Living Danger

Chapter 5 - Deadly Life

Not long after the body discovery announcement went off, two more pairs of footsteps could be heard. Maeko and Kaida come rushing into the hallway where the staircase is.

Fresh tears start to form in Kaida's eyes as she stares at the body, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Maeko clenches her fist "I thought we wouldn't play Monokuma's game anymore... Who the fuck killed Suzuki-kun?!"

"Well, you'll have to discover that during the Class Trial!" Monokuma beams "Upupupu, and you claimed this motive wouldn't make anyone kill? How foolish."

"Can we have the Monokuma file?" Ren asks, clenching his fists "We'll find the killer."

"Of course!"

Ren looks at the file.

The victim is Suzuki Tatsuya, the Ultimate Archaeologist.

The body was discovered on the staircase on the ground floor.

The estimated time of death is around 10.45 pm.

Other than a few bruises and a sprained ankle, no external injuries can be found.

'He probably got those injuries from falling down the stairs.' Ren thinks to himself 'Still, the fall couldn't have killed him.' He looks at the Monokuma file again 'No cause of death again, huh? I guess we'll have to figure that out during the Class Trial...'

Pushing all his thoughts aside Ren kneels down next to the body. There are indeed bruises on Tatsuya's pale skin and his ankle seems swollen, but nothing else seems wrong except the blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, though it's by far not enough to create a pool of blood or something. His rimless glasses lay next to his face on the ground and when Ren is about to close the other boy's eyes out of respect, he notices something that makes him leave his eyes open. Tatsuya's brown eyes are bloodshot.

Ren makes a note in his Monopad and takes a picture for the Class Trial.

"Kaida." He looks over at the girl who seems to be looking for any footsteps on the stairs.

She looks up and walks over "What is it?"

"Do you think you could read his expression for me?"

"Hmm." She makes a serious face, her eyebrows furrowing and her lower lip sticking out a bit, her typical expression when she's thinking really hard about something "Just agony. I tried to look for emotions like sadness or shock, but he just looks like his last moments were extremely painful."

Ren nods "Okay, thank you."

Kaida smiles "Any time." Then she stands up to continue her own investigation.

'There's no shock or sadness at all, huh?' Ren thinks to himself. He sighs 'I don't think anyone but me and Yano-san will have an alibi, the murder occured during nighttime.'

He looks around on the staircase. There are no other clues here.

'I should visit the places the culprit could've gotten a murder weapon from. So the kitchen, the storage room, Endo-san's lab and the chemistry lab.'

With the storage room nearby, Ren decides to go there. When he doesn't find any clues there he heads to the kitchen.

While looking around, opening cabinets, he accidentally knocks over a good "Good thing those glass cups have been replaced with metal ones..."

Maeko enters the kitchen "Dropped something?"

Ren nods "Yeah..."

"Hey, give me that for a sec." The firebreather takes the cup and taps on it "Why is this fucking thing hollow?"

"Hollow?"

"Yeah, it sounds hollow." She shrugs "Probably to save fucking metal."

"What are you doing here, Haseyama-san?" Ren asks while making a note.

"Well, since there seem to be zero clues, I've decided to look at every fucking thing that changed since Monokuma gave is the motive. I'm useless at all this smart shit so this is the least I can do."

Ren nods "Good idea. Please tell me what you found later."

"Sure will. Now fucking go already, you gotta save us." Maeko grins while shoving him out of the kitchen.

Leaving this floor, Ren continues towards Naomi's lab. The survival knives and rope are still in place, Monokuma even put back the ones that were used for the fourth murder.

"Hello, Kimura-kun." Ichiro greets him.

"Hello." Ren greets back.

"I was looking for you. I came to tell you something."

"Go ahead."

"Last night when I was in my room, like we agreed to, when I heard something. It sounded like something falling. I think it was Suzuki-kun falling down the stairs. It happened around the time of death, so I think he died when he fell."

Ren nods and makes a note "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem."

They go seperate ways again. Ren continues heading to the chemistry lab, where he finds Yukiji who's looking at the bottles.

"Found anything strange?" Ren asks her.

The cat lady almost jumps a metre into the air "N-n-no, all bottles are s-still full."

Ren looks at the photo he took when they discovered this lab and finds that Yukiji is indeed right. Nothing has changed 'What could've killed Suzuki-kun?'

"I k-know a few things about toxics, so d-don't hestitate to ask me a-about it."

Ren nods "I will."

Maeko comes running into the chemistry lab "Fucking called it! I knew I'd find you here."

"Did you find out what has changed?"

"Sure did!" Maeko places her hands on her hips, beaming with pride "First the cups, but also the sheets on the beds, the lamps in the library and the signs on the bathroom doors."

"How could you check the dorm rooms?"

"Just told Monokuma I wanted to investigate Suzuki-kun's room, and that dumbass let me." She grins "Oh, and I found something else. There was fucking blood in the sink in his bathroom other than that it was dry, think it means something?"

"Maybe." Ren sighs 'We barely have any clues... Is it even possible to find the culprit with almost no information?'

They don't get any more time to investigate either. Monokuma appears on the monitor.

Bing bong, ding dong!

"Investigation time is over! It's time for the long-awaited class trial! Please go through the red door on the first floor of the school!"