The ringing continued, vibrating in his ears long after the body was discovered. Somewhere along the line, someone lifted him off the ground and took him away from the scene. Or... did he get up and walk? He couldn't exactly remember. In either case, he found himself sat, back to the wall, knees to his chest and face, crying.
Why did somebody else have to die? After Lucas and Mondatta, he had been sure nobody would be stupid enough to attempt to escape again, even with the added motive. Although he hadn't checked his, reason told him it was going to be something stupid since it was divvied out by the Carnage Sisters; their ways thus far in the game, save the murder of Shona, seemed to suggest as much.
Shaun lifted his head slightly, and through the mire of tears, he could see the other Infinites reeling, discussing, and entering his room to deal with and investigate the body. But, he also caught glimpse of something else. He let his gaze trial back towards it, and up towards the ceiling, whereupon he found the face of Krista - immediately making him remember that she had pulled him aside.
"Th...thank you..." he whispered, before looking back down.
Krista gave him a comforting smile, but anybody could tell it was hard to muster up the strength to do so. Somebody was dead, and Krista’s heart was hurting too much. She rest a hand on Shaun’s shoulder to keep herself steady in her crouched position opposite to him.
“Everything will be okay… We’ll find out who did this…” She tried to comfort him further with her words before going quiet again. She took that moment to look Shaun over, still pale and looking like a scared rabbit. Her heart twisted again in pity for the web designer.
“Come on, let’s get you to the dining hall. You need a drink.”The comforting barely helped. They had already defeated one killer, but they were just people. There was no guarantee that they could do it again. He didn't want to die... What would his girlfriend think? Would she ever even find out? Or would he just be considered missing, and never found again? And how disappointed would his parents be if their son died so young, at the hands of someone like Davis?
Shaun lifted a hand to his eye and wiped it, trying to clear it of tears, and then proceeded to do the same with the other. They were all Infinites. Krista was right, they could do it... they could win.
"O-okay..." he said, and nodded his head slowly, before standing up somewhat unsteadily next to her, and following along behind her towards the dining hall.
Krista didn’t let Shaun remain behind her for very long. Once they crossed by Shaun’s still crowded room, Krista slowed her pace so she could walk between him and the door into his room. Fearing that Shaun was still weak from the anaesthetic earlier, Krista held onto his elbow to keep him standing as they approached the stairs to the first floor resort. She felt the silence between them to be too uncomfortable, so she tried filling it with talking. Who knows? Maybe her questions could help with the trial?
“Did you get to open your note?” She asked as the crossed they monoshoppe.
Walking past his room, Shaun instinctively averted his eyes as best he could. He didn't wanna have to see that sight again, not unless he had to. At the very least, he was grateful to Krista for helping him; to think that someone could still be selfless in a time of crisis such as this gave him just the tiniest amount of hope, and for that he was happy.
"I... n-no..." he stuttered, slightly flustered at the sudden question amidst the quiet on their excursion.
"I... a-assumed they would be st-stupid, or... d-designed to divide us, s-so I-I didn't read i-it..." he trailed off, thinking about who could have possibly had something worth killing over in the notes.
So Shaun didn’t look at his note. Krista hummed to herself.
“I guess that’s a good call… Going by what Ice found when he opened his… sounds like lies made up by the carnage sisters.” Then she went quiet again. What now?
“How are you feeling? Do you still feel ill?”Shaun gave a gentle nod and glanced over towards Krista.
"Y-yes..." he said, somewhat quietly, and continued walking, before quickly amending his mistake,
"Wh-wh-what about you..? A-are you okay a-as well..? I-I'm... s-sorry for not a-asking..."Krista tilted her head in confusion.
“Me?” She opened the door into the dining room once arriving on the second floor.
“I’m… okay.” As okay as they could be in this situation. She guided Shaun to a seat close to the kitchen, finally releasing her light grip on Shaun’s elbow once she saw him sit down. She told him to wait for a moment as she disappeared into the kitchen, emerging once she got Shaun a cold glass of water.
She took a seat in the booth, only now taking the time to check out the dining hall. Who would’ve thought a vintage diner was still popular enough to be a theme in a place like this?
“Are you hurting anywhere else? You took quite the fall from the stairs…”Taking the glass, Shaun took a light sip, feeling the cold water against his dry tongue, washing away the lingering taste of vomit from earlier. Being in the dining hall made him fall a tad hungry, after all, he hadn't eaten all day, however he knew he couldn't stomach anything - not in the situation they were in.
At Krista's question, he looked up from the glass and drank down another glassful.
"N-no... I d-don't think so." he tone sounded somewhat calmer and more refreshed now that he was away from the scene, but even still his voice was shaky,
"I-I guess I got l-lucky..."Krista smiled again.
“We should get Mercy to check you later, just to be sure. But at least you’re looking better now!” At this point, Krista was certain that the investigation was commencing. She knew she was going to be of no use during the investigation but at least she could be sure Shaun was taken care of.
“Do you really not remember anything before you were attacked?” Krista rubbed the back of her head.
”I’m sorry if it seems like I’m questioning you too much… I just think that your memory could help this case… But I don’t think you’re the killer! You’re not that sort of person… I think...”Shaun smiled back, if only slightly, and listened on to what she had to say. He nodded gently at the idea of Mercy checking him out - it was best to be certain he wasn't injured, after all, even if he didn't feel like he was. But, his eyes widened at her last comment.
"N-no..! I-I... I could n-never... n-not to a-anyone, e-especially not s-someone as nice as M-M-Marianne..."But even with his protests, he knew people would suspect him. His head dropped, realising the implications. The murder had occurred in his room. It was only natural to suspect him...
"I-I'm sorry... I-I d-don't remember m-much..." he started,
"I was l-looking around th-the s-second floor, and I-I was g-gonna head back t-to my room..." as he spoke, his voice seemed to grow more strained,
"...b-but I remembered A-Aleecia was sick, s-so I was g-gonna visit her... wh-when I got there, she w-was already in... st-stasis..? A-and Ice was looking a-after her... W-we talked f-for a bit - h-he said it was st-strange I-I was there, c-cause I didn't t-talk to her much at all... I-I said I just w-wanted to see she w-was okay... Wh-when I w-went to leave, I-I decided to t-take the stairs to the f-first floor hospital, b-because it seemed f-faster, b-but..." his voice seemed to catch,
"I-I remember being gr-grabbed, a-and... th-thats it... I-I'm sorry..."Krista’s reached out to touch his shoulder, shaking her head.
“It’s fine, I really don’t think you’re the killer! I’d lose faith in humanity if you were!” Despite what she was saying, Krista took a mental note of Shaun’s testimony. She gave him another smile.
”Thank you for telling me what you can remember, I just want to help you when the trial comes around.” Her smile faltered a bit at the thought.
Lifting his head slightly, a tear rolled down Shaun's cheek, finally feeling the effect of the encouragement. As guilty as the thought made him feel... Deep down he was glad that it wasn't Krista who had died. Where he'd be without cheering up he wasn't sure, especially since the scenario seemed mounted against him.
"I... th-thank you... I-I mean it..." as quickly as he said so, he averted his gaze and shuffled slightly awkwardly in an attempt to remove Krista's hand from his shoulder in embarrassment.
She pulled her hand away quickly after feeling him shift.
“Ah, sorry about that… my way of comforting someone can be a bit more… touchy than others…” She laughed awkwardly as she passed him a tissue from the tissue box in the middle of the table.
“Anyway… So just to be clear. You did have your handbook with you before you were attacked, right? You didn’t just… leave it somewhere?”Shaun took a tissue and dabbed at his eyes with it, and murmured
"Th-that's okay..." under his breath. At her question, he shyly shook his head, and his eyes began to train on the floor.
"N-no... I-I didn't... I n-needed to h-have it on me..." he trailed off, before clenching his eyes shut,
"B-b-because... I-I was s-supposed to meet M-Marianne at my room..."The revelation was definitely shocking for Krista. She remained quiet for a few moments, letting it sink in.
“Were you planning to…?” She didn’t want to ask if he intended to kill Marianne, she knew he
couldn’t do it… But it was important for the case to know for sure...
"N-no, of c-course not!" his head snapped instinctively upwards to defend himself, his voice slightly raising. But the moment he did, his face dyed itself a red of embarrassment and he forced his gaze away,
"...sh-she read her note... a-and asked me to h-help f-figure out who it b-belonged to... b-but... she d-didn't tell me wh-what it said, th-though..." he trailed off once again, this time staying silent afterwards.
Krista’s hope rose only for it to crash again as Shaun admitted he did not know what was on the note.
“Okay… what about where she kept it? Maybe the killer knew she had it and did not want you to help!” Krista felt like they could have a lead.
Shaun's head shook slowly.
"I-I don't know... Pr-probably in her r-room, or... o-on her person..?" he questioned, not expecting much of an answer given that Krista knows even less than he did.
“This is good, I think…! If we can find the note, we can find who did this!” She smiled at Shaun again.
“Now we just have to hope that someone found Marianne’s note…”Shaun gave a small nod and smiled towards her.
"Y-yeah... o-or her handbook..? M-Monokuma might have l-left her door open for th-the investigation." he rattled off a couple ideas, trying his best to think of where it could be. He wanted to be useful... To prove he didn't do it...
Feeling encouraged, Krista hopped up from her seat.
“We’ve got ourselves a start point! Let’s go to her room, even if we don’t find the note it’s possible we can find something else!” She gestured him to get up.
“If you’re feeling better, we can go now and help with the investigation!” "O-okay then..!" Shaun said with a somewhat enthusiastic tone, and stop from his seat alongside her. His hand wrapped around the glass of water, and he took another sip, before placing it back down in order to follow on behind Krista towards Marianne's room.
CLUE ACQUIRED!
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