Three’s a Crowd - Ch4 Body Drop
October 29th, 6:54 PM. You were minding your own business, of course, dealing with your wheel of misfortune emotion of the day. Nothing about these were in any way fun, even the positive emotions that some people had shown. After all, if you’re forced to be positive in every moment, how are you able to respond to events properly?
‘And there you have it. This is your body discovery announcement as usual, make your way to the top floor of the clock tower. You have 2 hours to investigate, file to be given soon.’
… Ah. Maybe it was only a matter of time until someone snapped. It wasn’t even surprising anymore, after all the violence and fighting. Here it was. Despite the announcement, however, your emotion of the day didn’t immediately go away, you realized as you made your way into the lake and swam towards the clocktower. Perhaps you had some relief from it in the most minor of ways, but it was still present enough for the people around you to see.
You still felt it, as troves of students took turns riding the lift to the top floor of the clocktower. You still felt it, you thought, as the scent of smoke entered your nostrils the closer you made it to the top. Smoke rose, you recalled, as you noted the cloud of it gathering around the top of the spire.The scent grew stronger the higher you climbed, though it seemed to have thinned out from the air some way or another, as your lungs weren’t complaining as much as they could have by the time you reached the top. Wisps of smoke obstructed some vision, though it certainly wasn’t enough to stop you from seeing.
But boy howdy, when you reached the top… You were struck with a hectic scene. Among the smoke were debris, pinning down the motionless Blakeley’s body to the floor. There was a bit of irony to be found in all this. Blakeley was no stranger to struggling with emotions and shutting down. Ever since the events of the last trial, it became a default state for the builder that pushed her into isolation. Right now though, despite the gruesome scene, she showed nothing short of pure bliss. Perhaps the motive that caused her downfall was a blessing in disguise. It would be incredibly easy to look past that detail though, for the carnage and smoke that filled the room was much more obvious. Joyous or not, she was dead, and no emotion would make that different.
Next to Blakeley was an equally motionless Kanade’s legs sticking out from a portal. She had only recently opened up about herself, with claims of friendship and assistance, and yet now she wouldn’t have a chance for any of that. What use was a dead investigator? You couldn’t even see the rest of her body as the scene was, leaving only your mind to guess what Kanade may have gone through (and wasn’t that a horror in itself?)
And finally, to the back, behind Blakeley, was a motionless Kashmir, face-down next to the wall, which was marked by a stain. The Kashmir’s who’s time here may have started out rough, but whom many had grown to love and respect over time, laying off on his own.
Tomi was crouched down next to Kashmir, taking a closer look at him. Natalie, on the other hand, clutched onto Blakeley’s hand tightly.
… Three bodies? THREE? Who in their right mind would kill THREE PEOPLE? Mind clouded with emotion or not, this was wholly unnecessary.
And now you had nothing left to do but to investigate, so they could receive their justice.
