Welcome, everyone, to the long awaited Chapter 3 Investigation! I've been waiting a while to do this case and I really hope you all enjoy solving it just as much! As always, thanks to Amy47101 for helping come up with ideas for this case (she is particularly proud of this one). Also, thanks to Sempi for betaing this chapter as well as the next alongside CandleFire45! You all helped me spot the things I missed in order to make this a (hopefully) fantastic case!

Now, same rules as always apply for Deadly Life. You get the investigation today and the trial a couple days after to try and solve it. Good luck everyone, I can't wait to see your theories!

Enjoy!

Chapter 3 Deadly Life: The Way is Clear, The Light is Good

If there had been anyone in this sick, twisted game that Maria had thought would survive until the very end, it had been Chiasa. Not only was she the strongest of them all physically, she had experience as a huntress that would make her likely to figure out when she was being targeted and thus more likely to avoid it.

And yet, despite those advantages, Maria was now staring down at Chiasa's body in horror. She could barely bring herself to take note of anything that was going on, almost as if she was back in Russia as the Tragedy reached its peak however many years ago that truly was.

"Masha, come on."

Maria blinked as Akihito gently shook her arm. Her gaze met his and instantly turned away, their last conversation ringing in her ears over and over again.

"You knew this about me when you agreed to marry me!"

Maria roughly shook her head, backing away so that Akihito's hand fell away from her arm. She couldn't deal with any of this right now, not when they had a trial on the horizon with their lines on the line. Akihito's eyes were sad, but he let her back away, which was a relief.

"Who was it?! Who's not here?!" Yoshi shouted as he suddenly burst through the door. Behind him were Ren, Fuwari, Nat and Rinka. It was the sight of Nat walking and Fuwari looking a lot healthier that caused Maria to finally glance down at her hands.

There was no blood on her hands anymore. Or rather, none was visible currently.

Fuwari screamed, a sound that tore Maria's heart in two, as she spotted Chiasa, pinned to the tree in the center of her Talent Room with a sword through her heart.

"Chiasa!" she shrieked, running towards the huntress without a care for anyone around her. She pushed past the others who surrounded Chiasa, slipping through Sayuri and Hibiki's grasps as they tried to stop her. "No, no, no, please! This can't be happening! Not…not you!"

Fuwari collapsed at Chiasa's side, tears already falling from her eyes. She reached out, as if to touch her, before Yoshi gently pulled her hand back. Fuwari glanced up at him, pain filling her eyes.

"We can't disturb the scene," Yoshi explained, his voice the softest Maria had ever heard him speak. Tears fell from his own eyes as he glanced at Chiasa's body, squeezing Fuwari's hand. "Chiasa…wouldn't want us to."

"But why?" Fuwari gasped, throwing herself into Yoshi's arms. His wrapped around her instantly, holding her close as they both mourned Chiasa. "Why did it have to be her? How can it be her? She's…she's Chiasa!"

"Yeah, and I'm Monokuma, what difference does it make?" Monokuma scoffed as he entered the room. Behind him, a pair of masked servants forced Irusu into the room with them, the acoustic engineer looking as enthusiastic as always to be there.

"Shut the fuck up, bear," Hibiki scowled, glaring down at Monokuma. He had been among the people in the room when Maria already arrived, alongside Arisu, Sayuri, Satou and Jordan.

"But, like, we need him to give us the Monokuma File, right?" Satou pointed out. She raised her hands in surrender as Hibiki turned his glare onto her. "Hey! Don't glare at me, Iki, it's the truth!"

"Righto, Light Princess!" Monokuma chirped as he skipped over to stand beside Chiasa's slumped over body. "Now then, shall we get to the fun part? Our dear Little Red Riding Hood made her way to Grandmother's house, though it seems the wolf had a tasty meal out of her first! Shall we take a peek behind the cottage door?" Monokuma raised his scepter over Chiasa's body then. "By the might of my goddess, show me the end of Little Red Riding Hood's fairy tale!"

Just like the last two times, the scepter glowed a dark, blood red and, in a flash of light, a scroll appeared on the ground beside Chiasa's body. It almost looked as if she was about to pick it up at any moment and that was probably the worst part of it all.

Humming a happy tune under his breath, Monokuma picked up the scroll and passed one to each of the survivors. When he reached her, Maria spoke up before he could walk away.

"You say that same phrase every time, but you never give your goddess' name. Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the bear.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Monokuma smirked. A chill raced down Maria's spine and she quickly pulled away. There was something far too knowing in those eyes and she hated it. Monokuma clapped his paws together to get everyone's attention. "Well then, that's that! I can't wait to see if you'll figure out this mystery, puhuhu! Until it's time for the trial…good luck!"

With those final remarks delivered, Monokuma turned and left them all behind in Fuwari's Talent Room.

"Fuck, we have to do this again…" Nat sighed, pulling at their hair in frustration.

"Why are you complaining?" Satou scoffed, crossing her arms. "You do realize you're only walking because she's dead, right?"

"Just because we're more comfortable like this doesn't mean anyone deserved to die," Ren retorted. He placed a hand on his hip as he stared Satou down. "I hated this motive, but I would have rather suffered like that than let someone die."

"Well said," Akihito spoke up, clapping Ren on the shoulder. "I agree. And for Chiasa's sake, we need to find her killer. Wanna help me, Ren?"

"Oh, sure," Ren agreed, smiling slightly.

Maria couldn't pretend that she didn't realize just why Akihito had sought Ren out so obviously. He was trying to prevent her from feeling pressured to investigate with him like they had last time.

"We should have people to watch over the body," Yoshi stated, his voice tired and grieved. "I think Fuwari and I will volunteer, if anyone wishes to join us." Fuwari nodded in agreement at his side, sniffing slightly.

"I will," Hibiki volunteered. "Arisu, you check around for me, deal?"

"Deal, Player Hibiki," Arisu agreed, nodding firmly.

"Jordie and I are gonna go investigate too!" Satou chirped, cutting in without a care. "You got any ideas, Jordie?"

"Well, I—" Jordan started to say only to cut himself off. "Ah, Irusu!"

"None of this matters to me," Irusu declared, walking towards the door without looking back. "I'm going back to my room, don't even try to stop me."

"That sounds like a challenge!" Satou grinned, grabbing Jordan's wrist and pulling him along. "C'mon!"

"Satou—whoa!" Jordan cried out in surprise. Irusu had already started running, obviously having learned from the last trial. Any other time, Maria might have laughed at the sight, but now all she felt was sad.

"Maria, would you like to join me?" Sayuri asked, startling Maria out of her thoughts.

"Oh, yes," Maria agreed. "Sorry, I'm not…used to being able to speak now."

"I can understand that," Sayuri smiled understandingly. She glanced around, looking unnerved. "I don't think any of us imagined this happening when we woke up this morning."

"No kidding," Maria sighed, feeling the weight of Chiasa's death fall onto her once more. "We should…probably get to work now." Sayuri nodded in agreement, already unrolling the scroll in her hands.

With a trembling breath, Maria focused on her own scroll, unrolling it.

Monokuma File #3: Chiasa Oigamori

Information:

Height: 5'0"

Weight: 125 lbs.

Blood Type: O-

Birthday: December 3rd

Cause of Death:

The victim is Little Red Riding Hood, Chiasa Oigamori.

The body was discovered inside the Nightingale Talent Room.

The time of death was 11:00 AM.

She suffered from multiple stabs to her body, the final directly through her heart.

Official Cause of Death: stabbing.

"Same old, same old, huh?" Maria sighed. At least this one seemed to be completely filled out, though it seemed Chiasa had died only a short time ago, considering it was currently 11:32 AM when Maria glanced at the clock on the wall. It had been Satou's scream which brought them all there, so figuring out why she and Jordan had come here in the first place was a good idea.

"It seems straightforward, minus the lack of a killer," Sayuri pointed out, trying to be optimistic. "Maybe we'll be able to figure this one out faster."

"That's far too optimistic, even for you," Nat scoffed, drawing Maria's attention. They stood beside Hibiki and Rinka as the two examined Chiasa's body. "At least look at the damn evidence first."

"That was the next thing we were gonna do," Maria reassured, moving over to the other side of Chiasa's body, squatting down to have a closer look.

It was a gruesome scene, even more so the closer Maria got to it. Blood covered Chiasa's body, some of it still bleeding from her open wounds. The worst of it seemed to be coming from the stab to her heart, where the silver sword stuck out, and it ran down her body to the floor below, pooling around her.

"So her body was dragged here specifically to be stabbed here," Hibiki noted as he examined the wound.

"What makes you…say that?" Rinka questioned, hesitant but curious.

"It's because of the blood," Hibiki explained, pointing at the puddle they were all avoiding stepping in. "When you get stabbed, the first rule is to never remove the item you were stabbed with, cause it acts like a stopgap. It keeps your blood inside your body, where it belongs, and keeps you from bleeding out within a few minutes. But given how much blood there is, it's obvious the killer pulled the sword out in order to pin Red to the tree here."

"H-How cruel…" Fuwari sniffed, gazing down at Chiasa's body. The blood was so red that it became difficult to differentiate between the red of her cardigan and the red of her blood. Maria felt a bit sick at the sight.

"Doesn't look like there's any defensive wounds," Hibiki added. He reached out to push Chiasa's hair aside, examining her face before he focused on her hands.

"Just all the s-stab wounds…" Rinka pointed out, looking a little sick even as she forced herself to keep examining the body.

"So Chiasa didn't fight back…?" Yoshi questioned, a confused look on his face. "How strange, especially considering her personality shift under the motive."

"That's true," Maria agreed, placing a finger against her cheek. "If she was being attacked, she had more than enough weapons on her to defend herself with and the motive made her more paranoid which would've put her even more on edge."

"Could that mean Chiasa couldn't fight back for some reason?" Sayuri suggested, concerned.

"We won't be able to figure that out if we stay here like a bunch of pansies," Nat scoffed, crossing their arms. "I'm gonna look around for anything else of value in here. Rinka, you mind checking something out for me?"

"Me? O-Oh! Sure…I'm happy to," Rinka agreed, smiling slightly at being included. Nat nodded, pulling her off to the side and whispering into her ear.

"Why don't we check the armory then?" Sayuri asked, gently touching Maria's arm. "Maybe we can find something about the weapon there."

"Good idea." Maria nodded. And even if there wasn't anything to be found in the armory, at least they could get a better look at the rest of the floor, in case there was any evidence left behind.

The most that Maria managed to determine as she and Sayuri made their way downstairs was that Chiasa was definitely killed in Fuwari's Talent Room. There was no sign of blood anywhere from the door or beyond, so that was one thing they could state with certainty.

But when they got to the armory, she stumbled to a stop as Akihito stepped out from behind the door.

"Oh," Maria whispered, unable to stop the word from leaving her lips.

"Hey," Akihito greeted her, a hand awkwardly coming up to rub the back of his neck.

Sayuri glanced between the two of them, no doubt seeing the palpable tension between them, before she stepped forward while clearing her throat.

"I can investigate the armory by myself if you two need to talk," she offered.

"I—"

"No," Akihito cut her off. Maria glanced at him, finding a sheepish smile adorning his face. It was an endearing sight, one that felt familiar in that strange way she was growing used to stuck here. Clearly, this was an expression Akihito made often in their missing memories. "You two can check it out together. I need to meet up with Ren in his Talent Room, anyways."

"You two split up?" Maria asked, surprised.

"He told me he thought he saw something but wanted to check it out to be sure." Akihito shrugged. "I said I'd take the armory so we could handle two things at the same time. Besides, I know this is too important to worry about our relationship right now. We can talk after the trial."

"You sound certain we'll find the truth," Maria commented, tilting her head to the side. The side of her lips quirked up, helpless in the face of the bright smile Akihito threw her way.

"With the two of us working it out? Hell yeah, we're a damn good team after all!" he declared, holding a hand out for a high five. Maria sputtered out a laugh, covering her face with one hand while the other hit his outstretched hand.

It was a small thing, and it didn't fix the conversation they had before or the one they still needed to have, but it made things just a little better.

"That sounds like a good plan then," Sayuri smiled as she observed them. Maria felt her cheeks heat up as she avoided her friend's gaze. "We'll see you later then, Akihito."

"Count on it!" He winked before he made his way back into the palace.

"Right then." Maria shook her head, focusing back on the situation at hand. "Let's see if we can find anything useful here." Sayuri nodded in agreement before she opened the door.

The armory was relatively well lit, filled with every weapon that Maria could think of off the top of her head and even more that she didn't know at all. Suits of armor lined the walls, displaying some of the weapons that were in the armory for use.

Along one of the walls, Maria found several swords on display, with one display set conspicuously empty. That was the most obvious thing that she could see, but outside of that, she didn't really see anything else of note. It was difficult to tell what else could be missing or if there was anything special about the sword which had been taken. If nothing else, it looked identical to the swords on display near it.

"I wonder if there's a difference between these swords," Maria mused aloud. Not even the hilts had different designs, all of them featuring a swirl of white wrapped around a black hilt.

"Chiasa might have been able to tell us," Sayuri sighed, a grief stricken look on her face. "She was the one who knew weapons the best, after all."

"Do you think the sword was just chosen randomly then?" Maria questioned. She knew it was obvious she was changing the subject, but the gaping hole of where Chiasa should be was still aching far too much for her to be comfortable talking about it now.

"From the looks of it, probably," Sayuri agreed, shaking her head in order to focus. "It's right at the front here, meaning the killer must have grabbed it pretty quickly, without a care."

"Seems likely," Maria sighed. She glanced at her friend. "I hope whatever Ren thought of is better than what we found."

"Well…" Sayuri trailed off, her cheeks tinted a bit pink. "We won't know until we go meet up with him."

Maria smirked teasingly, but kept her lips sealed. There would be plenty of time to tease in the future, after all. For now, they had a case to focus on.

The last thing Maria expected when she and Sayuri entered Ren's Talent Room was to find Akihito, Jordan and Satou all discussing things in the center of the room, while Ren was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Maria called as she came to a stop beside them.

"Just collecting Aki's alibi," Satou smiled, writing happily in her notepad. "Jordie was just about to check for RenRen in the office room there, so we can talk to him too. What about you two, can I get your alibis?"

"Sure, if I can ask you about what you were doing when you found the body," Maria agreed, crossing her arms.

"There they go again," Jordan chuckled, a little tired from what little Maria could see of him from the corner of her eye. Satou was already barraging her with questions, which was distracting.

"What were you doing at 11:00 AM?"

"I was with Akihito," Maria answered.

"Oooooh," Satou cooed, a mischievous spark in her eyes.

"Not like that." Maria rolled her eyes.

"I told you that already, and you didn't believe me," Akihito sniffed arrogantly, turning his nose up.

"Well, what were you doing?" Satou questioned, narrowing her eyes at the two of them.

"We were just talking," Maria scowled. "Or he was, since I was a bit mute at the time."

"Right, right, can't forget that." Satou nodded as she jotted down everything she was saying. "And how do you plan to prove you didn't kill Chi-Chi?"

"Do you ask everyone that question?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow. "I think knowing why you were going into Fuwari's room is more pertinent."

"Well, yeah, that's because—"

A piercing scream cut Satou's voice off and Maria was running before she could even stop to consider anything. The scream had come from the office and she just barely noted that Jordan still stood in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob, as she pushed past him.

Sayuri knelt in the center of the room, tears falling down her cheeks. Maria only barely noticed as she knelt beside her friend, clutching her shoulders as they both stared at the ceiling.

Because there, hanging from a noose, was the last thing any of them expected when they entered this room.

But it was impossible to deny the reality standing before them.

Or rather…hanging before them.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma declared, confirming the truth they all saw before their eyes.

Ren Sato, the Ultimate Matchmaker, was dead.

"No! No, no, no!" Sayuri sobbed, bending over from the force of her sobs. "This can't be happening! Not Ren, please not him!"

"Sayuri…" Maria whispered, feeling her own tears burn her eyes. She hugged Sayuri tightly as her friend sobbed against her shoulder. "I'm so sorry…"

"Dammit…dammit!" Akihito cursed, punching the wall. Maria glanced at him, shocked at how explosive his reaction was. His eyes were full of pain and self-hatred as he punched the wall again. "Damn it all to hell, I should have never left him alone! Fucking hell!"

And that's when it all seemed to collapse onto Maria as well and she bit her lip, stopping the sob from escaping her throat.

Ren was dead. The first friend she met here, the person that Akihito was supposed to be investigating with, who he planned to meet up with before he ran into her outside the armory and stopped to talk with her…

This was her fault.

"Oh boy, a second murder! I wasn't sure we'd get one this time, but I'm glad to see the tradition continues!" Monokuma cheered as he entered the room. Maria glanced up, just noticing that Rinka, Nat and Arisu had joined them, while Hibiki, Fuwari, Yoshi and Irusu remained absent. Monokuma glanced around at them all and clicked his tongue at them. "Well, since we've got a second body, I'll forgive everyone absent for this one time."

"What…happens now?" Rinka questioned. She was pale with fright, but she still asked the question.

"Well~" Monokuma grinned, "Now you all have another Monokuma File to read! Ah, but the rules for the trial are different now: you are only obligated to find the killer of the first body. The second one doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things!"

"Then why did the Body Discovery Announcement go off?" Nat asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"How else would you useless commoners know there's more than one body now?" Monokuma giggled. "Aren't I such a kind king? Puhuhuhu…"

"If you could get to the point, that'd be great," Maria snapped, her voice hoarse from crying. Sayuri sobbed in her arms and she tightened her grasp around her.

"Fine, fine, here we go. Our dear Fairy Godmother has vanished at the final stroke of midnight, returning wherever his magic came. Shall we see just what hides behind the pumpkin façade?" Monokuma agreed, moving to stand beside Ren's body and raising his scepter towards it. "By the might of my goddess, show me the end of the Fairy Godmother's fairy tale!"

In another flash of blood red light from the scepter, another scroll appeared, falling to Ren's feet. Monokuma picked it up and passed them out to each of them while humming a far too happy tune under his breath.

"Now then, the time limit for investigating doesn't change even though there's another body. So chop, chop everyone! There's clues to find and murderers to kill!" Monokuma cheered, striking an encouraging pose which only left Maria feeling cold instead. Thankfully, he left shortly after that, leaving them all to continue the investigation.

"Right then!" Satou cried, clenching her fists tightly. Her purse bounced against her hip from the movement, she moved so suddenly. "I'm gonna go let everyone know what's happened! Jordie, come with me!"

"Right, the others don't know who's dead," Jordan agreed, an aggrieved look in his eyes. His eyes briefly flickered towards Ren's body before he looked away again with a sick look on his face. "We should go."

The two left without a glance back and Maria couldn't blame them. Maria knew all too well how it felt to open the door only to find someone dead on the other side and the last thing she wanted was for Jordan to get sick from staring too long.

"We should probably start looking over everything," Arisu admitted, looking a bit unsure as she glanced from Ren's body to the still sobbing Sayuri. Maria glanced down, unsure of just what she should do here, considering she didn't want to leave Sayuri's side.

"Here," Rinka offered, stepping closer. She took Maria's place, rubbing Sayuri's back as her sobs began to lessen. "We'll keep an eye on the b-body."

"Thank you," Maria whispered as she slowly stood up. Rinka only nodded, briefly glancing at Ren before she turned her focus on Sayuri. With a deep breath, Maria opened the scroll, facing the reality of Ren's death and just what Monokuma deemed to tell them.

Monokuma File #4: Ren Sato

Information:

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 140 lbs.

Blood Type: B

Birthday: June 2nd

Cause of Death:

The victim is the Fairy Godmother, Ren Sato.

The body was discovered in the Fairy Godmother Talent Room.

The time of death was

He was found hanging from a noose.

Official Cause of Death:

"Wait, that's it?" Nat questioned, their brows furrowing in confusion. "That's fucking nothing!"

"Meaning there's some reason Monokuma doesn't want us to know those things," Maria sighed, rolling the scroll back up. "Let's see if we can find anything."

"Right now, my best guess is he died from a broken neck," Akihito stated from where he stood beside Ren's body, gently examining it. "I'm not an expert though, so I can't be certain."

"Is there anything on his body?" Maria asked, curious. Akihito hummed as he searched before he pulled something out of Ren's pocket.

His hand unfolded, revealing dark colored berries.

"Berries?" Arisu questioned, surprised. "Where could those have come from?"

"I think I know," Nat grinned, sharklike. "Mind if I take these with me?"

"Go for it." Akihito shrugged, but the phantom thief had already swiped the berries and left the room behind. "Okay then."

"Hey, Player Maria," Arisu called out, drawing Maria's attention to where she stood beside the door. "Come check this out." Maria made her way to the game host's side and her eyes widened when she saw the rope tied to the doorknob.

The rope which Ren hung from.

"You see it too, right? Why would Player Ren be tied like this if he was gonna do this to himself?" Arisu pointed out.

"That's a really good question," Maria agreed, humming under her breath. "It could be for an anchor, but we should consider every possibility."

"Right!" Arisu grinned. Maria smiled at her before she turned her focus on Rinka, curious.

"Hey, Rinka?" The fire dancer glanced up at her name, where she knelt beside Sayuri who now held a handkerchief to dry her tears. "What did Nat want you to check out earlier?"

"O-Oh, that was…the picnic room," Rinka answered. "That actually…might be where they are n-now. I think I saw…berries like that t-there."

"Really? I'm gonna check that out then, thanks," Maria said, already turning to leave when Rinka let out a small gasp. "Huh? What is it?"

"I thought this was strange, but look at this," Rinka explained, picking up a scarf which had been laying on the ground next to where she knelt. Maria knelt down, examining the scarf only to find a dark strand of hair tangled in the fabric.

"Hair…but whose hair is it?" Maria wondered. She met Rinka's eyes, passing it back to the fire dancer. Rinka bit her lip, looking concerned herself as she glanced towards Sayuri, who seemed almost in a daze as tears silently fell from her eyes.

"I-I'll keep it for n-now," Rinka agreed. Maria nodded her way before she stood up.

There was one more thing she had to look into now. One more thing she needed to confirm before the trial.

The picnic room was as strange to walk into as it ever was, but it was also a mess now thanks to Nat having emptied the picnic basket without a care for being gentle.

"Wow, that's…a lot of stuff," Maria commented, glancing around at the various foods that were now scattered throughout the room. If it was difficult to tell what was safe to eat and what wasn't before, it was now impossible.

"Who cares? They'll all clean it up like new soon as this trial is fucking done," Nat scoffed, flipping through what looked like various recipe cards that must have come from the picnic basket. "Now if what Rinka said was right…here!"

Maria peeked over Nat's shoulder, staring down at the recipe card they held.

Chef Sempkuma's Belladonna Delight

-1 cup flour

-2 eggs

-6 belladonna berries

The recipe continued on, listing ingredients and then instructions on how to make what Maria thought was a cake, but Nat was pointing at the 6 belladonna berries in triumph, blocking the rest. A second later, they pulled out a book that must have come from the library, flipping through the pages quickly before stopping at a specific one.

"There it is!" they grinned, showing the book to Maria. The picture on the page was the exact same berries that had been found in Ren's pocket, which Nat also held. "I knew these fucking berries looked familiar and Chiasa's body was suspicious as all hell, and I was fucking right! There was no way in hell she wouldn't fight back if she was attacked!"

"So she was poisoned…" Maria realized. Nat grinned at her, proud for figuring the connection out. "But does that mean…Ren killed her?"

Before either of them could say anything else, a bell rang and the nearby TV spritzed to life.

"Hear ye, hear ye! Your king has an announcement to make!" Monokuma's voice announced quite joyfully as he appeared on screen. "It is now time for the moment you have all been waiting for! It's time for the Court Trial! Again, as this is a formal event, I expect everyone to be dressed their best and arrive on time! And if you're not, well, let's just say I have ways of making sure you are. Puhuhuhu…oh, I'm so excited, it feels like I've been waiting for this moment for three years and seven months now! Ahhh, how time flies! Ahem! When you're all properly ready, please head to the red velvet doors to enter the courtroom! See you really soon, puhu!"

The TV faded to black and, just as they had the last two times this happened, the silent servants grasped onto Maria and practically yanked her from the room. Thankfully, this time there was nothing for her to risk dropping, unlike in the last trial.

Without hesitation, she was dragged back to her room and made up as Snow White once more.

It was time once more for her to face those red doors and Monokuma beyond them, alongside the possibly two blackeneds who took Chiasa and Ren away.