be much help."

"Brutal." Even though Gen considered himself fairly smart, he did have to reluctantly admit to himself that this was something completely beyond him. "Well how about I just keep you company while you work on her then?"

"Why?" She didn't even look up from what she was doing.

"Wouldn't you get lonely being cooped up in here all by yourself? Besides, I'm curious to see Peace-chan when she's all fixed up." Gen was pretty sure she didn't mind being by herself, but he did truly wish to spend some time with her. "Locking yourself away with no human contact is not what someone should be doing with their time."

"...You're weird…" She continued her work, leaving Gen to wait in anticipation for if she would approve or not. "...But fine. I'm almost done anyway… just a few more hours of work left…"

"Thanks, I promise not to get in your way." Gen leaned against the divider in her room and watched Hanami as she continued repairing Peace-chan. "Hours huh? Not like I had anything better to do anyway." The whole time they were together only a few words were exchanged, Gen was trying to be courteous and not bother her too much. Eventually Hanami put away her tools and declared Peace-chan as fixed as she could get for the time being. All the exposed circuitry and wires were taken care of, and you couldn't even tell that it was at one point a pile of scrap. Gen also thought it was a bit cute, but he kept that to himself.


GEN: Wow Hanami, they don't call you the Ultimate Robotics Engineer for nothing! I'm impressed!

HANAMI:

GEN: You did such a good job! This is seriously cool!

HANAMI:

GEN: I wish I was smart enough to do that, you're amazing!

HANAMI: ...Hey Gen.

GEN: Hm? What's up?

HANAMI: You don't have to keep pretending to be so kind to me…

GEN: What? Who's pretending?

HANAMI: I know you're doing it just to be polite, but you don't have to keep up the act…

GEN: You think I'm just doing this to be polite? Hanami, I really am impressed, honest.

GEN: Why would I lie to you?

HANAMI: It's not only you… every is just being polite. I'm sure none of them really care…

GEN: Ow, the pangs in my heart, they hurt me so.

GEN: She's gotten all sad again, and I can't let that stand! How to cheer her up…

[Is Hanami a cute? She is!]

[Do you want to see a magic trick?]

[Let's do push ups! Everyone loves push ups!]

GEN: Hey Hanami, do you want to see a magic trick?

HANAMI: M-Magic!?

GEN: Yes indeed! After all, what else could explain this coin behind your ear?

GEN: I'll have to remember to thank Jun for the MonoCoins later.

HANAMI: W-Wow! You can do magic Gen!? You're a magician!?

GEN: It's just a sleight of hand, but she looks so pure and innocent right now.

GEN: I only can perform a few feats, I'm still honing my skills.

HANAMI: ...That's so cool!

GEN: Heh, I knew you'd think so. My sister always cheered up when I did magic for her too.

HANAMI: Really? I think I'd like your sister.

GEN: ...Yeah, you probably would.

GEN: So now do you believe me? I really do think you're great.

HANAMI: ...If you can do magic, you can't be that bad…

GEN: It seems like she might be more willing to open up to me next time. Mission accomplished!


The nighttime announcement interrupted their conversation. Hanami yawned and rubbed her eyes, she looked exhausted from working on Peace-chan for hours on end. "I'll leave so you can get some shut eye, okay Hanami?"

"'Kay. Night Gen…"

"Goodnight Hanami." As Gen was about to step out the door he heard Hanami mutter something to herself that made him stop.

"...Thanks Gen…" He wasn't sure if he heard her right or not, but she didn't make any attempts to clarify. She probably didn't intend for him to hear her. "...Can you hurry up? I need to tinky before bed."

"O-Oh, yeah, uh, I'll be off then…" The flustered Gen shut the door behind him a bit more forcefully than he intended to. As he was about to enter his own room he remembered the message Chizuru left for him that asked him to meet up. "Should I go? Hmm…" Gen ended up pacing back and forth in the hall for several minutes before reaching his conclusion. "No, a late night rendezvous with her can only be a bad thing. I'm sure I'll get some flak from her later over this, but I'll stand her up." It was with a conflicted mind that Gen eventually made his way to his bed and went to sleep for the night.

Gen did not sleep very well, he woke several times in the night and ended up getting out of bed approximately a half hour before the morning announcement. He figured that since it was so close to the morning announcement anyway that it would be pointless to go back to bed, so he left to go to the cafeteria after he got ready. His walk down the hall was uneventful, and he eventually made it to the cafeteria doors, where he found Ryou and Botan standing. "Hey guys, why're we just standing out here?"

"Why hello there Gen, I am surprised to see you here this early." Ryou waved to him in a friendly manner while Botan simply gave him a half assed smile. "As for why we are standing here, were you not aware the cafeteria doors are locked during nighttime?"

"They are?" Gen walked over to the doors they were standing in front of and tried to turn the handle. Sure enough, no matter how hard he rattled it, the door would not open. "Guess midnight snacks are out of the question, huh?"

"Pfft, not that you'd want to eat this crap more than you have to anyway." Botan was right, it being locked didn't really affect Gen in any meaningful way. The three men were left to wait outside the doors until the morning announcement came on. Eventually it did, and Ryou opened the door like a gentleman and let Botan and Gen in before following after them.

Stepping inside, it was immediately clear that something was wrong. Tables were flipped over and chairs were strewn about as if a hurricane had swept through the place. Gen's mind was instantly jumping to the worst conclusion, and it would seem Botan and Ryou were thinking the same thing. Ryou walked quickly past Gen and over to the kitchen door, which was eerily left ajar. "Follow me you two, someone might be in here."

The kitchen was in no better shape, several of the cabinets were missing their doors, and the island in the middle was covered in broken glass. The fridge was left open and the contents inside were now all over the floor, making it difficult to walk without slipping. "Over here." Botan made his way to the door of the walk in freezer, also left open. "It reeks of iron, I hope you two don't soil yourselves if the sight is what I suspect it to be."

"This can't be what I think it is! There's no way, right!?" The three braced themselves and slowly took a hesitant step into the freezer, the world as they knew it coming to an abrupt end.


There was blood everywhere. The walls and floors were smeared red, and all the frozen boxes in the freezer were painted the same hue. Against the far wall there was a crumpled up, lifeless shell resting in a pool of blood. The face was completely unrecognizable, mutilated beyond belief. The clothes were torn in numerous places, cuts and bruises ubiquitously placed. Their hair was all over the place, matted by the blood. If it weren't for the outfit, it would be impossible to tell who it was. But there could be no mistake. With the black dress, heels, and now red scarf, it could only be one person laying before them.

Yoko Miura, the Ultimate Opera Singer, was dead.


AN: I would like to begin by expressing my sincerest thanks and a heartfelt apology to Glass-Lady-of-the-Opera. Yoko was a great character, I absolutely enjoyed writing her and it does pain me that she had to be the one to go first. It was not easy deciding on who the first victim would be, and I hope this does not put any bad blood between us.

In other news, we are now going to move on to the investigate phase. It might take a bit of time to get the next chapter out since all of my finals are in the coming week, but I hope to not keep you all waiting in suspense for any longer than I have to. I promise we will find justice for Yoko!

Is there anyone in particular that you would like to see as Gen's investigation buddy? It won't be possible for some of them, because reasons, but I'm open to any suggestions.

As usual, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to leave them in a review.