A/N: Happy late Christmas guys!!🎄❤️ I've missed you guys and I'm sorry for not uploading in a while, but I'm finally on break so hopefully I can write more frequently👩🏾💻💖
Chapter 15
Word count: 3k
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Why...The word seemed to repeat inside of your head nonstop.
Why...Why...Why...Did it have to be Mahiru?
Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Photographer. Although she could come off as bossy at times, she was always so caring towards us. It seemed no matter what happened; she found a way to stay optimistic.
But yet...Why did things have to come to this?
While Ibuki went to locate the rest of our group, the rest of us had no choice but to wait patiently for their arrival.
The beach house had become too overwhelming for you, so you opted to stay outside. You silently sat by the shore, gazing out at the sea in a daze.
You were sitting there for who knows how long until you heard someone plop down next to you. When you glanced over, Hajime was there, and an uncomfortable silence settled in until he broke it.
"Hey..." He mumbled, not sure of how to start the conversation.
"Hey..." You responded before looking back out onto the water.
"How are you holding up?" He asked carefully.
You let out a shaky sigh before burying your face in your hands. "I honestly don't know anymore, Haji..." You muttered.
"It'll be alright, we've been through this before, so I know we can get through this again." He tried his best to reassure you.
"But that's the problem!" You suddenly exclaimed, feeling all of your pent-up feelings rise within you. You lowered your head and cradled your knees as tears began welling in your eyes. "We were finally getting back to normal and having so much fun until now. This wasn't supposed to happen again... I don't know how much more I can take of this. If this continues, I don't think I'll remain the same person I am right now..." You admitted.
Another silence followed shortly after. You had half expected him to get up and leave you alone with my feelings, but you were proven wrong when he pulled you into a tight hug.
He then let go, seemingly also taken aback by his actions with his face red in embarrassment. "M-My bad! You just seemed really stressed about all of this... So I thought I'd give you a hug." He apologized.
This made you smile and wipe the tears from your eyes. "No, it's fine. I really needed one right now." You assured him as you brought him into another hug tight, which he happily returned.
As if he had done this a thousand times before, he knew just what to do to make me feel better. You were glad to have such a reliable friend like him to help cheer you up.
You stayed there for a while until we saw the others arrive at the beach house. "Do you wanna try going back inside?" Hajime asked hesitantly. You sighed and gave him a short nod.
He slowly stood up and pulled you up as well, before we both began walking back towards the beach house to meet the others.
• • • •
Once everyone was gathered at the beach house, we received our Monokuma files and began looking through it.
The murder took place inside the beach house at 3:00 pm. The cause of death was a single blow to the head with a blunt object and there were no other external injuries or substances used.
'Around 3:00? That was around the time I arrived at the diner. If I had only gone to the beach house instead I could've-' You quickly stopped yourself. It doesn't matter what you could've done back then. You had to focus on what's happening currently and figure out who did this. That's the only way the rest of us can survive.
Hajime and you went over to further examine the body. Mahiru’s body was propped up against the door leading to the roadside and the back of her head was covered in lots of blood, due to the force of the blunt object.
Something strange you managed to pick up was the streaks of blood nearby. "Hey Haji, look at this. There's a trail of blood leading to her body." You observed, pointing to the ground where the blood had already dried.
Hajime stared carefully at it. "These streaks look almost as if she was crawling. Maybe she tried to run away during the attack?" He suggested. The idea of it made shivers run down your spine. The thought of poor Mahiru trying to run away from her killer who could've been a close friend didn't sit right with you.
"Yeah, maybe..." You quietly muttered.
You also couldn't help but notice two other suspicious objects lying by the body. The first one was a metal baseball bat.
"Mahiru died from a single blow by a blunt object. That blunt object has to be this metal bat, but somehow this bat reminds me of something I've seen before..." Hajime mumbled, crouching down next to Mahiru's body to look at it.
"This is just like in Twilight Syndrome Murder Case." We both say in unison before giving each other a strange look.
"You played that game?" You questioned.
"Don't give me that look 'cause apparently, you've played it too." Hajime retorted. We both stared at each other before we burst into laughter.
"So much for that rule, we made, if we were just gonna play the game." You giggled.
"Anyway, I've noticed that the game and this trial are connected. In the game, Girl E was killed with a metal bat and died in the same position as Mahiru." Hajime explained.
"So, you're saying the killer set up the murder to be exactly like in the game?" You asked.
"I'm not sure, but it seems the only way for us to understand the mystery behind Mahiru's death is to solve the game's mystery." He asserts.
"But that's almost impossible. The whole game felt more like an unfinished riddle than a game and the ending was way too ambiguous for us to understand." You pointed out.
"Well, it looks like our only option is to play the game again and see if we can find any more clues." Hajime recommended, and we agreed to go back and finish the game after we finished investigating the beach house.
The second suspicious object we noticed was a mask with a young girl's face on it. Peko silently examined it in her hands as we approached her.
"Is that a mask? It looks like something from the toy section in the supermarket." You remarked.
"I'm not exactly sure, but perhaps the killer used it to conceal their face." Peko pondered.
"No, they'd definitely stand out. I mean, it's such a gaudy mask." Hajime added.
"A gaudy mask?" We heard Sonia's voice as she walked up to take a look at the mask.
"Ahh, that mask?!" Sonia shouted as her face lit up with recognition.
"You've seen this before?" You asked her.
"Sun Witch, Esper Ito! It is a super fun anime with a viewership surpassing 90% in my country!" She excitedly squealed.
"Woah, that's a lot of people for just one show." You said, somewhat astonished.
"C-Could it be!? Was that mask placed next to the body!?" Sonia questioned.
"Yeah, it was.” Hajime replied.
"If that is true...Could it be!? U-Um please give me some time!" Sonia cried out, before running off frantically.
"What's gotten into her all of a sudden?" You asked.
"It looks like she knows something...If that's the case, I shall wait until she decides to talk about it." Peko states before strolling off.
'Hmm, for Sonia to get so worked up over something, it must be big. I wonder what she knows?' You thought to yourself.
• • • •
While investigating, we passed by the vending machine to see Kazuichi, muttering something to himself. "Hm... That's weird..."
"What do you mean?" You asked as strolled up to him.
"Well, I wanted to calm myself down a little, so I thought about getting a drink from the refrigerator. When I opened it a few days ago, I'm pretty sure there was a larger variety of drinks. I don't know maybe I'm just imagining things. I mean...Who cares about drinks right about now?" He said with a shrug.
As he walked off, you couldn't help but take a closer look inside the fridge and notice all the water was gone.
"Huh, that is weird. The last time I came in here, the entire fridge was fully stocked." You mentioned.
"Well, maybe someone got thirsty and drank it all?" Hajime hypothesized.
"Yeah, but they wouldn't be able to drink that many. Someone definitely tampered with them before we all got to the beach house." You stated. It didn't seem that important right now, but you made sure to make a note of it.
Then, we headed to the closet to get a closer look inside, but we faced a small problem. We managed to get stuck inside.
"Woah, this closet is way smaller than I expected it to be. I can barely move an inch." You said, struggling to even move.
"Ok, you move your leg first so I can move mine, then I'll move over to give you space to walk." Hajime told you.
"Okay." You agreed. You try to maneuver around all the clutter as Hajime moves around you to at least create some form of space for each other.
"Alright, since we're already here, let's try looking around for clues." He suggested.
"Ok, but where do we start?" You asked.
"I don't know. Just look around. We're bound to find something around here." He replied. So you both began poking around the area for anything related to the case, although there was nothing much found. The closet was filled with what looked like random items thrown inside.
Beside you, was a shelf full of surfboards and an empty surfboard case. It looked like someone took the surfboards out and just carelessly threw them back on the shelf. You shook your head at this before turning around to look for more clues, but that was when you stepped in something sticky.
"Ewwww!" You shouted as you tried to lift your leg to see what you stepped on.
"Huh, what's wrong? Did you find anything useful for the trial?” Hajime asked you.
"No, I just stepped in something sticky. I think it's a…Yellow gummy bear?" You answered uncertainty as you peeled off the gummy from your shoe.
"A gummy bear? What's something like that doing inside of here?" He questioned.
"I'm not sure, but maybe someone dropped it while they were in here." You said.
After about 10 minutes of fruitless searching, we exited the closet and decided to look elsewhere to investigate. Shortly after, we approached the shower room. There was a sign on the door stating that it was currently under renovation, but in order to uncover the blackened, we had to search the whole beach house.
"That's right. The shower's being repaired, so water won't come out." You heard the shrill voice of Monomi say. Once again, she had randomly appeared and was now standing in front of the door.
"If the showers are out of order, isn't that just a waste of space?" Hajime stated.
"I'm sorry...Just when I was planning to fix it, my magic stick was taken from me...So I never got around to fixing it." She lamented.
"You could really fix the showers with your Magic Stick? If only something that powerful was still around, we could've already escaped from this place." You sighed disappointedly.
"It's all Monokuma's fault! Everything is Monokuma's fault!" She shouted angrily.
"Only Monokuma's fault? You sure it's not also yours?" Hajime retorted with a look of doubt.
"Huh!? You still think I'm Monokuma's Accomplice!?" She yelled, clearly shocked by his accusation.
"You must have read my mind." He responded flatly.
"Hey, be nice." You whispered to him with a slight nudge.
"Alright, fine." He mutters as he crosses his arms.
"Think what you want of me. I've already given up. But let me tell you this one more time! As long as you guys work together, you should be able to stand against any kind of despair! I promise I will help with that!" Monomi declared before she disappeared.
We both entered the shower room to see it was really nice and spacious. The shower itself was so big you could probably use it as a dressing room, but unfortunately getting changed in the beach house was not allowed.
There was much inside of the bathroom except for a small window that you could crawl through, but it was too high up. Even if you stood on the toilet, you still couldn't reach it and it had iron bars around it, making it practically impossible to get through.
"Hey Hajime, think you could give me a boost?" You asked, pointing towards the window.
"You mean like lifting you up?" He asked with uncertainty in his voice.
"Yeah, like a piggyback ride." You giggled. "Unless you want me to carry you. It wouldn't be hard since you don't look that heavy."
"No, it's fine. I'll just do it..." He bent down to allow you to get up on his shoulder and then lifted you up to the window.
"Ok, now keep steady, so I can get a good look." You craned your neck up to get a better look outside. From your perspective, you could get a full view of outside the beach house. You went to touch the window, expecting it to be firmly stuck, but to your surprise, it easily opened.
"Oh, I see! So, that's how it works." You exclaimed.
"D-Did you find something?" Hajime groaned from below you.
"Yeah, but you're gonna have to lift higher so I can get a better look." You informed him.
"Ok...Hold on." He said, and he tried his best to lift you higher on his shoulders. It wasn't quite as high yet, so you changed the position to kneel on his shoulders while he held your legs to prevent you from falling. "Almost there a little more." You instructed, and he started pushing you up higher until his hand slipped and landed on your butt.
"Hey, watch your hands!" You embarrassedly shouted at him.
"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to do it on purpose." He apologized quickly.
At this point, you were already at the top of the window and could now fully open the window. You did so with ease and stuck the upper half of your body out of it.
"So I was right. The iron bar isn't even pinned down, so the window opens and closes pretty easily. See? Even my body can fit through." You explained to him.
"So then, it's not impossible to open and close the window?" He asked.
"Yup, now catch!" You suddenly yelled as you fell from his shoulders. He acted quick and caught you in his arms, before lightly setting you down.
"Woah, careful! What if you actually fell!?" He panicked.
"But I didn't. See, I'm perfectly fine." You reassured him.
"Yeah, but how could you be so sure I would actually catch you?" He questioned.
"Because you're my friend and I trust you." You simply responded with a smile.
He was slightly surprised, but then he chuckled. “Alright you win, but just be more careful next time. I'd hate to see you get seriously hurt."
"So since we've already established that the window is able to open and close, how exactly did the killer manage to reach the window?" You asked.
"Unless they had an accomplice to help them climb up, it would be next to impossible. But even if they managed to get some to help them, that's also impossible since they would be left behind." Hajime explained.
“I guess so, but that's not exactly reassuring. We need to find more evidence in order to figure out who's the real killer." You responded.
"The motive might help us get more answers." He suggested.
"Then I suppose our next course of action is to go investigate the game." You decided.
"Sounds like a plan." He replied.
As you both left the shower room and headed towards the Beach house's beachside door, you were suddenly stopped.
"Ah, hold on a second! Those things beneath you...be careful not to step on them." Chiaki warned as you and Hajime stared curiously at her.
"Beneath?" You asked.
"You know, the footprints in front of that door." She said, pointing down to the ground. You glanced down and noticed small footprints leading away from the beach house.
"Well, from what I remember, Hajime and Kazuichi were the first to get to the beach house, but...These footprints are going in the opposite direction towards the tunnel." You replied as you examined each foot print.
"Someone's footprints leading from the beach house are definitely suspicious, but me and Kazuichi weren't the only ones who could've come here first. Didn't Peko say she went for a swim?" Hajime questioned, recalling what happened earlier.
"Unfortunately, I only went swimming around the first beach. I don't know anything about this beach." Peko suddenly answered as she slowly approached the three of you.
"Are you really sure about that?" You inquired.
"But these footprints lead straight from the beach house to the tunnel." Chiaki added.
"Since I was swimming at the beach, of course my footprints would lead from the shore to the tunnel." Peko responded.
"Then whose footprints are these?" Hajime wondered.
'Footprints leading from the beach house all the way to the tunnel? There was only one person I saw coming from that direction, but could these really belong to them?' You thought to yourself.
Once we were done speaking with them, we continued on our way to Jabberwocky Park. But once we reached our destination, we saw a suspicious figure already waiting for us at the game.
"Oh, it's you two. I didn't expect to see you here." They said.
We came to an abrupt stop as an expression of surprise filled our faces. You couldn't believe what you were seeing. You definitely didn't expect him to be here, of all places.
"N-Nagito...?"
To be continued in part two...