Dinner and a Mystery

Hiyoko, Korekiyo, Kyoko, Nekomaru, Rantaro, Sakura, Toko, and I met up for dinner in the Dining Hall. Hard to believe that, at one point, there was once twice the number of students as there were now. We had started with 16 students; now only 8 of us remained.

Everyone ended up making their own dinner; I made myself a Ham and Turkey sub sandwich with lettuce, spinach, and tomato slices. I spread lite mayo on the top slice of bread. I grabbed some Sour Cream and Onion potato chips, to go with my sub sandwich.

I then sat down between Kyoko and Rantaro, and across from Toko, and ate my sandwich, mentioning to Kyoko that I wished to speak with her after dinner.

Sakura and Nekomaru were talking about their latest training session, with Nekomaru offering some critiquing for Sakura. Korekiyo was not eating anything, but was watching over the room instead. Hiyoko and Toko were arguing, because that is what those two girls seemed to do best with each other.

After dinner, I asked Kyoko if she could meet with me in my dorm room, to which she agreed. Toko, to my surprise, asked if she could join us too, as she claimed something was bothering her lately. Seeing no reason to say no to Toko, I agreed to let her accompany us to my dorm room.

As we arrived at my dorm room, I sat at the chair at my desk, as Toko and Kyoko each sat on a bed, facing me. To my surprise, it was Toko who spoke first.

"Has Korekiyo t-t-talked to any of you about his s-sister?" she stuttered.

Kyoko's eyes went wide, but only briefly. "Yes. He mentioned to me this morning that he expects his sister to receive a new visitor soon. I didn't like his tone, but isn't his sister sick?"

I spoke up next. "Yes, he has said that, but never said with what. Either he is very private with this information, or perhaps his sister...might...be..."

Kyoko slowly turned her gaze to me. "Or she might already be dead. Maybe I haven't stated this before, but I specialize in homicide cases, and Korekiyo's mannerisms have had me on edge from Day One."

"W-what about S-Sakura? That hulking brute could k-kill anyone she w-w-wanted," Toko questioned.

Toko was not wrong. In terms of strength, only Nekomaru could match her anymore. Mondo was murdered, Tenko was executed, and Fuyuhiko was riddled with bullets. Granted, Fuyuhiko wouldn't have done it himself, but he was not one to trifle with, when alive.

Kyoko, however, shook her head. "Sakura only fights those who are willing to challenge her. As for Nekomaru, he only seeks to train and improve others, not to cause harm. I have a hard time seeing either of them willfully killing another."

Toko did not seem convinced, but Kyoko's assessment made sense to me.

Kyoko continued. "Anyway, I'm keeping my eyes open. Something's brewing, and I'm going to stay on top of it. I'm going to leave now. You and Toko can talk about whatever you need to, but I would caution against the both of us leaving at once."

Kyoko stood up, smoothed out her skirt, then took her leave. As I watched her leave, I heard a sneeze behind me.

Tensing up, I knew what was coming. Toko was no longer Toko.

"Ooohh, what are we doing in here?" Jack was now asking me, from Toko's body. The joys of split personality disorder.

I turned to her and smiled. "Toko and I had just finished up a meeting. Did you wish to speak with me, too?"

Jack regarded me with curiosity, then threw her head back and cackled maniacally. "Sorry Snowconeshano, but you're not my type. Now, Rantaro..." Her long tongue darted out of her mouth again, but she quickly shook her head, seemingly trying to focus. "No, no...must wait for Master. Rantaro's just a nice appetizer for now!"

Ignoring her nickname for me, I decided to let Jack leave, too, and prepare for bed a little earlier than normal, at 9pm.

Monorakun's 7am morning alert woke me up, and after I got up, got dressed, and had breakfast with Rantaro. Nekomaru and Sakura were discussing submission holds, and were discussing whether to use the Equipment Room or the Dojo. Korekiyo mentioned heading to the Chemistry Room. Toko went back to her room, as did Hiyoko. Kyoko was nowhere to be seen, but Sakura mentioned that she grabbed her breakfast and left before I arrived.

I decided some physical exercise could do me some good in the morning. I did not wish to go swimming, so I went to the Exercise Room instead, on the Second Floor. Even morticians need to stay in shape

I worked for a while on the stationary bike, biking for ten kilometers, then I started working my forearms and biceps on another machine. After a while, I got off that machine and started working with a medicine ball.

As I worked with the medicine ball, my back towards the door, the lights suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness.

I froze for a moment, listening for footsteps but hearing nothing. I picked up the medicine ball and held it in front of me, slowly moving towards the wall to my left.

Suddenly, the medicine ball was knocked out of my hands. Quickly, I ducked low and dodged to my left, spinning to face the sound of the medicine ball bouncing. With a click, I detached and unsheathed my heel blades, gripping the heel itself as a handle in each hand. Each blade was flat, but sharp, and only about three inches long and pointed at the end. I forget exactly what the blade itself is made of, but it is very sharp, durable, and does not reflect light.

Sensing someone close, I jabbed forward with my right blade, moving my whole body into it, but hit nothing. However, I heard what sounded like a gasp, so I must not have missed by much.

Unfortunately, this also meant my attacker knew where I was, and they made their move. I felt an arm slip under my chin, and a hand grip me behind my head, in a sleeper hold. I was then forcefully slammed against a wall, losing my grip on my left blade as the back of my hand slammed against the wall. My left wrist started throbbing, but I knew it was not broken.

I changed my grip on my right blade, holding the blade upright instead of facing downward, and went to drive it into the arm under my chin. However, a hand grabbed my wrist, stopping my momentum. The arm around my neck let go, and I felt a hard strike across my right wrist, then a second one across my fingers, knocking the right blade out of my hand.

Having no weapons now, and still unable to see, I drove my elbow into where I thought my attacker was, striking what felt like a stomach or abdomen. I heard a grunt, and a few moments later, I felt a HARD strike between my shoulderblades, knocking me on my knees to the floor. A second blow, to the back of my head, stunned me pretty good, and I was laid out, on my face and chest, onto the floor.

Suddenly, I felt something clamp around my nose and mouth, followed by some sort of wrap or band around the back of my head. I heard a brief HISSSSS!, as my hands were pinned down by my assailant. Some kind of mist or air was pumped into my nose and mouth, and despite my struggles, I could not break free.

The device around my mouth felt...familiar...like what...the...den...

Next thing I knew, Sakura was standing over me, holding some kind of surgical nose-and-mouth inhaler of some sort. There was some kind of attachment on it, as well, but I was too groggy to focus on it. I next noticed the lights were on, and I was still in the Equipment Room.

"Shishano's awake!" Sakura announced, though I did not know yet to who.

I took a deep breath...and smelled blood. My eyes went wide, and I tried to quickly sit up, but I got dizzy and ended up falling over on my right side.

"Easy now, eeeee-asy!" A male voice said behind me. It sounded like Nekomaru.

I looked around the room, and when my eyes hit the bench press, I froze.

Kyoko was laying there, arms dangling off the bench, with blood on her jacket, blouse, and skirt. Rantaro was standing near her, a sorrowful look in his eyes, but that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was, my heel blades were sticking out of the front of Kyoko's neck, and in her chest!