Class Trial
We returned to the courtroom, which now had Fukuda-kun and Iwasawa-san's portraits, the former featuring an X composed of two crossed climbing ropes. The walls were mostly lavender in color.
"You guys made it to the fifth trial, so you should be pretty good at this by now," Monokuma said after we'd taken our seats, "because you know what happens if you don't find the right culprit, don't you?"
"We do," Sugiura-san said. "You've made the stakes abundantly clear."
"Good to hear that," Monokuma said. "There aren't any practices or dress rehearsals in this school. Each trial is a battle for survival between the blackened and the spotless in which the loser dies- it wouldn't be any fun any other way."
While I knew that as well as everyone else who was left, it was a bit of a sobering reminder. Since the motive had been announced two days ago, we'd mainly been worried about our families, and to a lesser extent, one of us getting murdered by a desperate classmate, and less about what would happen if we found ourselves in another class trial. Now that we were in a class trial, our lives were on the line once again.
Of course, Tezuka-kun seemed surprisingly calm. He knew as well as the rest of us did that if we failed to convict the blackened, he and the rest of the spotless would die, so perhaps he was sure that we wouldn't fail.
"Got it, but this trial's just a formality, isn't it?" Tezuka-kun said. "We already know Sugiura did it, right?"
Sugiura-san chuckled bitterly, apparently neither afraid nor angry.
"Interesting," Sugiura-san said. "So you're jumping on the bandwagon and accusing me too, Tezuka? The last two people who tried that turned out to be the killers, so maybe you're the culprit this time."
"Who else could it be?" Tezuka-kun said. "Everyone else has an alibi, apart from you, and Kagami saw you leaving the baths. You're the only one who could've killed Iwasawa."
"It's true that the circumstances make her suspicious," Kagami-kun said, "but we should still investigate the murder and determine how it was committed."
The others nodded to concur, including Sugiura-san, who quite possibly thought this would give her a chance to prove her innocence. In any case, since we only had one chance to guess the blackened, I decided to make sure we were as certain as possible by the time we cast our votes.
"I agree," I said. "First, we'll need to establish how Iwasawa-san was killed."
"Based on my preliminary investigation, I believe she was drowned," Sae said. "Not only did we find her lying face down in the baths, but she'd swallowed water. I understand she'd been in there for some time once Sugiura-san and the boys found her, wasn't she?"
"She was," Inoue-kun said. "You saw that too, didn't you, Kagami-kun, Tezuka-kun?"
Kagami-kun nodded, and while Tezuka-kun followed suit, he seemed a bit hesitant.
"Yeah, but are you sure, Edogawa?" Tezuka-kun said. "Maybe she got poisoned and was put in the water after she died."
Sae shook her head. While it was still unclear whether Iwasawa-san's cause of death would make any difference when it came to finding her killer, it was best to nip any possible misunderstandings in the bud.
"She couldn't have been poisoned," Sae said. "Iwasawa-san was in charge of preparing breakfast, as usual, this morning, so she couldn't have ingested it in her food. There are no signs that a syringe was used, so she couldn't have been injected with any chemicals."
"Does anyone have a syringe as their weapon?" Sugiura-san said. "Or could anyone get one?"
"I believe Mizuhara-kun did," I said, "but he's dead now. I don't think there were any syringes in the nurse's office."
The others nodded to concur. While the nurse's office was fairly well-equipped, it was mainly for minor injuries. Anyone whose situation was critical would likely be rushed to the hospital... and in the killing game, they'd be out of luck, like Mizuhara-kun had been when his "rescuer" had betrayed him.
Tezuka-kun, however, didn't seem entirely convinced. He still seemed to be sure that Sugiura-san was the culprit, but since that was solely based on Sugiura-san's lack of an alibi, it wasn't too surprising that he wasn't sure how she'd killed Iwasawa-san.
"What about the container of chemicals in the locker?" Tezuka-kun said. "Maybe that did the job."
"It did facilitate her murder," I said, "but it wasn't the cause of her death. The chemical in question, chloroform, was poured on a rag. Said rag was then placed over Iwasawa-san's nose and mouth to render her unconscious. Once Iwasawa-san had passed out, the culprit must have put her in the baths so that she'd drown."
"But wouldn't Iwasawa-san come to once she started drowning?" Inoue-kun said. "It wouldn't be too hard to get out of the water, considering how shallow it was."
"You're right about that," I said, "which was why the culprit handcuffed her and tied her legs, presumably while she was unconscious."
"That does seem most likely," Kagami-kun said, "but are you certain that she was rendered unconscious before she was restrained?"
I shrugged. This was one of those details about the crime that was difficult to know if I hadn't seen- or committed- the murder, so I could only guess.
"It does seem to make more sense," I said. "While it would be possible to hold her down long enough to handcuff her, it would be difficult for any one person to have tied her legs together while she was resisting, even if her hands were cuffed."
"Any one person?" Kagami-kun said. "Maybe multiple people did it."
"Who, exactly?" I said. "There were three groups- Sae and I, Sugiura-san, and you and the other two boys."
Kagami-kun didn't immediately respond, making me wonder if that was a serious suggestion or if he was just throwing things out to see what stuck. The latter wasn't necessarily a bad thing in class trials, but considering that our time was limited, we couldn't afford to waste it discussing possibilities.
Luckily for Kagami-kun, Sugiura-san picked up the slack.
"I think I know who might have done it," Sugiura-san said. "Iwasawa's really strong, but she can't hold off multiple people at once. Maybe Inoue, Tezuka and Kagami ganged up on her, knocked her out with the chloroform-soaked rag, slapped her in handcuffs and held her under the water until she drowned."
"I'm sorry, but that's not true," Inoue-kun said.
"That didn't happen," Kagami-kun said.
"No freakin' way," Tezuka-kun said.
"So you're all on the same page, huh?" Sugiura-san said. "Maybe you're trying to cover for each other?"
"Under Monokuma's rules, an accomplice can't graduate," I said, "so they couldn't cover for each other. If the other two boys knew the culprit's identity, they'd sell him out in order to save themselves."
"Right, but wouldn't the blackened point fingers to save their own hide?" Sugiura-san said.
I shook my head.
"Let's say Inoue-kun is the culprit," I said. "If the culprit is narrowed down to one of the three boys, he'd accuse Tezuka-kun or Kagami-kun to save himself, while the other two would point their fingers at him. There's only one correct answer for the blackened, so the two spotless would agree on it."
"And what about you or Edogawa?" Kagami-kun said.
"We have alibis," Sae said. "Kaori and I were together from when breakfast ended to when we discovered Iwasawa-san's body."
I took a deep breath. Under the circumstances, only one person besides the victim did not have an alibi at the time of the crime. I wished there was more evidence to accuse this person, but for now, I had to name them so that the trial could move forward.
"I believe there is only one possible culprit at the moment," I said. "It's you, Sugiura-san."
Sugiura-san narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
"Et tu, Miura?" Sugiura-san said. "I suppose this is solely because I don't have an alibi, isn't it?"
"That's not all," I said. "You're also the only one who was seen going into the baths. Since none of the rest of us went in there until our meeting time, you're the only person who was at the crime scene at the time of the murder."
"I agree, but something's odd," Inoue-kun said. "Iwasawa-san was the one who invited Sugiura-san in, wasn't she? And Sugiura-san followed her in, right?"
I nodded twice.
"Yes, and yes," I said. "What's the problem?"
"Simple," Inoue-kun said. "Why would Iwasawa-san invite her own killer into a place where no one would see her being murdered?"
"Perhaps Iwasawa-san was simply looking for a private conversation and didn't expect anything," I said.
Inoue-kun shrugged.
"Maybe," Inoue-kun said, "but I'm not sure Iwasawa-san trusted Sugiura-san enough to agree to her invitation without asking any questions."
"Your guess is as good as mine, Inoue-kun!" Monokuma said. "If Sugiura-san did indeed follow Iwasawa-san into the baths, I didn't see what happened there on the cameras. I've got a pretty good idea of whodunnit, though, so there's only one question- do you?"
In theory, Sugiura-san, or anyone else, could have committed an unsolvable murder that way, but I doubted they would do such a thing. If they wanted to graduate, they'd need Monokuma to give them the "credit" for the murder so they could become the blackened. If they wanted a murder to appease Monokuma, then perhaps Monokuma would need a culprit, since he enjoyed the executions.
"So at this point, only Sugiura-san knows why Iwasawa-san came with her," Inoue-kun said. "Sugiura-san, would you please tell us?"
Sugiura-san shot Inoue-kun a withering glare.
"I'll take that as a no," I said. "It's entirely possible she's staying silent in order to avoid incriminating herself."
"Believe what you want," Sugiura-san said. "You don't have enough evidence to convict me, anyway, even if I don't have an alibi between 8 and 9 AM. Besides, what motive would I even have for killing Iwasawa?"
I had to admit that Sugiura-san had a point, and it was possible we were going down the wrong path entirely.
"At breakfast yesterday, you invited someone to kill you," I said, "presumably so that Monokuma wouldn't go through with his threat. When no one took you up on your offer, you decided to murder someone, didn't you?".
Sugiura-san looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained her composure. Since not all of us were entirely convinced of her guilt, her plan was to fight as long as she could, knowing that if she didn't do something, the trial would end, and her life with it.
"Maybe," Sugiura-san said, "but let's assume I'm the culprit. If I cared enough about you lot to die for you, then I'd have confessed by now, wouldn't I?"
"Or maybe it's your family," Inoue-kun said. "While Fukuda-kun felt guilty about accidentally killing Katsura-san and endangering us, he couldn't confess out of fear for his family."
Sugiura-san laughed out loud.
"I know we haven't talked much, Inoue, but you seriously need to get a hint," Sugiura-san said. "Even if I don't care much for you lot, do you think the assholes in my family are worth sacrificing any of us for them?"
This was yet another in a string of obvious lies. Shortly after the motive, Sugiura-san had admitted that she hadn't had a good relationship with her family, but she insisted that she refused to let them die. Confronting her on it wouldn't do any good, so I decided to change tack.
"There's another thing that I noticed at yesterday's breakfast," I said. "You brought your own murder weapon, a rope, and encouraged us to use it to kill you. You could have used that rope to bind Iwasawa-san's legs."
"I thought no one was dumb enough to use the weapon they got to commit murder," Sugiura-san said.
"Who knows?" Inoue-kun said. "Not everyone showed us their weapon. I got a lead pipe, so I was a bit worried that I'd be suspected if I showed it while we were investigating Kurogane-kun's death- he died of blunt force trauma, after all."
So that was why Inoue-kun made up an excuse back then. Perhaps it might have been better if he'd cooperated, since he could have proven that he'd never used the pipe, but there was no use regretting what had already happened.
"Well, I'm not like you, Inoue," Sugiura-san said. "You do remember that I showed all of you my weapon during the first trial, right?"
"So did Katsura-san," I said, "and two and a half weeks later, she'd tried to kill me with the steak knife she received from Monokuma. In any case, I suppose everyone remembers Sugiura-san showing us a rope yesterday morning, if not at the first trial, right?"
The others nodded.
"Well, where'd I get the chloroform?" Sugiura-san said.
"The chemical lab, obviously," I said. "When I went there earlier, I saw something missing, and some trace someone had been there, but didn't think much of it at the time. It's obvious that someone came in before we arrived."
"When was that?" Sugiura-san said.
I paused to think for a moment.
"Probably before 9 AM," I said, "and considering that we were together for much of the morning, it probably happened before breakfast... assuming that it happened on the day of the murder at all."
"That sounds likely," Sae said. "If Sugiura-san came up with the murder scheme after breakfast yesterday, it's possible that she obtained the chemicals between then and when she killed Iwasawa-san, most likely at night time."
I wished I'd kept a closer watch over the chemical lab, but I was once again reminded of how many places there were to guard, and how few people were left. In any case, Sae's theory suggested that Sugiura-san's plan was thought out in advance, rather than something she came up with after she'd heard that my family would be the first to die.
"What makes you think I stole the chemicals?" Sugiura-san said. "Apart from my title of Ultimate Poisoner?"
"I saw you investigate the chemical lab when the third floor opened," I said, "and Sae and I also saw you in there yesterday morning. It's possible that the latter time, you came there to get the chloroform, but saw us and decided to come back when no one was watching."
Sugiura-san scoffed.
"Possible, yes," Sugiura-san said, "but it's also possible someone else took the chemicals."
"I'll admit that's true," I said, "but I found a chair pulled up to the shelf, near where you appeared to have gotten the chloroform. As the shortest person in this class, you're the most likely to have needed the chair as a stepping stool."
"What about you?" Sugiura-san said.
"I'm 169 centimeters tall," I said, "and I was able to reach the chloroform from the floor. Sae's slightly shorter than I am, but I think she wouldn't have had any more trouble with that. As for the boys, Kagami-kun's the same height as me, and the other two are taller, so you're the only one who couldn't have reached it without something to give you a boost."
Sugiura-san was speechless, clearly not having anticipated that she'd left such a large hole in her plan.
"Just checking," Kagami-kun said, "but would it be possible for someone else to use Sugiura-san as a patsy to deliver them the chloroform?"
"As if I'd believe them," Sugiura-san said. "I'd never give anyone a dangerous chemical like that without at least asking a few questions."
"Exactly," Sae said. "Sugiura-san is not nearly trusting enough to do a favor like that for someone. She wouldn't have to be the Ultimate Poisoner to know what they'd use chloroform for, so she'd never deliver something like that to a would-be murderer, even if she wasn't the target."
Kagami-kun didn't seem especially convinced, although he didn't argue that point.
"So that accounts for the chloroform and rope," Kagami-kun said, "two out of three of the items used in Iwasawa-san's murder. What about the handcuffs?"
"Iwasawa-san lent me the handcuffs when we were searching for Katsura-san," Sae said, "and I returned them when we parted ways for the night. It's possible she would have loaned them to Sugiura-san if Sugiura-san had asked."
"That's right," Sugiura-san said. "After all, Mitamura did trick Iwasawa into handing her the weakness notepad while pretending to fix it."
"And Iwasawa-san's room was unlocked when I checked it," Inoue-kun said, "so it's possible that Sugiura-san retrieved the handcuffs from the room."
While that point had seemingly tied up the loose ends, Kagami-kun frowned skeptically. His testimony had helped us prove that Sugiura-san was the only viable suspect, so what additional proof did he want?
"While it's true that a lot of evidence points to Sugiura-san being the culprit," Kagami-kun said, "one thing doesn't add up. How could she possibly hold Iwasawa-san down long enough to sedate her with the chloroform rag? She's not strong enough to restrain Iwasawa-san, or tall enough to easily hold the rag over Iwasawa-san's mouth."
While Sugiura-san was, under the circumstances, the only real choice for the culprit, I couldn't easily deny what Kagami-kun had said. Sugiura-san was, by far, the shortest of us, while Iwasawa-san was the tallest. As for muscle, while Sugiura-san wasn't especially strong, Iwasawa-san had gotten quite a workout from working in the fields, probably getting as strong as a girl like her could get without going to the gym. Because of that, I knew that I would probably have to rethink some of my assumptions before I could sum up how Sugiura-san had killed Iwasawa-san.
That said, something didn't entirely seem right about what Kagami-kun had said. For most of the trials we'd been in, he'd been relatively quiet, only speaking up when there were fewer people around. His deductions had helped give us potentially workable theories, and sometimes moved things forward, but had never shaken our understanding of the case like this one had.
"Those are good questions," I said, "but what exactly are you getting at?"
"I'm saying it's possible she didn't do it alone," Kagami-kun said, "and that one of us is her accomplice. That person might have gone in after Iwasawa-san entered the bath, and left at some point before we decided to meet up."
"Maybe," Tezuka-kun said, "but if Sugiura's the murderer, all we have to do is vote for her, right?"
"That's true," Kagami-kun said, "if, of course, she's the one who murdered Iwasawa-san. If she isn't, then her accomplice will go free and we'll all be executed if we pick her."
I paused for a moment.
"That would depend on who was responsible for Iwasawa-san drowning, wouldn't it?" I said. "Whoever held Iwasawa-san underwater would be the killer, not necessarily who drugged her, right?"
"I believe so," Kagami-kun said, "but considering that Sugiura-san's physical strength is not adequate to restrain Iwasawa-san, it's unlikely that her accomplice would have trusted her with the task of holding her underwater. Therefore, the accomplice would have become the blackened, and thus the person we need to identify."
Sae shook her head.
"If Sugiura-san had an accomplice, then she'd have sold them out by now," Sae said, "if only to make us doubt whether she was the killer. As we've discussed before, accomplices can't graduate, and Sugiura-san being convicted would result in her death regardless of whether she's the culprit."
"All of us are aware of that," Kagami-kun said. "Besides, don't you see that Sugiura-san has given up on survival? She asked us to kill her yesterday morning. She clearly wouldn't mind being executed as part of the plan, whether for failing to uncover the blackened or as the blackened herself."
"If I wanted to die that badly, I'd have hanged myself in my room two nights ago," Sugiura-san said. "Besides, like I said, I don't care enough about any of you that I'd give my life, much less everyone else's lives, for that person."
I sighed. Sae and Kagami-kun were clearly at an impasse, unwilling to accept each other's arguments.
"All this is just speculation," I said, "since while Sugiura-san might not have been able to kill Iwasawa-san alone, she couldn't have gotten anyone's help. Apart from Sugiura-san, everyone else has an alibi for the time of the crime."
"What if one of our alibis doesn't hold up?" Kagami-kun said. "What if one of us is lying to protect the possible accomplice?"
"It can't be any of the guys," I said. "After all, the three of you saw each other, as we explained earlier. As for Sae and I..."
I stopped short, realizing what Kagami-kun was implying... and not liking it at all.
"Do you understand what I'm saying, Miura-san?" Kagami-kun said. "I believe Sugiura-san's accomplice, as well as the possible killer... is most likely Edogawa-san. And I also believe that if anyone is willing to lie to protect her... it would be you. After all, with your family as the hostages, she'd likely commit murder to save your loved ones, and you might lie in order to ensure that she graduates and survives, since she's the person you'd most likely be willing to die to protect. Of course, it could be the other way around."
"Th-That isn't possible," I said. "I hadn't let Sae out of my sight since breakfast."
"Kaori's right," Sae said. "You saw us leave for the school together, didn't you?"
"I did," Kagami-kun said, "but as I said earlier, I wasn't watching the baths the entire time. It's possible that at least one of you slipped into the baths in order to help Sugiura-san with the murder, and left before she did. The only question is who."
"But isn't that a bit too convenient?" I said. "You happened to catch a glimpse of Sugiura-san leaving the baths but didn't spot her accomplice, did you?"
Kagami-kun nodded.
"I did," Kagami-kun said, "but it wasn't as though I was specifically looking for the murderer to emerge, since I didn't know Iwasawa-san was dead until I went to the baths. Besides, if the accomplice moved quickly and quietly, they could get out of sight without being spotted leaving the baths. What's your point?"
"My point is that if Sae was the killer and Sugiura-san was her accomplice, Sae's plan would hinge on us convicting Sugiura-san," I said. "Because of that, the plan would be ruined if Sae was spotted leaving the crime scene at any point. It simply isn't plausible that if Sae and Sugiura-san were in cahoots, they'd leave something like that purely up to chance."
"Maybe not," Kagami-kun said. "Of course, Edogawa-san's alibi rests purely on your testimony. Since you aren't naïve enough to trust her unconditionally, perhaps you're willingly covering for her in hopes that if anyone survives and escapes, it'll be her. After all, didn't you ask Katsura-san to kill you instead of Edogawa-san?"
I glanced at Iwasawa-san's portrait. The most painful lesson she'd learned here was about the consequences of misplaced trust, so what would she say now if she was one of the spotless, rather than the victim? Would she believe me or would she warn me against unconditionally trusting Sae? While I knew Sae was innocent, and couldn't fathom why Kagami-kun had decided to cast doubt on that, I couldn't say for certain what Iwasawa-san, one of my closest friends in this school, would do in this situation.
I then turned back to Sae, who let off a sigh.
"I'm sorry, Kaori, I'll have to tell everyone," Sae said. "The truth is that Kaori and I set an improvised explosive outside the data center in an attempt to lure out the mastermind at the time of the murder. After heading for the chemical lab to retrieve the chemicals for the explosive, we headed to the data center to set our trap, and waited there until we were certain the mastermind wouldn't show up. After that, we headed back to the dorms and arrived at the scene of the crime just after you and the others did."
I nodded solemnly, trying to make it seem as though I was reluctant to disclose this information. In reality, if it helped deflect some of the suspicion from Sae, revealing this was well worth it.
"Yeah, and too bad it didn't work out," Tezuka-kun said. "If what you're saying was true, Sugiura was too busy killing Iwasawa, while the rest of us were in the dining hall, and not able to come over without being noticed. Of course, one of you might be the mastermind."
"That's certainly possible, Tezuka-kun," Kagami-kun said, "but while Miura-san and Edogawa-san are suspects for being the mastermind, that's beside the point for now. At this point, we only have their word for whether they were together at the time of the crime."
I gritted my teeth. While I was grateful for and careful not to abuse the others' trust in me, it was shocking to find that they'd turned against me so easily.
"Well, what do you think, Inoue-kun, Tezuka-kun?" I said. "Do you think Sugiura-san is the blackened?"
"I honestly don't know," Inoue-kun said. "I believe what you're saying, and think Sugiura-san is, at the very least, involved in the murder, but she couldn't have done it alone."
"Me neither," Tezuka-kun said. "I'm saying you're lying, Miura, but you've never had to deal with Edogawa being suspected before. I'm not sure who could've helped Sugiura if not either of you."
I remembered the time when Katsura-san had brought up how given that only one person could graduate, an accomplice would betray the killer. Perhaps Sugiura-san didn't have anyone she trusted enough for that, let alone anyone she wanted to graduate, but it was worth asking her to see if she'd try to name anyone else.
"Did you have an accomplice, Sugiura-san?" I said. "If that person is the actual killer, then you won't be executed if that person is convicted. As things stand now, you'll likely be convicted, and thus be executed regardless of whether you're the blackened."
"I... plead the fifth," Sugiura-san said.
Sugiura-san quivered, seeming more troubled about this seemingly easy question than about being accused of the murder.
"So, in other words, you acted alone," I said, "since I can't think of any one peson you care about enough that you'd give your life to protect them."
"I can't, either," Tezuka-kun said, "but I'd rather not vote for Sugiura until we clear up how she killed Iwasawa."
"Same here," Inoue-kun said.
The color drained from my face. Usually, by now, most of us agreed with me about the blackened's identity, but now, Sae seemed to be the only one who was on my side. As things were now, getting a unanimous guilty verdict for Sugiura-san was a fantasy, and even getting a plurality to vote for her would be very difficult.
"I have a question, Monokuma," I said. "What happens if the blackened and one of the spotless get the same number of votes?"
"Then the blackened graduates, and the other five get punished," Monokuma said. "Seriously, though, why worry about that? You lot have gotten the answer right four times now, and pretty much unanimously, at that."
"Maybe we did," Tezuka-kun said, "but if Edogawa somehow helped Sugiura, we're gonna have to find out which one actually is the blackened."
"I think the answer is obvious," Kagami-kun said. "Considering that Sugiura-san was unlikely to have been able to hold down Iwasawa-san by herself, Edogawa-san is more likely to be the primary culprit if she was involved in the crime."
My blood ran cold. We hadn't been this close to convicting the wrong culprit since Mitamura-san tried to frame Sugiura-san for killing Mizuhara-kun. I had to say something to get the discussion off this track, and quickly.
"But she wasn't," I said. "Sae didn't return to the baths until after the murder. I was with her the entire time."
"Then how was Iwasawa-san rendered unconscious and restrained so that she could be drowned?" Kagami-kun said. "We've already proved that it's not possible for Sugiura-san to have done it by herself."
I wracked my brain for some way to counter that statement, but nothing came to me. While I was still certain Sugiura-san was somehow involved in Iwasawa-san's death, I couldn't deny Sugiura-san had little chance of subduing Iwasawa-san by herself. But who could have helped her? I knew Sae was innocent, and the three boys all had alibis. It might not be possible for Sugiura-san to have pulled off the crime by herself, but it wasn't possible for anyone who was still alive to have helped her.
I was then struck by a burst of inspiration. We'd been approaching the case from the wrong perspective this whole time, simply because we'd assumed that it was a typical murder in order to graduate. By stepping back and looking at a certain player's motives differently, it was possible that they'd done something none of us had even considered.
"Now that I think about it, Kagami-kun, you're right," I said. "Sugiura-san did have an accomplice, someone whose cooperation she needed to carry out her murder plan. The only person who fits the bill... is Iwasawa-san herself."
The others were completely speechless for a moment- even Sae, who usually followed my reasoning fairly well. I was going out on a limb, but this was the only way it could have happened.
"Uh, Miura, maybe you misheard us," Tezuka-kun said. "Iwasawa's the victim."
"She is," I said, "and also the only other person who was at the crime scene at the time. It would be easy for Sugiura-san to restrain her and render her unconscious if Iwasawa-san let-"
"NO, KAORI!" Sae said.
I turned to Sae, and saw her as pale as a sheet, and had to admit that I'd nearly jumped out of my skin after hearing this. From breakfast until the time of the murder, she'd seen everything I'd seen, so why was she so shocked by what I'd said? Was Kagami-kun telling the truth when he said she was hiding something?
"I appreciate your standing up for me," Sae said, "and I maintain, as always, that Sugiura-san is the culprit. However, for all our sakes, this is one line of questioning you must not pursue. The last thing we want at this point is any doubt that Iwasawa-san was murdered."
"I still think Sugiura-san killed her," I said. "After all, the cuts on Iwasawa-san's wrists seem to be due to her thrashing around in her final moments. The very fact that she was restrained and held down is not indicative of a suicide."
"Good, we agree on those points," Sae said.
I nodded, but noticed that Sae didn't seem any calmer. Perhaps she realized what I was going to say next- something that had to be said if we wanted to uncover the mystery.
"But... how did Sugiura-san get those handcuffs in the first place?" I said. "As we discussed earlier, Iwasawa-san was the one who got them as her murder weapon. It's possible she loaned them to Sugiura-san, but if she did so voluntarily, she must have had some idea what Sugiura-san planned to use them for. Sugiura-san had told us multiple times that she thought that a murder was inevitable."
"Maybe Iwasawa-san didn't loan them to her," Sae said. "Once Iwasawa-san was unconscious, Sugiura-san stole her room key, went to the room, retrieved the handcuffs and used them to restrain her. After all, Sugiura-san left the bath house some time before the murder."
"But did she return?" I said. "As far as I know, Iwasawa-san's room key was in her front pocket, and she lay face-down in the water, so it would've been very difficult for Sugiura-san to put it back without moving the body. Perhaps she could have pushed Iwasawa-san in, but lifting her out of the water would be almost impossible."
Sugiura-san remained silent, neither confirming nor denying my claim. Considering that even now, there was virtually no chance of her avoiding being convicted, perhaps she'd thrown in the towel.
"Besides, I don't believe that she took Iwasawa-san's handcuffs from her room," I said. "She'd probably have had to search the entire room, top to bottom, to find them, and that's assuming that Iwasawa-san still kept her murder weapon around. Furthermore, if Iwasawa-san had woken up while Sugiura-san was away, her plan would have been ruined."
"So Sugiura-san handcuffed Iwasawa-san after her death," Sae said, sounding increasingly desperate.
"Again, that's unlikely," I said. "If Iwasawa-san hadn't been restrained, she'd likely have broken free and escaped. After all, if what you say is true, then she wouldn't want to die, would she?"
Sae sighed and seemed at a loss for words for a few moments.
"I'll admit you raise some good points," Sae said, "but you're forgetting the most important part of all. Like us, Iwasawa-san wanted to get out of here more than anything. She wanted to return home, to see her friends and loved ones again. Why would she give up on that?"
For a moment, I hesitated. All of the killers had fought to the end, since they weren't ready to die, and even Fukuda-kun admitted he'd been scared enough to not immediately confess to accidentally killing Katsura-san. After a moment, though, I thought of it differently, and a piece of evidence that seemingly only revealed information about the victim now gave her a possible reason to participate in this crime.
"What if she doesn't have any family members left?" I said.
"That shouldn't be possible," Sae said. "Monokuma revealed he had leverage on all of us, and Iwasawa-san was no exception."
"He said he had those dearest to us who were still left alive," I said. "In Iwasawa-san's case, her hostage was a relative she'd never met. She told me a few days ago that it was highly likely that her village hadn't survived the Tragedy, and if true, that would mean her friends and family are all gone. Perhaps she simply chose to give up her life, so that the rest of our loved ones could be safe, which was why she made a deal with Sugiura-san, who'd also given up on living. Perhaps Iwasawa-san wouldn't even have considered this if she had family to go back to, but having lost everyone she cared about, she allowed Sugiura-san to kill her."
Sugiura-san was sweating bullets. Was it because I'd proved beyond all shadow of a doubt that she was the killer, or because I'd found out why she'd done it?
"Th-that isn't possible!" Sae said. "Iwasawa-san knows suicide is a sin, so she would never kill herself!"
I shook my head. Apart from the fact that it was technically allowing Sugiura-san to kill her, there was something more relevant.
"It is and you know it," I said. "Sae, you've been acting strangely this whole trial, fixating on the theory that Sugiura-san acted alone. It's not like you."
"I'd say you're not acting like yourself," Sugiura-san said. "It's odd to see you doubting Edogawa. I mean, you generally listen to her, right?"
Something was wrong. I suspected that Sugiura-san had confessed to Sae, who was desperate to keep the true circumstances of the murder secret, but this was just a theory. By now, the cat was out of the bag, but I knew I had to keep going, in order to save the spotless' lives.
"Maybe it is," I said, "but I'm sure there's a reason behind it all- why she's acting this way, why you killed Iwasawa-san, and why Iwasawa-san cooperated with you. I'm going to lay it out for everyone's benefit."
Two days ago, Monokuma gave us an ultimatum- commit murder or he would kill one of our families. Feeling as though they had no other choice, the culprit asked us to kill them at breakfast the next morning. Since no one took them up on their offer, the culprit turned to Plan B- committing murder. To this end, they enlisted the help of an unlikely accomplice- the victim herself.
In preparation for the crime, the culprit obtained three critical items. The first item was the handcuffs that Iwasawa-san had obtained as her murder weapon. The second item was a length of rope, which was the culprit's own murder weapon. The third item was some chloroform, which the culprit found in the chemical lab, along with a rag they could probably have gotten almost anywhere. The culprit wasn't tall enough to reach the highest shelf, though, and so used a chair from a nearby classroom as a stepping stool.
The crime took place at some point after breakfast this morning, presumably between 8 and 9 AM. When Sae and I went to try to lure the mastermind out, and the boys waited in the dining hall, Iwasawa-san called the culprit in for a meeting in the baths, one of the few places in this school without security cameras. Iwasawa-san went in first, at 8:10, followed by her killer at some point in the next 20 minutes.
Once Iwasawa-san was there, the culprit handcuffed her and tied her legs with the rope. Once Iwasawa-san was restrained, the culprit used a chloroform-soaked rag to render her unconscious. While Iwasawa-san could have overpowered her killer or escaped, at no point did she resist- the restraints, as well as the chloroform-soaked rag, were intended to make this look like a murder.
With Iwasawa-san unconscious, the culprit placed her in the bath and held her underwater. Iwasawa-san, forced awake by the pain of swallowing water, began to thrash, causing the handcuffs to cut her wrists. Eventually, however, Iwasawa-san drowned. The killer then left the baths, with nothing but their entry and departure recorded on the cameras.
Around 8:55 AM, when we were set to meet, the culprit led the boys into the baths, where they found the body, and a few minutes later, Sae and I arrived. Because there was no camera, no Body Discovery Announcement played, even though three people besides the culprit had found the body. Considering the circumstances, there is only one possible explanation for Iwasawa-san's death, and only one person who could have killed her.
That person is you, Anzu Sugiura-san!
Sugiura-san nodded grimly.
"That's right," Sugiura-san said. "I'm the culprit. No matter how you put it, I'm a murderer- right, Monokuma?"
"I'm not answering that," Monokuma said, "not until you find the blackened."
"Sure, sure," Sugiura-san said. "By now, though, you should know that Edogawa's not responsible, so you know who to vote for, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Well, if your minds are made up, it's time to vote," Monokuma said. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?"
Voting time came up again, and I cast my vote for Sugiura-san. She'd done what she thought she must, so now it was my turn... but that didn't mean I was happy about it.
The final results came up, and showed six votes for Sugiura-san, leading to yet another "GUILTY!" verdict.
The courtroom was once again silent in the aftermath of the latest trial, until Monokuma announced the result.
"That's the fifth one in a row!" Monokuma said. "The blackened who murdered Momo Iwasawa-san is... Anzu Sugiura-san!"
I wasn't any more pleased with the outcome of this trial than I was with the previous four. More than that, I was afraid. By saving myself and the other four spotless from being executed, had I doomed my parents and sister?
"So, Monokuma," Sugiura-san said, "are you happy?"
Monokuma's glare and raised paw told us all we needed to know.
"Not quite," Monokuma said. "You see, I said you bastards would need to kill someone, not get someone to let you kill them. Of course, you're still gonna have to die, since I don't believe in 'practice' class trials."
Sugiura-san bit her lip and pounded the rail of her seat with her fist.
"Damn it..." Sugiura-san said despairingly. "All that... for nothing?!"
"Well, not nothing," Monokuma said. "You see, even if you didn't quite get me what I was looking for, you became the blackened, so you had a chance to graduate... and blew it. Like I said, each and every class trial has lives on the line, so you're gonna be punished."
Sugiura-san took a deep breath and gave a bittersweet smile.
"So at the very least, nobody else here will die this time," Sugiura-san said. "That's a relief."
Sae was clearly troubled, and she couldn't look me in the eye. Her gaze eventually wandered over to Sugiura-san.
"Sugiura-san, it looks like there's no longer any reason for you to hide the truth," Sae said. "Please tell us everything."
"All right," Sugiura-san said. "I know that not everyone trusted me completely, but I want you to understand this. Since my plan failed and I'm going to die very soon, I don't have any more reason to lie."
I nodded as the others remained quiet, giving Sugiura-san the floor.
"For the first day after Monokuma announced the motive, I waited around, hoping we'd find a solution," Sugiura-san said, "or to see if someone would commit murder. That didn't happen, so I showed up to breakfast with my rope, hoping that someone would kill me. Obviously, that didn't happen, either."
"Yeah, none of us were exactly keen on dying," Tezuka-kun said. "Neither was Iwasawa, of course."
Sugiura-san chuckled mirthlessly, then said, "I know."
"All that seems to be easy to understand," Inoue-kun said, "but what part aren't you sure about?"
"We're getting to that part," Sugiura-san said. "After breakfast yesterday, Iwasawa called me into the baths, where there weren't any cameras, and asked me to kill her. I thought this was some kind of bad joke until she told me about what she'd seen on her ransom notepad."
"So Kaori was right," Sae said. "Iwasawa-san no longer had a home or family to which she could return."
By now, almost all of us had lost our hometowns, too. Of course, we could take some comfort in knowing that our families were still alive... at least for now.
"But why did she decide to have you murder her?" Kagami-kun said. "As I mentioned before, the size difference between the two of you makes it hard to believe that you could have overpowered her."
"I probably could have thought that through better," Sugiura-san said ruefully, "but Iwasawa and I discussed this, and we realized that if I was found dead, people might think I'd killed myself or realize that I'd let her kill me. Like Edogawa said, the fact that Iwasawa's a Christian is a bit of a lucky break- most people would assume that she believed she'd go to Hell if she committed suicide."
"So she decided to let you murder her, knowing you'd be executed if you were caught?" Inoue-kun said.
Sugiura-san nodded, and hung her head.
"I think she knew that would happen," Sugiura-san said, "but she never forced me to do anything. I could have said no if I wanted, but I knew that the only way for all of our families to live through tomorrow morning was for a murder to occur.."
None of us knew what to say to that. Before, refraining from committing murder was a simple matter of self-control, but now, we had a dilemma. Would we endanger our friends or risk sacrificing our families? By now, it was obvious why Katsura-san and Fukuda-kun had suffered so much in their last days.
"Of course," Sugiura-san said, "neither of us wanted to be responsible for each other's deaths, so we held off as long as possible... until this morning. When Miura and Edogawa went off on their little expedition, Iwasawa came up to me and whispered, 'It's time, Miss Sugiura. I'm going to the baths in a little while.' I then went to my room and got the chloroform and the rag, which I'd gotten during Night Time last night, as well as my rope, then set out to kill her..."
Sugiura's Flashback
I went into the baths, and found Iwasawa next to the water, kneeling in prayer. As I approached, she looked up and saw my reflection in the mirror. She didn't get up, though, but put her hands behind her back. I then set down the bag my murder weapon came in, which had all the necessary supplies- my rope, Iwasawa's handcuffs, the chloroform and a rag.
"It's time, Miss Sugiura," Iwasawa said. "Are you ready?"
I nodded, then unlocked the handcuffs. I took a quick look around to make sure no one had followed us here, then hesitated a moment.
"Are you sure about this, Iwasawa?" I said. "This is your last chance to back out."
"I'm positive," Iwasawa said. "If we don't do something now, then Mr. and Mrs. Miura, as well as their eldest daughter, will almost certainly die tomorrow morning. Please, just do it before I lose my nerve."
Iwasawa put her hands behind her back, and I handcuffed them together, stashing the key in her overalls' bib pocket. I then took out the rope and tied her legs together.
"Just one last question," I said. "It's probably between you and your God, but if this counts as suicide, you'll go to Hell, won't you?"
"If so, then yes," Iwasawa said, "but let's be honest. What kind of Christian would I be if I let my fear for my life or my soul prevent me from doing what I believed to be right?"
So Iwasawa had thought things through. Even though I knew this had to be done, the fact that she was actually ready to die even though she'd done nothing to deserve death made this harder in some ways. This was her decision, but it was a choice she never should have had to make.
"Fair enough," I said. "I'm sorry it had to come to this."
"Please don't be," Iwasawa said. "Just promise me that you won't give up right away- as selfish as it sounds, I don't want to simply accept that your fate is sealed, too."
I didn't think Iwasawa was wrong to feel that way. Just as Iwasawa's death would be on my conscience, my impending death would be on hers... and if we did nothing, the deaths of many innocent people would be on both of ours.
"I'll do what I can," I said. "Not just because Monokuma expects me to try to graduate, but also because it's your last request."
"Thank you very much, Miss Sugiura," Iwasawa said with a smile. "I'm ready."
I then soaked the rag in chloroform and put it over Iwasawa's nose and mouth. Within a minute or so, she passed out and toppled over to one side. While she was significantly taller and heavier than me, it was fairly easy to push her into the water, then hold her under until she stopped moving- at least in terms of physical effort.
Only when I finished was I faced with the truth- regardless of my reasons or my victim's, I was a murderer. I'd soon be punished for my crime, but it wouldn't erase my sin. The only silver lining that helped ease those feelings of guilt was the knowledge that I wouldn't have to live with them for very long.
End of Flashback
"I could tell that Iwasawa was as ready to die as anyone could ever be," Sugiura-san said, "but she struggled enough to cut her wrists on the handcuffs. I guess she was scared at the end, or a part of her wanted to live- we'll never know."
Everyone remained silent. There were many things we wanted to ask the dead murder victims, not just who killed them or how. If anything, we were grateful that Sugiura-san had given us insights on Iwasawa-san's final moments, even if she'd originally hoped to take it to her grave.
"Anyway, I was hoping to disguise this as just another murder," Sugiura-san said, "which was why I did this in the baths, where there were no cameras."
"Clever girl!" Monokuma said. "But you forgot one thing- you were the last person to see Iwasawa-san before her death, so I could guess you were responsible."
"That's what I was hoping for," Sugiura-san said. "In theory, I could potentially have made an unsolvable murder without the cameras, but if I'd ended up getting away with it, you all would have been executed... which is not what I wanted."
So perhaps that was why Sugiura-san left the box around, knowing she was the only person too short to reach the shelf, and had used her rope so soon after showing it to us. The plan wasn't without its holes, but a good number of the "mistakes" had been thought through in advance.
"My goal was to get found out, but I didn't want to make things too easy," Sugiura-san said. "Just in case you couldn't manage this, though, I called Edogawa aside for a private chat."
"That's right," Sae said. "Sugiura-san had always been my top suspect, but I'd never expected to hear her admit to the crime so readily."
Edogawa's Flashback
I stood in the baths with Sugiura-san, listening to the unthinkable- a full confession of murder in advance of the class trial, as well as her reasons for the crime. Once she appeared to be finished, I asked the only thing that came to mind.
"Is this true?" I said.
"I wouldn't lie about something like this," Sugiura-san said. "If you all vote for me, then I'll be executed, regardless of whether I did it. You should accept that I'm telling the truth, or at least that I'm prepared to die."
"Fair enough," I said, "since your confession does line up with what we've uncovered so far. Of course, we should have enough evidence to convict you, even without your confession."
"That's the plan," Sugiura-san said. "My confession's a last resort if we can't find the killer anyway, so don't bring it up unless Monokuma says we're out of time. Worst case scenario, if you and Miura vote for me and I vote for myself, I should get a majority."
I nodded. At the very least, I knew that when Kaori identified Sugiura-san, I could stand behind her and help convince everyone.
"That said, are you sure about this?" I said. "You know what's in store for a blackened who's convicted."
Sugiura-san nodded grimly.
"I knew what I was getting into when I killed Iwasawa," Sugiura-san said. "Drowning isn't nearly as peaceful a death as they say it is, so it's only fair if my death's a painful one. Besides, if I don't get convicted, the same thing happens to all of you."
"I'll do what I can to make sure things don't come to that," I said. "Besides, even if Kaori's out of the loop, I'm sure she'll find the truth."
Sugiura-san chuckled.
"So you trust her that much?" Sugiura-san said. "I'm honestly a little jealous of how close you two are. She was probably the only friend I had in here, but your relationship with her's on a whole another level."
It wasn't hard to see why Sugiura-san felt that way. While not everyone necessarily believed Sugiura-san was a ticking time bomb, Sugiura-san had hardly talked with anyone besides Kaori.
"I do feel guilty," I said. "I know why you're doing this, but I wish I didn't have to lie to her."
"I know," Sugiura-san said. "I'm pretty sure Miura's got it figured out, though, so if you trust her, just let her do her thing."
At that point, I heard footsteps coming and had to cut our conversation short to avoid being discovered.
End of Flashback
I suddenly realized what Sae had been going through. Torn between her promise to Sugiura-san and keeping secrets of me, to say nothing of what the consequences of her decision might be for all of us, she'd been in an unenviable position. I wished she could have confided in me, but I knew that her circumstances didn't allow her to do so.
"But it looks like my backup plan didn't turn out as I'd hoped, either," Sugiura-san said. "Edogawa, Miura, I really hope you're not mad at each other over this."
"I'm not," Sae said. "I'm so sorry for keeping this from you, Kaori."
Sae turned in my direction and bowed deeply in apology.
"Don't be, Sae," I said. "You simply did what you had to in order to protect our families and the rest of us. I'm sorry I ended up bringing this secret to light."
As I bowed in apology, Sugiura-san looked surprisingly relieved for someone who'd failed to accomplish the plan she'd given her life to execute.
"It's good that you don't have any hard feelings" Sugiura-san said, "since there's only two people I blame for this, neither of whom are you two. The first is myself, since even knowing we had almost a day left, I chose not to trust in the group's ability to work together, and took matters into my own hands, sacrificing an innocent person and giving Monokuma what he'd wanted."
"I actually understand how you feel," I said. "My plan was a desperate measure at best, and there's no guarantee we would have come up with anything better if we'd put our heads together. I honestly can't judge you too harshly."
Sugiura-san nodded gratefully.
"Who's the other person?" Sae said. "Iwasawa-san?"
"Not her," Sugiura-san said. "She made her choice, but it's one she probably never would've thought of if I hadn't done what I'd done at breakfast yesterday. I'm talking about Kagami. We wouldn't be in this mess if that idiot hadn't started asking questions."
"Or if you hadn't killed Iwasawa-san," Kagami-kun said, unusually coldly. "I understand your reasons, but you should have known that Monokuma would see through your plan, or that Miura-san would realize that Iwasawa-san let you kill her."
Sugiura-san glared at him.
"Anyway, Sugiura-san, I'm not so sure Kagami-kun's an 'idiot,'" Sae said. "He did have some valid points about the case from an outsider's perspective."
"Well, what do you call someone who causes the trial to drag on after we find the killer, at a time like this?" Sugiura-san said. "Either he's an idiot, or..."
As Sugiura-san stopped short, a terrible thought about Kagami-kun's motives for questioning the conclusion that Sugiura-san had acted alone entered my mind for a moment.
"Forget it," Sugiura-san said. "That's... too awful for me to consider."
I nodded, then decided to change the subject, to say what I needed to while I still had time.
"In any case, Sugiura-san, I'm deeply sorry," I said. "I wish things hadn't come to this."
"Don't be," Sugiura-san said. "I woke up this morning knowing today would be my last day alive. Of course, while I feel responsible for Mizuhara, Yuuki and Akasaka's deaths to some extent, I didn't know actually killing someone would weigh so much more heavily on my conscience."
"You didn't?" Tezuka-kun said. "But you're..."
"The Ultimate Poisoner?" Sugiura-san said with a bitter laugh. "Talent High School really does love giving out those titles frivolously, doesn't it? I've never actually killed anyone before. Maybe the recruiter actually thought so, or maybe he just used it as leverage to blackmail me to come here so that this school could study my talent."
"I can believe that," Kagami-kun said.
So Iwasawa-san was innocent of the murder that had served as her claim to fame as the Ultimate Poisoner. I'd had my suspicions before, but only now was I sure of it.
"I had my doubts about whether you'd really killed someone before," I said. "But why didn't you say so before?"
"There wasn't any way to prove I wasn't guilty," Sugiura-san said, "and there's nothing more pathetic than someone accused of a crime and pleading their innocence, just like the other blackened did. I'm sure you must've thought I was a killer, and maybe even the mastermind, didn't you?"
"I did suspect that," I said, "but there are certain things I believe in. One is the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty.' Another is building a case with concrete evidence. The third is you as a person, Sugiura-san. When I consider all the facts, the story in which you were falsely accused makes more sense than the one in which you actually are a killer, so I'm glad I was right about that."
Sugiura-san smiled warmly. True trust didn't involve a lack of doubt, but an ability to overcome it.
"Thank you very much, Miura-san," Sugiura-san said, bowing deeply. "It means a lot coming from you. My life may be over, but while I wish it had turned out differently in many ways, I'm thankful for one thing- being able to meet you, the only real friend I've had."
I had to admit that Sugiura-san had surprised me just now. Part of it was using "-san" on me for the first time since the second trial. Another part was her calling me- or anyone, really- her friend. The last and most important part was the idea that I'd had such an impact on her. More than anything, though, it seemed unfair that Sugiura-san, having come to terms with herself, would have her life cut short before she could make use of her epiphany.
Monokuma then cleared his throat impatiently, derailing my train of thought.
"I've heard about enough of this," Monokuma said. "Even if this wasn't quite what I asked for, Sugiura-san still killed Iwasawa-san, so you know what happens to her."
"Yes," Sugiura-san said. "It's time I paid for the murder I committed, as well as the ones that I failed to prevent. Why do you think I came up with this plan?"
Did Sugiura-san really mean it? Had her guilt and self-loathing eroded her will to live? Before I could ask her something, or even say anything, Monokuma then began his usual ritual again.
"Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Waitress... I mean, Poisoner!"
"So I'm stuck with that title to the very end?" Sugiura-san said. "Heh, figures. Do your worst, Monokuma."
"Let's give it everything we've got! It's PUNISHMENT TIME!"
Game Over
Sugiura-san has been found guilty
Time for the punishment!
The Ultimate Poisoner, Anzu Sugiura's Execution: Executed
Chef's Surprise
Sugiura-san was seated at a table in a fancy restaurant, with her ankles bound together and her hands cuffed behind the back of the chair.
Monokuma arrived, dressed similarly to a waiter, and set down a tray with a covered dish and a glass of what looked like wine. He picked up the cover to the platter and threw it aside... revealing a plate full of snakes, scorpions, bees and wasps. As soon as the cover was lifted, the poisonous insects, arachnids and reptiles swarmed over Sugiura-san, biting and stinging her repeatedly.
Sugiura-san's face contorted in agony until Monokuma opened her mouth and poured in the glass of "wine," which I suspected was actually poison. He then grabbed a fork and forced her to eat the dish below the various creatures, which looked like improperly prepared fugu. He shoved in forkfuls so quickly she had trouble swallowing. Considering the various poisons that were flowing through her veins, perhaps choking to death would have been a merciful way to go.
As the poisons coursed through her body, Sugiura-san writhed in agony, vomited all over herself and finally expired.
The five of us watched in horror. All of us knew that the blackened would have to die, but what now? What would happen if Monokuma considered this murder invalid?
"Are you bummed out?" Monokuma said. "I feel the same way, since I didn't even get a real murder out of this deal. You know what that means, right?"
"No... you wouldn't!" Sae said.
"Oh, relax, Edogawa-san," Monokuma said. "I don't make empty threats, but technically, you did have about 22 and a half hours left when Iwasawa-san drowned, and I'll pretend the timer didn't go down while you were at the class trial, so you've got plenty of time. It's almost 11 now, so you've got until... 9:30 AM tomorrow."
I paused in horror. In the end, Sugiura-san and Iwasawa-san's deaths had only bought us two and a half hours. Under the circumstances, two more people would likely die before the end of today, just as I'd thought, and then what? Which three people would be alive after that, and would the mastermind be among them?
"It's a pretty good offer, if I do say so myself," Monokuma said, "unless anyone has an alternative proposal."
Monokuma was almost certainly speaking in jest, and we all knew what kind of sense of humor he had, but I felt a sense of hope for once. Before, I felt as though I had two undesirable choices- kill the mastermind and escape, or stay in a place in which my life was in danger every day- as well as the unrealistic fantasy of finding a way to leave the school, but I felt as though a new choice had presented itself to me. I had an idea to end the killing game, and felt as though it was actually a workable choice.
I then raised my hand. The moment to hesitate was gone, and I had to act to prevent another murder like the one that had just happened. It wasn't much of a plan, but for once, I felt confident that I could pull it off.
"I do," I said. "What if I told you I knew who the mastermind is, and that we could have one final class trial to determine their identity?"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock, especially Sae's.
"You really know?" Sae said. "When did you find out?"
"Just after the trial," I said. "Not only is Sugiura-san, one of our main suspects, dead, but a certain someone was behaving very strangely during the trial."
Monokuma seemed to break out in a cold sweat for a moment, far more than a robot without sweat glands could do, but calmed down after a moment.
"Ok, so maybe you're telling the truth," Monokuma said. "Are you sure enough to bet your life on it?"
"I am," I said. "I'm willing to risk my life to ensure that this killing game ends."
"Puhuhuhuhu... Too bad!" Monokuma said. "You bastards are fighting for your lives in this killing game, so I'm not about to indulge you just because you want to play hero. You'll have to sweeten the pot with someone else's life, but there's a catch. It's gonna have to be someone you care about... not counting my hostages, since they got anted up for the current motive."
Sae looked relieved for a moment, possibly because Monokuma had rejected my proposal, but I realized that wasn't the case once she spoke.
"Then I'll bet my life as well," Sae said. "Each murder incident, which is followed by the execution of a blackened, involves at least two deaths, right? If we fail, you get what you're looking for."
"Interesting..." Monokuma said. "Now that's a good idea."
"NO!" I said. "Don't do this, Sae!"
"Oh, is Edogawa-san that precious to you?" Monokuma said. "It sounds like she's the one person whose life you value at least as much as your own, isn't she?"
"I..." I said, before the words stuck in my throat
"Very well!" Monokuma said. "I accept your life and hers as your wager for the final class trial. If you find the mastermind, and vote to convict them, they'll be executed and the other four will be able to leave. If you don't, then I'll make you watch Edogawa-san be executed... and then it'll be your turn!"
The prospect of watching Sae die before joining her made me sick to my stomach, but once I calmed myself, I began to hope. If we succeeded, the killing game would finally end.
"But what about Tezuka-kun, Kagami-kun and I?" Inoue-kun said.
"It's your lucky day!" Monokuma said. "If you lot don't uncover the mastermind's identity, the only Miura-san and Edogawa-san have to die. If you do find the mastermind... well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Just relax, and see how things turn out."
So in other words, Monokuma wasn't about to let the mastermind get executed, or he was perhaps hoping that the boys wouldn't be willing to help now that their lives weren't on the line. Inoue-kun, however, shook his head.
"Well, I'm not about to just sit there and let Miura-san and Sae die," Inoue-kun said. "If there's anything I can do to help them, I'll do it."
The other boys nodded.
"I'm sure you need evidence, so I'll give you one last investigation period," Monokuma said, "and I'll unlock the rest of the school so you can investigate. Of course, I've got one stipulation."
"One more?" I said. "Haven't you asked enough of us at this point?"
"Don't worry, Miura-san, it's nothing too major," Monokuma said. "You'll just need to find out the secrets of this school- why it exists, why you're all here, that sort of thing. Once you've done that, then the class trial can proceed to the part where you find the mastermind."
So apparently, the Tragedy wasn't the only major thing we'd forgotten... or perhaps Monokuma was talking about something we'd never learned. In either case, it was unlikely to be pleasant, but we'd have to play along.
"That's all for now," Monokuma said. "I'll see you soon!"
Monokuma vanished, and everyone was silent for a moment. Class trials were an exhausting affair, from the stress of trying to find the killer's identity to watching one of our own die in a gruesome manner, but while we were tired, we had no time to rest or to grieve. This trial would soon be followed by another, regardless of whether we were ready for it. With that in mind, everyone's minds seemed to be on the investigation ahead, and we headed to the elevator.
Before we got on, though, I turned to Sae, and the boys stopped to listen to us.
"Sae…" I said. "You didn't have to offer your life alongside mine."
"Yes, I did," Sae said firmly. "I want to see the killing game end as much as you do, and I regret not confiding in you after receiving Sugiura-san's confession. Your proposal is a much better alternative to waiting for the next murder, so of course I want to see it succeed. Besides, it makes me happy that Monokuma thinks I'm important enough to you that he'd accept my life as your bet."
"I... see," I said. "I'd hoped that even if I failed, you'd at least get out alive, but the solution's obvious now- I won't fail. Are you willing to help me find the mastermind?"
Sae and the others said "We are," in unison, inspiring mixed feelings in me. While I appreciated the gesture, I knew one of them had lied just now, as they had from the beginning. All that was left was to find out the liar's identity and their reason for deceiving us all.
"I see," I said. "We don't have any time to waste, so let the final investigation commence."
We then boarded the elevator, ready to begin our final investigation. By the end of the last trial, either the killing game, or my and Sae's lives, would end.
End of Chapter V
Students Remaining: 5
Waitress Apron: A memento of Sugiura. She never enjoyed her job, but always took pride in it.
Author's Notes
Thank you for the reviews and the theories. J Carp made a fairly good guess as to how the murder happened, despite overestimating Sugiura's cunning.
Since Sugiura ended up being a somewhat obvious culprit (especially since she wanted to get caught), I decided to make the main twist in the trial less about who killed Iwasawa and more about how Iwasawa was killed.
The post-trial sequence was fairly long, since not only did it have to explain the circumstances behind the murder, but it also sets up the final Chapter.
By this point, most of the cast has been killed off, so there aren't many people left to ask questions about the case, whether out of ignorance or in an attempt to derail the discussion. As such, the boys had to play that role.
Only one Chapter remains- the struggle to uncover and defeat the mastermind. I'm interested in hearing your theories as to who the mastermind is, and here's a hint- it is not Miura or one of the eleven who died so far. Not even Edogawa is ruled out, since there's a possible motive for her to go through with Miura's deal.
Next up is the start of Chapter VI, and the final Deadly Life segment. Not only is Miura out to find the mastermind's identity, but she must also uncover the secrets behind Talent High School.
Omake
Here are Miura's eulogies for the deceased, which would play if you examine their doors after their deaths.
"Kurogane-kun… I'd like to say 'This makes us even,' but I'm still not satisfied. I really did hope we could be friends one day."
"Sakuragi-kun… I know convicting you was the only choice, but I never wanted to see you die like that. You had so much to live for..."
"Mizuhara-kun… I wish we could have met somewhere we could trust each other freely. Maybe we could have been friends someday."
"Mitamura-san... It might be too late to say this, but you never had to be perfect. I respected you, and don't know whether I can fill your shoes."
"Yuuki-san... I never cared about your shortcomings, or what you couldn't do. You were a truly kind person and a dear friend- that's all that matters."
"Akasaka-san... You left behind a lot of people who care about you. Your parents, your siblings, Katsura-san and I all wonder... why did you have to die?"
"Hoshino-kun… Maybe my goal of escaping seems naïve to you, but I really could have used your help. If only we'd met under better circumstances..."
"Katsura-san… You were right. You can't simply weigh lives against each other. The simple truth is that I didn't want you to die, either."
"Fukuda-kun… I've been trying to honor your last wishes and not blame myself. I hope you forgave yourself in the end."
"Iwasawa-san... I know you made your decision, and I respect that. But was this really the only way you could help everyone?"
"Sugiura-san… I think I always knew you weren't really a killer at heart. I won't waste the chance you and Iwasawa-san gave me."