June 14, 1999 After School/Location Unknown

[loveandwillpower]

The work of an agent of love is never done! You'd think that someone with Minako's grades wouldn't even be a Watson, much less the guy with the deerstalker cap, but what she lacks in academics she's always been able to compensate with drive and raw cunning. And now that drive has a little something extra.

The determination to protect a dear friend against a dangerous foe.

Comments

[bonni]

The nurse makes her way past Maya, to the body. A quick a deft hand takes the pulse - obviously gone - and feels the warmth of the body. Hmm.

"One of you, go get the police. Tell them that Ms. Suzumiya has been killed." A few of Maya's friends had come in right after Bubblegum, after all. Her tone is harsh, but in the way an adult's should be when taking control of a situation. She needs them to listen, not panic.

"And Maya, I'm going to need to ask you to stay here." A moment of pause, and she places a hand on Maya's shoulder. It's not comforting, though. Restraining, more like. "Don't try anything." Her voice is colder, now. A little accusing, perhaps.

[independent_dollmaker]

"Killed? Someone was killed?!"

Alice is out in the hallway, here trying to figure out where the rest of the club went. She hasn't seen the crime scene yet, instead standing frozen on the spot. Please, please let her have misheard that.

[ohmygah]

Miss Bubblegum's words floated into the air in front of Osaka before the brain processed the words. Right. Police. On tv, police knew how to help everybody. And Bubblegum was a Smart Adult who knew Smart things. So she's gotta have the right idea about how to handle this.

"R-right..." She slowly stumbles back out into the hall. The office has a phone, right? She could contact the police and- and everything will be fine because adults have it all figured out.

She dumbly pats Alice, for reasons she wasn't really sure of. "Hi Alice. I gotta.... office police phone... you know." The words aren't forming the way she wants them to but she's having a hard time focusing. Maybe Alice can figure it out. She's smart and mature and so much more together. So Osaka just keeps patting Alice dumbly as she passes her by, even patting the air once she's out of reach.

[itwasfeyt]

"... ...Stay?" The word left Maya's lips before she fully realized what it meant. The tightening grip on Maya's shoulder snapped her out of it quickly.

She looked bewildered, just now having discovered her dead friend. And now... "Wait... I-I didn't do this!" She shook in the grip, imploring eyes staring up at Bubblegum. Pleading. "I didn't do this!"

[bonni]

Peebs doesn't seem moved. But she does seem to have a heavy heart, if just because of this situation's magnitude. "Don't do anything rash, Ma..." No. "...Ms. Fey. This is for the police to sort out."

[fortunatetoaster]

Something like a scream rises up from the pit of Chiyoko's belly and she has to swallow hard enough to hurt to chase it back down again. She doesn't know what to do -- keeping an eye on Hiroshi and Osaka was supposed to stop all this happening, neither of them had been acting weird or irrational -- but there's Haruhi, poor Haruhi, deader than dead again, and all Chiyoko can do is stand and stare and feel sick to her stomach again.

"... was she... was she alive?" she manages to ask, thickly. "When they burned her?"

[bonni]

The question of the hour, then, is how much do they deserve to know, and how much does she want to spare them? Would telling them the truth (such as she saw it) be a cruelness or a kindness?

She casts a glance at Maya. Hard to think a girl like this would be capable of such inhumanity.

But still, these girls would be finding out one way or another. Perhaps it best to get it out of the way now. "...Yes."

[itwasfeyt]

A gasp escaped Maya at that moment. Haruhi, a good friend, was burned alive. She had suffered for her investigation, and it left her nauseous at the thought.

"Please...." Maya's more emotional side was taking over fast. The strength to shake off PB's grip was fading fast. Already, the spirit medium was reduced to a shuddering mess. "I didn't kill her! T-there has to be evidence that says I didn't!"

[independent_dollmaker]

"Wait, wait, it should be the opposite! Nobody should assume you did anything unless there's evidence that you DID do it!"

This has to be a mistake. It was some kind of accident. She can't imagine any of her friends killing someone, let alone Maya.

slides in here..........if we're just going in any random order

[flatview]

Funny thing about burnt human skin. For someone who has, fortunately, never had to smell it before this moment in time, it's awfully distinctive. Someone was burned. Badly. Instantly, Nui thinks of her conversation with Chiyoko.

Well, let me know if you find your scissors. And I'll look for them, too.

She'd seen Osaka run past as she'd glanced out of the classroom doorway, but that wasn't enough to judge the situation proper. Besides, maybe someone just...burned their hand...right? When Nui approaches the mob spilling out in the hallway, her smile falters, becoming more plastic than usual.

"Are we having a party out here, or something?"

[fortunatetoaster]

Chiyoko has to swallow hard again before she can speak and she looks from Maya to Bubblegum and then finally makes herself look at Haruhi. Maya's reaction, her choking sobs, her horror, lined up with her perfectly normal behaviour the last few days...

There's been no strangeness from Maya. No delusions. Maybe she hadn't been looking close enough, but...

She sucks in a deep breath and shakes her head.

"Maya didn't do this," she says softly, starting to chew the inside of her mouth. "It was someone else. But it wasn't Maya."

[bonni]

"Girls, it's all right. The police will get to the bottom of this. You have to have faith in their work." Peebs, you are such a hypocrite oh my glob.

Now where were they? There should still be some near the school, investigating the disappearance of Souji. It shouldn't take them long to arrive.

Souji... best not to think about him. There was definitely a connection - there's no way they couldn't be connected, especially since the only reason Suzumiya would be...

No, that's getting ahead of herself. She wasn't the one who needed to piece everything together. Best leave that line of thought to others.

[itwasfeyt]

"That's what I meant! There's no evidence!" Maya continued to plead, her voice obviously falling on deaf ears but still she tried.

"I didn't kill her!! I was talking to Minako and Osaka, and then I headed over here to meet with Haruhi! She was going to interview Hiroshi!"

Another sob. Maya looked as though she was about to fall to her knees, unable to support herself any longer. Bubblegum's iron grip kept her where she was, though, stuck in that one spot, the smell of death lingering all around her.

"I-I couldn't..."