All fifteen made it back on time, give or take a few minutes. More people were comfortable sitting down at the same table this time - only a couple people chose alternatives.
    
Kyouko took her usual seat at the edge and immediately felt at ease. It was like she hadn’t been gone for a year - this was her seat. Every morning they would gather here and check their numbers. Every morning they would hope their numbers hadn’t thinned out, and they had to hope anyone absent had an innocent reason for it.

When she looked at the table before her, all she could see was the figures of her former classmates in their usual seats. If she blinked, they would be gone, wouldn’t they?

No, they were already gone. No point fooling yourself now, Kyouko. For now, she had to focus on who was currently nearby. To her left in a traditionally an empty seat was Hakuba - likely the only person who was completely comfortable to be sitting beside her. Beside him was across from Kyouko: Kaito Kuroba sat where Ishimaru’s spot was. Naegi would have been next to him, but instead that unnerving Akako Koizumi was there…

...To Kyouko’s right, Maizono’s seat was occupied by Conan Edogawa, and Mouri was in Fujisaki’s seat. To the right of her was Suzuki and Toyama in Asahina’s and Celes’s seats respectively, and then Hattori took Hagakure’s seat. If not for Kyouko, she imagined the Osakan might have been seated beside Edogawa instead. But, then maybe not, because that would mean he would be beside the British detective he so-clearly loathed. 

(But then maybe Hakuba would move too because Kyouko wasn’t there. Kyouko bit her lip, a bit flustered at that thought.)

(Hakuba was trying really hard, wasn’t he?)

For the time being, the locations of the rest were not of her concern. She would be familiar with them eventually, but. The only person standing was that Subaru Okiya, who seemed to be observing them as he leaned on a nearby table. And then there was the other elementary school student, who had silently taken a seat at a different table from Okiya and the main group. It seems she also fetched herself a cup of tea from the kitchen. A few others cautiously brought out drinks, but several, including the SHSL Detective herself, decided it would be best to take their seat and sort out the safety of consumables later.

(Although, Kyouko, admittedly, just didn’t want to bother with making a cup of coffee right now. Maybe she would once they were done - just in case she wanted to do further investigating during Night Time.)

Kyouko didn’t want to start the meeting with herself; she hoped she would be able to sit back and listen as much as possible. She didn’t see who grouped with who, so this would be an excellent chance to properly identify who knew who. It was decided they would speak by group - starting with the single group of four.

“Sera-kun, Okiya-san, and Takagi-kun joined me,” Sato began. “We stayed in the area around the cafeteria. We examined the kitchen, which has fresh produce that gets restocked by the mastermind, if that bear is to be believed. Either way, it looks like there’s enough to last for a significant amount of time. Either someone prepared for us, or people have been living here for a long time.”

“There are knives right out in the open, available for the taking,” Sera said somewhat slyly, but then her voice grew serious. “One of them had been used already. It looked like there was blood on the tip of it.”

Everyone else was shocked in their own way. Kyouko didn’t change her expression, but she was surprised. Was that knife…? Perhaps, in other places…

...Conan made the same connection, but he had proof, unlike Kirigiri. There had been blood in his room. The weapon and the location of murder? Part of him wanted to bring up the connection, but someone else spoke before him to make the mystery stranger.

“Actually, Kuroba-kun, Koizumi-san, and I…” Amuro started, “...found some splotches of blood in the gymnasium. Near the stage - I don’t think it was there earlier. It was only a splatter though. I can’t say if it’s related. I don’t think it could have come from a knife wound...”

Kyouko cursed inwardly. If she had just kept her focus instead of debating with Hakuba… She didn’t dare look over at him, but she hoped he realized it was completely his fault that they missed it.

“D’ya think th’ blood could’ve been put there on purpose? Maybe ta show a murder was committed there in th’ past?”

Conan had shown Hattori the blood that he had found, so they were likely having the same thought. He didn’t want to talk about it to everyone yet, because that would mean there had been two murder locations and only one weapon thus far. It’s not unlikely, but there was still something strange about that.

...Kyouko could sense Hakuba’s eyes on her, but she wouldn’t speak unless prompted. Plus, she thought it a bit strange. If that was the case, someone else should be speaking up about what they found…

“...We’ll come back to that later,” Sera said, bringing the conversation back to their investigation. “There’s also a storage room down the hall with plenty of miscellaneous items. Food, clothing… That bear told us that the cafeteria is closed during the night, so we can get food from there if we wake up hungry.”

Hm. That was different - the storage room was closed during the beginning last time. And yet...

“We also tried to look at the room across the hall, which seems to be a public bath.” Takagi picked up the conversation from here, “But Monokuma said it’s off-limits. Something about advancing to the next level, which, uh...”

“...means the survivors after the first murder will gain access to it,” Hakuba finished. “We spoke to him about it as well. It seems new parts of the school open up after a murder happens. There are five floors, so, theoretically, at least four murders need to occur to get to the top floor.”

Kyouko was grateful he didn’t mention that the information specifically came from her, which would have been sure to bring doubt.

“...Tha’ means we’ll be eight people short from what we started with, right?”

“At least, yes. Someone could always choose to kill two people, or… would suicide count?”

“...It would,” Kyouko confirmed, her voice slow as she stared at the gray table top before her, “but it’s still treated like a murder by Monokuma. We still need to identify that the culprit and the victim were one and the same.”

“Hey, does it matter in that case?” Suzuki seemed a little bit disturbed by the conversation, but surely people were thinking the same thing. “I mean, there’s no one to leave the school whether we figure out the suicide or not…”

“...Will something happen to the rest of us if we can’t figure it out?”

Mouri had a logical point, because it was what made sense with the available information. Kyouko knew people were looking at her and expecting an explanation, but she would not focus on them. She couldn’t answer, due to Monokuma’s threat. She wished she could, because maybe it would make anyone considering murder just a little more thoughtful.

The silence drawled out, giving everyone enough time to think about the possibilities. From off to the side, Okiya broke the silence.

“Finally, we looked at the windows in the rooms we went to. The plates have been bolted on snugly - from the inside. I don’t believe we’ll be getting them off anytime soon.”

Kyouko wished to tell them how they probably shouldn’t bother with the windows, because not even Oogami and Oowada together were able to do anything about them, but giving them that hope was probably more beneficial. 

Maybe.

“We’ll speak next! Amuro-san already mentioned the blood in the gym, so I’ll talk about the trophy room.” Kuroba managed to keep a cheery attitude during this, which was kind of refreshing, Kyouko had to admit. But… Ishimaru had energy too. And was much more determined than this person. The more she listened to Kuroba’s voice, the more it grated on her nerves.

“There wasn’t much there, but in the trophy case, it looked like something had been taken from there, since there was a big gap… There was this gold paint on the spot, too.”

“Ah, maybe that’s…!” It probably wouldn’t help them, but Conan figured: one mystery at a time, right? “In my room-- umm, ‘Makoto Naegi’’s room, there was a pretend sword with gold paint on it. Maybe it came from there?”

“I guess, but why would he take it like that…? The paint seemed kind of messy…”

“Do you think,” Amuro suggested, “that he wanted a weapon for self-defense, but he didn’t want to end up killing anyone? Assuming the rumours about this place are true, of course. We still can’t be sure.”

“R-Rumours?! H-Hey, d’ya mean… th’ students really killed each other?!”

“But what about… Monokuma said this was a ‘reunion’,” Mouri recalled. “If he meant the class that participated in this weird game before, then wouldn’t there only be eight of them left at most? A-And why would any of them come back…?”

“Why don’ we ask one ourselves?” And Hattori leaned on the table to see Kirigiri, who was at the other end. Her face betrayed no emotions.

“Why did ya come back? ‘S pretty dangerous here, yeah? Ya should’ve known better than anyone. An’ where’s tha rest’f th’ class?”

Conan could see the Osakan was hoping to bait her into answering something - whether she was being truthful or not. They both noticed it: she only answered questions if she was asked directly and specifically.

But Kirigiri did not falter. Her face was like stone - there was nothing to read off the surface.

“I have my reasons for returning.”

“Yeah? What’re they?”

When she didn’t reply, Hakuba decided to white knight her for the time being.

“She has no need to explain her initial motives to us. We’re getting off topic--”

The Osakan stood up quickly and glared, the chair screeching against the ground.

“‘Course she needs ta explain herself! Ta escape, ya gotta murder someone! What more d’ya need?! Th’ other fifteen students are prob’ly either dead or are th’ culprits behind this!”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean she killed someone! Monokuma mentioned another way the surviving students escaped when they were here--”

“Oh, so yer gonna believe him, then? What other lies’ve they been feedin’ ya?”

“Well we clearly don’t know all the rules to this ‘game’, so unless you’re willing to murder someone to confirm your suspicions--!”
“Hakuba-san, please sit down.”

Kirigiri didn’t move, but her voice was harsh. Hakuba’s head turned to look at her with wide eyes as if he had just been slapped, and after a moment he slowly sat back in his seat, massaging his temples to dispose of the tension.

She didn’t say anything to Hattori, but she glared icy daggers at him that said “you should sit down and shut up too”. With nudging from Kazuha, he begrudgingly did just that.

There was an awkward tension in the room now. Both of them made valid points and being unaware of the truth was infuriating. Amuro was the first to break the silence with a calm, but carefully worded question.

“Perhaps we’re taking too much at face-value. Do we actually have evidence that Kirigiri-san attended this school? Certainly, she seems to know her way around, but everything else could have been fabricated by the mastermind. We don’t even know if she has one of those ‘Super High School Level’ talents. It would explain why there are only fifteen dorm rooms and sixteen ID cards. Hers is fake. How about it?”

Without a word, Hattori pulled something out of his pocket and slid it onto the table. Everyone leaned over to get a good look at it. Conan knew what it was, so he chose to focus on the suspicious party’s reaction. Her eyes widened just a bit when she saw it, but it seemed to be more out of… confusion? Like she had never seen it before, or hadn’t even known of its existence.

(And she hadn’t - Kyouko wanted to dive onto the table and scoop the precious photo into her arms and hug it close to her chest. They had looked through the school for personal belongings and these photos, but she had never seen this one before…!)

“Is this… before the school closed down?” Ran asked.

“Looks like it,” Sera assumed, “since there are no plates on the windows. They’re all in uniform, so they must be students, right?”

“Could someone please pass that over?” Kirigiri’s voice barely wavered when she saw it - it just sounded like she was talking about another piece of evidence to be looked at then passed on. 

It seemed there was some hesitation in the middle before Conan received it and immediately offered it to the woman beside him - they had all seen it, so there was no reason to be cautious about it now. Preserving evidence was important, but it would probably be worth a lot more if she tore it up.

Kirigiri took it carefully, as if she was scared it might bend - no, as if it might crumble into dust if she touched it. Conan could see the slightest of smiles appearing on her face, and he could only imagine that seeing the photo brought back a fond memory. 

For that moment, it… really didn’t look like the face of someone who could heartlessly kill their classmates.

Just a moment later, Kirigiri glanced up with a strange aura of peacefulness.

“Please continue the discussion, everyone. Avoid the baseless theories, if possible, unless we have extra time at the end.”

The last part felt like it should have been said forcefully, like a warning, but she was stuck in whatever little bubble of tranquility that the picture offered her, so her voice came out gentle and soft. It seemed to Conan that she was trying to ingrain every detail of that piece of paper into her mind, and he didn’t really know what to make of that.

“Anyways, uh…” Kuroba struggled to remember where they were, “There were also some restrooms but nothing was in them. The infirmary was closed off, just like the public bath. Last, we checked the entrance hall. Like before, we couldn’t get the door open…”

“We did find a box that kept spare ID cards in it, though,” Koizumi said. “So it looks like we can take them whenever we want. Only Chihiro Fujisaki’s is in there.”

“Sonoko, Kazuha-chan, and I searched the rooms near there,” Ran began. There was something worrying about her tone, but Conan would have to wait to figure out what it was about.

“First there was the school shop. It seems like if we find these things called ‘Monokuma coins’, we can put them into get a random prize… They don’t seem to do anything though.”

“Tha two classrooms didn’t have anythin’ in them,” Kazuha continued. She also had this worried layer to her voice, but it seemed like the girls were waiting until the end to talk about it. “There’s also a hall tha’ led t’ a big red door, but it was locked. Tha’ dumb bear said somethin’ about a courtroom?”

“Last there was the AV room, and, um…” It was clear they found something strange here, which had been making them nervous all this time. Ran tried to continue explaining their discovery.

“...In one of the DVD players, there was already a disc with ‘Sayaka Maizono’’s name on it. It seemed like it was some kind of threatening video…”

“What was on it?” Conan asked, unable to hide the urgent curiosity in his voice.

“Um… It showed her band, performing on stage, but then, it seemed like something bad happened, because all the idols were lying on the floor and Monkumar’s voice said that everyone had forgotten about Maizono-san… It ended saying you could find out what happened to them after ‘graduation’.”

The response was a quiet unease. Conan happened to glance over to his left - Kirigiri had looked up from the photo with a somber look on her features. He noticed Hakuba’s eyes were trained on her for just a moment before he spoke.

“Do you think it could have been some sort of motive?”

Hattori was ready to argue the other detective down, “Hey, hey, it coulda been fake--”

“But did Maizono-san think it was fake?” Amuro asked, cutting Hattori off. At the mention of a ‘motive’, a few people looked relatively fearful.

“Y-You don’t mean… the mastermind gave things like that to people to drive them to kill?!” Sonoko stammered. Kuroba’s generally positive demeanour dissipated and there was a clear hint of distress in his voice.

“Hey, the mastermind couldn’t have power like that, could he? Like, if more than one person got a motive like that… So it has to be fake, right? You would hear about stuff like this happening to people if it was real.”

“That’s not the only type of motive either,” Hakuba said, and all eyes turned to him. It seemed for a moment he regretted releasing that information, but he continued on. “From my understanding, among other motives, the students were told to murder someone or their darkest secret would be revealed to everyone. They were given envelopes with the information inside, so it seemed the mastermind’s knowledge was vast…” 

With a glance, Conan could see a few people were unnerved by that. People were uncharacteristically straightening or even had a subtle frown forming on their face. Aside from his own situation, he didn’t realize so many people had such carefully guarded lives - especially considering the Hope’s Peak class was a group of high school students. A group of high school students that already knew each other, no less. What could possibly be hidden from them to drive someone to murder--?

“...Was tha’ all ya found?” Hattori asked, albeit somberly. The girls nodded, so he started to explain his own findings.

“Th’ brats an’ I didn’t find much aside from tha’ photo.” He gestured to Kirigiri, who was still holding onto the little thing. (Conan grimaced at being called a ‘brat’, and he wondered if Haibara was fuming behind that sour face of hers.) 

“I’d like ta mention tha’ it was found in’a weird place in tha laundry room, so I think th’ mastermind wanted us ta find it.”

Hakuba muttered something about “jumping to conclusions” but the Osakan ignored him.

“We searched some borin’ restrooms an’ found tha trash room was locked by a gate - Monokuma said he’s givin’ tha key ta someone eventually.”

“He already did.” Kirigiri retrieved the key from her pocket and placed it on the table. “If no one trusts me with it, I will gladly hand it over to someone else.”

Her moment of bliss from seeing the photo was gone by now, and her face was expressionless once more. 

“...I’d like ta search tha’ room, so I’ll get it from ya tomor--”

Before he could even finish, Kirigiri forcefully slid it down the table towards him. It stopped just past him, but her aim wasn’t off by much. He gingerly picked it up and studied it quietly. Kirigiri stood up to address everyone with clear determination.

“Has everyone shared all of their findings? It is almost Night Time, so I would like to offer a few requests.”

Nobody objected, but from the nearby table, Haibara commented on one last thing.

“There’s one detail nobody mentioned: our rooms are completely soundproof. Even though plenty of people passed through the hallway, I didn’t hear a thing.”

Kirigiri nodded, as if to confirm that fact. Next Conan spoke, reminded about something else.

“And also in our rooms, it seems like our clothes were brought here! That’s pretty weird, huh?”

“Yes, it’s suspicious, isn’t it?” Hakuba put a hand to his chin and leaned back in his seat. “I certainly didn’t bring anything with me, and I have no recollection of anything going missing. And how could they break into my estate…?”

“Sounds like we’re dealing with an organization with a lot of connections,” Sera said. “Anyone we thought we could trust could be working for them. When we get out, it might be good to do a background check on the people close to us.”

“Including people here on the inside with us.” 

Amuro had a bemused smile when he said that, as if he were joking, and Conan only wondered what the heck was going through his mind. Where did he lie in all of this? He could only pray that he was on their side, otherwise things might get messy.

When no one else piped up about any last discoveries, the female detective continued speaking.

“Firstly, in addition to the rules set by the mastermind, I would like to propose another one. That is, we remain in our rooms for the entire duration of Night Time - from ten until seven - unless there is an emergencity. It would be to our advantage if we reduced our paranoia by staying locked in the dorm rooms all night. Unfortunately, it isn’t an official rule, so we can’t enforce it, but it is generally assumed that people wandering around during the night are up to no good. If you don’t feel safe, it isn’t against the rules to stay in someone else’s room, so feel free to do such.”

No one had any reason to object to that rule, so it was relatively quiet except for a couple “I agree”s here and there. Kirigiri exhaled softly, and Conan figured she was preparing herself for the next proposition, which wasn’t quite as helpful as this one.

“...Next, I request we meet here, in the cafeteria, every morning for breakfast. It will make it easier to keep track of everyone, so we know when… if something unfortunate has happened while we were sleeping. But, after everyone has arrived, feel free to do whatever you wish.”

It was like she was suggesting a routine. Wake up at the same time, meet with everyone at the same time, kill time (instead of people) for the remainder of the day, and go to bed at the same time. It wasn’t a bad idea, though. 

“Ehhh, so we have to wake up early every day?!” Kuroba groaned and put his head down on the table. His light tone had returned now that earlier worries have been forgotten.

“Ah, it’s like we’re in school, isn’t it?” Hakuba replied with a smirk. “Don’t worry, Kuroba-kun, I’ll be sure to wake you up in the morning everyday at exactly seven o’clock so you don’t sleep in. ...Aren’t you glad to have me as your roommate?”

“...I don’t want to be your roommate anymore.”

Aside from a few groanings, it seemed everyone was able to agree with that idea. Kyouko was relieved - and it seemed they were done just in time, too, because a little jingle echoed through the speaker, with Monokuma fizzing to life on the television hanging from the ceiling in the corner. He was in the room behind the Monokuma door on one of the high floors, but Kyouko was the only one who knew that.

“Ehh… This is a school announcement. It is now ten PM. Night Time begins now. The cafeteria’s doors will be locked shortly. You are forbidden to enter it. Well then, good night. I wish you all have pleasant dreams…”

The television turned off, and the room was silent once more. Kyouko almost couldn’t believe how much she recognized this as ‘just routine’. She wasn’t fazed. Really, her only worry was if the masterminds behind this attacked someone in the night. After all, no one should be motivated to murder at this point, right?

“Good night, everyone,” Kyouko said as she stepped back and pushed her chair under the table. “I’ll be seeing you all in the morning.”

It wasn’t something she usually did, but with such an unfamiliar crowd, she gave a small bow before turning to leave the room. She got a couple “good night”s in return as she heard the chairs scraping against the floor. It honestly made her feel reassured. Just a little bit.

She was at the door to her room before Hattori stopped her.

“Hey, d’ya mind if I hang onto tha picture fer now?”

She was very tempted to tell him that, no, it belonged to her, and in fact she would be keeping any pictures like this that they found in the future, thank you very much.

But she couldn’t. There was no point. It would just lead everyone to think she was either withholding evidence, or maybe that she was really sappy when it came to her friends. And even though the latter was slightly true, she really didn’t want everyone to know that. They didn’t need to know. Her relationship with her former classmates was none of their business, after all.

So she gave it to him without a word. If he noticed any hesitation, he didn’t call her out on it. He did, however, offer an apology (for what? This, or his earlier behaviour - Kyouko didn’t know) and said goodnight to her. No one else stopped to talk to her, so she went into her room and flopped down on the bed.

Kyouko was too exhausted for a midnight search of the school. Besides, she was aware that there shouldn’t be anything worth checking out until after the first murder. And yet, despite the spark of excitement new areas (including two without cameras) offered, she really hoped no one would die. She hoped that, maybe since... 

    since everyone here was exposed to the detective life, maybe...

      maybe they… 

        wouldn’t... 

          be… 

            driven… 

              to... 

                kill… 
                  
                  … 
                  
                    …