AN: Hey, sorry to those of you keeping track of this story I took so long getting this posted, just life getting packed, and not having time to type. Anyway enough excuses time for story!
Day 19, 0924 Hours, Art Room
John and Paris stood over Louise as the others filed into the art room. After the reactions to Wilbur's corpse were through, the animatronic animals appeared.
"I just knew one of bastards couldn't resist having your deepest darkest secret spilled!" Monokuma said laughing at the gathered students as Shi-ru looked on from the background, "Anyways, here's the new Monokuma File, right at your fingertips too. Aren't I generous?"
The bear disappeared swiftly after that, but Shi-ru lingered in the room quietly watching as people once again divided into groups to investigate.
Chloe and Alexander took watch as Rowland and Mary departed to search the nearby area, Barry walking behind them though John doubted he was going to help much. Billy joined Louise in inspecting the body, while Jane quickly dashed from the room, Perdita snorting at the girl's flight before gracefully stepping around the blood and exiting the room. Atsuko moved after them, stating that she was going after Jane, while Ferris picked his way around the spreading pool to John and Paris.
"What do you make of this?" Ferris asked after a second.
"One of us," John said after a minute, "Is desperate for a secret to remain that way; the question is who would be likely to have such a secret?"
"A-Alexander," Paris said, "P-Perdita, Bar-ry might have one, Chlo-e? And possibly y-y-y, y-."
"Me, yeah," Ferris said, giving a short laugh, "Good to see you're thinking is improving, although I wish it didn't have to, no offense about the thinking by the ways."
Paris made a face but shrugged, returning to her survey of the growing blood pool. John slipped out his I.D. and clicked into the M. File app to find a new tab marking Wilbur's document.
"Wilbur Hughes, discovered at 0919, died of extreme hemorrhaging. There are multiple stab wounds to the back and bruising to the skull as well as a dent. There are no substances in his system," John read, pausing for a moment before saying, "I guess that means he didn't take his medicine right?"
Ferris shrugged, saying, "Maybe, there's no telling with that bear, b-u-t…EH! Shi-ru!"
The penguin looked up from where he was loitering, before hopping across the art tables and supplies to reach the trio.
"What?" the penguin said, the tiredness that was always present in his voice tinged slightly with sadness.
"Does the bear include medications inside the substance list?"
"Yeah, it's a substance isn't it?" Shi-ru said with a slight sigh, "Any other questions I can answer quickly, no? Alright, I'll be going then, you'll just holler if you need me anyways."
Shi-ru vanished from sight as Ferris turned to look at Wilbur's corpse, John also looking towards the fallen pilot with Paris glancing at the body before making a quiet sound of discomfort and opting to look at some art supplies.
"He didn't take his medicine, so he bled quickly, and he's still bleeding at that," John said, watching the pool expand although more slowly.
"From what I can tell one of those cuts was awfully close to the heart…it probably accelerated the blood loss quite a bit, and blood is fluid, it's simply flowing to fill the available space," Ferris commented.
Ferris sighed after a second before poking Paris and saying, "Help me look around, John, go check what the bone heads have found."
John nodded at the chemist, who began searching the area closer to the body allowing Paris to look around the area farther away. Walking away from the pair, John approached Billy, Louise, Alexander, and Chloe, the latter giving him a bored look before rolling her eyes and turning her attention to the door. Doing his best to step around the blood, John eventually gave up and walked through it to the other two, vowing to toss his shoes in the incinerator.
"So, what do you guys have?" John asked.
"He bled everywhere," Billy stated, grimacing as he shifted from his squatting position, "That and whoever did this didn't feel any remorse, they planned this out well and struck so the boy didn't know what hit him."
"Maybe," Louise said, still inspecting the back of the former pilot, "About four stab wounds, two of them with knives still in them, whittling knives from the look of it, probably punctured both lungs and severed his arteries on this one closer to the heart," she let the body fall back down, "And then this blow to the head, hard enough to bruise quickly but not to kill, he probably was stunned and in shock but he may have got a chance to see his killer as they tried to flee from the way he fell."
"Going off that he wrote the 'M' on his forehead," John said, "but it is possible he blacked out and the killer did that."
Louise shrugged, and continued looking at the body while John walked over to inspect the location. He was close to the door, that much was certain, and he was close to where the whittling knives were stored. Walking around the body he paused noticing that Ferris had disappeared almost completely behind a low door. Only his shoes were visible until he stood up, holding a smock that, after he moved it and the door followed, became obvious had been rigged to hang in a way to look like it was being worn.
"There's also some shattered paint containers, fancy stuff too," Ferris said, once he confirmed that he had the attention of people in the room, "looks like there was some rig in here too but it's busted to hell."
"Perhaps Citizen Rowland could discern its purpose?" Alexander offered.
"Probably, anything with you Paris?" Ferris asked.
"N-o, I hav-en't f-found a-anything," Paris said, walking up to John, but stopping by the pool of blood.
John thought for a moment before saying, "Let's assume it was a noise making rig, if you walked past it in a hurry without checking combined with the smock you might think someone was behind it, but the rig is missing something."
"Shoes?" Chloe said when John paused, "We could see that much of Ferris when he was crouching."
John nodded, before saying, "And a hiding place, from where to jump out and catch Wilbur unawares."
"Should I s-stand n-, near w-where h-e would h-have been standing?" Paris asked.
"No, no sense ruining your shoes as well, Chloe, could you walk directly to the knives from the door, and tell me if you see me," John said, waiting until the survivor had lost sight of him to slip into the closet that contained the protective gear, taking a moment to hide just behind the door frame. He waited as Chloe passed by, the gear obscuring him from view partially, but not as well as if he had had as much time to prepare as the culprit had.
Chloe still walked pass quickly only taking a quick glance over at the cabinet that Ferris had left open, passing the door and reaching the knives before saying, "They probably had more time then you did, but I almost missed you, if you hadn't left the door in a different position I wouldn't have looked in there."
John nodded, slightly miffed that she had actually managed to spot him, but said, "Now we have a hiding spot, but not the shoes."
Ferris shrugged, before saying, "I'm going to try and find what happened to Atsuko and Jane. Maybe they stumbled upon something useful."
The chemist quickly exited the room after that, Billy and Louise stating that they were going to try and look around before following after him. John moved out beyond the blood pool before stripping off his now blood stained shoes and socks and chucking them into a trash bin. Paris followed, jumping over the now fairly large blood pool and joining John as he walked towards the nearest bathroom.
"W-what are you doing?" Paris asked.
"I'm going to wash the blood off my feet, check the woman's bathroom for stuff would you?" John said.
Paris nodded while John went into the boy's bathroom. Taking a paper towel and wetting it, John ran through a quick list of evidence as he wiped the red from his feet.
The murder was planned; Wilbur may have even been targeted specifically taking in his behavior from earlier. The 'M' was probably marked there by Wilbur, though what it could mean…assume it's the letter to the person's name, so most obvious would be Mary. It could be a framing though, but it would take more than that elaborate set up for it to work.
Finishing his task, John went out of the bathroom and met Paris who shook her head before motioning if they were going to move on. Nodding, John began walking towards the main hall of the East Wing and found Atsuko and Jane.
"Hey Jane, what were you doing this morning?" John asked.
"I…was hanging out with Mary, we were checking out the communal bath, but she left shortly before the murder occurred, she was still in the changing room when I went out though," Jane said, after a short pause.
John nodded before turned to Atsuko and asked, "When did you and Ferris get to the central hall?"
"Um-hmm, I think at 8-something," She said, "I think we were some of the first one up and moving, Ferris woke me up before the announcement even."
John nodded, before motioning to Paris to continue. He saw Jane and Atsuko ducking into the weight room, probably to check for evidence. Making a note of it, he continued moving heading towards the dorms, Paris understanding what he was doing. They eventually reached Wilbur's room, the door already open and Perdita inside holding a crumpled note in her hand.
Noticing the other two, the vocalist sighed and said, "I suppose you want all my findings?"
"I'll take the note at the very least," John said, Paris scowling at the singer over his shoulder.
Making a 'tch' sound with her tongue, Perdita handed the note over to John after a moment. Taking a quick look, John read the short note, basically a threat, confirming the reason for Wilbur's agitation.
John passed the note to Paris, before hearing footsteps by the door. Looking over, he saw Rowland and Mary, Rowland holding a charred pair of shoes. John thought he might have been able to make out some paint on them.
"So, you found the shoes?" John asked.
"You mean these ones? Yes I suppose, they had been chucked in the incinerator fairly recently and I suspected they might hold some importance so I retrieved them," Rowland said, "Why? Do they answer some question?"
"Maybe, do they match the ones you're wearing Mary?" John queried.
"Uh, yeah I think so," the artist said.
"They were part of a rig to simulate Mary looking for paint in the art room, a sort of bait for Wilbur to let his guard down," John told the two, "it also may have made the pilot suspect you Mary."
"What? I didn't kill him, I was with Jane!"
"Stop, save your arguments for the trial," Rowland said quietly, silencing them both.
The atmosphere became uncomfortable after that, John shifting before coughing and leaving the room, handing Rowland the note as he left, Paris telling Mary, that he was simply stating what he found out, not actually accusing Mary. After Mary gave a noncommittal answer Paris hurried out after John, who was already nearing the end of the hall, but pause and waited for the soccer player to catch up.
"Y-you might want to keep some of your thoughts to yourself," she scolded him once she caught up.
"Heh, kind of pulled a Rowland there didn't I?" John said with a small smile, the joke getting Paris to give a little laugh.
"Investigation time is over! Hope you found everything! Report to the central hall on the double!"
John grunted as the announcement cut any further interaction or investigation short, forcing them to move towards the central hall. They arrived there almost last, shortly beating Mary and Rowland, John apologizing to the former about any offense he might have caused, which the girl waved off, taking a light jab about throwing paint at him if he mouthed off again. Barry was the last to arrive, the musician moving slowly, the elevator jumping to life as soon as he was on, Shi-ru grunting as he turned the crank.
John considered what he knew of Wilbur, the quiet pilot rarely spoke and almost never told them anything personal, but he might have opened up in a different environment. But now that he was dead, none of them would probably know him any better. Once again Shi-ru flipped the lever, opening up the way to the second trial, the one to decide the fate of all, and hopefully the trial that would reveal Wilbur's killer.