Crow's Thread

You all watch Vicky's show as she dances around the stage. Not a moment feels wasted as you watch. Even if you aren't that into dances or parties, watching Vicky move is somehow enthralling. In fact, it feels like your focus is almost entirely locked in on her. Your cares almost slip away. Almost.

As Vicky poses at the end with her cane, Dennis' fireworks go off in a spectacular display of fire and lights! Amazing! The crowd is dazzled!

BOOM!

Everyone at the party begins to look around in confusion as a loud explosion is heard in the distance.

*Bing Bong Ding Dong*

Nekoshi's voice echoes throughout the dining hall. "Ahem. Attention all students. A body has been discovered! Report to the dorms immediately!"



Vicky looks around in confusion. "Wh...What?" She stares at the crowd, dumbfounded.

"S-Someone was killed!?" Axel begins to flip out.

"Everyone stay calm!" Claus calls out to the others. "We still have yet to confirm anything!"

Leanne nods. "Claus is right. We need to head over to the dorms!"

Everyone quickly runs out of the dining hall and down the path to the dorms. Smoke can be seen billowing out of one of the windows. Moving even faster, everyone crowds into the main entrance to find something they didn't expect to see.



Tucker's bloody body lie face up on the floor in front of his dorm room. He's covered in burns and scorch marks. Vivian sits beside him, her face streaming with tears. His eyes are left vacantly open. Lifeless.

Aki, trembling as her eyes begin to well up with tears, walks over to Tucker and closes his eyes with her hands.

"May you find your peace
In your Ultimate resting
place, Tucker Rally"

Tucker does not respond. He seems truly dead. Leanne opens her mouth to respond. "What...What happened...?"

Spy walks over and kneels down next to the body. "Looks like cause of death was an explosive... If the explosive went off in his room...." He closes his eyes in thought.

Everyone is interrupted, however, as Nekoshi suddenly pops up between Spy and Tucker's body. "Did somebody say cause of death? Cause I've got some death for you! A death report! The Nekoshi File!" Your student handbooks flash as they turn on by themselves, revealing a new file placed on them. "The Nekoshi file presents plenty of useful information to help you find the culprit in the Class Trial! Make sure you look it over carefully!" Nekoshi pauses a moment and stares at you all. "...What the heck are you doing standing around like that!? Get to investigating already! You have a limited amount of time until the Class Trial starts! You don't want to start without evidence, do you? You might as well lay down and die already!" Nekoshi turns away in frustration and walks off.



You look at the student handbook and the Nekoshi File within. Leanne speaks out loud as she looks at the file. "The Nekoshi File. This might have evidence we could use in it..." You open the file to find an image of Tucker's dead body as you found it. Information is listed to the side while a diagram to the left shows where the injuries were found on his body. Leanne reads the file out loud. "Tucker Rally, the Ultimate Geopolitical Analyst was found dead at 8:31 PM. Large burns can be seen throughout the body and the cause of death was an explosion. There are no other notable injuries found on Tucker's body." You close the file. "8:31 PM? That was only a few minutes ago. That must mean Tucker died around the time we heard that explosion. But what caused it...?"

Nekoshi File #1 was added to your Truth Bullets!

You take a look around the dorm. Where should you start your investigation? There could be clues anywhere.

You wander away from the others, quickly making your way down to the Pyrotechnics Lab. You open the flame patterned blast doors to find that it's somewhat of a mess. Obviously, some of the fireworks and fire starting materials are now missing thanks to Dennis setting up his show, but an entire container of gunpowder is spilled on the floor. It looks like there are footprints in it as well. Did Dennis do this or has someone else been in his lab? Other than that, everything appears to be as it was the last time you were in here.

You very quickly move to the footprints, taking notes on them. These definitely look like sneakers. The feet seem on the smaller side as well. These were probably left behind by a girl or at least someone with small feet. Something about these footprints just seems really average to you. Hardly anything stands out about them. They move directly over to the firestarting materials and then head back toward the door. This person didn't make any stops anywhere else in the room. You can confirm this because the gunpowder is spilled all across the floor. You wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the room without stepping on it and leaving more footprints. You make a sketch of the footprints, making sure this evidence can't be tampered with.

Footprints were added to your Truth Bullets!

You take a moment to inspect the gunpowder a bit closer while you're looking at the footprints. It looks like it came from a canister, which was dropped on the floor. But there's something odd about the way the gunpowder has spilled. It looks almost like something was in the way when it first landed. It specifically spilled around a certain part of the floor. You're not sure what this means, but it may be worthy of note later on.

Gunpowder was added to your Truth Bullets!

You take another quick scan around the Pyrotechnics Lab. You feel like you've gathered all the clues you can in this room. There doesn't seem to be anything else important here.

You decide to look for Axel. You return to the dormitory, finding Leanne and James carefully inspecting Tucker's body and speaking with Vivian. It seems Spy, Dennis, and Sylvia are already hard at work investigating Tucker's room. Axel and Amelia are standing watch over Tucker's body and room. You head over to talk to him.

"Hey, Sam..." He looks a little shaken about the whole situation, but he tries to cheer up a little. "Amelia thought it would be a good idea if we kept watch over the crime scene so the culprit couldn't tamper with the evidence."

Axel looks a little uncomfortable. "Um...Well. I actually let a few people out. But most of them went in groups of two. So...Well, I thought nothing bad would happen. But I guess someone did...Here, let me start over." Axel tries to keep it together. "Alright, so I let Tucker and Vivian out first. They said they would be right back! And, well...After that, Ashley asked me if she could go to the bathroom. A-And I didn't want to stop her and be rude, s-so I...I let her through. She talked me into it. And then Erika just kinda ran out while I was distracted! And Sylvia ran after her! But...Then Ashley came back. Sylvia came back after that, but Erika didn't. And then Tucker and Vivian came back together with a candle or something. But...Tucker and Vivian went back out after that, just before the fireworks. And...And then it happened." Axel looks pale. "D-Do you think it's my fault this happened...? I'm so stupid..."

Amelia stands silently next to Axel, watching. "...It may not be just your fault. I also let a couple of people out. Leanne and Spy, to be specific. Zey left togezer. But zey came back togezer shortly after. I am not certain it was enough time to set anyzing zis elaborate up zough..." She thinks a bit. "Any'ow, everyone else was at ze party during zat time. It seems zat ze only people zat weren't zere during ze explosion were Tucker, Vivian, and Erika."

Axel and Amelia's Account was added to your Truth Bullets!

You head over to Sylvia, speaking with her after Leanne finishes questioning her. She still looks a little shaken. "Huh? Yeah, we can talk."

The two of you head outside for a moment. You can see Ashley and Aki investigating together not far from you. "What is it, Sam?"