-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-
As expected -although dreaded-, the impending disaster arrived in three days.
It was early afternoon. Yaomomo was sitting in a corner of the cafeteria drinking tea when Tooru burst into the room. She was out of breath, her eyes wide with terror. Brief surprise and alarm jolting through her, Yaomomo got up and hurried over to her, along with Tsuyu and Denki, who had been in the kitchen and must've seen her running into the room.
"T-Tooru! What's wrong?!" Denki asked. Tsuyu trailed behind her. Yaomomo reached out in a comforting gesture to place a hand on the Artist's shoulder.
"It's... Mei..!" Tooru stared at the girls with wide, tear-filled eyes. "She's dead!"
Stunned silence, in which the full force of the unfolding case hit each of the students all at once. Yaomomo gazed blankly at the Artist. And here we go again. I expected this to happen again, especially after such a motive... but that doesn't make it any better.
Why do we have to keep doing this, in an endless, unlearning cycle?
Why do we have to keep killing until we're all dead?
Why do... my friends keep dying?
...
It doesn't matter now. Not anymore... I just have to do the investigation. Get through the trial, live another day...
"Where? Where is- where is she?!" Denki snapped out of his own stunned silence. Tsuyu was staring blankly at Tooru, eyes wide.
"Her lab..." Tooru was openly crying now. "It's... she didn't deserve this..."
"None of our classmates deserved to die," Yaomomo soothed. Although they did, anyway. "We just have to deal with this."
"Deal with... it?" Tooru's voice was small.
"Don't bother with it now. Come on, Denki, Tsu. Mei's lab. We have to activate the investigation," Yaomomo said, already rushing towards the door.
"We should... all go together. For safety reasons. Tsu, come on." Denki hurried after Yaomomo, with Tsu behind them. Tooru followed them, wiping away her tears the best she could.
The Detective-Affluent Progeny raced downstairs, hitting the first floor with the other three close behind. She was approaching the lab entrance. She stopped before it, her heartrate suddenly increasing tenfold. Another one of our classmates... dead and gone.
She rounded the corner, whirling into the doorway of the room.
A corpse lying atop the worktable.
A body, clothed in a pink jacket, leggings accentuating its legs, magenta sandals adorning its feet.
A stream of blood, trickling out from under their back.
A knife buried within their chest.
Wide, golden eyes; eyes that used to be full of light, and creativity, and ideas, now reduced to hazy round orbs.
Pink locks of hair, sprawling out behind their head.
Mei Hatsume was truly dead, lying atop her own lab table, murdered while surrounded by her own livelihood. How... tragic.
Yaomomo and Denki halted in the doorway of the lab, with Tsuyu and Tooru still trailing behind in the hallway. Overhead, the monitor on the ceiling flickered to life.
"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin!"
Yaomomo's eyes were fixed on the body. That outfit... it looks off on her. She looks surprised in death, as well... Behind her, she distantly heard Tsuyu and Tooru come into the doorway as well, the former drawing a sharp breath and the latter quietly weeping. Within the room, there was a low, consistent buzzing noise emanating throughout the room, like white noise accompanying a movie scene.
"Why..?" Denki murmured. That one word sounded haunted; sad.
Yaomomo opened her mouth, about to reply, when a sound from the ceiling made her jump and go quiet. She looked up, gray eyes fixing on the monitor for the second time.
It had turned on again.
"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin!"
"A double announcement?" Tsuyu's voice was small. "But..."
"There's only one thing that could mean," Yaomomo murmured. "There's another body somewhere in this school." She was still staring at Mei's body, but her mind was already whirling into gear.
So two people managed to kill... or maybe one person killed two people. Or they killed each other.
Two more of our classmates, our friends... dead.
It's too cruel...
"We have to find the second body," Tooru spoke up. Her eyes were red and teary, and her voice shuddered, but she looked like she was trying her best to get with it. "We'll have to do the trial..."
"We should split up, gather everyone we can find," Yaomomo suggested. "Tooru, go downstairs to the ground floor, and after that, the second floor upstairs. I'll do floors three and four. Denki and Tsu can take the dormitory floors."
No time to hesitate... we have to find that second body, then begin investigation.
The group did as she instructed. Tooru headed downstairs, Yaomomo, Denki, and Tsuyu up. Yaomomo stepped into the third floor hallway while the other two continued upstairs.
"Everyone!" she yelled. "Where are you?!"
In a heartbeat, a familiar face ran out of the kitchen, closely tailed by his dark-haired companion. "Yaomomo!" Mirio called, running over to her. Tamaki swiftly followed suit. "I was just looking for Nejire. Do you... know who it was?"
"Mei's dead. She's in her lab. Tooru, Denki, Tsu, and I discovered her. We're trying to find the other one," Yaomomo said, her voice monotonous. "Did you check the cafeteria?"
"Y-Yeah, nobody's there. I checked the whole floor. Come on, we have to find everyone else!" Mirio's eyes were alight with panic. At heart, he really is just a hero, huh? Caring about his friends over all else, a lover of the masses, an advocate for every innocent person, living or dead...
Yaomomo turned, waved for them to follow, and started for the staircase again. "Denki and Tsu are going around the dorms. I'm supposed to check the fourth floor. Tooru's checking the ground and second floors. Stick with me."
The three of them hurried upstairs. They were making their way down the wing when someone thundered up the stairs after them. Yaomomo whirled around, her first thought that it might be the killer still going on their killing spree, when she realized it was Hitoshi. The violet-haired Psychic rushed over to her. His eyes were filled with worry and panic. "Yaomomo! Thank god I found you- have you seen Mashirao?" His voice was insistent, hopeful; of course he's worried.
"I haven't. One of the dead is Mei. She was in her lab," the ravenette replied. "We haven't found the second body yet."
Hitoshi was practically radiating worry, anxious nerves crackling like electricity through his body. He was trembling, dull purple eyes anxious and dreading. "I'll come with you."
The four walked along. "Everyone! Where are you?!" she called.
"Nejire?" Tamaki called. "Mashirao?"
"Guys! No need to hide! Yaomomo found one of the crime scenes already!" Mirio added.
"Yaomomo?" Suddenly, from around the corner, Mezou appeared. His gaze was stony. "Ah. All four of you, come with me. We found the other body."
She involuntarily gulped. She didn't realize she was anxious to know who the second victim was. I didn't think I had it in me to care anymore.
Silently, the four followed the cold Heavylifter. Yaomomo's hands shuddered, sweaty and clammy with anxiety. Of the people we haven't found yet... I hope Shouto's alive. I'm sure Hitoshi's hoping Mashirao's okay, and Mirio and Tamaki are worried about Nejire.
Someone is going to heartbroken...
Apart from Tooru already, someone will have to suffer today...
They rounded the corner, following Mezou towards the laundry room. He stopped, sighed, and stepped aside. "Go inside."
Yaomomo's hands were shaking as she walked in. And what lay within...
...was one of the most horrifying crime scenes yet.
A body, tangled in a net, laying on the floor.
A pool of blood surrounding the corpse, laying it upon a bed of hot, sticky pink.
A body with nothing but a stump of a neck, the severed limb gushing fluid, all pulsing flesh and slimy, shiny red.
A washing machine, running innocently in the corner as something was washed clean within its case.
A body clad in pink-splattered brown attire, a bloodsoaked scarf draping around its shoulders.
A large kitchen knife, splashed to the hilt in blood, lying beside the broken corpse.
A body with no head, washing the floor tiles in blood and gore.
Mashirao was dead.
Yaomomo stared, stunned, at the headless corpse lying before her. There was something sickening rising in her esophagus, and her stomach churned. A small, strangled noise escaped her throat, and she brought her hand to her mouth.
It was like Kyouka all over again, except less personal.
For her, anyway.
It was most certainly personal for someone, a certain someone standing beside her and staring at his beloved's dead, bloody corpse.
"No... that's... Mashirao's clothes..." Hitoshi's voice was hushed, his eyes wide and shimmering with tears. His face was pale; his whole body was shuddering. He blinked and stumbled forwards, slowly approaching the body, as if he couldn't accept it. "Mashi... is that... you?"
"It... there's still a possibility it isn't, right?" Tamaki's voice was small and strained. "That's just Mashirao's clothes... what if someone else was dressed up as him?"
"That's unlikely." Yaomomo jumped, her eyes snapped away from the headless body drowning in its own blood and Hitoshi standing there, uncomprehending, as he gazed blankly at his boyfriend's corpse. Shouto was standing in the corner, eyes closed, facing the side of the room and away from the scene.
An unspeakable wave of relief went through Yaomomo at that moment. Shouto's alive. He's alive and well...
"Now that you know I'm also alive, who have you not seen yet?" Shouto's voice was calm, emotionless; like he were shutting out the world, shutting out having to see Hitoshi's reaction to the death.
"Nejire..." Yaomomo forced her voice out of her mouth, the girl's name foreign on her tongue. Her mind was blank, her heart beating out of her chest. Her stomach was still flipping.
"The body here is clearly masculine. Just from your first glance... you know it's a guy. So Nejire is alive. That only leaves the solution we have now," Shouto finished.
Silence engulfed the trial room, the whirr of the washing machine fading to background noise. Yaomomo found herself watching Hitoshi as he stood before Mashirao's dead body, staring at it, incapable of doing anything but just standing there and crying and regretting and wishing.
I wonder what's going through his head right now.
"Upupupu..." The all-too-familiar sound of robotic laughter was what jolted Yaomomo back to reality. She -and Mirio and Tamaki- whirled around to see Monokuma bouncing down the hall. He was clutching a black and white tablet, as usual.
"Oh dear, oh dear! Another double kill?! Man, you kids are dropping left and right like flies!" Yaomomo sighed. I wonder how Hitoshi would feel, hearing that.
Monokuma laughed to himself. "Anyway, I came to drop off this!" He handed the file to Yaomomo. "Have a good time! Remember, there's two bodies this time again! Remember the trial rules! Puhuhuhu..!"
And then he was gone.
Yaomomo sighed, turning over the Monokuma File. She stepped out into the hallway. She didn't particularly want to be in the same place as that headless corpse, nor intrude on the tragedy this case was for Hitoshi. Tamaki, Mirio, Mezou, and Shouto followed her.
"So, another double murder..." Shouto's voice was flat. "We should split up, for time efficiency." When met with the questioning eyes of the two Big Three members, he decided to turn to Yaomomo. "Yaomomo. You, as our body inspector, need to look at both bodies. However, since the body discovery announcements we already spent quite a bit of time getting you to Mashirao's scene. It would be wise to split up."
"But not everyone's here yet," Mirio pointed out. "Yaomomo sent Denki, Tooru, and Tsu out to find people. The only person left to get is Nejire, but you never told the others where to go after finding people."
Yaomomo nodded. "Okay. Good points from both of you. Mezou, could you go and find Tooru? She should be on the ground floor or the second floor, probably the latter. You can both head to Mei's lab afterwards. Shouto, get Denki and Tsu from the dormitories. Tell Denki to go to Mei's lab and Tsu to come here. Whoever finds Nejire should get her to come here as well."
"Okay." Shouto turned to head off towards the staircase as soon as he received instructions. "The dorms... Denki to Mei, Tsu to Mashirao. Got it. I'll see you later, Yaomomo," he called back to her.
"And you think I'll listen to you?" Mezou was more stubborn.
Yaomomo groaned. "The class trial doesn't have time for this, Mezou. You might die later with the rest of us if the investigation doesn't go smoothly, so go get Tooru. See you later."
She turned on her heel and reentered the laundry room. Hitoshi was now crouching by the headless corpse, frozen in place and gazing at it, still stunned and in a grief-fogged haze. I won't bother him yet.
She silently turned right and stood in the corner, pulling up the Monopad and turning it on to read over it. Mirio and Tamaki came in to join her as well, peering over her shoulder to see.
Case VI
Victims: Mei Hatsume and Mashirao Ojirou
Fatal Wound: Mashirao died from decapitation.
Other Wounds: Mei is bleeding from a wound in her back.
Weapon: There is a large kitchen knife, soaked to the hilt, next to Mashirao's body.
Time of Death: Mei died at roughly 14:30.
As usual, there is missing evidence, Yaomomo thought. I think I can work with this, though.
She put the File away and looked around the room. As much as I don't want to bother Hitoshi, I still have to investigate the body, no matter how gruesome it looks. But I guess I could just investigate around the body first, then go in...
She looked to the washing machine in the left corner. I should investigate everything, including that... Yaomomo walked over to it as quietly as she could- Mashirao's body was in the opposite corner to that wall. She shut off the machine and lifted the lid, peering in, only to see-
"Ah!" She couldn't help but let out a surprised little yelp. "This is..."
Mashirao's head.
I guess... this sure sets his death in stone...
The severed head was laying in the washing machine, covered in blood and magenta bubbles. Past that, the Martial Artist's skin was white as a sheet, his eyes shut, hair soaked and tinted pink. And his neck.. The revealed flesh was faint, meat and muscle tissue a pale pink color. Blood was seeping from little holes in it; severed arteries, Yaomomo realized.
There were other things in the washing machine too; a brown shirt, a pair of pants, and a bandana. Mashirao's clothes. All of it was soaked pink, covered in a sea of bubbles. Ugh... Yaomomo swiftly shut the washing machine again. Not looking at that.
Moving away, she scoured the rest of the room. It was a small space; it was originally a piece of the teacher's lounge next door, Yaomomo was sure, fenced off by the villains. There are two washing machines and two dryers in the corner. A clothesline hung across the other side of the room. A few small shelves and cabinets contained some laundry necessities, like dryer sheets and detergent.
However, as she investigated every drawer and shelf, nothing stood out to her. There were all of the laundry supplies, like bleach, detergent, and such, which could be used to poison someone, but for the time being she didn't look further into it. Nothing was missing, like with Mina's case. Left with nothing else to do, Yaomomo slowly approached Mashirao's corpse.
"Ahem... Ermm..." Yaomomo tried to gently alert Hitoshi of her presence. If he did notice she was standing over him, he didn't move or do anything about it.
"Hitoshi, please, I have to-"
"Go away."
Yaomomo fell silent, tilting her head as he stared down at Hitoshi. The violette's gaze had not moved from his dead boyfriend's body, but his words were clearly directed towards her.
"Huh?" she uttered.
"I said, go away!" Hitoshi snapped, ripping his eyes to her. She felt cold sweat on her forehead.
Those eyes. He was glaring at Yaomomo with a viciousness she had never seen in them before. Hitoshi was angry; beyond simply pissed off at her for talking to him in his grief. Tears slid down his face as he glared at the Detective-Affluent Progeny with hatred; hatred for her, hatred for the world, hatred for the game, hatred for whoever killed Mashirao.
"Why do you try to meddle?!" Hitoshi's voice cracked as he yelled at her, rage spilling from his every pore. "When all of this tragedy has happened, when everyone is dying, when everyone you love is taken from you and you're left with nothing but regrets and pity, why, Yaomomo? Why are you still playing this game?! Why don't you let us just give up?!"
"I-" Yaomomo met Hitoshi's glare evenly, trying to tear into his ranting. Of course he's grieving, of course he's broken beyond repair right now, but can't he just let me do this? Does he really want everyone else to die..?
"Wouldn't that be easier? Oh, it would be so much fucking easier!" Hitoshi continued, now advancing on Yaomomo. "This game won't end. That much has been clear after so many of your class and my friends have been killed. So why not just let us all die?!"
"Hitoshi, calm down!" Yaomomo cried, her hand going to his shoulder. He slapped it away.
"Why should I calm down?! You don't understand, do you?" Hitoshi snapped at her. "Do you know how much it hurts when you finally let down your walls, only to get slapped in the face for it? I let him in, I let myself get close to him- and then he got killed!"
"Hitoshi!" Yaomomo grabbed the Psychic's arms and held onto them, forcing him to stop. "Please... I know how it hurts to lose someone you cared about. Don't discredit me for that."
Hitoshi's eyes flickered for a moment, his mask of rage cracking to show sympathy through. He remembers Kyouka, of course he does. Denki's an everyday reminder of her.
"But aside from that... Mashirao would want you to avenge him. Do him justice, lay him to sleep properly," Yaomomo said, her voice softening. "We have to find his murderer. They can't get away with this."
Hitoshi gazed at her for a moment, tears dripping down his face as he seethed at her. He looks like he wants to kill someone right now.
But a few moments later, he recoiled back, a small sob escaping his throat. "Fine. F-Fine. Investigate him. And promise me..." He looked up from his feet, meeting Yaomomo's neutral gray eyes with grief-filled teary ones. "Promise you'll help me find his killer. But after this, please. Just... let us go. I don't want to keep doing this, going through losing all our friends over and over. I want this to stop, I want it all to stop so badly. So please end this for us, okay? End it for the sake of all the dead." Hitoshi's voice was shuddering, his shoulders drooping. His expression looked pitiful as he spoke to her.
There was a certain threat in his words, though, as if he would actually do something if Yaomomo didn't abide to his words.
Let us go. They rang in her head like bells, insistent and chiming and distracting.
"...alright. Just let me investigate. We don't have much time left," Yaomomo said. Hitoshi seemed to deflate, sighing as he stepped away from Mashirao's corpse. He wiped away his tears with his sleeve.
The scene free, Yaomomo stepped forward to investigate. She crouched down by the body- or as close as she could, considering the pool of blood surrounding it. As thorough as her investigation had to be, she had no wish to dirty her boots and track pink footprints everywhere.
She scanned over the body with her eyes instead, avoiding looking at the neck wound as best as she could. From the shoulders and below, Mashirao was tangled in a rather large net. As she looked closer, Yaomomo could be what looked like lumps of orange goop plastered to the body, under the remains of what appeared to be rubber sacs on the net. Upon even further inspection, she realized the goop was likely acidic, fizzing and slowly burning a hole into the body.
As Yaomomo began inspecting Mashirao's arms and hands, she noticed something sticking out from his right palm. It was closed on something. She carefully pulled the thing loose to discover that it was a piece of dark blue cloth.
Moving on from that discovery and setting the cloth off to the side, she also noticed something odd on Mashirao's arm. Leaning forward -just barely avoiding falling into the blood puddle-, she could tell the cloth was ripped in a clean line.
A gash... no, that's too small and straight to be a gash wound. It's probably...
A stab wound.
"Curious, how curious..." Yaomomo eased back and stood up, tiptoeing around the blood to investigate the other thing that had caught her eye earlier.
There was a large kitchen knife lying in the puddle of blood. Because the handle was obviously thicker than the blade and it was suspended in the air, Yaomomo could tell that the knife was soaked to the hilt with magenta liquid. I see... this must be the weapon of the crime. Taking note of the evidence, Yaomomo got up and finally turned to the only other person in the room. Even if he's not in his right mind, I need the account. He was close to Mashirao, after all...
"Hitoshi." She approached him and got his attention quickly. "I need an account from you."
"Alright... I guess it's a part of investigation." Hitoshi sighed. "This afternoon, I... I didn't accompany Mashirao. After we had lunch together at noon, I went down to the library, and Mashirao decided to do some housekeeping in his dorm. That was the last time I saw him." His voice shuddered as he continued, grief evident in his words.
Yaomomo felt a wince of pity for him. "What about the past few days? Ever notice something weird? Maybe someone giving him an odd look?" She pressed onwards.
"No... I rarely left his side the past few days. It was just today," Hitoshi replied softly.
She pondered that and nodded. "Thanks, Hitoshi. I'll solve this case, I'm sure of it."
He didn't reply. His gaze had dropped back to the body on the floor.
Yaomomo began making her way to the door. I've investigated all I can here... it's time to give an autopsy for Mei, and get investigation reports from the others.
As she stepped outside, a certain blue-haired girl approached her, closely flanked by Mirio, Tamaki, and Tsuyu. She was holding the Swimmer's arm and leading her along. "Ah, Nejire. I'm glad to see you," Yaomomo said as she turned to face her.
"Oh, I'm sorry to make everyone worry... I was tired, so I decided to take a nap in my room," she explained. On par with her account, Nejire's hair was unstyled and messy. "You investigated... Mashirao, right?"
"Yeah. I hate to split you up again, but could two of you stay behind and watch Hitoshi from outside the room?" Yaomomo lowered her voice, her eyes flitting within the room. Hitoshi had sat down in the corner, next to the body. There was blood on his shoes, and his head was down on his knees, which he'd brought up to his chest. "I don't want him to do something if he's alone."
"I could stay with him," Mirio offered. "Silent company."
"If he's staying, I'll stay too..." Tamaki began, but the Ultimate Hope shook his head.
"Look, Tamaki, you gotta gain some confidence in yourself, instead of relying on me," Mirio said, smiling softly. "I know it's been tough since we got imprisoned here... but you must stop leaning only on me! You have to be strong by yourself, in case anything ever happens to me, or you're stuck in a situation alone." He paused, observing the nervous expression on Tamaki's face. "Do it for me, okay?"
"I'll go with him," Nejire volunteered softly, cutting into their conversation.
"Sure." Tamaki turned to Nejire. "Let's go, th-then... investigation won't last forever."
"Take good care of Tsu, okay? Make sure she doesn't wander away..." Nejire's voice took on a tone of concern as she eyed Tsuyu.
"I'm fine," Tsuyu protested, although her eyes kept going from side to side, searching for something that wasn't there.
"If that's settled, let's go," Yaomomo insisted, although she hesitated for a moment to glance at Tsuyu. Mirio can handle her; they're friends. I have to focus on the investigation.
Nejire nodded, gently grabbed Tamaki's arm, and began dragging him along after Yaomomo, making their way downstairs to the lab on the first floor.
As soon as the trio entered, Shouto looked up from his investigation of a pile of boxes on the floor, rising to greet her. "Hello, Yaomomo. You finished investigating Mashirao?"
"Yes. I have enough evidence for him," she said. "What have you found with Mei?"
"Well, just from a look at Mei's body, she's dressed in Ochako's clothes, which is odd," Shouto began, gesturing to the corpse. Yaomomo looked to it and indeed, now that he mentioned it, the unfitting pink attire was clearly the late Mochi Chef's. "And in her pocket, we found this buzzer." Shouto picked up a small black trinket from beside Mei's body. It was a tiny black device, equipped with a small red light. The light was flashing and the object was buzzing.
"It must be Mei's, then," Yaomomo concluded easily. "But what does it connect to? We did notice a strange sound when we first found the body..."
"We don't know," someone cut in. "But there's some more interesting things we found, as well."
Yaomomo turned to see that Tooru had approached them. Her face was still red, but her eyes were filled with renewed vigor, determination to avenge her friend. "We were digging through the boxes after looking around the room, because we thought maybe the killer would hide something in them."
She began to walk around the worktable, towards the mess of things all over the floor. Mezou and Denki were sitting on the floor going through them.
"Look at what Mezou found earlier," Shouto added, pointing at a certain box they had set off to the side. He, Yaomomo, and Tooru crouched down by it as the ravenette sifted through the contents within.
It was a box of spare metal parts for mechanical work, but there were a few items in there that just had to be crime scene evidence. She picked out the suspicious objects and put them on the floor next to her.
A button. There was a small iron rectangular prism. The only thing on it was a white button.
Two masks. The pair of full-head masks were made of what looked like cardboard and cloth. The part that actually covered the face was painted white, with a splash of pink across it. The cover for the rest of the head -which concealed the hair and part of the neck of anyone wearing it- was soft and beige.
...Mina's outfit? Yaomomo pulled out a neatly folded bundle of clothes. Upon shaking them out, she easily identified the purple sailor outfit with a blue dress, stockings, and ribbon as the deceased Dancer's get-up. What is Mina's outfit doing in this..?
And why does it have blood on it? There was a large, damp bloodstain splattered across the width of the clothes. Does it have something to do with Ochako's outfit, the one Mei's wearing?
"We haven't tried to test the button yet," Tooru commented.
"But aside from that, the mask and outfit... do you think the killer dressed themselves up? But why would there be two masks in that case?" Shouto mused.
"It's something to consider in the trial," Yaomomo said slowly, putting the items aside. "Let's hold onto the buzzer and button for now." She handed the button to Shouto, who nodded and pocketed it along with the buzzer, which was still going off.
"We found some other stuff, too," Denki spoke up. "We left them over on the other side of the worktable..."
Yaomomo got up. Tooru hung back and returned to working with the Heavylifter and Electrician, while Shouto accompanied her to the table. Tamaki and Nejire decided to help the trio with the box sorting.
Yaomomo immediately spotted the two objects lying a short distance away from Mei's limp body. "It's a tablet. And... a switchblade?" she murmured, picking up the fake leather-padded handle.
Shouto leaned in next to her to point at something. "There's a switch there, on the underside of the han-"
His comment was likely not needed, because at that moment Yaomomo flicked said switch and a massive silver blade unfurled from the unassuming little handhold.
"Ah!" Shouto and Yaomomo both jumped back, the latter still clutching the handle. Meanwhile, everyone else in the room had also noticed the shiny weapon of death and destruction that had just been released from its case. Most people jumped at the sight of it alone.
It was a massive knife, a beautifully crafted harbinger of death. It curved slightly, the tip pointing down. The bottom of the blade was serrated in wide arcs, the edge sharp as- well, sharp as a knife.
"It's... what the heck is this?" Yaomomo carefully turned the black handle in her hand.
"It's a very large blade," Shouto said slowly. "A... um... megablade."
"You kind of suck at naming things, but that works," Yaomomo teased weakly. "You're right, though, I suppose."
She experimentally pulled the switch again, and the blade folded neatly back into the handle. Yaomomo dropped it back on the table and wrung out her hands. She picked up the tablet next. It looked... pretty plain. There was a single button on the side, resembling a home button. She pressed it, and the screen flashed to life.
"It's the laundry room..." Yaomomo stared at the screen. Hitoshi was crouched by the body, seemingly giving a prayer. Mirio and Tsuyu stood in the doorway and watched sadly.
"Why would this tablet display the laundry room? The only camera in there is the security camera..." Shouto muttered.
The security camera... could this tablet really be connected to it? Is this the villains'? Or is this Mei's..? Oh, I know. I could get someone to go down and put their hand up to the security camera or something, to see if this is connected to it.
"Shouto. Did you guys find anything else in this room?" Yaomomo asked. "I'd like to test something with this tablet, and its connection to the laundry room."
"I would be fine with helping you," Shouto said. "But you have to do the body inspection first, remember? None of us have touched that body."
"Ah. Right." She set the tablet down and went around the table to Mei's corpse. He's right. I have to do the autopsy.
Yaomomo got to work immediately. She easily found a pair of scissors lying around the lab and cut open the black tank top she was wearing, working around Mei's undergarment to inspect the incision in her chest. "It's a stab wound," she reported to Shouto. "Pretty deep. Deep enough to kill, I suspect."
She continued by rolling the body over onto its side, to inspect the blood coming out from under it. The Monokuma File had detailed a wound in her back; consistent information to the blood stain there. This prompted her to turn the body over completely, cut open the clothes, and inspect what was bleeding. "It's another stab wound in her back, like the File said," Yaomomo reported. "Also deep, but not as much as the chest wound."
"Alright," Shouto replied quietly.
She was patting down Mei's waist, since the Inventor had pockets, when her fingers hit something lumpy in one of the pockets. She reached inside and pulled out a small Ziploc baggie of what looked like little yellow cubes.
"What do you think these are?" Shouto asked, eyeing them. Yaomomo turned them over a few times in the light.
"There's silver-colored metal on opposite sides of it, and there's a small raised indent on one side. I think it looks like a battery," she replied, setting them down on the table. "I've never seen a battery looking like this, though. I wonder where Mei got them." And why are they in her pocket?
Yaomomo continued the patdown and completed the autopsy after that, determining that there were no other wounds on Mei's body. "I'm done," she said, wiping her hands off on her skirt. Not very sanitary, but with limited time remaining she had to work fast. "Can you do me a favor and go up to the laundry room?" she continued, turning to Shouto. He nodded. "I want you to go up to the security camera and wave your hand in front of it. I need to test whether or not this tablet connects to it."
"Mmh. That makes sense... I'll go right on up, in that case." Shouto turned and strode out the door, hastily making his way down the hall.
"H-Hey, Yaomomo..!" She turned around at the sound of her name being called, namely by Denki. He was still sitting by the boxes. "I found something... if you're not busy."
"Sure." Yaomomo picked up the tablet and carried it over to Denki, in order to keep an eye on it. "What did you find?" she asked him.
"Look." Denki pointed inside the box he was inspecting. Yaomomo turned immediately to see what he was referring to.
"Is this... a bloody sheet of fabric?" She picked it up by a clean corner to inspect it. The plain yellow cloth was apparently used to wipe away blood, considering the paint-like marks and dashes of pink on it.
"It looks like it. D-Do you think I should go through this box some more, in case there's anything else?" Denki spoke up hesitantly.
"Sure. Be careful, just in case there's something sharp." She set the fabric down and turned back to the tablet. Shouto hadn't appeared yet.
She sat there and waited for a minute to watch for his entrance. As she tapped her fingers on the floor, Shouto walked into the room. The feed had no audio but relatively good quality video, so Yaomomo watched as Mirio looked up at the two-tone-haired boy. His mouth moved; he was probably asking Shouto why he was here.
Shouto said something in reply, then began walking towards the back wall; the wall the camera was evidently planted on. However, he didn't go for the camera the tablet feed was coming from. He went to the right corner of the room, hovering awkwardly behind Hitoshi. He waved up at something over there, his eyes fixed on it.
So this tablet's feed isn't from the security camera...
"H-Hey- um, Yaomomo, what are you..?" Denki began to say something, before trailing off to lean over her shoulder, eyeing the tablet. "Oh, that... what is Shouto doing?"
"I had him go down and wave at the security camera. I wanted to see if this connected to it... but it doesn't. I find that weird," Yaomomo said.
"What if whoever owns this tablet set up a camera in the laundry room? So they can monitor it... but why would they need to do that?" Denki murmured.
"I... I think I have a vague idea of what it might be for. I don't want to say anything until I'm sure, though," the Detective-Affluent Progeny replied, deep in thought. She sighed and put down the tablet. "Hopefully Shouto will either stay there with Hitoshi or come back. Anyway, what were you going to say?"
"Oh, I found this..." Denki gingerly picked something up out of the box. It was a knife; a kitchen knife. It was smaller than the one found by Mashirao. It looked tiny in comparison to the megablade Yaomomo and Shouto discovered earlier, but it was still lethally sharp.
Yaomomo took the knife and turned it over in her hand. It looked clean, but there were dull streaks of something along its sides. "Thank you, Denki. This should be useful later."
She set it down atop the cloth, picked up the tablet, and got up. "Where are you going?" Denki asked from the floor.
"The laundry room," she replied. "I want to investigate something." She still held the tablet in her hands.
"Well, um, I have a comment to make. I'll be quick, I promise," Denki added hastily. He scrambled to his feet to properly talk to her. "Mei's device. The one she just finished building- it's gone."
"Huh?" Yaomomo glanced around the room and realized he had be correct. "You're right..." Mei's device... the one that got broken, the one she insisted was a big help to us.
"I was thinking: maybe the killer took it. Or... or they broke it, and took the remains away," Denki said. "Either way, there's no trace of it here, unless some of the scrap metal in the boxes are the broken bits. N-None of this stuff looks that new, though."
"I'll think about it. Thank you for the notice." Yaomomo thanked Denki and got up, hurrying out of the room and upstairs to the laundry room, tablet in hand. Shouto turned as she entered.
"Ah. Yaomomo." He looked at the item in her hands, held to her chest. "The tablet. Was it the security camera?"
"No. I'm going to try and find the one it's connected to, though." She turned the tablet on to see herself on the feed, device in hand. She moved closer to the wall, shuffling from side to side until she was in the dead center of the feed, before walking forward. As she hit the wall, she looked to the tablet to see that she was on face-level with the camera.
She looked up and blinked, swiftly finding the tiny camera lens in one of the tile sealing lines. "Shouto, look. Here's the camera." She pointed at it as Shouto leaned in.
"If this is planted here, it's possible there's more traps hidden around the room," Shouto said. "It seems weird someone would put just a camera here to monitor who comes and goes in the laundry room, of all things."
"Let's look around for the rest of investigation." Yaomomo and Shouto walked around the room, inspecting the walls, behind shelves, and the ceiling tiles. In the corner where Mashirao's body was, Yaomomo looked up to see a ceiling tile that was slightly off in its place.
"Hey, Shouto. I found something." He hurried over at her call, as did Mirio. Tsuyu stayed put, sitting against the wall with Hitoshi; silent company and consolation.
They looked up at the tile in the far corner from behind the body. "How do we get to it?" Shouto asked.
"If it's moved, it's probably a trap. And it wouldn't make sense for a trap to only be triggered by hand. We should find something that trips it," Mirio suggested. Yaomomo and Shouto nodded.
They walked around the area, Yaomomo skirting around the body to get below the crooked tile. "Nothing's happening," she murmured.
"I have an idea," Shouto suddenly said. He took the button they'd found in the lab out of his pocket. "We've never tried pressing this. I want to see if it's connected to this, since it's a manual trigger for something."
He pressed the red button, and a startlingly loud sucking noise came from above. All three people jumped; Hitoshi and Tsu were surprisingly still by the shelf and body. Yaomomo looked up to see that the tile had been shoved to the side, revealing the space above the ceiling. The sucking sound had come from within that hole.
"So they were connected," Mirio muttered, staring up at the gap.
None of them had a chance to do anything else, however, as it was then that the monitor bleeped and came to life.
"Ahem! This is a school announcement. It's time for the class trial! Please head down to the elevator ASAP!"
"Oh. The trial's starting," Tsu murmured. She slid to her feet, her expression having lost its haunted touch. She looked gloomy at the prospect of another trial. Our sixth one... and how many more will we be subjected to..?
"Let's go. Monokuma won't wait," Shouto said. Yaomomo nodded and followed him towards the doorway. Behind her, she could hear Mirio coaxing Hitoshi to get up and come along.
The class met in the elevator room. As soon as the last person entered, the bronze gates slid open and everyone stepped inside. They slipped shut again, and the elevator began to descend.
Another trial.
Another murder.
Another blackened.
How much longer will this go on..?
Is it like Hitoshi said? That we should give up now, stop wasting our efforts when we're all going to be killed off in this game anyway?
...
No.
No, I can't think that...
I want to feel that way, I really do; it would be so much easier. Hitoshi's right, in that matter...
But I also feel this strange urge to fight the trials. We have nothing to do but play the game... so I want to play it the right way.
I'm going to play this game, and I'm going to clear this trial.
After all, our lives are on the line.
The elevator slammed to a halt.