Ultimate Danganronpa 3: Despair's Final Challenge

by Maestro Infinite

Akira Maita, along with nineteen other kids, has the misfortune of being drawn into yet another mutual killing game, with a dystopian/utopian paradise as the unnatural setting. Secrets abound, as do lies and half-truths. In a world where nothing is quite as it seems which ideal will hold out to the end, hope or despair? Students remaining: 20/20

10. Prologue, Part 8

A/N: Okay here's the last main part of the investigation, are you ready because it's a long one? And remember to keep track of those clues so you'll be able to solve the mystery before the students because the fun of a mystery game is figuring out conclusions before they're played out. And I will have a pretrial section before I begin the class trial that will remind you about all the clues presented so it's fine if you can't remember them all at once. Okay now then, when we last left Akira he was presented with incriminating evidence that Hajime Hinata's killer might be the Ultimate Swimming Pro, Aoi Asahina, could she really have done it or is there something else going on here? Read on and we'll find out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa or any of the songs featured in this chapter.

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Prologue, Part 8: The Plot Thickens

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DAYTIME, 10:28 AM

0:32:00 REMAINING

As I ran up the second floor staircase to reach the third floor I began to think about everything that I had found out so far. 'We can't say for sure who is Hajime's killer yet but of the twenty-seven suspects we've eliminated three of them so far. Gundam Tanaka, Byakuya Togami, and Toko Fukawa. All three of them are already dead so they can't be the killer. That leaves twenty-four more suspects left. And then there's Aoi Asahina, that swimsuit belonging to her was covered in blood and it was fresh blood too so it has to be related to this case. That makes Aoi the prime suspect in the murder…but it seems a little too obvious. Why commit a murder in something that has your own name written on it? Either Aoi wasn't thinking it through very well or someone's going out of their way to frame her. I don't know what to think, we don't have nearly enough evidence to draw any conclusions. And there's twenty-three more suspects that we need to investigate first.'

I rounded the flight of stairs and reached the third floor. 'One thing's for sure, I don't think we're going to get anywhere unless we first establish who's dead and who's not. But how do we do that? There aren't any more crime scenes to investigate besides Hajime's crime scene. If only we could…' my thoughts were interrupted when I collided with someone just as I was rounding the staircase corner. I was hit hard on the head with the head of the person I crashed into and we both landed flat on our backs in response to the collision.

"Ow, watch where you're going you damn idiot!" my fellow collider exclaimed, making me know immediately who I ran into.

I sat up on my back and rubbed my forehead to ease its pain. "Junmaru-kun, is that you?" I asked in reply.

Jonathan's glasses got knocked off of his face as a result of the collision so he was forced scramble on the floor to collect them. When his glasses were back on his face he replied, "Yes, it's me. Now again, for crying out loud watch where you're going." He got up off the floor and dusted off his blue jeans. "What are you doing running around in the halls for anyway, Aki?" he asked.

"Monokuma," I replied with a groan.

"What about him?"

I pushed myself back up onto my feet and dusted off my clothes as well. "He told me to come up here to the third floor, he said something about giving out a hint for the investigation."

"Well this can't be a coincidence, that idiotic robotic bear appeared to me too and told me the same thing. I was up on the fourth floor and he told me to come down here to get answers to certain questions."

"Eh?" I uttered in reply.

And then I heard someone coming up the stairs. "So I'm not the only one who was asked to come here then. This can't be good," another familiar person said. Jonathan and I turned in the direction of the staircase and saw that Yasuke had appeared at the top of it. From what I could tell he had managed to stop his nose from bleeding by setting it and plugging up his nostrils with strips of paper towels, though his shirt still had a large blood stain on it that had appeared to have set in before it could be completely cleaned. He folded his arms and sighed. "I guess it's a good sign that I wasn't called up here alone but it's just my luck that I'd get paired up with wimpy and the neat freak."

"What the hell did you say you bloody idiot?!" Jonathan shouted in reply.

"You've just proven my point, I haven't even been here thirty seconds and you're already commenting on the blood. I didn't get to the stain in time, blood sets in fast, okay?" Yasuke pulled at the fabric of his shirt. "Good thing this shirt wasn't even clean, now I just have another excuse to wash it."

"What the…what the hell do you mean it's not clean?!" Jonathan exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Oh god, don't tell me you're going to bitch about that too. I've been busy lately, I haven't had the time to do the laundry."

"You're disgusting! Don't ever touch me, I bet you didn't even shower this morning!"

Yasuke raised his arms and shrugged and then said, "You don't have to shower every day."

"Repulsive," Jonathan replied in disgust.

I sweatdropped at the scene. "Hey guys maybe we should concentrate on the task at hand. We've got to find Monokuma."

"Speak of the devil and he will appear." We all turned and saw that Monokuma had appeared in front of the door the rec room. "Welcome you three lucky contestants to a special mini-game that I like to call the Death Scavenger Hunt!" he exclaimed as he raised his arms.

"D-Death Scavenger Hunt?" I replied in fear.

"Hey dumb bear, I've got a bone to pick with you! What's the deal with summoning the three of us here, you said this was a special hint for me alone!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"That's what you're mad about? God you're so damn full of yourself," Yasuke replied.

"Well this mini-game requires a minimum of three players, I wanted to get all of you here but most of you downright refused. Luckily you three morons chose to participate, you must really want to get out of here if you're willing to result to taking hints from the mastah of disastah!" Monokuma exclaimed in a showy manner.

"So you admit it, this "hint" you want to give us is just a croc to get us to waste time, isn't it?" Yasuke asked.

"Gosh, you all think so little of little old me. I'm not that bad, I swear. This is an honest to god hint that I'm giving you out of the goodness of my twisted little blackened heart. Don't you trust me?" Monokuma asked.

"No," the three of us replied altogether.

"Yikes, tough crowd. Well news flash, maybe I want you guys to win this first round because then I finally get to play my game."

"Wait, you're helping us to move us along?" I asked.

"Duh, what did you think I was helping you for you moron? If you guys win then everybody wins in this situation…except for the person you guys execute. But screw them, right? It's live or be killed, every man for himself. So I'll help you guys any way I can in order to make sure that we get to continue having lots of fun, fun, fun."

"No way, as soon as this is over we're getting out of here. We don't care what you say, none of us are killing each other," I replied.

Monokuma chuckled. "You're funny. That's the same exact thing Makoto and Hajime said…and look what happened to them. It doesn't matter what you say, things will never ever go the way you want them to. But by all means, hold onto that pathetic hope you have of returning to your normal lives again because I want to see the looks of despair on your faces when its wings get burned and it comes crashing down from the weight of utter hopelessness."

"Says you, I'm not going to kill anyone either," said Yasuke.

"Me neither, like I said I can't stand blood and I especially can't stand you," said Jonathan.

"Looks like I'm not very well liked, oh well you can't blame a bear from trying. Let's just get this game started, all you need to know is inside the rec room. Counting down from now you have thirty minutes until the class trial begins, follow the clues I give you and you should have enough evidence to solve the case and find out who did in Hajime Hinata. Good luck bitches, you're gonna need it. Adios!" Monokuma exclaimed and then he ran off again.

"Where do you think he goes?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Beats me, but we don't have time to worry about that now. We have to solve this mystery, that's the only way we're even going to have a chance of getting out of here alive," Yasuke replied.

"So I guess the three of us are going to have to work together in order to solve this, it's fine by me just make sure you don't slow me down," said Jonathan.

"Alright then, let's do this." I opened the door to the rec room and then the three of us walked inside and examined the room. The thing that first caught our eyes was shocking to say the least. At the very back of the rec room there was a large man-made funeral altar that was surrounded by flowers and a series of candles, and on the altar's middle shelf there was a series of photographs of different people. Then on the very top shelf there was an odd and off-putting statue that looked incredibly gruesome and terrifying. The candles surrounding the altar were held on top of bone-shaped candle holders and the bright flames coming from the candles spread smoke around the altar and made it seem as though a dark miasma aura had enveloped it. The altar looked like something you would prepare in order to curse someone, not to honor them. However, there were several funeral portraits on the middle alter shelf that said otherwise which made me think that the shrine was just made to look ugly by design. Most likely it was made by someone who meant well but didn't realize what bad taste they had.

"What…what is that thing?!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"It's a funeral altar, but not one I'd ever want to be honored on that's for sure," Yasuke said with wide eyes.

"Do you think this is the hint that Monokuma mentioned? For the Death Scavenger Hunt?" I asked with a sense of fear in my voice.

"This altar sure looks like it would be involved in a game with a dark name like that," Yasuke said as he walked up closer to the funeral altar. Then he picked up one of the portraits on the shelf and examined it closely, and then he showed it to me and Jonathan. It was a black and white portrait of Byakuya Togami that was laced with white ribbons on the top corners of the frame and had a big bloody 'X' marked out across the photograph. "I think it's safe to say that he's dead, as are these guys." Jonathan and I moved in for a close look and saw that the other portraits on the funeral altar were of Toko Fukawa, Gundam Tanaka, and Hajime Hinata, all three of whom I had already found out to be dead. I also saw that along with the places for the four portraits on the middle altar shelf there seemed to be room for much more of them.

"Hey look, there's instructions posted up here on the wall," Jonathan said, grabbing mine and Yasuke's attention. All three of us crowded around a pin-up announcement that was left next to the altar. It read:

Welcome to the mini-game of the Murder Mystery Tour, the Death Scavenger Hunt, which I decided to make up because you morons were taking too long figuring things out. It was either extend the time limit or give you more hints, and we're on a tight schedule so more hints it is. As you can see this is funeral altar dedicated to the students who lost their lives in this academic colosseum. Including the eight sacrificed, the eighteen suicides, and the recently deceased Hajime Hinata there's a total of twenty-seven. One survivor left, who could it be? I'm not going to just flat out tell you but I will give you some leeway and point you in the right direction. I'm going to tell you where the other crime scenes were previously before they were cleaned up, certain clues may be available in those areas so don't forget to search every nook and cranny. But the best part is that this is mainly going to be mental work, all the names and specific details pointing to the deceased's identity have been retracted. But based on the locations and acts attributing to the suicides and deaths as well as the survivors' thoughts afterwards you should be able to narrow down who died where as well as make a specific timeline for each death. Here's your first clue:

"We found both of them together in the art room, right under (blank name)'s collage. They were holding each other close, they always acted that way but now it really seemed so, they were really like siblings. (Blank name) was the older (blank gender specific thing) and (second blank name) was the younger one. I couldn't believe that we would never get the chance to be together with them again. (Blank name) would never take any more photos of all of us and (second blank name) would never be around to mock anyone with good nature and fun. Their deaths shattered our spirits greatly, we just couldn't understand it. The two of them loved life so much and yet they chose to end theirs? They tried their best to make their talents unmatched and they loved what they were good at too. If they of all people couldn't hold onto their hope then what hope was there for the rest of us? The only redeeming thing was how peaceful they looked. They overdosed on drugs from the infirmary by the looks of it. It almost looked like they were sleeping, they even wore small smiles on their faces. Unfortunately this was a sleep that they both would never wake up from."

Your first hypothetical crime scene is in the art room, there's not really any evidence pertaining to Hajime's murder but there may be some leftover evidence from an old suicide case. Go check it out for yourself and you'll find the clue leading to the next crime scene. Try to figure out who were the people who died in these places and each time you get one right a new portrait will appear on the altar mantle. If you time it right you can find out all twenty-seven identities of the deceased. Happy hunting!

XOXO,

Monokuma

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: DEATH SCAVENGER HUNT

I was utterly disgusted at the light he could make from something so tear-jerking as that. I wanted to cry but I couldn't force myself too, we had no time to waste. Our lives depended on solving this mystery, and I for one wasn't going to give up now.

Yasuke pointed to the door. "To the art room, book it," and then the three of us ran out of the rec room and headed down the hall and past the marble columns in the third floor hallway to reach the art room.

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DAYTIME, 10:31 AM

0:29:00 REMAINING

When we reached the art room we immediately noticed that a large portion of the back wall and chalkboard was covered in hundreds, if not thousands, of photos. And each one of the photos was pieced together in a collage to make a giant picture and the picture in this case was Monokuma's fat ugly face. "That's…?!" I was literally speechless at the giant waste of film and creativity.

"Is he really serious? God, I take it back he's fuller of it than you, by a long shot," Yasuke said to Jonathan.

"That is some real bad taste in art, is this the collage that was mentioned in the clue? If it is I think I can get why they killed themselves, after seeing this I'm tempted to end it too. Not that I'd actually be that much of an idiot," Jonathan commented on the collage.

"Sheesh, everyone's a critic." Monokuma appeared right in front of us in an instant, he literally moved as fast as lightning. "Art is meant to simply get a reaction out of a person, you numbskulls. It doesn't matter what that reaction is, as a matter of fact if you automatically hate the art piece then that was probably the reaction the artist wanted you to have in the first place."

"This is the collage that Mahiru Koizumi made?" Yasuke asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, Mahiru Koizumi?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "The Ultimate Photographer?!"

Jonathan snickered. "Come on Aki, don't tell me you didn't figure out such an obvious clue? One of the people who died was mentioned to take photos and it said that the two people who died, died under a collage of photos. Mahi is the only student who has anything to do with photos. Any idiot could've figured that out."

"Ding-da-ding-ding-ding!" Monokuma exclaimed. "You got one out of two. 50%. And since this is still a school that means you get an F-. You three boys all fail art class, unless you can tell me the identity of the student who died in Mahiru's arms. I'll give you the next clue if you can figure it out. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Will the Wannabe, Neurologist, and Procrastinator be able to solve the riddle hidden in the collage? Only time will tell, but they don't have that much time to waste in the first place." Then Monokuma laughed really loud. "I crack myself up. Later!" And then the diabolical bear disappeared as fast as he appeared.

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: MAHIRU KOIZUMI

I frowned as I stared at the photo collage. "So this is Mahiru Koizumi's final resting place, eh?"

Yasuke sighed. "I can't imagine the others came in here that often after she and that other person passed away. So I doubt that any of them made this stupid collage, and if they all hated Monokuma as much as I do I'd doubt someone as talented as Koizumi would waste her time on something so atrocious. So that leaves the dumb bear himself."

"Then what did he do with the original collage?" I asked curiously.

"Knowing him he either shredded it or burned it, the idiot only cares about making people miserable. He's made that abundantly clear already," Jonathan replied.

I scoffed in disgust and then decided to observe the collage closer to find out exactly what Monokuma meant as the riddle that was hiding inside of it. And then I accidentally tripped over something and fell, knocking over an easel in the process. Jonathan and Yasuke ran over to my side and helped pick me back up onto my feet by throwing my arms over their shoulders. "You okay, Maita?" Yasuke asked in concern.

I grunted in reply to his question as I felt a sharp twinge in my right leg and foot. "I think I twisted my ankle," I said as I gritted my teeth in pain.

"You've got to be more careful Aki, to truly get anywhere in life you've got to always be aware of your surroundings, just like m…" Jonathan's eyes widened and his face went completely pale when he looked down at the ground to observe the condition of my ankle. And then he screamed and forced my arm off of him and then he quickly ran to the other side of the room and gripped the wall in terror. Jonathan began to pant profusely as his eyes remained glued to the spot on the floor that had spooked him.

"What's gotten into you?" Yasuke asked.

Jonathan raised a twitching finger and stuttered out, "B-Bl-Blo-Blood!"

Yasuke and I looked at the floor to see exactly what Jonathan was talking about and then we saw that my trip had caused a large bucket filled with bright pink blood to pool out onto the floor, and it had also stained my shoes in the process. I was just as surprised as Jonathan but I didn't move, I felt like I couldn't move and with my ankle the way it was I wasn't even sure if I could. But Yasuke surprised me when he bent down and then scooped up some of the blood with his fingers. Then he brought the blood up closer to his face and examined it in the light. "This isn't blood, its paint." Then he shook the bright pink paint off of his fingers and scoffed, "Take into account the location you're in the next time you want to freak out about something. It only makes sense that paint would be in an art room, idiot."

"Paint! That's even worse!" Jonathan exclaimed, his terror unyielding. "Do you know how hard it is to wipe up art paint?! Most of the time you have to throw away anything it touches because it's that hard to remove!" He desperately checked his shoes and every inch of his clothes to make sure that not a single spot of paint had gotten onto him.

Yasuke sighed. "You're absolutely worthless." Then he turned to me. "Do you need to sit down for a second?"

I shook my head. "No I'm fine, we don't have any time to worry about stupid things like twisted ankles. We have to find more clues or else we're all dead. I'll just play through the pain." I retracted my arm from behind Yasuke's head and then I limped closer to the collage.

Yasuke smirked. "You on the other hand are far more useful than you think you are. But don't let that compliment go to your head, got it wimpy?"

I looked back and smiled at him and then I nodded, and then I continued to limp towards the photo collage. And when I was finally close enough to examine the photos that made up the giant Monokuma head I sat down on the teacher's desk and looked over each and every photo. Yasuke and Jonathan came up on either side of me and started to examine the photos as well. Even though together they made a picture of Monokuma the pictures themselves were of random things. The scenery of the academy, some of the students we had identified, and some pictures that looked like they were taken before the students got locked in the academy.

I could see that Mahiru had taken pictures of everyone in her class and everyone in Chihiro and Mukuro's class, there were even a few photos of Nagito, Chihiro, and Mukuro mixed into the bunch. Then Jonathan pointed out a photo that made part of Monokuma's mouth. "Hey look, it's Muku and Mako." Yasuke and I looked to where Jonathan was pointing and we saw a picture of Makoto and Mukuro together. Makoto had his arm wrapped around Mukuro and he was smiling at Mahiru's camera, but Mukuro seemed unnerved by the contact Makoto was giving her. Her face was flushed red in color and she was looking away from the camera instead of smiling at it. Then he laughed at the photo. "In here the hardcore soldier Muku looks like she's an actual girl. Do you think she was carrying a torch for Mako?"

"Focus. We need to find out who Koizumi died with, we won't be able to continue until we do," Yasuke replied.

"Is the answer really hidden in this collage?" I asked.

"It better be, I'm about tired of that idiot robot screwing with us," said Jonathan.

I looked over every single photo and started to notice that there were a lot of photos of Mahiru together with a group of girls. I recognized three of them. There was Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Musician, and Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse. And there was also another girl who I did not recognize; she had pale skin, a pair of violet eyes, and long black hair. The five girls were depicted in numerous photos laughing, smiling, and hanging out in different locations. "Huh, Koizumi-san seemed really close with these other four girls. Maybe the other victim is one of them?" I wondered.

Yasuke pointed at a picture of the five girls and said, "If Koizumi is victim #1 and one of these girls isn't a suspect then that leaves three possible choices, Tsumiki, Saionji, or Mioda." Then he sighed in exasperation and said, "Dammit, what are we supposed to do now, just guess?"

"One in three chance, and Monokuma didn't say that there was a penalty if we were wrong," Jonathan said.

"No, the penalty is that we waste time and don't gather any more useful clues. The answer has to be hidden in the collage somewhere," Yasuke replied.

Then Jonathan noticed something about one of the photos of the five girls. "Well that's odd," he pointed to the photo's edge, "See? One of the corners is bent."

"So? There are a lot of photos, you can't expect them all to be perfect," Yasuke replied.

"That's just it though, none of the other photos are bent, crooked, or misaligned in any way, shape, or form." Jonathan reached for the photo and pulled at the bent corner, we were all surprised when the photo came off the wall without any hesitation. "We've been thinking that the answer is hidden in one of the photos, but what if the answer is the photo itself?" Jonathan brought the photo closer to his face and then turned it around to examine its backside. "Aha, just as I thought. There's something written on the back of this, see?" Jonathan showed me and Yasuke the back of the photograph and we saw that there was writing that read:

BFFs for Life

Mahiru Koizumi – the serious older sister and record keeper of the group

Hiyoko Saionji – the funny, snarky, and cute little sister who gets away with everything

Ibuki Mioda – the loud and lovable rock star who always makes us smile

Mikan Tsumiki – the kind and gentle caretaker and nurturer

Sato Amari – the always truthful hard worker who you can count on to be there for you

Though we may grow older and someday drift apart our hearts will always keep us close. No matter what we will always be sisters who are connected by a bond even stronger than blood.

And then there were signatures from the girls at the bottom of the photograph. It was so sad that I almost shed a tear on their behalf.

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: FIVE FRIENDS, ONE PROMISE

Then Yasuke took the photo from Jonathan and held it close. "The clue mentioned the person who died with Koizumi was like her younger sibling, right? And that this person loved to mock other people and tease them?"

I nodded in reply and said, "Yeah that seems about right."

Yasuke nodded in confirmation and then shouted, "Hey Monokuma, we've got the answer for you!"

And then the robotic bear suddenly appeared again. "Got the answer I see, well in that case tell me who it is, why don'tcha?"

"No problem," Yasuke said with a smirk and then he turned to me, "Tell him who it is, Maita."

"What, me?" I replied in confusion.

"What, don't tell me you didn't already figure it out? Think about it, based on the clue we were given in the rec room and this photo we found it could only be one person. Just tell him who you think it is?"

'Hmm, based on all the evidence and clues so far, the identity of the other person who committed suicide here in the art room could only be…' I looked up at Monokuma and said with a questioning look, "Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Traditional Dancer?"

Monokuma made a sad face. "Oh, I'm sorry but unfortunately you are…absolutely correct!" his sad face disappeared and an excited one took its place. "That's right, Mahiru Koizumi and Hiyoko Saionji took their lives one cold night when the grief had become too much for them to bear, leaving their dear friend Mikan to wallow alone in despair. Ah, nothing's more precious than the despair over a lost friendship. First those poor girls lost Sato Amari and Ibuki Mioda and then they slowly lost themselves. One might even say their friendship was doomed from the very moment it started. So much grief came over their friendship, and so much blood and death as well. That goes to show you that interpersonal relationships will get you killed one way or another."

"That's a very dark way of looking at things," I replied.

"Well what can I say? I'm naturally dark. Anyway, since you solved the first part of the Death Scavenger Hunt you get another clue." Monokuma handed me a sheet of paper with the next clue on it. "See you later." And then he disappeared again.

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: HIYOKO SAIONJI

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: IBUKI MIODA

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: MIKAN TSUMIKI

AMMUNITION UPDATED: MONOKUMA'S TESTIMONY

"Nice work Maita, we finished with plenty of time to spare for the rest of the game," Yasuke complimented me.

"Hey, I'm the one who found the clue. If it wasn't for my procrastination skills to notice such a minuscule detail as a bent corner you guys would've been stuck for sure," said Jonathan.

"You're right, thanks for not taking anything seriously enough so you can be able to focus on dumb things like photographs with bent corners," Yasuke replied sarcastically.

"I know you're making fun of me but I don't care, you're welcome," Jonathan replied.

"So what does the next clue say anyway?" Yasuke asked.

I lifted up the paper so they both could read along with me. The next clue read:

"(Blank pronoun) kept saying he was going to make something that could get us out of here. Almost all day, every day, (blank pronoun) was in the physics lab trying to make something to help us. The latest experiment involved building a device that could short circuit the electronic locks in the restricted areas and the lock to the main entrance. (Blank name) was very confident that (blank pronoun) could outwit Monokuma and think of a way around his obstacles, (blank pronoun) may not have been all that smart but (blank pronoun) knew technology and machines better than anyone else so we were all depending on (blank pronoun). I guess the pressure must have just been too much for (blank pronoun) because one morning we went to Physics Lab and found (blank name) dead and hanging from the cat walk. (Blank pronoun) wrapped the wires (blank pronoun) was fiddling with around (blank possessive pronoun) neck and then jumped. Through an investigation and a class trial we learned that it was suicide, no matter how much we wished it wasn't."

"I guess we're headed to the physics lab next," I said.

"Alright then, let's go," Yasuke grabbed my arm and swung it around his neck and then he helped me walk…or in his case…run to the door. But then we stopped and were surprised to see that Jonathan was not coming along. "Hey, what's the hold up? We've still got a lot of ground to cover," said Yasuke.

"You guys go on ahead," Jonathan replied. He pointed to the paint that I spilled over. "If I don't do something about this mess it's going to drive me crazy thinking about it, I won't be of any use to you that way."

Yasuke shook his head and replied, "You are so weird."

"Don't question my methods. Messes always give me bad procrastination habits, the only way I can stop thinking about it is by cleaning it up. Just go, we don't have much time left."

"Which is exactly why splitting up isn't ideal." Then Yasuke sighed and said, "Let's go, Maita," to me and then we ran out of the art room and headed for the physics lab.

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DAYTIME, 10:35 AM

0:25:00 REMAINING

As Yasuke and I entered the Physics Lab we were immediately greeted with the sight of Monokuma. "Wow, you guys got here fast. You must really want to live. Good thing for you, I like hard working boys so I'm not gonna give you any run around this time…around." Then he chuckled. "Couldn't resist. Okay this time your clue to finding out the identity of the victim is…"

Yasuke immediately cut him off. "The answer is Kazuichi Soda, the Ultimate Mechanic."

Monokuma seemed flabbergasted. "What?"

"Kazuichi Soda, he's the one who hung himself here. The clue you left us was kind of obvious if you were able to keep the suspects' talents in mind. He's the only one that would be the best with machinery and technology out of their group."

"What a…load of bull crap!" Monokuma shouted. "I prepared one of the hardest challenges of all in this room and now you're telling me I don't get to use it?!"

"What was the challenge anyway?" I asked of curiosity.

"Glad you asked." Monokuma pointed to a large device that had a glass bubble dome. "You see that machine? It's an air purifier. That's the reason why you're able to breathe in here when all the windows and doors are bolted down. Considering that no oxygen could get in and out of the academy, I would have turned off the air purifier and locked you in here with a limited supply of air until you found out the identity of the deceased. But the clue I was going to give you was so damn complex that you probably would've gotten the answer when you were already gasping for breath." Then Monokuma shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, the next challenge is a doozy as well. Our special guest star has the next clue so just talk to her. See ya later, alligators." Then he disappeared again.

"I am kind of…no, I'm very glad we did not have to do that challenge," I said.

"Just be glad he's toying with us for now, there's no doubt in my mind that he made the clue simple on purpose. I think he's trying to lure us into a false sense of security so we'll stop think clearly. Remember, his games are deadly. The other students found that out the hard way."

"Yeah, I guess." Then I sighed and stared up at the cat walk in the room. Kazuichi's last resting place. 'Even though they did it themselves it's still his fault. He made them feel like it was the only way to escape. But I'm not going to give into despair so easily,' I thought to myself.

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: KAZUICHI SODA

"Bonjour mes amis!" Yasuke and I turned to face the back of the physics lab and saw that Connie had emerged from the physics preparation room. She waved at us and then she came running over. "I see you decided to check la physics lab as well, great minds think alike, no?"

"Takemi-san? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Investigating, this is what we were told to do, no?" she replied. "La physics lab is le peak of Hope's Peak Academy, if I may say so myself. Here all the greatest minds converge and create utter marvels of science and machinery. Every time I step in here I find myself filled with new found resolve to continue la research of my pipe dream. I could not bear la thought that Monsieur Monokuma damaged it in anyway. But everything seems to be normal, except for this new machine." Connie pointed to the air purifier. "I use this room almost every day for my research and I am quite sure I have never see it before. A mystery, no?"

"Monokuma said something about it being an air purifier," said Yasuke.

"You saw la beast too, Messieurs? Monsieur Monokuma told me la same thing, he said 'twas made by a student with le title of l'Ultime Physicist. But I have no recollection of such a student. Another mystery added, no?"

'Huh, that sounds familiar,' I thought to myself.

"We've got more important things to worry about right now. We're investigating the clues Monokuma is leaving behind for us as he jumps from location to location. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt, except instead of items we're looking for the places where the other students died."

Connie squealed in excitement. "Oh I love les scavenger hunts, they're always so much fun! Monsieur Alice, Monsieur March Hare may I accompany you on your expedition?"

"I…I don't know, won't Monokuma get mad?" I asked Yasuke.

"It's not like he said nobody we met along the way couldn't tag along, as a matter of fact I think he wanted to get all of us involved originally. I'll think he'll be happy someone else wants to play now."

"Oh I see, so this is le hint Monsieur Monokuma was talking about? If I'd known it would be a scavenger hunt I would have gladly gone. My pipe dream can wait for now, come let us go, no?!" She had an overeager and weird way of looking at things.

"Now hold on, we don't know where we should go next. Monokuma said that someone would come bring us the clue telling us where the next location is."

"Next clue?" Then Connie's eyes widened and then she reached into her pants' pocket and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper. "Do you perhaps mean this, Monsieur March Hare?" Then she handed the paper to Yasuke, who hastily snatched it. "I found it in la preparatory room, I think Monsieur Monokuma must have dropped it."

"Dumb, ugly, watch girl! Why the hell didn't you tell us you had this sooner?!" Yasuke shouted.

"No one asked, no?" she replied innocently.

Yasuke growled and then he read over the clue and then gave it to me. It read:

"We didn't think (blank possessive pronoun) first live performance for us would be (blank possessive pronoun) last. As (blank name) stood up on the stage, (blank possessive pronoun) guitar in (blank possessive pronoun) hands, amplifiers behind (blank possessive pronoun), and microphone in front of (blank possessive pronoun) (blank pronoun) looked so happy and energetic, just like (blank possessive pronoun) usual self. Though (blank possessive pronoun) music laid a lot to be desire – as a matter of fact it was the worst thing I had ever heard, and out of the whole group Hiyoko seemed to be the only one who liked it – (blank pronoun) still managed to cheer us all up. But we couldn't see until (blank pronoun) played that final song, that light-hearted song with the soothing melody, that (blank pronoun) was trying to say goodbye. It happened in an instant. (Blank name) dropped to the floor in front of us and then (blank pronoun) started to shake incessantly, and within a few moments (blank pronoun) stopped moving completely. We had lost another one of our friends already and to make matters worse we found out later that (blank possessive pronoun) rigging was set intentionally to electrocute (blank possessive pronoun) when (blank possessive pronoun) mouth came into direct contact with the microphone, turning (blank name) into a human wire. But it turned out that (blank pronoun) was the one who rigged it that way, (blank pronoun) just couldn't take it anymore. And the truth was that the rest of us were jest as on edge as (blank pronoun) was."

"I think the answer is obvious once again, wouldn't you say?" Yasuke asked me.

"Yeah judging by the description it has to be…" I asked my other self and then replied, "Ibuki Mioda, the Ultimate Musician."

AMMUNITION UPDATED: IBUKI MIODA

"Yet another one that's easy to solve, he has to be planning something big. Is your ankle feeling better?" he asked me to which I replied with a nod. "Good now the clue mentioned a stage so let's head for the gymnasium," Yasuke said as he turned to exit the physics lab.

"Hold on a second, mon amie," Connie called out to Yasuke and got his attention. "I think la clue is referring to la upstairs music room."

"We have a music room?" Yasuke asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"How could you not know that? Don't you go to school here?" I asked.

"I mainly stay in the science building, the only time I ever come near the main school building is when I have to meet with the headmaster," Yasuke replied. "But now that I think about it, the music room might be the better fit. Okay, lead the way cuckoo girl," he said to Connie.

"Gladly," she replied.

"Hey wait, what about Junmaru-kun, shouldn't we wait for him to catch up?" I asked.

"Let Mr. Clean find his own path, we don't need anyone else slowing us down," said Yasuke. And then he and Connie exited the physics lab. I was about to follow them but then I decided to lay down the clue on a nearby desk, just in case Jonathan decided to catch up. I didn't want to just leave him out of the loop.

---

DAYTIME, 10:37 AM

0:23:00 REMAINING

When we arrived at the fourth floor we were immediately greeted with a horrible, horrible sound. It sounded like two cats fighting over a can of tuna and it appeared to be coming from the music room. "Ugh, what the heck is that?" I asked as I covered my ears.

"It sounds awful," Yasuke added as he covered his ears as well.

"I think it's coming from la music room, no?" Connie replied as she cringed from the annoying sound too.

I hesitated before opening the doors and peering inside. And as soon as I opened the doors the sound boomed to massive levels. That's when I realized that this horrible sound was a combination of bad music and bad singing, and you'll never believe who the maestro of this musical torture was. Monokuma. He stood on top of an amp with a microphone in his right paw which he was singing deeply into, his singing was atrocious. There was a large karaoke machine that was spelling out the words to the song he was singing on a blue screen. But he didn't seem to be getting that many points by the looks of it. It's like he was deliberately trying to sing bad just to annoy us, which he probably was. And I couldn't believe the song that he was singing.

"So no one told you, life was gonna be this way?! Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A!" Monokuma leaned back and screeched into the microphone,"It's like you're always stuck in second gear!" And I glued my hands to my ears in response. Then I crept into the music room and Yasuke and Connie followed me. Monokuma seemed to notice us appear and began to increase his volume. "When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year…but I'll be there for you!" Monokuma pointed at me."When the rain starts to pour!"Then he pointed to Yasuke."I'll be there for you! Like I've been there before!" Then to Connie. "I'll be there for you! 'Cause you're there for me too!" Then the music came to an end and Monokuma took a bow. "Thank you! Thank you! You've been a wonderful audience!"

"What the…what was that all about?!" I exclaimed.

"Seriously, are you trying to kill us with your awful voice?!" Yasuke exclaimed.

"And on top of that you ruined one of les greatest songs ever made! Shame on you, Monsieur Monokuma!" Connie exclaimed.

"Yeesh, rough crowd. See this is why it's always best to go to karaoke alone, your friends will just diss your awesome singing skills because they're jealous. Like you pea brains."

"Enough of the games, give us the next clue already! We know Ibuki Mioda was the one who died here!" Yasuke shouted.

AMMUNITION UPDATED: IBUKI MIODA

"See I knew you would try to weasel out of my challenge again. That's why instead of giving you the challenge to learn the deceased's identity, I'm making the challenge mandatory for you to leave with the next clue. And this challenge is very simple. All you have to do is beat my karaoke score and I'll let you go."

"Karaoke? That is, how you say, dumb, no?" Connie replied.

"Stop kidding around, we're already on a time limit, we don't have time to sing songs," said Yasuke.

"Man you guys are a couple of cynics, everyone loves karaoke! My score is really low too so you basically don't have to do anything besides move your lips. And not one of you is willing to get up here and give it a shot?" Monokuma looked at me and shoved the microphone in my face. "How about you, Mr. Akira Maita? My intelligence tells me you're the Karaoke King of your neighborhood, what with how much you go to karaoke alone and all. Bravo for you, being ahead of silly things like interpersonal relationships. So what do you say, why not show off in public just this once?"

My eyes widened in fear. "How…how do you know that? I only go when I get bored."

"You go to karaoke alone? Seriously?" Yasuke asked.

"That is just sad Monsieur Alice. Just sad," Connie added.

"Hey, I don't go alone intentionally, okay?! It's just whenever I get invited to go with a group everyone cancels at the last minute, it's not like I like singing alone or anything," I said, trying to fight for what little dignity I had left. But it was useless, in their eyes I was a weirdo who sometimes liked to sing alone in a small sound proof room. There was a saying that if anyone ever caught you going to something as social as karaoke alone you would be branded a loser for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, I was a loner by design.

"Oh you poor thing," someone else suddenly said. We all turned to the doorway to see that someone had just walked into the music room. It was Beigoma, and she was giving me an annoying sympathetic look.

"Kiyoshi-san?" I replied. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

She ignored my question and then walked past Connie and Yasuke and directly up to me, and then she continued to speak. "You mean to tell me that you've never done karaoke with someone else before?"

I was a little annoyed that she flat out ignored me but the look she wore on her face got the better of me. I sighed in defeat and shook my head. "No."

"Then I'll show you how much fun singing together with someone can be." Beigoma grasped my hands and gave me a determined look. Then she turned to Monokuma and said, "Kira-kun and I will do a duet."

"Wait, we'll what?!" I replied in surprise.

Monokuma laughed at the scene. "Great, looks like we got some entertainment after all." The he brought the microphone up to his face and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the music stylings of Akira Maita and Beigoma Kiyoshi!" he exclaimed and then some kind of candid applause appeared out of nowhere.

"What was that just now?" Connie asked as she looked around for the source of the applause.

"Okay, no, no one is singing anything!" Yasuke exclaimed. "Give us the damn clue right now or I'm going to come up there and throttle you!" he shouted at Monokuma.

"Haven't we already done this rodeo, cowboy? If I say for you to sing then gosh darn it someone's gonna sing!" Monokuma shouted back at him. "And as an added measure…" as if finishing Monokuma's sentence the doors of the music room let out a loud *click* and when Yasuke tried to open them again he noticed that they were now locked from the outside.

"Aw, come on?! Seriously, again?!" Yasuke exclaimed.

"Now I think that you guys understand me, so let's not waste any more time. Get on up here you two lovebirds," Monokuma said to me and Beigoma.

"Come on, it'll be fun," she said. And then Beigoma pulled my arm and led me up to the stage, even against my many protests. Then she positioned me next to the karaoke machine and handed me its other microphone while she bent down and began searching through the karaoke machine's list of songs.

"Break a leg you two, seriously," Monokuma said as he dropped his microphone and jumped off the stage.

Then when Beigoma was finished picking a song she came back and stood on the other side of me, and then she picked up the microphone Monokuma dropped on the stage and took a deep breath. Then she smiled at me and asked, "You ready?"

"No, I really do not want to do this," I replied. "I've never sung in front of other people before and I don' think…"

Beigoma cut me off. "To sing a duet together means sharing with someone both the pleasure and the responsibility of making music for an audience which is there to feel enjoyment through music – Andrea Bocelli," Beigoma said with a giggle.

"That doesn't change the fact that I still don't want to sing," I replied but she just kept on ignoring me.

"Trust me, you're going to love this song. Just stay calm and follow my lead," she said.

"But I don't want to sing." It was like talking to a brick wall. Beigoma appears out of nowhere and then she makes me participate in singing a duet? It was that crack manga feeling all over again. Everything this girl did was like something out of a bad crack manga. And before I knew it the music started. The tempo at the beginning sounded very light-hearted and then soon it started to speed up. Until finally the lyrics kicked in.

"Danganronpa!" Beigoma exclaimed. "Reality slips far away, fiction comes alive, we start to play." I looked on the karaoke machine's screen and saw that her lyrics were highlighted in red and mine were highlighted in blue. My part was coming up next. "Hope is no more, behind a closed door as we drift away from where we were before."

And just like that it was my part. "Hope and hopelessness become one. It's all meaningless, we've already begun," I sang my heart out. "Yup, we are all one and the same, never opposites, we play the same game."

Then it was her turn again. "So I listen to the world, know right from wrong. Stay focused so I can stay strong. If you ever wonder why I'm trapped inside, it's probably just because I told a pack of lies."

Then my turn again. "Maybe it's a dream, maybe it was pride, maybe for myself, I often wonder why?
Until our very last breath, we're running after life, trying to beat death."

Then the two of us sang together a part together. "We walk a thin line between hope and despair, running from the truth but it's already here. Told so many lies I don't know if they can find me, only one life to live so choose wisely. Heads or Tails? Do you even know what side you're on? Does it really matter if it's on the same coin? If you want to achieve you gotta believe. It's time right now there's the door here's the key."

Then I had a solo part. "Just got to chase the pain away. Let it fade away!" I was starting to get into this song, it somehow made me feel invigorated and empowered."There's a ray of hope beyond despair. Move on, look for the truth in this world. Only one life to live so choose wisely!" I exclaimed. "Break through the confusion, find a solution, beat the twisted evil things. Just do it, go for it!"

Then Beigoma and I sang together again. "Never say never, never say never, never say never!"

Then she had a solo part. "Don't be hopeless, stay focused. Got to grind every time so they open. Got to climb real high where the rope is, it is written in the sky see the opus. And you know this. Please don't lose hope, try to progress keep your eye on the scope, for yourself or do it for your folks. Dedication, comes through the oath!"

"Danganronpa!" we exclaimed together.

"What does daganronpa mean if I may ask, Monsieur March Hare?" Connie whispered to Yasuke as the two watched Beigoma and I sing.

"It's a made up word that literally means "winning an argument with a bullet"," Yasuke replied as he watched emotionlessly with his arms folded over his chest.

"A little dark but it's very catchy," she replied as she began dancing in place to the melody of the song. I could see Yasuke was giving her a "what the fuck is wrong with you" look.

It was Beigoma's turn again. "From this day forth, stay on course. No despair, got to have a heart. Take no loss, every step costs. Everybody wants to see if you fall off. Keep your eye on the prize, been through the worst even cried on the side. No lie never know what you'll find, got to believe, let's keep hope alive!"

We were nearing the end of the song. "Don't throw yourself away, wipe all tears away. Even if the future seems uncertain, survive, find true happiness in this world. Dedication, got to swear the oath!" I sang.

To finish it off we both sang together. "So have a strong intention and change direction. 'Cause the sky is the limit, just do it, go for it. Never, never say never! For yourself or do it for your folks. Break through the confusion, find a solution, beat the twisted evil things. Just do it, go for it. Never say never! Never say never! Never say never! Never say never! Never say never! Never say never! Never, never say never!" The music started to grow soft again and the tempo began to slow down. Then we both faced each other and smiled. "Got to believe, let's keep hope alive!"

And then the music stopped and the candid applause reappeared, applauding Beigoma and I for our efforts. And to our surprise Yasuke and Connie applauded as well. Beigoma took hold of my hand again and then forced me to take a bow along with her. She giggled again and then began to speak to me. "See it's fun singing with other people, isn't it?" she asked.

I scoffed and then nodded in reply. "You were right, that was a good song."

"Let me know if you ever need a karaoke partner again, 'kay? I'll sing with you anytime," she said as she smiled at me and blushed a little.

Her expression made me blush in return. "Um, yeah sure thing."

Our thoughts were interrupted by a fit of sarcastic applause by Monokuma. "Encore, encore, bravo, brava!" he exclaimed. "I think it's safe to say you two beat my score. Although I couldn't disagree with your song choice more. Singing about hope and overcoming despair? Please. Maybe you should start singing songs about giving into despair and your hope being shattered instead because while you were enjoying that little music number you wasted five minutes! Hahaha, choke on that bitches, you've got less than twenty minutes left and you're not even halfway done with the Death Scavenger Hunt. Sucks to be you!"

"Why you little…!" Yasuke lunged at Monokuma again but Monokuma proved himself to still be too fast for Yasuke to keep up with. Then the diabolical bear jumped up onto the stage and handed the next clue to Beigoma. "Since it looks like you'll be tagging along as well I'll give the next clue to you." Then he looked back at the rest of us. "And since that was so satisfying and since you're tapped on time I'll give you another freaking handicap, you're lucky I like you guys so much."

"Yeah, lucky us," I replied.

"No comments from the peanut gallery!" he exclaimed and then cleared his throat and spoke normally again. "There won't be any more challenges now, from now on you can reach an area and the next clue will be waiting there for you already. All you have to do is solve the mystery of who died where and keep looking for clues. Isn't that so nice of me?"

"Nice or not, we still don't like you," Beigoma said.

"Yeesh, I'm feeling the heat from quote girl now? Talk about tough breaks. All right fine, it's time for me to blow this popsicle stand. See you at the class trial kiddies." And then he disappeared.

"So what's going on anyway? I saw you three coming up from the third floor in such a hurry that I thought something bad had happened," said Beigoma.

"We're on a scavenger hunt of sorts," I said uneasily.

"A scavenger hunt?" Beigoma repeated in confusion.

"Qui, so far it is tres magnifique. Mademoiselle Daffodil, your performance with Monsieur Alice was incroyable. I can't get la song out of my head," said Connie.

"I wouldn't call this scavenger hunt incredible at all, the things we're looking are the places where the other students passed away. Monokuma gives us a clue and then we head to that location and figure out who died there based on the limited amount of information he gives us, but so far the clues have been pretty easy."

"Are you sure you want to come Kiyoshi-san? It might get harder from here on out, you know?" I asked.

She smiled at me. "If you're going, then I'm going." Then she blushed a deep red. "If…if that's okay with you that is. Is it?"

I chuckled at her odd behavior. "Sure, it's fine. Now what does the clue say?" In response to my question, Beigoma handed me the clue and I read over it.

"We watched the video recording that (blank pronoun) prepared for us and were shocked at the discoveries we found. (Blank name) had already killed someone before, but according to (blank pronoun) that act just made (blank pronoun) feel even worse. Revenge wasn't the answer, (blank pronoun) found that out the hard way. The guilt ate at (blank name) until (blank pronoun) finally cracked. As we watched (blank name)'s final words unfold on the AV room's screen we couldn't help but wonder how (blank pronoun) got ahold of the knife in the first place. It didn't matter at that point though, not when yet another one of our friends decided to end their lives. Including the eight who sacrificed themselves our first week here, we had now lost fifteen. I couldn't help but wonder when it would finally end."

"Where to next, Monsieur Alice?" Connie asked me.

"The AV room I think, but this clue is different from the others. It doesn't mention the deceased's talent at all, but it goes into more specifics about the death. It looks like we'll have to do some digging to learn the identity this time," I replied.

"Just as I thought, this is probably to make up for not being able to give those challenges. He took my advice and made the clues harder, if that's the case it's going to get a lot tougher from here on out," said Yasuke.

"Well then that just means we'll be needing all the help we can get. If we see any of the others along the way we should have them join our search," said Beigoma.

"Did somebody say something about needing help?" All of a sudden a playful and eerie-sounding voice appeared out of the woodwork. We all turned to the door and saw that Izuru had poke his head into the music room. He smiled at us. "What are you all doing standing around for, do you want to get killed that badly?" he asked in his usual creepy tone.

"For your information Monsieur Jabberwock we happen to be in le process of something very important concerning le class trial," Connie replied.

"Kamukura-kun, where did you come from anyway?" I asked.

He snickered. "You're saying I shouldn't sneak up on people because I might frighten them? Aw, that's mean, why don't you just come out and say that I'm ugly right to my face?"

"You're not ugly so much as you are…" Yasuke started.

"Creepy, very creepy," Connie said bluntly.

"Creepy, eh? So that's how I'm perceived?" Izuru just shrugged it off. "Very well, I hope your investigation leads to a fruitful endeavor, like I said I don't want to be the one carrying all the weight in the class trial." He turned to leave but then Beigoma stopped him.

"Wait, Izuru-kun?!" she exclaimed, getting him to stop and listen to her. "Do you want to come with us? We might need the help and you seem pretty smart. Besides, I don't think that it's right that you're investigating on your own."

Izuru looked like he was confused. "Are you concerned about me or something? Afraid that going it alone will get me wound up dead too soon?" His smile returned. "Well don't be. You misunderstand something crucial here, we are only being paired to work together by force. This game is for the good of the group at the moment. But once the sole survivor is officially dead like all the other students then our chapter can officially begin. That's what I'm looking most forward to. The part where we get pitted against each other, the mutual killing."

"What?!" I exclaimed in fear.

"I'm saying that the mutual killing will be ten times more fun than this, not only do we get to solve more murder mysteries but we also have to suspect each other of being killers. A game where it's you against everyone else. A game of king of the castle. A zero sum game. Because in the end that's all it is, don't you see? It's all just one big game, a game that I intend to win."

Yasuke seemed just as afraid as I was. "What…what are you talking about?! You actually want to go along with this madness?!"

Izuru chuckled. "I've told you once before already, I like having fun. My philosophy of life is that if something isn't interesting at all then it doesn't deserve to exist. Right now, I deem this game to be exceptionally fun so I'll play along. And as for the rest of you…well I'm still just getting to know you right now so there is still the possibility of you being interesting but who knows, I could be wrong. I wonder which one of us will kill first? Not me, no. I'll bide my time and then strike while the iron is hot. And until then I'll just watch the blood shed unfold, like a crow perched high up in a tree, watching the executioner bring death down upon the unexpected from the comfort of the shadows. And then when you expect mercy to come upon you that's when I'll come."

Izuru's eyes changed instantly, the blood red color started to increase in darkness and his pupils began to constrict. Then a wicked toothy smile appeared on his face. "I, the crow, will come and peck your eyes out!" And then he laughed deep and manically, like some kind of deranged lunatic. And then almost like flipping a switch he reverted back to his usual mopey and depressed self. "I'm bored now. If you'll excuse me there's still something I need to investigate in the chemistry lab. That was the only reason I came up here. See you at the class trial." And then he left without another word. We stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity, you could actually hear the sound of Izuru walking down the hall and going into the chemistry lab it was so quiet. Not one of us dare uttered a word, the temperature in the room dropped at least ten degrees. The iciness and insanity of Izuru's words held a thick miasma over us, it was a taste of the despair and fear of a future close to coming into fruition.

"You…you don't think he really meant that, do you? He really wants to kill us?" Beigoma seemed almost too frightened to ask.

"With that guy, who the hell knows?" Yasuke replied uneasily.

"Very creepy," Connie added.

I sighed. "I just…I just wish I knew what his deal was." And in all that unpleasantness I forgot to ask Izuru about the knife he had earlier, but I pushed it to the back and just decided to ask him before the class trial.

We stayed quiet for a few more moments until the silence was once again broke by the arrival of a panting Jonathan. "Sorry…I-I'm late…" he panted out as he gripped his chest tightly. "Did you…did you get the next cl…oh god I'm gonna die?" Jonathan blurted out.

"Bonehead, what took you so damn long?" Yasuke asked in his usual domineering way.

Jonathan took a few deep breaths. "There was a lot of paint spilled in the art room from Aki's trip," he replied. "I just finished cleaning it all up and rushed over to the physics lab to meet up with you guys. And then you idiots just went and disappeared on me, I had to figure out the clue before I could find out where you went next. Then I ran the whole way here, which in hindsight I'll admit wasn't a good idea after doing backbreaking labor like getting fresh paint out of linoleum floors. But I did manage to find something interesting." Jonathan pulled out an expensive looking professional camera and showed it to us.

"Whoa, where'd you find that?" I asked.

"It was back in the art supplies room. I was looking for cleaning supplies and I saw this on the counter. It's busted though, I think someone took a hammer to it or something." As if almost on cue, the lens popped up and fell onto the ground and Jonathan leaned down and picked it up. "But I figured it still might be useful, look who it belongs to." We all leaned in and looked at the spot on the camera that Jonathan was pointing to. It was a label that read:

Property of M. Koizumi, if found please return.

"It's…it's Koizumi-san's camera!" I exclaimed.

"Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Photographer?" Beigoma asked.

"Yeah, we cleared her name off the suspect list. She committed suicide with Hiyoko Saionji, the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, in the art room. So those two can't be Hinata's killer. We've also excluded Byakuya Togami, Toko Fukawa, Ibuki Mioda, Gundam Tanaka, and Kazuichi Soda," Yasuke explained.

"Wow, les Messieurs have already done an excellent job on la scavenger hunt, no?" Connie replied.

"I bet this camera has some other kind of clue on it, but if we can't get it to work then it's just a worthless hunk of junk," said Jonathan.

"Wait, I bet he would know how to fix it. Yano-kun, he's the Ultimate AV Technician after all. If we take it to Yano-kun he might be able to get it to work again," I replied.

"That's not a bad idea, but first things first, we've got to finish this scavenger hunt. Now come on, let's book it to the AV room before we're out of time."

NEW AMMUNITON ACQUIRED: MAHIRU'S CAMERA

"Alright then what are we waiting for? Let's head down to the first floor," Jonathan said as he headed out of the music room and we followed after him.

---

DAYTIME, 10:41 AM

0:19:00 REMAINING

Upon entering the AV room we were greeted with the sight of Cam fiddling around with one of the many monitors and DVD players in the room. Chihiro was standing beside him and she looked like she was also busy helping him. "Ugh, this is ridiculous!" Cam exclaimed. "When I was here last week I was sure I had every single one up and running but now I can't get even one to work. Looks like we're not going to be able to watch that DVD," he said to Chihiro.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find out the problem. With the two of us working together we'll definitely get them working again," she replied and gave him a hopeful smile. "Now think, did you make sure all electronic boards were adjusted properly?" she asked.

"Yes," Cam replied.

"What about the spindle? It's not dirty or bent is it?" she asked.

"No, I make sure to clean and maintain all of them very often."

"How about the motor? Are there any shorts that you can see? Or maybe the winding's opened up and the tape's been pulled?"

In response to her concern, Cam checked the DVD player's inner workings with a small flashlight. "No from what I can see, the motor looks fine."

"Hmm…" Chihiro put her finger to her cheek and cocked her head to the side in contemplation. "There might be a problem with the sled then. If the DVD doesn't get picked up by the laser than it doesn't matter how much it spins inside, nothing will play. Do you see any loose screws or signs of tampering?"

Cam continued to look inside the DVD player and then he verbally exclaimed, "Aha! There's the culprit!" He pulled his out from the DVD player and turned to Chihiro. "A screw isn't loose, a screw's missing. Someone had to have taken it out on purpose, that's probably the case for all the other ones too."

"Do you have any spares?" Chihiro asked.

Cam pointed to a large desk in the corner. Bottom drawer on the right, it's where I keep all the spare parts. There should be a small screwdriver in there too."

Chihiro nodded and then headed over to the desk to collect the supplies Cam needed while the Ultimate AV Tech carefully opened up the inside of the DVD player and got to work at making sure nothing else was wrong with it. "Hey, we didn't expect to see you two here," I said, getting Cam's attention. "What's going on?"

"Chihiro-chan and I decided to come to my club room and investigate. I figured that maybe we could find out more about what happened to the others here, maybe one of them left behind some kind of message." Then Cam pulled a sealed DVD out of his pocket which had a label on it that read: Final Confession. "And that's when we found this. We were going to play it but we couldn't get any of the DVD players to work, until now that is, we think that we've finally found the problem."

Yasuke stared at the DVD with curiosity. "Hey, are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That DVD…," I replied, "There's a chance that it might be the one the clue mentioned."

"Hey yeah, the clue did mention a video recording that the deceased left for the others," said Beigoma.

"Um, am I missing something here?" Cam asked in confusion.

"We'll explain later, right now we have to watch that DVD. We're running out of time fast, when will you have it up and running?" Yasuke asked Cam.

Then a second later Chihiro came back with a small screw in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. "Here you go, I hope it's the right size," she said as she handed Cam the screw and the screwdriver.

"I'll have it ready to go in just a sec," Cam replied to Yasuke as he inserted the missing screw into the DVD player and screwed it in tightly. Then he put the DVD player completely back together and turned it on. "Fingers crossed now," Cam said as he inserted the DVD into the DVD player. Then the monitor above the DVD player went black and in a few seconds something mildly disturbing began to play out for us. It was a recording of someone sitting in the same exact chair Cam sat in now. A boy who looked to be about our age, although slightly on the short side. He wore an expensive looking black suit and had a shaved head and a sort of baby-face complexion. It was Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, the Ultimate Yakuza. He had bags under his eyes and wore a grim expression on his face.

"Hello there," he said in the recording. "My name is Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, I am the next in line to inherit control of my clan which is one of the most well-know, revered, and feared Yakuza clan in of Japan. Unfortunately, if you are watching this that means I did not live up to the expectations of my family and instead I am now dead." Fuyuhiko sighed. "I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, and recent events have inspired me to do so. The Kuzuryuu's may be a vicious and blood-thirsty family but above all else as Yakuza we are driven by honor. Without our honor we are nothing but trash, trash that doesn't deserve the walk the face of the earth. And before I go I want to admit my sinful deeds, I have dishonored the Kuzuryuu clan and brought great shame upon them and myself."

"As Yakuza we are taught the value of life and death from a very young age, to be a Yakuza worthy of inheriting control you need to be strong. Unbelievably strong. You have to make tough decisions when the situation calls for it, be willing to always put the family before yourself, and always keep in mind that sacrifice is required in life. I have dishonored my name by breaking this third rule." Fuyuhiko sighed again and asked himself, "Where to start?" Then he faced the monitor again and continued his speech. "I was born into my family with the prestige of an heir already sewn into me, but it helped that I had a friend who always stayed by me through thick and thin. Her name was Peko Pekoyama, my family took her in and raised her to be my right hand of sorts. They always made her feel like she was a tool, and soon she began to think like that. She began to think that she was worthless and her only mission in life was to protect me. Looking back now, I should have been there for her more. I should have stood up to my family and told them from the very beginning the truth, and now because I didn't Peko's gone, gone for good." He shed a single tear but tried to maintain his composure.

"You see, growing up I always had everything handed to me. I didn't have any other friends to speak of besides Peko because all the other kids were afraid that if they were mean to me in any way they would wind up in a ditch. Coming from a family like mine is a curse if their shadow always hangs over your head. And that was why from at a very young age I began to deny the luxuries extended to me. I decided that I didn't want to make it through life based on the merits of my family but on my own merits instead. If I was destined to become a Yakuza head then I would make it on my own terms. I wanted to prove to everyone that I wasn't strong because of my last name, I wanted to prove that I was strong all on my own. But that dream is gone now, because over the past few years I've realized something. I'm not strong. I'm not strong at all. That's why I've always been such a coward, that's why I wouldn't let anyone in when the people closest to me began to die. That's why I have to live with the fact that I killed someone with my own hands. You're probably thinking that I should be used to death because I'm a Yakuza, killing is supposed to come natural to us, right? Not me though, never me."

He sighed again and a solemn expression spread across his face. "Nobody ever even found out about what I had done, it had been proclaimed as the act of a serial pervert and the investigation was closed after that. But I just…I just can't leave it at that anymore. Not now, not after everything that has happened. So I shall set the record straight right here, right now. I enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy along with Peko under the titles of Ultimate Yakuza and Ultimate Swordswoman, we entered the 77th class and that was where we met the people we called our friends for a brief time. And then a year later my little sister, Hitomi, also came and enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy."

"I reacted like any person would expect an elder brother to react to seeing his little sister in such a surprising manner. She always felt like she had to one up me, sometimes I think that's why she grew taller than me. And then a few months into the school year I heard word that Hitomi was bullying some of the other kids, it was no surprise to me, she had always been that way. But then I found out that one of the people she bullied was someone I knew, Mahiru Koizumi, one of my classmates. Apparently Mahiru had been the center of Hitomi's bullying since they were in middle school, I assumed Mahiru had known that I was Hitomi's older brother from the very beginning but she never said a word to me about it. She had been as kind and courteous as you could expect, she made a decision to not let Hitomi bother her anymore and just ignore her. So I chose to ignore the problem as well and pretended like I had no idea that Mahiru was being bullied by my sister. Then it got worse. Hitomi may have been my little sister but she could be amazingly cruel when she wanted to be, most days after that Mahiru started to come to class with puffy eyes or sometimes not even come to class at all. I could tell that Hitomi was really hurting her. I should have done something, anything at all, to help them both. But it wasn't my concern, this problem was between the two of them. If only I hadn't been such an idiot about that I could have saved them both."

"One day before school began, my sister was found dead in one of the classrooms. Apparently she had been struck over the head by a baseball bat and the clothes she was found in had signs of being ripped and torn, around that time there had been a rumor of a serial pervert being spotted in the area so the police chocked it up to the work of him and left it at that. My family was furious as you could imagine but it wasn't like they could do anything about it. If they had any idea who it was in the first place, trust me they would have sicked their goons on them in a heartbeat. And me…well I felt about as good as you could expect. Hitomi may have been a pain in the ass but she was still my sister dammit, she looked out for me in a way that no one else could. I felt like I could really rely on her to always have my back no matter what, just like Peko. And then she was just gone, taken away by some unknown pervert. But it was a few days after the incident that I learned the truth."

"Mahiru had this small group of friends, Hiyoko Saionji, Mikan Tsumiki, Ibuki Mioda, and Sato Amari. The five of them were almost always together and they were all really close, especially Mahiru and Sato. They were so close that Mahiru confided in Sato that she was being bullied by Hitomi, just like when they were in middle school. But Mahiru and I didn't learn until later that Sato had arranged a meeting with Hitomi in order to get her to stop bullying Mahiru. Hitomi, being her usual self, vehemently denied Sato's request and then things got physical. In a fit of rage Sato strangled Hitomi until there was a single breath left in her body. Sato didn't mean it, but it was still murder. Sato Amari killed my little sister and then tried to cover it up by whacking her on the head with a baseball bat and breaking a window to make it appear as if the pervert had done it. Which everyone believed, everyone except Mahiru that is."

"She always took photographs of everything, so it only made sense that she took photos of the crime scene considering that she and her friends were the first people to discover Hitomi's body. Mahiru discovered a contradiction in the crime scene and consulted Sato about it, as she had been the first one to arrive there. Sato overreacted and right then Mahiru knew that Sato had done something really bad, then Sato retreated and took Mahiru's photos with her. She tried to burn them in order to destroy any remaining evidence of her crimes but I found them instead. I saw Sato leave the photos to burn and recognized the photos immediately to have been taken by Mahiru. That's when shock overcame me. I knew the truth, my sister had been murder by Sato Amari. And after that I lost sight of right and wrong, all I could think about was revenge. Cold, hard, revenge."

"The next day I surprised Sato and let her know that I knew what she did and that I wanted her to pay. I had a bat in my hands, the same kind of bat that she had used on my sister after she killed her. I was just going to scare her and make her admit to everyone what she had done. But…" then he scoffed, "She denied it. She denied everything that she did and I…I lost it. Everything went red and I blacked out, and then the next thing I knew Sato was on the ground as blood poured down her face, and I was standing over her with the now blood covered baseball bat. I couldn't believe what I had done and felt so guilty over it. But I was too much of a coward to tell anyone else. And it only made matters worse when I found out that Sato had a little sister too, a little sister who had now lost her only sibling just as I did. So I kept it to myself as my dark little secret, and then…" Fuyuhiko sighed again, "Peko and I came into this mess. "He" told us that only eight of us were going to have to die if the rest of us wanted to survive. We were kept in a classroom for a whole week without any food, water, or sleep. But no matter what happened we all refused to kill each other. That was how I realized that every single one of them was much stronger than I was, especially Mahiru and Peko. And then…Peko gave her life for us, as did several other brave souls. And the rest of us were allowed to leave after that. But we discovered that there no was way out at all. Our friends had given their lives for nothing." Fuyuhiko sighed in grief again.

"Almost everyone's gone now. I've lost track of how many days it's been, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore…" Fuyuhiko pulled out a large serrated-edged knife and stared at it, "Soon it will all be over." Fuyuhiko started to tear up and sniffle, "I'm sorry I just can't go any further," he said as he gripped the knife tightly in his fist. "Hitomi and Peko, they're both gone. And Mahiru, Sato, and all their friends. I'm responsible for every single one of their deaths. I am not meant to be leader of anything! A leader wouldn't run away with his tail between his legs!" he cried. Fuyuhiko pointed the knife towards his chest. "That's something a coward does, and the only thing this coward can do now to make up for all the lives he's ruined is by paying with his own life!" He closed his eyes in an effort to hold back the tears. "I'm…I'm sorry Peko, I'm sorry Hitomi, I'm sorry Mahiru, I'm sorry Sato!" and then he stabbed himself and cut out his stomach. It appeared that as punishment for his sins he decided to commit hara-kiri. A noble death, not a coward's death. But that didn't stop Fuyuhiko from seeing himself that way. I was sure that if Mahiru and the others could see him now they would forgive him for everything.

And then the video faded to black and we all stood in silence. Nobody wanted to say anything, it was as if all the joy, if any, that was in the room had been sucked out in one fell swoop. Fuyuhiko's last words left us with a deep pit of despair. If they couldn't get out of this game then what hope was there for us?

AMMUNITION UPDATED: MAHIRU KOIZUMI

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: FUYUHIKO'S DYING MESSAGE

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: FUYUHIKO KUZURYUU

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: PEKO PEKOYAMA

And then finally Cam was the one to speak up, "Hey look there's more," he said as he pointed at the monitor's screen.

Poor, poor Fuyuhiko. Nothing but a scaredy cat in the end, he couldn't even face the murder that he committed and chose to take his life instead. Oh, his despair was absolutely delicious. But now I'm hungry for more despair so keep picking at those scabs kiddies. Make sure those wounds never heal. Here's your next clue:

"We couldn't believe our eyes as we saw the sight before us. 'It's happened again,' I thought as my knees buckled under their own weight. The others were just as frightened as I was. Already so much death had occurred, this was supposed to be our fresh start. We weren't driven to extreme pressures anymore, we could eat, we could drink, and we could sleep. All we had to do was keep our spirits up and not lose hope that we would find a way out of here. But (blank name) couldn't take it, it was just too much for (blank pronoun) to bear. We investigated and convened for a class trial but all we found was that (blank name) stabbed (blank possessive pronoun) with the kitchen knife we found sticking out of (blank possessive pronoun) waist. (Blank pronoun) stabbed (blank possessive pronoun) over and over again until (blank pronoun) was covered in blood as was (blank pronoun) dorm bathroom.

Makoto seemed to take it the worst out of all of us. He soon revealed that he and (blank name) knew each other before they even came here, they went to the same middle school together and coming to Hope's Peak Academy rekindled that small friendship. I remember that (blank name) would always say (blank pronoun) was Makoto's sidekick, that and an esper. (Blank name) and (blank pronoun) lame jokes. I can't believe we'll never hear them again."

You only have a few more minutes so make sure you make them count. Remember, your lives on the line too. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Execute-kill, execute-kill.

I noticed that this clue was different from the ones we had been given so far. It sounded more personal and more realistic, almost like it was out of some kind of diary. And it had mentioned someone else, Makoto, Makoto Naegi? That had to have been him, either Monokuma wasn't paying attention when he was writing that clue or he was deliberately trying to give us another lead.

NEW AMMUNITION ACQUIRED: MAKOTO NAEGI

But no matter what the case was, all that mattered was that we were running out of time fast and we still had more questions than answers. 'He's right, we can't lose hope now. We still have more clues to gather and a class trial to win,' I thought to myself.

Yasuke sighed, "Well that was really rough; I feel depressed beyond belief now. But we can't give up, we've still got more work to do."

"Um ex-excuse me? Wh-What was all that at the end? Do y-you guys know?" Chihiro asked.

"We're on sort of a clue related scavenger hunt," Beigoma explained. "Monokuma gave it to us to help us figure out which of the students are dead, and we're narrowing the suspects down quite nicely. That's two more names to strike off the list."

"Monokuma gave this challenge to you?" Cam asked. "Are you sure you can even trust that guy?"

"So far every lead we've gotten from him has panned out," I replied. "It seems, at least for the meantime, he's trying to help us. And by the way Yano-kun there's something we needed to ask you."

"Sure, shoot," he said.

"Do you know anything about fixing cameras? Really sophisticated cameras?" I asked.

"Cameras? Dude, my name is Cam, if I didn't know anything about cameras I'd kind of be a joke."

Jonathan presented Cam with Mahiru's camera. "Whoa, this thing is high-end!" he exclaimed. "It's like a digital camera mixed with an oldies professional one, where'd you find it anyway?" Cam asked.

"It belonged to Koizumi-san, Junmaru-kun found it earlier when we were searching. But it's kind of broken now," I said. "We were wondering if you could fix it."

Cam scoffed. "Hah, I can fix anything with a microchip. Just give me a few minutes and it'll be good as new. I think I have some spare parts for this model in my scrap heap. You guys go ahead and check out that new clue and I'll be right here reviving dead tech." Then he turned to Chihiro. "Chihiro-chan, why don't you go and help them out. I should be able to solve this problem on my own."

"Um, are you sure?" Chihiro asked.

"Yeah, no need to worry. I do appreciate your help with the DVD player situation but I can't be upstaged by my princess all the time, and we're running low on time anyway so I think the more help they get the better. Don't worry, I'll catch up when I'm finished," he said as he smiled at her.

Chihiro blushed and returned his smile. "Oh, okay just don't take too long."

"I promise," Cam said as he flashed her a thumb's up. "Now prepare yourselves to witness the might of the Ultimate AV Technician, as I bring a piece of tech back from the dead. I'll call it Frakencamera, mwahhahaha!" And with that ranting he ran off to his desk to get started on fixing the camera.

"Okay, enough fooling around. We're off to the dorms. Let's hurry before it's too late," Yasuke said, rallying us all together.

---

DAYTIME, 10:45 AM

0:15:00 REMAINING

When we entered the dormitory area we were immediately greeted by the sight of Nagito, Keiko, Nate, and Aya. And they all appeared to be arguing about something. Keiko seemed to be the loudest and most hostile. "And I'm telling you that you are wrong Mr. Nate Baron, with the evidence that I found there's no room for doubt Ms. Toake Yasuhiro is indeed the culprit!"

"And I never said that she wasn't, all I'm saying is I think your personal vendetta against her is clouding your judgment a little!" Nate shouted back at her.

"Baron-san might be right, Akasaka-sempai," Aya cut in. "All we found even saying that she could be related to the crime was that odd ring of hers. I don't think that's enough evidence to accuse her of anything."

"Well we can't just flat out proclaim her to be the killer, not when there's other evidence that's contradictory to the fact," said Nagito. "What about that clue you found in the laundry room Aya-chan?"

"You mean that crystal ball? It was so pretty that at first I thought it might have been a giant pearl. I was about as happy as a clam, or should I say oyster since they're the shellfish who make pearls?" Aya replied with a cheerful giggle.

"And it had blood on it too, right? As did the ring. Look all I'm saying is that since the evidence was planted in all different locations that maybe it's just been faked to begin with. We're getting scared because we're running out of time and it's making us jump to conclusions. We're not even sure if the things you found could be the murder weapons. The Monokuma File said that we should be looking for some kind of knife," Nate replied.

"And you yourself checked the cafeteria, did you not Mr. Nate Baron?! You said all the knives in there didn't have a single trace of blood on them!" Keiko exclaimed.

"That's right the knives inside didn't have any blood not hem, but you're forgetting that I told you that one of the knives appeared to be missing from the shelf. That could be our murder weapon," Nate replied with a calm head.

"Nate-kun does have a point," Nagito cut in.

"You said yourself that one of the knives "appeared" to be missing, you can't know for sure just from an empty space on a shelf! Maybe there was always and odd number of knives, if you can't present the knife then I say that it doesn't exist!" Keiko replied with a not so calm head.

"But then again, Keiko-chan also makes a valid point," Nagito cut in again.

"You all are just blind to the facts! Trust me when I say that Ms. Toake Yasuhiro is cold-hearted and manipulative, this crime is cold-blooded therefore the killer must be as well! Ms. Toake Yasuhiro is guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt and I intend to prove it! She is not dead, you'll see, you'll all see!" And then Keiko walked off with a puff down the dorm room hallway.

Nate sighed in exasperation. "Now I think I can see why she always lost to that Toake chick, she is such a hothead and won't even admit that she could be wrong."

"You're forgetting Baron-san, Ludenburg-sempai was Akasaka-semapai's rival. That means on some level they were also good friends," Aya explained.

"Oh, I didn't know that the term "rival" was another term used for friendship, how fascinating," Nagito said in wonder.

"From the way you're talking it doesn't sound like you have that many friends, Komaeda-san," Aya replied.

Nagito chuckled. "Of course not, who would want to be friends with trash like me?"

"There's that persecution complex, right on time like a damn train schedule," Nate commented.

"I mean, I think of you all as friends but it's absolutely fine if you don't see me in that way. Compared to you all I'm just a worthless student with an equally worthless talent."

"You're a Lucky Student, right?" Nate asked. "That means things often go the way you want them too, what's so worthless about having an awesome talent like that?"

"Trust me, if you had my talent you'd be about as sick of it as I am. My talent is the thing that makes me worthless in the first place, it's brought me nothing but misery and distraught." His words sounded sad and dark but that smile he had plastered on his face said "not to worry and just be happy". Nagito was like a living contradiction.

Nate shrugged his shoulders and replied, "If you say so man, I still don't see a down side though."

Then they finally noticed that we had appeared and Nagito smiled and waved at us with his usual cheery self. "Oh great, the others are here. They might be able to help our dispute."

"Komaeda-kun, did you tell everyone what we found out in the fifth floor classroom?" I asked Nagito.

"Yep, every single one of them except for Izuru-kun. I looked high and low but I couldn't find him anywhere. Have you by any chance seen him?" Nagito asked.

"Yeah, last we saw him he was on the fourth floor and said he was headed to the chemistry lab," Yasuke replied.

"Oh really, well then I better go and tell him right now. Nate-kun and Aya-chan can get you up to speed on what we found, see you guys later." And with a wave goodbye, Nagito ran out of the dorm area and headed back into the school.

"Now what exactly were you fighting about with Mademoiselle Queen of Hearts, Monsieur Dodo?" Connie asked Nate.

"Um, is that supposed to be me?" Nate asked in reply. "Well, Keiko found a clue relating that Toake girl she hates so much and now she's convinced that she's the killer. I was trying to tell her that we can't just jump to conclusions and say that Toake is the culprit but she wouldn't hear any of it."

"They were rivals, remember Baron-san?" Aya asked. "I just think that Akasaka-sempai doesn't want to admit that her rival isn't the killer because then that would mean that she's already…you know…" Aya trailed off.

Nate sighed again. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean if she thinks she's the killer then that would mean she's hoping she's still alive. I guess I can understand that, but still if we don't find out the true identity of the killer then we might end up the same way. Monokuma was serious when he said that he would execute us all if we got it wrong, right?"

"That is what he said, and with what's he's done and shown us so far I don't think he would lie to us now," Beigoma replied.

"B-But if it co-comes down to it and we do get it ri-right, we'll still be the on-ones who are ki-killing, won't we?" Chihiro asked.

"What are you talking about Fujisaki-san? Monokuma will do the killing, not us," I said.

"I mean, that'll be li-like saying to Mo-Monokuma that our li-lives are more im-important than theirs. I a way, won't w-we be the o-ones killing them?"

"Idiot, don't think like that!" Yasuke shouted, making Chihiro cower and whimper in reply.

"Hey dude, you don't ever shout at a girl!" Nate exclaimed.

"That doesn't matter right now! All that matters is survival, living to see another day! And I intend to do that! And if you people can't wise up and do the same thing…" Yasuke sighed and then let go of his anger. "Well then maybe I should take a page from Kamukura and do whatever it takes to win." Yasuke began to walk off on his own down the dorm hallway.

"What, Matsuda-kun where are you going?! Aren't we supposed to be working together?!" I asked.

"I won't work with anyone that has even a hint of doubt in their hearts. You may not be able to see it but I can see it easily, you all have too much doubt inside you. You're too nice for your own damn good. It's time to wake up and smell the blood, we're not a part of our old world anymore. It's kill or be killed, survive or die, do whatever it takes to win or do nothing and lose everything." He shook his head. "Like I said, I have a promise to keep so I can't stay here. I am going to do whatever it takes to get out. I don't care what happens to the killer, I don't care what happens from here on out; I have to get back to "her". I have to get back no matter what the cost. And if you people can't accept that then I'll solve this mystery on my own." And without another word he walked off.

"Do you…think he's right?" Connie asked.

Jonathan scoffed. "I don't know anymore. I want to live too, I want to see my family again but…" then he trailed off.

Nate sighed again. "He makes a good point, even if we don't want to accept what's happening it's still going to happen. The class trial and an execution are already set to occur. The only question is who will die in the end?"

"Ugh, I feel more miserable than a blobfish right now," said Aya.

"It's all my fault. I should have kept my mouth shut," Chihiro reprimanded herself and shed a few tears.

Beigoma wrapped her arms around Chihiro and pulled her into a hug. "No you're wrong, you're not the one at fault here. None of us deserve to be in this mess. All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do – Leo Tolstoy. You're not blame, not Yasuke-kun, or Izuru-kun, and not even Hajime-kun's killer. Monokuma is the only one at fault here."

I nodded in agreement. "Kiyoshi-san's right, and Matsuda-kun and Kamukura-kun are wrong. Showing mercy isn't a sign of weakness. I think it's a sign of strength, we should keep in mind that the killer was just like we are now, scared and afraid. They just didn't think there was any other option left, they watched all their friends die one by one at the hands of the despair inflicted by that little monochromatic bear and his unknown controller. We still need to stand strong and continue to live but it's also important to not lose sight that the killer doesn't deserve to be punished either, the only thing they're guilt of is being forced to do something horrible. We'll get justice for the killer, Hinata-kun, and all the other students who had their lives taken away in this place of nightmares." I realized when I had finished ranting how cheesy that all sounded and I blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry I didn't think any of that out in my head first before I said it."

Beigoma giggled and then she hugged me, which surprised the hell out of me and made my blush deepen. "No don't be sorry, what you said was perfect."

"I feel a lot better now, I'm back to being a betafish, hoorah!" Aya exclaimed in glee.

"I have to admit, I do feel a little more hopeful, nice going Aki," Jonathan commented.

"Tres fantastique, excellent work Monsieur Alice!" Connie exclaimed.

Chihiro dried her tears and gave me a small smile. "Y-You're right, I sh-should stop acting like such a b-baby. We need to f-focus and work together. T-That's the only way w-we're going to get out of here."

Nate chuckled and said, "I got to admit, that was a killer speech dude. Forget Soshun, you should be the Ultimate Student Council President."

"Somebody say something about me?" We all turned our heads to see that Soshun and the others had suddenly arrived as well. He folded his arms and cocked his head to the side, while giving us a questioning look. "I thought I already told you guys, I don't get why I have that as my title either. Now you're making cracks about me behind my back? That's not very nice."

"Whoa, Soshun! Sorry dude, didn't see you walk in," Nate replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Whatever, we just thought we'd come and see how everyone else's investigation was coming along," said Soshun.

"That's right, and I see Maita-kun's been very busy," Micho added as she giggled at my current state.

That's when I noticed that Beigoma was still hugging me tightly. Her eyes were closed and there was a small smile on her face. She looked like she was in her own little world. "Um, Kiyoshi-san?" I whispered to her. "Don't you think it's time to let go?"

Beigoma shook her head. "Just a little longer…Onii-chan."

My eyes widened. "Um, Kiyoshi-san? Earth to Kiyoshi-san?" I tried to wiggle out of her grasp but it turned out that she was surprisingly strong. I looked up at the others. "Um, a little help here?"

"It's best to just wait it out, she'll get tired eventually," said Micho.

"What are you doing?" Nodaka asked sternly. She glared intensely at me. "I thought we were supposed to be investigating, not fooling around, cockroach boy," she said through gritted teeth.

"I-I'm not doing anything on purpose!" I exclaimed as I held my hands up in the air. "She really won't let go."

"Is this about what she said before, you know when she asked you to be her big brother?" Soshun asked.

"I think so, she's really nice she just seems kind of out of it sometimes," I said.

Micho sweatdropped. "I think I know exactly how you're feeling."

Suddenly Azami appeared and let her presence be known with a loud sneeze. "Hiya people hebi!" Then she scratched her nose and giggled. "Someone must be talking about Azami-tan hebi."

Micho facepalmed herself. "This whole day's been really stressful."

I looked back down at Beigoma. "Kiyoshi-san, seriously?! Everyone's starting to show up now!" I whispered harshly.

She was still stuck in her own little world. "No Onii-chan, I don't want to go. I want to stay with you." It was like she was dreaming. But this was just getting awkward as hell.

Nate took pity on me at last and sighed. "Let me see what I can do." Then he came around to Beigoma's back side and grabbed ahold of her waist and pulled, in an effort to pry her off of me. Nate pulled and pulled as hard as humanly possible, but he could not for the life of him pry her off of me. "Dang, this chick's freaking strong!" he exclaimed in disbelief at the amount of force he had to exert. He eventually had to let go because all he was doing was pulling her back far enough to make her arms feel like they were strangling me.

"Stop…stop!" I gasped for breath as my face was turning blue.

Nat immediately stopped pulling and then apologized. "Sorry dude, looks like you're stuck."

"What kind of lame ass excuse is that?! You're a guy aren't you?!" Nodaka exclaimed. "Just yank her off!" She seemed kind of furious.

"Hey I don't want to hurt a girl, that's against my code," Nate replied.

"It's best to just let her stop when she wants to, otherwise we'll end up doing more harm than good," said Soshun.

"Yeah, and it's not like she's hurting anyone. She's just lovingly hugging him," Micho added with a snicker.

"But…but…but…" Nodaka trailed off and slowly let her rage wash over her. And then she glared at me again. "It's just I don't want her be taken advantage of by that filthy cockroach boy!" she exclaimed.

"What?!" I replied.

Nodaka smirked. "I see the way you look at girls, you're nothing but a pervert, admit it. The longer she stays glued to you like that the longer time you have to smell her hair and cop a feel. Someone get her off of him before she gets raped by that despicable piece of human garbage!"

"Enough!" Beigoma exclaimed as she finally let me go. She wore a nasty glare on her face that was matched by an even nastier frown. "Say whatever you want about me but I will not have you insult my Onii-chan you…you…you bitch." It was clearly hard for her to use that kind of language.

Nodaka seemed surprised at Beigoma's comment as did the rest of us. "Wha-What did you call me you little ugly runt?!" she screamed.

"You're just mean and spoiled rotten, Kira Onii-chan's nice and kind, that's I want him to be my big brother. And I won't have you say anything bad about him, and if you do I swear I'll…I'll…I'll…" Beigoma trailed off, you could tell that she was frightened by Nodaka by the way she was visibly shaking. And then tears started to form in her eyes and she began to sniffle loudly. "Waaah, don't make fun of my Onii-chan!" And then she ran to me and then hid behind my back, just as she had done to Mukuro before.

No matter how tough she tried to act it just wasn't in Beigoma's nature to be aggressive, she was too kind and gentle for her own good and every time she tried to prove otherwise she would end up crying and balling just like this. I sighed. 'Geez, these girls are really troublesome,' I thought to myself.

Nodaka giggled at Beigoma's actions. "Serves you right, you little runt. Don't start what you can't finish." Then she glared at me again. "And what the hell are you grinning about? Your little sis is just a crybaby, don't think she'll fight your battles for you. You better man up fast or else one of these days, you might wind up dead just like your buddy."

"Speaking of the murder, I think I have the mystery just about solved." Just then Jose entered the dormitory area as well, with Sawa not far behind him. Jose hadn't changed from when I last saw him in the library, it was like he was now a completely different person.

"I think I have the mystery solved too, I just need a few more clues to confirm," said Sawa.

"Alright now Jo and Saw are here," Jonathan said, "Now we're just missing Muku, Shi, Ya, Ca, Izu, Nag, and Kei, and then we'll have the whole gang back together."

"Pretty much all fish species stick together in schools, so it makes sense that we fish stick together too. The elusive Monokuma sharks are around every corner!" Aya exclaimed.

"Wouldn't sticking together with that point be kind of problematic, Monsieur Monokuma could just eat us all at once, no?" Connie replied.

"The French girl's right, we little fish are doomed!" Aya exclaimed again.

"God, I don't know which one is a more annoying runt, Little Miss Crybaby or Crazy Shark Week over here," Nodaka commented.

"Ah the maid's words sting, she's a very deadly jellyfish," Aya replied. "Don't get close to her unless you want to feel more pain than you've ever felt before. I should know, I've been stung plenty of times by aggressive jellyfish. They're toxin is extremely poisonous and painful."

"Did you just call me a freaking jellyfish?!" Nodaka exclaimed. "That's it!" Nodaka was about to pounce at Aya but luckily she was pulled back by Micho before she could do any real damage. "Let me go pinky, dammit let me go, that fishy little runt is going to get what's coming to her!"

"As a defense attorney I cannot attest to violence, everyone here already thinks you're mean and if you seriously hurt someone it's just going to make things worse for you. Think about your image for a second and calm down," Micho said as she tried to be Nodaka's voice of reason.

"She is a very aggressive specimen of Cnidaria Scyphozoa Aurelia indeed, officer I want her arrested before she tries to sting me or anyone else for that matter with her deadly toxin," Aya said to Micho.

"I'm not a cop, I'm a defense attorney, and you agitating her is only making it worse," Micho replied.

"One punch, just one freaking punch and I'll make that marine geek shut up for good!" Nodaka exclaimed as she tried to struggle against Micho's grip.

"I need some help here," Micho grunted. In reply, Connie and Nate came around to Nodaka's front and tried to get as much space between Aya and her as possible.

"Geez, she's one angry girl. Aya, step back or she might actually try to kill you!" Nate shouted back to Aya.

"She is indeed l'agresseur in this situation, I do not know how much longer I can hold her back!" Connie exclaimed.

"Aki can you talk some sense into her?" Jonathan asked.

"What? Why me?" I replied.

"It's because she responds differently whenever you try to talk to her, all her negativity goes straight to you like some kind of lightning rod. All her anger might be dished out on you instead," said Jose.

"Be careful," said Sawa.

"She l-looks kind of un-unstable," said Chihiro.

"Anytime now! Seriously do anything, it's getting hard to hold her back!" Micho exclaimed.

"Sheesh, Gōsei-chan is really not someone you want to take lightly hebi," said Azami.

Nodaka screamed even louder and then directed her angry gaze at Azami. "I told you I hate freaking nicknames!"

"Sh-She's a freaking monster!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Seriously somebody make her stop, she's gonna hurt someone for real," said Soshun, concern showing in his voice.

"Okay, okay I take it back. Scary, scary Hoshi-sempai is not a jellyfish!" Aya exclaimed in terror.

"Onii-chan do something!" Beigoma exclaimed, tears still gleaming in her eyes.

"Um, alright fine. Hoshi-san?" I called out to her.

Her glare was now directed at me. "What?!" she exclaimed in a harsh voice.

"Um, could you calm down a little? Just a little, please? You're kind of scaring everyone a little bit."

Her glare deepened but she didn't reply.

"Look I'm sure that Kisaragi-san and Jagaimo-chan didn't mean anything by calling you a "jellyfish" and "Gōsei-chan", I know you said that you don't like nicknames or to be teased but it's just in their nature to act that way. They're silly like that; they can't help but act that way. Just like it's in Kiyoshi-san's nature to say quotes and give everyone the benefit of the doubt, or like it's in Historia-kun's nature to write down everything that happens in his journal, and right as I was stating that we all saw that Jose was busy writing in his journal. I think that they're just playful with you because they want to be your friends, right?" I asked Azami and Aya.

"Hoshi-sempai, I'm sorry if you took offense to anything I said," Aya said with a frown. "But…you know something, Maita-san is actually right; I do kind of want you to be my friend. So could we start fresh?"

"Azami-tan's also sorry; she didn't mean to make you upset hebi. She forgot that you hated nicknames hebi. Please don't be mad hebi," said Azami.

Then Nodaka stopped struggling against Micho, Nate, and Connie and settled down. Then she took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "Okay, I'm fine now. You can let me go," she said to Micho, who smiled and released Nodaka's arms. And then Nodaka turned back to face me. She walked closer to me and then calmly looked me straight in the eyes. And then without hesitation…

*sob, sob* Nodaka began to cry. Tears formed in her eyes slowly at first but soon they started to come down like a waterfall. And then she reached pulled me into a hug. I could feel her rubbing her face against my shirt, crying into and making it wet with her tears. "Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?!" she kept repeating over and over again. "Why d-did…th-they have…to die?!"

The memories of our conversation back in the gymnasium came running back to me.

Flashback:

"But here you are willing to talk to someone," Nodaka snickered. "A sign of weakness. If I were in your shoes I probably wouldn't be willing to talk to anyone, I'd keep all my emotions inside and cork them up real tight in the bottle to make sure they didn't leak out. You're the exact opposite of me cockroach boy, you wear your heart and emotions on your sleeves. No grace or elegance at all."

I wrapped my arms around her and did my best to comfort her. 'I guess she couldn't take the pressure anymore?' I thought to myself. 'She had to let her feelings out.'

Nobody said anything while Nodaka cried, her sobs and sniffles were the only things that bounced off the thick walls of the large room. Until we had yet another group of arrivals, Cam and Shiro. "Oh there you guys are, good news I was able to fix the ca…!" he exclaimed as he held the camera up in his hands but then he turned quiet when he read the mood of the room.

When Shiro go a look at the situation he pulled Micho aside and then whispered in her ear, "Is No-chan gonna be okay?" he asked.

Micho nodded in reply and said, "She just needs a moment."

After a few more minutes of crying and sniffling, Nodaka calmed down and backed away from me. She desperately tried to dry her eyes and stop more tears from coming out but it seemed hopeless. Then Beigoma handed her a handkerchief. "Here, I use it when I can't stop crying sometimes."

Nodaka hesitated before taking it and drying her eyes. And then she blew her nose to stop the sniffles and when she was content she handed the handkerchief back to Beigoma. "Thank you," Nodaka said.

I looked down at the state of my shirt and saw that it was soaked in Nodaka's tears. Then I looked up and my line of sight connected with Nodaka's. In the short time that I had known her I had thought of her as a tough and take charge girl but for the first time I realized that no matter how tough she was she was still a girl. She was a normal person just like me, when she was angry she acted out – albeit a lot more violently –, when she was happy she showed it with a smile – even if it usually came from mocking someone else –, and when she was sad she cried, cried just like a normal person. I had forgotten she was just like me, and so were the others. The others were just as scared and confused as me, they were just dealing with the situation differently.

"I'm…I'm sorry everyone…" said Nodaka. "I'm not angry at any of you, I shouldn't be, it's just I feel like I need to hit something. Monokuma, he just makes me so mad. He put all those other students through utter hell just so he could get a few laughs. Now I'll never see them again. I'll never see young master Fuyuhiko or Peko-sama ever again."

"Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu? Peko Pekoyama? You knew them Hoshi-san?" I asked.

"I work for the Kuzuryuu family, more specifically for young master Fuyuhiko's sister, Hitomi Kuzuryuu. She's my mistress, I've been with her since I was first able to speak. My job is to be her assistant, bodyguard, and best friend. It wasn't specified, I was just supposed to be by her side, but that's how Hitomi thought of me, and I'm really gracious to her for everything she's done for me over the years. And now, and now I find out that her brother and my mentor are both dead?" She shook her head in disbelief. "It's so surreal, I remember talking to them just this morning before I left; they were wishing me good luck. And then Hitomi, she hugged me like she does every single day and said that if I didn't come back to her soon she might have to send someone to come fetch me using any means necessary. And now two of those people whom I cherished so much are dead? It can't be true. It can't be. Right?" She was worried, extremely worried. I could see it in her eyes, her sturdy wall of isolation and toughness was starting to come crumbling down. But there was one detail that was wrong about her story, the amount of people who were dead.

I, along with Yasuke, Jonathan, Connie, Beigoma, Chihiro, and Cam knew that Hitomi Kuzuryuu was also dead. We heard it straight from her brother's mouth before watching him take his own life. But if Nodaka was indeed as close to Hitomi as she says she was the questions became, should we tell her what happened to Hitomi as well? But even then, admitting that to this girl would make this situation become even more surreal than it already was. 'Could this be some kind of trauma due to grief or…is it possible that she really doesn't know that they are all dead?' I asked myself. Whatever the case, I decided that the best thing to do for now was to stay quiet about Hitomi, and let Nodaka revel in the grace of still having her best friend alive in the world. Learning the truth now, who knows what it would do. It would probably crush her completely. She didn't deserve that, not at all.

"Hitomi Kuzuryuu?" Cam repeated. "Hey isn't she already…" Chihiro cut him off before he could say anything else by covering his mouth with her hand. It looks like the others who saw the video had come to the same conclusion that I did. We would keep the truth from Nodaka a little longer, just in case, by some miracle, that it wasn't really the truth.

"Well, well, well. It looks like a freaking funeral in here." That voice could only belong to one person. We all turned to see Izuru entering the dormitory area, followed closely behind by Nagito. "Never have I seen such a pathetic-looking group of sad sacks in all my life. Who the hell died? Oh that's right twenty-seven students, leaving only one behind, who will also have to die in the end so the rest of us can survive." Izuru sighed. "Ah, so much death. So many mysteries to unravel, only one truth to find. Aren't real life murder mysteries such fun trying to solve? Especially with such big risks on the line? Fun, fun, fun, fun, funny, fun, fun!" He chuckled a little and then sighed in relief. "Ah, I've never felt this alive in my whole life. Yesterday was so boring, no wait scratch that, my whole life before today was boring as hell. Truth be told I contemplate suicide daily just to escape this overwhelming boringness that is life. And low and behold something as fun as this happens. Thank you, Monokuma you have save me from the monotony that is living!" And then he laughed and laughed and laughed. Each laugh increasing in volume and maniacal texture. And then again, almost like flipping a switch, he stopped laughing completely and his normal dour expression returned. "That's enough of that, back to business."

All of us were completely shocked, I had expected Izuru to act somewhat like this considering how he was when we ran into him earlier but it seemed like in that short period of time he had grown to become even more unstable. 'Fun? How can he say that with such a straight face?' I asked myself.

"Dude, dude, dude! Just…dude…" Nate trailed off in shock.

"You can't be serious? You're enjoying yourself? What kind of monster are you?!" Micho exclaimed.

"Ah! Kokushibyou-kun is even scarier than before hebi!" Azami shrieked.

"And those red eyes, Kamukura-san is a vampire squid run for you lives!" Aya screamed.

"Vampire squid, do they suck blood Ay-chan?!" Shiro asked.

"No idiot, she means you should be afraid because of his red eyes and the fact that he's a freaking sociopath!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Monsieur Jabberwock has taken his creepy character too far, enough is enough, no?!" Connie exclaimed.

"Relax. You guys just don't see it," said Nagito, shocking us all. "Izuru-kun is just excited because the two of us figured out who the killer is. There's no room left for doubt, the identity of the killer is…"

That got us all interested, we stopped acting scared and hung off of Nagito's every word.

"A secret."

"What? What do you mean by it's a secret?" I asked Nagito.

"Exactly what the word "secret" means, Akira-kun. The killer is someone whose identity will not be revealed at this point," Nagito explained in simplistic terms. "That's for the class trial, silly. Izuru-kun and I will just have a better advantage in the debate because we already know who the killer is. That's all, no need to worry."

"I don't understand. What are you two creepy idiots talking about?" Jonathan asked.

"Why show a winning hand when the game hasn't even begun? Where's the fun in that? Automatically winning, the people who cheat to win are the real losers, you know. Personally, I wouldn't feel right about telling you who the killer is, that would make things to easy," Izuru stated.

"This is ridiculous, just tell us who you think it is already. Tell us or I will pound both of your faces in!" Nodaka threatened them. It was good to see her back to normal but under the circumstances given to us now our concerns were bigger.

"No need for violence, Nodaka-chan," said Nagito with his usual cheerful smile. "Just wait until the class trial begins then we'll clue you in on who it is."

"I told you not to address me with familiarity, dog boy!" Nodaka exclaimed.

"From the sound of the conversation that you guys were having I thought you already settled those anger issues you have, Nodaka-chan," Nagito said while deliberately repeating the nickname.

"You heard all that, I thought you two dudes were on the fourth floor?" Nate asked in surprise.

"Did you not notice the range of her voice? We heard the whole thing, even her crying at the end," Izuru explained. "Honestly did not see that coming, the so-called tough as nails Yakuza maid is nothing but a scared little girl when push comes to shove."

Nodaka growled. "I will fucking kill you!"

"Now that's not very lady like, if you worked for me I would have you seriously reprimanded for speaking to me in such a vulgar tone. Some maid you are," Izuru replied.

"Now, now, let's all play nice," Nagito said, trying to be the voice of reason…sort of. "I happen to agree with Izuru-kun on this one, not about this all being fun. No. It's just, I want to make sure we hear out each and every story about what happened to the other students. I want to make sure each and every person here is made aware of what they had to endure so we can pass it along. If we just give up the killer then their stories will die with them, now that's not a good way to honor the dead, is it?"

"I guess I see your point, but still that's really twisted reasoning," said Sawa. "You want us to clear each and every suspect before you even consider giving up who the killer is?"

"Yes, but by that point all the smart people here might already be able to figure it out, but if it comes to that point and you're all still clueless we'll clue you in as to whodunit, no matter how boring it may be. My life's still on the line after all," Izuru explained as he shrugged his shoulders.

"As is mine, but no matter what the cost I want everyone here to know the truth behind every single victim who suffered under Monokuma's wrath. We owe it to them to carry their stories," Nagito explained his intentions. "And besides, I still don't know what happened to Mikan-chan, I couldn't find any conclusive evidence about what happened to her. I know she died, but I want to know how and why, I want to know what she was thinking last along with all of my other classmates."

"I gu-guess I can understand that. I w-want to kn-know what hap-happened to my fri-friends too," Chihiro replied.

"So we're in agreement then, no spoilers," said Izuru.

"But…!" Nodaka exclaimed.

"Just go with it, they're not going to give in. We've already established those two are creeps, remember?" Another familiar voice got our attention and we looked back to see that Yasuke and Keiko had reappeared.

"Ya, you change your mind about what you said before. Too bad, we don't need you anymore, idiot. Go off and fly solo like Izu and Nag, you'll just be a creep like them," Jonathan remarked.

"We don't have time to bicker anymore, I came back to tell you that all of you are going to want to see something. Follow us now." There was a commanding tone in Yasuke's voice, and I could tell that whatever he was talking about was very serious.

"He's right, Mr. Yasuke Matsuda and I stumbled across something…disturbing," Keiko said, seeming almost frightened.

"What is it Akasaka-sempai?" Aya asked out of concern.

"You didn't try to rope Yasuke into your revenge case did you Keiko?" Nate asked.

"There' no time," Yasuke repeated, "Come now." And then Yasuke and Keiko turned back around and headed back down the dormitory hallway, beckoning for us all to follow them.

"I wonder what they found," said Micho.

"Something intriguing, you'll see," Izuru replied.

"You already know what's there?" Shiro asked.

"I told you, I already solved the mystery and I passed on what I know to Komaeda-kun who helped me feel in the gaps," Izuru explained.

"So what, are two all buddy-buddy now or something?" Nodaka asked, anger still in her voice.

"I wouldn't go that far, he's useful let's just leave it at that," Izuru commented.

"I'm happy to just be of use to the Ultimate Hope, I long for hope after all, it's a pleasure for someone like me to be of use to someone like him," Nagito belittled himself.

"We can focus on their weird relationship later, let's go check out what Yasuke and Keiko found," said Nate.

With us all in agreement we decided to head after the two of them. While we followed after them I counted everyone in the group at that point. Nineteen, including me. There was only one person left out. Mukuro. I couldn't help but wonder as we were headed to a much larger clue, where could she be?

---

A/N: Okay, next chapter the investigation ends with a check of the dormitories and a stumble upon many incriminating clues which will just raise more questions. Mukuro will finally have her spot light and rest assured I've given her a juicy part which I'm sure you will all enjoy. And finally the class trial begins! Get ready for more non-stop debate madness and all the lovable hijinks that class trials entail. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the beginning of the class trial next week. See ya later.