She's dead.

Minami Hoshi the Ultimate Director...is dead.

Sora was comforting Kazuno who was the one sobbing. Robin was the one pacing around, muttering something to himself. Everyone else was in shock to see Minami's body in the tank, wrapped up in chains.

.

.

.

.

"What are you all waiting for?" Monkomi popped up out of nowhere.

"There's a dead body right there. What do you expect us to do?" Amy asked sadly.

"To investigate of course! Unless none of you want to and if so I'll have to kill you all if nobody can get the murder right. Unless you're the culprit that is," Monkomi explained.

...

"Sadly as much as I hate to admit it, he's right. We have to investigate to see who did it. For Minami," Robin said.

They all seemed to be in agreement.

"So what do we do about her body? Do we leave it there or?" Jun asked.

"We pull her out! It would be disrespectful of us to at least not set her body down to a more respectful place," Sora explained.

"Right. So I guess we head here," Toshiaki went over to pull the chains out of the tank that was holding Minami. Jun carefully carried her body and set her down on the floor to not mess up the crime scene.

"Time to investigate...again," I heard Robin muttered.

[Investigation Start!]

Monkomi handed us the Monkomi File before disappearing again. It's not the first time that I wondered where does he head off to.

I looked down at the file to read it.

>Victim Name: Minami Hoshi, Ultimate Director

>COD: ???

>TOD: 3:15 pm

>Height: 5'8

>Weight: 130 lbs

The victim appeared to have been set in the tank. While the possibility of death would have been drowning, it's still unclear.

Still unclear? So even the Monkomi File doesn't know how she died, I thought.

[Monkomi File has been added to your Truth Bullets]

I decided to take a look at the body to see if there's any clues to see how she died.

Uyeda looked like he already examined her. "So autopsy report?" I asked.

"I could hear some water in her lungs so she could have died from drowning as you can see here but the Monkomi doesn't confirm it so I'm unsure. She doesn't show any signs of anything else other than that there is a rash around her mouth and her pupils being dilated," Uyeda explained.

A rash around her mouth and dilated eyes? Interesting, I thought.

"Thanks. This helps a lot," I said. "Anytime," he nodded.

[Uyeda's Autopsy Report has been added to your Truth Bullets]

Guess I'll go and investigate the body then, I thought and went over to examine it.

Minami's eyes were half closed and I could see what Uyeda meant about her eyes. But what causes dilated eyes? There is no way that she could have just died from drowning.

And there! Just as I suspected. There was a bit of blood on her heart locket. But where did it come from? Minami didn't seem hurt or had any cuts on here. So that must mean... wait is that a small trail of blood on her mouth.

Indeed it was. That just made things messy. Did she die from drowning or did she die from something else? Damn it!

[Blood on mouth and locket has been added to your Truth Bullets]

I decided to check the chains. Surely it would have held onto to her while she was being lowered into the tank right? Well that's kind of wrong.

The chains were loose, like she was tied up quickly and in a rush. And it doesn't appear that Minami struggled against the chains either.

This begs the question: what happened during the time when Minami got taken to be set in the tank? Was she killed in that way or was she killed in some other way?

Arrgh! So many questions and so little answers, I thought.

The loose chains are a part of the puzzle, all I need is the piece that fits with it.

[Loose chains has been added to your Truth Bullets]

That's pretty much all the evidence that I can while investigating her corpse. But I feel like this is not enough. Guess I have to do the one thing that I kind of fear.

Talking to people.

(I should stop self portraying myself onto Kuro •_•)

Now who was the last person to have seen Minami before the blackout?

I got it!

"Hey Kazuno I have a few questions for you," I said, walking up to the pink haired girl.

"What is it *sniff* now?" She asked, clearly not in the best mood to be answering questions.

"I know you're grieving at the moment but I just wanted to ask you. Was Minami acting a little...not herself?" I asked awkwardly, trying to not look at her in the eyes.

Sora narrowed my eyes at me while Kazuno sniffed.

"*sniff* well I c-can tell is that...she told m-me that she wasn't feeling well *sniff* and that was right before the blackout," she explained.

Minami wasn't feeling well? Last I saw her, she looked ok and healthy. What happened during that time, I thought.

"And that's all she told you?" I questioned her a bit further. Kazuno nodded.

"After I suggested that she should go see Uyeda if she wasn't feeling well, the lights went off. I couldn't hear any signs of a struggle, mainly because everyone was yelling. Then when the lights came back on, she was gone," Kazuno explained.

No signs of a struggle and her sudden disappearance only to appear dead, I thought.

"Thanks for telling me, this will be really helpful at the trial," I said, bowing politely.

"Your *sniff* welcome," Kazuno sobbed.

I should leave her alone for now, I thought and walked away.

[Kazuno's Account has been added to your Truth Bullets]

And then I noticed Kana sitting down on the bleachers just staring at Minami's body.

Oh right, she also disappeared alongside Minami. I wonder if she saw who took her, I thought.

I walked up to her. When I approached her however, she flinched and I stopped in my tracks.

?

"You're going to question me about where I was during the blackout aren't you?" She asked, staring directly into my eyes. I looked away to stare at something else that wouldn't make me uncomfortable.

"Well I kind of have to for this case. Since you disappeared alongside her, you're top of the suspect list," I explained.

"Well then. I'll tell you because that is what will clear my name since I know people are going to be suspicious of me," she said.

I was a little shocked at her somewhat calm tone. I thought she would be freaking out by now since she's on top of the suspect list.

"I didn't see anything because it was dark although I did see a small light from somewhere. I saw two figures, one appeared to be dragged someone. I yelled out, 'Hey what the-,' before my mouth got covered by a cloth with a strong smelling scent. Strong enough to make someone pass out and I don't remember what happens next other than waking up next to the tank and saw Minami's body in it," Kana explained.

"Strong scent?" I asked and she nodded.

"I almost screamed and ran out and bumped into Ichigo and Robin. I told them that Minami was in the tank and we ran in. And then the DBA came on and...well you know what happens," she added on.

So Kana, Ichigo and Robin were the three people to have discovered the body causing the body announcement to go off, I thought.

"Thanks, this helps a lot," I said but she only huffed in reply.

[Kana's testimony has been added to your Truth Bullets]

I walked away, thinking about what she said.

A strong smelling cloth that could knock people out, where have I heard that before? I wondered.

"Hey Kuro, I found something in the arcade. Might as well go check that out," I heard Robin say.

"Huh? Do you think we have done enough investigating around here?" I asked, concerned.

"This case is messy. The actual crime scene doesn't appear to have many clues regarding on how she died, what happened in between and why are the chains loose," Robin pointed out.

...

"I guess I can go check it out," I said and left the circus room to the arcade.

I wonder what Robin meant about the arcade, I thought.

I searched around the arcade looking for any clues. Nothing.

That is...

Huh?

There was a cloth near one of the rhythm games, nearby the Mario Kart where I was. I remember smelling something strong that wasn't lemons. Was that it? And last I saw Kazuno and Minami, they were playing a shooter game but maybe they moved to a different game during that hour or two. Maybe this is what Robin wanted me to look at but why?

I got near the cloth and bend down to pick it up but then Monkomi stopped me.

"Hoohoo~ I'm afraid not!" He said.

"Huh? Why not?" I asked, not wanting to deal with the robot monkey plush.

"Because I can't let our main man to pass out right before the trial. It almost happened during the blackout right before the lights went on by the purplette," Monkomi explained.

This reminded me what Kana told me. A cloth over her mouth, strong enough to knock her out.

"So this cloth can knock me by smelling it?" I asked. "Yessir!" Monkomi replied.

So that it! But the name is escaping me right now. Crap what is it?!

"If you're curious then go check the second storage room. Maybe that might jog your memory," Monkomi suggested and then he disappeared.

The second storage room Huh? I guess I can give it a try, I thought.

[Cloth has been added to your Truth Bullets]

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

I walked out of the arcade and went to the storage room. I spotted Ichigo going in.

?

I walked in to see Ichigo staring at a bottle in her hand. I cleared my throat to let her know that I was there.

"Oh hi Tami~chan!" She waved. She didn't sound like she was sad like earlier although it's hard to tell because of her mask.

"What do you have there?" I asked, pointing at the bottle.

"Wow straight to the point. Although you're not completely straight," she muttered. I sighed tiredly at this.

"Anyway, it's a bottle of chloroform. You know the stuff that can knock someone out," Ichigo explained, shaking the bottle.

"W-whoa?! Can you put that back please?" I asked nervously staring at the bottle.

"Fine," she placed it back.

Chloroform huh? I wonder...

"You said chloroform can knock someone out right?" I asked.

"Yep! It's in movies and even real life. Ooh do you think it's important to the case?" Ichigo asked.

"Because I found a cloth on the floor of the arcade. When I went to pick it up, Monkomi stopped me. Said something about "our main man pass out before the trial" or something like that. And when I talk to Kana, she told me that she got knocked out due to a cloth covering her mouth," I explained. Ichigo folded her arms when I mentioned Kana.

"I honestly don't trust Albino-chan but her story alines with what you just said," she said.

"I think that the chloroform was used to knock both girls out," I suspected.

"Yeah most likely. Hey I gotta show you something very suspicious!" Ichigo said.

"Suspicious?" I asked and she nodded excitedly.

"Yep yep! In the candle room," Ichigo explained.

She looks determined to show to show me. I wonder what? I thought.

But first...

I glanced at the bottle of chloroform. That definitely fits in with the cloth, I thought.

[Bottle of chloroform has been added to your Truth Bullets]

Ichigo led me to the candle room and pointed to a electrical box next to the door. "That's how I fix the lights!" She said.

I opened it up to see wires and switches. There was one that looked like it got burned and a melted candle was sitting there.

Huh?

"This is...is this how the lights went out?" I asked. "Yeah probably. I'm not sure about it though but it's very likely," Ichigo explained.

So the candle was used to turn the lights off. Why not switch the lights off? Then again Ichigo was apparently the one who turned them on so who turned off the lights, I thought.

"It's suspicious right? The candle was used to burn the wires to cause the blackout when whoever did this could have switched the lights off before running over to murder Minami," Ichigo explained, her tone shifting to a sadder tone.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure but I think I might have seen this once but I can't fully remember it. I'll most likely remember during the trial," I said.

"That's so cool Tami~chan! You're like a real detective!" Ichigo said excitedly.

I awkwardly chuckled. "I'm no detective, I'm just a coder. I work with computers, not people," I said.

"But you're working with people now. Guess you're coming out of your comfort zone," Ichigo explained, tilting her head to one side.

I-

She's right.

It took this killing game to help me get out of my comfort zone...out of all things that could have help me, it had to be this. How great.

"Hey hey, don't beat yourself up. You're doing great," Ichigo encouraged.

What's with this sudden encouragement? I thought.

"We still have some time left before the trial. Go and investigate more before Monkomi gets bored," Ichigo explained.

"Alright. You go back to the others, I can handle it from here," I said.

"I'm counting on you," Ichigo skipped away.

They all are, I thought.

[Burnt wires and melted candle has been added to your Truth Bullets]

A/N: I feel excited to start the trial not gonna lie.