The Ultimate Spies (Part 8) (Deadly Life)
"...Isn't that, like, dangerous?" I asked, genuinely concerned for her well being. She's probably the same age as me, and it's crazy to imagine myself doing any crazy stunts, or even being allowed to.
"Um, I've been in a coma once or twice. But I always bounce back," Indigo smiled with an innocent tone in her voice. "I love what I do and know how to stay safe, for the most part."
"I see..." I slowly nodded. "And you just do your stunts- not questions asked by the government or anything?"
"Oh, the government in Russia is not as strict as other places with these sorts of things," She explained. Ah, I knew she had some sort of accent! "And my parents' work allowed me to perform stunts from a young age."
BREAK
"Seizo…" Nadia said quietly, her eyes brimming with tears. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you for your words of encouragement...you're one of the only people here with a very pure heart."
"Why thank you!" I grinned. "And just know you can talk to me about anything! I'm always here to listen. In fact, I want to make it my personal mission to bring you out of your shell!"
BREAK
"I'm sorry we're barging in on you like this," Nadia blushed. "W-we just wanted to see if you were ok!"
BREAK
Nadia...why…?
WHY?!
You were just starting to come out of your shell.
I promised I'd help you overcome your insecurities.
But now…
Now…
In all the chaos of the morning, I had been focusing on myself and the whereabouts of the missing people. And then of course when I discovered Nadia's dead body, my attention completely shifted to her. Because of this, I completely forgot the fact that I wasn't alone.
Mari immediately screamed upon discovering the scene. It was just like back when she found Silver's corpse. The dreadful feeling you get from discovering someone's dead body never goes away, especially when that person is someone you've talked to a countless number of times.
Nadia often compared Mari to her big sister and I'm sure treated her as such on a number of occasions. Mari may be arrogant, self-centered, and downright mean, but I think a small part of her cared for Nadia, almost like how she kind of sorta cares for Takahashi.
The two of us stood in silence for a few moments, just staring at the ground. I couldn't bring myself to look at Mari and I'm sure she felt the same way. Her prideful attitude was far too important and I know she wouldn't want me to see her actually caring for someone other than herself for once. I chose to respect her.
As we stood in silence, there was suddenly a loud click sound, and the lights in the penguin exhibit, and the rest of the zoo turned off!
"W-What the hell?" I said. It was extremely unnerving to be in the same room with a corpse and a bunch of unconscious people, one of whom may be a murderer.
"Seizo, where's the light switch?!" Mari desperately asked.
The two of us began to quickly shuffle around, trying to find something to turn the lights back on. In between all the chaos, I heard some footsteps, but I'm sure they're just Mari's.
"Ugh, what the hell?!" I said in frustration. "There's no switch or anything anywhere in here. Let's get out of here, just in case."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Mari muttered.
We quickly made our leave, not taking a second glance behind us.
After we left the zoo, we heard some strange beeping from down the hall.
"Now what?" Mari frowned. "This game of cat and mouse is getting really annoying…"
"Come on, let's go check it out." I said, ignoring her complaints.
We began walking down the hall and quickly discovered where the beeping was coming from.
"The server room…" I frowned. "What's going on?"
Everything in the server room looked fairly normal, although none of the small towers in the room were blinking, and the main tower was blinking red rather than the usual blue and green colors.
OK, so maybe not so normal.
"What's wrong with the tower thingies?" Mari questioned, covering her ears to muffle the sound of the obnoxiously loud beeping.
"I'm not sure," I answered, completely puzzled. "It's like it's shut down or something."
"Well clearly," Mari rolled her eyes. "How do we get it to stop?!"
"The hell do I look like?" I snapped. "You and I are two of the dumbest people here, there's no way we can fix th-"
Click.
Whirrr…
Before I could finish my self deprecating insult, the same clicking sound from before rang out and the towers all began to whir, like they were powering on. A second later, and they began to blink like normal, with the beeping sound coming to a stop.
Mari sighed, uncovering her ears. "This killer is annoying the hell out of me. Let's go back to Nadia quickly, they might've done something!"
I nodded. "Shit, you're probably right. Let's go!
When we got back to the zoo, all looked normal. Nothing immediately suspicious.
Then we got to the penguin exhibit, and…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Gimme a break, it's been a while since I got to do a dramatic pause!
…
…
…
…
…
…
There was absolutely nothing immediately different from the crime scene we saw before. I still didn't have the stomach to really take a close look, though...
"Huh." I frowned. "Then what the hell was the point of the power going out?"
Before we could get a chance to think, the cavalry finally began to arrive.
"What's going on?" Fran questioned as soon as she came over to us. "I heard the announcement but surely it can't be true! We were just l-"
Then she spotted Nadia's corpse.
"...Oh no," She whispered, putting a shaky hand over her mouth. "What on Earth happened here?"
Sonoda came a few seconds after her, leisurely walking and still wearing Silver's suit. "How is there a dead body? It's only been about two days since the motive was announced."
When he spotted Nadia's corpse, he simply grimaced and kept his mouth shut (thankfully).
Lastly, Akumu and Jack came together, immediately spotting the body.
"Someone really gave in again, huh?" Akumu sadly frowned, looking quite upset.
"...Still. What's going on here?" Jack questioned. "Between the missing students and now this strange scene, there's definitely more than murder afoot."
I finally mustered up the courage to lift my head and actually examine the scene in its entirety for once. Most of the missing students are here, presumably unconscious, but two are missing…
Nadia's in the middle of the room, looking extremely pale and clearly deceased. Surrounding her from the top are Shiro, Isami, and Norikazu, all looking a little disheveled but overall alright. And then surrounding her from the bottom are Koko, Leonia, Evelyn, and Clara, in the same slightly disheveled state.
Which means…
"Takumi and Takahashi." I frowned. "They're the ones missing from this group."
"Then where are they?" Akumu worriedly questioned. "I mean, Jack and I searched everywhere we could on the first floor for them, but didn't find a thing."
"Sonoda and I the second." Fran nervously nodded. "Not a trace of anyone. We even searched both of the vents we thought Satoko's killer used."
"And the pool control room." Sonoda added.
"We couldn't search everywhere on the first floor because of the locked dorm rooms and that one locked room at the end of the last hallway." Akumu said. "But we definitely searched every other place!"
"There's not a trace of their whereabouts then?" Jack questioned. "They just up and vanished?"
Vanished. There's no way! Has every room that's able to be searched on the ship really been searched?
I thought over what we knew so far.
Akumu and Jack searched the entire first floor of the ship, except the dorms and that one locked room. There's a super duper teeny meeny slight chance that Takumi and Taka are in their rooms.
Sonoda and Fran took the second floor. They searched every nook and cranny, from the vents to the pool control room. No trace of T&T.
And then Mari and I searched the third floor. We also searched everywhere we could…
Hm.
There's one room that should've been searchable! Unlike the other rooms, this room has always been open, until just now when Mari and I tried to get in.
"The aquarium!" I gasped. "Takumi and Takahashi have to be in there. But why the hell is it locked?"
"Oh, Taka did mention something about keys…" Mari spoke up. "If I remember correctly, he said Monokuma gave him four. He took one from himself, and gave three to...I don't know."
"You don't know?" I deadpanned. "You're with him like 24/7. You didn't get one?"
Mari crossed her arms. "No. I asked him if I could, but he told me I wasn't 'responsible' enough. Tch, like he's not our leader who's supposed to prevent deaths and five people have died now…"
"Hey, aren't you our co-leader?" Akumu realized. "Aren't you supposed to help out too?"
"S-shut up!" Mari flusteredly said.
"Who would Takahashi give three keys to?" Sonoda wondered aloud. "If we can find out, we can take it from their pockets right now."
"That's right…" I realized. It sounded a little unethical, but it was our only choice. Everyone is out cold, they can't exactly help us out on their own.
Takahashi kept one key for himself, and gave out three others. We already know that none of us conscious people have one, so it's gotta be either the unconscious people or maybe Nadia. Eh, actually, probably not Nadia. I don't see Takahashi trusting her with one when Mari has her wrapped around her finger constantly.
I looked at each of the unconscious students, sadly frowning. What happened to you guys?
Three people…
Hm.
I might have an idea…
I started walking towards someone's body.
"What are you doing, Seizo?" Fran asked. "You think you know who has a key?"
I nodded. "I just have a feeling, that's all."
I don't really get exactly how Takahashi's brain works and who he'd give keys to, but I do know there's at least one person in this group who he trusts..
I patted Isami's pockets, searching for something.
Huh? What's this? It doesn't feel like a key...
I pulled something out of her pocket, and quickly realized.
"Isn't that Isami's journal?" Sonoda questioned. "You know, that girl writes down everything. Perhaps she wrote down what happened last night?"
"It's a possibility…" I nodded. But still…
"Let's find Taka and Takumi first." I said, putting her journal back. I don't want to invade her privacy like that.
I searched her other pocket, and felt something else...Please tell me it's-
"A key!" I beamed, holding it up in triumph. "This has gotta be it!"
"Then let's go!" Fran quickly said. "I don't know about you all, but I'm freezing and Takahashi is…" She stopped, looking quite concerned.
"What's wrong?" Akumu asked.
"Well...it's just...Takahashi is the only one who knows how to change the temperature of this room." Fran gulped, glancing at Nadia.
Oh shit, that's right! I found out about that piece of info back when we first started exploring the third floor.
I guess that makes sense." I sighed. "It's disappointing but true. It's still pretty cool though that the whole room is freezing cold. It really gives it that 'Antarctica vibe', you know?"
"There's a locked temperature control outside each exhibit." Jack revealed. "Monokuma came by to tell Takahashi the password in case he wanted to change the temperature in the future since he's the leader."
Takahashi shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to; these 'animals' aren't even real, the temperature is just for stupid ass 'aesthetic' purposes."
"...We'll have to worry about that later." I decided. "For now, let's head to the aquarium and ask Taka about it himself."
Everyone nodded, and we began to leave.
"Wait," Akumu said, stopping. He sadly looked at Nadia. "Should we really leave her alone?"
"She isn't alone, she has all the unconscious people around her." Jack said.
Akumu nervously chuckled. "Yeah, unconscious. I feel like one of us should stay behind, I think. Just to guard her, you know?"
"I understand what you are saying," Sonoda nodded. "Perhaps you should be the one then?"
"Oh, um, alright." Akumu agreed. "Is that fine with everyone?"
"Of course." I answered. "Nadia probably wouldn't have it any other way."
"Ahem." Mari glared, pointing to herself.
"Almost any other way." I corrected with a sigh. "Anyways, c'mon Mari, I'm sure Taka will be happy to see you. He probably won't tell us what happened unless you're there."
"Hmph, fine." Mari relented. "But if we find another corpse, I'll never forgive you, Seizo!"
I cringed. She's right. There's a chance that Takumi or Taka, or maybe even both of them are dead, locked in the aquarium. I hope that isn't the case, but there's always a possibility.
I gulped, trying to think positively. "C'mon let's go."
Fran, Sonoda, Mari, and I all made our way to the aquarium door.
I took a deep breath, slowly inserting the key into the lock and turning.
Click.
"That was the key all right…" I muttered.
"Come on, open it!" Mari insisted, nervously standing behind the rest of us.
Fran nodded. "Let's just get this over with."
Sonoda said nothing, looking fairly relaxed compared to the rest of us.
I slowly opened the door of the aquarium, holding my breath the entire time…
"What the hell?"
Opening the aquarium was like walking into some sort of steamy bathhouse. It was unbearably hot and steamy, especially when compared to the penguin exhibit room.
Looking around, I saw the fish tanks were full of bubbles, and the tanks were all foggy. I spotted some fish desperately trying to get some air from the surface.
The two interesting things in the room, however, were Takumi and Takahashi.
Takumi was out cold, laying down on the floor in a strangely perfectly placed position. Thankfully, you could see his chest slowly moving up and down, signaling his breathing.
Takahashi, however…
…
…
…
"Took you fuckers long enough…"
The pilot was sitting on a ladder (since when did the aquarium have one?), looking grossly sweaty as he looked up at us with an exhausted expression.
"Taka!" Mari exclaimed, pushing me out of the way to enter the room. "Where the hell have you been?"
"Yeah, what happened here?" I frowned, glancing at all the poor fishies. "Why were you locked in with Takumi?"
Taka sighed, shakily standing up from his chair. "It's a long ass story. Anyways, what the fuck is this about a body discovery announcement? Who died?"
Jack came in next. "Nadia. She's in the penguin exhibit."
"Shit." Taka cursed, rubbing his head in frustration. "Where's everyone else?"
"Also in the penguin exhibit room." Fran answered. "Although, they're all unconscious just like Takumi."
I stepped aside as Fran, Jack, and Sonoda caught Taka up to speed on what happened this morning.
I caught Mari glaring at Takumi's sleeping body.
"What's up?" I asked the model. "Not a fan?"
Mari shook her head. "Obviously not. Especially given his exceptionally rude and arrogant behavior yesterday! He acted like he owns this ship."
You're one to talk…
"Anyways, I'd usually excuse his behavior, but yesterday he was just acting so weird." Mari complained. "And his behavior seemed to start to rub off on people too."
I raised a brow. "Huh? Are you saying other people were beginning to act strange?"
Mari nodded, flipping her hair. "Yup. Remember that whole weird thing yesterday with everyone acting all competitive with the fear challenge thing?"
"I'm afraid of snakes, so all I have to do is get bitten by one." Clara smirked. "Easy."
"There are many ways to kill yourself that most likely none of you are thinking of." Leonia remarked matter-of-factly. "I'm sure I can use that to my advantage when I go."
"...I'm not interested in a competition, but I am curious to see who will eventually come out on top." Isami admitted.
I looked around. These people…
Are fucking PSYCHO!
"So, Monokuma," I sighed. "Looks like your motive is backfiring on you."
"Using my motive for some competition?!" Monokuma angrily yelled. "Ridiculous! Preposterous! BLASPHEMY! I should punish you all right now!"
"That is so against the rules." Fran reminded him.
"I feel like some people were joking around, but some were actually serious," I frowned. "Anyways, what about that? Aren't those people just weirdos?"
"No kidding," Mari scoffed. "But it gets even weirder. I think everyone began to act strange after the scavenger hunt."
"Huh, I went to bed early so I didn't know anything about that." I said. "So you think Takumi is the one behind all this? But I've never taken him for a murderer."
"Honestly, no. Not Takumi." Mari answered. "I think someone else is pulling the strings here, causing people to act weird."
Damn, this is the most thoughtful I've ever seen Mari.
"Well, if that's the case, do you know why everyone was acting so strange?" I asked. "You've spent more time with Takumi due to your...'friendship' with Sonoda than I have. Any ideas?"
Mari glanced back at Takahashi. He was conversing with Sonoda "If I were to take a guess, I'm sure that Sonoda has SOMETHING to do with it. I saw him discussing something with Takumi after you went back to your room after the scavenger hunt. I believe they were discussing one of the prizes. Plus, you and I know better than anyone here how far someone like him would go to get away with murder..."
Besides the elitist comment, that is some pretty good information...But could one action really result in what happened last night/this morning? I don't know if Sonoda being with Takumi is good enough proof he's somehow behind this whole thing…
Also, they were apparently discussing one of the prizes? None of the prizes were really all that interesting, besides the paper with more information on our code names. But I can't really see why Sonoda would want to discuss that with Takumi of all people, especially given his recent erratic behavior.
"Damn, isn't Sonoda your acquaintance?" I asked Mari. "Ain't it a little messed up to throw him under the bus like that?"
Mari laughed. "He's good for an occasional convo, but he reeks of greed and fakeness."
Again, you're one to talk…
I mentally jotted down Mari's account and returned to Takahashi.
"And that's when we figured out you were probably in here and took Isami's key." Fran told Takahashi as I approached them.
"Ok…" Takahashi slowly nodded. "So what the fuck happened that caused everyone to pass out like this?"
"That's where we were hoping you'd help." I said. "If we combine your knowledge with ours, we might reach some sort of conclusion. You're the only one besides us who's awake, but your experience is a lot different than ours."
"So you need my help huh?" Taka sneered. "Figures."
"Can you cut the haughty attitude for once and just help us out?" I sighed. "C'mon, this case is crazy and we need all the help we can get."
Taka frowned, wiping some sweat off his forehead and nodding. "Fine. I guess I can tell you what I know now, but it's not a lot."
"Start with your experience during the scavenger hunt." I said. "You got to see more of Takumi's strange behavior since you arrived at the zoo earlier and finished earlier."
Taka nodded. "Sure, whatever."
"This will be interesting!" Fran beamed. "We get to see a 'pilot's point of view'."
"Point of view?" Sonoda repeated. "But Taka's just going to tell us verbally what happened to him…"
"Shhh Sondoa, just let it happen." Jack sighed.
Takahashi
I climbed up the stairs leading to the third floor, thinking about what just happened with Monokuma and the whole Fear Challenge event I went through.
That damn bear...making me experience that shit. Fuck him! I swear, I'll be the one to snap his little fucking neck, even if it's the last thing I ever do! He had the nerve to mess with my brother, even programming him to say my nickname.
No one messes with me like that, showing me Ichirou and shit. Not even Monokuma. I probably would've pummeled the shit out of him right there if Mari and the D-Lister hadn't calmed me down.
Whatever, whatever...it's done and over with. Now I gotta go do this scavenger hunt thing to find out what the hell these prizes are. They must be related to those boxes Takumi was telling me about.
Breathing out one less sigh of frustration and shaking my angry thoughts out of my head, I entered the zoo.
"Takahashi?"
There were already a fair amount of people inside, all staring at me like some kind of spectacle as I entered.
"I didn't think you'd be up for a challenge so soon after your event." Leonia admitted. "I commend you for your strength."
"Tch, whatever." I scoffed, going to stand next to Nadia who was shaking like a leaf, probably due to being alone with a Greek God like myself. "I already signed up for this thing, I'm not going to miss it just because Monokuma made me upset."
"Haha, so you admit you were upset?" Takumi giggled. "My, my, how the mighty Taka has fallen!"
"Shut your bitch ass up." I snapped. "Honestly stringbean, who the hell do you think you are? You've been pissing the shit out of every single person here since this morning, it's like you want me to beat your ass. Not even Picasso pissed me off this much back during the party..."
Takumi laughed again, spinning around in a circle like a child. "Hehe, you wouldn't do anything to lil old me."
I threw my sunglasses at him.
"Ow!" Takumi yelped.
"Taka, was that really necessary?" Evelyn sighed.
"When he's being a dick, yes it is." I nodded, walking over and picking my sunglasses up.
"Hm, define 'dick'." Evelyn requested. "I'm not sure if you're saying Takumi is being a male genital organ or an unpleasant person."
I raised a brow. "Are you an idiot? Obviously he can't be a male genital organ."
Evelyn suddenly put a hand to her mouth. "Uh...sorry, I don't know why I said that."
"A-are you feeling ok, Evelyn?" Nadia concernedly asked.
"Yes, if you're unwell you should rest instead of participating in this scavenger hunt." Leonia advised. "Although, some studies actually indicate that scavenger hunts could help solve a number of diseases and illnesses."
"What the heck are those studies?" Fran nervously laughed.
Leonia thought for a moment. "...I'm not sure...did I say something wrong?"
"Are you all seriously trying to throw us off our game by acting strangely?" Sonoda chuckled. "I hate to tell you, but your plan will never come to fruition. We have the brilliant Ultimate Escapist, Takumi the Kyoshi, on our team, nothing will stop us."
"Yup yup!" Takumi nodded, flashing a peace sign and smiling triumphantly. "Taka, you know better than anyone how I've been scouring the ship, searching every little nook and cranny and getting my hands dirty!"
Is this guy for real?! "Shut up! Are you high?"
"Probably." Takumi nodded.
"Takumi, why were you in the garden earlier if I may ask?" Akumu questioned. "I saw you coming from that direction when Clara and I were heading into the zoo."
"Ah, it's simple!" Takumi said. "Shiro, Isami, and Norikazu have been hard at work working with all the plants in there. Isami's been working with plants to try and see if they can help in her engineering stuff, while Norikazu is taking some of the plants' designs for his illustrations! Shiro helps them both out. Since I've been in there so much due to my ~investigations of the ship~, I've been checking in on them."
"So that's where you run off to all the time." Clara nodded. "I've been wondering what's up."
I wanted to deck him in the face. He isn't supposed to talk about his work in the Ultimate Spies, he's being a total idiot right now.
Thankfully after a few seconds, everyone went back to their own thing. I looked at Nadia, who was nervously looking around.
"What's up with you?" I asked. "You're scared of being alone with me or something?"
She instantly blushed. "N-no, not at all! I'm just wondering where Mari is, that is all."
"Seizo is bothering her right now." I explained. "Are you worried about her?"
Nadia shook her head. "No...but Seizo. Can I ask you a question about him?"
"Uh, sure." I shrugged.
"Who would you say Seizo wouldn't care about if they died?" She asked.
My eyes slightly widened. What the actual fuck? "Uh...shit, I guess it'd probably be people like Mari and I. Douchebags that he doesn't care for over the actually nice people here. Why the hell do you care though?"
Nadia quickly shook her head. "Sorry, no reason. I don't really know why I asked that…"
I frowned. She's saying weird shit too? Something has to be going on…
About a minute later, Satan himself finally arrived, wearing a safari tour guide outfit and carrying a megaphone.
"HELLO? IS EVERYONE WHO SIGNED UP FOR THE SCAVENGER HUNT PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR?" Monokuma yelled through his megaphone, deafening all of us for a few seconds.
"...No." Clara sighed. "Seizo isn't here yet."
"Neither is Mari." Nadia added.
Monokuma rolled his eyes. "Ugh! Why am I not surprised! Nothing good ever comes with an actor plus model pair. I much prefer actor plus model apples!"
…
…
…
No one laughed.
Monokuma cleared his throat. "ANYWAYS. Have a look at these maps while you wait."
He went around, handing each group a map of the zoo with all the prize boxes and clues highlighted. Looking at the map, it looks like there's one prize box in each exhibit, so all of us should have a fair shot at at least winning one each. However, there's four exhibits so one group's gonna end up getting away with two.
Huh, feels like someone's watching me…
I slowly moved my head to the right to see Nadia's huge blue eyes staring at me.
"Gah!" I jumped, almost dropping the map. "The hell is up with you?"
"O-Oh, nothing." Nadia insisted, quickly looking away.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but where the hell is Mari?!
Thankfully, the terrible two arrived shortly after. Seizo went over to Clara and Akumu while Mari sauntered on over to Nadia and I.
"What took you so long?" I asked.
Mari flipped her hair in Nadia's face. "Seizo and I were having a much needed celebrity catch up. You wouldn't know a thing about it."
I snorted. "Celebrity catch up? You do realize that technically we're ALL celebrities, right? Or did you just forget that we're called Ultimates for a reason?"
Nadia nodded. "He's right, I am actually pretty popular in my home country."
"You're AGREEING with him?" Mari angrily asked.
Here it comes…
"You're supposed to listen to ME, not some ginger haired asshole!" Mari yelled, getting all up in Nadia's face.
"But, um, aren't you also a ginger haired...asshole?" Nadia meekly shot back.
I couldn't help but laugh.
That kept the two of them busy for a while, with Mari yelling at Nadia while Nadia repeatedly apologized, begging for forgiveness. I just sat back and enjoyed the show until Monokuma announced the start of the scavenger hunt.
"ARE YA READY KIDS?!" Monokuma yelled through his megaphone. "I'M ABOUT TO EXPLAIN THE RULES SO MAKE SURE TO LISTEN UP."
We all stopped talking, turning our attention to Monokuma.
"THERE IS ONE PRIZE BOX IN EACH OF THE FOUR EXHIBITS. YOU WILL FIND CLUES IN THE EXHIBITS THAT WILL HELP YOU FIGURE OUT THE PASSWORD TO THE PRIZE BOXES. THE TEAM TO SOLVE THE PASSWORD GAINS OWNERSHIP OVER THE PRIZE BOX, NO EXCEPTIONS! ADDITIONALLY, IF THE PRIZE IS VIRTUAL, THE ONE TO INPUT THE PASSWORD INTO THE PRIZE BOX IS THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS THE PRIZE!"
"YOU MAY SEARCH FOR CLUES IN ANY EXHIBIT YOU WANT, AT ANY TIME. NOW, GET READY TO BEGIN. ON YOUR MARKS...GET SET...GO!"
"What exhibit, Taka?" Mari asked, having recovered from her former hissy fit.
I looked the two of them up and down and cursed. I was hoping to go to the Penguin Exhibit, since anyone who goes in there is a psycho who must want hypothermia, but both Mari and Nadia had neglected to wear their warmer clothing due to the hot temperature of the zoo. If we chose the Penguin Exhibit, I can already picture the two of them complaining the entire time.
"Let's go with the Lion Exhibit." I decided.
Mari and Nadia nodded and the three of us made our way there.
"What the hell is this?" I muttered.
The Lion Exhibit now had four tall pillars of varying heights, with a ladder on each of them. Drawn on every pillar was a bright red line. There was also a robotic lion close by each of the pillars.
All the way towards the back of the exhibit was something that looked like the spinning wheel thing from that one princess movie.
Lastly, there's a podium with a piece of paper right when you entered the exhibit:
This exhibit holds the most important prize of all. Use the piano wire in the back of the exhibit to find a way to perfectly wrap each of the lines on the four pillars without breaking the wire in any way. Use anything in this room to your advantage. Good luck.
Sounds simple enough.
"This should be easy if you guys are going to cooperate with me." I said, walking over to the piano wire. Damn it, I can't just use my hands for this; I'll cut myself on the wire.
"Untie the top part of your suit from your waist and put the sleeves on," Mari suggested, sensing my worries. "Then you can just pull your sleeves over your hands to use as gloves."
"That is a pretty smart suggestion, Mari." Nadia suggested.
"No kidding," I said, beginning to put my suit on the correct way. "You're actually using that brain for once."
"Shut up!" Mari yelled. "It's just common sense. Do you forget that I am familiar with any and all garments? It's made me quite the resourceful fashionista."
I frowned, pulling my sleeves over my hands like Mari suggested. "This doesn't look very fashionable to me."
"Just try to pull the piano string wire now and thank me later." Mari rolled her eyes.
I did so and sure enough, didn't feel a thing.
Ok, I have to do this carefully...I slowly began to unravel the piano wire, taking small steps towards the first pillar.
"This shit is too easy," I smirked.
"Um, the wire is starting to become tangled!" Nadia frantically said, rushing over to the spinning wheel.
Unfortunately, she told me too late, and the wire snapped a second later.
"Uh oh…" Nadia said. "This might be harder than it looks."
"No the hell it isn't." I snapped. "Watch this will be easy.
20 minutes later
Mari and Nadia sat against the first pillar, watching me fail over and over again.
Every time I failed, I cursed, but went right back to try again.
But no matter what the hell I did, the wire always stopped and snapped before I could make it to the first pillar.
"Do you want some hel-" Nadia started to say.
"Fuck no." I cut in. "I can do this shit in my sleep."
15 minutes later
I was making it closer and closer to the first pillar without the wire snapping, but it still snapped every single time. I was starting to get angry…
"Fuck this!" I yelled. "This is impossible."
"Impossible you say?"
Mari, Nadia, and I all turned to see an incredibly haughty looking Takumi, with Sonoda next to him.
"What do you two want?" I asked.
"We've come to collect our third prize of the scavenger hunt!" Takumi smirked.
"T-third?!" Nadia gasped. "But how?"
"Well, Takumi has already completed the Giraffe Exhibit puzzle, and now Jack is finishing up the work Takumi started in the Monkey Exhibit. All that's left is the Lion and Penguin Exhibit. This one is number three on our list." Sonoda explained.
"You already finished your first puzzle and split up to have Jack finish the second?" Mari asked, eyes wide. "That's not possible, the Scavenger Hunt basically just started!"
"Honey, it's been thirty minutes." Takumi laughed. "And hm, judging by the looks of it, I can probably finish this puzzle in about...5 minutes."
"Bullshit." I said. "There's no fucking way. I've tried to do this shit for over half an hour."
"Watch and learn...if you'll allow me of course." Takumi laughed again, walking over to the piano wire.
"Be my guest." I glared, going to sit with Mari and Nadia.
Sonoda also took a seat with us, while Takumi approached the piano wire and rubbed his chin in thought.
He looked around the spinning wheel, examining it in close detail. Then, he pulled his sleeves over his hands just like me, and…
Began to take the entire roll of wire off of the wheel!
"Hey!" I shouted. "You can't do that!"
"Hm?" Takumi tilted his head to the side. "I wasn't aware of any rules of this scavenger hunt. You did read the entire pamphlet on the podium, right?"
I frowned, thinking back to what the podium said…
This exhibit holds the most important prize of all. Use the piano wire in the back of the exhibit to find a way to perfectly wrap each of the lines on the four pillars without breaking the wire in any way. Use anything in this room to your advantage. Good luck.
"Anything in this room to your advantage." I repeated. "That's what you're talking about, isn't it?"
"Bingo." Takumi smiled. "Plus, it never said that you have to use the piano wire while it's on the spinning wheel, you just have to use it in general."
He took the wire completely off of the wheel, walking over to the first pillar.
"It really isn't as hard as it looks," He said, using some saliva off of his tongue to make the wire stick to the red line on the first pillar, and then walking around the pillar to wrap it around. "You just have to use your brain."
I was fuming with anger, but mostly directed at myself. I was so focused on getting the task at hand done, that I hadn't even taken the time to think it through. This entire time, I could've just taken the roll of wire off of the wheel like Takumi and been done in no time.
"Better luck next time," Mari smirked. "Didn't know the Ultimate fucking Pilot was so ultimately fucking dumb!"
"Mari, you did nothing to help me." I frowned. "You're just as dumb as me."
"Well, um, I did ask if you wanted help-" Nadia mumbled.
"SHUT UP!"
I couldn't take Takumi's maniacal laughter as he completed the puzzle, so I left the Lion Exhibit before he could get a chance to gloat about whatever the prize was.
Outside, I found Evelyn, Fran, and Leonia, all looking equally as upset as me. There was also Jack, standing off to the side holding some sort of box.
"Takumi get to you guys too?" I asked, crossing my arms.
Leonia nodded. "He took over our puzzle and claimed the prize for himself. I understand there aren't any rules forbidding him from doing so, but I still found it very rude."
"And completely uncalled for!" Evelyn added.
I looked over at Jack, who looked completely nonchalant.
"What?" He questioned as he looked at me. "I know you're upset at Takumi, but I'm just a part of his team, nothing more. If it makes you feel any better, this is the prize I got when I finished the puzzle Takumi started." Jack held up the box, revealing that it looked incredibly ornate and pretty, but there was no way to open it, rendering it virtually useless.
"Where's the other prize you guys won?" Nadia questioned.
Jack shrugged. "I'm not sure. Takumi said something about the prize being 'super duper incredibly important', but I never actually got to see it for myself."
"He's being so strange," Fran stated. "It's becoming incredibly frustrating."
"MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Speak of the devil…
Takumi and Sonoda came out of the Lion Exhibit, Takumi looking incredibly proud of himself.
"I DID IT!" He cheered. "THREE MOTHER FUCKING PRIZES, LET'S GO!"
"And now you swear all of a sudden?" Leonia scoffed. "How unbecoming. Where did the civilized part of you go?"
"Up your ASS, biotch!" Takumi cackled.
"The hell you say to her?" I shouted, walking up to him. "Learn to respect your classmates or I'll teach you a lesson, biotch."
"Hey, since when do you know anything about respect?" Takumi questioned, going to stand next to Jack, Sonoda following him. "The entire time you've been on this ship, you've called us insult after insult, and have been an overall terrible human being! I think it's only right you finally get a taste of your own medicine. You see how annoying people think you are now, ya jerk?"
"You little-" I tried to push him around, but Mari held me back.
"Don't be stupid, you oaf." She said. "Escapist is so not worth the damage to your knuckles."
I glared at Takumi, stepping away from him and taking a deep breath. Mari's right, stringbean's nowhere near worth it…
Sonoda and Jack lifted Takumi up in the air, presumably at his request.
"I WON, I WON, I WON!" He repeated over and over again. "SOME MONOCOINS, A BOX THING, AND SOME INFO ON OUR CODENAMES! YAYYY ME!"
"Some info on our codenames?" I repeated. "You have got to let us see that."
"NO!" Takumi answered with a cackle. "THEY'RE ALL MINE!"
I decided to just ignore him, letting him boast and cheer.
"ALRIGHT FOLKS,"
Monokuma appeared in front of us, thankfully putting a halt to Takumi's cheering. "LOOKS LIKE THE SCAVENGER HUNT WAS A SUCCESS! TEAM TAKUMI CLAIMED 3 PRIZES WHILE TEAM AKUMU CLAIMED 1! THE SCAVENGER HUNT IS NOW COMPLETE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION."
Aaand he's gone.
Akumu, Seizo, and Clara walked up to us, all shivering and looking not at all happy.
"You're kidding me, right?" Seizo said through clenched teeth. "It's already over?"
"But we didn't even take that long!" Clara frowned. "How can it already be over?"
Fran overheard them, looking at them with a frown. "Because. Of him."
Takumi laughed. "HAHAHA! I AM THE KING! I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT!"
"The fucker solved three of the puzzles. Three!" I sneered. "FUCK YOU TAKUMI!"
"I-I just wanted to win one…" Nadia sniffed. "Just one prize…"
Seizo sighed. "So, what were the prizes?"
Mari rolled her eyes. "Totally lame. One was 10 thousand Monocoins, another was this weird box, and another was this weird paper with more information on our code names."
"Yeah, that sounds pretty la-WAIT WHAT?!" Seizo's eyes widened. "More information on our code names?!"
"Don't get your hopes up." Leonia sighed. "Takumi is refusing to let anyone see it."
"What?" Seizo gasped.
"HEY, I WON IT FAIR AND SQUARE LOSERRR! HERE, YOU CAN HAVE THIS THING." Takumi threw the 'weird' box thing. I caught it.
"He's being such an asshole." I frowned. "That's supposed to be my thing."
"I don't like this new Takumi." Evelyn sadly frowned. "It actually makes me kind of sad…"
"Can we let you down, Takumi?" Sonoda asked in a strained voice. "You're not as light as you think…"
"Y-Yeah, seriously…" Jack mumbled.
"NO, YOU PLEBIANS!" Takumi cackled. "HOLD UP YOUR KING HIGH IN THE AIR!"
"Come on guys. Let's go before we boost his ego any further." Seizo said. First thing he's said that I actually agree with.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Clara nodded, following him out of the zoo.
"WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Takumi gasped. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BOW! BOW!"
"I'm going to fucking kill you later on." I threatened.
That shut Takumi up.
As soon as we left the zoo, we ran into Koko, Shiro, Isami, and Norikazu.
"Hey, what's up you guys?" Koko greeted. "We just got done in the garden for the day. How was the scavenger hunt?"
"Terrible." Seizo dryly answered. "I'm exhausted...I'm going to take a nap before any more of Takumi's toxic venom makes me crazy."
He shook his head, walking away.
"I-I'm sorry to hear your experience wasn't g-good…" Shiro sadly frowned. "D-Do you guys want to see something c-cool to make up for it?"
"Something cool?" I repeated. "Where?"
"The garden." Norikazu answered. "Koko, Isami, Shiro, and I discovered these grapes that taste like cotton candy."
"They're quite delicious." Isami admitted, wiping her hands on her apron. "But also messy."
Messy grapes?
"I'm good," Fran admitted. "I'm not a big fan of candy floss."
"I'll have to pass too," Akumu said. "I have a sandwich in the fridge calling my name!"
"Cotton candy is not good for your figure, even if they happen to actually just be grapes." Mari claimed. "Hard pass from me."
"I'm interested." Leonia nodded. "I see no harm in at least trying."
"If you guys swear they taste like cotton candy, then I'm all for it." Clara smiled. "I miss the cotton candy from the fairs back home."
"I know exactly what you guys are talking about, and I'd love to try them again!" Evelyn beamed. "Ooo, these are going to be muy delicioso!"
"U-Um, I'm also interested." Nadia spoke up. "I've never had cotton candy before, though."
Everyone looked at me, awaiting a response.
…
…
…
"Nah, I could care less." I said. "I'm going to get something from the dining room."
"Your loss." Norikazu shrugged, turning around to lead the cotton candy grape group to the garden.
"They really are sooo good, Takahashi!" Koko said. "You're really missing out!"
"U-Um, I can bring some to you some other time if you want?" Shiro suggested.
"There might not be more if you want some later." Isami playfully said, a slight smile on her face.
Everyone who wanted grapes followed Koko, Shiro, Isami, and Norikazu to the garden, while the rest of us went our separate ways.
Being in the dining room was so relaxing.
So tranquil.
I was finally getting a chance to catch up one of my favorite books, Vintage Aeroplanes. I've read it cover to cover so many times, but the content is just so good. In fact, I recently learned something new by reading the inside of the jacket cover: the book binder for the book, some chick named Sora Sugawara, actually got invited to attend the first book signing of Vintage Aeroplanes, where she and the author signed a number of copies. It's pretty cool, I guess this book was one of those very copies! They added the new jacket cover later on, and somehow the book ended up here.
Sora Sugawara...huh. I can't help but feel sad when I hear her name. Which is strange as hell, because I rarely get sad, especially when it comes to random chicks who work as lame ass book binders. Still...I hope that Sora Sugawara girl is doing well.
Anyways, I was enjoying my relaxation time, but an obnoxiously loud group of people stormed into the dining room.
"THOSE GRAPES!" Koko screamed. "I've tasted hundreds of food items, but those grapes top anything I've ever tasted."
"They're like Ambrosia!" Clara swooned, twirling her hair and smiling like an idiot. "The food of the Gods!"
"They are Gods." Leonia corrected. "Each grape is a divine being with power far greater than us mortals."
"Grapes, grapes, they're really great, eat 'em till you get a stomach ache!" Evelyn sang.
"I've never wanted to draw a grape more in my entire life." Norikazu smiled widely, taking out his sketchbook. "I will now draw over every one one of my illustrations with grapes."
I immediately took his sketchbook away before he actually did.
"I wish instead of Kuro, I was possessed by a grape." Shiro admitted. "I think a grape could protect me more than Kuro ever could."
"Grapes." Isami said, holding up one, and then popping it in her mouth. "Immaculate flavor."
"Oh, Taka, you should've tasted the grapes!" Nadia said, throwing herself over me.
"H-Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" I asked, trying to throw her off of me. She was relentless however, and put her hands all over me.
"They were so delicious!" Nadia said, pulling one out of her pocket. "Here, just have one!"
"N-" She shoved it in my mouth, forcing it down my throat.
"Nadia…" Mari said quietly. "Why the fuck are your hands on Takahashi?"
"Shhh…" Nadia whispered, putting a finger to her mouth. "Just let it happen."
After a few more minutes of craziness, everything died down and people began to take their leave.
What the hell was that about?!
Before everyone left however, I pulled a select few people to the side…
"You guys." I said, pulling something out of my pocket. "I don't really like you, but I kind of trust you. So, I'm entrusting you with…"
"A key?" Isami tilted her head. "To the garden so we can have grapes whenever we want?"
"The garden is already open whenever you want…" I sighed. What the hell is this grape thing about?
"So what's the key to?" Clara questioned. "A secret dance studio that no one else on the ship knows about?"
"IT'S TO THE AQUARIUM, ALRIGHT?!" I snapped, shoving the keys into their hands. "Guard it with your life, alright?"
"My life?" Nadia repeated. "But it's just an aquarium. Unless there's a secret stash of grapes in there!"
"I'm going to ascend…" I mumbled, walking away from them. I wanted to hand out a key to D-Lister, but the asshole decided to go to bed early, so I'll just hold onto it for now.
I chose Isami because of her connection with the Ultimate Spies. I don't see her misusing her key anytime soon...Especially since the aquarium doesn't offer any method of murder, which makes it nearly impossible to misuse.
Clara because, despite trying to kill me, she's pretty chill. Like the antithesis of Mari, who I considered giving a key to.
And Nadia because I think she'd actually enjoy having access to the aquarium after hours. She seems like the type of person to enjoy feeding fish and boring shit like that.
The keys were burning a hole in my pocket, so I'm glad they're out of my hands. Whatever Isami, Nadia, and Clara use them for is up to them, none of my business.
Today's been a long ass day, and I'm tired as hell. I bid farewell to those remaining in the dining room, and took my leave.
Seizo
…
…
…
"That's it?" I deadpanned.
He didn't tell us anything about he ended up in here. All Taka told us was people went crazy over grapes and he gave keys to Clara, Isami, and surprisingly, Nadia. Of course, we know that she ended up biting the bullet, so I doubt she misused hers to…
"Put you guys in here." I realized. "It had to have been Clara or Isami."
"Oh my, that's right!" Fran gasped. "They're the only ones with keys."
"Maybe." Taka shrugged. "After I went to bed last night, I can't remember shit. I have no idea how I ended up here. I woke up to a loud beep, which is what I assume is the control panel for the fish tank going off, signaling that it's going to turn off the ability to control it to regulate the temperature."
"Still, why would anyone want to mess with the temperature?" Jack questioned. "I don't see the benefit."
"Well, let's worry about that later." Sonoda said. "Right now, we all need to head back to the zoo, where Monokuma is most likely waiting for us. Then we can think about all the evidence we've collected so far."
"This case is so confusing!" Mari whined. "And it hasn't even really started yet…"
"What do we do about him?" Taka asked, pointing to the passed out Takumi.
I sighed. "He's been annoying, but we shouldn't leave him alone." I knelt down and picked him off the ground, gently throwing him over my shoulder.
"Let's go everyone!"
When we got to the zoo, all looked normal, thankfully.
"She's in the penguin exhibit, right?" Taka asked, beginning to walk ahead of us.
I nodded. "Yeah, Akumu should be there now."
Everyone nodded, nonchalantly walking to the penguin exhibit. Once we get there, hopefully some of the others will have woken up, like Takahashi. Then we can start on Nadia's investigation. Geez, this case is going to-
CRASH
"AHHH!"
Just as we were walking underneath the giant chandelier with the animals snapped and fell, right on top of all of us.
In the middle of the whole zoo was a tower, displaying various posters of animals and other cute zoo stuff. Hanging off the tower was this weird chandelier lamp thing with animal detailing on it. It looked out of place and kind of cheap, but probably was responsible for lighting up the zoo at night.
…
…
…
Well, that hurt.
A/N: Well, well, well...What the heck is going on in this case?
It's by far the most confusing and complicated, that's for sure. Any theories? What happened with the power outage? Or the chandelier crash? And what's this about grapes?
Find out next time on...Dangan Ronpa...Out of this World!