Danganronpa: Hope for the Hopeless/Chapter 1 - Class Trial

## Story

### Trial

The door to the elevator opened without any problem and all fifteen of us shuffled out of it into a small room. The room itself was just a grey dimly lit shaft but it had a wooden double door on the other end of it. If I had to guess, that was the room in which Monokuma wanted to go.

Naturally, The whole group hesitated. Some of them caught their breath and others looked around nervously though mostly over at Koike who noticed and recoiled just a little with each glance. They might have been certain that they knew who the killer was, but that did little to make them feel any better about going into a situation where their lives would be in there hands and they knew that someone had to die.

Koike must have had it the worst because she knew she didn’t kill Naya and she knew that she would die unless she proved it but she wasn’t even allowed to investigate. As to be expected, she was sweating with what I imagine was nervousness. I supposed she had the most reason to be worried about this whole ordeal though since she was the prime suspect and the fact that everyone except for Senji, Saeki, Yakawa and myself kept their distance from her made that fact hard to forget.

Finally Seno, the one standing closest to the door, took an audible gulp and spoke up. “I think we need to go in there. Is everybody ready?”

“I don’t think anyone’s ready for this.” Sama interjected earning herself and blank glance from Wakuni. “But we might as well get to it. I’d rather not get punished for something as trivial as absence.”

I looked around and everyone nodded in agreement with varying degrees of reluctance. The rules did say that attendance would be mandatory after all if I remembered correctly. So while nobody wanted to go in, we all had no choice but to follow when Seno finally pushed the double doors open.

The trial room appeared to be a large hexadecagon that was almost perfectly symmetric aside from the door in which we came and what I was convinced was Monokuma’s seat which was elevated considerably and on the opposite end of the room. In the center of the room were sixteen podiums that created a circle identical to the hexadecagon that was the room. Additionally, one of the spaces was already occupied by a picture of Naya crossed out by a red X. And as I saw it, I involuntarily clenched my fists.

As for the room itself. It was lit slightly dim compared to the rest of the lodge but it was bright enough to see everything. The ground, walls, and ceiling were made of smoothed out grey stone. Finally, each wall seemed to hold a glass case with some sort of plant displayed behind it which I guessed was to symbolize the greenhouse. I barely had enough time to take everything in before Monokuma predictably sprung up into his chair.

“I see everyone made it!” Monokuma began in a tone that would have been friendly teasing had it been from a friend instead of our sociopathic tormentor. “You didn’t come just because of me did you?”

Sasori was the first to offer a rebuttal but he did so almost immediately after Monokuma spoke. “We only showed up because of your rules. You can cut the pretenses.”

Monokuma’s normal eye narrowed just a little but attitude stayed the same other than that. If I had to guess, he either didn’t care or really wanted to start the trial. “Alright then. Everybody take your assigned seats and we’ll get this Class Trial on the road!”

One by one, we all shuffled into out podiums. Senji was the unfortunate person who had to stand in front of the bear. To his left was Saeki, then Sanda, Seno, Koike, Shiro, Tanabe, Yakawa, myself, Yasui, Sama, Machi, the picture of Naya, Sasori, Eto, and Wakuni. Koike also had the misfortune of facing Naya’s crossed out portrait and Shiro leaning in to whisper something. I couldn’t hear it of course but it looked as though she mouthed ‘you’re next’. Understandably, Koike nearly jumped at that.

*(This is going to be a really long case...)*

After that, Monokuma spoke up. “Alright, I’m going to go over the rules again. One of you murdered Naya Hitomi and the rest of you need to figure out whodunnit and settle it by majority vote. If the majority figures it out who the blackened is, only the blackened will the punished. But if the majority is wrong, the blackened will earn the right to leave and everyone else will be punished. Now let’s get this class trial started!”

Seno barely missed a beat trying to establish a starting point. “Before we do anything else, I have something that I want to say. We might already know who the culprit is but there are a lot of people, including myself, who want a fair trial for a variety of reasons. So if anyone has an argument or question then they should speak up now.”

Koike just eyed him and frowned. She opened her mouth to say something but for whatever reason closed it and didn’t say anything. Not that there was much she could say that wouldn’t draw unwanted attention to her at the moment.

“Well, I wanted to make sure it had to be one of us.” Tanabe said before anyone else could reply. He was as soft spoken as always but the room was quiet enough for us to hear him clearly. “Naya tried to keep it a secret, but she was pretty worried about the weather and the killing game. Before we vote, is there any chance at all that she snapped under the stress and killed herself?”

“How do you know about her concerns? From what I saw, you hardly spent any time with her.” Sama asked blankly. Nevertheless she stared at him with both of her arms crossed expecting some kind of answer.

“Does it matter? I just wanted to make sure she couldn’t or wouldn’t have killed herself before we vote so that we can cover all of our bases. You know what happens if we get it wrong.” Tanabe replied just as cooly as his first answer.

There was a brief period of silence that followed until Senji replied all while maintaining his calm and collected posture. “We can write that possibility off right now. The order in which she sustained her injuries makes that quite clear and I think Nishi, Yasui, or Yakawa will be able to confirm that.”

“It’s true, Naya would have died before she could have finished everything.” Yakawa calmly stated. “We don't know where she was when she was stabbed exactly but I do know that she couldn’t have bloodied Koike’s clothes ahead of time, she couldn’t have climbed to the balcony to hang herself if she stabbed herself on the ground, and she couldn’t have planted the clothes in the chest if she stabbed herself on the catwalk. The injuries simply make it impossible.”

“Actually we don’t really know that she sustained those injuries in that order.” Sanda refuted. “For all we know, the Monokuma file could be a big fat lie.”

“The file is correct! I never lie about my files and I saw the whole thing go down!” Monokuma interrupted while he stood up on his chair clearly irritated.

The way the trial was going, I quickly realized that I would have to prove Monokuma right if we were to get anywhere. I sighed and spoke up. Since this was the first time, it took me a second. But I spoke up nonetheless. “Monokuma’s file is correct. Between Naya’s cervical fracture, which I’m positive we can trust Yakawa on, and the blood pooled around her heart, we know for a fact that she would have had to stab herself in the heart first which means everything that Yakawa said about the order of events had to be true.”

“Nishi’s right on all accounts. Naya has only one stab wound in the heart and head respectively. If she stabbed herself in either place, she wouldn’t have enough time to remove the knife or do anything really. You can trust me on that.” Yakawa helpfully chimed in though he frowned at what I imagined was the recollection of it.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t find any blood splatters or we could have known for sure where she died” Yasui said before glancing over at Koike whom I knew he suspected. “But what you’re saying makes sense.”

I nodded and half the group visibly relaxed. Until now I hadn’t noticed they were even tense in the first place. But if I had to guess, the uncertainty of hearing a competing suggestion that made some sense caused the problem. Even if it wasn’t correct.

“Just in case this comes up again-” Wakuni began looking over his shoulder at Monokuma. “Who would be the culprit in the event of a suicide?”

Monokuma raised his right paw in mock thought. “Isn’t is obvious? The blackened is whoever planned and carried out the murder. Who the victim is and how they do it doesn’t matter. You would still need to figure out who the victim’s killer is. Same as always.”

I nodded as I mentally stored that piece of information for later. I really didn’t want it to come to that but it was good to know in case it did. Besides that, I hated to admit it but it made some degree of sense.

That’s when Seno broke the silence. “Now that that’s been cleared up. Does anyone have any other questions before I explain what happened?”

“I have quite a few actually, but I want to hear your explanation before I ask them.” Senji said as he folded his arms with just a minor hint of disdain. Whether it was because Seno wanted to go right ahead with his accusation or because Koike was innocent, I didn’t know.

Nobody else had anything to say after that. A few people nodded in agreement at wanting to hear Seno’s theory first for what I imagined was a variety of reasons however. It wasn’t like I could blame them though. I wanted to know what I was dealing with before I could try to explain Koike’s innocence.

“Seno, please, I didn’t kill her.” Koike begged evidently not wanted Seno to draw all the class’s attention to her. She looked Seno in the eyes but I also thought that I noticed her begin to show signs of trembling.

“Just give up already. I already know it was you and exactly how you did it.” Seno spoke up. He sounded a little more energized than before which drew a scowl from me, but he began with a sigh nonetheless. “The murder started back when Monokuma declared his motive. I don't know what the culprit saw in the newspapers, maybe it was the stock market and given her talent, I wouldn’t be surprised, but it could have been something else. That doesn’t matter though, what does is that the culprit set her plan into motion. Some time before the murder, she grabbed a box from the warehouse, some extra clothes, and some rope. After that, all she would need was to grab to murder weapon later when it wouldn’t be missed.”

Seno continued. “This morning, our culprit arranged a meeting with Naya Hitomi in the greenhouse. But of course, she set the final preparations of the plan into place by grabbing the knife and moving the lift out of the shed. By the time the victim arrived, everything was ready and all she had to do was take Naya by surprise. She did so by stabbing her in the heart and if Yakawa is right, Naya died very quickly. With the murder in motion, all the killer had to do was put on the finishing touches. She knew this so she set the final phase of her plan into play. She stabbed her victim in the brain just to be sure she was dead and quickly changed to rid herself of the blood stain on her clothes.”

Seno didn’t stop with his statement. I frowned but for now I wasn’t going to interrupt. In fact, I was wracking my brain for a way to refute him before Senji was ready to divulge his find. “After that, our culprit simply tied a noose around the Victim’s neck brought her up to the catwalk, tied the other end to the railing, and threw her off. After that, the killer’s plan unraveled. If our culprit had continued, she would have buried the last of the evidence under the dirt and gone about her business. Lucky for us that she hadn’t. Before the killer could do anything else, Nishi, Wakuni, and Yakawa walked onto the scene of the crime and caught our culprit red-handed! Koike Juichi, Super High School Level Diver. Just give up already, we know it was you!”

“I keep telling you I’m innocent!” Koike shouted in a higher pitch, higher volume, and even more urgent tone than before. However, it had about as little effect on those who suspected her as one would imagine.

“Monokuma, I think we are ready to vote. I know I said i’d take questions but there really isn’t anything left to ask.” Seno said flatly as he looked up at Monokuma. Once he finished, he looked around at the class. “I trust you guys don't want to drag it on any longer right? I suppose I can still answer a few questions before we vote of course but I think we are about ready.”

“Already?” Monokuma interrupted by asking Seno directly. “Are you sure?”

“Actually we aren’t ready to vote. A third of us believe that Koike might be telling the truth and I think that she should be allowed to defend herself.” Saeki butted in even though the question wasn’t to her. “Need I remind you what will happen if we get it wrong?”

Seno cut in again and glanced over at Saeki. His expression changed to a more irritated one and he spoke with a slight growl. “You realize you’re only going to drag this trial out right? It’s been a really long day for all of us. Don’t you want to just get this lousy trial over with? Because you’re only going to make this more miserable for all of us. Especially Koike.”

Saeki glanced over at Koike. I couldn’t tell whether or not Saeki was starting to concede, but I doubted it considering she still had evidence to show everybody eventually. I wasn’t ready yet either. I knew that Koike got the majority vote, all fourteen spotless will die and I couldn’t let that happen.

“Why don’t we at least take another look at the evidence before we address any final questions?” I pleaded with the group. “If you tell me why you think Koike’s the culprit, i’m sure we can clear it up and find the real killer.”

Sasori just looked at me. He didn’t seem convinced but he complied. “I think the two reasons are obvious. First, we found her bloodstained clothes hidden at the scene of the crime. Second, you saw her on the catwalk. While she might have been trying to save Naya as she claimed, her being at a crime scene with evidence that wasn’t even hidden is not a good sign.”

“I agree with that.” Yakawa said rather reluctantly. He looked away when Koike looked at him however. “I haven’t decided yet but that shirt is the most condemning piece of evidence. To be fair though, I also agree with Nishi. Since some of us think she might be innocent, everyone should have a chance to provide another explanation as to how the killer had Koike’s shirt.”

“I highly doubt there’s any other explanation darling. If someone else had Koike’s shirt, she would have been the first to know. But she has yet to provide any explanation.” Shiro mentioned in with a smile. “Isn’t that right Koike? Or did we miss something?”

“I-” Koike began but bit her lip. She looked as though she was desperately searching for a way to explain herself. “I’m afraid I can’t think of a time where someone here actually took and kept one of my shirts. I one of them cleaned once but I got it back soon after. I swear though, I didn’t kill Hitomi!”

Nobody who already suspected her believed her. And Wakuni made it clear that he was one of those people. “Well brother, I know you said you wanted to give her a chance but the evidence speaks for itself. There’s no way anyone except Koike could have had or worn that shirt at the time of the murder.”

*(Wait- yes there was.)*

I perked up ever so slightly as I realized that it was possible for someone else to have obtained a pair of Koike’s clothes. As a matter of fact, Naya did exactly that the last night. Of course that raised another set of questions but it meant that Koike had given her access to some of her clothes at some point.

“Wait a second!” I practically shouted. It wasn’t until everyone turned towards me that I realized I was speaking too loudly and lowered my voice to a normal tone. “There actually is a way that someone else could have had her shirt. The night before the murder, Naya said that wanted to help Senji with a laundry load the night before her death and she took clothes from several of the students. I saw a sleeve from one of Koike’s shirts hanging over the side.”

That provoked at least a few raised eyebrows, and I knew some didn’t believe me, but I didn’t relent. Luckily, Machi conceded enough to confirm that what I said was correct. “Although I think she’s wrong about Koike, Nishi is right about the laundry run. I saw Naya walking around the hall with a laundry cart the night before the murder. If she was careless enough, another hypothetical culprit could have had several chances to steal any articles of clothing from her.”

“That’s odd. I don’t recall Senji saying anything about doing our laundry last night.” Shiro chimed in before glancing over at the butler. “Did you do that last night?”

Senji just shook his head. “I have no idea what Naya was doing, but I never started anything like that. We all have ten pairs of clothing so it would be kind of excessive to do it this early.”

*(What were to up to Naya?-)*

I looked over at the picture of Naya wearily though I didn’t have much time to think about it before an accusation came that brought me back to reality.

“Wouldn’t Koike have noticed if Naya took a pair of her clothes and never brought it back?” Sama stated flatly. Fortunately, there was a simple answer to her question. I wasn’t sure how I remembered but I supposed it was because I had taken a picture of it and it was grouped with a lot of other stuff when I did.

“I was just wondering about something that might explain that.” I explained. All the while I was simultaneously pulling out my ElectroID and looking over at Koike. “Koike, how many pairs of clothes did you have in your closet this morning?”

Koike stopped to rub her chin in what must have been thought but she must have given up by the time she replied. “I- I’m sorry but I don’t know. I know I had ten pairs when I first searched the room but I’ve had too much to worry about so I didn’t count them this morning- or any morning after my first count from the night of the orientation to be honest.”

“Did you find something Nishi?” Saeki asked as she showed just a hint of a smile. Likely because she also knew that Koike was innocent even if she wouldn’t explain why at the moment.

Before I said anything, I flipped through my pictures until I found the one in the supply closet and turned it around to show the class. I doubted that everyone could see it, but the ones closer to me definitely could and they could confirm what I was about to say.

“The culprit tried to hide evidence inside the mat pile in the supply closet but I found it. And one of the things that you might be able to see here if you’re close enough is a clothes hanger.” I stated as coherently as possible so that everyone would understand. At the same time, I put my ElectroID back. “I believe that Naya grabbed two sets of clothes from Koike without her knowing and only gave back the first.”

“Huh?” Koike startled with realization. “Well, she did come into my room and stay by the closet for some time. But- I never thought she would do something like stealing my clothes.”

“But why would she do something like that?” Yasui asked after shaking his head in what must have been disbelief. “I would understand if her killer did it, but this is the victim we’re talking about here.”

Senji just shrugged but he was quick to answer. “Who knows? Maybe she wasn’t looking and she grabbed two by mistake? We can discuss the exact details after we get the basic facts down but for now we should at least accept the possibility that a pair of Koike’s clothes was stolen beforehand.”

Of course, the silence that followed was palpable but nobody objected and finally, Eto spoke up. “Well, I guess nobody has any objections. So that must mean that what you’re saying is correct.” She looked over to Koike and gave a weary smile. I doubted that I fully convinced her of Koike’s innocence but it was a good sign. “Congratulations Koike, that’s one less reason to suspect you.”

When nobody immediately objected Koike smiled and I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but Seno cut that short. “N-now hold on! Koike could still have been wearing that shirt and there were three witnesses who saw her on the catwalk! I don’t want to believe that any one of us did it either but you’re making a mistake!”

“Is that the only reason why you’re still accusing her? If I recall, Koike also offered an explanation as to why she was on that catwalk. To try and save Naya.” Senji calmly replied. For a moment I thought I saw a scowl on his face but if he did have one, it went quickly away.

“You have no more reasons to accuse me. I’ve already explained that I was trying to get Naya down and you have no reason to believe otherwise. So please just- stop accusing me.” Koike pleaded again.

“Uhm guys.” Eto said, when I looked at her, she winced a little and mouthed a ‘sorry’ before readdressing the class. I couldn't tell whether or not I had changed her mind before, but I had a pretty good idea about what she was about to say and we both knew that it was too important to ignore. “I hate to say this but we found the body at 7:33 and I did three laps around the greenhouse just at 7:26 and I didn’t see anything there. It’s hard to believe that Koike could have set up the murder in that amount of time but i’m not sure that it is possible to set up the murder in less time. Not to mention that we were all elsewhere when the body discovery announcement played and we all went to the cafeteria.”

“In that case, do you have an alibi Eto?” Machi said with some degree of politeness, but much more expectancy. She did frown at accusing Eto however and I briefly wondered if she knew about how Eto must be feeling or not. She might have because Eto clearly looked distraught.

“Eto met up with me within a minute afterwards.” Tanabe quickly replied before frowning at Machi himself. “In the future, I would be careful not to accuse your classmates for no reason.”

Both parties glared at each other for a brief moment before Seno took notice and immediately cut in to get the trial back on track. “So what you’re saying is that nobody else would have had to time to commit the murder and it had to have been Koike?”

Both Tanabe and Machi turned to face Seno. The latter of which scowled. However, they both relented after a brief paused and gave their various nods of agreement. I just sighed again all the while and looked over at Senji. Eto’s accusation made sense, especially when summarized by Seno, but it didn’t make it any more true.

*(It looks like they’re going to see her as guilty until we can prove that she couldn’t have done it.)*

Fortunately for me, Senji spoke up. Apparently it was time for him to reveal his discovery. “Seno, I don’t believe she could have killed Naya. In case you don’t know, the greenhouse has a special watering system that goes off at 7:30-”

Seno opened his mouth to object but Koike spoke first. “Oh yeah, I remember now. The sprinklers saturates almost every inch of the room with water. I looked at that the day after the killing game started. And I know you guys won’t believe me, but there are multiple people here who can confirm how the sprinkler system works. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure that I would’ve been drenched if I were in the room when it went off.”

“Koike is right about the sprinkler actually and she was also dry when we found her despite the whole room being drenched. There was mud on her shoes but we all got dirt on our shoes when we arrived.” Wakuni concurred. He looked down at the ground and smiled. “I guess under the circumstances, I can believe that she might be innocent. It’s still too early to decide but i’ll acknowledge the possibility.”

“Hold that thought. Koike still could have killed her.” Sanda said while leaning his right arm against his podium and trying to get comfortable with what was clearly an uncomfortable subject for him. “Do you remember that spot Machi? The one with the broken sprinkler segment? Why’d Monokuma even allow someone to break that anyways?”

“Oh that was already damaged.” Monokuma blurted as cheerful as always. “This lodge for all of its glory has a few parts of it that don’t always work completely. The water system and the plumbing have a tendency to freeze from time to time. But hey, you’re never going to find a perfect place right?”

“Seriously!” Machi protested. Her fist was raised towards the bear. Nevertheless she sighed and addressed the group. “Sanda is right though. There’s a spot where a row of sprinklers don’t work and the catwalk goes right under it. All she would have to do is stay there and wait for the sprinklers to stop.”

I looked over to Sanda for some explanation. I refrained from making a horrified expression but I still glared at him in demand of some explanation why I wasn’t informed about this. Apparently, he picked up on it pretty quickly.

“We didn’t find it until a few minutes before the announcement played but it’s lucky that we did or we might have jumped to a wrong conclusion.” Sanda stated although he didn’t sound too happy about it. Of course, the whole class heard his explanation. But it made sense that they hadn’t discovered it until after I stopped by.

“So the person we caught red handed is still the culprit-” Sama said while making an effort in maintaining a deadpan expression and looking down at her nails. “Big shocker there.”

“N-now hold up. You know that doesn’t mean I did anything. I know that at least some of people here believe me. We have to give them a chance.” Koike protested yet again. When nobody spoke up, her tone became slightly more panicked. “Well you- you have to at least give me a chance to defend myself.”

At that, everyone was silent. Even Senji, who had been the most insistent on her innocence, couldn't think of anything he could say to defend her. I just looked over at Sanda. We almost came back from the brink of losing the Class Trial but he ruined it. Even then, I couldn’t blame him because his logic was sound enough.

Wakuni only made thing worse by sighing stating the obvious. “We are giving you a chance. If you have proof that you didn’t kill Naya then I for one would love to hear it. But unfortunately, you didn’t have a chance to investigate so you can’t exactly back up any of your claims.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Koike snapped back at him. “L-look. I already told you exactly what happened. I grabbed a the last triple chocolate bar and I didn’t want anyone to notice that I took the one so I hid. That’s when I found Naya hanging from the railing of the catwalk in the greenhouse and climbed it to try and save her. S-surely someone found something that can prove i’m telling the truth!”

“Nobody found anything of the sort that I am aware of.” Sasori said. “I know Senji was trying to ration them out but there’s no proof that you’re telling the truth so we have to conclude that you are lying. A hate to say it, but that’s just the cold hard facts.”

“It also looks like nobody has any objections so we can finally start voting. I- I’m not happy about this either but at least we can put this Class Trial behind us.” Seno said somberly as he rubbed his forehead. He looked like he was starting to get a headache but that wasn’t important. What was important was that he was going to get us all killed if nobody objected.

*(It looks like it’s up to me-)*

“Wait.” Both Senji and I said. Senji closed his mouth however and waited for me to say something. I complied. “Senji and I actually did find something that might be able to prove Koike’s testimony. Though if it’s alright with everyone, I would like a quick refresher before I explain what we found. Context is important you know.”

“But we’ve all heard it before haven’t we?” Seno tiredly argued. “It’s not like I want to go accusing Koike, and I don’t think anyone else here does either, but I also don’t want this trial to drag on any longer than it has to. I’m sure you can see what it’s doing to us.”

I just nodded. It was true that this Class Trial was dividing the group and it would likely get worse the longer the accusations went on. But still, I was sure that Koike was innocent so I had to give myself one last shot to prove it. “Just one more time and I’ll have proof that she couldn’t have killed Naya. A few minutes is well worth avoiding a potential disaster wouldn’t you agree?”

“If you say so.” Seno grumbled. “I suppose it is better to be unnecessarily safe than to die because we weren’t careful enough.”

I gave Koike a reassuring smile and she addressed the crowd. She took a moment to clear her throat, but she did manage to speak to them. “Alright- so where to start? I managed to wake up at 7:00. At about 7:22, I reached an agreement with someone where they would tell me where those those stupid triple chocolate bars were located. I wanted to try one so I snuck into the kitchen. It took me while to make sure I hadn’t been spotted but I made it- unfortunately.”

“And you claim that you supposedly went from the kitchen to the greenhouse?” Yasui said reasonably enough. He looked both upset and doubtful about the whole thing but he let Koike continue regardless.

Koike just continued. Partly to explain Yasui’s question. “I saw Senji heading back to the kitchen. I didn’t mind getting caught but I didn’t want him to know I broke one of his few requests. Not after he did so much for me. So I went back into the hallway with the candy bar. That’s when I saw her hanging from the catwalk. I rushed in there and climbed the catwalk to untie her and you know the rest. I know she couldn’t be saved now but I swear I thought Yakawa could save her.”

“I’m afraid that became impossible when she lost part of her brain.” Yakawa chimed in. He looked down at the floor and his tone had some bitterness. “I’m may be a Super High School Level Paramedic but her heart would have had to have been replaced and her brain couldn’t be fixed. I’m afraid we don’t have that kind of technology.”

“And this is why I didn’t want this to be brought up again.” Seno said with a sigh. “I hope whatever piece of evidence that you and Senji have is crucial Nishi because you two are the only ones stopping us from getting this over with.”

“It is crucial actually.” I asserted as I pulled out my ElectroID and flipped to the photo of the triple chocolate bar to show to the class. I produced a few nervous beads of sweat as doubt on the actual importance crept into my mind, nevertheless I continued. “I know it looks trivial but it’s proof that someone was there and Koike claims to have been there. Now if anyone else accidentally dropped it, now is the time to speak up. But I have a feeling it had to be her.”

The room was pretty much silent after that. Not a single person in the room objected to my finding. Not even the culprit. Probably because I would know in an instant who they were if they protested. For once, I let myself relax just a little.

“Couldn’t she have just set it up beforehand to give herself an alibi?” Yasui asked. It was a reasonable enough question but it was flawed. I for one knew it at least.

“I highly doubt she would have.” I refuted while putting my ElectroID back in my pocket. “Since Eto ran around the greenhouse at 7:26, she would have had to have set it up afterwards which I don’t think would be possible since we all went to the cafeteria and each took separate trips to the kitchen.”

Senji just looked at me. His eyes were wide with surprise but he recovered with a smile. “It would appear as though Nishi is right. Besides that, I checked them in the kitchen to make sure they weren’t stolen beforehand. Koike would only have had the time I was preparing the tables to snatch one of them. And before you ask, I did not miscount them.”

Saeki added what I thought was the final nail in the coffin and she smiled at the two of us. “Nice find. I think we can safely say beyond a shadow of a doubt that Koike is in fact innocent.”

“Actually it doesn’t. Remember the vending machine in the hallway? It serves the exact same snack as the one she dropped in the hallway. It would take a Monocoin of course but that’s a price i’m sure she’d pay for an alibi.” Sanda said now leaning forward like he was ready to argue.

Sanda frowned after he said it but it’s change anything that he said nor did it change the fact that this was the second time Sanda messed Koike’s defense. Furthermore, that was Koike’s last defense and I knew that we would lose the Class Trial if I let him contradict me.

*(I know there’s no conclusive evidence right now but there are too many things don’t make sense if Koike is the culprit. I have to play along with my story for now.)*

“That’s also impossible. The machine was broken before the time of the murder and it’s still broken now. After I saw the ‘Out of Order’ sign had been taken down, I tried to use it but it still didn’t work. I suppose it must have fell off accidentally or something but it still doesn’t work.” I lied. Senji’s eyes met mine and he almost said something, but he closed his mouth and nodded. I just looked away and continued with a grumble. “Believe me, I tried.”

I don’t know how many people heard my last quip but they at least seemed to be convinced by the rest of my testimony if their nods were anything to go by. I don’t know if everyone was convinced of Koike’s innocence but I was off to a decent start. Even Koike visibly relaxed a little.

“I can’t accept that Nishi.” Sanda said bringing me right back to reality.

I didn’t want to deal with whatever he was going to say but I was ready to answer his or anyone’s objections if necessary so I spoke up to stop him. “But the vending machine was broken so she had to have gone in the kitchen. What’s so hard to believe about that?”

“I can see why that would make her appear innocent. And if paying were the only way she could get what she wanted, I would believe it.” Sanda said before giving what looked like a faint reminiscent smile. “But in my experience there’s all sorts of tricks you can use in situations like these. Trap doors, fake glass, a hidden string, need I go on?”

“I understand that, but that wouldn’t be possible here. I’ve checked the vending machine and there were no such tricks.” I tried to state calmly so as not to mess up my story. In truth, I hadn’t looked at the vending machine close enough but I highly doubted that there were any of the tricks that Sanda mentioned. For starters, from what I’ve seen I doubted Monokuma would make it easy for us to just take the vending machine’s contents.

In spite of that, Sanda continued. His smile dropped but he thankfully didn’t think I was lying. “I know that, but that doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. It’s just a vending machine so tipping or hitting it could probably have gotten the job done. There was nothing to stop her from doing that was there?”

“Actually, there was.” I firmly said as soon as he finished. This time, I knew I had the truth on my side. “I told you earlier that I tried to get something from the vending machine but that wasn’t the whole story. I- uh-” I hesitated but I continued because it was too important to not say. “I actually punched the vending machine when it didn’t give me what I wanted. The thing’s bolted to the floor so nobody’s getting anything from there until it’s fixed.”

Yakawa looked over at Monokuma and raised his eyebrow genuinely confused and slightly irritated. “Wait, you’re forcing us to kill each other but you bothered to have the vending machine bolted down so that it couldn’t be tipped?”

“Darn right I did! Do you have any idea how hard it is to ship a vending machine here?! I’m not about to let one of you chumps break it!” Monokuma stated. I didn’t know whether it was rhetorical or not but he didn’t say anything after that so I assumed it was.

There was yet another brief silent period as everybody tried to process all of the information that they had been given. Luckily nobody objected. Of course, I was left with the blank fact that it was obvious that Monokuma cared more about the lodge than us, yet it paled in comparison to the elation of passing my previous lie through.

“So that means Koike really was telling the truth.” Eto finally said to break the silence before giving a hesitant smile and rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “Uhm, I’m sorry we doubted you Koike.”

“I’m just glad Nishi and Senji were able to acquit me.” Koike replied. She gave a weary smile back at her. I could tell that she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Even if her tone didn’t give it away, I would still have known that she was just happy to be nearly acquitted. “Besides, it’s not **your** fault everyone’s turned against me.”

I looked over at Seno after Koike’s implication of him. He was already starting to show a few signs of nervousness and his tone sounded more desperate. “Now hold up. You guys don’t seriously think that she’s innocent do you? She was found on top of the catwalk. Her shirt was at the scene of the crime. And all it would take is one trick to fool of you people!”

“Seno, I highly suggest that you stop accusing Koike. We’ve already proven that she couldn’t have committed the act and any further accusations will just interfere with the rest of the trial.” Senji said. He sounded calm and collected, but he made it quite clear that he was getting tired of him accusing her.

Machi interfered with a grumble before speaking herself. “You don’t speak for all of us Senji. I don’t necessary want Koike to be the culprit but I definitely still believe that she killed Naya. It just makes too much sense.”

“Even with all of Nishi’s and Senji’s explanations, you still believe that it makes more sense for Koike to be the culprit? I expected better than that from you Machi.” Saeki said before giving a frustrated sigh.

“She definitely still could have done it.” Katai asserted slamming his fist against the podium once to get the attention of everyone else. “That evidence is way too circumstantial. It doesn’t make me happy to condemn anyone but your thinking is skewed if you guys want to acquit her on something so trivial.”

“Guys, all we’ve been doing since this class trial started is accuse Koike. Yeah, I joined in, but only because the evidence pointed to her at the time. To continue would be both unfair to her and dangerous to the rest of us. You don’t want to choose the wrong person and die do you?” Tanabe said with a warning glare at each and every one of Koike’s accusers.

Wakuni was the person to argue with him ignoring his gaze entirely. “I only think she did it because she’s the obvious suspect. She is the only person here who has most of the clues pointing to her. Not to mention the fact that she has both of the only two clues that I saw pointing towards her. Now I know I said that I believed she could be innocent but that was before Sanda introduced those alternate explanations of what happened.”

“I understand that brother but keep in mind that you haven’t had a chance to look around the lodge for clues like we have.” Yakawa started to argue patiently enough after delivering a brief sigh. He opened his mouth to continue, but before he could, he was interrupted.

“Wait!” Monokuma interjected. Everyone stopped and glanced over at him with mixed reactions. “I can’t help but notice that your opinions are pretty evenly split right now.”

I didn’t even want to know what he was going to do next but unfortunately for me, there were people on both sides who were curious enough to look towards him. Both Sama and Saeki outright asked him. “So what?”

“So, it means a new feature I added isn’t going to go to waste!” Monokuma jumped up into a standing position on his chair. “It fills me with great pleasure to present Newpoint Lodge’s very own morphenomenal trial grounds! Everyone should have two choices on their ballet screen. It isn’t time to vote yet but select one.”

I looked down at the ballet screen and just like he said, there were two choices side by side. The left one was an arrow pointed right that said ‘Koike is the culprit’ and the right one was a leftward arrow that said ‘Koike is not the culprit’. I also noticed a countdown timer in the top right of the screen but I paid it very little attention. Instead, I hit the option on the right. It expanded and lit up in yellow.

Not long after that, I felt my podium move towards the center of the room. I wasn’t the only person either. Each podium was converging to force two lines facing each other. It came to a stop and just when I thought it was over, a rectangular portion of the floor lowered with each of our podiums on them until at last we were all in a cramped rectangular antechamber that resembled the class trial room’s decor.

I looked around. On my side was myself, Senji, Koike, Eto, Tanabe, Yakawa, Saeki, and the crossed out portrait of Naya. On the other side was Seno, Sanda, Wakuni, Yasui, Sasori, Sama, Machi, and Shiro.

*(Well, '**atleast'** I finally have half the class on my side. Maybe we’ll actually get somewhere.)*

Tanabe sent a questioning glance over to Monokuma and It wasn’t like I could blame him. This was obviously a two side group debate set up but that didn’t explain why we were moved to this cramped area.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was going to have the podiums hover, but it just wasn’t in the budget.” Monokuma explained. His own chair landing on the far end just in front of neon arrow signs that were pointed at each other and stated each of the argument. “Now resume arguing.”

I blinked twice. I didn’t have any desire to follow Monokuma’s directions, but we had to in order to get anywhere. Seno, for once, realized the situation and spoke up. “Uhm- well Koike has to be the culprit. It’s like Wakuni said, all the clues point towards her.”

“But the clues only point towards her because those are the only ones we’ve considered.” Eto began. I nodded in agreement.

“She planned the murder for after Eto circled the greenhouse and took her chance to strike.” Yasui declared assertively. He didn’t look happy about it. He looked like someone who was trying to stop a friend from doing something foolish more than anything else.

I replied to that one. “But Koike has an alibi. The kitchen was the only place where she could have gotten triple chocolate bar so she had to be there at the time of the murder.”

“She probably tricked us.” Sanda began followed by crossing his arms defensively. “There’s probably some key piece of evidence we missed that made the whole charade possible.”

Tanabe spoke up to that one. “We searched under the assumption that Koike killed her. If we couldn’t find any evidence that would have made it possible, we can assume there isn’t any and that she really is innocent.”

“If she is so innocent, why was she on the catwalk?” Machi asked. Her tone sounded reasonable enough but I gripped the railing of my podium a little tighter from the frustration of her and possibly other people not listening to my explanations the first time.

“She already explained it. She went up to the catwalk to try and save Naya!” I shouted back at her. Machi just looked away and mumbled what I thought was an insult under her breath.

“That part of her testimony makes no sense.” Wakuni interrupted flatly. “Naya was stabbed in the heart and brain. She should have known she couldn’t save her.”

Yakawa sighed and stepped up to answer his brother. “Koike didn’t have enough time to look at Naya’s wounds so she wouldn’t necessarily know that.”

Sasori was the next to argue and he scratched his head in thought with his right hand. “What are the odds all of these coincidences unfolding like they did? I’ll tell you probability of it all randomly happening is absurdly low.”

“What if the events weren’t random?” Saeki suggested after taking in all the information and quietly stepping forward. “With enough preparation, our killer could have set it up that way.”

“I know I don’t want to vote for Koike but- we don’t have any other leads. If she really is innocent then we have nothing to go on.” Sama looked away as she said it as though she was ashamed.

“We have plenty of leads to go on Sama. We just haven’t talked about them because we were too busy with Koike.” Senji said in a reassuring tone. “Don’t worry. We’ve no shortage of brainpower to find the culprit.”

“Darlings, are you really ready to acquit Koike? I want to cover everything before I risk my life in a vote.” Shiro said with an obvious scowl. If I had to guess, she was either trying to save face or she didn’t want to go back to square one.

Finally, Koike stood up for herself and argued in an exasperated tone. “But we’ve already covered everything and we’ve exhausted all evidence against me! We’ve covered every scenario. There is no reason why you shouldn’t believe me.”

With that, our neon sign lit up. If the other side’s reactions were anything to go by, it was to show that we had won the argument. The floor lifted slowly until we were back in the class trial room. Shortly after, our podiums each returned to their spots and locked in place once more. I relaxed once more and while I maintained a neutral expression on the outside, I couldn’t help but think about how it was about time they believed us.

I quickly looked around at some of Koike’s more vehement accusers. None of them looked happy about the fact that they nearly convicted an innocent person but at least most of them looked ready to continue. The one exception was Seno who was just silently looking down at his podium and likely reflecting on what he had done. I would have spoken up about it but to be honest, I knew the Class Trial would be easier without dealing with him right now so I didn’t.

*(Note to self, talk to him after this Class Trial.)*

“So we’re in agreement then.” Yasui stated. He looked away forlorn but otherwise it was evident in his tone that he was upset. “I’m so sorry we doubted you Koike.”

“So- what do we talk about now?” Sama began. She had been upset for a while but for what had to be the second time this trial, her tone was completely serious. “I can’t think of any other clues. Are we all going to die?”

Saeki spoke up in an uplifting tone. Whether it was forced or not, I couldn’t tell. “You don’t need to worry about that. We’re the best and brightest Japan has to offer. We just need to focus our efforts elsewhere. Does anyone mind if we talk about the motive?”

Nobody objected to her. In fact, Shiro pitched in to help. “You mean to dreadful newspapers Monokuma gave us to kill each other?”

“Exactly.” Saeki began. “A lot of people assumed it would be the stock market that drove somebody to murder, but I think Monokuma had an additional motive in there. I’m pretty sure Nishi knows what i’m talking about.”

*(I do?- no wait, I actually might!)*

Everyone either looked at me or Saeki for an answer and It looked as though I was going to be the one to guess. Of course I recalled all of it. It had a lot of content but most were just perversions of regular news sections without any actual threats or offers to entice us to commit a murder. The only two things that really stood out as a possible motive were the weather report and the Tokyo Nikkei. The latter of which seemed to actually have subsided after the shed incident which only gave me one possible guess.

“You’re talking about the weather report right?” I asked after my momentary pause of thinking.

“That would make logical sense.” Sasori added. “First we get a newspaper claiming severe weather alerts for the next two weeks, then Monokuma changes the weather. Our culprit may have felt backed up into a corner and that murder was their only option.”

“Upupupu.” Monokuma interrupted. Once again his hands were up to his mouth in mock thought or interest. “You give me too much credit. I can’t control the weather any more than you can. Bear’s word.”

“Like that would even matter.” Sama said in an effort to take a sarcastic verbal jab at Monokuma. “All it would take to motivate our culprit is bad weather like the kind we’ve been getting. If they thought they were going to die unless they went home, they would probably commit a murder.”

“Just as we started to get somewhere with our search around the lodge too.” Yasui said as he started to trail off. “Of course, this is all just speculation. We have no idea whether it was the weather or not. Perhaps we should re-examime our alibis to see if there was anyone who could have killed Naya and was also spooked by the weather?”

“You have a good point Mr. Katai. We should talk about everyone’s alibis of course but right now I want a list of everyone who reacted strongly to the weather or the events of yesterday. Coincidentally, Yasui, I’m afraid you are one of those people.” Senji stated. There was no anger in her tone but he was stating a fact that possibly implicated Yasui. “Yes I think everyone remembers the event you, Machi, and Seno went through just the day before.”

It popped fresh in my memory as soon as he said it. “Oh, you mean the mysterious shed getting burnt to the ground right? I remember Yakawa explaining that Yasui, Seno, and Machi were all near the building when it caught fire.”

Naturally, Yasui, Seno, and Machi all had negative reactions to the implication of what Senji said. Although none of them spoke up or said anything, Seno looked away as though he was lost in space, Machi scowled, and Yasui glared at Senji. I sighed.

*(This is going to get annoying fast.)*

“Relax, we’re not going to throw around accusations. You all are technically the most suspicious right now. Doubly for you Seno. And it would really help if you could explain yourselves or offer an alibi.” Senji stated. “But I doubt the group wants to go down another rabbit hole but accusing any of you three without thoroughly examining the evidence.”

“Wha-!?” Seno shouted while simultaneously beginning to produce sweat on his forehead. It noticed he had gone into a stupor after Koike had been acquitted but it seemed his reaction from being pulled out of it was equally negative. Of course it made sense because he was being accused of murder.

Senji continued as calm as ever. Almost reassuring even. “There’s no need to panic Seno but it’s clear that you’ve been pushing for us to vote for Koike quite a bit. Others did as well of course but none of them kept reverting back to the same two pieces of evidence even after we dismissed them. What I’m trying to say is, just explain to us where you were at the time of the murder so that we can move on.”

His reaction only made Seno turn ever so slightly paler. “W-w-you can’t seriously think that I killed Hitomi!”

“You realize that you weren’t the only person he accused right?” Machi butted in rather unhelpfully as she continued her scowl but now at Seno, Senji, and Yasui. Apparently she was touchy to being accused in spite of accusing Koike herself. “I don’t particularly appreciate this accusation either. One of the others may have done it yes, but I don’t like being grouped into this with them.”

“Hey now. You can’t just go accusing me without proof either. I happen to have an alibi.” Yasui said. He looked away shortly after he said that in what could only be contempt.

After that, the three of them spoke at once. It caught me off guard and I couldn’t understand a word of what they said. Yet I realized what was happening because I had seen in before in family therapy. Everything was going to break down.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, don’t all talk at once. It makes is hard for us to understand your points.” Shiro said rather loudly in what must have been an effort to recover the situation. But I could already tell that it was too late. Someone was going to have to focus and bring them out their panic. Even as I figured that out, all three of them spoke at once again.

Seno: “I’m innocent!”

Machi: “I didn’t kill Naya.”

Yasui: “I could not have been the culprit.”

Seno: “You can’t seriously think that I would kill Naya. I made a promise to look after this group. I promised that everyone would be safe.”

Machi: “All I have to say is that i’m disappointed. I can’t see how you think I would murder someone in cold blood like that.”

Yasui: “This is ridiculous. I would never kill Naya Hitomi. Besides that, I actually happen to have an alibi.”

Seno: “I had Naya promise to you that nobody would die while I was in charge. Do you really think that I would just go back on that promise?!”

Wakuni: “It’s because you were in the shed with the other two. If you’re innocent, we’ll clear it up. But you can help by answering Senji’s question.”

Yasui: “I couldn’t have killed Hitomi because I was with Sasori at the time of the murder. He’ll vouch for me i’m sure.”

Senji: “I’m not saying you did it but there are a large string of coincidences that make me consider the possibility. Like how you kept blaming Koike without any reason.”

Machi: “Somehow I doubt that that would help. Everyone, including myself unfortunately, has made it very clear that it’s every man for themselves in this trial.”

Yasui “I wasn’t the only one to go to the shed either. Both Seno and Machi went there with me. They’re the ones you should be suspicious of.”

Seno: “Yeah I realize that I messed up and I’m sorry for that! But I really didn’t kill Naya. I swear I didn’t kill her! I don’t even think I could have!”

Koike: “Just answer the question Machi. We don’t want to die either and Senji said he was willing to work with you. So- please don’t give up on us.”

Yasui: “And on top of that, Seno has been acting suspicious for the whole trial. And I don’t even think he has an alibi!”

*(Wait, I think I remember something-)*

It was about that time that a picked up on something that one of them said. My mind immediately went to their claims and any evidence that could support or deny them. Almost instantly, I knew that at least one of them was correct for sure. The others might have been as well, but I couldn’t worry about that at the moment. I needed to the first of the accusations up before I focused on the other two.

“Hold it!” I shouted as loud as I could. And for good reason because i needed all of them to stop and listen. It seemed to have worked because they all shut up after that. “I know for a fact that one of you is innocent!”

“It’s about friggin time.” Machi cut in with an indignant tone in her voice. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t her who was getting acquitted.

I tried to break it to her gently, but I knew she wasn’t going to take it well. “Actually I was talking about Seno.” I looked over at Senji. “Senji, can you show everyone the picture you took of Seno’s stuff when we searched the locker room?”

Senji just nodded. He didn’t stop or ask me why. He just pulled out his own electroID and showed the class, or at least those who could see it, the picture that he had taken of the inside of Seno’s locker. The coat was dry, the boots were damp, and there was a puddle like before. I just took a deep breath as he finished showing it to the class and put his ElecroID back.

*(Here’s hoping '**i’m'** right about this.)*

I thought about it wearily but I spoke confidently. I knew I had to after all if anyone was to believe me. “I know you might believe that his wet clothing is proof he was at the greenhouse but I remember from my search that only the boots were wet. There is too little water in the puddle underneath for it to have come from the greenhouse sprinklers and all of his clothes would have been wet if he was drenched. But I believe the boots would actually be the only wet part of his clothes if he were treading through snow. Where did you say you were Seno?”

“I was out by the burnt down shed trying to find anything useful to our escape. I’m afraid there wasn’t anything of note though.” Seno replied.

Sanda just shook his head. “That’s a shame. I was kind of hoping that it would have something that might help us escape. Still, it isn’t a total loss. I don’t believe that Seno could have killed her if he were outside so we can cross him off the list of suspects. And to be honest, I’m glad about that. After all, he tried to protect us all.”

“You can cross Yasui off the list as well.” Sasori began. “His statement about being with me at the time of murder is indeed correct. From 7:25 to the body discovery announcement to be exact. In fact, I believe I have told at least one other person that fact already.”

Yasui visibly relaxed his cold disposition towards us. Meanwhile, Saeki just shrugged as though she none of it had changed her mind. She was quick to make this clear when she spoke. “The motive actually didn’t make me think it was either of them. I kept quiet about my suspicions because I wanted to keep any possible bias out of this trial. But now that the shed has been brought up and two of the three suspects from the shed have been cleared, I’d like to talk about the remaining suspect, Machi.”

“Really guys, cut it out. This isn’t funny and this isn’t amusing. There is absolutely no way that I killed Naya. Heck, you wouldn’t even be suspecting me if I wasn’t in that stupid shed.” Machi crossed her arms and continued to defend herself with an indignant tone. But this time it showed a hint of concern.

“Actually, i’m afraid that you’re wrong. You see these pictures?” At that, Saeki drew a sigh and pulled something out of her right sleeve.

After Saeki did so, she held up a clear white schematic. She only held one up but I could see more wrapped around her sleeve. On one side were robot designs that I could see, but on the other was writing and inscriptions that the class couldn’t see. It sapped any joy from her face and it stopped Machi in her tracks. That wasn’t even the end of it either because both Senji and Sanda peered over her shoulder and stared blankly at what they saw.

Slowly, Saeki pulled the rest of the schematics out and held them out to Monokuma while she explained herself. “I found these in the incinerator some time ago and we both know that you’re the only person who could have made these. I- I don’t want to show the class these but I think there are lives at stake so- Monokuma, can you show these to the class?”

“Roger that!” Monokuma stated. With his left hand, he took the schematics, and with his right, he hailed something by raising it into the air.

In a few seconds, we all knew what it was. I large monitor lowered from the ceiling and on the screen flashed something that made my eyes dilate. I gasped in horror at what I saw and most of the class had similar reaction save for some like Yasui who shook their fist at the monitor and Seno who was too busy sulking on his own mistakes to care.

On the screen were eight enlarged plans that called for some of our deaths. Unfortunately, Saeki was right about the plans having to have come from Machi. Some of them required Machi’s talent as Super High School Level Roboticist and almost all of them had some mechanical terminology that I imagined only a roboticist would understand. The methods and plans varied of course but one by one they crowded the screen until there was nothing left but proof of machi’s intent to kill of us. Burning, hanging, shooting, stabbing, electrocution. Those were only some of the fates that Machi had intended for some of us.

There was a particular one that made me shudder violently from a cold chill as though I were outside of the lodge in the cold. The exact details were in side notes that were too small to read but I could tell what she was going to do from what I could see. In short, Machi was going to inject me with something that paralyzed me, hang me, plant a suicide note, and make it look as though Yakawa had tried to fake a suicide if the group didn’t buy that I killed myself.

Even Machi was watching in horror. Not because there were any attempts on her life but because someone had found out about her plans and that we all knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they belonged to her. If not for the papers they were written on being blueprints then for her reaction.

“Why the heck did you do this!” Wakuni shouted at her after a long drawn out pause. He didn’t just look upset. He looked as though he was trying to keep himself from strangling Machi on the spot. “You made a plan to kill me and a plan to kill my brother! What is wrong with you?!”

Machi waited for a few moments in what I guessed was hope that someone would speak up to defend her. But in the end, her expression changed and she just gave up and looked down at the floor. “Do you really want to know why I made those plans? I made them because I have family waiting for me. Worried about me. I don’t know about you guys, but I have people outside of this lodge worth killing for and I’m not content to stay and die here while I’m forced to wonder what happened to them and they’re forced to wonder what happened to me.”

“So did you decide to go with a plan that involved killing Naya?” Sasori asked cautiously with a passive-aggressive edge in his tone that replaced his usual calm. However, this proved to be a mistake because Machi just snapped in the moments that followed.

“No you numbskull! If I wanted to kill someone, I could have killed any of you by now! I don't think I can get this through your stupid heads seeing the way we all acted earlier but I never wanted to kill anyone. I pitched those plans, case in point, and I didn’t kill Naya either!” Machi said as she looked up and sent an ice cold glare at Sasori. “I know you idiots wont believe me. After all, you we’re all horrible enough judges of character to trust each other when the killing game started. But I really didn't kill her.”

“Right, because we’re all going to believe you after seeing this.” Sama retorted sarcastically before taking a quick glance at the screen. “What was it you wanted to do to me again? Oh that’s right, You wanted to bash my head in with a cinder block!”

“Why would you make eight plans to kill us?” Eto shouted at Machi in more of a pained expression than anything else as she looked back and forth between the screen and Machi herself.

Even Tanabe, one of the people who insisted on maintain a fair trial, lost his cool and spoke in a low growl. “Maybe she really is the mastermind behind all of this. It would make sense if these were contingency plans wouldn’t it?”

“Guys, this is exactly why I didn’t want to show you those plans.” Saeki tried to interrupt with a desperate yell. It went ignored by most, but she continued regardless. “You needed to know what I found, but I didn’t want everyone to act like this was proof that she did it.”

“So why did you do it then?” Machi asked crossing her arms and glaring at her. “I was already a suspect, you didn’t have to show these to everyone. And now I have to deal with all that bias you claim you were trying to avoid.”

“Because they deserve to know that they were being targeted Machi.” Saeki coldly stated after stopping and staring at her as though she were an idiot for not knowing. “Do you seriously think that I would just let this run its course? Just be glad that you have the chance to give us your side of the argument.”

Wakuni was the next to speak up and his mood hadn’t improved either. As he slammed the podium, that much was clear. “I don’t care what she has to say or why she did it! Machi Satu planned my murder, she planned my brother’s murder, and she must have carried out Naya’s murder. I know nobody found the murder plan but there is no doubt about it. Machi is obviously the culprit!”

Wakuni seemed to be convinced that Machi had killed Naya based on the threats to his life and his brother’s life. Both of which he took offense to. I looked around the room to see if everyone thought the same and the results were that everyone appeared to be suspicious but open to objections at best. I couldn’t blame them of course. I would never forget about the plan to kill me that still displayed on the overhead screen and I wanted to believe that Machi killed Naya. But like Saeki said, I couldn’t substitute Machi’s plans to murder me for actual evidence.

*(I know Machi planned our deaths. She confessed to that already. But did she actually murder Naya?)*

I pried my eyes away from the screen and the group slowly but surely. Then, I closed my eyes, took deep breaths, and forced myself to calm down and think about the situation. To think about her claim from earlier and if there was any proof to support or refute it. If I remembered correctly, she claimed that she was uploading some recordings in the AV room around the time she told us not to disturb them. I sighed. After what had to be the tenth breath, I came to a conclusion that I knew nobody would be comfortable with. Nevertheless it was necessary.

“Guys, we all need to calm down. She didn’t kill Naya.” I said fully expecting backlash from the rest of the group. Surprisingly most of them didn’t immediately oppose me. I supposed that some people such as Senji and the more level-headed ones were still willing to listen to reason in spite of being suspicious of her.

Yasui however was one of them. He pointed his right arm towards the screen, specifically the plan that involved faking my suicide, and argued. “You can’t seriously expect us to believe that she’s innocent after she pulls a stunt like this!”

I forced myself to refrain from looking at the plan as I grit my teeth. I didn’t have to like what Machi did but I still defended her and my position. “She was in the AV room recording footage at the time of the murder. I have a few pictures of it on my scroll if you need me to confirm that her recording was still uploading during the investigation.”

“What? I thought I told you not to go in there.” Machi grumbled. But she still didn’t sound nearly as angry with me as she was with the others. If I had to guess, it was because I was the only person who could defend her. “I hope you didn’t break anything in there. That footage is an important piece to figuring out how to get out of here.”

“Machi, If I may say so you likely alienated yourself from everyone in the class, myself included, and planned to hang the person who is now defending you. You would be wise to just accept the alibi and to refrain from speaking for the rest of the trial unless you have something important to contribute.” Senji surmised calmly but coldly.

“So how do we know that Machi didn’t just upload footage from earlier before she hypothetically committed the murder to give herself an alibi?” Yakawa asked in a calm tone between deep breaths.

“I actually thought of that.” I said as I pulled out my ElectroID once more, flipped to the pictures I had taken, and held it for the class to see. “Anyone close by will be able to see these pictures have clear morning skies. That means that she had to have sent her drones out and monitored them the morning of the murder because the weather up until then wasn’t clear like in the drone footage. In short, she was way too busy to have committed the murder.”

Nobody protested that. One by one, they calmed down enough to act normally. Aside from a glare that Machi was giving Senji at least. In spite of that, the tension was still palpable in the room as I put away my ID again. I half expected Monokuma to comment but all he did was cause the screen of the monitor that hung above him to shut off and raise.

Koike looked around nervously and finally broke the silence. “So-uh. Are we really back to square one in this investigation?”

“No were are not. We’ve already proven that Senji, yourself, Tanabe, Eto, myself, Yasui, Machi, and Seno are innocent. I would also guess that Nishi, Yakawa, and Saeki are innocent as well or they would have let you take the fall.” Sasori reasoned relatively nonchalantly. His tone implied he was still cooling off from suspecting Machi but otherwise he was acting neutral again.

“Besides that, we already have a plethora of information regarding murder itself.” Senji said putting his hand to his chin in thought. “I would bet that if we figure out how the culprit killed Naya, we could figure out who killed Naya.”

“Great idea but where do we start?” I asked.

“Why don't we start with the obvious.” Yasui suggested finally ceasing to glance over at Machi. “How did the culprit prepare the crime scene in less than four minutes? I highly doubt they would stick around to get soaked and I doubt our culprit could have entered the kitchen and grabbed a knife unnoticed given the time constraints.”

Eto raised her hand in response as though she were answering a question. She took a quick glance over a machi but returned to her normal behavior soon after. “Actually I saw one person Leaving the Kitchen when I was running the last lap. Naya walked out of it so she totally could have grabbed the knife!”

“But why would she do something like that?” Shiro asked with a shrug. “She wouldn’t just sneak into the kitchen to give a knife to someone else so that that person could kill her. Her behavior was a little odd towards the end there but that doesn’t make sense.”

“But I checked the kitchen and that knife was the only one that was missing. That would mean the knife she took would have to be the one used against her.” Yasui fervently stated.

“I think it is likely that Naya originally had the knife for her own intents and purposes but lost it to her killer.” Sasori chimed in. “How she lost it, who knows? There was no sign of a struggle so i’m inclined to believe she either lost it without knowing or got tricked into handing it over.”

“That is true, but that does beg the question of what she needed the knife for in the first place.” Yasui continued. “And from what I saw, Sasori was right, there weren’t any signs of a struggle. And if what Yakawa said to Nishi and I is true, she was taken by surprise so I doubt she was up to anything bad. But that still doesn’t explain what she was trying to do.”

Senji smiled. If I had to guess it was because Yasui was willing to defend her. “The question is then, why would she take a knife from the kitchen and how did the culprit manage to stab her? Yakawa, you said the initial blow was from the front abdomen yes?”

“The blade went into her chest from the front, sliced through her muscle tissue, pierced the pericardial sac, and struck her heart dead center.” Yakawa confirmed.

“Is it possible that she was tricked? Like, if I saw somebody with their sleeve stuck in a machine asking me to cut them loose, i’d grab a knife to help them.” Tanabe suggested confidently. We all looked at him and I tried to think of any reason why he could be wrong. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

“Alright” I said waving his hand aside like he was laying out all the facts. “We don’t know what she was doing with the knife, if anyone has any ideas they can come forward, but we know that there wasn’t a struggle and that she was caught off guard. So it’s safe to say that she was either tricked or had the thing stolen from her before she could use it.”

“That also means that she could have made most of the preparations in advance if she were planning a murder but the killer caught on and stole her weapon before she noticed” Senji surmised. “I don’t necessarily believe that she was trying to kill someone, but it does explain how everything was set up in such a short time frame.”

“Or the killer could have set most of the stuff up beforehand and she could have brought the knife.” Yasui said a with little more insistence in his tone than before. “I mean, you don’t want make an assumption like that before we have all of our facts straight.”

“It doesn’t matter either way.” I explained. “Both explanations account for how the murder was committed in such a short time. I’m not sure if we’ll ever know which one is correct, but we do know that Naya was involved.”

“Hmm. I know this discovery helps to account for the time crunch but does it really bring us any closer to finding the culprit?” Sama asked sincerely and just a little calmer than she was before. “I hope so because I can’t think of one that will lead us to Naya’s killer.”

“Not by itself but there are still other pieces to the puzzle.” Sasori said now with a neutral tone once more. “I still believe that solving all the ‘hows’ will lead us to the ‘who’. That’s why this trial is so confusing after all. And speaking of next questions, how about this for the next question? Where did our culprit kill Naya?”

I tried to think back to find the answer to his question. It took me a few moments, but I remembered something once again. The answer was simple enough since the lift had multiple blood splatters on it. “Sasori, I think Naya was killed on top of the portable lift. Either she or our culprit drove it out. Then our killer stabbed Naya on top of it, drove it back, and left a bump in the wall for whatever reason. I would have thought they killed her inside the shed but it’s spotless save for the lift.”

I looked to Sama or Shiro for agreement. Both nodded their heads and Shiro was the one to speak up. “It’s true, the lift had an excessive amount of blood splattered all over it but the shed was clean for some reason. It would make sense if she died on the lift but outside of the shed.” She stuck out her tongue in disgust before continuing. “It was disgusting to put it mildly. The only question I have now is wouldn’t that large of a bloodstain cause the culprit get blood on themselves too? I imagine that kind of stuff stains and gets everywhere.”

“Not if it’s washed off.” I replied automatically. Too late, I realized that I hadn’t thought of how the culprit washed all the blood off. So all I could do was stand where I was and hope that nobody asked me until I figured it out at least.

“But how would our culprit do that?” Saeki inquired dashing that hope. She sounded like she was open to the idea at least but I needed to offer some sort of explanation.

I wracked my brain for an answer of course. All that our culprit would need was a large enough amount of water so that he or she could clean off but it was unlikely that they would risk leaving the area covered in blood and running into someone in the hallway. Then, it occurred to me that they wouldn’t have to leave. Water came to the room at 7:30am every morning.

“The sprinkler system of course.” I finally said. I paused and tried to think of a reason why it would be impossible but I couldn’t think of any so I continued. “Our culprit could have used the sprinkler system and dried themselves off with a towel or something.”

“Wait-” Seno finally spoke up for the first time since I had him acquitted of the crime. His eyes looked like they were going to tear up but I imagined he was like that for a while. “I know- I know it’s probably nothing but- I saw Yasui heading to the men’s changing room with a wet towel. I think it must have been before he met up with Sasori.”

“Oh that.” Yasui shrugged off. “I saw the weather was clear and thought it would calm me down a bit to go for a quick jog outside given what happened last night. Thanks for helping us again guys. You really are the best class I could ask for. Well- except for the culprit of course. Anyways, a bit of snow melted and dripped on me, it was cold, and I wanted to take a warm shower as soon as I could.”

I looked at the class. I couldn't confirm nor deny what he said and it looked as though nobody else could either. Well, I knew that Seno could easily do so based on the time of the events but he didn’t seem to think that Yasui was lying.

“So what now?” Koike asked with just a hint of concern. I didn’t know why, but I figured out quickly when she continued. “If what I’ve heard is true- this is the last piece of the puzzle. We know how the murder was pulled off so we should know who did it right? Has anyone seen anyone else who might have used a towel that can’t explain it?”

Unfortunately, everyone either shook their head or gave some other sign that they didn’t know. Saeki spoke after looking around, but it wasn’t about the clue. “Perhaps there’s some other angle we haven’t looked at yet. Some way to clear up the remaining suspects perhaps? I cannot think of anything right now but I’m sure we can figure it out if we think about it.”

I did exactly that and it looked like others did too. I thought about everything related to the case that I knew. I knew that Yasui supposedly went out to calm himself. I couldn't confirm nor deny that. Then he met up with Sasori, eventually left to get a triple chocolate bar. At that time, Koike saw him, found out where they were, and took one for herself while we were eating. Meanwhile, Yasui met up with Sasori a minute before the murder which they knew because of a watch he was wearing. Seno was also outside and Machi was searching the mountain with her drones.

On the murder side of things, I knew that Koike’s shirt was stolen the night before the murder. After that, Naya took a knife from the kitchen but the killer obtained it and used to kill her on top of a lift. From there, the killer had her hung from the catwalk, drove the lift back at top speed, and placed everything else to frame Koike. Then the sprinklers turned on and the culprit used it to clean themselves before drying themselves off and pretending that nothing had happened. It was then that something clicked in my brain and my eyes widened.

Senji picked up on this because he gave me a weary, reassuring smile, and spoke. “Do you have any guesses Nishi? You look like you do and the rest of us don't seem to have any at the moment so we will accept any.”

I gulped and nodded. I had to choose one of my classmates if we were to live an I had a pretty solid guess. The knot was used in performances, the lift was described as Shiro as a budget lift, and my suspect was even caught in the shed incident. On the alibi side of things, everything kept coming back to Yasui. So I only had one thing to say.

“Yasui, did you do it?” I asked plainly and simply. It felt like poison to say it but I had to for my sake.

“Huh, now that you mention it, you’re the person who told me where to find the triple chocolate bars-” Koike butted in but trailed off. “I thought it was bad luck that I lost any potential alibi but it might have been by design if, and I mean if, you did it of course.”

“Do it? Do it? Do what?” Yasui didn’t even break a sweat as he laughed it off but I could tell he was just acting. For a split second I saw that he was caught off guard. “Nishi, I think it’s best if you leave the jokes to me. Even if you’re trying to lighten the mood, I don't like being accused. Besides, it’s not that funny and Sasori formally acquitted me so the punchline just isn’t there.”

“It wasn’t a joke.” I said as I shook my head. “Both you and Sasori claimed you were keeping track of time by a watch that you were wearing. Not only would that allow you to trick other people about what time it was but you’ve never even worn a watch until today.”

Yasui looked over to Sasori for defense but the latter only drew a sigh. I imagined it was because he wouldn’t want to rat out his classmate. “Sorry Yasui, but Nishi is correct if you recall. We were using your watch to keep track of time.”

“I can’t believe you Sasori.” Yasui growled but his brief irritation quickly changed to desperation as he addressed the class. “Well guys, won’t you at least hear me out? I couldn't have killed Naya. If I had, the blood would have soaked right through to my shirt. Shiro said about as much earlier. I’m sure you remember!”

“Not exactly.” I painfully added. “In the supply closet, I noticed a plastic wrapping with holes in it for your limbs, blood on one side, a ton of tape scraps along with the clothes hanger I mentioned earlier. I can show you a picture if you want but the point is the blood would not have soaked through. It could also explain shirt size difference because you could just strap it to the front with tape and put another piece of wrapping inside to make sure it doesn’t soak through.”

“Yasui, if that is all you have, you might as well give up and spare your dignity.” Eto said bitterly as she looked at him. “We’ve already figured that out when Nishi showed us the picture that she got from the supply closet earlier.”

Yasui was quick to reply to Eto. Too quick for his own good and his mood wasn’t improving either. “Why would I give up? If I give up we all die and the culprit walks free! Now, I do have other objections! tons of them! But you can’t just go accusing me if you can’t even answer my current objections!”

“She just answered you Yasui.” Seaki said rather blankly. “And you can calm down. You’re involvement with Koike, the watch you are still wearing, and towel Seno talked about all make you suspicious but we’re giving you a chance to defend yourself. In fact, anyone can step forward if they have a reason why you couldn’t have done it.”

“Well-uhm. How about that towel you talked about?” Yasui said as he started to perspire. “If what you are saying is true then I would have had to have taken it beforehand but I’m sure someone was there at the time to see that I didn’t take anything from there.”

“So, did anyone other than Seno go into the men’s changing room?” Machi asked. She frowned when Seno looked at her but she continued. “I know that there should have been four towels in the women’s changing room. I don’t know about the men’s but I imagine it’s the same there.”

Senji calmly shook his head. “While I believe you’re on the right track Machi and that that was worth bringing up to the group, I’m afraid that wouldn’t matter. Nishi and I checked the respective changing rooms. The men’s one has one extra towel and the women’s one is missing a towel so Naya likely grabbed one for the same reason that she grabbed the knife.”

“Oh, I get it. The killer took it from her for their own purposes but they couldn’t return it to the correct room because of Monokuma’s rules.” I said. I still wasn’t happy about Yasui’s predicament but I was happy to figure that out at least. “So Senji told everyone about the metal floor right?”

Senji gave me a nod of confirmation.

Yasui tried to make eye contact with most people in the group. “You guys really think I did it don’t you? Well I guess that’s what I should expect. I mean, we’ve jumped from accusation to accusation since this trial began. It doesn’t matter because I can prove I didn’t kill her. If any of you remember, I was under surveillance. Now you must realize that a murder like this would have required an immense amount of planning but neither of us would have been able to so much as invite the other to the greenhouse without somebody knowing.”

Yasui gave a fake smile as he looked at us and if he weren’t the Super High School Level Stage Performer it would have looked as desperate as it was. I opened my mouth to respond but Yasui beat me to it. In what I imagined was his desperation, he started to rapidly fire off excuses. “I could not have killed Hitomi!”

That was a lie and I knew it. I didn’t know how he could have lured her to the greenhouse and set everything up or found out about her plan. However, everything finally lined up and made sense. I was sure that there was an explanation and I just needed to figure out what it was.

Regardless, Yasui continued and he sounded more slightly more desperate than before. He was likely trying to emulate the response of an innocent person being accused and to be honest, I doubted such a response was that different than that of a guilty person. ”This is ridiculous.”

”Why do you want me dead?” Yasui continued. By now, he had raised his voice above what it had been before. “I thought we were beyond scapegoats. Sasori, you should know I’m innocent.”

“You’re all acting absurd. These are nothing but baseless allegations.” Yasui continued ”They’re no way I was in on a murder plot sense neither of us could have communicated with the other before the murder.”

That was when it came to me. Or, that was when two things came to me. The first was that Yasui did have an opportunity to lure Naya to the greenhouse. The second was that Naya did not have the same opportunity so she had to have been tricked. So before he could say anything else I cut in as quickly as I could. “What about the Manuscript?”

Yasui stopped and everyone was quiet. Even Yasui shut up for a moment before replying. “What does a manuscript have to do with Naya’s murder?”

I took it as a queue to continue. “You gave Naya one the night before the murder and Yakawa can confirm that. More importantly, you could have used it to tell her to come to your room so that you could trick her or even have left a note to trick her in the manuscript. And since Naya didn’t have the same opportunity, I can only assume that you planned the whole thing.”

Yakawa nodded in agreement to what I told the class. “Nishi is right about the manuscript and I even saw her recieve it. It only took a moment, but I didn’t get to see the inside of the thing so it could have had anything written inside from beforehand.”

Yasui didn’t say anything in protest. After all, what could he say?

“Well I’m never gonna follow any secret instructions after hearing this.” Sama commented rather unhelpfully. She still sounded sad but she was clearly trying to liven up the mood and I couldn’t blame her. Nobody looked happy to condemn Yasui. Shortly after that, she scratched her head. “So- well I’m kind of having trouble keeping up with the case. Would you mind explaining the whole thing over to me again?”

Senji shook his head. “I think the honor goes to Nishi. I’m afraid that I don’t quite have the entire case pieced together myself since I spent most of my time outside of the greenhouse. Nishi however, has been both places based on what she’s said so she might be able to explain it.”

I gulped as it dawned on me that I made a sizable of the contribution to the case. I wanted to protest, or maybe even lie and say that I didn’t know the details of the case, but I couldn’t afford to do that. Even though it might entice future killers to target me, this one could still get away with it if I messed up. End the end I forced myself to rationalize that making some contributions wasn’t the same as spearheading the trials or finding the culprit.

I took a deep breath and tried to remember. There were so many reasons why I didn’t want to but I did. As soon as it came to me, I spoke up. “It started as Seno said earlier, when Monokuma declared his motive. At the time we all thought it would be money that drove someone to murder. But in truth it was the weather report because it showed our culprit just how dangerous the lodge life was. To their credit, it didn’t drive them to murder yet. But Seno later found a key to the shed outside that would. He invited two others to join him in his investigation. Machi, and our culprit. And that was when everything was truly set in motion.”

I took another breath and continued. “That was when disaster struck. The entire shed caught fire. We don't know why but we think it was due to the lightning storm. Soon after, the shed caught ablaze forcing Seno, Machi, and our culprit to head outside to save what they could. But unfortunately, this only injured Machi. Yakawa also saw what was going on, headed outside, and even managed to pull the others away from the fire. Nobody was badly hurt but our culprit was already traumatized. They felt like they had no other choice, so after Yakawa’s checkups, they called for their victim. They called for Naya Hitomi and laid out whatever fake plan they had for her.”

I continued, honestly surprised that nobody had protested yet. “Naya went along with the plan like a puppet because she didn’t know what was in store for her. First, she took our laundry under the guise of helping Senji so that she could steal a pair of clothes from Koike. Then, she likely helped to gather all the necessary items along with a towel and kitchen knife the morning of the murder. All the while her own killer was tricking Koike. They set everything up but after that, our killer donned the wrapping and fastened on Koike’s clothes with tape. It wasn’t until then that they revealed their true nature.”

I continued. “Our killer stabbed Naya in the heart killing her very quickly. And for good measure, the killer stabbed her in the brain just to make sure Yakawa couldn’t somehow save her. Then, he set the final phase of his plan into action. Our killer put the blood stained clothes in the metal box, used the lift to lift Naya up to the catwalk, threw her over with the noose tied around her neck, and put everything back into place. However, they bumped the shed while moving the lift. This accident probably upset them, but that had more pressing concerns. Namely, they needed to do something about the blood. So they striped down and waited for the sprinkler to clear any evidence of their wrongdoing.”

I continued. “With anything that could implicate them gone, our killer put his clothes back on and sought to secure an alibi. They took the wet towel to their own changing room because they couldn't access the girl’s. During the time, they were spotted by Seno. Then they met up with Sasori Renzo to finalize their alibi. When the body was discovered, all our killer needed to do was act natural at accuse Koike like the rest of the group. And acting was something that our killer was very good at. Well I’m afraid that that killer had to be you Yasui Katai, Super High School level Stage performer!”

Yasui just stared dumbfounded. In fact, the entire class was silent until Senji finally cleared his throat and spoke up. “Monokuma, I believe we have come to a consensus. We are ready to vote.”

“Wait, not quite.” Yakawa said a little cautiously. “I know that we know who committed the murder and how they did it but there’s still something that I want cleared up. In case I haven’t told you all, somebody trashed the first aid station. I thought we’d figure out why by solving the case but we haven’t so I want to know who did it.”

At that, Tanabe nervously rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. “I’m- gonna have to confess to that actually. I- actually need to talk to you in private once the class trial is over. Is that okay with you Yakawa?”

“Yeah, you can meet me in my room after the trial.” Yakawa said in an irritated sigh before turning to face Monokuma. “Well, I hate to say it but I think that’s the last of our questions so we can vote unless anyone has anything else to say.”

“Are you sure?” Monokuma teased in response but he continued with the proceedings nonetheless. “Well in that case, all rise! If you look at the ballet screen, you will see the list of students! Tap the student you think did it to make your decision! Oh, and no matter what, you have to vote for somebody. It’s the rules.”

I looked down at my ballet screen again. It was just like before with the debate but this time there was a four by four grid with our pictures in them. They looked like perfectly normal pictures except for Naya’s which was now greyed out with a red X crossed over it. The timer was also still there and I for one did not want to see what would happen if it hit zero and I didn't vote.

Almost as a test, I tapped the one with Yasui’s face on it. The screen locked up after that. The picture expanded to the size of the four by four grid and turned yellow. Furthermore, there was nothing I could do after that but the countdown timer kept going so I supposed that I just voted.
I looked around and it appeared as though everyone else was doing the same. Seno gave me a brief scare when he took his time, but in the end he made a selection as well before the time ran out.

Monokuma just laughed at the end of it all. “Upupupu! I wonder who was voted as blackened? Did you make the right choice or an oh so dreadfully wrong one?”

Once more the monitor came down from above him and it seemed to take it’s sweet time doing so. When the screen came to life, it showed a vote tally with fifteen votes distributed among three separate candidates;

* Senji Kenazane: 0
* Saeki Masu: 0
* Sanda Iwane: 0
* Seno Sotatsu: 1
* Koike Juichi: 0
* Shiro Michihiro: 0
* Tanabe Kenzaburo: 0
* Yakawa Shoda: 0
* Nishi Toshiro: 0
* Yasui Katai: 13
* Sama Koetsu: 0
* Machi Satu: 1
* Naya Hitomi: 0
* Sasori Renzo: 0
* Eto Uzuki: 0
* Wakuni Shoda: 0

I just looked up and frowned knowing full well that two of those votes were out of pure spite. If I had to guess, Koike voted for Seno because her tormented her ever since the body discovery announcement played. But I couldn’t figure out for the life of me who voted for Machi because everyone had a reason to hate her. What made it worse was that It appeared as though the culprit even voted for himself because he would have voted for Koike, Sasori, Senji, or myself if it were out of spite.

The list stayed on their for a few minutes, but it quickly changed to a digital screen showing a roulette wheel with eighteen different spots. Sixteen of those eighteen spots had a picture of each of our faces on the end, the seventeenth had Monokuma’s face and coincidentally had a black and white ball on it, and the last one had a question mark on it. Possibly to denote the mastermind behind all of this. Finally, there was an unlit neon ‘guilty’ sign in the middle.

Suddenly, everything except the center spun rapidly and the ball was dislodged from Monokuma’s section. As the wheel begun to slow, I held my breath hoping that I hadn’t somehow made some fatal error and gotten us all killed. It came to a stop and landed in Yasui Katai’s section. With that, the neon sign lit up and confetti began to fill the screen until the whole thing was covered and it slowly faded to black. Finally, the monitor retracted.

“Correct!” Monokuma said as he popped up seemingly from out of nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed he left his chair. “Yasui Katai is in fact Naya Hitomi’s killer!”

“Well that just happened.” Koike said blankly. Evidently trying to recover from the shock of the cheerful casino wheel that stood in stark contrast to our current situation.

“Darn right it happened! I spent a good twenty minutes on the success and failure animation!” Monokuma declared. “I had to make both cause it pays to be prepared.”

Sama looked up at where the retracted screen used to be. “So, what does the failure animation look like?”

“You’ll have to find out next time four-eyes.” Monokuma nonchalantly replied and waved her away as though she was an annoying insect.

“Never mind that-” I cut in before anyone else could reply and looked over at Katai. He was taking deep breaths to either prepare for what was to come or stop himself from lashing out at one of us. I remembered that he was rather aggressive the first time he met Monokuma in fact.

Fortunately, he just protested. “You weren’t supposed to show up at the crime scene Koike. You messed up the entire order of events.” He took a few more breaths before turning to the group. “How the heck did you even figure it out anyways?!”

“I think everyone was just in the right place at the right time.” Senji said. He didn’t sound too convincing to me but it was enough to make Yasui nod.

“This just isn’t fair. First we’re trapped here, then Monokuma blackmails us into murdering each other, and now that I’m going to die to overstuffed animatronic.” Yasui grumbled. “I want it noted that I never wanted to hurt Naya. Nishi was right about that. That’s why I tried to make it quick.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong but you still killed Naya didn’t you?” Shiro chimed in. “You knew the rules and you tried to have us all killed. How is this in any way more unfair to you than the rest of us?”

For a brief moment, Yasui glared at Shiro as though he could strangle her, but he held himself back and just clenched his fists. “It’s unfair because I didn’t want to kill Naya! Monokuma forced me to do it by putting us in this situation! The three of us could have burned to death. And while I knew we were going to be alright when Yakawa saved Machi, I knew it would happen to the main lodge eventually with all the weather problems. Believe me I didn’t want to kill her, but- but I felt that I had no choice.”

“You should have come to me.” Sasori said calmly but sadly as he looked down at the floor. “I would have assured you of just how unlikely that it is for that to have happened. Which by the way, is absurdly unlikely.”

“I found something in the shed too.” Saeki added before pulling out her ElectroID to show us a picture of the smoldering remains of the shed. “I overlooked something earlier, but I can assure you that Seno is right. There isn’t anything useful to aid us in our escape.”

There really wasn’t too much to see. The cherry red walls were tainted black and almost completely burnt down with only a few pieces of the base remaining, several pieces of the roof sagged down towards the center, and the once wood floor was almost nothing but some soot that wasn’t covered by snow with only a few boards to give us the idea of what it once was. What really caught my eye though was the remains of a burnt storage row on one side with it’s contents spilled out and burned beyond use. Most of which were weapons. On the other side, there was but the base of a chair and half of a mainframe to show us that it housed something. Obviously, any information from said mainframe was irretrievable now. Finally, there was a receiver, crushed under part of a fallen ceiling board.

“I didn’t have a chance to talk about it with you or Seno, but i’m sure he found it too. I didn’t realize the implications of the receiver which you can find in the corner there until late into the murder investigation, but I noticed it was connected to something and I think you were intentionally spooked by whoever’s behind this. I’m- sorry I failed to figure it out before it was too late.” Saeki said putting her ElectroID back where it belonged.

“What?!” Yasui exclaimed as he took a step towards her. He raised his arm as though he were going to break something but stopped himself and shook his head. About that time, his noticed Monokuma again and looked back at us. “Listen, I’m probably going to die soon unless I can stop Monokuma so in case I can’t, everything happened as Nishi said. I used the manuscript I gave Naya to sneak a note to her telling her to come to my room. After that, I convinced her that I had a plan to fake my death so that we could uncover the mastermind. Only I turned the tables and killed her once she did what I said.”

Sanda perked up at that. “Does that mean her death was faked? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to catch the mastermind but if you guys get to live-”

Yasui just simply shook his head and Yakawa interrupted. Both confirming that she really was dead “I’m not a coroner but I know a dead body when I see one. Those stab wounds and spinal fracture were very real. I’m afraid she’s dead beyond any doubt.”

“Yeah, I killed her for real. That isn’t the point. The point to what I’m saying is, Naya is only guilty of trying to save you all. So don’t you dare tarnish her memory!” Yasui asserted aggressively enough to make me and several others take a few steps back. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. “Perhaps this recorder will explain everything.”

The thing that Yasui pulled out of his pocket turned out to be a recorder just like he said and Senji walked up to collect it. It was a good thing too because not many people were willing to get that close to Yasui after he was confirmed to have killed Naya. I didn’t get a very good look at it, but I knew that it had to be the same recorder that Naya had stolen from me. Additionally, I noticed that it had blood splattered on it and I didn't even know whether or not it was still functional.

“I- tried to make it quick for her but even so- I regret what I did. And not just because I got caught.” Yasui chimed in. As Senji took the recorder, Yasui’s eyes watered a little. “None of this is any fair.”

I was going to reply. To say something reassuring if I could. But Monokuma popped up between us before I could say anything and spoke. “If I may interrupt, it’s time! Well it’s time even if you won’t let me interrupt. I’ve prepared an extra special punishment for Yasui Katai, Super High School level Stage Performer!-”

“Monokuma. You started this. You have no right to kill me.” Yasui said in a low, seething, and quite frankly, chilling, tone as he approached the bear. He brought his right leg up and tried to kick Monokuma as if he were a soccer ball but the headmaster dodged to the left fast enough to avoid him.

“It’s time to give it all we’ve got! It’s Punishment Time!!!” Monokuma gleefully exclaimed. And then, it all went down.

Stage Fright

We all watched in horror as we saw Yasui breathe his last. Now I stood stunned by the sight of Yasui’s dead body on the screen. It sent a shiver down my spine but i couldn’t look away. Apparently when Monokuma said ‘special punishment’, he meant he was going to torture us to death in manners reminiscent to our talents. That was something that I would definitely have to keep in mind before I considered breaking any rules to say the least.

Finally, I looked away and it was then that I realized that I was one of the first. Among the few that recovered before I did were Yakawa, who still frowned in what I guess was disgust but didn’t seem all that shaken up, and Sasori who was just being Sasori. In other words, upset but piecing everything together through logic.

I walked over to Yakawa but Sanda spoke to him before he could say anything. I think he was telling a joke but his tone didn’t sound jokeful whatsoever. “I have a feeling you can’t save him can you?”

“According to several scientific theories I might have but in practice that kind of technology doesn’t even exist.” Yakawa said sounding as though he was trying to be unphased by Sanda’s comment.

“Besides, I would just have to punish the culprit again until they were dead for good!” Monokuma popped out of nowhere once. “Punishments are a sacred rite practiced at the end of each class trial. I won’t have anyone to interfere. So if you keep bringing them back somehow, I’ll just punish them harder until they stay dead. Also, I won’t be held responsible for any injuries you recieve from intervening.”

Yakawa just stared at Monokuma for a second with a blank, unamused glare. He stepped forward and for a second, I thought he was going to try something foolish. But in the end it was just to look over at his brother who looked back in pity, sigh, and shake his head.

“Why are you here anyways?” Machi cut in brazenly though she did stop to look around to see how many people were judging her. “You already got two of us killed and divided up the group. It’s been a long day and we want to be left alone.”

“Alright fine! You really are a killjoy.” Monokuma said as he crossed his arms. “I just came to tell you that the elevator is ready whenever you guys want to leave. That is, unless you want to stay and help take down the decor.”

Unsurprisingly, everyone objected in some form or fashion to sticking around in the room where they just saw one of their classmates get dragged off to his death.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Monokuma said as he turned around and started to leave. “See you around, ingrates. The elevator is unlocked so it’ll take you back to the rest of the lodge once you’re all inside.”

“Wait!” Sasori yelled at Monokuma as he was just about to make his way to the other side of the room and disappear again. The headmaster stopped. “You know you didn’t have to do any of that. You didn’t have to toy with Yasui. You didn’t even have to kill him. And you certainly didn’t need to turn it into a spectacle. What you did was just cruel and unnecessary.”

“Really?” Monokuma said as he turned around. “I thought at least one of you would have something exciting to say instead of the ‘oh that’s cruel routine’. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for everything but I expected more.”

With that, Monokuma turned around and disappeared behind what looked like portion of the wall. I wish I could say he would never be seen again, but I somehow doubted I would get that lucky. Seno might, but not me. It was then that my attention turned towards the group and most of them were heading for the exit save for Sasori, Koike, Senji, and Eto.

Saeki just tugged at Sasori’s arm and at least tried to give him a resolution to his summation. “Come up Sasori. It’s not the answer you want but he gets off of our despair. He just wants to see us suffer because whoever’s controlling him is a sadist. We’ll put a stop to it for the sake of Yasui and Naya. I promise that on my family name.”

It didn’t look as though it was enough to satisfy him but he shrugged and turned around to follow Saeki and the rest of the group towards the elevator. That was when I looked over at Koike who was trailing the group with Eto and Senji. They were headed to the elevator but Koike seemed to be lost in another world and God only knew what was going through her mind right now. I joined up with the three and Koike looked up at that.

“Listen- uhm- thank you for helping me Nishi.” She looked at Senji to her left and Eto to her right. “And thank you both for trying to cheer me up. Listen. I can make it to my room on my own. You don’t need to worry about that.”

Senji held the court room door open for us and politely tried to change her mind. “We’ll see what you decide when we get up there. Besides, I think I should talk to you. I know it’s not my place to tell you what to do but I firmly believe you will benefit from what I have to say.”

Koike nodded. I forced a fake weary smile and lied once more. “Don’t worry, I have a feeling this will be the last murder. We’ll all get out of here and nobody else will die. We just need to leave this room and put this event behind us.”

Even as I spoke, we stepped into the elevator and faced the ten remaining students waiting for us. Without a word, the doors shut behind us and the elevator began it’s ascent. The last thing on my mind before the elevator picked up speed was the lie I told Koike. I thought about it ruefully to myself.

*(If only it were that easy.)*

## Trivia

* Originally, Nishi a very minor character who got executed in this chapter. Whether it was wrongful or not wasn’t ever set in stone.

**Oops! I almost read a spoiler!   *Plot and/or ending details follow.***

* Coincidentally, the creator came up with the idea and dropped it before V3 came out.

 ***Spoilers end here.***

* Yasui was telling the truth that he didn’t plan for Koike to go up to the catwalk. If she hadn’t, it would have been outright impossible for her allies to prove her innocence.
* Over the course of his plan, Yasui manipulated no less than four people; Naya, Koike, Sasori, and Seno. Of these, Seno is the only person who does not appear to be part of his original plan.