The Conundrum Corporation |Oumasai

Chapter 4

"And then I got the hammer and hit it on the head! It went flying! Wooshh! Afterwards, me and Shuichi escaped and we exited the maze!" I yelled with enthusiasm. The Hope-Lie stared at me. I was tending to a teddy bear today. Apparently, it's owner grew old and abandoned the poor thing. I felt bad for it.
"And all this happened on your birthday which was yesterday?" the teddy bear asked. This was the third Hope-Lie on my list and I had one more to go.
"Yep it did!" I sang. "Nishishi~"
"Okay... I never knew Mr. Saihara was so brave," the bear looked at me shocked.
"Welp, now you know. Anyhow, I have to go. Don't miss me too much," I laughed. The bear smiled.

I skipped back into the main room, listening to the sound of chattering. I looked at the sheet I was given and sighed. I hate being told what to do, but I have to wait a week until I could freely choose what Hope-lie I talk to. Having a list was so boring and I hate boredom. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around.
"Hi Kokichi, sorry if I scared you," Shuichi said nonchalantly. I was quite surprised to see him as I haven't seen him all day.
"It takes a lot more to scare the supreme leader of evil, you know?" I smiled. Shuichi laughed,
"Anyhow, the leaders and I have this friend that's offered to host a tea party for us. It sounds childish, but it will basically be us just drinking tea."
"Childish? Tea parties are great!" I interjected with a playful tone. Back in my organization, I would give my employees a tea break so that they would fulfil their jobs to the best of their abilities.
"I'm glad you think that. Would you like to come? It'll be at 2 in the cafeteria," he explained. I looked at Shuichi's watch. It said 12 right now.
"Mkay. Count me in."
"Great, I'll see you there."
"Byeeee Shumai!"
"Bye," he replied and then walked off.  I had two hours left which wasn't a lot of time. I hurriedly walked towards the room I had to be in. The next Hope-Lie on the list was a swan. Scary, I know right? Anyways, there was not much information about it, but what her profile did say though was that she could change into a human. Interesting, a swan that transforms into an actual being. You don't see that everyday. I looked at her profile again. She has been here for a year, yet she hasn't revealed her past to anyone. Since I'm in the Information Department, it was my duty to get to know the Hope-Lies better and collect their information besides collecting hope fragments. Maybe, I could get her talking. Let's seeee.

"BOOM! The Ultimate Supreme Leader is here! Nishishi~ Thanks for waiting!" I sang at the top of my lungs. The white swan turned around and quacked.
"Aww thanks for the compliment," I teased. I didn't even understand what she just said. The swan glared at me and then just looked away.
"Sooo~ are you having fun living that swan life? Orrr do you want to change form so we can have a conversation?" I asked curiously. I really wanted to see her transform. The swan didn't turn her head to look at me. Gosh, how am I going to get any hope fragments or information at all? I was not the type to give up and one way or another she was going to talk.
"Come on, don't be like that! Don't be boring. I don't like boring people," I giggled. The swan turned around and honked. It looked as if she was looking at the thing behind me which was the door. Was she thinking of escaping? I turned around to check if the door was locked. Phew it was. I looked back at the swan only to see that there was no swan!
"Huh?" I gasped.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" a cold voice spoke. I looked to the right to see a tall lady with a white ballerina outfit and long blonde hair that was tied up into a bun.
"Swan Girl? Is that you?" I questioned happily.
"That's a petty name. You can call me Yuri. If you would like to know a bit about me I suggest you sit down," the girl ordered. I slumped to the ground.
"I had been a ballerina for as long as I could remember. I was also very popular and good at the dance. I could do every single move perfectly, but of course where there is perfection, there is jealousy. My best friend's dad ran the dance studio I went to. He kicked me out because he wanted his daughter to be noticed and I was taking the spot light. I-I was so angry," Yuri explained, hurt and anger boiling in her eyes. I could see that she meant no harm but whatever she had done ended her up like this.
"I tried to curse her and her father with the help of this book...it sounded so stupid at the time but such a good idea. However, the curse backfired and turned me like this instead. Stupid me and my stupid thoughts," Yuri said sadly before she started crying. I got up and comforted her the best I could. She soon started to relax and told me to go. It was 1:45.
"Yuri, I'll try to see you more often ok?" I promised.
"T-thank you. Before you go, I need to tell you something," Yuri started to speak more seriously.
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"You...you...just know that something wrong will happen today. Okay?" Yuri stuttered. She looked unsure, yet certain.
"How do you know that-" I started.
"I have a hunch," she replied cutting me off. Was she hiding something?
"Mkay. Well see you soon," I sang walking out.
Something wrong huh? I would have talked to her more about it if it wasn't 1:50.

I ran into the cafeteria and glanced around. A lot of employees were here and I couldn't see Shuichi.
"Ahh Kokichi, you're here. On time, too."
I turned around to see Rantaro.
"Heyyy Rantaro, what's up?" I said cheerfully.
"Nothing much-" Rantaro started.
"Trick question. It's air! Nishishi~" I laughed.
He looked at me annoyed before continuing, "Anyways come on Shuichi is waiting for you," he sighed. I followed him towards the blue coloured doors which I thought was the cleaner's room, but was I wrong. It was a large room with a long white table. There were colourful, velvety chairs with fluffy cushions lined up neatly against the table. It was a separate cafeteria for the leaders, however, they barely used it.
"Kokichi, over here," Shuichi shouted. I ran over to him.
"Heyyy Shumai. Guess what!" I laughed.
"What?" he asked curiously.
"I found out all this information about Swan Girl a.k.a Yuri!" I exclaimed triumphantly.
"But no one has been able to find out anything about her..." he looked at me shocked.
"I know, but she transformed and talked to me for ages about her past," I explained. Shuichi had a big smile on his face.
"That's amazing Kokichi! Seriously, well done!" he cheered in excitement. He was really happy about this.
"See there's nothing the Supreme Leader can't do," I said specifically facing Rantaro who was staring off into space. "Avocado? Did you just get turned into guacamole? Say something!" I yelled. Shuichi looked at Rantaro and then laughed.
"Come on Kokichi don't bother the poor guy, let's go." Shumai smiled. We walked towards the table and everyone was getting into seats. I didn't know who was who, but from what I was seeing there were eight people including me here. There were five leaders so eight take away five is three and take away me and the friend hosting this makes one. Who was the last person? Maybe that inventor girl? I don't know. Everyone had settled down and I sat next to Shumai.

We had been talking for thirty minutes when the tea was being around. A girl with a pretty maid uniform and green, olive eyes came passing a tray. On the tray, was pink tea.
"Thanks Kirumi," a girl with brown hair and a red uniform spoke. Kirumi was the friend hosting this then. She handed out the tea one by one while we all continued taking.
"So on Saturday, what are we going to do?" I asked Shumai.
"Hmm, we could go to the indoor beach?" He suggested. I blinked a few times. Indoor beach?
"There's an indoor beach!" I yelled excitedly.
"Shushhh!" Shuichi giggled. I put my hand to my mouth in embarrassment.
"Nsihsihisis~ Sowwy," I laughed.
"Yes, there's an indoor beach there's also an- oh thank you Kirumi," Shuichi's gaze shifted from me to Kirumi. The girl handed me the tea with a smile before moving on to Korekiyo next to me. Shuichi had taken a few sips of the tea already before carrying on.
"-and there's also a bowling alley next to the beach so we could go there after, it's up to you."
I looked at him with joyful eyes.
"It's going to be sooo much fun!" I shouted.
"Haha it will be. So tell me about Swan girl, what was your tactic for getting her to talk?"
Shuichi took a few more sips of his tea and I took a sip too. It tasted like strawberries...strawberries mixed with water, yet it's classified as tea. It does have a milky taste to it. It's actually quite good.
"Well I just started speaking to her and-"
Thud.
"S-Shuichi?" I yelled. "SHUCHI!" I shouted grabbing everyone's attention. Shuichi had collapsed and landed on the floor with a big bang. It was unusually loud...was his head made out of steel? Anyways, that doesn't matter. The girl with the red uniform and brown pigtails quickly came and scooped him up. I stared in shock at what had happened. His tea had spilt all over the blue chair he had sat on. You could see that the velvet was soaked with a purple tint.
"Tenko, don't just stand there, help me!" shouted the girl with pigtails.
"R-right sorry!" A girl with black hair came rushing over next to me and a collapsed Shuichi. They carried him out.
"Kokichi, come with us we are going to the infirmary," Rantaro spoke worryingly.
"Okay I'm coming," I murmured. Will he be alright? He was just talking fine a minute ago and then...then he was just gone. How?

At the infirmary, Rantaro and I waited for an hour, although it felt as if a whole day had passed. I told Rantaro to go and that I'll wait but he insisted that he should stay. We waited silently. I stared at the white clock above Shuichi's hospital bed. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The sound drove me mad. Each second passing felt like a minute as I drowned in the silence surrounding me. Suddenly, Shuichi's eyes fluttered. I immediately got up and went to stand beside him. His eyes fully opened after a minute and he stared at me.
"What happened?" he muttered.
"You collapsed, but we don't know what caused it," I explained softly. He looked confused and he didn't speak for a few minutes.
"Kokichi..." he started to speak.
"Yes?" I replied.
"I feel like I can't remember something that I'm supposed to. Like...I've forgotten something important. It was really important," he whispered. I looked at him confused. The doctor said that he didn't hit his head so hard so there wouldn't be any memory loss. I turned to face Rantaro and for a minute I thought that I could see a smirk on his face.
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Th—r ——g — —-.