The Fear of the Past //Saiouma (Pregame)

Chapter 30

Kokichi's eyes flew open as he leaned up, a small gasp forming. Did I really pass out? Huh..

Kirumi noticed Kokichi's awakening and quickly rushed to where he was. "Kokichi! Thank God you're alright." The other students looked at the pair weirdly. Kirumi seemed to remember how she should never lose her composure and quickly went back to how she usually was. "Kokichi, you're awake. If everything fine?"

Kokichi looked at her confused and then laughed. "Awake? Of course I'm awake! I've always been awake." He stood up and yawned. "What are you so worried about?"

Kirumi looked confused. "But you fell... as if you passed out."

Kokichi smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. Now, what's up?"

"How do you mean?" Kirumi asked, still mildly confused by the small boy.

"Why were we called here? Is it a new motive? Or is Monokuma just trying to mess with us?" Kokichi asked as he placed his arms behind his back, a small smile on his face as he looked at Kirumi.

Kirumi looked sad for a moment, but it quickly disappeared and back came her usual expression. She truly was the Ultimate Maid, able to hide her emotions as if she didn't matter. "You mean you don't know?"

Kokichi opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a small ding that seemed to come from his Monopad. He took it out, curious as to what the noise was. Beside him, Kirumi seemed anxious as she watched Kokichi turn on the Monopad. Specifically when he opened the Monokuma File.

A frown appeared on Kokichi's face as he read through it, growing sadder by the second. Is this why I passed out? I'm not usually this weak so why..? Maybe it was other me's usual actions that came up. Yeah, that's probably the case. No death should affect me this much. Nope, not true.

"Kokichi... I'm sorry."

Kokichi looked up at Kirumi with a smile on his face. "What are you apologizing for? It's not as if you were the one who did it, were you? It doesn't matter. We should get to investigating now. Who knows when the class trial will start?"

Kokichi walked off to where the body was, reading the Monokuma File as he walked.

The victim was Gonta Gokuhara, Ultimate Entomologist. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, a heavy object thrown to the back of his head. His skull seems to be fractured from the back.

Once Kokichi arrived upon the body, he felt sick to his stomach. He needed to keep personal feelings to himself, especially at a time like this. Showing weakness meant death, something he just couldn't do.

Gonta's body was in the same spot that Kokichi had left him, making Kokichi the last one to see him alive. His body was face first on the grass, the wound clearly visible. Other than the head, no other injuries were present, meaning that whoever killed him had immense accuracy.

Then there's the fact that Gonta is ridiculously strong. He wouldn't go down that easily, meaning that whoever did kill him must be ridiculously strong too. But Gonta's personality must be taken into consideration as well. There's always a chance that Gonta was tricked and killed because of how kind he is. So there's really no way to say for sure who the culprit was.

The reason as to why Gonta was the one killed is something important as well. Using that, it'd be much easier to find the culprit. But how was he supposed to find that out exactly? It's not as if he could just waltz up to Gonta's dead body and ask him directly.

Could he?

"Korekiyo." He muttered. Korekiyo had mentioned before how one could talk to the dead by doing something called a seance. Would it really work?

Kokichi shook his head. No, I wouldn't stoop that low. I mean, unless I have to. He sighed and looked up at the sky, wondering what he needed to do. Of course he had to investigate and all, but there was something that needed to be done first.

I should find out why Gonta was killed before I start the investigation. He nodded to himself. But where should I look? Think Kokichi, think. Maybe his room? Yeah, that's a place to start.

With a new goal in mind, Kokichi headed to the dorms. He stopped halfway through when a thought occured to him.

Maybe I should make sure that no one is around. What if they think that I'm the murderer and that I'm trying to get rid of evidence? That wouldn't really be the best situation. I need to be cautious.

He entered the dorm and headed to his own room, as if that were his goal. But really, he was just checking to make sure that no one was around at the time. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw that the coast was clear.

He walked to the room that belonged to Gonta, reaching for the door handle. He gulped nervously as he did not know what to expect. There's no use getting scared. It's now nor never. With thoughts that encouraged himself, he gathered up his courage and turned the door handle.

"Eh? Eh?!"

His disappointment was immeasurable.

"The door is locked? Oh nooooo... I forgot about that detail." He hit his head against the door in frustration. How did I manage to forget the fact that the doors would be locked after the owner's death? It's the same thing for the labs, it's only natural to assume that it's for the dorms as well. What am I going to do now?

He stopped his moping and looked up, specifically at the monitor. He looked back at the locked door and at the monitor again. After a while of doing that, he finally got a result.

"What do you want kid?" The high pitched voice that could only belong to Monokuma spoke behind him, making Kokichi turn suddenly.

"Open this door pretty please with a cheery on top?" He looked at Monokuma pleading and back at the door.

"It's against the rules." Monokuma shook his head and looked up at Kokichi. "You know that, don't you?"

Kokichi opened his mouth, most likely to plead for him to reconsider, but then shut it shortly after. "Fine. Do what you please."

He walked away, deciding he might as well start the investigation. But first, he wanted to clear up something with Kirumi. Something that could change the class trial's outcome entirely. Of course he could ask anybody else for help, but he went with Kirumi. It needed to be Kirumi. It could only be her and her alone.

He walked with his hands behind his back to the main building, frowning ever so slightly. He saw a couple of the other students from the corner of his eyes, most likely investigating the area. Luckily for him, none of them tried to talk to him. He actually expected Shuichi to go talk to him since he did see Kokichi and Gonta together, minutes before Gonta's death. It's a wonder that the Ultimate Detective isn't questioning Kokichi.

He entered the school building and headed to the kitchen, knowing that if he wanted to look for Kirumi, that would be the place to start.

"Kirumi I have something to tell you." He said as he entered the room, his eyes closed. He opened his eyes with a smile. "I know this may sound weird bu- w-what?"

"K-kirumi..?" His voice trailed out as he struggled to speak, not knowing how he should respond or what he should even do. All that he did know was that this bad.

Kirumi Tojo, Ultimate Maid, lay dead on the floor. In a position that seemed to indicate that she stabbed herself.

"This is bad."