I was having trouble getting this chapter off the ground initially, as I had been planning to approach most of it as a normal chapter. But it wasn't quite working, so I decided to change my plans slightly and present it as an Extracts chapter. The next chapter will be a normal chapter, from the perspective of the Prospectives as they wander around Shirohata. Essentially, the extracts presented in this chapter are all various forms of evidence that are happening/have been found/looked at back in Towa City while the Prospectives are in Shirohata. Once I decided that was going to be the case, things clicked into place, making this the easiest chapter to write in a while. Hope you enjoy this!
Extract from interview conducted with Toshi Sawayama in his home, Towa City, 26th July 2039, 12:40pm
In attendance: Detective Nobuyuki Kurosawa and Harumi Sawayama (mother, acting as appropriate adult)
T.S.: Yeah, the way he said it was like, his mum was freaking out about all this and his dad wanted him out of the house. And his little sister too, though I dunno where she went, just somewhere.
H.S.: Toshi, don't say it like that! Akio-kun was very considerate, detective, he was pretty concerned about the impact all of this was having on his mother. He's a very good boy, a good influence on my Toshi. I'd had no idea he'd run away-Toshi just told me that everything was fine back home so he'd left. (clears throat meaningfully)
T.S.: (splutters) Yeah, well…..
N.K.: Why didn't you tell your mother what had actually happened?
T.S.: (fidgets) Well, that's, I mean, it was strange, like, one minute we were just talking and then next minute he literally just got up and left like all 'thanks for having me' like…who does that?
N.K: What were you talking about?
T.S.: (silence)
H.S.: Toshi, tell the detective, for goodness sake!
N.K.: It's alright, Sawayama-san, let Toshi-kun take his time.
T.S: (hesitating) We were talking about his mum. He got a message from her, a voicemail message, and I was wondering what was up with that, you know? Like, what was happening with this investigation and stuff? I mean, I wanted to know if he knew anything because it's like, this red-hot mystery and he's like a part of it.
N.K.: Not really, since it happened before either of you were born.
T.S.: Yeah, well… (shrugs) I guess I must have pissed him off by asking him about it but like, anyone'd want to know, right? Plus, he was staying with me, right? Surely it's only fair enough I get an inside view?
H.S: (Gasps) Toshi, please don't tell me you actually said that to Akio-kun!
T.S.: (mutters something unintelligible)
H.S.: Toshi!
N.K.: Sawayama-san, please.
T.S.: (grumpily) So what if I did?
H.S.: So what if? Sowhat if? Oh, we're having a talk about treating guests well, Toshi, soon as the detective goes. For now, you will answer him!
T.S.: Geez, geez, okay. But like, you gotta admit it's pretty suspicious that his mum has never said anything at all, like ever. There's gotta be a reason for that! Even you said that once yourself, Mum.
H.S.: (splutters, but says nothing)
N.K.: So how did Akio-kun react when you were asking him about his mother?
T.S.: He was upset, which, okay, I was a jerk I guess. Maybe a little bit. But, like, he was kind of leaving us behind anyway. This New Hope's Peak stuff. I mean, it's cool he gets to go to a fancy school, but he was like, cosying up to Little Miss Perfect and hanging out with new friends already.
N.K.: Sorry, but who is this 'Little Miss Perfect'?
T.S.: You ever watched Akemi Tries It? That girl. She goes to our school. Or went, I guess. Who knows why? She is-or was-whatever, a third year there. I mean, Terasawa-kun and our other buddies were encouraging him to talk with her, like, to schmooze you know. Even if she is Little Miss Perfect she's still got connections and money and all that. Plus she's kinda hot. But like, I didn't think he'd suddenly make this whole new friendship group with her too.
N.K.: Did this friendship group include Akagi Anabuki?
T.S.: I…don't know? There was some other girl, YouTube person who chats about books or something?
N.K.: If I told you that this person was the soon-to-be SHSL Archer, would that ring a bell?
T.S.: I dunno. He didn't talk about them with me (laughs briefly, bitter). Just like he didn't talk about his mum's stuff with me. Probably did with the-wait a moment.
T.S.: Little Miss Perfect had this 'big reveal' of her going to New Hope's Peak on an episode of her show, and she'd just defeated an archer. Could be that one. It'd make sense, he looked like someone our age too. Why's it matter, anyway?
N.K: We have reason to believe that after leaving here, Akio-kun went to stay with Akagi Anabuki and that they left together afterwards.
T.S: Like I said, wouldn't know about that. He didn't talk to me about anything.
N.K.: He must have said something, though. You've told us about Akemi Koizumi, and the girl on YouTube…do you know anything about her? Anything you can come up with would be helpful.
T.S.: Why?
H.S.: Toshi!
N.K.: Listen carefully, Toshi-kun. If we have a better idea of who might be with Akio-kun and Akagi-kun, or who might have seen them more recently than you have, then we have a better chance of tracking them down.
T.S.: That's….shit, that's….you really think that something bad might have happened to them? Like, something bad? That's…. (Lets out a breath). It won't be something like what happened with his mum, will it?
N.K: We're hoping that won't be the case.
T.S.: Right, well…oh man, I really was a jerk, wasn't I? But, I'll try. I really don't know that much but I'll try.
…
Extracts from 'Full Statement of Confession' handed in by Ayuna Aozaki, Eikichi Hanamura and Shion Arakawa to Superintendent Shizuka Onoe at Towa Central Station on the 26th July 2039
…we were directed to a small room that had always been locked. We had tried to look in it before. In fact, Sen'ya, Rin and Katsuya had tried to break down the door but we had been threatened with 'punishment' which was implied to be killing. But when we got there, the door was open and more than that, the floor was open revealing a staircase…
…More than once, some of us heard the sounds of people whispering and moving around, primarily at night-time the few times we did venture out. One time, Friede heard them and claimed that they were speaking a foreign language, but she couldn't discern what they were saying. We also occasionally saw scuff marks made by shoes that weren't ours, or clumps of soil that couldn't have come from us…
…Right from the beginning, there were many, many opportunities for us to kill. At every corner, it seemed as though there was some encouragement or enticement to kill…
…
Extract from interview conducted with Friede Heiwa Anabuki at Towa Central Station, Towa City, 26th July 2039, 14:50
In attendance: Superintendent Shizuka Onoe
F.H.A.: Who told you about that?
S.O.: That is not for me to say. But you don't dispute that you met your son there, and said… (pause, sound of paper being flicked through) that 'I did indeed give birth to Mistletoe there. But don't let that stop you doing what needs to be done' and 'Too late for that, isn't it? You may as well move on, ruin this little consortium of yours as well'
F.H.A.: You don't understand. Nobody understands.
S.O.: Then make me understand, Anabuki-san.
F.H.A.: (shakes head) No point. Nobody ever does, not even they do, even though they were all there. As for you, ll you need to know is, I didn't touch him then and I certainly haven't touched him since.
S.O.: Do you have any idea where he might have gone?
F.H.A.: Only to bring me more misery, I'm sure. I have no idea, as I told my brother. Fuck, I can't even be angry at him, he's a soft-touch and he has been putting up with Akagi all this time. But Mai-chan, and everyone else…
S.O.: What about them, Anabuki-san?
F.H.A: Tell me, which one of them told?
S.O.: As I've sai-
F.H.A: It's so easy for them to judge, isn't it, even though most of them aren't even parents? Tell me, Superintendent, are you a parent?
S.O.: That's neither here nor there, Anabuki-san.
F.H.A: So, not. Well.
(pause)
F.H.A.: Well. I suppose that's it then. After I give in and help them with that statement, that is how I am repaid?
S.O.: So you did not want to write this statement?
F.H.A: (sneers) Well, that's one way of putting it. Do you think I wanted any of this? Do you think I want to be sitting here, being specially interviewed by a superintendent, because you think I may have murdered someone I've given birth to? You know, you all should have come a day later.
S.O.: What do you mean by that?
F.H.A: If you had come a day later, we wouldn't be in this position at all. I wouldn't have to be sitting here, dealing with this! Oh, wait. This isn't in that (makes quotation mark gesture with fingers) statement, is it? It wouldn't be! After all, it's not as if we told all of them about it. We didn't want them to know!
S.O.: Anabuki-san?
F.H.A: (starts laughing, slightly hysterical)
F.H.A.: (takes deep breaths, wipes eyes) Well…it's not as if it matters now, is it? No, it doesn't. You, sitting there all high and mighty, never having known any loss whatsoever, ready to think the worst of me. As for them, as for the rest of them, I may as well put it out into the open. If this is where we stand, then well (slight laughter). Put it this way, Superintendent.
F.H.A.: If you had come for us a day later, we would have all been dead. And not all of us knew it.
…
Voicemail left on Kenichi Tsukuda's phone, from Tetsuji Kamiya on 26th July 2039, 18:34
"I don't know why you're not picking up. No matter. I think I know where those kids might have gone. The journalist girl, Jihara. You know that I talked to her. Or maybe you don't. But that's not my concern. What I'm [coughing] trying to say is that she told me she was out of town. Investigating a lead. Apparently 'going back to the beginning'. It's just hit me. The 'beginning' is Shirohata. That's where it all happened. Right? So that's the beginning. She's in Shirohata. Maybe with those other kids, or maybe not. But either way [more coughing] stupid of her. It's dangerous. So I'm going to go get them. There's trains that'll take me [violent coughing, obscuring rest of sentence]. I'll rent a car a rest of the way. Tell the detectives. If they get there before me, great. If not [more coughing] then I'll be there. I'll get them back."