Heir & Heiress

Red Haze

"No way...," Makoto took cautious steps through the doorway. "Taka...and Toko, too?"

"No, Fukawa's fine," I said, glancing up at Naegi.

He jumped back, "Um...why are you on the floor?"

"Nevermind that now," I held out my hand, waiting for someone to help me stand up. Byakuya and Naegi reached out at the same time, bumping knuckles, to which Byakuya shot a petty glare. "Now, what do you mean by 'too'?" I asked, brushing the dust off my thighs.

"It's Yamada," Makoto glanced behind me, spotting an obvious clue. Another hammer, only with the number four on the side. How had the murderer snuck around, accomplishing both kills, without any of us noticing? "What's wrong?" Makoto asked, breaking my gaze on the hammer.

"Two people are missing, two are dead, and one of us is unconscious," I thrust a finger in Fukawa's direction, pressing my fist against my forehead. "Let's just get this over with," I gave a deep sigh and left the physics lab only to bump into Celeste. Her face and body language offered differing messages; frantic yet calm.

"It's gone," she said, her voice unusually quiet. "Yamada's body....has disappeared". 

True to her word, blood smears and Hammer #3 were the only remaining evidence in the infirmary. Moving a body couldn't be that easy, nor could the guilty party be that stealthy. "They'll kill us all!" Hina shrunk, hugging her shoulders.

"I doubt that," I rolled my eyes. "Would Monokuma seriously let this end so quickly?"

"Why would the bear care about what happens to us?" Celeste asked.

I shook my head, "It isn't about us. It's about despair. The longer we stay alive and fight, the more despair he can pull from us".

"Are you assuming that Monokuma would actually stop whoever is doing this?" Sakura crossed her arms. What I had said clearly didn't hit the right nerve.

I narrowed my eyes and clicked my tongue, "I suppose not. In that case, we should go back for Fukawa". We found Fukawa exactly where we left her; Ishimaru, however, was not. "You've got to be kidding me," I clenched my teeth. While I had doubts in the infirmary, no one in the group had a chance to move Ishimaru's body.

"Who amongst us could have done all of this?" Byakuya asked the group.

"The only two missing. Hagakure or Kirigiri," I said, without missing a beat.

"Wait! Kirigiri was with us when Celeste and Hifumi were attacked, that's a clear alibi!" Makoto was quick to defend the mysterious girl. Though debatable, the alibi left Hiro as the last suspect, leaving us to focus on finding the two missing bodies. 

In the cruel reality that we'd come to know, none of us were expecting Hifumi to open his eyes one last time. Through Hina's protests for him to hang on, we could vaguely make out the words trembling and tumbling from his lips. "Before...I met you all before...haven't I?"

I sucked in air, crashing to knees beside Hina, "Hifumi, what do you mean? What do you mean 'before'?" I pleaded.

"Hope's Peak Academy...," Hifumi took another shaky breath.

"Who did this to you!?" Hina blocked my last chance to ask any of the several questions floating through my head. With his last breath, Hifumi confirmed our suspicions as the name Yasuhiro hung in the air. Hina burst into tears, washing Yamada's cold and bloodied skin.

"Karen," Byakuya started as he squeezed my shoulder.

"He remembered, too. It wasn't a dream," I said, shaking my head. I whipped my head around until I found the camera in the corner, "What did you do?! What the hell did you do to us?!" Monokuma didn't reappear, but I knew that the Mastermind was laughing behind the lens. I struggled to stand, barely kneeling while leaning against Byakuya, "I'll end this game with your blood on my hands!" *SLAP* I clutched the side of my face, blinking rapidly at Hina. Her eyes were red and puffy yet filled with worry. I kept my head low as Byakuya helped me to stand, "I...I can't investigate like this. I'm sorry". I removed myself from the scene and wandered the floor. My feet eventually stopped at the rec room; I sat back in one of the armchairs and felt my eyelids gently shut within seconds. 

Byakuya strode towards the door, prepared to continue investigating on his own. "Uh, wait!" Naegi called out, catching the heir's attention once more. "What was Karen talking about earlier? Why did she-?" Byakuya held his hand out, signaling the boy to stop talking.

"That's not relevant to the investigation. Don't worry about it".

"You seem worried," Makoto took a step closer, as to hopefully talk quieter.

The blond stared at the doorknob in his grasp and began to slowly nod. "I'll say this. That isn't the Karen I know". He knew Karen to be reckless at times, but intelligent and able to keep a level head; the flash of red in her eyes just now was unlike any anger he'd witnessed. 

I awoke to hands forcefully shaking me, "Who? What's going on?"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Byakuya loomed over me. "Sleeping anywhere except the dorms-," he had barely explained as Monokuma flew out of a locker.

"Is strictly prohibited!" The bear extended his razor-blade claws at me. We stared at one another in silence; "What? You're not even going to defend yourself? Have you given up?" Monokuma laughed. "And here I thought you were actually going to try and kill me!"

"Who's Nagito?" Monokuma's laughter quickly stopped, as if a switch had been pressed. "Did he attend Hope's Peak, too?" My questions hung in the air, left unanswered as Monokuma disappeared.