𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇live for somebody◇

"isn't that worth holding on?"

you woke up to a soft knock at your door. it didn't feel like morning, but there wasn't really any way you could tell time. yawning, you forced yourself out of bed to open the door. it was gin. "big sis f/n... it's horrible.. woof.." suddenly, all of the exhaustion in your body turned to worry. "what? what happened, gin?" he hugged his stuffed animal closer. "someone.. killed the old guy, meow.." you frowned, did he have a nightmare about mishima? "come to the monitor room... meow.." confused, you followed him. sure enough, mishima was killed again.

at least, his ai was.

"w-what.. is this.." sou, kanna, and sara were already in there. "who would do something so cruel..?" you were slightly confused. the real professor had been dead already, this was just an ai, yet everyone seemed so distressed about it. "no good.. seems the computer in front is just for booting it up. the ai was stored on the monitor itself. mishima.. can't be booted up anymore." sara seemed especially bothered. "..sou. you did this, didn't you?" keiji accused. "wha-!? y-you're wrong! i would never.. do such a thing..!"

"u-um! kanna was with him the whole time.. it wasn't sou." wait, what? "always with him... this late into the night?" you felt your nails digging into your fist. "it's kanna's job to watch him, so... we slept in the same room.." keiji was about to speak again, but you spoke without thinking. "kanna, i told you this wasn't your responsibility!" she flinched at your outburst. "if you really think he needs to be fucking babysitted, tell me! let me handle it! you're fourteen, you don't need to be putting yourself in charge of grown men, and you especially don't need to be sleeping alone in a room with them, you didn't even tell anyone!" your heart was beating so fast that you couldn't even tell how loud your voice was. "i-i tried to leave, seriously! she wouldn't let me!"

"oh, yeah, cause kanna is the most demanding person here. what she says goes, is that it, sou?" you felt keiji grab your shoulder. "..let's calm down, i doubt he was going to try anything. kanna's a big girl, she can take care of herself, remember?" you realized how erratic your breathing was. taking a deep, shaky breath, you looked to the floor. "right..." you didn't think sou was a pedophile at all. you doubted he'd hurt kanna. but it felt all too familiar. "..i'm beat. never run into a case with such an unclear motive behind the crime." you bit your thumbnail, thinking. "who was the first to discover this?" sara asked. "..that'd be this policeman here." keiji admitted.

"it was you, keiji..? what was the situation?" who would have any reason to break the mishima monitor? "ahh, well... couldn't get to sleep, so i thought i'd have a chat with mishima. when i came in.. well, it looked just like this." you looked up at him, making eye contact. you stared. something was off. "um.. has something happened?" gin jumped at the sight of nao. "mya?! don't come in, woof!" that only seemed to startle the artist more. "huh..? pro... fessor...? professor mishima is... um.. please.. don't look for the culprit." your eyes remained fixed on keiji. "please let me be alone for a little.." with that, nao left. keiji looked away from you. "hmmm.. no clues around that i can see."

"meow? no bits of wood on the ground like when the other monitor got broken, woof?" keiji shook his head. "nope, nothing. this is one nonsensical incident. would love to solve it right away, but... we need rest. let's do a detailed investigation tomorrow. asking reko and q-taro can wait 'til tomorrow, too." gin grabbed your hand. "mr. policeman... you gotta... find the culprit, meow.." you squeezed gin's hand. "yeah, mr. policeman." you let go, storming out to go back to your room. you felt like you were about to throw up your own heart. you closed the door behind you, jumping face first onto the bed before letting out a groan.

you didn't get any sleep that night.
_______________________________________________

you knew it was morning when you heard people outside, it was keiji questioning reko. gin was in the lobby as well, so you decided to see how he was doing. "how are you feeling, gin?" he sniffled. "we really can't talk to the old guy anymore, meow..?" you sighed. "sorry, gin. hopefully we'll figure out what happened. it'll be okay." you kneeled down, wrapping your arms around him. when you let go he was staring at you. "big sis f/n..?" you hummed. "..why were you so mad last night, woof...?"