Society of Talent

by irwegwert

The Ultimate Initiative was supposed to foster talent and lead to a cultural revolution. However, in response to the program, riots have broken out. In the aftermath, Shizu Saneyoshi, the Ultimate Strategist, has found herself kidnapped and forced to participate in a killing game. In a situation like this, will talent even help them anymore? (SYOC CLOSED)

22. Chapter 2: Bonds of Distrust 07

The water droplets falling from Kaixi's body and a rhythmic thudding noise are the only things filling the silence of the shower room. It takes Shizu a moment to realize that the second noise is her heart beating out of her chest. It takes her another to realize that she isn't breathing.

She takes in a greedy gulp of air, and the world comes into focus around her. The distorted blur of her surroundings finally sinks in.

Kaixi is dead.

She'd understood as much the moment she laid eyes on his body, but, somehow, part of her had still been in denial. Even after seeing Takumi slumped over in the dining hall, even after watching Kazuha getting torn apart by countless Monokumas… somehow, she still had hope that this wouldn't happen again.

Shizu slaps herself. This isn't the time to wax poetic about the loss of life. Someone in their group has murdered again. They have to investigate. They have to find out who it is. They have to… they have to actually be informed of what's going on.

Quickly, Shizu rises to her feet and rushes back through the locker room. Sawako is still standing at attention, looking over the carnage in the gymnasium. Noticing Shizu's mad dash, she runs up to meet her, concern etched on her face.

"Are you alright, Shizu?" Sawako asks. She moves her hands to grab Shizu's shoulders but thinks twice about when she remembers who she's dealing with. "I didn't hear anything for a while. Was… was there anyone…" She trails off.

Shizu closes her eyes and tilts her head down. "Kaixi… he's dead in one of the showers…"

"No!" Sawako gasps. "That's… I know that there's all of this blood but… someone… he's truly dead?"

"Look for yourself if you don't believe me." Shizu points behind her with her thumb.

Choosing to do just that, Sawako brushes past her, her shoes clicking on the tile floor of the locker room. Shizu suddenly feels lightheaded. After making sure that there's no blood beneath her feet, she sits down and buries her face in her hands.

She should be used to this by now, or, at least, more used to it than her first time. It shouldn't be any more surprising. Why can't logic just work the way that she wants it to? And why… why did someone murder Kaixi?

As her mind races, a scream echoes from the showers. Sawako must have gotten to Kaixi's corpse.

A chime plays over the intercom as it springs to life. "A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the gymnasium for further instructions!"

Oh, right, the body discovery announcement… Last time, it had been Michio, Sawako, and Hachi who had found Takumi's body. Apparently, it was her and Sawako's turn this time around. She briefly wonders if Sawako has seen any bodies before being trapped here. Although…

At that moment, Sawako comes running back over. Her eyes are filled with tears and her face with fury. "It truly has happened once again… Kaixi… deserved much better than this."

"Yeah…" is the only thing that Shizu can say. She internally berates herself as she pushes herself up. Sawako attempts to lend a hand, but Shizu ignores her. Her head is still swimming but less so than before.

Running footsteps echo from the hallway, and, soon enough, Hachi, Kogi, and Fumika all come rushing into the room. Fumika continues further in, but both Hachi and Kogi falter once they see what's happened to the gym.

"Aaaaaaah!" Hachi screams.

Kogi takes another step forward before stopping again. "What… the hell is this?!" he demands.

Hachi continues to wail. "Blood! There's so much blood! Why? How? Who?" Her questions devolve into crying as everything hits her at once.

Sighing, Fumika is the one to answer. "You heard the announcement, right? That means someone's dead."

While Hachi sobs, Kogi growls. "No shit someone's dead. That doesn't explain…" He glares at the room. "Why the hell is there so much blood? This is less of a murder and more of a slaughter!"

"A grudge?" Fumika guesses. "No, never mind, I shouldn't speculate yet." Looking over at Shizu and Sawako, she says, "You were both here first. Do you know who it is?"

Shizu nods. "It's Kaixi. He's back in the furthest shower stall."

"Fuck." Fumika curses.

Sniffling, Hachi rubs her eyes. "It's… it's Kaixi? W-why him?"

No one has an answer. Sawako walks over to her and puts an arm around her shoulders. "He didn't deserve this. Nobody does." Holding up her other hand in a fist, she declares, "I promise that we will find whoever did this. Kaixi will be able to rest peacefully."

"Should we wait for everyone else before we look at the body?" Fumika asks.

Shizu shrugs. "It's up to you. Sawako and I have already had a cursory glance. I don't think anyone would be mad if you got a head start on the investigation."

However, Kogi disagrees. "You'd just be putting more suspicion on yourself. Whoever gets the first good look at the body can be accused of tampering with it."

"Are you saying that because that's what you're going to do?" Fumika crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Kogi shoves his hands in his pockets.

Just then, more footsteps signal the approach of another group. This time, Samia, Morgan, Pal, and Chouki all flood into the gym. Once again, their concerned faces pale when they see all of the blood.

"Oh… oh hell…" Samia brings a hand up to her mouth and turns around.

Pal remains completely still, his eyes glazing over. "This is… the work… of a deranged killer…" he murmurs.

"The spirits didn't make this sound quite so… so gruesome," Morgan says, fanning herself. "I knew something was going to go wrong, but this? How disgusting…"

Inhaling a deep breath, Samia turns back to face the bloody gym. "I'm okay… I'm fine now," she says, mostly to herself.

"You do not have to look if it is that upsetting to you," Sawako reassures her.

"No, no, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. I just… need to tough it out." Samia takes a few shaky steps further into the gym.

"If… if I may ask, who… is dead?" Pal wonders aloud.

Again, Shizu says, "Kaixi's the one who was murdered."

"Ah…" Pal wilts.

Similarly, Morgan slouches. "Kaixi… it cannot be. He was such a kind soul."

Hachi, who had been slowly been regaining her confidence, bursts back into tears. She buries her face back into Sawako, who is still holding her and patting her on the back. Clearly, though it's little comfort, it is appreciated.

Having had enough of the pity party, Chouki steps up. "Where the hell is the bear? He called us all here. I don't want to stick around this place," he spits, his eyes tracing the splatters of blood, "any longer than I have to."

"He's probably waiting for everyone else to show up," Fumika mutters.

Kogi rolls his eyes. "What a pain… How much longer are they going to keep up waiting?"

Right on cue, the final set of footsteps sound out. The last of the group, Michio, Tsubame, Soraru, and Joshua, finally make their appearance. Michio gets an odd expression on his face as he walks in, a coroner's kit held in his hands. Tsubame and Joshua both freeze in their tracks, but Soraru immediately pivots and tries to walk out. Though his mouth is agape, Joshua still manages to grab onto xer shoulder without looking, keeping xem from escaping.

"No, no, no…" Tsubame says to herself, clutching both of her shoulders with either hand. "No… no no…"

"What the fuck dude?" Joshua lets out.

Soraru struggles to escape his grasp. "Lemme go! None of us want to look at this, so why're you forcing me to? It's gross!"

Fumika rolls her eyes. "Glad to hear that you don't plan on helping any of us out."

"Not that xer help… would be worth much… in the first place," Pal adds.

Rather than being insulted, Soraru takes these comments in stride. "See? I'm not even wanted here. It just makes sense to let me leave and never have to think about any of this again."

Michio, seemingly ignoring the argument taking place next to him, is quivering in place. "Heh… that's uh… that's a lot of blood." A nervous smile overtakes his face. "Wow… haven't seen something like this in a while."

"What kind of autopsies are they making you do if you've seen this much blood before?" Samia says quietly.

She must not have expected an answer, as she winces when Michio gives her one. "Hey, you'd be surprised. When they here about there being an Ultimate on the job, well… let's just say they expect the best."

Tsubame interrupts them with a quiet comment. "Um… hold on. I can't help but notice that… that Kaixi isn't here." She's met with an uncomfortable silence.

Coming to the only conclusion he can, Joshua gulps. "No… no way. I thought…"

"Wait, hang on a minute!" Soraru pauses in xer struggling to glare at Joshua. "How's he in here? I thought you told me he was in the greenhouse!"

"Uh…" Joshua suddenly looks very nervous.

Xe snaps xer fingers. "Liar! I knew it!"

"Alrighty then! You're all here! And not a single one missing this time either!"

Everyone flinches at the sound of Monokuma's voice, the previous conversation all but forgotten. He's appeared out of nowhere as usual, this time choosing to stand in front of a particularly large puddle of blood near the rock-climbing wall.

"You!" Chouki hisses.

Monokuma smiles. "I was a little worried that nobody would take the killing bait, but I really had nothing to worry about. It's not even the final day before I reveal your secrets to the world. Someone was really eager to get things rolling!"

Sawako shakes her free fist at him. "What do you want? Have you come to taunt us more?"

"Aw, you found me out. And here was me, thinking that you all get riled up really easily… Well, I guess that's still true." He cackles madly.

"Well, seeing as you have failed in your goal, perhaps you would see fit to leave us be." Morgan makes a grand sweeping gesture with her hand. "As you can tell, we have much on our minds, and you have little purpose here."

"Yeesh, haven't you brats ever heard of sarcasm before?" Monokuma raises a sharpened claw. "I'm great at multi-tasking. I can taunt and explain things at the same time!"

"What exactly do you have to explain?" Shizu demands. "We've already been through this once before. I'm certain we all know the procedure."

Monokuma laughs. "It's been a while since the last trial. I'm sure you all could do with a refresher. Besides, are you really sure that everyone here knows what's going on?"

Shizu feels her eye twitch. "Who could have possibly forgotten everything already?"

"Uh…" Joshua scratches the back of his head.

Hachi looks up and sniffles. "O-oh, that's right. You weren't awake the last time we did this, right Joshua?"

He nervously taps his foot. "Heh… sorry everyone."

"It's not a difficult concept the grasp," Tsubame explains. "We must look around for evidence that explains what happened and who the culprit is. You remember the trial portion at least, I hope. The arguments we made there were supported by what we did now."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense." Joshua nods, still holding onto a struggling Soraru. "You're right, it's really not that hard to understand at all."

Michio looks over at Monokuma. "See? You didn't have to explain anything after all. We've got this."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you!" Monokuma complains. "Sheesh! I go through all the trouble of gathering you all in one place so that you don't have to scramble to do it yourself, and this is the thanks I get!"

"We're not going to thank you for forcing us into a life-or-death trial," Chouki grumbles.

"Unbelievable… What is it with kids these days?" Monokuma puts a paw on his forehead.

Pal frowns. "I believe… that most of us… are adults, at least legally."

"I do hope that's not the only problem you have with what he's saying," Morgan says.

Pinching her forehead, Shizu speaks up. "Stop talking about nothing. You're wasting valuable time."

"She's right you know." Monokuma stretches. "Time runs out when I start getting bored!"

Kogi narrows his eyes. "Last time, we had an explicit time limit."

"Yeah, I'm too lazy to come up with one this time." Monokuma waves him off. "Besides, you all know what you're doing this time. If I hadn't forced you to jump on it the first time, you'd have still been arguing with each other until I fell asleep!"

"Either that, or you were worried that, with the sheer number of us working together, we would be able to solve it if we were given too long," Sawako accuses him.

Though Shizu would like to have confidence in her own abilities, even she doubts how true that claim is. After all, it took a lot of debating to get anywhere last time. Even if one of them had miraculously stumbled onto the solution, actually getting everyone to believe would have taken a long time anyways.

Similarly unaffected by the accusation, Monokuma yawns. "Aw, you really think that, don't you? That's almost cute! But, if you really think that way, then you shouldn't have any trouble solving the crime this time either!" With one last laugh, he disappears.

Everyone is left staring at one another. Nobody wants to be the first one to make a move, apparently. Eventually, Michio says, "So… if it's alright with everyone, I'm going to get started on my autopsy now. I'm guessing the body's back there somewhere." He points to the locker rooms.

Sawako confirms this. "Yes, it is in the showers. I shall accompany you to guard the body. That way, you cannot be accused of tampering with it."

"Like that'll stop me from getting accused," Michio mutters. As he heads back there, his shaking seems to pause, like his serious persona is starting to take hold again. Sawako quickly follows behind him.

Shizu looks over the remaining group. "There's no sense in standing around. We have a lot of work to do. Let's get to work."

The response she gets has mixed enthusiasm, but most people appear to have accepted their fate. As she watches all of them splinter off in different directions, she steels herself for the task ahead of her.

Investigation Start

Shizu begins by going over her notes from the previous days again. Last time, her thoughts and records of the others helped lead her to the truth. It's nice to see her work pay off, though she immediately feels guilty for thinking that. Regardless, it would be best to consider them once again, just in case. Who knows how or if her notes could come into play this time?

---

Character Profiles – The notes I built from talking with everyone here. Some of these notes may be incorrect due to faulty speculation, but they still hold my gut feelings about everyone.

---

Her notes aren't the only prior knowledge that came in clutch during the trial. She recalls a few times when going over the rules helped clarify what happened as well. Actually, there have been a few other rules added since last time. It would be wise to keep them all in mind.

---

Rules – The rules of the Ultimate Game. They give us some idea of what's impossible for people to do, though there may be loopholes to exploit.

1. Violence against Monokuma is explicitly forbidden.

2. We are not allowed to force our way past any areas marked with Monokuma's face.

3. Nighttime begins at 12 AM and ends at 8 AM. Announcements will be made at both times.

4. Punishments vary in severity.

5. Monokuma may change the rules at any time.

6. In order to win the game, we must kill someone without anyone else figuring out that we are the culprit.

7. A body discovery announcement plays once three people discover a body for the first time, which signals the start of a trial.

8. A majority vote for the correct culprit results in punishment for them, while an incorrect majority vote results in everyone else being punished and that person getting to go free. The punishment for either party is execution.

9. With the exception of punishments, Monokuma will never kill or tamper with a crime scene.

10. Each secret must be kept on person at all times. Attempting to get rid of the secret in any way will result in punishment.

---

Satisfied at having covered all of the relevant information for the time being, Shizu closes her notepad and considers were to go first. Logically, the most obvious start would be the body itself. Kaixi's body flashes through her mind once again, and she shivers. It's likely her imagination running with the worst interpretation of things. Best to get that out of the way as soon as possible.

She walks past a few people hanging around the locker room. They must have found something, given how they're talking, but she can ask them about it later. Right now, she has a body to investigate.

The showers aren't as packed as she thought they might be. At the moment, the only people there are Michio, who is inspecting the body, Sawako, who is watching him carefully, and Fumika, who is standing off to the side.

Sawako salutes her as she approaches. "Shizu! Have you come to take another look at the body?"

"Something like that," she replies.

Fumika looks at her as she leans on the wall. "I thought you were one of the few people who actually saw the body. Why the second look?"

At this, Shizu flushes. "I… may have been panicking at the time. Even though I was prepared to see a dead body, I could not help but freeze."

"Sounds like you weren't really prepared then," Michio calls out from his position on the floor. "There's no shame in that. Lots of people aren't prepared."

Shizu makes a noncommittal noise. It's still embarrassing. She was able to examine Takumi's body no problem. Why was this any different? Was it perhaps because she found it first this time? Or maybe not knowing Takumi's face helped her distance herself from the situation?

"It's alright, Shizu. I too was overcome by emotion when I found Kaixi," Sawako says, gripping her forearm. "I do not think either of us were quite ready to examine him."

Michio whistles. "So, it was you two ladies who found him first then, am I right?"

"Shizu was the first to see him, but the gist of your statement is correct," Sawako confirms.

Fumika asks, "You didn't go in together?"

"Shizu wished to check it out first, against my wishes may I add," Sawako explains. "She claimed there might be a trap set for me. It was only after she left that I realized that anything designed to hurt me would do far worse to her."

"Bit of a mean trick, Shizu," Michio tuts.

She knows that she's not able to defend her actions rationally. "I just… needed to see for myself first. I can't really explain it. It felt like something I had to do."

To her surprise, Fumika nods along. "Honestly, I can understand where you're coming from. I've never been put in a situation quite like this before, but I know the feeling." She sighs and leans back. "Well, that's not the important thing right now. Since you're the one who stumbled across him first, can you tell me what the scene was like when you got here?"

Adjusting her glasses, Shizu thinks back. "I had some tunnel vision, but, from my memory, it was exactly the same as it is now. Why do you ask? Did you think that I tampered with the crime scene?"

Shrugging, Fumika says, "Just wanted to make sure. It sounded like you weren't all there, so I figured maybe you did something on accident."

Did she do that? Shizu doesn't think so, but it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look and see if that jogs her memory at all. Kneeling down next to Michio, she looks over Kaixi's body.

The first thing that jumps out to her is how bruised his body is. Nearly every inch of him is a sickly purple or, in some places, black. Judging by the state of the crime scene, he must have been beaten heavily. To be honest, it seems excessive. Why bother going to these lengths? She's not an expert on lethal force, but she has to wonder if he even survived long enough to get all of these bruises. Surely, he must have died, only for the culprit to continuing attacking him, right?

Shaking her head, she turns her attention to the other odd thing about the body. It's soaking wet. A thin layer of water rests on his body, and his clothes are thoroughly drenched. There are a few darker spots on his clothes, most likely bloodstains that didn't fully wash out. Therein lies her confusion. Why wash off his body? The scene outside clearly shows that something terrible happened. What good would it do to clean up the body and only the body?

Whatever the case, it's obvious that the culprit used the shower to wash him off. He must have been under there for a while, given how few bloodstains his clothes have and how wet his body is. Actually, now that she's close enough, she can tell that Kaixi is cold. The culprit must have used cold water, rather than hot.

Beside her, Michio coughs. "Hey, I usually wouldn't mind, but you're a little close. I'm kind of in the middle of my examination, and it's hard when I don't have full access to the corpse."

"My apologies." Shizu stands up and moves a good distance away.

He moves over to where she had been sitting. "Thanks. Sorry about the harshness, but this is important for me. Also for all of you, too."

Sawako looks at her. "Did you notice anything new?"

"Nothing that I didn't see upon first glance," she admits. "Although, I did manage to think of a few odd things that hadn't occurred to me until now." Turning to Fumika, she says, "In any case, I am now certain that I left the body as I found it."

"I see." Fumika begins tapping her foot.

Shizu tilts her head. "Was there something that you thought I did in specific? It sounds like you were expecting something."

Fumika takes a pause before shaking her head. "No. It's nothing. I just wanted to make sure."

Though Shizu's not sure she believes the answer, she has no guesses as to what Fumika might be thinking. Therefore, she reluctantly drops the issue.

Michio speaks up as he raises up one of Kaixi's arms. "Well, whatever you were thinking, it probably wouldn't matter much. This body's seeming a lot easier to work with than Takumi's."

"You mean you know the cause of death?" Sawako asks.

Fumika scoffs. "I think most of us would be able to tell what killed him. It's stamped all over his body and the gym."

"That attitude's what nearly tricked everyone last time," Michio says. "But, in this case, you'd be right. Granted, I've only just started, but I'm not seeing any signs of something weird going on. From an initial look, he really did get beaten to death. Of course, I'd wait for my final ruling before you go spreading that around, but that's how it's looking."

"Then why tell us anything if it could change?" Fumika mumbles under her breath.

Shizu watches him work for a bit, before her eyes are drawn to Kaixi's backpack. She addresses Sawako and Fumika. "Have either of you checked what Kaixi had on him yet?"

Sawako frowns. "No, unfortunately we have not."

"I don't know about her, but I was waiting for Michio to give me the go ahead," Fumika explains. "I don't know if moving him around to take off his backpack would mess anything up or not."

"You can take off his backpack," Michio answers. "It shouldn't affect anything. Just wait for me to finish up here." It actually takes him another minute to do whatever test he's performing, but he eventually moves out of the way.

Sawako is the one who actually takes off his backpack. Shizu doesn't feel too comfortable touching a dead body. Perhaps Fumika feels the same way, though, judging by her face as Sawako gently removes it, she doesn't care either way.

The backpack itself is, if possible, even more soaked than Kaixi was. Maybe, as he dried, a lot of the water on his body fell onto his backpack, keeping it wet. She opens up the biggest pocket, only the find it empty, save for more water. That's… odd. Shouldn't his camera be in here?

Shrugging off that oddity, she moves on to the next pocket. This one actually has a few things inside of it. The first is Kaixi's key card. It makes sense that he would carry it around in here. The other is a very wet piece of paper.

When she goes to pick it up, Sawako stops her. "Be careful with that. You might end up tearing it."

It's true. The paper is so completely soaked through that it's a wonder that it's still together. "We should still take it out. It might say something important."

"Let me handle it," Fumika says. "I'm a careful person by nature."

Shizu doesn't have the chance to argue, as Fumika pushes her out of the way. Fumika opens up the backpack further, giving her as much room to work with as possible. Then, slowly but surely, she reaches in and gently grabs hold of the paper. It begins to stretch and distort in her grasp, so she holds out her other hand to support the bottom. At last, she manages to extract it.

"See? I told you I could get it," Fumika says. Were she more prideful, it would sound like gloating.

Frowning, Sawako points at the right side. "You've torn off a chunk of it."

Fumika purses her lips and looks back in the backpack. "I don't think I did. I don't see the rest of it anywhere in there, not even a soggy lump. It must have been torn off before it was put in there."

"Can you read what it says, or is the writing too hard to make out?" Shizu asks.

Setting the piece of paper down on the floor, Fumika squints. "Most of it is illegible, but I can make out a few words. Either of you having any better luck?"

Sawako joins her. "Hmm… It's difficult, but it looks like it's asking Kaixi to go to the gym. At least, that's what I'm gathering from the few words I can see."

Looking it over for herself, Shizu agrees with their sentiments. The only words she can read are "important", "discuss", "gym", and "secret". There's obviously important information missing, such as any potential timeframe, but it seems as if someone wanted to talk with Kaixi in the gym, perhaps about the secrets.

"Well, this would explain what Kaixi was doing here," Shizu says.

Sawako sighs. "Did his killer call him here?"

"If we believe the note," Fumika replies.

There's still one pocket left to check. The front one is the smallest, so she's not expecting anything important. However, she's proven wrong when she pulls a folded piece of paper out of the soaking pocket. Unfolding it, she lets out a small gasp.

Someone copes with their health issues by obsessing over a cartoon character.

This must be the secret that Kaixi got. Recalling the rule that everyone had to bring their secrets with them wherever they went, it makes sense that he would keep it in his backpack. That being said, the actual contents of the secret are… not what she expected.

Sawako is equally baffled. "What on Earth is this? Is this Kaixi's secret?"

"It must be," Fumika says. "Why else would he be holding onto it?"

"Is this really someone's darkest secret?" Shizu wonders aloud. "It is a little embarrassing, but I cannot imagine caring that much if something like this got out. Was this really all that Monokuma could find on this person?"

Fumika shrugs. "Not all secrets are created equal, I suppose."

"This was meant to be the motive, correct? But, as Shizu said, I cannot see how this would spur anyone to kill." Sawako crosses her arms and closes her eyes. "Is this what caused Kaixi's end?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. There's no guarantee that the killer knew what secret Kaixi had gotten," Fumika says as she stands up. "They could have targeted him at random, not knowing if he had their secret or not. After all, the motive only said that a murder would have to happen to stop our secrets from getting out there. We didn't necessarily have to kill the one person who knew."

What Fumika is saying makes sense. However, that almost feels worse in a way. The idea that Kaixi died by complete randomness, that he wasn't even particularly targeted, doesn't sit right with Shizu. When she thinks it over more, she finds that it still would be random either way. After all, Kaixi didn't get to choose whose secret he got.

Adjusting her glasses, Shizu returns her attention to the backpack. "I believe that's all to be found in there. Unless either of you would like to take another look."

"I'd like to look for myself," Fumika states. "No offense, but I prefer to do things personally. I'm the only person I can fully trust."

"No offense taken. I'm much the same way," Shizu replies.

Sawako rubs the back of her neck. "I suppose that makes sense, but it sounds a little sad. I hope the two of you can meet someone worth trusting one day."

Shizu very much doubts that such a day will come so long as she's trapped in here. "Now that you mention trust, would you all mind telling me your alibis for last night and this morning?"

Sawako salutes her. "Of course! I was in bed by 11 PM, and I got up this morning for exercise with you, as you recall."

"You shouldn't sound so pleased with yourself," Shizu mutters.

"I'm continuing to be very sorry about that!" Sawako apologizes.

Fumika looks confused by their antics but regales her alibi nonetheless. "Unfortunately, I don't have one. I went to bed at 10 last night, and I woke up to the body discovery announcement."

"Same here," Michio calls. "I wasn't doing anything at all last night, so I didn't stay up that late. I don't really know when I went to bed, but I do know that the body discovery announcement is what woke me up."

"I see. That's not very helpful, but I cannot complain. My story is exactly the same," Shizu says. "It appears that alibis will not be fruitful this time around."

Having gotten everything she came for, Shizu decides to leave the body behind. She's found all that she can think of. With any luck, Michio will be finished with his autopsy before the trial starts. Giving a small wave to the three of them, Shizu heads into the locker room to investigate further.

---

Body Discovery (Kaixi) – The announcement played after Shizu and Sawako discovered Kaixi's body in the last shower stall in the gym a little after 7:30 AM. Shizu found it first before informing Sawako.

Status of Kaixi's Body – Kaixi's body is covered in bruises from top to bottom. There's barely a square inch of him that hasn't been hit. In addition, his body has been thoroughly washed off and soaked. There are a few bloodstains on his clothes, but, other than those, he's been cleaned.

Shower Stalls – There are three large shower stalls in the gym. At the time of the crime, only the furthest one had been in use recently. All of them were turned off when the body was discovered.

Meeting Note – A drenched note was found in the middle pocket of Kaixi's backpack, along with his key card. The right side had been torn, and most of the writing was illegible due to water damage. However, it is possible to make out the words "important", "discuss", "gym", and "secret".

Kaixi's Secret – The secret that Kaixi was given by Monokuma reads, "Someone copes with their health issues by obsessing over a cartoon character." It was stored in the front pocket of his backpack.

Sawako's Exercise Meetup – Sawako and I agreed to meet up around 7:30 AM to begin a group workout session. However, Sawako forgot that she changed the time from her normal one and woke me up at 6:30 AM instead.

---

As Shizu walks into the locker room, she finds Morgan and Pal gathered around something on the floor. Briefly, she recalls seeing a thing there when she first discovered Kaixi's body. However, she was too preoccupied to take much notice of it at the time. Figuring that now is as good a time as any, she approaches them.

Morgan waves when she sees her. "Ah, Shizu. Can we get your opinion on what this thing is? I believe Pal and I have come to the same conclusion, but having another opinion would certainly help."

"Given the circumstances… and the design… it is not something which is difficult… to guess," Pal explains.

Deciding to take them up on their offer, Shizu looks at what they're referring to. On the floor lies bits and pieces of some kind of machine. It's difficult to tell at a single glance what it is, as it's been destroyed. No, destroyed isn't a strong enough word. It's as if the culprit threw it on the ground and then continuing crushing the individual pieces until they were suitably small enough.

She leans down to inspect the fragments closer. Most of them are dark grey or black. She can't tell exactly what they're made of, but, if she had to guess from how they feel, they're most likely a mix of plastics and metals. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees reflected light and sharply jerks her hand away upon realizing there are also glass fragments.

"Is this… Kaixi's camera?" she guesses. "I can't think of anything in the gym that this could be, and nothing else made of similar materials feels relevant at the moment."

Morgan nods. "That was the same conclusion we came to. This is what remains of his camera."

"The culprit did a good job… of making sure it was… well and truly destroyed," Pal says.

Something about it strikes Shizu as odd. "Why go to all this length to smash it in the first place? Surely, they weren't expecting it to be a secret, right? After all, three of us independently came to the same conclusion, despite the camera's current state."

"That sounds like a silly question," Morgan retorts. "Are you truly curious why a criminal would destroy a camera? Obviously, Kaixi must have taken a picture of them before his death. This must be their way of ensuring that evidence will not come to light."

Shizu's eye twitches. "That wasn't my point. Of course I know why they'd smash the camera."

"Then… are you wondering about… the amount of destruction?" Pal asks.

"I'm certain all of us know how his camera works." Upon receiving some flat looks from both of them, Shizu corrects herself. "At least, I think it would be easy to understand how to view photos or what would be necessary for them to display. All the culprit needed to do was destroy the main body."

Pal sways from side to side as he thinks. "I suppose that makes… some amount of sense. They likely would know… when the camera… had stopped functioning."

"Perhaps they would rather not take that chance," Morgan guesses. "If there was even a possibility of evidence being left behind, they may not want to risk it."

"But there isn't even a way to view the photos without using the camera," Shizu argues. "Even if the data was left intact by some miracle, we'd have nowhere to upload it for viewing."

Morgan closes her eyes. "We might not, but Monokuma certainly does. If the culprit suspected we could get our hands on the data, they may assume that we could pester Monokuma into developing the photos."

That argument holds water, now that Shizu considers it. If she's remembering correctly, Kaixi had said he'd done exactly that in order to hang up his photos in his room. Could it be that he had mentioned this to others as well? If so, that could be the reason why the culprit thought this way in the first place.

Having thought through it enough, Shizu says, "I see your point. I'm still skeptical of the idea that Monokuma would willingly give us direct evidence of the culprit. However, were I the culprit, I wouldn't gamble away my life for that assumption."

"Hmm…" Pal scratches his chin, his sharp fingernails leaving marks. "I wonder… now that we have determined all of this… what does this actually tell us about the crime?"

"I'm… not sure," Shizu admits.

Morgan rests her hand on her cheek. "The most I can think of is that the culprit had reason to suspect they were photographed. Perhaps this means that the initial confrontation between them and Kaixi was not hostile."

"Could it be… that this was not originally planned… to be a killing?" Pal wonders.

Shizu shakes her head. "It's too soon to be thinking about stuff like that. Actually, while I've got both of you here, could you please tell me your alibis for last night and this morning?"

Frowning, Pal says, "My story is… nothing of value, I am afraid. I did nothing of interest… before I went to bed, and, though I woke up before the announcement, I did not leave my room until it played."

"That sounds remarkably similar to my alibi, or lack thereof," Morgan adds. "I was also up early, getting myself ready for the day, but I had only just finished my routine when I learned that there was another incident."

"That's honestly the same as everyone else I asked." Having hit that dead end, Shizu looks around the locker room. "Let's move onto another topic. Did either of you happen to find anything else of interest in here.?"

"There were… drag marks… leading from the gym… and into the shower," Pal states, pointing to the floor.

That's right. Shizu recalls following them when she and Sawako first arrived. They were what lead her to Kaixi's body, not that she would need to follow them to find it. There aren't many hiding places in an open place like this.

Actually, now that she thinks about it, there are other places to hide things in here. Turning her attention to the lockers, she takes out Kaixi's key card, having kept it after rummaging through his backpack.

Morgan spots it first. "Hmm… what do you have there? Is that your key or…"

"It's Kaixi's," she answers. "It was tucked away in his backpack. While we're here, we might as well see if he has anything in there."

"Ah, good thinking," Morgan says. "Though, I must wonder what Kaixi's possessions would tell us about the situation. They may not even be related."

Shizu approaches the locker with his name on it. "We should determine that after we have a look."

Once she scans the key card, the locker beeps, and the lock clicks. She tests the handle, making sure it actually unlocked, before swinging it open. There's not much room inside. Hanging from the top is a workout uniform, likely fitted specifically for Kaixi. However, that's not what immediately catches her attention. Rather, her eyes are drawn to the sideways cooler stacked on the inside, taking up the majority of the space.

"What is this… doing here?" Pal asks.

Morgan frowns. "We should examine its contents before we start speculating."

With help from both of them, they manage to pull the cooler out of the locker. It's a little heavy, and it makes some crunching noises as they move it around. Once they remove the lid, they find that it's filled with bags of ice and a few bottles of sports drinks.

Somehow, Shizu feels disappointed. "…Oh."

"Well, that was anti-climactic," Morgan says, fanning herself. "I half-expected some sort of terrible revelation to come from looking inside."

Pal sighs. "Kaixi must have wished… to supply those working out… with cool refreshments. It is a thoughtful sentiment, though… it does not help us… in our current state."

"Still, it must have been put here somewhat recently. The ice hasn't fully melted yet," Shizu says, hoping that this will give them more information.

Taking another look at the contents, Pal says, "I do find it strange… that he used this large container… only to store a small number of drinks inside. It is not efficient of him."

"I'm not sure there were any smaller coolers in the storage room," Morgan offers. "Though, I cannot say that for certain. I believe Fumika was the one who had found them yesterday. She might know better."

Shaking her head, Shizu closes the cooler up again. "Either way, it's clear that this cooler was in here at the time of Kaixi's death. Thus, it is possible that something else is stored in one of these lockers."

Morgan's eyes light up. "Ah… You're referring to the culprit's locker, are you not?"

"Exactly," Shizu confirms.

Pal doesn't look convinced. "Isn't the goal of the investigation… and the trial… to determine their identity? How would you know… whose locker to search?"

"I don't, but that isn't enough to stop me. Everyone is gathered here. It shouldn't take too long to get them to open up their lockers for us," Shizu declares.

Smiling behind her hand, Morgan says, "Such confidence… If that's the case, perhaps you would like to show us what's in your locker first. As a show of good faith, of course."

Shizu's eye twitches at the implication, but refusing would only make things worse for her. Sighing, she does as she's asked and goes over to her locker. She takes out her own key card and scans it. However, this time, the locker's beep is different… harsher. No sounds of a lock opening follow either.

"Did you… scan your card incorrectly?" Pal asks as he looks over at her.

"I don't think so. I did the same thing as I did with Kaixi's locker." Once again, she scans her card, only for the same thing to happen. "What is going on?"

Monokuma chooses this moment to spring forth out of the aether. "Hey, what's the big idea? You're supposed to be investigating!"

"I'm attempting to do just that," Shizu argues. "My locker just isn't cooperating with me."

"Of course not! I made sure to keep every person's locker locked during the investigation period." He raises both of his arms in the air. "How are you supposed to do a good job when you're worrying about exercising?"

"It's clear as crystal that Shizu isn't planning on exercising any time soon," Morgan says. "We only want to see what she's hiding in there."

"No, no, no!" Monokuma shouts. "I won't let you trick me like that! There's no way you're getting into any of your lockers! Get back to the investigation already."

"Hold on one moment." Pal holds out his palm. "We were able… to open Kaixi's locker… without any issue. Why can we not… do the same for any others?"

"Huh? Does it look like Kaixi's gonna go lifting weights any time soon?" Monokuma smirks. "Of course not! He's dead! So, I don't have to worry about him shirking his duties."

Shizu fiddles with her glasses. "If that's the case, when exactly did you turn off access to everyone else's lockers?"

"Geez, were you listening at all to your lovely gamemaster? I told you already. I locked them once the investigation started! Stop whining about things you already know and get back to work, or you're gonna bore me!" Having apparently decided that he was done yelling, Monokuma darts out of sight.

Raising a hand to her cheek, Morgan sighs. "Well, it appears that your idea isn't going to work. How disappointing…"

"It only means… that we must work harder… to solve this case." Pal raises a fist in the air, though none of feels very energized by his statement.

Shizu feels that she's wasted enough time in the locker room for now. For all that she's found, none of it seems particularly useful. All of the evidence here leads to dead ends. However, she may just be unaware of their truth worth.

---

Kaixi's Camera – Kaixi's camera is lying destroyed in the locker room. It's been completely smashed into tiny pieces of plastic, metal, and glass. Judging by the size of the fragments, this was not done hastily.

Bloody Drag Marks – A bloody trail leads from the gym into the locker room. It ends just past the entrance to the showers.

Cooler – A cooler was found inside Kaixi's locker. It is filled with bags of ice and a few sports drinks. The ice hadn't started to melt at all.

---

It's been a little bit since Shizu had been in the gym, and her mind has been working in overdrive trying to piece together what happened. Therefore, she's unprepared to see the sheer amount of blood and destruction again. It takes her a moment to regain her senses upon entering.

Her nervousness has not gone unnoticed, as Tsubame rushes over to her. "It's alright," she says, patting her on the shoulder. "I know that it's… a lot, but I know you can face it."

"Thank you," Shizu says, shaking her off, "but I'm fine."

Respecting her wishes, Tsubame backs off. "That's good to hear. I hope everyone is doing their best to get through this horrible situation, but I know that it won't be feasible for everyone to feel that way. Honestly, I'm feeling a little out of it myself."

Shizu gives her a sympathetic look. "You don't have to look around this place if it's making you feel ill. There are other areas to search."

"I believe I can handle it. Besides, I don't want anyone to feel like they have to be around all of this." Tugging on her braid, Tsubame begins to shiver.

Deciding that it's best to get this over with quickly for Tsubame's sake, Shizu asks, "Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary yet?"

"Truthfully, I haven't," Tsubame says. "There's just… so much to deal with. I'm not certain where I should even be looking."

"You're not alone in thinking that."

Both of them look away from each other to see Samia moving to join them. Realizing she should say more, Samia adds, "I'm having trouble keeping myself on task. Every time I try to look somewhere, all of this blood ruins my concentration."

Shizu can't blame her. Blood is on just about everything. The machines, the floor, the walls, the mats, the weights… nothing has been spared. It's a wonder that any of them are able to stand the smell of it all.

"It's not just the blood," Tsubame says. "Looking at how damaged all of the equipment is, Kaixi must have been in a lot of pain."

That's true as well. Most of the workout equipment appears to have been damaged in the struggle. Plenty of benches and machines are covered in dents or are laying on their sides. "I wonder if Monokuma's going to bother replacing all of this," Shizu mutters.

Samia fixes her with a harsh glare. "Are you seriously worrying about that right now? If we don't focus, we won't even be alive for that to matter."

"Sorry, you're right," Shizu admits. "It's just something that's sticking out in my mind. There's so much destruction. So much blood as well. I can't help but feel that it's excessive."

"That's because it is excessive. Nobody does this out of necessity." Rubbing her forehead, Samia scans the gym. "It's despicable."

Judging by Tsubame's timid humming, she disagrees. "I wonder… Could some of this have been necessary?"

"How do you figure that? There are much easier ways to kill someone than to beat them against every object in the room," Samia says.

Tsubame suddenly becomes very interested in smoothing out her skort. "I don't know. It was just a silly question."

"Did you have some insight in the culprit's motives for the brutality?" Shizu pries.

"No, I don't." Tsubame says this with confidence. "I just feel that maybe they had to do this. Because of where the crime took place, you see."

Samia scrunches up her face. "Because of the gym? Why?"

Tsubame starts to explain. "I was thinking that this attack must have taken a while, because of how much damage there is to the room. That much makes sense, right?"

"Yes, your logic holds. Please continue," Shizu says.

"Right." Taking a deep breath, Tsubame says, "Then, that means that there's a period of time when this crime couldn't have taken place. I think it's closed from midnight to 6 AM."

Samia's eyes light up. "Oh, I understand. Whoever did this would have either been in a rush to get everything done before any witnesses could show up."

"Exactly," Tsubame concurs. "The culprit wouldn't have been so brutal if they didn't have a reason."

"That could be true, but what if the crime took place before midnight?" Samia asks. "They could have done something similar to what happened with Takumi's case."

Tsubame's mood plummets. "Oh… I suppose I had already dismissed that possibility. I mean, we've already seen past that trick once before. Would it make sense to risk pulling it again?"

"Trust me, it's pointless to go down that line of reasoning," Shizu interrupts them. "The next line of argument would be that it's reverse psychology, making you think that something is too obvious to be the case. Then, you're met with reverse-reverse psychology, and it only spirals from there."

Tsubame looks abashed, but Samia is annoyed. "I hope that you're not going to try and silence discussion like this during the trial," she accuses.

Shizu can feel a headache coming on. "I do not intend to do anything of the sort."

"Please, don't fight. Not now of all times," Tsubame begs, pressing both of her hands together.

Flushing, Shizu averts her gaze. "My apologies." The silence hangs over them for a bit before she finds a way to break it. "If you don't mind, could both of you please tell me what you were doing last night and this morning? I'm attempting to collect everyone's alibis. It's just a formality, as most of them haven't been very helpful thus far."

Tsubame is the first to answer. "I'm afraid I don't really have one. I did do some laundry late last night before I went to bed, but I didn't see anyone. And I only woke up this morning because of Monokuma's announcement."

"I don't even have a laundry excuse," Samia says. "I went right to bed on my own, and, the next thing I know, the announcement's shaken me awake."

Sighing, Shizu says, "I suspected as much. Everyone I've talked to has had the exact same story." Then, she remembers something. "Actually, Samia, you went to the infirmary last night, correct?"

"Huh?" Samia blinks. "Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten because of…" She loses her train of thought as she catches sight of a large pool of blood. "Well, anyways, I did. Why?"

"You were taking stock of the inventory there, if my memory serves well. Did you notice if anything was missing?" Shizu asks.

Crossing her arms, Samia thinks it over. "I did say that, but… Do you really think that matters much? The stuff I was paying attention to… well, let's just say that I don't think any of that would factor in here."

"Um, sorry, but what stuff are you talking about?" Tsubame chimes in. "If anything went missing, I think that's definitely important."

"Well… it's…" Samia struggles to phrase her thoughts before relenting. "Alright, I was looking to see if… if anyone had opened or used or taken any… any of the poisons, alright?"

Tsubame flinches backwards. "P-poisons?"

"I'm not going to explain why, okay. It's private." Having stated this, Samia continues, "The main thing is that all that stuff was still there. It hadn't been touched at all. Besides, like I said, I really doubt poison's involved here."

"And what about anything else?" Shizu asks. "Did you only look in the cabinets where the poisons were stored?"

Samia clicks her tongue. "I did a brief glance at everything, but I only actively paid attention to the poison stuff."

Shizu makes sure to press her point. "So, you wouldn't have noticed if something else had been tampered with."

"Well, since you keep bringing it up…" Raising a hand to fuss with her headscarf, Samia looks off to the side. "I think I did get the feeling that something was missing. Like I said, I wasn't checking everything carefully, so I could be wrong. Whatever it was didn't strike me as important, though."

"Then, it wouldn't be something that could be used to murder someone, right?" Tsubame guesses.

"Yeah, then it would have caught my attention more," Samia agrees. She drums her fingers on the side of her head before sighing. "Sorry, I don't know what it was. It's probably just me being paranoid."

Shizu's not certain about that, but it doesn't seem like Samia will come to any conclusions in the near future. Maybe if she's asked about something specific, that could jog her memory. Unfortunately, Shizu isn't well versed with the contents of the infirmary. There's no telling what it could be, or even if it's related at all.

---

Gym Restrictions – From 12 AM to 6 AM, the doors are marked with Monokuma's face. Thus, during this time, it is impossible to access the gymnasium, locker room, or showers.

Status of the Gym – The gym is a complete mess. Most of the equipment has been damaged and covered in blood. Most of the walls and floors are similarly bloody. It appears that a great struggle took place here.

Samia's Account – Samia checked the infirmary last night. She notes that none of the poisons were touched. However, she mentions getting the feeling that something non-lethal was missing, though she doesn't know what.

---

Shizu has no idea what questions to ask Tsubame and Samia next, but, lucky for her, she's spared that awkwardness by noticing Joshua doing some stretches over by the rock-climbing wall. He's grunting rather loudly as he does so, making him the perfect distraction.

"Joshua!" she calls out. "What are you doing?"

He turns his head upside down to see who's calling him and waves. "I'm getting in some stretches before I start my investigation. Gotta stay limber to find that evidence, right?"

"That literally makes no sense," Shizu deadpans.

Samia and Tsubame, who had followed her over, also give him exasperated looks. Under the weight of all their stares, Joshua casual attitude falters. "Huh? I thought I had a pretty good idea, though."

Tsubame, the most generous of the three, takes pity and humors him. "What idea did you have, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Okay, so I was trying to think like the culprit would, right?" Joshua says, pointing a finger in the air. "If there was something that would prove them guilty, they'd want to hide it." He waits for them to give him confirmation that he's correct.

Having none of this, Shizu snaps her finger. "Just get on with it already."

Joshua starts to sweat a little. "Uh… right. So, if I wanted to hide something, I'd want it to be in a place that people wouldn't be likely to find it. And the most obvious place that comes to mind is up there." He points towards the top of the rock-climbing wall, where a small rest platform sits.

Shizu feels a headache coming on. "Really?"

"It's the perfect spot," Joshua argues. "You can't see what's up there from this angle, and nobody's gonna want to waste time during an investigation to go up there and check."

Tsubame rubs her hands together nervously. "Um… I don't want to be rude, but, if I was the culprit, I would just hide whatever I needed to inside my locker."

"I probably would have destroyed it," Samia adds.

Shizu brings up a third possibility. "So long as the object is small enough, I would have just taken it with me and hidden it in my room."

Wilting slightly, Joshua attempts to stand his ground. "W-well, I mean, you could also hide it up there," he says, weakly. "And, like, I'm not really doing anything right now. Why not try to climb up there?"

Samia hammers another nail into the coffin of his theory. "Can you even make it up there? For that matter, could any of us climb up there while also holding onto something we'd want to hide? The only person who could do that is probably Sawako. It'd be a dead giveaway if we say even the slightest hint of something up there."

"Well, that's why I was stretching. I gotta give myself the best chance of getting to the top." Despite his claims, his words lack confidence.

"There's no way you're getting up there. I saw Sawako fail to climb up there several days ago. It's impossible that someone hid something up there," Shizu states.

Joshua grabs the back of his neck. "But… but my theory…"

"Um… if you want, I could go ask Sawako to check for us," Tsubame says. "Just in case."

Shizu rounds on her. "Weren't you listening? I just said that Sawako couldn't do it."

"Yes, well… would it really hurt to try?" Tsubame asks.

Before she can reply, Joshua takes her offer. "You'd do that? Thanks a bunch! I really wasn't looking forward to trying it myself, honestly."

Tsubame bows and heads to the locker room. Shizu pinches her the bridge of her nose. It's nice of that she wants to humor him, but it's already clear that there are a multitude of other ways to hide evidence. Still, as long as she's here, she might as well get more information out of him. "While we're waiting for Sawako, would you mind giving me your alibi for last night and this morning?"

Joshua brightens up. "Oh, that? Sure thing! I've got a mostly airtight one."

Honestly not expecting that, Shizu's eyes widen. "Is that true?"

"Let me set the scene for you." Spreading his hands off to either side, Joshua tells his story. "So, it actually starts kinda bad for me. Remember how I tried to set up a guard shift for the greenhouse?"

"You were on guard duty last night?" Shizu asks.

"Uh… well…" Rubbing the back of his neck, he blushes. "I was supposed to be. But I wasn't really all that concerned with someone going in to tamper with it, so I took a nap after I had dinner. It was supposed to be short, but uh… I accidentally slept in until 3 AM."

Samia narrows her eyes. "What time did you mean to wake up?"

"11 PM…" he mutters.

"Joshua…" Shizu says, disappointed but not surprised. "How on Earth does this constitute an alibi?"

"I'm getting there, promise!" Joshua tugs on his beanie. "So, once I'm awake, I realize that I fucked up and make a rush for the greenhouse. Luckily, everything's still fine, no changes, so I relax a bit."

"Who was supposed to be on guard duty before you?" Shizu asks.

Joshua says, "That'd be Hachi, but her shift was over at 11 PM. I told her not to wait for me to show up, though, so she wasn't still there."

Crossing her arms, Samia says, "Your idea of guard duty is nonexistent. Why set anything up at all if you planned on ditching?"

"Look, I didn't mean to ditch for that long. Besides, it all worked out fine!" Joshua stomps his foot. "You're distracting me from the alibi part of my story. The point is that, after that, I went down to get Soraru, since I had planned a game night with xem earlier."

Shizu raises an eyebrow, "And Soraru was fine with this? Even though there was nobody watching the greenhouse?"

"I kinda told xem that you were on duty," Joshua admits.

Unbelievable. "How honest of you." Choosing not to berate him any further, she says, "Am I to assume that you and Soraru can account for one another for all the time after that?"

"That's right! We were together right up to when the announcement played this morning." He frowns after he says this. "Well, most of the time, at least. We each took a few bathroom breaks, but those were, like, only five minutes at most."

"…I cannot say much about your work ethic, but, so long as Soraru can back up your story, it sounds like your story will hold." Even Shizu can't really believe that Joshua of all people has managed to give himself a relatively airtight alibi.

Just then, Sawako finally arrives, though Tsubame is nowhere to be seen. Waving, Sawako greets them. "Hello! Tsubame told me that you required my assistance, so I came as fast as I could. She's taking over guard duty in the meantime."

Joshua gives a thumbs up. "Sweet. So, we were thinking that there might be some evidence at the top of the rock-climbing wall, and you're our best bet for getting up there."

Sawako gulps. "Oh… I see. I will give it my all, but I haven't been successful in climbing to the top as of yet."

"Shizu said something to that effect earlier," Samia says.

Not one to be dissuaded, Joshua eggs her on. "Aw, come on. That was back then, and this is now. Who's to say that you still can't do it? All of us believe in you!"

At this, Sawako freezes. "Is… is that true?"

"Of course!" Joshua cheers.

Samia shrugs. "If any of us can get up there, it'd be you."

Turning to Shizu, Sawako addresses her directly. "And you, Shizu? You also believe that I can make it?"

To be honest, Shizu doesn't believe that at all. She's already seen her almost fall. Still, it's not as though saying that will be helpful. With a groan, she says, "Sure."

For some reason, this pumps Sawako up more than anything else. "In that case, I cannot let you down. Not now that you've placed your faith in me."

"I wouldn't go that far…" Shizu tries to say, but it doesn't matter.

"I will conquer this trial!" Sawako immediately throws herself onto the wall and begins scaling it at an alarming speed. Shizu is reluctant to admit that it's impressive to watch. Seemingly fueled by their belief, like a cliché protagonist, Sawako quickly heads up the wall.

However, her stamina cannot last for long. Soon enough, Sawako slows down. Each arm and leg movement becomes shaky. She's only gotten about three-fourths of the way up, but her strength falters. Her climbing stops entirely. Looking closer reveals that her body is slick with sweat, her combined exhaustion and nerves getting to her.

Then, out of nowhere, she starts climbing just as fast as she had at the start. She makes the final trek look effortless. As she pulls herself onto the platform, she raises a fist in victory, before falling onto her back, presumably panting heavily.

"Woo! Way to go Sawako!" Joshua cheers.

Samia chooses a more practical shout. "Is there anything up there?"

It takes a minute for Sawako to respond, as she's catching her breath. Once she does, she shouts down, "There's… a switch. Hang on…"

A small click sounds. Then, from the bottom of the platform, something begins to extend diagonally down at a rapid pace. It quickly becomes clear that it's a makeshift staircase. It doesn't look super sturdy, but it could easily support a person's weight.

Sawako takes the opportunity to take the easy route down. Upon reaching the ground, she takes a deep breath. "That was… exhilarating. Thank you so much for believing in me!"

"Sure, no problem." Shizu brushes past that quickly. "Was that switch the only thing that was up there?"

Nodding, Sawako says, "It was completely barren. I did not see any sort of evidence placed up there. There wasn't even any dust."

Joshua pouts. "Aw man… I thought I had a good idea there."

"We told you, nobody would even be able to make it up there." Samia looks over at Sawako at amends her statement. "Except Sawako, I mean. And there's no way she would have gone up there if she did hide something."

"But what about that staircase? Someone could have just gone up there using that," Joshua claims.

Shizu adjusts her glasses for maximum condescension. "They would have needed to get up there in the first place to lower the stairs. The only reason those are up there at all is so that you can get back down easily if the climb has tired you out."

"Also, I don't believe that these stairs retract on their own. You would need to hit the switch again to do that," Sawako adds. "Since they weren't here when Shizu and I arrived, I don't believe the culprit could have used them."

"Dang… I'm really not great at this investigating thing, huh? Maybe I should have just gone with Soraru." Joshua kicks the ground in defeat.

"Where is xe anyways?" Shizu asks, finally noticing xer absence from the gym entirely.

Joshua looks up. "Xe took off the moment I let go of xem. I think xe went to the greenhouse. I remember xem saying something about knowing there was evidence there."

Though Shizu would normally not trust Soraru's word, she's grown to notice xer care in regards to plants. Besides, she's already checked out everything of note in the gym. Why not expand her search? "Very well. I'll what it is that's caught xer attention."

"Before you go, Shizu," Sawako stops her. "Was my assistance helpful?"

Shizu suppresses a groan. "…Yes. It was." She starts walking away before adding on a hasty, "Thank you." She doesn't need to look to know that Sawako has an enormous smile on her face.

---

Joshua's Account – Joshua woke up at 3 AM to go check on the greenhouse. Once confirming the sprinkler settings hadn't been tampered with, he got with Soraru to have a game night. Aside from a few short bathroom breaks, the two of them were together for the entire night/morning.

Rock-Climbing Wall Platform – The platform at the top of the rock-climbing wall is very difficult to reach. It has a retractable staircase which allows you to climb down, but you must be at the top in order to put it away. According to Sawako, there wasn't anything else hidden up there.

---

Kogi accosts her before Shizu is able to exit the gym. Though he doesn't appear to be investigating anything in particular, he still looks frazzled. She doesn't have a chance to ask, as he speaks up quickly. "What the hell was that mess with the rock-climbing wall about?"

"Joshua was insisting that something could be hidden up there. We needed Sawako's assistance to prove otherwise," she answers.

He groans. "That was stupid and dangerous. She almost fell to her death."

"I'm certain she would have stopped before that happened," she responds.

Kogi clearly disagrees. "That's not how it looked from over here. She froze up for a while. You're all lucky that we don't have two corpses on our hands."

As if summoned by the mention of corpses, Monokuma runs out from behind a door. "No, no, no! I'd never allow that! What kind of a hack show do you think I'm running?"

"Didn't think you'd be one to hate multiple deaths happening at once." Kogi scoffs.

Monokuma raises his paws in fury. "Don't slander me like that! I'm all for mass murdering! But I'm not about to let you brats get distracted with another case while you're already in the middle of one! If you want to someone else dead, do it before the body gets discovered!"

Shizu clicks her tongue. "So, multiple people can die but not after you play the body discovery announcement."

"Aw, I'm glad to hear you appreciating the hard work I put into this." He pats her leg and laughs as she flinches away. "That's right. If someone's going to die after I play the announcement, then I'll put a stop to it myself."

"What if multiple people do die before the announcement?" Kogi questions him. "The same person might not have done all of the murders. Who would we be trying to find?"

Monokuma gives a wide smile. "Oh, that's a good question. You're really in a murderous mood today. I'm always happy to help someone with your attitude." He doesn't give Kogi the chance to deny any of this. "Well, if two or more people do end up dying, then the trial would be for the latest victim. Cases these days are piling up too fast."

Shizu taps her finger on her forearm. "I would have thought it would be the other way around."

"Are you kidding me? I already had to deal with that Kazuha girl trying to stop anyone from finding her kill. I'm not dealing with that again." Crossing his paws, Monokuma says, "If you can't get someone to find your handiwork before another person strikes, then you've lost your chance at escaping! Do it right next time!" Having given them that information, Monokuma scurries off.

Blinking, Shizu turns her attention back to Kogi. "Well, you heard him. If Sawako was in danger of falling, he would have caught her or something."

"What a pain… having to rely on that bear to keep us safe…" Kogi scratches his facemask.

"So long as I've got you here, would you mind giving me your alibi?" Shizu asks.

Sighing, Kogi says, "Don't have one. Didn't see anyone when I went to bed and didn't see anyone until I left my room after the announcement."

"Then, your story is the same as almost everyone else here, myself included." Had she not gotten something useful from Joshua, she would have considered giving up on this line of inquiry altogether.

"You don't have an alibi either…" Kogi mutters, before he shrugs. "Guess that doesn't matter much. You didn't do this."

Shizu blinks. "I'm thankful for the confidence, but I'm not sure where this is coming from. I didn't think either of us trusted each other much."

Kogi shoves his hands in his pockets. "Trust has nothing to do with it. I just know you don't have a motive."

"Again, you're correct, but why do you think that in the first place?" Shizu presses him.

"Why do you think?" Kogi grumbles. "It's obvious if you think about what I did recently."

The first retort to come to her mind is that she hasn't been following him around to see what he's been doing. However, then she remembers. "Wait, are you talking about that meeting you held?"

He rolls his eyes. "Took you long enough."

"What about that makes you think I don't have a motive? Was it because I went along with your plan to share the secrets?" she guesses.

"That you spoke up in favor means that you don't have anything to hide," he says. "You particularly said something before anyone else did. It wasn't a scheme to make yourself look better."

"I see…" Shizu brings a hand up to her chin. "So that was your goal all along… To figure out who was the most suspicious out of all of us… But why wouldn't you ask everyone to share? You were only missing four people."

Kogi rubs his forehead. "First of all, I didn't invite everyone who showed up. Kaixi and Soraru just invited themselves. More importantly, I didn't need to ask everyone. I already knew what everyone else was going to say. There was no need to ask them."

"That's a pretty bold assumption of you to make. Not everyone here is so easy to read. I feel like it would be safer to ask everyone as a whole to figure them out," Shizu says.

Furrowing his brow, Kogi looks at the floor. "Didn't see you trying to figure anything out. If you think you can do better, then do it yourself next time."

"My issues extend beyond that, in truth," Shizu continues as she raises her glasses. "I find your conclusions to be a little hasty. Even if I'm not worried about my secret getting out, I don't think that means I would have zero motive at all."

"You trying to make yourself look more suspicious?" Kogi laughs a short, chilling laugh. "Well, it doesn't matter. I trust my own work. Don't need your permission to do that."

Seeing as neither of them are going to see eye to eye on this issue, Shizu decides to leave the matter be. Whatever the case, he still seems to think that she's innocent, despite their disagreements. She can't really complain about that. No, the real trouble is if he refuses to believe that the culprit is innocent… Or if he's lying about his reasons entirely.

As she heads out of the gym, all this talk of secrets and Kogi has gotten her to remember Monokuma's extra motivation. He told her that Kogi was the person who had her secret. She's still not sure that he's telling the truth, but that isn't really the issue right now. She has a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't the only person he told. Could the culprit have also been informed of who had their secret? And was that person Kaixi?

---

Rules (Updated) – The rules of the Ultimate Game. They give us some idea of what's impossible for people to do, though there may be loopholes to exploit.

11. No murders can occur after a body discovery announcement plays. If someone is about to die during this time, Monokuma will ensure that they live.

12. Should multiple murders occur, the most recent murder will be the one that the trial is for.

Kogi's Secret Meeting – Kogi invited Michio, Fumika, Pal, Samia, Morgan, Joshua, and myself to share our secrets in the gym, though Kaixi and Soraru also attended. Kogi, Pal, Kaixi, Soraru, and myself all wanted to share them. Michio, Fumika, Samia, Morgan, and Joshua all wished to keep them hidden. Kogi claims he used this meeting to figure out our positions on sharing secrets, not necessarily actually seeing the secrets.

Additional Motive – Two mornings ago, Monokuma told me that Kogi was the person who had my secret. It is likely that he told others who had their secrets as well, including the culprit of this case.

---

While Shizu waits for the elevator to arrive, her eyes cannot help but wander over to the staircase on the opposite wall. Monokuma's face on the curtain still smiles back at her, making her shudder. It appears that Monokuma has made little progress on fixing up the staircase, despite the incident occurring several days ago by this point.

Then again, nobody uses the stairs. Perhaps he hasn't made fixing it a priority because of this. Or maybe there's a problem with getting materials into a building that's likely been locked down from the outside. Or he could just be lazy, like he was with the washing machines. Whatever the case, the stairs have been unusable for a while.

The elevator dings and opens, rousing her from her thoughts. Pushing the issue to the back of her brain, she heads inside, ready to go to the greenhouse. Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep the movement restrictions in mind, just in case.

Destroyed Staircase – The staircase between the 2nd and 3rd floors was blown up by Monokuma. It still hasn't been fixed, rendering it unusable at the time of the crime.

Shizu almost dreads the thought of being drenched by the sprinklers as a prank, but, lucky for her, Soraru is distracted. When she arrives at the greenhouse, she finds xem dashing around frantically from plant to plant. Did xe actually find some evidence?

Xe don't seem to be paying her any heed, too caught up in whatever it is xe's doing. Shizu reluctantly calls out to xem, "Hey, is something wrong?"

Freezing in place, xer head spins around to see who just talked. Once xe registers her, xe glares. "Was it you?! Did you do this?"

"Do what?" Shizu asks, raising her hands up in defense.

"Mess with the plants, duh!" xe shouts. "You were in here last night, so you must have done something!"

Shizu crosses her arms. "I assure you that I had nothing to do with whatever you're talking about. Why would I mess with anything in here?"

Soraru ignores her, immediately shifting into whispering conspiracy theories. "So… if it wasn't Shizu, and Joshua wouldn't have anything to do with it… Kaixi! I knew it!"

"Hold on one moment," she interrupts. "Are you talking about the sprinklers again? I thought Joshua said the controls were still set."

"What, are you still on about the sprinklers? Come on, Shizu, that's old hat, we've moved on to bigger crimes." Without a hint of irony, Soraru continues, "I'm talking about directly messing with the plants. Someone stole them!"

Shizu coughs. "Wait, what? How many did they take?"

"Well, so far I've only noticed one missing." Not deterred by this fact, Soraru says with passion, "But I know there's gotta be more than that. So, I'm double checking everything!"

"Or it could just be the one plant," Shizu reasons.

Xe looks scandalized. "What kind of horrible plant thief only steals one plant? No, there have to be more. They've gotta be real good, because it's a miracle I even noticed. If they hadn't messed up and taken one of the tiny ones that are right in the front, they could've fooled me completely!"

Leaning over to take a closer look at the area xe's indicated, she sees a cluster of small potted flowers. At first, she wonders if xe's just being paranoid, but then she notices that the first row is one flower pot short. It's a bit strange, but her brain wouldn't immediately jump to plant thief. But, if Soraru says that it used to be there, then xe's probably right.

"And you believe that either Kaixi or I had something to do with its disappearance," she says as she stands upright.

Xe nods vigorously. "So long as you're not lying directly to my face, then it can only be Kaixi! He was the one who had the shift after you, right?"

Shizu isn't sure whether to throw Joshua under the bus or not. Instead, she tests the waters. "And how would you know that?"

"Joshua told me," xe says like it's obvious. "Even if he did lie to me later, I know he didn't lie to me about this."

Xer claims are rather interesting. "Please explain."

"Joshua and I were hanging out in the rec room last night. We'd been having fun, but then we hear the elevator going up. I was real suspicious that it was the criminal who was messing with the sprinklers, but Joshua said that it was Kaixi coming to check on things." Xe purses xer lips and tilts xer head. "Well, he confident up until I asked if he was taking over your shift, but that's probably nothing."

Given that Joshua lied about her being on duty, his odd response makes sense. However, if he truly was confident that Kaixi was going to watch, then he likely wasn't lying, at least not intentionally. "I see. Around what time would you say this was?"

"I dunno. Around 4 AM-ish, I think." Xe regards her with suspicion. "Why are you asking me all this? I thought you would have known when Kaixi showed up. You met him, right?"

"Just wanted to make sure your story lined up," she quickly lies. "In any case, when did Joshua lie to you?"

Xer eyes narrow. "So, a little before 6 AM, we both hear the elevator going down again. I'm thinking that Kaixi ditched, but Joshua says that it's probably Sawako going to work out or whatever. But he's totally lying! It had to be Kaixi going down! How'd he end up in the gym otherwise?"

"I'm fairly certain that Sawako didn't go to the gym either. You're probably right," Shizu muses.

Soraru fist pumps. "Ha ha! I'm so gonna rub this in Joshua's face later. He thought I wouldn't notice that his guard plan was stupid, but I'm too smart for him." As xe revels in xer victory, xe says, "I bet the reason Kaixi ran off is because he had to go hide all his stolen goods. Then, the killer must have caught him in the act and decided to execute their twisted version of justice!"

Well, she was with xem up until that point. Given xer story, it's likely that Kaixi stayed in the greenhouse until he went down to the gym around 6 AM. It lines up with when the gym opens. She just has to check in with Joshua to see if he forgot to mention the elevator bits in his story. "Did anything else of note happen while you were in the rec room?" she asks.

"Not really, unless you wanna count bathroom breaks or whatever. I guess there was a bit where Joshua just fell asleep, and it took ages to shake him awake. That dude does not want to wake up." Xe moves xer mouth from side to side. "Uh… there was also the body discovery announcement thingy, but that's all I can think of." Xer eyes light up. "Oh, wait, I bet you were really interesting in a play by play of all our games."

Shizu doesn't give them the opportunity to start. "Not even in the slightest."

"Jerk!" Xe sticks out xer tongue. "Well, lucky for you, I'm busy checking in on the rest of the plants. You'll just have to hear about our experiences some other time."

"I will make sure to ignore it," she retorts.

Soraru goes back to inspecting the greenhouse, and Shizu leaves xem be. Xe was surprisingly helpful, giving her a good idea of Kaixi's movements before his death. It's pretty lucky that xe and Joshua were in the one room that was close enough to the elevator to hear its movements.

Considering her next move, Shizu decides to check on the console near the back. Soraru had said it hadn't been tampered with today, but it never hurts to check. Pulling up the settings, she notes that the values are the same as when she was last on guard duty. Whoever was scrambling the settings might have actually quit after all. Or perhaps Soraru was onto something, and they upgraded to plant theft.

---

Sprinkler Incident – For the past few days, someone has been jumbling the sprinkler settings in the greenhouse, gaining Soraru's ire. After Soraru stayed up all night and Joshua set up a lax guard duty, the culprit hasn't struck again.

Missing Plant – Soraru claims that a small potted flower had been stolen last night. According to xem, the only possible culprit is Kaixi.

Soraru's Account – Someone used the elevator to go up to the 4th floor at 4 AM and down to the 2nd or 3rd floor a little before 6 AM. Though nobody saw who it was, it's most likely Kaixi.

---

If Kaixi really was in the greenhouse prior to his death, there's a chance that he had done something else while he was here. Perhaps in the bee room or the closet. She doesn't have any more leads at the moment, so she might as well check them out.

She leaves behind Soraru, who's still counting trees or something, and heads through the door near the console. If she wants to check out the bee room, she'll have to suit up first, so she makes the closet her first stop.

Inside, she's surprised to find both Hachi and Chouki. Chouki is currently pulling his own suit off, while Hachi, who she might not have recognized if she hadn't already removed the hat of the outfit, is waiting for him. All things considered, it's a little cramped.

Chouki growls when he hears the door open. "Great. We've barely got enough room in here as it is."

"My apologies. I didn't think anyone else would be in here," Shizu says. "I decided to inspect the bee room, but it appears that you two already did that."

"Yup. We… didn't really find anything, unfortunately," Hachi pouts. "I thought that we totally would too!"

Chouki is less positive about things. "This is what we get for following Soraru. We've done nothing but waste time."

"Is that why you're here at all? It is a little surprising to see more than one person this far away from the crime scene," Shizu notes.

Hachi puts her hands behind her back and sniffs. "I really, really didn't wanna be in the gym anymore. It was… horrible. Like really super horrible in there."

"Soraru was yelling about how there was totally evidence of stuff going down in the greenhouse when xe took off," Chouki says. "I should have known it was a whole bunch of nothing. Xe probably wanted to get out of there as badly as we did."

In an attempt to console, Shizu says, "Nobody will judge either of you for not being able to stay in the gym. There's no need to beat yourselves up over it."

As always, Chouki still looks miserable, but her words have cheered Hachi up slightly. "You really think so?"

"Of course," Shizu confirms. "A few others said something to a similar effect. You're not alone in feeling that way."

"Well, we're definitely alone in finding nothing," Chouki mutters. "At least everyone else has actual blood to inspect or whatever."

"If you wish to give a little bit of help, you could tell me your alibis," Shizu offers.

This does not cheer Chouki up. "What, so you can here me talk about how I was alone all night? Why bother?"

"I didn't see anyone either until I left my room this morning after the announcement. Sorry Shizu," Hachi apologizes.

"Again, it's fine. Most everyone else also lacks an alibi, but it never hurts to give even a little more information." Shizu pauses, having realized something. "Actually, if you wouldn't mind telling me a little more, why were you searching the bee room? Did you simply not want to help Soraru out on xer plant search?"

Hachi flushes. "Um… it wasn't really like that. When I heard that something happened to one of the plants, I started worrying that someone might have happened to the bees too, so I rushed over here right away."

"Yeah, I didn't want to hang around Soraru," Chouki admits outright. "Better to look around in there than be yelled at for not understanding plant life, even though I'm literally a marine biologist."

Choosing to ignore his complaining, Shizu says, "From what I've gathered, you didn't manage to find anything in there though."

"Nothing at all. I don't even think anybody went in there at all," Chouki says.

At this, Hachi frowns. "I'm, like, glad the bees are alright, but I really did think that someone had gone in there. Cause one of the beekeeping suits is missing."

"Really?" Shizu looks over at the abundance of beekeeping suits hanging up along the wall. "Are you certain? There are quite a few."

"One hundred percent positive," Hachi replies. "I even double checked just in case. I'm always counting them when I go to check on my fuzzy friends, so I know I'm right."

This is all very odd. "Why would someone steal both a plant and a beekeeping suit? Does it even have anything to do with Kaixi's murder?"

"Maybe the suit went missing earlier, and you just didn't notice," Chouki suggests, tracing the tattoos on his left arm.

Hachi rapidly shakes her head. "No way! No way! Beekeeping's my life. I wouldn't make a mistake like that."

Seeing as their conversation has devolved into nothingness, Shizu decides to look elsewhere. If she remembers correctly, there's a hatch on the floor here. The possibility is small, but someone could have stashed something in there.

It takes her a minute to locate it. Even knowing of its existence, it's still tricky to spot. Finally, she manages to spot it, and she kneels down to throw it open. As she grabs the handle, however, she finds that it won't open. She gives it another tug but still nothing.

Hachi is the first to notice what she's doing. "Huh? What's up, Shizu?"

"This hatch won't open," she answers, pulling at it harder. She can feel it shift a little, but it's not enough.

Leaning over, Hachi squints. "Oh! What do you know? There really is a hatch there!"

Chouki scoffs. "I thought you knew this place like the back of your hand."

"I know what I can see," Hachi defends herself. "I never even noticed it."

"It's bigger than you are," Chouki argues. "How'd you manage to miss it?"

At this, Hachi rubs her stomach. "I… I don't always pay attention to the ground. Plus, it's super well hidden. You didn't notice it either!"

Shizu grunts, her efforts not yielding any result. "It… won't… budge."

"It's probably locked," Chouki states.

She takes a break from her struggles to shoot down that theory. "Impossible. I opened it fine before, and it didn't have a lock then."

"Maybe we can help," Hachi suggests. "If all three of us work together, maybe we can force it open."

"Don't volunteer me to do anything without my consent." Despite Chouki's complaints, he still lines up to give her support.

The three of them pull on the handle together using all of their might. At first, nothing seems to happen, but then the door snaps up a tiny bit. Spurred on by their minor success, they resume pulling. Slowly but surely, the trapdoor moves more and more until, finally, it springs open. All three of them are flung into the floor, unprepared for their victory.

Shizu is the first to recover and crawls over to inspect its contents. Instead of the relatively sparce interior she saw before, she now finds the entire space filled with soil. Someone must have opened the bag of dirt and emptied it out in here.

Moving around her, Chouki also looks what they unlocked. He scowls. "Seriously? That's it? A bunch of dirt?"

On her other side, Hachi also looks confused. "There really isn't a lock in here, huh? That means someone, like, glued it shut on purpose or something, but why?"

Shizu's not prepared to answer, but Chouki decides to get his hands dirty, literally. He shoves his hands into the dirt and begins shifting it around. "Maybe there's something in here after all."

He spends a while digging around, looking for anything that's inside. He manages to find the gardening gloves and scoop that were previously in there. Other than that, he manages to dig out a few ceramic shards and some leaves.

None of them have a chance to inspect his findings in greater detail, as, at that moment, a chime sounds throughout the building. Monokuma's voice shouts, "Alright, you sorry excuses for Ultimates! Investigation time is over! Head for the elevator and prepare for another heart-pounding Ultimate Trial!"

Hachi gulps. "O-oh… it's starting already."

"We'd better get going before Monokuma gets impatient," Shizu says, standing up and brushing off her pants.

"The hell is this?" Chouki, who had continued to dig around, pulls up what looks like a Velcro strap. "Who left this in here?"

Although she's also curious about it, she's also a realist. "I don't think we have time to speculate. Bring it with you if you want, but we need to head to the elevator now."

The three of them hurry there at once. Luckily, the arrive just as Soraru is getting on, meaning that they won't have to wait to call it back. As the elevator travels down to pick up the rest of the group, Shizu takes her final notes.

---

Missing Beekeeping Suit – According to Hachi, one of the beekeeping suits went missing since she last checked. Given she was on guard duty last night, it must have been after that.

Garden Closet Hatch – There's a hidden trapdoor hatch in the garden closet. For some reason, it had been stuck shut, despite the fact that it can't be locked. The inside is filled with dirt, but Chouki managed to find gardening gloves, a few leaves, a small scoop, some ceramic shards, and a Velcro strap by digging around. There could potentially be more things that he didn't find.

---

The elevator stops on the 3rd floor, and everyone else files inside. The last time this happened, there were fifteen of them, but now, only thirteen remain. It's still crowded, but the empty spaces feel all the more unsettling.

Once they've all settled and the doors have closed, the selection panel lights up, once again only displaying the "Trial Grounds" button with Monokuma's face. This time, she doesn't hesitate to press it, and they begin to descend far below the ground.

She doesn't have a chance to get settled, as Michio nudges her. Startled, her eyes dart over to him, and he grimaces. "Sorry, but I figured you'd want to know the results of my autopsy."

Right… She had almost forgotten about that. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"It's like I said earlier. Kaixi died from being beaten to death. However, there are a few oddities." Michio rolls his shoulders as he explains. "A lot of the bruises are post-mortem. I didn't have time to figure out all of the ones that happened prior to his death, because there were so many of them. There was a pretty nasty one on the back of his head, though."

"Understandable. I imagine it would be difficult with how injured he was," Shizu says.

Michio clicks his tongue. "The other thing I found was a thin line around his throat. It's real hard to notice because, again, all of the other bruises, but it suggests that the culprit attempted to strangle him at some point. Obviously, they failed, but it's gotta be important."

Shizu pulls out her notepad. "And what of the estimated time of death?"

At this, his expression turns grim. "Ah… that. I could technically tell you what I found, but I've got reasons to doubt its authenticity. It's a long story. For now, it's best to just assume that we don't have one."

That's certainly odd coming from him, but he sounds sure of himself. She can question him about this during the trial, anyways. "Thank you for your work. This will certainly help us all out."

---

Michio's Autopsy of Kaixi – The cause of death is being bludgeoned multiple times. Many of the bruises occurred post-mortem, and it is unclear which ones are which. In addition, Kaixi was strangled before he died, but this was not fatal. Michio was unable to estimate the time of death.

---

Overhearing their conversation, Joshua lets out a nervous chuckle. "Heh… It's uh… kinda late to be finding new evidence. Really getting down to the wire, huh?"

"So long as the information… gets out there… it does not matter when it becomes clear," Pal states.

Tsubame hugs herself tightly. "Unless we learn it after we vote incorrectly…"

"Do not despair," Morgan chides her. "I have a good feeling that everything will work out. Fate cannot allow things to end like that."

"Good to know, but I'm not about to leave things up to fate." Fumika leans on the elevator wall and closes her eyes. "It's the only way to ensure things go our way."

Shortly after this, the elevator dings, and the doors open to reveal the dreaded trial grounds. None of them say anything as they take their places in the ring. This time, Takumi's portrait has been joined by Kazuha's and Kaixi's, both of them also in greyscale and with red X's over their faces.

Kaixi Cheng, the Ultimate Sports Photographer, was an overly eager person. He sought to befriend as many people as possible and was always willing to lend a hand, even if you didn't ask him to. He could get too friendly at times, but he always meant well. He'd sooner hurt himself than hurt anyone else.

And someone here decided that someone like him deserved to die.

Joshua, finally feeling the tension, sweats as his eyes dart between the three portraits of their deceased comrades. Samia takes a deep breath and attempts to steady herself, her pale complexion fading. Pal grips his podium with both hands, exuding enough force that it's a wonder it hasn't cracked. Morgan smiles serenely at everyone, though it fades when she gazes at Kaixi's portrait. Chouki grits his teeth and traces his tattoos.

Someone took advantage of his care nature and his willingness to trust others above all else. Someone murdered him in cold blood, painting the largest room in the building with his blood.

Kogi's eyes jump from person to person, narrowing as he considers his targets. Soraru's fists are balled, though it's not clear if it's related to murders or plants. Hachi sways back and forth as her eyes start to water. Fumika doesn't look worried in the slightest.

Does Kaixi hate the person that killed him? Did he blame himself for them choosing to kill him? Even to the bitter end, could he bring himself to think ill of the very person who stole his life away? She hopes so. He deserves that much.

Sawako stands at attention, ready to bring about justice. Michio appears calm and collected, but his shaking hands betray a nervous energy about him. Tsubame quivers in place, even as she tries to kept herself steady.

Whoever did this will not escape her clutches. She will allow Kaixi to rest in peace.

Shizu straightens up and exhales. It's showtime.

---

A/N: And that's the investigation. Lots of stuff to take note of, but how much of it is actually useful? Find out next time! I would like to say that it was immensely helpful to write out the investigation and trial chapters at the same time. I kept realizing that I either forgot something or that it would be interesting to include something that I hadn't before. Maybe try it out for yourself if you're writing your own story. Or don't. Either way, thank you again to everyone who's been reading. It means a lot. Stay safe out there.