Chapter 3 – Class Trial Investigation
"This morning I woke up around 7 am planning on running some laps around the main building. Before I left the dorm I noticed that Mark's room was giving off a funny scent in there so I checked the doorknob to see if I could open it and to my surprise it was. I pushed open the door to look inside and I blacked out."
"I didn't know what happened after that but when I woke up like an hour later I look in front of me and saw Mark on his bed with a whole in his chest. I didn't remember seeing that hole in his chest. I quickly went and shook him to try and wake him up but he never did. I noticed the blue spots on his skin all over his body and knew something wasn't right and that's when I screamed and called most of you here" said Sue worriedly.
Olivia checked Mark's body and told us "This guy's been a nuisance. At least he's dead now". "Yeah no kidding, now there shouldn't be anyone who's controlling those damn robots. We can escape now I hope" said Xavier.
"Huh, but the wall is still there isn't it. How are we suppose to escape this place while it's still there" said Flora softly. "She has a point. Mark probably knew a way to leave this place but now he's dead" sighed red head Xavier. "Jeez which jackass killed the mastermind huh" I complained. "Shut up Cj, he deserved to die" said Paul strongly. "No he didn't, why did you guys have to go and commit murder. He probably was just pretending to be the mastermind" said Alisa wiping her face.
"Pretending"
When she said that Monoplus along with two wolves appeared out of nowhere and started laughing.
"Upupupupupupupuh,"
"Hahaha, you're right! He wasn't the mastermind upupupupuh" laughed Monoplus.
Everyone looked at Monoplus shocked by what he just said. I ran up to him and grabbed him by the neck. "The Fuck you mean. He was pretending?!. Stop lying to us!" I shouted. "Upupupuh think about it dimwit. If he really was the mastermind why would he reveal himself so early in the game" grinned Monoplus. Shawn pulled me away and said "Calm down man, you can't hurt him".
Flora fell on the floor and started screaming bursting everyone's eardrums. "Hey you shut up, we don't have time for this!" shouted Jasmine angrily. Paul and Terry started fighting again after meeting eyes with each other while Shawn and I started talking about what is about to happen. Alisa asked Monoplus "Well since Mark's now decease and he isn't the mastermind does that mean…"
She got cut off with Monoplus saying "THAT"S RIGHT, IT"S TIME FOR A CLASS TRIAL!"
Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and stared at Monoplus starting to feel scared. "Class Trial? Like that game that Makoto and the others played 20 years ago to find out who the blackened and the spotless were. And if we get it wrong the culprit will leave here while the rest of us gets executed" said Sue breathing heavily.
Terry jumped kick Monoplus in the face and said "That's the last straw". HE continued to kick Monoplus and the wolves didn't retaliate not one bit which striked me as odd. Shawna a girl who's never shown herself up until now walked inside the room and said "Well we should start investigating. I want this to be quick".
"Hmm, are you in a hurry to do something?" asked Monoplus curiously. "Hell yeah I am, I'm busy in my room creating something important. I heard the screaming inside here so I came and overheard your conversation. If Mark truly wasn't the mastermind then one of us killed an innocent person. Just like previous killing games we're supposed to participate in a Class Trial" said Shawna calmly.
"One of us killed him huh?" I said out loud. We all looked at each other to see if we could read any guilt on anyone's faces but we all failed. Who so ever that committed the act had no plans to revealing themselves. Monoplus stretched out his tongue and started licking all the bruises that Terry gave him. It was a disgusting sight. When he was finished he ordered the wolves to give everyone a small folder.
After we all received one Monoplus left saying "You have two hours before the class trial begins so I advise you to start investigating. I'll tell you all where you need to meet up after the two hours are over. Oh and by the way".
Monoplus stretched out his tongue and this time it looked as sharp as an actual sword. He extended it so fast it stabbed Terry in his shoulder before he could even react.
"AAAAHHH!" he screamed from the pain.
"What the hell?! Your tongue can do that, how disgusting" said June freaked out. Monoplus turned to her and giggled. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was about to stab her too. "Oh no, he can't" I thought to myself.
As his tongue went straight for June I without reason jumped and pushed her out of the way which resulted in me getting pierced in my left shoulder instead. "Grrhhghh" I held myself back from screaming and looked at June who was on the floor shocked by what happened. Her eyes widen as the both of us met eye contact. June quickly held on to me and said "You gotta go to the infirmary now. Jasmine please come with us". "No way, the investigation just started, I need to find clues on who murdered Mark" stated Jasmine. Terry who was also injured lifted Jasmine up in the air and placed her on his good shoulder.
"We're going, what kind of nurse are you if you left us in this state" said Terry. Jasmine sighed and said "I'll be quick".
Monoplus laughed at the four leaving to go to the infirmary. Shawna kneed down to look at Monplus eye to eye and asked "You did that on purpose. I can understand Terry since he kicked you a lot earlier but why Cj?".
Alisa heard her question to Monoplus and added " He more than likely did it to show us that he can hurt us at any time so we should watch ourselves and how we talk to him".
"Yep, yep", the puppy then disappeared.
As I arrived at the infirmary I immediately fell asleep on the warm and comfy bed with Jasmine opening a magazine.
INVESTIGATION START!
(Protagonist Change: Cj Coley >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Alisa Cruez)
"Sigh"
"I only have two hours to investigate. I better do what I can" I said to myself with a yawn. Shawn snuck up behind me and said "Why did this have to happen? I was looking forward to having breakfast with you today again". I nodded in agreement and said "Yes it is very disappointing by time we're finished with all of this we are either going to be dead or be eating lunch". "Okay Ms. Detective I'll help you out by following you wherever you go" smiled Shawn. "Do as you like, just don't hold me back" said I replied.
I went and checked Mark's body again to see what clues it hold. While I was examining him Shawn told me " Wait this folder that Monoplus gave us is actually useful. Take a look inside". I paused what I was doing and checked inside the folder. When I opened it a picture of Mark was in there with a sentence of two below it.
Mark Hughes's body was discovered in his dorm room.
He has a stab wound in his stomach and parts of his skin changed color.
Time of Death
....
Cause of Death
...…..
I sighed after reading what was in the folder. Shawn bowed and apologized "Sorry I should've read all of it first before I said it was useful". I nodded and said "No this did help me a bit. It backed up Sue's claim in a way. The body really was discovered in the dorm room. She could be lying earlier but if this is trust worthy it should help".
It's fine" I stated. At that moment Monoplus appeared and said " I totally forgot to give the discovery announcement. I promise I won't make that mistake again. "Get out!" shouted Shawn. He then disappeared before I could even say anything. Sue walked over to us and said "Hey Alisa you're the Ultimate Detective if I remember it right. How do you feel about this?".
"Should I tell her that I feel nothing? Cuz I really don't. As far as I am concerned this case is a distraction from the real mystery. How did we get here? How can we escape? Are we being watched? Who is the real mastermind? What happened to Mr. Naegi? That is way more important than who killed who" I thought to myself.
I replied to her " I don't know yet, I need to look around some more before I can determine anything".
I continued looking at Mark's body and noticed that there was something else other than Mark's stab wound in the gut. Something that would be hard to notice if you weren't paying keen attention. I moved in closer to the body and saw a very small hole on the back of Mark's shirt and it had a slight red stain around it. I moved up the shirt and looked at his naked skin. It was pierced by something very tiny, pointy and thin. Like a needle maybe. "Interesting" I said out loud. "What is?" asked Shawn curiously. "Nothing"
Clues Added:
Ø MonoFile
Ø Sue's Claim
Ø Mark's body (tiny hole, stab wound and the blue spots)
I suddenly remembered the hole that was at the door. It was just as small as this one on the victim's shirt. I went to the doorway and saw that Fei was looking right at it.
"So you noticed it, for how long?" I asked curiously. "Just now" he replied quickly. I checked to see where the hole was and like I imagined the hole was in lined with Mark on his bed. Anyone could've used this and peeped right at him.
Clues Added:
Ø Door hole
"I started up a conversation with Shawn and Fei saying "Don't you think Mark is confusing. If he wasn't the mastermind why would he say he was? And also sleeping in his dorm room is rather careless since there were people here who wanted his head".
Fei nodded agreeing with me. "I don't know what he was up to but you can't forget that he pushed a red button on the remote he had and the wolves and Monoplus appeared as he did" said Shawn. "Oh you're right, how could he have summon those robots if he isn't the mastermind" I stated. Fei sighed and said "Coincidence, he pushed the button to scare us that's all. He thought nothing was going to happen. Maybe he was just going to play a joke on us or something but then Monoplus appeared unexpectedly making his joke into a real deal. When he saw Monoplus arrived the moment he pushed the button he must've thought this was a once in a life time opportunity to play mastermind so he kept up the act and Monoplus played along with it. The other thing I can think of is he was the mastermind after all and this game doesn't care if he or she is dead".
"That's starting to be the case" said Shawn. I went back into the room and the two boys followed me.
"Alright so Mark has a stab wound in the stomach. Judging by the size of the room it might be a kitchen knife. I better check the kitchen too."
"Also why is Mark's skin blue? Was he infected by something. He looks disgusting to look at"
"And that tiny hole that no one else seems to notice is very suspicious as well"
"I'm going to the kitchen now". Shawn and Fei nodded and they followed me. When we arrived in the kitchen Shawn asked "Hey Fei, I thought you'd be investigating with your sister Not us". "No, I rather you two" Fei replied bluntly. They watched as I searched all the utensils inside the kitchen. "What are you looking for?" asked Shawn.
...…
"Hey Alisa?"
I heard Shawn saying something but I wasn't paying attention. I was busy counting all the knives inside the kitchen making sure that it's the same number as the first time I came here. When I finished counting all the utensils there were fifty knives, twenty spoon and forks, one hundred plates, ten cutting boards, fifteen rollers and so on. The last time I counted all these knives it was 50.
"Does this mean that the stab wound Mark got wasn't made by a kitchen knife" Alisa asked herself. Shawn heard her and said "Wait if you're wondering if there are other places to get knives there aren't. Cj and I made sure of that when we explored the place. "Mark was stabbed by something else then. Have any suggestions?" I asked curious to hear what they have to say. "Maybe the culprit already had a dagger on him and used that" said Shawn.
"Maybe they used a scissors. I've seen people used those to hurt each other plenty of times plus there's a famous serial killer who's all about using scissors for murder" said Fei. "How do you hear your surroundings while listening to music?" asked Shawn intrigued.
"I have a super sense of hearing. These headphones block some of the sound from entering my ear so that I don't quickly get a headache from the loud noise that you people think is normal and plus most times I'm not listening anything" sighed Fei.
I agreed with Fei's statement and said "That doesn't sound farfetched at all. Maybe scissors was the cause".
"Okay scissors got it."
"The next place I should go is definitely there" I told myself.
I walked my way to the infirmary with Shawn and Fei. When we entered the room we saw Cj, Terry, Flora, Jasmine and June. The sight before made me wonder how Jasmine got the title of Ultimate Nurse. Flora and June were the one treating Terry and Cj's shoulder while she sat down reading a magazine. Shawn patted Cj on the back and said "Tough break man".
"I know right, this sucks" Cj replied.
"You shouldn't have gotten in the way. I hope you learn your lesson" said June holding Cj's hand. "I really feel like you and I know each other you know" said Cj. "Whatever, that's not important anymore" said June. I went and asked Cj "Hey your room is right next to Mark's. Did you hear anything weird next door last night or anytime at all?"
Cj gave it some thought then replied "No, I haven't heard anything weird but I did …. Nevermind"
"Nevermind?" I repeated curiously.
Fei went and looked on the shelves filled with medicine and other chemicals. Fei looked at all the shelves until he saw bottles with no label on them. Fei picked one up and raised it up in the air. "What is this medicine?" asked Fei curiously.
Jasmine nodded and said "Does that look like medicine to you? Try it and see what happens, you might die instantly". "Die instantly, is this poison?" Fei asked. "No it's not, just drink it and see" said Jasmine. I went and took the bottle from Fei and opened it. I put my nose close to the cover to smell what was in there and I found out that it actually was poison. "That's not very nice" I said looking at Jasmine.
"So is it poison"? asked Shawn.
I nodded yes in reply.
"This poison smells funny though, what's the deal with it?" I wondered to myself.
Clue Added:
Ø Poison Bottle (Not labeled)
I asked Fei "Hey do you know where your sister is right now?". "Still at Mark's room maybe" he answered. The three of us left the infirmary with the poison bottle in hand. We went back to Mark's dorm room where we saw Sue and Monoplus conversing with each other. The moment Monoplus saw me he disappeared again.
"Hey you three how's the investigation going?" asked Sue.
"It's moving slow to be honest. I wonder if I can find out who did it before two hours" I sighed. "You don't have to find out during the investigation you know. There will be a class trial after this" said Sue. "I know that, I'm not too worried. How's your investigating going?" I asked.
Sue showed me a big scissors with blood stain at the tip. "Where did you find this?" asked Shawn.
"I saw it in the garbage can outside the dormitory" replied Sue. "I came here to check and see if the scissors match the wound on Mark" said Sue. "I can't believe we're going to be put on a class trial over this loser. God I hate him!" said Sue furiously. "We all do, but we still have to catch who killed him" I stated. "Even if that person is in this room right now?" asked Sue. "Of course it doesn't matter if the culprit is with me because they won't get the opportunity to blow me off track" I said confidently. Sue clapped and said "We'll see then".
Sue handed me the scissors and went her merry way.
Clue Added:
Ø Scissors
"So Mark was stab with this huh. I feel like this is a distraction"
Just before she left the dormitory I just remembered what I came to Sue for in the first place. "Wait Sue I almost forgot!" I shouted. She stopped after hearing my voice and asked "What?"
I gave her the poison bottle for her to smell and when she did her eyes widen in realization. "This scent, I know this scent. It's the same thing I smelled this morning in Mark's room" said Sue. After that we went upstairs in the main building and saw Shawna and Xavier talking to each other in an empty classroom. I barged into their conversation asking "Are you two investigating up here?"
They both looked at me with a slight grin. "No we were just talking about who the culprit might be" said Xavier. Shawna rested her head on one of the desk in the classroom and said "Investigating is too tiresome for me. I didn't sleep at all last night so I'm very worn out right now. Xavier here is ensuring that I do not fall asleep". "Who do you think the culprit is?" I asked.
Xavier and Shawna replied "Cj of course. He pretended not to notice the hole in the wall, he's right next to Mark so he could easily enter without the rest of us knowing. He just looks suspicious".
"Cj, nonsense. He's not the one who killed Mark. I've actually been thinking for a while now that maybe Terry or Paul were the ones that did it. They wanted Mark's head the most" stated Shawn. "I can't say if either of them did it just yet. We'd have to wait a little longer. Just continue to use those brains of yours since you're not going to investigate" I told them before leaving.
"Currently now I'm suspicious of two people but I'll keep my mouth shut about them" I thought to myself. Fei suddenly stopped walking and said "I'm going to go and search everybody's dorm room. I'll catch up with you later". He suddenly walked away leaving Shawn and I by ourselves. "Okay what now?" asked Shawn. "We continue to get everybody else's alibi of course" I reply wondering where to look. "Paul's always at the gym, maybe he's there now too" suggested Shawn. I nodded in agreement and we both went to the gym where we found Paul and Olivia looking at some small blue unlabeled bottles.
I walked over to them and asked "What are you two doing? Where did you two find those bottles? These were hidden behind the lockers. I wonder why they're here" said Olivia.
"Have you checked what's inside?" asked Shawn.
Olivia threw me one of the bottles to get a better look at it. It seems at the top it has a small hole like a spray bottle. I shook it and realized that some liquid was still in there so I went and sprayed some in front of Paul and he immediately went unconscious and fell on the floor. "So it was sleeping gas" said Olivia surprisingly. "Hmm, sleeping gas at the gym huh. Someone must have hid them here after finishing the deed" I stated.
Clue Added:
Ø Sleeping Gas
"I remember seeing Ricardo early this morning . He was most likely heading to the gym. He always go there for a morning stretch and to play hockey with himself. Yesterday he and I played together" said Olivia. "Where is he now?"
"I don't know. You'd have to check yourselves" replied Olivia.
I sighed and looked at the time. It was 10:22, only 38 minutes remain. "Time moved faster than expected. Oh well I did what I could" I thought to myself. "I wonder how Kirigiri did this six times".
We walked around for ten minutes until we finally spotted Ricardo along with Zoey in the warehouse. I ran to them in a hurry and quickly asked " what were you two doing yesterday and this morning?"
Ricardo scratched his head and said "I was playing hockey with Olivia yesterday and after that I stayed in my room for the rest of the day. This morning after having some breakfast my stomach suddenly started to ache so I went to the bathroom and stayed there for like half an hour".
Clue Added:
Ø Terry's Stomach Ache
Zoey went next and said "I was in my room yesterday doing nothing in particular. This morning I was in my room until I came out hearing Sue's scream".
After listening to them I summarized everything I gained in my head and it just hit me. "I still haven't found anything that can explain the small hole"
Shawn and I went back to Mark's dorm room to take a look at the tiny hole once more. "Does this even mean anything?"
"No it must've it I smell dry blood and his skin is pierced" I said to myself. "I wonder where Fei is now?" said Shawn curiously.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear" said Fei entering the room.
Shawn and I looked at what was in his hand and saw fine and pointy needles with another unlabeled bottle. Fei threw me the bottle he had and said "Monoplus said that's a Monoparalyzer and it turns out that those poison in the infirmary are called Monopoison. It seems the infirmary has too many dangerous chemicals unlabeled like that one". "Jeez, someone deliberately tore them off for some reason. Did they not want us to find the poison and paralyzer? It would've been much better to just throw them away" said Shawn.
I said "I agree. I would have been better to get rid of them but…
"If the culprit threw these dangerous bottles in the trash can one of us would eventually find it anyways and we'd be even more suspicious of it well I would anyways. Also there's a no littering policy here so the culprit can't just throw them away or deliberately break them. I feel like the culprit still had other options though" said Shawn.
"Nice one Shawn" I praised. "I'm just adapting" Shawn replies with a grin.
Clue Added:
Ø Monopoison and Monoparalyzer
Ø Bag of needles
Fei then showed us the bag of needles. "This needle, can I hold on to them" I asked politely. Fei nodded and handed them to me. I looked at the time and saw that 10 minutes remained. My stomach started growling begging for some food and I imagined that the rest are the same. Most of us haven't ate breakfast yet. I head to the kitchen with Shawn and Fei and quickly prepared three bread sandwiches and some tea for warmth. "We each take one sandwich and be sure to drink your tea. The Class Trial will begin in five minutes" I told them. The two boys nodded and started eating.
We had to rush our breakfast because of how fast the time was moving. When we finally finished it was time for the announcement.
DING DONG!
DING DONG!
All the monitors around the school lit up showing the robotic puppy that everybody hates.
"Upupupupupuupuh"
"It's Time Everyone for our very first Class Trial after so long!" giggled Monoplus.
"Please gather inside the gym immediately. Wake up those who are asleep too, they wouldn't want to miss this" added Monoplus. The monitor screen went off after that.
I put both my hands on my chest and breathed deeply. "I can do this, I know I can survive this." I told myself. "I wonder which one of us Ultimates is the killer" said Fei out loud.
Everyone gathered at the gym in around three minutes. Even Cj and Terry who are still injured and have a pale look on their faces made it to the gym. Monoplus appeared and instructed all of us to stand on the big red square tile on the floor and to make sure that everybody fits. After doing what he said we suddenly started going down like the tile we are standing on is an elevator.
Five minutes later we arrived at our destination, The Trial Grounds. It was a wide space with sixteen podiums inside forming a circle at the center of the room.
Monoplus instructed "Please stand at the podium that has your name on it". We all searched for our names taking deep breaths as we do. I stood between Fei and Terry. When everyone stood at their specified location we all noticed that one podium was empty.
The podium between Shawna and Xavier had a framed picture of Mark Hughes with an x marked on it. "What the hell!?" shouted Terry angrily. "Monoplus you're such a freak. NO one wants to see the face of that traitor. Get rid of that picture" said Xavier upsettingly.
Monoplus disagreed and said "No way, I wouldn't want him to feel left out"
Cj looked around and asked "Can I get a chair, I don't think I can stand for too long". "Yeah me too" added Terry. Monoplus laughed and said "That's funny, you'll have to stand. If you feel like you have no energy left I'll allow you to sit on the floor just this once".
"What! But it's dirty down here" complained Cj.
"Shut it, unless you want me to ban sitting entirely" warned Monoplus.
And so it's about to begin. "The death of the self-proclaimed Mastermind surprised us all. We all look like we couldn't care less about Mark's death but I know deep inside all of us felt sorry for him. "He may have played the villain but none of us wanted him dead, I bet deep down Paul and Terry just wanted to beat him up but not kill him". One of us here murdered him and I need to find out who did it. It doesn't matter who it is. My friends or strangers I don't care. I will catch them for the rest of us to survive" I thought to myself. Fei held on to my hand and said "I'm counting on you". I nodded in reply.
"Upupupupupupuh!"
"The game where The Blackened and The Spotless face off is about to begin. Let's get our heart racing and start already!"
As the Class Trial was about to begin Mr. Naegi was at Hopes Peak Academy main branch talking with Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami. Mr. Naegi was captured by some mask men but he luckily got found by Kyoko. Now he's back at Hopes Peak and he heard the devastated news about what's happening with the students he invited to Japan.
"This can't be happening!"
"Not again, why?!" cried Naegi. Kyoko also started to shed some tears. She was currently watching the broadcast of Alisa and the others on the internet. She watched how Alisa went around investigating for a class trial and it hit her pretty hard. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine her one and only pupil participating in a killing game. The two were gloomy and didn't felt like speaking to each other so Byakuya took charge and asked "So what now?!"
"That Mark guy is dead but I think we can still prevent the situation from getting any worse. Besides Mark was a killer who murdered innocent people in the past. It's not like we've lost anyone major just yet. If we charge the Caribbean Branch right now we can save them!"
"You honestly thought we didn't try that already. We've sent hundreds of men there and they all died" said Kyoko.
"How?" asked Byakuya.
"Report says something about robotic wolves. There are said to hundreds of thousands of them" said Kyoko. "Oh, so with a little prep time we should be good to go then. I don't know about you two but I'm not going to sit here and mourn. Not while my daughter can still be saved. She's the rarity in the family" said Byakuya leaving the office. Kyoko and Naegi were left alone.
"Kyoko I'm sorry. If I knew….."
"Stop it Naegi, don't apologize. You didn't expect any of this to happen, none of us did" said Kyoko. "I know Alisa, she'll get through this no problem so only one person can die"
"Damn it! Why did anyone had to die at all! This isn't fair! Is Hopes Peak Academy cursed or something" shouted Naegi. "It's to be expected from a school full of the smartest, craziest and strongest kids ever. I'm sorry Naegi" said Kyoko. Naegi took some deep breaths then opened up his laptop. Both Kyoko and Naegi started to watch the public broadcasting of the Killing School Holiday.