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Tenko had only just stepped onto the third floor when the screaming started. Deeper yells came first and Tenko could pick out Momota. But it was the sharp girlish note of despair that had her running towards the commotion.
Angie's lab was the source of it, and a nauseated swirl twisted in her core. The door was ajar and as Tenko skidded to a stop in front of it the cause of the terror was obvious.
Angie lay limp on the floor and for one agonizing second Tenko was sure she had died. The blood thickly ran across her face from a wound on her head, staining both her hair and the yellow coat she wore. Drops of it slid to the floor, smearing underneath her hand. Only the bleary blinking of her eyes marked her as alive.
"Angie-san!?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ouma's horrible voice came from her left. "Back it up. How do we know you're not the one who attacked her?"
"Chabashira wouldn't—"
"She could've," Ouma said loudly over Momota. "She was totally out for blood last night."
Tenko flushed. She could feel Harukawa and Saihara's gazes darting towards herself. Last night's words came bubbling up in her mind. Angie was bleeding all over the floor and the dazed look in her eyes had Tenko regretting every single one of them.
Yes, it would've been easier if Angie were gone. If she wasn't filling Yumeno's head with nonsense and dragging everyone else along with her. If she wasn't trying to use a dangerous motive by the most untrustworthy thing here at the Academy.
There were a ton of 'ifs' Tenko would be much, much happier without.
'If Angie were dead' was one she'd suddenly found unfathomable. She realized what she wanted was for Angie to have never been here, or for none of them to have ever been here. If Angie died right here from her injuries it wouldn't be a good thing at all. It would only make things worse; even if Yumeno snapped out of praising some unknown god.
"Tenko didn't—"
Suddenly, with a great shove, Angie pushed Saihara away from herself and swayed while sitting up. Even from her position across the room, Tenko could tell she was murmuring something. He backed up a few steps and Harukawa took his place.
Harukawa frowned. "She's saying dark pants over and over. Nothing else."
"Just 'dark pants'? Do you think that her attacker—" It was about then that Saihara seemed to realize his pants were dark and scurried backward even further. "Um. That her attacker was wearing dark pants…"
"If that's all she saw, then it's not that helpful." Angie wasn't fighting Harukawa, but she didn't relax either, trying to sit up on her own.
"S-so that means—" Yumeno stuttered, hands trembling.
"So that means Saihara-chan's the next suspect!"
Tenko edged around the boys yelling. Well, Saihara wasn't yelling, to his limited credit. Momota and Ouma were yelling enough for everyone in the school and then some. She bent near Harukawa, looking behind herself at Yumeno.
Her face was still chalk white and her hands were still trembling. Tenko frowned.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Harukawa said.
Angie mumbled.
"Louder."
"No. Just. Dark pants. Dark shoes. It was dark. Sorry," Angie slurred out. Her hands pressed against the sides of her head. Her hands were coated with blood and it darkened against the lightness of her hair.
That's when Shirogane and Kiibo shuffled in. There was another round of gasps and fretting, before Shirogane rushed to Yumeno's side. Leaning in, she whispered something in her ear and actually managed to get Yumeno to look somewhat relaxed. Kiibo joined in with the guys in the corner.
Tenko resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why were men always making things so much more aggravating?
"Well!" Shirogane said, much louder than anyone expected with the way the room went dead silent. She flushed and swallowed so loud Tenko could hear it across the room. "Well. We should probably get Angie cleaned up, right? It's not okay, leaving her here like that."
"Shirogane-san is correct! But we also need to figure out who hurt her." Kiibo frowned, looking around the room. "Does anyone have any ideas?"
"We have something she said about 'dark pants'."
"And dark shoes," Harukawa finished for Saihara and then stood. "I think that's enough to investigate while someone helps Angie."
"Investigate?! But there hasn't been a murder—"
"But there's a good chance there's been an attempted one. I'm sorry to say it, but we need to investigate all the possibilities." Saihara frowned, putting his hand up to his chin.
"Angie is feeling—"Angie started, before groaning and curling in on herself. She muttered inaudibly again, though Tenko could hear the strain in her voice.
"Okay! We should probably prioritize Angie first. I can take her!" Momota said.
"No, someone else can," said Tenko, helping Angie sit up. "Someone who isn't a nasty boy."
"I mean also…your pants aren't light." Yumeno replied, frowning. "I don't think you should."
Tenko was just glad she looked less green, even if she was still faintly trembling. Momota flushed a bit, hand going to the back of his head.
"Yeah, I think it's simply too much of a risk." Shirogane ignored his sputtering about his light shoes. She instead looked over at Tenko and Harukawa, still positioned by Angie.
"You two are plainly stronger than the two of us," Shirogane said, her arm curled over Yumeno's shoulders as they shook. "And everyone else has darker pants. Well, except Ouma-kun—"
"It's fine." Maki stood. "Chabashira and I will take care of it."
"I can go get everyone else," Yumeno said, suddenly. She tugged Shirogane along out into the hall.
"I guess seeing Angie like that was pretty hard on her…" Momota said, frowning. "Still, I'll help here with my sidekick."
That, of course, set Ouma off again. Tenko rolled her eyes.
"You wanna grab her?" Harukawa said. "I can if you don't."
"No, it's fine. Tenko can do it."
Angie was surprisingly light. She groaned as Tenko lifted her, but let her head roll onto Tenko's shoulder. Her eyes were shut and teeth were clenched, fingers in a tight grip against Tenko's arm. Guilt rose up again. She'd given up wanting to protect Angie, despite her promises of protecting all the girls and now Angie was hurt.
"Do you think she'll be okay?"
Harukawa's face didn't move.
"It's hard to say…her pupils look fine. There wasn't enough blood for problems with blood loss. It might just be that she's tired on top of everything. But I can't make promises. I'm an assassin, not a doctor."
Angie wasn't paying attention. She ducked her head further to her chest the futher they walked, the swaying probably only worsening her pain.
"She was in that room all night…" After Tenko had walked away, to boot. Sure, Angie might've kicked her from the Student Council cult, but she'd been nice about it. Maybe Tenko should've stayed and tried to convince her through the door.
At least she would've been there.
Harukawa took the key from Tenko's pocket and unlocked her door, holding it open for the two of them.
"I'll go get a first aid kit, you can clean her up."
Tenko paused. "You'd trust Tenko with that?"
"We spoke last night, didn't we? I don't think you'd hurt her too."
"Ah, thank you Harukawa-san!"
"It's nothing." And then she flitted out of the door.
Tenko sat Angie on her bed, then rushed into her bathroom. There were a few washcloths and she grabbed three, wetting two.
She tilted Angie's face up, gently wiping the blood off with the washcloth. The wound underneath was a nasty cut, bruising already welling around it in harsh pink. Luckily, it was done bleeding. Faint scabbing already crusted around the edges.
"Thank you," Angie said, eyes fluttering open. Tenko moved on to her hair, trying to wet as much blood as she could out. Angie would have to take a shower to get it all out, but Tenko tried as much as she could. It wasn't like Angie was in any sort of condition to try now.
"It's nothing." Tenko said, echoing Harukawa. "Tenko's sorry you had to go through that."
The blood on Angie's clothes stained far too much to really wipe away, so Tenko focused on drying the wet spots with her dry washcloth. The door opened and Harukawa dropped the first aid kit on the bed. Angie watched her curiously.
"Um," Angie started when Tenko moved to her hands. "Angie does remember a little more. Angie was going to get a candle for the ritual when something hit her. And things went dark for a second, but God helped Angie wake back up and she crawled to her room and locked the door."
"You crawled to your door?"
"Oh!" And then Angie winced again. "Angie was just in those empty rooms down the hall. It wasn't far."
"Still," Tenko said, "That's a long way with a head injury…especially crawling."
She ducked down to examine Angie's knees. They were lightly scraped, but mostly showed signs of slight bruising that would undoubtedly get worse as time went on. She used another washcloth on them.
Harukawa scowled. "Can you handle the rest of this, Chabashira? I'm going to go and tell Saihara that. It might help."
"Oh, yeah. Tenko has this covered."
She dug through the first aid kit as Harukawa left. There were bandages and ointment, so Tenko focused on the wound on Angie's forehead. She would bandage the ones on Angie's knees last.
"Is Angie-san feeling okay? You didn't look too good when Tenko and the others found you."
"Angie's head is throbbing and light is hurts. Angie's also cramping all over, because she sat in her art studio all night and she's tired because she was too scared to sleep." She groaned, punching the bed beside her lightly. "And her knees hurt a little more now that Angie's sitting up."
She collapsed into Tenko's chest. Tenko flushed, hands fluttering around Angie's head. At least she was all bandaged up at this point.
"Angie thinks she made a mistake. God protected Angie, but Angie still got hurt getting the candle…maybe God didn't want the ritual? Angie doesn't know."
It was the perfect chance to tell Angie she had made a mistake. That her god didn't want the ritual and that they should all throw the book in the trash where all of Monokuma's motives belonged.
But Tenko didn't believe in Angie's god at all and wasn't about to start telling lies to get her way.
"Tenko thinks Angie-san should take it easy. The Necronomicon isn't going anywhere. We can figure it out as a group once Angie-san feels better."
Gently, Tenko ran her fingers through Angie's hair, working out some of the dried blood.
"And we can find who attacked Angie-san and figure out what to do with them too."
"…Sorry for kicking you out of the Student Council, Tenko. Angie thinks you belong there if you want to be there. Maybe Tenko was a sign from God Angie ignored."
With the attack and how fragile Angie seemed at the moment, it was possible the power had been taken right out of the Student Council and Tenko wouldn't have to worry about what nonsense was being put in Yumeno's head.
But the fragility was the very thing that made Tenko sigh and sit beside Angie.
"Maybe. Tenko will think about it. But right now Angie-san should rest. When they figure out what happened someone will come get us."
"Thanks, Tenko." And then Angie tilted to the side and put her head in Tenko's lap. Sputtering, she flushed.
"Angie-san!"
"Tenko will protect Angie, right? So Angie will stay right here! Nyahahaha!" She then winced again, curling into Tenko's lap further. "Ow, Angie will keep quiet now. Goodnight."
Tenko's hands hovered uncertainly over Angie's body, before helplessly resting at her sides. Tenko might be glad Angie wasn't dead, but she was still so annoying. Tenko wasn't flustered at all! Nope, she was perfectly calm and collected.
When Harukawa came down to fetch them and reveal the culprit as Korekiyo, she tactfully did not mention how stiff Tenko was, or how she'd been staring down at Angie's sleeping face.