[ What if ] Ishimaru died before Mondo

Chapter 3

Makoto felt a chill rising through his spine as he heard a familiar clomp of small heels getting louder and louder. The closer he got, the louder it became.

He pressed the door to open wide. In a close inspection, all the present classmates had a harsh and terrified look in their faces when they glared subtly towards Mondo, who took a pause to scan the room. He was sweating, wheezing and had a killing rage in his eyes. He saw Makoto kneeled down examining in what appeared to be a pair of legs dressed in blood-stained white fabric. Ruthlessly, he pushed Makoto to one side to get a better grasp of the picture. In fright, no one protested to the violence. There was completely silence apart from the sobbing coming from Asahina who had Hifumi's head on top of her legs.

As he came across Ishimaru dead in front of him, the sense of reality falls on top of him. This despair consumed him and made him fall on his knees beside the body. He lifted the body in his arms. He positioned Ishimaru in a way so his brother could rest the weight of his body in Mondo's legs and the head. Ishimaru was mysteriously smiling. As he was holding Ishimaru in his arms, he hugged him tightly one last time as flashbacks of the past rolled in his mind. "Brother... Brother! BROTHER!!" Now, it was Mondo that was painted with Ishimaru's blood. And whatever glimpse of hope that had left has vanished...

"Why would someone do something like this? What drives them to commit such a dreadful act?" A stream of Asahina's tears fell down through Hifumi's face washing away the blood that covered an agonized look. If this was a children's fairy tale, Hifumi would came back to life miraculously and continued to fight alongside the others. But, as you know, healing tears only happen in folk stori-

"Where am I?" Hifumi whispered "It's very cold!"

"Yamada! Hang in there!!"

"Huh? Hahaha... I remember everything... This is Hope's Peak Academy. I met everyone... before I met everyone."

Byakuya walked closer and observed him "Looks like his memory's fried... He's done for..."

"Hifumi... Please tell us who the culprit is!"

"Cul...prit? I remember... the cul...prit's name... T-... ak...Ya... Yasa... hiro..."

Hifumi closed his eyes for the second time and didn't open them again. Yasahiro... the name echoed in the small storage room. With this type of development, everyone took the culprit's name for granted and felt relieved. Asahina kept crying and shaking him in order to wake him up. It was heartbreaking to watch...

"Pitiful." Byakuya was crouched near Hifumi to assist to the miraculous scene that unveiled before them. Once it finished, he stood up with an unsatisfactory tone. Emphasis on the word 'unsatisfied'. "Frankly, I am pissed off! Why the hell did he had to come back from the dead and tell us that? Thanks to him, the whole damn game is ruined."

The game seems to be settled... right? Still, it seems such a complex plan coming from someone like Yasahiro Hagakure... Could he actually possess an intelligence personality trait? Maybe deep at heart he's a devilish mastermind hiding behind an oblivious cliché ordinary mask. It was time for yet another investigation...

Mondo wanted to turn the school upside down to hunt Hagakure and made him plead for his life, nevertheless he chose not to move and stay engulfed in sorrow. It was his last moment together with his brother. Frozen, the investigation developed around him. They found Hagakure sleeping, trapped in the Robo Justice costume inside a closet near the pool. Kyoko has also re-appeared and was now facing severe suspicions of Byakuya regarding her play in the role as puppet's mastermind. That question matters little at the moment. Right now, she intended to play her role in the investigation and wished to see the deceased.