Trial Two: The Trial of Lys Quinn and Alann Clement

The door opened, revealing the elevator, along with a familiar bear waiting inside. "Heya kids! Excited for the trial?!" It waited for a response, looking up at the serious faces, "I'lllllll take that as a yes! Now I bet you're all wondering why your devilishly attractive Principal is waiting in here. And my answer is that I have a gift for you!" It brought out two folders from behind its back, one labeled, "Monokuma File #1" and the other, "Monokuma File #2." "Better than last time, yeah? I figured that actually having a physical copy of the file would add a little something to the evidence. Lemme tell ya, holding onto a file of someone's death is MUCH more grounding that reading it off of a flimsy tablet. Go on, go on! Read up!" He handed each one to a different student, the others gathering around and reading the files.

MONOKUMA FILE #2:

-Victim: Lys Quinn
-The victim's body was discovered in the Auditorium above the catwalk on the second floor, hanging from the spotlight bar.
-There appears to be markings on the victim's neck that suggests hanging or strangulation, though it is hard to tell which.
-There are a few cuts running down both of the victim's legs and on the undersides of her feet.
-Death was not instantaneous.


MONOKUMA FILE #3:
-Victim: Alann Clement
-The body was found in the Computer Lab, laying against the northmost wall.
-There is a wound in the torso that had a chisel stuck in it upon discovery.
-Death was not instantaneous

Julie read the files and scoffed, about to say something when the bear interrupted, "Before you ask, the files are labeled as 2 and 3 based on when you discovered the bodies, not based on when they died."

Julie frowned, "Then these files are just telling us what we already know. You're absolutely worthless you know."

"Geez, don't get your panties in a bunch." The bear showed his claws, "They were originally for the beginning of the case, buuuuuuuuuuuut you guys were never all in the same spot since discovering the bodies, so I had to improvise."

Leit felt sick again, held his stomach, and looked away at reading "death was not instantaneous," for each of them.

"death was not instantaneous" Alicia recoiled, whoever had killed them had forced them to suffer through it. She glared at the bear, wanting to rip the stuffing out of him.

Felix's eyes narrowed as he read the "Report".

"Mm." Devin sighed, staring impassively at the information. Regardless of what that bear said, having a file didn't make it any different from the tablet. It wasn't anything like seeing the body itself.

Liam sighed through his nose. "Let's get this over with." He looked at the group of fellow students with suspicion.

The rest of the kids walked into the elevator, the space feeling a lot emptier than before. The elevator doors closed and it began its decent. The ride seemed to take longer than before, and as it fell further down, the sound outside of the doors seemed to get louder. Julie kept her eyes forward, not wanting to give away anything she suspected before the trial began. Finally, the elevator stopped and opened up to a new room.

This room was similar to the last in its layout, the railings and throne all positioned the same. The walls and floor seemed to have changed completely, the wall being a dark gray color with metallic panels fastened to it. The floor was a lighter, hard surface, completely smooth and level throughout the entire room. Above the railing where the students stood were bright spotlights with different colors shining down around them. The strange atmosphere was only complete with the bear sitting at the throne clapping his paws together and laughing as the children took their positions. All among them were new portraits, Nadine, Lys, Chris and Alann now staring at the rest of the kids, bright pink X's drawn across them as if they needed a reminder.

"Now that we're all ready, I call this court in session!" The bear cheered, "We are gathered here today to discuss which one of you heathens offed the crybaby and the nerd. *Ahem* Lys Quinn and Alann Clement respectively. Allow me to reiterate the rules of this trial, Your goal in this trial is to reason out the perpetrator who committed the murder. Should you correctly accuse the culprit, they alone shall be punished and executed, however, shall you accuse one of the innocents, the culprit will be allowed to graduate and leave the academy! While everyone besides the culprit shall be put to death! Now-"

"That's enough." Julie cut in, turning her attention to the rest of the students, "I'll take it from here." She sighed and began, "We'll start with how we found Lys' body. I was waiting outside of the cafeteria this morning after waking up early when Felix walked up. He asked me to show him how to operate the spotlights in the auditorium from the Technical Booth. We both went upstairs and started adjusting the lights when we saw the body hanging from the light bar, with a bag over its head. I asked Felix to run downstairs to get someone so the announcement would go off to alert the rest of us. We all gathered around before I lowered the body down to the catwalk from the Tech Booth." She held up the palm of her right hand, "The lever that lowers the light bar that she was hanging from had blood on it. Nothing else in the booth had anything out of the ordinary. After that, I rejoined the rest of you in the investigation, where you removed the hood to find it was Lys." She nodded towards Felix, "Any objections?"

"That seems like a pretty accurate assessment," Felix replied as he nodded for her to continue with whatever she was going to say.

"After that, we split up into different teams: Alex and myself, Liam and Alicia, and Heather and Leit, with Felix and Devin watching over the body. Alex and I went to the workout room to investigate when we heard Liam yell for us." she crossed her arms, "I believe Alicia or Liam should describe how they found Alann."

Both Liam and Devin gave Julie an inquisitive look when she cut off the bear. Liam brushed it off and got to business, while Devin remained with knit eyebrows.

"We didn't touch the body, so it was exactly as you saw it when you entered," he said, closing his eyes. "We spotted it... him, as soon as we entered the room. He was hard to miss."

Julie sighed and rolled her eyes, "It's more for the people who didn't see the body when we first got to it. Anyway. After Liam called for me and Alex, we walked into the Computer Room to see Alann sitting against the wall with the projector screen with a chisel sticking out from his torso. His glasses were missing when we got there." She looked around at the students, "Alright. So does anyone have an alibi for these murders?"

"It happened at night. I was sleeping," Devin said plainly, folding his arms.

Liam nodded. "As was I."

Julie shook her head, "Nevermind then." She looked around at the others, "Any thoughts or suspicions?"

"Let's review what we have found individually first," Liam proposed. "We found an empty box of bandages in the nurse's office. The room itself had no traces of blood on it, save for this shard of glass, which I found hidden underneath a cot." He produced the bandage box, with the shard of glass inside it.

"I found nothing in the costume room." Alicia reported.

"I think I know where that shard of glass came from," Felix said. "I found the computer monitor in the library smashed in. There was a handwritten sign that said 'Out of Order' on it too. That may be where the sharpie in Lys' pocket was used."

Julie looked over at Felix, "Interesting. Were there my signs of a struggle there?"

Julie sighed, "We can't be sure that it's relevant to the case then, can we? In fact," she looked around to make sure the others were listening. "It could be something that you are using to throw us off of the case."

Leit furrowed his brow, looking down. He was in such a mixture of emotions and confusion of information-- and lack thereof-- he couldn't deduce anything. He was visibly stressed by thinking about it all. Probably overthinking. He felt useless and scared.

Julie shook her head, "Nothing. Not yet at least. However, no matter how you look at it, you are the most suspicious at the moment."

"Maybe if you'd stop trying to throw us off the case. Alicia crossed her arms "Felix is innocent and you're wasting time."

"Wait!" Leit, his frustration bleeding through a bit, spoke up, "What if it was a girl? The faked note, it was written in bubbly... well, feminine handwriting." He paused, "Or at least someone who could imitate it. I suppose that could be an artistic skill. Hm."

Alicia glared at Liet "Are you accusing Felix as well?"

Julie nodded towards Leit, "Another thing that could be used to throw us off the scent." She turned her attention to Alicia and crossed her arms. "And what makes you so sure? Felix knew where the body for Lys was, directing me there with an excuse. He also knew where the weapon was hidden for Alann's murder after you found the burn marks. Everything is too convenient."