Disclaimer: The Danganronpa franchise does not belong to me. The content affiliated with this fanfiction belong to Spike Chunsoft and Kazutaka Kodaka. The cover art belongs to the artist, Sakuya. This fanfiction is being cross-uploaded on Archive Our Own, and the authors notes are located at the bottom.


Chapter Three: A Heartless Journey Pt 13

If Ando Ruruka really wasn't the person who killed her boyfriend, then who did? Right about then Ryota felt they were probably ready to reach another verdict and have the unfortunate displeasure of sentencing someone else to an execution, though after finding out that the forbidden action was incorrect, it seemed that the tides had been turned in ways none of them expected and this trial would have to go on for just a little longer.

Not only that, if Gekkogahara's assumption was correct about the false forbidden action, there's still the off chance that Izayoi may have even been alive after Ando attempted to perform deceitful kiss of death. There was more going on with this case that even Ando seemed aware of and there was much more to discuss.

That seemed rightfully so, Ryota remembered there were still some other bits and pieces of evidence he found during his investigation that he was waiting to mention in the trial. Of course, just about everything uncovered must have held some kind of relevance.

Sakakura had started losing his patients. "You mean to tell me this whole time Ando really wasn't the killer? How are we supposed to figure out who killed him now? There weren't any witnesses to who could have caused any of this."

"Well, sure there were no witnesses, but we could still make some inferences , right?" Kizakura cooly pointed out. "If Izayoi died of blood loss the killer obviously stabbed him with the knife inside of his body."

"Or, maybe Ando used the knife to stab Izayoi herself?" Sakakura rudely suggested. He was still obviously still gunning for her to be the killer, which made since considering the little evidence they had that anyone else could be the culprit.

The confectioner in question wasn't taking that remark very well. "Why do you always feel the need to blame me for everything that's happened! I'm not the one who killed Yoi-chan and I've already been proven innocent!"

"Do you have any ideas on who it could be?" Kimura asked.

"Whatever execuses she makes, how can we be sure it's not just another one of her lies?" Sakakura growled.

"Let's stop all the arguing for now, none of that is going to help us progress anywhere in this trial." Gekkogahara told them all. "We have spent so much time talking about the motive itself that we have hardly even spoken about Izayoi-kun's murder and how it was established."

"That's right, we've spent all this time scapegoating Ando-chan as the killer that we didn't even talk much about how Izayoi was killed." Kizakura remembered.

Gekkogahara nodded. "That's right, and if we can't figure out who killed Izayoi-kun then we'll never get out of this trial alive."

"What should we be doing right now?" Kimura asked.

Kizakura took his right palm out his pocket to readjust his fedora. "Hmmm, that's a toughie. How about we go over everything we know about the case and see where that takes us from here? It's not like we have a whole lot of evidence to go on at this point."

Ryota agreed and began piecing together all the events that have happened thus far. "Izayoi-san's body was discovered in the reception room ...he died of blood loss after receiving some wounds in certain parts of his body that caused both external and internal bleeding and had a knife lodged right in his chest area."

"But that's not exactly a lot of evidence to go on, figuring out who the killer is going to be difficult." Kimura reminded him.

"Did anyone manage to collect alibis during that time to figure out where everyone else was?" Munakata asked. "That would be enough to get everything squared away, would it not?"

A grim look of denial found its way on Gekkogahara's face. "I can't really say we did. Mitarai-kun and I spent most of our time trying to investigate the others aspects behind Izayoi-kun's death that we couldn't find the time to gather any alibis."

"What about anyone else?" Kimura asked. "I know I wasn't able to gather any alibis, though I was in the dining room around the time the body was first discovered."

"I had just finished exercising together with Mitarai in the basketball court, so I think our alibi checks out pretty okay." Asahina recalled. "The two of us went to eat donuts together and later we discovered Izayoi's body."

"Not to be a drag, but I doubt collecting alibis will even matter by this point." Kizakura put frankly. "Obviously the killer is just going to go against court oath and create some half-assed alibi to protect themselves and we'd have no way of telling if they're lying or not."

Munakata seemed to have already realized this as well. "Of course. Then let's discuss something else about this case. What of the Cure W potion or his forbidden action, surely those two pieces of evidence must be quite relevant in the trial."

"What exactly are you getting at?" Ando asked.

"As of now I'm still rather confused about this supposed bangle switch that you mentioned earlier. Exactly how did something like that even come into place?" the Ultimate Student Council President raised an eyebrow.

"If I were to make a wild guess , I'd say that Izayoi used the Cure W potion on himself and potentially switched with someone else." Kizakura speculated.

"No, that's wrong!" Ryota refuted. Initially, he believed that Kizakura may have been on the right track for believing something like that, though it was clear that he mislooked an important detail. "...I don't think that Izayoi-san was the person who used the potion since Monokuma mentioned there was a no sharing policy earlier, otherwise they'd be injected with poison."

"The Future Foundation has a very strict no sharing policy, once someday drinks the Cure W they won't be allowed to share it with anyone else, otherwise they'll both be injected with poison."

"If that's the case then how does the Cure W come into play?" Ando asked.

A brief pondering session gave Ryota an idea on how this came to be. "I think we've probably got things backwards. I don't think Izayoi-san was the person who used the Cure W...it must have been the killer."

"But, what about the no sharing policy that Monokuma mentioned before?" Kimura asked. "Isn't there a flaw in that argument?"

"Not at all. The killer obviously used the Cure W potion after Izayoi was already dead, not before." Munakata corrected her. "After all, it wouldn't be against the rules to switch bangles with a corpse."

Monokuma nodded. "Yep, that's right! Since Izayoi-kun was already dead that whole no-sharing-policy was completely null and void. A dead body isn't considered a participant in the game."

"What would the killer have done with that Cure W anyway?" Asahina questioned.

"I think they might have switched their bangle with Izayoi-san's after this death to hide the fact that he was forbidden from eating any of Ando-san's sweets." Ryota gathered. "That means that somebody in this courtroom must actually be walking around with Izayoi's forbidden action and that person must be the killer."

Gekkogahara gasped, "And if that's true, then the killer must have been given the same forbidden action as Ando-san when the killing game started."

The athletic swimmer blinked. "Why would someone go through the trouble of doing all of that?"

"It's perhaps because Izayoi-kun wasn't actually killed with the wounds inflicted on him, if anything, those wounds probably happened after that." Kirigiri explained. "It seems that his forbidden action is the real cause of his death. After Ando-san attempted and failed, someone else must have fed him a piece of candy that lead to his death."

Kizakura popped a cocky smirk and flexed his right hand. "Alrighty then! Looks like this murder was the result of a good old fashioned switcher-roo to try and confuse us. With the process of elimination to figure this mystery out shouldn't be too hard."

Gekkogahara nodded. "If we all reveal our forbidden actions that should set the record straight, if the bangles really were switched, then the killer standing in this room must have Izayoi-kun's real bangle that prevented him from eating sweets."

Sakakura cracked his knuckles. "And to whoever has Izayoi's real bangle, don't even think about trying to lie your way out of this one. Otherwise, I'm gonna fucking kill you before Monokuma does!"

Ando rolled her eyes in amusement. "So, what? Now you guys are suddenly okay with revealing each other forbidden action? I thought we agreed not to reveal that kind of information."

"Like that shit even matters right now. If we can't figure out who has Izayoi's forbidden action right now, then we're all gonna die." Sakakura reminded her.

"I had already mentioned this before ...but my forbidden action is running in the halls." Naegi reminded everyone. Ryota remembered hearing that back when he first made that announcement on the intercom and thought about how cool he was for fearlessly doing so.

"Mine is that I can't be hit with a punch or kick." Asahina confirmed, though she needed to quickly lock at her bangle again since she had forgotten after such a long time.

"I wasn't properly given a forbidden action, mine simply reads no information ." Kirigiri answered. Ryota found it rather odd that she wasn't provided with a real forbidden action like the rest of them and wondered what the reasoning for that could be.

Ryota awkwardly looked at his bangle and saw the bright red text scrolling across. "Umm...my forbidden action was using my talent."

"I can't use my fists no matter what. I guess a forbidden action like that is pretty ironic, right?" Sakakura said.

Munakata elegantly folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "As I'm sure you're all aware by this point. My forbidden action is using a murder weapon, a piece of evidence that I managed to provide to prove my innocence two trials ago."

"My forbidden action is that I'm prevented from directly interacting with Monokuma and any of his antics, that's why I can't connect to any offshore branches." Gekkogahara explained.

"Opening up my left palm is a no-go for me. I've had to improvise by other means." Kizakura remarked.

Lastly, all the participants looked to Ando. "My forbidden action is leaving the playing field. It was kinda weird that you guys mentioned Yoi-chan having his one as well since I'm positive that he wasn't allowed to eat sweets."

A skipped beat came and went. Ryota quickly tried to review everyone who has just revealed their forbidden action and realized that one person didn't speak up whenever the others did. This person who obviously must have been the one who must have used the potion to switch bangles with Izayoi.

Ryota began aching at the thought of this unfortunate revelation. He never would have guessed this person would ever be responsible for anything happening in this killing game. Maybe it's because deep down he had forgotten the most important thing when it came to this mutual killing game.

The world was a cold one. It didn't matter how much you perceived a person, as things could always so easily change.

It was time to choose a suspect.

"...the killer is Kimura-san."

He already suspected the group would be caught off guard with this revelation, but the Ultimate Pharmacist had obviously been hiding something that he wasn't fully aware of. Kimura clasped both hands over her concealed mouth and her pupils had shrunk. "I'm...what? I'm not the killer...why would you start assuming something like that?"

"Wait, what!? Is that really true?" Asahina yelped. "Kimura-chan has been our friend and was helping us throughout the whole trial. Don't you remember? She even gave us the autopsy report on how Izayoi's body was discovered."

"There's no way something like that could be the real answer!" Sakakura defended. "Kimura is the last person you would ever expected to commit a murder!"

"If Kimura-san isn't the killer, then why didn't she speak up when we were revealing our forbidden actions?" Ryota softly asked. "Wouldn't that mean she actually has Izayoi-san's bangle right now?"

"Not only that—something else as well." Munakata stated. "If Kimura was actually helping us since the beginning then why did she say the cause of death for Izayoi was blood loss when it was really Izayoi's forbidden action?"

Kimura sheepishly averted eye contact towards the others in fear. "That's because...I didn't know that Izayoi was killed with his forbidden action, I-I believed those wounds that were the direct cause of him being stabbed with the knife."

"The knife that you stabbed inside of him." Kirigiri assertively pointed to the pharmacist. "The Monokuma File never once mentioned that Izayoi- kun died of blood loss. It was never even made apparent until you stated that in your autopsy. You created a fake autopsy to lead us astray about the case, didn't you?"

Ryota realized that was starting to make a little more sense. If Kimura really is the killer, then she could have easily used her medical knowledge to create a fake crime scene that makes them thing Izayoi was stabbed. Due to her being the medical specialist of the group, none of them would be the wiser to think she was actually lying.

"There's nothing left to talk about!" Munakata cut her off before finishing that sentence. "We have already determined that you are the killer of this case, for that reason we have nothing left to talk about! Let's just get on with the majority vote already ."

What came off as really surprising was that Ando hadn't said a single word. Her boyfriend was apparently just murdered by her nemesis and she wasn't even speaking. The confectioner was frozen with pale blue eyes that had only stared blankly at Kimura.

"You...killed...Yoi-chan?" Ando emotionlessly said, she suddenly let out a burst of anger and powerfully slammed her hands onto the podium. "YOU KILLED YOI-CHAN! YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU—! TRAITOR!"

Despite all of the backlash that Kimura received for inherently killing Ando's boyfriend, she didn't respond to this and only sadly looked to the ground. This had only fed into the confectioner's anger. "Say something, dammit! How could you kill Yoi-chan! What did he ever do to you!?"

"We still can't get Kimura-san to admit it. There must be another way to get her to answer." Naegi realized.

"Is Kimura-chan really the killer?" Asahina asked.

Sakakura sighed. "How're we supposed to know that? This whole trial is started to get confusing, I feel it could go either way, but it looks like things have really split down the middle."

"I SEE THROUGH YOUR ARGUMENTS!"

None of them were expecting Monokuma to say anything after being oddly silent for the majority of this trial, Ryota knew what this was going to entail and dreaded every second of it. "Upupupu...I was waiting for somebody to say those words. As the Chairman of the Future Foundation, I'm proud to announce the morphenomenal trial grounds! The Debate Scrum!"

"Wasn't expecting one of those to happen this time around, guess we really are stuck." Kizakura said. "I'm gonna have to take the side of Ando-chan, I just can't imagine a sweetheart like Kimura-chan doing something like this."

Munakata curtly nodded. "Right, a Debate Scrum may be our best option in figuring out who the correct murderer for this case truly is. In that case, I shall align myself with the group that believes that Kimura is the killer."

Sakakura seemed to curse himself for not siding with Munakata, he quickly recovered and shook himself in an attempt to ignore his thoughts. "I can't believe that Kimura would ever do something like that. After all the help she's given us there's no way I can just believe that."

"I have to agree with that too!" Asahina chimed in. "Kimura-chan has been a great help this whole time. I've gotta fight for her and make sure nothing bad happens to her!"

Gekkogahara looked concerned about everything that was happening. "Kimura-san is our friend, but we still can't deny that she's pretty suspicious right now."

"I'm sure you bastards already got the memo on what the drill is!" Monokuma told them. "If you already forgot, then let me explain...you bastards have important roles to carry out in your respective factions, if you would all please look to your bangles, those specific roles should have showed up by now."

"King"

That all too familiar beeping sound found its way on Ryota's bangle once again. What he found the most surprising was the fact that he was one again bequeathed with the role of King was odd. He assumed the last trial was possibly the result of taking the lead in a few of the investigations and being recognized for that reason.

Why would something like this happen again? He knew that something like this would call for Naegi being the designated King since he was a far better candidate. Why was the hero that defeated Enoshima not chosen in favor of the person who ran away from her out of fear.

Ryota figured that stuff really didn't matter right now, what was most important was they prove that Kimura indeed the person that killed Izayoi and finally set things straight. While deep in his own thoughts, he barely failed to notice that the pharmacist had looked to her bangle as well, confirming that she too received the role as King.

"Queen"

"It seems like I have the role of Queen again." Gekkogahara acknowledged.

"I got the role of Queen too." Asahina pointed out.

If he were to assume that Gekkogahara was on his faction this time around as well then that could definitely benefit him. She was always helpful during these trials and knew there could be an advantage of exposing the truth if she were on his side.

Ryota assumed that Asahina was most likely a member of the rival faction of people that would probably believe that Kimura was innocent the entire time. It made sense, Asahina did seem to genuinely didn't want to suspect that pharmacist of being guilty.

To be fair, neither did he.

"Knight"

"I've got the role of Knight this time." Naegi acknowledged.

Kizakura tipped his head and gave off his signature smirk. "Well, ain't that convenient, looks like I've got the role of Knight as well. Sorry, maybe it's a little bit of my fault but I just can't imagine a lady like Kimura-chan ever being responsible for murder."

It was somewhat of a relief to know that Naegi was part of his faction as well, Ryota figured that with someone like him present then there shouldn't be any problems making the truth more apparent to the other faction, and since he already has experience with mysteries from the Class Trials then things shouldn't be too difficult.

The role of a Knight in the Debate Scrums is to support and refute any accusations so Ryota made a mental note of the fact that he could definitely rely on the Ultimate Hope.

"Bishop"

"I have the role of Bishop." Kirigiri acknowledged.

Munakata simply glared at the words written on his bangle. "It appears that I too have received the role of Bishop. Very well, then I'll make sure that Kimura's guiltiness becomes apparent by the end of this."

Sakakura gasped. "Wait, I have the role of Bishop too! Does this mean—?"

"Don't get too excited Sakakura-kun, since you're on the side of people that consider Kimura-san to be innocent, you've been put on the Radical Faction!" Monokuma explained.

"Regardless of which side you may be on, don't think I won't use force to get my point across in this case." Munakata warned and gave a death glare.

Sakakura was taken aback by his words and outright didn't even know how to respond. He said nothing instead. Ryota could see there was some tension between the two with Sakakura still believing that Munakata may eventually come back to his senses despite the man he once was long gone.

"Rook"

"Looks like I've got the role of Rook, I'm not sure why that even matters now." Ando angrily stated. "We already know how the killer is."

"Does that mean that Ando-san is the only person with the role of Rook this time around?" Gekkogahara asked. "Everyone else has already received their role in the Debate Scrum."

The two-toned bear laughed. "Upupupu...don't you worry your pretty little head, Monomi. I made Ando-san the Rook on purpose. She's all the buzz in this trial and should therefore be treated like it!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ando raised an eyebrow.

"Now then, with all of the introductions out of the way, let's finally gets things underway!" Monokuma stated before bringing out his microphone. "In the blue corner, we have the Moderate Faction — led by the Ultimate Animator, Mitarai Ryota of the 10 th Branch! And in the red corner, we have the Radical Faction — led by the Ultimate Pharmacist, Kimura Seiko of the 4 th Branch! Let's get ready to rumbbleeeee! "


Monokuma already appeared immensely excited with beginning yet another dividing debate, with the key in his paw once again, he used it to activate the tumbler and caused the podiums to shift into different colors. The particular colors were the monochromatic colors of white and black like those seen in a chess game.

The ones who represented the Moderate Faction this time around where Ryota — holding the role of faction leader again, alongside Gekkogahara, Naegi, Ando, Kirigiri, and Munakata. Meanwhile, the chosen members of the Radical Faction had Kimura taking the lead this time around with Asahina, Kizakura, and Sakakura as members.

It felt like there were much less members of the latter faction which only fed into the fact that not too many people believed that Kimura was actually innocent. While that was happening, the Radical Faction still seemed to lean more towards Ando being the killer of this case, which made since when regarding all of her contributions to this case.

[Moderate Faction Vs Radical Faction]

Ever since suspected of being the killer, Kimura hadn't spoken very much, that all changed after receiving the role of appointed King . "I'm not the killer...I had nothing to do with anything that happened in this case."

Ryota genuinely didn't want to believe that, though he knew deep down that wasn't true and had to keep things together with the role of his own. "We can't think of anyone else that could have killed Izayoi-san. You're the only person that hasn't revealed their forbidden action yet."

"Maybe it's because Kimura-chan isn't being cautious?" Asahina defended. "She probably just doesn't want to reveal her forbidden action for safety."

"Since we're at the risk of being executed by Monokuma if we fail, Kimura-san's fear of revealing her forbidden action should have an exception made." Gekkogahara retorted as the designated Queen. "I don't she would conceal her bangle unless she had something to hide."

"If Kimura-chan used the Cure W potion to switch bangles with Izayoi, wouldn't that mean she already went inside the death chamber?" Kizakura asked. "Wasn't that apparently a first come first served deal?"

"Not necessarily. Kimura-san could have always taken the Cure W from Izayoi-kun after he was killed." Naegi corrected.

"And on top of that, she was probably the one who fed Yoi-chan the candy that killed him in the first place!" Ando backed up. "All this time I thought it was me!"

"I just can't accept the idea that Kimura was the damn killer, there's gonna be more proof that Ando was the one who did it!" Sakakura argued.

"If you have proof of that being the case, then by all means, give us something to refute." Munakata calmly replied.

"But how did the killer escape the reception room if it was barricaded with books?" Sakakura questioned.

"There are still alternative ways the killer could have made their escape without being seen!" Kirigiri dismissed.

"Maybe there was a second blackened all this time we didn't know about that was secretly an accomplice to Ando?" Sakakura wondered. "It seems like the only way that the killer could have escaped the crime scene and barricaded the door at the same time."

A second blackened? Ryota knew that indeed wasn't true since there was already an important detail he discovered with Kirigiri to prove otherwise. "I don't think that's true! There is a secret passageway in between the reception room and meeting room! The killer used that to escape!"

"THIS IS OUR ANSWER!"


"Once again, you bastards really did well!" Monokuma cheered while holding a foam finger and wearing a soda drinking hat. "And remember, this is the trial of the century! So be sure to place your votes on who you think is guilty! Are you #Team Ando or #Team Kimura?"

Ryota looked at the pharmacist who still was avoiding eye contact with the others, deep down he felt some guilt for having to put one of his friends down. "It can't be denied anymore. No matter how you look at things, Kimura-san is the killer."

"And she was the person that killed Izayoi with his forbidden action and switched bangles with him, right?" Kizakura asked. "Hmmm, I wonder how somebody like Kimura-san would have gotten ahold of sweets anywhere. There weren't any candy in the dining room."

"She probably used the remaining candy Ando-san used after she thought she killed Izayoi-kun." Gekkogahara suggested.

Sakakura nodded in understandment. "I see, then after that she barricaded the door with the bookshelf and made her escape through the secret passageway and pretended like nothing ever happened."

Asahina's jaw dropped in shock. "That means when earlier today when me and Mitarai met up with Kimura-chan in the dining room...she had actually just finished murdering Izayoi!?"

"If we were finally able to see what Kimura-san's forbidden action was then all of our questions would be answered." Gekkogahara assessed before calmly looking to the culprit. "Would you please show us your bangle already?"

Sakakura was losing his patience and darted his sinister eyes to Kimura. "Enough with the games! Show us what your forbidden action is already!"

The pharmacist winced at the boxer whom she considered a friend yelling at her, she proceeded to fidgetly lift up the sleeve from her black blazer and finally reveal the red scrolling text that was hidden there since the beginning of the case. Despite already predicting what was written there, it still didn't stop Ryota from being greatly astonished.

"Eating sweets made by the Ultimate Confectioner."

And there it was all in red just like that had predicted. That means that throughout this killing game Izayoi had been unable to eat any sweets provided to him by his girlfriend or else he would be injected with poison, and Kimura used the Cure W potion to switch bangles with his corpse to cover up the real cause of his death.

If that were the case then leaving the playing field must have been Kimura's real forbidden action this whole time. It made sense considering that it would be strange for the pharmacist to have a restriction that closely related to eating sweets.

"Well then, I suppose that brings our case to a pristine closely, would it not?" Munakata said almost like he didn't even care about what was coming next. "If that's the case than I suppose this act of incalculable betray must be proceeded with the voting."

"Shut up!" Ando barked at him. "We're not done with time yet! I still wanna know why she killed Yoi-chan! What did he ever do to you that warranted him being killed!?"

"Maybe it's not in my position to make such a huge accusation, but have you ever thought that she killed your boyfriend out of spite?" Munakata suggested. "The two of you are always bickering about who could be a potential traitor. Kimura could have been fed up with all of this senseless arguing and took that anger out of Izayoi instead."

"That's taking it too far, Munakata-san!" Naegi gasped. "Even if Kimura-san was a murderer, it still doesn't change the fact that she was our friend."

The council president gave a disapproving scoff at his optimistic outlook. "Quite the opposite, it makes a big difference . A comrade that affiliates themselves with despair will only stab you in the back when least expected. Surely Mitarai would be aware of this much."

Ryota backed away, clearly not wanting to be included in this competition of ideals. "Munakata-san...none of that matters right now. What's most important is that we figure out how Izayoi-san was murdered, since we know it's Kimura-san we are closer to— "

"Shut up." Kimura darkly hissed.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Ryota asked concerningly, that outburst felt really off putting, almost like there had been something wrong with her. "Kimura-san, are you alright?"

"I said shut up!" In a fit of anger, Kimura lunged for her surgical mask and yanked it off to expose her braced teeth. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I'm not the FUCKING killer! I never even saw Izayoi before the murder happened!"


A/N: Man, writing the ending of this chapter wasn't tough. I like Seiko's character, but I want to be objective and not play favorites when I write this fanfic. For this chapter I wanted to do something similar to Chapter 3 of DR2, where some of the characters were in disbelief that Mikan would have actually killed someone, I always imagined the same would apply to Seiko, especially since she was always helpful to others.

One thing I will say that I enjoyed about this chapter was the revelation that Seiko actually switched bangles with Sonsouke using the Cure W, and that her forbidden action was "leaving the playing field" just like Ruruka's. I kinda liked the idea of having two characters that shared the same forbidden action and felt these two were perfect for the role.

There's also a little symbolism behind them having the same forbidden action: both desperately wanting to escape the playing field for their own reasons, Ruruka wanting to escape to save herself and Seiko wanting to escape to save others.

I figured it was better to change Seiko's forbidden action in this series since her canon NG code of stepping on her own shadow would be difficult to implement in this kind of story since that's an easy forbidden action to accidentally set off.