The Ultimate Spies (Part 7) (Deadly Life)
I've felt the pain of being in an accident and the pain of a chandelier falling onto you.
So it's safe to say I'm not at all happy with what just happened.
I could hear the pained moans of my classmates all around me.
"Ouch…" I muttered. The pain wasn't anything crazy intense, but it definitely left me with some cuts and bruises from the shattered glass and the impact.
"Wow! What happened here?! Are you guys alright?"
A familiar voice shouted, and I quickly heard footsteps coming towards us.
"Ngh," Akumu tried to lift the chandelier off of us, but to no avail. "Dang, this thing is awfully heavy!"
"Come on you guys," Taka said in a strained voice. "We all need to push up on it at the same time."
"You expect me to try and lift this thing?!" Sonoda complained. "It weighs a ton!"
"Well, if we all work together we should be able to." Fran said encouragingly. "I don't want to have to be stuck under this any longer than I already have to."
When I had fallen due to the crash, I fell on top of Takumi, shielding him from the impact. I moved my head slightly to look at him, and alas: he's still unconscious.
Hm, that tells me something.
"On 3." Jack said. "1...2…"
"3!" We all shouted. We pushed the chandelier off us, and it toppled over to the side, freeing us from its grasp.
"Well, I'm glad that's over with." Jack sighed, slowly standing up.
"Be careful!" Fran urged as she spoke up, also slowly standing up. "We may have broken bones, so treat your body delicately until I look over each of us."
One by one, we gathered our strength and stood up from the ground. After I regained my balance and composure, I grabbed Takumi back up.
Mari looked incredibly angry. "Is this killer serious? Dropping a chandelier onto us?! For what reason? None of us even got hurt badly, it's just annoying!"
"I'm sorry everyone," Akumu sadly frowned. "I don't know how this happened! It's like the person who dropped the chandelier onto you had it timed perfectly…"
"It wasn't you, right Akumu?" Sonoda questioned. "I mean, you are the only one awake other than us."
Akumu shook his head. "Of course not, I would never. I was in the Penguin Exhibit the entire time, with Nadia and the unconscious people. Like I said, I don't understand how this happened!"
"That's something we can worry about later." Taka said. "For now, let's go to the Penguin Exhibit so the bear can give us his spiel. And maybe we can figure out how to wake the assholes up."
I took a glance at the chandelier.
The pieces of it were completely broken, and shattered glass littered the ground surrounding it. This fell on us as soon as we walked underneath it…
But why?
I shook my head and sighed. This case has me all the way fucked up.
Takahashi frowned upon entering the Penguin Exhibit.
Everything was just as we left it, with Nadia dead in the center and the bodies of Shiro, Isami, Norikazu, Koko, Leonia, Evelyn, and Clara surrounding her.
"One of these people could be faking." He said, walking around them and observing them in detail. "And I'm going to find out who."
"What are you going to do?" Akumu questioned. "I've already tried poking and shaking them but I got no response."
Taka smirked, pulling something out of the pocket of his pants. "I pocketed this before we left the aquarium. I'm sure one spray of this will reveal the imposter right away."
Taka was holding up a bottle of fish aquarium start up, used to cleanse the water of a fish tank or something.
"How is that going to reveal the impostor?" Sonoda asked.
"Like this." Taka sprayed some of the start up onto Sonoda, who immediately recoiled in disgust.
"Hey!" He complained. "What'd you do that for!?"
"To show you how effective it is." Taka explained. "People can handle being poked and prodded, but any liquid spraying onto you makes you jolt up. Learned that technique when my parents sent me to military school for a semester."
"Not this story again…" Mari mumbled.
"Well, we might as well try!" Fran sighed. "I mean, Monokuma hasn't even arrived y-"
"Did someone say sexy beast with the greatest smile?"
Just as he usually does, Monokuma sprang up from the ground, looking nonchalant as ever as he stood next to Nadia's corpse.
"Sorry it took me so long," Monokuma apologized. "This time around, the blackened had an awful lot of stuff they wanted to do and prepare for, so I had to let them! But, if you call for me I will appear, so here I am!"
"Seriously?" Jack frowned. "The killer's antics is what kept you so long?"
Monokuma nodded. "Yes-siree! That and the fact that one of my favorite toymakers, Toshiki Harumi released some new figurines based off of my favorite Bollywood film: Last Fantasy!"
"I'm pretty sure it's Toshir-"
"Hey, hey, hey, we can't have any copyright strikes!" Monokuma interrupted. "Anyways, looks like Russian Roulette took the Cold War to a whole 'nother level! Sad to see Miss USSR gone so soon..."
"Monokuma, you managed to make three offensive jokes in the span of one second." I pointed out.
"Thank you!" Monokuma cackled. "Anyways, shall we begin with the proceedings? I have the Monokuma File ready for you all!"
"Hold on," I said. "The others should be awake for this. Can you wake them up?"
Monokuma shook his head. "No dice, my dear Crimson! The others will wake up when they wake up. You've already noticed that already, haven't you?"
I narrowed my eyes. He's right, I did put that together already, along with something else…
"Now, onto the long awaited Monokuma File!" Monokuma pulled the familiar tablet out from under his stomach and threw it to Mari. We all quickly gathered around her to read its contents.
The victim is Nadia Levitsky. The body was discovered in the penguin exhibit of the HFH Zoo.
She is unclothed, and her body is pale and nearly blue. She died of hypothermia.
"How gruesome." Jack remarked. "The killer took her clothes off?"
"Probably to get her to freeze to death faster." Akumu theorized, furrowing his brow. "It looks like the killer lacks any class."
"Ritsu left Silver to fall to the ground after being poisoned, and Hiiro threw Satoko's corpse into the swimming pool, and you just now realize that killers lack class?" Mari deadpanned.
"I'm not saying that Ritsu or Hiiro are better than this killer," Akumu began to explain. "But from taking Nadia's clothes off to make her freeze faster to dropping a chandelier onto you guys: this killer is definitely cold blooded."
"Speaking of cold blooded, looks like we have a cause of death this time!" Sonoda pointed out. "It was rather obvious, but its good to know that she did in fact die of hypothermia."
"But no time of death." I realized. "Which is going to make things a lot more complicated…"
"Well you lot, I must be off!" Monokuma announced. "I have far better things to do than stand in this frozen tundra, so toodles! Have a nice tragedy!"
He spun around in a circle and disappeared in an instant.
"This case has me beyond confused…" Fran admitted, putting a hand to her forehead.
"It's going to require some extra effort, that's for sure." Jack nodded.
Taka took the Monokuma File from Mari, examining it in detail. "There has to be a clue somewhere…"
Mari rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm one of the people left awake, I'm totally being forced to put in more effort than ever before! Once I find out who the killer is I'm going to bitch slap them into next week…"
"I hope the others wake up soon!" Akumu said hopefully. "With their help, we can definitely find out who dun it!"
"The killer could be anyone…" Sonoda remarked, tapping a finger on his chin as he looked from person to person. "I wonder why they did it!"
This is it, our pathetic investigation team of 7. With not as many people to investigate and a complicated case, this is the hardest case yet.
Nadia, who killed you?
And why?
We found the loop hole to get out of the fear challenge.
So it must've been something else…
The Monokuma Fear Challenge Extravaganza.
Something tells me there's more to it than meets the eye - and the killer realized exactly what it was.
Now it's my turn to figure it out!
INVESTIGATION START!
As per usual, Takahashi handed out investigation assignments to everyone, sending us all throughout the room and any surrounding rooms to look for clues.
Because we were so empty handed, he ended up splitting all of us up, except…
"Seizo, what are your thoughts on the case so far?" Akumu smiled. "You know we're all counting on you to help solve it!"
Again, I'm not sure why…
Takahashi assigned me and Akumu to investigate the chandelier crash. He figured that if Akumu were the one to do it, it'd be helpful to have me observe his behavior and make sure he didn't try anything fishy.
I set Takumi down with the rest of the unconscious people before we left the penguin exhibit, and also took the time to listen to Akumu's account.
He had told me that once we left to find Takumi and Taka, he just stayed around in the penguin exhibit waiting for us. He attempted to wake the others up, but to no avail. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary until the chandelier crash, and he has no idea what could've caused it.
Truth Bullet: Akumu's Account, obtained!
"Well for one, it's going to be complicated as hell." I groaned. "So many factors, including the fact that we're lacking in several alibis and have no idea what went on in the garden yesterday."
"You think the garden has something to do with it?" Akumu asked. "Like how?"
I laughed. "That part I haven't quite figured out yet...but I do know that it has something to do with it. Whether or not it's something big or small; I have no clue."
Truth Bullet: Garden "Party", obtained!
Truth Bullet: Cotton Candy Grapes, obtained!
"And then one more factor, right?" Akumu questioned. "Something that definitely doesn't help us out."
I nodded. "Yup. The lack of a time of death on the Monokuma file."
Truth Bullet: Unknown Time of Death, obtained!
The two of us finally arrived at the scene of the chandelier crash. Akumu was very careful to not step on any broken glass due to his lack of foot wear, and I carefully looked around at the scene.
I looked up at the tower that previously held the chandelier, and then back down at the chandelier, and concluded…
"All I got is that the chandelier fell somehow." I sighed. "There's really nothing else I can figure out…"
"Still, this is important somehow!" Akumu said. "Someone for some reason decided to crash the chandelier onto you using some type of method...I think it's worth noting!"
Truth Bullet: Chandelier Crash
I observed my body. Again, I didn't have any major injuries but I did have a few cuts and bruises from the impact.
I was barely hurt, so clearly the chandelier crash wasn't meant to kill me or the others. Was there some ulterior motive I just wasn't seeing?
I walked closer to the chandelier, trying to see exactly how it fell. The chandelier itself looks untampered with, like nobody laid a finger on it. But…
"A-ha!" I immediately smiled, pointing to the top of the chandelier. "Akumu, look!"
"What's up?" He tilted his head, trying to see what I saw.
"Look," I said. "The thread on the chandelier! It snapped."
"Ohhh, I see!" Akumu nodded. "It snapped somehow."
"Not somehow," I shook my head. "Someone had to have cut it. Notice how the top isn't frayed or anything like that? That means the thread didn't just snap due to stress or anything. It was cut!"
Truth Bullet: Chandelier Thread, obtained!
"How'd they cut it from so high up?" Akumu wondered, motioning to the pole. "There's no way to climb that without some sort of help."
"How'd they cut it at all." I muttered.
"How indeed."
Much to my surprise, it wasn't Akumu or any of my conscious classmates who spoke. Instead, Akumu and I were approached by Leonia and Norikazu.
"You guys are awake!" I beamed. Awesome! Now this means more help and a better understanding of what went down last night.
Leonia nodded, patting down her slightly messy hair and adjusting her glasses. "Norikazu and I are the only ones awake from the group in the penguin exhibit. Imagine my surprise when I woke up in unfamiliar surroundings with the corpse of Nadia close by…"
Norikazu shook his head. "I don't know how this happened. The last thing I can remember is going to bed last night. My head is a bit foggy, but that's definitely the last thing I can vividly remember. Takahashi caught us up on everything that happened, by the way."
My smile dropped. Damn it. So there's still no new information; they only remember going to bed just like Takahashi.
Truth Bullet: Missing Memories, obtained!
"Well, I'm glad you guys are ok." I nodded. "Now that you're awake, hopefully the others wake up soon too."
"You were discussing how the killer was able to cut the chandelier thread, right?" Norikazu questioned.
"Yes." I answered. "It just baffles my mind how they were able to cut it so cleanly from so high up."
"Well, this might be your answer." Norikazu bent down, pointing to something.
…
…
…
"Uh, what's the answer exactly?" I nervously laughed. "I can't tell what you're trying to point at."
Leonia nodded. "I see. It's extremely hard to see, but look a little closer and you can tell. Norikazu and I have an eye for this sort of thing, but anyone can see it if you look hard enough."
I raised a brow. I examined everything in such close detail, how could I have missed something?
I knelt down just like Norikazu, bringing my face close to the ground and squinting to try and see what he was trying to show me.
…
…
…
Oh!
Ohhh!
Ohhhhhh!
"It looks like extremely thin wire!" I realized. "And whatsmore, it looks like it's leading somewhere…"
"Well, let's follow it!" Akumu suggested. "Maybe it'll give us a clue on how the person who cut the chandelier thread did it."
"Don't need to tell me twice!" I smiled, jumping back onto my feet. "This is some good evidence for us."
"I will go with you, just in case you fail to spot anything important." Norikazu cockily said.
"As will I. I'm rather curious on where this wire is coming from." Leonia added.
I nodded. "Then let's go!"
The group of us slowly started to follow the trail of the wire. Norikazu's in the front of us, carefully keeping his eye on the wire and leading us to wherever the origin is. Leonia was doing the same, while Akumu and I just followed their lead, unable to clearly see the wire with our untrained eyes.
Seriously, it's super hard to see! You have to look extremely closely in order to see it, unless you're trained artistic professionals like Leonia and Norikazu who have an eye for this sort of thing.
We found ourselves entering the Lion Exhibit.
"Mari investigated this when we were looking for you guys." I explained.
Hm...Mari investigated this…
I'll have to bring that up later.
Everything in the Lion Exhibit, upon first glance, looked normal. However, if you take a closer look towards the back of the Lion Exhibit…
"A spindle of wire." Leonia noted. "If I remember correctly…"
"This is the puzzle that Takahashi's group completed." Norikazu concluded.
That's right! I almost forgot. One of the aspects of the puzzle in the Lion Exhibit was to wrap piano wire around three pillars without the wire breaking or getting stuck. Takahashi attempted to do so, but in the end…
"Anything in this room to your advantage." I repeated. "That's what you're talking about, isn't it?"
"Bingo." Takumi smiled. "Plus, it never said that you have to use the piano wire while it's on the spinning wheel, you just have to use it in general."
He took the wire completely off of the wheel, walking over to the first pillar.
"It really isn't as hard as it looks," He said, using some saliva off of his tongue to make the wire stick to the red line on the first pillar, and then walking around the pillar to wrap it around. "You just have to use your brain."
Takumi was the one to complete the puzzle. I hadn't stopped to think about what happened to the piano wire, but in the end, it remained here in the Lion Exhibit the entire time.
"I have a theory." Norikazu revealed. "Well, quite a simple one. The killer used the piano wire to cut the thread holding the chandelier in place. They did so from this very room, taking a part of the wire, wrapping it around the chandelier thread, and then bringing that part of the wire back to this room. Then, when they were ready to cut the thread, all they had to do was pull on the piano string, making it cut the thread, all without having to be near the chandelier."
"But the question is, who could've done it?" I frowned. "If it really wasn't you Akumu, and you say none of the unconscious people went missing, then it makes it impossible for the thread to be cut."
"Hm...it isn't impossible, but rather unlikely…" Akumu said. "...What if the person who cut it had a way for it to be cut without anyone being in here? Meaning, they set their trap up beforehand and had a way to trigger it without them having to lift a finger?"
"That is a possibility…" I slowly nodded. "If that is the case, then we have one clever killer on our hands."
Truth Bullet: Piano Wire, obtained!
Truth Bullet: How the Chandelier Thread Was Cut, obtained!
"We'll have to discuss it in the class trial." Leonia concluded. "Right now there's far too much going on to be able to reach a conclusive conclusion."
"Well, let's get out of here then." I said. "This evidence is definitely a big help, so at least we found it."
"I found it." Norikazu corrected.
I rolled my eyes.
The four of us took our leave, going back to the main part of the zoo.
Imagine our surprise when we spotted a familiar duo investigating the chandelier!
"Koko! Evelyn!" I called out, quickly running up to them. "You guys are awake too?"
Koko nodded with a small smile. "Yup! All of us are awake, actually. Taka is just busy giving the others places to investigate."
"Koko and I are supposed to be looking around the zoo for any small clues, but to be honest, both of us still feel a bit disoriented from being asleep." Evelyn admitted.
I nodded understandably. "Trust me, I know. Take it easy you guys, we'll try to handle most of the work." I said, motioning to Akumu and I.
"The biggest mystery besides Nadia's death is definitely this whole chandelier thing. Taka was telling us and the others about it." Koko sighed. "How the heck did it fall? Like heh?"
Oh, that's right! Not everyone knows the thread was cut by the piano wire.
"The piano wire in the Lion Exhibit puzzle cut the thread holding up the chandelier." I explained. "How the killer did it is the question right now, but at least we know what they used to do it."
"Oh, that's wonderful news!" Evelyn smiled. "Takahashi was ready to send an entire group of three to investigate this matter, so now that it's solved he can send them to help out elsewhere."
"Someone better go let them know, then." Leonia suggested. "That way Takahashi knows what assignments to give them."
"Tell them, Akumu!" I smiled. "I'm sure they'll be pleased to find out."
"About Nadia's murder?" Akumu deadpanned. "That seems awfully grotesque, Seizo." He awkwardly stepped away from me.
I sighed. "Akumu. About the evidence we just found."
"Oh!" Akumu slowly nodded, relaxing his shoulders. "Yeah, that makes more sense! I'll go do that now."
He quickly headed into the direction of the penguin exhibit, presumably to tell everyone about the piano wire.
Why would he need tell them about Nadia's murder when her corpse is right in front of them?!
Leonia and Norikazu volunteered to investigate how the chandelier thread was cut, since it's a relatively easy mundane task that their poor recently conscious bodies can handle, so I could investigate elsewhere.
Hm, there's definitely one place I'd like to check out here in the zoo before I go back to check out the crime scene.
"Seizo, watch your step!" Sonoda urged. "Wouldn't want to get your shoes dirty, yes?"
I arrived in the Monkey Exhibit, one of the exhibits I investigated myself when we were looking for the unconscious group. Nothing was out of the ordinary, other than…
"What the hell?" I mumbled. There's muddy footprints leading from the watering hole to outside the exhibit.
I decided to follow them.
Mari appeared to have spotted them too. "Where the hell do these lead to?"
"No idea." I frowned.
Upon walking further into the exhibit, you can really see just how muddy it is.
The watering hole is surrounded by dirt, which is usually dry and A-ok. However, it looks like someone made a patch of dirt rather muddy, and carried that mud with them into the penguin exhibit.
How they made it so muddy isn't completely obvious, however it's pretty easy to form a solid theory.
"Someone went into the watering hole, then walked out, making the dirt muddy and leaving the trail of footprints because of the mud clinging to their wet feet." I concluded, slightly wrinkling my nose in disgust at the thought of being so muddy. Why would someone ever want to put themselves through that?
"I wonder…" Sonoda rubbed his chin in thought. "Was the act of 'swimming around in the watering hole' an accident...or on purpose?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, there's a possibility that it was just a simple accident," Sonoda explained. "Someone tripped and fell into the watering hole. The killer, or maybe even Nadia. However, what if someone went into the watering hole on purpose? There was a reason they wanted to leave a trail of footprints, as if they wanted us to find the scene in the penguin exhibit."
"Maybe…" I said. "Huh. You bring up a good point, Sonoda, we'll have to keep that in mind."
Truth Bullet: Muddy Footprints, obtained!
"Well, Mr. Seizo, I don't think there's anything else noteworthy in here." Sonoda concluded. "I don't think Takahashi will mind if I go and relax in the garden for a minute. I've been meaning to tally up all the Monocoins I've received."
Sonoda smirked and waved at me, before walking out of the Monkey Exhibit.
I narrowed my eyes, as I was reminded of Sonoda's consistently strange behavior these past few days.
"Sonoda." I called, frowning. "Drop the 'Mr'."
Sonoda stopped, slowly turning towards me. "Is there something wrong?" He asked with an innocent smile.
"You know what you're doing." I said sternly. "Only Silver called us 'Mr' and 'Ms'. Why are you doing it all of a sudden now that you're wearing his suit?"
Sonoda laughed. "Am I? Sorry, I didn't even notice. You see, I've just been thinking of Silver lately. I must've picked up on his speaking habits."
"Not only that," I said. "But you're not telling me something. It feels like you're acting whenever I speak with you."
Sonoda shook his head. "I'm not sure what you mean. I have never lied to you, Seizo." He slowly walked towards me.
"The device used on you must've messed with you a bit, making you a little paranoid." He said, inches from me. "You should get some rest and clear your head."
I glared at him. "The device didn't do anything. I've had this feeling since before I went through my event."
"Then I'm not sure what is the matter," He shrugged. "I need to go to bed now, I'm terribly tired. I'll see you in the morning...Seizo." He waved his hand and smiled, turning and going to his room.
Even after all that, he still calls me Mr. Seizo.
Only thing is, this time he isn't wearing Silver's suit.
"Seizooo!"
Upon entering the Penguin Exhibit, I was immediately bombarded with a hug from…
"Ew!" I quickly shoved him off of me. "What do you think you're doing you brat?"
Takumi looked awfully hurt, looking up at me with watery purple eyes. "...You too, Seizo? But why? Everyone's been so mean to me since I woke up but I have no idea why; I don't think I've done anything wrong…"
...Huh?
Like with Sonoda, it's pretty easy to tell when someone's acting like someone they're not.
And Takumi is being 100% authentic when he says he doesn't understand why everyone's being so mean to him since he doesn't think he did anything wrong.
But…
"Takumi, you've been awful to everyone for the past few days." I frowned. "Acting strange and like you're better than everyone else simply for being the 'Ultimate Escapist'. To be honest, your behavior has made Mari and Taka look like angels."
"HEY, I WON IT FAIR AND SQUARE LOSERRR! HERE, YOU CAN HAVE THIS THING." Takumi threw the 'weird' box thing Mari was talking about. Taka caught it.
"He's being such an asshole." Taka frowned. "That's supposed to be my thing."
"I don't like this new Takumi." Evelyn sadly frowned. "It actually makes me kind of sad…"
Me too...what's going on with him?
"Can we let you down, Takumi?" Sonoda asked in a strained voice. "You're not as light as you think…"
"Y-Yeah, seriously…" Jack mumbled.
"NO, YOU PLEBIANS!" Takumi cackled. "HOLD UP YOUR KING HIGH IN THE AIR!"
I shuddered at remembering his actions following the conclusion of the scavenger hunt.
He won three out of the four prizes and made sure everyone knew it. How could he forget something so shitty?
"But that's just the thing," Takumi sighed. "I honestly have no idea what anyone is talking about! I don't remember the things I said or did, it's like parts of my memories are completely gone!"
I raised a brow. "Well then. That's definitely not good…"
I sighed, patting him on the head. "I believe you. The others will too once they get over the shock of this whole case."
Takumi gave me a small smile. "I sure hope so."
Truth Bullet: Strange Behavior, obtained!
Truth Bullet: Missing Memories, updated!
I told Takumi to just go relax somewhere while the rest of us investigate, as he seems more out of it than the rest of us.
Plus it'll probably be good if no one sees his face for a while…
After my conversation with Takumi, I was able to look around the penguin exhibit. True to Koko's word, it looks like everyone is awake, as Nadia is the only one lying on the ground.
The other people in the room are Isami, Shiro, and Takahashi: the latter of which is strangely sitting on the ground with his head in his hands.
I chose to ignore it and instead went to talk with Isami and Shiro, who I guess Takahashi assigned to investigate Nadia's body.
"Hey you two." I greeted as I walked up to them. "Feeling ok?"
Shiro nodded, while Isami didn't respond. "I-I'm feeling ok, just a little bit in shock at being unconscious for so long…"
Isami looked at me strangely. "Did you touch my book?"
I quickly shook my head. "No way! That's an invasion of privacy I'd never make, Isami."
She said nothing but nodded and went back to investigating.
That was strange…
"Have you guys found anything on her person?" I asked.
"U-Um, well, she's not wearing any clothes." Shiro awkwardly remarked. "Isami has been doing a majority of the investigating."
Shiro explained how Monokuma himself had come to tell them about how he graciously put a sheet onto Nadia's body after she died so the perverts in the group wouldn't try anything funny.
Honestly, I'm thankful that Monokuma covered her up but disgusted that he'd think anyone would want to do anything to a literal corpse…
"Any unique findings, Isami?" I asked.
Isami nodded. "For some strange reason, Nadia has bits of ice and what appears to be dirt or mud on her person. She hasn't been in here for that long, so I'm not sure why her body is starting to literally freeze."
Mud! Was Nadia the one to go for a swim in the watering hole?
I took a step back, looking to where the footsteps lead and the position Nadia is in.
Hm…
It's a bit off.
If Nadia was the one to leave the footsteps, they'd be in a slightly different position then they're in.
Let me see something…
I lifted up a bit of the sheet covering Nadia's body to uncover a certain part of her body.
"What are you doing?" Shiro asked, walking up next to me to see what I was looking at.
"Notice the muddy footprints?" I asked. "Nadia didn't leave them. Her feet are completely clean."
Truth Bullet: Muddy Footprints, updated!
Truth Bullet: Ice and Mud, obtained!
"W-wow, Seizo," Shiro blushed. "You're really getting a knack for solving these cases. I-I'm a little jealous…"
"Please don't be jealous," I laughed. "It's not really a good thing that I'm getting used to this."
"Seizo," Isami interrupted, beckoning me over to her. "Take a look at this."
Isami carefully dragged Nadia's arm out from under the sheet, and then grabbed a hold of her hands. She pointed to Nadia's fingers, which at first glance just looked dirty, but then I realized what the 'dirtiness' really was.
"Is that blood?!" I gasped.
Isami nodded, setting Nadia's arm back down. "Yes. Underneath both sets of her fingernails is dried up blood, probably from the killer."
"N-Nadia must've been fighting back against the killer and scratched them up in the process," Shiro concluded with a gulp. "But in the end…"
She still ended up dying. So, Nadia was still alive when she was put into the penguin exhibit? This is definitely going to be important later on…
Truth Bullet: Wounds of Struggle, obtained!
There was nothing else noteworthy about Nadia's corpse, so I made my way over to our wonderful leader to see if he had anything important to the case.
Takahashi was sitting with his back against the wall, his head in his hands.
"Taka," I called. "What's up?"
He slowly lifted his head, and I almost jumped when I saw how pale he was. "What do you want?"
"I, uh," I started. "Was just wondering how your own investigation was going...are you feeling ok?"
He took a second to respond, and I noticed that his pupils were dilated. "...I'm fine. Leave me alone, I'm trying to clear my head."
"Of what?" I asked.
"None of your damn business, C-Lister...ugh, I mean D-Lister." Takahashi stammered, clutching his head once again.
I frowned. Something's off with him, but if he doesn't want me to worry, then I won't worry! I have far more pressing matters to worry about because of Nadia's murder.
I left the penguin exhibit but stopped short at the entrance. Mari was poking and prodding at the control panel, which refused to budge.
"Still can't put the temperature back up?" I asked the runway model.
Mari frowned, shaking her head. "No! Leaving the door open helps a little, but it's still way too freezing in there."
The killer set the temperature to negative thirty degrees in order to kill Nadia. However, there's one issue that should have prevented the killer from doing so.
"Then let's go!" Fran quickly said. "I don't know about you all, but I'm freezing and Takahashi is…" She stopped, looking quite concerned.
"What's wrong?" Akumu asked.
"Well...it's just...Takahashi is the only one who knows how to change the temperature of this room." Fran gulped, glancing at Nadia.
The ability to change the temperature of the room is locked by a password, which only Takahashi is supposed to know. So either the killer found an alternative way to change the temperature, or they just used the basic way to change it, which would mean…
"Mari, what do you think of Takahashi's role in this?" I questioned. "He woke up before any of the other unconscious people and is the only person who knows how to change the control panel temperature."
Mari looked quite thoughtful for a moment before looking me in the eyes. "I don't know. He could be the killer, but so could any one of us. From the time I've spent with him, however, I choose to hope that he isn't. He may be a brash idiot with a terrible sense of style and choices that are...questionable to say the least, but he has a better heart than you think."
I nodded. "Thank you for your opinion, Mari. I hope you're right. He may be my least favorite person here, but it'd be a shame to lose him as our leader."
"Well, if all else fails, I'm sure I could fill his role." Mari smirked.
I narrowed my eyes. Yeah, I'm not sure about that one, chief.
Truth Bullet: Temperature Control Panel, Obtained!
Mari went back to banging on the top of the control panel and I left the zoo, finished with it for the time being.
In the aquarium, the trio of Jack, Clara, and Fran were hard at work with investigating.
I made my way over to Clara first, the last of the unconscious group who I have yet to hear from.
"Clara!" I smiled as I approached her. She was currently trying to lift the aquarium ladder up. "Need some help?"
She looked up at me with a small smile. "Yes, please. It's pretty heavy…"
The two of us grabbed hold of the ladder and slowly lifted it up, putting it back onto its wheels.
"So," I said, examining the ladder. "Where did this thing come from? I can't remember it being in here when I first investigated the aquarium."
"It's so that we can reach the fish tanks," Clara explained. "Monokuma added it so that anyone can come in and use it to feed the fish or clean the tanks. I guess he got tired of doing it himself."
Truth Bullet: Aquarium Ladder, obtained!
I nodded, looking around at the tanks. When I first came in here, the poor fishies were gasping for air due to the warm temperature of the water and the large amount of bubbles depriving them of oxygen.
Now, the tanks were back to normal, with the fish peacefully swimming around.
Hm, I think I remember something that Evelyn told me about too many bubbles in the fish tank…
"Which includes making sure their fish tanks are at optimal living conditions." I concluded. "Good to know. Well, hopefully no one adds too many bubbles or makes the fish tank too warm."
"These fish tanks usually have a safety mechanism." Evelyn revealed. "If the control panel senses the living conditions in it are harming the fish, it'll shut down the ability to control the temperature and air pump. My guess is that in an emergency, it'll also shut down the control panel completely, allowing the fish tank to safely regulate to whatever conditions are most optimal."
"Good to know…" I nodded. Geez, first Evelyn knows all about Senza Sangue, and now she knows how fish tanks in aquariums work? I'll have to keep my eye on her from now on…
That's right! The fish tank control panel has an emergency mode so the poor fishies don't die.
Truth Bullet: Emergency Mode, obtained!
"Clara, I'm sorry about Nadia." I said. "I know you two hung out in the same circle."
Clara narrowed her eyes. "Thank you. I admit, it's a shame that she was the one to die. I wanted to see her blossom and maybe get out from under Mari's thumb, like I am…"
I put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to listen to Mari, you know. I know she's been holding what you almost did to Taka over for you for the longest time, but what's done is done. You can't change the past, and the most important thing is the fact that Taka forgives you. Mari and nobody else has the power to make you feel bad for something unrelated to them."
Clara sighed, offering up a smile. "Thank you, Seizo. I know it looks like I'm some sort of pushover, but I promise I'm just trying not to stir up any trouble. Girls like Mari are fueled by drama, and I'm just trying to keep the peace is all."
"Understandable," I said. "Just remember that girls like Mari are nothing like girls like Clara! And I mean that in a good way."
Clara laughed. "Thanks. I'm going to go rest for a bit before I move on to do more investigating, but your words have definitely made me feel better."
Clara rested on the bottom step of the aquarium ladder, and I moved on to talk to Jack and Fran.
The card dealer and the self proclaimed treasure hunter were investigating the counter with the aquarium gift shop cash register.
"Find anything?" I asked, peering over to look at the counter.
Fran sighed, shaking her head. "No luck here. Taka told us to look all around the aquarium for the two missing aquarium keys, but we haven't found a thing."
"Woah, woah, woah, two missing aquarium keys?" I repeated.
Jack pointed towards Clara. "Clara has her key, as does Isami, as we all know. However, Taka is missing his and Nadia's clothing nor her key are nowhere to be found."
"We already investigated the entirety of the ship while we were looking for the unconscious people, so I'm not sure where on earth they could be." Fran admitted.
Truth Bullet: Aquarium Keys, obtained!
"I still don't get why the killer even used the aquarium to help in the murder." I said. "There was that power outage from earlier and then when we walked in here, the aquarium was steamy and the fishies were dying."
"Maybe as a distraction?" Fran proposed.
Jack shook his head. "But Nadia was already dead by then, right? It must be for another reason."
Truth Bullet: Power Outage, obtained!
Ok, so nothing too helpful in the aquarium. Really, there's no where else that I can think of to investigate.
Have we really found all the evidence we can?
I was immediately worried, as there's no way we can solve this case with such a small pool of evidence. Too many questions left unanswered and still no explanation whatsoever for things like the power outage and a group of us becoming unconscious and waking up in the penguin exhibit with Nadia's dead body.
Whatsmore, I still don't have a clue as to when Nadia died and who could've done it. Could it really have only been one of the conscious people, or maybe it was somehow one of the unconscious people?
Uh, my brain is scrambled and nothing is making any sense. I just need to sit down, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and listen to the quiet surroundings to try and clear my head…
…
…
…
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
My eyes immediately shot open.
The most bloodcurdling, shrill scream rang out from outside the aquarium and my heart began to race.
What the hell is going on?!
"What was that?" Clara asked with wide eyes. "Nadia's already dead and we've all seen her body, why is someone screaming?"
"No time for questions, let's go!" Jack yelled out, running out the door.
"Right!" Fran agreed, following his lead.
The group of us ran out of the aquarium, going into the direction of the scream.
What's going on, what's going on, what's going on, what's going on, what's going on?!
I felt sick to my stomach as we ran around, trying to find out why someone screamed.
We ran into Koko and Evelyn in the hallway.
"It came from there!" Koko quickly said, pointing to the garden. "Let's go!"
We all nodded, following after them.
Evelyn took a hold of the knob leading to the garden, and quickly opened it.
We entered the garden, and were in for quite the unusual sight.
The sprinklers rained down, having been forced on it seems.
"What the heck?" Fran looked confused. "I don't see anything."
Suddenly, a figure emerged from behind the last row of plants, near the staircase leading to the garden's second floor.
…
…
…
…
…
...
"Over here!" Mari yelled in a shaky voice, drenched in the fertilizer enriched water. "Over here, quickly!"
We all obliged, running over to see what she was so afraid of.
The moment I saw, I felt my knees grow weak.
…
…
…
Huh?
…
…
…
Why is someone other than Nadia…
…
…
…
Dead?
…
…
…
"A body has been discovered! Please gather in the garden ASAP!" Monokuma's voice sounded over the loudspeaker.
…
…
…
Oh God…
Oh God!
Two people have died this time around…
Nadia Levitsky, the Ultimate Daredevil.
And…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
The person I've been keeping an eye on lately.
Who's been acting beyond suspicious…
Imitating one of our dead classmates.
…
Sonoda Eisen, the Ultimate Salesman, lying on the ground in a pool of crimson colored blood.
A/N: TWO DEAD BODIES?!
WHAT?
WHO WOULD'VE SAW THIS COMING IN CHAPTER 3?!
WHAT IS GOING ON?
FIRE EXIT GRAB, OFF I AM!