A/N: Hah...welcome back everyone, to your weekly dose of teen murder mystery! Unless you do murder mystery stuff all the time, in which case this is probably just par for the course. Anyways, hi everyone! Are you all ready for the first murder case of Remember Hope? So, last time: Hana found a dead body! And as one does when that happens, she fainted. Now, the investigation begins! ...Okay it may not start right away, but you know what I mean. Let's begin!
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MaskedGamer: Ahahaha, yes! Feel the sting of the characters you love dying, for it was my plan all along! ...Goshdangit, now I'm starting to sound like Azami. Anyways, though my confidence with the motives may not be too high (the games took all the good ones, so I didn't have much to work with), I'm very proud of myself for formulating the actual murders themselves, this first one included!
Chapter 1: Mutual Survival- Deadly Life (Part 1)
"Hana...?"
"Hana! Hey, can you hear me?"
"C'mon, say something, open your eyes! Hana!"
At first, her vision was dark. As her eyes adjusted, things began to brighten and become less blurry. The first thing Hana saw was the ceiling, and quickly after that she noticed the young man with wavy black hair looking down at her...Hiroshi.
"Oh thank goodness- for a split second I though something had happened to you too," the boy replied, his steel gray eyes full of worry as he stepped back a bit. "Looks like you just passed out, though."
Passed...out? Hana wondered, sitting up with a little groan. Why would I have-
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the pair of metal doors on the other side of the hallway that was slightly open. Through the crack in the doors, Hana saw something on the floor on the other side. It was crimson, a liquid...
Blood.
Hana let out a horrified shout as she scrambled away, the memory of what she had seen quickly returning. She heard Hiroshi talking, but tuned him out as she clutched her head and squeezed her eyes shut. No matter how hard she tried to block out the image of...that, she couldn't. She couldn't. Honestly, Hana didn't think she ever would. As of that moment, as more people ran down the hall towards her, all she could do was sit on the ground in a somewhat fetal position.
How...How did it come to this...? Hana thought as she clutched her head more tightly. And why...why...
Someone...please tell me...why...!?
"Hey! Guys! What's with all the shouting?" Hinata called as he ran down the hall towards Hana and Hiroshi.
"Wha-!? Hana! Are you okay? What happened?" Kaneki, who was with Hinata, asked when she saw the surfer almost curled up on the ground. Hana, however, couldn't look up to face either of them, still trying to comprehend what she had seen in that fitness room.
"Guys...you need to see this," Hiroshi said to the thief and explorer. Hana glanced up to see them walking over, before Hiroshi opened the door to reveal the body on the other side. Mikio's body.
"What the-!?" Hinata cried, he and Kaneki being visibly taken aback by the bloody scene. The Ultimate Thief, shaking, said, "H-Holy shit...! That...That can't be real, right...? This is a nightmare...this has to be a nightmare! Someone...Someone wake me up! Wake me up, please!"
"Gh-!? A-Ah...!" Kaneki stepped back, looking even more horrified at the room than Hinata...before she turned on her heel and bolted back to the dining room, screaming, "GYAAAAAAAAH!"
Hiroshi grimaced and closed the doors. At that moment, a new sound echoed through the halls...
Ding dong, ding dong
Hana could hear the monitors being turned on as Monokuma appeared onscreen, stating, "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"
As the monitors went silent, Hana's horror was replaced with confusion. What...was that...?
"Seriously, am I dreaming or something...?" Hinata asked, more towards himself. "Things are getting weird, I don't like it..."
"If you're dreaming, then I think we're dreaming with you," Hiroshi responded, walking over to Hana, who still hadn't gotten up from her spot on the hallway floor.
"Noooope! I can assure you all that this is really real, for real!" Monokuma, who suddenly appeared right next to Hinata, replied.
"GAH!" Hana cried, immediately jumping to her feet in fright as the bear showed up so suddenly.
"Hm...I should have known you'd show up..." Hiroshi said to Monokuma, his normally stoic gaze narrowed into a glare.
"Well, truth be told, I'm only here to gather you three stragglers," Monokuma explained, ignoring the angry gaze. "You are to head to the dining room...right now! I've got some very important information that I'm sure will be beneficial to you all! So go on, chop to it, don't keep everyone waiting!"
With that, Monokuma ran off as quickly as he had arrived, leaving the three Ultimates even more baffled.
"...I...I'm gonna do what the damn bear said..." Hinata stated before he made his to the dining room, his face still pale from the gruesome sight in the fitness room.
"Yeah...we should do the same," Hiroshi agreed, having regained his composure...for the most part. He turned to Hana and asked, "Hey, you're not still wobbly from passing out, are you? I don't think you were out too long at all, but..."
"N-No...I'm fine..." Hana responded, leaning on the wall as her heart continued to race. "Go, I'll...be right there."
"..." Hiroshi didn't look too convinced, but sighed and nodded in agreement before heading down the hall as well.
Once she was sure Hiroshi was far enough away to not see her, Hana proceeded to give herself a hard slap to the face- on the off chance that this was all a big nightmare, the surfer had to be sure. Of course, that sliver of hope was quickly crushed upon seeing that nothing had changed; everyone was still in the dining room, Mikio was most likely still dead behind those metal doors.
I...I don't understand a thing... Hana thought to herself solemnly. Glancing upwards, she saw the doorway to the dining room. The girl sighed and trudged forward; if she wanted an understanding of this madness, she'd have to listen to what Monokuma had to say.
The moment Hana walked into the dining room, she could see everyone was anxiously sitting at a chair, and it wasn't long before she heard someone calling out to her.
"Hana! There you are!" Rumi yelled as she ran over to the surfer, concern in her eyes. "Kaneki ran in and told us what happened, then we heard that weird announcement, and Hiroshi and Hinata came in and confirmed...oh god, this is all so crazy, and me and the other girls we were worried about you and-"
"Rumi, give the girl some space and sit back down," Shiori scolded the scuba diver from the table. "If what Hiroshi told us is true, then Monokuma should be here any second to tell us something important-"
"-And here he is! Monokuma appears!" Speak of the devil- Monokuma himself popped out of the kitchen door, turning to Hana and Rumi. "Well, you heard the doctor! Take your seats, get comfortable, I've got quite the info dump for you all!"
Rumi was the first to sit back down in her seat; Hana hesitated momentarily, but soon walked over to a free seat next to Hiroshi. However, with everyone sitting down at once like this...it only made the one empty chair at the banquet table stick out like a red dot on white paper.
"Now then- it seems my little motive worked like a charm after all!" Monokuma began, striding over to the table and jumping on top of it like he had last night. "It's finally happened, and let me tell you it's about time! Someone has decided to become the blackened, and boy did they go all out! I mean, some of you saw the crime scene, right? Whoever did it must have really hated that guy, am I right?"
"..." Hearing Monokuma talk so gleefully about the brutal murder of her friend...never in Hana's life had she felt such an overwhelming urge to punch someone's teeth out.
"Why are you talking like that...? I-In fact, you're probably the one who did it!" Azami shouted, clenching her fists. "What you did last night, the motive thing you mentioned- you probably decided to make good on it, didn't you!?"
"Hey, if you're going to believe anything I say while you're here, believe that I would never commit a murder myself!" Monokuma responded, sending a glare in the illusionist's direction. "I will only interfere if someone breaks school regulations- that is the condition of your school life in this castle. No, the one who offed Mikio Nakamura..."
He pointed at the group before finishing dramatically, "Was one of you! Right here in this very room!"
A lump of cold confusion and horror formed in Hana's gut as she looked at the other students. Upon their faces were various looks of fear, suspicion, and shock. It seemed that the vast majority of the class could not believe this either. One of them? One of them killed one of their classmates, one of their friends? It just couldn't be true...could it?
"What? You kids surprised? Well you shouldn't be!" Monokuma said in response to the students' reactions. "It's right there in the rules! If someone commits a murder and becomes blackened, they can graduate!"
8.) Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.
"Ah, yes, the Graduation Clause...I suppose with that in place, it was only a matter of time until someone snapped indeed," Tadao remarked thoughtfully. "The motive simply sped up the inevitable, if anything."
"Give the doom and gloom the day off, would you?" Shiori said to the waiter with a glare.
"..." At first, Akira had a contemplative look on her face, then her eyes widened with realization. "Tell me, Monokuma...this last part of the rule, 'unless they are discovered'. This wouldn't be connected to this 'class trial' you mentioned in the announcement just now, would it?"
"Ding-ding-ding! Prosecutor Rimutsu got it right on the money!" Monokuma replied, jumping up as he waddled back to the center of the table. "That's what I brought you all here for, to dump some exposition into your minds! So, let me start by adding some new regulations to your e-Handbooks!"
With a flourish of his paws, the e-Handbooks let out little notification noises as something was uploaded to them. Hana, alongside the rest of the Ultimates, pulled out the handbook and opened it to see what had been changed.
9.) The Body Discovery Announcement will play as soon as three or more people discover a body for the first time.
10.) Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.
11.) If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.
12.) If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.
Of course, Hana had more than a few questions about what she was reading; fortunately, it would seem Monokuma was willing to provide.
"Now, let me get the least complicated out of the way first," Monokuma began. "The Body Discovery Announcement is what you heard earlier, and I do believe it's rather self-explanatory. However! Since I feel like you guys will get confused by this at some point, let me clear something up now before that happens- the 'three or more people' does not, and I mean does not include the killer! I know it sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how many times that would be confused."
"Now then, onto the main event..." Monokuma continued, his grin growing with anticipation. "Miss Rimutsu is correct- it's simply not enough to commit a murder, you have to actually get away with it too! And in order to figure out if a crime is gotten away with or not, we hold the thrilling, the exciting class trial!"
Despite Monokuma's enthusiasm, Hana felt a rush of anxiety as the bear started to explain.
"A few hours after the body is discovered, all students, including the blackened, will participate in a class trial! What is a class trial, you ask? Well, it's exactly what it says on the package! A heated debate showdown with the blackened against the surviving spotless students!" Monokuma went on. "Here, the students will present their arguments as to who they believe the murderer is. At the end, we will put it to a popular vote! If the majority of the students are correct, then the blackened student alone will be executed, and the rest of the students can continue their communal life here! However, if the majority of the students are wrong..."
At this part, Monokuma let out a dark chuckle. "Then you get the opposite! The blackened will be allowed to graduate and leave the castle, while everyone else is executed in their place! And that's basically all there is to know about class trials!"
"Y-You keep throwing the word 'executed' around a lot," Ryoto remarked, looking more nervous by the minute. "By that, do you mean...you know, electric chair? Lethal injection?"
"Electric chair, lethal injection, poison gas, beheading, slaughtered like a goldfish surrounded by sharks..." Monokuma explained, his red eye practically glowing. "That's execution! Ex-e-cu-tion!"
"W-Wait, slow down, this is insane!" Rumi cried in terror.
"There is much on the line, then...namely, our own lives," Itachi remarked, closing his eyes in thought.
"That's right! So that's why, if I were you, I'd use the time before the trial wisely!" Monokuma responded. "Or don't, I don't care either way- it's not my life on the line, it's yours. As for everything else...well, I'll let you guys figure it out yourselves, you seem like clever plucky teens after all! But, I suppose I can give you all one thing to kickstart any investigating you want to do."
"It's...the Monokuma File! Now uploaded to your e-Handbooks!" Monokuma announced, making another flourishing motion as another notification sounded. "The Monokuma File is filled with all kinds of helpful information about the crime in question, so it would behoove of you to take a peek!"
"How would you know about what happened during the murder?" Ryoto asked.
"Well duh, I have eyes and ears everywhere! The surveillance cameras picked up the whole thing! But of course, I won't tell you anything, because that's what we have the class trial for!" the monochrome bear finished. "And speaking of the trial...I'll see you all there! I'll be looking forward to it! Ahahahaha!"
Just like that, Monokuma jumped off the table and vanished behind the sole empty chair.
Hana looked down at the table, her eyes wide with fear and shock. Mikio's killer...is sitting in this room...if we don't find them, we all die...this...what is this, this is...!
"Th-This is fucking insane!" Hinata cried, one hand going to his head in exasperation. "They honestly expect us to be able to investigate a goddamn murder!?"
"W-We can't find a killer...I-I don't think any of us have any experience with this kind of stuff, except m-maybe Hiroshi and Akira..." Asuna said, fiddling with her fingers in fear.
"You heard the bear, didn't you? This is a matter of life and death," Akira said to them, crossing her arms. "If we don't find the true guilty party, the rest of us die- that's what the rules say. So, the rest of you need to forget about your convictions for a bit so you can investigate. That's how we're going to survive."
The Ultimate Prosecutor stood up and continued, "But before that...I think we need to post some guards at the crime scene."
"How come we need guards?" Shiro asked.
"Obviously, we can't just leave the scene by itself- it would be way too easy for the killer to come back and tamper with evidence that way," Shiori explained.
"Exactly," Akira agreed, before looking around. "As for who would be fit for guard duty...Yamamoto. You're the biggest and strongest out of everyone here, so you'd be the best candidate."
"Very well. I will do my best to ensure nobody tries to desecrate the area in which our friend lost his life," Saku replied with a determined nod.
"Hey, wait! What if Saku's the killer? We can't just leave him at the crime scene by himself if that's the case," Azami pointed out, glaring at the kickboxer.
"I...can assure you, I am not..." Saku replied, looking a little disheartened.
"Even so, she makes a good point," Itachi said, looking down as he thought. "To have just one person guarding the crime scene would be too risky."
"Noted...okay, so the other guard will be..." Akira began as she looked around the room once more. "Hm...Tenmaru-"
"NO!" Kaneki cried before she dove underneath the table, as if to hide from the prosecutor.
"...I'll just...ignore that," Akira muttered to herself, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll be the second guard," Tadao offered, giving Akira a little bow. "I have some knowledge of self defense fighting, so rest assured getting past me will be no easy task."
"Alright then- Yamamoto and Shimaru are to guard the crime scene," Akira concluded. "The rest of us are to investigate. And let make one thing clear right now...whoever this blackened student is- you won't be able to hide from me. The truth will always reveal itself to me, one way or another."
With that declaration, it was clear the meeting was over. The students, many of them still seeming uncertain, all stood (or in Kaneki's case, climbed out from under the table) and exited the dining room. Well...everyone except for Hana. As she stood, the surfer felt as is her feet were cemented to the ground, a chill going down her spine as she stood. What...? Why...Why can't I go...? I heard what Akira said, I should...I need to...
Hiroshi, who was just about to exit himself, noticed Hana just standing in place. "Hana? What's the matter?"
The surfer looked at him, wanting to tell him that she didn't know...but deep down, she knew that wasn't true. Hana had to be honest with Hiroshi and herself, and replied, "I...I can't...I can't do this..."
Hiroshi kept silent as he walked over to the distraught girl, then nodded as if telling her to continue.
"Hiroshi, I...I can't do this. I can't...I can't look at his body again, I can't face that bloody room again, I..." Hana went on...before messing with her hair in frustration and adding, "I can't solve a murder! I'm just a surfer girl, I'm no investigator! I don't have any skills that could possibly be useful, I'm totally average outside of my talent, I-I might puke if I have to see Mikio's dead body again! And...And the idea that it was one of us who killed him, it's just...I don't want to be a part of this..."
"..." Hiroshi seemed to be thinking, his facial expression completely blank. Then, he looked Hana right in the eye and asked her, "You want to know the truth behind Mikio's death, don't you?"
Hana fell silent for a moment, before responding, "W-Well, of course, but..."
"Well then, how will you know if you don't investigate?" Hiroshi asked. "Indeed, we need to solve this crime if we're to survive...but more than that, our friend deserves to see justice done for him."
At that moment, Hiroshi pulled out a pair of the latex gloves that were always sticking out of his pocket before donning them, a look of steely determination in his usually calm and collected eyes. "Personally, I don't like that we have to suspect our friends of such a terrible act. And I certainly never expected I'd have to use my talent like this. But even so...Mikio was my friend, and for his sake I'm going to uncover the truth of all this."
He turned his attention back to Hana and continued, "I know you cared about him, too. And I know you want answers too. You're not the only one with doubts, but if there's one thing I agree with Akira on, it's that you have to put those doubts aside in order to solve the mystery."
"But...I-I'm still not..." Hana attempted to respond.
"Hana, whatever you may be feeling, I know you won't be useless," Hiroshi said to her with an encouraging smile. "You've probably got more skill than you realize. That's why I trust you'll be able to help solve this crime- I believe in you, Hana. Whether you or everyone else doubt you, I still believe. And I know you'll be able to fight to find the truth. I just...get that feeling from you, from the moment we met."
It was then that Hana realized something- not once had she seen the slightest hint of doubt of fear in Hiroshi's eyes this whole time. Even if he was shaken by the murder, by the idea that one of their friends was the blackened...in the end, the Ultimate Coroner was able to bounce right back with his calm confidence and a strong determination that Hana didn't know he had. The surfer was taken aback, to say the least, as she thought, He's...exaggerating, right? That confidence to find the truth, the unwavering ability to unravel the mystery...there's no way Hiroshi actually thinks I have those qualities, does he?
Despite this, the trusting look in the young man's gray eyes seemed to confirm that idea- even if it was just because of a 'feeling' he had. Somehow, the more Hana thought about his words, and the fact that there was someone among her classmates who truly believed in her...some of her doubt started to melt away.
Presumably realizing his words had somewhat gotten through to Hana, Hiroshi turned and said, "Well, I've got a job to do. If you think you're ready to see the crime scene again, then I'll be there doing my coroner thing."
With another calm smile and a wave of a gloved hand, Hiroshi walked away. Hana looked downwards, still trying to process the boy's words.
...Hiroshi's right about one thing. I do want to see justice done for Mikio. Even if I went about it wrong initially, I still considered him my friend, and I feel like he was starting to see me as a real friend too. Hana thought to herself as she remembered the plans the two had made last night, the plan to exercise in the fitness room that morning. Clenching her fists in an attempt to keep her emotions in check, she thought, That's why, for his sake...no, not just his, but for all of us who are still alive...I want to find the truth. I need to find the truth.
I need to know...I need to know why Mikio had to die!
A/N: Ooooh, there we go, kinda got chills writing that last part. But yeah, the mystery begins! Now that Hana has some confidence in her, the time has come for her to be a protagonist and solve her friend's brutal murder! But what are the details of the case, and how do they all fit together? You'll have to find out...next time! Yeah, I was going to put the investigation in this chapter, but it turns out with Monokuma's exposition and Hiroshi's pep talk and everything in between, this part ended up longer than I thought. And, since the investigation itself is long enough, I decided to split them!
But, I kinda feel bad for doing that...so that's why you guys are gonna get a treat today! Thaaaat's right, it's a double update! Two chapters for the price of one day, yaaay! So, I won't keep you cooped up here too long- go on, get going to the next part!