Quick reminder. As this isn't an investigation or trial ,this chapter will be told 'as it happens' rather than through the viewpoint of Reuben watching on video.

Makoto switched on the ElectroID as soon as he got it , and the screen instantly showed signs of life. The first thing it displayed was his profile-name, age, weight, height, blood type, SDHSL talent .There was also a picture of him next to all this information. But after a few more clicks, he discovered that wasn't the only thing on the ElectroID.

"Looks like there's a map here…and could this be the school rules? Only , I can't read what they say." Kevin said.

"They're all in Kanji , I can't read them either." Janus added.

"Allow me." Eirik said curtly.

Momentarily distracted from their own ElectroIDs , they all watched Eirik expectantly as he read out the rules.

"1: The students will live out a communal lifestyle under this roof for an unlimited amount of time.
2A: In order to graduate from this school, a student would have to commit a murder and remain undetected.
2B: In order to determine whether the murderous student will graduate , a trial will be held to see if it can be discovered who the culprit is.
3: There are no special restrictions on your actions. Feel free to explore.
4: The time between 10pm and 7am is the designated 'Night Time'. During this time , certain areas are inaccessible , including the canteen. Please be careful.
5:Acts of violence against your principal are strictly forbidden, and will be punished accordingly.
6: Sleeping in any other place apart from the permitted dormitory areas is forbidden , and will be punished accordingly.
7: Destroying surveillance cameras is also forbidden., and will also be punished accordingly.
8: New rules may be added at any time. Enjoy your new life!"

The room fell back into silence when he finished.

"That's a lot of forbidden things." Shika said eventually.

"Enjoy your new life…that's an odd thing to say." Naegi remarked.

"What does he mean by 'a trial'?" Arisa asked, confused.

"Presumably that would mean we would have to see if we could discover who was responsible if a murder was indeed committed. " Kyouko said simply.

For some reason, that didn't make anything seem any clearer , and everyone still looked a little dazed.

Suzu wrote in her notebook and held it up

I hope that we won't need to do that. She had written.

Akaya read Suzu's comment out for the sake of Janus and Kevin , and a murmur of agreement went around the room.

Kyouko started to leave the room quietly , until Makoto called her.

"Kirigiri-san , where are you going?"

The girl stopped , and turned.

"To investigate."

"Perhaps we should do so too." Dai suggested. "Perhaps we can understand more about our situation, and perhaps even the mind-set of the person responsible. "

"Finding new things?" Afar asked, eyes shining.

"That too , possibly." Dai said neutrally.

Kyouko had been watching them with an expression that seemed to resemble interest and then said.

"So how about we all investigate , and then report back somewhere to share what we discover?"

"Sounds good to me." Akihito said. "What about in the canteen?"

Once everyone had agreed , they all left the Gymnasium to try and find out what they could.

…

Janus approached the door of his room, and looked at it. Affixed to the door was a name plate , with his surname written on it , and a funny chibi-like icon that he assumed was supposed to be him (although personally he couldn't see the resemblance. ) He wondered how he was supposed to get in, when an instinct made him feel in his pocket, the same one his eyepatch was in.

When he pulled out a key, he went cold for reasons he couldn't name. And when the key fitted perfectly into the lock, he felt fear. But he supressed it and went in.

The room was relatively large, and fairly plain with a standard bed, smallish table ,chair and cupboard with drawers. He did, however, like the red wallpaper. Whoever had decorated the room had good taste. He spotted his suitcase leaning against his bedside table.

Naegi-san's concerns were thankfully unfounded then he thought as he unpacked to see if everything was there. Once the contents were strewn across his bed, he was able to determine that the only things missing were his emergency cell phone and his iPad. Meaning that he had no way of contacting Nonno.

To distract himself from the thoughts that were beginning to plague him, he set about putting everything in an appropriate place, making sure that the photograph of Nonno and the photograph of his parents were on top of bedside table, and his glass eye collection in the , he flopped onto his bed, thinking of everything that had happened. He had come here to enjoy a new school life with others who were as talented as he was , albeit in different fields. How did he end up being kidnapped by a bear who wanted them to kill them all?

He sat up and shook his head. He wasn't going to get answers by moping. Perhaps he could find Maeda-san or Isaki-san and continue investigating with them.

…

Thank goodness there aren't any bugs Akihito thought as he came out of the recreation room and headed to the canteen. Then, he gave a short, bitter laugh. He was trapped in some random murder mystery and he was worried about the presence of creepy-crawlies? Really? He seriously needed to get his priorities straight. Although bugs would just make things worse. He continued to walk until he spotted two girls come out of one of the classrooms-Akaya Kiyomizu and Suzu Isaki , two of the quieter( and cuter) girls. They were chatting to each other. Or rather , Akaya was the one talking , whereas Suzu just wrote in her notebook to reply.

"Hey , Kiyomizu-san , Isaki-san !You heading to the canteen too?" The two girls stopped and turned. Suzu nodded , and the girls stopped so he could catch up with them. Once he did , they continued walking.

"Did you find much?" he asked.

"Not really. But I guess when we contribute our findings others may be able to put meaning to them." Akaya replied.

"Yeah , yeah . I'm sure you're right. Anyway , you two have gotten very tight very quickly. " Akihito grinned cheekily.

Suzu scribbled in her notebook.

We've just discovered that Akaya-Chan and I went to the same Preschool and Elementary school. Until she moved away in third grade.

"So! You remember that far back? "

"Yeah…" Akaya said pointedly.

"Ah , I forget . You're famed for your memory, amongst other things." Akihito attempted to link arms with Akaya, who stepped neatly out of the way and lightly swatted him on the back of the head. The two looked at each other briefly before laughing. Suzu joined in, giggling silently as they all went to the canteen.

…

The rest of the students drifted in slowly, the expressions on their faces ranging from boredom to fear. They all assembled around the largest table, and once they did , they looked expectantly at Kirigiri. For some reason, they had all started to look to her as an authority they could trust, whether they cared to admit it or not.

"We should start with the bedrooms. Anything useful?"

"The beds are comfy. " Afar said randomly. He shuffled restlessly in his seat before going still again . A few pencils , a paper plate and three stripy socks fell out of his jumpsuit.

"Our luggage was bought into the rooms , but anything that would allow us to communicate with the outside world have been taken . " Janus offered. "Also , we seem to have been given tool kits. I don't know about the rest of you. "

"My room had a sewing kit. I don't even sew!" Nanako said.

"Murder weapons." Kosuke said suddenly. When everyone looked at him , he remained neutral. "The bear did say he wanted us to kill each other. He's trying to make it easier. "

Arisa made an noise of annoyance "Good luck with that! I am not killing anyone!"

"You never know." Dai said "People do things they never normally would under stress. And this is a stressful situation."

Arisa narrowed her eyes. " . .Anyone. At all. Okay?"

"Perhaps we should move on. " Kyouko commented. "Anyone else find anything?"

"The recreation room is cool! There's a pool table, chess , poker…oh ,and some magazines and weird Monobear statue thingies. That bear sure loves itself. "Akihito said "Oh , and the girls were poking around the classrooms, they might have found something. "

"The… girls?" Kevin asked haltingly.

"Suzu-Chan and I." Akaya clarified.

"Okay, so anything helpful?" Naegi asked.

"No. The classrooms look like standard ones in any high school-save for all the steel plated windows. "

Suzu scribbled in her notebook and held it up.

The blackboards all had things written on them. Random things. One of the boards said 'Don't wake the baby!'…

"Yeah , and another blackboard was one with lots of different scribbles –I recognised the word 'welcome' , but…"Akaya continued

"I saw that board." Eirik interrupted suddenly "It wa basically saying 'welcome ' in many different languages-Japanese , English , French, Italian , Spanish , Mandarin , Cantonese , Tamil , Hindi , Arabic ,Welsh , Gaelic , German , Hieroglyphics…" there was a lively look in Eirik's eyes as he trailed off.

"HIEROGLYPHICS?!" about five other people echoed in confused unison.

"Basically , nothing useful." Akaya summarised

"I-I was with Sakamoto-san , and we investigated supplies , and there's a storage room with spare c-clothes and books and other random things we might need. Except for communication devices or computers. And the kitchen has lots of food-Monobear said that it gets restocked every day so there's nothing to worry about. " Chihiro piped up.

"Whoa , wait , Monobear?!" Shika asked.

Chihiro nodded."Yeah. He popped up out of nowhere as I was looking in the fridge. "

"That is not a consoling thought. " Eirik muttered.

"So we have no internet? At all?" Emi asked.

"Gee, d' you think?" Arisa said sarcastically.

"Oh wonderful!" Emi responded with equal sarcasm , looking as if she was going into a sulk.

Dai seemed to decide to try to move on the conversation. "I found stairs to another floor. But , the access is restricted. I guess we can conclude that the bear is at least serious about keeping us here in the long term. "

Unfortunately, his words got almost drowned as a result of Nanako causing a scene.

"Wasn't that eye gold this morning?" she shrieked as she pointed at Janus with a look of horror. His right eye , which had indeed been yellow gold , was now dark brown.

"I think it was. " Kevin said in confusion.

"Why is it brown now then? " Nanako demanded.

Everyone stared at Janus, who looked at them all calmly. He didn't offer to clarify anything. Instead, he seemed faintly surprised.

"It's a glass eye." Eirik said after a moment of silence. He pointed to Suzu's notebook, where she had written those exact words, by way of explanation. Suzu nodded as if confirming what she had written.

"Ooh, a glass eye. How mysterious. "Marvin approached Janus and leaned against his chair in such a way that she was almost pressed against him. She traced around the glass eye in a motion that would seem tender if it wasn't for the lusty look on her face.

"Dude, that's called an invasion of personal space. And he isn't even interested in you! Back off!" Emi said irritably.

Marvin ignored her.

"Are those scars? Mysteriouser and mysteriouser- do you cover them? What happened? Perhaps you can tell me tonight. "

Janus stiffened. The atmosphere in the room instantly got colder. Marvin remained oblivious.

"I am sure 'mysteriouser' isn't a word. Right?" Shika commented randomly in an attempt to diffuse the mood. Everyone ignored her as they watched the scene. Kirigiri rolled her eyes, looked as if she was considering saying something, but instead decided to see what would happen before taking action.

"Oh? You aren't saying anything? I've kept many secrets you know. "Marvin continued to pester Janus, who would have seemed calm if it wasn't for the visible tension that was around him.

"Get away from me. "

He said it calmly, as if he wasn't angry. In a single motion, he got up from his chair, sidestepped to get away from Marvin, and walked out of the canteen.

Marvin blinked.

"Aren't you supposed to be some kind of charmer?" Akihito asked pointedly. Marvin didn't look at him.

Suzu wrote something in her notebook. Her face was stony.

You went too far.

"She's right. That was repulsive. "Eirik said simply. Marvin didn't respond as she went back to sit down. Her expression was unreadable.

Akaya stood up.

"Does anyone want anything to eat?" she asked quietly.

A few people nodded, and some said 'yes please'. Akaya smiled softly.

"Okay. Suzu-Chan, come help me?"

Suzu nodded and got up. Chihiro offered to help too, and as a result , Mirai wanted to too. As the four girls headed to the kitchen, Suzu looked back to the seat Janus had been sitting in, before shaking her head slightly and following the other three.

…

Janus paced, and paced as compensation for not showing how he felt back in the canteen. His scars pulsed and burned, with the pain of when he was 6 years old.

I can't lose it. Not here, not now. I have to get back to Nonno.

Then came a knock at the door.

Janus had a moment of pure panic before he took a few breaths to compose himself , carefully arranging his expression so that it was friendly , or at least neutral . Then , he unlocked the door.

There was nobody there.

There was , however , a tray of food on the floor. Curiously , he picked it up and took it inside , quickly setting it on the table before locking the door again. Then , he sat to inspect the food.

There was a sandwich on a plate-meatballs and cheese. The meatballs weren't made from scratch , but they smelt good enough. There was also a carton of orange juice. Briefly , he considered the possibility that the food might be poisoned , but his rumbling stomach overruled that , and he took a bite of the sandwich. Which was when he noticed the folded papers hidden under the plate.

Taking them out , he attempted to read them . The notes were written in an odd mixture of English and Japanese , but from the English words he was able to deduce that after he had left , the group had decided to create two additional rules of their own. The first was that during the designated 'Night Time' they weren't allowed to leave their rooms. The second was that they would all meet in the canteen every day for breakfast and supper to confirm their safety. The final note was a simple apology . The person had written their name in the Kanji form , so Janus wouldn't' have been able to understand it if it wasn't for the fact he had seen those letters before.

He looked at the time. It was just approaching 9pm , which caused him to wonder just how fast time had gone. Then , he quickly consumed his meal . He wondered whether it was worth taking the tray back to the kitchen , but didn't really feel like encountering anyone else. So he took the notes , folded them back up , and held them as he set off.

He scanned the nameplates intently until he found what he was looking for. Then , he knocked at the door. It opened a crack , the chain still attached. A hazel eye stared out cautiously.

"Isaki-san…"Janus said "Can I talk to you?"

…

Night Time approached , and an announcement made by Monobear to signal this blared through the school. Almost automatically, everyone retired to their rooms.

Some of them were able to go to bed and fall asleep quickly , tortured by dreams. Others lay awake in bed , wondering what would happen next. Some read , or listened to music to distract themselves. A few decided to sneak out later , falling into old patterns as a means of comfort .

But all of them hoped to still be awake the next morning.