A/N: Welp. You know what time it is... Death time~

I'm gonna be honest. When I first received this app, I thought it was quite good and that this character would be around for a while. That said... I dunno, they just kind of never got off the ground character-wise? I dunno, it's a shame too.

Also... regarding motives... ah, you'll see in the chapter~

-DA BOSS

Act 1-3: Jambi

"Enchanted the devil with my song, and got what I wanted all along..."

Surprisingly enough, Sawako had a sleepless night. She supposed it made sense, after she thought about it some - after all, she'd been locked inside of Hope's Peak for the past two days with a bunch of total strangers, and there was that ever-present threat that one of them would turn up dead and have to condemn another classmate to death - or, the one could condemn the many.

Thinking about it made Sawako's head hurt, so she began to think about just what she could do to fix that throbbing in her head. Eventually, the idea of a hot shower popped into her head. She figured she needed it as well - she felt all hot and sticky from her constant tossing and turning last night, and showers usually made her feel better when... really, anything negative had happened.

Slipping off her clothes and turning on the water for the shower, Sawako's thoughts drifted towards the people she had already befriended here... Hanae-chan, Dell, Daisuke, Elliot, Li... She wondered if they would all make it through this. As much as Sawako was a strong fighter normally, this was the type of fight that made her feel weak and powerless. The kind that didn't involve fists or feet, but wits, intellect and intestinal fortitude... Well, I guess I've got one of the three, at least. She thought to herself as she finished her shower and towelled herself off.

It was at that point that the loudspeaker that had apparently been built into her room buzzed and crackled to life rather loudly, causing a sharp ringing sensation to pulsate through Sawako's ears and into her head. Well, that defeated the purpose of the shower... Sawako thought, as there were two loud thumping noises coming over the loudspeaker - likely Monobear testing to make sure that their microphone worked.

"Ahem, testing... testing... one, two..." That dreaded high-pitched voice belonging to the school's so-called "headmaster" rang out throughout the building. "Attention, students! Your headmaster requests your presence in the gymnasium immediately!" That actually seemed like a school announcement... unusual for that bear, until the voice piped up again. "So hurry up, you bastards!"

Of course, Sawako thought as she slipped on her shoes and began to make her way to the gymnasium.

As Sawako made it to the gymnasium, she had to do a quick count to make sure that everyone was still there. Though she only counted twelve, the other four that were missing (Hikaru, Yukari, Adeline & Hanae) all showed up shortly after she did, which allowed the whole group to rest easy - even Yoshida seemed a bit less rude-looking as he usually did.

All of that changed, however, when the already-familiar form of the so-called 'school's headmaster' appeared on stage, apparently unaffected by the events of a few days ago. Sawako let out an audible growl as she saw the bear, and a couple of the others stepped forward to defend the others in case he suddenly decided to try and kill them all at once.

"Upupu! So, how are you bastards enjoying your communal life?" The bear gleaned from atop the podium, while the various students seethed in their own little ways. "I see that we've still got all of you alive... Upupu, that won't do at all!" The bear then reached under the podium to pull out what appeared to be a remote. Clicking the large blue button on it, a projector screen was dropped from the top of the stage, and the lights dimmed. When the screen flickered on, nobody could believe the images being shown to them.

Sixteen different people were shown, all with their eyes shut and appearing to be in some sort of odd liquid. They looked peaceful enough, and there weren't any marks on their bodies, but... they still appeared lifeless, which horrified everyone. Sawako saw her mother in the top-left corner image, clenching her fist in anger and taking a look around to see if anyone else would back her up if she were to try and deal with Monobear herself again.

Instead, however, she found that all of the students had been driven to horror by what they saw - with a couple of exceptions. Yoshida appeared indifferent, and Hikaru seemed almost as pissed as Sawako did. She didn't know who the others were, but the fact that Sawako's mother was among them was an indicator as to the common connection. She began moving to the front of the group, slowly but silently.

"Upupu..." The bear finally broke the silence with that repulsive laugh it had. "You guys surprised to see those familiar faces?" Sawako paused in her slow movements towards the front of the group. She knew it - those people on the screen did have a common connection. They'd been loved ones of the others. "Yep! Those are your loved ones on screen... And we're holding them in the basement in little pods..." The collective horror that swept over the gym was almost tangible, as Monobear grinned even more... almost soaking in the silence... the horror... the despair.

"You want 'em out? It's simple - Gimme a murder within the next 24 hours, or they all die!" The bear finally exclaimed, which was about enough to send Sawako over the breaking point as the lights came back on. Almost on instinct, however, Hanae, Dell, Elliot and Daisuke all moved to restrain the fighter before she charged at Monobear. "Oh, and if you do gimme a murder, then whoever wins the trial, I'll let their loved ones go!" That seemed to put the group at ease to some degree, though there was still a thick fog of tension over the group as Monobear vanished without leaving any opening for questions.

Much of the remainder of the afternoon was something of a blur to Sawako; after the gym announcement, she found that the group had split up and gone their separate ways - even her group of close friends such as Dell and Hanae. In all honesty, she couldn't blame them - after all, their loved ones were trapped in the basement like science experiments, and the only way to save them was to kill somebody. Plus... they had no way of knowing that the bear wasn't lying.

There was one notable event, however, before they'd met up as a group once more to have dinner. As Sawako was about to head into her room for a nap, she spotted Adeline sitting in front of her door, playing her lyre as if trying to cope with the bomb dropped onto each of their shoulders earlier. Realizing that she hadn't yet spoken to Adeline, Sawako walked over to the girl slowly but surely, trying not to seem menacing to her.

"Hey, Adeline-san. Whatcha doing, sitting out here all on your own?" Sawako asked, trying to sport her friendly smile and give Adeline a bit more of a sense of security in her presence. The lyrist looked up briefly, smiled, then resumed playing.

"I'm practising." Adeline replied quickly, strumming her lyre again before setting it down for a moment to turn to Sawako. "It makes me feel a bit more at ease when something..." She paused, looking for the right word to convey her message to Sawako. "... Stressful... occurs in my life." Sawako nodded firmly; she could understand what Adeline was going through here.

"Yeah, I get what you mean..." Sawako replied thoughtfully, as Adeline picked up her lyre again.

"Would you like me to play you a song?" Adeline asked, a look of uncertainty on her face. "Forgive me if it sounds bad... I still don't see myself as being that good with the lyre."

"Nah, it's fine." Sawako replied, before she was cut off by a very faint growling noise. She looked down at her stomach and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry... I haven't had anything to eat in a little while, so..."

"Oh? Maybe I can help, then." Adeline cut off Sawako before she could finish - probably already aware of what Sawako was about to say. "I'm not exactly the best cook, but perhaps I can make a dessert for all of us... I've been told I'm a decent baker, after all." Sawako's eyes lit up - she loved sweet stuff (especially popsicles, but that didn't take much work to make) - as she gave Adeline a gentle clap on the back.

"Yeah! That'd be just the kind of thing to lift our spirits after the shit that happened earlier!" Sawako exclaimed delightedly. Adeline simply smiled and turned somewhat pink from the fighter's enthusiasm.

"Well, in that case... If you don't mind, could you tell the others about it? They may be willing to help me out... It would certainly turn out much better if they did." Adeline said, though it seemed more like a request. Sawako grinned and flashed the girl a big thumbs up.

"You got it, Adeline-san! I'll let the others know!" Sawako replied cheerfully, as she stood up. Adeline did as well, brushing off the dirt that had apparently accumulated on her coat.

"Thank you, Sawako-san... I appreciate it." The lyrist replied, leaning her lyre against the wall and turning towards the kitchen as Sawako had turned herself, ready to go and let everyone know of Adeline's plan. "Oh, but make sure that they don't come by for a while if they aren't helping. I'll likely be making a soufflé, so I'll need to keep the noise down." Sawako gave the lyrist another thumbs up, and the two parted ways.

After a bit of time, Sawako gathered up the others and headed to the cafeteria, hungry for Adeline's special soufflé. Everyone in the group had come - even Yoshida, though he required a lot of coercion - which showed a sense of unity among the group as a whole. It gave Sawako a renewed confidence - a confidence that the little furball posing as their principal wasn't about to get to them to give into its demands any time soon.

The group of fifteen were immediately greeting by the sound of something sizzling in the kitchen and an enticing scent of meat - probably their dinner - wafting into the main area of the cafeteria. Shortly thereafter, the students broke off into smaller groups to sit together - notably, Yukari was still nearly glued to Hikaru's side, while Dave & Komachi continued to hang out together and talk about video games and such. Li was notably alone for a bit, but James & Sebastian - who were apparently with Elliot for much of the afternoon - soon joined her as the trio sat and talked of various little things.

Soon, Sawako found herself with her normal group - Dell, Hanae and Elliot. Notably, Daisuke had gone to sit with Izumi and the two talked about what Sawako suspected were smart people things that she wasn't in the mood to ask about, so she left it be.

"So, what'd you guys do this afternoon~?" Hanae asked in her cutesy tone, as Dell and Elliot leaned back in their chairs.

"I hung out with James and Sebastian for a while." Elliot began, as Hanae beamed and Dell looked... well, as relaxed as he usually was, assuming nothing was trying to kill him or something. "We broke off after lunch, though, so then I just slept for a bit until Sawako-chan told me about Adeline's plan."

"Yeah, I was just muckin' around with some stuff in my room." Dell piped in, convinced that Elliot had stopped - which, to be fair, he had, though Sawako wished he'd waited a bit before he started going. "Not much going on, since that whole thing this morning..." The rest of the group's faces fell at the mere mention of that - after all, they'd been trying to forget about that.

"Seriously... What the fuck is up with that bear, thinking he can pull that kind of shit and get away with it?" Sawako growled out, as her friends' eyes shifted over to her. "When I get my hands on him, I swear..."

"Aw, don't worry about it, Sawa-chan! I'm sure that it's just a bluff. Those pods looked fake anyway." Hanae chipped in, causing Sawako's anger to drop a bit as she listened to her friend. "Besides, we're all still here, so it's not like anybody fell for it, anyway!"

"That's true..." Sawako muttered, as her two male friends nodded. The two then began to pass the time with some idle chatter, before they were broken out of it by another voice.

"Hey, what the hell, man?" Hikaru piped up as he looked to the clock. They'd been in the cafeteria for about thirty minutes at this point, which was definitely an unusual amount of time for a dessert. "We're starving, and that French girl's taking forever with our food." Li stood up in response to that, but not in an offensive manner.

"I'll go see what's the matter." Li said quietly, entering the kitchen, as many of the small groups returned to their small talk. Still, some of them seemed uneasy, since there seemed to be something off...

The sound of a piercing shriek rang through the cafeteria from the kitchen, as fourteen heads whipped around to the door as the group stood up collectively and rushed into the cafeteria. What they found was Li, kneeling down in the doorway of the pantry, face coated in horror.

The group quickly saw why as soon as they looked into the pantry... For there, sitting in a pile of her own blood, with her eyes wide open, her throat slit, and a look of horror coating her face, was the body of their apparent cook and newfound friend... Adeline Desrosiers.

A stunned silence fell over the group as the loudspeaker crackled to life, as well as the monitor up on the wall... though nobody took their eyes off the corpse, understandably. The monitor flickered on, and there appeared the face of Monobear, who seemed to be giggling.

"Attention bastards! A body has been discovered! We will begin a brief period of investigation before the school trial!"

Adeline Desrosiers: Super High School Level Lyrist

Status: DEAD

A/N: hay. :3

So, the first death. I kinda just RNG'd this one, and went from there. The killer, likewise, has been RNG'd. I also feel like I did a bad job with this, but I'll get into a bit more detail in the next few chapters. Trust me.

Also, trial quirk! If you can guess the culprit correctly after the investigation (or even before it!), you'll be rewarded with a gift fic! It can be anything you'd like (barring smutty content) from DR, because tbh I'm not confident in my ability to write for any other fandom. Note that only the first correct guess will get the prize, so be sure to get those guesses in quickly!

Until next time, mon amis... R/R. Ciao~!

-DA BOSS