Ding dong, bing bong!

"A body has been discovered! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience…"

The speaker clicked off, signifying the end of the announcement. But hardly any of us paid attention to it. The fourteen of us crowded around the doorway, stunned into complete shock by the scene laid out before us.

Yes. Fourteen of us. Because the person standing over Chihiro's body holding a golden sword in his hands was meeting our gaze with the same fear and confusion we shared, adding to our bafflement.

We could only make assumptions about the boy so plainly obviously the killer. We had every reason to. He was caught red handed in the act. The weapon positioned out in front of him was the dead give away. Most of us didn't want to believe it. Our peer, acquaintance-some might even say friend-had murdered an innocent girl. And had betrayed us all.

Leon Kuwata looked on the verge of tears as he looked over from Chihiro's limp corpse to the rest of our mortified faces. The color in his face was completely gone and his blue irises quivered slightly, unsure of what to focus on. The baseball star's shoes were covered in dark red blood at the soles. He slowly backed away from the scene, the sword still positioned in front of his shaking form.

Suddenly, another scream, even more high pitched than Toko's, screeched in my ears, and the sound of Sayaka's footsteps becoming dimmer and dimmer revertibrated in the air. Seconds later, Makoto could be heard running after her.

That action seemed to set off a bomb. Everyone suddenly snapped out of their trance and began reacting in different ways. Some screamed at the disheveled body, some stared in horror with their hands covering their mouths.

And some confronted the assumed killer.

"W-what the hell!? You actually murdered someone!? Why? What the hell did Fujisaki do to you?" Mondo's voice was firm and strong, but his slight stutter was apparent. His face flushed red with anger and fear as he towered over Leon. It might have just been me but he looked a lot bigger when he was angry.

Leon, dropping the sword on the ground with a small thud, raising his hands in front of his face. His voice quivered as he looked up at the taller boy in panic. "N-no! I didn't kill her! T-this is all a big m-misunderstanding. That's all!"

"What kind of lazy-ass excuse is that!? We caught you red handed, for crying out loud!" Leon had backed up into a shelf, and Mondo slammed his hand into it to corner the baseball star.

"N-no! You have it all wrong! It was S-Sayaka! Sayaka tried to kill me last ni-night! And I b-bet she was the one who did this t-to! I was just carry the sword to p-protect my-"

"Don't try to blame this on some girl!"

"No! She r-really did…"

My mind tuned out Leon's excuses. It became muffled background noise filtered by my brain. Because he wasn't what was important right now.

I'm not even sure how long it was before I mustered the strength to walk through the library doors and kneel down next to Chihiro's corpse. Thick red blood soaked my jeans but I didn't care at that moment. I just silently reached my hand out to Chihiro's neck to feel her pulse. But her skin lacked the warmth of life. And no pulse beat within her.

I had expected this. I knew she was dead from the moment I saw her lifeless face pressed up against the carpet. But actually confirming it was too much for me to handle. I felt my jaw tremble slightly as my hand flopped back to my side.

A part of this didn't feel real, as if this was just some dream I would wake up from in just a few seconds. Dreams only last twenty seconds, anyway. Just twenty seconds… that's all.

Hina, who had one of her arms slung under Toko's to support the unconscious girl's limp figure, bent down slightly to put her hand on my shoulder in a sympathetic gesture.

"Blair…"

I pushed her hand off me, standing up from my position on the ground. I forced myself to tear my gaze away from the body of my friend toward Leon and Mondo. Others had joined the argument, all ganging up against Leon. They were arguing very loudly, and it was beginning to get physical.

"You!" I hadn't expected my voice to sound so firm, but it did it's job because Leon twisted his head in my direction despite the commotion in front of him. "Did you really kill my friend!?"

"No! I t-told you, it was Sayaka! Y-you were there! R-remember!?"

I pressed my lips together. As much as a part of me wanted to side with Leon, I also didn't know if he was actually guilty or not. Sure, everyone deserved to know what happened last night, but I also didn't want to defend the boy who might have murdered Chihiro.

"Dude, drop it already!" Mondo yelled. "We all know you did it!"

Leon seemed to gain sudden strength from the anger and frustration he was feeling. "Just listen to me-"

"Puhuhu! HAHAHAHAHAAA!"

The sound of Monokuma's laugh was enough to break up the argument for now. The sound of his voice crackled through the speaker once more.

"Oh, forgive me. It's just so funny how one little murder can make it you all turn on each other in a heartbeat! The despair is so beautiful…

Anyway… in order to find out more about Fujisaki's murder, please head to the gymnasium. And don't be late! Or there will be consequences…"

The speaker clicked off, but tensions were still high. And I couldn't handle to be in the midst of this chaos.

Shoving past the others, I left the library and trudged down the hallway with a purpose.

"Wait! Blair!"" Hina called, but I ignored her.

I kept my head down as I headed to the gymnasium. My green gaze focused on the floor's design as a distraction to keep myself from crying. It's pattern and slight imperfections distracted me me enough.

But I couldn't completely eject the image of my friend's lifeless body from my mind. And I was afraid I could.

**~**~**

A few minutes after I arrived, the others hesitantly sauntered in behind me. Excluding Toko-who was still unconscious-they all carried an aura of fear.

While we waited for Monokuma to come with his message, I noticed some of the others gave me pitying glances. Of course they did. They all knew I was closest to Chihiro. But I couldn't grieve now. Because I knew exactly who killed my friend. I just needed to wait for him to show up.

"Howdy, hey!" Monokuma appeared into the room, looking cheerful like it was just a normal day.

I didn't waste a second. As soon as he entered the room, I exploded. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO CHIHIRO, YOU BASTARD!" I spat.

Monokuma titled his head, an innocent look that I knew was fake spreading across his face. "Why, what do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me! It's obvious you killed her!" I pointed at him accusingly.

"What are you talking about!? I would never! Unless someone violates a school regulation, I absolutely will not interfere."

"Then who killed her?" Sayaka asked.

"You already know the answer!" Monokuma responded as if it was obvious. "The killer is one of you!"

The black and white bear laughed at our expressions. "Don't you guys remember what I told you when your school life began? In order to graduate and escape this place… you must kill someone else! Someone's just following the rules! There is nothing wrong with that!"

The bear's words caused a fit of confused murmurs to explode throughout the room at once. Words of disbelief and protest filled the air.

The only two of us who were actually collected were Celeste and Byakuya. Celeste seemed to be brushing the whole thing off, which I was too angry to acknowledge at this point. Byakuya, on the other hand, was more straightforward.

"Before we continue, I'd like to confirm something with the stuffed animal here," he stated. "If one of us really did kill her, that person gets to graduate from the school, right?"

Monokuma broke out into his regular fit of laughter, much to the dismay and confusion of several of us.

"You think it's that easy!?" He spat. "You think you can just kill someone and waltz out of here!? You're all so naive! No, no, no, no. The real thing has just begun."

I can't exactly explain why, but for some reason out of all the shit this bear blabbered on about, those words made my blood boil the most.

"You are referring to rule number six of the handbook, perhaps?" Celeste asked, twirling one of her drills with her finger.

Rule number six?

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the e-handbook. Turning it on, the screen luminated in my face as I swiped to the sixth rule for communal life. It read,

Anyone who becomes a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are caught by the other students.

"Tsk…" I scoffed under my breath. He really was taking something so serious and turning it into a game, wasn't he?

"Bingo!" Monokuma pointed to Celeste like she had just one a prize at a carnival. "It's not enough to just kill someone. You have to actually get away with it. Which naturally means you need a system in place to assess whether or not it's been gotten away with. So, a certain amount of time after a murder has taken place, a class trial will begin."

A class trial?

Monokuma began explaining. The gist was that we would all gather around after investigating the crime scene. Then we discuss what we found. These clues will help us figure out who the "blackened," or the person who murdered the victim, is.  If we guessed right, the blackened would be executed. If we guessed wrong… all of us would be executed. Except for the blackened, who would get a ticket out of this hellhole.

As Monokuma clarified, I began thinking about my earlier assumption that Monokuma himself was the murderer. It had made sense at first, but listening to him explaining the class trials made me, begrudgingly, think otherwise. If he went through all the trouble to gather elite students here and create an entire system which we were to play by, why would he just kill us off one by one himself?

If I was a sadistic psychopath who had the intellect to plan-or was crazy enough to even come up with-something like this, of course I wouldn't ruin everything by killing everyone myself. I would let it all play out.

I stuffed my e-handbook back in my pocket, and pressed my cold hand to my forehead.

This is like something in a comic book…

I couldn't help but think that. Because none of this seemed real at all. I promised Chihiro I would protect her. Now look where she was...

We tensed up at the word 'excecuted.' A familiar flurry of complaints echoed throughout the gym walls.

It seemed oddly familiar now. Monokuma told us something that scared us all half to death and we let out complaints and comments of disbelief. A day ago, an hour ago, even, I would have been one of them. I mean, come on, who wouldn't be?

But… I couldn't let myself believe that this was all a joke anymore. I wouldn't let myself hold onto that sense of comfort. After all, I saw the evidence right in front of me. I saw Chihiro's corpse. I checked her pulse. She was, without a doubt, dead.

I wrapped my arms around my head, closed my eyes, and began counting down from 10, breathing slowly and evenly; drowning out the rest of the world for a minute.

It was a tactic I saw Chihiro use whenever she was stressed out or scared. [Or in my case, angry] It seemed to work pretty well.

The world around me was beginning to fade away momentarily as I began sinking into my own world. But my thoughts were interrupted by an angry feminine voice.

"W-wait! Hold on a second!" Junko suddenly glared at Monokuma. Her face burned with annoyance and rage as she sent the bear a steely glare. "You're freaking insane, y'know that!? Like, a class trial? What the hell is that? I don't want anything to do with it!"

"Why not?" Monokuma asked as if he genuinely didn't know why she wouldn't want to be participating in a 'game' where teenagers murder each other.

"Whaddya mean, why not!? Why should I waste my time trying to figure out who murdered someone?"

"What?! Are you saying you're not going to participate in the trial? Only punishment awaits such blasphemy!"

The argument between the two continued, getting pretty much nowhere. But the tension was still high, so we all watched intently, none of us sure exactly what to do.

It was only when I saw Junko take a step toward Monokuma with her fists clenched that my guard went up. That look on her face and the way she held herself look familiar. Too familiar for my comfort.

"Junko! It's not worth it! " I scolded bluntly, knowing exactly what she was thinking. But the fashionista just shrugged me off.

"Stay out of this, carrot top!" She yelled at me.

"But I won't give into such evil!" Monokuma continued. "It's my style to stick it out a resist til the very end! If you really want to get out of here… you'll have to go through me first!"

It was then that Junko snapped. She let out an angry grunt and ran toward Monokuma.

"No,wait!" I yelled, instinctively lunging forward.

But I couldn't react fast enough. Junko had taken that dangerous leap that would lead her into a lot more trouble than she realized.

Before I knew it, the fashionista had her boot pressed against Monokuma's plump belly, pinning him down. She didn't show any sign of backing down as the bear struggled under the pressure she was putting on him.

"Are you enjoying yourself now?" Junko demanded.

"Are you?" Monokuma reversed the question.

"Huh?"

"Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is not allowed. You've violated a school regulation. I invoke the mighty summon spell! Help! To me, godly, Gungnir!"

I had no idea what Monokuma was going on about, and I didn't care. I just didn't want Junko to make the same mistake I did. I reached my arm out to her to yank her back.

But it was too late.

Large, sharp black spikes as long as a person is tall and as thick as my arm had miraculously thrust out of the ground. From what? And how? I didn't know. But they had mercilessly plunged themselves through Junko's chest, back, and abdomen, arms, and legs, causing scarlet blood to seep all over the girl's clothes and paper white skin. Her eyes look almost deprived of life already as she looked down in horror at the spikes punctured through her.

One of my hands had gotten in the way of a spike, causing a gash to form inbetween my index finger and thumb. I flinched back from the pain that struck my palm. But I could still catch Junko's quiet whisper.

"This wasn't... supposed to… why… me?"

With those unexplained last words, I could almost see the terrifying moment where Junko's soul left her body.

Hina gasped, her knees trembling as she still continued to support Toko's weight. Hifumi screamed, and others let out equally despairing cries of surprise and fear.

My eyes stretched wide as I stared down at the second corpse I had seen today. But it was just as frightening.

And just as real.

Monokuma's voice carried a new weight now.

"Now I am fully aware of the great power and meaning of a promise! I really want to keep a corpse from popping up for no good reason, y'know? But I guess you all needed to be taught a lesson, after all. Ahh, what an amazing promise. But now you guys understand, right? Now you see just how serious I am…

Defy me and you get shot full of holes, exploded, buried alive, integrated, etc. So if you don't want that to happen to you, you'd better do your best to follow school regulations."

For the first time since we first got here, we heeded Monokuma's warning without a doubt in our minds that we would meet Junko's same fate if we rebeled.

"...why did you have to kill her?" Kyoko dared to ask. "Didn't you say you would put her in a prison or something?"

"I changed my mind." Monokuma replied bluntly.

"No… you've been wanting to kill this entire time." Kyoko read him like a book, which was probably why he ignored the comment.

Instead, he looked over at me as I pulled my injured hand close to my chest. And kept my gaze on the huge amount of blood slipping into the cracks of the wooden floor.

"What's it now, Hiriyama? Cat got your tongue?" Monokuma asked cheerfully.

I didn't respond. Didn't even give a sign that I had heard him.

"You'd better get to investigating." It was plainly and obviously a threat.

And with that, Monokuma vanished, leaving the rest of us to glance at one another in suspicion.

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Oh, look! Another filler chapter where nothing useful happens! :D

I realize I'm kind of dragging this on, bur promise there will be some development between Kyoko and Blair in the next chapter 👀