Static sounded in Ryuma’s ears and his vision momentarily fading in and out. An alarm rang out in his brain, but was quickly smothered by the growing panic seeping into his veins. His brain was trying to fill up the empty silence plaguing them all and a familiar feeling of dread filled his stomach. An urge to rush over and do something- anything to save her hit him like a wave and Ryuma’s body slumped slightly against the door, his fisted hands unclenching only to bite into the door, his nails creating slight incisions into the hard wood. But Ryuma already knew it was too late, he had learned that from experience.

Memories shifted across his frazzled consciousness, relieving him of one horror and throwing him into another. As he brought his hands up to his head, the parkour brain’s fastforwarded through his nightmare from the night before, effortlessly correlating the demented scene in front of him and the abominations of his dream. A horde of swear words slipped almost silently out of his mouth as his restless hands tried to find something new to hold onto. His back slipped down against the wall when he finally caught sight of Snow. Something clicked into hyperdrive in his brain and he crouched in front of her, blocking off both of their field of vision from the body behind him.

“Prin-Snow.”

Himura Chikako

Himura was always the “run, don’t walk” sort, always speeding into whatever situation came at her and racing with herself to finish up homework or chores. Even in this crazy death game they were in, Himura could hardly find it in her to slow down her usual pace, zipping this way and that between cabins.

But as that blood-curdling scream hung in the air, she stayed firmly lying on the bed, letting the sound harmlessly wash over her, taking in a shaky breath. She could probably convince herself it was just one of the prissy bitches overreacting to a bug, if she wanted, but it was hard to call that shrill terror a sign of safety.

She was almost non-responsive at first, simply moving as Hibiki did to keep the cuffs from pulling. But as the announcement came on, informing of the murder and the ability to seperate, she did so, paying no mind to Hibiki as she continued onward.

She walked over to the cabin where others began to convene, a sense of nausea pulling her down. She probably couldn’t run even if she wanted to, her body as shaken as her mind. A person—a person she *knew*, trapped in the same circumstances as her, trying to find life under a confusing system—had been murdered.

It was a hard thought to confront, and though that overwhelming sense of nausea pushed her to ignore this situation, to just stay in bed and shut everything out, she knew that wasn’t an option. She looked at the body as she entered the cabin. Fukuda Naomi had been murdered, and that was simply a fact Himura had to deal with. The only question now is who among them would go down with her?

“You should stop staring, it’s rude,” Himura said, trying to cut the tension a little, but lacking any mirth, “Let’s just focus on solving the case, yeah?”

~~~
Hisakawa Hiroki

Hisakawa was not woken up by the morning announcement, but he was pretty surprised that he was able to get any sleep at all last night. Despite the absurdity of the circumstances, it seemed he was slowly starting to adjust to being locked up in a summer camp under the pretense of killing one another, and even being forcibly tied to another camper. In a lot of ways it was actually kind of nice to be away from home; he missed it, of course, but being away made him realize how monotonous his life was sometimes.

He entertained this thought for only a moment before he heard a scream, and his heartbeat started racing. His mind fiddled with the question over and over, ‘what could it be?’, though the answer seemed obvious. He glanced over at Usui. She had only just woken up, and despite the tension, he couldn't bring himself to bother her just yet. Nothing was certain; he was probably just overthinking it like he always did.

And then the body discovery announcement played.

Hisakawa suddenly felt dizzy. He was alight with fear, and he was desperate to confirm what Monokuma said was true. But his body was stuck, unable to move the way his mind wanted to; it wouldn’t be hard at all to jump up and search the other cabins, but... in here, everyone was alive, and nothing had to be confronted. But that was just him selfishly protecting himself, wasn’t it?

Regardless, he was practically shaking, trying to choose between contrary instincts. Eventually, he found himself turning to Usui, hundreds of thoughts running through his head, but all he could ask was the incredibly dumb question of, “Did you hear that?”

Ayu Usui

A shrill voice pierced the curtain separating the waking world from the subconscious, as it had for the past few days. A set pattern. Consistent, easy to get used to: following the schedule to a T. Not that it was particularly hard to wake up; the only thing comfortable about the current situation, the warmth of another person, had already long removed itself from her presence. She still wasn't used to the bed itself. Still, Ayu didn't feel any resistance from her partner. She could afford to laze a little. Pretend to sleep in, at the very least.

Not with the scream, though. Her eyes flickered open, she groggily pushed herself up on the side of the bed. The girl took a few moments. It had to register in her hazy mind, still. It wasn't hard to draw a conclusion on what happened, but there were several possibilities. The voice... wasn't it from Iclyn? Hard to tell, considering how muffled it wound up due to-

“A body has been discovered!"

Ah. Right, that made sense. Everyone was still in the same situation, after all. Ayu brought her thumb to her lip, started biting the nail. Where did that voice come from again...? Not too far, clearly... while her groggy mind had trouble registering the sensory information she was being fed, it still sounded loud enough to not be too far.

...Across, even.

"Did you hear that?"

Ayu turned around. Hisakwa had asked a question. She nodded.

"Yeah."

She observed him. Eyes wide and darting, a cold sweat breaking out. Vision blurred. Rub her eyes, look again. Obviously shaking now; very panicked. Didn't keep his cool, huh? Not outside expectation, really. She looked down. Her wrist was unbound. Ayu could leave if she wanted to. The crime scene wasn't far, clearly... voices were just outside. Just outside Hisakawa's cabin. Everyone needed information, and people would be curious to see what happened. It's logical.

"...Hey. Want to investigate with me?" Ayu asked, eyes and head turning up toward him. "I think I'd feel safer with you around," she mumbled, averting them again. An awkward pause and a brief silence followed. She got up. He'd follow her, she was sure of that much.

"I'm going, then."

Ayu stepped right outside. Outside the cabin. Yep, crime wasn't far from it. Just ahead... Naomi's? Yeah, hers. Makes sense... Iclyn's partner. And, from the looks of it...

"...Ah..."

...very, very dead. That became clear as she'd come closer to the entryway. All the others got closer too, pouring in one by one. Someone had screamed before she went outside, a male, but they went ahead already, clearly. Nobody was outside. They had to be inside. Was it the gray haired one...? He cursed, right? Oh, or maybe the other one... Tsuin. Yeah, must've been Tsuin. Ayu stood just before the cabin. She turned around. Yeah, he was there.

"Hey, can you take the lead? I'm not... very good at this."

As much time as Shirou had been allowed to spend, near enough alone, thinking, meditating, the days that passed had begun to wear on him. Izo spent his days pointlessly and repetitively, as though stuck in an endless loop, day in and day out. On the surface of things, Shirou was hardly one to judge. In many ways, his own days were fairly repetitive, and with the limited options for activity in the camp, all that truly remained was to fruitlessly investigate, and explore the various relationships he had with his fellow captives.

Grateful though he was for the chance to sit near enough idle, thinking and considering the avenues and threads of suspicion he held towards the Killing Game, the constant attachment to Izo left Shirou more than slightly irritated. The Fanatic sat in the forest, or the field, for hours on end, meditating and praying, only to leave for the bathroom, or something to eat, and return shortly after. Then Izo would take his leave to their shared room, remain awake for hours in the dark praying still, fall asleep, and wake up again to do the same thing again the next day.

In a certain sense, Shirou could respect the dedication Izo held towards his faith. It resonated with him, on an intrinsic level. But at the same time, Shirou cursed it - both his own dedication, his training regiment and drive to heroism, and at the same time Izo’s own rigid religious practices. The latter refused to bend. Suggestions to investigate some more, or interact with the other Ultimates, was met with the same, stubbornly deterministic perspective. That they would murder each other, with nothing to be done about it. The attitude was grating, and though and his soul Shirou desired deeply the capacity to appreciate and accept his fellows, being anchored to Izo day in and day out, with nary an avenue for escape, gnawed at his resolution ceaselessly.

No chances to explore his curiosities. No chances to develop further friendships with others. And no chances to smooth over the lingering resentments sparked in the first few days that Shirou knew everyone. A sensation of dread had loomed on him from the beginning, but even three days in, his patience was tested again and again, pulling at the walls of his resolve. Each day he wanted to shout at Izo, or command him to move somewhere with more people, and each day Shirou swallowed it down, reluctantly allowing it to fester. In his mind, it would do no good to create conflict with the person he was restrained to for who knew how much longer.

The morning of the scream came to pass. As with every prior morning, Shirou had awoken early - four thirty in the morning, sharp - spent thirty minutes warming up, disconnected himself from Izo, and took his twenty minutes of freedom to exercise outdoors, with another twenty indoors, chain reattached. It robbed him each day of the chance to interact, and to build further bonds, but at his core, the regime was something Shirou could never bring himself to break. Izo had awoken, too, an hour after, as Shirou finished up his warm down stretches. The monotonous regime continued. Each showered in turn, and the prayer began once more. Over the course of the days, Shirou had taken to writing notes, in a notebook Lilly had brought from her lab. Possible motives, general ideas, scribbles, drawings, and other theories - all to pass the time over the day.

The scream came suddenly. While Shirou dropped his book, leapt to his feet, and made his way to the door, struggling against the cable to look out of his partners room, which the fanatic had insisted the two stay in, Izo himself remained still. His left eye opened halfway, glancing half curiously, half nonchalantly, towards Shirou’s sudden reaction, with little indication of his own that he intended to arise. Shirou craned out of the door, scanning along the path leftways of the cabin, towards the direction of the cry, for any indication of whose room it came from. And, frustrated, by his lack of information, and lack of freedom, he turned back to look at Izo.

”You plan on moving at all?” he called back to the listless Fanatic, making little effort to conceal a deep seated, underlying passive aggressiveness,”Somebody out there needs some help - you just gonna sit on your ass through this too, or can I have your permission to do my job?”

Izo made no effort. To pay attention, to get up, to even acknowledge the scream from just moments prior. His half open gaze fell shut once again, bathing him in the darkness, and near silence, that accompanied it. In the camp, surrounded by Ultimates chained to the self proclaimed Hero of Justice, the darkness of his own closed eyes was one of the few places that Izo felt was right. Everything outside of it was non-conforming, and most definitely inconsistent, and everyone in it clung to weak, poorly functioning rationales. The boy in front of him beheld every stereotype to that inclination that Izo could even begin to think of. Relentlessly optimistic, grasping at straws of altruism while ignoring the bigger picture of the Killing Game at large. The last few days had been magnitudes worse than uncomfortable.

”’Permission’, really?” Izo returned, casually blinking open a pair of cold, brown eyes, ”You wake up every morning, waste away your twenty minutes of freedom, and then get angry at me for it? I always knew you were a fool, but not an idiot. Y’know, it’s honestly a little hard to tell: do you actually believe this whole hero shit, or is it just to make other people ignore your stupidity?”

With a step of disbelief, Shirou edged back into the room from the crest of the doorway, the door itself still ajar, filtering crisp, cool air into the cabin proper. Golden eyes, conflicted in concern, anger, and shock, met Izo’s stoic gaze. Some portion of Shirou found comfort in the Fanatic’s words, that his own pent up frustration was not without merit, but the feeling quickly found itself consumed by that very same anger. Some things he was willing to tolerate. The wilful abandonment of someone in need was not one of them.

He took a series of steps forward, until the two were some five feet apart. ”I’m not going to play this game with you,” Shirou said, keeping his composure temperate as best as possible, ”Hero or not, humans are meant to have this thing called empathy - when others are in trouble, you help them. Not for reward, or the completion of some arbitrary goal, but for the sake of dece-”

His words were cut off prematurely, with the crackle of a monitor, springing to life on his left. Shirou head spun on a dime, attention utterly relocated, while Izo glanced at the thing from his periphery. Silence filled the room once more, but not the kind that Shirou had hoped for. It was a palpable silence, tangible and heavy, as Monokuma spoke the words that Izo had waited multiple days to hear. A body had been discovered. No doubt, Shirou reasoned, where the scream had just echoed from. The two turned back to each other, gazes deadlocked to the others face.

”What do you know?” Izo lightly chuckled to himself, as he pulled the handcuffs from his wrist, and tossed it to the floor, ”No need to flay myself. Mind telling Taya ‘I told you so’ while you’re out and about?”

A sudden, overwhelming urge for violence welled up within Shirou’s chest. The pull to grab Izo by the collar, push him to the wall, and beat him within an inch of his life. He had no confirmation that anybody was really dead, but in his heart, Shirou could feel it - that something was truly wrong. And for Izo to act so casually, jovially almost, in the face of it, the frustration that he had taken care not to allow out for multiple days threatened to take over. Instead, Shirou pulled his own cuffs off, and dropped them to the ground. He made his way to the door, grabbing the baseball bat as he walked, and glanced back towards Izo.

”Nobody cares if you were correct. If you’re not going to work with the group, you’ll always be wrong. No matter what.”

Without leaving an option for response, Shirou took off in a sprint, baseball bat clutched in his right hand. He had spent an hour recently exercising already - the hot water of a shower had helped in part, but the pain of his still healing gunshot wound was pronounced. The searing pain couldn’t, though, match Shirou’s unbridled resolve. Already he had proved his speed - barely ten seconds had passed by before he had arrived at the congregation, outside the cabin of Fukuda Naomi, the Ultimate Linguist. A brief moment passed as he approached, as Shirou ran through his memory. She was sharing a room with Snow. Likely one of them was dead.

Shirou counted the people already present from outside, as he quickly walked up to the entrance: Chikako, Ayu, Hiroki, Taka. As Taka stumbled back from the doorway, Shirou slipped past him, and everyone else, to cross the threshold of the cabin. Snow, Ryuma. And his eyes trailed the cable, now detached from Snow’s wrist, up to the bed, where he laid eyes upon Naomi. A second of processing passed, while Shirou laid the bat against the frame of the door.

”Ryuma, help Snow to her feet and take her outside,” he instructed calmly, and walked past the two, up to the bed, scanning the room, and taking in the details of the body. Naomi was obviously dead: throat slit, eyes unfocused, skin cold to the touch. He sighed, ”If some of you can go and round up the others, that would be appreciated. We can begin the investigation once everyone is in one place. And if any of you see Lilly, tell her that I would like to talk to her.”

---

A scream, a banshee’s cry that could pierce the walls of every cabin on the island. It was not a scream of anger or excitement, it was terror, and it’s arrival made Flare shoot up from her sleep out of anxiety. “Lilly...did you hear that?” She asked with a gruff voice that had not had the time to wake up yet. “That didn’t sound pleasant, I want to see what’s going on.” Rubbing her eyes, she began to drop her feet on the ground. Looking at the nightstand, she grasped for her jacket, but as she pulled her arm into one of the sleeves, that familiar TV lit up again.

“A body has been discovered!”

Flare froze. Despite having put on her jacket, a frozen chill crawled through her entire body. As she slowly turned her head to Lilly, she could see the fear in Flare’s eyes. With the sound of the handcuff dropping to the floor, Flare darted out of the cabin at breakneck speed, staring into the distance, and to the crowd surrounding Naomi’s cabin. But as she closed the distance, each step became smaller than the last, until her movement had completely halted in front of the crowd.

“What is this? Why are you all standing here?” Her voice was quiet, and it took every ounce of will she had to take the necessary steps forward and look inside the cabin, only to regret ever doing so. It was true, a body had been discovered, and this wasn’t a prank or a sick joke anymore; it was real. Clenching her fists, Flare looked closer at Naomi, at her pale skin and her unmoving position, to the cut at her throat. It was disgusting, absolutely horrible, and as she kept looking, her fists turned white and as a question brewed inside of her.

“...Who did this?”

When she didn't answer him, Ryuma reached up to her face, ready for Snow to strike at him. But... Snow didn't move, she didn't do anything. A new racing fear rang through him as he touched her cheek and then checked her pulse, while it was still beating, her eyes were completely out of focus. He quickly wiped up the blood dripping down her chin with his hand, hastily wiping his hand on his jeans as he finally took in the blood in her hair and on her clothes. He took a lock of her hair into his hand and felt nausea grab at his stomach at its sticky texture.

"Hit me! Fuck... Do something," He wanted to shake her, he wanted to scream, but none of that was going to help. The Parkour glanced back at the bed, only to find new students coming in to surround it, cutting off his field of vision. A sense of relief filled him at not seeing such a gruesome sight again.

Not quickly enough for his taste, someone called out for him to take Snow outside. He looked up to see Shirou, someone he had almost forgotten after the other boy had disappeared for days. Giving Shirou a nod, Ryuma turned back to Snow and lifted her up from under her armpits. When she was up straight, the Parkour tried to set her on her feet, only to catch her limp form. Worried he was going to hurt her further, the boy reached under her knees and cradled her head, starting for the door.

Taking one more glance at the people next to him, he quickly passed through the door, not really sure where he was going...

---

A sense of nothingness spread all the way through to Hibiki's fingertips as his consciousness shifted in and out of the void. The unsteady connection was partly due to the girl lying beside him, but also based on his own anxieties. As far as he stretched his brain, Hibiki couldn't quite pinpoint the motive. Although tension would rise, what would drive someone to-

The scream rang out, drowning out the thoughts reverberating through his head only to replace them. An almost childish thought echoed through him, Was it safe outside? Would the murderer strike again? But the Tutor's anxieties were quickly quelled by his left hemisphere. The scenario served as a reminder of a game he had played often as a child called 'Mafia.' When a scream rang out, a town meeting would commence. One could not suggest a children's game on par with murder, but it could very well curb one's nerves for a spell.

He opened his eyes, hoping to quickly adjust to the light coming from the window to the right of him. He glanced to his left to study Chikako, wondering of her reaction as the girl's mannerisms were separated far from his own. Why hadn't she sprung up when she heard the scream? She was quick to move at the drop of a hat. Then again, she didn't seem like the type to take tragedy well. The Tutor had only a moment to ponder before hearing Monokuma's second announcement that day.

Chikako left the room soon after the cuff unlocked the binding between both of them, not even sparing him a glance. Which was all the same really, nevertheless, he felt the need to dwell in bed for a few seconds longer. As he set to massaging the place the cuff resided, nausea and a small headache set in. The number of people convening and in panic would be paramount to their first discussion and even being in their presence would be draining.

Finally, the Tutor got up and opened the door, taking a second to get used to the sun glaring into his retinas, he would have to stop complaining about it eventually anyway. He scanned the area around him, but couldn't see much as he was rather far from the commotion, having spent the night in Chikako's cabin. As he took a step outside, Hibiki started walking over, training his ear to where the scream had come from and the voices thereafter.

It was only when getting closer that he spotted one of the students holding someone in his arms. As both had white-hair, it was much easier to discern who they both were even without Hibiki's glasses (which he seemed to have forgotten) but he could tell one had a much redder appearance. A victim...? Maybe Miss Snow Icyln had gotten caught in the crossfire?

The other boy finally noticed him, looking rather unwell himself, "...Is she alright?" Hibiki couldn't help but comment, given neither of them looked okay in the least.

"Fuck it, of course not-" Ryuma quickly cut himself off, worried the loud voice would hurt the girl in his arms somehow, "...I keep calling out to her, but she won't even acknowledge me."

Without asking permission, Hibiki stepped closer, almost too close for comfort in any other circumstance, "She seems unlikely to respond for a while, the shock must have gotten to her..." He touched the back of his hand to her forehead and waved his hand in front of her face. "I'd say not to move her but... that seems a moot point now."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do? Get her a blanket? Whisper sweet nothings to her?" His worried whispers heightened in pitch as his eyes seemed to unfocus for a second.

"Get her somewhere quiet. I'd check for any wounds as-"

A curse spouted from Ryuma's mouth along with mutterings about Snow's health. Without a word of goodbye, Ryuma sped off, ignoring Hibiki's previous warning to not move her much. Hibiki sighed before heading over to the door to Snow's cabin, watching as many of the other students were gathered around the bed. It only took a moment for Hibiki to surmise the victim had probably been Snow's chained companion, Naomi Fukuda. Grabbing for his monopad, he thought to check out her profile before the Tutor realized the poor mistake on his part as he had forgotten it inside the cabin.

He took a step forward, finally able to view her over the head of his former companion. A wave of familiar nausea came over him, which he did his best to quell down. It wasn't often one could fill all of their senses with something so dreadful and he wished he could write down his first observations as he wished for the investigation to be over even before it had officially begun.

At least she hadn't been manhandled with brute strength. Hibiki flinched for a second before a much more tension-filled version of his usual expressionless face slipped over again. A murder weapon would be somewhere on these premises and it was only the question of when it would be found.

---

Once he realized that Snow could have been wounded herself, Ryuma cursed at himself. Hibiki had been right, he had been doing everything wrong. What kind of motherfucking idiot wouldn't check for them, seeing as she was covered in blood?! After finishing his talk with Hibiki, Ryuma hurried off to the showers, hoping to wash off at least her hair and check her for any injuries. He didn't remember any other wounds on Naomi besides her throat... but he could have easily been distracted by it.

The parkour set her down in one of the stalls and went to find a towel before hurrying back, sighing as he looked back at her. Turning on the water, the boy dampened one of the towels he had grabbed and started wiping the blood off her face properly, being careful not to get anything near her eyes.

After the water started to fog up the mirror, he closed the door and leaned a hand against it. He had to get her out of her top at least... Ryuma quickly unbuttoned her dress and started wiping down her throat and collarbone, a blush appearing on his face. It only took another quick look up at her face for all the thoughts to disappear as he stared into her unfocused eyes.

Slipping her closer to the shower itself, Ryuma grabbed at the showerhead and started washing out her hair, red-tinted water slipping down into the drain. Hoping she wouldn't throttle him later, he washed it out with the basic soap supplied in the stall, making her hair semi-resemble its original color. Once that was done, he finally pulled off her dress, quickly wrapping her in a towel. The boy checked her arms and legs, but nothing was bleeding at least. Then he turned around and tried to get the stains out of her dress the best he could.

Once Ryuma was done he hung it on the towel rack and glanced back, before setting a towel out to cover her legs and cover her shoulders, that way you couldn't see the even the straps of her bra. A blanket would have probably been better, but the Parkour at least didn't want to take Snow out of the showers looking like she was and he didn't want to leave her alone either.

The boy did his best to clean off any remnants of blood in the drain and squatted in front of her, hoping for a response. "Come on Miss too-fancy-for-camp, speak." He gripped his knees before rubbing the back of his neck, not noticing the blood he got in his hair, "Insult me. Dammit Snow!"

---

Location:: Nature Trail => Cabinrs
Interacting With:: Momoe

---

"I told her something was up, I so friggin' told her," as much as he repeated that thought in his head, it was a hollow victory regardless, especially since a murder had taken place. Out of all things that could of happened, it had to be that; maybe it was a prank was one of the few thoughts that permeated his head.

As he dashed, he nearly stumbled for a second, slowing down a bit as he tried to stabilize himself by holding his arms out. His thoughts were, for the most part, a bit jumbled, but not as jumbled as his fatigued body, which looked to be swirling back and forth to him at the moment. He blinked and stifled a yawn as he rubbed his eyes with one hand, nearly toppling over before taking a few woozy steps forward.

Once he evened himself out after a few minutes, he slowly revolved his head to glance back, only to have his bagged eyes slightly widen. Momoe was running a bit behind him; she was somewhat lagging behind, but nevertheless, she was hustling. Aurel's thoughts became redirected to how her face looked during the whole BDA, but he didn't muse on that for too long.

Sucking in the cool autumn wind, the thief clenched his fist as he began dashing once more, getting farther and farther away from the amphitheater. It probably was about a minute or less before he reached the crossroads, the path to the side leading back to their cabins, the other straight path leading to the mess hall. There was some light breathing as he stood there, peering around the corner of the cabins before seeing a sight he wouldn't exactly expect.

Dashing out the side was Ryuma, carrying who looked to be Snow; his own eyes caught on to the features of the girl as his own became a little more exaggerated. However, that really didn't last for long as his thoughts flew elsewhere, "Ryuma? What are you-," he couldn't even properly get an answer out of the taller boy as he flew past him.

"Ryuma, hey, wait, where are you even going," he "shouted" as Ryuma kicked up some dust, causing Aurel to react by instantly raising up an arm to shield his eyes. Once the dirt had resettled, Aurel looked to see that he was dashing down the path, quickly leaving the cabins behind. The thief couldn't help but pause and think back to the scene he briefly saw.

It was difficult to recall as he tapped at his teeth with his less dirty finger, recalling the bloodied state she was in. However, while he wasn't too sure about who gave that bloodcurdling scream, one thing he could tell was that she was conscious. Which mean that the first death had to be-

"Naomi," he murmured as he looked back to the cabins path, grimacing as he began staring at the ground, biting at his own lip as multiple new thoughts flooded his head.

Hisakawa Hiroki

Even after being tied up together for the past few days, Hisakawa was amazed at Usui’s ability to remain calm under the circumstances. She hardly seemed to recognize the danger of the situation, even as it became more and more obvious just what had happened. What amazed him more was the fact that she wanted to investigate with him, but he was hardly complaining. He had gotten used to her presence, and if he had to guess, she might feel the same way. Plus, he could hardly turn down a concrete sense of direction.

He followed after her, his quick steps betraying his nerves; though the way he shook as his nails dug into the flesh of his palm. The approach to the cabin took almost no time at all, and if the horror-struck faces were anything to go by, Monokuma hadn’t been lying. He quickly turned his attention to the floor, however. He didn’t want to have to look at the body just yet.

He ended up stopping just behind Usui, and waited as she turned around to look at him, as unreadable as ever, “Hey, can you take the lead? I'm not... very good at this."

He blinked, surprised, “I—take the lead? Um…” He held his breath, deep in thought for a moment, “Yeah, I guess I could do that,” he muttered.

He took in a deep breath, taking a moment to prepare himself. He didn’t want to go in, or even so much as acknowledge the body, but Usui was counting on him now, and he didn’t want to let her down.

He made his way passed her, and brought his eyes up to look at Fukuda’s body. Her throat had been cut open, her still, limp body empty of life; and as Hisakawa made eye contact with her, he suddenly found himself struck by how funny it all was. The confusion of arriving here, the stress brought on by the rules and trying to escape, all the fighting and fear and every little thing: what was the point of it all, anyway? He started to laugh, a quiet and breathy chuckle.

And as he laughed, the reality of the situation began to settle in. He was looking at the dead body of a girl he barely knew, who was murdered by another person stuck in this camp that he barely knew, and her murder had to be solved or else everyone but the murderer will die, and the only detectives they had were a bunch of emotionally stunted, moronic dirtbags!

He covered his face with his hands, trying not to let himself dissolve to tears, “God, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me…”

As the shock slowly ebbed, he turned to look at Usui, “Well… she seems very dead. Uh. Where do we go from here?”

---

“Don’t feel like it...”

Snow said, her body curled up and eyes staring forward into deep space. As diligent as Ryuma had been, the smell of blood was ever lingering in the bathrooms, and the sound of an active shower was the only noise to fill the air. As Snow took a deep yet stuttery breath, she slowly rotated her head towards Ryuma, revealing two fatigued eyes that had yet to look completely alive. Her expression was not of terror or desperation, it was a tired face of defeat and solitude.

Slowly grabbing her towel and wrapping it around her tightly, she bend over forward, intent on getting up from the cold wet floor, but her trembling limbs proved quite a challenge. With every inch she moved, it felt like thorns pricking her legs, trying to make her collapse all over again. But looking at Ryuma shortly, Snow breathed in once more and mustered all her strength, shooting herself up from the ground.

“I’m gonna get clean clothes, it’s freezing here.” She dully spoke, walking out of the shower stall and past Ryuma. As she walked by the mirror, her head instinctively peered into it, though the foggy looking glass revealed nothing but a white and pink silhouette, perhaps for the best, so she kept walking. Before she could reach the exit though, she noticed something; turning around, she walked right past Ryuma again, albeit more swiftly this time. A shower was still running, and the stall door was closed, but there was nobody there but the two.

“Ryuma, why is this shower turned on?” She asked as she stood in front of the stall door with furrowed eyebrows.

---

Over at the crime scene, the chaos had not yet loosened its grip on everyone as they all tried to come to terms with the murder and make sense of it. And in the middle of them all stood Flare, her head tucked down and mind running in circles. She tried to rationalize what had happened in so many ways, but every attempt did nothing but make her more confused. Killing is never the answer, not a single time was it the solution to Flare, no matter what way she sliced it, it was wrong and unforgivable, and nobody should ever have to suffer from it.

This thought process kept up for some time, until someone bumped into her shoulder, snapping her back to reality. As Flare abruptly looked up, she was greeted by snow’s stiff body being carried by Ryuma, causing even more confusion. Snow was alive wasn’t she, then why was she like that? Seeing Ryuma carry her away like that, Flare wanted to run after them and ask, but instead, she looked at the body again and sighed.

...

Naomi was dead, and she died right here in this place; didn’t even get the chance to scream for help. ‘God knows I would’ve come running’ she thought to herself, yet all she could do now was remember her. And even then, thinking about it, Flare actually didn’t even get to know Naomi, not in the slightest; through some cruel fate, Flare had missed every interaction she could get so now, what was there to even remember? Nothing but the info on the e-pad.

Taking the pad into her hands, Flare started scrolling through the students, swiping right multiple times, until her finger stopped, it’s tip on the picture of the deceased. Yet as Flare read through the info, she spotted a tiny notification icon in the corner of the screen, and upon tapping it, something revealed itself.

“everyone! Check your E-pad!” She shouted holding hers above her head. “There’s information a-about Naomi.” As she spoke, she remembered Monokuma’s words.

“I’ll provide you with further instructions once the investigation time is up-”

“This monokuma file has info not unlike a case file you find in detective shows...I think we’re supposed to investigate, the bear said so; something to do with a class trial.” Though she still spoke calmly, her tone was somewhat high, slightly depicting a more desperate side.

Ayu Usui

Ayu snuck into Naomi's cabin alongside Hiroki, her eyes quickly drifting off his back and further into the rest of the room. A lot of people were gathered here already. An absolute chaos was unfolding. People scrounging about, a flurry of conversation and panic despite Shirou's leadership. Even the boy she came in with seemed distressed an disturbed. She expected him to be, though. There was something that caught her ears- something about a file on their monopads. Ayu opened it up.

Monokuma File 1

1. The first. So even if they got through this, the bear didn't intend to stop. Frustrating.

Truth Bullet - Monokuma File 1
The victim is Naomi Fuduka, the Ultimate Linguist.
The victim's body was discovered in Naomi's cabin.
The estimated time of death is anywhere from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.
The cause of death was asphyxiation due to the open wound at the throat. No other fatal injuries were detected.

...Odd. It didn't detail the exact time of death. Why obscure such a fact? Did Monokuma do this on purpose? There were cameras all over camp. There couldn't have been a blind spot. And the victim was discovered inside of this cabin, so the killer must've been able to bring them here. All of this was strange. Ayu shut off the screen to her monopad. She walked past Hiroki and crouched down next to the victim's corpse. Undeterred, she also started to carefully comb every inch of it with her eyes.

"...Hiroki. Look," she muttered. Ayu reached over to Naomi's clutched hand. The corpse was stiff, so she couldn't part its fingers, but Ayu didn't need to. She just grabbed the wrist and lifted it up closer to the other boy. Inside of it was a large, blood-stained fish hook.

Truth Bullet - Fish Hook
A large fish hook, covered in blood. Discovered inside of Naomi's hand.

Ayu made sure her partner-in-solving-crime had seen it, then gently lowered Naomi's arm again. She stood up from the corpse, then turned her eyes up to Hiroki. "And... the bloodstains are strange too. They're too dark to be fresh..." she muttered to him.

Truth Bullet - Blood Stains
Blood stains Naomi's torso and bed. Its been dry for several hours.

Lifeless and unmoving.

That was the sort of state that the once living Naomi, was now in. That was the horrifying sight the Ginshi saw when he entered into the cabin room. Her throat had been slit open. It was an unpleasant view but out of respect for his own teachings and Naomi herself, the martial artist did not look away.
"It wasn't enough...my determination to steer us all away from this outcome wasn't enough....I'm sorry Naomi,"

For a very brief moment, a flicker of the image of his brother's corpse came into his mind. Yet, it was dispatched immediately. It was as his master instilled into him.

To go with the flow but to not be overwhelmed by emotions.

So he was not a mess of tears, but nor was he as cold as stone. Instead, a grim expression forged by resolve was shown.

Following along with the others, Ginshi checked his E-Pad. There displayed a short summary of the crime.
"They put so much into this Killing Game. Just what kind of opponent are we dealing with?"

He made that comment as he swiped his finger along the screen. From the looks of it, this seemed to accurately describe the scene before them.

Noticing how active most others were in investigating, Ginshi himself spoke out, "If the rest of you are going to investigate, then I'll play my part as well. I don't know much about investigating but I will make sure to watch for any tampering of Naomi"s body. It may not be the passive approach that I prefer, but if anyone does act suspicious in that manner, then I'll have to forcibly restrain them,"

Already awaken from the sun that shone through the windows, she made her way to the bathroom. She tried to get herself cleaned up fast so she would have more free time later like everyone knows they had 20 minutes of free time without the handcuffs. When Yukimori splashed cold water on her face, she heard music playing from the monitors hanging around her room; she froze in place. “A body has been discovered!...” her mind blocked the rest of the bear’s sentences out, not wanting to hear more. (Somebody… Got killed?! B-But we told each other that we would find a way out of here. How could one of us kill another ultimate?) More and more questions build up inside her mind, not knowing who’s life had been taken and to be honest, she was afraid to find out who and most importantly how.
 
She shook her head and looked in the mirror “No time to waste, we have to do this together… Otherwise, we all die.” With these words Yukimori dressed rather quickly and moved out of the bathroom, not waiting for Ginshi. With a quick sorry she left the cabinets and rushed over to the crime scene and that she knew because of the open door from Snow’s and Naomi’s room, where all the other ultimate were gathered. Taking a deep breath, she wanted to push the door a little more open, having a quick glance at it she noticed something strange about it. It looked like there was something suspicious about the lock, crouching down to look better she started to talk to herself a little but after a while, she spoke up. “Sorry for being a little late…. I heard the announcement… I’m shocked and don’t know how to react. It was very sudden, but I got here as fast as I could. If I can be of any help, I found something strange about the lock.”
 
Yukimori tried to get someone’s attention because she wanted to share this with somebody as fast as possible, she wanted to be of some use in this… Something horrible situation. “Hibiki?..” Lastly, she called out his name and looked around if maybe someone else would notice her. “Okay, I’m just going to say what I found out… I inspected the door and I noticed that this door isn’t unlocked. The bar that used to lock the door, the end of it… It looks like it has been pulled out of the door…” She said in a somewhat confused voice like she didn’t really understand it herself. Yukimori was nervous to even go look at the body so she wanted to wait with that till later.

It seemed like nobody really heard her so with a small sigh she pulled her monopad out. Arriving late wasn’t something positive because she knew nothing about what happened or what they had already found when she wasn’t on the scene yet. That’s the reason she unlocked her monopad and searched for the information that she wished to see and learn about. Still crouching down, close to the door as she held her chin a little. Analyzing the information and evidence stored in the monopad about everything related to the murder. 

---

Location:: Cabins
Interacting With:: Taka (@Ammokkx)

---

Aurel stood there for a bit, staring at the path before shaking his head as if he was coming out of a daze and pinched the bridge of his nose before grumbling. This was no time to dawdle as he pivoted and sprinted down the path, turning in the general direction of one of the cabins. "Snow is a bit pushy, right? So the cabin they definitely had to be in was-"

Naomi's. His musing ended as soon as he was drawn to the cacophony and small crowd that had gathered about the place. Swallowing some air, he squeezed through the assortment of Ultimates without making a single peep. Despite all the talking that had been transpiring, he really couldn't catch the tail end of anything due to his late arrival, some of which had the Ultimates murmuring to other people and generally not making any sorts of announcements.

Despite some people chatting amongst themselves, the main thing that drew his attention was the lifeless body that once was Naomi, with her throat torn open. Aurel didn't blink, nor did he retch upon seeing the corpse for the first time; if anything, he appeared somewhat perturbed, clenching his hand and rubbing his thumb and wincing as if he had made the scene awkward.

That appearance didn't exactly last too long, especially when he noticed that a couple of the others had drawn their Monopads. Quickly and silently, Aurel whipped his own out, swiftly tapping and swiping away at it as the information on his screen lit up. The tab that had been darkened was suddenly the same light color as the rest of the tabs, no doubt having to do with the recent turn of events.

"Monokuma file," he whispered under his bated breath, biting at his lips before swiping the pad dispassionately and powering it down before popping it back into his jacket's pocket. His shoulders sagged, as he gripped his wrist, sighing; was it a sigh of relief or dejection? Aurel couldn't even tell himself as he looked down at the hand gently caressing the wrist.

Suddenly, that same hand he was gripping dug into itself as he furrowed his brows, and stared at the floor disgustedly. Aurel felt a knot turning around in his stomach as he weaved between some people who were walking, avoiding contact with them as he leaned up on a wall near the door. It wasn't the light scent of death in the air or the fact that he caught a glimpse of the bloodied Naomi that made him sick.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Finally, he let his hand free, leaving it to grip his forehead as he scolded himself in the background. The other hand, however, was outstretched a bit as each finger reclined in and out as if trying to grasp at something. Looking over, he noticed it was near the door, which gave him some pause as he leaned over.

Squeezing by another person, he went on his own to inspect the door, which took less than a second to do before he pivoted away. The locked end of the cabin was damaged, though it would be more accurate to say it had been yanked out of its hole.

"That's pretty amateurish," Aurel muttered coolly to no one in particular, before mentally scolding himself once more. Lightly slapping his faces cheeks, he exhaled before shifting gears over to Naomi. He really didn't get his own chance to analyze the body itself, too focused on other extraneous thoughts at the time as he began to approach.

He was a few meters away from the duo, Ayu and Hiroki, ears peeled for anything else they might of said as he leaned in close to the body, as if he were appraising some stolen material. From what he could discern, the blood was dry and the wound wasn't exactly fresh. Clicking the roof of his mouth of his tongue, his eyes drifted everywhere on the body, even towards whatever the other two were looking at.

Wait.

That was a fish hook; did the killer plant the weapon on the girls body or was it something else. "Despite the size, there's no way you could slit someones throat with that, right?" Aurel mused on the topic before backing off. There wasn't exactly anything else he could tell was apparent with the corpse; who knows, maybe someone might pick up something he missed.

Regardless, the boy merely stepped away and slinked back, whipping his head around as myriads of thoughts shot through his head at this moment, trying to figure out what to do. Should he linger about, ask someone questions, pursue Ryuma and try to help Snow? Those were all plausible actions, but he took the second out of the three, leaning over to the nearest person and giving them a nudge on the shoulder.

"So, uhm, hi Taka," Aurel murmured, looking away from the boy as he crossed his arms and stared at the corpse. "Soooo, aahh... dya' know who arrived at the scene first?"

Momoe Mizuno

Goddamnit.

Momoe's head was throbbing harder than the morning after a 15 year old high-schooler's first illegal party. Vision blurry, a burning desire to collapse and limbs that felt like lead didn't help matters. She'd followed Aurel a short distance, but didn't know where the thief got the energy from to sprint to the crime scene as he did. Yes, it was funny to see him almost fall on his face, but also, her face was too stiff for a grin. She pushed herself up from the crouching position she'd been performing in order to preserve some energy and looked further down the dirt road. The bear's announcement was not long ago... but she had a feeling that the crowd wasn't going to stop at just her, the thief and whoever arrived on-scene first.

She dusted some dirt off her coat and looked from her left to her right. There was one more thing on this side of the camp... and it wasn't too far either. With any luck the numbers over the cabin would be thinned out in a few minutes worth of time. Maybe it was just the general lack of proper rest and nutrition she'd been enduring, but wasting a bit of time elsewhere didn't seem like too bad of an idea.

"...
...Oh?"

She'd walked over, all casual-like. Normally, this is the part where Momoe bust open the door to the docks' storage shack and started ransacking the place. What stopped her was a faint glimmer coming from the corner of her eyes. She barely made it out with her only half-awake mind. The smuggler casually strut on over. From the distance she was at it felt akin to noticing a coin at your feet. What she saw as she approached, however, was quite a bit bigger than a simple coin. Momoe crouched down and picked it up.

"Should trust my instincts more often," she muttered to herself. It was a very pleased mutter, one accompanied by a self-satisfied grin. "Maybe checking this place out some more might be worthwhile after all," Momoe continued to talk to herself. She spun the object around her finger once, allowing it to neatly slip into her sleeve. Now all she had to do was give the docks another brief once-over, though Momoe suspected that this was the last of what she was going to find around these parts.

---

Taka Tsuin

Really, it's hard to expect a guy not to freeze up in a situation like this. Taka had been staring at the corpse for more or less 10 minutes. Felt like a lot longer to him though. It's not like he was trying to ignore the world all around him... it just so happened that Ryuma was able to take the situation a lot better than he was. Pretty sure that guy left with- wait, didn't he make off with the prime suspect?

...Ah, hell.

That thought sure as shit snapped Taka back to reality. His eyes darted all over the room. A lot more people had gathered since last time- what the hell was that girl doing to the corpse? No, wait, nevermind, he had to turn around and find-!

"So, uhm, hi Taka,"

Oh goddamnit, what now? ...wait, who the hell was talking to him?

"Soooo, aahh... dya' know who arrived at the scene first?"

Taka turned around to his fellow inmate, in spite of the chill that had ran down his spine. When the boy had finished rotating on his axis he was completely unfazed in finding out that the thief was the one who'd caused the startle.

"Hey, asshole, can you not sneak up on people?" Taka growled, scratching the back of his head. His scowl quickly melted. "...Fuck, no, wait, sorry. Bit on-edge from all this," Taka muttered in backtracking fashion. Still took a step away from the thief, though. He pocketed one of his hands. "Hey, if you're gonna talk to me, 'least you can do is look me in the eyes, yeah?

"For the record, though, me and Ryuma arrived first. If you want to be a nitpick about it, just him. I had to catch up a lil'. Didn't take me too long, though. Why the hell do you care, anyway?"

She answered, oh thank holy fuck she answered. A relieved sigh slipped out of him as he heard her speak, still torn away from true reality. His blood was pumping louder in his ears than the spraying shower, the only real sounds he could hear to stop his incoming heart attack were her words.

Thank. Fucking. God.

Another look at her still made his heart heave, but it was much better than no response at all. A quick spark of recognition forced his mind to realize Snow wasn't his mother and actually pay attention to their surroundings. A second too late he tried to help the white-haired girl up, which he quickly rectified and stood up himself in one quick burst.

As Snow passed by him, he wiped at his forehead and pressed a hand against the wall, trying to get his macabre thoughts under control. After a few precious moments wasted, Ryuma himself started to process the sounds of the other shower. How hadn't he noticed it earlier?

As an answer to Snow's question, Ryuma followed her out and stared at the shower stall in question. He tried for the lock, but heard the loud clink of dead lock against the door frame.

"Hell if I kno-" A panicked thought raced through him. Not all of the campers had arrived at Naomi's cabin before he had left, one could be trapped unconscious inside. Ryuma wouldn't put it past anyone at this point. Slipping into the stall next door, he climbed up to the top rim of the stall and looked down.

"There's something here... ya better take a look," Balancing on the rim, he attempted to unlatch the door, but the Parkour's arm wasn't long enough. Shrugging his shoulders, Ryuma dropped down into the stall, getting soaked and doing his best to avoid the evidence. After turning off the shower he left the stall, moving over to stand by Snow.

"Geez..." Scattered around the stall were tiny shimmering shards swimming in the clogged drain with torn pieces of pink fabric. It wouldn't be like him to recognize the cloth anyway.

---

It was quite the lucky circumstance that Hibiki had at the very least remembered to have slipped on his glasses as he walked over to Naomi's cabin, alas, he had however forgotten his monopad. The Tutor followed the words of the people around him, taking in as much as he could from a non-interaction observer standpoint. The death would have had to have happened long before the Snow Iclyn had woken up, pray tell how she hadn't woken up in this mess of affairs.

Glancing up from his observation of the body at Ginshi's words, Hibiki knew his original judgement on his character had probable accuracy. The man would keep to his word, though few may try to challenge his determination. It was only as Hibiki pondered going back to his cabin to grab his monopad and then go on to check the docks when he heard someone call out to him.

He spied her closer to the door and moved to stand beside her. "Yes... it seems you are correct in that assumption." A slight discomfort came over him before he moved the extra inch so they were shoulder to shoulder. "...May I...?" He pointed to the monopad in her hand. Not waiting for her reply, he glanced down and memorized the passage, filing it away in his brain to formulate later.

After nodding, he moved to walk away before glancing back over. "Miss Yukimori Maiya... Good luck. Please stop by my lab later." He meant to speak with her more about confidence in speaking, but the fish hook plagued his mind. There was at least a thirty percent chance that there was evidence of the killer being there and he was not needed at the crime scene itself.

With the luck of Miss Maiya's generosity, Hibiki was able to make great time in his arrival at the docks. A fish hook would probably have been originally located in the docks' storage shake, but something else took precedent before that, or someone.

The SHSL Smuggler herself appeared at the scene, heading back from the docks. She seemed a bit too happy in such a dank atmosphere, but Hibiki hadn't had a chance to fully appraise her actions in a crisis setting. He wondered how long Momoe had been here since she had neglected to come to Naomi's cabin in his presence.

Hisakawa Hiroki

Despite the stress of the situation, and the overwhelming sense of impending doom, Hisakawa somehow found it in himself to keep it together for a little while longer. Usui was counting on him, and if he let himself fall apart now, he might miss something that could mean the difference between life and death—once again, he found himself grateful for the sense of direction she provided him. As soon as the trial was over, he could lock himself in his cabin and have whatever breakdown he wanted; but right now, he had to focus on the present.

He took a moment to pull out his monokuma pad and see what the information everyone else mentioned said, but the information didn’t seem immediately helpful, so he kept it to the back of his mind for now. Instead, he looked closely at the scene in front of him as Usui prompted, nodding along as she spoke.

He thought the parts of the scene through carefully, rambling through thoughts as they came, “Well, it’s safe to assume she’s been dead for at least a few hours now; dried blood is hard to fake. And it definitely seems the fish hook is involved somehow, but we can’t confirm it as the murder weapon until we inspect her wound, and uh… Well, I’d rather leave that to someone smarter and… less likely to get ill,” He finished, looking at Usui for some sort of confirmation.

~~~

Himura Chikako

Himura scrunched up her face, fury burrowing wrinkles into her brow; once again, it seemed no one cared to pay attention to her, and Mr. Hero-complex Shirou was coming in to order everyone around. She silently huffed. Whatever. These people didn’t want her help, and she wasn’t interested in giving it.

Instead, she stomped away to exit the cabin, ignoring any scenery or people as she walked by. She only stopped to grasp Flare’s wrist as she walked by, “You’re with me, Flare. I’ve got questions that need answers, and I want you with me to figure it out,” she stated.

As she pulled Flare with her outside the cabin, Himura looked around for the campers that have yet to make it to the scene. Soon, her eyes feel on Lilly’s short stature, and she called out to her, “Lilly, over here! I need you in on something!”

When she had the two beside her, she started speaking with them in a hushed tone, “So listen, I’m not totally sure how anyone got into the cabin, since I don’t have any doubt they locked it; but if you want my bet, I’d say it’s gotta be the thief. Dude’s gotta be a master at lockpicking! I say we check out his lab to see if we can get any dirt on him, and we might as well check the rest of the labs while we’re at it. Sound good?”

“Yo, Hibiki.”

Momoe hadn’t skipped a beat once both her and the boy locked eyes, each going in opposite directions on the same dirt road. One direction lead away from the docks while the other went straight to it. Momoe stopped in front of the boy, looking as disheveled as ever. The bags underneath her eyes got worse by the day, but the real strange part was that smirk plastered on her face. “Done investigating already? Seems awfully quick, if you ask me.”

From all the time that Hibiki had attempted to analyze her character, without personal interaction, he had been stupified, yet here she stood, the SHSL Smuggler in the flesh. Not only was her tone odd in the atmosphere at large, so too were her actions. Aurel, her partner in cuffs, had appeared, although a small part of Hibiki wondered if Momoe simply didn’t have enough self-preservation to check the scene of the crime. However, the tutor was given a psychological puzzle yet again in the form of Miss Momoe Mizuno and there hither her attitude.

“...It seems my assumptions were not unique here...” Hibiki assessed his odds of overpowering her for information and came up with rather negative results, but it also seemed unlikely for Momoe to leak anything without any leverage, “...I’d ask if you had found anything, but I believe it would be a moot point.” He glanced at the surroundings and found no help for him there either, “Feeling lucky?”

“Threats, huh? Didn’t take you for that kind of guy,” she scoffed and turned her nose up. “I’ve just been out for a walk. You’ve got guts trying to accuse me of something.”

Ah. Maybe it wasn’t right for Hibiki to be critiquing Miss Maiya’s social inadequacy when he wasn’t exactly up to standard himself. The tutor stood there blankly for a second as he tried to process what to do with himself because now she was on the defensive and he really wasn’t fit for this line of questioning. After a moment he let out a small sigh and came back to the conversation.

“...A-” No, that wouldn’t work either. Her facade was starting to irk him as he tried to shed some kind of fake light on the situation, attempting in vain to find a silver lining. ‘In concise terms, I believe you do not rationalize the idea of revealing the truth, but I do not believe whatever you have will become a worthy trump card.’ Or that’s what he wanted to say anyway.

“Is it wise... To be out for a stroll at this very moment?”

Momoe’s smirk returned.

“Who knows? Goes the same for you, you know. Why hang around this place?” she asked him, pulling up her shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. “If I had to wager a guess, you think there’s a reason to link the docks and the crime scene. Am I wrong?”

Hibiki nodded as he studied her expression and body language. Obviously, Momoe thought she held something of utmost importance to the case, but that was the concern. What would be left to pick up besides what had already been found? There was the supposed weapon, time of death, location, body... All were found at the scene of the crime. It would have only been a follow up based on the evidence provided to arrive at the docks. However... What point in the timeline did the killer arrive at the docks? Before? Or after?

A source of water to clean, storage shake full of hiding places, close to the murder... It had to either be something well hidden or something that only the first person to the scene could find, that’s all Hibiki could draw from the situation.

“Why wouldn’t there be... Miss Mizuno?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oi, oi. It was just a guess, don’t take it so seriously.” Momoe looked past him and towards the cabins. “Although… I can’t say you’re off the mark. Tell you what; investigating is a bit of a pain, and I think you’re good at keeping secrets. I know something you want, and you have info on the scene of the crime. Fill me in on what it’s like, and I’ll tell you what you’re waiting to hear. Sound like a deal to you?”

That was all he needed to do? Not go through any hoops or a legal contract? Well, it seemed the tutor had been bested once again, even if unknowingly. He blinked for a second before scratching his side. “...Yes, beyond adequate.” Considering his monopad was absent, there wasn’t much exchange besides a verbal explanation amounting to his eavesdropping and probing of the evidence found earlier.

“...How informative. No wonder you’d come here. Well, catch!”

Suddenly, Momoe pulled something out of her pocket and tossed it at the tutor using an underhand throw. While he was busy trying to catch it, she walked right on past. “Found it at the docks. Let’s keep it between us, alright?”

A few steps away from Hibiki, Momoe turned on her heel and looked back. “Oh, and don’t get any funny ideas. Me and the thief stared longingly into each-other’s eyes all night, couldn’t get a wink of sleep. Neither of us are reasonable suspects. I think he might have a crush on me, really.”

She snickered and continued on her way, taking her leave of the other ultimate.

You would think that someone who had spent so much time with a feline companion that they would have quicker reflexes, yet that was not the case for Hibiki. He managed to stop the object from hitting him in the chest, but not from it falling onto the dirt road. So much for keeping evidence in pristine condition. As the tutor glanced back up to see the tail end of Momoe’s trenchcoat a single thought slipped past out.

“Ritsu...”

---

Location:: Cabins
Interacting With:: Taka (@Ammokkx)

---

Aurel could merely wince and shiver for the briefest of seconds, switching his gaze between Taka and the wall before awkwardly averting his gaze from the boy, rubbing his clavicle. He wanted to apologize, but no words came out between his sealed lips as he shifted about, pondering on musing on differing aspects of the case, only really opening them when he yawned and stretched an arm.

Of course, he perked up just a smidgen at the fact that it ended up being Taka who apologized instead, letting out what sounded like a exasperated sigh, nothing really betraying the relief he felt. "Mmm... it's fine," he murmured, shuffling to face the boy a little more, though not so much as to make direct eye contact with Taka, even after he criticized Aurel for it.

"Nah, makes me uncomfortable," he silently uttered, crossing his arms and still seemingly unfettered by this whole situation as his eyes moved back to the corpse lying by Ayu and Hiroki. However, as soon as Taka spoke up, Aurel was lost in thought for a second, rubbing his lip and biting at his index finger, "really? Hmm."

The thief stayed silent for a second, not really responding. In fact, it straight up appeared as if he was ignoring his pint-sized comrade, but that really wasn't it, as after at least half a minute he responded, "Taka, do you, er, mind walking and talking with me, please? I want to cover more ground when investigating, plus I myyyyyyyaaaaaayyy-" he yawned quite loudly before rubbing his baggy eyes.

"Aaaahhhhh, mmm, sorry about that," he murmured, trying to stifle another yawn while he rubbed his semi-teary eyes.

"I may need an extra set of eyes since I don't think my eyes are completely up to snuff right now and I promise to answer your question on the way," he gestured to the boy, hoping he would be more than willing to go alongside him.

Taka Tsuin

'What the hell was up with this guy?' was a recurring thought in Taka's head. Hard not to, considering the guy in question couldn't sit still for even half a second. Taka wanted to turn tail and walk off multiple times in the rather stilted and awkward conversation, but stopped himself every time for... god knows what reason. A good guess might've been fear, considering the hand he pocketed earlier couldn't stop shaking. The boy nearly succumbed to his own desire to get away from the thief when the latter had decided to seemingly end the conversation then and there, but just as he wanted to leave, a proposition was gently pushed out from behind the thief's lips.

"W-wha-? N-no! What the hell?! For all I know, you're her killer!"

Taka quickly pulled his arm out of his pocket and slid one foot backwards. A defensive stance, as if feeling threatened. Almost immediately after, though, the boy's tense muscles relaxed. He straightened himself out and slammed one of his palms against his forehead. "Shit, what's wrong with me today...?" he muttered in a shaky voice. Taka took a deep breath and looked back at Aurel. "N-nevermind. I guess I can't... say that yet."

He was clearly flustered, bothered. The situation got to everyone, but Taka wasn't the greatest at handling it by himself. "If you want to get out of here, that's... fine. I don't... I haven't gotten much done here. I'll tag along."