Welcome back last time Ibuki died [...thanks Trygve] so let's see how the investigation goes hopefully better and less obvious than the last one.
Dining Hall 8:19 AM
Ichiro POV
"H-hey guys where's Ibuki," Mahiru asked nervously,
"Yeah, she's usually here by now, you think she's ok," Asked Aoi glancing around,
"I'm sure she's fine probably overslept or something," Mondo guessed,
"You sure have confidence in everyone here Mondo, are you sure that after what happened just two nights ago won't happen again," Celeste spoke causing a wave of doubt to fall upon the group.
"Since I finished my breakfast already I'll go check on her," I volunteered,
"I'll come with," Mahiru said, as she got up with me.
"I may as well go too, I guess. I just want to make sure she's ok," Kaede said, getting up from her seat and following Mahiru and I out the dining hall. We walked down the massive hallway before taking a right towards the girls' dorms and walking down the hall to Ibuki's dorm. Both Kaede and I gave three knocks to the wooden door yet earned no response I decided to see if the door was unlocked.
Weirdly, it was.
We walked in and we found a gory sight.
Ibuki Mioda was dead lying down on her stomach with a huge pool of blood surrounding her and a massive stab wound through her back.
"Well kiddies it seems a body has been discovered your investigation time begins now," Monokuma announced without any care in the world.
"N-no this can't be happening," Mahiru said in disbelief.
"Sadly it is," I solemnly said as I walked towards the body whilst carefully avoiding the massive pool of blood surrounding her body. Truth Bullet.
At around this point a few of the more knowledgable in the subject of murder entered the room. The look of shock was present on Kyoko, Mikan, and Shuichi's face as they glanced at Ibuki's body. I could see that Togami remained stoic rather than closing his eyes from the horror that lay before us. Mahiru and Kaede decided that they would head back to the Cafeteria to gather some alibis. That just left myself and the others in the room. Kyoko and Mikan began the autopsy while Shuichi left to check the bathroom and Byakuya sifted through Ibuki's drawers for any possible clues. At this moment I looked at the Monokuma File to see if it would help.
Monokuma File (Truth Bullet)
Victim: Ibuki Mioda
Time of Death: 6:53
Time of discovery: 8:23
Bodily wounds: one stab wound through her back
Killing blow: the stab wound in her back most likely punctured a lung or the heart and would have died instantly or from blood loss because of the stab wound.
"According the Monokuma file she was killed just before the morning announcements and she was not discovered until about another hour and a half later, do you think someone would be late to breakfast this morning because they were trying to dispose of evidence," I suggested
"By that logic that would almost certainly exonerate Kirumi and anyone that arrived to the cafeteria before 7:05 about," Togami suggested. Truth Bullet
"Not necessarily," Shuichi said from the bathroom, "if you recall the water is turned back on at six o'clock and by the looks of the bathroom it was almost certainly used," Shuichi continued as he left the bathroom. Truth Bullet
"What makes you say that," I ask.
"Well there is still some condensation on the shower door and, it's clear that someone put some extra effort into cleaning out the bathroom of any evidence of them being here because there are no hairs or anything of the sort anywhere," Shuichi added. Truth Bullet
"So after killing Ibuki, they took a shower, but how did they walk out of here without being noticed," I asked confused on the matter.
"I don't know, but my gut says that they switched the name plates but I don't have any evidence to prove that," Kyoko said finally looking up from the body.
"Well let's just look outside then," I say, walking towards the door. It was a simple motion to open it and I promptly looked up at the nameplate. Ibuki's name plate seemed to be slanted from the impact of an unidentified force. Truth Bullet
"Well Kyoko you are most definitely right, the nameplate is slanted it looks as if it was moved at one point or another," I announce to the group. The purple haired detective looked up with hardly a glance but I saw her brow immediately furrow. Truth Bullet
"Hmm that is interesting, what would someone have to gain from switching the name plates on the doors," Byakuya asked.
"Maybe they wanted to hide the fact that they were in Ibuki's room," I offered.
"Ichiro I think you're on the right track." the investigator chimed in, hardly looking up from Ibuki's relatively large wound. "But I think there's more to it, I'm not sure what it is but I doubt it was just to hide what room they were in," Kyoko continued.
"I-I've finished the a-autopsy," Mikan said, "And it's as the M-Monokuma file says, the one w-wound was the stab wound in h-her back," Mikan continued. Truth Bullet
"Hmm, possible surprise attack," Byakuya mused.
"Kyoko and Shuichi you're the resident detectives you tell us," I asked a little impatiently
"Most likely, the attacker swapped the name plates beforehand when whoever was on watch was in the boy's hallway, then they knocked on Ibuki's door where she let them in as she we was most likely awake at that point, then she probably turned around to head to bed when the killer used-if I had to guess-some sort of long reaching weapon to kill her. However as it stands there is nothing here that fits the description aside from Peko's bamboo sword," Kyoko explained. Truth Bullet
"As Miss Kirigiri stated the two of us looked at the bamboo sword, and we determined that it was unable to cause lasting harm," Togami elaborated.
"I agree with that Kirigiri, but I think it would be prudent to gather some alibis," Shuichi offered.
"Agreed, we should head to the cafeteria I believe that's where they were gathering alibis like last time," I said.
"Well then we should go then shouldn't we," Byakuya said being more open to social interaction than normal.
Dining Hall 9:04 AM
Makoto's POV
After today's shocking discovery Taka and Twogami have taken it upon themselves to herd us remaining students into the cafeteria for a set of announcements and general discussions. Sayaka and I have sat next to each other and I can tell that she's shaking from today's events. "It's too early for this," she whimpers. All I can do is pat her shoulder comfortingly.
Most of us have just about gathered when Taka leaves suddenly. In no time at all he's back with Yasuhiro, who grumbles about having been woken up just now."So now that we've finally gathered everyone here," Twogami said glaring at Hiro after he tried running and hiding in his room. "Let's father some alibis from last, if that's possible.
"I'll go first I guess, I woke up early to make breakfast, and at around 6:45 I arrived at the kitchen and never left," Kirumi announced. Truth Bullet
"I CAN CONFIRM THIS…" Taka began,
"STOP YELLING DAMMIT," Miu yelled out, causing everyone to jump.
"Um, sorry ...I can confirm that Kirumi never came back to her dorm after 6:45," Taka said in an almost mumbling tone. Truth Bullet
"You can confirm this how?" Peko asked skeptically.
"I stood watch over the Incinerator after Nagito's shift, we switched at around 2:30 last night and I never left my post," Taka said. Truth Bullet
"Didn't we have someone watching the dorms as well," Kiyo mentioned.
"That would be me, I switched with Ryoko at around 2:30 as well and I began patrolling the hallway," Sakura said while looking down in disappointment. Truth Bullet
"Well that didn't fucking help much did it," Fuyohiko berated,
"If this helps I did hear two doors slam shut in the girls hallway while I was in the boys hallway. The two slams were about ten seconds apart, sadly I just assumed it was Kirumi heading to the kitchen sadly it wasn't the case," Sakura solemnly stated. Truth Bullet
"He he, it seems miss Martial Artist really messed up, maybe we should take her off guard duty," Ouma pestered.
"Kokichi...just...JUST SHUT UP!" Aoi shouted through her cries.
"It's quite alright Hina. I messed up, there is nothing that can fix what occurred. We will just have to bring this culprit to justice," Sakura sagely noted.
"Anyways, although it doesn't provide much, it does shed light that the culprit most likely left their room, then went to Ibuki's and never left until after the morning announcements," Kaede deduced. The rest of us began murmuring in a low tone in agreement.
"AGREED, but are there any other alibis that people would like to bring forth," Taka said catching himself from yelling again.
"Tenko and I were sparring in my room during the time of the murder. We arrived to breakfast together later this morning," Akane said calmly. Though it was obvious that our morning meal was at the tip of her tongue, she was surprisingly not drooling at the mention of breakfast. Truth Bullet
"Yes, I was with Akane most of the night," Tenko confirmed.
"It's a decent alibi yes but, need I remind you that they could easily lie, a group of three is what is needed for an ironclad alibi not a group of two," Kiyo voiced.
"As it stands it's an alibi that will have to do, if any evidence comes to light that incriminates them then I will consider the possibility that they were involved," Nagito mused.
"Agreed there isn't enough to go on yet to falsify their statements anyways," Ryoko spoke.
"I can also say that Peko left her room at around 7:05 this morning where we chatted for a bit before seeing Ichiro leave his room and head to the dining hall after waving to us," Sakura said. Turth Bullet
"It is as Sakura says, I left my room before speaking with her for a few minutes where we saw Ichiro leave his room and head to the dining hall, we followed a minute later," Peko confirmed.
"And as we know, Hiro and Hifumi were the last two to arrive this morning both arriving at around 7:45, which would allow for enough time to hide any evidence," Junko announced to the group. Truth Bullet
"Lazy bums!" Toko shouted to no one's surprise.
An awkward silence shortly followed. It seemed our information well had run dry but a lingering question was still on my mind. "Ryoko, Nagito, if I may, when you guys were on watch did you guys see or hear anything," I asked.
"Since I was on watch over the incinerator I saw who went to their dorm after the night announcement. They were the group cleaning up that night-Kirumi, Peko, Taka, and Gonta, and from what I could tell they all went straight to their dorms after returning from the kitchen," Nagito explained.
"I can confirm with Nagito that all four went straight to their rooms after returning from the kitchen, that help," Ryoko confirmed with hardly a glance towards us.
"Yeah it does a little, it at least helps with the fact that this was set in the span of just a few minutes instead of a full on night plan," I said.
After another period of silence Twogami broke it by dismissing everyone, "Everyone I think we have gathered what we can as a massive group, I think having everyone break off into groups of three of four in order to search the school would be a good idea," Twogami said while everyone else was nodding in return.
I decided my time would be best spent searching in the classrooms where the gifts were being held along with Taka and Kirumi. "You go ahead Naegi," Sayaka said. "I just want to grab a breather for now...I haven't been this overworked since the time I played five shows in a day."
"Take care Sayaka."I replied in return giving her my trademark smile.
Myself, Kirumi and Taka walked our way to Classroom 1-A where many of our gifts were being held. We wanted to make sure none were stolen just in case any were used in the murder. We both suspected that none were used but it didn't hurt to check. Much to our relief all of the gifts seemed to be there.
"Taka is I may ask who has donated their gifts to this cause of yours," Kirumi asked curiously.
"I have a list right here," Taka said reaching into his pocket bringing out a piece of paper with multiple names written on the paper. "Togami, Makoto, Toko, Ichiro, Sayaka, Chiaki, Nekomaru, Mondo, Shuichi, Mahiru, Nagito, you and myself, Ms. Tojo," Taka replied while tucking the piece of paper back into his pocket. Truth Bullet
After a moment of silence between the three of us we left the classroom, Taka decided to split away from us to look at the crime scene himself while myself and Kirumi walked back towards the Dining Hall. We then proceeded to the kitchen to see if any possible weapons that could have killed Ibuki was missing. Going off of the Monokuma file, she was stabbed, so we thought it logical to find our potential weapons in the kitchen. More importantly we would be able to find what was missing.
"Kirumi, you notice anything out of place," I ask unsure of what I was supposed to be looking for.
"No nothing looks out of place nor missing, which means the weapon most likely didn't come from the kitchen," Kirumi stated. Truth Bullet
"Then where did it come from," I asked, baffled that nothing has really turned up yet.
"It is more than probable that someone's gift most likely was used for the murder. For all we know it could be anyone, excluding the thirteen on that list Taka has," Kirumi mused.
"I mean maybe it was possible that the culprit used the gifts and put it back in the room?"
"According to Taka no one had entered the storage room and based off of his memory many went unused," Kirumi explained.
"Hmm maybe Mikan or someone has uncovered something useful, maybe something went missing in the Nurse's office," I suggested, hand on my chin and thinking pensively.
"Let's hope so because right now we don't have much evidence to go off of and what we do have is flimsy at best," Kirumi replied.
"Agreed maybe someone will shed some light on this situation," I said as we both walked out of the kitchen both hoping that something would turn up soon. Our lives depended on it.
Hallway 10:27 AM
Ryoko's POV
After our gathering in the cafeteria we all split away to do our own personal investigations. I decided to go try and fine one of the five that were investigating the body to see if they knew anything. I was walking down the Hallway where saw all five walking towards me and they all seemed to be discussing something, most likely they were discussing the murder scene. We were both passing the Nurse's office where Mikan turned off and went inside after waving to the other four.
"Hey guys," I smiled.
"Hey Ryoko," Ichiro returned the smile but it seemed more forced than anything.
"You guys find anything?" I asked.
"I think we found everything that we could find," Shuichi mused.
"Care to reveal that to me," I asked, slightly irritated.
"I think it would be more prudent that it is announced at the trial, we don't need a possible killer knowing what we found," Byakuya huffed before walking away.
"Yeesh what's his problem?" I asked irritated with the affluent prodigy.
"I don't know, I think there's people he likes and doesn't like," Shuichi replied staring at Byakuya walking away.
"It's more trust than anything, he doesn't trust anyone if they could get in the way of him winning this game that he has in his head," Kyoko explained.
"Might explain why he's such a prick," Ichiro grumbled.
"Anyways we should probably get going, we wanted to see if there was any evidence outside of the scene of the crime," Shuichi said.
"Alright, well, I'll see you guys at the trial," I said waving to the trio before making my way into the nurse's office to talk to Mikan.
I opened the door to see Mikan shuffling through the medicine cabinets with a clipboard in hand that had checkmarks by a lot of different words that I've never heard of, let alone pronounce. I decided to speak up to see what she was doing, "What are you doing there Mikan," I asked.
"Ah! O-oh it's just you," Mikan sighed in relief after jumping from my voice. "I-I was just going th-through to make sure none of the m-medicine was missing, i-it doesn't hurt to check," Mikan continued.
"You find anything out of place," I asked, curious if any drugs were at play here.
"W-well no, nothing is missing, and none of the drugs that could be i-involved in murder are missing any of the noted q-quanties that I have written down," Mikan replied.
"Hmm, is it possible that this muder was planned but took no extra work in advance," I wondered aloud.
"W-what do you mean," Mikan asked confused.
"Like the killer knew what they were doing and how they were going to do it but, it required no planning in advance and all they needed was Ibuki to answer her door," I replied.
"I-it is definitely possible, but there h-has to be more to it than just that, Teruteru needed to steal the knife and send the note in a-advance, there m-must be a note that was m-made out to Ibuki that made h-her open the door," Mikan wondered aloud.
"It is definitely possible but I doubt it" I replied before the bear decided to interrupt.
"Dearest students it's trial time, head to the trial elevator NOW," The Bear announced to the group.
"Hey didn't we have more time last time," I called out recalling that we had almost eight hours last time compared to the three or so hours this time.
"Well I'm bored right now and I want a trial and I didn't want to you guys falling asleep mid trial last time so I granted sleep time unlike this time where that is unneeded," The bear spoke through the intercom.
"Whatever," I grumbled.
Mikan and I walked to the now visible elevator doors by the locked staircase where many of our classmates were waiting, eventually the last of us arrived those being Hiro and Kyoko.
"Hiding evidence you lazy bum,' Toko spat at Hiro.
"Chill bruh I ain't the killer," Hiro replied.
"Sure menace, you killed Ibuki," Tenko accused.
"We're not even at the trial," Hiro cried.
"Would you guys shut it?! We will solve this at the trial," I yelled silencing the trio and earning several stares from my fellow students.
All of us waited for the remaining stragglers. It appeared that Taka and Kirumi especially were trying to grab some last minute evidence but it was to no avail. We all stepped into the now open elevator and waited for it to descend into the depths of the school where we would once again fight to bring the killer to justice and sentence them to a horrible death. Once the doors opened again I realized that once again we have stepped into a fire and brimstone hell.
Well another chapter in the books, who do you guys think did it, and do you think they will come to justice find out next time. And I will be personally handling the Trial and Investigation Hopps will just be taking on a Beta role rather than a co-writer during these sense he doesn't want to know the death order.
Chlow: Thanks for the ever rare review and I have to say that is an interesting take on Kirumi and Peko we'll see how that plays out for you and as for the FTEs sense it's still pretty early I intentionally gave her an FTE because she hadn't been in the spotlight much compared to say a Taka who has been a central character so far aside from Ichiro, Ryoko, and Makoto. [wow, thank you Chlow. Very interesting that you would think that and I hope you continue reading]