Execution chapter! Some of this will deal with setting up the next part of Reuben's side to the story, and the special-role OC will make her first appearance. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Review Reply to Kevin Brown: Oh, Okay. That makes sense. Thanks for the review!

Marvin's face was a picture as Makoto delivered the verdict. Reuben was pleased that he'd guessed correctly.

"What-what makes you think that?" she asked, fluttering her eyes in an attempt to appear sincere.

"Don't be bloody stupid!" Arisa retorted "You know full well what we're on about!"

"If you are still unwilling to confess, then allow us to list the evidence against you." Kyouko said.

"The most damning evidence would be the make-up , no? it would be reasonable to assume that the colour matches that of the lipstick Karin-san likes to wear." Dai said.

"That is correct." Kyouko said "In addition to this, the murder weapon was ascertained to be a glass bottle, such as those that hold alcoholic drinks. From the testimony provided by Abandonato-san and Isaki-san, we also know that the only person who knew about the presence of the alcohol in this school was indeed Karin-san."

"Nooo, Sakamoto-san knew about it too!" Marvin protested feebly.

"Does it look as if I cared about it though?" Mirai said cuttingly. Good one…

"And I think we can even figure out why you committed the murder." Janus put in.

"For one thing, you were all over him on the first day. " Akihito said "Not only is that incredibly bad taste –no disrespect to the dead- but it is also incredibly damning."

"Dude, she was all over all the boys. You included." Emi retorted

"Yeah, but we all more or less ignored her. I know for a fact that Abandonato-san went out of his way to avoid her and Maeda-kun just rejected her outright. "Akihito responded

"What-what are you trying to get at?" Marvin looked visibly frightened.

You should be afraid, Marvin Karin. Very afraid. Reuben felt evil for thinking it, but knew it was true.

"Kevin was an idiot. Not in terms of intellect, but socially. He wanted to make a good impression, and so he was much too nice to her. More than she deserved. "Arisa said. Then she paused "Actually, any niceness is more than she deserved."

"You must have been tired of being rejected so much. " Janus said "Especially considering you are the SDHSL charmer. So you decided to fall back on the one thing you knew would get you results-alcohol."

Suzu rang her bell, and as usual, Eirik read out what she had written.

"It makes a person lose their inhibitions."

"Exactly. " Janus said.

"So she approaches Kevin, asks to what…have a chat or something, then brings the alcohol to his room?" Shika asked.

"That sounds right. " Kyouko said, looking interested at the direction the conversation was taking.

"They must have talked then, and when they were suitably drunk she must have tried to make a move on him." Suzu pulled a face at Shika's words.

Pleased with her ideas not getting outright ignored, Shika went on.

"He must have rejected her at the last minute. And boy, that would have gotten a girl like her real mad. "

"So she hit him repeatedly on the head with a baseball bat?" Nanako asked sceptically.

"IT WAS A GLASS BOTTLE!" Arisa yelled.

"That really is a moot point now we've established it anyway. From there we can see that she then cleaned the room to get rid of any traces she may have left behind, and then dragged the body out to confuse the scene. Afterwards, she would have disposed of everything else. "Kyouko said.

"Which about sums this whole thing up." Makoto said.

"No. no it doesn't." Kosuke said. If Reuben had been part of the cast, he would have given Kosuke a blank look much like the ones most of the others were now giving him.

"Some of the blood is still unaccounted for. " Oh.

"I have a theory about that!" Shika said. "I think…"

"What, that Karin's a vampire?" Nanako said sarcastically (at least, he hoped it was sarcastic. If there was anything he knew about Nanako it was that she was a little dim. )

"Nooo! Look how she's wearing long sleeves! What if she cut her arms to allow more blood to drip all over him or something?"

Part of Shika's statement was at least true. Marvin's outfit, although very short and revealing, had long sleeves. She was also wearing knee-high boots with precariously high heels. And judging by how pale Marvin went, Shika was probably right.

"You...That's really stupid you know! Why would I want to look like a self-harmer?" she protested feebly.

"If that's the case, pull up your sleeves, please." Kyouko said.

"Eh? Why should I? Isn't this a violation of rights?"

"Just do it, Karin-san." Makoto sounded tired.

Marvin perked up, but a look from Kyouko put her back in her place, and she went straight back to persistently refusing.

"No! I'm telling you that I didn't even do it!Why would I? I don't want to kill anyone, I've never wanted to kill anyone….if you think I did it, then you are all stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, the lot of you!"

"If you really didn't, then you shouldn't have a problem with showing us. " Akaya interjected quietly.

Marvin spluttered, and went purple, which made her lipstick stand out in a creepy way.

"N…No!" What's wrong with you?"

"Give it up, Karin-san. There's nothing that you can do. We've already found you guilty." Dai said in a voice that was surprisingly gentle considering the circumstances. Then again, it made sense, as he was the peacemaker type.

Marvin went silent, although her face remained angry for a few moments. Then, all expression left her, and she looked down.

"It would seem we have come to a conclusion. What now, Monobear?"

Monobear perked up instantly.

"Why, Kirigiri-san, isn't it obvious? A vote of course!"

"A vote?" Emi asked.

"Of course! We need to confirm your choice, no? Use the buttons in front of you and vottteeeee!" Monobear fell off his throne with glee and Reuben almost fell off his chair when a giant fruit machine appeared on screen out of nowhere. All of the students on screen were similarly surprised, but went on to vote anyway.

Rather than showing pictures of fruit or money, this machine had all the faces of the students, and these span until there were three matching pictures of Marvin, all lined up. Then, coins spewed out of either side of the machine.

"Upupupuuuu! You are correct! Karin-san is indeed our culprit! Therefore, she will be the only one to die!" Monobear had climbed back on to his throne and was now grinning in a way that should have been physically impossible.

"But…why?" Arisa asked.

Marvin refused to answer. Instead, she glared.

"Now, now! Forget this entire why, why business! Let's start the execution!" Monobear said.

"No."

Everyone stated at Janus.

"No." he repeated firmly. "I want to hear it. I want to hear her say that she killed him."

Marvin turned her glare to him, but he refused to back down.

"I want you to say it. Say it. "His glass eye, a red one this time, seemed to glow with fury. Perhaps this was his revenge for her having gone too far that first evening. Or something.

Suzu put a hand on his shoulder, a worried look on her face. He glanced at her, and his expression softened a fraction.

"I want you to say it." He repeated more calmly.

Marvin rolled her eyes, and then, finally, she spoke.

"Fine. I did it. I killed Kevin Brown. But he shouldn't have led me on!" Marvin suddenly became animated "No, he shouldn't have, that little –"

"Time's up! Off you go to die now!" Monobear hopped down from his throne and proceeded to drag Marvin away with a strength that was surprising. Realising what was happening, Marvin began to shriek, but nobody went to help her, and soon, she was off screen.

The screen went black, and bright letters filled them. The letters were in English and said 'A Girl's Night Out." The letters flashed a moment, as if they were fancy lights, and then the scene changed.

Marvin was sitting in a bar, looking nervous as she nursed a drink. There were only a few others in the bar, shown as indistinct silhouettes. The bartender, whose face was obscured, went about his business, and soon seemed to show an interest in her. Marvin, being Marvin, soon returned his interest, and soon the two were flirting-or at least, that is what it seemed like, as there was ear-destroying jazz music playing as background music.

What the flip is this? It didn't make sense. Wasn't this supposed to be an execution?

All of a sudden, it was closing time at the bar. The bartender and Marvin were the only ones left in the bar, and after closing up, they left together.

When they reached an alleyway, the bartender turned so he was looking out of the screen, and gave a chilling grin. Then, the music stopped, and everything went dark. The only thing that could be seen were the flash of a knife, and the only thing that could be heard were Marvin's screams.

When the light returned to the scene, the bartender was standing over Marvin, who was on the floor. The screen zoomed into her. She was dead, stabbed in many places, her insides spilling out. Some of her organs had been removed and placed next to her. The bartender gave his evil grin, and then quickly disappeared .Monobear came on the scene and inspected it, looking satisfied. He then sat down, picked up Marvin's liver, and started to eat it.

The scene faded out to show the remaining students watching the entire situation from behind a chain link fence and a very heavy-duty metal gate. All of them looked horrified, some looking like they were about to throw up (Shika having already done so).

The video ended at that point, and Reuben rubbed his eyes tiredly. What had he just seen? Turning off the computer, he went to bed and tried to sleep.

…

Caught up in revision, Reuben didn't really have time to watch any more of the videos, and as a consequence he didn't really think of them until Saturday came around and he was idly trying to practise math questions while waiting for the evening crowd to come into the Bird House.

"REUBEN!"

The door swung open and two teenage girls entered, surprising the customers who were eating in. They headed straight to the take-out counter, and Reuben grinned.

"Arielle, Maddie. What can I get you?"

Arielle grinned back, and pushed a lock of untameable brown curly hair out of her face.

"Erm. What's on the menu? Anything new?"

Reuben handed them a copy of the menu.

"Hey, whatcha think, Maddie?"

Maddie looked at the menu with thoughtful green eyes.

"Hmm, the lasagne sandwich looks good. Unusual. "

"The Bird House specialises in unusual." Reuben told her.

Arielle grinned. "Oh, you! Stop promoting the place already!"

Reuben rolled his eyes at her. She did the same. Then , they childishly stuck their tongues out at each other. A familiar routine, one developed many years ago.

"So, anyway. " Reuben smiled "You going to order anything?"

Arielle and Maddie discussed for a while, and then they gave their order. Reuben took it to the kitchen and came back to chat with the two girls.

A family entered the restaurant, but Reuben didn't pay much attention to them until he noticed Thomas approaching them.

"Hey, it's one of my success stories!" he said happily.

Arielle swatted Thomas on the back of the head when he got there, and they both laughed. As someone who had grown up a few streets away from Reuben, Thomas knew Arielle pretty well, and despite clashing, they had reached an understanding as Thomas had been responsible for setting Arielle up with Maddie.

"What are you doing here?" Reuben asked.

"My cousin Lucy, she's taking some mid-course gap year, and she's travelling the world with her friend, and they decided to stop of here and visit us. After that, they'll go to Japan to visit her friend's family."

"I see. The friend is Japanese?"

"Yes. Her name is Kim, or something."

Kim didn't sound very Japanese. Reuben raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway, come check her out. She's hot. AND, she can help us with our Biology exam!"

"How?"

"Kim's is studying Biology. She's like a plant genius. "

"Right…"

"Go, Reuben!" Arielle commanded "We'll call you back over if anyone else wants takeout!"

"It's fine, really." Maddie agreed.

Reuben considered this.

"Mum or Dad'll bring the order to you soon. Just wait there, okay?" he stepped out from behind the counter and followed Thomas to the table.

Thomas's parents recognised Reuben and said hi. Lucy also greeted him. The other girl was Lucy's friend, a girl with long black hair tied in a ponytail with a pink ribbon, wearing a black skirt and a pink top with a white peter-pan collar. Her face seemed awfully familiar.

"You must be Reuben." She said in a lightly accented, quiet voice. "Thomas tells me a lot about you. My name is Kimiko Ishi. I understand you are doing biology as an exam and need help?"

"Yes …" Ishi?

"We're only staying for a week, but I can meet up with you two during that time to help you if you need. I really enjoy Biology.

"You don't need to, Kimi! " Lucy protested "No need to indulge my bratty cousin and his bratty mate." From her voice, she was clearly joking.

"It's fine." Kimiko said. "Really."

"I'll get Thomas to tell you when we can meet up. It'd be cool if you could help us, Kimiko….-san?" Reuben said politely, hoping he'd used the right honorific. He never did get around to researching them properly.

"You know Japanese?" Kimiko asked with interest.

"No..."

"Reuben watches all sorts of odd crap. He picks up everything." Thomas informed her.

"Oh, I see."

"Anyway, I don't really deal with the eat-ins, but do any of you want a drink while you decide what to get? I can ask Mum to deal with it."

"No, it's fine." Thomas's father said.

"No thanks, dear." Thomas's mother replied.

"Nah, I'm cool." Lucy grinned.

Kimiko hesitated a moment, then asked "Erm…do you have Earl Grey tea?"

…

Reuben was shattered when he finally got home, as he'd had to go and pick Matilda up from her play date as soon as he had finished. So he pretty much crashed into bed at the first opportunity.

Ishi…Ishi…Ishi…The name was so familiar …had he heard it somewhere before? Where?

ARISA ISHI

SDHSL: MATHEMATICIAN

Arisa Ishi. Kimiko Ishi. The name was the same. And now that he thought about it, they looked similar as well. This was why Kimiko's face was familiar.

But what did it mean?

And so, the seeds of doubt are planted…

Anyway, what did you think of the first execution? It's kinda basic, but I think it's suitably creepy. I don't know how many chapters will be between this and the next murder , but I hope you enjoyed this chapter , and will enjoy the next ones.

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