Otsuka

I still felt satisfied as I got off my bus and continued on my way home. It had turned out that Rieka was not all talk, which was….well, useful for me, but for some reason felt a little bit of a let-down. Though, I still found her irritating. Her bedroom did look good from an objective standpoint, but was just so unnecessarily girly and fussy. How on earth did she even ever get anything done? But clearly, she had, because she'd capitalised on her uncle having been in the force. And she had managed to get two children of survivors onside for her little investigating crew. If I could talk to them…but of course, I would be. I'd have to think about how best to approach that, actually. Beyond what was available publicly about both of them-like Akagi Anabuki's recent appearance on the 'Akemi Tries It' and the animations Akio Arisato posted from time to time, there was little there. I was honestly surprised that those so-called newspapers, the tabloids, had not latched onto the fact of their parentages, but I supposed it would come out sooner or later. Until then, though, the fact I would get to meet them was just one of many trump cards I now had.

My mind went through all the information that Rieka had shown me, trying to fit it to all I knew. It had been a shame that she hadn't let me take any of the items home, especially when I knew a lot more about keeping important evidence secret than she possibly ever could-slotting it all together, but I had taken notes, so it did not matter so much. But, at the same time, it showed there was so much going on. Whoever had done this, they had to be extremely, extremely powerful, able to pull off things on a grand scale, but also be able to bury them, whether through influence or money or both. Possibly even fear. And more than likely, they had done something similar before. In all truth I was vaguely sceptical about Tetsuji Kamiya's claims-despite his past job, to me he sounded more grieving parent than investigator-but the basis of them was plausible. Nobody manages to renovate an entire school (even one that has been abandoned for a couple of decades),fit it up with elaborate camera systems and security systems that included illegally obtained guns, kidnap 20 students, kill 13 of them in elaborate ways, and not get caught in the process if they are doing that for the very first time.

And there are a lot of powerful people in this case, aren't there? Most of the senior staff at Hope's Peak, for example. Unfortunately, the intervening 20 years had killed off or struck them with illness, but there were associates of those people, too. And even the students-not the ones who'd been kidnapped necessarily, but students in general, and former students. Perhaps Kyosuke Munakata's motives in reopening were not so pure? That, too, I reflected as I turned a corner and headed down the crowded street, would be something I'd be able to try and figure out tomorrow. Either way, I would be interviewing him.

I planned and plotted and theorised in my head as I kept going. I was not heading to the place I usually called home, with my parents and my older sister, but to my 'crash pad', an old flat my dad had used to live in back when he was starting out in journalism, and that he'd gifted to me once I started out. It'd proved useful for those particularly gritty investigations, the ones that pull you in and 100% demand your attention. Especially because me and dad did not see eye to eye when it came to investigations. I hadn't been there for a while, but I just knew that this investigation was going to be another one that needed my full attention. Hence, I was heading there, my mind already buzzing. This is exciting, so, so, exciting.

I tapped impatiently as I got to the crossing, waiting for the lights to change, and then as soon as it was green, I strode across, only barely avoiding bumping into people, and only trying to do that as I didn't feel like arguing with people and wasting time when I could be in my crash pad and doing things. Indeed, as soon as I was on pavement again, I didn't stop, and I would have just kept going if all of a sudden, something in my peripheral vision made me slow down and look around me. It took me a moment or two, but then I realised what I had seen. I was across the road from Towa Private Hospital, a medium sized hospital that had a good reputation. Though there were some people leaving through the main entrance, I saw that a small cluster of people were waiting off to the side, looking grim and looking out for something or someone. One of them was a woman with greying blue hair gathered into a pinned up ponytail, and I recognised from press conferences and other research as being Shizuka Onoe, the superintendent of Towa Central station.

A hospital? What on earth….I watched as a police car drew up, and some uniformed officers came out, and she went over to instruct them. At the same time, another car drew up, and about five adults came out. Shizuka Onoe noticed them, and said something to them before directing them to the cluster of people (who were, now I was paying more attention to them, most likely detectives). Quite promptly, the detectives ushered these people off to one of the side entrance, while the uniforms were taken through the main entrance.

Was that….those were some of the survivors, but why? I knew they had spent time in Towa Private Hospital after their rescue, for a number of reasons. But that had just been a holding bay, essentially. So what was the purpose in bringing them back? I frowned, considering my options. I needed to find out what was happening, but of course, it was not going to be easy to get in there. I might have told Rieka that rivalry between the police and journalists was just a cliché, but to be honest, in this situation they would see me as an obstacle. I looked up and down the street, and spotted a café a couple of blocks away from the hospital, on the same side of the street as it. If I could sit at one of the window seats, then maybe…..

Decision made, I pushed past to the next crossing, and once again impatiently tapped my feet until it turned green, before almost running to get to the café. I let myself be greeted by a perky waitress, but couldn't get rid of her fast enough as I was thankfully seated in a booth near the window that I wanted. I took out my laptop, and my notebook, both for the façade and because I could at least get on with something while doing this.

And then, I waited.

…

Eizo

I barely had time to take in my surroundings as we were all bustled through corridors, but all the same, I was able to faintly recognise them. They'd been updated with a lick of paint and new light fittings that made them look sleek and modern, but I remembered being hustled along these corridors all these years ago, wide-eyed and tired and confused, police both leading the way and bringing up the rear.

"Are we going to the same room you questioned us in before?" Eikichi asked, breaking the foot-step punctuated silence we had ended up in.

"Actually, no. That visitors' room has been converted into another physiotherapy room. This room is a new one-though you wouldn't know it from the appearance." Detective Dupont said.

"All the same, it will fit our purposes." Superintendent Onoe interjected. "Ah, here we are."

We stopped in front of a brown door, which almost instantly opened to reveal Detective Kurosawa, along with some white-coated people, whom I assumed were doctors of some sort. Though, why would there be doctors here?

As I asked myself this question, dread sliced through my belly, but I tried to clamp down on it as we were ushered in, and we took seats. I made sure to sit next to Azami, but Ayuna's chosen seat was a couple of chairs away, Mai a few more chairs still, and Eikichi along the other wall. I gave Eikichi in particular a look at this-was he trying to make a point about how we should have remained separate? Either way, his icy stare didn't react.

"Are you going to tell us what's going on now?" Ayuna demanded.

"Yes, we will be. Do you know if Takaaki Jinsai and Friede Anabuki will be arriving soon? I understand that you've organised this meet-up of yours."

"Later on today, and then tomorrow morning," Ayuna said, getting out her phone. "But, I can message them to inform them of the situation."

"Yes, well…" Detective Kurosawa laughed nervously. "I think it will be better to wait until they're here, it's really the sort of news that you need to hear in person."

"But it was urgent enough that you've already summoned us here." Eikichi spoke up, sounding surly.

"And they're going to find out, sooner or later." Ayuna said, phone still poised in her hands.

"…I agree." Eikichi added with a slight note of reluctance.

The detectives in the room looked at each other, and eventually Superintendent Onoe gave a nod.

"Very well then." She said briskly. "I suppose we should get to the point. Detective Matsu?"

"Ah," Detective Matsu stepped forward, and cleared his throat. "As part of our investigation, we did a exhumation to re-examine one of your friends."

"Who?" Mai asked, cautiously.

"Tsukuda, of course." I answered, almost without thinking. "Didn't she used to say, she would want to know that if she died, one day she'd want to be a skeleton?"

The room fell into silence as we all turned that memory over in our heads.

"I remember that." Mai murmured, softly.

"Mhm…." Ayuna said.

"Anyway," Detective Matsu continued. "To put it simply, we found a tracking bug on her. It appeared to have been implanted in her skull, very near to her ear."

Another silence, but this one baffled. Azami looked at me in confusion, and I shrugged. Eikichi was sitting up, frowning deeply, while Mai and Ayuna both seemed baffled as well, though the latter still concentrated on typing this out.

"As a result, we've got good reason to think that you all might have tracking chips implanted in you, as well."

"We what?"

Ayuna looked up at this, her orange eyes flashing. Eikichi looked similarly angry. As for me, I was not sure how to react. A tracker, in me? That didn't seem possible, yet perhaps, thinking about it, could this have accounted for all the security barriers that had bleeped even though I had taken off everything metal to go through them? And…..

"Heyyy, Yuki-chi, what're you crying for?!" Katsuya asked teasingly.

Yuki just whimpered and continued to cling to Yuri, who patted his back consolingly.

"He's saying his ear hurts, but apart from it looking red, I can't see anything wrong." Yuri said in a low whisper. "It's okay, Yuki, don't worry, we'll find something to make it better."

"Oh, that's funny!" Kiran exclaimed. "Mine is hurting a little, and Teiichi-kun said that it looked a little red."

"Yes, that's right." The soft-spoken boy agreed. "Mine, too. Well, hasn't got red, but it does feel…."

"Well that's strange, isn't it?" Sen'ya said. "We've all ended up in this weird place, whatever the hell it is, and now a bunch of us have had something done to our ears!"

"Done to?" I asked. "Mate, that's a bit sinister! Couldn't it be something like, I dunno, just a bug bite?"

"This whole situation is sinister!" Sen'ya retorted.

Slowly, I put a hand to my ear. Honestly, once everything had started, the question of hurting ears had quickly been forgotten, as there had been a lot more at stake. But now…

"Can you get it out?" Eikichi wanted to know. He was also holding his ear.

"That's exactly what we've gathered you here to do. From an investigative standpoint, it will be better to have them removed, as we can then determine precisely how they worked and if they were active during the last 20 years. Naturally, we'll have to question you about them."

"Question us! About these, when we didn't even know that was what was going on?!" Ayuna exclaimed.

"Yes," Shizuka said shortly. "It is possible that there will be things you didn't realise were significant that you will remember now."

"That's right!" Detective Matsu jumped in.

He flashed us reassuring smiles, and almost automatically, I smiled back.

. "But you don't need to worry about that, for now the first port of call is to work out where exactly they are in you so we can get them out. The lovely doctors here will explain the procedure…"

…

Things after that went by pretty quickly. There was some official paperwork to be signed, but all the police said the main admin could be sorted out afterwards, that this was just to start things off. We were all scanned, and then told what would need to happen for the chips to be removed-a simple procedure, only requiring local anaesthetics, though Ayuna's and Eikichi's would take longer, apparently, because theirs were against their skull, like Kimiko's had been, whereas mine, Azami's and Mai's were all in our ears. I wasn't sure how that made things difficult or easy, but I figured as long as we could get them out, it didn't matter. The facts of the situation were starting to sink in, and all I could wonder was-had we been watched, all this time? Had the friends I'd made over the past 20 years, my workers, my family, had they all been in danger? The most I knew, nothing in particular had happened-and anything that might have hadn't been explicitly connected to me. But even so.

Soon after that was all sorted out, Mai was escorted down to an operating theatre. I looked over at Azami, who was sitting very still, hands folded in her lap. Ayuna and Eikichi were bickering about…something. It almost reminded me of old times, as in before back then, and I would have smiled if not for the situation.

"Hey, Azami? Are you alright?"

She blinked, as if coming out of a dream, and looked at me.

"I…I don't know."

"I could come and sit with you, if you want? You'll be next, right?"

"I…" Azami thought about this, then shook her head. "No, it's fine. I can do this."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Azami hesitated, but then nodded firmly. At that moment, a doctor and a detective came, and called her name. She got up, nervously smoothing down her clothes, and then looked at me. I gave her a nod and a smile, and then she turned and walked away. Just as she was out of sight, another doctor and Detective Matsu came for me.

"It's my turn now, is it?" I asked, trying to be cheery. "Well then, let's get it over with."

As I left, it occurred to me that I hadn't yet managed to explain to the others that I was helping New Hope's Peak. Oh well, I thought with some resignation, There's always later. And at least I've told Azami…

…

Mai

"What the hell is that?" Sen'ya asked as Yuri and Seiko pulled the curtains back and we could finally see what was behind it.

He was echoing what we were all thinking. Best we could see, there were all sorts of contraptions, apparently operated by levers and buttons which seemed to be dotted everywhere. In the middle, however, there was an empty space-empty, apart from restraining straps of some sort.

"It looks a bit like a dance studio, no?" Lilian spoke up. "Sadie-san, you must agree."

"W-well, the middle, sure, but I'm not sure about the rest of it….Lilian-chan, you've never seen anything like this, have you?"

"No, no, I haven't. " Lilian agreed with a nod, dark purple-blue eyes solemn. She absently fiddled with the gold-edged blue bow in her hair as we all waited.

"This is clearly not your average dance floor, I can tell. Not even the Butterfly Collective uses such…convoluted technology." She added absently into the silence, though it was clear she was more thinking aloud.

"So, what exactly is supposed to happen now?" Fumiaki asked, frowning slightly.

"Well now, someone needs to get our blackened in there first, and then maybe I will tell you, Upupu!" the bear spoke up.

I jumped. I still could not wrap my head around the fact that we were apparently here because of this bear. Even if it was controlled by someone else, as the more logical explanations would suggest. I took a breath, and gave a shaky smile to Akari and Azami. Azami was the only one to try and smile back, though Akari did nod as she stayed close to her sister.

"I-I need to go in there?!" Katsuya asked, tremulously. "Why?"

"Oooooh, oooh, can I try?" Yuki said eagerly, bouncing on the heels of his white and purple sneakers. "It looks like a puzzle! I bet I could beat it! Yuuuri, do you think I can beat it?!"

"No, no Yuki!" Yuri said hurriedly, leaving the curtains and going over to her brother, gripping his arm firmly to prevent him from going off. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Yuki whined at this, but Yuri, as always, was gentle but firm with him. She eventually managed to distract him with things he was carrying in his backpack.

"Yeeeah, I wouldn't recommend it, looks like some random medieval torture set up to me." Eizo said, laughing awkwardly. "I'm not even sure I'm joking about that."

"Why, Komiya-kun? Weren't you listening! This is your punishment! Now, get in there! And someone help him!"

"How do you mean, help him?" Kimiko demanded.

"Weeeellll, do you brats really think he's gonna restrain himself properly if he does it himself? He's the blackened, he killed your classmate! Don't you want to see justice done?"

Killed my classmate. Looking at Katsuya, our dopey, cheerful, friendly male Class Representative who always had a smile on his face, it was still hard to believe he had killed sweet, sweet Kiran. Yet, he had. We'd examined all the evidence, just as we had been asked, even though we weren't detectives, and found him guilty…and the tears spilling from his purple eyes and blurring his glasses were proof of his remorse about it. We all looked around at each other, uncertain. Even Moeka, who had stepped forward to place a consoling hand on Katsuya's shoulder, bit her lip and hesitated.

"What is going to happen, once he's in there?" Ayuna asked.

"Yes, what will happen?"

"Oh my gosh, kids these days!" the bear held his paws up in exasperation. "Do none of you listen to your elders? You know what will happen! He's blackened, he must be punished-and all punishments are executions."

"Wait, you're going to kill him in there?!" Sen'ya exclaimed. "What the fuck?"

"Ohhh, I'm not!"

"….what?" a few of us asked.

And with that, I could have sworn that the bear's grin, though fixed, grew even bigger and sharper.

Tentatively, I stepped closer to the chair, staring at it for a moment. I took a breath, and looked to Evalynn.

"Can I have Juro? I want Juro here."

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll get him, we'll swap. Give it a mo, okay? Don't start anything until Detective Arisato is here, alright?"

"Understood," the doctor said.

Evalynn left, and I took another breath, sitting down in the chair. I started to feel the panic coming on as I settled myself, trying to gain some semblance of comfort, and I took a few deep breaths, in and out, in and out.

"Now, we'll need to restrain your head for the procedure, as well as apply a local anaesthetic to the area. Nurse, can you come and-"

"Does that hurt?" I asked, as I fixed the strap around Fumiaki's wrist, my hands trembling violently.

Fumiaki shook his head as he leaned back slightly into the chair.

"It doesn't really matter. What comes next will hurt more."

"I…I'm sure…"

"Too right it will!" a certain animatronic voice called out from behind us. "Now hurry things up or I might have to start getting trigger happy!"

I shook my head, rearing back violently. The doctor and the nurse gave me an odd look.

"Are you alright, Arisato-san?" the nurse asked with some concern.

All I could do was shake my head.

"I'm sure this is a scary situation for you, but let's get you settled until the detective gets here…is that detective your husband?"

I managed to nod at this, but I resisted the nurse's efforts to ease me into leaning back into the chair. I wriggled away from her grasp, and stood again, wrapping my arms around myself, staring.

"Nooooo, I don't want to! I didn't do…I didn't do anything, I didn't mean to…"

Yuki sobbed and sobbed, as Eikichi and Ayuna tried to get him moving. He clung to his stand, and to his toy too, tears trickling and dripping onto his colourful clothes. His nose ran too, but he didn't try to wipe it.

"I don't want to dieeee."

"Oh, so now you believe it's real, you imbecile?" the bear snickered in the background. "Bit late for that, mate!"

"It's going to be easier if you cooperate," Eikichi said. "Otherwise we're all going to die."

"I don't want to die, I don't want to….." Yuki sniffled.

"Please, Yuki," Ayuna said. "We don't want you to die, either, but….."

All our gazes drifted to the guns that were dotted around what we had come to consider the 'punishment bay'. In particular, we looked at the bullet holes left in the ground from when Ayuna had tried, against all odds, to rescue Seiko. Even though it was irrefutable, what he had done to Teiichi, we didn't want him to die.

But we had no choice.

All of a sudden, Juro was there, his hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes.

"Mai, what's wrong, my love?"

"I…." I sniffed, surprised to feel a sudden wetness in my eyes. "I…I….I can't, I can't."

"It's okay, you won't feel anything. I'll be with you the whole time."

Juro attempted to manoeuvre me back to the seat, and because it was Juro, I let him. But the moment I was seated again, more of the memories came back, flooding my brain. It wasn't me, it had never been me, but every time I saw one of them, it felt like it was happening to me.

And really, if not for twists of fate, it was entirely probable that it could have…

"Mai, it's okay, it's okay…"

"What's going on? Does your wife have a phobia of hospitals?"

"We need help over here!"

Everything washed over me, in a horrifying swirl. Memories, the noise, the screams. Everything. I can't do this, I can't do this, I don't want to do this…

And then, mercifully, it all went black.

…

Juro

In hindsight, I should have seen this coming.

I stared down at Mai, sleeping now, but not looking peaceful. Her hair was still ruffled and messy, some strands sticking sweatily to her face, and her expression was frightened. Still, she was asleep now, sedated, and the bandage on her ear proof of the fact the tracker was out. And certainly even less able to give a clue as to what had been going on inside her head, to upset her so spectacularly.

But still, in hindsight, I should have seen this coming.

She never had been good with hospitals, or even any medical procedure that required restraint, whether that was actual ones, or just someone leaning over her. We'd gone with phobia-friendly dentists and opticians because of it, we'd quickly worked out that it was easier when she didn't have to be awake for the procedure, so she opted for general anaesthetic, such as early on in our marriage, when she'd had to have a wisdom tooth removed. The only exceptions I could think of were the births of our children-but in all fairness she was preoccupied then.

I had asked her once, if she'd always been afraid, and she'd answered 'not before'. Before, of course, meaning before she and her friends had been held hostage. But that had been enough knowledge for me-it had just been curiosity that had led me to ask. All I needed was to support her. To protect her.

But whatever I've been doing hasn't been enough, has it?

Whatever it was that Mai thought of to cause such a panic was something I didn't know about, as husband or as a detective. And the size of the reaction…I knew enough for it to know that this meant something significant was behind it all. The key to unlocking the mystery? Either way, it meant something. But what could I do with that information? Mai didn't want the past leaking into our everyday lives, and I didn't either. I didn't want it to affect our children any more than she did, and yet I wondered, the way this was going, in the end, they would be, wouldn't they? Especially if I was to bring this to everyone's attention.

And yet, there was the truth, and justice to consider. I wanted this to go away, but I wanted it solved, too.

What do I do now? I asked myself, as I carefully smoothed down her hair, and then held her hand. What do I do?

I sensed the presence of someone behind me, and I looked up to see Evalynn peering around the door.

"I heard Mai had a hard time of it." She said, simply.

I hesitated, not knowing what to say.

"The Superintendent already knows-the doctors told her." She continued. "Nobu's trying to see if he can come up with possible analyses."

"Was it necessary to?" I asked.

"A clue's a clue, Juro, you know that." Evalynn huffed, hands on hips, before falling silent to assess us for a moment.

"But still…it's fairly tenuous, no?" I said, undermining the arguments I had been making to myself. "It could be for any reason. Any reason at all. "

"Juro."

Naturally, Evalynn was taking no BS from me-we had been partners for far too long. I sighed helplessly, and Evalynn softened.

"Look, think of it this way-if we're all thinking it, then you don't need to feel like a snitch or whatever it is you're thinking you are. All of which would be crap by the way. But anyway, you're needed now. We've got trackers to see in action."

I sighed again, and reluctantly I got up. I bent to kiss Mai on the forehead, and then left her to sleep it off.

Characters introduced this chapter:

Victims

Lilian Lao, former SHSL Chinese Ribbon Dancer (my OC)
Takayuki 'Yuki' Fujimoto, former SHSL Toymaker (created by: Abitat Eco)