"No fuckin' way." Sumiko exhaled, standing up and backing away a bit.

What the hell had just happened? They had just seen Kimiko perfectly fine, moving about in a vain attempt to get free. Now she was still and a body discovery announcement had gone off. She didn't know how this could have possibly happened. How did someone manage to kill her if only three people were present at the theater? Suddenly, she heard footsteps and the surprised gasps of more people. Looking down, she saw that Israfel, Rikiya and Midoriko had arrived. There was no sign of the medium, she'd probably left to get the others.

As more students started to stream into the building, everyone became aware of who the victim was. She cast a glance over to her side, where Kazuma was on his knees, staring with a look of pure hate down at the crowd of their classmates. Sumiko could only assume that it was because he knew one of them killed Kimiko. Unless, of course, he was faking for the sake of innocence. She wanted to smack herself for thinking like that, but she knew that everyone was a suspect. The previous two times were a testament to that. Interrupting her thoughts, Monokuma also arrived on the scene.

"Wow! Another corpse!" Monokuma exclaimed with unsettling glee. "I bet you guys all know what this means!"

"Oh, just shut up and give us the Monokuma File." Kazuma grumbled. "I don't have the patience to listen to your shit right now."

"Eh?! What's with this sudden burst of anger, Kazuma?" Monokuma asked. "Despair hittin' ya hard?"

"Give us the fucking file!"

"Alright, alright, sheesh, I get no respect around here." Monokuma grumbled.

Sumiko's eHandbook chimed and she pulled it out to examine the file. It said: 'The victim is Kimiko Harumashi. Time of death is 7:43 A.M. There are no exterior wounds on the body, but there are traces of a foreign substance.' Sumiko sighed. The file didn't even include what killed her. Some help it was. Shoving her eHandbook back into her pocket, she saw no reason to waste any more time. She needed to investigate.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Monokuma File #3

Deciding to start with the body itself, she got up close. The first thing she did was examine what was suspending her from the catwalk. Tied tight around her body and the railing were several cords. They looked very familiar to her, before it suddenly clicked. They were the A/V and power cords for the projector and DVD player. Maybe the culprit was just lazy and decided to use that instead of rope.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Cords

As she looked over the body, she noticed something. She could just barely detect a sweet smell coming from the body, which struck her as odd. Shaking her head, she continued to investigate. Sumiko found that Kimiko had something clenched tight in her hand. Carefully opening the dead maid's fingers, she pulled out what she'd been holding. It was a torn piece of paper, looking like a note. Only the first sentence could still be read, the rest could probably be found on the missing part of the paper.

'Kimiko, I need your help cleaning up the theater.'

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Sweet Smell

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Note to Kimiko

"Huh," was all that she said in response to finding the note.

"What is it?" Misaki asked, having gone up to the catwalk herself.

"Found a note in Kimiko's hand." Sumiko responded, passing Misaki the slip of paper.

"That's interesting." Misaki said, glancing over the ripped paper. "I guess that would mean the culprit called her here."

"I s'pose so." Sumiko responded.

Misaki went on her way to continue her own investigation, which left Sumiko to continue her work. Taking a look around the immediate area, she didn't see anything else worth noting until she looked at the back wall of the building. There was a window, and Sumiko noticed that it was open. Curious, she walked over to look out the window, looking down at the ground to see quite the odd sight. There was a mattress on the ground outside.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Open Window

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Mattress

That made her wonder. Why the hell was there a mattress behind the theater? Deciding that she wouldn't find an answer if she stayed in the building, she jogged down the stairs leading off the catwalk. Upon reaching the ground level, Sumiko bumped into an investigating Emiko. The medium was visibly startled by the sudden appearance of the thief, but regain her composure quickly.

"Oh, sorry." Sumiko apologized.

"That's quite alright," was what the medium said in return.

"Hey," she started, having a sudden thought. "Where did you go after the body discovery announcement went off?"

"I simply went to fetch the others." Emiko replied. "I found Kaede, Rei, Tenri, Misaki and Ami."

"Oh, alright. That's what I thought you were doin'." Sumiko said, having affirmed what she thought happened.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Emiko's Account

Moving on, Sumiko continued walking, deciding that she'd investigate a little down here as well before heading out to check the mattress. Walking over to the stand where they had set up the DVD player and projector, she examined it just to make sure she was correct in her thinking. Sure enough, the cords were missing from both electronics, not even the extension cord they had used to plug it into the wall was still there.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: DVD Player & Projector

After checking those two devices out, she turned to leave when she suddenly smelled that weird scent again. This time it was a lot more powerful and was making her dizzy. Examining the area around her to discern where exactly it was coming from. She found it in between two rows of seats, the smell was wafting off of a rag on the floor. Sumiko would have picked it up to further examine it, but the scent was so strong that she couldn't stand being near it.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Rag

With a quick survey of the area, she discerned that there wasn't anything else worth noting. Heading outside, she jogged to the side of the building and went around back. Making her way through the narrow alley to the back, she reached the other side of the theater. There she found the mattress. Sumiko still didn't really get why it was there, now able to note that there were also pillows atop the mattress. She found the entire setup to be quite odd.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Pillows

She didn't really see anything else at first. When she turned to leave, that's when she spotted it. Lying up against the wall of the theater was a syringe. Crouching down to look at it, she picked it up to pull back the plunger. Droplets of a liquid were inside the tube, telling her that it had been used recently. Sumiko could only wonder what had been in the syringe, she needed no prompting to figure out where it came from.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Used Syringe

Heading back around to the front of the building, Sumiko began thinking about the mattress. Certainly it wasn't there beforehand, so why was it there now? If it had been placed there, who did so and who did it belong to? While she was lost in thought, she just barely noticed Rei walking in time to stop herself from running into the YouTuber. She mentally kicked herself, that would've been the second time she ran into someone in the past hour alone.

"Hey, Rei." Sumiko said. She suddenly got a thought. Perhaps she knew something useful? "Would you happen to know anythin' that we could use for the trial? Maybe ya saw somethin'?"

"Ah, actually, I did!" Rei responded. "Not that long after the morning announcement, maybe 7:10, I saw Kimiko heading into Ward II. She was probably on her way here to the theater."

"That early, huh?"

"Yeah."

Now that was some food for thought. The maid didn't die until 7:43. So what exactly happened during that 33 minute long gap? She sighed, knowing that she should wait to find answers until the trial. Right now, all she needed to do was figure out the evidence they could use to reach the answer behind this mystery. Who could've done killed Kimiko in such a short window of time? She supposed it'd make more sense during the trial. Thanking Rei, she headed off towards the MonoMeds Pharmacy.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Rei's Account

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Window of Time

Entering into the building, she had no idea where to start looking. All she had to go on was one used syringe, how was she supposed to know where it had come from? Sighing, she realized that she probably should've thought this out more. There would be no way she could find the right bottle of liquid in the many rows and shelves. Defeated, she set the syringe down on the counter and noticed something. She remembered her first visit to the place and seeing the books labeling lethal dosages. All of the books were stacked neatly and closed. But now, one of them was off the stack and opened. She took a look at the page it was open to, a drug called epinephrine.

Truth Bullet Obtained!: Opened Pharmacy Book

"Alright, I'm running out of patience, head back to the elevator so we can get this trial rolling!" Monokuma's voice rang out.

Sumiko cursed under her breath. It was now time for the trial. Did she have enough to convict the correct person, or would this be the trial where they screwed up? She could only hope what she had found would be sufficient as she made her way back to the apartment complex. Everyone seemed hesitant when they arrived. The loss of Kimiko was quite the blow to everyone and Sumiko noticed that as they all slowly filed into the elevator. She took one glance at Kazuma, who had secluded himself in a back corner of the elevator, his fists clenched tightly until his knuckles had turned white. It didn't take a genius to realize he was still seething. She could only hope that his anger wouldn't hurt their chances at solving the mystery.

With a groan, the elevator began its descent to the third class trial of life and death.

(A/N:) And the investigation is over. They've got the bits and pieces of the puzzle, now all that's left is to put them together to discover the culprit! I wonder if any of you have an idea as to who it is. So far this has been one of my favorite mysteries to put together since I've had it planned for so long. Leave a comment with your guess if you think you know who did it and we'll see if you're right when the Class Trial goes live for you all to read! Y'know, after I finish writing it. Ciao!