Beta Read by Lupus Overkill


Takumi's dead. He's dead. He's hunched over dead on the table, and blood is getting everywhere, and he's dead, and he's dead he's dead he's-

Shizu has to physically slap herself to snap herself out of her thoughts. She's supposed to be the person who has all the ideas, not just stating the obvious over and over again. She has to focus despite the fact that she can't. She feels someone nudge her but doesn't respond.

"Shizu, I need you to move." It's Michio's voice. He sounds more serious than any other time that's she's heard him. Still, she remains in place, staring at the blood dripping from the back of Takumi's head. Michio sighs before physically pushing her aside. "Sorry, but I need to look closer." Even from a slightly different angle, she can't take her eyes away from this horrid sight.

The doors fly open behind her, and she hears a cacophony of voices ring out, barely able to tell who is who.

"That announcement… It was fake, right? No one's actually dead?!"

"Tch… You're being too loud. It was only a matter of time before this happened."

"Oh, shut up! You're not helping! Let me through… I need to see the body."

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Samia appear on the other side of Sawako, a look of frenzied desperation on her face. It fades the moment she sees blood.

"Well, who is it?" Shizu's now able to identify Chouki's voice. His words are casual, but his tone has a slight edge to it.

She sees Sawako shake. "You… Do you not care? Someone has died, and that's all you can say?!" she bellows, her fist clenched so tightly that Shizu is afraid it might start bleeding. There doesn't need to be any more blood.

Kaixi's frightened voice rings out. "B-but, no one's dead, right? There's nothing there a-and this is just another bad prank, right?! It has to be!"

In response, Hachi starts wailing louder than before.

Chouki grits his teeth and says, "It's not like I can see who it is with you all surrounding the table. What do you want me to say?" It's a little hard to hear him over Hachi's cries and her own beating heart.

The doors burst open again, revealing more panicking people.

"There was that terrible announcement and then that mess? What's going on?" Tsubame states, speaking much faster than normal.

Pal reveals himself through his distinctive speech patterns. "This is a tragedy… Have we truly… lost one of our members?"

Michio decides to be the bearer of bad news. "Someone murdered Takumi."

There's another explosion of sound, and Shizu instinctively covers her ears. Kaixi's screams, Hachi's shrieks, Tsubame's stuttering, and Pal's coughing fit all blend together into a choir of despair. The sounds and the sights are all too much for her, and she's forced to look up, away from the body. It doesn't help much as she sees Kazuha running towards her, her expression one of pure agony. The pit in her stomach opens wider, and she looks back down at Takumi's bloody corpse.

"Why? Why?!" she hears Kazuha scream.

"This isn't real. This isn't real," Kaixi whispers to himself, his voice finally giving out from screaming so much.

Giving a deep sigh, Michio mutters, "I'm sorry, but it is real. We've got no other choice but to accept it."

"It's awful…" Samia sounds ready to throw up. "I can't even ask why because I know why. I can't even find the words."

"If you need to step away, I can handle this," Michio assures her.

"We can handle this," Sawako corrects him firmly, though she doesn't sound like she's accusing him.

She shakes her head, despite the queasy look on her face. "I'll be fine."

Once again, the dining hall doors swing open. Without a word, Kogi walks into the room and moves to the other side of the table in order to see what everyone is looking at. Upon seeing Takumi's corpse, he pauses, though his expression is unreadable.

Before anyone can ask him anything, Soraru comes bursting in, completely out of breath. "Hey, I heard some stupid words, so I ran stupid fast! What's…" xe trails off, and xer smile becomes even more forced when xe notices all of the people standing around the table. "Oh… Um…"

Chouki takes it upon himself to answer, "Takumi bit it."

"Oh…" Xer voice is much smaller now, and xe almost seems to shrink for a moment.

Then, Morgan almost hits xem with the doors as she enters. She ignores xer angry look and states, "The spirits warned me that this might happen… It appears that I was much too late to do anything to help."

"Huh? Weren't you the one saying that nobody was going to die? Quit changing your story!" Soraru accuses her.

Morgan responds evenly. "I never claimed anything of the sort. I merely stated that nobody would want to kill anyone. However, while communing with the spirits these past few days, I became aware of some unsettling events that could transpire. I wished to see things more clearly, so I delayed." Biting her lip, she looks to the floor. "That decision… proved to be fatal…"

"D-don't blame yourself!" Kaixi hurriedly assures her, running to her side. "You didn't do this!" Then, he takes a moment to consider his words. "I mean… you didn't, right?"

"Of course not," she denies, but the damage is already done.

Everyone begins looking around the room warily. So far, they had only considered the fact that Takumi was no longer alive. They hadn't even thought about what that implied. Someone killed him. His killer was in the room with them.

The tension doesn't break even as Fumika steps into the dining hall, her expression harsh as tears are starting to form in the corners of her eyes. That suspicion, for one single instant, gets laser-focused directly onto her as everyone stares in her direction. She looks like she's about to run for it, but she manages to calm her nerves. "…What's with the looks?" she asks, though it's clear that she probably already knows.

"It means that all of your friends and families are safe!"

There's a collective flinch when Monokuma leaps out of nowhere and lands next to Takumi's body. Shizu, Sawako, and Samia all step away, revealing the corpse to everyone else in the room. Somehow, Michio holds his ground and glares at the bear from his place.

"W-what?" Hachi manages to squeak out.

Tsubame's eyes widen. "The motive…"

Giving a hearty chuckle, Monokuma says, "That's right! Thank you to whoever snapped first! If they hadn't acted before tonight, then I would have had to release that poison. Man, imagine the damage that would have been done if that happened!"

Chouki growls, Kazuha whimpers, and Pal looks fiercer than ever before, perhaps channeling the less pleasant side of being a "siren".

"Well, no reason to waste time thinking about the past," he casually announces. "We've got a trial to look forward to!"

"Hold on," Kogi stops him. "What do you mean trial?"

Sawako also speaks up. "Yes, I was not aware of a trial in the rules. In fact, I was under the impression that whoever… killed… Takumi would now be allowed to go home. I feel as though someone would have spoken up if they knew who was responsible by this point."

For some reason, everyone immediately turns to Shizu, looks of hope and fear present in their eyes. "…I only got here a few minutes ago. I'm a strategist, not a psychic detective. There's no possible way that any of us would know who killed Takumi unless they saw someone committing the crime."

Monokuma slaps his forehead in mock shame. "Aw geez, did I forget to mention that part of the rules? I'm so scatterbrained sometimes." He looks around the room before continuing. "Well, let's have a little crash course about the rest of the rules then."

Clearing his throat, he dictates, "Rule 7: Once three people discover a body for the first time, a body discovery announcement will play in order to alert everyone who isn't aware. After a short period of time, an Ultimate Trial will start!"

"So that was the point of that message," Tsubame whispers.

Fumika gives her a look. "The message itself was pretty clear. But I'm still confused about this Ultimate Trial. What exactly does it entail?"

"I'm getting to that part!" Monokuma shushes her. "Rule 8: During the Ultimate Trial, you must discuss about who you think the culprit is. At the end, you all must cast your votes. If the majority votes for the culprit, then the culprit alone will be punished. If the majority votes for the wrong person, then everyone besides the culprit will be punished, and that culprit will be the winner of the game! And, before you all get too comfortable, let me just mention that the punishment in this particular case…" He pauses for dramatic effect. "…is execution."

"What?!" Kazuha shrieks.

With a terrified glare on his face, Chouki shouts, "What the fuck? That wasn't part of the deal. One person dying puts the rest of us at risk? Don't drag the rest of us into this!"

Morgan glowers at him as a bead of sweat trickles down her face. "This is the sort of thing that you make sure to explain first."

Tugging on the straps of his backpack, Kaixi cries, "C-can't you just let them go?"

"I don't w-want anyone e-else to d-die," Hachi sobs, her entire body shivering.

Tapping her foot, Shizu eventually states, "You planned this."

"Huh? Huh?" Monokuma tilts his head.

Soraru shouts, "Hey! That's my unique confusion catchphrase! Get your own!"

Shizu ignores xem. "You intentionally left out those rules. It wasn't a mistake or a slip of the mind. You planned for this happening all along."

"By not telling us everything," Kogi continues, "You made people more likely to commit murder. That's why you didn't tell us about a trial."

"I have no idea what you're blabbering on about," Monokuma denies cheekily. "But does that really matter at this point? You're wasting all of this time talking to me when you should be investigating."

Samia narrows her eyes. "You're giving us time to look around before the trial? That's awfully generous of you."

"Would you rather I throw you into things without preparation?" he spits back. "All I want is a fair trial. I can't have that when everyone is stumbling around like a bunch of headless chickens."

Michio's voice is solemn, yet firm, when he asks, "How much time do we have?"

"Eh, until I get bored of waiting. That's probably going to be, what, forty minutes, give or take." Monokuma shrugs. "I hate to admit it, but I've never been the most patient bear. Actually, I don't hate to admit that at all!"

"Forty minutes?" He chokes. "That's not enough time!"

Quivering in place, Kaixi agrees. "Y-you can't expect us to s-solve a… a… a m-murder in that little t-time!"

"Well, you'd better get to work, because time's a-wastin'! Good luck!" He backflips off of the table and completely vanishes, leaving everyone in a state of confusion and panic.

Hachi is the first to complain. "No… This can't be real! I don't want to do this! No more people dying!"

"This isn't happening…" Kaixi murmurs to himself.

"But if we don't do anything, then we're all going to die," Fumika counters, though her face looks equally torn.

Kazuha tries to speak but words fail her. She needs to try a second time before she can say, "B-but what are we s-supposed to do?"

"As much as I hate to listen to that bear," Michio growls, "we need to investigate."

"I don't wanna look at…" Soraru trails off, xer confident tone fading out quickly.

Morgan shakes her head. "There is no need for us all to crowd around in one place. It is likely that the culprit has left evidence elsewhere throughout the building. We should all divide our searching to cover all of the relevant areas, especially because we have a time limit involved."

"Oh, cool, I have permission to do whatever then. See you later!" Soraru instantly runs out of the dining hall when Morgan stops talking.

"That… isn't exactly what I meant," she calls out fruitlessly.

Fumika looks around for a few moments and then says, "What exactly are we all waiting for? Someone to tell us to start? Let's just get this over with already."

"…If you all need a cue, consider this to be it," Shizu says after nobody else moves.

Investigation Start

The first thing that Shizu does is go over to one of the corner tables to sit down and consult her notes. Although the crime only took place today, that doesn't mean that everything that happened the previous days were inconsequential. Whatever happened today was a consequence of everything building up over their time spent in this game. With that in mind, she jots a quick reminder to reference the conversations she's had with everyone.


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


She also takes the time to update the rules that Monokuma has given them. She wants to get them down before she forgets.


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.


Looking over the rules again was a good idea, as Shizu reminded herself of one more fact. The dining hall, at least so far, is the only room to be restricted during nighttime. This could help narrow down the timing of the murder, even if it only does so slightly.


Dining Hall Restrictions – At nighttime, the doors to the dining hall are marked with Monokuma's face. Thus, during that time, it is impossible to access the dining hall, kitchen, pantry, and freezer. Monokuma uses this period to restock food and keep everything clean.


That's all that she can currently think of, so she stands up from her seat and looks around. The crowd has dispersed a little, probably because most people have started looking elsewhere. Michio and Sawako are still standing over Takumi's corpse. From this angle, it looks as though Michio is doing an autopsy while Sawako is making sure he's not trying anything funny. In the background of all of this, Kaixi is alternating between snapping photos and looking over the shots.

Shizu takes a deep breath and makes her way closer to the table. "What have you got so far?" she asks Michio.

He grumbles, "Not much. There isn't much that I can do without the proper tools. So far, I've just been looking over his wounds… Couldn't that damn bear have given us some kind of starting point or at least some way for me to do my job? How're we supposed to get anywhere with this?"

Recollection flashes through her eyes. "I can get you a coroner's kit."

"Wait, really?" He finally turns to look at her. "Did you find one in the storage room or something? I haven't really been looking around there much."

She shakes her head. "Never mind that, I'll go fetch one for you. However, I would like to hear your initial analysis of Takumi's body, as well as what you were doing yesterday and this morning."

"Huh? You need my alibi from that far back?" He scratches the back of his neck. "Well, I guess you're just being thorough."

Thinking back to Soraru's pranks, she says, "There is a chance that parts of this crime were prepared in advance. Any information from the previous day could help us narrow down the suspects."

She jumps a little when Sawako finally speaks up, as she had almost forgotten she was there. "You would like my alibi as well, I'm guessing." Her voice is full of resignation.

"Yes please," Shizu answers, not looking her in the eyes.

Michio sighs. "I'll start then. Yesterday, I came to breakfast at the usual time, but I was alone for most of the day until dinner. Pretty much everyone who was still with the group ate together around 6 PM, except Samia and Sawako. Then, Pal left, and the rest of us went to the lounge to keep talking at 7 PM. I don't remember too much, but I was one of the last people there. I think Kaixi and I were still there until around one in the morning."

"You stayed that long?" Shizu gives him a shocked look.

He shrugs. "What can I say? He was really interested in my job, so I obliged. Anyways, I went to bed around 1 AM. I didn't see anyone until, like, 8:30 AM today. I met Sawako as I was coming out of my room, and Hachi joined us on the elevator. We went straight to the dining hall, and then… Well, we all found his body, and that announcement played."

"I can confirm that last part," Sawako adds. "As for my actions yesterday, I went to the storage room immediately after breakfast and got there around 10 AM. I stayed there on watch for the rest of the day until you forced me to leave around 10 PM. Other than you, no one attempted to go to the storage room on my watch."

Shizu clicks her tongue. "I see… I had a feeling that this would be the case, but most people are unaccounted for. A lot of this is unverifiable."

Tugging on her ponytail, Sawako agrees solemnly. "I'm sorry that I can't be of more help. If only I could have done more than just guard that storage room… I was certain it would be a dangerous place."

"There's no need to blame yourself," Michio tells her. "At least we know that, if someone did go there, it was after you left your post."

That's not entirely true, but Shizu keeps that thought to herself for now. "And what of Takumi's body?"

Michio goes into professional mode. "There's only one external wound on his body that I've been able to find. He got hit in the back of the head really hard, probably by a blunt object. It must have been pretty strong. Other than that, I haven't found much of anything."

She considers his statement as she looks over at Takumi's last meal. It looks like he barely had the chance to eat anything before he died, unfortunately. He never even got the chance to put the half-empty box back. "I see… Thank you for your help. I'll get you that kit now." She gives them both a short wave goodbye and makes for the door. Before she gets there, Kaixi intercepts her.

"Oh hey, sorry for bothering you, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation… Did um… Did you want my alibi too?" he asks, tapping his camera nervously.

"That would be a great help, yes," she confirms.

He gives a nervous chuckle. "W-well, I don't know how helpful it's going to be, since it's pretty close to Michio's. The only real difference is that, this morning, I ran out of my room once I heard the announcement. I ran past Samia and Chouki on the way here, at least, but that's about it…"

She taps her pen against her notepad. "…Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Kaixi shakes his head. "Um… well, there was this one little thing, I guess?"

"Any information could be helpful. Please just tell me," she says.

"Well, you probably already thought of this, because it's really obvious and I only really noticed it when I was looking back over all of the pictures I took but… Um… Takumi's bag is missing." Before she can say anything else, he spouts of his reasoning. "Wait, I know it sounds dumb, but, um, you know… He's always wearing it, and I doubt he'd stop wearing it now after the freak-out two days ago. So why isn't he wearing it now? And also, if he was wearing it, where did it go?"

Shizu considers this. "That is true. It had seemed so obvious that I had dismissed it in my head. There might have been some reason to get rid of it… Hmm… Thank you, Kaixi. I have a lot to think about."

"No problem!" He waves her off as she exits the dining hall.


Alibis – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Everyone except for the split group met for breakfast yesterday.

- Michio, Kazuha, Tsubame, Hachi, Pal, Kaixi, and Joshua met for dinner yesterday at 6 PM. Pal split off from the group after he finished eating.

- Michio, Kazuha, Tsubame, Hachi, Kaixi, and Joshua went to lounge after dinner at 7 PM. I joined them around 10 PM. I remember Joshua leaving around 10:30 PM, and I left around 11 PM. Michio and Kaixi were the last ones there, and left around 1 AM.

- Sawako stood guard at the storage room from 10 AM to 10 PM. I was the only person she saw during that time.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played.

Body Discovery (Takumi) – The announcement played when Michio, Sawako, and Hachi discovered Takumi's body in the dining hall a little after 8:30 AM.

Status of Takumi's Body – His only external injury is on the back of his head. According the Michio, it was most likely caused by a blunt object. Because of this, it is incredibly bloody.

Takumi's Cereal – Takumi's last meal was a bowl of cereal with milk. From the looks of things, he barely had the chance to eat any of it. The half-empty box is still sitting there, as if he had just poured it out.

Takumi's Bag – The bag that Takumi normally wears on his head is missing. It is unknown whether the culprit disposed of it or he simply chose not to wear it, though the latter seems unlikely.


Having taken note of all of that, Shizu runs past the briefing room and into the infirmary. She's not at all surprised to see that Samia is already there, looking through all of the cabinets. She's too busy working and muttering to herself, so Shizu clears her throat.

Samia jumps slightly. "Ack! Oh, Shizu, sorry about that. I didn't hear you come in."

She walks over to the line of cabinets. "Understandable. From what I've heard, you've been spending a lot of time in here. Any reason you chose to head here right now?"

Samia slaps her forehead. "Oh damn it. I meant to grab one of the coroner's kits for Michio. Ugh, is that why you're here?"

"Yup." Opening one of the cabinets, Shizu pulls out one of the kits and then faces the epidemiologist. "I take it that something distracted you."

"I was going to get one right away, I swear," Samia begins, a bead of sweat trickling down her face. "But I thought that I should check up on everything else just in case. And I found that someone moved the poison and sleeping pills right back to the front."

She inhales sharply. "Are you certain about this?" She realizes how dumb her question is a moment later, and only gives Samia enough time to glare flatly at her before correcting herself. "My apologies. I meant to ask if you are sure that this is a recent development. Did someone take out a bottle and forget to place it back into hiding again?"

"See for yourself." Moving towards the largest cabinet, Samia angles herself out of the way and opens it. She gestures to the top shelf, where all of the sleeping pills are in full view. "Someone took all of them out from where I hid them and put them back in front. It's the same thing for the poison." Pivoting on the spot, she opens the fridge as well. Sure enough, the bottles of poison are back in front, right next to the blood bags. "I don't know when this happened or who did it. I hadn't gotten to this point in my inspection yet, so I wasn't keeping track of this stuff. I've got no idea when this happened, but it seemed really suspicious that I found this right after a murder took place."

She takes a closer look for herself. All of the bottles that Samia had hidden were right back where they used to be. It's not just one of the bottles either. Again, every single one has been repositioned. How curious. "Were any of them opened?" she asks, still staring at them.

There's a sound of Samia's head moving, but it takes another few seconds before she says, in a flustered voice, "Oh, right… Oops. Every bottle of medicine that I've checked has already been opened, even the ones that weren't moved. None of them have seals or anything, so there's no way of telling if someone used them or not."

"Hmm…" She picks up a bottle of poison and reads the label, just in case. She does the same with the bottle of sleeping pills. Finally, Shizu leans her head back and asks, "Then that's why you were distracted."

"I needed to check if anything else had been touched," she confirms. "I feel as though there's something just slightly different, but I can't put my finger on it. It might just be my imagination, but I had to make sure. Otherwise, we might miss a vital clue."

"And have you discovered anything, then?" Shizu pulls out her notepad, just in case.

Samia coughs a little. "No, I haven't. Just my initial findings. I'm starting to think that this is all a waste of time."

"That's why everyone else is also investigating," she muses. "Very well then, before you continue, would you mind telling me what you were doing yesterday and this morning?"

"What do you need to know about yesterday for?" Samia questions. "I know that I said that I didn't know when the stuff got switched around, but still… Even if you get all of those accounts, how are you going to verify them?"

Tapping her pen against her notes, Shizu replies, "That's for me to worry about. For the meantime, please give me all that you remember. Unless you are afraid of implicating yourself since you spent all of your time in the infirmary."

An instance of fury runs across Samia's face. She hides it quickly with a fake smile. "Oh, okay then. So that's your strategy then. Well, you'd be right. After breakfast, I was in the infirmary all day, continuing to take inventory." Her fake smile widen, and she puts on an extra layer of cheer in her voice. "Oh, I nearly forgot. What about you, Shizu? Where were you all day? Holed up in your room with your notes?"

Shizu grits her teeth. "From the afternoon to around 10 PM, yes, that was the case. However, I was also in the lounge by myself after breakfast until the afternoon."

"So you've got no one to verify your story either." Samia drops the act and scowls. "Don't lecture me on being suspicious when you've got basically the same story. At least give me that courtesy."

Exhaling sharply, Shizu states, "All I needed was your story, and it felt as though you were trying to hide that."

"Yeah, sure." Samia rolls her eyes. "Just think about what you say next time. Anyways, I stopped to eat dinner around 9, but I didn't see anyone at all. Once I was done, I went to bed. Then, this morning, I got woken up by the announcement, rushed over with Kaixi and Chouki, and that's about it. That's all you wanted, right?"

"That's all needed for your alibi, yes," Shizu confirms. "However, if you notice that anything else is missing, please inform me."

"What, aren't you afraid that I'm going to hide information?" Samia doesn't allow her to answer. "No wait, let me guess. Because I offered up the information about the poison and sleeping pills earlier, you don't think I'd hide anything else, right? Or, at least, you can't think of anything more important than those things."

Closing the cabinet, Shizu slowly makes her way to the entrance of the infirmary. "…It sounds like you have everything covered here."

"I do." Apparently done with this conversation, Samia turns back to what she was doing before. It might be her imagination, but it looks like she's looking through the infirmary supplies with a bit more force than before. Well, that's one way to make people work more vigorously. Great job, Shizu.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Samia took inventory of the infirmary after eating breakfast. She stopped to eat dinner at 9 PM and then went to bed.

Infirmary Supply Shifting – All of the sleeping pill and poison bottles were moved back to their original position. Samia claims to have only noticed this today, and she isn't sure if it happened earlier.

Poison Details – The poison is lethal enough to kill someone within a minute of them ingesting it. It also causes blood clots to appear over the victim's body. It should be kept refrigerated when not in use.

Sleeping Pill Details – A single pill is enough to put someone to sleep for about four hours. The pills are tasteless and odorless.


As she's walking down the hallway, Shizu decides to start her laundry. It's been at least twenty minutes by now, so whatever was being washed surely has finished by now. She could head the other direction and get the kit back faster, but there are some things that she wants to check out this way regardless.

To her immense displeasure, Morgan is already in the laundry room. From the looks of things, she's inspecting Shizu's clothes. "Hmm… So you've finally arrived." She looks over and smiles gracefully at Shizu.

"Please get away from my clothes," she replies flatly.

Morgan stands up and holds her hands in the air. "I was not tampering with them. I merely wished to see why you were doing laundry again. After all, I believe that you did that a few days ago. It is quite suspicious, if I may be so bold."

She straightens her glasses and gives an annoyed stare. "A cake hit me, so I'm washing my clothes before they stain."

"I have seen that," Morgan agrees. "I also see that someone else has claimed the washing machines previously. I hope you don't mind, but I took them out already." She points to the dryers on the other side of the room. There are two large sheets draped over them. "Those were what prevented you from getting your laundry done, were they not?"

"Apparently so," Shizu grumbles as she places her dirty clothes into one of the machines. "Who even does laundry this early, let alone sheets?"

There's a glint in Morgan's eyes. "If you are attempting to blame me for this, I assure you that you are incorrect. That was just the one time, after all. Now, I was wondering what the time on the machines was when you first arrived. How long were you supposed to wait?"

Shizu thinks back to earlier this morning. "It was about twenty minutes or so for both of them." As she says this, she hits the medium setting, and the display pops up with fifty minutes.

"I see…" Morgan then explains some more. "Then our mystery washer must have gotten up very early. The setting for sheets is the longest, at around two hours. They must have forgotten to come back after the horrible news this morning."

Standing up to face Morgan, Shizu says, "Is that a guess or a divination?"

"Not everything I say or do is related to fortune telling. Just because you live every moment of your life as a strategist does not mean that every Ultimate is exactly like you." Morgan giggles a little at the thought of that.

Shizu feels a vein throbbing in her forehead. "Very well then. Before I leave, would you please tell me what you were doing yesterday and this morning?"

"I had a suspicion you would ask me about that." Morgan clears her throat and recalls the previous events. "Yesterday, I did not venture out of my room, not even once. The spirits were calling to me too strongly, and I needed to make sure I did not misinterpret their voices. Such a thing could be catastrophic. And yet, something so tragic still happened…"

"You didn't get hungry?" Shizu asks, ignoring the latter part of her explanation.

Morgan raises a hand over her mouth. Her silver rings sparkle as she laughs. "I had a feeling that I would be in need of food over the coming days for a while now. I made sure to stockpile a few choice foods on prior days because of this."

She technically can't deny that, so she moves on. "And what of this morning?"

At this, Morgan sighs deeply. "I was awoken by the accursed announcement that one of my friends had died. I would have rushed out immediately, but I needed to prepare myself both physically and mentally. Half of improving one's mood is getting dressed up in the morning, if you didn't know. Still, I apologize for my lateness."

"…It's fine. Thank you for your time." Shizu's done everything that she wanted to in here, and she's not too keen on sticking around for much longer. She tells herself it's because there's still a lot she wants to check out, but that's only part of the reason.

"Take care of yourself, Shizu. I would like to see if I am able to divine the owner of these sheets. This may take some time, but I believe in you and all of the others to sniff out the culprit. Do take care of yourself." Having said this, Morgan turns her attention back to the sheets that are on top of the dryer. Shizu quickly exits before she changes her mind.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Morgan was busy "communing with spirits" or whatever yesterday and did not leave her room at all.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day.

Sheets in the Washing Machine – Someone put sets of sheets into the washing machine early this morning. I found this out around 8:30 AM when I went to do my own laundry. At this time, they had twenty minutes left in their cycle.

Washing Machines – There are only two working washing machines in this building. They have three settings on them: short, which takes thirty minutes, medium, which takes fifty minutes, and long, which takes around two hours.


There's a strange noise coming from up ahead, where all of the second floor dorms are. Someone is ringing all of the doorbells or perhaps continuously ringing one of them. The sound carries in these hallways pretty well, and it's starting to get a little obnoxious. That can really only mean one thing.

As Shizu expected, Soraru is the cause of the chaos. Xe's standing in front of one of the doors hammering the doorbell as if xer life depends on it. She whistles harshly, and xe jumps.

"Hey, you're interrupting my very important investigation, Shizu!" Soraru places xer hands on xer hips and huffs. "Why would you even make such an annoying sound? Big Brother hates it when you do that!"

"Does Big Brother also hate you then?" she states flatly.

Soraru's eye twitches, and xe inhales sharply. "Don't even joke about that! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"All that I know is that you're making quite the racket by ringing…" She glances at the pixel plate on the door and spies a telltale beanie and curly white hair. "Joshua's doorbell repeatedly. That's not doing anyone any good."

Xe pouts. "Huh? Huh? But I'm just trying to get him in on all the investigationy fun. Is that really so wrong?"

Giving xem a flat stare, Shizu asks, "Why don't you just talk to him? How is giving people a headache going to accomplish that?"

"Because," Soraru says emphatically, "I can't find him anywhere. How am I supposed to talk to someone who isn't around at all? Plus, if he's not out here, then he totally has to be inside his room. I won't tolerate him flat out ignoring me. If he's going to stay in his room, then he's going to get an earful of doorbell. It's only fair."

…Hmm… Now that she thinks back, she hasn't seen Joshua all day. That's honestly not all that surprising, seeing as he's usually late to the morning meetings. However, he's also normally awake by this point. If Soraru has been here for a while, he should have at least opening his door to tell xem off. Is he somehow still sleeping? And could he really sleep through doorbell spamming? Questions for later.

"Even so, if he hasn't responded by this point, I doubt he'll respond any time soon," she finally asserts. "Your efforts might be better spent elsewhere."

Soraru thinks this over. "Nah, I'm good. This is clearly the most effective way for me to help. By standing here and making sure that someone else isn't doing absolutely nothing. I'm like a hall monitor!"

"…Right. At least consider spacing out your doorbell presses. Spamming it nonstop clearly is not working." Shizu takes out her notepad. "One last thing. Could you please tell me what you were doing yesterday and this morning?"

"Ooooh! Alibi stuff! Very thorough." Xe nods along, as if xe's actually taking this seriously. "Well… I went to breakfast around 11, then I went back to my room, then I went out of my room, then I saw Chouki being a grump, then I made cake, then you came in and lectured me, then you left, then I left, then-"

"Okay, hold on one second." Her mind was barely able to process that mess. "You mentioned seeing Chouki. When was that?"

"Huh? Oh that was when I first came into the kitchen to make cake, maybe around 1-ish? He was carrying a lot of food, and he glared at me. The nerve of some people." Xe shakes xer head. "Anyways, where was I? Oh right! Then I feel asleep, then I woke up, then I ran into the dining hall, then I ran out of the dining hall, then I did this. And that's it!" Posing proudly with xer hands on xer hips, xe gives a cheeky grin.

It takes a few moments for her to write that down in a coherent manner. "So, for the most part, you didn't see anyone yesterday or today on your way to the dining hall, correct?"

"Do I need to repeat that again?" Soraru asks.

She suppresses a shudder. "Please don't."

Xe shrugs. "Suit yourself. I'm going to go back to doing whatever it was that I was doing. Have fun not talking to Joshua!"

Well that was almost a complete waste of time. At least she got some information about what Chouki was doing. Perhaps she can verify that later on… For now, she heads towards the elevator lobby.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Soraru got breakfast at 11 AM, and then went back to xer room. At 1 PM xe started making xer cakes and ran into Chouki. Xe also talked with me around 2 PM. After xer cakes were done, xe went back to xer room for the rest of the day.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Soraru didn't run into anyone this morning until xe got to the dining hall. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day.


There's already a group of people looking around the elevator lobby. Pal is standing in the middle of the hallway, staring blankly into space. Tsubame is kneeling on the floor next to the fallen cake, which Kaixi is taking pictures of. Standing away from the rest of the group, Kogi is looking up at something above the stairwell. Realizing that she forgot to question Soraru about this, Shizu curses internally.

Kaixi is the first person to see her approach. After taking one more picture of the cake on the floor, he waves to her. "Hey again, Shizu! Is that the thing you were getting for Michio?"

"This is the coroner's kit, yes," she responds.

He gives her a thumbs up. "Nice job."

"Hey Shizu," Tsubame mumbles, still looking at the cake. "Do you have any idea what happened here? It looks like this cake fell on someone, but everyone looks clean…"

"I would love to stay and help, but I really should be getting this to Michio as soon as possible." She holds the kit up again, in case Tsubame had missed what she had said a few moments ago. "If we can't get an autopsy, then we could be in a lot of trouble."

"Oh, I can take it over for you!" Kaixi offers. "I'm just about done here, so it's no trouble at all. Well, I shouldn't assume that you want to look around here, I guess, but the offer is there."

She gives him a thankful look. "If that's fine with you, by all means, take the kit. It would be a huge help."

He beams. "Of course! I'll get it over there before you know it. Good luck everyone!" Tsubame waves him off, Pal mumbles a quiet farewell, and Kogi ignores him completely.

Shizu turns back to Tsubame. "So, what exactly where you saying again? I wasn't entirely paying attention. My apologies."

"Oh, no worries." Tsubame repeats herself. "We were looking over this area together. Do you see that makeshift shelf over there?" She points at the wall next to the elevator. A wooden plank is dangling vertically. Half of it is held up by a series of magnetic clasps. Those clasps look like the same ones that Shizu used to hold up the clocks.

"I do. So, that shelf fell over then, presumably dropping the cake," she mutters.

"That appears to be… correct," Pal answers, finally coming out of his trance. "This was… no accident, however. If you look closely… on the ground, you will see… more of the clasps." Indeed, several clasps line the tile flooring. "Those clasps… seem to have been… pulled off."

Shizu asks, "Pulled off by what exactly?"

"We found…" Tsubame stops herself to give a quick correction. "Well, I suppose I should say that Kogi found this transparent wire that was snapped in half. The long end was tied to a bunch of the clasps, and the other end was connected to just in front of the elevator door."

Pal continues to explain. "It would seem that… someone stepped on the wire… and triggered the shelf to slant… which made the cake… fall to the floor."

As she's writing all of this down, she adjusts her glasses. "That all seems reasonable. What exactly is the problem then?"

"We don't know… who that person was…" Pal scratches his chin.

Tsubame tugs on her braid and stands up. "From the way the cake crumbs are positioned on the floor, it looks like whoever it stepped on the wire got hit. But neither of us has seen anyone covered in cake, and nobody said anything about it earlier, so we've come to an impasse."

From across the lobby, Kogi speaks up. "What a pain… I think it's pretty obvious who got hit."

Pal glares at the back of his head. "If that was the case… why would you not… speak up sooner?"

"I decided to make sure the trap worked like the way you said it did before making any assumptions," he answers smoothly. "Anyways, it was obviously Takumi."

"…What makes you think that?" Shizu questions him. She'll tell them soon enough, but he sounds very confident, and she would like to hear his reasoning.

"Got a few reasons actually," he claims. "First, from what I've gathered, he's always one of the first people to come down for breakfast in the morning. He'd be the logical first person to get hit. More importantly, didn't you all notice how he wasn't wearing his bag? It seems pretty likely that he got hit with that cake, it ruined his bag, and he was forced to take it off. Either that, or the killer didn't want us to know he got hit, so they took it off of him after they killed him."

Fidgeting in place, Tsubame mulls over his words. "I see… That makes an unfortunate amount of sense. To think that his last few moments were being hit by a cake and now this…"

"Good reasoning, but that's wrong," Shizu interjects before this line of reasoning can go on any longer. "I was the one who got hit."

Kogi stares at her. "Huh. That works too." He shrugs and goes back to looking at the stairwell. Actually, now that she takes a closer look, it appears that the same cake-shelf setup is over there as well.

"Huh?" Tsubame whirls around to look at Shizu. "But why aren't you covered in cake?"

"I changed clothes and took a shower. The other pair is currently being washed," she explains.

"I wish… you would have told us… sooner." Pal shakes his head and sighs. "However, at least… that is one mystery down."

"I was a too frustrated at the time to take a good look at my surroundings after I tripped and got hit, so thank you for figuring it out." Having said this, she changes the topic. "Now, not to be rude, but would you all mind telling me what you were doing yesterday and this morning? I'm collecting alibis."

Tsubame nods grimly. "Of course. Whatever I can do to help. If I remember correctly, I came down for breakfast with everyone else, but I spent most of the day alone until dinner."

"That is the same… for me," Pal comments. "We talked… around 11 AM, but you already… know that… However, I did see Chouki… around 1 PM… while I was attempted to draw… the others out. But he refused… to speak to me. That combined with… my lack of success… left me demoralized… so I left dinner… before the others finished eating."

As she jots this all down, she continues her questions. "You went to the lounge with the main group after dinner, right Tsubame?"

"That is correct," she confirms. "I left a little after you did, alongside Hachi. It was probably around 11:30, but I could be wrong about that. Both of us were starting to get drowsy, so we walked back together. Well, until I got to the elevator, but I think that should suffice."

"As for this morning, Tsubame and I… met up on the second floor… after hearing the announcement." Pal takes a moment to see if he's forgetting everything. "I believe that… this is all that… I did."

"Same with me. I hope that was helpful." Tsubame's fidgeting intensifies as she waits for a response.

"You both gave me a lot to think about. Thank you very much." Shizu then turns to address Kogi. "I still need your story."

"I heard you the first time," he calls back. "Not sure what you're expecting. The only time I left my room that day was to do laundry. That was three trips, around 9, 10, and 11 PM. But you already knew that, since you're the only person I saw that day."

"You didn't get anything to eat?" Tsubame asks, sounding a little concerned.

He shakes his head. "No need. I've got rations stockpiled in my room. I'm all set. Anyways, I came down here by myself after hearing the announcement. And what about you, Shizu? What were you doing?"

"After breakfast, I mostly just consulted my notes all day. I met up with Pal, as you already heard, as well as Soraru, but, until the after dinner meeting, I was alone," she explains. "You already know when we met up, and I already told you what I did this morning. Is that good enough for you?"

"Checks out for me," Kogi says nonchalantly. "Also, you might want to take notes on this."

"On what?" She asks, though she keeps her notepad out regardless.

Pal tilts his head. "Are you… planning on-"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence, as Kogi suddenly steps into the doorway to the stairwell. He doesn't press his foot down particularly hard, but she manages to hear a slight snapping sound. The remaining wooden shelf holding the cake begins to tilt, as the magnetic clasps on one end have come off. Having anticipated this, he steps back just in time to avoid getting hit by the falling dessert.

Gasping, Tsubame calls out, "Kogi! What were you thinking?"

"What a pain…" Kogi pinches his forehead. "I wanted to see how this trap worked, so I did. That's all there is to it. Not like it was dangerous since Shizu got hit. She looks completely fine, even after taking a metal plate to the back of the head."

"You should have… considered preserving… the evidence." Pal crosses his arms sternly.

Kogi rolls his eyes. "What for? Kaixi already took a bunch of pictures. We already have evidence for what this used to look like. Plus, now we all know for certain how it works."

In a quiet voice, Shizu states, "…There was probably a less reckless way to doing that, but thank you."

Tsubame ignores her, still concerned about what just happened. "But Kogi, what if you had gotten hit? You might have been hurt more than she was."

"You saying that she has a thick skull?" he deadpans.

"N-no, that's not it at all," she cries. "You really need to be more careful about these things."

Pal starts moving towards the protester, still looking stern. "At the very least, your clothes… might have been covered… in cake. That would have been… a great inconvenience."

This is starting to seem like a waste of time to Shizu. She's already got all of the evidence she needed from this area. Thus, she quietly mutters a goodbye to everyone and heads back to the dining room. She faintly hears Kogi continuing to be annoyed as Tsubame and Pal fret over his safety. Though their intentions are pure, this probably is just making him want to go back into isolation.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Pal spent the day trying to draw the others out. He talked with me around 11 AM and saw Chouki around 1 PM, but he was unsuccessful otherwise.

- Michio, Kazuha, Tsubame, Hachi, Kaixi, and Joshua went to lounge after dinner at 7 PM. I joined them around 10 PM. I remember Joshua leaving around 10:30 PM, and I left around 11 PM. Tsubame and Hachi left together around 11:30 PM. Michio and Kaixi were the last ones there, and left around 1 AM.

- Kogi spent the entire day in his room, only coming out to handle laundry matters. He took three trips, which were at around 9 PM, 10 PM, and 11 PM. He only saw me on that day during his last trip.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Shortly afterwards, Tsubame and Pal came to the dining hall together. Kogi ran over by himself. Soraru didn't run into anyone this morning until xe got to the dining hall. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day.

Cake Traps – The second floor elevator and stairwell were rigged to drop cake on people. A transparent wire was set up to knock over some shelves, which would cause cakes resting on dishes to slide onto the head of the person who stepped on said wire. It looks as though it required a lot of setup time.

Broken Transparent Wire – This is the wire that I tripped over this morning. It's transparent, which makes it very hard to see. Unless you knew it was there, it is unlikely that you would be able to avoid it.


The dining hall looks almost the same as when she was first there. Kaixi has gone back to taking photos, though, this time, the subject matter appears to be Michio. Now that he has that coroner's kit, he seems almost like he's in a trance. The clicking of the nearby camera isn't even fazing him. Even Sawako looks a little bewildered by how fervently he's working. She considers stepping over to ask him but thinks better of it. There will be time later.

For now, she heads into the kitchen proper. There's a full team looking around here as well. However, now that she sees who is here, that may be a bit generous of her. Kazuha is currently attempting to comfort Hachi, who is sitting on the counter and is struggling to hold back tears. Chouki is also here, although it appears that he would rather be anywhere else.

"Is everything alright in here?" Shizu asks, mostly directing the question to Hachi.

She sniffles. "Y-yeah. I just… It's nothing."

Kazuha shakes her head rapidly. "N-no, it's not nothing. One of our friends just died. We can't just pretend that everything is already."

"Bold of you to assume that Takumi was anyone's friend," Chouki mumbles as he looks down at the trash can and narrows his eyes.

As Kazuha glares in his direction, Shizu interjects to stop any fighting from breaking out. "Kazuha is correct, Hachi. There's no need to force yourself to be okay for the moment. We will have to pull ourselves together for the trial later, but, for now, it is alright to let it all out."

"Yeah, what Shizu said," Kazuha rapidly agrees. "Please don't bottle everything up too much. Not everyone has to be strong at all times. And this is one of those times where that's super reasonable."

"The same goes for you as well, Kazuha," Shizu points out.

She starts shaking a little. "H-huh? I don't-"

Not letting her finish, Shizu continues talking. "I'm not the best people person, but this is clearly affecting you a lot as well. It's great that you're trying to be there for Hachi, but, if you try to force yourself to be strong, you'd still be part of the problem."

She looks at the floor and plays with the brim of her cap. "O-oh… I just wanted to… I mean… Ugh…" Burying her head in her hand, she cries, "I'm a complete mess, aren't I?"

"As I just said, that's completely fine." Shizu attempts to assuage Kazuha's concerns.

Hachi lefts out a particularly loud sniff but, then, holds her head up high. There's a glint in her eye that looks a little powerful. "Sh-shizu's right, but even so… You're trying really hard, aren't you Kazuha? And you too, Shizu." She doesn't wait for either of them to say anything. "You're both working so hard to make things better, and I'm just sitting here crying. Th-that's not fair to anyone else. So, for everyone, I'll d-do it!"

She leaps off of the counter and onto the floor, stumbling slightly as she tries to get a good footing. "Hachi, be careful," Kazuha says, eyes wide. Her voice falls on deaf ears, however.

"W-we should be doing some investigating, r-right?" Hachi asks, putting on her bravest face despite her stuttering.

Chouki responds harshly. "Did you just figure that out? Yes."

Ignoring his tone, Hachi looks even more determined. "R-right. Okay th-then. I think I n-noticed something that c-could be useful."

"Oh really?" Kazuha stands up as well and looks at her friend curiously. "Oh, wait, that probably sounded really rude, didn't it? I didn't mean to doubt you at all…"

Letting out a little giggle, Hachi says, "Nah, it's f-fine. I've k-kinda been down f-for a while." She takes a few steps over to the refrigerator, opens it, and points inside. "S-so, I was g-gonna get s-something to eat to c-calm me down, but that's when I n-noticed that s-some of the milk cartons are s-stacked funny."

Peering into the fridge, Shizu sees what she's talking about. On one of the lower shelves, there's just a row of milk cartons going across the entire shelf. It looks a little like a blockade now that she thinks about it. However, she probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if Hachi hadn't said anything. "That is peculiar…"

"Is there anything back there? I can't see from this angle," Kazuha says, trying to look past them.

Shizu adds, "I can't see from here either."

"I don't think so…" Hachi pulls out one of the cartons. Just as she said, there isn't anything back there. However, the placement of the milk is so odd. What could it mean?

Kazuha voices her thoughts. "Well, that's really strange. But still, nice find Hachi!"

Beaming with pride, Hachi sniffles again. However, Chouki doesn't seem all that impressed. "So, in the end, you didn't find anything."

Shizu raises an eyebrow. "…No, she literally found the strangely placed milk cartons."

"So what? There wasn't anything back there, so it could have just been how Monokuma put them down. No need to treat it like some big discovery." He traces the tattoos of his veins as he stands up.

Placing her hands on her hips, Kazuha leans in towards him. "Okay Chouki, since you're so critical of Hachi, what exactly did you find then?"

Chouki holds up what appears to be a plastic bag that's been torn open. It looks a little wet, like it's been rinsed out. "I found this while digging through the trash."

"…So you found nothing then?" Kazuha retorts, sounding only a little bit smug.

He growls. "I found that there's nothing else in the trash, so the culprit didn't throw anything away. I think that's a pretty big clue."

"G-guys, we should stop f-fighting." Hachi attempts to get between them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Whatever, I don't need this." Chouki tosses the plastic bag onto the floor and shoves Hachi away. "You all can go hang around here. I've got better things to do." Muttering to himself, he shoves his hands into his pockets and moves to leave.

"Wait, before you go, please tell me what you were doing today and yesterday," Shizu calls out before he gets too far.

He keeps walking but calls back, "Nothing. I was in my room. Came out around 1 PM and when I heard the body discovery announcement, but that's it." He doesn't clarify any further and leaves the kitchen too quickly for her to stop him. Shizu tightens her grip on her pen.

"Um… Do you want us to t-tell you what we did as well?" Hachi meekly asks, still frozen in place.

She sighs. "I would very much appreciate that, yes."

"W-well, I kind of w-was alone for m-most of the day… It wasn't until d-dinner that I saw anyone else again." Hachi claims.

Kazuha plays with the brim of her cap, but answers similarly. "It was kind of the same for me… I wasn't feeling too great, so I spent a lot of that time alone in my room. I mean, at least we had a nice long chat after dinner. That was fun!"

Starting to cheer up a little, Hachi agrees. "Y-yeah, you're right. You stayed even later than I did, right?"

"Yeah, I left a little before midnight," Kazuha says after giving it some thought. "You left a bit earlier with Tsubame, right?"

Hachi puffs out her cheeks. "Around 11:30 PM, yeah. I was feeling super sleepy, but I wanted to stay for longer. Maybe I should have stayed a bit later… Because of that, I woke up in time to meet Michio and Sawako on their way down."

"Hey, don't even think about stuff like that. You couldn't have known anything. Besides, we all get tired at some point. I think Kaixi and Michio stayed up even longer. I don't know how they did it. I was so tired that I woke up late and had to rush down after hearing the announcement," Kazuha replies.

Laughing a little, Hachi jokes, "Maybe they just never shut their eyes. Like Kaixi lets his camera do all of the blinking for him and Michio only lets the dead rest but never himself."

"They're not robots or superheroes, Hachi." Nevertheless, Kazuha laughs along with her.

At least they're both finally feeling better… Shizu decides to leave them be for now. They might as well get a little bit more laughter in before things get truly awful. Besides, they were a great help, even if they didn't think so. She's only got a few more stops left before she feels ready, so, unfortunately, she can't stick around.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Michio, Kazuha, Tsubame, Hachi, Kaixi, and Joshua went to lounge after dinner at 7 PM. I joined them around 10 PM. I remember Joshua leaving around 10:30 PM, and I left around 11 PM. Tsubame and Hachi left together around 11:30 PM. Kazuha left a little before 12 AM. Michio and Kaixi were the last ones there, and left around 1 AM.

- Chouki only left his room around 1 PM yesterday. He didn't mention seeing anyone, though he could have just viewed that information as non-important.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Shortly afterwards, Tsubame and Pal came to the dining hall together. Kazuha ran over to the dining hall by herself, as did Kogi. Soraru didn't run into anyone this morning until xe got to the dining hall. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day.

Milk Cartons – Hachi discovered that someone lined up the milk cartons in the kitchen's fridge so that they blocked part of the fridge from view. Something could be hidden there, but nothing of the sort was found.

Plastic Bag – Chouki found a torn-open, slightly wet plastic bag in the trash can in the kitchen. Nothing else was found in the trash.


The pantry is Shizu's next stop, seeing as it's right there. The only person inside is Fumika, who is standing at the very back of the room in the process of closing the cleaning closet. She spins around when she hears the pantry door open but relaxes at the sight of Shizu.

"You could work on your timing a little. If you had been any earlier, I wouldn't have wasted all of my time putting everything back," Fumika claims as she begrudgingly reopens the closet.

Shizu hurries over, raising an eyebrow in the process. "I take it that you found something important."

"I found something that someone didn't want anyone to find," Fumika states. "As for whether or not it's important, I'll leave that for everyone else to decide."

While watching Fumika dig around in the closet for a minute, Shizu takes out her notepad and spins her pen around. Apparently, Fumika's previous investigation was messy, as she's taking the time to make sure nothing spills or is too ruffled up as she moves them out of the way. Finally, she turns back towards Shizu holding a stack of red towels.

"Take a good feel." To emphasize her point, she holds them out further, as if to entice Shizu.

"…Okay then." It's a bit of an odd request, but she obliges. She pokes, prod, and rubs them experimentally. There's really only one conclusion she can draw. "They're wet. Someone was using them to dry something."

Fumika nods briefly. "Good, so it wasn't just me that thought that. I didn't think I was fooling myself, but you can never be too careful."

"Those towels were really far back there," Shizu notes.

"I'm certain that someone was trying to hide them. Why else would you put them all the way in the back? Maybe the culprit was wiping up some blood stains or something. It would explain why those chose red towels, since we'd have a harder time verifying if that was the case." Having said that, Fumika starts putting everything back into the closet.

"Is that all that you noticed in here?" Shizu inquires. She feels as though she should help her pack up, but she doesn't want to get in the way or put something in the wrong place.

"That's all." However, Fumika suddenly snaps her fingers. "Wait a second… I wanted to give you my alibi for the past while. It's not much, but you'd probably ask me anyways."

That came as a bit of a shock. Nobody else has offered yet. "…Very astute of you. In that case, please tell me what you did yesterday and this morning."

She taps her chin. "That far back huh? Well, my story's the same. I never left my room yesterday, and I came down to the dining hall alone, after everyone else arrived. There's no way to verify that of course, so feel free to doubt me all you want."

"Are you hoping that, by offering this information up freely, it will make you look less suspicious?" That's really the only reason that Shizu can think of for anyone to willingly tell her such a flimsy alibi.

"Think whatever you want." Shrugging, Fumika resumes putting everything back. "You're done here, right? You'd better keep looking around before time runs out. Who knows when Monokuma will get bored."

"Thank you very much for your cooperation. I'll see you soon." Seeing Fumika nod in response, Shizu steps out of the pantry, leaving her to her menial task.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Fumika never left her room at any point yesterday

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Shortly afterwards, Tsubame and Pal came to the dining hall together. Kazuha ran over to the dining hall by herself, as did Kogi. Soraru didn't run into anyone this morning until xe got to the dining hall. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day. Fumika was the last person to arrive after hearing the announcement.

Red Towels – Fumika discovered that a few of the towels in the pantry's cleaning closet were slightly wet. Someone probably wiped up something, but, due to the towel's red color, we are unable to tell if it's blood or now.


Hachi and Kazuha are still talking amicably in the kitchen, though they have been joined by Kaixi. He's only half-joining in on their conversation, as he's taking a few pictures of the kitchen itself. Shizu thinks about putting the plastic bag back in the trash, but she decides that it's not worth her time. Instead, she chooses to look in the last place she has yet the check, which is the freezer.

She shudders involuntarily once she steps inside. She's never been a fan of the cold, so she should really make this quick. A fast scan of the room reveals nothing new to her, but that really shouldn't be the end of her investigation. There's nobody else in here either, so she can't rely on them to give her information.

The only thing that she finds on the shelves is a place where it looks like something was removed, as all of the surrounding food has been pushed aside. Judging by the shape of the empty spots and the print left on the shelf, it was probably Soraru's cakes. The outlines are the exact sizes and shapes of the platters that the cakes were on, so they were probably stored in here. After all, if they were in the fridge, people would be more likely to take them.

Finally, she gets to the container at the back of the room. Now that she's thinking about it, it's actually pretty large. If someone wanted to, they could hide something inside of it. The ice cream inside is dense enough to obscure anything at the bottom from view. With that in mind, she slides it open and begins to dig.

Unfortunately, that's when she hears a chime ring out. Then, Monokuma's voice fills the room. "Attention all Ultimates: Investigation time has ended, so stop whatever it is that you're doing. Please make your way to the elevator on the second floor. An Ultimate Trial is about to start!"

Shizu curses the bear but does as he says. She really doesn't want to get punished, after all.


Freezer Container – There's a large container full of ice cream at the back of the freezer. It's possible to hide something large inside, but I was unable to verify whether something was inside or not.


Shizu is stopped by Michio as she enters the dining hall. All of the others have already left, so he must have waited for her. "Hold up there Shizu. I wanted to thank you for getting that kit for me. I didn't have a lot of time, but I figured you'd want to hear my report regardless."

She adjusts her glasses. "It's no problem. Can we walk and talk?"

"Sure thing." They both exit the dining hall in tandem. "So, I wanted to tell you that Takumi definitely only had the one injury, at least externally. However, that isn't what killed him."

"Are you certain?" she asks. "If that isn't it, then what was the cause of death?"

Michio adjusts his cap and frowns. "Uh… I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I haven't got a clue. Don't get me wrong, he was hit really hard. But I'm positive that it wouldn't have been enough to do him in. That being said, I didn't have enough time to find out exactly what it was, and I tried a few things that seemed likely, but none of them worked."

Swallowing a little, Shizu takes it in stride. "Okay then. What else have you got?"

"Again, I didn't have a lot of time, but I managed to narrow down his time of death to sometime last night," Michio claims.

It's just one casual bombshell after another. "Again, are you completely sure about this?"

"Look, autopsies are supposed to be done over the course of a few hours by most people. I may be the Ultimate Coroner, but I'm not a miracle worker. I'd still need at least an hour to be completely confident in my results." He crosses his arms. "But, unless that kit you brought me was messed with in some way, I'm pretty sure that everything I've said it correct."

"…Alright. You did well, Michio," she praises.

He gives a beleaguered laugh. "Ha. I blame that damn bear. He barely gave us any time at all for that. …Fuck, that pun wasn't intentional. Just ignore that."

"Noted." She smiles a little at his attempt to lighten the mood as they finally reach the elevator lobby.


Michio's Autopsy of Takumi – The cause of death is unknown. The time of death was sometime late last night. Due to time constraints, this information may not be entirely accurate, no matter what Michio says.


As Shizu finishes looking over all of her evidence, she hears Kazuha cry out, "Huh? What's all this stuff?"

"Believe me, it's too stupid to even be worth thinking about," Kogi replies.

Fumika stares flatly at the cake littering the floor. "What a mess… Didn't anyone think that this was worth cleaning up or something?"

"It might be… vital evidence…" Pal says, though even he sounds uncertain of that.

"Congratulations, we've found the key to solving the great cake murder," Chouki mockingly claims, a pout on his face.

Pal looks a little hurt. "You do not need… to be so rude."

"…Sorry." That's all Chouki is willing to give, but at least it's something.

Morgan chooses this time to speak up. "Regardless of that, I am a bit confused why Monokuma did not clean this all up. He is the one who summoned us all here. Did he not think it important to make this meeting ground presentable?"

Pulling on the straps of his backpack, Kaixi says, "Uh… No offense, but I have a hard time seeing Monokuma caring about something like this."

"Speaking of that bear, where is he?" Sawako scowls. "What kind of person is late to their own meeting?"

Another chime rings out. "Attention all Ultimates: This is seriously your last warning! Get to the second floor elevator lobby or face immediate punishment!"

Everyone looks around the room frantically. Who's the person that's missing? Then, Shizu remembers.

As this happens, Monokuma pops out of nowhere. "Geez! You'd think that threats would be suitable motivation. The nerve of some people! I can't believe someone would try and ditch something of such ultimate importance!"

"What are you talking about?" Michio lifts up his hat and scratches the hair underneath it. "Aren't we all here?"

"Surely you're not suggesting that Takumi should show up," Sawako grunts, a poisonous look flashing through her eyes.

Monokuma waves his hand. "Nah, nothing like that. Dead is dead. There's a certain someone who apparently thinks that they're above my power! How dare they?! If they don't show up soon-"

"Wait up! I'm here!"

The shout precedes the desperate footsteps of someone approaching. Within a few seconds, Joshua comes sprinting in, still in his pajamas and dripping with sweat. No wait, that's not sweat. There's too much of it. It looks like water.

"Hey, you finally made it!" Soraru cheers. "You were about to be super punished, but I knew you wouldn't let that happen!"

"Gah, sorry about that! I was really tired this morning and I only woke up a few minutes ago. I only heard that announcement when I got into the shower, so I barely had time to dry off and get dressed!" Joshua blurts out before leaning over and panting heavily.

Monokuma gives a sinister grin. "You sure know how to make a dramatic entrance. But don't cut it so late next time. I won't always be this forgiving. Now then, everyone, onto the elevator. We're about to begin the Ultimate Trial of Takumi Haruko!"

"Huh? Did Takumi do something?" Joshua asks.

Shrugging, Monokuma states, "Nah, he just died."

"Oh, okay. Thanks man." Joshua nods along. Then, he blinks rapidly, and his eyes widen fully. "Wait, what now?"

"No more dilly-dallying, get on the elevator!"

With that command, everyone files onto the elevator. The only exception is Joshua, who is physically pushed inside by Soraru.


Alibis (Updated) – What everyone claims to have done yesterday and this morning. These probably will not be helpful for this particular case, but it never hurts to collect more information.

- Michio, Sawako, and Hachi met up around 8:30 AM today and found Takumi's body. Kaixi, Chouki, and Samia also met up after the body discovery announcement played. Shortly afterwards, Tsubame and Pal came to the dining hall together. Kazuha ran over to the dining hall by herself, as did Kogi. Soraru didn't run into anyone this morning until xe got to the dining hall. Morgan heard the announcement and came alone after getting ready for the day. Joshua slept in and never made it to the dining hall.


The panel showing all of the available floors has changed. Now, it only displays Monokuma's face with the label "Trial Grounds". As Sawako is the person closest to it and nobody else seems to want to move, she presses it. The elevator shuts its doors and begins traveling downwards at a rapid pace.

"This uh… this sure is taking a while," Joshua says, chuckling nervously.

"It's like an amusement park ride, except it's full of terror instead of laughs!" Soraru cheers. "Wait… never mind, those are also full of terror. Seriously, do not trust those things."

Kazuha gulps. "How far down are we going?"

"We're definitely in some kind of basement," Michio claims.

"This elevator is nearly full, and yet, it feels empty now that one of us is dead…" Tsubame mutters, though her words carry throughout the elevator. This shuts everyone up, and the rest of the ride is devoid of speaking.

Eventually, the elevator dings, and the doors open. Their stop is much different from the rest of the floors that they've seen so far. Directly in front of them is a giant circle of podiums. Behind that circle, a tall desk, like one a judge might sit at, looms over everything. Everything is wooden, and it looks almost like it could be in an actual courtroom.

From behind the judge's desk, Monokuma leaps out. "You all made it here safely! Glad none of you keeled over on the ride down. How do you like the place? Pretty snazzy, right?"

"You would dare make a mockery of the legal system?" Sawako shouts, balling her firsts.

He laughs at her. "You know it! Now, enough chatter! Everyone, find the podium with your name on it and stand there. Let's stop wasting time and get this trial started!"

"Literally only one person was chattering…" Chouki mutters under his breath but follows the instructions anyways.

Shizu steps forwards as well, finding that her podium is the one directly opposite Monokuma's desk. This feels almost fitting in a way, though that thought is a little terrifying. She'd also rather not have to look at that bear for the entire trial.

Desperate to distract herself, her eyes eventually land on something strange. At one of the podiums, there is a grayscale picture of Takumi's face, with the bag on of course, with a giant red X over it. That… must be where he would have sat if he…

Takumi Haruko, the Ultimate Cover Artist, was not the easiest person in the world to get along with. He was paranoid, rude, sarcastic, and blew up over tiny things. But Shizu can't help but remember the time that he came to her awkwardly, desperately trying to apologize to Kazuha and Hachi for his actions. He might have been someone who was always regretful of the ways that he could hurt people but never truly trusted them or himself…

But now she'll never know that.

Joshua leans against his podium, looking nervously at the others who know infinitely more about this than he does. Samia looks softly towards Takumi's portrait. Pal looks to the floor, unable to meet anyone else's gaze. Kaixi searches everyone else's faces, desperate to believe that every one of them is innocent. Morgan frowns as she looks behind her to see Monokuma smiling back. Chouki crosses his arms and huffs.

He's dead, and she's never going to know what he thought or why he thought the way he did. She'll never know why he became a cover artist or what his life was like. The only time she ever saw his true face was when he was already dead.

Kogi shoves his hands in his pockets and narrows his eyes. Soraru bounces up and down but stops whenever xe catches a glimpse of Takumi's portrait. Hachi takes several deep breaths and steadies herself against her podium. Fumika glares dead ahead, accepting the horrible lot she's been given.

Someone in this room murdered him. They had it in them to take a life. No matter the reason, no matter how sympathetic the motives, no matter what they were thinking… Takumi is dead because of them. They talked to him, they saw him on a daily basis, and yet they still were able to go through with it.

Sawako stares at her clenched fist that she pounded against her podium. Kazuha looks uneasily around the room, trying to find something comforting. Michio smiles casually in her direction, but his eyes betray his seriousness. Tsubame tugs on her braid and shuts her eyes tight.

There's only one way forward. She's going to solve this mystery, and nothing is going to stop her.

Shizu opens her eyes, adjusts her glasses, and forces herself to smile. Bring it on.


A/N: Here it is! The first investigation! I hope that it answers just as many questions as it raises. Or, at least, I hope that maybe you might be able to guess who the killer is from the clues given? If you're feeling brave enough, there's a poll on my profile page where you can test your luck. You get two guesses, so you've got a little room for error. Give it a shot. Have fun. Don't explode. All that jazz. At the very least, I hope that this chapter was not terrible. It was a bit nerve-wracking getting it out there, so I hope you all enjoy.

In any case, the next chapter is going to be the start of the trial. Fingers crossed that that one goes well, because I'm also stressing out about that one. Whatever the case, thank you to everyone who reviewed or speculated about my story, because that means the world to me. As always, I hope you have a fantastic day!