running through the fog

“[At least there’s one thing to be grateful for, you’re alive and well at the very least, and I’ll make sure it stays that way.]”

She leaned over and gave Kiri a quick peck, smiling softly down at her for a moment before returning to her original position and expression.

“[I don’t really have any evidence…I’m not even entirely sure what was going on during the mastermind stuff, really I only had the barest grasp. This is evidence by the way.]”

"[Yeah, well...  Apparently we need another trial in order for us to even have a proper shot at catching the mastermind.  And we can only get another trial if someone else dies.]"

“[Though…I’m glad you’re safe. When Daisy announced the random selection…]”

She looked down for a moment before trying to smile again.

"[Yeah...  I didn't even like that guy, and even I think he didn't deserve that!  If that had been you...  Oh dude, I don't even want to think about that!]"

She still didn't understand why anyone had to get hurt in that trial at all.  After all, everyone in that trial was innocent.  Except for Daisy and the mastermind, of course.  Kiri supposed she should have been happy that no one she liked got hurt, but she was well and truly convinced that no one still alive deserved what Daisy would have had in store for them.  Not even Takumi.

“Hmm? JSL? I suppose if you want, mine isn’t very good though.”

"Anything you can teach me would be helpful."

Kiri hadn't been so serious about anything since... well, probably since the recent trial.  But that still said something, didn't it?  She was trial-level serious and determined to learn.  She copied the motions as best she could.  Maybe she didn't get them all right on the first try.

There was a laundry room. A room for laundry. Where one went with their dirty clothes to make them clean again. Clean clothes were definitely nice. However by this point Sahar didn’t exactly have many clean clothes left and no fabric to make any new clothes, soon she may have had to wear something dirty but now she wouldn’t have to make that choice, a laundry room suddenly being open just in time.

So down she went with several suitcases filled with clothes, so many clothes, all needing to be cleaned. Really compared to the group only a few clothes fit into the machines, Sahar trying to fit as much as she could but it seemed that that really was only a margin of them. So it seemed now was waiting time.

So the reveal of a laundry room was very much welcome.  Kiri had been starting to wonder if she'd have to try washing her clothes in one of the sinks.  That probably wouldn't have gone well.

She stuffed her suitcase full of her dirty clothes and headed down to the laundry room, whistling some rock song completely out of tune as she walked.  She hadn't been expecting to meet Sahar down there, but it was still nice to see her.  And it was the perfect opportunity for Kiri to ask what she wanted to ask.

"[Hiya, Sahar!]"

She was bouncing on her heels even as she pulled her laundry from her suitcase and stuffed it into one of the washing machines.  That took talent.  When she was done loading her laundry, she hopped over to take a seat next to Sahar.

They feel bad that their question erases her smile though, the last thing they want to do is bring anyone down.

“That… makes sense. Tomimoto and I don’t even get along really, but I’d still be upset if something happened to him.” 

‘Don’t get along’ being an understatement considering he literally tried to kill them but hey. Bygones.

"Haha, yep!  That's why my parkour teachers back in New Zealand called me the Energizer Bunny.  No matter how bad things got, I'd keep going and going and going..."

"I don't think Tomimoto-san gets along with anyone, though.  Which is kind of sad, because he needs a friend, like, super badly."

Then, an idea strikes her.  Tsutomu doesn't have to look that hard to see the lightbulb go off.

"I'm gonna do it.  I'm gonna befriend the grump!"

But, he sees it’s simply the girl that he had only ever talked to in trial. Well, was this a bad time. Whatever she was doing it looked complicated and incredibly difficult, so of course the best option to do here was to say something. 

“Whoa…” 

Admittedly the only thing that he knew about her was what he say in trial and her secret thanks to those announcements a while back. Now that was weird to think back on, considering it made him realize how long they had been here. 

Back on topic Manabu. 

“What are you doing…?” 

Oh, right, he had asked Kiri what she was doing.  She should answer that.

"Backflips!"

Technically back handsprings, but close enough.  Would anyone else know the difference?  Maybe Akira might, but otherwise, probably not.

Takumi had had a great time with Daisy, like anyone who had sex did. But of course that was quite a workout, and you know what workouts mean: snack time!

This time, the fuckboy trash was actually going to do it and eat nacho cheese right from the dispenser. He would only do it if he was alone, because, well, that’s not classy at all. But if someone was there, that meant he got to have tortilla chips to accompany this cheese. To be honest, this was a win-win scenario here.

He was in a great mood. On cloud nine. Couldn’t be beaten. Even if Akira was in the snack bar, casually eating popcorn, he felt like he was super lucky. Could he get his hit count from two to three? Probably not.

He made his way to the snack bar and came inside. He leaned on a counter as he grabbed a bag of chips and just straight up poured nacho cheese inside of it.

Of course, the arrival of one Takumi Oshiro didn’t help matters. Busy with her own thoughts, the girl didn’t realize he was in the same room in her until he spoke. As soon as she knew, though, she turned around to face him. Him. Takumi. He had a smug look on his face, nothing that showed regret or guilt.

Akira instinctively took two steps back. Why was he trying to hit on her? Why? She didn’t get the punchline of his words, but she got the point - flirting. Ugh.

Then Kiri heard the words from Akira.

That tore it.  Kiri pulled herself away from the candy display and turned to glare viciously at Takumi.  Then she let out a war cry and charged at him.  When she got close enough, she leapt, raised her fist, and aimed a punch square at the fuckboy's face.

When she landed, she grinned over at Akira.

Not more than a few seconds after Saki, Akira, and Minnie made their announcement, a yell came from the back of the crowd.

“Hey!”

Then Kiri marched to the front, pushing her way through the others to reach Tsutomu and their protection squad. She did not look pleased as she stomped over, but when she reached the quartet, she broke out in a grin.

“Hi, guys!”

The grin disappeared when she turned back to face the rest of her fellow students, the ones not yet on Tsutomu’s side.

“Anyone who wants to get at Tsutomu-san is going to have to go through me, too. You try to hurt them and I automatically get permission to do stunts off your face. You got that?”

“Hah, that’s true. Handstands are pretty great- or, they look cool anyway. I’ve never really done one myself.”

"Haha, if you think my handstands are cool, then you should see me do a backflip."

Actually, that's a good idea.  Parkour-slash-tricking demonstration.  Just to give everyone something new to look at and maybe take their minds off all this murder.  Kiri stows that idea in the back of her mind before moving on to that question.

She's starting to dislike that question.  It ruins her image.  But she sighs and lets her smile fade out before answering.

"Yep!  Well.  Teeeeechnically, I didn't need to do a handstand, but handstands are great."

Until the headache sets in.  Then they're less great.  But they're still pretty awesome until then.

It had been more than twenty-four hours since the deaths of Sora and Minoru. It still wasn’t enough time for Kiri to shake the image of Minoru getting trampled to death or to get used to the absence of Sora. But that was no reason for Kiri to not get back to her normal routine, right? Must keep smiling.

So on the second day after the trial, Kiri headed out to the main lobby. It still wasn’t big enough for a really good run, but it was still an adequate place to stretch out before zipping off. Arms first, then legs. Then a handstand for old time’s sake. This situation was horrible, but handstands were great.

Kiri almost didn’t recognize the person who had entered the lobby while she was doing her handstand. Though to be fair, Kiri was upside-down and Hana had changed up their appearance a bit. Wait, no, it wasn’t ‘Hana’ anymore, it was 'Tsutomu’. Oh well, a Hana by any other name was still a good buddy.

So Kiri flipped herself upright so she could greet Tsutomu properly and with a smile.

It’s hardly been half an hour since Minoru’s execution, but something seems to be happening. The dull monitors light up with life as the crackle of static emanates throughout the theatre. It seemed that the one who had ensnared them all into this deadly trap had a message. After a brief moment of dense static ringing out from the monitors, a figure hidden in the darkness makes themselves known on the illuminated screen.

“Is this thing on?” A smooth, androgynous voice shot through the static. The figure’s voice was strange, cloaked with advanced technology in real time.

Reaching out a hand to tap the camera lense obnoxiously, the figure’s image became clear on the monitor screens. Sitting in a wooden chair, adorned with antique brass, they crossed their arms. Upon looking at them, one would notice they are cloaked from head to toe. The mask was dark and menacing, a black tactical mask graffitied in white and red paint, almost in lieu to the Graffiti Artist’s death. Around their neck was the device of what one would expect to be what caused their voice to be unrecognizable. They wore a black jacket similarly painted in sloppy red, a color to project the blood spilled.

Giving a cough distorted by technology not decipherable, they tilt their head and begin to chuckle in an evil, strained voice.

“What do I even do with you all? Sick… You all make me sick.” The silhouetted person shook their head and leaned back, letting a light above them illuminate their despairing outfit. “You truly believe that you can fight back against this? What I’m doing right here and right now is far greater than your pathetic deaths. Murderers, liars, criminals, and earthly scum inhabit this earth. They deserve to die. Though some deserve to live.” They patted their masked head and sighed.

“This marks the day that Daisy Ueno is no longer responsible for you brats. She’s disappointed me far too greatly to allow her to make a fool of my goals. As some of you shall unmask yourselves in the name of truth, I reveal my identity with a mask. I give you a mask to see me by.” Those who watched could feel the malevolence emanate from their figure.

Yoon-Ji doesn’t react much to the execution, watching blankly. She even lights another cigarette as Minoru hits the floor, seemingly unimpressed by the whole ordeal. 

“’Kay, so now-”

She’s cut off almost right away by Daisy getting to her feet and stumbling around like a drunken pirate. Seemingly not motivated enough to try and talk over the high woman, Yoon-Ji shrugs and leans back against the wall. As she seems to steady herself, Daisy finally looks over to you with another weird smile.

“Ehehehehehehehehehe… You’re all so small, I can just… Smoosh you.”

Holding up the hand that still has all the fingers on it, Daisy squints and moves her fingers like she’s squishing all of you.

“Ehehehe, so small… Ahaha, there’s, like, new locations out there… I wanted a ballpit, but we don’t have one… Soooorry. But Minoru-chan confessed, right? And you got it right, too! Minoru Otoishi murdered Sora Tsukada. That… Means we deserve a ballpit.”

Daisy pauses, staring blankly at you all like she’s seeing things.

“… Woah. Also, you all need to stooooop defaulting your votes… It’’s laaaaame. Lame lame. Next time… If you vote for someone other than yourself, I’ll give you a coin. That’s like… Bro, that’s like a motive in between a motive. Woooah. Also, you should, like, leeeeeave. Yeah, that’s good. Leave.”

Minoru heaved in and out, her small chest puffing and deflating with air as she sniffled heavily.

“I’ll see her…I’m g-gonna see her again…” she repeated to herself, trying to stay calm and failing.

The cold chain snapped shut around her neck, dragging her off for execution.

—

Minoru was on stage with dry eyes, realizing that she was with a group again.

They were playing some song that she eventually found the rhythm to, strumming along on her bass. She looked over the crowd dully and hoped for–

Wait, that hair color…

Minoru removed her bass, placing it on the stage floor and walking closer to the edge of the stage, looking out.

“Oh…Oh my god,” she said, “Sora!?”

Out there, watching the show in the flesh, was the deceased graffiti artist.

Minoru didn’t even realize she started crying, she was so happy, and the crowd even parted for her to walk! This wasn’t an execution…it was a dream come true. No more of the theater, or waiting to die, or self-loathing.

Just love.

She jumped down into the audience pit…

Only for something to crunch upon landing.

The bassist cried out, looking at down and seeing one of her legs was not bending in a natural way. Still, Sora was there! She…She could crawl!

But the audience was converging back to where she was, stepping ever so closer, until they began trampling her.

Minoru’s last words were simply of her crying out her girlfriend’s name as she was crushed under the feet of the fans.

Kiri had stayed quiet throughout the trial. She didn’t really have anything to contribute. Except for her alibi, but no one had asked her for one, and… Well, anyway, it was best that she didn’t mention it. All Kiri could do was listen as ideas and theories were tossed around.

They hadn’t even come up with anything that definite when Minoru spoke up. And confessed. Explained what she did and why she did it.

Once again, the buzz of the PA system indicates that your investigation period is up. However, the voice on it is a bit… Off. It’s Daisy, that much is certain, but she doesn’t sound like herself anymore.

“Weeeeee~ Ahahaha, gooooood investigation! So you guys… Not ‘you guys’, that’s not nice, there are a lot of girls and non binary students! You people need to go… Where do you need to go? Jeez, wow… Ahahaha, the trial room!”

Although you raise an eyebrow at Daisy’s distracted and airy speech, you head down to the trial room like last time. As you go down the dark stairs, you can’t help but feel dread over how this has started to turn into a pattern.

Inside is just like the last two times, again with posters advertising movies- 'Exit Through the Gift Shop’, 'Piece by Piece’, and 'Bomb the System’ stick out. Of course, they all seem to be themed around the subject of graffiti in an ironic echo. Sora’s podium now bears one of the same distasteful pictures all the dead have been given so far.

Yoon-Ji stands against the far wall, rubbing her temples and looking exhausted. Daisy is sitting on the floor next to her, staring at you all with a placid almost-smile. Is it just you, or does her remaining eye look a bit funny?

“You alllllll made it! I’m, like, sooooo happy! Heeeey, I can’t pronounce spaghetti. Spaspetti.”

You’re less focused on the fact that she literally just pronounced the food right once, and more on what the hell is going on with her. Yoon-Ji cuts in with a cough, interrupting your thoughts.