apex-academy

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#31)

We file back through the door in an oddly orderly line. Nothing to say. Too much to say.

At least until we reach the trial stands. Monochap hurries in front of us, waving an arm frantically to get our attention. As if he’s that easy to ignore otherwise.

“Oh, oh...!”

“It’s okay if you stop here, actually...!”

“Um, once you’re back to your own spots, at least.”

“Like, you sure you don’t wanna let us go to the elevator and just... outta here?”

“I don’t believe the elevator goes quite that far up.”

“Could totally punch through that ceiling if you just, like, let me, though.”

“I don’t believe such a feat is possible for a mere mortal.”

“Unfortunately...”

And I think you’ve broken enough bones already.

“Can we go ahead and have the trial that we fought for now? Thanks.”

“And MAYBE this method won’t take FOREVER!”

“I WISH.”

“You’ve done great at all the other trials...!”

“I-I’m sure you’ll do fine!”

Not exactly the one I wanted a vote of confidence from, but... Right.

We will do fine. We have to.

This is our last class trial. Either we catch the young master...

...or... I don’t know for sure what happens. But it won’t be pretty.

But it won’t happen, either. I won’t let it. No matter who we have to accuse, or how painful the truth may be... I’ll find it.

Today, I finally bring the true culprit to justice.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#30)

“Our profiles...”

I can tell at a glance that Tsunyasha isn’t offering all of the files. Doubtless hers is missing. But aside from that...

“Just one?”

“One apiece...”

“...though if you try my patience, it will swiftly become one in all.”

How many have I not seen? If we can organize and split those up, I can fill in any remaining blanks, and then together we’ll have about all the information available—

“Yoink.”

Kanagi swipes a folder with zero discussion.

...I should’ve given up at the word “organize.”

“You’re really taking my file right in front of me?”

“Did you want me to, like, warn you to close your eyes or what, dude.”

“...”

“Which one... will you take?”

“.....”

“I’d prefer to see if someone else chooses it first. If you all would make your own selections now, please?”

“What do I care which one I take? Which one ANYONE takes?! UGH!”

He swipes one, apparently at random—Otoya’s, if I glimpse the label I thought I did. Not like I suspected him of being the young master, anyway. Between searching his room myself, and just...

“.........”

Moving on.

Mahavir warily approaches the remaining spread, his hand hovering towards one file until he’s suddenly on the ground.

“—!”

With a high-pitched scoff, Tsunyasha drops a file on him that may or may not have been the one he was going for. Itsurou’s, I think.

“...Thank you.”

She doesn’t respond, instead turning to us stragglers.

“Come now, don’t keep me waiting.”

“Though infinite I may be, you lot are far from it.”

Yeah, I don’t think I’m about to wither up and die from standing around for another few minutes.

Aidan or Mahavir, though... Little harder to say.

I glance at the former to make sure he didn’t change his mind and go ahead, but he seems content to watch for the time being. Nothing in his gaze clearly indicates which folder he’s wondering about, either. Guess I’d better just go for it.

Okay. There’s no point taking a folder I’ve already read. That already narrows it down to Kokoro, Mahavir, Mary Jane, Tamiko, Tsunyasha, and Yuki. There’s no “Tsunyasha” file here—if I haven’t already, in fact, read hers—so that’s out. Mahavir and Yuki are near the bottom of my list of young master suspects, so I’ll take those out from the running, too.

Kokoro, Mary Jane, Tamiko.

These are, by all appearances, the files Apex Academy managed to put together of our lives before here, so I can’t expect to get any useful information they wouldn’t have. I think I’ve got a clear enough picture of Tamiko’s background as is.

Kokoro, Mary Jane.

“.............”

...Okay, I can’t bring myself to single out Mary Jane. She’s... I keep trying to say I can’t judge her capacity for organized evil by her general demeanor, but I just can’t make it work in my head. At all. If I’m somehow absolutely dead wrong, we’ll just have to figure that out in trial.

I’d rather not suspect Kokoro, either, but at least I know she had some brains.

Not to mention her file was next on the list when I left off, anyway. Feels like the right way to go.

I take the file and skim to make sure it’s as intact as I could hope for. Multiple papers, don’t seem to be about a different student. Checks out, then.

I side-eye Aidan, who doesn’t make his own choice immediately, but I don’t know if I should chalk that up to his file of interest being taken, his general fatigue, or Tsunyasha immediately playing a very mature game of keep-away with him. At least she deigns to hand over Ichiriki’s file before too long.

“Interesting... But very well.”

“Consider your fates sealed.”

She hurls the remaining files back into the abyss. 

“Ah—”

“...Should’ve seen that coming.”

Sure hope I picked the right file. If you can even say there is a right one. Could be that none of these have any clues about the young master’s identity, given their original purpose.

But I’ll check this out.

Just as I’m opening up the folder properly, a buzz interrupts.

“Attention, everyone! Um… I think you’ve had plenty of time now, so…! Please go to the elevator immediately! I-it’s getting kind of lonely in here…!”

...I’ll check this out quickly.

“Why do we need to go to the elevator when we’re already on the trial floor?”

“It’s OBVIOUSLY just a RECORDING!”

“But we do... need to follow its directions... to avoid punishment, yes?”

“I need to do no such thing, but perhaps it’s best for you worms to crawl along just so.”

“Totally not crawling, but, like, the elevator’s not far. 's just go for it?”

“The trial room’s between here and there, anyway. If Monochaperone wants to stop us early, he’ll get his chance.”

As for my chance, I stick with the group and read while I walk. Good thing we’re past the gaping chasm in the floor.

Nothing on the demographics writeup jumps out at me. Then...

“Title Considerations?”

Apparently there was some disagreement on what her official title should be. “Nurse” was apparently too broad, whereas “Pharmacologist” was too narrow.

Quite a jump there, isn’t it? All medical, sure, but...

“ ‘While wordier, “Care Facility Nurse” best encompasses the student’s abilities while leaving certain titles open, lest another student prove to better fit them with multiple qualifying factors’.” 

Sure, that was a clear explanation for outsiders. Granted, a folder in the secretary’s office probably isn’t meant for them, but. Still inconvenient.

I leaf through for better hints and find a very scientific-looking article on a specific substance’s various chemical properties. I’m sure I could parse more of it on a better day, but right now I’m just chalking it up as “science thing” and moving on.

Finally I get to a normal article aimed at normal people. Not that it leaves out all the jargon.

“Development of a volatile anesthetic that can safely and quickly subdue agitated patients.” A common enough issue with Alzheimer’s, isn’t it? And it’s been a while since it was smiled upon to just chloroform your patients.

“So that’s Kokoro’s big achievement, huh?” I can see how that wouldn’t be expected of any other high school student.

There are some documents on her junior volunteer work at the care facility, but nothing suspicious. I shut the file with a quiet clap.

Overall, nothing makes me think she’d want to make her classmates kill each other. Can’t say I’ve found reason to think that of anyone, really.

It was never going to be that easy. I’ll just have to work with whatever angles we do have.

KOTODAMA GET

Kokoro’s File: Kokoro was invited to Apex Academy for her nursing abilities as well as her development of a safe compound for subduing combative patients.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#29)

I don’t know how much time is left before the actual trial, but it can’t possibly be long enough to recover.

“........”

Did anyone ask to be let in this place? Was it just a ploy to shake us up right before the big showdown? Successful if so.

But I can’t afford to let it get the better of me.

Deep breaths aren’t doing much, so I might as well start gathering the others. Be productive, or something. At this point I don’t think I’ll cut off any useful investigations. If anything, I’ll be keeping people away from places they really don’t need to be.

Pink hair’s easiest to spot, so I flag down Kanagi first. She’s over by a broken defendant stand. I think it was already like that when we got here, but there are worse targets if she needed to blow off steam.

“Hey. About ready for the main event?”

“You’d know better than me, dude.”

“ ‘Less you just mean the, like, getting the bad dude part.”

“ ‘Cuz I am so ready for that.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

Next is the only one left who’s too tall for his own good. Makes it easy to see his head over the rice cooker.

“Yo, Ich! You ready to go?”

“FINALLY!”

“Did that STUPID robot call it TIME?”

“Because I didn’t even HEAR it! Ridiculous!”

I could correct him. But, like most conversation with Ichiriki, it just isn’t worth the effort.

“Let’s keep going.”

Aidan’s the shortest of all of us at the moment, but certainly not the quietest. I track him down on the other side of some scorched-looking bleachers.

“...so I believe—”

“Ah! Miss Kogamino!”

“And what are WE, chopped LIVER?”

“Or just slightly behind Miss Kogamino?”

He turns back to me.

“Something to report?”

I shake my head.

“Just feels like things are wrapping up.”

“It’s not exactly possible to search every crevice of this area for clues, is it? Not without a significant time extension and, er...”

“...a significant difference in manpower.”

His gaze flits over to who I realize he must have been talking to before. I don’t know why I expected him to be loudmouthing all to himself.

“.........”

Though I guess he might as well be.

“Iggy? You, like, gonna make it to the trial thing?”

“......”

“You SAY that like he has some kind of CHOICE.”

“Even so, a chance to rest properly before the trial would be ideal. Unfortunately I can’t imagine Mister Monochaperone giving the go-ahead on that one.”

“He’d need more than a half-hour nap, anyway.”

“And you?”

He blinks.

“I suppose we run into the same issue there, yes.”

“Yyyyeah, I’m totally not in the mood for napping, thanks. Iggy? Dude? You want me to carry you ‘r what?”

That at least gets him to stir.

“...I...”

He shakes his head.

“You’re gonna have to, like, get it in gear, then. Sucks but welcome to showbiz 'r whatever.”

“We still need to gather Miss Tsunyasha, I take it?”

Mahavir manages to wince.

“Or hope she comes to us.” Like some kind of stray cat...

“GREAT, we have to HUNT DOWN that AGGRAVATING spectre of a girl? She does NOTHING but HIDE!”

“ ‘r maybe you’re just, like, bad at noticing her?”

Ichiriki scoffs.

“Iunno, last time I saw her, she was, like, by the green room?”

“Green room?” Isn’t this whole place kind of a green room? But I can’t put aside the possibility there’s a more literal one among the backdrops somewhere.

“I don’t recall seeing any green rooms.”

“Uhh, ‘s totally obvious, though? Like, where the green things live?”

“The...” Living green things? F-frogs? Parrots??

“Dude! The place where MJ frickin’ died!”

“The......”

Oh.

“That’s a greenHOUSE, you MORON!”

“That’s, like, totally what I said!”

“It’s not.”

“But we’re about to have enough arguments here in a minute. Can we not right now? Let’s just head that way.”

Not without further objection from Ichiriki, we approach the charred remains of the greenhouse. But Tsunyasha isn’t conveniently sitting there in the ashes soliloquizing at a fern.

“We certainly could have missed her. About... how long ago did you see her, Miss Yuukei?”

“My dude, if there’s a clock in this place, I super never saw it.”

“Fair enough.”

“UGH! If we don’t have a PLAN, why can’t we just WAIT until she HAS to come?”

“Perhaps not the... least sound strategy... all things considered.”

“..........”

I guess getting what little rest we can is the best we can hope for.

Well, most of us getting rest. And Tsunyasha... wandering off somewhere in the ventilation system, probably.

Just as the persistent smell of ash threatens to push me elsewhere, I hear a chortle from behind.

“My, what a fruitless investigation you whelps seem to have had.”

“—!”

I whip around in time to see Tsunyasha flipping herself over the edge of the cliff—towards us, not down. In the hand not touching the ground are several mostly-aligned file folders.

Did she actually...?

“Surely it’s a bit difficult to judge just by giving us a once-over...”

“...but I take it you’ve been more successful, in your opinion?”

She harrumphs. “Opinion. As though the thoughts of the holy assassin herself could possibly be wrong.”

“But yes, I should think I’ve far more to show for it.”

“Well, WHOOP-DE-DOO! If you didn’t figure out the KILLER with it, then I DON’T care!”

“I do! Can I just...”

I manage to interpose myself between the two least agreeable members of the party, but Tsunyasha is swift to keep the folders out of my reach. Stupid taller people.

“Ah, ah, ah~!” she tuts.

“Okay, dude, are you, like, sharing or not?”

“I’ll ‘share’ in whatever way I very well please, fool.”

“And, despite your lot’s insufferable disposition...”

“...I suppose I simply feel merciful today.”

She holds up the handful of folders, unevenly fanned out like a poorly shuffled selection of playing cards.

“You may each select one.”

[BACK] [NEXT]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28)

Mahavir and Aidan have caught up by the time my fifth floor speedrun is through, and it doesn’t take long to catch them up with the current situation. 

“Mister Monochaperone! Am I to understand that the execution chamber is the place beyond the far door in the trial room?”

“Mmm-hmm, that’s right! Everyone may now enter freely...!”

“Or, um, you may have been able to enter freely before. You just would've been executed, too!”

“I would hardly consider that ‘freely’.”

While they debate the finer points of crime and punishment, I sidestep to Aidan.

“There's a working computer in the headmaster’s office. I wasn’t able to get to the Internet, but if you want to try anything...”

“It wouldn’t exactly be swift work in my current condition, I’m afraid.”

“It may be best to proceed to the last area we haven’t investigated. Better that than Mister Monochaperone cutting things off early should I start to get somewhere with the computer.”

“Fair point.”

The gang, Monochap included, crowds the elevator, and the doors shut soundly. 

My pulse throbs at my neck. We aren’t going to the trial yet. There’s still time to find something.

I still feel a little faint when the doors open to the trial room, but it’s easy enough to step swiftly to the other side. Monochap opens the door—was it even locked?—and we enter what I can only call a cavern.

It feels like some massive dump area for a couple of movie sets, but it smells like blood and rot and ashes. I have to cover my mouth and nose briefly before I can shake it off.

Things have certainly happened here. Can’t afford to dwell on the humanity of it. Just have to figure out the mechanics.

That’s all.

TALK

[Tsunyasha]

INVESTIGATE

[Backdrops] [Rice cooker] [Cameras] [Garage door] [Cliff] [Spheres]

[BACK] [NEXT]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28a)

Tsunyasha gallivants around the execution chamber like it’s no more intimidating than a bookstore. Guess that should track for an assassin. Still makes me wonder exactly how in touch she is with what’s going on in the real world. Sources say, not a whole lot.

...But she’s noticed me staring at her, hasn’t she.

“Oh? Has another worm been overwhelmed by my holy presence?”

Not quite the words I’d use to describe her presence, but. “Sure.”

“Found anything interesting so far?” 

“Well, you lot certainly don’t qualify.”

“I suppose the demonic catacombs were of some interest... But only fleetingly.”

“The...”

Now calculating statistical likelihood of this being A. completely made up, B. referencing something mundane and useless, or C. an actual clue. Maybe D. all of the above, somehow. I’m sure she could manage it.

“You don’t mean this chamber, do you?” Catacombs, dead things. Close enough.

“Hardly, though it’s likely connected.”

“I refer, of course, to the catacombs used by the demon itself.”

“Thus, ‘demonic catacombs.’ I had hoped it wouldn’t be so difficult to understand... But you are just a foolish whelp, after all.”

Ignoring the last part, as usual.

“Used by Monochap?”

Not a lot of things in this place Monochap doesn’t use, but...

“You mean those tunnels?”

“Of course I do.”

“You were able to get inside?”

“Through the trapdoor to the master’s office, yes. Quite simple for an assassin of my calibre.”

“In the... headmaster’s office?” I didn’t notice any trapdoor, but I guess that’s half the point of them.

And if I’m right about her talent, she’d be much more knowledgeable than I am.

“Have you nothing better to do than echo me?”

Have you nothing better to do than use phrases that need constant clarification?

“You’re right, there’s plenty to investigate here. Thanks.”

I swear I see the flash of a knife, but it’s gone before I can even figure out where.

“You’d do well to show your gratitude with a bit of conviction, whelp.”

“Sure, once I don’t have anything better to do.”

Let’s get out of here before this becomes another completely senseless war of words.

KOTODAMA GET

Headmaster’s Trapdoor: Tsunyasha discovered a trapdoor in the headmaster’s office that reportedly leads to the tunnels Monochap frequents.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28b)

Discarded in random piles like this, it’s obvious most of these are two-dimensional cutouts, but I’m sure at the right angle they make convincing backgrounds. A saloon, glass panels, airplane seats, a giant target...

“..........”

So all this really tells us is the young master had resources. We knew that much already. 

I could strongarm it into a connection to theatre specifically, but then what about all the high-tech stuff? None of us meet the qualifications to be knee-deep in everything involved here. I shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions from any one aspect of it.

Just keep it in mind, I guess.

Better than keeping anything else about these in mind.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28c)

Among all the pitfalls and set pieces are a few odd appliances.

“I guess it’s not so strange to have electricity down here, depending on what the academy used it for.”

I would guess some kind of shelter? Can’t really guess based on the contents. I have my doubts the industrial-size rice cooker was down here before.

“......”

Doesn’t matter.

There’s a few odd chargers that I suspect may be for Monochap, but tampering with them can’t be a good idea right now. Instead I step over to a plugged-in box the size of a decent closet. There’s a ladder on the side and a latch on the top.

“Not like I came here to leave stones unturned.”

Up I go, and it looks like the latch doesn’t even have a way to lock.

Seems like the whole box is radiating warmth. An incubator or something? Were they breeding superbugs for the next motive?

Nobody tell Aidan.

I hold my breath, undo the latch, and flip up the lid with less effort than expected. Cold, foul air hits my face before I get a good look inside.

Vaguely aligned in a pile are bodies. Haphazard bandages cover any massive wounds, but no other attempts have been made to wrap or cover them. The bandages didn’t even do the greatest job, considering the smears on some of the walls and other bodies.

“........”

At the very bottom of the pile, only Otoya’s size lets me see him at all. For the rest, it’s just whatever limb or hair sticks out enough from the rest of the mass. A rust-and-grey armwarmer. A blonde braid. A loose sleeve barely exposing fingertips. Something charred. A green sneaker.

The ones towards the top are easier to see. Kokoro, with no glasses to obscure desiccated eyes. Arthur, oddly small without his backpack. Yuki, still dotted with patches of rice. Kaichi, winning the contest for most bandages to keep him together.

I.... I’m not going further than this. Even refrigerated, they’ve... been here too long. I’m not going to get anything but nightmares by searching them.

“Yo, you find something?”

I flinch, nearly dropping the lid on my head before slamming it shut properly. I fumble with the latch until it’s on, too.

“You... don’t need to look in there.”

Especially with Kaichi right on top, I...

“.......”

I push past Kanagi without further explanation and keep walking.

KOTODAMA GET

Basement Cooler: A freestanding electric cooler in the basement appears to have all the dead students piled inside, with Otoya the farthest down and the latest two victims on top.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28d)

The same camera units are set up down here, albeit at a few different levels. The ceiling’s awfully high up, after all.

Guess you’d want the best angles possible to show us the executions in here.

And they really did happen in here, right? Preparing all this to give that impression just in case we managed to peek in here would be a little much. 

Of course, it doesn’t mean all the executions must have been real and happening live. The mastermind could've prepared anything.

But I’m not seeing anything along the lines of prerecorded tapes—nor... postrecorded? Uh, recorded. So no easy proof of that theory.

Not that most of our proof has been easy. Better keep up the investigation.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28e)

There’s something like a massive garage door on the far side of the cavern, but it’s visibly and palpably locked up tight. No obvious emergency release buttons, either.

“Same pattern as the main entrance locks.”

Still no hints about the code to enter, though. Can’t say I’ve found anything promising elsewhere, either.

“....”

But it shouldn’t matter now, right? We’ll be cornering the young master soon. Whether they want to part with the code or not, they will.

Just have to find them first.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28f)

The landscaping features a sizeable crevasse that isn’t hard to place.

Needless to say, it’s not exactly safe to hang around. Did the academy have this fenced off, or is it a new addition? The edges seem pretty sharp still. I’m sure the young master could swing for a few explosives, too.

“Maybe some are still lying around?” Not that I’d want to blast out of here before sussing out the mastermind, but it’s always nice to have options. Haven’t gotten too many of those lately.

I lower myself to look more cautiously over the edge.

Some rubble down there, along with an odd pale pile of something else.

“That...”

Not explosives—I hope?—but...

“Actually, as long as you can access the room it’s in, it could be anywhere!”

“Did... Did he literally just throw the files off a cliff??”

“Files, Miss Kogamino?”

I turn to see Mahavir wheeling Aidan this way. They come to a stop a bit farther back.

“The student files from the secretary’s office, I assume. Those went missing, and these at least look like them.”

“I see.”

“Rather, not literally, but...”

He reaches down to nudge his chair forward, just a touch.

Something cracks.

“—!”

I can just hear a pebble skittering away before Mahavir lunges, yanking Aidan’s chair back with an arm forming a makeshift seat belt. Aidan’s immediate response is a squawk that would put a very loud dying robotic macaw to shame. Mahavir flinches and pulls back. They’re at a pretty healthy distance from the edge now.

“Ah, I—Apologies—”

Aidan wheezes.

“No it’s fine I appreciate it I’m going to be over here for a minute thank you okay.”

He wheels himself aside and sits very stiffly in place. Mahavir manages to shrink back further.

“.....”

“Better than anyone else falling off a cliff.” Even if I can’t say nobody got hurt.

“There’s got to be some safe way to get down there, though.”

But to do it before Monochap decides to cut us off... Mm.

I’ll have to think this through. Best not to linger and draw attention to the spot while I’m working on it.

The immediate aftermath of the attack on Aidan is probably a good excuse to move on, too. Sorry, guys.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#28g)

Some of these props definitely haven’t been used in the executions so far, at least not that I can remember.

And they’re pretty hard to forget.

The “new” pieces I don’t recognize are a little dusty. Not all to the same degree, though I’m not sure what to make of that. Can at least say Monochap doesn’t waste his time cleaning this stuff. No reason to come in here if there’s no one to kill.

But there’s plenty to clean—a racecar, a gigantic backpack, beds, glasses, volleyballs...

I come to a stop, my reflection dim in the glass window. Nothing else inside but dark dyed liquid.

Assuming no one here was secretly a huge fan of discount fortune-telling, this execution would have to be...

“........”

Would I be forced and sealed inside while conscious? Or come to and start drowning before I can even place myself? What would the young master leave outside the glass, to taunt me with as I die? A picture of them?

“...............”

It doesn’t matter. I didn’t kill. This never happened. Never will.

Unless that’s what awaits us if we fail this trial.

But we won’t.

We won’t.

KOTODAMA GET

Execution Props: Props that haven’t been used in the killing game executions have gathered dust. For some reason a gurney and a large slab of concrete are slightly less dusty.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27)

That’s as much time as I can justify on a floor I’m not assigned to, so I guess it’s time to meet up on the top floor.

I’m a little slow going up the stairs. Am I tired, or does everything just feel like it’s getting too close? Almost at the end. Obviously I’ve wanted this to end—all of us victims have—but are we going about it the right way? Would it have been safer to just bide our time until rescue finally came?

No use thinking about it. No way to go but forward now.

Unsurprisingly, the boys haven’t caught up yet. Unless we’re counting Monochap.

“Got everything opened up?”

“I-I think so...!”

“Dude, if there’s anything left at this point, just let me bust it open, ‘kay?”

“I don’t think I could do that...!”

“You can’t do much of ANYTHING, can you?”

“Th-that’s not true!”

“The Headmaster’s Office as well as the execution chamber downstairs are open for investigation!”

“The...”

As concerning as that is, there’s not much point asking questions about a place I haven’t even seen in person yet.

“And the secretary’s office? Has everything been returned?”

“I’m not sure what you mean...”

Great, he’s the one playing dumb now. “I mean, if there was information relevant to identifying the young master, you’d have to put it back. Right?”

“Well...”

“Actually, as long as you can access the room it’s in, it could be anywhere!”

“......”

So I have how long to search the entire school for a couple of files? If they haven’t been destroyed already.

I can try another run if we get that far. For now, let’s check out what’s right in front of us.

TALK

[Kanagi Yuukei]

INVESTIGATE

[Filing cabinet] [Headmaster’s computer] [Headmaster’s desk] [Arcade] [Study Halls]

[BACK] [NEXT]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27a)

Right, part of Kanagi and Tsunyasha’s assignment was on this floor, wasn’t it? Unsurprising they beat the rest of us here.

...By a lot, apparently.

“ ‘Sup.”

“Doing my best. How’s your investigation been?”

“I don’t even know, dude. I’m just, like, going where they tell me to ‘til it’s time to start wailin’ on somebody.”

“I wouldn’t start wailing on anybody as long as Monochap’s still around.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“But, like, is he really gonna execute the masterdude if we figure this out or whatever? ‘Cuz they’re totally on the same team, right?”

“Definitely the same team, yeah.”

“Though he’s still allowing us to investigate all this. Which must mean the young master's fine with it... Seems weird.”

“Like, does it?”

“Yes? People would rather get away with their crimes than let someone catch them, right?”

“Uhhhh, haven’t done enough crimes on purpose to know. But sure?”

“But, like, Monochap’s been saying the whole time this is s’posed to be a game. And it’s not really a game if you just change the rules whenever.”

“Like, refs usually suck but they still kinda hafta be there, y’know?”

“I guess...” Don’t really play enough sports requiring referees. But if you just switched around what pool ruleset you’re using all the time... Yeah, she has a point.

“So the game is more important to the mastermind than getting away with murder? Wonder if that should tell us something about them.”

“Like, they’re totally weird?”

“You’re not wrong.”

Someone more interested in the game, huh... I mean, out of those of us remaining, I guess the most game-oriented would be me, Kanagi, and Aidan. But I can’t see it being any of those options, some for more obvious reasons than others.

Or if you consider it more about rules than games, Aidan or Mahavir... Maybe Tsunyasha if you count her weird act? Same with Ichiriki?

I don’t know. Just another little piece to keep in mind. I’m sure something will come together eventually.

Just gotta keep finding pieces.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27b)

After Monochap’s answer, the file cabinet doesn’t seem worth looking at, but it’ll only take a second. Wouldn’t put it past the young master to act like the files are in some unknowable location and then just put them right back where they were.

“And...” Nothing in the drawers I can open. I did say it’d only take a second. But...

I stick my head into the hallway.

“Hey, Kanagi?”

A head sticks out of the east wing door.

“ ‘Sup?”

“Think you can bust into this file cabinet?”

“Without hurting yourself.”

She’s in the room before I can blink.

“Won’t know ‘til I try!”

“Guess so.”

I leave her to it, hoping she doesn’t manage to break another bone at the last possible moment. But it’s the last possible moment to break into that thing, too. Gotta do what we can.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27c)

The computer screen has some dust clinging to it, but only enough to tell me it’s been on lately. The power button is dust-free.

“So has someone been coming in here this whole time, or just recently?”

Given the boards over the door, I’d assume the latter. Unless it only seemed like it was boarded up, somehow? At this point it’s hard to feel sure of anything.

The computer finishes booting and shifts to a home screen without so much as a password prompt. Guess there’s enough physical security that the young master didn’t see any need.

The wallpaper is some objectively ugly gradient involving red, and only default application icons break it up.

“There’s a web browser.”

Is it too late to call for help? Too early? I don’t want to jeopardize the whole mastermind trial by breaking some unspoken rule, but it’d just be stupid not to try. I double-click and hold my breath.

“.....”

“...’Not connected to the Internet’.”

I try troubleshooting, but the only available connection is locked. So here’s where I’d need a password, huh. Great.

“Guess I’ll just check the history, then.” On the Internet and otherwise.

Not a lot here, but most of it’s in the middle of the night. Makes sense. Repeated visits to something that sounds like a surveillance site of some kind. Nothing that helps me much, and it doesn’t look like the log goes any earlier than our stay here.

I move on to the local files. Pretty sparse—a few images, but they all seem to match up to what I found in the art room. Probably got printed off from here in the first place.

“Then we have some word processor files. Some haven’t been edited for a few months, looks like.”

Here before we were, then? Definitely worth a check.

I open up some kind of newsletter. The spots for accompanying photos are missing, but all the text is already drafted. But it’s dated... next week? The week after? One of those.

But it’s not like whoever wrote this was predicting what’s actually going on here. It’s just a bunch of normal school things that never happened, with quotes from teachers I’ve never seen and references to members of our class.

“So... What? They prepared these to send to our parents to pretend everything’s normal?”

I don’t know if the school usually did that, but it’d certainly take the edge off the emergency-only communication or whatever policy they have here. I can’t exactly believe what the phony orientation email told me.

Phony this, phony that, phony everything with just enough real thrown in to muddle it up. That’s the mastermind’s whole M.O., seems like.

Guess we’ll have to see how hard it is to tear down.

KOTODAMA GET

Newsletter Drafts: The headmaster’s office had drafts of ordinary school newsletters prepared since before the killing game began. They included the correct members of our class but none of the real events.

Orientation Emails: The students received electronic invitations to the academy with different times to arrive, and an unknown amount of bogus school information.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27d)

The headmaster’s desk drawers are lockable, but I slide them open just fine. One side is set up for legal files, but the only folders left are a few sad dislodged ones lying at the bottom at odd angles. Shaking the top one loose earns me a visible dust cloud.

Good thing Aidan’s not investigating here.

Some of the folders have labeled tabs, but that doesn’t help me much when there’s nothing inside. Just makes me hope the school’s taxes don’t have anything to do with our situation.

But then...

“New building...?”

Now that I’d like more information on, but there’s still nothing inside. 

Is this a new building? It’s nice, sure, and the study halls are obviously new, but... Hmm. For such a small student body, I wouldn’t expect as much wear as I’ve seen.

Not counting the destruction we’ve wreaked for stress relief.

In the other side’s drawer lies a desk calendar for this year. Slightly less dusty, but pretty marked up.

“What is all this?”

Periods of a month or so are circled in different colors, with different countries and regions jotted alongside them in handwriting I don’t recognize. Nothing else is written down, but there is a single day circled by itself.

“That’s a couple of weeks from now, isn’t it?”

Certainly not the start date of the killing game. But maybe for something else?

“Don’t think this tells us who the young master is, but might be something to think about.”

KOTODAMA GET

Headmaster’s Calendar: The headmaster’s desk had a calendar with several different periods circled and labeled with different parts of the world. Where a lot of them converge, a single day has been circled. It’s a few weeks from now.

[BACK]

[apex-academy]

Chapter 6: The Decay of Our Lives (#27e)

There’s something I’d been meaning to check in here, but it never seemed like the right time. Kind of a long shot, after all.

At least for the first run-through, all I have to do is walk around the room slowly. Game demos loop on most of the traditional arcade machines, eventually interrupted by the local leaderboard. I don’t think there’s any way to pause them, so I skim fast. Seems like different games allow different name lengths, so I probably won’t see a lot of exact matches, but...

Entries run the gamut of triple initials to squished-together versions of real names to “SUP3REGG2000.” They’re pretty clearly not all ours. But there aren’t dates on them, either.

“Not brand-new machines, at any rate.” 

Can’t exactly prove these are from our captors or from previous students with so little detail. But the cabinets weren’t purchased brand-new just for us.

“It’s kind of like the detergent.”

I’m sure it would’ve been simplest and most cost-effective to just use whatever Apex Academy already had here for us. But does that mean the young master must be connected to the place officially? Or is something stranger going on?

“Some kind of replica...?”

No, that would be way too much effort. Making sure edges and buttons show just enough wear if you look at them more carefully than any of us have? That would be a waste of resources that could definitely go elsewhere in a killing game. I may not have a good grip on the mastermind’s, well, mind, but I think they’re a little more efficient than that.

Yet another inconclusive piece of evidence to keep loosely in mind, I guess. Awful lot of those in this place.

But we’ll figure this all out somehow. We have to.

[BACK]