Meeting in Progress?

Despite my curiosity about the Staff Meeting Room, I knew that Toko had to my my first priority. I quickly moved over towards Toko, and knelt down next to her. I put two fingers against her neck, and felt a pulse. I then put the back of my hand lightly against Toko's lips, and felt her breathing against it.

Ok, good. Toko was breathing, and had a pulse. She was going to be ok. I carefully dragged her to the opposite wall, so no one would step on her.

But now...what was in that Staff Meeting Room? Was it someone inside, or something stored within, that made Toko faint and Hiyoko run away in a panic?

I simply had to find out. I approached the Staff Meeting Room door, carefully pushed it all the way open...

And was immediately assaulted by a vision that will haunt me forever.

There was a large round table, with a large Monorakun face on it. Surrounding it were several placards, but that wasn't the worst of it.

Our deceased students were sitting at the table, too, in the same order they would be at the Courtroom. Their wrists were tied to the armrests, and there was some sort of cord around their necks, just below their jawlines, holding their heads upright. Their eyes were all glazed over, as is commonly seen in the deceased.

Facing me, left to right, were Gundham, his neck still snapped from the Monocougar execution.

Alongside Gundham was Himiko's drowned corpse, her lips and fingertips still bluish.

Next to Himiko was what appeared to be Rantaro's death placard, and Tenko's mangled and bruised body.

In a state of disbelief and shock, I slowly circled the table clockwise. Beside Toko's death placard was Teruteru's cooked-up body and Ryoma's corpse, his neck still revealing the rope burn from his hanging.

Teruteru...I tried not to look at him as much as possible, and it is very difficult to make me NOT want to look at the body of a deceased individual. But his skin...his eyes...it just sent cold shivers through me. Even if he was a pervert, and even if I did not mind him dying, he still suffered so much in that oven, to die in such a way.

Beside Ryoma's body...was my and Kyoko's own death placards. It was my own photo, from my E-Handbook. I stared into the eyes of my own picture, hoping that no one else would ever have to see this.

As I continued to circle the table, my eyes set next on Mahiru and Fuyuhiko. Mahiru was bruised all over her face and torso, and dried blood had spilled down her face, onto her jumper.

Fuyuhiko, on the other hand...his body was riddled with bullets, and his clothes were soaked in his own blood. There was also dried blood that looked like it had come out of his nose and mouth.

Beside Fuyuhiko were death placards of Nekomaru and Sakura, then Mondo's corpse, his eyes glazed over. Tenko had thrown him across the Dojo, causing him to land awkwardly on his neck, so he almost looked normal, compared to the other deceased students in here.

Hiyoko's death placard stood next to Mondo, as did Korekiyo's.

While I gazed at Korekiyo's death placard, Korekiyo himself stepped into the room, his eyes quickly widening.

"Oh my!" Korekiyo exclaimed. "What ritualistic setup could this be? A round table, surrounded by the bodies of our deceased classmates. And are those...death placards, like the ones in the Courtroom?"

Korekiyo was the last person I wanted to see in here right now, but here he was.

"Yes, that appears to be what this room is used for. The bodies still appear to be well-preserved, suggesting some sort of embalming process has been performed on their bodies, at least on the outside."

"Embalming, you say? So similar to taxidermy, then?" Korekiyo inquired.

"Taxidermy would be the wrong word here; that only applies to animal bodies, and typically follows a few different processes," I explained. "There are traditional skin-mounts, where the skins are tanned before put on a mannequin for display. You can also freeze-dry the body, though that requires a special machine. I doubt that was done here; it would likely take over 6 months to properly freeze-dry a human body properly, due to our large sizes and water retention ability."

Korekiyo nodded. "Yes, very interesting. So what, would you guess, was done with our unfortunate students here?"

I shuddered instinctually at the thought of examining them again, though the thought itself did not necessarily bother me that much. "I do not think it wise that I tamper with the bodies in here. My best guess would be embalming, as even Ryoma shows no signs of deterioration, and he was the first to depart us. However, with their wrists and necks tied to their chairs, I would find it ill advised to take one down and investigate it without cause."

Korekiyo shrugged. "Yes, I suppose. Whoever set this room up, and worked on our students' bodies, did a wonderful job! Even in the sheer horror of this room, I cannot fail to find the pure beauty shining through!"

I took this as my cue to leave, and left Korekiyo in the room alone. Toko was gone now; likely she came to and ran off, though I could hear insane cackling as I walked down the steps past the Second Floor. It sounded like Jack Syo was back in control of Toko's body, but I did not wish to see what she was laughing at.

However, she decided to come see me instead, running full speed down the hallway, laughing maniacally.

"Well hello there! I guess Miss Morose took a peek in the Forbidden Room and noped outta consciousness. Ah well, I was starting to get irritated at not being able to stab someone...or something. I don't really care right now! Kyeeehahahahaha!"

Jack then turned around and ran off down the hallway, towards the Exercise Room. I, meanwhile, resumed walking down the stairs, heading towards my dorm.

Monorakun was sitting in front of my dorm room door, on his haunches. Looking at me, he shook his head in dismay. As he stood up and walked away on all fours, he uttered a few words towards me.

"I told you all, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it."