Chapter 12

Leon stared in both in shock and horror at the lifeless body shoved in the supply closet. Despite already accepting that a murder was most likely to take place, he still couldn't come to terms with Hisoka's death. He inhaled sharply whilst taking a few steps back from the closet, barely noticing Monokuma's body announcement. The only thought running through his mind was the fear of having to return to the class trial, dreading the inevitable execution that awaited.

"Why Hisoka? Out of everyone that the culprit could pick, why pick the one that was trying to help us stay calm and sane?" Mineko asked with her voice wavering, feeling nausea from the gruesome crime scene.

"There's no telling with all of us being forced to play this damn game. What I can't understand is why the killer stabbed him multiple times. He would have already been dead with the first few stabs. There was no point in putting more holes than Swiss Cheese in him." Isas commented as he helped Isamu stand up.

The robotics expert gagged while slapping her hand over her mouth. Seeing the nineteen's year body with countless numbers of stab wounds in his neck and chest was too much for her. Without any hesitation, she quickly darted for the nearby restroom.
The moment Isamu darted to the restroom, the remaining survivors, including Shizko, arrived to see the horrifying scene that awaited them.

"Oh god, so it was true." Shizko spoke up in a horrified tone, "Another murder actually happened."

Noticing the sculptor among the group, Isas demanded in a stern tone "Where were you Shizko? We were searching all over for you and Hisoka. I can obviously see why Hisoka didn't show up for breakfast, but what's your excuse?"

The silver-headed girl fell silent as her eyes glanced to the floor. With a slight annoyed sigh, she stated that she had been up late the previous night due to anxiety caused by being stuck in the cage with the bats. Because of that, she ended up sleeping through Monokuma's morning announcement and didn't wake up until she heard the body announcement. She glanced over at Hisoka's body and tensed up slightly. The sight of his dead body completely unnerved her.
Unfortunately the tense atmosphere only increased with the arrival of Monokuma. The robotic bear grinned slyly as he poked his head around the open closet door to take a glance at Hisoka's body.

"Man, what a klutz. The culprit totally made a mess out of my supply closet. They should've been considerate enough to clean up the paint they spilled." he whined.

Leon's brows raised in surprise at the bear's word before quickly glancing at the supply closet. Sure enough, he managed to spot a few paints buckets were tipped over, causing them to not only spill onto the floor but on Hisoka's doctor coat as well.

The teen's thoughts were interrupted by Hideyo demanding "Just give us the stinking Monokuma File. I hate the idea of having to get another one of our friends killed. So the sooner we get through that pitiful excuse for a class trial, the better!"

"Quite the bitter one aren't ya? I can totally see why Toshiro calls you an ignorant child behind your back." Monokuma replied with his grin growing wider at his last few words.

The stunt actress' mouth dropped open in shock before quickly spinning toward the aspiring director. Without any kind of warning, she immediately slapped the teenage boy across the face. She glared at him with a snarl as she watched the confused Toshiro stare up at her from the ground with a now red cheek. She didn't care if her slap managed to anger the nineteen year-old, all that mattered to her was giving him a reminder should he feel tempted to talk behind her back again.

"What a slap! Bet you're wishing you could do the same to me. Too bad that's impossible, unless you're volunteering to give me an excuse to murder you. It would be the boring option, but I have to admit, it would be far less painful than what the culprit will go through if they end up getting caught! Bwahahaha!" Monokuma taunted with his head thrown back in laughter, "Well chumps, it will be the same song and dance as last time. Find the clues and then discuss said clues in the class trial. Any information I consider a dead giveaway to the culprit will be omitted. So catch you guys on the flip side!"

With the last of the words, the demented bear laughed as he left the hallway.
Wanting to direct his thoughts away from the scene he witnessed, Leon pulled out his monopad and opened the Monokuma File tab. His eyes scrolled across each word, trying to take in every single detail about the crime. Much to his frustration, no matter how many times he looked through the file, it did not list a time of death for Hisoka. The only details it listed was the doctor's cause of death and how his body showed no signs of being in a struggle.

"No time of death, eh? Guess that's a crucial clue to the murderer's identity. Unfortunately we can't even examine the body to find out ourselves. There's no telling how long Hisoka's body had been here. Not to mention that Hisoka was the only one among us that had any kind of medical knowledge, meaning he was the only one that could examine a body in order to estimate a time of death." Hideaki noted with a frown.

Leon clenched his teeth as he rubbed the temple of his forehead. He wanted to uncover the culprit's identity, but was unsure how to do so without a time of death. Hoping to find more clues to the doctor's murder, the nineteen year-old made his way to the nurse's office. He remained silent as he searched through the the different assortment of shelves and drawers. Nothing seemed to stick out to him except for the single white bed in the room. His pale-blue eyes narrowed while he walked over to the bed.

Upon examination, the teen noticed that the bed's sheets had been ruffled, almost as if someone had been sleeping in it. Leon closed his eyes in thought, trying to come up with a possibility for why the bed would had been used despite the fact rooms had been provided to everyone. That was when he remembered Hisoka's promise before he died; the promise to insure that he would be the only one to withdraw any kind of medical supplies from the nurse's office. It made him wonder if the doctor had started to sleep in the nurse's office without telling anyone in order to keep an eye on the medical supplies.

The red-head couldn't deny the possibility, especially with there being no rule to forbid the participants from sleeping anywhere but their rooms like the previous killing game he was in. Suddenly, he found himself drawn away from his train of thought at the sound of footsteps entering the room. Curious of who had entered the nurse's office, Leon turned around to be greeted with the sight of Hideaki with a Black Light in his hand.

"Don't mind me, Leon." the forensicist stated with a grin, "Just searching for traces of blood. I figured the killer might have tried to clean up much like Kazuo did with his bloody tracks. I may not be able to help with the time of death, but at least I can definitely pin down the location of his death."

Without another word, the sandy-blonde-headed teen knelt on the ground and shined his Black Light on the floor. But the moment he did this, the nineteen year-old nearly stopped breathing at what he discovered. With the help of the help of the Black Light, the teen managed to find a large bloodstain on the floor.
Seeing the forensicist's discovery, Leon knelt down in order to get a closer look.

"I'm guessing that Hisoka's blood. Based on how many times he got stabbed, I'm not surprised that the bloodstain is so large. But that doesn't give of an idea of exactly how he got killed. The Monokuma File stated that were no signs of injuries from a struggle on Hisoka's body. I'm finding it hard to believe that he didn't see the killer heading toward him yet not be able to put up a fight despite the stabbing being done in the front." the red-head commented as he ran his hand through his hair.

"My guess is that the weapon had to be something Hisoka wasn't expecting. That would give the culprit the element of surprise. Try to see if you can find anymore clues in here. I'm going to search for more blood traces in the hallway. If he was killed in here, that means his body would have been dragged and shoved into the supply closet." Hideaki replied.

Leon nodded his head in agreement before searching around the nurse's office once more. He tried to find any sign of a discarded weapon, dying final message, anything that could narrow down the list of suspects. He was about to give up until he something in the trash can from the corner of his eye. Believing it to be an important clue, the baseball player quickly ran over to the trash can. His hands tensed slightly when he spotted a bloody notebook slightly poking out from underneath a pile of crumpled papers. The nineteen year-old swallowed a lump that developed in his throat, feeling a little uneasy picking up something covered blood.

With the book now his hands, the red-head narrowed his eyes as he opened up the book. Much to his surprise, he saw the notebook actually belonged to Hisoka. On the very first page, he saw the doctor had written an index that contained everyone's names who was forced to participate in the Killing Game. Curious of the reason why his companions were written in the book, Leon decided to flip over to his own page. At that moment, his heart felt like it had nearly stopped as his breath hitched. The page containing his name were all notes written by Hisoka concerning PTSD and possible treatments.

"He wrote notes concerning my panic attack. He was trying to keep me from having another attack." Leon thought to himself, "Hisoka most likely carried this book with him up till his death. The bloodstains are proof of that. But if he was taking notes concerning my health, could it mean he did the same for the others?"

Deciding to test his theory, the athlete flipped over to Naoko's page. Sure enough, the sprint runner's page had him diagnosed with depression and a list for treatments for depression. The red-head couldn't help but frown upon learning this discovery. Not only was it saddening to learn that Hisoka was only trying to help his friends, but it was saddening to learn exactly why Naoko had almost broke down in tears during his talk with him the previous day.

"He's really scared. He doesn't deserve this... none of us do." he thought to himself as he glanced down at the page once again.

The page for the sprint runner seemed similar to his own except for one strange detail that caught the nineteen year-old's eye. Right next to Naoko's name was a check mark. Curious if any of the other names contained check marks, he quickly flipped through the book. After a quick search, he saw the only other name that had a check mark next to it was Kiyoshi's. He ran his free-hand through his hair with a grunt, trying to figure why Hisoka had placed check marks next to the two friends' names.

"Let's hope Shizko's page has the answer. Her page is the only one I haven't checked yet." he muttered to himself, barely paying attention to what was written on Kiyoshi's page.

Without a word, he flipped over to the last few pages. But much to his shock, Shizko's page wasn't in the book. The place that originally contained her page was torn out of the notebook. Panic filled the baseball player as he started digging around in the trash, desperately searching for the missing page. But no matter how much he searched for the missing page, he couldn't find it anywhere. Seeing he was running out of time to investigate, Leon grunted in frustration whilst placing the notebook in pocket. Despite not knowing why check marks had been placed next to Kiyoshi's and Naoko's names, the teen figured the notebook would provide as a crucial clue in solving the mystery behind Hisaoka's murder.

Deciding to check up on the other's progress, the nineteen year-old left the nurse's office and made his way into the hallway. There he managed to see Hideaki using his Black Light to examine the trails of blood in the hallway, Seiichi and Naoko searching around Hisoka's body, Isas and Mineko searching the stairs, and the rest searching the many empty rooms for crucial clues. But before he could take a single step, he felt someone grab a hold of his arm. He didn't even have a chance to react when he suddenly found himself being pulled by his arm. The baseball player's world was spinning in confusion until finally, a few seconds later, he realized Isamu was the one pulling him.

"Geez! First Jin, then Kiyoshi, now you? Why do I find myself dragged everywhere by girls during the times I don't want to be?" Leon grumbled in annoyance.

The sandy-blonde-headed teen huffed slightly before responding "Now's no time for jokes, Leon! After I dashed to the restroom, I found some important clues in the washroom. Isas seemed pretty busy with his own search, so I decided to show you! Now hurry up!"

The teenage boy instantly clamped his mouth shut upon hearing the nineteen year-old's claim. Believing it was best to simply follow, he didn't utter another single word as the robotics expert lead him to the washroom. Once there, the teen raised his brows in intrigue when he saw small spots of paint pressed up against the washer's door.

"So you know how there was paint spilled on both Hisoka and the floor?" Isamu began explaining in a stern tone, "I think the killer might have spilled paint on themselves too. This is the only place you can wash clothes in the factory, so I have no doubt they came here after the murder. But it would have to be when no one noticed since only one person can wash clothes at a time. I guess they were in a panic if they didn't even realize they left behind some paint on the washer."

Leon pursed his lips as he closed his eyes in thought. It was true the culprit would need time to wash their clothes. The only times he could think of that the killer would have a chance to wash their clothes is either in the night while everyone was still asleep, or in the morning while they were all gathered breakfast. It was hard to estimate who could have used the washer during the nighttime, but during the day, he knew there was only one person that didn't show up for breakfast.

Suddenly his thoughts were shattered by Isamu stating "That isn't the only thing I found. When I decided to search inside the washer, I managed to find this inside."

The red-head couldn't help but jolt back the moment he saw the teenage girl opened up the washer and pull out a scalpel.

"Put that thing down! You can cut someone with that! Why was it in the washer of all places?" he demanded, his voice wavering slightly.

The robotics expert shrugged her shoulders as she replied "There's no telling, but I do know where it came from. It's obvious this is a scalpel from the nurse's office. But then that leaves the question, how did it get out of the nurses's office? Hisoka was pretty determined to insure he was the only to withdraw any kind of supplies from the nurse's office. I would imagine he would notice if someone tried to take anything. The only reason I can come up with is that Hisoka was trying to murder someone. I don't want to believe that possibility, but none of us expected Kazuo to end up murdering Jin either."

Leon took in a deep breath while folding his arms across his arms. He knew Isamu's suggestion wasn't outside the realm of possibility, but that still left the question how the killer managed to catch Hisoka off guard. There was no scenario he could think of where the doctor wouldn't be able to fight back. There was even still the lingering question why the murderer had even chosen to murder Hisoka in the first place. Leon didn't want to admit it, but some of his other companions were far easier targets than the doctor himself.

"Well no matter what the intention is, all we know is that Hisoka ended up the one dead." Isamu said in a small tone with her body shuddering, "Was the killer that desperate to not face their fear? Did they really find that more important than a human life? I just wish we didn't have to do this again. I could barely watch Kazuo's execution, I don't think I could handle another one."

The teenage boy didn't say a word whilst his eyes glanced to the ground. He wanted to try to comfort his friend, but unfortunately, he knew he had no time for that. Instead he wanted to focus his attention on the important matter at hand, uncovering the identity of Hisoka's murderer. Everything remained silent until the teenager heard Naoko calling out for him. He thanked Isamu for her important discovery before returning to the hall once more.

"Naoko, did you and Seiichi find anything in there?" Leon asked as he approached the supply closet.

The ginger-headed teen bit his lip nervously before responding "Yeah... but I'm not too happy with it."

With a small bit of hesistation, the sprint runner picked an object off of the floor and held it out before his companion.
Leon felt like his heart had nearly stopped as his face turned place. In Naoko's hand, he saw him holding what was undeniably a sculpting tool covered in blood.