I stare down at the body, it was hard to believe that just a few hours ago I was talking to him and now I can't even look at him. I wipe my nose with my sleeve, and grow a bit angry. Who the hell does the killer think they are? not even leaving James with a intact body, what did he ever do to anyone?

Monokuma 55 wasted no time in getting to us, handing off the clipboard with the Monokuma file. Kojiro flipped through it, M and Kenta leaning over his shoulder.

After they finish, Kojiro comes up next to me holding the Monokuma file, "Want to look at the file?" He asks handing it off to me.

I grab it and look at the clip bored.

Victim: James Guzman

"The time of death was around 5:40"

"Instant death due to beheading"

"Other then the cut off hand their are no other injuries"

"Murder took place at the 3 floor stairwell"

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Monokuma File

"The only useful thing is the time provided," I comment.

"Not necessarily," Kenta said peering over my shoulder, "we know no one moved the body, and that a alibi around 5:40 will be pretty airtight because of the instant death."

"I guess we should all split up, some check the first floor and the second, and we'll stay with the body," I suggest. Akira and Danny volunteered to check the first floor, Haruna had just rejoined us and seemed marginally calmer. So it was decided Kenta, Kojiro, Me, and M would stay with the body. I absently notice a few absences too, where was Yoshiki, Veliah and Evan?

"We've got another area," Haruna cuts in, "We have to check the third floor too."

I stopped and looked at the only entrance to the third floor which was thoroughly blocked by a dead body. I feel myself slump, not investigating the third floor wasn't a option when the killer could have easily hidden evidence.

"Someone has to go upstairs," I say, "Kenta, you go."

Kenta pulled a face, "I may not care about the murder but that doesn't mean I'm stepping in that."

M volunteered stoically, "I'll do it," M then stepped carefully around the body, going as far as to tiptoe over a puddle of blood, then continued up the stairs. I never really considered it because of M's stoic disposition, but he must have considered James some kind of friend, and seeing him being so tedious with keeping the body untouched makes the notion more probable.

"Why do you think he was on the stairs?" Haruna asks, nudging the body with her foot. Kenta puts out a hand and stops her from doing again.

"Leaving the third floor?" I suggest.

"Backwards?" Kojiro questions sarcastically.

"What do you mean backwards?"

Kenta gestured to the body, "Unless James wears his clothes backwards, I say he died facing up."

Looking now I see he was right, it was just hard to notice with James's head not being aligned correctly.

Haruna then snickered, "How did he fall backwards if he was going up? You would think the Super High School Level Kickboxer would have good balance."

Haruna was right, I don't think James was the kind of guy to lose his balance that badly, and even if he did, he should have fell forward not back. The body was also a little bit away from the stairs, like he had more momentum to go father out.

I crouched down next to James body, Kenta doing the same before whistling, "Well, other then the obvious, his wrist is severed too, maybe it got cut off protecting himself?"

"I don't know?" I admit, I looked down trying to focus the best I could and something felt odd, the injuries were strange? I stared at the severed hand and head and then I realized it, the wounds were too clean and straight, like James just laid down and someone took a ruler and drew straight through. The blood around him also followed this path, a thick line formed with dried blood.

"You see it too," Kojiro comments from behind me, "even with my artist skills I can't sever a head like that."

I go to reply when something wet drips on my cheek, I wipe my face and look at my hand to see smeared blood, "What?"

Kojiro stands straight and looks up, "Blood on the ceiling? Was it splattered during the murder?"

"No, but that's close," Kenta says, who apparently has already figured out the real answer but won't tell us, "I think I know what happened, but I've got no clue on how or why."

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Line of Blood/ Blood Drops

I sighed, "We can figure it out in the trial."

M was accompanied by Yoshiki when he came back from the third floor, "Me and Yoshiki met on the third floor... I didn't find anything suspicious."

I guess that explains where Yoshiki was, but why was he on the third floor?

Yoshiki glanced at M before adding his own thoughts, "I didn't see anything either, no blood, no weapons, nothing."

"I was wrong, there is something we missed," M suddenly corrected himself, "the wire."

Yoshiki look around confused, "What wire?"

M points up at ceiling at what I thought was a spider web before, but was in reality a fine clear wire, "It's attached to the gate, I don't know why."

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Spider String/wire

Yoshiki contemplates the information, "You think James put it there?"

"Maybe?" I shrug unsure, "I saw it earlier today, around morning, so whatever it is, it wasn't just put up."

Yoshiki nods, before looking concerned, "There really isn't much to go from here, besides what's obvious."

"Do you have any clues?" I ask M, but M's taciturn expressions gave nothing away.

We begin to check over the body but we don't find anything new, which is a little concerning.

"Hey Sanyu, you want to go investigate somewhere else?" Haruna asks, bringing my attention away.

"Oh ok?" I agree unsure, Haruna smacks me on the back.

"That's my guy!"

We walk down stairs to the first floor, where Haruna quickly steers us to the cafateria.

"Well I'm thirsty and there's a killer on the loose, so I need my despair bodyguard," Haruna stated like it was obvious.

"I could be the killer for all you know," I say.

"Sanyu, someone like you couldn't kill someone like James," Haruna scoffs, "that's why I picked you."

"Thanks." I reply rolling my eyes.

Haruna scoffs before pointing down the hallway, "Look, Akira's right there so go have fun with her while I get my drink."

"Ugh, that sounds like something my dad would say," I groan, dad had a bad habit of abandoning me to get plenty of 'drinks'.

"Ya know, that sounds messed up," Haruna says leaning in, "but I don't care right now." Haruna then leaves for the cafeteria, behind me M comes down the stairs.

"I wanted to ask before it was to late but have you seen Danny, and Evan?" M asks.

"Oh Danny is with Akira so if you find her you find him," I inform, "but I haven't seen Evan at all."

M nods, lost in thought. Yoshiki comes down stairs too, but he doesn't bother to talk to us, in fact he even speeds up. Bothered by the blatant disregard I decided to join someone who actually appreciates me.

I join up with Akira, I thought I would see Danny too but I guess this as one of the rare times they were split up. I wonder if I should tell M, he was wondering where Danny was.

"Where's Evan and Veliah?" I ask, After M brought it up now I'm a little worried.

"Evans on the first floor too, but it's probably best if you leave him alone," Akira suggests, "and Veliah been missing this whole investigation, and I'm really worried." I thank her and go look around anyways, I should probably listen to her warning but I want to be sure Evan is ok myself, and maybe I'll find Veliah along the way.

I find Evan on the first floor near the incinerator, "Hey Evan, why are you down here?" I ask.

"I'm looking for evidence," Evan explains vaguely.

"Why not check out the body then?" I ask confused.

"Well not everyone wants to see the dead body of their friend," Evan snaps coldly. He then leaves the room. Whoops, I probably should have knew that... maybe I could tell M, the three of them were friends and could help each other get through this? I saw him down here earlier, maybe he still is?

I go to the cafeteria finding Haruna drinking the Dr. Hopper, we stand in the doorway.

"Is now really the time for a drink?" I ask, a little grumpy because I wanted to drink that later.

Haruna took a swig before settling the bottle down on the floor just outside the cafeteria, "Do you... remember what Yukihiro said before she died, how she wanted us all to escape and team up?" I nod remembering how she offered us all a chance to come with her and look for her sister, a goal to look forward to, "This motive has got me thinking about that, maybe when this is said and done we can bust into the Masterminds lair and see if they got any information!"

We walk fully into the cafeteria letting the doors swing shut behind us, and sit at the tables. The door briefly opens but no one comes in though, so I don't think much of it.

"That's a great idea, they're bound to have a lot of stuff we can use to help others when we escape or else they wouldn't have even been able to create this killing game," I respond excited, "and the information on the family's can lead us to Yukihiro's sister!"

I heard a piercing scream that left my ears ringing. I was stunned trying to process the sound, but Haruna didn't hesitate as she grabbed my hand and then dragged me after her as she ran. I could see her soccer skills coming through as I was stumbling to keep up with her pace.

Haruna turned and stopped on a dime while I ended up sliding into the wall. For a brief pause Haruna stood like a deer in the headlights before I saw a black figure run past us. Haruna reacted fast and if she was just a second faster she could have clothesline the person, but they ducked and escaped.

"It's got to be Yoshikis killer why else would they be running away!" Haruna yelled as she took off down the hallway after the hooded figure. It took me too long to process what she said, I shakily look down the dorms hallway to see a bloody body. It was Yoshiki, he was laying on his side, with his arms and hands around his throat covered in blood.

"A body has been discovered- uh, another one!?" The PA says shocked, "two of them? Awesome!"

James and Yoshiki are both dead? How can two be dead already? I heard a sound of something splatter before I even registered Danny in the hallway. I watched as Danny wiped his mouth with his sleeve grimacing.

"Did you just puke?" I ask concerned, I must have startled Danny because he jumped before turning to me frightened.

"O-oh, it's just you Sanyu," He said relieved, he glanced down at his feet, "Yoshiki... he's... I-I saw him get.. k-kil-"

"I know," I say stopping him, no need to make this more traumatic. Danny must be pretty shaken up right now if he saw Yoshiki get murdered right in front of him. I looked at Yoshiki and felt myself grow sad, I liked him he was a good person just like James.

Danny was staring absently at the body and I don't think that was a good thing, what would Akira do? Maybe move Danny away like how she does with Haruna? I decide that's the best course of action.

"Hey Danny, let's go find the others!" I say, distracting him, he nods distracted, "I'm sure Akira would want to know about this," That seems to get his attention.

"You're right!" Danny exclaimed, "Akira, she has medical knowledge! She could help Yoshiki!"

Help him? But he's already dead. Is what I not say, "Ok!" I agree instead. Together we find Akira in the hallway pacing back and forth, she notices us immediately and relief floods her face.

"Is it true?" She asks, grimacing.

Danny rushed up to her, "Akira, thank god we found you maybe you can do something?!"

Akira looked at Danny before nodding, "I'll see if I can do anything to help..."

Danny went back the way we came looking over his shoulder to make sure Akira followed, Akira leans closer to me before she left, "I'll do the investigation on Yoshiki, I saw some hooded person run past with Haruna after them."

"Thank you, I'll go tell the others so they don't get away," I promise, Akira then briskly followed Danny.

I run back up stairs, skipping steps as I went. I was worried I had already wasted to much time and the killer had gotten away. But I didn't need to worry as someone in a hood rushed past me, jumping down the steps before Haruna appeared like a wild bull.

"Sanyu help me get the jackass!" Haruna yells.

The mystery killer lead us on a wild goose chase, they seemed to disappear every time we thought we caught them. They seemed to know what they were doing and managed to avoid where the others were investigating almost perfectly. I think the only people who actually knew about the killer was Danny, Haruna, Akira, and me.

More then once they slipped past us and more then once we almost lost them.

"Over there!" I hear Haruna shout and point down the hallway at the hooded figure. Both of us barreled after them but was out of sight until we heard a loud shout of pain and a thud. We go to the noise and back to James's body, it was sprawled out in a different position now and glass shards were scattered around. Haruna stops at the seen hesitating at the fear of stepping on the body before she just hops over.

"No, we lost the hooded jackass," Haruna shouts at the top of the stairs, "their up here but I don't know where!" Haruna then comes down back to me and glares at the body.

"Why did the 'Hooded Jackass' trip here of all places?" I ask, the killer was so skilled at dodging us so why mess up here?

"Hooded jackass tried to go around James and slipped in the blood," Haruna observes, she points at a smear in the blood close to the wall, "then tripped over the body, don't know why, hooded jackass could have easily jumped over?"

Then why not jump over? Could it be they didn't want to risk touching the body? Observing the smear I notice something else. Glass shards and lots of them, they had a greenish tint to them.

"There's glass?" I point out, Haruna squats down and squints.

"There's a picture on the shards," Haruna says, picking a piece up and angling it different ways, "There's too much blood on them, it's hard to tell."

I try and gather the ones with print on them and I piece the shards together and after cutting my finger I'm rewarded with the letters, "Opper."

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Broken Glass with Moved Body/Opper

"The hell does that mean?" Haruna curses.

"I don't know," I shrug.

"What are you doing?" Kenta asks from behind me.

"Where were you?" Haruna asks, "if you were here you could have stopped hooded jackass my bodyguard."

Kenta looked confused, "Hooded jackass? Wait you mean Yoshikis killer?" I nod, "Well I was investigating Yoshikis body and I found some pretty interesting things, I bet your wondering what they are?"

"That's great," Haruna replies flippant, Kenta looks disappointed at the dismissal, "we got hooded jackass cornered on the third floor, now both of you get up here and help me find them."

Kenta sighed before shrugging. The both of us lightly step around the body and go upstairs to the third floor. Once there Haruna volunteered to watch the stairs in case hooded jackass came back so she could, and I quote, 'give the asshole the Piledriver they deserved'

Me and Kenta crept along the hallway checking the rooms, "I wonder where the killer is hiding?" Kenta asked innocently, "I mean they could come from anywhere and kill us at anytime, such a shame."

"Are you trying to scare me?" I ask suspicious.

"Is it working?"

"No." I reply, but that was a lie now I'm actually freaked out. Yoshikis killer could be anywhere up here... I walked a little closer to Kenta, if there's two of us then that means we're safer.

The first room we checked was the art room but nothing was immediately obvious. The only new thing in the room were some paintings Kojiro must have done a few days ago, they were rather pretty. I was about to leave until Kenta reminded me of the back room art closet.

"You go first," Kenta told me, "and I'll look some more around here."

So jittery with nerves I opened the door to find the room dark, I walk in a step only to have the door shut behind me. I trip and fall screaming and stumble up to flick on the lights to find someone in the room with me holding a bloody wooden mallet. My screaming went louder and I kept yelling for a long time, to long of a time, I taper off when I hear laughter. That's when I recognized the man, it was Kenta, clutching his stomach and laughing his heart out.

"Your face oh my god," he cackled, angry I kick him in the shin, "ow! Just kidding, your little baby kicks do nothing to me."

"You asshole we're in a murder investigation!" I curse kicking him again, "where the hell did you get a bloody hammer?"

"Oh, I found it in the art room," Kenta says, dodging my blows and holding the mallet up. The item was covered in dried blood.

"Seriously?" I ask, "is that real blood?"

"Yeah, I think someone was hit by it, but I haven't seen anyone injured by a hammer."

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Bloody wooden mallet

"That's true," I consider, I wonder what it was used for? I then got a idea, "take it with you, if Yoshikis killer is up here we need to protect ourselves."

"You can," Kenta says passing the mallet to me, I clutch the handle and man was this thing heavy, that gothic lolita girl from the first game must have had some muscle to swing this. We exit the room and go back into the hallway.

Kenta stumbles in front of me, once he righted himself he picked something off the floor, "Oh it's a flashlight." Kenta notes, "this could be handy with all the blackouts we've been having."

"Why was there a flashlight in the hallway?" I question.

"Who cares," Kenta responded, shining the light in my eye, "also hooded jackass is behind you, just thought I'd let you know."

Kenta said it so nonchalant that I almost didn't believe his warning, but I turned around anyways and saw it was true. Hooded jackass caught sight of us at the same time too and ran away, straight into the physics lab. We quickly followed after but we were still far behind, once inside I looked around the place and observed the large machine filtering the air. I circle the machine slowly and I find someone on the other side, they were crouched low and pulling themselves up using the side of the air purifier. They were wearing a black hood.

"You! It's you!" I shout shocked. The hooded figure leapt back, backing into the corner before shakily standing up. The cape was on oddly, actually it was almost backwards, the hood halfway covering their face. I could see blood splatters on the black fabric and on the hem of the blue dress not covered. Hooded jackass pressed themselves against the wall, palms blindly gripped the machine to keep themselves up.

"Why are you here?" Hooded jackass slurred.

Something seemed wrong, why are they acting like this after leading us on that wild goose chase. We're they finally tired and ready to give up? Hooded jackass wavered in their spot and I raise up the mallet for protection. That was a bad idea apparently. Hooded jackass grabbed a knife off the floor and charged me, I scream and duck out of the way.

"What happened?" Kenta asks running over, he then expertly dodged a strike. Kenta then did something I thought was stupid, and grabbed the knife, stopping the next jab. Despite holding the blade of a knife Kenta seemed to be doing fine, as he then pulled his hand back and wrenched the knife away. Hooded jackass stood still before escaping, but not before running into the wall instead of the door.

"Ah, that hurt," Kenta sighs looking at his barely cut hand, "that knife was sharper then I thought..."

I pick up the fallen knife to find finger indents, so Kenta apparently has super human strength and I'm going to ignore it, "We should follow them."

We ran out after them again, and hear Haruna scream. That girl has got some strong vocals. We arrive to the scene of Haruna cursing up a storm and clutching the back of her head, the dry wall behind her had a head size dent in it. She let out a hissing sound and laid on the floor, proclaiming her death.

"Now you're just being dramatic," Kenta said.

"Are you ok?" I ask, she must have hit the wall pretty hard.

Haruna got up, "Yeah I'm fine, I've been told I have a hard head."

"Physically and mentally," Comments Kenta under his breath.

"Shut it emo," Haruna shoots a glare, "also Hooded jackass is here." Haruna points to the floor where hooded jackass was laying unconscious on the floor. But hooded jackass wasn't so hooded anymore, laying on the floor was Veliah. Her dress had blood on both sides and her hair had blood crusted into it, she was also very pale.

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Veliah Bloody Cloak and Clothes

"I guess we should tie her up?" I ask. Haruna bends down and scoops Veliah up in a bridal carry and walks down the stairs.

"I'm going to go lock her in my room, you guys go help out with Yoshiki," Haruna calls as she walks away.

Kenta and I joined everyone in the Yoshiki investigation. I join up with Evan.

"Find anything out?" I ask.

"I found Yoshikis motive letter but that's the newest thing," Evan sighs, he pushes up his glasses, "here, see if you can make anything out of it," Evan passes me a folded up paper.

OBTAINED TRUTH BULLET: Yoshikis motive letter

I unfolded the paper to find frayed creases and taped up rips, Yoshiki must have torn it up then taped it back together? There was writing on it too, words like; 'gate', and 'tomorrow it will be finished go before then'. I gloss over that and read the motive.

Dear Mr. Yoshiki,

I am entirely happy to inform you that your son is in great danger! He's in trouble with more then just the law now, your little bratty delinquent has pissed off some despair and, well, they don't play nice. Is your boy hiding for his life, wondering where his loyal father is? Or is he already dead? You'll just have to kill to find out.

There was a little sad character drawn at the bottom, mimicking what I assume to be Yoshikis son, because of the speech bubble connected to it that says, 'help me dad!'

Ouch, brutal. Yoshikis motive almost makes me feel better about mine, if everyone I love is already gone then there's no reason for me to worry. I fold the letter back up and give it to Evan.

M appears from thin air like usual, standing next to the body, "How messy," he disapproves with a sigh.

"Investigation time is over!" The PA squealed.

Haruna soon joins us supporting Veliah on her shoulder, they get a few stares at the blood on Veliah's dress.

Akira's eyes widen and she walks over to Haruna and Veliah, she then looks Veliah over with a unhappy expression, gently holding her head. I get on the elevator and soon we descended ready to name or killer or killers.

I'm going to miss James, and I wanted Yoshikis death to be out of left field because sometimes it's nice to be surprised. also I've been watching a play through of V3 and I'm really liking it so far, currently Kaito and Tenko are my favorite! So who do you all like best from V3? You Degenerate Males!? Though quick disclaimer, V3 won't influence this story, I have everything pre planned so it just won't fit in right.

Honest opinion needed here, should I up the rating to Mature for this fic? I honestly can't tell if I should or shouldn't.