Author's Note: I've had these last couple chapters typed up for about a week now. I was considering spacing out the uploads instead of just firing 'em all out at once, but with Christmas coming up I suppose I felt like being generous. There'll probably be a decent wait for the next installation of this. Definitely nowhere near as often as the uploading of these past few chapters. After the next chapter (the execution), expect a good couple weeks' wait at the very, very least.

Anyway, onto the conclusion of the first class trial!

"It... it isn't me! I-I'd never do something l-like that...!"

Fukawa's fidgeting had picked up in speed, her shoulders hunched higher and her teeth visibly clenched with anxiety.

"It isn't me either! I could never take the life of an innocent young lady!"

Hifumi had began those words anxious, too, only to turn slightly aggressive toward the end, pointing straight at Makoto with fury.

"What? You think it could be me? Don't make me laugh."

Byakuya hadn't changed his position or expression in the slightest. Arms still folded. Bored expression still hanging on his face, as if the fact he was among the only three people who could have killed Junko was an inconvenience rather than a genuine concern.

"It's like Leon said!" Sayaka interjected suddenly. "It has to be one of you three!"

"But which one is it? They all look suspicious to me!" Hagakure had joined the conversation now.

"Whichever one of you is responsible, please confess your guilt at once or you risk facing detention!" Kiyotaka shouted.

"Detention? Jesus, dude, they're facing fuckin' execution not detention. Do you really expect them to just come out and admit it?" Mondo shouted straight back at the prefect, whose stern expression quickly transformed into a downtrodden one.

"I… I was just trying to help!"

Byakuya tutted. "Look at you all. You don't know how to handle a basic conversation, let alone a class trial. How can any of you pass judgement when you're behaving like children? I can guarantee you that I'm not the culprit, but feel free to vote for me and kill us all, regardless. I'm sure the real killer would love that."

Makoto paused. "Can you really guarantee us that, Byakuya?"

Byakuya glared at him once more. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that you can't guarantee us that at all," the Ultimate Lucky Student replied, giving a glance over to the Ultimate Programmer for a moment. "Chihiro told me something during the investigation earlier. She was walking past the AV Room before the murder when she overheard a conversation between you and Fukawa."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Byakuya replied, swatting the air with his hand.

Fukawa, however, visibly tensed up, eyes widening the moment Makoto had mentioned the conversation.

"Then allow me to tell you what she heard," said Makoto, determined that he was on the right track here. "Chihiro overheard you threatening Fukawa after she had tried talking to you. You told her that you would kill her if she didn't stop following you. You told her that you wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if it meant graduation. Ten minutes later, the body discovery announcement played and Junko was dead."

With yet another bored roll of his eyes, Byakuya sighed. "You just destroyed your own point. I'm supposed to have threatened Fukawa with murder, but it was Junko who ended up dead. It's completely irrelevant. Besides, I have no memory of this conversation, namely because it never happened. That little girl is obviously lying to you."

"Of course it's relevant!" Cried Asahina. "You said you'd kill someone if it got you out and someone died minutes later!"

"Wasn't he the one who asked Monokuma if the killer could graduate," said Hagakure, "right when we all found the body?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it… that's right!" Said Mondo. "That's really fuckin' suspicious if you ask me. Sounds like he was tryin' to cash in his reward for the killing!"

Byakuya shook his head. "As I said, vote for me if you want, but you'll only kill us all. I never had any such conversation with Fuk-"

"Y-Yes you did," said a meek and trembling voice from across the room, belonging to Fukawa herself.

Byakuya's calmness shattered for a split second, and he fired a death glare at the girl. "...Excuse me?"

"You threatened me when I tried talking to you. I r-remember exactly what you said. You told me that murder meant nothing to you. This was only a game, you said, and you told me you planned on winning in 'record time'. You said it!"

Every eye on the room switched from Fukawa and back to Byakuya, whose resolve had been visibly shaken. He said nothing, simply clenching his teeth, shoulders broad and stiff, looking as if he might attack at any moment.

"Well?" Said Makoto. "Do you admit it?"

As if he had never been bothered at all, Byakuya returned to looking bored and entirely uninterested a half-second later. "Fine. I did say that, yes. I simply forgot, is all." That remark spawned protests from the others, but the Ultimate Affluent Progeny didn't seem to care. "That still doesn't mean I killed Junko."

Byakuya turned to Chihiro suddenly, who seemed to shiver at that stare from behind those glasses. "Remind us: When did you overhear this conversation in relation to the body discovery announcement?"

"Um… it was about ten minutes beforehand..."

Byakuya turned to Makoto now. "And what was it Kyoko said she noticed about the body straight after we discovered it? Something about its temperature."

"She said the body was still warm."

Byakuya nodded. "Precisely. If the body was warm, then Junko hadn't been dead for long at all. In fact, it's fair to say she died minutes before the discovery, correct?" He turned to Kyoko, as if looking for confirmation.

Kyoko nodded.

Byakuya smirked. "If I was caught mid-conversation ten minutes before the body discovery announcement went off, it's fair to say that's around the time Junko was being murdered. I was outside the AV Room with Fukawa at the time. She can testify to that fact, as can Chihiro. I was nowhere near the locker room!" He pointed straight at Makoto, obliterating the entire path he'd been going down instantly. "I have a rock-solid alibi! It's impossible for me to have killed her!"

Damn it!

Fukawa immediately pitched in. "M-Me too! If I was with him, then I couldn't have done it either! I'm innocent t-too!"

Damn it, damn it!

Wait.

Wait a second.

"Then that only leaves one person..."

If two of the three suspects couldn't have committed the crime, then only one remained.

Byakuya had been crossed off the list.

Fukawa, too.

Makoto's eyes wandered over to the last remaining suspect, and his eyes narrowed in shock.

"Hifumi…?"

Hifumi barely reacted. "Yes, Mister Naegi?"

Makoto swallowed hard, pushing his nerves to one side. He took a deep breath, stared him down and… "Did you kill Junko?"

The reality of the situation had apparently only just hit him, as Hifumi suddenly let out a scream of panic, beady eyes widening behind those glasses, hands up in front of him as if for defence. He was already sweating buckets. "Wh-Whaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Makoto asked the question again. "Hifumi… did you kill Junko?" He hated having to say it out loud, let alone just thinking it over in his head. Could Hifumi really have done something like that? Could he really have strangled Junko to death with his own two hands and tried to cover it up? His heart said no, but every piece of logic pointed to the same definitive answer:

Yes.

"N-No! No! NO! Of course I didn't! I couldn't! Why would I? How could I? Didn't you hear me earlier? I could never take the life of an innocent lady! O-Or anyone at all!" If he had been sweating buckets a moment ago, now he was sweating swimming pools, and the fear on his face was like nothing Makoto had ever seen.

"The killer wore glasses, Hifumi, and we know that Byakuya and Fukawa couldn't have been responsible." Makoto hesitated. He felt like every word he was saying was a death sentence, and whether it was for Hifumi or everyone else, he knew that was almost certainly the truth. Still, he continued. He didn't have a choice. "You're the only one that's left."

"Jesus, look at him! He's freaking out!" Mondo frowned at the Ultimate Fanfic Creator, which only made him panic more. "I knew this piece of shit was suspicious from the start!"

Hifumi shook his head. "No! I'm telling you, I'm innocent! I didn't kill her! I wouldn't, I couldn't!" Every muscle on his face and body tense, he inhaled shaking, rasping breaths. "You have no other evidence! You can't decide I'm guilty based on that alone!"

He pointed a finger at Makoto and let out a scream. "YOU HAVE NO PROOF OF ANYTHING!"

Sakura nodded, albeit with caution. "Hifumi could be right. Remember how certain everyone was about Mukuro earlier, and then about Byakuya. Do we really have enough evidence to say that it's Hifumi?"

Leon looked about ready to slam his head onto his podium with frustration. "Are we really about to jump back to square one all over again? Is trial ever gonna end?!"

"Well, we looked over the evidence last time," said Chihiro, "maybe we could do that again?"

"W-We've already b-been through all the evidence," said Fukawa.

"There's nothing left to go through! We've covered everything, and we're still not sure who it is!" Leon screamed.

"Hifumi's the only one it can be!" Mondo declared.

"We don't know that! This could all be a trap set by the real killer!" Said Hifumi, trying to appeal to the room with desperate, pleading eyes.

Kiyotaka interjected now. "I'll ask it again; will the killer please just come forward and confess?!"

Mondo snapped without hesitation. "THEY'RE NOT GONNA CONFESS, DUMBASS! IF THEY DO, THEY'LL DIE!"

A mass panic had taken over the room, with shouting across all directions, complete with Hifumi having a complete breakdown and desperately scrambling to defend himself in whichever way he could. There was nothing else to discuss. There was no more evidence to look over. Everything had been covered. Everything had already been talked ab-

Wait.

"Asahina!" Makoto cried, having to shout over the chaos unfolding around him, "tell us again what you saw!"

Asahina narrowed her eyes at him, confused. "What I… saw?"

"When Kiyotaka was taking you and Sakura to the locker room, you said you saw something at the end of the dorm hallway, right?"

Makoto could almost see the lightbulb that went off over her head in that moment. "Oh, you mean that! Well, um… I saw someone crawling around the corner of the dorm hallway. I only saw their legs and they moved so fast I barely got a good look at them…"

Byakuya shook his head. "How is that relevant to the case?"

Finally, at long last, everything was starting to make sense.

Every little piece of evidence was starting to slot together, and as Makoto's mind raced to connect every dot he could, the full picture was starting to emerge. Hifumi was the killer. He was sure of it. Now it was time to prove it!

"It's the key to solving the entire thing," Makoto replied, feeling a burst of energy fire through him. "Let's look over what we know so far: Junko had planned on killing someone, and attacked them in the locker room. Her planned victim managed to turn the situation around and strangled her in defence, but their glasses were smashed in the process. Tell me, if you were in that situation and suddenly you couldn't see, what's the first thing you would do after killing her?"

Sayaka tapped her chin. "...Try and fix my vision?"

Mondo furrowed his brows. "Try and get away from the crime scene?"

"Yes!" Naegi replied. "Both of you are right. The killer had to get away, but they had to be able to see again. They needed replacement glasses. Where would they find them?"

Asahina gasped. "Their dorm room!"

Naegi nodded. "After the crime, the killer made their way out of the locker room and toward the dorm hallway, but they could hardly see. To avoid bumping into or being discovered by anything or anyone that might appear, they took the risk of getting on their hands and knees and crawling along the floor as fast as they could, hoping to head back to their room to get a new pair of glasses. I think that's what you saw, Asahina!"

Byakuya shook his head again. "That still doesn't prove anything. We still don't know who Asahina saw. It could have been anyone. We can't tie it to Hifumi at all."

Hifumi piped up instantly. "T-That's right! You can't prove anything! You don't know that it was me in the corridor!"

It was too late. The logic had already fallen into place. The final piece of the puzzle was about to be used to solve it, and there was no turning back now. This trial was almost over. All that was left now was to deliver the final blow.

"Think of the dorm hallways for a second," said Makoto, "and think about where everyone's room are. Most of our rooms are placed before you turn the corner. Sayaka and Kyoko are next to me, Mondo is across from me, Sakura's room is at the end of that hallway... you get the idea. But three of us have rooms that lie around the corner."

Hifumi looked like he was about to throw up.

"Yeah, I'm one of them," said Leon.

"I'm next door to you, right?" Hagakure said to Leon, who replied to him with an affirmative. "And on the other side of me is…"

Hagakure gasped, eyes wide, as the realisation hit him. "...it's Hifumi!"

"We know the killer wore glasses, and that they were broken," Makoto repeated. "We know that the killer headed back to their dorm to get a spare pair. We know that the killer crawled around the corner of the dorm hallway, and that they did so to get back to their room."

"B-But that means Leon or Hagakure could be responsible! It doesn't mean anything about me!" Hifumi was desperate now. Makoto truly felt sorry for him.

"No," Makoto replied, "they couldn't be. They don't wear glasses… but you do."

Hifumi let out another scream, this one longer and louder than his last. True panic had overtaken him, and he was starting to give Mukuro's earlier breakdown a run for its money. Makoto could see the walls closing in around him. He could see the sickness and the true, honest fear consuming him. It was horrible to watch. He felt ill just listening to him.

"That was why you fainted earlier after we found the body, wasn't it?" Said Makoto, accusation in his voice fading into genuine pity. "Mukuro's threats against the culprit, combined with the sight of the body and the stress and the guilt of what you had only just done minutes before… it overtook you, didn't it? You couldn't bear it."

"If Junko strangled him with a tie, then… there should be a mark on his neck, right?" Said Sayaka suddenly.

Hifumi's shirt was fully buttoned, completely hiding his neck.

"Hifumi," said Makoto. "Can you please show us?"

He didn't say anything.

"Hifumi, please."

Hifumi had fallen silent. He didn't say a word. He simply whimpered and sobbed quietly to himself, entire body shaking manically.

"It's okay, Hifumi," said Sayaka. "We just want to have a look. That's all."

After what felt like a full minute of silence and what appeared to be internal deliberation, Hifumi rose his head up high. The light hit his face, revealing just how much he had been crying. His face was soaked. His fingers, trembling, came up to his top button, undoing it. He pulled the collar of his shirt down, just a little, and there it was.

A light purple mark, long and thin, spread out in a ring across his neck. The perfect fit for Junko's tie.

"I'm sorry," Hifumi muttered. Utterly defeated. "I'm… sorry."

Makoto could only feel more and more sympathy the longer he looked at that mark.

It hadn't been his fault. This was never Hifumi's intention.

But now it was time to finish this.

"I'm going to go over everything one last time," said Makoto, making sure to keep his voice calm, "from the beginning."

Kyoko locked eyes with him. She said nothing. Her face was blank. Yet her eyes told him he was right. This was the truth. All that was left now was to recap and fully uncover it. It was time for one last move. A closing argument.

He began.

"Earlier today, about the time Byakuya and Fukawa were busy talking outside the AV room, the killer and Junko met in the locker room of the bathhouse. Junko most likely invited them in, or maybe even followed them inside, with the intention on attacking them. She took her tie, which she had removed beforehand, and used it to strangle her planned victim from behind, hoping to kill them. But the plan backfired, and the killer managed to overpower her. As an act of self defence, they began to strangle her with their bare hands, during which a mild struggle ensued. Junko, fighting back, knocked the killer's glasses off their face, which were smashed beneath them in the scuffle, completely blinding them."

The room was silent as Makoto continued, every eye on him, the class clinging to every word.

"The strangling eventually led to Junko's death, after which the killer realised they had to act fast. Picking up all the glass they could, along with the frame of their glasses, they left the locker room. Unable to see clearly, they didn't know they had left pieces of glass behind. The killer tried to walk back to their room, but most likely found themselves unable to see where they were going, leading them to crawl instead as a means of feeling their way back to the room and also avoiding detection. I suspect the killer was originally planning on going the other way to their room, past the bathrooms and the garbage disposal where they wouldn't be seen, but their blindness most likely confused them into going the other way, leaving them completely exposed."

Hifumi let out a sniffle. Makoto felt awful.

"While the killer was crawling, Kiyotaka entered the locker room. There he found Junko, and he headed to the dining hall to alert the others, surprisingly not seeing the killer on the other side of the hallway either time. Asahina and Sakura followed Kiyotaka into the main hall, just as the killer was crossing around the corner at the end of the dorm hallway as they headed to their room, but Asahina saw their legs. The killer made it back to their room, where they picked up a spare pair of glasses, just as the body discovery announcement played. Left with no choice, the killer returned to the scene of the crime, acting as an innocent bystander, Junko's body still warm. Mukuro, devastated at the loss of her sister, openly threatened the killer in the room, which made them panic. Monokuma came along not long after and explained the trial and execution system. Those two facts, combined with the knowledge they had just committed murder and that they now faced certain death… it all became too much, and they collapsed, overcome with guilt!"

Quiet tears rolled down Hifumi's face.

"With all of these facts in mind, there's only one person the killer could possibly be!"

Makoto's finger pointed toward the guilty party.

"The killer, who murdered Junko Enoshima… is you, Hifumi Yamada!"

Voting time came a minute later. The vote, of course, was unanimous. The room had decided upon Hifumi Yamada and… they were right.

They were actually right.

The screens around them showed bouquets of flowers and flashing lights and raining confetti, apparently as a means of celebrating their 'victory', but it didn't feel like a win. Not at all. Hifumi stood, head bowed, shoulders shaking as he wept. Monokuma cheered his congratulations at their success, but it was hollow. They didn't want his praise. They didn't want his flattery. They didn't want his evil.

"You… you really did it, Hifumi?" Sayaka asked, but it was clear she didn't want to.

Hifumi, moving like his head weighed a thousand tons, nodded softly. "Yes," he replied. "I did it. I… I killed her. It's just like Mister Naegi said." There was no pride in his words. Every syllable screamed of self-hatred. Eyes filled with sorrow. He wasn't screaming anymore. He was simply defeated. Utterly devoid of energy.

With a sigh, he explained. "I was walking through the main hall when Miss Enoshima appeared from the locker room. She told me she'd found something strange in there. Something that could maybe get us out of here. I… I walked in and before I knew it, she was behind me, strangling me with her tie. As I was fighting back, she started talking to me."

"Talking to you?" Mukuro asked, finally breaking her silence. "What… what did she say?"

"She told me that she'd chosen me because she thought I was the weakest of us all. She mocked me. Said I was nothing. Said I was just a waste. The perfect target to kill to set her free from here. She kept rubbing it in… like it was boosting her ego or… something..." He shook his head, confused. "She said she wanted to be the sole survivor of the game. She wanted to benefit from the publicity it would give her. She said it would boost her career. Make her even richer. Even more… powerful."

"No," said Mukuro. "She… she would have told me. She would have told me if she was planning something like that so it wouldn't go wrong. We always worked together. A-Always!"

"Maybe she thought if you helped her Monokuma would set you free, too? It wouldn't have worked with the plan she told me," said Hifumi.

"Nope!" Monokuma chimed. "Only the murderer gets to graduate. Any accomplices aren't considered blackened. If Mukuro had helped her sister kill you and she got away with it, Mukuro would still have died with everyone else. Only Junko would have graduated!"

"Junko wouldn't have known that at the time," said Kyoko. "None of us knew about the trials or the extra rules that came with them before the first murder."

"I'm… I'm sorry," Hifumi said. "I didn't want to kill her. I would never hurt a lady! But in that situation, it was her or me and…"

"You chose yourself," said Kyoko.

"Y-Yes, but please don't make it sound so selfish! I didn't want to kill her! I just wanted to get away, but she wouldn't let me! It was a fight for survival and… I won..." He looked to Mukuro directly. She didn't seem angry at him. In fact, she didn't seem anything. She was without emotion and likewise every emotion simultaneously. "I'm sorry for what happened to your sister," he said.

Mukuro didn't answer him. She simply turned her head away without a word.

"I was going to tell you all what I'd done," he said. "I didn't want to graduate for doing something so horrible… but then Monokuma came along and announced the trial and said the killer would be executed… and I knew I had to keep it a secret."

Monokuma laughed at that. "Upupupu! Oopsie!"

Hifumi raised his head again, looking each and every one of his classmates in the eye. "I don't want to die!" He cried. "Not yet! Not when I've still got so much more fanfiction to write and so much more Demon Angel Pretty Pudgy Princess to watch!"

He turned to Monokuma.

"Please! It was self-defence! Don't hurt me! Please! Spare me and I'll… I'll live a communal school life! I'll never h-hurt anyone!"

Monokuma raised a paw to his chin, which he tapped in thought. "Hmmm… lemme think about that for a second… NOPE!"

"Please! Let me live!"

"No can do, mister! I'm getting bored of all this now. How much longer are you gonna stand around crying for? You took a life, and now you have to pay the price!"

"Please no!"

"I think we should get this show on the road!"

"PLEASE!"

"I have an extra special punishment for you, Hifumi! I'm sure you're going to find it deliciously enjoyable!"

"PLEASE STOP!"

"You know what time it is, folks?"

Makoto felt his stomach drop as the back-and-forth between culprit and teddy bear continued. Please no. This wasn't it, was it? Surely it wasn't. Surely he wasn't going to-

"SOMEONE PLEASE! STOP HIM! PLEASE!"

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiit's… Punishment Time!"

Hifumi began to scream again. Tears flooded his face once more. A red button appeared in front of Monokuma, which he hit with his gavel, that permanent smile seeming brighter than ever.

The monitor on the button and the ones scattered across the room lit up, with a pixellated sprite of the Ultimate Fanfic Creator appearing, before one of Monokuma walked on from the left side of the screen, approaching him. 'GAME OVER', the screens read in pixellated white text. Monokuma's sprite grabbed Hifumi's, dragging him off to the other side of the screen. 'HIFUMI HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!'

Hifumi's screams lit up the room one last time.

Makoto didn't know where to look. What to think. What to feel. What to do.

And then he realised: There was nothing he could do. Not anymore. All he could do now was sit back and watch.

Hifumi screamed again.

Monokuma chuckled.

Makoto's stomach twisted with worry.

And then the execution began.