level 23;

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"what do we all think?"

"let's state what we know first. prisoner #520's an only child living with her father that we too don't know the name of.

     her childhood friend chitose along with her parents went missing for a while before their bodies were found at the boarder, all bruised up with slashes.

     at that time, she was six, so it couldn't have been her. she was also at the hospital for getting hit by a car, or so what her father had claimed supposedly when chitose's parents asked about their daughter's whereabouts", sugawara recapped.

     "it sounds pretty normal to me. father abuses child, the child runs off and get hit by a car on accident?", ushijima unsurely said.

     "but they were walking home together. it was said that prisoner #520 pushed chitose out of the way and chitose ran away from guilt", sawamura said.

     "I don't think any normal six year-old would just run away without checking to see if their friend was okay or not. and it's even more weird that she didn't go to the hospital with her...", kita chimed in.

     "let's say hypothetically she got hit by a car, most drivers would probably drive off if no one's nearby so that they won't be sued. it's rare for someone to walk by the perfect time and call the police", oikawa mumbled.

     "so you're saying she wasn't hit by a car?", sawamura questioned.

     "I'm not sure yet, but let's say that her and chitose did end up making it back home. what happens then?", oikawa asked, to which the other three commanders pondered this as sugawara was typing away.

"did her friend know of the abuse?", kuroo asked, suddenly speaking up.

"what?"

"did the friend know of the abuse? if she didn't—which is what I believe is true because not many six year-olds have developed their own decision making skills yet, especially ones that's been suppressed by their parents since birth—then it's possible that chitose was killed when trying to leave", kuroo stated.

"but why would shio—prisoner #520 put her supposed friend in that position?", kita asked, almost misspeaking in front of the warden.

kuroo shrugged. "two possibilities", the male said as he lifted two fingers up, making a peace sign.

"one: she didn't know her father was home and she tried to help her friend leave, but ended up getting herself into the hospital meanwhile her friend died. hence that also explains why both parents died too, as you wouldn't want them to trace it back to you, ultimately", kuroo explained.

     "and two?"

     "two: she knew and she purposely took her home so that her father and her could kill them together. she got beat in the process as an act to cover up for her friend's missing", oikawa subbed in.

     "if that was the truth, which one do you all think is more likely?", the warden asked.

     "I'm thinking second", oikawa said first, to which ushijima had slowly nodded.

     "I'm going with the first one", kuroo stated, to which kita had agreed with the bed-head.

     "why's that?"

     "at age six, if you're being abused at home, you should be desperate for a friend, for somebody to hear you and be there for you. it's unlikely that she'd push her friend to death, at least not willingly", kuroo said, muttering the last part.

     "we don't know that. perhaps she was born mad and joined in on her father's killings since a young age. her father could've abused her into doing so. she could've been desperate to live so she complied", ushijima said, surprising his colleagues with how much that he's said.

     "no one is ever born mad", kita rebutted. "there must have been a traumatic experience for her to be this way".

"I agree. plus, that night that she was screaming chitose's name, it sounded like she was in pain rather than delight. which meant that her friend meant a lot to her", kuroo added on.

sawamura sighed as he rubbed his temples in a circular fashion.

"warden, is it really necessary to find out about prisoner #520's past? I mean...maybe we should just leave her b—"

     "that's not it. the more sugawara and I look into her, the less we know about her. it only gave us the basics on her profile, with no real name or relationships with others. what's even more suspicious is that there was no record of what happened to get herself captured", sawamura stated.

     "and I just realized that we never questioned how she managed to burn down the buildings, rob the banks, and kill the people. it's possible for one person to kill a whole bunch of people..but the ability and materials needed to burn down buildings and get away with it..."

"perhaps she works with someone else?"

"but who?"

♛

     "the warden has approved of your request", ushijima informed, to which shiori had just hummed.

"is that so? is he perhaps...expecting anything?", the girl asked, her eyes darting towards the olive-haired male as his eyes widened a bit, shaking his head.

     "no", ushijima bluntly said.

     "hm~ okay then. question, if I were to sleep with one of the officers or commanders, I'm not expected to share a room with the rest of them am I?"

"well...no".

"then we will reside in my cell?"

ushijima simply nodded.

"does that mean I should get a bigger bed then? that twin size one won't fit the both of us", shiori stated, to which ushijima hesitated.

"I'll talk to the warden about it".

"the warden's been pretty lenient with me lately. you sure there's not anything he wanted to know from me? or is it from this time's incident? feeling guilty?", shiori asked as she flipped through a page, meanwhile sakusa was at his desk, writing.

"yes, I'm positive. now if you'll excuse m—"

     "can you bring me tomu and kenji please? I haven't seen the two of them in a while and I miss them", shiori interrupted with a smile.

     ushijima walked towards the door. "sure", he shortly said as he swiftly left.

     "you have quite the peculiar taste", sakusa commented, to which the girl had just lightly chuckled.

     'I prefer, having a great eye for future tools', shiori corrected in her head.

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author's note: I'm sorry this is kinda like a filler chapter, but I thought it'd be interesting to see the commanders talk amongst themselves and show off their big brains.

couldn't be me, lol.

anyways, I hope you enjoyed!! and if you did, don't forget to HIT THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON! <3