*I didn't know what to do or how to react. I fell to my knees with tears streaming down my eyes.*

Of course I didn't. How could I stay calm when my sister is dead right in front of me?

*Pix looked at Ruby and the dead body in disbelief.*

Pix: What? What is this?

*Ruby woke up and started rubbing her head*

Ruby: Ruby's head hurts...

*Ruby looks at the blood all over her then at the body*

Ruby: AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

*She fell back with her face pale with fear. And then...*

Ding Dong Bing Bong

Monokuma: A body has been discovered. Soon the investigation will begin and a class trial will start. Now, may everyone please make their way to the rec room as soon as possible.

Pix: That was the body discovery announcement...

Ruby: But... that means Strawberry is...

Pix: ...

*Pix didn't say a word. He already knew what conclusion everyone would jump to once they saw Ruby the way she was. Soon everyone started coming into the rec room in a hurry.*

Joseph: What's going on?

Nebula: Strawberry?

Kaedi: Ruby... did you kill her?

Ruby: No. Ruby woke up and saw her like this.

*That's when I noticed someone else coming in.*

Collin: What's the meaning of this?

Elijah: Collin? Aren't you supposed to be sick or something?

Collin: I don't know how, but I started to feel better. Once I did, I headed back into my room. I assumed Ruby did the same considering she wasn't there.

Joseph: I see. This is strange.

*Monokuma popped up out of nowhere.*

Monokuma: Are you talking about my despair disease 2.0? I already cured someone of that.

Pix: You cured everyone with the disease?

Monokuma: Well, not everyone. I only cured one person because only one person died.

Nebula: What sense does that make? If you only cured one of them then why are both Ruby and Collin cured? And since they are cured why can't you cure Aqua so she can participate in the class trial?

Monokuma: Of course not. You think I'll save someone who's on the verge of death?

Anna: W... what do you mean?

Monokuma: The Despair disease 2.0 can kill you know. It's not a short death though. It kills its victims in about three or four days.

Kaedi: But today makes day three already.

Nebula: God fucking dammit! What now?

Monokuma: Well, I did say I'll cure someone when another is murdered. So how about I do you a favor and bend the rules a bit? If you find the culprit and watch them get executed, I'll lend you my last antidote to the despair disease. Now isn't that nice of the sweet and innocent Monokuma?

Collin: I wouldn't spread such false accusations about myself if I were you.

Monokuma: Now then, if you want that antidote you better hurry up and catch the killer. Oh, and before I forget, I might wanna give you this to make you all feel better.

*Monokuma handed out the Monokuma files and looks at all of us.*

Monokuma: That means only eight of you will actually be participating. Jeez, what happened to all the other students here? Did they just flunk out or something? Oh, wait, they're dead.

*Monokuma then disappeared laughing maniacally.*

Nebula: That son of a bitch. He didn't have to call them out like that.

Joseph: That isn't what's important right now. We need to focus on finding out who killed Strawberry or we all suffer.

*I got up, still trembling, and wiped my tears.*

Joseph's right. We need to get that antidote and we need to hurry. Or else everyone dies... even Aqua.

Elijah: In that case, Joseph and I will guard the body.

Anna: Okay. Everyone else, we need to start investigating now.

*And after that, everyone started with their own investigation.*

Anna: Before anything, I should probably see what the Monokuma files say.

*I opened it up and read it.*

Monokuma files

Victim: Strawberry Wilson

The victim was found in the rec room. She seems to have a slash wound going through her abdomen region. She has a stab wound in the shoulder and one piercing the heart. She has also shown signs of loss of blood in the left arm and crushed windpipes along with it.

Monokuma file has been added to the truth bullets

Anna: This one is a lot sorter than the other ones. And once again, there's no proper time of death.

Pix: That must mean it is important.

Anna: Pix?

Pix: I apologize if I disturbed you. I planned to see if I can prove my sister is innocent. Since the time of death was not on here, I knew that might become an issue. Therefore, I wanted to see the two who might help pinpoint it.

Anna: Oh, that's right. You, Collin, and I were the only ones awake last night. Hmm... I was up thirty minutes before the morning announcements that was around... 6:30 a.m. That's when I was greeted by a weird masked person.

Pix: I see. And can you describe this masked individual?

Anna: That's the thing. When I was following this person, the only things I recognized were the mask and the hospital gown they were wearing.

Pix: Hmmm, interesting. We should try and find clues on who this masked person was.

Mysterious individual has been added to the truth bullets.

Anna: Before we do that... I better investigate Strawberry's body.

Pix: Are you sure? You seem understandably bothered by it.

Joseph: Of course. It would be difficult to investigate your sister's dead body. Anna, if you would like I could do it for you.

Anna: No... I'm alright. I can do it.

*I leaned down to my sister's dead body. I took off her shirt revealing her strawberry bra and searched for any evidence of who killed her. As I did that, I tried my best to hide any sign of fear, anger, and sadness I had in me.*

Anna: It looks like the Monokuma files were telling the truth about her injuries. A stab to her heart, a stab to her shoulder, and a long slice in the stomach...

Joseph: Hmm... these injuries... don't they seem off?

Pix: What do you mean?

Joseph: If you look at them, the wound that most likely killed her is on her left side. But it's the stab to the shoulder that bothers me. Why is it on her right side?

Anna: Now that you mention it, that is odd.

Strawberry's wounds have been added to the truth bullets.

Joseph: The Monokuma files also state that she lost blood on her left arm. I found two small bumps on her arm so that we can point out is true. However, they were like mosquito bites. So I can assume not a lot was taken.

Pix: That would be Kaedi's doing.

Anna: Why do you say that?

Pix: She was trying to find a cure for Collin, Ruby, and Aqua. To do that, she needed a small sample of blood from someone who had the disease and an even smaller amount from someone who doesn't have it. Strawberry volunteered as well as Collin. We realized multiple things. For example, we figured out that at a certain amount of time the disease becomes incurable, that you and Strawberry are immune to it, and that those with the disease have darker colored blood than those without it.

Joseph: I see...

Anna: Huh... I see. However, I don't see how any of that could relate to the murder.

Joseph: It might not. But you should keep it in mind. Just in case.

Anna: If you say so.

Pix account has been added to the truth bullets.

Anna: Well, that's enough for the body. I want to talk to Ruby next.

Pix: I see...

Anna: Don't worry. I'm just gonna see if she knows anything. I haven't assumed she's the one who did it.

Pix: It is fine. Let us go.

*We left the rec room and when we did, we saw Collin approaching Ruby first. We walked up to approach them.*

Anna: Collin? What are you doing here?

Collin: Same thing as you, I assume. I'm searching for Ruby's alibi.

Ruby: Ruby's sorry. She doesn't believe she has one. When she woke up her head started hurting and she felt a slight pain in her wrist.

Anna: Your wrist?

Ruby: Yeah.

*Ruby showed us both her wrist and revealed a purple line on both of them.*

Purple Mark's have been added to the truth bullets.

Pix: What? Ruby, how did this happen?

Ruby: Ruby doesn't know. She doesn't remember anything. Not even this disease everyone keeps talking about.

Pix: I see. It does make sense. Out of everyone, Ruby remained asleep as Aqua and Collin continued to lose and regain consciousness every once and a while.

State of Aqua, Ruby, and Collin during sickness has been added to the truth bullets.

Collin: So, you have no alibi. That doesn't really help your situation now does it. Especially considering it odd that you're the only one who slept for two straight days.

Pix: But it could just be a coincidence.

Collin: Neither me nor Aqua stayed asleep for as long as she did while we all suffered from the same disease and you think it's just a coincidence? How foolish. There's clearly something about her that we don't know about.

*Pix's eyes started getting redder than they already were. He was clearly getting upset at Collin. Before anything bad happened, I decided to change the subject a little.*

Anna: Speaking of Aqua, she told me something earlier. She told me to stop someone named Elise Okina or something like that.

Pix: Elise Okina? I don't believe that is any of us here.

Collin: Hmmm...

Anna: Do you know something Collin?

Collin: I may need to confirm it first. In the meantime, there's something I should show you in the art room.

Anna: The art room? Why?

Collin: This case is pretty similar to the last one don't you think? One of the biggest similarities is that the murder may not have taken place where we originally thought.

*Collin points to the ground and there was a long stain going into the rec room and coming from the art room.*

Ruby: What... is that?

Collin: Isn't it obvious? When bringing Strawberry into the rec room, the culprit left evidence and tried to wash it off. If it weren't for me, none of you fools would have noticed.

Washed stain has been added to the truth bullets.

Collin: Anyway, I found it as soon as I got up here. When following it into the art room I found something truly interesting Indeed.

Anna: What did you see?

Collin: I believe it's best if you look at it yourselves. I must do my own investigation. However, if you would want to know more about Elise, meet me in the library.

Pix: That's agreeable. But before you go I would like to know something. What time did you wake up last night?

Collin: I wasn't paying attention to the time so I can't say for sure. However, I do know that when I woke up, Ruby was gone and Strawberry was still there. Not dead, but sleeping in a chair next to Aqua.

Anna: Huh?

Pix: I see. You must have woke up before me then. Because when I woke up, both Ruby and Strawberry were gone. And that was around 6:00. Thirty minutes before Anna woke up.

Collin: I see.

Wake up time has been added to the truth bullets.

*Collin said his goodbyes and left us alone.*

Pix: The art room he says. Well, shall we get going?

Anna: Yeah. Hey Ruby, why don't you come with us?

*Ruby nodded as the three of them headed for the art room. When we got there, we saw something horrific. We saw blood on the wall with three ropes on it. The rest of the room was a complete mess.*

The art room has been added to the truth bullets.

Ruby: What... what happened in here?

Anna: No idea.

*Not long after, Lisa and Nebula entered too.*

Lisa: The fuck?!

Nebula: What the hell is this?

Pix: Lisa? Nebula? What brings you here?

Lisa: Plebula and I were investigatin' the nurse's office. In doing so, we found this.

*Lisa held out a small empty bottle. The word "cure" was taped onto it.*

Anna: Is that..  the cure to the despair disease?

Nebula: That's what we thought too. But Monokuma popped up and said it wasn't his.

Empty cure bottle (1) has been added to the truth bullets.

Lisa: It's a fuckin' empty bottle with cure written on it. How is it not his? Anyway, he said the real thing is in here somewhere. So, we thought it was worth a shot.

Nebula: Yeah. But we never thought we'd find something like this.

Anna: Yeah. Let's look around real quick.

*And so we started investigating the art room. The first thing I looked at was the wall. It had three ropes bolted on it and a weird looking symbol painted in blood.*

Pix: The star of Lucifer. I've seen these a lot back in my universe.

Lisa: If this place is related to the murder, that means someone tried to tie up berry and crucify her. What kinda sick fetus is this culprit into? I mean, Jesus Christ.

Nebula: Hey, I've been looking at those ropes for a while now, and I noticed that one of them isn't bolted to the wall.

*Nebula pointed at a rope in the middle of the floor next to an empty bottle. I walked up to the rope and took a look at it.*

Anna: It seems like a regular rope to me.

Lisa: You may want to look closer at that rope.

*Lisa picked it up.*

Lisa: See. The middle of the rope looks like it's been used. Like its been rubbed against somethin'. If I'm right, it was meant to tie the bottom right foot. Therefore, it shouldn't look like that at all.

Anna: I see.

Damaged rope has been added to the truth bullets.

*The next thing I looked at was the empty boddle next to the rope. I picked it up and read the label*

Anna: Monokuma cure. Made to get rid of the Despair disease. Warning: may cause a minor migraine.

Nebula: Is that the bottle Monokuma was talking about?

Lisa: The hell? Are you sayin' someone made a fake cure? But why?

Anna: ... I don't know...

Empty cure bottle(2) has been added to the truth bullets.

Pix: hmmm...

Anna: Is there something wrong Pix?

Pix: The blood on the wall that the culprit used for the star seems to be darker than expected. Yet, there is a mixture of light and dark colored blood on the floor.

Ruby: Is there something wrong with that?

Pix: It's just... I noticed the same thing with Strawberries blood. The trail leading to her was dark. But all the blood on her was a lighter color. Is that not odd?

Color of blood has been added to the truth bullets.

Anna: It is strange. Looks like we're going to have to take another look at Strawberry's body later on.

Ruby: Yeah. And it looks like we saw everything here... can we go see Collin now? This room scares Ruby.

Lisa: You three are meeting up with Colon? Good luck with that. He's probably one of my prime suspects right now.

Anna: Yeah... good luck with your investigation.

*Saying our goodbyes, Pix, Ruby, and I headed toward the Library to meet Collin.*

Collin: It's about time. What, are you trying to waste my time?

Ruby: It's not like that.

Collin: Well, it doesn't matter.

*Collin walks up to the room in the back and opens it.*

Anna: Huh? But when Aqua tried to open it was locked.

Collin: That's why I asked Monokuma to unlock it.

Ruby: Ruby didn't know you were capable of asking.

Byakuya: Shut up and get inside.

*We walked into the small room and saw a lot of files on each shelf.*

Anna: This is...?

Collin: All of these are files so top secret that it's nearly impossible to get your hands on them. However, for some reason, they made their way into this school. As if the files contained information the school needed to know.

Pix: ... What do I mean?

Collin: ... it doesn't matter. Here, this is what you are looking for.

*Collin handed me a file that read Elise Okina on the side and I opened it up.*

Collin: It's not in your language so I'll read it for you. To make a long story short, Elise is a mad scientist who has a hobby of experimenting on a humans body. It is said that they have killed millions and dismembered hundreds more. Then one day they suddenly stopped. However, the file heavily implies that they mearly went into hiding.

Anna: Therefore, Elise could be any one of us.

Pix: Yes. Well, if you are done, we must be going.

Collin: Actually, there is something I want to tell Anna while I'm still in a good mood.

Anna: Hmm?

Collin: You and Strawberry are immune to the despair disease, therefore neither of you were affected by the virus.

Anna: I know that. Why are you telling me this now?

Collin: It's just something you might want to keep in mind is all. Now begone. I have some business to take care of.

Immunity to the despair disease has been added to the truth bullets.

*After getting the new information, the three of us went to the rec room and met up with Joseph and Elijah.*

Elijah: Hey you three. How's it going?

Pix: Did you find anything useful?

Joseph: Yeah. I found out the blood seems to be mixed. The blood around her is darker than the blood on her.

Anna: I see. Then that helps us know the scene in the art room is connected to her...

Joseph: That's not all. I can also confirm that the blood around her is not her blood.

Ruby: Huh?

Pix: Not her blood? How can that be?

Color of blood has been updated in the truth bullets.

Elijah: There was something I noticed too.

Pix: And what might that be?

Elijah: If you look closely on her neck, you can see a long purple line. You know what that's about?

Anna: ... no... but I think it's going to be of great help in getting closer to the culprit. Thanks.

Elijah: No problem.

Purple line on Strawberry has been added to the truth bullets.

Ding Dong Bing Bong

Monokuma: Oh my God it's finally happening! Can you believe it! Can you believe it! It's finally time for the class trial! Everyone, please step into the elevator on the first floor of the school.

*The intercoms turned off. Me, Ruby, and Pix looked at each other a bit worried.*

Pix: It seems like it is finally time.

Ruby: But what about Aqua?

Anna: Looks like we'll need to do it without her. Once we're done we can get the cure from Monokuma and save her from the disease.

Pix: Yes. Now then, shall we get going?

*After that, the three of us headed through the red doors of the first floor. Everyone else was there too.*

Ruby: ...

Kaedi: ...

Celestial: ... It seems once again we have lost our leader. Let us not think too much of the past and onto the uncertain future.

Lisa: From you, I don't know how we're supposed to take that.

Joseph: That doesn't matter right now. All we need to do is survive. And make sure Aqua survives with us.

*Keeping Joseph's words in our heads, we all walked into the elevator. Getting ready for what was to come next.*

... Strawberry Wilson... Our leader... my sister... She was always brave and kind. She tried to do her best to help us all get out of here... Someone like her... was murdered. And the killer was one of us. Not only that, but Aqua's life is at risk too. That's why we need to do this. We need to hurry up and do this class trial. Not just to protect Aqua, but to protect everyone else... from certain death.

-to be continued-