The next few days, a few flares of tension aside, passed without any major events. The group's search for a telephone booth did not bear fruit, the only bearing that was done was by Monokuma, and he was rather overbearing. With that hope dashed, Daimyon had had the freedom to make his own schedule for most of the days and needless to say he busied himself well. Above all, he socialised a lot, getting to know the newest Infinites and strengthening bonds with the others. When no one was available or he did not feel like it, he withdrew to his room and read Untethered to relax. It was a reading ritual of his to always start a book from the beginning, no matter where he had left it off previously. Though he never progressed much like this, the experience was deeper and much more enjoyable as he could immerse himself in the author's world from the first word. The structure of Untethered was, and he had never ceased to marvel in that, was delightfully experimental and inspired the poet to write similar material.
Come to think of it, he had no shortage of inspiration since he got to Axis Mundi. He wrote about his fellow Infinites, he wrote about their situation, heck, he even wrote about Monokuma. That was the silver lining he stuck to...and so far, it worked out well for him.
————
Behind closed doors, in Mary's room, the Infinite Streamer was getting worked up, her face blushing as she had to keep her voice down from the excitement.
"Oooh...Oh, nice...That's the good stuff, Daimy-doo, keep it going, yes~"On this particular evening, Damyon was with Mary in her room, which was the one just next to his. The streamer sat on the bed with pen and paper in hand, while Daimyon paced back and forth around in the room his head tilted slightly up—his usual thinking posture.
“Your sight has butterflies in my stomach,
My heart flies with butterflies by the dozen
To the great blue sky, reddened by my fiery love for you!”"Yes, yes, yes! Daimy-doo, you're amazing! Ooh, my maiden's heart can't take it!"He thought up and spoke out the lines one after the other, dictating them to Mary who wrote them down in neat letters to the perfumed paper. They were composing a very special letter: that which confessed the woman's undying affection towards Caora. They were making good progress together and Daimyon almost chuckled just thinking about the reactions the small boy would have. Could he even read? Shaun would read it for him, if nothing else... The poet had not seen the pair too much in these last few days, they mostly stayed back from the tension surrounding Krista and the motive.
The violinist became somewhat of an unwilling VIP, always having the company of at least two people. Daimyon spent some time with her as per the schedule set up by Max Visser, the Infinite Police Officer—one of the new people he had recently got to know—and reassured the girl that she had nothing to fear from any of them. They had a pleasant time talking about music, puns and other relevancies.
Just when the poet decided he would seek out her company soon again, the screen on the wall came alive with an unmistakable voice.
“A body has been discovered. The patients have a limited time to collect evidence before being called into the court of carnage. Do your best everyone!”The silence that returned after was a deeper silence than the one before. Even Daimyon's singing thoughts quietened as he struggled to place the sudden announcement. He looked at Mary and she looked at him, but neither found any semblance of calm in the other's eyes. The streamer's face turned pale, and her mouth was stuck in a grimace of apprehension.
Minutes passed in this frozen silence, and any attempt to break it was stifled as neither of them could form coherent sentences that were not panicky. Finally, Daimyon heard hurried steps echoing through the hallway outside and sprung to open the door. He saw Noel, who stopped for a moment upon seeing the poet.
“Why are you—” The reporter looked past him to ascertain that there was neither any room switching nor murder involved here.
“—nevermind. You must have heard the announcement. I'm not one for tiptoeing around the truth: Mondatta died. We found his body in Aladdin's Palace. You go there, I have to notify the others.”And with that, she was off, presumably towards the break room. Daimyon, muttering incoherently to himself in deep denial, looked back at Mary who was already upright and hurried out of the room.
"Mo-Mo-Mon...Mondatta?" Mary stuttered, holding the unfinished love letter with shaky hands. She dropped it in her room before she ran after Daimyon, panic overcoming her as she desperately tried to keep up with the taller man's stride. She didn't believe it, and how could she?
Mondatta was a monster straight out of a science fiction movie, how could he be killed? Mary then shook his head, groaning at the thought.
That's wrong... He was a gentle, kind monster that supported me when I was alone and didn't know anybody else. I need to see him, I want him to tell me he's just joking around!They rushed through the resort gate, then into the long cave from the fountain. They did not need to go far before they found people: Marianne and a few others were already gathered around Davis who was kneeling in front of an illuminated stalagmite.
“Krista! But Noel said...”Davis nodded towards the side. Daimyon's head turned and he spotted it: the light reflecting brightly from the unmistakable suit of armour.
“No...”He started forward, but realised there was little reason. He could not check the robotic monk's vitals even if he tried and there were no injuries on him otherwise. He looked like he was merely...sleeping, in an unorthodox place. Maybe that was the case. He looked around: the Infinites just kept arriving, gathering around the scene like a funeral procession. Maybe, in the next moment, Mondatta would rise up, apologise for the scare and go meditate. Alas, vain hopes.
"Ah...Aah....AAAAAAHHHH!" Mary screamed her lungs out at the nightmarish sight, shaking her head and crying her eyes out.
"It can't be, no! Noo!" The streamer ran right to Mondatta's corpse, and slammed her fists against his metallic chest.
"Wake up, you jerk! Wake uuupp! WAKE UUUUUPP!"She soon stopped banging, and her feet failed her as she slid against him, until she covered her face with her hands, sobbing silently. She now had to face a cruel truth: The Infinite Monk, a spiritual leader to them, was now dead.
As Daimyon watched Mary break down at the sight of her dead friend, he too had to realise...
...that some silver linings were simply too far to grasp.
