A/N: Apologies for the awful update time, but here's chapter three. I'll be bolding the clues. :)
Chapter One: A Tragedy of Great Proportions (Part II)
Trent, Geoff, Gwen, Bridgette and Sadie were all reeling from the sight of Zoey's lifeless body leaned up against the wall; her open eyes showing no emotion as a knife protruded from her abdomen, blood pooling around her.
Geoff was pacing around Trent's bedroom, trying desperately to wipe his memory clear of what he had just seen, but was ultimately failing.
Sadie had taken to curling up in a small ball outside of the bathroom, crying without a sign of stopping.
Trent had his arms extended in front of him; his palms on the walls as he looked down at the floor below, whilst Bridgette trembled in the same position she was found in.
Trying to hold herself together and keep up her tough front, Gwen was analysing her surroundings from afar, recalling what Monokuma had said about class trials.
"Morning announcement!" Monokuma's squeaky voice sounded out through the building, his face appearing on the TV Screens situated in each of the rooms. "I instruct all pupils of Hope's Peak Academy to gather in the Gymnasium – now! Wouldn't want to hand out any punishments now would I?"
Geoff stopped pacing upon hearing Monokuma's announcement, his eyes widening. "I-is he serious?!"
Nobody else bothered to comment on it. Bridgette had stopped murmuring, Sadie had ceased her crying and Geoff had stopped pacing back and forth. The room had been filled with a haunting silence for a moment.
"I think we should do as he says." Gwen muttered, not taking her eyes off of Zoey's body.
Geoff turned his head to the Goth; horrified. "Are you kidding? There's a dead girl in there. Zoey... Zoey's in there and you just want us to obey the orders of some talking bear?!" He snapped; trying to hold back his tears, as Sadie resumed her crying. "No! We can't! We can't just leave her, 'kay?! We can't!"
Gwen winced at Geoff's exclamation, joint with the background sound of Sadie's weeping. "I'm sorry, Geoff, but we need to-"
"No, Gwen, shut up!" Geoff forced his eyes shut. "We're staying here!"
Gwen tensed her face up to try and prevent showing any emotion, but couldn't help but let a tear form at her eye, which she immediately wiped away.
"Look, dude," Trent stepped in. "Shouting isn't going to get you anywhere. I'm as upset about this as you are, so is Gwen. So is everyone here, but that isn't going to bring her back, okay?! We need to do as Monokuma instructed and gather at the Gym hall."
Geoff opened his mouth to speak, but Trent was greeted with another voice.
"He's right." Bridgette's voice came from behind the two guys. Trent turned to face her. She was in the same position, her eyes staring off into space. "What is arguing going to do? She's not coming back and we need to find out who did this..."
Trent turned back to Geoff, who was holding back tears. Hesitantly, he nodded. He walked into the bathroom, trying desperately not to catch a glimpse of Zoey's body as he knelt down beside Bridgette.
"We'll find out who did this, Bridge," Geoff desperately tried to convince his girlfriend. "And when we do, we'll make sure nothing like this happens again, okay?"
Bridgette looked up to Geoff, her eyes looking devoid of any emotion. "You promise?"
Geoff swallowed his fear and put on a brave face. "I promise." he forced a smile.
With that, Bridgette burst out into tears once more and embraced her boyfriend with a hug. "Why did this have to happen, Geoff? We were going to find an escape! Why did this happen?" She sobbed.
Hugging his girlfriend, Geoff looked up to Trent, worried. Unable to face him, Trent looked away, trying his hardest not to give in to despair.
Ten minutes later, the five teens entered the gymnasium where everyone else, including Katie and Monokuma, was waiting. Trent, Gwen and Sadie were in front, shielding Bridgette, who was covered in blood, and Geoff.
"It's about time!" Scott furrowed his brow. "What took you so long?!"
"Katie!" Sadie's face lit up when she saw her BFFFL. "Where were you?! We were looking for you!"
"I-It's a long story..." Katie hesitantly replied. "Anyway, what's wrong? You look upset."
"Well..." Sadie uttered, as Mike interrupted her.
Mike's eyes widened as he saw the five-some enter the room. "W-where's Zoey? Is she coming?"
Trent forced his eyes shut, as Sadie wiped away a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
"Where is she?" He asked again. "What's holding her up? Did she lose one of her bracelets? She's always losing them!" He chuckled, though his laugh was evidently an attempt to prevent him from thinking the worst.
Trent looked up to Zoey's former boyfriend, opening his mouth to speak, when he was prevented in doing so by the person to his left.
"Zoey... Zoey's dead, Mike..." Gwen said solemnly.
Mike furrowed a brow. "What?" He let out a single laugh. "No she's not... she isn't..." His facial expression began to deteriorate.
"I'm sorry..." Gwen muttered quietly.
"You heard the girl! Zoey's dead!" Monokuma exclaimed, insensitively. "And one of you guys killed her!"
"You're lying!" Mike yelled back, refusing to believe that his former girlfriend had been killed.
"That's preposterous," Alejandro narrowed his eyes. "How do we know for certain that you didn't kill her?"
"She's not dead, okay?!" Mike cried.
"I would never do something that defeats the point of this school. What would be the point in that?" Monokuma told the Spaniard. "Besides, I've always been a stickler for rules."
"But who-?" Lindsay questioned the bear.
"Like I said, the person that killed Zoey is in this very room! And spoiler alert, it isn't me. That means that one of you turned on your own!" Monokuma laughed. "Oh, and before I forget, from now on, whenever a body is discovered by three people other than the culprit, I will make an announcement."
Everyone's faces paled as they distanced themselves from those that were standing nearest to them.
"He's obviously lying. Don't listen to him!" Courtney ordered her peers.
Monokuma ceased laughing momentarily. "Nope... One of you definitely killed her... and the killer in question is fully aware of what he or she has done and their motives."
"Right, whoever killed Zoey better come clean right now!" Duncan exclaimed.
"Like they'd confess to that." Heather rolled her eyes.
"No... she... She's not dead..." Mike sobbed. "... Is she?"
"Take the hint – your precious Zoey's dead!" Monokuma snapped.
"If the killer is among us, w-wouldn't they get to graduate?" Owen asked, confused.
Noah shook his head. "You're forgetting about the 'perfect crime' aspect to this whole thing."
"Ah yes," Alejandro lifted his head. "The murderer needs to go undetected. I assume after the investigation we will participate in a trial of some sort?"
"How would a trial-thing even work anyway?" Katie queried.
"I'm glad you asked," Monokuma chuckled. "After a murder and the set time for an investigation, you will all partake in a class trial, where you will debate to decide who the guilty party, A.K.A. the killer, is of each case."
"'each'?" Justin raised a brow. "You say that like it's going to happen more than once."
"Moving on," Monokuma glared at the male model. "To conclude the trial, you will all cast your votes as to who you think the killer is. Should you correctly identify the culprit, only they shall be punished, but if you vote wrong, only the culprit is not punished. And yes, as you know, by 'punishments', I mean-"
"Executions." Cody gulped.
"Upupupu" Monokuma giggled, his paw to his mouth. "Precisely!" He confirmed, climbing onto the stage. "Well, good luck with your investigation!" He waved his white paw. "I'll see you at the class trial soon!" He finished, jumping slightly and falling behind the podium, out of sight.
"Izzy thinks we should start investigating!"
"Show some respect!" Courtney glared at the wild-eyed redhead. "Someone just died!"
"No, she's right," Dawn uttered. "The sooner we start the investigation, the better our chances of finding the culprit."
Tyler, who was sitting on the bleachers reading his e-handbook, interrupted the current conversations to reveal something he had found. "Uh, you guys might want to check your e-handbook-things... They've got a lot of information about this 'case'."
Duncan was the first to whip out his e-handbook and check the update. "Tyler's right, there's a whole file about Zoey's murder."
His hand shaking, Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out the electronic handbook. Bracing himself, he turned it on and searched through the pages, where he found one titled "Monokuma File #1". Gulping, he tapped on the page, which opened to reveal what mirrored a police case file, with Zoey's black and white picture in the top left; a pink 'x' marked through it from corner to corner. "It can't be... It can't be..." He muttered, sitting down on the bench.
"I suggest we all read over the file together, so everyone is on the same page." Said Dawn, glancing down at her e-book. "The victim is Zoey." She began to read. "Time of death: Roughly 1:30am. Her body was discovered at 7:45am, in the shower room of Trent's private room."
Gasps echoed out through the gymnasium, before accusations began to fly around.
"Are you the killer?!" Duncan questioned Trent, disgusted.
"You didn't kill Ziva, did you?" Lindsay gasped.
Trent began to feel as if the walls were closing in on him, with almost everyone giving him dirty looks or throwing accusations his way.
"No way!" Owen tried to defeat the claims. "He said he was sleeping in Katie's room last night, remember?"
"He did say that." Sierra nodded.
"Exactly! Trent's not the killer... He was with me the whole night in my room." Katie added sheepishly.
Trent narrowed his eyes. That's a lie... He thought, but for the moment, he didn't care. Katie had alleviated the suspicion surrounding him and that was all that he was concerned about.
"Well how did she wind up dead in your bedroom then?" Scott furrowed his brow, glaring at the musician.
"I... I must've forgotten to lock my door..."
"That does sound rather convenient." Alejandro narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not the killer!" Trent snapped at him. "Why does nobody believe me?!"
"Trent, can you honestly blame them?" Gwen sighed. "I don't believe you're the killer, but would look like you were based on the location of the body..."
"What pasty said." Duncan jerked his head to the Goth. "How about Malibu? She's covered in blood!"
Only wearing a vest, Bridgette shook her head; her eyes fixated on the ground as she clutched her blood-soaked hoody.
"Lay off her man, she's still shaken." Geoff scowled, wrapping his arm around the surfer girl, who was visibly on edge.
"Before we make any accusations, I think we should carry out the investigation." Dawn told the group. "If we are to gain an understanding of the events that led up to Zoey's death, then I suggest we search as much of the building as possible within the limited time frame we have."
"I second that." Courtney nodded, before making her way to the exit, closely followed by Dawn.
One by one, the teens filed out of the gymnasium, with Trent at the back of the pack.
Noticing that Trent looked rather defeated, Katie approached him and took his hand. "I know it wasn't you that killed her." She smiled.
"Come on, Katie!" Sadie yanked at her slimmer BFFFL's hand, causing her hand to lose grip of Trent's.
"I'm sorry." She muttered, before turning to face where she was now forced to walk.
What was that all about? He thought, his eyes straining as he tried to recall anything that Katie would be sorry for. She didn't... Did she?
Shaking that idea from his head, he followed the others out of the gym.
Why is everything about this school just so... eery? Trent shivered, walking down an empty hallway in hopes that it would clear his head. "I need to convince them that it wasn't me... If I don't, we'll all die..." He winced at the thought of that potential outcome. He then took his e-handbook from his pocket and desperately began to read the file. "There must be something in here that'd prove my innocence... Anything..."
He skimmed over the parts that Dawn had already read aloud to the group back in the gym, hoping to stumble on a small detail that would put him in the clear and help find the true killer. "The victim was found with a knife protruding from her abdomen, sitting leaning upright against the shower-room wall. There are various signs of a struggle in the room, and the victim was found with defensive wounds on her forearms and hands." He paused, trying to take the information in. This was real, and Zoey was dead. "This sounds just like an official police report... Is this his idea of some sort of sick child's game?!"
Trent looked up, noticing that he had now reached the dormitory area of the building. Cody and Sierra were standing outside of the room, examining the floor for any traces the killer might have left behind. The pair grew silent as Trent approached, giving him an uncomfortable look, knowing that Trent must've had a lot on his mind given that the murder took place in his room.
Trent flashed them a semi-smile, before entering his room. Even though he had entered it just shortly before, the sight was still intimidating. Knowing what had gone on in this room just a few hours ago was very unsettling. The wallpaper was slashed, and furniture was left broken and turned on its side. With all of this left behind, there must be something that will help us identify the killer...
Unsurprisingly, Trent wasn't the only one that had decided to investigate the crime scene first. Gwen, Dawn, Duncan, Izzy, Courtney and Noah were all in the room, too. Courtney, Dawn and Noah were inspecting the bedroom, whilst Gwen, Duncan and Izzy were examining the body and the shower-room.
"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be investigating here?" Noah raised a brow, as the musician made sure not to stand on any evidence. "You're what, the prime suspect?"
"Weren't you paying attention?" Courtney furrowed her brow at the bookworm. "He has an alibi."
"Oh please, you actually believe that?" Noah rolled his eyes. "He could've easily slipped out while she was sleeping."
"Plausible, but I'd doubt it."
Trent just walked past the pair as they began to debate the reliability of Katie's alibi. He was going to enter the shower-room, but the door was shut and Dawn was currently examining the lock. Promptly, Trent crouched down beside the moonchild. "What are you looking at? I can't see anything..."
"Hold on a second," Dawn uttered, scratching the scratches on the door surrounding the lock with her finger. She held the palm of her other hand below the area, and out fell three or four minute white-yellow chips. "As I suspected."
"What are they?" Trent peered into the moonchild's hands.
"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd probably say that these flakes were left by a fossil of some sort." Dawn held her palm out in front of the musician's face. "Their texture and appearance look like bone."
"I guess..." Trent raised a brow. "But why did you suspect that this would be what you found?"
"I found traces practically identical to these in the scratches around the door handle to your room." She revealed. "It seems that they were left behind by whatever tool the killer used to gain entrance to the bedroom and subsequently the shower room."
"So what did the chips, well, chip from?"
Dawn sighed. "That I'm not too sure of. The knife, which we can safely presume is the murder weapon, doesn't seem to have an ivory handle, so the knife itself is ruled out. Which begs the question, why did the killer not use the knife?"
Why would the killer be so determined to get in the room anyway? Couldn't he have just turned back? "Say, Dawn, can I... y'know... have a look at the body?"
"Oh, sorry," Dawn uttered, stepping back from the door. "Go ahead."
"Thanks." Trent smiled half-heartedly, opening the shower-room door, only to be greeted by the overwhelming stench of blood and the sight of Zoey's lifeless body surrounded by Gwen, Duncan and Izzy.
"Didn't expect to see you here." Said Duncan, who was currently crouching next to Zoey's body.
"Why not?" Trent asked, his eyes drifting around the room. "I'm not guilty."
"I know, just... you're one of the main suspects right now."
Trent shook his head. "I don't believe this." He muttered. "I'm innocent and I have as much of a right as all of you to investigate. Now is there anything that I should know?"
"She has a lot of defensive wounds on her hands and forearms, which you'd know if you read the file. She also cut her right knuckles." Duncan informed him. "The knife's just a standard kitchen knife, and the mirror up there's smashed - looks like there's some blood in the cracks, too. That's pretty much all we got."
"No, no, no!" Izzy interjected. "Izzy lifted up Zoey's arms, y'know, to check for trace and stuff, but I found some scratches on the inside of her wrists, so she wasn't just cut on the outside of her arms."
"Oh..." Trent uttered, confused. "Couldn't she have just gotten those wounds from the killer during the attack?"
"Unlikely." Gwen put in. "Defensive wounds are usually found on the outer side of the forearm, so these were most likely post-mortem or 'after-death' wounds if you want. Besides, there isn't much blood on them, so I'd guess that they were inflicted by the killer moments before death or moments after, for some sadistic reason."
What kind of psycho does this to people?! Trent grimaced, trying desperately to keep his eyes from Zoey's corpse, but failing.
"Look, I'm not tryna offend you or anything, but it's getting pretty crowded in here... D'ya think you could give us some room?" Duncan asked the musician, who was just standing rather awkwardly near the door. "You're not really doing anything."
"Oh, sorry," Trent replied sheepishly, looking away from Zoey. "Sure..." He then proceeded to exit the shower-room, and then the bedroom itself. Cody and Sierra seemed to have moved, but in their place was Sadie.
"Hi Trent," Sadie smiled, before leaning in to whisper. "I know you think that everyone's blaming you, but I don't think you're the killer."
Trent returned the gesture by smiling appreciatively. "Thanks, Sadie," He said. "Wait, weren't you with Katie?"
"I was," Sadie nodded; her expression growing concerned. "But she disappeared. I tried to follow her but she said she needed to do something alone? I was confused because we always do everything together."
That's strange... "I'm sure she'll turn up soon." Trent told the chubbier half of the BFFFL duo. "She's probably just away to the bathroom."
Sadie's face relaxed. "Probably." She chuckled. "Anyway, I promised Lindsay and Tyler that Katie and I would meet them in the cafeteria. Could you tell Katie that if you see her?"
"'Course."
Sadie smiled. "Thanks!" She uttered, before turning and half-walking-half-running to the cafeteria.
As soon as Sadie was out of earshot, Trent voiced his suspicions. "What is Katie up to? She's been acting really suspicious this morning, and she wasn't in her room when I woke up. Could she have...?" He paused to think about what he was saying. "No. She couldn't have done that... Surely..."
He then began to walk in the opposite direction to Sadie, thinking about the clues that had been discovered. "If the killer used the-HMPH" Just as he was walking past the bathroom, the girls' bathroom to be specific, he felt a hand cover his mouth and another hand around his waist, pulling him into the bathroom.
"Shhh!"
"HM-PHM" Trent tried to speak, scared and confused as someone's hand pressed thoroughly down on his mouth.
"I'll take my hand away if you promise to be quiet!"
Trent began to calm down, before nodding. Complying, the person removed their hand from Trent's mouth, revealing their identity to be-
"Katie!?" Trent uttered, still trying to catch his breath. "What was that for?!"
"Shh!" Katie whispered, her finger to her lips. "I think I have something that might help with the trial." She revealed.
"Like what?" Trent inquired. "And why did are you whispering?!"
Katie shook her head. "So nobody hears us, especially Sadie." She told him. "I just managed to slip away from her. I wanted to tell you before anyone else, since... Well, you're the main suspect."
"I'm the suspect, even though you were missing this morning! Where's the sense in that?!"
"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about..." Katie sighed, her eyes fixated on the ground. "This... this is where I was last night..."
"What?" Trent furrowed his brow. "You were in the bathroom? For how long?"
"Since about 1am, I think. I came here after you fell asleep." Katie told him. "I only left when I heard Monokuma's announcement earlier... When I heard it, I went straight to the gym."
Trent was still confused. "So wait, you... You expect me to believe you were in the bathroom for over six hours?!"
"It's true!" Katie proclaimed adamantly, slamming her foot down. "And I... I heard things; voices."
"Voices? Whose voices?"
"I don't know." Katie sighed. "I heard the door opening, and then footsteps. I got scared so I lifted my feet up onto the toilet and covered my mouth, to try and cover up my breathing, all I heard was..." She drifted off, forcing her eyes shut.
"Katie?" Trent put his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Katie, what did you hear?!"
Without warning, Katie began to cry; overwhelmed by her memories. "Someone was crying..." She muttered in between breaths. "It sounded like a girl, she was on her own and she was crying, the tap was running... but then the door opened again... and that's when I covered my ears... Maybe if I'd opened the stall door I could've helped her!" She burst into tears.
"Katie, it's in the past now..." Trent tried to look the girl in her eyes, but they were currently forced shut. "Right now I just need you to help us with the investigation, this could be vital! Now... Who came in? Could you make out their voices?"
"... No..." She cried, ashamed. "But after a few seconds, the whole stall shook... It was frightening... Then their voices got louder... and then..."
"And then, what?!"
"... Silence." Katie finally opened her eyes again, at the same time, she stopped her tears. "They left."
Trent could tell from her expression that the story was far from over. "Was that the last thing you heard...? You know... Until morning?"
"No..." She muttered, her face still displaying little emotion. "... I was scared, so I stayed in the stall. About half an hour later, someone came in... They were breathing heavily, but that was all that I heard before I covered my ears again... The person wasn't here for long. I heard the door slam shut again after about a minute... But I was so scared that I didn't leave the stall for the rest of the night..."
Noticing that she was shaking, Trent embraced Katie in a hug, prompting her to breakdown into tears again. "It's okay, Katie..." Trent assured. "It's okay..."
Suddenly, Katie pulled herself away from the musician. "Anyway," She uttered, wiping away her tears with her wrist. "I did some investigating here, t-to try and find out what happened here last night, and I found... I found some things..."
"... Go on?" Trent coaxed the skinnier of the BFFFL duo.
Katie took hold of the musician's hand, walking him over to the sink. "I looked at the sink first, and that's when I saw this..." Katie told him, pointing to the e-handbook on the counter; there were three drops of liquid on the screen. "I thought that was just water, but when I switched it on to see who it belonged to," She continued, pressing the 'on' switch, illuminating the screen and revealing the droplets to be blood. "I saw the blood, right over Zoey's picture..." She quickly switched it off, finding the image to be unsettling. "Then I looked up to the mirror and saw the cracks in the stall walls behind me." She added, turning around to the stalls.
The flimsy material that made up the stall walls and doors had a circular indent near the bottom, with cracks breaking off from it. "That's all I found before I got you to come in."
"I think it's fair to say that whoever was here with Zoey was her killer..." Trent hypothesised, examining the cracks in the stalls. "But why is their blood in here, when she was killed in..." He paused, grimacing at the thought. "... In my bedroom..."
"Alright, brats," An all too familiar voice crackled the speakers to life. "I'm bored, so the time for investigation is over! Please gather at the large red door of the school area of the first floor!"
For some reason, Trent and Katie kept their eyes on the speaker in the corner of the room as Monokuma made his announcement. "Crap..." Trent muttered under his breath.
"I-I hope we have something that tells us who the killer is..." Katie stammered, bracing herself for the trial that was about to come. "Sorry I couldn't help in that way..." She sighed, hanging her head.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Trent told the girl. "What you just told me right here... That'll be really helpful in the trial. You're the closest we've got to an actual witness."
"Really?" She uttered, raising her head with a slight hint of a smile forming on her face. "I hope I'll be of help... Anyway, we should really get going, though..." She said, beginning to walk for the door.
Trent began to follow in her lead, but paused when his line of vision came to fall on a white piece of fabric caught in the lid of the bin. After hearing Katie's account of last night, and recalling that someone re-entered the bathroom briefly, Trent grew suspicious, and in bid to ease his curiosity, opened the lid of the bin.
The contents of the small container shocked him, despite before-hand preparing himself for the worst. Inside were dozens of small pieces of white fabric, most of which were stained in red. Caught up in the discovery, Trent jumped when he felt Katie's hand on his shoulder.
"What's wro-" Katie began, but stopped halfway to gasp at the sight of the bloodied fabric in the bin.
"There's no doubt about it..." Trent sighed. "It was the killer that you heard here last night."
"Don't remind me," Katie shivered at the thought of being that close to the killer. "Anyway, we like, really need to go now."
Trent quickly took a picture of the fabric using his e-handbook and flipped the lid of the bin down, before he and Katie exited the bathroom.
"Katie, there you are!" Sadie ran up from behind, wrapping her arm around her BFFFL, which caused her to wince in pain. "Oh, I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Katie forced a smile. "My back's just a bit sore, but I'm fine."
"Oh, okay," Sadie smiled. "Where did you disappear to? I was searching for you everywhere!"
"I... uh..." Katie stammered, looking up to Trent as if to say 'Don't tell her'. "I had to go to the bathroom. Sorry for taking so long."
"It's fine! I just worried, y'know? Anyway, you're here now so I won't blab on about it." She chuckled for a moment.
"Sorry about that, I'm fine." Katie smiled to her 'best female friend for life'.
With that, the trio began to walk to the red door like Monokuma had instructed. They arrived to find all of the other teenagers gathered in a small room.
"What took you three so long?" Justin asked the trio. "I want to get this over and done with, and we can't start until we've all arrived."
"Sorry about that," Trent spoke up. "We just did a bit of last-minute investigating."
Justin nodded, before turning away.
"Upupu!" Monokuma chuckled through the speakers. "I see everyone's here!" He said, as the gates at the back of the room opened, revealing an elevator. "That door will lead down to the courtroom. The courtroom that will decide all of your fates!"
As everyone filed into elevator, Trent's Gothic former-flame, Gwen, approached him. "Did you find anything?" She asked, not making eye contact. "And by that, I mean anything useful."
"Yes, actually," Trent told the Goth, peaking her interest. "All thanks to Katie." He uttered; his volume low as he glanced at the girl as she walked into the elevator
"Katie?" Gwen raised a brow. "What does she have to do in this?"
"Turns out she's the closest thing to a witness this case has."
Needless to say, Gwen was sceptical. "Well you better hope she's telling the truth, because some of these guys are adamant that you're the culprit." She uttered, as she too walked into the elevator, leaving Trent to stew in his thoughts.
All twenty-three teens were present in the elevator as it made its descent. Trent glanced around the elevator as everyone's faces were solemn and serious. "If the innocents here hope to make it out of this room alive, then I'm going to have to prove my innocence to everyone... One way or another... In this do-or-die-"
The elevator suddenly came to a halt; the doors opening to reveal a grand room decorated in blue and gold, with red curtains.
"... Class trial."
Clues:
#1) Monokuma File #1: The victim is Zoey. Time of death: Roughly 1:30am. The body was discovered at 7:45am, in the shower room of Trent's private room. The victim was found with a knife protruding from her abdomen, sitting leaning upright against the shower-room wall. There are various signs of a struggle in the room, and the victim was found with defensive wounds on her forearms and hands.
#2) Evidence of a struggle in Trent's room
#3) Scratches around the door handles and locks in Trent's room
#4) Small fragments in the scratches surrounding the doors
#5) Defensive wounds
#6) Murder weapon: kitchen knife
#7) Broken mirror in Trent's shower-room
#8) Wrist wounds
#9) Katie's Testimony
#10) Zoey's E-Handbook, covered in blood
#11) Cracks in the bathroom stalls
#12) Bloodied white fabric pieces in the bathroom bin
A/N: So how was that?
I've hopefully strayed away from the canon enough to make the killer less obvious, but all the while kept the same feel of the case of Sayaka Maizono, because things aren't always as they seem.
One major difference between this crossover and the canon: There is no dying message! How are they going to work out the culprit without that all important clue that the canon had? And what happened in the girls' bathroom?!
I have a feeling I gave the killer away, but I won't go any further than that just in case no one picked up on it. I'm looking forward to seeing who you guys suspect! :3
If anybody has an idea as to how the murder went down, then I'd be open to hearing it via a review or PM. I'm really excited for next chapter because then I get to reveal what happened and why!
Okay, so I hope to have the next update out before the end of the month, which will be a much better update-time than this! Thanks for reading and I hope you decide to leave a review!