Usami: Goooood morning, my sleepyheads! This is an official announcement from lead teacher Usami. It is now 7 AM, so it is time to face a beautiful new day! Love! Love!
Ugh. Seriously? Why did the morning announcement have to be so early? If Usami was doing this to psychologically torture us, well, it was working. As expected, I wasn't hungover in the slightest, but the lack of sleep still made me feel like shit. Was this how popular high schoolers felt like after a night of debauchery?
Should I just stay in bed? It was tempting, but now that the alarm had definitely woken me up, I probably wouldn't go back to sleep. No, I should probably just head to the restaurant. Maybe I could make some tea for everyone? I'm sure the people that stayed late at the party might appreciate it.
My decision made, I took a shower, dressed, and headed to the restaurant, being the first one there. I was slightly surprised that Kazuichi wasn't already in the kitchen, but he had been one of the people that stayed behind, and he deserved a break anyways.
I started making tea, and shortly after, the first person showed up.
Mikan: Oh, Hajime, good morning!
Hajime: Morning Mikan… Ugh, my head…
Mikan: Oh no! A-Are you alright? I can go get aspirin for you, h-hold on…
Hajime: It's fine. Just a small headache, it'll pass. Man, I haven't drank this much in a while…
Mikan: H-How was the party after we left?
Hajime: It was fun. For the most part…
Mikan: F-For the most part?
Hajime: Oh. Well. There was a small incident, you could say. It's a bit embarrassing, though…
An incident? Now this I had to hea-
Wait.
Huh?
What in the world?
Mikan: H-Hajime?! Why are you… you?
Hajime: Huh?
Mikan: You're Hajime right now! Shouldn't you be Izuru?
Hajime: …
Hajime: What the FUCK!? That's strange…
Mikan: D-Do you know why?
Hajime: I'm… I'm not sure. Maybe it's just because-
Junko: Who was it?
Surprised, both Hajime and I turned towards the new voice. Junko was at the top of the stairs, gripping the railing. Her face was unnervingly blank.
Mikan: Junko? A-Are you oka-
Junko: Who was it?
Hajime: Junko? What's wrong?
Junko: WHO THE FUCK WAS IT?! WHICH ONE OF YOU COWARDS FUCKING DID IT?!
She was screaming now, spittle flying from her mouth.
Mikan: …
Mikan: …
Mikan: J-Junko?
Junko: …
Junko: It's… It's Mukuro. In her cottage. She… Oh god… She's… Who… Why…
Junko was openly sobbing now, having fallen to her knees.
…
Oh no.
Oh god no.
This couldn't be happening.
Hajime and I glanced at each other. Desperately hoping we were wrong, we dashed out of the restaurant, running to Mukuro's cottage.
The door was open, and we stepped inside. Please let us be wrong. Please.
Of course, the universe couldn't be so kind.
Death is a funny thing. The more you step in it, live by it, the easier it becomes to swallow, but ever so often, when you think you've grown numb to it, it blindsides you. This was far from my first time seeing a corpse. And yet, none had been of someone I was close to, someone that I could consider a friend, someone that I had helped get to bed just a few hours ago.
She was in her bed, under her covers. If I focused on just that, I could almost convince myself that she was sleeping peacefully, that she would wake up at any moment. But of course, that was a delusion. She was too still, her skin too pale, the angry strangling marks and rope around her neck too real.
Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Martial Artist, was irreversibly, undeniably dead.
Usami: Ding ding ding! A body has been discovered!