Danganronpa: Until Proven Guilty

Chapter Two - 5: Second Coming of Murder

now that i have officially run out of character aesthetics to put as the image headers for each chapter, i'm wondering what you might like to see from me!
maybe memes? splash arts? cgs? let me know in the comments, because i feel like chapters without images look so bland :((

—
They say that swimming is probably one of the most tiring exercises. And the aching in my joints as I slowly drift out of my deep sleep seems to prove that saying entirely correct. Each movement sends pain shooting through me. I've clearly pulled something in my right leg but, trying to ignore the discomfort, I pull myself out of my bed and start to get ready for the day.

As always, I brush through my hair in preparation to wash it. The chlorine from yesterday leaves it scraggly, as if I'm combing through straw, but I have to persist.
Slowly, I unbutton the silk white shirt of my pyjama set and slide off the bottoms, folding them both and placing them neatly on my unmade bedsheets. I'll succumb to that pain later.
I let down my strawberry blonde locks from the ponytail I had kept them in overnight, the wispiness of each hair tickling my bare skin.

I'm just about to step in the shower.
Before I hear a knock on my door.
A desperate and panicked knock. Like they're begging to see me. Like it's so important they have to speak to me at this very moment.
This can't be good.
Heart pumping in my chest, I throw my pyjamas back on, crying out to the person as I reassure them I'm coming. As I stumble over the clothes on my floor, I throw the door open.

I don't even have time to register who it is before they fling themselves into my arms, engulfing me in a tight hug. Their arms wrap around my waist, as they bury their head in my chest, sobbing.
"Haruka?" I say, looking down at her purple space buns, "What happened? Is everything okay?"
Haruka doesn't uncover her face, remaining nestled between the buttons on my pyjamas, "Thank god you're okay! I-it's horrible..."
"What's horrible?" I feel my heart beat more rapidly, slamming against my rib cage, "God, what happened?"
"Someone's dead!" She screams, her sobs growing louder as she drops to her knees in a distraught mess.
Panic shoots through my brain, a splitting headache already forming. My heart drops to my stomach and I don't know how long my legs will keep my weight.

Someone can't be dead. It's not true.

"Who?" I say, slamming my dorm room door behind me, "Where?"
"The pool." Another voice says, a sound that should be so smooth, so captivating, but only distorted by the cracking of his voice.
Shiro stands, his breaths sharp and shallow. His face is so sickly pale, as if all the life has been drained from him. But yet I can feel a sickness brewing in my stomach. A sick, nervous feeling, burning through me.
I have to run there.
Without thinking for another second, I dart down the corridor. My bare feet tap against the hard wooden floor. I don't look back once. I ignore Haruka and Shiro's cries protesting for me to stop.
I just keep running. Out onto the concrete, the stones piercing the skin under my feet. But I keep going, the cold air blowing on my face as I charge across campus.

"A body has been discovered!" The loudspeaker screeches to life, its noise radiating across the campus with a deadly echo, "You will now receive an allotted time of three hours to gather evidence for a class trial! Find the killer! Bring justice! Happy investigatin'!"
Damn, that bear.
The announcement sends another chill down my spine as I burst through the doors of the Entertainment Building, scrambling up the stairs to the second floor. Tiles line the floor, and I know I'm merely metres away from a tragedy. A dead body.

I race through the locker rooms and into the pool, to be greeted by a sizeable group of people.
Mitsuharu appears to have just run in from the boys' locker room, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. Perhaps he'd been desperately running here like me, needing to see the body. Needing to know.
"What's happened?" His voice is raised much louder than usual, an almost shocking tone that would seem so out of place in any other situation, "Who's dead?"
Kuroko spins around, grasping Aki's hand delicately as tears stream down her face, "I-I don't know. I can't see who it is."