A/N: Been a while since I posted a chapter for this; I had a bit of trouble thinking of how I should write this, plus I had a case of the lazy. I had to look up a couple videos of the game to make sure I was handling the case format correctly as well. Do you guys think you can find out who the culprit is? Enjoy and leave reviews!

3rd Trial

Naegi stood, frozen, looking at the body before them. The body was hanging by a rope, tied to the ceiling. Murder is something Naegi will never be able to get used to. First was the murder of Maizono, then the murder of Fujisaki, and now he bears witness to the potential murder of Ishimaru.

"Oh no...not again. We have to tell the others," Naegi said, heading back towards the hall.

"We just heard," Byakuya said with everyone else making their way into the room to see the dead body.

"I-Ishimaru-kun!" Asahina screamed.

"Master Ishimaru!" Yamada cried out.

"Hm...he's hanging from a rope. Given the circumstances that he also lost his mind since the second trial, it's not unreasonable that he would be driven to suicide," Byakuya said, adjusting his glasses.

"Don't be so sure, Byakuya-kun," Kirigiri said. "We haven't even started the investigation yet," she said as she stepped forward and begun examining the body. "Hm...he doesn't have anything in his pockets, and he doesn't seem to be injured anywhere...wait," she said, opening up his left palm, revealing a large, bloody gash. "Hm...this could be a sign of struggle, but it's just a scratch. This alone wouldn't be enough to kill him."

"Of course not, dummies!" screamed a voice, and they turn to see Monokuma standing in the doorway.

"You...you had something to do with this, didn't you?" Kirigiri said, leering at him.

"Ah? You think I had something to do with this? Oh, that's so silly I can bearly stand it! Ha!" he laughed, amused with his own terrible pun. "I told you all the very first day: I don't participate in any of the murders. It's just that...sometimes...you kids need a little push to get the ball rolling.

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, don't worry about it. I didn't even say anything, at least not in this case. Anyways, you'll all want this file case, I'm sure," he said, handing the file over to Kirigiri, who took it and promptly opened it up.

"Wait, before you go, I want to know," Naegi said. "What was the deal with your lack of wakeup announcement this morning? Most of us were late for our morning meeting."

"You really want to know, don't you?" he said with that devilish grin of his. "Well, it's a secret for now. All I'll say was that it was important stuff that required my attention. I'll tell you later on, if you're still alive that is. Upupu~," he said, and on that note, he took off.

"This isn't good...all the case file says is that he died from suffocation and he suffered a laceration across his left palm; we didn't even get a time of death," Kirigiri says, closing the case file. "This means we're gonna have to do a lot of searching to figure out what exactly happened."

Naegi started thinking to himself. Hm...something about this doesn't feel right at all. I feel like there's something obvious right in front of me, but I can't figure out what.

"In any event, let's split up and search for clues. Being this clustered around you plebians is making me nautious," Byakuya said in a snidy voice, and promptly left the room.

"W-wait for me, Byakuya-sama!" Fukawa said, chasing after him, and everyone except Kirigiri and Celes left to search the rest of the school.

Kirigiri was busy continuing to investigate the body, making sure there was nothing she overlooked.

"I guess we should be thankful that Ishimaru-kun was the one who was murdered, shouldn't we?" Celes sang out, and Naegi looked at her, surprised.

"Thankful? He was our friend! I mean..yea, he did kind of go crazy, but he didn't hurt anyone. This has been a stress on all of us, you know," he said.

"Don't be Naive, Naegi-kun...remember, we are the ones who voted Mondo's execution," she said in her morbid voice. "While it's true he didn't do anything, a mentally unbalanced raging lunatic running around claiming to be fused with Mondo would only make the situation far more tense than things should be. Even though it's sad he was killed, I'm sure the others are more relaxed without him running around."

Naegi wasn't exactly happy to hear the words coming out of her mouth, but she did have a point. Leaving Ishimaru around would only incite panic and fear. "Celes-chan, me and Kirigiri will investigate the body. You should probably search the rest of the building with the others."

"You and Kirigiri-chan...?" she questioned? Bad move, Naegi.

"She's the best person to investigate the body, and, well, not to say I don't trust Kirigiri-san, but having only one person investigate the body would be a bad idea." Naegi leaned in closer to whisper. "Besides, seeing this body probably isn't helping you right now. I don't like it either, it scares me too, but someone has to do it." She gave a look of understanding and gave another bright smile.

"Ok, I'll make myself useful then," she said, and headed downstairs.

Upon looking back at Naegi, he saw that Kirigiri was still checking the body for anymore wounds.

"Find anything yet?" he asked.

"Yea; this was in his pocket," she said, handing Naegi a crumpled piece of paper. He opened it up and it read it: "I can't take it anymore. I've tried to get along without you, but every time I dream, I see your face staring back at me. You told me to live on and be happy, but how do I do that? You said that you would never do something like murder. You swore on your honor! Hurt me with the truth, but never comfort me with a lie. I would do anything to bring you back, but nothing in this cursed world will let me. Something once lost will never return. I'll be with you soon, my friend."

"A suicide note...," Naegi said, finishing the rest of it. Kirigiri took it from him and read it to herself.

"Naegi-kun...is it just me, or does this note seem a little fishy to you?"

"Hm, maybe...it definitely does seem like it's from Ishimaru, but I guess it's worth considering."

"Naegi-kun...there's something I'd like to ask you," Kirigiri said, turning away from the body to face him.

"What is it, Kirigiri-san?"

"Where were you at last night?" she asked, eyes fixated on him.

"W-well, uh...," he stammered. He wasn't prepared for her to ask this sort of question, much less answer it. After much debating, he figures it would be best to tell her the truth. Getting caught in a lie isn't something that would be good.

"I was in Celes-chan's room," he said. Her expression didn't seem to change, but it surprisingly went to a smile.

"I see. I'm glad you decided to at least tell the truth."

"Wait..you knew? How?"

"I'm good at noticing the small things, Naegi-kun. I saw the way you were looking at her; you even whispered to her. How could I not notice?" she said, unable to hide her smile. "Besides, it was pretty clear she wasn't completely comfortable leaving you here with me. -sigh- You're an open book, Naegi. That's one of the reasons I like having you as my investigative partner."

It's almost scary how good she is at reading things like that. It's like she stares into my soul sometimes...

"A-anyway...would you mind keeping it a secret, please? I would rather people not know about it...," he said nervously. She grinned.

"Don't worry, I don't care about what other people do in their private lives. As long as it isn't related to the case, I could care less."

"Well...I like having you as my partner too, Kirigiri-san."

"Hm?" she said, a bit surprised by his statement.

"You're really intelligent and see things that I normally don't. I don't think we could've gotten this far without you. More importantly, I trust you, Kirigiri-san," he said with a smile, and she let out a look of surprise.

"You...trust me?"

"Of course! You're my friend, why wouldn't I trust you?"

Kirigiri's look of surprise shifted into a gentle smile and she closed her eyes. "I'm glad you trust me, Naegi-kun. Most people here wouldn't say the same thing. In fact, half the time, people are suspicious of me whenever there's a murder."

"I've never once suspected you, Kirigiri-san," he said, and they looked at each other, smiling. "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. There was a really disturbing message in the other room. Is there anything else here that we need to investigate?"

"No, I don't see anything else out of the ordinary. Would you mind showing me?" she asked, and Naegi led her to the classroom.

Kirigiri saw the message and put her hand to her chin, thinking. "This also continues to push the idea that Ishimaru was driven to suicide. I'm pretty sure that this is just a diversion to a real crime though. The suicide note, the psycho messages on the wall...it's like something out of a movie."

"Yea, or an anime," Naegi said.

"Anyways, let's search the other rooms. I'm sure there's more clues we have yet to discover," Kirigiri said and went in the hall towards the bar.

As they entered, they noticed immediately there was a busted shotglass on the counter and some broken glass on the floor.

"Hm...there's broken glass and alcohol spilled on the counter," Naegi said.

"I would say this is likely where Ishimaru's hand injury came from, but I must say that I never took Ishimaru, as strict as he was, to do something like underage drinking," she said, thinking.

"Well, he did lose his mind the last few days, more or less. We can't rule out anything, really."

"The bar stool was tipped over as well. Unfortunately, this still isn't enough to determine if this was a struggle or just a drunken fit Ishimaru might've had. Let's check the medical lab next. I have a hunch we may find something there," Kirigiri said, and they both set out for the lab.

As they entered, they saw Byakuya investigating the medial cabinet. As they walked up to see what he was examining, they saw Fukawa was passed out in the corner by the trash can.

"Fukawa! Is...is she ok?" Naegi said, and Byakuya shot him an annoying glance.

"Yea, she's just unconscious. We were searching this room for clues, and we noticed a damp tissue was in the waste basket over there. I couldn't tell what it was since the liquid was colorless. The genius over there had a mind to smell the liquid and that happened.

"So she smelled the damp tissue and lost consciousness? Then that means the liquid was-"

"Chloroform," Byakuya said, pulling out the bottle from the cabinet. "I highly doubt a chloroform-soaked tissue has nothing to do with a case like this, especially one where the corpse has almost no injuries."

"I see. Naegi-kun, you may want to take a step back," Kirigiri said, gently pushing him away.

Huh? For what? Shouldn't we be trying to wake up Fukawa? Wait, Fukawa is unconscious...uh oh.

"GWEEEEEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the loud cackle was heard throughout the room and the hall. "Wassup, people? Your friendly neighborhood serial killer is here, Genocider Shou! So, did I miss anything?" she asked.

"Uh, yea. Somebody died," Naegi said, and her eyes widened with glee.

"Really!? and in the nick of time, too! Things were starting to get dull around here. In fact, if it weren't for my white knight here, I probably would've lost it and killed somebody by now," she said, giving an excited look towards Byakuya.

"Go die in a fire," he spat at her.

"Ohhhhhh~, he's such a romantic," she sang out, blushing furiously.

"Why don't you go be stupid elsewhere? I'm busy," he said darkly.

"As you wish, my love~! Guess I'll check out the body," she said, and took off in a dead sprint down the hall.

"Well, guess that's all that there is to be found here. Let's go look around some more," Kirigiri said, and they left Byakuya to investigate the medical room some more.

They searched for a while, and didn't seem to find anything of interest. Frustrated, Naegi decided he should take a short break and have a snack in the cafeteria. Kirigiri decided to continue searching.

As he entered, he saw Yamada and Hagakure sitting together, eating a meal together.

"Oi, how can you guys just sit around eating salisbury steak at a time like this? Shouldn't you be trying to help us search for clues?" Naegi asked.

"Sorry Naegs, but sometimes you gotta eat. I'll never get used to this murder thing, so I may as well do what I can and just try to keep myself calm, so I figured I might as well get something to eat real quick with Yamada here before the trial starts."

"Exactly, Master Hagakure, it doesn't do anyone well to do anything on an empty stomach!" he screamed.

"Well, did you at least do any searching?"

"...um, nope? Neither of us did, we figured you guys could handle it," Hagakure said.

"What if one of us is actually the murderer and trying to hamper the investigation? That's a real possibility, you know, and you could be the person who makes the difference in whether or not we find the villain," Naegi said, and Hagakure's eyes widened.

"Ah, I haven't thought of that, dude! I'll start looking right now," he screamed and ran out of the cafeteria.

"I'll start searching once I finish up here. I'm starved," Yamada said, continuing to eat. "Ah, but it's a shame what happened to Master Ishimaru. First he lost his mind, then his life. It's really scary!"

"Yea, I never thought Ishimaru was the suicidal type," Naegi said, shaking his head.

"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change," Yamada said in deep thought. "He probably wasn't, but after the trial, Ishimaru completely changed."

"He didn't deserve anything that happened to him; none of us did," Naegi said. Moments later, Yamada finished up his food and took off his bib. Apparently, having a bib isn't enough for him since he still got a brown stain on his shirt. Naegi decided to go check on Kirigiri and see if she found anything.

Naegi had a bit of trouble finding her; the girl had a knack for not being found. He decided to check the medical room again to see if Byakuya had seen her. When he entered, Byakuya was gone, but Asahina was there instead, trying to stuff something in her bag.

"Did you find something, Asahina-san?" he asked.

"N-no, I didn't find anything, Naegi-kun, don't worry about it," she said, finishing stuffing the object into her bag and zipping it shut.

"This is a murder case, Asahina-san. Now's not the time for keeping secrets. I would feel a lot better if you let me look inside your bag-"

"N-no you can't!" she screamed and she ran past Naegi and up the stairs, past Byakuya and Fukawa. Confused, they walk towards Naegi.

"Would you mind telling me what that was about?" Byakuya said with a pointed look.

"I don't know...she was putting something in her bag, and when I asked what was in it, she said it was nothing and took off," he said.

"Interesting...maybe she's trying to hide something relevant to this case," he said.

"I hope not...have you seen Kirigiri-san? I can't seem to find her anywhere," Naegi asked.

"She was poking around on the second floor, last I checked."

"Okay, thanks," he said and went upstairs.

Naegi managed to catch her heading down the second floor hall.

"Kirigiri-san, did you find anything else?"

"Yes. I decided to search everyone's rooms, and I found this on Hagakure's floor," she said, holding up a piece of busted glass in a plastic bag.

"A broken glass? But that must mean-"

"It is certainly possible that Hagakure might be connected to the incident in the bar room, however we must observe this logically and understand he could be getting set up. As of yesterday, everyone knew that he did like to drink," she said calmly.

"That's true...I'm really glad you help us with the investigations, Kirigiri-san," he said, and she smiled at his words.

"You give me too much credit. After all, you should consider being a bit more observant yourself. I might not always be around to help, you know," she said.

"Did you happen to find anything else?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Crap, we don't seem to have much evidence this time around. Maybe we just need to view things from a different perspective," he said.

Before Kirigiri could respond, however, an announcement came on the speakers.

Ok, I think you kids had enough time. Please make your way through the red door on the first floor. This will be a tough case trial. I wonder if you all can figure out the culprit? See you soon, Upupu~

"This isn't good at all...we have very little evidence, and the only evidence we do have points to Hagakure, but I don't think it's that simple," Kirigiri said with a frustrated look on her face. "We have no choice but to discuss this in the courtroom; maybe somebody else knows something that can help piece this puzzle together."

They head off to the courtroom together, hoping the others found some evidence, otherwise they are in a world of trouble...