Students alive: 14
Chiya's P.O.V
"Upupupu~! Oh look at that! A body has already been discovered! Everyone come to the gym immediately. I'll be waiting!"
I stared at the corpse of Toshiro as my legs started to shake. Toshiro was dead and someone did this to him. I couldn't stand anymore. I dropped on my knees as tears started to fall from my eyes. There was silence except for my own sobs.
But soon enough, I heard many footsteps. They were loud and it sounded like they were running. They were getting closer and closer, until they stopped at some point.
"Chiya! Where are you?"
"Chiya-chan!"
"Look! Over there! Chiya's suitcase! She must be there!"
Soon the footsteps started to come closer towards me. I covered my face with my hands, unable to see this anymore. But the image was still in my mind. I heard the footsteps stop and after that I heard people gasp, scream or curse in anger or shock. They were here and they have seen the corpse.
"T-Toshiro-san..." I heard Demiyah say, her voice cracking. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"Alright! Which one of you fuckers have killed him?!" I heard Tetsu yelling, definitely angry at the point. After some seconds, a pair of footsteps started to come towards me. I wanted to look who it was, but of course I'll see the horrific scene again. The footsteps stopped and I felt someone suddenly hugging me close. Wait..hugging me close?
I uncovered my face slightly as I looked at the chest of the person. I immediately the person who was wearing his dark red vest and white shirt. Nao was the one who hugged me and rubbed my back. I thought that I would never calm down after what I saw, but the rubbing and his heartbeat against my chest did a little bit.
"Speak now! Or else I'll make sure that you guys will talk!" I heard Tetsu say, even more angry. I looked at the crowd of students. Most of them are cowarding in fear by her anger, exept Masayasu, Miwa, Yukito and Mieko.
Yukito stood in front of Tetsu, looking serious. "Tetsu, punching wouldn't solve this. You might end up killing someone if you did." He said. "Look, it might be better to go to Monokuma and see what it has to tell. Maybe he will release the culprit when we go there."
"Yukito does have a point." Hitomi said. "Everyone minus the...well you know..is still there in the building, so no one has actually left the building." She then looked at Demiyah sadly and muttered a soft 'sorry', but Demiyah shook her head while wiping her tears away. I didn't know what she meant with that. Was she saying that it was okay or not?
Tetsu sighed in frustration. "Fine, but I do will kill the culprit if he will be released." She said in a cold tone as she walked passed them with Yukito following her. As the two left, I feel Nao slowly pulling away. I looked at him as he tried to get something from his pocket.
"Here." He said as he took out a white hankerchief from his pocket. I slowly took it and wiped my tears with it. I then fell Nao's gloved hand patting me on the head. We looked at eachother for a minute and it was really awkward. "Umm..we better should get going." I said, my voice a little cracked from the crying and my cheeks heating up a little bit as I stood up.
"Yeah." Noa said sadly. "We should." He stood up and we both walked away from the backstage. I wanted to grab my suitcase just in case, but two people were already having it. Miyu and Mieko.
"Oh come on!" Mieko whined. "I'm not going to steal it after what I saw, I just wanted to give it back to her." Miyu sighed in frustration as I walked closer towards them. "Yeah, as a SHSL Thief like you would give something back." She said a little frustrated as she walked towards and gave me the suitcase.
"Shut up!" Mieko yelled angry and walked out. Miyu rubbed her forehead as she walked out as well and we followed her to the gym.
- small time skip -
"Finally! What took you guys so long?! I was about to kill you all for making me wait too long!" Monokuma yelled as he showed his claws in anger when everyone was there. But the anger quickly faded and it sighed. "But that doesn't matter now. I wanted to congratulate one of you for actually commit a murder. You made me proud!" It said with a smile and blush on his face.
I looked at Tetsu who has already clenched her fists and her glare looked like she was really to attack or kill. Monokuma noticed that as it looked at her with a sadistic smile. "Ah Tetsu, you are already thinking that I will release the culprit now, right? Then you are wrong." It said. Tetsu slowly decreased her grip as the anger slowly faded. "What the hell are you talking about, bear?" She asked, her voice still in anger but also in confusion.
Monokuma glared at her. "First of all, it is not 'bear'. It is Monokuma. Say that one more time or I'll kill you." It said, slighty angered. "And second, I have thought of something better and more despairing for you all and the culprit. There will be a class trial held a level below the gym." It said as it swayed it arms of joy.
"A class trial?" I asked to it confused as everyone started to stare at it as confused as I was. Monokuma's smile brightened as it looked at everyone. "Allow me to explain, you dumb students." It said.
"After the dead corpse has been discovered, you guys have three hours to investigate the clues and the corpse. You got that? THREE HOURS, nothing more and nothing less. The e-Handbook that you guys received can help you record the evidence and it shows the time of death. After the investigation time is up, then everyone will gather at the gym and go to the elevator down to the place where the class trial is held. You guys discuss about the evidence you all have found and then you have to guess by voting who the culprit is." It explained.
The bear suddenly started to giggle. "And here is the fun and despairing part." It said in a joyful tone. "If you guys have correctly pointed out the culprit, then the culprit will be executed by myself. However if you guys picked the wrong person, then everyone will get executed except the culprit. The culprit will then be free to go." It then cocked his head to the side. "And that's how it goes."
My eyes widened by shock. Someone or everyone else is going to die today? Sure we can find out who the culprit, but sending them to execution? It didn't make sense.
"Umm..Monokuma..sir?" Yogi slowly raised his hands, his body trembling. "W-What if some people don't want to go to the trial?" He asked, his voice a little shaking.
"That is a good question, Yogi-kun." Monokuma said with a smirk. "Then I'll have to kill the person for breaking the rule with my machine gun." And with that, a machine gun popped out from the stage. "So you guys better be there if you want to live." It said.
Yogi started to tremble more in fear, with Suma joining him. And Tetsu had the same glare on her face while Mieko was smiling at her in amusement. The machine gun then disappeared again and Monokuma stood up. "Now why are you guys standing here doing nothing? Go and investigate! And you guys better be back within three hours or else!" It said and it disappeared behind the stage.
And after a few second, everyone has left the gym.
- Time skip -
I walked through the hallways. Investigation has just started about a few minutes ago and everyone was already investigating. Images of Toshiro's corpse were still in my mind, but I do know that I can avenge his death at the trial. And not only that, I want to protect myself and the classmates who I care about. It will be hard to pick the culprit out, but I have to try.
I was now heading to the stage, deciding to investigate for my life and the others. I do know that one of us will die again, but at least only one will die..right?
I was close to the stage, but only to notice that Tetsu and Yukito were discussing about something and they were blocking the entrance. I tried to slowly walk pass them, but they immediately noticed as I walked closer.
"Ah Chiya, what brings you here?" Tetsu asked in a normal tone and not in a angry tone like usual. When I looked at her, she does scares me a little bit. I was afraid of her, because she might be a bully.
"Umm..May I please pass? I want to investigate." I asked to them politely. Somehow their eyes widened by surprise. I don't know why they acted so surprised by that. They looked at eachother first and then looked back at me.
"Are you sure you want to go there, kiddo?" Yukito asked, a slight concerned tone in his voice. "I mean..the corpse, the blood and everything going on out there..."
"I-I know that." I said as I looked away. "It was very horrifying when I saw this and also for everyone. I do need a break from this scene." I then looked back at them, looking at the seriously. "But I do want to help the others so that we will survive this trial. Tetsu-san, Yukito-kun, please let me help you guys out too." I said seriously.
It was silent for a minute and they looked at eachother again until they looked back to me and Tetsu moved away a bit. "Okay Chiya. You can go in, but you better shouldn't stay there too long." Tetsu said in a serious tone. I nodded and I thanked them with a soft voice as I walked inside.
Fear started to come back as I walked closer towards the back, but I have to fight the fear. There is no turning back now. I took a deep breath and I walked inside the back of the stage. Luckily I wasn't alone. Miwa, Masayasu and Yogi were there too. Miwa and Masayasu were investigating the body while Yogi looked around in the canbins for other clues.
They looked at me and Yogi semed very surprised as he walked towards me. "Chiya? W-What are you doing here?" He asked in surprise. I looked at him a little serious. "I-I want to investigate with you guys." I answered as I walked past him and towards the other two. "Masayasu-san, Miwa-chan, Yogi-kun, did you guys maybe find something for the trial?" I asked to them as I looked at them.
Masayasu stood up and looked at me. "We did. We only found the tape on his mouth and the rope arounds his wrists and feet." He answered. "And we know that the rope and tape came from the storage room since there were no other rooms where you could get that." Yogi added as he walked towards me.
Evidence 1 and 2: Rope and tape from the storage room.I nodded at the information. It wasn't much helpful, but maybe the other evidence can help us. I then looked who held her e-Handbook. "According to the investigation profile, it says that the time of death was 11 pm. So it was an hour after everyone has going to bed." She said and then looked at Toshiro's body. "And to see the huge wound like this, it might be that he has been hit by something hard multiple times." She added.
Death time: 11 pm.
Evidence 3: Toshiro's fatal headwound"I see." I said and then looked back at the others. "Has anyone else has found any other evidence yet?" I asked to them. They shook their heads as an answer. "The others are looking in other rooms and in Toshiro's dorm, but there is nothing so far." Yogi said sadly.
I walked towards the corpse and I carefully kneeled down to make sure that I wasn't sitting on a pool of blood. As I looked at his corpse, I started to feel more sadness and guilt than fear. Poor Toshiro-san. Why would someone kill him like that? He didn't deserve this. He was a nice person, even when I only knew him for one day.
But then I noticed something in his hands. "Huh? What's this?" I muttered curiously as I carefully took it out from his hands. As I had it in my hand, Miwa and Yogiwalked towards me to take a look. It was a white piece of cloth with blood on it.
Evidence 4: A bloody white piece of cloth"Chiya-chan, may I feel it for a second?" Miwa asked. I gave it to her and she felt it with her fingers. After that, she gave it back to me. "No doubt about it. It must came from someone's clothing." She said. "You better should keep it for the trial. It might be useful." She added.
I nodded in agreement as I put in my side pocket. It might be dirty now, but it didn't matter. "So if this cloth actually belongs to the culprit's clothes, then there might have been a struggle." I said to the others.
"It could be." Masayasu said. "But it might not enough. There is still the murder weapon that we need to find. If we can figure that out, then we might know who did it."
That was true. The murder weapon is now the only evidence that we need to know before the trial starts and we have to hurry since the time is ticking. We looked around for the murder weapon around the stage, but nothing seemed to match the wound.
I don't know how long it has passed when we were looking for it, but we were stopped when someone suddenly barged in. "I found it! I found it!" I heard the voice yell. Me and the other three came outside and looked at Suma with a small plastic bag in her hand.
Suma ran towards us with wide eyes from shock. "You guys! I might have figure it out who did it!" She said as she slightly panted. She then looked at me and her orange eyes widened even more. "Chiya-chan? What are you doing here? Me and Nao thought you were in your dorm again." She asked surprised.
"I-I was investigating." I answered her question and then I looked at her seriously. "But why do you think that you might have figure out the culprit?" I asked to her. She looked to the left and right and walked closer. "Because I found the murder weapon." She whispered as she opened her bag and showed it to us. My eyes widened at the sight. There was a little blood of it and it seemed to be dried out on the weapon.
Evidence 5: The murder weapon"My god.." I whispered as I looked at it. Suma closed the bag and looked sadly. "I know, I still don't understand why a person like them would do such a thing." Suma said sadly as she looked away.
Suddenly we heard a small tune through the speaker. "Bing bong! Your time for investigation is up! Gather at the gym immediately or die! Upupupu~!" And with that, it went silent again. Has it been three hours already? Time really goes fast here.
"We better should go." Masayasu said and we walked towards the gym together with Yukito and Tetsu. After a few minutes of waiting, the others arrived one by one. When everyone was there, the elevator was shown at the left corner of the gym. One by one, everyone walked inside the elevator.
When the elevator door closed, I started to feel nervous and scared. And it slowly increases when we went down. But I shouldn't let those emotions control me. Not now.
The trial will start soon and someone is going to die today.
To be continued Alive students: 14