Chapter 1: This Could Be Anywhere In The World (Deadly Life 2)

"Junichi, Junichi! Calm down, please!" Koba shouted as he grabbed Junichi by his shoulders and shook him. Junichi was currently scream-crying in a corner, out of terror and despair. The only sound coming from him was panicked hyperventilating.

"Junichi, slow breaths. Come on…" Koba said, getting no response. "C-count to five when you inhale! Only breathe out after five, c'mon. I know you can do it..."

Junichi could barely hear Koba over his own screams. He couldn't get the sight of Surumi's mangled body out of his head. The bitter copper smell of blood enveloped his nostrils and his eyes were burning with tears. "Come on, Junichi! Count to five!" Koba yelled. Junichi took in a deep breath, counting to five in his head before exhaling. "There ya go. Slow and steady. Just breathe. Talk to me, Junichi…"

"S-Surumi! Koba, s-she's-" Junichi sputtered out, voice cracking.

"Just breathe, Junichi. Just… We need to figure out what happened," Koba said calmly. "This wasn't an accident, we have to find out who killed her. When you're ready to talk, tell me what happened before the lights went out."

"O-Okay… okay… where do I start?" Junichi said, rubbing his sleeve on his eyes.

"Let's try when you entered the banquet, What do you remember?" Koba asked.

"When I got in, I… I remember hanging out with Touki. Getting a drink with Surumi and getting some finger sandwiches… I think I had to get a sandwich for Rinne… turkey bacon and cheese with hot sauce…" Junichi said, wracking his brain as Koba nodded.

"You talked to Surumi and then she began walking on her hands, right?" Koba asked

"That happened? ...Oh yeah, that did happen. She said she was some kind of spider creature and wanted to show me how balanced she was," Junichi said, suddenly shaking his head. "No wait, she didn't say she was a spider. She said she was born under the Spider."

"...Under the spider?" Koba asked.

"Y-yeah. She was explaining her constellation system. People being born under different stars, ya know, astrology stuff." Junichi said, still shaking as he leaned against the wall. "She said people born under the Spider were creative and graceful. She wore the constellations on her arms…"

"So she demonstrated her balance by walking across the Dining Hall on her hands?"

"Th-that's right. Then she asked if I wanted to know my birth constellation and told me she had to hold my hand…" Junichi replied, sniffling. "That's… that's when the lights went out. Everything was so loud and I lost hold of her… I should've held on… we could've gotten out from under there if we started running… it's all my fault, Koba!" Junichi cried out, the sting of tears returning, as he buried himself into his chest.

"You didn't know what was going to happen next, Junichi," Koba said, giving him a light hug on Junichi's injured frame. "Wait… what's that on your head?" Koba said, Junichi pulling his head up.

"H-huh? Something on my head?" Junichi asked, grabbing his hat off his head. Through blurry eyes, Junichi flipped over his hat to see a slightly wrinkled sticker. "Wait… this is one of Surumi's star stickers! How did this get- Oh yeah! She smacked me in the head the other day!" Junichi exclaimed.

"...Interesting… where did she get these stickers?" Koba asked.

"I gave them to her and she used them to decorate her lab," Junichi explained.

"Hrm... Junichi, remember how I wanted you to be my assistant?" Koba asked.

"Y-yeah… I remember, why?" Junichi wondered.

"Well, I want you to help me investigate Surumi's murder. You in?" he asked, offering a hand.

"I g-guess… just one thing…" Junichi looking down.

"Name it."

"I don't want to go back to the Dining Hall. I can't bear to look…" Junichi said, taking Koba's hand.

"Of course. In fact, I already know a place we can check." Koba said with an understanding nod. He helped Junichi to his feet, turning him toward the elevator.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Koba asked Junichi as the two stepped into the elevator. Junichi took a grip of his chest, squeezing the clothes in his fingers as he tried to maintain his breathing.

"If… if someone made Surumi part of their plot, I want to find out," Junichi said.

"What if it was Surumi's plot?" Koba asked.

"Why would she shove me at the last second if she was trying to kill me?" Junichi pointed out.

"She… shoved you?"

"Yeah. She let go and then pushed out of the way of the chandelier," Junichi explained, the elevator coming to a stop "Where are we going anyway?"

"Surumi's lab. I want to see if she was coerced somehow into putting you into a deathtrap." Koba explained.

"Alright. So we just gotta check Surumi's lab, right?" Junichi asked.

"Mhm," Koba said as they stopped at the door. "Hrm… ah, I forgot. I don't have a way in."

"You don't?"

"No. In order to access the lab, you need either the owner's student handbook or enter their birthday into the keypad as a four-digit password," Koba said. Junichi blinked before suddenly walking over to the keypad. He typed in 0528, getting an affirmative beep. "Ah, right. Surumi told you her birthday."

"Yep. May 28th," Junichi replied, opening the door to the lab. He stood at the doorway, trying to work up the strength before finally stepping back inside. He didn't really look at the rest of the lab besides following what Surumi was doing the other day. So he decided to start with the desks and shelves of the room since he knew where she got the stickers from; from him.

First was a desk with various star charts folded up onto it, along with a notepad with a few papers torn off, and an ink pen sitting next to it. There was also a cup with several colored pencils in it sitting right next to it.

"Do you think the culprit wrote her a note?" Koba asked, scratching his chin.

"No… I think she was drawing constellations with it." Junichi said. "Something similar to what she did when she was still trapped in her hotel room, I guess."

"That's what you know, but I'm asking what if it was possible the culprit gave her a note that gave her instructions on how to kill you?"

"No, she wouldn't," Junichi said, feeling a tingle on the back of his neck and feeling his breath catch. He wasn't angry at what Koba said, just a touch offended at what he was implying.

"Junichi, the truth is… I think most of us only know what other people have told us about themselves so far. Do you really know Surumi enough to tell that she was being cornered by someone and wouldn't tell you, because she didn't want you to worry about it with your injury?" Koba pushed further with his line of questioning.

"I… You can't just- that's not-" Junichi stammered out, trying to find a response.

"And after what happened to your mom? I assume you told her as well. Lies don't have to be words. Lies can be an omission, too." Koba continued. "Leaving something out? That's a lie. It's something you have to think about since we're nothing but strangers, trapped together."

"I… you…" Junichi said, feeling his face heat up.

"I'm not trying to attack you, Junichi. But you need to keep every possibility in mind. If something could happen, then it isn't impossible, no matter how improbable it seems to be." Koba said calmly. "A good detective has to consider all of those possibilities and then eliminate them. My assumption of Surumi's culpability isn't the only narrative I'm following but I can't just reject it out of hand. Especially because someone doesn't want to consider it to be true, because it affects their perception of them,"

"Y-you didn't know her! You barely talked to her, so you can't just assume-" Junichi said, voice raised.

"No, I didn't. And I can tell this has been difficult for you… damn it, this is the scratched pocket watch. I was hoping to avoid that…" Koba said, Junichi suddenly blinking in confusion.

"Scratched pocket watch?" Junichi asked.

"In The Sign of the Four, Sherlock analyzes a damaged pocket watch in Watson's possession. Through it, he deduces a great deal about Watson's brother, including things like his alcoholism. Watson gets offended and tells Holmes off for it.," Koba explained. "Sorry, Junichi. I try to be more considerate of other people's feelings during cases, but I think the nature of this Killing Suite is making me focus too much on getting things right. I'll try not to bring up my theories on Surumi's involvement if it helps. Deal?" he asked, offering a hand for Junichi to shake. Junichi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Sure. Sorry about the attitude. Just… it still hurts, ya know?" Junichi said, shaking Koba's hand.

"I know. Just… Can you check if Surumi's notepad has any writing on any of the pages?" Koba asked, mindful to not say anything that would upset Junichi.

"Got it," he said, flipping through the notepad. Sadly, all the pages with writing in it were ripped out, leaving only the slight indents of a pen pressed against paper showing that it had been written in. "Nothing. Someone wrote in it, but all the pages that were written in were torn out and thrown away." Junichi answered. Koba walked over and grabbed one of the darker colored pencils from the cup, pulling out an indigo one that seemed to be sharpened recently.

"Here, lemme try an old detective's trick," Koba said as he gently gripped onto the end of the pencil, and lightly began to scribble back and forth to give the top paper a light shading of the pigment. "If I press too hard, this won't work. So I need to give this some finesse, first…" He said, shading in the paper once, and then twice.

Junichi watched as soon the entire paper was covered. "There. Now, let's see if this comes out legible…" Koba said as he and Junichi looked over the purple paper. The indents where the lightly pressed shading was uncolored, revealing words written on it.

Place one of the stickers on Junichi's hat. - K

2:50 - K

"K…?" Junichi asked, giving a skeptical glance to Koba.

"That could be several people, be it last names, first names..."

"Sure, but… Koba."

"Koba, Kiruma, Katsuya, Kudo, Kakihara," Koba counted on each hand. "So, that leaves us with four potential suspects-"

"Five," Junichi said.

"Junichi, why would I investigate a murder I committed?" Koba asked.

"This could be a fake investigation to get my trust, Mr. Ultimate Detective," Junichi countered. "Hell, you were the one who saw the star on my head."

"And? Koba said.

"Well, how did no one else notice the sticker? Are you telling me that no one would notice I have a sticker stuck to my hat for a whole day? You guys don't even know if I changed my hat from yesterday to today. Why would there be two stickers on two hats?"

"Well, are you?"

"What?"

"Are you wearing the same hat as yesterday?"

"...I am. But that's not the point."

"Not trusting anybody is how Monokuma wants us to screw up and vote for the wrong culprit, Junichi. I took you with me because I want to trust you, not that I want to lead you along." Koba said reassuringly.

"...Okay, so we have K telling Surumi to put a star on my head. Why?" Junichi asked. "And what about 2:50?"

"I think it might have to do with the nature of the sticker. They somehow knew it glows in the dark, and that would be the reason they would shut off the lights." Koba explained. "As for 2:50… I'm not entirely sure…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Junichi asked. "I mean, you're the Ultimate Detective, right?"

"I'm putting together the pieces. Despite what a lot of tv and movies will tell you, a detective isn't a psychic. We can certainly learn a lot through observation, but without a good throughline, all the clues just become a scattered mess of random information…" Koba said, rubbing his chin. "I think we'll need to check the rest of the lab. See what else we can find."

Junichi picked up a nearby carabiner that seemed out of place compared to the space almanacs and fake star charts placed on the desk. It was red and seemed familiar despite the one he had gotten out of the MonoMono Machine being blue. Koba walked over to the bookshelf, looking it over and finding something.

"Ah, I was wondering where that would be," Koba said, Junichi turning his head to face him.

"What did you find?" Junichi asked.

"Surumi's DVD player. Which means if my assumption is correct…" Koba said, putting the DVD player on the table and opening the disc tray. Inside was a blank disc with Surumi's name written on it in black marker. "Surumi's motive disc."

"Wait, but she said that..." Junichi said, feeling his words stop in his throat.

"That she didn't watch the disc?" Koba finished for him. Junichi nodded. "She probably said that because you had watched yours and she could see your pain and didn't want you to burden yourself with her own troubles." he assessed. Koba reloaded the disc tray.

"..Should we? I… I don't know." Junichi said nervously.

"We have to be thorough in an investigation. No stone unturned," Koba said. "I'm certain that the punishment Monokuma listed on the regulations is going to be grim if we get the culprit wrong, to say the least."

"Alright…" Junichi said, turning on the laptop.

Junichi had a hard time swallowing his spit as he waited for the DVD to spin up and the video to get ready. The video started with Monokuma in a dark room, looking over some papers.

"Ah yes, Surumi Takeuchi. Left at the doorstep of an orphanage at a young age. This here DVD and motive video is for you! You see, you may never have been able to find your home planet, little alien, but I found something you've wanted for years and could never hope to find." Monokuma said, flipping over the papers until he turned a pair over to face the screen.

The files took up the screen, photos of a man with short dark-brown hair that had been combed back with orange-brown eyes and a woman with long auburn hair and green eyes. "Your real parents! I found them and I've got them somewhere nice and cozy just waiting to see their baby girl again! Heh heh heh heh…" Monokuma chuckled that grim chuckle for a bit. "They divorced and both didn't want a kid. So instead of taking responsibility like adults, they just dumped you off in an orphanage and went their separate ways! After all, she had to see the baby through to save her reputation with her coworkers, And he had to not raise it to save his money! What selfish people."

"But maybe if they know their little dumpster baby turned out to be a highly-renowned astronomer and an Ultimate Student, they might just want you back! Or maybe you could do a little… family bonding. Ruahahaha~" Monokuma said, cackling madly as the familiar words filled the screen in blinding red.

KILL TO ESCAPE, SURUMI

Junichi felt a wave of anger hit him as the video cut out. "Those… bastards…" Junichi choked out. "They didn't even… they just didn't want her… There wasn't even excuse. Those bastards… They're why she was here…"

Koba put a hand on Junichi's shoulder. "Do… do you think that would have caused her to become susceptible to coercion?"

Junichi wanted to say no, but he had seen his own video and he started to wonder if he would've said no to an offer to escape if handed to him. Junichi took a deep breath. "Maybe… but there's gotta be more to this case, right?"

"Right. We have to keep investigating. I think we've seen everything of note in here. Sorry for putting you through this…" Koba said. "I… I thought maybe you might know best about her, and you would be the key to this whole thing."

"Nah, it's fine. Rip the bandage off, right?" Junichi said, shrugging off Koba's hand. "We got a few clues, right?" Junichi replied.

"Yeah…" Koba said, turning for the open doorway to see Izumi standing there with Yuuto. "Izumi? Yuuto? What brings you here?'

"Saya had asked me to bring you to her. She wants to meet you in the laundry room; apparently, she's found something while we were heading to the other side of a locked-off room."

"She's found something?" Junichi asked.

"Mhm. She said she wanted to explain it to you in person, so she didn't say anything to me. Something about not wanting me to misinterpret her words," Izumi said.

"You sure you're in a position that she actually respects?" Yuuto asked. "Why the fuck was I following you guys again?"

"I probably would've forgotten the details on the way, and you just sorta followed me because you wanted to eat more mini hotdogs without being at the murder scene."

"You make me sound like a terrible person, Izumi. Not cool," Yuuto objected. "What's evil 'bout liking mini hotdogs?" he asked, Izumi sighing and pinching her forehead.

"Lead the way, Izumi," Koba said. Izumi nodded and headed off toward the elevator. Yuuto shrugged and followed after her, Koba and Junichi joining up with them.

"So, sounds like we got our next clue," Junichi said.

"Mhm. Hopefully, we'll have enough time to cover all our bases before the trial starts," Koba said as Izumi pressed the button to send them down to the 19th floor.

"I don't know man, besides that argument, I think we're making good pace."

"Saya already explored most of the murder scene, so now we just have a few things left to look at and we'd be pretty set up for this, I think," Izumi said as the doors closed.

"Nobody answered my question!" Yuuto shouted as the elevator began its descent, sending them down another floor to the one just above the murder.

"It's a murder scene, you pig! What're you doin' still eating hot dogs!?" Izumi exclaimed.

"I was hungry! And who are you calling a pig?! Look at my ribcage!" Yuuto shouted, pointed to his lower torso. "I'm a skeleton with skin! If I don't keep eating I'll turn into the Cryptkeeper or something."

"And put a shirt on!" Izumi cried. "Why are you so calm about this?!"

"I've seen some shit in the metal scene. Ever heard of a band called Mayhem? The lead singer blew his brains out with a shotgun and his band members made it the album cover! Then they had his skull turned into necklaces for them. And the album STILL slaps!"

"Please tell me you made that up." Junichi said, eyes wide.

"It's true shit, yo," Yuuto said with a straight face. "Then they replaced him with a guy who killed the guitarist and burned a church. It turns out black metal had some fucked up people back in the '90s." he said, ignoring the blanched look on Junichi's and Koba's faces.

"Ahhh! Shut up! Stop talking!" Izumi exclaimed, covering her ears. "Fine! Eat your stupid hot dogs as long as you don't say anything!"

"Yeeeeah!" Yuuto said, pulling a set of mini hotdogs out of his pockets and stuffing them into his mouth.

"Did you have those in your pocket the whole time?" Junichi asked. "Won't they have like... pocket lint on it and stuff?"

"I told ya, I was fuckin' hungry!" Yuuto said between bites.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Izumi cried, Koba sighing in defeat.

"This is gonna be a long investigation…"