When Shouichi Kiyofuji got to the gate, he was greeted by the sight of the Hope's Peak Security Team trying to keep the media at bay. He recognised some of them, in particular the woman who broke away to greet him. The black wraparound sunglasses she wore made her expression somewhat inscrutable, although the set of her mouth was grim. When she spoke, her voice was brisk but nonetheless had some warmth in it:

"Chief Inspector," she said briskly. "I had a feeling it would be you here. I'd say it's good to see you but obviously…"

Alexis bit her lip for a moment, then shook her head decisively, and said:

"In any case, Tanaka-san and some of our other team members have managed to secure the scene for your Crime Scene colleagues, who've already arrived. Detective Hanaoka has arrived too."

"That is good to know, thank you."

Ignoring the journalists' clamouring that had increased in intensity upon his arrival, Shouichi then turned to the two detectives and three officers who had accompanied him, and issued them instructions:

"Officers Miyazawa and Kurahashi, assist Burton-san here. Detective Hirano, Detective Tomita and Officer Yamada, with me. Burton-san, before you go back there, are you able to tell me anything?"

As Miyazawa and Kurahashi quickly went to join the Alexis's brow furrowed, and then she said:

"The CCTV's being reviewed as we speak, but as far as I can discern, there's no sign of the person who left Nishiya-san's body, and nobody was spotted carrying anything well, you know, suspicious. It's complicated by the fact that the public have been allowed back on campus for the national holiday, the first in a while. And despite all that, we were still sent back to normal duties-"

It was at this point Alexis's composure started to slip. She huffed in annoyance, and then stared at her team members, and some journalists who appeared to have given up. Shouichi knew she had more to say, though, and sure enough:

"Judge me for that if you like, Chief Inspector. Even though it was clear that Nabenashi-san's disappearance was the final one, I should have pushed back against the orders to 'get back to normal'. I know this. I should have known better, especially after the last time we met."

The last time. Ena Setsushi and Naruhito Ono, disappearances thirteen and fourteen, respectively. Or perhaps it was fourteen and thirteen, instead. To this day, Shouichi didn't think a single person was certain of which order was the correct one, himself least of all. What he was certain of, however, was that those two disappearances should have been enough to for Hope's Peak to continue restricting access to the public despite nobody else disappearing after Kagura Nabenashi, despite nobody else disappearing directly from within the school grounds the way Ena and Naruhito had.

And a national holiday most certainly should not have been enough for those restrictions to be relaxed.

He would not castigate Alexis for it though, at least not aloud. She was right in that she should have known better, but he knew better than most what Hope's Peak was really like. He had also gotten the sense both now and then that she was, at least, trying to protect people. The principal, any of the higher ups-now, they'd be a different story, as far as he could do so without it getting in the way of the investigation.

But that was for later. Now, he asked:

"Nishiya-san? So, it's Seren Nishiya who has been found?"

"From the quick glimpse I got, yes. Her hair is quite distinctive. I did not get the chance to take a closer look, as Tanaka-san and I tried to get the situation under control as quickly as possible. However, it's one of her classmates who found her. Airi Fujita, her name is, although she likes to go by 'Clio'. She's the SHSL Kudo Practitioner. I work quite closely with her, she's a good girl."

Shouichi nodded.

"I or one of my colleagues will need to interview you properly later, but I'll leave you to it for the time being."

"Thank you."

Alexis had regained her composure, but there was a world of sorrow packed into those two words. Shouichi acknowledged it with one more nod, and then beckoned to the two detectives and the officer, before heading through the gates. The journalists clamoured, pleading for just 'one word', 'one hint', but Shouichi paid them little heed. There'd be a press conference, they could get all their hints there.

Since he knew exactly where the dorm buildings were, he led the way without hesitation. Even though nothing had really changed since he'd been a student here ten years ago, he had been here more recently. None of the renovations or new signs surprised him, and with the café being the brainchild of one of the missing, he couldn't avoid knowing about that, either. Nonetheless, as they crossed through one particular courtyard, he slowed, listening out for one particular voice.

"Ena! Shit. Ena? Ena? Ena where the fuck are you?"

At first, the boy who was yelling had at least been striding with purpose, but as he got closer the boy faltered, looked around him. It wasn't clear if he had noticed the attention he was attracting from, let alone Shouichi and his colleagues approaching. But all the same, he faltered, turned in a half-circle, turned back again. The snow started to come down a little heavier, though still without settling on the ground, and the boy shielded his eyes against it as he called out:

"Ena! ENA! Ena, can you fucking hear me? Just say something! Make a goddamned noise, anything!"

Shouichi hadn't been given very much information coming here, just that Ena Setsushi, third year student and the SHSL Death Midwife, had been the latest student to disappear. He would have normally left it to his colleagues, but since he'd been passing when the call had come in, he decided to join them. This was a case that had confounded everyone at every turn, but this was the worst yet. It was the first time the kidnapper had been so bold as to kidnap someone on the school grounds itself. Dax Haley's could have been considered as such, given the forest's proximity, but officially it was not so. The forest was not Hope's Peak's land, after all. The same could not be said for this courtyard, however. That was completely, and unequivocally, Hope's Peak territory.

The boy took a few more steps forward, looking this way and that. He wasn't wearing a coat, Shouichi realised. He had a hoodie on, sure, but it was unzipped and despite the good quality it provided little protection against the cold. Snowflakes had settled all over his ink-black hair, his arms, but the boy seemed completely oblivious. Shouichi wondered how long he had been out for. He had not been the one to raise the alarm to the police, that much was clear, but it seemed like he was the reason anyone knew that Ena had gone at all. The boy may even have been the last one to have seen her, and while Shouichi couldn't help but wonder why somebody hadn't tried to interrupt him in all of this time, that did not matter. It didn't matter as much as finding out as much as he possibly could.

So he stepped into the boy's line of vision and began to introduce himself. The boy stopped in his tracks for a moment. The heavy bags beneath his eyes did nothing to dampen the flash in them as he snarled:

"Get the fuck out of my way."

"Now, hold on-"

Shouichi turned to his colleague and shook his head. He knew that it was not him, or them, that the boy swore at. He was clearly hanging very close to the end of his tether, only a single moment away from completely and utterly unravelling. He had seen worse devastation across the years. This, he could let go.

Nonetheless, he still needed to get through to the boy, in order to get a clearer picture of what was happening. But before Shouichi could try again, the boy turned away, stared in the direction of some of the gathering onlookers.

"Ena?" he called out again, his voice acquiring fracture lines. "Ena?"

As the boy once again looked this way and that, Shouichi noticed some of the onlookers nudge each other, look at the boy. Despite how many of their fellow students had disappeared, it seemed like that to some people, this was more entertainment than anything else.

"Look at that," Shouichi heard one of them whisper. "The guard dog's losing it."

The boy froze again, but again only for a split-second, before this time launching himself at the student who had said this. Now this, Shouichi couldn't let pass, and so he sprang forward and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, and when the boy whirled around ready to fight him too, Shouichi simply said:

"This won't help her."

Still keeping a hand on the boy's shoulders, he carefully took out his ID card while instructing one of his colleagues to go and assist with the searches and the other to disperse the crowds (in particular, whoever had made the 'guard dog' comment). He held it out to the boy, who read it silently, then glowered. Shouichi introduced himself properly nonetheless:

"Hello, I am Chief Inspector Shouichi Kiyofuji of Division One of Tokyo's Criminal Investigation Bureau. What is your name?"

"Name's Yuuto, not that it fuckin matters. Ena, Ena's-"

"Your surname?" Shouichi asked, calmly.

The boy's glare deepened at the interruption, but he obliged:

"Oshiro."

Shouichi nodded, and decided that for now, it was safe to let go of him.

"Oshiro-kun. I'm here regarding Ena Setsushi's disappearance. I believe you're looking for her too, am I right? Could you tell me more about the events leading up to her disappearance?"

Yuuto blinked rapidly, and then said:

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep."

Shouichi waited for him to elaborate, but he did not. Instead, he repeated:

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep. Then Ena wouldn't have fucking left by herself and just left me with this-"

Yuuto's voice cracked, and he lifted his hand, which was when Shouichi realised that he was holding something. Though he seemed reluctant to do so, Yuuto handed the object to Shouichi. It was a Post-it note, with a little message written on it. It didn't take very long for Shouichi to read it, and he handed it back to Yuuto once he was done. He noticed how Yuuto's hands trembled as he carefully put the note in his pocket, how his hands continued to shake even afterwards. He still looked around wildly, as if hoping to see Ena materialise from somewhere in this snow.

With every second, Yuuto inched ever closer to unravelling. For so many reasons, Shouichi couldn't have that.

"Let us go and sit inside. I'll need you to tell me precisely what you remember about the last time you saw Ena. Besides, you must be cold."

Yuuto stopped and looked at him briefly, then rubbed his face:

"You're not going to fucking find her, are you? She's just gone like the others and….and…."

Shouichi had a feeling that Yuuto was not a boy given to crying. Nonetheless, Yuuto's appearance had gained that exhausted, hollowed-out look that often followed a bout of weeping. Despite this, without needing another prompt, Yuuto began to tell Shouichi about how he and Ena had been studying in the library, how he hadn't remembered feeling particularly sleepy, only that he had woken up and seen the post-it note in place of Ena and how he'd grabbed it and run out into the night, calling and calling.

His voice fractured more as he got to the end of his recount, and indeed he tried to break away, presumably to keep looking, but once again Shouichi held him back and said:

"Let's go inside. This won't help her either."

Yuuto scowled, but they were interrupted by one of Shouichi's colleagues rushing up to them both, holding something in an evidence bag. Still making sure to keep a restraining-but calm-hand on Yuuto's shoulder, Shouichi addressed the colleague.

"What's the matter?"

"Sir, we found this phone by one of the labs."

"The…the labs?" Yuuto asked. "I went there. She wasn't there, but why the hell would she have been?"

The colleague shot Yuuto a curious look, but instead continued to address Shouichi:

"Specifically, Inventing Laboratory B. It was just in the doorway, and all indicators are that it was dropped. Crime Scene've taken pictures of it in situ already, but here."

Shouichi took the evidence bag and looked at the phone. It appeared to be one of the latest models, sleek and black, although the screen had a crack through it. The notification light flashed orange and red, and on the back there were shiny stickers shaped like cogs, a spanner and a red and orange striped "N". And although he had a feeling he knew the answer, rather than look at the lock screen, he asked Yuuto:

"Do you recognise this phone?"

And the answer was immediate:

"That's not Ena's."

There were plenty of curious onlookers, including members of the public being chivvied back out by a couple more uniformed officers, but Yuuto Oshiro did not appear. Shouichi did not know whether to be thankful for this, or to worry. That concern was yet another thing for later, however, and he pushed on until the dorm building came in sight. A white tent had been erected by the side of the building, and the Crime Scene Investigators were already there, coming in and out. Crime scene tape had been erected around the entire building, and a number of students were standing outside of it, whispering and pointing while an officer and Tanaka, the other Head of Security, stood there keeping an eye on them. Shouichi greeted Tanaka, showing his ID despite knowing the woman would recognise him, before then stopping at the tape and making sure he had put on his shoe covers and gloves. It was only then that he lifted the tape and went under it.

He headed straight to the tent at the exact same moment Detective Hanaoka came out of it. She grinned and said:

"Chief, good to see you. It's definitely Seren Nishiya, although obviously when the family come back they'll need to do a formal ID."

"Come back?" Tomita asked from behind him.

"Her parents took their other children to Wales for an extended holiday, to get them away from the media attention for a while. The children were also quite stressed, so they were hoping it would serve as a break for them." Shouichi explained. "Though they have been checking in, haven't they?"

"They have, yes," Hanaoka agreed. "Although not for a couple of days. We are trying to contact them, though."

"Sir, shall we examine the rest of the scene?"

Shouichi turned to Tomita, Hirano and Yamada and nodded.

"Yes. If any of those students saw anything, interview them. Find out if anyone has spoken to the girl who found the body-"

"Oh, uh, sorry, Chief," Hanaoka interrupted. "I just wanted to say, Fujita-san, she…well, put it this way, that was the quietest case of hysteria I've ever seen."

Shouichi raised an eyebrow at that, and Hanaoka shrugged:

"Best way I can think of describing her. She seemed both calm and incredibly shaken up. A fellow student took her into the dorm, and I think they're waiting in her room to be interviewed. There's an officer with them, of course, but she hasn't been interviewed just yet. Oh, and she took pictures!"

Shouichi frowned at that:

"Pictures?"

"At first, it seems like she didn't realise that it was a body she was seeing, just that she felt that something was wrong. She took photographs as a record of where she was to send it to others in case she was the next to disappear. It wasn't until she got closer that she realised that she had stumbled across a corpse, and the alarm was raised pretty quickly once she had."

Shouichi digested this information, thought of the implications.

"What has happened to the pictures?" he asked, eventually.

"Before I got her inside, I had her send me the photographs. Thankfully, they don't clearly show that it's a dead body there, let alone that it's Seren Nishiya. Nonetheless, we might get something useful from them, right?"

"Right. Alright then, let us go back and have a look. I'll go to interview Fujita-san afterwards."

He let Hanaoka go back in first, and then followed her. The medical examiner was crouching over the body, which was laid on cut-away sheets of black bin bags. Shouichi came over and knelt down, being careful not to flatten the bushes and plants near to the body.

"Oh, don't worry yourself too much." Hanaoka explained. "They had to cut away some of the plants to get close to the body in situ. The plants have all been bagged up for analysis, though."

Sure enough, Shouichi realised that some of the bushes had been cut down to their stumps, and some smaller plants seemed to have been pulled out. Looking at the pattern of the plants that had been destroyed, he assumed that there had been an attempt to hide the body within the greenery. And looking at that body was the next thing he did.

Seren's face was bruised, her pink eyes staring at him. Close-up, they looked as if they were beginning to decompose, and indeed, her face was swelling slightly. Frowning as he caught the faintest scent of decay, he looked to the medical examiner.

"Do we have a time of death?"

"Not exactly," the examiner said. "I'll need to get her on the table and conduct a full examination to even get an estimate. Her body temperature is a lot colder than I'd expect, even in this weather. On top of that, the bin bags were wrapped around her body quite tightly, but not around her face. "

"Not around her face…they wanted us to see her face and know who she was immediately." Shouichi concluded.

"Well, if you say so," the medical examiner said. "I can also tell you that she probably initially fell flat on her stomach when she died, hence the bruising on her face. But in the initial hours after her death, she was turned on her back, hence the blood pooling here…"

The medical examiner pointed at Seren's arms, exposed in the t-shirt she was wearing. It didn't look like it had been hers. For one thing, it seemed too big, and he knew that Seren was given more to low-cut, either tight fitting or flowy numbers rather than a simple, unisex t-shirt like the one she was wearing. The sleeves had been cut off, and it had been tied at the waist, which seemed more in line with her sense of style. Nonetheless, he knew it wasn't hers. The bracelets on her skinny wrists seemed to be though, which he noted as he looked at the red and purple mottling on her arms.

"In any case, once she was turned, she was probably left on her back for a while until she was put in the freezer."

Shouichi frowned.

"I'm sorry, the freezer?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed that her body has been through rigor mortis and gone again. And as I told you, her body temperature is very low. I suspect that she was left alone for a while, and then put in a freezer for a while, which delayed the decomposition process before she was then wrapped and bought here."

The medical examiner stopped and thought, before saying:

"Well, that's my best guess at least."

"No, that's…"

"Unusual, huh, Chief?" Hanaoka said. "Thankfully cause of death is probably more straightforward, according to the doc. Someone whacked her, and whacked her hard to make sure she stayed down."

"So, blunt force trauma." Shouichi summarised.

"Yes," the medical examiner agreed. "I can't narrow down what sort of object would have been used, though."

"Any signs of sexual interference?" Shouichi asked.

"Again, I'd have to look closer once I've got her on the table, but nothing obvious. Her clothes weren't interfered with, and a quick check doesn't reveal any notable injury."

"Well, that's something at least," Hanaoka said. "Whoever we're dealing with at least isn't a pervert."

"Not necessarily," Shouichi cautioned. "Let's not make any assumptions yet. We do not have a full picture yet."

"That's understating it. But hey, Doc, maybe she wasn't assaulted but considering her history, any signs of sexual activity?" Hanaoka asked.

"Again, I can't be sure until I've got her back to the morgue, and I've run the appropriate tests. But I'm inclined to say no, anyway. Anyway…"

The medical examiner talked them through smaller findings and observations that they'd made, and as they did, Shouichi studied Seren carefully, made notes, and thought about histories. Of course, it went without saying that every single missing student had a history, simply by virtue of being living, breathing people with lives. But there had been quite a few who'd had notable histories.

Inori Izawa was well-known for being the heir of the notorious Izawa Pharmaceuticals, but she was not the only one to have come from a well-connected, well-known family. On the flipside of that there were those who had no family. For instance, Yori Miyagi had been born and raised in an orphanage, and Ena Setsushi had cut off her parents. Fukue Amari did technically have a family in her mother and many siblings, but all indicators had suggested that she was the one who took on the caring burden for them all.

Then there was Kagura Nabenashi's status as a celebrity. Indeed, she had been the focus of a fair bit of gossip when her old band had broken up. Although, that had been 'old news' by the time any of the disappearances had started happening. There were also a depressing amount of people who thought that being foreign was a sign of trouble, and where Dax Haley was concerned there was the double whammy of him being both foreign and transgender. Disability was another one that affected a good handful of the students, with Luca Fontana only being the most prominent of those.

But Seren was the one above all of them who could have been said to have had a history. The one who was considered the most troubled. Reckless, prickly, someone who regularly skipped class and stayed out late, who drank and smoked and partied. A pretty girl, and one who knew it, who styled herself to look older than her seventeen years and who was rumoured to have slept with many people, including both fellow students and older men and women. Her parents had tried to get through to her but had reached the end of their tether. There had been talks of having her temporarily put in care, but she'd sidestepped that by moving permanently into Hope's Peak dorms and only becoming wilder.

By all accounts, she'd had a reason for it, and the more time passed the harder she'd dug in her heels about that reason. But her conviction had only added the descriptors of delusional and having a death wish to the list of descriptors. Not even her parents had wanted to believe that she could have been a victim of this mysterious kidnapper.

And yet, here she was now.

"Chief," Hanaoka said when the medical examiner paused for a moment. "Do you think this is a coincidence, then?"

Shouichi looked over at Hanaoka, then down at Seren.

"I believe we owe it to her to find out. The first port of call will be to look into the allegations she had made initially, and the evidence that she had collected by herself to support it. You still have all the downloads and copies of the messages in evidence, don't you, alongside her diaries?"

"That's right. I'll get someone onto her known associates at the theatre. They might remember something that was overlooked last time. Likewise with her family, once we reach the parents. Oh, god, this is going to crush them. You know what they're going to think, aren't you?"

Shouichi waited for Hanaoka to finish:

"They're going to think that she was right all along, and that what she said would happen came true. It's going to eat them up that they dismissed her."

Shouichi did not point out that, whether Seren had been telling the truth all along, whether this was some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy or just a horrific coincidence, the end result was still the same. She was still lying cold on the ground, staring at everything but seeing nothing. He knew that Hanaoka knew that, too. And sure enough, she sighed and turned back to the medical examiner.

"Was there anything else?"

"Well, actually…"

The medical examiner picked up a small evidence bag that held a piece of card in it, and handed it over:

"This was in the front pocket of her trousers."

Shouichi took the bag and stared at it. It was about the size of a business card, split down the middle so that one half had a white background and the other was black. The text splayed across it, similarly was half white and half black depending on which part of the background it was against. That text read:

END OF CHAPTER 1 PART 1: DAILY LIFE

BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 1 PART 2: KILLING LIFE

Shouichi flipped the card over, and found that it was completely white on the back, with a message scrawled in black marker. This message said:

Will you work it out before the answer is revealed at the end of the chapter, detectives?

"Shit, we're being taunted!" Hanaoka exclaimed. "What the fuck does that mean?"

Probably that this is only the beginning. Anybody's guess would be as good as his in terms of working out why the note referred to chapters, but if this was the first chapter that meant others would follow if they did not catch this person in time. More students would turn up the way Seren had.

"I believe that's your job, not mine." The medical examiner said drily. "In any case, there's not much that I can tell you just from having her here."

"That's fine," Shouichi said as he stood up. "Arrange to get her taken back and carry on the full examination there. I'll make sure one of my team is there in attendance, if it's not me. Detective Hanaoka, can you concentrate on making sure that the notification is done, and going back through Nishiya-san's personal life? I'm going to go and interview Fujita-san now."

"Sure, sure."

As he left the tent, he heard shouting coming from somewhere beyond the crime scene tape, and he recognised the voice immediately. It was, after all, the voice he had been listening out for before. And sure enough, when he turned his head, he saw Yuuto Oshiro standing by and arguing with Officer Yamada.

"Just tell me!" Yuuto was shouting. "Just tell me, damn it! Is it Ena? Is it?"

Yamada tried to say something about informing the family first, but Yuuto cut him off, leaning into the officer's face.

"I'm not fucking asking who it is if it's not Ena!" he yelled. "I can't care about that yet. Just tell me if it isn't Ena! And if it is…if it is…then why the hell are you talking about family? I am…she…."

Even though Yuuto bit his lip and averted his eyes rather than complete the sentence, Shouichi knew that he probably wanted to say I'm her family. But just as he was not the type of person to let tears fall, neither was he the type to say that to anyone, let alone an adult in authority. At that age, Shouichi probably wouldn't have been inclined to make such a heartfelt declaration to a police officer, either.

As Yuuto started another tirade, Shouichi picked up his pace to reach them before it turned into a full-on fight. Not even he could excuse an assault against one of his own, even if it was by this boy. With every encounter he'd had with him, he'd fallen apart a little more. In some ways, it was a miracle he was still standing.

"It's not her."

A girl had walked up to Yuuto, dressed in a jumpsuit, boots and pilot's goggles on her head. This wasn't either of the girls who had eventually coaxed Yuuto back inside on the night Ena had been taken. Considering one of them had been Kagura, it wouldn't have been possible for her to be here now. Shouichi wasn't sure where Nazuna was, though, but assumed that she had Student Council duties. Otherwise he was sure she'd have come out, too.

In any case, he was glad that there was someone here with Yuuto, this time, even if Yuuto himself didn't seem pleased.

"How the fuck do you know?" Yuuto scowled at the girl.

"I caught a glimpse before they put the tent up. The hair wasn't pink, it's darker, sort of maroon? And the face was…well, I didn't recognise it. Which doesn't mean much, considering, but I'm pretty sure she's not even a third year, let alone from our class."

Yuuto held himself stiffly, still vibrating with anger as he turned, clearly sensing Shouichi's approach. After quietly telling Yamada that he could handle this, Shouichi focussed on Yuuto and said:

"Your classmate is right. It isn't her."

"It's not?"

Again, an unsaid plea: you promise it isn't her?

"I promise," Shouichi answered the unsaid plea. "It isn't her. If it was, I'd personally make sure you knew as early as possible."

Yuuto's face made it clear that he did not fully believe this. Shouichi couldn't do anything to convince him of this. If anything, he hoped that the time would not come where he had to convince him of it.

"Then, there's not much point being here, is there?" Yuuto decided eventually.

Before Shouichi could answer this, Yuuto sighed and turned away from him and walked away. The girl looked at him in a slightly befuddled way, and then looked at Shouichi. For a moment, she looked like she was going to ask a question, but she hesitated. Instead, she studied him with eyes that were surprisingly bright despite their dark colour.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the girl said. "Just a little…weirded out, I guess. But I'm alright. Thanks, though."

She then proceeded to leave as well, seemingly going in Yuuto's direction, at least initially. Shouichi watched them for a little bit, particularly Yuuto. He thought of the last time he'd met him, a couple of weeks ago. Remembered asking him if there was anyone else that he could talk to, a trusted adult. Eventually, a name had emerged, though with the caveat that "we don't really talk that often, there's no point". Nonetheless, Shouichi had memorised Noboru Nozawa's name and looked him up. Given his prominence as an architect in the same field Yuuto's SHSL came from, it had been easy to find information and a way of contacting him. And he hadn't done anything with that information yet. But if it came to it, he'd have to.

For now, though, there was a witness to interview.

When he was let into Clio's dorm room, he knew where Nazuna had been. She sat with the girl that Shouichi assumed to be Clio, both deep in conversation in low voices-something about The Student Café. Nazuna nodded softly, her facial expression calm, although she fiddled with her long, thick black braid. Although her face hadn't lost its roundness, she looked somewhat hollowed out, tired, although this impression was only fleeting, kept under check with her overall composure.

The other girl, then, was Clio. She sat with her hands bunched in her lap, clutching handfuls of her white-and-pink skirt tightly. Shouichi noticed splashes of sticky red across the skirt and her white tights, and remembered the discarded take-out cup he'd seen near the scene. He also noticed that there were quite clear tear tracks across her freckled cheeks, that her grey eyes were rimmed with red.

It was Nazuna who first noticed him, looking up and giving him a nod:

"Good morning, Chief Inspector," she said in her clear, modulated voice. "Have you come here to ask Clio-san about what she saw?"

"Yes, that's right. "

Shouichi looked around for a chair. The officer who had been assigned to keep an eye on Clio was sitting on a chair at Clio's dorm-standard desk, but leapt up immediately to offer him the chair. Nearby, a bored-looking woman in her fifties or sixties sat. Shouichi introduced himself, and discovered that she was Yamaguchi, an administrative assistant who'd been asked by the school's In House Legal Counsel to act as an appropriate adult. Given that she didn't seem to be taking any interest whatsoever in Clio, Shouichi wondered just how appropriate she was. Nonetheless, her presence followed procedure, so he let it go for the time being. If it caused problems down the line, then he'd have to insist on an alternative.

Thanking the officer and Yamaguchi, he took the chair and settled it so that he was facing Clio and Nazuna. At this, Clio looked up slowly, and asked:

"You're a Chief Inspector?"

"Yes, that's right." He said. "My name is Shouichi Kiyofuji, and I'm from Division One of Tokyo's Criminal Investigation Bureau. Would you prefer me to call you Fujita-san, or Clio-san?"

Clio scrunched up her skirt a little more, and shivered despite the warmth of the room. Then, she half-whispered:

"I don't mind."

"Alright then."

"I know…" Clio's voice wobbled. "I know you're meant to be asking me the questions, Chief Inspector Kiyofuji, but may I ask a couple of questions first?"

"Of course, Fujita-san." Shouichi said, patiently.

"I…will I get into trouble for sharing the pictures of Nishiya-san on the group chat?"

"You shouldn't do." Nazuna said immediately.

She then blinked rapidly and looked to Shouichi.

"Apologies for the interruption."

Shouichi just nodded at her, then addressed Clio:

"There is a concern over the images being shared widely, but you specifically won't get into trouble, and try not to trouble yourself over it. From what I know, you didn't realise what was happening until afterwards. The images haven't ended up graphic, either, according to Detective Hanaoka."

Clio nodded sombrely at this, and then murmured:

"I just wanted to leave a trace if I was kidnapped. Like Nishiya-san and everybody else."

"I would advise, next time, to call somebody instead rather than share any pictures. However, what was your next question?"

Clio's forehead furrowed, and then softly, she asked:

"I know in my head it's Nishiya-san, because I looked right into her eyes. I know it couldn't be anyone else. But somehow I still want to ask…is it really her? She talked about dying a lot. I mean, specifically that she'd be dying once she became an adult. But I still can't…"

Nazuna looked at Clio with concern, and Shouichi decided to change his tack for interviewing her slightly. Rather than immediately ask her about her movements leading up to discovering Seren's body, he asked:

"I can confirm that it is Nishiya-san, yes. Could you tell me a little bit more about what she was like?"

Clio blinked uncertainly, then glanced at Nazuna, who gave her an encouraging nod:

"Go on. I'm sure it's fine."

Clio stared down at her hands briefly, then returned her gaze to Shouichi's and said:

"We were in the same class this year. I'm not sure I knew her very well. She bunked off a lot, and sometimes she was scary."

"Scary? How so?"

"Well…actually, I think that what it really was that she was scared. She believed that somebody was going to kill her after she turned eighteen, or maybe after her Coming of Age? Either way, once she was going to become an adult. But she didn't seem to really care about being safe or anything. Kurihara-sempai…Kurihara-sempai once got into an argument with her about staying out late, right?"

"Yes," Nazuna confirmed. "This was just after Park-san's disappearance, so admittedly the threat hadn't sunk in for most people. But it seemed as if she did know the threat, she just didn't care. Almost as if she was waiting for it."

"I think, there were a lot of horrible rumours. About, you know, romantic things."

Clio reddened slightly at this, but then soldiered on:

"And I think probably they were kind of true. I think she paid Fukue-chan once or twice to style her hair for dates. But I don't really know and…I don't think she was a bad person, necessarily. She could be nice, sometimes. "

So far, what Clio had said lined up with what he knew about Seren. Even her unexpected perceptiveness around Seren's talks of her own death tallied. He had not expected her final conclusion, though.

"How so?"

"We worked together in the café, a few times. The Student Café, Luca-kun's one. Do you know it, Chief Inspector?"

Shouichi nodded, and indicated she should continue. Rather than speak, though, she picked up her phone, sitting on her bed, and scrolled through it. Since she was clearly looking for something, despite wanting to move the questioning along Shouichi waited patiently and looked around the room.

It was pretty clear that Clio liked pink. The colour was not overwhelming, and it existed in different shades and patterns across the room. But from the glimpse of the clothes he saw in the part-opened wardrobe to the stationery left out on the desk, even to the bedsheets and curtains and the rose-shaped fairy lights strung along the bookshelf, the colour pink was everywhere. Despite following the same structure and layout as any dorm room, and having the same furniture, Clio had personalised the place to the extent that it felt more as if it were a bedroom in a home. He wondered, briefly, if she lived on the dorms during the school holidays. He glanced at the corkboard hanging on the wall above the desk, filled with photographs. There were plenty of her with Luca and Fukue, and some from various Kudo tournaments, and a few photographs of flowers and cupcakes, but not a single one of anyone who could have been a family member.

Perhaps that explains why a random member of staff is sitting here as her appropriate adult. When he glanced to Yamaguchi, she was staring at her phone. Quietly, he cleared his throat, making her look up. She at least had the grace to briefly look guilty and put her phone away, but the boredom returned immediately after.

"Ah, here."

When Shouichi looked back over, Clio was holding out her phone, screen facing him. She tapped the screen, and a video started playing.

It appeared that the video was being shot in The Student Café. Seren was the focus of it, as she concentrated on pouring cream on top of a cup of coffee. Although she was wearing a shimmery white crop top, she had an apron over the top of it, and her hair was tied in an artfully messy bun. Beside her, Fukue stood on one side, and Kagura on the other, both also wearing aprons over their clothes (a simple round-necked jumper for Fukue, black and gold zebra print and a pink varsity jacket for Kagura). Like Seren, Kagura had well-done eye makeup. But unlike Seren, Kagura's amber eyes were bright with excitement. Her energetic voice called out:

"Ooh, ooh, let me see!"

She peered over Seren's shoulder, causing the girl to shoot her an irritated look before continuing the latte art, face puckered in concentration. This didn't seem to deter Kagura, who continued making excited noises before eventually asking:

"Hey, Clio-san, come and film this! Hey, I never knew you were so good at latte art, Seren-chan!"

"I thought it'd be worth trying for once in my life." Seren said, her voice injected with a forced boredom.

Nonetheless, her mouth quirked up slightly as she put down something that looked like stencils and then moved onto the third. The camera moved focus so that it was not looking at the three girls, but instead the three cups. The one on the far right was still having cream poured over it, but the other two were done, with the art depicting a pumpkin and a bat. The bat was outlined by chocolate, and there were swirls around the pumpkin.

"They look really nice, Nishiya-san!" Clio's voice said softly from the other side of the camera.

This time, Seren made no response as she concentrated. But then, as she lifted the pitcher of cream away properly, she frowned. The reason for this was clear, as the third image, whatever it was meant to be, had turned only into an odd blob.

"Is that meant to be the ghost?" Fukue asked, sounding befuddled.

"Maybe try adding chocolate for the eyes?" Clio suggested, as the camera momentarily lifted up to focus on the girls then.

"I s'pose." Seren muttered.

She did so, however, but Shouichi wasn't sure he saw much of an improvement when the camera returned to the third drink briefly, and sure enough, the sound of giggles overtook the clip. Clio, when moving the camera up, was clearly also giggling while filming based on how the camera shook.

"How hard can it be?" Kagura was chortling. "A ghost is literally just a comma with arms and a face! That's just a blob!"

"Oh, I don't know. It's kind of cute. Don't you think, Fukue-chan?" Clio asked.

"Um…actually I think it's still pretty scary."

"Tch," Seren said. "That's a mess is what it is. But I guess it's in the…ahem, spirit of Halloween, no?"

Seren shook her head, and then lifted a hand to her mouth. Though she was trying to supress it, giggles began to spill from between the gaps in her fingers, and soon the other girls were set off again. Then, Seren pulled herself together, and asked:

"Do you want to give it a try, Fujita?"

"HEEEEY, what about me?" Kagura protested, pouting dramatically.

"Oh, you can drink the deformed ghost coffee."

"…I don't know if I'm meant to be pleased by that or not."

Nonetheless, Kagura accepted the coffee, taking contented sips as Seren got another set of cups. She then passed one of the already filled cups to Fukue and picked up the final one to drink from herself. It was there the video ended, and Clio took back her phone. There was a moment of silence, before Clio then turned to Nazuna and said:

"Nabenashi-sempai was friendly with Nishiya-san, right?"

"Mhm."

Shouichi noticed that Nazuna's eyes were wet, but she answered Clio's question calmly enough:

"Yes. I think she was trying to teach Kagura how to speak Welsh at some point. I don't think it went well. But we're supposed to be telling the Chief Inspector about Nishiya-san, rather than-"

A buzzing sound came from the pocket of Nazuna's denim jacket. Frowning, she fished her phone out of that pocket and looked at the display. Even though a call was flashing up on there, beneath the call icons Shouichi saw a glimpse of what her lock screen picture was-Kagura, grinning and flashing a peace sign at the camera.

"Ushiroku-san? Right, Clio-san, I'm really sorry but I'm going to have to go and take this call. Is that alright?" Nazuna apologised.

"Sure." Clio said. "I think I'm alright now, in any case."

"If you do need to talk later on, please come and find me," Nazuna said. "You've had a horrible experience and you don't need to bottle it up, alright? Anyway, I do have to go, so see you later."

As Nazuna hurried out of the room, she answered her phone. Clio watched her go, then turned back to Shouichi. It was true that she did seem a little calmer now, especially after having shown him the video. Shouichi found that he'd felt the opposite way, though. Although he knew Seren deserved as much justice as any of the missing students, and that the behaviour she'd shown in life didn't mean she had invited such a horrible death, he'd still fallen into the trap of assuming that 'troubled' was all that there was to her. And he hadn't even realised it until he'd watched a silly video of teenage girls messing around with coffee.

He couldn't do that again. He could not fail her or any of the others again. So he took the feeling and boxed it away somewhere safe, so he could look at it if he found himself slipping back into such assumptions again. Then, he asked Clio:

"Alright, if you're able to continue, could you take me through your movements leading up to the discovery of Seren Nishiya's body?"

In her seat along the side of the Main Hall, Ririka Enjou scanned the rest of the hall. Despite the holiday, quite a few students had changed into their school uniforms for the assembly. And though many talked with each other, and some even managed to crack a smile, the air in the room was heavy. It really couldn't be any other way, not after the devastating news that had just spread.

A student had died.

A student had died. And she hadn't been able to do anything about it. In the grand scheme of things, she hadn't been able to do anything about the disappearances, either, even if she had changed some of them after seeing that list. She had failed, and there was no two ways about it. But what else, she thought, what else could I have done? A couple other members of staff tried to talk to her, and she did respond to them, but only briefly as she kept scanning the hall.

Asides from the students who were not there because they were missing, and Seren because she was dead, there were a few other students who were absent from the assembly. A few straggled in, latecomers, but Ririka suspected that the rest simply would not come. Most of the staff had turned up, with the exception of the receptionists, a couple of the subject teachers, and the Security Team. Presumably, they were needed to field questions and generally keep order outside.

A couple of officers and detectives sat near the back, and so did her father Sakichi and the Pinkerton detective, both of them wearing the dark blue lanyards that marked them out as temporary staff (in contrast with her own black-and-white striped one, which signified that she was permanent staff). She did think it was strange that the Pinkerton detective wore one, since he was being employed by Izawa Pharmaceutical to investigate, not by Hope's Peak the way Sakichi was.

There was a third private detective working on the case too, she knew, though he wasn't sitting there with them. A friendly guy, kind of bumbling, very different to Sakichi and the Pinkerton in many ways, but with two particular differences standing out. The first being that he had apparently been approached by a student to investigate, and the second being that he was not a former Hope's Peak student the way the other two private detectives were. Nobody really knew which student had asked this other detective to help (although Ririka wanted to hope it was Seren). But she rather suspected that it was the lack of a former SHSL title that meant that he wasn't sitting at the back of the hall with Sakichi and the Pinkerton, rather than the mystery of his involvement.

Hearing the sound of the screen and projector being turned on, she looked to the stage, expecting to see Principal Jin Kirigiri step out on stage. Instead, however, Nazuna came out alongside Setsuna, the Student Council President. As a picture of Seren Nishiya-red rose hair decoration pinned in her deep reddish-purple hair, wary and defiant expression staring out at them-filled the screen behind them, President and Vice President conferred for a moment. Then Nazuna took a sheet of paper from the President and warily inched towards the podium. She placed the paper against the podium, read it briefly, then looked up at them. She fiddled with her braid, but then remembered herself and kept her hands by her side as she leant towards the microphone and spoke.

"Good morning, Hope's Peak Academy. I…Well, I am sure that you will have heard the news by now anyway. However, this morning the body of one of the sixteen students who disappeared between December and last month was found near the dormitory buildings earlier this morning. The student has been identified as Seren Nishiya, the SHSL Playwright from Class 2A. The police are currently investigating and-"

Nazuna stopped for a moment, looked down again. This time, though, Ririka wasn't so sure she was necessarily reading so much as she was trying to collect herself. Whispers punctuated by muffled sobs rippled through the room, and Ririka so badly wanted to stand up and tell Nazuna that she was doing so well. That she wasn't letting anyone down by taking a moment to pause before continuing her delivery, that it was more than understandable. The Student Council President looked at her, expression cooly assessing as she fiddled with her glasses, seeming as if she was considering whether to step in or not. But before she could, Nazuna looked up again and continued:

"Nishiya-san wasn't somebody I knew myself, and I won't pretend that I am going through the same feelings as any of you who did know her, especially if you were close. Nonetheless, with people close to me still missing, and there being so much uncertainty around what has happened, I do understand that this is a difficult time for all of us. I can only ask that you extend each other a little grace, and continue to be careful as you move around the school. Currently, the police have asked that we do not leave the school grounds for the time being, but once we are cleared to do so I ask you to also exercise the same levels of caution as we did at the height of the disappearances.

"We will be having increased security presence around the grounds once more, and Ushiroku-san and I will be working to re-implement the Student Patrol Group."

Here, Nazuna briefly gestured to Setsuna, and went on:

"I am also hoping we will continue to restrict public access to the school grounds. In the meantime, if you have any information regarding the disappearances or Nishiya-san's death, pass it on to the investigation. If any of you know something and would prefer to stay anonymous, I'd even be willing to pass any tips along to the authorities."

Ririka thought that this was the end of the speech, and it seemed like that Nazuna did too, for she began to withdraw. But then she stopped, and said:

"One last thing. While the Nishiya family will need to be informed first, and they'll undoubtedly be making their own funeral arrangements, The Student Council shall see what can be done about arranging an appropriate memorial for Seren Nishiya. If that is something you would like to attend or be involved in, please keep an eye and ear out for further announcements. That will be all for now. Thank you."

Nazuna stepped away from the podium properly this time, looking lost and bewildered. Ririka again was filled with the urge to shower her with praise. She had done so well. She really had. Most adults would have found it difficult to make such a speech, yet Nazuna had done so calmly and sensitively, with words that didn't feel empty. Yet, the pride Ririka felt was dulled by anger.

Because Nazuna shouldn't have had to make that speech all by herself. No matter how difficult, that should have been the Principal's responsibility, or at least that of another member of staff. But where is he? Ririka wondered. Where the hell is he?

As if her wondering had summoned him, Principal Kirigiri made his appearance, striding confidently to the podium and then clearing his throat. Taking the microphone, he said:

"Many apologies for not getting here sooner. As you can imagine, there are many things that must be dealt with in the wake of such a horrific tragedy. I can only thank our fine Student Council for stepping in and stepping up for us. Truly, they do our school proud. I won't repeat what they have so clearly said in regards to the ongoing investigation and so forth, but rest assured that your safety is a top priority for Hope's Peak Academy. However, if there is anything we must take away from Seren Nishiya's tragic death, is that life goes on. As Nishiya-san was a, um, a vibrant member of our community, I am sure she would say the same. Indeed, I am sure that she would want us to continue to go ahead with things that have been planned, including the consultation on Hope's Peak Expansion.

"As you all know, there have been talks of expanding Hope's Peak to include a fee-paying, entrance-exam-based set of admissions every year, along the lines of a more 'ordinary' private school. Though of course there would be differences…"

Although a part of her kept on listening, Ririka stopped consciously paying attention as Kirigiri droned on about the Hope's Peak Expansion plans. She knew most of them already, after all. Before the disappearances had started, they had been the Big Thing everyone was talking about. But even if that wasn't the case, the anger she had already felt was now reaching boiling point. Was this really, really what Seren would have wanted? From her last encounter with the girl, she didn't think so:

"But, Nishiya-san, I think you should have taken all of this to the police earlier."

Seren stood up abruptly and pushed back her chair.

"Fine. Fine, whatever."

"Hold on now, Nishiya-san –"

"I should have known, you're just like everyone else! You don't believe me."

Seren pressed her pink-glossed lips together, her pink eyes blazing. Indeed, against the unusual paleness her skin had taken, the eyeliner around those eyes only served to make them look brighter. The intensity was unsettling, enough so that Ririka could see why people said what they said about her. Although the moment she thought that, she immediately regretted it.

"It's not that, Nishiya-san," she tried to say. "I want to help you. Nobody should have to be threatened this way, but I'm not sure what I can do against a criminal."

"You don't think I tried the police?" Seren scoffed, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear.

Ririka hesitated, watched as the girl wrapped her arms around herself. Despite the leather jacket and the way she'd hiked up her school skirt to be as short as possible, and even with the make-up, Seren suddenly looked as if she was a little girl. Ririka once again looked at her screen, at the horrible messages that Seren had so meticulously saved and collected. There's got to be something I can do, she thought. If she won't go to the police, then what can I do?

The answer came to her with a frustrating clarity. It was not something she wanted to do, but it wasn't for her. It was for a girl who needed help, and badly.

"I know a private detecti-"

"Look, forget it!" Seren said again. "Just…fucking forget it. Keep that, though. When he does kill me, I want someone to know. And even if you get rid of your copies, I've made sure that there are copies everywhere. He won't be able to hide what he's done. And at this point, that's all I want."

"Hold on, Nishiya-san."

But Seren strode out, paying no heed to her. Alarmed, Ririka jumped out of her chair and left the office, looking up and down the corridor. But she had already gone.

In the present, Ririka looked over to her father. From the way he was glaring, she knew that her father wasn't impressed either. This would surely be more fuel to the fire that made up his feelings for Hope's Peak. But it wasn't like she could blame him for it. The way they had handled all of this was starting to make feel like she was staring to agree with him.

She looked away before he noticed her staring. It had been bad enough when he'd turned up wearing the temporary-staff lanyard, while the students were still disappearing. Although, come to think of it, he came onboard following Nishiya-san's disappearance, didn't he? That thought made her feel a little bit sorry for him, under the circumstances, but it also made her wish she had just told him about what Seren had approached her with.

Then again, it's not as if I've told him about the list…

She rubbed her eyes tiredly, then noticed a motion that made her look up. Somewhere towards the back, a student she didn't know got up abruptly and turned away. Her long, reddish-purple hair streamed out behind her as she moved to the door and for a moment Ririka though she had seen Seren's ghost. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Nonetheless, she rubbed her eyes, then blinked, but by the time she focused on the student again, she'd left and the door was almost closing behind her. But despite getting only one last glimpse of that hair, she realised that though this student was definitely not a ghost, she did, in fact, know them. And that realisation led onto another, more chilling one.

Wait, it couldn't really be, could it…?

Her mind buzzed and span, and she was itching to race back to her office, pull the file out from where she'd hidden it and read through it just to be sure. But she couldn't do that, not yet. And so she sat there, still only half-listening to Jin Kirigiri's empty words, waiting for this assembly to be over.

When Clio got out of the Main Hall, she had various thoughts of where she should go next, but could not settle on any of them. Perhaps that was why, when she heard the sounds of fighting, she found herself pulled towards it. As with any fight on school grounds, some students had gathered, chanting "fight, fight, fight!", but Clio was able to push past them to see exactly what was happening.

The fighters were two boys. Both of them had messy black hair, both were lean and pale. But where one had the sides and back of his head shaved, the other simply looked like he had just woken up. Or maybe that he had simply lain awake, tossing and turning, because although his presumably already-narrow violet eyes were already narrowed in a bright-burning anger, the bags under them were huge and dark. Indeed, while the boy with the part-shaved head looked fairly calm under the circumstances, at one point even smiling when the angry boy swung a fist at him and missed. That smile quickly faded when another punch hit its mark.

"Say that again," the angry boy taunted the other. "Go on, fucking say that again."

"Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it isn't true," the other one said. "You know it's a possibility."

"It's not her, though, it's not-"

Clio had stepped forward, thinking that she needed to stop this. She wasn't entirely sure who the angry boy was, but she had a fairly good idea. She wouldn't have started a fight over it, but that didn't mean she'd want to hear someone voice the possibility that Fukue and Luca could be dead too. However, just as she put herself between the boys, the angry boy was cut off, and he snarled. Startled, she saw that the angry boy's arm was being pulled by a girl.

The girl was tall, but shorter than both boys, with long, feathery blue hair. She was wearing a fur-lined brown bomber jacket and brown jumpsuit that had the top half unbuttoned, the sleeves tied around her waist, exposing a cobalt blue tank top. She also had large aviation goggles perched atop her head like a headband, and her facial expression at the moment was a combination of befuddlement and mild exasperation, which didn't seem much altered by the angry boy scowling at her and demanding:

"Are you fucking following me around or something?"

"No, but it's hard not to notice you when you're ruckus-ing all the time."

"Ruckusing?"

This came from the other boy, who had taken the opportunity to edge away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He seemed slightly winded, but didn't seem the worse for wear as he went on to say:

"That isn't a word."

"No, but it does the job. You're causing a ruckus."

"That you are."

Clio was startled by the appearance of Shouichi, the policeman who had interviewed her earlier. He regarded them in a way that she would have thought of as cold, normally, but she didn't feel the chill of it. Just as in the interview, although there was nothing that she could point to and describe as warm, she felt a quiet, understated warmth from him anyway.

It had been a relief to be questioned by an adult like him. She'd been glad to have Nazuna there, of course, but it had felt terribly isolating to have the administrative assistant there. It had been clear that the woman been roped into being the 'appropriate adult' by the Legal Counsel and considered the task a chore. If Alexis hadn't been so busy, Clio would have asked for her instead. And she'd only thought of the kindly IT Manager when it was too late. Yet, even though an 'appropriate adult' was meant to be a buffer against an interviewer, in the end she'd felt safer being questioned by Shouichi than she had with the administrative assistant around, even after Nazuna had left.

So, even though he came to a stop and regarded them all sternly, Clio didn't feel particularly uncomfortable. This certainly wasn't the case for the onlookers, who immediately scrambled the moment Shouichi turned his head to fix them with a glare. He then re-positioned himself to regard the four of them, initially addressing the goggle-wearing girl with:

"Although, it appears that you have it in hand."

"I suppose so, yes."

Shouichi nodded, and then turned to the boy that she was restraining.

"Oshiro-kun," he said. "I think you know what I might say."

"That this isn't going to help Ena."

The boy muttered this, looking down at the ground. Shouichi moved slightly so that he was standing right in front of the boy, and said:

"That's right. But, Oshiro-kun, look at me."

The boy did so, and then Shouichi said:

"I understand. Believe me, I understand. There are allowances I can make for that, but only so much. "

"I…that's…"

The boy bit his lip, clenched his fists. But he didn't look away from Shouichi, or argue with him, despite the heat of the rage that Clio could still feel emanating from him. She was sure that Shouichi must have felt it too, but he didn't appear daunted.

"You have my card, yes? If there's anything you need to ask me, or if you just want to express your anger somewhere safe. But it will make it easier for me to bring her, and the others, home if you don't keep getting yourself into trouble. Especially not after last time."

The angry boy scoffed, but then nodded reluctantly. Shouichi stared at him, and then said:

"Alright."

Shouichi then turned to look at the other boy, who was now scuffing the ground with the toe of his trainers, looking bored and restless.

"Likewise with you," he said. "I am sure you're affected by all this, too, but there can only be so many allowances made. And I'd suggest you think about what you say before saying it, particularly to those particularly impacted."

"Yes, sir." The boy said immediately.

"Alright. In that case, I'll leave you be now. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to my team, or to your teachers."

Someone called out from somewhere in the distance and Shouichi turned to the noise before striding off. Clio watched him for a moment, and then looked back at the two boys and the girl. All of them stood there, not quite looking at each other. The girl tapped a boot-clad foot against the ground absently for a moment before then saying:

"Are you in our year group?"

"No, she's not," the boy with the part-shaved head said. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Airi Fujita, although Clio is fine," she said. "I'm in Class 2A, and I'm the SHSL Kudo Practitioner."

"Keiji Matsumoto, SHSL Tactician, Class 3A. " the boy said. "These two are also in my class. He's Yuuto Oshiro, the SHSL Memorial Architect and I forget her name, but she's the SHSL Pilot."

"Konoha Kagematsu," the girl supplied. "Sometimes people call me Komatsu, but whether you do or not is up to you. "

"A-ah, it's nice to meet you all."

Keiji and Konoha nodded, but Yuuto scoffed, before scowling at Konoha and saying:

"Seriously, were you following me?"

"No, but from the sounds of it, maybe I should have been? What was he talking about? That policeman, I mean?"

Yuuto didn't answer immediately, instead reaching in the pocket of his jacket and taking out a cigarette and lighter. Sticking the cigarette in his mouth, he then lit it and took a drag before answering:

"There's a few abandoned buildings in town. Or at least, I thought one of them was abandoned. Boarded up windows, dark, the perfect place to stash a kidnap victim."

Yuuto stopped there, didn't say anything. He concentrated on his cigarette for a moment, seeming drawn to the tendrils of smoke curling their way up, up, up.

"I'm guessing, then, that you tried to break in and you got caught." Keiji smirked.

"Is that fucking funny to you?" Yuuto snapped, his eyes focusing again.

"Well, sure," Keiji sneered. "You're an SHSL. You couldn't have put a little forethought into not getting caught? All it requires is a little bit of thought."

"He's an architect," Konoha retorted. "Last time I checked, I didn't think that architecture and thievery were synonyms."

"Who said anything about being a thief?" Keiji asked, unexpectedly flustered.

Yuuto didn't say anything, continuing smoking his cigarette, although he did smirk slightly in Keiji's direction. Clio was just relieved that the two of them hadn't started another fight, and she was wondering whether to extricate herself when Konoha suddenly spoke up again:

"You shouldn't be smoking that," she said. "I don't think Setsushi-san would want that anymore than she'd want you getting in trouble with the law."

"And what the fuck would you know about what Ena wants?" Yuuto snarled, suddenly turning on her. "You're never around anyway!"

Konoha blinked rapidly at that, stepping back. She took her goggles off the top of her head and began to fiddle with them, and then said:

"Yes, well, I've had to skate up to the present pretty quickly."

Clio blinked at the unusual turn of phrase. She was pretty sure she knew what Konoha meant, but also now had an image of her ice-skating which seemed…incongruous to say the least. Konoha didn't seem aware of the confusion, going on to say:

"I remember some things about her, though. She was the one who'd swap those cigarettes of yours out for lollipops, right? And I'm pretty sure there was a point she used to throw them at you."

Clio so badly wanted to know what the story behind that was, but now wasn't the time to ask. Yuuto, for his part, frowned and then said, slowly:

"…that was in first year. Ages ago."

Konoha just shrugged at that.

"Still happened though, right?"

"Well…shit, yeah I guess." Yuuto admitted.

He pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and stared at it, before dropping it on the ground and crushing it with his foot. He pushed his hands into his pocket and muttered:

"I don't have lollipops, though."

Clio instinctively went to offer him some but realised that she didn't have any. Konoha said:

"I'm sure it's easy to get some. I don't think we can be let out of the school at the moment, but maybe later. For now, though…I'm assuming, Matsumoto-san, since you're taunting Oshiro-san for it, you're intending on trying to find the other missing ones yourself?"

This question was directed as Keiji, who had looked like he was about to slink away but now stopped, and visibly puffed up and said:

"I reckon I can do it. This is exactly the type of challenge I need, and I'm pretty sure I can rise up to it."

Yuuto visibly bristled, but Clio burst out:

"Can I help?"

Keiji gave her a look that made her want to wither away, but she stood firm as she repeated:

"Can I help?"

"Actually, I may as well throw in an offer to help, too," Konoha said. "I can't exactly go flying off again, not after coming back to, well, all of this. And I don't know how much I can do, but I should do something."

"Please, like I need the help," Keiji scoffed. "I'm an SHSL, after all."

"You're a human, first." Konoha said immediately.

"Yes, but-"

"You might be an SHSL, sure, and I guess a Tactician would be pretty good at coming up with an actual plan to find missing people. But that doesn't make you any less human than the rest of us, does it? Besides, while admittedly I don't know anything about Clio-san here, Oshiro-san is smart enough that if you two actually worked together you'd probably get a lot done. And I sure as hell am not on that level but I don't think I'm stupid, and again, I want to do as much as I can. But unlike you, I know that I can't do it alone. I'm human first. And also one human. Even the smartest person can't do everything alone."

Keiji glowered at them all, while Clio tried to catch up with Konoha's very-quickly-delivered speech. There was a lot she could say in response to that. Like how she really wasn't that smart, not really. How she still couldn't remember a thing from Fukue's disappearance. How scary it had been to find Seren's body and how she wished she'd been braver, or seen something useful. But how, despite all that, she wanted to help too. She wanted to do something, she didn't want anyone else to end up dying, and she had the horrible feeling that they would do so anyway, but even so…

"Please."

In the end, that was all she could say. She could only make sure she was looking Keiji straight in the eye, swallowing down the discomfort he caused and standing as stiffly as possible. Not trying to fight with her fists or her wits, just standing there, immovable. And once more, she said:

"Please."

Keiji scoffed, ran a hand through his hair a few times, and then tapped his fingers against his mouth, clearly thinking about it. Eventually, he sighed and said:

"Alright, fine."

Konoha nodded, satisfied, and then asked:

"Are you in, Oshiro-san?"

Yuuto gave her a thousand-yard stare, and Clio quietly told him:

"I don't think your Ena would want you to be alone, would she? I know I definitely don't know her, but I don't imagine someone who means that much to you would want that. And…don't you want to do something too?"

Yuuto's shoulders hunched in a forlorn motion, but he nodded.

"Where'd we begin?" he asked.

"Well, we should meet and pool together what we know," Keiji said. "Then we'll be able to determine the best way forward. Shall we meet at the library? When is everyone available?"

"I have a shift at the café," Clio said. "From three thirty until they close at seven, though since I'll help with the clear-up too, I might not get out until a bit after that."

"How about eight, then?" Konoha suggested.

"I'll book one of the private study rooms," Keiji declared. "So that we won't get disturbed or overheard. You two, I can get your numbers from the year group chat, but you, I'll need yours."

Clio nodded, and waited for Keiji to take his phone out before reciting her number. He raised an eyebrow, but simply added and then said:

"Don't be late."

Yuuto scoffed and walked away. Keiji rolled his eyes, but then looked at Konoha and Clio, waiting for a response.

"Don't worry, I won't be." Konoha said.

"I won't, either." Clio added.

"Good."

Then, it was Keiji's turn to walk away, leaving Clio standing awkwardly with Konoha, who looked fairly uncomfortable herself. Eventually, Clio said:

"I liked what you said to Matsumoto-sempai earlier."

"Hmmm?"

"About us just being people."

"Oh, yeah." Konoha shrugged. "That. I don't know. I wasn't planning to come out with all that, it just sort of happened. But I think he needed to hear it. I get the feeling he's just a bit Like That, which does make me question the wisdom of working with him."

"We'll get through it," Clio said. "I mean, whatever the reasons, we all want the same thing, don't we?"

"That's true."

Another awkward silence wrapped around them, and once again, it was Clio who mustered up the ability to break it:

"Sempai, you don't need to hang around on my account."

"It's fine. I've got nowhere else to be, particularly. I was thinking of reading up some more about the disappearances, so I've got something to say when we meet up."

"Sounds good to me," Clio agreed. "We could sit in one the common rooms, maybe? But first, I want to find Burton-sensei or one of the other teachers and ask if we're allowed out now."

"Why?"

"To see if I can buy some lollipops for Oshiro-sempai."

Konoha blinked at this, and then shrugged and said:

"Sure, why not?"


Hi, I hate chapter titles. Why do I do this to myself? Anyway, here are the characters introduced this chapter:

Remaining Students:

-Yuuto Oshiro, third year, SHSL Memorial Architect (belongs to: CandiedStars)

-Nazuna Kurihara, third year, SHSL Lucky Student (belongs to: Lupus Overkill)

-Konoha Kagematsu, third year, SHSL Pilot (belongs to: Sharkeye)

-Keiji Matsumoto, third year, SHSL Tactician (belongs to: zWeilous)

Missing Students:

Seren Nishiya, second year, SHSL Playwright (my OC)

Kagura Nabenashi, third year, SHSL Keyboardist (belongs to: Lupus Overkill)

Investigators:

Shouichi Kiyofuji, Chief Inspector of Division 1 of Tokyo's Criminal Investigation Bureau (belongs to: CandiedStars)

Staff:

Ririka Enjou, IT Manager (belongs to: Lupus Overkill)