Chapter 9:
. Maizono stared at horror at the scene that had played out before her eyes. Naegi was slumped against the bleachers. He appeared passed out, and a little bruised. But for once, Maizono's attention was not on the hooded boy. She couldn't help but stare at what lay in front of her. Suffering from bruises all over, and coughing up blood from the mouth, Enoshima had stabbed Oogami with a giant spear near her appendix. Oogami was also coughing up blood, and other scratches on her shoulders and knees had left blood trailing down her forearms and legs like overflowing rivers throughout her muscles.
. There was a determined glare in Enoshima's eyes.
"You fight well." Oogami conceded. "It is not often I find an opponent with such strength of character."
"Same to you. I guess we'll call this a stalemate." Enoshima said.
"Impressive. You're only the second person I haven't beaten in combat."
. Enoshima started coughing up even more blood.
"Impressive. Who's the first?"
"My boyfriend."
"Why am I not surprised?"
. Maizono still couldn't process what her eyes were seeing.
"Any minute now. Any minute now. You know, I didn't expect to open this school life of mutual killing with a double knockout." Monokuma had appeared next to her. He appeared impatient. "But you know what, a double knockout is probably the most exciting way to open this up. I mean, it's already exceeded my expectations in every way.
"What? What?! You are so messed up."
"You like those spears? The Spears of Gungnir are a little trump card I have for unruly students." Monokuma explained.
"Nn-o-o way." Maizono stammered. Her eyes were getting wider and wider.
"Yes, way. I have to some way to maintain order. Did you really think that I wouldn't?"
"Maizono! Maizono!" The rest of the class had come rushing over. They stared in shock and awe at the scene in front of them.
"Sakura!" Asahina shouted as the Enoshima and Oogami collapsed away from each other.
. Kirigiri immediately rushed over to Enoshima who seemed to be gasping for air. After checking that Naegi was still alive, she joined Kirigiri at Enoshima's side. (He had been knocked out as Enoshima threw him off her back to get him out of the way of Oogami's last punch.) Asahina was at Oogami's side.
"Enoshima. Enoshima." Kirigiri shook her gently.
"Kirigiri. Enough."
"Come on, don't die." Maizono pleaded.
"Judging from my blood loss, I only have a few minutes left. Can you make a promise?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Finish this game. Put an end to this. Get Naegi out."
"Any last words you want me to take outside?" Kirgiri asked.
"Yeah, a few."
"What are they?"
"I'm sorry for everything. Tell my sister that no matter how much we disagreed in life, no matter how unreasonable she got, I always loved her, and I always will. And I hope she gets her life back together someday." Enoshima conitnued to breathe heavily.
"Kirigiri?" Enoshima could only whisper at this point.
"Yes, Enoshima." Kirigiri responded, putting her ear near Enoshima's lips.
"Mukuro."
"Mukuro. Mukuro who?"
"Mukuro Ikusaba."
"Is she your sister?" Maizono asked.
. Enoshima closed her eyes for the last time, and muttered... "It was a nice name, wasn't it? It's so nice hearing that name... one last time." Kirigiri felt her pulse fade away from her wrist.
"Yes, I suppose it is." Kirigiri muttered underneath her breath.
. To the surprise of most, a cry of "SAKURA!" broke the silence.
"Seems Oogami's gone too." Kirigiri noted.
"So, they're both gone?" Leon hesistantly asked as Asahina started tearing up. "That's really it?"
. And suddenly, a pre-recorded message played on the televisions. "Ding Dang Dong. We got a corpse here. We'll be holding a Class Trial pretty soon, so make good use of the time you've got." And then the message repeated itself.
"Class trial?" Togami asked. "How interesting."
"And why did the message repeat twice?" Ishimaru said.
"Because there are two dead bodies." Monokuma explained. "Now since I don't feel like repeating myself, I'll be back to explain the class trial when he wakes up." He said pointing his paw at the unconscious Naegi.
"Enoshima's life may have been a joke! But Oogami was certainly the punchline for it!" Monokuma chortled as he walked out. Asahina clamped a hand to her mouth.
"YOU BASTARD!" Leon shouted. "I'm gonna to tear you apart limb from limb."
"DON'T!" Maizono counter-shouted. "He'll pull one of his spears of Gungnir out and shisk-ke-bob you!"
"What?!"
. Maizono pointed to the spear that lay in between Oogami and Enoshima's corpse. Everybody turned to look at it.
"So that's the murder weapon." Fujisaki noted.
"Indeed that looks to be the case." Kirigiri said. "But we're going to need Naegi to wake up soon. He's the one who saw everything that happen first-hand."
"I hardly think we'll need him. After all, we saw what went down." Oowada said.
"No, we're going need Naegi. If we want closure, then we're going to have to get what happened from him." Kirigiri replied.
"Maizono, what are the spears of Gungnir?" Fujisaki asked.
"I don't know." Maizono replied. "Monokuma mentioned that he could pull them out on command. He said 'The Spears of Gungnir are a little trump card I have for unruly students.'"
"Seriously?" Leon replied.
"D-d-do-o-es anybody recognize what 'Gungnir' even is from?" Fukawa stuttered. "I think that's a reference to something."
"Well, we'll soon figure it out." Togami said. "I'll be back. There's something I need to check out first."
"Aw hell, like we're letting you leave." Oowada said, cracking his knuckles.
"Stand aside, we both know I'm not the murderer." Togami replied. "Now, let me leave and go investigate something."
"What do you need to investigate outside for?" Leon asked. "The whole scene is right in front of us."
"No, it's not."
"What do you mean?" Leon said.
"This whole school is the crime scene. Don't you understand that?" Togami replied. "Murders can take place anywhere and everywhere within these walls. You really don't think the scope is just limited to see what's in front of you?"
"Togami is right." Kirigiri said. "But I'll accompany you to make sure you're not doing something that would endanger the rest of us."
"Wwwhhhatttt?" Fukawa shrieked. "How dare you, you slinking whore!"
. Everybody's mouths opened in shock. Even Togami's. Kirigiri, however, remained unfazed and as cool as a cucumber.
"You're more than welcome to come along, Fukawa. An extra pair of eyes can't hurt." Kirigiri smiled softly.
Fukawa's shrieking stopped dead in its track. "Seriously? You promise me you won't make a move on my White Knight?"
"Why would I? He's an asshole. Seriously, the rest of us are trying to figure out what you see in him." Kirigiri snarked.
"How dare you say such things about my White Knight?" Fukawa replied indignantly, and instantly the mood was lightened a little bit by laughter.
. Togami sweatdropped.
"Yeah, I'll come along. I don't do so well with blood." Fukawa said. "I've been averting my eyes the whole time."
"Alright, shall we go then?"
"Where do you think you're going?" Monokuma reappeared. "You're supposed to wait here."
"You said you would only explain once Naegi wakes up, but we don't know when he's going to wake up." Kirigiri replied. "We're being productive in the meantime. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that we're supposed to figure out what happened."
"So what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Leon asked.
"I suppose the first thing to do is the guard the crime scene." Yamada suggested.
"Yeah, that's probably a good thing." Ishimaru said.
"So... who should guard the scene?" Fujisaki questioned.
"How 'bout Oowada and Ishimaru?" Leon suggested. "They're clearly the two with the most strength still alive."
"But are you sure that's a good idea?" Fujisaki said. "I mean, the two were just arguing not too long ago."
"Will you two not please promise not to argue about Naegi's hoodie?" Celeste snarked.
"Fine, 'princess'." Oowada growled.
"Yes ma'am." Ishimaru saluted.
Celeste smirked. "Alright, Yamada. You follow me."
"Why me?" Yamada asked.
"It's best in this situation for nobody to be solo."
"I see. What you're saying is that you are evaluating that I'm the least likely to attack you." Yamada responded.
"Yes. But not in so many words."
Leon suddenly had a bright idea.
"Wait a minute, why don't Fujisaki and I investigate Enoshima's room while you and Yamada search Oogami's room?"
Celeste stopped. "Wouldn't that be an invasion of privacy?"
"They've been killed. At the very least, I want to know why Oogami suddenly snapped. She didn't seem like to the type who was just out and out suddenly attack Naegi. Especially out in the open like this. And Enoshima doesn't seem to be the type that would put her life at risk for Naegi. I mean, especially considering Maizono is right there, and more than happy to go do that instead." Leon said, gestering to the blue-haired girl who was holding Naegi's head in her lap.
"I get your point." Celeste pondered. "Kirigiri did say we would need closure for this."
"Alright. That's all well and good." Fujisaki said. "But how are we going to get in? Do you think we could ask Monokuma to let us in?"
"Nah." Leon said. "There's another reason I made that suggestion. Look at this." Leon had picked up Enoshima's room key.
"And Oogami is likely to have hers as well. I see where you're going with this." Celeste said.
"Wait, what are you guys doing! You can't just go riling through Sakura's stuff!" Asahina objected.
"Asahina, we need closure on this." Celeste said.
"You can't. I won't let you." Asahina said, clutching the key and backing away from everybody. There were tears streaming down her face.
"But there might be a clue, Asahina." Fujisaki said, pleading with her.
. Asahina shook her head. "If any of you were dead, would you want them to go through your stuff?"
"I can't speak for anybody else here, but yes." Leon said. "Absolutely. I would want them to go through my stuff. I'm dead, it's not like I can use it. I only ask that they treat it with respect and take care of it."
"What about you guys? Oowada? Ishimaru?" Asahina asked.
"Hey, if it were to help the rest of ya to figure out who killed me off. Sure. You guys have the green light to do so." Oowada said.
"It would be prudent to allow my classmates access to any resources they need to solve my death." Ishimaru said.
"Aoi, please." Leon said, holding out his hand."The key. We need it. Please."
Asahina reluctantly handed over the key.
"Come on, Fujisaki, let's check out Enoshima's room first." Leon said to the timid teenager.
"Leon, are we sticking to the original plan where Yamada and I check Oogami's room, and you and Fujisaki check Enoshima's room? " Celeste asked Leon.
"Looks like it." Leon replied.
"No. If anybody is going to Sakura's room to investigate, it's going to be Leon." Asahina objected. "I gave him the key and him only."
"Alright, then how about Celeste and I go through Oogami's room, and Yamada and Fujisaki check out Enoshima's room?" Leon suggested.
"You really want Yamada, of all people, in the model's room?" Celeste pointed out.
"Right. I see the flaws there." Leon agreed. "How about this then? Yamada stays here as a rotation guard for Ishimaru and Oowada. You and Fujisaki check out Enoshima's room, and Aoi and I will take Sakura's room?" Leon came up with that solution.
"Fair enough." Celeste said. "Asahina?"
"Yeah, that works." Asahina said, somewhat dejectedly.
"Alright, Fujisaki, are you ready to go?" Celeste asked the programmer whom was now twiddling thumbs.
"Sure."
. A little while later, both of the girls' rooms had been thoroughly searched. Celeste and Fujisaki rejoined Leon and Asahina in the gymansium, the door flew open.
"Holy shit, dude! Monokuma was right! Ogre and Enoshima really are dead."
"Hagakure!" Maizono was shocked and rightfully so. Where in the world had this guy been?
"How dare you call Sakura 'Ogre'?" Asahina was pissed off.
"Hey, that was Monokuma's nickname! Not mine!" Hagakure pleaded.
"Never mind that. What the hell were you doing?" Leon asked, with his arms folded. "Two of our classmates are dead. So what are you going to do about it?"
"I know what I'm going to do! I'm gonna to use my crystal ball to tell ya how they died!" Hagakure said, making grand sweeping gestures while palming his sphere.
"Yeah, well, too bad for you-"Celeste started, before Leon cut her off.
"No. No. I'm curious to see where this goes." Leon said, waving her off like he often used to do with his catcher. "Let's see how accurate the Shaman is."
"Alright. My crystal ball is telling me that Enoshima and Ogre were actually lovers and this was a lovers quarrel to the death!"
. Asahina's eye twitched.
" Oh, wow. Is he serious?" Ishimaru asked.
"For once, we're in agreement." Oowada agreed.
"Try again, you dumbass, Sakura had a boyfriend." Asahina seethingly replied.
"I once watched this movie called 'Billy Madison'." Leon said. "I'm going to quote it for you. 'What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard... Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.'
Hagakure missed the hint and tried again.
"They were both part of the conspiracy of this place, and they killed each other because otherwise we would have found out about them!"
"I highly doubt that." Leon deadpanned.
"Well, then, they were rival members of the Walrus Faction and they were attempt to curry favor with the leader by finishing each other off!"
"Somehow I don't think that's right." Fujisaki suggested.
"Tell me, Hagakure. Is this 'Walrus Faction' competing with the 'Carpenter Faction'?" Celeste joked.
"I don't get it."
"Ugh. Never mind."
" Was Oogami attempting to prevent Enoshima from joining up as Monokuma's mole?"
"If that's the case, then why did Oogami start attacking Naegi?" Leon continued.
"Ah. Fair enough. But what if Enoshima was preventing Oogami from attacking Monokuma?"
"As far we know, Monokuma had nothing to do with this incident until he announced the students' deaths." Asahina said.
"Oh, well, then were they competing for the affections of Naegi?"
"Like hell they were!" Maizono screamed.
"Ow, Maizono. My ears. Please." Naegi said, clutching the sides of his head.
"Oh, wow, the dumbass actually furthered our plot advancement." Yamada said.
"Well, how 'bout -?" Hagakure tried another suggestion.
"No. NO MORE." Celeste said. "You have fired six stupid suggestions. You have used up your revolver of ammo. You're not allowed to 'reload' for the seventh crack at it! I didn't think it was possible, but you're even more of a dumbass than Yamada!" Celeste said, breathing slightly heavier than normal.
"Celeste, that was mean." Asahina said.
"It's okay. I finds myself often-insulting." Yamada said.
"I meant about Hagakure, not you."
"Oh, wow."
"Anyway - the suggestion that Naegi gets a harem furthers the plot?" Monokuma said, popping up out of nowhere. "Naegi, do you know what you have to do now? You must hook up with everyone, and I mean everyone."
"Even Fujisaki and Yamada?" Naegi joked, lifting his head off of Maizono's lap for a moment.
"Especially Yamada and Fujisaki."
"Hahahaha. No."
"While I can see that nobody would ever want to hook up with Yamada, what's wrong with Fujisaki, other than the fact that Maizono will be the end of you if
you do." Celeste asked.
"I do not care if Naegi doesn't hook up with me. I specialize in only girls of the 2-D variety!" Yamada stated.
"And that statement is all anybody needs." Celeste snarked.
"Fujisaki is just ... too adorable. I couldn't." Naegi admitted.
"Uh-Naegi. Seriously?" The programmer sweat-dropped
"Yes, you are. It's insane."
"As the personal pinnacle of adorableness, I can second that." Monokuma raised his paw.
. Meanwhile, away from Fujisaki's adorableness, Kirigiri and Togami were looking around on the newly-opened second floor. They were in the library.
"Ordinarily, I would be investigating the deaths of Oogami and Enoshima. But I think it's pretty obvious that they finished each other off. That being said, we'll still need Naegi to tell everybody what happened when he wakes up." Kirigiri explained.
"You seemed oddly logical for a high-school girl." Togami commented. "What's your talent anyway?"
"If I haven't told anybody else, even Naegi, why would I tell you?"
"Ah, I see. Your talent is still a card you want to hold, is that it?"
"If that's what you want to believe, go ahead. I won't stop you."
. Kirigiri stopped when she saw a piece of paper and a Manila envelope.
"Hey, Togami, remember that piece of paper you saw me find?"
"Yeah."
"Take a look of this."
. While Togami and Kirigiri stared at the various pieces of paper laid out in front of them, Fukawa was browsing the fictional section and she was liking what she was seeing.
"Ah. Books, the only thing always guaranteed to relieve some of my anxiety. This library seems to be very good. Even in just the fictional sections, it certainly has a lot of variety. I've already seen Carroll, Doyle, and Joyce." Fukawa muttered in thought. She hoped that she would get a chance to maintain access to the library. There seemed to be something for everybody here if she looked hard enough.
. The three continued their exploration of the library when Naegi came up to the second floor.
"Ah, I should have known. I figured you three would be on the library. Monokuma said he's going to explain part 2 now. All three of you will have to come back now."
AUTHOR NOTE: Please go ahead and leave a review or recommend this to fellow fans. I want to hear the reactions from readers. This is my longest Chapter of the story so far. The 1st trial will start in Chapter 10.