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“No, Kaede, I think you should hold it.” Shuichi’s eyes were uncomfortably earnest behind his hat. The same hat that Miu had made fun of, the same hat that Kaede knew was connected to his trauma.
“I mean, okay…” Kaede held out her hand, and Shuichi dropped the receiver into it. The sudden weight of it made her flinch. She was quickly reminded that her backpack was heavy, heavier than it should be. She tried to smile, but Shuichi could probably tell that it was fake.
Thankfully, Shuichi didn’t say anything about her turbulent mood. He was probably feeling the same. But his emotions were because of the time limit, not a murder plan.
She was going to do something horrible. She had planned to do something horrible, at least…
Technically, she hadn’t even done anything yet, but the guilt was beginning to eat her alive.
And poor Shuichi, an unwilling accomplice to her crimes…
The receiver was cold, hard plastic, and it had a power button on the side. She touched it gently, not enough to push it down.
“I think it’s better if one of us stays in here, watch the vent and see if anyone else goes down there. I’ll go check what they’re doing downstairs. One of them could be…” he didn't have to finish his sentence.
Kaede knew what he meant. One of them was the Mastermind, the little Ringleader behind this whole killing game mess. One of them was going down there to open that hidden door. The shot-put ball felt heavier in her bag.
“Okay,” Kaede smiled, trying not to show her unease. “I’ll be here.”
Shuichi flashed her a grateful grin as he made his way out of the classroom and down the stairs.
Suddenly alone, the panic threatened to boil over. She needed something to do with her hands, and quickly. She hurried over to the vent, pushing in the grate to make sure it was unscrewed at the bottom.
She couldn’t describe the beating of her heart; it was so fast and aggressive that she could feel every pound against her ribcage. She was going to do it. She was going to kill the mastermind, and the thought wasn’t pleasant.
She wanted to help everyone. She wanted to escape with everyone. And this was the only way she could think to do it with the time limit. Shuichi’s cameras were a good idea… if this were a normal situation.
Exposing the mastermind wouldn’t do any good if that person had the power to kill all of them.
The monitor suddenly turned on. Kaede’s eyes flickered towards it, and loud music rang through the speakers.
The chess pieces on the monitor were covered in blood, hanged, drowned… it was awful. The song was loud, annoying, and chaotic. The fast beat made Kaede’s breathing uneven.
This was it.
The crunch time. The end. Kaede opened her backpack, reaching for the ball wrapped in her vest, stroking the soft surface with her fingers, hardly daring to breathe.
If Shuichi were here, maybe she would’ve stopped. Maybe she would’ve thought harder about what she was going to do—
The thought flew from her mind as the receiver went off. She almost dropped it in surprise. She rushed towards the door, dropping the shot and rolling it like a bowling ball in the vent…
She could hear it roll down the vent if she strained her ears hard enough. But it was most likely her imagination; she could hardly hear anything through that loud annoying music.
She rushed down the stairs, not even waiting for Shuichi, and she ran into someone in the hallway.
She could recognize his green hair as soon as she saw it. By his side was Tenko, her hair disheveled, and Kaito, tapping his foot against the cold, hard floor.
“Rantaro!” She cried, “the mastermind is in there!” She pointed to the library door, noticing her newly painted nails, reminded suddenly of Rantaro’s sisters and Tsumugi’s jealous sigh.
“You’re not kidding?” Kaito’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead. “Alright, hurry!”
They stepped into the library. The hidden door was closing, and Kaede felt her heart freeze. They were too late… unless her plan had worked.
She could hardly feel her feet as she ran towards the door, and when she turned to where the hidden camera was set up, her heart stopped in her chest.
Oh god… she tasted acidic bile in her throat, threatening to come up. Was he…?
No…!
Shuichi’s body was crumpled on the floor. Blood poured from a wound on his head, the shot on the floor next to him, stained red.
Kaede’s hand shot to her mouth. She wanted to scream, cry, vomit. Had the person she truly trusted been the mastermind behind the whole thing, all along?
“Shuichi?” She hardly choked. She killed Shuichi. The same Shuichi whose warm hand she held not even twenty minutes ago. The same Shuichi who hadn’t heard Clair de Lune.
“A body has been discovered!” Kaede’s heart stopped. No, no, no…!
“After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!”
“I thought…” Kaede’s voice trembled. She couldn’t even finish the sentence. I thought I would kill the mastermind. I thought I would save us all.
But Monokuma was still talking. Did that mean that…
Shuichi was innocent.
She crumpled to the ground, her kneecaps hitting the polished tile floor, bruising as the pain shot up her legs. Tears were streaming down her face.
“Alrighty, which one of you bastards killed ‘im?” Monosuke drawled, adjusting his glasses.
Kaede didn’t even notice the appearance of all of her other classmates, or Monokuma and the Monokubs. She was busy staring at her hands, trying to avoid crying out in agony.
“Yeah! The first blood perk says that the blackened can leave!” Said Monotaro cheerfully.
Silence. Kaede’s heart pounded wildly, and she inhaled a breath of air before sobbing loudly again.
Kirumi kneeled beside her, carefully brushing Kaede’s hair from her tear-stained and snotty face. The delicate way Kirumi softly touched her hair made Kaede want to sob again. Kirumi was gentle with a murderer. The blackened who killed Shuichi Saihara.
“Was he the mastermind?” Kaede asked tearfully. Everyone turned to her as if she were crazy, as if she was speaking nonsense. But she had to know.
“Sad your little camera trap backfired?” Monokid jeered, and for a moment, Kaede’s heart stopped. Was he telling everyone that she killed Shuichi?
No, he was just referring to their camera setup, nothing more.
“Please,” Kaede choked.
“Upupupupu!” Monokuma laughed. The rest of the Monokubs joined in, forming a sick chorus of laughter. “No!”
Kaede felt cold. The realization that Shuichi was innocent…
“No?” Rantaro echoed.
“No, he wasn’t the mastermind,” Monokuma clarified.
“Anyway, the blackened should come forward to take the First B-Blood Perk,” Monophanie stated softly. Her voice trembled on the word blood , and Kaede looked down at Shuichi’s body again, skull smashed by her shot-put ball and the blood covering the tiled floor, seeping into the grooves.
Silence, yet again.
Kaede was almost tempted to take it. So, so tempted. She could have her freedom right here. She wouldn’t have to face her execution.
But then, Shuichi would’ve died for nothing. Her face crumbled, and so did the words in her mouth. She couldn’t take the perk. At the very least, she could use this trial to try and expose the Mastermind of this sick game, maybe save everyone else.
As she looked at Tsumugi’s distraught face, she realized that they all deserved a happy life out of this academy, after all…
-
The side door creaked open, hardly audible over the sound of Monokuma’s promo video, and Shuichi looked at the camera he knew was taking his picture. He smiled softly, inwardly apologizing that he would be taking up space in the camera’s film.
Now that he knew that the eclectic group of his classmates were down here to make a plan, he knew he had to check something. Specifically, confirm a hunch.
There was no one in the library. Shuichi frowned. He was sure that there was someone here; his reasoning was sound. There was another way into that room.
He hadn’t said a word about an alternate entrance, and his deduction was flimsy, but it wasn’t something he could just throw away. The fact that the dust hadn’t been moved for days had made him suspicious. It was a gut feeling. There was more to this secret door than met the eye.
He found himself met with the urge to open the bookcase. Maybe this time he would find something. Maybe this time, he would actually put his talent to use.
But… it would throw a spanner into his plan with Kaede.
He extended his hand towards the door, debating inwardly, before he decided against it. No, no, it would just make Kaede panic and assume the Mastermind had moved the door.
Without touching the bookcase, it creaked loudly on its hinges, opening outward.
Shuichi blinked. He hadn’t opened it, which meant that—!
Flash!
Shuichi turned his head to the camera Kaede had set up. The flash was on.
He had to act quickly if he wanted to catch the Mastermind on camera, without their notice.
He was glad he went down here before the real plan was to go into effect. He raced over to the camera.
That flash would have ruined everything. He extended his hand to turn the button off when the camera flashed again, almost blinding him.
It happened so quickly that he almost thought he imagined it.
A shot-put ball fell from the top of the bookcase. It missed him by inches. He could feel the shot blow air across his face as it fell to the floor.
He examined the shot. He was out of time if he wanted to catch the person who had opened the door.
Shuichi noted that it had a small scrap of pink fiber stuck to its side.
Kaede tried to kill me. Or, more likely, the person who opened the bookcase door.
That pink scrap was from her vest, the shot was from the warehouse, the books were set up to be a ramp…! He followed the shot’s path up the bookcase, to the vent which connected to the classroom.
Despite himself, he couldn’t help but admire the creativity, even if it did almost result in his death.
His observations couldn’t have taken more than half a second, so he turned around after turning off the flash, eyes glued to the bookcase door.
Tsumugi Shirogane stepped out. Her face was calm, determined, sadistic.
His eyes flickered to the cameras, praying that enough time had passed for the film to re-roll, but Tsumugi held a shot-put ball in her hand.
Shuichi didn’t even have time to react.
But he did have time for one last conscious thought.
Kaede’s gonna think that she killed me.
His skull smashed inwards.
-
Kaede didn’t even want to investigate it, but she found herself spilling the truth about the camera setup to anyone who would listen.
“So, S-Shuichi and I set up these cameras to catch the mastermind going into the hidden door,” Kaede said, face still damp with tears, “I don’t know what he was doing down here,” she choked.
“The killer will be in the photos,” Tsumugi consoled, rubbing Kaede’s back gently. “It’s not going to take us long to find out who did it.”
No, Kaede thought, the killer won’t be in those pictures…
“So, let me ask you this,” Kokichi grinned. “If you two were supposed to be together, why was he alone?”
“I was keeping watch in the classroom,” said Kaede. “I had the receiver that was supposed to make noise when the bookcase was moved, and I didn’t wait for Shuichi to come up to the classroom. I went down here without him, which is when we… found him.”
“No, you misunderstand,” Kokichi’s feral grin turned hostile. “Why was he down here?”
“I… I don’t know!” Kaede cried. “He said he was going to go see what all of them were doing!” She gestured wildly to Kaito and Maki, which Tenko and Himiko were standing behind. “He had no reason to be in the library!”
She took a deep breath, realizing that she was taking out her anger on the wrong person. Shuichi wasn’t at fault for being murdered in cold blood.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, hiccuping a sob. “I don’t know.”
“Making a girl cry?” Rantaro turned his unsettling gaze onto Kokichi, who didn’t even flinch. “Not cool, Kokichi.”
“It’s okay,” Kaede said, wiping her eyes and pinching her cheek, trying to regain some control. “He’s just trying to help.”
“If only we had someone to do an autopsy, to make sure this file is accurate,” Kokichi sighed, tapping his Monopad with two fingers. “Maybe that detective could’ve done it.”
Kaede’s heart panged with sharp, fresh agony.
“Anyone with common sense can see that it’s accurate,” Maki said, sitting on the balls of her feet, staring at Shuichi’s bloody hat. She picked it up with two fingers, trying to avoid touching it, and then furrowed her brows, looking at Shuichi’s wound.
Kaede couldn’t bear to look. “The skull fracture is consistent with the size of the shot and it doesn’t seem like he has any other injuries.”
No one responded to Maki’s strangely, unsettlingly detailed report.
“How do you know about all this?” Ryoma asked after a moment of silence.
“I deal with a lot of broken bones,” Maki said simply. “I’ve splinted a lot, and a little blood doesn’t bother me. Not when I deal with scraped knees regularly.”
“A little blood?” Miu sounded scandalized. “You could fill a jacuzzi with all the liquids leaking from his head!”
Kaede choked, and Tsumugi rubbed her back again.
“Hey, slutbag, ever heard of tact?” Kokichi mocked. “I bet even Keeboy would understand not to say something like that, and he doesn’t even have feelings!”
“I do too!” Keebo responded angrily. “I have very complex algorithms to determine how I feel—!”
“So,” Rantaro sighed, speaking over Keebo and Kokichi. “Do you mind if I go develop that film?”
“I don’t mind,” Kaede said, trying to stand. Her legs wobbled, and Tsumugi shushed her, gently forcing her to sit again.
“How about you go get the cameras, Rantaro?” Tsumugi said gently.
Rantaro nodded, going to pick up each camera individually.
“I will develop the film,” Kirumi interjected. “I have done it many times and I—”
“It’s okay!” Monophanie said loudly, and Kaede jumped at her sudden appearance. “I don’t mind doing it! I wanna be of help.”
“Uh. No,” Tenko denied, eyes on Angie, who was standing in the doorway. “What if you get rid of the incriminating pictures?”
“Why would I?” Monophanie asked, sounding offended. “That’s awful! I would never interfere directly!”
Rantaro came back, holding each of the cameras in his hands. “Here’s the cameras, Kirumi.”
“I’ll do it!” Monophanie said loudly, snatching the cameras with excessive force. She waddled out of the room before any of them could catch up to her.
“Well, that’s a bust!” Kokichi said cheerfully. “Now we can only hope that she’ll develop all the photos!”
“Tell me about the plan, again.” Ryoma said, his voice deep.
“Uh, ok.” Kaede rubbed her eyes again. “Shuichi and I were gonna set up cameras to catch the person opening the secret door. And then we were gonna expose the Mastermind to everyone else. We kept it quiet, trying not to cause a panic. Um, we were keeping watch in the classroom by the stairs, which has a vent to the library,” she pointed a trembling finger up to the vent, and her heart clenched. “And Shuichi went down to check what the others were doing down here. And when the receiver went off, signaling that the bookcase had been moved, I came down here and…” her voice died.
“It’s okay, Kaede,” Kirumi murmured. “We all came down here for the discovery.”
“This culprit seems like a sick bastard,” Ryoma said blankly, a candy cigarette in his fingers. Kaede felt ill at the thought.
“Why?” Kaede said softly. Her voice came out steady, which was a surprise, because her throat clenched.
“Stringing us along like this? They could’ve just taken the perk and been done with it. But they’re bringing us to the Class Trial, probably because they think they can outsmart us and kill us all.” Ryoma stared forward, eyes like dark pits, and it somehow felt like he could see through Kaede.
“You really think so?” Tsumugi squeaked. “That’s awful…”
Kaede opened her mouth to defend herself. But the words died in her throat.
“I’m gonna find out who killed Shuichi,” Kaede said determinedly, finally standing. “I’m gonna find out who the Mastermind is.”
“You think that the Mastermind and the killer are one and the same?” Maki said, standing closer to Kaede. Her hands were stained red, and Kaede flinched at the sight of them.
“Y-yes.” Kaede cleared her throat. And then said louder, with more determination, “Yes.”
“You don’t exactly have any proof for that,” Korekiyo said delicately.
“Well, I’m gonna find some!” She said loudly. “I’m gonna find out who the mastermind is, so no one else has to die!”
“Good luck with that,” Miu snorted, fiddling with a remote. “While I, the gorgeous girl genius, take an aerial photo of this room!”
A splash of cold fear gripped Kaede for just a moment. That drone would likely expose the ramp she had made.
And then she shook the fear off, leaving only determination. She wasn’t trying to live through this trial. The more they discover about her plan, the better. She was going to help them.
But first, she would end this killing game.
-
The elevator was silent. For a moment, she was scared. Was this the last time she would ever use an elevator?
No. No, she would find the mastermind and everything would be over.
She thought back to Monophanie’s developed pictures.
The first one. Shuichi enters through the side door, smiling softly at the camera in apology.
The second one. He examines the bookcase with a severe expression, the type that made Kaede realize just how talented he truly was. Just an apprentice detective, sure.
The third. Shuichi turns and looks at the camera, panic in his silver eyes—the same eyes that Kaede hadn’t got a chance to see. He was probably sure that his plan was collapsing. He’s rushing towards the camera, trying to turn off the flash.
Kaede shut her own eyes tightly, trying not to think about how poor Shuichi had been caught in the crossfire of her mediocre plan. It was a plan fueled by desperation and Shuichi’s logic.
Was he scared before she killed him? Was he scared that his carefully thought out plan would fail?
But she hadn’t found any proof of a Mastermind. No proof to point her towards any one of the students being behind anything.
It just… didn’t feel fair.
She had killed her closest friend and ally in this sick game, and it didn’t even seem like she had anything to show for it. Not any proof of a Mastermind at all, besides Shuichi’s vanishing dust.
For a moment, she wondered what it would have been like if he had lived, and the mastermind had died. Would she have dragged him along to one of her concerts? Would they have gotten ice cream and sat in the park? Maybe go to dinner together?
They could go to his favorite place, order his favorite thing—but… she hadn’t even known his favorite food.
Hadn’t even known his uncle’s name, his favorite color, his favorite song.
He didn’t even get to tell her the entire story behind his worst case.
Inwardly, it made her want to cry. But outwardly, she forced her face to remain stoic. The best she could do for Shuichi, at least now, would be to end this game.
Would it be pink? Blue? Green? Purple, maybe?
His favorite color. What was it? She had murdered him in just a moment, and didn’t even know his favorite color.
He seemed the type to like Chopin. Maybe he would like Tchaikovsky, or Vivaldi…
Maybe he would like Beethoven, and then Kaede could roll her eyes and tell him that was a basic answer. But she would secretly be pleased, because she can play Beethoven with her eyes closed.
And maybe, she could help him get over his fear of discovering the truth.
If he was beside her in this elevator, she would grasp his hand and tell him in a soft voice that she knew the outcome of this trial. And he shouldn’t be scared of finding the truth, and showing off that Ultimate Detective talent she knew he had.
But he wasn’t here. She had killed him. She had killed him, and he would never come back, and he deserved better, and she didn’t even know his favorite color.
-
She took her podium with shaky hands, before looking across from her.
There was a picture of him. His hat was still covering his eyes, but there was a picture of him on display—his eyes cut out with a big, bloody X.
His hat—the same one which didn’t protect his skull from the shot put ball, which was now caved in and covered in blood, the same hat that Maki had so delicately avoided touching…
Was it like some sort of sick memorial?
She took a deep breath and turned her face away from his portrait and then spoke. “Who did it?” She said, voice trembling. “Who’s the mastermind?”
“Lame~!” Kokichi sang, resting his cheek on his hand and staring at Kaede blankly. “You can’t just expect people to admit to it, you’ve got to corner them!”
“C-corner them?” Kaede asked, bewildered.
“He means,” Rantaro sighed, rubbing his hair. “Tell us the evidence that points to the culprit.”
“I think Kaede has told us all she knows!” Tenko said, accusingly. “Degenerate,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at Rantaro.
“Well, how about we first talk about our alibis?” Kaito said. “I think that’s probably a good start.”
“Alrighty! I’ll go first!” Kokichi’s voice was really excited. “I was alone in my room.”
“That’s not an alibi, you stupid midget!” Miu said loudly.
“I’m sorry, I think I need to clean my ears. I might’ve just heard a fat ugly slut trying to talk to me.”
“Ahhh!” Miu exclaimed, cheeks burning hot. “W-what? How could y-you…?”
“What’s your alibi, Miu?” Rantaro exhaled, ignoring Miu’s outburst, just like everyone else was trying to do.
“Who is Shuichi Saihara?” Miu asked loudly. “I-I’ve never even met that virgin loser! Ha, haha! I wasn’t even in the school!”
“Stop lying, Miu,” Keebo sighed, “it just makes us seem more suspicious of you.”
“Well, I—!”
“I can confirm her alibi!” Tsumugi said loudly, suddenly. All the eyes in the room turned to her. “Well, Kiyo, Kirumi, me and Miu were in the dining hall when the body discovery announcement played.”
“If I recall, Tsumugi, you went to the bathroom. You could have killed Shuichi in that time,” Kirumi noted.
“No, she couldn’t have,” Kaede said. “I was keeping a watch on the stairs to the basement, and Tsumugi never tried to get downstairs.”
“Well, what if she used her cosplay talent to disguise herself as someone else?” Ryoma asked.
“Impossible!” Tsumugi cried. “I can only cosplay fictional characters! It’s a crime against cosplay to use your skills to turn yourself into a real person! Just disgusting, honestly!”
“You could be just saying that,” Korekiyo held up a finger. “We cannot verify your alibi based on your word alone.”
“No, it’s true,” Kaede said again. “Well, she tried to cosplay me, and her skin was covered in this awful rash. I don’t think Tsumugi can cosplay regular people and go unnoticed.”
“Well, me, Maki, Tenko, Rantaro, Himiko, Gonta, and Angie all went to the game room!” Kaito professed, puffing his chest out. “None of us did it!”
“That’s not necessarily true though, right?” Kaede asked. “Gonta was in the AV Room the whole time, and Rantaro left in the middle of it, didn’t he?”
“Yes!” Gonta said happily. “Gonta was watching bug movie, to inspire Gonta to fight!”
Kaede couldn’t help but smile. She knew Gonta didn’t kill Shuichi, not in his infinite gentleness…
“Well, isn’t there a door in there?” Ryoma asked. “A door that leads straight to the library and has a direct line of sight to Shuichi’s position.”
“Someone as strong as Gonta would be able to pick up that shot put ball, no problem. Atua agrees!” Angie closed her eyes and looked up to the sky. “Praise be to Atua! It was Gonta!”
“Yes, no problem for Gonta!” Gonta grinned. “But Gonta was busy watching bug movie… Gonta didn’t open the door.”
“We can’t say that for certain,” Himiko grumbled.
“I can!” Kaede interjected. “There was dust on the doorframe; it obviously hadn’t been moved in a long time. And even when I did open it, my arm barely fit through.”
“Well, Gonta has the strength to throw it, doesn’t he?” Kokichi noted. “And like Ryoma said, it was a direct line to Shuichi. Gonta could throw the shot, no problem.”
“Well, we know he didn’t come through the game room,” Kaito mumbled. His voice strengthened before he talked to the group. “The rest of us were in the game room. Gonta could’ve only killed Shuichi through that door.”
“You guys are wrong! Gonta would never hurt anybody! That’s not very gentlemanly!”
“Yeah, the door would’ve been closed, right?” Rantaro wondered. “I probably would’ve seen somebody open the door.”
“So, you’re telling us you can confirm Gonta’s alibi?” Korekiyo hummed.
“Kinda. I need to come clean with you guys,” Rantaro sighed. “I knew about the hidden door. I came across it, just like Kaede and Shuichi did. I was going to go in the library when the time limit expired and try to catch the Mastermind in the act.”
Kaede’s heart stopped. For just a moment, she allowed herself to wonder what might have happened if she had killed Rantaro instead.
“But I'm not the mastermind,” Rantaro assured confidently. “I left the meeting early to open the hidden door, but I guess I wasn’t fast enough. I was in the hall when Kaede came down the stairs, if you remember. I am sure I would’ve seen Gonta throw a shot or open the door.”
“See, Gonta is innocent!” Gonta professed, smiling.
“But can we confirm that Rantaro is innocent?” Ryoma said, and the room went silent. Like you could hear a pin drop.
“Yes, probably,” Kaede said after a moment of tense silence, “Rantaro didn’t show up on any of the pictures, if you remember.”
“Well, why didn’t he just use the camera intervals?” Miu asked, very condescendingly.
“C-camera intervals?” Kaede asked, bewildered. She hadn’t heard of this.
“Yeah, because the film re-rolls manually, there’s about a thirty second timer between the pictures taken. Here, look at these photos of Pooichi,” Miu put the cameras on her podium, and everyone in the room leaned forward.
“Notice how it doesn’t show him walking over to the other camera, where we found his body? That’s cuz it would’ve taken the camera about 30 seconds to re-roll.”
“This is the first I’m hearing of this, and it was my plan too!” Kaede said loudly.
“I guess your beta virgin boytoy didn’t tell you about it, huh?” Miu mocked. “I told him!”
“I—w-well,” Kaede stammered, stumbling over her words, “if I didn’t know about the intervals, how would Rantaro know about them enough to sneak in behind Shuichi?”
“That’s easy, bitch!” Miu laughed. “He… huh. I don’t know. I mean, it’s not that I don’t know, I totally know what happened already, but my explanation would probably go over your fat head…”
“So, Rantaro probably didn’t do it,” Kaito sighed. “He had no way of knowing about the intervals, unless Shuichi would’ve told him.”
“Shuichi and I were together the whole day after he got the cameras,” said Kaede. “I’m sure he wouldn’t have had time to tell anybody.”
Unless he did it in the basement, where you killed him.
“So, this is what I bet happened, and if we can find the person who did it, we can end this killing game,” Kaede said strongly. “I think the person who killed Shuichi used the camera interval to come after him from the hidden door, the hidden door that only the mastermind could enter.”
“There’s a flaw in your logic,” Keebo said suddenly. “If the mastermind did it from the hidden door, wouldn’t that dust on the card-reader have vanished?”
Kaede crumpled. Her logic just… crumpled.
“B-but I just don’t see how anyone could’ve killed him without knowing about the camera intervals or having been seen by Rantaro.” Keebo continued. “I’m sorry, Kaede, I don’t mean to be rude, I’m still learning.”
“Well, maybe if we didn’t see the person, they were hiding in a different room, like Gonta. Remember, the library is in the basement; somebody could’ve dropped the shot,” Ryoma said.
“From where, dingus?!” Miu asked rudely.
“You were taking aerial pictures, right?” Ryoma asked instead of answering her question. “Why don’t you tell us?”
“Huh!” Miu grinned. “That’s a really good point, short stuff! In return, why don’t you let me—”
“Enough,” said Maki coldly. “Just show us the pictures.”
“Hee!” Miu wilted under Maki’s glare, “Here you go!”
The photo showed off the impromptu ramp easily. It was so obvious.
“Look, the vent!” Angie said excitedly, “Atua thinks that’s where the shot would’ve come from!”
It took a moment for Angie’s words to sink in. But once they did, everyone turned to look at Kaede.
“Kaede…” Rantaro looked at her sadly, and Kaede burst into tears.
She sobbed loudly, her knees wobbling below her. “I didn’t mean—I didn’t want—!”
“K-Kaede?” Tenko sounded surprised as she said it. “Did you…?”
“She must’ve rolled the ball into the vent, onto the books which deposited the shot right over the camera where Shuichi would’ve been standing…!” Rantaro said breathlessly.
“Did you do it?” Kokichi sounded bored.
“Yes!” Kaede wailed, “Shu-Shuichi’s plan was to catch the mastermind on camera, but I knew it wouldn’t work…!”
“So you set a trap to try and kill the mastermind instead, huh?” Kokichi’s face was still blank.
“But poor Shuichi was caught in the crossfire,” Tsumugi said, crestfallen.
“He wasn’t supposed to be down there!” Kaede sobbed, “H-he was supposed to be in the classroom with me…!”
“He would’ve been a witness to all your crimes, huh? I bet he saw you pick up the shot, I bet he saw you set up the camera and stack the books,” Ryoma sighed.
“And you killed him with a trap he saw you design?” Keebo interjected.
Kaede hiccuped. “I didn’t even know his favorite composer… I wanted to play him Clair de Lune…”
“Why?” Tsumugi asked breathlessly. “Why did you kill him, Kaede!”
“We were gonna get out of here… and be friends…” Himiko’s voice was still monotone, but Kaede could hear the hurt in it.
“I’m so sorry,” Kaede couldn’t see through the tears blurring her vision, “I’m so… so sorry…”
All 15 of them ended up voting for Kaede, in the end.
She couldn’t really justify her reasoning to her classmates, but they were crying when her face popped up with the guilty verdict.
“I want you guys to live!” Kaede was sobbing, “you have to live! I want you to get out of here and find the mastermind and live!”
-
It’s purple.
The air was leaving her lungs, her eyes were focusing on black spots in her vision, her head pounded.
Like your eyes.
That was just wishful thinking. He hadn’t even looked her in the eyes the entire time they had known each other. Hadn’t even looked at her when he spilled his heart out, not when she grabbed his hand to try and reassure him.
That same hand was gripping the noose around her neck.
The melody below her would’ve been beautiful, but she could hardly hear it. Her ears pounded . Her heartbeat was like a sick bass line to the piano.
Her heartbeat. How many more times would it pound in her chest?
It was like a countdown. 10 more heartbeats? 20, maybe?
Her eyes were cloudier now. Her face burned with heat, and cool tears were streaming down her face…
It was just. Awful.
Would her throat be bruised, even in death?
How silly to worry about that, now.
Like Kaito’s jacket, or Kokichi’s hair; like your eyes.
Haha.
She really needed to stop lying to herself.