Slow Hope

Saihara was back in the hidden room again. Before she’d left, Harukawa had stopped him and said, ‘It’s in your hands now.’ With a fierce look on her face, as if she were daring him to let her down.

So here he was, hunting for evidence that anyone other than Monaka had been here. He’d emptied the bin to sort through the rubbish when he was interrupted.

‘Saihara-chan, what are you doing?’

Saihara hadn’t heard Oma come in, and he jumped, knocking his head on the desk. Oma dropped himself onto the chair beside him, and waited for Saihara to answer.

Saihara rubbed his head and straightened. ‘It’s probably nothing,’ he said. And hesitated. If Monaka had an accomplice ... he couldn’t trust anyone.

‘Really? I could’ve sworn you were looking for clues. But Monaka-chan’s all locked up now; you don’t have to keep going.’

‘We don’t understand what really happened, though.’ Saihara got to his feet, so Oma wasn’t looking down on him.

Oma swung slightly on the chair. ‘I guess you don’t want my help, do you? Cos I’m definitely the most suspicious one here. I mean, if you’re thinking that Monaka-chan didn’t do it alone.’

Saihara looked away. He didn’t want Oma’s help, it was true. Was it really because he suspected Oma, though? Or was it just that Oma lied about everything? Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t trust anything Oma said.

But still, if Oma already knew what he was thinking ...

‘Harukawa-san thought so too,’ he admitted. ‘I know how she got the idea, but why do you think Monaka-san had help?’

‘Why, obviously it was because I helped her,’ Oma said. A wicked grin spread across his face, and he held it for long enough that Saihara started to worry. ‘... that’s what you’re thinking, right, Saihara-chan?’

‘O-only because you said it,’ Saihara said. ‘What am I meant to think, when you say things like that?’

‘How mean,’ Oma said. ‘You could believe in me. If Momota said it, you’d believe him, right? Even though he’s not any more reliable.’

‘That’s different,’ Saihara said.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter what you think of me. But if Monaka had an accomplice, I don’t want them to get away with it.’

‘Do you really?’

Oma stood up, looking affronted. ‘Yes, really. So you better work it out, Saihara-chan! We’re all counting on you.’

Maybe Oma was actually worried.

‘I’m not intending to give up,’ Saihara said. ‘Not until we have all the answers.’ He might’ve said more, but they were interrupted by Shirogane. She came into the room in a flurry, and stopped short when she saw them there, like she’d forgotten what she’d come for.

‘What’s up?’ Oma asked her, still swinging on the chair.

Shirogane shook her head and composed herself. ‘It’s Monaka-san,’ she said. ‘She’s dead.’

---

Monaka’s body had been laid out in the centre of the classroom. All around her were pieces of metal and electronics forming the shape of a heart. If you looked closer, you could see that they were pieces of Monophanie. She’d been smashed up, or dismantled.

‘Why?’ Yumeno said. ‘Why does this keep happening?’ Her voice became a wail, but Saihara couldn’t blame her; he felt the same way.

‘I guess we won’t be getting a file this time,’ Shirogane said. She sounded like she was trying to make a joke, but no-one smiled.

Kotoko and the other newcomers were the last to arrived, accompanied by Kiibo. When they came in, Kotoko called out Monaka’s name and pushed to the front of the group. She stopped outside the heart.

‘You guys killed her after all,’ she said.

‘Whaddaya mean, you guys?’ Iruma asked. ‘For all we know, it was one of you!’

‘It could have been,’ Jataro said. ‘After everything that happened, that she died like this ...’ He clapped a hand over his mouth to stop a giggle.

Daimon whacked him on the arm. ‘Show some respect,’ he said. He might’ve said something else, but he stopped when he looked at Iruma.

‘We should shut the lot of ’em away now,’ she said.

‘That seems a little unreasonable,’ Shirogane said. ‘Once we work out who did it –’

‘Does it matter who did it?’ Oma asked. ‘The game ended. It’s not like we have to do a trial or anything.’

‘But we do have to work out who was responsible.’

‘Why?’ Oma asked. ‘Why do we have to keep working it out?’

‘Cos we don’t want to get murdered next, dumbass,’ Iruma said.

‘They’re right,’ Saihara said. ‘We have to work it out. If not for her sake, then for the sake of everyone else who died because of her.’

Akamatsu. Amami. If Monaka had had an accomplice, if that accomplice was the one who’d killed Amami ... it made sense they’d want to keep Monaka from talking.

‘Without a file,’ Saihara said, ‘I guess we’ll just have to examine the body.’ And without Harukawa, he knew it was up to him. He stepped over the pieces of Monophanie and crouched down in front of the body, putting his hands on Monaka’s shoulder to push her onto her back. He tried to do it gently, but it still felt like he dropped her.

Once she was on her back, he could see the bruises on her neck. That was probably how she’d died – she’d been strangled. Someone with small hands. When he touched her skin, it was cool. She’d been dead a while.

‘Who found her?’ he asked.

‘I did,’ Kiibo said. ‘I was meant to bring her meal this morning. But she was like this when I arrived.’

Like this. Arranged like a piece of art, like a taunt.

Kotoko came over and knelt down beside Saihara, folding her skirt under her so she didn’t disturb anything. She put her hand out and laid it over Monaka’s. ‘She’s really dead,’ she said. Saihara thought her voice sounded a little more in awe than horror.

‘It doesn’t seem like there was a weapon this time,’ Saihara said. He stood up again. Noticed a piece of Monophanie’s faceplate. ‘Iruma-san, maybe you can work out what happened to Monophanie.’

‘Yeah, someone took her apart.’ Iruma spoke like he was an idiot.

‘But did they disable her first? Or ...’

Iruma picked through the pieces a bit, and she shrugged. ‘Nothing’s damaged,’ she said. ‘It’s just in pieces.’

‘We ... we don’t have to stay here for the investigation, do we?’ Yumeno asked.

‘You might not want to go off on your own,’ Shirogane said. She sounded distracted. ‘Whoever did this wasn’t playing by Monokuma’s rules. We don’t know that they won’t try again.’

The room went silent. It was true – up till now, they’d been able to assume that, for the length of time they had to investigate, there would be no more murders. But now ...

Saihara couldn’t worry about that at the moment. He had to focus on Monaka.

‘If she was dead when Kiibo found her,’ he said, ‘someone else must’ve been the last person to see her alive.’

‘I took her dinner last night,’ Yumeno said, ‘and she was definitely alive then.’

‘What time was that?’

‘Um ... around eight maybe?’

‘No-one else came here after that?’

No-one else admitted to it.

‘What about you three?’ Iruma asked, rounding on Daimon.

‘It wasn’t me!’ Daimon said. ‘I spoke to her earlier, but that’s all.’ He frowned, as if what he remembered annoyed him.

‘I didn’t visit her,’ Jataro said.

‘Not at all?’ Iruma asked.

Jataro shook his head.

‘What about you, Utsugi-san?’ Saihara asked.

‘I didn’t visit Monaka-chan last night,’ Kotoko said. ‘Maybe I could have done something ...’

‘Well, it’s not like they’d just admit it,’ Oma said.

‘Because we didn’t do anything!’ Daimon said.

‘So what’s your alibi?’ Oma said. He folded his arms. ‘If you didn’t do it, you should be able to prove it.’

‘We don’t have to prove anything,’ Kotoko said. ‘Aren’t you the ones who wanted her dead?’

‘Sorry,’ Shirogane interrupted, ‘but maybe this isn’t the best place to do this?’ She looked a little pale.

They were all feeling freaked out. ‘You’re right, Shirogane-san,’ Saihara said. ‘We can discuss alibis later.’ One on one, where it wouldn’t just lead to arguments.

He got to his feet, and hesitated. ‘We’ll have to do something with her,’ he said, ‘after the investigation.’ It didn’t seem right, just leaving the body like this. Monokuma had always dealt with the bodies before.

‘I don’t think anyone here feels like holding a funeral,’ Oma said.

‘I’d like to have a funeral,’ Kotoko said. She got to her feet, her hands folded together. ‘I think she deserves that much. Even if she was a nasty piece of work.’ She turned and left the room, not worrying about whether or not she might get caught alone. Daimon prevaricated a little, and then followed her.

Some of the anger dissipated from the room, turned into awkwardness.

‘Anyway,’ Yumeno said, shifting on her feet, ‘I don’t think my magic will be much help with this one, so ...’

‘I’ll go with you,’ Shirogane said.

‘Saihara-san, do you need any more help?’ Kiibo asked.

Any more help. Was it really going to be up to Saihara alone to investigate this? Not just whether Monaka had an accomplice, but a murder too?

‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘someone could help me see if there’s anything useful on those computers.’

‘You mean downstairs?’ Oma asked. ‘Haven’t you checked that out already?’

The monitors had been set to show various angles around the school, but Saihara hadn’t been able to get into anything else. ‘I meant to ask Iruma to help me with that.’

‘Ah-hah!’ Iruma said. ‘So Saihara needs my help. Alright, but you better think up a good way to pay me back.’

They split up again from there, and Saihara was left with Iruma.

‘So,’ she said, ‘who’d you think did it?’

‘It’s too soon to say,’ Saihara said. He stepped back from the body, wondering if there was anything he’d missed.

‘Those kids are suspicious, right?’ Iruma said.

‘I don’t know,’ Saihara said. ‘We don’t know what sort of relationship they had.’

‘They used to be friends, I heard. So they gotta have had a falling out. Whaddaya think of that as a motive?’

It seemed a petty one, for murder. ‘We’ll have to talk to them some more,’ he said. Meaning he would have to talk to them some more – Iruma was hardly likely to be an impartial interviewer.

‘So, down in the hidden room, right?’ Iruma said. She headed for the door, and Saihara followed after her, promising himself he’d deal with Monaka’s body later. ‘Y’know, I am curious what Monaka was watching on there.’

‘We never did see any cameras or anything ... but if they’re still running, maybe we’ll be able to see who did it.’ He doubted it – if Monaka had been killed by her own accomplice, then they would have known about the cameras and could have done something about them.

‘Yeah, and maybe I’ll get to catch one of you guys tugging one off.’ Iruma laughed.

Saihara thought it was better not to respond to that. To change the subject, he said, ‘What about you? What were you doing last night?’

‘Me?’ she said. Her grin widened. ‘Why, you want to rub one out right here? Gross, dude.’

‘For the case,’ he said, blushing. ‘Your alibi.’

‘You want my alibi? I stayed up late working out useful stuff for if we have to go out into the wild. Like something we could use to hunt birds for us. Or, you know, perve on girls in the bath. It’s multifunctional.’

‘So you were alone?’

She shook her head. ‘I got Kiibo to help me test some stuff.’

‘And in the morning?’

Iruma shrugged. ‘We stayed up late, so ... I only woke up when Shirogane came to get me.’ Her expression changed, remembering the moment and their situation. ‘Ah, but no-one can corroborate that. Kiibo went to bed a little after three, so ...’

No wonder she’d slept in. But Kiibo had managed to get up in time to get Monaka’s breakfast and find the body. He tried to imagine Kiibo killing Monaka. Strangulation wasn’t a very sci-fi way to kill someone. But then, Kiibo wasn’t a very sci-fi robot.

They arrived at the bottom of the stairs to the library, and Iruma said, ‘Look, uh, you don’t have to stick around. I’ll just work on that computer myself.’

‘It’s fine,’ Saihara said. ‘We still don’t know who the killer is, remember?’ He just had to hope it wasn’t Iruma. She seemed pleased by his response – that could have been good or bad.

Once Iruma had got into the computer system, they skipped through the video footage together. It was uncomfortable work – seeing themselves, seeing Monaka still alive. He saw Daimon check in on her, but he wasn’t there long before he appeared to get mad and stormed off. Later Yumeno dropped off Monaka’s dinner. And after that ... Monaka turned off the light at some point, presumably so she could try and sleep.

Then the footage was dark until Kiibo came in the next morning and turned on the light.

They looked over it several times. ‘That can’t be right,’ Saihara said. ‘Even if they could’ve killed her in the dark, it would have been difficult setting Monophanie’s pieces out like that.’

‘Maybe we weren’t the only ones to come down here,’ Iruma said. ‘Someone coulda messed with the footage.’

‘Do you think they did?’

Iruma cracked her fingers out in front of her. ‘Imma work out if they changed this file. Saihara, you don’t have to keep hanging around.’ She flashed him a grin. ‘Although if you’re feeling horny, we could take a break –’

‘I’d better stake taking testimonies,’ Saihara said. ‘Thanks for your help.’

Iruma shrugged and waved. ‘Your loss,’ she said.

---

When Saihara entered the dining hall, Yumeno was sitting on her own, looking despondent. Oma and Kiibo were there too, but they weren’t with her.

He approached Yumeno first.

‘Saihara. I guess you’ve come to ask for my help.’ Yumeno scratched her head. ‘Sorry, but I don’t think I’m up to it now.’

‘Ah, I don’t need your magic right now, Yumeno-san.’ He wondered when Shirogane hadn’t stayed with her. ‘I just wanted to ask you about last night.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Yumeno looked up at the ceiling. ‘Cos I was the last one to see her, right?’

‘Maybe she said something? Or you saw someone afterwards?’

‘Um ... she mostly said stuff about Angie and Tenko.’ Yumeno looked downcast. ‘I don’t think I can feel bad that she’s dead. She deserved it.’

‘She didn’t say anything about anyone else?’

Yumeno blinked at him. ‘No ... and I didn’t see anyone else either ...’

There hadn’t been anyone else on the video when Yumeno had been there either, although obviously the footage had been tampered with. ‘What about after you left? What did you do then?’

‘Took the stuff back to the kitchen ... then I went back to the dorms. Shirogane can tell you. I wanted to pack up some of Tenko’s stuff, but it was a pain ...’

‘Shirogane-san saw you?’

‘Yeah ... I guess she tried to make me feel better.’ From the expression on Yumeno’s face, it hadn’t worked. ‘If only my magic was working,’ she said, ‘then we wouldn’t have to go through all this.’

‘Sorry. I had to ask.’

She shrugged.

Yumeno remembered Shirogane leaving the dorms, but not coming back – she’d been in bed by then. Saihara would have to check that with Shirogane.

‘Do you know where she went just now? She was with you, wasn’t she?’

‘Yeah ... she went off with that Utsugi girl. I wasn’t really in the mood for company, so ...’

‘Right,’ Saihara said. ‘I’ll leave you alone.’ He looked across the room, to where Kiibo and Oma had been listening in.

‘I was with Iruma-san till late,’ Kiibo said, when Saihara went to join them. ‘She’ll tell you that, I’m sure.’

Saihara nodded. ‘I already spoke to Iruma-san.’

‘You coulda done it afterwards though, right, Kiibou?’ Oma said. ‘It’s not like you need to sleep, after all.’

‘That’s robophobic!’ Kiibo said. ‘Anyone could have got up at that time!’

‘What about you?’ Saihara asked Oma. ‘What’s your alibi?’

‘My alibi?’ Oma rested a finger against his lips, as if to consider it. ‘I know, why don’t we play a game, and if you win, I’ll tell you!’

‘And if you win?’

Oma leaned back in his chair. ‘Well, then I get to kill you. You still owe me a game, remember.’

‘Kill him?’ Kiibo looked distressed.

‘That doesn’t seem right,’ Saihara argued. ‘Isn’t it in your own interest to tell me what your alibi is?’

‘Aw, Saihara-chan, you got me. Fine, we’ll play, and if I win, I’ll tell you, and if you win ...’ He grinned. ‘Well, you better not win.’

Saihara sighed. ‘Fine. I’ll play.’

They played pick-up sticks. It should have been an easy game to lose, but whenever things were getting tricky, Oma would make audacious moves that wouldn’t gain him any sticks, but which made things easier for Saihara.

‘Are you trying to make me win?’ Saihara asked, exasperated.

Oma had a glint in his eye, like he was enjoying Saihara’s frustration. ‘We’ll make it best of three,’ he said.

In the second game, Saihara was so nervous that he stuffed up easy pickups, and Oma won.

‘I can’t watch,’ Kiibo said, covering his eyes.

In the third game, Oma made exactly the same kind of audacious moves that he’d been making before, except this time they actually paid off. He looked pleased with himself, as he counted up sticks at the end. Saihara just felt relieved.

‘Tough luck for you, Saihara-chan,’ Oma said, ‘you have to listen to my story after all!’

Saihara helped to tidy the sticks away. ‘I’m listening.’

‘The truth is,’ Oma said, ‘I was playing with Jataro-chan.’

It took a moment to work out who Oma meant. ‘Is that a lie?’

‘Hm, I wonder. You’ll have to ask him and find out.’

Well, he was going to have to do that anyway. ‘What were you playing?’

‘Drawing.’

‘You were playing a drawing game?’

‘Uh-huh.’

Somehow it seemed unlikely. ‘How long were you playing this drawing game for?’

‘Well, we started after dinner. Then Utsugi-chan interrupted us round nine, but we got rid of her. So ... maybe till ten o’clock?’

‘What did Utsugi-san want?’

‘Oh, she said our game was too noisy and we had to keep it down. So we made her play a round. She ran away after that.’

‘... that’s some game,’ Saihara said.

‘I know what,’ Oma said, like he’d just come up with the idea, ‘you should play with us sometime, Saihara-chan!’

‘I think I’m alright,’ Saihara said. If the game made Kotoko run away, it didn’t seem harmless somehow.

‘I’d like to play,’ Kiibo said.

‘Huh?’ Oma said. ‘But robots can’t draw.’

‘I can draw!’ Kiibo said. ‘At least, I can try.’

Saihara didn’t want them to start arguing. ‘When you said the game was too noisy ... what did you mean?’ Saihara asked. ‘Shouldn’t a drawing game be quiet?’

‘Oh, that was the forfeits,’ Oma said. ‘Whoever would lose, the other one would get to torture. It was pretty painful.’

Kiibo looked aghast.

‘... and you want me to play this game?’ Saihara said.

‘Sure,’ Oma said, as if it were a completely reasonable suggestion. ‘It’s always fun playing you.’

Saihara knew he was lying. He supposed it didn’t matter, as long as Jataro and Kotoko backed up his story.

And depending on whether Iruma could figure anything more out, it might not matter anyway.

---

He looked for Shirogane and Kotoko next. Shirogane’s lab seemed like the obvious place to go, so he went and he knocked on the door.

No-one answered.

Still, he thought he could hear voices inside, so he opened the door. They were both in there, Shirogane with a measuring tape around Kotoko’s chest, and Kotoko with only a bra on top. A very cute pink-spotted bra.

‘Sorry,’ Saihara said. ‘Really sorry.’ He backed out the room.

‘Pervert!’ Kotoko called after him.

Saihara shut the door firmly behind himself, his face hot. He should have knocked more loudly ... he’d always be able to picture it now ...

Shirogane came out to join him. ‘You had to see that, didn’t you? Ah, how embarrassing.’

‘Sorry,’ Saihara said again, unable to look her in the eye. ‘I thought I knocked.’

‘Mm. I guess we weren’t paying attention. Did you need something?’

‘I was looking for you guys,’ Saihara said. ‘I need to confirm something with Utsugi-san.’

‘About the murder?’ Shirogane asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘Hmm ... well, I don’t think it’s a good time. She’s not in a great mood ...’

‘It was completely an accident,’ Saihara said. ‘I’m really sorry.’

‘Well, I’ll believe it if you say so.’ She gave him a smile. ‘I’ll try and convince her you’re not just a dirty pervert.’

Saihara wasn’t sure if he should be reassured or not.

‘Now, was that all?’

‘Yeah.’ There were other people Saihara could check on. ‘I’ll talk to you later.’

‘Of course,’ Shirogane said. ‘Even without the class trials, we can’t let a case like this go unsolved, can we?’

‘I hope not,’ Saihara said.

He practically ran away after that.

---

Kotoko was fuming. She hadn’t thought Saihara was the peeping type, but it just went to show that all guys were the same.

She shrugged her shirt back on, and waited for Shirogane to finish with him. Shirogane’s lab was a weird mixture of familiar and discomforting: the lights and the backdrop set up for photography; the fabrics and fittings; all the things Kotoko had left behind.

She’d asked Shirogane about clothes – the weeks of travel had left her somewhat ragged. Shirogane had insisted she’d make something, but Kotoko began to poke through her wardrobe anyway. She wasn’t sure who half the outfits were meant to be, but there were some cute pieces.

Then Kotoko came across an outfit that she couldn’t mistake. One that was familiar and discomforting and not cosplay at all, because Kotoko had known the woman who wore it.

The sound of Shirogane opening the door startled her; Kotoko dropped the hem she’d been holding and schooled her features as she turned back to Shirogane.

‘Sorry about that,’ Shirogane said.’ Saihara-kun didn’t mean anything bad; it was just poor timing.’

‘What did he want?’

‘Something about the other night, I think.’

‘The other night? You mean, about Monaka-chan?’

‘Mm, probably.’

‘I didn’t do anything,’ Kotoko said.

‘I don’t think Saihara-kun thinks you did anything. He’s just ... what is it detectives do? Building a timeline.’

‘A timeline?’

‘Yeah. I don’t know why we need it though. If everything’s over, isn’t it better just to let it be? You think so, don’t you, Utsugi-san?’

Kotoko wasn’t sure. ‘A detective wouldn’t think so.’

‘Mm ... well. He might not be a very good detective. But that’s beside the point.’ Shirogane clapped her hands together, looking livelier. ‘I haven’t finished measuring you.’

She let Shirogane finish the measurements, her hands warm and efficient. She’d been relaxed about it before, but now she was tense. Wondering why Shirogane had made a version of one of Junko’s outfits. Shirogane hadn’t even known Junko.

Maybe she was thinking of her like one of the characters she cosplayed, but Junko wasn’t a character, wasn’t just a story, to attribute fault to. Junko had been kind to them when no-one else was, had seen in them something no-one else saw ...

Had Monaka known about Shirogane playing dress up?

‘All done!’ Shirogane said. ‘Have you thought of anyone you’d like to cosplay as? I know you said you just needed some new clothes, but I think if you tried it, you’d see how fun it is.’

‘I don’t need to dress up as someone else,’ Kotoko said. She felt a little petulant, saying it – but she’d been dressed up, played with before. She didn’t want Shirogane doing it too.

‘Oh.’ Shirogane rested her chin on her hand. ‘That’s a shame. You’re so cute, you know. I’m so plain. It’s only when I cosplay that anyone would even think to look at me. I guess if you’re cute, you don’t have that problem.’

Kotoko demurred.

‘I still think you should try it. If you don’t try, how will you know you don’t like it?’

Kotoko was beginning to feel irritated. Shirogane kept on pushing, and Kotoko already felt sick, with the smell of hair product and the bright lights, and the thought of what she’d found.

She should tell someone, she thought. It might be relevant.

She began pulling her clothes back on again, layers like armour. ‘How do you choose a character?’ she asked.

‘Oh, good question,’ Shirogane said. ‘Hm ... I guess, someone you admire? Like, if a character has traits that you wish you had ... then, if you dress up, you can feel like you really are them! Even if you have to go back to being plain old you at the end ... it’s still fun for a little while.’

Wanting to be like Junko ... Kotoko could understand that. She understood it too well.

But that was the real Junko. Shirogane was talking about someone in a story.

And Kotoko knew the kind of story Junko had been in. And Kotoko and Monaka with her.