Chapter 5 - Closing the Curtains

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The lights on the walls below each of the televisions began brightening the room with a bright red light, the red light stretching out across the room but stopped just before the podiums where the students stood, creating an unlit part of the ground around them in a decagon shape.

Everyone stared at each other with blank and clueless expressions, but soon enough Monokuma raised his right hand and three of the TV's switched on with different angles of Lisa's body. Everyone noticed them right away and tried to look away but their eyes stuck to the picture.

"Are the pictures necessary?" Marcus said, his eyes the only ones not stuck to the TV.

Monokuma let out a soft laugh, "Of course! We've got to make this as exciting as possible, now let me explain the rules!"

He stood up on the tall bench and stretched his arms out, "The class trial is where you bastards will decide your fate based on the actions of an individual among you. Following one of you guys murdering another, and that person's corpse being discovered by three innocent students, the time until the class trial begins starts counting down. I explained this before, but now for the class trial explanations!"

Monokuma jumped back to his chair and gave a smile, "In the class trial, you guys are expected to debate about the murder, so I hope you all investigated, and have come to a conclusion on who the killer is. How you do this will be up to you and I will not be helping. But keep in mind what I said before, if you don't pick the correct person then everyone but the culprit will be executed!"

Monokuma let out a laugh again as he covered his mouth while everyone's expressions were still slightly blank.

"Now, enough with the silence! Get on with it!"

"Get on with what though, are you expecting us to figure out what happened to Lisa?" Lexi said as she wiped her eyes.

On Lexi's right was Stacey who was trying to avoid eye contact with everyone as she looked around the room, "We're not psychic's, we can't just tell, and we're not detectives either."

Joseph was on the right of Stacey, sticking his hands in his pocket to try and warm himself up, "T-though, some of us did investigate right? Did they find anything that might help us."

"Yeah!" Carlos, next to Joseph, said as he looked around at everyone else, "There has got to be something!"

Abby turned to face Jacob who was to her right, with Carlos to her left, and hit his shoulder lightly, "You have got to know, right?"

Jacob simply turned to Adam and stayed quiet as Adam met his gaze with a little shiver down his neck.

"Y-you expect me to start the discussion?" Adam said, only for Jacob to respond with a nod.

Adam lowered his head and took out his PAL, opening the Monokuma File as he read through the details again, his head lifting back up to speak.

"If we want to do anything, I'm going to just say we need to work out every inch of this case. A good starting point would be the murder weapon."

"The murder weapon, according to the Monokuma File, is a long metal object capable of making a big enough wound that she died from blood loss soon after being stabbed" Marco said, his PAL in his hand.

"So, could it have been a scalpel or something?" Rachel said as she shrugged and looked to her right where Simon was.

"No, we actually found the murder weapon while investigating, well Samuel did anyway."

"Oh yeah! He did, in the infirmary!" Joy said as she clapped her hands together in happiness.

"It was something in the infirmary? If not a scalpel then what could it be?" Benedict said with his right hand scratching his hair.

"Relax, it might've been just hidden there, let Samuel explain" Frankie said.

Samuel held his hips and raised his head in a heroic pose, "Behind the bookshelf was a long metal knife we assume is the murder weapon!"

Marcus sighed and slapped the boys head, "stop it, you're not being funny right now. You say it's the murder weapon but what proves it exactly?"

Samuel held the back of his head as he stared at Marcus, "Well, the fact that when we found it, it felt all wet like it had been cleaned recently."

"A bloody knife would make it clear that it was used for the killing, so finding a wet knife would be a little suspicious, don't you think?" Adam said.

"A wet knife?" Marcus said as he raised his eyebrow, he didn't look that impressed, "Is that your only reason for saying it was the murder weapon?"

"As Adam said, they could've cleaned-!" Samuel said but Marcus cut him off.

"For all we know it could've been a knife washed from dinner one night and misplaced by our cook"

"Oi!" Lexi said, going to hit the man's head, but Marcus caught her arm and lowered it down forcibly.

"I said, is that your only reason?" Marcus said again.

Samuel let out a growl and shook his head, "No it isn't, there was also a bit of blood on the middle of the knife, a tiny amount, we have picture proof."

Adam took out his PAL and opened the picture he had taken. The knife was shown on the infirmary's far left bed, the camera angle tilted so it shows the top of the handle as clearly as possible, and right there was a drop of blood, very little of it, but clearly there.

Marcus took a close look as he leant over his podium, Adam on the opposite side of the podium ring, but the PAL was big enough for Marcus to see the picture clearly. He straightened himself up again and shrugged gently.

"Believe me now that it's the murder weapon?" Samuel said.

"Well, yes I do, but if they wiped the weapon clean then why is there a little bit still there?"

"What do you mean?" Stacey said, "Obviously they missed some."

"No, he has a point" Simon said, "If you wet the knife and wash it down with a cloth, either the water or the cloth is going to get the blood off. It's weird that that part still has blood on it."

"Are you sure it was even wet?" Jacob said, finally speaking out loud.

Everyone turned towards him with a little confusion over their faces.

"Wait what?" Carlos said.

Lexi put her hands behind her back as she straightened up, "But it was wet, right Samuel?"

Samuel nodded, "Yeah definitely, Adam felt it too."

"It's true" Adam said.

Jacob shook his head gently, "Okay, you heard me wrong. I didn't mean wet as in with water. To my knowledge the infirmary has no sink that the killer could've wet the knife with, they would've had to run to the kitchen in the dormitories which has the only sink I've seen at least."

"Then how else could it have been wet?" Benedict said, "Come off it, you know something right!?"

Jacob gave a sigh and raised his face, "I'm talking about what if the knife was wet simply because of the blood itself. If the knife had been covered with blood from going into the stomach, and as a liquid it wouldn't be weird for blood to be wet like water, especially since we are 70% made of it, then wiping the blood off right after you're finished would be just like wiping water off a knife, the blade wouldn't be dripping but a simple touch would tell you everything."

"Which would explain the bit of blood that was left behind, it didn't come off because the killer must've been in such a rush they didn't notice they'd forgotten some blood."

Marcus held his hands tightly on his podium s he stared at Jacob intently, "Fantastic, so we worked out the problem with the blade, then why not the next question: where did it come from? I don't remember their being a knife lying around the school."

Everyone looked among each other, no answers coming up as to where it had been found, but then Adam's hand rose up as he stuttered.

"I believe it came from my room" he said with a little worry.

The thought hadn't even occurred to him until they were on the escalators earlier, but the knife in the infirmary, while he hadn't memorized it in every detail, seemed like it had been the same one he'd found on his first night at this school.

"Your room, now why do you think that exactly?" Marcus said.

Adam clenched his hands tightly and held onto his section of the podium ring before him, "On my first night here, in my room, there was a knife on my desk. I touched it, yes, but the confusion and anger from the events before then led me to throw it at the wall where it basically stayed and I just didn't pay it any notice after that."

"So is it still in your room? That would be the first step to proving whether it's the same right?" Rachel said.

Adam shook his head and looked around at everyone, "I hate to bring this up, but remember the second night when I was injured. Everyone came into my room, except for Marcus of course."

"I was fucking tied up, I remember it well, besides the fact I was asleep."

"Ignoring that, does anyone remember seeing a knife while inside my room? It would've been on the right side of my door in the wall."

Heads turned and foreheads were scratched but in the end no one answered.

Monokuma then smiled and clapped his hands together, a fourth TV behind Adam turning on, a camera view inside Adam's room of the door, and to its right was a crack in the wall as if it had been stabbed inside, but nothing was fitted into it.

"I thought so" Adam said with his voice fading into disappointment.

"So it was your knife then, then wouldn't that make you the most likely to have used it?" Marcus said.

"W-wait!" Joy said quickly, "As Adam said, we were all in his room, what if someone took it."

"It would've been really easy too, just walk in while we are watching Adam, and hide it behind our back or under our clothes as long as we avoid cutting ourselves" Benedict said.

Marco took a look at the TV with the view of the crack in the wall closely, his back turned to the others only slightly, "And that hole does seem to be pretty wide. If that is the same size of a cut that was given to Lisa then I can't see how the blood could've stopped from leaking out."

Marcus let out a slight growl and looked directly at Adam, "Once again, you are the prime suspect in my eyes, the only knife we know about in this school and you had it since the first day. What proof do you have that you didn't just hide the knife and use it to kill Lisa when you had the chance?"

Adam wanted to refute those words, but his voice failed and his hands grew sweaty. His eyes looked down in fear.

"If you don't mind Marcus, I'd rather we continue with the events of the murder and then head for the killer, if that is ok with you" Jacob said as he placed his hand on Adam's back, "Relax, alright?"

Adam looked up at Jacob and nodded as he cleared his throat and straightened up.

"Jeez," Marcus said as he stretched out his right hand, "Fine, we'll take the long way then. What do you wish to discuss, oh leader."

Jacob let out a slight smirk but it faded immediately, "First I'd like to get something out of the way, and it does mean I'll need to apologise but I just want to get the possibility out of the way. Was what we think a murder, actually a suicide?"

Gasps filled the room bit by bit, but only a little. Adam, Marco, Simon and Marcus were caught off guard but their faces were not in shock like everyone else's.

"I'd like to ask Monokuma something, what happens if you do commit suicide, naturally it is still murder, right?"

Monokuma let out a laugh and smiled, "Well that's obvious. Suicide is just a fancy word for murdering oneself, as long as it's not by natural causes or sickness, well I mean accidental sickness, then its ruled as a murder no matter what!"

Jacob let out a smile and stayed quiet as he viewed everyone around him.

"Is it even possible that Lisa could've killed herself?" Abby said.

"Of course not! She would never do that!" Joy said in a loud voice.

Marcus stared at Jacob, looking at his smile as everyone discussed whether suicide was actually a valid option here, and soon his own face grew with a smile.

"So that's what you are aiming for" he said.

Everyone met their eyes with Marcus immediately.

"What do you mean?" Joseph said, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, more like we're on the right path but going in circles" Marcus said.

He put his hands behind his head and looked around, "So, who were the ones who saw the crime scene again? Adam, Marco, Samuel, Simon and Joy right, along with Jacob?"

Everyone except Jacob gave a nod to clarify his words.

"Then tell me this, is there even a small chance she committed suicide?"

The five of them thought on the idea for a little while, everyone else watching them, Jacob and Marcus watching intently while the others hoping desperately for an answer. Then Samuel spoke.

"It could be," he said, "I was thinking she could've walked to the classroom then stabbed herself. But then I remembered the blood trail, so what if she originally stabbed herself in the infirmary and just walked to the classroom and died on the chair because of the blood loss?"

Adam shook his head, almost feeling like vomiting at Samuels description but instead ignored it as much as possible.

"That's nowhere near possible, the Monokuma file says she died from blood loss shortly after being stabbed. I'm not an expert, but if the stab wound didn't cause her so much pain that she couldn't walk, then the blood leaking out of her from the wound would definitely cause her body to become weak before she even left the infirmary. She couldn't have made it to the classroom."

"What if she left the knife in her stomach then, and stopped the blood from coming out?" Benedict said.

"Then how did the knife get behind the bookcase? And on another note, if she had somehow committed suicide, then who would've cleaned the cloth. She wouldn't have had enough time if the Monokuma file is correct about how long it took til she died after being stabbed."

Jacob smiled even more and clapped his hands together once, "Exactly, that's all I wanted to hear. So we can mark this as a murder by someone else and no one else."

The shivers ran down everyone's spine, but they did their best to ignore it and continue.

"Alright, so with that topic out of the way, can I recommend we discuss when she was actually killed?" Marco said.

"When she was killed?" Lexi said, "I would assume it was this morning, it couldn't have been done last night or else we would've noticed the blood trail in the hallway sooner, right?"

"No, I don't think so" Samuel said, "The doors lock at 10 PM, remember. If she had been killed and moved just before 10 PM then we wouldn't have known."

"Oh another thing" Stacey said, "You keep saying how there is this blood trail, where does it trail to?"

Monokuma clapped his hands again, a fifth TV showing a view of the blood trail between the maths classroom and the infirmary as Simon spoke, "We assume she was carried from the infirmary to the classroom."

"Could it have been the opposite?" Frankie said, "Like maybe a false herring, she could've been killed in that chair, then carried to the infirmary and brought back to make the trail trick us into thinking she had been killed in the infirmary."

Jacob shook his head but it was Marco who spoke, "Unfortunately not. On the left infirmary bed when I pulled the blankets back there was a large stain of blood on the bottom of the blanket. The only way that much blood could've gotten there was if the body of Lisa had been under those blankets and the blood was leaking out of her."

"So she was murdered there then?" Joy said.

Adam's eyes then seemed to widen, Jacob noticing as he faced the boy and smiled, "Did you think of something?"

Adam faced the man with a face of horror as he started to step back. His feet almost numb and his hands were refusing to move at his will but he soon calmed himself down and looked forward.

"What was that about?" Marcus said, "Not going to start being sick here are we?"

Adam ignored the question and instead held the podium ring again as his eyes, filled with confusion and fear, looked at everyone in the room.

"You all remember when Rachel told Jacob and myself to get to the infirmary because Lisa had been hurt, correct?"

"That was at around 8 at night, correct?" Rachel said.

"I think so, but that doesn't matter. What I'm saying is, what if Lisa was dead from the very moment we entered that infirmary."

The words were confusing to most of the students, but once the meaning got to their brains their eyes widened and some of them started clenching their fists on the podium ring or their clothes.

"Dead as in, since the night before? She had been dead for a whole night before we noticed?" Joy said.

"It would explain the blood under the blanket. The killer simply stabbed her stomach and used the blankets to cover her wound. Three blankets would be more than enough to hide the red colour of blood. And the way the beds in the infirmary were done, with the ends of the blankets pushed under the mattress of the bed, the blood wouldn't easily leak off the bed accidentally."

"But Rachel was taking care of her, she would've realised if someone had killed Lisa obviously!" Joseph said.

"Not while she was trying to get Jacob and me" Adam said, "For those two minutes she was gone, the killer could've been hidden in a classroom or anything. They'd just have to wait til she left the room, stabbed Lisa's stomach, pull the blankets over her, wash the knife, put it behind the bookcase and then leave. Lisa would've bled to death very quickly."

"I saw her face though, it looked very peaceful, not like she had been stabbed. Someone's face after being stabbed would show their pain, right?" Jacob said.

"They most likely used their fingers to close the eyelids and reposition the lips. That's the best guess I have without proper proof" Adam said.

"But wait" Samuel said, "Just because she was killed in the bed doesn't mean it was last night. What if it was this morning and they just moved the body immediately after, then left the building as soon as possible?"

"Because Joy and I checked on Lisa right after finishing breakfast, and we saw no one on our way there once we were out of the dormitories" Adam said.

"I can agree to that" Joy said, "No one was there in the courtyard or even inside the school building."

"So unless they are an amazing hider, there is no doubt she was killed last night, correct?" Benedict said.

"It would seem like it, but does that mean she was moved last night too?" Stacey said.

"I can't tell, it could've been last night or even this morning. Moving the body is a lot faster all by itself, if they had waited outside the schools doors til exactly 7:30 and then rushed on with their work, they would've been back before Adam and Joy left" Jacob said.

"So there is no way to tell when she was moved then, that sucks" Joy said.

Adam took a look at Jacob who shared it back with a smile, Adam looked around the group, "I, I think by answering when she was killed, we just worked out who killed her."

Shock filled the room faster than before, but everyone was immediately looking around at each other while Adam looked down, unable to bring the words out of his mouth but Jacob held on to his shoulder.

"You need to trust them remember, didn't you tell me we're a team? If we are a team, then question them yourself and trust in them."

Adam rose his head and nodded, meeting with Marcus'

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