(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

The entire world seemed to have just... stopped.

Everything's spinning – I can hear something – is someone screaming? Is it Arata? Yuki? I don't understand what's happening – I can't see, everything's spinning. The hedges. The mist. Yuki. Arata...

I'm on the ground now. I think I'm on the ground. I can just make out Yuki's face like it's a million miles away, like I'm looking at her from underwater. Is she shaking me? Is she saying something? I don't know. I think she is.

Next thing I realise, I'm gasping and spluttering – the cold air is sharp and burns in my lungs. I can hear my heartbeat pounding like a drum – thudding in my ears. Everything is too clear and too confusing all at once. I don't know what's going on.

“I was meant to look after his drink.”

I'd choked the words out. Suddenly, time seems to rush forwards again to catch up with me and I let out a strangled sob as the true reality of what's in front of me kicks in.

Arata's body is propped up in one of the silver benches, blood staining through his teal jacket from his wrists, and dripping down onto the ground below. His lifeless eyes are wide, gazing blindly right at me as a terrified Yuki helps me back up from the ground. There's a knife in his right hand, the steel coated in crimson.

“Wh-what do we do?” I cry. Yuki and I are holding one another up at this point, clinging to one another desperately. She's shaking her head, her eyes wide and fearful. I can feel hot tears running down my face, but she's managing to hold it together a little bit better than I am.

“I d-d-don't know,” she stammers. “W-we need to get the others, don't we?”

“Way ahead of ya, kiddos!”

I hadn't even heard the monitor switch on, but right on cue, Monokuma's image fills the screen. He's rubbing his paws together and seems to be shaking.

“Normally I'd wait til someone else turned up on their own merit but this maze is just a doozy! We could end up here for hours. So I've asked 'em all to get their asses over here! Ooh, this is just perfect!” he cheers. “I'd cry tears of joy if I wasn't so busy! Woo-hoo! Finally, someone started being interesting!”

“Shut the fuck up!” I spit, venomously. “He's fucking dead! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Kei, Kei, Kei...” He sits up and shakes his head now in mock sympathy. “The lil' country beatnik might have kicked the bucket, but that's just one less person to worry about, right? Your real priority now is workin' out who did him in! Now wait a sec – I got something to do.”

The screen fizzles out for a second, leaving us with the silence, and Arata's body. The both of us just shiver, still clutching onto each other, but then Monokuma reappears on the monitor.

“You're gonna wanna hold on to somethng – this is a tricky bit...”

And before either of us can move, there's a sudden groan – like some enormous machine being powered up. The ground seems to lurch beneath our feet and we stumble forwards, crashing down in a heap on the frosty grass as the hedges around us suddenly start shifting in a circular motion. Here in the centre of the maze the ground seems to stay in place, but as far as I can tell, every hedge is turning and shifting and pulling away from each other, with a strange constant clatter like a train on a track.

As Yuki and I watch in astonishment, the hedges start to line up with one another, forming one straight path straight ahead, where – through the mist – I can just make out the faint silhouettes of the others, all assembled in a group. The hedges finish their rearrangement with a final dull clunk of machinery, and silence falls yet again.

As soon as the hedges stop moving, the others are running towards us. Masashi is the front of the pack, and he shoves past me, wide-eyed, to see Arata's body.

Miniro soundlessly extends his hand out to Yuki, while an ashen-faced Cho does the same for me. No one says a word. No one knows what to say at all really. The tears are still stinging my face, and I can see I'm not the only one. The others faces are a display of horror, and shock, and fear, and sorrow, and despair...

And then...

Ding dong dong ding!

The cheerful trill of the intercom boomed out across the Maze, and the monitor buzzed back into life. There were other monitors visible along the wall of hedges, all displaying Monokuma's glee as he announced, “A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the Class Trial will begin!”

“C-Class Trial?” Blessing stammers.

“Never mind that!” Yamato yells, throwing his arms wide. “What about Arata? Is he definitely dead?”

“Definitely,” Ayaka says, gravely. “With this amount of... amount of blood-” She brings a hand to her mouth and chokes back a sob. “I-I'm sorry...”

“But... why?” Fumio says, stunned. “We were all only with him a little while ago.”

“And then ya weren't!” Monokuma cries, appearing atop the fountain. “Look, I may have been a little hasty, so now's where I fill you all in on the Class Trial.”

“We need to move him first!” Miniro roars, taking a step towards the bench. “It's disrespectful to just leave him there like that.”

“Oh, no, no, no, Popeye!” Monokuma chastises. “You can't disturb the crime scene!”

“C-crime scene?”

“Well, what else would ya call it?” Monokuma sighs. “Okay, now listen up! What you just heard over the intercom there was the Body Discovery Announcement – it rings out when three or more people discover a body, 'kay? If you can't keep up you get left behind. Much like the dearly departed Mr Summerfield here!”

“This isn't funny!” I shout. “You can't make this happen and then make fucking jokes!”

“Ooh, temper on that one, huh?” Monokuma says to the others, pointing a paw at me. “Always gotta keep an eye on the nice kids – they always end up the most dangerous ones! But, I digress! Back to business! Once a body is discovered, you'll all get a certain amount of time – pretty much as long as I wanna give you – to investigate the murder, gather clues, and be some proper lil' Sherlocks!

“And then it gets to the interesting bit! Once you've gathered your clues and whatever, you all get to face off in a Class Trial, and attempt to determine the killer! It's all about usin' the ol' noodle! The lil' grey cells! Or just the empty space in your noggin, for some of you.” He makes a gesture and a sound like he's clearing his throat. “During the Trial you'll use your evidence to find the culprit, and then determine by majority vote who that is! If you guys are smart and vote for the right person, only they receive a punishment, but if you vote for the wrong person, then the guilty party gets off scot-free, and you all get punished in their place!”

“This is insane!” cries Masashi. “You can't genuinely believe that that's even possible, can you?”

Monokuma shrugs. “Hey, I'm holdin' all the cards here – don't cause a scene, 'specially because it's disrespectful to the recently deceased to try and steal the limelight, y'know? Anyway, I'm getting bored of explaining stuff to you bastards, so if you'll be so kind as to check your ElectroIDs, you'll find...”

Bleep!

I hadn't even realised I was still clutching my ElectroID in my hand, and I held it up to see a small icon flash across the screen, with a label: MONOKUMA FILE #1.

“If you kids like autopsy reports, and I know you do,” Monokuma cackles, “then this'll come as a real big treat to ya! It has a brief rundown of the victim and whatever, blah blah blah. Y'know what? Show some initiative – work it out yourselves! Jeez, at this rate I'll end up tellin' you all who's guilty myself!”

And with that he bounces away in a monochromatic flash.

“I... I suppose we have to get started then,” Mitsu says, shakily. She looks at me and suddenly its as if I'm seeing her for the first time. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, and seems to regain some of her composure. “Okay, yes, we need to do this.”

“This... this is really happening?” Cho asks.

“And how do we even start?” Yamato grimaces. “This is just... fuck, I don't know...”

“Well, I'd say we take a look over this first, wouldn't you?” Haru asks, waving his ElectroID at us.

A few of us exchange looks.

“Monokuma... s-said it was like an autopsy report,” Daisuke whimpers. He's trembling and tugging at the sleeves of his long-sleeved jumper. “C-can he really be dead?”

“We... we need to get past that right now,” Miniro says, sadly. “It seems that's the reality we're facing now. It's what happens next we need to focus on.”

“This... Class Trial the bear was talking about,” Kimi says, “I don't suppose there is anything we can do to prevent it taking place?”

“I'd say we lost that chance as soon as Arata died,” Fumio sighs, shaking his head.

“I just... I can't... I can't believe it,” I mumble. “Why would someone kill Arata?”

“That's what we have to determine,” Mitsu says, grimly. “And Haru's right. This... Monokuma File seems to be our starting point.”

I look down at the ElectroID in my shaking hand, and press the MONOKUMA FILE #1 label. The label opens up to display a blank screen for a second, and then a spinning Monokuma logo appears onscreen, splitting in half to reveal a page of information. First is a full-body black-and-white photo of Arata, with the word 'dead' emblazoned across it in blood red writing.

At the side of this is a header displaying Arata's full name, and then a breakdown of some information – Arata's height, weight, blood type, and birthday. I swipe my finger over the screen, partly just because it hurts to see Arata's smiling face on the screen, but what comes next hurts even more.

It's an image of what's exactly in front of us – Arata's corpse. Monokuma must have taken it using one of the security cameras. I try to block it out and read what's marked out below.

The victim's body was discovered at the centre of the Maze in the Castle Grounds. The estimated time of death is 7.35pm. The victim appears to have suffered knife wounds to both wrists, resulting in death. No chemicals such as poison were detected.

He's really dead... Arata's really, really dead. It's like everything happening now is just a new sharp reminder, like a wire to my brain. I feel like I'm in a movie – seeing the world through someone else's eyes – like it's real but it's not...

The tears have stopped – but I've screwed my eyes shut tight and it hurts and I just my head to stop spinning. It's all happening again – fuck, why can't it just stop?!

“Kei!”

The voice snaps me back out of my dizziness, and I realise I've fallen to the ground, and I numbly register the way I've landed has ripped through one of the knees of my jeans. I'm probably bleeding, but right now I don't even care.

Yamato and Ayaka are at my side. Yamato's holding my arm to keep me upright while Ayaka is squinting intently at me, trying to hold my head straight.

“I-I'm okay,” I say. “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay, man,” Yamato replies. “You had us worried for a sec there.”

“You should go sit down,” Ayaka tells me. “Or lie down even. The shock's hit you pretty hard.”

“But I can't,” I reply,”can I? I... I need to help. We need to do this together or we'll all end up dead. And we need to do this for... for Arata.”

I push myself up off the ground again. I still feel kind of weak and dizzy, and my knee is stinging where I've tore through my jeans. I take a deep breath and loosen one of my shirt buttons and my tie.

“Well, before we get started,” Kaori says, “we should try and cover all our bases, right?”

“How d'you mean?” asks Cho.

“If we've got to look for clues then we have a lot of places to look,” Kaori replies, looking round at us. Her gaze lingers on Arata's body for a few seconds before moving on. “Arata went from the Theatre, back to the Castle, and then ended up here in the Maze. We should divide ourselves up and see what we can find that way.”

“That's a good idea,” Mitsu agrees. “That way, even if one person misses something, then someone else is less likely to miss the same thing.”

“I... I'm going back to the Castle,” Masashi says. His usual severity has completely gone, replaced with... is it panic? Fear? “I... I...”

His sentence dies in his throat, with an afterlife as a small choke. Without another word, he takes one last look over at Arata and stomps off back down the line of hedges that had formerly been a maze.

Some of the others start to trail off, til all that's left in the little clearing here are Mitsu, Haru, Miniro, Cho, and Ayaka. Miniro and Cho have volunteered to guard the crime scene just in the offchance that someone tried to mess about with things. Mitsu's beckoned Ayaka over, and the two of them are inspecting Arata's body. And Haru's standing at the base of the fountain, gazing at it like he's just inspecting a sculpture in an art gallery.

I'm still trying to pull myself together, and I find myself sort of awkwardly trudging over to the mysterious boy.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “Shouldn't we be looking for important stuff?”

“I might be,” he answers, shortly. He's rubbing his chin like he's deep in thought about something. “A few of you guys came in here the other day, right?

“That's right,” I reply. He nods and slides his hands in his pockets.

“Did you come all the way to the centre here?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I frown. “What are you getting at?”

“Well, this should be easy then,” he sighs. “What's different about this place from how it was before?”

“You mean besides...” I trail off, feeling that dizziness starting again.

“Yeah, besides the obvious,” he says. He rolls his eyes and turns to face me, taking a hand out of his pocket to clutch my arm, tightly. “Look, you need to keep it together, okay? If you can't accept what's happened and get on with things then it's gonna hold you back, and in turn that's gonna hold the rest of us back. I can't go out of my way to be super sweet and delicate right now, but if there's one thing I can be, it's honest. D'you understand?”

I nod again, taking small, sharp breaths that hang in the air in small glittering crystals before they disappear in the breeze. I run a hand through my hair and let out one more deep breath.

“I can do this,” I say. “I have to do this.”

“Good,” he says. His gaze seems to burn right into me for a second, like that weird intensity from yesterday. He finally loosens his grip on my arm and gives me a small, satisfied nod. “Okay, now what looks wrong about this fountain?”

I find myself frowning. It looks the exact same as it had the other day, as far as I can remember – from the tip of the water-spewing Monokuma, to the thick, square base set into the ground.

“I'm not just gonna tell you,” Haru informs me. “I need to know if I'm right. Walk round it.”

I give him a look and slowly start to walk around the fountain in a circle. I'm only a few paces round when I realise what he's talking about.

“You mean that line, don't you?” I ask. “There's like a weird line near the top of the base here.”

The fountain, much like everything else in the Castle Grounds, was coated in a fine layer of frost, and after walking round the fountain a little I could now see a weirdly angled line at just about waist height, on the base of the fountain.

“Do you remember seeing it before?” he asks.

“I... don't think so,” I say, shaking my head. “No, in fact, there wasn't any marks on anything – just the frost and snow.”

“Check this side here now,” he says, indicating the side facing the benches. I give him a quizzical look, but he just inclines his head insistently and I do as he tells me, moving round to inspect the other side.

The line in the frost seems to stop at the corners, and this side is clear of the line, however there's a bunch of weird sort of shapes like... like...

“Like Picasso did a snow angel,” Haru comments. “Were they there the other day?”

I shake my head. “No, I'm pretty sure I didn't see any of that.”

“Then I'd say that's your starting point, right?” he says.

Bleep!

I look down at my ElectroID. Like how the Monokuma File label had appeared, two new ones had appeared: LINE ON FOUNTAIN BASE and SHAPE ON FOUNTAIN BASE.

“It just... does it automatically?” I frown.

“Weird, huh?” Haru nods. “Mine did the same. Big Brother is always watching, I guess.”

A ripple of uneasiness runs over me again, and I hit the lock button on the ElectroID and slide it back in the pocket of my jeans.

“Not yet,” Haru says, shaking his head at me. “You may as well keep it out. You missed something.”

I glance down at the fountain base again – the shape is unnervingly like a snow angel – but I let my gaze travel further down until I noticed some weird marks in the frozen grass.

“Scuff marks?” I murmur.

“Looks like it,” Haru nods. “Anything else?”

“I... I don't know,” I groan. “My head feels like it's going to burst.”

“Use the light on your thing”

I do as I'm told – again – and peer closer in to the scuff marks in the ground while I face the screen of my ElectroID downwards. At first, I can't really make anything out apart from the hard earth and crumpled grass, but then I see – maybe a foot away from the fountain what is unmistakeably blood. It shines black in the moonlight, and despite the ice-white grass around it, I hadn't seen it at first, but now its impossible to miss. I realise this is the same in all the scuffed places on the ground this side, and I find myself having to look over to the benches again.

“That can't be right, can it?”

“Hm,” Haru says, pursing his lips. “Anyway, I'm going to go check the castle. Bye.”

And before I can even get back up from the ground, he's turned away and is walking off – passing by Miniro and Cho who are standing at either side of the hedges. The ElectroID in my hand pings again with a label: SCUFF MARKS IN GRASS.

For a moment, I just feel completely lost as the realisation of just how... impossible this whole situation is washes over me again. I'm literally investigating a murder – the murder of someone I had just started getting to know.

But there isn't time to keep going over that. Like Haru said, if I hold back then the others get held back – and we can't afford to let that happen.

ElectroID firmly in hand, I steel myself and approach the bench where Mitsu and Ayaka are talking quietly. Mitsu looks up at me.

“Are you alright?” she asks.

“Yes,” I lie. She nods, seeing through me immediately.

“Ayaka's looking over his injuries,” she replies. “I'm checking his clothes in case there's anything significant, but so far I haven't found anyth- wait, what's this?

She's reached into the inside pocket of Arata's jacket and she frowns as she seems to grasp something. She withdraws her hand, bringing a folded piece of paper out with it. She shares looks with Ayaka and I, and then carefully unfolds it. Her eyes dart over it quickly and she pulls a face, before soundlessly handing the paper over for Ayaka and I to read.

The writing was in all block capitals, and it looked like it had been torn out of the back of a book.

TO WHOEVER READS THIS, I'M SORRY. I COULDN'T BRING MYSELF TO STAY HERE ANY LONGER AND I HAVE NOTHING WORTH LEAVING THIS PLACE FOR. SO I HAVE DECIDED TO END THINGS ON MY OWN TERMS. PLEASE DON'T THINK TOO BADLY OF ME.

ARATA

“A suicide note? Surely not...” Ayaka murmurs.

“Definitely not,” I reply. Something's off about this – I can feel it in my gut. This isn't quite enough to discourage my ElectroID though, as a bleep signals the appearance of a label marked: ARATA'S SUICIDE NOTE.

“Do you mind if I keep hold of it?” Mitsu asks. “I'd like to check something.”

I nod and pass it back over to her and she tucks it in between the front cover and the first page of her notebook.

“It leaves more questions than answers, frankly,” she says. “And by the look on your face, that isn't all, Ayaka.”

“Well, I'm obviously more suited to checking animals than people,” Ayaka replies, “but there were a few things I found that weren't mentioned in the Monokuma File.”

“Go on,” I nod, brow furrowing.

“Well, there is an injury to the back of his head here,” she says, pointing to a spot near Arata's crown. Mitsu steps round and gently parts some of his long, purple hair, and then nods. I can just make out a small cut that looks to be pretty recent.

“Anything else?” she asks.

“I could have almost missed it because of how dark it is,” Ayaka says, moving back round to the front, “but then it caught my attention as I was checking the head wound before. Look.”

She's gently pulled on the neck of Arata's red T-shirt, and I leaned in a little closer to see what she was trying to show me. Like she said, because of the darkness out here, it was difficult to make out at first, but now that I was focusing, I could see faint patches of bruising around the front of his neck.

“What do you make of it?” I ask her, still trying not to look at Arata's face. I stand up again and feel my ElectroID pinging. Ayaka and Mitsu look down at their own. ARATA'S AUTOPSY, the screen announces.

“Charming,” sighs Mitsu.

“Anyway,” Ayaka says, “I'd say something had been wrapped around his throat, but it only appears to be the front of his neck that has any bruising. I'm not sure what would cause that.”

“How about his arms?” asks Mitsu. “Is there anything about them that could be relevant?”

Ayaka frowns. “I'm not sure,” she admits. “There's a lot of blood, and I'm afraid there's nothing I can ascertain from the wounds. Except that I suppose they came from the knife in his hand.”

“Yes, that's another thing,” Mitsu says. “The knife. It would most likely have come from the Kitchen, so I suppose that's one thing worth confirming.”

Ping! KNIFE adds itself to my growing list of tabs.

I squint at the way the knife is held in Arata's hand. Something doesn't look quite right to me, and I have to kneel down to look at it a little closer. Mitsu and Ayaka are stood behind me, watching me curiously.

“His hand's got bruises on it too,” I say. “What d'you think, Ayaka?”

I move aside and she leans down to look. Some of his blood had ran down over his hand, but the visible skin was darker, and looked to have swollen a little.

Ayaka gently pulls at his fingers, loosening his grip on the knife, and she gingerly places the knife on the bench beside him. I glance up at Mitsu to see she's writing things down in her notebook, glancing at her ElectroID between words. She flips through a couple of pages and her eyes widen, but before I can say anything, Ayaka gasps.

“His right wrist and part of his hand are broken,” she says. “I thought maybe it was just some bruising but you can see the bones.”

She gestures at his hand, and now that she has it laid out flat I can see exactly what she's talking about. His wrist is sitting at a weird angle, and the bone is disturbingly visible through the skin. Something dully registers in my mind, but I can't put my finger on it, still trying to get past the panic and terror.

With a ping, my ElectroID updates the ARATA'S AUTOPSY tab with the relevant information from Ayaka's analysis. I straighten back up again and turn to Mitsu, who still looks fairly shaken by whatever it was she'd noticed.

“Are you okay?”

“I... Yes.”

She's just told me the same lie I told her, and I nod my understanding. She shoves her notebook back into her bag and lets out a sigh.

“Hm, now this is odd.”

I turn back round to see that Ayaka has stepped round me, and she's now inspecting Arata's other hand closely, frowning as she does.

“This hand is fine, but if you look at his fingernail here...” she murmurs, trailing off. Despite myself, I lean in to see what she's referring to. Arata's fingernails were a little longer than mine, and it looked like the nail of his middle finger had been broken slightly, like that way when someone starts to bite through their nails. Stranger still, there appeared to be a small fleck of dried blood coating the very tip of the broken nail.

“That can't be right,” Mitsu comments.

The ElectroID seems to agree, and updates with BLOODY FINGERNAIL a moment later.

“Oh, that reminds me - before I forget,” Mitsu says, back to business in a flash, “has anyone seen Arata's ElectroID lying around anywhere?”

“Isn't it in his pockets?” I ask.

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I checked all of them and all he had was that note.”

The note... I just about hold back a shudder at the thought of it.

“Where would his ElectroID be?” I frown. “Could he have left it in the castle?”

“I suppose that's one of the answers we need to find,” Mitsu says. “For now, I think you should go ahead and see how the others are doing.”

“It may do you some good to move away from here,” Ayaka agrees. “You look faint.”

“I do still feel a little dizzy,” I admit, running my hands through my hair. “You're probably right. Um, can I just do one thing before I go?”

They look at me expectantly, and I step closer to Arata's body.

“I'm sorry, Arata,” I tell him. “I'm so sorry.” I reach out and gently close his eyes. I stand back up and take one more look at him, before I turn to walk off. Mitsu and Ayaka stand silently, but I feel their sadness.

Cho pats my shoulder as I pass her, and Miniro wishes me good luck as I head off down the line of hedges back to the entrance of the maze.

The silence really starts to get me now, as I make my way back. The hard ground barely makes a sound underfoot, and the night air is still and bitter cold. I hate this so much. I hate that I'm walking away from the body of my friend. I hate that we're here. I hate that I know I need to keep going. I hate feeling this scared and helpless. I just want to be home, and for my mom to tell me everything is okay, and to not have to worry about anything more than the occasional asshole customer.

Finally, my walk reaches an end, and I slide back through the gate out into the courtyard with the bandstand.

I decide to check out the Theatre first, mainly just because it's closest. I know there isn't much to look out for here, except maybe Arata's ElectroID, and I quickly walk up to the spot where Arata had been sitting what suddenly felt like days ago...

His drink's been knocked over, and there's something about seeing it that hurts to look at. It's like I've failed again. I couldn't keep my friends safe, and I couldn't even keep my friend's drink safe. It sounds overdramatic, I know, but... it's a lot to take in.

I wander about the Theatre for a while, searching about for the missing ElectroID, and generally just trying to get my head screwed back on straight. I feel like I need to be analysing every little detail now after talking with Haru and Ayaka.

But I need to get back to the matter at hand. I finish my search of the Theatre and go to head back out, to head off in the direction of the Castle, when I'm nearly struck in the face with the door.

I step back just in time, and the door swings open fully to reveal Kimi, Blessing, and Yuki.

“Oh, Kei!” gasps Blessing. “I'm sorry – are you alright?”

“It's cool,” I reply. “I got out the way.”

“That's a relief,” she sighs. “I didn't realise anyone was in here!”

“How's your search going?” I ask. “There isn't much in here from what I could see.”

“I am afraid it is not going well,” Kimi says, flicking a strand of hair away from her face. “We haven't checked the Castle yet, though.”

“Neither have I,” I reply. “Oh, before I forget, have any of you seen Arata's ElectroID? It seems to have disappeared.”

They shake their heads.

“'Fraid not,” Yuki says, sadly. “I'll keep an eye out though – promise!”

“Thanks,” I say with a weak attempt at a smile. “I better get moving.”

“Good luck,” Blessing calls after me as I pass by them in the direction of the passageway back to the Courtyard.

“You too,” I call back, quietly adding to myself, “We're probably going to need it.”

The walk back to the Castle is uneventful, and there doesn't seem to be anything that stands out to me as I head back across the Courtyard and into the Entrance Hall.

I decide to check out the Kitchen first, to confirm Mitsu's suspicion of where the knife had came from. Kaori and Ino are down there already, and they look up at me as I enter.

“Jeez, Kei, you look rough,” Kaori says, and then gives me an apologetic look. “Sorry, that didn't come out right.”

“Are you alright?” Ino asks me, stiffly.

“Getting there,” I lie. “Any luck?”

“See for yourself,” Kaori replies, gesturing at a knife rack on the wall behind her. Lo and behold, there's an empty space where one of the knives is missing. The telltale beep of my ElectroID confirms it, and the KNIFE tab changes to KITCHEN KNIFE.

“That answers that, I guess,” I murmur. “Found anything else?”

“Nah, not in here,” Kaori says, shaking her head. “Oh, hey, Mitsu.”

I turn as Mitsu emerges from the stairway behind me. She glances up from her notebook.

“Hello, you three,” she says. “Kei, do you have a second?”

“Oh, um, yeah, sure,” I frown. She gestures for me to follow her back upstairs, and I briefly look back at Kaori, who just shrugs in a 'hell if I know' kind of way.

Nevertheless, I follow after Mitsu to the Hall above, where she grabs my arm and pulls me to the side, leaning in close to whisper, “I need to tell you something.”

“Y-yeah?”

“I'm not completely sure who to trust with this,” she admits, letting go of my arm. “But I need to tell someone – it's important.”

“What is it?” I ask, frowning at her.

“Do you remember the other day when we first went into the maze?” she asks. “I drew a map as we went along.”

“Right,” I nod, eyebrow raised. “What about it?”

She looks deep into my eyes, grimly. “It's gone.”

“Wh-what do you mean it's gone?” I frown. “Are you sure you haven't just forgot what page it's on?”

She gives me a withering look and holds up her open notebook, displaying a ripped out page.

“It should be there,” she insists. “And I don't page jump, so it's all linear. It would definitely be that page.”

“But what does that even mean?” I ask.

“It doesn't have very nice implications, does it?” she replies, coolly.

“I... I suppose not,” I agree. “So that's something else to keep an eye out for, I guess.”

“If anything, it's something to keep in mind for the Trial,” she says. “It'd be stupid to overlook any little detail at this point.”

MISSING MAP OF MAZE, the ElectroID informs us.

“I wonder if this thing only updates with relevant stuff,” I say, “or whether any of it could be just random.”

“I suppose we'll find out soon enough,” she replies. “I'm not sure what it means, or who could have done it, so we'll need to hurry. There's still a lot of ground to cover, and we still need to find Arata's ElectroID before our time is up.”

The entire time we're searching, my head is still reeling with everything that's happened so far. How the hell are we supposed to find a killer from all this? I'm trying to piece bits and pieces together but it's like having a box full of fifty different jigsaws and still trying to get a coherent picture from them.

The inside of the Castle doesn't seem to offer much answers. Arata's room is still locked, and there doesn't seem to be any sign that anyone's tried to break in or anything suspicions like that. For a second, as I inspect the door, I kind of feel like I'm playing detective, and it's almost laughable... but then the severity of the situation comes into affect and that sinking feeling makes a reappearance.

In fact, it's just as we're leaving the Dormitories that Blessing and Yuki suddenly burst into the Common Room, with Kimi trailing behind. Blessing and Kimi try to catch their breath, while Yuki pants, “We... found... it!”

She reaches into an inner pocket of her purple top, and withdraws an ElectroID.

“We remembered you said to keep an eye out for it,” Blessing adds. “We found it buried in the snow near the entrance to the Theatre.”

“Brilliant!” Mitsu says, taking it out of Mitsu's outstretched hand. She presses the button to switch it on, and Arata's name flashes up onscreen.

“So it's definitely his,” I nod. “Good find, you three!”

“You are very welcome,” Kimi says. “Though I don't see why it matters.”

“It could be very significant soon enough,” Mitsu replies, passing me Arata's ID. “Keep a hold of it, will you?”

“Sure,” I nod, sliding it into the pocket opposite of the one I've been keeping my own ElectroID in.

ARATA'S STUDENT HANDBOOK flashes up on my screen a moment later.

“Well, that mu-”

Before I can say anything more, the familiar chime of the intercom rings out.

Ding dong dong ding!

And Monokuma appears on the monitors.

“Ahem, well, I've been more than generous with you kids!” he announces. “And now I'm happy to announce your Investigation period is over! If you'll all go outside to the bandstand Courtyard, I'll be with you all presently! And remember, failure to attend will result in punishment!”

And with that, the screen died out again.

“Th-that's it?!” Kimi splutters. “We're supposed to do this... Trial thing now?!”

“It would seem so,” Blessing says, looking very concerned. “I... I don't mind admitting I'm scared.”

“Me too,” I confess, suddenly overly aware of the weight of Arata's ElectroID in my pocket. I reach in and grip my fingers around it, like it's meant to be some sort of good luck charm. “We... we should get going.”

“Come on,” Mitsu says, already holding the door open at the far end of the room. “I suppose there's no avoiding this.”

And so, one-by-one, the five of us made our way out of the Common Room.

The others had all assembled in the Courtyard by the time we arrived, and they looked up at us with a mix of expressions as we joined them, awaiting Monokuma's arrival. No one spoke – it wasn't time for words now. The wind had picked up again, but the snow still spiralled down gently. It was almost picturesque.

For a few long, uncomfortable moments, nothing happened... but just as Ino opened her mouth to no doubt complain, there was a sudden screech of protest from behind us. We turned to see the gate with the Monokuma eye motif had swung open, revealing the bear himself.

“Lovely evening for it, huh?!” he cheers, gleefully. “C'mon then, get your asses in here!”

He windmills his arms, gesturing for us to step through, and we grudgingly fall into single-file to pass through the gate.

Beyond the gate there's a small square of space, with nothing worth particularly describing. It appears to just lead on to a wall space at first, and a few of us look round in confusion, but then...

“Ahem, if you'll mind yourselves...”

Monokuma squeezes between us and approaches the wall, giving one of the large bricks a gentle shove. The entire brick seems to fold backwards, and then a portion of the wall just slides away after it, like a...

“A secret door?” Yamato cries, incredulously. “Are you fucking kidding?”

“Evidence of your own eyes, kid!” Monokuma retorts. “In you get!”

And once again, we step into the unknown.

Not for long though, of course, as lights flare into life a few feet above our heads, and it becomes clear we're in a large square caged box. Monokuma gives us a wave from beyond the door, only to disappear as two large metal doors suddenly clash shut together in front of him, separating us from the demented bear.

“It was a trap?!” Kaori gasps. “How many is he gonna put us in, goddam-”

There's a sudden clunk and next thing we know, the cage is descending.

“It's an elevator!” I realise, holding my arms out to keep my balance.

“Goin' down, I guess,” Yuki says, looking upwards with a worried expression. There are lights in the walls that cast a ghostly glow over us at regular intervals for a minute or so, but then finally...

A dull boom...

And the elevator stops. There's an inappropriately comical chime of a bell as the doors clatter open, and we step out into...

“Welcome to the Trial Ground!” Monokuma cheers, from atop an enormous granite throne. His voice echoes throughout the cathedral-like room beyond the elevator doors and we step out in awe and horror as we take in the details of the room we've stepped into.

It's an enormous circular room with flagstone walls and no windows. It's a weird combination of a church, a theatre, and a music venue. Stone pillars line the outer edge of the room, with huge emerald green velvet drapes pulled over to conceal whatever it is that lies beyond. Brackets line the room, lit within by strange blue-green flames that cast long, dark shadows over the room and its occupants. Four enormous projector screens are placed at each side of the room far above us, and far, far above, large stained glass windows let in shafts of muted moonlight.

Strangest of all though, is the centre of the room, where sixteen platforms are arranged in a circle, facing in on each other. In one stand, there's a large wooden stand, displaying a black-and-white picture of Arata. A bloody red cross has been messily splashed across his face.

“What's that for?” Ino asks.

“Just because he's dead doesn't mean we should forget about him,” Monokuma says. “Now shuddup and take your stands – you'll see your name on a screen at each one.”

We find our stands, one-by-one. I'm stood directly across from Monokuma's throne, with Arata's portrait marker to my left, and Fumio to my right. After Fumio is Yuki, then Kimi, then Miniro, Blessing, Kaori, Mitsu, Yamato, Ayaka, Daisuke, Haru, Cho, Ino, and Masashi, before reaching back to Arata's empty stand.

We take our places in silence. Looking round at one another, and at our surroundings as we try to piece together just what the hell is going on. But of course, we know what's going on. We're here for a reason. There's one thing we need to do, and it's going to come with a price...

We need to discover what happened to Arata Summerfield.

Because our school life had been a battlefield – that was obvious.

But down here... in this place far, far beneath the Castle...

This was a warzone.

This was our fight.

This was where we discovered the truth.

This was the First Class Trial!

15 STUDENTS REMAINING