The morning sun was rising over the Ultimate Academy, bathing the surroundings in a pale orange light. It was always the same every morning, but it wasn't any less pretty to look at, the pink and orange colors getting ready to transition into a clear, blue sky.
Ryoma stood in the courtyard, having woken up at 6:00am again, looking up at the barred cage of the End Wall.
The hectic events of the previous day flashed through his mind. From befriending Shuichi to joining Himiko's magic show, from being chased around by Gonta to seeing what the shower room in his lab looked like.
The most important thing that happened was seeing his motive video.
After searching so long for it, he found that it was empty. According to it, he had no one in the world for him to care for.
The thought of the video still shook him to his core. He knew there was no one out there waiting for him if he escaped, and that made him feel incredibly disappointed in himself. They probably would've been there if he weren't so foolish.
He was a lot worse the night before. He had shut down completely, his mind telling him he had no value, that nothing mattered anymore. He wanted to throw everything away again, because he felt like it was all pointless in the face of supposedly finding out he had nothing left to live for.
But, Shuichi came around and was able to snap him out of that despondence, giving him the motivation to keep moving forward. He didn't need a motive video or someone else to tell him if he had a reason to live. He was taught that there were other reasons to live to find for himself.
Most of all, he realized still had people important to him, alive or not.
That was, and it will always be, his family and lover. Though he was unsure about the fate of his cat, it was the same for him. Wherever he was, regardless if he forgot about him or not, he still kept him close in his memories.
Ryoma sighed, but it wasn't a frustrated or downhearted one for once. Taking off his jacket, he walked over to the grassy area like he did the other morning for some warmups. Kaito and Shuichi didn't get to train last night, so he missed out on some exercise.
He remembered doing warmups before every tennis match or practice. It was important for him to stretch his hips, or else he wouldn't be able to move on the court efficiently. No matter how skilled he was, it meant nothing if he pulled a muscle during a match.
He finished his stretches and moved to doing his pushups. Although he was still in pretty good shape, he noticed he wasn't as physically strong as he was in his tennis days. Others likely wouldn't notice, but exercising was slightly more difficult for him, despite reaching 50 pushups in no time.
He thought about what Kaito said about getting stronger. It was more about his mental fortitude, but he supposed it applied to his physical strength as well. Maybe these sessions will help him get back on track to how he was before.
After he finished his workout, Ryoma plopped down in the grass, lying on his back. He took out a candy cigarette from his jacket and stared up at the early morning sky, letting his thoughts wander.
How did he even get here? That was the question on everyone's minds, but how did whoever brought them here get to him? He remembered fleeing from the Ultimate Hunt in the Flashback Light... but wasn't he supposed to be in prison? What was he even doing out of his cell, out of the place he was supposed to be confined in? He couldn't imagine it. Maybe he would find out in the future.
Aside from that, where would he go if he got out of prison? It's not like he had a home to go back to, not after the mafia...
...
He bit down on his candy cigarette.
It's not like he had anywhere to go, as he was expected to be in prison for the rest of his life.
He was uncertain of the future, and he didn't know what would occur. Something could happen to him here, or he would stay in prison despite everything. They might not escape at all, or they could mess up a class trial and all get annihilated.
The possibilities were overwhelming.
Ryoma took a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. He was getting ahead of himself. The future was uncertain, yes, but thinking about it all at once wouldn't let him focus on the present. He'd figure all of this out as time passes, keeping his expectations at a minimum.
Maybe he let his mind wander too much.
He placed his hands behind his head. At least he was actually thinking about his future again. He had nearly given up on it twice, but found the ability to look forward rather than not at all. He thought it had disappeared a long time ago, his fate having been sealed with his sentence to death. Now, he knew it was possible things could change, it wasn't a set path. It had many different forks in the road, and whichever one he went down would determine what happened next.
Quickly finishing up his candy cigarette, Ryoma felt his eyelids drooping.
He found himself nodding off, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
o0o
*ding dong, bing bong*
The sound of the Monokubs' morning announcement reverberated around the entire school, the time being 8:00am as usual.
The students shuffled out of the dormitory, heading towards the gym for the magic show.
Ryoma woke up as the announcement played, rubbing his round eyes as he still lay in the grass. The sky was blue, the sun beaming down on him.
Did he fall asleep? He remembered feeling drowsy, but couldn't remember anything after that. Normally, he couldn't sleep at all after waking up at dawn every morning. Perhaps his earlier workout made him tired, but he still found it unusual.
Since it was 8:00am, he must've slept the entire two hours. It was a little refreshing, sleeping the extra hours made him feel less tired, physically and mentally.
He just wished the bitter taste from his candy cigarette earlier didn't linger in his throat. This is why he never ate sweets before going to sleep.
The crunching of grass was heard as someone began approaching him from behind.
"Ah, good morning, Ryoma. I was wondering where you were." A familiar detective's voice sounded.
"Morning, Shuichi." The tennis pro lazily looked up at the raven-haired boy standing behind him, appearing upside down from where he was lying in the grass. "Looking for me again? You don't always need to know where I am all the time."
Shuichi blushed out of embarrassment. "O-Oh, no, it wasn't like that this time. I rang your doorbell and you didn't answer, so I assumed you had already gone to the gym. I noticed you here when I left the dorms."
"I see. I went out earlier, but I guess I fell asleep after a while." He stood up from the grass, grabbing his leather jacket that was left laying next to him. "So, what is it this time?"
Shuichi scratched his head, feeling a little awkward. "I was wondering if you wanted to walk to the gym with me."
"Hm? You need an escort again?" Ryoma questioned, remembering the night he asked him to go with him to meet up with Kaito.
"No, nothing like that. I mean... just going there together." He tried to explain. "I just thought it would be nice."
Ryoma smiled a little, understanding his intentions. He didn't want him to be alone. "In that case, I've got no reason to turn you down."
"Okay. We should go now, everyone's probably waiting for us."
The smaller boy nodded. "Yeah. Himiko can't start the show without me."
Still carrying his jacket, he walked alongside Shuichi towards the school, not feeling tired of walking back in it again.
"So... what happened to you yesterday? Gonta was running around catching everyone, but I don't know what for." Ryoma asked as the pair headed down towards the end of the hallway, the gym being around Himiko's lab. "I heard Gonta apologizing to you as I was running away, too."
"Uh, he... knocked me out by accident. He was going too fast and couldn't slow down in time." Shuichi continued. "But, it was for something called the Insect Meet and Greet. It was all a part of Kokichi's plan to get us to watch our motive videos. He tricked Gonta by telling him we all hated bugs, and Gonta brought whoever was caught to his lab."
"I see." The tennis player's mood went down slightly at the mention of the motive videos. "I figured Kokichi was behind it, Gonta wouldn't just snap like that outta nowhere."
"Yeah... There were bugs all over the place... and we didn't get out until eleven at night." The detective winced as he started to hear the bugs buzzing in his ears again.
"Doesn't sound like a very fun 'meet and greet' to me..." The short-statured boy airquoted.
"It wasn't." He said flatly. "Kokichi got what he deserved, though. Keebo showed us he had a recording function, and he played a recording of Kokichi saying he hated bugs. Right in front of Gonta."
"And what happened...?" Ryoma asked, amused.
Shuichi smiled. "We could hear him screaming when we left the lab."
"Hmph, serves him right for tricking Gonta like that." He chuckled. He felt a little bit bad for Kokichi, since he simply felt like everyone viewing their videos together was the best way to deal with them, but tricking someone into doing it wasn't cool to him.
The detective's expression fell. "By the way, about last night..."
"Ah." Ryoma looked him in the eyes. "Like I said the other night, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. It's just... seeing nothing in my own motive video like that after looking for it... I just lost all hope."
"I mean, you didn't have to apologize, Ryoma. I was just wondering if you were feeling better. That was rough for you to see, but I'm glad I could help you out of it regardless."
"You didn't have to have to cry over me, though." He smiled.
Shuichi blushed again shyly, looking away. "I couldn't help it, Ryoma. I just cared about you."
"Yeah... I appreciate that." He remembered the warm hug Shuichi had wrapped him in on impulse. He wanted to stay like that forever, the empty feeling inside him having faded as someone who cared about him squeezed him in their arms.
Something like that wasn't worth throwing away.
"Um... I don't want to be nosy, but why were you up before eight? There's not much to do before the gym and dining hall opens up." Shuichi promptly asked.
"It's fine." Ryoma looked ahead. "I already told Kaede this, but when I was in prison, we were always woken up at dawn. We would eat and do our work throughout the day, and at night, we just slept. There wasn't anything to do then. It was like this every day."
The detective looked at him sympathetically, hoping he wasn't accidentally prying too much. "Ah... that's why you woke up so early."
"Yeah. I've always been waking up at six in the morning since I got here, and I can't ever go back to sleep. It's kinda like it's ingrained in my head or something." He explained. "This morning seemed to be different, though. I was out doing warmups, and I fell asleep after I was finished."
Shuichi chuckled quietly to himself. He imagined Ryoma just flopping into the grass like a ragdoll and falling asleep instantly.
Ryoma heard. "What?"
"It's nothing." He smiled.
The tennis pro eyed him half-jokingly, before deciding to ignore it.
They eventually reached the gym doors, ready to go through. Ryoma felt oddly anxious, not knowing what the students' reactions would be when they saw that he was going to be a part of the show. Tenko might not appreciate it, with her hatred of men, not helped by being alongside Himiko.
The aikido master always seemed to be close behind the magician, trying to interact with her at every opportunity. He knew the signs of a crush, having fallen in love once upon a time. Himiko never seemed to be appreciative of her advances, however.
Without any more thought, he and Shuichi entered the gym.
The gym was decorated with streamers and banners that read "The Amazing Himiko's Magic Show". In the middle of it were some red curtains, and behind them, sat the water tank which was filled up. Above it was a smaller tank, and while the water was a little murky, he could see the piranhas in it.
They looked a lot creepier than Ryoma thought, with beady red eyes and large, sharp underbite fangs. There must've been a lot of them in there, as it looked a little cramped.
What was he getting himself into...?
He also noticed not everyone was here. Most likely they weren't interested in watching the show. If not, they were busy doing something else this morning.
"Welcome to our magic show! Whaddaya think? Isn't it divine?!" Angie suddenly greeted in her usual chipper tone.
"Yeah, it is..." Shuichi agreed. "I didn't think you would have a real stage set up. Did you and Himiko do all of this?"
"No, no. This would've been impossible with just two people."
Angie explained what Ryoma had heard from Himiko. Kaito and Keebo helped carry equipment from Himiko's lab. Kirumi sewed the curtains as the maid told him last night, but Angie herself had designed the stage, the artist marveling at the setting. Of course, since the magic show was partially Angie's idea, she attributed all of the credit to her god.
"Ah... shouldn't everyone who worked on it get the credit?" Shuichi asked, confused.
"Oh, well, I didn't ask you to help because I didn't know what you'd be useful for." She bounced happily.
Damn. Some of the others still see him as unreliable, it seems.
"...Did you really have to say that?" He breathed tiredly.
"Anyway, just sit tight. Once we're done preparing, we'll start right away." Angie looked over at the smaller boy next to him and clasped her hands together excitedly. "Come, Ryoma! You were a teeny bit late, and we must get ready!"
He turned his attention to the artist, already hearing the other students starting to murmur to themselves as she called for him. "Yeah, got it."
"But first, the star of the show needs to settle her nerves..." Angie explained.
"Hm?" Ryoma looked over at Himiko near the stage.
The magician was shuddering badly, nervously taking shaky breaths. She was sweating buckets, unable to calm herself. It was a complete far cry from her attitude yesterday.
He was a little on edge himself, but it was nowhere near this intense.
Shuichi noticed she was quivering as well. "Himiko... are you a bit nervous?" He asked.
"J-Just a little bit!" She stuttered. "C-Cuz... the magic Ryoma and I will be performing today is the Extreme Water Magic, Underwater Escape Act. I-I've never successfully cast it before... It's pretty difficult, so I'm a little nervous."
Ryoma heard some of the students' surprised reactions to him being in the show behind him, but he couldn't focus on them, swiftly looking up at Himiko.
"Huh? You've never done this before?"
"N-No... And we didn't have time to rehearse because of yesterday..."
Great. He was definitely gonna have a hard time now.
She nervously explained to Shuichi the other part of the magic trick, about the time limit...
...and about the piranhas dropping into the tank after the time was up, seemingly pureeing them both.
She left out the part about the piranhas only eating dead flesh, but it might have been for thrill value.
"Wh-What?! Pureed?!" Shuichi exclaimed, quickly turning towards Ryoma. "Are you sure you can do this? The piranhas sound a little dangerous..."
The tennis pro tried to ease his fears a bit. "...I think I'll be fine. I just need to be careful."
Himiko continued to explain, the piranhas coming from her lab and the extra addition for the show being Angie's idea. Before she could continue, Tenko anxiously spoke up.
"W-Wait... piranhas are way too dangerous...! And why are you letting a degenerate male be in your show?!"
"Ah, Tenko..." Shuichi responded. He should've considered that Tenko would react negatively to Ryoma being in the show before he asked him.
"Himiko, please reconsider! They're piranhas! They're nothing like lasagna!"
What does that last part even mean? Ryoma thought to himself.
Like she mentioned to him yesterday, Himiko told her how she'd instantly kill all of the piranhas with her magic if things went wrong, as well as explaining that she wanted Ryoma to be in the show. Whatever genuine backup plan she had for the piranhas was, he'd love to hear it now.
"You're going to kill the piranhas? I thought this was an escape trick..." Shuichi wondered.
"Himiko... are you serious...?" Tenko spoke dejectedly.
"...There's... no way I can stop now, since Angie's god is watching the show and all." She drawled.
"There's no such thing as that! Angie has brainwashed you!"
"You don't believe in my magic?"
"W-Well..." The aikido master stumbled at the accusation.
"I can do it... I'm a skilled young girl... Cuz... I'm a mage." She stated underconfidently.
Ryoma felt a bit guilty at the display. He would offer to switch places with Tenko, but he didn't want to disappoint or upset Himiko by backing out. She was set on doing this with him, and he wanted to respect that. If only Angie hadn't made her believe that her god was watching, too.
The self-proclaimed mage turned and headed towards the top of the water tank. The smaller boy moved to follow her, but Shuichi stopped him for a second.
"Ryoma... you know how to swim, right?" The detective asked worriedly, remembering the incident in the pool.
"Of course, I wouldn't have accepted to do this if I couldn't." He looked down at the chain wrapped around his left ankle. "I was gonna take this off. Without this or my jacket, I won't get weighed or slowed down... unlike last time."
"Ah, I get it." Shuichi acknowledged as Ryoma effortlessly removed the shackle from his leg and placed it and his jacket to the side. He wondered if he ever got annoyed from wearing it all of the time. The chain always dragged against the ground as he walked, making a rattling sound. It apparently didn't stop him from using his Shukuchi Method to run away from Gonta, so he supposed he didn't really care.
"I'll see you after we're done." Ryoma said as he followed Himiko behind the stage.
"Good luck..." Shuichi smiled nervously.
Behind him, Ryoma heard Tenko reaffirm her belief in Himiko's magic.
"You're... my precious friend..."
He sighed softly.
As the both of them reached the top of the tank, some of the students were chattering about his presence in the show.
"Ryoma never told us he was going to be in the magic show. This is the first I've heard of it." Keebo commented.
"I plainly wonder why. He's always so distant..." Tsumugi chimed in. "I didn't think he would agree to something like this."
"Gonta is nervous for both of them. The piranhas might eat them..." Said entomologist admitted with a worried look.
"Don't worry, Gonta. I'm sure they'll be fine." The cosplayer tried to comfort him.
"Oh, Gonta is still not sure..."
"I doubt that the show is not without a safety measure in place." The robot noted. "If things were to go awry, they would be safe from them."
"Maybe... He hopes that they will be okay."
Angie stood in front of the stage, asking them if they were ready. Ryoma nodded, and Himiko having said whatever prayers and used the restroom.
The artist cheered, announcing the start of the show. Everyone present gathered to the front of the stage.
Ryoma was admittedly a little tense. The tank below him had a sizable amount of water in it, and Himiko's shaking wasn't making him feel any better.
"Many thanks to His Holiness for being with us today." Angie exclaimed.
"Boo! Booooooo!" Tenko shouted back. "You're supposed to thank us first!"
She ignored the aikido master's objections. "Nyahaha! I present to you the mysterious, the miraculous, The Amazing Himiko! And, she has a special guest!"
"N... Nyeh... Th-The magic I will perform today is the Extreme Water Magic... U-Underwater... Escape Act..." Himiko struggled to speak. "A-And my guest, Ryoma, w-will help me cast this spell as well."
The tennis pro looked up at her, hearing the magician's voice trembling as she announced the magic trick. He shuffled a little closer to her, wanting to make her feel a little less anxious.
"If you would please turn your attention to the water tank in front of you!" Angie gestured towards the tank below them.
She explained that when the timer starts, Himiko and Ryoma would enter the water tank, and she'd draw the curtains in front of it. After 60 seconds on the timer passed, the tank above them would open up, dropping in the school of piranhas.
"After the piranhas have fallen in, and the curtain is opened..." She winked. "If, by some miracle, they both have been gobbled up, please give a big round of applause!"
Everyone just stared.
Ryoma looked down at her, utterly flummoxed.
Himiko seemed to shake even more.
"Juuuust kidding! It's a joke!"
Funny joke... He thought sarcastically. He wondered if only people like Angie would've found that funny.
Some of the others were starting to show their discomfort. Gonta was getting increasingly worried, and Tenko started praying to Angie's god by accident. Shuichi was fidgeting slightly, but tried to keep his composure.
Ryoma slightly turned his head to the shivering redhead. "It's gonna be alright, Himiko. We'll do fine, I promise." He whispered to her. He wasn't good with comforting words, but he at least wanted to give her a little more confidence. It was for himself too, hoping that reassuring her would help curb his own uneasiness.
She shifted her eyes towards him, hearing his deep but soothing voice trying to encourage her. Her shuddering lessened, standing a bit more firmly as she looked back at the audience. He turned back as well, feeling a little weight lift off of his shoulders.
"Nyeeeh... Well then, let's begin... The Amazing Himiko's Magic Show!" The magician announced, walking over to the timer to start the countdown.
With deep breaths, Ryoma and Himiko dropped into the tank, and for the second time this week, he was underwater. His hearing became muffled as he was surrounded by the liquid, a few air bubbles escaping his nose as he kept his breath held. He opened his eyes to see Shuichi sheepishly waving at him on the other side of the tank before the curtains closed.
Ryoma kept his cool, swiftly turning to Himiko for her next move. He didn't want to spend too much time in the water, they only had 60 seconds until the piranhas dropped into the tank.
She gestured towards the other side of the tank. He swam over to it, where she pointed to the escape hatch. It was big enough for them to go through, but only one of them at a time. They couldn't verbally communicate, but Himiko made it clear she wanted him to go first, since he was smaller than her. He pressed his hand on the hatch, and it pushed outward, water gushing out of the other side.
Not wanting to waste time, Ryoma climbed through it and into a small, dark area. Taking a breath of air, he felt around a bit before finding a door on one of the sides of the tight space he was in. He pushed it open, finding himself backstage next to the tank again. He saw that he had climbed out of the stairs he and Himiko walked up.
It seems like this is what she meant by a "magic staircase". They doubled as a pathway out of the tank's hatch so they could step out.
Himiko eventually made her way out next to him. Ryoma could hear the other students' worried exclamations behind them, and it sounded like they were getting pretty restless.
Further in the back away tucked behind the tank, there were towels and their extra clothes sitting folded on the ground. Opting to stand out of sight from Himiko as much as possible, he grabbed his clothes and began to change, quickly drying himself off.
As he got ready to put on his new clothes, he heard the others getting more anxious. From what he could hear, it sounded like there was a huge commotion going on. There were footsteps, then Angie scolding Gonta for interrupting the show, the entomologist worrying for the both of them. He couldn't see what was happening, hiding out of sight backstage. They were shouting for them to come out, Tenko crying out for Himiko. He could only imagine how Shuichi was feeling, as he wasn't heard amongst the others.
It didn't sound like they were having fun at all, being more concerned about their safety than being entertained. He understood their trepidation completely, the trick was pretty dangerous even though he knew they wouldn't actually be eaten by the piranhas at all. Just the mere thought of that slightly unsettled him, stoic as he was.
The sound of the buzzer going off filled the gym, indicating that time was up, and the piranhas were being dropped into the tank. A loud splash could be heard as they all fell in.
"Huh? Huhhh?!" Gonta suddenly exclaimed.
"Look! The piranhas!" He heard Keebo shout.
"H-Hurry! The curtains! Open the curtains already!" Tenko rapidly begged.
"Got it! I'm opening it now!" Angie announced.
Then there was silence.
A long, uncomfortable, deafening silence.
Himiko quickly joined up with him from where she was standing, cheerfully nudging him to go back to the front of the stage with her. Ryoma hoped seeing them both completely unscathed would help calm the others down.
They stepped out from behind the curtains.
As he saw everyone's faces again, they weren't wearing looks of relief.
They were looks of silent, sheer horror.
Himiko, being unaware of their reactions, spoke up in a chipper tone.
"Behold! The magnificent Underwater Esca-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, a familiar, chilling jingle halted Ryoma's thoughts.
*ding dong, dong ding*
"Nyeh?" She stopped.
The monitor in the gym turned on, revealing Monokuma's face.
"A body has been discovered!" The black and white bear announced in his high-pitched voice. "Everyone, please gather in the gym!"
The screen went black.
"Nyeh? A body...? In the gym?"
"Shuichi, what's going on?" Ryoma asked with urgency.
"R-Ryoma!" The detective cried out as he found his voice, at least thankful that he was okay.
The tennis pro began to hear words he didn't want to hear. That nobody wanted to hear.
"K... Kirumi...! Sh-She..."
Kirumi...?
Ryoma slowly turned his head towards the glass water tank behind him.
The clear water was now dyed a bloody red, the piranhas swarming in groups.
And right in the middle of it all...
...sat a pile of bones at the bottom of the tank.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Nyeh...?"
Ryoma lost the ability to speak.
A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell: Revisited - D̵͠à͘͏̢ì̶̴̕l̸͠y͞͠͠͝ ҉̡L̵͡i͏͠f̀͟͢e̷̴͘͘͠ Deadly Life
This was the second body discovery announcement since the students' time here at the Ultimate Academy.
Everyone who didn't attend the magic came rushing into the gym, Kaito included.
"Wh-What's going on?!" The astronaut shouted.
"I-I don't know! I don't know what happened!" Tenko shouted back, panicking.
Ryoma just stood there silently, trying to process what he had just seen. Why was Kirumi...?
Kokichi abruptly suggested breaking the tank to check what was inside, since draining it would take too long. The supreme leader pointed his sly gaze towards Keebo, calling on him and Gonta.
The robot worriedly questioned why, only for the purple-haired boy to ask Gonta to throw the automaton into the tank like a battering ram. Keebo complained, but the entomologist quickly obliged.
Tenko agreed as well, preparing to toss the poor robot into the glass.
"N-Now wait just a second! You don't need to team up-"
"Hold up." Ryoma suddenly found himself speaking up. "There's... another way we could break it."
"Huh? What other way?" Kokichi asked quickly.
This sounded like an outlandish idea, but it could work. At this point, it couldn't get any worse than this.
"What do you mean, Ryoma?" Shuichi asked.
"I won't take long."
The tennis pro suddenly darted out of the gym at top speed, almost as if he teleported.
"Geez, where's that guy going?" Kaito wondered, astonished by his speed.
"I see... Perhaps this is how he managed to elude Gonta's grasp the day prior." Korekiyo observed.
"I didn't know that Ryoma was so fast..." Tsumugi stared in awe.
In a matter of seconds, Ryoma came back.
In his hands, he held a tennis racket and a shot put ball.
"Wait, Ryoma! You're not going to..." Shuichi exclaimed, a little off-put at the sight of the ball.
"Stand back."
The already heavy ball felt even heavier in his hand, but he chose to ignore it.
There was no aiming at anyone's heads this time. At least in this situation, it would be helpful.
Everyone stood back as Ryoma moved in front of them.
Gripping the tennis racket in his left hand, he tossed the iron ball into the air. Connecting with the racket, he sent the ball careening towards the water tank.
It smashed directly into the middle of the glass, getting stuck for a couple of seconds before the cracks began to spread.
Then, the glass tank shattered completely, blood red water and piranhas rushing out and flooding most of the gym.
"Whoooooa, that was awesome, Ryoma!" Kokichi bounced excitedly like a child on Christmas.
"Don't get too comfortable, kid. We still gotta clean this all up." The tennis player stated directly.
"Man, you're no fun..." The supreme leader pouted.
The tank being broken, the students cleaned up the gym, doing their best... without Kirumi around. They left things that might seem crucial to the crime intact. The piranhas were placed in a bucket, and Kirumi's belongings and body was placed in front of the tank.
Himiko simply stared at the ground, dejected.
"Himiko, are you okay?" Tenko asked.
Ryoma looked at the magician, sympathy in his eyes.
The magic show was supposed to be fun for everyone, to take their minds off of the killing game. It was meant to bring smiles to people who were down on their luck. She and Shuichi wanted him to perform it with her out of kindness, hoping the experience would help him get a little closer to the others.
But, the complete opposite happened.
Someone was dead instead, and it all happened behind their backs.
The killing game had started again, despite their best efforts to keep that from happening.
"H-How could this happen...?!" Kokichi teared up. "Wahhhhhhh! Moooooom!" He cried loudly.
Ryoma tried everything in his power not to cover his ears.
"You all said that the killing game wouldn't start again! Liars! Apologize to Mom right now!"
"Your disingenuous tears mark you as the liar right now..." Kiyo glared at him.
"Oh, you figured it out? You've got a pretty good eye there, Kiyo." The supreme leader instantly snapped back to his lax demeanor.
He wasn't sure, but Ryoma felt something about Kokichi's response was a little off. It was as if... he wasn't being entirely untruthful? He knew Kokichi just messed around with everyone and never said anything from the heart, but he had the sense that he felt more than he was letting on. It was hard to see through his lies completely, though. He was just that good at it.
Sure enough, after they were finished cleaning up, Monokuma appeared, the Monokubs following suit.
"Gee, this is an interesting turn of events! You guys finally got your second murder victim!" The sickeningly cheerful bear announced. "Why is Kirumi transparent, though? Did my x-ray powers finally awaken?"
"So, the cleaning lady bit the dust, eh?" Monosuke commented.
"Huh? Who's biting what dust?" Monotaro asked, confused.
"It's a figure of speech, dumbass!" The orange and white bear yelled at his forgetful leader. "But man, I've been waitin' for the killin' game to start again! We can start playin' the blame game, and skip all of the boring shit!" He laughed in a haughty manner.
"Uh, who are you again?" Monokuma asked dumbly.
The bears spiraled into their usual, unnecessary banter. Monophanie vomited as expected, and Monodam said nothing. Nobody here had time for it.
"Cut it out. We gotta get a move on." Ryoma said sharply. "We need to investigate if we're gonna figure this all out."
"Yes, yes!" Angie chirped. "Hurry and hand us the file thing!"
"You mean the Monokuma File?" Monokuma questioned excitedly.
Something about a business opportunity with the file or whatever else was said, but Ryoma simply tuned it out. He didn't really care, time was being wasted.
Eventually, Monokuma and his kubs left, leaving the students to themselves.
"In any event, let us begin the investigation." Kiyo stated.
"Investigation... so it's really going to start again..." Keebo uttered.
"One of us... killed Kirumi..." Tsumugi gripped her arm.
"Gonta doesn't want to suspect his friends..."
"Then don't." Maki spoke firmly.
Ryoma looked over at the child caregiver, her expression blank as usual.
"I'm not going to investigate, either. It's not like a child caregiver would be much help, so you'll be fine if you're short one person."
With those simple words, she promptly left the gym.
"Wait, Maki!" Shuichi called out to her.
Despite the students' protests, they decided to start the investigation without her. The detective noticed that Maki has been acting strange, with her spending the entire day in her lab since it opened up. He couldn't put his finger on it, however.
"Actually, we don't even need to investigate." Kokichi abruptly declared. "We've got our culprit right here."
"Kokichi, what-"
Shuichi was cut off. "Kirumi died during a certain little magical girl's show, didn't she?" He remarked in a snide tone.
"Nyeh...?" Himiko responded.
"So I think we should be a little more suspicious of that magical girl..."
"Nyeh?!" She started sweating.
As Ryoma thought would happen, Himiko was being made out as the prime suspect, being the one who was supposed to initially perform the magic show.
"Shut up, Himiko would never do something like that!" Tenko shouted. "I know her best, right Himiko?"
"No..." The magician answered simply with a bored look.
"Wh... This is the part where you agree with me!" The aikido master recoiled. "Wh-What about Ryoma?! He was a part of the magic show, too! And he's a male!" She blurted out.
"T-Tenko...!" Shuichi exclaimed.
The two others who weren't present at the magic show quickly glanced at Ryoma.
"Wait... you were a part of the magic show?!" Kaito asked, bewildered. That explained the lack of his leather jacket, he realized.
"Yeah." The tennis pro stated plainly. There was no point in keeping it from them now that the show was over, in more ways than one.
"Ah, it was... my idea." The detective spoke up reluctantly. "I thought that if Ryoma was a part of it, it would help get him to open up a little."
"Aha! So they were working together!" Kokichi proclaimed. "But which one of them did it, I wonder? The magical girl, or someone who's killed before, hm?"
Ryoma didn't falter at all, looking the supreme leader directly in the eyes. "I don't really care if you think I did it or not. We'll find that out during the class trial."
"Right! Ryoma wouldn't do anything like that, either!" The astronaut exclaimed.
"Could you guys at least tell us the secret behind the trick? If we know how it works, we could find how the culprit killed-"
"That's not possible..." Himiko interrupted Kokichi.
"Not possible...? Why not?" Shuichi asked.
"There's no trick... Cuz it was my magic..."
"Himiko, if we don't tell them how the trick works, we won't be able to help find the culprit." Ryoma addressed the magician.
"Nyeeeh, you know you can't reveal a mage's secrets. There's no trick to my magic. Cuz... it's magic."
"We can't just-"
"Y-You heard her! If she says it was her magic, then it was her magic!" Tenko butt in.
Ryoma sighed, not in the mood to argue. Even if he tried to tell all of the others how it worked, the aikido master would continuously try to stop him. He understood that she wanted to believe in Himiko, but her defensiveness, alongside Himiko's stubbornness, was getting in the way of making progress with the investigation. He'd have to find a way to explain it to everyone.
"Well, it's fine if you don't wanna tell us. I'll just find out myself." Kokichi told the magician. "Actually that sounds pretty fun!"
"Learning the secret to Himiko's magic trick is crucial to solving this curious case." Kiyo stated.
"Yeah, it's not like we got a choice." Kaito agreed.
No choice.
They had no choice but to do this.
No choice but to investigate.
No choice but to find out who killed Kirumi.
But... they had to do so to stay alive. Because they have to risk their lives at the class trial.
There was no waiting around. It's now, or never.