Chapter Text
Beep … Beep … Beep
“Are you sure I’m not intruding?” Oka asks the group as they stand in the middle of the hospitals reception area, while Midori asks the front desk for the extra visitors, and Gema still outside being lectured by his mother. “I… I mean … not that I don't appreciate you bringing me with you to see your friend, but I don’t feel like I fit in with you.”
“Probably because you don’t,” Pippi says, folding her arms.
“Pippi,” Yui says sternly, “be nice to her.”
“I’m just saying,” she says, throwing her hands up. “We barely know her.. As far as I’m aware of her, she’s the creepy weirdo everyone says she is.”
With a shrug, Ryuto says, “She’s kinda right, Yui.”
“You just got to get to know her,” Ayano says, walking up to the lanky girl's side. “Then you’ll see she’s just an awkward outcast like the rest of us.”
Oka smiles at her statement, while Pippi just shrugs and says, “I guess you may be right, assuming we even have the time to get to know her.”
“Can you not bring that up now,” Yui says, lowering her voice slightly. “Don’t think now's the time to bring all this up when we’re about to visit Mai.”
Speaking of Mai, Midori thanks the person at the desk before turning back towards the group. “Good news,” she says as she walks towards them, “I’ve managed to get our group approved to see her.”
“That’s good,” Ryuto says as they all gather around her. “How is she from when you saw her yesterday?”
“Sore,” Midori says as she crosses her arms. “Pain meds were wearing off when I came here after class, but other than a hurting back and hand she was basically fine.”
“How is she handling everything?” Ayano asks.
Midori just shrugs. “As good as one can in the given circumstances, but she was happy to see I was okay?”
“What does that mean?” Oka asks.
“Well, since she spent the whole school day either unconscious while getting stitched up or high on pain meds, she might have been under the assumption that we were all attacked, or that the killer struck again during her sleep.”
“Well there has been another attack on one of us,” Ayano says curtly. “Two, actually.”
“I still don’t understand how you believe the killer got in there,” Pippi says,shaking her head.
“I’ll show you tomorrow before class,” Ayano says, raising her voice slightly.
“Don’t start,” Midori says, folding her arms and glaring at the two. “You just made up and I don’t want you fighting when we see her.”
“Sorry,” they both awkwardly say, glancing away from each other.
Then they all turn to the hospital doors, where Gema is standing, looking back outside.
“Love you too, Mom,” he says as he quickly stuffs something in his pocket. Letting out a groan, he turns back to his friends and says, “Sorry about that.”
Snickering, Midori says, “What did Mommy want, Gema?”
Sighing, Gema says, “She just wanted to make sure I was following our safety protocol. Nothing else.”
“Suuuuuure,” Midori says with a slow nod as Gema walks up.
“Well, let's go see Mai now,” Ayano says, gesturing to everyone to get moving.
“Right,” Midori says, leading the others towards the elevators. “It’s on the third floor at the other end of the hall, then down the right and four doors down to the left.”
The seven being to walk, however, they’re quickly stopped by an attendant at the front desk rising to his feet and saying, “Uh, excuse me!” gesturing towards Gema.
“What?” he asks as they all stop and turn to the desk.
Gesturing to his pants, the clerk says, “You can’t bring those in here. You’ll have to leave them with me.”
Sighing, Gema walks towards the desk and sticks his hands into his pockets. As he walks over, he pulls out the taser and pepper spray and places them on the desk. “I told her this wouldn’t be allowed,” he says as he turns and walks back to his friends. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Ayano says with a smile and nod.
“If anything, this delay is better for us,” Midori says, lightly pushing the others to the elevator.
“Why?” Ryuto asks.
“Because the desk guy said that there’s people already talking to her.”
This causes a bit of confusion, as Mai was one of them, aka the outcasts, so it was unlikely she had any other friends, and her parents both work at this time and would’ve visited her earlier in the day.
“Who else would be visiting her, “ Ayano asks as the elevator doors close.
“Appreciate you for doing this,” Mai says with a smile, laying down in her hospital bed, head resting on the pillow, looking at the girl leaning beside her.
“It’s no big deal,” Raibaru says, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. “Besides, it’s been a while since we’ve spoken and now's as good a time as any to catch up.”
Mai lets out a pained laugh. “Yeah, I guess me being the victim of an attempted murder makes everyone want to be my friend now.” Raibaru’s face starts to drop, so Mai quickly says, “Not that I mean you’re one of them, Rai. I’m glad you came to visit. Been meaning to chat with you for a while, so I’m glad you found an excuse.”
The pink haired girl then shifts her gaze to a bit behind Raibaru, where Budo stands a little bit behind her. Then she turns her head straight forward, seeing Osana and Taro by the wall opposite her bed, her leaning against the wall further away with her arms folded and head turned to the door and him seated in one of the chairs with his hands balled up between his legs.
"And I appreciate you guys being here," she continues, "even if I don't really know any of you."
“It’s no problem,” Budo says, holding up a hand and shaking his head. “Any friend of Raibaru is a friend of mine.” He holds his hand there for a second, waiting for her to shake it, only to then remember that it was her right hand that was stabbed yesterday, and awkwardly pulls back.
“Yeah,” Taro says, awkwardly shifting in his seat a little, “what Budo said.” Turning to the girl standing next to him, he asks, “What about you, Osana?”
“Whatever,” she says with a scoff, clearly not wanting to be here. “Gotta stand by my friend, even when she’s actively making herself more of a target.”
“Osana,” Budo says, crossing his arms.
“Am I wrong?” she asks, throwing up her arms.
“Can we,” Mai says, cutting a potential response off, “just not talk about this. I’m still hurting, and I don’t want what’s going on to be all we talk about.”
Just then the door opens again, and they all turn to it.
“Hi,” Midori says to Mai, before turning her gaze to the others in the room, Raibaru and Taro rising up to their feet. “Oh,” she says as Ayano and Yui walk in on either side of her, Gema, Pippi, Ryuto and Oka standing behind them.
“Hey, Midori,” Mai says with a somewhat forced smile as the green haired girl rushes to the left side of her bed. “Wasn’t expecting you now, and everyone else too.” She looks up as Ayano walks up beside Midori, trying really hard to keep her gaze away from Taro and Osana, the latter shooting daggers at her. Gema, Pippi, and Ryuto slowly slip into the room, Oka laying back by the door as Yui walks more towards the end of the bed by the two there. “I assume by now you guys have gotten a bit more acquainted, right?”
“I guess,” Taro says, before turning to the new people, giving them an awkward wave and a, “Hello.”
Ayano keeps her gaze away, Midori’s still focused on her hurt boo, while Gema, Pippi, and Ryuto just shoot him looks of varying degrees of aggression.
Yui, folding her arms and glaring at him, is the only one to verbally respond. “Hey,” she says in an audibly annoyed tone, causing Taro to lower his gaze.
Annoyed by the increasing number of people, Osana folds her arms and shouts, “What are you doing here?”
“Miss Wakahara here happens to be my girlfriend, Osana,” Midori says, turning to her.
“We could be asking you the same thing,” Ayano counters, finally fessing up the courage to raise her gaze at the girl.
“What does that matter to you, huh?” Osana challenges as the two start to close the distance, causing the others to get between them, spooking Oka back into the relative safety of the hallway.
“Woah! Woah! Woah!” nearly everyone shouts as they attempt to stop another fight between the two girls.
Finally, Raibaru gets between everyone and manages to say, “Calm down. I’m here because me and Mai were friends growing up, and still talked semi-regularly up until yesterday's attack. Can we stop this now?”
With a mutual sigh, things calmed down slightly, and to avoid further conflict, Midori and her friends remained at Mai’s left side and Raibaru and her friends moved to the right side of the bed.
“So,” Pippi says, lightly nudging between Ayano and Midori, kneeling beside Mai’s bed, “how are you feeling?”
“Better,” Mai says, a bit hesitant, “hand still hurts like a motherfucker, though, especially when I try to move it at all. And my shoulders are very easily aggravated, so the doctors said not to move my arms around much.”
“Why not just ask for painkillers?” Budo asks.
“I would, but the amount they’ll give me will only numb them for a bit.”
“You could always ask for more.”
“True, but I doubt they’ll agree to it since they don’t want to hook me on the stuff,” she says, before turning her gaze to her girlfriend, “especially because they know that a certain someone’s a druggie.”
“Hey!” Midori shouts, rising up and placing her hand on her chest. “I’ll let you know that, with the current crisis going on, I’m going completely clean. No more pothead Midori, thank you.”
Osana chuckles, before saying under her breath, “Doubt that’ll last long.”
Slightly leaning closer to her, Gema says, “She isn’t even doing it voluntarily. Her dealer cut her off,” which causes her to giggle.
This earns the guy a smack to the chest, courtesy of the back of Yui’s hand.
“Ow! Sorry.”
“Well, glad you’re feeling better,” Ryuto says, “things haven’t been the same without you around.”
“Yeah,” Ayano says, walking right up to the bedside and crouching down to be eye level with her friend. “Do you know when you’ll be discharged?”
Mai stares deeply into Ayano’s eyes for a good few seconds. With half her face obscured by the pillow, it’s hard to get a read on her expression.
With hesitance, Mai says, “If my injuries aren’t aggravated, the doctor said I’ll be back on my feet by monday.”
There’s a general happiness in the room at this news. Even Osana seems at least happy that this girl she doesn’t know will be better relatively soon.
“That’s good,” Yui says with a light smile and nod.
“Glad to hear that,” Taro says with a thumbs up and smile.
“And hopefully by then,” Raibaru says in a celebratory tone, “this whole crisis will be over and the guy who did this to you will be behind bars.”
“Or dead,” Ayano says, immediately bringing down the mood of the room, causing everyone to turn to her again. “What?” she says defensively. “That’s how it works. We’ve all seen the movies, and the killers always die in the end.”
“Not helping,” Gema says quietly.
“What, do you expect Sidney to keep this batch of maniacs alive?”
“You didn’t need to bring it up,” Pippi says.
“Oh,” Ayano says, realizing that what she said wasn’t really appropriate. “Sorry.”
But this talk spurs another topic in Mai, one she must ask about. “So that means that woman was Sidney Prescott , right?” she asks, enthusiasm picking up slightly.
“Yes,” Ayano says with a nod.
“Really?”
“The real deal,” Midori says.
“Same with her husband and kids,” Taro says.
“Wow,” Mai says, a smile on her face, “I can’t believe you guys were in the presence of such a living legend.”
“Not just that,” Ayano says, getting a bit hyped. “We all actually spoke to her!”
“What?”
“No joke,” Ryuto says, “she gathered a bunch of us into a room to give us advice.”
“And make us all suspects,” Osana chimes in, folding her arms and turning away at being reminded.
“As if you weren’t already one,” Ayano says.
“Zip it,” Gema says
“Oh reall-” Osana starts, only cutting off when Raibaru puts her hand on her shoulder.
“It’s actually how we got to know and befriended Oka here,” Midori says, moving her head out of the way and gesturing towards the navy haired girl, surprised at the limelight being on her.
She gives an awkward wave, but Midori gestures for her to move forward, which she reluctantly does, walking up behind Midori, Ayano and Pippi.
“Hello,” she says quietly, “it’s … very nice to meet you. Midori said many good things about you.”
“Awww,” Mai says, also kinda awkwardly, her having heard the rumors and gossip about Oka Ruto. “I've heard a lot about you too.” Turning back to the collective crowd, she then asks, “Wait, why were you all questioned by her?”
The silence is deafening, and extremely awkward. No one really wants to break the mood even more by saying it specifically, even if they all know.
Not standing it anymore, Yui steps forward and says, “Look, I’ll be honest. We,” she gestures to her friend group, “were there because you were attacked and we’d both be suspects and potentially in danger because of it.” She then turns to gesture towards the other four. “And they’re here because of Osana’s association with Aka.”
“Aka Nishin?” Mai asks, confused. “Why him?”
“He was killed the night before your attack,” Raibaru says.
“And whoever did it evidently knew that by killing him,” Osana says, still audibly annoyed, “I’d get the police’s attention and let them go scot free for the time.”
“Oh,” Mai says, surprised by this development. “Who else?”
“Well,” Gema says, “The Basu’s only showed up because of gossip.”
“Okay that’s not surprising.”
“Kaga and Homu because he and Saki were neighbors. Megami and the student council were there both because she’s being protected by Mr. Kincaid and the fact that they’d all be threats to the killers. And Musume and her clique were there because of her daddy’s connection to the Haruka’s.”
“Wow,” Mai says, taken aback, “this is getting really out of hand.”
“Tell me about it,” Pippi says.
“I was drawn to her due to her aura,” Oka says, somewhat shamefully, “but now I see that my curiosity about her has dragged me into this thing, and there’s no way out now. Even if I run.”
They all look at Oka for a good few seconds, causing the girl to freak out a little and zoom away back to the far corner of the room.
“Annnnny ways,” Midori says, getting everyone’s attention, “there’s also the fact that a certain someone couldn’t miss the chance to meet her idol in person.”
“Shut up,” Ayano says, lightly tapping the rim of Mai’s bed.
“Well thanks for telling,” Mai says, her unease a bit more obvious, “especially since those people are all in the same creak as me, or are the ones who did this to me.” Turning her head to the whole group, she continues, “Why me, anyways? Out of all the students at Akademi, why was I chosen to be a part of the bodycount? I didn’t know Kokona, or Saki, so why me?!”
The group is silent again, though Ayano could tell that many of their eyes were subtly shifting towards her.
“Well,” she starts awkwardly, trying to ease her way into telling the one person who doesn’t yet know, so she can at least tell her on her own terms, “it’s not a complete certainty, bu-”
“Oh, come on!” Osana shouts, causing everyone to turn to her. “Just say it, bitch!”
“Can you let me talk?” Ayano shouts back.
“Osana,” Budo says, “can you please-”
“Why should I?” she asks the karate club leader. “We’re all up shits creek now and it’s all her fault, so why is she being all koy about it?” Then she turns back to Ayano. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you might not be the killer, but even if you’re not them, the only reason we’re in this situation is because of you! So why not tell your good friend, Mai Wakahara, just how much your fault this is?”
“Ayano?” Mai says, causing her to turn back to her. “What does she mean by that? This isn’t really your fault, is it?”
Letting out a sigh, already attempting to suppress a sob, she says, “I wish I could tell you it’s not, I’ve been denying it myself, but…” she pauses to look her friend head on. “...but I can’t anymore.”
“What?”
“I was attacked twice,” Ayano says, voice quivering, “last night in my home, and just an hour ago in the third floor girls room.”
“What?” both Osana and Budo say as Raibaru’s jaw drops and Taro raises his hands to his face.
“And…” Ayano continues, breathing heavily, “and both times they made it clear why, and I'm so very sorry, Mai. I’m sorry, but now I know I’m the killer’s main target.”
“What are you talking about?” she asks, audibly getting concerned.
“Whoever is doing this,” she continues, tears starting to fill her eyes, “for whatever reason, it has something to do with my mother, what she did.” She pauses to attempt to wipe the tears from her eyes, to little success.
“Ayano,” Midori asks, putting her arms around her shoulders, “are you okay, because you can stop now?”
“No,” Osana says sternly, “let her continue. Mai of all people has the right to know the truth.”
“Yan-yan,” Mai says softly, “what is it?”
“You’ll hate me!”
“No I won’t,” she says reassuringly, “but I need to know why you think this is all your fault. What did your mother do?”
Sniffling, Ayano raises her gaze again, not even attempting to stop the tears from flowing.
“My mother is Ryoba Aishi.”
Silence again fills the room as Mai’s eyes start to widen.
“What?!” she shouts as she pushes herself up, only to wince in pain as she aggravates her hand injury. “You can’t be serious.”
Sighing, Ayano says, “Unfortunately, it’s true.”
“And you never said anything?!” she says, before turning to everyone else. “Did any of you know!”
There’s a collective murmur of no’s as the others try to deflect.
“No,” Ayano says firmly, “I told no one. They all only found out yesterday, and it wasn’t because of me.”
“Well why didn’t you ever say it?” Mai asks, letting the disdain and anger she’s been feeling out. “After two years of knowing us, you never thought it was important to tell us that your mothers a murderer!?”
“What choice did I have?!” Ayano says back, defensively. “I came here in the middle of October. I’d have a difficult time fitting in and meeting people then. Imagine how hard it would be if I just flat out said, ‘Hey, my name's Ayano Yudasei and my mother killed a girl when she was my age.’.” She then pauses to calm down a bit. “We came here so I could escape what she did.”
“Then why move back here?” Osana buts in. “Moving back to the place where your mother killed a chick to avoid the backlash from her killing her is not a very smart move.”
“Well we didn’t have a choice,” Ayano says, turning to address the room. “The house was cheap and already in mom's name, dad didn’t keep up with his high school friends when he and she left for uni, and we reasoned that anyone who noticed that I was a single child would assume that my mother was just dead or divorced, not in prison.”
“Fat load of good that did yah!” Mai shouts, causing Ayano to turn back to her. “Look at me!”
Voice quivering, Ayano says, “When we moved here, dad said we could be free from the pain she caused, and that we’d be the only one’s who’d know…” she pauses to stifle a sob. “...but someone found out, and for a while based on how long Mr. Ghostface was talking to me...”
“Huh?” Mai says, confused.
“Ayano’s Yan-chan,” Midori says
“What?!” she says, turning to her girlfriend.
“...and I don’t know why,” Ayano continues, “but whoever it is wants me dead, and is willing to cut through all of you to do it, and Mai,” she says, walking back up and leaning down to her, “I am so very sorry this happened. If I had known that-”
“Get away from me!” she shouts, scooting away from her on the bed, grunting in pain as she aggravates her back wounds.
“Oh please don’t tell me you think I did this to you,” Ayano says, already sobbing as the one person in the group who holds them all together aside from Midori completely turns her back on her.
“It doesn’t matter if I do!” she shouts back. “Being around you is a death sentence! So just fucking stay away!”
“Finally!” Osana shouts, raising her hands to the ceiling. “You all are finally realizing it. Killer or not, we need to stay away from her.”
“You're not helping, bitch,” Pippi says.
“Mai, please,” Midori says as she leans up to replace Ayano’s spot at her bedside, “just calm down for a second.”
“Your heart rate is going up,” Raibaru says, taking the same spot on the other side. “Just breathe slowly and-”
“You too!” Mai shouts at no one in particular. “Any one of you could’ve been behind that mask, or are in cahoots with the person who was, so all of you go away!”
“Hey, it wasn’t me!” Ryuto pipes up. “Both Ayano and Yui saw me at school yesterday.”
“For the record,” Osana says, “I was at the police station, and-”
“Shut up!” Mai shouts between pants. “All of you just shut up!”
“Mai,” Midori says, placing a hand on her chest. “Please, just calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she says, turning to her. She stares down her girlfriend for a few seconds, breathing slowing down a bit. “You knew,” she says.
“What?”
“Yesterday, you knew about Ayano, who she is, yet you said nothing when we spoke after class.”
“What does that mean?” Midori asks. “I didn’t want to ruin your mood when you woke up, plus we didn’t know for sure back then if Yan’s mom was the reason all this is happening.
“Riiiiiiiight,” Mai says, scrunching her eyes at her, before grabbing her hand with her unharmed one and tossing it off her chest.
“Mai, please, you have to trust me,” Midori says.
“How can I?” she asks.
“Okay you know what, fuck this!” Gema suddenly shouts, raising his hands up. “Fuck this, fuck all of you, I’m getting away while I have the chance!”
He then begins to walk towards the door, continually repeating, “Fuck this,” as he goes. Due to him being completely distracted by his rant, he fails to notice the person waiting outside the door until he collides into her.
“I can’t believe this,” an audibly annoyed Sidney says as she and Mark exit the elevator, “only a single security camera in the lobby and did you see how understaffed they are?”
“Place must not have a whole lot of injuries or people addicted to drugs, I imagine,” Mark says as he scans the hall. “If there were ever a town near Tokyo to commit a killing spree, this would be the perfect place.”
“Especially in this place,” Sid says, before lowering her voice a little, “and after what happened in Woodsboro last year, I know they’ll come after this place, and the girl.”
Both knowing and remembering who she’s referring to, Mark lowers his head a little and says, “Yeah, this isn’t a mistake we can make again.”
The two then begin walking down the hall, Mark saying, “Her room is 319, so just down the hall.”
“Right,” Sidney says as they walk out of the entrance area and down the hall towards the intersection, which is when they start hearing faint voices.
As they approach, the voices become more audible, since it’s pretty obvious even from their that a lot of shouting is going on.
Pausing to look at each other, Sid and Mark continue down, much faster, as they turn right. Sure enough, the fourth door on their left is wide open, showing several shadows inside, and there’s an audible argument going on inside.
“Someone has to break this up,” Sidney says, breaking into a run towards the door. She’s almost at it when.
“Ow!” they both shout upon collision.
After stumbling back a bit, Mark running up to make sure she doesn’t fall, Sidney looks up and sees the semi familiar dark blue hair and glasses. “Taku?” she says.
“Oh, sorry about that Mrs. Prescott,” Gema says anxiously, awkwardly sliding past her and Mark into the hall. “But I’m done with this shit,” he continues as he walks down the hall. “Fuck it! If you meet mom when you leave, tell her I went home.”
Before either could intervene he had already turned the corner out of sight. Sid and Mark exchange another look, before turning and walking into the crowded hospital room.
Naturally, all eyes are on the two now, mostly surprised and even a little embarrassed at having been caught arguing, though Mai is noticeably almost as starstruck as Ayano was when she first met her.
“We’re here to speak to you, Miss Wakahara,” Sidney says to her, snapping the girl out of her haze.
“Oh,” she says, surprised, “me?”
“Yes.”
Turning to the others, Mark says, “If you don’t mind, me and Sid would like to have this talk alone.” He then gestures towards the door, and one at a time, each of them begins to file out into the hall. “It’ll only be a few minutes. If you still want to talk to her after, just wait and we'll let you know when you can come back.”
So they file out one at a time. First Oka, then Yui, followed by Taro, Ryuto, Osana, Budo, Pippi, Raibaru, and Ayano, leaving only one other person in the room.
“That includes you, Gurin” Sidney says, causing Midori to sigh and rise up.
“Talk to you later, I guess,” she says, hurt by her girlfriend's accusation, which is only met by Mai turning her head away, before walking out.
“So, Miss Wakahara,” Mark starts as the door closes, “are you ready to talk?”
“In a sec,” she says, calming down a little, but still breathing a lot, “it’s just that I’m still a bit surprised.”
“Surprised?” Sidney says while she’s in the midst of grabbing a chair and moving it to the girls bedside. Sitting down, she continues, “What are you surprised about?"
“Well,” Mai stutters, “it’s just that with everything, the attack, my friends betraying me, you being here. It’s all a little overwhelming.”
“Oh,” Sidney says, before giving Mark a quick glance. “You see me as a legend, do you?”
While she doesn’t speak it, after a few seconds, Mai gives a little nod.
Leaning in a little closer, Sid then says, “Listen, Mai, I may be many things, but a legend isn’t one of those things. Believe me when I say that when I was your age, I was no more remarkable than you are.” She then grabs the girls not bandaged hand and gives it a little squeeze. “The only thing different between us is the fact that I have both amazing and terrible luck. I’m only remarkable in that every few years people try to murder me, and each time they try I only get stronger. I’m just a regular woman, and when I was young I was nothing more than a regular teenage girl, no more special than you.”
Mai, stunned by Sid’s words, especially after the few years of hyping the lady up in her mind, simply remains silent, wide eyed, before glancing down at Prescott’s hand around hers.
“Really?” she asks.
“Really,” Sid responds.
“Sorry about the blood.”
Sighing, Sidney says, “For better or worse, I’m used to having someone else's blood on my face.”
Walking up beside his wife’s chair, Mark crouches down slightly and says, “Are you ready to talk now?”
In response, Mai nods slowly.
“Okay then,” Mark says, standing back up, “tell us everything that happened before you encountered him.”
A downcast Midori slides out of the room and closes the door behind her, before looking up at the very tense group of her peers looking at her.
Letting out a sigh, the green haired girl lowers her gaze and starts to walk forward, Ayano and Yui catching her in an embrace.
The hall is silent save for Midori’s muffled sobs and the muffled conversation going on inside.
“Well,” Ryuto says abruptly, “that went well.”
“Ryuto!” Yui says, shifting her gaze to him.
“Now's not the time to be funny,” Pippi says quietly towards her friend.
“I dunno,” Budo says, rubbing the back of his head, “the Stab movies have always been rather funny…” he slows as everyone shifts their gazes to him. “Sorry,” he says awkwardly.
“This is getting bad,” Oka stammers, slowly edging herself away from the group.
“Tell me about it,” Osana says, folding her arms again.
“Really bad,” Raibaru says, walking towards the center of the group. “If Mai of all people is getting angry, there’s really no hope.”
“That’s not what I was referring to,” Oka says, before shutting her eyes and pressing her three middle fingers into her temples. “The cloud of death is hanging over us all.”
“Oh great, with this shit,” Osana says.
“Rude,” Ayano says quietly.
“It’s too late for any of us to escape,” Oka says, panic audible in her tone. “It’s coming for us all.”
Noticing how heavily she’s breathing, Midori separates herself from Ayano and Yui and walks towards the girl. “Are you good?”
The girl then crouches down to the ground, pressing her palms against her head and gritting her teeth.
“The black spector is everywhere,” she says, before raising her gaze and taking her time staring into Midori’s. “Black form… White face… Long mouth…” she says as she shifts her gaze from her to Ayano, Pippi, Yui, Ryuto, Osana, Taro, Budo, Raibaru, before finally shutting them again. “It’s surrounding all of us!” she shouts, rising up again, gaze darting from each person again, panic quickly engulfing the poor girl. “...and the source of it is right here, but I can’t see from who!”
Before anyone could ask her to elaborate, Oka turns and runs off, pressing her hands against her temples again as she darts around the corner and out of view.
“Honestly,” Pippi says flatly, “don’t even fault her.”
“Unless she’s one of the killers and that whole spiel is bs,” Ryuto whispers, to which Pippi nods.
“I don’t blame her either,” Ayano says, letting her arms drop. “It is too late. You’re all in too deep now, too close to me.”
“Now she finally fucking admits it,” Osana says, before pointing at her. “You’re damn misguided fantasies about my friend are gonna get us stabbed! I hope you’re happy!”
“Osana!” Raibaru says sternly.
“Now don’t say that,” Budo says, walking up to her. “None of us were attacked yet. Only Ayano’s group is for sure in the killer's sights.”
“What about Aka?” Osana counters. “Or Haruka for that matter. She sat next to Taro in their homeroom class, just like how that Casey Becker chick sat next to Prescott.”
“Where did you get that from?” Taro says, looking up from his phone. “They never said anything like that in the film.”
“She’s talking about the real life murders, not the movies, dumb ass,” Yui says from the other side of the group.
“No, Budo,” Ayano says, “Osana’s absolutely right. Maybe if I had been less open about it, you guys wouldn’t be in this shit.” With a sigh, Ayano walks up to Osana. “Listen, I know you don’t like me at all, for good reasons, and you don’t have to. I just want you to believe me when I say that I mean no ill will towards you, and I am truely, deeply sorry you were dragged into this.”
Folding her arms, Osana scoffs and says, “Fat load of good an apology will do now.”
“Osana,” Raibaru says, attempting to get in between the two girls.
“Me and my friends could fucking die because of you, and you think saying sorry is gonna fix all that?!”
“I don’t know what else to fucking say!” Ayano says, stepping closer, Osana doing the same. “All I wanted was a normal fucking life at this normal fucking school, and leave behind all the shit my mother did! Is that too much to fucking ask?!”
“You still could have said something,” Pippi says, raising her own voice slightly.
“Oh don’t start on this shit again,” Yui says, shaking her head.
“I’m still not even fully convinced it’s not her,” she says, turning to the redhead, “and even if it’s not, it’s still her fault that this shit is happening to us at all.” She then turns to Ayano. “And you still could’ve said something, at the very least as a possible heads up!”
“Guys,” Midori says feebly, still hurting from what Mai said, “please…”
“Yeah,” Ryuto shouts, ignoring Midroi, “you could’ve given us some kind of warning. Like “Hey, my mother did this fucked up thing and got away with it for decades and that might make some people angry and want revenge on me.” You don’t even need to be specific on what she did, just basic fucking warning could’ve been nice.”
“See,” Osana says, causing Ayano to turn back to her, “even your own friends think I’m right.”
“Shut up!”
“Make me!”
The two girls then start shoving each other, the others quickly attempt to separate them. Some punches are thrown, some insults are flung, and one thing leads to another and the whole hall quickly devolves into a shouting match.
Naturally, the shouting drew attention, and within a matter of seconds two nurses, a man and a woman, were rushing towards them to break up the fight.
“I ran as fast as I could,” Mai continues, both Sid and Mark nodding along, “and before I knew it I was bumping into that car.”
“The Saikou limo,” Sidney says.
“Yes,” Mai says, shaking a little, “then I saw you two, which was when things started to get fuzzy. After you left, everything started to get woozy, and when I came back to my senses, I was here, Midori looking over me, and that’s it.”
“Ok,” Mark says, raising back up, “with the full story of your attack, I’ll start asking you some other questions. Is that fine?”
“Yes,” Mai says with a nod, voice quivering a bit.
“Now, can you please tell me-”
He’s cut off by the sounds of shouting coming from outside the door, getting all of their attention.
“I’ll see what’s going on,” Sidney says, raising up and heading for the door. “Keep up the questions.”
Mark nods as Sidney opens the door, seeing the two nurses forcing themselves to the middle of the students, the woman holding the two girls at the center of this fight apart.
“This behavior is not appropriate!” she shouts in a stern voice.
“Not only is it potentially hazardous,” the man says, “but it’s distressing for our patients, especially Miss Wakahara.”
“All of you need to leave now,” the woman says, “separately.”
Immediately, Pippi and Ryuto head down one hall, and Taro down another.
“I can’t leave,” Osana says as Budo heads down another hall, waving her and Raibaru off. “I still have shit I need to do here.”
Folding his arms, the male nurse says, “Then get done what you need to get done, then leave.”
As Yui heads down the hall Taro went and Raibaru follows Budo, Osana lets out a groan before heading down another hall, though not before deliberately bumping into Ayano as she walks past.
After glaring at the redhead, Ayano turns to Midori, who looks just miserable. “I’m so sorry that happened.”
Not being able to form words, Midori just lets out a sob, and as Ayano opens her arms, Midori walks into the hug.
“Girls,” the lady nurse says, walking up to them, “I’m sorry, but you both still need to leave.”
“Actually,” Sidney says, walking up to them, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to say a few things to them.”
The nurses nod and walk off, leaving them alone.
“I take it, you still want to talk to me?” Ayano says.
“Yes,” Sidney says, “and since I couldn’t talk to you during your lunch I figure now's as good a time as any.” She then turns her gaze to Midori. “And Gurin, once Mark’s done questioning Mai, you should be able to be alone with her. You did say she was your girlfriend yesterday, right?”
“So you no longer think it could be me?” the girl asks dryly.
“I don’t have enough evidence to fully rule you out,” Sidney admits, “but for what it’s worth, after my attacks, Billy never emoted this much in response to it or my suspicions of him, so either you’re a good actress or you’re sincere.”
Stifling a sob, Midori says, “Appreciated, but I don’t think she wants to talk to me at the moment.”
And with that, the green haired girl separates herself from Ayano’s grip and slowly walks down the hall Pippi and Ryuto went down, leaving Ayano alone with her idol.
“So…” she starts, “what did you want to talk to me about?”