Just One More Time

5 - This is it, Finally, the End

The five students all stood apart, even Kaito stood at Shuichi's side with a slight gap. They weren't even holding hands. It tore at Shuichi's heart, but he knew he needed to prepare for the despair to come. He'd managed to convince himself of one thing, and one thing only. That he'd lose this trial.

He glanced at Kaito, noticing the pained smile form on his face in return. No kiss, no hug, no comforting words. Shuichi wondered if he was a monster for this, knowing they'd all die and still forming a relationship with the astronaut. Despite this, it'd been a nice distraction from the killing game.

The elevator doors creaked open and the five contestants took their spots behind their podiums. No one said a word. Silence enveloped the group, not needing Monokuma to start them off this time. They'd been through this five times now, although one had been through seventeen. That didn't provide any advantages, despite the obvious belief.

"I suppose we should talk about the obvious," Amami suggested. "The mastermind's lair."

"Right! Tenko, Saihara and Amami found it! It was the reason for those three empty classrooms on floor four." Shuichi and Rantaro nodded. Turning to Kaito and Harukawa, Shuichi noticed the two seemed confused. He didn't expect any less.

"Uh, that's not the entrance..." Kaito muttered. "It's in, um, Shuichi's lab." He seemed hesitant to incriminate his boyfriend, but Shuichi hoped the other wouldn't hold back. Part of him wanted Kaito to succeed. Another killing game wouldn't kill Shuichi, right?

"See Amami! That must've been a second entrance like I suggested!" Shuichi piped up with a gasp. He had suggested the staircase to the other two when investigating his lair. Much to his surprise, neither Amami nor Chabashira wanted to explore what was above it. "Why would it lead to my lab though?" The chemist sighed, glaring at his podium.

They had explored the three empty rooms on floor four since Amami claimed to feel that something was off about them. When exploring the middle room, they found a loose floorboard that led to a crawl space. That crawl space opened up into a spiral staircase, leading into the mastermind's lair.

"To set you up," Harukawa answered. "It's too obvious. What person with any intelligence would set up their lair beside their lab?"

"I looked through the character files that were in there for any hints," Amami added. "Um, something was interesting in yours, Saihara."

"What was it?" Shuichi asked with caution. He felt his lower lip tremble. After so many killing games, he'd like to think even Ouma would be proud of his growing ability to lie.

"Was supposed to die in chapter two. Did an error occur?" Harukawa repeated almost word-for-word.

"I think I figured out who the mastermind is," Kaito spoke. Everyone turned to him, an equal mix of fear and excitement swirling through the air. "When Harukawa and I were searching, we found a set of keys which I think were for either the dorms or the labs. There was one for everyone, except for you Chabashira."

"What?!" Chabashira shouted, her olive eyes widening in astonishment. "Only a degenerate male would be capable of masterminding a killing game! Surely the lair's placement is weird?! Tenko thinks you just didn't look hard enough for her key!"

"The lair is there to throw people off and be an easy way to a certain murder..." Shuichi mumbled. He knew everyone could hear him but had to pretend to be mumbling to himself.

"What did you say, Saihara?" Amami pressed. Shuichi felt a little embarrassed by everyone staring at him, but he knew he needed to focus on the end goal.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing. Sorry. It's not like I'm a detective or anything, so ignore me," Shuichi stammered. He needed to appear bashful.

"Elaborate. We need everyone's opinions. If you're trying to trick us, we'll find out," Harukawa demanded. Shuichi nodded.