Next week I will be posting my Zestiria fic.

Read, review, enjoy!


Investigation Time!

Nobody said anything to Monokuma as he left. Ludger and Kanonno quickly showed everyone how to get to the "Monokuma File" on their e-handbooks. Then they all took a moment to look over the report.

Cress' image and full name popped up on Sorey's screen. And so did all his physical descriptions. Height, weight, eye color, blood type. When in the world did Monokuma have the time to get all of that? Did he have that for everyone?

Then Sorey scrolled down and the same image of Cress popped up, but with some of his head highlighted pink.

Below that it said:

Victim: Cress Albane

CoD: Blunt Force trauma to the head.

Time & Location of Death: Entrance Hall at 11:30 PM

"This doesn't tell us much," Ludger said with a sigh.

"I'm also not inclined to put my life on this information given by the bear," Yuri said.

"Well I could at least double check and see if Cress' body tells us anything else," Jude volunteered.

"Do you...study dead bodies or something?" Veigue asked as he seemed to choose his words carefully.

"Umm...not really," Jude replied as he was a bit taken aback. "I'm a medical student. I had to take a class on autopsy. At the very least I can verify if the file is correct."

"Good enough for me," Yuri commented.

"None of us should investigate alone though," Kor suddenly suggested. "No offence Jude, but what if you're the culprit? You could hide something from us."

"What, you saying you don't trust Jude and the rest of us?" Senel suddenly asked.

Kor actually fell silent because his answer was likely; "That's right, I don't trust anyone."

So Sorey quickly said, "I don't think it's so much about trust. It's more like just making sure we hold each other accountable." They couldn't start suspecting each other or distrusting. They had to rely on everyone.

"That's a good way of putting it," Milla said. "I'll stay here and watch Jude."

"Sorry, but could the two of you not investigate together?" Yuri suddenly interrupted. "Gut feeling, you know."

"You're afraid we're working together or something?" Milla asked.

"Something like that," Yuri told her. "The two of you have been pretty chummy with each other."

"Very well, I'll keep an eye on Velvet then," Milla then suggested.

"Milla," Jude exclaimed.

But that was quickly overshadowed by Velvet's death glare. "I don't need a babysitter," she said bitterly before she stormed off.

"Now don't be like that," Milla called after Velvet before going after them. Milla actually reminded Sorey of Mikleo a bit the way she delivered that line.

"S-should we really leave Milla alone with someone like Velvet?" Emil asked.

"Honestly, I don't think Milla is someone you should cross either," Yuri commented.

"Yeah," Jude seemed to agree.

Yuri looked at the others that remained. "Lloyd, care to partner up with Jude?"

Lloyd seemed a little startled. He scratched the side of his face and said, "I don't mind, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for."

"You won't have to do anything Lloyd, we just have to partner up," Jude tried to explain.

After that, everyone else partnered up and split up. Several groups went to go look for the murder weapon since there wasn't one by Cress. At first everyone was just going to go with who they started searching with this morning. But Luke adamantly refused to be partnered up with Sorey again, saying that Sorey was bad luck. So Sorey ended up partnered with Yuri.

"So where should we even begin?" Sorey asked.

"Why don't we figure out who was the last person to see Cress alive and get their alibis," Yuri suggested. "But I think I'm going to be the most suspicious person."

"Do you think you were the last person to see Cress?" Sorey asked.

"At least the only person who would admit it," Yuri told him. Yuri spoke very casually the whole time. Sorey really was jealous at that about Yuri. "After we all left the cafeteria last night, Cress and I decided to search the school some more. But we decided to call it a night at about eleven. But Cress wanted to look in a classroom one more time. So we separated."

And about a half hour later, Cress was killed. It sounded likely that Cress kept searching on his own. "Did you see anyone when you went to bed?" Sorey asked. If Yuri say anyone else then that would be the next suspicious person.

"Nope," Yuri answered. "What about you Sorey?"

"Oh," Sorey was a bit startled by that. But of course he also needed to be questioned. "I talked with some of the others. But I went back to my room when the night announcement played."

"And that was at ten," Yuri said as he paused. "It's likely that a lot of people will say the same thing."

"Yuri, do you really think it's one of us?" Sorey suddenly asked. It still bothered him that he could see anyone as a hellion.

And Yuri just shrugged. "I have no clue. I'd be simpler if it was just Monokuma or a goon of his. But it's more likely that it's one of us."

He didn't want that. It just didn't make sense to Sorey that it could be one of the participants. Everyone seemed like good people. So for Monokuma to make situations where they would kill each other was just too cruel.

"Sorey," Yuri suddenly said that brought him out of his thoughts. "You look like a good kid, so I think I know what you're thinking about. But right now, we need to think about Cress. I'm not saying I knew him too well, but he didn't deserve to be killed. So we need to make sure we find them. For his sake."

He was right. For Cress, Sorey at least wanted to make sure that they found out who killed him. "Okay," Sorey said. He didn't get a chance to know Cress well, but he would find out who did this to him.

So he and Yuri moved on to the next group of people. Somehow Senel and Emil had been paired up. They were searching the entrance and hallway in case the culprit left anything behind. Emil looked a bit uncomfortable being paired with Senel.

"So where were you two last night?" Yuri didn't beat around the bush.

"I was asleep," Senel told him just as bluntly.

"S-same," Emil repeated.

"Well, do either of you have a suspect in mind," Sorey asked. If they could hear everyone's thought on this, they might be able to find someone more suspicious.

"My vote's going to Velvet," Senel replied without even thinking about it. After last night, most people were going to think it was Velvet even without any proof.

"What about you Emil?" Yuri then asked without a single comment on Senel's answer.

"I-I think it's…" Emil said but stopped, He looked so troubled by what he was about to say.

"Come on, spit it out," Senel snapped. "All our lives are on the line here."

"I-I'm sorry," Emil was quick to say. Emil was like a turtle, Sorey realized. He would withdraw when met with any kind of opposition.

"Take a breath and stand straight," Yuri told Emil like an instructor correcting a form.

And Emil did just that. Except for the standing up straight. "I think it's Lloyd," he muttered

Not that Sorey was ranking people on how guilty he thought they were, but Lloyd would have been pretty low on Sorey's list.

"Lloyd? Anything to back up that claim?" Yuri asked.

"Before I went to bed, I did see Lloyd walking toward the school part," Emil tried to explain.

"And the time?"

"It was right after the announcements last night."

"So around ten," Sorey summed up.

"That's about an hour and a half before Cress was killed. Lloyd doesn't strike me as the lie and wait type of guy."

Emil made no comment even though he clearly wanted to say something.

"Are you done with your questioning?" Senel asked.

"Sure," Yuri said as he motioned for Sorey to follow them.

But Sorey lingered to ask, "Have you guys found anything yet?"

"Nothing," Senel snapped.

"What are we even supposed to look for anyway?" Emil then asked.

"Just anything that shouldn't be here. And these halls are all unnaturally clean," Senel pointed out.

Sorey never really considered it, but their prison was pretty clean with good upkeep. He supposed he didn't want to associate this place with anything remotely positive.

"Come on Sorey, we've got more things to do," Yuri then told him.

Sorey agreed and followed Yuri back to Jude and Lloyd. Even though Sorey was confident that Lloyd wasn't the culprit, they at least needed to know his side and rule him out as a suspect.

They rounded the corner and saw that Jude was busy at work examining Cress' body. With the initial shock of Cress' death over, Jude seemed completely at ease. But he said he had been studying to be a doctor. Sorey had to remind himself that Jude wouldn't make a good doctor if he was squeamish at blood.

Now while Lloyd didn't look sick, he didn't look very comfortable with being in the same room for long. He was a few steps away from Jude and Cress' body. Again, Sorey couldn't picture Lloyd being the killer. Sorey quickly glanced around the entrance hall and saw that nothing seemed unusual other than a dead body. Looking at Cress made Sorey flinch each time. He couldn't help but wonder if there could have been anything he could have done to prevent this.

He suddenly felt a nudge at his side. It had been Yuri, but he didn't say anything to Sorey and directed his question to Jude. "How's it looking Jude? Can we trust the file?"

Jude's eyes never left Cress' body. "I'm still looking into that," Jude answered. "But so far it is looking like the Monokuma file is accurate."

Sorey saw some disappointment on Yuri's face. He may have been thinking that if the Monokuma file was wrong, then Monokuma may really be behind this. But he didn't voice this.

"Of course, without proper tools, I can't guarantee it's a hundred percent accurate," Jude pointed out. "But there are no other injuries on Cress, other than the head wound. And with the state of his body, I can guess that he was killed sometime last night. But that's about all I can really do."

"Would it be possible to figure out what the murder weapon was?" Sorey then asked.

"I'm going to have to clean up the wound some before I could take a guess. I'm just working myself up to do it."

Most of the other groups we looking into what could have been the murder weapon in various parts of the school. Searching would have been easier if they had an idea what it could have been.

"Do you think Cress got into a fight?" Yuri asked out loud. He was looking at the blood splatter on the wall.

"It's possible," Jude agreed. "But if so, it was a very one sided one. There could have been a brief struggle, but Cress doesn't have any other injuries."

Sorey took a better look at the blood stain on the wall. It was right at his head and the same shape with some of it spread out from being splattered. "With this much blood, Cress must have hit his head pretty hard on the wall," Sorey commented.

"That's what I'm thinking happened," Jude started to explained. "The culprit must have hit him so hard he also hit the wall at an incredible impact. It's likely Cress dead before he fell to the ground."

Sorey wondered if they should take some comfort that Cress died quickly. But Sorey couldn't help but feel that there could have been something they could have done to stop this all together.

"But with this much blood, it should have gotten on the murderer, right?" Lloyd suddenly said.

"That's a good point," Sorey muttered as he thought about it. There was no way they would be able to get rid of the murder weapon and clean the blood off their clothes in time. So if they just examined everyone closely they would be able to see who had blood.

"They would have just changed clothes though. Besides I don't think Monokuma would give use enough time to search everyone's rooms," Yuri pointed out.

"But where would they have gotten new clothes?" Lloyd asked. "It looked like everyone wore the same clothes as yesterday." Sorey was curious too.

Jude began scratching the side of head. "The closets in our rooms are filled with identical clothes." he explained.

"They are?" Both Sorey and Lloyd asked almost at the same time.

Both Yuri and Jude gave them a confused look at them. But Yuri finally said, "Did the two of you really fall asleep last night without checking every inch of that room after what the bear told us would happen?"

"Well, Monokuma said he wouldn't do anything to us directly," Lloyd answered.

Sorey just nodded. He had been pretty exhausted last night and hadn't really noticed that there had been a closet in the room.

Yuri just shook his head. "If we survive this class trial, you two promise me that you'll be more aware of your surroundings."

Yuri had a point. It was an unpleasant thought, but it was doubtful Monokuma would leave them alone after they survive this trial. They all had to be on top of everything if they were going to survive.

After both Sorey and Lloyd promised, Yuri then asked, "So we need to ask, what you two did last night."

"I understand," Jude said before he went on. "I did search the nurses station last night. But I went back to my room shortly after the night announcement."

"Oh yeah, I saw you there last night," Lloyd added.

"Were you at the school store?" Sorey took a guess. The nurses office was right next to the school store.

Lloyd's tone and appearance didn't change in the slightest. "Yep. Kor, Stahn, and I went there after Monokuma told us about it. There were some snack food there that we decided to check out since the cafeteria was closed. Apparently everything gets restocked, so we didn't have to worry about paying for anything."

"Seriously, you three went there because Monokuma told you?" Yuri said with a sigh.

Lloyd looked a bit embarrassed at that. "Well now that you pointed it out, I guess that was a bit risky."

Yuri seemed fight back the urge to scold Lloyd more. He went on to ask, "So how long were you three there for?"

"Not sure," Lloyd said as he thought about it. "I never check the time. But the three of us went back to our rooms at the same time."

"And you never saw Cress or anyone else?" Sorey asked.

"I don't think so," Lloyd answered. "We were busy chatting, so I may not have noticed anyone else."

"Seriously, start paying attention more," Yuri said before motioning for Sorey to follow. "Alright, we'll leave the rest here to you two."

Jude and Lloyd nodded and Sorey and Yuri went off to find the others. They had a lot more alibis to get to.

/~/~/

It had probably been an hour since they left Jude and Lloyd to gather everyone else's alibis. Everyone else was busy looking to see what could be used as the murder weapon. There was no doubt that the murder did in fact take place at the entrance hall. So really the only things they could possibly do was to look for whatever killed Cress.

Velvet and Milla ended up looking in the gym to find nothing so far. Of course, it seemed like what they did the most was argue. Velvet didn't like Milla's presences. When they asked the women where they were last night, Milla replied that she had chatted with Kanonno for a bit before heading to her room. And that had been shortly after the announcement.

Velvet wasn't as forthcoming. She first said it was none of their business. But Yuri told her plainly that some were suspecting her because of her outburst last night. "Fine, I locked myself in my assigned room after I left just in case anyone else got the idea to kill. And it looks like my suspicions were right," she had told them.

That hadn't been much help.

The two of them then found Kanonno and Veigue in the school store. They too thought the murder weapon could have been hidden in there since it was close to the entrance. But they hadn't found anything that look like it had been used. But there was still a ways to go in their search.

The two of them gave them their alibis with no problem. And they were pretty much the same as everyone else's. They had gone back to their rooms shortly after the announcement.

The next group to check on was Kor and Luke. Sorey did feel a bit bad that Kor because he had to practically babysit Luke. The two of them were supposed to be looking in kitchen. But it seemed like they were arguing over the murder weapon.

"Come on, it clearly could have been a knife that killed him," Luke tried to argue.

"Cress died from a blow to the head, I don't think a knife could do it," Kor argued back.

"Luke, let's just drop this until you find a bloody knife," Yuri suddenly interrupted.

Surprisingly Luke did drop it and Kor gave Yuri a grateful look. But Luke quickly asked, "So what are you two doing? Skipping out of searching with the rest of us?"

"We're gathering everyone's alibis so the class trial will go smoother," Sorey told him and hoped he would drop it.

Yuri didn't give Luke the chance, because he quickly asked, "So where were you two last night? Kor, we already heard from Lloyd about your trip to the school store."

But before Kor could respond, Luke quickly shouted, "I told you I didn't do it?"

"Come on Luke, we're asking everyone this." Sorey tried to reason. "Just tell us where you were so won't suspect you."

Luke was basically pouting and had his arms folded. But he did finally tell them. "I was talking with Asbel last night."

Sorey breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't bother asking more. They could just ask Asbel to verify.

"And I was with Lloyd and Stahn last night. I think we left after eleven," Kor told his piece. But then he looked a bit uncomfortable. Finally he admitted, "But I think I saw Cress last."

"Where at?" Sorey asked. This was finally a led they needed.

"I saw him leaving one of the classrooms to the entrance hall," Kor explained. Then he added, "I can't help but wonder now what would have happened if I called out to him."

"None of us could have known what was going to happen," Sorey told him.

"Plus, Cress was pretty adamant about searching more," Yuri added. "He probably still would have gone to the entrance hall even if you had called out to him."

Kor still had a depressed look.

"But you know it's obviously that crazy Velvet killed Cress," Luke suddenly started saying.

"What makes you think that? Did you find any evidence?" Sorey asked. He didn't want it to be Velvet. He didn't want it to be anyone. He was still holding out hope that Monokuma was the real blacken so he wouldn't have to distrust anyone.

"Come on Sorey," Kor started. "You saw the way she left last night. She was probably looking for someone to kill so she could get out."

Kor was right. But… "We all have the same motive though," Sorey told him. Velvet was the only one who was vocal about her intentions. He didn't know anyone here very well, but there was just something that made him think it wasn't Velvet.

"I'm not ruling Velvet out as a suspect," Yuri suddenly interrupted. "But I think the same as Sorey. I don't think it's Velvet either." That surprised Sorey. Yuri also thought Velvet was innocent in this?

"Come on, she clearly could have killed Cress," Luke argued.

"You're right," Yuri admitted. "But so could the rest of us."

"So what makes you so sure it's not Velvet?" Kor asked.

Yuri just scratched the back of his head and looked like he wasn't sure if he should share his thoughts. "This could just be me overestimating her, but I'm sure she's thinking the same thing I am. We need to see how these class trials work first before we can even consider becoming this blacken. We only have one chance to win this after all."

He said it so casually it startled them more than what he actually said. "You're thinking about killing someone!" Luke exclaimed and took several steps back.

Yuri just let out a sigh. "I knew you all would take that the wrong way."

Kor had also took a few steps away from Yuri and still looked pretty nervous. But he said, "I think I get what you're saying."

"We're looking for someone desperate enough to kill and impulsive enough to not even plan the murder, right?" Sorey asked. Sorey had been startled, but he didn't move away from Yuri.

"That's at least who I think it could be," Yuri said. "Just looking at it, it's pretty clear that it was an opportunity murder. The killer probably stumbled on Cress alone and saw their chance to get out," Yuri went on to explain.

That sounded corrected and made sense. Nothing looked staged and the murder could have only happen in the entrance hall. "That could explain why no one has malevolence," Sorey muttered to himself. That may not have turned them into hellions if it was an impulsive murder, but there should still be some malevolence hanging over them.

"Malevolence?" Kor asked.

That startled Sorey some as he saw that none of them had a clue about what he was talking about. Then he remembered what they had talked about that morning. They were possibly from different worlds. "Where I'm from people can turn into monsters if they give into malevolence. You know, like killing someone or other negative things," Sorey briefly. Then it hit him as he looked at the bracelet on his wrist. "Then again, this thing may be blocking my resonance or something like that." Maybe Monokuma was like a normin or seraphim with a blessing that could block things. That could be it.

"I maybe understood about half of that," Yuri admitted. "But it sounds like you come from a pretty just world."

Sorey's mood dropped more as he thought about all that was wrong in his world. The destruction it caused and even the plague town he had been trying to help. And he was here instead of there. How many people were suffering because he wasn't doing his duty as the Shepherd? "There are a lot of problems going on," Sorey admitted.

Yuri caught on pretty quickly and just said, "I guess our worlds aren't that different then."

Sorey quickly shook the thought away. Right now he needed to focus what was in front of him. He need to find justice for Cress. "Anyway, that was great insight Yuri. I don't know what we would have done without you," Sorey told him.

But Yuri just shrugged and said, "Of course I could be doing all of this to mess with you and get someone else blamed. I told you Sorey, I'm the most likely suspect."

"That'd make you quite the villain," Sorey said in an almost joking way.

"And you don't even suspect that?" Yuri asked.

Did Yuri want to be the villain or something? But Sorey shook his head. "Monokuma said we were all heroes. So I don't think that's the case. Plus you seem like a good person."

"Did it ever cross your mind that Monokuma may have been lying?" Yuri asked like he was asking a simple question.

Before Sorey could even reply, they were suddenly interrupted. "I never lie," the voice of Monokuma declared. When they looked, they saw that Monokuma had appeared out of nowhere on one of the preparing tables.

Sorey was so startled that he stumbled to the ground. "Wah," Sorey cried out.

"What are you doing here?" Kor shouted from across the room.

"I'm just here to clarify some facts," Monokuma told them simply. "I wouldn't be a good headmaster or even game host if I was a liar. Sure, I may keep facts from you. But everything said in my voice is the truth."

"I find that hard to believe from such an obvious villain," Yuri said.

It was Monokuma's turn to shrug. "Well believe whatever you want. It's not like I care," he said. Then he started waddling away.

"Do you really think Monokuma is lying?" Sorey asked.

"You don't?" Yuri asked in return.

Sorey had to think. There was a part of him that wanted Monokuma to be a liar. It'd make their situation more bearable. But the other part of him knew that Monokuma was speaking the truth. "I think he's telling the truth," Sorey answered. All of this was hard to believe and it felt a bit hubris to believe they were all heroes just because Monokuma said. Sorey certainly hadn't done anything that could be considered as heroic. Then Sorey gave a small nervous laugh, "You're probably going to tell me I'm being foolish and gullible, huh?"

But Yuri didn't. With his arms folded, he instead said, "Well if your world is like what I think it is, then it's probably best you stay innocent. I'm just going to suggest that you develop some skepticism. Having blind loyalty or faith can lead you down a pretty dark path. Same as doing dastardly deeds yourself."

Compliancy in those deeds were just as bad, Sorey knew that. He suppose Yuri did have a point in the blind loyalty. It could be considered synonyms in some cases. "I'll keep that in mind," Sorey told him.

Yuri said no more on the matter and just changed the subject. "Come on, we've got one more group to question," Yuri told him.

/~/~/

The last people they had to check were Asbel, Ludger and Stahn. It took a while to locate them, but they finally found them outside of Cress' room. The door was open and Yuri and Sorey had caught them just leaving Cress' room.

Stahn noticed them first and even waved them over. "Yo, Yuri, Sorey, did come to help us out."

"Not necessarily," Sorey answered. "We getting everyone's alibis. You all wouldn't care to tell us where you were when Cress was killed, would you?"

"We already heard that Stahn was with Lloyd and Kor last night, and that Asbel was talking with Luke. If you can just tell us what you all did afterwards," Yuri went on to explain.

"I went into my room when I parted with Lloyd and Kor," Stahn told them.

"I got to talking with Luke until it was about maybe eleven," Asbel admitted. "But I didn't see anyone else out or anything suspicious."

"What did the two of you get to talking about that long about?" Stahn asked. Sorey was a bit curious too. Luke didn't seem to the type to stay on the same subject for long.

"Long story short, we found out that we're both first sons of noble families," Asbel explained. "When he got to talking about his home, I started to realize that things weren't matching up."

"No way, you're a noble," Stahn said sounding shocked. Sorey didn't find it was shocking. If anything, Asbel did sort of remind him of Alisha. But it did surprise him to hear that about Luke.

"Never would have pegged you a noble," Yuri commented.

"Well, I guess technically I'm not a noble anymore since I'm training to become a knight," Asbel clarified and seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Maybe we should save this for after the trial," Ludger suddenly said.

"Good point," Yuri said sounding all too eager to change the subject. "So where were you last night Ludger?"

"I just went to bed," he answered. "Sorry, I know that wasn't helpful."

"It's at least the same for everyone too," Sorey told him. It was disappointing, they hadn't gotten a single solid alibi. With no alibi, then they couldn't be certain that anyone wasn't the murderer

"Of course, if the one who killed Cress is one of us, then we know that at least one of us is lying," Yuri pointed out.

Sorey supposed he should have suspected that. But it surprised him nonetheless. It just hadn't occurred to him that someone purposely lied to him.

"You really think we had someone here that would betray everyone like that?" Stahn suddenly asked. He actually looked worried about that. "Everyone seems like they're good people."

"At this point, all our lives are on the line," Asbel said. "If we don't find out who the blackened is, then all of us, but them, will be killed."

"So, does that mean they're our enemy?" Stahn asked.

"I think that's a fair assessment," Asbel replied. "They knew what would happen if they started the killing game. So they killed Cress and just didn't care if it meant the rest of us died just so they could get out." Asbel, he actually looked angry.

"Do you disagree Ludger?" Yuri suddenly asked.

Ludger was startled when the direction changed to him. Before that, he had looked a bit uncomfortable. "No," he answered. "But I guess I'm worried about finding out who it is. Like Monokuma said, there was no motive given. So what could have driven them to kill in such a short time?"

Ludger must have come to the same conclusion as Yuri. The blackened was someone who desperate enough to do something drastic enough as murder someone knowing the consequences of doing so in this environment. What would be worth it? Sorey could only think of his own situation. The people of Marlind were in desperate aid of purification to save them from the plague. But Sorey couldn't even consider becoming the blackened just so he could save them. What kind of Shepherd would be if he murdered someone and caused the deaths of the rest of the people stuck with him?

"If you're worried that we might be doing the wrong thing by finding the blackened, don't be," Yuri said plainly. "It's fine for us to want to live."

"I guess I was just trying to figure out why they did it and what could be waiting for them outside this game," Sorey told him.

"They'll be plenty of time to figure that out later. One mystery at a time," Yuri said. Then he asked, "So what were you all looking in Cress' room for?"

"It was Ludger's idea," Stahn spoke up and sounded his normal self again. "He thought that maybe Cress was lured out in the middle of the night."

"We were hoping to find a note or something like that to explain why he was out that late. Maybe the murderer asked to see him by the entrance," Asbel furthered explained.

Ludger suddenly looked a bit down and started rubbing the back of his head. "But it looks like it was a flop. We didn't find anything," he said.

"That didn't sound like a bad idea at least," Yuri said. "But how did you all even get in? All the doors would be locked."

"Why would his room be locked?" Sorey asked.

"Sorey," Yuri suddenly snapped as he rubbed his brow and gave a big exhausted sigh. "Tell me you locked your door last night."

"S-should I have?" Sorey asked hesitantly. Monokuma had handed out keys to their rooms last night. But none of the rooms had been locked. Sorey just didn't even think about it.

Yuri looked to be fighting the urge to say what he really wanted to. Instead, he just said, "Just start locking your damn door at night."

Sorey just nodded. He wouldn't say out loud that he may have misplaced the key.

"Anyway," Ludger said to get them back on track. "Cress' door wasn't locked."

"So he was either like Sorey or never even went into his room," Yuri summed up.

"Sounds like we're no closer to figuring this out," Ludger muttered.

"Looks like we'll have to hope that Jude's found something," Asbel said.

Before any of them could reply, Monokuma just suddenly showed up in the center of them which startled all of them. "What now?" Sorey asked.

Monokuma tilted his head to the side and somehow looked confused. "I don't know, I just suddenly started feeling annoyed listening to him," he said as he pointed at Asbel.

"Me, what did I do?" Asbel asked, even more startled now.

Still looking confused, Monokuma explained, "That's what I'm confused about. Normally I love hearing that you all have hope and then to have it suddenly crushed by despair. But hearing you talk about hope just rubs me the wrong way for some reason."

"W-what's wrong with me saying the word hope?" Asbel asked.

At that Monokuma started growling. "There it is again," he snapped. "It's really starting to piss me off."

"Do you have a good reason for showing up this time?" Yuri quickly asked to get things back on to the more pressing issue.

Again, Monokuma tilted his head and gave another confused look. "I guess not. I must be feeling bored if I wanted to hang out with you lot. Anyway…" Their captor trailed off suddenly and didn't add anything else.

But then suddenly the bell rang.

*Ding* *Dong* *Ding* *Dong*

"Ahem, I think that was plenty of time," Monokuma'ssuddenly came through the speakers instead.

"Ah, the bear's gone," Stahn then exclaimed. They all quickly looked and saw that Monokuma had disappeared. They must have all looked up when they heard the bell. But how did he disappear and get to where his voice went through the whole building.

"Please meet at the black and white doors at the end of the hall from the gym. The Class Trial will begin shortly. Anyone not in attendance will be punished as stated in the rules. So you better be there. See you soon."It clicked off and there was silence in the hallway.

It was time for the class trial. And they were nowhere near close enough to figuring out who killed Cress. They were going into battle without any of their weapons or even powers if they had them.

The others looked about the same as Sorey; they were dreading class trial. They weren't prepared. They weren't ready. This wasn't nearly as long as they needed to find the truth. Plus, were they really ready to point fingers at another?

"Come on guys, I'd prefer not to find out what the punishment for skipping is," Yuri suddenly said and that brought everyone out of their thoughts.

He looked so calm despite knowing that something horrible would happen. Either they get it wrong and all die, or it is one of them that dies instead. And they didn't have a single clue to the culprit. Yet Yuri didn't look worried at all.

But seeing how calm he was had a different effect on the others. "Right, we better get going," Ludger said. "It sounds like not going will get us killed to."

"I suppose good luck to everyone is in order," Asbel muttered as he and the other two started walking to where Monokuma told them to.

"Do you know who it is?" Sorey asked. That was the only way Yuri could have stayed so calm. He must have some kind of idea.

"Not clue," Yuri answered.

"You're kidding," Sorey blurted out. "The class trial is about to start and you don't look worried at all." Sorey liked to think he could handle stressful situations pretty well for his age. But he with none of his friends or having a single clue about what a trial was even like, his nerves were getting the better of him.

"Do I really look like that?" Yuri actually asked.

"Well yeah," Sorey told him.

There was a very brief moment when Yuri just looked at him, like he was considering what to tell him. But finally he said, "I guess I just don't see the point in worrying over something I don't even know about. At the very least, I think the odds are in our favor. If it is one of us, then it's fourteen against one."

It was then that he really thought about the rules of the trial. If they did find the culprit, then they will be executed. "Is this really alright? Meeting more death with death?" Sorey asked. He knew the laws of his world. There were cases of execution for committing murder. But that just leaves them with more death. How much malevolence would this cause?

"Would you rather die instead?" Yuri asked simply.

Sorey's head shot up. But he didn't have an answer. He certainly didn't want to die. However, he wanted to protect everyone.

"Look," Yuri then said, "you probably shouldn't be taking advice from me. But just keep this in mind if it helps you sleep at night, this is all messed up. So all you can do is take care of yourself and try to survive. In this place, if you try to take care of everyone else, you're just going to fail and go mad because you couldn't protect them."

"Don't put all the burdens on yourself," Sorey muttered. He heard someone else tell him that.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head. It was so sharp that he fell to his knees and held his head. He let out a few grunts as it felt like something was hammering into his head. He heard Yuri shouting his name.

But it was soon replaced with his friends shouting his name. And he was in the woods now.

"You couldn't see it, could you?" It was Edna's voice talking to him. "Alisha and Mikleo nearly died because of you."

That's right, they had been fighting a monster. And Sorey's vision had been getting darker. He had tried to hide it because he didn't want to worry anyone. He also wanted Alisha to continue traveling with them. But...

"Well I'm not dead. And Sorey was only hiding it for Alisha's sake," Mikleo tried to defend Sorey.

"I understand that, but even so…" Lailah started to say.

"He's at his limit," Edna finished.

"I know," Sorey found himself muttering.

"Know what? You okay?" It was Yuri who said that.

It took Sorey a moment to realize he was still in the school. His friends weren't with him. He was remembering something. That's right, they had restored the blessing to Marlind and were getting rid of some hellions. Why was he remembering that now? Why had he forgotten that?

"I'm fine," Sorey told him. The pain in his head was going away and he was getting his bearing again. He started to get up himself, but Yuri had his hand out for him. "Thanks," Sorey said as Yuri got him back to his feet.

"You good? No more fainting spells?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Sorey said. But he was still bothered by the fact that he remembered something so randomly. He even still felt a bit light headed. He should be relieved to know that the city was safe instead of worrying about his mind.

"Okay then, let's get going then," Yuri said as he started walking away.

I probably shouldn't worry about that for now,he told himself. They had a something much bigger to worry about after all.

/~/~/

The black and white doors were unlocked this time. When Sorey and Yuri entered, everyone else was already there waiting for them. It was a small room that everyone stood pretty close together. It was crowded, but most everyone didn't want to stand close to anyone else they may have thought was the blackended. Most of them were avoiding Velvet.

"Don't tell this is where we're supposed to have the trial," Lloyd commented.

"It looks more like we've fallen into a trap," Veigue said.

Suddenly the bars on the other side opened up to reveal what looked like a smaller room. "It's an elevator," Ludger explained. "It'll probably take us to where the class trial is held."

Suddenly Yuri pulled on the doors they had just come through, only to find they wouldn't budge. "Well it looks like the elevator is the only way," he commented.

Luke moaned, "I don't want to go in that tiny box."

"Come on, let's get this over with," Asbel said as he was the first one to walk into the elevator.

One by one, they all go into the elevator, and when the last one entered the bars closed and box shook briefly. The they could feel it start to descend. They were heading underground.

It seemed like it took forever to go down in the shaky elevator. A thought crossed Sorey's mind. What if this elevator ride was just to make them more nervous? He glanced at a few others and could see that they were visibly scared. When they reached the bottom, either one of them or all of them were going to die.

Sorey then realized that it wasn't the elevator that was shaking, but himself. He looked down at his hand and saw that it was shaking. Sorey had never thought about dying before, even when he fought a dangerous hellion. But this was so different. If Monokuma had his way, someone would die again today.

That was what scared Sorey the most. That they were playing into Monokuma's hand. He controlled them so easily. And none of them had the slightest clue on how to fight back. Even if they could physically beat the bear, how were they going to get out of here?

*Ding*

The elevator came to a stop and slowly opened up. It was bright, but it was still an enclosed circular space. But it was probably bigger than the gym. Along the wall were stands like an audience was supposed to sit there. In the centers were a bunch of podiums in a circle facing each other. Sorey didn't need to count to know that there were sixteen of them. One of them had a sign standing on top of the podium, but Sorey couldn't see what it said.

Monokuma was already there sitting on a tall chair that overlooked the sixteen podiums. He jumped up from his seat. "Welcome to the courtroom everyone. Please find the podium with your name on it," he said in a mild manner tone. But they all knew it was an order.

Everyone started walking toward the podiums. Soon though-

"What the hell is this?" Luke shouted with his eyes on the sign. He was one of the first reach his podium. One by one they came to their seats and saw what Luke saw.

"Come on, there's no point for death to separate us," Monokuma answered. "I said all participants, and that means Cress needs to be here."

One the sign, was a funeral picture of Cress, the victim of this case. But that wasn't the worst part. There was a giant 'X' over his face...and it looked like it was made with blood. Surely it wasn't Cress'. Sorey kept telling himself that it was just paint.

"That's morbid as hell," Asbel commented.

"Well, whoever killed Cress, I have real pity for them," Yuri commented. "Their victim will be starting them down this whole time."

Was this why Monokuma put Cress' picture here? To torture the culprit and make it harder for him to get away with it? Sorey looked at Monokuma, but the bear looked the same as always.

"I hope you're excited you bastards," Monokuma announced. "The heart pounding excitement of the class trial is about to begin."