Slow Hope

‘Saihara-chan! Worked out who the murderer is yet?’ Oma bounced up to him at dinner time, when Saihara couldn’t escape.

‘No,’ he said. He wanted to sink under the table and hide. He’d found Jataro and Daimon after leaving Shirogane, but they hadn’t been any help. Jataro had just confined Oma’s story (minus the torture) and Daimon had claimed to be doing laps in the pool. He had mentioned seeing Shirogane talking to Yumeno afterwards, so that lined up with Yumeno’s story.

‘No?’ Oma said. He pointed a finger at Saihara. ‘Aren’t you slacking off? It’s not like it’s some super-duper complicated case.’

‘That might be the problem,’ Saihara muttered. ‘Anyone could have done it.’

Oma pulled up a seat next to him, ignoring the vibes Saihara was sending out to be left alone. ‘Hm. Well, if that’s too simple for you, how about working out who Monaka-chan’s accomplice is?’

Saihara sunk deeper into his chair. He thought of Akamatsu, and the possibility that she hadn’t really killed Amami. That someone else was responsible, and they were the one who’d condemned Akamatsu.

He wished he had Akamatsu beside him now. Instead he had Oma. Who Saihara couldn’t help feeling was the most suspicious, even if it weren’t entirely justified.

‘I asked Iruma-san to check the computers,’ Saihara said, ‘but she couldn’t find anything.’ Iruma had been fairly certain the footage had been manipulated, but she hadn’t been able to restore the previous version.

‘She said she couldn’t find anything. She coulda destroyed it herself.’

‘You think Iruma-san might be behind it?’

Oma smiled. ‘Maybe. What do you think, Saihara-chan?’

He imagined Iruma being in the hidden room with Monaka. Imagined her getting angry when Akamatsu’s attempt to kill the mastermind went wrong, storming out to kill Amami herself.

But there was something wrong with that. Because Iruma had an alibi. ‘She couldn’t have killed Amami-kun,’ Saihara said.

‘Huh?’

‘I think we need to look at the first case again,’ Saihara said.

---

That night, Kotoko accepted Oma’s invitation to play cards with him and Jataro. She felt vaguely guilty, because Shirogane had looked like she wanted to talk. But she couldn’t help imagining Shirogane dressing up as Junko.

‘Say, Oma-kun, how well do you know Shirogane-san?’

She picked up the cards he’d dealt without seeing them.

‘Shirogane-chan? Hm, I can’t say I’ve noticed ... which one is she?’

‘She’s the one with glasses,’ Jataro said, as if Oma weren’t having him on.

‘Right! She’s so plain I forgot all about her. What about Shirogane-chan?’

Kotoko wanted to sink back and hide behind her cards. ‘I was in her lab,’ she said, ‘and she’s got all this cosplay stuff, but did you know she’s got an outfit like ... like Enoshima Junko?’

‘That’s kind of sad,’ Jataro said, the edge of a snicker in his voice.

‘Sorry, who?’ Oma looked blank.

‘Enoshima Junko. Despair. You didn’t forget that?’

Oma smiled at her, showing his teeth. ‘I guess I must have. That’s to do with that really really horrible tragedy, right?’

‘She ran the first killing game,’ Kotoko said carefully. ‘The one Fukawa-san was in.’

‘You’re saying this Enoshima was a real person.’

‘Of course.’

‘And Shirogane-chan had an outfit to dress up like her? That’s funny.’ He looked away, thinking. ‘I guess that’s another lie from Akamatsu-chan.’ He put his cards down. ‘Hey, want to play a trick on Shirogane-chan?’

‘What sort of trick?’ Jataro asked.

‘Well ... it would really freak her out if Utsugi-chan dressed up in that outfit, right? I bet we’d get a good reaction. And we might learn something good.’

‘You think I should dress up as Junko-neesan?’ She was surprised into talking about Junko familiarly, but Oma didn’t seem to notice. He nodded.

‘Jataro-chan, you scout ahead and see if her lab’s empty.’

‘Why me?’ Jataro was taken-aback.

‘Well, she’s definitely going to be suspicious if I do it. And if Utsugi-chan did it, she might get made to dress up as something else.’

‘But what if she’s there?’ Jataro said, twisting his fingers nervously.

‘Say you want to borrow some of her supplies for a project,’ Kotoko said. ‘It’s true, after all.’ She glanced back at Oma’s innocent-looking face.

Jataro agreed gingerly. Kotoko wasn’t confident about it herself ... but she did want to see Shirogane’s reaction. And maybe they would learn something. Like if Shirogane had been involved in Monaka’s death. Or worse.

---

‘Saihara-chan!’ Oma grabbed onto Saihara’s arm in the hallway, excited. ‘We’re planning something, want to see?’

‘Planning something?’ Saihara found that a little concerning, coming from Oma.

Oma grinned at him. ‘A trap,’ he said.

‘What kind of a trap?’

‘You’ll see!’

Saihara let himself be dragged toward the doors, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Oma was up to. ‘Where are we going?’

‘To the dorms.’

It was cool outside, with the false sky darkening into twilight. Oma didn’t let go of Saihara’s arm until they got to the dorms.

‘We’ll go to my room,’ he said. ‘It should be all set up now.’

When they got to Oma’s room, Iruma was there already, with a laptop set up on the desk. Saihara was surprised she’d managed to make space for it – Oma had a lot of crap in his room. Some of it was evidence from the trials, which was a little disturbing.

‘Is it ready?’ Oma asked.

‘All good to go,’ Iruma said, patting the computer fondly. ‘Hey, Utsugi, you hear us?’

‘I hear you.’ Kotoko’s voice was tinny through the computer speakers. Saihara looked closer at the computer. At first glance, he wouldn’t have realised it was Kotoko they were looking at. She was in one of the dorm rooms, and she was wearing a wig, and clothes that didn’t seem like hers.

‘Alright!’ Iruma said. ‘We’ll let you know once Shirogane is coming, and then we’ll be on mute.’

‘What exactly is going on?’ Saihara asked. ‘What about Shirogane-san?’

‘You didn’t tell him?’ Iruma turned on Oma, who held his hands up in innocence.

‘I wanted it to be a surprise.’

‘Who is Utsugi-san dressed as?’ Saihara asked, wondering if any of his questions would get an answer. ‘Is she ... cosplaying?’

‘Hah!’ Iruma said. ‘Cosplaying as a tramp, alright!’

‘It’s not cosplay,’ Oma said. ‘Remember what Shirogane-chan said in the first trial? You can’t cosplay as a real person.’

So Kotoko was dressed up as someone real. Someone Shirogane knew? Then he thought again about what Oma had said.

‘She said that she couldn’t cosplay as a real person,’ he said, ‘didn’t she? Because of the ... cospox.’ It sounded false as he said it.

‘Ohhh,’ Oma said, as if he had forgotten. ‘That’s what she said, isn’t it?’

Saihara didn’t like the dubious note in his voice. ‘Akamatsu-san saw it.’

‘Right,’ Oma said. ‘And Akamatsu-chan wouldn’t lie, so we gotta believe it. But anyway, Utsugi-chan doesn’t have cospox.’

‘I don’t know what you’re blathering about,’ Kotoko said, over the speakers. She shifted her posture, looking bored.

Saihara figured that Kotoko must be in Shirogane’s room, but Oma didn’t seem inclined to explain why. It made Saihara uncomfortable, not knowing.

It wasn’t long before another voice came over the speakers – Jataro had apparently been roped in as well. ‘Shirogane-san is on her way,’ he said.

‘Good,’ Iruma said. ‘If you wanna come back here, we’ll get this gangbang started.’

Whatever Jataro might have said in response, Iruma cut it off. Saihara found himself blushing.

‘Come on,’ Iruma said, seeing his embarrassment, ‘what’s the point of being alone with a bunch of guys if I’m not getting done out of it?’

‘No-one’s doing a cumbucket like you,’ Oma said.

‘Can you guys please shut up?’ Kotoko said. Maybe she was as embarrassed as Saihara was. She must think she’d ended up in some hive of sex fiends.

‘Yeah yeah,’ Iruma said, ‘I’ll put us on mute. Good luck.’

She made a change on the computer, and leaned back. ‘So,’ she said, ‘now you’re waiting –’

‘Didn’t you hear? Utsugi-chan said to keep your dumb mouth shut,’ Oma said.

Iruma looked a little hurt, and Saihara felt bad for being relieved that she’d stopped talking. He didn’t want to hear Iruma’s innuendos either. Were they even innuendos if she put them so bluntly?

‘There she is,’ Oma said, ignoring them and leaning forward toward the screen.

---

When Shirogane came in, it took her a moment to register Kotoko’s presence.

Junko’s presence. Kotoko was playing Junko right now.

‘Wh-what are you ...’

‘Bored,’ Kotoko said. ‘You should’ve known I’d be bored. Twenty-four hours and no-one’s found the culprit yet?’ She clicked her tongue dismissively. ‘When I did it, I knew how to get people working.’

‘That’s .... that was a different situation,’ Shirogane said. She straightened. ‘You’re not really Enoshima-san though, are you?’

‘Bingo!’ Kotoko said. ‘Enoshima Junko is no more. But Despair lives forever!’ She stepped closer to Shirogane, forcing her to back up a step. ‘You started off pretty well, I thought. Not my equal, of course, but what an idea – take humanity’s last survivors and turn them against each other!’ She could imagine Junko’s glee, could paint it on her face. And then change. ‘But look what happened. You let an ordinary girl like that get the best of you.’

She took another step closer. Shirogane was flushed, but there was something in her eyes ...

‘It’s not over yet,’ she said.

‘No? You can’t even get them to care about solving poor Monaka-chan’s murder.’ Monaka, who’d tried the same thing as Shirogane in the past. Tried to live up to Junko’s example. Tried to be her. ‘Of course, it would be sad if you got executed,’ Kotoko said, and looked at Shirogane with pitying eyes, ‘but that just means you were never really Despair in the first place. I guess Monaka-chan must’ve been the mastermind after all.’

‘That’s not true!’ Shirogane said. ‘Didn’t I start this whole thing off? The game would never have begun if I hadn’t stepped in.’ Her expression hardened, and Kotoko felt herself waver.

‘I’ll finish it too,’ Shirogane said, and she grabbed for Kotoko’s wig, yanking it hard and throwing it to the floor. ‘I thought you said you weren’t interested in cosplay, Utsugi-san.’

They both moved to grab the lamp on the desk at the same time, but Shirogane got there first. She yanked it free, and aimed it down at Kotoko’s head. Kotoko dodged, but Shirogane didn’t stop, forcing Kotoko to move back and back.

She was going to kill her. Kotoko had nothing to fight her with; Shirogane was between her and the door.

Shirogane had lifted the lamp again when the door opened.

‘Stop that, Shirogane-san!’ Saihara’s voice.

Kotoko thought for a moment that Shirogane would bring the lamp down anyway. But if Saihara meant to stop Shirogane with words alone, Jataro didn’t, and he launched himself at Shirogane so that they both fell on the floor.

‘You leave her alone!’ he said.

Which, given she’d thought she was just about to die, Kotoko was actually quite touched by.

Shirogane shoved Jataro off. ‘She ruined it,’ she said. ‘You all ruined it!’

‘So you admit it was you,’ Oma said. He and Iruma were there as well, witnesses to Shirogane’s crime.

Shirogane glared. ‘Of course it was me,’ she said. ‘You lot all fell for Monaka-san when she offered herself up, but it was me who planned it all –’

‘Did you kill Amami-kun too?’ Saihara asked.

‘What?’

‘With the shot put,’ Saihara said. ‘Akamatsu-san missed, right? She never killed Amami-kun after all, that was you.’ His voice cracked. ‘That’s why Akamatsu-san’s shot put was in the bin ...’

Shirogane stared at him a moment, then her face contorted. ‘So what?’ she said. ‘She meant to kill him. I just fixed it so he actually died.’

‘She covered for you!’ Oma said. They were all surprised by his vehemence. ‘But you ... you couldn’t even be bothered following your own rules.’

Shirogane jutted her jaw out. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘You got me. What’re you going to do about it? You can’t kill me, not after all your talk –’

‘We don’t need to kill you,’ Iruma said. ‘There’s a whole wild world out there. You think you’ll survive it on your own?’

Jataro laughed, catching on. ‘You’re going to be so alone,’ he said, ‘and there’s so many things that can kill you out there. In terrible ways.’

Kotoko’s moment of gratitude passed. Jataro was Jataro. With his eyes wide, he looked altogether too pleased by the prospect of Shirogane getting stung to death by giant wasps, or eating bad fruit and shitting herself to death ...

Oh, but that was all Kotoko’s own mind.

‘You’re going to exile me?’ Shirogane asked. ‘What kind of justice is that?’

‘It won’t bring Akamatsu-san and the others back,’ Saihara said, ‘but nothing can do that.’ He closed his eyes. ‘Killing doesn’t solve anything.’

‘You shoulda just let Monaka-chan live,’ Oma said.

‘You think I could let her take all the credit?’ Shirogane asked. ‘After she left me in the lurch like that?’

‘So you killed her,’ Kotoko said. She felt tired all of a sudden, and vulnerable. ‘I hope you don’t die out there. I hope you live a long life and every moment is horrible.’

She pushed past Shirogane and Jataro, past the others, and walked out into the night time.

She was trembling. She was still dressed like Junko. And Monaka was still dead. She was never going to make things up to them, or repent, or say sorry, or even smile at Kotoko again, even as a lie.

The dead were never coming back.