Danganronpa XIX (A Christmas Miracle) - The End

[Hawkwing425]

"Haaave fuuuuun!"

"I certainly hope we will!" Simon gets up and heads off towards the workplace, from where the scream was heard.

[LetitiaWilson]

"Haaave fuuuuun!"

"You're coming, too,"

[Gasocea]

"Bruce, whatever happened was definitely your fault for not going instead of him. Go check on Tim."
"...Solid logic right there... But fine, I take responsibility. Give me a sec," Bruce leaves, and Simon and Letitia follow after him, the latter dragging Alice... Only for Bruce to come back minutes later sweating and panicking, "T-This is serious!! Everyone come to the working area right now!!"
"Huh?! What do you mean! Kijah hasn't even started the party yet! We cannot leav-"
"Just forget about the damn party!! We have a more serious problem!!" the elf's eyes shows he's serious, "Now drop it and follow me!!"

Bruce removes his hat and runs his hand through his hair as he unsteadily walks to the exit. When he reaches the door, he rushes out, expecting you to follow him. Charlie, although initially shocked by Bruce's attitude, dejectedly gets off the table and goes after him. You all look at each other before following Charlie.

...Of course something had to happen the few days before christmas.

---

Running after Charlie and Bruce, you dash past all the machines in the working area and head to the dark corner of the room, where you notice the silhouettes of all the elder elves sitting in a circle. Alice, Simon and Letitia are here too a few meters away from the circle, but they aren't saying anything. On the corner opposite to this one, you spot Tim crouching and holding his head. He is... crying?

"...What are they doing...?" says Steve as he steps on water?, "....Bruce? What's up with this...? Some kind of prank before christmas...?"
"........"

Bruce doesn't answer, so Steve walks closer to the circle to take a closer look, but the light isn't too good in this corner. All he sees are the darkened faces of the elves, "...Hey. Are you guys alright...?"

Steve starts getting irritated. He takes out his trusty flashlight and turns it on. The first thing he does is look at the liquid he is stepping on... Tomato juice is what he thinks until he notices the smell.
Worried, he very slowly raises his flashlight up to the circle of elves, and all your eyes open wide in fear when you finally see why they were not answering.

All of the elder elves... they have no eyes. They've been removed. Their cheeks have also been cut to make it look like they are smiling, and their necks have been slit with something sharp. You all stare as blood keeps pouring out of the wounds in their face.
Steve loses hold of the flashlight and the light rolls on the giant pool of blood. It stops a bit far from the circle, but the light manages to slip through the space between two of the sitting bodies and illuminates all of the bodies. You did not expect to be met with an even more horrible scenary: the elves have had their stomach sliced open, and all their guts are spilling out, as if they had been pulled out... Just what...?!

".....W....Wh..... A....." Charlie stares in horror at the guts and eyes in the center and begins trembling. She takes a few steps back, and soon, her shrieks of terror resonate thorough the gigantic room.

Some puke and scream along with her right away at the gruesome scene, but Steve holds it in and quickly picks up his flashlight, covering the light and turning it off.

"W... What the hell happened here?! Bruce?!"
"I-I... I have no idea...!!" he clenches his fist and hits a wall, "Tim found them like this.... He doesn't know...."

Meanwhile, you just stand there, staring at the silhouettes of the experienced elves in horror. M-Maybe those are fake bodies...?

[Hawkwing425]

Simon is the first to do anything. He walks forward towards one of the bodies, stepping in the pool of blood as he does so, and pokes at it with his finger. "Hm... Maybe we can fix them up? It looks recent, and we're elves, so I'm sure we can fix this!" He's still smiling! Does he not understand the severity of the situation?

[BRVR]

Kijah was one of the people who screamed and he looked away from the scene. He doesn't want to look at anything like that.
"T-Those are just some realistic looking things right? None of this is real right?"

[Hawkwing425]

“Hm? No, these are real corpses.”

[LetitiaWilson]

Letitia just tilts her head as she stares at the circle of death, the look on her face one of mild curiosity.
"Hmm...either we have a serial killer wandering around, or a suicide cult. To be honest, neither of those are the weirdest thing that's happened at one of my work places. You shoulda seen the shit that went down at that one TV station I worked at....I wonder if they ever managed to close that portal...."
She looks like she's starting to daydream, before vigorously shaking her head and clapping her hands, face breaking into a huge grin.
"Right, right, reminisce later, solve murder-which-may-or-may-not-be-demony now!"

[BRVR]

"W-What the heck's wrong with you guys!?"
Kijah turns to look at both of them but he sees the bodies again. He lets out another scream and looks away.

[LetitiaWilson]

"W-What the heck's wrong with you guys!?"
Kijah turns to look at both of them but he sees the bodies again. He lets out another scream and looks away.

"Wow, rude! There is nothing wrong with me, thank you very much! Why, it's perfectly normal to find gruesome scenes of inhuman torture and gut-wrenching suffering in the workplace. Hell, I'd have been more worried if there WASN'T any death and mutilation! Nothing keeps the workforce motivated more than the threat of a slow, agonising death!

...I can't talk for the rest of these freaks, though. No idea what THEIR damage is,"

[SuperWeegee]

"Wow, rude! There is nothing wrong with me, thank you very much! Why, it's perfectly normal to find gruesome scenes of inhuman torture and gut-wrenching suffering in the workplace. Hell, I'd have been more worried if there WASN'T any death and mutilation! Nothing keeps the workforce motivated more than the threat of a slow, agonising death!

...I can't talk for the rest of these freaks, though. No idea what THEIR damage is,"

As Ryan looked at the bodies, he put his hand over his mouth and tried to stop himself from puking at the sight. He managed to succeed, though just barely.

"Where did you work at?! You honestly think that THIS..."

He then points over towards the bodies.

"...is normal?!"

[Gasocea]

Steve glares in silence, Charlie crouches covering her face, crying, and Bruce's fist quivers as he readies it to punch either of Simon or Letitia. In the end, he just sends his fist to the wall again.

"What's up with you two...?! The elves we have been working with for the past year have been murdered in such a way, and you are...!! Agh!" Bruce hits the wall again.

[Hawkwing425]

“Hm? I’m not damaged at all. I’m perfectly fine!” Simon stands up from where he was crouching and poking at the dead bodies. His glasses catch the reflection of the light from the break room in such a way where you can’t see his eyes. It’s awfully disturbing when he smiles like that, with bloodstains all over him, like he’s not right next to a number of horribly mutilated corpses.

[Alicitzen]

"I do not get paid anywhere near enough to deal with this shit."
She shakes her head.
"Fuck this noise I'm heading home."

[BRVR]

"I-I would also love to leave! I-I'm sorry! I don't think I can throw a party at this place!"

[Chemist1422]

Leo has been standing shocked in the corner this whole time.

[VucubCaquix]

Wow! A murder? How exciting!

I mean, terrible. I've never seen a dead body like this before! Usually they're charred

/poke the dead bodies

[LetitiaWilson]

"What's up with you two...?! The elves we have been working with for the past year have been murdered in such a way, and you are...!! Agh!" Bruce hits the wall again.[/i]

"I mean, I DID say I can't remember names past a couple of hours, unless I have a reason to remember them, and since I don't remember any of them, they're pretty much non-existent to me,"

She shrugs.

"Just the way my mind works,"

"Where did you work at?! You honestly think that THIS..."

He then points over towards the bodies.

"...is normal?!"

"Wait, that's NOT how you're part of the world does things? WOW, you people are weird! How do you get any work done without a merciless slave-driver poised to beat you the moment you slack off? My god, I can't even begin to imagine such a place..."

[Hawkwing425]

Simon returns to investigating the bodies, now joined by Manon. As the chaos and panic from the rest of the room intensifies, no doubt exacerbated by Simon’s complete lack of horror, Simon doesn’t stop smiling. He’s saying something quietly to himself... something about a chemical you can’t pronounce.

[SuperWeegee]

Ryan, after stopping himself from puking again (which was easier this time around), walks over to Tim.

"If I recall correctly, you discovered the bodies? Do you happen to know them?

[Gasocea]

With teary eyes, Tim looks up to Ryan, "......Yes..... I found them..... *sniff*, and everyone h-here knows them.... e-even you should... know who they are...."

He then covers his face and continues crying.

[Bluedetroyer]

"Wha... what is wrong with you, Letitia?"

[SuperWeegee]

With teary eyes, Tim looks up to Ryan, "......Yes..... I found them..... *sniff*, and everyone h-here knows them.... e-even you should... know who they are...."

He then covers his face and continues crying.

"Well, I've never really been introduced to them, so please enlighten me on them."

[BNinja]

"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened here?"

Merk seems initially startled, ponders for a while, then furiously writes something down into a notepad.

[Gasocea]

"Well, I've never really been introduced to them, so please enlighten me on them."

Tim doesn't seem to have listened to Ryan. Perhaps he should ask the question to someone else.

---

Some time after mourning, you decide to inform Santa of what happened. You go to his office's door and try calling for him, but he never answers. Not even Bruce's furious slams against the door manage to reach Santa's ears. The door is locked.
Because of the severity of the situation, you try breaking down the door together, but it doesn't budge at all... And so, you give up on Santa even being alive.
The next step is to leave to workshop, so you try just that... but the exit door is also locked.
Bruce manages to break the lock of the door itself, but it seems that something very heavy has been put on the other side which prevents you from ever opening it. Since this is the only way out... you're trapped.

Not knowing what to do next, you gather in the cafeteria for the time being.

[Gasocea]

Nightly Life

"HO, HO, HO," a very deep voice laughing like Santa is heard from the speakers on the ceiling. Since the only way to make an announcement is via Santa's office, then that means... this is Santa?, "For those wondering, I am NOT Santa. I, myself, am the Grinch. I am tired of this pointless celebration that wakes me up from my deep sleep EVERY. DAMN. YEAR! Which is why I've kidnapped Santa. There won't be a christmas this year, nor the next, nor the next."

Santa was kidnapped?!

"People will soon begin forgetting christmas, and what was once a beautiful yearly celebration which united all family members will soon turn into another normal day. Christmas will surely fade into obvlivion, never to be remembered again... Of course, that would be the case if I was not a benevolent person and didn't give you a chance to save christmas," the Grinch takes a deep breath, "To be short: kill each other. When one of you kills, a trial will start (...)"

And the rest of what he says is in the OP. He explains the killing game in great detail, and after a long while, he finishes. He too mentions the killing game will end when there are only four people remaining.

"...To give you an incentive, if no one kills tonight, I am going to murder Santa. So no more christmas for you. But if someone DOES kill, I will free him after the trial. That sounds neat, doesn't it? You get to be with Santa for the rest of this 'killing game'! I will be watching you through the cameras, so go! Entertain me, puppets!"

And then intercom goes off.

The first nightly Life has started. The blackened has been chosen and notified of their status.
You can make as many posts as you want, but when the first action is sent, no more posts will be allowed until Deadly Life.

Now, send in your first action! You have 24 hours.