Akamatsu was uncertain as to how she had returned to the Class Trial room, but she was far more concerned as to the image displayed on the viewscreen.
Her face, and the word "GUILTY".
"No... what? But... I didn't..."
"Akamatsu-san..."
Her head turned sharply and met a horrifying sight.
Amami was back, blood seeping from the fresh wound on the back of his head. By all accounts, he should have been slumped over dead, and yet, there he was.
"Why did you kill me? I thought we were friends..."
"No!" the pianist protested, "It- it was Shirogane-san! We proved..."
"Who me?"
Again, Akamatsu turned to see her deceased classmate. But unlike Amami, Shirogane seemed none the worse for wear. In fact, there was no indication that she was anything like the madwoman from a few hours ago.
"What did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me? You're the one who threw the ball. His death is your fault."
The other students joined in this chant.
"Your fault..."
"Your fault..."
"Your fault..."
The metal collar that had snapped around Shirogane's neck suddenly found itself around Akamatsu's, as she was dragged away in a similar manner.
Akamatsu found herself bound to a thin string, with a series of matching strings running parallel to the one she was on.
A large blunt object struck a nearby string. Sound emanated from it, and it became all too clear what was happening. These strings were part of what must be a very large piano. As more and more hammers struck nearby strings, Akamatsu recognized the tune as Mozart's Requiem. A tad cliche? Perhaps. But the captive girl quickly surmised which key she was on, and realized that though it wasn't one that would be hit during this piece, one wrong note would spell her doom. As the unseen performer continued to hit wrong notes, Akamatsu grew more and more nervous as to when her end would come.
The roof above her lifted, and Akamatsu saw the large form of who was playing the piano.
"Saihara-kun?"
The detective was now gigantic, but more noteworthy was his left eye, painted to resemble Monokuma's jagged red eye.
"Why did you lie to me?"
"I- I didn't mean to..."
His hand came down on a single key. The hammer above Akamatsu swung down...
Akamatsu catapulted out of bed in a cold sweat. She clutched her shoulders and shuddered in horror at the nightmare she had been through. As she took in her surrounding, she realized that, tragically, the part where she was still trapped in Gifted Inmates Academy was very real.
She had trouble returning to sleep that night.
The most notable thing about the next morning was the strange air that overtook the school. Unease had captured the hearts of the students. Though the trial had ended, no one could really say they were satisfied with the conclusion. The loss of two members of the group, regardless of the content of their character, was jarring to say the least.
Akamatsu brushed past this air of depression, summoned her bold face, and took charge at the morning breakfast meeting.
"Alright! Is everyone here yet?"
A cursory glance around the room made the answer all too clear. "We're missing two people," Akamatsu noted, "Saihara-kun and... Harukawa-san?"
"Harukawa-san wishes to be left to her own devices, I'm afraid," Toujou explained as she set the table.
"Toujou-san, you really don't have to do all the work..." Akamatsu offered.
"It's fine. It relaxes me, knowing I am being of service to others," the maid reassured.
"Okay... but where's Saihara-kun?"
The door of the cafeteria swung open somewhat haphazardly, as Saihara staggered in and promptly collapsed to the ground.
"Saihara-kun!"
The group rushed over to the now-hatless boy, who was groaning in pain. Momota was the first to offer comfort, "Shuuichi! You okay, man?"
The detective's eyes fluttered open as he pointed to the astronaut. "You... you did this."
"Did what?!" Akamatsu asked.
"Tch," Momota scoffed, "guy's being overdramatic. All I did was invite him to work out with me last night."
"My muscles are still sore, you monster," Saihara cracked.
"Ehh, you'll get used to it, Shuuichi."
"I don't really plan on it, Kaito..."
"So..." Akamatsu inquired, "Are you guys friends now, or...?"
"Boosh! Yeah we are!" Momota replied, giving a thumbs-up. "This guy's pretty cool, he just needs a little toughening up."
"Someone put me in a chair, please," Saihara requested.
Gonta, being a gentleman, was more than happy to assist.
"Okay, now that we have Saihara-kun, let's get back on point," Akamatsu said, taking control of the conversation again.
She was then interrupted by one of the others raising their hands. "Ooh! Ooh! I have a question!"
She sighed. "Yes, Ouma-kun?"
"Why are you suddenly in charge?" Ouma asked.
A surprisingly pointed question. Akamatsu kind of glanced at the others. "Umm... I guess I just..."
"Just what?" Ouma countered, "Just thought we'd forget about the fact that you lied to us all and tried to kill someone? I don't know about you, but that's not a quality I look for in a leader. Of course, I am in the market for a new minion, if you're interested in that..."
Ouma's question cut Akamatsu to her core. The image of her classmates telling her what happened was her fault reared its ugly head yet again.
"Look, I'll settle this," Momota offered, standing up. "Anyone opposed to Akamatsu as Leader raise your hand!"
Ouma's hand went up, but the only one supporting his campaign seemed to be Iruma.
"Rephrasing to be safe," Momota added, "Anyone who thinks Ouma would be a better choice, raise their hand."
This time Ouma stood alone.
"Welp, that takes care of that," Momota observed, sitting back down.
Ouma began to tear up again. "*sniff* You really think she'd be better than me? Have I failed as an Ultimate Supreme Leader?! UWHAAAAAANNNNNN!" And yet again, he composed himself almost immediately. "Well, if wishes were fishes."
The touching display, or lack thereof, gave Akamatsu hope that her nightmare wouldn't come to pass. With that, she resumed. "Okay, first of all, thank you for your support. Kind of need it after last night... But there's still a couple things we need to address. First, we need to to a search of that girl's bathroom, which Saihara-kun will lead. Chabashira-san has volunteered to supervise, do we have any other volunteers?"
Saihara merely groaned in response.
"Okay, seriously, Momota-kun, what did you make him do?" Akamatsu asked.
"Just some push-ups and sit-ups, nothing heavy!" Momota defended. "He said he could handle it!"
"I was wrong..."
Akamatsu gave a groan of her own. "I guess we're postponing that. Any other business?"
"HELLO-KUMA!"
The siren cry of the Monokuma Cubs, now noticeably lacking in the color red, signaled their unexpected appearance in the cafeteria.
"It just isn't the same anymore without Monotaro," Monofunny cried. "Who will lead us now?"
"Weren't you paying attention?!" Monokid responded. "I'm in charge now!"
"And why is that, Monokid?" Monosuke wondered.
"After the red guy, the blue guy's in charge. Everybody knows that! Right, Monodam?"
"WE SHOULD GET A-LONG."
"HELL YEAH! Monodam's finally speaking my language, and I love it!"
Akamatsu stole attention back with, "What do you guys want?!"
"Well, since you completed your first class trial, you deserve a reward or something, right?" Monosuke explained.
"And we've got the best gifts money can't buy!" Monokid cheered.
The Cubs then presented a strange assortment of objects to the group. A red ball, a turn crank, an ocarina, and a locker tag.
"If you use these in just the right places, you can open up fun new locations all over the school!" Monofunny offered. "So you should get started!"
"BYE-KUMA!"
And the Cubs once again vanished.
"Well, what are we supposed to do with these things?" Iruma asked.
"You heard them," Hoshi replied, "Let's start looking."
Akamatsu again took point. "There are four items, so we should split up into teams of three. That way there's one person left over, so Saihara can rest up for a while."
"Thank you," the detective muttered.
As the groups were decided, more or less at random, they split up and began to search the school.
A/N: What? Akamatsu wouldn't know what her own execution would be, she'd have to make something up.
