...

......

............

...Why?

...Why did it have to be him?

He...     He never did anything wrong...    To anyone...

...He only wanted to protect.

Even though he was a pirate...      He was one who had a heart of gold.

With all the acts he's done...    From protecting Freddy, to helping to investigate by knocking on the walls...

...How could someone think that he could be the traitor?

The air laid stiffly in the room, as multiple grieving sputters squeaked from the crowd behind me. My entire body had gone motionless, emotionally malfunctioning at the simple order to move.

...Good reason as to fucking why.

At long last, I was able to turn my head to view the rest of the group. However, my eyes were laid upon someone else, resting on their knees next to me, staring at the body with tears screaming out their eyes.

Freddy.

"...D-Dan?"

"..." Something rose in me to say something to the fox, however I battered it back down my throat before I could utter anything.

"...T-This isn't real, r-right? I-I'm d-dreaming, this i-is a-another o-one of th-those nightmares, r-right?!"

"Freddy...    I-"

"O-Of course i-it's not," The orange-furred animal suddenly went on again, "Th-This always h-has to h-happen, d-doesn't it?! I ALWAYS H-HAVE TO- T-TO F-FUCKING LOSE THE P-PEOPLE IN TH-THIS WORLD TH-THAT ARE TRYING T-TO HELP M-ME TO S-SOME GODDARN I-IDIOTIC MINDLESS F-FREAKS!!!"

"H-Hold on a minute Freddy! Y-You need to-"

"I NEED TO DIE MYSELF, THAT'S WHAT!"

Freddy yanked his sagged body off the floor and flung it towards Rebecca, pinning her to the closet door. It was like a depressive, aggressive mindset was puppeteering his actions.

...It was...       Full of despair.

"..."

"...I-I...      S-Sorry Freddy, I jus-"

"Don't. Apologise." The fox loosened his grip on the rabbit in teal, resting her feet back onto the tiled floor.

"It's not your fault. It's all mine."

"Wh-What do you-"

Freddy had already hit the ground running, disappearing from our sight once Rebecca had started speaking. Rebecca soon dashed after him.

...I hope Freddy's gonna be ok. I also hope that Rebecca can help him.

Well...      She's definitely gonna catch him. Considering that she's the Ultimate Track Star.

As for Freddy, though...       I'm not so sure.

I took another miserable glance at Danny's body, my eyes almost immediately swelling up. The rest of the party behind me stood in complete silence. I peeked over my shoulder, to notice them all staring...     At me.

...Like that dream...

Pressure started to get to my head, as everybody continued to stare at me. And then, at long last, a voice sounded from Pedro.

"...What do we do?"

Out of my misery and angered shock, I replied:

"Investigate."

My heart thumped as I continued, "There's...    There's no reason for us to let Danny die in vain. There is still going to be a playgroup trial, Monopotato confirmed it. And so, that means that-"

"It sure does! Danny was not the traitor!"

"AHH-"

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Uh...     Ok, sorry. Go back to your speech." The static-coloured vegetable slowly edged away from us. After a lot of restabilising breaths, I went on.

"I myself am not happy. I know that none of us are, especially Freddy. But we can't just sit around and mourn Danny, when one of us here is the one who killed him. Maybe they were wrong about Danny being the traitor, however, they still have a chance to get out and kill us all while doing so. I don't want that to happen. I don't want us all to die, just so that someone could get out of here. So that is why I am going to investigate, even if I don't want to!"

"..."

"...You have a point." Richard glumly squeaked, before getting more stern, "It is the responsibility thrown onto our shoulders by Monopotato to go through these investigations and trials. Otherwise, we die. So let me ask us all: What do we all want?"

"What do you mean...?" Emily shivered.

"Do you want to all die together, made miserable by Danny's sudden loss? Or do you want to avenge him, avenge his killer to their sins, all for a brighter future?"

"...Deffo the latter." Pedro stared at his feet, before walking past me into the dorm.

"Agreed." Zoë coughed.

And with that, a sad yet determined line of agreements followed. I smiled in my mind, but kept the same look on my face from before.

Turning my head once again to the floor, I gave a nod  to Danny's corpse, A nod so small, I don't think even an ant would've noticed it.

...This is for you, Danny.

For you and everyone else.

) INVESTIGATION - START (

Ok...    Starting off, if I remember correctly, last time we got a file of some kind on our handbooks, so surely...

And just like that, a sharp vibrate erupted from my dress pocket.

Deja vu.

Sticking my hand into the pocket and yanking the miniature tablet out, I swiped through it until I reached the recently sent file.

Playgroup File 2:

Victim: Danny Dog, Ultimate Pirate
Time of death: 2:25 pm
Time of discovery: 2:36 pm
Discovered by: ???, ???, ???
Location of death: ???
Cause of death: Shot

...

...Well that's helpful.

No, literally, it is.

A bit.

*'Playgroup File 2' Has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.*

Moving on.

There were a few people who had started to investigate inside the dorm room, one of them obviously being Pedro. Along with him were also Candy and Kylie.

...Hm. I thought that maybe Suzy or George would be here, but apparently not.

Shame.

Anyways. I started to approach Pedro, who was busy checking out his former friend's body, a look of torn apart disgust stamped on his face. However, I wasn't focusing on Pedro. Rather, I was focusing on Danny's body.

The first thing that I noticed about the corpse was his neck. There were two smallish holes in it, both of them around a similar size.

...Like a bullet hole.

I swiftly started checking the rest of his body to see if there were any more of those holes, gaining Pedro's attention while doing so. It turns out that there was one more hole - In the back of his elbow.

...Weird.

*'Bullet Holes' Has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.*

"What're you doing?"

"Ah, uh- I'm taking a look at Danny's injuries..." I replied.

"The bullet wounds? Yeah, I saw those. The one on the arm, too." Pedro coughed, the pressure of his friend's death clearly getting to his brain a bit.

"Uh...    Are there any more?"

"There's quite a lot of blood on the back of his head. Not bullet wounds, but...     Wait...    Hold on..."

The pony paused himself momentarily, before carefully grabbing a hold of...     Something small, sharp and see-through.

"...Glass?"

"Yeah...    Some small glass shards of some kind."

"Shards?"

Confused, I looked at the mess of Danny's head, to notice multiple other small glassy specks. Very similar to the one Pedro had in his hands. He had now put it down, likely out of fear of cutting himself.

"Where could shards have come from?" I questioned to seemingly nobody.

"Dunno. Some kind of bottle?" Pedro suggested, resting a hand on the back of his own neck.

*'Glass Shards' Has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.*

"Another question by the way, Pedro."

"Hm?"

"Who's dorm is this...?"

"Oh...     It's Danny's."

"Wh...    What?"

"I saw his name engraved in the door when I barged past you earlier. Sorry about that by the way. Why d'ya ask?"

"Because you need your handbook to get into your room. Surely it'd be a similar situation for opening someone else's door with said someone else's handbook?"

"So you're saying that-"

"The killer would've needed to get a hold of Danny's handbook to get in here. But how is that even..."

"Speaking of Danny's handbook, I found it on his bed."

"Wha-"

Being a bit taken aback by the sudden butting in, I glanced up, seeing Candy holding a handbook in her paw. There were a few bloodstains on it, but nothing huge.

"Uh...     Thanks Candy." Pedro smiled awkwardly.

"Don't mention it." Candy gave a nod, before walking away.

*'Danny's Handbook' Has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.*

 "So. What now?" Pedro gave me an eye.

"Uh...     Is there anything else we can find from his body...?"

"No, I don't think so- Hey, wait wait! There's something under his head!"

"Huh?" I swiftly took a glimpse at the body's head again. Pedro was right: There was some kind of cloth underneath his head, absolutely soaked in blood.

Taking a gulp, I reached my hand out to it, swiftly grabbing it and tugging it out to get a better look at it.

It was so...     Soggy. Soggy enough that the blood came onto my hands.

"AHH! JEEZ PEPPA, WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!"

"T-To get a better look at it...     But Jesus Christ this is horrifying just to feel!"

"I-I understand...     But this also bring up some questions, right? Even if it's horrific...     Why is it here, and why is it soaked in blood? Heck- What even is it?"

Taking a good stare, I soon mumbled an answer.

"Maybe...     A teatowel?"

"Yeah, that seems to fit the look. But still, you don't get teatowels in your dorms..."

*'Teatowel' Has been added to the Truth Bullet section of your handbook.*

"So. That's everything with the body?" I asked, letting the bloodied towel slip out of my hands back to the floor of the dormitory.

"Yea...    Guess so."

"...Well. I'm gonna go see if I can find some more evidence. Ok?"

"Sure," Pedro grinned half-heartedly at me, "Good luck."

"Thanks." I blinked a few times at him, before leaving Danny's dorm.

...God, I need to wash my hands...

____________________