Things were abuzz in the Ultimate Academy, Korekiyo noted down. He hadn't really had the time to keep his observation journal, with the absence of sister and murder and everything. Now that life had become somewhat calm and he had more free time, he had been filling in all the blanks, getting somewhat back to his title as the Ultimate Anthropologist.
He tuckred another dark gray strand of hair back into its headband. All of the accusations that he was a freak, all of the looks of fear as he unveiled himself as a mass murderer had been washed away by all the chaos. It wasn't like they knew who his target were anyways. Monokuma seemed to find a way to cut them off every time he prepared his confession. Besides, he was in Kirumi's body now. He couldn't really murder more friends for his sister until he figured out the detailed parts of this body swapping. If he killed someone who was in his body, what would happen when he got it back, considering he fooled everyone and won the class trial? Would he get it back perfect?
No, that was wrong. He wasn't perfect. If he was perfect, she wouldn't have said those things to him. If he was perfect, he wouldn't have to be punished. If he was perfect, his sister would have lived.
Still, Monokuma's new motive and his warning of what would happen if one was in the final two was pushing towards one thing--murder. Korekiyo's problem was even though he was perfectly fine with murder---the feelings of guilt and fear had left him after the first 5---the problem was that he was currently at 97. Just three more friends. He was so close. He couldn't fail now.
The problem was that while there were three candidates(Angie had orchestrated a murder, which made her unfit) but his being in Kirumi's body made it so much harder. Even if he was able to murder Kaede Akamatsu and Tenko Chabashira before the remaining students found the bodies, he would still be one short of his quota. Could he kill himself, and would it count as the murder of Kirumi Tojo? What would happen to his soul? While he had absolutely no qualms about suicide, it would be a serious disappointment if he found out that it wasn't Kirumi's soul he took to the underworld.
There was something else that concerned him as well. Kaede. Bubbly, optimistic Kaede, who even gave his verbal confirmation to become one of Sister's friends. The aura around her had changed sharply the morning after Shuichi Saihara's murder. Not that Korekiyo didn't expect it---she had lost a person she trusted and maybe even had feelings for in a horrible way. But while she tried to cover it with her words and her actions, the air around her was dark, not dissimilar to Monokuma's. Why?
Korekiyo pulled his mask down and breathed. The world wasn't supposed to be so confusing.
Just then, a ringing sound came from his pocket.
It was his Monopad.
<hr>
Tsumugi still wouldn't reveal her form or the origin of the handsome loud male voice that she was speaking in, but Kaede and Kokichi didn't really mind. As long as she was speaking, it was like all of the scariness and darkness of the place lessened a bit.
"How do you know anything about what's going on in the killing game? Is it recorded, or do you have cameras hidden wherever you're at?" Kaede asked once.
"I have an informant who keeps me updated on things. A participant who helps me. I didn't really get anything on Chapter 4, but I could guess."
Chapters. Like chapters in a book. Apparently, that was what a new part of the killing game was called. A new chapter meant a new floor, a new motive, a new murder, and a new class trial. Apparently, according to Tsumugi, there were even cool names for each chapter that were filled with foreshadowing that she spent hours lying awake in her bed making up.
"It's such a shame that the hijacker had to use different chapter names when she presented it to the masses!" she said fussily, not realizing that Kaede and Kokichi didn't give a damn about the names of the chapters that Rantaro, Miu, Ryoma, Kaito, Maki, Himiko, Gonta and Shuichi died in.
"Who's the informant?"
"My half brother."
"Who's your half-brother? Shuichi? Is Shuichi alive? I knew it! I always thought that the two were pretty similar in the way you both have blue hair and are really shy and have similar looking eyes and are cute- "
"It isn't Shuichi! Shuichi Saihara is dead, I can say that is 67% confidence. I can't tell you the identity of the informant... Didn't I tell you that the server is really sensitive to names? This one, especially. Any hints could get us all killed. I don't want to risk it."
"Does the intruder not know that you're here? How have you evaded capture for so long?"
"What have you been eating?" Kokichi spelled out, looking genuinely concerned for the Ultimate Cosplayer.
"I've been hiding in a spare machine and eating cup noodles with expiration dates from about a million years ago. Nothing's happened to me, so I guess that proves the power of the preservatives in these things. I also made sure to break the speakers connected to the hangar screen before I made my escape so that they couldn't hear me when I talk-"
The faint static hum that had filled the large cavern that Tsumugi called the hangar disappeared as her voice faltered. The dim yellow safety lights started flickering, but Kaede's sensitive ears heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps going <em>tap-tap-tap</em> on the concrete floor. The unmistakable creaking of machinery. Then, someone cleared their throat.
"What were we talking about again?"
.
.
.
.
Some things are more than they seem on the surface, Kaede learned. Sometimes, the plainest, shallow, and fickle looking people are carrying a deep pressure to keep all of them afloat in the plainest way ever. Sometimes, the most suspicious person is the most innocent one.
Sometimes, perjury and performing war crimes is necessary.
