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Seeing an empty hallway was a relief to Noriko. After hearing Maekawa's proclamation to Shishikura about doing patrols to "protect him against the bleeding", she had been put into overdrive making sure none of them were discovered. The bleeding notes had just come in; the sabotage wouldn't be enacted until the morning — likely to give the bleeding time to prepare against it — the important thing was that Hirose was officially added to the bleeding.
Which just left her with only last thing for the night.
Carefully, she slipped out of her room, making her way to Hidemi and Ikeda's rooms. Thanks to Ikeda, his room was unlocked, which also meant that Hidemi's room was free access. Just like the night before, she carefully maneuvered through the two rooms, reaching Hidemi's table and grabbing the note with minimal noise.
For a brief moment, Hidemi had let out a groan, causing Noriko to freeze on the spot. Thankfully, there seemed to be no other movement coming from her so Noriko took the chance to flee before she was caught.
Closing Ikeda's door behind her, she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding. Finally, she could rest easy, Hidemi would continue to remain una—
"M-miss Ogura? What are you doing out here?" Startled, Noriko let out a yelp, dropping Hidemi's note on the ground.
"H-heh… I-I was just doing preparations f-for our, uh, yes! U-upcoming prayer!" She hastily lied, hoping that she was tired enough not to notice her stuttering. However, Hidemi seemed more interested in the dropped note, reaching down to pick it up. "A-ah that's not for—"
She was too late to stop Hidemi from reading the note, her expression immediately shifting to one of shock as she gleamed its contents.
"You can't!" Hidemi cried out, quickly falling to her knees, "you can't do this Miss Ogura!"
"Hidemi—"
"I don't want to lose you!"
"Hidemi please, you— you need to keep quiet."
She didn't listen, continuing to beg. "Don't do it! You're going to die!"
"Hey… I heard shouting so um… what's going on?" A new voice spoke, Ninomiya. That wasn't good.
Noriko crouched down, placing a hand on Hidemi's shoulder, "l-listen Hidemi, I need you to put your trust in me. Just forget what you saw and everything will be alright."
The crying didn't stop. In fact, it only got louder. "You have to reconsider this! Please!"
She didn't get the chance to give more reassurance before the sound of more footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, followed by someone grabbing her by the collar.
"Stay the fuck away from him." Maekawa growled, slamming her against the wall. Meanwhile, Ninomiya had approached the still crying Hidemi, noticing the bleeding note that Noriko had failed to hide away.
"What the fuck?" He mumbled, eyes scanning through it. And from then on out, it was game over.
"What is it?" Isoda's voice was barely heard above the cries.
"I— I think I should just read it out." He replied. "U-uhm…"
He took in a deep breath.
"Matthias De Clerq, this is a reminder that the second bleeding sabotage has been conducted. As such, all students have had any spare clothing removed until the end of the motive.
As it stands, the current bleeding are: Ogura Noriko, Ikeda Daiki, Matthias De Clerq and Denden Misao.
Following this sabotage, the bleeding have elected to recruit Hirose Shingo. As such, he is now a member of the bleeding following this sabotage."
Maekawa scoffed, "so it looks like someone here wasn't so careful in covering up her tracks."
"But what about Matthias?" Isoda asked. "He's not the newest recruit but it doesn't seem like he knew of his role to begin with…"
Ninomiya rubbed Hidemi's back. "I dunno, but we at least gotta talk about the others."
Maekawa turned back to glare at Noriko. "Go wake the rest up. I'll make sure this one doesn't move an inch."