haunted

momentum

haunted

chapter seven: momentum

8:15 am

Chihiro was almost positive she could feel a lump in her stomach, even if she knew it wasn't possible. Things had been bad enough already, but the last day had been the worst of it for everyone alive and dead. The living students had lost Alter Ego. The dead students had been trapped in the gym all night to keep away from the wolf monster. And now, to top it all off, there had been another corpse discovery announcement.

This time it was Yamada – he'd been found in the infirmary by Naegi, Celes, and Aoi. He'd been lying spread eagle on the floor, his head covered in blood. The murder weapon, a hammer labeled "Justice Hammer #3", wasn't too far from the body. According to what the living students were saying, both Yamada and Celes had been assaulted earlier in the day with Justice Hammers #1 and #2, but those injuries had been, apparently, non-fatal.

It was a strange turn of events to be sure, but for the moment the ghosts had a bigger problem on their hands. Yamada's ghost was nowhere to be found. They wondered if Yamada had met the same fate as Junko, but Leon had suggested that he'd run somewhere in a panic and perhaps all they needed to do was find him. It was especially important to do so considering no one could confirm what happened to the wolf monster.

Leon and Sayaka had the first floor, and she and Mondo had the second floor. Mondo thought this was unfair at first, until Chihiro pointed out that the first floor had twice the floor space and there were more rooms as well. He conceded the point, and here they were, finishing their search of the second floor before moving onto the third.

"YAMADA!" Mondo called out again. "YAMADA!"

Chihiro wondered if Mondo calling out for him was the best idea. Sure, she wasn't terribly loud herself, but Yamada might not be willing to answer the calls of a murderer, even with the knowledge that it had all be a cruel trap they'd somehow fallen into. Then again, that might attract the wolf monsters.

"Mondo, are you sure we should be yelling?" she asked quietly.

Mondo looked down at her and sighed after confirming the rec room was empty. "I get it – I'm afraid of the big bad wolf, too, but we can't just leave him running around scared and unaware of what's been going on." They moved on from the rec room and headed towards the art room. "I mean . . . the sooner we find him the sooner he knows."

Chihiro lowered her eyes. "Another thing . . . who could have killed him?"

"I don't know for sure . . . I think your Celes theory is still a good idea, but, as much as I don't want to think about it, Yamada was fighting with Kyoudai over Alter Ego pretty intensely the past couple of days, right?" He clenched his eyes shut as they walked into the art room – completely deserted, save for the two ghosts. "Normally, I'd say he wouldn't. But he is not himself right now – I don't know what he's capable of at the moment and that scares me."

At first Chihiro wanted to argue with him over it, but she took his point. Everyone was scared and stressed out and on edge, and Kiyotaka had completely lost it in the wake of the second trial. Mondo was right – the Super High School Level Moral Compass was not the Kiyotaka Ishimaru they knew and loved. He was something else entirely, and this person? They didn't know anything about this "Ishida" character.

They approached the physics lab. "Okay, Yamada's gotta be in here – no place left to check," said Mondo. Chihiro nodded as they walked in and heard a scream coming from the prep and storage room. They exchanged a look before hurrying to the storage room. It sounded like Naegi – what was he doing all the way on the third floor when Yamada's body was on the first floor?