haunted

where are you?

haunted

chapter eight: where are you?

The group didn't go their separate ways immediately, which made sense. It was going to be a while before the investigation was finished, and the boys wouldn't be able to head to the trial until then. The group chose to shadow Naegi during his investigation, with Yamada explaining what Celes had planned.

Chihiro was only half listening to his explanation. She didn't doubt this was in no small part to Kiyotaka being dragged into the mess as well, but there was something else afoot. Sayaka was being oddly dodgy about her plan, which Chihiro thought was a little odd. Ultimately she decided she needed to trust the pop starlet. She wanted to find Kiyotaka; wherever he was, he must have been scared and alone in the wake of his murder and she needed to be there for him.

Assuming, of course, he'd hadn't been found by . . . that.

Chihiro swallowed. She needed to believe that hadn't happened.

There was an announcement – Monokuma was tired of waiting and wanted to begin the class trial. Chihiro swallowed. She knew in her heart that the "best" possible outcome was Celes being found out and executed, but it was still a horrible situation. She didn't want Celes to die, even if she'd orchestrated Kiyotaka's death. But she also didn't want Naegi and the others to be killed if they got it wrong. She frowned, wringing the hem of her skirt in frustration.

Why can't the killing just stop?

Leon and Mondo were quietly discussing where they thought Celes might have screwed up, or if they suspected Kirigiri or Naegi had figured out what happened. Neither of them could pinpoint anything, but suspected that wouldn't stop their Super High School Level Hope or their Super High School Level Detective.

Yamada was still shaken from everything he'd gone through, and Chihiro found herself oddly sympathetic. He'd been manipulated and used – that had to feel terrible. Even if he'd been the one to actually kill Kiyotaka, he'd been completely fooled by Celes and killed in turn. All in all it had served to make a bad situation even worse.

Once they reached the first floor, Sayaka gestured for Chihiro to follow her into the dormitories. "The dorms?" asked Leon. He crossed his arms, looking at her quizzically. "Do you think Kiyotaka and Mukuro went back to their rooms?" Chihiro thought this over. It was possible one or both of them could have concluded it was some sort of nightmare and maybe thought going back to bed might help?

But Mukuro had been dead for days by now – she would have figured out that there was no sleep for ghosts. And Kiyotaka . . . well it was hard to know what he would and wouldn't do in that altered state of mind he'd been in, if that was where he was emotionally, but Yamada said that, in his final moments, he got the distinct idea that the prefect was himself again.

"Master Kiyotaka Ishimaru was begging for his life . . . and my life. He told me Monokuma would kill me. If I'd just listened to him we'd both still be alive and . . maybe I could have talked Master Taeko Yasuhiro out of her plan . . . now she's going to die, too, and it's all my fault . . . he would have saved all three of us but . . ."

Mondo had patted Yamada's shoulder, quietly reminding him that this was all Junko's fault.

Now the boys were out of sight as Sayaka led them to the dormitory. "Where are we going?"

"Naegi-kun's room," said Sayaka.

Chihiro blinked. "The place you . . ."

"Exactly," said Sayaka. "See, I got an idea about . . . something," she said. She gave Chihiro a weak smile. "Leon and I figured out that objects we die with sort of . . . well there are 'ghost' versions of those objects, too. That's probably why Mondo was still tied up after his execution – the rope came with him."