"A body has been discovered!"

Dear god...

"After a period of investigation, a trial will be held!"

No, I just... I can't believe this...

"Sophie!  Focus!" Furfur snaps her fingers in front of my face.  But she's visibly panicked as well.

I hear shouting outside, and Furfur leaves the pharmacy to yell to everyone about what we found.  I just can't stop staring.  

"Sophie, is everything okay?" Caim exclaims as I hear him enter.  His shoes squeak to a stop against the floor. "Oh my god..."

I inhale deeply and force myself to look away.  I... I don't even know what I'm looking at.  It... there's a lot of blood...

"What are you doing?!" Furfur snaps as Will bends down and raises his camera.  When did he get here?

Will shoots her a look. "I'm documenting evidence.  So we have something to reference if needed during the trial."

The flash of the camera startles me out of my disoriented state, and everything feels real again.  And that's when I know that En is really dead on the ground in front of me.  I feel my e-handbook vibrate in my bag, and I remove it to see that there is already a Monokumace file loaded.

Case Update

Name of Victim: Enton Underson

Talent: Ultimate Dealer

Time of Death: 10:30 PM

Cause of Death: Broken skull

Leave it to Monokumace to put Marzy out of a job.  He runs in a few moments later.

"Is it alright to touch the body just yet?" he asks me. "I'd like to give it a proper check."

"I have no idea," I respond. "Maybe wait for-"

"It's quite alright, Marzy, you can begin your analysis of the injuries," Stolas says as his large figure appears in the doorframe.

Marzy nods and bends down, gently moving En's red-and-cyan hair out of their face so he can get a better look.

"I knew something like this could happen," Stolas mutters, shaking his head. "This was inevitable."

I don't respond; we both know that he was right during our conversation at the beach yesterday.  

His amber gaze flicks over to the chess board set up right next to En's body. "How disgusting."

It is pretty unsettling how one of the tiles on the board is smeared with blood, and a bloodied pawn with a cracked top is discarded on the floor nearby.

"Our chess board culprit without a doubt would have some knowledge of what happened here," Stolas murmurs, his frown deepening as he observes the board. "...I'm not quite sure what this setup is.  It looks like it would continue into the King's Indian Defense, but it's not yet finished.  What's our culprit playing at?"

"Maybe that's a sign that they're not done?" I suggest. "They seem to know what they're doing."

Stolas shakes his head. "I suppose that makes some sense.  King's Indian Defense... I don't get it."

"Severe blunt force trauma that led into severe penetrating trauma once the skin was broken through," Marzy announces. "En's head was bashed against the metal shelf several times.  They would have been facing the shelf, meaning they were caught by surprise."

"Thank you, Marzy," Stolas says.  He begins to pace around the room, carefully observing each of the shelves.  He stops at the end of his second loop, staring at the shelf dripping with blood. 

"Sophie?" he asks me, "What do you see here?"

Oh, so he's testing me.  Fun.  I walk over to him and squint at the shelf.  It just looks like rows of medicine bottles or whatever, except a few have slight, dark smears on them.

"There's blood on a few of the bottles, but it doesn't look like a splatter pattern or anything," I observe.

"Correct.  That's because they're not." He removes a bottle and hands it to me. "Now observe it closer."

I raise the bottle up to my eyes, and only then do I see that the bloodstains look vaguely like...

"Are these fingerprints?" I point to the smear.

"They are indeed.  Not visible enough for us to be able to match them with someone, but it does mean two things.  One, En could not have been the one to touch these, because these are clearly finger prints and En wore gloves.  Second, this means that the killer took the time to put the medicine bottles back on the shelf, which is quite odd considering they must have been in a hurry to leave."

Stolas takes another minute to stare at the shelf. "In fact, it appears that our killer put them all back in their correct spots.  Not an easy thing to do when rushing."

I mentally take note of this.  Hell, Stolas probably already knows who did it and is just holding out on me.  Especially when he wanders over to a different shelf, observes it for what feels like ages, and then pockets a bottle.  Oh yeah, he definitely knows.  

"Well, Sophie, I'm sure that with what information I've given you, you can figure everything out during the trial," he tells me.

I narrow my eyes. "Why are you making me do all that?  What if I can't do it, huh?"

"I will make sure that you stay on the right path.  And as I've stated previously, I need to make sure that should something happen to me, there is someone able to take my place."

"So you know who the killer is, then?"

"I am quite confident, but not certain.  We can only figure out for sure during the trial."

"If you know, then you should say who you think it is!" I insist.  God, this man is impossible.

Stolas shakes his head. "I will not do that.  Jumping right into an accusation is hardly the logical choice.  It's important to first set the scene and gain context.  Which is why we will be going to investigate En's cottage.  Unless you would prefer to sit this out."

Oh, so he's a d*ck too.  

"I'm coming," I say flatly.

"Good," he responds.

He beckons for me to follow him out of the pharmacy, and we head towards the bridge to the center island.  God, this place is too big for a five-foot-six person like me.  My legs only stretch so far.  But I'm sure Stolas doesn't feel my pain, because I'm certain that beneath of his pants and combat boots, he never skips leg day.  

"Why didn't we spend more time at the crime scene?" I question.

"I will go back later, but I am fairly sure we have all the evidence needed.  Besides, there is always the chance that someone grows a braincell and decides to check out the scene for themself," he answers.

"What do you think we'll find at En's cottage?" 

"My hope is that we can figure out why En was at the pharmacy so late at night.  There is always a reason."

And sure enough, the door is already open to En's cottage when we arrive.  Standing in the doorway are Dana and Evangeline.  Evangeline holds a piece of paper, and Dana reads over her shoulder.

"Ah, we were wondering when you would show up, Stolas," Evangeline greets as her gaze breaks away from the paper.

"What's this?" Stolas extends his hand, and Evangeline hands it to him.

"A note or something," Dana explains. "We decided to come right here when we saw on the Case Update that it was En.  Evangeline was insistent that you would've gone down to the crime scene right away and it might be a better idea to try searching elsewhere for clues.  Which we found.  It was crumpled up on En's bed."

Stolas quickly skims the note before giving it to me.  Written in cursive are two lines of writing:

You've played your cards, and now I'll play mine.  

Pharmacy.  10:30 PM.  Tonight.

"That explains why En was in the Pharmacy," Stolas says. "They were meeting someone.  It's simply a matter of who."

Dana looks me dead in the eyes. "He knows who did it, doesn't he."

I nod. "Yep."

"I have a strong idea," Stolas corrects. "The only way I would know for certain if a person did it is if it was either done right before my very eyes or I did it myself.  Neither of which happened."

"So you basically know who it is," Dana repeats.  Stolas doesn't respond.

"Well, should we go check out the Pharmacy one more time?" I ask as Monokumace's voice rings out from the loudspeakers.

"What's that I hear?  Someone thinks they know who did it already?  Well then there's certainly no reason to make you all wait around for another few minutes!  Report back to the central island- it's time for the class trial!"

"Damnit," Dana grimaces. "I guess it's now or never, then."

"If Stolas does not wish to explain to us what he believes, do you have any ideas, Sophie?" Evangline inquires.

Oh, great.  Now everyone's looking at me.  Thanks, Stolas.

"I mean..." I start. "En's head was bashed in, and the killer took the time to put some stuff back on the proper shelves.  Otherwise, that's most of what we've got."

"...and was there another chess board setup?" Evangeline asks hesitantly. "Now that I think about it, I don't recall seeing the chess board in the lobby this morning..."

"It was there," I confirm. "It was a... King's Gambit Defense or whatever."

"King's Indian Defense," Stolas corrects.

"Right."

The four of us start walking out of the cottage area and back down the dusty path to the bridge to the central island.

"The culprit had to be strong then, correct?" Evangeline suggests. "If they managed to make En hit their head like that."

"Strength is one of the factors, yes," Stolas agrees. "However, En was also taken by surprise.  That is all I will say.  Sophie will be more than happy to answer any other questions you may have."

Right.  Stolas is doing that d*ck move again.  What a distinguished gentleman.  I'm so glad he decided to choose me to be the one to call out my friends for murder.  It's not like I treasure my relationships or anything.  But how would he know?  He seems like he views everyone here as an acquaintance.  What is he afraid of?  Why is he adamant about not getting close with anybody?  Why does he refuse to let himself do anything enjoyable?  Why doesn't he want to let himself be happy?

"You look quite pale all of a sudden, Sophie, are you alright?" Evangeline's soothing accent reminds me that I'm still walking with her, Dana, and Stolas.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good," I lie.  I steal a glance at Stolas, who meets my gaze with his steely amber eyes.  

Upon setting foot onto the central island, Ryn runs up to us.

"Can someone please explain to me what's happening?  I heard the notification while I was at the corral, and I couldn't just leave the calf halfway through feeding him, and then the chickens were wreaking havoc..." she trails off and shakes her head. "Sorry.  I've just got a whole lot going on.  But can you guys please fill me in?  I saw the Case Update, and that's it."

Stolas looks at me.  Fine, you big b*tch.  

"Furfur and I went to the Pharmacy and found En dead on the floor," I begin. "There was another chess board next to their body, and it looked like their head was bashed in.  I'm sure you'll be able to get more context during the trial, if you'd like."

"Yeah," she sighs. "Thanks for telling me.  I'm so sorry to hear that about En.  You'd think that after years of working with dying animals, I'd be more used to death and stuff.  This is just so messed up."

We all look up as the escalator up to the stone Monokumace head slides into place, and the final few people arrive.

"You guys ready?" Dana asks.

"God, I sure hope so," I groan.  In all honesty, my mental state is sh*t right now.

Once again, the elevator ride down to the court room is dead silent.  I guess awkward elevators are just an unavoidable thing.  The first thing I notice is that next to Monokumace's throne, there's something dangling upside-down by a rope.  It's a white-and-red creature that looks like a more Monokumace-ified version of...

"Moranity?" I realize.

"Hi, class," Moranity says sheepishly.

"Nuh-uh!" Ace giggles. "We've been over this.  Because you've been made in my image, you're Mononity now.  Got it?"

"...Fine," Moranity- er, Mononity- agrees reluctantly.

Satisfied, Ace turns back to us. "Well don't just stand around like that!  Get in your positions, and let the second class trial begin!"

***

(2033 words)

OKAY WHO DID IT ==>

Ngl I dislike this chapter but oh well, the next chapter is funn-