I've been a huge Danganronpa binge and I fell so hard for Ishimondo! And since Kodaka has gone on record saying that he could see them getting together had they survived, I want to make that happen!

So enjoy my fantasy come true!

Makoto wouldn't be surprised to learn that everything that was happening around him was nothing more than a long horrifying nightmare. In fact, right now, he'd greatly welcome such a revelation. He'd been gifted with a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the most prestigious school in the country only to end up being forced to participate were the only means of escape was to get away with murder. He didn't want to believe that any of the other students he was trapped with would actually go so far to kill someone, he knew he would never stoop to such a level, but the events that transpired not even a week ago proved him wrong. Sayaka, Junko, Leon- they were now gone. One became a victim, one convicted of murder, and one for defying the rules. Regardless, they all had one thing in common: they were all terrified and desperately fighting to survive. Makoto couldn't bring himself to blame them for their actions, he knew that if he were to be pushed to the brink, he likely would have fought back as they did. Makoto hoped that after their first trial, no one would want to try anything and focus on finding a different means of escape.

But that hope was dashed when Monokuma showed up in his room to wake him and revealed that something horrible had happened to one of his friends.
His mind had been racing ever since he was given that chilling announcement. He knew his other classmates have been on edge after Monokuma announced the next motive to be the reveal of their deepest darkest secrets. He didn't want to believe that someone here truly had a secret so intense that they would kill someone just to protect it. He wanted nothing more for this to be just a joke. For this to be a manipulative tactic on Monokuma's part to make them paranoid and push them to murder.

There was no sign of anything occurring on the first floor, and the others have already decided to move up to the recently opened second floor, so he headed up as well, wanting to put an end to this uneasy mystery they were plunged in, ready to reveal that this was nothing more than a lie.

He barely took a single step away from the stairs when his ears were assaulted by a loud piercing scream, one that nearly made him jump out of his skin.
'That scream- that was Taka!' Following the sound, he glanced to his left, to the door leading to the pool, 'It sounded like it came from there!'
He wasted no time sprinting towards the door, feeling his heart thudding against his ribcage. Each step felt heavy and oppressing like he was walking directly into a deadly trap and his body was screaming at him to turn around. But his heart edged him forward, wanting to know what the source of the scream was and praying it wasn't from what he dreaded it to be. Taking a deep breath, he threw open the doors.

He froze, time around him seemed to come to a screeching halt. His eyes instantly locked onto the small sad form that lied lifelessly on the floor. In front of the door to the boys locker room, surrounded in a pool of her own blood and laying on her side, was Chihiro Fujisaki.

It took him a few seconds to accept that what he was seeing was real, but as soon as his mind registered this scene as fact, he couldn't stop the scream that escaped from his mouth as he fell backward, his eyes unable to look away from her body. He wasn't even given a moment to process it before a loud chime echoed throughout the room. The monitor in the room turned on and Monokuma appeared on the screen.

"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"

He was gone just as quickly as he showed up. Makoto felt his brain wrapped in layer upon layer of confusion from everything that happened within the last minute.

"T-The body discovery announcement..."

Makoto managed to draw his focus away from Chihiro's body to take in his surroundings, noticing that Mondo and Kiyotaka were in the room, both boys held the same look of frightened terror as he did.

"W-What do you mean? What the hell was that?!"

"Yeah, forgot you were knocked out the first time," Mondo spoke, not taking his eyes off Chihiro, "When three or more people find a body, that damn announcement plays."

"S-S-So, t-then it true?" Kiyotaka's voice trembled, his large red eyes watering, "I-I have to tell the others!" He quickly turned on his heel and ran out of the room.

Makoto slowly stood up, looking over to Mondo. He could see the rising flames of rage in his lavender eyes. A deep growl erupted from his throat, "GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!" In the blink of an eye, he punched the wall next to him, enough force behind it to leave a noticeable dent and cracks and cause his knuckles to bleed.

Makoto wanted to say something to calm him down, but he knew anything he could say would only fan the flames. Instead, he looked back to Chihiro, taking a tentative step towards her. He could feel the corners of his eyes well up, threatening to let the tears fall.

'Why? Why would anyone do this to Chihiro? She was so sweet, so innocent; she wanted nothing more than to help and never said or did anything to make someone despise her. So... why?' He stood just out of reach of the puddle of blood, silently contemplating who could have done something so twisted. Within a few minutes, everyone had gathered in the room.

"Damn," Sakura growled, the air around her turning tense, "I couldn't protect her."

"It's really happening again..." Kiyotaka spoke, his eyes watering profusely.

"N-No... Chihiro..." Aoi whimpered out.

"This must be a dream! I'm just dreaming! None of this is real! In fact, I haven't even been born yet! All of this is just a figment of my imagination!" Hifumi screamed in shrill panic.

"Shut up," Celeste said coldly, turning to examine the scene, "So, we're once more in the same predicament."

"Of course," Byakuya said, smiling smugly, "It seems as though someone has finally decided to take action. Now, this life-or-death game can continue. About time, too. I was starting to get bored."

"You're fuckin' bored?" Mondo's voice was deep and laced with fury as he grabbed Byakuya by the collar of his white shirt, his free bloody fist clenching, "Chihiro's fucking dead and your smart ass is complaining about being fucking bored?! Quit acting like this shit is no big fuckin' deal!"

"Bro, wait!" Kiyotaka ran up and grabbed Mondo's arm.

"I understand that you're angry, but now is not the time for this," Kyoko's straightforward tone cut through the growing tension like a knife, "The only thing we need to concern ourselves with right now is finding the one responsible for this. Rather than wasting your anger on him, use it instead to reveal the truth."
Her words seemed to get through to him as he reluctantly let go. Byakuya only frowned at him, straightening out the creases now left on his clothing.

"So... it actually happened..." Makoto spoke, "Someone really killed her... for the sake of protecting their secret."

"That's the only reasoning I can think of right now," Kyoko spoke, already seeming to be piecing together the events in her head, "And it would make sense why they would choose Chihiro. They likely wanted a quick and easy target, to avoid any chance of failing and being revealed for their actions."

Makoto didn't want to believe that someone would really go so far just to keep a secret, to purposely plan to take an innocent life, but he found his voice unwilling to express those doubts.

"W-W-What's going o-on?" The group turned around and looked at the entrance as Toko entered the room. Her eyes took a quick glance at Chihiro before she shrieked and turned away, "W-Wha-! I-Is it happening a-again?!"

"It is," Celeste spoke without an ounce of hesitation, "Chihiro has been killed."

"So, we really gotta do this again?" Yasuhiro spoke, "Search for clues and have a trial and stuff?"

"Either that or we surrender and let the killer walk out free as we all die," Byakuya responded coldly, "If you'd like to choose the latter option, be my guest."

"There's no way we can just give up!" Makoto spoke up, finding strength in his voice again, "Someone murdered Chihiro, and in such a horrible way- No way are we letting someone like that get away with it! If they were willing to kill her, then all of us might be in serious danger too!"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," A cheerful voice interrupted as Monokuma suddenly appeared in the room.

"Wha-"

"You know, some people say that despair brings nothing but problems, that it can't achieve anything worthwhile. But look at you all! The despair of losing your precious little Chihiro is bringing you all together, determined and ready to fight for the truth! Isn't this just despair worth dying for?"

"Don't twist this shit to make it seem like a good thing!" Mondo yelled, Kiyotaka's grip on his arm being the only thing keeping him from attacking the bear.

"Guess the feeling of camaraderie hasn't sunken in yet. Oh well. What can you do?"

"Don't just change the subject!" Aoi said, "What were you talking about before, how we didn't have to worry?"

"Oh right. You don't need to concern yourself over our killer going on a killing spree. A blackened can only murder a maximum of two people."

"I don't remember that rule," Hifumi said.

"That's because I just made it up," The sound of multiple pings indicated that each of their e-Handbooks had been updated to include this new rule, "If I didn't have this established, any one of you could easily murder your entire class and walk free in no time. It'd be boring to have your school life be brought to such an abrupt end so soon."

"Regardless, you didn't come here just to wax poetic at us. I imagine that there's something you wish to give us."

"Always straight to the point, aren't ya, Kyoko? Well, then I best not keep you waiting!" Out of nowhere, Monokuma pulled out and handed each of them a black file they instantly recognized, "Presenting the Monokuma File! All updated for our new murder! The trial shall begin soon, so be sure to search very thoroughly. You mess up and it's your life!" With that, he was gone just as quickly as he appeared.

'It really is happening again. Once more, we have to investigate and determine which of us is a murderer. I wish we didn't have to do any of this, but... our lives are on the line. We don't really have much of a choice.'

"We'd best get started right away," Kyoko spoke up, already taking the leadership role once more, "Sakura, Mondo, I suppose you two won't mind guarding the crime scene once more?"

The martial artist shook her head, "Not at all."

"No way in hell am I lettin' anyone fuck this up!"

"Then it's decided."

Makoto, Kyoko, Sakura, Mondo, and Kiyotaka stayed in the room as the others left to begin the investigation. Makoto managed to stuff his sorrow and grief down, summoning forth the courage he needed to get started. 'First things first, I need to check the Monokuma File.' He opened the file and started reading:

"The victim is Chihiro Fujisaki. The body was found in front of the door to the boys locker room, on the second floor of the school. The cause of death was multiple stab wounds throughout the torso, causing severe laceration and bleeding. The time of death was 12:40 am."

'Another murder late at night. Might be difficult to pinpoint an alibi for everyone. And the cause of death was stabbing, but...' He swallowed down his fear and walked over to Chihiro's lifeless body. Examining it real quick, he noticed something. 'But I don't see any weapon near her. Could the killer have hidden it to dispose of evidence?'

Kyoko kneeled down, not minding that she was standing in blood, and began examing the wounds that littered Chihiro's chest. Makoto could count about 8 stab wounds, one of which seemed to pierce from her front to her back. He felt his stomach rile at the sight. Chihiro's eyes were closed, but there was a look of looming terror and pain etched onto her face. He didn't think he could ever forgive the person responsible for this.

"Hmm. Interesting."

"Huh? What is it, Kyoko?" Taka asked.

"Comparing Chihiro's wounds to Sayaka's, it seems unlikely that a knife was used to kill her. The wounds are much smaller and thinner, something that should not be possible if a knife was used, especially since the wounds seem rather deep. And then there's this," She gently and carefully turned over Chihiro's body to lay her on her back, "Even though all her wounds are deep stabs, it doesn't explain this." Makoto kneeled down next to her, doing his best to avoid touching the blood more than necessary, and looked at where she was pointing. On Chihiro's upper right arm, there was a small tear on the sleeve and a short thin cut was visible beneath.

"This is weird," Makoto mused, "Why is there a cut here of all places?"

"I can't say why at the moment. I'll have to examine more to be sure. You're free to help me if you wish."

"A-Ah, it's OK. You seem to know what you're doing. Besides, I gotta look around for clues."

Kyoko smirked as he stood up before going back to examining Chihiro's body. The strange girl was wrapped in several veils of mystery, one that Makoto hasn't come remotely close to unwrapping. In any other situation, he would most likely distance himself away from her. But in such a dire situation like this, she has been nothing but a valuable and trustworthy ally. He likely would be dead right now if not for her.

Focusing back on the task, he saw Kiyotaka pick up an e-Handbook off the ground, "Is that Chihiro's?"

"It is," He confirmed after turning it on.

Makoto noticed how carefully he was holding the e-Handbook and saw the splash of blood on one side of the back, "How did the blood end up on it? It doesn't look like it simply fell into the blood."

"I didn't think so either. But I did make an interesting discovery! Take a look!" He showed him the e-Handbook, the bloodstain laid bare, and he noticed the break in the stain that seemed to resemble the shape of fingers, "You see it too? How it resembles the shape of a hand? I assert that Chihiro must have been holding her e-Handbook when she was attacked and dropped it!"

'That does make sense. The killer must have snuck up behind her and attacked her before she even noticed.'

During his thinking, he caught sight of something. He looked back at it and saw a duffel bag and what seemed to be a blue tracksuit on the floor near Mondo. "Whose is that?"

"Musta been Chihiro's. We found it in the hall."

"Huh? In the hallway?"

"It was in the hall leading up to hear. When we found it, we figured some weird shit was going down here."

'But, that's really strange. Why would a bag Chihiro had been outside in the hall and not with her? The killer removed the murder weapon from the scene, but why would they leave the bag behind?' He looked back to Kyoko, who was still studying Chihiro's body with a look of intrigue,'Chihiro must have come here to work out and was attacked before she could start. But, if that's the case, why is she in front of the boys locker room? Shouldn't she be in front of the girls? There's not even a drop of blood over there.' He looked to the door of the boys locker room,'Could some clue to the killer be in there?'

He entered the locker room, noting that the door was unlocked most likely for the investigation, and looked around, searching for even the smallest thing that seemed off. At first, it seemed like the room was left completely untouched, but that's when his eyes locked onto the one thing that was different than what he remembered: the punching bag had blood on it. There were small splats of blood on one side that seemed to take the shape of several small ovals.

'How did these get here?'

He couldn't think of any reason for this to be here, but he knew someone who might. He left the locker room and walked up to Sakura, who was maintaining a diligent watch over the crime scene, "Sakura, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"I found some blood on the punching bag in the boys locker room. Do you know if any of the guys went in there yesterday?"

She shook her head, "Hina and I were training together until roughly midnight, and I don't recall hearing the other door open."

"So no one went in there. But how did that blood get there?"

"I can't say for certain. It might be best to ask the other guys if they went into the locker room yesterday and used the punching bag."

"I'll try."'Still, I don't remember seeing any of the guys other than Mondo here yesterday, and I don't see any injuries on him that could suggest that blood is his.'

"The only other notable thing I can report is that I saw Toko standing outside the library when we left. My guess is that she was waiting for Byakuya to leave."

"I see. Thanks." 'It's not that strange for her to be there if Byakuya was there as well. Was he really in the library that late?'

"Hmm... I see."

Kyoko's voice interrupted the silence.

"What is it, Kyoko?" Kiyotaka asked.

"Take a look at this," She waited for Makoto, Mondo, and Kiyotaka to kneel down around Chihiro as she held the programmer's hands in one of hers, "At first, I thought the blood on them was a result of her other injuries, but I see I was wrong," She used her thumb to wipe off the blood. revealing the back of Chihiro's hands to be red, swollen and covered in scrapes.

"Her hands are injured too!"

"But how did these even get here?" Kiyotaka asked.

"I'll need to investigate this more as well to be certain, but I can already tell these couldn't have come from whatever weapon was used to kill her. There would be no point to it anyway."

Mondo groaned in frustration, "This shit is way too confusing. The hell happened to this dude?"

"Hopefully we can find that out," Makoto stood back up and left the room, deciding it would be best to find out if any of the guys came to the locker room. Asking each of them would take to long and it could run the risk of him inducing panic that would keep them from telling him the truth, so he decided that it would be easier and faster if he just looked at their hands and see if any of them had any injuries. Mondo and Kiyotaka were already ruled out so that just left Yasuhiro, Hifumi, and Byakuya. Just as he was about to head out, he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. On the left wall leading to the pool room were small barely visible specks of blood.

'Blood here too?! What is going on?!'

Deciding it was best to save this for later, Makoto went to look for the other guys. Before finding any of the guys, he found Celeste standing outside the warehouse looking deep in thought.

"Celeste, did you find something?"

"Ah, Makoto. No, I was merely checking to see if Chihiro's duffel was brought back here. I noticed the murder weapon was not at the scene, so I wanted to see if the rest of the evidence had been disposed of."

"No, Mondo and Taka found it in the h-" He stopped himself once he realized what she said, "Wait, you know about Chihiro's duffel bag?!"

She nodded, "Since you seem to be working rather hard, I'll tell you this; I ran into Chihiro in the warehouse last night, just before Monokuma called us to the gym. She was stuffing a track jacket into a duffel bag. When I asked her what she was planning to do, she said it was something important and she needed to hurry."

"That does match up with everything we've found so far, though there are still some things that are unclear. Thanks, Celeste."

She gave her usual laugh, "Good luck on your search, Makoto."

He continued his search and soon found both Hifumi and Yasuhiro on the first floor, neither of them had any injuries on their hands. When he ran into Yasuhiro, the clairvoyant stopped him.

"Yo, Makoto, I found something kinda weird. Figured I should tell you."

"What is it?"

"See, you remember that mailbox next to the hatch? Found out yesterday that it had Sayaka, Junko and Leon's e-Handbooks. I went to check it a while ago, but Leon's wasn't there."

"It wasn't?"

"Nah. I looked around most of this floor and I can't find it. No one's seen it either. I'll keep looking in case I do."

"Alright. Tell me if you find."

"You got it," With a wave, he left.

'This is definitely weird. Why would Leon's e-Handbook suddenly go missing? If someone did take it, then why? Chihiro was the one who was killed, so there would be no point. Did someone take it and put that blood on the punching bag to pin the blame on someone else?'

During his search for Byakuya, Aoi called him and ran up to him.

"Something wrong, Hina?"

"Yeah, something really weird. After I read the Monokuma File, I checked to see if any of the knives in the dining hall had been taken, but they were all still there."

"Well, according to Kyoko, it's unlikely that a knife was used to kill Chihiro. Even if one was used, there would be no time for the killer to grab one or clean it off."

"Yeah, you're right. The dining hall doors were locked and I made it there first this morning and no one went into the kitchen," She scratched her check in thought, "I'm gonna look around more to see if I find anything. I'll let you know if I find anything, 'kay?"

"Sure. I'll be counting on you."

She turned and was about to leave, but quickly looked back, "Oh, by the way, do you think you can talk to Toko? She's been acting really weird and I'm kinda worried about her. She's near the red doors."

"I'll see what I can do."

Aoi ran off and Makoto went to the doors that lead to the trial room. Sure enough, he found Toko standing there looking impatient and antsy.

"W-W-What do y-you want?"

He took a nervous step back at the venom that seemed to seep in her words, "I... just wanted to see how you were doing. Hina said she was worried about you."

"So y-you only came to s-s-see me because the i-idiot swimmer t-t-told you? W-Why are you e-even b-b-bothering wasting time with m-me?!"

"I-I'm not doing just because of that!"

"W-Whatever. Just g-go finish your l-little investigation," She grasped tightly onto her head and groaned loudly, "This whole t-thing is so s-stressful! I a-already feel l-like I'm going c-c-crazy! I'm i-in one p-place last night and the n-next thing I k-know, I'm in m-my room..." Her last sentence was under her breath and likely said to herself.

Figuring it was best he leave her be, Makoto went back upstairs to look for Byakuya. He finally managed to find him as the affluent progeny walked out of the library.

"Hey, Byakuya!"

"What do you want?"

His sharp cold tone caused Makoto to momentarily tense up, "Ah... um-"

"If you have nothing of importance to say, don't bother wasting my time."

Makoto gulped and managed to find his words, "What were you doing in the library?"

"I wanted to get confirmation for a theory regarding our killer, and this was the only place that would be beneficial to me. I believe I now have a clear picture."

"W-Wait! You mean you know who the killer is?! Who was it?"

"And why should I just tell you?"

"B-Because we all have to work together! If we don't find the killer, we'll all-"

"So you need to rely on others just to save your own skin?" He cut him off, his cold blue eyes burning holes into him, "You somehow managed to piece together Sayaka's crime, so surely you can do the same here. Or is that too much for someone as worthless as you?"

"That's not-"

"If you have the competence to survive this long, then you can continue to rely on that luck of yours. Perhaps if you find yourself on the verge of death, I might consider throwing you a lifeline," With one last cynical smile, Byakuya walked past him.

Makoto's mind wandered as he tried to piece his confidence back together, something that was becoming common anytime he spoke to the taller teenager. Byakuya seemed to have some damning evidence pointing to the killer and Makoto noted that there were no injuries on his hands either, though he suspected Byakuya the least due to him spending all his time in the library. He hadn't even gotten the chance to ask if he saw anything suspicious after leaving the library last night.

'Still, what exactly did he manage to find? Could it really reveal who the killer is? I could check the library, but I don't have the faintest clue what to look for.' He briefly considered checking just to be sure, but he was stopped by a familiar chime as Monokuma appeared on the monitors in the hall.

"Erm, so ah... I'm getting tired of waiting. Shall we just plunge right in? It's the moment you've all been waiting for... the class trial! You remember where to meet, right? Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school! Puhuhu. See you soon!"

The monitors turned off. Even though there was still a lot of factors he didn't fully understand, Makoto knew what he had to do next. Like it or not, it was now time to discover the truth. He quickly arrived in front of the ominous red doors and went inside. Everyone else was already there.

Monokuma appeared in the room, "Look's like everyone is all ready to go! You all feeling that sense of camaraderie yet?"

"Let's hurry up and get this shit over with!"

"Ohh! That's quite the fire you have there, Mr. Owada! So much passion and fury to discover the truth and avenge your little friend! I'm practically trembling under your intense aura!" Monokuma started shaking to punctuate his words.

"What the fuck else were you expecting?!"

"No need to worry, bro! We shall see to it that Chihiro's murderer will be revealed! Justice shall prevail!"

"Well, don't let me stand in your way. Head down to the trial grounds when you're all ready!" In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

There was a suffocating silence as everyone boarded the elevator, one that lingered as they slowly descended. Makoto took this time to reflect on everything he had learned during the investigation.

With every new piece of evidence that was found, the crime became more and more confusing. He was trying to piece things together in his mind, but nothing was coming together into a coherent picture. What was used to kill Chihiro, why her body was in front of the boys locker room, where the blood on the punching bag and hallway wall came from, why her duffel bag had been left in the hall, Leon's e-Handbook suddenly disappearing; all these were factors that he was hoping to find the solution for. Not just for his own sake, but for the sake of everyone else. The truth to the murder of Chihiro Fujisaki had to be brought to light.

Only through their deadly class trial.

With that, the investigation is finished. As you see, I had to rewrite this entire chapter to suit my narrative goal, so it's up to you to try to figure out how the trial will go and who will be revealed to be Chihiro's killer.

Now then, I'd best get to work on the trial!

Oh, don't forget that you can support me on to see more of my work. I appreciate even the smallest donation since it shows you care!

yourladystar