Pure, Toxic and Bright were the only ones that were there. Everyone else...was there on the ground.
"N-no way...what the fuck is this?" Toxic clenched is fists. "What the fuck happened to them?"
"They...they can't all be dead right?" Pure asked. "That would go against Monokuma's rules...only two can be killed per student..."
"So either one of them killed someone...or not all of them are dead..." Bright concluded, now having regained her composure, somewhat. "Monokuma! Where are you?!" On command, the bear appeared before the trio.
"Wow, looks like we're down to the final three already, huh?!" Monokuma cackled a little. "Just kidding of course, I only played the Corpse Discovery Announcement once, after all."
"T-then what about the others? What's going to happen to them?" Pure asked worriedly.
"Monokuma! Help them right away! You have to!" Bright pointed fiercely at the bear. Monokuma paused before looking down at the ground with slight annoyance.
"Geez...you're really demanding, aren't you? Oh well, I don't want others dying after I already made the Monokuma File so those with the more severe injuries, I'll take care of."
"How do you plan on doing that exactly?" Toxic asked. Slowly but surely, a noise was coming closer to them, the sound of..."Sirens...?" Toxic questioned before an ambulance burst through the wall of the room they were in, luckily not damaging anyone or anything, it was just a plain wall.
"Just leave the rest to me- Dr Killgood!" Monokuma said, now wearing a stethoscope. "We have to get these patients to the Monokuma Hospital ER and get them under 24 hour observation, stat! Sooo~ I'll see you later!" Before the three knew what was happening, Monokuma whisked Techno, Quick and Laser off into the ambulance, leaving Paint on the ground.
The three were left slightly shell-shocked by what had just occurred, when they looked outside, they saw that the room was at least two stories up. "H-how did an ambulance get all the way up here?!" Pure yelled.
"It might be better not to question it, that's what I've come to learn from being on this fucked up island..." Toxic rubbed the back of his head. "Looks like he left the Monokuma File for us though..." Toxic pointed to the tablets sitting on a table in the room. "I suppose we have no choice but to hope that whoever's still alive will wake up soon and help with this. For now, we gotta figure out what the fuck happened."
Toxic's right... Bright thought to herself. But without Techno here, this will be much harder to solve...then I'll have to take up the responsibility to find the killer in the group. But the only two suspects I have here... Bright looked at Pure and Toxic as they searched the room. Could either of them truly be a killer...?
Investigation Start!
I suppose the most appropriate thing to do is to establish which of the two in front of me is the victim... Bright opened up the Monokuma File to find Rip's portrait displayed, splotches on her portrait seemed to line up with the burn marks on her skin and her wetsuit. I figured this was the case...Techno will be heartbroken to hear this. It seems time of death was 9:45pm, meaning she died before the night-time announcement last night?
New Ammo: Monokuma File 4 was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
I suppose that I should try to figure out what the cause of death was... Bright knelt down to Rip's body, carefully looking over it, making sure not to miss any detail. Burn marks...but there's multiple ones rather than one large fatal burn, meaning that she couldn't have burned alive otherwise her entire body would be burned. What cause her death then?
New Ammo: Condition of Rip's Body was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Geez, this really is a mess, isn't it?" Toxic muttered to himself before turning to the other two. "We're down three because of injuries, Paint's unconscious and we have no idea what's happened to Memory! Seriously, I bet he's the one that killed Rip!"
"Whilst it is kind of suspicious that he isn't here, we shouldn't jump to conclusions so easily, Toxic." Bright pushed her glasses. "Paint wasn't taken away in the ambulance. That means she could just be faking her injuries."
"Guys! Can we not do this now?!" Pure cried out. "I just want to find out what happened, okay? Please, for now...focus on what's important!"
"Yes, I suppose you're...hmm?" Bright noticed something sticking out of Rip's wetsuit's sleeve. She carefully pulled it out in case it was something fragile. It turned out to be a blank key, it seemed to line up with the largest burn mark on her body. "Is this...the key for this room?"
New Ammo: Chamber Key was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
Getting a better look of the room, Bright noticed how...empty it was. There were a few cables in the corner but other than that it was rather barren...what was supposed to be in here? "Hey, Bright...? Can I tell you something?" Toxic asked, now suddenly next to Bright.
"Sure, what's wrong?" She turned to him.
"Well, you know how everyone started off with a key to a room? I started off with the key for Aqua's room, which was right next to Quick's room, which is where I started. Problem is, before I really got a chance to investigate that room, my key went missing. I looked everywhere for it, but it's like it vanished into thin air. Got any ideas what happened?"
He wants to hear a theory...? Bright pursed her lips for a moment. "I'm not sure where your key went...when did it go missing?"
"I suppose it must have been yesterday...? I had on the first day but when I woke up on day two, it was gone." Toxic shoved his hands in his lab coat pockets. "Because of that, I wasn't able to go anywhere..."
"You...lost your key in the middle of the night then? That shouldn't be possible. We couldn't move about at night." Bright thumbed over the pages in her book.
"Wait, you think somebody stole it from me?" Toxic raised an eyebrow.
"Well, if you has simply dropped it somewhere then you should have found it by now, don't you think? The only explanation for it is that somebody must have took it whilst you were sleeping. You didn't sleep past the morning announcement, did you?"
"No, have you heard how loud those are?" He scratched behind his ear and frowned. "I woke up in the middle of the announcement and when I checked my pocket, the key was gone."
"I'm sorry then...I'm not sure how or why, but somebody defiantly took your key. The question is what was their method of moving around the maze if they could get through the maze in the middle of night...? There are no vents either so they couldn't crawl through something like that..." She mumbled the last sentence though Toxic still managed to hear what she had said.
"Maybe they're a unicorn? They could teleport through the walls, couldn't they?"
"No, they couldn't." Pure interjected. "The walls of the maze are magic-proof. I've already tried teleporting but I get as far as the walls before I kind of just...face planted into it."
"You know the teleportation spell?" Toxic looked at her.
"Of course I do, idiot!" She grumbled. "It's one of the three basic spells unicorns are taught in school! Alongside Levitation and Disappearance! Are you trying to imply something?"
"No, geez. Stop getting so offended over such stupid stuff..."
"Maybe I don't like it when my intellect is being questioned." Pure growled back at him.
Well that's some useful information, I suppose...thank you for that, Pure. For once your petty bickering with Toxic seems to have given off something useful...
New Ammo: Toxic's Account was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
New Ammo: Maze Walls was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
New Ammo: Basic Spells was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Hey, Bright?" Toxic's face had a hardened expression. "Don't'cha think we should send someone out to find what the fuck happened to Memory? It's pretty suspicious that he's not around, wouldn't you say so?"
"Toxic..." Bright started softly. "You don't really think that Memory is capable of this, I mean, I know everyone is suspicious of him, but-"
"No. Bright. You don't get it. You never saw the student profiles. Rip did though, and now she's dead. I find that a little too coincidental, don't you?"
Student profiles...? "What are you talking about, Toxic? Techno was in possession of all the student profiles, remember?"
"Wrong." Toxic shook his head. “The night the class trial finished, Rip was in her cabin. Next thing she knew, somebody had slipped a page from Memory's student profile under her door. No idea who did it though...and I didn't get the chance to see what the page said, but I intent to find out after we get the killer! Rip was...terrified, beyond belief, I'd never seen fear like that before hidden so well in those eyes. Whatever's written on that profile...it's huge..."
Could information like that really exist? I know Memory is hiding something from everyone, but why would it be on one of the student profile pages? Of all places...then again...they were worth killing over for Bud, why wouldn't there be something that would push Memory to kill Rip?
"I'll...go look for Memory..." Bright placed her book under her arm and walked off. Pure frowned, looking at Toxic.
"Do you really think Memory killed Rip?" Pure asked.
"I do. It makes sense, doesn't it? Only person with a motive to kill Rip is Memory, so...y'know, if anybody is gonna kill her, it'll be him." Toxic turned away. "Rip..." He muttered. "F...fuck..." He started to walk off. "I'm gonna head to my room, there should be some equipment there that I can use to test the body. Be back later..."
Bright walked through the room, ending up in Techno's room eventually. It was a bleak place, covered completely in metal with tools and scrap lying everywhere. Somebody started in this room...I may as well try to figure out who. It wasn't myself, Techno or Toxic, I know that much... She started walking around the room, examining the scrap pile carefully.
As she moved the pieces around, she found a small splatter of blood on a part of the pile that had been carefully covered up. Blood...? Was somebody attacked here...? It can't be Rip, she showed no signs of blood loss...
New Ammo: Blood on the Scrap Pile was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
I should try to figure out everyone's starting points in the maze. Right now, I have to find Memory...it's far too suspicious that he's practically disappeared. Bright shook her head and continued walking through the rooms, now ending up in Rip's room.
A giant pool...hmm...this would be an ideal for the killer to dispose of evidence. As if anybody could find something in such a large pool... Bright began to investigate the perimeter of the pool, looking for anything that would stick out. Walking by one of the benches, she noticed a metal bucket and a brush. I wonder... She checked the inside of the bucket to find that there were some droplets of water at the bottom. This has been used recently...interesting...
New Ammo: Pool Bucket and Brush was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Grk!" There was a sudden grunt followed by a thud from the adjacent room. Bright, in a mix of confusion and curiosity made her way over to Smile's room to find Memory being pushed onto the floor with Toxic pinning his arm against his back. A small gold ring was on Memory's horn.
"What's going on here?" Bright asked calmly. "Where did you come from?" She looked at Memory.
"Found the jackass trying to sneak past me a few rooms down. Chased him down and tackled the guy." Toxic pushed Memory's face into the floor, harder. "He's got a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Where the fuck have you been?!"
"Hey, hold the hell up and let me go, will you?" Memory complained. "I can't feel my arm."
"Oh, can't feel it? Let me help with that!" Toxic twisted his arm further, earning a satisfying yelp from the unicorn. "Now start talking, asshole." Toxic growled.
"F-fine then! I was knocked out on the pool floor up until just a few minutes ago, that make you happy? Monokuma just told me about Rip's death." Memory explained. "I don't know what the hell you're thinking, but I'm not involved in this!"
Toxic stared at the unicorn before glancing up to Bright. "What do you think? Is he telling the truth or not...?" He asked. Bright bit her nail in thought. What is this feeling...it's almost as if...he's telling the truth, whilst at the same time, lying about everything. I...I don't know what to say. For now...maybe I should believe him? The evidence will do the talking once we get to the trial, so I shouldn't worry about it right now.
"We should let him go. He's most likely telling us the truth..." Bright finally answered. "Though, I hope you'll try to be as helpful as you can during the investigation, seeing as we're short on numbers right now."
"Yeah, I heard. It was Laser, Quick and Techno that got hauled away, right?" Memory asked, once Toxic released him. "Sucks. Techno's usually the one to find all the answers. This case is gonna be a tough one without him." He folded his arms. Bright adjusted her glasses, a hidden glare behind her gaze.
"I think you'll find that we won't have to rely on Techno all the time. He just gets the most done during investigations. The rest of us are just as capable of solving this murder mystery." Bright argued. "Unless you plan to interfere with it somehow..."
"Of course not. Wouldn't dream about it." Memory chuckled. "..Say...if we're all here, and Paint's unconscious...who's guarding the crime scene?" Bright's mind clicked, now realising the only person that was still conscious was...
"Toxic! We left Pure alone to guard the crime scene?!" Bright exclaimed. "Dammit! What if she's the killer?! She could be sabotaging the crime scene!"
The three burst through the door to the crime scene, Pure was standing in the center of the room, now being taken aback by the sudden entrance. "Pure!" Bright yelled. "We're sorry we left you by yourself that was irresponsible of me!" Pure paused before raising an eyebrow at the Pegasus.
"What...do you mean?" Pure took a minute to figure out what Bright was trying to say before letting out a simple. "Oh...you think because I could be killer..."
"Yeah that's basically it." Toxic confirmed bluntly. "To be honest everybody's a suspect right now..." Toxic began looking around the room again before his eyes led him to the floor. "Uh...where's Paint...?"
"O-oh, right! She woke up a minute ago!" Pure explained. "She looked around and instantly began looking at Rip's body, she didn't even wait to hear my explanation of what happened before she set off! It was...a little rude to be honest. I have no idea where she went...she didn't really say anything other than 'I'll see you later'."
"Geez, we have no control over anybody in this damn case, do we? It's only five of us, shouldn't we be keeping tabs on each other so that nobody is doing anything suspicious?" Toxic growled. "Dammit...whatever, I'm gonna stay here, I've made the luminol so I'll let you take care of the testing." Toxic turned to Bright and handed her the spray bottle. "There's a lot in there but don't go nuts, alright?"
"Got it. I'll make sure to use it properly." Bright nodded. I suppose my next goal would be talking to Paint and looking for somewhere to use this...and I have a good idea of where to use it.
New Ammo: Memory's Account was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Oh! Bright! I almost forgot! I was investigating around the room a little more and I found something weird..." Pure went behind one of the tables in the room and pulled out two cables. "These...they were in a coiled mess back here. I didn't want to touch them until you got here, just in case I erased any traces of anything..."
Bright stepped towards Pure and examined the cables closely before closing her eyes. "It looks like you found a pair of jumper cables..." What would something like this be doing in a place like this? They have to be connected to the case somehow...
New Ammo: Jumper Cables were loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Thank you, Pure. I think will help in figuring out what exactly happened. I'm sorry that I doubted you..." Bright apologised with a bow.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's natural for you to be suspicious with only five of us here." Pure shrugged it off.
"Too true." Memory chipped in, walking up to the girls. "I mean, we can rule out the three that got hauled away...which leave us three, Toxic and Paint as potential killers. I wonder why those three were attacked though...it's strange after all, they were all in different areas of the maze, after all."
"He's right...it is strange the killer would attack them all...do you think they needed them for their plan to kill Rip. Though...if that were the case...why drag all their unconscious bodies to this room? There's so many inconsistencies in this..." Pure bit her nail. "Ah...if only Techno hadn't been assaulted along with Laser and Quick. Maybe we'd have an easier time figuring this out..."
New Ammo: Assaults were loaded into Bright's ElectroID
It's a question that needs to be left alone for now, otherwise we'll just stress about it for too long... Bright tapped on her book lightly. Jumper cables...I suppose I should take another look at Techno's room...
Upon walking into Techno's room in the maze, starting to now seem like a theme, Bright was once again taken aback when she found Paint looking around the room. "Paint...how convenient of you to be here..." Bright gave a small smile. "I see you've finally awoke."
"Yeah." Paint nodded, standing up to face Bright. "I heard you've been getting a lot of investigating done. That's good, we need someone to be leading us right now. Did you know that there's blood on this pile of scrap?"
"Yes. I found it when I came here earlier." Bright confirmed.
"Then why did you come back? Did you remember something that piqued your interest or something?" Paint tilted her head.
"Something like that. Pure found a pair of jumper cables in the chamber, so I came to see if there could be anything that would link up with those...have you seen anything that could be used with jumper cables?"
Paint tapped her pencil on her lips in thought before pointing to the corner of the room. "I think there was a generator or something like that back there...there's also stuff like rubber gloves in here. If you're looking for a cause for the burns, then maybe electricity caused it."
"Yeah...that's what I was thinking as well." Bright closed her eyes in thought. "It feels reassuring that you came to the same conclusion...though it's not complete yet...something still feels off about everything."
New Ammo: Generator was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
New Ammo: Rubber Gloves were loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"So, let me ask you this, Paint. Where exactly where you before you turned up in the chamber...?" Bright adjusted her glasses.
"Oh." Paint twirled her pencil. "You want to know what I remember. Well...it's not much...I just remember Memory getting attacked in the Rip's room, then I was attacked and fell unconscious. I presume the same thing then happened to Techno..."
"Do you remember who attacked you?" Bright asked.
"I...don't, sorry. It might come back to me...but it's still just a blur to me. Though the bit that's been bothering me is something completely different...I don't know how Memory got into Rip's room."
"He didn't have the key?" Bright raised an eyebrow.
"No…Techno did, and he came in with Pure, and only Pure. Then Memory turned up by the door to Smile's room. There...wasn't even the sound of the door opening, he just appeared..."
That's similar to what happened with Toxic, isn't it...? Just what is going on in this place...?
"Oh, and...Before I forget..." Paint dug into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "Here. I made a map of the rooms in the maze, I thought it could prove to be useful. I think it would be better off with you though..." Bright took the paper from Paint and began examining the layout she had drawn up.
Floor Plans:
Rip Smile Laser Techno
Memory Toxic Paint Enterna
Swift Aqua Boom Bright Chamber
Pure Quick Bud Clip
"When...did you get the time to do this...? You didn't wake up that long ago..." Bright folded the paper and tucked it away in her breast pocket.
"I ran." Paint simply responded. "I wrote and ran."
Paint Pallet...you sure are...something...
New Ammo: Paint's Account was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
New Ammo: Floor Plans was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Alright...so I guess it's finally time for those luminol tests..." Paint pointed to the spray bottle Bright was holding.
"Ah, yes. You're right...alright, I guess we should start with the scrap pile..." Bright knelt down beside the scraps and began to spray around the metal, traces reacted on the metal she had found earlier along with the metal around it reacting very slight. Though around the top of the pile was a small skewer with blood traces on the tip. Bright grabbed the skewer to have a closer look. "Strange...whose room would relate to skewers...?"
"Not sure...but I think it's a cake tester. You'd stick it in a cake and if it came out clean, the cake would be ready...I wonder why this ended up here." Paint folded her arms. "Or why is had blood on it...maybe it's connected to the case..."
"Yeah, maybe..."
New Ammo: Cake Tester was loaded into Bright's ElectroID
"Alright, well, that seems to be it for the scrap pile, let's focus on the floor now..." Bright stood up and began spraying the ground around them. The blood began to direct them through several of the room, first leading into Laser, cutting off for a moment before later finding more traces of blood inside Toxic's and Aqua's rooms. The blood, at that point had cut off again. As hard as they tried to find more traces of the blood trail, there was no more to be found.
"Well...that...was kind of underwhelming, wasn't it?" Paint folded her arms. "But, I suppose a clue is a clue...right?" To which Bright nodded.
"I just wish we could have gotten a better result from that." Bright complained a little.
New Ammo: Luminol Test Results were loaded into Bright's ElectroID
*Ding dong, bing bong!* Bright and Paint turned to the monitor as the jingle sounded. "Alright, bastards, I think I've given you all more than enough time to find the evidence you'll need. Gather up in the crime scene, I have a special way to get you all to the trial room~"
The five students stood in a clump in the middle of the room. Nobody said anything, nobody moved. It was tense with Rip's body lying by the wall next to them.
"Alright, guy, how we feeling?!" Monokuma jumped out from behind one of the tables, causing Pure to yelp from surprise. "Geez, you're still getting scared by that? Grow a pair, kid...anyway, I suppose I'll have to get you to the trial room somehow, and since we're too far away from Monokuma Rock...I went with the next best thing!"
Next best... Before Bright could finish her thought, the ground began to tremble, and outside from the hole that the ambulance had created, the Monokuma they were used to seeing appeared, stopping at its gaping mouth open for them to walk into.
"Haha! I'll see you all at the trial! Don't keep little ol' me waiting now, alright?" Monokuma cackled before disappearing once again. The five looked at each other. There was nothing for them to really say, what could they say as they boarded themselves into the stone Monokuma's mouth. When they had all reached the elevator, the mouth closed and the elevator slowly went down.
Bright pushed the hair out of her eyes and let out a silent sigh. Is this how I'm supposed to feel before the trial...this anxiousness...? Rip Tide, the Super Middle School Level Surfer. Whilst she may not have been the brightest of us, she was as helpful as she could have been. She was the one that truly cared in the truest sense of the world. She would never say a bad word about anyone, and she hated the conflict. Whenever somebody died, it always hit her hard...is it bad for me to feel happy that she won't have to feel that emotional distraught any longer...? What am I saying...?
Clover
Swift
Laser
Bright
Memory
Pure
Rip didn't deserve any of what happened to her, she was such a good person!
Rip
Bud
Smile
Quick
Paint
Aqua
This...this is something I'll never forgive! Not with her, of all people!
Toxic
Boom
Clip
Techno
This is the fourth class trial. I won't let us all die here! Not when we all came so far! My hope will have to clash with the despair that threatens us all! Let this begin!