Cabin Fever

Chapter 1 - Deadly Life

Muffled but urgent footsteps approach the area from different directions and everyone who arrives has their own reaction to the crime scene in front of them. Hikaru curses, Kenji tries to comfort a sobbing Chinami and Jihun asks Mana to wake up because the joke isn't funny.

Upon arriving himself, Hachiro sinks to his knees while tears flood his eyes. He hasn't even moved an inch since arriving, all the boy can do is stare while silent tears fall.

"Who... who would even want to kill her..." The clown whispers.

Youta rubs Hachiro's upper back, a similiar gesture to what Mana usually did. And although he doesn't say anything, he throws a glare at Kaori's back. Fortunately, the otologist is focused on the body, touching her chin while she seems lost in thought, otherwise another fight would have broken out.

Much to everyone's surprise, after arriving, Minoru didn't pay much attention on the body. Instead, he had chosen to embrace Eri tightly. Although the doll maker had tried to push him away at first, she eventually accepted the gesture and is now holding onto the ghost hunter as if her own life depends on it. Her breaths are shallow and so fast-paced that multiple people have expressed concern about her well-being. Still, she keeps muttering inaudible words while Minoru gently pets her hair and tries to offer some words of comfort.

"Finally, the first blood has been spilled!" Monokuma suddenly appears, rubbing the back of his head with a smile "Well, there's no blood, but you get the idea."

"What the hell do you want?" Arisa reaches for a knife without even batting an eye and glares at the bear.

"You're here to explain what the "certain amount of time" between the announcement and class trial involves, aren't you?" Juro asks, furrowing his brows.

"Bingo! Five points to Sasaki!" Monokuma mocks "That's right. Since the spotless students have to find the blackened during the class trial, you're going to gather some evidence during the investigation." He chuckles, holding a paw in front of his grinning mouth "But don't worry. Since you're a bunch of noobs when it comes to investigating, I've decided to give you guys a bit of a headstart with the Monokuma file, which contains a lot of useful information surrounding the murder. It's in your monopads. Good luck!"

Then he's gone again, something the ultimates have gotten fairly used to by now, although it never becomes any less unsettling.

After a moment of mainly silence, with quiet sobbing from Eri in the background, Juro fidgets with his earring while muttering "So... Should we form groups for the investigation?"

"Why is that necessary?" Kaya asks, placing her hands on her hips while tilting her head to the side "I doubt anyone's gonna attempt murder now. One victim is enough to get out as long as you don't get caught, right?"

"The culprit may try destroying evidence, if we don't keep an eye on them." Ryoko responds through her monopad, having read everyone's lips now that people aren't talking at the same time "But we don't know who the culprit is, so we need to keep an eye on everyone."

Kenji nods "Yuuma-san is right. No offence to anyone, but nobody can be left alone for now." He sighs, touching his necklace "We should let two or three people guard the crime scene too."

"I can do that." Hikaru raises a hand while smiling before he puts a hand on his hip.

"I volunteer too. I can handle seeing a corpse." Ryoko comments, holding her monopad in both hands with a blank expression.

"I'll stay too." Youta sighs and puts a hand on his chest. His breathing hasn't fully recovered from running yet.

"Ebisu-kun..." Juro begins, hesitating a little while kneeling down next to the boy so they're on eye level "Do you... want to work together to... find the culprit?"