-This is made by Starrshard on Ao3 and Wattpad, please check them out. I have been given permission to upload this to, as they do not have an account on this website-
On the fifth day of being trapped at U.A., disaster struck.
It was just before 7 PM. Izuku was making his way back to his room after paying a visit to Mei, who was tinkering away in the Support Lab, when he ran into Ochako.
"Deku!" she cried, pelting down the hall towards him. She collapsed in his arms, her breathing heavy. Izuku was too shocked for a moment to even speak, before fear set in.
His jade eyes widened as Ochako pulled back. There were dark pink stains up her ripped sleeves and torn cuffs, as well as a bleeding cut on her cheek. Tears bubbled over her wide, brown eyes, which must've made the wound sting even more, although she didn't seem to care. "What happened, Ochako?"
"The- the kitchen!" Ochako wailed, sobbing even louder. At this point, several figures had overheard her and darted around the corner.
"Ochako!" Nejire rushed forward, closely tailed by Tsuyu. "What happened?! Oh my god, you're bleeding! Hold on, let me go get some supplies from the Nurse's..!" She was rushing away before she even finished her sentence. Hopefully she doesn't trip on her heels...
"Kero! Ochako, what happened?" Tsuyu was asking the same question Nejire had asked before, alarm evident in her voice. Ochako started trembling and crumpled in her arms, sobbing too hard to reply.
"The kitchen." Fear began to dawn on Izuku, a knot forming at the bottom of his stomach. "She told me 'the kitchen'."
"Let's get down there, then," Tsuyu ribitted.
"No, don't let me go back there!" Ochako began to wail again. She wrapped her arms around Tsuyu and held onto her, much like a small child latching onto their mother. "Don't..!"
"I'll take her to the Nurse's. I think it would be best if Nejire and I stayed with her. We can meet up with you later, kero." Tsuyu's voice and demeanor were deceptively calm, as her jade eyes shone with fear and her body was shaking. She clutched Ochako as if she could slip away any moment.
Izuku began to run, tripping down the stairs and catching himself on the landing with his hands. He leaped up and continued to run, running and running, hitting the landing-
Izuku's breath caught in his throat. He fell to his knees as his limbs crumpled underneath him.
A dead body.
A river of blood flowing from a dark, fuchsia hole that pierced deep into the victim's throat, darker, pulsing flesh revealed from within the neck it resided.
A blood-splattered white outfit.
Wide, pearly eyes, the pupils having rolled into the back of their head.
And the blood. There was pink liquid everywhere, trailing towards the kitchen door...
Rikidou Satou was dead.
Izuku suddenly heard the sound of screaming. It took him a moment to even realize he was the one emitting the noise. He shut his jaws with a dull snap and trembled in a miserable heap on the floor, eyes fixed on the corpse, until he heard a rush of footsteps behind him.
"Izuku!" Eijirou had evidently heard his screams and came running. Moments later, four more pairs of feet thundered down as well.
Everyone could only stare, for what felt like millennia, at Rikidou's unmoving corpse gushing pink blood all over the floor.
The nearest TV screen on the ceiling suddenly crackled to life. Izuku tore his eyes away to gaze up at it.
Monokuma. Of course.
"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"
It flickered back to darkness.
Stunned silence. Then-
Another scream.
That'd be Nejire, Izuku thought, his brain snapping back into motion.
Rikidou Satou is dead. There's no way he can just be unconscious with that much blood being lost, especially with it coming out a mysterious neck wound. And what was that Monokuma mentioned? Class trial? What would that be?!
"Ri-Rik-Rikidou!" Nejire stammered, her voice shaking. Izuku still couldn't quite turn to face her, but she was clearly behind him.
"What happened..?" Tsuyu asked raspily, her voice trembling. Ochako was still crying, as evident of her choked sobs and whimpers.
"Well, one of you killed him, that's what!" Monokuma suddenly jumped out from behind the bend in the hall. He delicately stepped over the pooling blood to approach them.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ONE OF US?!" Izuku suddenly felt words being ripped from his throat, leaping up in a bout of rage. Burning tears welled over his eyes. "Are you saying one of us killed him?! Impossible!"
"Possible," Monokuma purred. "It wasn't me, or Shigaraki, or any villain, really! We just wanted to see you all spiral into despair, remember? Why would we do this thing for you when you could do it yourselves?"
A beat of silence.
"One of you remaining twenty-two students murdered Rikidou Satou," the rodent reinforced. "And you're all gonna find out who!"
"What do you mean, we're gonna find out? They're about to graduate, right? You'll announce them and-"
"Puhuhu, my sweet Nejire! It's not that easy! The murderer now has to get away with it!"
"What do you mean, get away with it?" Izuku's voice trembled as he wiped the tears out his eyes, his brain beginning to whir once again.
"The class trial!" Monokuma held up his paws like this was the greatest thing in the world. "As my announcement stated, you will all have a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, before we have a trial and you kiddos piece together who the murderer is! But before I leave..."
Monokuma whipped out a small tablet. On the back of it, it read 'Monokuma File I' in silver lettering. "Behold, the Monokuma File!"
"Monokuma File..?"
"Yes, the Monokuma File! A case summary! It will be of use to you... Puhuhu.."
With that, Monokuma waddled off, disappearing around the corner.
Stunned silence. Then-
"If w-we're going to have a trial... maybe we should gather some evidence?" Yaomomo's voice was small and shaky. She was clearly terrified.
"I agree with her." Fumikage suddenly stepped forward. Out of shock, Izuku turned to look at him. The bird-headed male was perfectly calm as he approached the body.
"If we're to get anywhere in the trial, we'll need to gather evidence. What's a claim without proof?" He knelt down next to Rikidou and began to inspect his body.
Investigate!
The group began to regain their wits. Most of the class, including Hanta, slowly trailed behind Fumikage. He was running a gloved finger over Rikidou's throat and prodding at the hole of a fatal wound, causing the blood to violently bubble out of it like a fountain.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Mina stammered, mirroring Hanta's shock at Fumikage's calm inspection of the wound.
"Inspecting the body." Fumikage tched. "Why are you all standing there staring at me like you're brain-dead? Read the Monokuma File. Go inspect the area if you don't want to see the corpse!"
"But- he's d-dead, and-"
"In times like this, you have to adapt to your environment. Those who can't adapt die." Fumikage continued inspecting the wound, the pink blood staining his gloves. "Help me by looking around. Hell, check around the entire school. This class isn't filled with idiots; anyone with a shroud of intelligence could've concocted a careful, widespread plan for such a quiet murder."
Hanta swallowed as the group slowly began to disperse. He decided to stick by, in case the murderer decided to do anything else. As much as he hated it, he noticed the suspicious looks his friends were giving each other.
We can't let the villains win. We can't be driven into paranoia by their scheme...
We'll find out who it was. Then we'll be alright.
Hanta picked up the tablet. He turned it over, and the screen lit up with a single-page summary.
'Case I
Victim: Rikidou Satou
Fatal Wound: Throat impalement.
Other Wounds: None.
Weapon: It seems a thin, sharp object was stabbed into the throat.
When: 18:56'
"Strange," Izuku noted softly from Hanta's side, sounding a little shaky. "A thin, sharp object?"
"I'm trying to extract it," Fumikage spoke up. When Hanta looked down, he instantly regretted it as he saw the more violent washing of pink blood on Fumikage's gloves, sleeves, and boots.
"It's in quite deep," Fumikage continued. From behind Hanta, Izuku involuntarily gagged. "And it's so messy I can barely, just barely tell where the esophagus and trachea are, as well as the weapon. Not a very clean shot. Even before I started prodding the wound, it was already enough to leave behind evidence."
"W-We'll let you continue then..." Izuku quickly said, ignoring Fumikage's careful comments on the evidence. Hanta's eyes were fixated painfully upon the Nightwalker's drenched fingers, which were miraculously -expertly, even- opening the wound and widening the hole while pressuring all the right points to make sure the blood didn't squirt upwards and get on the rest of his outfit.
Weaving around the body while trying not to look at it, Hanta started his investigation in the kitchen with Izuku matching his steps. As they started to enter the room, Hanta noticed the irregular, jagged trail of bloodstains. I'm guessing this is what Fumikage meant by 'evidence'...
The liquid was smeared, leading into the kitchen.
Or leading from...
Hanta turned to enter the kitchen, stepping cautiously over the bloodstains, when he halted, causing Izuku to yelp in surprise and nearly run into him.
The smudged blood trail led down the aisle directly in front of him, stopping in front of the oven, where a larger pool of blood was. A couple feet to the right of it, there was a spillage of some kind of white flour. There was a swirl of blood in the powder, and a trail of footprints that appeared to be of blood and white powder lead into the spill.
"It looks odd, the footprint trail," Izuku commented. "They lead into the powder, but looking at the prints, the person would've had to step in the powder and blood first..." He trailed off, the pitch of his voice rising in anxiety and cracking.
Hanta glanced around the kitchen, eyes darting from place to place, drinking in the details. He noticed several subtle things wrong with the room; the scratch on the counter, the mess of more white footprints just around the corner of the kitchen island, the slightly open cupboard around the bend...
Hanta stepped over the mess of footprints towards the cupboard. He slid it open, and-
"A cabinet of baking supplies." There was a haphazard heap of items at the front of the cupboard. He picked up the mostly-used bag of white flour that was sealed with a pin. Reading the label, he didn't recognize the name and placed it on the counter.
Continuing through the various ingredients, he picked out a spatula, a cutting board, a pan, some baking sheets, sugar, cornstarch, and a small bottle of red bean paste. The bottle had a smudged bloody fingerprint on it, but it was almost indistinguishable other than a few lines that identified it as a fingerprint and not a mere smudged drop.
Looking up, he also noticed a liquid measuring cup next to the sink. He reached over and was about to inspect it for any suspicious cracks -hey, Fumikage did say to check everything- when he heard a small "Hanta?" from behind him.
The ravenette in question jumped and whirled around, meeting Izuku's anxious jade gaze.
"Um, sorry..." Izuku awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just- I found something you should check out."
He pointed at the drying rack. When Hanta followed his finger, he noticed an obviously wetter item on it among the dishes from dinner, the silvery blade coated in water droplets.
"A paring knife?" He leaned over to look at it. "It looks perfectly normal. There are some small, thin scratches on it, though."
"Sorry for scaring you," Izuku quickly apologized. "I just thought it might be important."
"You might be right," Hanta replied softly, glancing from the dripping knife to the supplies on the counter and the open cupboard, where the contained items -aside from the baking supplies- were neatly organized and seemingly unused. "Let's keep looking around."
Nothing else was abnormal in the kitchen. As Hanta and Izuku circled around the island to go to the door, something on the floor caught Hanta's eye.
He leaned down and gingerly picked it up. He instantly dropped it when he realized what it was.
"A bloody towel," He noted as Izuku leaned down to look at the now-overturned cloth. "We should keep note of this for later."
Exiting the kitchen, the two instantly ran into Fumikage.
"Ah, Fumikage!" Hanta tried not to look at the bird-headed teen's hands, but his eyes swiftly gravitated on their own will to the bloody gloves. He noticed that the Nightwalker was holding something thin and completely covered in blood. Mixed in with the liquid were small morsels of... flesh? No, I most certainly am not going to wonder what else it could be-
"GYAH!" Izuku couldn't suppress his yelp of surprise. "Wh-What is that?!"
"Judging by its shape and size, it appears to be a needle," Fumikage calmly replied. He continued into the kitchen. Hanta and Izuku both turned to watch the corpse-inspector calmly weave around the bloodstains, footprints, and spillage to access the sink and wash the object that may or may not be a needle. "I'll confirm with all of you later."
Hanta gulped and Izuku quickly stepped out of the kitchen, skirting around Rikidou's leaking, bloody corpse. The Arachnologist quickly followed suit, and the two dodged into the cafeteria.
Hanta immediately spotted Tsuyu, Ochako, Nejire, Mei, Tamaki, and Mirio standing in a cluster and conversing in hushed tones. Ochako was all bandaged up and had changed into her spare clothes, but she still looked shaky. Izuku strode over to her, so Hanta was obligated to follow.
"Ochako," Izuku greeted the brunette. "How do you feel?"
"S-Scared," She stammered. She began trembling, and Tsuyu and Nejire both started comforting her again, rubbing her back.
"If you don't mind..." Izuku's voice trailed off, as if hesitant to pry into her account.
"If I don't mind what?" Ochako asked quietly. She sniffled, refusing to make eye contact with him, but wasn't exactly cold to the idea of explaining.
"Um, could you just tell me what happened? Like, everything you remember? Hanta and I are collecting some evidence... But I don't want you to scare yourself or anything!" Izuku quickly added. "Do whatever you're comfortable with."
Ochako sighed. "I suppose a hero has to be strong and leave her comfort zone... I'll tell you.
"I had invited Rikidou to go baking with me after dinner. We were in the kitchen, getting all the supplies out, when the lights suddenly shut off..." She shuddered, thinking about the event. "I was about to call out to Rikidou when something hit me- a person, I think. They attacked me... and I ran. I ran away and left Rikidou to die..!" Tears welled in her soft, mocha eyes. "I-"
"AAAHH!" Someone's scream from the other side of the cafeteria cut her off. Ochako jumped, and Tsuyu and Nejire began to fuss over her again. Meanwhile, Izuku, Hanta, Mei, Mirio, and Tamaki turned towards the direction of the scream.
Mina stood in one corner of the cafeteria. Between them was a dividing half-wall, so all Hanta could see was Mina's terrified expression.
"Get over here, quickly!" Mina was pointing at something next to her. Mirio and Tamaki, who were the tallest of the group, leaned over the wall to see.
"Mezou," Mirio murmured. Tamaki made an alarmed sound somewhere between a squeak and a whimper. Hanta, being shorter, clambered onto the wall to peer over as well.
As Mina had apparently been trying to say, Hanta instantly spotted Mezou slumped over the table, his head down on top of his arm. Hanta swiftly slipped down and gently shook him by the shoulders.
"Mezou? Mezou, can you hear me? MEZOU?"
Mezou stirred at Hanta's direct yell into his ear and opened his eyes with a groan. "Hanta?"
Hanta let out a sigh of relief, and confusion swiftly overtook his initial worry. "What are you doing here?"
"It's a long story..." He must've noticed the unease in Hanta's eyes, because he asked, his voice full of concern, "What happened?"
"Rikidou is dead," Tamaki said softly from above them. He was staring at the floor by Mezou's feet. "Monokuma said one of us was the killer."
Mezou's eyes widened. "I have to go see the body." But as he got up, Hanta let out a yelp of terror.
"MEZOU! YOUR HAND!"
Mezou's left hand, which had been on his lap, and his cuff were both soaked in blood. He glanced down at it in confusion before seeing the drying stain. Mezou's eyes widened.
"W-What?" Mirio was wide-eyed from his new place a couple feet back from the wall; he had probably jumped back when he saw the bloodstain. Tamaki was holding onto his arm, trying to stay out of Mezou's line of vision. "Why is your hand bloody?!"
"I-I don't know!" His voice was incredulous as he waved the pink limb, which caused Izuku- who had followed Hanta to see- to yelp and leap over the wall in one bound. Hanta himself backed up a step. "I just-" Mezou trailed off when he saw the look in the others' eyes.
"I have an alibi! I'm not the killer!" He wailed in desperation. By now, everyone else in the cafeteria had also turned to them.
"M-Me-Mezou!" Ochako's voice was shaking horribly. Tsuyu and Nejire flanked her protectively. "Those bl-bloodstains are clear proof... you can't deny it! You killed Rikidou and attacked me, didn't you?! Why else would you be covered in blood?!"
"Ochako?!" Mezou's voice was laced with shock. "I never did such a thing! All I remember was coming here for tea and blacking out! And I'm not 'covered' in blood, it's just my arm, somehow!"
"What about your entire alibi?" Nejire asked. Her eyes were a clouded mixture of absolute terror and dark iciness. The hollow gashes in her demeanor sent a chill down Hanta's spine. Even she's terrified by all this.
"Well, I was given an unsigned note earlier, saying to meet them in the cafeteria for tea," Mezou began. "So I went and when I got here, there was nobody here. Instead, on this table, there was a cup of tea and a note. 'Sorry, I had a change of plans. As an apology, have this cup of tea I made in a jiffy just for you.' That's what it said. Again, it was unsigned. I drank some of the tea and just- blacked out. Next thing I knew, you woke me up here!" Mezou pointed down at the chair.
"L-Lies!" Ochako whimpered. "That whole tale sounds fishy! Who would give an invitation that was unsigned? You must've hid here with that poorly made-up story!"
"I never attacked anyone, much less killed anybody!" Mezou snapped in response. But by then it was too late, as everyone was staring at him with suspicion, fear, or a mixture of both.
Except for Hanta.
He lowered his gaze and stared gloomily at the ground, watching their shadows dance across the floor while his classmates argued.
We're tearing ourselves apart...
I have to get more evidence. Prove Mezou is innocent... or prove he is truly to blame.
"What about the note you mentioned?" Ochako cried, her arms wrapped around her upper body.
"I-I don't know!" Mezou stuttered. "It was right there when I first saw it- I didn't even touch it!"
"Oh, I have an idea! Hang on just a sec..." Mina reached over and picked up the cup of tea. She stared down into its contents for a moment, sniffing the liquid slightly.
Then she raised the cup and began to drink it.
"MINA! THAT'S DANGEROUS!" Hanta screamed, rushing forward. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHA-"
Too late. Mina's eyelids drooped and she collapsed backwards, the cup falling out of her hands and shattering on the floor. The remaining quarter-cup of tea spilled across the tiles, and Hanta caught her as they both collapsed onto the ground.
"WAHH! MINA!" Nejire screeched, rushing forward and jumping the wall despite Mirio and Tamaki's concerned cries. She stumbled on her heels, but, as she regained her balance, ran forward to crouch over her friend nonetheless.
She pressed her fingers to the Dancer's neck and wrist. "Phooey," she sighed in relief. "She's alright. Just asleep, or unconscious, or something." She looked up at Mezou. "So you were telling the truth?"
"Or maybe- maybe he set it up so that if one of us tested the tea they'd black out!" Ochako declared.
"Why would I do that?" Mezou's eyes narrowed in a glare. "Of course I was telling the truth! I even have the first note. Right here!" He dug one hand into his pocket. He wriggled around for a moment before his eyes widened.
"It's not there." He fiddled through the rest of his pockets, his eyes a mixture of confusion and horror. "Why isn't it here?"
"So you have no evidence to prove your alibi? No confirmation from any other student? Can we believe a word of your tale?" Tamaki's voice was soft but deadly.
"I would never make up such an alibi! It's real, you fool!" Mezou rounded on Tamaki, his voice raising to a yell. Hanta flinched, having never seen calm, collected Mezou quite so furious. Tamaki jumped and dodged behind Mirio, who turned to protectively wrap an arm around him. The Florist eyed Mezou with fear, as he might attack him and slit his throat any second, while Mirio's eyes were chiseled shards of navy flint.
"Enough is enough." Everyone turned to see Fumikage stride into the cafeteria, hands in his pockets. There was still blood on his clothing and shoes, causing Ochako to visibly flinch.
"What happened to you?" Mezou asked, suddenly befuddled. "I thought Rikidou was... killed."
"I inspected the body and extracted the weapon. I took a look around the kitchen too; otherwise, I would've come in as soon as Mina screamed." He jumped onto the half-wall, knelt down between the two groups, and pulled his gloved hand out of his pocket.
On his gloved palm, on top of a stain of drying blood, was a shining, silvery needle. As Hanta stared at it, he realized that the tip end of the needle was slightly bent.
"I was right in my prediction. It seems to be a sewing needle." Fumikage slipped the needle back into his pocket and jumped down onto Hanta and Mezou's side. "Now quit your bickering. We don't have definitive evidence of Mezou's villainy yet. We don't have clear evidence for anyone yet." He looked down at the shattered glass and puddle of cooled tea on the floor.
"Now keep investigating," he continued when he was met with silence. "Trash cans can be useful. Check those serving stations too. There's too many nooks and crannies behind the counters." With that, Fumikage strode towards the nearest station, jumping into it with swift ease.
As instructed, the group spread out to explore the area once more. Mirio left to carry Mina upstairs to the Nurse's. Fumikage, Tamaki, Nejire, and Tsuyu started to explore the serving stations, while Ochako "stood guard over Mezou", as she worded it. Izuku decided to stay with her.
Meanwhile, Hanta approached one of the massive trash cans in the corner of the room. He gulped and rolled up his sleeves, before lifting the lid off the can.
He immediately noticed the small bottle on top of the reeking food waste. He carefully reached down and picked it up.
"Sleeping pills?" Hanta slowly read the label on the bottle aloud. He put the lid back on the can, still holding the bottle, before approaching Fumikage with his discovery.
"I found this. I think it'll be useful in the trial," Hanta said. Fumikage took the bottle, turned it around, and smiled grimly.
"Thank you, Hanta." He tucked the bottle into his pocket before turning on his heel to continue investigation.
Hanta continued examining the trash cans, but found nothing else. As the group gathered and began to discuss where to explore next, the TV on the ceiling suddenly crackled to life.
"Attention, students! This commences the end of the investigation. Please gather at the elevator on the ground floor as soon as possible! Puhuhu..." Monokuma's voice boomed over the speakers as well, his final laugh sending chills down Hanta's spine.
The group stood in stunned silence for a heartbeat. Of course, he was the one to break the silence.
"I suppose we must go, then." Fumikage started towards the cafeteria doors, all the evidence they'd collected in his pockets. Mezou began to follow, loosely tailed by Ochako and in turn Izuku. Tsuyu, Nejire, and Mirio went next, with Tamaki keeping close to the fellow Big Three members. Hanta left last, glancing around before shutting the door.
The body was still in the hall. It seemed Kurogiri had yet to clean it up due to the ongoing investigation, but Hanta suspected he'd do it during the trial.
All 22 students gathered in the elevator room on Floor Zero. It was nothing extraordinary; a small room, with a small elevator against the wall. At least, that's how it used to look.
The League of Villains had evidently rebuilt the entire place, because the small elevator had been replaced by a massive one behind a pair of wrought iron gates.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Hanta was jolted out of his shocked stare at the gates by a shrill, robotic voice. He jumped, only to see Monokuma perched atop the metal bars.
"Puhuhu! Did I scare you? Not that I care!" Monokuma jumped over to stand right in front of the exit door. "Now that you're all here, jump on!"
On his cue, the gates swung open. The students slowly poured onto the massive bronze elevator. There was just enough space for all of them; as a result, Hanta was pressed against a wall by Tsuyu and Mina, who was still half out-of-it but coherent enough not to collapse.
The elevator doors closed and the gates shut with a creaky SLAM. The machine rumbled to life and began to descend.
Hanta glanced around the elevator, his eyes landing on the fellow students, one by one.
One of us killed Rikidou Satou. One of us killed our own classmate for a chance at escape.
And we're about to find out who it was.
The elevator continued to creak downwards.
The murderer is among us.
A traitor, a deception, a mystery...
A class trial.
The elevator clicked to a stop.