Fell
"N-No!" Sayaka face turned pale as she stared at Serena's dead body "Why?! WHY?!"
"Poisoned?" Yuya echoed "Does that mean…"
He glanced over at the pot of rice and the large plate with the remaining pieces of chicken.
"We didn't poison the food!" Dennis yelled, near slamming his fist on the table.
"No way!" Sayaka cried, rushing over to the pot.
"Don't touch anything!" Yuri yelled at her just as Dennis went after her to inspect the pot "Even if the rice isn't poisoned, maybe the pot is!"
"He's right!" Shun ordered "No one touch anything else! Utensils, food, nothing!"
Everyone stood still for a moment, not knowing what to do. Everyone had finished eating, so would there be another victim?
"I-I think if we were poisoned, we would have already collapsed" Yuzu pointed out.
"Yeah" Rin agreed "The three of them all fell over at the same time. It's already been a few minutes. I don't think anyone else has ingested any poison."
"Are we so sure that they've actually been poisoned, though?" Sawatari asked.
"It's our only guess right now" Shun knelt down next to Allen and examined his face "He's drooling. I'm assuming the three of them have taken poison."
"But how did they get poison and neither of us did?" Sayaka asked.
"Maybe they weren't specifically targeted" Yuzu pointed out "Maybe they found a way to poison something else that wasn't the food. I mean, Serena helped prepare the food and she's dead. That means any of us could have been victims."
"There's also a chance that only traces of the food were poisoned…" Yuri added, turning to face Sayaka and Dennis, who were standing close together, looking at everyone else warily.
"Yuri, we don't have any proof that they did anything to the food" Yuya reminded him "We can't keep accusing one another. There's only eight of us left."
"And any one of us is the murderer…" Sayaka whimpered.
The room fell deathly silent.
"W-Well…" Yuya finally broke the awkward silence "What do we do now?"
"I don't even think there's a single safe place left in this mansion" Rin muttered, fidgeting with her collar.
"That's because the killer is among us" Yuri folded his arms, glancing between the remaining seven people besides himself.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Sawatari asked, looking very pale "Stand here and stare at each other until this blizzard passes?"
"I don't want to stay in here next to three of our friends' dead bodies…" Dennis slowly glanced at Allen's dead body and turned away.
"I don't either" Shun shuddered, looking at Reira's slumped over body "Let's just go find another room to rest in. Lock the doors and not leave the room until morning. So if anyone has to use the bathroom, we better all go as a group now."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They all linked hands, deciding to walk in pairs again. Shun and Sayaka lead the group together with the flashlight, followed by Sawatari, Yuzu and Dennis who all held hands, with Rin and Yuri each holding Yuya's hands bringing up the rear. They made their way out of the kitchen and began walking.
"Where should we go?" Yuya asked.
"Well, downstairs doesn't seem to be working well for us" Shun paused to consider his options.
"Why don't we go to the fourth floor and find a room up there?" Sawatari suggested "My room should be okay."
"That sounds fine" Shun agreed "We can just use the bathroom in your room if we need to go."
They found the stairwells and began making their way up. The only sounds they could hear were their anxious heavy breathing and the creaking of the stairs as they passed the second and third floors…
BANG!
The group paused and began to turn around to face the giant window beside them on the way up to the fourth floor.
"What was tha—oh, Yuri!" Yuya screamed, noticing his grip on Yuri's hand was gone. Yuya didn't even glimpse him before he'd disappeared into the darkness of the lower staircase. Rin tried to reach out to catch Yuri before he went crashing down.
"Yuri!" Rin missed and they listened in horror as he harshly rolled down the stairs and smashed his head into the tiled first floor at the bottom. Sayaka screamed and the remaining group rushed down the stairs to Yuri's side, Dennis charging out in front of them, nearly falling down himself in his own haste.
"Yu-Yuri!" Dennis cried, afraid to touch Yuri and try to shake him awake. If he had a concussion, that would be the worst thing to do.
Shun shined the flashlight on Yuri's face and noticed a trail of blood gushing from the back of his head, staining his pink hair red.
"Yuri!" Dennis didn't seem to know what else to say as he knelt down at his best friend's side.
"What happened?" Shun asked, glancing at Yuya "Weren't you holding his hand? How did he fall?"
"H-His grip slipped from my hand!" Yuya went pale "I don't know what happened!"
"Maybe the window banging startled him and he missed his footing on the stairs?" Rin looked up towards the window.
"Guys" Yuzu rested her head on Yuri's chest, then checked his wrist for a pulse "Yuri's not breathing…"
"What?!" Dennis began to tear up "S-Someone do something!"
"I don't think we can!" Sayaka began to panic "What are we supposed to do?!"
"Yuri's not dead!" Dennis insisted, the most emotional reaction he'd had all night "He can't be dead!"
"It was a long fall…" Shun examined the stairs "And he did hit his head pretty hard…"
He may not like Yuri all that much, but he'd never wished the guy dead. Especially not from a method like this.
Dennis burst into tears and hugged Yuri's body. "Yu-YURI!"
"I can't believe he's gone, just like that…" Sawatari breathed "But…was this an accident?"
He turned to Yuya and Rin, and suddenly all eyes were on them.
"You can't be serious!" Rin protested, seeming genuinely distressed "He fell!"
"I was holding onto his hand and he suddenly let go!" Yuya explained "We didn't push him!"
"Okay, okay!" Shun waved his hands to dissipate the tension "Let's not fight about this! We need to be careful. We…We can't do anything about Yuri. He's already gone. Let's hurry and get to Sawatari's room, okay?"
He uneasily patted Sayaka's shoulder and Sayaka wiped her eyes.
Dennis took one last long look at Yuri's still body before mutely getting to his feet.
The group decided to not hold hands anymore while making their way up the stairs. They tread very slowly, making sure not to accidentally miss a step.
They finally reached the top floor and rushed into Sawatari's room before anything else could follow them in. Yuzu walked in last, nearly slamming the door and locking it behind them.
"There" she huffed, breathing a sigh of relief "Now we don't have any reason to leave again."
Sawatari and Dennis collapsed onto the large bed and rested their eyes. Both were exhausted now, but neither wanted to fall asleep. The numbers in the group were dwindling, and one of them had to be the murderer. At worst, there were two killers among them.
Yuzu went to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. The rest of the group sat in silence for a few minutes, each contemplating the same thing. No one said anything for quite some time, until Sayaka finally spoke up after Yuzu exited the bathroom and Yuya went in.
"You realise, nearly all of us can be accused of being the murderer."
Everyone glanced over at her, but she didn't notice. She was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I could be accused of killing Reiji whilst looking for Ruri; Yuya could have killed Ruri and Gongenzaka; Dennis could have killed Reira, Serena and Allen by poisoning the rice; Yuzu could have murdered Yuto in the dark; Rin could have thrown Yuri down the stairs; Shun could have murdered Sora whilst the lights were out and Sawatari could've messed with the breakers and attacked Yuri the first time… All of us could have killed or at least attacked any of our friends. Maybe we're all murderers…"
Rin frowned. "I hate to admit it, but…Sayaka's right."
Sawatari sat up, blue eyes staring blankly and alarming quiet. He couldn't help but feel if he hadn't invited everyone here to celebrate his birthday, then maybe this wouldn't have happened.
"I have to use the bathroom" He murmured. He walked over to the bathroom door knocked on it. "Are you finished in there, Yuya?"
"Er, yeah!" Sniff "H-Hang on a sec!"
The toilet flushed and Yuya left, allowing Sawatari to enter, closing the door behind him. A latching sound was heard after that.
"We can't trust anyone…" Yuzu breathed "This is awful…"
"Twelve of our friends are dead" Yuya stared up at the ceiling as he perched on the edge of Sawatari's bed "Why is this even happening? What happened to enjoying a birthday and be-latted Christmas together?"
"I don't know, Yuya…" Shun sighed "I don't know…"
The group heard the toilet flush and the sink turn on from in the bathroom. A few seconds later, Sawatari walked out.
"Does anyone else have to go?" he asked.
Dennis sat up and spoke for the first time since Yuri had fallen. "I do."
He stood up from lying on the bed and entered the bathroom, closing the door but not locking it behind him.
"But I'm still confused about something" Sayaka continued "What was the crashing noise that we heard from Gongenzaka's room? The one that Yuto, Yuzu and Yuya investigated and got…Yuto killed."
"It was a vase that fell off of a high shelf" Yuzu explained.
"But how did it fall?" Sayaka asked "Was there someone else in the hallway?"
"We were all in that room together, I'm not sure if someone could've slipped out through the other room with all of us watching" Rin pointed out "But at the same time I doubt there was some way it fell on its own, unless someone had purposely put it in a position so it would fall on its own accord if a door slammed or people were walking around or something. It's possible."
"But if everyone else was in Gongenzaka's room or dead…" Yuya scratched his head "Then who killed Yuto? No one was there besides Yuzu and me, and surely one of us would've heard if either of us killed him."
"I just thought" Yuzu changed the subject "Why haven't you all beamed out? I mean, I know Rin and Sayaka and I can't, but for the rest of you, I thought your duel disks were designed to hop between the dimensions?"
"We tried" Sawatari told her, sitting on his bed next to Yuya "It was the first thing I did we I heard Ruri was dead. Something's jamming them, so we can't leave that way. It could be the killer."
"Or maybe Reiji did it to stop any Fusion rebels from attacking while we were here" Yuya suggested.
Sawatari shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. Since he's dead, it's not like he could shut off the jammer if he did set it off. And if it was the killers…" He flopped backwards so he was lying on the bed again with a small groan, like his head was hurting. "I understand our technology not working, but it's kinda weird the Fusionists' isn't either. That or they stayed for a reason."
"But if they did, it can't be because they're the murderers" Yuzu pointed out "They're all dead except for Dennis."
"Unless Serena accidently poisoned herself and Yuri's fall was an accident" Rin suggested.
"But if they're both dead, then the killings should stop, right?" Sayaka looked hopefully
"That can't be it" Shun frowned "They were in the same group when Sora died. Unless they had help."
Sayaka looked scared again. "But the only other Fusionist left is-"
Thunk!
"Huh?" Rin glanced over towards the bathroom door, as she was sitting on the dresser, therefore the closest to it "What was that?"
"Dennis?" Yuya stood up and walked over to the door. He knocked a few times. "Dennis? Are you okay in there?"
No response.
"Uh-oh" the rest of the group stood up as Yuya gasped. They all surrounded the door. "Dennis? What's wrong?"
Silence.
"Open the door!" Rin demanded.
"Are you sure?" Yuya grabbed the doorknob but didn't turn it, looking back at the group for confirmation.
"Yes!" Yuzu urged and Yuya twisted the knob, throwing the door open. He stumbled in, followed by Yuzu and the others and stared wide-eyed at what he saw.
Dennis was lying face down on the white tiled floor. There wasn't any blood to be seen.
"Dennis!" Yuya knelt down and rolled him over "Are you okay?!"
"Is he…dead?" Sayaka asked, not sure what was going on since she was at the back of the crowd.
"I don't…" Yuya trailed off, checking Dennis' pulse from his neck and then his wrist "N-Nothing!"
"But how?" Yuzu asked "What happened to him?"
"I-I'm not sure!" Yuya examined Dennis' body carefully, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "I don't understand! He was alive just a minute ago!"
"This isn't making any sense" Rin remarked, pushing past Yuzu "Are you sure he's really dead?"
"Check for yourself!" Yuya complained, allowing Rin to check for any trace of a heartbeat from Dennis.
"…Yuya's right. He is dead…"
"What?!" Sawatari's eyes widened "How is that possible?!"
"Wait a minute" Rin bent over to inspect Dennis "His face is wet."
"Was he washing his face?" Yuya wondered aloud, checking the sink for soap. He spotted a blue bar of soap near the tap "The soap's wet."
"Don't touch it!" Yuzu yelled "Dennis' hands are wet, too! I…I think there's something deadly on that soap!"
The group gasped.
"Y'mean, like poison or something?" Yuya asked.
"Maybe" Shun agreed with Yuzu's theory "If Dennis washed his face, some may have gotten on his lips. And if he licked his lips, well…"
"But how did poison get on the soap?" Sayaka asked.
Then she, along with Rin and Shun turned to face Sawatari, Yuya and Yuzu, the only three people who entered the bathroom before Dennis.