Looks like you're suspecting Shiena, Banba (Shinya), and Sumireko. All of them have a name that begin with a S. Coincidence? I don't think so! (So maybe Suzu should also be added to the suspects list?)

Anyway, let's begin the class trial to see if one of you guessed right!

There they were again in this despairful room, forced to doubt each other until someone is voted guilty and condemned to be brutally executed. Just thinking about their tragic situation made Haru feel hopeless again. But, they didn't have the choice. For the sake of the guiltless ones, they had to find the culprit.

The circle of desks had diminished once again, it had now only eight desks. In the center of the circle, a coffin containing Haruki's corpse was there.

Chitaru and Hitsugi's pictures, with a red X on their face, had been fixed on the wall, near those of the other people who had died. Once again, a flower had been put under the picture of those who recently died.

"The flower under Namatame-san's picture is a red rose, which symbolize love. The one under Kirigaya-san's picture is a white rose, which can mean innocence or childlike." Suzu suddenly commented.

"How ironic. Innocent is the last term that I would you to describe Kirigaya." Shiena said with bitterness.

"Well, Kirigaya-san did look childlike and innocent, so I think this flower is fitting. And we shouldn't forget that roses can have thorns." Nio replied.

"Personally I think that a Datura flower would be more fitting." Sumireko commented.

"Maybe, but…it's a poisonous flower. It could be dangerous here." Hashiri said back.

"The ironic one is the flower under Namatame-san's picture. Love, seriously? We're talking about the woman who killed a person she supposedly 'loved'…" Isuke replied.

"No, Haru thinks you're wrong. Namatame-san did liked Hitsugi-chan! She didn't mean to kill her, it was an accident, and she regretted it. And she liked us too, this is why she confessed her crime. She wanted us to stay alive. So yes, "love" is a term that fit Namatame-san!" Haru protested.

"And despite that, there are people who still want to commit murder." Tokaku added while she glanced at Isuke with reproached.

"Ok, that's enough. Everybody go to your seat, it's time to begin the third, and despairfully not the last, class trial!" Monokuma exclaimed.

Reluctantly, Haru went to her seat, followed by everyone else. She noticed that Banba's desk get it previous appearance back, most likely because she had her Mahiru's persona. Because of Chitaru and Haruki's death, Suzu was now between Shiena and Nio.

"So, I'm pretty you are now quite familiar with the class trial's procedure, but I'll explain it again anyway. I know how much you like my gorgeous voice." Monokuma continued. "You'll argue with each other and try to find the culprit who killed Sagae Haruki. When the majority of you will agree, you'll vote to determine who you think had committed the murder. If the blackened is discovered, this person alone will be executed. But if you vote for the wrong person, everybody except the blackened will be executed and this person will graduate and as a reward, will have a wish granted. Without further ado, let's begin the class trial!"

Haru noticed that Nio handed a cards packet to Suzu. The gamester sighed and smiled slightly, before taking the cards deck and she began to shuffle them.

"I'll begin this class trial saying that Banba-san and I are the second and third persons who discovered the corpse. Hashiri-san is the one who warned us about the body. So, I would like to know in what circumstance you had discovered Sagae-san's corpse, Hashiri-san, since you're the first person." Sumireko said.

"What, I'm already suspected!? Well, it's understandable, since Monokuma changed the rule about the body discovery." Nio replied.

"Indeed. You came to the scene crime with me and Banba-san, so you could be the culprit. But I'm not particularly suspecting you more than anyone else." Hanabusa added.

"So, when I passed near the gymnasium, I noticed that the storage room's door was open. I decided to go close it and I discovered Haruki-san's corpse. I ran way and encountered Hanabusa-san and Banba-san, so I warned them." Hashiri explained.

"And I can confirm that the announcement was made right after the three of us went inside the storage room." the lady said.

"But like you said earlier, you went together at the scene crime, which means that the culprit could be one of you." Suzu commented.

"I wasn't saying that to have an alibi, I was merely stating the facts." Sumireko replied.

"Speaking of alibi, we should establish that first." Isuke declared.

"There are things that we need to establish first if we want to prove alibis, like the time of death. We should also discuss the cause of death and the murder weapon first." Shuto replied.

"Sagae died from a head trauma and a massive blood loss. The murder weapon is probably a blunt object." Tokaku claimed. "She also had a minor injury on her forehead."

Haru remembered the many objects that were surrounding Haruki's corpse. One of them was very likely to be the murder weapon.

"I think that Haruki was killed with a baseball bat. There was one near her corpse, with blood on it." Haru declared.

"It would make sense. Sagae was attacked by the culprit and she received a hit on her forehead, and another one on her head." Sumireko said.

"Judging by the fatal wound's extent, it would be safe to assume that the culprit is physically strong." the blue haired girl added.

"Now that we established the cause of death, we should try to figure out when Sagae-san died. When was the last time you saw her alive? In my case, I saw her going inside the gymnasium this morning. I was with Kenmochi, so she can confirm." Suzu said.

"It's true, I was with Shuto and I also saw Sagae going inside the gym." Shiena confirmed.

"The last time that I saw Sagae-san was yesterday when the third motive was revealed." Sumireko replied.

"Ah, m-me too…even if it was Shinya…" Mahiru said.

"Neither me nor Ichinose have seen her today." Tokaku said.

"Haruki came to talk with Isuke this morning in my room." the pink haired girl revealed.

They waited for Nio's reply, but the blonde girl remained silent. Her gaze was concentrate on the cards she had in her hands. Since Suzu was also holding cards, Haru assumed that they were playing a game together.

"Hashiri-san, you need to answer too. When was the last time you saw Sagae-san alive." the gamester asked.

Nio raised her head and looked around with a confused expression, before she seemed to be somehow embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't listening! Hum, I only saw Haruki-san once today, and she was dead."

"So there are only three people who claimed to have seen the victim alive this morning. Do you remember what time it was when you saw her?" Sumireko asked.

"I couldn't tell exactly, but it was 10-15 minutes before the announcement." Shiena replied.

"It was around 7h20." Isuke answered.

"If I remember correctly, the announcement was made at 7h40. So me and Kenmochi-san had probably saw Sagae-san at 7h25 or 7h30." Suzu added.

"So the murder took place between 7h25 and 7h40. We need to establish alibis for this period of time." Hanabusa concluded. "In my case, I was at the cafeteria, and I went to the bathroom. It was when I came out that I encountered Hashiri-san."

"Isuke was in her room."

"Haru and Tokaku-san were also in their room."

"I was with Kenmochi-san in the sitting room." Suzu said.

"I was…at the cafeteria…and then at…the bathroom." Mahiru said.

Once again, Nio didn't reply.

"Hashiri-san, your alibi. You need to tell it." Shuto said.

"Huh? Oh, right. Hum, I was wandering inside the school." Nio answered.

"So you don't have an alibi." Sumireko affirmed. "How unfortunate."

"Eh? Wait…am I screwed?" Nio asked.

"If you can't provide a decent alibi, I'm afraid that you'll be the prime suspect." Hanabusa added. "You could have lied about finding Sagae-san's corpse. If you are the culprit, you could have kill her and go warn someone to make yourself look less suspicious."

"Hum, I'm not so sure about this. After that I saw Sagae-san, me and Kenmochi-san went to the sitting room until the announcement. I saw Hashiri-san wandering near the sitting room, she was coming from a corridor that lead to the exact opposite of the gymnasium. It was around five minutes before the announcement. I don't think that she could have kill Sagae-san in barely five minutes, especially since the crime scene's state seemed to show that there was a fight." Suzu argued.

"It could still be possible, but it's true that put that way, it seems pretty unlikely. Especially because I doubt that Hashiri-san is enough strong to fight and defeat Sagae-san." Hanabusa replied.

"Oy, that's rude! I'm super strong!" Nio protested.

"Hashiri-san, it's your turn to play." Suzu said.

"Ah, sorry!" the blonde girl apologised.

"Wait! So you think that the culprit was stronger than Sagae?" Shiena asked.

"Well, it's a possibility, or at least equally strong than her. We already know that the culprit it quite strong, but remember the room. It was a real shambles. Let's not forget that the victim was the SMSL Street Fighter. None of us is injured. So it means that the culprit managed to fight and murdered an experienced street fighter without being hurt. To me, it only means one thing. The culprit was not only strong, but also an experienced fighter too." Sumireko replied. "There is only one person here who fitted this criterion. Ichinose-san, we talked about that during the investigation. You probably know from whom I refer to."

Haru remembered that she talked about the possibility that the culprit was a fighter with Sumireko during the investigation. She had established, judging by everybody's talents, who could have fight equally with Haruki. Haru still didn't believe that she was the culprit, but she decided to answer the lady's question.

"Hanabusa-san…you think that Isuke-san is the culprit?" Haru replied.

"What!? How dare you suspecting Isuke, you bratty rich girl?!" the pink haired girl shouted angrily.

"It's clearly not with that kind of reaction that you'll make yourself look less guilty." Sumireko replied. "You are the SMSL Kick-Boxer, I believe that you could stand a fair chance to win in a fight with Sagae-san."

"You're suspecting Isuke just because of my talent!?"

"Not only that. Your alibi proves nothing. You claimed that you were in your room between 7h25 and 7h40, but it's not true. At some point, you were at the cafeteria. Don't try to lie, I saw you. The last time that I saw you, you went inside the kitchen, and it was around five minutes before the announcement. You can't prove that you were in your room during all this period of time before going at the cafeteria. I believe that you could have kill Sagae-san during those ten minutes." Hanabusa-san added.

Haru knew that it couldn't be true. Isuke had definitely tried to kill her in the kitchen, there was not misunderstanding possible. It wouldn't make sense that she tried to commit a second murder. Unless that it was some kind of ruse. Isuke could have only pretended to intend killing Haru, to make it more unlikely that she had killed Haruki.

No, it couldn't be. It was the announcement that prevented Isuke to kill Haru. There was no way that the pink haired girl could have predicted exactly at which moment the corpse would have been discovered.

Haru was sure that Isuke wasn't the culprit, but she couldn't tell the others why. It would only create more conflicts. She had to find a way to make the others acknowledge Isuke's innocence, otherwise they could vote for the wrong person and everyone except the culprit would be executed. To prevent that and to allow the debate to continue, there was only one solution. She wasn't proud to do this, but she knew it was the best solution. To solve this problem, Haru will have to tell a lie.

"That's…wrong. Isuke-san can't be the culprit. She was definitely in her room before she went to the cafeteria! Tokaku-san and I exited our room around 7h30 to go to the cafeteria. I saw Isuke-san leaving her room at that moment. But, since I've forgot something, I went back to my room and then left again. This means that Isuke-san barely arrived sooner than us at the cafeteria." Haru pretended. "So she has an alibi between 7h30 and 7h40, and I highly doubt that she could have committed the murder in only five minutes."

Haru noticed that Tokaku gave her a disapproving glance, but she said nothing. The blue haired girl must understand why Haru was lying, since she knew why Isuke couldn't be the culprit.

"Oh, is that so? Then, what did you forget?" Sumireko asked with a doubtful expression.

"My vest! I forgot to put my vest." Haru replied quickly. "So I went back to my room to put it."

"I see. Azuma-san, you were there too. Is that true?" Hanabusa insisted.

"Yes, it's true. It would be stupid to lie to cover up a potential culprit." Tokaku replied.

"Very well. Back to square one. We will need to check verified everyone's alibis…" the lady began to say.

"Wait. You thought that Isuke was the culprit because I'm a fighter, right? Well, what if Isuke tells you that someone else here is also a fighter?" the pink haired girl interrupted.

"Huh? Another fighter? Care to tell us who and how do you know this?" Sumireko asked.

Isuke slightly giggled. Haru had the impression to see malevolence into her eyes.

"Well, maybe 'fighter' isn't the best term, but this person surely know how to fight and must be quite skill physically. You just have to look at everyone's talents and you'll find out who Isuke is talking about."

After saying that, Isuke showed a thin book. Haru recognized that it was the book that the pink haired girl was holding during the investigation.

"The truth is written in that book. Hum, if Isuke reads it to you, you won't believe me…Hey, you, you look like a bookworm. I'll let you read it to everyone."

Isuke suddenly put the book on Shiena's desk. With some hesitation, the hacker took it and opened it.

"It's…our school profiles. Our name, blood type, height, mensuration, student number, previous school and talent are written in it." Kenmochi commented. "But… the profiles of the student #10 to #13 are missing. It looks like their pages have been ripped."

Haru wondered what it meant. Could it be possible that one of them had lied about her talent and was in fact some kind of fighter?

"Trust me, what is left of this book is well enough to understand what Isuke meant. Begin with the end." the pink haired girl asked.

"Ok…Huh, #9 is…Namatame…the SMSL Fencer. #8…was Takechi, the SMSL Florist. #7 is Shuto, the SMSL Gamester. #6 was Sagae, the SMSL Street Fighter. #5 is, well, me, the SMSL Hacker. #4 was, eh, Kirigaya, the SMSL Toxicologist. #2 is Inukai, the SMSL Kick-Boxer. And #1 is Azuma, the…huh?!"

Shiena suddenly raised her head and gazed at Tokaku with a shocked expression, before continuing.

"…Super Middle School Level Assassin!?"

What, Tokaku is the SMSL Assassin!? Nobody saw that coming! ...Right?

Looks like Haru had play NDRV3.

That's what you get for helping Isuke, Haru. She put your girlfriend in deep trouble. What an ungrateful *itch.

I've a little gift for you. You can see it on my deviantart account, RickyOtaku (or on the AO3 version of this fic).