We were down to sixteen students. We already lost three of us with this one murder mystery. The fact there was a third body didn't exactly scream well and if the killer took down three people, who knows if they got their hands on a fourth.

It was a good thing that most of us were in groups. It would help narrow down the killer if another body was found...but hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

Right now, my focus was on the ultimate entertainer, Seiren.

"So the killer got Seiren too..."

"Yeah. I gathered that," I mumbled, looking down at the body that once belonged to the lively Seiren.

Surprisingly, when I looked to see who the third person was that joined Tadakatsu, I saw Seno holding his mouth. "Oi, be useful and let others know or give us some space." The internet personality immediately hightailed it out of there. How he was going to convey the message across was something for him to figure out. I wish him luck with that.

We better act quickly before everyone else runs into the kitchen making the search difficult for us. Hopefully Seno would at least provide a bit of a temporary block.

"Right now, the better question right now is: how the hell did she get in here?"

How did she get in here in the first place? Sadly, I don't think we had the time to look for answers on this single question.

"Sadly, we might not be able to discern why or how she got into the cafeteria at this moment," the person that was supposed to be a grumpy mess that punched first and punched second rationalised, "right now, it might come up in the trial later. We should focus on the pressing matter of finding the killer."

"God damn it." I looked away from the body, better to live and learn later than die now.

Where to start? There were a ton of places to search.

Tadakatsu answered that for me by immediately checking Seiren's body. While he did that, I decided to look elsewhere. The first place to start might be the big and I mean big puddle of blood that coated this small part of the kitchen. I had tried to think of it as something else, but of course that was just wishful thinking.

Just trying to fool myself from accepting the truth.

Either way, looking back at Seiren and the puddle of blood here, it was definitely odd. So where did all this blood come from?

Hm? There was something nearby the puddle of blood. Something small and sharp. As I bent down to get a better look at what this thing was, I already understood. It looked familiar.

In the end, I picked up a small broken blade. It was quite small and fit comfortably in the palm of my hand the same way that a broken and jagged piece of glass would. That wasn't to say that this broken blade was tiny, it was just just smaller than my palm I reckon. It looked to be quite sharp too.

The tip of this mysterious blade was dipped in a coat of red. Just the small tip of the blade was coated in blood. Hmm.

Moving my attention from this blade over towards Seiren, I took notice of yet another blade.

On the floor near Seiren was an ordinary kitchen knife. One of the larger kitchen knives available judging by the knife rack. It wasn't that far from Seiren either. Unlike the small broken blade I found, the blade was coated in far more blood! I would say around seventy percent of the blade of the knife was coated in blood. Huh, a quick glance of the knife rack showed that the smallest one was missing, or at least not put away properly. Just by looking around the kitchen, a bunch of spoons, bowls, plates and a bunch of food was scattered everywhere.

When I finally turned my attention to Seiren, the only thing to search was how she died as I ignored the pastries stuffed into her mouth.

"Her hand," I lifted the small girl's bloody hand, they seemed to be coated in something. Something mixed in with the blood. Small clumps. Tiny ones at that.

Quickly looking up at her face and the bunch of food that was shoved into her mouth. A pang of guilt ran through my body as I saw her lifeless body.

"Suisei, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, fuck off."

Back to business, "after inspecting Seiren's body, it seems she has suffered a bump to the back of the head. Then there's the food in her mouth to consider."

"Seems like she bit off more than she could chew..."

Ignore the look. Just ignore the look.

"Ahem. Well, going by the spam mail we received, it doesn't seem like that injury was the killing blow so it could be something that occurred after she had died."

"So what you're saying is useless then. Thanks for wasting my time."

Huffing, he carefully held the deceased girl's chin. Moving her head up, a large clump of the pastry in her mouth fell to the ground, leaving a trail of crumbs in its wake. "Something's up with her neck." my comment caused him to nod.

"Yes. I believe there has been a sign of pressure, but it's honestly hard to say for certain. At the end of the day, I am not a professional forensic pathologist or something like that. Just a person who has seen their fair share of fights turned bloody." he shook his head at that one. "How's your search?"

"Fine I guess." I didn't spend much time with him after that.

Giving him a half-assed wave, I decided to leave the kitchen. I think I saw everything I needed to see. It was time to head to the gym.

On the way out of the kitchen, Astin caught our attention. "Oh yeah, Seno wants to show you something."

The mime pointed at the bin near the door once we set our sights on him. So something was in the bin. Walking over and peering in, I saw a lot of blood. Something was definitely covered in it. I dipped my hand into the bin and pulled out just what was covered, it turned out to be multiple things at that.

"Are those the tea towels?" I heard Fox in the distance. It seems he was still hanging around with Akahana out there, though he must have some pretty good eyesight. Wait a second, the way he mentioned it-

"Calm down. Seno showed me and I told the wolf and fox out there about it." Astin huffed before I could snap around and question the witch. Looks like Fox was being cheeky again.

Anyways...there was a ton of tea towels just thrown into the bin near the door. All of which were covered in blood. Whatever colour they used to be were hidden under this new coat of paint.

"What were these stupid things used for?" Frowning my hardest, I sent a look to Tadakatsu who just shrugged after he left the kitchen. So he didn't have a clue either. How helpful. Bloody perfect. Then again, what were bloodied tea towels used for if it wasn't used to clean what happened in the kitchen?

It was then that the speakers flared up.

"I'm getting bored down here! You guys are gonna lose some precious time if you don't hurry it up!"

That fucker was taunting us. No matter, we quickly made our way back to the gym. Though, things weren't really the best right now thanks to Charlie. Presumably.

Charlie and Sunako glared at each other, neither side backing down while Kyogen, Fumi and Hudson stood pretty far away from the two, mostly Charlotte though if I had to guess.

As soon as we entered, those three immediately approached us. "Is it true? That there's a third body?"

"Sadly, it's true." sighed the pale delinquent.

Kyogen entered the fray now asking the question on their minds. "And just who the hell was it?"

"...Seiren."

We just got stares for the longest time. "Holy shit, really?"

"Don't act so surprised," Hudson Kusuma Mega Nyoman Ratna Wayan Amir Buana Darma Hasan Ilham Surya Wahyu Yuda Wibama crossed his arms, looking down on us. "She hasn't appeared recently so there was a chance that she would succumb to a fate like this." His frown almost broke his facade. Good thing he managed to salvage it.

As everyone got around to talking to one another, I had to wonder just what punishment for breaking the act was or the rules were for that matter. I had a quick look to see all the rules the bear laid out for us and was quite surprised to see that there haven't been that many. I filed away the rules for later, for now though, the main focus was on the body before me.

"We shall go inspect Seiren's body," Hudson huffed, "come along you two. Chop chop."

"Don't 'chop chop' me you fuck." Ah, lose it in Tadakatsu, gain it back with the role in Kyogen.

As Fumi and Hudson left, I put my out hand and grabbed hold of the troublemaker's arm. There was something I needed to know. "Oi, what's the big idea? Let go-"

"Where were you yesterday?"

"I was in my room and before you can be all nosy about it, it was because of her." he jammed his thumb in the direction of the slit-mouthed billiards player. "The night before, she kept knocking and scratching on my door and even throughout the day she kept knocking now and again while mumbling some spooky shit. Now, can I go? Detective."

"Get out of here."

Without a word more, Kyogen had left as I turned my attention back to the billiards player who was still in a silent stare-down with the medium…

Or at least I thought he left. "Hey, one more thing," he called out from the door. "That knife, when we were searching around earlier, I didn't see any other knife like that being sold in the store either."

He slammed the door after that. So it wasn't sold in the store, that was useful to know.

Looking over Maria's body, it was pretty clear how she died. A knife was sticking out of her for god's sake.

Probably not the best set of words to say there at the end. "Whatever, let's start with the knife. It's clearly the murder weapon here."

"Calm down Suisei, we have plenty of time to figure things out," thanks for trying to stay in character at least. "This knife is odd though, definitely not one from the kitchen. Perhaps I should confirm Kyogen's search in the store?"

"Nah. Not much time. It looks like a combat knife."

Tadakatsu grabbed hold of the knife, "sorry Maria." Upon giving the deceased an apology, he pulled the blade out slowly. "Yep, it's a combat knife. Fits the wound perfectly."

I looked to see the stab wound that had ended Maria's life. There were no other signs of sustained injuries or any other wound that would have been the killing blow. The wound itself on Maria did fit the size perfectly of the thin combat knife.

Hold on. Inspecting the knife further, there seemed to be a scratch on it. A small little line engraved onto the knife...

Before I even knew it, Sunako was hovering above us. "Don't interrupt their investigation!" seethed the billiards player as she walked over. The medium walked off, towards the large satchel that Maria wore everywhere and picked up the small, worn out teddy complete with her rosary.

From a quick glance, the contents of the satchel were just minor things like that. Her glasses had been crushed too which seemed odd. What was the purpose of that?

"I've been thinking. Why are there so many ripped out bible pages?" Charlie asked, which made me hesitate for a moment.

"Who cares. She ripped them out before, I even saw her rip out a page once. It's probably the same thing there."

Picking up the satchel, the ghost finally spoke. "She did...the same for me..."

...Maria...

Focus.

Moving onto the next set of clues scattered throughout the room, well, there wasn't much left. The glasses were one thing, the satchel being thrown around and the blood coated robe that now sat away from the body were another. "Question," the kuchisake-onna pointed at the robe I was looking at. "Why would the killer remove her robe? Were they a pervert or something?" she, of course, sent us a wink as I walked over to the robe.

"There shouldn't be any reason to remove the satchel or the robe..." Don't think too hard Tadakatsu.

Huh? "Shut up for a second," I waved my hand to shut them up. "There's a lot of blood on this robe. Way too much for that stab wound...right?"

There was way too much blood here. I can understand why a small bit of the coat was covered in blood, but why almost the whole thing? I doubted that Maria bled this-

DING DONG BING BONG

"Upupupupu, it seems you all had a fun time looking around, but now it's time to dig into this mystery! That's right, it's TRIAL TIME!" Already? Damn, time really flies and the day has only just begun. Really hope he won't rush the trial either.

There was nothing else we could do now. It was time to go face the music.

"Come on, Sunako." Tadakatsu called out, holding the door open. "Let's go solve this. For Maria."

Silently, the long haired pale girl followed as we waited for everyone to arrive in front of the elevator. I sure hope they found something we didn't. Just who was this killer? Hopefully we could figure it out.

The four of us waited in front of the elevator as everyone started to show up.

It didn't take long for everyone else to arrive. Fox and Akahana were the first to arrive, somehow. Fox panted as he dragged the wolf pelted girl towards the elevator and it looked like she put up a fight.

"Fox, I told you that she isn't a wolf," sighed the yanki, already taking the leash from Fox's hands and freeing the poor, poor wolf girl.

Speaking of the wolf girl, Tadakatsu had blocked off her means of escape. "Don't run away now," I called out as she tried to bypass the wall that was Tadakatsu. It would cause more problems if she managed to get away.

The next group to arrive was the trio Tadakatsu and I swapped with. Kyogen, Fumi and Hudson. Joining them was Seno and Astin who hanged in the back.

"I hope you lot had a better search than what we did." the promoter fixed up her green, long sleeved turtleneck shirt.

Jumping in quickly, Hudson scoffed, "I doubt it."

"Like you would know," I shot back, engaging in a short lived staring contest that was suddenly broken by the arrival of the rest of us.

Anju followed by Yozora and Isabi, Renji being dragged by the puzzle solver and last but not least, Nanako trailing behind the group only to stop in her tracks when she saw the spirit next to me and it wasn't the one that crawled out of a television.

It felt like the corridor got colder as minor conversations between people slowly died out. There was an uncomfortable silence until the elevator doors opened. "Come on, let's get in the elevator already." Thank you Kyogen.

As we boarded the elevator, it was clear that people put some space between Charlotte and Nanako. It didn't take a genius why but who truly knows at this point. Our minds were warped and the murders were only deteriorating us.

"Before we reach the bottom, we should at least go over all the evidence we have gathered." Fumi directed as our packed selves in the elevator got closer to the bottom, thankfully it was a lot more spacious now compared to before.

Sucked to be Akahana though as she mostly stayed close to the ground.

Forced to be a wolf and all.

So I took Fumi's advice to heart and looked over what I concluded to be important evidence, whether that was what I found during the investigation or things that rang in my mind as being important to the case at hand as the elevator began to move. Some of these things definitely weren't found at the three separate crime scenes, yet it was good to hold onto them should someone, like the killer, try to disprove something.

It'll at least back me up and give my words some impact and truth to them.

As we stood around in the elevator, looking at our e-handbooks or just staring off into space, waiting until we reached the courtroom. I was one of those who looked down at their e-handbook, looking over the potential pieces of evidence that I have gathered today, or Truth Bullets as what the e-handbook app called it.

[Truth Bullets]

Junkuma Spam #3

Empty Holsters

Broken Window

The Rules

Acting Roles (Motive)

Junkuma's Test

Blood in Kitchen

Bloody Kitchen Knife

Seiren's Body

Tadakatsu's Autopsy

Maria's Wound

Crumbs

Odd Knife

Broken Blade

Blood Coated Robe

Bloody Tea Towels

Kyogen's Account

Seiren's Food

Missing Knife

As I looked over the evidence, I could feel myself frowning at my thoughts. It was like the feelings from before had evaporated. The feeling that struck when I decided to tackle this mystery. Odd. Where did that even come from? Ah who cares.

I should still keep my mind open. Just because these truth bullets were found with my investigation, there might be a thing or two that might pop up which I didn't even think of and could connect with one of these, like an alibi. Gotta be flexible going forward.

The doors opened and the sixteen of us walked out, taking our positions at our podiums. It was like clockwork while that old waste of space of a bear sat on his broken throne, watching all of us get into position.

"These...portraits..."

I followed Anju's gaze onto the portraits, there were some new additions here of course. Four more in fact.

Kanata's portrait was the same as last time too with a red cross on it. It was the same as Leon's who also had a red cross scratched onto it. The only difference between these two was that Kanata's looked to be done with a wide paintbrush instead of whatever was used to cross Leon's out.

The next portrait added here was none other than Hanh's. Her portrait lacked any sort of X-shaped cross but it was filled with multiple music notes.

Maria's was next as hers included a cross, the one seen on her rosary. A holy cross dyed in red plastered her portrait.

The interrogator's portrait showed himself, but it lacked any sort of cross or other painted or drawn on image. Takeo's picture was ruined. It was ripped and torn, crumbled up at one point too. However, the most notable thing I noticed about the portrait was that it not only had holes in too, but it had been burned. It made trying to see Takeo's face incredibly hard, even if it was behind a mask.

Lastly, was Seiren's portrait. Unlike the previous three that had something special to it, Seiren's however, was just a plain red cross. Very much like Leon's. Utterly plain with no thought to it.

"Finally, a trial. It's been soooo long since we had one of these!" the bear stretched his arms out high. "Time for you guys to try and solve this mystery, or perhaps this will be the case where you all fail and die? Either way, whether you live or die, I'm looking forward to how this case ends. So have at it!"

Silence followed as soon as the bear got more comfortable in his chair.

"So where should we start?" the lime green haired promoter looked around at those who remained.

"Isabi recommends that we should start with the killer!" As Isabi smiled at her podium, she was unaware of the glare that Fox sent her way.

Seno opened his mouth as the bear slammed the side of his chair. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Seno, I'll give you a warning, and for the rest of you too, but the rules are still in place~!"

Fuck. Of course, these roles held us down once more.

"But hey, look on the bright side! Tomorrow morning, you'll all be free to be yourselves!"

"Let's just get this case over with already," I groaned, gripping the podium. "Someone, just pick a bloody starting point."

A scoff came from Hudson's side of the courtroom, well it was from Hudson to begin with. "Commoners. We shall start with identifying the victims."

Yozora shrugged. "It's at least a start."

Coughing, Fumi began. "The victims are as follows: Takeo Ikeda, the ultimate interrogator. Maria Toscano, the ultimate bishop and finally, Seiren Tsubame, the ultimate entertainer."

"To think that someone with the title of interrogator was the one to bite the dust. How pathetic." I ignored the glare that Fumi shot me as she continued.

"Now, we should discuss the murder weapon-"

Hudson had cut in, snapping his fingers as he did. "Foolish commoner. A waste of time, clearly we know the murder weapon, it's clearly-"

Seems he was cut off too thanks to a raspberry from Isabi. "Booooring! Isabi thinks the elephant in the room needs to be addressed." Wondering just what she meant, I followed her smile over to Charlotte, who raised an eyebrow in return.

"I think we're getting a bit out of-" as quickly as Tadakatsu of all people tried to steer the conversation back on track, he too was cut off by someone else. It was mostly the others being loud though.

Timidly, Anju tried to make herself known, "um..."

It didn't go as well as you could probably tell. Just then, a loud voice silenced the room.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Everyone looked over to the cause, the source. There stood Kyogen, arms crossed with the nastiest expression he could force onto his face. "You all done?! Good, about bloody time. Now let's get on with this stupid trial."

Fumi huffed, "while you could have handled that better. Thank you."

What a mess, but that just raised the question of where to start. Starting off with the murder weapon like Fumi wanted, deal with the whole Nanako problem or what Anju was trying to say.

"Um, I want to ask something..." Anju tried again, but this time with the room being quieter than a church mouse (for the moment), all eyes were on her. She shrunk a little under the gazes.

"It seems the peasant wants to lead the trial, pft."

"Hudson, calm down," a tired Yozora mumbled. She looked like she would fall over any minute now. "It's best we hear her out..."

The split singer simply ignored her, focusing completely on Anju, "stay in your place, I'll show you that-"

Oh yeah, did she know? Better tell her if she didn't. "Tch, that bastard only reacts to his name if you use the long version of it."

Isabi, right on cue, scratched her head. "Long version?" Looking into the puzzle solver's eyes, it was clear that she already knew about this singer's incredibly long name (and the fact that Hudson briefly shot her a look), however it served as a reminder for everyone else and with a long name like his, a reminder is helpful.

"Shut up and listen, I'll say this only once." I gave them only a few seconds to memorise the name. Then again, it would be on the e-handbooks anyway. "Hudson Kusuma Mega Nyoman Ratna Wayan Amir Buana Darma Hasan Ilham Surya Wahyu Yuda Wibama."

Seno's eyes almost popped out of his head, and judging by that indication, it seems not too many people knew that. If I remembered correctly, I think he saved it for the reactions? Man, it's only been a handful of days and I can't even remember. Looking in Hudson's direction, a smirk had appeared on his face briefly.

"It seems you did remember. I'm impressed. Well, as impressed as I can be from a commoner." Damn that smirk of his. "And be sure to remember my name this time, fools. Not like I expect you too."

"...and you're saying...we have to repeat that each time we want his attention?" Charlotte looked between Hudson and me.

I shrugged. "Only if you call him Hudson I guess."

"Well..." the drained Yozora turned her attention back to the matter at hand. "Hudson Kusuma Mega Nyoman Ratna Wayan Amir Buana Darma Hasan Ilham Surya Wahyu Yuda Wibama, I think it's the best course of action to... hear out what Anju has to say..."

Crossing his arms, he turned his attention to the white haired reporter. "Considering how someone like you got my name right on the first attempt, I suppose, just this once, I'll reward you for your efforts. Now hurry up, peasant."

Shrinking under the gazes once more, Anju did her best to make her voice as loud and clear as possible. "I was wondering..." she started, sending a few glances to the long, black haired wraith, "why didn't we have Sunako perform another ritual?"

I blinked. They blinked. Junkuma scratched his arse. We all blinked.

Why didn't we think of that?

"Aw man, that's a really good idea! You're so smart JuJu!" I swear, if it wasn't for the trial, she would have leaped over the podium to hug the white eyed girl.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" the witch popped into the conversation, tapping his bottom lip. "Would be helpful though..."

Nanako, still touching her cheek, sighed. "I...probably not?"

When I looked over to Sunako, that thought sort of died. Sunako looked dead, she was acting as a spirit after all.

"So the commoner asked a useless question in the end. I should have known."

Kyo spat in Hudson's direction, "you didn't even consider it yourself, dumbass."

"Everyone. Please calm down," Tadakatsu pleaded with his hands up, "we're getting off track."

I slammed my hand down on the podium. "That cheeky bear...he probably did this on purpose." I should have at least tried to ask Sunako about it, but it was most likely that the bear took that into mind with the roles.

Fumi nodded, arms crossed as she sent a look at the bear, all relaxed in his old, worn down throne. "Restraining the ability to ask the dead for help. It sounds like something he would do."

"Hm?" It was like the bear just snapped back to reality. "Me? I would never."

What a horrible liar.

Sobbing then took over. It almost caused the bear to glare at the one responsible. "First they took away Roach and now the bear took away my ability to talk with Roach! This isn't fair!" More sobbing filled the room. It was a bit annoying, even Akahana growled towards the curled up form of the mixologist.

As curled up as he could be on a podium that is.

Astin yawned a bit, "can we get this over with? I got places to be and things to do."

Sunako on the other hand, just stood there, without a word.

"Has everyone got this out of their system?" asked Fumi, scanning the room in case some. "If you want to derail the trial, get it out of your system now, otherwise, we're going to begin focusing on the three murders that happened this morning. At least act with a little respect."

Isabi opened her mouth, but Yozora had reached over to muffle any sort of noise that could have been made. "Focus. Murder...first..." Please don't fall asleep on us now. Also please don't say it like that.

The courtroom was quiet. It was time then. Time to start the trial off for real and get to the bottom of this mystery and avenge the fallen. I had a quick look at my e-handbook, taking in the truth bullets we'd need for later. I can only hope we can catch the killer with these.

At least we can finally get on with the trial. We probably wasted precious minutes already.

Of course, the bear decided to chime in. "Well, well, well. This was certainly an interesting way to start the trial." he mused as three sharp blades popped out of his left paw before they dived into a bucket on the side, pulling out a small, already dead, fish. "I should be the Ultimate Fisherman with this skill! Oh yeah, should you guys really be wasting this precious time mucking around? You do want to find the killer, don't you?"

"Then let's proceed with discussing and confirming the murder weapon," sighed the green haired promoter. Finally.

"Well, clearly Charlotte should know, besides, about Nanako-"

"Shut. Up." I groaned, causing the puzzle solver to look at me with a surprised look. "No more interruptions right now. We only just started with this bloody thing."

A sigh came from Tadakatsu, "while I don't agree with the method you went about it. I do agree that we should focus on the details of the murder first before addressing any other issues or pointing fingers. It's also our lives on the line here."

"Tch, after this is over, I might miss this version of you." scoffed the golden-eyed troublemaker, not even sparing the guy a glance as he ran a hand through his messy, red hair.

"Foooorget that, the murder weapon now! It's clear what it is!" After Fox took centre stage, he grinned as big as he could. "The murder weapon is this! A knife!"

Oh. Wow. We're really getting into discussing the murder weapon now. I'm impressed, especially after that shitshow we just went through.

The half-and-half dressed singer crossed his arms. "Clearly. It's the only murder weapon that was found on site."

"What do you think, Hana?" Isabi shot a wide smile at the wolf pelted girl.

The wolf on the other hand. Weak barks emerged from her lips, it was definitely losing the same steam she once had when the role was assigned. It brought up a thought. If the murder never happened, would she still be able to go through with it?

"That...wasn't helpful at all…" the grey-eyed scarred girl just deadpanned the wolf. I couldn't help but groan with my palm resisting the urge to meet my face.

The pyrotechnician immediately downed a bottle. I didn't know she still had some on her.

"I...wasn't aware you brought them here..." mumbled Anju, giving the fireworks expert a concerned look.

"Meh. As long as we finish this trial before I run out of bottles, we should be good."

The hiccup that followed the drunk wasn't a reassuring sign.

"Let's just forgo the trial," sobbed the orange haired drink mixer. "This is the only way we can reach Roach once more."

I wanted to groan, louder than I did moments prior. In fact, I did groan. I couldn't believe this shit. This was a mess. It would be a miracle if we even got through this trial in one piece.

...

I sighed.

This was going to be difficult.

The rest of the investigation followed by the beginning of the trial. Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than the last two, but I hope you enjoy the chapter as the real trial starts next time.