A combination of having had a few days off of work towards the end of this week plus getting a huge burst of inspiration is the entire reason you're getting a new chapter so soon. So, enjoy :)


According to Ririka Enjou, nothing else had been taken.

She'd told Shouichi that she couldn't be entirely sure, given the mess. It was only while she cleared up that she'd be able to know. But according to her, the folder she had shown Ichizo Izawa-which she had left on her desk when Yuzuho Fujiwara had turned up at her office in a panic-that were definitely gone. Of course, Shouichi couldn't let Ririka check properly. He'd only had her make sure that none of the obvious things-personal belongings, computer-had been taken as well. After that, the IT Manager's office was considered a crime scene, and was cordoned off as such.

"I think it will be best if you come down to the station with me now." Shouichi told her.

Ririka turned somewhat grey, but she was calm enough as she asked:

"Am I being arrested?"

Shouichi considered her.

"Is there a reason you should be?"

Ririka blinked rapidly, and then shook her head:

"I hope not. Do you get arrested for withholding potential evidence?"

"That rather depends on the circumstances."

"Ah. I see."

Shouichi watched as Ririka swallowed, and then looked around her. As one would expect, there was an audience to the proceedings, staff and students alike. Ririka fiddled with her earrings as she stared at them, and then said:

"Do you know what? I do actually think that it would be better to talk in the station. "

"Ah, I can come with you, if you'd like!"

Ichizo had (from an appropriate distance) also been scrutinising Ririka's office, so he had remained unusually silent throughout this exchange. But now he watched them, eyes bright with many thoughts churning behind them. Shouichi wondered what those thoughts were, and if they ran in similar lines to his.

Ririka shook her head at Ichizo.

"No, thank you, though I appreciate the thought."

Ichizo nodded.

"Well, I'll follow up on what you told me, then." He said. "If things get a bit hairy, I do have a few lawyer-y buddies, like. I'm sure they'd help you out. But I don't think it'll come to that. At least, I sure hope not!"

"Yeah…." Ririka said faintly. "Let's hope."

Shouichi let Ririka walk ahead of him, but only just, as they made their way out. One of the security guards was there to usher them through a side entrance, saying:

"As you'd expect, the media's turned up, but your guys and Tanaka have it in hand, for the most part. Although, they've gone crazy for Misa Adachi."

"They've not taken her inside?" Shouichi asked, surprised.

"Burton-san did, yes," the security guard explained. "But even that was a battle, given what's happened with Kiyomizu-kun and all. Enough time for them to get an image of her clearly in shock. I don't know where Rin Adachi's gone, although I know he followed his pretty little side piece back into school."

Shouichi gave the security guard a look at this, and he reddened slightly:

"Well, not really his side piece. The guy's too prim and proper for that, and especially since he'd been after custody of the kid, he wouldn't want to do anything his ex could use against him. But we all know that Maruyama-san wants him to be that stupid, if you get my drift."

"I see." Shouichi said, simply.

If this Maruyama-san is hoping for a relationship with Rin Adachi, then what would she do to impress him? Shouichi wondered. He had a feeling he knew the answer, but he'd have to file that away for the time being, too. For now, the priority was to get Ririka to the police station and find out what she knew, and so he did just that.

When they got there, he led her to an interview room, and asked:

"Do you want a drink?"

"Ah, no, I'm alright." Ririka said, not looking very alright at all as she took in the interview room.

"Alright then, let us get started. Enjou-san, what was it that you wanted to tell me today?"

"Ah, well, want might be putting it a tad strongly," Ririka sighed. "But for a while now, I've…well, how do I word this? You'd think it'd be easier explaining it the second time around. Sorry, hold on…"

Ririka tapped her fingers against the desk's surface, frowning. Then, she said.

"I moved into that office in November, and when I was getting myself settled, I found a list."

Not just a list, she went on to say, but some brief notes about each student on the list. She explained how she hadn't thought much of it at the time, and indeed after returning it to where she thought it had come from, she hadn't thought of it at all. It wasn't until the disappearances were well underway that she remembered and had gone back for the list in the Student Archives, located in the admin offices.

"It was exactly where I'd left it, which surprised me." She said. "I hadn't put it anywhere particularly special, and I'd assumed that someone would come back for it, whatever it was. But they didn't."

She then gave a run-down of what she'd tried to do with the knowledge of the names on the list. Looking out for students, being extra-careful to remind them not to go anywhere alone. Finding ways to draw out the repair of broken devices or the completion of other queries to reduce their chances of being somewhere where they could be vulnerable. Making sure Iori Asano was kept back late through the work he did with her and giving a somewhat more direct warning to Yuzuho Fujiwara. She had also apparently waited with Kaida Adachi on the day she'd disappeared, when Rin had had to take a call and didn't want to leave her alone, except then another incident had called Ririka away.

"Fujiwara-san was probably the easiest to protect. I'd built up a rapport, so she's often looking for me anyway. There's potentially some home issues, though nothing has been confirmed. But that's beside the point. I didn't tell her about the list at any point, and I wouldn't want to tell her now. But I thought that, since I had that rapport with her, I could be more openly protective."

"If you were aware that the list was predicting the disappearances, why didn't you bring it to the police?"

Ririka sighed.

"Truth be told, that question is why it's taken me until now to bring it up at all. But as for before…as I told you before, at first, it didn't even occur to me that that's what it was. And when it did…the list itself wasn't followed that closely. For example, it was difficult for me to get ahold of Nylund-san, but in the end, she went unharmed while it was Nishiya-san who got taken instead. On top of that, though I think I managed to intervene in Ushiroku-san's case, in the end, she never got captured at all. Instead, it was…."

Ririka paused and steepled her hands together, before saying:

"Kakeru Yanai. It was the same with Asano-kun and Fujiwara-san, they got replaced by Suwasaka-san and Izawa-san, respectively. That is, of course, assuming the list does detail the originally intended victims."

Intrigued by this, Shouichi asked:

"Before we go on in more detail, could you write down the list for me?"

He tore off a sheet from his notebook and passed over the pen. Ririka accepted it cautiously, and although she hesitated initially, once she got started it only took her a matter of seconds to write the list and push the paper and pen back to him:

Nazuna Kurihara

Yori Miyagi

Silas Jon Finsen

Ae-ra Park

Luca Fontana

Yuzuho Fujiwara

Ottillie Nylund

Chiara Kai

Setsuna Ushiroku

Fukue Amari

Hayami Motowari

Iori Asano

Naruhito Ono

Ena Setsushi

Kaida Adachi

Kagura Nabenashi

The list tallied with what she had been telling him, all except for one thing.

"Did you have any inkling that Kurihara-san could have been a target?"

Ririka looked at him as if he'd asked her if the sky was actually the ground.

"N-no. In fact, I was surprised she was on the list, given that nothing had happened to her. To be honest, that might be one of the reasons it took me a little longer to make the connection in the first place. "

Ririka drummed her fingers against the table, and then said:

"I suppose, like Ushiroku-san, she would have been quite busy, and in the company of other people anyway. Whereas with Haley-kun…if I'd had any idea at all, any, then I would have done something. He's one like Fujiwara-san, really. Not where his family is concerned, because his family's fine. I even met them once, when they came to pick him up in the summer, and his mother thanked me for being a good role model…"

Ririka pulled a face, as if self-conscious at being labelled a 'good role model', but then became pensive again.

"Anyway, the point was, we both had something very obvious in common, both of us being transgender. So, I had that rapport with him, too, and if I'd known I could have at least tried…"

Ririka's fingers clenched briefly, before flattening out against the table. She stared down at her fingers and sighed heavily. The regret and guilt came off of her like waves, genuine.

"So, you said that you did directly intervene and presumably managed to prevent some of the students on this list from being kidnapped. Could you explain exactly what you did and when?"

Ririka took a breath, and then launched into a detailed account. She had to stop and think a few times, and she veered into talking about the disappearances she hadn't been able to prevent. She was visibly upset when she talked about Kaida Adachi, especially given that she had been directly tasked with keeping an eye on her. Shouichi suspected that this had a lot to do with why Rin Adachi had so publicly accused her, but he was sure that there had to be more to it.

"Did you at any point tell any other staff member what you had discovered, or what you were trying to do?"

Ririka shook her head cautiously, then said.

"No. Not at all."

"Why didn't you?"

"Well…" Ririka hesitated. "How should I put this? I don't know where that list had come from. And there's only so many places it could have come from."

This didn't tell Shouichi very much, and he was going to press her to elaborate, but then she said.

"I shouldn't say any more than that. I have a feeling Hope's Peak aren't going to be very happy that, in their eyes, I've caused a scene."

One could argue that Adachi-san also started a scene, Shouichi thought. But he wasn't surprised that she worried about being blamed disproportionately. Ririka bit her lip, and then considered him.

"You asked me that because you wanted to know if there was any way that Adachi-san could have known. I mean, you heard Izawa-san saying that he thought that he was the one who'd listened at my door when I first started talking about it, right? But the thing is…"

Again, Ririka hesitated, and Shouichi said:

"Whatever Hope's Peak has said, it's in everybody's best interests if you cooperate with the police rather than withhold information."

"I suspect that Adachi-san has been more actively trying to investigate by himself. When Nishiya-san was found, he hounded Burton-san to give him the CCTV footage that was presumably given to you, and when she refused, he came to me. And I also refused."

"How did he react to that?"

Ririka withdrew into herself and stared down at her hands. Then, quietly, she said:

"He told me that if his daughter turned up dead, he'd hold me responsible."

Shouichi nodded. He finished writing up the statement that summarised the interview, and then got Ririka to check it and sign it. Once she had, he told her that she was free to go, but she didn't immediately get up. Instead, she looked up at him as he got up and asked.

"I am."

"So…" Ririka frowned. "I'm not in any trouble?"

"Well, this won't be the last time you may need to be spoken to," Shouichi said. "So needless to say, you shouldn't make plans to leave the country, or the city for that matter. Apart from that, there does not seem to be any cause to arrest you, assuming that you have been entirely honest with me."

"I should have been so sooner," Ririka said. "But yes, I have."

With that, she finally got up. She revealed that she would be calling for a taxi to take her back to school to get her belongings, and Shouichi showed her to reception. He then headed to the incident room, hoping to add Ririka's statement to the evidence and then see what had come of the interview with Nazuna.

When he got there, Detective Hirano was already back, and he said:

"It was Takara Maruyama who broke into Ririka Enjou's office."

Shouichi waited for him to elaborate, which he did:

"Alexis Burton looked at the footage, and it appears that Rin Adachi walked past Ririka's office by chance, appeared to hear something by chance and then stopped to listen before walking off and sending someone a message on his phone. Soon after that, Yuzuho Fujiwara rushes over and knocks on the door, clearly frantic, and then Enjou-san and Izawa-san leave with her, forgetting to lock the door. They don't notice Takara Murayama walking past them, but she enters the office, and after a little while emerges with the file, which she attempts to hide in her blazer as she leaves the corridor. The only thing is that we're not sure if she's managed to pass it onto Adachi-san, but the footage is here if you want to review it yourself."

"Which, of course, we'll do. Have we arrested Takara Murayama?"

"Yes, but I've left her, since she's insistent she's not talking without a lawyer. I suspect we're not going to get very much out of her, mind you."

"No, I don't think so, either."

Shouichi then turned to Tsukasa and Hanaoka, both of whom were diligently tapping away at their laptops. Tsukasa noticed him and stood up.

"So, we've found out who Fuyuka Kiyomizu's psychologist is," Tsukasa said. "It's Tomoka Suwasaka, the mother of Tsubame Suwasaka. I've looked into her practice, and it seems like her fees are quite high and she's highly sought after despite being seen as 'forbidding', 'traditional' and 'somewhat cold'. So I suppose she must be effective. In any case, there's nothing sketchy in a cursory look into the Kiyomizu finances or anything like that, so it's unclear quite how Dr Suwasaka would have ended up on their radar or how they could have afforded her in the first place."

Immediately, Shouichi thought of the superintendent saying:

"The Commissioner has been dining out with Ayato Suwasaka though. In fact, I believe he's doing so tonight. And apparently Suwasaka-san and his wife have been insistent that their daughter's disappearance be regarded as an isolated incident, not a part of these disappearances."

"Keep looking into that," he said. "How about the lead concerning members of staff? Has anything come of that?"

"We're still looking into current members of staff, as it ended up being quicker to find out about those who had left. And there's only one that fits the bill," Hanaoka said immediately. "Well, sort of. Three members of staff left last year, but two of them were elderly and had retired due to ill health. One was a Talent Scout in the scientific field, and the other was a caretaker. The one who fits is the third member, Tsukiko Shinsato, who left rather suddenly in November, citing 'personal circumstances' and reportedly moving out of the city quite rapidly as well."

In November…Shouichi frowned, and asked:

"What was this Shinsato-san's role?"

"She was the former IT Manager of Hope's Peak," Hanaoka said. "Enjou-san was the assistant up until that point and got promoted upon her departure."

"So, that means that Enjou-son's office was previously Shinsato-san's office."

"That would be right…" Hanaoka said thoughtfully.

Which makes it entirely possible that it was, in fact, Tsukiko Shinsato who put the files there in the first place. But why?

"What was her reputation?"

"Actually, by all accounts, it was good. She was a former SHSL herself, the SHSL Quality Engineer and she was friendly with staff members. Her juniors liked her, and a lot of them had worked with her before in her old company before it folded. In fact, she'd brought quite a few of them along with her when she'd joined Hope's Peak as a staff member. Her departure was surprising to them."

Shouichi frowned at this, not having expected it. After a moment's contemplation, he then said:

"We'll need to try and get in contact with her."

"I'll take care of that." Tsukasa offered.

At that moment, some more detectives entered the room, each of them with different news. The first being that Kaida's proper autopsy was being pushed back until Monday, since a nasty traffic accident and a domestic murder had arrived at the morgue just moments before Kaida's body had and the morgue was short-staffed. Then, confirmation that Nazuna had been interviewed and her statement taken about the text messages she'd been receiving as well as the failed attempt to abduct her in the summer. The detective who had interviewed her had requested the files relating to that case be sent over for them to look at and had also asked for any reports that any Hope's Peak student may have made about similar incidents, or at the least about having been followed or harassed in any way. Finally, the third detective told Shouichi that the search in Kiyomizu's apartment had been completed, and the parcels located. Some of the team had been sent to request footage of the Towa South Station delivery lockers.

"The items have been logged, if you'd like to take a look yourself." The detective concluded.

Shouichi nodded at them, and after asking Hanaoka to continue looking into the current staff, he followed the detective down to the lab where the parcels had been opened, the contents spread out on the table. The two forensic scientists who were at the table were busy opening the last one. Like the others, it appeared to be a cardboard box that the detective with him commented was about the size of a subscription gift box (which they only knew because one of their siblings was signed up with a cute stationery-themed subscription box). There was no address on them, no barcode or QR code or anything that would provide a specific location the boxes had come from or headed to. The only clue on them was a white label with the words CREATOR'S SUPPLIES on them in a blocky, impersonal typed font.

Shouichi put on a pair of clear gloves and examined one of the flattened-out boxes, but didn't see anything else printed on the inside, either, so he set the box aside and cast his eyes over the contents. At a quick glance he saw tubes of toothpaste, bars of soap, packets of rubber gloves, air freshener packets, packs of sanitary pads, bin bags, socks and underwear in various sizes as well as packets of over-the-counter painkillers. There were some other boxes of medications too, but those ones didn't seem to be over-the counter ones. It was one of these he picked up, and immediately he noticed that they were from Izawa Pharmaceuticals.

"That's an anti-anxiety medication," the detective said. "I looked it up. It also appears to be the exact medication that Kakeru Yanai takes. It's not prescribed to him, though, it's prescribed to someone else. Though that has to be a joke."

"A joke?" Shouichi asked.

He looked down at the box he'd picked up, and then flipped it over. The sticker attached to the box stated that it was prescribed to a Junko Enoshima, a name which made Shouichi do a double-take until he saw the date of birth.

"it must just be somebody else with the same name," Shouichi said. "The Junko Enoshima of Hope's Peak would have been born in 1971, so this one is just over twenty years too young to be her."

"I suppose so," Tsukasa mused. "Even if it's not that common, Enoshima isn't a rare surname either. And Junko's a pretty ordinary first name too. Perhaps this Junko Enoshima's parents named her after the famous one…but that's not really relevant."

"Are all these medications prescribed to her?"

"Most of them appear to be…"

Tsukasa picked up and examined each of them, and then stopped. He frowned, and then showed the packet to Shouichi, saying:

"That's Akira Kiyomizu's sister. "

Sure enough, the name on the label of the medication was Fuyuka Kiyomizu, date of birth 2006/06/18. Since he was still holding the two different boxes, Shouichi compared the labels. The anxiety medication stated Junko Enoshima, date of birth 1992/06/15. The home addresses on each were different. But then, there was the prescribing doctor: Dr Tomoka Suwasaka.

"The one prescribed to Fuyuka Kiyomizu is an anti-psychotic medication, with sedative effects," one of the forensic scientists spoke up at this point. "There were a couple of boxes of it in the Kiyomizu household, but they weren't IP-branded. "

"Did you see who had prescribed them?" Shouichi asked.

"No, but the mother noticed me looking, and made a comment along the lines of how since Dr Suwasaka had recommended those, her daughter had improved a lot. Although, I also heard her on the phone to the doctor trying to get an emergency appointment for the girl, since she was quite distressed by her brother's arrest."

"Why would medications prescribed by a psychologist be in a parcel like this, one that's presumably headed to the person who kidnapped the students?"

"Actually, she'd have to be a psychiatrist if she's prescribing medications." The crime scene investigator said.

"If I remember correctly, she's trained as both so she can prescribe medications, if necessary, but mostly focuses on the psychologist side of things." the detective piped up. "But not all the medicines here seem to be psychiatric types. There's this one, Zav….Zavzpret. I've just looked it up, it's a medication for migraines. Didn't Luca Fontana get migraines, sometimes?"

"I believe so, yes," Shouichi said. "Would that also have been prescribed by Dr Suwasaka, regardless?"

"Uh, no, this one's prescribed by a…. Dr Arashi Kudo." The detective said. "And so are some of these others, that also seem like painkillers of different types."

"That's right, they are," the other forensic scientist said. "We can make a list of each of the medications and what they're commonly used for, if that would be of any help."

"Yes, that would be very helpful," Shouichi said. "Then we can cross-check against anything the missing students were prescribed to see if there's any similarities asides from those with Kakeru Yanai and Luca Fontana. Are all of these medications IP-branded?"

"Most of them, but the rest of them are generic and could have been supplied from anywhere. And all of these other items-they could have come from any pharmacy or convenience store, to be honest. We're going to have trouble tracking down exactly where they had been purchased, but we'll try."

"So, what do we do in the meantime?" the other detective asked.

And grimly, Shouichi answered:

"We need to see if Tomoka Suwasaka has anything to say for herself."

Time felt like it had gone both incredibly quickly and incredibly slowly. Ottillie had taken off when they'd all been ushered to the Student Café once more, but Yuzuho had stuck with them. She'd only wanted to talk about Ririka, how Rin was wrong, that Ririka wouldn't do anything and had in fact looked after her. She'd wrung her hands and rambled on, and all Clio had been able to do was nod. Keiji had interrupted occasionally to ask questions, and even made notes, but though Clio expected him to come up with some grand pronouncement about what he thought was happening, he did not.

He had, however, asked Yuzuho if she was going to join their 'investigative team'. Clio hadn't been terribly surprised when Yuzuho turned them down. She did, however, tell them that if she could help in other ways, she would. Her primary concern was, of course, Ririka. But then she'd turned to Clio and said:

"I really hope it won't be your two friends next. I remember seeing you three doing the friendship loaves together."

And Clio had been taken aback at that, remembering how when she'd started at Hope's Peak, she'd looked up ways of breaking the ice and making friends, and had come across the concept of Friendship Bread. It was, apparently an American thing, though not something her mother had ever told her about (in the days when she'd still been speaking to Clio kindly, anyway) And so Clio had gone to the kitchen, made the starter dough, and then after the ten days she'd baked her portion, and looked for people to give the rest away to. Fukue and Yuzuho had been the two she'd approached initially, but only Fukue had accepted. Yuzuho had just given her a wide-eyed, jittery look and then scrambled out of the kitchen. Clio didn't remember quite when Luca had appeared in the proceedings, but he had, and in the end, the third portion of starter dough that she hadn't been able to give away had been divided between the three of them, and they'd baked their resulting loaves together.

"I'm sorry that I didn't accept, back then," Yuzuho had continued, oblivious to the effect the memory had on Clio. "I don't know why I didn't but I did look it up, later on and…when they come back, if I made one, would you accept?"

Clio had been struck dumb, but she'd had to admit to herself that she liked the idea, and so she nodded. Yuzuho didn't smile, exactly, but somehow Clio knew that she was pleased by this. And despite everything, that pleased Clio too. In any case, Yuzuho had waited with them until the police had come for Nazuna, alongside Benkei, who had apparently offered to act as her appropriate adult for the time being. Nazuna had insisted that though of course she'd let her parents know, there wasn't any need for them to come down, not yet. In any case, whatever it was, Clio was glad that it was Benkei, rather than someone like Maruyama. Or Rin, for that matter, though she supposed it couldn't be him in any case. Not now that Kaida was one of the victims.

But once Nazuna had gone, Yuzuho had left too. Then, Yuuto had stated he couldn't deal with 'all of this' and had also left. That had left her, Junpei, Keiji and Konoha. Except then Junpei had discovered through his year group's group chat that someone had broken into Ririka's office, and the four of them had decided to go and take a look. That had been put to a stop quickly by Rin and his secretary. Which would have been expected by adults in general, but Clio hadn't expected Rin to be around in school, doing work things. At least, that's what she'd assumed he was doing, based on the fact that the secretary had been showing him a folder as the two of them walked before spotting Clio and her group.

"I guess everyone copes differently, though." Konoha had pointed out when Clio had voiced this as they'd gone back out to the school grounds.

They had waited a while longer for Junpei's aunt to come and collect him. Kaniza Ito ("Aunt Kanna" to Junpei) looked warm and motherly, everything Clio's own mother wasn't. Kaniza had fussed over Junpei, and then even though she'd just met the rest of them, she'd fussed over them too, telling them she was more than happy to host them all if they wanted to meet up to talk more about the case. They hadn't made those plans, but Clio figured that they could always do so later, perhaps when everything had died down. Instead, more farewells were made, and then they watched Junpei get into Kaniza's car and then drive away.

And then, there were three.

"So…" Konoha asked after a beat. "What now?"

"Uh, more research?" Keiji said. "What else?"

"Didn't we say we were going to look into any other cases of Hope's Peak students getting murdered or kidnapped?" Clio remembered.

"Then, let's do that." Konoha decided. "The library?"

"Sure."

They headed to the library and went straight for the section where the yearbooks were housed, alongside folders of newspapers organised by year. Well, almost all of them were organised by year, apart from five titled Tragedies and Disasters, grouped not by years but by who had been the principal at the time. It was these that they took to a nearby table to pore over.

"I suppose it would make sense to go through this one?" Clio asked, pointing to the folder that was titled Tragedies and Disasters: Jin Kirigiri, 2011-

"But this one has the most in it." Konoha said, holding up the folder named Tragedies and Disasters: Taro Enoshima, 1984-2007. "Shouldn't we start with this?"

"We'll start with that." Keiji decided. "Though, we'll look through the Kazuo Tengan folder to see if anything about Nana Tamashiro turns up. The Izuru Kamakura folder is too old, given it starts from the fucking 1920s. Most of that is going to be deaths from the Second World War anyway. We'll need to take a look through the Ryouta Sakamoto file too. "

"So basically," Konoha said drily. "We have to go through almost every single one."

"Well, we need to be thorough, otherwise, what's the point?" Keiji challenged.

"What should we look for?" Clio jumped in quickly.

"Something that's either gone unsolved, or where there are other questions around the circumstances." Keiji said. "Additionally, anything that connects to any of the key players in Hope's Peak now. "

"Key players meaning…?" Konoha made a vague 'please, go on' hand gesture, to which Keiji clicked his tongue irritably.

"Us, other students, the staff…anyone! Come on, let's get on with it!"

Clio looked through the folder she had, which concerned Jin Kirigiri. There were some articles from December 2022 and January 2023 about the disappearances, but none about the deaths yet. Most of the articles, however, came from past incidents, all deaths which were easily explained, if tragic. An immunocompromised student had died of COVID in 2020, there had been a student and a member of staff who'd died of terminal illnesses, and a few retired members of staff who had died of old age. There were more horrific cases too-a hit and run in 2018 perpetrated by a drunk-driving SHSL Chef, a handful of students dying accidental deaths (a couple of which were suspected suicides), and two murders perpetrated by family members-one still a student at the time, murdered by an abusive parent and the other a former student, murdered by an abusive husband. Then, there was a SHSL Banker who had murdered his ex-boyfriend in a fit of jealousy, and an SHSL Trapeze Artist had caused an ordinary trapeze artist to die while testing a dangerous stunt. All horrible cases, but all cut and dried.

Not all the tragedies were deaths, however. There were articles relating to accidents where the victims had survived. One, from December 2012, caught her eye.

SHSL Student Loses Eye In Attack By Classmate, the headline read.

Clio read through, and then her eyes widened. She turned the file around so that Konoha and Keiji could read it, and said:

"Look! It's the Chief Inspector."

Konoha and Keiji both looked through the article, and then Konoha remarked:

"Ah, so that's what happened to his eye."

"I'd known he was an alumni," Keiji said. "But not about this. I don't know how I missed this. Still, it's not terribly relevant, I don't think. The guy was caught, after all. Although…"

"Although what?" Konoha asked.

Keiji frowned.

"I don't know why, but the name of the guy who did it, Takamune Abiko, that's familiar to me. And not for the obvious reasons of oh, he's a former SHSL or oh, he the brother of a criminal or anything. Ugh, this is going to bug me now."

"Well, if it helps," Konoha said. "I think I've found something, from December 2004. It might be the case that Ito-kun thought he remembered."

Now it was her turn to present an article, opting to take it out of the ring-bound folder it was contained in so that they could all read it properly.

Talent Coach's Son Found Dead, the headline screamed.

The article was dominated by a picture of a stocky youth with dark blue hair and brown eyes, dressed in Hope's Peak uniform and smiling confidently. Though nothing immediately jumped out at Clio as being recognisable about him, there was nonetheless an air of familiarity. Of course, the caption made the answer obvious:

School portrait of Haruma Enjou aged 18, the SHSL Investigative Journalist.

"Enjou…As in Detective Enjou? And Enjou-san?"

"Yes, it says it right here," Keiji said. "His father Sakichi Enjou, a former SHSL himself and respected Talent Scout, had been looking for him since he failed to turn up to meet him on December 3rd…"

"And the body was found on the front steps of Hope's Peak, and yet nobody had seen a thing." Konoha added.

"Now, that's just fishy. Nobody at all? And they had cameras, didn't they?" Keiji said. "I mean, it was the front entrance!"

"Are there any other articles about it in there?" Clio wondered.

Konoha flicked through, then shook her head.

"There's one from December 3rd that year, when he was first reported missing. One a week later, claiming there were no leads. Then, it's just this."

Konoha looked as if she were thinking for a moment, and then said:

"Come to think of it, for everything in here, there's only one article per incident, roughly. You'd think with a lot of these incidents, they'd have been covered by multiple newspapers at the same time, right? So why not keep all of those cuttings?"

"Perhaps they don't want to dwell on it more than necessary?" Clio asked.

"But why collate all these 'tragedies and disasters' together at all?" Konoha asked.

"I'm inclined to agree with Fujita," Keiji said. "Though I do think these are somewhat lacking. Then again, I suspect these records are meant to be basic summaries, for those of us seeking a general overview of the school's history. If you want to know more, as we do, then this should be enough to point the discerning student in the right direction for further research. And presumably, someone looking should have the skills and sense to do that."

"I don't think every SHSL Talent involves research skills," Konoha pointed out. "But I take your point."

"But wait, why is this relevant?" Keiji asked. "It says they've arrested a student in connection to the murder here."

"But there's no follow-up article naming the student, and whether victim or perpetrator, all the students are named. At least in this folder." Clio said.

"Same here, as far as I can tell." Konoha agreed.

Keiji pursed his lips, then took out his phone and tapped away briefly, before announcing:

"The culprit was named. Norio Mochizuki, the SHSL Boxer, but a quick glance suggests that there are a lot of doubts relating to whether he actually was guilty. Mochizuki himself apparently insists on his innocence even to this day. I'll keep looking online to find out what those were, but we need other evidence too."

"But where would we look? I don't imagine the library would keep an extensive record of murders." Clio said.

"I'm surprised there isn't some kind of true crime book relating to Hope's Peak out there," Konoha commented. "I'd imagine that'd do well considering how crazy people are for true crime, and there's more than enough crime to make a cake with here."

When Clio and Keiji both stared at Konoha at her choice of phrasing, she just stared back at them. It didn't seem like she had noticed anything bizarre about what she'd said, so eventually Clio shrugged it off and suggested:

"Ito-kun might know of one. I'll put a message on the group chat."

She did just that, and looked up to see that Konoha and Keiji were still flicking through folders and making notes.

"Is there anything else that jumps out?" she asked them curiously.

"The only thing unsolved in the Kazuo Tengan folder are the murders of an SHSL Geisha and an SHSL Lucky Student in the 60s who were believed to be one of the victims of a serial killer operating in the area, one who was never caught. But could something from the sixties really be relevant?" Konoha asked.

"I doubt it, but we can always go back to it. No, I feel that it's going to be Haruma Enjou and this one who is relevant."

Keiji showed them an article from May 2002, stating:

EXPLORER'S DEATH MAY HAVE BEEN A MURDER!

Clio skimmed the first few lines of the article, which read:

Following the arrest of a homeless man in bloodstained clothes around the scene of Tae Furukawa's death, it has been suggested that the 17-year-old SHSL Urban Explorer may not have died by misadventure, as previously thought when her body was discovered on Monday following a three-day search-

Clio didn't know why, but as she read through the rest, something felt off. There was nothing she could point to in the article itself to explain the alarm bell blaring, but nonetheless, it blared insistently in her head. She focused her attention on the photograph of Tae Furukawa, who smiled in a similarly confident way to Haruma Enjou, the ends of her swishy ponytail dyed in every colour of the rainbow and then some, her school-issue necktie askew.

Could they have known each other? She thought. They were different year groups, but that doesn't mean they hadn't ever met…

"The public library might have something, maybe?" Clio suggested.

Keiji and Konoha looked at her, both of them nodding, but then Konoha added:

"What about the Student Archives?"

Keiji frowned, but then his eyes lit up.

"The ones in the Admin Offices? The ones that collate all our records and shit?"

"Those are the ones. The only trouble is, how to get in there?" Konoha said. "If I'm remembering correctly, that's a staff only area. Students can only enter the office with permission, which I know from when I was getting a dorm room sorted when I first arrived back here. So getting in the archives is going to be difficult."

"Not tomorrow, though," Keiji corrected, smirking. "Tomorrow is Sunday. Only the bare minimum staff are here, and the admin offices aren't usually staffed except when it's the end or very beginning of term, or if there's a special event. Since none of those apply…"

"Won't they be locked then?" Konoha asked.

"Am I an SHSL Tactician for nothing?" Keiji snapped. "Now, are you in or are you not?"

"…. what about the others?" Clio asked, rather than answer that.

"Well, we can count Nylund out. I don't trust her, anyway. Something's seriously off about her, even if we are trying to get her involved. It's best we keep her at a distance anyway. And I doubt Ito would come, given his aunt's got him on a tight leash, which is a shame because with all his recording shit he'd be useful. And we sure as hell can't tell Kurihara, she'd definitely put a stop to it. Obviously, we're going to tell them afterwards, once we have our leads, but it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, I say."

Konoha, who had taken her goggles off of her head to fiddle with, paused and tilted her head.

"What about Oshiro-san?" she asked.

"What about him?" Keiji glowered.

Konoha just stared, and eventually Keiji let out a heavy sigh and said:

"Fine. Fine. I'll ask him. But anyway, let's meet outside the dorm building tomorrow morning at…ten, shall we say?"

"Sounds good to me, I guess." Konoha shrugged.

"Clio-san?"

Clio swallowed, but then nodded firmly, and said:

"I…yeah. Yeah, that's fine."

Clio hadn't known what she was going to do for dinner, but she'd left the library with Konoha and Keiji, they'd bumped into a group of students who had reportedly ordered 'waaaaaaaay too much' takeaway pizza and had offered to share. So, the three of them had accepted the offer, and sat out in the middle of the grounds eating said pizza and chatting. Naturally, there had been a lot of speculation about the murders, and some students even trying to guess who would be next. It had all seemed to be wild conjecture to Clio, and from the look on Keiji's and Konoha's faces, they'd felt the same. And though Keiji didn't hold back in rebutting points, he didn't share that he was actively investigating, either, and didn't mention Clio and Konoha's involvement, which she was glad of. She didn't really want the attention.

Once dinner was done, they headed to the dorms together, and then parted ways to go into their own rooms. Although classes had been quite hit-and-miss in the last few days, given all that had been going on, there were still some assignments. So, Clio decided to sit at her desk and try do get through some of them, but though she made a little headway, in the end her thoughts kept drifting every which way, and she was unable to concentrate. In the end, she decided she should at least check through emails and bulletins and decided to take her Electro-ID to bed with her to do so.

On the virtual noticeboard, one notice dominated all of them:

CHIARA KAI'S MEMORIAL SERVICE

Satoru Kai and Giulia Bernadini invite Hope's Peak students to join them at the Towa Kai Theatre for a celebration of their beloved daughter's life on Tuesday 28th February at 11am. Classes will be suspended that day in order to encourage attendance, as the Kai family have been friends to Hope's Peak and Chiara Kai was a vibrant member of the community.

Flowers are welcomed, but in lieu of condolence money, the Kai family encourage donations to the Satoru Kai Arts Foundation with an intention of funding scholarships to performing arts schools across the country.

When she checked her emails, she saw that this week's update email had been sent, and that there was another mention of the memorial service there as well, with extra emphasis on students being encouraged to attempt. Putting her Electro-ID down, she picked up her phone and went into the group chat to say:

My_Number [21:45 2023.02.25]: Did you all see the bulletin about Kai-sempai's memorial.

Yuuto_Oshiro [21:45 2023.02.25]: yes

Junpei_Ito [21:46 2023.02.25]: I have just seen it. Since there's no classes, Aunt Kanna is going to take me there directly. Perhaps we could meet up afterwards?

Konoha_Kagematsu [21:46 2023.02.25]: sounds sensible

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:47 2023.02.25]: Yes, well, I have better things to be doing on that day at that time, so hard pass.

My_Number [21:47 2023.02.25]: Better things?

My_Number [21:48 2023.02.25]: Like what?

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:50 2023.02.25]: The information's right there if you look for it

Konoha_Kagematsu [21:50 2023.02.25]: or you could just tell us

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:50 2023.02.25]: Do I have to do *ALL* the damn work for everyone here?

My_Number [21:51 2023.02.25]: You're not going into the woods by yourself, are you?

My_Number [21:51 2023.02.25]: We're not allowed, and it's not safe anyway.

My_Number [21:51 2023.02.25]: Yama-san hasn't replied to me yet, but we would get an opportunity to find out more from her, remember?

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:51 2023.02.25]: Look I don't give a shit about

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:51 2023.02.25]: some old lady

Konoha_Kagematsu [21:51 2023.02.25]:

Keiji_Matsumoto [21:53 2023.02.25]: hey don't give me that '…' the point is that I have something more important to do on Tuesday than attend a show-off memorial service where everyone's going to be fake-crying. Well, apart from her parents and stuff, obviously, but still. I know the school misses her more than Seren but seriously? It's only because she was rich and prissy

My_Number [21:54 2023.02.25]: That's unfair.

It was unfair, because she knew that Luca would miss her. She put her phone down on one of her cushions, and then got up to go over to her desk once more. Sitting in her chair, she reached out to her pinboard. Her fingers brushed against photographs of her and Fukue dressed up in different outfits and striking silly poses, of her and Luca sitting out in the sunshine, of the three of them in different places. But it was one photograph she was looking for in particular. When she found it, she leant over so she could pull out the heart-shaped thumbtack and take the photo off the board. Then, she sat back down heavily with the photograph in her hands.

It had been taken on the day the café had opened, just a couple of months after Clio and Fukue had first joined Hope's Peak. But already, she and Fukue and Luca had become friends, close enough that they were centre stage in the photograph, standing in the Student Café's doorway. Clio was standing on Luca's left wearing a blush-pink shirt dress patterned with a cherry print and Fukue on the right, wearing a thin sky-blue jumper over a stripy purple skirt. Luca, in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and charcoal-grey trousers, had his arms around both of them, and his hair was combed to look marginally tidier than normal. There were other students there, Kagura amongst them. But it was Chiara she looked at in the photo, the one who commanded the most attention after Clio and Fukue and Luca. The way Chiara stood, next to Fukue and facing the camera head-on with a beatific smile, it was as if this was her own personal photoshoot. Her chiffony lavender dress, scattered with multicoloured sequins around the neckline and across the ends of the sleeves and skirts, looked something one would wear to the opening night of a concert rather than the opening day of a café, and the elaborate jewellery she wore added to that impression. Nonetheless, she had turned up. She hadn't fussed about who she stood next to, or that she wasn't right at the centre of the photograph.

"EVERYONE! FORGET THE PEDESTRIAN, GENERIC CAFÉS OUT THERE!" Chiara half-yelled, half-sang. "FOR A CAFÉ EXPERIENCE WORTHY OF HOPE'S PEAK, COME AND TRY THE STUDENT CAFÉ."

"Chiara, come on, you don't need to do that," Luca said. "Come in and sit down."

He added something in Italian, and Chiara flapped a hand dismissively at him.

"Do you want your café to be talk of the town, or not?" Chiara said. "It's me, after all! If I promote you, everyone will come flocking!"

Luca exchanged a look with Clio, who couldn't help herself and giggled. Chiara narrowed her eyes at her, and then sniffily ordered:

"You, make yourself useful! Get me a triple venti half-sweet, non-fat caramel macchiato, NOW!"

"Chiara!" Luca scolded.

"What? This is thirsty work, you know! And I want your opening day to be the best ever! And it will be. Right, Clio?"

"Ah, yes. I'm sure it will be."

"See?" Chiara beamed at Luca. "You deserve all this and more. Now, let me get on with my work, and stop bothering me! And get me my drink! Isn't that what waitresses do?"

Was she supposed to laugh at this memory, or cry at it? The feelings felt like they would tear her down the middle if she were not careful. She'd have to tell the others about this memory, though. At the very least, she thought Yuuto'd like to know about it for the sake of the memorial he'd be doing for Chiara's parents. She took a deep, heavy breath and then pinned the picture back up before returning to her bed.

Leaning up against the headboard this time, she picked up her phone and scrolled through the messages. Most of them appeared to be Keiji and Konoha arguing (or, arguing felt too strong a word for it, especially when Keiji's opponent was Konoha instead of Yuuto) with Junpei making the occasional interjection. It seemed like they had all agreed to going back to Junpei's house after Chiara's memorial, at the very least, though neither Yuuto nor Nazuna had confirmed this yet. Still, Keiji continued to insist that he would not even consider attending the memorial itself and continued to refuse to explain why. The conversation had soon petered out as a result, with Junpei sending a 'goodnight' gif of a teddy bear all tucked up in bed.

Clio smiled at that, and sent a goodnight message back herself, before noticing that Konoha had sent her a message separately. Clio frowned, and then tapped out of the group chat and into the new message thread.

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:11 2023.02.25]: nishiya-san's funeral is on the same day. It's buried in the update email and was overshadowed by the memorial service announcement being blasted over every which way.

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:11 2023.02.25]: but it's there nonetheless.

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:12 2023.02.25]: [IMAGE_ATTACHMENT]

Clio read the few lines that Konoha had screenshotted, detailing a time and a funeral home and an apparent desire for the service to be small, and then got up again to get her Electro-ID, going into her school emails and opening the whole-school update that she'd only skim read. She scrolled down until she found where the snippet had come from and then stared at it for a long time before messaging Konoha.

My_Number [22:14 2023.02.25]: What should I do?

My_Number [22:14 2023.02.25]: It doesn't feel right to skip either of them

Konoha's response came immediately:

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:15 2023.02.25]: you cannot be in two places at once. and matsumoto-san is going.

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:15 2023.02.25]: i will go with him, and not just to keep him from doing something stupid.

Konoha_Kagematsu [22:16 2023.02.25]: you need to be at kai-san's memorial for fontana-san's sake, right? so i'll go to nishiya-san's for your sake

My_Number [22:16 2023.02.25] : Thank you, sempai. I'll get you some condolence money to take, and flowers too.

Yawning, Clio decided that it was probably a good time to go to bed, when she heard a noise that had her pausing. Is that…shouting? She wondered. She padded over to her door and put an ear to it, but though the voices in question were strident, she couldn't quite make out what they were arguing about. Then, a male voice cut through, saying:

"Fuck you and your prissiness. As if I'd want to look at any of you, anyway!"

Immediately, Clio opened the door and went:

"Oshiro-sempai?"

Instead of an answer from Yuuto, what she heard was:

"Hey, don't you think it's weird that a boy is trying to sleep in a girl's room when she's not even there?"

Clio didn't know the girl who'd asked her this very well. But even if she had, she wouldn't have known quite how to answer the question. Rather than answer, she instead looked at one end of the corridor, where a few other girls-some in dressing gowns over pyjamas, others in daytime clothes-gathered together and glared. Then there was Yuuto, standing at a room door a few doors down and across from hers, dressed as he had been hours before. His portfolio folder and a red holdall were at his feet, and he held an Electro-ID in his hands. He glared at Clio in a way that made her shrink back, and he asked:

"Do you have a fucking problem with it?"

Clio stared at him, and then her gaze went to the door. Like every dorm room door, there was a nameplate mounted on it. She couldn't see the nameplate of the room Yuuto was standing in front of, but suddenly, she realised she didn't need to see it. Yuuto standing there meant it could only be one person's name there.

"Is that Setsushi-sempai's room?"

Yuuto nodded stiffly.

"Is that her Electro-ID, then?" Clio asked. "You got to keep it?"

"Well, it's just gonna fucking sit around in some office drawer, isn't it? And when…if…when she fucking comes back, it's just easier this way, isn't it?"

"So why are you going in there?" the first girl challenged.

"Why the fuck shouldn't I? It's Ena's room. All her fucking things are there, it's…."

Yuuto trailed off, clearly trying to find the words. Eventually, he gave up and said:

"It's none of anybody's fucking business anyway, so piss right off!"

"But this is the girls' corridor!" one of the other girls said. "We can't have a boy wandering around randomly!"

This wasn't quite right. Technically, if Clio remembered correctly, this corridor's dorm rooms were occupied either by girls or those who were genderqueer in one way or another. The other corridor on this floor was the 'boys or genderqueer' corridor. It was only on the other floors that the divisions were stricter, but that was for one specific reason. And Clio was about to try and point that out when footsteps could be heard coming from the stairwell. A moment later, Nazuna appeared, clearly having come straight back from the police station.

"What on earth is going on here?"

The girls immediately turned to Nazuna, unleashing a volley of complaints. Nazuna frowned at them, then rubbed her forehead tiredly before putting her hand up and saying, quite clearly.

"Stop."

"But-"one of the girls said.

"Stop." Nazuna repeated.

None of the girls looked particularly happy at this, but they did indeed stop. Then, Nazuna walked up to Yuuto, and asked.

"Are you planning to spend the night in here?"

"Yeah," Yuuto said. "I guess."

"What about afterwards?"

"Well, shit, I don't know, I just need…."

He looked at the other girls, who were mutinously glaring, some of them clutching each other and his mouth twisted.

"I don't really see how it's any of their fucking business." Yuuto said. "As I keep saying, I couldn't give a shit about anyone else here, I'm not here for them! Besides, have you not all seen me here before?"

"That was with Setsushi-sempai thou-"

"And? It's her room! It's only her room!" Yuuto exploded. "And for fuck's sake, I'm the one looking after it-"

Nazuna sighed heavily, and interrupted Yuuto to address the girls:

"Have you all forgotten that you have your own showers in your rooms themselves?"

"Huh?" some of the girls squawked.

"Now, I don't know whether any of you were on the priority list for the rooms with showers, or if you were allocated them in the lottery. But presumably it's bathroom-based privacy you're worried about."

"Well, for the most part," one of the girls said. "But what of our privacy in general? We can't have a boy wandering around where he could get in and go through our stuff-"

"Do you not lock your rooms when you're not in them?" Nazuna asked.

"Well, yes, but-"

Clio glanced at Yuuto again, who looked close to exploding.

"Kurihara-sempai and I, we'll keep an eye on him." She offered hastily.

She reddened when everybody's gazes swivelled to hers. Her shoulders hunched, but she continued:

"Sempai's right. We don't need to worry about getting caught while on our way to the dorm bathrooms, because we're lucky enough to have our own showers. And I believe Oshiro-sempai, anyway. Even if he had any interest in any of you, he wouldn't do anything like that. But as it is, he doesn't. He couldn't. Not the way things are now."

"But Setsushi-"

"Setsushi-sempai isn't here." Clio said. "That's why he needs to be. He's grieving."

"It's not like she died this time arou-"

Yuuto had cooled down a little bit while Clio spoke, but with this interruption, he flared up and stepped forward, looking for all the world like he was going to raise his hand, but Clio quickly stepped out and stood in the middle of the corridor. Not quite in front of him, but enough to better become everybody's focus instead.

"Sometimes," she said. "It's worse for not knowing for sure. It's like that for me."

Fukue-chan. Luca-kun. What's happening to you both? Are you looking after each other?

She swallowed, and then concluded:

"So. Oshiro-sempai, you could promise to be extra sure to not bother them. And Kurihara-sempai, we can keep an eye, right?"

"Yes, that is something we can do." Nazuna nodded.

"Don't fucking bother me, and I won't be bothering you. Can I go, now?"

One of the girls sounded like they were going to raise an objection, but whatever they were going to say was interrupted by another girl elbowing her and hissing: shhhh! Yuuto narrowed his eyes at them, but then lifted the Electro-ID to the lock of Ena's room and used it to open the door. He then picked up his holdall and folder, and disappeared into the room, closing the door behind him with a sharp click.

Once he was gone, an awkward silence descended for a brief moment, before Nazuna crisply said:

"Well, I trust the matter has been dealt with. If any of you do have further issues, please come and find me rather than directly confront Oshiro-san."

With this, the girls dispersed, disappearing into their rooms. Some of them, however, went back to the stairwells or the lift, which left Clio baffled. If some of them aren't even on this floor, then why does it even matter to them? She wondered as she approached Nazuna, who remained standing in the corridor, looking too exhausted to move.

"Are you alright, sempai?" she asked. "How did talking with the police go?"

"It was fine." Nazuna said simply.

When Clio just blinked at her, Nazuna sighed.

"Well, perhaps not fine, per se," she admitted. "But I suppose it could have been worse. I still have my phone. They only needed to take it long enough to get any information off of it. And I'm supposed to contact them if I do get any more messages from that number. I just wonder how they managed to get it."

"Yes," Clio said. "That is a bit frightening. Speaking of which, did you see Enjou-san when you were at the station?"

"Yes," Nazuna said. "She left while I was still waiting for my phone. It didn't seem like Chief Inspector Kiyofuji considered her a suspect, necessarily. But a witness of some sort, I think. Did I see something in the group chats about some sort of break-in?"

"Yes, in Enjou-san's office. And I think…."

"What do you think, Clio-san?"

"I think…"

Clio scrunched up her face.

"Honestly, I don't really know how best to explain it. Well, I mean, you were there, when Adachi-san was…. you know, when he was saying all of that about Enjou-san, and Fujiwara-san got all upset."

"Yes. It sounded like perhaps she knew something. I know Nishiya-san gave her copies of the messages, because Kagura mentioned it."

Clio wondered if she should mention what they had discovered, but then reasoned that it was a separate thing to the plans to break into the student archives (the thought of which made her shudder a little, in both anticipation and dread). So, she just came out with it:

"Did you know that Enjou-san had a brother who came here, and who died?"

Nazuna looked at her sharply, but then rubbed her forehead tiredly.

"No," she said with an exhalation. "I did not know that."

"He went missing first, and then he was found at the front entrance a few weeks later. And two years before that, another student went missing and was found dead."

Nazuna blinked rapidly, before rubbing her forehead again.

"I think we should talk about this when we next meet as a group. I still have to catch up with the messages."

Clio bit her lip, and then inquired:

"Kurihara-sempai, are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine."

Clio's scepticism over this statement must have shown, because Nazuna sighed, fiddling with the end of her plait.

"No. I had to help Ushiroku-san with some Student Council duties to deal with when I got back, and then I waited with another student for her bus. Then I remembered I had to call home, and I needed to tell them what had happened today, before remembering I hadn't eaten. And then I came up to this."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't apologise," Nazuna said hurriedly. "You've got nothing to be sorry for. It has been quite the day, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"I think in that case, we should both probably try and get some rest. Don't you?"

"Yeah. So, um…. goodnight, sempai."

"Good night, Clio-san."

The next morning, as planned, Clio met Konoha and Keiji in front of the dorm building. Yuuto did not end up joining them. He'd apparently ignored all messages about it, and when Clio had gone to knock on Ena's dorm room door that morning, he'd called out 'fuck off'. However, a moment later, he'd pushed a business card under the door, and ordered her to 'take that to Matsumoto and tell him I have a tab there, so he can pick whatever'. The business card was for a florists', which, when Clio searched online for it, looked to be rather high-end, specialising in floral arrangements for funerals. When Clio had handed over the business card and explained what Yuuto had said, Keiji's expression had gone strange, and he'd quietly pocketed the business card without saying anything about it.

Then, they'd headed over to the admin offices. Keiji had whipped out what he'd said was a lockpicking kit from out of his bag, only to look utterly defeated when Konoha had tried the door and it had opened.

"Just for the record, I was not expecting that." Konoha said as she opened it.

"A bit irresponsible, but it's our win. I wonder if the archives are also unlocked."

The door to the archives was right at the back of the building, clearly visible. Keiji strode over and pushed the door experimentally. When it opened under his touch, he turned to them, frowning.

"This is weird, but whatever. Come on."

Clio jogged over, Konoha close behind, and they stepped into the room. Clio did a slow half circle to look at the room, dominated by long shelves filled with boxes marked with years and names. The shelves closest to the door had folders stacked on them instead, and the shelves were labelled as "current cohort". There were also filing cabinets and chests of drawers dotted around the room, but Clio couldn't see how those were labelled, if at all.

"So, I'm guessing that we should look at the 'current cohort' section here, then look into the boxes relating to 2002, 2004 and…1982?" Konoha asked.

"I'd prioritise 2002 and 2004 over 1982 but yes, take a look. But as you are looking, don't spend too much time reading. Just skim to be sure it's potentially relevant then just photograph or video whatever you can, and we'll analyse it properly later. We won't have that much time." Keiji ordered.

"Sure." Konoha said.

Clio nodded to indicate her agreement. Konoha went to the 'current cohort' section and Keiji went to 2002. I suppose then, I'm in 2004, Clio thought to herself, and headed there. She flicked through photographs and student records, photographing Haruma's record when she got to it, noting that he had good grades but many absences, some of which seemed related to his work as the SHSL Investigative Journalist, but others that seemed to be related to him having a sick parent.

Oh, poor Enjou-san, Clio thought, realising that this meant that Ririka also had had a sick parent. She also found some examples of articles he'd written, which she also photographed before putting them back and looking for anything else that bore Haruma Enjou's name. Not finding anything, she put one box back and picked up another. She pulled out a file at random, and then heard something rattle in the box. Frowning, she stuck her hand in and pulled it out, but as she did so, she dropped the file she had taken out at first. Quickly shoving the small item she'd found deep into the pocket of her cardigan and then zipping up the pocket, she bent down to scoop up the papers when one sheet, ragged around the edges and yellower than the rest, caught her eye.

1986….that shouldn't be in there.

She tidied up the rest and put it back, deciding she could go through it properly later. She then looked at the 1986 news article, and read:

LOVE CHILD IS REPORTEDLY 'BEST FRIENDS' WITH LEGITIMATE HEIR

Three black and white photographs dominated the article. The first showed the old principal, Taro Enoshima, standing on the steps that had once been at the entrance to Hope's Peak with his arms around a pretty teenage girl with light coloured pigtails and light eyes. The second picture was a sober-looking headshot of a teenage girl, this one with freckles across her cheeks, dark hair cut short, and lips pursed. However, her light eyes and the delicate shape of her face were almost exactly the same as those of the girl in the first photograph.

The third one, placed underneath the first two, showed the short-haired girl sitting on a desk in a classroom, wearing the Hope's Peak uniform, though with longer skirt and slightly different style of blazer than what was used currently. She smiled, though in a somewhat restrained manner in comparison to the pigtailed girl, who stood behind the desk and had flung her arms around the sitting girl. The pigtailed girl had rolled up the waistband of her skirt and wore big bows in her hair and was also clearly wearing make-up. The caption for this third photograph simply read: Half-sisters Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba together.

The caption for the photograph featuring Junko and her father said: Taro Enoshima with his legitimate daughter on her first day as Hope's Peak's latest SHSL Fashion Model. The second, however, said. Ikusaba-san may be the first illegitimate child who has come to light…but is she the only one? Clio was tempted to read the whole thing properly, but she remembered what Keiji had said, and snapped pictures of it quickly. But then, as she was about to put it back in the box, she stopped. After a moment of thinking, she decided to look for the 1986 box instead, assuming that the article had been misplaced during a reorganisation or something along those lines. Clutching the article in her hands, she walked further down the room, scanning the shelves, when a distant noise made her jump. She looked over her shoulder, and waited, only to hear the clip-clip-clip of high heels (more than one set, Clio thought), followed by a voice saying:

"Oh good, Yamaguchi-san's left this unlocked for us as she said she would. That's a relief."

Clio's eyes flared wide with fear as she tried to look at the others. The clip-clip-clip of high heels got closer, approaching the archive doors. Keiji let out a hiss, and looked around frantically before Konoha pointed out a filing cabinet and two sets of chests of drawers that had a gap between them and the wall. Quickly, they scrambled over and squeezed themselves behind it, just as the clip-clip-clip entered the room, and then stopped.

"There wouldn't be any records of her in here, would there?" one voice said.

"No, I don't think so, only the rumours that exploded when Ikusaba-san's existence came to light. The most important thing, however, is to get rid of Haruma Enjou's notes and memory card" a second voice said. "They may have done a good job hiding in plain sight, and he may not have gotten very far anyway, but now the father's sniffing around again it's a matter of time, and that's the most damning evidence of her existence."

"That memory card should have been destroyed in the first place." The first voice said. "Inosuke-san had always said that to Enoshima-san, but I suppose that's neither here nor there now, is it?"

Memory card…could it be? Clio didn't dare to move to feel the shape of the item she had tucked in her pocket, but she could feel it burning a hole there. Just then, a third voice spoke up:

"Well, I'd say that regardless, she's doing a good job of exposing herself by doing this in the first place. But will we need to get rid of any of the records around Tae Furukawa?"

"Oh, the Urban Explorer? As long as it makes no mention of the house, we should be alright. "The first voice said.

The footsteps of the new visitors (women, Clio assumed, based on the cadence of the voices and the clip-clip-clip of those high heels) echoed across the room as drawers were opened and shut again and papers were flicked through.

Don't come over here, Clio thought. Don't come over here, don't come over here. She could feel the tension rising off of Keiji's and Konoha's bodies, but she didn't turn to look at them. She couldn't. Thankfully, though, the three women did not approach their hiding place. Instead, for a while, they seemed to move further away, their murmured words becoming less distinct to Clio's ears for a while. But then they got a little closer again, and Clio heard the third woman say:

"Are we sure the card was left here? I cannot seem to find it."

"No, neither can I. Perhaps Kirigiri-san saw sense and destroyed himself, or perhaps moved it to a location that Sakichi Enjou is less likely to sniff out." The first woman said.

"Or maybe she has it." The second one said. "It would be like her to pull such a stunt."

A brief moving away, and muffled discussion as a result, before the third woman said clearly:

"You know, perhaps we should expose her."

"Nanako-san, what are you thinking?" the first voice said imperiously. "Do you know how bad that would look for us? You, especially, but for all of us?!"

"The woman is crazy, you know this!" the third woman-Nanako-insisted. "We already knew she was crazy, but she had too much on us-"

"And that hasn't changed. You know our hopes for power are pinned on her keeping quiet." The second voice interrupted.

"They're also contingent on her assuming that she'll get to step out of the shadows once we've got the expansion up and running, and we all know that's not happening." Nanako said. "But that isn't the point. One of the other conditions for us allowing this to pass was that she would not touch our children. And when she did, she promised us that they wouldn't get hurt in this. But can you guarantee that now?"

"Well, they haven't died yet. And Itsuo and I have not raised Inori to be a failure." The first person stated, as neutral as if they'd just said, 'today is Sunday'.

"I'd hardly call Chiara Kai or Kaida Adachi failures, either!" Nanako protested.

"No, but they're not that important. Kai-san and Bernadini-san were never ruthless enough to become part of the inner circle, and it was important to keep Adachi-san clueless, as it gives us plausible deniability." The second voice said.

"Be that as it may," Nanako said, voice said. "It's clear that To-"

"Don't say her name, you don't know who might be listening!" came a scolded interruption.

"It's clear that she is playing by her own rules. She's already double-crossed us by taking our children instead of the originally planned ones, and regardless of what you say, she's still poking the bear by killing Chiara Kai and Kaida Adachi. What's to say she won't try one of our daughters? Do none of you care about your daughters? Because I care about mine."

Nanako's breath came out heavily, and there was a silence before she eventually composed herself and said:

"Regardless, I think we're done here. Anything incriminating is probably already secured."

"As concerned as I am about your emotional outburst," the second voice said. "From my findings it appears you are correct. Now, I suppose we must make haste. I've agreed to be interviewed by the police, and I need to make a convincing show of suspecting my secretary to be stealing drugs by prescribing them under my name."

"Which means that I will need to prepare as well." the first voice said, voice going cold. "And we'll need to have a proper meeting about the complications of Kiyomizu being caught."

They walked further away at this point, so whatever any of them said next in response was no longer in earshot. Nonetheless, Clio held herself stiffly, trying to listen to whatever it was and waiting for the door to click closed behind them. When it did, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"They're…" she whispered. "They're gone now, right?"

"Wait a few moments." Keiji cautioned.

And, so they did, the silence ticking away. Then, Konoha said:

"Alright, I think it's safe enough. I think my legs have gone to sleep. Can we get out now?"

"Yes, yes, come on." Keiji groused.

They all unfolded their way out of the space, stretching their limbs. By some collective agreement, they all silently decided to get the hell out of there. However, just as crossed the admin offices, the office door swung open.

And Sakichi Enjou stood there glowering at them.