Strong and Beautiful

Haruka, finally walked in and was able to lend a hand. This was both good and bad. Good, because it meant he wouldn’t die where he lay, but bad because it was Haruka. Takashi was being saved by a girl who he was friendly with, but hadn’t met with enough times to have her form a full opinion of him. This would no doubt leave a negative impression of him. 

With the assistance of Haruka and the increased rage brought on from Yukiko’s statement, the dumbell came up and was dropped with a clang back into place on the rack. Takashi didn’t move at first, or rather couldn’t, frozen in place by fear, embarrassment, and the physical inability to do with the lack of oxygen he was receiving. When he was able to swing his legs off the bench and sit up for them, he didn’t look either of them in the eyes, but just continued to pant. Takashi looked like he was going to fall asleep, or possible pass out given the situation, with his body bent and relaxing and eyes drooping shut, but after a couple moments, he was able to push a phrase out of his mouth.

“Is it just the potential destruction of the body. That leads to everyone trying to cram a lifetime of working out. Into one day. How many more people can we expect to come in here.” Adjusting Moe’s hat and purposefully staring into an uninhabited corner just as Takashi was avoiding looking at either of them, she continued to talk as though nothing potentially dangerous or embarrassing or stupid had just happened. “You I could understand. Doing…that.” Though she still didn’t look up, she had to have been referring to Haruka. “But how many people here are either intellectual-focused. Or made entirely of mechanical parts already.”

But Yukiko was right. Short of everybody getting their brains remove, a lot of people would be able to survive most things. Including the people in the room with her, which almost made Haruka feel isolated. She glanced at Takashi, waiting to see if he had anything to say before she started her rant.

“We should all be a little afraid. The potential consequences are pretty bad after all. I don’t care how good prosthetics are, you won’t get used to them quickly enough to keep your title. And I doubt any of us will get to see those prosthetics soon enough anyway, since we’re still stuck on the moon. Enjoy being stumpy for the rest of your visit. And that? That’ll hurt. We don’t get to be put under or nothing because we’re in a fucking prison.”

There were only so many places to go after a motive like that was dropped. If she had any sense, Yukiko might have stayed in her designated room reading until someone died, but the way this punishment was laid out, if she got chosen by raffle (and she would have the luck to get chosen, but what could they possibly do to her that was so specialized, what could they do to anyone that wasn’t repairable aside from attacking the brain?) then no amount of skulking would help her. So she might as well gauge public opinion, or squeeze some last use out of her eyes or what have you. This apparently meant another trek back to the school building, because at least all the important rooms weren’t on the other sides of stairs or another half an hours’ worth of walking.

She wouldn’t have entered the gym, though, if it hadn’t been for the loud…mysterious pained sound she heard on the way past. Surely no one would have cracked so quickly, especially to attack that guy. Powered only by morbid curiosity, she shouldered the door open, only to see…Takashi Koiwai, pinned underneath his own weight like a snail under a shoe. It would have been gratifying if it weren’t so bizarre.

“Do you think if I just stood here and allowed your own stupidity to kill you slowly. Would that be counted as my fault. I’m only asking because I couldn’t assist you even if I wanted to. Not that you can respond right now. Just something to think about.”

Despite the funk she was still very much in, Haruka had to keep in shape. The motive made everything worse- dancing was all she had. She couldn’t afford to lose that talent. She might as well make the best use of her body while it was still working completely. Besides, endorphins make you happy. And she needed that right now. So she got her clothes on and headed to the gym. She was almost to the door when she heard rather loud groaning and..then Yukiko’s voice, though she couldn’t make out the words. Ugh. Walking a bit faster, she peeked inside the room and quickly realized the situation. Well, at least she wasn’t walking in on a murder.

It took her a few minutes to realize the reason Yukiko wasn’t helping was because she was a limp noodle. Haruka made a silent note of that. It meant she could probably do some damage if she really wanted or had to. But all of that wasn’t relevant right now. Dropping her water bottle and shoving past the surgeon, she ran over to Takashi.

“Alright alright I’m here. Hang on.”

“No time to waste. Let’s go, then.”

There didn’t seem to be anything left to find in the study room. She casually strolled out of the dorm building, barely giving a second glance to the corpse on the way to the commercial district. If the riddle lead to the game room, it would only follow that the remaining portion of the riddle would specify where to look.

“So, you believe the answer is ‘Sorry’… I think I remember reading about it, somewhere. It is a game of revenge, is it not?”

Would that mean that the killer was taking revenge on Moe? That wouldn’t make sense. No one came to mind when she tried to think of anyone Moe had wronged. She paused outside of the doorway, deep in thought.

Then again, revenge was best served cold. Perhaps something resurfacing from the past. However, revenge was also sweet. Like cake. Or ice cream. Ice cream was both cold and sweet.

“Clive and I both decided it was Sorry. That’s what we came up with Moe came to us anyway. And..what if it isn’t revenge? What if it’s like, an apology sort of thing. Maybe they just felt like they had to do it to keep Moe quiet about their secret or whatever but they didn’t want to. And that’s just their way of sayin’ it. But I guess..the riddle does say they’re not sorry.  I don’t know. I don’t exactly have a killer brain.”

As always, more questions. Whatever, they were kinda fun.

“We did everything we could, Koyama-san.” She awkwardly patted Adeline on the shoulder. “And we will continue to do everything we can.”

That was the way things were. Murder, discovery, investigation, trial, execution. Step three had just begun. Gathering evidence, reviewing alibis, constructing a timeline of events.

Again. It had happened again. 

“It is time to investigate, so let us investigate,” she said, nodding to Haruka. “I spent a great deal of the evening doing my laundry. Ito-san came in and asked me and Neo-san for some help with an odd riddle sometime around… a bit after 9:00, I think it was? Regardless, it was referring to one of the study rooms. Perhaps we should look there.”

Still, the girls’ patting was at least a little bit comforting, and Adeline did her best to calm herself down, sniffing and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. They were right— they would solve the case; they didn’t have much choice. In order to do that, they needed to investigate. And in order to investigate, Adeline had to pull herself together and try to be strong, no matter how weak she was feeling.

“Thanks…”

And so the small girl took a deep breath and stood up straight, trying to put a determined look on her puffy-eyed face.

“Moe came in to ask me and Clive for help about the riddle too at...I don’t know, a little before ten. We went and found where the riddle was, but we didn’t see anythin’ else. The three of us should definitely go there first. And maybe to the game room. That’s where Moe was headed the last time I saw her.”

But it seemed the perfumer had more than one dead friend to worry about. As she ran out to the courtyard, her heart pounded in her chest, a feeling that something was very wrong resonating throughout her. It couldn’t be… no one had… right?

Wrong.

There was Moe Ito, someone Adeline had considered a friend. They’d gotten their nails done together, talked about their family back on earth, how they were going to survive and go back to them. She’d seen Moe just the day before… 

Adeline’s pounding heart sunk quickly, and tears came to her eyes. She’d done so much crying the past couple of days— she thought she was dried out. But it seemed there was more to come. She could only stare in shock at the scene of Takashi pulling the body out, open mouthed and shaking a bit.

As Tsukiko spoke up, Adeline seemed to snap out of her frozen trance, and turned to the dream analyst.

“T-this… this shouldn’t have happened… we… I tried to… no one…”

Gross. She stood there holding her shoes watching as Takashi pulled Moe’s body out (she was thankful he was there. She would have gotten Moe herself if nobody had volunteered, but she didn’t want to). While she wasn’t close to Moe, she did like the other girl. Definitely enough to be horrified that somebody would kill her, of all people. Somebody’s secret must have been intense.

She was aroused from her thoughts by familiar voices. Tsukiko and Adeline were nearby. They were her closest friends right now, might as well partner up with them. As she walked up she looked at Adeline, who was very obviously trying to calm down. 

“You’ve lost somebody else this week, huh? I’m sorry. I know how it feels. But we’ll solve this, just like we solved the last murder.”

Haruka rolls over on her bed, picking up the ID. Well, this was nice. It definitely was brightening her mood.

Haruka stares at the text. Do..no they probably don’t. Or at least, she hoped they didn’t.

[not sure purin. i dont know about you but i didnt get a name]

Then a few seconds later she decides to send a second message. Better safe than sorry.

[do you think you have mine??]

She frowns, thinking for a second. This is somebody else's secret. Somebody somewhere would probably freak out of they knew she told. But fair's fair. Purin gave her their secret, she'd give them hers.

[ahh hang on im gonna copy paste it to you]

Haruka flops over the side of her bed, quickly typing out a response. The texting feature was pretty useful at least. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go out right now, in case she had to talk to somebody about their secret.

[trust might not do very well…id trust you enough to tell my secret i guess?? you seem like you wouldnt tell the others. but i dont see anybody else being willing to talk :/ so what do you say? wanna trade a little girl talk??]

[Looks like your secret is definitely safe with me— that’s the one I got! Thank you for trusting me. (UwU) Guess it’s my turn…]

[mmm lo siento. i wish i had your secret too but i dont. not that i thought the one i got was actually yours. it didnt fit you. but im glad you got mine! that means the secrets in good hands. hopefully somebody you can trust will have yours. i guess since osamus gone we dont have a lot of outright jerks but still. somebody might tell yours anyway. ill bop them in the nose though if itd help.]

Haruka flops over the side of her bed, quickly typing out a response. The texting feature was pretty useful at least. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go out right now, in case she had to talk to somebody about their secret.

[trust might not do very well…id trust you enough to tell my secret i guess?? you seem like you wouldnt tell the others. but i dont see anybody else being willing to talk :/ so what do you say? wanna trade a little girl talk??]

[You can definitely trust me to keep secrets! A person’s business is their business, and I have no right to spread that around, right? Especially involving a friend! I’ll tell you mine if you want to tell me yours. I think that having trust in each other is important in this situation (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)]

Haruka examines her own nails before replying. She’s already chipped the paint. Incredible.

[mm i chipped mine :/ but yes of course i didnt mind at all! i had a good time.]

The next message takes a few minutes, as Haruka tries to figure out exactly what to say.

“Since you asked earlier, I might as well mention… I usually imagine a wine glass. About fifteen centimeters high, a thin red stem and a clear bowl, filled with a clear, flat soda that nobody wants to drink. It’s placed on a light brown, wooden counter island in a small, clean, well-lit kitchen.”

She smiled back at Haruka. Smiles all around!

“A sister, you say? Tell me about her.” Having a sister was nice. Probably. Really, the tolerability of having a sibling was highly dependent on the nature of the interactions between the two. “Is she like you? Do you believe in ghosts?”

She took the blue bottle and began to carefully paint Haruka’s nails. This was a perfectly reasonable line of questioning to pursue.

Oh. Her sister. She hoped her family was doing alright. They were probably worried sick without her.

"Her name is Ume. She's nine years old. She likes nine year old girl things. Princesses, cats, books. She writes her own books sometimes. They're pretty good, even though they're all about princesses and wizards and princess wizards. And she's already tryin' to be a gymnast. But she also wants to do all sorts of different kinds of dances. She might even be better than me. She might make it to a bigger stage. There's no tellin' what she'll do.But she's gonna make me proud." 

She takes a breath. The question doesn't seem in line but it stops her from rambling. Tsukiko probably saved herself from an hour long story.

 "Si, I'm pausin' here to say I believe in ghosts. Never seen one, but I believe in them. And thank you. I gotta keep them in shape like the rest of me. I don't know if you can say it's difficult. Practice makes perfect for anythin' you can think of, including dancin'. My mom started lessons for me when I was young, so I was able to get to where I am now quickly. But it takes a lot of strength. Upper body, lower body. Gives you some nice muscles."

It was only just now she realized she hadn't actually asked Tsukiko anything. Rude.