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“Hey, can you hear me?” a blurry figure said to me with a voice that crashed through the darkness inside my head and allowed me to retreat from my subconscious state into the awakened world. I could now clearly make out the figure of a girl with long purple hair and piercing violet eyes who stared at me from above with crossed arms. We held eye contact for a while, my eyes still dazed, before she broke it with a sigh; “You were the only one left who hadn’t woken up yet, so I thought it would be necessary for me to intervene”.
‘Only one left? Are there others around?’ I thought to myself as I scanned the room I was in. It seemed to look in every way as a normal classroom, except for a security camera, and huge metal plates boarded up on a wall, where they seemed to be covering windows. ‘Using metal plates to block the outside world? It’s almost as if somebody is going through a lot of trouble to hide us here-’
“Are you done looking around? There’s nothing to of interest in this room, believe me, I’ve checked. We have more pressing issues right now, so it’s best we find the others.” The purple-haired girl spoke in a harsh tone as she turned her back to me and exited the classroom. As frightening as she may have seemed with her cold expression and tone, I decided it would be best to follow her if it meant finding other people and getting answers.
After I had caught up to her, she led me down a couple of hallways of this strange school-like building, just until we reached a large room that resembled a gymnasium. I peeked my head inside and was greeted by unfamiliar faces of other people huddled together in little groups. It was only when a girl with navy blue hair and glasses called out “Hi there, it looks like you finally woke up! Come and join us”, that all the other people in the gym stopped chatting and gathered on all sides to interrogate me.
“Do you happen to know where we are, or how we got here by any chance?” a blonde girl asked me politely with a smile on her face. Before I could even think of a response, a guy with bright pink hair and a yellow tracksuit interrupted, “9 teens with no recollection of anything before waking up in this place is too weird to be a coincidence! Some organization has to be behind this, so if you know something you better confess it now! Or else!” One after another, more students started throwing questions at me until I had had enough and shouted at them all to stop.
Their faces flushed with embarrassment, but some still had quizzical looks as a boy with green hair and a striped shirt apologized, “Sorry to bother you, the thing is that none of us knew anything about where we are or how we got here so we panicked and hoped that you’d know something that we didn’t. Anyways, we should introduce ourselves, my name is Rantaro Amami and my talent is being the Ultimate Adventurer”.
He pointed to the girl with blue hair and glasses and introduced her as Tsumugi Shirogane, her talent being the Ultimate Cosplayer. Not long after, all the others started to introduce themselves. The guy with bright pink hair and a yellow tracksuit went by the name of Kazuichi Soda, the Ultimate Mechanic, the girl with blonde hair was Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Princess, another girl with a medical outfit introduced herself as Mikan Tsumuki, the Ultimate Nurse, a girl wearing a red schoolgirl outfit and a scowl on her face introduced herself as Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate Assassin, another girl with brown hair called herself Akane Owari, the ultimate gymnast, and finally, the girl with purple hair and violet eyes who woke me up earlier in the classroom was known as Kyoko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Detective.
The other students waited for me to introduce myself, so I did. “My name is Shuichi Saihara, and my talent is also being the Ultimate Detective”.
At this, Kyoko looked at me with more interest than before, most likely over the shared talents. Yet before she could say anything to me, microphone feedback loudly buzzed all around the gymnasium, causing everyone to cover their ears and turn towards the stage at the front of the gym. As if this day couldn’t get any stranger, a half-white, half-black stuffed bear was standing there, microphone in hand, waiting to get everyone’s attention.
“Ahem ahem, one-two, one-two! Can everyone hear me?” it said in a cheerful voice. After waiting a few seconds for everyone’s eye contact, it continued in the same sweetly sickening tone. “Children these days, not paying attention to their school headmasters!” which prompted many whispers from the other kids. He continued “So, so sad… Well too bad for you all, the next bit I’m gonna say is veeeery important, so LISTEN UP!”
‘So this is a school after all… and I suppose we were students in it? Then why are there only 9 of us? Why aren’t there more?’
Our headmaster smiled almost devilishly at our confused expressions before following with the first explanation any of us students got since we woke up at this deserted school.
“As you may have realized already, you 9 are the only students left at Hope’s Peak Academy, a school only for the best of the best! Puhuhuhuhuhu. Now, now I’m sure you are allll in a rush to get out of here, so I won’t waste any of your precious time. The only way to leave the academy… is to successfully kill one of your fellow students AND get away without it! After a body has been discovered, we as a class will hold a class trial to find out who did it. If everyone can figure out the killer, then only the one who murdered will receive their punishment. But, if you pick the wrong one...then I'll punish everyone besides the killer, and the one that deceived everyone else will get to leave! AHAHAHAHAHA"
Our situation and the realization of what we had to do to leave soon became very real, very fast. The pink-haired boy, Kazuichi Soda, was the first to say something. “W-what?! You must be insane to think we would k-k-kill each other just to leave?? We won’t accept it, never! Right guys?” Many students cheered in agreement.
The blonde girl, Sonia Nevermind asked the headmaster, “But how do we know what you’re saying is true? Who even are you?” as politely and calmly as she could.
“My name is MONOKUMA, and I am the headmaster of this academy and this Killing Game! As for knowing what I say is true, you have no other choice BUT to believe me! Your life depends on it… LITERALLY! AHAHAHAH.” Monokuma continued laughing in a maniacal way that sent shivers down my spine as the frustration in the students only grew.
Out of those students, the brown-haired girl named Akane Owari had the nerve to say to Monokuma, “If ya don’t let us out of this place right now, I’ma kick you in the face so hard, that little fuzzball of a head is gonna come clean off!” I was both shocked and impressed by the threats that Akane had made, yet even more surprised when Akane actually followed through and ran full speed at Monokuma with every intent to harm him.
We all watched in awe as the second Akane made direct contact with Monokuma, spears came from nowhere and impaled Akane straight through her arms and legs, making Akane drop to the floor with a thud, reeling in pain. Sonia Nevermind and the blue-haired girl Tsumugi Shirogane rushed to catch Akane just as Monokuma made Akane an example for everyone; “It’s time for me to get going. If you need a reminder why you shouldn’t try and harm me… take a look at your little friend there on the floor! Puhuhuhuhuh, bye-bye!” And with that, Monokuma left just as quickly as he came.
There wasn’t a moment for rest as everyone’s attention was on Akane since Sonia Nevermind called for help. Mikan Tsumiki, being the Ultimate Nurse with superb healing skills, took it upon herself to look after Akane. “A-as I n-need to tend t-to her wounds quickly, I-I’m sorry but I’m going to n-need some help from two o-others.” Mikan Tsumuki mumbled in a shy manner. Almost immediately, Sonia raised her hand to volunteer.
“As I am the Princess and future Queen of Novoselic, I am trained in helping the injured! So, I will gladly be of assistance to you Mikan!” Maki Harukawa came forward to offer her assistance as well, saying that as the Ultimate Assassin, she can help treat any weapon wounds.
It was now settled that Mikan, Sonia, and Maki would help treat Akane in the Nursery (Kazuichi said it might be somewhere on the first floor), while the rest of the 5 students would have time to look around the school and try to find a way out.
The green-haired boy, Rantaro, paired up with Tsumugi and decided to investigate the first floor, while Kazuichi decided to search the third floor. This left only me and Kyoko to search the second floor together… or at least I thought until she told me she wanted us to go our separate ways.
It made no difference to me, so I went up to the second floor and started my search in the library. Other than books on shelves, cameras, and also a vent that traversed right above the library there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Of course, the windows around also had big metal plates covering them, making a singular light switch at the back of the library the only light source for the room. A bit inconvenient, as I noticed the sole door to the library was all the way at the front.
I had looked at all there was to look at in the library and still found nothing, so I decided to regroup with the others in the gym on the first floor. But when I exited the room, I accidentally bumped into Maki.
“Watch where you’re going”, she said angrily as she recovered from her fall.
“Sorry…Hey, aren’t you supposed to be helping Mikan and Sonia with Akane?” I asked her, trying not to tremble through her glare.
“I am. Mikan asked me to grab some disinfectant for Akane’s wounds, so I’m trying to find what room it’s in” Maki said in a bored fashion, seeming more and more uninterested in this conversation.
“Ah, I see, well there’s nothing on the second floor other than a big library and what I think are some empty classrooms-” I stopped talking when I saw Maki already turned her back to me and hurried off quickly, seeming to be in a rush to get to the next floor. I didn’t know what her problem was, but I thought nothing of it as I went back down to the gymnasium on the first floor to regroup with the rest of the students and explain our findings.
Kazuichi, Rantaro, and Tsumugi were already there, meaning the only person who was missing was Kyoko. Rantaro and Tsumugi started by explaining what they found on the first floor, which was the gymnasium, the nursery, a cafeteria, dorms with nameplates for each of the 9 students, and a woodworking center. I chimed in to tell them my discovery of the library on the second floor, while Kazuichi told us of the Medical Cabinet, Garden, and Bathhouse he found on the second floor. While the 4 of us found and shared the rooms we saw, none of us managed to find any way to escape, sadly. Not that this let Tsumugi get her hopes down, as she reminded us to not give up and that there’s always tomorrow to try again! With that, we called an end to the day and decided to head off to our dorms as the Nighttime Monokuma announcement alerted us that it was 10 pm.
I spent the next 2 days chatting and hanging out with my new-made friends, Tsumugi and Kazuichi, until Mikan came rushing to us and told us that Akane’s condition had quickly improved thanks to the help of Maki and Sonia, meaning she was okay to work alone again. As Mikan said, the group got reunited with Sonia and Maki, and even with Akane when her condition improved enough for her to walk.
As much as I did miss the world outside this prison of a school, it was a bit refreshing to be able to spend it with other people I got along with- with the sole exception of Maki and Kyoko, who didn’t talk to me much. I couldn’t possibly imagine anyone wanting to leave this place so bad that they would kill one of their friends over it. The idea seemed so absurd to me that I knew I had nothing to worry about as I rested my head on the pillow of my bed and soon fell fast asleep.
However, that restful sleep was soon interrupted when I heard a loud THUNK sound coming from above me. Still groggy, I got out of bed and opened the door to my dorm, seeing Kyoko opening hers at the same time. With a shared look, we both dashed to the second-floor library, where we assumed the sound originated from. When we got in front of the library’s double doors, I faltered as my hand reached for the doorknob, the anticipation of what lay behind made me doubt the thoughts I had earlier that night. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door.
The sight that stood before me was so gruesome that it made my head spin just by looking at it. There, at the backside of the library, layed the corpse of Akane. She rested face-down on the floor of the library, her head having a pool of blood surrounding it. I still wasn’t able to process what I was seeing even when an announcement played across the entire school, broadcasting to all students that a body had been discovered and that we should investigate the crime scene before a trial begins.
“You’re a detective right?” Kyoko suddenly asked me, shocking me out of my daze. “This mystery isn’t going to solve itself, so come help me investigate.”
With this, Kyoko walked over to the body and crouched down to get a better look. After a few moments, she called me over to come look at something she found.
“See those cracks right there,” she said, pointing to Akane’s head, “It looks like something hard hit her on the head, causing it to break. Someone must’ve come up behind her and hit her when she wasn’t looking.”
‘But if that’s the case, then what was with the loud noise we heard earlier?’ I thought, scanning for items near the body. My eyes fell on a bloody wooden hammer, and a lightbulb went off in my brain.
“That’s it! That hammer right next to her must’ve been the sound we heard that woke us up! It could also be the murder weapon. That makes sense right?” I exclaimed. Kyoko shook her head.
“If it was really the murder weapon, then why would the culprit leave it behind? It would add more evidence to the crime scene” she stated. This puzzled me. Why would the culprit leave the murder weapon at the scene unless…
“Maybe the killer dealt the blow in a way that made them have no way to retrieve the weapon, which is why they left it here?”
Kyoko squinted her eyes, thinking about what I said, then looked up. I looked up as well and saw the vent that traversed right above the library.
“The killer must’ve dropped the hammer from the vents where they hid, causing the loud noise we heard earlier and making them unable to retrieve the hammer before witnesses would arrive.” Kyoko deduced. “It would be a good idea to see where the nearest entrance to the vents is. This could give us a clue as to who the culprit is.”
With this, Kyoko and I exited the library just as the rest of the 6 students burst through the doors of the library, all their faces soon falling as they saw the sight before them. Many exclamations and protests were spoken by the students, some in denial while others grieving. I had no time to waste.
Kyoko and I followed the vents, leading us to an empty classroom close to the library. The bolts holding the entrance to the vent were already broken off, leaving the metal plate to lean against the vent entrance.
‘The culprit would’ve had time to climb out of the vents here and get back to dorms before the rest of the students were woken up by the Monokuma Announcement. That could still be anyone’.
The next place Kyoko and I decided to investigate was the Nursery where Akane stayed when she was injured. The Nursery was relatively small, it only included a hospital bed with a table next to it and a cabinet in the corner of the room. I started my search at the bottle and cotton swabs on the table. From what Maki told me 2 days ago when I bumped into her, this must be the disinfectant Mikan asked her to grab. I took one of the cotton swabs and started to sniff it. “These cotton swabs have no scent. Hydrogen Peroxide usually has a strong scent of alcohol, so something tells me this cotton swab isn’t doused in what we think it is.” I concluded. At this, Kyoko’s brow furrowed. “I have to go investigate something privately. I will see you later at the class trial. Good luck Shuichi.” Kyoko told me as she excused herself and hastened to another location. It wouldn’t be a good idea to follow her, so instead I stayed and continued my investigation of the Nursery.
It was good that I did too as I found a crumpled note under the pillow of the hospital bed with (Meet with me in the second-floor library tomorrow at night. I found a way out and I don’t want to let the others know yet) written on it. Deciding that the note and the cotton swabs were the only pieces of evidence I would find in the Nursery, I went out to ask a few people some questions.
The first person I managed to find was Kazuichi. When I asked him if he saw anything strange these past few days, he told me that 2 days ago, he saw Sonia walking away from the third floor holding a bottle in her hand. When he asked her why she had it, she told him that Mikan asked her to get disinfectant for Akane’s wounds. ‘I thought that Mikan asked Maki to grab disinfectant. I should go ask Mikan to make sure.’
I found Mikan not too long after and proceeded to question her about what tasks she had Maki and Sonia help with. She replied with “I-I didn’t h-have them do t-too much work, j-just b-bandage some w-wounds and g-get me some supplies I need.”
“What supplies? And more importantly, who did you ask?” I questioned her further.
“I a-asked Sonia i-if she could find and b-bring me some disinfectant for Akane’s wounds. W-was it wrong of me to do so?” she whimpered.
“No it wasn’t, thank you for answering. You might have just given me an important clue.” With a reassuring smile, I let Mikan get back to her investigation as I pondered over all the clues I had so far.
‘A bloody wooden hammer, a note, a vent passageway, a mystery substance, and contradicting statements? What could all of this mean?’
“Ahem ahem, investigation time is noooow over! All students please proceed to the elevator on the first floor to start the class trial! Puhuhuhuhuhu!” speakers all over the school broadcasted.
I hoped that I had investigated all that I could about the murder and that I and my friends would be able to find the blackened. I couldn’t believe that one of these 7 people had the motivation to kill Akane, one of our friends, just to leave this place. I will never forgive them. I have to reach the truth no matter what- for Akane.
I stepped into the red elevator on the first floor along with Kyoko, Kazuichi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, Mikan, Sonia, and Maki, and we all descended downwards for an unnervingly long time. Finally, a short beep was played and the elevator doors opened, revealing a spacious room with a discussion circle in the middle of it. Each of us took a spot at the circle and finally, the trial began.
“Let’s begin with a brief introduction to what we know about the murder. We know that the victim in this trial is Akane Owari. She was found dead in the library on the second floor with the only wounds being the scrapes from her previous fight with Monokuma, and fractures in her skull. The murder weapon is unknown, and the time of the murder was at nighttime. Am I missing anything?” Tsumugi begins.
“Contrary to what you are saying, I believe we do know the murder weapon. Next to Akane’s body, there was a bloody wooden hammer taken from the woodworking center on the first floor. We know the murderer must have used it because of the cracks in Akane’s skull.” Rantaro retorts.
Kazuichi wails in a loud voice, “But that doesn’t make sense! If the murderer used the hammer to kill their victim, why the hell would they leave the damn thing at the crime scene and add more evidence?!”
Remembering my conversation with Kyoko during the investigation, I responded to Kazuichi’s complaints.
“While investigating with Kyoko, I deduced that the reason the murderer left the hammer behind was that they attacked the victim in a way that they wouldn’t be able to retrieve it! To add to this, right above Akane’s body was a vent that had an opening that would let the killer drop the hammer on their victim. We know the killer did this because the entrance to the vents, which was in a classroom close to the library, had its bolts broken off of the plate sealing it.”
“Indeed, it is wise to assume that the killer used the hammer to break off the bolts to the vent.” Maki nodded in agreement with me. “Plus, the only way to fracture a skull as bad as Akane’s is to use gravity, and drop a heavy weapon on your victim.”
“Well then, I guess it’s safe to assume that the hammer is the murder weapon right? Then we shou-” Sonia began saying, only to be interrupted by Kyoko.
“Not so fast. I found some evidence that leads me to believe that the hammer is in fact, not what killed Akane.”
‘What does she mean? Could this be why she had to leave during our investigation?’ I thought to myself as Kyoko continued.
“3 days ago when I, Shuichi, Rantaro, Tsumugi, and Kazuichi were looking around the school trying to find a way out, I happened to stumble over a medicine cabinet on the third floor. Inside, I found not only medical supplies to heal people, but also poisons that could be used to kill. It’s important to note that I counted 3 lethal poisons. One would kill someone in a week, one in 2 days, and one in 5 days. When Shuichi and I investigated the Nursery, we found that the disinfectant wasn’t what it seemed because the scent was off. I returned to the nursery and found that the poison that killed someone after 2 days was gone. This leads me to believe that the killer took the poison and switched it with the disinfectant to kill Akane.”
“...S-so you m-mean the disinfectant w-was actually poison?” Mikan asked, her face full of surprise by Kyoko’s discovery.
“Then this means that the one who took the poison was the same one who killed Akane!” Sonia inferred, looking pleased with her deduction. I decided it was time for me to speak up about what Mikan told me earlier during the investigation. “Mikan, when I asked you earlier who you requested to get the disinfectant for Akane’s wounds, you told me you asked Sonia. But when I bumped into Maki exactly 2 days ago, she told me that you asked her to get the disinfectant.”
“I-I told y-you the truth! I r-really did ask Sonia t-to get the disinfectant. I d-don’t know how M-maki heard a-about it because I-I didn’t tell h-her.” Mikan said, crying as she did.
“Then my question is for Maki. How did you hear about the disinfectant? And why did you lie about Mikan sending you to get it?” I questioned.
“I am not lying. Sonia came to me and told me that Mikan requested for me to grab disinfectant from the medicine cabinet, so I did as I was requested.” Maki replied.
“But I never told you to grab the disinfectant. There’s no reason that I couldn’t have gotten it myself since I was asked.” Sonia retorted to Maki’s accusations.
“But you di-” Maki began, only to get interrupted by Tsumugi.
“If Sonia says she didn’t tell you about the disinfectant then I believe her! After all, aren’t you an assassin Maki? Killing all of us to escape shouldn’t be hard for you to do, right?”
Taken aback, Maki replied “W-what? I’m telling you the truth! I was told by Sonia that Mikan asked me to get the disinfectant!”
“Maki is telling the truth” Kyoko stated, causing everyone to go silent and to stare at her. “How can you be sure?” I asked her.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? The murderer would need someone to act as a scapegoat and get blamed, and what better person than an ultimate assassin?”
I nodded “That makes sense. Sonia could’ve lied to Maki and told her that Mikan asked her to get the disinfectant so she could blame Maki for taking the poison. It also goes with what Kazuichi said about seeing Sonia carrying a bottle. This all means that Maki took the disinfectant from the medical cabinet, leaving Sonia to take the poison and attempt to blame Maki for the murder.”
“W-wait so, Sonia is the murderer? Is that what you are saying?” Kazuichi uttered, his tone sad and betrayed.
“What? No no, no guys you got it all wrong! Didn’t we say that the one who went to the medical cabinet was the killer? You have no proof that I went to the medical cabinet after Maki! She could have taken both the poison and the disinfectant!” Sonia retorted, her voice frantic.
“That’s not right. Kazuichi said he saw you holding a bottle, which had to have been the poison! Stop denying it Sonia, it’s a lost cause. You are the murderer.” I declared, causing Sonia’s gaze to fall.
“Then it’s decided. Sonia is the murderer, right? That means we can vote now and be done with this trial… right?” Rantaro voiced. Many voices chimed in agreement.
“H-hold on. Something doesn’t seem right.” I announced. Everyone turned their heads to me, waiting for me to continue.
“W-what I mean is… I think we should look over this whole case one more time, just in case we missed something.”
“Then hurry the hell up with it and let us vote!” Kazuichi declared.
“This plan started the moment Akane got hurt attacking Monokuma. This was the reason the murderer decided to get close to Akane and help Mikan. The next phase in the murderer’s plan was formed when Mikan asked them to get the disinfectant from the medical cabinet on the third floor. Wanting to ward off suspicion, they told Maki that Mikan asked her to get it. After Maki took the disinfectant, the murderer swooped in and took the poison that would prove fatal after 2 days. What they weren’t prepared for was someone seeing them with the bottle, which was why the murderer lied and said the poison was actually disinfectant. Speed up 2 days later, Akane seemed to feel better and the murderer must have felt nervous that the poison wouldn’t work. This is what led them to leave a note for Akane to go to the library, and take a hammer from the woodworking center. With this hammer, they broke open the entrance to the vents and waited for Akane in the vent of the library. When Akane entered the library and walked towards the light switch, the hammer was dropped on her head, leaving cracks in her skull and ultimately killing her.” I deduced.
Kazuichi commented, “Then that means Sonia is the murderer! So why can’t we just vo-”
“Sonia might not be the killer,” Kyoko remarked, to everyone’s, including Sonia’s, surprise.
“What do you mean Sonia might not be the killer? Doesn’t all evidence prove her being the killer?” Tsumugi noted.
“Everything Shuichi said about this case was true, except for the last part. While we know the hammer was dropped on Akane’s head, we cannot conclude that the hammer was what killed her and not the poison. As this occurred exactly 2 days after the poisoning of Akane, it is still a possibility that Akane could have died of the poison before having a wooden hammer dropped on her head.” Kyoko concluded.
“B-but how w-will we know w-which killed her first? N-none of us were t-there.” Mikan whimpered.
“One of us was there- the assumed murderer,” Kyoko spoke as everyone’s attention focused on Sonia’s shaking frame. “Which was it, Sonia?”
“W-why should I tell you? Y-you’re just going to kill me anyway right? It doesn’t matter in the end!” Sonia said.
“If you don’t tell us, we’ll all vote for you and all of us except the real murderer will die! Do you really want that? Your entire plan and work helping someone else escape?” I asked her.
Some time passed before she spoke quietly. “She died of the poison.”
‘Then this means the real murderer is the one who added the ‘disinfectant’ to Akane’s wounds…the one who unintentionally added poison…. It can only be…’
“It’s you then. You’re the murderer.” I said as I looked at Mikan.
She was overcome by shock, in fact, all of us were. But we had to vote for her, to save ourselves. One by one, we all imputed our guess for the blackened, until finally, the results were out. All of us voted for Mikan, including Mikan herself who looked so terrified and sad at the same time.
“Now then, let’s get on with this! As you were all correct in your guesses, I’ve prepared a special execution befitting of Mikan Tsumiki, the ultimate nurse! IT’S EXECUTION TIME!” Monokuma spoke with glee as he dragged Mikan to the execution room, where she would take her final breaths.
--
It was over so quickly. What was left after was Mikan’s lifeless body, Monokuma laughing with glee, and the remaining 7 students, all with faces of disgust, anger, and sadness of their now gone friend.
This couldn’t happen again. I would never let another murder like this happen again. I owed this to both Akane and Mikan- and the rest of us. No matter what, I would stop this killing game from continuing. The hope in us would always be stronger than our despair, and I would not allow myself to lose in this battle.