The two of them stood in silence. It was clear neither of them were prepared for this, no matter how much they had psyched themselves into it. Saihara distracted himself by flipping through the files he had taken with him, for all the good it did. Akamatsu stood stern, trying to find the right thing to say in this situation.

With a breath, she ventured forward.

"I'm sorry."

The detective's head popped up in confusion. Where had that come from?

"I realize you've been going through a lot lately," Akamatsu continued. "I... I can't even begin to understand what it must be like for you. And... I know you need space, but... I miss my friend. And I think I used this game's rules to fix that. I sort of forced you to spend time with me. And... I don't want you to feel like being around me is a burden. So, I'm sorry."

Saihara ducked his head again in silence.

"I'm not going to force you to talk to me," the blonde girl promised. "But... is it okay if I talk?"

The detective nodded.

That served to buoy the girl's spirits a bit. "Okay. I... *gulp* I've been thinking a lot lately. Do you remember the first few days we were here? Back before we were told about the first motive?"

Another nod.

"Yeah. I... I was really scared back then. I was trying to seem brave because I felt like everyone was counting on me. I don't know why, but I felt like I had to do something to help, even if I wasn't sure what. But... you believed in me back then."

A twinge of regret. Saihara had believed. With all of his heart. But now? Now he wasn't sure anymore.

"And... I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have that. In my mind, you seemed like this super-genius. You were two steps ahead of everybody else, and the person you put your trust in was me. It made me think that I was doing something right, at the very least."

"I..."

"Yes?" Akamatsu replied quickly, eager for the chance to keep the conversation rolling.

"I don't know... why."

"What?"

"I'm not sure why I picked you out of everyone back then," Saihara admitted. "I just... had a feeling."

An unexpected response. Akamatsu couldn't be certain if this was a good or bad thing. Regardless, she had to press on. "If you knew everything you knew now, who would you have picked?"

"Anyone other than Shirogane-san," Saihara muttered.

A non-answer to be sure, but it was something. "Do you... regret trusting me?"

Silence again.

Akamatsu hung her head. The lack of a response was an answer in and of itself. "That's okay," she replied, "I just want you to know... I don't regret trusting you."

The capped boy's attention had been captured yet again.

"Sometimes my mind goes back to that weird video," the pianist continued, "The one where I tell myself not to trust anyone? But even if that is me, she's wrong. I've gotten this far because of the people I've put my trust in. And I've made mistakes. I know that. But trusting you has never been a mistake. And maybe that doesn't mean much if you don't trust me back, but... I need you to know I'm happy I've had you here."

Saihara remained quiet before a moment before finding his own voice. "Those videos..."

Akamatsu's head perked up, inquisitively. "What about them?"

"I think about them too..."

"Right," Akamatsu recalled. "The 'get-yourself-executed' thing. Like we said, if you aren't thinking that way now, it shouldn't matter, right?"

"...I didn't know I was that far gone."

"What?"

Saihara's eyes shut tight, struggling to voice his concerns. "I always thought I could keep it under control. As bad as I ever got... when I couldn't get out of bed... when I could barely breathe... when everything seemed pointless... I never..."

"Never thought about... killing yourself?" Akamatsu finished.

Saihara nodded. "I don't remember ever feeling that way... and now... I don't know what'll happen if I start feeling like that again. I have a lab full of poisons. Some of them even say, 'painless death'. It would... it would be easy. I don't know if I could stop myself..."

Saihara cursed how cramped this closet was. He had no room to sink downward, as much as he wanted to. The most appealing thing in the world to him right now was the idea that if he just curled away in the corner, nothing could get to him. Nothing could touch him. Nothing could hurt him. He could escape.

"I'd stop you."

The black-haired boy's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

The determination was radiating from the pianist's eyes as she spoke, "I don't know how. But I know that if you ever even thought about it, I'd know. And I'd come running to stop you. If anything happened to you..."

She choked back a tear. "So... you don't have to be worried. I'd stop you. And if I couldn't, Momota-kun would. And if we couldn't, Harukawa-san would. I promise you, if you're ever teetering on the edge, we'll pull you back. I'll pull you back."

Saihara's head drooped once more. "Can you be sure?"

"Huh?"

"I... I have no idea who I can trust anymore. Everything... everyone... I don't know if I can trust them. I'm no closer to finding the mastermind than I was that first day, and now... I worry I'll never figure it out. And even if I do... then... I'll just realize that I let them trick me. And... I'm worried that... that..."

He couldn't share the rest. "...that it'll be the person I trusted most."

"I'm not sure what convinced you to trust me the first time. And if I did something that makes you think you shouldn't have... then... I'll live with that," Akamatsu said, resignation seeping into her tone. "But for now... please..."

"Please what?"

"Can we not worry about that? Just for now?"

"What else is there?" Saihara asked, honestly without an answer.

"Can we... can we just be Lady Ivory and Raoul? For... however long is left?" Akamatsu requested. "You can say 'no' if you want, but I just..."

"...okay."

Akamatsu blushed. "R-really?"

"I think..." Saihara muttered, raising his head to meet her gaze for the first time in days. "I think I need to take my mind off this. Just for a little bit."

"A-alright..." Akamatsu shakily replied. She wasn't actually expecting a 'yes'.

"Um..." Saihara paused. On impulse he had agreed to Akamatsu's request. His mind was racing with so many possibilities that he knew if he didn't find something solid to hold onto, he would run himself into the ground. Lady Ivory and Raoul were basic. Their relationship wasn't complicated by suspicion, trust issues, or an undefined connection. Saihara could say he understood them.

Embodying them, however, would be a different sort of challenge.

Akamatsu took a deep, cleansing breath, and attempted to return to her character. "Raoul..."

"M-ma'am..." Saihara replied with a nod.

"I... I want you to know that..." Akamatsu hesitated. Was this right? Using this veil of fiction to make such a big leap forward? Her mind screamed no.

Her heart had other plans. "I want you to know that, these times I've had with you mean the world to me."

"Th-thank you, milady," Saihara replied, growing more and more nervous. And strangely, finding a sense of calm. "I have done everything in my power to serve you as your faithful bodyguard."

"I know but... it's more than that. These... moments of passion," the pianist replied, her embarrassment plain to see even in the dim light. "I don't want you to think they mean nothing to me."

"I'm..." Saihara's voice caught in his throat as he kept speaking, "glad to hear that."

"Raoul... do you remember..." Akamatsu summoned all her courage as she finished with, "the first time?"

Saihara's face turned a bright red. If there were details about it in his character folder, clearly he had skimmed over it. "I... prefer the way you tell it..." he offered, trying to dodge the question.

"Someone had tried to kill me that night, and you... you took a stab wound that had been meant for me," Akamatsu recounted.

"Oh... yes... I can remember now..." Saihara replied.

"After you were patched up... that was when I realized..." Akamatsu stopped cold. She could barely speak, she was so frozen in fear.

"Milady?" Saihara asked, trying to help.

Akamatsu's voice trembled. "Raoul, be a dear and... and... call me 'Kaede.'"

She hated herself. She promised she wouldn't abuse that power again, and now, here she was. And for what? Something so selfish and petty as-

"Kaede..."

She felt his hand on her shoulder. In that moment, everything else was gone. No suspicions. No killing games. No masterminds. Just her and Saihara. No words. Just emotion.

She leaned her head towards his, hopeful he would respond.

He started back, just for a moment, before he also leaned forward.

Each tilted their head ever so slightly. They could feel the other's breath on their skin. Closer and closer, the gap between their lips growing smaller every second.

The door opened.

"That would be ten minutes!"

The two backed away in astonishment at Kiibo's announcement. Indeed, they had completed the task they had been assigned.

Each wishing it would have lasted a minute longer...

"Forgive me," Kiibo added. "Did I interrupt something?"

Akamatsu's face quickly grew flush with red at the inquisition. "No, no!" she lied. "Just... uh... hey, Saihara-kun, now you can look at those files, right?"

"R-right!" Saihara replied, very happy with the change of subject matter. He quickly made his way to the desk, and spread out the various papers in front of him. Though upon finally seeing the forms in the light, his demeanor quickly took a downturn.

"What's wrong?" Akamatsu asked.

"Most of these are just... scribbles..."

"Scribbles?" Kiibo repeated.

Indeed, the files contained next to nothing. Clearly yet another bit of time-saving on Monokuma's part so as to avoid wasting effort on window dressing to the actual plot of the mystery.

"Is there anything in there at all?" the pianist wondered.

Saihara lifted a single piece of paper. "Just this. I think it's a will."

"Whose will?" Akamatsu questioned.

Saihara's eyes scanned over the paper, looking to find out what information he could, and how it related to the overarching story Monokuma had crafted. "It's the Duke Du Jour's... and it's dated six months ago..."

"How can you be sure?" Kiibo chimed in. "We were never given an established date before we arrived."

Saihara pointed to where the date would be found on the form.

The line literally read: "Six Months Ago."

"Ah, I see," the robot dryly replied.

"Anything interesting?" Akamatsu prompted.

"Almost all of his belongings are being left to his wife, T. Du Jour..." Saihara noted, "a few things to his sister, D. Du Jour..."

"Delilah, or rather, Iruma-san," Kiibo clarified.

"And... hmm..."

"And?" Akamatsu parroted.

"It lists his full name as Rantaro Du Jour," Saihara revealed. "Which makes me wonder..."

"Wait," Akamatsu said, her finger moving to the bottom of the form, "Look at who signed the document!"

The two boys followed the blonde's instructions and discovered who it was.

There in cursive lettering was the name, "Julianne Applewood".

"Yumeno-san?" Kiibo pondered. "Why would she sign someone else's will? She's playing a jewelry appraiser."

"Unless that's just her cover," Akamatsu theorized.

"I'm starting to get a better picture of all this," Saihara declared.

"Oh, by the way, Saihara-kun," Kiibo cut in, "While I have you, would you like a snack?"

"Kiibo-kun," Akamatsu interrupted, "were you given a rule that says you have to ask everyone that?"

Kiibo nodded sheepishly, "Yes. I must ask everyone until there is no one left to ask, or until someone says 'yes'. Whichever comes first."

Akamatsu, taking pity on her friend, declared, "Raoul, be a dear and tell him you'd like a snack."

"I'd like a snack," Saihara replied, not missing a beat.

"Very well," Kiibo acknowledged, "I will go fetch it for you."

As Kiibo exited the room, it once again left the two alone. Short-term memory was a cruel, cruel thing, as their minds immediately rushed back to what would have happened had Kiibo been a bit less precise in his keeping track of time.

"Well," Akamatsu began, choosing to take the initiative, "what do you think we should do now?"

"There's a few rooms I still want to look at," Saihara explained, "but I also need to talk to Yumeno-san. I can't be sure if I'll be able to find her in time before the we reach the end of the game, though."

"I could look for her," Akamatsu offered.

Silently, she regretted even asking. Saihara had made it clear that he wasn't willing to trust her anymore. For whatever reason, she had lost that privilege. And she was too altruistic to force him to spend any more time with her than he already had. But he had been willing to share the information about the will with her. Though, that could have just been the heat of the moment. It was better if she just went off on her-

"That'd be great, thank you."

Akamatsu's eyes went wide. Saihara had turned away, so she couldn't tell what expression he was currently wearing, but she recognized that tone. He meant it. He was willing to trust her. Or at least, give her the chance to win that trust back.

"Alright! I won't let you down!"

Akamatsu raced off to find Yumeno, a big grin beaming on her face.

Saihara stood in stock silence. Staring at a piece of paper that had already offered as much information as it was capable of doing. Alone with his thoughts.

"She isn't. She can't be. Monokuma was lying, or trying to trick me."

He was reasonably sure that she was not the Mastermind. While on some level, he was biased against the idea, and all his information had been filtered throught that bias, he felt safe in assuming so. Her behavior didn't lend to the idea. She had no reason to act the way she did unless she was desperate to deceive him. But Monokuma and the Mastermind appeared to be two separate entities, meaning the Mastermind didn't necessarily know Saihara was onto them. He even hinted toward Akamatsu that she was a suspect, and she didn't react. Not even the most subtle of defenses. But she was hiding something. That much he was certain of. But with that decision made in his mind, it raised a very important question.

If Akamatsu wasn't the Mastermind, who was?

A/N: I did not intend this to be as long as it is. I just typed out the Saihara and Akamatsu in the closet scene and I realized, "That's as long as a whole chapter."

*sigh* We're gonna be in this simulation for a while...