EDITORS: Swordsman795 & DancingCactuar

It was lightning fast, like nothing none of us had ever seen before. As soon as the two of them exited the slide, only one made it out completely unscathed. The other..dead as a doornail.

None of us expected this to happen. Karuta reassured us that she had everything under control. But…I'm speechless. We all gazed at the unspeakable scene in front of us, Arihime and Mei both sliding down the slide on a raft, into the pool, but what we didn't expect to see was Mei..HEADLESS!?

I was too distracted by mixed feelings of anger and bewilderment to see the others' reactions, as a bunch of the girls screamed louder than their octaves would allow them, and someone else from the panicking crowd dove into the pool to go and rescue a drowning Arihime and Mei's lifeless body.

The first thing I did was slam my fist into the hard wall, screaming in frustration.

"AAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!" I unleashed in a cacophony of screaming, yelling and panicked mumbling.

"How could I let this happen!?" I gritted my teeth, "Twice, I stood there like a dumbass! And now someone else is dead because I was too slow to act!"

I growled angrily, clenching my fist, as I breathed in and out slowly. Eventually, I managed to calm down enough to notice the others in their frenzied state of shock.

Nori was the first to respond to the situation, as he dove into the pool, swam to the bottom, lugged Arihime out of the water, and brought her back to the surface.

Aohito and Tokaku both went to the nearest trash can and threw up the food they ate earlier; the profuse vomit stench permeated the room's already macabre atmosphere, filling it with dread and regurgitation.

Simon dove into the pool as well, but he instead went to retrieve Mei's body. Despite how uncomfortable he felt carrying a headless corpse, he managed to pull her body out of the water and rested it to the side, on the pool's edge.

Kazuko upchucked a bit, but kept her vomit in as she walked into the changing room and proceeded to throw up inside there - I presume.

Toto walked away from the scene, looking upset as he and Black walked into the changing room, mumbling and growling like lions to their prey.

Natsume and Calypso both panicked, as they paced back and forth, with Natsume crying and Calypso getting faint and dizzy.

Reina began sweating, quivering a bit from all the stress, as Athena caught her before she fell. Athena was a little distraught as well as xey looked at the scene with disappointment.

Eduardo grabbed his hair in panic and began mumbling a prayer in Spanish that I couldn't make out or understand, I'm not fluent in Spanish like Arihime, okay?

Alia stood there like a statue, a dull expression on her face as she didn't seem at all fazed by the death whatsoever, she must have a strong stomach to take this all with a straight face.

Camille looked as pale as a ghost, he was speechless while Karuta gasped in horror from the horrific sight.

I couldn't put together how frustrated and confused I was in that moment alone, I'm supposed to be the lifeguard, yet I'm too tongue tied and frozen in place to make a move. I need to right this wrong, I have to help!

"Someone, get me towels now!" I said, trying to get people to act quickly, "Hurry up!"

"O-Ok!" Calypso jumped out of her frightened state, grabbing towels from the fridge nearby the pool, specifically grabbing the warm towels because it seemed that some of the cold towels were gone, Monokuma probably disposed of all of them or something.

She laid a bunch of them onto the ground, as Nori carried an unconscious Arihime and laid her on top of the towels as Calypso began CPR to resuscitate her. She began pushing on her chest, trying to get some air flowing throughout her body and she even breathed in her mouth to help her out.

"Come on, Ari," I clenched my fist in frustration, "Don't die on us!"

The others were coping to the best of their ability as some of them left the room to get some air; I don't blame them, this is by far the most gruesome thing I've ever seen in my life….but I can't sit by and watch.

"How could this have happened!?" I mumbled underneath my breath, "I'm sure that I kept my eye on everyone here."

How did the killer even slip under our noses? How did Mei's body suddenly show up without any of us noticing? That aside, my main priority right now is to go over there, check out the body and see if Arihime is alive.

"Is she breathing!?" I asked in panic heading over there, "Don't tell me…"

"I'm trying!" Calypso said as she kept pushing on Ari's chest, "She's not breathing!?"

"Maybe someone else should give her mouth to mouth?" Nori suggests, "The siren will breathe once again if keep reiterating the process."

"That's a good idea Nori," Simon said wiping off some of Mei's blood from his skin.

Grrrrr! I'm a fool, I need to make this right! I will not let this killer escape, I will avenge Mei and get to the bottom of this.

"Wha-what, someone killed another person already," Monokuma appeared near the body of Mei, "I guess this situation has everyone a little light headed," he chuckled mischievously.

"YOU!" I charged towards him, "This is all your fault!"

Monokuma did a somersault over me, as he evaded my attack, like an athlete jumping over a hurdle.

"Now now, let's not get too violent, Mr. Pirate," he jeered, "I only wanted to present you guys with this!"

He pulled out an IPad like device similar to the first case with Dietrich.

"Presenting Monokuma file numero dos!" he said handing it over to me, as I hugged it in my left arm and pressed the button to open up the screen.

It read as follows:

Victim: Mei Ling Jiang
Ultimate Talent: DJ
Age: 16

I scrolled down the screen as it showed Mei's portrait with a line across her neck and some blood around her head.

COD: ?

I opened up the tab, but it only said that it was unknown. For someone who's as organized as he claims to be, Monokuma sure missed out on the most vital part of this investigation.

"Hey, Monokuma, I think you missed out the cause of death," I told him, "I perused the other tabs and didn't see anything that would tell me about it, what's the deal?"

"Oh did I…" he looked at it, "Well what can you do, no one is perfect, now have fun investigating losers! I'm going to grab my popcorn and watch you all fumble with this doozy of a case."

TRUTH BULLET #1 – Monokuma File #2

I growled in anger as the bear disappeared from my sight like a spectre in the night sky. I should be more furious towards him, since he was the one who instigated this murder, but right now I need to focus on investigating Mei's death and finding out the sick bastard that ended her life.

INVESTIGATION START!

"I'm not sure where to start exactly," I wondered, scratching the back of my head in confusion, "I'm not an expert like Arihime or some trained detective or private investigator..."

"Sounds like you need help, pirate boy!" said a snickering voice, "I had a feeling one of you morons would kill someone off sooner or later."

I turned around, hearing the sly snickers, and see William in his normal clothes, leaning against a wall and giggling like a gossiping school girl who just found out her enemy's worst secret.

"I thought you weren't allowed here, William?" I mumbled irritatedly, "Have you come to help us investigate Mei's murder?"

He stood there, his arms crossed and back to the wall, giggling again like some deranged hyena.

"Why would I do that, my dear fighter?" he sniggled, "I already know who did it, it doesn't take a master rocket scientist to see who the true killer is."

My eye almost popped out of my socket when he said that last remark. Did he seriously have an idea of who the real killer is!? Why is he refraining from telling us anything?

"You do!" I said approaching him and grabbing him by the shirt collar, "Tell me now, or I swear to God I will hurt you!"

"Ooh temper temper, is that how you ask for valuable information?" he laughed as if he were mocking me, "Remind me to never ask for your assistance in a hostage situation."

My blood was boiling, my emotions erupting out in the form of seething magma; his bold yet taunting words only fueled my rage and nearly tripled my blood pressure.

"If you're going to get in my way, I might as well beat the crap out of you while I'm at it," I said gripping his collar fiercely, "But…I don't have the energy to waste on a lowlife like you, Tricher," I said letting go of his collar and setting him free.

"Ooh those are some passionate fighting words, very befitting of the Ultimate Underground Fighter!" he snickered again.

He's mocking me, I guess this might be how Ari feels. I've seen my fair share of jeers and taunts, but somehow he seems to always get under your skin even if you don't say a word to him. However I mustn't waste time with him, I should be searching for clues.

"If you're searching for clues," William dusted off his clothes, interrupting my thoughts, "Then I suggest searching the pool area and the 'Two's a Company' ride, I mean that's where those two were last seen."

As much as I disagree with William's underhanded tactics, I should take any lead that's open to me, even if I have no reason to believe his little tip.

I looked over to see Calypso, trying not to gasp at Mei's body whilst doing an autopsy, Nori, Natsume and Simon both tried to revive Arihime, each taking turns giving her CPR and mouth to mouth, so much for her first kiss, I guess. Good thing she won't know anything about it when she wakes up.

I left the Monokuma file on a bench, walked over to the water slide, climbed up the semi-wet stairs and commenced my investigation properly.

I scanned the slide's entrance and there seemed to be a few things that caught my eye. Firstly, I noticed that were a few double rafts available for use that were slightly transparent underneath, but looked big enough to carry something. I guess when two people are on the same raft, you need more room for them not to fall off.

"Hmm…" I looked around some more and saw what looked like a switch near the side of the railing of the slide.

"What's this?" I inspected it closer, it appeared to be a device that controlled the water's flow and how fast it goes as I pressed a button that said slow.

The water inside the slide went from river rapids fast to gentle stream slow in almost under a minute's time.

"So this is how the water works, better take note of this for later, this could explain how the two of them were able exit the tube that quickly."

TRUTH BULLET #2 – Water slide control switch

Now I know for certain that Ari went inside the tube with Mei, I know that you can control the water from inside here, but how do you get inside the tube without falling or slipping into the water and hurting yourself?

I saw another button underneath the speed setting that was labelled 'Shut Off Water', pressed it, as I took the water off to inspect the tubes closer. It stopped almost instantly, as I looked to the sides and saw there were visible black footsteps and hand grips inside the giant tubes, I guess when building this slide, you need to maintain it somehow without slipping. It must suck to work in those aquatic themed parks all the time if you're part of the maintenance team.

TRUTH BULLET #3 – Foot steps and hand grips inside the tube

I carefully made my way into the tube, holding onto the sides carefully so I couldn't fall over, as I made my way to the middle of the tube. I came across something as it pricked me slightly on my leg.

"Oww…" I walked back a step or two, looked down to see something thin and covered in metal extending from one end of the tube to the other. I squinted with my good eye and saw what appeared to be a thin invisible string, that one could miss with the naked eye or upon first glance, there seemed to be some razor like pieces of metal glued to the string and some of it had blood on it. So the two of them went down this death slide, but only Ari was quick to respond.

TRUTH BULLET #4 – Thin layer of string lined with razor sharp metal with blood caked on

I think this might be how Mei was killed, based on the state of her body, this is definitely her blood on the wire. But is this…really how the killer...murdered her? I held back my anger, as I took note of this piece of evidence, exited the tube and headed down the slides' steps, making sure not to slip on the way down.

"SHE'S BREATHING!" Calypso announced, as I rushed over there to see an unconscious Ari, breathing uncomfortably and coughing up water from her lungs.

"Thank goodness," I sighed with relief, "Now we don't have to worry about two people dying on our plates."

"Yes, but she needs to be kept warm in order for her body to slowly recuperate," she explained wrapping her body in a warm towel.

"I knew you could do it, Ari," I thought to myself, "I'll take over the case in your stead and I will find the killer, I promise you that!"

"I'll watch her for you guys," Aohito stated, "If she goes into shock again, I'll notify you."

"Thank you Aohito," I nodded to him, "Be sure she stays put as well, we don't need her fainting or passing out on us."

"Maybe you should check out the other areas of interest, human" Toto suggested as he and Black walked behind me, I could feel the water spray against my clothes as he shook his drenched fur, water splashing everywhere, "There might be something inside the storage unit that the subhuman killer might have used to commit this deed."

I took his advice and jotted down to check out the storage unit later, but right now I need to inspect the raft that the two girls were using.

"Can someone go and grab the raft from inside the pool," I asked, "There might be something on that raft that might help with this case."

"Allow me," Kazuko interjected, as she jumped into the pool and grabbed the raft, floating adrift in the middle of the pool area.

"Thanks Kazuko," I thanked her as I inspected the raft closely, it was a clear raft made for two with a yellow top but what made it different from the others, is that there seemed to be some dark duct tape layered on the bottom of the transparent part of the tube and it was slightly deflated but still firm to sit on.

I can assume this raft was somehow used to the killer's advantage, but I'm not sure how, better take note of this for later.

TRUTH BULLET #5 – Taped up Double Person Raft

After checking the raft, I stood up, searched the area some more and noticed the concession stand where Ari was supposed to be during the party. I headed over there, only to discover a bunch of slightly damp towels balled up in the back of the stand. I unraveled them and saw what appeared to be some slightly hard pinkish liquid with some hair follicles inside and….. a bloody knife!?

"Huh, what was Ari doing with these?" I wondered, "More importantly, where did this knife come from!?"

TRUTH BULLET #6 – Bloody Towels with traces of hair and a bloody knife wrapped inside.

I exited the stand to see some of the others still frightened and trying to recover from the shock of the murder, I couldn't blame them, this is the second time this has happened and just when we were starting to get along with each other, someone has to squash the fun and ruin the peace of this harmless party. I exited the pool area to see if there were anymore areas of interest and noticed some dust on the floor leading to the pool area, I followed it's trail to see that it lead to the aforementioned storage unit from earlier. It's door was ajar a tad bit, as there seemed to be a trail that led to the pool area from this room.

TRUTH BULLET #7 – Dust on the floor leading to pool area.

I went inside the storage room, coughed out some of dust that entered my mouth and noticed there were shelves of different supplies from cleaning to art to maintenance and finally pool supplies. I guess I was too busy making food for the party, that it didn't occur to me that there was another storage facility here. I should pay attention to my surroundings some more, if I can miss simple stuff such as this.

I searched the room, shuffling through dusty shelves, particularly the pool supplies shelf and noticed that most of the swimming noodles and jackets were there, except there was one clear bed raft missing and that one of the ten inner green and purple inner tubes were torn up on the floor.

TRUTH BULLET #8 – Missing raft and torn up tube

Nothing else seemed out of place at the moment, so I assumed that was it as I left the storage room. My instincts were telling me that I should check out the workshop, because the killer could have used some dangerous tools to commit this crime and that place would be the hotspot for murder. I headed over there, also remembering the razors must have come from somewhere with metal objects, so this place must have some answers.

I entered inside the workshop to see that everything, like the storage room, was in order, until I checked one of the waste bins to find that the broken metal trash bin was missing it's contents. I do know for a fact that Monokuma would rarely ever change out this bin because it seemed big enough to contain a month's worth of broken metal.

TRUTH BULLET #9 – Missing broken razors

I looked down at the floor to see that there were a few dusty spots near the bin and they looked to be in the shape of a footprint or something similar, it was hard to make out since most of the dust blew away.

TRUTH BULLET #10 - Dusty footprints in the workshop

Now that I think about it, some of the tools inside of here seemed a little too clean if you ask me, considering that Natsume said he was working on something for the party. I looked closer at the tools on the wall to see that one of the saws was dripping wet, almost as if it was cleaned before hand, if Natsume really did use these tools, why is it that the other tools still look a bit dirty and this one is the only one that is scrubbed clean? Strange.

TRUTH BULLET #11 – Scrubbed Saw Blade.

Which reminds me, I need to ask Natsume what he thinks about all of this, this place seems very fishy to me and if the carpenter knew anything about this, It'd be best to ask him if he'd seen anything. As I left the workshop, as if by pure luck or coincidence, Natsume was walking by and almost bumped into me.

"S-Sorry Izuhara…" he said to me, "You never know w-what kinds of accidents c-can happen near sharp tools.." he walked back a few steps from me.

"It's alright Natsu," I said almost knocking the living daylights out of him, "Can I bother you with a quick question regarding Mei's murder?"

He quivered a bit when he heard my question, he was still shaken up from the murder so he's still a bit jumpy. However I need to ask him his thoughts.

"I noticed that one of the tools in the workshop is wet and clean," I said, "Do you by chance know anything about that?"

"W-Why.. I didn't k-k-kill Mei, if that's what you're asking" he stuttered, shaking like a leaf.

"I'm not saying you did," I sighed deeply, "I was going to ask if you knew anything about the clean saw blade, the missing razor blades and the dust everywhere?"

"N-No Izuhara, I was in the workshop all d-day yesterday and this m-m-morning making sure that the s-s-surfboard statue was ready for the party," he detailed his account to me as clearly as he could make out, "I always make sure to c-clean up the floor after I make something... plus the tools still had wood shavings on them after I l-left….that's o-odd..."

I raised my eyebrow in surprise, crossing my arms, "Huh...that's very odd indeed."

TRUTH BULLET #12 – Natsume's Account (He said he was in the workshop all day yesterday and this morning)

"Thank you for your time Natsu, catch you later," I said to him, walking off to investigate another area.

"O-Okay…bye bye Izuhara…don't get killed," he exclaimed a bit awkwardly, as he headed into the workshop, "Also check out the s-sauna….something m-might be there."

"Thanks I'll do that now," I waved to him.

Now that I think about it, Natsume did say that he, Toto, and Simon went to the sauna the other day, something must have piqued his interest if that's the case, so better check it out.
I headed inside the sauna, checking the time cards and saw I was allowed to enter inside since it was around 10 AM, so it's okay for me to see what I can dig up in there without breaking the rules.

I marched inside, as the heat brushed up against my face and covered me in a warm breeze. I couldn't really see much going on, it's very hard to see what's going on inside, cause of the dimly lit light. I nearly almost tripped over something, feeling the wooden step as I stubbed my toe.

"Owww…." I winced in pain, "Son of a bitch…"

The one time when I wish I didn't lose my other eye in that fight, my depth perception is off balance today. But then again it helped pay for my sister's tuition, so I can't be complaining about that now at a time like this. Time to investigate!

The wooden floors were a little moist from the foggy mist, but I noticed that it was almost spotless as if someone had cleaned up here recently, but what was shocking is that Monokuma definitely cleaned this place up last night, but it seems some of the towels were stacked unevenly or some were missing.

Maybe Monokuma was still cleaning them who knows, nothing special there. I looked around some more and stared at the fiery hot coal pits, the bases were stone finished and the fire was extremely scalding and looked too hot to touch.

"Better not burn my only hand," I chuckled, noticing something odd inside the coal pits.

I inspected them closer to see a different color on one of the black coals, it was a dried magenta color that stuck out more compared to the black coals simmering inside to contrast, it appears that the pink residue was something to take note of for later, since I couldn't take it out unless I wanted to burn myself.

TRUTH BULLET #13 – Magenta colored stain in coal pit.

As I planned to head outside, I felt a slight creak in one of the floorboards, knelt down and perused it closely. I didn't have any tools to pry the wooden floorboard off, so I relied on my own strength to open it up. Thank goodness I didn't skip arm day, or else this would have been impossible.

"Come on!" I grunted, almost pulling a muscle trying to open up this stubborn piece of wet wood. "Almost there, come on push yourself Izuhara!"

With only sheer force, I managed to somehow pull out the floorboard to find another loose floorboard followed by five other ones. I then began taking apart the floor placing the boards to the side, hopefully what I was doing isn't considered vandalism, I'm sure Monokuma will understand if it's to help solve the case.

After almost destroying the entire floor, I panted from all the heavy lifting and to my surprise saw what appeared to be tunnel or chute that lead to who knows where.

Well this is game changing, if I'd known something like this was here, then I would have torn this place up sooner. Well, better late than never I suppose.

TRUTH BULLET #13.5 – Mysterious tunnel

"Only one way to find out what this is," I said bending over, tucking my feet in and sliding down inside the chute.

It seemed big enough for someone to fit through, as I slid down further and further waiting to see what nightmare I would stumble upon. I saw some light at the end as I closed my eyes and fell, butt first, and landed in what appears to be some dumpster, which means this was a trash chute all along.

TRUTH BULLET #13 (Updated) - Trash Chute Tunnel

"Oh this is just great.." I scoffed, picking off a leftover banana peel, jumping out of the dumpster, "I just took a shower as well…."

I looked around my surroundings to see that I was in the trash room, which was on the first floor where our dorms where located. That's strange, so much for that mysterious tunnel, guess the only thing mysterious about that is what this horrid smell is.

"So that tunnel only leads me back downstairs," I thought, "Guess there really was no way out of this hellhole…"

I wiped off some more grime from my shoulder as I left the trash room, closed the door and headed straight for my room.

"Either way, that was a fail, now I need to go shower, I smell like shit," I said sniffing my arms, "Woowhee, a deep scrubbing too!"

The trash room, fortunately, was close to the dorms as I sprinted to my room to avoid people seeing me, used the personal bathroom inside my MMA fighting ring style room, changed out of my swimming trunks and put on my tattered clothes that I usually wear. It seems Monokuma has a sense of humor when it comes to my clothing, as I looked to see more like it, couldn't he have at least sewn in the holes?!

As I finished getting dressed, I noticed someone knocking at my door, opened it up to see Tokaku, out of breath, hugging her knees and changed out of her swimsuit and back into her gothic attire.

"What is it Toka!?" I asked her worriedly, "What's going on!?"

"Hah…..C-Come….it's urgent…to pool room…" she panted, "Everyone…..fight.."

I didn't let her finish her sentence, as I didn't hesitate a moment longer, running back to the pool room on the second floor as fast as my legs could carry me. I zoomed up the stairs, headed inside the pool room and saw the others bickering and complaining about something.

I also spied Arihime, now sitting upright on the bench, wrapped in a towel, shivering like a dog and looking more agitated than ever. It's safe to say that whatever everyone was fighting over, it didn't look pleasant.

"What's going on?" I asked Eduardo who was watching from the sidelines, "Did something happen, Ed?"

"Oh Senor Tomokazu," he said, a little jumpy from all the noise, "It appears that one of the girls made a shocking discovery inside of the female changing room."

That's great to hear, I guess any new piece of evidence is good evidence I suppose.

"That explains it, but why is everyone bickering?" I asked him, "Is it that bad?"

"You're not going to believe this but…they found some incriminating evidence inside Arihime's locker."

"What!?" I raised an eyebrow, "But how!?"

He jumped a little from my sudden yell, shrugged his shoulders, as he looked just as worried as everyone else.

"By the way, Edu, did you happen to see anything out of the ordinary recently?" I asked him, "Was anyone acting suspicious before or after the party?"

He scratched his head a little, trying to remember to the best of his ability.

"Hmm…..no I ha- wait I remember now!" he said, "Ahora tiene sentido!"

"What did you recollect!?" I responded to his sudden light bulb, "Also translation please."

"I said, Now it makes sense," he explained, "But more importantly, I saw five people leave their rooms last night before I headed off to mi dormitorio."

"Get to the point," I said a little irritated with his beat around the bush attitude, "We're on a time limit here, Ed."

"Okay okay senor," he said calming down, "If memory serves me right, the people I saw last night were Natsume, Karuta, Toto, William and…..Mei."

OH MY….THE PLOT THICKENS.

"Thank you, Ed, you've been a big help," I patted him on the back.

"No problema, senor," he replied.

TRUTH BULLET #14 – Eduardo's Account (He saw five people leave their rooms last night)

I wave to him, only to be greeted with a lot of white noise and loud yelling. I thought announcer voices were loud, but this takes the cake!

"We can't trust her!" yelled a female voice, belonging to Reina, "I knew a rat like her would resort to murder to escape!"

"But Ari wouldn't do anything to hurt us! I don't believe that for a second," another voice, Karuta protested, "She and Mei were best friends, why would she kill her!?"

"But how do you explain the tools in her locker then?" Alia added, "Obviously only she could have done it…."

"We were with her the entire time, including Mei, so we would have seen something," Simon said, "I have notes written down and everything!"

"Of course you'd come to her rescue, you overgrown gorilla," Camille sneered, "Does she have some bananas for you stored away somewhere in her room?"

"Guys, let's just calm down," Nori said, "The more we fight, the more our emotions get in the way of deciding proper judgement."

"How about the paint brush?" Toto added, "That had Mei's blood on it's bristles, explain that, humans."

"Someone planted it in her locker," Athena said, "Athena believes Ari is being framed."

"How do you know that?" Aohito asked, "If you don't have any proof to prove that claim, she's the prime suspect."

I didn't want to join in, but if I was going to get anywhere, I needed to intervene. I couldn't stand all the slanderous comments being thrown her way, even after everything she has done for us. How can they….

"EXCUSE ME!" I yelled, "Everyone shut up and calm down! Now….someone tell me what's going on?"

They all stopped the argument, looked in my direction, some glaring at me with intense stares and the other shaking heads and rubbing their temples from too much stress.

"It seems that Alia stumbled upon something in Arihime's locker, and it had tools inside a kit that were covered in blood and a paintbrush with paint and some traces of blood found on the tips," Calypso told me.

"Wait, why was there a paint brush and how is that significant?" I asked her.

She looked me directly in the eye, sighed as she motioned me over to Mei's decapitated and cold blue corpse that was fished out of the pool. It seems the body has turned blue slightly and the color from her dead body seemed to fade away like a fleeting dream.

"I did my own personal autopsy on the body, since Monokuma's report was a bit skewed," she said pointing to certain areas on her body.

"You see the marks on her neck, that's a sign it was severed from her head before hand, the patterns on her neck are slightly jagged and it was a near clean cut, if not for those marks."

She described the body state's in clear gruesome detail as I nearly got a stomach ache from hearing about it. I can deal with missing eyes and bitten off ears, but a dead body and missing head is another story entirely.

"Do you know where her head is?" I asked, "Because it wasn't on the slide when I went to scope it out."

She then shook her head and looked just as confused as I.

"That's the bewildering part," she said, "I didn't notice any wounds on her body aside from this bruise on her wrist," she said pointing to a reddish mark on Mei's left wrist.

"So, until I find her head, I can't fully determine Mei's COD," she said, "Because as far as I know, she didn't suffer any injuries to her lower body and I'm getting tired of everyone nagging me to find a COD when it's very overwhelming being the only medical professional here."

Poor girl, she's under a lot of pressure, I would be too if I were in her shoes.

"Ok, thank you Calypso, you've been a big help," I told her as she continued looking at the body.

"Thanks Izuhara."

TRUTH BULLET #15 – Calypso's (Semi) Autopsy.

Now the mission this time, find Mei's head in order for Calypso to determine her cause of death. But where did it go? It couldn't have gone too far from here?

I looked around the area some, scanning the sides of the pool area, as I bumped into something wooden and stiff. I rubbed my head to see a wooden, blue surfboard like statue with painted white flower décor on the front and white lines on the back.

"Wow Natsu, you did a good job with this piece," I took a mental note of his fine craftsmanship and the artisan skill that went into it's making, that's the Ultimate Carpenter for you folks.

I didn't pay it much mind, until I noticed something drip onto my shoulder, I wiped it off to see a pink liquid stain smeared all over my hand and almost jumped, it was…..blood!

I then saw a dripping cascade of the same blood flowing from the top of the surfboard's peak and saw a ghastly sight in front of me.

As if luck would have it, I did in fact find Mei's severed head…..but what I didn't expect was that it was resting on the top of the surfboard's end tip.

"GUYS!" I screamed, "I found Mei's head!"

As soon as I said that, everyone came clamoring over to where I was as loud, terrified screams were heard from the girls and some of the guys winced or looked away in disgust. Just when the day couldn't get anymore sickening, we laid our sights upon the desecrated head of the DJ herself.

"Can someone help get it off the sculpture!" I said, "Hurry up before the class trial!"

"I'll do it," Simon volunteered, as he grabbed the surfboard statue from the base, with Aohito helping him lift the other side.

"One, two, three…" he said as the two lifted the statue, wobbling it around and Mei's head sliding off the top and landing inside the pool.

"Oh come on!" I growled.

"I'll go get it…." Kazuko squirmed a little, as she dove into the pool, almost reluctantly, swam down, retrieved the head, placed it near the side of the pool, cringing in disgust as she dove underneath the water to rid herself of Mei's blood.

"Thank you…Kazuko…" Calypso said, grabbing new gloves from her bag, and resuming her autopsy.

Some of us physically shook from the sight of seeing Mei's head, her cold dead eyes staring at everyone, her messy hair all wet and frizzy. I waited a few minutes, before she called me over to her.

"So is there anything new?" I asked her, "Did you find out how she died?"

"Oh my god!" she gasped.

"What!?" I replied back.

"I'm still unsure of her COD," she went on looking at her head, "But I did notice she suffered a sharp blow to the cranium with some blood leaking out of the back of her head."

"Trauma to the back of her head….." I clenched my fist in anger.

She then brought the head back to the body as she placed it near the neckline.

"There we go," she said fitting the head by the neck area, "Well this is new….."

I looked at Mei's corpse to see that she was dripping some peachy substance like a liquid was pouring from her skin's pores, was she melting or something?

"Is that…paint!?" I said, as Calypso wiped some more of the substance off of Mei's neck.

TRUTH BULLET #16 - Peach paint on Mei's neck

She scraped the paint off her neck, to reveal a scar from something that seems to have sliced Mei's throat, it was a diagonal scar across her neck that seems fairly recent from the coloring.

"Oh my god…how can someone... be so cruel….to someone like her," I pounded my fist into the wall.

"I'm mortified as the rest of you, but I can safely say now that she died almost instantly from her wound on her head, however she suffered these slashes before she died, judging from how old they were made," she said looking at the lower body some more, wiping off more paint.

"It seems something sharp was used to carve cuts into Mei's body and they covered her in paint postmortem to death," she detailed, "I guess that was to obfuscate the true nature of how she died.

This killer…. they're one sick fuck... killing Mei, desecrating her body like it was an object and framing Arihime….. I'm going to find the killer and give them a beatdown they won't ever forget!

TRUTH BULLET # 15 UPDATED – Calypso's Autopsy Report

I stood up, paid my respects to Mei, leaving Calypso who covered the body in a towel, as I went off to see this so called evidence for myself.

"Your words hold no weight," Reina said, "I'm adamant that she's the killer."

"They could have been planted, Rei Rei," Tokaku sweatdropped, "Let's not be too hasty."

"How do you know that airhead?" Kazuko added, almost randomly to the mix, "Now that we know that there was paint on Mei's body, doesn't that make the evidence even more damning?"

"Excuse me, why would I kill Mei!?" Arihime added, "She and I were on good terms, plus I trusted her, why would I kill her out of everyone else here? It makes no sense!"

"It's usually the people she would least suspect to kill her," Toto added as Black howled behind him.

"What is this some mystery novel?" Nori sighed, "Let's wait for the trial to determine this butterfly's fate guys."

I agree with Nori, it's a little too early to be suspecting Arihime of this heinous deed. I need to clear her name at all costs. If it wasn't for her, then we all would have died and Yuzuki would have gotten away with murder. Even though she was more or less forced to kill, it was either our life or hers…...I'm sorry Dietrich and Yuzuki...I will put this mastermind in the ground where they belong, once I find them.

Out of everyone here, Arihime took my defense, when it wasn't looking good for me, I owe her my life and I will snuff out the real killer, they won't get away with this!

"Hey, can one of you ladies go and grab the toolkit and brush from her locker in the changing room," I asked them, "I'd go get it but...turret.."

"Oh about that," Tokaku piped up, "Monokuma told us that he will allow boys into the girls room and girls into the boys room, but only for investigation purposes, Izu."

Well that's convenient…might as well use this opportunity to see what the fuss is all about.

Despite having Monokuma's permission to enter the girls locker room, it felt wrong for me to enter inside, but I have to do it for everyone's sake, I have 16 sisters...I can do this.

I entered inside the girls' changing room, noticing it wasn't much different to the boys locker room, except for the fact that it was pink and the boys room was blue in terms of wallpaper.

"Where is her locker…" I said looking around for it and saw a sprite design of Arihime plastered on a locker.

"Cute…" I said opening up the locker to find the items in question.

I knelt down and found a toolkit that looked similar to the ones from the dusty storage closet, opened up the inside to see tools covered in blood, especially the mini saw and goggles, some of the thin string was unraveled and bunched up inside a small pool of blood, there was also black duct tape that seemed newly used as well, judging from how small it was compared to the larger rolls in the other kits.

I looked next to the kit to see the paint brush with dripping paint and some of Mei's blood infused in the pigment, along with an open container of peach paint and was half full.

"This looks very suspicious indeed," I gritted my teeth in anger, the evidence was there but I didn't want to believe it for one second. It isn't like Arihime to commit murder so brazenly and in such a callous manner…..

For now, better take note of these new pieces of evidence.

TRUTH BULLET #17 – Bloody Toolkit

TRUTH BULLET #18 – Paint brush and paint with blood

I seemed to have searched all the main areas of interest…..but why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?

I searched around her locker some more and found nothing else aside from her clothes from earlier. This isn't going in my favor at all.

"Have you even bothered to check Mei's room?" snickered a familiar sinister voice.

I turned around suddenly, to see William giggling inanely, leaning up against the door to the girls changing room and watching me struggle.

"What do you want?" I growled at him, "I thought you weren't helping us, get lost."

"I'm not, peg arm," he snickered, "I already know who the killer is, so why should I bother giving you guys any more hints than I already have?"

"You know, you're really starting to get on my nerves," I gritted my teeth, "What do you know!?"

"Tut tut, if I told you all my secrets, then that would be no fun now would it?" he smirked, "But I will tell you this one thing."

I listened to him closely, as he pulled out four pieces of paper he pulled from his pocket.

"What's that," I asked him, "More notes to taunt us with?"

"Oh nothing of the sort my dear fighter," he sneered at me, "Call it my two cents in this silly little investigation."

He handed me the papers, I uncrumpled them and read them in order of how he gave them to me.

The first note read:

"You think you can trust your friends….
You're way off the mark….
No more loose ends….
The first clue….
Find the person as happy as a lark…"

The second one read:

"Like a captive slave…
No more running for them…
Only digging an early grave…
The second clue…
Find the person who is as true as a gem."

The third one read:

"Singing high praise amongst the crowd….
Always the eternal cheerleader…
Never ever but always loud…
The third clue…
Find the person who is as loyal as a leader."

The last note read:

"Blissfully ignorant of the past…
Hiding behind false emotes…
Not sure how long they'll last…
The last clue…
Find the person who's matches the music notes…."

Are these the hints to who has the map!? How did he find all of them so quickly!?

"How did you find these hints, William?" I asked curiously.

"Well take a guess genius, you guys forbade me from entering the pool area, so that means that I had to party alone and, shall we say, do my own little investigation."

He chuckled wryly, it seemed this was all a game to him, how can he view this dire situation like that when his life and everyone else's life is on the line!?

"You're a heartless sociopath, how can you be laughing when another one of us is dead!?" I questioned him.

"Because this little killing game my friend," he said walking off, "Is all one big joke."

He sauntered off without a care in the world, as I gripped the pieces of paper in my hand and didn't have any other choice but to investigate this matter further.

I think the last place I should investigate before it's time to head off, is Mei's room. It seems that from what William said, there might some information in her room that could lead us to solving this mystery.

I left the pool area once more, so much backtracking later, and arrived at Mei's dorm room. I tried to open up the door, but couldn't get inside as I tried to break it down before I was interrupted by Monokuma who appeared from behind me.

"Woah woah woah calm down, captain hook," he jumped out with his hands in the air angrily, "Stop what you are doing!"

"Aggh! Don't scare me like that," I said jumping into a fighting stance, "I could have socked you to death, although that wouldn't make me feel bad at all!"

"Well tell me how you really feel," Monokuma dusted off his fur, "I was about to say that you should avoid breaking down the door, since that would be considered vandalism."

"And me tearing up the floorboards wasn't?" I retorted.

"Oh that'll get tied up sooner or later," he giggled, "But for now, let me work my magic on the headbanger's door."

Monokuma shooed me to the side as he began fiddling with the doorknob like a trained locksmith. I guess he has the master key if he's able to alter our locks as easily as that, it's a good thing he's unbiased, I don't think it would've been a good idea if he left those keys lying around for someone to find.

"And...presto," he said opening up the door to her room, "Now don't go doing anything perverted you hear me," he giggled, "We wouldn't want any unwanted necrophilic acts, now do we?"

"Shut up bear!" I growled.

"Also make it snappy, the class trial will commence soon," he giggled, "Ta ta."

Monokuma disappeared again, his cackles echoing throughout the quiet hallway as I steeled myself before entering Mei's room. Hopefully I can find something that proves Ari's innocence once and for all.

I closed the door behind me, noticing Mei's large club of a room was devoid of all the once bubbly and bright colors, the lights were turned off and the once vivacious atmosphere had vanished like dust off of a shelf. The disco ball looked dull in the darkness and seemed ready to fall off it's thin string at a moment's notice and the somber mood really didn't blend well with the wallpaper Mei had in here.

"This room looks so peaceful….." I sniffled a little by the lack of noise, "I can't get sad like this, I need to find more clues before time's up!"

I scoured her room for anything unusual. The dance floor didn't have anything noteworthy, her bed was slightly messy with a few pillows on the floor and her turntable looking used from all the mini parties she seems to have in here.

"Now Mei...did you hide anything in your bed?" I thought, checking the bed and saw nothing inside the pillows, mattresses, covers or the bed frame.

"This is odd…..maybe the DJ booth has something," I walked over, searched it and found not much, besides her CD's and a few small compartment like cupboards.

"What's in here?" I wondered, opening up the left side...nothing….."How about the right side."

I checked inside and found something weird, a brown stuffed teddy bear.

"What's this?" I said grabbing the teddy bear, it was a plain brown toy, fuzzy fur and black eyes, nothing out of the ordinary, "Why would she keep this in here?"

I turned it over and saw an odd line running across the back of the bear's back.

"Ooh, what did our resident DJ have to hide?" I said digging inside and pulling out some fluff.

After a few tugs and some loose stuffing, I pulled out what appears to be a white piece of paper that was rolled up like a scroll. Could it be…

I unraveled the paper to see what was inside but….

DING DONG DING DONG

"I'm done waiting around, come to the class trial now, losers or you all die," Monokuma appeared on screen, "Head to the red door, chop chop!"

Agh! Goddamnit Monokuma! I was about to discover something new, don't steal it away from me! No matter, I got what I was looking for, time to leave.

TRUTH BULLET #19 - Paper stuffed in Teddy Bear

I left Mei's room, leaving her teddy bear on her bed out of respect, after putting back the loose stuffing and locking the door behind me. I walked down the hallway as I saw the others waiting for me to arrive, guess stuffing bears takes longer than I thought it would.

"Sorry for that everyone," I sprinted to the elevator as fast as I could, "I had to attend to something urgent."

"Hmph, whatever it is you were doing, it better be relevant to the case," Reina huffed, "I don't plan on dying today because someone doesn't want to admit to their crime," he glared at Arihime.

"Calm down princesa," Eduardo tried to assuage her anger, "Let's not fight again, por favor."

"I'm scared, I don't know what to expect," Tokaku said clinging onto Athena's shoulder.

"Don't worry Toka, Athena is sure this will all be over before you know it," xey reassured her.

"For better or for worse, this will be our second trial we must overcome," Nori sighed deeply, "Time to enter the belly of the beast once again."

"I didn't even get to fully display my swimming outfit," Camille pouted, "I just finished putting on body oil and everything too."

"Can you just shut up please," Kazuko scoffed, crossing her arms, "You're annoying everyone right now."

"This better be quick…" Alia muttered leaning against the wall.

"H-hopefully we don't die…" Natsume said in the corner of the elevator.

"Don't worry, human," Toto said stroking Black's fur, "We will catch the killer, then I will have Black attack them as revenge."

"Will Monokuma even allow that?" Calypso sweatdropped.

"I don't think so," Aohito said, looking at the panther growling as Toto stroked him.

"I hope this won't be too long to remember," Simon said jotting down a lot of things on his Ipad, "Oh so many notes to keep track of…"

"I'm sure we'll all be fine, Izuhara pitched in to investigate," Karuta said, "Plus we have Arihime as well, so I'm confident we will persevere," a bead of sweat dripped from her forehead.

To be honest, despite the immense amount of searching I did, I didn't feel confident in my ability to actually do it. I'm not some experienced or hard boiled detective, I'm just some fighter who only got to where I am because I wanted to support my family and survive in this cruel world.

How can I do this?

I then felt a tap on my shoulder, it came from Arihime.

"Hey Izuhara," she looked at me, her maroon messy hair brushing against her face and her glasses reflecting her brown eyes, "I'm counting on you to save me and everyone else….god I sound cheesy as hell."

"Are you sure?" I asked her, "I mean, you're better at this stuff than I am, and...you had to bail me out in the last trial, how can I do the same for you?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Excuse me, I seem to have lost Izuhara, he's tall, wears an eyepatch and is stubborn to the core, have you seen him, sir?"

I almost laughed at that ridiculous yet true comment of hers.

"I may not be a saint, but I do know that I would never do anything to hurt anyone," she said, "Now...prove me innocent or else I'm reporting on your fights!"

"Yes ma'am," I chuckled at her pseudo threat, as she stood at the end far from the others to avoid bumping into them or making them more hostile than they already were.

She's right...what am I doing doubting myself, her life and everyone else's lives are in my hands. I can't falter now, not when this trial could lead to more deaths.

The elevator went down deeper and deeper into the school's underbelly. The awkward silence was palpable as we arrived to our location which was one floor below the last trial grounds.

"Time for more hell," I stated, as we all exited the cramped elevator and headed into the trial area.

This room, unlike the last one, was a lot different in terms of decor, There was a disco ball like the one in Mei's room in the center area of the stands on the ceiling, the wallpaper was orange with black records and music notes decal plastered around us, the same red carpet as before and as per usual Monokuma snickering like a crazy person with Nekotang tied up and used as his footstool.

But the unnerving part about this trial….was that there were two more picture stands like the one for Dietrich from the last trial.

Not only was his picture present as well, but in Yuzuki's spot, there was her portrait with pink handcuffs and a baton formed in the shape of an X on her picture and last we have Mei's portrait, hers' had a slash across her neck and a broken double music note shaped in the form of an X as well.

Just looking at those pictures made me want to punch the mastermind behind all of this in the face. How can he get away with desecrating their memory like that, it's unacceptable!

"What took you guys so long?" he said kicking Nekotang, "I nearly defluffed Neko over here almost out of boredom."

"It's my bad Monokuma," I entered the conversation, "I was a little late to enter the elevator, don't blame the others."

"Whatever you say," he said sipping on a wine glass, "Now take your positions, retards, and let's start this shit!"

We all congregated in the circle as the trial was about to commence.

This is it…..it's my time to prove who did it….Mei's death...left us in a state of shock….she was brutally murdered…..and I...can't just sit by and let the killer get away with this!

I WILL PREVAIL AND PROVE ARIHIME'S INNOCENCE AND AVENGE MEI'S DEATH ONCE AND FOR ALL!

I CAN DO THIS!

To be continued…..

A/N: Hello hello hello my lovely readers and authors alike, I hope you all are having a fantastic start to your month of May or if it's still April, yay lol.

It's been pretty hectic for me this past week or two, a lot of adult responsibilities, and a lot of complaining later, I'm still out of school due to personal reasons, so I thought I might as well get this chapter out of the way since I'm a little eager to get things rolling.

I also have my driver's test coming up next week, the written one, this is my second try at the test, so I'm hoping this goes well...wish me luck….fuck me adult life is hitting me like a bullet train.

But enough rambling, I hope you all liked this little twist to the DR formula, you're going to see the trial from Izuhara's POV this time. I wanted to switch things up a little bit since I wanted to keep things fresh in my story, so I hope you liked how I portrayed him, Ninjedi, I hope I did him justice as an amateur investigator.

So now that you guys have all the evidence for the trial (more to come later), I would love to hear what you guys have to say in either the reviews or PM's, I love hearing your theories on how the murder was committed.

Who are you guys' prime suspects and who do you think killed Mei? How did they do it? I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say.

I hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter and investigation, I hope it suffices, as the trial will be a lot more hectic now that I have everything planned out and all that nonsense.

Planning, who needs that am I right…*crickets*

Anyway, that's all I have to say guys, I hope you all have a great week, I hope this little chapter helped ease you better into a new month as well.

Have a good day, night, holiday or whatever holiday you celebrate, I love you all and thank you for the continued support despite me being an amateur writer in every sense of the word.

Don't forget to check out my other new SYOC, Laughable Rejects. If you are interested, the form is on my profile and the theme is Talent Removal. So have at it!

Happy reading and I will see you all in the future, bye bye my otaku brothers and sisters!