The next morning brought a swift tap at my door. I opened it and saw Reiko, who was smiling. "Hey Aisho." She said. "Ready to go?" I nodded, grabbed my bag, and followed her out the door and down the steps.

"Hey Aisho, look up." She said, pointing at the sky. "If you look closely, you can see a glare." She said. I did actually notice it. It looked as if there was a see-through surface over us. "That's... really weird." I muttered. We walked in silence the rest of the time. Before I knew it, we had made it to the museum.

"Why did you even wanna come here?" I asked. She shrugged. "It was the one place I didn't go yesterday." She said. When we walked in, I saw a total of 12 large paintings. On one side I saw a guy in a yellow jumpsuit, a guy with blonde hair and an eyepatch, a girl with a white shirt, a girl with shining blonde hair, and a guy who looked unremarkable.

The other side had a guy with unkempt hair, a girl with a purple dress and glasses, a guy with blonde hair and glasses, a girl with a red jacket, a girl with purple hair, and a guy who looked boring too. The largest painting was in the middle of the museum though. It was a painting of two girls. One with strawberry blonde hair in pigtails, the other with shorter black hair. They looked like twins.

"Who are these people." She said. "That's what I need to know. And I need your help Aisho. I need help finding out what's going on here. Think you can do that?" She asked. I nodded.

Three days went by, and nothing remarkable happened. The most important thing was when I talked to Toshio. He opened up to me about her.

"I kinda do like her." He said. "I'd have to get to know her before I made a choice Aisho." I nodded. "So, I'll ask her on a date."

I heard they were going to go out again after their date.

Every day though, me and Reiko would meet at the library and read about the people that seemed to be everywhere. We didn't get information about what happened to them... but we managed to find out what happened.

They were in a place like us almost ten years ago. And all of them were dead... save for those in the museum. We actually ended up doing research for a week.

It was that eighth day that I woke up early. I rubbed my eyes and checked the clock in the kitchenette. "7:31..." I mumbled. Reiko and I usually agreed to meet at 8:30, so I decided to slip on my shoes and go to the cafe.

I arrived at 7:40, as the clock above Barista Monokuma read. I ordered two iced-coffees that I'd pick up around 8:25. I actually had something important to ask her today... and I decided to buy her some flowers.

The flower shop was void of any people, but I could see on the small clipboard who'd been there. Akiko visited almost twenty-three times in the last week, Kazuko visited twice, and my name appeared under Kazuko's.

The flowers I had picked out weren't anything special. It was just a bouquet of pink chrysanthemums. I never was good with flowers, but I thought they looked good enough. But I realized, with a bouquet... you gotta get a box of chocolates. That's when I walked into the convenience store.

The sight when the door opened was horrifying. The inside of the store was a mess. Clearly... a struggle occurred. As I walked up the first aisle, I dropped the bouquet, and saw the aisle wasn't in a bad condition. The next one had nothing wrong either. It wasn't until I got closer to the last aisle that I saw it. A blood-covered hand lay stretched out. As I got closer I could smell the blood from the aisle, along with a scent of orange and the smell of paint.

I looked down the aisle. The ringing had returned along with that high pitched noise. As I stepped closer, I could see her face, which was extremely swollen and covered with red paint... or maybe blood. I couldn't tell. I couldn't even tell who it was. Nobody I knew wore the outfit she was wearing, a black button up with white paints. Her arms and part of her neck were swollen and covered with red paint too. The paint even splattered on her shirt.

I jumped as I heard a faint noise. "Huh..." The girl groaned. I fell to my knees beside her. "Uh... hey. What happened? Oh, nevermind that. C'mon! We gotta get you to a hospital." I said.

"Can't." She said, her voice was harsh and raspy. "No... time."

"We gotta try..." I said. "You can't give up!"

I could feel tears forming in my eyes to her response. I knew who it was once she said those words.

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. With a small smile on her face, she closed her eyes... and stopped breathing. I screamed loudly. This point, I was crying. Why her? Why?

I couldn't stay. I ran outside and started screaming as loud as I could. I heard footsteps. It sounded like someone was running. I looked up as I saw Reginald run up. "Hey... Aisho. You oka-" He looked at my bloodstained hands. "Oh...Oh my god." He said. He ran into the store for a second, and ran back out and screamed. "Help! Help us! Someone's dead!"

No. She wasn't just someone... I thought. I heard him run back in with another set of footprints. I heard someone talking to me, but I couldn't look up. I was still screaming. I slid down the wall of the store.

"DING DONG DING DONG! A body has been discovered! After an hour, a class trial will be held!" Monokuma's voice rang out. I felt someone wrap their arm under my arms and pull my up. "Dude... it won't be a good thing if they see you like this. You gotta do this for her." Reginald said.

"I'm not a leader. I can't lead them. She was the only leader here. I'm just the Number Two!" I screamed. Those were her last words.

'I love you... Number Two.'

I felt someone else wrap their arms around my shoulders. "Listen... Aisho. Reiko was a great leader... and she'd want you to solve this case and lead the rest of us." Maya said.

"Listen... Aisho. We'll find who did this." Akira said. "I promise." I thought about Reiko. Her perfect black hair. Her piercing grey eyes. Just her. It didn't seem real. It felt like a cruel joke.

But I knew better. She'd never move again. And one of my friends killed her. I gotta find this culprit. I got to. For her.

??? POV:

As I watched the scene, I couldn't help but snicker slightly. I knew what happened... I did it after all. I would be the only one who knew everything that happened, unless that asshole, Aisho, gets in the way like he did with Takeo's trial. That kid's smarter than he looks. I can't let him fuck this up for me. If he doesn't spot my mistake, I'll be good. I just wished that she had listened to me... maybe if she would follow the plan we'd... I couldn't focus on that.

But of course I had to fuck up somewhere though. I'm a human... right? I mean, I took the life of another human. Does that even make me human? I really didn't care, if we're being honest. I'm a monster. A terrible monster, and this monster was gonna succeed with his plan.

But, I gotta blend in. I gotta act like I'm investigating, I gotta pretend to be concerned about Reiko's death. The irony surrounding that was the best though, because monsters never worried about others... they worried for themselves.

Maya Shinohara's POV:

I clapped my hand tightly around Akira Miyamoto's. It always calmed me down. However, I was always taught my emotions weren't what mattered... other's were. So just as it calmed me down, it was more supposed to be for her. Akira was my best friend, but she's definitely got some screws loose.

But that never bothered me. I've dealt with worse people. I tried to ignore the burning pain as she dug her nails into my wrist. I looked down and watched as a drop of blood ran down my hand.

I ignored it as I looked around at the crime scene. I noticed a gallon of Leon Kuwata Orange Soda was missing, along with a jar of red paint. A pair of scissors was missing from the rack as well.

NEW EVIDENCE: Missing Supplies

As I looked at Reiko, I felt myself step towards her body. I had to investigate. Everyone else was crying, and somebody had to do it. I felt Akira's grip tighten, but I couldn't stop, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Hey, Akira..." I said, smiling at her. She looked up. "Y-Yes Maya?" She mumbled. "Do me a favor. I gotta investigate, can you please go comfort Aisho? I'm sure he'd appreciate it." I said. Akira nodded and walked off. I hated to send her off like that, but nobody else could investigate, and she freaked out around blood.

I got closer to her and noticed something was strange about the scene. Her body was completely swollen, except for her neck, which was bruised slightly. Also, a strange pool of blood seemed to seep out from her back.

NEW EVIDENCE: Bruises Around Throat
NEW EVIDENCE: Swollen Body
NEW EVIDENCE: Pool of Blood

As I looked at her, I questioned why the killer would cover her in red paint. It made no sense whatsoever. We would find the body anyways, and the person would be revealed in the Monokuma file. I shrugged it off and looked to the side, where a big glob of paint and glass lay in a puddle.

NEW EVIDENCE: Red Paint
NEW EVIDENCE: Paint and Glass Puddle

The outfit was completely different than what Reiko would've wore. Her normal outfit was a typical schoolgirl outfit, minus the skirt. This was a plain black button-up shirt and white pants.

NEW EVIDENCE: New Outfit

At her pants was a large pair of scissors with a floral pattern. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I put the weird design out of mind. My biggest question was why did the killer stab the scissors into her leg.

NEW EVIDENCE: Floral Scissors

As I began to leave that aisle, I looked back once more. Reiko... this strong and brave role model... was gone. I felt tears form in my eyes, but I wiped them away. I could mourn later. I had to find the killer. Our lives depended on it.

That's when I noticed something. On the corner of a shelf was a bright bloodstain. I walked over to it and looked at it. I motioned for Isamu Ishihara to walk over. "Oh... whatdidyah want?" He asked. It all sounded like one word, but I ignored that.

"Listen, you and Reiko were about the same size, so can you do me a favor?" I asked. He frowned. "What is it?" He asked.

"I need you to stand and put your back against this shelf." I said. He nodded slowly and stepped up to it. It measured up to his back. I nodded. "So, I'm guessing in the altercation, she fell back into the aisle shelf, causing her to bleed out." I mumbled. Isamu quickly stepped away. "Sorry man, but that was giving me the shivers!" He said.

As he moved away, something seemed to be stuck in his shoe. "Hey, Isamu. Can you stop moving for a second?" I asked. He nodded. I grabbed a long, thin piece of rope that had caught itself in his shoe when he stepped up against the aisle.

"W-What's that?" Isamu asked, walking over. I knew the item. It was parachute cord, or paracord.

"Paracord." I said. "A material often used because of it's almost unbreakable properties." He nodded. "Isn't that stuff used in parachutes?" He asked. I nodded.

"That's where the name comes from" I sighed. I noticed something else. There was a roll of Paracord on the shelve. it looked like someone threw it down, and forgot it.

NEW EVIDENCE: Paracord & Paracord Roll
NEW EVIDENCE: Blood Stain on Shelf

I heard a noise from where Akira and Aisho was. I walked over to them and saw Akira sucking on her finger. "I-I grabbed a piece of plastic and it cut open my finger." She said. I nodded and grabbed a small box of bandages.

I undid the tape. Why they were taped, I had no idea. My only thought was that Monokuma was too cheap to give us unused packages. However, I pulled out a weird, yellow sheet of paper.

"Huh? Katashi Yamauchi- Peanuts, Reiko Muranaka- Orange Soda, Akira Miyamoto- Shellfish... what is this?" I asked, turning to Akira. She was on the list, so she had to know.

"U-Um... I'm allergic to shellfish." She said. "Can I have a bandaid now?" She asked, holding up her hand as a drop of blood ran down her finger. I nodded, grabbed a bandage, and wrapped it around her finger.

NEW EVIDENCE: Allergies Paper

"So, what did you even cut yourself on?" I asked. She bent over and picked up a small piece of plastic. The plastic had a floral pattern on it, and looked like it was the packaging for a pair of scissors.

That was when he popped up. "Upupupupu! I hope you're ready! The next class trial is about to start!" Monokuma cheered. I nodded. I had all the evidence I could get, and was trying to work it out when I felt her hands close into mine. I blushed and looked ahead. Me and Akira could solve this.

We would solve this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is all about evidence and stuff, so you know what that means, try to pin the killer. Now, I wanna apologize to anyone who liked Reiko. *cough JoshGeek cough*

Her death had to happen. We must spread despair!~
See yah in the next chapter guys!