little darling, welcome to the show.
(under a readmore because jesus fuck this got long.)
one.
The first one was the beekeeper, a girl who Haruto had barely seen before having to investigate her corpse. He wasn’t able to feel much except remorse that they had never spoken.
two.
Her killer, the color theorist. Again, they never properly met. Any fleeting final thoughts of Koji were masked by the humiliation he felt, crying like that during the trial. He couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the gentle giant was okay.
three and four.
The barista - no, Mifune, and the fursuiter. He found himself able to get along with Mifune from his limited interactions with her, and her death was the first of one that he had spoken to. He was actually kinda affected by her death, although he would never admit it. As for the fursuiter, it was a similar situation to Honeya, they had never met - and they never would. The horror of the circumstances of their end was not lost on him, though.
five.
The horticulturist. He knew nothing about them save for their secret, which Aoyama took upon himself to divulge during the trial of their murder. He had no sympathy for this one, though he tried to solve the case nonetheless. It was around this time that he began to realize that he could die at any given time - and so could he. He began to wonder what would happen if he died also, resolving that he wasn’t going to let it happen.
six.
The student council president. In a way, Haruto admired her. She was not afraid to do what she felt she had to, no matter what. Even after her imprisonment was said and done, her final words kept sticking around in his mind. He felt like they were similar in a way, though in what manner that was he could not quite put his finger on it. The trial where she was imprisoned changed everything in Haruto’s mind. It wasn’t about doing things to get attention anymore. Even Yuhara’s hatred of him seemed second to his new goal.
seven.
He hadn’t spoken to the origamist either. Her death had no real importance to him, not when he had his own survival to look over. It stung a bit to admit this, but he couldn’t deny the truth.
Seven. Seven heroes...no, seven human beings out of the original 30, taken from the rest - whether it be through death or imprisonment. This led us to...
eight and nine.
Haruto knew someone would kill over this, just as he knew someone would kill over the secrets. The opportunity to get someone else out, even if What he had not been expecting was the willingness to kill two. Two people, the lawyer(that Haruto had no real opinion of, it was simple, overwhelming indifference.) and the sprinter - Tsukino, who Haruto had investigated with for the previous case.
Haruto found himself in mild shock - although he didn’t know Tsukino too well, he definitely did not deserve to be killed. A bit spacey, but nice enough. He had seemed on good terms with Miyamoto(he wondered how she was holding up), and nothing really seemed to phase him. Why would someone take away his life?
If Haruto had understood the situation before, now it had fully sunk in. Anyone could die at any given moment, including himself and Takeshi.
This was real. This was serious.
Haruto braced himself, and decided to investigate.