chasing the great unknown

In the end, it didn’t work.

Sure, maybe one person changed their vote to Date, but their vote was anonymous, so Yona didn’t even know who to look to for solidarity. There were a million things she could have said to everyone in that courtroom, but she just felt so… deflated. Defeated. And, for the first time, completely unhappy with every single person in that room. 

What even was there for her to say?

Well, that is, until she found herself answering a question on a bizarre quiz show. The lights and colors were dazzling, but seeing that Kana was the one with the microphone just left Yona feeling sick to her stomach. Screw the answers she had to choose from, Yona just spoke her feelings honestly and… she froze in surprise as the correctness of her answer rang out. A shower of glittering confetti burst over her head and doused her. She sniffled and blinked the tears out of her eyes numbly, but not for long before.

That.

That happened.

Yona felt a less literal aching in her chest when she witnessed Hyouri’s demise. Kana hadn’t listened to her. Of course she hadn’t. Nobody listened to her. The storm chaser fell into a surprisingly quiet bought of sobbing as darkness descended on the courtroom.

“I-It woulda been f-fine… J-Just ‘cause he made a mistake didn’ mean he deserved t’… d-d… Frankie coulda… exor… coulda….”

The quiet mumbling between her sobs was nothing she hadn’t said before, and it sure as hell didn’t help now. But she couldn’t…. she couldn’t.

Yona sniffled and looked around in the dimness, feeling raw on the inside. For once, she didn’t feel any hope looking at the faces around her. People weren’t supposed to kill anyone unless they’d gone wrong somehow, and people weren’t supposed to condemn someone to die if there was a chance to save them or if they had better options, right…? Isn’t that what… she had grown up believing? If Yona ever had beef with someone, she’d challenge them to a fair fistfight, but… she couldn’t punch thirty people. 

She usually got over things so easily, but… she didn’t think this sentiment was going to go away.

“I… hate all 'f y–”

Her whisper to herself was drowned out by a call for her name. Yona opened her eyes again and saw Ren, but for the first time, she felt extremely reluctant to jump to help, even though it was Suzume in trouble. But still, she slowly straightened up and trudged towards Ren with a scowl and heavy feet until she looked down at Suzume’s unconscious form.

“…'Kay…”

Yona met his eyes when he said her name. Her chest felt tight and she could feel tears poking at the corner of her eyes… A sort of resolution was building inside her, but she couldn’t quite pull together the words she needed until her friend confronted the ghost in the center of the room.

“NO!!”

…Okay? Elaborate?

“I know we can’t vote fer a spirit, but look at him! Yer all votin’ for Hyouri anyway, but we all know she did it!! If she ain’t human, maybe nobody gets t’ control th’ islands at all! An’ hell, even if she can, she’ll be able t’ do it anyway, ‘cause she ain’t Himeno-kun. He’s a human bein' an’ he's innocent! Jus’ 'cause be might’ve been irresponsible doesn’ mean he deserves to die! I’d be dead a hundred times over! I thought y'all were better'n this! We all human bein’s an’ we ain’t lettin’ any innocent human bein’s die!”

“I don’ heckin' care if y'all are 'tired' about hearin’ this, but we got other options! We got no choice but t’ vote somebody, an’ if we can’t vote Kana, it’s better fer another murderer t’ get what’s comin’ t’ them, they ain’t innocent no more! But Himeno-kun is! I don’ want Date to die, bu’ that’s our best option, an’ in my eyes it’s th' brave thing t’ do. 

Then after, we can throw Kana’s doll of th’ edge of Kaze since apparently we c'n do tha’, and then we can get Frankie t’ go exorcist on her ass! Problem solved!

Yona heard Katsuki seem to get all defensive, but… she’d apologized already, hadn’t she…? Though, she was a little surprised to hear about the pink contacts thing. She had been sure they were red. Though, she’d only seen Katsuki for a few moments last trial, so it was probably understandable…

And then…

…

Wait, did this mean… Yona was right? This was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Then why did she completely freeze up? Words were completely lost to her as she stared at the girl on the screen wide-eyed.

But people were starting to talk to her. And she was answering back. Looking from Shin to Date (holy shit there was Kana) to Riku and then back to Kana, Yona cleared her throat.

“Ahem… Um… H-Hello, uh, Kana…san?”

“Uhh, yeah, what she said… Why’re ya trapped in a screen? Can ya turn int’ Jericho or whatever? Also, uh… Are ya… admittin’ to th’ killin’? Can you uh… tell us how it all, uh, went down? With Kudo-san…”

“Also, uh, back when I was playin’ with Himeno-kun… didja actually watch me swim…?!”

“ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME?! I didn’ vote fer that Jazzy girl ‘til she got proved th’ killer without a doubt, after Shin tol’ everybody ‘bout her missin’ chunk of hair! I'm NOT sure that Himeno-kun did it withou’ a doubt, so tha’s why I’m stirrin’ up such a fuss! It ain’t th’ same thing at all!!”

“Th’ hell’s yer problem?! Th’ thing’s you 'n’ me can’t find ’re th’ ones that prove yer point, not mine! Wha’ do I got t’ prove?!”

Yona listened to Kuma’s safe theory quietly, by some miracle. It sounded like he had the wrong idea of what was going on, but honestly Yona hadn’t seen the inside of Hinatea’s room, so she couldn’t say for sure. But the last part he said felt like a punch in the gut.

“…Eh? Wha’ th’ hell ’re y’ sayin’ ’execute 'im, nobody cares’?”

“Wha’ th’ hell is wrong with you?! Yer cool with jus’ sending a human bein’ t’ die withou’ settin’ th’ record straight? What is he’s innocent?! If ya wanna know 'who’, I care about th’ 'how’! If ya can’t explain how he even killed her, I ain’t gonna vote an’ send him t' die if ’m not convinced he did it an’ didn’ have no alternatives!Yer a human bein’, too, aren'tcha?! What the hell!”

Alright now that Blow Up #2 against Kuma was over, was it finally time for Yona to chill? Well, she didn’t blow up at Yori. He at least was trying unlike everyone else so far, from Yona’s perspective. And Shion was… kind of on her side, but kind of not…? Mirror shard as a knife, though… that was pretty smart. But Yona cleared out of that bathroom so fast she had no idea if there was a bloody shard around…

Hearing Masuyo speak up, Yona nodded along. That’s right! No one had even attempted to explain how doing all that to Hinatea’s body was possible in the first place! 

Yuuki, though not on Yona’s side, was at least attempting to explain how things might’ve happened, so that was cool, she guessed…

And then when Suzume started talking again, Yona’s heart fluttered with excitement. She hadn’t thought of a lot of it that way! Though… to be fair, her hearing with Suzume’s statements did get a little selective when it came to approaching the idea that Hinatea’s killer was a human.

And then there was Aideen. Oh, well. The silence was good while it lasted.

“It's Yona. Fer all yer talk of contributin’, y’ ain’t been contributin' nothin’! Yer jus’ throwin’ everythin’ out like it’s a given! There ain’t no effort there! Heck, y’ can’t even say anythin' new with what y’ were sayin’ t’ me! Yer friend over there already wanted me t’ try t’ prove it was a ghost.”

Yona thrust her thumb out, pointing in Kaya’s direction.

“But, y’ know what?! Fine! I’ll do it!”

“So, like, I ain’t sayin’ th’ doll was movin’ around and could pick up a knife like Chucky or nothin’. Like, y'all say the picture and y'all heard what Himeno-kun said. He said, like, it was an evil spirit tha’ was possessin’ th’ doll. Maybe it could, like, manifess? An’ transform t’ look like Jericho t’ mess wit’ Kudo-san, 'cause she was his friend if I’m rememberin’ right. Bu’ if that’s not a thing… We don’ know where all th’ dead bodies go, do we?! They couldn’t a jus’ vanished…! Like, after all th’ trials an’ stuff, th’ bodies disappeared in Mizu, but we ain’t up in th’ air, we underwater. An’ Jericho’s body wasn’… really affected when he died. Like… he didn’t really have… outside wounds. Maybe Kana possessed his body an’ moved it around from wherever Monobear’s been hidin’ th’ bodies?”

“An’, y'know what? It doesn’ even have t’ be ghosts, there’s lotsa ways it might not a been Himeno-kun! What if Kana-chan was actually a robot?! Jus’ like th’ Monobears! Y'all didn’t even bother sayin’ anything about how there’s been dolls walkin’ around killin’ people th’ whole time! Teddy bears are dolls! How can we know fer sure Kana ain’t?!

An’ y'all keep talkin’ about where black hair came from, bu’ you…”

Yona pointed at Ayano. Who just introduced themself, come on, Yona.

“…Katsuki? If y’ were that long black hair red eye lady who came in at th’ end of last trial, where all yer black hair go?! Couldn’t any of it a been yers? An’ Jericho in the picture had red eyes!”

And then Yona pointed at Masuyo.

“An’ Frankie was in tha’ other corrupt photo thingy tha’ Kana was in, bu’ if y'all ’re insistin’ tha’ it couldn'ta been th’ doll in the picture on Kudo-san’s phone, Frankie’s th’ other one in th’ picture!”

Oh my god, Yona, it’s week 6 you should know their name’s Masuyo, not something you saw on their shirt during the sleepover.

“If she’s been in pictures with Himeno-kun an’ was hangin’ with him, she must be friends with 'im an’ she tol’ us she knows 'bout Kana-chan and she’s a witch or somethin’ maybe she can transfigurate her appearance or somethin’ an’–”

Wait, wait, wait. Yona’s argument was supposed to be that a human didn't kill Hinatea. Was she calling Ayano or Masuyo not human? Suddenly, Yona grimaced and seemed to physically shrink.

“Sorry.”

That came out as little more than a squeak.

“Um… Um I mean…! Uh… Ghosts, right? How else could, uh… th’ bed get cut right in half like tha’?”

Oh, someone was addressing Yona and … were they talking about her jacket? Sure, it was her favorite, but nobody had ever complimented this plain old beige thing before. Yona grinned and tugged her own sleeve, but when she looked back at the person who addressed her, she forgot any words of thanks.

“Who the heck ‘re you?”

This… no, she was pretty darn sure she’d never seen this person in her life. One new person was supposed to be missing last time, but the person who came in at the end had long black hair and… red eyes, right? She wasn’t remembering things completely differently, was she? Well, apparently this person spoke English, whoever they were? But… whatever.

“Thanks fer correctin’ me, I guess, but yer jus’ throwin’ out everythin’ I said! Did Monobear ever ‘xplicitly tell us that he ain't gonna execute a doll?! He didn’ even answer ya jus’ now! If yer so deadset on sayin’ it wasn't th’ doll, why don'tcha prove it wit' evidence insteada jus’ common sense?! I don’ give a care 'bout common sense!!”

Then Hyouri finally spoke up and… wahh, he didn’t look so good. But Yona saw the photographs he was willing to show and… what was that in the second one? It was… in his arms.

“Wahhh, izzat doll s'posed t’ be Kudo-san…? It’s so pretty…!”

If circumstances were any different, Yona would’ve wanted to ask Hyouri to make her a doll, too, but… life wasn’t always so kind. But, more importantly, Hyouri didn’t seem to be fessing up to anything. He actually looked like he was in a lot of emotional pain… He was one of the ones to join her in screaming way back there, right? She hadn’t realized it, but he and Hinatea were really close, weren’t they…? He even made a doll of her…! Hyouri might’ve been kind of strange, but whenever Yona talked to him he never seemed like a bad person at all. He only ever seemed weird about Kana… wait, shit, didn’t that mean an evil spirit watched her swim at one point? That was kind of scary to think about. Kana was never jealous of Yona, was she?

Yona grimaced and her heart started beating a little faster, but… what did we say before? Yona Yoshida wasn’t afraid of anything? Go with that. Go with that… Thankfully, the girl Yona talked with in the Sky Park was an easy distraction. Kaya, right? Kaya. Wait, was she…? Oh no, uh-uh.

“Yo, Kaya, fer all yer talkin’, y’ ain’t even tryin' t’ explain how he coulda busted open a metal safe! Like, they’re called safe fer a reason! How th’ hell could he a done that?! What would he done it with? Where is the thing he coulda done it with? Sayin’ he did tha’ wit’ his bare hands is more ridiculous 'n sayin’ it was a demon, even you gotta admit tha’!”

“Actually, y'all ain’t even attemptin' t’ try t’ explain how all this’s possible, fer all yer talk 'bout how it’s only possible Himeno-kun coulda done it! Stop bein’ cowards! I don’ even understand why y'all wanna kill Himeno-kun so badly! If we can’t be absolutely sure he killed Kudo-san, why’re y'all votin’ him instead a somebody we know killed somebody! Like Date! An’… I remember somebody sayin’ a Kaze person killed somebody, bu’ I forgot who!”

Then Shion’s vote came in, to which Yona looked dumbstruck.

“Tsuzuki-kun, no! Come on!!”

But, thankfully, that reminded her…

“Yeah, tha’s right, nobody ever mentioned th’ writin’ Tsuzuki-kun found! She tol’ me there was a word carved int’ Kudo-san’s stomach tha’ said 'Kagutaba’. If Himeno-kun did that, where’s the knife? Where’s th' tools t’ do any of this?! Where’s th’ Jericho disguise?! Where's Kana-chan?! Did ANYBODY find ANYTHIN’?!?!”

And then…

When the image went up on the projector, a chill went up Yona’s spine. She froze. That is, until she remembered Yona Yoshida isn’t afraid of anything! She’d seen horror movies before! Even if… she never had to deal with any of it showing up in real life. Though… it did sound impossible. Jericho showing back up… and, and ripping steel and stuff on ceilings… So what if…

What if…?

Surprisingly, Yona seemed to perk up a bit. The reason she had felt numb was because she didn’t want to deal with the fact that a human had been capable of doing this to Hinatea. But if the killer wasn't human…

“Hey.”

That was aimed at Aideen. Yona had tried to help her last trial, but now she seemed to be fine.

“If yer gonna put blame on Hyouri, why don' you try t’ prove how all a this happen? Prove it ain't a ghost doll or nothin’. If ya can't prove a human did it, how ya gonna vote for one?!”

“‘Kay, so, like, I didn’ really find nothin’ in Kaze 'cept a lil’ pile a pencils anybody coulda thrown down. Me 'n’ Tsuzuki-kun couldn’t find nothin’ in Mizu outside th’ dorm either, really. Who’s t’ say it didn’ really jus’ go down like, doll breaks outta safe an’ kills Kudo-san if there ain’t no evidence outside th’ dorms? Wouldn’t a human need some prep outside th’ dorms t’ do all that? Wha’ do they say in those law shows…? Proof burden thingy’s on you.”

With that, Yona crossed her arms and gave Aideen the most expectant pout possible.

…Until she remembered something important. Holy shit why hadn’t that been the first thing she asked?!

[panic attack]

What the hell was that noise?!

Yona threw her pillow to useless effect before she got up and went through the motions of getting dressed and tying up her hair and taking her pill (this time) like she usually did when there were murders… Because this is what it had to be, right? Even if last time had been different, this was almost an ingrained habit now. The fact that someone had died hadn’t sunk in quite as deeply as the fact that she had to get up for a murder. So when she groggily opened the door and was greeted by spots of blood, Yona froze. 

Ohhhh shit.

A bit like a deer in the headlights, Yona cautiously crept forward wide-eyed until enough of a group had gathered together enough to look in the bathroom and–

a n d

Yona’s vision seemed to shake. She would have marveled at how that was even possible, except her mind was blank. She choked until she suddenly found the air to scream. A genuine high-pitched ear-splitting shriek of horror. Her brain felt like a sack of tennis balls being shaken around. The turbulence made her feel sick and suddenly her balance didn’t feel… right.

Yona crouched down, curling over the floor and pressing her hands hard to the sides of her head and squeezing her eyes shut, trying to stop the shaking. But the more she calmed, the more an unbearable horror and grief welled up in her chest.

Kudo-san…!

Kudo-san…!!!!!!

There was a lot more she could have thought about all of this, but her mind still wasn’t working, and instead her heart was kicking into overdrive.

“Wuh… hah…”

It was getting harder to breathe, being hunched over like this felt constricting and suffocating, but she couldn't move. She couldn’t form words. Only gibberish and little wheezes tumbled from her lips.

“Aah…. Haaaah..!”

She’d never felt like this–never seen anything like this before. What. What!

The thereminist didn’t let any confusion show on her face, mind you - even in her slightly rattled state (gods, Yona, did you have to get in her face? Her ears worked perfectly fine, thank you!), she managed to project neutrality. Well, neutrality with a side of slight discomfort if you looked carefully enough. Still, she was confused. And taken aback. Not disappointed, though, mind you that - it wasn’t as if she had wanted to fight with anyone here. Well, not Yona, anyway.

Gods, humans were so very strange! Shion (who was… attempting to acclimate herself to the fact that she wasn’t…) wasn’t sure if she’d ever really get them.

But anyway, no point in dwelling on confrontations that might have been. Instead, Shion immediately shifted gears and focused on making casual conversation. Nothing like positive attention and social interaction to distract herself from the… everything that was swirling around in her head nowadays.

“Ah, yes, I’m sure that might have been quite frustrating. I can’t say I identify - I can find musical inspiration in everything around me, sky or none - in fact, I was looking to find new material in this marvelous little dome of yours at this very moment, but then, my talent isn’t dependent on the weather.”

Here, something seemed to occur to the thereminist, whose eyes lit up as her body language grew a bit more animated. Sure, maybe she didn’t identify with Yona’s plight all that much (not at all, really), but hearing of the other’s talent (which she… sort of knew about? Slightly? It was like in that movie with the tornado, right?) had awoken something within her. And by ‘something’, Shion meant ‘an opening to talk about herself’. It was what she did best, after all.

“Speaking of that… it must be exciting business, chasing after storms. Risky business. Not something one does every day. Certainly something I’ve never experienced before in my seventeen years of life. And you see, my music… that’s how I find inspiration! Valuable experiences! Unique sights and sounds! This ‘storm chasing’ business, it offers those, correct?”

Aaaaand now Shion, who had moved forward a pace or two in the process, was leaning forward a bit and practically getting in Yona’s face. And bouncing on her heels just a bit, that too.

“So… how is it? What is it like? Storm chasing, I mean. Could one such as myself accompany you on one of your storm chases once we’re out of here? Oh sure, it sounds like risky business, but then, this is my esteemed self you’re talking to. Risk-taking is one of my thousands of skills!”

“Yeah!! Though I’ll let ya in on a secret--it ain’t excitin’ ‘til ya finally see a storm with some action! Or actually luck out an’ see a real tornado!! There’s hours an’ hours of drivin’ on big, empty roads, an’ at the end of it ya might fail an’ not see anythin’ at all! Then ya gotta drive all th’ way back. Finally seein’ a tornado makes it all worth it, but ya gotta work fer it!! Storm chasin’ ain’t fer weaklings!”

“...An’ hey! We’re the same age!!”

Yona paused and noticed that Shion was kind of striking a pose, so she giggled a little and kind of... stuck out a hip to one side and pointed her finger up in the air while puckering her lips. ...Someone tell her this is Doubt Academy, not Saturday Night Fever.

Thankfully, the embarrassing pose only stuck for a few seconds before she remembered that Shion had asked her about tagging along for a chase.

Shion was… of two minds about the motive of the the week.

On one hand, it wasn’t anything to be frightened of. It wasn’t going to cause her two back-to-back nights of stress and sleeplessness like those damned secret cards had. She had nothing to lose if hell was to freeze over and people didn’t act on it. How could the bear… bears punish people for not rising to that sort of bait? Shion couldn’t think of a scenario along those lines for the life of her. They’d probably just let the reward sit there until someone acted on it or get bored and throw out something else.

On the other hand, it was certainly a useful reward, from where Shion was standing. Access to tools that would hasten her… everyone’s escape from this place? She could get behind that. And quite frankly, the only person Shion Tsuzuki could trust with that sort of power was Shion Tsuzuki. Anyone else was… okay, sure, you wouldn’t be able to admit to having that power after the fact, but you could be a benevolent god person and share it with others from afar, right? And only Shion would be smart enough to do something like that, at least by her own reckoning.

But… of course, acquiring such a lofty reward would require, you know, killing someone and getting away with it, and there was the small chance that Shion could be caught, and that sort of put on a damper on her ‘getting the hell out of here so I can go back to my life and deliver on what was asked of me’ end goal, and ergo, it was best to not even think about murder.

Instead of thinking about murder, Shion decided (after one last glance back at her classmates and what almost looked like concern directed in Kaya’s direction - the thereminist might not have been the most empathetic person out there, but even she could discern that the other was doing poorly, and it… really did concern her a bit) to spend her time on more constructive things. Like taking a nice walk around the islands. And sorting out that current composition of hers in her head. That was the ticket.

Eventually, Shion’s nice walk around the islands drew to a close, outside of the Technology of the Future District. After a few beats of hesitation (and very loud, very on-key humming - she was attending to Important Musical Business, thank you!), the thereminist decided to turn it into a nice walk around the underwater dome. She hadn’t really had much of a chance to appreciate that place properly anyway, especially in light of all the stress that last motive had brought down upon her head.

That and well, that place was a hotbed of musical inspiration she hadn’t drawn on, and that was a tragedy that had to be rectified quickly! As in, right at this very moment!

So Shion Tsuzuki, still humming up a storm, walked through the portal and into Mizu and immediately set off on her lofty task. Or rather, she would have, had she not almost crashed into Yona Yoshida a few moments after she had stepped through the Timegate, sending her stumbling backwards a pace or so in surprise and then sort of flailing her arms a bit until she was absolutely sure she was steady.

But yes, Yona Yoshida. Who Shion had sort of yelled at during the last trial. Who Shion would have rather not had to face for at least another few days. Who… was still a person that could give Shion attention, even if it likely wouldn’t be her favorite kind of attention, and was still… well, being in the company of someone who was likely upset with you was still better than being alone.

So, after a few moments of awkward silence (during which Shion became dimly aware that she was sort of staring at Yona as if the storm chaser had suddenly turned green or something) and shifting from one foot to the other from the thereminist, she finally spoke up.

“Ah, Yoshida-san. Might you be on your way to Kaze? How is it treating you, by the by?”

...

Maybe best not to think about that too hard.

She went back to Mizu after the motive announcement to grab some grub, but after that, she headed back to Kaze. It was still her favorite place to just pass the time during the day, with its amazing sky view that still hadn’t quite lost its charm. Or, at least. that’s what she was intending to do, but then someone emerged from the Time Hoop right before she was about to step through. Yona nearly slammed right to Shion Tsuzuki. And she would’ve if Shion hadn’t stumbled backwards and away from her (and nearly back through the Time Hoop). Yona stared at Shion wide-eyed, blinked a few times, and then Shion broke the silence. 

The last trial was actually the furthest thing from Yona’s mind in regards to Shion Tsuzuki. Her first thought was simply that she’d run into one of the few friends she’d made in Kaze so far, that she’d investigated with. So when Shion asked Yona a question, Yona answered with a grin.

“Ah, yeah! I love Kaze a lot!!”

“Y’ got no idea how long we went withou’ seein’ a dang sky!”

“An’ I love clouds!! I’m a storm chaser, y’know?!”

[tw: water description, death mention, drowning mention]

Rhiannon had always had nightmares, but they weren’t so bad. She coped by telling herself that the nights she didn’t have nightmares did exist, and they were good, so she just had to go to sleep and wait for one of those. She also coped by reminding herself that only alive people could have nightmares at all, so it was comforting, in a way, to wake up shivering and sweating at the same time.

Nightmares weren’t so bad when reality was even scarier, she thought, but these thoughts were far from her mind the night she woke to the sound of her own screaming. It had been different than any other so far - the setting was calmer, familiar yet unfamiliar, a beach in the soft afternoon sun. A place Rhiannon had been to several times, but if you asked her to pinpoint its location, she would be hard pressed to give you an answer. It was a metaphor, if anything, an amalgamation of all the happy memories that the mermaid had along the various water’s edges that she knew so well. She stood on a long outcropping of rock, her hands tied with rope, and wind whipped her hair into her eyes to the point where she grew frustrated and annoyed and swore a solemn oath and vow to shave her head when she woke up so her dreams couldn’t dry her eyes out like this anymore.

(She ignored that she would still likely appear just the way she was now in her dreams. Let her have a glimpse of victory.)

Swimming several yards away were her classmates, seemingly blind to her strange predicament. Still, she was in no danger, but as she watched them splash and play, she grew more and more aware of the enormous waves that encroached upon their safe play area.

(Rhiannon hated waves. When something almost kills you, you grow wary of it with time. It’s a natural response to trauma, right? She never tried to wish away the fear, though. She had always been taught that fear is healthy. Fear keeps you strong. But the strength it gives you comes from your willingness to work with that fear, to let it show you that danger exists in the world, to understand that it keeps you safe…but to face those fears when it becomes necessary. True strength is not in being fearless, but in being fearful, and still moving forward.)

She woke up as a pair of familiar green eyes widened in helpless terror and disappeared into a dark, salty abyss.

Screaming so hard that little sound came out at all, the blue-haired girl grabbed whatever hard plastic object happened to be nearby and bolted from her room, running instinctively, habitually, to the door of a girl she had just seen die. Holding her improvised “weapon” of defense in her arms like a teddy bear for protection, she banged on the storm chaser’s door as hard as her heart was pounding in her throat.

What kind of world would put Jaz into a position where she felt that it was okay to kill in order to protect her sisters from something her parents did? What kind of world let Suzume be abandoned, orphaned, and left in a position where she felt it was okay to steal? In what kind of world did people feel that it was okay to say such cruel things to each other like they did in that courtroom? What kind of world trapped them in this murder game led by a bear who would drop a girl’s electrocuted body in front of the elevator?

Yona had already began to tear up just as the words she heard in the courtroom, but when she saw the lightning-shaped scars spread over Jaz’s skin, she felt the eerie sense of looking into a mirror of a possible future. A possible end for herself, but one that could have happened not here, but during a time when she was more free.

This was a world where you couldn’t escape death no matter what situation you were dealt. All those things Yona questioned... of course they were part of life. They were always there, and she could notice them on the news or even in the lives of the children she roughhoused with in her old neighborhood...if she payed enough attention.

Yona was quietly sniffling when she left on the elevator and went straight to her room afterwards, so she didn’t talk to anyone else...

...Which made it quite a surprise when frantic knocking woke her up in the middle of the night.

When the door opened, Rhiannon could see a girl in similarly baggy pajamas. Unbound, her frizzy curls fell into her face and stuck out in every direction. The top half of Yona’s face was completely unrecognizable under the mess until one fist came up and lifted up her curls to rub the sleep from her squinting eyes. So she really did have a reason for tying up her hair every day.

“Wha’s up...?”

Yona let out a yawn and then squinted down at the soda bottle in Rhiannon’s arms.

“Can I have somma that...?”

Part of Yona felt a similar conflicted sort of horror towards Shin that she felt towards Date earlier. Did Jaz trust him, and he just betrayed her just like that? …But, what he did was right. Jaz was the killer, and he found the proof they were looking for the entire time… But still…

Beneath her shock, the line between right and wrong began to feel hazy in Yona’s head. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

After Monobear confirmed that Jaz was the killer, Yona had to say something, didn’t she?

“I… I…”

She tried to shake off the shock that was freezing her up.

“H-How couldja do somethin’ so bad…?! Y-You… You give a bad name t’ jazz!”

Really? That was all she could think to say?

When she heard whole sentences of English being spoken, Yona’s head snapped to Aideen’s direction. Since she grew up speaking English, her ears were practically trained to respond to it, especially among long bouts of Japanese. Shion’s little phrases and words drew her attention, too, but nothing like right now. So Yona sure noticed when Aideen’s attitude seemed to take a 180 and she looked… confused. That… that might not be good. Feeling suddenly concerned Yona left her podium and cautiously padded over to Aideen.

“<Hey, you okay…? Uh…>”

Of course she didn’t actually think out what she was going to say to help. But at least she was there…? Yona’s hand rested on the edge of Aideen’s podium. Whatever was going to happen next, she wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Standing there, she heard most of what Jaz was explaining. Once she was done, Yona looked over at her and subconsciously switched back to Japanese since that’s what Jaz was using.

“Sounds t’ me like y’ did a good thing, messin’ wi’ bad people! Bu’ it also sounds like that ain’t somethin’ that’s worth killin’ over! Heck, nothin’ ain’t!”

“The hell ’d that ruin that it’d be worth endin’ somebody’s life over?! Shame on y’!!”

After realizing that she was yelling right next to someone she was trying to help, Yona quickly quieted down and turned back to Aideen.

Yona had been doing well, but things were starting to get to be too much for her again. Kinda like the first trial… The first one, right? Wasn’t Hikaru first? 

She had contributed to the hair talk herself, but people were talking themselves in circles and it just… seemed that they’d never be able to agree exactly how it was purple or where it came from. Too bewildering. Yona gripped her head… though looking down finally got her to notice the state Setsuna was in. She was… crying?

“Setsuna-san…? What’s up…?!”

Yona was about to crouch down next to her, but it seemed that Jungo had comforting her covered. Feeling like she’d just be butting in, Yona grimaced and then reluctantly faced the rest of the courtroom. However, it didn’t take her long to be engrossed in the conversation again, even if she was still feeling a little overwhelmed.

Sora’s theory did catch her whole attention, though. In fact, she was practically floored. Probably because they were talking about something that wasn't hair. Even after Haru tried to debunk Sora’s theory, something still stuck with Yona.

“She’s right! We can’t give up so easy! There was string taped to the ceiling?? If there is, does anybody remember how high th’ ceilin’ was?! ‘Cause somebody real tall had t’ touch th’ ceilin’! Unless somebody found somethin’ t’ stand on? If there was…”

Yona looked around the courtroom until her eyes rested on Jaz, and then her eyes bugged out.

“Did anybody actually check through her hair b'fore she braided it back up?! She coulda had a chunk missin’ from her underneath… hair… her under layers…!”

Well, Yona had spent quite a while staying quiet. That was fortunate for the rest of the courtroom. First there was Suzume saying that she saw some of Jaz’s handwriting and it didn’t match up… The thought passed through Yona’s mind that Jaz could’ve faked the handwriting so her message wouldn’t be recognized by another Kaze person, but people had complained about “what ifs” and excuses, so she just…. didn’t say it out loud. Then there was the thing going on between Date and Ren. Yona physically flinched when Date said something so cold to them… And she really hadn’t thought about how revealing some secrets might put people in danger now. Wasn’t that the reason she hid the thing she was hiding? How could she not think about it? She felt brave enough to admit it, but it really wasn’t something that put her in danger that much. But she didn’t consider… that other people’s secrets could put them in more immediate danger.

So Yona moped silently for a bit. She kept listening to the proceedings, though, since they were more interesting than her own brooding, in a way. And then when Jaz spoke something felt weird to her. Yona scowled and straightened up her posture before looking over at Jaz.

“So if yer arguin’ tha’ the hair clump musta been dyed, an’ yer also sayin’ tha’ dyin’ hair makes a big mess, then shouldn’t somebody else have a big messa hair dye in their bathroom, or even jus’… traces? Bu’ th’ only one anybody’s mentioned got hair dye stuff in their bathroom so far is you. Did anyone find any other hair dye stuff in anybody’s bathroom? An’ if yer insistin’ so much it ain’t yer hair, why don’ ya jus’ let our yer braid an’ let some folks look through yer hair t’ prove it ain’t yers, like Shin said?”

“Why ya so mad, Tsuzuki-kun…? Yer secret ain't actually that ya killed anybody, is it…?!”

“An’ sayin’ that y’ got th’ right t’ do somethin’ ‘cause somebody died… That ain’t right…!”

But it didn’t seem that Yona wanted to get too mad at her new friend, so she didn’t go further into it.

When Shin asked for photos of the hair and nobody seemed to respond to him, including Setsuna who she knew definitely had pictures, Yona turned to her cowboy trial neighbor and pulled out her keycard.

“Oh, I’ll show ya, Shin! Setsuna-san sent me lotsa pictures, includin’ hair…”

She scrolled through a text conversation on her phone a bit and showed Shin before and after shots of the hair markered and… de-markered.

“See… It’s real dark purple, ain’t it…? I don’ think it’s Haru’s… or my ol’ neighbor’s…”

Yona shot a brief glance at Riku before returning to staring at her phone screen. Even after Shin was finished looking at the photos, Yona kept scrolling through the phone conversation. However, she kept getting distracted away from whatever she was trying to find. Kuma’s accusation was the first to draw her attention.

“I don’ think it was her… I don’ remember who, bu’ didn’t somebody say they found writin’ in that girl’s room that was nothin’ like the notes?”

“Doesn’ that mean she didn’ write the notes at all?! That means tha’ that whole 'room on this floor’ thingy is useless, doesn’t it?! So I don’ think it was… Fujino-san.”

Yona went back to scrolling, but her attention was drawn away a second time by Date. Her reaction to him was different than she thought it would be. She felt anxious towards him at first, but now she was pumping her fist in the air with joy.

“Yeah, I agree with ya, Date! If it’ll help everybody, it’s way more important than keepin’ it t’ yerself!!”

…Then why hadn’t she spilled her own “secret” yet? 

Okay, she looked back at her phone, did a little more scrolling, and finally, finally found what was eating at her.

“Hey, everybody… I haven’ seen anybody talkin’ 'bout somethin’ that’d keep y'all from talkin’ yerselves 'round in circles… Really, it’s somethin’ Setsuna-san was sayin’, but she ain’t sayin anythin’… So, uh…”

Yona looked down at her phone and read something aloud as she scrolled down.

“She was sayin’ she thought a lotta the weird evidence was callin’ back’ t' Kaze murders. I wasn' there so I don’ know what was goin’ on, but this’s what it says… Th’ stuff about th’ cleanin’ products an’ th’ numbers were callin’ back t’ the first murder… Um… Uh…. Oh, th’ lil’ scraps of paper say 'you wasted yer time’ with a smiley face an’ apparently tha’ kind of humor calls back t’ th' third murder…Maybe there’s more but ’m th’ wrong person t’ ask. Anyway, if all th’ notes were not th’ victim’s handwritin’ and were the killer's handwriting, they had t’ be from Kaze, right? Th’ one who died was from Mizu, an’ only Kaze folks’d know t’ leave all this confusin’ stuff behind tha’ called back t' Kaze murders. So then it super duper can’t be Fujino-san, right?! She was with us for th’ beginnin’ there! Unless y’ guys had clones of her 'n’ Date this entire time?!”

“So, uh… Real dark purple hair… A Kaze…”

Yona pointed at Jaz.

“Sure! Y’ can tell me whatever.”

On the other hand, Yona still had no idea who Lumi was. Instead, more and more people were trying to beat her down for calling out. It started with Yuki, and their words actually did make her feel a bit guilty. She didn’t think about that person being upset or uncomfortable… She didn’t really think it through much at all, clearly. With the rush of nerves, a lot of the early discussion washed over her and she barely caught any of it. She did catch more people talking down the idea of talking about secrets, but even with her embarrassment, something about that didn’t sit right with Yona. She was close to actually putting it into words, but then Sora addressed her. However, instead of feeling embarrassed or off, a fire lit up within her.

“Hey! Tha’s NOT what I said!! I was talkin’ ‘bout me! I'm th’ one who might as well be a foreigner! Lumi knows wha’ ’m talkin’ 'bout, not you! It was sayin’ right here!”

Yona picked up the card and held it out in Sora’s direction with both hands. Unfortunately, Sora was way too far away to actually read it unless he had hawk eyes. Thanks, Yona. Anyone who was close enough could read it, though, if they were so inclined.

“Tha’s what they’re worried about! I was tryin’ t’ make 'em feel better, ya dumbbutt! I’ve been goin’ 'round here this whole time as a foreigner, an’ even when I’ve been livin’ in Japan fer a while b'fore this, I never had no reason t’ be scared! Only time I did was some stupid fog! Fog illusions! They weren’t real! I’ve been fine! Only danger’s been this killin’ game thing, but nobody’s gonna friggin’ care if yer Japanese or not with that stuff! I dunno what th’ hell was goin’ on in Kaze when we weren’t 'round, but that never mattered when folks were dyin’! Mine'd be worse maybe, bu’ I don’ even care who knows, really! I could sock 'em good!”

What was she even talking about anymore?

Thankfully, she seemed to simmer down after yelling about absolutely nothing relevant into a courtroom buzzing with heavy discussion. It soon turned out what she wasn’t quite done, however. She could finally put that reservation she felt earlier into words.

“Hey, everybody. Wouldn’t talkin’ 'bout th’ secrets… be a good idea? Like… these got used t’ turn us 'gainst each other an’ stuff, and somebody even died! Y'all ’re talkin’ 'bout how these secrets would 'ruin our lives,’ but we’re trapped in here an’ we might die an’ who’d care about secrets then?! I think it’d be safer if we got all th’ secrets out there, even if we can’t tell which one went to who. 'Cause like, Lumi’s secret ain’t bad at all, but the card Kei had was kinda bad… It was sayin’ somebody was a cheater. An' what if somebody’s got a worse secret? Like what if somebody’s already a killer or somethin’?! I don’ even want t’ think about it, but if somebody is, it’d be a good idea t’ know somebody like that is out there, right? An’ maybe th’ card’s got hints so like if somebody did somethin’ that reminds us of th’ card, then we might have a better idea of who’s dangerous. 

I know it sounds scary, bu’ it’s th’ brave thing t’ do! I can talk about a secret I’ve got if y'all want t’ hear it!”

Yona had calmed down enough to listen to what was going on a bit, and about what points people were arguing about the most. It was confusing, because a lot of this stuff already felt clear to her. It didn’t take her long to realize why, though. It was just from her perspective, and her perspective was thanks to the information her smart investigation partners shared. She looked over to the girl next to her.

“Eyy, friends!!”

Yona threw her arms over both Shin and Setsuna’s shoulders and gave them both a simultaneous side-hug. Thankfully, Yona didn’t cling to her trial neighbors for very long. She took another look around the courtroom, but she barely have to look a few podiums away before–

…!

“Date!! S-So y’ really are here! Y’ ain’t dead!! But ain’t you…”

Yona suddenly clammed up, and looked uncomfortable. Thankfully, courtroom discussion started quickly. She nodded along to Shion’s words, briefly flashing a thumbs up when she mentioned her name, and it overall seemed like Yona was content to let Shion do the talking when it came to their investigation. She didn’t find anything herself anyway, so what was there for her to explain? She had given up so hard that the trial announcement came while she was playing Super Smash Bros.

When Kuma spoke up about…an alias? Did that have to do with secrets? Yona waved over at him.

“Nice ta meetcha, Susumu! Neat name!”

And yet she didn’t introduce herself. Did she just forget?

Yui piped up after him.

“An’ nice ta meetcha too, Yui!”

Yui brought up the secrets in a more general sense, even going on to talk about cards… Cards…? Oh! Cards! That’s right! There was something she wanted to do.

“Oh, right…!”

Yona felt around in her pocket and pulled out a card. As it so happened, it was one of those motive cards.

“Hey, everybody! So I wanted t’ know… Who’s Lumi? ‘Cause… it’s okay! Y’ don’t have ta hide!”