Chapter 12 – Not One, Not Two but Three Mysteries
"I… I can't take this anymore. Killing myself sounds better than waiting to be killed"
"Hmmm, I'm so sorry Jasmine. I am to blame for your demise. If I was just more serious"
Protagonist Change: Shawn Bills >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Alisa Cruez)
After Shawn left the warehouse Monoplus appeared laughing at Jasmine's body. "Just as I expected. I wonder who's the lucky bastard that killed her" said Monoplus. He looked around then asked "Shawn isn't here? Uhh well whatever the person that killed Jasmine be sure to visit my office before noon. You have the privilege of leaving this place without a Class Trial" said Monoplus.
I looked around to see everyone's expression but all of them showed a crazy amount of guilt including mines. Before Monoplus disappeared he laughed at our expressions. "Losers, yall losers. Don't go get gloomy now; you had your chance to leave easily, just like that. No class trial or anything. The culprit who killed Jasmine makes sure you're at my office door before noon" Monoplus said before leaving.
Fei sat down beside Jasmine's body and stared intensely at it for over a minute. I walked up to Cj and asked "Who do you think killed Jasmine? It's not you is it?"
"No, when I was stabbed in the shoulder and stabbed in the eye she was there for me. She has been a great help. I certainly wouldn't kill her" said Cj.
"What about you?" Cj asked.
"No, I didn't do it" I replied.
"So who did it!" Come on you can confess!" Terry shouted.
"I bet it's Xavier" Julie said.
"How? I have a clear alibi don't I Paul" Xavier responded.
"Yeah you were painting in your room all night till morning. I don't think he had any time to do murder" Paul vouched for him. "Shawn burst out of the room suddenly. That's so out of character" Sue stated. "Yeah it might be him" Terry said.
While everyone was talking to each other Fei took the opportunity to give Jasmine a quick peck on the cheek before moving from her. He took a deep breath and left the warehouse. Cj chased after him.
"Where are they going?" I wondered to myself.
"Jasmine was with us during breakfast so she couldn't have died last night. She died this morning. The last person who saw Jasmine was Paul".
...…
"I'm going to stop right here. There's no need for me to do this. No Class Trial after all."
"Would I even get the right culprit anyway?" I sighed feeling a bit depressed. Ever since I learned that my mistress Kirigiri was wrong about The Beheader I just feel like lie and truth doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
"I can say anyone is the culprit" I thought. I left the warehouse to see how Shawn is doing. I checked his room and saw him mumbling to himself on his bed.
"Knock before entering" Shawn said upsettingly.
"Sorry, I just wanted to see how you're doing?" I said concerned. Shawn looked as if he's been angry for a while. You could see the intense frown on his face. A face like that can't just appear suddenly.
"How I'm doing? I'm alive!" Shawn replied.
"That's good to hear. I know you're angry now but you have to calm down. You're not the only one stressed out" I stated.
"Hmm, I thought it was easy to become friends and not to do something like murder. I honestly thought it was easy but the people here are proving me wrong" Shawn said strongly.
"It's not them, it's the motive's fault" I said.
"You're no better. I bet you're waiting patiently for someone to die like how Kirigiri in her killing game" Shawn stated.
"Hey! Let's not go there" I said placing my hands on his.
" Ok Alisa. Have you figured out who killed Jasmine yet?" Shawn asked curiously.
"No and I have no intention of finding out. Let the culprit reveal themself" I answered. Shawn and I eventually changed the subject to talents and Hopes Peak. We talked for one hour, when it was minutes to noon Shawn and I were curious to see if the Jasmine's killer revealed themself yet so we left the dorm.
Almost everybody was outside in front of the dojo arguing with Shawna.
"All I'm saying is that Terry is my guess. I didn't say he was the one that killed Jasmine" Shawna defended.
"I know you were implying it though you witch!" Terry replied.
"She most likely said that because she feels malice coming from you Terry. Take a chill pill" said Xavier. "But if it aint her who is it then? No one has walked up to Monoplus office as yet. We even gave them half an hour of free time to do so when we went to our room" said Julie.
"We have seven minutes left until its 12 pm. Let's not all be so close to each other. The culprit might not want us to see him or her" Cj suggested. "Fine, but we already gave them half an hour earlier. If they were worried about being seen by us then they would've taken that opportunity" said Paul.
"Just do it" Cj replied.
We all split up from each other. Shawn and I stayed close but I wanted Cj to be around too. I looked around and saw that he was already out of sight. "Is Cj up to something? I hope he's not the culprit" I said to myself. Shawn overheard and added "Cj wouldn't kill Jasmine of all people".
"GAAAH"
"I shouldn't be talking like that. Look at what this environment has done to me. I need to hurry and escape" Shawn complained. Eight minutes has passed and all the monitor screens around the school lit up.
"Eh hem!"
"Since the culprit has failed to visit me before noon. I have no choice. You are no longer worthy of this magnificent reward. It's a shame really. You have no idea how many people wished they had this prize in the past. Anyways a Class Trial will begin three hours from now so get ready. Blame this on the culprit not me. They had their chance! Hahahahahaha!"
After the announcement everyone gathered at the warehouse furious. "Shawna please tell me that you're not the real killer" Julie stated.
"It's not me, I already said that Terry is most likely the culprit" Shawna said.
"I swear if I make contact with you. You might just die!" Terry threatened.
"I can't believe a Class Trial is happening! Why didn't the culprit meet up with Monoplus? It was such a simple task" Julie sighed.
"Where's Sue?" Cj asked looking around worriedly.
"I haven't seen her for a while now. Even before we split up minutes ago she wasn't there" said Paul.
"Let's look for her" Cj said. Cj and Fei were quick to walk off but I held on to Cj's hand. "I'm coming with you" I said seriously.
"Uhh why?" Cj asked.
"Nothing, I just have a feeling that you are getting too close to Fei. Remember that our trio is me, you and Shawn"
Shawn nodded in agreement and walked ahead of us. The four of us followed Shawn to the punishment rooms. "Why the punishment rooms?" Fei asked.
"This place can kill someone easily. I can't believe I didn't guard it or anything. I just left it open for anyone to use it. I'm upset with myself more than you know"
The closer we went to the punishment rooms the more I started to smell smoke. "Something's burning? In one of the rooms?" I thought to myself.
We each opened a door and we immediately heard Fei's scream.
"SUE!" Fei cried.
Smoke rushed out of the room covering us with its scent. The heat emanating from the room was so intense we all had to run out of the building. "The hell happened in there!" Shawn shouted surprised. The smoke caught everyone's attention around the school so they gathered there to see what's happening.
I did a body count and noticed that someone was missing. Sue was nowhere to be seen. "Sue? Where is she?" I wondered.
Monoplus appeared with a happy grin on his face. He pushed a button and all the sprinklers inside the Punishment Building activated. Water quickly extinguished the flames and the smoke started to get lighter and lighter. After it was safe to enter the building Fei charged inside ahead of the rest. At this point I already guessed what happened. One of us was burnt alive. May it either be Sue or perhaps Ricardo? That would be an unexpected surprise but it's not impossible. I crossed my fingers and entered the building.
We checked the middle door and saw a burnt corpse. It was burnt beyond recognition. "Is that Sue or Ricardo?" Cj asked.
"Why is Sue burnt?!"
"First Jasmine and now Sue. Am I destined to lose all my love ones today" Fei sighed to himself. He took some short breaths and covered his face from the others. "Sue died? I don't understand. Why?" Xavier stated.
"How long has she been here?" Paul wondered.
"Meh, you've seen something once you've seen it a thousand times" Shawna said leaving the room.
"That BITCH!" Terry said angrily. He followed Shawna outside and Paul made sure to tag along with him. We all looked at Fei's reaction to his sister's corpse and it was frighteningly normal. He looked depressed but not as how he should be. He lost someone precious to him, someone he will never see or talk to again. "What's with him" I said. I was annoyed by Fei's emotion so I asked him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Terrible, my sister just died. And here I was saying at least I had her left" Fei said.
"Try shedding some tears, it's disrespectful if you don't" I stated.
Fei turned his face away from me and replied "I am crying, more than you know". Monoplus appeared in front of the burnt corpse and said "God Dammit you guys are good. You are the best children I have ever worked with. You just came back from freedom and you're already doing big things".
"But it's too bad though, all this does is give you more work" Monoplus teased.
"We have to solve this murder now?" Cj asked. "Yep, the culprit for Jasmine and Sue is still out there. I have no idea why Sue died but this should be interesting" Monoplus said.
He threw everyone a MonoFile. "I'm giving you an extra hour since you have to solve two murders" Monoplus said before disappearing. I dropped the MonoFile and stomped on it hard on the floor.
"There wasn't supposed to be any Class Trial!"
"We have to risk our lives again. How long can I keep this up?" I said feeling frustrated. Shawn nodded in agreement and added "You're Miss Kirigiri's Disciple or what not. Better get to work or we'll all going to die".
"Lay off the pressure Shawn" Julie stated.
"What pressure? It's her job. We'll help her in the Class Trial but she better be in top shape" Shawn said bluntly.
"What's gotten into you?! You've suddenly changed into a jerk" said Xavier. "He's just tired. Give him some time and he'll come back around. Right now we should start investigating if we want to live" said Cj.
I looked down on my MonoFile and tried to make a decision. "I really don't want to do any more of these trials. I feel like a killer myself when I point out the culprit. What if I choose the wrong person like Miss Kirigiri did with The Beheader? No one fully knows the truth from the lies"
Fei took up my MonoFile and pushed it on my chest. "My girlfriend and my sister died. Do it for me at least" he said looking desperate. "I still don't feel the strong emotion I want from you"
"You're wasting time here. Open the MonoFile" Fei said softly.
Cj left the building to do his own investigating and Fei invited Xavier to investigate with us. I opened the MonoFile and noticed that it had two pages instead of one like the others. The first page was about Jasmine while the second page was about Sue.
I started off by reading Jasmine's cause of death.
The victim's body is Jasmine Blake .The victim was stroke once with a blunt object killing her instantly. Her Instruction was to never leave the room during the morning. Time of death is unknown.
"Hmm, this is weird" I said puzzled.
"What's wrong?" Fei asked.
"I bet it's the instruction she got right. I didn't expect to see this in a MonoFile" said Xavier. "Yeah, her instruction was to never leave her room during the morning but she was definitely there during breakfast" I said confidently.
"That's true, I did see her. She ate beside Julie" Xavier added.
"The MonoFile must be lying then" said Fei.
"No, it hasn't lied in the past. I don't think it would do now" I replied. "Let's check Jasmine's room. There might be a clue".
"Wait! We still haven't checked Sue's profile" Xavier reminded.
"Oh, I can't believe I forgot that" I said embarrassingly. Before I read Sue's MonoFile Monoplus appeared on all the monitors and made a surprise announcement. "Hello Youngsters, I've been getting a bit hungry lately. Anyways I have another mystery for you guys. I just remembered a guy who used to be with you. His name is Ricardo if I'm not mistaken. I have no clue what happened to him and honestly I can't bother to look for him. Solve that mystery too in the upcoming trial. I won't extend the time by the way so you have a lot of work to do Upupupupuh" Monoplus announced.
"Hehehehe, that puppy is something else"