Danganronpa U.S.A.

Chapter 8: The Stakes Rise

     I couldn't wait to tell everybody what I heard from Monokuma and what I saw from their tapes. But when everyone was at the cafeteria eating, Monokuma was on the loud speaker: "Everyone report to the gym immediately!"
     We all walked to the gym and Monokuma was waiting for us on the stage. "Welcome!," he shouted.
    "What is this all about?" Brian questioned.
    "What do you say if you got a prize when you win?" Monokuma asked.
     "What kind of prize?" Gaby asked.
     "10 billion dollars," Monokuma shouted, "cash!" A huge pile of cash came from under Monokumas feet. There was so much money. This could actually help my mom, she can stop working! But a got rid of that thought, I don't want to kill anyone.
     "That's a lot of money," Destiny said, "2 times more than I have! But I don't need it, I can always make more."
     "This might raise the stakes," Monokuma said, "have fun!" Monokuma disappeared with the money.
     "This won't change anything," Marvin asked, "right?"
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     We were back at the cafeteria, and I finally got everyone's attention. "I found out something valuable last night!" I shouted.
     "What is it," Destiny questioned, "is it any of my jewelry?"
     "No," I said, "not that kind of valuable. I found out that the tapes we watched were ment to brain wash us!"
     Everyone gasped.
     "And something else! We might be recorded! Monokuma said something about ratings! That must mean we are being recorded for some kind of show!"
     "What kind of sick show is this then?" Ethan questioned.
     "I don't know, but we need to get in the principal's room, or we will never escape!"
     "No no no," Monokuma said on the load speaker. "You can try, but you won't succeed!"
     "Then what are we suppose to do," Gaby asked, taking a bite of her eggs, "wait here and die?"
     "No," I said, "but we can figure it out together, just try not to kill each other, I don't want anybody else to die."
     Then, Gaby started choking, then fell to the ground. She was grabbing at her throat, she was dying.
     "Some help her!" Marvin shouted.
     Everyone started scrambling to get to her. Coco started doing abdominal thrusts. But Gaby died in her arms.
     "No," Coco said, "who did this to her?" Then, we all looked at Marvin. He prepared the food, he was trying to kill us all with it. He poisoned it.
     "Ding dong ding," Monokuma was on the load speaker, "a body has been found!"
     "You bastered!" Ethan punched Marvin in the nose, he probably broke it because his nose started bleeding.
     "I didn't do it," Marvin shouted, "believe me!"
     I stared at Marvin, how could he do this? He wasn't that type of person. Was the money getting to him?
     "You were the only one who makes the food," Coco yelled, "you did do that!"
     "But I didn't do it!" Marvin screamed.
     I didn't know what to believe. The money had to have done that to him. I knew for a fact he had no father, he was a dead beat who didn't pay for child support. He probably wanted the money for a better life. Then, it hit me. Marvin didn't need the money, he had over 3 million subscribers and had many views on his YouTube channel. He made enough money to live in a nice house, while I live in an apartment building. But the money I get from competitions still helps my mother!
     "He couldn't have done this," I said, this shocked everyone, "he has enough views to earn a lot of money. He has a fast growing channel."
     "That may be true," Coco said, "but explain why the food was poisoned, and who could've done it?"
     "There is one way to find out," I said, "we need to find clues!"
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     This was going to be tough, we have no idea who could've done it. Marvin was our only suspect. This person was trying to kill all of us. While the others were upstairs in the little pharmacy the infirmary had, Coco, Marvin, and I looked in the kitchen. Coco wouldn't let Marvin out of her site.
     I inspected what was left of the food, the culprit had poisoned it all based on some light green liquid found near the stove. I went up to Marvin who was inspecting the trash can.
     "You okay?" I asked.
     "Yeah," he said, "thanks for backing me up."
     "I know you didn't do it, your not that type of person."
     "Your right. My mom always called me a softie, and I'm not afraid to admit that I kind of am!"
     "I need to ask you a question."
     "Go ahead! Ask me anything!"
     "Did you leave the kitchen? Like, when you were cooking?"
     "Only to use the bathroom. And to get my red fidget spinner. I wanted to cheer everyone up with my spinner tricks!" He spun his blue( which he carried with him all the time) and red fidget spinners. I couldn't help but laugh. Coco laughed, too!
     "Wait," she said, "you left? Your not lying, are you?"
     "No," Marvin said, "I would never lie at a time like this."
     "So someone did enter the kitchen unnoticed."
     "Yeah," I said, "but who?"
     "We need to asked everyone if they have seen someone near the door," Coco said, "then we will look at the other evidence to catch that murderer! Sorry for not trusting you Marvin."
     "Its okay," Marvin said, "you have your thoughts like anyone else! K5, did you find anything?"
     "Just some of the poison near the stove," I said, "you?"
     "I did find this little bottle. Aha! There is a skull and crossbones! The poison bottle!"
    "We've got what we need," Coco said, "let's go upstairs to meet with the others!"
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     We entered the infirmary, and we learned a lot. Shoe prints were found after some protein powder was knocked over, everyone was sure that no one else stepped on it. Destiny found a black smudge on the counter near the shoe prints. Lastly, Abbate noticed that the poison was sloppily put on in the meals, he had a plate of food near him, and I noticed some green on the food.
     Coco was in the library for something when Monokuma was on the loudspeaker, "Times up! Report to the elevator for the trial!"
     This was it. It was going to be tough. With the evidence we got was pretty good, but who knew? The killer might actually get away with it. I might lose my first game.