..Investigation start..

As soon as Shuichi walked onto the scene, a few things had caught his eye.

He walked slowly along the poolside, scanning the floor for any clues when he noticed something. Normally, water on a poolside wouldn't be an abnormal sight, but the water wasn't anywhere else, just in one specific sector, parallel to the body.. it was too convenient.

He felt his eyes wonder around the room, trying to inspect every inch of the crime scene. He knew there had to be something else here but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was nothing on the floor or on the walls which could of contributed to the murder..

A thought crossed his mind and he looked upwards, towards the ceiling.

And sure enough there was something abnormal attached to the ceiling, something that Shuichi couldn't clearly make out. He knew that it was impossible to reach but he had to get it down. He turned to face Maki and gestured for her to come over.

Maki strode over to him quickly. "Did you see something?"

"Yes, but.." Shuichi looked upwards making Maki look up as well. "I see. What do you want me to do about it?"

Shuichi paused for a second before stroking the back of his neck anxiously, "Well.. since you got that camera down for me before.."

"You want me to shoot it down?" Maki asked, awaiting his response.

"Not exactly.. you see, if it's a key price of evidence, you can't exactly destroy it.. an arrow would tear it apart, is there a way for you to get it down without destroying it?"

Maki shifted in her stance. "Yes." She swiftly turned her head to face Kokichi who was still standing, arms crossed, where Shuichi had left him before. "What about him? If I get it down, it's going to be pretty clear that I'm not the Ultimate Child Caregiver."

EmilyPlayer4876 drew this amazing artwork. I really like the cute, little features on Maki, especially her eyes. The style is so damn freaking cute! So please go and follow their Instagram - enily_likes_potatoes 

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"Don't worry about him Maki, I trust him."

"After what you've been through, I still can't understand how you are so godamn ignorant." Maki spoke coldly. 

Shuichi nearly lost control. He gritted his teeth and spoke, raising his voice into a shout, almost threatening her, "Maki, I don't want to do anything that I'm going to regret but do not call me ignorant. You think you understand?" Shuichi took a deep breath. "You know nothing about my situation, what it's really like for me. Don't you dare call me ignorant. I am anything but blind to the truth. Don't insult me. You think you're tough but you're really not. You haven't seen everything you love and everyone you care about die in front of your eyes."  

Maki crossed her arms. She wasn't used to being shouted at. Her eyes were gleaming bright red but Shuichi didn't care. He couldn't stop himself, it was as if something inside him had exploded, something which he had been holding in for a very long time. "Now listen Maki, you will go and get something to get that down off the ceiling. Don't answer back. Just go and get it before I lose my calm and push you into that pool along with her."

Maki raised her hand to slap him round the face but she managed to restrain herself.

For a second, Shuichi thought Maki had disappeared. She moved so fast.

And with that, Maki was gone.

Shuichi sighed loudly. How could he of shouted at Maki like that? He didn't like was he turning into.

He found his attention drifting over to the pool. How could he let her die?

He deserved to die.. he could just take his shoes off, walk over to the deep side of the pool and throw himself in. 

Shuichi shook his head side to side vigorously and when he finally come to his senses, he found himself focusing on Kokichi who was staring at him, a face coated with distress.

The detective looked down at the ground as he quickly exited to room. He didn't want to have that conversation with Kokichi right now.

He walked swiftly towards the dining hall, hoping to meet the other students. He wanted to get their alibis early so he could start to piece things together.

He opened the door and saw a few students sitting down at the grand table which was placed in the center of the room.

Kaito instantly stood up from the table and made his way over to Shuichi. "Got any theories so far Shuichi? I looked at the scene and I have to say that I got pretty much nothing from it. Well, apart from that she probably drowned."

Shuichi nodded. "Did you see her around here yesterday evening? I.. wasn't with you and Maki last night."

"Yeah, I wondering where you went."

Shuichi pleaded to himself that he wasn't blushing, thinking about what happened with Kokichi.

"Well anyway, I saw her last night. She was with Tsumugi and Gonta for a bit but she got really tired and Gonta helped her to her room.."

"Sudden tiredness?" Shuichi asked, assessing all of the possibilities. "Was she drinking anything?"

His question took Kaito by surprise. "Drinking anything? Huh? I can't remember bro, why, watcha thinking?"

Shuichi replied with a blank expression, more than aware that it could be anyone, even Kaito. "Just asking.."

Kaito nodded, "If she was, it'll still be in the sink, Kirumi hasn't washed it up yet." Shuichi looked back at him, then started to walk towards the kitchen. He opened the door and the room was luckily empty. He continued to walk towards the sink and took a deep breath as he saw glasses ready to be washed up.

If his hunch was correct, in one of these glasses.. Shuichi picked up the first glass, looked down into it, then put it down. It wasn't until the 4th glass, that he found what he was looking for.

His suspicions were correct. There was something in the bottom of the glass, a sort of powder.. something might of been dissolved in her drink last night to make her feel tired..

Shuichi made a mental note before walking off, attempting to locate Gonta. According to Kaito, he had helped her to her room last night.

Shuichi made his way out into the corridor and started to walk. His mind suddenly redirected his attention on who the culprit could be. And truthfully, it could be anyone except Kokichi.

Right? Shuichi shook his head. Kokichi was with him all night so it was impossible.

All night.. no, not those thoughts right now. He had to find Gonta to get more information of what happened the night of her murder. Knowing Gonta, he would probably be outside in a desperate attempt to find some bugs.

He quickly headed outside, his attention drifting to him and Kokichi's spot. He took a deep breath and forced himself to walk on.

He headed towards a figure in the distance, it was too short to be Gonta but it wasn't short enough to be Kokichi. The closer Shuichi got to the figure, the more he was able to see who it was. He gently tapped on Kiibo's shouler to get his attention.

Kiibo stumbled as he turned around, "Oh! Hello Shuichi." He paused. "Are you here about—"

"I'm actually looking for Gonta but while you're here.. can I ask where you were last night?" Shuichi questioned, crossing his arms like he did normally.

"Oh? Well I was with Miu all of last night. She was doing maintenance on my body so that I stay in shape and don't shut down due to a malfunction."

Shuichi shook his head in a desperate attempt to get rid of the image of what he saw in the previous game.. it was scarring to be honest. "So, you were with Miu the whole time, right?"

Kiibo nodded before speaking, "I saw Gonta earlier, he's looking for small creatures."

"Thank you Kiibo.. I'm going to search for Gonta now. You really did help.." Shuichi gave him a genuine smile before walking off.

He kept walking and walking, his mind drifting between the crime scene and Kokichi. He couldn't change what had happened between them and he didn't want to change it but.. he didn't know what to do next.

He was clueless when it came with romance..

Shuichi instantly came out of his thoughts when he saw the gentleman giant he was looking for. He prepared himself for the interrogation then called out to him. "Gonta! I need to ask you a few things.."

Gonta turned around and greeted the detective with a smile, "Oh yes Shuichi, what you want to ask Gonta? Gonta want to help with the investigation best he can!"

Shuichi returned a smile. From past experiences, he knew roughly how to get everyone to explain things to him. He had everyone figured out in the first game.. apart from Kokichi. He was never able to figure him out.

Shuichi needed to focus on questioning Gonta. "You saw her last night?"

Gonta smiled, happily putting his hands on his hips. "Gonta saw her last night, she was tired so Gonta carried her to her room, put her on her bed then left. Gonta wouldn't do anything! Gonta want to be gentleman!"

Shuichi took a mental note of this before asking another question. "Do you remember what time you put her in her room.. also, did you lock the room afterwards?"

Gonta took a few minutes to think before answering. "Gonta doesn't remember the time but Kaito and Maki were doing sit-ups. Gonta think he locked door."

"This really helped, thanks Gonta." Shuichi displayed a fake smile before walking off.

That meant that she was still alive before the nighttime announcement. The time of the murder had to be between 9pm and 10pm..

What he needed to do now was something that he was putting off.. inspecting the body. Shuichi meandered slowly towards the pool, his legs becoming more and more shaky with every step that he took. He walked closer and closer to the edge of the poolside, finally stopping on the edge of it, repressing the urge to throw up. He clenched his hands into fists in an attempt to stop his arms from shaking.

Some people say that everytime you see a body, you become more and more unaffected by it. So that eventually, you can look at the a rotting corpse without feeling any emotions at all. That you become numb. 

But that's just a lie people tell you.

It never gets easier.

This last drawing is done by Kiiboscreams and I hope that you were all like "Woa.. did the author really kill her off?" And yes, yes I did. *laughs* Himiko floating lifelessly in a pool was exactly what I wanted. And they did it absolutely perfectly. So please follow them and comment if you like it as much as I do.