Danganronpa: Obscurity’s Disgrace (SYOC)

by ExtraMeme

19 Graduates of Hope’s Peak have been kidnapped and thrown into a killing game by the so-called “Goddess of Fame,” Pheme. These young hopefuls who wished for stardom or who wished to keep to themselves will be forced to watch their dreams get crushed. What will happen? What drama will unfold? Stay tuned! (SYOC Closed) (19/19) Credit to Alline on Fiverr for the cover!

27. Toxicity of Fame (Intermission)

Chapter 2: Toxic Words, Venomous Actions (Intermission)

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Warning!

This is a Danganronpa Fic, so expect dark, serious, and mature themes! But also fun and whimsical themes! Enjoy! But no choice words due to certain Gas Station Manager in this chapter! Woo hoo!

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[???]

"Hm? What are you doing?" A man walked over to a woman, who was currently observing a computer.

"I... am simply... observing." The woman spoke slowly and methodically. "The relics... of the past. Fascinating... are they not?"

"That's true!" The man walked up to the woman and causally pulled over a chair so he could sit next to her. "What relics are you observing today?"

"The scientists... their... second test." The woman slowly pulled up a folder full of different video clips. "Care to... join me?"

"Of course! I've got nothing better to do!" The man shrugged before leaning back in his chair. "Go for it!"

"As... you wish." The woman clicked on the first video clip available in the folder... and after a few seconds... the clip started.

---

[Facility Car]

"And we're off!" With Dr. Akimitsu Agata at the wheel of the car, he slowly and carefully backed out of the parking lot attached to the facility and got onto the road.

"You announce that like we're in a race!" Dr. Hannah Yokomizi lightly giggled.

"..." And their Patient, who was sitting next to Yokomizi in the back, didn't say a word. She just slowly observed her surroundings. Rolling hills... a clear blue sky... beautiful trees... it was... nice.

"...[REDACTED]? How are you feeling?" Yokomizi tapped the patient on her shoulder.

"...Good." The Patient slowly answered. She still had trouble comprehending why she could never hear the doctors say her name... but for some reason, she was slowly starting to accept that. It's a weird thing to accept... but it was like her brain was forcing her to accept that fact. Whether she liked it or not.

"You hear that, Akimitsu? She's doing good!" Yokomizi subtly eyed for a clipboard with a piece of paper on it sitting in the front seat.

"Ah! Yes!" Agata quickly handed the clipboard and paper back to Yokomizi. Wouldn't be much of a test if the note-taker couldn't even note down observations!

"Dr. Yokomizi? What's that?" The Patient poked the clipboard as she saw it reach Yokomizi's hand.

"It's-" Yokomizi was going to answer her, but she got cut off by Agata suddenly laughing.

"Miss [REDACTED], if I may?" Agata looked up at the mirror so that he could see the Patient's face. "You need not call us "Doctor" if you don't want to. You're free to use our first names if you'd like!"

Yokomizi flashed the back of Agata's head a glare. She leaned forward before the Patient could respond. "Akimitsu, are you serious?" She whispered. "I'm not letting that skank call me by my first name!" She tried her best to make sure the patient couldn't hear her.

Agata couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I get how you feel Hannah, but establishing a closer relationship between us and her is important. It could help in the long run... you see?" He spouted some cold and hard reasoning as he whispered back.

"Grr..." Yokomizi growled. It was hard enough to come to work every day and see the face of the girl who stole everything away from her... but now she has to be on a first-name basis with her?! Ridiculous! She oughta-

"Hannah..." Agata took something out of his pocket and placed it in his fellow scientist's palm. "Remember... why you are doing this..."

"Why... I'm doing this..." Yokomizi looked at what Agata had handed her. It was a small red charm. "Yvette..." She muttered.

---

"Hey, mommy! Mommy! Look!" Yvette Yokomizi charged into the kitchen while holding something in her hand.

"Oh! Yvette! What is it, honey?" Yokomizi bent down to be closer to her daughter's level.

"Here! I made this in school today! Isn't it pretty?" Yvette took out a small red charm.

"Oh wow!" Yokomizi took the charm from her daughter. "It's very pretty, Yvette!"

"Thank you, mommy! I want you to have it!" Yvette smiled brightly.

"Really? Are you sure?" Yokomizi held the charm close to her chest.

"Yeah! It's a present for you! I love you, mommy!" Yvette went and hugged her mom.

"I... love you too, Yvette!" Yokomizi would be sure to treasure it.

---

"It was finally recovered from the scene." Agata vaguely hinted at. "I meant to give it to you earlier, Hannah. But letter late than never."

"Ah... thank you, Akimitsu." Yokomizi fought to hold back her tears as she delicately placed the charm in her pocket.

"Um... Dr. Yokomizi?" The Patient poked the therapist's shoulder. "What are you two talking about?" She had no clue what they were whispering about.

"...Hannah is fine, [REDACTED]." Hannah gave in to Akitmitsu's request as she settled back into her seat.

"Yes! And you may call me Akimitsu!" Akimitsu gave Hannah a gentle nod before turning around to face the road.

"Oh! Okay!" The Patient didn't have any idea what was happening, as usual, so they just rolled with it. "So... what's that?" She innocently pointed to the charm that was still slightly visible.

"Ah..." Hannah took the charm out again. "It's... a gift from my daughter." Talking to The Patient about this made her feel all sorts of emotions... but she knew that Akimitsu was right. She'd just have to swallow back any feelings of malice that she had right now.

"Your daughter?" The Patient tilted her head. "I didn't know you had one."

The killer of your daughter saying that they aren't aware you had a daughter is some extremely painful irony. But Hannah tried her best to ignore that blade of irony twisting into her heart. "Yes... her name was Yvette." As she looked around, she could still see faint outlines of her beloved daughter in the car with them. She ignored them.

"Yvette... that's a pretty name!" The Patient smiled. "Where is she right now?"

The blade of irony only twisted deeper into Hannah's heart. "She's... at home." Considering what their goal was with the Patient, telling the truth here might have adverse effects.

"Oh! Okay! Well, the charm she made is pretty!" The Patient liked looking at the small red charm.

"Yes... she made it for me. It... meant a lot. I'm glad it wasn't lost." Hannah kept holding the charm close.

"Lost? Why would it be lost?" The Patient didn't get it.

"Uh-" Okay, Hannah wasn't sure if she could deal with this blade of irony.

"Ah, if I may?" Akimitsu cut in. "Hannah merely dropped it the other day, and I found it. So, I naturally gave it back to her. That's all there is to it." He covered for his colleague.

"Y-Yes... that's exactly it." Hannah ran with it. "Thank you..." She whispered to Akimitsu.

Akimitsu smiled. "I know it's hard... but avoid those topics as much as you can, Hannah. If those topics get to the forefront of her mind, that can severely affect the results." He whispered back.

"Right... I know." Hannah pocketed the charm a little deeper, ensuring that it wasn't visible to the Patient anymore.

"I'm glad you got it back, Hannah!" The Patient clearly believed Akimitsu's cover story.

Hannah slightly flinched at The Patient calling her by her name, but she'd just have to deal with it. "Right..."

...

The ride fell into silence.

...

But only for a moment. "Akimitsu?" The Patient tapped the back of the driver's seat.

"Hm? What is it, Miss [REDACTED]?" Akimitsu kept his eyes on the road like a good driver.

"Hannah has a daughter... do you have a child? You seem old enough." The Patient didn't care about calling Akimitsu old.

Akimitsu's eyes slightly twitched after hearing that question. He didn't care about being called old or anything... but he didn't exactly like remembering... his child.

"Not that easy?" Hannah mouthed to the driving scientist, clearly a little smug that her colleague had to go through the same irony as her.

Akimitsu just ignored his colleague in the back for now. "To... answer your question Miss [REDACTED], yes. I have a son."

"A son? What's his name?" The Patient innocently asked.

"...Hideyoshi." Akimitsu closed his eyes for a second. "He was a burgeoning movie director."

"A movie director? That sounds cool!" The Patient innocently asked. "What sort of movies has he done? Or... what movies has he wanted to do?"

Yeah, Akimitsu didn't realize how painful it'd be talking to the person who killed your child... while they act like they don't even know who your child was. "He didn't really have any preferences. He merely... wanted to make his own movie. I'd constantly advise him to not go too far..."

"Not go too far?" The Patient tilted her head.

Akimitsu bit his lip. "Uh... never mind." He technically could bring that up with her... but he wouldn't. "Anyway... the main thing he was interested in was finding the perfect actress."

"I like actresses! They're pretty!" The Patient twirled her long hair as she spoke. "What sort of actress was Hideyoshi looking for?"

"...He had his eye on two actresses." Akimitsu kept taking deep breaths. "One of them..."

"Akimitsu." Hannah suddenly put her hand on her colleague's shoulder. "You don't have to talk about this. You shouldn't." She might've been a little smug a few moments ago, but she still didn't want to see someone she considered a friend to be in pain.

"I know." Akimitsu gently said before he brushed Hannah's hand off of his shoulder. "Miss [REDACTED], it doesn't matter too much. He had his eye on the Ultimate Starlet and the Ultimate Trumpeter for actresses."

"Ultimate? Starlet? Trumpeter?" The Patient was confused. "What?"

"Oh. Uh..." Akimitsu nearly forgot that at this point, she likely wouldn't know those terms.

"Don't worry about it, [REDACTED]. It's none of your concern." Hannah was surprised Akimitsu said that much, but he was the lead on this experiment. She could trust what he said.

"Okay! If you say so!" The Patient immediately trusted Hannah's words. "Hey, Hannah? What about Yvette? Does she have a dream like Hideyoshi?"

Hannah internally groaned. Of course, this bitch would have to ask about her now. "Yvette... she had no particular dreams. She..." She glanced down at the charm in her pocket. "She just liked helping the community a lot. She... just liked helping. She volunteered at a lot of places. She even delivered a Hope's Peak invitation to someone once!" She'd always remember how happy her daughter was after she did that.

"Hope's Peak? What's that?" The Patient didn't understand the terms they were throwing around.

"Uh... don't worry about it." The medication was having a greater impact on her than Hannah would've ever thought.

"Okay!" The Patient trusted their words unconditionally.

...

And it fell into silence again.

...

But... "Akimitsu? Where are we going?" The Patient suddenly asked.

Akitmitsu chuckled. "Almost there..." He gave Hannah a look to tell her to get ready for the main part of the test.

Hannah nodded, then waited for Akimitsu's second signal.

"Okay!" The Patient went back to patiently waiting.

...

...

...

...

Akimitsu gave Hannah the second signal. It was time.

"Hey, Akimitsu?" Hannah knew exactly what she had to say. "I'm sorry, but were you drinking wine back at the facility, or not?"

"Oh? Was it that obvious?" Akimitsu feigned embarrassment. "Forgive me, I just had to indulge in some Okukik Wine, I suppose."

"Okukik wine? That sounds good!" The Patient... wasn't sure why she said that. As far as she knew... she hated wine.

"Does it sound good?" Hannah started to frantically note things down.

"Yeah... I don't know why though." The Patient showed very little reaction to their inner mental turmoil.

"That's alright! Perhaps later..." Hannah noted some more things down.

"Alright! Sure!" The Patient... didn't even feel like she liked alcohol in general. So why did they want wine? They didn't know why. "Was the wine good, Akimitsu?"

"Yes! It was!" Akimitsu didn't consider himself the biggest wine person, but he didn't object to it either. "The wine was so good that-"

He suddenly stopped as his eyes widened.

"Akitmitsu? What's the problem?" Hannah had fair reason to be concerned about the person driving their vehicle here.

"Akimitsu?" The Patient, as usual, had no idea what was happening.

"I..." Akimitsu suddenly clutched his chest. "It... it... it..."

*BLERGH*

Akimitsu suddenly threw up blood on the windshield. "Oh... oh the pain! It hurts so much!" He brought out his supreme acting chops as he started to writhe in his seat. "I've been poisoned! Oh, it hurts!"

"Oh no! Akimitsu!" Hannah went up to the front seat to check on him. "Are you okay?!" She gave a decently better performance compared to her colleague.

"I... I don't know! I think... I might die!" Akimitsu really hammed up his acting.

"That's not good! Let's get you to a hospital!" Hannah tried to keep her acting tame yet believable.

...

...

...

"Anything?" Akimitsu whispered as he cleaned up the tomato sauce meant to be blood that he spilled onto the windshield.

"Nothing," Hannah whispered back, the duo of actors sneaking glances back at their Patient.

"Fascinating..." Akitmitsu motioned for Hannah to start taking notes.

Hannah started to scribble some notes down.

...

...

...

"What's up?" The Patient had a very delayed... and mellow reaction to what she just witnessed.

"Heh... perfect." Akimitsu gave an almost... unnerving grin.

"You think that was adequate? Was the acting too fake?" Hannah had faith in her acting abilities, but she wanted to be sure.

"I believe so." Akimitsu took the notes from Hannah to see what she had written. "Even if not, the fact that she wasn't bothered by alcohol is enough proof that the tests are working."

"That is true..." Hannah nodded along. "Considering how..." She leaned in close to her colleague. "Considering how Charlotte Kelley passed away... incredibly, she showed no reaction at all."

"Right." Akimitsu nodded in approval of the notes and passed them back to Hannah.

"You really are amazing, Akimitsu. The things you create..." Hannah looked down at her hand. "They're going to make a difference."

"And we get to have our revenge at the same time." Akimitsu winked.

"Yes... revenge..." Hannah glared at The Patient, who currently was just chilling in the back. "All of us... will get our chance. A chance... to make that fucking monster pay for her crimes..."

"...Calm yourself, Hannah." Akitmitsu set a hand on her shoulder. "Not right now. Not in front of her."

Hannah took a few quick deep breaths. "Yes... you're right."

Noticing the sudden tense mood in the air, Akimitsu knew he had to diffuse it. "Let's... call it here." He cleared his voice. "Alright, [REDACTED]! We're back!"

"Huh?" The Patient looked around. They... were back in the parking lot. "Wow! That was fast!"

"Ah... yes. It was." Hannah was grateful this test was over. Her temper had been really testy lately. "Now then, [REDACTED], allow me to get you out of the vehicle." The Patient was technically a prisoner, so they needed to restrain her too.

"Okay!" The Patient patiently waited for Hannah to restrain her.

Akitmitsu got out of the car and also patiently waited for Hannah to restrain her.

...

"Alright... let's go." Hannah came out of the car, hauling The Patient behind her in handcuffs.

"Right... I'll go on ahead to the Testing Room. I'll meet you there." Akimitsu let Hannah handle taking care of The Patient.

"Yes... I'll be quick." Hannah scowled as she started to haul The Patient away.

"Where are we going?" The Patient asked, ever innocently.

"...Revenge..." Hannah muttered to herself as she left the lot with The Patient in tow.

...

"Well, let us be off to the Testing Room!" Akimitsu sauntered over to the Testing Room, eager to get these findings documented.

---

[Testing Room]

"How in the world did you make it here before I did?!" Akimitsu knew he wasn't exactly sprinting here or anything, but Hannah had already gotten there somehow.

Despite it only being roughly five minutes after they split up, Hannah seemed surprisingly tired. "I feel my mood constantly swinging when I'm around that girl, Akimitsu. Sometimes... her stupid innocent voice is so grating on my ears. So as soon as I threw her back in her room, I made my way here. I just needed to be away from her."

"I see." Akimitsu dryly chuckled, then went up to Hannah. "Did you show her the picture of Charlotte Kelley?"

"Mm-hm." Hannah nodded. "No reaction to her. ...Oh! Right!" Her mood perked up a slight bit as she dug through one of the drawers, before pulling something out. "Here we are!" She pressed a button on it.

Right... Akimitsu nearly forgot that Hannah wanted to make an audio recording or something after each test. Or... wait. Was that right? "Hannah... what exactly are we doing again?"

"It's an audio recording Akimitsu! Or... no. More like an audio log. Just think of it as... insurance. Just to make sure we have a record of these tests." Hannah set the audio recorder down on the counter.

"Hm... if you say so." Akimitsu nodded. "So... ah- has it started?"

Hannah giggled. "Yes, it has, Akimitsu. Don't worry. I'll start it off." She cleared her voice. "Audio log start. Log #2. Date is June 4th, 20XX. Time is 16:00. This is Dr. Hannah Yokomizi and Dr. Akimitsu Agata reporting on the second test conducted on [REDACTED]." It seemed like a name had been redacted.

"Yes... well then. Test #2 was a resounding success! The trip went better than expected... and the patient's reaction when I had my "heart attack" was quite fascinating." Akimitsu spoke slowly.

"Right? She had no reaction at all! Akitmitsu, the effect of those drugs is utterly fascinating!" Hannah spoke with glee.

"Oh please, there's no need to praise me." Akimitsu wasn't one to fish for compliments. "But anyway... after the test, she showed her a picture of Charlotte Kelley, and just like with Ross Kelley, she had no reaction at all. I hesitate to celebrate too early... but if this proves to be a success... then..."

It sounded like Hannah walked closer to Akimitsu. "Akimitsu... I know. We all know. Our revenge... it'll be realized. And we'll be by your side the whole way."

"I appreciate that, Hannah. More than you could know." Akimitsu coughed. "But this isn't the time to get into that. Zenkichi has Test #3 planned... and Asher has started the preparations for Test #4. I'll be preparing Test #5, though I have no progress as of yet. Now... I believe that's it. Do we... close it out then?"

Hannah giggled again. "If you have nothing else to add, then yes. We can close it out." She cleared her voice. "Alright then! This is Dr. Hannah Yokomizi and Dr. Akimitsu Agata signing out! Log #2 finished!"

...

"So... that's it?" Akimitsu waited a few seconds to chime in.

"Yep! That's it!" Hannah's usual peppy attitude seemed to have returned to her as she locked the audio recorder away once again.

"Good..." Akimitsu sighed. "It's funny. We go from me calming you down, to you calming me down it seems."

Hannah giggled. "I suppose so! But there's nothing wrong with that. It's hard for all of us, Akimitsu."

"Yes... yes, it is." Akimitsu sighed again. "I wonder if..."

The door to the Testing Room suddenly burst open.

"Akimitsu! Yok- Hannah!" Zenkichi Nakata ran into the room, a clear expression of worry written across his face.

"Zen?!" Hannah set her hand over her chest in shock. "What's the matter? What has you so worried?"

"Zenkichi?" Akimitsu stood up.

"It's..." Zenkichi walked close to the duo. "The owner of this facility is going to be here tomorrow."

...

...

...

"What?!" Hannah widened her eyes in a delayed reaction. "Why? Why is she coming? And what about Test #3?!"

"Test #3 is ready to go... and she emailed me earlier that she's going to visit." Zenkichi was trying to keep his panic under control.

"But... but... won't this get in the way of our plans?! She doesn't know what we're doing here!" Meanwhile, Hannah was having difficulty keeping her panic under control. "Oh god... oh god..." She started to hyperventilate.

"Yoko..." Zenkichi didn't know how to comfort her right now. "What do you think, Akimitsu?" So she turned to the lead in this experiment.

...

"...What do I think?" Akimitsu chuckled. "Why would I think anything? Why be worried?"

"Wha-" Hannah didn't expect to hear that. "How are you not worried?!"

"Do you have a plan?" Zenkichi knew his friend well enough to tell when he had something cooking.

"I do have a plan. Worry not, Hannah." Akimitsu shook his head. "Aria Allegra, the owner of this facility... she's a friend of mine. She... will be very...

...

Very...

...

Very...

...

useful."

---

[???]

The video clip stopped there.

"Oh wow! Ain't it crazy to watch these things?" The man crossed his legs in his chair. "Aren't these scientists an interesting bunch?"

"Yes... very... interesting." The woman kept staring at the screen. "Say... can you... pass me that thing next to you?"

"The thing next to me?" The man looked to the right of his seat. "Oh! Your old scabbard? Sure!" He slowly and gently handed it over to her, ensuring she had a steady grip on it. "You got it?"

"I... do. This... comforts me." The woman held onto the scabbard while she stayed sitting. "Say... do you perhaps... have time for one more video?"

"Hm..." The man looked at his wrist to check the time on his watch, but he realized he wasn't wearing one. "I got nothing but time! What's up?"

"Well..." The woman was about to click on another video, but she stopped when she heard a distant door opening.

"Hello~?" A singsongy voice suddenly reached the duo's ears.

"Ah... she's back." The woman didn't turn to acknowledge the new arrival.

"Indeed I am!" Achlys, the Goddess of Misery, suddenly appeared in the room with the duo. "It's great to see you!" She genuinely smiled at the woman.

...

...

...

"Hm? Nothing for me? No hug? No kiss?" The man seemed shocked at Achlys' lack of affection for him.

"Ugh." Achlys rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You're gross. Why would I hug or kiss you?"

"What?! I can't believe this!" The man was being clearly sarcastic as he spoke. "My dear Achlys, aren't we friends? Or... perhaps more?" He ran his hand down the goddess's hip from where he was sitting.

"Hey!" Achlys slapped the man's hand away and casually stabbed it with her knife. "No touchies! The only person I want to touch me..." She turned to the woman. "Is you..." Achlys ran her hand over the woman's cheek.

"Ha ha!" The man ignored his now bleeding hand as he watched what was happening. "Sure, I can't touch you, but you can touch her?" He didn't actually care, he just liked riling Achlys up.

"Hey!" Achlys casually stabbed the man's other hand. "You are disgusting! You're lucky my lady keeps you around!"

"I sure am! Ha ha!" The man embraced his bleeding hands and leaned back in his chair.

"Achlys..." The woman finally spoke, gently removing Achlys' hand from her face.

"...Oh! Sorry! Was that too much?" Achlys blushed as she pulled her hand away.

"...Ryuji Yamamoto... is he dead?" The woman got right to business.

"Oh! Oh yes!" Achlys gave a creepy, toothy grin. "He is not among the living anymore! Ah, it felt transcendent to end the life of a man like him! His blood raining down on me as I slit his miserable throat was rather unpleasant though..." She looked down over her bloodied dress.

"I can't imagine wanting to be showered in blood, but hey. You do you." The man shrugged, blood still dripping out of his own hands.

"Quiet!" Achlys hated hearing the man speak. She in general hated him with a burning passion.

"Achlys..." The woman spoke again. "Sit down..." She pulled over a chair with her scabbard for the goddess of misery to sit in.

"At once!" Achlys always obeyed whatever the woman told her, so she sat down. As far away as possible from the man, of course.

"Very good..." The woman's attention shifted back to the computer. "While you are here... let us... watch another video."

"Oh? What are we watching?" Achlys immediately got intrigued.

"Since Amadeus is on the move... let us watch... a little something." The woman pulled up a video.

"About one of his little helpers?" The man scooted a bit closer. "He has two little Ultimate girls following him around now, right? Didn't know he liked them so young!"

"He's not as bad as you!" Achlys hated that the man had to be sitting so close to her, even though they were separated by the woman. "You constantly lust after women!"

The man rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well, unlike Mr. Amadeus, at least I don't surround myself with girls constantly. His actual associates are chicks too. Is the guy a creep or just lucky?"

"You are just the former!" Achlys gripped her knife tight.

"Perhaps... a video isn't in order." The woman realized that getting these two to silently sit through a video together wasn't realistic. "Hm... Ryuji Yamamoto... and Shiori Komatsu..." She muttered to herself.

"Aw, look what you did!" The man chuckled. "You ruined her mood, Miss Misery!" He gave the goddess a cute little nickname!

"I swear-" Achlys really felt like going to town on this stupid man... but she knew the woman wouldn't like that. "Just... shut your trap."

"Or else what?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"I swear...!" Achlys instinctively threw a knife at the man, though the man casually dodged it.

"Ooo... too slow!" The man mocked her.

"You...!" Achlys lept up out of the chair and rushed over to where the man was sitting. "You need to shut up!" She held her knife to the man's neck.

"I don't wanna. What're going to do?" The man didn't flinch an inch.

Achlys dug her knife a little deeper. "You really wanna know what I'd do? You really wanna know?" Pure unadulterated misery started to emanate from her like a thick black haze.

"Achlys..." The woman set her hand on the goddess' back.

"Oh! Sorry!" Achlys immediately backed away from the man, following the woman's order. It's unclear who exactly she was apologizing to here.

The man chuckled at the sight. "It's always so funny to me. Isn't Pheme your lady? Why are you so loyal and devout to her?" He pointed at the woman.

"Ugh. I may be loyal to Pheme, but that doesn't mean I have to like her." Achlys seemed disgusted at the thought of the goddess of fame. "Pheme is a dirty, rotten, slut. I follow her word... but she doesn't get my respect."

"Ouch!" The man chuckled. "I think Pheme is quite the beautiful lady, personally. But fair enough!" The man got up. "Anyway, I've enjoyed hanging out with you my dear Achlys!" He bowed his head. "But it's about time for me to head out. I need to start on my own preparations, you know. I'll see you later!" He then turned around and walked out of the room.

"Ha! Good riddance!" The less time Achlys had to spend with that man, the better. "Anyway..." She turned to face the woman. "With him gone..." She moved closer to the woman and sat in her lap. "Can we...?" She started to feel... hot and bothered.

"Achlys..." The woman didn't react. "With him gone... I now task you with your next goal..."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Achlys was having trouble controlling herself.

"Kyle Maxim. Arrangements have already been made." The woman didn't object as Achlys started to explore her body.

"That little shit? Heh. Sure." Achlys loved being close to the woman. "I'll set out... soon."

"Yes... very good." The woman closed her eyes.

"Before... before I go... can we...?" Achlys couldn't hold back anymore as she slowly started to take off her dress.

"As you wish..." The woman let Achlys embrace her tighter... and they continued to passionately "embrace" for a while longer...

No worries... no fretting over Amadeus and his cronies... it was just Achlys and the women... together... in love...

...

...

...

---

[HPA Osaka Branch - Headmistresses Office]

"Shirazane! Is it true?!"

"Tell me it's true!"

"Ryuji Yamamoto is dead?"

After hearing apparent news of Ryuji Yamamoto dying, Amadeus Katkea, along with his partner, Rika, and also their apparent assistant, Shiki.

"Ah, I see you've gotten the news. Have a seat." Shirazane, the headmistress of the Hope's Peak Academy Osaka Branch, motioned for them to take a seat.

Amadeus and Shiki took a seat, but Rika didn't. "Is it true? Is it? Is it true? Is Ryuji Yamamoto dead?" She was too excitedly curious to sit down right now.

"You're being creepy, Rika," Shiki spoke bluntly. "Sit down."

"No!" Rika pouted. "I want to know if he's dead! Is he, Ms. Shirazane? Is he? I want to know!"

Amadeus heaved a heavy sigh. He knew a little about the Ultimate Mystery Novelist before meeting her, but he didn't expect her to be this excited.

"You've got a crazy partner." Shiki sighed as well.

"You're telling me..." Amadeus didn't hate Rika at all, but he'd just have to see what happens. "Okay, let's get back on track." Looks like his partner was just going to be standing up then. "Shirazane. Elaborate for us."

"Yeah! Yeah!" Rika stayed excited, a creepy grin spreading across her face.

Shirazane became the third person in the room to sigh over Rika's antics. "Very well." She cleared her voice. "Half an hour ago, one of the workers in the Wax-Ember XLV building found a dead body lying in the hallway."

"Was it Yamamoto?" Shiki wasn't at all on Rika's level of hype for this... but she couldn't help but be a little curious.

"No, actually." Shirazane shook her head.

"No? There were multiple victims?" Amadeus didn't expect to hear that.

"Multiple?!" Rika finally sat down. "This is really getting good!" She leaned forward like she was watching an enticing TV show.

"Uh... yes." Shirazane still never knew how to handle Rika's reactions to things like this. "All in all, there were five victims reported. Three of the security guards, one of Yamamoto's secretaries, and Yamamoto. Whoever it was, they were going for a bloodbath it seems."

"My god..." Shiki didn't know what to say.

"Five? Huh..." Amadeus started to think about that. "I want to start cobbling some things together... but I'll wait until we're at the scene. ...I'm assuming I have permission to investigate?"

"Heh." Shirazane chuckled. "You think you need permission? You are aware of how well-known you are, correct?"

"Huh?" Amadeus didn't expect that response.

"She's right." Shiki nodded. "I told you this when we were in the library, but you're insanely famous, Mr. Katkea. If the Former Ultimate Detective were to go to a crime scene, they'd let you in. No matter what." She seemed very confident about that.

"Mm-hm! Mm-hm! You're very impressive, Mr. Katkea!" Rika nodded in agreement.

"Ah... right." Amadeus wasn't used to getting praised like that. He felt a little awkward. "Even if that is the case, would they let Rika in as well?"

"Um?" Rika seemed offended by a simple question. "Of course, they would! I'm an Ultimate Detective! I'm famous too! Surely they would!"

"Ultimate Mystery Novelist." Shiki reminded her.

"So, they'd naturally let me in!" Rika ignored Shiki as she stood back up, an aura of pride emanating from her.

"Right..." Amadeus played that off with a nervous chuckle. She admittedly did have a point. He didn't like thinking super highly of himself, but Rika would probably be able to enter the crime scene by virtue of being his partner alone.

"Hold on." Shiki held her hand up. "Because you're planning on going, do you think this is related to the Killing Game being put on by Pheme?"

Amadeus needed a second to formulate an answer to that. "I'm assuming so. Photos of the charred, robotic corpse of Bessie B. Blossom circulate on the internet, then her "father" turns up dead?"

"Yep! Can't be a coincidence!" Rika finished her partner's thought.

"Okay..." Shiki was satisfied with that answer.

"Should we go then, Mr. Katkea?" Rika was already standing beside the door.

"...In a second." Amadeus pulled out his phone. "If we're going to be doing this, I want to call in some aid." He seemed to be texting someone.

"Aid? Oh! Is it-"

"Rika. Please be quiet." Shirazane didn't want Rika to spoil who the aid was yet.

"Okay... there." Amadeus nodded. "They're on their way. They'll meet us there."

"Awesome! That'll be fun!" Rika had always wanted to meet the "aid" that Amadeus was referring to in person.

"So you're going then?" Shirazane checked her phone. "The police have just started a preliminary investigation. The building is closed off, but you should be good to enter." She sighed. "You have to do this, Amadeus. I believe in you."

"..." Amadeus didn't reply. He hated being the crutch of a woman like Shirazane, but he just chose to endure it. "Right. C'mon Rika." Amadeus made sure his things were organized, then went to meet his partner at the door.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Rika opened the door and almost ran out, clearly having trouble containing her excitement.

...

...

...

"I... hold on." Shiki didn't want them to leave yet.

"Shiki? What's up?" Amadeus turned back around.

"What's going on, Shiki?" Rika actually turned back around too.

"Can... can I come with?" Shiki stood up.

...

Amadeus blinked. "You want to... come with us?"

"Hm... the more the merrier, I'd say!" Rika was immediately fine with it.

"Shiki?" Shirazane was curious as to what she was going to say.

"I want to go to," Shiki spoke firmly. "I want to investigate with you."

"But why?" Amadeus narrowed his eyes. "I've handled dead bodies before, and I believe that Rika will be able to handle it too. But... you..."

"No." Shiki shook her head. "This is something... I want to do. No, it's something I need to do. Let me come. Let me help. I know I'm not technically working with you like how Rika is... but I can be useful. Please."

All three of the others in the room didn't expect such passion in Shiki's voice.

"Shiki..." Shirazane was impressed.

"Sure! C'mon Mr. Katkea, let's let her come with us!" Rika looked up at her taller and older partner.

Hm... Amadeus wasn't sure. On one hand, the passion in Shiki's body language was clear. He wasn't sure why she was so passionate... but she was. But he didn't want to expose innocent kids to dead bodies... he had to think.

...

...

...

"...If you're 100% sure you want to come with... then I don't see why not." Amadeus spoke slowly.

"Really?" It wasn't visible due to her mask, but Shiki smiled slightly.

"Yes. Really." Amadeus thought this was the best course of action. "You can come. But follow my lead. It won't be easy. We're going to be investigating five bodies."

"Got it. I'm ready." Shiki was really hoping he'd allow her to come. As soon as she heard that Ryuji Yamamoto was dead... she sensed she might have a chance to... look into that. And now, that chance came to her. She couldn't help but be a little nervous... but she was a little happy too.

"Yeah! The more the merrier!" Rika ran over to Shiki and grabbed her hand. "Let's get going! We're now a trio... the great Rise Kikichi and her two assistants!"

"I-I don't think that's-" Shiki blushed as she was pulled along by the mystery novelist.

"Let's go!" Rika pulled Shiki right out of the room with her.

Amadeus chuckled. He felt a sort of comforting deja vu right now.

"Shouldn't you be going too?" Shirazane watched the detective just staring at the open doorway.

"Ah!" Amadeus didn't realize he was zoning out. "Right, I'll get going. Have a good day, Shirazane." He gave a quick goodbye to the headmistress and then left the room.

"Yes... yes, I will have a good day." Shirazane sighed in satisfaction as she watched Amadeus leave her office.

...

...

...

*RING*

*RING*

The phone in Shirazane's office started to ring. She picked it up. "Hello?"

...

"Yes."

...

"Yes. Perfectly."

...

"Mm hm. She is going to be there."

...

"Alright. Goodbye."

Shirazane hung up the phone. Yes... this day was going to be very good indeed.

---

[Wax Ember XLV - Outside]

As soon as the trio got closer to the Wax Ember building, the sheer size of the crowd surrounding it astounded all of them.

"Is Ryuji Yamamoto dead?"

"Hey hey! I wanna see!"

"Did you arrest anyone yet?"

Paparazzi, devoted Bessie fans, and just random people all gathered around the entrance to the office building. They kept on clambering and clambering... all of them eager to see what had happened, and to be a part of what may be something big.

"My word..." Amadeus didn't hate large crowds or anything, but even this was a little much.

"Wow!" Rika's eyes shimmered as she looked over the current scene. She knew this was going to be exciting.

"What an insane crowd." Shiki summed up the trio's observations nicely.

"Move it, people! Get out of the way!" The police kept trying to keep people away but to little avail.

"They're not doing a good job keeping people away." Shiki pointed out the obvious.

"Well... they're trying their best, at least." Amadeus sighed.

"Well, if they're having difficulty, that just means we've got to do our job and do it well!" Rika gave a firm nod.

"Exactly." Amadeus agreed. "Let's go you two. Again, follow my lead." He still had overall mixed feelings over having both of them here, but he'd just have to be sure to be careful.

The trio walked to the building, due to it being relatively close to Hope's Peak. So with Amadeus in the lead, he walked up to one of the police officers. "Hello?" He gave a quick wave to them.

"Huh? Who are-" The officer turned around to face the detective, assuming it was just another rabid fan. But when he saw who it was... "Oh. Oh! Mr. Katkea?!" The officer looked starstruck.

"We'd appreciate it if you could be quiet." Shiki looked around shiftily. "We don't want to attract too much-unwanted attention."

"Right! We have a job to do!" Rika tipped her hat.

"Uh... who are the girls?" The officer certainly recognized Amadeus, but not the girls behind him.

"Well I'm-"

Rika was about to introduce herself, but Amadeus cut her off with a cough. "My assistants. They're with me."

"Huh?" The officer looked to the girls, then back to Amadeus. "Your regular assistants are already here though?"

"Ah, so Makoto and Nina have arrived? Are they already at the scene?" Amadeus covered his mouth while he thought about something.

"Yeah. They arrived a couple of minutes ago. God, keeping these people off of them was... not fun." The officer groaned.

"I can imagine." Shiki crossed her arms.

"Well, if they're here, that means we need to get up there too! There's an investigation to be had!" Rika set her hands on her hips.

"...They're really with you?" The officer didn't fully believe it.

Amadeus chuckled. "They are. Nothing wrong with more help, right?"

"...And they're... high school girls? With a sixty-something year old man?" The officer fully trusted Amadeus, but he still had to be a little suspicious here.

"Excuse me, but I'm 22." Shiki corrected the officer.

"And I'm 21!" Rika joined in the corrections. "Neither of us are still in high school! And we're both Ultimates too!" She set her arm around Shiki's shoulder.

"Right..." Shiki blushed at Rika's touch. "I'm the Ultimate Digital Archivist. And she's the Ultimate Mystery Novelist."

"I'm the-"

"U-Ultimates?!" The officer widened his eyes, cutting off Rika's second correction in the process.

"Could you please let us pass? I have a job to do, officer." Amadeus liked some banter here and there, but he wanted to get down to business.

"Uh... yes! Sorry! Right away!" The officer moved out of the way for the trio.

"Thank you." Amadeus patted the officer's shoulder and he went past him.

"Thank you!" Rika also patted the officer's shoulder as she went past.

"Thanks." Shiki's measly height of 4'11 meant that she couldn't reach the officer's shoulder, so she didn't try at all.

"Right! No problem! Always a joy to help you out, Mr. Katkea!" The officer nodded. "But uh- one thing before you get up there!"

"Hm? What is it?" Amadeus turned back around.

"Just so you know... we've detained a suspect already. The suspect should still be up there. We've got men questioning her right now." The officer thought it was a good idea to make sure they knew that.

"A suspect? Already?" Rika was half disappointed yet half curious about that. "Who is it?"

"She's..." The officer trailed off. He... didn't know how to describe her. "It'd be better for you to meet her yourselves. She's... quite the character."

"Alright...?" Shiki didn't like how ominous that sounded. "It sounds like we have our work cut out for us." She crossed her arms.

"I'm fine with that! We've just got to solve this mystery, and we'll do it together! With me taking the lead, we'll make a great team!" Rika gave her best motivating speech.

"R-Right..." Amadeus felt a little... weird after hearing that.

"You okay?" Shiki seemed to notice the weird look on the detective's face.

"I-I'm fine!" Amadeus rapidly shook his head. Why did what Rika said...

"Okay. Then let's go." Satisfied with the answer she got, Shiki started to walk into the building. "Rika already went ahead."

"She is?" Amadeus looked around. "Wow. She is. Alright." Bewildered yet slightly impressed, Amadeus made his way into the building, with Shiki close behind him

---

[Wax Ember XLV - Main Building]

"Oh... my god." As soon as Rika ran in first, she was directed to the eighth floor, where Yamamoto's office was. But as soon as she stepped off of the elevator...

Three bodies awaited her. She... didn't know what to do or say. She dropped to her knees in shock.

"Oh, dear? Who are you? Are you alright?" Out of the corner of Rika's vision, she spotted an older woman with a comforting aura approaching her.

"...Sorry!" Rika rapidly shook her head and then slapped her cheeks. "It's not like me to lose my cool like that!" She chuckled.

"I see...!" The woman chuckled as well as she helped Rika to her feet.

With Rika back on her feet, she turned to get a better look at the woman who helped her up.

She seemed to be about the same age as Amadeus, somewhere in her early sixties. She had long and pretty dark brown hair that went down to her lower back. Her hair was starting to gray, but it wasn't anything too bad. Her simultaneously gentle yet firm crimson eyes gave her a very "safe" aura. The beauty mark under her left eye only added to that.

For what she was wearing, she had on a casual and vertically striped red rib-knit dress with a flared skirt. She had on an unzipped dark brown jacket over her dress and a white scarf around her neck. She had on black tights under her dress, and she had dark brown heeled ankle boots for shoes.

After Rika looked the woman over, there was no doubt in her mind. She had to be...! "Ah, are you one of Mr. Katkea's assistants?" She needed to know.

"Oh?" The woman giggled. "You know who I am? Well, I shouldn't be surprised." The woman cleared her voice and then smiled. "Yes, I am Makoto Omati, the Former Ultimate Child Caregiver. It's a pleasure to meet you..." Makoto trailed off, realizing she didn't know the name of the girl in front of her.

"Rika! Rika Sekiguchi! Ultimate Mystery Novelist!" Rika vigorously shook Makoto's hand. She didn't get the same kinda "star-struck" feeling she got when meeting Amadeus, but this was a very close second.

"Rika? It's nice to meet you." Makoto gently shook the mystery novelist's hand in return.

"Oh!" Rika leaned in a little closer. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually the-"

"Makoto! It's good to see you!" Amadeus cockblocked the correction of Rika's "true talent" for a third time as he entered the scene.

"Aw, come on!" Rika pouted a little.

"You should learn by now Rika that-" Shiki had entered as well, more than prepared to pepper in some snark... but she stopped when she witnessed the sight in front of her.

"Ah, dear?" Makoto wanted to greet Amadeus, but she put that to the side for now. "Dear... don't look at it." She wasn't aware of who Shiki even was, but she went over to block her view of the gruesome scene.

"I'm... fine." Shiki moved to see purposely see the gruesome scene. This was what she signed herself up for. She took a few quick, deep breaths.

"I..." Makoto wasn't sure how to react, seeing two young girls stumbling into a crime scene.

"Makoto..." Amadeus walked up to his "aid." "They're with me."

"Amadeus!" Finally seeing her chance, Makoto went and briefly hugged the former detective. "I'm glad to see you."

"Likewise." Amadeus smiled.

"And... who exactly are they?" Makoto motioned to the two girls who were staring at the dead bodies.

"Right... Let me catch you up." Amadeus explained everything that had happened with Shirazane, as well as everything that led to this moment.

"Shirazane? You're helping her?" Makoto scowled.

"I know." Amadeus sighed. "I'm being careful. Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye on her." He reassured her.

"But... this doesn't feel right." Makoto felt like something was amiss.

"...If she does anything, I'll stop her." Amadeus kicked up his reassurance levels. "Besides... she's not the focus. The focus is figuring out what happened to those nineteen ultimate alumni."

"You're right." Makoto closed her eyes. "I trust you."

"Thank you, Makoto. I appreciate that." Yeah... Amadeus tried to not think too hard about Shirazane. "Is-"

"Hey." Shiki suddenly cut in. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Omati, but can you fill us in on what details you've discovered so far?" She'd appreciate being a part of the conversation too.

"Yes! I'm sure you two have plenty to talk about, but it's time for Rise Kikichi to get down to business!" Rika materialized a notepad out of thin air, prepared to utilize it.

Makoto couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "My... you've got some forceful assistants, Amadeus. Looking to replace Nina and me?"

"Heh. You know that's not it." Amadeus pulled out his own notepad. "Besides, you and Nina are not just assistants to me. We're colleagues. Equals."

"Right right... I know. I was just teasing." Makoto took a glance at the grizzly scene, before turning her attention back to the trio. "Okay... I'd love to properly talk to Amadeus' new assistants... but I'll get down to business." It felt like her entire aura changed as she recalled what the police had found so far. "So... Nina and I only arrived recently, so we aren't aware of everything yet."

"It's interesting how you three can get access to nearly anywhere you want." Shiki couldn't help but be a little jealous of that.

"We can't go anywhere we want..." It's not Makoto had actively tried to enter wherever she wanted on a whim, but still.

"I know you three are famous, but they still let two older ladies into a crime scene without a second thought." Again, Shiki understood the how and why, but she just wanted to point it out.

"I don't think I'm that old..." Makoto took a little offense to that.

"Heh." Amadeus didn't take offense to that though. "Speaking of, where is Nina?"

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Makoto looked further down the hallway. "She's with the suspect the police have detained. Were you made aware of that?"

"We were! The officer at the entrance made us aware of that!" Rika was already noting down a storm.

"He didn't tell us about the suspect themselves though. How and who is she?" Shiki wasn't exactly usually involved in this sort of thing, but even she thought it was strange they had a suspect so quickly.

"Yes... I'd like to know that too. This quickly?" Amadeus thought it was strange too.

"Well..." Makoto slightly frowned. "Actually... let's go and see them. Let's leave the bodies for now. After all, I don't think I'd be able to provide you with much information anyway. I haven't gotten the chance to investigate yet."

"It's time to meet the suspect? Hm... fine." Rika didn't seem into the idea of confronting a suspect already.

"Rise? Isn't your..." Makoto narrowed her eyes. "Oh! You're Kira, aren't you?"

"You know of me too, Ms. Omati?" Rika's mood quickly changed from annoyed to flattered.

"I do! Amadeus quite likes your mystery novels!" Makoto smiled. "He's gotten me into them as well! Forgive me for not realizing who you were sooner!"

"Can't blame you for that, considering the... bodies." Even Shiki had a little trouble referring to them.

"Right... that's fair." Rika agreed with Shiki. "But I'm happy you've heard of me, Ms. Omati!" She felt a little proud.

"Yes, of course." Makoto was glad that Rika was happy.

"Can we speed this along, please? I thought we were about to meet the suspect they've detained." Shiki just wanted to move on. She knew that Makoto likely wasn't going to recognize her, so she just wanted to keep moving.

"Oh, right!" Makoto bowed her head. "Let's go everyone." She realized they probably shouldn't be wasting any more time.

"Yes... lets." Amadeus was very curious about who this suspect could be. After all, killing a man like Ryuji Yamamoto isn't an easy task. You'd think that, if someone were to do that, they'd have a fairly meticulous plan, right? So them getting caught so quickly... didn't feel right.

So with that in mind, the quartet walked over to one of the neighboring rooms, where the suspect was being held...

...

...

...

"I'm telling you Ms. Nina Keetog, I didn't sink my teeth into the guy! I was just curious as to what was going on! Can you blame a shark for being curious about what the Ryuji Yamamoto was doing?"

"Honey... that brain of yours is quite kooky. You ain't a shark."

As soon as the group walked in, they saw the presumed suspect, handcuffed to a chair, and she conversing with the police, as well as with another lady.

"I'm so honored to have you converse with someone like me Ms. Nina Keetog! I don't deserve the honor! Say, can you hit me with your cane? I'd love to feel the impact!"

"Dear... you're missing a few screws ain'tcha?"

The group kept watching the suspect talk with the police... but primarily with the older woman.

The older woman in question seemed to be around the same age as Amadeus and Makoto, likely in her early sixties. She seemed to be shorter than them though. She had short red hair that was tied into a thick, low ponytail. Her reddish-brown eyes were full of energy, despite her age.

The woman wore a grey blouse underneath a black blazer. She then had on vertically striped red suit pants, with brown boots on her feet. She also had on a black hat with a red flower on the rim. To top her look, she held her hand a black cane, presumably to help her move around.

"I'm not missing screws! I just- I'm just so honored to be in your presence!" It didn't seem like the suspect was purposely trying to break out of her cuffs, but her excitable attitude sure made it seem that way.

For the suspect, she was a pasty-skinned, almost shark-like girl, with a red hair tie keeping her black hair up in a high ponytail that juts up from the back of her head as though a dorsal fin. The suspect kept showing off her sharp pointed teeth with an awkward smile that never seemed to reach her miscolored eyes, bright orange with a dark teal ring around them, like a creepy pair of targets always on the watch for any sort of movement. She also has long thin eyebrows and a small pointed button nose.

For what she had on, she wore a black chef coat under a dark teal heavy cloth apron with red neck and side straps and shark-tooth patterns running down the sides. Her neck was adorned with a black lei necklace. A pair of black cut-resistant gloves were kept tucked under the red apron straps for convenience. She also had on black chef pants and nonslip work shoes.

Frankly... kind of a creepy appearance. The suspect kept talking with the older woman before she suddenly and somehow turned her entire body in the chair she was in to face the entrance, despite her being cuffed. "Oh! Oh!" She seemed to have been alerted by the sound of the group entering.

"Huh?" The older woman scratched her head as she also looked towards the entrance. "What is- ah!" The woman smiled. "Amadeus! It's been a little bit!" She didn't even use her cane as she walked up to her colleague and gave a him quick hug.

"Yes, it has... it's good to see you, Nina." Amadeus patted her hat-covered head.

"Giving her head pats now, Amadeus?" Makoto narrowed her eyes.

"Wha- I-" Amadeus didn't expect to be called out for that.

"Nina? As in Nina Keetog?" Shiki cut off the trio's banter, as she already knew who this older woman was, but she didn't want to say anything definitively until she introduced herself.

"Ah... what have we got here?" The older woman glanced behind Amadeus. "Racking up the ladies, aintcha, Amadeus?" She playfully hit the detective's arm.

"Nina..." Amadeus was afraid of this happening.

Makoto just giggled at the joke.

"Nah, I'm joking!" The older woman gave an infectious chuckle. "Anyway..." She walked to Rika and Shiki. "Your Amadeus' assistants, huh? You can call me Nina Keetog! At your service!" She playfully tapped her cane against the ground. "I'm also the Former Ultimate Magician, but I'm sure you knew that."

"Yeah. We did." Shiki never expected Nina Keetog to be so... lively? Is that the right word? Well, it did kind of make sense.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Keetog!" Rika eagerly shook her hand. "As you said, we are Mr. Katkea's assistants for this case! She's Shiki Okubo, and I'm Rika Sekiguchi!"

"Shiki and Rika? You seem like nice girls!" Nina nodded in approval. "Ultimates, right?" She used her cane as a pointer and pointed at the girls.

Sensing what was coming, Shiki knew she had to speak first. "Yes, we are. I'm the Ultimate Digital Archivist, and Rika is the Ultimate Mystery Novelist. That's her talent. Not anything else."

"Huh? Shiki?" Rika frowned.

"Rika claims she's the Ultimate Detective, but she's actually the Ultimate Mystery Novelist." Shiki had enough of the gag.

"I see!" Nina chuckled.

"I don't think that was necessary, Shiki! I just like letting people know my skills!" Rika pouted, but it was clear she wasn't actually offended.

"She's right on that. She does have the skills." Amadeus backed up that notion.

"Is that so? Good then!" Nina tapped her cane against the ground. "Maybe you can help me figure out what's going on with the suspect."

"The suspect?" Makoto almost forgot the main reason they all went in there.

On cue, the group of five turned to face the handcuffed girl. And on the face of the handcuffed girl... it was pure amazement.

"Oh my gosh!" Her eyes widened. "Amadeus Katkea?! Makoto Omati?! Rika Sekiguchi?! ...Other girl?! I must be dreaming!" She seemed star-struck over most of the people in the room.

"Other girl?" Shiki wasn't offended, she was just confused.

"Oh, sorry! You're probably amazing! But I don't think I recognize you!" The suspect seemed genuinely sorry.

"...It's fine?" This was already a bit much for Shiki.

"But wow! The Former Ultimate Detective, the Former Ultimate Child Caregiver, and the Ultimate Mystery Novelist are all here?! I must be in nirvana! This is amazing!" She tried to scootch forward toward the celebrities in the room, but her chair didn't allow that.

"Slow down." Rika glared at the suspect, a look of boredom spread across her face. "Tell us your name before anything else."

"My name? My name?!" The suspect seemed amazed that these gods in front of her would ask little ol' her for her name! What a world!

"Yes dear... your name." Makoto had dealt with strange and weird types before... but this girl was a lot.

"Seems the officer at the entrance wasn't lying..." Amadeus muttered.

"Right! My name! Okay!" The suspect took a few deep breaths. "I'm Morticia Kalākaua Slaughter! And I know I'm not in the slightest on your level, but I'm an Ultimate too! The Ultimate Butcher! It's... it's transcendent to meet all four of you!"

"Morticia... Slaughter?" Shiki blinked.

"Quite the name you've got there..." Makoto hadn't heard her name yet... so this was her first reaction to it.

"Really? Thank you! Thank you so much!" Morticia showed her shark-like teeth as she grinned. "And also, if you want to, you can just call me Morty! Only if you want to though! Do you?"

"I think we'll stick to Morticia, darling." Nina sighed.

"Morticia Slaughter..." Amadeus jotted down some notes.

"Yes? Do you need something from me, Amadeus Katkea? Do you?" Morticia whipped out the full name.

"Uh... Amadeus is fine. That extends to you too, Shiki and Rika." Amadeus extended the first-name privileges.

"Oh? Okay." Shiki was fine with that.

"..." And Rika, seeming still fairly bored, took a step back. She wanted to see what Amadeus was going to do here.

"That's such a privilege... but if you say so, Amadeus!" Morticia frantically nodded her head.

"Right..." Amadeus felt like he'd have to be careful with what exactly he said around this girl. "So... Morticia-"

"Yes?" At a blindingly fast speed, Morticia leaned forward in her chair.

"Uh... let's get down to business." Amadeus was just gonna have to get used to the girl's mannerisms. "I'm not sure what the police have asked you yet, so forgive me if I retread the same questions. With that out of the way... tell me." He grabbed a nearby chair and sat down. "Tell me why you're here."

"Okay!" Morticia frantically nodded her head again. "So as you can tell, I'm not Japanese! I'm Hawaiian!" She motioned to her lei necklace.

"That's a pretty necklace!" Now that she pointed it out, Makoto couldn't help but admire it.

"Thank you thank you!" Morticia almost melted after getting praise from the Makoto Omati.

"So you're Hawaiian... why are you in Japan then?" Shiki took a little initiative.

"Bessie B. Blossom! That's why!" Morticia immediately revealed.

"Okay..." Nina was a little sussed out by that answer. "Awfully weird reason you got there..."

"How is Bessie B. Blossom of all people your reason? And, as of a couple of hours ago, Bessie is dead. She was a robot." Shiki was curious to see where this was going.

"Oh, I know! I saw what Pheme posted! It was everywhere! Isn't it so sad?! Poor Bessie! And poor Aelia! Oh... it should've been me!" Morticia seemed to over-exaggerate her sadness about this, but she tends to over-exaggerate most things she says anyway.

"Pheme?" Rika narrowed her eyes. "You're on the same train of thought that the lady in white is Pheme?"

"Yes yes! I am!" Morticia gave a toothy grin. "I used to be a fan of hers, before what happened to her. I'm not a fan anymore..." Her devotion to celebrities could only go so far. "But I know! That lady had to be Pheme! It has to be!"

"But... Pheme is..." This was starting to make Makoto's head hurt.

"Nah, enough about Pheme!" Nina tapped her cane against the ground. "That goddess is its own can of worms. Let's worry about Bessie for now."

"Oh! That's right! I'm sorry Nina Keetog!" Morticia kept with the full name.

"Uh... Nina is fine. First names are fine, sweetie." Nina sighed.

"Okay! If you insist, Nina!" That only served to stoke Morticia's metaphorical flame. "But okay! A couple of months ago, I purchased a ticket for one of Bessie's shows here! I mean, who wouldn't want to the the Bessie B. Blossom live in show?! That voice, that body, her everything, oh she's so amazing! So much better than I could ever hope to achieve!"

"I wouldn't word it like that..." Shiki couldn't believe the self-esteem of this girl. "But you wanted to go see one of her shows? Stay on topic please."

"Yes! I'm sorry Shiki!" Again, she probably wasn't purposely trying to break out of her cuffs, but how she was acting caused some officers to come up behind her and hold her chair down. "So I got the ticket! And I patiently waited for my chance to go to Japan to see her! My stepdad was kind enough to let me take a break from our family business so I could go!"

"Stepdad?" Makoto tilted her head.

"Roderick Slaughter! I sunk my teeth into his business when I was young, and that's how I became a butcher! But that's not the important shark here!" Morticia kept up with the shark references. "Right when I was ready to go, I heard Bessie got snatched!" She bit at the air in anger. "The show was canceled, but I went here anyway! I was supposed to be back home by now, but I stuck around to find out what happened! I'm not a scalloped hammerhead shark, but I did some investigating!"

That seemed to catch Rika's attention slightly. "Investigating?" She still seemed very bored with this girl.

"Yes, Rika! Investigating!" Morticia frantically nodded her head. "I eventually found myself here, because I wanted to meet Ryuji Yamamoto! So, as you do, I broke in here to ask him questions! But when I did break in, I found him dead!"

"You... broke in?" Amadeus narrowed his eyes as he pointed the pen he was using at this strange suspect.

Morticia quickly leaned in to sniff the pen Amadeus was using. "So good..."

...

None of the five knew what to say to that, so they didn't say anything. Amadeus took his pen away though.

"Aw..." Morticia muttered. "But uh- I actually wouldn't say I broke in! The maintenance entrance was unlocked and wide open, so I used that!"

"It was wide open?" Rika's apathetic attitude towards the suspect was starting to thaw. "Interesting..."

"Okay. What else?" Shiki knew that they still needed more.

"Well Shiki, after I went in, I just found my way up here like normal! That's when I found the bodies!" Morticia recounted while grinning, for whatever reason. "A couple minutes after that, the police found me standing up here! Then I got chained up!"

"So... you're not the killer then?" Rika seemed annoyed. "Guys, why'd you arrest her?"

The officers didn't expect to be called out. "Well, she was already here when we first arrived! It was only logical!" One of the officers spoke up.

"Rika... they aren't in the wrong for detaining her." Amadeus didn't want to antagonize the officers here. "But I see what you're saying. If Morticia's story is right, it should be easy to prove that."

"So, what? You wanna let the little shark go?" Nina wasn't sure if she was on board with that.

"Maybe not let her go..." Amadeus knew she was still a suspect here. "But let her investigate with us."

"You want me to... WHAT?!" Morticia looked like she had just died and gone to heaven. "You want me to investigate with the Amadeus Katkea?! Nononononono... I don't deserve that honor!"

"Mr. Katkea... sir..." The officers didn't expect to hear that.

"I think Amadeus is right!" Rika supported her partner with a pat on his back. "It's too coincidental and circumstantial! I don't think she needs to be locked up! Not to mention, it's way too easy."

"Life isn't a mystery novel." Shiki didn't think cliches should be applied to real life. "But I don't think she did it either."

"A whole lot of blind belief here..." The officers didn't really get the logic here. "But... okay?" It's not like they could refuse a demand from Amadeus anyway.

"Thank you." Makoto smiled. "We'll watch her. Besides, she likely knows more than we do about the building."

"We've got men surrounding the building anyway..." The officer kept trying to justify this to himself as he slowly unlocked Morticia's cuffs.

The butcher didn't say anything as freedom soon approached her. She just sat there, a look of disbelief on her face.

...

...

...

After a few seconds... the cuffs were off. Morticia slowly stood up.

Amadeus nodded before addressing the butcher. "Alright. Morticia, let's-"

*SNIFF*

In a blinding flash, Morticia, using her freedom to the fullest, leaped forward and took a deep sniff of Amadeus. "Oh... you smell so good!"

"Uh..." Amadeus didn't know how to react.

"Did you just... sniff him?" Shiki widened her eyes.

"Hey." Showing off rather quick reflexes, Makoto ran up, grabbed Morticia, and dragged her away. "Morticia, sweetie, we don't sniff people." She showed off some of those child-caregiving skills. Wow. She's a much better child caregiver than Yukihiko- *boom*

"Oh! Sorry!" In her own show of quick reflexes, Morticia broke out of Makoto's grip and bowed her entire body. "I just couldn't help it!"

"Apology... accepted?" Amadeus still didn't how to react.

"Really? Okay! I'm glad!" Morticia ran up and gave Amadeus a drive-by hug, before going and pulling something off of Rika.

"Ow!" Rika yelped. "What was that for?"

"Got it! A strand of Kira's hair!" Morticia pocketed a single strand of Rika's hair.

"Honey..." Nina slowly shook her head.

"Having second thoughts, Amadeus?" Makoto chuckled nervously.

"No... I don't think so. I think that was the right move." Amadeus upheld his belief.

"Good... I think so too." Makoto agreed.

"I'm not sure I agree... but I'm just grateful she doesn't know me." Shiki sighed. If Rika's touch was enough to make her blush, she didn't even want to imagine Morticia getting all up in her personal space.

"Alright... Morticia." Rika didn't want to press this any further, so she just decided to take the hair loss. "We've got a job to do! We believe you're innocent, so we ask that you help us prove that! Are you with us?" She held out her hand.

"I..." Morticia froze up for a second. An object of her admiration unironically asking for her aid like this... felt unreal. She thought the offer to investigate with them was a joke... but here she was. "Right... I don't know how useful I'll be. I might be a bit of a dumb gulper shark... but I'm with you!" She vigorously shook Rika's hand, but not without going in for a quick sniff.

"Good! I-I'm glad!" Rika got a little thrown off after having to deal with the fanatic in front of her sniffing her. She understood how her official partner felt now.

"Okay... I don't want to waste more time." Talking with Morticia proved to take longer than Amadeus expected. "We've come here to investigate Ryuji Yamamoto and to see if this connects to the apparent Killing Game going on."

"You think it's a Killing Game too then?" The thought had crossed Nina's mind before, but she didn't like acknowledging it.

"Yes. I do." Amadeus solemnly nodded. "But let's just focus on investigating for now. There'll be time for thorough theories later."

"Sounds good! Now, let's divide and conquer! Er have a lot of ground to cover! And it's about time Rise Kikichi gets down to business!" Rika set her hands on her hips as she took charge.

"If we're going to split up, I'd like to take Yamamoto's office." Shiki volunteered. "And... perhaps Morticia should go with me. I'd like to investigate with her." She didn't particularly want to investigate with the girl, but she reasoned it'd be better for the butcher to be with an Ultimate that she's apparently not familiar with.

"Okay! Works for me!" Morticia was just happy and honored to be doing this.

"If you're sure, Shiki. Then go for it." Amadeus wasn't ever going to feel fully comfortable with this, but he tried not to think too hard about it.

"I'm sure. I'll be okay." Shiki was as resolute as she could be. "Let's go, Morticia." She just wanted to get this done with. Like ripping off a bandage.

"Oh, if you say so!" Morticia moved like a shortfin mako shark over to Shiki. She went in for a quick chomp, but she got deflected by a glare from Makoto.

"Let's go, girls." Makoto wasn't about to let them investigate unsupervised. And she knew someone a little more... able than Shiki should be watching Morticia. "Amadeus, we'll handle Yamamoto's body. You, Nina, and Rika can handle the other four bodies."

"Let's do it." Nina was fine with that.

"Finally! It's time to solve this case!" Rika said all suave-like as she left the room.

"I suppose it is." Amadeus hadn't had to investigate a murder for a long time... but he could do it. He just had to stay confident. So he and Nina went and quickly joined up with Rika.

"With them gone, that means we need to get to work. C'mon, girls." Makoto took a leadership role as she guided the girls over to the main crime scene.

---

[Wax Ember XLV - Yamamoto's Office]

"That... smell..." Morticia felt light she got punched in the face as she entered Yamamoto's office. "It's so strong..."

"I'm lucky I have my mask on." Shiki's mask luckily blocked off a lot of the smell. But... she could definitely still smell some of it.

"Just... be careful, girls." Makoto, the kind caretaker she is, wanted to go first into the room. From being with Amadeus, this certainly wasn't her first rodeo with this sort of situation. She wanted to take the lead here. "Where even... ah."

As soon as the girls turned to the left after entering... they saw it. The body of Ryuji Yamamoto... lying there. Lifeless.

None of them had a big reaction to it. Makoto had a blank look... Shiki had a blank look... and Morticia did too. "This isn't my first time seeing it... since I discovered it. Heh." The butcher chuckled, seeming a little serious for once.

"That explains your reaction then." Makoto was trying to get a read on these girls. "What about you, Shiki? How are you feeling?"

"I... I'm fine." Shiki shook her head. "I chose to be here of my own free will. And I'm not going to falter."

Makoto wasn't sure if she fully believed that. "If you say so." But she chose to go with it for now. "Okay. Let's not waste any more time then. There... aren't actually any police in here, so that means we have more freedom to move around. Be careful. Stay aware. Got it?"

"Got it." Shiki nodded.

"I love it when you talk with authority like that! It's amazing!" Morticia's eyes lit up.

"...Alright." Makoto, despite her talent, still had no idea how to approach Morticia in the right way.

"I'll focus on the non-body stuff." Shiki looked around. "Investigating the body feels like it's more something that's your guys' cup of tea." Without waiting for a response, she walked off to a different part of the room.

"Wow! Shiki Okubo is such a coolheaded yet abrasive girl! Just like a frilled shark! I need to learn more about her!" Morticia's one moment of seriousness seems to have evaporated.

Makoto was still a little concerned about Shiki... but it was one thing at a time here. "Morticia. Let's see if we can prove your innocence here. Would you like to help me?" She bent down closer to Ryuji's body.

"I'd love to!" Morticia still didn't think she deserved to be investigating with this amazing group, but she tried to not think too hard about that. So she bent down with the former child caregiver. And as she did, the sheer smell emanating from Ryuji's body only got worse. "Ugh..." She covered her nose and mouth with her hand.

"Morticia? If this is too much..." Makoto would've been fine with her staying back.

"No... no... I'm fine!" Morticia frantically shook her head. "It's just... ever since I was young, my sense of smell was very sensitive. This is... a lot. I don't really like strong smells."

"I understand." Makoto gently nodded. "Again, you can-"

"No! I'm not going to waste the chance to investigate a dead body with the Makoto Omati! So I'm staying!" Morticia stood firm. "I'd have to be crazy to back out now!" She also needed to find evidence that she was innocent here, but that wasn't even at the forefront of her mind right now.

"Morticia..." Makoto sighed. These girls... "So be it. I won't stop you."

"Great! Thank you! Thank you thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!" Morticia flashed her sharp teeth as she grinned.

"One "thank you" is more than enough." Makoto didn't like being overly praised. "Let's finally get to business though." She felt like she's had to say a variation of that line a lot in the last hour. So without waiting for another comment from Morticia, she got right to it.

"You know..." Morticia was still going to comment anyway. "This smell is obviously blood! And..." She looked over Ryuji's body. "He's covered in it."

"Acting like a shark are you?" Makoto giggled. "But you're right. His neck was slit open. A considerable amount of blood must've poured out."

"Yeah..." Morticia watched as Makoto actively used her hands to inspect his body. "The killer must've used an impressive knife to do that! Like the teeth of a tiger shark!"

"That's... right. Good eye." Makoto probably should've expected the butcher to have good knowledge of knifes. "This killer definitely used a blade designed for killing. No ordinary kitchen knife."

Morticia was still melting over being complimented by the Makoto Omati, but she tried to stay on track. "I agree. Along with that, the killer took a chomp out of his eyes! Even I wouldn't bite there!"

Makoto chuckled in disbelief at that answer. "I don't think the killer ate his eyes." There's probably an AI: Somnium Files joke in there somewhere.

"It was a joke! Just a little porbeagle shark humor!" Morticia referenced another type of shark. "The killer clearly stabbed his eyes out. Maybe in butchery you can do that! But to a human? No thanks! Butchers have standards!"

"I'm glad to see your proud of your profession, Morticia." Makoto was glad this crazy girl wasn't just all praising celebrities.

"Mm hm! They call me the "Queen of the Cut" back home!" Morticia nodded proudly. "I know I don't have the right to ask this of you, but I'd love if you could visit Kāmohoaliʻi Palice eventually, Makoto!"

"That's the restaurant you work at? I feel like I might've heard of it before. Hm... perhaps another time. Because..." Makoto slowly stood up. "I think that's all Yamamoto's body will offer us."

"Mm..." Morticia narrowed her eyes as she looked over the body once more. "His eyes are gone... his throat was slit... hm. An efficient death, with a touch of cruelty at the end! Our killer is like a bull shark!" She stood up too.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" Makoto knew that Amadeus was a bit more capable when it came to theorizing, but that didn't mean she couldn't try and theorize too. "If Yamamoto was assassinated, or if a hitman was called on him, it'd be a simple and efficient death. And judging by his throat being slit, that is what happened. But I don't understand why his eyes are missing."

Morticia held herself back from making another shark joke here. "Maybe the killer is just cruel? Maybe his eyes are with the other eyes other there?" She gave a few ideas from her worthless mind.

"Maybe... maybe... wait what?" Makoto kept trying to think about this as she turned to where Morticia was pointing. And as the butcher said, close to where Ryuji's body was. There were about ten eyeballs and two severed hands laying there. "Oh... my god." She didn't know what to say.

Morticia took a few steps over to the eyeballs. "Hm... yep. Here they are!" She picked up two of the eyeballs with her bare hands. "Yellow eyes! These are Mr. Yamamoto's! For sure!"

"I'm impressed you know his eye color..." Makoto probably should've expected that. "But I'd put those down now."

"At you say!" Like she was her servant, Morticia immediately set the eyeballs down.

"But wow..." Makoto just didn't want the young girl handling this. So she bent down and inspected them herself. "Something this gruesome and inhumane almost calls to mind a serial killer. Since there's ten eyes, I wonder if the other victims had their eyes gouged out."

"If they're going for eyeballs, why the severed hands?" Morticia asked the superior woman a valid question.

"Hm... it might be as you say, Morticia. Perhaps the killer is simply cruel. We'd have to see the other victims to be sure... but this feels like simple cruelty. No fancy MO or purpose... just suffering." Makoto shuddered a little.

Morticia was trying her best not to freak out at the fact that the Makoto Omati thinks her idea could be right. "That's... messed up!" But she knew she had to be serious here. "I know that Ryuji Yamamoto was an evil scumbag... but jeez!"

"Scumbag... ah! Right!" Makoto pulled out her phone. "I nearly forgot about the lady in white who exposed all of his crimes..." Since it was currently trending around literally the entire world, it was easy to pull up.

Morticia took out her own phone, which the police didn't even confiscate, and did the same. "I was and still am a major super big fan of Bessie... but I hate that her manager and father was so evil to her! Gods like Bessie shouldn't be abused like that!"

"Calling her a god is... a little much." Makoto didn't even know how to counter that one. "But I'm glad you brought this up. The fact that the one who abused Bessie throughout her life ends up dead right after Bessie herself falls victim to a Killing Game..."

"That's not a coincidence! This killer must be targeting the families of the people who die in that Killing Game! The gall of them! Both Pheme and the killer! How dare they both go after celebrities like this! They don't have the right!" Morticia needed to rant about that.

Makoto didn't have the exact same passion as Morticia about specifically celebrities, but she knew what she meant. "That's a strong possibility. The fact that they're targeting the family of people who die in this Killing Game. But we still don't have enough evidence for that. We'll keep in mind though. Good idea, Morticia."

You'd think that Makoto would learn that complimenting Morticia isn't the smartest idea, but nope. She hasn't learned. Morticia proceeded to metaphorically explode at the fact that the Makoto Omati just complimented her. This day has been an amazing roller coaster for the butcher.

Makoto watched Morticia metaphorically explode with narrowed eyes. "...Let's move on."

...

...

...

After Shiki split off, she tried her best to ignore the pile of eyeballs and hands on the floor as she stepped over them, and went right to Ryuji Yamamoto's computer. This here was the main reason she even wanted to go here in the first place. This treasure trove right here. She didn't know if she had proper permission to do something like this, but she didn't care.

Shiki sat down in Ryuji's chair, got through the password pretty easily, and started to search around. The bulk of the information on there was obviously for Wax Ember XLV. She found a lot of information pertaining to Bessie... but it was all things that the lady in white had revealed in that video. But... she did find some things relating to Aimi Sonohara, the Former Ultimate Roboticist and Bessie's "mother." Ryuji had apparently been constantly trying to contact her ever since Bessie's initial disappearance. He figured out that she's still in Japan, but that's all. Hm...

Shiki took out her phone and shot a quick text to her roommate, Yoshino Fukuhara.

Hey, can you see if you can find information on Aimi Sonohara? Also, any updates on Alpha's uncle?

Alpha's uncle, another Former Ultimate, was a possible person of interest they were trying to find. He's apparently in Japan, so they were hoping they could question him. Though getting in contact with a Mob Boss is easier said than done. So she sent the text, then got back to searching around.

She wasn't planning on committing fraud today, but she was a little curious about Ryuji's financial situation. After some more digging, she found out that the guy had apparently been donating large sums of money to a place called... oh. He was donatingthere? Shiki deemed that important, but not important enough for the readers just yet.

Besides for those donations, his financial situation seemed relatively normal. Ryuji definitely had been giving hush money to people who might've known the truth about Bessie and her sister, but that's all a waste now.

Next, she dug into his emails. It was mostly normal... until she found a peculiar email Ryuji had made to a place called... "I k-knew it... Ikezawa." She shakily muttered. "That bastard..." Shiki brought out a USB she had on her, and plugged it into the computer. She copied that email onto it, then took it out. She didn't want to dig too deep here. She'd wait until she's home to do any more.

"Hey Shiki!" Morticia rose up from the abyss behind the chair Shiki was sitting in and chomped at her shoulder.

"Ah!" Shiki let out a squeal as she jumped up from her chair. "W-What was that for?!" That certianly threw her off.

"Morticia. No. We don't bite people." Makoto scolded her as she held the butcher.

"Sorry!" Was Morticia actually sorry? It's hard to say.

"Sorry about her, Shiki." Makoto sighed. "We came over here to see what you've found. You were investigating his computer?"

"Y-Yes... I was. And it's fine." Shiki just had to get used to girls who didn't like personal boundaries. "I found a few things, but nothing that leads to a killer."

"How about you enlighten us anyway?" Makoto still wanted to hear.

"Sure." Shiki had no problems with that. "Yamamoto had been trying get in contact with Aimi Sonohara. She's been MIA for a while, but he seemed to have figured out that she's definitely somewhere in Japan."

"Aimi Sonohara?! The Former Ultimate Roboticist? Bessie B. Blossom's "mother"?" Makes sense Morticia would know who she is.

"Yeah. That's who she is." Shiki didn't think it was necessary to spout her titles like that. "Not sure if he thought she was involved, but he was trying to find her. I'm having a hacker friend of mine look into it."

"Hacker friend? An Ultimate Hacker? Could that be Yoshino Fukuhara?" Makes a little less sense that Morticia knew who Shiki was referring to.

"You know Yoshino but not me?" Shiki never usually got upset over things like this, but this kind of got her, considering the type of person Morticia is.

"Well... I knew you! I did!" Morticia tried to reassure her. "But I knew you through your sister, Shiori-"

"Stop talking." Shiki didn't want to hear that right now. Of course this girl would know Shiori. Ugh... "Makoto, I'll tell you what else I found." She moved right along from that topic.

Makoto made a mental note of Shiki's sister being a sensitive topic for her. But it was clear she didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't push it. "Alright. What else did you find?"

"Yamamoto had been making large donations to..." Shiki opted to just show the other two girls the computer screen itself, to make sure the readers still don't know what they're talking about.

"To there?!" Morticia had a fairly big reaction. "That's suspicious! But it's also an amazing find, Shiki! You're like a mako shark!"

"...Thanks." Shiki chose to believe that being called a "mako shark" was a compliment.

"That is concerning..." Makoto looked over Shiki's findings. "That can't be a coincidence. That has to have some sort of relevance. Maybe not even to his death... but to the Killing Game."

"You think it's connected to the Killing Game? How?" That hadn't crossed Shiki's mind.

"...Just thinking out loud." Makoto shook her head. She saw no reason in expanding upon that thought right now. "Anyway, what else?"

"...There wasn't anything else." Shiki lied.

"Really? Nothing else?" Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Nothing else. That was all." Shiki kept lying. She was confident that those emails aren't relevant to his murder, so she decided to keep them to herself for now.

"...Alright! If you say so." Through her experience with children, Makoto developed a certain sense to tell when people are lying. It's not perfect, and she didn't particularly like it, but she had it. It was telling her that Shiki was hiding something here. But again, she'd leave that for another time.

"That's valuable anyway, Shiki! You're amazing! Permission to sniff you?" Of course Morticia immediately believed her.

"Permission denied." Shiki shook her head. At least she asked for consent this time.

"Aw..." Morticia pouted. "But wait! Let me tell you what we found on Ryuji Yamamoto's body!" She used that as a plea for a sniff.

But without waiting for consent this time, Morticia explained what her and Makoto found on Ryuji's body.

"Gruesome..." Shiki shuddered a little... before a thought came to her. "Question. Is there an estimated TOD on Yamamoto?"

"I'll go see!" Morticia broke the sound barrier as she ran out of the room to go check.

"...Why do you ask, Shiki?" Makoto obviously had gripes about Morticia, but she actually chuckled a little at that.

"I'm wondering if it directly correlates to when the lady in white released those pictures and videos." Shiki tried to find when they were released on her phone. "...Ah. Noon."

"That's an interesting theory, Shiki." Makoto checked the clock that was up in that office. "It's roughly 2 PM right now. So let's see what Morticia says when she gets-"

"12:02 PM! That's the time of death!" Morticia ran back into the room, attempted to get in a drive- by sniff on Makoto, but the former child caregiver stopped her with ease, preventing the drive by from happening. "Thank you, Morticia." She held her arm around the butcher's waist, and moved her away.

"You're welcome! Grab me again!" Morticia didn't hate being handled by a woman like Makoto like that.

"12:02... two minutes after those videos..." Shiki got right back on track. "That can't be a coincidence."

"I agree. Let's be sure to bring that up with Amadeus and Rika." You know, the actual detectives. "Now, I wonder if-" Makoto started to look around the room, just to see if there was anything they missed. But when she started to look around again...

*SNIFF*

She saw Morticia sniffing the wall. Yep. The wall.

"I don't think the wall is a celebrity." Shiki crossed her arms.

"What... are you doing, Morticia?" Makoto was unfazed at this point.

"There's something strange here!" Morticia pointed at a portion of the wall to the right of Ryuji's desk, then took another sniff of it. "Yeah! Definitely something strange here!" She them whipped a knife out of nowhere, then went to town on the wall like it owed her money.

"Morticia!" Almost like she was moving at the speed of light, Makoto rushed over to the butcher and wrested the knife out of her hands. But... it was too late.

Morticia attacking the wall had revealed a secret passage behind it. "Can you yell my name again?" The butcher didn't even react to her find.

"...Oh my god." Shiki blinked.

Makoto slowly pocketed the knife she took. She didn't care that it wasn't hers. She just didn't want Morticia running around with it. "...Good find, Morticia." Like usual, she didn't know the right thing to say here.

"I... think we're done here." Shika had gotten the main thing she wanted, so she was satisfied. "Let's go in."

"Yes, lets. C'mon, girls." Makoto took the lead as she walked into the secret passage, with Shiki and a surprisingly quiet Morticia right behind her.

...

...

...

---

[Wax Ember XLV - Main Building]

"Amadeus! Nina! Rika!" Makoto, followed closely behind by Morticia and Shiki, ran to join back up with the other half of their group.

"Woah! Everyone!" Rika jumped up a bit from her kneeling position. "What's up?"

"I'd assume you're here to share info..." Nina used her cane to point at Makoto. "Some valuable info. I guess right?"

"If you are, this is perfect timing." Amadeus pocketed some gloves he had on. "We have just about finished up our own investigation."

"How did it go?" Shiki was curious. Can you blame her?

"The investigation of the four victims, Ryotaro Akasuko, Mizuki Shiho, Akifumi Eiko, and Hifumi Hongen... didn't amount to much!" Rika was forced to admit. "All of their necks were slit... and they all were missing their eyeballs!"

"It wasn't pleasant, lemme tell ya." Nina hoped she wouldn't have to witness anything like that ever again.

"Hifumi Hongen, Yamamoto's secretary, was also missing his hands." Amadeus made sure to point out. "That's... essentially all we found. We couldn't determine a point of entry for the killer... though it's fascinating that these four died in similar ways."

"Right! It's safe to say that these four were killed by the same person!" Rika proudly declared. "Your average psycho doesn't change up their MO all willy-nilly! And our culprit has to be your average and cruel psycho!"

"Enough about that though..." Nina tapped her cane against the ground. "Morticia? How about it? Can your innocence be proved?"

"You're asking me? I'm honored!" Morticia took some frantic and deep breaths. "Okay! If that's what you want, I'll tell you what we found!" She then explained what had happened in the last scene, but off screen.

...

"Oh! I think I see the picture!" Rika nodded along as a minigame featuring a comic book with panels you have to insert in appeared in her mind. "The killer killed the four victims, took their eyes and the hands, the before they killed Yamamoto, they brought out her plunder and taunted their victim with it!"

...

"Is that all you have?" Shiki expected a little more.

"...At the moment!" Rika knew she was missing some panels for her comic book.

"That's alright, Rika." Makoto giggled. "That seems likely to me anyway."

Rika tilted and knocked on her head, then blepped her tongue, showing some sheepish embarrassment.

"Huh... we got plenty puzzle pieces, but we still need more!" Nina frowned. "We still don't got the killer's route."

"Nina, did you not see where we came into this hallway from?" Shiki pointed to the wall behind the former magician.

"Huh?" Nina apparently didn't see where they entered from, and neither did Amadeus or Rika as all three turned around.

When they did, they saw a hole in the wall. "Care to enlighten us?" Rika was immediately curious.

"Morticia found a secret passage in the walls of Yamamoto's office." Shiki enlightened them. "The passage led to two places. First was directly outside the office. So, where we see right now."

"Second was the maintenance entrance Morticia claimed to have used." Makoto took over.

"Fascinating..." Amadeus began to note this down.

"Ah ha!" More panels of the comic book started to appear in Rika's mind. "Considering the maintenance entrance was wide open, that must've been the killer's point of entry! They then used it to sneak into this here hallway, where they killed the security and secretary, then they moved back into Yamamoto's office, and killed him!" She filled in a lot more of the metaphorical comic book.

"I fully agree with that, Rika." Amadeus approved of his partner's answer. "I think that secret passage helps paint a lot of this case's picture. Do we... hold on. Officer?" He waved over one of the patrolling officers. "I can't believe I never asked this, but what's the status on the security cameras? Have you uncovered anything?"

"Oh right! I'm glad you brought that up! Where is..." The officer needed a second to find Morticia within this group of six. "Morticia Slaughter! As of now, you're free to go. You technically trespassed by coming in here initially, but we're going to sweep that under the rug. You're good to go."

"Really?!" Morticia half-forgot that she was technically detained right now. She was jusy enjoying investigating with these gods among men.

"Did the security footage prove her innocence?" Rika was hoping that was the case. She'd hate if the easy answer was the right one here.

"Yep." The officer nodded. "The testimony she gave was the truth. The security cameras proved it. We finally got to check them a few minutes ago.

"I'm glad I chose to believe in the right person." Amadeus smirked as he patted Morticia on her back.

"Yes. I'm glad too." Makoto may have mixed opinions on Morticia, but she was still glad the girl was innocent.

"Oh... Amadeus! Makoto!" Morticia felt astronomically flattered right now. She didn't know what to say.

"That's nice and all... but what about the killer?" Shiki didn't have time for emotions.

"Yes... is my theory correct?" Rika was confident it was, but she still needed to know.

"Uh... about that." The officer pulled out a phone. "The security camera feed for Morticia was perfectly clear... but..."

"What's the but for?" Nina raised an eyebrow.

"All the security camera feed about 10 minutes prior to Morticia entering... it's gone." The officer revealed.

Rika blinked. "It's... gone?"

"Please... elaborate." Amadeus had a feeling something like this would happen.

"Well... all of the security feed right around the TOD is gone. The video data has been deleted, wiped, or something similar. We're trying to recover it, but it ain't easy." The officer sighed.

"Someone deleted it... hm." Rika narrowed her eyes. "Given that the maintenance entrance was wide open... and given that the video data is missing... could the killer have an accomplice?"

"Amazing idea, Rika!" Morticia offered some exaggerated praise. "So, building off of your fantastic idea... the killer had someone on the inside of the building open the maintenance entrance for them, tell them about the secret passage, and delete security footage?"

"Huh... officer?" Amadeus started to think. "Have you started to interrogate all of the workers who could've in theory had this knowledge?"

"Uh... not yet... but we'll get on it right away sir!" The officer hurried off to go and do just that.

"Someone worked with the killer on this... that ain't a nice thought." Nina shuddered.

"Indeed. Scumbag or not, no one should deserve to die like that, much less have an employee seemingly help plot your death." He knew that not everyone would agree with his opinion, but Amadeus couldn't ever be "glad" that someone was dead.

"..." Rika stared at nothing for a moment, like she was thinking deeply about something. "...I don't like having an incomplete view on this case... but have we investigated everything already?"

"I think so." Shiki shrugged.

"We might call it here then." Amadeus noted a few more things down. "Given everything we know... I'm confident this is connected to the Killing Game in some capacity. Our next goal is figuring out how it's connected."

"Yep! And I'll be there with you!" Rika patted her partner on his back. "I'm not going to leave this mystery unsolved. Right, Shiki?" She grabbed the digital archivist's hand and pulled her a little closer. As a show of being united, of course!

Shiki didn't immediately realize that though, so she was stuck with a blush on her face as she got pulled over to the mystery novelist. "Right." She gave her best answer. When she woke up this morning, she didn't think she'd find herself working with Amadeus Katkea... but things happen.

"So... do you wish to continue working with me, Shiki? I don't have any problems with it... but for the sake of confirming." Amadeus wasn't ever going to like the idea if dragging around young girls to crime scene. Especially ones like Shiki, who don't even need to have any involvement with the case.

"I'd like to continue working with you." Shiki was straightforward. She admittedly was going to try and find a way to help out even if Amadeus explicitly didn't want her around.

"All I needed to hear." Amadeus nodded. If she was fine with it, who was he to deny her?

"Yeah! We'll make a great team, Shiki!" Rika pulled her a little closer, prompting more quiet and embrassed grumblings from the digital archivist.

"You'll always have us, of course." Makoto and Nina were Amadeus' original partners after all.

"We ain't going anywhere just because you've gotten some new models!" Nina heartily cackled.

"Yes yes... I know." Amadeus was happy to have those two in his corner. He also realized that his partners have constantly been women... but he tried to not think too hard about that.

"..." Morticia watched the group of five get along, with a sinking feeling in her chest. "It's been amazing to investigate with you all and meet you all! I'll... I'll get going!" She showed the slightest bit of self awareness. I mean, it's not like she even deserved the chance to be among absolute gods and titans like these five. She... didn't deserve it.

"If you're sure then. Will you be alright?" Given her natural instincts, Makoto was always going to be somewhat worried over Morticia. She considered offering her to at least let them help her get back to wherever she was staying, but...

"That's okay! I don't want to inconvenience you five anymore than I already have!" Morticia was torn between staying with them or leaving, but she was leaning towards the the latter. I mean, they probably had lots of important things to do! She didn't want to bother them anymore! Besides, she was planning on stalking them anyway! "Bye bye! I'm out of here like a thresher shark!" She then ran out of the place backwards, ensuring her eyes were on the group of five the whole time.

...

"I feel like that's not the last we're seeing of Morticia." Makoto said what was on everyone's minds.

"What a girl..." Her mannerisms reminded Nina of a certain someone to an extent.

"Eh. She's annoying." Shiki wouldn't be mad if she never saw that girl again.

"That's not very nice, Shiki!" Rika set her hands on her hips. She understood where Shiki was coming from though.

"In any case..." Amadeus wasn't going to fret over Morticia too much. "Let's leave for now. We have information that needs to be sorted through." The former detective took a step into the secret passage. "Let's leave through here. I'd like to check out the maintenance entrance myself."

"Sounds good to me!" Rika eagerly nodded. She wanted to check it out too.

"That's a plan then!" Nina twirled her cane around in her hands. "Let's go team!"

The group of five then went into the secret passage to quickly investigate it one more time...

...

...

...

---

[Wax Ember XLV - Outside]

But... they didn't find much of anything. So the group of five left. But not without finding something outside.

"Huh." Shiki looked down at the ground right outside of the maintenance entrance. "That's not from a bird." She picked up what found. "It's a purple feather."

"Oh?" Rika took the feather. "You're right. This isn't from any local birds. How strange!" She carefully pocketed the feather.

"Picking up feathers now, girls?" It didn't sound like Nina believed it to be important.

"You never know!" Rika was the type to consider anything and everything as evidence!

"Shiki? Can you come over here?" Amadeus called over the younger girl, clearly not caring about some silly feather that surely won't be important.

"What is it?" And Shiki chose to put the feather that surely won't be important in the long run out of her mind too.

"Do you have any updates on Alpha's uncle?" Amadeus brought back up something they discussed a few hours ago.

"Yes. I do." Shiki said without actually knowing if she had updates yet. She hadn't checked her phone since she texted Yoshino, so she checked it now. And luckily for her, she saw a notification that Yoshino had texted her back. She read the text.

Aimi Sonohara? I can try. She's a massive hikikomori though. And Alpha's uncle is heading to Osaka in a couple days. You could probably use Mr. "Katkea" to help you meet with him.

She read out the text to the group.

"In a couple of days? That's great! I'm confident we can get some useful clues from him!" Considering he was a not-so-secret mob boss, Rika was both nervous and excited to meet him.

"Awfully convenient! But that's alright!" To Nina, Alpha's uncle radiated suspicious vibes.

"Is that a plan then, Amadeus?" Makoto wanted to be sure to check with who was basically their leader. "Meeting up with Alpha's Uncle in a few days?"

"Ugh..." Amadeus groaned. "Yes... I suppose so. I should be able to reach out to him when he gets here."

"Why'd you groan, Amadeus?" Rika was aware that Amadeus and Alpha's uncle had some sort of history, due to them both being former ultimates.

"I owe him money..." Amadeus sighed.

Rika blinked. "Oh boy..."

"It'll be fine though! It'll help make sure he actually listens!" Amadeus chuckled nervously. It wasn't like it was a lot of money, but it's never not nerve wracking dealing with a mob boss.

"I may not be especially close with him, but Uncle isn't a bad guy." Makoto was confident on that.

"So you really just call him Uncle? That's actually real?" Shiki had heard bits and pieces about the guy, but she always assumed his name being "Uncle" was just a myth.

"Ol' Uncle does have a real name." Nina let her know. "Amadeus, Makoto and I know it. As do the rest of the former ultimates. But man wants it to be a secret. And hey, if I was a mob boss, I'd want my name to be a secret too! Ha ha!"

"I guess so!" Rika honestly wanted to know the real name of the guy. But perhaps that was something she had to investigate on her own time.

"Huh... okay." Shiki wasn't looking forward to calling a man "Uncle," but she'd just deal with it. "Anyway, if that's all, I'll take my leave." She still had that USB she needed to dig more into.

"Oh! Wait!" Without waiting for her consent, Rika gave Shiki her phone number. "So we can contact each other! If we're going to work together, it's important to share details and findings with each other, right?"

"R-Right..." With how much Shiki was blushing around Rika, she started to think this feeling in her chest might be a bit more than your usual embarrassment. She wasn't going to think about that right now though. "Okay. Let me know if you find anything out." Without another word, the digital archivist walked off.

"I think that's our cue too." Amadeus checked his phone. "I'll stay in contact with you, Rika. I'll let you know when I can arrange a meeting with Uncle."

"Sounds good!" Rika nodded in approval. "I'm excited to solve this mystery with you, Amadeus! We'll bring proper and righteous justice! I know we will!" She held out her hand.

"Heh..." Amadeus chuckled. "You're quite the confident girl, Rika. I'm glad to have your assistance here. It's very... reassuring." He held out his own hand, and shook the hand of his partner.

...

From there, the group of four parted ways for now, all of them eager to find out more about this mysterious case.

So over the coming days, they all worked hard and investigated hard... until it came time for their next meeting, a few days later.

---

[Themis Cafe]

After a few days had passed, the group of five all found themselves right outside of Themis Cafe, a small and cozy local cafe. It was fairly discreet... so that made it perfect for what was about to happen.

"Is he here?" Rika tried to subtly look through the window to the cafe.

"Yes. I see him." Shiki pointed to a man dressed in a black and grey suit. "That's "Uncle" for sure."

"Shiki is right. That's him." Makoto confirmed.

"He doesn't care that five people are going to be talking with him?" That part still confused Rika.

Nina shrugged. "He's a man who diligently follows his own interests. I wouldn't question it. Ain't worth the trouble."

"If you say so!" Rika shrugged as well.

"Then let's- hold on." Amadeus was ready to go in, but got stopped when he got a call on his phone. "Let me quickly answer this." He answered he call.

"...Oh." Amadeus looked through the window and saw Uncle on his phone, staring at the group of five. He hung up the phone. "Let's go in guys." He wasn't going to waste anymore time.

...

"Good to see you six made it! Little offended you thought to spy on me!" Uncle feigned being actually offended. He was currently sitting with both of his legs crossed and up on the table, sipping on some coffee. Truly, a man without a care in the world.

"Sorry..." Amadeus chuckled and scratched his head. "We were just... uh..." He struggled to come up with an excuse.

"For an Ultimate Detective, you ain't too subtle, are you?" Uncle sipped on his coffee. "You're fine though. You ain't the first people to spy on me before. I'm used to it." He shrugged.

"Excuse me... Uncle?" Rika still wasn't sure if she liked calling this random older man that name. "Going back to what you said earlier, why did you say six of us? It's just five."

"Oh? Heh." Uncle popped a small grin. "I'll tell you. But Amadeus needs to give me a little something before I can tell you all anything." He held out his hand.

"...Fine." Amadeus pulled out a wad of cash and gave it to Uncle. "Interest and all."

"I trust ya." Uncle happily pocketed the cash.

"Why did you owe him money anyway?" Shiki was curious.

"Payback for a favor." Amadeus didn't want to explain anything else.

"Feel free to call in another favor anytime. You're a good man, Amadeus." Uncle winked. "But back to the hat girl's question..."

"Hat girl?!" That was a first in terms of nicknames for Rika.

"I said six of you because of her." Uncle pointed to behind the group. "Shark girl. She's with you ain't she?"

"Shark girl?" Shiki titled her head as she turned around. And when she did...

"Chomp!" Morticia audibly said the word "chomp" as she went in for a bite of Shiki.

But it was to no avail, as Makoto parried the shark girl's chompers with a firm hand on her torso. "Morticia." She said firmly. "Did you follow us here?" It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

*DING*

"Yeah! I did!" Morticia saw no reason to deny it. "I just... wanted to see you five again!"

"Morticia, that's called stalking. That's a crime." Makoto never thought she have to scold someone about something like this.

"I know!" Morticia showed no remorse.

"But-" Makoto wanted to keep talking with the girl, but was cut off by a sudden whistle.

And it was Uncle who whistled at the girls. "Don't be too hard on the shark, Makoto. Let her join! Why not? After all, you check your phone? The more people we have to talk about this, the better!"

"The- what?" Makoto confusedly took out her phone. Her mind was still think about Morticia...

...

But Morticia became the least of her worries as she saw what Uncle was referring to.

Two photos had began spreading like wildfire across the internet, depsite it not even being a minute yet.

The first, and the one that was currently receiving more traction... "Shit!" Makoto muttered under her breath. The entire cafe was an eerie silence as everyone was on their phones. Everyone... was looking at a photo of... the body... of...

Genjiro Mashimoto. He had been severly beaten and stabbed, with his neck being twisted the wrong way too. Blood covered him and the surrounding area like a grotesque painting.

"That's... Genjiro?!"

"The Painkiller! No!"

"I loved that guy! The hell is this?!"

Voices started to pipe up from throughout the cafe. ...And they're only increase when they saw what else had been posted.

On a separate anonymous account, photos and videos featuring Genjiro Mashimoto had been released. In these videos... was his true nature.

Him beating his managers, verbally abused people, treating others like shit, talking about his fans behind their backs, him showing off his fame-hungry way... absolutely everything. The cafe turned into an uproar.

"What the hell?! What's this shit?!"

"Fake news! Someone is trying to slander Genjiro's name!"

"He's such a... scumbag! Why was I ever a fan of him?!"

"What's wrong with that guy?! What a horrible person!"

Our main group of six got a front row seat to Genjiro Mashimoto's career burning up before his dead eyes. None of them knew what to say. And what followed certainly didn't help...

The second photo released to the public... the one that hadn't obtained as much traction... it was of Adam Brooks. His body was covered in blood, with an absolute cacophony of holes covering the poor academic's body. It was a horrendous sight. People could be heard dry heaving throughout the cafe.

"Margot..." Uncle muttered, before shaking his head. No videos were released for the academic, it seems. No videos... yet.

"Heh... heh... heh." In the midst of everyone's panicking... Rika started to quietly chuckle to herself. "Well well... the case is getting even better!" She excitedly stood up. "If our theory is right...

...

...

...

"I wonder if our miserable and disgusting killer is currently making their next move?"

...

...

...

---

[Maxim Mansion]

"Oh wow... it's so huge!" A girl found herself walking up the steps to to a huge mansion. She drove through a rich neighborhood that was ripe with fancy houses to get here, but this took the cake, easily. It was almost intimidating to look at. But as she walked through the surprisingly unprotected front gate... she steeled herself for the job she was here for.

"I wasn't sure if this job was legit... but I guess it must be!" She walked through the front yard with greenery abound, around the fancy fountain, then up to the large double doors at the front of thr mansion. "Okay... deep breaths. Deep breaths!" The girl took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door a few times.

...

...

...

And it didn't take long for someone to answer!

"Hello?" A lady dressed in a maid outfit opened the door. "What business do you have here?" She asked politely yet firmly.

"H-Hi!" The girl kept on taking deep breaths. It was hard to contain her nerves. "I'm here for the tutoring job!"

"You... are the tutor?" The maid eyed the strange girl.

"Mm hm!" The girl nodded. "My name is Addison Kamio! I'm here to serve as a tutor for Mr. Kyle Maxim!" Addison showed off all of her very real tutoring supplies, to show off her very real intentions of helping the Maxim boy grow smarter.

"Oh... the tutor." The maid kept eyeing Addison up and down as she shook her hand. "I see. Come in." She opened the door and held it open for Addison.

"Thank you!" Addison could sense the maid was in a prickly mood, so she wanted to be careful about what she said.

"This way." The maid commanded with a deadpan tone as she led Addison through the mansion.

And if she thought it was fancy on the outside, she sure didn't expect how fancy it'd be on the inside. It was hard to describe... but it just radiated rich. Everywhere was so shiny, they had an insanely elaborate chandelier and lights up, there were shelves and cabinets all decked out with achievements and accomplishments of the Maxim family.

Addison kept observing everything she walked past as the maid finally led her to where her first tutor session would be taking place. The living room. Well, one of the many living rooms in this place.

It was a wide open room, featuring a c-shaped couch and a crazy big flatscreen TV. There were other things in the room of course, but those were the main attractions. And sitting on that couch... "Hey. Who's the hag?" A boy Addison presumed to be Kyle Maxim sat on the couch, eating a bag of chips while he did so.

Kyle was a young adult, perhaps in his early twenties. He was a bigger man as well, with his bright yellow eyes shining strong. His short white hair was very unkempt and greasy, perhaps indicating a lack of cleanliness. He wore a basic green shirt with black shorts as well. A very lazy-day outfit.

"Tutor, this is Mr. Maxim. Mr. Maxim, this is your new tutor." Ignoring the insult towards the new tutor, the maid introduced the two of them. "I will take my leave now."

"Okay! Thanks! Here's a little treat, on me!" Addison, in a show of gratitude, gave a small piece of candy to the maid.

"...Thank you." The maid popped the candy in her mouth and scuttled off.

With the maid taken care of... "Ah... hi!" Addison waved to who she was set to be tutoring. Despite that initial insult, she still aimed to be friendly. "You're Kyle, right? I'm Addison! It's nice to meet you!" She went up to the coffee table next to the couch and started to take out some of he tutoring materials.

"Ugh..." Kyle groaned as he continued to snack on some chips and look on his phone. "Whatever." He ignored her as he continued to browse his phone.

Hm... Addison had heard that the Maxim kid was a little lazy. She couldn't exactly blame him for acting how he is, considering what had happened in his family recently, but she was here for a reason! "So... should we get started? What subject?" She sat down on the carpeted floor and looked through her materials. "I got made aware that you were struggling in... calculus, right?"

"...Fucking..." Kyle muttered.

"I'm sorry? I didn't catch that." Addison tilted her head.

Kyle loudly groaned. "It's fucking stupid. All of it."

"...What do you mean?" Addison didn't expect to hear that.

"It's all the same with you tutors. Every single one." Kyle set his phone and chips down, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's not just tutors. It's the maids and servants too." He couldn't even count how many maids and butlers were technically in his employ. "It's the money. The fame. They just wanted to be close to the son of Kenneth Maxim."

Addison had to stop herself from laughing at this kid whining about being famous. "That so?" She got up off of the floor and sat next to him.

"Yeah..." Upon seeing her sit next to him, Kyle scooted a little closer to her. "It gets so... bleh. People taking these jobs for the hefty paycheck they'll get. And they get to say that they worked for the son of the Kenneth Maxim! It's fucking annoying. All of them are the same."

"Aw... I'm nothing like them!" Addison pouted. "I just wanted to help a kid in need! You've been struggling in school, haven't you?"

"Yeah... it's because it's the fucking same, even there." Kyle kept whining. "I get put into these high level classes that I don't even want to be in... just because someone of my "calibur" should be in them! And everyone there is a gold digger too. It's... annoying."

Addison could tell this kid was so full of shit. "Well... do you think some of them just care about you? After all, both your brother and father are missing..."

"Ha!" Kyle rolled his eyes. "Maybe you're half right. My bro, Howard, he was an Ultimate. And my dad, Kenneth, was a Former Ultimate. I think people just come to me because I'm the only source of fame left for the Maxims!"

"Oh... you poor thing." Addison set her hand on the whiner's shoulder. "Everyone is at least nice to you, right? And you are nice to everyone, yeah?"

Kyle stayed silent for a second... before chuckling. "Funny you say that... you wanna something cool?" He scooted a little closer to her.

"Oh? What's cool?" Addison had to endure being close to him for a little while longer... just to perpetuate the act.

"So... there was this kid at the school I went to. One of the only ones who didn't give a shit about me." Kyle kept chuckling as he thought back. "His name was Adam Brooks. He was a short little thing. Such a wimp!"

"Okay...?" Addison knew where this was going, but pretended like she didn't know.

"Hold on! I'm getting to the good part!" Kyle smirked. "So, naturally, as the only person there who didn't really give a fuck about who I was, I was curious about him, you know? So I went up and talked to the little shit, and you know what? He was fucking annoying! Go on and on about "logic" this and "theoretically" that. I socked that little guy in the mug immediately!"

Addison blinked. "You... punched him?"

"Damn right I did!" Kyle seemed proud. "Everyone started laughing too! So I did it again! Every kept laughing! So I shoved the little fuck into his locker! Shit was so funny!"

"So... you bullied him?" Addison didn't expect the kid to outright admit it.

"Eh... maybe." Kyle shrugged. "Kid never fought back! So I kept doing it! That little shit was so fun to pick on! Made the gold and fame diggers always around me a lot less annoying to handle! They never even went away either! They'd just watch as I kept fucking with that little nerd!"

"Disgusting..." Addison muttered.

"Huh? I didn't hear that?" Kyle kept smirking.

"Ah... nothing!" Addison shook her head. "Anyway... that's pretty cool!" She played along.

"I know right?" Kyle slowly reached his hand around Addison's shoulder. "But uh... back to what I said earlier... you ain't going away either, it seems."

"Hm...?" Addison played coy as she felt Kyle's gross hand reach her other shoulder.

"You know..." Kyle reached his hand down to Addison's exposed thigh. "Out of everyone who goes after me for the fame and money... you're different. You're cute." He slowly rubbed his hand up and down her thigh.

"Oh...?" Addison feigned blushing. "I'm not cute..."

"Nah... you are." Kyle moved his face closer to Addison's face. "You're more than just cute... you got some pretty eyes... soft lips... and a smoking hot body..."

Addison fought back the urge to retch. "Oh my...!" Luckily for her, that slut Pheme should be popping in any second now...

Kyle started to get a little more handsy. "You know... fuck this tutoring shit. You wanna... maybe head upstairs to my room?"

"Um..." Addison hoped that Pheme would be interrupting by now.

Kyle chuckled at her indecisiveness as he started to caress... "C'mon baby... I'll be gentle-"

*DING*

Suddenly, a notification sound came from Kyle's phone.

"Ugh! Why now?!" Given his position, Kyle basically had to check his phone, no matter what. "Hold on baby. Lemme just..."

Addison watched as Kyle found out what exactly the notification was.

...

...

...

"What the... what the fuck?!" Kyle jumped up off of the couch and threw his phone to the floor. "Was that...?!"

"Yes. It was." Addison's voice suddenly rang out.

"Huh?!" But when Kyle turned around, she wasn't there. "Addison?! The fuck did you-?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm right here!" Kyle suddenly felt a sharp poking sensation at the back of his neck. "I suggest you don't move, Mr. Maxim. If you do... well, you might end up like the fellow you just witnessed!" Achlys, doing away with the false identity, slowly circled around to Kyle's front, keeping her knife on his neck the whole time. Small trails of blood started to emerge from his neck.

"What the fuck?! You bitch!" Kyle screamed at her, yet he didn't dare move. "The fuck is this?! Who are you?! And how did you change your clothes?!"

Achlys, still holding her knife to the kid's neck, sensually ran her hand down her dress. "Let me tell you! I'm Achlys! I am a goddess! The Goddess of Misery... to be exact!" She creepily giggled.

"Huh? Goddess?! Bitch! Don't bullshit me!" Kyle tried to grab Achlys's wrist, but was promptly rewarded with a knife right through his hand.

"How dare you speak, you insolent cretin!" Achlys was able to hold herself back well enough when it came to Ryuji, but after this little shit tried to grope her, she wasn't having it.

"FUCK!" Kyle held onto his bleeding hand. "What the fuck is-"

"Quiet!" Showing surprising strength and agilty, Achlys pinned the kid to the nearest wall, once again keeping her knife to his neck. "If you speak without permission, this will dig into your miserable neck! Understood?"

Kyle shakily nodded.

"Very good!" Achlys nodded. "Now... I suppose you have a lot of questions, don't you? Let's go one by one! First..." She pulled out her phone. "You threw yours away after fear overtook you, but I'm no Phobos, so I'm afraid I can't allow that!" She giggled before pulling up what Kyle had seen. "Let's take another look, shall we?" She forced him to gaze upon the horrific sight. "A few days ago, the images of the dead bodies of Bessie B. Blossom and Aelia Celani started to circulate around the internet! All as a present from my lady Pheme!"

"Your lady is fucking insane!" The color drained out of Kyle's face as he kept having to stare at the grotesque images.

"I'm afraid I didn't ask for your input!" Achlys dug her knife a little deeper into Kyle's neck. "Now as I was saying..." She immediately continued. "The internet was blessed with the visage of my lady Pheme a few days ago, along with the bodies of the two ultimates! In her visage, my lady Pheme explained and showed off the crimes the parents of those two ultimates committed. The puppeteer doesn't matter... but the pop star does! Tell me, were you aware of Bessie B. Blossom?"

"Uh... a little." Kyle answered honestly depsite his steadily bleeding neck.

"Good!" Achlys nodded. "Now, I'm assuming you saw her charred corpse, along with my lady Pheme explaining how much of a horrible person her "father" was, correct?"

"Uh... who hasn't seen that shit...?" Kyle was too afraid to defy the psycho bitch at this point.

"Very good!" Achlys nodded again. "Now... let's move onto the two pictures in front of you!" She momentarily pointed to them with her now bloodied knife. "One is of the japanese wrestler, Genjiro Mashimoto! He looks a little worse for wear though, hm?"

"I've heard of the guy a little..." Kyle wanted to close his eyes, but he was too afraid. "But... my god...!" Seeing the wrestler's body, covered in blood and with his neck clearly broken... it was horrifying!

"Next up!" Considering he hadn't see what was next, Achlys was especially excited for this. "Take a look at this!" She changed to image to the second one the anonymous account posted.

"Is that... wait. Wait." It didn't immediately click for Kyle. "That's... oh my god! That's Adam!"

"Wow, I'm surprised you even reckonize the little runt!" Achlys scoffed. "But yes, that's correct! What you're looking at is the body of Adam Brooks, after being horribly mutilated by my lady Pheme! Exciting, isn't it?! Tell me! Isn't it exhilarating, seeing his bloodied corpse?!"

"What?! No! You're a fucking freak!" Kyle started to freak out. Looking at Adam's corpse was like a car crash. It was horrific, yet he had trouble looking away.

"Oh? Oh... really?" Achlys bent in closer to whisper in his ear. "You hated on and bullied Adam Brooks for years. And yet you say this sight doesn't excite you? Really? You, who held no respect for him as a human being, dare say you're... disturbed by this?" She kept eerily whispering in his ear.

"I-I... uh... um..." Kyle didn't know what to say to that.

"Mr. Maxim..." Achlys backed her face away and stared the kid right in his eyes. "Fun fact for you! Adam Brooks? He killed Genjiro Mashimoto! You know? The big wrestler you just saw?"

"Wha-? Killed?" Kyle grew somehow even more pale.

"Indeed! Killed!" Achlys gave an terrifying grin. "You want to know why? It's because of you!"

"M-Me?!" Kyle frantically shook his head. "I didn't-!"

"Silence!" Achlys dug her knife a little deeper into Kyle's neck. "The years and years of torment and bullying ended up being too much for Adam Brooks... so he snapped! Using a roundabout method, he murdered Genjiro Mashimoto! The wrestler was being a major bully to the academic throughout the Killing Game, you see! So he killed him?"

"Wait what?! K-Killing Game?! I thought those were done with!" Kyle didn't know what was happening anymore.

Achlys giggled. "Wow, you truly are clueless, aren't you? Yes, Killing Games are still most certainly a thing! And my lady Pheme is hosting one! One where Adam Brooks was a part of it! Though, as you can see, he is now deceased!"

"What the fuck..." Kyle felt his hands starting to shake.

"And once again... it's all your fault!"Achlys reminded him, making sure to grin creepily while doing so. "It's people like you that drove the kid to such drastic measures!"

"I didn't..." Kyle felt... he didn't know what emotion he was feeling right now.

"Heh..." Achlys chuckled. "What you're feeling right now... is misery. That's what I'm the goddess of, after all!"

"Misery..." Kyle looked down at his shaking hands.

"...You know..." Achlys started to trail her fingers up Kyle's torso. "Being an indirect cause of someone committing murder is far from the the worst thing you've done, isn't it?"

"..." Kyle didn't say anything to that.

"You, Mr. Maxim... while not being on the same level as Ryuji Yamamoto... you are your own breed of scum." As Achlys' fingers reached his neck, she dug her sharp nails into his skin. "All of your talk about the fame, money, and attention being painful... was complete garbage!" She dug her nails and knife in a little deeper. "Living in the shadow of your father, then in the shadow of your recently-given ultimate status brother... it caused you to want it too. But you couldn't get it. That recognition was too far away... and you couldn't grasp it. You wanted an Ultimate title of your own, didn't you?"

"Stop..." Kyle muttered.

"But you had no natural talent! And you sure couldn't get an ultimate title the same way your father and brother did! So... you became a leech!" Achlys dug her fingers out of his neck, and licked the blood off of each of her fingers. "Utilizing your family name and not your talent, you started to garner whatever you could! It was mainly attention... but you also aimed to garner women as well!"

Achlys dug her fingers back into his neck. "You do whatever you want with them... tutors and servants alike... feeling them up and groping them... because you feel like you can! After all, no one is stopping you, right? All of these poor girls merely wanting an active paycheck, or just wanting to help out a boy who was missing his family! Yet... you use and abuse them! Then throw them out the next day!"

Achlys pierced Kyle's neck a little further. "It's funny. Your terrorizing of Adam Brooks was only a drop in the bucket compared to your true crimes! Ones that couldn't be exposed by my lady Pheme due to her wanting to preserve a good narrative flow for her game. But luckily..." She put away her own phone and somhow pulled out Kyle's phone, quickly opening up a video app. After a few more clicks...

Security camera feed from the Maxim mansion played. All of it, detailing the debauchery and crimes that Kyle had committed, right in his own home.

"How did you... where did..." Kyle felt a chill run up his spine. He wasn't even paying attention to the blood dripping out of his neck.

"You are aware that there are barely any servants in your home, yes?" Achlys kept the disgusting videos playing. "Taking care of them was easy! The security guards especially so! And the maid who brought me here should be..."

"AAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"

"There we go! She should be dead now! Don't you love a nice poisoned piece of candy?" Achlys creepily giggled.

"..." Pure misery spread across Kyle's entire being.

"You see, Kyle Maxim?" Achlys dug her nails and knife a little bit deeper into his neck. "I, as the Goddess of Misery, have a duty to fufill!" She opened her mouth to smile, with the only thing being visible inside of it a thick black haze. "Your nasty hands have groped me, countless women, and fame itself! Fame is more Pheme's expertise... but I don't need to be an expert to know how much of an utter waste of life you are!" She fully dug her knife into Kyle's neck, prompting a spray of blood to come onto her. Kyle didn't say anything, he just let out strangled groans of pain.

"Kyle Maxim... you have the honor of being my second primary victim!" The black haze almost seemed to ooze out of Achlys's mouth. "So you can rest easy... knowing that I will be taking care of you!"

Achlys kept creepily giggling as blood sprayed onto her face. "As a little bonus for you... I'll let you know a little something!" She leaned in closer to his ear. "One of your father or brother is dead! But one of them is still alive! So with that in mind..."

"I'll leave it a secret as to which one you're about to meet!"

...

...

...

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Who is Kyle going to meet? I don't know! (I do know)

But okay... here we are with the second intermission! Did you enjoy it? I wanted to adjust how it flowed compared to first one, and I think this flows a lot better! Admittedly, the man and the woman were not characters I was planning on introducing yet... but I think they helped the flow of this a lot! And they helped give some little hints into Achlys' true... everything! I hope enjoyed them, because they'll definitely be reappearing.

Moving on, we also have Makoto Omati, Nina Keetog, and Morticia Slaughter introduced in this chapter! Makoto and Nina are my own OCs, but Morticia belongs to ComplicatedYetSimple! Morticia is such a fun character... but in my mind she would've been too much for the Killing Game. But I think she's perfect for the intermissions! I don't know if people will like her, but I sure. Thanks again Smarty! I hope you look forward to more Morticia coming soon(tm)! And if you want me to change up how I write her at all, let me know!

Kyle Maxim was also my own OC! Since he had some mysteries still surrounding him, I won't comment on him for now. But I hope you enjoyed Achlys ending the life of that little fucker!

I think that's all I want to say! From here, we go and officially start Chapter 3! I hope you're all excited!

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Glamourous Guest Stars:

Rika Sekiguchi - Ultimate Mystery Novelist [oddlyillregular]

Shiki Okubo - Ultimate Digital Archivist [LupusOverkill]

Morticia Slaughter - Ultimate Butcher [ComplicatedYetSimple]