"Is everyone in position?" Monokuma asked as all the students took their podiums. "Okay! Let's see if you wunderkind can figure out whodunnit!"
"It was Mukuro!" Yasuhiro yelled immediately with a dramatic point. "She was the only one who knew where the secret room was!"
"Hagakure, I have to insist you do not begin these trials with baseless accusations!" Kiyotaka yelled. "There are four people who knew of that room."
"Actually," Byakuya interjected, "we never learned the identity of the mole who Monokuma mentioned three days ago. If it wasn't one of those four, there's potentially five."
"I assure you, I had no knowledge of the room," Hifumi squealed, nervously.
"As if anyone would admit to such a thing," Celeste said, smiling.
Kyoko cleared her throat. "Let's start with what we do know. At some time yesterday, Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimmer, was killed. She was dried off, changed, and then moved into the secret room. Now, from the wounds on her neck, we can infer that her cause of death was strangulation via rope."
"Had to fucking happen at night time," Mondo said. "No way we'd not notice a murder happening while we're all walking around and shit."
"No, that's wrong," Makoto said. "It had to happen some time between 5pm and 6:30pm. Mukuro and I saw Aoi swimming at around 5pm. It was around 6:30pm when Byakuaya said Sakura entered the library to return books to the archive."
"What's that have to do with anything? Sakura asked.
"Because," Makoto explained. "You told me yourself that you had been working out in the girl's locker room the whole afternoon, never leaving."
"I had simply forgotten that I had to return some items." Sakura explained, calmly.
"Except that's not true either." Byakuya sneered. "Tell them, Naegi."
Mukuro's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
Why... me? "Er... yeah," Makoto continued. "From when Kyoko showed me that room yesterday, the books she put in the archive were taken from the hidden room. I recognized one of them, and when I located it in the archive, it had Aoi's bloody swimsuit inside some missing pages. Byakuya had been spending his days in the library since the second floor opened, and he confirmed he'd never seen you in their before."
Sakura folded her arms and said nothing.
"WHOOOOOOAAA!" Yasuhiro exclaimed. "Ogre moved the body and hid evidence! She did it! She had to have done it!"
"No..." Sakura replied. "I did not kill her. But... yes, I did move her body."
"What?!" Chihiro cried. "W-w-why would you do something like that."
Sakura sighed. "Well... I shall tell you..."
Sakura entered the pool around 6pm. She just wanted to make sure Aoi didn't miss dinner again. But there weren't enough words in the dictionary to describe the level of rage in her body. The body of Aoi was laying on the side of the pool. "ASAHINA!"
Sakura charged up to the swimmer, and gently rolled her onto her back. To her surprise, the girl was just barely breathing.
"Who... WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!" The martial artist cried.
"D..." Aoi choked out, barely able to speak through her crushed windpipe. "D..."
"Hold on, let's get you to the nurse's office!"
Aoi shook her head. "D-don't... let... Junko win... Hide me."
Sakura's eyes widened in shock as Aoi gave her a faint smile. "Aoi, no..."
Aoi made a gurgle noise, and her breathing stopped. Sakura tried CPR, to no avail; the girl's airway was too damaged.
"So... to give her some dignity... I dried her off and changed her." Sakura explained. "I wrapped her in the towels and carried her into the hidden room."'
"A... somewhat incredible story," Celeste replied, not hiding the bite in her words. "But how did you know of the room?"
Sakura sighed. "I... am working for Junko."
Collective cries of, "what," "for real," and "no way," arose from the rest of the students. Mukuro didn't say anything, but she was unable to stop her jaw from hanging open in shock. She had never had any idea that Junko had another mole in the building until it was mentioned the other day, but she hadn't expected this. No wonder I wasn't needed. Sakura and I are total overkill to both be moles.
"How can you expect us to believe your story when you're the mole?!" Byakuya scoffed.
"I don't think we can discount the possibility altogether," Kirigiri interjected. "Some physical evidence was left on the rope we believe to be used to strangle Asahina."
"Explain yourself!" Byakuya barked.
"I planned on it, before you interrupted me," Kyoko quipped. "A rope with two brown hairs was set up like some sort of pulley system on the life guard chair. And while one of these matches Aoi's hairs, the other does not."
Kyoko produced two ziplocked bags of hairs. One was long and smooth, like Aoi's, while the other was long and scraggly.
"Couldn't they both be Ms. Asahina's?" Kiyotaka asked.
"We can't just assume that." Kyoko responded.
"But no one else was at the pool, correct?" Celeste asked.
Makoto's memory finally kicked in. "No, that's wrong!"
Everyone looked at him, and he continued, "When Mukuro and I went to check on Aoi, I saw Hagakure in the boy's room when we left!"
"N-nah man, you were hallucinating it!" Hagakure replied, defensively. "That's circumcision evidence at best!"
"Y-you mean circumstantial?" Chihirio corrected him.
"Does that hair match one from Hagakure?" Mukuro asked Kyoko.
Kyoko walked over towards Hagakure, who backed up defensively. Mondo and Sakura approached behind Hagakure though with threatening looks, and the fortune teller stopped in his tracks.
Kyoko held the bag up to Hagakure's head. "This looks like a match."
"Furthermore, when we found the body, Hagakure was quick to claim he'd been in his room all day," Byakuya added. "Which Naegi has confirmed was a lie."
"I could never kill Aoi!" Yasuhiro denied. "Look at this beer belly! She could overpower me any day."
"You could still strike her with something unexpectedly," Hifumi said, puffing out his chest. "Like a dastardly coward!"
"What would I have even hit her with?!" Hagakure scoffed. "There's no proof I did it because I didn't do it!"
Mukuro rubbed her chin. "I mean... you could have hit her with a crystal ball? That could be the blow to the head?"
"WHAT?" Hagakure said, laughing. "That's what you're banking this on?"
"It's a good theory," Kyoko added. "We found broken glass in the boy's locker room."
"That could be from anything! I don't even have a crystal ball here!" Hagakure argued.
"Yes you do," Makoto said, pointing, "The night before Sayaka and Leon died, you had me help you find it! Where is it now?"
"B-back in my room," Hagakure stuttered. "It was probably just a bottle!"
"Headmaster Monokuma!" Kiyotaka yelled, making everyone jump.
"Yes?" The bear responded, a bit surprised to be called on.
"Are any of the drinks or other goods sold in the school store carried in glass containers?"
"Puhuhu! I don't know if I should answer that!" He snickered. "I don't want to influence the events of the trial."
"They are not," Celeste answered. "I was there earlier today."
"Aw," Monokuma pouted. "Spoilsport..."
"Then it fucking had to be your crystal ball, you fucking hippie!" Mondo scowled.
"Y-y-you guys must have lost it!" Hagakure said, near tears. "It was Ogre, damn it! She was the one who moved the body! Why would you think it was me because of a hair and some glass?!"
"Because, the murder doesn't match what happened after," Kyoko explained, folding her arms. "To strangle someone to death is a brutal crime. No one who would dry and groom a body post-mortem would choose such a rough method of murder. If Sakura had done this, there were quicker methods she would have done it. And there wouldn't have been a struggle."
"W-what struggle are you talking about?" Chihiro asked.
"The pool levels," Mukuro said, quietly. She didn't really have confidence in the trial; words were not her strength. "It was... a lot lower than it was two days ago."
Hagakure paled. "Y-you're all crazy! You're going to let Ogre get away with murder!"
"U-um," Chihiro began, "I um... might be able to prove Sakura didn't do it."
"Well?" Byakuya asked, impatiently. "Speak up then."
Chihiro swallowed. "W-well, if the murder didn't happen until between 5 and 6pm...I actually saw Sakura before then."
"What do you mean, bro?" Kiyotaka asked.
"W-well, I wanted to check something out in that hidden room," Chihiro began, shooting a meaningful look over at Makoto and Kyoko, "B-but when I was on my way up there, I got spooked by something. It was about 6pm, because I remember checking on my E-Handbook. But um... when I wanted to go into the bathroom, I got spooked because Sakura came up the stairs. So I um... hid in the girl's room."
"Which corroborates Sakura's story," Celeste smiled. "I believe Yasuhiro's guilt is written in the stars."
Yasuhiro grew silent and stared at his feet. Finally he clenched his fists and pointed at Makoto. "God damn it Naegi! This is your fault!"
Makoto took a step back, shocked. "Huh?! Me?!"
"You had to rally everyone into not telling their secrets!" He said, tears welling up. "Why couldn't you have just gotten killed by Mondo?!"
Mukuro scowled. "Don't blame Makoto for your actions!"
"Are you fucking serious?" Mondo said, pounding a fist into his open palm. "I would've regretted that forever! You got some goddamn nerve!"
"I am serious!" Yasuhiro cried. "It should have been easy!"
He began to explain, "I went to the pool, waiting for the coast to be clear. I told Asahina I wanted to show her something. When she got out of the pool, yeah, I clobbered her with the crystal ball. I grabbed the rope hanging from the lifeguard chair and wrapped it around her neck, but she got up and struggled. I pushed her in the pool because she was swinging for me. I pulled on the rope and it ended up fishing her out by the neck... When I got her out, she wasn't breathing. I... panicked and cleaned up the crystal ball, and had to figure out where to hide her. But when I came out of the men's room, I saw Ogre standing over her... and well, I went and hid in one of the men's rooms lockers. When I came out later, she and the body were gone."
"Such senseless violence," Sakura seethed through grit teeth. "What on earth would compel you to do such a thing?"
"I'm not telling you anything!" Hagakure said, defiantly.
"It's because... you're a fraud," Makoto said, calmly.
Everyone in the room turned and looked at him. The melancholy look on the boy's face spoke volumes. "You've been conning your way to the top for years. Every now and then you get some predictions right, but even as the Ultimate Fortune Teller, you overstate what you can do. And because of that, you're millions in debt to a yakuza."
"Hey, fuck you Makoto!" Hagakure shouted, red in the face. "You don't know that."
"He does," Mukuro confirmed, "because in our first year you tried to sell his organs to the same organization to clear your debt."
Yasuhiro's jaw dropped. "I... I did?" Guilt etched across his face as he looked at Makoto. "And you... never said anything?"
Makoto frowned. "We told you what's going on out there... why would any of it matter now?"
"Puhuhu!" Monokuma laughed. "How tragic! Greed gave way to murder! I daresay it's voting time students!"
Like last time, a screen behind Yasuhiro declared him guilty. He screamed as balloons and confetti rained down from the ceiling, only to be silence as Monokuma threw a collar around his neck and dragged him off towards his punishment.
Yasuhiro's punishment was particularly unpleasant; he was thrown onto a table across from a Monokuma in a fortune teller's hat. The Monokuma forcefully took his palm to read, but then pierced Yasuhiro's palm straight through, pinning him to the table. As Hagakure struggled, crystal balls began to rain down from the ceiling, one after another, and until they battered and bludgeoned him to death.
As the remaining ten students watched this unfold, Monokuma popped up besides them. "Wow! Two for two? You guys are good at this! Then again, guess I should expect it from a group with the Ultimate Detective. Maybe I should get you guys a talking great dane and a tie-dyed minivan."
No one said anything; they had solved a murder but no one could feel great about it leading to the death of Yasuhiro.
Makoto looked around the room. The group, his classmates, had been dwindled down to one third of their original numbers. He felt shame in letting things get this bad, for handing Junko another win. He hated it.
He was snapped out of it as a hand found his. He looked to his left to see Mukuro had grabbed his left hand. Though her face was neutral, she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
Right, he shook himself internally, I'm not alone. We're still here. Then ten of us. We have to stick together to stop her. If I lose hope now, if I give up, she'll eat me alive.
He squeezed her hand back.
"Alrighty kids, I think you should all head to bed!" Monokuma cackled. "Headmaster Monokuma needs to think up a new motive for you all."
"Can't fucking wait," Mondo grumbled.
Browbeaten, the Ultimate Students all retreated to the dormitory. Makoto and Mukuro split at his door, without exchanging a word. There wasn't much to say when Junko had gotten the best of them that day.
As Makoto opened his door, he half expected to see her there, gloating about his promise to take apart her Tragedy. Thankfully, Monokuma wasn't there.
He was waiting in Mukuro's room instead.
"Hey sis!" Monokuma cackled in his most aggravating voice. "Have a good time at the trial?! You actually took point a few times! Color me surprised."
"What do you want?" Mukuro replied, trying to keep emotion from her voice. The unwelcomed visitor had been a surprise, but the soldier was able to keep her composure. Junko liked to keep her on her toes her whole life. This was no different.
"Wow, is that anyway to greet your sister?" Monokuma giggled from atop the soldier's bed. "I just want you to remember my offer still stands."
"I'm not interested in playing your games, Junko." She replied. She had taken to finding a spot on the floor, a spot where two tiles intersected, and staring down at them. It helped her dissociate and try to drown out the feelings swelling in her head and heart. "All I want to do is bring you despair by stopping this."
"Un-bear-lievable." The bear sighed. "Here I thought you couldn't get anymore disappointed, but you're turning into your lame ass boyfriend."
"Turning into - I'm doing nothing of the sort." Mukuro replied, defensively. She wasn't sure why; she liked trying to be a normal teenager, and Makoto was certainly helping. Still, she was her own person.
"Well, it's certainly getting hard to tell the two of you apart, with you two both insisting you'll do anything to stop me," Monokuma replied, bored. "How's that working out for you? You could ask Hagakure to predict your chances. Oh wait. You can't. You guys killed him by voting for him."
"You're not going to guilt me for anyone's death for the events you orchestrated." Mukuro replied calmly.
"That I orchestrated? You're just as much to blame for your class being stuck here."
"And I've been working against you since you severed our relationship." The soldier replied.
"Oh, so you're going to pretend that you're not a ruthless killer with gallons of blood on your hands." Monokuma snickered. "Lame. Tell me how that's been working for you and Makoto? Between the two of you, I can't tell which one of you is dumber."
"Makoto solved both of these murders, hardly any reason to call someone dumb," Mukuro scoffed. "I'm sure you regret leaving him alive."
"I figured you'd defend him. Why would you? He didn't even tell you when he and the detective found the hidden room."
This made Mukuro hesitant, which Junko was quick to prey upon. "What else do you think they got up to, just the two of them?" The bear pushed. "It gets me all hot and bothered to think of."
The soldier squirmed, Junko's perversion making her as uncomfortable as ever.
"I mean, see their raw sexual chemistry for yourself!" Monokuma giggled.
A screen for the nighttime announcements lowered itself into the room. On it, it showed Kirigiri grabbed Makoto by the hand outside the 2nd floor boy's room, pulling him towards her, and saying, "I need you in the bathroom," in a sultry tone before the two entered.
Mukuro's insides writhed and squirmed. She shifted her feet, unable to stay still. Junko replayed the scene a few more times.
"Do you think that's how they found the hidden room?" Now it was Junko's voice coming through Monokuma's speaker.
Mukuro squeezed her eyes shut. "Stop."
"I mean Makoto looks like a bottom. Maybe she had him pressed against the wall..."
Mukuro cringed.
"Or maybe he was on top, and used his hands on the wall to-"
"STOP!" Mukuro yelled.
"Puhuhu!" Junko snickered. "You're cucked sis. Admit it. What did I always say about you and him?"
Mukuro said nothing. She didn't have to though, both of them remembered very vividly. She would say, Makoto would never want anyone as ugly or useless as you.
"Even with her memories gone, she'll fall for him just like she did before. They work well together, don't they? I saw you see it during the investigation. Don't you remember? How she fell for him before?" Junko asked.
Mukuro did remember. Even if she wasn't as smart as Junko or observant as Kyoko, it was a memory she wouldn't soon forget.
"He'll forget it tomorrow." Mukuro said to herself. "He'll forget it tomorrow. He'll forget."
It was a weird feeling, nervousness. She hadn't really ever felt it before. Whenever she entered battle, she never felt nervous. She was a tool. If she died, she died a failure, and it wouldn't really bother her. If Junko needed her for something, she would either succeed and make her sister happy, or she would fail and die.
It was shameful. Junko was right. Makoto made her weak. Personal connections made her weak. To feel something like nervousness was not becoming of a tool of death.
She had to expunge it. She needed to confess her feelings to kill them. Then Makoto would undergo the memory wipe, it wouldn't matter, and she could watch him die in peace.
She'd asked Makoto to meet her in the music room. It was usually empty at this time of day, and she wanted privacy for this matter.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she heard footsteps approaching, but it fell as he heard more than one set, and voices to go along with him.
"It's just illogical," Mukuro heard that voice and recognized it easily. The detective. She scowled as it continued, "It's been a year since we've been locked in the school. That man has no plan for the future, for what he wants us to do as these symbol of Hope against the Tragedy."
Mukuro couldn't help but feel her eyes roll. Again, she was complaining about her dad.
"Well, I understand your point," Makoto replied. Mukuro was happy to hear the sound of his voice. "But it's hard to plan for something like this. The situation changes daily."
"Still. We have a gambler, a fanfiction comic creator, a fortunate teller... hell, one of them is a fashion model," Mukuro's eyebrow twitched as she heard the detective disparage her sister, "what good are these talents for a world in this state? Pollution? Terrorism?"
Their footsteps stopped. Mukuro poked her head around the corner. She could see the two of them had stopped, and were facing each other. Makoto's back was to her, giving the soldier a good view of Kyoko's face. The detective's eyes widened in surprise as Makoto grabbed her hands suddenly.
"Kyoko... I know not everyone's skills seem like much now. But all of you guys are really amazing! All these skills can translate into other matters. Speaking, diplomacy, writing... these are things that change countries, and can change the world." Mukuro could feel Makoto smiling at the detective from there, and it made her squirm. "And if your dad can't figure it out, then you and I can think of something."
The two stared at each other for some time, a tinge of red flushing the cheeks of the detective.
Mukuro could see the expression change on the look of Kyoko's face. It was the same look Mukuro knew she herself would take whenever Makoto blew her away.
The soldier turned and left.
She didn't think she wanted to talk to Makoto right now.
"How long do you think it will be before Kyoko falls for him again?" Junko said. Mukuro could almost see the sneering smile in her mind, even though she was only looking at the bear.
"I'm not stopping you to make Makoto love me." Mukuro spat back.
"No," Junko laughed. "Maybe not. Because you know no one could ever love you. But you love him. And it'll be a hell of a lot easier to get him if you take out the competition."
Mukuro just looked away.
"Think about it. There's already only two other girls left, and I don't think Celeste or Sakura have eyes for him. Get rid of the detective, and you'll be all he has." Monokuma teased. "Offers on the table, sis."
Monokuma disappeared, without another word.
The tv screen remained, showing the same few moments of Kirigiri pulling Naegi by the hand into the bathroom until it was night time.
Mukuro covered her head with her pillow,
She did not sleep.