Wail
"W-What?" Sawatari gasped as everyone but Yuzu and Yuya stared at him.
"It wasn't me!" Yuzu held up her hands "I washed my hands with that soap! My hands could have poison on them!"
"Well, don't touch anything else!" Rin demanded "We'll have to go get soap from another room and wash it off!"
"But…Sawatari...Yuya…" Sayaka stared at them in alarm, clearly believing Yuzu.
Sawatari waved his hands frantically. "It wasn't me, I swear! I was the last one out! I could have poison on my hands!"
"Same here!" Yuya agreed, just as frantic.
"But this is your room!" Rin pointed out to Sawatari "Maybe you poisoned it earlier and didn't wash your hands!"
"You could've invited us all here to die!" Sayaka squeaked.
"Hold on" Shun interjected "If Sawatari poisoned the soap earlier, why would he victimise himself by using the bathroom? Regardless, we would still be assuming that he was the murderer."
Mulling it over, Sayaka found herself agreeing with what Shun was saying. "Then maybe none of them poisoned it. Someone else did."
"But Sawatari's the one that suggested we hang out in his room" Yuzu pointed out "How could the murderer have known to poison the soap in Sawatari's room?"
"Gah!" Rin tugged on her hair with frustration "This is all so confusing!"
"Or maybe Yuya did it!" the jittering Sawatari suggested, his hands shaking "What's to say that he just didn't use the soap?"
"What?!" Yuya yelped "I can't believe you would say that!"
"Look, there's no way of knowing right now" Shun interjected, crossing his arms "For all we know, the murderer could have found a way to poison all the soap bars in the house."
"Seriously?!" Sawatari practically screeched, staring down at his hands "How am I supposed to wash my hands, then?!"
"Everything in this house could be dangerous" Yuzu added.
"Well, we were supposed to stay in here and not move" Shun sighed "But if those guys have poison on their hands and if they get nervous and bite their hands or touch something else…"
"Wah!" Sawatari held out his hands and tried not to cry "I have to get this off!"
"Me too!" Yuya agreed, holding out his hands as far out in front of him as he could "I'm not taking any chances!"
Yuzu agreed with them.
"There are new soap bars under every sink" Sayaka recalled. She glanced over at Dennis' body and the sink next to it "I wouldn't trust this sink, though…"
"Sora's room is next door" Yuzu suggested "I think each of us should take a bar of soap each, wash our hands as best as we can, and discard the soap when we're done."
"That sounds reasonable" Shun agreed "Let's go."
The group of six walked out of Sawatari's room and only had to take a few steps before arriving at Sora's room. Shun, Sayaka and Rin watched the three possible victims-to-be carefully so that they wouldn't touch anything.
Apparently Sora had been settled in there long enough to have a sense of humour. His room was at the top of the stairs, and he had pinned a yellow sticky note to the door with an arrow pointing down the corridor reading 'Old People Ahead!'. Sayaka turned the doorknob and they entered the room. Everyone made a face as Sayaka turned on the light, for there were clothes scattered everywhere.
"Seriously Sora?" Yuzu narrowed her eyes and wanted to facepalm, but stopped herself because, poison.
"He wasn't even in here that long and he made a mess already?" Sayaka stepped over the clothes to make her way to the bed.
"That's Sora for you" Yuya sighed "He's worse than me."
"Okay" Shun made his way to the bathroom and opened the door "Sawatari, you go first. If you didn't poison the soap, you'll definitely have it on your hands since you were last one out before Dennis. I'll help unwrap the soap for you, but we should keep the door open, just as a precaution."
"Yeah, I got it" Sawatari nodded.
Shun reached under the sink and grabbed three unopened bars of soap. He unwrapped one of them and placed it into Sawatari's hand. He turned on the sink and let Sawatari run his hands under it, spending over a minute making sure he thoroughly washed his hands.
"I don't think I've ever been so determined to get my hands clean in my life!"
Any other time that could have been taken as a joke, but Shun knew that Sawatari was being serious. He still looked panicked as he tossed the soap in the bin next to the sink and continued running his hands under the warm water.
"Okay" he breathed "I think I'm done."
Shun handed him a few papers towels that were under the sink as well, telling him it would be better safe than sorry to use those instead of a regular towel. He agreed as he wiped his hands off and threw them away.
"Okay, Yuya" Shun began unwrapping the next bar "You're up."
He handed the slightly Yuya the soap and he repeated the process just as Sawatari had. Yuzu was next, and she did the same. When she was done, Shun turned off the water and handed her the paper towels.
"All finished" she sighed as she and Shun walked out of the bathroom "I hope no one has to use the bathroom any time soon."
"I don't think any of us are going to move for the next few hours" Shun decided, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Everyone sat still for an indeterminate amount of time. Yuya and Sayaka sat on the bed while Sawatari and Yuzu sat on the floor. Shun was leaning against the bathroom door while Rin leant against the main door, just in case anyone had the bright idea to try and get in or out of the room. Sayaka had the urge to clean the messy room, but she felt that anything she did could automatically make everyone accuse her of being the murderer so she chose not to. But when Yuzu suddenly got up and began picking up Sora's discarded clothes, she decided to hop up and help. Anything to help pass the time.
"Ugh…" Yuya finally spoke up after almost a half an hour of silence. "What time is it?"
Shun glanced at his watch. "Almost four-thirty in the morning."
"Really?" Yuya raised an eyebrow. "Man, time has been going so slow…"
"Happy Birthday, Sawatari" Sayaka tried to do anything to make the mood feel less heavy.
Suddenly, Rin's eyes widened and she jumped upright rather than leaning against the door.
"What's wrong?" Shun asked.
"Did you hear that?" Rin asked urgently.
"No?" Shun shook his head "What are you talking about?"
"I swear I just heard something in the hallway" Rin muttered, opening the door to look up and down the fourth floor corridor.
Yuya jumped off the bed to his feet.
"Hold on, Yuya" Yuzu warned "What are you going to do?"
"See if there's something out there" Yuya said, like he said he needed to use the bathroom or something equally benign.
"No, Yuya!" Shun commanded fiercely "Don't! We need to stay in here!"
"Just a second" Yuya muttered, disappearing out the door whilst Rin watched after him "Here, let me just peek out into the hallway and see if I see anything." There were a few seconds of footsteps before they stopped. "Is there anyone there?"
The answer was a loud cross between and shriek and a wail and Yuya springing back into the doorway, eyes wide with terror.
"What the?!" Shun gasped and flew towards the door.
Sayaka quickly jumped in his way.
"S-Shun, stop!" she threw her arms around him to prevent him from moving.
But Shun easily shoved the small girl aside and charged off down the hallway.
"Shun, stop!" Rin yelled as she ran after him.
"Dammit, Shun! Rin!" Sawatari shouted and he went after them.
His footsteps resonated down the hallway and he could hear Shun say something up ahead. Then suddenly, his voice went quiet. Sawatari quickened his pace and finally found Rin at the end of the hallway.
"What just happened?" She folded her arms.
"Just what I'd like to know" Sawatari did the same "Where's Shun?"
"I think he went downstairs" Rin pondered "I saw a shadow, pointed it out to him and he took off after it. He yelled out for Yuto."
"What?!" Sawatari couldn't believe what he was hearing "But Yuto is dead!"
"I know what you're thinking" Rin stared down the stairs where Shun had apparently gone "But it's not like we saw his body, did he? We only have Yuya and Yuzu's word for it."
Before she could say any more, Sayaka and Yuya were approaching them.
"Where's Shun?" Sayaka asked immediately.
Sawatari and Rin looked at them with a frown before the former asked:
"Wait a second, where's Yuzu?"
"What?" Sayaka spun around "She was right behind us, I thought. Where did she go?"
Everyone looked amongst themselves before rushing back to Sora's room. They gasped in shock when they saw Yuzu on the bed with her throat slashed. She was practically drenched in blood.
"O-Oh—!" Yuya threw his hands over his mouth and turned away.
Sawatari and Sayaka stood there with their mouths hung open.
"How did this happen?" Rin asked, and Sawatari clenched his fists.
"That's it!" he yelled, turning to Sayaka and Yuya "You three stayed behind while we chased after Shun, but now that Yuzu is dead, the killer has to be one of you two!"
"What?!" Sayaka yelped for the umpteenth time that night "I didn't do it! I walked out of the room first!"
"I was right behind you!" Yuya insisted "How could I have done it?! Who do you think I am, Yugo?! I'm not that fast!"
"And if Shun saw someone while you guys were over here" Rin realised "That means that there really are two killers!"
"But I didn't do it!" Yuya began to tear up "I can't take this anymore!"
"One of you two is a murderer!" Sawatari pointed at Sayaka and Yuya, eyes filled with rage and hurt "Rin and I haven't done anything!"
"Neither did we!" Sayaka protested.
"Shun yelled for Yuto" Rin suggested "Maybe he faked his death and circled back to kill Yuzu while Sayaka and Yuya were out of the room?"
Sawatari gritted his teeth. He wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
"Yuto's alive?! B-But what about Shun?" Sayaka sniffled as if she was about to cry "Shouldn't we go find him?"
"But Yuto's out there killing everyone!" Yuya remarked "It's not safe!"
"Well, there's four of us and one of him" Rin pointed out "I'm pretty sure we should be able to fend him off. But Shun's by himself and you know he wouldn't lay a finger on Yuto. If we don't hurry and find him before Yuto does, he really will get himself killed."
Everyone looked at one another and decided that they should look for their latest in a string of leaders. They made their way down the stairs and did their best to ignore Yuri's body on the way.
"Where should we even begin looking?" Sayaka asked.
"We should probably just listen out for any noises" Sawatari suggested.
He noticed Yuya was shivering and decided to grip his arm to comfort him. Yuya jolted with shock, staring at Sawatari with eyes filled with horror.
"Over there!" Rin pointed across the foyer where it was still dark and they all broke into a run to where she was pointing, not far from the stairs. They started to slow down when they saw someone on the ground.
"Who is it?" Sayaka asked as they carefully approached them.
They all gasped and Rin cursed as she spotted who it was. Sayaka let a wail rip from her throat.
Shun was dead, lying on his back with a knife through his stomach.