I entered the trash room. There was some sort of hatch on the floor. I tried the handle. It was locked. I stood back up and looked at the massive and sturdy gate that was the only way to the end of the room. No way to get past…

"It's the end of the line." Said a voice from behind me. I jumped and turned around. It was Monokuma yet again. "The trash room… This is where all the trash in the school eventually winds up."

Still shook up, I asked him a question. "How do you get this gate open?"

"No no no! No entry beyond this point!" He exclaimed as he stood in front of the gate. Trying to block my way. "Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed in!"

"Cleaning duty…? Who's on cleaning duty?"

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" He snarked. I had a good feeling he wasn't just going to tell me. I'd be faster to just go around and ask the others.

When I exited the trash room, I found Yamada walking by. He let out a small scream when he heard the door opening, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it wasn't anyone to not trust… Hopefully.

"Umm…" I began. "I'm looking for whoever's on cleaning duty."

"Cleaning duty?" He repeated before he realized what I was asking. "As matter of fact, that's me! Why do you ask? It just so happens that Monokuma talked to me yesterday and asked me to take care of it. Without someone on cleaning duty, the school would be flooded with trash in no time! So, I formally applied for the position! I was gonna start this morning, but after what happened, I haven't had a chance to get started."

"And since you're on cleaning duty, you can open the gate in front of the trash room, right?"

"Of course!" He proudly proclaimed. "It's my job to gather up all the garbage and toss it in the trash room. And to do that, they gave me the key for the trash room gate! But we're supposed to rotate once a week, so eventually, you'll be in charge."

"Wait, hold on…" Began Togami who was listening close by. "You need a key to get into the trash room? And only the person on cleaning duty has access to the key? What's the point of going through all that trouble? Why not just leave the trash room open all the time so we can all throw things out whenever we want?"

"Actually, the regulations said that anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "Blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered." I explained. "So, if anyone could go in and out of the trash room whenever they wanted, then destroying the evidence would be easy."

"Ah, that's right." Said Togami. "The thrill would disappear, and things would become boring."

"B-Boring…?!" I stammered. Completely shocked something like this is what Togami considered "Fun".

Leon was also listening in. "Anyway, more important than that…" He began as he pointed towards Yamada. "Hey, fatty! Why'd you want the cleaning duty gig, anyway?"

"I-I just decided to volunteer for something I knew no one else would wanna do." Yamada trembled. "What's the big deal?"

"Liar!" Exclaimed Leon. "I know why you did it! You wanna dig through all the girls' trash! Looking for… Y'know, and poking around at it!"

"What are you talking about?!" Yamada retorted. "All my love is for 2D!"

But there's all kinds of trash diggers like that! Maybe you'll get tired of 2D, and then turn to-"

Yamada did not like that at all. "I would NEVER get tired of 2D!" He yelled. "After spending a significant amount of time comparing 2D and 3D, I voluntarily chose 2D! the only thing 3D is good for is to shower love and affection on 2D! Oh, and PVC figures!"

I decided to break their argument. "Anyway, on another topic;" I began. "Yamada, since you were on cleaning duty, I have a favor to ask you."

"Hm? A favor?" He repeated.

"Yeah, I was just hoping to get into the trash room and look around."

"Oh, okay!" Wow, that was easy…

Anyway, Yamada and I headed back into the trash room.

"You'd like me to open the gate, wouldn't you?" Asked Yamada. I nodded. "You know, when I look at it, it makes me think... They say he killed his wife. He learned how to get by on the inside, by he never stopped dreaming. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin', he said. So him and Rita found themselves a way out…"

"Whatever, please just hurry up!" I said impatiently.

"Okie dokie!" He proclaimed. "Leave it to me!"

Yamada pulled out a key out of his pocket and used it to flip a switch that was next to the gate. After that, the gate opened.

"However, Mr. Makoto…" Began Yamada. "Surely you aren't planning to use the trash room to destroy evidence, are you!? Y-You fiend…! You planned this all along!"

"N-No!" I retorted. "I just wanted to see if the actual killer had tried to destroy any evidence or not!"

"But the "Actual killer" is YOU, isn't it!?" He glared as he pointed at me. "You want to see if you left anything behind! Wait… Maybe a parallel world…?"

As Yamada was rambling on, I began searching around the room. I began with the incinerator at the far end of the room. It's a good thirty feet from here to the gate, and right now, it's on.

"Do you see the green and yellow buttons next to the mouth of the incinerator?" Asked Yamada. "It's a pretty simple setup; you press the green button to get it going, and the yellow button to turn it off. Sooner or later, you'll be on cleaning duty, so make sure you learn this before you leave, okaaaAAAYYY?!"

Yamada suddenly screamed as he pointed to the incinerator. "Huh!? Someone turned the incinerator one! Very strange… I'm quite certain it was off the last time I was down here. Perhaps it was the work of a fairy…"

"Yamada!" I exclaimed. "Do you realized what you just said?!"

"Huh?" He gasped. "The fairy…?"

"…No." I began explaining. "You said that the last time you were here, the incinerator was turned off."

"Ah, yes. About that there is no mistake." He said. "If I've got one thing going for me, it's my memory! Yesterday, as soon as I was appointed, I came down to check the place out. It definitely wasn't on then. I haven't been back in the trash room since then… And since I'm the only one who has a key to open the gate, it should be impossible for the incinerator to be one. And yet, here it is!

So that means that someone was able to switch on the incinerator without opening the gate. How is that even possible? Either way, I made a note in my mind to remember that piece of information.

On the ground in front of the incinerator was an object with a spot of blood on it. I picked it up. It was made of some kind of cloth, no doubt about that. But where did it come from?

"Find anything?" Asked Yamada.

"Yeah." I replied. "It's this burnt piece of… Something."

"A burnt piece…?" He repeated. "Like a hunk? Like a hunk of burning love?"

Ignoring that last part, I took a closer look at the object. It felt like fabric, and by the way it was made, it appeared to be part of the sleeve from a button-up shirt. And by the looks of the blood on the cuff…

"This is all that's left of some of the evidence the killer destroyed!" I exclaimed out loud. I slapped myself mentally after I said that. There are lots of people here with white button-up shirts. This isn't enough to find out who the killer is…

Below the on/off buttons were shards of broken glass scattered around. It looks to be some kind of glass ball, just about big enough to just fit in the palm of your hand.

"Ngyah!" Screamed Yamada in shock. "Is that…!?"

"Do you know what this is?" I asked.

"They say if you collect all seven, a dragon will appear and grant you a single wish!" Proclaimed Yamada before chuckling embarrassingly. "Erm, kidding aside, it's the kind of thing you might see on any big-city street corner. Gaze into it, and it will show you a glimpse of the future… Just like that Meena girl who was on that quest to find that one guy!"

"Yeah, I get what you're trying to say." I said. "But who did this particular ball belong to…?"

Yamada shrugged. That means that there's only one person it could be… They should all still be in the gym. I'd better go find out for sure…