One Step Closer to the Finish Line

Chapter 2: A Detective's Pursuit of the Truth

It was common for the friendly Makoto Naegi to say hello or give some sort of greeting whenever he passes by a classmate of his so the ultimate detective, Kyoko Kirigiri, couldn't help but speak up when she saw the boy with his hands in his pockets and his head down as they passed each other in the first floor hallway. "Is everything alright, Naegi? You seem flustered."

"O-oh, Kiri! I didn't see you there." Makoto stopped in his tracks as he called his friend by her usual nickname while giving her a nervous smile. He hoped desperately that the blush he was wearing since the...incident...had disappeared by now. "I just saw something weird earlier, it's not that big of a deal."

"Something weird? What did you see?" Kyoko's detective instincts kicked in as she probed the brunet for answers almost immediately. The ultimate couldn't help but guiltily become a little excited at the idea of something unnatural happening, as long as it wasn't anything dangerous of course. Being forced to live inside these halls day after day definitely limited possibilities for her to use her true talent so any excuse for her to investigate something was more than welcome.

Makoto immediately regretted bringing up what he saw the second it came out of his mouth. He didn't want to have false rumors flying around about his friend purposely going in the wrong bathroom or anything! The ultimate lucky student was about to change the subject when he caught only a small glimpse at Kyoko's face which was just daring him not to tell her anything; not informing the detective would only make her mad at him and it wasn't like she would go around blabbering secrets to everyone so he figured he could tell her about this small and unimportant interaction.

"You promise not to tell anyone?" Makoto trusted the girl of course but still wanted confirmation first.

"I promise." Kirigiri's reply came immediately after the teen had finished his question.

"Alright. Well, I happened to be on the second floor of the school and I had to use the restroom. While I was in there, I suddenly heard a high pitched sneeze from the supply closet. When I checked to see who it was I saw Mukuro Ikusaba standing alone in there; she said she accidentally walked inside which was kind of odd...now that I think about it, once I was outside I saw Junko leave the men's bathroom but I could've sworn I didn't see her in any of the stalls or anything."

"That is odd. It's apparent that they were up to something, that fact is clear. Ikusaba's excuse wasn't very well thought out so that could only mean that she had expected to be in and out in a quick fashion and didn't consider the idea of being caught." Kyoko spoke mostly to herself as she began to deduce what Makoto had told her. "If what you say about Enoshima is true then we should investigate the bathroom and figure out for ourselves where she could have been hiding; that is if you decide to aid me in my investigation of course. I doubt it's anything too serious but that kind of behavior is still suspicious."

"You want to investigate right now?" Makoto was taken aback at Kyoko's sudden interest. He was curious about the whole situation too but the last thing he wanted was for another girl to be walking around in the guy's bathroom.

Kirigiri shook her head. "No, I'm sure they will be keeping a keen eye on the bathroom during the day if it truly is that important. Our best plan of action would be to check it out at night while Ikusaba and Enoshima are asleep."

"I-I mean I'll help you but...don't you think people would get the wrong idea if they saw a boy and a girl walking around the halls in the middle of the night?"

Kyoko crossed her arms and turned her head to the side in order to avoid eye contact with Makoto. She honestly hadn't consider such a notion. "The whole concept of going in the night is so that nobody witnesses our investigation besides us. Since we're not actually doing anything unseemly I figured it wouldn't be an issue."