At first, I didn't believe it, but seeing the scene in front of me, it was now an undeniable fact.

Ichiro Nakahara, the ultimate cyclist, had been brutally murdered.

There we all stood, in the skatepark's shed, which had been turned into a bloody crime scene. Ichiro's cold, blank eyes were wide in fear, his mouth hanging open with a trickle of blood leaving it. He lay on the floor, his yellow short-sleeved hoodie stained red with his own blood. I tried not to look at his wounds, but that's where my eyes went.

All over his chest and stomach were many large, open wounds, as if the killer had stabbed him repeatedly. I felt vomit rise in my throat at the thought that someone may have thoroughly enjoyed doing this.

Momo was clinging to my arm, tears running down her cheeks as she let out a whimper. "W-why... why would s-someone do this?"

I stayed silent, as I had no answer. Of course, we all wanted to leave... but would someone really go this far?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a bell ringing, and immediately after the tv monitor in the shed turned on.

"A corpse has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a class trial will be held." Monokuma announced. "Upupupu~ you better get investigating!"

"Class trial?" Jikkō asked curiously. She seemed completely calm, regardless of the situation. I shouldn't have been surprised, she was an assassin after all. It wasn't odd that death wouldn't phase her.

"That's right!" I was shocked at the sudden sound of Monokuma's voice behind me, and quickly turned around to face him, along with everyone else.

Jikkō looked at the stuffed bear intensely, her one visible grey eye glaring. "Care to explain?" She demanded in a cool tone.

"Ooh scary~" Monokuma stated in a teasing tone, but when the assassin said nothing, he continued. "A class trial will happen each time a murder takes place. During it, you all have to debate amongst yourselves about who the killer is and what happened, and you have to decide who the murderer, or the blackened, is. If you discover the blackened, only they will be punished, but if you choose the wrong person, everyone but the blackened will be punished, and they get to graduate and leave here!"

"Am I correct in assuming these punishments are fatal?" Jikkō stated more than asked.

"Yup, that's right!"

"W-wait, so only the killer gets to leave and we all die if we mess up?!" Momo exclaimed, fresh tears running down her face. "That's so cruel and unfair! I don't wanna die!"

"Then you better do a good job investigating~" Momokuma replied in an amused tone. "Oh yes, since you're amateurs, I have a special something to help you out- the Monokuma File!"

The bear passed out what appeared to be a small tablet to everyone, before disappearing once again. As soon as he was gone, Jikkō looked to the group, raising her voice over them.

"Well, you heard him, if we get this wrong we all will be executed. So, let's get investigating." No one seemed to object to her, so she continued. "We should all work in groups so the killer has no chance to mess with the evidence. Akio and Mai, you two can guard the room outside. Orochi, Jirou, Haru, and Kaiya can check Ichiro's room and any other suspicious places."

Before she could say more, Orochi interjected. "Hey! Who put you in charge? For all we know, you could be the killer!"

Jikkō only gave him a blank look. "And I won't be alone either. Your point?"

"W-well,"

"C'mon, the girl obviously knows what she's doing. Back off." Natsumi retorted, twirling a strand of her blonde hair. "Honestly I'm happy to have someone tellin' me what to do, I've never done something like this before."

"Oh yes, Natsumi." Jikkō addressed the girl, "I'd like you to get everyone's alibis with as much detail as possible. As the ultimate journalist, it shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Sure thing!" Natsumi responded.

"Take Satchiko with you... Momo too." Jikkō told her, before continuing to assign jobs. "Katashi, Riku, Michio, and Willow, I want you to search every inch of this room and outside of it, and take note of everything you see. Lastly, I'll be thoroughly investigating the body. Kazuki,"

Jikkō then looked to me, and I immediately felt a nervous lump in my throat.

"I want you to help me."

Soon, everyone had went to do their assigned jobs, and I ended up kneeling in front of Ichiro's corpse with Jikkō by my side. I tore my eyes away from his face, not wanting to look at his horrified expression. I still couldn't believe that someone would do this, that someone could be this cruel.

But still, Jikkō showed no signs of discomfort, her eyes held only interest and curiosity as she examined the body.

"Kazuki."

I snapped to attention when she said my name. "Y-yes?"

"What do you think happened to him?" Jikkō asked, not as if she wanted to know the answer, but as if she were testing him.

"Well, of course, he must've been stabbed a lot... maybe by a knife or something?" I suggested, only for Jikkō to shake her head.

"You're right that there are many deep wounds, but I don't think he was stabbed with a knife." She stated.

To my surprise, she grabbed onto the bottom of Ichiro's shirt and pulled it up. I wanted to say something about it, but held back, knowing it was for the investigation.

She pointed to the wounds, and seeing them clearly now I started to feel a little lightheaded. Jikkō wiped some blood away with her hand to get an even better look.

"Kazuki, look." She stated when she realized I was turning away. Reluctantly, I looked closer at the wounds, and realized that she was right. It couldn't have been a knife.

"The cuts are too big..." I pointed out, and Jikkō nodded.

"Exactly." She then looked up at the group who was investigating the room, and called out to the closest one. "Michio, have you found anything that could be the murder weapon?"

"Not yet-" Michio started to speak, but was quickly cut off by Willow.

"Here." She stated, holding up a bloody axe. "This was in the trash can."

I looked from the axe back to the wounds, seeing that the sizes matched up. "That has to be it then..."

"Thanks, Willow." Jikkō said, and Willow put down the axe.

"Are we done now?" I asked hopefully, not wanting to look at Ichiro any longer.

To my disappointment, Jikkō shook her head. "No, there's still more. His face can tell a lot." She stated, pulling his shirt back down and instead looking at his horrified face. "What do you think this expression holds?"

"His... expression..." I took a deep breath before looking back at his face. "He looks... terrified, and in pain..."

"Not just that. He looks shocked too."

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Just remember it for now. Anything could become important." Jikkō told me, then leaned in to get a closer look at Ichiro's head. "...There's a bruise."

"A bruise?"

Curiously, I moved closer as well, confirming that once again, Jikkō was right. There was a large bruise on the side of his head.

Before I could say anything about it, the tv monitor turned on, showing Monokuma.

"Okay, since you all decided to split up and work together to gather evidence, I'm gonna end this earlier than usual! Investigation time is over- time for your first class trial!"