Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 4: Malnourishment or Murder - Part 2 (Daily Life)

~ Ultimate Investigator Niamh Wood's POV ~

I could hear a faint voice calling my name as I slowly opened my eyes. With a pained groan, I sat up as my eyes adjusted to the light. The floor was an alarming colour of red, the walls being covered in the same shade. White strawberry patterns decorated these walls.

"Niamh!" Zach gasped. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I replied, getting to my feet. "Where are we? The last thing I remember is breathing in that gas and then falling asleep."

"Same," Zach sighed. "Whatever this place is, the walls are seriously killing my eyes."

"Sitting in front of a computer screen all day didn't kill your eyes enough?" I asked with a grin.

"Shut up," Zach muttered, although he was smiling too, so he knew I was joking. "Everyone else is awake, too. We just need to figure out where we are."

The two of us had ended up in the lounge, so we traveled downstairs to meet with everyone else. Monokuma was already there, twirling on the spot. "It's about time you woke up, Magnifying Glasses!" The monochrome bear cried. "I was starting to get really bored!"

"Would you just please explain why we're here?!" Kazashi exclaimed. "This place is freaking me out!"

"Okay, so! This is the Funhouse!" Monokuma announced. "This bundle of fun consists of Strawberry House and Grape House! You can travel between the two houses via the elevator over there!" He pointed to a silver door on the other side of the room, which must have lead to the elevator.

"But why are we here?" Botan questioned, as calm as ever. "I don't see any particular way that this would benefit you."

"Oh, but it does!" Monokuma giggled. "Y'see, you guys can only leave the Funhouse once you kill someone!"

A collective gasp rang around the room. "So... this is our fourth motive?" I questioned. "We can't leave until someone dies?"

"You got that right!" Monokuma nodded.

"But even if we wanted to kill someone, what would we do it with?" Jordan asked. "A place as empty as this doesn't seem like it would have any weapons in it."

"On the third floor of Strawberry House, there's what I like to call the Final Dead Room!" Monokuma explained. "Once you clear that room... well, let's just say that getting out of here won't be so difficult if you do."

Angelica raised her hand with a yawn. "Can I ask one more question? I'm getting kind of hungry. Where's the dining hall?"

Monokuma paused for a few moments before bursting out into laughter. The rest of us glanced at each other in complete confusion.

"I guess that's one other thing I forgot to mention." Monokuma sighed once he had calmed down. "Things like food and water... there's nothing of the sort in here!"

"What?!" Orno cried, his bright blue eyes as wide as dinner plates. "No food or water at all?! We'll only last a few days at best!"

"You'd better kill someone quickly, then!" Monokuma cackled. "I won't be held responsible if you all turn into skeletons!" With one final echoing laugh, Monokuma disappeared from our sight.

A string of loud and colourful swears came from Jordan's direction. "That little piece of-! Why should we have to do this...?!"

"I thought you'd be the one most excited about another chance to kill." Zach commented.

"Not at my own expense!" Jordan retaliated. "I need to find that room... I can't live like this... I need to get out of here...!"

Jordan dashed for the stairs, disappearing from sight within seconds. "Someone go after him. He could be dangerous in this state of mind." Zach said. "Kyle, make sure he doesn't do anything reckless."

"O-Okay..." Kyle nodded. The blonde ran after his friend, eventually vanishing as he ascended to the higher floor.

"We need to find some way out of here." Zach began. "Everyone start looking around. Also make sure you don't go anywhere alone. Jordan... is very clearly out of his mind right now."

We all nodded and went our separate ways to search. I noticed Akari going off alone, breaking the rules that Zach had created literally thirty seconds ago. "Akari! Wait up!" I called out, chasing after her. "We can't go anywhere alone!"

"But... I want to be alone," Akari muttered in response. "I want to look around with Susumu... But..."

An awkward silence hung in the air as the two of us stood in the elevator and waited for the doors to open at 'Grape House'. Once the doors did open, I had to blind my eyes from the overwhelming amount of green. Grape House was just like Strawberry House except with grapes everywhere.

"Th-This is pretty ridiculous, huh?" I joked, hoping to spark up some kind of coversation with Akari. She didn't share my enthusiasm, though, and walked straight past me. I tried to catch up with her as best as I could, but she did her best to shake me off.

Once we'd thouroughly looked around, I took a quick glance at the clock in the lounge. "It's ten o'clock already...!" I gasped. "That went by quicker than expected. We should all get some sleep and save our energy."

Akari nodded and the two of us went back to Strawberry House. All of us met up in the tower. I gasped when I saw Jordan at the back of the room, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He seemed more calm than he did when we last saw him, but a guy like that could have been hiding anything.

"There are rooms on the second floor of each house. We can stay in there." I said, hugging myself. I tried not to show it, but I was seriously hungry. I could tell that everyone else felt the same; their exhaustion was obvious on their faces.

"Okay. Everybody lock their doors. Don't leave your rooms during the night." Zach instructed. "We'lll find a way out of here soon, so don't let yourself get any funny ideas."

"Since when were YOU our leader?" Jordan scoffed before leaving, Kyle close behind. The rest of us girls (or, at least, whoever remained) headed back to Grape House to sleep. Angelica and Akari got the Deluxe Rooms, which I was slightly jealous of. I took the average room while Kazashi got the Crummy Room. I offered to switch rooms with her, but she refused. Trying to ignore the tearing pain in my stomach, I did my best to get to sleep.

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When I woke up the next morning, it was already well past seven. There weren't any Monokuma announcements, so I slept in. I stepped outside my room and immediately noticed someone stood outside Kazashi's room. "Zach?" I questioned. "What are you doing?"

"I thought that we could get up early so we could have another look around, but Kazashi isn't awake yet." Zach sighed. "I'm reminded of those times where one of us would have to wake her up every morning so she wasn't late for class."

I laughed. "I remember those." I replied. The smile faded from my face soon afterwards as I remembered our classmates. The classmates that weren't with us anymore.

Zach knocked on Kazashi's room door. "Kazashi! Wake up!" He cried. The force of his fist pushed the door open slightly.

"Didn't you tell everyone to lock their doors?" I asked. "Or do the Crummy Rooms not come with locks?"

"I'm pretty sure they do..." Zach replied slowly. He nudged the door open further, a loud creaking noise echoing throughout the whole floor. The room was dimly lit, as the only source of light was a poorly working light swinging overhead. My entire frame went stiff at what I saw.

Collapsed on the couch in the centre of the room, blood running out of her mouth and clutching a glass bottle in her right hand was Kazashi Dai, the Ultimate Cosplayer.

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i added this into the rotation instead of 'update whenever' so it actually gets finished in time yay

AceAttorneyFan over and out!