It hadn't taken long for everyone to gather in the lobby, most had the sense of disbelief whilst others such as Pure and Clover were having trouble coping with the scene. Bright fist clenched as she stepped forward.
"People!" She yelled. "How could we have let this happen again?! Did someone seriously want to take someone else's life for their own personal gain?!"
"And a plus one." Paint added.
"Would you shut up about the plus one already?! That was an optional thing, remember?!"
"Just reminding everyone about a small rule that Monokuma had made..." She put her sketch down. "Because of a motive like this, this means that a few rules have had a few holes poked into them."
"What are you talking about?" Clip raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"...you'll understand what I mean in time...but for now. Monokuma!" On command, the monochrome bear showed up out of thin air once more.
"My, my! You seem to be the only one that remembered it! Yep, since a corpse has been discovered, it means that my favourite piece of evidence returns. If you love autopsy reports and I think you do then it's time to show my second edition of...The Monokuma File! Treasure these like your own children." He handed out the tablets once more. "Alrighty then! I'll leave you all to it! Happy investigating!"
"Hmph!" Aqua grunted. "You can all have with this but I'm going back to my cottage until the class trial starts!"
"And why's that?" Toxic's brow furrowed at the designer's attitude. "You really aren't gonna help even after what you saw before?!" Aqua smirked.
"This case has nothing to do with me. If I don't have any connection to a case then I don't concern myself with it!" She waved as she walked out of the building. Toxic gritted his teeth.
"Bitch..." He muttered under his breath.
It's just like last time, everyone is thrown into disarray and nobody seems to be cooperating. I need to get this investigation started and I can't let any detail pass by!
Investigation Start!
Alright, let's see what the Monokuma File has to say about what happened to him... Techno opened up the file. Just like with Smile, Swift's full body portrait was displayed with a cross and DEAD! spelled over him. The basic information was at the side but like before it didn't seem important. Techno scrolled downwards and read what the actual information on his death was. There was another diagram of Swift's body and it had blood coloured sports over his chest and on his right wrist. Hmm...Time of Death was 1:20pm on the dot. So when Memory and I found him he had only been dead for around ten minutes. Also says that Swift has a broken wrist...does that mean he and the culprit had a fight?
New Ammo: Monokuma File 2 was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
Alright, I need to get to the crime scene but maybe I should talk to Bud and Clover, they were already here when the body was first found. Techno walked up to the quaking unicorn and the worried Pegasus that were sat side-by-side. "Hey, Clover, Bud?" The two looked up at him.
"Y-y-yeah...?" Clover stuttered out.
"I was wondering why you two were here in the first place? This is a rather unsettling environment to be in after all."
"I came in here because Clover was yelling for help." Bud explained. "That was when I found Swift's body in that padded room and right after it, I heard that you and Memory had went to the library so I went there as quickly as possible."
"I c-came here because when I was investigating yesterday, the island, I mean. I had dropped a small charm bracelet that a friend gave to me. S-so I came here to look for it..."
"Alright, I just wanted to know, that's all." Techno nodded.
New Ammo: Bud's Account was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
New Ammo: Clover's Account was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"Techno, you should go and investigate, Clover's still shaken up about what she saw." Bud said with a concerned tone as she looked to the white unicorn.
"S-sorry...I'm being useless again..." Clover said sadly.
"It's fine, you should regain your composure and try your best to help out, don't strain yourself." Techno smiled. Clover gave a nod as Techno headed to the crime scene. Bright, Memory, Toxic and Rip had already made their way inside. Rip whimpered as he walked in.
"T-this is just horrible." The earth pony whined. "Why did Swift have to die? Why did Smile have to? Why did anyone have to die?!" She shook her head violently. "I just don't get it!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't have asked to watch over the crime scene in Bud's place." Toxic grumbles under his breath. "Hey, Techno, you and Memory discovered the body together, yeah? Did you notice anything strange when you walked in?"
"Um...no, is there something weird?" Techno raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm...so you didn't...Memory didn't either so I guess it's okay." Toxic shrugged.
"Wait, what am I missing here? Was there something that I should have seen?"
"It...it's not important..." Toxic put his hands in his pockets.
"Well, well..." Bright fixed her glasses. "Looks like a certain killer has been a little careless. Look at the drag marks in the blood..." Bright kneeled down. "I'm wondering if it was the body or something else entirely..."
"Something else...?" Memory questioned. "Can you think of anything?"
"...it could have been the weapon, for example...but I can't think of anything that could create this drag mark...and is so, where did the weapon disappear to? It's not in here so where did the culprit dispose of it?"
"They couldn't have just gotten rid of it though, could they?" Rip tapped her chin. "Isn't one of those Monomi's rules? We aren't allowed to litter. Since that's still in place and being enforced, the killer had to have put it somewhere that Monokuma or Monomi wouldn't consider it to be 'littering'."
"True. Just what kind of weapon was it...?" Memory closed his eyes in thought. "Oh!" He gave a triumphant smile. "There are suits of armour in the library, putting a weapon there wouldn't count as littering!"
"I'll make some luminol. Shouldn't be to hard." Toxic says smugly.
"Whilst you're at it. Could you make some Manatite? If this case is about Changelings then we should consider the possibility of the Changeling being the killer." Memory says.
"Impossible." Bright contradicts. "It was only if the culprit killed the Changeling that they would get the reward. There's no reason for the Changeling to kill."
"We should still make some, just in case..." Bright sighed at the therapist's persistence.
"I might take a little bit but I know that the store sells most of the things needed. I swear it carries anything; from food to...I think I saw a sledgehammer once..." Toxic chuckled slightly.
"A sledgehammer..." Bright said sceptically.
New Ammo: Drag marks in the blood was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
New Ammo: Store inventory was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
Toxic left the room leaving the remaining four to look over the crime scene. Bright fixed her glasses as she examined Swift's body closer. "Hmm...looks like his chest has deflated..." She comments.
"Deflated?" Rip repeated. "What does that mean?"
"Well you know your chest goes up and down when you breathe? Well it seems that his chest has lowered to an abnormal point...almost as if..." She poked his chest and her eyes widened. "His ribs are broken..."
"How can you tell?" Memory asked.
"I felt the broken bone...but what could have caused his rib to be smashed...?"
Updated Ammo: Monokuma File 2 was updated.
"Also, it seems there is some sort of powder on his shirt." Memory indicated the brown substance on his shirt. "Any idea what it is?"
"I'm not to sure...possibly something like dirt..." Bright shrugged. "It may be relevant but at the moment it doesn't look like it is."
New Ammo: Dirt was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"It doesn't actually look like there's a lot of evidence in here..." Bright frowned. "But until Toxic comes back, I'll stay here with Rip and guard the crime scene."
"Alright, Techno, let's go investigate elsewhere." Memory lead the Pegasus out of the room. "Also, do you need to remind you about what we learned about Changelings earlier? Do you need a refresher?"
"No, I think I'm good it was something like: They produce their own magic but Mana residue is left behind when using spells. Cheerag, their native region is a very bad place to live in so they try to immigrate to other areas of the world but because of that regions history it can become very hard for them to make a living because they have to disguise themselves all the time...oh! And they can change into ponies, zebras, griffons, diamond dogs and there's a condition that let's them turn into dragons but they can't hide anything like cuts, scars or bruises when they transform."
"Good. Keep in mind, I think it'll be useful in the class trial." Memory nodded.
New Ammo: Changeling Data was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"Tell you what." Memory stopped. "You go and investigate the second floor of the building, I'll stay here and investigate the rest of this floor."
"Alright, sounds good." Techno nodded. The two said their goodbyes and split off, Techno headed up the stair, two at a time knowing that there was no time to waste. I wonder if there's actually any evidence on this floor...? Techno wondered as he continued along the hallway and only focusing on his surroundings as he tripped over what at first seemed like nothing. He ooked behind him and saw that a tile on the floor was elevated slightly. "The hell...?" Techno grumbled as he tried to lift it, barely managing to see what was underneath, it was the room that Swift was murdered inside. Techno held up the tile until he felt like his arms felt like they were about to fall off and released it with a thud.
"This tile goes down to the crime scene...? I wonder..." Techno pondered on what the tile was for.
New Ammo: Loose Tile was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
Upon further investigation of the area around the loose tile, there was a small golden bead sitting next to the tile. The inventor picked it up curiously, examining it closely. On closer inspection of the bead there was a small trace of dirt on the bead that was barely visible.
Where did this come from...?
New Ammo: Golden Bead was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"I wonder why there would be evidence on the second floor in the first place..." Techno tapped his chin with his index finger. "I should save that thought for the trial...I should go find Memory and tell him what I found...also should go to see what Toxic has for me with those tests. Oh! And Memory mentioned those suits of armour in the library as well..."
Memory headed into the main area of the building, some students were still in the room. Clover and Bud were still sitting on the couch and Quick seemed to be doing nothing as well as Pure who was paler than anyone else.
"All these diverse reactions..." He muttered to himself. "What a disappointment...they're all so boring...nothing can be done about it though. The only one that's really interesting...that would Techno..." Memory smirked to himself. "Sometimes I wonder why he was chosen for the programme more than our actual situation...it's not like he has his c-hahahaha!" The four in the room looked at him as he started laughing. Memory put on a fake smile and a forced sheepish smile and blush. "Hehe...s-sorry, remembered something funny..."
"Inappropriate time, Memory..." Quick commented.
"D-don't hold it against me, Quick! I said I remembered something funny and I couldn't help myself but laugh!"
"Yeah well...just try to control yourself..." Quick grumbled.
"Shut up, ya bastard..." Memory muttered. "Also, by that reaction I'm guessing you got a hearing aid."
"Hmm? Well duh, couldn't go into a trial without one, don't want to be completely useless."
"When did you, Bud and Clover all split up?" Memory pressed curiously, the thought of one of the three being the culprit was exciting him.
"Well, Clover just got the gardening tools she was looking for, Bud helped her with that whilst I looked for another battery and then after Bud and I found one, we split up. I went back to the hotel and hung out with Toxic up until the Corpse Discovery Announcement was played."
"Oh." Memory sighed inwardly. "Alright then, just needed to see if any of you could be considered suspicious..."
New Ammo: Quick's Account was loaded into Memory's ElectroID
"Well, you guys do what you can to help towards finding the killer. I'll be doing the same, if Techno comes along let him know that I went to the library."
"Alright, will do." Quick nodded as Memory left the building.
"What a bunch of fucking idiots..." He chuckled as he walked along the path to the library, not aware of the individual in the bushes that was watching him curiously.
Memory kicked the doors to the library open and walked inside. "Sadly I'll actually have to help the little dweeb if I want to keep up the act..." He gritted his teeth. "Let's see...suits of armour..." He walked to the back of the main hall, inspecting the suits of armour individually. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the suits all had their weapons on them, completely untouched and no traces of blood was visible on them.
"The fuck...?" He took out one of the weapons, a samurai sword. "I thought for sure that one of these things would be the murder weapon..."
New Ammo: Suits of Armour were loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"This is all so confusing..." He grumbled as the doors to the library opened up. Techno walking over to the therapist.
"Oh good, you're here!" Techno sighed with relief. "Find anything useful...?" Memory told Techno the results of his brief investigation and transferred the two pieces of evidence over to Techno's ElectroID.
"Say, Techno. What do you make of this murder?" Memory asked. "Why do you think Swift was killed...?"
"Well the most obvious answer would be that someone thought or found out that he was the Changeling hidden among us all."
"Do you think there could have been any other motivations for this? Maybe just simply escaping was their goal and the motive Monokuma had provided had nothing to do with this."
"I'm not sure. For now, we should go and see what Toxic's luminol and Manatite tests." Memory nodded in agreement as the two left together. The figure that was previously spying on Memory, now hidden in the shadows as they left the building.
"Oh good, you're both here." Toxic greeted the two as they walked back into the crime scene. "I have those test results for you. What do you want first? Manatite or luminol?"
"Go for luminol and get the relevant one out of the way." Bright folded her arms.
"Right. Aside from the blood on the floor that is actually visible. There are a few handprints on the walls and even on the ceiling of all places. It leads me to think that there was a Pegasus in this room at some point but those are just my impressions."
New Ammo: Luminol Test Results were loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"And as for the Manatite?" Rip asked. "Were there really any traces of the Changeling being in here?"
"You won't believe it..." Toxic scratched the back of his head. "...but I actually got a reaction on my manatite test results. There was Mana residue on the floor next to Swift's body and once again on the ceiling... Makes you wonder what happened, eh?"
"Yeah. This is making less sense..." Rip sighed.
New Ammo: Manatite Test Results were loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"By the way, has anyone talked to Pure yet?" Toxic asked. When he got no response, his eyes narrowed. "Listen, this is just me but...I think Pure might have something to do with this...whether she's the killer or the accomplice..."
"You think the killer had an accomplice...?" Bright gave an intrigued smile. "Do explain..."
"It's more like a gut feeling but...something about this just makes me feel that way."
"I'll go talk to her." Techno says. "She might say something worth noting. Might slip up if she really is the killer."
"Good idea, we won't have much time left now so you'd better make it a brief conversation." Bright told him.
"Got it."
Techno walked over to the red unicorn that was still in paled shock and in the same seat that she was in the entire investigation. "Hey, Pure."
"H-hi..." She greeted back. "I can't believe this happened...why did it have to be Swift? Right after we fought as well...that'll be his last memory of us..."
"Don't think like that, you two were friends and Swift was a good guy, he can't hate you because of some silly fight." Techno attempted to comfort the prosecutor but his efforts were in vain.
"I never should have asked to tell everyone his secret..."
That's right. I forgot that they were fighting about something like that... "Pure...?"
"Yes...?"
"What was Swift's secret?" Pure went wide-eyed. "This might help us in the class trial, it's really important that you tell me."
"B-but..." Her gaze went to the white ground. "I don't know..."
"Please Pure. Don't you want to help us find Swift's killer?"
"W-well..." Pure sighed. "Alright...fine...the truth is that Swift isn't really an earth pony...he's a Pegasus..."
"Wait...what...?"
"It's true. You can check later if you want, he said that he was the only Pegasus in his family and he felt out of place so he always hid his wings from others...I don't know if that'll help but I do hope so..."
New Ammo: Pure's Account was loaded into Techno's ElectroID
"Alright, thanks Pure."
"One more thing!" She stopped him. "Um...I was over at the library earlier and I noticed that a few books were missing..."
"So? Someone could have just taken them away to read."
"But it's the specific types on books that worry me...Changeling data books...this building's layout and the other building layouts, aside from the ruins. They just vanished!"
"Those are pretty specific..."
"And, um....here..." She handed him a small file. "It's Enterna's student profile. Use it."
"Alright, thanks Pure." Techno smiled.
New Ammo: Missing Library Books were loaded into Techno's ElectroID
New Ammo: Enterna's Student Profile was loaded in Techno's ElectroID
*Ding dong, bing bong!*
"Alright you bastard! Investigation time is over, head over to Monokuma Rock and be ready for the class trial!" Just like before, a tense atmosphere emerged as the announcement played. It wasn't like a Corpse Discovery Announcement but it was close enough to it.
Do we really have to go through this again...? After what happened last time? Techno already knew that there was no other option but to take part in the trial. For his sake and for everyone else's...
Techno arrived at Monokuma Rock third, only behind Paint and Aqua. The two didn't even give him a glance as he arrived, both seemed more focused on the task ahead. One-by-one and in a matter of seconds, everyone else turned up and the remaining thirteen were stood in a clump waiting on Monokuma or Monomi to arrive.
"Alright then!" Monokuma cheered as he appeared from behind a nearby bush. "Is everyone excited for this? I know I sure am!"
"You're a monster!" Pure yelled.
"Hey! What's with the sudden hostility? Just because your boyfriend got killed you gotta blame me?"
"He wasn't my boyfriend! Shut up!"
"Can we just get this over with? I don't want it to run up to midnight, y'know?" Aqua asked.
"U-umm, Aqua...?"
"Did I give you permission to speak to me?!" She snapped at Bud.
"S-sorry...never mind..."
"That's what I thought."
"See? Why can't you all be more like her?" Monokuma gestured to Aqua. "Then again, it would be pretty boring if you all acted the same..." The bear shrugged. "Oh well, I guess we should get this trial started, right? Monomi, just like before, is already inside our stadium so I'll see you all in there!" As Monokuma disappeared, one of the rocky outcrops' mouth opened and a huge escalator stretched down to the group.
"Dammit...I hate this part..." Toxic grunted as he and Paint stepped onto the escalator.
"Let's get this with quickly, the sooner it's done the better..." Bright fixed her glasses and stepped on, other walking on after her. The only ones left were.
"Techno." Clip nudged the Pegasus. Techno groaned as he turned to Clip.
"What is it?"
"Look." He seemed to have a more focused demeanour this time. "I'm here to hit on you but...after the trial, there's something I got to tell you. It's about Memory..."
"Memory?" Techno raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. There's something off about him...I'll give you more details about it later, but for now...let's find Swift's killer..." Techno paused before nodding as the two stepped onto the escalator and moved towards the Monokuma rock.
Standing in the elevator seemed the same, just less crowded. Nobody looked at each other, they were all focused on the upcoming trial that would cause one more or all but one's demise. The elevator shuddered as it started to move downwards into the underground.
Celestia dammit...we were all starting to trust each other and then it happened for a second time...Swift Justice. The Super Middle School Level Attorney, despite being a bit hot-headed at times, he was a great guy and was a genuine person...but I forgot that your traits don't matter in here...
Clover
Swift
Laser
Bright
Memory
Pure
The only thing that these guys care about is surviving...
Rip
Bud
Smile
Quick
Paint
Aqua
Survival seems to always come at a price though...
Toxic
Boom
Clip
Techno
And now...the curtains rise on the second class trial...the clash of those words. Hope and Despair...round two,