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hidemi had never seen herself as the strongest person ever. nor was she particularly intimidating, although youhei had told her she could probably look scary if she tried. she hadn't yet had an instance where she felt she should, not without feeling silly for it and immediately losing that demeanor to a big smile as she laughed at herself.
that was, until she and hirose interrupted a murder attempt.
- - -
the initial scream cut through the hall, although behind the closed door of the lounge it came through almost muffled, audible only to hidemi herself, who stood close enough to the door to hear it despite its condensed volume.
" ah-? " she quipped, her head turning towards the door. her hair whipped around with her, the animated movement catching the attention of the young surgeon to her left, who quickly joined her by her side.
" what is it? did you find something? " hirose questioned, glancing over her shoulder at the cabinet she had been investigating moments ago, his brows furrowing at the lack of unfamiliar items or substances. he didn't see anything worth provoking confusion, so he was inclined to dismiss it - before hidemi spoke.
" did you hear that? " she asked, turning to face the surgeon with a look of mixed confusion and mild alarm. hirose quickly shook his head, a similar look of confusion now adorning his own face. she frowned in response, straining her ears to see if she could hear it again. she had definitely heard *something*, that was unmistakable, but it had been so muffled...
with a quick cough to clear her throat, she turned back and carefully shut the cabinet in front of her, before looking back to the surgeon with a hesitant smile.
" i think we should be okay to move on! i didn't find anything, " she announced, her voice lighter now that she had relaxed slightly. perhaps the noise was just that, a noise! nothing to be concerned over... although, despite those reassurances, the occurrence of the noise itself had been enough to disturb her slightly, nevermind the unknown source of it. but, shaking her head slightly, she continued to remind herself that it was okay. not all noises were bad, some were just accidents.
" that should be fine. i didn't find anything here either, " hirose responded curtly, and the two quickly left the lounge to venture further. if she was right in remembering, they were to investigate the waiting room next... she highly doubted they'd find anything there, but there would come no harm from searching anyway! after all, perhaps that's what the culprit would hope they'd assume, and simply skip over it --
" !!? "
another scream, this one accompanied by muffled yelling that neither hidemi nor hirose could quite discern. the scream, however, ran shrill through both of their ears, deafening and undeniable. while hidemi felt herself twist around in the direction of the scream, she noticed hirose had frozen in place, which distracted her momentarily from her primary concern. her eyes met his, which were pointed in the direction of the storage room, and she felt her blood run cold.
his face looked completely terrified, like nothing she had seen in him before. it was as if the single scream had completely robbed him of emotion, leaving only the face of raw fear.
in that split second, hidemi understood. she understood what he was thinking, how he felt. she understood what that scream meant. who it was from.
she made the first move, her boots thunking loudly against the laboratory floor as she ran for the storage room, her focus solely on getting there as soon as she possibly could. the secondary sounds of shoes against the tiled floor behind her signalled that the surgeon was not far behind, a small comfort - neither of them were particularly strong, but strength would surely come in numbers.
hidemi's hand gripped the door handle as soon as she reached it, pushing it open with such force that it slammed against the wall behind them.
" w-what's going on?! " she stammered in a panic as she hastily entered the room, her eyes flitting back and forth until quickly settling on the scene before her.
erina, her blonde pigtails flying behind her like the bristled tail of a cat on the offensive. a distorted yet unmistakable expression of pure anger on her face, eyes widened in a way that made her look completely mad. she barely looked present, focused entirely on the figure pinned underneath her grip.
that was where hidemi's eyes darted to next, and she felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight. a feeling of horror flooded her entire body, followed almost immediately by anger and panic.
between erina's legs, pinned to the storage room floor by her hand, isoda lay, weakly attempting to push back the leader's right hand, which wielded a small pocket knife. barely distinguishable from the fabric of their sweater, a heavy amount of blood seeped from their arm and abdomen - stab wounds inflicted from erina's knife, the fresh blood dripping from it joining the pool already forming on the floor beneath where the two lay.
hidemi's cry quickly drew the attention of the gang leader, who only then seemed to notice the arrival of the other two - made evident by the momentary glint of fear in her eyes, quickly drowned out by the return of the crazed anger she had adorned moments before. hidemi could feel it radiating off her, and in a way she almost felt like it was seeping into her skin, working its way through her and settling over her soul. all she could feel was rage.
taking advantage of the momentary distraction, isoda quickly raised one leg and kicked erina in the face, knocking her backwards and causing her to lose grip of the pocket knife, which slid a couple feet away from reach. the utaite quickly shuffled back, raising their good arm to the wounds on their abdomen in a feeble attempt to stem the bleeding.
" mion!? " hirose yelped, so quick to run to their side that hidemi had barely processed he'd even moved until he was already over there. naturally, as the medic his immediate focus would be helping the victim over dealing with the perpetrator.
at the surgeon's cry, isoda attempted to get on their feet to approach him but failed, their legs giving way as they fell back to the ground with a cry of pain. it didn't take hirose long to scan over their wounds, and his face shifted hues remarkably quickly, from a pale, drained complexion to one flushed with anger.
" w-what the hell are you doing!? " the surgeon shouted at the leader, who had managed to stagger to her feet and reclaim her knife without anyone noticing. her eyes shifted to return eye contact with what hidemi could have sworn was acceptance. acceptance that she was in the wrong once again, but accompanied by such a strong bitter look that it felt almost terrifying - like she knew she had done wrong, but rather than appearing remorseful she looked as if she was blaming them for it. as if it was them making it something to be blamed for, as if she was being unfairly approached for something so unsolicited.
it was that look that sold it for hidemi, and with a shout, her feet kicked off before she could quite process what she was doing. as hirose was busy with mion, that left the responsibility of dealing with erina to her, which was frightening but in that moment was exactly what she wanted.
with hidemi's start at her, erina's expression initially stayed angry, if not disappointed that she had been interrupted in the midst of something so important, but it became evident that she wasn't entirely expecting that hidemi would fully approach her as her expression began to shift to a look of apprehension, then uncertainty, with each step towards her. her hand tightened on the knife in her clutch as she took a step back, but that effort turned out to be in vain as hidemi was able to grab onto her wrist before she could make any movement.
" wh- get off me!! " she cried out, squirming under hidemi's grasp, quickly starting to panic as the reality of her situation sunk in. she had been caught mid-attempt, her plan hadn't worked, they wouldn't get the advantage she was trying to win them - goddamnit, the two of them were both bleeding anyway, didn't they realize how advantageous it'd be for them if they just let isoda die!?
regardless of whatever excuses ran through erina's head, hidemi managed to take hold of erina's entire arm, causing her to squirm and struggle in her surprisingly strong grip. hidemi was at an angle that prevented erina from being able to land any blows on her aside from frantic kicks to her legs, which only further pissed her off and made her struggle harder.
amidst the struggle between erina and hidemi, hirose had hastily sat isoda upright and was examining their situation with increasing concern. while the latter fought to remain conscious, they could make out the panicked mutterings of the surgeon as he, more professionally than they themselves had managed, stemmed the blood flow from their numerous wounds. judging by the look on his face, though, it wasn't working as well as he'd hoped.
" -- fuck. oh fuck, you're bleeding. you're really bleeding. " he repeated, evidently panicking as he switched from trying to keep isoda conscious and keep pressure on their wounds. he could feel his hands shaking as he fought to keep calm as to not accidentally hurt the utaite further, their whines of pain clearly proving that attempt fruitless, but the situation he was dealing paired with the shaking, agonized teenager in his arms with had angered him to the point where bottling it was near impossible.
as such, his dams burst.
" wh-... what the *hell* were you thinking!? "
he shouted in the direction of the still-struggling leader, who glared in return. she knew he knew exactly what she was thinking - she also knew that what he meant to say was "why them?". she had mentioned the idea of a second victim before, hirose was there for it, and the look in his eyes certainly suggested to her that this had not been forgotten. however, that second victim being isoda clearly wasn't something he had considered a possibility. well, all the more the fool him, cuz she wasn't going to pick favourites. besides, if they won this trial isoda was gonna end up dying anyway, so wouldn't it be better for them to die *before* being betrayed? maybe he was just a sadist.
from behind her, she could hear hidemi's voice, unnaturally stern and almost intimidating, commanding her to drop the knife. she did not indulge this request, instead attempting to bite the arm holding her above the ground, but not being able to and instead resorting to scratching in attempts to get her to let go. she didn't exactly know what she'd do if she did manage to wriggle free, apart from finishing the damn job she'd been interrupted in the middle of, but she was determined nonetheless.
hirose's attention having quickly returned to isoda, he cautiously raised himself to a crouch and moved his hands to support the utaite as the two carefully stood up, isoda staggering as they did so.
" here, c'mon, medbay. " he muttered, less commanding than his dialogue usually would be - he still looked heavily anxious, but he seemed to be trying to focus on getting isoda patched up before anything else.
the utaite initially tried to follow his command but quickly found that even standing up proved to be highly painful, and whimpered as they wavered on the spot, almost doubling over with agony. it felt like sharp, burning knives piercing them with every little movement, the pain almost causing them to black out, so instead of taking another step they clutched onto the surgeon's sleeve as they quickly tried to stop him from moving them further.
" hiro -- " they began, their words cut off with a cry of pain as they clumsily scrambled to balance themselves upon the surgeon stopping in his tracks, " i-i can't walk -- "
the words barely left their mouth before hirose had moved to their side, moving their arms to lean against him as support. while it did definitely lift some of the strain off isoda, it didn't negate the pain from their torso, but they should be okay to at least bear this, as to not trouble hirose further.
" i've got you, " he responded, half in an attempt to console the utaite and simultaneously in a way to ground himself. with careful yet urgent steps, he began walking isoda towards the door, but paused as he noticed them visibly struggling to remain upright. shaking, blood dripping from the hems of their sweater and onto hirose's coat, weakly holding onto his sleeve and looking about a second from passing out - all very unideal signs, and ones that he needed to deal with as soon as possible. throwing practicality aside, he scooped the utaite up in one quick movement (ignoring the immediate strain on his arms - the adrenaline will carry him to the medbay, he can survive a bit of discomfort if it means saving isoda's life.) and swiftly ran for the door, leaving hidemi and erina to their struggle.
. . .
hidemi gave the two five minutes before finally lowering erina, having now confiscated her knife, but did not let go of her wrist. she yelled countless obscenities both at her and at hirose and isoda, shrieking and tugging at hidemi's arm in feeble attempts to get her to let go. besides the shrill cat attacking her arm, hidemi had now been left alone in the storage room surrounded by bloodstains, holding a murder weapon and completely unsure of what to do aside from not letting erina go. she decided to quickly locate a soft covering for the knife before pocketing it, and taking note of what had been investigated in the storage room as she now highly doubted either of the original investigators would be particularly willing or able to share that information themselves. erina didn't appreciate being dragged around during this process, but as she was yet to deal anything sharper than a scratch to hidemi's arm, the equestrian wasn't bothered with her upset yet. a sigh escaped her lips as she remembered that the waiting room was still yet to be investigated, but isoda's condition was more of a concern to her so she prioritized that before anything else. while she likely couldn't be of as much help as hirose is, it wouldn't do him any harm to have a helping hand, even if her knowledge with stitching up stab wounds was extremely limited. she was anxious about the fact that she'd have to bring erina with her in order to do so, but she'd much rather that than have her running around unsupervised.
with all that in mind, she quickly exited the storage room with erina begrudgingly in tow and followed the rather sinister blood trail towards the medbay, keeping an eye out for any confused students wondering where on earth it had come from.
hidemi ended up outside the medbay door with erina still trying her very hardest to get her to let go (and failing spectacularly), her hand clutching the handle with a weird level of caution. she was mostly nervous about bringing erina back into the same space as isoda, but a part of her was also apprehensive to intrude on hirose while he was working. and, although she felt immensely guilty for it, a small part of her almost feared what waited for her. the condition of isoda's body, of what erina had done... hidemi was never particularly good with things like this, although she'd certainly seen her fair share of injuries - horse riding injuries and stab wounds were very different in both appearance and treatment, though, so even with that experience she still felt uneasy.
regardless of her personal discomfort, one of her friends was hurt. the good thing to do would be to check in, if not help patch them up. that's what she told herself, as she carefully raised her hand to knock on the door with a two-knock rhythm. she didn't want to intrude, so she felt that was the appropriate heads-up to give without being obnoxious.
there was no response, but she supposed that was appropriate given hirose would be focused on his work right now. shoving down the nervous feeling growing in her gut, she dragged erina over to the door and slowly turned the handle down and pushed it open, revealing the medbay to her in all its glory.
. . .
before she saw anything. before she could process what the scene in front of her was.
a bone-chilling sound played behind her. the identity of it was unmistakable, having now heard it twice.
however, as her eyes focused on the sight she had been greeted with, the announcement quickly faded to background static drowned out by a loud ringing in her ears.
laid on one of the beds was the curled-up body of isoda mion, and sat at their bedside, tightly clasping one of isoda's hands between his own two bloodsoaked ones, was hirose, his hair falling across his face as he stared empty-eyed at the body before him.
hidemi could only stare in horror, the previously angered girl attached to her wrist now observing the scene with a mix of shock and satisfaction. she barely registered the body discovery announcement fading out in the background. it'd only be a matter of time now before people started showing up. she didn't know what she could do, she had no idea what was happening.
all she knew was that isoda was dead, and she was holding hands with their killer.
" . . . h-hirose...? " she muttered, thinking she was speaking quietly but still causing the surgeon to twitch at the sudden noise. his eyes slowly met hers, and the look in his eyes almost made her feel even worse than she already did.
he looked completely shattered. like his entire world had just been torn to shreds right in front of him. it was the same expression she had seen in ogura during akiba's investigation - but while ogura's had seemed more distant, as if she was actively trying to escape from her own situation, hirose's looked painfully aware of his.
the sound of loud boots from behind hidemi caught her attention, although before her eyes left hirose she noticed him practically shift expressions, falling back into his usual demeanor within seconds and quickly walking over to where hidemi and erina were standing, the latter resuming her struggle with hidemi's arm upon realizing she still wasn't freed.
it seemed the first two to arrive were maekawa and yaitabashi, who both looked equally alarmed. erina seemed to become increasingly uncomfortable being attached to hidemi upon yaitabashi's appearance, who looked confused to see said attachment.
" wh-... 'the fuck's going on...?! who died...? " maekawa questioned, slightly out of breath from having run all the way down the hall on her already-sore legs. yaitabashi echoed her question with more urgency, to which hidemi awkwardly gestured to the inside of the medbay, still trying to process what had just happened.
the florist seemed nervous at the lack of a verbal response but walked past the trio to see inside regardless. it became evident when he laid eyes on the body, as he froze on the spot and shot a pitiful glance at hirose, before his face quickly darkened as his attention turned to erina.
" why are you holding her by the wrist? " he questioned, as maekawa slipped past him to check inside. hidemi was about to respond but got interrupted by a shout signalling that maekawa, too, had now seen the body. the sound of footsteps not revealing her presence suggested she was approaching the body, which the three of them seemed to unanimously agree to observe.
as they entered the room after maekawa, who immediately turned round to barrage hirose with questions, hidemi turned to yaitabashi.
" we... already know who did it, " she stated with a small frown, but her tone making it clear she knew this was, at the very least, a positive thing in terms of their survival chances. the harsher tone she had deployed during her scuffle in the storage room had vanished, but there was still a clear disapproving tone to her voice that she hoped would make her sound stronger than she felt.
" i- you- what? how? who? " yaitabashi immediately responded, questioning her over and over with the desperate need for answers. he felt like he already knew what the answers would be given the context, but part of him hoped that, for once, he would be wrong.
hidemi looked unsure whether to answer, but eventually seemed to decide that there would be no point hiding it from him given everyone would learn the truth soon anyway.
" erina did it. me and hirose stopped her from killing them on the spot, but they died anyway. "
the visual change in yaitabashi's expression as she spoke was unsurprising, but still caused a sinking feeling in hidemi's chest. he looked so angry, yet almost resigned. like he knew it long before she had even said anything. it made her feel so guilty, guilty for being the only one who could have shared that information, guilty for being such a key factor in this case yet not having been able to do anything.
" .... the others will arrive soon. i'll... take her. for now, " he quietly responded, offering his hand out for erina to take. her response was almost comical, staring at him in wide-eyed disbelief before frowning and begrudgingly taking his hand, her other hand immediately being let go by hidemi. the equestrian thought for a moment before reaching into her pocket and handing it to yaitabashi, explaining that it was the weapon used in the murder and that she trusted him with it. he blinked, perplexed, but cautiously accepted and pocketed the weapon before dragging erina up the hallway, passing the brunette blur that quickly appeared in front of hidemi, panicked and completely out of breath. yokoi looked so relieved to see her that it physically hurt to see her face fall once she laid eyes on the victim. ikeda had followed behind her, not looking nearly as interested in the proceedings apart from dropping an insensitive comment about the killer likely being erina, immediately earning himself an albeit hesitant telling-off from yokoi.
denden, ninomiya and ogura soon followed, the latter two looking even more relieved than yokoi to see hidemi alive, although ninomiya's face still completely drained of colour at the sight of isoda's body, and denden broke down in tears even just hearing who the victim was and refused to enter. that hurt more than anything, and all hidemi could think about was how she could've prevented this, how she could've reacted faster, how she could've saved isoda.
she was sure hirose felt the exact same way.
hidemi walked away, eventually. she and hirose were put back on storage room duty, alongside finishing their investigation of the waiting room. it felt cruelly ironic, for the two people who witnessed the crime to go back and investigate the same scene again.
hirose had been holding himself up incredibly well, to the point where if hidemi hadn't seen it herself she'd have assumed it was only her and erina present for isoda's death.
she knew better, though. she had seen the look on his face. she had seen the exact same thing happen with ogura - she looked completely destroyed, then was able to pick herself up and carry on. hidemi didn't know hirose very well, they didn't run in the same circles, but she knew what he had experienced and wanted to be of help as the only one who could do so.
" um...! hirose? " she quietly began, the surgeon quickly turning to look at her with mixed confusion and resignation. it seemed he knew what conversation was coming, but he didn't appear too adverse to it... or hidemi thought so, at least. if he was, he didn't look it.
" i... i granted miss ogura a strength boost during the last investigation, and it helped her regain her motivation! s-so, if you... " hidemi continued, wavering slightly at the look of disbelief on hirose's face. right, he was never the type to engage with ogura's magical prowess... a non-believer, she'd dubbed him.
however, even as hirose looked away, his eyes seemed to soften slightly, and he eventually responded : " ... okay. "
hidemi smiled widely, before adjusting into the correct stance for performing her incantation.
" *ahem* rosa magica! nozawa mineko! bring strength upon hirose shingo! "
her voice was confident as she chanted, knowing that this time around she had the abilities for performing such incantations with great success. however, she didn't know how mad ogura would be with her for using her powers on a man... maybe hirose could be a girl too! he certainly has the hair for it!
hidemi looked up at the surgeon after her incantation was complete, eagerly awaiting the results she had seen in ogura before. while initially she didn't see much of a change, eventually he seemed to relax slightly, and the smallest glint came back to his eyes. mission complete!
" aha! you're back, oh amazing doctor! " she greeted, bouncing on the spot. she was so proud! her powers helped someone again! she knew her positivity was out of place during a murder investigation, but after what the two of them had experienced in the last fifteen minutes she figured it was a fair compensation.
" . . . i guess i am. thanks, matthias, " he responded, the smallest smile on his face as he thanked the equestrian, earning a grin so bright it could rival denden's. he quickly dropped his own smile, returning to his usual demeanor, but he seemed more focused than before.
" we still have the waiting room to investigate and as-... the second case doesn't have any evidence to find, we should get going. we don't have much time left, " hirose continued, already making his way to the door.
" aaalright! " hidemi sung-spoke in response, falling into step with the surgeon as the two left for the waiting room - and, later, the trial.