Chapter 1-6
Accusatory Brew Consumption
*Monokuma Family Trial Intermission*
*Monokuma and the five Monokubs are all standing at the front steps of Town Hall. Monokuma is standing on the top step, the Kubs two steps below him.*
Monokuma - "The first trial is really heating up! I'm so proud of my widdle cubs! They've made their old man so proud!"
Monophanie - "Daddy! Your approval means everything to us! We're gonna do everything you can to make you proud!"
Monosuke - "I wonder what statistics we have gathered so far. Oh, the ratings!"
Monokid - "We've done a wonderful fucking job, but it may be over soon! We'll have to beat up Monodam to make up for lost time."
Monodam - "…"
Monokuma - "Let's focus now, children! After all, you want to enjoy the first trial while it's still going on! You always remember your first, upupupupupu!"
Monophanie - "I am never going to forget my first!"
Monosuke - "I will always treasure my first!"
Monokid - "I'll fucking remember my fucking first!"
Monotaro - "Wait, before we go back, can I just say this is probably the first time I've ever been on television? Hi, Mo-"
LET THE TRIAL RECOMMENCE!
"HUH?!"
Fiora's flabbergasted reaction echoed around the trial room. She had her hands up, as if ready to do jazz hands, but was frozen in place as if she had been petrified herself.
"Muh-muh-me?" she asked, staring at Emanuel, glancing all over the place, as if trying to find a hidden camera. "What are you saying? Me?!"
"There's such a long list of evidence that proves it was you, so let me start at the top," Emanuel said, flicking one of the ribbons from his eye wrap behind his shoulder. "First off, you don't have an alibi for 1 AM. To accentuate this point, you didn't say anything about Crystal's loud swearing even though she's in the house next to yours."
"Wait wait wait," the movie maker declared, swinging her hands back and forth, "that was because you told me to-"
"Secondly," the Bête Noir continued, not slowing down in the least by Fiora's words, "as Aka had pointed out, a woman can get close to a man without being suspicious. And who is least suspicious than you, a woman and an idiot, who no one would suspect could try to kill someone?"
"You jerk!" Fiora shouted, raising her fists in the air. "How dare you talk to me like that-"
"Thirdly, and this is possibly one of the most damning things ever, you were talking about something taxidermy you did last night."
Fiora froze in place again, eye twitching in frustration. Her arms dropped, and she spat out, "You're lying, I never said that…"
"You were discussing it with Shuuya in the café that morning, you cannot deny it…"
"I had to make a prop that looked like a real man," Fiora was saying to Shuuya, "for one movie, but then we needed it another movie which had these violent aliens ripping people's chests out!
"Oh man, I had to pull that fake guy's insides out and get all this gooey fake blood and such, you'd love it…"
Emanuel stared expectantly at Shuuya, who rubbed one of his temples as he thought back to that day. "I do remember her talking about that," he admitted, glancing over at Fiora. "But she was talking about a prop…"
"A prop that she gutted and more or less did taxidermy on, a procedure that she not only may have done more, but the time she mentioned was along the same lines as what happened to Takeo."
Fiora was starting to shake, and she whimpered out, "I… I don't know anything a'boot taxidermy… that was just a prop…"
"You went into so much detail about it," Emanuel remarked. "So much so, I had to listen to so many details, as did Shuuya. You say you know nothing, but there's two people who heard every graphic word you said, maybe even more."
The Bête Noir unscrewed his flask, and sniffed at it to prepare for a victory swig. "Now, these three pieces are all rather damning, but really, there is the fourth and biggest reason why it was you, and that was the motive."
"What? But you're the one," Isaac declared, "who has been saying that the motive is nonsense!"
"And I meant that," Emanuel replied, "but who here has the most to gain from a motive from that? Who wants to be given new talent, the chance to be more than they are now? We all have talents, we all have purpose, we all were meant to be what we were titled to be…
"Except for the B-Movie Maker, Miss FIRST herself."
Miss FIRST reacted as if she had been slapped in the face, and then she balled up her fists. "I've bin making so many movies and embracing my talent and passion befur', during, and after Hope's Peak!"
Her accent was flaring up the more hysterical she became. "Just because you doo'nt like them doesn't mean I'm bitter! This is all nonsense!"
"Oh please," Emanuel remarked with a roll of his eyes. "You are a Hope's Peak graduate, you were meant for greatness, you are supposed to showcase the talent and prosperity of the future. And what do you do? You make movies that are so terrible, they have scathing reviews before they're even out.
"You haven't had a single theater release in your career. Reviews online that tear your crap movies apart get more views than the films."
"Wha… but," Fiora stammered, gripping her fedora as she struggled to respond to this. "How do you knoo' so much a'boot me, anyway?!"
"You want to know what happened to me after the Tragedy? I lost all my classmates, I heard about so many other graduates dying. It was terrible, but there was still hope."
Emanuel lifted a hand and squeezed it into a fist, his teeth grinding together in outrage. "There were graduates out there still alive, still working towards the future. I heard about the artists that carried on their work, leaders that continued to lead, working class professions that advanced their craft.
"Even the survivors of Hope's Peak Academy's Killing Game carried on, maybe even the strongest points. But YOU!"
He shouted the last word, turning towards the thunderstruck movie maker. "What do you do? How do you contribute to society, and uphold Hope's Peak honor? You've made movies that are nothing but mockeries of art and class!
"And now, here you are, surrounded by people who are actually accomplished, who contribute, who have talent! Quite frankly, your presence here sickens me."
He sniffed his flask, and took a small sip. While he coughed over how incredibly strong it was, Angelique spoke up. "It sounds like you are venting frustrations on her," she said as she scowled at the detective, "and trying to make her sound like the culprit."
"'Trying'? Do I have to repeat myself? Fine, listen harder this time: no alibi for 1 AM, unassuming enough to catch Takeo off-guard, taxidermy-like experience in particular with the chest, and the only one here who would be tempted by Monokuma's motive, which is the promise for new talent!
"That's the reason the killer had to take shortcuts, because they could only do so much with the material they had, and the limited amount of skill was involved. She couldn't do hands, feet, and the head because they were too complicated, and also glued Takeo's mouth shut as a short-cut.
"Not to mention," he carried on, glaring down Angelique as he spoke, "what has she done for the investigation and the trial? Distracted us with talks about gorgons, the mists suddenly being sound dampeners, and other random shit! She hasn't been helping us, she's been trying to distract us.
"But she didn't distract me. I just couldn't figure out how she could have killed Takeo until Aka brought up that theory. After all, we're fragile human beings, a knife to the spine or the heart is still going to end us; it doesn't matter how much training or talent or experience you have.
"This is a dark and cruel world, and we came here for answers. Fiora wanted to see if she could become someone of importance, and she thought Monokuma would give that to her. And Takeo paid the price for her wants."
As Emanuel lifted the flask to his mouth again, he tried to place his right hand on the podium, but was missing it due to his growing lack of coordination. To his right, Fiora was shaking, hyperventilating, with sweat running down her forehead.
"I… I didn't kill Takeo, I didn't kill anyone," she protested, turning towards Emanuel. "I'm not a murderer, you drunk jerk, I-"
Emanuel swung his right hand, hitting her across the face with a rather strong backhand. Fiora grabbed her hat with one hand and covered her face with the other, almost knocked off her podium. She had tears coming from her eyes, and she was shaking harder than ever.
"I'm tired of hearing you talk," Emanuel remarked, as he took a long swig from his flask. Wheezing from how strong it was, he added, "Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. Anyway, Monokuma?"
"Eee-yessssss?" the bear of despair asked, tilting his head to the side.
"I think we're ready for the vote," the detective continued. "There's no room for debate at this point."
"Like hell there's not," Isaac shouted in outrage. "You may have outlined a strong case, but this is not over just yet."
"Oh really then? Who here has no alibi, could catch Takeo off-guard, has taxidermy experience, and would be motivated to murder for new talent? Who here? Come on now, little reporter, speak up."
The reporter scanned around all of the graduates, trying to think of who could fit all of those criteria. The more he looked, the more he realized how difficult it would be to pick a suspect. The taxidermy skill was possibly the most pragmatic part.
"No one? What a surprise," Emanuel mocked him, "but then again, you were busy fooling around with her, trying to see if this town had supernatural powers. We don't need to worry about this any longer, we just need to vote."
"I'm," Fiora struggled to speak, holding her cheek as tears spilled from her eyes. She was barely able to speak, her frightened stare glancing over at Emanuel as she struggled with words. "I'm not a murderer."
"Shut up. You're the only person who could have done this. Now, if we could please vote?!"
Monokuma scanned the graduates, not seeing anyone speaking up. It was difficult for anyone to think of something, anything, that would be a valid objection, if they even had one. The idea of Fiora being the killer, along with Emanuel outlining it, made sense to a lot of them.
"I must object," Yejoon spoke up, turning his head back to the circle of graduates.
"Shut," Emanuel started to enunciate, "up-"
"No, I will not silence. I do not believe Fiora is the murderer, and your accusation will get us all killed."
"It'll be majority rules then, I don't care about one or two people who are so blind that they will not see reason."
"Yes, what the hell, brother," Jin declared, glaring at Yejoon. "Why are you defending a talentless, tacky tramp like this woman?"
Yejoon raised his hand, and inspected his nails, in the same way his sister had been doing earlier. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, cordial and polite, "do I need to a reason?"
Jin gawked at him, and then let out a barking laugh. "Don't tell me, you like her? Oh that is rich, that is priceless…
"That is disgusting!"
The owl-themed artist raised her fists and pounded hard on her podium, very hard. "You are wasting all of our time with your desire to become as difficult as possible! For a piece of crap like that!"
"If you want a reason, I can provide one, then…"
DEBATE YOUR CASE!
"This is a waste of time," Emanuel muttered, sniffing his flask. "We know Fiora is the murderer."
"Yes, my brother," Jin snapped, "is just trying to be a rebellious, wannabe rebel."
"Yejoon, you've kind of had a habit of being difficult," Blake remarked. "You were supposed to be with the taxidermy shop party, but you weren't."
"I…," Fiora whimpered, staring at the floor as she shivered hard, "I didn't…"
"There's also the fact that it was the fox statute," Eisei pointed out, "was the only taxidermy statue spared. Though I don't know the answer to that…"
"What if that was what Fiora did," Aka said, "to frame Yejoon?"
"My brother is just being difficult! Just ignore him!"
"I'm innocent, I swear…"
"Shut up already! … Hic!"
"I don't know if that's solid evidence," Ken admitted, "but this does seem rather conclusive altogether. The evidence keeps pointing at Fiora."
"You should know," Yejoon declared, "that Yeou the Fox doesn't back down!"
"So you believe that Fiora spared the taxidermy fox to frame me, Aka?" the artist questioned, staring at the skier amid the arguing. "But that makes very little sense, considering I am the best thing she has for an alibi the evening before the murder."
"Wait, what now?" Aka said, staring in confusion. "You were with her at 1 AM?"
"No, but we stayed up to around 11:30 PM, almost to midnight; the decision to stay up was hers, and it was because of my insistence that I would walk her back to her house and bid her good evening."
"That's not an alibi," Emanuel snapped, slamming his palm as he gave an unsteady glare to the artist.
"No, but wasn't it you who said the killer needed rest for such an exhaustive plan? Tell me, does a killer insist on staying up quite late on the eve of a murder plan that will keep them up all night and day?"
Yejoon chuckled lightly, and said, "Was it not you as well that we're only human? She's been surprisingly alert and energetic for someone who only could have had an hour's worth of sleep."
"Olppaemi the Owl doesn't," Jin shouted, slamming her fist on the podium again, "give up either!"
REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!
"You cannot be serious," Jin snarled at Yejoon, the younger sister heaving in anger as her brother calmly crossed his arms. "You're going to poison the minds of the others with this talk! This is just like you, being so difficult that you'll delay the trial just for your own amusement. And for her?!
"You'd do it for this little piece of shit? You really, truly cannot be serious, you want this one? Have your standards gone down that low?"
"Oh my, are we," Yejoon said, shaking his head, "really doing this now, my dear sister?"
"Shut the hell up, and stop acting so posh! There's no way you think this girl is innocent, you're just being difficult! I'm going to stomp this out, right here and now!"
The siblings locked eyes, as everyone watched in amazement at this sibling feud come to life in the trial room. The Monokubs were holding up signs declaring who they were rooting for.
"Fiora fits every piece of the puzzle, as Emanuel described in eloquent detail," Jin fired off at her brother. "But your argument is merely that she had only a little bit of sleep!
"You've been like this since we were children, always trying to be difficult and get in the last word! Stop trying to upstage everyone, and accept the facts for what they are!"
Yejoon curled a finger around the chin of his mask. "Facts? Emanuel has outlined a plausible theory, but he does not have any concrete evidence.
"Where is the murder weapon? Where is the smoking gun? Did you fail to notice that his desire to pin this on Fiora is oddly personal?"
"If someone is a piece of crap," Jin fired back, "then they should be treated as such. Her 'art' is the opposite of beauty, it is trash. And as for a murder weapon…
"It is not impossible for Fiora to have brought a knife or found one in the city, and then hid it after she was done stabbing Takeo to death! Anyway, this is all so arbitrary…
"Fiora is the only one motivated by new talent, the only one who would be stupid and desperate enough to listen to Monokuma's motive. Are you quite done bothering us now, brother?"
"A fox could take down an owl any day, sister!" Yejoon declared.
"That's it, the key to the plot that you and Emanuel have conveniently forgotten," the artist said as he snapped his fingers in realization. "Monokuma's Motive."
"What are you going on about now?" Jin snarled, her eyes leveling a heated glare at her brother from under her pink and purple bangs.
"Monokuma gathered us all together to discuss the motive, but before he even got to explaining it, he chased Fiora away when she didn't stop asking about Mr. Beardsley."
"Mr. Beardsley?!" Monokuma hollered, throwing his claws up in the air. "Stop bringing that name up already!"
Yejoon laughed again over this. "Fiora never learned what the motive actually was because it was never explained to her, and also, I was the only person who she talked to that evening.
"And I never told her what it was either. I didn't think I would push the bear's agenda like that."
Silence filled the trial room. Jin gaped at her brother, mouth hanging open in disbelief. There was a sniffle from Fiora, and the movie maker looked up, one hand still on her reddened face. She stared at Yejoon. "You… you believe me?"
"Indeed I do. Can we try to work on this case without our drunk Bête Noir controlling the scene?"
"HEY!" Emanuel roared, slamming the bottom of his flask against his podium. "This does NOT excuse Fiora! She could have heard about the motive in detail from someone else, or the bears! That isn't good enough! … hic!"
"I'm afraid that I'm not fully convinced, either," Crystal admitted. "She still seems quite likely our main suspect."
"I'm not sure," Drake said, quiet but still heard. "I don't want to rush to a conclusion…"
"Neither do I," Angelique declared. "I'm not going to let the trial end just because that jerk wants it to be."
As more people started to speak up, for or against the motion, Ignatia could only watch. She then noticed Monokuma pull out a megaphone, and thus she was the only one who could cover her ears in time.
"PENJAR CAN SOLVE SPLIT DECISIONS!"
Everyone flinched, as Monokuma's booming voice made their ears rattle. The Kubs were also treated to this, crouched over and paws over their ears.
"Daddy, owtchie," Monophanie whimpered. "Could you warn us next time?"
"My ears," Monokid wailed, rolling on the floor, "my fucking ears, I cannot hear anything except my own voice right now!"
"Whoa, that was quite powerful," Monosuke groaned. "I should have set it down from the max level before I gave it to Pops."
"But this is great news too!" Monotaro said, rubbing his ears still. "This means Father is going to introduce the new debate mode, right?"
"…" Monodam said, who was wearing earmuffs and hadn't moved an inch.
"Exactly, my darling cubs!" Monokuma announced, clapping his paws together. "For it seems we are split down the middle, and we desperately need to come to a conclusion at this point if we want the trial to go anywhere!
"Allow me to introduce you all to Scrum Debate!"
Isaac raised an eyebrow, staring down the bear. "Alright then, Monokuma, how does this work?"
"It's quite simple. I'm going to divide you all into two teams, the contrasting points for where the debate is now! You will select your stance within the next two minutes by the electronic tablet that's at the center of your podium."
Everyone stared down at the electronic touch screen that was indeed at the center of every podium. Right now, it had a line divided down the center, with "Fiora IS the killer!" on one side, and "Fiora ISN'T the killer!"
"Once you've all picked, we will divide the two teams up, and then you will have to debate each other, one at a time. Now I am the judge of this argumentation and debate round, and thus when the debate is over, I will make the call on which team won!
"Whichever team wins will continue the trial in the manner they see fit. In this case, since one side wants to vote for someone, that means if they win the debate, the trial will be declared over and your votes will be cast for the one they deem guilty!
"If the other team wins, the trial will continue, and you cannot call for a vote for the accused for a while. Does that make everything clear?
"Then here! We! GO!"
Monokuma lifted a large key, labeled "Key to the City" on the side. A large lock raised up from the floor in front of his garish throne, and he inserted the key into it. With a twist, power could be heard charging up and machinery running throughout the trial room.
The platforms lit up at the base of their stands, and then hovered into the air. Most of the graduates grabbed their podiums for balance, while some took it in stride without moving. As the podiums lifted up into the air, the ceiling opened up, and it was clear they were being moved into a new room.
This would be their first Scrum Debate, and all of them knew how important it would be, so they were going to have bring their A-game…
SCRUM DEBATE!
Team Stheno ("Fiora is guilty!")
Members: Emanuel, Jin, Crystal, Saiko, Blake, Futaba, Aka, Ken, Samson, Shinobu, Eisei, Shuuya, Pyrrha, Ignatia.
…
Team Euryale ("Fiora is innocent!")
Members: Yejoon, Fiora, Isaac, Hara, Drake, Angelique, Ishiku, Anzu, Odelios, Hikari, Souma, Kimiko, Yitro.
The podiums rose up into the room, with everyone facing each other now on two sides. Monokuma and the Kubs were standing at the end of the room, watching the debate as it would now unfold.
Emanuel snarled as he leaned on his podium, much more now than he was before, as he pointed a finger at Yejoon from the hand clenching his flask. "Fiora is the most likely shuspect, and there's no way to argue that!"
"Fiora is the least likely," the artist responded, "because she didn't know of the motive that you claim is her reason for murder."
"Anyone could have told her about that motive," Jin snapped at her brother. "Hell, one of the Kubs could have told her about the motive!"
"We haven't had a chance to ask the Kubs if that is true or not," Drake said. "We're rushing things in this trial, we need to explore other avenues."
"We've gone over every part of the murder and motive," Blake replied. "What other avenues can we possibly go over? It's not like we can just discover someone's secretly a taxidermist!"
"About the taxidermy," said Hara, "aren't we stretching it a little? Fiora working with props doesn't make her good at stitching and skinning!"
"Hara honey, as someone who investigated the body," Saiko replied, "the stitching and skinning wasn't perfectly done. It was mostly using the clothing and other tricks to make his body look professionally done."
"Wait, about those tricks," Ishiku declared, tapping his staff on the floor, "wouldn't that be exactly what anyone else could do? Maybe they wanted the actual taxidermy to be slapdash so it wouldn't look like an expert did it."
"You think that the taxidermy job was made to look rushed?" Futaba asked. "Do you have any proof to that? Remember that the killer had a limited amount of time."
"Doesn't the lack of time," Hikari countered, "show that someone with more experience managed to get it done before everyone woke up?"
"Even if that were true, sexy," Aka responded, staring a little guiltily at Hikari, "it's not like we know of anyone having said experience. The killer only had from 1 to 9 AM to kill Takeo, and wash up."
"Yes, about that," Yitro spoke up, "if the killer washed themselves, wouldn't there be very little time for their hair to dry? Fiora's hair wasn't wet in the morning."
"No one's hair was wet when we had gathered at Takeo's body," Shuuya said. "Trust me, that's something I took note of, because a killer would have to scrub away evidence on themselves."
"Wait, isn't that something that should be considered, considering this crime would require a great deal of scrubbing?" Angelique replied. "There was so much blood involved, surely they'd have to clean themselves thoroughly!"
"How does the amount of blood disqualify Fiora?" Ken inquired. "Perhaps she didn't get blood in her hair, and merely had to get rid of her bloody clothes?"
"How could Fiora have successfully hidden bloody clothes?" Souma asked. "We were allowed to search everyone in the town, we could have easily found evidence."
"However, we didn't find any evidence," Samson retaliated, "and now we're wasting valuable time! Fiora still fits the profile better than anyone!"
Kimiko cracked her knuckles, and said, "A profile that we've been rather forced to fulfill, since Emanuel has been over-aggressive in manhandling the case!"
"You wanna shtart shomething with me, biker bitch," Emanuel slurred, pulling his flask away from his lips. "Where have I been wrong in any of my assertions?"
"It's the fact that we're having to deal with this case under your assertions," Isaac fired back, "that is making this far more difficult than it needs to be! Have we even verified everything yet?"
"Speaking as a devil's advocate in this case," Eisei said, rolling his lollipop around in his mouth, "which of the verified proof that we've discovered hasn't been sufficiently established to you all?"
"What do we need to establish?" Odelios balked, waving his rubber chicken around. "What about you all? Monokuma's Motive, the mists, the heinous fate that Takeo suffered? Why are you all acting like this is a simple case and something mysterious isn't behind all this?"
"Are we really going to discuss if the supernatural and mysterious are at hand here?" Shinobu snapped. "The real evidence is hard against Fiora!"
"But but but," Fiora stammered, then managed to correct herself, "as Isaac was saying earlier, the real evidence hasn't been totally verified! What if one of those points is wrong?"
"Wrong? Which piece of evidence is wrong?" Crystal asked, raising an eyebrow. "Can you mention at least one piece that would be?"
"Maybe we could talk about one piece or another for more than five seconds," Anzu countered, "if we were allowed to speak without the jerkass drunk threatening us! But there is something that definitely needs to be discussed, now that I think about it!"
"What? What needs to be discussed?" Pyrrha asked, staring at the actress. "Is there a factor of this case that we missed?"
"I think so. If you need an idea of how we missed something, let me ask you this: is the time of death really at 1 AM like you've all asserted?"
Team Euryale all psyched themselves up, and declared in unison, "THIS IS OUR REASON!"
"Holy crap, what a spectacle!" Monokuma roared in delight. "Victory goes to Team Euryale!"
After the platforms left the Scrum Debate room and settled back down into the trial room, everyone was still flustered and a little confused from the debate. The members of Team Stheno, for the most part, weren't happy to have lost; Emanuel was absolutely livid.
"Fucking… what? You shtupid bashtards trushted a porn shtar over my reashoning?" He slogged down the rest of his flask, and wobbled as he used both hands now to hold himself up on his podium. "Do you all jusht want to die, ish that it?"
"Sloshed comments aside," Crystal remarked, "what was this about one of the core pieces of evidence being wrong? The time of death, you said, Anzu?"
Anzu froze up, then nervously crossed her arms. She had said that during the debate without fully remembering why she had the theory. She took a deep breath, and muttered, "I… I just think that maybe we're just leaving way too much up to chance that the murder happened that late at night. Or rather, that early in the morning."
"Yes, but why?" the military adviser pressed. "Surely, you have some idea."
"There are some pieces of evidence," Isaac chimed in, "that say that might be the case. Like why the killer dragged Takeo's body a different route when they could have just gone down the road the shops were on."
"That's very minor, and also, I am asking Anzu," Crystal replied. She stared down the actress, and said, "Please explain in more detail, or I am afraid it won't be credible to us."
Anzu pulled on one of her blue bangs, coiling it around her fingers as she tried to think of what to say. Her eyes darted around, until they rested on Hikari. The steampunk model gave her a warm smile, and extended her hand, as if to say, "Go ahead."
The actress then let out a big sigh, and spoke. "When I touched that camera in the antique shop and fell into a coma, I told you all it was a dream. But it wasn't, I didn't have a dream, I had a very vivid and nightmarish vision of myself at Hope's Peak, inside of someone else's body.
"In that vision, I met a girl named Mahiru, and she gave me a warning about this motive. She said something along the lines of…
"The first motive will be before the day is done. Do not go outside past 9 PM, unless you wish to be prey to the predator. The mists will work against you, but you can trust the silence."
"I… I know it seems weird and unbelievable, but when this Mahiru spoke, she seemed to know everything about what was going on, like she was connected to Penjar."
Silence filled the trial room, everyone staring at Anzu. Then there was an unkind laugh, as Saiko rubbed the back of her head. "Okay, I'm actually starting to wonder if someone did screw your brains out, girl," she remarked.
"Saiko, no need to be so crude!" Hara chastised her.
"No, I'm sorry, but a vision of some girl named Mahiru telling you that nonsense? We're supposed to take your fever dream or whatever it was as fact? Come on, I don't buy this for a minute!"
"It is… rather difficult to swallow," Souma said. "But maybe we should discuss this a bit more…"
DEBATE YOUR CASE!
"Honestly now, we just were talking about if Fiora was the killer," Saiko fired off, "and now you're talking about supernatural premonitions?!"
"Interesting how the premonition says the death will be within the day," Samson said with a snort. "How convenient that gives Fiora an alibi if it were true!"
"Hey, I was out past 9 PM as well," Fiora declared. "I could have ended up dead!"
"I do believe you're missing the point there, Fiora," Yejoon said, rubbing his chin.
"If we continue wasting time like this," Jin muttered angrily, "I'm actually going to be quite happy you all die alongside me."
"I do believe you're missing the point too, dear sister."
"… Mahiru?" Drake whispered, too soft for the others to hear.
"And what's this about the mists working against us, or that we can trust the silence?" Eisei asked. "Seems to me like someone loves a good riddle."
"Anzu, how hard did you hit your head when you passed out that night?" Crystal inquired.
"Wait a minute, stop the presses," Isaac declared, "that's it!"
"The mists work against us," Isaac repeated, drumming his fingers against the podium, "and being able to trust the silence. That was true."
"Wait, are you still going on with the idea that the mists are dampening sound?" asked Saiko, incredulous. "How is that even possible?"
"I know what I know and discovered for myself, and I'm not going to let someone tell me I am stupid and need to shut up because it doesn't fit their ideology!"
Pyrrha sighed heavily, and said, "Well, if you feel able to stand up the wrath of our hair-trigger Bête Noir, maybe you can…"
"Zzzzz."
Emanuel had passed out, hanging over his podium. The flask was knocked on its side, dripping the last drops of potent drink onto the floor.
"He fell asleep?!" Samson balked, gripping his head.
"How the hell do you fall asleep," Souma declared, "during a Killing Game trial?"
"Wow, that was some strong stuff," Odelios commented with a laugh. "But anyway, that's perfect. Now that big, dumb, and punchy is KO'ed from his booze punch, time to kick this trial into overdrive, the right way!"
"What? Oh God, now you're talking again," Saiko muttered. "And no, just because Emanuel passed out from drinking doesn't mean we're just going to let the supernatural be our guide! Anzu's vision of some Mahiru girl isn't credible in any way-"
"Anzu," Drake spoke up, loud enough that everyone heard him and were rather surprised to hear him of all people speak up, "what was she like?"
"Huh? What Mahiru was like?"
"Yes, if you could please describe her in as much detail as you could?"
Anzu scratched her cheek with her finger, slow and methodical, as she thought back to that vision. "Um, her full name was Mahiru Koizumi. Had cherry red hair, kind of shaped like a cherry too. Freckles, quite the imposing and strong personality, like she was trying to lecture you about what to do a bit like a mom. Why are you…"
She stopped when she saw Drake was drawing fervently. He flipped his sketchpad around, and there was Mahiru in a rather realistic drawing on the paper. Anzu was silent for a moment, and declared, "That's her!"
"Wait, Mahiru Koizumi, the Ultimate Photographer?" Shinobu asked. "She was the first victim in the Hope's Peak Killing Game!"
"And it was a camera that we found in your hand, Anzu," Hara remarked. "That same camera crumbled to dust shortly after you woke up."
Saiko glanced around at everyone, and then cried out in frustration. "People, please! Just because she saw a dead girl in her vision doesn't make it true!"
"But Anzu has an alibi, she was with Angelique when they overheard me," Crystal remarked as she rubbed her chin. "She has absolutely no reason to lie in a trial that her life is on the line."
"Plus, the mists part I have been saying all this time is very true, Saiko," Isaac said. "The main reason it's been ignored is because drunkass over there decided that we should just ignore it…
"However, Anzu's vision has some kind of truth to it, and I do believe it does because of the other part of that last passage. We can trust the silence… do you remember who found the body alongside Hara and myself?"
There was a thumping of the chest, as Ignatia pointed to herself. She was making hand gestures that were rather hard to follow, and the others couldn't comprehend what they were. It wasn't until Drake, who stood next to her, offered her his sketchpad and pencil.
She took them with a grateful smile, and started to write fervently. Drake watched over her shoulder, and read it out loud: "'I actually got up at around 8:30, I like to be up bright and early if possible. I saw Takeo set up at the plaza then, but I thought he was waiting for someone and I paid him no heed. It wasn't until 9:30 AM that I noticed he was still standing perfectly still in place, and I realized something was wrong.'"
"See now, that makes me truly wonder," Isaac carried on, "how truthful our estimation on the time of death could be!"
"Wait, are you saying," Ken asked, "that we've been wrong from the start?"
DEBATE YOUR CASE!
"We had established that Takeo met his killer at 1 AM," Ken reiterated, "and thus was killed around this time. You're saying that's wrong?"
"Wouldn't the killer have to do when it was really late?" Aka inquired. "I mean, that way no one would see them."
"The idea that he was killed before midnight is absurd!" Saiko declared. "That's far too risky, especially with so many unpredictable people!"
"…" Drake was staring at the sketch of Mahiru, tears welling in his eyes.
"Are we really doing this based off of her vision?" Jin grumbled, pointing at Anzu.
"Yes we are," Odelios roared, throwing his fists into the air as he proclaimed, "because we are free to do what we want now!"
"Zzz," disagreed Emanuel.
"But to dive into the supernatural is just wrong," Shuuya remarked. "We should go with the solid evidence we have."
"And that," Angelique declared, pointing at Ken, "is where we went wrong!"
"Darlings, do you remember what made us all so sure that Takeo was killed at 1 AM?" Angelique said, placing a hand over her heart and on her amble bosom. "It was the note that was found in his room."
"Wait, you think the note was faked?" Eisei asked, staring at the opera singer. "But it was found in his room."
Isaac drummed his fingers on his podium, then snapped his fingers. "I see where Angelique is going with this. What if the killer placed that note there, to throw us all off the time of death?"
"What, during the investigation? Or last night after they had murdered Takeo?" Odelios asked. "Don't our doors lock automatically during the night?"
The reporter stared at the clown, and pointed at him. "Brilliant! We weren't given keys or cards to unlock our places, we've just gone in and trusted the locks! Takeo would have been locked outside of his house if he had gone out at 1 AM!"
"Unless he left the door open?" Souma offered. "It's not like it was really his home, he wouldn't have to worry about any valuables being stolen… he had nothing in his room of major value."
"The killer could have done that, stealing his weapons and such after killing him," Shinobu spoke up. "Why are we suddenly treating the note as a phony? Angelique, what proof did you have it was phony?"
"I," Angelique stammered, glancing to the side, "I'm going with the train of thought that we are all going on."
"Shinobu, calm down," Isaac started to say, but the girl slammed her fist on her podium.
"No, this is unacceptable," she shouted, "and I refuse to stand on the sidelines this time!"
REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!
"You all are going off the deep end with this presumption," Shinobu scolded, pointing accusingly at Isaac. "I demand to know why have veered off-track so much, and we're now discussing the supernatural as a possibility!"
Isaac was startled at first, then he took a deep breath and leaned forward. "Shinobu, if you wish to cross words with me, let us do so. Please tell me how we're on the wrong pathway."
"How we're on the wrong path? Let's start at the very beginning, because that is how I do work!"
Shinobu and Isaac stared each other down, the two being the only ones who dared to speak right now, and thus they started off.
"You're basing all of these assumptions off of what Anzu claims to have seen," Shinobu said, "but what proof is there that there is something behind it all? Just because there is a dead woman from Hope's Peak in her vision doesn't make it factual.
"You really think that her vision has anything to go off of? Are we counting dreams and nightmares as facts now? Come off it!"
Isaac adjusted his beanie, and stared her down. "Anzu has no reason to lie, she has a proven alibi with Angelique and Crystal. Plus, part of the warning in her vision was about the mists and the silence.
"I know some of you don't believe me, but the mists or something else are really dampening sound. After everything that happened during the Killing Games, the school we graduated from being turned into a conglomerate of execution machines, the moon base being taken over…
"Are you all really saying that this old abanonded town cannot have a few tricks up its sleeve as well? Plus, we can trust the silence, Ignatia that is."
Shinobu scowled, and fired back. "You think the last passage of the warning means she is telling the truth? But what about the first part, the part that says the murder happened before midnight? That's the part that's turning this whole thing around!
"Why even make a note that is fake? What is the point of making us believe the murder happened sooner rather than later?"
"Thanks for helping me make my point!" Isaac declared.
"There's actually one very big reason why the killer would want us to think the murder was at 1 AM," the reporter said, ruffling his mint green hair as he spoke, "and that is that they wanted to give the idea that the taxidermy was rushed."
"Rushed? Are you saying that the killer," Shinobu spoke, but less forceful now, "is actually good at taxidermy, and just gave us all the signals that they weren't?"
"Yes, exactly. And before you ask, no, I don't think someone was secretly a taxidermist before coming to Penjar. That's why I think the motive is the answer."
"The new talent motive?" Saiko asked. "You genuinely believe that Monokuma bestowed new talent upon everyone?"
"I totes did!" said despair bear declared.
"Are we really going down that route?" Samson muttered, his frustration showing now. "But we went over this. No one feels any different!"
"ACTUALLY!"
Odelios's voice boomed around the trial room, his powerful lungs really earning their pay. The clown leaned backwards so he could shout that word up to the ceiling, then dipped forward and leaned on his podium. "I was going to say I do."
"What?" Crystal was more surprised now than she had been throughout the entire trial. "You?"
"Why didn't you say anything?" Anzu asked, staring at the clown incredulously.
"For the same reason you had trouble saying anything, that blindfolded beast who was…"
Odelios stopped, because he was staring at Emanuel. Ishiku had his sharpie out, and was drawing on the unconscious man's face. He was getting really into it, and gave Fiora the pen so she could join in on the fun.
"Do a wang, that's mandatory," the clown said towards them, then looked back towards everyone else. "But seriously people, I was going to say that I definitely feel different. Do you all remember me getting you all coffee? Remember how good it was?"
"Yes, it was nice," Isaac said.
"I love coffee, so I am an expert on it, and even I'll admit it was good," Saiko admitted. "But what's that got to do with this?"
"I've never made a cup of coffee in my life beforehand."
The clown allowed this to sink in with everyone, rocking on his feet. He waited for someone to ask him if that were true, but when no one did, he sighed and did it himself. "Yes, that's true. I've never made coffee before, ever, not during the circus, not during Hope's Peak, never ever.
"And yet, when I saw everyone working hard and needing a boost because we were doing all this investigation with no breakfast first thing in the morning, something inside of me said, 'Odelios, you're a grown-ass man with pumpkin face paint on and you have a strange obsession with nachos. Your self-deprecating jokes suck, too.'
"'Oh, and also, make coffee for everyone. They'll need it.'"
He posed triumphantly, and said, "There you go, people. I became the Ultimate Barista last night and still am today, compliant and knowledgable of all things coffee. Do you honestly think I'd let a heckler like Emanuel tell me what to do otherwise?"
Everyone was exchanging glances, trying to comprehend this. They didn't quite know what to say, it was all so incredible and outrageous.
"Why couldn't you have died instead, clown?" Jin muttered.
"Seriously, you do creep me out," Aka remarked.
"Even if what you say is true," Hikari spoke up, trying to make herself more noticeable since Fiora and Ishiku were really giggling up a storm nearby her, "that's just one of the talents that was supposed to go to four different people. Where does that leave us?"
DEBATE YOUR CASE!
"Even if Odelios is a talented barista and coffee-maker now," Hikari continued, "it doesn't do much good for our predicament."
"It does prove," Drake sheepishly said, "that the talent motive did come true."
"How's that help us with what we were talking about?" Samson shouted, losing patience. "We keep changing subjects left and right!"
"Zzz," Emanuel snored.
"This is something we should have discussed a while back," Kimiko remarked. "We should have taken Monokuma's motive and warnings seriously."
"But no one has spoken up yet," Yitro remarked, "about new talents they have as well."
"Didn't the Kubs say they might not be fully aware of it?" Anzu inquired.
"Oh hey, cool watch, Ishiku," Fiora commented, her cheerful nature coming back after the shock from before.
"Thanks! Now let's sharpie that wang on his face," Ishiku said, laughing.
"Zzz," protested Emanuel.
"… Wait a minute there, what?" Hikari declared, tilting her hat up and staring at Ishiku.
"Hmmm? Did you want to do that, Hikari?" Ishiku asked.
"No no, dear, but please tell me, what was that about a watch?"
The magician raised his wrist, revealing an old-school styled watch. It ticked quietly. "Yeah, what about it?"
"You didn't have a watch on when I met you that first day," Hikari remarked. "And I'm sure people can agree with that, with how you would pull things out from behind their ears. No one ever heard ticking, right?"
Ishiku blinked in surprised, and stared at his watch. "Oh yeah, I picked this up from the clockwork shop, and I worked on it last night. It was something to do to pass the time."
"You did what? Darling, do you know how difficult it is to fix one of those old things?"
"I work on little things like this a lot for tricks, but," Ishiku scratched his head, and muttered, "I thought that… wait, I've never worked on a watch before."
Isaac leaned forward, and pointed at the magician. "Ishiku, do us a favor. Take it apart right now, and put it back together."
The magician stared at him for a moment, then reached over to Fiora and pulled a tiny screwdriver out from behind her ear. He then proceeded to unscrew the watch from the back…
Everyone watched as he opened the watch up, took it apart with all those tiny parts clearly across his podium. Then, within a minute, he put them all back in the watch, and it was ticking normally again.
"There's no doubt about it," Hara said, "you received a talent too! You're like the Ultimate Clockwork Maker."
"Holy cow, I honestly didn't realize it. This is insane," Ishiku said, staring at his hands. "It's like… like… wait no, it's not magic, but it's a bit like it."
"Sorcery or not," Ken spoke up, staring over at Isaac, "I am fully convinced now that whatever Monokuma and this city has done, the motive has come true."
"I have a lot of questions," Saiko commented, "but even I am starting to believe. But the question is now, what do we learn from this?"
"It seems that there is a pattern now," Eisei remarked, starting his third lollipop. He tilted his head and hummed, as if trying to start up a cute little tune. "Surely some of you have noticed it by now?"
"What pattern?" Yejoon asked, turning to look at the dentist.
"Yeah, what pattern indeed," Jin muttered.
"There are four Ye Olde shops in Penjar," Eisei commented. "The café, the clockwork, the taxidermy, and the antique building, four of them just like there are four talents being given out. We have here a barista and a horologist…"
"Wait, what did you call me?!" Ishiku demanded to know.
"And we also have a taxidermist amongst us, because we had a taxidermy-styled murder," Eisei continued. "Tell me, do you think Monokuma selected those four talents to ensure someone would know what they had been gifted?"
The graduates thought about this, and glanced amongst each other. "If that's true," Ken said, "then who is the antique expert?"
"Hey, everyone!" Odelios declared. "Who here has a fancy for all things really old? Anyone here got a flip phone?"
Everyone glanced around, staring at the others for answers; however, no one spoke up amid all of the silence. There was a sigh of defeat from most of them.
"Kind of hard to recognize such a talent," Kimiko remarked. "It's not like we have anything really old and needing appraisal here."
"We may need to carry on with what we know now," Souma suggested. "However, I dare say this is quite the startling revelation."
"Wait a minute, let's all get on the same page," Pyrrha implored them. "So right now, we're thinking the motive came true, and someone became the Ultimate Taxidermist, killing Takeo…
"And that this murder happened before midnight, which was really risky but worked for the killer."
"That would finally explain," Isaac said, "why they took the long way around to get to the taxidermy store."
"Yes, but that would mean that the note was fake," Pyrrha pointed out, "and thus, the killer had to put it in Takeo's boots to lead us on the wrong path!"
"That's probably right too! Tell us, who found the note?"
Pyrrha pointed right at Shinobu, who lost all color in her face. "Wait wait wait," the historian pleaded, "I'm not the killer! I just found the note!"
"Weren't you adamant that it was real earlier," Ken asked, "so much so that you got in a heated argument with Isaac? You were, as they believe they say, 'losing your shit?'"
"S-stop it, please," Shinobu sputtered, gripping her podium for support. "I… I was afraid of this! I thought that if everyone decided the note was fake, you'd all accuse me!"
"You did find it," Jin remarked, "and you did declare then and there that it must be solid evidence."
"I wasn't the only one in that room, and that was during our second pass! You were there too, Jin! And you, Pyrrha! Shuuya and Souma were there as well… please… please don't…"
Shinobu crossed her arms and huddled up into herself. "I… I would never ally with despair or Monokuma. I hate the evil they bring, there's been so many people who died to it."
"Everyone calm down, please," Angelique declared. "Now, if the note is fake, and poor Takeo was killed before midnight, then he couldn't have left his door open to ensure he wasn't locked out.
"I'm sure one of you would have noticed when going to bed that his house was left wide open. So it seems we have come down to a narrowed down list of suspects, one of who could have become the Ultimate Taxidermist, and killed Takeo."
"Shinobu, Jin, Shuuya, Souma, and Pyrrha," Isaac listed off. "It had to have been one of them."
The five of the now main suspects reacted with wide eyes, furrowed brows, or nervous shivers. The graduates were all staring at those suspected, trying to mentally compile evidence.
"Wait a minute," Blake remarked, "didn't Souma suggest checking out Takeo's room? How convenient that he did that, and the note was found there?"
Souma took a deep breath, correcting himself before he spoke. "I know that makes me look suspicious, but please, I was never near the closet; I was looking through his suitcases the whole time."
"Oh really now? Got any way to prove that?" Blake said with a scoff.
"With how much we were looking through the room, I doubt that any of the others were watching me. Unless I am allowed to ask Monophanie to be my witness? She was standing at the door the entire time, watching us."
The pink Kub whimpered as water leaked from her forehead; it could have been sweat, but she was still a bot. "Ummm… I'm not sure. D-Daddy? Am I allowed to be a witness? I'm not ready for this kind of pressure!"
"No asking my little kids to be witnesses for you," Monokuma hollered. "They're not allowed to interfere, remember?"
Souma snapped his fingers. "That makes things worse for me."
"I think it was the fancy man," Blake shouted, pointing at Souma. "He's the type to do this kind of stuff! Plus, he suggested they go there, he is the most suspicious!"
"However, if it were one of the other four," Futaba remarked, "they could have done it as well. One of them could have been watching the others, slipped the note into the boots, and thus have it discovered. Or pretend to discover it."
"I suppose that the killer could have pretended to find it, or have it found no matter where they were meant to search," Hikari remarked. "Do we have anything else that could used as evidence?"
"Are we still going under the assumption that a woman caught Takeo off-guard?" Kimiko asked. "Because honestly, even though that could be true, Shuuya is a professional bounty hunter."
"Could a woman have distracted Takeo?" Yejoon asked, staring at the three women involved. "Well, possibly two of them could have."
"That had better be Shinobu you are referring to, brother," Jin hissed. "Because if not, I'm going to take your mask and shove it up your-"
"We're starting to go in circles here, people!" Saiko shouted. "We have five suspects, but we haven't got something that ties one of them to the crime any more than the others. Please, we need to focus, and think of something."
Almost everyone was quiet for a minute, considering everything that had been said and done. Monokuma could be heard chuckling, definitely enjoying this very much. Each of the five suspects had reason to seem suspicious but also innocent to everyone else there.
"What are we missing?" Isaac muttered aloud, tapping his forehead. He stared over at Hara, and she was just as confused as him.
"Damn it, damn it," Saiko swore, "if only had any more information about the body, anything!"
"What about all of the evidence we have?" Eisei inquired. The short man still appeared half-interested in everything, casually enjoying his lollipop. "If the note was fake, is there anything else fake? Or something we overlooked?"
As everyone pondered or debated this, one of the graduates was looking down at their sketch pad. Drake was staring at Mahiru's face on the paper, as if hoping she could give them an answer. The young man flipped through the pages of his pad, as Ignatia leaned over to look at them.
Drake had been sketching so many things during the trial, detailing them with small notes on the side. Ignatia stared at them, recalling the items and facts…
There was the bloodstains on the street, the destroyed taxidermy animals, Monokuma holding a sign that read "Talent," Aka making an objection, clocks, coffee mugs, Takeo's combat knife, Mahiru's face, Takeo's body with all of the wounds that Saiko had pointed out to Drake when they were inspecting the body…
Ignatia realized Drake had stopped flipping through the pages, and was staring at one in particular. When he noticed her staring, he pointed to one of these things, then at one of the graduates. The mime squinted in confusion, and Drake whispered something to her…
Ignatia's eyes widened, and she made some hand motions and moved her head to communicate. Despite this not being sign language, Drake seemed to understand her perfectly. He turned to address everyone, though his social anxiety made him freeze.
Drake struggled to speak up, and then Ignatia reached over and grabbed his shoulder for support. Then there was a hearty pat on the back that practically echoed with how hard she thumped him with her palm, and he let out a cry.
"AWK! Alright, I can do it! E-everyone!"
Ignatia smirked in triumph as she stepped back and allowed Drake to be the center of attention. The cartoonist took a deep breath, and said, "I… I think I may have a lead. I may know who did this."
"You know?" Isaac asked, staring at the young man. "For a fact?"
"Well, maybe not a fact, but it could give us a good lead…"
"It's not me," Fiora asked fearfully, "is it?"
"No, not you…"
Drake was staring nervously downwards, not wanting to look forward as he did this. He didn't speak until Ignatia leaned over and nudged him, and he managed to then look up, and point at one of the graduates…
…
…
…
…
…
SELECT A SUSPECT!
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…
"It's Jin Nahm," Drake announced, braving a look at her. "I believe she is the most suspicious right now!"
Everyone stared at the artist, who let out a loud, unamused scoff. "Yeah, somehow I thought it would come to this. I insulted your so-called art, so you want some revenge.
"I can already guess what you are going to say. 'Oh, she's an artist, and this is an artistic murder!' That's not proof, you little piece of sh-"
"Actually," Drake interrupted her, "it's because of something you said way earlier in the trial. You see, we were discussing the idea of how someone could kill Takeo…"
"They would have to be skilled enough," Samson said, "to sneak up on Takeo, or beat him in hand-to-hand combat."
"That's the most confusing part of all this," Eisei commented. "I still can scarcely believe he didn't draw blood."
"Was he that unprepared?" Ken said. "How could he drop his guard like that?"
"Fool didn't even draw his knife?" Jin asked, then laughed. "Some mercenary, probably wasn't told to do so!"
"I thought it odd at the time, but now I'm truly concerned how you knew," Drake said, "that Takeo never drew his knife."
"Wh-what?" Jin stammered. "The others said that he didn't draw blood, that's how I figured…"
"No, you see, the ones investigating the body were myself, Saiko, Yejoon, and Eisei. We knew the knife had never been drawn, because of how Yejoon found it. No blood, no cleaning products, nothing, as if it had never been drawn at all.
"And yet, you said so casually. It would be one thing to think that he failed to cut his opponent, but to not even unsheathe his knife? What made you say that?"
Jin stared at the cartoonist, then burst out laughing. "You cannot be serious. That's all you have?! It's not even that damning, it was just be making a joke at Takeo's expense. So sorry if your delicate little ears cannot handle a dark joke…"
"Yes, but how did you know?" Angelique asked, frowning at Jin. "I think it's a big assumption that you just suddenly knew Takeo hadn't unsheathed his weapon when fighting to the death; none of us ever said that was the case, we just talked about how someone got the jump on him."
Jin growled, her eyes narrowing behind her mask. She shook her head, and muttered, "You said my brother was part of that group, right? He told me."
"No, I didn't."
The owl-themed artist's head practically swiveled to stare at her brother; she definitely resembled an owl with that movement. "What the fuck!"
Yejoon shrugged his shoulders and repeated, "I never told you that, only the ones inspecting the body knew that."
"You… you mother… fine! I just overheard him! Same thing, really, you talk to yourself all the time."
"Hold on now," Isaac declared, staring at Jin. "Now that I think about it, there's so many things that signal it was you, Jin."
"The fuck you say to me, you troglodyte?!"
Isaac wasn't perturbed at all by the outburst. "You are in the group of five suspects, you were the most adamant it had to be Fiora when Emanuel suspected her besides his drunk ass, and interesting enough, your hair has those pink tips…
"If the killer couldn't wash their hair because of the risk of having wet hair in the morning, you could easily hide any bloodstains in there."
Jin's eye was twitching something hard, her fingers curling like she was trying to make talons. "You… you do realize that listing a bunch of unsubstantiated claims is exactly what you were against when labeling Fiora as the murderer!"
"Wait a minute," Anzu spoke, her eyes squinted in focus as she stared at the purple-topped artist. "Mahiru's warning, she said to avoid becoming prey to the predator. That phrasing, it was a warning, I'm sure of it!
"Miss Owl Lady," she proclaimed, pointing at Jin, "you definitely look and act the part of a predator!"
Jin growled and rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me? We're still going on with this ridiculous vision that little miss porn star says she had? How can you people defend B-Movie Maker, but then act like the same route is just fine with me?"
Isaac spoke up, tapping his fingers on the podium. "If we're going down this route, we need to make sure we have all of our ducks in line, that's true. So are we missing anything?"
"Devil's advocate here again," Eisei spoke up. "So if Jin was turned into the Ultimate Taxidermist, how did she know? Are we going to assume she just decided to try it, and then found out she was exceptional at it?"
"Yes! Thank you, cute little man," Jin declared. "Everyone else discovered their new talents by doing them, but how could I have found out I was a taxidermist? Was I really going to go after a hardcore mercenary without any kind of motivation?"
Angelique tapped her chin, then said, "So you're saying that since you didn't have a practice run, you couldn't have known?"
"Are there any dead people in the town besides Takeo? There aren't any animals either; there's no outside interference!"
DEBATE YOUR CASE!
"Look, just drop this whole ridiculous accusation," Jin spat out, her face contorting in outrage; her owl mask wasn't doing a good job at hiding how furious she was becoming. "I couldn't have become the Ultimate Taxidermist."
"Are we sure," Souma remarked, "that the killer couldn't have discovered this talent after killing Takeo?"
"I have to admit, I doubt that," Odelios said. "I only really became aware of my coffee-making skills after making a whole bunch of coffee!"
"Are we sure there are no animals in Penjar?" Yitro asked. "I haven't seen any."
"No one's said anything," Pyrrha admitted.
"And that's because," Jin hollered, "there haven't BEEN any animals!"
"Yeah, no animals at all," Monotaro declared from the Kubs' stand. "We made sure of that!"
"Animals would have to be fucking stupid," Monokid roared, "to come here in bear territory!"
"Daddy helped us out with that," Monophanie admitted. "We needed to keep Penjar nice and vacant for guests!"
"Our Deviant Tourist," Monosuke bragged, "has really spruced up this town!"
"…" added Monodam.
"Wait! What she said," Ken shouted as he pointed at Monophanie, "that's our trinket to ride!"
"It's 'ticket to ride,' dear," Hikari corrected the Novoselician, "and that's not really the right expression, but do go ahead."
"My apologies, sometimes I get those wrong, but Monophanie mentioned her father," Ken said. "Her father, Monokuma… who we have all had the opportunity to kill."
"Including you," Futaba remarked, staring at the strong cavalryman. "Good point, sir. Monokuma repeatedly comes back with stuffing and such, if someone killed him, they could easily rip him open and discover their knack for taxidermy."
"Oopsie," Monophanie whimpered, "sweating" again, "did I make a mistake there, Daddy?"
Jin strained in frustration, and it resembled some kind of angry bird cry. "How's that connect to me?"
"It doesn't, not directly," Isaac admitted, "however! It does disprove the notion that one couldn't possibly realize they were granted that talent."
The Korean woman pointed angrily at Drake, and started shrieking. "This is all that boy's fault! Just because I said something a little off, that wimpy boy is making me out to be a killer.
"All you've done is add up a bunch of things that conveniently suit me! You could do that with any of the other people who searched Takeo's room, and they'd fit up too! How am I any different to those two redheads, trench coat boy, or Mr. Speaker!?"
"Where's the proof? You don't have any proof, you just have accusations!"
Drake was staring at Jin, her pink nail pointing fiercely at him. "If I'm right," he thought desperately, "I am accusing someone who is a vicious killer, someone who slew a mercenary, and gutted his body to make a preserved statue. Maybe…"
His thoughts made him shiver, appearing as if Jin was intimidating him, but he was actually thinking, "Maybe I need to think of this in terms of what a diabolical person would do, and if there's anything on Jin that fits that profile!"
He flipped through his papers, as he started a stream of thought inside of his head…
Okay, so far the only thing we have against Jin is a bunch of circumstantial evidence that may not be good enough…
…
That's how Emanuel claimed it to be Fiora, a bunch of things that just painted a picture. So what do we need to prove it was Jin?
What kind of evidence is convicting enough?
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…
Was there evidence left on his body? Around Penjar? On her?Wait, on her?
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…
…
I cannot just ask her to be searched, she would have long since gotten rid of any physical evidence.
…
…
…
Or did she?
There's something off about Jin right now, something that doesn't seem the same as when she first arrived.
It's not emotional…
Something physical about her is different…
I'm looking at the sketches I did of her right now. She has on the same clothes, her tattoos are all in the same place.
She looks the same, with those tattoos being her most prominent feature. Well, that and her mask…
I wonder if that's why she never wears make-up, to ensure her tattoos are her biggest feature.
…
…
…
Wait.
Wait one minute.
I think… I think I have the answer… no wait…
TWO answers…
Two pieces of evidence that can fit here!
Though if I am right…
…
…
…
She butchered Takeo, ripped his insides out, and put him up as a statue for all of us to see.
I don't think she's going to be happy when I reveal her secrets…
"Jin," Drake said, his voice quiet but prominent enough for everyone to hear, "you're still wearing your mask, you've been hiding your eyes. If you wouldn't mind, could you show us your face?"
"Why?!" she blurted out, highly defensive.
"Because it doesn't matter if the murder happened before or after midnight, the killer must have exhausted yourself staying up late, doing all of that hard work. I've worked with a lot of artists who burn that midnight oil, and the bags under their eyes the next day is always visible.
"So if you wouldn't mind, could you show us how you look under your mask?"
Yitro, who was standing next to her, reached over while saying, "Hold still now-"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
She moved back, hand on top of her mask, hissing fiercely at the former swordsman. Glaring hatefully first at him, then at Drake, she shrieked, "This… this is an invasion of my privacy! And I'm not the only one wearing a mask! My stupid brother wears one!"
"Accusing me now?" Yejoon asked, casually stretching as he watched the commotion his sister was causing. "My, how very rude of you."
"Yejoon took his mask off during the investigation," Saiko said, staring at Jin suspiciously. "He looked perfectly fine."
"Then what about the drunk jackass who was so quick to set up Fiora?" the purple-topped artist fired off.
Ishiku lifted the unconscious Emanuel's head, pulling the eye band up to showcase his eyes. No bags, just a really awful passed out look.
"Also, there's a detail I've noticed about you, Jin," Drake continued. "You don't normally wear make-up or nail polish."
"Yeah, so?" Jin spat out, glaring piercing daggers at the cartoonist. "You one of those types, thinking that women need to be made up and look pretty?"
"No make-up, no nail coloring, the focus is about your fancy clothes and outlandish tattoos; however, today, and just today, I've noticed that you have nail coloring…
"The same color as blood."
Speaking of blood and color, Jin's face went very pale, very suddenly.
"I didn't want to imagine someone being so horrid," Drake said, "but this is someone who killed a man, skinned him and stuffed him, and displayed his body like a statue, or a trophy."
"Oh my good God," Kimiko said, staring wide-eyed at Jin. "Did she… what kind of a sicko…"
"N-no," Jin sputtered, one hand on her mask to keep it there, but trying hard to hide her nails. "This… this is all just theory! Theory based off of supernatural things like visions of a dead girl and talents being given at random!
"Yejoon! Say something, you stupid fucking worthless piece of shit!"
Yejoon glanced over at his sister, and scoffed. "That's not exactly making me want to help you out now, dear sister."
"No… no, this wasn't how it was supposed to go! This… this cannot be how it goes down!"
Drake cleared his throat, and held up his sketchpad, which was full of his drawings of how the crime was committed; the person committing the murder was a shaded-in, genderless figure.
"Here is how it really went down…"
CLOSING ARGUMENT
The killer in this case was swayed by Monokuma's Motive, which was the promise of talent and power. After 9 PM, the killer hunted down one of Monokuma's clones and slew it, discovering that they had a talent for taxidermy. This made them realize the motive was real, and thus plotted their murder plan.
…
Using Takeo's tradition to follow orders, the killer must have asked him to join them behind Town Hall. This was probably to discuss security or another reason, but however they convinced poor Takeo, it was to lure him away from everyone else.
The killer struck hard and fast, possibly killing Takeo outright. Even if he was the Ultimate Mercenary, he was still human, like us. The killer used some kind of blade to stab Takeo to death, and then proceeded to drag or carry his body towards the taxidermy shop.
…
With it not being past midnight, the killer had to go the long way to avoid being seen. It's unknown at this point if they knew the mists were dampening sound, thus covering for them, but it still worked in their favor. Taking the long way, the killer brought Takeo's body into the shop.
There wasn't enough stuffing material in the shop, except for in the taxidermy animals. Cutting and smashing them open, the killer had enough to do part of the taxidermy job on Takeo's body. They wanted to make it look rushed, that an amateur had done it.
They also left the taxidermy fox to implicate their own brother could be the culprit. Maybe they thought that no one would imagine they'd do that to their own sibling, but our true culprit was heinous enough to paint their nails with Takeo's blood. There was a real sadistic side to them that we never saw, until now.
…
Putting Takeo's body up at the edge of the plaza, where he would surely be found, the killer then proceeded to wash off the blood and get different clothes on. They only had a limited amount of time to sleep, because this plan kept them up all night and morning.
When we woke from the Monokubs' announcement, we were all shocked to find Takeo's body standing there. Everyone except the killer, who thought that this sick crime would get them power…
…
And that's how the murder of Takeo Onishi happened here in Penjar! The culprit is none other than you…
Jin Nahm, the Ultimate Artist!
Jin stood there, twitching her head side to side, looking like an owl losing their mind. Her fingers curled like talons.
"Amazing summary, Drake," Isaac said, casting a salute towards the cartoonist. He turned towards Jin, and said, "Any rebuttal to that, Jin?"
The owl-themed artist threw her head back and let out a high-pitched shriek. This almost supersonic noise reverberated painfully around the trial room, sounding so much like a screech owl on steroids.
"My, she's quite upset now," Yejoon commented as everyone covered their ears.
"Now hear this, now hear this," Monokuma declared. "The trial time is over, so everyone, focus your attention on the touch screen tablet at the center of your podium!
"You will see pictures of every graduate here in Penjar! Poke the one you believe to be the Deviant Tourist, and select the Confirm button!
"Will you make the right call, or the dreadfully wrong one? Let's find out!"
Twenty-seven fingers poked the touch screens on their podium, and the Confirm button was selected by all of them. Digital sounds echoed around the room, then a gigantic screen came down from the ceiling above Monokuma's throne.
It showed a surface much like a blackboard, with chalk drawings that resembled the pixel art representations of each person. Their names were above their pixel-chalk drawings.
"And the votes," Monokuma cheerfully announced, "are in! Let's see what the results are, shall we everyone?"
Tally marks drawn by an invisible chalk were made in front of one of the pixel drawings, like if someone was tapping a screen to add strokes to a blackboard app. The results were swift, and rather obvious.
Jin "Olppaemi" Nahm - 26 votes.
Yejoon "Yeou" Nahm - 1 vote.
"And with that, let's see if you were correct!" the despair bear host carried on.
The blackboard disappeared from the screen, and was replaced by a digital roulette wheel. On each portion of the wheel was the pixel picture of the Penjar visitors, and the wheel was spinning with slot machine-styled sound effects.
It spun around, highlighting the one at the top, until it started to slow down… slower… slower… slower…
It stopped on Jin's portrait.
The machine lit up with tons of lights, confetti spraying out the top. The bright neon sign showcasing "WINNER!" turned on overhead, and millions of Monocoins spilled out from the slot.
The trial room was so full of noise from the loud screen, and wherever the speakers were hidden in the room. When the screen turned off, and retracted back up into the ceiling, Monokuma bounced up and pumped his fist into the air.
"Wahoo-hoohoohoooooooo! Congratulations, everyone! You are most correct! All the corrects! The killer in this murder is none other than Jin Nahm, the Ultimate (Female) Artist!"
Jin was pale, twitching, breathing quite heavy through her nose. She turned towards her brother, and spoke, her voice sounding a lot like a dying bird.
"You voted for me?!"
"Well, you voted for me," Yejoon replied, shrugging. "You really are behaving quite rudely, if I dare say."
"Piece of shit brother! I should have killed you! I really, really should have!"
All of the other graduates (who were conscious) stared aghast at Jin. Isaac crossed his arms, and stared down the artist. "You have got some explaining to do, Jin. We want answers, now."
Jin glanced at him, then glanced around at everyone. When she realized all eyes were on her, her mouth moved as she let out an unusual noise.
It was hard to tell if she was smirking or scowling, or if she was laughing or scoffing. What was obvious, however, was when there was a metallic click as she squeezed part of her lower right arm…
And a long blade shot out from under her sleeve, above her hand. It was curved, colored and grooved to resemble a talon. The bladed tip appeared impossibly sharp, and there was a tiny amount of blood still on it.
"You amateur lowlives," she said, her face contorting as she stared at them with hateful eyes, "have no idea of the hell you have just unleashed upon yourselves."
…
THE TRIAL HAS CONCLUDED! STAY TUNED FOR THE FINAL RESULTS!