Chapter Text
There was something not quite right about the séance, Ouma knew that and yet he just let it happened and now another murder had occurred. Two people were dead now, two more lives lost because he couldn't figure out how to end this killing game already and by the end of the trial there would be a third execution and another death to add to his nightmares.
He tried to swallow down the feeling of disgust towards this sick game and everything about it as he forced his mask into place running around gleefully with a big smile on his face.
For now, he had to pretend to enjoy this killing game, he had a plan and he needed to follow it. Ouma couldn't trust anyone here so pushing everyone away while he investigated the school in secret was his only option; if the mastermind ever realized how much he knew, how much he was learning and how much he had planned then he'd easily end up just like Amami.
With that thought in mind, he ran inside one of the vacant rooms to confirm a suspicion that he had. Maybe if his thoughts hadn't been occupied with thoughts of the killing game and how twisted the whole situation that was his reality ever since he woke up in that damn locker was he might have been paying attention to where he was running. Maybe if he hadn't decided to run everywhere to keep up appearances he would have noticed his foot falling through the floor.
Then maybe he could have stopped the loud bang the resounded through the room as he hit his head and maybe he could have stopped the darkness that would swallow him until he was no more.
---
Saihara stepped out into the hallway to head over to reinvestigate some things about Angie's death when he was met with a sight beyond comprehension, Ouma Kokichi the Super High School Level Supreme Leader lying in a pool of blood.
There was a moment of silence where he was completely unsure of how to act, part of him was almost expecting the liar to jump up and claim it was all a lie but the supreme leader made no such movement, simply lying there as still as the grave. "Wh-What is this?" he found himself asking breaking the silence as he stared at the scene in shock.
"I-Is… that Ouma-kun?" Saihara almost couldn't believe that he was asking that, Ouma had always seemed sort of un-killable in a way as he danced circles around them all taunting them with his lies.
"…Who else could it be?" Harukawa said dismissively causing Saihara to flinch slightly, he knew that Harukawa didn't get along with Ouma, not many people did what with Ouma always constantly plotting something and causing trouble for them all but still that didn't mean that he ever wanted this to happen to the other boy.
Saihara felt his fist clench as he stared at the body of his classmate, this was the third body of this case… were there more? Why was this happening? Are there multiple killers or only one?
There were so many questions and he wondered if there was really enough time to get answers but the best course of action was probably to let the others know; it was just him and Harukawa at the moment so there was no body discovery announcement yet "I should get the others-" Saihara began trying to tear his gaze away from Ouma's still form when Harukawa interrupted him as if she could already tell where his thoughts were heading.
"He's still alive," Harukawa informed him with a sigh; almost as though she was disappointed walking closer to Ouma with a thoughtful expression crouching down to get a better look.
"What? Then he's okay?" he found himself asking in surprise though some exasperation was already dripping into his voice as he wondered if this was some elaborate prank and the supreme leader was merely playing dead to see how they would react.
"I wouldn't say okay, he's definitely unconscious," Harukawa replied as she began following a trail of blood towards one of the nearest rooms while Saihara made his way towards Ouma's unconscious body to check for injuries and found himself wincing as soon as he did; it was no surprise that the other boy was unconscious as Saihara could clearly see that not only had Ouma hit his head pretty hard but had also scratched it as well causing the gash to worsen resulting to the slowly growing pool of blood on the floor.
With slightly shaking hands Saihara reached for Ouma's wrist and began searching for a pulse, there was one awful second where he could feel nothing and panic began to rise up in the detective's throat, was Harukawa wrong?
Then suddenly he found it, Ouma's heartbeat, weak but definitely there.
"We need to get some help!" Saihara declared grabbing Harukawa's attention before turning back to the other boy "what happened to him?" he wondered aloud not quite expecting an answer right away causing him to start when Harukawa provided one.
"It looked like he fell through the floor in one of the rooms over there," Harukawa informed him curtly as she crouched down beside him studying Ouma's form once more.
"Fell through the floor!?" he found himself repeating in shock, that was clearly dangerous, he had thought that the floors were more secure than that. For some reason, though he felt as though the insecure floorboards might be important somehow…
Harukawa nodded as she continued her observation, "most likely that's how he hit his head and hurt himself in the first place. He might have been fine if he just waited for help but it looks like he crawled out here before passing out from blood loss and probably worsened his injury" Harukawa said as she stood up giving Ouma's body another glance "I would say we should just leave him here but he should be fine if he gets some help. There's definitely going to be some head trauma but I can't say what kind"
"Wow Harukawa-san it's impressive you could tell all that by just looking at him," Saihara found the words slipping out of his mouth before he even realised he was saying them but that didn't make them any less true he thought as he felt a small smile making its way onto his face.
At his exclamation Harukawa turned away slightly before answering, "it's nothing; assassins are usually supposed to recognise if their targets are still alive or not even at a great distance and recognising wounds can be the difference between life and death"
Saihara began lifting Ouma slightly only to be surprised by how *light* the other boy was and in that second it felt as though he was finally realising how small Ouma was compared to the rest of them.
"What was he doing here in the first place?" Saihara wondered aloud trying to distract himself from thoughts about how fragile Ouma seemed in that moment as he felt a thoughtful look begin to form on his face "he was probably investigating something before the trial but what?..." Saihara found that this particular thought wasn't a distraction and more something that he genuinely wanted the answer to, Ouma was unpredictable but he would admit the supreme leader saw things that the rest of them didn't which sometimes even helped them during trials making him think that things could be a lot easier if Ouma just acted as if he were on their side for even a second.
*Ding dong, dong ding…*
"Huh!?" the exclamation burst out of his mouth in shock as he was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts and Monokuma's shill voice began to play out from the monitors.
"Confidence… Dreams… That's what the killing game is all about! Killing game fans! Hold your head high and watch with your own two eyes! Baseball! Soccer! Mobile games! They're all nothing compared to the killing game! The killing game just can't be beat! Behold, students! The entrance to the trial grounds!"
The announcement ended and Harukawa let out a tired sigh a disappointed look showing on her face "I guess… time's up." Harukawa muttered before giving an annoyed glance at Ouma who had squirmed slightly when Monokuma's announcement was taking place before falling still once again "looks like we wasted all our time on him…"
"Ah! that's right what are we going to do about Ouma in the trial!?" Saihara exclaimed as he was suddenly hit by the realisation, there was no way that Ouma could participate in the trial in his condition, would the mandatory participation rule still apply here? As if on cue to his concerns a familiar phrase sounded out throughout the hallway.
"Rise and Shine, Ursine!"
As soon as they appeared the pink one was already throwing up and Saihara felt himself having to fight the annoyance that was already building up.
"Oh, no emergency! Emergency! One of the students is hurt badly! Someone call daddy what do we do?"
"Wow, there's no way he's going to be able to be able to participate in the class trial Monodam what gives?"
"…"
"Hey!" Saihara said in frustration putting a stop to there banter "what's going to happen to Ouma-kun!?" he asked when suddenly Monokuma appeared and he had to keep himself from dropping Ouma in surprise.
"What's this one of my precious students got injured just before a trial?" Monokuma stated looking curious before laughing "wow who knew Ouma could be so clumsy! He should really watch where he's going more!" Monokuma stated laughing the entire time as if the whole situation was nothing more than a joke for his amusement and maybe to the bear it was.
"Hey! Ouma-kun's hurt there's no way that he'll be able to participate in the trial like this!" Saihara said he felt he had to say something anything just to feel like he wasn't letting Monokuma walk all over them.
"Hmm, can't participate in the trial?" Monokuma said slowly causing him to tense up before the bear started laughing again "well I suppose that's to be expected, it'd be pretty boring if we just had an unconscious sack of dead weight at trial so that's to be expected." Monokuma said happily as the Monokubs suddenly held up a gurney.
"WE-WILL-TAKE-CARE-OF-HIS-INJURIES!" Monodam said as if noticing that Saihara was suddenly holding onto Ouma a bit tighter, a fact that he had only just noticed himself.
"That's right my student's health is my topmost priority! So leave him to us and start heading to the trial grounds already!" Monokuma said holding up a claw threating them as he said the last part.
With slight reluctance, Saihara handed Ouma over, laying the other boy down on the gurney before the Monokubs lifted Ouma up and began carrying Ouma away.
---
Harukawa was glad that the trial was finally over, and honestly the blackened of this case deserved to be executed. Surprisingly Ouma getting injured led to an important clue that ended up helping solve the case an added bonus that made her for a brief second wonder if god really did exist.
Perhaps it was because she put more effort into the trial's investigation or the fact that Ouma wasn't there to constantly mock her but the trial seemed better than the last two as if she was actually helping people.
Yumeno had left the trial grounds with a downtrodden look on her face but that was to be expected considering she lost two people she was close to. Though Harukawa would be lying more than Ouma himself if she said that she'd miss Angie and her cult.
But as she talked with Saihara and Momota it was a nice feeling… having friends to talk to and worry about. Momota was… frustrating, definitely frustrating but for some reason, she didn't exactly mind that. She was about to leave when Monokuma suddenly appeared in her path.
"Oh good. Three of you are still out here! I'm here to tell you that Ouma Kokichi is ‘awake'" Monokuma told them gleefully as if he was telling an inside joke, she had to fight down her irritation though this was not the first time she thought about how if it weren't for the rules she would have crushed that damn bear.
"…Why should I care?" Harukawa asked curtly because the last thing she cared about was that annoying brat when to her surprise Monokuma started laughing.
"Upupup… Well, it appears that Ouma-kun isn't quite himself because of his head injury and I thought it would be best for his classmates to know."
"What do you mean ‘not himself'" Saihara asked hesitantly causing Monokuma to laugh even harder.
"Upupupu! Who knows? You'll just have to see for your self." Monokuma said in that knowing but mocking tone he used on them so much before leaving them, all three frozen having no idea what to make of what they had just been told.
"You want to go check on him don't you?" Harukawa asked turning towards Saihara, the detective already looking thoughtful. At her question, Saihara started and began looking embarrassed and sheepish, as if he had been caught in something.
"Well… it couldn't hurt just to check on him just to see if Monokuma was telling the truth about him being awake" Saihara said nervously just before a sigh escaped her lips, it wasn't a sigh in frustration but almost… a fond sigh.
Saihara was a detective, after all, she wouldn't expect any less of him than wanting to investigate something mysterious.
Harukawa let out a relenting ‘alright' causing Saihara to look at her in shock "you're coming too Harukawa-san?" the detective asked causing Harukawa's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.
"Do you want to die?" the threat slipped out of her mouth without her thinking, she took a breath to calm herself down before speaking again "I don't feel like leaving you alone with that asshole, what about you? Are you coming?" she asked turning towards Momota who looked slightly surprised at being addressed.
"Of course! I can't let my sidekicks deal with whatever's happened alone!" Momota declared giving her a thumbs up and Harukawa found herself fighting the smile that threatened to make its way onto her face when Momota suddenly wore an almost pained expression "you two can go on ahead first though… I need a minute before dealing with the brat this late…" Momota told them and both of them nodded in understanding.
She figured that Monokuma wouldn't lock the door to Ouma's room when he had just told them to go to it so she simply figured that she could enter with no problems, the door opening as she turned the handle was proof that she was correct in this belief. Whatever she had been expecting to see however it certainly wasn't what met her on the other side of the door.
"Please calm down we have a lot we need to explain to you," the voice of one of the Monokubs, the pink one said as Harukawa and Saihara walked in to the sight of Ouma pressing himself up against the wall staring at the Monokubs with a surprisingly open look of confusion, fear and weariness his eyes darting over to her and Saihara almost as if to examine them as soon as they walked in.
"Oh good your classmates are here!" the red one said in relief suddenly noticing their presence "they'll explain the stuff you need to know to you! Don't worry I forget things all the time but the people around me always help me out!" he said reassuringly and enthusiastically.
Forget things?
"Ouma-kun are you alright?" Saihara asked choosing to ignore the Momokubs instead focusing on the reason why they were here, Ouma looked at them thoughtfully as if he was studying them though what took Harukawa aback was how *honest* the liar's expression looked.
"I… I think so?" Ouma said in the most hesitant voice she had ever heard him use causing both her and Saihara to freeze as Ouma continued "I just have one question… who… who are you guys?"