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Investigation Part 2

Sorey just stared at Lloyd's lifeless face. It couldn't be true. Surely Monokuma was wrong. There was no way Lloyd was dead.

"Sorey," he heard Yuri say and he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, get up," Yuri said gently. Sorey was the only one that was still next to Lloyd.

He got up, he noticed that most of the others were already here. They probably dropped everything and ran when they heard another body announcement.

"What the hell happened?" Asbel snapped once his eyes fell on Lloyd. "How could the culprit kill someone else?"

"No, Lloyd..." Kanonno said in between sobs that she was trying to fight back.

The others were either angry that this happened or speechless like Sorey. No one else knew what they should do.

It was quickly ruined by horrible laughing. "Looks like the double RIP happened right on time," Monokuma suddenly exclaimed as he popped in.

"You really find this funny," Yuri commented darkly.

Monokuma took a step back. "Hey, come on now. It's not like I did it. I'm just the moderator."

"W-w-what," a new voice exclaimed from the door.

Everyone looked and saw Emil standing in the doorway. He looked so horrified seeing Lloyd's body. Sorey was a bit relieved to see that Emil was okay. He had been a bit worried that something had happened to him too.

"Where the hell were you?" Asbel snapped.

Emil jumped hearing Asbel yell. "I-I," Emil stuttered.

"Just calm down and tells where you were," Jude said calmly. "Why weren't you with Lloyd?"

Emil had his head down. "Th-this happened because I left him…" Emil said. "I...I just went to the bathroom."

"Look, the clock is still ticking on when the trial starts," Monokuma said. "You all should get back to investigating." He even started wobbling away.

"I have a question," Veigue suddenly said. "What if there are two blackens? Does that mean both would get to graduate?" It was hard to believe that the same person could have went out of their way to kill Lloyd when Emil wasn't around. Did someone else think they could get out too if someone else died?

"There can only be one blacken in each round," Monokuma explained. "It's the same idea with accomplices. Only the one that commits the murder can graduate. In this case, whoever commits the first murder is the one we'll have a trial for. So this is still the trial to find who killed Luke."

"What about Lloyd?" Stahn asked. "Will we have a trail for him too?"

Monokuma shrugged. "No. One trial for one murder. And one prize for one murder. That's the rules. So if someone different killed Lloyd, you've wasted a perfectly good murder."

"You mean Lloyd won't get justice?" Sorey asked in disbelief.

The bear shrugged. "Hey, I'm only helping you all. Statistically speaking, the chances of solving the crime decreases as time goes by. We probably won't have time to have two trials today and if we wait, the crime won't be fresh on your mind."

"Are you saying we're just supposed to forget about Lloyd?" Asbel snapped.

"That's pretty much what I'm saying," Monokuma admitted. "But before you all get your underwear in a bunch, this is all under the assumption that they have different killers." Then Monokuma's face went dark. "Maybe one of you decided that one victim wasn't enough."

Everyone was silent. They had all thought of that possibility. Sorey wasn't sure which was worse. Someone feeling they needed to kill both Luke and Lloyd, or two people that decided to kill someone on the same day. Sorey worried that the malevance was spreading. That could easily explain why this happened. There was no point to Lloyd also being killed.

"Anyway," Monokuma interpreted in a disturbing cheerful tone. "I give you Lloyd's Monokuma file just in case it's the same culprit."

There was a ding sound from all their pockets. Sorey took out his e-handbook and saw the new Monokuma file on the screen. This is real, Sorey thought bitterly as he felt a prickling sensation in his eyes.

It read...

Victim: Lloyd Irving

CoD: Multiple Stab Wounds

Time: 11:45AM

Location: Cafeteria

"If this is the same culprit, they're at a considerable disadvantage," Yuri muttered.

"Yuri, how can you say something like that," Asbel exclaimed. He practically threw his e-handbook to the ground.

"Look. I'm only saying this for the benefit of the trial," Yuri explained calmly. "If one person killed both Luke and Lloyd, they've just left twice the amount of clues."

"But finding out what happened to Luke is the priority," Velvet said. "Kanonno, we've still got more things to look into."

"A...alright," Kanonno muttered as she followed after her.

"I can't believe her," Asbel said with gritted teeth.

"It's hard to say this, but," Ludger started. "Velvet has a point."

"But…" Asbel tried to argue.

"It's cruel, but we need to be sure we survive this next trial," Ludger said with a sad expression.

"We'll still look into Lloyd in case it is the same person," Yuri offered. "Half of us will continue looking for clues from Lukes case and the other half for Lloyd."

Asbel offered no objections to that compromise.

Yuri then looked at Sorey. "I think it would best for you and Jude to investigate Lloyd for now. But Sorey, you should go get changed first," Yuri said.

"Huh?" Sorey was confused why Yuri told him that. But when a few of the others motioned for Sorey to take a look at himself, Sorey saw blood all over him. Lloyd's blood.

/~/~/

Sorey quickly returned to his room and changed clothes. He threw away the ones he had been wearing. He didn't even want to see them again.

He returned to the cafeteria and still jumped when he saw Lloyd dead on the ground. Next to him was Jude taking a closer at Lloyd's wounds. Standing just a little ways was Asbel and Stahn.

Ludger had volunteerd to team up with Emil and search for more into Luke's murder. It seemed Emil was uncomfortable looking into Lloyd's. It was understandable. Emil left Lloyd for just a little bit and Lloyd was probably dead because of that.

"Good, your back," Asbel said. He had said it in a way that made it sound like he was mad. "Stahn and I are going to look for the murder weapon now." The two of them went back into the kitchen area.

"What was that about?" Sorey asked.

"Yuri made them watch me while we waited for you," Jude said. "Asbel wasn't too thrilled with wasting time like that. You and I alibi each other out for Lloyd's. But just to make absolutely certain that the others can believe my testimony at the trial." Just then, Jude's face dropped and he looked like he had that morning for a moment. "I do have some making up to do after what I've done."

"Jude, no one can blame you for helping Milla," Sorey told him.

"I know," Jude said almost looking like he did this morning. "I don't regret trying to protect Milla. I'd probably be worse off if I hadn't at least tried to help her. I'm going to do what Milla couldn't. So to do that we need to survive this trial."

Sorey nodded. "Very well," he replied so they could get right to work. But before they could, Sorey bowed his head toward Lloyd's body. "I'm sorry Lloyd. We will find out who did this and get out of here." We'll stop Monokuma.

"I'm ashamed that it took Lloyd dying to get me back to my senses," Jude commented as he did the same thing.

"I'm sure Lloyd is glad you're back," Sorey told him.

"Right," Jude said as he stood up. "Anyway, the Monokuma file was right. Lloyd has several stab wounds on his chest. I was able to count elven without moving his clothes. Stahn even helped me turn Lloyd over. There wasn't a single wound on his back."

So Lloyd saw the culprit attack him. And the culprit looked right at Lloyd while he tried to kill him, Sorey thought grimly.

"Based on the size of them," Jude continued, "I can say with certainty it was with a kitchen knife. Plus one of the cutting knives is missing in the kitchen."

"You all already checked the kitchen?" Sorey asked. He didn't think he had been gone for that long.

"The kitchen was where Lloyd was first attacked," Jude began. He pointed toward the kitchen door. Sorey saw there was blood on the floor from the kitchen to where Lloyd was now. He must have dragged himself out into the cafeteria looking for help. "Where the blood starts, there's a table where the cutting knives were sitting."

"And one of them is missing?" Sorey guessed.

Jude nodded. Sorey didn't want to understand why someone would murder in the first place. But it was strange that Lloyd would have been attacked more than Luke had.

"What's even stranger is that it's clear that the murder weapen is different," Jude went on to explain. "The stab wound on Luke is smaller according to the Monokuma file."

"So there are two murder weapns," Sorey summed up. Luke had a single stab wound from the small knife they had found in his locker. It was much smaller than a kitchen knife. So whoever used it knew how to use it to kill Luke with one hit. Lloyd on the other hand had a larger weapon and the culprit didn't even kill Lloyd right away. Was that intentional? And if that was the same culprit, why?

Just then, they heard Asbel shout, "We found it."

Both Jude and Sorey hurried to kitchen. They didn't have to venture far. Almost by the door, Stahn and Asbel were knelt down by a table. They saw Asbel pull a cutting knife from under it. There was blood on it. Asbel quickly put it on the floor.

Sorey then noticed that the table the knife was under was the same that had the cutting knives set sat. And the blood didn't go any further in the kitchen. He imagined that Lloyd was standing there and whoever killed him was right in front of him. They then just grabbed the knife and attacked Lloyd right there. Then the culprit must have dropped the knife and it ended up under the table.

Jude confirmed as much by saying, "So Lloyd was attacked here and the culprit didn't even bother trying to hide the weapon."

"They probably didn't care," Asbel said darkly. "Even if we know who killed Lloyd, it won't matter if we can't connect them to Luke."

"Are you trying to say that whoever did this knew about the rule Monokuma told us about?" Stahn asked.

"It's possible," Asbel said. "He told Milla about the "Only one graduate" rule and didn't tell the rest of us. It's clear Monokuma bends his own rules."

"I absolutely do not," Monokuma suddenly said, coming out of nowhere. "How would this be a fair game if I bend the rules on a whim?"

"You're really going to tell us any of this is fair?" Asbel snapped.

"None of us asked for this," Jude told the bear.

But Monokuma just tilted his head. "But didn't you?" He asked. "Someone would have for this game to have started."

Someone asked for this? Sorey thought feeling sick to his stomach. The whole group had barely entertained the idea of there being some kind of mastermind. Yuri had even commented that he was sure that Monokuma wasn't the one in charge. "He's taking orders from someone else. He's clearly not the type." But the alternative was that one of them was working with Monokuma.

"But Mila asked me that question," Monokuma went on to explain. "If anyone else asked me, I would have told you. When it comes to rules, I'm as fair as can be. This is a mystery game after all. It's all about solving the mystery."

No one said anything and Sorey was still thinking about the possibility of a mastermind behind all of this.

"Well, I'll leave you all to this," Monokuma told them. "You don't have much time left before I call for a trial."

"What?" Stahn exclaimed. "But we just started looking into Lloyd's."

"Yeah, but you've been looking into Luke's since this morning," Monokuma told them. "That's plenty of time. Plus I'm getting bored."

"You need to get give us more time?" Asbel pleaded. "We have to have time to figure out what happened to Lloyd and bring the culprit to justice."

The bear started fuming with frustration. "You all are starting to sound like broken records," he snapped with his paws in the air. "I'm telling you it doesn't matter. If you can't figure out who killed Luke then all of you will face the punishment."

Asbel looked like he was going to attack Monokuma. But if he did that, then he would have violated one of the rules. Sorey didn't want to see another friend die. Thankfully, Stahn was quick enough to hold Asbel back.

Monokuma seemed to take a breath to calm himself, completely ignoring that fact Asbel wanted to kick him. "Listen hot heads, statistically speaking, at this part of the game when there is a double rip, there's normally only one culprit that's responsible. Man, that would be awkward if there were actually two culprits. Imagine what breakfast would be like in the morning if one of the culprits gets away with murder scotfree? I think I would pay to see that."

"Do you plan on wasting more of our time?" Jude suddenly asked.

"Well I-" Monokuma started to say.

But Jude interrupted. "You said we didn't have much time left. So leave so we can get back to investigating." Sorey was pretty surprised by the sharpness in Jude's voice. But he was right. At this point Monokuma was just wasting their time.

Sorey felt no pity when he saw that Monokuma looked hurt by Jude. "I can't believe I got scolded by the honor student," he muttered as he slowly started to waddle away.

"What the hell Jude?" Asbel snapped, finally freeing himself from Stahn.

"We have to play by the rules if we want to survive," Jude said sternly. Sorey wondered if this tone came from when he had to deal with difficult patients. "Honestly there isn't much more we can investigate into Lloyd's murder."

"But-" Asbel started to protest.

Jude held up his hands. "What I mean to say is that it's pretty cut and dry. There isn't some mystery to how Lloyd was killed. He and the culprit were in the kitchen, the culprit grabbed one of the knives and stabbed Lloyd multiple times. They threw the knife down and ran out."

"Leaving Lloyd to die," Sorey finished. But that was strange. Why wouldn't they had just finished Lloyd off. Wouldn't that had risked Lloyd telling them who attacked him?

"All that is left to do it to figure out who wasn't with their partner when Lloyd was attacked," Jude told them.

They all understood that. Everyone but the culprit would have a strong alibi since they all paired up.

"Stahn, Ludger, and I pretty much all stayed together," Asbel reported and Stahn nodded.

"Are you sure?" Sorey asked. "You all were in a group of three. It would be understandable if one of you slipped out." He wasn't doubting them. They just needed to deal in certainty.

"We stayed in the same room the whole time," Asbel answered.

"Plus we were in the locker rooms," Stahn started to say. "If one of us did slip out to kill Lloyd, it would have taken some time, right? If one of us was gone that long, I think we would have noticed."

"Good point," Sorey muttered. He felt pretty confident that Stahn, Asbel, and Ludger could be crossed off the suspect list. And of course Sorey could cross Jude off the list too. He may have been out of it the whole time, Sorey had made sure not to lose track of his partner. The only ones that could have slipped away from their partners to go to the kitchen and return in a time fashion at that time would have been Yuri and Veigue. He hoped that the two of them had a strong alibi for one another.

Then Sorey remembered there was one more strong suspect.

Emil!

He hadn't even been with Lloyd. He said he went to the bathroom. That easily could have been a lie. Yet Emil had looked just as startled at seeing Lloyd dead like the rest of them. Sorey just couldn't picture Emil just brutally killing Lloyd. For lack of a better term, Emil was a bit of a wimp. There was just no way it could have been Emil.

/~/~/

Because they didn't know how much longer they had till Monokuma announced the trial, Jude and Sorey practically ran to the swimming pool. They needed to get the other's alibi's.

As soon as they entered the pool area, they were with the rest of the other groups watching as Yuri was climbing out of the pool.

Yuri looked up as they entered. "You two just got here in time," Yuri called out.

"What do you mean?" Sorey asked. He also wanted to ask why Yuri had been in the pool.

"Velvet found Luke's e-handbook," Kanonno announced. Velvet made no comment or even looked like she cared if she got credit for finding it.

"Turns out an asshole had thrown it in the pool in the deep end," Yuri complained as he handed the device to Ludger.

"So how did you end up being the one that retrieved it?" Sorey asked.

"We drew lots," Yuri answered.

"And Yuri has terrible luck apparently," Ludger commented.

"D-don't you think it's possible that the e-handbook just slid out of Luke's pocket?" Emil hesitantly asked.

"Not impossible," Yuri said. "But not likely. Luke was in the shallow while this was in the deep end."

"It's like the culprit wanted to get rid of it and it was a rush idea," Jude speculated.

"If they really wanted to hide it, the culprit should have just hidden it in their locker," Velvet said plainly. "We wouldn't have hid to time to search through every locker."

"But if we did then that would have lead us straight to them," Yuri commented. "It'd be too risky to keep any of Luke's things. Even if Luke had let you "borrow" something."

"What would be the purpose of trying to hide Luke's e-handbook?" Emil asked.

Before Sorey could offer up anything, the announcement bell sounded. "I think you've discovered all there is to discover," Monokuma's voice rang out. "I'm ready for this trail to get started. No dilly-dallying now."

They didn't get any time at all to even investigate Lloyd's murder. But something else was odd about the way Monokuma said it. You've discovered all there is to discover...Was that really true? And if it was, then that meant Jude was right about the way Lloyd was killed. Why would the culprit kill Lloyd? There didn't seem to be any plan. It just seemed to happen out of nowhere.

"Damn," Yuri muttered. "I'm heading back to my room to get some dry clothes on. You all go on to the elevator."

"Don't take too long," Kanonno said. "You don't want to get punished for being late."

"You all just worry about surviving the trial," Yuri said. But he did quickly run out of the pool area.

The rest of them weren't far behind. The third trial had begun.