Danganronpa: Algorithmic Alteration Chapter 17: Dual Disposition (Part 6), a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 2: Dual Disposition (Deadly Life Part 1)

Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a good amount of blood, violence, gore, and a little more intense subject matter. You have been warned properly.

Pain…

It was still a constant factor as he lay there on the hospital bed. Based on the damage he received, he should consider himself lucky he could even feel anything.

Benoit let out a sigh. He tried to move his arms again, but they still wouldn't cooperate. Any dream he had up to that point quickly found itself out the window.

What was a man supposed to do at this point…?

It had been two weeks since he had been admitted to this hospital, and his father made sure to visit every chance he had.

Of course… A man like him still has to work a job, so he couldn't spend all the time he wanted here.

Through the visits that he's seen his father, he heard talks about suing the construction company that caused all of this.

And, with each passing day, his father would update him on how the case was going. However, Benoit couldn't help but feel guilty as he learned that the company went bankrupt due to the results of the case.

Benoit felt guilty, despite him being the victim. Deep down, he knew it wasn't his fault, and the company should have been more careful. Especially since it wasn't the first incident that happened…

And yet… As always, he placed the blame on himself.

Why was he doing that…

Suddenly, someone walked into his room, but it wasn't his father or a nurse… No, in fact it was…

It was the man who was here when he finally woke up the first time. "You…?" Benoit mumbled out, looking over at him.

The man sat down in the same chair as before, looking at Benoit. "Good morning, Benoit." Compared to last time, his voice was much softer.

"Who are you…?"

Instead of giving an actual answer, the man evaded most of the question. "Today, I'm here to start your physiotherapy." The man was a rather serious person, almost intimidating.

"Physio… Therapy…?" Benoit had faintly recalled that term, but he had completely forgotten about it until now.

Slowly, the man stood up, walking over to the bed. "Yes. The nurse says you're in good condition now to start it… Your muscles are still weak, so I'm here to help you improve them."

Improve his muscles…? They could do that? He wasn't going to be like this forever? "How do I do that?"

Moving over to grab the wheelchair that was in the corner, the man helped Benoit sit on it. "For now, we should focus on little steps. I'll bring you to the room you'll be doing your training with."

Despite how serious the man was, to Benoit, he had such a calming aura. As if everything was going to be alright.

Soon, Benoit found himself in a room he hadn't seen before. "What kind of room is this…?" He mumbled out.

"This is a physiotherapy room. This is where we'll be trying to get your muscles back in order." The man said, bringing him over towards an adjustable table. With ease, he was able to transfer Benoit over. He did as carefully as possible as to not hurt him.

Once Benoit was in place, the man began to speak again. "Things like this take time, so don't expect immediate results."

"How much time…?" Benoit turned his head to mee the man.

At first, he didn't answer, only moving to the other side of the table. However, after pondering some more, he finally spoke up. "Your nerves have been severely injured because of the glass shards." He found it useless to sugar coat such a thing. Benoit was at an old enough age that he deserved to know how bad of a situation he was in. "They aren't completely ruined, but they might never be the same. However…" He moved over towards Benoit's legs. "It doesn't mean they are hopeless. Can you try and bend your knee for me?"

Once again, while the words themselves weren't great news for Benoit, the way the man delivered it made him feel some kind of hope.

Listening to his words, Benoit tried to bend his knees, but that only brought upon more pain.

"Woah, woah!" The man quickly went to his side, stopping his attempt. "It doesn't need to be this fast, and if it starts to hurt, you can stop." He definitely had his work cut out for him, but he wasn't going to give up on a patient. "This tells us just how much work we need for your legs." The man was glad he could at least move them, but it was very apparent that Benoit would not be able to walk without some help. "Now, could you try and move your arms?"

Similar results, where Benoit had a hard time moving them, and it was painful. "They… They don't move like I want them to."

That will also be a lot of work, but the man was confident in his abilities.

"Um… excuse me…" Benoit turned to meet his eyes. "What's… What's your name?"

Slowly, the man shook his head. "My name doesn't matter. What matters is getting you back into a working state." Working on the arms would probably be the best idea. "Lie down."

Benoit did as he was told, lying down on the adjustable table.

Soon, the man moved over to grab Benoit's arms. He had to feel around in certain areas, just to see what kind of responses Benoit would give.

For the most part, it seemed to be pain, but there were some areas where there weren't any sort of responses. "I'm sorry if this starts to hurt…" The man felt the need to apologise. "I just need to give myself an idea." As he continued to poke around Benoit's arm, he eventually switched over to massaging a bit. "This should reduce the pain a bit."

Still, the pain had become a lot in these past few seconds, but Benoit didn't want to be rude about anything. So, he remained mostly silent, only letting out some pained sounds when it became too much to bear.

After several minutes of this, the man slowly let Benoit's arms fall to his side. "Alright, that should help relieve a bit of the pain, but it'll quickly come back." He let out a sigh. "You are going to need to fight through the pain. I need you to move your arms."

"W-what?" Benoit wanted to follow instructions, but those instructions only seemed to hurt him in the long run. "But it'll-"

The man shook his head. "Yes. It will hurt, but you can't hope to get better if you don't put in the effort to break through the pain."

Still, Benoit had a hard time even doing that. "I… I can't…"

Frowning slightly, the man placed a hand on his shoulders. "Many people have said that exact same thing to me. And everytime, I tell them that they are choosing to give up, instead of improving themselves."

Benoit glanced away. He wanted to get better… but it all just seemed so… hopeless…

Shaking his head, the man continued. "The moment you give up is the moment you lose. If you choose to give up now, you're throwing away the one chance you have at recovery. After this, there's nothing. You won't ever be able to use your arms or legs again. That stops you from doing so much. You can say goodbye to any dream you have right now if you can't put the effort in."

Saying goodbye to his dreams… Benoit had already pretty much done that when he first woke up in this state. His arms and legs just didn't want to listen to him anymore… They were good as gone.

The man wasn't done yet. Hearing the silence that now engulfed the room, he shook Benoit's shoulder a bit. "But I'm not going to give up on someone like you. Someone who can have a bright future ahead of themselves."

A bright future… No… Benoit didn't want to give up on that.

He too wanted a bright future. The future he had dreamed of.

And… If he gave up now, then what would await him in life?

Nothing?

He couldn't let that happen. Slowly nodding his head, a small smile formed on Benoit's face. "Alright…" All he had to do was push through the pain.

No matter how unbearable, he was going to make it. He had to.

He wasn't going to give up.

…

It was another day, and Benoit was eager to make some more progress for his recovery. The man had helped him immensely in getting started, so he was looking forward to what he had planned next.

As of now, he had gained back some movement in his arms. Far more than he ever thought was going to be possible. His legs still needed a lot of work, but as soon as his arms had fully recovered, he could begin to use them to support himself while he worked on his legs.

And finally, a knock on the door! Benoit turned his head to watch the man enter the room.

Except… The person who walked in wasn't the man he had grown close to. Instead, it was a woman. "I'm here to continue your physiotherapy exercises."

When she glanced at Benoit, she could see the sadness on his face, which caused her to frown. "What's wrong?"

"Where's… Where's the man from before?" Benoit had fully begun his path to recovery, so he was hoping that the man would be there to see him reach the end.

Understanding, the woman slowly nodded her head. "He was here to cover me while I was away. Now that I'm back, I will be taking charge again. He's returned to the hospital he works at normally."

So… The likelihood of Benoit even meeting that man again was abysmal. However, he wasn't going to let that stop him on his road to recovery. "What's your name…?" He had never learnt the name of the man, so maybe he could at least get her name.

"Stephanie Bettra, but you can just call me Dr. Bettra." She smiled at him.

However, something didn't make sense to Benoit. "I thought… physiotherapists weren't doctors."

Letting out a small laugh, the girl nodded her head. "You'd be right. Being a physiotherapist doesn't make you a doctor. However, I was a doctor before I got into physiotherapy. I can do both now." Seems like she just didn't want to lose the title she used to have. "Are you ready to start your training today?"

Even if the man wasn't here to guide him anymore, Benoit wasn't going to let that get in his way. Slowly, he shifted himself out of bed, struggling to get up.

Quickly, Dr. Bettra brought over the wheelchair. "Woah there, don't make yourself too eager. You have to make it there first."

Once Benoit was settled in, Dr. Bettra slowly pushed him over to the physiotherapy room.

While the man was no longer there to guide him, his words still carried a lot of weight. Even with this new trainer, Benoit knew he would be able to make a full recovery if he just kept pushing himself to do so.

…

And after only another month, Benoit had proven himself right.

He was able to stand. He was able to walk. Sure, there was still pain every so often, but he was able to push through it. He wasn't going to let him stop him.

"I always knew you could do it." Dr. Bettra hummed to herself as she guided Benoit out of the hospital. "Most people don't make a recovery like that because they lose out hope. But you, you kept going no matter the pain."

"Yeah…" Benoit looked at the ground. "I was able to do so because someone put a lot of faith into me…"

Now, Dr. Bettra knew that Benoit had to be talking about the man that helped him. "Yeah, he's better at this than I am. He knows how to use his words to get people motivated."

Soon, the duo stopped at the hospital door, where Benoit saw his dad stop the car, and quickly get out.

"I think you've been here long enough." She nodded her head along. "You should go back home. You deserve it after all the effort you've put in." It was always a happy day to see someone make a recovery like this.

A smile quickly formed on Benoit's face as he walked towards the doors, which opened automatically.

"And remember!" Dr. Bettra called out. "You might be out of the hospital, but you should still continue your training! You wouldn't want your muscles to lose their strength.

Benoit nodded at her before turning to face his dad, who picked him up into a hug.

"How are you feeling?" He was so proud that his son was able to push through all of it. "You never gave up, did you?"

No, Benoit never did. And that's why he was able to stand here as he did. "I'm feeling… I'm feeling the best I've ever felt!"

The thoughts he had when he first woke up in the hospital no longer existed in his mind.

The thoughts of never being able to achieve his dreams… Gone.

Sure, those dreams might have shifted, but he was still going to achieve them… In due time.

…

It was hard to build up the courage to do this, but Benoit found himself standing right outside the doors of the same hospital that had treated him only months ago.

Since then, he had been tossing around the idea of what he should be when he grows up, and the idea of being a physiotherapist became evermore prominent.

So much so that he was hoping to talk to the people here into giving him a course.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside the hospital, walking up to the lady at the front desk. "Um… excuse me…"

The lady looked at him, not really changing her facial expression. "Yes, how could I help you?"

This was going to be harder to ask than he thought. Taking another deep breath, Benoit prepared himself. "I was… wondering if you had any… openings for volunteers when it came to physiotherapy."

Quickly, the lady frowned at his request. "Sorry, we don't offer anything like that here. Sorry about that."

"Oh…" Well, Benoit figured as much. An easy route like that wouldn't present itself.

As he got ready to leave the hospital, something would stop him in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" It was a familiar voice. A voice he couldn't forget, because it belonged to one of the people who helped him get better.

Quickly turned to look at the person, he was met with Dr. Bettra. She had a small smile on her face. "Benoit, it's been a while since I've seen you. Glad you're doing well now." Seeing him walking around like normal put a smile on her face.

Soon, Dr. Bettra's attention turned towards the receptionist, before looking at Benoit. "I heard you wanted to volunteer as a physiotherapist." She was always eager to hear about people joining her in the department.

And since Benoit had gone through all the training to get his muscles back, he would know better than anyone else what kind of work goes into this. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you a quiz, and if you pass it, I'll allow you to volunteer here."

The receptionist mumbled something under her breath. Something about her going at her own pace.

However, Benoit was laser focused on what he was just told. All he had to do was pass a test… and he could volunteer. A smile quickly formed on his face. "Y-yeah! I can do that." He was actually being allowed a chance.

And once more, he was pretty confident in his knowledge when it came to this department.

"Then come this way." Dr. Bettra turned away to head further into the hospital.

This was his chance… A chance to be able to do what he wants to do in life…

…

Slowly nodding her head along, Dr. Bettra couldn't help but hide her smile. "You almost got everything right. You missed one question, but that was a difficult one I tossed your way. I wasn't expecting you to be able to answer that one." She moved the papers she had used for the test to the side. "Congratulations, Benoit. Your volunteer work begins tomorrow." Although, he was still in school, so this could prove difficult. "I will make a schedule for you, working around your availability." Dr. Bettra handed him a piece of paper. "Could you fill this out with the days you are available?"

For a second, Benoit didn't move… He was still in shock that he made it. Even with all the confidence he had, a part of him felt like he was just hyping himself up for failure.

And yet… Here he was.

Slowly, his hand moved over to grab a pencil. "Y-yes…!" He began to write down the days he could be available to show up. Once completed, he slid it back over to Dr. Bettra.

After looking at it, she nodded her head. "Yes, perfect." She turned to look at her computer. "I'll just need your email, and then I should be able to send you a schedule." She seemed to be pretty excited. She never had a student before, so it was new territory for her.

Benoit took the piece of paper back to write his email. "H-here…" He slid the paper back over to her.

Nodding along, Dr. Bettra turned to look at him again. "That's it for today, since I'll need to set things up for you. I will send you an email in a few hours, so make sure you keep checking, alright?"

Benoit stood up, nodding his head. "You… You got it." He smiled at her.

This was about to be a dream come true for him.

…

It had been several months since Benoit had started seeking out patients for himself, and today was no different.

He had gotten a call from someone, saying that their daughter had injured her arm, and she needed someone to come help her with her recovery.

From what Benoit was told, the client who called was a rather important woman, but he didn't know what made them important.

Still, he wasn't going to turn down a request such as this, no matter the person.

However… He hadn't expected the person to be this wealthy. "Wow…" He stood right outside the large gates barring him from entering.

After spending a few seconds just looking on in awe, Benoit eventually moved over towards the wall next to the gate. There was a button and a speaker, so he assumed this would allow him to call them. Pressing the button, it only took a few seconds for a response.

"Hello?" It was the voice of a young sounding girl. "Is this Benoit?"

"U-uh! Yeah. It's Benoit. I'm here for a call for Veronica?" That was the name of the girl he knew he was supposed to treat.

Without saying anything else, the gates eventually opened up, and Benoit was allowed inside.

Entering the building only made him feel out of his range, given how fancy it looked. "Wow…"

Standing by the large staircase was a short looking girl. She had long blonde hair, and green eyes. She seemed to be wearing a long black and green hoodie. "Hello." Her left arm seemed to be in a cast at the moment.

"H-hello." The girl looked younger than Benoit. First time he had to help out a younger client. Everyone else had been older than him. "I'm here for your treatment. Is there a room you'd prefer?"

Without saying anything further, the girl turned around and walked up the stairs.

With no other choice, Benoit followed her up. Despite his improvement, large stairs like this could still be a pain for him, but he pushed through.

Once upstairs, he was led to a room which had a table quite similar to the ones he worked with. "You have one of these…?"

Veronica sat down on the table. "My mom bought one after I injured myself. Said it would probably be best to have one for the future. In case I hurt myself again."

Inspecting her arm, Benoit nodded his head. "How did you hurt yourself?"

"Had an accident at the theatre." Veronica glanced away, letting out a sigh.

An accident… at the theatre? How did she manage that? "Could I have more details?"

Veronica frowned slightly. "I was working on a theatre set, and one of the many wooden walls wasn't secured properly, and it fell down on me."

Oh! Wait! "You mean you work on the sets?"

Now, she had a faint smile on her face. "Yes, I help build sets, and I work on the light and sound systems." Veronica was eager to talk about this. "My mom said at this rate, I could become an Ultimate."

An Ultimate… That is true. Recently Hope's Peak did come back. And from the way she was talking, she definitely had the passion to be an Ultimate. "My father was an Ultimate." He brought up.

Veronica quickly changed her expression. "He was? What kind of Ultimate was he?" She winced in pain when Benoit began inspecting her arm.

"My father was the Ultimate Forester." But that was such a long time ago. It was before Benoit was even born, so. "He's amazing at what he does." Whenever it came to his father, Benoit was always eager to talk about it.

"My mom was also an Ultimate." Veronica hummed out. "Looks like we have some common ground."

Wow! Small world, it feels like. "Can you move your arm around a bit?"

Veronica did as she was told, but her movement was very limited. "This is about as much as I can move it…"

It's not as bad as his case a few months ago, so Benoit smiled. "You can easily move through this. I was in a far worse situation months back that felt hopeless."

That did reassure Veronica. "How long do you think it will take?"

Well, Benoit wasn't always the best at gauging that, but he could probably figure out a timeframe after helping her out today. "From the looks of it, a few visits. You'll have to put in the effort as well."

Veronica nodded her head along. "Right."

And, like with any other clients, Benoit began to help her with the exercises she'd need to do.

…

As Benoit waited in the room, he felt a bit nervous. He had gotten an offer to attend Hope's Peak… However, even he didn't believe he deserved something like that… Was what he did really amazing? He was just helping people…

After an agonising long time to wait, the door to the office opened up, and an older woman stepped in. She made her way to her desk, sitting across from Benoit. She seemed to be in a good mood.

"I've heard good things about you from Veronica." She opened the conversation, extending her hand to shake Benoit's. "You may call me Caroline. You're Benoit, right?"

Slowly, Benoit nodded his head as he shook her head. "Y-yeah… That's my name… But wait… Veronica?" That was one of the patients he had helped out. "You know her?"

Caroline let out a humorous laugh as she sorted through her papers. "Of course I do, she's my daughter after all." Putting her papers in order, she tilted her head slightly. "Most of the time, we have to go out of our way to recruit people. It's a nice change of pace to have them come to us for a change."

"I… I didn't know she was the daughter of someone at Hope's Peak…" Veronica had never mentioned it to Benoit.

Caroline let out a little laugh. "No, it's not something she openly talks about. Consider yourself lucky right now, since it allowed us to scout you." Glancing down at her papers, she had everything in order. "Are you ready for your interview?"

Right… Benoit still had to do this interview. "I'm… I'm ready." A confident smile appeared on his face. While he didn't think he should be one, he felt like he had a very real chance to be one right now.

A chance to be an Ultimate, and a chance to help those who needed it.

Ultimate Referee Station

To see something like that… so up close…

Edison felt his legs grow weak as he tried to back away from the body. "Ah…" He wanted to scream, but next to no sound left his mouth as he backed away.

However, due to his own legs betraying him, he found himself falling to the ground, one of his flasks almost spilling its contents. "B-Benoit…?" Was all Edison could find himself mumbling out. He tried to back up on the floor, but he quickly found his back against the wall.

He had never… He had never…

Edison wanted to let out a scream, but it was clear that no sound would ever leave his mouth.

Instead, he just sat there, frozen in fear, waiting for anyone to come by.

Psi Sector

Given that Edison went up ahead, Seira and Gemini had decided to follow him.

The latter had his hands in his pockets. "I wonder how the soccer game is going." He didn't care enough to go see, but hey, he might want to know the results.

"I expect whatever team Atlas is a part of is winning." Seira mentioned, walking beside him. "Although, there's a chance he gets carded by Gigi."

Gemini raised an eyebrow. "If he's the Ultimate Soccer Player, I would hope he doesn't get carded."

Seira shrugged, a bit of humour in her voice. "Hey, you never know."

As the duo reached the door for the Ultimate Referee Station, Gemini scanned his bracelet, allowing the two of them to enter.

However, they'd find something was quickly off. "Edison?" Gemini noticed he was on the ground. "What happened?"

Before they could run over to him, Edison slowly lifted his finger up, to point at the body that was just out of view for them.

Understanding rather quickly, Gemini and Seira both ran to the other side of the shelves, only to find themselves frozen in place as well.

"W-what the…" Gemini had begun to say, all while Seira had to cover her mouth out of shock.

The three of them had no chances to say anything further, as an announcement began to play.

"A body has been discovered! That's right! You heard me! A bodyhas been discovered! Please, everyone, meet up in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station for more details!"

"No way…" Gemini mumbled out, taking a step back. There was no checking to see if Benoit was still alive… The body discovery announcement had more than confirmed the truth.

"How did this…" Seira finally uncovered her mouth, taking another step back.

Gemini turned to look at Edison, who was still on the ground. "Come on, get up.." He extended his hand to the boy.

Slowly, Edison managed to grab onto his hand, pulling himself onto his feet. "I… I…" He was still in horror at what he had just discovered. "He was like this when I entered the room…" He shifted his goggles over to block his own vision.

A body turning up here of all places? Gemini's facial expression shifted slightly. "We need to tell the others." And there was only one place that everyone would gather up. "We need to go to Atlas' Station." Given that's where Monokawa wanted everyone to meet in the first place.

The other two didn't seem to have any complaints as they made their way out of the door.

Several images flashed over, most abstract, others almost vivid. However, still, none of it made any sense. It was all things foreign. Ideas unknown.

The more time passed, the more images flashed, as the older ones began to fade away.

This felt like it was going on for an eternity…

That is…

Until…

"-a-"

A voice, so soft… Speaking to them.

"-y"

It kept calling out to them, but they could barely make out what it said.

"M-"

And finally…

The voice became clear.

…

"May?" Winter called out, shaking her awake.

Slowly, May opened her eyes, covering her face with her hands to avoid the light that was now getting into her eyes. "W-what…?"

Seeing that she was actually alive, Winter let out a sigh of relief. "I thought… I thought you were…"

After what had just played, she couldn't take any chances. It could have been about May.

Rubbing her eyes, May took a look around the room. It was just the two of them, and she found herself in the cafeteria. "What's… Why'd you wake me up…?" She had been enjoying her dreams… Although saying she enjoyed them might be taking it a bit too far.

"You didn't hear the announcement?" Winter tilted her head to the side, placing her cup of tea on the table.

"Announcement…?" No, May must have slept through it.

Great… Winter did not want to be the person to break the news to her, but nobody else was in the area, so she better just suck it up. Taking a deep breath, Winter shook her head. "A body was discovered."

A… Body? Again? "Where…?"

Sitting across from May now, Winter grabbed her tea again. "They said to meet up in the Ultimate Soccer Player Station…" And frankly, Winter did not want to see a dead body, so she had stayed here.

That, and she had been worried about May too. Slowly placing her cup of tea back onto the table, she looked into May's eyes, trying to see her reaction.

May had moved over to check the Station Reports, only to find that they had no reports. "Ah… We haven't gotten it yet…"

"No, we haven't." Which probably meant they were waiting for them. Slowly, Winter stood up. "We should probably go see what happened."

May got up from her chair, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "Yeah…"

Quickly, Winter began to walk towards the elevator. She was worried. Worried about it being someone she cared for…

If it was Michael…

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Due to the announcement, those who were playing the soccer game were forced to wait in the station.

"Fucking bullshit!" Atlas called out, pacing back and forth. Sure, someone died, but it felt like everything was always going wrong.

"Now's not the time for that attitude." Hae-Won called out, feeling a little bit uncertain herself. She kept looking at the door.

The first group of people to make it here were Edison, Seira, and Gemini. All three of them looked rather gloomy when they stepped in.

"Did you three see the body?" Gigi was quick to pick up on their stance.

None of them answered. They wanted to say something, but even Gemini was having a hard time voicing his concerns.

Then, one by one, the rest of the participants entered the room.

"What the hell…?" Hae-Won narrowed her eyes. It didn't take long for her to figure out just who was missing. "B-Benoit…?"

"Yeah…" Gemini finally spoke up. "He… He's…" He placed his hands on his hips, unable to say anything further.

Nova stood up, counting the heads, almost as if to double check if Benoit was really the one missing. "It would appear so, yes."

Hae-Won placed her hands in her pockets, looking at the ground. "Where is he…?"

Slowly, Gemini nodded his head. "He's… He's in the Ultimate Referee Station…"

"W-what?" Gigi found that hard to believe. "How did he wind up dead in my sta-"

"Enough talking, everyone!" Monokawa floated up above everyone. "Sorry to burst the parade that was this soccer game, but yes! Indeed! Someone has died! Benoit to be exact! What a tragedy." It was clear he didn't give a single shit.

"T-that's no way to speak about-" Melody began to say, but she quickly got cut off when Monokawa flew down to be face to face with her.

"No, guess not." He shrugged. "But someone has to enjoy the death going around."

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't Nova enjoy the deaths?"

Monokawa turned to look at Nova. "Nova enjoys everything. That doesn't count. We need someone who is very specific with their interests! Meaning, me!"

"You're so much different when there isn't death looming…" Seira mumbled out. She wished he was back to his lazy self.

Floating on his back, Monokawa began to float circles around the group as he spoke. "Now, it's the all important time! The investigation time!" Guess it meant it was also time to explain how that even worked.

Slowly, Monokawa sat up, that way he was facing everyone. "For starters, this is the period in time where you are allowed to investigate the station to figure out anything you think might be important for the murder!"

Placing a hand on his hips, Gemini kept his eyes on Monokawa. "How much time do we have to investigate…?"

Monokawa shrugged. "Eh, until I think enough time has passed, or you've found all the evidence."

"So…" May hummed out. "There's a list of evidence we need to find…?"

"Not… Really? It's complicated!" Which was a codeword for "I'm not going to explain it".

"So we don't even get to know how much time we have?" Gigi said with one eye closed. This sounded like bullshit, but there wasn't much they could even do.

"Isn't it fun?" Monokawa let out a small laugh, floating high above everyone else. "Oh, but don't let me stop you now, you should all get started on your investigation!"

They actually had to go through with this…

The air around them was heavy as they realised just what they had to do…

"Oh, Monoakwa." Gigi called out, looking up. "Didn't you say that whenever a murder happened, you'd give us a Station Report?" She remembered the rule very well.

Waking up from his nap, Monokawa quickly sat up. "Oh, you're right! I almost forgot!" He messed around with something on his arm, and soon…

Everyone's watch was updated with the new Station Report.

The first person to check it out was Gemini, who let out a sigh.

Station Report:

The victim this time is Benoit Chevalier, the Ultimate Physiotherapist. He was found dead in the Ultimate Referee Station. Cause of death was electrocution, which seemed to have caused all the burn marks on his body. Nothing else is of note. Time of death was 16:30.

"Hmm…" Gemini frowned. He had seen Benoit's body, but he hadn't suspected electrocution to be the cause of death. Maybe Edison knew more about something like that.

Hae-Won narrowed her eyes as she read the report. "Electrocution? What the hell could even do that here?"

Ian frowned, looking at the report. "Maybe that's something we can discuss after we investigate. Trying to figure out anything right now would only be pointless."

Closing her watch, Hae-Won sounded annoyed. "Fine."

"How should we even do this?" Dae-Hyun crossed his arms. Investigating…

Edison adjusted his goggles. He was still shaken up about earlier, but he felt like he was in a better place mentally now. "Maybe we cover different rooms…?"

Gigi nodded her head. "I doubt the murder took place solely in my room." That'd be awful if it did. "I don't remember any method of electrocution, so it probably came from a different room entirely."

Gennosuke walked up to the group. "Wouldn't it be for the best if we all went to examine the body together?"

Winter looked away. "I'd rather not see a body, so you are all free to go on without me." She twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

Gennosuke frowned slightly, but didn't let it bug him too much. "I'm just saying, it would be nice to be on the same foot when it comes to the investigation.

May was getting a strange sense of deja-vu… Almost as if this was a point talked about in the last investigation. "I don't want to see it either…" One body was already enough for her.

Gigi let out a sigh. "Those who wish to see the body can do so at their own leisure. Not everyone needs to check it out."

Frowning slightly, Gennosuke stuffed his hands in his pockets, before that iconic smile consumed his face again. "Right, my bad. Well, time's running, so shouldn't we get moving? We don't know when Monokawa is going to get bored. I'd rather not go into the trial with a death wish."

With the threat of time looming over them, everyone split off to go do their own thing.

Ultimate Referee Station

Despite not wanting to see the body again, Edison found himself right back here.

"Hey. You know you don't have to be here." Gemini pointed out, standing right beside him.

Slowly, Edison shook his head. "No, I feel like I need to." Besides, who else would investigate the body. "Hypothetically speaking, finding out what was the cause of the electrocution is the most important part of this."

Also in the room was Seira, Gigi, Hae-Won, and Gennosuke.

"So, where is the body anyways?" Gennosuke crossed his arms. "We should probably start by investigating that."

"O-over here…" Edison slowly moved over to the other side. Despite saying he was going to investigate the body, he still felt himself freeze up upon seeing it again.

Something Gennosuke took notice of. "Don't be scared, it's just a body." To prove his point, he moved over closer to the body. He placed his foot on top of Benoit's arm, before moving it out of the way with his foot. "It's not going to jump out at you or anything." He flashed a grin towards Edison.

Seeing this, it angered Hae-Won slightly. "Don't mess around with the body."

That grin quickly faded away from Gennosuke's face. "Relax, I didn't mean any disrespect. Besides, not like Benoit would mind." He stepped away from the body.

What he was saying was really getting on Hae-Won's nerves. She could almost feel her blood boil, and yet, she kept a mostly calm demeanour. "Get out of here before I make you."

Letting out a small chuckle, Gennosuke shook his head. "Whatever you say. I have another place I want to check out. I just wanted to see the body." With that, Gennosuke left the room.

Gigi couldn't help but frown at the interaction, but she also had better things to do. "Let's not worry about that. We need to investigate."

With a small "tsk" she turned to see what Gigi was doing. "What are you…?"

Out of all the things Gigi could have been investigating… She was taking a look at the monitors.

"Any reason for that?" However, Hae-Won wasn't about to judge the work Gigi did.

Slowly, Gigi nodded her head. "I was just a bit curious, is all. This will for sure prove the alibis of everyone."

However, the downside was that Gigi could only rewind the Ultimate Soccer Player Station. Quickly, though, she managed to rewind it until five minutes before the game started.

"Is that as far back as you can?" Hae-Won mumbled out. Not much help it would be if Benoit died here.

Letting out a sigh, Gigi shook her head. "I wish I could see if anything happened before, but this could still be good information to know." She began to fast forward through the events of the game.

3:55: Ian and Hae-Won exit the storage room with the equipment everyone needs.

4:00: The game starts, and Atlas gets the ball first.

4:06: The first goal is scored by Atlas. 1-0

4:12: Benjamin gets a yellow card, and a five minute penalty.

4:14: Melody scores a goal. 2-0

4:17: Benjamin is freed from his penalty.

4:20: Melody gets injected by the drug and goes under. Benjamin sits out to make the game fair.

4:25: Ian scores a goal. 2-1

4:28: Laki scores a goal. 3-1

4:30: Melody and Benjamin return to the field.

4:32: Laki attacks Ian, and is forced to take a ten minute penalty.

4:36: Hae-Won scores a goal. 3-2

4:40: Ian scores a goal. 3-3
.

4:42: Laki returns from her penalty.

4:44: Atlas scores a goal. 4-3

4:45: Body discovery announcement goes off, halting the game.

After going through all the data, Gigi lets out a hum.

"So…" Hae-Won had mostly been following along. "Does any of that help?"

The short answer was no, but Gigi wasn't going to say that. "It's better to know all these details, then to wish you knew, and for it to be too late…" They couldn't access this after the trial started, and Gigi needed to get this information while she could still check back for the game.

Hae-Won wasn't dumb, and she could see right away. "So, for now, it's useless."

Letting out a sigh, Gigi conceded. "Yes. For now, it's useless." But there should be some evidence that this could help out with. For now, though, it didn't mean much. "I'm going to sort through everything, maybe you should explore somewhere else."

Hae-Won would normally be all for it, but she had a hard time bringing herself to move from the spot she was. "No, I think I'll just stay here…" She couldn't see Benoit's body from this side of the room, but that was probably for the best. Besides, she was still pissed off at Gennosuke.

Speaking of the other side of the room…

Edison stood by Benoit's corpse, before taking a deep sigh. Nobody else was going to help, so he would need to investigate this himself.

Getting closer, the first thing Edison did was take a closer look at the burn marks. "Oh… Yeah." Remembering the cause of death, he nodded his head. "Those are unmistakingly caused by electrocution…"

As if to add onto that fact, Benoit's clothes were wet. That's right. His clothes. No weird screenshots here. I mean, he was also- that's besides the point.

Based on the Station Report, there wasn't anything else that needed to be noted. "Then…" Ah… This felt wrong, but Edison looked through his pockets. … "Nothing." He eventually noted, removing his hand rather quickly.

Well! Body investigated! Can't say he didn't try!

Of course, that was just what was directly on the body… There was Benoit's watch. Reaching over for it, Edison opened it up. "Hmm…" He didn't want to test out looking through the motive, because he felt like that would get him killed.

Instead, he opted to look at two things instead. The job app, which was empty, and lastly… The coin app.

"Oh?" Edison adjusted his goggles as he looked on. "He didn't have any coins?" Edison hadn't been one to check the score total.

Edison decided to pocket the watch as evidence. It would probably be useful in the trial. Next, he noted the one other thing that was even around Benoit's body. "What's this?" He reached over, intent on grabbing what looked like a large battery, however, with it being drenched in water, he decided against it.

"I've never seen this battery." Edison hummed out, deep in thought. Then again, he hadn't been in all the rooms, so it's likely he was just forgetting something.

Besides that, the only other thing of note around Benoit's body was that the floor was covered in water. But that was likely due to the water dispenser being toppled over. "Hmm…" Well! He did all he could!

What about the other people in the room? Well, there was Seira, off near the table.

Seira had knelt down to investigate the cart, she didn't know why she did this, but something felt off about it. "Huh…? What's this?" Inspecting it closer, she noticed that the games were hiding it slightly, but the cart itself was wet. "How did that…?" She turned to look at Gemini, who was on the complete other side of the room, investigating the water dispenser. "Do you think this is odd?"

Slowly, Gemini got up, walking across the room to investigate. After looking at it for a few seconds, he nodded his head. "It might be worth bringing it up during the trial."

Seira slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, it might be… Did you find anything?"

Gemini had left to go back to the area he was looking. "No, not really… Only checked the water dispenser so far. Nothing else really stand- Huh?" He quickly knelt down to investigate something. "Seira, get over here."

Quickly, Seira ran up to him. "What's wrong?" He knelt beside the hatch.

Without any restraints, Gemini opened the hatch.

"H-huh?" Seira looked around, eventually spotting the lock discarded to the side. "When was this done?"

"I'm not sure…" Gemini trailed off, looking into the hatch. "But it must have been sometime today, because I feel we would have noticed it any other time." He stood up, peering down further. "It's dark…" He noted. "If I don't make it out alive…" He trailed off, not finishing that sentence.

"If you don't make it out alive… what?" Seira would carry on his dying wish-

Gemini jumped in without any hesitation, hitting the bottom really quickly. "Oh. It's not that deep. That's disappointing."

Seira raised an eyebrow. "Did you want to break your leg or something?"

Providing no answer, Gemini continued further down the hallway. He had to use his watch to give any form of light. However, he was unable to find anything. "It… It just ends…" He hit his hand against the wall, sliding it along to see if there was something hidden. But he found nothing. Letting out a heavy sigh, he walked back the way he came. "It's just a dead end… There's nothing interesting here."

Reaching a hand out to him, Seira frowned. "Then what's the point of this?"

Grabbing her hand, Gemini used it to help himself out of the hole. "Who knows…" However, he wasn't ready to discount it yet. "It had to be used for… something…" Thinking about it now wouldn't help them, however. "Let's just keep it in mind."

Suddenly, Gigi appeared, looking over at Gemini. "Gemini, I have a question for you."

Slowly, he stood up from the spot on the ground he was crouching. "Yeah? What's up?"

Crossing her arms, Gigi frowned slightly. "Did you see anything happen while you were in the casino?"

He had to spend a few seconds thinking, but after a bit, he shook his head. "No, not that I can recall. Also, only three people stopped by. Tatiana went up shortly after I did, and she gambled a bit. She left after Edison and Seira showed up."

Letting out a small sigh, Gigi wasn't really sure what to expect. Not like that would help solve the murder or anything. "Did you keep track of the time all of these happened?"

"No, not really." Gemini hadn't even considered doing that.

Then there was no point asking any further questions. "Thank you for your time." Gigi turned back around, heading over towards where Hae-Won was.

Storage Room

Making his way over towards the storage room, Atlas scanned his bracelet, opening the door.

"Woah there!" Dolly called out, seeing Atlas just kick the scanner. "Isn't this one of those job scanners?"

As the two stepped into the storage room, Atlas didn't turn around to look at Dolly. "Yeah, and as far as I know, only myself and Hae-Won have access to it."

"Oh, that's how she was able to get in this room!" Dolly looked around. "But I thought only you were registered."

Atlas let out a small annoyed sigh. "Yeah, that was the idea." He wasn't sure what would even be in this storage area, but might as well check it out. Besides, he had no intention of exploring anywhere else. "When I announced that I had registered for the room, I was the only one. And Hae-Won didn't exactly publicise it."

Would that be useful to know? Dolly had no idea! But she was going to mark it down anyway. However, she quickly noticed something. "Oh! Atlas! Look!"

Getting his attention, Atlas glanced over in the direction that Dolly was pointing. What he noticed was a soccer ball. However, that wasn't the important part. The important part was that it was dented on top. "What the hell…? Who the fuck did this?" Who would go out of their way to destroy a soccer ball?

Upon further inspection, the dent seemed to be rectangular in shape, extending past the ball. "Whatever it was, it was thinner than the ball, but longer than it." Not that his mind could come up with many ideas on how it was done.

"Is that all you want to look at here?" Dolly was already getting bored of this place.

Atlas narrowed his eyes at her. "We just got here! Let me explore some more!" He made his way over towards the locker, sorting through everything. "Hmm… Right. Hae-Won and Ian grabbed the equipment for the game." He turned to look at Benjamin, who was still wearing the sports shirt. "Take that off!"

Quickly, Benjamin complied, removing the gloves and jersey. "You don't have to yell at Master like that!"

"Tsk…" As if he was going to let a doll tell him what to do. "Whatever."

Besides that, there was nothing else that stood out. "Let's go…" Before she annoyed him any further.

However, something interesting happened when they tried to leave. Almost forgetting how the job system worked, Benjamin scanned his bracelet, and the door opened up anyways.

"What the hell?" Atlas narrowed his eyes. "Why the fuck can you do that?"

Slowly, Monokawa appeared between the two of them. "One simple reason!" He called out.

Atlas almost kicked the fucker right in the face, but he stopped.

"What?" Dolly yelled out. "No suddenly otter? You really are running out of budget!"

Slowly, Monokawa lowered out of frame.

Suddenly.

Otter.

"That's better." Dolly seemed proud of herself.

However, Atlas had other business. If Monokawa was here, that means that he could ask him some questions. "What's the deal with this door? I thought you needed to be registered to the job to open it."

Monokawa shook his head. "You need to be registered to open it from the outside. As a safety feature, all watches can open the door from the inside. It's to prevent anyone from being trapped inside in case of an emergency!"

"What the hell?" That was the first time he was hearing that. "Are all doors like this?"

"Yup! Even the vacant rooms work like that! You can't trap someone that easily, after all." Monokawa crossed his arms. "Alright, I think I told you everything I needed to." He lowered out of frame again.

Dolly nodded her head along. "I think that was very educational."

"Tsk…" Atlas moved back over to the door, scanning his watch. "Let's go."

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Dae-Hyun didn't feel like going anywhere else to do any exploring. Sure, he could go and check out the body. However, he figured that Melody would just follow him there.

"Aren't we going to go explore…?" Melody mumbled out, standing by his side.

For a moment, Dae-Hyun didn't answer anything. Instead, he only stared up at the scoreboard. "Did it reset?"

"Nope! That thing has been down since before we started!" Melody quickly answered, smiling at him.

That was odd… Definitely something they should look into. Making his way over to the scoreboard, he took a peek behind it. "Hmm…" He tried his best to remember what it was like when they first explored it.

Stepping to the other side of the scoreboard, he didn't find anything near the ground. But the real interesting thing was what was behind it. "Hmm…" Looking up, he noticed a large box with wires coming out of it. "Is that what powers it?"

That was the first thing Dae-Hyun noticed… "That box is missing." He never got a closer look at it when he went up there with the ladder. Instead, he only focused on the buttons, since he couldn't see that from the ground. "We should go get a ladder."

"Turn around." Melody smiled at him.

Doing as he was told, Dae-Hyun noticed that the ladder was neatly propped up against the wall. "Hmm…? I thought I returned that…" Maybe he had forgotten.

However, thinking about it more… Nope! He had just straight up forgotten to return the ladder! Oh well.

Moving the ladder over, Dae-Hyun began to climb up, stopping at the buttons. "These still appear to be here. Melody, could you kick a ball through the goal…?"

She didn't need to be told twice. Melody eagerly made her way across the field, kicking the ball into the net with pretty good accuracy. She was really getting good at this!

As it passed the net, the usual happened. Fireworks!

However, the buttons weren't pushed down. "Huh…" That was odd. Why would it not work all of a sudden?

Melody came back to see what Dae-Hyun was doing. "It's just not working?" She placed a hand on her hip.

Well, this wasn't exactly Dae-Hyun's area of expertise, so he slowly got down the ladder. "No. Besides the one component that's missing, everything else seems to be fine." But why would they even need that?

Shaking his head, Dae-Hyun ran a hand through his head. "I think that's all I can think about for now. We should go find a different room, maybe." Not that he really wanted to. He was more than content with just staying here and not doing much else.

Melody could tell, just looking at his face. "If you don't want to go anywhere else, that's fine too."

Letting out a sigh, Dae-Hyun turned to look up at the scoreboard again. Still, it showed that no points were scored. Something was definitely up with that…

Garden

Why was she here of all places? Winter didn't know, but they were told to explore other rooms, and she didn't want to be around the body.

However, she wasn't alone, as Lorelei, Tatiana, and Ian had joined her. "Why are you three here?" Not that she minded the company… It was just a… Weird quartet.

"Don't act like I'm here because of you or anything." Lorelei rolled their eyes. "I just didn't want to be next to the corpse is all." And they would get yelled at for going to the casino, because all she would do is gamble.

"Well, I explored the shed originally, so I'm going to explore it again." Tatiana nodded her head.

Ian… Didn't say anything. "I don't really have a reason. But I'm doubting a lot of what was presented in this case, so…"

Winter let out a small sigh. This would be a weird group to investigate with. "Alright, knock yourself out." She thought Michael would have joined her here, but he seemed to go off on his own.

As soon as they stepped into the room, the group split in two, with Ian and Tatiana going into the shed. That left Winter alone with Lorelei.

"Where the hell are we even supposed to search here?" Lorelei was already going to complain about the investigation.

Winter shrugged, stepping over towards some of the plants. "I don't know, I mostly came here to relax." And also she knew something had to be hidden here.

However, Winter would be torn away from her thoughts when she heard a sound.

"Ow! Fuck!" Lorelei quickly retracted her hand back, having cut herself on something.

Winter was standing above her, looking down. "What happened? Did you cut yourself?"

Wiping the blood off on a nearby plant, Lorelei slowly nodded her head. "Yeah… What the hell?" She carefully reached through the ground, pulling out some glass shards. "What the hell?" Not to mention they noticed that there were a few parts of the plants nearby that seemed burnt up.

Winter also took notice of it, examining the plants. "When did these catch on fire…?" More importantly… How? There shouldn't have been a fire in the first place.

Growing curious, Winter decided to take this into her own hand. Examining the area around the glass shards, she eventually found something else. "Wait… What's this…?" Looking at it, it seemed to be something electrical. "Lorelei, you're good with stuff like this, right?" She turned to look at her.

Wiping the blood away from their hand, Lorelei looked over to see what Winter was talking about. "Yeah, it sure is. Seems to be from a device…" But they couldn't quite figure out what kind of device. It was destroyed, after all. Taking it out of Winter's hands without asking, she put it in her pockets. "I'll be taking these."

Winter didn't even have time to protest it, only shaking her head.

The garden was pretty big, so it was unlikely to find anything else of importance around here, but the two girls tried anyway.

"Oh?" Lorelei called out, looking at the drain. "This place has a drain?"

Approaching her, Winter nodded. "Yes. Because of the possibility of excess water, a drain was needed to make sure the room doesn't flood."

"Whatever…" Lorelei looked deep into the drain. "What the hell… Something is at the bottom." They couldn't quite make it out, but it seemed to be a very light colour. "Can you see into this?"

Winter tried to, but she couldn't get a better look either. "No, I apologise."

"Hmmm…" Lorelei knew this had to be important, but they couldn't reach it, right?" She tried to open the drain, but was having no luck. However, their hand seemed to latch onto something. "What's this…" It felt like a strand of… something. Pulling it away, it felt like a long strand of something. "Does this remind you of something?" Of note, it seemed to be a light colour as well.

Winter inspected it. "You know, it kind of does." Winter already had an idea in mind for what it could be, but she didn't want to say anything.

"Thought so." This was definitely not something they could leave here, so Lorelei pocketed that as well. "Whatever it was, it was attached to the drain." Lorelei placed the cover back, getting up off the ground. "God, I should have explored somewhere else. Now my clothes are going to be filled with dirt and blood." Maybe she should have let Winter do all the heavy lifting.

And it wouldn't be long before Winter actually found something.

"What's this?" Winter leaned over to take a better look in the ground. From the looks of it, something had been placed here before, but it had long since been removed.

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Are you losing your mind or something?"

Winter shook her head. "No… It's like… something rectangular was placed here…" She could see the edges of where the object used to be… But she couldn't make out what it was. But it was hidden behind a bunch of plants… "It's far away from the door." Winter finally noted, standing up. She had no idea what it was, though. "There appears to be faint burn marks on the floor." Well, it looked more like scorch marks, but who was really keeping track? That was the only other thing she noticed about the rectangle.

Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "What? Why would something like that be there?"

Humming in thought, Winter looked the other way. "Benoit also had burn marks, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Lorelei crossed their arms. It wasn't the trial, so she didn't feel the need to actually waste her time thinking about anything.

Letting out a small sigh, Winter shook her head. "Nevermind…" Although, this was probably all they were going to find out in this room. Maybe they should call this search now.

As for the other duo…

Before Ian and Tatiana even entered the shed… They noticed a very obvious difference.

"What the hell happened here?" Ian mumbled out, looking at the remains of the door.

Tatiana placed a hand on her hip, a very cocky smile on her face. "Well clearly someone has anger management problems! And tore apart the door!"

The duo slowly looked at each other, almost filled with the same idea.
"Atlas?" Ian asked.

"Atlas." Tatiana confirmed, nodding her head along.

Shaking his head, Ian stepped over the pile to enter the shed. "Maybe you should take a look?"

And that's exactly what Tatiana did! She had made her way over towards the pile of wood that used to be the door to the shed. "Why would anyone do this to a poor door like this?" Well, nothing would get answered if she just stood there. Sorting through the pile, she looked for anything of value.

However, every piece seemed to be destroyed… Except for two pieces… Both of them were the handles. "Why are these different…? Of note, they appeared to be broken down at the base, the part that would connect to the door.

Ian inspected the handles, frowning slightly. "As if I'd know the answer to that… Maybe they just missed the handle?"

"Hmm…" Placing these to the side, Tatiana slowly stepped into the shed, looking around.

Nothing felt too different, but there were some differences for sure.

The first thing that drew Tatiana's attention was the hatchet that was lying on the ground. "That's not supposed to be there…" From her memory, that was supposed to at least be on the wall or something.

Tatiana moved over to inspect it, but her eye wasn't doing her any favours. "Dammit…" She mumbled to herself as she placed it down.

"Here, let me." Ian took the hatchet out of her hands, inspecting it. That's where he saw some bits of wood on the blade. "Someone used this recently." Wouldn't take a genius to figure out what.

"I can investigate on my own, you know." Tatiana walked further into the room, eventually finding the toolkit. However, from memory, nothing seemed to be missing from the toolkit. "Everything is still here!" Neat!

However, Ian knew better to just trust the words of anyone. He inspected the objects inside, before landing on the crowbar. "Hmm…?" He picked it up, inspecting it. "It looks a little bent at the tip… Did someone use it?"

"Huh?" Tatiana hadn't spotted that, given her poor eyesight. "Nice catch! What was it used for, though?"

That was a different question entirely. Placing the crowbar back, he looked around. "Anything else?"

"Hey!" Tatiana ran over, noticing something on the ground. "This shouldn't be here." She held it out. "Hmm… It's…" Well, she hadn't been in Benoit's Ultimate Station yet, but she knew it had to be something from there. What she held out was a resistance band.

"Oh." Ian titled his head. "Yeah, that's from Benoit's Station. What's that doing here?" He placed his hands in his pockets.

Tatiana shrugged, placing it back on the ground. "I don't know. Do you know what it's called?"

Thinking for a moment, Ian tried to think of the word. "I think it was… resistance band or… something like that." He wasn't one to know the names of objects he had almost no use for.

Well, sounds like they'd need to figure it out during the trial if they wanted to relay the information to the others. "I think that's…" Tatiana was about to say something, before she noticed something.

Approaching the counter, she frowned slightly. "Last I checked, there were rubber gloves here…"

"Rubber gloves? We found some in the storage room in Atlas' Station.."

Ah! So the mystery slowly reveals itself! Tatiana knew it had to be connected somehow, but she couldn't make the connection herself. She turned to look at Ian. "You have been of great help!"

Putting a frown on his face, Ian shook his head. "I didn't do anything."

Ultimate Gambler Station

For some reason, Michael found himself here. Not because he had any big reasons to be here… He just…

"Don't think there's going to be anything here!" Laki called out, but she wasn't saying that to Michael. No, in fact she was talking to Gennosuke.

Unwrapping another lollipop, he toyed around with it a bit. "I guess not. But it is one of the center pieces of the motives, so I thought I'd give it a look around." Soon, his eyes landed on Michael. "Guess you had the same thoughts as me?"

Not wanting to make conversation right now, Michael turned his head away. "Yeah…"

Gennosuke frowned seeing this. "Something eating you up?"

Instead of answering, Michael walked away towards the tables..

Letting out a sigh, Gennosuke turned to look back at Laki. "Well, let's say we investigate."

Not that there was much to investigate, however, Gennosuke knew there was one place that needed to be checked out. "Here we are."

The two of them were now standing at the prize corner.
"Silly boy, it's not the time to be buying stuff." Laki shook her head at him.

Ignoring her, Gennosuke took a look at the-

"Woah there!" Monokawa rose up from the counter. "Didn't think I'd have any customers at a time like this." Not that he was complaining.

Pulling the lollipop out of his mouth, Gennosuke didn't seem too amused. However, that expression morphed into a slight smile. "No, we're not here for anything like that."

"Oh! Well!" Monokawa moved back under the desk, before coming up with a large "CLOSED" sign, which he used to cover the entire glass. This prevented them from seeing anything beyond this point.

"Hmm…" Gennosuke hummed out, frowning slightly.

Slowly, Laki pushed a finger through the opening in the glass, causing the entire sign to topple over.

As it fell, Monokawa let out a Whilhelm scream as it crushed him.

"I think I killed him." Laki frowned slightly.

"Oh no, the travesty." Gennosuke tried to see if he could find a way through the glass.

However, before he could get any further, Monokawa burst through the sign, moving over towards the glass. "Do not! Nobody is allowed on this side!"

There goes a theory like that. Taking out the lollipop, Gennosuke stared at it for a few seconds, almost as if to ignore Monokawa. Once he had a better grasp of what to say, he flashed that iconic smile. "Maybe not, but are we at least to see what was taken?"

"Hmm…" Well, there was no reason they couldn't. "Sure!" Monokawa moved out of the way, allowing them the full view of the prizes.

Laki tapped her finger on the counter. "Do you remember what was here?"

Gennosuke let out a small laugh, almost as if to laugh at her stupidity. Of course he remembered. You think Gennosuke would forg- "Not in the slightest. I never checked out the prize corner."

Monokawa covered his mouth with his paws, holding back laughter. "Happens to the worst of us."

Still, Gennosuke didn't need to remember what was here before, he just needed to remember what was here now. Out of the limited prizes, only three of them still remained. Those three being the weird key with no price, the keycard for the map app, and lastly, the escape key.

Slowly nodding his head along to the information he just learned, he turned to Laki. "Two items were taken." He knew that there were five of them before, so it made sense.

As for the unlimited items… Well, obviously none of them would be missing, but here's a refresher! Ray gun, teddy bear, bullets, lighter, and the double or nothing.

Stepping away from that, Gennosuke hummed out. "Why did you come here, actually?" It didn't seem like Laki had any idea what she was doing.

"Oh!" He was right, Laki had no idea what she was doing. "The casino is pretty nice, and I'm not one to investigate."

"Hmm…" Gennosuke hummed out before continuing the same way he was doing. Eventually, he stopped at the bar.

Approaching him, Laki sat down at one of the seats. "Why are you here?"

"Laki, jump over the counter." Gennosuke wanted to see something.

"On it!" Zero hesitation from Laki as she jumped to the other side, only to get shoved several times, until she fell out of the bar. "Oww…"

Gennosuke didn't have any reasons for that, he was just being an asshole. "Thank you." He stood up from the seat he was sitting at. "Let's get back to investigating."

"Wait! Hold on!" Laki wasn't out for the count yet. "Maybe it only reacts when someone walks in!" Quickly, she began to do a handstand. "I'll just go in like that!"

Gennosuke was probably a bit dumbfounded, but he was very good at not letting it show on his face. "Go right ahead, I won't stop you."

As Laki made her way there, she didn't seem to struggle in the slightest. Once she finally crossed the bar, however, the same result would happen, with her getting shoved to the ground, with the robot yelling at her.

"Impressive." Gennosuke was still going to offer a compliment. "I could never do something like that." Mostly in part to how lazy he was.

"What! That's easy!" Laki had a bright smile on her face. "But it wasn't enough to fool the robot."

Shaking his head a bit, Gennosuke scanned the room to see if he could find where Michael went.

It didn't take long to find him, given that he was standing beside a poker table. "I'm going to go see what he's doing."

"Oh! Let me come!" Seems he wouldn't be able to get rid of Laki quite yet.

As the two approached Michael, he looked up at them. "Oh… What do you two want?"

"What are you doing here?" Gennosuke took a glance at the table.

"Oh! Huh…" Michael wasn't really sure, he had just noticed something interesting. "This poker game…" He mumbled out.

Gennosuke took a look at what he meant. At the moment, there was an ongoing poker game. However, from the looks of it, it was impossible to see who started it. The only thing to note was that there were only cards on the table. Gennosuke shrugged. "Who cares… It might have just been someone who was playing poker when the body discovery announcement went off."

That could be the case… But something still felt… Off.

"Oh!" Laki called out. "Look over here!"

The two boys came to take a look at what she found. "What the…?" Michael mumbled out.

There seemed to be a panel under the table, but of note, the panel was damaged.

"Hmm…" Gennosuke tried to remove the panel, and it came out easily enough. "Huh…" He was a bit surprised. He crouched down, taking a better look inside. "Seems to be electrical components…" Not anything he could figure out…

Laki tilted her head to the side. "Oh! Right! This game uses that to figure out how much you bet and stuff." Given she participated in a 5k word poker scene, she felt well versed with how it worked. Mostly. "So this keeps the game going, allowing you to bet coins and such."

Michael slowly nodded his head. "Yeah… That makes sense…" But why was it like this? That made next to zero sense… "Why would they want to break into this?"

Laki swayed her head side to side. No thoughts, head empty.

Gennosuke hummed out in thought before standing back up. "Not much we can figure out with this… I think we've pretty much cleared out the area here." He turned around, ready to leave.

However, Michael was a bit unsure. "How… How exactly does this poker game work?"

Stopping his march, Genonsuke turned to look at Michael, raising an eyebrow. "Now doesn't seem like the time to be worrying about how poker works…" And yet, he felt the strange need to indulge his curiosity. "But if you must know…" Gennosuke stuffed one of his hands in his pockets.

"This specific poker game makes use of a clicker to make your choices." Gennosuke pretended like he was holding one. "Depending on how many times you click, it changes what you do."

"How long is it?" Michael slowly nodded his head.

"I mean, not long." Gennosuke used his hands to demonstrate. From the looks of it, it was less than a foot long.

Slowly, Michael nodded his head. "Thank you…" However, looking over at the table, he had an odd thought appear in his head. Although, he didn't feel the need to voice it, so he just let it leave his mind quickly. "Now, I think we're done here."

"Aww… I quite like this room." Laki didn't see the need to leave, but both guys ignored her.

Motive Room

Now, May wasn't sure how good of an idea this was, but she had been checking this place out for a while, so she wanted to make sure that she could check it now. Maybe it would update for the count after the murder?

However, when May stepped into the room, she'd find the monitor blank. "Huh…"

"Oh? Were you hoping for an updated total?" Nova was standing right beside the monitor. "I regret to inform you that now the coin totals will remain a secret. You could check up on them individually if you want."

That was a disappointment… May opened up her own watch to check up her total. When she saw the number, she frowned slightly.

Slowly, her eyes turned to look at Nova. "Are you able to provide anything useful for the trial?"

"Unfortunately, no. Besides, anything I could provide, you've already memorised, haven't you?"

Which means that the totals would be important for the murder case. "Thank you…" May turned around, leaving the room. Maybe she should ask everyone about their coin total when she gets the chance… It could prove to be beneficial.

However, before she fully left the room, she turned to look at Nova. "Where were you this morning…?"

"This morning?" Nova tilted her body to the side. "Why, I was in the Ultimate Soccer Player Attraction. Why wouldn't I be there?"

Odd, Nova didn't strike her as the type of person to even enjoy sports. "It just feels… out of character for you…"

Nova shook her head. "As I've stated before, I'd never decline an opportunity to witness an Ultimate using their talents. And this time, I was able to see two people use their talents in conjunction."

Did Nova just have some kind of fascination with Ultimates. "Hmm…" May hummed out, slowly nodding her head along.

That concluded some of the things she wanted to ask Nova, so she left the room without saying goodbye.

Ultimate Gambler Station

Now, May had a goal in mind… She couldn't get the information she wanted from Nova, so it was time to get the information from everyone.

Stepping into the Ultimate Gambler Station, she spotted her first three targets. "You three…" May called out, before letting out a yawn.

"Hmm…?" Gennosuke raised an eyebrow as he watched her enter the room. He made no attempt to respond to her. Instead, turning to look back at the table they were investigating.

If she wanted to talk to him, she'd have to start the conversation off better than that.

Clearly, this only annoyed May, who walked up to the table. "I'm talking to you guys…"

"Oh…" Michael hadn't heard her, too lost in his own thoughts. "What did you want?"

"How many coins do you all have?" May didn't have time to waste if it was limited. She didn't know how long this investigation would last, so she needed to get right to the point.

However, Gennosuke didn't seem to like the attitude she was given. "Why would I-"

As if just to spite him, Laki opened up her watch. "100 coins!" She seemed very happy for having almost nothing.

"Hmm…" May turned her focus to Michael.

Silently, Michael sorted through his watch until he found his total. After finding it, he stared at the total for a bit, not showing her.

"Michael…?" May hummed out, still waiting.

"Right…" He turned his watch around to show May. He had 1,584 coins.

Now that was… Odd.

Given that everyone else had already shown their total, he couldn't be the odd one out. "Way to not have my back…" Gennosuke mumbled out as he clicked over to his coin app. When he showed off his watch, he had 853 coins.

Perfect! That's all she wanted to know! May turned around to walk away. No thank you or anything as she opened the door to leave.

"What the hell was that all about?" Gennosuke couldn't help but frown at the encounter.

Michael had already seen weirder since waking up here, so nothing seemed to phase him right now. "We should probably head back… I think we explored everything we needed to in this room."

Laki bounced around, heading towards the exit. "We should go now!"

Soon, the two guys followed her.

Ultimate Soccer Player Station

Next up on May's tour, she opened the door to the scene of the soccer game. This would be her second time here!

She did not like soccer. In fact, her creator would call it football-

As May looked around, she spotted both Melody and Dae-Hyun walking away from the scoreboard. So she decided to approach them. "Can I see your coin totals?" She yawned out.

Dae-Hyun narrowed his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Why…?"

"For the investigation." May began to explain. "Nova won't update the motive board anymore… So I have to go around and do it myself." Besides, it's the only thing she'd be doing investigation wise.

Melody had no problem with that. She opened her watch, before showing it to May. She only had 160 coins.

Hmm… Now that was different.

May's focus changed over to Dae-Hyun. "And yourself?"

Dae-Hyun didn't exactly want to give out the information, but had no reason not to. Removing his hand from his pocket, he sorted through his watch apps until he landed on his coin total. "Here…" Showing off his bracelet, he only had 126 coins.

May slowly nodded her head along, putting that to memory. "Okay…" She let out a yawn.

She was about to leave the room, when she heard the sound of the storage door opening. And out walked Atlas and Benjamin.

Right, May should ask the two of them the same question.

Slowly, she made her way over, stopping when they stopped.

"What the hell do you want?" Atlas hadn't really spoken to May yet, so it was weird to have her just randomly approach him.

"Your coin totals…" This was going to get repetitive, so she was just going to keep it short.

Atlas mumbled something under his breath before raising his foot up. "Coin app." He called out, in a rather annoyed tone as it opened up for him. Looking at his watch, his total displayed 1,008 coins.

"Oh! Oh!" Dolly called out excitedly. "Us next!" Benjamin sorted through his watch, before showing May his total. 120 coins.

This was all more or less what May expected. However, Melody and Atlas had some totals that were different from the ones she saw this morning. She'd need to keep this in mind.

Ultimate Referee Station

May's next destination was actually just across from her last one. Stepping into the room she had grown all too familiar with, she scanned the area, looking for who would be around.

She spotted four people, in groups of two. Seeing that Gigi was one, she decided to make her way over towards Seira and Gemini. She already knew what Gigi had, so she was trying to figure out as most information as possible.

However, upon moving to their area, she found her eyes shift over to look at Benoit's body. May quickly shook her head away, looking forward. She did not want to see another body.

Deciding to ignore it completely, she approached the duo, who seemed to still be inspecting the hatch.

Seira turned to look at her first. "Oh hey May." She offered a smile.

This got Gemini's attention, and he turned to look over at her too. "Do you need anything?" It might have come off as rude, but he meant it genuinely.

Slowly, May nodded her head, almost dozing off. "Yeah… Can I see your coin totals?"

Unlike the others, nobody was going to cause her any problems to begin with.

Seira opened up her watch, finding the right app. Once opened, she showed May the total. 428 coins. Perfect.

Now, May's eyes shifted over to look at Gemini, who opened up without any hesitation. 578 coins. However, Gemini quickly saw the look on her face. "Before you ask, I spent some time gambling today, so my total might be different from what it was this morning." He wasn't sure if May had been checking the totals in the morning, but it's the only reason he could think of why she'd be going down the Omicron Sector hallway so early in the morning.

Slowly, May shook her head, letting out a yawn. "It doesn't really matter anyways, since you're tied to Gigi." If he ever went out of range, everyone would know.

Next up, Edison, who was currently investigating the body still. For a moment, May just stood off to the side, not wanting to approach. However, after a few seconds, she let out a sigh and approached. "Edison…" She hummed out.

Turning to look at her, Edison adjusted his goggles. "How can I help you?"

Did he not hear what she had asked the other two? Maybe he was just deep in thought. "I want to see your coin total."

"Oh!" Well. Edison had no problem with that. Quickly, he opened up his watch, and displayed his total. 316 coins. "It hasn't changed since this morning."

Slowly, May nodded her head along. "Alright, thank you."

The only two other people in the room were Gigi and Hae-Won, so she made her way towards them. They were standing by the monitors, so it wasn't too far, but at least May didn't have to stand next to Benoit's body.

Gigi's eyes were the first to catch movement, and she turned to look at May. "Oh, there you are." She had been meaning to talk to her. "May-"

However, she didn't want to waste time. "Hae-Won, show me your watch total."

"Oh… Huh…" What an odd request. Sorting through her bracelet, she eventually showed her her total. 507 coins.

"Hmm…" May hummed out, closing both of her eyes. "Did you gamble today?"

Slowly, Hae-Won shook her head. "No. Not at all."

Interesting. May was about to leave. No need to confirm how many coins Gigi had. It was unlikely to cha-

"May." Gigi called out to her.

This caused the girl to stop in her tracks, and to look over at the referee. "Yes?"

Crossing her arms, Gigi looked down at May. "You entered the elevator when we went up to the soccer field, but where did you go?"

Tapping her chin, May tried to recall. "Oh… I went to the garden. Nova was there yesterday, so I was trying to see if I could run into her again…"

"And? Was she there?" Gigi tilted her head to the side. She wanted to make sure she knew where everyone was during the time of death .

"... No. She wasn't. I stayed a bit, hoping she would show up." May turned around, intent on leaving. "After that… I made my way down to the cafeteria and had a nap…" With nothing more to say, she left the room.

Hae-Won turned to look at Gigi. "What was that all about?"

Closing one eye, Gigi frowned. "Benoit died during our soccer game. While the seven of us were all isolated in one room. We have no idea what was happening on the outside. So it has to be someone who didn't attend the game."
Hae-Won nodded her head along to the explanation. "Made sense…" Her eyes shifted over to the side. That did narrow down the potential list of suspects.

Garden

One last stop for May, and she would have talked to everyone she needed to about their coin total.

This task was proving itself to be far more annoying than she would have ever thought. She needed to talk to four more people, but she had intense doubts that they'd all be in this one room. It wasn't the largest.

Stepping in, the first pair that spotted her were Winter and Lorelei.

"Ugh, what are you doing here?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow. They didn't want more people to ruin their investigation. Especially since May seemed like the type to take it into her own hands.

However, she wasn't here for that. "I'd like to see your coin total…"

Winter had no problems with that, as much as Lorelei tried to protest. Opening the app, Winter had 278 coins.
About what she expected. Now, onto-

"No." Lorelei crossed their arms. "I don't have to do anything." She just wanted to do her investigation.

May furrowed her brows, clearly annoyed, but she couldn't exactly force her to do anything.

Winter frowned slightly, turning to look at Lorelei. "Just show her your wat-"

A yawn. "It's fine…" She could see two other people through the ruined door, so might as well go talk to them instead.

Winter frowned, looking over at Lorelei. "Why didn't you tell her your total?"

"Because it doesn't fucking matter, duh." Lorelei rolled their eyes. "Besides, I'm too busy thinking of what else we should do…"

Suddenly, a brilliant idea hit their head.

"Wait!" Lorelei blurted out, a sinister grin appearing on her face. "Wait here. I'm going to get something." Without waiting for an answer from Winter, Lorelei ran out of the garden.

Stepping through the rubble of the once wooden door, May spotted both Ian and Tatiana here.

"And what brings you here?" Tatiana turned to look. "Here to investigate with us?"

"No."

"Oh."

"..."

"So why are you here?" Because if it wasn't for that, it sounded like May was wasting her time.

Tapping her chin, May looked up. "Well… It's technically investigating… But it's more personal… Show me your coins."

"Oh! Haha! Well, you'll be surprised to see my total! As I made a lot gambling today!" Tatiana looked through her apps. Without looking, she showed it to May.

"... You call that a lot?" May wasn't very impressed.

"Huh?" Quickly, Tatiana took a look at her score, only to find… She had 62 coins left. "... Wow, how did that happen?"

Ian shook his head, almost in amusement. As he sorted through his own watch, a grimace appeared on his face. "What the hell…" Letting out a sigh, he turned to show it to May. "Here's mine." Ian had 447 coins.

That was also a pretty big difference! She was learning a lot of neat things with this investigation. "That will be all…" Having nothing left to discuss, May turned around, and left the garden.

Ian was about to make a comment, but soon, an announcement played out from Monokawa.

"I think that's enough time spent investigating! Everyone, please gather up in front of the elevator near the vacant rooms! It's about time for the trial!"

Psi Sector

As Michael was making his way towards the spot Monokawa wanted them all to meet up, he felt someone walking behind him. He was going to ignore it until the voice spoke up.

"Michael." It was Gigi.

He didn't know what she wanted, but Michael still felt the need to stop. "What is it…?"

For a moment, Gigi didn't immediately provide an answer. Only staring straight at him. After a few long seconds, she let out a sigh. "After Atlas hurt you, Benoit took you away. Where did you two go?"

Is that it? "He went to his Ultimate Station… And then he had me do some exercise to ease the pain I was feeling…" Michael rubbed his back. The pain was still there, but thanks to Benoit, it had definitely subsided.

"... And after that?" It was clear what Gigi's intentions were. As of her knowledge, Michael was the last person to see Benoit alive. So his testimony would be vital.

Michael glanced away, looking at the ground. "After that, he told me I should continue doing the exercises he had taught me… And then he left… I stayed in the room until the body was discovered…" With this, he turned to fully look at her.

Gigi was about to say something, but at the last second, her voice got caught in her throat. From the looks of it, Michael wasn't lying. "Alright, I believe you." Michael wouldn't have a reason to lie, would he? Either way, if he was the killer, it would be very obvious, given he was the last person who was confirmed to be with Benoit. "But if you are lying, it will surface in the trial." She walked past him, heading towards the elevator. She held onto her arm, feeling a bit weird, but she quickly brushed it off.

Michael watched her leave for a few seconds before adjusting his hood. And then, he followed her down the same path.

Garden

As Winter was getting ready to leave the garden, she stopped when she saw Lorelei making her way back. With her, Laki. "Are you ready for my great plan?"

Winter… Had no idea what she could be talking about. "What's your idea for a great plan?"

Reaching into their pockets, Lorelei pulled out a lighter. "I just went and bought this really quickly." However, they gave it to Laki instead of doing anything with it.

Laki being Laki, accepted it without asking any questions. "I always wanted a lighter." Of course you did.

"Now, I could have done this myself, but I don't want my clothes getting wet." Lorelei placed a hand on her hips. "Laki, go light a plant on fire."

Like a recently born pyromaniac, Laki followed instructions and ran into the garden.

"W-wait!" Winter reached over to try and stop Laki; She loved the garden, and she'd hate for it to go up in flames.

However, asking Laki to stop herself from doing something like that was futile. In an instance, she lit up the nearest plant on fire.

Slowly, the fire began to spread, creating smoke until…

The sprinklers turned on.

And boy did it pour.

Even Laki found herself covering herself with her arms as water poured down, covering the entire room in water.

Meanwhile, Lorelei stood off to the side, a bit of mischief in her eyes. "That's about what I thought."

However… Even long after the fire had stopped, the water just kept pouring, making sure to drench all the plants in water.

Oh, and Laki.

She was making zero attempts to leave the room. "You should join me, the water is fine."

Winter didn't budge an inch as she watched this all go down. "No thank you, you seem to have it covered." Like Lorelei, she didn't want her clothes to be ruined.

After almost a solid minute of water pouring down, soon, it began to calm down, letting Laki down. "Aww…" She moved her way towards the door, stepping out into the hallway.

Laki is wet. There you go Gold, just for you. Take the screenshot.

Winter couldn't help but shake her head, turning to look at Lorelei. "What did that accomplish?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Lorelei seemed pretty confident when they said that. "I just wanted an excuse to have water pouring on someone."

They turned to walk down the hallway. "We should probably head over towards the elevator before Monokawa yells at us."

This had definitely been a bizarre investigation. Especially since Winter couldn't quite understand anything that Lorelei was even doing.

Deep down, she felt like she should hold onto that information, however. She had a feeling it might be of some use.

Vacant Rooms

Because of the stunt Lorelei pulled, they were the last three people to arrive at the elevator.

"And where have you all been?" Monokawa floated over towards the trio. "I said the investigation was over! And you went to mess around!"

Placing a hand on their hip, Lorelei rolled their eyes. "Does it really matter?"

"Huh…" Edison adjusted his goggles. "Why is Laki wet?"

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Just girl stuff."

Winter frowned slightly. "Please don't make it sound weird."

"What?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow, looking back at Laki. "We were just investigating."

Gemini hummed out, raising an eyebrow. "I think we went about investigating wrong, I'm still pretty dry."

Seira shook her head, looking away. "Please don't humour them."

Well, since everyone was here now, it was time for Monokawa to continue. "Glad that everyone is here!"

Nobody responded, either due to hating him, or just not knowing what to say in general.

"Wow. Tough crowd…" Monokawa let his body droop a bit. "But we aren't here for some small talk! I think I've let you all investigate enough, so you should have everything you need to solve this case."

Edison adjusted his goggles. "I don't feel any closer to solving the case…"

"You aren't the only one investigating, numbskull. Collectively, you should all have found everything of use." Monokawa flew over to hit the elevator button. "And, if there's anything else you need, I'm sure it will appear during the trial."

Soon, the elevator door opened up, and he flew in.

At first, nobody entered the elevator. "This atmosphere gives me the Heebie-Jeebies…" Melody mumbled out. To think they'd have to do a trial…

Dae-Hyun was the first to step forward. "There's no point in waiting."

Hae-Won nodded her head along to his words. "We need to figure out who murdered Benoit."

One by one, everyone stepped into the elevator.

Once everyone was inside, the doors closed, and the elevator came to life.

Slowly, the elevator began to rise up.

As everyone stood in the elevator, it still felt somewhat crowded with seventeen people standing inside it.

For the most part, it was silent. Not anyone wanted to say anything…

The first person to break the silence was Hae-Won. "I'm here to give out a warning." Her voice was cold, and almost as if it was laced with a bit of venom. "Whoever did this better not be hoping to make it out of this trial alive."

To kill someone like Benoit… It was clear whoever did it lacked any empathy. Especially because of the method of death. "Am I heard?"

Silence… Nobody wanted to say anything to her.

Anyone except for Gemini. "Calm down…" He let out a sigh. "Getting mad now won't solve anything…"

"No, it won't." A small smile formed on Hae-Won's face. "I was just being cordial, that's all." It sounded anything but that.

After a few more seconds of silence, a female voice called out to them.

"Now entering Trial Ground Alpha."

Suddenly, everyone would feel themselves slowly lifted off the ground.

"Woah!" Laki exclaimed excitedly as she let herself float around.

"Cool." Edison commented as he found himself walking on the walls of the elevator.

As everyone got used to zero gravity, it was quickly taken away from them. Except now, their orientation was upside down, as they found themselves on the roof of the elevator.

"Aww…" Edison was disappointed that it was already over.

Soon, the doors opened up, revealing the trial ground to everyone.

"Woah…" Seira found herself amazed, looking at the ground below her feet.

This trial ground was different from the last, hence the name change.

Instead of being in a dome shaped trial ground, this one had the space station as the ceiling, with the glass being the floor. The room was cylinder shaped.

Just peering down, one could see the sun in the distance.

"It's so…" Seira felt herself almost in a daze as she looked upon the stars.

"Hey." Gemini called out.. "Snap out of it." His focus was on the trial grounds.

The elevator had dropped them in the center of eighteen podiums. One by one, everyone stepped out.

Once the last person had stepped out, the elevator door closed, and the elevator rose up.

"How…" Edison hadn't seen any form of tracks for the elevator to follow. And from his knowledge, they were upside down.

Monokawa floated over to him. "Actually, there's a pretty easy system of propulsion, added with the fact that the floor has a magnetic pull."

Looking at where the elevator was, it was the only spot that wasn't made of glass. "Oh! I see!" Edison adjusted his goggles. "So…" Realising what that meant. "Does that mean that when we left the elevator, it just fell back to the space station?"

"Yes!"

That wasn't a scary thought or anything!

Monokawa floated over towards the large seat that Nova was sitting down at. "Everyone! Take your seats!" He called out.

Nova clapped her hands. "I hope you enjoy these trial grounds! I always love coming here!"

At first, nobody really moved. There was a lot of uncertainty in the air…

Not to mention, everyone's eyes were focused on one of the podiums, where a portrait of Benoit stood in his place. It had a large X across it, signifying his death.

"That's bad taste…" Hae-Won mumbled out.

Gemini made it first to his podium, after searching around a bit for the one that had his name.

One by one, everyone slowly moved to their respective podiums.

Once they all stood around their podiums, their order was clear. Edison, Benoit, Seira, Winter, Gigi, Gemini, Benjamin and Dolly, Lorelei, Michael, Melody, Dae-Hyun, Laki, May, Ian, Tatiana, Atlas, Gennosuke, and Hae-Won.

Soon, a silence crept into the room, eyes all fixated on the center of the room.

Soon, several pictures appeared, each with one of the eighteen participants.

An image of Laki, filled with glee as she looked upon the danger ahead.

An image of Dae-Hyun, looking indifferent, covering his mouth with his hands, and his eyes obscured.

An image of Hae-Won, her hands in her pocket, leaning back against a wall.

An image of May, eyes closed, engrossed in a nap.

An image of Benjamin standing in the background, with Dolly taking the foreground.

An image of Seira, gripping onto her Leo necklace, looking up into the stars.

To go and kill someone like Benoit… Someone as kind as that…

An image of Lorelei, not paying attention. Instead, opting to mess around on her watch.

An image of Gigi, whistle in mouth, and a red card at the ready.

An image of Atlas, irritated, glaring down at whoever would even bother looking his way.

An image of Ian, cards in hands, having a mischievous grin on his face.

An image of Michael, hood obscuring his face.

An image of Edison, inspecting one of the flasks, which appears to be bubbling.

And to do it in such a brutal method… Clearly, whoever did it doesn't value life…

An image of Gemini, one hand on his hips, the other one holding onto a slice of pizza-

A̶n̶ ̶i̶m̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶B̶e̶n̶o̶i̶t̶,̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶r̶v̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶,̶ ̶r̶u̶b̶b̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶m̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶c̶a̶r̶s̶.̶

An image of Winter, eyes closed, slowly sipping away at a cup of tea.

An image of Melody, a bright smile on her face as she danced away.

An image of Tatiana, one hand covering her eyepatch, while the other twirled around a knife.

An image of Gennosuke, hands close to his head as he attempted to read someone's mind.

By the end of this trial, they would figure out who the murderer is, and avenge Benoit.

Woah, I did not expect the chapter to reach this size. I was aiming for 14k words, but that backstory at the start really went crazy, didn't it? Oh well! That's what happens if I try to go all out with a backstory.

Anyways, that concludes the investigation! Now the theories can get even crazier! In fact, after Part 5 dropped, I saw nothing but constant theories for the next four hours. It was absurd! But I love seeing what ideas everyone else cooked up.

Didn't matter if it was right or wrong, it was cool to see so many people cooking up ideas! Which makes me all the more excited to finish the trial! I haven't really worked on it for a while, so part 1 still only stands at 11k, but I can suspect that it will quickly grow to 17k, or even 18k! Or maybe I'm just making large assumptions here.

Now, as for when I'm going to post the first part… I'm going to be on a trip from the 14th to the 19th, so my goal is to get the chapter out on the 13th. However, if I fail that, I will try and get the chapter out while I'm away from home. I could probably still find time to write, after all! After that, part 2 is very much a coin flip.

But, if everything goes to plan, I will be seeing you all in two days! You better finish up those theories before then! Until next time!

Participants Remaining: 17

Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]

Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23]

Winter Hibiscus - The Ultimate Love Guru [Grandma Sue]

Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja]

Gemini Strela - The Ultimate Escapist [secretnobody]

Benjamin Mason - The Ultimate Ventriloquist [NSPunny]

Lorelei Kaiser - The Ultimate Computer Security Specialist [CandleFire45]

Michael ? - The Ultimate ? [Omakin]

Melody Eleanor Hopkins - The Ultimate Tap Dancer [Prince PokePersona]

Kim Dae-Hyun - The Ultimate Talent Manager [oddlyillregular]

Lakshmi "Laki" Krishna - The Ultimate Lucky Student [Sempi]

May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]

Ian Santiago - The Ultimate Gambler [Animeboy15]

Tatiana Novak - The Ultimate Knife Thrower [ExtraMeme]

Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple]

Gennosuke Yagami - The Ultimate Psychic [theotakureader101]

Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro]