Hello! It's me again. Thank you for all the ideas! I ended up going with the one Itami's creator sent me (in fact, I'm using their writing for the execution, so all credit to Monobu for the execution). If you want to send me your own OC's execution ideas, that'd be nice!
Haha, so uh, life happened. Work was stressful, school was stressful, and I got sort of caught up in it all. So that explains the huge gap in between updates, but doesn't excuse it. I'll keep working on being quicker!
Heads up- I'll be leaving the country on a student exchange trip to Japan in a few days. It's a month long, and I will have Internet, but updates might be a bit slow!
The reason that I listed above has also rushed me at the end of this chapter- the next death actually happens at the end of this chapter. I'm sorry for that, but I would feel rotten if I left and couldn't tell you who the victim was for weeks! It's extra long, if that's any consolation.
I'm looking for *drumroll* an assistant! The pros are that not only do you get to read the chapters before they're released, you learn who the mastermind is, and get to give input on future cases (as well as learning who each culprit is). The cons are that the entire story will be pretty much spoiled. So if you're willing to be spoiled and help me out, I'd appreciate it! What I need help with is trials/evidence for investigations, as well as hints I can put in to the mastermind's identity. If you're interested, please message me! If I don't respond, it's probably because I picked someone else- first come, first serve basis!
I'll also start including vocabulary at the end of each chapter when I deem it fit. This is mostly just for Japanese words or concepts that I want to use, but don't really have a solid English meaning.
Warning for Saburo's mouth, and an especially gory death at the end.
Anyways, now that this absurdly long note is done, next chapter!
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The wall opens up behind Itami and a chain shoots out, gripping aroind his neck. He's yanked backword and into darkness.
In the execution room, a circus tent stands and the chain pulls Itami through the entrance. Inside the tent, Itami slams into a large beam and more chains hold him in place. On benches, Monobear puppets cheer. A light shines down on Itami and Ringmaster Monobear introduces the execution.
The Freak's Painfully, Painless, Final Act.
A cannon is pulled out and Monobear loads a series of tacks in it. Another monobear lights the wick and soon the cannon fires. Tacs coat Itami, but he remains alive and unfazed. Upset, Monobear put nails in the cannon and they fire out, however only a few hit. More and large items are loaded and fired, but all fail to kill. Fuming mad, Monobear brings out a large cannon and lights the giant wick. Once it hits its end, a large cannon ball shoots, out. Itami smiles before the cannon ball smashes him and the beam, collasping the tent.
Monobear climbs out from under the fallen tent and laughs.
-
There were several gasps and cries of shock throughout the courtroom. Monobear laughed, climbing out from the tent and walking towards the horrified students, brushing himself off.
"Wow, what a show! Two circus deaths in a row, upupu!" Monobear cackled.
"That... That was horrible!" Chiasa whimpered. "Why would... Why..."
"Oh, why would you this, why would you that, just shut it!" Monobear mocked Chiasa's tone. "I did it because he was a murderer. You all voted for him, didn't you?"
"You gave us no choice!" Kin gawked at the bear. "We had no choice in voting for Itami!"
"Oooh? You sound a little defensive there, Kin! Is that some guilt I smell?" Monobear cackled wildly before moving his paw to hit a button on the wall. Across the room, the elevator doors shot open. "Don't dawdle! Your school life of mutual killing has only just begun!"
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Chiemi was lying down in her room. It was almost 6am now, but she wouldn't know it. Her clock was turned away to prevent the red light from shining onto her. She'd gotten changed and was currently in the process of trying to fall asleep, but it wasn't really working out for her. Her mind kept replaying Itami's execution over and over again like a video on repeat. Of course, this also drifted into thoughts about Akari. She had been killed in cold blood- who would be next? What if it was her? What if there was a killer, hidden in the vents, ready to pounce at any given moment? Just then, there was a flash near the end of the bed. Her paranoia caused Chiemi to shoot up instantly. Standing at the end of her bed was- Akari?
The ringleader girl was dressed in a funeral furisode, pure white with floor length sleeves. Her zukin was astray, tilted to the right of her head. Her face looked tear stained, cheeks shining with moisture. Her eyes were pure white, empty orbs staring down at Chiemi.
Now, under normal circumstances, this uninvited phantom at the foot of her bed would surprise the spirit medium quite a bit. But these were not normal circumstances, and Chiemi felt like she was tied to her bed, unable to move. Akari (if it was truly her) choked out a sob, sniffing at the blond girl on the bed.
"We've met with terrible fates, haven't we?" Akari whimpered, her sleeves falling over her shoulders.
"... Why are you here?" Ok, maybe it wasn't that intelligent, but it was all Chiemi could muster. Akari wept some more.
"Tell them all I'm sorry. Tell them all I never knew I'd go so far." Akari choked out her sentence before breaking down again and crying.
"Huh?" Chiemi kept her eyes on Akari as she rubbed her eyes with her sleeves.
"I'll help. I'll try to make it up to you all, especially Shion." Akari smiled weakly before Chiemi felt the invisible ropes around her tighten quickly. She coughed as white quickly enveloped her own vision...
COUGH COUGH
Chiemi wondered who was coughing so obnoxiously, but she soon realized it was her. Shooting upwards, she realized that, between her coughs, she could also hear someone talking. It was Monobear on the TV, it seems, but she wasn't listening to him.
What was that? Was it a nightmare, or something more real? Chiemi had never had such an intense vision before. A spirit had never bound her to something like that before. Not to mention, what would Akari have to apologize for? She was murdered, for gods sake! Chiemi had to conclude that she had a simple stress dream. Nothing more. Wiping drool from her cheek, she got up and hurried to the bathroom. She'd feel better after she cleaned herself up.
She didn't even notice the geta imprints in the carpet.
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Most everyone came down for breakfast. Shion didn't show up, which was understandable. Iko was sent to check on her, and after he returned there was at least confirmation that Shion was alive, although not exactly well. Most of the breakfast conversation was spent in silence.
"So..." Yohaku was twirling his spoon around in his Lucky Charms. "Yesterday was an unpleasant experience for all of us."
"Unpleasant might be putting it lightly." Haru grumbled.
"I think we should all try to move forward. Now that we've seen what happens to those who kill... It should keep us from killing." Yohaku continued, quietly taking a few bites.
"I appreciate the optimism, but I feel like it might not be that simple," Olivier was sitting on the far end of the table, coffee in hand. "If we truly are to be locked inside this school for life, I wouldn't doubt that otherwise good people would risk an execution like that to escape." He took a sip.
Again, the room became quiet, the clinking of spoons and quiet chewing being the only sounds.
"... Natsuko, you should go apologize to Shion." Kin broke the silence. "I think you messed her up during the trial."
Natsuko shot a glare at the protester. "So what? She needs to grow a spine."
"Natsuko, it's too early for this." Haru groaned. "Just go apologize to her."
Instantly, Natsuko's demeanour brightened. "Ok! Anything for Haru-chan." She got to her feet, quickly skipping off towards the door.
"... Why does she do that?" Haru muttered before refocusing on her cocoa puffs.
"Shouldn't someone follow her? I'm a bit worried that she won't exactly treat Shion nicely without Haru around." Iko commented.
"Ah, I can go! D'you wanna come with me?" Ritsu offered a hand down to Chiasa, who was seated next to him.
"Hm? Oh, sure!" Chiasa smiled, accepting the help up and following him out of the room.
The two of them walked down the hallway with some quiet small talk, which was silenced as Natsuko appeared in their line of sight. Carefully, the two of them followed her down the corridors. However, as soon as she was a few feet away from Shion's room...
"Hiya Natsuko!"
Natsuko shrieked as Monobear appeared right in front of her. Ritsu and Chiasa both gasped in sync, grabbing onto each other. After meeting eyes and realizing that Chiasa had wrapped herself up in Ritsu's arms, both of them whispered apologies and inched away with pink cheeks.
"So, Natsuko! Sorry to interrupt you, but I thought I should tell you the new motive is being released today!" Monobear grinned absentmindedly up at her.
"Holy shit! You nearly gave me a heart attack..." Natsuko put a hand over her heart, breathing heavily. "And why are you telling me?"
"Because I thought you might like to know of the motive beforehand! It might be a bear-y big shock for you!" From behind his back, Monobear produced an envelope, handing it to Natsuko. Snatching it from him, she opened it up- and went tense.
"... Ah..." Natsuko made a pitiful noise while staring at the card.
"Upupu! I was right, wasn't I? Aren't you glad I let you know beforehand? You're not even my mole, and I told you! How kind of me!" Monobear puffed out his chest.
"... H-How did you know about this?" Natsuko was able to stutter out a coherent sentence.
"I'm your headmaster! I know just about everything about my students." Monobear's toothy smile bore into Natsuko. "Anyways, I thought your secret was super duper neat, so I gave it to you personally! I've just left them in the bedrooms of the other students, so you got special treatment! That was nice of me, wasn't it?"
"Oh my god..." Natsuko's breathing was quickening. Ritsu and Chiasa exchanged looks before continuing to watch the scene.
"No need to thank me! Ta-ta now!" Monobear waved a paw, and completely disappeared from view. Natsuko was frozen, staring at her card before letting out a guttural shriek and throwing it to the ground, running down the hall that lead away from Chiasa and Ritsu. The tomb builder and the visual novel creator were silent, not knowing what to say.
"... What was that?" Chiasa finally spoke, tilting her head to look at the smaller boy. Ritsu bit his lip.
"I don't know, but I'm not sure Natsuko should have left that just lying in the hall." He took a step forward, picking up the small envelope.
"Ah, you probably shouldn't look at it." Chiasa piped in.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." Ritsu replied, holding the letter by his side. "We should return this to Natsuko. I'm sure she doesn't want anyone seeing it."
"That's right... Given her reaction, she might do something extreme if she found out we read it." Chiasa nodded. "But the words on the front of the envelope- it couldn't hurt to read those."
Ritsu lifted up the envelope and read aloud. "'Monobear's Maddeningly Marvellous Motives!'" He sighed. "This guy is cheesier than me. Anyways... 'This envelope contains your greatest secret! Unless a murder is committed in the next 24 hours, this secret will be revealed to not only your classmates, but to the world! This envelope is the property of Natsuko Sonoda.'" He finished.
"Oh dear. I guess I know why she'd get so upset." Chiasa mused.
"Yeah. We should return this to her, and check out our own. Monobear said they'd be in our rooms, right?" Ritsu cocked his head at Chiasa.
"I think so. Anyways, we should get going." Chiasa took a few steps forwards, brown boots clicking on the floor. Ritsu followed just a few steps behind.
The ID cards said that Natsuko's room was number 4, but even without it, the smell of rose body mist wafting from under the door was enough to give it away. Ritsu stepped forward and rapped on the door. A teary eyed Natsuko opened the door.
"Er, you dropped this." Ritsu stuck out his hand, holding the envelope. Natsuko's eyes widened before snatching it away from him. Her lip quivered, and she stared at Ritsu in fear.
"L-Look, please don't tell anyone about it! I can explain! I don't have a choice, my mom just had twins, and... We were going to-" Natsuko's terrified rant was cut off by Chiasa.
"M-Miss Natsuko, there's no need to worry. We didn't read it." Both blonde girls had a somewhat tense stare-down, with Chiasa looking concerned and Natsuko looking frightened. Ritsu broke the silence.
"But whatever's in it, you can talk to us about. We promise we won't judge you." Ritsu smiled hopefully up at the girl, who merely sighed in defeat.
"... You don't know what it says. Thanks anyways." With that, she took a step backwards, closing the door with her.
Chiasa shrugged, sighing deeply. "We tried, at least. Monobear said something about our own secrets being in our rooms, right? Maybe we should split up and go see what's been left in ours."
Ritsu nodded. "Maybe that's for the best. Hey, even though I wish it was under better circumstances, I had fun hanging out with you today." He smiled at Chiasa, who smiled gently back.
"I enjoyed it as well. So long..." She looked around to see if anyone was watching before smiling brighter. "...Otaku prince."
Ritsu laughed, a real, honest laugh. "Goodbye, air vent princess!" The two of them turned, and went on their separate ways.
Meanwhile, most others had wandered down the halls on the way to their rooms after a vague message from Monobear was delivered in the lunch room. Conner happened to be waiting in front of his door for the rest of the students to pass by. Just when he was sure the cost was clear, and was fumbling for his ID card-
"Hello, Conner."
Conner yelped and dropped the card, spinning around to see the offender. It was Olivier, standing there with his trademark
"Don't do that, good god." Conner huffed, bending over to pick up his card.
"My apologies. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for the help with the investigation yesterday. Thanks to your aid, we could properly investigate the death of Akari and make sure she was given justice." Olivier nodded politely at him. "You're not half bad at investigating."
"Huh? Oh, no problem. Thanks." Conner felt a slight blush rise to his cheeks. Luckily, his dark completion hid most of it. Quick, say something smooth.
"... I gotta go." Conner quickly turned away from Olivier, opening the door just enough for him to slip in, and closing the door as fast as he could.
God dammit that was the exact opposite of smooth. Like, the dictionary definition of not-smooth, if that was truly a concept worth putting in a dictionary. Conner groaned and buried his face in his hands.
Remembering what Monobear had said, Conner peeked out from under his fingers. He noticed a small envelope on the bed. Walking over, he picked it up and read it to himself. His face twisted up when he was finished.
"Classic. Just fucking classic." He hurled the empty envelope and paper down to the bed, despite neither of those things being terribly aerodynamic. Sighing again, he stormed off into the bathroom. Maybe a shower would help calm him down.
(Spoiler alert: it wouldn't)
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Yohaku was wandering the halls, not really finding much else to do. The bear had talked about a gym opening, but he had forgotten about that. His main concern was seeing that everyone else was ok after the secret motive. Yohaku knew his was something unpleasant, but he would never kill someone over it. Others, though... Well, he couldn't predict what some of the more volatile students might do.
Conveniently, Chiemi was the first person he happened to run into. He'd picked up on how she hadn't been herself at breakfast. After yesterday, everyone was out of it, but Chiemi seemed particularly disgruntled. Yohaku decided to see if anything was wrong.
Chiemi seemed to be focusing pretty hard at the ground, so she squeaked with surprise when Yohaku touched her shoulder unexpectedly. She recovered from her surprise fairly quickly, though, and smiled at Yohaku.
"Ahaha, sorry, I didn't see you coming there. How are you?" Chiemi smile was clearly fake, and Yohaku decided he'd do something about it.
"I'm fine, but I'm more worried about you... I don't think it was just the execution that caused you to look so worried at breakfast today. You know... I can help." He kept his calm disposition, although the corners of his eyes were crinkled in worry.
Chiemi looked around before sighing and speaking in a whisper. "Ok, but don't think I'm crazy! I had some crazy dream where Akari was in my room. She was crying, and she told me she was sorry. I don't remember falling asleep to experience it, either."
Yohaku tilted his head. "That's certainly odd. Pardon me, as I don't know too much about your talent, but is that an unusual experience? A ghost contacting you through a dream?"
Chiemi shook her head. "No. Well, sometimes, but never with that much intensity. I mean... My throat was tensed, I could clearly understand her, and it felt like I was tied to the bed-"
"Tied you to the bed, huh?" Chiemi made a gasp of surprise and Yohaku flinched as Saburo popped around a corner. He was still wearing that shit-eating grin, cigarette balanced between his fingers. "Aww, I was hoping to bed you first. Who beat me to it? This guy? Conner, maybe? Itami seems like he'd be into that kinda stuff, did you two hook up before he offed Akari? Or was it a girl? Chiasa, Haru, Ume-"
Chiemi, who had been in a stunned silence for most of this conversation, finally cut him off. "E-Enough! I didn't... Do what you're implying... With anyone! I was talking about something else!"
Yohaku followed her lead. "Really now, was that necessary?"
Saburo just whistled, taking a drag before responding. "Ohoho, someone's a little sensitive. It was Yohaku, wasn't it? Haha, hilarious. Seriously, if you're ever looking for someone to show you a better time, just find me." With that, he turned back to where he came from, smoke drifting down the hallway.
"Jesus, that guy is such a prick!" Chiemi huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Agreed. He's got to have something that we can learn from. Although, to be honest, my hope is dwindling quickly for that boy." Yohaku sighed. "Oh, there's something else I wanted to ask you. I take you've seen your secret?"
"Oh, yeah." Chiemi grimaced.
"I trust you, but it's nothing you'd kill over... Right?"
"Of course!" Chiemi's head turned up to look at him. "I would never hurt a single soul over something like that!"
Yohaku smiled warmly. "That's good. You're a trustworthy young woman. I do hope we can enjoy our time here without any more disturbances."
Nodding, Chiemi grinned back. "Of course! Hey, Monobear said something about a new map, right?" She tugged her card from her jean pocket. "Let's go look at the swimming pool!"
"Sounds good to me." The two of them trotted off in the general direction of the pool.
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"Kin."
Kin had been walking on their way to their room to see what all this secret fuss was all about. A deadpan voice calling out their name caused them to turn around.
Umeko was standing in the hallway, holding a downcast Shion by the arm. Still dragging the lucky girl along, Umeko nodded at Kin.
"Hello again. I have a question." Umeko sounded more deadpan than usual, which caused Kin to cock an eyebrow.
"Sure, go ahead."
"You wouldn't happen to have any NyQuil, would you? Shion isn't feeling well." Umeko asked them. Shion's face fell even father.
"Actually, yeah. Monobear gave me some last night when I was sick. He's oddly hospitable for someone who's making us kill each other. You two can come with me to get it." Kin pointed a bit farther down the hall towards their room.
"Thank you." Umeko nodded politely and practically dragged Shion down the cold tile hallway on the way to Kin's room. Unlocking and opening the door, Kin welcomed them inside.
The inside of Kin's room had pink walls and a pink duvet, not unlike their own rooms. The secret envelope was sitting untouched on the bed.. Kin noticed them looking around, and cleared their throat.
"Oh, yeah. Monobear does them according to sex, not gender, I guess." They shrugged. "Not like there's really a gender neutral option in this school anyways." They paused for a moment. "Right, NyQuil. Just a second."
Kin trotted into the bathroom and closed the door half way. While they puttered around in the cabinet, they could hear a few snippets of conversation.
"Umeko, I don't want to."
"Too late, you already agreed to it. Are you going to back out on me now?"
"Well, no, but couldn't you have done this yourself?"
"No, I needed your help. I wouldn't be able to do it myself."
Getting suspicious, Kin opened the door with the NyQuil in their hand. Both girls instantly snapped to attention, turning towards them.
"Oh, thank you. I'll just take that for Shion-" Umeko quickly extended an arm to take the bottle, but Kin held it back, glaring at Umeko.
"What was that all about? I heard you two talking." Kin furrowed their brow at both girls.
"None of your business is what!" Umeko snapped, making another grab for it.
"It is so! I'm not going to give you medicine without knowing what it's for!" Kin held it behind their back, having a stare-down with Umeko. "Shion, what is she doing?"
Shion was holding her hands together, looking like a deer in the headlights. "I don't know! She wouldn't tell me the whole story!"
"Umeko, what do you want this for?" Kin shook the bottle, staring Umeko in the eye.
"... Look, it's something to do with my secret. It's giving me a headache to think about, and I don't want to talk about it. Give me the NyQuill." Umeko's face was flushed with anger.
Kin raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just ask? I would have given it to you, but now I'm pretty sure you're going to use it for something you shouldn't."
"... Give it!" With a quick movement, Umeko snatched it out of Kin's hand, and made a dash for the door. In the rush, Shion ended up getting hit by Umeko's arm, and stumbled back in the same direction Umeko was running. Falling backwards, Shion reached out for some sort of anchor. Her flailing arms ended up grabbing the hem of Umeko's skirt, making it fly out backwards. As Umeko got into the doorway and tried to slam the door, the hem was caught in the door, trapping the piece of fabric between the door and doorframe.
From the inside of the room, Kin and Shion watched as the visible piece of fabric rustled as Umeko tried to get it out from the other side. Suddenly, the fabric stopped rustling, and fell limp.
Suspicious, Kin slowly made their way towards the door and pushed it open.
Umeko's skirt was lying on the ground. It seems she'd abandoned it in favour of escape. Before anything more could be said, a moderately disgruntled Connor appeared by the door.
"Did Umeko just run down the hall in a pair of gym shorts, or is this place getting to me?"
Kin sighed. "No, it's not just you. At least she had shorts on?"
"I guess..." Shion scooted forwards and picked up the grey skirt. "Should I return this to her..?"
"Whenever you see her next, I guess." Kin took a deep breath and blew it out through their nose, sounding frustrated. "Why did she want the NyQuill so bad?"
"... What?" Conner was looking even more confused than before.
"Don't worry about it." Kin waved him off. He shrugged and made a 'Hmph' noise before heading off in the other direction. The protester turned over to Shion.
"Do you want to look for Umeko? Tell her that I want my NyQuill back. And that she needs to wear pants."
Shion nodded slowly before getting up.
"Um, sorry for not warning you, Kin. She just came to my door and told me she wanted help getting medicine... I didn't know she'd get so angry..." Shion looked down at the carpet where she'd left knee marks.
"It's fine. Look, you can make it up to me by finding Umeko, ok?" Kin put on a small smile, and patted Shion on the back.
"Alright... I'll find her!" Shion brightened a bit before hurrying out, Umeko's skirt in hand.
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Meanwhile, the sleepover gang was mostly back together. Reuniting by chance in the kitchen, Haru, Chiasa, Himakuta, Ritsu and Iko were discussing any plans for the immediate future. They appeared to have mostly settled on an option.
"Ok, so we all agree to go look at the gym?" Himakuta asked.
"Yep!" Ritsu replied.
"The gym sounds interesting. Natsuko would like it, but I think she might be shut in her room for the next while." Chiasa mused.
"Maybe they'll have soccer stuff?" Haru looked pretty hopeful.
"Yes, I'd think they would!" Iko spoke up. "Such a nice school would surely have the basics."
"Well then, lets get going!" Ritsu stood up, having attained a sort of subconscious leader position among the group. Light chatter followed them all down the hallway and up the stars.
Two large, silver doors showed what was assumed to be the gym. There were two small windows on them, but they were blurry, and difficult to see through. Without much thought, the whole group muscled through the doors, entering the gym.
This was also the first time they heard the music coming from the gym. It was a quick, classic tune (Annen Polka, although none of them knew that at the time). It was coming from a CD player in the centre of the room.
On the farthest wall, surprisingly, was Natsuko, next to the ballet bar riveted into the peach walls. She was dancing along, quickly and elegantly. The group watched in silent awe as Natsuko spun, jumped and kicked up her feet in a fast, yet organized manner. This went on for several minutes, Natsuko unknowingly demonstrating a routine to her secret audience.
When she reached the end, she yawned, and looked into the mirror, only then noticing her 'adoring fans' behind her. She squawked, jumping backwards in surprise. She almost fell, but was able to stay upright.
"Holy crap, how long have you guys been here?" She spun around to face them, her voice echoing across the huge gym.
"Since the start, I think. That was really good, Natsuko!" Iko smiled at the blonde girl.
"Dammit, that was a performance I was going to try out to a dance university with. Nobody else could see it- guess I'll have to kill you now!" Watching everyone tense, Natsuko sighed. "That's a joke."
"Oh, uh, we knew!" Chimed in Himakuta, despite the fact that no, none of them knew. Natsuko rolled her eyes and worked on getting off her slippers.
"So, Natsuko..." Chiasa spoke carefully. "Are you feeling any better?"
Natsuko frowned. "Not really, no. I just came in here to get my mind cleared. Which sort of worked." She coughed. "So, uh, is anyone dead yet?"
"No, thankfully." Ritsu replied. "I only really met up with these guys, and they seem ok!" He paused, thinking that over again. "Mostly ok."
"That's good, I guess." Natsuko sauntered over to the group. "So why are you guys all here?"
"We just figured we'd look around, and it was luck that we stumbled upon you!" Ritsu smiled. "You should show us some more!"
"Aww, whaaaaat? I just took my slippers off!" Natsuko laughed. "But hey, how about tomorrow at ten in the morning? I can show you guys the basics!"
"That'd be pretty fun! You think so too, right, Haru?" Himakuta nudged the smaller girl on the shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." She muttered, sticking her hands in her skirt pocket.
"Great! Don't be nervous Haru-chan, I'll have you doing backflips in no time!" Natsuko beamed. "Hey, what time is it again?"
Iko pulled back his suit's sleeve to reveal a watch. "It's 9:00pm."
"Seriously? I swear it was morning just a few minutes ago! Time moves like we're in a fanfiction or something!" Natsuko laughed. "Anyways, I'm gonna get changed and grab something to eat. Ten sharp, ok?"
"You got it! See you Natsuko!" Himakuta waved at her. The rest of the group all waved a goodbye as Natsuko smiled back and trotted across the gym and disappeared behind the change room door.
As the group slowly dispersed and dwindled as each member turned in for the night, it was left with just Ritsu and Chiasa. They chatted all the way to their rooms.
"Oh, mine's here." Ritsu stopped walking to point to his own room.
"Oh, ok! I should probably get going, then." Chiasa took a step forward, but was halted by Ritsu grabbing her elbow.
"Uh, before you go, there's just something I have to give you." Ritsu spoke, suddenly a bit quieter than usual.
"Huh? Sure, what is it?" Chiasa turned around to face Ritsu-
And felt his lips on her cheek.
Before she could react, a blushing Ritsu got off his toes and whispered "Goodnight, air vent princess" before darting off into his room, door closing with a click.
Chiasa stood there for a moment, still processing it. Her eyes looked from side to side, looking for anyone. As soon as she found out she was alone, she burst into a huge grin.
"Yesssssss!" Chiasa squealed, jumping up and down a few times. Doing a twirl for good measure, she wrapped her arms around herself, giggling all the way to her room. Nothing could ruin this night.
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How wrong that thought was.
At five in the morning, each room's television abruptly turned on. Monobear appeared, giggling all the while. The news of a death was announced, frighteningly cheerfully, along with instructions to the kitchen.
The whole thing seemed more like a fever dream. Being awoken at five in the morning to an announcement that someone was dead seemed like some sort of poorly executed joke.
So, when the kitchen doors were pulled open, everyone was awoken by possibly the most horrific scene they'd ever seen.
Natsuko Sonoda.
Her hands were tied over her head with a brown rope. The rope was tied to the ceiling beam. Natsuko's face was covered in bruises, and a gouged in eye joined the disfigurement of her formerly beautiful face. She was gagged with the ribbon for her sailor shirt that was wrapped around her head. She must have been bleeding from the mouth, because the cloth was covered in blood. Her shirt was unbuttoned, the sailor collar shredded to bits. Her bra was splattered with blood and various bruises and cuts.
Of course, that's not what anyone looked at at first.
They were more focused on the fact that she was almost was cut in half.
From the middle of her ribcage to between her legs, Natsuko was totally split in half. The two split halfs dangled loosely, swaying in the air. Her organs were mostly on the ground, excluding a few intestines and a few other unknown pieces of viscera that were hanging limply from her gaping body.
A lot of these kids had played horror games or watched horror movies. They'd seen bodies mutilated worse. But on a real living human... One that had talked to them and lived among them... It felt quite different.
As they'd learnt from Akari's case, the smell of blood was incredibly overpowering, even in small amounts. So this case was almost intoxicating at first.
Natsuko Sonoda... Dead. Nobody figured she would go... At least not this way. A slit throat, or death by suicide. Something dramatic and beautiful.
There was nothing beautiful about a split in half girl with vomit covering her chest.
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Ok! That's that. Again, please message me about an assistant!
Furisode- A very formal kimono with floor length sleeves, usually worn by teenage girls or young women. In my own experience with Japanese funerals, a pure white furisode is what you dress the corpse of a young woman in for her funeral- therefore, it makes sense for ghost Akari to wear one.
Zukin- a headband with a piece of triangular cloth put on corpses during funerals. There's really no official name for it, but zukin is the most common.
Geta- wooden Japanese sandals. They tend to have "teeth", two elevated wooden platforms.