And here we are again! I'm really sorry for the trouble with the previous chapter. But I hope you've had enough time to enjoy it now - because this next chapter is up and ready to go! On the menu for the day is the investigation and the first part of the trial. Enjoy.

Also, congratulations to coquetteblossom for cracking Chapter Three, Part Five's lucky number code! Go to sysrestoreblog to find the solution.

TW: Pretty intense medical stuff. (I apologize for any inaccuracy I'm not a doctor)


Chapter Three, Part Six

Hinata dropped to the ground, grabbed Souda by the shoulders, and rolled him onto his back, while Togami lifted his head and torso to rest upright on his leg. Hinata couldn't see if Kuzuryuu had followed them, or even where he was. He was focused on Souda's frozen expression, his ripped, blood-soaked hospital gown, and the deep, crisscrossed gashes across his chest.

"SOUDA!" he yelled, "Souda, it's me!" Souda's eyelids flickered open and shut, but it was clear he wasn't fully conscious. "Come on, stay with me –"

"I don't think he'll respond," Togami said, his voice strained. He pressed two fingers against the side of his throat, just like he had with Komaeda, though Hinata could see Souda's chest moving up and down with each jagged breath. "But he's alive – Kuzuryuu!"

Hinata heard a strangled sound from behind his ear, and looked to find Kuzuryuu staring wide-eyed down at Souda. His teeth were clenched, but it was impossible to tell just what kind of emotion he was – or wasn't – trying to convey. "Go and get the others," Togami said without waiting for him to answer. "Tell them everything and meet us back at the hospital."

Kuzuryuu stood frozen for what felt like an age, looking back and forth between Togami and Souda. "Kuzuryuu?" Hinata said, but before he could say anything else Kuzuryuu was off like a shot, not once looking back or acknowledging him.

But he couldn't think about that now – he had to focus on Souda. He scooped his arms under Souda's legs, and lifted him together with Togami, who held him by the torso. Together they ran for the door as fast as they could; Souda moaned and shook, then fell limp in their arms, fully unconscious. Hinata could still see him breathing, but it was clear he didn't have much time. "We're going to make it," he repeated to himself, focusing on Souda and any sign that he was alive. "We're going to…we're going to do something…" He felt his mind go stiff. "Wait, when we get there – what are we going to do?"

"We're better off at the hospital than we are here." Hinata knew immediately that Togami knew as little about what to do as he did. "We'll find something."

"Well, yeah, but –" Hinata tried not to panic. He hadn't felt anything like this for anyone else, but now there was a deadline, a pressure to save his life, and it was making his thoughts run faster than he could think them. "I don't know the first thing to do, and Tsumiki, shit, Tsumiki's –"

"Dead? Is that what you were going to say?" Hinata jerked to the side of the entrance, just in time to avoid Monobear, who was waddling next to him, keeping perfect pace. "Or was it something like, "our only hope?" or "the only one that could save Souda-kun?" Cause that'd be pretty pathetic!"

Monobear laughed and laughed, but if he had anything else to say, Togami didn't have the patience to hear it – he pushed ahead without a word, and Hinata followed behind him, struggling to keep up. He could still hear Monobear talking behind them. "Oh, what's this for?" he said. "Am I slowing you down?"

"Hey, shut up!" Hinata shouted. Souda's eyelids were still twitching, but his breaths were slower and shorter than before.

"Then you don't want my help?" Monobear held his paws to his chest in a mock exaggeration of heartbreak. "Then I'm not sure I even want to give it! I could've taken him right out of your hands and given him back good as new –"

"And what makes you think we'd ever take you at your word?" Togami said darkly. "One of us attacked him. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Monobear stopped and stared blankly at them all; Togami stopped as well, and without him Hinata couldn't go any further. "I only said I could've," Monobear said after a moment, "not that I would've. But doesn't it eat away at you, Togami-kun? That the despair of not knowing whether he'll live or die could've been resolved with something out of your reach?"

They were almost to the hospital now; another twenty seconds and they'd be in the lobby door. Togami didn't answer Monobear, and Hinata couldn't find a way to before Monobear got tired of waiting. "But it's not impossible to save him," he said. "There's bandages, blood packs, and painkiller shots inside, but it's on you to figure out what to do with them, or even if that's enough! You bastards are the ones playing this game, not me!"

Monobear pulled ahead and stopped by the hospital door, leaning against it and folding his arms. "Not to mention…we're still having a trial, whether he lives or dies. So I don't think any of the despair to come can be avoided at all…"

He laughed and vanished then, but Hinata couldn't get what he would have said to him out of his head. "The trial," he said out loud. "Tsumiki's trial…"

"I know, but it's going to have to wait," Togami interrupted. He slammed the hospital door open, and pulled them through into the lobby. "We'll have to time to investigate when Souda's stable. Come on!"


Hinata could swear they'd gone from the Titty Typhoon to the hospital in no time at all, but the trip to the spare ward felt like an eternity.

The morning announcement went off the moment they stepped in the door. Hinata forced himself not to listen to Monobear's voice any longer, and focused on getting across, getting through the door to the wards, and running past the third ward and into the spare one, where they placed Souda on top of the bed.

He was still breathing, but only faintly, and the bedsheets were quickly soaking through with his blood. "Alright," Hinata said, struggling not to panic. "Bandages, blood packs, painkillers…"

"And disinfectant," Togami added.

"Right, yeah," Hinata said, surprised he hadn't thought of it himself. "I'll go get them."

Togami gave him a quick nod, and he sped out of the room and up the stairs to the supply room. He found the bandages and disinfectant pretty easily, and while he only vaguely recognized the medical name on the syringes he found, the label did say they relieved pain. A refrigerator near the back of the room held the blood packs – or rather, blood pack singular, as there was only one small unit, labeled O-negative, connected to a needle.

Hinata grabbed everything, left the room, and ran down the stairs, but as he came close to the landing he heard footsteps running down the hall. "Hoeehh!" he heard a familiar voice say. "Ibuki heard running, but now she can't see anyone!"

"Mioda!" Hinata yelled as he ran by her. She'd stopped in the middle of the hallway, still wearing her hospital gown and looking very confused. "Aha!" she said when she saw him. "So Hajime-chan was making all the noise!" She grinned, but only for a second before her eyes went wide. "But wait, what's Hajime-chan doing here? And why's he got a bag of blood? Is this a robbery?"

"No time to explain," Hinata said, opening the door. "Come on!"

He ran into the spare room, with Mioda following behind him. "No time? But Ibuki still has about a billon questions – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Hinata didn't look back to see her - he was too focused on what she was seeing. "Kazuichi-chan?! Wh –"

"Souda's dying," Togami said, grabbing the disinfectant from Hinata's hands. "Quick, take the bandages. Hinata, get the IV set up!"

"Dying –!?" Mioda was only frozen for a second before she ran and grabbed the bandages from Hinata's hands. Hinata set the syringes on the stool and hooked the blood pack up to the IV stand, while Togami lifted Souda onto his side and Mioda applied the disinfectant to a sterile napkin. Souda's eyes snapped open the second the napkin hit the wound, and he howled in pain until Togami grabbed a strip of bandage, tied it around Souda's arm, and jabbed the painkiller into his elbow. The effect was immediate – he relaxed, though Hinata couldn't tell whether or not he was still awake.

This done, Togami took the IV needle from Hinata and inserted it just above where he'd administered the painkiller. By this point Mioda was done with the disinfectant, so all three of them attempted to stretch the bandages across the gashes on Souda's chest, but they bled through within seconds. "Shit," Hinata said, "it's not working!"

"Of course it isn't –!" Togami gave the IV stand a quick glance, then took off without another word – Hinata could hear the thumps of his footsteps as he ran upstairs. He looked back at Souda, who was shuddering but still bleeding, then to Mioda, who looked horrified beyond belief.

"This is bad, this is bad!" she said. "Ibuki already had a million questions, but now she has a billion more! She doesn't even know where to start!" She paused. "Wait, no, she does! Why was Ibuki sleeping at the hospital? And if Hajime-chan and Byakuya-chan are doing all the medical magic, then where's Mikan-chan?"

"S-she –" Hinata was about to answer, but then stopped. Perhaps it had been the stress, but he hadn't considered that Mioda shouldn't have been any state to ask any questions at all, unless...

He reached forward and put his hand on Mioda's forehead. "The fever," he said. "It's gone!"

"Fever?" Mioda's eyes went wide. "What fever? Ibuki isn't sick!"

"Wait – then you don't remember?" Before Mioda could answer Togami returned, balancing medical-grade sewing kits and an IV bag. He passed the sewing kits to Hinata and Mioda, and then placed the IV bag on the nightstand.

"I can't believe I forgot about this," he said, rolling up his left sleeve as he spoke. "If we don't get those closed before the blood runs out…"

"Wait, what are you –?!" Hinata winced as Togami stuck the IV needle into his wrist. A thin flow of blood ran down the tube and into the bag, but the look on Togami's face told Hinata he couldn't stay to stare – he opened the sewing kit and took off after Mioda, who was already set to go.

Hinata only half-knew how to sew, and while Mioda and Togami took up much of the slack it was still a long and horrifying process. Before they could finish and bandage him, they heard a loud series of footsteps in the hall. Hinata turned just in time to see Kuzuryuu burst into the room, followed by the others from the motel.

Hinata's mind was so overwhelmed that he could hardly distinguish the yells, the expressions of shock and concern, and the attempts to intervene and help. He was sure that only a few people had rushed forward, and that at least one of them was Nidai holding Souda still as they wrapped him again, this time with much less difficulty.

Only when the bandages were fastened did Hinata's adrenaline leave him. He dropped to his knees, panting heavily, and only barely registering that Owari was asking him if he was okay.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, then took her outstretched hand and stood, leaning against the rails of the bed for support. For the first time he noticed that he was splattered with Souda's blood, as were Mioda and Togami. Souda lay peacefully on the bed, apparently asleep, his entire abdomen wrapped in bandages. The empty O-negative bag had been replaced with Togami's blood, though Hinata couldn't say when it had happened. Mioda, Togami, Nidai, Owari, and Koizumi were still gathered around Souda's bed. Saionji was standing some distance back, Kuzuryuu was sitting on a nearby stool, and Tanaka was leaning against the wall, looking down.

"I don't know enough to say when he'll wake up," Togami said. Hinata got the impression he'd tuned into the middle of a conversation that had already been in progress. "But he's out of danger, for now."

"Yeah…but it's unbelievable," Owari said, looking Souda up and down. "That you guys found him in time, I mean."

"Well, we didn't really find him," Hinata said. "Kuzuryuu saw the tracks outside the Titty Typhoon."

"Kuzuryuu?" All eyes turned to Kuzuryuu, who met them with a surprised look. "Hold on," Nidai said, "What were you even doing up that early?"

Kuzuryuu's expression hardened. "I was just walking," he said, his tone rising with every word. "And for the record, the last time I needed to stab someone I couldn't hold the knife. You were all there, so you can stop thinking what you're thinking."

"We…were not," Tanaka said, his words muffled through his scarf.

"You sure sound like you were," Kuzuryuu said.

"Yeah, I wonder why we'd ever suspect you of murder," Saionji said, "especially if it was an easy target –"

"Hiyoko-chan, that's enough," Koizumi said. Her eyes were on Souda, and her expression was unreadable. "They all worked together to save his life," she went on, "but we should've been here sooner to help..."

"There's no use in dwelling on that now." Togami sighed, and looked back down at Souda. By Hinata's estimation, he looked very tired – but the look was only fleeting. In a second he was looking back at all of them, and his expression was stern. "Especially as I'm sure you know our work is far from over."

An eerie silence fell over the room, and everyone's expressions grew stiff. "So it's true, then," Koizumi said, looking even more distraught. "About Mikan-chan…"

"Huh? What about Mikan-chan?" Mioda tilted her head, spilling her hair on Souda's lap. "Hajime-chan wouldn't tell Ibuki where she was! Does Mahiru-chan know?"

"Well, we were kind of in the middle of everything..." Hinata tried his best to keep eye contact with Mioda. "But Tsumiki's in the other ward. She's…she's dead."

Mioda's eyes went wide, and with a yell she pushed past Hinata and ran for the door. The others took off behind her without so much as a discussion, and Hinata joined them in the rear, while Togami stayed behind with Souda.

There was a crush at the door as everyone tried to enter at once, and by the time Hinata got inside the body discovery announcement had already finished. He found everyone gathered around Tsumiki's corpse, coming as close as they could without touching her. "Jesus," Kuzuryuu said. "I mean, I knew, but …"

"Mi…!" Mioda was in too much shock to speak, but tears were leaking out of her eyes. "Mik…Mikan…!"

"She doesn't even look like she was harmed," Nidai said, rapidly looking her up and down. "Did someone poison her?"

"Togami said she was strangled," Hinata said, stepping forward and pulling Tsumiki's collar down. "See? There's marks on her neck from whatever the killer used."

"How horrible…" Koizumi was looking right in Tsumiki's eyes, which were still wide open, rendering her expression grotesque. "This…what did Mikan-chan ever do to deserve this…?"

Her voice was small, almost scared – and if Hinata could believe his own intuition, he could say that it sounded more like a question than simple indignation. "I don't know," he said, looking at her. "Nothing, I'm sure… but there's nothing we can do about it now, except...what we always do."

"Right…solve the murder, you mean." Koizumi clenched her teeth. "And…Souda's attack, too…"

"But Souda survived his ordeal," Tanaka said. "Mystery it may be, but we have not the same urgency in solving it."

"It still happened around the same time Tsumiki was killed," Hinata said. "So if there's anything from his attack that might help solve her murder, we need to examine them both as closely as we can."

"I hope there isn't," Saionji said. "That'd be even more disappointing. How do you mess up murdering someone that badly?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Saionji – apart from Koizumi, who kept her eyes on Tsumiki. "Hiyoko-chan," she muttered under her breath, "Don't do this now…"

"I mean, someone had to get to the side character and the pig bitch eventually," Saionji said, clearly buoyed by the attention, before anyone could interrupt her. "But why wouldn't they check if the side character was dead before they just left him there? You really wasted all that effort if you weren't even going to do it right."

"Hiyoko-chan, I've told you, that's enough –"

"And would he even be that hard to kill?" Saionji went on over her. "Unless they'd already killed the pig bitch and they just wanted to see him suffer –"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" Koizumi shouted, whirling on Saionji. "Why don't you ever listen when I tell you to stop?!"

Hinata heard a few gasps from behind him, but no one looked nearly as shocked as Saionji – her mouth hung open, trembling as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Koizumi stared her down, her body shaking with every breath – but then she relaxed, and hung her head again. "Forget it," Koizumi said. "Just forget it."

"But –" Saionji squeaked, looking, if it was possible, scared. "But –"

"I said forget it. Don't we have more important things to talk about?" She turned to the rest of the group, as if daring them to intervene. Hinata wasn't going to be the one to say anything. Certainly he wanted to, on some level, but this looked more like something best left between Koizumi and Saionji, something none of them were meant to see. And Koizumi was, after all, right. There was a corpse in the room – they couldn't let anything else get in their way.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hinata saw Mioda look left, then right, and then lift her hand – but she didn't want for anyone's attention before she spoke. "Um," she said, "Ibuki didn't want to bring this up, because a lot of other things were happening at once, but now that Mahiru-chan mentioned more important things…" She lowered her hand, and raised an eyebrow. "Hajime-chan said something about a fever. Is that why Ibuki can't remember coming to the hospital?"

A spark flashed in Hinata's mind – in all the hubbub, he'd forgotten that issue. "So you don't remember anything?" he said. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Uh, going to bed?" Mioda said.

"It may be more productive to ask what happened last night," Tanaka said.

"Huh? Last night was the fireworks show!" Mioda said. "Did something else happen that Ibuki missed?"

"I don't know how much I can explain right now, but the fireworks show was three days ago," Hinata said, stunned but somehow not surprised by her answer. "You've been sick the entire time."

"For three whole days?!" Mioda seemed more surprised by the timeframe than by the fact that she'd been sick. "And Ibuki can't remember a thing?"

"Then is that a part of the fever?" Nidai said, his eyes wide. "The memory loss?"

"There isn't really any way to know," Hinata said. "Not until Souda wakes up, or Nanami –" Hinata's stomach did a backflip. "Wait a minute – where's Nanami?!"

"Wait – she's not here?" Koizumi looked back and forth, and her eyes went wide. "How did I not notice –"

"Did we really think she was here the entire time?" Kuzuryuu said. "Where the hell is she?"

"She was asleep when we were here, but, shit, that was ages ago –!" Hinata turned on his heels and ran for the door again, ahead of the others. He ran past the room Mioda had been in, grabbed her door, and threw it open –

He stopped short of the doorway, and the others piled up behind him, pushing and shoving to get inside. Nanami was standing right in front of him, rubbing her right eye with her fist, and looking not at all surprised that her hospital gown was covered in blood.


Nanami blinked at the sudden crowd, looking confused, but only for a second before her eyes went wide. "Hinata-kun, Mioda-san, your clothes –!"

"Forget them," Kuzuryuu yelled, cutting Hinata off. "What happened to you?!"

"You're not hurt at all, are you?" Koizumi pushed past Hinata and grabbed Nanami by the wrist, looking her all over. "Did anyone come in here and do anything to you?"

"You don't think she'd remember, do you?" Owari said. "Hey, Nanami, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Is it nothing?" Mioda said. "'Cause if you were sick like Ibuki, Ibuki remembers nothing!"

"Everyone…" Nanami looked back and forth from Koizumi to the others to her own gown, looking overwhelmed. "If you're asking me questions like that, then there must be a reason I might have lost my memory. I think. Right?"

Hinata was surprised Nanami had come to that conclusion so easily. "Well…that's the short answer," he said. "You seem pretty calm about this…"

"If I've lost my memory, then you guys know more than I do, right?" Nanami said. "There's no reason to panic if I know you can tell me what happened. The last thing I remember is going to bed in my cottage, the night of the fireworks show…" Nanami looked up at Hinata, her eyes full of worry. "But there's something that's happened between then and now, isn't there? Otherwise, why would we be at the hospital?"

Nanami gave the group a searching look – and it hit Hinata that she'd noticed who was missing. So he started to explain, and some of the others pitched in with their version of events. Eventually the whole story got out – first the despair fever (though no one brought up Nanami's specific symptoms), then Souda's attack, and finally Tsumiki's death. Nanami was grimly silent through the explanation of the fever, and only asked a few questions about Souda's condition, but didn't waste a moment after they were done.

"Tsumiki-san…" Her face was contorted with grief, but even then she looked far from defeated. "I know I'd like to see her, but that'll have to wait. Until you've gathered your evidence I probably shouldn't leave this room."

"Evidence?" Nidai said, surprised. "You mean your clothing!"

"I do. Hinata-kun and Mioda-san were saving Souda-kun's life... but I can't remember how this happened to me. And if none of you were there to see it…" Nanami held a hand to her chin. "Oh, I see. Mioda-san and I can't remember the past two days, because we were under the influence of this fever. But during the time, Souda-kun was attacked…"

"Then the culprit framed you!" Mioda shouted. "Because you wouldn't remember!"

"That's…what I'd like to think." Nanami suddenly looked very forlorn. "But we don't have enough information to know one way or the other. We'll have to investigate whatever we can find, just like before."

Saionji opened her mouth, then looked at Koizumi and closed it. Hinata realized she hadn't said a word since they'd left Tsumiki's side. "There is the possibility of a witness," Tanaka said, his voice soft. "But we can only know that when he wakes…"

"But Souda had the fever too," Hinata said. "He might not remember anything either."

"We don't know when the fever went away, though," Koizumi said. "For all we know, he could tell us right away who it was."

"So this'll either be easy or impossible, got it," Owari said. "Either way, we better go back and tell old man Togami."

"There's no need. I'm here." Hinata turned to the doorway to find Togami standing in it – and if he looked at all surprised by what he'd found in the room he wasn't showing it. "I haven't heard everything – but, Nanami, you believe you were framed?"

Hinata felt a faint twinge of confusion. "Wait, did you leave Souda alone?" he said before Nanami could answer. "Why are you over here?"

"Because it's a pain having you bastards run back and forth all the time!" Monobear sauntered out from behind Togami, kicking his legs back and forth as he went. "You're starting to look like characters in an old mystery-solving cartoon! But I can't have that at all – I'm the only lovable mascot character allowed around here! I won't have Hinata-kun taking my spot!"

"Wait," Hinata said, wishing he didn't have to listen to this at all, "I'm a what? And that didn't answer my question –"

"Anyway, congratulations on saving Souda-kun or whatever," Monobear interrupted, pulling a tablet out of nowhere. "I don't know how much you think it was worth the trouble, or even how much help the Monobear File is going to be with your real problems! But it's just the kind of thing that you'd expect at a time like this, so here it is. Have fun trying to puzzle out its meaning! Catch!"

Monobear threw the tablet right at Hinata, and by the time he'd caught it Monobear vanished. He pulled it down and opened it to find a silhouette of Tsumiki, black but for a few pink lines on her neck. The victim's body was discovered in the third ward of the hospital, the file read. The cause of death was strangulation. There are no other wounds on the body and no traces of poison or other drugs.

"He was right, this is useless," Saionji said. "We already knew all this!"

"And it's pretty vague already…" Hinata gave the information another look. "The time of death's missing, for one thing!"

"It's a mystery that defies mysteries!" Mioda said. "Not even Monobear knows what's going on!"

"Is there anything about Souda on there?" Owari said, peeking around Hinata's shoulder. "That's gotta at least have more meat to it."

"There wouldn't be," Togami said. "Not unless he'd been killed. But it's likely he was slashed with a sharp object."

"Well, probably – but hey, speaking of Souda, you didn't answer my question," Hinata said. "Did you leave him alone to come here?"

"Of course I didn't," Togami said. "Monomi's with him, and I imagine she won't be alone for long. His testimony will be vital in solving this case, as I understand you've already figured out."

"Then you plan to go back and wake him up?" Nanami said.

"We'll have to do what we must," Togami said. "We've lost enough time as it is."

"And we have a lot of ground to cover, between here and the Titty Typhoon," Nidai said, balling his fists. "We'll have to use every ounce of energy available to us!"

"Precisely," Togami said, a look of steely determination in his eyes. He'd gotten better, since the last time, at hiding the distress that Hinata knew was there. "We need to cover all the ground we possibly can, and not miss a single thing that might be crucial evidence. We're not novices at this anymore. We know what to look for and what not to do."

Hinata felt the same twinge of realization he'd had just after Pekoyama's death – that someone in the room with him had committed a murder, had strangled Tsumiki and attacked Souda, and that there was no way to tell the guilty from the innocent. "We do," he said. "It's like you said last time. We've gotten through this before. We can do it again."

Togami gave Hinata a curious look. "I would have preferred that you wouldn't have had to remind me," he said. "But as it is…" He turned away from the rest. "Come with me. We're going to back to Souda's –"

"Actually, I'd like Hinata-kun's assistance this time." Hinata turned to see Nanami directly behind him. "Would you mind, Hinata-kun?"

Hinata blinked. "I don't really see why I wouldn't," he said.

"But wouldn't you rather have a girl helping you?" Koizumi said.

"That doesn't have anything to do with it, Koizumi-san," Nanami said. "There isn't any deeper reason for choosing Hinata-kun beyond his deductive reasoning skills."

I have deductive reasoning skills? This was news to Hinata. "It's Hinata's prerogative to conduct his own investigation," Togami said. "We'll be getting Souda's answers one way or another. Do as you will."

"Hmmm, then Ibuki'll help Byakuya-chan instead!" Mioda said, bouncing forward and landing close to Togami's side as he left. "She'll spend her time and energy on hard-hitting interrogation techniques!"

"I don't think we'll have to go that far, Mioda," Hinata heard Togami say as they went down the hall. The others left after them, some after some scattered discussion of where they were going to investigate and promises to share what they'd learned at the trial. Koizumi asked Nanami again whether she would be okay alone with Hinata, much to Hinata's intense embarrassment, before she too left. Hinata couldn't help but notice she hadn't left with Saionji.

When Tanaka had closed the door behind him, Hinata turned back to Nanami, clapping his hands together awkwardly. "So…uh," he said. "I may as well get to the point. Is that really the reason you singled me out like that?"

Nanami stared at him for a second. "I meant exactly what I said," she said. "I simply thought we could help each other out. And if you're able to prove that I might or might not have been framed, then you could know whether or not to trust me." Her expression turned grim. "I want to do whatever I can to solve this case and get everyone out of danger."

Hinata wanted to be surprised, but he knew he couldn't be. He'd always had a feeling that, spacey as she was most of the time, Nanami seemed to pull herself together for these investigations. "Well…me too, of course," he said. "What were you thinking?"

"You've seen Souda's crime scene," Nanami said. "Tsumiki's death appeared relatively bloodless, but you and Mioda are both covered in his blood. Is the crime scene the same? Could I look like this, if I were there?"

Hinata's heart dropped into his stomach – he remembered that Nanami hadn't exactly been happy with Souda when they were sick. "You mean, if you'd attacked him? The blood's…" He remembered the inside of the Titty Typhoon, and the trail of blood he'd seen, and from that memory he had a brainwave. "Nanami, can I see the bottoms of your feet?"

Nanami sat back on a stool and lifted her foot. It was completely clean – and Hinata realized that the only part of her with any blood on it at all was her gown. "Okay, you were clearly framed," he said. "There's bloody footprints leading away from the Titty Typhoon."

"There are?" Nanami's eyes went wide. "Then why didn't the culprit consider that? Did they not know?"

"I don't know, but you definitely didn't attack Souda." Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. "And there's no reason to frame you for Souda's death if you'd killed Tsumiki."

"That's good. I'm relieved." Nanami gave Hinata a small smile. "I wish I could say the same for you. You don't have the same alibi as last time. None of us do."

Hinata hadn't even considered he could be a suspect. "Well, I can't really give you my word I didn't do it, can I?"

"I wish I could take it." Nanami looked to the side, by the dresser stand. "I don't think there's anything else in here for us. And I should probably get out of this gown. It's uncomfortable in many ways." She blinked. "I'm telling you to leave the room unless you wanted to see me naked."

"WHA-"

"It was a joke," Nanami said. "I knew you would know I wouldn't actually do that."

The corners of Hinata's mouth twitched as he headed for the door. "Glad to have you back, Nanami," he said, not sure whether he was amused or mortified.


When Nanami had finished getting dressed, she came out into the hallway, holding the straps of her backpack. "It was just like you said," she said when she'd closed the door. "There wasn't any blood anywhere else on my body. Only on my hospital gown."

"So you were definitely framed," Hinata said. "That was pretty obvious from the beginning…but, how would the culprit know that you weren't going to remember anything?"

"I don't think they did," Nanami said. "It was a very haphazard job overall, especially given that Souda wasn't actually dead. But they might have thought the fever would confuse things, so they took a gamble."

"Yeah, I guess. That's still a whole lot of effort for nothing." Hinata looked down the hall. There was no one else around – he assumed they were all in the rooms. "If Souda wakes up, I think they'll let us know," he said. "You wanted to see Tsumiki, right?"

"I did." They headed down the hall to the third ward, and gingerly pushed the door open. To their surprise it was almost empty. Kuzuryuu was the only one in the room, sitting on the stool next to Tsumiki's body. "Well, look who it is," he said grimly when they entered. "Finished your…examination?"

Hinata didn't want to think of what Kuzuryuu meant by that. "There wasn't any blood on her feet, it was a frame-up," he said quickly. "Where's everyone else?"

"Other places," Kuzuryuu said. "Lot of 'em next door. When I left they were trying to stop Mioda from singing to 'im."

Nanami's eyebrows furrowed. "Then…they all think Souda-kun's going to tell them who the killer is?"

"Nah, they're not that stupid," Kuzuryuu said. "You just missed a few of 'em. They couldn't find anything and neither could I."

"Then why aren't you in there with them?" Hinata said.

"Did I ask you to ask?" Kuzuryuu snipped – then seemed to reconsider, and lowered his head. "It's like a zoo in there. I don't get how Souda can sleep through that."

He didn't elaborate, and Hinata didn't know to answer, so he was surprised when Nanami spoke. "Your action saved Souda-kun's life. He'll be grateful for it when he wakes up."

Kuzuryuu looked at Nanami as though she had three heads, but quickly turned away and gestured towards the body. "You're here to look, right? Then look. Leave me alone."

There was no use arguing the point, so Hinata approached Tsumiki's body, and looked it up and down. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first, but when he happened to lean on the bed he noticed it was damp. Kuzuryuu stepped in and pointed out he had noticed this, but he wasn't sure whether it had anything to do with the body, given the body wasn't wet. Hinata wasn't sure either, but he kept it in mind.

He was stumped again until, after examining Tsumiki's face, Nanami asked him whether Tsumiki usually had a mole under her left eye. Hinata did vaguely remember her having one, so Nanami showed him a smear of gritty-looking dust on her finger – her mole had been covered with foundation makeup. This sounded incredibly odd to Hinata – why would Tsumiki be wearing makeup if she was busy caring for the sick students, especially if she didn't usually wear it? He couldn't make any sense of it.

There was no sign of whatever had been used to strangle Tsumiki, but Hinata could at least guess it was a rope, pulled with a lot of physical force. He was just thinking of who might be strong enough to cut her that deeply (Owari or Nidai?!) when Nanami pointed him towards a pipe near the ceiling. A series of marks had been scratched into the metal – marks that looked a bit like Tsumiki's wounds.

"I don't know if those were there before," Nanami said. "But if she were tied to this pipe, then the force of gravity might've been strong enough to make those marks…"

"But she couldn't have hung herself," Hinata said in surprise. "Otherwise, how'd she get to the bed? Someone would've had to put her there."

"We have no way of knowing now, but you're right," Nanami said. "There was most likely a second person in here when she died –"

She couldn't continue the thought before he heard a loud series of footsteps outside the door, and a split second later a fully-clothed Mioda threw the door open. "Kazuichi-chan's kind of awake!" she hollered, waving her hand forward as she ran back down the hall. "Come on, come on!"


Hinata, Nanami, and Kuzuryuu followed Mioda back to the fourth ward, where they found Togami and Koizumi clustered near Souda, Saionji sitting against the opposite wall, and Monomi shivering some distance away. Souda was still lying in the bed, and didn't appear to be speaking; when Hinata reached the side of the bed he saw that, while Souda's eyes were open and he could say he was awake, he didn't seem to be able to focus on his surroundings. He was tossing back and forth, looking from left to right and groaning as he moved.

"He's been in and out of consciousness for several minutes," Togami explained. "But he does appear to be recovering. He spoke just before Mioda ran to get you."

"He spoke?!" Hinata said – then remembered himself and continued in an undertone. "What'd he say?"

"Just asked where he was." Koizumi didn't take her eyes off Souda as she spoke. "He sounded frantic…"

"He might be in shock. But he's fighting it…I think." Nanami leaned over Souda's bedside, a comfortable distance from his face. "Souda-kun? It's Nanami. Can you hear me?"

"How many fingers is Ibuki holding up?" Mioda pushed past Nanami and held up a clenched fist. "One? Three? Five?"

"Hhh…huuuh?" Souda jerked his head toward them, but he seemed overstimulated. He looked from Nanami to Ibuki's fist, his eyes wide and staring. "Nanami…? What…what's going on? Why s'everyone here?"

"We told you, you're in the hospital," Koizumi said.

"Hospital?" Souda's eyes went wide. "What hospital?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Hinata heard Saionji mutter - but Kuzuryuu spoke over her, and no one else seemed to hear. "Uh, the third island one," he said. "Aren't really any others…"

"Island? We're on the island?" Souda gripped the edge of the bed and attempted to sit up, but winced and grabbed at his chest before he dropped back down, panting. "No, no…I gotta get outta here…!"

"Souda-kun, it's okay," Nanami said, worry crossing her face. "It's over. You're fine."

"I'm fine?" Souda spat the words out in one breath, then took several more. "I'm not…no, shit, I gotta get outta here –"

He tried to sit up again, but Togami and Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders and held him in place. "You're going to get out of here," Togami said. "We all are. But first we need to know who attacked you. Who was it?"

"Attacked…" Souda's eyes went wide, and he lifted his arm up to the bandages on his chest, waving it back and forth. "That…I was…"

"Souda-kun, I know this is hard," Nanami said, "But you need to tell us whatever you can remember about what happened. Then you can go right back to sleep."

"I don't know!" Souda spat, then held his hand up to his head, panting heavily. "I just…I woke up…and…"

"He doesn't remember, then," Koizumi said, folding her arms. "Just like Chiaki-chan and Ibuki-chan…"

"I couldn't move," Souda went on. "I couldn't…I tried…I was getting there, and then…"

"Do you know how long it took for you to get there?" Nanami said, even though Hinata knew she only had an anecdotal idea of what had gone on.

"No…" Souda shook his head rapidly. Hinata noticed a sheen of sweat on his forehead, and tears running down his cheeks. "It hurt… it really hurt…I don't wanna die. I wanna go home… I don't wanna die…"

"You're not going to die," Hinata said. "And you're going home. I promise."

"Just…rest for now," Koizumi said. "You'll be fine. There's a painkiller if you need it."

Souda shook his head again, then turned away, looking out the window. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice low. "I'll be good, I'm sorry, I don't wanna die…"

His voice faded, and his eyes closed – evidently he'd taken Koizumi's words to heart. A heavy silence filled the room, broken only by his light snoring. Nanami bowed her head, Koizumi wrung her hands and stared at the floor, Kuzuryuu tried to look anywhere that wasn't at anyone else, and Togami stayed staring down at Souda.

"Is he going to be okay?" Koizumi said.

"He should be, as long as we keep an eye on him," Togami said. "But it would appear his memory is gone, as I understand all the Despair Fever patients' memories are, so his role in this case –"

"No, not that, I mean…what was he apologizing for?" Koizumi bit her lip, and it hit Hinata how distressed she looked. "It couldn't be for being attacked, right? He said he'd be good…what does he think he did?"

Hinata was surprised to hear her say this – especially given that, up until that moment, he was sure that she hated Souda. They'd never had compatible personalities to begin with, but with how worked up he'd gotten about Sonia …

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Saionji's voice was louder than it had been – Hinata could tell she wanted to be heard. "He doesn't deserve any kind of pity for anything he's done, and he's not the only one."

Hinata heard a loud SLAM, and they all turned to find that Kuzuryuu was no longer in the room. Koizumi either didn't or couldn't comment, but she turned back to Saionji with the same look in her eyes he'd seen in Tsumiki's room. "Hiyoko-chan, this is –" She stopped, and took a breath. "We're going outside. Don't follow us."

"Mahiru-chan…?" Mioda covered her mouth with her hands immediately after she spoke, but Koizumi didn't admonish or even acknowledge her – she grabbed Saionji by the wrist and pulled her out of the room.

Togami stood up when they left, acting as though he was about to follow them, but when he was halfway across the room he stopped, then turned back. "They're not in the hallway," he said. "My best guess is they've gone to the lobby."

"Then you don't think we should go after them?" Hinata said.

"I don't think they would share anything if we did," he said.

"It may be something they have to work out on their own." Nanami looked back at Souda, who somehow had slept through the entire thing. "Togami-kun, Mioda-san, did you need to investigate anything? We could take over for you."

"Monomi is still here, if you hadn't seen." Hinata saw Monomi out of the corner of his eye – she was holding her head in her hands, whimpering slightly. Hinata wondered why she hadn't moved or spoken the entire time. "We're free to leave the room as we please," Togami continued. "I wanted to wait until Souda woke, and now he has. Is there anything I should be looking more closely at in the room where Tsumiki died?"

Nanami shared the evidence they'd found – the damp bed, the makeup, and the scratch marks on the pipe, as well as the fact that she had clearly been framed for Souda's attack. This said, she told him that they were going to go investigate the Titty Typhoon, which was news to Hinata. But as much as he was concerned about Souda, there was little he could do for him beyond waiting for him to recover, or at least to regain some of his energy.

They left Togami and Mioda behind and exited the hospital wards. To their surprise they found Koizumi alone in the lobby, sitting in a chair and facing away from them. Nanami asked her if she was okay, and Koizumi beckoned her to come closer with her finger, apparently leaving Hinata out of the conversation. They had an exchange in an undertone, but Hinata still caught snatches of it. "I've been so selfish," he heard her say, after a remark from Nanami that he couldn't hear. "And Hiyoko-chan…she thought she was doing what I wanted her to do…but I never wanted anyone to speak for me…"

Nanami tried to sit down next to her at this point, but Koizumi waved her away. "I'll be fine, I'll be fine," she repeated, then got up and returned to the wards. Nanami returned to Hinata, told him everything was alright, and pressed him onward without stopping to explain what had happened.


Nidai, Tanaka, and Owari were all at the Titty Typhoon when they arrived, examining the various bloodstains. Nanami and Hinata informed them of Souda's change in condition, which sent Nidai and Owari running back to the hospital. Tanaka stayed long enough to inform them that they had found neither clues as to how Souda's attack had played out nor a clear connection to Tsumiki's murder before he left as well. A quick examination of the nightclub floor revealed exactly what Hinata had seen on sight – that Souda had been attacked by the stage, then crawled to the door.

"I'm only sure of one thing," Hinata said when they met again. "If the murder weapon isn't here, then the murderer didn't take off in a hurry. They had time to dispose of it. Didn't they?"

"They did," Nanami said. "Not only that, but if Souda-kun had time to crawl across the room, then there was a long period of time between his attack and his discovery."

"A long period of time…" Hinata's brow furrowed. "Enough time to kill Tsumiki?"

"We don't know if that happened before or after." Nanami paused. "Or if they did that at all. Have you noticed how different the attacks were?"

"Different?"

"Souda-kun's attack was brutal. And whether or not he died, it was meant to cause him a lot of suffering. But Tsumiki-san…I can't say she didn't suffer, but her death was far less violent than Souda-kun's, wasn't it?"

"Are you saying there were two different attackers?" Hinata said.

"I'm not sure," Nanami said. "But it's a significant detail. It could mean there were two attackers, but it could also mean that the culprit had a reason for attacking Souda-kun the way they did."

"Well, if it's two different ones, it doesn't matter, does it?" Hinata said. "Since Souda didn't die. But if it was the same person…"

He was cut off by an electric hum as the nearby monitor lit up, and Monobear came on the screen. "A difficult problem with an easy conclusion," he said in an airy tone, "All twists and turns and complicated segments! Whatever happened to just stabbing someone and getting it over with, that's what I want to know! Well, what's done is done, and what must begin must begin – and by that of course I mean the school trial! Everyone please proceed to Monobear Rock – and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. As long as you have a pulse, you have a way to show up!"

The announcement ended, leaving Hinata with a feeling of unease. "As long as you have a pulse…he must be referring to Souda," Hinata said. "But he can't even get out of bed. How's he supposed to come to the trial?"

"The way Monobear worded it, it doesn't sound like he expected us to have a lot of trouble," Nanami said. "But I don't know that for sure."

"I guess the people with him know are taking care of that." Hinata sighed. "I still can't make heads or tails of anything…but hopefully what everyone else found makes sense. We should get going –"

"Hold on," Nanami said, stopping him in his tracks. "I just remembered, we haven't checked the back room."

"Back room?" Hinata turned around, and noticed a pair of double doors between the stage and the bar, marked STAFF ONLY. "Has that been there the entire time?"

"It hasn't moved, no," Nanami said.

"Har har. But aren't we going to be late?" Hinata said. "I'm not really sure what happens if we are –"

"It'll be fine, Hinata-kun." Nanami moved across the room to the door, and Hinata joined her as she was turning the knob and opening it. At first Hinata didn't see anything suspicious inside, just instruments and stage crew storage, but just as he was about to suggest turning back he saw something sticking out of a box in the back of the room - something bright green, and splashed with blood.

"No, no way…" He ran to the back of the room, and pulled the object out of the box - or rather, the wad, which unfolded itself in his arms. It was Souda's boiler suit, the one he'd seen him wear a million times – and he could see his hat and white tank top still in the bottom of the box. All of them had some amount of blood on them. "What the hell…?" he said in disbelief, turning the boiler suit back and forth. "This is supposed to be in Souda's room –!"

"Then this…was it involved in the murder?" Nanami said, also looking surprised. "Or was it another plant?"

"I don't even know. How much blood are we supposed to think he has?" Hinata didn't know the answer to his own question, and he didn't have the time to come up with one. "What are we even supposed to think?"

"I…" Nanami's voice trailed off, and as it did Hinata realized just how white her face was, and how blank and expressionless her eyes seemed to be. But he couldn't comment on the look before it faded, and she stood and faced away from him. "We'll have to consider that at the trial," she said quickly. "As much as I wanted to check this room, we really should join the others. I think we've seen all there is to see."

Hinata looked back at the boiler suit, committing every inch of it to memory. "You're right," he said. "It's like Togami said. We've done this before. We can do it again."

"We…" Nanami took another look back at the box, and then turned back for the door. "We can. We'll have to."


Hinata had expected to meet everyone in front of the Monobear Rock – he couldn't see any reason for them to wait for them – but to his surprise they met Togami just outside the Titty Typhoon entrance, as he had come to retrieve them. He led them back to the lobby of the hospital, where most of the others were.

Kuzuryuu, Saionji, Tanaka, Koizumi, and Owari were all sitting in the lobby chairs, far from each other, and Mioda was leaning against the wall, tapping her foot in a steady rhythm. Souda and Nidai were missing, but before Hinata could ask where they were Togami explained that the hospital had been stocked with wheelchairs for patient transportation, and that Nidai was inside helping Souda into one. Koizumi added that they'd decided to give him the bare-bones details of what had happened – the Despair Fever in general, Tsumiki's death, the fact that they were going to the trial. Nothing too heavy, but just enough for him not to be confused.

Within a few moments Nidai appeared in the lobby, pushing Souda in a rickety wheelchair. Souda had been put in a fresh gown, and piled high with sheets and pillows. He looked slightly more alert than he had the last time Hinata had seen him, but it was clear his mood had only gotten worse. "I-I'm not doing this," Hinata heard him whimper as they passed. Only then did he see that his arms had been tied to the chair. "I'm not going to the trial…if I don't go they can't kill me…"

"Souda-kun, it's going to be fine," Nanami said. "You don't have to think about any of this if you don't want to."

Souda didn't seem to want to hear her. He bowed his head, shaking, and repeated that he didn't want to die as Nidai wheeled him out the door. Hinata couldn't imagine any of this stress was doing wonders for his health – but as long as he had to go to the trial there was nothing else that could be done.

They walked together to Monobear Rock, waited for Monobear and Monomi to appear and lower the escalator, and rode it up to the elevator, which took them down into the mountain as usual. They hardly spoke, and all looked tense; no one appeared to have any unusual shred of confidence on their faces, as far as Hinata could tell. Togami stood in the corner again, his arms crossed and his head bowed. Hinata, shaken by his own lack of direction, found himself doing the same.

After what felt like an age the elevator stopped and the doors opened onto the trial room. Nidai wheeled Souda into his stand, and all the others took their positions. Sonia and Tsumiki's portraits had been placed in their trial stands, and in his wheelchair Souda's head was only just visible over the rail.

"And before we really begin," Monobear said, after opening the trial in the standard way, "I'd like to remind you all that this trial is strictly for the murder of Mikan Tsumiki-san! As mysterious as Souda-kun's situation is, I wouldn't forget that he failed to die –"

"No, no, no, I'm not gonna die!" Souda pushed himself forward in his chair against the bonds on his arms. "I'll do anything, just let me out of here –"

"Souda, we told you, it's going to be okay!" Hinata said. "Just – stay calm, alright? We're gonna figure this out. You know that."

"No, no, I…" Souda's eyes went wide, and Hinata remembered that he happened to be splattered with Souda's blood, which couldn't be the picture of reassurance for anyone, least of all Souda. " I don't know," he muttered. "Everything's happening all at once…"

"You can deal with it later," Togami said. "Just remember you're going to be fine –"

"So like I was saying, whoever attacked him, congrats, you're off the hook!" Monobear yelled over Togami. "Unless you also killed Tsumiki, in which case, who cares! But which is the truth and nothing but the truth? Hm…can you figure that out or can you not?"

"Mmmm-mmmmfff!" Hinata looked up above Monobear's seat to find Monomi in her usual tied-up position, but with a cloth gag tied across her mouth – something she certainly hadn't had in the other trials. She was swinging violently back and forth, struggling and trying to speak through the gag.

"Ah, perfect timing, little sister!" Monobear gestured up to Monomi, who struggled still harder with everyone's eyes on her. "You may all be wondering, "Why does Monomi look even more ridiculous than usual?" Well, you see, Monomi can't be trusted to keep her fool mouth shut, so she just keeps talk-talk-talking and driving her older brother to the edge! So she's been perhaps preemptively been punished, and she won't be talking this time…unless of course someone says the password!"

"Password?" Kuzuryuu said. "The hell's that mean?"

"You'll know when you say it!" Monobear said. "Okay, chop-chop! Time's a-wasting!"


To Hinata's surprise, the first thing to come up when the debate began was Nanami's bloodstained hospital gown. In all the commotion, Owari hadn't gotten the memo that it was a clear plant. But Kuzuryuu set the record straight, and the idea that Nanami was involved in Souda's attack was neatly dismissed.

"But that doesn't get her off the hook," Saionji said. "It only proves she didn't have any blood on her. She totally could've killed the pi –" She paused, and looked at Koizumi. "She totally could've killed Tsumiki."

Everyone gave Nanami uncertain looks, but she didn't appear fazed. "Hinata-kun and I discussed that," she said. "But it wouldn't make sense for anyone to frame me for Souda's attack if I'd already killed, would it?"

"Perhaps the assailant did not know that Tsumiki had expired," Tanaka said, his words muffled through his scarf. "The two incidents do not necessarily need to be related."

"But that doesn't mean Nanami definitely killed Tsumiki," Hinata said. "There's really no proof connecting anyone to her death right now, least of all her. It's all guesswork, and honestly it's kind of hard to believe."

"Hmmmm, but Chiaki-chan could've killed Mikan-chan, and then gotten some blood from upstairs and put it all over herself for kicks," Mioda said. "But that doesn't make any sense at all, so Hajime-chan's still right!"

"If we introduce the possibility that the attacks are unrelated…" Togami put a hand to his chin. "Then Monobear's remark about the focus of this case being the death of Tsumiki is cast into a new light. I say we focus on all incidents pointing directly to her, and introduce evidence relating to Souda if we can't figure anything out."

The list of evidence in Tsumiki's room turned out to be as short as ever. Most everyone who'd investigated had found the damp bed, and Nidai and Owari had noticed the scratch marks on the pipe, but only Nanami had discovered the makeup on her face. No one was inclined to think this was important, but Togami said they'd "keep it in mind". They agreed the scratches pointed to something tied there, and came to the same conclusion Nanami had – that Tsumiki had been hung there, and posed after death.

"But…doesn't that mean she could have killed herself?" Owari said. "That's the first thing I thought."

"It could. But there was definitely a second person that removed the noose and put her on the bed," Hinata said. "I can't think of why anyone would want to hide that. It'd just mean us all dying if we didn't figure it out, the second person included."

Monobear chuckled, and Souda whimpered. "That, and why would Mikan-chan ever kill herself?" Koizumi said. "She was consumed with helping everyone that had the fever."

"Again, we have no proof," Togami said. "And in that case…is there anything significant anyone noticed related to Souda's attack?"

Nanami opened her mouth, but Nidai preempted her. "I do not mean to go back to this, but there's still something that bothers me," he said. "If the cul – rather, if the attacker left footprints, why wouldn't they add that detail if they were trying to frame Nanami? Is it possible they didn't know their own traces?"

"Probably not," Togami said. "And it proves another thing, as well: the attacker didn't know that Souda wasn't dead. Otherwise, there'd be no reason to frame Nanami for his attack."

"But why wouldn't they check to see if Souda was dead?" Owari said. "That seems like kind of a basic thing."

"They could have left the scene in a hurry," Togami said. "That would explain Nanami's unfinished frame-up."

"But that's not it at all," Nanami said quickly, before anyone else could speak. "There's plenty of concrete proof Souda-kun's attacker didn't leave right away."

"Really? S'better than whining that we don't know," Kuzuryuu said. "But what was it? All I saw was blood…"

"For one thing, the weapon Souda-kun was attacked with was never found." Nanami said. "The attacker must have had time to dispose of it. But that's not the biggest thing. We found something rather strange in the Titty Typhoon's back room. It was Souda-kun's usual clothing."

An image came up on all the screens – Souda's bloodstained boiler suit. "Wh –" Souda's eyes bugged out at the sight of it, but he looked away quickly, mumbling again. "Why does this keep happening? Why is this still happening...?"

"Wait a minute!" Nidai shouted over him. "Souda's clothes – they were missing from his room! I tried to find them when I was moving him, but they weren't in any of the wards!"

"And the blood…" Koizumi's eyes narrowed. "Were there any shoes that you found with the clothes?"

"There weren't," Nanami said. "But why would there be two frame-ups for the same murder? I think we're all thinking the same thing…that, as strange as it sounds, whoever attacked Souda-kun did so while wearing Souda-kun's clothes."

Everyone looked stunned beyond belief – Souda especially – but no one could deny it was the hardest evidence they'd had so far. "That's even weirder than Ibuki's idea!" Mioda said. "But you're saying it's true? Truth really is stranger than fiction!"

"And it only gets stranger," Nanami said. "If they had enough time to dispose of the murder weapon and change out of Souda-kun's clothes..."

"Then how could they have overlooked that Souda wasn't dead?" Koizumi finished.

"The killer must have been in close range to attack him with a short blade," Nidai said. "And even if they couldn't immediately tell he wasn't dead, if Souda was still mobile enough to crawl to the door..."

"Then it couldn't have been an accident," Togami said. "Souda was left to bleed to death. That's what you're trying to say, isn't it?"

Nidai nodded, and bowed his head. The knowledge gave Hinata pause; he felt as though he'd just been stabbed himself. "They must've been counting on no one being awake," he said. "Whoever it was, they..." They wanted him to suffer, he thought, but didn't want to finish it, not with Souda looking as disturbed as he did. Hinata really wished he'd been allowed to stay at the hospital. "They guessed wrong," he said instead.

"But then...who the hell would've wanted to do that?" Owari said. "Who was actually wearing the clothes?"

"It'd have to be someone that'd fit in them," Saionji said. "So that rules out Mr. Porkfeet!"

That doesn't narrow it down very far, Hinata thought, though he didn't dare say it – out of the corner of his eye he saw Togami scoff, though he didn't say anything. "There has to be something," he said, almost to himself. "Something to…"

He'd intended to go over the evidence he knew of in his mind, bit by bit, but then the pieces fell together almost in an instant. He was almost shocked he hadn't seen it before. "It's all there," he found himself saying. "It's right there…"

"There?" Souda said. "What's there?"

"The suit's big, but it's baggy enough to disguise your body even if you're smaller," Hinata said. "And then the makeup, that's not something she usually wears…and the bed, the bed even works, if she washed the blood off the rest of her body, and who knows how long she was there…" He gripped at the trial stand. "It's Tsumiki. Tsumiki attacked Souda."

The room fell into stunned silence. Souda's was the first to break it – he looked right as Tsumiki's death portrait, his fingers trembling against his armrest. "But…" he stammered. "But that's – I don't even remember –!"

"She'd never…" Koizumi shook her head. "She couldn't…how could she…?"

There were several other outbursts across the room, all in the same vein – shock, disbelief, emotions that hardly surprised Hinata at this point. Togami gripped at his trial stand with one hand, almost as if to steady himself as he looked at Tsumiki's portrait. "That's…that's barely an assumption," he said. "How do you think it functions as conclusive proof?"

"If it was the only thing, it probably wouldn't," Hinata said. "But…there's something else. A specific reason she might've dressed as Souda to attack Souda. Do you remember what Tsumiki told us about the 'Sonia disease'?"

"Wait… 'Sonia disease'?" Souda's demeanor had changed as soon as he'd heard the word "Sonia" – he wasn't fighting against his bonds, and his voice was calm and measured. "That...wait...what does that mean…?"

"Uh, well…" Nidai gritted his teeth. "It's difficult to explain…"

"I do remember," Togami said. "By the nature of his Despair Fever, Souda would perceive any of his personal characteristics as belonging to Sonia, whom he perceived as himself. But he would identify any pictures of himself as pictures of Souda, whom he perceived as someone else. She tested this with the Electronic Student ID."

"And we saw it, too," Hinata said, speaking as he realized. "He told me directly… Tsumiki said he'd been talking in his sleep, but he said he'd heard "Souda-sama" speaking in the middle of the night."

"That's..." Souda's voice was softer than ever, but he hardly looked calm – simply stunned. "That doesn't make any sense …she'd never call me that…"

For a second Hinata thought Togami was going to answer Souda – and perhaps he was, but when he looked away it was clear he'd changed his mind. "That could have inspired the method of the murder," he said. "That particular quirk of his illness."

"Then, if Mikan-chan dressed in Kazuichi-chan," Mioda said, foreboding in her voice, "then Kazuichi-chan thought Mikan-chan was Kazuichi-chan when Kazuichi-chan thought Kazuichi-chan was Sonia-chan? That's too many -chans!"

"She used his appearance to lure him out of the room," Nidai said, trembling as he spoke. "And then, when his guard was down… but, no! Tsumiki only ever had the welfare of everyone else on the island in mind! Why would she attack him? Or ANYONE?"

"You have seen four of our number betray us, and yet you say such things?" Tanaka pulled his scarf over his face. "You know nothing of the game the Gods play with mortals."

"Maybe she wanted to leave," Koizumi said, heartbroken.

"But if that were the case…" Nanami's brow furrowed suddenly. "Could it have been the Despai –"

"Could it have been the something that didn't matter 'cause Souda-kun's still alive?" Monobear interrupted. "I already told you, this is the trial for her murder, not her killing! Do I need to repeat the chop-chop?" Monomi screamed behind her gag, and swung back and forth even more violently.

"We get it, we get it!" Saionji said. "Shut up already!"

"He's got a point, though," Kuzuryuu said. "Who the fuck killed her?"

They all looked at each other in silence. No one stepped up with anything decisive, or showed any signs of hiding anything. "Perhaps if we figure out why," Tanaka said after a few seconds, but his words hung in the air.

"Revenge, maybe?" Owari said.

"That would require someone knowing ahead of time about the attack," Togami said. "And if they had, they would've helped Souda first."

They lapsed into silence again. Hinata tried his hardest to have a bright idea, but none were coming. He looked back and forth at everyone again, as if their faces would inspire him – but the only one that caught his interest was Nanami's. She had a look of determination on her face, but he could swear it was mixed with unease – particularly given she was muttering something under her breath, and looking back and forth. Was there something she'd noticed? If so, why wasn't she saying anything?

"Where was everyone last night?" Koizumi said, cold fear in her voice. "Is there anyone that we can't account for?"

"That doesn't help if we don't know when she died," Owari said. "Can we even figure that out?"

"She was fine when we left last night," Togami said. "That was at 10 pm. I discovered her body at six in the morning when I came ahead with the next food delivery."

"The last time I saw anyone at the motel was at 10 pm," Nidai said. "I thought I heard someone passing at about six-twenty, but that must have been Kuzuryuu, who couldn't have killed her…"

"Yeah, I heard it too," Owari said. "I thought it was just the wind, though."

"Hold on," Saionji said, "Shouldn't the people who were at the hospital be the most suspicious? They were the closest to the…her…and I don't think any of you have any alibis…"

"That's a rather wild guess, Saionji…" Togami's brow furrowed, and he stared out at them all. "Have we really…gotten this desperate?"

"Ibuki could tell you everything if Ibuki remembered anything," Mioda said.

"Maybe…if we did try to figure out what happened when, then we'd get somewhere," Hinata said. "So, from what we have so far…"

Suddenly, he stopped. He couldn't continue his thought, or at least not out loud – not until he could make sense of what he'd found. According to the version of events they'd plotted out, Tsumiki had attacked Souda, then gone back to the hospital, where she was killed by someone else… but if that had happened before six AM, then when had Nanami been framed? Togami had checked on her when they were at the hospital together, and if she'd been framed then he would have said something…had it happened between when they'd left and when they'd returned? It had been a short span, but maybe it had been long enough for someone to go in, grab a blood pack, splatter it on her, and leave…

But who could it have been? No one seemed to have noticed anyone missing, or walking around where they shouldn't have been. If others were up to hear Kuzuryuu leave, would they have heard someone else return? And even with that aside... if Nanami had been framed after Tsumiki's death, then whoever it was would have to have known about Souda's attack. Did they not know he wasn't dead? If they didn't, then was the point of framing someone for a murder the framer hadn't committed – or a murder committed by someone who was dead? And for that matter, if they'd come from the motel, they would have passed the bloody footprints and known that was a vital clue. None of it added up. But if she had been framed beforehand…

And then it hit Hinata, like a misstep he wished he hadn't taken. Togami had never said he'd checked on Nanami, had he? Only that he would. It was possible he hadn't had the time…but knowing him, he would have insisted on checking that they were all safe, and the blood would have been something he'd be concerned about. Ordinarily that would have confirmed for him that she'd been framed afterward…

But instead, it got him thinking. He'd gotten quite a few details about the case from Togami alone, and he'd taken them all for granted. Togami had insisted on searching the lower level for Souda, where quite a lot of evidence had lain in plain sight, and somehow he had not found any of it. Togami had gone ahead to the hospital without him, despite the fact that they should've gone there together. Not only that, but Togami had gone all the way back to the first island to get him, when it would've made more sense for him to go to the motel and gather the others from there, right where they were supposed to be in case of an emergency. And for that matter, if he'd ever had ANY thought that Souda had killed Tsumiki, why would he have left anyone alone on the third island, least of all Nanami and Mioda, asleep and with no way to defend themselves...!

"Hinata?" Togami's voice cut sharply through his panic. "You were going to say something. Have you not collected your thoughts?"

Hinata looked right into his friend's eyes, and he realized for the first time that he was shaking. He found it difficult to focus, and could almost swear his life was flashing before his eyes, but it was really Togami's life, for all the time he'd known him. The first time he'd seen him in the classroom, the moment Komaeda had died, his attempt to die in Hanamura's place, the meal they'd shared on the central island, the moment he'd pulled the jacket over Pekoyama's eyes, the resignation, the fireworks show, the lobby, the promises…the secret he still didn't know, the one he'd wanted to share…

He went over the details in his head one more time, but they all led to the same place. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't have any conclusive proof. He only had questions. And knowing Togami he could answer them. Togami always had the answers – it was his responsibility, his destiny to have them. But if it turned out he was at all wrong, he'd always regret asking them. But he knew Togami would want him to, if it meant solving the case…


"Hinata?" Togami leaned forward on his trial stand, his face etched with concern. "Are you alright? You look pale."

"Have you been thinking too hard?" Mioda cut in, pushing herself up and swinging her legs. "You have that thinkin' look on your face…"

"I…" Hinata relished the last moments he could where his thoughts were still inside his mind. He knew, after all, that this was now or never. He took a deep breath, and spoke on the exhale. "Togami, there's some things I'd like to ask you about."

He could tell the others had sensed the weight behind his words. They looked curious, searching – he could almost tell that they were trying to figure out what he would say next. He tried his best to block them out. "It's not anything big, but there's some details that don't make sense to me," he said. "If Nanami was framed for Souda's attack, I assume by Tsumiki… then why didn't you tell us about it when you searched the lower floor? You had to have checked on her, right?"

Hinata would have loved a quick answer, but instead Togami stared at him, as if he had spoken gibberish. The thoughts came too fast for him to focus on that. "And – for that matter – why did you go to the hospital so early to deliver the food? You didn't go until almost an hour later yesterday. And – when you saw Tsumiki dead, and Nanami and Mioda were alone in the hospital, why did you run back and get me, instead of going to the motel? That's what they were there for, to help in cases like this! And –"

He was sure there had to be another and, but he couldn't think of one. Someone would have to talk, soon enough, but whether they'd be ridiculing or calmly refuting him, he had no clue…

"I've been curious about those things too…I think." Hinata nearly jumped – he hadn't expected such a calm response, though he wasn't surprised Nanami had given it. "And there are other things, too," she said. "Things I wasn't sure if I should bring up, until Hinata spoke. But I think you do need to answer for them." She hung her head. "Will you, Togami-kun?"

Hinata looked back at Togami, afraid before he did of what he would see. Togami had not said a word through the accusation, and even now he showed no sign of speaking. In any other situation Hinata might have assumed that he was shocked, that or lost in thought, but now he couldn't see any emotion at all. The look he had that reminded him of the one Tsumiki had in death, but he could still see the spark of life in his eyes, shining with an intensity that betrayed neither hope nor despair.


CLASSROOM TRIALS - SUSPENDED


I would like to remind you that we still have half the trial left.

- Carth