"Where are you going?"
Ryoma pauses, "I've gotta go meet up with someone."
My shoulders stiffen, and my smile becomes more plastic as I stare at him. "Oh? With Gonta running around? Is that a good idea?"
"No, but I can handle him." Ryoma sighs, "If it comes to it, I'll cancel the meeting."
"Are they even gonna be there, we've been out here for hours."
"I doubt it, I'll go check, and if they're not there, then that's too bad."
"Bye, Ryoma." I wave stiffly, waiting for him to disappear before I collapse, feeling all of the energy drain right out of my body.
I'm horrible.
"Hey, Angie!" Kaede walks up to me with a wide grin.
I blink slowly, before nodding back at her, "Kaede."
Kaede chuckles shortly, "Not in a good mood tonight?" She questions, sitting beside me, appearing content.
"Who would be?"
"Not many people," She admits, "But also lots of people."
"You've got me there."
"Alright, point one to the pianist!" Kaede pumps her fists in the air for show.
We laugh briefly before lapsing into a comfortable silence, something I'd never expected to have with Kaede. I start struggling to keep my wandering mind in the present until I suddenly blurt out the thought that's been on my mind all night, "Did I make a mistake this morning?"
"What do you mean?" Kaede asks, staring at me in a sad confusion
"With Kaito and Monokuma this morning! The motive!" I stare at her desperately before letting out a shuddering breath, "I feel guilty like I shouldn't have gotten involved. Maybe if I hadn't things could've turned out better, or-"
"Stop, Angie!" Kaede grabs my shoulders in a vice grip and stares deeply into my eyes, looking slightly scared, "Don't blame yourself, you did what you thought you had to do, nothing more. If things turn out badly, it's not your fault, never think that!" Kaede let's go of my shoulders and pulls me into a tight hug, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but if anything bad happens because of what happened this morning then it would probably be Kaito's fault."
I laugh softly, my body finally relaxing as I let out a yawn. My mind calming and sleep calling to me once more.
"Thank you."
"Angie!" Kokichi skips up to me with a smile, and just about everyone's motive videos in his hands.
"Kokichi." I nod at him, eyeing the kubs pads, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing much." He tilts his head to the side, pulling a mock-innocent look. "I figured we could do a screening party, eat some popcorn, ya know. Why?"
"Nevermind." I scoff, clutching my own kubs pad tightly, still hidden away in my pocket.
"Okay!" Kokichi laughs, spinning in a circle, "Say, why are you sitting on the ground?"
"Because my life has no meaning, why do you think?" I sarcastically reply.
"Dunno." He shrugs, plopping down next to me. "How'd you get away from Gonta?"
"Hiding," I respond, turning to him. "I'm assuming you set that mess up."
"Of course, I did!" He sticks his nose up in the air and stands on a nearby rock to look taller than me. "Supreme Leaders like me always come up with the best-!"
ding dong, dong ding
"A body has been discovered. Everyone, please gather in the casino, like, right now."
Kokichi stiffens, eyes hardening, he looks over at the nearest monitor blankly. "So soon?"
"Seems like it," I say softly.
"Let's go." Kokichi hops off the rock and starts walking towards the casino with me trailing after him. "Let's hope it wasn't a shotput ball, hmm?" He watches me closely as I freeze up, "You have your kubs pad on you. Maybe you should have left it in your room, I wouldn't have gone through your stuff if you had." Before entering the casino, he leans close enough that I can feel his breath on my neck. "I wonder what else happened in that first case, there's clearly more to the tale." With that, he walks into the casino, and we see... nothing. Narrowing his eyes, he grips my hand and drags me down the stairs into the basement, where we both gasp at the sight that greets us.
The slot machines were destroyed with the lights above flickering ominously as they were all shattered. Cans of all sorts of carbonated drinks lay around the room. Everything was in complete disarray, but what lay in the center was the worst.
Kirumi Tojo's body was angled back as broken pieces of the machines pierced through her stomach, her feet were not even touching the ground. The expression on her face only added to the horror. Her eyes were wide open with glass puncturing through her skull and destroying one while the other was unharmed but had blood leaking from it. Her chapped lips were pulled back as far as possible, mouth open in a soundless scream. Her clothes were torn to shreds, leaving them looking like rags, and her hair was wiry and sickly looking, liquid dripping from it.
She looked nothing like the Ultimate Maid should, she looked nothing like Kirumi Tojo, but she was.
But that wasn't all.
One of her hands was reaching out towards the side, most likely an attempt at escape, but it had a knife slammed into it. Her nails looked like they'd been ripped off, but only on that hand. With both injuries, her hand laid soaked in a puddle of blood.
This is gruesome.
I run over to the corner of the room and throw up the contents of my stomach. Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I look up and into Kokichi's empty eyes. "Sick, this is sick." He whispers, hands shaking ever so slightly.
"What the Fuck!?" Our heads jerk to the side where we catch sight of Miu, who is backing herself up into a corner. "The fuck is this shit!?"
Soon everyone else comes down the stairs and start screaming, some remaining speechless and others lose their lunch. Even Maki pales at the sight of Kirumi, closing her eyes for a good minute as her breathing escalates in pace.
"Oh good, you're all here!" Monokuma cheers as he hops into the room, his remaining kubs waddling in after him. "I've gotta hand it to this blackened, they sure know how to make a scene." He sniggers, looking at us for a reaction. "No laughs? Hey, what's wrong with you all!?"
"They seem sad," Monophanie observes.
"Who cares if they're sad!" Monokuma screeches, "Hey, numbskulls! You've got a case on your hands, get to work!" He passes out the Monokuma File, "Anyways, here's the Monokuma File, I put some more effort into this one than the last one. Enjoy!" Monokuma and his kubs swiftly leave.
"He seriously wants us to start investigating?" Kaito growls lowly.
"It appears so," Kiyo responds lightly, scrolling through the Monokuma File. "It appears we do not know the time of death once again."
"Gimme that!" Tenko sneers, snatching the File out of his hands and starts reading it, looking vaguely sick. "That's a long list of reasons for how she died."
"Can I read it?" Himiko asks, reaching out to grab it, only for Tenko to run away.
"No way! Your eyes are too pure to see the vile acts committed by some male!"
"What does that mean!?" Kaito roars, getting in her face. "What is your problem with us guys? We've done nothing to you!"
"Right now you're attacking a defenseless girl!" Tenko screws up her face, looking disgusted at how close Kaito was to her, but unable to flip him due to holding the File.
"Are you insane!?"
"Shut up!" Shuichi shouts, clenching his fists as everyone turns to look at him. "We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves! Tenko, can you give the File to someone else?"
"Fine!" Tenko shouts, "You can take this." She throws the File at Kaito, who barely catches it.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Kaito glares at her.
Tenko stalks up to Himiko and drags her up the stairs. "We're going to investigate!"
Everyone hears the doors to the casino from upstairs slam shut on their way out, leaving everyone in an uncomfortable silence.
"Shall we work in pairs once more?" Keebo inquires hesitantly, glancing over at Miu.
"Uh, yeah, that would be great." Shuichi coughs.
"I'll work with Angie!" Kokichi cuts in, dragging me out of the building.
"Okay..?" Shuichi responds after the doors slam shut once more, everyone remaining dumbfounded. "What was that?"
