Part 5

It didn't take long for dinnertime to come around once they'd returned to the dorms. Ran Ibuki, of course, naturally chose to sit next to Ann Sakura. Miho sat down right next to Ran, just a corner's turn of the table away.

It wasn't the most convenient angle for spoonfeeding Ran, but that didn't stop Miho from busying herself with Ran anyways.

Sai: Miho, as a mother, you shouldn't indulge your children too much.

Miho: What?

Aya: I want some too, mommy.

Sai: What, you're not confident in my skills?

Ran: No, it was just- honestly, I'd figured you were like me, someone whose culinary skill was limited to the realm of the instant noodle.

Sai: Sorry about the knifework on the veggies being a little slipshod this afternoon. Koizumi used my favorite chef's knife for this morning's case, that's why.

Sai: Had to use a backup kitchen knife whose balance I didn't like as much.

Koizumi: Sorry...

Sai: It's fine. I'll disinfect it once dinner's done and I do the dishes. It'll be back in service in no time.

Ran: Wh- you're still going to use it for cooking? That knife was used for murder!

Sai: C'mon, all it did was cut Sakura's throat a little bit. Knives are for cutting meat, I'm sure the edge didn't sustain any damage.

Ran: That is entirely not- nevermind.

Ran: (Miss Sakura is so pretty, as usual...)

Ran: How's your neck feeling, miss Sakura?

Ann: It's feeling perfectly fine. This isn't the first time I've been killed, you know.

Ran: ...Right...

Ann: Koizumi, which box of bath salts will we be using tonight?

Koizumi: Let me think... How about the rose-scented ones? We've got plenty of that.

Ann: Sure, let's go with that. I've grown too fond of the peach-scented bath salts and used too much of it up. I've gotta conserve it a bit more.

Koizumi: Well, Yano-san doesn't much like to use bath salts. Once you run out, you can probably get some more from her.

Ran: Miss Sakura!

Ann: ??

Ran: Let me pick out the green onions in your soup for you.

Ann: Why would that be necessary?

Ran: Because- well, you've never liked them. Back when we had dinners together, you'd always have me pick the green onions out of your food.

Ann: No, I quite like their flavor, actually.

Ann: You're talking about the Ann Sakura from your memories, aren't you.

Ran: ...Yes, but- you're Ann Sakura, after all.

Ann silently looked down at her bowl of soup.

Koizumi: ...Sakura-san, is something wrong?

Ann shook her head.

Then, taking the soup spoon, she quietly began picking out the green onions, one by one.

Ann: You're right. I should do my best to be more like Ann Sakura.

Ran: I...

Ran wanted to tell her that she didn't want the amnesiac miss Sakura to do things that she didn't want to do. But she couldn't manage to say it out loud.

Ran: Miss Sakura, now that dinner's done, could we find a private place to talk alone for a while?

Ann: Not now. We're about to pick lots again soon.

Ran: Miss Sakura, forget the lots. What we should be focusing on is getting your memory back, and then leaving this place.

Ann: Have you figured out a way for me to immediately regain my memories?

Ran: N-no.

Ann: Then let's continue as usual, for now. It might be meaningful for you to see how we've been living in the days up to now.

Ran: (Miss Sakura is right. The current her is extremely different from the her that I remember. I should try to understand her, beginning by understanding the environment around her here.)

Ran: (I don't need to be impatient. Compared to the four years I spent searching, this is nothing. And Miss Sakura is right besides me this time.)

Ran: So this is how drawing lots works?

Miho: Yep. There's two rounds of it- first we decide on the culprit, and then on the victim.

Ran: Hm, no red. So not the culprit card.

Ran: No clue what exactly is being depicted here. Kind of astronomical-looking. Sorta abstract.

Miho: Right, everyone, put your cards away, and let's start round 2.

Ran: Wait, there's eight cards for this too?

Miho: Yeah, we had plenty of spare cards so it wasn't hard to write your name on one of the spares.

Ran: That's not what I mean- I mean, I am not sure I am okay about being included in your game as a potential murder victim, here.

Miho: Of course we're including you! We'd never think to exclude you from our school activities, Ran.

Ran: Wait, hang on. What happens if the murderer pulls her own name?

Miho: In that case, the murderer may kill anybody she likes whenever she has an opportunity to do so.

Ran: Followup question, sorry. Is it legal for the murderer to commit suicide?

Miho: It is, yes. So, if you're not the killer, you can't easily remove the name that you drew from the list of suspects, either.

Miho: Albeit, the probability of it happening is much lower, but you can never quite fully rule it out.

Ran: Aya, huh.

Ran: Aya's definitely got the personality for living a long and happy life.

Miho: Alright, that's that, everyone. Please keep ahold of your cards securely yourself.

Ran: (We keep our cards ourselves? So, the culprit could, in theory, find and exchange cards with other people, to change her target?)

Ran: (I imagine that previous cases may have included something like that, since accomplices are permitted.)

Ran: (Except, this breaks the rule where the culprit can only kill specific targets. Even if the culprit is caught, as long as she refuses to open her mouth, then the others wouldn't be able to know that she'd actually swapped cards.)

Ran: (And, since the dead can be revived, in theory, the culprit could even kill everybody besides the target, first.)

Ran: (Well, it wouldn't be a mystery, then, it'd be a cheap B-rated slasher flick.)

Tama: What's wrong, miss Asakura?

Makoto: Eh? What do you mean 'what's wrong'?

Tama: Makoto-san, you look unhappy about the card you drew.

Makoto: Oh, that? Hoho, don't worry, I do that on purpose. You've always got to perform a little bit at the picking of the lots, after all!

Tama: Ah, I understand, lady Makoto.

Miho: Aya, it's our turn to do the dishes today. Come over here.

Ran: Miss Sakura! We really do need to find a time and place to have a proper conversation!

Ann: I still need to prepare for tomorrow's classes. Let's talk about this later.

Ran: Preparing... for classes? That's...

Ran: (That's nowhere near the same magnitude of importance, right?)

Ann: Why don't you take a stroll around the school? You'll be living here for quite a while, after all.

Ran: Absolutely not, miss Sakura. I'll find a way to restore your memories very quickly, for sure. Then we can go home together.

Ann nodded, but didn't respond to Ran's words, and headed up the stairs by herself.

Ran, in speech bubble: I wish I could take a stroll with miss Sakura.

Makoto: What brings you to the library? Have you come to interrupt us two's quality time together?

The words she used sounded like a complaint, but her expression was clearly a pleasant smile.

Ran: Well, I just came by the library to see what it was like. If you're busy, I'll make my exit, then. Seeya.

Tama: Makoto, hang on! Your hairpin's lopsided. Let me adjust that for you...

Get Tama out of the way and have a private conversation with Makoto (Investigation 4- check passed)

Leave the Library (For Reals This Time)

Use Temp Points

Ran: Indou, I ran into Miho at the dorms just a while ago. She said she needed you for something.

Tama bit her lips and fidgeted a bit.

Tama: Ran-san, did... miss Takei tell you what she needed me for?

Ran: (Looks like Tama Indou doesn't want to leave this place. I really want to have a private conversation with Makoto Asakura, though.)

Ran, bullshitting her ass off: No, she just said that she wanted me to come grab you, since you don't check your phone frequently.

Tama looked down and searched all over her yukata for her phone, apparently fruitlessly. Looks like she forgot her phone.

Tama: ...Okay, I guess. Asakura-san, will you go with me?

Makoto: I'd like to stick around and read a few more books. You go on ahead.

Ran held out a hand to Makoto.

Ran: Let me see your phone.

Makoto: Eh? Why?

Makoto did hand over the phone anyways, though.

Ran: I've got some things I'd like to talk to you about.

Ran sent Miho a quick text, using Makoto's phone, explaining the situation, as she sat down on the seat Tama had previously occupied.

Ran: You're friends with Indou, right?

Makoto: That's right. I'm roommates with her- and she's quite adorable, isn't she? She's always energetically circling me and calling me 'miss Asakura', 'miss Asakura' nonstop. Who wouldn't be charmed by her?

Ran: Sounds quite pleasant. My first impression of you was that you were the kind of person who didn't care much for the company of others. I thought you might be annoyed with Indou's gregariousness.

Makoto? Hmm? Why do you say that? I haven't seen you paying particularly close attention to me.

Ran: Call it intuition.

Ran: (...I don't have concrete reasons, but something about Asakura reminds me of the way I act, when my... ailment... is in a stable state.)

Well, Makoto's emotions didn't oscillate as wildly between hot and cold as Ran's did, when she was in the throes of her condition.

Ran just felt like, through the constant warm and welcoming demeanor that Makoto projected, there were some moments where she'd flip to being ice-cold for just a few moments.

Ran: I suppose I was simply mistaken.

Makoto: You think I secretly don't like Tama-chan at all?

Ran: Oh, no, no, if you didn't enjoy being around Tama then I'm sure nobody in the school would qualify as 'enjoying being around each other'. Well, except for me and miss Sakura, obviously.

Makoto giggles.

Makoto: You know, I'm quite jealous of you, Ran-san.

Supporting her chin with a single hand, letting the bangs of her hair droop in front of her eyes, Ran could feel that the emotions of the girl opposite her were quickly turning deathly chill.

Makoto: But, I'm sure your thoughts are the opposite of mine, aren't they?

Ran: ...What??

Makoto: Well, anyways, it looks like you don't have anything else to say. I'm going to head back to the dorms and check up on Tama-chan. I doubt Takei will be able to keep distracting her for long.

Ran: (What the hell are they reading??)

Ran: (So I wound up coming back to the dorms after all.)

Head upstairs and look for miss Sakura

Investigate the sounds from the kitchen

Ran: (Ah, so, even someone as cool and collected as Miho Takei has something she's bad at.)

Ran: Miho, are you trying to double-duty as both nurse and chef?

Ran: Sai is an incredible chef, yeah. Bit heavy on the seafood cuisine, though. Maybe she's the reincarnation of an apex predator of the sea or something.

Ran: So why're you trying to learn to cook, anyways? It's not like Sai is having trouble with the workload, as far as I know.

Miho: I'm just planning for the future. Aya's definitely not going to bother putting in the effort to learn this stuff, so eventually I'm going to have to make all her food for her.

Ran: Eh? Eventually? What eventually?

Miho: You know, after college graduation. Once we graduate, I'm definitely going to wind up living together with Aya.

Ran: Come on, that's a bit distant, isn't it? At least five years from now. Who knows where we'll all be in five years.

Miho: No matter what, I'm going to be with Aya. So it's best to start preparing for it as soon as possible.

Miho: It'll be too late to start preparing once it's actually time. Not just on the culinary front, but so many others as well...

Miho gently caressed the edge of the stove with her hands as she looked absentmindedly into space.

Miho: I hope Aya can come to that realization in time as well...

Ran: ...If I were you, I'd... live a bit more in the present, and focus on the things in front of you, right now.

Ran: Specifically, those potatoes.

Ran: Word of advice- you should peel the potatoes before you start chopping them.

Miho: O-oh. Right...

Sai: Well, hey there, wouldn't have thought you'd come back here today. All to visit little old me?

Ran: Just assume that I'm bored and have nothing better to do.

Ran: (Though even if it rained, I'm pretty sure that the mermaid Sai would still stay in the pool.

Sai: C'moooon, just try it. You still haven't tried swimming here!

Ran: No! There's no way I'll let you trick me into the frigid waters of acheron!

Sai: Ha ha, come on, you sound just like my little sister. Did I ever tell you about how she refused to go swimming in the winter as well until that one time I got her to try and then she got addicted to swimming?

Ran: (WE HAVE HAD THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE YES. Well, not in this timeline, but.)

Ran: (It's just like the recall point.)

Ran: Time for me to flee before you abduct me into the water, then.

Ran: (Should I ask her about miss Sakura and the school? Maybe there's a chance she'll answer differently from Miho.)

Before Ran could ask, Sai herself spoke first.

Sai: You care a lot about Sakura, don't you?

Ran: The idea of 'a lot' is a relative term. Whether something is 'a lot' or not can only be established by comparison with other things.

Ran: For something like how important miss Sakura is to me, comparison is entirely inadequate. Miss Sakura is simply everything to me. There's nothing to compare it to.

Sai: Wow, get a room.

Sai idly kicked the water as she dangled by the edge of the pool next to Ran.

Sai: I remember that I had something extremely important I had to do, as well. Can't remember it clearly, though.

Ran: What?! You also have memory loss problems?! Tell me everything immediately.

Sai: Oh, no, it's- it's nothing like with Ann. It's more the kind of... forgetting that happens when too much time has passed.

Ran: What, there's something even more important to you than swimming?

Sai didn't answer, and merely let the water of the pool lap over her face.

Ran: (Sai looks a bit melancholy. How awkward.)

Is it related to your little sister? (Requires Charisma 7)

Say nothing

Use temp points

Watching Sai slowly sink under the water, her body becoming hazy and distorted through the water, Ran felt like she should say something to her.

Ran: (But I don't understand her that well, really. There's nothing for me to say.)

Ran: Oh, right, I saw Miho chopping some potatoes at the dorms just now. She said you were teaching her to cook.

Sai popped right back out of the pool's surface and swung her head to face Ran.

Sai: Yeah, what about it?

Ran: I'm just saying, she tried to chop the potatoes without even peeling them. I feel like you've got a looong road ahead of you if you really plan on training her into a chef.

Sai laughed.

Sai: She's honestly not chef material. I'm just doing the best I can.

Ran nodded, and, after saying farewell to Sai, departed from the swimming pool.

Watching Sai slowly sink under the water, her body becoming hazy and distorted through the water, Ran felt like she should say something to her.

Ran didn't have the heart to enjoy the food, though, because Ann and Koizumi were conferring with each other with whispers about something.

Ran still tried her best to get Ann's attention, but her words were like pebbles thrown into a pond- the only effect they had were tiny ripples on the surface, before disappearing tracelessly.

Ran: Miss Sakura, do we finally have time to talk properly now?

Ann: Koizumi said she needed you for something. Why don't you two have a chat first?

Ran: FUCK KOIZUMI, HOLY SHIT, I JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU, COME THE FUCK ON OH MY GOD

Ann: No. You need to hear her out first.

Ann: Koizumi didn't tell me what she wanted to say, but she was afraid you'd refuse, so she asked me to convey the message to you.

Ann lifted a hand and gently placed it against Ran's cheek.

Ann: Hear her out, please?

Ran, swooning: Miss Sakura...

Ran: Affirmative.

Ann: Alright, then, hurry and be off. There's another set of stairs from the second floor if you take a right turn. Up after that is the upstairs viewing patio. Koizumi's waiting up there for you.

Ran: Okay. Miss Sakura, please wait for me in your room. I'll come visit you as soon as I'm done chatting with the class president.

Ann stuck a finger into Ran's hair, and gently nuzzled Ran's head, like she was encouraging Ran.

Ann: Mmhm. See you later.

Koizumi: Ibuki-san...

Koizumi got up from the chair where she'd been waiting for Ran, and approached her slowly.

Ran: No, it's fine, please sit. There's many things I'd like to chat with you about, regarding miss Sakura.

Koizumi shook her head, and continued approaching Ran.

Koizumi: There's no need for that.

Koizumi: It'll all be over... very soon.

Ran's envisioned scenario here had been the two of them sitting on chairs, at a respectable distance from each other, discussing the situation with miss Sakura.

Hopefully, a pleasant interaction would leave Ran with more understanding of the amnesiac Ann, and help her find a way to rebuild her connection with her lost lover.

This was not the kind of atmosphere that led to that state of affairs, Ran was pretty sure.

Ran: ...Class president, what are you doing?

Koizumi: Ibuki-san,

Koizumi: I like you.

Koizumi: ...Can I be your girlfriend?

Ran was pretty sure that Koizumi knew exactly what Ran was going to say to her.

Ran: Class president...

Koizumi: Wait, Ibuki-san!

Koizumi had reverted to her timid state, all the bravery she'd worked up to make her confession dissipating into thin air, as if the confession had exhausted her of all her energy.

She was having trouble controlling even her expressions now, but she still forged on, trying to get all the words she wanted to say out.

Koizumi: I know that you've only got eyes for Sakura-san, but... please let me attempt to do something as well...

Koizumi: I want to protect you.

Ran: You want to protect me? From what exactly do you want to protect me?

Ran, looking at Koizumi, who was barely able to breathe at this point, couldn't help but think that Koizumi was the one who needed to be protected, not Ran.

Koizumi: When we get killed, we revive- but that might not be the case for you, Ibuki-san.

Koizumi: If the other students don't think about that, they might go right for you without a second thought if you turn out to be the victim, or maybe you'll be killed simply because they figured it'd be best to prevent you from investigating the crime scene.

Ran: That is true. I may indeed be killed, and I might not be reviveable. But I can take care of myself.

Ran: You cannot protect me, and even if I decided I wanted to accept your protection, that doesn't mean that I need to be your girlfriend.

Koizumi: R-right. But... Sakura-san doesn't remember you right now, and I'm worried that you'll... make an irrevocable choice...

Koizumi: Even if it's just temporarily, you can... you can rely on me.

Ran had no idea why Koizumi had decided on something like this. It wasn't like the two of them had any particularly significant interactions, yet.

Ran, shadow-cast-over-face: Absolutely not. The only one I rely on is miss Sakura, alone.

Ran: If that's all you wanted to talk about, then I'm leaving now. It doesn't look like we can have a productive conversation about miss Sakura right now, with the state you're in.

Koizumi: Ibuki-san! Please wait!

Koizumi: Confessing to you is the first time I've ever made a choice of my own volition! You can tell, right? I'm completely indecisive... even the decisions relating to class get made more often by Miho-san than anyone else.

Koizumi: So, I...

Ran: Please stop, class president. This kind of sappy nonsense is the stuff I hate the most.

Ran: What the fuck do you even mean 'this is the first time you've made a choice of your own volition'? You volitionally eat food, volitionally shower, and volitionally sleep every fucking day, don't you?

Ran: Look, I get the point. You're trying to say that you can't find the determination to make decisions on many things that are important to you. I just don't give a damn. Bye.