Sound of the Sea: Abnormal Days

Ichijou Mitsuzi felt his chest tightening as he approached the crowd around the Shed, surrounding the lifeless body of Tamura Ryunosuke. There was a deafening silence as everyone no doubt wondered the same thing: how had this happened?

The first to speak was Kirigiri, who rose a gloved hand to her chin in thought as she asked, "Has anyone seen Nagasaki since the first announcement?" There were a few who shook their heads, but no one replied otherwise.

Saruta asked, "Who else are we missing? Sanada-san, Yokozuna-san, Furugori-san...Ganaha-san should be in her Lodge, no?"

Ichijou explained, "Furugori-san and Sanada-san are at the Library, Ganaha-san is near Hi..." He hesitated, realizing that the news hadn't been shared. He finished, "Near Hina-chan's corpse."

Mikage flinched, "Huh? You can't be..." Seeing Ichijou's sunken face, he turned away, muttering, "So that's why there were two announcements..."

"Well duh, dummy!" came the voice of Monokuma. The bear hopped out at the group, ignoring the glares as he said, "And you know what that means! Twice the bodies mean twice the fun!"

Monokuma began to pass out the white Monokuma Files, this one labeled 'Monokuma File 2'. As he did so, he placed the last four on the ground next to Tamura, saying, "Good thing for all that training, or you guys would probably be unable to bear the agony of not knowing what to do. Two Culprits, two Victims..."

Kirigiri's eyes widened, as she asked, "Two Culprits!?" Backing up, she said warily, "I didn't think you of all people...things...bears: would let a big hint like that get out."

Monokuma shook his head, "What? You've got the Mock Culprit, the real Culprit...maybe another real Culprit! Or maybe they're all the same person, so that would be just one." Looking over at Kirigiri, he added, "I guess you should be lucky though, since the Mock Victim didn't end up the same as the real ones."

Minami asked, "If there are two Culprits, which do we vote for?"

Monokuma shrugged, "Read the rules! If you really, truly believe: anything can be possible! Now get going!" Nonchalantly, Monokuma left them to their own designs.

File in hand, Ichijou pointed at the other stack, saying, "Those are for the others, right?"

Ishihara nodded, "Yeah." Stooping down, he picked them up, saying, "I'll take them over. I think I'll leave Nagasaki-san's in the Library. We need to find her too."

Ichijou begged to know, "But first, what happened to Furugori-san? How'd he get knocked out?"

Kirigiri nodded, "I think I have a good grasp of things." She stopped to think for a moment, before beginning, "After the game started, everyone on the upper level began to spread out. I myself went around the main path before returning to the Library, where I encountered Yasuo-kun. He approached me, but seemed a little nervous. I guessed that he was the Mock Culprit, and was correct: he pretended to stab me with a metal trowel and left." Raising her finger, she pointed at Tamura's body, adding, "I believe that is the same one, but how it got here I could only guess."

Uzatei scratched his head, "So he killed Tamura-san and got knocked out?"

Kirigiri shook her head, "Let's discuss that later. I'm not quite done." Continuing her story, she said, "After I was 'murdered', Mitsuzi-kun came and left, then later, Uzatei-san and Ishihara-san came around. A short while after that, we saw Nagasaki come out of the woods, cross the path, and head into the next part of the woods." Looking around, she noticed, "Heading in this direction, I would note. Then, after she had left, Minami-san arrived, and we heard the body discovery announcement."

Realizing he could chime in, Ichijou explained, "Oh, right. After I found Kasumi-chan, I headed down the main path to find everyone. I told Jouji-kun, Uzatei-san, and Minami-san where Kasumi was, before running into Ganaha-san."

Mikage raised an eyebrow, "Why was she up here?"

Remembering, Ichijou continued, "She said she got bored and came up here, but she fell down the slope into the lake and got all wet and muddy. She tried to call for help, but no one showed up, so she walked along the lakeside trying to find someone. She said she heard someone though, but they didn't help, whoever it was. Anyway, I ran into her around the signpost near the exit slope and helped her up." Thinking for a moment, he said, "Oh yeah, I was going to show her the Stream. It came up while I was helping her, and on the path there, we found Hina-chan's body, and the announcement played."

Minami queried, "Stream?"

Saruta filled in the blanks, "Ah, yes. Yesterday, Tamura took us on that excursion? There was a way through the forest by the slope to the Third Level that led to a Stream from the mountain that fed into the Lake."

Minami nodded in understanding. Kirigiri, who had been thinking about something, asked, "Wait a minute, something doesn't seem right. The body announcement played when Ganaha and Mitsuzi arrived at the corpse, but that's only two people."

Ichijou paused, not having considered that earlier. He answered, "Huh, I dunno how that happened."

Kirigiri interrupted, "We can discuss that later as well. Anyway, I imagine you and Ganaha-san loitered around until we showed up, correct?" Ichijou nodded, and Kirigiri continued, "Ishihara-san, Uzatei-san, Minami-san, and I headed down the main path after we heard the announcement, and Ishihara-san noticed Yasuo-kun unconscious in the foliage around the signpost near the Greenhouse path. Minami-san and Uzatei-san took him to the Library, and Ishihara-san and I continued, encountering Ganaha-san, Mitsuzi-kun, and Yokozuna's corpse. Then, we heard the second body discovery announcement."

Ichijou looked over as Saruta began to explain, "After I heard the first one, I began to head up to this Level to see what was going on, and ran into Mikage-san. We bumped into Minami-san and Uzatei-san, and checked out the Shed, finding Tamura and triggering the second announcement. Ishihara arrived minutes later, followed by you two, and here we are."

Kirigiri nodded, "That about covers in, though Sanada-san, Ganaha-san, and Yasuo-kun will need to answer a few questions. Then there's Nagasaki Ayumi...I hope we can get something out of her somehow. But even so..." Glancing at Ishihara, she pointed out, "She is armed and possibly in a state of shock. Be very careful if you see her." Rubbing her chin with her gloves hand, she asked, "Would anyone like to stay here and keep an eye on the body?"

Saruta nodded, "I shall in a moment, but I would like to check on Furugori-san's condition first, if you'll excuse me."

Grabbing the Monokuma Files, Ishihara said, "I'll go with you." The two headed off without another word.

Ichijou took a breath, trying to gather his thoughts. Cracking open his Monokuma File, he gave it a read. There were two pages with two diagrams and descriptions each. The first was Yokozuna's, the dark gray diagram having two blood colored spots, one on the side of her torso, and one on her neck. The description read:

The Victim, Yokozuna Hina, was discovered in the woods near the last signpost on the Second Level at 12:48 PM.

The Victim has a puncture wound in their neck and several in the side of her torso. The cause of death was hemorrhaging. There are no other wounds on the body.

Turning the page, Ichijou looked over the diagram for Tamura. It was also dark gray, though there was only one large spot in the center of his chest. The description read:

The Victim, Tamura Ryunosuke, was discovered near the Shed on the Second Level at 1:01 PM.

The Victim was punctured through their chest. The cause of death was hemorrhaging. There are no other wounds on the body.

Ichijou blinked, feeling like something was missing. Turning to Kirigiri for help, he asked, "Hey, Kasumi-chan. Notice anything weird about the File?"

Kirigiri looked at him, before saying, "Perhaps, did you?"

Ichijou shrugged, "I think so, but I'm not sure."

Kirigiri sighed, before saying, "I'll be glad to help you, but not right now. Have you really tried your hardest yet?"

Feeling a bit emasculated, Ichijou admitted, "No..."

Kirigiri nodded, "If we couldn't train through the Mock Killing Game, now would be a good time to give it a shot." Looking over at Tamura, she said added sady, "Wouldn't he have wanted us to give our all?" The two felt a presence, and turned to see Minami giving Kirigiri a judging look. Kasumi insisted, "I'll be sure to share my findings later, but first..." She paused before opening her mouth wordlessly. Stopping, she tried again, but was unable to say anything, getting an odd look from Minami. Shaking her head, she finally said, "I think I'll focus on finding Nagasaki and getting the other testimonies. Good luck."

"Understood," Ichijou said as she headed off, along with Minami and Uzatei.

The only one who remained was Mikage, who rolled up the sleeves of his off-white shirt, saying, "Alright, time to get started, I guess."

Ichijou asked, "Wanna give me a hand, Mikage-kun?"

The Farmer shrugged, "Fine, fine."

The pair crouched down next to the body, giving it a closer look. Ichijou said, "So, he was stabbed..."

Mikage snorted, "We've got a regular Sherlock Holmes over here..."

Feeling like he was being mocked, Ichijou said, "Er, no. I mean, yeah: but more importantly, where was he stabbed?"

"Uh, the chest?" Mikage said plainly.

Ichijou's palm slapped against forehead as he elaborated, "I meant where was he standing when he was stabbed?"

Mikage nodded in understanding, "Oh. I see." Looking around, he shrugged, picking at his ears, "Dunno."

Ichijou gave him a hard look, and the Farmer threw up his hands, saying, "Fine, fine, let's give it a look." The pair split up, searching the area. It wasn't easy due to the lighting, and the dirt scattered around by the Students walking through risked obscuring something, but the pair were finally able to find some blood on the ground, about halfway down the short path, in between the Shed and the main path. There were a few more, smaller drops of blood in between the spot they found and the Shed too, which made the implications of what happened obvious.

Mikage summarized, "So, he got stabbed over there, then crawled to the Shed?"

Ichijou nodded, but pointed out, "But why the Shed? Wouldn't he want to get to the main path to get help?"

Mikage gave him an incredulous look, insisting, "Don't ask me man!" Ichijou frowned, wondering how they were going to do on this investigation. Noting his mood, Mikage slipped his hands into the pockets of his ankle length pants, admitting, "Hey, look. I know I'm not good at this, but I'm trying, okay?"

Trying to find a middle ground, Ichijou suggested, "Well, how about you ask the questions then?"

Mikage shrugged, "Okay, why did he go for the Shed instead of the main path?"

Ichijou gave a weak smile, before saying, "Wanna go find out?"

Mikage lowered his sunglasses, staring at Ichijou as he said, "I thought I was asking the questions." Ichijou didn't know how to respond to that, so he simply scratched his head wordlessly.

The pair headed over to the Shed, entering. There was nothing immediately out of place, so they split up, taking to the shelves. After a minute or two of look over the snorkeling gear and bathing suits, he heard Mikage exclaim, "Aha!" The Luckster turned to look, seeing Mikage holding a towel, unfurled. The center and edges of the towel were clean, with blood circled the clear spot in the center. "Think he was going to do some quick first aid? Sop up some of the blood?" he asked.

Ichijou approached, asking, "Where was that?"

Mikage pointed at a large stack of folded, person sized towels. "It was folded up here," he replied.

Ichijou asked, "Oh, you saw that it was bloody and grabbed it, right?"

Mikage shook his head, "I noticed it was a little more rumpled. See, the others are like, factory folded, never touched. Then I checked it out and it was all bloody."

Ichijou thought for a moment, before wondering aloud, "Why did he hide the towel, or leave the trowel in his chest? Plus, that pattern is kinda weird."

Mikage blinked, before looking at the towel, answering, "I have no clue..."

Returning the towel, the two stepped outside. Ichijou gingerly checked Tamura's pockets (to Mikage's displeasure) but found nothing but his ElectroID. Finished with the search of this area, they had nothing to do except wait for Saruta to watch the corpse.

It was a few minutes until the white lab coat of the Surgical Assistant came into sight. He apologized, "Sorry for the lateness, I wanted to get a couple things."

Eager to continue the investigation Ichijou nodded, heading off turning his head back to say, "Thanks, Saruta-san!"

Saruta called back, "You're not going to leave me alone here, are you?"

Ichijou froze, feeling a bit guilty. Saruta said, "No, no, I'll be fine..." With a wave, he crouched down near the body, giving it a look as Mikage made to follow Ichijou.

A few minutes after leaving the Shed, the pair reached the main path. As Ichijou glanced at the purple signpost, he thought for a moment before asking, "Hey, Mikage-kun, do you remember which order the signs were in yesterday?"

Mikage shrugged, "Isn't it on the signs?"

Staring blankly, Ichijou mumbled, "Oh, right." Leaning down, he gave the sign a look. It claimed that the first sign near the slope down was gold, the one near the Shed was blue, the one near the Library was purple, the one near the Greenhouse was green, and the last one was red. However, thinking back, Ichijou recalled that the blue one was now near the Library, and the green one was near the exit slope, meaning the red one was likely near the Greenhouse. The purple one was right here near the Shed, as he could tell easily enough.

Satisfied, Ichijou simply shrugged and moved on. Reaching the blue signpost, the pair made their way through to woodsy path and reached the Library clearing. There was no one outside, but a quick check of the Library revealed that Furugori was now conscious, and Uzatei was nearby. Furugori seemed downcast, while Uzatei was simply lounging around, probably there to keep an eye on him.

Looking up at the arrivals, Uzatei nodded in greeting. Furugori didn't respond at first, but when they got closer, he looked up, scratching his head and forcing a smile as he said, "O-oh, hi guys. Investigating?"

Ichijou nodded, and Furugori scratched his chin, saying, "Guess I have to start again...some of the others were just here. Let's see..."

Trying not to rush him, Ichijou said, "Take your time."

Mikage noted, "I dunno, how long do we have?"

Furugori insisted, "I'm fine, I'm fine, still just shocked, is all. Anyway..." Clearing his throat, he finally began, "Well, last night, Tamura came to my Lodge and let me know that I was going to be the Mock Culprit. Gave me a few ideas too. I decided to keep to the woods, so once I was alone after we separated, I did. I went from the Library to the Greenhouse, and got to the Gardening Shed. I grabbed a sharp looking trowel and went back to the Library, hoping to get someone alone. I found Kasumi, and she let me pretend to kill her. After that I went back into the forest."

Ichijou briefly interrupted, "Did you take the trowel with you?"

Furugori thought for a moment, before nodding, "Yeah."

Mikage asked, "Why?"

Furugori scratched his head, saying, "I wasn't thinking. I guess I should have left it with the Mock Victim."

Uzatei said bluntly, "Like the real Culprit did with Tamura."

Furugori froze before becoming saddened again. Realizing what he'd said, Uzatei looked away awkwardly. "A-anyway..." Furugori mumbled. After a moment, he continued, "I was going to go back to the Greenhouse and try and act natural, but before I got out into the area, I saw Nagasaki walking around, so I waited until she was gone. Then, once she was, I was about to go again when I saw Minami-san coming down the path, so I decided to go around and find a way around to the path. It took a little while, but I made it to the main road. I guess by that point, Minami-san had already gone back, because I didn't see her again. Anyway, I was about to head over to the Greenhouse, when Nagasaki came from the direction of the slope up to the next level. She had her knife, and was looking pretty worried. I tried to calm her down, but she attacked me. She knocked me down, I hit the ground, and lost consciousness. The others explained that I was found off the path, without my trowel, so I don't know what happened, just that I woke up here."

Ichijou nodded, "I see." After a moment, the Luckster asked, "This might be a weird question, but did you switch any of the signposts around?"

Furugori blinked, before asking, "Kasumi-chan asked the same thing." Glad he was onto something, Ichijou nodded as Furugori explained, "But I didn't, sorry. That might have been the real Culprit."

Jumping ahead, Mikage wondered, "Did Kasumi ask you anything else weird?"

Furugori thought for a moment, before saying, "She did say there was blood on my head when they found me, but Saruta said it wasn't mine because there was no wound."

Ichijou mumbled, "Strange..."

Uzatei nodded, "So, if that's it..." Looking over to Furugori, he asked, "Shall we get started on that investigation?" Furugori nodded, though clearly a bit uneasy as he tried to find his resolve. The four ready to go back to investigating, they left the Library and went back to the main path, splitting up. Furugori and Uzatei headed over to the Shed while Ichijou and Mikage made for the Greenhouse.

After a few minutes of walking down the main path to the red signpost, then down the path to the Greenhouse, the first thing they saw in the clearing were Kirigiri and Minami, waiting about a meter away from the Greenhouse entrance. Ichijou approached, waving his hand to greet the pair, but once they were noticed, Kirigiri and Minami both raised their hands and motioned for the two to be quiet. Approaching stealthily, Kirigiri explained quickly, "We found Nagasaki. She's here." She pointed at the Greenhouse, and Ichijou peeked over, seeing the Survivalist's shadow on the ground. She was crouched against the table, just out of sight, it seemed.

Mikage wondered aloud, "Thinking about flushing her out?"

Minami began, "We were discussing it. I insisted I would be able to handle her should she go through the door, but Kirigiri worried that might set her off."

Kasumi explained, "She's gone through the window before. If she's suitably frightened, she might do so this time as well, no matter how much she hurts herself."

Minami grunted, "Do you want answers or not?"

Kirigiri pondered for a moment, before saying, "There's always the Trial. She can't run from us then."

A bit tired of their bickering, Ichijou determinately made for the Greenhouse, reaching for the door. "Careful," Kirigiri warned anxiously.

The three watched as Ichijou cracked open the glass door, whispering, "Nagasaki-chan?"

He heard Nagasaki shuffle from her position, but still couldn't see her. "I'm coming in," he said as he entered, carefully closing the door behind him and stepping in slowly. He made sure not to make any sudden moves as he approached, but was glad that she hadn't moved yet. As he reached the end of the long table in the center, he stopped, saying, "Nagasaki-chan?" There was still not response. Ichijou thought over things a bit, trying to guess as to how she was feeling, before beginning, "Nagasaki-chan, I...know losing a friend has to hurt. I've lost friends, relatives...she was my friend too, and it's not the first time since we've been here that it's happened either. We need to find out what happened though somehow." Still being a being cautious, he made to approach again, taking her lack of reaction as a good sign. He continued, "We need your help, Naga-"

He interrupted himself with a gasp as he slipped, too focused on Nagasaki to notice the fertilizer spilled on the smooth, concrete ground. Crying out in surprise, he stumbled forward, feet scrambling as he tried to regain his balance. He lost track of Nagasaki as he fell towards the wall farthest from the door, his dirty, bare feet unable to find traction. He finally fell, bumping his head against the shelf on the far side. He heard Nagasaki cry, "No!" as he landed on the ground, on his hands and knees, facing the wall. Head hurting, he got off his hands and looked up at the shelf he'd bumped, seeing a dirt filled pot rattling on the edge. Raising his arms defensively, he tried to protect himself as it fell. Miraculously, it landed right in his hands as he caught it. A bit bewildered, he looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.

He was a bit surprised when the pot was snatched from his hands. Looking up, he saw Nagasaki standing above him, holding it in her hands as she glared at him. She carefully replaced it on the shelf, being sure to put it farther from the edge. Ichijou readjusted his position, staying on his knees, saying, "I'm sorry, I slipped..."

She kept her distance from him, one of her hands in her raincoat pocket, likely clutching her knife. Ichijou stood cautiously, avoiding the shelf, and giving it a look. There were a number of pots filled with soil, each labeled with a marker on the front detailing what was planted in them, usually some type of fruit or vegetable.

Starting to understand, Ichijou asked, "These are yours and Hina-chan's, right?"

Nagasaki flinched, before nodding in conformation. Ichijou was starting to understand why she'd come to the Greenhouse. Ichijou once again apologized, "Sorry I nearly knocked one of them over."

Nagasaki looked away, before finally saying, "It's fine..." Ichijou wasn't sure how to proceed: he wanted to get some information out of her, but he didn't want to press either. He nearly jumped when she muttered, "We...split up."

Ichijou blinked, "Eh?"

Nagasaki seemed to become more insecure as she nervously said, "We split up...said we would meet near the signpost near the Greenhouse later. She didn't show. I went to find her..." Her free hand clutched at her face as she muttered, "I smelled blood and followed it. She was there, and I panicked. I ran off. And then I saw...and then..." Her breathing intensified, and she began to hyperventilate. Ichijou reached out to try and calm her, but that only set her off. She turned and fled, rushing from the Greenhouse and going outside. She froze as she saw the trio, before bolting off again. They yelled after her, but Ichijou couldn't make it out, only seeing as Nagasaki's hands clutched her ears as she tried to block them out. By the time Ichijou got outside, Nagasaki was almost out of sight.

Kirigiri had gone a few meters after her, but Ichijou ordered, "Don't!" The three gave him a look, and he explained, "I got enough out of her for now."

Mikage wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead, saying, "Damn man, I can't tell if you're a dumbass or in possession of steel balls." Unfamiliar with the expression, Ichijou gave him a quizzical look, and he shrugged, "Never mind."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Kirigiri said as she returned, "At the very least, I'm glad you got out of there unharmed." Leaning in inquisitively, she asked, "What did you learn?" Ichijou nodded, and quickly explained what Nagasaki had told him, and why she had likely come this way in the first place.

Realizing something, Kirigiri noted, "I heard them talking about meeting up earlier, before we split up. I think Yokozuna did mention the green signpost."

Minami grunted, "And you didn't think to mention this before?"

Kirigiri turned her head, quickly replying, "No, it only just sprang to mind...honest." Minami studied her, before snorting, heading off on her own.

Turning to the two boys, Kasumi asked, "So, what do you have left to investigate?"

Ichijou thought for a moment, before saying, "I haven't seen Sanada-san yet. I was thinking about giving the Garden Shed a look too. Anything else?"

Kasumi asked, "Did you notice, the Monokuma File..." Ichijou leaned in, curious. She finished, "It doesn't list the times of Yokozuna and Tamura's murders: as if they're being hidden from us."

Ichijou blinked, rechecking. He nodded, "Huh, you're right. It just says when we found the bodies."

Kirigiri nodded, "There might be other misinformation. This is Monokuma we're talking about." Looking around for a second, she then asked, "Did Saruta-san have anything to say about the corpse?"

Mikage scratched his head, asking, "Huh? Why?"

Kirigiri shook her head, saying, "It's nothing."

Ichijou felt like there was something she was withholding something, but felt like if he'd tried to press her, she'd probably just try and get him to think on it himself. As he tried to consider the possibilities, Kirigiri nodded, "Well, good luck then. I think you'll have everything covered once you get those last two out of the way. Later." With one last nod, she headed off, back towards the main path.

The pair alone once more, Ichijou led the way to the Gardening Shed. Opening the wooden door, he took a look inside. It wasn't very large, most of the light coming from the fairly large window. The far side had two shelves towards the top, each holding a number of gloves and tools. There were no extra trowels, however, meaning the only one was still in Tamura's corpse. Stepping in to get a better look, he crushed a clump of dirt under his foot. Looking down, he noticed that it seemed to be the same kind he'd slipped on earlier in the Greenhouse, just clumped up instead of dry. Yokozuna and Nagasaki had been making quite a mess.

Having expected something more, Ichijou closed the door with disappointment. Mikage asked, "Nothing?" Ichijou shook his head, confirming it.

Finished there, the pair once again returned to the main path, heading down to the last area of note in search of Sanada. Passing the green signpost, the entered the woods, going back to Yokozuna's corpse. As it came into sight, Mikage visibly cringed at the blood. Standing nearby though was Sanada Shinji, still a bit muddy, though more dry now. Nodding, he asked, "How goes the investigation?"

Mikage shrugged, "Could be better. Could be worse too, I suppose."

Sanada nodded, before saying, "Kirigiri-chan was kind enough to tell me most of what happened earlier, though I wouldn't mind hearing it from another perspective as well. I'll be sure to respond in kind."

Ichijou nodded, before explaining how he encountered Ganaha and left to find Tamura's corpse after the second announcement.

"I see, not a whole lot to say then?" Sanada noted. Not waiting for a response, Sanada began, "As for me, after we split up I took to the forests, trying to keep out of the Mock Culprit's way. I went around for a short while, but while looking around near the lake not far from here..." Reaching into his suit, he pulled out a small hoe, likely from the Gardening Shed, half coated in dry mud. He explained, "I saw this half buried in mud, however, none of it had been dry when I came across it. At the time, I believed it to be the Mock Culprit's weapon, but Furugori-san claimed he hadn't seen it before. I haven't been able to question Nagasaki-san about it either. In other words, I have no idea why it happened to be where I found it."

Thinking about the timeframe, Ichijou asked, "How long before the body discovery did you find it?"

Sanada answered, "It felt like more than a few minutes: Ganaha had likely come around some time after, I certainly didn't see any footprints or the like, though I can't say I was looking. I stuck to the forests most of the time after: walking around carrying a strange implement might have been suspicious, you see, especially after the body discovery announcement." As Ichijou got a better look at him, he did see that he had the odd leaf or twig stuck to him, like they had stuck and dried there and he failed to brush them off.

Looking at the Luckster with his eye uncovered by hair, he said, "Was that everything?"

Ichijou thought about it, before saying, "I think so."

Mikage stretched, turning away, saying, "Alright then, see you at the Trial, I guess." Ichijou nodded as he headed off, almost hastily.

Raising an eyebrow, Sanada asked, "Is something up with him?" Ichijou couldn't think of anything to say. Before Ichijou turned to leave, he looked around once more, before exclaiming, "Oh, that's right, there was one more thing." Turning and pointing, Ichijou saw that which had been missing: Yokozuna's purple beanie, caught in some of the branches, hanging in midair. "Any idea how that got caught there? I'm at a loss," he asked.

Ichijou thought on it until his head started to hurt, before shaking his head, saying, "I dunno..."

Bidding farewell to the Debater, Ichijou figured that if he had time left, he might as well get a snack or something: those Trials could go on for a while. Taking the lengthy and well-travelled main path, he reached the un-switched gold signpost and began to head downwards. He was a tad surprised to run into Kirigiri halfway down, blocking the way.

"Oh, hey again, Kasumi-chan," Ichijou said as he approached.

Kirigiri nodded, "Mitsuzi-kun: before the Trial, there's something I want to tell everyone: bring your weapons."

Ichijou asked, "Huh? What weapons?"

Kirigiri smiled, "I'm actually glad you forgot. Monokuma gave each of us a weapon, remember?"

Thinking about it, Ichijou gasped, "Oh right! The knife in the plastic."

Kasumi nodded, "Exactly. The girls each have a hatchet, while the boys were given knives. Please bring yours, untouched, if you would."

Feeling confident that she was on to something, Ichijou nodded, "Understood!" Now with a goal in mind, he headed to the lower level, heading past the Resort Restaurant to the Lodges. Entering his own, he headed to his dresser, opening the shelf and taking out his plastic covered knife, the blade still wrapped snugly in the transparent film. Going to slip in into the back of his obi, he gasped out as he poked himself with it through the yukata. Checking it again, it was still in the plastic too...kinda dangerous, he figured. Being a bit more careful with it, he noticed that the blade didn't cut very well despite the plastic.

Heading outside, he froze as he heard the playing of reveille for the second time today. Monokuma's voice rang out, "Excuse me, your attention please! It is now time for the Class Trial. I hope you've studied! Please, make your way to the Courtroom Elevator Door on the First Level with haste. See you soon~"

Ichijou felt like it hadn't been that long at all, but all of the travel must have just made the minutes go by. Having no reason to loiter, he took a breath before making his way to the Elevator, going through the sparse forest, reaching the small, dead one, and entering the door, finding himself to be the first on the Elevator. He waited around as the other students began to trickle on. The second to last to arrive was Kirigiri, who stepped onto the Elevator with a nod, but Nagasaki had yet to show up.

It was several more minutes until she did, running onto the Elevator, clearly frightened by something. Once she'd hopped on, the Elevator began to rumble downwards. More than a few of the Students put as much distance as they could from her, fearing what she might do. But other than that, the descent downwards was rather quiet, except for the noise of the Elevator, which seemed to be taking longer to reach its destination. Looking at Nagasaki, Ichijou could only help but think of the Victims.

Yokozuna Hina: though perhaps a bit vengeful, it did not hinder her from being her bubbly self, and her friendship with Nagasaki was likely one of the things which kept her from snapping and becoming the first Culprit, but now she was dead and gone.

Tamura Ryunosuke: the first to truly attempt to take the mantle of leader, and one of the next to die. His attempt to keep everyone safe and prepared in the event of a murder failed tragically, but it wouldn't truly end in vain unless everyone died. Their lives had been taken by one of the eleven here, snatched away in their attempt to escape. And they descended into a Trial of Fact and Fiction, and Trial of Trust and Betrayal, a Trial of Hope and Despair.