Marsh Leipley

**Marsh Leipley** (マーシュ・レプレー, *Māshu Repurē*) is a student at BLUE.

## Physical description

Marsh has short greenish hair and mostly keeps his eyes closed. When he finally opens them, they look dead. He usually wears his BLUE school uniform; however, instead of the standard blue blazer, Marsh wears a cardigan.

## Personality and traits

Marsh is rather sensitive and romantic. According to Spitz Feier, he "gets intense about odd things."

Because he does not think he has the right to solve mysteries due to a past mistake, Marsh pretends to be unable to look at blood or corpses to have an excuse not to investigate any. The incident also left him bitter and jaded; his cheerful, timid personality is only a façade which he drops after revealing his past.

## Biography

### History

Marsh was a celebrated amateur detective in his home village, and everyone expected him to become famous in the future.

One day, Marsh solved a theft and identified the culprit. However, by the time he realized his deduction was wrong, the culprit's identity had already been leaked on social media, and the accused tried to take her own life. Although she survived and still encouraged Marsh to pursue his dream of becoming a detective, the incident left him deeply shaken and scared to solve any more mysteries.

### Ron Kamonohashi's Homecoming Case

Marsh watches Ron Kamonohashi and Totomaru Isshiki arrive at BLUE from a window, along with Alissa Beaumont and Udy Dietner. Not knowing who they are, they decide to deduce their identities. Marsh believes that they are Spitz Feier's old school friends who he met by chance in town and is now bringing to BLUE to introduce them to Aimee Emmerich. Udy points out that this is more fantasy than deduction. When she suggests they might be new instructors, Marsh becomes excited.

Marsh later attends Toto's first lecture. He is the only one who listened to him; Marsh even cried when Toto talked about Amamiya. Afterward, Marsh and Udy stand before a classroom when Ron and Toto find them. They explain that they wanted to prepare some materials for their next class; however, the door is locked, though Alissa should already be inside. Wanting to help, Ron and Toto look through the window above the door and spot Alissa's lifeless body.

As the key is in the staff room and, thus, too far away, Toto and Ron decide to enter the room via the ledge outside. However, the room's window is locked as well, and someone also threw Alissa's head into the pond below. Ron then sends Marsh and Udy away to get the key. They return not long afterward, with the key and many other students who want to see Totomaru solve an apparent murder case.

Toto tells the gathered mass that Alissa was not murdered; it was only a prank: Alissa hid in the storage space under the floor and stuck out her head; the "body" they saw was not hers but a dummy's. She likely planned to make her corpse "disappear" and spook Toto while they went to get the key from the staff room. However, Ron and Toto chose to enter the room from the window ledge. Alissa then threw the dummy's head into the pond, thinking that she could leave the room while they went to inspect the head. Again, her plan was thwarted because Ron still checked out the room. Alissa had used a sheet of false blood for her farce, but when she left her hiding place, the hole in the sheet became visible. She hastily had to pull the sheet under a pillar; this gave her prank away, as Ron noticed that the bloodstain had moved without losing its shape.

Thereafter, Toto opens the door. Even though Alissa should be inside, she is not: She attempted to escape via the ledge but did not get far because she became frightened, and she is now stuck on the ledge. Toto manages to pull her back into the room right before she slips and falls. Because Totomaru saved Alissa without hesitation, Marsh becomes his fan.

The next day, Marsh goes to BLUE with Alissa and Udy. On the way, they run into Ron, Toto, Billie, and Night Bran Jr.. Hutter Horn is already there and waves at them in panic when they arrive. He came to BLUE to talk to Aimee Emmerich about his academic advancement plan, but when he entered her office, he found her collapsed at her table. Immediately, everyone rushes to Aimee's office and discovers that Aimee was shot and a strange video is playing on her laptop.

### Cryptid Serial Murders Case

Ron orders the students to stay back while he examines Aimee's body; with a heavy heart, he confirms her death. Aimee died two or three hours ago, and the bullet passed through her body and is now lodged in her chair. The murder weapon lies on the ground, empty of bullets.

When Toto and Ron are done inspecting the crime scene, Night tells them that Aimee asked him to see her an hour ago. Alissa was also called by Aimee to help move Billie's pets, and Alissa asked Marsh, Udy, and Billie to assist her. Everyone, thus, deduces that whoever killed Aimee must have called them to BLUE, possibly so that they find her body. This means that Aimee's murder is a declaration of war to Udy, the other students, Ron and Toto.

Then, the academy's guard comes into the office, intending to ask Aimee whether the emergency isolation system is running. When it is activated, the system blocks internet and phone signals as well as pulls the drawbridge. Toto and Ron rush outside to check the bridge, but it was already drawn and because only Aimee knew the isolation system's deactivation code, they are now trapped in the school.

Later, everyone gathers in a lecture hall to discuss why they might have been isolated at BLUE and how to proceed. Marsh offers Totomaru and Ron to check Aimee's laptop. An hour later, he was able to boot the laptop with another operating system. Unfortunately, because the emergency system is being overridden by a third party, he cannot deactivate it. When Toto praises Marsh's abilities and calls him and the others the "future of detecting," Marsh admits that he does not want to become a detective at all as he faints when he sees blood or corpses.

The guard finds them and says that he is looking for the other students. Ron confirms with the guard that no one could have left or entered the school while he was away from his post; the culprit must, therefore, still be at BLUE and is most likely one of their group. They then hear Billy scream and follow the sound and her monkey to the courtyard: Udy lies there. Her lifeless body bears deep gashes, and a piece of paper saying "Chapter 1: The messenger from the sky Wyvern" is next to her. Marsh faints at the sight of Udy's corpse.

He later wakes up to tell the others that Billie—who is missing—might be in the hidden room under the north building as she once told him that she was considering keeping pets there. Everyone heads to that room; the guard carries Alissa who lost consciousness when she saw Udy too. On the way, the students and the guard talk about Ron Kamonohashi who used the room in the past. Hutter voices his hatred of him, as he believes that he works with the M. Family. In the hidden room, they find an ashtray with cigarette butts and strands of blue hair, neither of which belongs to Billy or anyone they know who is inside the school.

While everyone discusses what to do next, Alissa wakes up and immediately spots the tenth person under the bed. She wants to attack them, but Ron stops her and tells the person to reveal themselves. To everyone's shock, Chelsea Gadd crawls out. The students have not seen her lately because she was suspended for her obsession with the M. Family. Chelsea is also a fan of Ron Kamonohashi.

Without answering their questions, Chelsea leaves the room, and the others follow her to the courtyard. There, Chelsea identifies the paper lying next to Udy's corpse as a page from an M. Family book. She learned about it from a special "Unsolved Mysteries" class; apparently, that book was left at several crime scenes connected to the M. Family.

While Totomaru and Ron re-examine the crime scene and search the building, Marsh and the others go to the home economics room to make dinner. When the guard cuts his finger in the process, Marsh offers to help him with the wound. Right after Ron and Totomaru join them, Hutter arrives too, bringing the food he hid in the classroom. When Toto remarks that he should have told someone if he wanted to go to the classroom, Hutter snaps at him.

Ron inquires why Hutter is treating "Officer Isshiki" so poorly. When she hears his name, Chelsea realizes that Toto is the police officer who was at the Nandan Observatory during the Island Observatory Murder Case and the one "responsible" for John Grizzly's death. Hutter hates Toto for that. Upon hearing about Toto's involvement in that case, Alissa and Night also turn against him and leave alongside Chelsea and Hutter, whereas Marsh stays behind.

Toto and Ron decide to search for them and ask Marsh if he knows where they might have gone, but Marsh is strangely avoidant of the topic. Toto realizes that he seems scared to solve the mystery, and Ron points out that Marsh can actually see blood; earlier, he could bandage the guard without problem after all. Marsh admits that he is indeed scared to solve cases and reveals his past to them. Though Totomaru tries to persuade him not to give up being a detective, Marsh brushes him off and tells him and Ron where the others might be.

Later, after Ron and Totomaru have found everyone but Chelsea, Marsh and the others hurry to the roof where they discover Chelsea's corpse. The cover page of "Chapter 2: The Giant's Awakening Cyclops" lies next to her, and she curiously seems to have died by falling from a high place. They then decide to split up: While Marsh and Alissa bring Billie to their classroom so that she can change her clothes, Toto and Ron as well as Hutter, Night, and the guard will investigate the area. They also agree to meet up again in an hour.

An hour later, everyone reassembles in the locker room and shares their findings: Night's team found no evidence that Chelsea fell to the ground, but noticed that the guard station was broken into and the sensors that detect entry and exit destroyed. Ron and Toto found marks on a pole as well as a bloody body bag on the roof. Afterward, they examine the third crime scene, and Billie tells them that she went looking for her pet rabbit and cat earlier. She spotted Udy's corpse from a window and was attacked from behind right afterward. She was knocked unconscious and woke up later in the locker.

Ron lies down in the locker and finds strands of long, white hair inside. Night then whisks Toto and Ron away to the rooftop; Toto tells the rest to wait in the dining hall. When they join Marsh, Hutter, and the guard in the dining hall, Marsh and Hutter inform them that Billie and Alissa are not back yet; Alissa wanted to speak to Totomaru and went to the roof, and Billie accompanied her.

Shortly afterward, Ron tells Marsh, Hutter, and the guard "Totomaru's" deductions: Billie is the culprit, and she used wire and the timetable instructor's train to kill both Udy (she was lowered to the courtyard with wires and stabbed there) and Chelsea (she fell from the raising bridge, and Billie used the train and wire to transport her body to the roof). After killing Udy, Billie used the secret entrance beneath her corpse to leave. During Ron's explanation, Night sneaks away. Marsh and the others then search for him, Alissa, and Billie.

After Hutter tells Totomaru and Ron that Billie liked to go to the monument room, Ron realizes that Billie is specifically targetting BLUE's best students. They go to the courtyard and find the secret entrance under Udy's body. The guard stays behind while the others go down, in case something happens. By the time, Marsh, Toto, Ron, and Hutter find Alissa and Night, Billie has drawn a significant amount of blood from them, but has not killed them yet.

Upon being confronted, Billie reveals that she neither anticipated Toto and Ron's arrival nor Chelsea's presence. Still, she managed to incorporate them into her plan; e.g. when Chelsea spotted her re-entering the school via the the lowered bridge after she picked up a new pet, a pomeranian, Billie was swiftly able to devise a plan to kill her. Billie also "ad-libbed" a show for Marsh, Ron, Toto, and Hutter: To test Toto's reflexes, she has set up crossbows that will shoot arrows at the unconscious Night and Alissa in a moment. While Totomaru goes for Alissa, Marsh jumps to save Night.

Afterward, Billie flees, and Marsh runs after her with Ron. Hutter and Totomaru manage to catch her, and when the police arrive, they take her away while Marsh is presumably sent to the hospital with the other remaining students.

Two days later, Marsh, Alissa, Night, and Hutter are back at BLUE. Just when they talk about how Ron and Totomaru would return to Japan today and that they wish to bid them goodbye, Totomaru and Ron arrive at the school. Excited, they meet up outside the building.

After Ron tells the students to take care of BLUE, and Marsh asks Toto if they could visit them in Japan one day, they part ways. Class begins shortly afterward, and when Marsh and the others begin texting Toto while ignoring their new instructor, he becomes upset and heads back to BLUE to "set them straight."

## Skills and abilities

* **Deductive ability:** Marsh specializes in cryptology.

## References

1. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 106, page 8
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 106, page 10
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 98, page 6
4. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, page 13
5. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 106, pages 10-12
6. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 108, page 11
7. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, pages 13-10
8. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 97, pages 14-17
9. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 97, pages 27-29
10. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 98, pages 15-19
11. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 99, pages 1-14
12. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 100, pages 7-17
13. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 101, pages 2-7
14. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 100, page 9
15. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 101, pages 7-19
16. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, pages 1-3
17. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 101, pages 20-21
18. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, pages 4-9
19. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, pages 12-19
20. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 103, page 7
21. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 103, pages 16-21
22. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 104, pages 2-20
23. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 105, pages 2-6
24. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 105, pages 13-21
25. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 106, pages 2-13
26. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 107, page 3
27. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 107, page 10
28. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 108, pages 7-17
29. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 109, pages 2-14
30. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 110, page 10
31. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 111, pages 2-19
32. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 112, pages 6-23
33. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 113, pages 2-18
34. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 113, pages 19-21
35. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 114, pages 3-5
36. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 116, pages 8-15
37. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 116, pages 17-18
38. ↑ *Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective* manga; Chapter 102, page 12