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Description
As people started to arrive at Vyn's room, taking a step in and getting the same shocking, jaw dropping, anger inciting, crestfallen view I have, I barely noted their existence. At some point during the night, Vyn, my dear sweet Vyn, was killed right next to me. I slept beside him as he bled out next to me. I am now soaked in his blood. Yet, I knew nothing. I knew absolutely nothing until this morning. How could I have not done something? Yet, all the same, I had no idea how to perceive the current situation. How could Vyn have died? Where did this metal rod come from? What the hell was even happening? Questions started to stack up, none of which receiving answers as I continued to take in the scene.

Before long, everyone had huddled in the little cabin, gazing upon the bed where Vyn lie, murdered in cold blood. Amidst the confusion, I moved off the bed and joined the crowd, surrounded by what I could only assume were my closest allies at this point: Aster, Strife, and Rick. The pink haired gypsy was the first to even speak to me, whispering, "You didn't..."

"I don't think so," I murmured back.

Aster's lips pulled back. "Think doesn't cut it here!" she squeaked. "Yes or no, did you do it?"

"I'm rolling with no," I shook my head. "Last thing I knew, I fell asleep next to Vyn after we talked about the incentive, and here we are now, with him dead." I wanted to add more emotion to my voice, but it seemed drained of anything I could possibly muster. There's a certain point with emotions based on shock that they cease to exist. Something could be so nice it exceeded words, whereas something could be so putrid a person couldn't react to it, or their reaction would only be to stare back in silence. This was how I felt. I was too angry to furrow my brow, too sad to shed a tear. My best friend is dead. My best friend. Is. Dead. Someone took him. The shock value in the death alone would have sent me into a rampage, even further knowing it would be Vyn. But, to have it happen all while I was asleep next to the boy exceeded a reaction.

"It's alright, Micky," Strife patted my arm. "I believe you. I doubt you did it."

I didn't nod, but I did metaphorically by saying, "Thanks, man. 'Preciate it."

Suddenly, our monochrome captor decided to show up, crawling out from underneath the bed to reveal himself. Monoursa brushed down his body, letting small clouds of dust float off into the air around him before disappearing from sight. The concern of how Monoursa got into the room was unfortunately superseded by the level of disgust simply by recognizing his existence, a shared feeling I sensed through the faces and body language of my fellow cross-armed, angry-eyebrowed, teeth-bared students.

Monoursa cleared his throat before starting up his usual raspy and irritating voice. "Good morning everyone! Upupupu~, it seems like someone decided to finally be a bit naughty in the night, and offed our little brainiac over here. Quite a shame, really. I was hoping it would be someone more important, but everyone knows hope is simply a figment of one's imagination."

"Hey, fuckwit," Citrus's spunky voice called out over the calamity. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"Rude!" Monoursa spat at the sprinter. "You may have the freedom of speech on this island, but I am still your principal, and demand at least a little respect, thank you very much." Monoursa pulled out a pair of broad-rimmed black glasses to place upon his nose and straighten. "But, I shall abide by your concern. It should be common knowledge, though, to all of you that this is the start of our first session in the Deadly Life rules of play. A murder has occurred, and two witnesses have seen the body. As such, an investigation period will begin. All of you will be allotted a specific amount of time to search for clues and find discriminating evidence to find the perp of the incident. Once time's up, we'll all head back to the Humilau Tunnel to start the trial."

"What's made up in the trial?" Rick employed.

"Excellent question, Mr. Chestnut!" Monoursa congratulated the SHSL Aptitude. "You see, whenever a murder takes place, the murderer has a shot of being released from captivity. The trial is built to test how well the murderer accomplished their work and evaded the public eye. In the trial, the students must debate and discuss possible ideas to how the murder happened and who the killer may have been before taking a vote in deciding who may have done it. If the murderer is caught, then the murderer will be punished. If the murderer isn't caught, everyone else will be punished."

"And what exactly do you mean by 'being punished?'" Sash added to the dialogue.

Monoursa's perpetual evil grin seemed to grow a bit more at the corner of his mouth. His statement opened with a resistant chuckle. "Upupu, that is a great question, Mr. Varz. You see, I'm a strong believer in the eye for an eye mentality. If you treat me with respect, I'll treat you with some degree of respect. If you maim me, I'll maim you. If you kill another student..." his voice trailed off.

"You'll get killed," Levi finished the statement in his ever dark, depressing voice.

"Precisely." Monoursa winked his beady eye and pointed a claw in the air. "In fact, any use of the term punishment in the school rules can be seen by that regard, for the most part. Based on the severity of the crime, I may be a tad more lenient to let something slide, but I am a bear who likes to stick to the rules and their original meaning."

I gritted my teeth, feeling the blades of their saws mesh together like gears. As if there wasn't enough death in one day, the entirety of our class could be executed if we don't find the murderer in however much time we have. If this wasn't madness, I don't know what was. Monoursa pulled out what looked like a personalized e-profile, fit with a black and white case split vertically, much like himself. "Now, I want a lot of drama and to pull out this time of murder as long as possible, so every time a murder happens, I will aide you! You all should remember that app that was perpetually downloading on your home called the Monoursa File. Well, now that app will finally come into play! Essentially, the Monoursa File is an autopsy report, giving the basics of the victim's death, being time of death and means of being killed. I am not required to give the full extent of the murder, but, by contract, I'm not allowed to lie in the Monoursa File, so feel free to use whatever I allot to you in the file as evidence for your upcoming case."

Monoursa pointed a finger in the air then dramatically pushed down on his tablet, likely to press a button. Shortly afterwards, the sound of everyone's e-profile's updating with information rang throughout the room, along with a few vibrates instead of chimes. Monoursa nodded and announced, "Well, that's all I'm going to give you for now. Good luck to everyone, and I'll call you when your time's up! Upupu and toodaloo~!" With a grand leap, Monoursa grabbed the side of the bed and swung himself below the mattress, presumably into the netherworld, leaving us all in a room with a body to investigate.

For a brief moment, I didn't really grasp the situation at hand, the fact that we had to investigate the murder of my closest friend all throughout high school. No matter how short the initial period was, I cared for him, and I couldn't bear to see him dead. Yet, at the same time, not only were our lives on the line, but so was the need to bring vengeance to Vyn. He's looking down on us now, hoping that we solve this case for the greater good, and it seems I'm the most capable to clear whatever blame has been put on me and find the true culprit. This being the case, I whipped out my e-profile and opened up the Monoursa File.

As the app opened there was a brief moment where the screen showed a monochrome vertical split of black and white with a grey crescent moon in the middle and the red scar eye on the right, likely the loading screen. However, this was overcome almost immediately, showing a picture of the deceased Vyn, his body resting face up on the bed with a metal rod sticking out of the boy's chest. With a quick swipe to the left, the details of the deceased were opened. First, basic information was provided, showing Vyn to be a 12 year old freshman at the Sanctuary Hope's Peak, also known as the SHSL Brainiac. According to the file, he was killed at 4:08 AM this morning due to a puncture wound in the chest with a diameter of just around 35 centimeters. There are effects of a chemical reaction still lingering within the body at the current time.

I clicked the power button on my e-profile and shoved the device back in my pocket. There wasn't much more new information regarding how Vyn was killed. The metal rod jutting out of his chest was the clear perpetrator of the murder, fitting probably perfectly to the measurement described in the file. The only new news comes in the time of death, being a very early morning murder, coinciding a use of chemicals on Vyn. Though not much, the file did give me some clues as to what happened, and was worth noting.

I stepped forward and steeled myself. The same sour feeling I felt as I first discovered the body started to well up in the back of my throat taking a look at the puddle of blood Vyn was floating in. Yet, I had to take a closer look, particularly at the murder weapon. The rod turned out to be more complex the more I looked at it, a fairly thin rod with a wooden handle shaped to fit inside a hand. At the merging of metal to wood, there was a piece of twine tied tightly around the metal side, laying limply over the body of the brainiac. Though, as much as I looked at the rod, I could not recollect an instance where it was seen before, or exactly what it was.

"Trying to figure out what that weapon is?" I heard the almost sickly voice of Strife call out from behind me. I turned around and nodded. Strife smiled and pointed out, "That's a harpoon, a common fishing tool. Basically, swimmers would take it out into the deep, pull back on the line, and let the tension release to have the weapon fling forward and stab a fish. Though, on land, it isn't a common weapon, due to it's lightweight properties. It can still do dangerous things, but not commonly from what I know. Basically, a close range stab or a far range through is all the damage it can do lethally."

My brow furrowed. "One, how do you know this? Two, where did this come from?"

The white haired boy shrugged. "I must've picked it up somewhere during my time in Entali. Steamgear is one of our biggest cities, entirely locked out of land by the sea, so maybe I picked it up on a field trip there."

I stepped closer to Strife, my small stature somehow towering enough over the freshman. "Where did it come from?"

Strife held out his hands in a defensive position and backed away slowly from my advances. "Relax, buddy! I'll show you where they came from in a moment. I just want you to take a look around your room first and find some other details that might be key to figuring out this mystery. You never know what may lie in the shadows of a case."

The fact that Strife insisted I look around more in the room labeled him a tad suspicious, as if he knew what happened last night, but I shrugged off the doubts. I'll have plenty of time to chew out someone when the trial came. Besides, why would he be so insistent on finding the culprit if he was the murderer? Self-assured, I took a step back and reanalyzed the room. The vast majority of the students left, leavin myself with Strife, Aster, Balthasar, and Ryu in the room. This allowed for me to properly analyze the floor a tad better, where two items previously unseen appeared in my peripherals. On Vyn's side of the bed, two very distinct pieces of evidence had appeared, a rag and a broken vial of something.

I moved forward and investigated the two objects. The rag seemed fairly new, unused before it's intended purpose in this case, whatever that may be. Meanwhile the vial was in shattered shards on the floor, a liquid having made a small mess in the area, but still containing a little bit of some clear liquid.

I reached forward and grabbed the rag, daintily holding it with my pointer finger and thumb, letting it dangle like the handkerchief of a princess. As much as I looked into the rag, I couldn't gain any information to what it was used to wipe up or anything.

Suddenly, the rag was snatched out of my hands as Aster held it strongly, fist wrapped around the cloth. "I think this was meant to sedate the victims in this case," Aster poignantly announced, fists clenched in determination.

"Sedate?" I asked.

"Yea, sedate!" Aster exclaimed. "Like, put someone into a trance, possibly not being able to act properly as such. Like, if you snuck in at night, and you were able to feel something next to you, it's likely you would wake up. But, with a strong sedative, you wouldn't sense it, because you're in a trance!"

"And you know this because..."

Aster proudly put both her fists on her hips and triumphantly said, "Intuition." My eyes half-lidded, not particularly impressed with her analysis. Noticing my expression, Aster pouted and called out, "Balthasar, come here."

The SHSL Actor immediately obeyed, coming to the girls side. Before he could ask any questions, Aster shoved the rag in his face and asked, "Does this smell like chloroform to you?"

Balthasar didn't respond. Instead, his knees grew shaky and fell underneath him, letting the boy fall unconscious, just aside the broken vial. Aster turned back towards me, a confident and smug smirk adorning her face and crossed arms. "Intuition."

I rolled my eyes, not entirely impressed with the presentation, but it was important to recognize that the rag was covered in chloroform, the probable chemical that was lingering in Vyn's body. For that matter, it was probably what kept me asleep when Vyn was murdered. Crucial information, but I'm not entirely sure where it leads in terms of there being a killer on the loose.

"Alright, that should suffice for now," Strife called out to me. "Now, how about I show you where the harpoon came from."

Suddenly enticed, I followed the white haired boy out the door as he led me out of the house. The Super High School Level Luck had a certain speed to his step, making it hard to try and catch up, rather I simply tried to stick behind him as much as possible as he took me down the length of the boardwalk to the private beach house. Upon hitting the water, Strife waded off to the side, where he stopped outside the rickety old fishing shack he had directed me away from earlier. With a grand movement of his arms, he gestured for me to enter.

I gulped and reluctantly stepped inside. The fishing shack is just what one would imagine an old, worn down shed would look like, especially on an island that relies on non-fish food primarily. For that matter, I couldn't recall any resemblence of fish during any of our meals. Why did we even have this thing? The obvious answer, of course, would be for murder supplies. Lining the walls were various rods and items for fishing, like nets, tackle boxes, and even a life raft, entirely deflated, with no pump in sight. However, on the far end of the wall was exactly what I had feared, a line of harpoons, one missing from the center, making a clear divide and a group on the left leaning on their right side counterparts.

"So, the murderer got the harpoon out of this fishing shack?" I asked.

"Yep," my white haired partner confirmed, now clearly behind me. "This may not be really that important of information, but the knowledge that the harpoon came from this shack is probably the second best evidence we have for you not being the murderer."

I spun on my heel quickly, shocked at the boy's statement. My brow furrowed, angered by the notion, but the scarf-adorned lucky student cut off my thought before I said anything. "Relax, Micky, I don't think you're the murderer. What I'm saying is your position, being all bloodied from your sleepover last night paints you as a likely candidate for murder, since you knew exactly where Vyn was, and how to get into his room. However, there are two incriminating pieces of evidence that prove your innocence. The first of which, as we've just pointed out, is that you didn't know there were harpoons on this island, let alone inside the fishing shack that, up until this point in time, you've never been inside. For that matter, I'd argue you didn't know what a harpoon was."

As much as I hated to admit it, Strife was basically pinpoint right, not just on the rumors either. I should've guessed I would be a suspect. But, on the bright side, it's good that I have him on my side to help make sure I'm not wrongfully convicted. Strife pulled at his scarf, letting his chin sink into it's silky ocean. "The other thing that I think basically frees you of a conviction is how the blood is splattered on you."

My brow raised immediately. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, think about it," Strife pointed a finger in the air in thought. "Outside the blood on your mouth and hand, maybe a bit on your sweatshirt, the entirety of the blood is on your back. It took me a bit to really figure out why while you were looking at the other pieces of evidence in the room, but then it hit me. You slept with your back to Vyn, didn't you?" I nodded. Strife smiled and crossed his arms. "Well, then that's basically clearing your name. The blood splatter from the harpoon hitting Vyn's chest would only hit your back and continue to soak it through the night because that was the side that was facing Vyn. If you were the murderer, your face and front would be covered in the blood of your victim."

"Huh, I guess you're right." For a freshman, Strife seemed pretty good at investigating. Without a doubt, he'd be an important ally to have in the future, just to assure we convict the right person. Yet, with all the data we have to clear my name, there still lies the questions of who did it, and how.

Strife looked away from me, face now buried in his scarf. "Well, as for now, I think that's the most I can get for physical evidence. We might want to split for now and collect some testimonies of people who may have been up last night or have intellect on the case we couldn't collect."

I nodded with a smile. "You betcha!"

Strife let out a lone chuckle. "Alright then, good luck in your investigating." Strife turned around and left the shack, heading back towards the boardwalk.

I followed shortly after the small boy, trying to think of who could possibly be up at four in the morning to witness the murder. For the most part, our student body doesn't seem like the kind of people who would stay up late to do anything, or wake up earlier than six for that matter. But, at the same time, I could nearly guarantee myself that there was someone up that early, someone who naturally enjoys doing things that people wouldn't normally do.

With a determined step, I walked back towards the boardwalk, but instead of walking on the pseudo-dock, I decided to take the route underneath, knowing well that there should be someone down there. Little to my surprise, I found who I had come there for, his jacket shrouding him like a cloak in the shadowy area. The water sifted around his legs, waves reaching occasionally past his knees. And, of course, his blindfold tied tight around his head looked as though he wasn't directly trying to perceive my presence. Yet, at the same time, I knew he knew I was there.

"What do you want, Hallet?" Ryu called out, keeping his cool-kid pose, cross-armed, one boot resting with the sole on the wood of the pole behind him, refusing to look in my direction as he called out.

I waded slightly closer and asked, "What do you know of what happened last night at the time of the murder?"

A smirk adorned the deviant's face. "You assume simply because I deviate from the norm on a fairly strong basis that I was conscious at the moment of the incident?" he asked rhetorically. "No matter how narrow your mindset, you are somehow correct."

Ryu pushed himself away from the wall, now standing, still cross-armed, but looking at me. "Last night, I was strolling in the dark, going on a usual round in peace, when I felt the presence of two other moving figures about the scene of the crime. There seemed to be a large commotion in that area, like a conflict of sort, but I wasn't able to discern who it was. I haven't truly been around you neanderthals enough to truly learn any voices outside that of yours and Aster's. That being said, I did recognize that they moved out of the room in unity and proceeded to the water by the fishing shack and splashed around for a long while, the scent of blood heavy on their bodies. In all likelihood, it was an assisted murder, or two individuals had the same idea of murder in the same night at the same time, and decided to cover for one another during the night." Ryu paused and turned his head away. "Unfortunately, that is the extent of my recollection. I don't know when the weapon was gathered, nor whom entered the room."

"No, don't apologize," I assured the deviant. "Your information is more than enough. In fact, it was very illuminating."

"Not an issue," Ryu nodded. "Now, depart immediately. You have more work if you wish to save your own name, Hallet. Don't pretend I haven't caught onto the whispers as well."

Ryu's words hit me hard, rattling my mind for the brief moment in which I turned to walk away. Though I could understand their ideas, it was really hard to accept that I was the prime suspect for Vyn's murder. It was granted I was given the evidence for my own innocence, plus my experience knowing my innocence, but it hurt to be so distrusted, especially with my best friend. Regardless, I had to move forward and capitalize on Ryu's testimony.

I waded back to shore and started along the boardwalk, my pants dripping from the ocean. Most the students seemed to be preoccupied in discussing and whispering their ideas to one another. Along my way, my eyes caught those of Citrus talking to Saratoga. The sprinter's eyes widened quickly before tucking herself away and gossiped with Sara, letting the guardian look at me through squinted, coy eyes. They really didn't trust me, did they?

Suddenly, a strong arm grasped at the non-bloodied hoodie sleeve. Before I could properly react, I was dragged into the warm environment of a student's cabin. As I gained my bearings, I realized that I was in Ken's room, as evidence from the forge emanating the heat. Further confirming my theory was Ken, coincided by his ever-present partner in crime, Levi, looming over me like a disembodied shadow.

"Sorry for the frighten," Ken apologized quickly, his beady eyes glancing back and forward. The quirky boy ran to the window and looked out, likely to see if anyone was watching him. Confirming his privacy, Ken ran back to me, holding out his hands as if to halt any questions. "Anyways, I've got some big, crazy news that you're gonna want to hear. Like, super mega huge crazy news. So huge. So big."

Curiosity overtook my skepticism and I said, "Well, out with it."

Ken took a deep breath and held onto the collar of his exotic shirt, preparing himself for the reveal. Breathing out, he explained himself. "Last night, I was working here at the forge, building a shield for Sara, 'cause she looked like she'd use a shield or something. She's a guardian and all. Anyways, I took a glance out the window at around 3:20 in the morning, and I saw Strife heading to the Activity Center. Now, I wasn't sure exactly what he was up to at the moment, since he could've just been thirsty, but Levi told me this mornin' that there were two chemicals missing from the Activity Center infirmary."

Ken paused for emphasis. "Chloroform and cyanide."

Description
As people started to arrive at Vyn's room, taking a step in and getting the same shocking, jaw dropping, anger inciting, crestfallen view I have, I barely noted their existence. At some point during the night, Vyn, my dear sweet Vyn, was killed right next to me. I slept beside him as he bled out next to me. I am now soaked in his blood. Yet, I knew nothing. I knew absolutely nothing until this morning. How could I have not done something? Yet, all the same, I had no idea how to perceive the current situation. How could Vyn have died? Where did this metal rod come from? What the hell was even happening? Questions started to stack up, none of which receiving answers as I continued to take in the scene.

Before long, everyone had huddled in the little cabin, gazing upon the bed where Vyn lie, murdered in cold blood. Amidst the confusion, I moved off the bed and joined the crowd, surrounded by what I could only assume were my closest allies at this point: Aster, Strife, and Rick. The pink haired gypsy was the first to even speak to me, whispering, "You didn't..."

"I don't think so," I murmured back.

Aster's lips pulled back. "Think doesn't cut it here!" she squeaked. "Yes or no, did you do it?"

"I'm rolling with no," I shook my head. "Last thing I knew, I fell asleep next to Vyn after we talked about the incentive, and here we are now, with him dead." I wanted to add more emotion to my voice, but it seemed drained of anything I could possibly muster. There's a certain point with emotions based on shock that they cease to exist. Something could be so nice it exceeded words, whereas something could be so putrid a person couldn't react to it, or their reaction would only be to stare back in silence. This was how I felt. I was too angry to furrow my brow, too sad to shed a tear. My best friend is dead. My best friend. Is. Dead. Someone took him. The shock value in the death alone would have sent me into a rampage, even further knowing it would be Vyn. But, to have it happen all while I was asleep next to the boy exceeded a reaction.

"It's alright, Micky," Strife patted my arm. "I believe you. I doubt you did it."

I didn't nod, but I did metaphorically by saying, "Thanks, man. 'Preciate it."

Suddenly, our monochrome captor decided to show up, crawling out from underneath the bed to reveal himself. Monoursa brushed down his body, letting small clouds of dust float off into the air around him before disappearing from sight. The concern of how Monoursa got into the room was unfortunately superseded by the level of disgust simply by recognizing his existence, a shared feeling I sensed through the faces and body language of my fellow cross-armed, angry-eyebrowed, teeth-bared students.

Monoursa cleared his throat before starting up his usual raspy and irritating voice. "Good morning everyone! Upupupu~, it seems like someone decided to finally be a bit naughty in the night, and offed our little brainiac over here. Quite a shame, really. I was hoping it would be someone more important, but everyone knows hope is simply a figment of one's imagination."

"Hey, fuckwit," Citrus's spunky voice called out over the calamity. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"Rude!" Monoursa spat at the sprinter. "You may have the freedom of speech on this island, but I am still your principal, and demand at least a little respect, thank you very much." Monoursa pulled out a pair of broad-rimmed black glasses to place upon his nose and straighten. "But, I shall abide by your concern. It should be common knowledge, though, to all of you that this is the start of our first session in the Deadly Life rules of play. A murder has occurred, and two witnesses have seen the body. As such, an investigation period will begin. All of you will be allotted a specific amount of time to search for clues and find discriminating evidence to find the perp of the incident. Once time's up, we'll all head back to the Humilau Tunnel to start the trial."

"What's made up in the trial?" Rick employed.

"Excellent question, Mr. Chestnut!" Monoursa congratulated the SHSL Aptitude. "You see, whenever a murder takes place, the murderer has a shot of being released from captivity. The trial is built to test how well the murderer accomplished their work and evaded the public eye. In the trial, the students must debate and discuss possible ideas to how the murder happened and who the killer may have been before taking a vote in deciding who may have done it. If the murderer is caught, then the murderer will be punished. If the murderer isn't caught, everyone else will be punished."

"And what exactly do you mean by 'being punished?'" Sash added to the dialogue.

Monoursa's perpetual evil grin seemed to grow a bit more at the corner of his mouth. His statement opened with a resistant chuckle. "Upupu, that is a great question, Mr. Varz. You see, I'm a strong believer in the eye for an eye mentality. If you treat me with respect, I'll treat you with some degree of respect. If you maim me, I'll maim you. If you kill another student..." his voice trailed off.

"You'll get killed," Levi finished the statement in his ever dark, depressing voice.

"Precisely." Monoursa winked his beady eye and pointed a claw in the air. "In fact, any use of the term punishment in the school rules can be seen by that regard, for the most part. Based on the severity of the crime, I may be a tad more lenient to let something slide, but I am a bear who likes to stick to the rules and their original meaning."

I gritted my teeth, feeling the blades of their saws mesh together like gears. As if there wasn't enough death in one day, the entirety of our class could be executed if we don't find the murderer in however much time we have. If this wasn't madness, I don't know what was. Monoursa pulled out what looked like a personalized e-profile, fit with a black and white case split vertically, much like himself. "Now, I want a lot of drama and to pull out this time of murder as long as possible, so every time a murder happens, I will aide you! You all should remember that app that was perpetually downloading on your home called the Monoursa File. Well, now that app will finally come into play! Essentially, the Monoursa File is an autopsy report, giving the basics of the victim's death, being time of death and means of being killed. I am not required to give the full extent of the murder, but, by contract, I'm not allowed to lie in the Monoursa File, so feel free to use whatever I allot to you in the file as evidence for your upcoming case."

Monoursa pointed a finger in the air then dramatically pushed down on his tablet, likely to press a button. Shortly afterwards, the sound of everyone's e-profile's updating with information rang throughout the room, along with a few vibrates instead of chimes. Monoursa nodded and announced, "Well, that's all I'm going to give you for now. Good luck to everyone, and I'll call you when your time's up! Upupu and toodaloo~!" With a grand leap, Monoursa grabbed the side of the bed and swung himself below the mattress, presumably into the netherworld, leaving us all in a room with a body to investigate.

For a brief moment, I didn't really grasp the situation at hand, the fact that we had to investigate the murder of my closest friend all throughout high school. No matter how short the initial period was, I cared for him, and I couldn't bear to see him dead. Yet, at the same time, not only were our lives on the line, but so was the need to bring vengeance to Vyn. He's looking down on us now, hoping that we solve this case for the greater good, and it seems I'm the most capable to clear whatever blame has been put on me and find the true culprit. This being the case, I whipped out my e-profile and opened up the Monoursa File.

As the app opened there was a brief moment where the screen showed a monochrome vertical split of black and white with a grey crescent moon in the middle and the red scar eye on the right, likely the loading screen. However, this was overcome almost immediately, showing a picture of the deceased Vyn, his body resting face up on the bed with a metal rod sticking out of the boy's chest. With a quick swipe to the left, the details of the deceased were opened. First, basic information was provided, showing Vyn to be a 12 year old freshman at the Sanctuary Hope's Peak, also known as the SHSL Brainiac. According to the file, he was killed at 4:08 AM this morning due to a puncture wound in the chest with a diameter of just around 35 centimeters. There are effects of a chemical reaction still lingering within the body at the current time.

I clicked the power button on my e-profile and shoved the device back in my pocket. There wasn't much more new information regarding how Vyn was killed. The metal rod jutting out of his chest was the clear perpetrator of the murder, fitting probably perfectly to the measurement described in the file. The only new news comes in the time of death, being a very early morning murder, coinciding a use of chemicals on Vyn. Though not much, the file did give me some clues as to what happened, and was worth noting.

I stepped forward and steeled myself. The same sour feeling I felt as I first discovered the body started to well up in the back of my throat taking a look at the puddle of blood Vyn was floating in. Yet, I had to take a closer look, particularly at the murder weapon. The rod turned out to be more complex the more I looked at it, a fairly thin rod with a wooden handle shaped to fit inside a hand. At the merging of metal to wood, there was a piece of twine tied tightly around the metal side, laying limply over the body of the brainiac. Though, as much as I looked at the rod, I could not recollect an instance where it was seen before, or exactly what it was.

"Trying to figure out what that weapon is?" I heard the almost sickly voice of Strife call out from behind me. I turned around and nodded. Strife smiled and pointed out, "That's a harpoon, a common fishing tool. Basically, swimmers would take it out into the deep, pull back on the line, and let the tension release to have the weapon fling forward and stab a fish. Though, on land, it isn't a common weapon, due to it's lightweight properties. It can still do dangerous things, but not commonly from what I know. Basically, a close range stab or a far range through is all the damage it can do lethally."

My brow furrowed. "One, how do you know this? Two, where did this come from?"

The white haired boy shrugged. "I must've picked it up somewhere during my time in Entali. Steamgear is one of our biggest cities, entirely locked out of land by the sea, so maybe I picked it up on a field trip there."

I stepped closer to Strife, my small stature somehow towering enough over the freshman. "Where did it come from?"

Strife held out his hands in a defensive position and backed away slowly from my advances. "Relax, buddy! I'll show you where they came from in a moment. I just want you to take a look around your room first and find some other details that might be key to figuring out this mystery. You never know what may lie in the shadows of a case."

The fact that Strife insisted I look around more in the room labeled him a tad suspicious, as if he knew what happened last night, but I shrugged off the doubts. I'll have plenty of time to chew out someone when the trial came. Besides, why would he be so insistent on finding the culprit if he was the murderer? Self-assured, I took a step back and reanalyzed the room. The vast majority of the students left, leavin myself with Strife, Aster, Balthasar, and Ryu in the room. This allowed for me to properly analyze the floor a tad better, where two items previously unseen appeared in my peripherals. On Vyn's side of the bed, two very distinct pieces of evidence had appeared, a rag and a broken vial of something.

I moved forward and investigated the two objects. The rag seemed fairly new, unused before it's intended purpose in this case, whatever that may be. Meanwhile the vial was in shattered shards on the floor, a liquid having made a small mess in the area, but still containing a little bit of some clear liquid.

I reached forward and grabbed the rag, daintily holding it with my pointer finger and thumb, letting it dangle like the handkerchief of a princess. As much as I looked into the rag, I couldn't gain any information to what it was used to wipe up or anything.

Suddenly, the rag was snatched out of my hands as Aster held it strongly, fist wrapped around the cloth. "I think this was meant to sedate the victims in this case," Aster poignantly announced, fists clenched in determination.

"Sedate?" I asked.

"Yea, sedate!" Aster exclaimed. "Like, put someone into a trance, possibly not being able to act properly as such. Like, if you snuck in at night, and you were able to feel something next to you, it's likely you would wake up. But, with a strong sedative, you wouldn't sense it, because you're in a trance!"

"And you know this because..."

Aster proudly put both her fists on her hips and triumphantly said, "Intuition." My eyes half-lidded, not particularly impressed with her analysis. Noticing my expression, Aster pouted and called out, "Balthasar, come here."

The SHSL Actor immediately obeyed, coming to the girls side. Before he could ask any questions, Aster shoved the rag in his face and asked, "Does this smell like chloroform to you?"

Balthasar didn't respond. Instead, his knees grew shaky and fell underneath him, letting the boy fall unconscious, just aside the broken vial. Aster turned back towards me, a confident and smug smirk adorning her face and crossed arms. "Intuition."

I rolled my eyes, not entirely impressed with the presentation, but it was important to recognize that the rag was covered in chloroform, the probable chemical that was lingering in Vyn's body. For that matter, it was probably what kept me asleep when Vyn was murdered. Crucial information, but I'm not entirely sure where it leads in terms of there being a killer on the loose.

"Alright, that should suffice for now," Strife called out to me. "Now, how about I show you where the harpoon came from."

Suddenly enticed, I followed the white haired boy out the door as he led me out of the house. The Super High School Level Luck had a certain speed to his step, making it hard to try and catch up, rather I simply tried to stick behind him as much as possible as he took me down the length of the boardwalk to the private beach house. Upon hitting the water, Strife waded off to the side, where he stopped outside the rickety old fishing shack he had directed me away from earlier. With a grand movement of his arms, he gestured for me to enter.

I gulped and reluctantly stepped inside. The fishing shack is just what one would imagine an old, worn down shed would look like, especially on an island that relies on non-fish food primarily. For that matter, I couldn't recall any resemblence of fish during any of our meals. Why did we even have this thing? The obvious answer, of course, would be for murder supplies. Lining the walls were various rods and items for fishing, like nets, tackle boxes, and even a life raft, entirely deflated, with no pump in sight. However, on the far end of the wall was exactly what I had feared, a line of harpoons, one missing from the center, making a clear divide and a group on the left leaning on their right side counterparts.

"So, the murderer got the harpoon out of this fishing shack?" I asked.

"Yep," my white haired partner confirmed, now clearly behind me. "This may not be really that important of information, but the knowledge that the harpoon came from this shack is probably the second best evidence we have for you not being the murderer."

I spun on my heel quickly, shocked at the boy's statement. My brow furrowed, angered by the notion, but the scarf-adorned lucky student cut off my thought before I said anything. "Relax, Micky, I don't think you're the murderer. What I'm saying is your position, being all bloodied from your sleepover last night paints you as a likely candidate for murder, since you knew exactly where Vyn was, and how to get into his room. However, there are two incriminating pieces of evidence that prove your innocence. The first of which, as we've just pointed out, is that you didn't know there were harpoons on this island, let alone inside the fishing shack that, up until this point in time, you've never been inside. For that matter, I'd argue you didn't know what a harpoon was."

As much as I hated to admit it, Strife was basically pinpoint right, not just on the rumors either. I should've guessed I would be a suspect. But, on the bright side, it's good that I have him on my side to help make sure I'm not wrongfully convicted. Strife pulled at his scarf, letting his chin sink into it's silky ocean. "The other thing that I think basically frees you of a conviction is how the blood is splattered on you."

My brow raised immediately. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, think about it," Strife pointed a finger in the air in thought. "Outside the blood on your mouth and hand, maybe a bit on your sweatshirt, the entirety of the blood is on your back. It took me a bit to really figure out why while you were looking at the other pieces of evidence in the room, but then it hit me. You slept with your back to Vyn, didn't you?" I nodded. Strife smiled and crossed his arms. "Well, then that's basically clearing your name. The blood splatter from the harpoon hitting Vyn's chest would only hit your back and continue to soak it through the night because that was the side that was facing Vyn. If you were the murderer, your face and front would be covered in the blood of your victim."

"Huh, I guess you're right." For a freshman, Strife seemed pretty good at investigating. Without a doubt, he'd be an important ally to have in the future, just to assure we convict the right person. Yet, with all the data we have to clear my name, there still lies the questions of who did it, and how.

Strife looked away from me, face now buried in his scarf. "Well, as for now, I think that's the most I can get for physical evidence. We might want to split for now and collect some testimonies of people who may have been up last night or have intellect on the case we couldn't collect."

I nodded with a smile. "You betcha!"

Strife let out a lone chuckle. "Alright then, good luck in your investigating." Strife turned around and left the shack, heading back towards the boardwalk.

I followed shortly after the small boy, trying to think of who could possibly be up at four in the morning to witness the murder. For the most part, our student body doesn't seem like the kind of people who would stay up late to do anything, or wake up earlier than six for that matter. But, at the same time, I could nearly guarantee myself that there was someone up that early, someone who naturally enjoys doing things that people wouldn't normally do.

With a determined step, I walked back towards the boardwalk, but instead of walking on the pseudo-dock, I decided to take the route underneath, knowing well that there should be someone down there. Little to my surprise, I found who I had come there for, his jacket shrouding him like a cloak in the shadowy area. The water sifted around his legs, waves reaching occasionally past his knees. And, of course, his blindfold tied tight around his head looked as though he wasn't directly trying to perceive my presence. Yet, at the same time, I knew he knew I was there.

"What do you want, Hallet?" Ryu called out, keeping his cool-kid pose, cross-armed, one boot resting with the sole on the wood of the pole behind him, refusing to look in my direction as he called out.

I waded slightly closer and asked, "What do you know of what happened last night at the time of the murder?"

A smirk adorned the deviant's face. "You assume simply because I deviate from the norm on a fairly strong basis that I was conscious at the moment of the incident?" he asked rhetorically. "No matter how narrow your mindset, you are somehow correct."

Ryu pushed himself away from the wall, now standing, still cross-armed, but looking at me. "Last night, I was strolling in the dark, going on a usual round in peace, when I felt the presence of two other moving figures about the scene of the crime. There seemed to be a large commotion in that area, like a conflict of sort, but I wasn't able to discern who it was. I haven't truly been around you neanderthals enough to truly learn any voices outside that of yours and Aster's. That being said, I did recognize that they moved out of the room in unity and proceeded to the water by the fishing shack and splashed around for a long while, the scent of blood heavy on their bodies. In all likelihood, it was an assisted murder, or two individuals had the same idea of murder in the same night at the same time, and decided to cover for one another during the night." Ryu paused and turned his head away. "Unfortunately, that is the extent of my recollection. I don't know when the weapon was gathered, nor whom entered the room."

"No, don't apologize," I assured the deviant. "Your information is more than enough. In fact, it was very illuminating."

"Not an issue," Ryu nodded. "Now, depart immediately. You have more work if you wish to save your own name, Hallet. Don't pretend I haven't caught onto the whispers as well."

Ryu's words hit me hard, rattling my mind for the brief moment in which I turned to walk away. Though I could understand their ideas, it was really hard to accept that I was the prime suspect for Vyn's murder. It was granted I was given the evidence for my own innocence, plus my experience knowing my innocence, but it hurt to be so distrusted, especially with my best friend. Regardless, I had to move forward and capitalize on Ryu's testimony.

I waded back to shore and started along the boardwalk, my pants dripping from the ocean. Most the students seemed to be preoccupied in discussing and whispering their ideas to one another. Along my way, my eyes caught those of Citrus talking to Saratoga. The sprinter's eyes widened quickly before tucking herself away and gossiped with Sara, letting the guardian look at me through squinted, coy eyes. They really didn't trust me, did they?

Suddenly, a strong arm grasped at the non-bloodied hoodie sleeve. Before I could properly react, I was dragged into the warm environment of a student's cabin. As I gained my bearings, I realized that I was in Ken's room, as evidence from the forge emanating the heat. Further confirming my theory was Ken, coincided by his ever-present partner in crime, Levi, looming over me like a disembodied shadow.

"Sorry for the frighten," Ken apologized quickly, his beady eyes glancing back and forward. The quirky boy ran to the window and looked out, likely to see if anyone was watching him. Confirming his privacy, Ken ran back to me, holding out his hands as if to halt any questions. "Anyways, I've got some big, crazy news that you're gonna want to hear. Like, super mega huge crazy news. So huge. So big."

Curiosity overtook my skepticism and I said, "Well, out with it."

Ken took a deep breath and held onto the collar of his exotic shirt, preparing himself for the reveal. Breathing out, he explained himself. "Last night, I was working here at the forge, building a shield for Sara, 'cause she looked like she'd use a shield or something. She's a guardian and all. Anyways, I took a glance out the window at around 3:20 in the morning, and I saw Strife heading to the Activity Center. Now, I wasn't sure exactly what he was up to at the moment, since he could've just been thirsty, but Levi told me this mornin' that there were two chemicals missing from the Activity Center infirmary."

Ken paused for emphasis. "Chloroform and cyanide."