SHSL Ukulele Player

From the mistrial on, Lani wasn’t seen all that much in the next days. She prefered to be by herself after what happened, still incredibly furious at several things. First of all, she was angry at the murderer - instead of fessing up to their crimes, they selfishly sacrificed another innocent person, tainting their soul even more. She wouldn’t forgive such cruelty, she simply couldn’t.

Second, Lani was angry at a lot of her classmates. When Minaru offered herself up, Lani would have never imagined that so many were following up on that, making her a scapegoat. Honestly, she was disgusted at the individuums who voted for her. If anything, it would’ve been fair to let fate decide on who takes the punishment if they weren’t smart enough to figure out the true culprit. She would have been ready to lay down her life, as she had failed as well. But this? This was utterly disgusting.

When the motive came around, Lani kept mostly to herself as well. Cold wasn’t something she was used to nor liked it, but she knew she could endure it. Just keep yourself warm with clothes - thank god she took one sweater along with her, like her parents suggestd - and do some warm-ups. That’s what Lani did during the whole motive.

When she heard someone scream in the middle of the night, Lani jumped out of her bed, quickly got into her overall and raced out. A cry for help could mean a lot of things - someone might be stuck in something or someone is being attacked and wants help…

Or someone was already dead.

Gritting her teeth, Lani finally got to the location where everyone else was assembled as well - and only now did she realize that it wasn’t cold anymore.

That could only mean one thing.

As Lani entered the lounge, the victim wasn’t hard to miss. It was Villany, the tiny girl who wear so many layers and tried her best to keep things calm in the trial. Someone who didn’t had problems in this motive died for it.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Lani hadn’t really exchanged that much words with her, but she still felt anger flaring up inside her. Someone killed again… Unforgivable. Lani clenched her fists, closing her eyes as she murmured a prayer for the dead.

Lani turned to Villany when she spoke, nodding slightly. She scratched her head as she replied to the other girl:”But still weird for Yuuma being back in bathroom, then. Do not see why killer thought that it good idea to bring dead body back. Even if causing to be… um, making us dizzy? Seems too much work for that. But is possible, just think that bad guy made too much not rekuired effort.”

Though some people were correct when they said that talking about the how and when wasn’t as important as figuring out who it was. Thus, the idea was brought up that they checked for injuries and the likes. This seemed plausible enough, as the idea of a fight occuring between killer and victim made sense  in hindlight to everything they’ve found so far. Lani couldn’t say that she had much hope for the handwriting checks however, so she hoped that they would focus on checking bruises and the likes…

Another student spoke up who addressed her - it was one of those people who had bright blue hair.

“Yes, kitchen smelled really weird. Remember that myself, too. Said that smell check could be made just to cover all things. Agree with Jesper that checking for wounds might be best shot we have now.”

Though where should they focus their attention exactly? Somehow, Lani doubted that everyone was ready to strip down like it was nothing - she herself wouldn’t have any problems to do so, but some people seemed like the type to be incredibly embarrassed about that kind of stuff.

“Think we should look at arms and legs first? Maybe shoulders too. Could do more afterwards if people willing and we do not find anything.”

Next person that had Lani’s attention was Sora, who proposed that the killer might have a mask in possession, as well as noting that the smell check might not be as efficient as thought. Well that was fair enough, she supposed, but something was nagging her.

“Why need mask? If killer knocked Yuuma out, could have just left her to toxic gas and step out of room. Makes me even question more while kill her in kitchen, then return and risk poisoning yourself with gas if not just let her die in kitchen there and then. Or leave in bathroom. Hm… all is strange.”

Actually, Lani planned to step back from the trial a little, but when Miyako started to kind of accuse another student because they owned a mask, she thought it was only sensible to speak up to clear this situation up.

“You accuse Ooshima? Cannot be, for many reasons. Saw him prior to murder with mask, looking not good at all. White and cou… coffee-y. Seemed to struggle with sickness. You feeling okay to stand up, Ooshima? Still look not all good. Must go to bed and rest much, yes? Maybe embrace sun’s light too if feeling a bit better. Sun is good for you!”

What did you think he was, a plant?

“Back to case. It not fit with switched signs, yes? We do not need to scan to go in, but people always go to the ones that are with the gender they are. So Yuuma would go to female if female is on door. Would not make sense for him to switch signs if he wanted to put blame on other genders, yes? And do not think that not cooperating does mean that they are guilty.”

“Think we should start with checking with bruises. Do not have a towel for those who might feel more… um, do not know word, but not feeling well? Something like this. Could use my clothing if is enough. Do not mind standing in undercloth if it helps us.”

Lani looked rather confused at some points, tilting her head as she tried to keep up with her classmates words. Lord, they were speaking so much, but not with much results, huh? This was kind of… not what they were supposed to do, right?

“Um, why we talking about Ai-Di’s? We do not need scanning anything to enter bathrooms. Does not matter what gender, you can go into all of them. So do not understand why we argue about this point? Or do you mean something else and I do not follow?”

Scratching her head, Lani turned to Miyako and Hisaya, who… hadn’t been acting all too formidable when she and others raised up other possibilities. Even when they explained why it was most likely the lounge or the kitchen, she still felt that… several things didn’t match up.

“Agree with Ryan. Yuuma liked fluffy clothes, so it weird she would walk with bathing suit around. I think that signs were changed, so she would walk into male bathroom instead of female. Killer might have thought we would think only someone who is iden… Idut… idanufyingsh-”, oh boy, this was bad,”They are male. Otherwise, why bother changing signs at all?”

“Also, why risk being seen when they carry Yuuma around so much? From bathroom, to kitchen, then back to bathroom? With no blood spilled from Yuuma’s head? Or water or anything? Does not make much sense. Oven also not only source of fire. Could have used something else to do same thing in males bathroom, without taking risk of someone seeing you carry a person.”

Eventually, Miyako came around to check her out. Complying to the request, Lani did what she was told to, before focusing back on the trial.

“… Maybe we should smell people? Know that sounds strange, but it possible that killer might smell funny with doing all this strange stuff.”

Then, Machiko said her thing and Lani furrowed her eyebrows.

Heeding the rather annoying alarm, Lani stopped investigating whatever she’d been doing and went to the fountain. There, she listened to the rabbit, before going underground and emerging into a new area. A new face was waiting there for them, but first of all, Lani claimed one of the chairs. Afterwards, she listened to the strange man who hadn’t even introduced himself yet, before explaining what these boxes and teabags were about.

When everything was done and over, the trial began. Truthfully speaking, it was a bit hard to follow everyone, especially when they were starting to throw around more difficult words or when they were speaking in dialects, but she did her best to keep up. The green-haired student explained at least what the death cause was, though even with that, she still had troubles to really wrap her head around it. At least she knew which kind of things couldn’t have been responsible for Yuuma’s death.

More talking was going on, though Lani couldn’t help but throw Hanae a disapproving look after she admitted to licking a corpse. This was actually really disrespectful to Yuuma and gross. Lani couldn’t help but reprimand the other for that.

“This disrespectful. No matter reason, it is something you should not do. Respect the dead.”

That aside, most of the evidence she’d found was already presented, so Lani wasn’t too sure what she could add into this all herself. Nonetheless, it would be bad if she stayed quiet forever on that front, right? Everyone had to pull their own weight and hell would freeze over before she wouldn’t do such thing.

Though when Ataru asked for a moment to wish for Yuuma’s soul to arrive safely in the afterlife, Lani did that first - well, she’d done that before, but it never hurt to pray again, right?

When there was finally an opportunity to speak, Lani raised her voice:”Ah, hello everybunny!” Did she just make a goddamn pun, oh my god Lani, now’s not the time- or is she even aware of her mishap? At least she doesn’t stop there, continuing on as if she hasn’t said anything wrong:”I am Lani Pukahi, good at playing the Ukulele! Excuse me if I say things that were said again, it hard to follow everything.”

She bowed slightly, before straightening herself out. Her gaze was wandering, before it settled down on Miyako who presented the idea that the kitchen was the actual crime scene. Lani furrowed her eyebrows in bemusement.

“But this strange. Why take Yuuma’s life in kitchen, then bring her to bathroom? Makes even fewer sense if you think about her head. Had an injury, yes? I looked at spot with blood in male’s bathroom and it matched with wound. Cul… Culuru… um, bad guy must have hit her head there. To make her not, uh, consequence? No, not right word… Um, mean not awake.”

Why was japanese so hard.

“Something else, I have to say, too. Sora said it, but there was water outside bath, yes? Not colored too. Means that something happened, then bath…bombs? Were thrown afterwards. Found lots of wrappers in male’s bathroom with funny names. Why not burn them, too? Or did bad guy burn the other ones because of Yuuma’s talent? But twi… what is twinlight?”

Close enough.

Either way, Sora brought up the piles of ashes she’d found too. It was kind of getting hard to keep in speaking so much japanese, but guess she needed to suck it up and do her best!

This morning was supposed to be peaceful, just like all the previous ones. She was supposed to wake up in the morning, get herself ready for the day and do what she’d been doing all the time during her stay here - either eat or chill out.

Thus, it was unusual to be awoken by one of her classmates. Blearily trying to blink the sleep away from her eyes, the hawaiian girl yawned as she scratched her neck. Stretching herself out, she tried to focus on the words that were being said, but she only caught something about floating and seeing the truth for yourself…? Weird. Nevertheless, with how urgent her fellow classmate sounded, she thought it might be better to check things out.

Quickly getting herself dressed, Lani emerged from her room and followed the other students to… the bathrooms? Were they all supposed to take a bath together?

If only.

Because what Lani saw with her own eyes as soon as she stepped inside the male’s bathroom made her freeze up. The previous words she caught made suddenly sense - and in the worst way possible, too.

Floating in what appears to be a liquid out of this world - honestly, this couldn’t be water, could it? -, was Yuuma’s body, tranquil looking as ever. It looked like as if she was merely asleep, but as her chest wasn’t rising at all, it implied only one thing.

Yuuma Chou was dead.

And according to the cat, it was one of them who killed the poor girl.

Lani couldn’t believe this. Who in the world would murder the sweet girl who’d shown nothing but kindness? Even though they weren’t able to lay Mochimura to rest like they wanted to, Yuuma had still volunteered to help her out… She was always so friendly and Lani had looked forward to get to know her better.

Now, this wouldn’t be possible anymore. Someone took an innocent life for their… what? Selfishness? After all, nothing had proved the cat to speak the truth - Lani hadn’t felt different in any way and poison wasn’t supposed to act like this, right? Not like as if she was an expert on this, but it would normally make you feel funny, right?

Clenching her hands into fists and grimacing, Lani looked around.

“This not forgivable. How could you do this?”

Clearly, she was adressing the culprit right now. The girl didn’t expect for them to come out and clean with the deed they’ve done, but she still wanted them to know that what they’d been doing was… wrong.

“… You are going to have a bad time.”

No, her left eye isn’t blinking and no bones are suddenly flying towards your way. But it sounded ominous enough, didn’t it? Either way, Lani took the cake that was provided to her from the cat and… for the first time, she didn’t had much of an appetite.

Then again, it would be a waste to not eat it… And it would make Yuuma’s death all the more senseless if they didn’t ingest this food.

When they’ve been summoned again, there was yet another stranger awaiting them. This time, it was a girl wearing rabbit ears and Lani was internally questioning the reason for this kind of appearance. Quietly, she followed the eccentric girl to where she led them - eventually, they had to run into the cat again, huh?

With furrowed eyebrows, Lani took a seat, looking a bit skeptic when Monoches said that they started on the wrong foot- or paw or whatever. That was an understatement and Lani would’ve said something, if the appearing food wouldn’t have happened. A surprised look crossed her face as she took in the sight of the delicious looking food. Even though it might be a trap, it was… just way too good to pass up.

Thus, Lani was definitely one of the people who ate quite a bit from the buffet offered to them. Afterwards, however, when the motive was actually announced, the blonde girl looked appalled. Poisoning every food here?! Who would do such a thing?!

“Food is precious! Do not waste it, kitty.”

… Then again, if that was really true, then why hadn’t she felt any effects yet? Lani had eaten a lot through the trip, after all… And she didn’t feel any different than normally.

Thoguh before anything else, they got introduced to some other resident of this place. One weirdo following the other… This got really confusing and Lani wasn’t sure if she wasn’t just asleep and having one of her weirdest dreams ever.

In the time they’d had to socialize amongst themselves, Yuuma had met a couple of the people stuck in this odd place with her… but only a few. Really, she was just looking forward to heading to the actual school. A set curriculum was much easier for her to work with than wandering around aimlessly, and Yuuma didn’t have that many books to read. So, in her opinion, a meeting is quite welcome! A welcome distraction, or so she thought-

But then something plunges through one of their hosts, and Yuuma watches with a startled expression as they fall to the ground, and then the thing crushes their head like a… cantaloupe.

“O-Oh my…”

One pale hand pressed to her mouth, Yuuma’s gaze shifts from the body to the… cat? Misfortune and deceitfulness… that was unfortunate indeed. She listens as it explains that they’re now stuck and would have to, as it seems, murder each other to escape. It was a shame, she thought distantly, seeming to sway on her feet. Monoches was kind of cute… they looked soft, at least. It was a shame they were so… nasty.

An odd, odd nightmare, Yuuma thought. Strange indeed. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but that was how things like this always went, wasn’t it? She was still… tired. Her wobbling gets more pronounced, the girl seeming as if she’s going to topple over onto the ground with a yawn. The odd part was, it wasn’t like when people fainted in surprise. In fact, she looks completely serene, if not a bit weary. Had she… even registered what happened?

Of course, that was all to an outside observer. She had, of course, registered, and was currently trying to make sense of the proceedings without dozing off entirely. It was… It was…

Well, anyway! It came as a welcome wake-up call when Yuuma hears someone requesting help. Help was something she could surely provide! She pushes up her glasses, rubbing bleariness from her eyes briefly before shuffling over to the other girl. 

“I, ah… I would be willing to assist if you… need. I am not especially strong, but… I can try my best! I agree that… it is not right to leave them there… it seems… disrespectful, even if…”

.. Damnit, she was getting hungry now.

There was no time for that, though! They needed to lay the poor lad to rest, no matter what the strange cat said. Nodding to the other, Lani gave them a grateful smile. She had seen them around around her cottage, so it would make sense that they’re roommates of sorts, right? Unless they visited someone there all the time...

Either way.

“Ah, thank you! Do not need to worry, I will carry him.”

She said that as if it was completely natural, despite the hawaiian girl actually a little bit smaller than the oneirologist. Then again, her arms looked rather toned, as if she had been training in some way...

“Cat said that he would take care of it, but heart tells me that it won’t be nice. Want to burry him in the garden, if possible. Was told that a shovel can be found there, too. We can go and pick it up.”

... Wait, before she should tell her fellow classmate what they were going to do, shouldn’t she introduce herself first? Then again, that can be done easily anywhere... so might as well do it now.

Sora had taken a deep breath then had sighed a couple of times before they had began to walk away from the courtyard, and then to the garden. This had not been a time to despair and give up hope! Surely the astral photographers peers had enough common sense and goodness in their hearts to not listen to the mysterious cat. When Sora had reached the garden, they been surprised by their surroundings. The area been absolutely breath-taking with how beautiful it looked.

There was the look of surprise and amazement on Sora’s face as they had stared at the wonderful environment of the garden. They were not a nature photographer, but they had been sure this place would have definitely favored by a nature photographer. Maybe they could take some photos of the area before night-time would come. When a voice suddenly had passed by their ears, Sora’s attention had instantly been turned from the flowers to a figure who had lazily waved at them. A minute passed before the astral photographer had processed the words said to them.

A big smile grew on their face as they had waved back before quickly moved towards their classmate. Once they had been at a close enough distance to speak to their peer, Sora had replied to Lani with a happy tone of voice.

“Hello… ! Hi… um… it is good to meet you Lani-san… ! My name is Sora… Sora Tanaka, but you can call me just Sora… if you want”

They gave Lani a joyful smile as they had introduced themself, and then had continued, this time answering their classmates earlier question.

“As for your first question… I guess I really did come here to get some “quietness”… I can agree with you that this beautiful place is certainly quiet and relaxing… it is definitely different from the atmosphere that had been in the courtyard for the pass few hours…”

Although she was feeling rather comfortable where she was currently lying, Lani figured that it wouldn’t be all too polite if she stayed like this, so the least she could do was to sit upright. Whilst doing so, her legs entangled itself, so she was sitting cross-legged now.

“Nice meeting you, Sora! Ah, but no need to add san to my name! Endings sound weird to it. Or you feel better using it? If so, you can do that. Don’t mind too much.”

As Lani got her answer to her question, she also noted that they were thinking back on what happened merely a few hours ago. The blonde girl couldn’t blame them for that, as the same thought was persisting in her mind as well. Not as much as them or others maybe, but it was still there.

“Nature good. Always feel welcome in it! But yes, strange things happened. Do not know why this happening, but we can’t let kitty do what it wants to. Looked for a... um, way out? Escape. Haven’t find anything.”

Her words didn’t sound that positive, but it didn’t seem like as if Lani herself was fazed by it. All she did was shrug.

Hours after Monoches appearance, Lani had been wandering through Wonderland, checking here and there for any possible escape routes. Unfortunately enough, her efforts had been in vain so far and eventually, the hawaiian girl found herself back in the garden.

Sighing as she looked around, Lani didn’t bother to be as thorough with this place like with others. Along with the kitchen and her own room, the garden had been a place she had frequented the most in the past week. Lani had gotten rather familiar with it, so the possibilities of finding something new were rather low.

Thus, the blonde girl sat down on the grassy field and moments later, was sprawled across of it. Whilst staring up, Lani began to relax despite the situation she’d found herself in. Being on guard all the time was only tiring and she truly doubted that someone would take the cat serious enough to commit murder already. No one would be this stupid, right? Even if she didn’t knew most of them, nobody striked her as unstable enough to fall to such lows so fast.

As she was lying on the ground, Lani simply listened to the sounds her surroundings produced. Eventually, footsteps were entering the mixture of noises, which made her head lift up for a bit, so she could supervise the environment around her better. From a little bit farther ahead, Lani saw one of her fellow classmates, who was… really warmly dressed. Just the sight alone made her feel a bit hotter herself - thank god she only wore her light overall.

Lazily waving at the other person, Lani flashed them a content smile as she called out to them:“Hello! You also want quietness? Garden really a good place to relax, mhm!”

“There’s probably a shovel in the garden, but why would you wanna bury a piece of trash? In addition, where would you bury it? Nyeh”

The meme “I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now” would certainly fit their current situation. After all, when Lani followed the request to gather at the courtyard, she certainly hadn’t expected this kind of twist to happen. Her eyebrows were furrowed down by the time when their upperclassman warned them about their lives being in danger, but when they got impaled of the sudden, her eyes widened in shock.

Next thing that happened was a strange cat greeting them, declaring that they were doomed to stay at Wonderland forever unless they managed to kill two people. The very idea of murdering her fellow peers offended the ukulele player, her green eyes narrowed down to a squint. Although the cat might look cute, it certainly wasn’t that adorable personality-wise. Still, the puns were good, she’d need to write them down.

When Monoches left them to their own accord, Lani changed her focus to the dead body which had been carried over to one of the benches at one point. Well, was ‘dead’ even the right term to describe their state? After all, Mochimura possessed bright, blue blood and the cat said something along the lines of them not being a real human being… Nevertheless, she thought that they deserved to be buried properly. Human or not, there were at least the other two upperclassmen who were upset about their friend’s death.

Muttering a prayer in her native language, Lani decided to ask Monoches something, before looking around - some students were standing around and talking to each other, some others were going away or crying or yelling…

All reactions that are to be expected, really.

Taking a deep breath, Lani cleared her throat as she raised her voice - hopefully, someome would respond to the request she was about to make.