Killing Game Busters

Underlined With... Comedy?

A/N: The chapter title is just for show, because if you have read the titles starting from 'Few Steps Ahead'... In any case, for the life of me, I don't think I can truly make this investigation comedic but that doesn't mean I won't try XD

Kiibo's sense of wrongness had decided to come back in full force this time around. For some reason, he felt like he had a hand in this. Was somewhat responsible for Miu or Kokichi's death.

After all, wasn't he responsible for-

Was he?

Kiibo shook his head and ignored that blatant lie, still playing with the ahoge that was reattached to him after the Monokubs' repairs.

After the silence without it, without his inner voice even for mere moments, hearing it again was unsettling and headache inducing when voices won't stop hammering his head almost non-stop as to make up for not being there for him when his ahoge was broken.

Actually, he had been tempted to take it off again for the blissful silence but once his hand had started forcefully grabbing the ahoge and tugging it upward, the voices reached a crescendo that Kiibo almost felt he would short circuit before it went back to a normal range and he got enough senses to see Monokuma getting to his face and screaming never to get rid of that ahoge.

That had been when he had just woken up in Miu's Lab, declaring that Tsumugi might have been lying to them and tried to take away his ahoge before proceeding to find her. That meant Miu, Kokichi, Himiko and Kaito had been witness to the display. No one knew how to take it. The only thing they had done back then was deciding to bring everyone back when Kaito declared that he can't take this any longer and that they should do something about this killing game before more insane stuff happened and then they split ways, for Kaito and Himiko to find the rest. For Kokichi and Kiibo to find Tsumugi and ask why she had lied.

He had never expected that would truly be the last time he would have hung out with either Miu and Kokichi before their demise, and he still wasn't sure whether one of them is alive or both of them are dead.

Now, Kiibo was trying to shake off his interaction with Maki, shaken by what he had discovered and realized. Memories finally unlocked, memories thoroughly ashamed of. A positive and hopeful sort of voice had resounded in him that last night's actions might not even relate to today's crime. Why he only felt like he had a hand in this instead of knowing he had a hand in this. Questioning about being responsible for this mess when he could just blame the virus, blame not being himself last night when that all happened.

Unfortunately, it still stood that Kiibo was somewhat (definitely) responsible for Miu and Kokichi's deaths. If he knew about this virus, if he had realized and was stronger, if he had never attacked them...

"Kiibo," Himiko said, putting a hand on his metallic shoulder and pulling him out of his distressing thoughts, "Are you still thinking about what you finally remembered?"

"How can I not stop thinking about it?" Kiibo asked, guilt and self-derision lacing his voice.

Himiko remained quiet for a while, before finally saying softly, "But we are still investigating and the trial is going to come soon. What we can do now is move forward. Don't waste time with the past you can never change."

Himiko sounded sorrowful as she said that, as if it came from an experience that she truly regretted and cannot do anything about. Kiibo suddenly thought about the last trial they ever had, the relationship between Himiko and Tenko and how Himiko wished that she had given Tenko more attention.

Such regret was different but somehow no less impactful than his own despite the consequences being minimal compared to his own but it was because Himiko's words came from the same source Kiibo was facing now that Kiibo knew the validity of her statement and now rallied upon it.