New Course
Himiko had trouble living her life before. She had very little to rely on which caused her to become lazy and not often express her emotions. Though people had told her the student council was a bad idea, she disagreed, feeling it easier to rely on Angie and Atua than risking being hurt again. When she had heard Angie needed a candle for the ritual, she quickly ran and got one for her lab, the girl often using those things in her magic tricks. Himiko brought the candle to Angie, who thanked her and as both were tired, they decided they would do the resurrection ritual in the morning.
Shuichi found himself being woken up by an annoyed Maki, who revealed to him Angie was going through with the ritual and it was the stupidest idea she had heard. Shuichi sighed and followed Maki to Angie's lab. Angie was preparing the finishing touches on the ritual, which included stabbing the effigy of Kaede, which made him feel very unsettled. He understood Angie wanted to help, but she wasn't going about it in the right way. Though he was constantly unsure of himself, allowing his memory of Kaede to give him more confidence in himself. Kyo then enlisted him, an unwilling Miu, and Tenko to help with his seance. Shuichi didn't agree the seance would work, but wanted to think about something other than the ritual and Angie's cult. When the lights were turned on however, Tenko was motionless inside the cage, and something was definitely wrong. The body discovery announcement was sounded and everyone else rushed into the room. The investigation started and Shuichi immideitly set too work, detirmined to find who murdered Tenko especially for Himiko, who was devestated by her friend's death. Angie immiediately took the entirety of the student council and left the scene, refusing to investigate. Shuichi was frustrated and worried, but managed to calm himself, up until the beginning of the trial, and he was worrying at full force again. Shuichi was tired of this whole thing. He didn't want to continue having to accuse his friends of murder and keep playing monokuma's stupid game. He was worried about Himiko, who seemed to have given up completely without her friend. As the trial continued, Shuichi grew increasingly frustrated with Angie, who claimed Tenko's death was the work of Atua and her seeming apathy to the whole thing. He also became worried that Himiko yelled at anyone else who bad mouthed Tenko, but didn't even notice the lack of care Angie seemed to have, despite Tenko being in the student council too. Angie wasn't a bad person, but the control she had over her classmates unsettled Shuichi. As Shuichi continued to lay out evidence, he soon realized the only one who could have done this was Kio. However, something is very off about Kio this whole time and when Shuichi finds out what it is, he wants to throw up. Kio being in love with his sister and killing friends for her was just sick. Despite that, he still hated to see another one of his classmates get executed. He also worried that Angie seemed indifferent that Kio had died, saying that he was a sinner and could never be exepted by Atua. Shuichi was sick and tired of hearing Atua's name, and turned his attention to something more important. Kaito was acting off, and Shuichi was worried about him. Kaito said he was fine, but Shuichi had trouble believing him there. Even so, he didn't realize that Kaito was deathly ill, and trying desperately to hide it.
After the third trial, the things seemed to return relatively to normal, except not. When the 5th floor was opened up, Shuichi was happy to explore the new labs and get away from Angie's student council. Even after Tenko's death and Kios execution, Angie and her brainwashed student council were still causing trouble. Though Shuichi was happy to find his lab, he was less happy that it was so associated with death it made the detective uncomfortable with the situation. Shuichi then came to the dining hall to find yet another argument between the student council and everyone else. Kaito seemed livid, and Maki was trying to hold him back. Kokichi seemed to like the chaos and the student council was as angry. Gonta looked torn, such an innocent soul, but Keebo, Tsumugi, and Himiko were all fiercely defending Angie. Shuichi decided to step in, but when he said they needed to stop obsessing over Atua, Angie asserted that he couldn't prove Atua wasn't real and Shuichi realized she was right. He couldn't prove either way, if Atua wasn't or was real. The thought made his head hurt. Shuichi watched as the card key was handed to Kokichi of all people, but then Angie snatched it from his hand and said Atua wanted her to protect everyone. Shuichi decided to ignore it, not wanting to get into another heated argument with the girl. That night, he snuck out to meet with Kaito and Maki, hoping he wouldn't be spotted. Unfortunately, he ran into Gonta, who was guarding the courtyard. "Shuichi, you should go back to your room, it's night time. Shuichi groaned, but was a bit relieved it was Gonta and not another member of the student council. Of all the members of the student council, Gonta was the most reasonable and still a pure soul. "Well," He explained, "I promised Kaito I would train with him and Maki tonight." Gonta paused, seeming to be deep in thought. "Angie is acting different, but Gonta still think it best not to be out at nightime." Shuichi attempted to console Gonta as best he could, as the gentle giant was feeling useless. Shuichi then started training with his friends and Maki was way ahead of him as usual. However, he was starting to get worried about Kaito, who hadn't done a single sit up yet. When Kaito left to allegedly go to the bathroom, Maki asked him if he had liked Kaede, which caught him off guard. Shuichi definitely cared about Kaede, and considered her a very close friend, though he did feel something more with her. Maki then started getting very evasive, making the detective realize she had a crush on Kaito. Shuichi approved and believed his friends would be very happy together. He enjoyed his friends company as he trained and headed back to his room, only to be stopped by Angie. Shuichi rolled his eyes as Angie chastised him, but felt crushed when she said he didn't care about his friends and was fine with them dying. Shuichi managed to escape, but didn't know what to think. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Shuichi was having trouble not thinking about about the fates of his friends that he wished he could of stopped. He didn't blame himself anymore, as Kaito helped him realize that his fallen friends wouldn't want him to feel this way. He woke up and came into the dining hall in time for yet another argument, which just seemed to be routine by this point. Angie was scolding Gonta, which made him wilt and made Kaito furious. Shuichi wasn't sure what was going on, so Maki explained Gonta wanted to fight monokuma to save everyone and Angie was shaming him and scolding him for thinking of violence. Shuichi could now understand why Kaito was so furious, and though he didn't think shouting at Angie was the best move at the moment, especially since the rest of the student council was firmly on Angie's side. When Shuichi heard Angie say Atua was dissappointed in Gonta and he couldn't protect anyone in this way, he saw red while holding Kaito back. However, no one was holding Maki back and Angie got a punch to the face. Shuichi was starting to get really worried and he didn't want this to get violent, so he left with Kaito before everyone started throwing punches. Everyone was so divided at this point that Shuichi was sure something bad would happen if everyone didn't come together. He agreed when Miu suggested they go to the virtual world, as he thought it might relax some tension in the group. That didn't happen however, when they came back out to find Gonta had been killed and there was now even more distrust between the student council and everyone else. Afte, r a tiresome investigation, Shuichi was not at all ready for the trial that came after. They soon realized the world was not like what Miu said, and that she had been planning to murder, and though she argued against him fiercely, the detective soon proved Kaito had nothing to do with the whole thing. Kokichi seemed to know something about it, but said nothing. Shuichi noticed that Atua says girl was acting fishy, and managed to catch her in a lie. That's when Shuichi learned Gonta and Kokichi had switched avatars and Mi had been aiming to kill Kokichi, only to hit the wrong person. Angie made no attempts to clarify but from Kokichi, they learned he had been randomly switched into Gonta's avatar. Shuichi prompted Angie to talk and learned she had over heard Miu planning Kokichi's murder and switched the avatars to save Kokichi, only to sacrifice Gonta in the proccess. Shuichi could see the rest of the student council looked hurt and betrayed, and Kokichi looked completely crushed and enraged. The liar growled at Angie and stormed out of the room, and Shuichi was tempter to join him. Shuichi refused to watch Miu's execution, and could feel his resolve slowly weakening, just wanting to think of Gonta. The student council disbanded as everyone's trust in Angie had been broken and Shuichi felt more and more done with everything. He did notice that Kaito wasn't feeling well and seemed to be even more angry around Kokichi for some reason.
