Chapter 7
I hurried to the dining hall the next morning. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe I was just paranoid.
“Asami, you’re here.” Kaede said happily.
“You seem excited,” I replied. “Did something happen?”
“I thought you guys were tired of having toast everyday,” She started. “So I tried making everyone pancakes. I hope you like them.”
I placed one on my plate and poured some syrup on it. I put a forkful in my mouth and swallowed it. “It’s really good!”
She blushed.
“Some of us aren’t here yet.” Etsuko said.
“Weird.” Amaya agreed.
Just then, Genki and Kenji arrived.
“It’s about time.” Katashi muttered.
“Sorry for the delay,” Genki started. “My door wouldn’t open for some reason.”
Amaya laughed. “Must've been that chair I placed on your door.”
“Why did you do that?” He asked.
“So you wouldn't go off killing anyone obviously.”
“There’s still people missing.” Hanako said.
“Yeah,” Chiharu agreed. “Hide, Akihiko, Satoshi, Misaki, and Taishiro.”
“Hide’s understandable,” I said. “She might still be adding a few touches to the medicine she was working on yesterday.”
“Then I guess I can save her pancake for later.” Kaede said, placing Hide’s plate in the fridge.
“Oh by the way,” Yasuo began. “Kenji, how do you feel?”
“Still crappy, but better than before.” He replied.
“Everyone was worried,” he said. “But I’m glad you're back on your feet.”
Akira and Isamu entered the room.
“How did you guys get here?” He asked.
“We somehow broke free.” Akira replied.
“Man, those other people are taking forever,” Amaya said. “Should we just eat without them? I was holding out my hunger so everyone would arrive y’know.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to eat without them-“ Hanako said and Amaya immediately gobbled up her food. She was done in two seconds. “Man, that was good, I feel refreshed!”
Kaede gave an awkward laugh.
Etsuko put down her plate. “Okay. This is weird. I’m scared.”
“The pancakes scare you?” Amaya asked, licking her fingers. “It’s alright, just hand it to me and I’ll eat it for you.”
“It’s not the pancakes!” Etsuko yelled. “Five people aren’t here yet and it wasn’t like that yesterday. It’s too weird…”
“I’m sure they’re just slow,” Amaya said. “How about we look for them now? But let’s first get that medicine from Hide and thank her for it.”
Etsuko smiled. “Okay.”
Just then, the screen in the dining hall turned on. There was nothing. It was blank. But still, I was starting to feel uneasiness rise inside of me. On the screen, I saw legs that were dark. I couldn’t really tell who it was but they were swaying side to side. There also happened to be a cord around one of their legs. The screen instantly turned black.
We all just stood there in silence until we heard Kaede. “Ahh! What was that?”
Kenji’s eyes were wide. “We have to hurry to the broadcasting room!”
We busted out of the dining hall, and pushed the broadcasting room door wide open.
There it was. In the room with the lights off. A rope was tied from a clothing rack to the neck of our friend. Hide Kagawa.
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Kaede grew pale. “Take her off of that!”
Hanako screamed.
We all ran toward the clothing rack. Kenji untied the rope hastily and placed her down. He loosened the rope and took it off, holding onto her shoulders. “Hide, get up! Wake up Hide!”
No response.
Everyone was surrounding her. That’s when I heard it.
“A body has been discovered!” It was Monokuma’s enthusiastic voice through the speakers. “Please meet up in the main hall for further instructions.”
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Kaede’s eyes were wide. “D-Did he just say?…”
Hide is dead. There was no doubt about that. I clenched my fists as I stared at her body on the floor.
Kenji sighed. “This is all my fault. I should’ve been more careful.”
“It’s not your fault,” Genki told him. “You were extremely sick.”
“Okay then who is it?!” Amaya yelled. “Who did this to her?!”
“Maybe we should head over to the main hall first.” Kaede suggested.
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“We got our first murder!” Monokuma announced. I noticed the four missing people arrived as well.
“Who died?” Taishiro asked, pointing his finger. “I heard the announcement.”
“This procedure will happen every murder,” Monokuma explained. “A class trial will be held after investigations. After a trial, a voting will occur in which everyone has to participate. If you vote for the correct killer, only the killer will survive. If you vote incorrectly, the killer can leave this maze while you guys get punished.”
“P-Punished as in?” Hanako started.
“Execution.” He finished for her.
She screamed.
“So we basically have to figure out Hide’s killer?” Misaki asked.
“H-Hide?” Taishiro asked. “Wait, how did you know it was Hide?!”
“She’s the only one not in this room.”
Monokuma laughed. “Enjoy your investigation! Ah- except for Kenji.”
“What?” He asked.
“You’re still ill,” Monokuma explained. “So you’re going to stick with me and not participate in the class trial.”
“They need me there!” He argued.
“You’ll be punished if you do.” Monokuma said in a low voice.
Kenji just sighed.
Isamu placed her hand on his shoulder. “It will be fine. We’ll solve this.”
He nodded and stayed.
“Before you head off, I’ll give you a Monokuma file!” Monokuma announced giving us a file while we were leaving.
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Back in the broadcasting room. I shut my eyes tightly. Hide…
I opened my eyes again and forced myself to face her.
“Hey,” a voice said and I spun around. It was Misaki. “If it’s too hard for you, I’ll examine the body.”
“Huh?” I asked, dumbfounded.
“I’ll tell you anything I found.”
“What do I do then?”
“Some people are searching here and some are searching the pharmacy lab,” She explained. “I suggest you search both. She was supposed to have her medicine ready this morning.”
I watched her sit by Hide and peer over at her neck.
I turned away. Okay, investigate. That’s what I have to do. I turned on the Monokuma file.
Victim was Hide Kagawa. Cause of death was loss of breath due to hanging. Body discovered in the broadcasting room.
That’s it? I thought. No time of death? Well, I guess the time of death is too obvious to state. We saw it happen in front of us.
I turned it off and observed the rope that was used for Hide’s hanging. If she was the only one here, does that mean she did this herself? The clothing rack had wheels. It was used to hang the rope. Now that I thought about it, the rack itself looked familiar. Wasn’t that rack in the pharmacy lab? I examined the cord. This must’ve been the thing to turn off the lights. Which made it end the video.
I turned around. The cord was also wrapped around a shattered broadcasting camera on the floor. This was used for the video. I observed the other camera. There seemed to be timers. Somehow, I felt like that was going to be important. I guess I’m done here for now. There wasn’t much. I left the room and headed to the pharmacy lab. Something caught my eye. A small amount of blood was on the edge of the counter. I should keep this in mind. I walked around. The clothing rack for spare aprons wasn’t there anymore. I knew it. It was the one in the broadcasting room. I looked down. There was a spilled bottle and a string thing. It was orange, but it didn’t help me identify what it was. The counter had nothing else on it. I sighed and left. On my way out, I saw a glimpse of something in the trash. There were pieces of glass.
“Asami!” I heard. I spun.
Akihiko was standing there.
“Hello,” I managed. “Did you need something?”
He looked very nervous. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Same.”
“I searched some of the broadcasting room,” He explained. “It seems that the cameras have timers.”
“I noticed that too.”
“But, I couldn’t stay for long,” He explained. “I was too upset so I began to search here.”
“Did you find anything?” I asked him.
“We’ll, it’s not important, but I found the pharmacy list. And the sign on the door that doesn’t allow food unless it’s a plant.”
“That may be important.” I said.
Then I noticed Hanako was searching the shelves.
“Sorry, I was just wondering what the spilled liquid could’ve been.”
“I guess I’ll leave that to you.” I said before almost walking into Etsuko.
“Just letting you know, that there’s a few pharmacy aprons in the supply room.” She brushed past me and continued searching.
I see, I thought, heading out. Aprons in the supply room.
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“Asami?”
“Misaki? What is it?”
“Didn’t I say I was going to tell you what I found?”
“Did you find anything?” I asked in surprise.
“Her neck had a deep mark, and she seemed to have a head wound. Akira said it's hard enough to knock someone out,” She explained. “Her body also seemed cold and rigid.”
“I see.”
“Time’s up!” The announcement was called. “Please make your way to the doors in the main hall, and we’ll begin our first class trial!”
Doors in the main hall? There’s no doors there.
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We headed to the main hall. The wall opened. That definitely wasn’t there before. We headed in. There were nineteen spots with our names written on each one. That’s when I spotted a portrait standing in Hide’s spot. There was a tilted X on her face.
“What’s that for?” Hanako asked.
“It would be sad if the dead ones couldn’t participate.” Monokuma said.
“Dude, you seriously have some twisted personality.” Nikko said.
“Hey,” Amaya started. “I thought you were taking care of Kenji. Why are you here?”
“She’s right,” I asked. “What did you do to him?”
“I already took care of him,” Monokuma replied. “And now I’m here to witness the class trial. Now go to your seats!”
I stood in my place. I was between Akihiko and Katashi. I took a deep breath. Hide Kagawa is a victim because of one of us. One of us killed her…Who was it?
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