Class Trial
We returned to the courtroom for the last time. Roughly two thirds of the court was represented by portraits now, a disturbing testament to how many we'd lost. Sugiura-san's was the newest addition, with a crossbones-style X that seemed more at home on a warning label for a poisonous chemical than in a fancy restaurant. The walls were covered in a cold steel gray, almost like a highly Spartan futuristic base or a tomb.
One way or another, this would be the final class trial. If we succeeded, then we'd get to leave the school. If we lost, then the mastermind and the two other students would be the only ones left, and with Monokuma only allowing two students to leave at the end of the game, they'd have to decide who would live and who would die. Obviously, I preferred the former outcome, so I decided to give this trial everything I had, knowing that it wasn't just for my and Sae's sakes.
"Since this final class trial is a little different, I'm gonna explain the rules to you," Monokuma said. "Your ultimate goal this time is to identify the mastermind responsible for putting you all in here. If you identify them and vote to convict them, they die and you go free. If you can't do that, then Edogawa-san and Miura-san get punished. Any questions?"
While Sae and I, as well as the mastermind, were the only ones whose lives were at stake in the trial, I had to wonder why Monokuma gave the other two boys a free pass. Perhaps he wanted them to suspect each other, or perhaps make the wrong choice. In any case, I knew all too well that his actions were never motivated by kindness or mercy.
"But let's not get ahead of ourselves," Monokuma said. "First things first- you've got to prove that you've learned everything there is to know about this school. Let's start off with a question- why are you bastards here?"
What Monokuma had asked was so vague that it seemed more like a philosophical query than an actual question that warranted an answer. Because of that, I hoped that Monokuma would accept any response that fit a valid interpretation of his question, even if it wasn't the one he was looking for.
"Do you mean why we're trapped in here?" I said. "The school enacted a plan to shelter its students from the Tragedy by sealing them inside the school... a plan that we all agreed to take part in. At some point after the Hope's Peak killing school life, someone took over our school and forced us into a killing game."
"Wait a minute," Inoue-kun said. "I know we all lost our memories, so we probably don't remember agreeing to this, but how do you know we did?"
"I viewed a DVD," I said. "Every single member of our class gave our consent to stay in Talent High School as long as possible- even the rest of our lives. It wasn't an easy decision, but we all knew it was the only way to stay safe."
Inoue-kun furrowed his brow.
"You might be right," Inoue-kun said, "but I'm still having a hard time that all of us would so easily decide to stay in this school, knowing that everyone we cared about was outside the relative safety of these walls."
"Which is why it wasn't easy," I said. "In the end, it wasn't about us choosing between saving ourselves and helping our families, but saving ourselves and dying along with our families. Choosing the former option wasn't an ideal proposition, but it was the only choice that made sense."
"I guess," Inoue-kun said. "When you put it like that, I'd probably choose that."
I wished that at least one of those with many siblings- Akasaka-san, Katsura-san, Fukuda-kun or Sugiura-san- was still around, so I'd hear their perspectives as an amnesiac who'd forgotten the decision. What's done was done, though, but at least the others believed what they'd heard. I then turned to Monokuma.
"Well, Monokuma?" I said. "Does that answer your question?"
"Partially," Monokuma said. "You've provided a pretty good explanation for why you lot are inside this school, but you're missing something pretty big. As you said, this sweet deal's only for Talent High School students, so how did you get invited to Talent High School in the first place?"
I sighed, knowing that the answer to this question would be more complex and less pleasant. The reason behind answering this question was obvious- so that the public who was watching this show would become aware of Talent High School's raison d'etre. Still, it had to be said, and a part of me wondered if the time had come for the public to learn the truth.
"The short answer is on the basis of talent," I said. "At least in most of our cases, Talent High School chose those of us who were the best at what we did in our age group and hadn't gotten invited to Hope's Peak."
"And?" Monokuma said. "What about the rest of you?"
"That's what I'm getting to," I said. "Some of us were chosen due to being relatives of Talent High School's board of directors and other people who worked for the school, since the school was established to create a prestigious educational institution for the founders' relatives. Mitamura-san was apparently related to the chairman himself, while Iwasawa-san was the distant relative of a member on the board."
"What about the other fourteen students?" Inoue-kun said. "Isn't it possible that any one us could be related to someone involved with the school, from the chairman of the board to the groundskeeper?"
"That's a bit tricky," I said. "None of the other board members' surnames match any of yours, but it's possible that you're related to them on your mothers' sides of your respective families. So let me read off a list of them and tell me if you're related to any of them."
I recited the full names of all the members of the board, including the two men I'd just mentioned, but no one claimed to be related to any of them.
"Well, that puts some holes in your theory, Miura-san," Monokuma said. "Maybe it's just a coincidence that Mitamura-san and Iwasawa-san were relatives of Talent High School bigwigs. Whaddaya say to that?"
"I stand by what I said, since there's an explanation as to why the rest of us were chosen," I said. "While this school may exist for the benefit of the children and relatives of those who founded it, they still need talented graduates to enhance the school's prestige. Kagami-kun, I believe you once told me about the story of Stone Soup while we were exploring the fifth floor, didn't you?"
"Indeed I did, Miura-san," Kagami-kun said. "It's certainly a fitting story for this school. With nothing but a pot and a stone, the founders managed to make a meal for themselves by getting everyone else to contribute a little something in hopes of sharing in the gain. It's a rather devious and self-serving plan, but it certainly worked."
"Exactly," I said. "Schools do need their students, after all, or at least students who are willing to follow the rules and learn the material. If Talent High School's graduates go on to accomplish great things- never mind that it was because they were talented in the first place- then it only seems logical that a diploma from this school would become a mark of honor."
Oddly enough, while Kagami-kun's tone conveyed subdued disapproval, he didn't seem at all surprised. By comparison, Inoue-kun, the only person who hadn't heard about this, stared with his mouth gaping open.
"I... I don't believe this," Inoue-kun said. "My dad was always a bit skeptical about Talent High School, but he always believed going there would help me get into a good college and good job."
"That was always the goal for this school," I said. "After all, the school needed some sort of incentive to convince the talented students to accept being invited."
"That's right, Miura-san," Monokuma said. "Inoue-kun aside, I was expecting a bigger reaction from the rest of you."
"Kaori told me the details in advance," Sae said, "so if I'm not hearing it for the first time, I have no reason to be surprised."
"And I'm the one who showed Miura the document, so I was the first to find out," Tezuka-kun said. "Only Inoue and Kagami seemed to miss the memo."
I had to wonder about Kagami-kun's lack of reaction, but I put that aside for now. Even if I could question him about that, Monokuma wasn't willing to let us skip ahead to that part of the trial.
"It's as Sae and Tezuka-kun said," I said. "Are you disappointed, Monokuma?"
"Kinda," Monokuma said, hanging his head. "I was hoping you brats would be a lot more disturbed to realize that you were probably chosen for no good reason."
I shook my head. Maybe Monokuma and/or the mastermind hadn't predicted that Sae, Inoue-kun, Kagami-kun, Tezuka-kun and I would be the last five alive, but I believed that Mitamura-san would have been the only one truly shaken by knowing about why she was here- assuming she hadn't suspected already.
"Apart from the fact that none of the five of us are are related to Talent High School administrators, I think most of our talents are genuine," I said. "I might be biased, but Sae's books have achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim. Tezuka-kun is a well-known and well-respected young artist with a unique style. As for Inoue-kun, he once told me that he had a reputation as a linguistic prodigy- after all, not many teenagers know a dozen languages, right?"
"Nein, Fraulein Miura," Inoue-kun said, shaking his head. As usual, it didn't go all that far in proving that he knew German, but I'd seen him reading books in foreign languages before, so it was clear that he wasn't faking his talent.
"I agree," Sae said. "Shinichi-kun was somewhat well-known at my old school. I'd heard about him, even though we hadn't really spoken back then."
"What about the two of us, Miura-san?" Kagami-kun said. "For a long time, I've felt as though we were the only ones who didn't fit in, but there had to be a reason why we were chosen, wasn't there?"
The time had come to reveal the truth behind Kagami-kun's talent and reason for being admitted... assuming, of course, he didn't know by now.
"We... were apparently special," I said. "Talent High School's claim of researching talent was a lie, but they had to present some sort of findings in order to keep people fooled. That's why they chose me- to claim that they were making significant breakthroughs by understanding my rare and mysterious talent."
Kagami-kun simply nodded, apparently not surprised. It was hard to tell if he didn't feel anything, or simply chose not to show it.
"And what about me?" Kagami-kun said.
"You're the Ultimate Copycat," I said, "someone who possesses a photographic memory and can reproduce anything just by seeing it. I don't know if that's the talent you hoped for, but it's the one they saw in you."
I could have sworn I saw Kagami-kun turn up his nose at the mention of his talent, but since he was some distance away, I might have been imagining things. It hardly seemed like a reaction characteristic of someone who'd wanted to remember his talent, but maybe he was just disappointed.
"That's an interesting suggestion," Kagami-kun said, "but how do you know it's me?"
"Process of elimination," I said. "The headmistress' diary referred to the students in Class 32 by their talent. Out of the sixteen of us, the thirteen 'normal' Ultimates were listed first. Their talents should sound familiar..."
I then listed all the talents for everyone's information.
"In other words, everyone besides you, Kaori, and Sugiura-san," Sae said, turning to Kagami-kun. "Kaori just mentioned her Ultimate Beginner's Luck. Sugiura-san was both the Ultimate Waitress and the Ultimate Poisoner, as well as the only student with more than one talent in the school's history. The Ultimate Copycat, however, is referred to as 'he' and 'this boy,' while all the other male students' talents are listed in the entry."
"So Kagami-kun's the only one who can be the Ultimate Copycat," Inoue-kun said. "Hypothetically speaking, though, what if the Ultimate Copycat is actually pretending to be one of the other students?"
"Do you mean pretending to have another student's talent while concealing their own talent as the Ultimate Copycat?" Sae said. "As the document said, Sugiura-san is the only student with more than one Ultimate talent."
"That's what I was getting at," Inoue-kun said. "It's just a theory, though."
I shook my head.
"As I said, the other students have their own reputations," I said. "The Ultimate Copycat couldn't easily have published so much stolen artwork without getting caught, so I don't think he's Tezuka-kun."
"That's right," Tezuka-kun said. "And what about Inoue?"
"Let's say that Inoue-kun is the Ultimate Copycat pretending to be the Ultimate Linguist," I said. "Since the list mentions all sixteen students with unique talents, wouldn't that make Kagami-kun the actual Ultimate Linguist?"
"Probably," Tezuka-kun said, "but I've never heard Kagami say or read a word of any language other than Japanese. I guess that settles it- he's the Ultimate Copycat."
Kagami-kun furrowed his brow after hearing that.
"I suppose that's true," Kagami-kun said, "but I don't see how this bit of information is relevant."
I let off a sigh and shook my head. While Kagami-kun hadn't spoken up much in the earlier trials, he wasn't usually this argumentative... at least until Sugiura-san was suspected of being the previous killer.
"It might be," I said. "It's certainly possible that such a student had a grudge against Talent High School, as a result of being recruited 'by any means necessary,' and so..."
"Hold it!" Monokuma said. "As much as I'm enjoying this discussion, Miura-san, you're getting off topic. Keep the discussion to Talent High School, please."
I reluctantly nodded, knowing it was unwise to anger Monokuma at this point. That said, I was honestly unsure what more needed to be said to answer his questions.
"All right," I said. "Still, Monokuma, we did answer your questions, didn't you? We proved why we're trapped inside this school and what brought us here, didn't we?"
"You sure did," Monokuma said, "but there's one more question. Who's responsible for locking you all inside the school?"
I was tempted to say that Monokuma and the mastermind were, since they were the ones behind the killing game, but I knew that wasn't the answer. Monokuma had asked who had locked us in, not who was keeping us here, so I thought carefully.
"Mitamura-san did," I said. "She was given the Master Control to the school, and used it to lock the front door. She'd probably waited as long as she could for the teachers to find Class 32, our senpais, or at least return with news of their failure, but didn't want to risk herself and the other students."
"That's partly true, Miura-san, but you're missing the point," Monokuma said. "Who set up the big door and steel plates on the windows?"
I paused for a moment. While my answers so far had met Monokuma's standards, things could potentially turn very bad if I didn't give a satisfactory answer. Luckily, I knew exactly what to say.
"We did," I said. "We worked to sealed ourselves in the school so that we could stay safe from the Tragedy, not knowing that our sanctuary would become a prison."
"That's right!" Monokuma said. "You never realized until it was too late that you'd been betrayed by one of your own before the doors even shut, putting a fox in the henhouse. Now there's one question... who's the mastermind?"
I looked around for a moment. I had a good idea who this person was, but was a bit hesitant to formally accuse them until I'd gotten enough proof to conclusively and convincingly identify them as the mastermind. Tezuka-kun, however, didn't hesitate.
"Just double-checking," Tezuka-kun said, "but the mastermind's one of the five of us, right?"
"Of course!" Monokuma said. "The good news is that unlike the Hope's Peak killing game, the mastermind didn't fake their death, and is standing in the courtroom at this very moment. The bad news is that one of your so-called 'friends' has betrayed you since you first got here, and is partly responsible for all the death here!"
A chill went through me. If Monokuma was telling the truth, my theory was most likely correct, for better or worse. If I was correct, then Sae and I, along with the other two spotless, would survive and possibly escape, at long last.
Of course, it would also mean realizing that one of us was the culprit responsible for all the death and killing. I thought of my classmates as comrades in a sense, as people who'd been thrust into the killing game, and who'd work together to escape from it. The last thing I wanted was for the killing game to end with one more death, even if the person who died was the one responsible for it.
"Are you sure about that?" Inoue-kun said. "I'd rather not take your word for it, you know."
"I don't think he's lying," Sae said. "We had ample opportunities to examine the murder victims' bodies and confirm that they were, in fact, dead. As for those who were executed, we saw them perish ourselves, in ways that would make it virtually impossible for them to fake their deaths."
"True," I said. "I checked the bio lab earlier and found eleven bodies in there- the nine who died before today, as well as Iwasawa-san and Sugiura-san. There's virtually no chance that a body double was used at any point."
I recalled hearing that Enoshima and her sister had been twins, but fraternal twins didn't look exactly alike. Ikusaba-san probably looked different enough from Enoshima that a careful observer could have found them out, which may have been why Enoshima disposed of her sister at almost the first possible opportunity.
"So, if Miura-san and Sae are betting their lives to unmask the mastermind, it sounds like it's probably Kagami-kun or Tezuka-kun," Inoue-kun said. "I know I'm a suspect too, but for what it's worth, I'd like to say that I'm not the mastermind."
"I, too, would like to claim innocence," Kagami-kun said. "Of course, I'm fairly sure that Tezuka-kun would like to do so as well."
Tezuka-kun nervously chuckled. He wasn't convinced that protesting his own innocence was an especially strong argument in his favor, but he must have known that we didn't have any evidence to accuse him. Of course, it was a bit of an awkward situation now that the two other main suspects had said the thing he'd hoped to say himself.
"Yep, Kagami took the words out of my mouth there," Tezuka-kun said. "Then again, all three of us can't be right, can we?"
"Maybe we can," Kagami-kun said. "Is it really a good idea to rule out Miura-san or Edogawa-san?"
"What do you mean?" Inoue-kun said. "If that's true, and one of them is the mastermind, won't she die either way?"
"That's how Ultimate Despair is," Kagami-kun said. "Not only do they not care about the lives of other people, but they don't value their own lives, either. Enoshima killed her own sister so that she could feel the despair of losing a loved one. Once she was defeated, she willingly- no, gleefully- went to her own execution, relishing the despair from her own death."
My blood went cold. The trial had only just started, and now, Kagami-kun was trying to lead us down the wrong path. Perhaps he wasn't wrong to think that Sae might be part of Ultimate Despair, but I knew that wasn't true. But how would I go about proving that?
In all the previous trials, the killers had been motivated by rational desires- the first three wanted to get out of here and stay alive, so they fought the accusations for as long as they could. Even Fukuda-kun and Sugiura-san, who'd wanted to be convicted in the end, still put up a fight for the sake of appearances, so that Monokuma would spare the Fukuda family, and count Iwasawa-san's death as a murder, respectively. If Sae was the mastermind, then this could only end in her death.
"Maybe," Inoue-kun said, "but what are you getting at? If Sae was the mastermind, all she had to do was say nothing, and Monokuma wouldn't have accepted Miura-san's wager. I consider Miura-san a friend, but I doubt I'm close enough to her to make a good enough hostage."
I nodded. While I felt a bit bad about implying that Inoue-kun wasn't nearly as important with me as Sae was, I appreciated that he'd spoken out in favor of me.
"That's true," I said. "In fact, there's no guarantee that Monokuma would have even accepted my suggestion, since if he didn't want us to find the mastermind, he could simply have refused to even consider my proposal. I also didn't know that Sae would back me up."
"It's possible that you made the suggestion to throw suspicion off yourself," Kagami-kun said, "not knowing that Monokuma would accept it until it was too late."
"Because as the mastermind, I was looking forward to being unmasked and defeated?" I said. "Even if Enoshima was that thrilled about being executed, she didn't invite her own defeat- she fought to the bitter end."
Even though I still didn't feel as though I understood Enoshima at all, Kagami-kun seemed to accept my point, at least for now.
"True," Kagami-kun said. "While I do think you're still a suspect, I mainly brought this up for the sake of argument. I do have a much better suspect- namely, Edogawa-san."
I turned white. While I knew Sae was innocent, the same couldn't be said for the two who weren't the mastermind, and it was possible that by naming Sae as a suspect, Kagami-kun could turn them against me.
"Why her?" I said.
"I know you don't want to suspect her, but consider this theory for a moment," Kagami-kun said. "From the very beginning, she saw you as a potential pawn, and cultivated your feelings for her so that her betrayal would be all the more painful. Perhaps she cared for you, too, but all this led up to this final class trial- in which you'd fail to uncover her as the mastermind, resulting in her dying with the knowledge that you'd soon follow her. If you did uncover her, you'd survive, but with the knowledge that someone dear to you had betrayed you. She'd die either way, but for someone who doesn't care about her own life, it would be a win-win situation. What do you say to that, Edogawa-san?"
Sae simply looked on, helpless. Nothing she said could conclusively prove that she wasn't the mastermind, and even naming another suspect would come off as shifting the blame.
I turned to Inoue-kun, who was possibly Sae's closest friend besides me now that Yuuki-san was dead, but he wasn't willing to dismiss the theory out of hand.
"I hate to admit it, but that is a possibility," Inoue-kun said. "Monokuma, what happens if Sae is the mastermind and we find her guilty?"
"It's just like all the trials to date," Monokuma said. "She alone will be executed, and you'll all go free- and this time, the rest of you get to leave the school. If, however, she's the mastermind, and you choose someone else, both Miura-san and Edogawa-san will be executed."
"In other words, the killing game ends either way," I said. "I doubt Monokuma or the mastermind- whoever they are- would let it happen."
"Hey, it's not my first choice," Monokuma said, "but the game's pretty much over now that only five of you are left- and it's gonna go down to three if you don't get the mastermind right."
I turned back to Inoue-kun, and he shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Miura-san," Inoue-kun said, "but if Sae's the mastermind, then as Kagami-kun said, she'll die no matter what. In that case, convicting her will be the only way to save your life."
"If, Inoue-kun," I said. "It's possible that one of us suffers from the nihilistic insanity that defines Ultimate Despair, and that such a person may be good at hiding it, but I don't think the mastermind is part of Ultimate Despair."
"What makes you think that?" Kagami-kun said.
"After Sakuragi-kun was executed, Monokuma said something interesting," I said. "He said he didn't especially care for the current mastermind's reasons for organizing this killing game. Because of that, I'm almost certain that the mastermind isn't part of Ultimate Despair."
Monokuma clapped his paws over his mouth, likely never having expected such an offhand comment to come back to haunt him.
"You're sure about that?" Kagami-kun said. "The depravity needed to think of a game in which teenagers kill each other is certainly characteristic of Ultimate Despair."
"Maybe it is," I said, "but Monokuma never needed any of us to adhere to Enoshima's twisted philosophy- he simply hit us where it hurt. Sakuragi-kun couldn't give up on his dreams. Mitamura-san was afraid of having her reputation ruined. Hoshino-kun believed graduation was his only chance of escaping. Katsura-san, Fukuda-kun and Sugiura-san's loved ones were threatened. Because we all valued our lives and had things we couldn't give up, Monokuma tried to tempt us. Maybe the mastermind isn't like Enoshima, but has a secret agenda of their own."
Kagami-kun shook his head.
"That's a good point," Inoue-kun said. "It doesn't prove Sae isn't the mastermind, but now that I think about it, it seems likely that the mastermind isn't part of Ultimate Despair. If that's true, as it probably is, then I can't think of any motive Sae might had that would convince her to start the killing game."
Sae nodded gratefully. She didn't expect blind loyalty from Inoue-kun, so she was probably glad that he seriously considered the accusation against her and thought it through enough to realize that it was unlikely to be true.
"So you're saying it's one of the guys, Inoue-kun?" Kagami-kun said.
"Quite possibly, Kagami-kun," Inoue-kun said. "If Sae was the mastermind, and believed this would end in her own death regardless of whether Miura-san unmasked her, then there would be no point in exempting us."
"Yeah, but something's odd," Tezuka-kun said. "Unlike before, the mastermind's hiding among us, and thus facing the same dangers we do, whether getting killed by someone who wants to graduate, or executed if they don't find the blackened."
"I suppose so," I said, "but the mastermind could take steps to stay out of harm's way. They wouldn't be completely safe, but by being cautious, they could minimize their risk of death."
"But everyone wants to get out of here, right?" Inoue-kun said. "In that case, anyone could have committed an unsolvable murder and gotten the spotless executed, including the mastermind. While the mastermind is far from innocent, they'd count as a spotless, wouldn't they?"
"Definitely!" Monokuma said. "They knew the risks when they chose to play the game. Junko-sama, however, sat back and watched, so she wouldn't have been executed if someone had graduated. Her sister would've, though... if she'd made it to the trial."
Once again, Monokuma more or less confirmed my belief that Enoshima was a coward. That was beside the point, though.
"That's possible, Shinichi-kun," Sae said, "but since the mastermind had access to the surveillance cameras, they could have reviewed the footage, and subtly steered the trial toward finding the actual culprit if it seemed clear that we wouldn't uncover the killer by ourselves."
"Yeah, but what if they were the murder victim?" Tezuka-kun said. "Then there wouldn't even be a class trial, right?"
"Excellent point, Tezuka-kun!" Monokuma said. "People die when they're killed, and the mastermind's no exception!"
I had to wonder what would have happened if Sakuragi-kun had murdered Kagami-kun rather than Kurogane-kun- perhaps no one else would have died. It was an obvious possibility, so clearly, the mastermind had foreseen it when making their plans.
"Since all of us have survived this long, I'm sure we know of at least a few ways to avoid being killed," I said. "The first one I can think of is not to make any enemies. Tell me, do any of you know someone in here, dead or alive, who hated you enough to kill you?"
Tezuka-kun shrugged.
"I never did get along with Hoshino," Tezuka-kun said. "I dunno if he would've killed me, but pretty much everybody got along with Akasaka and Yuuki, so he probably wouldn't have held back."
"Mitamura-san distrusted me," Sae said, "and Kurogane-kun probably disliked me after I took your side in your dispute with him. I doubt either of them would have seriously contemplated killing me, though."
"I don't know anyone like that," Inoue-kun said. "There were some people I never talked with much, and some of the blackened were willing to let me die along with everyone else, but I can't think of anyone who hated me."
"Neither do I," Kagami-kun said. "Sugiura-san might have suspected me of being the mastermind, but since she never tried to kill me, she probably didn't hate me that much."
I sighed, hoping that this question would yield more of a lead. It was too early to give up on this line of questioning though, so I decided to try again.
"Let me ask you a different question," I said. "Do any of you have any close friends who you couldn't bear to see die?"
"Besides you, Kaori?" Sae said. "I wish I could have had more time to get to know Yuuki-san, and I had a surprising amount in common with Katsura-san. Among the living, though, I've enjoyed talking with Shinichi-kun and becoming friends with him."
"I agree, Sae," Inoue-kun said, "and I also like talking with Tezuka-kun. Sorry, Miura-san, Kagami-kun- I'm not trying to snub you two."
Tezuka-kun nodded in agreement with Inoue-kun.
"Not anyone in particular," Kagami-kun said. "Of course, I've gotten this far with all of you, so I feel like we're pretty close."
"I feel the same way," I said. "Sae's... special to me, but you three are also important friends, and after losing so many, I've realized how important it is to keep them close. That's why I don't want to believe any of you might be the culprit."
"That's fair enough," Kagami-kun said. "I suppose you're trying to say that if Edogawa-san has people she cares about, she can't be Ultimate Despair, can she?"
"I have a hard time imagining her killing people dear to her," I said. "As I said before, her surviving family- at least her sister- still seem to be alive."
"Try to think of it differently," Kagami-kun said. "The members of Ultimate Despair didn't kill their families because they didn't love them- they did it because they did love those people and wanted to feel the despair of losing people precious to them."
Once again, Kagami-kun had me in a tight spot. Sae's determination to find another solution to the "hostage situation" motive could be construed as being done out of disregard for the hostages' lives, including Sae's older sister.
"If that's true, then I'm curious about one thing," I said. "Why is Sae's only hostage her older sister?"
"What do you mean?" Kagami-kun said.
"My mother died when I was young, and my father's whereabouts are unknown," Sae said. "I think Kaori's trying to say that if I wanted to kill my loved ones, I'd have Father as my hostage as well... assuming that I hadn't killed him and my sister already."
"That's true," I said. "Either Sae would have killed all her family by now, or ensured that all of them were kept alive so she could watch them be executed."
Kagami-kun scoffed. He was remarkably persistent in insisting that Sae was the mastermind, so I had to wonder why he hadn't seriously considered accusing me, who was almost as much of a suspect as Sae was.
"Assuming her hostage notepad's telling the truth," Kagami-kun said.
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Sae said. "In any case, it's telling us more than yours is."
"It's hardly my fault that I got a broken ransom notepad," Kagami-kun said, "not any more that it's Iwasawa-san's fault for getting a faulty battery in her weakness notepad, or Sugiura-san's fault for getting a defective memory card. Iwasawa-san mentioned this at dinner two nights ago, didn't she?"
Kagami-kun then got out his ransom notepad, and tried to turn it on, evidently having anticipated this line of questioning. Sae seemed at a loss for words, but after a moment, I realized what to say.
"I'm not so sure it's just a random malfunction," I said. "Just before we came here, I tested my ransom notepad by throwing it into the sauna. It overheated and broke down almost instantly... and looked just like yours did. Since we don't go into the sauna on a regular basis, it's most likely that you deliberately broke your notepad."
Kagami-kun gulped. Judging from his reaction, I didn't need to show him the notepad.
"Why would I do that?" Kagami-kun said.
"To prevent us from realizing who in your family was held hostage," I said, "assuming anyone was. I only know of two people without immediate family as their hostage- Iwasawa-san and you. In Iwasawa-san's case, Monokuma struggled to find a relative after her village was destroyed in the Tragedy, but in your case, I'm guessing that you don't need any incentive to participate in the killing game... since you have no intention of participating at all."
"None of the five of us have tried to kill anyone," Kagami-kun said, "and even Sugiura-san wasn't planning on graduating. What's your point?"
I glanced at Sae, who silently nodded in approval and trust. Even when trust could be betrayed and individuals could put their safety before that of the group, I couldn't have gotten this far without Sae, who'd helped me in the investigations, given me advice and provided support as a friend... and possibly a lover. We'd staked our lives together, so she trusted me to make the right choice, and I had no intention of letting her down.
I paused for a moment to collect myself. Despite my doubts and unwillingness to suspect one of my friends, we'd only survived because we'd identified the wrongdoer at each and every turn. It was never an easy decision to point the finger at someone, since we were putting our lives on the line, but each time, I had ample evidence showing who the blackened was. I'd known all along who the true mastermind was, and that the only way to bring the killing game to an end was to expose that person. For the sake of everyone who'd died so far, and those who were still alive, the time had come for me to name the person who'd been our enemy since the start of the game.
"I know who the mastermind is," I said. "It's you, Kagami-kun."
Kagami-kun sighed and shook his head.
"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself, Miura-san?" Kagami-kun said. "You do know that if you're wrong, you and Edogawa-san will be executed, don't you?"
"I am," I said. "In fact, it's funny that you'd say that. Before Sugiura-san was executed, you were fairly sure that she was the mastermind."
"She was suspicious, wasn't she?" Kagami-kun said. "She was bitter about being branded a murderer, and so had an obvious motive for wanting revenge on this school."
"She did," I said, "so she, along with you, was one of my primary suspects for being the mastermind. Of course, I couldn't get too attached to any one theory- for all I knew, Sae might have been the mastermind."
Kagami-kun seemed a bit taken aback for a moment. Maybe he hadn't realized how much of a suspect he'd been in my eyes, or maybe he thought he'd been more careful. Of course, while in hindsight, it seemed obvious, if I'd made a wrong move and killed someone who wasn't the mastermind, I probably would have become the fifth blackened instead of Sugiura-san.
"And yet, you seemed adamant in your refusal to consider Edogawa-san a suspect," Kagami-kun said.
"Perhaps," I said, "but I actually had reasons to rule her out... including that I'm sure that you're the mastermind. As for you, it seemed as though once Sugiura-san died, you needed someone else to use as a scapegoat for the mastermind. That may be why you went to the second floor of the dorms to get information on Ultimate Despair- to point the finger at Sae. That's why you showed me the document about Ultimate Despair, didn't you?"
Now that I thought about it, Kagami-kun was the only one who had seemingly deliberately gone to a place that would not be useful in finding the culprit or learning the secrets about the school. By comparison, Tezuka-kun had helped me find out about the school's raison d'etre, Sae had helped me realize Kagami-kun's true talent and find the Shelter Plan consent forms, and Inoue-kun had been on the verge of finding some crucial information when I'd convinced him to leave the room.
Kagami-kun gave me a disapproving look.
"And I assume you have some proof for this?" Kagami-kun said.
Sae and I glanced at each other and nodded. It was time to go through the events of the past few weeks, case by case, and show how Kagami-kun was suspicious.
"Certainly," I said. "Kagami-kun, could you please tell us what your murder weapon is?"
Kagami-kun firmly shook his head, his expression disdainful.
"I honestly don't see the point," Kagami-kun said. "Assuming I am the mastermind, how could you possibly prove that using what weapon I got?"
"The proof lies in the list of weapons," I said, showing him the list. "According to the list, you got a tazer. Using that weapon, you had a means of stopping an attacker without killing them. After all, Fukuda-kun's case was a shining example of what happens when someone panics and accidentally ends up becoming a murderer."
Tazers weren't foolproof when it came to disabling people without killing them, but they were probably better for self-defense than any of Monokuma's other offerings. I didn't point out the shortcomings, so as to avoid undermining our case, but luckily, Kagami-kun didn't think to protest it.
"And what about my weakness?" Kagami-kun said. "You might recall that they were divided into two categories- things that facilitated your murder and secrets you didn't want to be revealed. The former's obviously dangerous to me, and the latter even more so- after all, there's a chance that it would say 'Sousuke Kagami is the mastermind behind the killing game,' thus giving someone reason to kill me."
Kagami-kun raised a valid suggestion, one that I couldn't disprove since the file I'd read didn't have that information. What it did have, however, was enough to poke a hole in the basis for his argument.
"It's true that someone with that information would be a serious threat to you," I said, "which was why you ensured that you got your own weakness. As such, you wouldn't be in any danger unless the time ran out- and you must have believed Mitamura-san would act first. After all, that's the point of the killing game, isn't it? Giving us a little nudge and letting us kill each other."
"And what about yours?" Kagami-kun said. "You certainly got lucky, having a weakness that is, at worst, mildly embarrassing."
"I was curious about that," I said. "Ordinarily, I would have been most concerned about keeping the fact that I'm a lesbian secret, but Yuuki-san suggested that she already knew. As such, it's possible that the mastermind knew about it, and retained his memories of our time at school."
"Quite true," Inoue-kun said. "By the way, I've noticed that Kagami-kun was always the most calm and collected of all of us, not just those of us who are still here."
"That's true," I said. "In my conversations with him, he seemed to best understand the rules of the killing game, possibly because he made it himself."
"Technically, our mastermind didn't invent the killing game," Monokuma said. "It was none other than Junko-sama."
So Monokuma wasn't denying that Kagami-kun was the mastermind, but he wasn't supporting it, either. Obviously, he wouldn't give the mastermind's identity away, but perhaps he'd be willing to let us choose the wrong answer and pay for that choice with our lives... or at least let us suspect that our choice was wrong. Either way, I was sure of my answer.
"What about the gun?" Kagami-kun said. "It's possible that I could have ended up being fatally shot before I could reach for my tazer… assuming that is the weapon I got. Even if I hadn't, then if anything happened to either of my partners, then I'd be a suspect."
"That's true," I said, "but as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You chose a relatively safe shift in the middle of the morning to prevent anything like that from happening."
"I agree," Sae said. "I highly doubt Hoshino-kun would have gotten away with his plan if he'd tried it during that time."
I wished I'd chosen only the most trustworthy people for shifts during Night Time, but perhaps one of those "trustworthy" people would have ended up betraying me. This was no time to regret what had already happened, though, so luckily for me, Inoue-kun managed to get my focus back to the present.
"Ah, good point," Inoue-kun said. "I also recall that out of everyone still here, only two people refused to play FDR:VR- Kagami-kun and Tezuka-kun."
"Hey, I'd have played if I thought I was any good at it," Tezuka-kun said.
"I know, Tezuka-kun," Inoue-kun said, "but if Kagami-kun knew who'd been given the motive, he'd likely avoid playing. Because Fukuda-kun and Katsura-san had additional goals, it's possible that by playing the game, either of them would see him as a threat and try to kill him."
Of course, Fukuda-kun had secretly accomplished his goal, while Katsura-san couldn't bring herself to kill me. Still, with this, we could prove that Kagami-kun had worked to ensure his own safety for every single motive that Monokuma had come up with. Only Kagami-kun seemed unconvinced of his own guilt at this point, while Sae seemed as though she'd had an epiphany.
"What is it, Sae?" I said.
"I just realized something, Kaori," Sae said. "Do you remember those pictures we got?"
"I do," I said. "We decided they didn't mean anything, right?"
"Right," Sae said, "but I have a theory. Most of our photos show us in class or at school-sponsored events. Kagami-kun's photo, however, apparently shows us simply playing around... and he's the only one not in it. Perhaps he was excluded from the group... or elected not to join us, and is willing to hold the killing game because he never cared for his classmates."
It was a bit of a stretch, but Kagami-kun seemed taken aback. Since he was probably the only one who remembered it, we couldn't conclusively verify it, but this was as close as we'd get to having him admit this point.
"All those are just theories," Kagami-kun said. "Do you actually know of a time when I acted suspiciously?"
"We do," I said. "Throughout the fifth trial, you constantly insisted that Sugiura-san had given up on surviving, and tried to steer the trial toward uncovering that Iwasawa-san had let Sugiura-san kill her, in order to convince Monokuma that the murder 'didn't count' as far as his latest motive went."
"What does that prove?" Kagami-kun said.
"It's simple," I said. "You found out about the circumstances behind Iwasawa-san's death, but couldn't reveal them yourself, so you used me to uncover them. To that end, you cast doubt on the idea of Sugiura-san being the culprit and accused Sae, hoping to make it possible that we'd pick the wrong person if I didn't do something. Since we'd have been executed if we chose the wrong culprit, the only choice I had in that situation was to prove that Iwasawa-san had let Sugiura-san kill her. Since Sugiura-san's guilt should have been clear by this point, the only reason you would have forced us into such a scenario is if you didn't care about any of our families."
"Hold on!" Monokuma said. "I've been listening to you accuse Kagami-kun all this time, but there's a big hole in your argument! How could Kagami-kun know what had happened if he never set foot in the baths until after the murder, and shortly thereafter, left until just before the trial?"
"That's easy," I said. "The surveillance system."
"Impossible!" Monokuma said. "Not even I would put a camera in the baths!"
"No, you didn't," I said, "but there is a microphone that records all the sounds in the baths. Two incidents stand out- when Sugiura-san drowned Iwasawa-san, then when she confessed the deed to Sae. It's quite possible Kagami-kun heard one of those, since he brought them up at the trial. It's also quite likely that he overheard the previous planning- after all, he happened to conveniently sit in a place where he could observe Iwasawa-san and Sugiura-san going into the baths and precisely remember the exact times they did so."
Monokuma clapped his paws over his mouth while crying out "Paganitzu!" and the usually serene Kagami-kun gasped in horror. Inoue-kun and Tezuka-kun looked speechless, while Sae seemed grimly satisfied with the knowledge. While Kagami-kun had shrugged off most of our points so far, the fact that he was this disturbed by our learning about the existence of the recording device proved I was on to something.
"There's one more thing I'm curious about, Kagami-kun," I said. "I checked the DVD in which everyone gave their consent, and your appointment with the headmistress seems... different from the others"
"How so?" Kagami-kun said. "The headmistress turned off the camera before we talked about..."
Kagami-kun stopped short, whether because he was about to admit something he didn't want to, or because he realized he'd already said too much.
"Interesting..." I said. "I never told anyone else about what I saw on the DVD. Sae was the only one who found it, and she didn't show it to anyone."
"That's right, Kaori," Sae said. "In fact, I didn't even have a chance to view it myself."
"Yeah, and as far as I know, Kagami never left the second floor of the dorms during the investigation," Tezuka-kun said. "Since the headmistress' office only opened after the last trial, I'm betting Kagami's the only one who actually remembers meeting with the headmistress, isn't he?"
I nodded, while Kagami-kun was at a loss for words. At this point, I'd done all I could to prove that Kagami-kun was the mastermind, except for one thing. One last time, I would sum up everything I knew, to convince everyone of the truth.
"I'll go over all the evidence I have that proves the mastermind's identity," I said. "Let me know if I get anything wrong."
As you all may know, we were selected for admission to Talent High School based on being extremely skilled for our age in various fields. Three of us were exceptional in various ways- Sugiura-san was both the Ultimate Waitress and the supposed Ultimate Poisoner, I was the Ultimate Beginner's Luck, and the culprit was the Ultimate Copycat, the latter two being highly sought-after talents.
Before the school was sealed, the mastermind must have somehow brought in Monokuma, and seized control of the school, hijacking both the means to open the front doors, as well as control over the building's security systems. They then somehow erased our memories, causing us to revert to strangers who did not trust and would not hesitate to kill one another. The mastermind was the sole exception, and this was proven when Kagami-kun admitted that he remembered giving his consent to stay inside the school.
With all but one of us having lost our memories, and being told that we'd need to commit a successful murder to escape, the killing game began. Naturally, the mastermind was in danger, too, but they took certain steps to safeguard themselves. They received a tazer as their murder weapon, giving them a way to non-lethally disable any attacker. When Monokuma released our weaknesses, the mastermind received their own weakness. While we stood watch over the gun, the culprit chose a shift in the middle of the morning, which was significantly lower risk than most of the others. The culprit also chose not to play FDR:VR, thereby ensuring that neither Fukuda-kun nor Katsura-san would see them as a threat. In order to cover up the fact that they had no family members who were held as hostages, the culprit destroyed their ransom notepad in the sauna.
In the course of investigating the last murder, the mastermind made a critical error. By using a hidden listening device in the baths, the mastermind heard evidence indicating that Iwasawa-san allowed Sugiura-san to kill her, and that Sugiura-san had confessed to her own crime. In order to trick us into admitting that this was not a "real" murder, the mastermind questioned Sugiura-san's guilt, causing me to reveal the truth behind the murder. Unfortunately, the mastermind should not have known this unless they had the ability to hear the conversation.
Once Sugiura-san was executed, Monokuma's countdown resumed, and Sae and I only managed to stop it by betting our lives. In order to deflect suspicion, the mastermind attempted to convince us that Sae was a member of Ultimate Despair, since Sugiura-san, the previous prime suspect for the mastermind, was now dead. There is one person who has consistently tried to stay out of harm's way and attempted to deceive us in order to avoid being discovered.
The mastermind behind this killing game is you, Sousuke Kagami-kun!
Kagami-kun scoffed, but didn't seem to take me up on my offer to point out anything wrong with my summary.
"A likely story," Kagami-kun said. "Are you really willing to bet your and Edogawa-san's lives on it?"
"We are," Sae and I said together.
I looked at the other boys, who both nodded.
"I'm convinced," Inoue-kun said. "It's not fair that you two are the only ones whose lives are on the line, so I'd bet my life on Kagami-kun being the mastermind, just like I did by voting for the other blackened."
"Me too," Tezuka-kun said. "Well, Monokuma?"
Since Kagami-kun was the only holdout, under Monokuma's rules, the trial was about to end.
"Looks like you bastards are ready to vote for the mastermind!" Monokuma said. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?"
We cast our votes for the mastermind- Kagami-kun got four votes and Sae got one. There was no "GUILTY" display this time, merely a moment of silence, broken by Monokuma's laughter.
"Puhuhuhuhu!" Monokuma said. "That's too bad for you..."
Monokuma then thrust his paw forward at the mastermind.
"...Kagami-kun! Looks like the jig's up, isn't it?"
Kagami-kun chuckled, then broke out in laughter. He then ripped off his glasses, which evidently had been fake all along, and tossed them aside before putting down his headphones and slicking back his hair.
"Congratulations, Miura, Edogawa," Kagami-kun said. "The mastermind of the killing game, as well as the so-called Ultimate Copycat, is none other than me, Sousuke Kagami!"
Author's Notes
Thank you for the reviews and the theories. J Carp made a good attempt at guessing the mastermind, even if his guess wasn't correct.
I struggled a bit to find a good "smoking gun" to conclusively expose Kagami, before settling on the DVD and having him admit to knowing what was on it despite not having seen it. Originally, he was going to slip up and actually make a reference to something Sugiura said, either just before she killed Iwasawa or before she confessed to Edogawa (in the latter case, the location of the key to the handcuffs), but I decided against it, since it would be too obvious. It's obviously not the only bit of evidence, since a lot of Kagami's actions seem suspicious in hindsight, but I wanted something that would conclusively prove that he was the mastermind.
Of course, I also didn't want to create a situation in which the characters should have been able to guess the mastermind's identity, so I'm glad that Kagami ultimately wasn't too obvious of a suspect.
Kagami's name and casting his glasses aside is a shout-out to Sousuke Aizen, the initial main antagonist of Bleach.
Next up is the second half of the trial, and the final confrontation with the mastermind. Most of the last two installments of the fic have been written up, so they'll come fairly soon.
The omake shows what the Armament Arguments would be like if this were a game. The mastermind's will come next time.
Omake
Here's the Final Stikes for each of the Armament Argument opponents thus far. As you can see, the culprits in Chapters II and V have given up defending their own innocence by that point, so someone else steps in to do it for them (a bit like Chapter II of the first game, Chapters II and V of the second game, and Chapters IV and V of the third game).
Chapter I
Opponent: Akito Sakuragi
Costume: A runner's sweatsuit with a finish line tape around his waist. The tape goes first, then his top, then his shorts.
Scenery: A school running track.
Question: You can't prove I was at the crime scene! I never got blood on my shoes!
Final Strike: BLO ODY FOOT PRINT
Chapter II
Opponent: Momo Iwasawa
Costume: In addition to her standard outfit, Iwasawa wears an overcoat and a straw hat, and carries a pitchfork. She loses the pitchfork first, then her hat, then her coat.
Scenery: A farm field full of wheat, with a barn in the background.
Question: How did Miss Mitamura replace my notepad's battery?
Final Strike: SCR EWD RIV ER
Chapter III
Opponent: Sora Hoshino
Costume: He wears an Astronaut's spacesuit and carries a raygun. He loses his visor first, then his helmet, then the rest of his space suit.
Scenery: Outer space.
Question: You can't prove I switched the portraits around!
Final Strike: BLOOD ON THE PORTRAIT
Chapter IV
Opponent: Daichi Fukuda
Costume: He wears a thick coat and a helmet, along with a hiking stick. He loses the stick first, then the helmet, then the coat.
Scenery: The top of a snowy mountain.
Question: I couldn't possibly have broken Katsura's neck!
Final Strike: FELL DOWN THE STAIRS
Chapter V
Opponent: Sae Edogawa
Costume: She wears a dark pantsuit with a detective's trenchcoat and carries a riot shield. She loses the shield first, then the trenchcoat, then her suit jacket.
Scenery: A modern crime scene in an alley.
Question: Wouldn't Iwasawa-san want to return home to her village?
Final Strike: HER FAMILY IS DEAD
Chapter VI
Opponent: Monokuma
Costume: Big Bang Monokuma. He loses his scepter first, then his crown, then his cape.
Scenery: Outside Towa Hills
Question: There's no cameras in the baths! The mastermind couldn't have heard Sugiura-san!
Final Strike: LIST ENING DEV ICE
