#IM SO SORRY SADBFUASHFJAKJSDBSDSFAHBFJ

[paipayaseeds]

the cameras... she remembered kaede mentioning a plan when fumiko had helped gather the devices from the warehouse. she was also reminded of the way she felt upset at the time, disturbed that he was actively hiding something from her. fumiko felt guilty for not trusting in shuichi earlier, maybe, somehow, if she hadn’t hesitated to trust him, this wouldn’t have happened. she was aware of how unlikely that was, but it didn’t stop her from feeling guilty. her eyebrows turned slightly downward as she turned her head to now face the robot who was rushing her out of the room.

once they were out, he stopped and faced her, “how are you feeling? i... i didn’t get a chance to ask you before kaito...”

she nodded, her expression softening, “i feel a little dizzy— but it’s not that bad!” fumiko quickly assured when she saw the concern on his face. “i’m alr- HUh?!” she was cut off by the boy hugging her, something she hadn’t expected.

“when i was away from you i felt... fear. it’s difficult for me to understand why you don’t look out for yourself more, it’s as if you’re purposely putting yourself in danger.”

she instinctually returned the gesture, confused as to how she had put herself in danger. “i-i’m sorry, i- um... i’ll try being more careful...?”

taking her words at face value, he pulled away, smiling, before he continued walking with the girl down the hall. “good... alright, so when you were out here with... nevermind that— i gathered some information from kaede. she told me that she and shuichi had been keeping lookout from a classroom upstairs, and something inside of me tells me that it’s a good place to start.” she nodded slowly, wondering what they were doing in there. was it part of the plan?

kiibo opened the door for fumiko and both of them let out a yelp when they were greeted with a tall, slender man standing in the middle of the room.

���oh? i see, you two must’ve been drawn to this room as well.” korekiyo stated, noticing their hesitation to enter, “there’s no need to fear. i am aware that my appearance might lead one to believe that i would commit murder, but that is not the case.”

fumiko remembered back to when he’d prevented her fall, one that definitely would’ve injured her badly. they were alone before tenko arrived, and he could’ve easily taken advantage of that situation. she decided to believe him, for now, walking into the room, kiibo following behind her.

the three of them looked around the room, unsure if there was a point in coming her in the first place. fumiko was about ready to leave before kiibo grabbed her hand and brought her to a vent.

“this, here... i believe it is connected to the library. perhaps the culprit entered the library like that, and crawled back out when the two left this room...?” fumiko nodded slowly as she tapped her chin, c’mon, think like shuichi!

if shuichi was a huge dumbass, that means she succeeded.

fumiko dropped to the floor and opened the vent before crawling into it. detectives have to see things from the culprit’s point of view, right? yeah! someone’s probably said that before!

“f-fumiko!” the robot’s eyes shot wide in panic, running behind her to pull her by her legs.

“h-hey...! i’m wearing a dress... that- that’s weird!”

“w-well it’s necessary, get- get out of there! you’re going to get hurt!”

“no, i’m shuichi!” she didn’t realize how stupid she sounded since that was her mindset and reasoning for doing this at all. korekiyo observed them quietly. his eyes moved to the door when he saw it open once again, though.

Tenko had actually followed the pair beforehand, finding it suspicious that Fumiko had been left with none other than a... male? Robot male?

Even so! Fumiko would be better off investigating with a very capable female woman such as Tenko, herself, rather than a creepy stick-bug and a gender-undefined robot!(nothing against gender-undefined robots)

"Hey! What are you two doing to poor Fumiko!? Looking up her skirt!?" Tenko was revolted, no, perhaps that'd be an understatement for how she felt. Not short of a split second, a blue flash passed them both by, and before they knew it — "Hiiiiiyah!" — they had been kicked three meters away from the girl who had crawled into the vent.

Now, she swears that her intentions were purely good, but it seemed intentions weren't enough to save Fumiko, as Tenko's 'intentions' accidentally nudged Fumiko down the vent with her hip as she made the mistake of sprinting over to her; causing Fumiko to —

*sad slide whistle noise*

"Fumiko—! Nooooo! Oh god! Oh god, what did I-" Tenko felt dread wash over her as she saw the poor girl slide all the way down, she, unfortunately, seemed to fit inside like a puzzle piece, considering her small build.

K1B0 finished her sentence for her as he finally got up, "What did you do!?" "I- I didn't mean to!" Tenko had almost been close to tears, she didn't know where the other end of the vent was, what if Fumiko got hurt? Or worse, what if she—

Before another worrying thought could curdle and form in Tenko's head, K1B0 had already sped down into the library; fortunately, thanks to his photographic memory, he knew exactly where the vent was.

The library.

-----

This was funny because Shuichi had been unsuspectingly investigating Rantaro's body, conveniently right underneath where right underneath the book pathway to the end of the vent from the classroom.

I think you know where this is going.

He looked up as he heard Tenko's loud cry echo out from somewhere he couldn't quite place, and it was almost as if it was déjà vu for Tsumigi as the scene almost replayed exactly how it was for Rantaro, except, the ball was... A human being. And Rantaro was Shuichi.

K1B0 had been a second too late, he concluded as soon as he saw Fumiko sliding down the books, no stop in sight. You would think she would've at least been able to grab the books and stop halfway but,

No.

Kaede only watched with dreadful eyes as her plan had practically played out in front of her, except the ball, as mentioned earlier, was Fumiko. It was horrifying to see her plan in action, god, she hoped she would never have to witness this.

Sadly, Kaede's eyes had been a second too late to realize Shuichi had been panicking, yet unusually calm as he heard the books shuffling above him. Panicking because, 'What the hell is that noise?' and calm because, 'Maybe I'll find out more if I stay here!'

So yes, Shuichi stood there looking up

K1B0 panicked at his spot, unsure whether to tell the detective to move out of the way or to catch Fumiko. Either way, someone would get hurt, most likely; both of them. But K1B0 didn't exactly care whether Shuichi got hurt, so —

"Shuichi, open your arms and aim up!" It was an idiotic thing to say, truly. Especially with no context. But it wasn't as if K1B0 had enough time to say anything else, his calculations told him if he hadn't said that, Fumiko's chances of getting hurt(if she wasn't already), would rise. And her safety was his priority. Even if it was in the hands of a timid, and quite frankly, useless detective.

Shuichi, stunned, did as he told without another thought, the loud, booming voice of the robot scaring him straight into obedience. "Wh- O-okay? Okay."