Interlude: Comfort

I ran to the second floor stairwell, nearly tripping over my feet as I sprinted. As I reached the top and saw Kirigiri at the end of the hallway, she turned, my footsteps presumably audible.

"What is it, Makoto? Why such eagerness?"

"I can't say here. Meet me where we discussed plans, ok?"

She nodded.

"I presume reconnoitering can wait, then. Although I am curious what you could have discovered that could be more urgent."

I turned, and headed down the stairwell, walking back towards the changing room. I entered to find Kirigiri waiting there for me.

"Firstly, how did you get past me to get here?"

"Your situational awareness was abysmal. I just walked past you. Now what on earth are you so focused on?"

I turned and locked the door, pushing a bench in front of it to make certain we would remain uninterrupted.

"Monokuma told me something he really, really shouldn't have. While we were talking, he mentioned viewers. External viewers. It turns out this isn't just for his amusement."

Kirigiri's eyes widened.

"What?! We are being broadcasted? To whom? And why?"

I shrugged.

"Sadly, I couldn't tell from the words he used. However, he did mention that the trial was partly to fire them up. Also, something else. The broadcast signal has to be being sent outside of the school."

Her expression changed into the slight smile I had come to recognize as she responded.

"And that means that there's a connection we can hijack or exploit."

I smirked.

"Exactly. And, even better, Monokuma's given us the freedom to do it. Because, looking at it one way, modifying the security cameras to be able to broadcast messages is an improvement, and thus definitely not against rule 5. This almost makes Maizono's death worth it."

Kirigiri looked at me with a concerned countenance.

"Makoto, you can't still be focusing on this. Her death was not your fault. Her murdering Oowada was not your fault."

"How can you be certain? You said yourself, my situational awareness was abysmal! If it had been better, maybe I would have seen her, and turned, maybe I could have warned Oowada, and nobody would have had to die!"

She moved closer to me, and put her hand on my knee.

"And, if you had? How long would it have been until she attacked someone else? Someone defenseless? At least Oowada led a gang, and he wasn't innocent. What if she had targetted Fujisaki next?"

I shuddered, letting some of my emotions surface.

"That-that's what I'm afraid of. That next time, someone I care about will be attacked. Someone like Fujisaki, or-"

Kirigiri cut me off there.

"Me."

I nodded, and she suddenly looked more certain.

"Well, Makoto, if you want to protect me, then stop this. Your fear weakens you. It turns your thoughts to a jumble, and destroys your instincts. You are the SDHS rationalist. Act like it."

I briefly paused, and brought my emotions back under control.

"Thank you. I needed that. "

She inclined her head, her eyes suddenly turning mirthful.

"Well, it seems we are having a meaningful conversation. You wouldn't happen to have any reason you need to rush off, would you? No plans to bring to fruition, no messages to burn?"

I laughed.

"Not this time. Although, I do have someone who seems to be breaking all of my emotional barriers, and I was wondering if you could help find out more about her. I might need help, she's a detective, so I'll suspect she'll be pretty difficult to crack."

She chuckled, her eyes filling with fake severity.

"Well, Makoto, my professional opinion is to try to converse more with the person in question. You never know what that may reveal."

I smirked.

"That's what I expected. On another note, how did you like my solving the case? I'm quite a fan of the Holmes-esque methods."

"I quite enjoyed it. Not quite as elegant as mine would have been, but still impressive. For a novice. I do have one question, though. In your sequence of events, how did you pinpoint when Maizono took the paper from Oowada's hands?"

"Oh, I didn't. In fact, I was pretty sure she took it after killing him. On the other hand, if Maizono had disputed that, she would have convicted herself rather neatly."

"I take back what I said about elegance. How recursive does someone's mind have to get so they solve a case and then lie about evidence to convict someone when they contradict the falsehood? More importantly, who starts out a trial planning that?!"

"Why, me, Kyouko. I thought we had already established that that is, in fact, exactly what I did. Now, as for the recursivity question, 3 levels of deception. There's a reason I'm the one who does the plotting."

"Fine. A second question for you: for how long did you know Maizono was the culprit?"

I stopped to think, pondering until Kirigiri cut in on my reverie.

"So? I was unaware this was a difficult question. "

" I was just debating what counts as knowing. I'd have to say about when I spotted the nameplate missing from Fujisaki's room."

"Because that meant she hadn't checked inside, and thus the splash on her door couldn't have been a frame-up?"

"Exactly. It's incredibly refreshing to talk about this with someone who is intelligent enough to follow the arguments. Especially after a trial like that one. I still don't understand how Maizono ever thought framing me was a good idea."

"Because, unlike me, she hasn't spent enough time around you to realize that trying to outplot you is a futile proposition?"

"Yes, that might be it. Hopefully, my sheer dominance over that trial should...dissuade other people from trying that again."

Kirigiri nodded.

"I must admit, your presence was...overpowering. And rather terrifying."

"Yes, that happens when I become angry. Which is both a rare occurrence and a dangerous one. I would advise that if it ever happens again, keep me away from access to electronics. Because otherwise I'll start tasing people."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever need something tased."

I laughed, before falling silent as I realized that my latent emotions had dissipated. Kirigiri looked over at me, concerned by my sudden silence.

"Makoto, is something wrong?"

"No, quite the opposite. I no longer feel the emotions I did over the events of today. Thank you."

She smiled, and leaned closer to me, placing her head on my shoulder.

"It was not a problem. Do let me know if you have any other deep seated psychological issues that need curing?"

I smirked, but did not respond. After a few minutes of merely enjoying the moment, I spoke up.

"So, we should go reconnoiter. Before we leave, we should muss up our clothing, and you your hair, to make the illusion more plausible.

She nodded, and after a few minutes of making ourselves look just nonpresentable enough to be believable, we stepped out, ready to face the world once more.

A/N: Well, here's the Interlude that won the vote. It is a slightly different tone than most, but I feel it still captures the spirit of the character.

Quick update on Arc 2: I've plotted out quite a bit of it. However, I have just started school, and my workload is large enough to deter writing to a large degree, so update pace will slow even after I start putting out arc 2.

Please review!