I think the culprit is likely to be revealed in this one –I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Review Reply to Kevin Brown: I wouldn't say you were asking for it…although I am curious as to whether you named your character after yourself or not. Anyway , I am glad you will still continue this story.

Reuben practically rushed home to watch the Classroom Trial video the next day. As he'd had a half day, he figured that he could watch a couple of the videos and then do some practice biology exam questions from the booklet that had been given out in his lesson.

The video started almost exactly where the previous one had stopped, with the stamped-on writing briefly appearing on the screen before disappearing to reveal the 17 students and Monobear in what Reuben assumed was a courtroom of sorts.

"So…what exactly are we supposed to be doing?" Nanako asked.

"I believe the point of this is we share what we have found in order to come to a conclusion." Dai said.

"That's right." Kyouko confirmed.

"In that case, shouldn't you start, Kirigiri-san?" Akihito asked. "I mean, you were the one dealing with the body."

"You're using my sketches, right? Because having corpses in my sketchbook better be worth it!" Emi asked.

Kyouko merely nodded to her and began.

"As it says in the Monobear Files, the victim died as a result of a whack to the head-"

"You mean, like with a cricket bat like in the movies?" Nanako interrupted.

"That's wrong!" Makoto interjected "He was actually hit with a glass bottle. Repeatedly" Makoto held up an evidence bag with some small blood-stained glass shards while Emi held up a sketch of the head wound. Reuben shuddered at how scarily accurate it was.

"I would have got onto that, but yes. This explains some of the large amounts of the blood, as if he was hit with a glass bottle that was broken, he would have got cut as well. "

"Where did the glass bottle come from?" Dai asked.

"There were glass stains on his bedside table, right, Kiyomizu-san?" Makoto asked.

Akaya nodded. Reuben didn't think she was going to speak but then she did.

"But the rest of the room was spotless. No hairs, no blood stain, nothing."

Kosuke looked mildly baffled "But we had assumed he had been dragged from his room, hence the blood trail."

"That is still possible." Everyone stared at Kyouko is confusion. "The room being cleaned would be a way of getting any traces of the culprit out of the room , especially if said traces were distinctive , such as a unique hair colour. "

Everyone had a reaction to that, ranging from bafflement to protest. There were a few people who looked uncomfortable.

"Wait, what happened to the glass bottle we were talking about?" Marvin asked. Are you really interested? Or just hoping to score points? Reuben wondered, scrutinising her unreadable expression.

Dai held up a chunky key. "I believe it would have been disposed of the same time as the evidence in the room was."

"What is that?" Marvin asked, batting her eyelids.

"It's a key." Eirik rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Not just any key. The to the garbage room!" Dai proclaimed. "It was dropped just outside it, as if the person who used it had forgotten they had it. "

"Wait, the garbage room had a key?" Shika asked in confusion.

"Yes, it did." Dai confirmed.

"Where was it? Why did we not do anything about it?" Kyouko asked.

"It was kept near the front entrance, in a set of drawers." Afar said. "It wasn't interesting though, so I left it."

"Gee, thanks." Arisa drawled sarcastically. Reuben grinned briefly at that.

"So basically, somebody stole it. Assumingly to get rid of evidence. But what sort of evidence and why?" Janus asked.

"It must have been whatever the glass bottle was, and possibly whatever was used to clean his room." Kosuke said, as if that was obvious. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. Pulling out one of the cigarettes, he lit it and began to smoke it.

"AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A DOCTOR!?" Shika squawked in astonishment.

"Yes. And?" Kosuke either didn't see the irony or just plain didn't care.

"But…but…but….."

"Like the issue of the key, that is something we can come back to later, okay, Sayuri-san?" Kyouko said calmly.

"O-okay..."

"Are you not meant to be revising?" It took a while for Reuben to process the statement, and when he did he realised it had come from outside the video. He paused the video and pulled out his earphones and spun his chair around.

Megan was standing in his doorway wearing her hair in a fancy up-do and wearing too much make-up, despite clearly having just come home from school.

"I will be. What's up with you?"

"Eh?"

Reuben gestured to her appearance. Megan glared.

"Reu, everyone wears makeup! Deal with it!"

"Do what you like. I can't oppose you , I'm not a girl. Just, tone it down a bit? I think it might be better."

Megan pulled a face.

"I guess…it is a pain….but…."

Reuben grinned evilly.

"Big brother's always right, don't you know?"

Megan pulled a face and glared. Matilda appeared, peering around Megan's legs.

"Ooh." She stared at Reuben, wide eyed.

"That girl looks familiar." Megan pointed to the screen, changing the topic. The screenshot the video was paused at showed Kosuke, Kyouko, Makoto, Suzu and Janus. Arisa's hair was also in the shot, but she was cut off for the most part.

"Which one?" Reuben asked.

"Her." Megan had pointed to Suzu.

"Right…"

Matilda chose that moment to run away again, and Megan took chase, yelling at the little girl to stay out of her room. Soon, Reuben could hear lots of shrieks and giggles. He grinned, and turned back to the video before pressing play.

"But how can we possibly find out who dropped the key? Can't we get like, fingerprints or something?" Marvin asked

"Does this LOOK like some kind of CSI to you? We don't have all that fancy crap." Janus replied.

"In any case, how the hell is focusing on a mystery bottle going to help?" Arisa demanded.

"I could smell vodka earlier." Shika said randomly. Everyone ignored her.

"It might be a way of leading to motive, no?" Akaya pointed out.

"Erm, I don't mean to spoil the party, but I think we've forgotten something." Emi held up her sketchbook open at a page as everyone stared at her.

"What about that odd stain that was hidden by the blood?"

All of a sudden, the video ended.

Reuben was tempted to click on the next video straight away, but he knew that he needed to revise or he'd be in trouble. So instead, he reluctantly shut down his computer and went to do his exam questions.

Reuben was responsible for making dinner that night, and so he decided to attempt to replicate a pasta bake recipe from the Bird House's menu. Matilda wanted to help, so he had her mixing the sauce, and then he roped Megan in to keep an eye on Matilda (much to both girls' annoyance). The result was an incredibly messy kitchen, and so most of the evening was spent cleaning up.

By the time they had all finished, Reuben was incredibly tired. This is why he decided that he would just watch the next video before going to bed, as opposed to doing more revising.

The next video started at the exact point the previous one had stopped; meaning the timing of the cut-off had been coincidental.

Everyone stared at Emi in stunned silence.

"What? Don't tell me you all forgot?"

"Actually, I think we might have…" Makoto looked sheepish. "Thanks, Kasuragi-san."

"Eh, no problem!" Emi looked pleased.

"So, what about this stain? What is it? "Nanako asked.

"It appears to be make-up of some kind. " Kyouko said.

"Huh? So does that mean the culprit is female?" Akihito asked.

"That would make sense." Kyouko replied.

"No it wouldn't!" Marvin declared "It could be a red herring thingy! You know, when someone does something to throw the police off scent!"

"That's wrong!" Makoto interjected. "If it was a red herring, then why was it hidden?"

"Because it was a red herring!" Marvin argued.

"No, that's wrong! Think about it. If the culprit was trying to frame someone else by using the make-up, then they wouldn't have needed to hide it. Right, Kirigiri-san?"

"That is the conclusion I came to myself." She agreed.

Marvin didn't argue back, instead opting to stew in annoyance. For some reason, Reuben was pleased with this. The girl was annoying. Really annoying.

"So, I guess we can narrow it down somewhat. But that's still what, 11 suspects?" Akihito asked.

"It might actually be less if you discount the ones who don't use make up. Such as me." Akaya piped up.

"I-I don't wear make-up either." Chihiro said hesitantly.

"Neither do I!" Mirai said. She looked annoyed at being there. Probably more down to her personality quirks than any actual involvement in the murder, Reuben decided.

Suzu rang her bell. Eirik automatically read out what she had written.

"I have make-up with me, but none of it is that bright. And I haven't used it since arriving."

They went through all the girls, until it was established that the only girls who owned some sort of make-up that was remotely close to that red shade were Shika, Arisa, Nanako and Marvin. However , the former two had only brought the makeup with them to use for special occasions such as Christmas and class parties-this was at a time they'd believed they were in for a normal school life , after all.

"So, it is out of these two, huh?" Akihito mused, looking at the two suspects with a cheeky grin.

"Like I'd EVER go near that…that…that….THAT!" Nanako protested angrily.

"Why would I kill him? I loved him." Marvin pulled a sad face.Really? Reuben wondered

"Hah! Like you'd know what love really was?" Arisa said in annoyance, sharing Reuben's sentiments.

"Do you?" Marvin responded snidely.

"I know more than you!"

"This isn't really helping, guys. " Makoto said wearily.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" both girls yelled.

"Ou of what, exactly? This argument is merely hot air." Janus commented idly. The result of that comment was that the girls went quiet.

"In any case, how do we figure out which of them it was?" Dai asked "Both have equally compelling, if still unconvincing, reasons for innocence. "

"I'm telling you, I didn't kill him. Why would I even go near him? He's such a geek!" Nanako declared.

Everyone paused, trying to figure out where to go next. Reuben was sure that he knew who the culprit was now, but he decided to wait it out. After a while of silence, Chihiro eventually spoke up.

"Sayuri-san, you said something earlier, didn't you?"

"'My aunt packed the make-up set?'"

"No. Something about vodka?"

Shika had a light-bulb moment.

"OH! Yeah, I could smell vodka earlier. And wine, too!"

Clearly, nobody else remembered her random comment from before.

"Wait, so you weren't just being random?!" Akihito asked in shock, the penny dropping.

"No!"

"When did you smell it, exactly?" Kyouko asked, taking over. As usual.

"Erm…near the storage room, and definitely near the dorms." A light bulb went off in Reuben's head now, as he recalled some clips from an earlier video. It was almost certain that he had correctly guessed the culprit.

"Possibly near Kevin Brown's dorm room?"

"I...Let me think…yeah! Definitely, yeah!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

Makoto smiled. "If alcohol has something to do with the case, then that is a lot of questions answered!"

Kosuke nodded in agreement "An empty wine bottle would certainly fit the bill for the murder weapon, and that could explain the stains on the bedside table …but why is there alcohol in the school? Monobear? Hello? Monobear?" The scene briefly focused on Monobear, who was asleep.

Seriously?

"WAKE UP, MONOBEAR!" Afar scared everyone by yelling unexpectedly. The bear practically jumped out of the throne, which made Reuben smirk.

"Yes? Oh, don't tell me I missed the interesting things!" The bear lamented.

Kosuke ignored this comment.

"Tell me, do you keep alcohol in the school?"

"Why, of course! It makes people do things they normally wouldn't do! And look how wonderfully things turned out!"

"Really? " Janus asked.

"Ah, I may as well stay awake now; see what you have for me." Monobear grinned in glee.

"I didn't even know that alcohol was available here…" Arisa said in astonishment, reeling from the shock. "I didn't think Kevin would drink."

"He may have been coerced, Ishi-san." Makoto said.

Suzu's bell rang. She looked grim-faced.

"I think Sakamoto-san has something she is hiding. If I am right, then afterwards I will tell you something. "Eirik read.

Everyone looked at Mirai.

"What?" she snarled.

"If you have something that could be useful to the trial, then please share it." Kyouko told her.

"What does this have to do with me…?"

"Sakamoto-san, please?" Mirai looked at Chihiro, and then pulled a face.

"Fine, fine! I went to the storage room, and it was a mess. One of the boxes, which I will call the X-Rated box, was kicked around completely. Stuff had definitely been taken away from , and I found this!" From nowhere, Mirai produced a small red scrunched up cloth. She shook it out, and it was revealed to be a dress. A very small dress.

"Ah. Well that ties in with what we were going to say. "Janus said. "Yesterday, we were looking for Suzu's bell in the storage room." Suzu held up the bell to illustrate this, and then Janus continued.

"While we were there, Karin-san came in, changed her clothes, and then proceeded to drag away lots of what was quite possibly bottles of vodka and wine in a large sack. "

Marvin's mouth fell wide open.

"How …" Kyouko carefully considered her question. "How did she look while doing this? "

Janus and Suzu silently conferred for a while, before Janus answered.

"As if she was rejected, and intending to change that."

Marvin's expression changed to one of anger, but she still said nothing.

"I see. In that case, I think we have our answer. What do you think, Naegi-kun?"

"I think I agree. "Makoto turned to Marvin, and pointed at her.

"Karin-san, you are the one who killed Kevin Brown!"

This one actually slightly went against type-I was originally going to have Marvin as the first victim, and have a different boy as the culprit….then I had this idea, and I couldn't resist. Anyway, next chapter will be the part of the trial where they make Marvin confess, and there will then be an execution…O.O , again , seen from Reuben's viewpoint.

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