The group stood over Maya's unmoving body, which laid awkwardly with her back to the building, blood covered her face and the gym door behind her.

"M-Maya!"

Eren grabbed the front of Haru's jacket and threw him against the wall of the building, "okay, explain yourself!"

"It wasn't--!"

"Haruka Nanase, did you kill her?! Answer me!!" Eren yelled, his fists clenched the cloth between his fingers, "I swear... We made a promise to each other, dammit!"

"Calm down!" Kirito grabbed Eren and pulled him away, "if you end up killing him right here, things won't go down well for you."

"What happened?!" Yuri and Ash ran up to the group from the main school building, "holy crap..."

"H-Haru..." Mitsuha whispered, "what..."

"I found her here." Haru rubbed his neck and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, "I swear I didn't kill anyone."

"M-Maya..." Kaori whispered and knelt by her dead body, "she really is dead..."

"What the hell?" Taiga walked up to the group, "what happened here?"

"Hey!" Luffy turned to the girl, "where have you been?!"

"I was in my Ultimate Lab." Taiga scoffed, "you know, you can't hear the announcement from in there."

Mitsuha tapped her chin, "uh, okay. So..."

"Now..." Suddenly, Monokuma appeared right before them, "it's time for the investigation!"

"Investigation. You mean..."

"Time for you kids to find the evidence you can! Here's the victim report! You'll need it! In an hour, we'll hold our very first class trial! How thrilling!" the bear cackled and vanished just as quickly as he appeared.

Natsu groaned, "how the hell are we supposed to gather evidence? We're not detectives..."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look at this." Ash picked up the black and white tablet that Monokuma had left them. He pressed the power button and sighed, "Maya Mikuru. She was killed by blood force trauma to the head. The estimated time of death is 5 PM and the estimated time of her body discovery is only about 15 minutes after. That's all this report gives us."

"Well..." Korra crossed her arms, "what now? Just re-investigate the entire school?"

Everyone was still stricken at the quick death of someone they once knew was alive.

Mitsuha shut her eyes and clenched her jaw. I just don't want to die, you know?

"Okay. Let's get off our butts." Kaori wiped her eyes, "we'll be okay. Maya would want us to continue, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, of course." Yuri scratched his neck, "so let's just give it all we've got. For her."

>> Let's check the places where we all were. << Celty nodded, >> That way, we can retrace our steps and maybe find the leads we need. <<

"Do your best, everyone. If we get this wrong..." Tamaki's voice was colder than normal, "we all die."

"Okay." Naruto nodded, "let's try and retrace Maya's steps, first. Anyone know where she was before coming here?"

"She came by my room just before I went to dinner." Mitsuha spoke, her voice weaker than before, "maybe a few people should retrace her steps from there."

"Okay." Luffy scanned the group, "we'll go in squads of three."

"I'll go with you." Ash stepped towards him.

"Me too." Naruto volunteered, "someone should stay back and make sure no one tampers with the body. We could get evidence from her."

>> I'll stay. << Celty held up her phone.

"I'll stay..." Tamaki nodded as he looked down at the ground.

"It's possible that no one could've gone down to the basement for whatever reason. So maybe everyone else can investigate the first floor?" Kirito suggested, "let's just keep it simple."

Everyone slowly walked back to the school to investigate their respective areas. The atmosphere changed in only a matter of seconds as they went from determined to depressed.

"There's no point dwelling on it now." Haru walked up to Mitsuha, "let's just start investigating before our hour is up."

"Yeah." Mitsuha wiped her eyes and turned away from Maya's body, "ah, Eren?" She watched as the titan walked back up to them, "aren't you supposed to be inside?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to check something before I head in." Eren walked up to the body, knelt down, and lifted her bangs, "huh... Do you see this?"

Haru blinked a few times, "is that what caused the trauma?"

"Yep." Eren ran his finger over the indentation in Maya's forehead. He cringed as he brought his finger away, "the blood is still fresh and her body still has very little heat. It's faint, but it's definitely there. This murder happened recently, that's for sure."

"But that bruise." Haru knelt next to Eren, who nodded.

"It's extremely narrow, so it's possible... The wound was inflicted by a dull, metal object, something like a sword or a knife."

"I-if it was a knife..." Mitsuha swallowed hard, "wouldn't it have sliced her skin?"

"It would've, but not if someone used the dull end." Eren got up, "that's all I wanted to check. Do what you want with that information. But now that puts suspicion over me and Kirito, as we both use swords."

Mitsuha watched as Eren left them and walked towards the school.

"A knife..." Mitsuha thought to herself then the image of Haru holding the knife to cut his mackerel in the kitchen, "Haru, to start, were you the first one to see Maya's body?"

"Yes. I'm the only named witness..." Haru cleared his throat, "I was the first to find her dead, here."

"And.." Mitsuha crossed her arms and re-inspected the door, "I think we should investigate the kitchen."

"What? Why?"

"Because I need to check the knives in there if what Eren said was true. But..." Mitsuha stepped over Maya's body, avoided the blood, and tried to open the door of the gym, "if she got struck on the forehead, then she was facing her attacker and knew that she was being attacked. They cornered here because... The door is jammed and it's not easy to get through. So the attacker knew the door would pose a problem for her."

"Also, with the direction her body fell and the fact that the blood is on the door and not the pavement tells us that they definitely tried to corner her here." Haru nodded then noticed Tamaki's quietness and lack of energy, "hey, Tamaki."

"Yes?"

"You okay?"

Tamaki only crossed his arms and looked away, "well, I don't know if this means anything in our investigation, but before going to the Dining Hall and inviting you guys to go swimming, I had fallen asleep for about an hour. In that time... I had a horrible dream."

What? Mitsuha looked at him, "me too... It was a boyfriend I had, I can't remember his name, though."

"That was my dream, too." Tamaki bit his thumbnail, "it was my girlfriend, Haruhi. She was there, but Monokuma jumped in and told me that she... That she was killed. I wanted to ignore it and just make the most out of what I had here with me now... And try to get my mind off of her."

"Wow..." Mitsuha tapped her chin, "these dreams can't be coincidences. Hm?"

She glanced over to Celty, who had walked up to her and shown her the phone she uses to communicate.

>> Ash, Naruto, Yuri, and Haru have missing alibis. <<

"What?"

>> Haru wasn't with us in the Dining Hall at all. After that, just under twenty minutes after Ash, Naruto, and Yuri left, Maya was pronounced dead, discovered by Haru. Doesn't that seem a little bit suspicious? <<

"I swear, I didn't kill her."

Mitsuha wanted to believe him, but she knew there was no room for error in this game. Everyone's lives depend on this decision. It's literally a matter of life or death, "Haru, let's go check out the kitchen, now."

"Okay."

"Thank you, Celty. Tamaki. We'll leave this to you." Mitsuha called back to them as she and Haru headed back into the main school building where Ash, Luffy, and Naruto were inspecting something on the floor in the foyer.

"What's going on?" Haru peeked over their shoulders.

"This..." Naruto stood up and pointed at the floor, "this isn't blood, is it?"

Sure enough, Mitsuha recognized the large, red circles on the tile, "that's blood."

"I saw this earlier when we were looking for Haru," Ash explained.

"Wait, that's right." Mitsuha nodded, "you, Yuri, and Naruto have missing alibis. Care to explain what happened?"

"Sure." Ash crossed his arms, "so, Naruto told us to split up. He said he'd go find Haru in the dormitory hallway. Yuri told me to check the gym and he'd check the library. So, after some time, I was on my way to the library when I saw one of the Ultimate Labs in the east hallway was left open. I went in and the door shut behind me, but sure enough, it was a lap pool. I figured it was Haru's and thought he'd in there, but he wasn't. I looked around for a bit then decided there was nothing in there and just headed to the library. So I went back to the Dining Hall where I thought everyone was, but no one was there except for Yuri, who told me we needed to go after hearing the body announcement. Apparently, I didn't hear it."

"Wait, Haru's Ultimate Lab was open?" Mitsuha looked at Haru, "did you just accidentally leave it open or something?"

"I ran out in a hurry, I guess it didn't close all the way." Haru shrugged.

So... What Taiga said about not hearing the announcement from her Ultimate Lab is true. Mitsuha shut her eyes. But why did Haru leave the lab door open? Is this where he was while we were in the Dining Hall?

"On my way to find Yuri in the library, that's when I saw these spots of blood, but I thought I was just seeing things. On the other hand, I don't really have any idea where Naruto was the whole time besides just relying on him saying he was in the dormitory hallway."

Naruto... Eren threw himself under the bus in finding the narrow indentation in Maya's forehead... Now, Ash doesn't have any alibi for Naruto to ride on. At least we know now that, from Taiga, the Ultimate Labs are all soundproof, but why was Haru's lab open? What was Taiga doing in her lab in the first place? Wait, wasn't she there at the Dining Hall when we met? She never left... Did she? If she did, then... When...?

"Enough questions." Haru shut his eyes, "I can see it on your face."

"Oh, sorry." Mitsuha chuckled, "I'm just a little frazzled..."

"Well." Haru crossed his arms, "what we should probably do right now is check all the Ultimate Labs for things that could be used as potential murder weapons."

"Good idea." Mitsuha and Haru stopped by the Ultimate Swimmer's Lab first. Next, they found the Ultimate Lab next to that one is the Ultimate Lucky Student's Lab, which was furnished like an expensive hotel with lots of luxuries, seats, technology, and food.

"Hey, Naruto." Haru called, "we need to check your lab."

"So, this is my lab, huh?" Naruto grinned as he scanned his fingerprint on the keypad and the door clicked open. The three of them went in and there were weapons and training dojo equipment everywhere, "sweet! This has everything!"

"Weapons..." Mitsuha noted, then remembered his missing alibi, "Naruto, only you have access to your lab, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so?" Naruto chuckled as he stood next to a training dummy made of wood, "I mean I haven't actually been in here yet, so I didn't know all this equipment was here."

"Okay. We don't have time to check every single corner in this place. We still have the Ultimate Lolita and Ice Skater Labs." Haru headed towards the door, "thanks, Naruto."

"No problem." Naruto nodded as he followed them out.

"Hey, Taiga!"

Taiga turned from the door to her lab to Mitsuha and Haru as they approached her, "what."

"Ah, can we check your Ultimate Lab? We're trying to get in some evidence and find any other potential murder weapons..."

"Fine, whatever." Taiga opened the door of her lab and walked in, "just try not to get blown away."

The moment Mitsuha and Haru walked in, they froze. At the center of the room was a boxing ring and all around the room were swords made of different material.

"Th-this..." Mitsuha swallowed hard, "is the lab of the Ultimate Lolita?"

"Pretty neat, right?" Taiga chuckled evilly, "so, any potential murder weapons?"

Both the Ultimate Ninja and the Ultimate Lolita Labs contain weapons... This adds those two to the list of suspects.

"Thank you." Haru turned around and immediately left, "Mitsuha. I didn't think that Kirito or Eren would have a chance at the killing because they don't even have their own weapons yet. But with this room full of swords..."

"They could be conspiring with Taiga, who looks more like the Ultimate War Lord right now..." Mitsuha shivered then turned to look at the Dining Hall entrance, "we can check the kitchen out after we check Yuri's lab. He might be in here, though, let's just check."

"Okay."

The two walked into the Dining Hall where they found Korra, Kaori, Yuri, and Natsu, "hey, Yuri. Could you do us a favor and let us into your lab?"

"Sure." Yuri left the group and followed Mitsuha and Haru out to the new gym, "whoever this culprit is that killed Maya..."

"Why her?" Mitsuha pursed her lips as they stepped carefully around her body. She turned to Tamaki and Celty as she shoved the gym door open, "we're going to check out Yuri's lab."

Yuri walked ahead of them as they crossed the empty gym and up to his lab door. He scanned his fingerprint and allowed them to walk in first.

"I don't remember what it looked like before..." Mitsuha sighed, "anything different, Yuri?"

"Mm..." He looked around, "no. Seems the way I left it earlier."

"Is that normal?" Haru pointed at a shelf of ice skates, "there's a pair missing."

"Oh, yeah. I took a pair back to my room." Yuri explained, "it... This is going to sound cheesy, but it made me feel more comfortable, having something familiar to me."

"That's okay. I understand completely." Mitsuha smiled, "I'm sure Haru seeing a swimming pool, he feels exactly the same way."

"Okay. Let's go." Haru only said and headed out of the lab, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hey, uh..." Yuri spoke up, "Haru, I need to talk to her for a second if you don't mind waiting outside."

Haru looked at him, then turned on his heel and left the gym.

"What?"

"I have to tell you something..." Yuri looked around as if to make sure nobody was watching, "I overheard a conversation between Haru and Maya."

Mitsuha stared at him, "Haru... And Maya? Did you hear anything?!"

"Yeah." Yuri crossed his arms, "he was inviting her to go swimming with him. In my opinion, I thought it was really nice of him, but then she declined because we were all going swimming together later anyway."

"But..." She glanced out the windows of the gym, "after I talked with her, she said she was going to go meet with someone. And before getting killed, she was coming here... Was she really going swimming after all?"

"I mean, Haru said if she ever changed her mind, she could meet him at the gym. He never specified which gym, though."

"That's weird..." Mitsuha rubbed her head, "at this rate, I can barely put all this together..."

They left the lab and walked back out to meet Tamaki and Celty. Just as they did, a tune played on the loudspeakers in the courtyard.

"Okay, pansies!" Monokuma's voice echoed through the air, "your one hour is now up! Please meet at the fountain in the center of the courtyard for your very first Class Trial! Oh, how thrilling!"

Damn, I didn't even get to check out the kitchen yet! Mitsuha clenched her fists.

"It's now or never..." Tamaki inhaled, "we're counting on you guys, Mitsuha."

"Yeah..."

Eventually, fourteen teens stood outside by the water fountain which had suddenly sunken under the concrete ground and an elevator emerged where the water had been.

Haru came up behind and tapped her shoulder, "Mitsuha."

"Haru!" Mitsuha turned around as they entered the elevator, "where've you been?"

"I checked the kitchen."

"Oh, thank goodness." Mitsuha sighed, "so, who are the suspects?"

He pursed his lips, "so far, Naruto, Kirito, Eren, Taiga... And me."

Mitsuha went pale, "y-you? But why?! You have no reason to--"

"Do I need a reason?!" He rose his voice, "they all think it's me since I was the only one at the scene and one of the only ones without a solid alibi. I have my own suspicions, but I'm no detective. If I'm wrong, we all die."

She swallowed hard, "I'm sure there are still aspects to this case we're really overlooking... It's not you for certain, we have no way of deciding for sure, yet."

Haru turned back to face forward and shut his eyes as the elevator descended.

"Oh, Haru..."

"... What?"

Natsu, Kaori, and Korra stood staring at him from behind the counter in the kitchen.

"We got some evidence that points towards you." Korra crossed her arms, "on top of that, you were gone the whole time and you were the first person at Maya's dead body. Care to explain yourself?"

Haru ignored their accusations and walked to the sink, "do you have any other evidence besides what we already know?"

"Well..." Kaori rubbed her hands, "I tried washing my hands, but..."

Haru froze at the clogged sink. In it was water the color of blood, "what... What happened here?"

"It's clogged with blood, I think." Kaori explained then pointed to the knife block, "plus, there's a knife missing. The knife could be the murder weapon, but we couldn't find any bloody knives, even though there's a smear of blood on the knife block, right down here."

Sure enough, there was a smear of blood on the wooden surface of the knife block.

"No, the knife couldn't be a murder weapon. I took a knife for--" Haru suddenly froze at what he just said. He cursed under his breath and covered his mouth wishing he could take it back.

"So..." Natsu rose a brow, "you took the knife that's missing from here?"

"Yes, I did. But I didn't kill Maya!"

"The killer lies." Korra lifted her chin, "don't deny it, we can see right through you."

"Well..." Haru peered at her, "I have my own suspicions that make more sense than yours."

"Hey, uh..." Kaori spoke up, "we should probably be focusing on more important things, like the things we failed to notice--"

"Haru, go ahead and fess up!" Natsu growled, "don't you feel at all guilty for killing such an innocent girl?!"

"I would be if I actually killed her! But I didn't, so no, I don't feel any guilt whatsoever!" Haru countered then stepped back, "whatever. I don't have time for..."

His voice trailed off and he went over to the refrigerator.

"We don't have time to eat." Natsu crossed his arms just as the tune played over the monitors, "there goes our time. Great. Get ready to go join Maya, Haruka."

Haru clenched his fist and watched as the elevator doors opened and they stepped into what looked like a courtroom with fifteen podiums in a circle before a taller podium for the bear of the hour.

"Welcome!" Monokuma cackled, "take your places and let's get this Class Trial started!!"

We might not have everything we need... Mitsuha shut her eyes and went through every piece of evidence she gathered. But we should have enough. Haru went to the kitchen, hopefully, he'll have what we need.

Everyone stood in their assigned podiums and scanned each other's faces, the heat of the tension rising with every second.

"One of you is the murderer..." Eren shut his eyes, "whoever you are... Get ready to face certain death."

"He's looking forward to it, I'm sure." Natsu turned to Haru, who didn't make eye contact with anyone.

"We'll see." Kirito crossed his arms, "no one jumps to conclusions. We need to take our time and think through this rationally."

Here we go... Mitsuha took deep breaths. The trial that decides our fate.

"And now..." Monokuma rose his paw, "I hereby announce that this Class Trial... Is now in session!"