Blades of Despair

-Chapter Twenty-Three-

Exploring in Memoriam Part II

When Miyagawa and I entered the laboratory, we were greeted with another unassuming classroom littered with various scientific supplies and equipment. Microscopes, anatomy posters and other items I didn't know the names of were scattered across the desks and walls. Looking at the layout of the room, it was clear that there was nothing to immediately be suspicious of, but because we were in Seiko Academy I was wary of anything and everything. Towards the back of the room was a handful of desks compared to the classroom that Miyagawa and I had investigated before, and waist-high lab tables lined the outer perimeter of the room save for the wall we had entered from. To the left of us stood a large glass cabinet filled with bottles and containers of different shapes and sizes, while to our right was a metal cabinet. The second cabinet was plated with navy titanium and a light golden frame but was not transparent, unlike its glass counterpart. I then noticed that it was locked, but I could not see a key nearby.

"What do you think is in there?" asked Miygawa, who had walked to my side.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's probably very dangerous," I replied. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we've seen anything with a lock on it, so there must be a reason for the bears to hide it away from us."

"Why would they hide something dangerous?" Miyagawa said pensively.

"You're right, that doesn't make sense," I realised. If the bears wanted us to kill each other, then it would be unusual for the bears to lock away something that would enable a murder.

"Whatever is hidden in here, it's clear the bears don't want us to get a hold of it. That probably means it contains something counterproductive to the killing game."

"Well, for now, we should investigate the rest of the room, then come back to this. My guess is that the other cabinet contains things that will continue the game, so we should look at that, the desks and all the pieces of equipment." Miyagawa agreed and we turned our attention to the set of glass shelves. As I had suspected, most of the bottles were adorned with labels that suggested that the substances contained within were toxic, corrosive or even deadly. There were at least several dozen bottles per shelf that were marked this way, and it was greatly concerning that such toxins were sitting there, readily available for anyone to take. It would be so easy to get away with a murder using one of these; no mess and no obvious evidence to pinpoint to a culprit since we all have access to the room. I shook those thoughts out my head; if I were to convince myself that I could get away with murdering one of my friends, then the next motive would be especially compelling. I wanted us all to survive together, and I certainly didn't want to have to face any more deaths.

"What shall we do about these?" I asked.

"Leave them alone for now. We'll have to reconvene and talk to the others about them, formulate a plan and dispose of them if possible. I'm hoping someone like Ouji will know what to do with the poisons at the very least." I nodded and we split to cover the remaining items in the room.

---

"So, did you find anything?" Miyagawa finally asked, bending backward slightly to stretch out his spine after looking under desks and table for a while. I shook my head.

"Nothing that warrants suspicion," I replied, "I think the only things we can report back to the others are the chemicals and the locked cabinet."

"This is the first time your talent hasn't found anything useful," Miyagawa said with a small chuckle. I looked down at my feet.

"That may be so, but sometimes that's a lucky thing," I mumbled, "the last time I found an important clue, it resulted in us sentencing Edward to death." Miyagawa stopped laughing.