The first thing you heard at this ungodly hour was Kin hollering. Something about her already knowing about the body so you’d better leave her the expletive alone about it.

Wait, knowing about the what?

Not long after you pushed yourself out of bed—real or makeshift—King Kuma’s voice rang through the halls.

“A body has been discovered! Time to get to investigating if you don’t want to spend the whole trial flailing around!”

That was all he had to offer. Swallowing bile, you hurried out the door to see where you needed to go.

It was the third day of King Kuma’s motive. You’d made it this far, but someone had still cracked in the end. At least you didn’t have to worry about the motive affecting your own loved one... if you had in the first place.

Finally you entered the courtyard. Several of the others were already crowded around the body on the ground, but even with an obstructed view it wasn’t hard to tell who had bit the dust this time. Still, you drew closer.

Nothing unusual besides Kiyoshi just chilling by a tree.

Can you get over here and help investigate, Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi please.

Some of you who were close enough may have noticed the faint rumble. Not enough to hold your attention for long. There were other things to attend to, like trying to convince Kei and Eiji to let some of their teammates share the loot, or just fending off the boredom and anxiety.

At least, until you heard someone screaming that the prison tower was on fire. Your feet carried you to the courtyard, where indeed smoke seemed to be pouring from the tower. But it wasn’t like the kitchen was on fire or anything. You could all very much survive without a primitive prison.

...No one was in there, right? You probably would have heard a little more screaming if so. And it really wasn’t that much smoke—in fact, it already appeared to be dissipating. Maybe it was best to check inside. The place was so tall all of the nasty, choking gases would be above the first floor, anyway, right? And could you even get carbon monoxide poisoning in a video game?

A few of you ducked inside. It was only moments before you saw...