...

Begin Deadly Life

Kaede clearly looked like she still didn't want to believe it. We both thought we were finally regaining some control of our situation. That things were going to get better. How did this happen even though I saw Maki alive last night?

The assassin and faux child caregiver was no stranger to bloodshed, so who could've possibly killed her?

Was she killed trying to defend herself or did this happen because she attacked someone else? Would Maki really do that? I thought to myself.

The fact this was Kiyo's lab we found her body in was a smaller area of concern. Unlike Angie's lab, his didn't have any locks so anyone could've done this if they weren't complying with the student council's nighttime curfew.

While Kirumi told me, Kaede, Miyuji, and Maki that Kiyo wasn't complying, I didn't think this was his doing. Something about how the artifacts were being treated didn't line up. He was too protective of them before.

His surprise at seeing Maki's body looked genuine enough when Kaito brought him for questioning. At least the astronaut was suspecting him less now than from before they ran into me. Not that it was saying much, Kaito's still quite clearly a wreck.

Shuichi and Ryoma were trying to ease Kaito's nerves but they were also too shaken to be of much help despite the detective's sharp eyes and investigation skills. No one objected when the three excused themselves to see if there was anything else around that could be connected. I figured too many of us felt ashamed of how they treated Kaede and Ryoma before to complain.

"For the sake of our investigation does anyone have any complaints if I go over Maki's body? Unless Gonta would rather try, as he might be more used to corpses than I am. Not human ones of course." Kirumi calmly asked.

I couldn't help but notice that Kiyo kept glancing at her like he had an objection, but he must've thought better of it as he resumed looking into what else in his lab might be involved here instead.

"Gonta can't! Gonta not... not smart enough to be useful like Kirumi. Kirumi smart so she do good. Besides, it not proper for gentlemen to touch a lady without her permission." Gonta was trying to hide a light blush that came with his explanation, an odd contrast to the tear tracks that still stained his face.

"It is a bit late to ask her about that sort of thing I'm afraid. Particularly if we think we should check her for injuries that may be unrelated to the fall. I doubt anything else could be the cause of death, however. You can see where the banister underneath her broke off from even from where we're standing."

I had to crane my head up to see what Kiyo was talking about but he was right, on the highest level there was a break in the rails. With little prompting, Tenko made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could to see if there were signs of a struggle or any other clues as Angie followed, hoping all the way.

I'm impressed they have the stamina for that, since that's on the fifth floor. Why is this lab so damn tall?! I off-handily thought.

While the two were up there, Kirumi informed all of us that she kept finding some sort of ashes on Maki's body she couldn't explain. Kaede must've thought better of bringing up the candles she sent Ryoma and Maki to collect, as neither me or her wanted Angie to become aware of our attempt at sabotage, and as neither him nor the artist were here no comment was made about it possibly being the Necronomicon.

This might get messy if it needs to come up in the trial though. Was Maki's death an accident her killer tried to undo? I don't know if someone other than Angie, Kaede, and I knew how this motive worked. I thought to myself.

Nothing else seemed out of place though, no weapons or injuries on her that didn't make sense. Except for the weird stone mask that was laid over Maki's face, modern looking in all but it's medium.

"Why the bloody hell would anyone get Sun Witch Esper Ito into this anyway?!" Tokuko yelled before calming herself. "Actually why is her mask even in here? It can't really be culturally relevant right? Beyond normal festival masks I mean."

Leave it to Tokuko to know what on Bionis that thing was or where it was from. It really is out of place. I thought.

"You aren't wrong about what it is, but what it represents is a fair bit different." Kiyo began, despite the actress' brief attempts to assure him that he didn't have to. But there was no retracting an excuse for him to lecture. "This is the mask most associated with the serial killer Kirakira Seigi or 'Sparkling Justice' who supposedly came from Spain. Naturally given the title and style of their trademark mask I am inclined to doubt that theory, as it's too distinctly Japanese to think they would consider Spain to be their only point of origin, but they do make for an interesting modern connection to both cultures as a result. Being a serial killer who exclusively kills others of their ilk in poetic gruesome recreations of the targeted serial killer's preferred methods also taps into various other figures and notions regarding popular concepts of 'Justice' and 'Karma'."

"For all her early objections, the lesson stirred the rose-wearing girl's interest enough that she was simply bubbling with questions, as if we weren't still talking in the middle of a murder scene. "Is a stone mask really their trademark? What do you mean 'they', is there more than one person who uses this name? Do you think it's related to that other Kira-"

"No. For all of those things." The anthropologist sternly cut her off, but he obviously enjoyed having peaked her interest as he lead her off to a side of the room to continue without bothering anyone's work. "First off, the person known as Sparkling Justice is elusive so their gender is a point of debate, though I do lean in favor of that person being male myself, so I tried being as neutral as I could. Second, typically the mask they use is of the common cheap plastic affairs so I can't really explain why this is was made to be so much more permanent and without any of its common colors either I'm afraid." And with his more basic deductions done his tone soured. "Third, I just told you they were thought to be Spanish so any similarities this has to a certain older manga are likely coincidence."

I gave Tokuko a sympathetic smile at seeing her flinch at Kiyo's surprisingly harsh response before asking a question of my own. "So do you think this mask was used to accuse Maki of something? Or mock her because of her talent? I mean an assassin and a serial killer would be kind of different right?"

"The irony is highly possible if the Kirakira connection to this design is known, and they are distinct enough that all of Kirakira's confirmed kills did what they did out of passion rather than a paycheck." Kiyo responded.

"Should we be concerned by how our biggest suspect knows so much about niche serial killers?" Kokichi piped up from the second floor, staring down at us with his chin resting on his folded arms. Something felt off about him though. He was smiling like a cat toying with a mouse but there was a new cruelty to it.

"If you want to be that's your own prerogative I'm sure. I merely felt it best to be aware given how often I travel and get considered to be either highly suspicious or a person of interest in dangerous situations." The anthropologist called back up to him, looking annoyed by how loud the supreme leader was to make sure he was heard.

The purple-haired boy paused for a moment to look up and theatrically held his hands to his mouth before calling up to the highest floor. "HEY ANGIE YOU STILL GOT THAT WEIRDO BOOK ON YOU?!"

The artist's head poked over the broken railing looking for Kokichi before she replied, both of them ignoring Kiyo's seething down below them. "Nooope, it went missing sometime yesterday! Why?"

"Any reason why someone might have wanted to burn it beyond it being obviously evil and stupid?"

"Oh? Did someone find an effigy of Maki with ashes on it?"

"Depends, does her fucking corpse count as an 'effigy'? 'Cause this is one duuusty cun-"

That last bit of vulgarity proved to be Kiyo's last straw. "Can you both please stop yelling?! You'll find the room carries sound very well on it's own."

"Hey we're being helpful Kiyo, stop complaining!" Kokichi yelled back down. "This isn't even a real library, jeez."

The anthropologist's eye actually twitched as he struggled to restrain himself. "Allow me to rephrase then, if you don't settle down I will come up there and tear out your tongues."

"Sharlaaaaaaaa Kiyo's threatening meeeeeeeee~" The supreme leader cried out.

Oh for the love of-! Isn't Kirumi your mom?! I thought as I turned to face Kiyo. "Sorry Kiyo, just bear with this for now. Or maybe you can check out one of the other rooms? Like if the book went missing, maybe Angie's lab has something."

"Oh yes, because leaving these relics unattended with Kokichi and Angie around is a simply marvelous idea." He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"They are far from unattended." Kirumi assured him. "I will do my best to keep them from causing harm to any of your other pieces Kiyo. Feel free to help Shuichi, Ryoma, and Kaito if you think it may be of more benefit to us."

She gave him a look that was hard to tell if it was understanding or pity as the maid returned the mask to it's proper place in the glass case. Kiyo looked reluctant, almost angry, to follow her suggestion but he hardly had any reason not to do so with how much stress seeing his room crowded caused him.

With the anthropologist out of the way, Angie continued to confirm it was probably the Necronomicon that was burned, though she didn't think a body would count as an effigy in this case. That would explain why Maki was still obviously dead at any rate. Unless the ritual never had a chance at succeeding.

I felt a bit more at ease going around the room now, and I quickly found another distressing detail. The golden katana was gone. The sheath wasn't, which was why I didn't notice at first, but the blade was nowhere to be found. When I asked, Kirumi confirmed she didn't see anything that looked like it had been hit by a rusty sword, which only made it's absence all the more suspicious.

Seeing nothing else of note, me and Kaede left to see if anyone else had made any progress. The two of us then saw Shuichi, Ryoma, Kaito, and Kiyo heading back from Angie's lab.

"Did you guys find anything?" Kaede asked.

"You mean aside from the wax museum thing she had going on?" Ryoma answered in sarcasm. "Not much, Kiyo saw some gold leaf might be missing from her art supplies and Angie's probably a bit loopier than we already thought."

"Now now Ryoma, making mementos to honor those that are gone is a common response to grief, and I find her attention to detail to be rather touching." Kiyo explained. "Obviously, they lack the particular beauty that comes with bearing the human soul but she matched their likenesses to an otherwise astounding degree, yes?"

"You mean she made things that look like they crawled right out of the uncanny valley of robotics man!" Kaito argued, which given Shuichi's sigh, wasn't the first time he made his discomfort over the figures known.

As the anthropologist shook his head with a shrug, he paused as a thought came to mind. "...I do hope you won't use such a phrase within earshot of Keebo, that could be considered most rude."

Actually where is Keebo anyway? Or Tokuko? Did they go to find Monosuke for the file since it's late? There's a better question to be asking here though. We'll see both of them soon enough I'm sure. I thought to myself.

"Why would gold leaf be missing?" I asked to help address the more relevant evidence. "It's not like money matters in here or anything. Do you think it's related to the anthropology lab's katana? I couldn't find the blade and it's the only gold thing here."

"Huh? You sure Sharla? Kiyo, you didn't say anything about that!" Kaito exclaimed in response.

"Didn't I? Must have slipped my mind, my apologies. Besides, it struck me as a more personal issue, given how Kirumi hadn't mentioned finding rust in any of her injuries." The taller boy admitted. "The blade hasn't been taken care of well at all, so I can't see how something that rusted could be used here, and had someone recently held the handle or sheath we'd find gold on their hands from where the leaf coating tends to peel off."

"So Angie's missing supply could just be someone trying to replace the older gold leaf that came off when they messed with the sword without permission?" Shuichi suggested.

Or a sign someone was setting something up. I thought.

"I could believe that, the sword has been missing since at least last night and I suspect it was taken when I spoke with Kaede yesterday." Kiyo continued. "As its uses as a weapon are limited I didn't feel a need to worry anyone, given how Maki's lab allows for equally easy access to a wider array of much more effective tools to use."

"Seriously man? You still shoulda said something so we could help you find it!" Kaito exclaimed, though the anthropologist seemed to just brush him off.

As Shuichi, Ryoma, and Kaito continued to ask about the missing antique, me and Kaede saw Keebo, Tokuko, and Miyuji come out of one of the classrooms Maki and Ryoma took candles from before. It wasn't clear how long they tried investigating in there, but without the candles the two of us assumed they'd be pitch black so we were confused.

"Hey, aren't those rooms a bit too dark to be checking? Or are the candles back now? Kirumi did say something about finding ashes on Maki's body so I'm not sure where else a fire could be from." The pianist asked them, trying to hide our involvement in the candles being moved to avoid concerning Angie later.

"Not to worry, my new flashlight function was more than sufficient enough to be most thorough in our investigations!" Keebo happily informed her. "Kirumi had said she saw Maki remove a set of candles from this area before, and they are indeed still missing. Aside from that, we didn't see anything unusual though, so this is unlikely to matter."

"Even if it is kinda pink for a flashlight…" Tokuko softly muttered behind him, looking kinda embarrassed for how improvised this 'function' was.

"Would you rather have Keebo use a different color? He should have a more traditional yellow too." Miyuji asked the actress.

Before the two could get dragged into a debate over Keebo's abilities, Kaede quickly tried to excuse herself. "I don't think that's the issue, but that's still good to hear!"

Once Monosuke gave us the murder file, all of us returned to Kiyo's lab so everyone would have access to the file's contents.

At the very least it did confirm the fall was what killed her, so the missing katana could be unrelated. She was also killed at midnight which with the council's curfew further narrowed down their list of suspects.

Being shoved through the railing could also make this look like her killer acted in self defense. But Maki doesn't like swords and if she had it then it'd still be here. There'd be no reason for anyone to have hid it, it's not like we can test blood or anything. Unless they just didn't want us to know there was a fight? I thought to myself.

After a long conversation about the Caged Child séance Kiyo wanted to do, I went out into the hall with Kaede and Miyuji. Kiyo wanted the vocalist to be the spirit medium but Kirumi made the offer instead to the anthropologist's dismay. He accepted the maid's offer anyway and Angie agreed to help with the séance.

Miyuji did seem a little disturbed by the séance in the first place so her decision to join me and Kaede is understandable. At least Kirumi prevented what Kiyo was planning to do to her. I thought to myself.

The three of us found Kaito, Shuichi, and Ryoma at the end of the hall, past the three empty classrooms Kiyo wanted to use, into the area that looked more mechanical. The astronaut probably took off the second Angie said 'séance' as he was clearly having some sort of panic attack again, while Shuichi and Ryoma were comforting him where they could.

At least that's all we thought the detective and the tennis pro were helping with before Kaito turned to look at us.

"K-Kaito, are you OK?! You're bleeding!" Kaede asked in worry and shock upon seeing blood dripping off Kaito's mouth.

"I know, nothing to worry about. Just bit my tongue wrong earlier, it's nothing I promise." The astronaut assured her, but me and Ryoma didn't buy it. This was really hard to believe with my experience as a medic.

"Are they really going through with Kiyo's 'Caged Child' ritual Miyuji?" Shuichi asked.

"That's the plan, but I wouldn't call it a waste. I mean I can understand if Angie and Kiyo think it's the only way they can help investigate right now." The vocalist responded. "It's not like we have a whole lot of evidence yet, or any ideas where else to look for some. Speaking of which, they probably need those candles back now."

"Humph. Likely right about that. Maki and I just put those things in our rooms so I'll get them. If her's is locked they'll still be enough to put one in each room for now anyway. I'll be right back." Despite his attempt at an aloof attitude, Ryoma was gone in the blink of an eye and so was Shuichi. It was still a shock to see how fast he could be when he took something seriously, especially up close unlike when he avoided Tenko before.

And this is him being 'rusty', not in his prime or anything! The world of tennis must be super impressive. Maybe I should try asking him more about it some time. He's mostly just hung out with Kaito, Maki, and Kiyo as far as I know so branching out a bit more might be nice for him. I thought to myself.

"What are you two talking about?" Kaito asked, but not with suspicion despite their situation. That didn't make Kaede any less nervous as she decided to answer him honestly, since Angie wasn't in earshot.

"When me and Sharla joined the council we were able to look at the motive the bears gave us. It couldn't be used if Angie couldn't burn it, so to be on the safe side we asked Maki, Ryoma, and Miyuji to hide any sources of fire we could. Since they were the closest to her the candles were the first things to go. Just to buy us a bit more time." She explained.

"Hmm, good thinking then. Ya coulda tried telling me earlier though, I wasn't going to talk to her." The astronaut snarked.

"We know, we just didn't want to risk being overheard or overloading you or anything." I said. "Are you really alright? I mean your health wasn't the best before and now Maki's..."

"I told you, I don't need you worrying over me! I'm fine. Guys are tough ya' know, just focus on yourself." Kaito tried offering me a cheesy large grin and a thumbs up as if to prove his words, but I knew better. I could see he was pushing himself, but returned his grin with a weak smile and nodded back anyway.

He's too stubborn to accept anything else from me right now. He'll just need some more time. Then when he's ready I can only hope he'll seek me, Shuichi, Kaede, or Ryoma out. I'm not ready to try fighting with him about this. I thought.

Me, Kaede, and Miyuji helped the astronaut take refuge in the computer lab when we saw Angie, Kirumi, and Kiyo come out of his lab, heading towards the three classrooms. Given what they were saying it sounded like they were just checking to see which of the three should be used for their ritual, to see if any of them 'felt' right.

When Kaito insisted he'd be fine there alone the three of us went back to wait for Ryoma and the candles, but we couldn't tell who went into each room. But the tennis pro was true to his word as it was only a matter of minutes before he got back with five candles in hand. Not six. So one room would be short a candle.

Kaede tried asking him about the missing one but he only said he couldn't find it in Maki's room. He assumed she may had it with her when she died and then someone else took it, as with the warehouse locked there wouldn't be that many other sources of fire to burn whatever made the ashes on her body.

Angie's timing couldn't be better as she walked out of the middle room at that moment, so I was able to give her the fifth candle to return it to that. Luckily she was too grateful to us for 'finding' it to ask how we managed it in the first place, but I couldn't help but notice her hands had some gold flecks on them that weren't there before. At least I thought it was gold, with how they caught the light.

Rather than comment on it, given how messy making art could be and how she just may have missed them before in the lab's lighting, me and Miyuji took our two candles with one in each of our right hands and headed towards the one on our left as we faced them while Ryoma and Kaede took the remaining two to the side room farthest right.

Me and the vocalist had no idea what a mistake that would turn out to be.

The color of crimson blood on the floorboards was the first thing we saw and when we turned to the source of the blood, Miyuji let out a loud blood-curdling scream from the horrific sight.