Investigation 1-1: We'll Use You As A Warning Sign

"Geez, not even thirty hundred thousand words in and you go off killing each other!" Monokuma sighs as he pops into the gym. "Now here's the Monokuma File! So you can actually have a hope of solving this case."

"M-Monokuma File?" Ichiko can barely get her words out. Her eyes continue to focus on the dead body. We might have only known each other for a very short time, but there is still a certain sadness to everything.

"Well, I gotta save my damsel in distress." Emilynn is not shaken up as I thought she would be. She, however, gently unties Mei from the rope, places her on the ground, and gives her back her handbook.

Mizore screams in surprise, yet she calms down after a little. On the other hand, Asuka is still screaming and then she runs past the two of us to get into the hallway. I could hear her heavy breathing while she passed. Himura begins to scream as well. At this point, my ears are beginning to hurt.

"The quicker we solve this, the quicker that we can get this over with," I say to Himura. Then I take out my handbook to read the information Monokuma has provided to all of us.

Monokuma File #1

Victim-Mei Yamazaki, Ultimate E-Sports Gamer

Height-Five feet, two inches

Weight-Ninety-five pounds

Age-*REDACTED*

Blood Type-O

Birthday-October 2nd

Cause of Death

The victim of this case was Mei Yamazaki, Ultimate E-Sports Gamer.

The body was discovered in the gym.

The cause of death is blunt force trauma to the head. There are also other injuries inflicted on her body.

Even with my limited information about the Killing Games, I am certain that this information is lacking. Many items in the gym could have been used to cause that kind of death. Especially the ones littered on the floor and covered with blood.

"Noooooooooooooooooo!" Himura, afterward, runs out of the room with tears in his eyes. Guess he is not the type of person to handle bodies all that well. In this world, he will have to learn to adapt to this situation. We are part of the Killing Game, that is the reality. People are going to die.

The only other person in this room that seems to be focused on the investigation is Ichiko. Etsuko leaves the gym, most likely to remove all of the blood from her. Emilynn, meanwhile, has promoted herself as the protector of the body. That was something I would not have guessed at first, but it does make some amount of sense.

To my surprise, my handbook beeps. It is still in my hands so I am able to see the update fairly quickly. Seems like the others can find certain pieces of evidence. This strikes me as strange as I would think Monokuma would not want us to work together. Having the handbooks work in this way requires us to cooperate, which is something Monokuma clearly does not want. So what is the meaning of this design? I am pretty sure that this is not the original way the handbooks were used either.

Truth Bullet #2: Mei's Handbook

Mei Yamazaki's handbook fell to the floor sometime during the process of having her body moved. This is evidenced by the blood trails from one side of the room to the other.

Displayed on her handbook is a picture of her motive. The body belongs to Sae Emiya, the Ultimate Experiment Subject.

Truth Bullet #3: Position of Body

When Mei Yamazaki was found, her body was suspended with a rope on one of the exercise bars. Her foot was stuck in the room and only hanging on loosely.

Truth Bullet #4: Bloody Etsuko

Etsuko Abe was found bloodied when the body was discovered.

Truth Bullet #5: Bloody Sport Equipment

All over the gym floor, there is sports equipment. Some of the equipment has blood on it but only one was used as the main murder weapon.

Sae Emiya? Whose that? I have never heard of her before even though we are both Ultimates. She must have been in the second class. There is no Honary in front of her title and, even though I was not close to any of them, I know who my classmates were. What strikes me as weird, though, is that clearly was the girl named Akita Yamazaki. And with a talent like an experiment subject, it does not take a lot to connect the dots.

"...Sae...?" Emilynn is now transfixed onto her handbook. Seconds later, Emilynn runs out of the room but does not have the same expression as the others. She is hard to read with her strangely cold face.

I am truly the only person I can trust during this investigation. The only one seemingly trying to investigate the gym is Ichiko, and I have doubts about whether or not the others are investigating the other rooms. Any of them can be the killer of Mei though. Nobody can be trusted this early on in the game. Faking their personality would be easy with how little we truly know about each other. Perhaps when the trial is over, I will get to know my underclassmen better. See who is or is not trustworthy during the trial.

Moving closer to the body, I examine Mei. My lack of medical experience would make this nearly futile, but, with how the bullets work, Monokuma might accidentally give us more clues than intended.

Mei's eyes are still open so I begin to see whether or not there is anything off about them, other than the obvious lack of life. The shock in her eyes must mean that she saw her killer coming but could not properly defend herself. Though that is a little weird since I would theorize that Mei would scream and alert the others. Then again, with all the heavy equipment on the floor, the others with her could have been distracted. It was dark and the most likely examination was that Mei tripped on something. Asking around might help answer some questions.

Where Mei's foot was trapped in the rope, there is a new scar. The most likely cause is the rope with how much stress it was under. That kind of rope is not made to support somebody of Mei's weight for long. If we did not remove her ourselves, Mei probably would have dropped onto the floor.

I, assuming that there was no other important evidence left on the body itself, look over to Ichiko. She seems to be jotting down notes in her notebook. It seems to be evidence that Monokuma does not bother to give us using the bullet system. If Monokuma ever decided to stop giving us faithful evidence, that would be useful indeed. Right now, Ichiko seems to write down notes on how the whole gym is laid out. Seeing that when it is finished would be easier than searching the entire room myself.

"Ahhh!" Sachiko and Natsuki then enter the gym together. I question whether or not Mei should have gone with them through their tunnel. It might have been a tight fit, but there would be a chance she would not be dead right now. No, I should stop thinking about what ifs, whats done is done. Mei Yamazaki is dead and there is nothing we can do about it. Both Sachiko and Natsuki react how I expected, however. Sachiko is the one screaming while Natsuki has tears in her eyes.

However, Sachiko recovers more quickly than most of the others to my surprise. Out of her state of shock, Sachiko begins to pray for Mei. She does not realize that Etsuko comes behind her, with the blood cleaned off of her body. There are also some bandages so Etsuko must have some degree of medical experience. She might not act like a typical psychologist, yet she still has their knowledge.

"Hey, can't you, like, summon her soul or something with that magic of yours?" Etsuko questions. "I mean, it's not real, but, if it was, that would be really useful right now. Then I won't call you a schizo freak."

"W-well, while it's true that I can channel spirits, I've never really summoned a dead person' soul… For that, you need to be a spirit medium… I'm so sorry…" Sachiko responds after she finishes praying. Natsuki stands between the two of them, unsure about what to do.

"Figures."

"Um..."

"It appears that I am saddened. The loss of a friend in such a way as this...hurts greatly I-I may need a moment." Etsuko must be more compassionate than I took her for. Or she might be messing with our minds to make us think she does care. I have to get a better read on Etsuko before I can come to any conclusions.

"Well, that happened," Natsuki comments while using one of her many voices. It might be some kind of reference, but I do not get it. The only people that seem to be into that kind of thing now is Emilynn and Natsuki. Mei could have enjoyed it if she was still alive.

Another beep goes off in the room. With nothing else to do, I decided to check my handbook. Seeing this clue might give me a better idea on where to investigate next.

Truth Bullet #6: Qfstpobmjuz Fyqfsjnfou

Nfj Zbnbablj boe ljmmfs bsf uif lfzt tpmwjoh uif nztufsz cfijoe uif fyqfsjnfout. Cf xbsz, uipvhi, bt xifo zpv foufs, zpv dboopu dpnf cbdl bt uif tbnf qfstpo.

The bullet has left me more confused than before. Sometimes it seems like Monokuma wants us to win this game, other times he is clearly trying to mess with us.

Only if Ayano and...Kazuhiko were here. They are better at cracking codes than I am. Once they tried to teach me, yet the only result was frustration. The only thing I am good at is composing music. Perhaps that is why I was spared the same fate as the both of them. Hacking and journalism are more important than composing in the Committee's eyes.

"That is...strange," Ichiko says to herself. Not wanting to interrupt her investigation, I slowly make my way closer to her. She has started to work on something different. I slowly sit on the cold floor, on a section not tainted by the mass amounts of blood. This blood has to come from Etsuko and Mei since it is too much to come from just one of them. Though, when I reach where she sits on the floor, I see what caused her reaction.

Looking at where Mei and I escaped, there is an unexplained blood trail. How did that get there? And is that Mei or Etsuko's blood? Was Mei murdered when she went back? If that is the case, I am partly to blame for her death. This is no time for what-ifs, however. As the eldest of the students here, I have to take some sort of responsibility anyway. I should have acted more as a leader figure for all of them instead of Asuka. Asuka is still a child so I do not want to imagine what stress she is going through.

"Personality...Experiment..." Ichiko's eyes dilate. "What does...this mean?" Instead of running out in a hurry, Ichiko leaves the room slowly and with more confidence. She must have figured out what the message means. Perhaps I should track her down later to figure out what is going on inside her mind. Having an ally like her would be useful in this game.

Beep. That sound is going to become quickly grating at this rate. Why couldn't Monokuma choose a sound that sounds better? A bell would be more soothing and still gather our attention. Though I believe Monokuma would not give us that pleasure.

Truth Bullet #7: Etsuko's Account

Etsuko Abe claims that somebody attacked her with the gym equipment. Due to how dark it was, Etsuko could not tell who. She theorizes that the killer has to be on the stronger side to properly work with the equipment.

Truth Bullet #8: Asuka's Account

Asuka Takano claims that the only sounds that could have alerted her group to the murder were the crashing sounds and the small yelp that came from Mei Yamazaki. Mei, however, sounded more shock than anything else, not like somebody was trying to kill her.

This is truly a hard case to solve. I could have a simple mind and jump to Etsuko being the culprit, but it is clear that she is being set-up in some kind of way. If I do not find a clue on the true culprit soon, my underclassmen will begin to blame Etsuko since that would make everything easier. That is the best way for all of us to die...

I cannot allow that to happen.

Hahaha, DiOS exists. With shorter chapters. Yippee~

I had severe writer's block so hopefully, this chapter is still good.

Reviews~

KananMari-Never have OTPs in my fics, they'll die. XD But I already killed the Yamazaki children. Emilynn approves of your shipping. Because Shiro doesn't go on the internet that much. He's too busy trying not to be caught up too much in the Committee. Yes, Natsuki, stay in the loli tunnel.

TheRoseShadow21-Mei could not escape the death flag of having a name starting with M. *Mizore sweats* Yamazakis will never have fun at this rate. Himura for life. Thank you. Here it is finally. XD

Scissor-Snipper-Himura is so dead. XD Shiro ships himself with Himura (and the girls realized they were all defeated by the new guy). Ah, never be a Yamazaki. Monokuma is who writes all of my typos. Well, Mei and Akita died with each other somewhat.

1GlimmerShine-I am too, I know your pain. Yamazakis never survive. The Yamazakis existed. Himura has made more ground than all of the girls combined. Jun, RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Oh, you betcha that there's a twist to this case. ;)

TheUnkindledHunter-Its ok, its good that you are reviewing. :) Never trust ships, even more in my stories. Thank you, I find writing Himura a lot of fun. :D Mei deserves better than me, but she is stuck being my OC. Thanks, but you'll have to wait for the rest of the boys. We have a mystery to solve. Thanks.

tobi-is-an-artist-too-Mei couldn't survive all of em death flags. Never be cute in my stories, you'll be slaughtered. Himura is here to make everything better. Etsuko is just chilling with a bunch of blood on her. Emilynn has Natsuki. XD LET THE CUTE SUFFER! Oh, its extremely bad. ;) Thanks so much.

VioEli-Its ok, we all get busy. Mei couldn't survive the flags (stop being attacked by flags, peeps). Well, Etsuko is chilling with blood...or ketchup. Himura is too precious. Jun, RUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN! You'll meet some of them eventually. I can imagine some of them actually doing that and Shiro being like...what?

ThePLOTHand-Welcome to suffering. Thanks for all of the music. :D Shiro might be smart but even he has lapses of judgment. Don't worry, Shiro, Mei is just hanging around.