School of Killing

Chapter 5: Regrets, Judgement and Realization

Our descent, soon came to a sudden stop.
  "We're here." Sonia murmured.
  "This is where we find the truth." Aisuke stated. Her hand was shaking nervously. To be calm, and collected in a place like this is almost impossible.
  "Well l-let's go to the trial grounds." Sam stated, nervous, and afraid. After some mental preparation we all filed out of the elevator and took the seats with our names on them. Soon Monica appeared on a monitor in the room.
  "Yayyyyy! Time for the trial of Shina Todoka!!!!" Monica yelled like a banshee. "Now you understand the rules, you don't vote or you vote incorrectly everyone besides the killer will be executed, but if you guess correctly only the killer of this case will be killed. Also you guys can sleep safely, since the rule of you can't lock your dorms will be erased." Monica stated.
  "We should begin on a basic understanding of what events unfolded in the storage room." Aya suggested.
  "Ohhh wait!!!! Almost forgot, touch the button in front of you to start the discussion mode of your seats." After Monica ended her spiel, we began our trial. "A trial for the murder of Shina Todoka, the Master level Artist." Monica yelled.
  "Anyway, we should figure out the mystery behind the sequence of events in the storage room." Aya stated pushing the trial button in front of her stand.
Discussion(sequence of events)
  "Shina's body was found. A little after you guys woke up right?" Aya stated.
  "That is correct." Sonia confirmed.
  "She was killed in the storage room. At the time Oma and I found her, it was about 3:35am." Jake stated. With a worried look on his face.
"If that's the case then the guards Aya, and Sam are suspicious." Sylvanna stated.
"If that's the case, then we found our suspects, good job Sylvanna!" Ralph yelled.
"This is not a good job! I'm innocent!" Sam yelled.
  "Oma you know the truth." Aya stated. (Sylvanna's statement. It's definitely contradictory to what we already know.) I thought to myself.
"That's wrong Sylvanna!!" I objected.
"What?!" Sylvanna squeaked, startled by the yell.
"You were probably under pressure because of the trial, and you mixed up your argument. Since we all know Aya, and Sam were put to sleep via sleeping drug. So how could of Sam or Aya have killed Shina?" I explained.
  "You're right they would've been asleep for the entire time. Which does give them an alibi for the murder." Sonia stated.
"Do we know what killed her." Aisuke said. She pushed the button to start the next discussion.
Discussion(Murder Weapon)
"Yeah we have the crime scene, but do we have the weapon?" Aisuke asked.
"My autopsy report, states that the fatal blow was actually blunt force trauma." Jake testified.
"We didn't find anything that could match the weapon described." Sam stated.
"Was Jake's autopsy wrong?" Ralph asked.
"No I couldn't be!" Jake yelled.
  "I don't think Jake's wrong because in the Sports Room my investigation group found a red bowling ball poorly disposed of in the trash can." I stated. Showing everyone the ball.
  "If you look closely you can see blood." Jake said curiously. "You want it Aya?" Jake said passing it to her.
  "No thanks, idiot. Are you deaf or something." Aya snapped.
  "What?!" Jake said shocked.
  "I said earlier that I hated blood, now would you kindly take the ball away from me, got it?" Aya said annoyed.
  "Well now that we have a weapon, and we know what might have unfolded at the scene of the crime we should go to a more interesting topic." Matt suggested. The entire room went quiet, as Matt brought out a little bottle.
  "This protein bottle just so happens to be quite the mystery." Matt said, as he pushed the button in front of him.
Discussion(Protein Mystery)
  "This bottle was found by my group!" Matt exclaimed. "In the victim's hand no less."
   "What's wrong with that?" Ralph asked.
   "Well I'm assuming that she brought it with her to the storage room for some reason." Jake wondered.
   "She brought it because she was planning to murder someone with it." Aya stated in a stern voice.
   "Umm she's the victim though." Sylvanna stated. Surprised by Aya's claim.
   "Aya's going mental." Ralph stated.
   "Piss off, Ralph." Aya replied in a vicious tone.
    (Something's definitely off, I know that Shina is the victim, but maybe she isn't all innocent in this.) I thought.
   "Aya I think you're on to something!" I exclaimed with a loud voice.
   "It's not strange to think that way.
I had Jake analyze the bottle, and there were traces of poison in it. Also pairing that with the fact that we found the bottle in her hand then I assume she was planning to kill someone." Aya stated, with a glare towards Ralph.
"Then we can assume she also is responsible for drugging Aya, and Sam." Matt stated.
"Okay now that that's covered, we should explain why Shina was wanting to murder someone, and who she planned to go after, since you're so confident about your claim." Ralph said. Ralph pressed the button in front of him.
Discussion(Shina's Motive, and Alibis)
"Shina hated this killing game from the start." Matt stated. "So of course she would try to murder someone."
"But with poison in a bottle of a protein shake. Why choose that as a weapon?" Ralph asked.
"Perhaps Shina was trying to trick someone here into thinking it's a normal protein shake, and then when they drink it, Rest In Peace then." Sam stated.
"Wouldn't Ralph be the most suspicious then, since y'know he's a bodybuilder?" Sonia said gripping her arm.
"How dare you accuse me!! Anyone here could've accepted the protein shake with no hesitation." Ralph yelled.
"Anyway Shina's motive is enough to state that whoever she was planning to kill was her killer." Aya said thinking aloud.
  (I know for sure that Aya is onto something, but who might her killer be? I need to present evidence that will take people off our list of suspects.) I thought to myself. "I'll reveal the truth!" I yelled confidently.
"What Oma?" Jake asked.
"Jake didn't you mention how you saw people on your walk through the school?" I asked.
"Oh that? Yeah I did. I saw Shina walking towards the chem lab, which makes sense, since she is responsible for the drugging of the guards." Jake said. "I didn't see Matt on my walk, and then I saw Ralph walking out of the sports room."
"You saw me?!" Ralph stated. "Well I may not be bright, but I can guess that everyone here wants to know why I was in there, so I'll just explain. I was doing maintenance on the vent inside the sports room, since it wasn't really doing it's job of venting the room." Ralph explained.
"Is that why I noticed a screwdriver in the sports room while investigating?" I stated.
"I'd assume so." Ralph replied looking like he was in deep thought.
"Ralph I must ask you, when you returned did you notice Shina enter the dining hall?" Aya asked staring needles into Ralph.
"Actually yes I did, as well as Matt, but he went instantly to his seat and went to sleep." Ralph explained with a concerned look.
"What of Shina?" Sam stated.
"I saw her walk past your seats, and then I decided to go to sleep. Although I did decide to go to the bathroom later that night. I went there, and back, which took about 5 minutes." Ralph explained.
"That sounds correct, since if Shina did walk past our seats while we were in the kitchen, then she could've slipped the drug in, and scurried off to her seat without anyone noticing." Aya stated touching the tip of her chin.
  "Well then we don't have any suspects! Which means we are no step closer to figuring out the killer." Sonia yelled angrily.
  "Wait one moment!" Aisuke screamed. "Ralph when you said you left to the bathroom did you perhaps get the time?"
  "No." Ralph stated.
"Aisuke the time can be figured out by when Aya, and Sam woke up today." Jake said smiling.
"What?!" Ralph said shocked.
"This drug puts you to sleep for about 5 hours as I mentioned earlier today. So if that's the case then we can assume that they were put to sleep around 10:45pm. Also when you regained consciousness, from when you fainted it was 3:45am, and by that time, Sam was in the midst of telling us to get over to the scene of the crime ASAP." Jake explained with detail.
"So then Ralph went to the bathroom, after they were drugged?" Aisuke asked.
"Precisely." Jake replied back.
"So then we're all suspects, since none of us have any eye witness accounts on each other." Sonia yelled.
  (Are we all suspects? No, there's only one killer, and this killer has to have messed up somewhere in this case, I just need to figure that out.) I thought, as my hand pressed the discussion button.
Discussion(Are there any clues?)
"The killer must've left a piece of evidence behind we just need to establish it." I stated.
"Everyone please think! Our lives are on the line." Sonia begged.
"Urrk!" Aya gasped quietly.
"We don't even have any leads we might as well give up." Ralph suggested.
"Come on dude we can't give up now!" Sam yelled. Then soon later Aya yelled.
"I'm sorry, but I will not keep quiet about this any longer Monica!" Aya yelled. Monica then responded with a giggle.
"Ohh is that so? Heeheehee." Monica replied back laughing with her demonic voice.
"If this trial goes nowhere, than your entertainment isn't going to excite you, so I suggest that you allow me to present my evidence now, without punishment at the end of the trial." Aya bartered with Monica.
"Guess I have no choice. Deal Aya." Monica stated.
"Now that I have no restrictions, I can voice what I've been hiding from everyone now." Aya said as she pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper. She read it aloud. "Dear Shina Todoka, I regret to inform you that someone here is planning to murder you. Someone strong, dumb, and male. Tread caution around all people you see especially the person described. Also if he's planning on killing, maybe you should be a hero, and stop our villain before it's too late.
-Monica" Aya recited.
"I thought it was just a plan to invoke fear, and distrust within Shina, but now that this trial has been going on I was thinking. What if Shina's chosen target was her killer?" Aya theorized.
"Producing such blatant lies will get you nowhere!" Ralph replied, completely changing his demeanor, and personality.
"Coming from the person who lied about being stupid." Aya stated. Ralph was pissed off a lot, but now he was like mega-pissed off.
"Why are you guys thinking that I'm the killer there's no way I'd do that!" Ralph yelled. Ralph presses the button of debate.
Discussion(Is Ralph the Killer?)
  "I'm not the killer!" Ralph yelled.
  "You're the only one who could've done it." I stated.
  "If I am the killer, then you need to produce some definitive evidence! And what do you mean I'm the only one who could've done it!" Ralph yelled.
  "If you were Shina's target, and she was planning to kill you, was her meeting place the storage room?" Aya asked.
  "I only went to the bathroom s-so!" Ralph scrambled for words.
  "Yeah, but none of us can back you up on that can we." Aya stated not accepting defeat at any cost.
  "Yeah, but if I brought a bowling ball to the storage room the one I met with Shina in mind you, Then surely she would've guessed that I probably would have been attempting to kill her." Ralph countered. Aya backed down after that comment.
  "See your theory doesn't make sense!" Ralph said with a smug grin.
  "Wait... Aya remember when we investigated the vent in the sports room, and we saw dents in the vent. And when we investigated the crime scene we found a large crack in the floor directly below the vent?" I asked.
  "Yes." Aya replied.
  "What if Ralph used that vent to transport the bowling ball to the storage room. Then when he was on his way to the storage room, Shina then probably faked sleeping, and then woke up. Then left the dining hall. Then she goes into the storage room, where they probably talked, and then while Shina gets her poisoned bottle out Ralph gets the bowling ball which was now on the floor relatively near Shina, and smacks her with it. Resulting in imminent death." I stated confidently. Then Ralph stopped.
  "Enough..." Ralph stated.
  "Huh?" I asked confused.
  "I can't back that up can I? So I'm the killer, I'm Shina's killer." Ralph said.
  "You admit your defeat then?" Aisuke asked.
  "Yes, but allow me to clarify something, Oma you weren't completely right, when I returned to my seat after my maintenance work I sat there with my eyes barely open, and I saw Shina tamper with the coffee, I witnessed Sam, and Aya drink it, and I saw them pass out. But I didn't do anything, I was thinking maybe this is a dream, a hallucination, but then when they passed out I began to accept this as reality, and I legit thought they were dead, so I decided to stop Shina even though she only put them to sleep. Then I left the dining hall, and went to the sports room, where I got the bowling ball and dropped it down the vent, after that I left, and that's where I saw Shina get up from her seat, so I went into the storage room retrieved the ball and hid by the door. Sure enough Shina walks in poison in hand, and I intended to knock her out, but I killed her instead by accident." Ralph explained his face in complete sorrow.
  "So you didn't actually kill her out of malice? You just tried to stop a potential killer?" Matt questioned. Ralph who was on the verge of tears.
  "No, it was a mistake, but a murder is a murder, no matter what." Ralph stated.
  "Okay Soooooo... Ralph are you ready for your super cool, highly anticipated execution?" Monica chimed in.
  "Yes." Ralph lied. He may be strong, but I know he wasn't ready.
  "Hey guys, don't forget about me, or Shina. Also take this." Ralph throws us two pictures.
  "Look at them when you have the chance, other than that farewell." Ralph stated.
  "Now it is time for Ralph Estutaka, the Master level Bodybuilder's punishment to commence." Monica yelled as our platforms descended. After what seemed like ages our platforms descent stopped suddenly. We were outside of a fighting ring, Ralph was inside the ring. All I could see was four large cannons lined up in different parts of the ring. Then without warning the cannons shot their contents which happened to be large spears, and I looked away, but from what my peripheral vision saw, was complete, and utter despair. All of the shocked faces on my fellow classmates faces, were of sadness itself. Aya was almost crying. Everyone was scarred for life, and soon it was over, our platforms raised up back to the trial grounds. Then a blinding light enveloped me, and I blacked out...