#the actress who plays yumiko is killing it

[deathbypufferfish]

Need to be a walking dead stan for a second and talk about Norman Reedus's strange ass vibes that I love so dearly he's so babygirl

[morganas-pendragons]

11x23 thoughts.

Are you really, REALLY telling me that Judith and RJ were in Alexandria the whole time and we got no.. like.. reunions? These two kids hold the most significance of Alexandria’s children and we’re just supposed to believe that they simply APPEARED?

JDM and Eleanor Matsura have carried the performances for the back half of S11. I have LOVED watching Negan and Yumiko in 11C.

I still don’t understand how Negan and Maggie are supposedly going to end up in Manhattan for Dead City. The two of them quite literally are at odds. Maggie despised him. Then they’re suddenly going to be buddy buddy enough to be carrying an entire spin off together? 🤨

Using the Whisperer’s tactic of communication while in that horde is a brilliant idea. I would have loved to have seen this used sooner.

Honestly the best part of this C-List season is all the callbacks to the earliest seasons. Callbacks to Rick and Atlanta, to Lori and to Ezekiel’s earliest days we see in S7, to the parallel of Negan being forced to his knees vs him forcing Rick to his knees, I could literally continue.

“It was to save all of you. You all are better then me. If you think I don’t know that, then you haven’t been paying attention.” TELL ME AGAIN NEGAN’S REDEMPTION ARC ISN’T REMARKABLE. TELL ME.

This arc for Judith is so bitter sweet. This kid has had so many people who have loved her and she just wants to honor them. It’s exactly what I would expect for Rick’s daughter.

Princess and Mercer 🥹

Oh lord, hasn’t Lydia suffered enough? Now we had to have her get bit too???

MY GIRLFRIEND IS COMING BACK 😭😭😭😭😭

Ross Marquand is a good friend to a dear friend of mine I met back in 2016. I have heard literally nothing but good things and stories about the man. Seeing as how he’s been playing my favorite minor character since 2015, I am SO glad Aaron has made it this far. He has had SUCH good character development.

If Jerry dies I will straight up never forgive Kang and AMC LOL

Lydia’s little voice break on “they need us” 😭

It’s been a while since we had a good old fashioned ambush and firefight!!

The way I BURST INTO TEARS WHEN JUDITH GOT SHOT-

NO PLEASe THATS MY BABY

Daryl shooting Ricks gun just. Does things to me.

** The scene with Pamela and Vickers is MASTERFULLY done in all accounts: Blocking, acting, music, all of it. It really shows you as the viewer that Pamela has had it out for no one but herself this entire time and only places value on her own life — so much so to the point that she’s willing to sacrifice the civilians of the city. I wish I knew her actresses name because just like Hornsby, she’s KILLED it.

Negan getting to drop his F bomb has me WHEEZING

See this episode definitely has what I wanted it to have. Character centric.

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT CAROL PRACTICALLY SHOVING DARYL THROUGH THE GAP INTO THE ALLEY

NO BABY DIDNT JUST CALL DARYL DADDY 😭😭😭😭😭😂

Side note: Personally, this season is down there on my list of least favorites. S8 is first. 11 is second. 2 and 1 are third and fourth.

AND THE SHOT FOR THE SERIES FINALE OF DARYL AND JUDITH UNCONSCIOUS BESIDE EACH OTHER ON THE FLOOR???

[welcometocaritas]

‘IF YOU LOVE ME, DON’T LET Go’

First chapter of my yumagna fic is out ladies and gentlebabies!

Chapter: 2/7

Characters: Yumiko & Magna

Pairing: Yumagna

Fandom: The Walking Dead

Format: Multi-Chap

Summary:  At some point, you just have to let go - or so Yumiko keeps telling herself.There was never any letting go of Magna.

Links: A03, FF.NET, Wattpad

A/N: This is a shorter chapter and is basically just a little look at Magna's history (I'll be getting into Yumiko's around about chapter 6).

I really didn't mean to make Magna's backstory as angsty as I did, it just sort of . . . happened as I was trying to figure out where her head's been at with her relationship with Yumiko, and why she's been doing some of the things she has. I don't take some of the situations I've used lightly, especially since they can be extremely triggering for people and I wanted everyone in the fandom to be able to read this. The child sexual abuse is in there because I'm pretty sure that's what the show was implying when they mentioned Magna's cousin. Everything's pretty much implied or referenced. I don't think I go into great detail. There are no actual scenes with the stuff.

So I've done some half-assessed calculations that are probably shit but I'm gonna go with them for the sake of this story - I'm a little worried that lack of sleep might have made me mess up some of the maths but oh well. I used the actresses' real ages for this, went back 10 years to before the apocalypse so Yumiko would have been around 27 and Magna around 22. Now Magna had to have been out of prison long enough to get a job - which is NOT easy to do but I decided to grant her a stroke of luck and had her being out of prison for around at least a year. Now Michonne mentioned hard prison time - whether Magna actually experienced much of this time, or if it was just that she expected to and got a tattoo before being allowed out early is up in the air - and I've gone with giving her about three-four years in prison, because I didn't really want to drop below the age of 17 for her being sentenced. I'm headcannoning their meeting when Miko was 24 and Magna was 19, so about her second-third year in prison.

Also my understanding of the law is . . . not great? I basically only know what I've gleaned from reading about injustices and corruption in the system so if you're a lawyer and notice any mistakes please don't crucify me and I didn't do much research for this story when I normally do heaps cos I wanted to get it finished quickly. However, I have based a lot of the incidents mentioned throughout this fic on real situations/cases that I've read about so there is that element of truth to it. I did my best anyway. I think the issue will be that there are a lot of variations between states and laws changing over the years. I recently fell down a Proven Innocent rabbit hole because Rachelle Lefevre playing a bisexual is hard to pass up and, like with Nadia Hilker, I'm addicted to her hair (Abbey knows I have a hair fetish, she understands my weakness when it comes to these things).

"I learned at a young age that if I was ever going to see justice for the wrongs done to me, I had to find it myself."

― Erin Merryn

. . .

Magna didn't think she'd ever regret what she did - the bastard deserved it, and if the justice system wasn't such a joke she never would have had to go to such lengths - but she did regret what it had done to her relationship with Miko. What she had done. Lying wasn't difficult for her - even if she had always preferred a more blunt approach, along with the honesty that entailed - but lying to Yumiko had been . . .

She'd hated every second of it. Hated even more the toxic resentment that had started to build up inside her as a result, the way a gentle kiss could make her stomach turn, her thoughts sickening her as they bubbled up from the dark pit in which she tried to keep them contained; the number of times a loving look had made her want to snap, to let the truth fly free and watch as everything between them burnt to ashes.

(it'd be everything she had been waiting for, after all - for thirteen years)

Because Miko . . . Miko was so good. And she cared so much, sometimes more than Magna could bear, and none of it was real. All those feelings had grown from a lie that she'd never had the courage to uproot, to set before them and watch as the disgust bled into her lover's - her best friend's - eyes. Because Miko thought she was good as well, and whilst Magna didn't think that what she'd done was wrong, she also knew it wasn't right. Justice, maybe- definitely, but not Miko's version of justice. Not part of the framework she had chosen to study and dedicate her life to. Magna's version of justice didn't fit in her world, couldn't and worse . . .

Neither did Magna.

She hadn't been able to trust Yumiko's love for her, that it could withstand the impact of truly knowing her; and in the end, she'd only sabotaged what she had hoped to protect. She was self-aware enough to realize that part of that had been intentional. When their relationship had crossed over the border of friendship, when they had gotten all that more close, too close, something inside Magna had rebelled. Something panicky and defensive, revolting at the love that was building inside her, the safety she felt lying in Miko's arms (a place she never wanted to leave); that fear that it was only temporary, too temporary, that one day Miko would wake up and realize just who she'd fallen into bed with, and then it would all be over. The longer it continued the worse it would hurt. She hadn't been able to wait around for it to get to that stage. Instead, she'd forced the gears into rapid motion, propelling herself towards that inevitable heartbreak whilst she still had some heart left for herself, before she gave it all away to Miko.

(and deep down, knowing it was already too late, that Yumiko had taken her heart years ago, and Magna had barely murmured a protest)

It had been impulsive. And stupid.

And after everything was said and done it still fucking hurt. It hurt so much she could barely breathe in the aftermath.

She hadn't been able to save herself from that.

And she'd tried to explain to Miko why she'd done it but it had been a poor attempt, born more out of spite than any rational thinking. She hadn't even really tried. Because in the end, she hadn't seen the point. Wasted energy. Wasted hope. She couldn't see a future in which Miko would be able to understand. To understand and forgive her and love her still.

Because she couldn't understand, not really.

(and sometimes she hated her for that)

Because Miko was a good ass fucking lawyer and she had seen the system work as a result, but all Magna had ever known were its failures: how she'd had to move in with her uncle and his wife after her mum had gone to prison for killing her own father, never mind that it had been in self-defense; and later, watching the sick bastard who'd preyed on her cousin be allowed to walk free even after pleading guilty - rather, from what she'd gathered, because he had pled guilty, his easy compliance and willingness to accept a deal leading him to walk free with barely a slap on the wrist fine and a registration as a level 1 sex couldn't even search his name or address on the local registry when he was considered that low a risk.

How the fuck was any of that justice?

Though, she supposed she should be grateful, in a way. That same system that had wreaked havoc across her life had also allowed her to be released after only serving four years - less than - when Miko had found far too many ways to poke holes in her case; much better than the life sentence she'd been staring into ever since she'd left the courthouse for the final time.

To be fair, the case against her had been less than flimsy in the first place, the evidence circumstantial at best - they'd never even found the murder weapon. Surprisingly, all those cop shows she'd binged growing up actually came in handy for something. She wasn't an idiot, she planned ahead, did what she could to cover up.

But she'd also been realistic. She'd known back when the crime was still only a hypothetical in her head that getting away with it wasn't the most likely outcome, that she'd probably go to prison, maybe even for the rest of her life. But as long as he didn't get to live his - as long as he wasn't given a chance to do to another child what he'd done to her cousin -that had seemed like an acceptable price. It wasn't like she'd had much going for her, anyway. Hell, given the state of her bank account and failed education, she probably would have ended up going to jail for petty theft one day, regardless.

And at least you got free boarding and meals in prison - though she would have rather starved and slept on the street than feel so trapped every second of her life, to the point that when freedom did come it was that which felt unnatural to her.

If Magna's court-appointed lawyer hadn't been breaking under the weight of over a hundred ongoing cases she might never have been sentenced in the first place. Not that she had even had it in her to care at the time. Even now, those months were almost a complete blank in her memory. She could remember that she'd been in a daze for most of it, that she hadn't been feeling much of anything - a welcome liberation from the all-consuming rage that had burned within her for months before she drew that knife: not when the police locked her in handcuffs that pinched at her skin; not sitting in that courtroom with the press of too many people's eyes on her; and not when the door to her prison cell had slammed shut for the first time.

She could maybe recall her lawyer snapping at her more than once, frustrated and helpless as she refused to offer more than the occasional one word answer or grunt.

Years later, when Miko had finally come onto the scene, she'd been far more awake to her circumstances; too awake.

But she'd do it all over again, even now. Even with the memory of that look haunting the space between them, the way her heart had drawn in on itself, shuddering under the weight of all the judgment she'd expected but still not been prepared for.

He deserved it.

How could she let him just walk away?

How did Magna explain to Miko that the law she'd devoted her life to was nothing but shit? It was all gone now, anyway, the system that had ruined her life fallen away into dust along with the rest of civilization.

But Miko . . . Miko still looked on that lost world fondly, she missed it in a way that Magna never could and . . . even with all that rage boiling inside of her, begging her for an outlet, she couldn't take that from her; didn't want to.

One of them should have something worth remembering in this nightmare.

Magna could be selfish. She'd be the first to admit it. But she was also incredibly selfish about the people she loved. They came first - and fuck the rest of the world. And Miko . . . Miko was on the top of that list. It had killed her, being stuck in that cave, knowing that she had hurt her, that the last thing she would probably ever do in this sorry life was hurt the only woman she had ever loved.

And she wouldn't do that again.

Except she probably would. Because that's what she did.

She messed everything up. Including her and Miko.

But maybe that was for the best. She and Miko . . . they weren't compatible. They were like oil and water that had fallen into the same bowl and ended up stuck together, but always separate; Magna heavy and sinking to the bottom whilst Yumiko floated to the top, always.

They weren't meant to bond.

(but they did and they did it so well that-)

She didn't think she would ever be as open and trusting as Miko - but life experience warned her that that was probably a good thing, especially if she wanted to survive in a world where the dead wanted to eat you and most of the living wanted to kill you. It scared her, how easily Miko - and even Connie and Luke - let people in. She was terrified it was going to get them killed one day.

Kelly was more like Magna in that respect. They were both always preparing themselves for the eventual fallout. It was why Magna hadn't even had to bring up the idea of creating a stash - they'd both already fallen into the familiar habit of scrounging away what they could. In the past, that kind of safety net had been the difference between life and death. She hadn't felt good about it. Of course she hadn't. She liked the people at Hilltop, as much as she liked anyone who she couldn't allow herself to grow attached to, and she was so fucking grateful to be taken in by them, to finally have a home. But homes never lasted. Even before the Apocalypse they were nothing but a false promise you would end up hanging yourself with if you didn't keep your guard up. And Yumiko, Connie, Luke and Kelly were hers. They were her people. And at the end of the day, they came first. She had to protect them. Even if it meant doing things that they would never agree to, things they might later end up hating her for.

And Kelly. . . Kelly understood that because she was hard in a way that the others weren't and she had Connie. Kelly would do anything for Connie.

The thing was, even if she and Yumiko decided to try again, even if they could move past this, Magna didn't think she could change that part of herself. She didn't want to change it. How could she when it had the potential to keep Miko alive? She would rather destroy their relationship beyond repair than one day have to drive a knife through Miko's skull because she had failed to do the only thing she had ever been any good at - keeping them just that little inch further away from death's door.

Ten years and most of their group was still alive whilst the rest of the world had become a sea of ravenous corpses and that . . . that had to count for something.

It had to.

. . .

"What are you afraid of?

that you love him

or that you 've lost him

either way the heart beating in your chest

didn 't originally belong to you."

— You'll Be Buried With Him Painted Over You by Abby S

  A/N: I tried to think about what kind of life experiences might have shaped Magna to be someone who could do what she did. Cos no matter how many of us might want to punish bastards like that when they do commit these crimes, most of us don't actually do it. There are things that restrain us. Certain moral codes, fear, faith in the justice system, having things that we don't want to lose, not being ready to sacrifice our freedom and our future if we get caught. For whatever reason, most people just don't cross that line. So I thought a lot about what we'd seen of Magna and the kind of person she is and how her past might have shaped her to be able to make that choice. I mean Magna cares about the people she considers hers a lot and she's very protective, so that's obviously a large part of it, but I knew there also had to be more. Also it's my head cannon that Magna loves kids, like they're one of her weak spots, but she keeps her distance from them because they remind her of her cousin, and because of the person she's become since her cousin died. . . . OK, just gonna do a little shameless self-promotion, hope you don't mind :)

I made a yumagna vid so if you haven't seen it already and you're interested it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzrpr0QZEE (I'm gonna do more so if you want to stay in the loop subscribe to my youtube channel. I'll probs end up doing a short one for Unsteady because of this fic but I'm holding out till we get a yumagna hug)

I have an insta for yumagna called @yumagnas.home . my multifandom one is @bonnielextra (lots of awesome women that i make edits for just fyi) and my personal one is @cissyalice. Hit me up so I can follow some more yumagna stans!

My twitter is @bonnielextra and @tocaritas (for my edits). Currently just a lot of crying about yumagna on the first one.

And my tumblr is welcometocaritas. Obviously no pressure to look at any of these but I just thought I'd put them in just case :)

[dramaclover]

Ending and Thoughts: Forensic Heroes 4

TVB’s grand production drama. Where it has a high budget with a stellar cast, also filmed overseas and use of popular actors & actresses in cameo case roles. Unfortunately TVB decided to air it early in February which is far from the “golden time” to air series. I’m not that surprised with the situation. But I’m sure the biggest reason is cause half of the cast aren’t people TVB wants to promote anymore. Selena Li - Contract ended and signed with an American talent agency. Raymond Wong - Contract ended signed with Louis Koo’s company. Alice Chan- Decided to take a break on filming to focus more on personal life. Rebecca Zhu- Got backlashed from voicing out how uncomfortable she is around Tony Hung. Second reason would be the producer Miu Si Chun has retired and this will be her last series. But airing it so early actually backfired for them as this was aired during the covid- 19 situation where basically everyone stayed home. Because of this thousands of people tuned into this drama. It got super high ratings and has the highest average watchers for a drama that TVB has not seen in years!! So their plan to air it early backfired so badly for them.

Honestly, this drama wasn’t that good. The cases were either boring or predictable. The only case that kept me on my feet was the mother- long lost son case. Other than that the cases were bad. Which sucked cause these cases had so much potential to do better but the writing sucked! I can’t explain how disappointed I am that the cases were so easy for us to guess who did it. And some guest stars were wasted on this drama. Yumiko Cheng, Sharon Chan, Nina Paw and Patrick Tse are some examples of useless characters that didn’t need to be there. Also the character development was so poorly done that I’m just stuck here wondering if the cutting of Jacqueline Wong effected the drama so much that it ended up being choppy!

Charm Ting (Fred Cheng) is considered a main character but he seemed more like a kelefe. Which is hilarious cause in the first Forensic Heroes he had a bigger role there than here. He’s literally in the background where he would say 1 or 2 lines and then disappears. He was there just to be a love interest to Ko Ching (Rebecca Zhu) which was pointless cause her role is super small as well. We don’t even know when they even started dating. They were barely seen together. Charm has admitted to having a crush on Ko Ching but that’s it. Ko Ching never seemed interested in him until the end where they’re magically dating. The writer focused way too much on adding nonsensical characters when they should be focusing on the main ones! Monique Hau (Yumiko Cheng) isn’t needed at all. I thought maybe half way through she would die or she kills someone but no she was just there to date Ko On (Raymong Wong) and then dumps him when her first love comes back. Like why? Why bother inviting Yumiko for such a stupid role? Instead of Ko On wasting his time for this stand in girlfriend they should’ve focused more on her budding relationship with Chris Tsui (Roxanne Tong). Cause when he got together with her in the end it made no sense whatsoever. I actually thought I missed an episode because of how random it was. The last we saw is Chris tracking Ko Ons biological sister. They were friends at that time and remained that way until the end where somehow Chris fell for Ko On despite never showing that and vice versa. Like I’m not even sure which relationship was more out of the blue? Charm/ Ko Ching or Ko On/Chris? The only relationship that’s worth getting invested in is between Man Ka Hei (Selena Li) and Stan Sze (Gabriel Harrison). Seriously they were the only couple that actually slowly built up towards being something more and they had crazy good chemistry together which you can’t see from any of the other couples at all! Which brings me to Queen Sui (Alice Chan) and King Kwok (Shaun Tam). Boy their chemistry was the worst!! You feel absolutely nothing for them. It was like watching two blocks of wood dating. And the best part? These two who had the worst chemistry ends up the one getting married! Wooooooow. I feel like the problem though lies on the actress Alice. She’s a good actress, she’s amazing when it comes to villain roles but when it comes to love relationships she fails at it. It might have to do with how her real life relationship didn’t work out. She mentioned that she was in a loveless relationship with her husband. But they were both were too scared to leave each other and cause of that they prolonged a relationship that never got better. So I’m convinced it’s due to this,that it’s harder for her to portray these romance scenes.

The uneven screentime between the leads got me thinking of how detrimental the refilming of Jacqueline was. Chris ends up getting involved with the forensic cast in the first place cause she rented a room from King Sir. In that apartment she also shares it with Charm. I’m like 99% sure they cut out those “roommate” scenes, which you’d think “eh it’s filler scenes, it doesn’t matter”. But it’s cause they cut those, Fred ends up getting heavily downgraded! Also if they were just gonna have Chris basically not interact with the forensic team, they shouldn’t have bothered to have her move into their apartment then. Cause it didn’t advance the plot and was just a waste of time. Chris was a heavy character in the beginning but then disappeared drastically until near the end. The storyline started off amazingly good too! Chris was the reason why Ko On’s sister Ko Seen (Kelly Cheung) ended up getting kidnapped. It’s cause of this she becomes a journalist to find Ko On and Ko Seen. She was extremely remorseful and worked hard to find Ko Seen. Which is why I was pissed when after she was found, Chris never met her. They never interacted. A scene where Chris apologizes to her face to face would’ve been super nice. I can’t help but also believe that chances are it was in the script but they couldn’t have Roxanne film it with Kelly probably due to scheduling conflicts.

The ending case should be the best one. The one where it’ll keep us on our toes. It didn’t and was also a downer. Sharon Chan who guest stars as Lam Ka Mei was also a waste of a role. Though Sharon did amazing playing a split personality character, it never went into depth how it happened. Generally, this disorder happens if the character herself experiences a high trauma where they go into hiding and another “stronger” person comes out. This case was also the first time where Ka Mei “killed”. I’m assuming this disorder happened due to her older sisters death? The problem lies on how her sister died 7-8 years ago, yet this is the first time her other side came out and also the first time she killed. According to Ka Mei herself, this was the first time she felt something was wrong with her. After all these years her disorder comes out now? Okay. Anyways she gets locked up in a mental hospital cause she did kill someone even if she’s just a copy cat killer.

The real criminal ended up being Michael Ma (Jonathon Cheung) who happens to be Ko Seens adoptive brother. Basically he went on a killing rampage to kill those that hurt her sister. This was such a boring revelation. I thought they were gonna throw in a twist where Ko Seen was the actual killer and Michael took the blame for her. Ko Seen uses Ko Ons guilt to her advantage and tricks him into believing she’s innocent. Ko Seen would’ve made an amazing villain. She could’ve held all the resentment towards everyone from what happened to her. In the end she did get kidnapped cause her brother let go of her, she got sold off to random people before finally getting “rescued” and being placed in an orphanage. What should’ve happened in the end would be Ko Seen faking her amnesia towards her brother and sister and killing those that mistreat her. In the end she plots to kill Chris as she’s the one that lured her away to get kidnapped. As she kills Chris, Ko On shows up to save her (which would’ve helped with the relationship development) and for Ko On to finally see that Ko Seen is a bad person. That would’ve been more of a stellar ending to the case. Now I know that at the very last scene it shows 4 dead clowns & flashes to Ko Seen. Which alludes to Ko Seen being evil and killing clowns. But honestly that’s not enough. And I’m pretty sure they only added that in cause of the good ratings so they wanted it to end in sort of a cliffhanger. The conclusion was very messy. Even though Ko Ching, Chris, Ka Hei, Queen were all trying on dresses for Queens wedding they didn’t show them all together. Instead they only showed them paired off together. Chris with Ko On. Queen with King. Ka Hei with Stan and Ko Ching with Charm. I’m guessing they couldn’t get the whole cast together for them to film them altogether. Which I didn’t like. Chris is never with all of them at the same time. I guess with the refilming of the scenes it caused the drama to have inconsistencies and it hurt the drama if you ask me. At least Roxanne was an amazing replacement for Jacqueline. Her acting good and she looked very pretty. And her emotional scenes were nice which is something Jacqueline has trouble with. The drama is nice to watch to pass the time with I guess... but that’s it don’t expect to be surprised. And hey Ka Hei and Stan were a lovely couple! So they got one couple right at least.

[sanctferum]

Writing this right before bed, might be a pretty short part.

I just remembered! Our lab is open! Before we do more free time, let’s check out the Pianist Lab!

Boy, Kaede sure is excited to see a piano.

What, she’s not gonna play it? OK.

Let’s hang out with Keebo.

Let’s give him the sparkly sheet!

He’s humbled by our generosity, but now he’s mad we gave him a robot related item because it means we’re a robophobe?

So Keebo doesn’t need to sleep at night, but he does need to recharge his power cells, which he does at night. He’s awake while he charges, so it doesn’t count as a sleeping equivalent. And after a full night of charging, he doesn’t need to charge for a week. Remarkable energy efficiency.

List of questions we can ask him: Do you eat? Do you like girls? How do you feel about the Roomba?

That last one sounds robophobic. Let’s stick to the first two.

Ah, he’s never felt romantic attraction, and it seems likely he never will. But he enjoyed being asked questions about himself. Sadly, we don’t get to ask him about food.

Let’s see if we can hang out with Shuichi again, then.

Shuichi didn’t intentionally get involved with detective work. It just kinda...happened. It seems Shuichi was living with his uncle and aunt before all this, as his parents were overseas on business - one of his parents is an actor and one is a screenwriter. Shuichi seems to resent his parents having taken a “hands-off” approach to him, though. Understandable.

Shuichi’s first case was one he accepted on his own - his uncle’s agency had nothing to do with it. A classmate of his had her pet go missing and he offered to find it.

"ace pet detective” I see what you did there game

The pet was an alligator...a miniature alligator, but still...

And his reward was chocolate. Meh.

Kaede is really impressed by Shuichi’s compassion as a detective.

A voiced line and a resolved character arc...I feel like this could be his last free time event accessible until the School Mode equivalent. Which would make sense, since I’ve been suspecting he’d be the first to die.

Time for the Monokub evening announcement. Monokid is still suffering from his hangover.

Monokuma theater! He’s got a mustache...and a cat?

Morning! Monokid’s still out of it, though.

Time to get together with Shuichi and get to work.

Ring the doorbell to his room...No response, huh. Ruh-roh.

No wait, he’s still alive, he was probably just sleeping in.

Oh, he was in the bathroom. Time to go pick up the equipment.

Outside, Angie is trying to use the time limit to convince us to pray to Atua for salvation. She also says everyone is fighting in the dining hall. Kaede heads there while Shuichi goes to Miu’s lab to pick up the cameras. Boy oh boy. Splitting up. Bad idea.

Kokichi is hanging around as well, amused by the idea of a fight. Maki’s also around, but doesn’t care about the fight, it seems, and urges Kaede to go stop it and leave her alone if she cares so much.

So we burst into the dining hall, to find that Ryoma, Rantaro, and Kirumi are there, and Angie follows us in. Ryoma claims he was just making a suggestion so that more people can survive than none. Is he gonna suggest someone kill him so that everyone else survives or something?

Yuuuup that’s exactly it. Man, if he feels that way, why hasn’t he committed suicide?

Rantaro thinks Ryoma’s plan is unnecessary. Rantaro thinks he can end the game itself, somehow. And he won’t explain how in case someone interferes. Hmmm.

We briefly encounter Gonta in the hall, and send him to eat breakfast with Angie, Kiyo, and Kirumi. (I didn’t see Kiyo in the back there until he spoke up, to be honest.)

Tsumugi is a bit further down the hall. She saw Shuichi leave Miu’s lab and can’t help wondering about it. If Shuichi is dead by now, that’ll be useful testimony.

No, Shuichi seems to be alive. He’s in the classroom, as well as ever. He’s got the cameras all ready, and he and Kaede will be watching both the monitors and the stairs to the basement from inside the classroom we’re in.

And there’s something else. Something that’s only here...?

An air vent in the front wall, near the floor. If someone can crawl through it, they can spy on the library...

In the library, we discuss the camera and monitor placements, and inform Shuichi of the events in the dining hall. Then we climb a ladder to place the equipment.

Oh, Shuichi can see up our skirt. Woops.

The vent can indeed be crawled through, but we’ll be at the other side, so...

Kaede has a plan for the cameras...set at least one up on top of a bookcase. But there’s no room. Still, Kaede saw something in one of the books that she must have found interesting...she isn’t saying what though.

We turn the equipment on and leave, heading back upstairs. Shuichi hands Kaede the sensor’s remote, but she hands it back.

Kaede suggests he be more confident in himself, like an Ultimate should be. He claims to not even be a real detective, much less an Ultimate.

He didn’t actually want to be a detective in the first place. He just worked for his uncle as an apprentice out of gratitude for his uncle letting him stay with him and his aunt. But one day...he found a murder case...and solved it before the police could. It was after that the he became an Ultimate...despite having only solved one case. But...he can’t help wonder whether solving that case was even a good thing. The culprit was caught, and gave him a look of complete and utter hatred. And he later learned that it wasn’t a simple killing. It was revenge. The victim was an abusive asshole who drove the culprit’s relative to eventually commit suicide.

In the end, he uncovered the truth...at what cost? Ever since then, the idea of finding out the truth behind things has terrified him. The way the culprit stared at him was forever seared into his brain. He wears his hat to avoid looking directly at people, to prevent them from looking directly at him...like the culprit in that case did.

Kaede comforts him, and confesses that his presence is what comforts her in this situation.

BELIEVE IN THE ME THAT BELIEVES IN YOU, SHUICHI

and then, as the end draws near...

The monitor lights up and starts playing weird music while showing chess pawns being executed.

And then...seven people head past the classroom down the stairs. Gonta, Maki, Tenka, Angie, Yumiko, and Rantaro. What...? Is this part of Rantaro’s plan?

Shuichi heads downstairs to try and divert them from the library...he gonna die

Kaede grabs a broom and starts to clean the floor while waiting for Shuichi to return, which...he does. Huh.

Hmmm. They went to the game room for some reason...and now there’s 1 hour till the time limit expires.

Someone moved the bookcase...

Is someone going to be inside? Will they even be alive, though?

Kaito and Tenka...that’s four people. More than enough to trigger the body discovery announcement...even if one of us had killed whoever’s undoubtably dead, it’s be enough.

Fuck, we got inside, but the bookcase is closing.

That doesn’t make sense...

Oh shit there’s something in the corner...a corpse?

Oh fuck. Rantaro?!

Well, so much for Shuichi being the first to die...and that is definitely a steel shot put ball next to his head, as I’d thought was going to happen...So...did Ryoma kill him, or is this meant to look like Ryoma killed him, or...?

I can’t believe he died first. We know so little about him...will we ever find out more?

DEADLY LIFE BEGIN

*Silver the Hedgehog voice* IT’S NO USE!

yeah he���s dead

The monitor is off and the Monokuma announcement isn’t playing...but I doubt Rantaro was the mastermind, so...?

Yeah, there’s no way he was the mastermind.

There’s the announcement.

I guess Monokuma mentions the murder location in his announcement now. Also I prefer his old voice actress.

Monokuma doesn’t seem to disagree that a mastermind is controlling him, but he’s all too eager to tell us that it wasn’t Rantaro...

“The Ultimate ‘Who Care’“ c’mon don’t leave us in suspense you asshole

Everyone else is here...

“The one who wanted to live, died...and the one who wanted to die, lived...” I got my eye on you, Ryoma.

Wait, the First Blood Perk is still on...?

No one is confessing, so Monokuma cancelled the perk and called the trial back on. Hmmm.

And after he leaves...everyone accuses everyone else...before Shuichi gives a little inspiring pep talk and everyone agrees to work together.

Monokuma returns! To give us the Monokuma file, I’d assume.

“A notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it” thanks Light Yakuma

Tsumugi got the reference right away, as expected.

But yeah it’s the Monokuma File.

He died at 9:10...blunt force trauma to the back of the skull...killed instantly...no other injuries.

Shuichi’s got the cameras. But I don’t think it’ll be that easy.

Monophanie showed up after Kirumi offered to develop the film, and stole the cameras. She promised to deliver the developed film back, but of course it’s hard to imagine she’ll give back any evidence that could help identify the mastermind...

Shuichi wants to keep working with us for the trial...

We can’t go anywhere alone anyways, in case case someone goes alone to destroy evidence.

Next time, the investigation.