The Star Liar

Chapter 10...

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W h o ?
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"Kyeeehahaha! I told ya, there's a corpse hangin' out here!"
Syo said
"Are they really...dead? Is this really a dead body...?"
Hina said
"You need to begin looking around right away. However... Be ever so careful. There's no telling what you might find."
Byakuya said
"Right."
I said
We went to the corpse.
So Junko actually used your body for the last death eh Mukuro?
How boring.
Unoriginal really.
"Their heart isn't beating, they're not breathing, all signs of life have come to a complete stop... Thanks to the knife that's been driven into their stomach, their clothes are stained a bright red. It appears the bleeding has stopped, but the blood that's there is still wet. Be careful you don't touch it and get some on you..."
Byakuya said
Junko did stab her, to make it look like it was a fresh death.
How stupid does she think they are?
"How can you two be so calm at a time like this? Who is it!? Their face and body are all hidden, so I don't have a clue..."
Hiro said
Oh if you knew. If you knew.
"I'm pretty sure it's a girl at least..."
Hina said
"Huh? How can you tell?"
Hiro said
"Hina's right they are a female, and to your question Hiro, we can tell because unlike males (expect Hajime.) we have an outline on our chest and the corpse has that outline."
I said
Black
"Kyeeehahaha! Okay then! Let's just tear the mask clean off!"
Syo said
"Syo that's a bad idea."
I said
"Wait, don't—!"
Byakuya said but it was too late Syo had already tried to take the mask off but when she tried to it exploded.
"Hurry up, put out the fire."
Byakuya said
I created a bucket of water and throw the water at the corpse.
The fire died down.
"I-I guess that took care of it..."
Makoto said
"But what the hell, man?"
Hiro said
"It...exploded?"
Hina said
"Well, no shit."
I said sarcastically.
"I...had a bad feeling about that body. But I never imagined it would explode... And now the body..."
Byakuya said
"It's burnt to a crisp! That's beyond well done, man!"
Hiro said
"Don't compare it to a steak! I'll never be able to eat steak again..."
Hina said
"But now that the body's charred, I really have no idea... How are we gonna find out who it was...?"
Makoto said
I would but just for my interest, I'll keep it a secret.
"Mhm."
I said
"Who isn't here right now?"
Byakuya said
"Huh?"
Makoto said
"If we consider who's not here, that will quickly narrow down who it must be."
Byakuya said
"Well, there's Me, you Mako, Toki or currently Syo, Hiro and Hina. The only one not here is Ko."
I said
"K-Kyoko!?"
Makoto said
"Calm down. I didn't say it was Kyoko."
Byakuya said
"But, I mean...who else...?"
Hiro said
"There is one other person. The mastermind..."
Byakuya said
"What!?"
Hina said
"Th-The mastermind!? Come on, there's no way! The MASTERMIND got char-broiled!? Get serious!"
Hiro said
"It is a possibility."
I said
"I agree, normally the idea wouldn't be worth considering. But I have reason to believe it may be true. The mastermind being dead would explain that other matter, wouldn't it? Monokuma can hardly move around if its master is dead, right?"
Byakuya said
"It would, yes."
I said
"B-But...that corpse is a girl, right? It doesn't make any sense! I mean, remember what Alter Ego said? He said the mastermind is some middle-aged dude, right? Which the corpse obviously isn't! Then could that mean...the mastermind isn't the headmaster...?"
Hiro said
"Is it the teenage girl Kyoko told us about? The Ultimate Despair...?"
Makoto said
"Possibly."
I said
"Huh...?"
Hiro said
"Mukuro Ikusaba. The sixteenth student at Hope's Peak."
I said
"What are you talking about?"
Byakuya said
"The other day, Kyoko confided to us... She said there was a sixteenth student here in the school."
Makoto said
"I think you'd better tell us everything you know."
Byakuya said
"W-Well, all Kyoko told me was..."
Makoto said
"It was that 'Mukuro Ikusaba... The sixteenth student, lying hidden somewhere in this school... The one they call the Ultimate Despair... Watch out for her.' That's what she said."
I said
"It sounded like Kyoko thinks Mukuro Ikusaba is the mastermind."
Makoto said
"There's another student here, and it's a female? That would match the body's characteristic..."
Byakuya said
"And that phrase, the Ultimate Despair—it sounds super mastermind-y, doesn't it?"
Hina said
"Okay, so...the mastermind is this girl Mukuro? And she's a student here? And she's the Ultimate Despair? But if she's been hiding here in the school like some teenage Bigfoot...how'd she wind up burnt to a crisp!?"
Hiro said
How stupid can people be Ugh.
It could just me of course.
"None of this makes any sense! To just suddenly show up and then die!?"
Hiro said
"I think we'd better take a closer look at the body. There may be some clues to help us figure out exactly who it is."
Byakuya said
"Ah! Hey, wait!"
Hina said
"What?"
Byakuya said
"A-Aren't we forgetting something? You know...Toko?"
Hina said
"Oh yeah! She got totally blown up, huh!?"
Hiro said
"Forget about her. I'm sure the explosion vaporized her."
Byakuya said
I went to find Toko and did.
I sigh
Lavender
Toko leans onto me.
"Found her, she's ok."
I said
"Nn...gh...!"
Toko said
"Oh! She survived!"
Hina said
"Oh...she survived..."
Byakuya said
"Huh? What just h-happened...? Master...?"
Toko
"You declared for the whole world to hear that you would never again inhale a single molecule of oxygen."
Byakuya said
"Oh. Then...I don't mind b-breathing in the carbon dioxide you exhale. That's enough for m-me to live..."
Toko said
"This is the strangest back-and-forth I've ever seen..."
Hiro said
"Yeah same here."
I said
We went to the body.
"Watch yourself, Makoto. She may be dead, but she's still a girl..."
Hina said
"D-Don't worry. I don't plan on touching the body all that much."
Makoto said
I looked around the body and see a key.
I picked it up.
"Then this key is...?"
Makoto said
"What is it? Did you find something?"
Byakuya said
"Yeah... This was on the ground near the body."
Makoto said
"I've never seen this key before. What could it possibly go to...?"
Byakuya said
"Hmm not even you know, then."
I said
"Galxia, Makoto...I'm going to give you a very important task."
Byakuya said
"Huh...?"
Makoto said
"That key might give you access to certain areas we thought were locked."
Byakuya said
"I see."
I said
"The bio lab, the data center, the headmaster's room, and the dorm rooms on the 2nd floor... It's in your hands."
Byakuya said
We went to the Data lab.
"Are you sure?"
Makoto said
"Yeah, I'm sure."
I said
"Okay, let's give it a shot..."
Makoto said
I put the key in it.
It fits.
"We have to go tell everyone else!"
Makoto said
I nodded and open a portal to the garden and we went through it.
"So, you're back. How'd it go?"
Byakuya said
"We found out which room the key goes to. It's the data center, down on the 4th floor."
Makoto said
"Then we can get into the data center now!?"
Hiro said
"Correct."
I said
"Interesting... But why did the now deceased have that key on them?"
Byakuya said
"How the fuck would I know?"
I lied
It was in Junko's plan I would say.
"I suppose we'll just have to go to the data center and find out."
Byakuya said
"Yeah, I think you're right."
Makoto said
"Alright then, let's go."
I said
"Here we are."
Byakuya
"Looks like the door is still unlocked..."
Makoto said
"Good."
I said
White
"Hey, so...when you open that door, there's not gonna be another huge KABOOM like before, right?"
Hina said
"You're asking that question now?"
Hiro said
"Don't worry. We have Galxia and Makoto."
Byakuya said
"What...?"
Makoto said
Why do I feel like that was a threat?
"It's in your hands..."
Byakuya said
"Again...?
Makoto said
"It means I trust you."
Byakuya said
That's a lie your just using us.
We opened the door