Chapter 3: The Manipulator's Malice Part 5 (Deadly Life)

Remaining Citizens: 12

Emma's POV

"... Huh?" Is all I could say to what I saw before me, Sucy's blood still spreading across the gym floor.

I staggered back, still in shock. Even though I saw four of our original group of seventeen killed before us, I couldn't stomach this. Death in general is something I struggle to handle after all this time.

Someone had to break the silence though, "Hmph… Ishigami, how did you end up here?" Aoba asked him to break the guy out of blankly staring at the body.

"Wh-what? I… don't remember… I just got knocked out and—agh, my head…" Ishigami rubbed the back of his head as Aoba turned away, "A likely story, come now, let's gather the outsiders and hope they're useful to the investigation…"

He probably thinks Ishigami killed Sucy, but… him? He's mainly been terrified or antisocial the entire time I've known him, sure we can't rule him out yet… he's not the only one.

The only ones who could have killed her were the six of us inside the school building. I can rule myself out of the possibility, and even Killua, though I have no idea what he was up to before he was in the school store. Same with the four besides him, Aoba especially. I knew I should have kept an eye on him! Even if I found that weird button in the MonoMono Machine…

I then heard the doors to the gym slam open, as Killua led those on the outside to us.

"Everyone! You made it! Uh… what's with Ai?" I asked them as I saw Miles carrying her over his shoulder.

"Oh, uh, Super-Serious Flower Gal couldn't handle the show for very long, singing was so bad it must have broken her… she passed out when the second act was at the halfway point." Gold explained.

"Um… show?" Ryuji glanced at Ai's blank expression.

"An awful musical performance by Monokuma… the lyrics and choreography was well done, but his voice…" Espio held his head while remembering it, it must have been really bad.

"Hey! Your scathing reviews mean nothing to true genius! My performance blows Lin-Manuel Miranda's outta the water! It took months to rehearse it all!" Monokuma then popped up from behind, startling me.

"You should have gotten a voice modifier when you got built, so we wouldn't have to listen to your voice for 3 HOURS." Miles complained to him, okay it must have been really, REALLY bad.

"Jeez. I'm just gonna give you all the Monokuma File and go brainstorm what my next musical will be. With all this tension in the air, you all need to Be More Chill!" The bear just went away as multiple Monokuma Files were handed to us, Ai's just falling on the ground. We really need to snap her out of it soon.

"Oh right! Someone died! What the heck happened?!" Gold exclaimed as we explained everything.

"..."

"Trunks? What's wrong?" I saw his expression darken.

"I had believed that you all would have found another way out, instead of resorting to killing again. "What's wrong?", you ask? Apparently, I was." He responded, disappointed, I can tell from his tone of voice.

"You should have less faith in people, especially with a group like this one. They'll just end up failing repeatedly." Aoba snarked, which caused Trunks to grab him by the collar and lift him up.

"H-hey! Calm down!" Bernadetta tried to put him at ease, but Trunks was ticked off.

"I don't want to hear anything from scum who manipulated someone into killing another." Trunks dropped him onto the gym floor and began walking out of the door.

"... My apologies, I won't be much help during the investigation like this. Please excuse me." I heard the door shut as I looked at the others, no one expected to see him like this.

"Trunks…" I said to myself before slapping my cheeks to get back into focus. Sucy was killed by one of us inside the building, now let's find out.

Investigation

I began by looking over the Monokuma File.

Victim: Sucy Manbavaran

"The time of death was around 6:40 pm."

"Multiple large stab wounds in the chest and one in the leg."

"The body was found in the gym inside of the school building."

"Monokuma File #3" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

"Stab wounds? I don't remember seeing anything sharp around here, much less anything that could make wounds this big…" Killua walked up to me.

"Looks like we need to look around here to find out what it is… The murder also happened an hour and thirty minutes ago, so we need to find out some important alibis around that time frame." We both nodded at each other as the room slowly began to empty, leaving the two of us and a dizzy looking Ishigami.

I made talking to him our first priority, "Are you alright?"

"Ughhhh, do I look like I'm alright?" He gave us a deadpan response.

"No not really, given that you woke up right next to the body. I don't suppose you can tell us how that happened?" Killua lowered his suspecting eyes at him.

"Well… I was given this note in the room I was staying in. I think it was about two hours ago, telling me that there was a hidden exit through a trapdoor in the gym." He handed me the note and I observed it.

"You really believed something like this?" Killua asked and Ishigami shook his head.

"Nah, I've seen this type of trick too many times in the murder mystery visual novels I play. Instead of following the note, I stayed in the room typing away on my computer, before leaving towards the gym. Last thing I remember is that when I entered the room, I saw the body, then immediately got knocked out for a while." He continued.

I then presented him another two questions, "So if we check your computer, we'll see if you were right about typing on it? Also, why did you still decide to go, even though it could have ended with you dying?"

"Yeah, it's in the room I was staying in. The one with the pixelated image of a guy with sea urchin hair. And I figured that I was probably going to be the one framed for this, in the first game the true killer framed the least helpful and stupid person. I don't fit into either of those categories but it was gonna be either me or Ryuji, speaking of you should go talk to him next. I have to lie down for a bit to get rid of this headache…" Ishigami went over to the gym seating area and flopped down asleep.

"Ishigami's Account" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

Man, whatever knocked him out must have been big, or hit him hard enough to cause a bump like that on his head. That is also something to look more into.

"Ishigami's Head Bump" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

"Well… if what he's saying is true, then that's a lot of evidence to prove his innocence. He's quite genre savvy." A drop of sweat rolls down Killua's face as he says that, as I then turn to see something else on the floor covered in blood.

I picked it up and saw it was another note, reading it aloud made me realize it's the same thing as the note Ishigami gave us. Although this had different handwriting on it, curious…

"Two Handwritten Notes" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

Before we turned our attention to the body I looked around the crime scene for a bit and saw Killua going on the stage.

"The microphone for the podium is gone..."

"Microphone?" I asked Killua and he just raised his eyebrow at me, "Are you serious?"

I nodded at him and he just pinched the bridge of his nose "Oh right, world of demons, not very advanced in terms of inventions or technology, I assume?"

"Yeah, sorry, ha ha…" I laughed a little before he explained to me what a microphone was.

A device used to allow your voice to be heard among crowds, sounds so cool! Very useful!

"Anyways, it's been removed from the podium for some reason. Most likely by the killer, for what reason, who knows? All I know is that it's important." Killua hopped off the stage and he walked over to Sucy's body.

"Missing Microphone" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

Sucy, she really tore into Ai, even though the murders were not her fault. She mostly avoided us, and was a little creepy, but I feel like we could have been closer. I can't help but feel sorry for her.

That was what was on my mind as the two of us looked over her corpse.

"Those stab wounds really are big, like her body was pierced by a demon's claws... " I said as I observed the bloody holes in her back.

"What kind of weapon could pierce through her like this so many times?" I couldn't answer Killua's question, but then I noticed something else.

"There's… a bump on her head. Not a particularly large one, but it's visible!" I pointed it out and pondered what could have made it.

"Not only that, there's also something under her right hand." Killua slowly removed it from Sucy's limp hand.

It was a book, I feel like I've seen this one before, but I can't make it out, since the cover has blood over it.

"That's another two pieces of evidence. Though nothing that really points to a specific person yet…"

"Bloody Book" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

"Sucy's Head Bump" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

"That bump on Sucy's head, Ishigami has one as well. Could they be related somehow?" I suggested and Killua shrugged.

"Alright, is that the last piece of evidence over here?"

"Hm…." Killua looked at the body once more.

"Bloody fingers on her left hand, and a message hidden under her forehead. Can't believe you missed these."

"Ah, sorry." I apologized casually.

Killua sighed, "You really remind me of a friend of mine, y'know?"

"I could say the same to you ha, anyways the message. It doesn't seem very clear to me, it's messed up." I pointed out.

"Most likely due to her forehead, I assume she began writing it as she was dying, but couldn't finish and her head fell on top of it." Killua's theory seems plausible.

I read over the message and I could make out "TQKQ", is this some kind of code?

"Bloody Fingers" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

"Bloody Message" has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.

It looks like we're finished with investigating the gym, but I'm sure we're not done yet. With what we've gathered so far, that's not enough to find out the killer! I don't like suspecting the others, but… the needs of the few do not outweigh the needs of the many. This is going to be some story to tell that Gundham person…

"I've come to bargain…"

"Fascinating…"

"Ohhhhh…"

Gundham and Himiko observed the television screen, showing a movie from the box set. Behind them Shuichi finishes his explanation to Hina.

"W-we're not real?!" The swimmer girl held her head in shock as she tried to process the information.

"Well in this world you aren't, but where we came from… um…" The detective tries to reassure her.

Maki and Byakuya sigh as they turn to Gundham, "What is with him? Shouldn't we be formulating our plan with those killing game hostages? Sitting around watching some red-caped wizard guy isn't going to—" Maki got interrupted by Gundham turning back to her, holding a finger close to his face to tell her to keep quiet.

"Do you want to die?" The assassin coldly asks the breeder as Byakuya ushers her away.

"Just what is the point of this exactly?" Byakuya simply asks him, but he remains silent, "Tch… perhaps we could have been better off with the one with the dangerous luck…" The affluent progeny shakes his head, dismissing Gundham's actions.

"Hm… an infinite number of universes… worlds without end…" The breeder and magician just watched, entranced by the film.

First off, a big thanks to a good friend of mine for helping me get Emma's character down right. You're amazing! Also there's not much evidence to land down who could possibly do it. Unless there's someone out there to piece it together before all the evidence is collected next chapter. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy!