Hi everyone! I got a huge burst of inspiration a day or two ago, so that was good for the chapter, haha. Also, embarrassingly enough, I figured out that I accidentally called Natsuko "Nobuko" in the earlier chapters. It's been fixed now (explanation being that I have an OC who goes by that name who bears a similar personality to Natsuko). If I do make a typo or mess up your characters name, just tell me and I'll correct it.
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With shaking hands, much of the group dispersed to look for something to do, as nobody wanted to feel useless. Kin and Haru looked at each other before heading off in the other direction. Before they could leave the room, a hand touched Haru's shoulder.
"Hey." It was Natsuko. The perky demeanour she had earlier was gone, leaving the Natsuko they remembered from the opening room standing in front of them. She smirked playfully at Haru. "I bet I can collect more alibis then you." It was clear she was trying to find something to take her mind off the situation.
Luckily, so was Haru. She lit up with a grin. "I bet you can't!"
"May the best girl win?" Natsuko grinned right back.
"You know it." Haru snickered. She grabbed Kin's hand and bolted off in the opposite direction, taking the protester (who was currently performing their talent loudly) along for the ride. Natsuko smiled and hurried off in the opposite direction.
Kin was wheezing by the time the two of them reached their first group of people- Himakuta and Iko.
"Hi guys! Do you need anything?" Himakuta smiled, chewing away on a piece of liquorice. Iko still looked scared, but more determined than he did in the audiotorium.
"Looks like we got a head start on Natsuko! We already know you guys didn't do it." Seeing Kin's confused expression, Haru continued. "I slept over with them. Himakuta, Iko, Ritsu, Chiasa, Natsuko and myself all have alibis."
"Uh, does Natsuko?" Iko spoke up. "If this happened two hours ago, she was still out and about."
Haru's face fell. "Crap... Well, I'll keep it in mind, at least. I'd sure as hell hope it wasn't her."
"Hey... What have you got there?" Kin pointed at Himakuta, who was holding something in the hand that didn't have liquorice.
"This? Oh! We found evideeeence! Iko found it down the dorm hallway." Himakuta displayed a plain white flu mask in his hands.
"A flu mask?" Kin cocked their head. "Weird... Where in the dorm hallway?"
"A few feet out from Room 6." Iko piped up.
"We'll have to see who's dorm that is, I guess." Haru stared blankly before gasping. "Shit! We can't let Natsuko beat us! Sorry guys, gotta go!" She snatched Kin's hand.
"Hold on, I can't run anym-" Kin was cut off by Haru taking off with them in tow. Their yelp echoed down the hallway, along with Iko's "B-Be safe!"
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Most of the group that hadn't been assigned a task had drifted off to search, like Olivier had suggested. One of these groups happened to be made up of Ritsu and Chiasa, who had ended up together to look around for clues.
They'd been stopped by Natsuko, who'd known their alibi already. However, that had slowed them down a bit, and the clock was ticking. Both of them were getting frantic, and moving quickly. They were moving at the same pace until-
"OW!" Chiasa stopped suddenly, and cried out in pain. Ritsu skidded on his grubby sneakers, and turned to her in a flash.
"Are you alright?" He looked up at the taller girl, and noticed the source of her distress- she was struggling to remove her curly blonde hair from an air vent. It must have sucked it in when she rubbed the wall when rushing by.
"Owowow..." Chiasa hissed as she tugged at the locks that were entrapped in the vent. Scurrying up next to her and standing on the tips of his toes, Ritsu was able to help remove her (now miserably tangled) hair from the vent.
"Ah, thanks." Chiasa smiled, even though it faltered slightly upon noticing that a few ripped-out strands had tumbled from her shoulders to the floor.
"No probl- Hey, do you see that?" Ritsu interrupted himself to point at the vent.
"See what?" Chiasa fixed her red hair bows as she peered inside the vent.
"It looks like more hair. It... Doesn't look like yours." Ritsu squinted closer. "I think we should check it out."
As if on cue, a door several yards away opened and closed a few yards away. Itami emerged from his room and turned to look at the two. "Greetings." He nodded, white bowl cut falling around his face briefly.
"Hi Itami! Just the person we wanted to see!" Ritsu beamed. Itami stared back blankly. To break the awkward contrast, Chiasa continued.
"The boys have tool kits, correct? Could you get yours and help us open a vent?" She asked as nicely as she could, even though this guy still gave her the willies.
"Ok." With that one word statement, Itami turned into his room again. She'd honestly been expecting that she'd have to convince him, but that would work too.
"How'd you know the boys had tool sets?" Ritsu cocked his head.
"Himakuta told me. They're certainly a lot more useful than our sewing kits." She chuckled, fiddling with the buttons on her blouse.
Just then, Itami returned, instantly going towards the vent and opening it. It was a bit below his height, so it was an easy task for him. He took it off easily and handed it off to Ritsu, who thanked him with another unrequited smile.
Chiasa reached her hand in, fumbling around for a minute before pulling out a small, dark clump of hair.
"Ewww, that's not sanitary." She mumbled, holding it at an arms length.
"Is it brown? Or black?" Ritsu looked it over while keeping a reasonable distance from the hair.
"I don't know. It's just dark." Chiasa had had enough by this point, and dropped it on the ground. "If we had more of it, we'd be able to tell..." Rubbing her hands on her black skirt, she turned back to Itami with a smile.
"Thank you, Itami. You were a help in the investigation."
"You're welcome." With his traditionally short response, Itami turned and walked down the hallway, grey sneakers squeaking on the tiles.
Ritsu stared into space for a moment before gasping and waving his arms. "Wait! Itami! Do you have an alibi?"
Without turning around or stopping, Itami spoke monotonously. "I was asleep."
Soon he was out of their sight, and Chiasa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. "Itami scares me... I can't explain it. Something about him isn't right."
Ritsu smiled. "Don't worry. Even if that's true, I'll keep you safe! Your knight in shining armour!" Ritsu made an over exaggerated heroic pose. "Princess Chiasa of the Air Vent kingdom, with hair of spun gold, I'll save you from the monochrome dragon!" He fell to one knee and opened his arms while making a mischievous face.
Chiasa burst into a small fit giggles as he took her hand and kissed it. "Oh, brave Prince Ritsu of the Otaku kingdom, I must be rescued!" She pulled her hand up against her head to mimic a damsel in distress.
Both of them started laughing and smiling, exchanging this silly banter all down the hallway. Just for a moment, the bitter reality of what could come was shadowed by a growing friendship and hope.
Can't have that now, can we?
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Down by the south end of the main hall, Natsuko was on her own alibi search. She was moving fast, as she'd wasted some time stopping in her room to get changed into her normal green sailor uniform. Sharply turning a corner, she stepped on something and skidded wildly, one of her loafers slipping off her feet. She knocked her elbow off the wall on the way down, yelping a profanity as she hit the floor.
It just so happened that Yohaku was a bit past that corner, and witnessed Natsuko's less-than-elegant fall. He hurried over and offered a hand.
"That was a bit of a hard fall. Are you alright?" He asked. Natsuko sighed and took his hand.
"Yeah. 'M fine. Don't worry about me." She investigated her socks, disgruntled to discover a small hole had been formed on the inside of her black knee highs. "Ah, shit. Anyways, what were you doing down here? Lookin' for Chiemi, I guess?" Having regained her composure, Natsuko was back to her normal self.
"I was, actually. I was hoping to see how she was doing... Seeing how Umeko and Shion were with her at the time. I just found them." Yohaku seemed oblivious to Natsuko's slight implication.
"Hah. So how are the spaz and SHSL wimp doing with ghosty?" Natsuko crossed her arms.
"They're doing alright. Shion is still very dependant on Umeko, so it seems. I feel terrible for her. It must have been quite a shock to find that Akari had passed." Yohaku looked surprisingly downcast.
"Yeah, I guess. Really does suck." Natsuko sighed a bit, shifting her weight onto one foot. There was a small crack under her loafer. "Huh?" She lifted it up to find what that she'd slipped on had become pressed into her rubber sole. Shaking it, it fell out with a clatter.
"A bangle? I didn't know you wore bracelets." Yohaku looked at the thin silver circle that had developed a small crack in the side from Natsuko unintentionally stepping on it repeatedly.
"I don't. That's not my bracelet." Bending down, Natsuko picked it up and looked at it closer. "Holy crap, this is Shion's. She wears a bangle just like this one."
"Oh. We'd better return it to her, then." Yohaku extended an arm out to grab it, but Natsuko pulled away.
"No way, astro-boy. This could be evidence. Shion was close to Akari, right?" She tucked it in her pocket. "Oh, by the way, do you have an alibi?" She looked at Yohaku, who looked somewhat disturbed.
"Shion killing Akari? That doesn't seem right at all..." He sighed, closing his orange eyes briefly, looking quite dejected. "And not a solid one. About an hour before the murder, I went to my room to sleep. Kin and Chiemi slept over in Chiemi's room, I believe."
"Sweet, three alibis in one!" Natsuko let a smile tick onto her face. "You know, it's almost a good thing Akari was the one to go. We could have lost someone way more valuable."
Yohaku's face made the startling transformation from spaced-out to dark and angry. Despite Natsuko being four inches taller than him, he somehow seemed to tower over her.
"How dare you." Yohaku's voice was quiet.
"Eh?" Natsuko's pupils had shrunk considerably, leaving frightened grey irises staring at him.
"How DARE you!" He was shouting now, angry and loud. "Akari Tachibana was a valuable source of knowledge, and a good woman. She had a whole life that none of us will ever know. You're a terrible person, Natsuko Sonoda." His eyes bore into her, and Natsuko visibly shivered.
"... Oh, FUCK OFF!" She shrieked, stomping on his foot and giving him a shove backwards. Yohaku stumbled, but stayed upright. "Just go kill yourself!" She hissed before storming off down the hallway.
As soon as Natsuko had left his sight away, Yohaku heard a laugh from the opposite direction. Saburo had been watching the whole exchange from a distance, giggling to himself. "She's a special one, isn't she?" Saburo cocked an eyebrow at Yohaku with a grin.
"I suppose," Yohaku spoke quietly. Two of the people he had the hardest time with we're encountering him back to back, and he didn't appreciate it.
Literally saved by the bell, there was a clang as Monobear's voice filled the hallway. "What an interesting show! Unfortunately for you, your time is up! Head down to the end of the north hallway to begin our school trial!"
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And that's the end of our drama-filled investigation! Please review if you can find the time!
Also, I was asked to create a height chart, so here you go!
Conner- 6'1
Natsuko- 5'11
Itami- 5'10
Olivier- 5'9
Yohaku- 5'7
Chiasa- 5'7
Haru- 5'5
Akari- 5'5
Shion- 5'4
Iko- 5'2
Ritsu- 5'0
Umeko- 4'11
Kin- 4'9
Chiemi- 4'9
Himakuta's height description was kind of confusing, so he's not on the list until further notice.