❀ 4.6 - Floor of the Dead ❀
❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀
"Prairie."
I stop in my tracks, making Shuichi pause beside me in surprise at the voice calling me out.
Maki walks to close the space between us, eyes flicking between Shuichi and I before they settle on me. She seems cautious with Shuichi present, but doesn't bother to invite me a few steps away or shoo Shuichi so we can speak privately.
"I need to talk to you later. Alone. Come to my lab, and make sure you do it by tonight," Maki states with a critical look in her eye. I raise a bewildered eyebrow at the unspoken 'or else' she seems to refrain from attaching at the end of her sentence, surprised she's even seeking me out at all. Despite my confusion, she doesn't elaborate. She simply starts walking ahead of us, her stride swift as she makes her way up the stairs to get to her lab. We're actually headed the same way, but I guess she's in a hurry to guard it compared to the casual pace Shuichi and I walk.
"This is the first time I see Maki inviting someone to visit her lab," Shuichi thoughtfully comments, making me look towards him with an innocent shrug.
"Well, I don't know what she wants, but I also don't want to find out what she'd do if I stood her up," I say, noting how Shuichi gives me an incredulous look. When I register the concern in his gold eyes, I can't help but laugh a little. "No, I don't mean I'm worried she's dangerous. I'm just...remembering when she ripped out a few strands of my hair that time I was running to go through the tunnel."
Shuichi relaxes, but winces sympathetically at the memory, reaching up to rub the back of his head like he was the one to have his hair pulled out.
"So in the last five days I've been asleep, she hasn't warmed up to anyone else then?" I inquire curiously, watching as Shuichi opens his mouth to answer but hesitates with the response.
"I was going to say no, but I did see Kaito talking to her outside her lab early in the morning. I don't know what they were discussing, but I do remember Kaito talking about wanting to have a moment with her before then. He got what he wanted, I guess," Shuichi states, putting his hands on his sides thoughtfully. "I asked why he was so interested, but he never gave me a straight answer. He usually will usually change the subject to avoid the question."
I snort a little, hiding half of my amused smile behind a hand.
"Maybe cupid hit him?" I suggest, watching as a pink hue blooms over Shuichi's features enough to give him a rosy glow. It only serves to make me laugh even more. "This isn't even about you! Why are you turning pink?"
"I-It's a bit embarrassing discussing love affairs when we don't actually know if that's really the truth...let's just talk about something else, okay?" Shuichi stutters slightly, trying to keep his composure and failing when I burst into more giggles at the sight of his struggle.
"Alright, Mr. Sidekick, whatever you say," I poke fun just a bit more before we start walking again to head for the staircase.
Still, what could Maki possibly want to see me alone for? Does she want to torture answers out of me maybe? If I'm with her in her lab where no one will see me for an extended period of time…
…
No, I doubt she would resort to physical harm towards me- let alone torture. I think I find it hard to believe even more so because she's the Ultimate…'killer'? Who knows, I'll just stick to 'murderous fiend'. She's had plenty of chances to axe off any one of us- even me. If she didn't take her chances the times before, then I don't see why she would now. It's even less likely with Shuichi as a witness to her extending me an invitation.
Well, never mind that for now. I have other questions to ask, so my curiosity is best saved for when I can satiate it privately in Maki's presence later.
"I'm surprised Angie headed off on her own with Himiko and Kiibo now that we've gotten the items to expand the school grounds. I expected them to be more eager to explore since Monokuma put the killing game on hold until I woke up," I say. "I mean, last time when I overslept, I assumed you were all exploring the school in little groups. Angie didn't look like she was leading Himiko and Kiibo away to make a second exploration team though..."
Shuichi lets out a long sigh as we reach the first set of stairs, climbing up and allowing a moment of silence between us while he decides how to answer me. At his resigned reaction however, I can't help but feel a bit confused. It's not like it's a heavy topic or anything...is it? I didn't sense that our group had any sort of falling out. Breakfast seemed pretty amicable, other than the soup incident.
"Before I get to that, I'm surprised you don't have any questions about why Kirumi is running about. I mean, you even saw her last night with Kokichi, right?" Shuichi asks, making me cock my head to the side but nod in response anyways. Why would he think I have any questions about her though? "So you're not curious why she's roaming around the school alone then?"
Oh.
When he puts it like that…
"Now that you mention it, I remember Kaito and Gonta said they were going to keep an eye on her back when we were in the dining hall after the trial..." I run through my memories, wrinkling my nose. "What happened to that, now that you're bringing it up?"
"Well, Rantaro left in the middle of breakfast to wake you up since we originally thought you were just sleeping in like usual. He came back really panicked when he realized you were unresponsive, and...miscommunications ensued. Kaito and Gonta each thought the other was in charge of watching Kirumi during mealtime, and they both left her there. So…" Shuichi says, a pained look on his face when my eyebrows knit together in frustration.
"Enough for her to make a great escape, huh?" I say more than ask, crossing my arms and resting my hand under my chin in thought. That would also give her a handy window to have entered Maki's lab to get that axe she had too, wouldn't it? I mean, Maki was sleeping in her lab from what I heard before from the others, so Kirumi most likely must have nabbed it during the daytime at a point when Maki wasn't around.
Wouldn't Maki have some sort of extra measure set up by now to stop the others from entering her lab in her absence? I know she didn't have one when I weaseled in, but I find it hard to believe she didn't set something up after that point.
"Yeah...well," Shuichi pulls his attention away from me as we step up into the second floor, the Ultimate Detective surveying the surrounding area before lowering his voice to continue speaking. Something about whispering in a hallway that's part of a school setting (albeit, an abandoned school) makes me laugh under my breath a little at the ironic absurdity of it all, but Shuichi thankfully doesn't seem to notice. "Did you see the way Himiko and Kiibo were praising Angie's god with her?"
It's a sudden change in topic, but despite my confusion at how quickly we've moved from Kirumi to Angie and her two followers, I just nod in response to his query.
"What do you think of it?" He asks.
A beat of silence passes before I shrug a little and answer, "I don't really care. As long as they're not hurting anyone, it's irrelevant to me."
"That's a good perspective. I agree…" Shuichi nods in understanding. When he doesn't immediately continue with the thoughts I can practically see swimming in his gold eyes, I nudge his ribs gently to get his attention.
"But…?" I press, since I sense he's getting into something else. He wouldn't bring it up or ask me about it if there wasn't more to what he's trying to say. He snaps out of his daze, looking back at me from zoning out on the broken tiles and plants we're walking past.
"Ah, sorry. Anyways, Kirumi's escape was around the time Angie started pulling aside Himiko and Kiibo more often. They've been going off like that for the past days you were out, actually. I asked Tenko about it since she usually likes being around Himiko, but she was more upset over Angie dominating Himiko's time than actually worried about the possible ramifications of Angie's intentions."
"Ramifications"? What does he mean by that? They're just practicing worship, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, Angie can be a bit much at times, sure, but I doubt this is anything to worry about.
"Shuichi, have you thought that maybe you're looking too far into this? It's only Himiko and Kiibo that have been taken in by her beliefs. I don't really blame them for it either, especially given our circumstances...you know. The whole 'make peace with your god' thing. Also, I think Himiko would follow Angie around at any opportunity she could whether it was about religion or not, she just really likes her. As for Kiibo, I think he's just easily impressionable," I reassure the teen with a smile.
Shuichi looks somewhat unconvinced, but seems open to my perspective nonetheless. That said, I do want to know what his thoughts are, so I don't change the topic. It seems like an arbitrary thing to be concerned about, so I'm curious what's caused him unrest by it all.
"What exactly are you worried about them for anyways? It's not like she's about to start a cult or something, not when there's plenty of us that are unlikely to follow her," I add, noting how some of the concern in his eyes subsides with my query.
That's more like it, let's worry about the things currently in our way before we worry about the hypothetical concerns we may not even encounter at all.
"You're probably right. I'm a little inexperienced with organized religion, so I suppose I'm looking too deep into it," Shuichi sighs as we pass the hallway leading to Maki's lab.
Maki isn't outside of the room, likely holed up inside with her array of weapons…I guess her efforts in guarding her secret also means guarding the weapons from the hands of the rest of us. Not that I'd be able to operate a gun or crossbow if I was handed one, but still.
Yeah, well look how well her efforts to guard her lab has gone. You went in fairly easily once, and Kirumi snagged an entire battle axe from the collection.
I honestly hardly see what's the point of guarding it, she can't stand in front of that door at all times of the day. She still needs to eat, use the bathroom, and obey Monokuma's calls when it comes to gathering the group together for new motives. It's pretty useless and she's just avoiding the inevitable.
...
Come to think of it...I'm surprised Kirumi didn't actually grab a gun from inside Maki's lab. I get that she needed the axe for the door at the time, but she didn't think to get a gun to just waltz up to me later and shoot me? It would have made her work chasing Kokichi and I around much easier the night before.
How do you know she didn't grab one? You can't be sure about that just because you didn't see a gun on her last night.
I guess I have some questions for Maki when I eventually go to see her tonight. For all I know, Maki could be bringing me in to ask if I took a gun myself.
"I'm mainly just worried she may convince Tenko and Gonta over to her side if she's trying to rally students together," Shuichi says, prompting me to hum in thought and twist a curly lock of my hair around my index finger.
"Okay, so she might rally the others together...to do what? If it's to just worship her god, she can't force all of us to believe in her faith regardless of how much muscle she can convince to her side. Besides, I don't think Angie would be thrilled to have fakers pretending to believe in her god. If she were rallying us to escape though, wouldn't rallying students be a good thing? I'm not particularly looking for a way out anymore since it's gotten me nothing but trouble, but I won't fault anyone else for changing their mind either," I say, watching as Shuichi grunts a little at my statement.
"Actually, Angie, Himiko, and Kiibo have been displaying some signs they don't want to leave at all. She's been a bit subtle, but Angie's made a few remarks that almost seem complacent with the whole idea of us being stuck here permanently...and I mean, she's even dropped obvious hints about it my way. I think she's at a point where she's ready to stop anyone who tries to escape," Shuichi continues with a grimace, "I hate to bring him up since he's not exactly your favorite person at the moment, but Kokichi even picked up on it and he stressed the point that we should do everything in our power to get out of here."
Huh, that's actually very straightforward of the leech.
"Apparently even if it means we murder one another haplessly, but I think I'm going to dismiss that as a lie…? At least, I really hope that part was only to get under Angie's skin."
Dang it, Kokichi, every time you do something sorta good, you have to ruin it with something bad seconds after! And you aren't even here right now!
"Well...we don't know that for sure, do we? We can't just jump the gun and make a bold assumption like that. Don't get me wrong, I trust your gut as a detective- even an apprentice detective, so don't give me that look," I quickly add, narrowing my eyes critically on the teen so he relaxes when he seems prepared to drop a modest remark I'm all too familiar with. "I know I don't get along with her, but let's just wait and see where she's going with her little religious following. For all we know, she could just be doing it to offer Himiko and Kiibo comfort in this stressful environment."
I offer Shuichi a comforting smile just as we come to a slow stop before a pixelated door at the end of the hallway. If I'm remembering correctly based on the layout and rooms we've passed...this should open another stairwell. Which means we're going to have access to a totally new floor.
It's strange being an exploration team of only two, but I guess the others will explore when they're actually ready. I wonder how the floor's gonna look? I know the layout from Rantaro's survivor perk monopad, but the design? Not so much.
"Did you really need me around to help with this? Not to sound like I'd rather be doing something else, especially considering I don't actually have anything else to do, but...I feel like these puzzles might be no-brainer type of stuff for you. It's sorta just a matching game, isn't it?" I ask, the shift in subject a refreshing change.
"Ah, I thought you'd probably be able to pick up on things faster than maybe I could. Besides that though, w-we hardly ever spend time together at all, so I thought this could help with promoting a better friendship between us," Shuichi sheepishly admits with a pink hue across his features, a statement which causes my heart to swell at such a bold admission.
Aww, that's kind of sweet!
"Also...I know we've had a few circumstances in which there was a misunderstanding or two, so I'd like to work on undoing a few assumptions you have of me. Especially that one about me being some sort of pervert," Shuichi continues, surprising a fit of laughter out of me.
He thinks he can make me believe that calling him a pervert is a mistake? I don't think so. Good luck on him, but as far as I'm concerned, "pervert" may as well be etched in his student profile on the monopad.
"Okay, well, let's deal with this," I answer, dismissing his last claim so effortlessly that he sighs in resignation.
As I examine the door, Shuichi pulls out the item that matches it the most- the pixelated key. Holding it out in front of himself, he glances from the key to the door with a confused frown. It's easy to tell why, considering when I press a hand to the door...well, the thing may as well be a painting plastered on the wall.
It looks like a door, but a fake one. There's no handles, nor grooves or texture across it that differs when I run my hand over the wall beside it and drag my palm over the actual "door". Even when I reach for the keyhole, the dark spot where the key should go on an ordinary door is just a painted spot.
"Let me try-" Shuichi starts, reaching out to rest his hand on the door to study the drawn on lock. As soon as his palm rests against the surface of the painting, the same hand that's holding the key, said key begins to suddenly glow a bright yellow-gold shade and shrinks.
Shuichi fumbles with it when it becomes a cube about the size of a sunflower seed, only for it to promptly vanish as we look around like crazy in search of it on the floor. Before we can get over that surprise though, the "door" also begins to glow a bright golden hue. It's bright enough that we both back up, half shielding our gaze until the painted door abruptly shatters into similar cube pieces as the key did.
"What the heck happened?" I ask, vision still half blotched with inky spots from the bright light of the door as I watch the clinking metallic cubes shrink until they too disappear entirely. "They just shrank into nothing...?"
Shuichi seems speechless, staring at the newly revealed hallway when I look up at him for some sort of response. When I say his name again, he finally turns his head to face me.
"An answer would be helpful…I mean, what is it with this technology?" I ask him, moving my dress skirt aside as I bend down to look for what I know I'm not going to find. Of course, I don't see anything of particular notoriety. Those cubes seriously vanished into thin air! They shrunk out of existence, practically! "Is this technology normal? I don't know if I'm overreacting because of my amnesia, but it doesn't really scream 'normal' to me."
"It's not normal," Shuichi just answers, his expression still somewhat frozen in that look he's had since the painted door burst into pieces. After a moment though, his features relax slightly into disappointment as he glances ahead at the new opening in the hall. "Still, there's nothing we can really do about it right now. Let's just keep going. I figure Kaito, Rantaro, and Korekiyo will join us once they finish locking the kitchen up."
Standing back up and flattening my dress out, I can't help the wave of surprise when Shuichi says that last part.
"'Locking' the kitchen up?" I ask bewildered. "The kitchen door has a lock?"
"No, not one on the actual door itself at least. We're using a little metal external lock contraption that keeps regular doors locked shut. We have three on the kitchen door so no single person can enter without two other people with them," Shuichi explains, prompting me to nod in understanding.
"I guess there'd be no point to having three people working in the kitchen to stop any food poisoning ideas if a perpetrator can just come in after and spoil the leftovers, right?" I comment, earning a nod out of Shuichi.
With that subject finished, we step into the small hall and turn to see a set of stairs, which I'm not surprised by at all.
"Off to the fourth floor, I suppose," I state with an exhale on my part to prepare for whatever's up there. I advance up the stairs without a second thought, half leaving Shuichi to hurry up after me despite having a shorter stride than him. By the time I reach the top steps though…
My heart jumps up to my throat and I stop dead at the top of the stairs when I hear the old floorboards creak under my feet. A small squeak jumps out of me, one that Shuichi somewhat mirrors when he lets out a startled yelp at the visual change in the school's architecture.
"W-What's with this creepy ambiance up here?" Shuichi asks upon taking another step to join me. When the old wooden floorboards groan from the teen's weight, the both of us flinch in unison like cats. Our frames tense up...and then relax when nothing else happens.
Realizing we're not about to be attacked by anything despite the design of the fourth floor's interior resembling an decrepit abandoned building, we both loosen up and let out sighs of relief
"Jeez, the last two floors weren't this creepy looking. Why does this floor have a totally different design anyways? I know this was supposed to look like a post-apocalyptic sort of school, but this doesn't even look like a part of the academy anymore!" I comment with an incredulous scoff. "Looks more like a set for a horror movie. Like the movie Kokichi forced me to watch with him yesterday."
Shuichi curiously glances my way before asking, "What movie was that?"
I shudder and try to get the horrifying image of the ghost corpse from the movie out of my mind. To think I had to sit through those two awful and bloody movies, and for what? Just thinking about it makes me hate Kokichi even more.
"'Ju-on: The Grudge'..." I huff, inching closer towards him before I manage to swallow down my nerves and make my way down the hall. There's an awful lot of stains on the walls...and the whole floor is tinted with a gold-red hue that only serves to unsettle me when I hear the occasional floorboard complain from my movement. "They really had to leave those nasty stains up, didn't they? This place looks gross."
"It might have been intentional on their part, I really wouldn't put it past Monokuma. It looks sort of like...bloodstains," Shuichi admits upon catching up with me.
Standing at the end of the corridor leading away from the stairs, I make a slight face when we both see how uneven the floorboards are at the intersection. I step carefully over them and look around, eventually deciding to go forward around the mess of floorboards. Shuichi diligently follows, unopposed to having me take the lead in the exploration as I approach the first room with two traditional japanese sliding doors.
"This looks like it could be a research lab, according to the monopad," Shuichi states, making me turn towards him to see him holding out his tablet and pointing at our icons in front of the room.
Oh! It's the room that could probably be Tenko's or maybe Kiyo's!
Eager to see, I step forward to slide open the door and blink when we're greeted with a zigzagging array of stairs, leading up to higher parts of the room which are chock full of artifacts of varying types.
"Whoa! It's like a museum!" I chirp in excitement, hurrying in to look at all of the goodies behind glass cases and items resting on shelves. Shuichi walks in after me, though going by his expression he isn't as enthralled by the discovery as I am. "This is definitely Korekiyo's Lab, there's no question about it."
"What an excellent arrangement of materials, I must say...even the research labs provided by universities I'd had the privilege of working with couldn't match up in the scale of quantity."
Shuichi and I turn, just as we see Korekiyo walk into the room and climb some of the stairs to reach a set of shelves with written materials. He runs a finger carefully over the spines of a few books, pulling one out and humming in interest just as I join him on the second floor to see what he's opening.
"They're in excellent condition, despite the meager storage quality I suppose. However, it'll have to do in a place such as this," He says with such confidence that I can't help but cast the books and scrolls a dubious look.
"Really?" I inquire, faintly aware of Shuichi looking back at the doorway before turning towards me with an expression of mild confusion.
I guess he's having the same thoughts as me. Where's Rantaro and Kaito? Weren't they with Kiyo, or did they break off to do something else? This is an awkward time for that, we should really all be looking around these new areas.
"Yes. They're old, no questioning that. However, they could be in a state worse than this if they'd been improperly stored. Text could be completely erased from the parchments, the parchments themselves could flake and fall apart...among many other undesirable destructions," Korekiyo explains, just as he places a book back and carefully extracts a scroll.
He unrolls it only halfway with a practiced motion, the edges of the parchment curling slightly in protest to the exposure of its contents.
"As you can see, this unfurls quite nicely. However, some scrolls could crumble to pieces or tear in two from even a gesture as simple as this," Korekiyo continues, before rolling it back up and walking back down with me to examine the artifacts. "Shinto and Hindu scrolls...urban tales from generations long gone...this truly is a curious bounty."
"Why do you say 'curious'?" I ask as Shuichi joins us, only for Korekiyo to slink around him to continue his investigation of the materials. Shuichi raises an eyebrow at the scrolls and books, shaking his head with a small huff.
"If I tried to investigate every document here, I'd probably never be satisfied no matter how much time I was given," Shuichi admits, making me laugh at the idea. He wouldn't get bored with all this? I know I'm curious myself, and learning new things is fun, but...I wonder if I would actually have the patience to read through every single one of these.
"...Wait…!" I hear Korekiyo suddenly exclaim softly, his breath almost heavy with an excitement I don't normally hear out of him. He didn't even answer my question with how enraptured he is with all of this stuff. Monokuma really made him the perfect lab, I guess.
We join him beside a sliding glass display, where there's an arranged set that appears to be a white cloth with a sort of structure concealed underneath it. Sitting atop the clothed structure is a big wooden statue, resembling a crude depiction of a rounded sitting dog. It looks pretty old- some of the detailing on the actual wood seems to have been lost with time.
"That's a little...creepy looking," Shuichi comments beside me with a tension in his shoulders that matches mine, even though I'm attempting to convince myself it's just a hunk of wood. I wish I could say it's not creepy, but it kinda is. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end just seeing it and I'm not really sure why.
"It's just a wooden statue, w-what's so creepy about that?" I ask, cursing the little stutter I'd come to think was gone for it's irritable return.
"I don't believe this! To think that this actually existed!" Korekiyo continues, like the rest of us are just buzzing bumblebees to ignore. He's trembling a little, excitement evident from the way he steps closer to the large statue. He reaches out and lifts the white cloth to reveal what's under it, only causing him more delight and shock.
"It's even been kept along with the iron cage...! It's absolutely perfect! These conditions are even better than what I could have possibly imagined!" Korekiyo claims in delight.
"'Perfect'? What exactly are those things, Kiyo?" Shuichi dares to ask. It's obviously not just me that's a little overwhelmed with the uncanny shift in Korekiyo's demeanor. Not that I can say it's a bad thing or anything.
At the very least this has made him very happy, and I think that's something all of us need in a stupid place like this killing game. More happiness despite the bleak reality of the situation. Something to make us forget our circumstances for even a moment…
"Khehehe! I never expected in my own lifetime that I would someday rest my gaze on this, let alone my hands on it...what an exceptional fateful encounter," Korekiyo continues, Shuichi smiling in mild discomfort. Looks like he's being ignored as well. "Truly wonderful…the side of me that is a researcher however, is rather conflicted with only one place harboring this many items."
I step away from the glass panel and decidedly turn to regard the rest of the room, only to notice something that glimmers a regal gold hue in a case across from the wooden dog carving.
It's a katana placed neatly on a stand in an elegant display. Unlike most katanas one sees archived, this one is an astonishing gold- both along it's hilt and it's sheath. There's a few patches of rust across the casing from it's age.
"Shiny," I chirp in awe, keeping my hands close against my chest to resist the urge of pressing them over the glass for a better look. The panel is so crisp and clean that I'm afraid of smudging it with my fingers.
"So it seems your eyes have been drawn to the golden katana, is that so?" Korekiyo comments in obvious amusement, finally detaching himself from fawning over the odd wooden dog statue. "Although it looks rather luxurious with that illustrious color, the gold is simply a coating. It may not hold value as a precious metal itself, but this katana is considered incredibly important in the eyes of anthropologists of my field for its rare cultural customs even to this day….during war, soldiers would revere their own sword as a god to ensure victory against their enemies. This gold coated katana was one of many similar swords, hence it's crucial importance in the field of anthropology."
"Huh. That's really interesting," I respond, before my attention drags away from the blade and towards the doorway to the lab. It's been a bit of time since Korekiyo entered, yet no sign of the other two guys. I didn't ask because I assumed they were maybe a bit behind him, but they're still not here… "By the way, where's Kaito and Rantaro?"
Korekiyo however is already looking at something else across the room, muttering to himself in delight as he carefully handles a porcelain artifact from behind another glass case. When he doesn't answer, I huff and look towards Shuichi.
"I'm gonna go find the other two, okay? I'll be right back," I say, giving Shuichi a smile that he awkwardly returns when he seems to realize I'm leaving him alone with Korekiyo. "Don't worry, he's not as creepy as you guys think. Just be nice and let him indulge."
"Alright...just don't be away too long, please?" He begs, making me slightly roll my eyes with a smile of amusement as I nod and turn to head out of the lab. Korekiyo is completely oblivious to the sound of the sliding door opening, even when I glance back to see if he's noticed.
I just close the doors, turning to regard the hallway that is much darker compared to Korekiyo's lab.
This floor needs better lighting. I don't care if it's meant to be a scary area of the school, a terrible design is a terrible design.
With a sigh, I carefully step over some uneven floorboards to make my way towards the stairs...
And then I hear a distant gangly croaking sound.
My heart nearly stops dead. It's so out of the blue that I feel my skin immediately crawl. It's not a common noise and thus stands out like a sore thumb.
I whirl around to survey the unfamiliar surroundings for danger, body prepared to attack whoever's out here with me from whatever direction they come from at the intersection.
Despite expecting Kirumi to pop out and attack me, or even someone else, I see no one.
It's just me and the same red-gold tinted dark halls I walked into earlier.
Argh, it's just a change in the decor! Those noises are probably the wooden floorboards creaking, that's all. You can't really be scared by this, can you? You managed to skip around the dark abandoned offices beneath the school alone no problem, put on your big girl pants and-
That's when I hear the sound of scuttling footsteps.
They're quick, becoming louder with intent.
Loud…
Because they're moving straight towards me.
I hear the bang of a door, one which finally snaps all the tension of my muscles into action.
Contrary to my urge to viciously attack what's scaring me, I evidently choose flight when I realize the uncanny croaking is reminiscent of that stupid scary movie Kokichi made me watch.
I make a break for the stairs and run down back to the normal setting of the third floor like my life depends on it.
As I hit the bottom step and turn to dash into the hall, I crash straight into someone. This person is much larger than Rantaro or Shuichi, and I immediately duck under his arm to hide from the stairway despite only guessing who it is.
Of course, I'm right in my presumption since- who else could the giant be?
"S-Small Prairie okay?" Gonta asks, though he thankfully doesn't lift his arm up when he realizes I'm clinging tightly to keep it in place over me. "What wrong? Something bad upstairs?! Kokichi, stay back! Gonta protect small ones!"
"Pshh, what? I don't need protecting. Besides, what's so scary up there anyways?" I hear Kokichi's voice from my other side. When I peek out from under my friendly shield, I see him move to climb up the steps I'd descended down moments before like a bat out of hell.
Kokichi's hair is still visibly damp, though now it's in a thin lazy ponytail. I can smell his shampoo in the air from when he passed me. It's not a bad scent, but it reminds me of him enough that I scrunch my nose in disgust and wiggle behind Gonta more.
"Come on, Gonta. Leave the rabid gerbil down there if she doesn't wanna come up," I hear Kokichi remark from the middle of the stairs, prompting me to scowl even more in rage.
Oh so, not only does he think my reaction to his trickery was without merit, but he's also going to call me a "rabid gerbil" on top of everything?!
He's already made living here with him a total pain in more ways than just the obvious. I'm going to make that leech's life a living nightmare starting right now.
With my mind set, I cling harder onto Gonta's arm when he hesitantly looks back at me. As soon as his eyes meet mine, I amp up my defenseless doe-eyed look so he's unable to tear his eyes away. Gonta swallows thickly, caught in the web of my sweet honeydew gaze.
Time to weaponize being as cute as a button!
"Kokichi can take care of himself. But if you leave me all alone...Kirumi could step out from any corner to kill me!" I say earnestly in horror, stepping closer to hug his arm. "Shuichi said you and Kaito lost track of her...you don't want me to be in danger after you and Kaito let her get away, do you?"
Gonta opens his mouth to respond, but what comes out is a stuttering reply of uncertainty as he battles with deciding which option is the most gentlemanly thing to do. His eyes bounce from the stairwell where Kokichi stands and then back down to me. As a result, I maneuver the conversation exactly where it needs to be.
"True gentlemen protect damsels in distress, don't they?" I ask nervously as if I think he's really going to leave me behind, willing tears to form at the corners of my eyes exactly like Kokichi does. "I'm really scared, I don't wanna be all alone…"
That seems to finalize it in his heart. As soon as the waterworks are ready to spill from my eyes, Gonta clears his throat and we turn towards a blank-faced Kokichi Oma who looks to be trying to sink his nails into the stair's handrails. If he wasn't doing that, I probably would have thought he didn't care that I convinced Gonta to stick with me.
But oh no...I can see he definitely cares. He's been eyeing Gonta for a while for some reason, and I do remember back when he was testing my gullibility that he "wanted to see if I was as gullible as Gonta".
"Gonta will stay to protect Small Prairie! Kokichi has Shuichi for meat shield, so it okay!" Gonta claims proudly, his chest puffed up a bit like a rooster with pride.
Well, looks like I know one thing I need to do to get under his nasty Elmer's Glue-looking tissue paper skin. Keep Gonta nice and snuggly like a teddy bear at my side~!
I wipe the tears from my eyes, keeping my smile as relieved looking as I can when in actuality I want to throw Kokichi a smug overbearing grin of victory and laugh like a maniac at his disapproval.
Kokichi's jaw clicks slightly, but he doesn't say anything yet.
Sadly for Kokichi...I think even he knows I'm much cuter than he is. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping, I don't want to actually find out by the jerk trying to convince Gonta in a similar manner.
Yet to my horror, that's exactly what the leech does.
Kokichi's face falls and he releases a long dragging sigh, trailing his now relaxed hand over the stair rail longingly. I'm up against a professional...is he going to turn the tables on me now?
"Oh...I was hoping you would keep your promise after Prairie's outburst, but I understand. Shuichi's kinda small compared to you, but hopefully we'll be safe up there. Where there's possibly dangers we don't know about and stuff...you sure you can't just drop her off with Rantaro or something and meet me back here?" Kokichi asks, an expression laden with hopefulness etched across his innocent-looking features.
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him-
…
"Well…" Gonta starts, as if seriously considering it much to my horror.
I release his arm and turn to start skipping down the hallway, a last ditch effort that will either work my way or not work at all.
"Okay then. I'm gonna go play with Gonta's centipedes and scorpions!" I brightly say, causing Gonta to suddenly whirl around in absolute horror like never before. He doesn't even question the sudden change in my demeanor.
"W-What?! No! Small Prairie can't play with centipedes! Very poisonous! And scorpions dangerous for Small Prairie too!" Gonta explains in horror, running after me without another thought for Kokichi. I stop and give Gonta a clueless look when he catches me by my arm, tilting my head to the side with an expression of confusion.
"Why would our bug friends hurt me though? And if they do, I'll just power through it! Like you said you do! I'll be able to take a thousand centipede and scorpion injections like it's nothing! That'd be so cool!" I chirp brightly, excitement creeping into my voice while fear continues to grow over Gonta's features.
Peeking over at Kokichi, he's now leaning on the rail with a very obvious look of dry annoyance over his face.
"Gonta, you can protect both of us up here. Actually, Kirumi is less likely to get her if she's around more people, you know? Just bring her along and make it snappy, don't go breaking your promise in just the first hour!" Kokichi whines, prompting me to turn towards Gonta to gauge what his response will be. To my surprise, his grip on my arm becomes tighter and my stomach plummets.
Kokichi has this much of a sway on Gonta's actions?!
"Small Prairie...Gonta sorry, but Kokichi has point!" Gonta claims, lifting me up and tucking me half under his arm. My immediate reaction is a yell of objection as I try to kick out of his hold when he starts walking back to the stairs.
"Aaa, don't be such a baby, what could possibly be up there that's so scary anyways? You just upped and ditched Shuichi on top of that too!" Kokichi scolds me, though it's obvious by his demonic smug grin when we pass him that Kokichi doesn't actually care- he just wants me to struggle. He even leans closer to whisper, "You're gonna regret throwing that soup at my face when I'm through with you."
Outraged, I snap a hand out and manage to slap the side of his head with a rumbling growl of rage. Due to my awkward position though, it's hardly a slap like the one I'd given him before considering I don't have the best room to put a lot of strength into it.
Don't do that! You're letting him get to you, this isn't right! You're in control, not your anger. You have a choice to choose how you respond…
Kokichi slaps the back of my head much to my surprise, prompting my frown to shift into a look of shock as I blink and glance up at my assailant.
Gonta is still oblivious to our fight since it's happening behind his back. Kokichi smirks down at me, hands on his hips as we step up into the fourth floor hallway where the sound of creaking floorboards fills my ears.
H-He just hit me...?
…
I CHOOSE VIOLENCE.
I reach out and don't hold back, grabbing a fistful of his hair. With how hard I'm pulling, Kokichi begins bonking my arm and head with a fist to try detaching me, the both of us still trying to keep it low so Gonta doesn't realize we're totally trying to kill one another behind him.
Well, it's mostly me trying to kill Kokichi, but still.
I swing him around a little by his hair, the ponytail he'd lazily done coming loose so I'm able to grab even more of his hair with my other hand.
I feel Kokichi grab my ponytail at some point, but seemingly lets go of it for some reason in exchange for smacking my arm and attempting to untangle my fingers from his hair. For a moment I wonder if he's afraid of actually hurting me, until I feel his nails sink into my forearm hard.
This show of resistance doesn't last long though, because he retracts his nails as soon as I start pulling even harder on his hair in a threat that promises him early balding before his thirties.
Wow, I guess he really is holding back. Not my problem if he can't fight a girl! I'm gonna keep abusing him until I feel better!
It's when Gonta seems to notice something off and slows to a stop that I hear footsteps quickly racing up the stairs, Rantaro emerging from the other end of the dark hall and jogging over to rescue Kokichi from my uncontrollable wrath. His mere presence easily convinces me to relax and they both get my hands untangled from Kokichi's hair just as Gonta looks back at us.
"Oh! Hello!" Gonta greets Rantaro with a big smile, casting Kokichi a confused look when he notices the eerie blank appearance of the leech's face and registers his trashed hair. He seems prepared to ask, but evidently shakes his head and refrains from it. Instead, Gonta puts me down so I'm on both feet with a grin of relief. "Small Prairie feel better? Small Prairie favorite person here!"
"Yep! I feel much better and safer now," I trill with a smile, joining Rantaro's side when he lets out a breath of resigned amusement and wraps an arm around me to rub my back.
"Oh? Did you miss me? I thought you said I was the one that couldn't last five minutes without you?" Rantaro chuckles teasingly, prompting me to puff up my cheeks and rest my head against his arm in embarrassment.
"I got scared...there are creepy noises up here," I confess, before pointing at the stupid leech tainting our moment with his presence. "It sounds like the scary noises from the movie this idiot made me watch last night."
Kokichi just makes a huff at that, reaching up to nurse his aching scalp and pull his hair back in a thin short ponytail...until he seems to realize his rubber band is missing. With a giggle on my part to get his attention, Kokichi looks up at me where I'm playing with a small blue elastic band. There's still a few strands of his hair stuck to it from when I ripped it out, and he quietly holds out his hand when he sees me with it.
Instead of placing it nicely in his palm, I loop it around my index finger and pull the other end back, releasing it so it snaps and lightly hits his forehead. Gonta gasps in shock, eyeing my passive aggressive smile aimed at Kokichi. On the other hand, Kokichi is still not smiling, and he doesn't try to catch the band as it falls to the floor.
He just huffs again and leaves it at that.
"Come on, Rantaro. Shuichi and Korekiyo are this way. I don't want to get in Gonta's and Leech Face's way since that would be rude," I say, giving poor concerned Gonta a wave and grin. "Have fun exploring!"
"Y-Yeah! Also, if Small Prairie likes, we can visit bug friends after this in bug lab? See centipedes and scorpions with Gonta to watch over, okay?" Gonta says with a nervous hopeful smile, making me nod in agreement.
"Sounds like a plan!" I answer, taking Rantaro's hand and dragging him along down the hall towards Korekiyo's lab. Once we're far enough, Rantaro stops me outside the sliding doors so I turn to face him. "Are you still hungry for Kokichi's suffering, or has that finally settled on your end?"
Rantaro hums in thought at that, and gives me a curious look that borders playful chiding. "I would still be careful regardless of what I think. I mean...it's nice seeing his karma in action, but considering what I saw of him fighting back, I don't want to see him trying to get back at you too badly. How are you feeling as far as the anger scaling goes?"
"Well, I was at a three when I was trying to convince Gonta to stay with me and ditch Kokichi. Then Kokichi got Gonta to drag me up here and I was at a six...but after Kokichi smacked me for hitting him, I jumped straight up to a nine and I wanted to end his bloodline!" I say, noting Rantaro's obvious amusement at my retelling of the situation. "He called me a 'rabid gerbil'!"
"Don't worry, you know that's not true. He's only picking a fight with you since he thinks your behavior towards him is unjust. We both know he's the one that screwed up, and you're not obligated to forgive him if you don't want to," Rantaro says, reaching over to cup my cheek and run his thumb along my jaw warmly. "Come on, Shuichi's probably eager to have someone else in there with him. Korekiyo's creepy."
I smack Rantaro lightly in objection for that remark with a smile, but still slide open the door for us to enter. Korekiyo and Shuichi are both gathered by another display, one I can see Korekiyo animatedly talking about to Shuichi who seems to be taking in his usual long info-dumps like a sponge.
And to think he was so worried before. I'd say he's having a good time with Kiyo just looking at the two right now.
"Welcome back, Prairie," Korekiyo greets us upon turning his head, Shuichi also looking up from the display to smile when he sees Rantaro and I making our way to his side.
"Wow, this is a pretty big lab...and I thought the tennis lab had a lot of room, this even has multiple levels going up," Rantaro observes, lifting his head to glance up at the stairs and balconies above. "I'm sure this is like a dream come true for you, isn't it, Kiyo?"
"Very much so. Kaito is coming along shortly, I presume?" Korekiyo inquires, making me realize that in my rage towards Kokichi and my delight with Rantaro, I'd forgotten to ask where Kaito is. Maybe he joined Angie's little squadron or something?
"I assume so. I'm actually surprised he isn't already here, but that's fine. We'll likely see him in a bit of time," Rantaro answers before gesturing to the glass showcase that the two are hovered over. "What are you looking at there?"
"It's an incredibly precious piece of literature, as I was educating Shuichi just now. This book has the compiled history of 'The Caged Dog Village' gathered in here, dating back to a minimum of two hundred years in the past. A girl who was the only surviving member of the village secretly bound and wrote this entire book throughout her life. As such, there is only one book," Korekiyo takes off with his explanation.
"Only one? People didn't think to make copies then...?" Shuichi asks dubiously, prompting Korekiyo to shake his head.
"There are copies, yes. However, due to the shady history that clings to the original script, the copies created are so few that it's quite difficult to acquire even the fakes. I was lucky enough to find myself in possession of one, and I've read it enough times to memorize it...but I must say, I never thought I would get to see the real thing up close and personal. I wonder if this is merely one of fate's little pranks- having me attain such a bounty in a place we're meant to die in," Korekiyo casually muses, making Rantaro scowl just a little bit.
Rantaro looks back at the notebook, eyeing it critically. It definitely looks as old as Korekiyo is describing...not to mention maybe a little cursed.
"And by 'shady history', what exactly do you mean?" Rantaro asks. "Is it a popular target for museum looters?"
"No, nothing as mundane as that. Rumor has it that the witchcraft and charms written within the book are far too effective for comfort," Korekiyo elaborates, making my eyes widen a bit.
"Wait, so the girl who wrote this is a witch?" I ask, feeling a cold chill climb up my spine that tingles right at the back of my neck. Images of the girl in the movie Kokichi showed me with long hair and bloodshot eyes makes me back up from the book in the case to duck safely under Rantaro's arm. Seeing my nervous demeanor, Rantaro laughs lightly and reaches over to pat my head.
"Don't worry, it's just an urban legend. You don't have to be scared," Rantaro tries to coax me, just as Korekiyo amusedly responds, "Are you sure about that? Surely, it isn't only me who feels a mysterious aura surrounding this book. There is malice dripping from every page and every word...the malice of the girl whose village was destroyed so long ago."
Rantaro turns his gaze to Korekiyo, a dark shadow gracing his features in a warning. Even Shuichi looks intimidated, and Rantaro's not even aiming it at him.
"Whooaa! What a rad lookin' katana! Lemme see it!"
The sound of Kokichi's voice breaking the tension has my heart jumping up to my throat at the sound of his presence.
All four of us whirl around in the direction of his voice, only to find him gleefully opening up the case behind us and reaching in for the gold katana. Seeing Korekiyo's immediate visceral reaction to the sight of Kokichi attempting to take the katana out, I dart out from under Rantaro's arm to go around the showcase and catch the annoying leech's wrist in such a tight hold that his skin pinks a bit under my grip.
"Please do not. You must not touch it without-!" Korekiyo snaps, the tension in his frame all the more obvious even though I've managed to stop Kokichi for the moment. Kokichi smiles and cuts the Ultimate Anthropologist off with a laugh.
"Awe, it's okay, I'll be super careful! Just take a look at my cute fairy face- you don't think I would lie to you, do you?" Kokichi asks, allowing my grip to remain on his hand and using his free one to finally extract the sword while I'm distracted by his words.
I'm honestly not ready when he finally turns his gaze towards me. He's smiling, but it's not like he's smiled at me before...I expected he wouldn't be very nice to me after throwing soup at his face, but the amount of contempt in his eyes at the sight of me is enough to make my grip loosen for just a moment. It feels like a complete change from the dry annoyance he displayed after I attacked him on the stairs.
"Also, you. Hands off, I bruise easily!"
Kokichi much too easily manages to swiftly twist his wrist out of my hold, making me take a step back beside Korekiyo as the leech admires the sword he's now unsheathing with gusto.
Even though I want to tell him to stop screwing around, I'm surprisingly rendered speechless after seeing that look in his eyes.
…Is this dude really that socially inept? How is he finding it so difficult to find fault in his own stupid actions?! He has no right to be angry when he's the one who was the complete jerk in the first place!
Kokichi is an awful person! I hate him!
I don't say the things I'm thinking as he examines the sword. Instead, I just glance up at Korekiyo's stormy expression and wait patiently.
Shuichi rests his hand on my shoulder from my other side, gently kneading the bone of my collar similarly to how Rantaro does when he's trying to relax me. I wonder if he noticed the tension between Kokichi and I just now? It must be obvious, even Rantaro looks put off from what I can see…but then again, maybe that's just Rantaro still irritated with Kokichi for his original offense.
This is only a six, I think I can pull through. So long as I don't hit eight or nine on the anger scale again, I should be okay to stay here.
"Come on, Kokichi, that's enough. Put that thing back where it came from. You're more likely to cut off your own arm with it," Rantaro sighs with a scowl, stepping towards him to try and calm Kokichi's enthusiasm now that he's not dumping his little mental tantrum on me with his eyes. Kokichi easily sidesteps him "ooo"ing and "ahh"ing at the blade.
"No. Wow...this thing is definitely the real deal! And look at that gold plating, it's an authentic look for sure!" Kokichi comments, before a sly look curls across his features when he glances back at all of us. "You know...someone could try using something like this for a murder, don't you think?"
No one immediately answers him, but Korekiyo is the first to speak up after a beat of tense silence.
"Kokichi...that thing in your hand is an extremely important relic of this lab. I would appreciate it if you would not handle it so lightly or...I will tear out your nerve endings."
Even I can't help but turn to look up at Korekiyo in mild horror at what's come out of his mouth. Yes, It's fun seeing Kokichi being roasted, but threatening to "tear out his nerve endings" is a bit much. I hate him, but I don't want him dead! That's overkill!
Also, technically death would be a blessing if you look at it from another angle! How will he suffer for his misdeeds if he's already dead?!
"I- well, o-okay...d-don't say scary things like that, I get it..." Kokichi whines timidly. Although he's definitely feigning his fear, I can't help but notice he must take the threat seriously to a certain degree considering how easily he re-sheaths the katana and hands it directly back to Korekiyo.
It's after the katana leaves his possession that Kokichi looks down at his hands, his sad expression quickly replaced with surprise and an edge of annoyance.
"Wha- ew! My hands are all sticky and gross- I just took a shower too! Why does the gold plating flake off so easily?" Kokichi complains, shaking his hand to get the flakes off before trying to dust it off with his other hand. When it only serves to transfer most of the clinging gold from one hand to the other, he unexpectedly glances my way and then holds out a hand in a wiping motion directed at my arm. "Hey, can you stand still for juuust a moment so I can-?"
"Don't you dare," Rantaro interjects without hesitation, pulling out a folded handkerchief from his pocket and tossing it at the leech. Kokichi has the decency to give a little "thank you" as he proceeds to clean off his hands. Rantaro seems a bit miffed giving the cloth to him, but pats his other pocket and seems comforted by whatever he has in there.
At my curious look up at him, he smiles and taps at his nose to indicate the reason. "I have two handkerchiefs just in case you have any more issues. No sense giving you my shirt when that only makes the bloodbath worse," he comments, prompting my jaw to drop in mild offense at how bluntly he puts it.
"Hey! Don't make fun of me, it's not my fault…!" I whine, grabbing my ponytail end and pulling it over my shoulders to hide my face when it starts to heat up to an annoying degree. Rantaro just laughs, reaching over to pat my head and pull me over where I'm further away from Kokichi.
"The sword is aged, thus the gold leaf is prone to easily coming off. In any event, please do not touch things without permission. These are my precious research materials, after all. If not...I will rip out all those nerve endings of yours. Don't place me in a situation where I am to repeat myself on this again," Korekiyo reminds Kokichi, who I only then realize is staring dryly in my direction.
"Got it, got it…" Kokichi answers dismissively before his expression twists in a mischievous grin. "I suppose you'd like to keep it for yourself so you can axe Smelly Dog off, right?"
"Smelly Dog"?!
I know I'm visibly bristling at the comment since I feel Shuichi reach out to hold on to the back of my shawl. Good thing too, because I'm moments away from launching at Kokichi and delivering another likely more violent smackdown.
"Your jokes aren't appreciated here, Kokichi. And don't call Prairie that. Where'd you leave Gonta anyways?" Rantaro asks, prompting Kokichi to shrug as he pokes at the next glass display with the notebook.
As his eyes have lingered on the shorter teen like a hawk since his last offense, Korekiyo briskly smacks his hand over the top of the showcase to stop Kokichi from opening it.
Kokichi smiles up at Korekiyo, mirth dancing in his eyes despite the somewhat terrifying look Korekiyo is giving him. I don't think I could smile back at him if Korekiyo was looking at me that way...
"I wasn't going to open it," Kokichi simply chuckles up at him. "And as for Gonta, he's with Kaito and Maki in one of the rooms in the other hall. Kaito tried to beat me up, so I had to escape!"
With Kaito and Maki? She's not in her lab? Who's guarding the room, in that case?! ...Maybe she found a way to lock it? I really hope she did.
"Mm-hm. And who's fault is it for making everyone upset with you?" Rantaro dryly quips, causing Kokichi to face him directly with a wide innocent grin.
"It's Smelly Dog's fault!" Kokichi claims with a plastic look of mild frustration, even stamping one of his feet to sell the act. "I'm telling you, this is being blown out of proportion. It was a joke I indulged in to get rid of the monokub blueprints. She can deny that she messed with Monosuke, but no one can deny she had the intentions of doing something. The evidence is right there in the AV room! Or, well, actually it's in my room now, but you get the picture."
He looted the stuff I left behind?! ...Looks like I'll need to find a way to get them back later. I need some of the stuff in that bag, don't I? Or maybe Miu's lab might have what I need too? I'll check her lab before I go looking for a way to break into Kokichi's room.
"You know, Rantaro, I think you coddle Smelly Dog too much. Might wanna watch out how that ends up for you and for her, 'cause I gotta say? It sure didn't end well for me considering I had to cross some lines to get the message in her thick skull," Kokichi continues innocently.
Idiot. You never tried to reject me in a serious and respectful manner, you just kept following me around and flirting. I never overstepped my boundaries, in fact I tried to avoid you many times.
"Kokichi, you chose to cross a line. There is legitimately no scenario in which you 'had' to play a rotten trick on Prairie like you did, not even for the main goal you set it up for. You can either keep pulling those excuses out of your ass, or you can acknowledge you royally fucked up and apologize to her regardless of whether she forgives you or not," Rantaro plainly states.
"I didn't 'fuck up' anything and I'm not apologizing, especially when I know she's overreacting," Kokichi complains, just when I feel Korekiyo pull at the fluffy part of my sleeve for my attention. Looking at him, I see him usher me discreetly towards Shuichi who looks ready to move on from the room.
"Come on, let's keep going. Rantaro will be fine, he can hold Kokichi back for a bit so you don't have to be around him," Shuichi says, making me smile and follow with a quiet wave to Korekiyo as we leave the argument between Rantaro and Kokichi behind in his lab. I hope it's not bad that we're ditching Rantaro to deal with Leech Face... "Don't worry, Rantaro's the one that gave me the signal to get out while we still could."
I let out a small breath of relief at Shuichi's comment after he closes the door behind us, smiling when he holds out his arm for me to hook with like before. I happily oblige and we continue on our way further down the hall until we're greeted with a darker corridor.
My heart has taken quite a lot of abuse during this exploration, so I can't help but stop when I see the red bloody hue adorning the walls. At the top are these splotches of color that almost look like leaves for a second- before I realize it's just a gold yellow paint. All along it are black markings, some that resemble squiggling patterns and others that just look like...well, it's all very disastrous interior design.
I don't like it.
Going by how Shuichi stopped in his tracks at the exact same time as I did, I assume he feels the same way about the walls. Honestly, it's like someone cut out one type of building with its interior design, and then copied and pasted it as a patch onto another building. It's the tackiest looking horror scene I've ever seen- to a point that I'm actually not as scared as I was in the more subtle wood design of the area behind us.
"My eyes are straining just looking at that…!" I complain, reaching up to rub my eyes.
"Yeah...well, no choice but to keep going. Let's just keep our eyes open for important stuff like a flashback light. They didn't explicitly say it because of Monokuma's performance, but last time they told us we could find one hidden in the expanded areas of the building. I figure it should be the same in this case as well," Shuichi says, stepping forward so I match his pace beside him.
The hallway just gets even more eye straining as we continue in further, reaching another corner and turning it to find-
"Kya!" I squeak and squeeze Shuichi's arm when I see a face. My leg snaps up and I kick the face in question, my heel making contact and causing the head to snap and roll off onto the floor…
…
...Did I just decapitate someone?!
"Ah…! It's okay! It's just a statue, don't worry about-!" Shuichi starts when he registers my horrified face, only to be immediately cut off by a much louder and imposing voice behind us.
"DUDE WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" I hear someone scream bloody murder from behind us, only making me panic again and try to wrangle myself away from Shuichi to find somewhere to hide and hibernate for a million years.
"Prairie! Prairie, it's only Kaito!" Shuichi shouts in his struggle to keep me from bolting, though it takes me tiring out from trying to pull away before I eventually look around to see what actually happened. It's still kind of dark, but what I kicked was actually one of a few stone statues lined up along the blood hued hallway. They're decrepit statues that haven't been taken care of, two others besides the one I just beheaded are headless already. Lying on the floor at our feet is the head I kicked off in my panic, one which I realize must have not only scared me, but the guy that's cowering behind both Shuichi and I with his companion.
"I thought there was only one idiot here, but I guess there's two…" Maki huffs from Kaito's left, her red eyes narrowed on both Kaito and I. I'm surprised she's really here, but I refrain from making direct eye contact since I don't wanna start any fights this early...even if she did just insult me.
"I can't help what spooks me…" I mumble in embarrassment, pulling my hair over my cheeks to hide the heat of embarrassment climbing up my neck.
Kaito finally seems to return to his normal height, laughing in a strained awkward manner to blow away the tension. He hasn't even said anything yet, and I already don't buy his confidence.
"L-Let's keep going, this is...nothing for the U-Ultimate Astronaut!" Kaito claims, before quickly speeding down the hall to the other end. Maki follows wordlessly, though she seems annoyed by Kaito's demeanor as we fall into step behind her.
"You guys already looked at Korekiyo's lab?" Shuichi asks curiously, looking back over his shoulder as we approach what looks to be a red arch with three oddly blank scrolls hanging on the wall behind it. It's in the middle of the hall in front of the statues, impossible for anyone to ignore since it contrasts the darker red colors around it.
"We saw that nosy annoyance and Rantaro arguing. We'll go and check it after they're finished squabbling about Prairie," Maki simply comments, looking back at me with a scowl. I can't help the tug of mild unease at my heart when our eyes meet, up until it's quelled when she bluntly remarks, "Kokichi is stupid. He can pretend and pass it off, but he's socially incompetent."
She turns her gaze forward again, leaving me to wonder why she'd be telling me something like that. Is she saying that to make me feel better about the Kokichi thing? If she is...I guess it's nice knowing she has some sort of a soft side in her heart. Didn't she say before that she still didn't trust me though?
I dismiss the thought and compartmentalize it to ask later when we meet up in her lab, turning the last few corners where we spot Kaito standing in front of red and yellow spray painted double doors. There's also a bit of a green hue to the side, which makes it all the more appalling to look at.
"Judging by the door style, this looks like it could be a lab. Probably the Ultimate Artist's lab, if I'm to guess by the design," Shuichi says, making me scrunch my nose in disgust at it.
"The door is ugly. It looks more like a design for a door to a badly designed funhouse," I remark, looking back at Shuichi to see if he agrees. From the nervous laugh of amusement that leaves him, I can't really tell, but at least he thinks I'm funny. That's a win in my book at least.
"Technically this whole school is a badly designed funhouse if you really think about it," Kaito huffs, before reaching out to open the door for us. "Let's just go in and check this shit out. I wanna get out of here as soon as possible, my bright soul can't take it up here."
He said it, I don't wanna be up here anymore either! And we still have another set of rooms to look at down the other hall I ignored!
The door opens easily, revealing a vast room with very little design and art regalia. The only indicator that this room is belonging to an artist is the fact that there are art goods sitting on several areas of the floor, among them being painting gear and sculpting tools. There's quite a few tables up and I see large canvases of varying sizes resting against the wall to the far back where it's out of the way.
"Well, I guess you were right. I'm still surprised Angie, Kiibo, and Himiko didn't wanna check out the new expansion. Angie would probably be really happy to see all this stuff…" I say, finally releasing Shuichi's arm so I can walk over to a table and pick up a mallet. She really uses things like these to make stuff? I wonder if I could somehow mimic her technique to make something using my intuition? That would be pretty interesting.
"There's even blocks of wax here...can Angie make wax statues too? That's just a little too creepy for my taste," Kaito comments beside a stack of large cylinders. How is color added to wax art pieces anyways? Are features just painted over it or something?
I join him and reach over to knock on the wax. It absorbs most of the impact, making a deep low sound when my knuckles hit it. Does she have to melt it to move it around? How does she do it without it becoming too mushy? Wax is weird.
My attention eventually moves to a door on the side, making my eyebrows knit together curiously. I reach out to the sliding lock present, pushing it open and stepping out. Kaito joins me, looking out with a hum of interest.
"I guess there's two ways in. That's strange that this has a sliding lock though," Kaito states, just as I step out to walk out further into the hall. Reaching the corner, I peek to see the empty hall ahead where the ugly yellow and red door is. I keep going, eventually reaching the yellow door and turning the knob to step back in. I can see Kaito at the other door joined by Shuichi and Maki at his side, the three glancing back when they hear me come in.
"It just goes around and leads to the main hall," I say, thumbing the lock of the door as I close it behind me. "It's weird that the locks don't match. Were they just out of cylinder-lock door knobs to make a pair for the room, or did they get lazy with the back door?"
"...Who knows. Either way, I don't see anything else interesting here," Maki says, glancing up at the lights and then towards Kaito. "I did what you wanted. Happy? Let's go. I'm sure you're eager to leave...even though this was your idea."
"Oh thank god, if this is the last time I ever have to come up here, I'd be so happy," Kaito sighs in exaggerated relief and we all walk out of the lab, closing the door behind us and making our way down the hall. "Maybe Rantaro and Kokichi are finished fighting now, you sure you don't wanna look in there really quick?"
"I said a few rooms. One more room is too many," Maki objects, prompting Kaito to open his mouth to beg. It's at that moment that we reach the statues again, making him snap his jaw shut and speed up to get past them as quickly as possible. On my end, I just shrink closer to Shuichi's side and step around the fallen statue head, which Shuichi pauses to kick lightly into a corner so nobody ends up tripping over it. "You're acting like a child...I knew you were an idiot that talked out of your ass at times, but you didn't strike me as some kind of wimp."
"H-Hey, you said you'd stop calling me that," Kaito complains as Shuichi and I catch up to them, the four of us stopping at the door to the Ultimate Anthropologist Lab.
"I get to say it one more time if you're dragging me in to see another room," Maki claims, pulling at the lower hem of her top to even it out. With that, she turns to face me. "Don't forget tonight, Prairie."
Kaito curiously seems to brighten up a bit when he notices Maki's words towards me, smiling and letting her go into the room first. Once she's a few paces away, Kaito looks to us and lowers his voice.
"Are you and Maki becoming friends?" He asks, making me blink before shrugging with a nervous smile.
"I don't know...she might just be inviting me to hang out so she can tell me off like she always does," I half joke, causing Kaito to purse his lips in thought before casting me a blinding grin and a thumbs up.
"Have some faith in her. She's a good person, trust me! My gut is always right with these things!" Kaito declares, thumping a fist against his stomach proudly. "Just take care of her like you're taking care of my sidekick right here, got it?"
I nod in confirmation and Shuichi laughs meekly, though it's not out of discomfort or dislike of Kaito's treatment of him. They're obviously friends that are comfortable enough to joke around with. Sort of like Rantaro and me!
I miss Rantaro.
Glancing around Kaito, I can see it's only Korekiyo inside the lab at the moment, already invested in giving Maki a monologue about the gold katana. She surprisingly seems somewhat interested in what he's saying, by the look of her comfortable body language.
I wonder where he went...and speaking of, I thought Kokichi said he left Gonta with Kaito and Maki?
"By the way, where's Gonta?" I query, making Kaito turn and point down the last hall we have to traverse through.
"One of those rooms. He thought he saw a bug or something, so he's probably still in that area looking for the-" Kaito breaks off into a cough, quickly bringing up his fist to his mouth to cover it and settle himself.
"Whoa, are you okay?" I ask, making Kaito's magenta eyes flick up towards me. A quick wipe and he's casting Shuichi and I another bright smile that immediately washes away my initial concern. By Shuichi's dropping shoulders, he seems calmed by his smile as well.
"It's fine! Just inhaled some saliva, that's all. Anyways, catch you later!" Kaito says, stepping in and closing the door behind himself. The quick dismissal is what quickly has me concerned yet again, making me turn towards Shuichi who seems none the wiser and is already leading us down the hall.
"Hey, that was kinda weird," I comment, making Shuichi stop to turn towards me.
"Huh? 'Weird'...why do you say that?" Shuichi asks, meeting my gaze when I let go of his arm and look back at the door to Korekiyo's lab.
"...I might just be looking into it, never mind. I'm sure Kaito really did only inhale saliva or something. He seems like he could be clumsy like that," I comment, smiling as I add, "Just like Rantaro! It's always the tall ones...I'm surprised Kiyo is so graceful."
"What about me?" Shuichi asks, making me look up at him. He smiles a little. "I'm a bit tall too…"
"...You're not that tall," I remark, watching as he deflates slightly from my verdict. "But you're definitely a clumsy oaf either way."
Shuichi's surprised expression is enough to make me burst out laughing. I make a jump of glee and promptly skip ahead towards the doors of the next hall, which eventually snaps Shuichi out of his daze enough to hurry after me.
What do you know? I'm not so scared of this floor anymore!
❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀ 〰〰〰〰〰〰 ❀
❀ End of 4.6 - Floor of the Dead ❀