Hope In Humanity (ON PAUSE)

Chapter 11

"Judging by the blood stain from your door to here, I think the killer dragged him away from your door. Although, I'm not too sure why." Shuichi mused out loud, "Maki could you please write down the injuries you see on Rantaro's body?" 

"Sure! I'd love to do that!" 

"Thanks. Now, Kaede, before we continue investigating the body, can I investigate your room? I'd like to make sure there's nothing with blood in your room, of course you could've washed it but I'd still like to check." 

"Yeah... it's okay with me." I hesitantly said. I lead Shuichi into my room to where he continued to rifle through my clothes, he looked at the second pair of shoes we were given, and there was no blood on it either. 

"Okay, no blood, but you may have hid the clothes with it so you're not clear yet." Shuichi noted, "Not on your shoes either. But you might still be the culprit." 

I wanted to shout at Shuichi for even thinking I could ever murder Rantaro, but I decided against it. I simply just watched in silence as Shuichi left my room, I followed soon after, but I was starting to feel tired again. 

"Alright, so... he has one large gash wound on his stomach are,  And of course, the stab in the heart." Shuichi was reading off the list, "...and no wounds to the back area. That's interesting." 

"What... " Maki tilted her head in confusion, "What's so interesting about it?" 

"Well, if it was Kaede, the easiest plan would be to stab Rantaro in the back, and then quickly close her door again to pretend as if it wasn't her. Then again she might've purposely avoided that as it would be incriminating evidence against her." Shuichi let out a sigh. 

"But why go through the trouble of dragging Rantaro away from your door. Even if you managed to stab him in the front, leaving him so that he would be leaning on your door would've helped you cover up. I doubt you can stab someone in the front of the stomach, all while being inside your dorm." Shuichi's words weren't making much sense to me, so I listened intently as he explained. 

Things finally clicked in my head, "Oh! If the body was still leaning on my door, I would've basically been closed in, even if I opened your door a tiny crack, I wouldn't have been able to have maneuvered my arm so that I could stab him in the front." Things were starting to make sense, "But since the body's been dragged away from my door, I could still have done it, because I could easily enter my room again." 

"Hmmm..." Maki hummed, "But honestly, the fact that there's blood on her door almost has the same effect, Kaede has to have injured Rantaro while he was still leaning on her door, which is nearly impossible because... there are no wounds on his back and only in the front." 

"So... how do you plan to determine who the killer is?"  I hesitantly asked. I wasn't sure what to do. 

"Rule out the possible choices, and figure out what fits best." Shuichi answered, "Hmm... I think Rantaro only died, or at least was stabbed near the end of our one-hour sleep time. I mean, I was lingering around the dorms for the first 40 minutes, until I headed to the dining hall with Maki, so he had to have died after." 

"What? He was still there after 40 minutes? He was supposed to wake me up after 30 minutes had passed." I was shocked, "..why didn't Rantaro wake me up?"

"Wake you up? What do you mean?" Shuichi asked. I then explained the plan I formulated with Rantaro. Shuichi nodded in understanding. "Perhaps he was planning to kill you, or maybe he was making sure you got extra sleep because he didn't need it. Either way, if he did, it might've been you dead right now." 

That made me go silent, it was almost my fault that Rantaro was dead. I honestly didn't know why this had to happen to the one ally I truly had in this horrific place. 

Rantaro how am I supposed to end this killing game now? 

"Don't worry Kaede! It's not your fault unless your the culprit!" Maki said, attempting to console me, "After all, this is a killing game it was bound to happen eventually." 

"No! This... this is inhumane, why... why would anyone..." My eyes widened when I realized I said that out loud. I looked up at Shuichi and Maki to see them looking at my strangely. 

"I mean, Kaede you and Rantaro both signed up for this killing game right?" Maki asked. "Honestly, it could even be considered an honor to be the first victim! He got the killing game started!" 

"Right..." I said, trying to recover from my outburst earlier, "Honestly, I really do like the killing game. I guess I was just upset because Rantaro was my friend here." I almost twitched at the words "like the killing game" I wanted to vomit for even saying those words. But I held my ground. 

"Yeah... I get that." Shuichi said, clearly lying. Obviously I was the crazy one here, being upset over someone's death, when I had only known them for a few mere days, and we were in a killing game, one we signed up for nonetheless... I could read the atmosphere, and I knew that being overly upset wasn't what I should be doing right now. 

"Ding Dong Bing Bong! Please head to the fountain of judgement for the class trial!" 

"Yay! It's finally starting!" Maki cheered, "Let's go Shuichi!" 

"You go on ahead, I'll be right there." Maki simply nodded at Shuichi's words and left in a hurry, clearly excited. I started to go follow until Shuichi called me. "Kaede."

"Yes Shuichi?" I asked. 

Shuichi stood up from next to Rantaro's body, "I want you to know, that no matter what... I will find the culprit." Shuichi then gave me a twisted grin, "I can't let this game end before I get executed after all!" 

I took a step back away from the Ultimate Detective, this twisted smile was something I had never seen on Shuichi's face before. 

"So if you are the culprit, I will not hesitate to persecute you at every word you say." 

I nodded my head, "I'm not the culprit, but please find them."

"Of course I'll find them. I need to live my dream to it's fullest." 

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That took a lot longer to write then I thought. 

Anyway! The first trial is coming up. I'm excited. 

Who do you guys think it will be? I know there's not much evidence right now though, so best guess? 

Anyway, as always... 

THANK YOU FOR READING