-COURT IS IN SESSION-
"Alright, let's begin with a basic explanation of the Class Trial!" Monokuma declared. "After a period of debate, you will take a majority vote for who you believe is the killer. If you're right, the killer is punished. But if you're wrong, everyone else is punished and the killer is allowed to leave Gifted Inmates Academy scot-free!"
Monokuma huffed as he concluded his speech.
"Honestly, where do you kids get off?" he snarled, "I was even nice enough to let Astro Boy die in peace, and this is how you repay me? My cute cubs dead again! My academy in shambles! I'd execute you all right now if the rules would let me! But... trials are what this game is all about, so better get cracking!"
"We already know who did it!" Yumeno exclaimed, "Ouma has to be the culprit this time!"
"Jumping the gun, aren't you?" Ouma replied. "We haven't even gotten the Monokuma file. At least, I'd hope we still get that, even if you'd deny us the investigation."
"Ugh..." Monokuma groaned, "fine, here ya go..."
With the file passed out, the group was finally able to get a better handle on what happened. As per usual, Saihara began to read.
"The victim was the Ultimate Robot, Kiibo Idabashi. He was found dead in the courtyard. The victim's mental processes have shut down, and the memory core cannot be salvaged."
"No time or cause..." Hoshi noted, "Hard to explain."
"Who needs an explanation?" Harukawa snapped, "Ouma's obviously behind all this."
"Hold on," Akamatsu cautioned, "I agree that he's the obvious suspect, but before we convict him, I want to get some questions answered."
"She's right," Saihara agreed, "we don't know what Ouma was up to after the flash bomb went off, so I'd rather we clear that up."
Ouma's threat had appeared to be a hollow one after all. The bomb he had prepared had gone off, but it had only been a flash bomb, blinding the others upon its detonation. However, once the students were able to see again, Ouma himself had taken the opportunity to make himself scarce. Though they eventually uncovered Kiibo's body, Ouma had evaded capture until his return for the trial.
"Well..." the self-proclaimed dictator drawled, "if that's how you want to do it, that's fine. Tell you what. Each of you can ask me one question, and I'll answer it completely truthfully."
"And how can we be sure you'll really be truthful?" Harukawa wondered.
"That's your problem, not mine," he shot back. "Also, you just used yours up."
"Wait," Yumeno interjected, "that counts?"
"Yep," he cheered, "and there goes yours!"
Yumeno clapped her hands over her mouth. "Ah! Sorry, guys..."
"It's fine," Saihara reassured, "we'll just have to be more careful with ours."
"Guess I'll give it shot, then," Hoshi asserted, "After the flash bomb went off, you disappeared. Where did you go?"
"I went into the academy," Ouma revealed, "I took care of a few things, and then hid where none of you would find me."
"What kinds of things?" the ex-con repeated.
"You already asked your question," Ouma chided, "Geez, none of you are good at listening, are you?"
"If you went into the academy," Akamatsu considered, "that means you didn't encounter Kiibo in the courtyard... so if you killed him, it would have to have been before then..."
"I didn't actually hear a question," the troublemaker noted.
"I didn't ask one," the capped blonde replied. "I'm still thinking of one..."
"We can come back to that," Saihara chimed in, "let's switch focus for a second and consider Kiibo's condition when we found him."
"The courtyard was an absolute wreck," Hoshi recalled, "scorch marks and torn-up earth. Lucky for us, Momota's grave seemed fine."
"Kiibo probably kept that in mind while he was doing whatever he was doing," Yumeno figured.
"But what exactly was he doing?" Harukawa questioned. "His body seemed to have taken some damage, and it looked like he'd used some of the upgrades from his lab."
"Idabashi was pretty clear about not wanting those upgrades before," the ex-con considered, "I wonder what changed his mind."
"Guess he finally wised up about how stupid that was," Ouma cracked.
"Don't call Kiibo stupid!" Yumeno commanded.
"Do you think..." Saihara began... "It had something to do with Kaito?"
Ouma jumped to respond, "Was that directed at me?"
"No!" the detective quickly clarified. "I was thinking... Kiibo may have decided he needed to take a more proactive approach after Kaito..."
"Died," Ouma finished. "Can we not dance around it? It's depressing, but I'd like it if we could move on and focus on the trial."
"Do you want me to kill you?" Harukawa spat.
"Hmm... I'll get back to you on that..." the little liar joked.
"What I'm trying to say," Saihara resumed, "is that Kiibo may have tried to use the weapons upgrades from his lab to deal with the Monokuma cubs and eliminate the Exisal threat. If he did that, those same weapons might have given us the chance to defeat Monokuma."
"Seems to have worked," Harukawa noted, "the cubs weren't moving when we found Kiibo's body."
"Kiibo died saving us," Yumeno realized, "I really wish that'd stop..."
Akamatsu grit her teeth. On some level, she had started the self-sacrifice train with her attempt on the Mastermind. Tenko's murder of Shinguuji had followed. Then Gonta's attempt to uncover what had happened to Toujou. And now, Kiibo's defeat of the cubs...
"Wait," the pianist interjected, "how exactly did he beat the cubs?"
"What do you mean?" Hoshi asked.
"Well, Kiibo-kun had external damage, but the cubs didn't. The Exisals had some wear and tear, but the cubs seemed unharmed. If he killed them, why aren't they hurt?"
Akamatsu's words caught the students off-guard. Her line of inquiry made sense, as the facts at hand did not support the final conclusion of the case.
"Well, I might be able to help... if you want to use your question..."
Ouma's taunts did not fall on deaf ears. All the same, getting the truth from him was a valuable resource, and certainly not something to risk wasting.
"No," Akamatsu declared. "I can figure this out."
Why are the cubs non-functional?
Kiibo.
How did Kiibo do it?
There is a way to harm the cubs without directly striking them.
What is that?
The same thing that was done to him.
"That's gotta be it!" the capped blonde realized. "If you ignore Kiibo's external damage, what happened to him and the cubs are the same thing. If that's the case, then whatever killed Kiibo-kun is what rendered the cubs non-functional."
"So one of you did kill my cubs! That's supposed to be a familial privelege!" Monokuma exclaimed.
Ouma quirked an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.
"So whatever happened affected all of them," Harukawa summarized. "So it wasn't an isolated assault."
Hoshi scratched his head. "But what did damage Idabashi in that case?"
"Probably fighting the Exisals," Yumeno chimed in. "If he was using the weapons against them, they'd probably go all-out trying to stop him."
"Isn't violence against them against school rules?" the tennis player recalled.
"Technically, violence against Monokuma is against the rules," Ouma noted, "didn't say anything about the kids."
Monokuma huffed under his breath. "Razzin' frazzin'..."
"So what could take out the cubs and Kiibo-kun?" Akamatsu pondered.
"I'd guess something that could take down machines..." Saihara theorized. "That's the first bit of common ground they share."
"So, a device to disable robots..." Hoshi considered, "but there wasn't anything like that in the courtyard."
"Maybe not," Harukawa interrupted, "but I remember seeing a lot of different blueprints for those sorts of things in Ouma's room."
Ouma drew his hat downward, leaving only the painted side of his face revealed. His wicked grin seemed all the more inhuman with Monokuma's visage plastered upon it. "Are you accusing me of some sort of wrongdoing?" he questioned, his voice pitched up to resemble their captor's.
"It's in your best interest to fess up," the assassin warned.
"I think it's quite the other way around, actually..." he replied.
"Harukawa-san, is there anything else you know about Ouma-kun's schemes that could help?" Saihara inquired.
"Huh?" the red-eyed girl intoned.
"There must be something he did that doesn't add up to you. If we assume he is responsible, which is a safe assumption for now, there must have been something he did that hasn't seemed to have paid off yet," the detective reasoned.
"That's right! We don't have to ask him questions if we ask Harukawa!" Yumeno realized.
Harukawa pondered this. She was hesitant, as she couldn't help but feel she was walking on eggshells with the others' trust to begin with. However, Ouma could not be allowed to get away with this scot-free. She took a deep breath, and recounted a prior 'mission' as it were.
"Does everyone remember what happened to Kiibo and Iruma during Gonta's murder?"
Four sets of eyes widened. "So..." Akamatsu concluded, "that was you?"
"Ouma had me wait until Kiibo was incapacitated, and then I knocked Iruma out," Harukawa explained. "Beyond that, he had me leave the room. He claimed it would be better if I had plausible deniability. But now..."
"Nishishi... it was a lie," Ouma admitted, "I just knew it'd be better for me if you couldn't tell anyone what I was up to."
"You... what did you do to Kiibo?!" Yumeno shouted.
"You got your question!" he countered. "Either Akamatsu-chan or Shumai has to ask!"
"No one has to guess anything if we can just figure it out," Hoshi reminded him.
"Please..." Ouma mocked, "name one case you solved without my help."
"You'd be surprised, Ouma-kun," Akamatsu challenged. "You're smart, yeah. But we work our best when our backs are to the wall. We are going to find the truth behind all your lies."
"And when you do," the trickster replied, placing his hat atop his head once more, "I'll be sure to revel in your agony. Or rather... what's the word... oh, yes..."
His face tightened up again, twisting his appearance to that of one who seemed long since dead.
"DESPAIR..."
Akamatsu held firm. "I'm not afraid of you, Ouma-kun."
The self-proclaimed dictator waved his hand in front of his face, and his appearance returned to normal. "I'm not the one to fear," he warned. "Your enemy right now isn't lies, it's the truth."
"The truth?"
"Akamatsu-chan," he taunted in a sing-song fashion. "When you find out the truth behind all this, you'll cry and think, 'this just can't be...' And the best part? You'll just let it happen, because you just can't get over how much you love the truth."
"That's enough, Ouma-kun!" Saihara replied.
"Oh, Shumai... that's why you're my favorite," Ouma claimed. "I wonder which side you'll be on..."
"Side?"
"Don't question me unless you plan on actually using your question," the troublemaker reminded them. "In any case, I was left with Kii-boy and Iruma-chan unattended a few days ago. Now Kii-boy's dead. Let's see you draw the through-line!"
"Why are you acting like you're in control here?" Harukawa asked, her glare sharp as ever.
"Nishishi..." Ouma's giggles gave way to a single word. The meaning was unknown, but the tone made it clear he was exactly where he wanted to be.
"Check."
A/N: It's hard to sell confusion in writing when, as the writer, you already know the answers. Trial 5 of V3 was so good...
