The courtroom was silent. The tension in the room rested thickly in the air. Well, that could just be my imagination, but I actually highly doubt that.

"Rin-chama," said Bunpei, finally getting ahold of himself. "There's no way he could have done it."

"He's right," said Tougo. "At the time of the crime, I was nowhere near the scene."

"Yeah, Nakauchi-san," said Tobiki. "We were all trapped in our rooms."

"Right," said Bunpei. "I even checked when I got up. Everyone's name was in their room at that time."

Wait. That's definitely not the case…

"Oh," said Hanneko. "About that. The ElectroID tracking system was messed up earlier today, so there's really no way of verifying where anyone was at that point."

Silence again, which was broken by Bunpei.

"AAAAAAAGH!" He yelled. "STOP DOING THIS TO UUUUUSSS!"

"Upupu," said Monokuma.

"But… why would it be messed up?" Tobiki asked.

"To get us off track," I said. "Everyone who was alive between the end of the fourth trial and this one was present. In messing it up, Hanneko could successfully hide who had disappeared, and where we all actually were."

"Along with… who the missing girl is," said Tobiki.

"Remember, we never confirmed how many people actually died," said Monokuma. "Hell, how do we even know that the corpse in the kitchen was an actual dead body?"

"Stop it," I said. "We know that at least one person was killed."

"Still," said Bunpei. "That doesn't necessarily mean that Tougo-kun wasn't in his room. He said that your warning helped him avoid the doorknobs."

"But that was after we talked about what happened," I said. "At that point, it wouldn't be hard for him to have lied about being there."

"There's no way for you to prove that I'm lying," he said. "Until you can, don't you dare accuse me of killing anyone!"

Some way to prove it… He's kinda right. Bunpei's theory about the culprit sweeping away the flour makes more sense…

"You know," began Hanneko. "There's been a pattern with these last few trials. All the killers from the second trial on have been female."

"… What are you insinuating?" I asked. Hanneko and Monokuma laughed simultaneously.

"It's entirely possible for someone in this very room to continue that pattern," Hanneko said. Almost simultaneously, every eye in the courtroom turned to me…

"I… I don't want to believe that," said Tobiki. "Nakauchi-san's been helping us solve these cases this entire time. Plus, we don't know what exactly Nakauchi-san is…"

"Still," said Tougo. "How do we know that Nakauchi's not lying about an alibi? It's very easy for someone who knows these kinds of scenarios to manipulate them in their favor. In fact, I wouldn't put it past that hikikomori to do that in order to eliminate the rest of us."

Tobiki and Bunpei turned to him, then back to me to see how I would respond. I can't believe that bastard keeps calling me hikikomori!

"You asshole!" I shouted. "Do you honestly think I'd try to eliminate everyone just to save myself? After all this bullshit we've been through, and everything I've tried to do to keep us alive and not completely helpless, you think I'd just decide to kill one of the people I've become attached to, then make it look like someone else did it?"

"As if I'd do the same thing," he responded. His voice had also escalated to a yell. "I know exactly what's going on in this school, and I'm only trying to get us all out unscathed, but you decided to mess everything up. You should know better than anyone here that I wouldn't try to kill anyone!"

"That doesn't mean you're immune to tricks," I replied.

"Tricks?! Don't fucking insult me!" Tougo responded. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for any kind of tricks! On the other hand, you've demonstrated several times that we're probably not putting our faith in the right person!"

I know he did it… He had to have done it. If he didn't, he'd use more logical reasoning to prove me wrong. He's being cornered now…

"Tougo," I said. At this point, I was almost certain I had started crying. I could still see that his expression had become less hostile, though. "I know how hard you've been working. You've even gone so far as sacrificing your health just to reach a conclusion sooner, but I warned you."

He looked slightly confused through his glaring expression. "What do you mean?" Tougo asked.

"The circles underneath your eyes," I said. "Since I saw you yesterday afternoon, they've become noticeably darker. Did you actually go to sleep when I asked you to, or did you stay up and wait until you thought I'd forget?" If it were possible for the courtroom to become any quieter than it did earlier than today, it'd be in this instance. Even I was too upset to try and disturb the silence.

I decided to take this moment to rest my case. "I understand everything now. Since you were so close to figuring out who was behind this, naturally our mutual enemy would want you gone, and he—or possibly she— decided to use the trap set in the Fine Arts Building to do so. Your lack of sleep, which would mess up anyone's cognitive activities, only made it easier for you to fall for it.

First, the mastermind needed a plan to get you to actually fall for this trap and make you look as guilty as possible. He probably came up with the plan of trapping us in our rooms with the burning cups so that we wouldn't be able to interfere with the murder, thus making us unable to prevent it while allowing you to move freely about the school. Naturally, with you being in the library in the Research Building, you'd have no way of knowing what was going on. The real trick would be getting you to leave.

Knowing you really wanted answers and that you might be too tired to think twice, the puppetmaster—or maybe someone working with them— probably sent you a message via ElectroID promising some kind of hint or maybe even explaining that the mastermind was in the kitchen. They probably managed to lure the girls in there promising similar information, but their lives must have wound up being threatened for them to resort to using flour to try to fight the mastermind off. Unfortunately, they also fell right into the mastermind's trap. After using the fan to try to spread the flour around more, our enemy either made their escape or hid away in the room, probably in one of the various cabinets. At this point, he relied solely on luck and proper timing to get you to go over there.

You must have realized what you'd done once you opened the door, since you tried so hard to disguise how much you knew about the incident. After making your escape, you probably went back to the library so that you could pretend you were there the entire time. Meanwhile, with us, we had gone to the hospital to get treatment for our burns, where we realized all the girls went missing. The fact that we three have burns on our hands is why it's not possible for any of us to have done it if there were fingerprints. Since I got them out, we stayed together the entire time. It was most likely around this time that the mastermind took away at least one other person to further confuse us, though who it was probably had nothing to do with who the culprit is. It was most likely just to mess us up. At that point, all that was left to do was leave more clues about exactly what happened, then wait for us to incriminate you."

The courtroom stayed completely silent as I said this. It was starting to become unsettling.

"The fact that you've probably been eating junk food is most likely why you even left clear fingerprints," I concluded, waiting for him to correct me if I'm wrong. I continued when I realized I wouldn't get a response.

"The person who the mastermind targeted," I said. "It could only have been you… Tougo Hanai."

The only response he gave was a "tch" sound. He later closed his eyes.

"I'm so pathetic," he said as he placed one palm to his forehead.

"No, you're not," I said.

"Yeah," said Bunpei. "Anyone in this situation would do the same thing."

"Right," said Tobiki. "If you're pathetic for wanting to live, then so are we. No one here ever deserved to die, but we're forced to try to hold on to our pathetic lives while sacrificing another one."

"Tougo," I said. "Please just stop doing this to us."

He sighed one last time and lowered his gaze from mine.

"I… didn't do it," he said feebly.

"I know your tell," I said. "If you can't look me in the eyes and say that you're innocent, I'll know you're lying."

He looked back up at me and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it back. "Hmph," he said. "You know me too well."

"Alright!" Hanneko yelled. "If you're ready to vote, please—"

"Wait!" Tobiki said. "That's completely unfair! Hanai-kun was tricked into committing this crime! More than anyone, this is your fault!"

"Too bad. I don't make the rules kid," said the one who clearly does make the rules.

"But still," said Bunpei. "Isn't there some way to get him off the hook? He doesn't deserve to die over something like this!"

"Unless you guys vote for a different person," said Monokuma. "But then you'd be the ones to die while he walks free."

I can't believe we're being put through this. I don't want him to die at all, but if we vote on someone else, we'll all die. I can't sacrifice three lives for the sake of one. But it's still unfair that that one has to be gone.

"Actually," said Hanneko. "I do have one more challenge for you guys right now."

Even though I'm not sure I'll like it, this managed to pique my interest. "What is it?" I asked.

"Nyuhuhu," said Hanneko. "I'll let you all leave this courtroom alive, but if and only if you can figure out exactly who died! But you must figure out exactly who the recently deceased are. If you name too many or too few people, then you lose the challenge. If you name the exact number, but get even one name wrong, you still lose, and I'll have all of you killed, innocent or not!"

"There's no way for us to do that," said Bunpei. "We weren't looking to see who was gone!"

"But if we want to all get out, we have to try," said Tobiki.

"I don't know, guys," I said. "That's incredibly risky, but I'm not sure if it's worth a shot. Maybe we could—"

"Forget it," said Tougo. "Let's please just end this here."

What? Is this idiot really about to let himself be killed without even trying?

"What the hell are you saying?" I asked him. "If we don't even try, then you'll be killed!"

"But if we do and get it wrong—which is most likely to happen—then we'll all die," he countered. "Either way, I'm gone, so I may as well give you all a chance to get out of here. I'd appreciate it if you'd stop wasting time."

He turned to Hanneko. "Let's start the voting," he said.

"Okay then, kitties," said Hanneko. "Time to decide on the culprit! Will you be right, or will you be horribly, despairingly wrong?"

The only sound that could be heard was that of our fingers casting the ballots. After a torturous amount of time, Hanneko finally announced the verdict.

"You all…" he began… "Are… correct! The stupid bastard who fell for such an obvious trap was none other than our resident smartass, Tougo Hanai."

I didn't get to voice how offensive Hanneko's remark was. Bunpei ran to Tougo's podium and bear hugged him from his side, to his shock.

"Tougooooo!" Bunpei wailed. "I'm gonna miss you, man! Say hi to Ko-chan and the rest of them for me…"

Tobiki also went to the two, although not as quickly or as surprisingly as Bunpei. What was surprising was that he joined in on the embrace. "Please forgive us," he said quietly. "Please ask the others to forgive us, as well..."

Part of me wanted to follow their example, but my feet were unable to move. I just sat at my podium and tried to hide myself by crouching. We won't be able to help each other anymore. Neither will Nezumi, or Kotaka, or Luka, or Yasushi, or Jay, or anyone else. None of them will be able to help us find the mastermind. I can't help but feel like I deserve this for relying on these guys… This is what I deserve for trying to make friends.

"DAMN IT ALL!" I yelled, though it was muffled. "You four-eyed sister complex asshole!"

It was only when I felt a hand ruffling my hair that I realized someone had joined me on the floor by my podium. I looked up to see Tougo waiting for me to acknowledge that he was there.

"Rin," he whispered. "Stop acting like a helpless idiot and stand up." He stood up and offered his hand to help me stand up. I decided to at least comply with this. Has he ever actually called me by my name before now?

Bunpei and Tobiki looked on from where Tougo left them. I wondered why they didn't come over here…

"If my hypothesis is correct," he said. "I haven't got anything to worry about. Anyone who needs to will make it out of here unscathed. Just be sure to watch your back."

He turned to Hanneko. "Alright, stupid cat," he said. "Let's get this over with."

"What?! Hell no!" Hanneko yelled. "We don't get any kind of action? No kiss or hug?! Not even a confession!? Just 'watch your back'?! We've got ratings to keep up with!"

"Absolutely not, and I don't care," he said. "Now just start this before I bite off my tongue myself. It's time to conclude this final chapter."

"Ugh!" Hanneko said. "You're definitely no fun!" After saying this, Hanneko hit his gavel against the button that symbolizes that this round is over. Before I could see Tougo inevitably being dragged away from me, I felt a sharp pain in my head and my eyes became heavy. Recognizing this danger, I tried my best to keep them open long enough to see Bunpei and Tobiki met with the same fate. Tougo's gone, and I fell to the floor after completely succumbing to whatever was trying to keep me down.


Click. Click. Click. Vaguely familiar, echoing footfall of high heels woke me up. I looked up at a ceiling that I did not recognize, then sat up to a door that I did. I tried to avoid coming to this building as much as possible, but I've managed to find myself facing the most guarded exit I've ever encountered in the creepy-ass school building.

"Dancing in despair, the young boy filled with ambitions laughed at reality trying to escape to him," sang a hauntingly beautiful voice. With any other lyrics, the voice would be soothing, but it only served to scare me.

"Lying about hidden desires doesn't help the fact that you're a hypocrite, but that can't be helped~

What were you dreaming of being before? Were you trying to become a hero? Uhuhu,

Unfortunately, there doesn't exist any kind of remedy for stupidity~"

I didn't turn around for the source of the singing voice. I already knew who it was.

"Oh? You're awake now?" Irina asked as she looked down at me. I could feel her hair lightly brushing against my cheeks as she did this. I didn't respond.

"Stand up, stand up~" she said. I decided to listen to her and turned to face her. In one hand, she held a strange device with a large red button. Situated in the opposite arm were two horribly familiar stuffed toys.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked after I stood up. Of course, I wasn't immediately answered.

"Irina," I began. "There's been something I've been meaning to ask you. Those breakdowns you had… They weren't real, were they?"

Irina looked surprised for a moment, but then reverted to her neutral expression. "I was wondering who'd catch on first," she said.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she placed a finger to my lips to shush me. "Let me tell you a story, Rin-kun," she began.

"Once upon a time, there was a young princess," she began. "She was said to have hair the color of raven's feathers, and eyes resembling onyx. The people loved to gaze upon her cream-colored skin and listen to her musical voice. Yes, it seemed that she was loved by all the land.

Of course, 'seem' is the keyword here. The princess knew that no one truly cared for her, but she liked to believe they did. Naturally, the princess was befriended by many people, but all they wanted from her were the perks that come along with being royalty. Once they got what they wanted, they left her.

But… there were a few people who displayed no interest in her status. The first was a prince from a neighboring kingdom. He was handsome, smart, and able to clearly see through the spells and tricks that evil wizards would pull. The princess found herself interested in things about him. What was his daily life like? What are his favorite things? Does he prefer petite girls or girls with curves? Who does he call a friend?

Needless to say, the princess became somewhat infatuated with this prince. Unbeknownst to her, the prince absolutely loathed her. She'd only find this out the day she decided to tell her feelings, during which he also confessed his. He said himself that he would never fall for such an ugly, arrogant, airheaded girl after she decided to pour what she thought was in her heart to him. The princess, now completely heartbroken, now found herself refusing to leave her castle. The nobles would try to coax her out with sweet promises, but she fell for none of them. Even her closest knight, who worked for the princess to protect his little sister. She was certain his concern was superficial.

Her true fear had been thrown at her in the form of a harsh truth.

One day, though, the princess happened upon a peasant who knew nothing of her troubles. This peasant did not seem swayed by her beauty or talents, so the princess found it easier to want to talk to the peasant. After their talk, she realized that the feelings she had for the prince weren't love. She'd merely fallen under a spell that she seemed to cast on others. The person she truly loved, the one who showed more than superficial concern for her was that peasant. The peasant seemed to want her to be happy with herself and not try to please everyone. Unfortunately, the tale of the princess and the peasant only begins here, and the ending is lined with tragedy, heartbreak, and betrayal."

Once she finished speaking, Irina quickly placed her lips to mine and placed something in my hand.

Wait… Irina just kissed me… I don't know what to do! Should I wipe it off? No, that might offend her. Actually, it wasn't that bad… But I can't just not respond!

"The tragedy that presented itself in the story…" Irina continued, quickly turning away from me. "She brought it upon herself. She sold her soul to a demon just to insure her own safety, but she wound up sacrificing two of her dear friends in the meantime."

She was close to the exit now. "That device you're holding," she began. "It should help you escape the school. I'm guessing it has to do with this heavy door…"

Like the desperate idiot I am, I pressed the button. I'm not sure what made me trust her, but I felt like she also got caught up in this. Is she the one behind this…? I'm not sure. This exchange is only leaving me with more questions, but I'm sure I'll end up forgetting them once I wake up…


A girl with long brown hair stood in front of me. She has a condescending smirk on her face, and her face is streaked with tears. A confusing combination.

It was impossible to see who it could be. Her face was almost completely obscured by her hair. Is this Ryoko?

"Who are you?!" I demanded to know. I was only answered with sadistic giggles.

"Guess," the girl replied. I don't have time for guessing games, but I don't think she'll tell me otherwise.

"You're Ryoko, aren't you?" I asked. More laughter.

"Nope~" she said. "Sorry, but I can only allow you that one guess. But don't worry, for we'll see each other again soon!"


"Ah!" I said as I woke up. My eyes immediately sealed themselves shut from the almost blinding whiteness of my new location. I tried to think of where I was while I tried to help my eyes adjust. Hm… I felt a downy surface underneath me, and I was now clothed in some soft white garb… I had narrowed my options down to two likely places by the time I noticed the box that the gloves came in.

I'm in the second building hospital. Bunpei peeked around the curtains for my bed soon after the revalation.

"Rin-chama… Are you okay?" Bunpei asked me when I turned to look to him.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm still alive, so I guess I'm as okay as I can be."

"I meant…" he began, but soon trailed off. "Tou… Hanai-kun's execution… It was kinda brutal. You fainted after seeing it, so I thought you might have been kinda traumatized."

After seeing Tougo's execution… Wait. None of us saw Tougo's execution. Bunpei and Tobiki had fallen to the floor around the same time Tougo disappeared, so I doubt that any of us saw it…

"Furuda-kun," I said. "I didn't see his punishment…" The curtain on my other side moved, and the both of us turned to see Tobiki.

"I don't think either of you did," said Tobiki. "Furuda-kun, you passed out by the time it started…"

"Yeah, I did!" Bunpei countered. "He had to play a game of football with a bunch of super huge opposing players. The ball hit him in the back of his head, and then his head got knocked into one of the goal posts. It was awfuuuuuuuul!" Something about that doesn't seem right…

"Uh… That's completely wrong," said Tobiki. "Hanai-kun was forced to try to build a tower without any kind of safety gear. Once he finished the skeleton of the building, he wound up falling to his death…"

That doesn't seem right either. Why would they see two different executions…? Maybe…

"Is it possible that one of us is lying?" Bunpei asked. That's a good question…

"Nakauchi-san," Tobiki began. "You claimed that you didn't see it at all…"

"Uh… Yeah," I said.

"Then… YOU!" Bunpei said as he pointed at me. "You're hiding something, aren't you? How is it possible that you didn't see it at all?"

"You said yourself that I had passed out," I responded.

"Yeah, but that was after it happened," he said. "You should have seen what had happened."

"Wait a second, Furuda-kun," said Tobiki. "You were the one to pass out beforehand, so you shouldn't have seen anything at all."

"I think you guys are ignoring an important detail," I began. "The two of you saw two completely different executions. While it's not possible that he was killed twice, wouldn't it make more sense to think that someone's messing up what we think we saw?"

"Then…" Bunpei began. "What exactly did you 'see,' Rin?"

"The three of us were knocked out somehow," I said. "I saw the two of you on the ground a short while before I fell out. By then, Glasses had completely disappeared…"

"Excuse me? May I have your attention? It is now 10:00, meaning you assholes should go to bed!" I almost started missing Hanneko's nighttime announcements. "Since all three of you were asleep in the hospital, I guess I can't punish you. But I don't think I would have anyway, since we have a big day coming up~ I'll let your little hearts fill with anticipation as you try to guess what could happen!"

Bunpei sighed. "You know what? We should probably go back to our rooms, then set up a meeting tomorrow morning at 8."

"Right," I said. "We'll be able to discuss more if we think about what all's been happening. There's probably some snacks in the kitchen, in case either of you guys are hungry."

"Okay," said Tobiki. "Then, I'll go back to my room. Until tomorrow."

"Oh! I'll go with you," said Bunpei. "Later, Rin-chama."

So… the two of them left quickly. Good. I need some time to think to myself. Should I go back to that building and see if I can find more clues? Nah. That's where the bodies are, and they might try to sneak around there if they see me…

Bodies? Oh, yeah. That was in the plan, wasn't it?

… I've started thinking weird thoughts. Maybe I should go straight to bed… But I can't investigate if I do that… I think everything I need to know is in that building.

I got out of bed and immediately went to put on my shoes. For a while, I wandered around trying to figure out where the door to that building was. Once I found it, I was greeted by an annoyingly familiar sight.

"Whatcha doin' here, Nyakauchi?" Hanneko asked as soon as I saw him. Ugh.

"Oh, me?" I said. "I'm just preparing a crime~ I think I might even prepare a two-day advanced notice so that my victim knows it's coming." Hanneko was easily able to detect the fakeness in my tone.

"No, we won't have any more of that," said Hanneko. "Your excuse was as disappointing as that show, by the way. Now go back to your room. You wouldn't want the others to become suspicious of you, would you now?"

"Whatever," I said as I turned away. I decided not to oppose him to avoid a conflict. I really don't need that right now. I should still have Tougo's notes, so I could use those until tomorrow.

Once I arrived at my room, I noticed that my mailbox was open. An envelope with Hanneko's signature was placed in there, along with a small note that said "a gift." What I found on the inside of the envelope was a pair of glasses…

"Ugh," I groaned as I placed them in my hair and walked inside my room. Those notes should be hidden away somewhere… I pulled them out from the drawers in my desk. As I held them in my hands, a folded piece of paper fell out and caught my attention. I decided to read it first.

Greetings, it read. If you are reading this note, then there is a good chance of at least one of two events occurring.

1. You decided to steal these in a lame attempt to postpone my figuring out who's behind this.

2. I have been killed by one of the remaining students, and left this for someone to find.

I'm going to assume it was the former over everything, but have prepared in case both of these things happened. I will assume that someone involved with the mastermind is reading this note, since it wouldn't make sense for someone not involved to be reading this. You've deceived us long enough, but soon you will be exposed as a fake.

You were never really part of Class 80 like the rest of us. An obvious standout in a school full of unique children? You managed to replace other students and sneak in here unsuspected, but it wasn't hard to figure out. You probably think this is a lot of big talk for someone who hasn't presented any real evidence, but that's not for you to have. I can't believe you managed to trick us, but it was a good game while it lasted. Even your attempts at throwing us off course for who the mastermind is managed to mess us up, but it's almost over. You shouldn't have brought so much attention to yourself.

I know you're the one reading this note, and your plans will be thwarted soon, Rin Nakauchi.


Hello! I hope you all are doing well on this day~

If you're reading this, then thanks! You've finished reading through Chapter Five of this story, meaning the final chapter is on its way. Buuuuuut... It won't be here for a couple of weeks. I have a bunch of things coming up, so I'll need to take one more hiatus from this story (I sincerely apologize), but after that, the story will resume weekly all the way through the end. (I'll probably use that time to work out details in these last few updates).

Thank you all so much for reading the story, and I want to hear your guesses and ideas! If you have an idea about who's behind everything or how they managed to recreate the incident, be sure to leave a message or a review on this update. I really want to hear what you guys come up with~