Chapter 1: This Could Be Anywhere In the World (Deadly Life 3)

Junichi, Izumi, Koba, and a shirtless Yuuto arrived at the floor Saya was currently in when they heard a cacophony that could only be described as a constant buzzing sound filling their ears. "There's that buzzing again. It hurts my ears…" Izumi said, walking out of the elevator first.

"Man, glad I can barely hear it," Yuuto said.

"What does that mean?" Izumi asked.

"I got messed up ears, remember?" Yuuto said, pointing to his hearing aid.

"What the hell makes that kind of noise?" Junichi asked as Koba knocked on the door, quickly responded to by Saya opening the door, the buzzing sound getting loud enough that it began to blare over the talking volume of all the students.

"Ah, Koba! I believe I've found a clue!" Saya shouted over the buzzing.

"What!?" Yuuto shouted, cupping his ear.

"I said I believe-" Saya shouted again.

"TURN THAT OFF!" Junichi yelled as loud as he could. Saya glowered at Junichi before marching back into the laundromat. Each dryer buzzer was going off at the same time, and Junichi went to turn off every single one he could find. "Who in the hell turned all these dryers on!?"

"Our culprit, in fact. They turned the dryers on to blow the circuit board. Each one was running a high heat load." Saya explained, adjusting her glasses.

"...Does that mean all our clothes shrunk in the dryer like those Shrinky Dink sticker things?" Yuuto asked, munching hotdogs as he spoke.

"Where do you get these references?" Izumi asked, befuddled.

"I'm a man of culture," Yuuto said with a shrug.

"So the culprit tripped the breakers… by turning all the dryers on? Wouldn't that take a while?"

"The culprit used a feature these dryers have. You can program them to turn on after a countdown timer is finished, and each one was set to turn on at around the same time." Saya said, pointing to the timer dial being turned to the 45-minute mark, and an LCD display flashing 00:00 on every single one.

"Does it say when they were set to 45 minutes?"

"I can assume when the power went out. There was so much draw it knocked out the lights… Is there a way to check if the breakers in this room and the breakers in the dining hall are the very same ones?" Koba wondered.

"That brings up my next point, do you see a problem with one of these dryers?" Saya asked, pointing to the neat row of dryers lined up on one side of the laundromat, and a row of washers on the opposite wall. One dryer was tilted to the side.

"Why is that one not lined up?" Junichi asked.

"I suggest Koba and Ando inspect the back of that dryer, when I came across it, it was positioned differently than the other ones, and Igarashi can confirm that for me."

"Yeah… That one was like that when we got here, the buzzing made my head spin when I first got up here..." Izumi said.

"So, what do I do?" Yuuto asked as Koba and Junichi checked the back of the dryer.

"Nothing. You do nothing, Yuuto." Izumi said with a frown.

"Hey! I didn't ask you!" Yuuto shouted.

"You do nothing, Hagiwara," Saya said.

"Can you at least find a shirt to wear while you're in here so I don't have to see your weird nipples?" Izumi asked.

"Hey, I got normal nipples! And I'm gonna not wear a shirt out of spite because of that!"

"Ughhh…"

"Nope! You're wearing a shirt, Yuuto!" Monokuma said, throwing a black ball of cloth at him.

"Hey! Don't throw shirts at me!" Yuuto objected.

"I ain't starting the Class Trial until you got a shirt on!"

"Great, more investigation time for us! We win!" Junichi exclaimed. "Keep your shirt off, Yuuto!"

"I didn't think I'd hear you say that, Junichi!" Yuuto exclaimed in joy and confusion.

"W-what!? No! It isn't a win! Fine, you'll all be punished if Yuuto doesn't cover his shame!"

"S-shame!? Hey, guys can go shirtless! It's not like I've got boobies or anything." Yuuto objected.

"I don't want to see your boobies, Yuuto. Put your shirt on!" Monokuma shouted. "Or y'all die!"

"Mrh… fine!" Yuuto said, storming off to put his shirt on.

"Okay… What's behind the dryer, Saya?" Junichi asked.

"This," Saya said, getting onto one knee and pointing to a vent way. The grate was placed over the vent way, but the screws were taken out and placed on the floor. "Someone ripped off this vent way and most likely climbed into it. I need some volunteers to investigate where this goes."

"Why don't you do it?" Junichi asked.

"Me, do that? What do you think I am? I am the Ultimate Class President. I'm not climbing in a vent, Ando." Saya replied.

"Y-yeah. Do you think that's something a girl would do, Junichi?" Izumi asked.

"You're on the list of volunteers, Igarashi. Both men and women are capable of hard work and getting their hands dirty, I'm very firm on equality."

"...Oh," Izumi said sheepishly. Uhh… nose goes!" Izumi shouted, pointing a finger to her nose.

"What did she say?" Junichi asked, looking around.

"Well, it would appear you'll be going in, Ando," Saya said with a shrug.

"Wait, what?" Junichi asked, seeing Koba with his finger on his nose. "You traitor."

"Uhh, sorry. I just didn't want to get last again like back at my old school." Koba said.

"I didn't agree to this 'nose goes' thing! We didn't do that back at my school,"

"Well, you didn't put your finger on your nose," Izumi said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"H-how old are you people!? I thought we were adults!" Junichi shouted in protest.

"You climb in first, Junichi. Rules are rules and we went by nose goes!" Koba countered.

"Fine, I'll climb in, but one of you better go with me in case I get stuck! I'm still injured here and I'm feeling a lack of kindness and sympathy coming from the lot of you," Junichi said.

"Igarashi, go with him," Saya said.

"Wh-what?! Come on! I got my nose first!" Izumi objected. Saya lightly smacked Izumi in the nose with her ruler. "OW! You bapped me!" Izumi cried, grabbing her nose.

"I gave you an order, Igarashi. I will bap you again if you talk back," Saya warned.

Izumi just sighed and got onto her hands in knees in defeat. "Fine, I'll crawl in the stupid vent. C'mon, Junichi. Guess we're both going to be like two guinea pigs today."

Junichi nodded, getting on his knees and following after Izumi. Thankfully, her skirt was very modest, so Junichi didn't have to avert his gaze while climbing behind her. "We've got a left turn coming up, Junichi. Then it starts going down, okay?" Izumi asked.

"Got it," Junichi said. As they crawled through the vent way, Junichi felt something brush against his hand. "W-was that a rat!?" Junichi said, sliding his hand back to check, but the feeling he felt, kind of like a bundle of hair was completely stationary. He pulled back and saw a small clump of brown hair.

"Hair… Someone got their hair snagged down here." Junichi said. "Izumi, do you remember who has brown hair?"

"Huh? Uhh… I think Touki does, but not off the top of my head... Yuuto too, maybe," Izumi said. Junichi pocketed the hair in one of the pockets of his hoodie, before crawling down the slope Izumi spoke of, until Izumi suddenly stopped, making Junichi bump into her.

"Why did you stop?" Junichi asked.

"I found the other grate!" Izumi exclaimed. Izumi pushed a hand on it when suddenly she gasped. The grate falling away from her and ending up with a distant, metallic thud. "W-wait! It fell!"

"The hell was that!?" A distant Rokuro shouted.

"Sorry!" Izumi called. "I didn't think the vent went here of a-all places!" She said, backing up a bit, making Junichi back up as well.

"Hey, where did this vent go? Izumi? Can I look?" Junichi asked, sitting on his knees to take some of the pressure off his only crawling arm.

"You can, j-just we'd have to squeeze by each other," Izumi said, leaning back to look at him. The vent was narrow, but Junichi possibly could move past her if she pressed her back against one of the sides of the vent.

"Alright, I'm moving up, we'll try to figure this out," Junichi said, awkwardly shuffling past Izumi, who tried to make herself as small as possible so Junichi could head up to the exit of the vent, only to realize as his vision adjusted back to being in the light that he was about 30 feet in the air. "W-Woah… Holy shit, we're high up!"

Junichi looked down at the floor, where a few of the students were, and the scene of the crime. He panned his vision along the ceiling, before finding that up, and to the right, there was the support beam that held up the chandelier mount. "Good lord…" Junichi said, somewhat shocked. He reached his arm out to see if he could grab the support post by the vent, and while his fingers could touch it, he really didn't think he wanted to climb onto it.

"What do you see, Junichi?" Izumi called.

"I found a beam that connects to the chandelier that fell, it looks like it's right around where that fountain was, so it's lined up perfectly to where it fell. I'm not climbing up it, though! Let's go back the other way and talk to Saya and Koba." Junichi called back.

Izumi nodded and began to shuffle back out of the vent, Junichi following after her. "Hey, don't look at my butt, alright?" Junichi said.

"I wasn't looking anyway, but okay I guess," Izumi said, looking behind her as she shuffled backward.

The two soon crawled out of the vent way. "So, what did you find?" Saya asked.

"The vent leads to the dining hall ceiling. There's a beam that connects to the fallen chandelier by the fountain," Junichi explained. "It lines up where the chandelier dropped."

"I see… Well, we have one last thing we need to see. What was on the other side of the sealed door backstage back in the dining hall."

"What about the breakers?" Izumi asked.

"Koba and I checked those while you were in the vent. We had Hagiwara check if the lights in the dining hall went out when we flicked the switch."

"Were we in the vent that long?" Izumi wondered.

"You were crawling and Ando is injured. Obviously, you were in the vent for a while." Saya said.

"Ah, right… so, how do we get to the other side of the door?" Izumi asked.

"We take the alternate elevator down to the floor with the dining hall, which leads to a different hallway and the other entrance to that room," Saya explained.

"Wait, there's an alternate elevator?" Junichi asked.

"Mhm. I think there's two every floor from each side." Koba said. "Lead the way, Saya."

Saya nodded and headed out of the laundromat, leading the other three students to the alternate elevator. They headed down into a section of the hotel Junichi hadn't seen yet; a staging room for the dining hall with costumes and props scattered around the room. However, what drew Saya's eye was on the table.

She walked over, picking up a switchblade on the table. "Any idea of where this came from?" Saya asked.

The switchblade had a slightly purple tint to the steel of the knife, appearing like it was coated with patination, along with a carbon plastic handle. "It's a pretty pricey knife from the looks of it," Junichi said. "Do you know a lot about knives being a cook, Izumi?"

"No, that's not a knife a chef would use. That's a kind of pocket knife… I wouldn't know who it belonged to, though."

"There are some possibilities, but none who I can be certain of without discussing it with them," Koba said.

Ding Dong, Bing Bong!

"Sheesh! Does everything you losers do have to take like three times as long? The last kids would've been a third-way into the trial by now!" Monokuma complained on a nearby monitor. "All your nonsense about hotdogs and morality and washing machines… It's tedious!" Monokuma said, throwing his glass of wine he was holding over the back of his head, breaking off-screen somewhere."I un-jimmied the door back into the dining hall. Everybody come in and wait for the dramatic trial elevator thingy!"

"So, guess it's time for the trial, right?" Junichi asked.

"Sounds like it…" Koba said, opening the door to the stage. The students headed off the stage to meet up with the others at the dining hall. Junichi focused his eyes away from the crime scene, looking around to see who was still in the dining hall.

Daichi was in a corner, avoiding the others still. Airi sitting with Chiwa, having finally calmed her down. Touki was writing down notes onto a notepad while Rokuro crouched by the Monokuma statue. Asana was trying to comfort a shaking Miyuki, whose eyes were darting around other students. Yuuto was complaining to Sora about his new shirt, which had IDIOT written on it in large white lettering. Finally, Rinne was sitting in wait. "So, you guys got an idea who the culprit is?"

"Not yet. I don't think we found anything conclusive, just a bunch of random facts put together." Koba said with a shake of his head.

"Guess we're gonna need to piece it all together in the class trial," Rinne said when the room began to shake.

"Wh-what now?!" Miyuki exclaimed. The hardwood floor opened up to reveal a platform that was beside the Monokuma statue near the entrance. "Did the floor just open up!?"

The elevator opened, Monokuma standing in a bellhop's uniform. "Everyone into the Trial Elevator!"

"How many elevators do you have?!" Izumi asked.

"Enough," Monokuma said. "Now get onto the platform, keep your hands and legs near yourself at all times. Be sure to be uncomfortable on the slow ride down to the class trial!" he announced as everyone slowly stepped into the elevator. Junichi walked to the back of the elevator, where Asana was leaning back in wait.

"Hey, Asana. Did you see me wearing a star on my head?" Junichi asked.

"Huh?" Asana asked, looking at Junichi.

"Like… did you see a glowing star on my beanie at some point today, or yesterday?" he elaborated.

"Oh, yeah. I just thought you were trying to change your style up a bit. I saw you with that pin on your hat and thought the star was a part of it."

"Oh, yeah that makes sense... " Junichi said.

"You nervous about this trial?" Asana asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what to do about all of this.I've never had to do anything like this…" Junichi said with a sigh. "Man, I didn't even have to do jury duty or anything like this before. The worst I got was one time I got accused of stealing some chocolate truffles from this rich girl…"

"Hrm… I dunno much about court but I do have a story to tell you. You ever see my fight against Erika Fuyuki?"

"Ah… no, sorry." Junichi said. "Must've been on pay per view or something and I'm the broke kid of the group at school."

"Well, as soon as the bell rang for the first round, I grabbed Erika by the face and kissed her right on the lips," Asana said. "She was so stunned that she was open for a back fist."

"..Of all the things you did, why kiss her on the lips?" Junichi asked.

"Because she wouldn't see it coming! She thinks I'm gonna go win with a knee strike or a takedown, but then I slip her some tongue! And it worked like a charm!"

"Uhh…"

"Y'see, there's something about the human mind you learn about by being in a battle. The very first milliseconds' someone reacts to something is their true self, their instincts! That's the very truth of their body reacting before their mind can even come up with what they're supposed to do." Asana explained her hands on her hips. "So it's how you can catch liars. The truth isn't in their instincts, so they react differently than they should! Then, a millisecond later, their brain thinks 'oh shit, I need to come up with a game plan!' that hesitation, that unsureness… that's the best time to strike." she said, thumbing her lower lip with a grin.

"So… I gotta catch the culprit off-guard?" Junichi asked, slowly nodding his head.

"You just want that moment where they realize the game is up and have to come up with their fake emotions," Asana explained.

"And that's when I strike?" Junichi asked.

"Yup! This is your quarry, Red. I know ya liked that alien girl, so whup their ass at the trial, alright?"

"Got it. Thanks, Asana."

"No problem," Asana said patting Junichi on the back. Junichi turned to look at everyone else. There was no light, except for the passing lights that briefly illuminated all their faces as it continued to go lower and lower in the building.

One of these people was a murderer, and all the bets were on the table to figure out who it was.

That bet, being their lives.

The curtains rise on the first Class Trial