Just One More Time

6 - Please Let This Be the Last Investigation

Shuichi awoke to a chime that'd become his entire life. The chime of death. Groaning, he rubbed the hard daggers of sleep from his eyes and rolled off the bed. Groggily throwing on clean clothes, he yawned and shuffled from the dorm.

Without warning, his actions during the prior night hit him like a truck, but he didn't react. He didn't care anymore. It was surprising that he could sleep so easily after killing two old friends. Oh well, that was fine. At least he would be well rested for the class trial.

Leaving the main dorm area, Shuichi felt the presence of the other contestants before he noticed them. Everyone's faces were pale with despair. Some were smiling away the pain, others seemed on the verge of vomiting. Shuichi, still half-asleep, rubbed his eyes one last time to clear the blurry vision.

Around the courtyard lay chunks of human flesh and metal. Shuichi felt sick knowing the identity of the remains. Amongst the remains of two friends lay debris. Holes littered the damaged bricks, adorned with cracks and burn marks. The origin point of an explosion lay obvious in the middle of the black bricks that were originally beige. Remembering his actions made Shuichi's body grow cold as if encased in an iceberg.

"Ooo! You're paler than a ghost Saihara!" Ouma's taunt snapped the detective to reality. "I would've thought a detective would be used to this stuff! We're doomed if the detective is useless! Everyone's going to die!" Crocodile tears welled up in the supreme leader's eyes before his shrill cry pierced the ears of tired, traumatised souls.

Remembering Akamatsu and K1-B0 in past worlds made Shuichi's stomach churn. He killed them, he planned the entire thing and now they're dead. Shuichi was responsible. Each thought made him paler, the blood in his veins non-existent as his stomach rattled like a bubbling cauldron. He'd felt guilty before - Shuichi wasn't an innocent man by all means - but never guilt this intense.

Everything came rushing back to reality in one swift movement. Including the contents of Shuichi's stomach. He ignored the arguing of the other contestants and raced to the bushes lining the dorms. At the millisecond he reached the flora, Shuichi felt his throat seer as he heaved. His stomach contracted painfully, chest burning and face sweltering hot.

"Tut tut, it took us years to grow those plants to perfection!" Monokuma berated the detective. He couldn't tell where the voice came from; it sounded far away but from a centimetre beside him.

Panting, Shuichi leaned a hand against the wall and spat as much of the remaining gastric substances from his mouth. It tasted horrid, he'd rather drink plain milk. A hand began rubbing circles on his back, calming the man. "Let's go get some water. I'll take care of Saihara, you all start investigating."

Shuichi allowed his carer to grab his wrist, tugging him into the dorms. He glanced up to see a brown bunch of long hair slipping against his arm as they walked. It was difficult to keep his composure, the nausea had returned although with less intensity. The feeling came and went, almost like it was turning on and off at another's will.

Shaking his head, Shuichi focused on his surroundings and named a few. There was a sink in front of him, a mirror reflecting himself and Harukawa. "What's gotten into you?" Harukawa's question seemed like a demand from a stern mother finding out her angelic child was secretly a delinquent.

"I... I don't know. It's not my first time killing someone... For some reason I feel so guilty," Shuichi sighed. "Maybe... it's because we killed Akamatsu..."

"Wash your face," she demanded. Taking a deep breath, Shuichi's trembling hands calmed as he splashed his face with cool water. He made sure to rinse his mouth out while he had the chance.

"Why are you helping me?" Shuichi asked, taking a clean towel from Harukawa's outstretched hand to dry his face. The odd water droplet soaked into the collar of his grey, striped uniform, cooling his skin.

Harukawa rolled her eyes. Shuichi would too, he didn't know why he asked such a ridiculous question. "I can't have you backing out on me." Frowning, the woman sighed before continuing a thought she seemed to struggle to admit. "Also... Maybe I guess I want you out of here as much as I want freedom too."

"We should go over the Monokuma File then." Shuichi wrapped his fingers around the duo-chromatic tablet in his pocket, another hand stopping him from removing it from his pocket.

"Let's do that outside, where everyone can see." He supposed that made sense, it would ease any suspicion on them. Plus, with Harukawa being the Ultimate Child-Caregiver, no one would think it odd that she offered to help Shuichi. If the need arose, he could always blame his reaction on being a private or cybercrime detective.

Harukawa and Shuichi left the dorm - the former ensuring she locked her door - and made their way to the crime scene. No one seemed to have left, but they weren't as cluttered now as everyone investigated. Noticing Harukawa pulling something from her black, plaid skirt pocket, Shuichi followed suit.

Case 1
Victim - Akamatsu Kaede, the Ultimate Pianist.
Location - Outside the Dorms
Time of Death - 1:33 am

Case 1.2
Victim - K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot.
Location - Outside the Dorms
Time of Death - 1:39 am

"Yoo-hoo, everyone!" Yonaga's cheerful call echoed through the courtyard. "Be careful where you step! It might ruin what little evidence we have!" With her warning, the woman turned and skipped away towards the main building.

"It's so obviously an explosion, what evidence would we disturb?!" Ouma groaned. He rolled his eyes, adding a scoff. Probably for good measure to aid in whatever he wanted to achieve.

"An explosion? Interesting, I wonder how that could've occurred," Shinguji muttered to himself. He held his chin in thought, white bandages bright against the black fabric covering his lower face.

"Perhaps Kiibo had a self-destruct button?" Tojo suggested.

"It's plausible. Maybe it could be a backup in case he went haywire?" Shuichi shrugged. He needed to plant a doubtful seed, any seed. That wasn't difficult. Everyone trusts law enforcement.

"Well, I didn't fuckin' see anythin' like that!" Iruma scoffed with her hands on her hips. "When I tell ya I had a good look at him, boy do I mean it! Though he did say some weird shit about a button," she muttered.

"Explain," Harukawa demanded, glaring at the woman in the pink uniform.

"H-Hya!~" Iruma moaned, gripping the hem of her short skirt and bending her trembling knees together. "So forceful!~ Alright bitch, I'll tell ya! He said some shit about one of those yellow buttons on his chest, the third one down to be precise. Something about it disturbing his robot brain."

Shuichi mentally sighed in relief. No one seemed to know about the shut-down button on K1-B0's neck. That would work in his favour. Maybe this would be possible? The best course of action in a situation such as the killing game seemed to be immediately killing. With no one knowing anything about each other, it made everyone a suspect.

"Gonta find black mark." Everyone turned to the Ultimate Entomologist, grinning with pride as he pointed to the ground. Shuichi followed his gesture to see a large, scorched stain left behind in the rubble of bricks. He'd noticed it before and assumed everyone else had figured out what it was.

"That's the explosion site, dumbass!" Iruma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You got a brain in that thick ass skull of yours?! Hah, I guess that's just something only the gorgeous girl genius understood!"

"Not to interrupt, but I've found some pretty damning evidence over here," a deep voice shouted from further away. Shuichi turned to see Hoshi standing on the edge of the path. "Hmm, she's not here either."

Frowning at Hoshi's self-realisation, Shuichi turned to scan the area. He counted the number of people standing around him. Again, the detective frowned when he realised they were four people short. Yonaga, Momota, Shirogane and Amami had left the crime scene.

Turning back to Hoshi, his eyes widened at the uniform he held in the air. Shuichi knew to expect it, he was one of the blackened being hunted after all. It was easier than he realised to act. Maybe that was because he didn't care about the people around him anymore. They were all fictional characters.

Yumeno sniffed, attracting everyone's attention to her. She tugged on her black witch's hat, tears glistening against her pale cheeks. "How could she? Yonaga... Why?"