#mg thread start

This was starting to feel like a familiar routine. It seemed like every time Riku wanted to talk to Campana, she could be found in her cabin. Did... did she ever actually come out of her own accord? Surely she must to eat, right? Was she eating? Riku was really not cut out to be a mom friend, but someone had to make sure all these sad kids were taking care of themselves.

So here they were, knocking on her door again. They could practically guess how long it would take her to answer based on past experience. As soon as they heard the door open, they greeted her. Both verbally and, since Campana still had one functioning eye, visually. And what a sight they were. Looks like somebody got a makeover.

Unfortunately, Riku had been elsewhere at the time of Tomo’s accident, that elsewhere being far enough away from his chosen part of the hedge that even their keen ears hadn’t picked up the scream. This was mostly because seriously if Riku had heard Tomo screaming they would’ve been there in a flash, ready to fight. As it was, they didn’t learn of the occurrence until quite some time later, when they chanced to overhear something about it from someone else. Possibly Ren. In any case, they didn’t bother to get details once they’d learned Tomo was injured, they just made their way to the Hospital as quickly as they could.

“Tomo-kun...?” Riku realized only after they’d tapped their way back behind the reception area and into the hall that they may have been a bit hasty. They didn’t even know which room Tomo was in. Troublesome. In hopes of finding him they felt along the walls and pulled open the door to the first examination room they came across.

It had only been a day since the trial- or did it count as two days? Considering the trial had ended the morning of the day before and it was now evening of the second day, it had probably been close enough. Or something. In any case the point was that time had passed.

Was it enough time for Campana to have recovered from her ordeal? Probably not. Riku wouldn’t bet on it. But they were hoping she’d at least be in a condition to receive visitors, because they could only keep a lid on their burning curiosity for so long. There was also some legitimate concern for the girl that drove them to knock on the door of her dorm, but for the most part it was the questions crowding their thoughts that motivated the visit.

The brief description of the Flower Walk from the maps made it sound like a nice place for a peaceful interlude. Which probably meant it was going to end up the scene of a murder sooner or later. Riku shook their head at their own thoughts as they approached the fragrant path, tapping onto the walkway. The entirety of the gardens carried an aromatic overtone of flowers and plants, of course, but the flower walk really upped the ante. The heady, heavy smell of roses among other blossoms was almost overpowering as Riku made their way further down the path, and they were grateful for the opportunity to sit down and clear their head somewhat by the time they made it to the bench.

What a day. What a week. So much had happened, and thinking back on it all definitely didn’t help the dizzying effect of overstimulation, so Riku quickly put the brakes on the introspection mobile.

Instead they just sat there, hands resting over the handle of their cane, the tip pressed into the ground between their feet, and allowed themself a moment to adjust.

It was probably several moments before they actually stirred again though, and then it was only because of the sound of footsteps coming down the path. The characteristic light slapping of sole against heel told Riku that the walker was wearing flip-flops, and as far as they were aware there was only one person here guilty of that.

Had Riku slept at all last night? No. But had they gotten a good amount of investigating done? Also no. Mostly, after their Adventure (tm) with Jae-Ha, they’d taken it easy. Spent some time chilling in their room, read a bit, gone to the kitchen to make some food and coffee. Lots of coffee. The fortifying powers of caffeine were vital to the shark kid’s routine.

The morning had actually progressed a fair bit by the time they returned to the neglected task of checking out the new areas. Something about the concept of having more places accessible as some kind of ‘reward’ for the trial struck them as... distasteful. But that didn’t mean Riku wasn’t going to take advantage.

The shops seemed like good places to find... well, something. Riku wasn’t actually sure what they were looking for here, and they couldn’t very well say they’d know it when they saw it. Mostly they just felt the need to familiarize themself with new occurrences. Keep up to date, as it were. You never knew when information might come in useful... and besides, there wasn’t much else for them to do around here. If they kept reading all the time they’d just exhaust the supply of books they’d packed, and then what? 

Well, there was also socializing, of course. Riku was reminded of this as they entered the shop and heard the unmistakable sounds of someone else already inside, doing something around the shelves?

So after a few conversations with classmates, Riku had finally gotten around to scoping out the new areas. Or their version of that, which was mostly just listening to the screenreader describe the expanded map until they felt they had a decent grasp of its layouts and the new places therein. It was already pretty late by this time, and though there wasn't a motive currently in effect, it was probably a bad idea to go wandering around at night alone...

But after the days events, draining though they were, Riku didn't really feel like sleeping either. And it wasn't like it made any notable difference to them whether the sun was up or down, so they might as well try to be productive. Besides, one of the areas seemed to require you to attend at night...

It was only a little after 8pm that Riku actually made their way to the location of the so-called 'Test of Courage' however. They had the vague idea that they could poke around the outside of it until it opened up, or maybe find someone (or someones) willing to go in with them.

Still they hadn't entirely been expecting it to be easy, so they were slightly surprised when they heard the sound of rubber soles shuffling over the path nearby as they approached the 'haunted' building.

Was that a whiff of cinnamon? Someone was wearing cologne. Riku didn't think they'd met this person yet, they would've remembered a scent like that- but then there were a few people who'd spoken during the trial that Riku hadn't had the occasion to meet one-on-one.

A body has been discovered...

Riku’s head jerked up, on full alert in an instant, though they hadn’t been asleep. No, thanks to Monokuma’s gas-happy interludes, Riku had already spent more time unconscious in the past week than they were used to, and thus hadn’t even felt particularly tired last night. On the contrary, the recent motive and upsurge in danger had left them anxious and on edge... apparently for good reason. 

Picking up the small broom that Kanta had assisted them in finding, Riku used the makeshift cane to get out of the cabin. Who was it? Who had died? Riku’s lips pressed together and they followed the sound of the commotion in the direction of the fountain... the sound of the running water was barely noticeable under the cacophony of fear and dismay.

Riku didn’t make a sound. They stayed back for the moment, at the edge of the group, not wanting to disturb any evidence- by the time they realized someone was moving the body it was too late to protest. So much for preserving the crime scene. Ah well, it wasn’t as though they could just call in the police right now anyway.

But who was it? Who? The question burns on the tip of Riku’s tongue, they’re already identifying voices- that’s Roxxy sobbing on the ground, not too far away, they’re sure, and they can hear Kanta in a similar state. Ayame was the one who had requested help moving the victim, and Yutaka had responded. Tomo and Hanami’s voices were unmistakable over by the gazebo, and Riku was reasonably sure they’d recognized Ochako’s scream not long ago...

There were several others they didn’t recognize, but they couldn’t pick out for sure who was... why wasn’t anyone saying a name... Riku took a breath, trying to suss out a way to approach someone to ask, when their ID card beeped with an update. Riku checked it practically on reflex, listening as the screenreader softly intoned the new information.

Monofile...?

Well, that was convenient.

Chiyo Soseki, huh? A stranger, then. Riku knew her by name and talent only... which didn’t make her death less of a tragedy, of course, but it would be a lie to say they didn’t feel some relief that the body wasn’t one of their friends.

This time, anyway.

After taking a moment to memorize the file, Riku tucked their ID card away again and made a quick trip back to their room to retrieve their cane. It felt good to have the strap around their wrist again, and they were able to return to the fountain with relative speed. At which point they decided it was time to find a partner to assist with investigations.

Some listening and the scent of lemons eventually brought them to the side of someone they were fairly certain was...

All things considered it had been a pretty eventful first day. Nice and productive. Nothing terribly unexpected- except for the confetti thing. Riku could only hope they’d gotten all of that out of their hair. Who had even thought that was a good idea? Riku had half a mind to track down that headmaster woman and explain exactly how inconvenient that was.

But not now, no, now was the time to relax and wind down after a long exciting day. At some point during their investigation of the various features of their ElectroID, Riku had learned about a few of the areas available from the maps. One of which was, apparently, a sauna. That sounded like a nice thing to try out, and a good way to end the day, so Riku wriggled into a swimsuit, slung a nice big fluffy towel around their freckled shoulders, and made their way down to where the map indicated the sauna was.

It wasn’t hard to find the right room, they just had to look for the one with all the steam in it. Couldn’t be simpler. They did elect to leave their ID in one of the lockers in the changing room though. That seemed like a better idea than bringing it into the Sauna with them. Electronics didn’t mix well with heat and water, did they? Riku’s no expert but they’re pretty sure the answer is No.

Easing down onto one of the hot benches, Riku heaved a content sigh and folded up their cane, letting it hang loosely from their wrist by its strap. When the sound of the door creaking open reached their ears, Riku sat up straight again, canting their head towards it slightly. It was late enough in the evening that they hadn’t expected anyone else to show up but hey, maybe someone had the same idea they did.