What if it Repeated? (Oumasai/Saiouma)

Chapter 10- 2/2

He quickly left leaving the other 2 alone. He didn't want to have that discussion with Kaede, it would just feed her desire to kill the mastermind. If she got that idea in her head there was no way he would be able to hinder her to be failed attempt. He bent down and opened the fridge. There were snacks and drinks of many varieties. He spotted some panta in the back and straightened up letting the fridge door swing shut. It was pretty lucky that the fridges were stocked with foods they enjoyed and specially chosen for specific people, not that it really was luck at all...

"...Why not, is it cos you don't like me or something?" A voice only just louder than a whisper met him as he made his way to the kitchen door. He stopped to listen.

"No, I just don't know if I can trust you." He heard Kaede say shortly,

"I assure you, I am 101% trustworthy, cross my heart and hope to die!" There was a silence and once when Kokichi realised Kaede wasn't going to say anything to that, he kept going,

"You trust Shuuichi, why is he any different?" There was a sharp exhale of breath from Kaede,

"Why are you calling him by his first name, I know you know each other from before, but I still don't like it. He seems really nice, while your... not."

No. He felt as though a big chunk of lead had been dropped into the pit of his stomach. He couldn't have Kokichi question this piece of information. Seriously Kaede? He quickly emerged from around the corner, roughly placing the bottle of Panta into Kokichi's hand and sitting down on a free seat between the 2.
"So what did you have to talk to me about?" Kaede bit her lip and gestured her head towards Kokichi who looked deep in thought and completely oblivious to the fact that Shuuichi had returned. "He's trustworthy don't worry." Though not looking convinced Kaede shrugged and lent over after making sure no one else was in the dining hall.

"There's a mastermind, most likely one of our classmates here controlling this 'game'."
"Wait are you sure?" He said, trying to sound surprised. He suddenly felt Kokichi's eyes on him, but chose not to acknowledge it.
"Yes, I was down in the library when I found a hidden door concealed behind a bookcase at the back, it hadn't closed properly and it stuck out a bit." She hadn't seemed to have picked up on his subpar acting. "I looked and it had some sort of card reader to get in, so I'd say that the mastermind has something really important in there,"
"So you're saying that someone among us might be the mastermind?"

Kaede nodded seriously her eyes sad,
"That's exactly what I'm saying, but if we can catch the mastermind going in there or something we might be able to end..."

"Hey Shuuichi have some of this." Kokichi interrupted. Kaede glared at him reproachfully, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. Kokichi was holding out the half drunk panta bottle,
"What have you done to it?" Shuuichi asked automatically. This being Kokichi, he knew there was no full proof way of knowing what he truly was planning.
"Nothing I swear, have some! it's really good~" Shuuichi raised an eyebrow at him and heedfully took the bottle from his hands and brought it to his lips.
"Wait he's been drinking from that!"

"What are you the cootie police?! Geeez Akamatsu you're such a prude." Kokichi smirked, "You don't have to get all defensive just cos you're not the one sharing a drink with Shuuichi, like we all know you want to~" Kaede turned a bright shade of red and glared at Kokichi,
"That's not.. can we just get back to discussing this. It's more important than some stupid soft drink." Kokichi let out an outraged gasp and slammed a hand to the table making them both jump.

"Akamatsu! It is not just some 'stupid soft drink' it is a beverage fit for gods!" Kaede looked baffled and turned to Shuuichi with a look of pure pleading on her face. He gave a sympathetic shrug. "So you have no right to call it such an untrue name, right Shuuichi!" Kokichi's attention was now back on him who was still holding onto the bottle tightly. He received a look that all to plainly was telling him to drink. With a last apologetic look at Kaede, for the second time he brought the bottle to his lips he took a sip.
"Wow! This is actually pretty good!" He exclaimed rather louder than he had planned to. Kokichi looked absolutely overjoyed,

"Nishishi~ toldya killjoy, if emoboy here likes it, it must be good!" Kokichi spoke proudly, a triumphant expression on his face. Kaede simply sighed and shook her head.
"Ah sorry Akamatsu I got off topic a bit, what else did you have to say?"
"O-oh thanks Shuuichi," she smiled gratefully at him and Kokichi snorted from behind him. Kaede ignored this and continued from where she had left off, "well I'd say we need a way to catch the mastermind when they go to open that door... somehow... I'm sure I had an idea a minute ago, but I can't remember." His mind was racing. He had to make her think it wasn't a good idea. Please forgive me Kaede.

"We won't be able to catch the mastermind." He said rather harshly, but confidently,
"Huh? If we just come up with a plan I'm sure we can! We just got to plan it out and be hopeful."
"There's no way something like that will work, the mastermind isn't going to let themselves get caught, I think we should find some other way to end the game." He tried, attempting to sound as convincing as he could.

"How would we stop the game without confronting the mastermind behind it? It's the only way to end this fully." Kaede argued back. Shuuichi bit his tongue hard, how was he meant to make her give up? He knew she was right. That was the only way to fully end it. And that was why he had to do it himself.
"There are cameras everywhere, even if we try to set up a plan to catch the mastermind they will find out because of the footage,"
"You're getting awfully worked up about this Shuuichi~ you hiding something from us?" Kokichi's sing song voice rang in his ears. Shuuichi jumped visibly,
"No, I'm just being logical." he responded not looking at Kokichi, he knew the boy could tell when he was lying and giving him facial cues would hurt his case even more.

Kaede sighed and leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling,
"Well if you come up with anything, tell me alright, I'll do the same if I figure more out." The sentence lacked her usual optimistic demeanour and he could see in her face that she didn't seem as hopeful as she had a little while ago, "there will be a way, there has to be..." she got up and stretched, "right well I'm pretty tired so I'm gonna go back to my room for a bit, tell me if anything comes up!" She gave a small wave and exited the dining room, the door closing softly behind her.

"I think you have some explaining to do, otherwise I'm just gonna assume the worst and that you're actually the mastermind."