It was around noon when everyone got back. Conan decided to return to his normal seat so he didn’t have to sit beside the usually-loud Sonoko. Although, it seemed she was relatively mindful of her volume today and didn’t have much to say. 
    
He wasn’t sure if he was pleased to see the seating arrangement changed to accommodate the missing person: Hattori took Ran’s seat while Sonoko and Kazuha swapped places. Sera moved to sit beside Sonoko, and everyone else remained on the other side of the table. 

...Really, the main problem with this arrangement was that the only thing separating Hakuba and Hattori was Conan himself and Kirigiri. He could only hope it stayed that way and they proved to be an effective barrier between the two or else he would have to find a new table (or a new room) to eat in. 

He wondered if Haibara would welcome his presence over at her table.

(Probably not, but.)

A lot of people approached the bespectacled boy to ask if he was okay and he had to put on the cute smile and say, yep, everything was fine! He appreciated the gesture, but he… really didn’t need it right now. Chatting with Hattori and Kirigiri had lightened his mood, but now everyone was reminding him of yesterday’s events all over again.

If he glanced over, he could recognize the effect Ran’s departure had on others. Sonoko lost her best friend, which explained her quiet demeanour. Kazuha didn’t yell at Hattori for as long as usual. It was ridiculous to think he had been the only one who could have possibly been suffering. And he wondered…

…

“Right, I’ll start with th’ first floor,” Hattori said, kicking off the meeting with a smirk. 

“Th’ only room tha’ opened up was th’ public bath across th’ hall. Along with th’ bath, there’s a sauna. Also, there’re no cameras in any’ve th’ rooms over there.”

“Eh? Hey, that’s a relief!” Kuroba grinned. “At least the masterminds were kind enough to give us a little bit of privacy!”

“And we’ll be making sure you give the ladies their privacy if they choose to use it,” Hakuba said. Sonoko eyed the magician with a look.

“Oh, so you’re that kind of guy, huh…? Pervert.”

“I don’t think anyone has anything to worry about,” Amuro assured, “since at least three of the women here are skilled in various fighting techniques. And I can’t even speak for Kirigiri-san or Koizumi-san.”

Kirigiri shrugged. “I said I didn’t have those kinds of reflexes in the trial, but I did get the opportunity to watch a certain Sakura Oogami - also known as the strongest person on Earth - train on more than one occasion.”

“I think Kuroba-kun knows not to act so carefree around me.”

Now outmatched, Kuroba laughed awkwardly and cleared his throat.

“Anyways! My group searched the second floor bathrooms and classrooms. We didn’t really find anything in the bathrooms--”

“Likely because you were too busy harassing us about the girls’ restroom,” Koizumi clarified. Beside her, Sato nodded in agreement, who had been a part of their group this time around.

“--But! We found another photo in the furthest classroom! It’s another picture with Kirigiri-san--”

Beside Kyouko, Hakuba placed the photo on the table for everyone to see. It was another picture from before the school closed down, assumedly, but it was much different from the last one.

“Is this a… school dance…?”

Toyama caught Kyouko’s confusion and looked at her with a similar expression. “Kirigiri-san… Y’ mean ya don’t remember this picture bein’ taken? Or... this event happening…?”

“I think I’d remember wearing a dress like that!” Suzuki exclaimed, mesmerized by the scene. Kyouko quickly corrected herself, cursing her impulsive voice.

“No, of course I do.” Her eyes kept on the picture - she would imprint this one into her memory too. Maybe if she thought about it hard enough, it would actually become a memory…

“It’s just… it feels like I’m looking at a dream right now.”

“I suppose it would,” Takagi said, “after everything that’s happened to you.”

Kyouko would lie about recognizing these scenes until someone figured it out. Her memories of actually attending classes at Hope’s Peak had been gone for a year. The rest of her life trickled back, but she assumed it was because she had people to talk to and evidence to support her life before the school. None of the survivors remembered the classes either, so there was nothing but... these pictures.

She thought that maybe the average dreams and thoughts she had of those days were her mind’s way of filling in the gaps, but she might never know for sure.

The picture had a lot of students in it, though a number of them were in the background. She happened to be closer to the camera, flashing a soft smile at whoever the photographer was. There was a hint of envy inside the present day Kyouko Kirigiri, because oh gosh that purple dress looked beautiful and expensive. It seemed to shimmer, even from the confinements of this static image, and-- oh, those were some very nice gloves. Where did those end up? Maybe she could still find them within the school somewhere--

Okay, enough admiring herself. It seemed this dance took place within the music room on the fourth floor, the room having been rearranged to fit everyone. Naegi was beside her (and in a suit? She wondered if Togami lent his funds to everyone), but he was mostly cut out of the picture. Enoshima (flashy as always) seemed to be pulling a flustered Oowada around on the dance floor before them. Kyouko could only imagine his embarrassment when he asked her for a dance and she caught herself letting out a giggle imaging the likely regret and confusion that followed. A bit further back, Oogami and Asahina (both in such different yet beautiful dresses!) were with a suited Fujisaki, and if she looked hard enough, it looked like Ishimaru (he looked good in something that wasn’t his uniform, she had to admit) was reprimanding someone just off the photo’s limits.

“...Y’know,” Toyama started, her pensive eyes raising from the dance scene, “it’s kind’ve hard ta believe a group like this could jus’ start killin’ each other…”

“There were a lot of variables involved,” Kyouko explained, her eyes looking up at them all for a moment before returning to the photograph. 

“We were trapped and terrified. We were given motives. The situation was similar to Mouri-san’s - it was self-defense, or we grew impulsive under stress. Some people were simply naturally uncooperative. ...It wasn’t until the fourth execution that we could finally decide our enemy was the mastermind, and not each other.”

Conan blinked and watched Kirigiri’s face with a bit of surprise. It was mentioned before, but after knowing how these killings worked, after experiencing the horror that those twisted executions brought… it was amazing that they continued for so long. The detective’s earlier words rang out in his mind - perhaps this is what she meant about feeling responsible for so many deaths. Was this why she doubted her abilities?

And there was another thing. She clearly didn’t recognize this photo when she first saw it. She effectively covered it up, but he doubted she would be able to truthfully retell the night this took place. But, that didn’t make any sense. How could she forget?

“Speaking of these pictures,” Sera said as she pulled out something quite similar to what they were looking at right now, “we found another one on a floatie in the pool. We’re pretty lucky it didn’t fall in!”

She set it down beside the first one and Kyouko almost looked away in embarrassment. It seemed to be the same day, except now the camera was facing the stage where she, Naegi, and Maizono were singing. She could only imagine it was karaoke, but how they managed to get her onto that stage was a mystery. She and Naegi looked so awkward and out of place in comparison to Maizono, who was so natural and appeared to be having the time of her life.

It wasn’t the focus, but at the edges of the picture she could see other students. A mop of red hair that could only belong to Fukawa-- no, this was Genocider Syo, and she was dragging around a frantic Togami. Celes, with a horrendously elaborate dress, just barely made it in the shot from where she sat. If she squinted, she could see Ikusaba leaning against the wall.

From a few seats over, Toyama smiled longingly. “With memories like this, I don’t think I coulda ever kill anyone… Everyone looks so happy…!”

Kyouko didn’t respond, but she really had to agree. If their memories hadn’t been erased… perhaps not even the strongest of motives could drive them to murder. 

“Eh?” Conan leaned over the table to get a better look. Who was that, in the corner of the picture? He didn’t recognize them.

“Who’s that person? In the black?”

They all looked closer - yes, there was a stranger among the students. After a moment of thought, Sera pulled out the student ID card she held.

“Maybe it’s this ‘Mukuro Ikusaba’, the ‘Super High School Level Soldier’. The one student without a dorm. It’s kinda hard to tell from this photo though...”

“That’s right,” Kirigiri confirmed, “Ikusaba-san was the sixteenth student. ...She was Enoshima-san’s twin sister, so I’m inclined to believe they may have shared a room…”

“Ehhhh?! Enoshima-sama had a twin?! So maybe that’s where those weapons came from!”

The subject wasn’t a secret anymore after what happened at the trial. It seemed most people had gotten over it, but Conan felt Haibara’s eyes trained on him. Still displeased about the whole affair, apparently. The boy decided to change the subject to lightening the general atmosphere.

“Sera-neechan! You said you guys found a pool?! Wow, that makes things a lot better, ne?”

“O-Ooh yeah, there’s somethin’ else…” Kazuha’s expression grew nervous once the conversation moved back to the investigation.

“T’ get ta tha pool, there’re change rooms tha’ can only be opened by ‘r ID cards… Girls’ cards open th’ girls’ change room, and boys’ open th’ boys’. But tha’ bear said, if we lend ‘r cards ta someone else… um...”

“There’s a machine gun attached to the ceiling outside of the rooms,” Haibara continued coldly, “so it will kill us if we try such an illicit thing.”

“T-That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?” Kuroba asked.

“But there’s a way to get around that, isn’t there?” Amuro pointed out. “The rule only states that, if we lend our cards, it is a punishable offense. However, borrowing them…”

“...is perfectly okay,” Sera finished. 

“What a filthy rule.” Haibara took a sip from her tea, and, without letting anyone else from her group continue--

“We also found blood in the girls’ change room.”

“Whoa! No way!”

There was a collective air of surprise, coupled with a few yelps, when Monobear’s voice rang out from the opposite end of the table. The black and white bear leaned back in the chair and threw his feet up on the table.

“You guys should pay more attention to your surroundings! Anyways, I just came to tell you: I thought up another fun way to keep your minds invigorated! Every time you bastards find a new splichy-splotch of blood, I’ll update someone’s Electronic Student ID card with details on the victim! But this information will only be kept on the victim’s ID card, so pay attention!”

Takagi blinked. “So… you’re helping us solve the mysteries of this school?”

“Don’t get me wrong - seeing you guys struggle amuses us all! Dramatic irony, and all that!” 

Monobear hopped onto the table and started marching on over to the opposite side, to the chagrin of everyone else.

“...But no one is actively thinking! Just passively! I realize it’s because the victim isn’t present, so how can you figure anything out? But I can’t give away too much, of course - you’re detectives, so you should be better off than my previous class even with this handicap!”

“Wha’ happens when we solve each case?”

Monobear stopped and looked at Hattori curiously. “Hm… I guess I have to reward you guys, right? How about… I’ll update the culprit’s ID card! I’ll even include a crisp, high definition video of their execution! Because I know how much you bastards love those…!”

Ignoring everyone’s disturbed looks, Monobear continued down the table a few steps before stopping in front of Kirigiri. She didn’t flinch as he peered into her eyes.

“Upupu… It’s my graduation gift to you, Kirigiri-san! Because I know you’ve always wanted to watch your peers die over and over... and over and over and over…”

Conan wanted to tell Monobear to stop taunting her but the SHSL detective didn’t react in the slightest. Her face was stone, and that eventually led to the bear giving up on her.

“...so boring today… Anyways! I’ve updated the cards of the victims you’ve found thus far! And, y’know, if you solve all the killings, maybe I’ll have an extra special reward for you all! Happy hunting!”

And he was gone, leaving everyone in a pit of silence. After a moment, Sera spoke up as she tapped away at her card.

“Everyone should look at their cards to see who the victims are. Ikusaba Mukuro seems to be in the clear!”

After a moment of checking their ID cards, Sonoko piped up.

“Eh?! No way!” She looked so distraught. Given the situation, it was pretty clear why. Sera leaned over to look.

“Yep, looks like Enoshima Junko was a victim. Died in the gymnasium. Cause of death: pierced by multiple sharp objects.” 

(Kyouko sighed internally - deeply. Damn these masterminds.)

Sonoko let Sera take the card. The detective tapped the screen a few times before a toothy smile spread across her features. “Hey, there’s even an option for the picture of the body. ...Ouch, that looks nasty. Poor girl. Anyways, there should be one more victim! Who has their card?”

Everybody looked at their cards - by the lack of response, it seemed no one did. Conan decided to speak up--

“--Actually, I think there has been three victims so far! I found some blood in Makoto-niichan’s shower. Sorry I didn’t see it before…”

“H-Hey, tha’ means we’re missin’ two victims?!”

“Oh, in the entrance hall…!” Kuroba piped up, pleased he may have figured out the solution.

“There was a box with spare ID cards! If none of us have the last two victims, then they must be that ‘Chihiro Fujisaki’ and ‘Sayaka Maizono’, right? Err, but the latter…”

Ran was the one who had Maizono’s card. Would the card be there? Thankfully, Kirigiri answered the question for them.

“After each trial, the Electronic ID cards of the victims and executed end up there. No matter how brutal the execution, the cards only have one weakness. They’ll break if exposed to high temperatures for a long time. ...In other words, be sure not to take your card into a place like the sauna.”

That was an odd warning. Why would they ever do that? But she didn’t say it like a joke, so… has it happened before?

...What strange peers she once had.

“Someone should probably go get them so we can look at them,” Amuro suggested, “and the rest of us can continue discussing our findings.”

Sato stood up. “I’ll go. Akako-chan, would you like to join me?”

Koizumi seemed surprised by the offer, but she agreed anyways. Once the two ladies left the room, Kuroba let out a sigh of relief.

“Hah, a moment of peace… Hey Hakuba, want to switch places with me? You’ll be able to look directly at Kirigiri-san all day~!”

“I’m quite fine where I am, thank you.”

“Oh? Is there something wrong with how I look, Hakuba-san?”

The teasing remark was completely unexpected, and it left the blond detective stumbling over his words.

“N-No, of course not. You always look lovely, Kirigiri-san...”

Maybe it was just Conan’s imagination, but the atmosphere in the room seemed to get a lot lighter when Koizumi left the room. He sat across from her with this arrangement, and she just… unnerved him. He felt that if he let his guard down long enough, he would be blindly trusting her words. Apparently Kuroba was uncomfortable around her as well, and when he spoke with Hattori about everyone the other day, he felt the same, which made him feel a bit less delusional.

“We’ll continue talking about our investigation while they’re gone,” Sera said.

“We couldn’t check out the boys’ change room, so I’ll just continue with the girls’. It seems like everything relevant to the murder is there: there’s blood on the mat, and a bloody dumbbell - which is mostly likely the murder weapon. Some blood on a poster, and…”

“‘Bloodstain fever’ was written on the wall in blood,” Haibara finished, “which is the same message that a certain serial killer leaves at their crimes.”

Huh. That was surprising. Conan knew about this particular signature, and others in the room did as well.

“Genocider Syo, ain’t it…?” Hattori looked past Conan and at the Hope’s Peak detective. “Was tha’ killer a student a’ this school?”

“It could have easily been a copycat crime, however, correct?” Hakuba rebuttaled. Kirigiri shrugged - not because she didn’t know, but because she wasn’t just going to tell them, clearly. Sera picked up the conversation again.

“Anyways, that’s all we found. Next is the library, right?”

She grinned at the remaining three - Takagi, Amuro, and Subaru - who searched the aforementioned together. Takagi nodded and started off with taking out an old envelope.

“First off, we found this. It describes how Hope’s Peak Academy closed down from an unmentioned ‘severe problem’.”

“Wasn’t th’ area gettin’ bad around tha time it closed down…?” Hattori suggested. “Or could th’ problem be related ta when th’ students were trapped like us?”

“For reference,” Kirigiri began, “we found that letter as well. When I and the other students were trapped in this same situation. And it already looked old.”

Hakuba studied the woman beside him carefully before he spoke. “So the school had already been closed for quite some time before you and the other students were trapped inside?”

“Perhaps they were trapped even before they were told to kill each other.”

Haibara’s voice was eerie, and Conan wished she wouldn’t do that around groups of people like this. But her words raised a possibility that couldn’t be denied yet, even if it didn’t quite make sense. 

If the school was closed down, the students should have left. So, either they returned - or were perhaps kidnapped - or they had been locked in there since the school closed. But, surely, there would be more panic if that happened, right?

Then again, the circumstances behind the academy’s abandonment were shrouded in mystery for so long. He remembered he didn’t hear about it closing down until months after it happened. Even then it wasn’t exactly confirmed information. No one knew what was happening beyond the walls, after all. They were just rumours until people became brave enough to check out the area.

But just one look at Kirigiri’s expression made it clear that she wouldn’t reveal anything right now. Another mystery for them to figure out.

“...Along with the letter,” Amuro said, bringing everyone back to the matter at hand, “we found a…”

He paused. It seemed there was something important to address, but another thing came to his mind first.

“Oh, hey, Takagi-keiji… We found something else weird in the library as well, didn’t we?”

“You’re talking about that laptop, right?”

Alarm bells went off in Kyouko’s head. Laptop. Alter Ego.

...No, that was impossible.

At the nod, the officer continued. “We found what appeared to be a broken laptop… but it had been smashed to pieces. I don’t really know much about technology, so, ah…”

“I believe it’s beyond fixing,” Okiya clarified. “Someone was quite thorough with it. Excessively so. Perhaps it had something on it that the masterminds didn’t want us to find.”

Kyouko’s stomach dropped.

She told herself over and over that: it was just a machine, just a program, and Alter Ego wasn’t actually dead. They were on her own laptop at home, and her phone, and on the phones of all her friends--

She thought she was going to throw up.

(Kyouko had a strong, sickly feeling that Alter Ego wouldn’t be able to save them during this game.)

“...Kirigiri-san? Are you alright?”

Slowly her eyes focused on Hakuba beside her. She wanted to say “no”, and she wanted to excuse herself so she could see the wreckage for herself, but she stayed put.

Instead, she lowered her hand from her mouth and took a breath to steady her voice.

“...I’m fine.”

“Was there somethin’ important on tha’ laptop?” Hattori asked.

After a moment, Kirigiri shook her head. The colour slowly returned to her face but she still looked incredibly sad.

“...No. Nothing important. Besides, it’s gone now. That laptop is of no use to us. Let’s move on.”

Everyone was hesitant, but Amuro picked up the conversation where he left off anyways.

“Among all that, at the back of the library, we found a... ‘secret library’, of sorts.”

There was a strange smile on his face and Conan was reminded of how dangerous this person actually was. He’d almost forgotten, seeing as they were in this situation. Originally, he had a sneaking suspicion that those men in black were involved with what was happening, but it quickly became clear that they were dealing with something else entirely. This wasn't their style. It was pretty likely that Amuro only wound up involved in all this because he had been calling himself Kogoro Mouri's apprentice. 

“A lot of interesting stuff in there, to say the least!” Amuro continued, his smile suddenly shifting to something more cheery. “Like important files about various cases and scandals… It seems some of them have been taken, however, because there seems to be some awkward empty spaces on the shelves…”

“We took a few specific ones when we finally escaped from the school,” Kirigiri clarified, having returned to her normal, collected self, “and just so everyone understands: the documents in that room are confidential - details never released to the public. Unsolved crimes, truths about those in the shadows, state documents… I wouldn’t recommend going through them unless you understand the risks or you’re looking for something specific.”

Kazuha frowned, growing uneasy. “R-Risks?”

“Going through them means you’ll be in the know about various government secrets. If certain people found out… you could end up in a dangerous situation, to say the least.”

Kyouko could remember Togami shooing people away from that room. The silver-haired girl didn’t mean to spook anyone. As long as they didn’t spread word of these secrets, they would be fine, after all. But… the warning didn’t hurt.

Plus, if she decided to follow Togami’s example and lounge around there all day, she would be able to see who went in and out of that room. Who was interested in that information. Who may have dark secrets.

From the nearby table, Kyouko could see a smirk forming on Okiya’s face.

“Hm. I wish we knew that while we were there. I skimmed through quite a few of them…”

“As did I,” Amuro admitted sheepishly. “I’m just really interested in that sort of thing, so...”

He laughed awkwardly, as if it was just a harmless error on his part. It seemed this was the end of their findings, so it was a good thing that Sato and Koizumi returned at that moment with two student ID cards.

“Kaito-kun and Kirigiri-san were right,” Sato said as she placed both the cards on the table. “They were both in that box. I took the liberty of looking at them already - they were both victims. There are even pictures of the crime scenes.”

Perhaps by chance, Conan pulled Sayaka Maizono’s card closer to him to discover that it was her that was killed in Naegi’s room. She was stabbed in the stomach… There were some strange things about the body, though.

“I think we can solve Maizono-san’s death right here.” Hattori smirked - Conan was glad he said it, because he was thinking the very same thing.

“Accordin’ ta Ku-- Conan-kun, tha bathroom door in Naegi’s room gets stuck easy ‘n has a trick t’ open it, so tha’ means he told th’ trick t’ Maizono-san. They prob’ly switched rooms for th’ night.”

“So she was chased into the shower by the killer,” Sera continued, “otherwise there would be more blood to show she was dragged in there.”

“And there’s something glittering on her wrist!” Conan exclaimed, pointing at the photo. “Eh?! If you zoom in, it looks like the gold paint from the sword in that room, doesn’t it?”

“If you look carefully, you can see the murder weapon is a kitchen knife - likely the one we found with blood,” Hakuba said. “Maizono-san likely called someone to the room with the intention to kill. However, her target defended themselves with the wooden sword, and managed to grab the knife--”

“Wait wait wait!” Sonoko broke the string of deductions, looking a bit lost. “Where’s the proof that she called someone? Why did she end up dead? Couldn’t the killer be Makoto Naegi, who owned the room?”

“Sonoko-neechan, didn’t you notice? Maizono-neechan left a dying message pointing to the killer!”

“Um… do ya mean these numbers…? 11037?”

Kazuha pointed to the blood peeking out behind Maizono’s body. Conan nodded with a smile.

“Yeah! See, there’s blood on her finger to show she wrote it! It says exactly who the culprit is!”

“Ah! I see it!” Kuroba turned the ID card upside down for the girls to see. “It sorta spells out ‘LEON’ in English, doesn’t it? So, that means… that Leon Kuwata was the killer, right?”

PING!

With a yelp, Takagi pulled out the ID card he possessed. A new option opened up that when clicked, it contained a detailed description of the case using manga-like panels and a video to be played.

Kyouko was grateful for the overview. She wouldn’t have to explain it herself while forcing herself to look unbiased. She glanced at the pictures, and they seemed accurate enough (although she noticed a few choice words painting her classmates in a negative light - like they were purely to blame for what happened), so she unfocused from that. If they watched the execution… she didn’t want to see it again.

Conan listened as Sera described the case from the pictures. Sayaka Maizono switched rooms with Makoto Naegi for the night and called out Leon Kuwata, switching the nameplates so he would come to the right room. She tried to kill him, but using the wooden sword, he broke her wrist and took the knife from her. She trapped herself in the restroom, but he fetched the tool kit from his own room to open the door and killed her. He disposed of the evidence using the incinerator by throwing it through the gate… and the crime was complete.

It didn’t cover motives, but Conan knew Maizono’s actions must have been from that video. Remembering what Kirigiri told him… this must have been the “friend” that Naegi lost early on. She intended to frame him as well to escape the school…

...Kyouko didn’t want to remain when that stupid execution played, so she stood up.

“I’d like to take a look at the second floor for now, so I’ll leave you all to the cases of Fujisaki Chihiro and... Enoshima Junko. I’ll be in the library if anyone needs to speak to me.”

Out and up the stairs she went. Unfortunately, she was unable to check the secret library before a few people saw it. There was a chance they could have already taken something. This crowd was much more savvy to their surroundings so she was sure more than one person would be in and out of there. So it was best to take a look and memorize as much as she could.

(Kyouko wished more of the school was open
				so she could stop and get some flowers along the way.)