He was walking- Well more hobbling- after Kokichi as the boy rushed off ahead of him. Shuuichi had managed to catch a familiar glint shine in his eyes just before he had turned away. A detour? Where was Kokichi going? They were heading the way to the trial grounds, but he saw Kokichi, who was ahead of him, turn right and back into the dormitories. They were going back there?! There wasn't enough time to look for more clues! They were expected to be at the trial grounds now! What was he playing at?
"Kokichi...!"
"I know, I know just come alright, you don't have to be a stickler for the rules all the time geez, were you some honour student before this?" Shuuichi simply frowned at him, but didn't bother to respond. He had always if not mostly abided by the rules and tried his hardest to get good grades, but he wouldn't have gone as far to be considered an honour student. Kokichi held the door open for him and he stepped inside anxiously. Would they get punished? Was this ok because Kokichi is the mastermind or is he also worried that he would get punished? Kokichi slipped in beside him and moved over to the body which was still framed in the doorway.
Kokichi bent down and looked to be thoroughly scanning the body for something. Shuuihi was about to ask what, when Kokichi exclaimed loudly.
"Aha!" He picked something up and held it up for Shuuichi to see. A key! "Looks like it worked after all, so the culprit was scared, huh? Well they should be more scared now..." Shuuichi looked down to where Kokichi had found the key and saw a small skid mark of blood smeared across the floor.
"Was this your plan? To get the key?"
"That's half correct, but there's not enough time to explain fully so sorreyyy~" Kokichi sung, grinning from ear to ear. "Detour complete, we gotta go now!"
Kokichi straightened up and hooked his arm through Shuuichi's and marched out.
They had the key. Had the culprit decided to put them back? Was that what Kokichi had wanted?
"You two are getting pretty chummy." Said a harsh voice from behind them as they made it out into the open and had begun their descent down to the elevator to the trial grounds.
"Oh hi there Makiroll! Didn't see you there." Maki's face seemed to harden at the name and Kokichi gave a little gasp of fake horror, "oh yeah that was what that space nerd used to call you wasn't it? Oops, must feel like a stab in the heart aye? Or..." Shuuichi didn't feel like anything said with the look Kokichi was now giving Maki could be good. He was in half a mind to unhook his arm and clap a hand to Kokichi's mouth to stifle his next words, but the action seemed impossible with Kokichi's new found grip on his forearm. "A stab in the back?" A hand flew to the throat of the boy next to him and the grip relinquished almost instantly from Shuuichi's arm as Kokichi's hands scrambled at the grip on his neck.
Kokichi's feet left the ground and he coughed horribly, holding onto the squeezing fist, but other than that, he didn't make an attempt to escape.
Shuuichi felt frozen for a good half a second and then quickly turned to Maki.
"Maki please let him go," he pleaded, glancing over at Kokichi who seemed to be developing a red tinge to his face as he struggled to take a breath, "he can't breath!"
"You're going to stick up for him...?" Maki said her eyes not betraying any emotion as she stared deeply into his own. After a few horrible seconds, he heard the sound of Kokichi crumpling to the ground, spluttering as he pushed himself up quickly.
"I thought Kaito was your friend..." she gave Shuuichi a final look and walked away. He looked after her stunned. What was that supposed to mean...?
"What a bitch! Ultimate Child caregiver my ass, more like ultimate child strangler!" Kokichi gasped, rubbing his neck tenderly. "Let's go." He said finally, as it seemed the tightness in his throat had begun to loosen. Shuuichi followed slowly still shocked at Maki's words. What had she meant by that? Of course Kaito was his friend! Maki had attacked Kokichi, he couldn't stand for that just because Kokichi said something hurtful.
When they arrived, everyone was already inside waiting apprehensively except for Maki who didn't bother to look up at the pair of them. It played out as it had before. The entrance to the elevator appeared and they all descended with caution. Only when the elevator had stopped did they all step out and approach the trial ground.
"I'm glad you all could make it! Well most of you~" The bear called with a wide grin. He was perched upon that stupid chair of his above the trial grounds and looked as happy as ever. "Please make your way to your respective spots and we will begin the class trial!" No one moved at first, but once Kaede had taken a tentative step forward towards her spot, others soon followed.
"Good, now let's start with a basic explanation of the class trial...!" Shuuichi fazed out again. This information wasn't important. He was familiar with what the class trial was. He had witnessed far too many.
"So... where do we begin?" Shuuichi glanced up, it seemed the explanation was over. It was time for the trial. Why did he have to do this again...?
"What about discussing what actually occurred?" Kiibo offered.
"It's obvious what occurred! Momota was fucking stabbed in the back by one of you lowlifes!" Miu snapped as though Kiibo had been stupid to suggest anything.
"So we're saying that the knife IS the murder weapon?" Kaede questioned causing Miu to give an exasperated noise.
"Of course it's the murder weapon! It was sticking out his back! What else was there, air head?" Kaede looked mildly offended, but pushed on with her reasoning,
"Not necessarily. There was the injury to his head that could have been the cause."
What was the point of attacking Kaito in two different ways? That didn't make sense... unless one wasn't fatal.
"Then which came first? Both looked to be fatal." Shuuichi added.
"Does it even matter? Kaito died anyway." Kokichi drowled into the empty silence. Shuuichi perceived him for a second before Rantaro answered the question.
"If we don't have that information we won't be able to find the culprit, we need an order of occurrences." Kokichi looked At Rantaro in scrutiny, but didn't press the point and only stared at the group as if they were there for his entertainment.
"If we assume that the culprit came into Kaito's room already prepared with the knife, the stab wound would likely to have been first." Ryoma piped up, his voice a booming growl.
"But how would Kaito have gotten the head wound?" Tsumugi cocked her head in confusion, "it seems unnecessary, not to mention cruel to attack an already dead body!" Those words sat with Shuuichi. That's right, it would be unnecessary. This lead into another piece of evidence.
"What if the knife came after the head injury?" Shuuichi said and the room went into a thoughtful silence.
"That does seem the most logical." Kaede nodded in agreement.
"The room was trashed also remember." Angie said, nodding as well, "Momota must have hit his head during the big battle that went on!" She waved her arms theatrically as though she could see the scene playing out in front of her very eyes. Kiibo seemed lost in thought and opened his mouth to speak,
"Yes that is probably what happened, but that still doesn't explain the knife, it's still unnecessary in this circumstance, Kaito died from blunt force to his head."
"What if Kaito was still alive at that stage." Maki looked murderous. Her eyes were dark and only allowed a small slither of light to shine onto them.
"S-still alive!?" Himiko stammered, "s-so does that mean the knife was the murder weapon?"
"I'd say Kaito was simply knocked out by the blow to his head, then the culprit finished him off with the knife when he couldn't defend himself." Shuuichi said carefully.
"I would have to agree, there would be no point to harming the cadaver, but it would make sense if Momota was alive." Kirumi stated.
"Ok ok, that's pretty epic Shuuichi, but like why didn't the culprit pull out the knife first up, hmm? There would have been no need for Kaito to bump his head on whatever." Kokichi brought up a good point. That was a good question, but he thought he knew that answer to it.
"Because the culprit didn't have the knife at that stage."
"How can you be sure?" Tenko said in awe, obviously surprised.
"The state of the kitchen." He said, "the knife rack had been completely moved from its original position and the mess suggested that the taking of the knife was done quickly and without much thought."
"Shuuichi, are you saying that the culprit knocked out Kaito and THEN went to get the knife?!" Kokichi gasped his mouth agape and wide eyes staring, "but who would be stupid enough to not come prepared to their own murder plan? They must be soooo dumb!" Kokichi said in a high mocking voice. Although Kokichi seemed to be acting cocky, could this be his way of weeding out the culprit?
"That's enough." Kaede said, "we should continue on the matter at hand instead of... this." She waved a hand in Kokichi's direction, looking quite annoyed. Kokichi also looked thoroughly annoyed at the interruption and looked back at her with narrowed eyes. Shuuichi couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated by Kaede also. If only she had left it a little longer, maybe there would have been some prominent clue as to who had committed the murder. "If we take what Shuuichi said to be correct and the culprit took the knife, then we need to figure out alibis. Who was where?"
"Himiko, Angie, Tsumugi and I were in the dining hall around and hour or so before the body was found and we didn't see anyone go into the kitchen during that time." Tenko replied first and the group nodded in reply,
"We would have seen if anyone had gone to the kitchen, we were sitting right in front of it." Tsumugi added.
"I was with Shuuichi the whole time in my lab." Miu said quickly after, in a rush to get suspicions off her.
"Were you really though?" Kokichi spoke up again, "You could have gone and killed Kaito when Shuuichi was using that machine. He wouldn't have noticed you leave AND supposedly the machine stopped working, trapping Shuuichi inside."
"... what...?" Miu, "You absolute rat! Just shrivel up and die, why don't you, I didn't kill Momota and I am not lying about that machine breaking!" Kokichi looked like he was analysing Miu, taking in her expression to her mannerisms,
"What machine are you talking about?" Kiibo stared in confusion at the three of them. Many around them shared this similar expression.
"Just a prototype for a virtual reality, you know, something fun to take our minds off this shit show." Kokichi lied easily offering a small smirk at Shuuichi.
"Does this mean Miu is killer?" Gonta questioned, his face in a look of horror mixed with sadness.
"We don't know that for sure, but she is definitely suspicious." Kiyo answered cooly, fixing his hat to perfectly cover his face.
"G-g-guys c-come on!" Miu shrieked,
"You'll get your comeuppance soon wench!" Kokichi sung in a sing song voice, grinning like an idiot.
"Upupupu~ so much fighting! But this isn't going to go anywhere if I don't take this into my own hands!" Although the words almost sounded angry, the bear looked overjoyed. What could he be planning? "We'll take a short intermission and then the contents of your secret tasks will be brought out into the open! Of course the owners of the tasks will still be a mystery and it will be up to you guys to figure out which belongs to who~ what is truth what are the lies?! Who is the blackened among the spotless!? We'll find out one way or another after the break!"