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Class Trial Starts!
Court Is In Session
Monokuma cleared his throat. "Ahem! Now then, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial. During the trial, you'll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for "whodunnit." Vote correctly, and the only the blackenedwill be punished. But if you picked the wrong person…" He paused briefly like he was giving some kind of dramatic timing. "I'll punish everyone "besides the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy and can go back to their home." He then quickly added, "Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for someone."
Monokuma them jumped up from his seat with his paws in the air. "Now, let's get this heart pounding trial underway."
"We...really have to do this? It's really one of us?" Kor asked looking a bit pale. Sorey shared that same sentiment. This was really happening.
"Try to look at it this way, we're just looking for the truth," Jude said.
"Whatever that truth may be," Senel muttered.
"I don't suppose anyone knows how these things are supposed to go, do they?" Lloyd asked nervously.
"This all seems quite different than an actual trial," Ludger commented.
"I've read a few books about the way humans conduct this sort of thing" Milla added. "But Ludger seems to be right, this is very different from what I read."
"Maybe we should start thinking about who some suspects are," Veigue suggested.
"Okay, so how about we go around and see who everyone thinks is the culprit," Kanonno said.
"This is so pointless," Luke suddenly shouted before they could go on. "It's so obviously Velvet."
Sorey knew this was going to happen. He glanced at Velvet who was right next to him and who was glaring at the red head. But the rest of her demeanor stayed pretty calm. "I suppose you have proof that I killed Cress?" She asked.
"You weren't at breakfast this morning. So you must have been off murdering Cress," Luke claimed.
"Luke, a lot of people didn't show up to breakfast this morning. Not just Velvet," Kor pointed out with a sigh. He must be getting pretty tired to explaining things to Luke
"Fine, the suspects are Velvet and Stahn then because they weren't there this morning at all," Luke clarified.
"Okay, so we have two suspects now," Stahn started to say without fully realizing what that meant. It then dawned on him. "Hold on, why am I suspect. I was asleep this morning. So I couldn't have done it."
"Not that it excludes Stahn," Sorey started to say, "but Cress was killed last night around 11:30. Not this morning."
"Luke did you even read the Monokuma file?" Asbel asked.
Luke suddenly looked very sheepish. "I... I thought we weren't trusting Monokuma, so why should I have?"
"For clarification, I looked over Cress' body," Jude suddenly announced. "I can confirm with what little the file tells us. He died of blunt force trauma to the head last night."
"Yeah, I second that," Lloyd said with his hand raised. Then he quickly lowered it. "Although, I'm not really sure how he came up with that, to be honest," he admitted.
"The body would have been fresher if he was killed this morning," Yuri pointed out. "So it had to have happened last night. Sorey and I confirmed it, nobody has an alibi for nighttime. So we're all suspects."
"Seriously Yuri, why are you so comfortable talking like that?" Kor asked.
To which Yuri just shrugged.
Sorey knew why Yuri said what he did. He was making sure that everyone was on the same page. There would be no more questions about when it happened. Before nighttime and breakfast were the only times people would have alibis.
"But Luke does have a point," Asbel started to say, "How do we know Monokuma will be truthful about who actually killed Cress? This is just some sick game he's playing and just to mess with us, he'll lie about who the real culprit it."
"Now why would I do that?" Monokuma suddenly asked. "I'm on the side of justice. I want the person who killed Cress to pay for what he did. He was my beloved-"
"Q-quit acting like you care what happens to us," Emil suddenly snapped, which startled everyone. Everything was quiet for a moment as they were getting over hearing Emil talk that loud. With everyone looking at him. Emil's head dropped. "I-I'm sorry for interrupting," he quickly said. He may have been afraid of the punishments.
"Don't apologize, especially to Monokuma," Yuri told him.
"Hey," Monokuma snapped.
"But Emil's right," Lloyd said. "I hate the word "justice". But if you really were on side of justice, you wouldn't have allowed Cress to be killed in the first place."
Monokuma just looked blankly at them. "You hate justice, huh? Not a very hero thing to say. So are you saying that Cress and all his friends and family don't deserve to have the culprit punished for his crimes?"
"I'm not saying that," Lloyd tried to defend.
Monokuma just ignored him. "It's simple, you commit a crime you get punished for it. That would be the good ending to this situation."
"Yet, if we fail, the innocent die and the murderer will get to leave this place," Milla pointed out.
"Well of course, there has to be some kind of incentive for both sides," Monokuma explained. "Freedom or your life? It wouldn't be any fun watching if everyone's lives weren't on the line. Besides will the blacken truly be free if they survive? You don't think a hero would be wrought with guilt or that their victim's soul wouldn't haunt them?"
There was a pause as Monokuma let his words settle. Then he quickly snapped, "Now get back to finding the blackened. I don't have all day."
"Regardless, we're not going to figure anything out until we find out how Cress was killed," Sorey said so they would get back on topic. It was just like Yuri said. They had to do this for Cress right now. It wasn't right that he was murdered. Someone did do something wrong after all.
"Jude, in your professional opinion, what do you think is the murder weapon?" Asbel asked.
Jude looked a bit uneasy with all the weight shifted to him. But he composed himself and had a finger against the side of his head. "Before I say that, I would like to hear what everyone typically fights with."
"Why the hell do you need to know that?" Kor asked.
"Just humor me for a moment," Jude answered. "I'll start. I use martial artes. So I fight with my fists."
There were a few small protests about this random tangent. But they started going around the courtroom saying what they fought with.
"Sword," Veigue answered.
"Same," Asbel said.
"As do I," said Kanonno.
"I use dual swords," said Lloyd.
"I use dual swords too. And dual pistols and a hammer," said Ludger.
"Wow, that's...extra...I just use a sword," said Kor. He must have been thinking it wasn't fair going after Ludger.
"I use a sword too," Luke spat out.
"I fight bare handed," said Senel
"I prefer a sword, but I'll use an axe or my fist if I have to," said Yuri. Then he quickly added, "You to, Velvet," when it was obvious that she wasn't going to share willingly.
"I fight with a blade," she practically growled with her arms folded.
"I use sword," said Sorey.
"Sword," Emil said barely auditable.
"Hey, it looks like most of us use swords," Stahn actually said with a bit of a laugh.
"I as well use a sword, and if I didn't have this Monokuma bracelet, I could use magic as well," said Milla.
"Okay, so we humored you. What does this have to do with Cress' murder?" Asbel asked.
"In my opinion, I don't think a "weapon" was used," Jude told them.
"You're saying someone punched him to death, right?" Milla summed up.
"And that's why you wanted us to say our fighting style with as little bias as possible," Yuri pointed out.
"Yes, and I'm pretty confident that it was only one hit before Cress was dead," Jude concluded.
"Yeah, it was so hard that there was a dent in the wall," Lloyd pointed out.
"On a hunch, Lloyd and I cleaned up the wall and sure enough Cress had hit the wall enough to leave a deep indent."
Sorey winced a bit as he pictured it. The culprit punched Cress in the head so hard to have bent the metal. That would cause internal trauma. Sorey hoped that meant Cress died instantly.
"So that means Jude and Senel are the most likely suspects," Ludger summed up.
"We might as well throw Yuri into that list," Milla pointed out. "He even admitted to seeing Cress last."
"Figured," Yuri muttered as he just shrugged. Sorey seriously couldn't believe just how composed Yuri was being in all of this. Sorey wasn't sure how he'd react if he was accused.
A few others seemed to think that and Luke even said it out loud. "Damn it, why are you so calm about all of this?" he shouted.
"Since I saw Cress last night I knew I'd be suspected," Yuri told him. "But I at least know I didn't do it."
"I knew bringing up the way he was killed would also implement me to being on the suspect list too," Jude said. "All I can say is that I'm not the murderer."
"I'm not either," Senel snapped.
"So how are we supposed to figure out which one of them it is?" Lloyd asked.
"Right now, it's a thirty-three percent chance that we'll get the right one," Kanonno said.
"Or the blackened is someone else who's lying," Velvet suddenly said.
"What do you mean?" Sorey quickly asked.
"Obviously the killer knows how Cress was killed," she started to explain. "So if they were smart, they would have lied about their fighting style to avoid suspicion."
Velvet made a good point. Sorey still didn't want to think it was someone here. He still hoped that somehow it was Monokuma. But honestly, it was pointing out to be someone here.
"You had been awfully quiet this whole time Velvet," Asbel started to say. "Why would you speak up now?"
"I just don't want to die over something so stupid by blindly trusting that everyone's telling the truth," she said.
"So you are the killer, you're just trying to confuse us so you can get away with killing Cress," Luke shouted and pointed at Velvet.
"Dude, she wasn't even a current suspect," Kor said with a sigh. "So why would she be trying to confuse us?"
Luke fell silent and looked to be fighting back the urge to say something snarky.
"Anyway, going back to the method Cress was killed," Veigue began. "We might be able to figure out who the killer is since we're all on the same level."
"You're talking about the Monokuma bracelets, right?" Sorey asked as he started getting the same idea Veigue must be having.
He nodded. But Lloyd soon added, "Is that what we're really calling them?"
And it was Monokuma that answered. "We sure are," he called out. He had been so quiet since this trial started that it startled a lot of them. "That is now the official name of them. I'm so flattered that you'd name them after me."
"...Anyway," Yuri started to say as he went on to ignore Monokuma. "With these bracelets, we're all simple humans. In order to do that to Cress without a weapon, artes, or any other special powers, they'd have to already have some natural strength to them," he summed up.
"Not only that," Jude quickly added, "but without artes or power, that means the body has to absorb the impact as well."
"They'd absorb the impact? Do you mean they got hit in the head too?" Stahn asked as he was clearly confused.
"N-no, that's not what I meant at all," Jude tried to clarify. He clearly wasn't expecting that response.
"He means when you throw a punch, you're just as likely to break something yourself versus the person getting hit," Yuri quickly explained.
"Oh, Dr. Jude you should have just said that," Stahn said with a wide grin.
"I'm pretty sure I did say that," Jude muttered. He then quickly recomposed himself. "And I'm not a doctor yet, so you can just call me Jude."
Sorey started to piece together what Jude was saying. "Anyway, Jude, you're saying that the whoever killed Cress would have hurt their hand in the process?"
"Exactly," Jude remarked. "Judging by the impact, I'd say they at least broke a few fingers at least if not their whole hand."
"So if everyone shows their hands then, we'll know who the culprit is because theirs would be injured," Asbel declared.
"I just want to clarify something with the bear," Velvet interrupted. "Healing artes are impossible, correct?"
"But we clarified that yesterday when Jude said he couldn't use healing artes," Lloyd started to defend.
"I just want to make sure," Velvet grumbled. "He's the most suspicious one here if he can us healing artes. He could distort any evidence."
"You're doubting Jude?" Milla asked.
"Not just him, but everyone else here," Velvet said in a threatening tone. "This is a game with our lives on the line. The second you blindly trust someone you're just going to stabbed in the back."
Velvet wasn't just talking about this killing game. Sorey just stared at Velvet. He could see how visibly angry she was and how much hatred she had. He wondered briefly if she would be a hellion in he had his resonance. But he really wondered what in the world could have happened to cause her to be like this.
"Geez, you all keep going around in circles," Monokuma interrupted. "There is no way for anyone to use healing artes, healing items, or other thing you people use to instantly heal injuries. After all, this wouldn't be a good killing game if you could save someone from death."
Sorey hated to admit it, but that made sense. If the goal was to kill someone, then having a way to save them wouldn't be ideal. So he knew that Monokuma was telling the truth about that.
"Alright, just to be fair, let's just have everyone show their bare hands," Yuri suggested and held up his. They didn't show any signs of having been in a fight.
Everyone else agreed and those wearing gloves starting taking them off to show they hadn't been in a fight. They all held up their hands and everyone's looked well.
All except one person.
Senel wouldn't even take off his gloves.
"Hey come on Senel, show us you're not the culprit," Lloyd quickly cried out.
"My hands are already busted from punching that stupid door yesterday, remember?" Senel snapped back. "Obviously it looks like I did it when I didn't."
That was true. Sorey was pretty sure he saw that Senel's knuckles were bleeding. He probably even broke something. But, Sorey just had this sinking feeling now that he thought about Senel being the culprit.
"Remember, I examined your hands yesterday," Jude began. "I have a pretty good memory, so I remember the extent of your injuries. I'll know just by looking if you've gotten any new ones."
Senel was quiet and was holding his dominant hand. It was very possible that his hands were just hurting from hitting that metal slab the day before. But his hands would be in worse shape it if had used them to hit Cress. There was no telling the pain he was in if that was the case. His hands were trembling slightly from the pain. No, that's not right...
"With your hands already injured," Jude began, "you probably shattered several bones in your hand after killing Cress. The hand you threw the punch probably has a lot of discoloration. In fact, putting those gloves on probably hurt like hell. Am I right?"
"Yeah, they hurt. But it was from yesterday," Senel continued to argue. "I didn't kill him. I couldn't have." Senel's voice trailed off at the end. "Besides, you don't have any proof. It's not like anyone saw me."
"You feel guilty, don't you Senel?" Sorey suddenly asked. Senel actually paused and looked Sorey squarely in the eyes. Sorey was right, he could tell by the bewildered look Senel gave him. And that made Sorey feel worse. He could keep his mouth shut. He didn't want it to be anyone. He didn't want to lose anyone else. But if they didn't get this right, then fourteen people would be killed. He had to protect those he was able to. I'm sorry Senel.Sorey thought bitterly.
"I agree with Yuri's assessment, Cress' murder was an impulsive one," Sorey went on to explain. He didn't want to accuse, he wanted to get him to confess. At least that way, he could save Senel in one regard. "I know you didn't want to kill Cress or probably even mean to. It just happened, right? Like the rest of us, you must have been thinking about getting out. And that's the only thing you were thinking of when it happened."
Senel had torn his eyes off of Sorey and was looking down. He slammed his non-dominant hand in front of the podium in front of him. "Yeah, I want out of here. But so does everyone. So that proves nothing."
"Sorey, it's no use. If he's the culprit, he's not going to just confess it," Yuri tried to tell him. "Not when his life would be at stake like the rest of ours."
No, that's wrong, Sorey thought. "Senel, I can see you're in pain, but it's not physical. You're wrought with guilt over killing Cress."
"Sorey, do you really think you can guilt him into confessing?" Asbel asked. "He could just be a cold-blooded murderer after all."
"Yeah, none of us know each other," Veigue pointed out. Everyone else was pretty certain that it was Senel at this point. But they all wanted to hear him confess.
Sorey had no intention of guilting anyone to confessing. There was one simple reason why he was bringing this up. "Monokuma said that we're all heroes," Sorey told him plainly. "If that's true, then this ordeal must be tearing Senel apart."
"Again Sorey?" Yuri said. "Monokuma could have been lying. You can't be this naive."
He just gave Yuri and the others a weak smile. "I guess that's just who I am," he told them. "Until proven otherwise, I chose to believe that everyone is honest. I think in a situation like this, there are some things you need to hang onto to stay sane. For me, I want to believe that everyone here is a trustworthy person and, though Monokuma is a bad guy, that everything he says is the truth. I lived my life trusting others. So that's the reality I'm making for myself in this place."
"I'm so touched by that display of trust," Monokuma suddenly interrupted.
"Shut up," Velvet muttered to the bear. Somehow, that caused Monokuma to drop his head.
There was a brief moment of silence. Sorey was aware he probably did sound foolish. But he would lose his mind if he couldn't stay the same.
"Geez," he heard Yuri mutter as he rubbed his head. "In an environment like this, you're just setting yourself up to be a victim."
"I know," Sorey admitted. "But at least, I get to be myself until the end."
"But Monokuma is a liar," Senel suddenly said. His head was still down. "Heroes? Don't make me laugh. I'm not a hero. Never was and never plan to be. So why try…" Senel then stopped and Sorey could see that he was gritting his teeth. "Damn it all," he suddenly shouted and punched the podium again with his non-dominant hand. He then started pulling his glove off with a few more curse words said in the process.
His hand was just as Jude said it was. They could see that several bones were broken in his hand and it was bruised. Several of them gasped at that. Even Sorey could tell that it wasn't the same as yesterday when Jude first tended to his wounds. Senel had kept using his hands.
Senel just kept his hand up but slumped down to where his head rested on the podium. "There, I confess. This class trial is over, right?" Senel asked.
"Well if you all want to call it quits, we can start voting time," Monokuma said.
"What do you mean voting? He confessed?" Kor argued.
"Hey, it's tradition," Monokuma snapped. "Go to your e-handbooks and vote for who you think the blacken is. Those who don't vote will be punished too. Will you choose the right one or the dreadfully wrong one? Uphuhuh. The suspense is killing me," he laughed at the end.
The bear was just further torturing them by making them pick Senel even though he confessed. Voting made it feel more like pointing the finger rather than finding any kind of justice for Cress.
Sorey held up his e-handbook and, like Monokuma said, a screen with all their pictures came up. Sorey hesitated in voting. He then realized that by pushing the button was sealing Senel's death. They all knew they were right. But by voting, it was like it was okay to let Senel be killed just so they all could live.
Almost like he was knowing what was going on in Sorey's head, Senel snapped. "Just vote already," he shouted.
"I'm sorry," Sorey muttered as he pushed on Senel's picture.
The screen paused before it made a ringing noise. Then the words 'Congratulations' popped up on the screen with confetti all around it.
Monokuma jumped from his set with a giant smile. "Man, that was a pretty quick trial. But you bastards got it right with all the votes. The blacken that murdered Cress Albane was none other than Senel Coolidge. Rejoice, you all get to live another day. Wipe those frowns off."
They were right. Sorey and others would survive this round. But at a cost of killing Senel. He did something wrong. Cress was dead because of him. Yet that didn't mean he deserved death himself.
"Why did you do it?" Asbel suddenly shouted. "Why did you kill Cress? We could have figured something out together."
Senel was still using the podium as support. He couldn't look any of them in the face. "Look, what's done is done, I killed him. Enough said," Senel said bitterly.
"We just want to understand," Jude said. "Please, just so we can prevent this from happening again."
There was a brief pause before Senel finally gave in. "Last night, I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in this place," he started. "I started wandering around the school hoping to find a way out. Then…I saw Cress at the entrance...with his back to me. I didn't think, I just saw my way out of this damn place." There was a lot of pain in his voice. He regretted killing Cress. Just as Yuri had said, it was a heat of the moment. Senel hadn't thought it through.
"What was so important that you'd be willing to kill someone though?" Lloyd asked.
"It's...It's my little sister. She was kidnapped by the Crusand army. I was on my way to save her, but then I ended up here instead," Senel shouted as he finally stood up. His eyes were frantic. Desperate. "I can't let them take her."
His sister was in danger, Sorey thought. Sorey couldn't imagine if one of his friends were in danger or hurt and then he was suddenly here. He definitely wouldn't be able to sit still. But then he came to sickening question, would he have done what Senel did so he could get out to help them?
"But we could have helped you," Stahn suddenly spoke up. "We could have gotten out of here together. And I'm sure we all could have helped you save your sister." Stahn seemed generally angry about all of this. In fact there were several that seemed to feel that way. Maybe they were thinking they could have prevented Senel from killing Cress. If they had just banned together. But instead the killing game started.
Sorey looked at Cress' picture and wondered if only one of them had just talked with Senel more, or not left Cress alone if he would still be standing with them. They at the very least could have spent the day finding a way out instead of finding out one of them was a murderer.
"Sorry, but this is something only I could have done," Senel told them. He seemed to have composed himself.
Before any of them could have told him otherwise. Monokuma interrupted. "Alright, enough talking, time for the most exciting part of the game." Monokuma talked and he seemed to be getting more and more excited as he talked. "I've prepared a very special punishment for the Hero of Legendia, Senel Coolidge."
"Screw that," Senel suddenly snapped. "I'm not dying here. I have to go save Shirley."
With a quick pivot, Senel ran toward the door. He was so quick that he even tackled the double doors open and didn't stop. There was shouting going on. Everything was happening so quick that it took Sorey a moment to realize that they were shouts urgering Senel to escape.
He had killed Cress. But none of them wanted to watch him die too. So Sorey found himself shouting too. "Run Senel!"
It would have been nice if Senel could have gotten out. And that he could save his sister. But as Sorey would learn, it was better not to hope for miracles in this place. If any of them had actually thought that Senel could have escaped his fate for a second, they would have gone too. But everyone stayed in their places.
The doors had slammed behind Senel as soon as he was past them.
A screen was lowered in front of the door.
And Monokuma started laughing. "Uphuhuhuh," he started as button raised up in front of him. "There's no escaping you're punishment. IT'S PUNISHMENT TIME!" Monokuma pulled out a hammer behind his back and slammed it on the button that had raised in front of him.
The screen lit up and they could see Senel running through the hall.
/~/~/
Senel was running down the hall as fast as he could. It seemed to be never ending. Suddenly the floor beneath Senel's foot dropped. His reflexes were amazing as he jumped back in time before the small section completely fell. It crumbled to reveal that there were spikes underneath the floor.
Senel only looked at the pit briefly before continuing on. He ran as more and more of the floor started crumbling all round him. But he managed to sidestep or jump in time to avoid each of them.
Just as a door appeared in front of him that looked like natural light flooding through it. Senel looked like he had grown tired and seeing the door renewed his energy. When he took a step toward it. The floor between him and the door collapsed with the spikes at the bottom. He was so close, but it was too far a jump to make. You can see that he was thinking of a way to get himself across.
But he wasn't given time at all. The path behind him started to slowly fall. If he didn't do something then he would fall. His eyes darted to his escape just as a small blue butterfly flew across his face. There's some kind of figure standing in front of the door that was glowing. It's someone Senel knows, you can tell the way his eyes light up seeing them.
He takes a few steps back and, before the floor started to fall underneath him, he dashed toward edge. Senel ran as hard as he could. It was almost like he was out running the floor falling behind him. At the very edge of, Senel leaped into the air with all his might. He made good air. In fact it almost looked like he was going to make.
And indeed he did. His hand caught onto the floor on the other side.
But he had caught the edge with his dominant hand.
The second his hand held his weight, you can see pain shook his entire body. His broken hand had no choice but to let go. And Senel fell.
His hand was still outstretched like he was hoping someone would take it and save him. There was a look of desperation on his face.
But just before he reached the bottom, he closed his eyes as the same blue butterfly landed on his chest. His last moments were spent in acceptance for what was about to happen.
Then the spikes ran right through him.
/~/~/
The screen lingered on Senel's body for a moment. But it felt like an eternity before the screen went black. Sorey was frozen, he just stared at the blank screen. It didn't feel real. They had watched Senel die in real time.
Nobody had talked at all while they watched and even now no one was talking with anyone. A few were crying. But for themselves or for Senel, Sorey couldn't tell. Kanonno was down on her knees sobbing. Luke was curled up on the ground and kept muttering, "I want to go home" over and over. Emil had collapsed to the ground and visibly shaking. He may not have even realized he was on the ground. Most everyone else had a look of horror on their face.
"Oh man, I'm sure glad he did exactly what I expected him to do," Monokuma said as he laughed. He was laughing so hard that he was holding his stomach.
"You knew Senel would try to run?" Milla asked angrily.
Monokuma smiled after he ceased his laughter. "But of course. Angry guys that answer everything with their fists like Senel are so easy to read and to predict their movements."
Sorey wasn't sure what he should do. He was horrified by what he just saw and was angry. But he was more angry at himself for not being able to do anything to stop this. He was so powerless. And he hated himself for it.
"Before you all are dismissed," Monokuma started to say. "I want you all to know how disappointed I am with the way this trial went."
"What more did you want from us?" Veigue asked. "We got the culprit. Weren't you saying earlier about how important justice was to you?"
"Well of course, that is the goal," Monokuma said with his head cocked to the side. "But what's better? Just doing the bare minimum on an assignment to get an A or going out of your way to impress the teacher so much that they just fall over and die."
Those that weren't still reacting to what happened to Senel just looked at Monokuma with a mix of disgust and confusion. But Monokuma wasn't phased in the slightest. Instead he just went on with his rant. "Be sure you make the next murder and trial a bit more interesting. Let's have some twists and turns next time. I want to see backstabbing and minds blown. Come on people, let's see some excitement."
"And why should we do anything just to please you?" Asbel shouted.
"How about this then," Monokuma began with is head to the side again, "if the next trial is as boring as this one, I'm going to have to add some penalties or something to help spice it up. This is not what people are expecting when they get to the trial part of this game."
/~/~/
Sorey laid on his bed. He could get neither Senel or Cress' images out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them. They were gone. He felt so useless for the fact that he hadn't been able to save either of them. It wasn't fair.
He didn't know either of them well. But he knew they didn't deserve that. Cress was such a nice guy. Senel, he may have been pretty rough, but he wasn't a murderer. No one would be dead if it wasn't for Monokuma. If he hadn't done this, they would have all lived their lives. If they could all focus of seeing Monokuma as the villain and not get caught up in this stupid killing game, then there was a chance nobody else would die.
Suddenly Sorey could hear his door start to open and he quickly sat up fully alert. He wasn't sure what he was expecting. But he certainly wasn't expecting to see Yuri standing on the other side of the door with an annoyed look on his face.
"Sorey, I told you to start locking your door," Yuri said after a sigh.
Sorey scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, I guess it just slipped my mind."
Yuri closed the door and entered Sorey's room. He had his arms crossed as he said, "I guess you're still thinking about what happened at the trial."
Sorey didn't say anything. He wondered if those images would haunt him forever. Sorey did nothing. And that was the problem. He had done nothing. He felt like he failed Cress and Senel.
"We survived, Sorey," Yuri said seeing Sorey's reaction. "In the end, that's all that matters."
"I know," Sorey said as he recalled Yuri saying that earlier that day. "But-"
"Look," Yuri interrupted, "I can't say much about Cress and Senel. But I know Cress wanted everyone to survive. When I was with him last night, he told me he didn't want to watch anyone else die in such a pointless way again."
"What do you think he meant by that?" Sorey asked.
Yuri just shrugged. "Who knows. There's no way to know what had happened to him before we all got into this. I mainly just told you that so that way you'd keep your guard up and not mope around and become the next victim."
Sorey couldn't let that happen. Not because he didn't want to die, but if he became the victim then there would be a class trial and someone else would be killed. Sorey wondered if that was what Yuri was getting him to realize. He needed to make sure he stayed on his guard. It was small, but that would at least be his part in preventing another class trial. "Thanks Yuri," Sorey said. There was still a dark cloud over him. But he did feel a little more hopeful.
Yuri started walking out. "Thank me by locking your damn door when you're asleep, got it?"
/~/~/
Chapter 1: The Killing Game Starts. Goodbye Trust Ends
Contestants Remaining: 14