A/N: The trial heats up, and this chapter is even longer than usual. But that's because this showdown against Mahiru requires a strong offensive from the defense. Enjoy, my readers!

September 18

Hope's Peak Academy Legal Department, Defendant Lobby

12:00 p.m.

In the defendant lobby, Peko, Fuyuhiko, and Tenko regrouped.

Natsumi's killer is finally being brought to the witness stand. After the past few days, the end of this case is in sight.

Peko took a moment to control her breathing. She had to be the level-headed one, going forward.

"I can't believe it. Mahiru really did try to frame Kuzuryu for a murder he didn't commit," Tenko said, her tone filled with hurt. "And she really fought against us the entire time…"

"Ugh, figures that she would be such a bitch about too," Fuyuhiko scoffed. "She's walling us for no real reason besides spite."

"No, it's not for 'no real reason'. That's what makes this so hard," Tenko said softly. "Mahiru has someone that she wants to protect, at all costs. That is the source of her strength, but also what forced her against us. I wish it weren't like this!"

To protect someone at all costs… perhaps that is the main reason why I cannot hate Mahiru, even after all she has done to my Young Master. After all, everything I've done in the past few days has been to protect him, so I'm not much different from Mahiru.

Out loud, Peko said, "All of this is due to someone killing Natsumi. They are the one responsible for Mahiru's actions as well. So focus your attention on exposing their crime, to bring this tragedy to an end."

"That's a pretty cool line, Peko-peko! It would make anyone listening to it fall for you!"

On that line, Ibuki entered the defendant lobby, with Maki and Mikan in tow.

"Greetings, Ibuki. Your aid during the trial earlier was appreciated," Peko said, remembering how the musician had barely managed to rescue the case. "Are you here for some reason?"

"Nope! I just really wanted to see your faces!" Ibuki exclaimed cheerfully. "I have a lot on my mind that I want to say!"

Maki shook her head. "It would probably be easier to let her run her mouth, even if it's probably a waste of time."

"Tell me about it. I gave up trying to understand Ibuki a long time ago," Fuyuhiko said dryly.

"Yowza! I can feel your sharp words going right into me!" Ibuki exclaimed.

"Please tell me what's on your mind!" Tenko said, joining the conversation. "Maybe we could learn something important!"

"Well, I was mainly thinking about the murder weapon. No one still knows what it is, right?" Ibuki pointed out.

"You are correct. That is currently the worst sticking point in this trial," Peko said. "As long as we can't figure out the murder weapon, exposing the killer will be hard."

"Well, I think that the crafty killer chose a weapon they could easily dispose of," Ibuki said, holding up her hand. "Maybe something they already had on hand, that doesn't look like a weapon! That would explain why the wound is so weird!"

"That does make a lot of sense," Peko said, thinking back on previous discussions. "And given that the murder happened before there were any witnesses, that would make getting rid of it simpler."

"Wow, was I right? I was just saying whatever fell out of my mouth! But I'm certainly glad to be of help!" Ibuki exclaimed cheerfully.

Every time that Ibuki has rambled seemingly random words, it's turned out to contain an important clue. I should assume it's the same this time as well.

"Um… everyone is doing their best to help, and it feels like I haven't done anything!" Mikan suddenly exclaimed. "I'm really just taking up space, aren't I?"

"If you are so concerned about being useful, then don't stand around and whine," Maki said, her tone firm but not unkind. "Do what you know you can do, and leave the rest to us."

"That's right, Mikan! Having you in our corner already helps more than you know," Tenko said, smiling. "So continue to cheer on for us in the audience!"

"I will! Please do your best!" Mikan said, her cheeks turning light red.

Fuyuhiko let out an annoyed sigh. "I only have to put up with this bullshit a little longer. I wouldn't even put up with it at all, if this wasn't my only chance to take what's rightfully mine."

All this was said in a soft enough voice that no one else picked it up, except for Peko. And she had no intention of telling anyone else about it. It wasn't anyone else's concern- they only needed to be concerned about ending this trial.

September 18

Hope's Peak Academy Legal Department, Courtroom

12:20 p.m.

"I will now reconvene the trial of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu," Judge Jin Kirigiri declared. "Defense and prosecution, are you prepared?"

"Hmph. I am prepared to finally get the defense to submit," Byakuya said. "Even someone as pigheaded as her should see reason eventually."

"I'm ready to keep up my defense, until the very end!" Tenko exclaimed. "I haven't been beaten by any of the obstacles placed before me so far, and I don't plan to fall now!"

"Very well. Adzumi Sato has been brought to this building, and is currently waiting to give testimony," Judge Kirigiri said. "In response to the defense's accusation."

She is the one that is most likely to be Natsumi's killer. But if she's also the one behind the attempt to frame Fuyuhiko, Sato will not be an easy opponent.

Adzumi Sato entered the courtroom, and was soon enough at the witness stand. Peko was struck by how plain Sato looked- aside from the green hair, she looked just like any other student you'd find in a high school.

The only other standout trait was that something burned deep in Sato's eyes, though Peko couldn't make out what it was.

"Hold on a moment, why is Mahiru still on the witness stand?"

At Tenko's incredulous question, Peko noticed that Mahiru was indeed there, standing at Sato's left. Mahiru crossed her arms, glaring at the defense defiantly.

"I thought I could rely on you to help, Tenko. I really did. But if I have to keep Adzumi from being railroaded in an unfair trial on my own, then I will!"

Tenko's shoulders slumped, an exhausted look on her face. "You're still going to fight against us?!"

Mahiru held up for two hours of court earlier, and if anything it made her even more determined. It'd be pretty impressive, under any other circumstances.

Byakuya slammed his palm on his bench. "Cease this pointless arguing. The new witness has yet to introduce themselves."

"I guess you mean me. Well, my name is Adzumi Sato," Sato said. "And I'm a student of the Reserve Course. There's really not much more besides that."

"I would agree with you, Miss Sato. Yet the defense here seems to believe that you are capable of putting together an elaborate scheme to fool the entire school," Byakuya said, smirking. "I'll let you educate them on why they are so very wrong."

Witness Testimony

Sato's Account

"I believe Mahiru provided a picture earlier, of everyone near the crime scene. That was the only time I was in the Main Course Building," Sato said, rolling her eyes.

"As a reminder, that was long after the murder happened," Mahiru said. "So Sato has an alibi that proves she can't be the killer."

"I don't think I can say much else about the murder besides that," Sato said, playing with a lock of her hair. "I didn't see anything or anyone, because I arrived late."

Mahiru huffed loudly. "So let Adzumi off the stand, because this is clearly a waste of everyone's time!"

End Testimony

"Naturally, I agree with the witness. There is no reason to continue this when there are no other possible suspects," Byakuya said smugly.

"That's not for you to decide!" Tenko snapped.

"But do you have a direction to take this trial?" Judge Kirigiri asked. "Because otherwise, I am inclined to agree with the prosecution.

"We are going to ascertain the validity of Sato's testimony," Peko said, without missing a beat. "Until that is finished, this trial isn't over."

There is likely a lie hidden in this testimony. The question is, how will it be extracted?

With two sets of testimony to sift through, it didn't seem obvious how to proceed. Mahiru and Sato are going to cover for each other at every opportunity. So effectively, there are two testimonies to crack.

"Tenko, my suggestion is to focus on disproving Sato's claim," Peko finally said. "Mahiru is going to obstruct you, but ignore her."

Tenko nodded her head. "Here goes nothing then… HOLD IT! Sato, there is something I'd like to know. Why do you believe that you were late? Was there a meeting you were heading to at the time?"

"I was hanging out with the other girls. You remember the picture that was shown earlier," Sato said. "That's why I was there."

"But you weren't actually in the picture," Peko pointed out. "So there actually isn't proof you were there."

"I took a picture of my classmates first, but then I was out of camera film," Mahiru explained. "I believe I said this earlier."

"Enough." Byakuya slammed his hand on the bench. "Defense, is there any reason we should continue to listen to this?"

Peko considered the situation, to know what advice to give to Tenko. "Think back on what you've learned so far. The answer is likely hidden in there."

"What I've learned so far…" The gears turned in Tenko's head. "Actually, there is something off here."

Tenko turned towards Sato. "The first time you were brought up was near the end of yesterday's trial."

Sato raised an eyebrow. "So what? I told you, I was hanging out with the other girls."

"You weren't there, so you wouldn't have seen it. It was Ibuki that brought you up, and not even by name." Tenko's eyes narrowed. "But as soon as she did, Mahiru panicked and tried to get Ibuki to shut up about you!"

Sato looked over at Mahiru, who was suddenly as pale as a sheet.

"Tell me, Sato. Can you think of a reason why you being there would be a bad thing?" Tenko asked.

Sato, in what seemed to be an unconscious motion, reached over and gripped Mahiru's hand. "Mahiru is a bit of a worrywart. She probably got a little too worked up when under the pressure of this court. But there was nothing wrong with me being there!"

"Add that statement to the testimony, witness," Byakuya said, smirking. "Hopefully this will finally sink through the defense's unusually thick skull."

The testimony has been altered, but not much has changed. Perhaps we should press Miss Sato harder.

But as Peko was thinking it over, Tenko suddenly shouted out, "HOLD IT! What makes you so sure that Miss Sato has an alibi, Mahiru?"

"I just said that it was after the murder happened," Mahiru said, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you even paying attention, Tenko?"

"Gnk!" A frustrated noise rose out of Tenko's throat.

Sato blew the bangs of her hair out of the face. "You fell for the crafty scheme of the murderer that confused everyone on the time of the murder."

"...!" Tenko's eyes took on a sharp look. "Add that to your testimony, please!"

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "If you want to keep extending the testimony worthlessly, I suppose I can't stop you."

Peko raised an eyebrow, wondering where the other girl was taking this.

"OBJECTION!" Tenko kicked her bench with her leg. "Miss Sato, your account is conflicting with Mahiru's!"

"I don't get it. We're both saying the same thing," Mahiru said. "So there shouldn't be a problem."

"There is a problem! You said that there is 'nothing wrong' with Sato being at the Main Course building that day," Tenko said. "But Sato also said just now that we fell for 'a crafty scheme' to misdirect the time of death. But how did she know? How did she know that was happening?"

Sato squeezed Mahiru's hand, but otherwise didn't show an external reaction. "I knew there was murder because the other girls told me that it happened after I showed up."

Tenko shook her head. "For all of yesterday, we all believed that the murder happened when Mahiru, Mikan, Ibuki and Saionji were at the stairs. It was only earlier today that we learned that it could have happened sooner. So I'll ask again- how did you know that it happened earlier?!"

Sato stepped closer to Mahiru, glaring at Tenko. "I don't know what is forcing you to stand there and make desperate claims for a criminal. But there is a reason why, and you'll be sorry once you hear it!"

"You'll remember this picture that we saw earlier." Mahiru presented the photo of the broken vase. "I suspected that something was weird with it, and when I met up with Adzumi, we discussed it, and considered that someone could have broken it on purpose."

"When Natsumi's body was found later, we thought that someone could have broken the vase to throw off the time of death," Sato continued. "So it's not something I knew, so much as a theory we had."

Peko could see an immediate issue with this. "Why didn't you tell anyone else this 'theory', and instead asked them to pretend they never met with Sato?"

"Because when we talked, I realized that if the real killer knew that Adzumi had important information, it could put her in danger," Mahiru said. "But now that you know this, you have to admit that Adzumi did nothing wrong!"

This is what I thought would happen. Mahiru is going to cover up for the flaws in Sato's testimony as soon as they appear. If only there were a way to break their testimony before they could cover for each other more.

"So this is where everyone has been!"

The high-pitched voice hit everyone's ears, and Peko realized she might end up regretting her wish.

Hiyoko entered the courtroom, taking a position on the witness stand between Sato and Mahiru. "Ugh, I can't believe this courtroom! Everyone is picking on Big Sis like terrible bullies!"

"I don't believe you were called as a witness, Miss Saionji," Judge Kirgiri said. "If you could go please wait in the witness lobby…"

"Do you have cotton between your ears? Big Sis Mahiru needs me, so you can't tell me what to do!" Hiyoko shouted defiantly.

"This isn't a playground where a child like you can play around," Byakuya said, scowling. "Leave here at once."

Hiyoko started crying loudly. "You're all so mean! All I want to do is help, but no one is listening to me!"

"Don't cry, Hiyoko! I know you mean well, but there are rules here," Mahiru said, petting the smaller girl on the head. "You have to get permission first."

Tenko watched all this madness with a thoughtful expression. "Do you think that we should keep Saionji on the witness stand? Listening to Mahiru and Sato might mean we keep going in circles."

Is our only alternative dealing with Hiyoko and her 'unique' personality? Peko had to acknowledge that letting Mahiru and Sato control the flow of the trial only forced them to be stuck again.

"The defense would like to hear what Hiyoko has to say," Peko said, even as her voice had a complete lack of enthusiasm at the prospect. "If she wants to testify, it must be for a reason."

"'For a reason', the defense says," Byakuya said scornfully. "All they are doing is regurgitating previous witnesses to stall for time."

"By that logic, Mahiru shouldn't be here either," Tenko pointed out. "She testified yesterday and all of the previous session earlier!"

"Urgh… well, Miss Koizumi is a central witness to this case," Byakuya countered. "Of course we can't dismiss her from the stand!"

"Then you can't dismiss Saionji either! She wants to testify, and that means we could learn something new!" Tenko insisted.

"Very well. If you insist, then Saionji will be allowed to testify," Byakuya said. "But only so that the defense can provide enough rope to hang their own case."

"Don't think that I'll help you, defense," Hiyoko said, her attitude doing a 180 to nasty. "I'm only doing this for Big Sis Mahiru!"

Your motives are immaterial, Hiyoko. If your presence breaks the flow of Mahiru and Sato's dual testimony, that will be enough.

To be continued.

A/N: Nope, Mahiru is still not finished arguing with the defense. So now, they have to go against two people that are equally determined to wall the defense. The final leg of this story is in full swing. See you next time! Please review.