Mists of Penjar Chapter 5-5: Case 5 Trial, Part 1, a dangan ronpa kibou no gakuen to zetsubou no koukousei fanfic

Chapter 5-5

Trial and Trail Through Turbulence

LET THE TRIAL BEGIN!

Monokuma adjusted his samurai helmet before he began his usual intro. "Now then, everyone, allow me to briefly recap the town trial. We have a Deviant Tourist amid our guests! You all need to work together, if you can, to find out who this Deviant Tourist is, and if you do…

"I will subject the Deviant Tourist to an execution, where they will be tested to see if they are truly worthy of being a citizen of Penjar! However! If you vote for the wrong person, everyone besides the Deviant Tourist DIES! I won't even let you commit seppuku.

"Will you find the path to the psycho who killed Saiko, or will your psychopath go off on the lone path after ending Saiko's path in life? Upupupupu! AHAHAHA! Oh I slay me. Anyway! Let the fifth Town Trial... BEGIN!"

The twenty members of the trial glanced around the room at each other, unsure where to start. That is, all of them except one knew where they wanted to start.

"Is this even necessary?" Blake said with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. "We all know that dumb bitch," he pointed at Hara as he spoke, "is the one who killed the midget with the big tits. Shame, I never got to pork that piece of a-"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Isaac, losing all control of his temper, shouted as he started to run around the trial room towards Blake. Yitro managed to grab him and hold him back.

As people desperately tried to calm down Isaac by calling out to him, and Blake was laughing a great deal (with no one next to him due to memorial portraits being on both sides of his podium), Monokid snickered at the madness.

"Man, wouldn't it be funny," he said as he started to drink from a flask that suspiciously looked like Emanuel's, "if a murder happened during a trial?"

"…" acquiesced Monodam.

"Please refrain from killing each other during the trial," Monokuma called out.

It took a minute, but Isaac's white-hot rage died down and he managed to get a grip on himself. Returning to his podium, he wiped his brow, and winced as he saw Hara's terrified expression. "I'm… I'm sorry, everyone. I lost control, I won't let that happen again."

"You'd better not, you cuck," Blake spat out. "I have enough trouble with the dumb cunt who blames me for her parents' death. But either way, let's move on to voting for your bitch."

Isaac gripped the podium in fury, controlling himself but only just. Blake snickered as he watched the reporter struggle, and then said aloud, "Oh come on, we're all thinking it, there's no denying it."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"Hara was found at the scene of the crime, right?" Blake argued, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders. "From what I heard, she was holding the sword, and even admitted to killing the midget.

"She was in the building where that midget with big bazookas was, and hell, we also know that her pussy of a fiancé is suffering from nightmares, so she has a reason to stop them before he pisses himself to death or something.

"Case closed! You all see how it's true, right?" the pyrotechnician grinned victoriously, snapping his fingers to accentuate his point. "Riiiiight?"

"…" responded Shuuya, crossing his arms and frowning at the pyro.

"…" replied Anzu, clenching her fists in outrage.

"…" stated Eisei, who stared miserably down at the floor.

"…" retorted Ken, who brushed off his shoulder.

"What? You all cannot come up with a response?" Blake asked, snickering even more. "Guess I'm right."

"No," Pyrrha shouted, "you're wrong!"

"Listen, you stupid, mean, awful, prick of a person," the redheaded writer shouted, pointing at the pyro, "we're not closing this case until we get the right answers. Like, how did Saiko get into the arcade? And how could Hara commit a murder when we were all knocked out by sleeping gas?"

"Oh, those hardly matter, cinnamon tits," Blake said. "So why don't you go back to writing jerk-off material for lonely housewives, and-"

"HEY, EVERYONE!" Pyrrha shouted, loud and sudden enough to cut off the pyro's insult. "Hands up if you agree with Blake that we should just end the trial now and go with what he says."

An incredible amount of hands to showcase agreement with the suggestion did not shoot up into the air. Quite the contrary, no one but Blake raised their hand. Monokid did as well, but no one was paying attention to him.

"So then," Pyrrha stated confidently, crossing her arms as she glared at Blake, "you are the only person who seems to think that way."

"How about before you get us all killed," Blake sneered at her, "you let me pound your pussy until it is as red as your-"

"HEY, EVERYONE!" she shouted again. "Who here isn't interested in listening to another word this asshole has to say, say aye!"

"Aye!" Isaac, Hikari, Kimiko, Yitro, Ishiku, and Fannie all shouted immediately.

"Aye," Anzu, Futaba and Shuuya said.

"Aye aye, Captain Pyrrha," Odelios cheered.

"Aye," Drake meekly said. Ignatia snapped her fingers, pointed at herself, and raised her hand as she nodded.

"Aye," Hara and Eisei said softly.

"AYE," Monodam spoke out.

"Aye," Crystal, Souma, and Ken agreed.

"Aye," Fiora said with a flick of her hand.

"Aye," Monokuma announced.

"I forgot what we were voting on," Monokid shouted, waving the flask in his paw around, "because I already got drunk! Are we ending the trial now?"

"No we are not," Pyrrha said, as she eyed Blake, who was seething now. "Now you shut up, the adults are talking."

Blake snarled viciously, then crossed his arms and leaned against his podium. "Fine, get us all killed, bitch."

The redhead flicked her hair behind her shoulders, and said, "Now then, we should-"

"Hold on there, Pyrrha," Ken spoke up. "As much as I loathe that fiend, maybe it is important to discuss if Hara was capable of this."

"What?" Isaac blurted out. "You… you think she did this?"

"I would simply like proof that this is not a clear-cut case to begin with."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"I ask you," Ken continued to speak, "to showcase at least one point that proves this is not a clear-cut case."

"What about that Saiko was in the arcade?" Pyrrha spoke up. "She couldn't enter there, she was at the motel!"

"That only brings up confusion in the case of Saiko's location," Shuuya replied, "not that it's impossible for Hara to have killed her."

"We were all sleeping gassed," Ishiku said. "Hara was in the same building as us, she'd be asleep."

"Wasn't she alone and away from the rest of you?" Futaba inquired. "You sure she fell asleep like the rest of you?"

"What reason could there be that she didn't fall asleep?" Isaac declared. "How could she be exempt from that?"

The anthropologist adjusted her glasses, and added, "There does seem to be a fair amount of people not falling asleep at night when Monokuma gasses us."

"You think this is a building benefit?" Drake asked. "But which building would it be?"

"Excuse me," Eisei spoke up, lifting his head as he summoned his strength, "I believe I can clear this up."

"I have spent the last couple days with Isaac, Hara, and Saiko," Eisei remarked, shivering slightly when he said her name. "For the first and second nights, they could not gain any benefits. We were frightened out of the asylum the first night, and forced out of the hotel the second.

"It's simply impossible for Hara to have a building benefit, so there's no way she could be exempt from the sleeping effect Monokuma placed upon us."

The dentist took a deep breath, and then surveyed the others. "Is this enough to temporarily suspend the persecution of Hara?"

"My friend," Souma spoke up, as he adjusted the hippie clothing he had on still, "what about a trade with Monocrow to gain immunity to sleeping? If there is that."

"Monocrow was with me most of today," Anzu spoke up. "And when he wasn't, I was in the same room as Hara, as were Ishiku and Fannie."

"That's right," Fannie said. "There was never a point where Hara could communicate with Monocrow. The exchange required Monocrow and the person requesting it to be completely alone."

Ken growled as he watched Fannie speak, but rubbed his face as he contemplated what had been said. "Okay, yes, I am satisfied. This is not a clear-cut case, so let us continue."

"Despite the fact," Futaba said, eyeing both Ishiku and Fannie, "that we have some dubious witnesses."

Fannie nervously tugged at her white 'n pink hair, while Ishiku glared at Futaba. Most everyone was puzzled by this exchange, but Pyrrha spoke up once again.

"I think what needs to be discussed most right now," she said, maintaining a more calm tone now, "are those building benefits. If we don't find the answer to that now, we'll never know who could do what, especially our killer."

"Except that she's," Blake muttered, pointing at Hara, "right there."

"Shut up! Now, let's try to deduce this, shall we, people?"

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"We know there's four buildings," the redheaded writer said, "as well as four benefits. Do we have any idea what they could be?"

"Ignatia and I are fairly certain," Drake said, "that one of the benefits is all-access for around Penjar."

"I will second that," Yitro spoke up.

"From what we've seen and done, Pyrrha," Crystal said, "what could be described as an immunity from sleep and fatigue is one of those benefits."

"Yes, we haven't fallen asleep for two days now," the writer admitted, and I'm not even tired!"

"I'm also fairly certain," Yitro spoke up again, "that the special medical room in the asylum is something only those with a benefit can use."

"Are you sure that's not just another part of all-access?" Souma inquired.

"No, you need all-access to get into that room, but you apparently need another benefit to use the machine, and to bring in a patient."

"What about the fourth one?" Hikari inquired. "Do we have any idea what else could be involved?"

"Nothing's really stood out yet," Kimiko remarked.

"Alright then, how do we figure out which building," the steampunk model asked, "gives which benefit?"

"Hold on a minute," Pyrrha declared, "I have an idea."

"Crystal and I have been working together for the past two days," the writer proceeded to explain, "and we've been without need of sleep. The first two places we've were was the motel and the arcade.

"And Odelios," she smiled over at the clown, "also says he didn't fall asleep at all either! He was with us at the motel, so I think that confirms it."

"The motel gives you an immunity to sleep?" Ken inquired. "That's a fascinating prospect, but how is such a thing possible?"

"Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma giggled. "Never underestimate the powers of my fair city!"

"So you admit it?" Crystal asked. "That the motel's benefit is to make someone immune to sleep?"

"I admit to nothing!"

Ishiku raised his hand as he let out an uncomfortable noise. "Pyrrha, I really hate to break it to you, but there's a problem in that theory."

"Huh? What would that be?"

"Fannie and I fell asleep earlier today, when the sleeping gas affected us all. And we were at the motel on the first night too."

Pyrrha flinched, then drummed her fingers together. "Okay, it's not perfect, but how could it be any of the other buildings?"

Hikari rose her hand. "This calls for us to deduce via reason, not going back and forth like a debate. Allow me…"

The steampunk model opened up her umbrella and twirled it on her shoulder, posing with flair as she started up a different form of debate.

SUSPECT COMPACTOR!

"Now, we know that it is possible someone stole benefits from others," Hikari reasoned, "so let's argue for the sake of argument that the motel is the source of sleep immunity. Who here was at motel but still fell asleep?"

"Fannie and myself," Ishiku remarked.

"And you and me, Hikari," Kimiko added. "It was during the second night."

"That was different, darling, we were in contact with something that was meant to transport us to the Killing Game Realm. From what we've seen in this town, those items are powerful."

"That is true," Anzu mumbled.

"Yes, I concur," Eisei remarked.

"Now before we digress, has anyone," the steampunk beauty called out, "anyone else stayed up since the second night?"

No one else spoke up for a few moments. It was Drake that spoke, "Weren't most of us in the Killing Game Realm?"

"Yes, but that was a result of us falling asleep," Futaba remarked, "due a combination of sleeping gas and truth serum gas, apparently."

"And you know who wasn't in the Killing Game Realm with all of us?" Anzu spoke up. "The five people who stayed at the motel the first night!"

"Exactly!" Hikari said. She spread her arms, as if tossing away a great deal of items, all to be discarded into a compactor that would destroy them entirely. "Therefore, the only people with sleep immunity are those that stayed at the motel!"

"Solid deduction," Shuuya said, nodding at the model. "Now, what about the other benefit we're all aware of, the all-access?"

"Is it the asylum?" Drake asked. "Because that's how Yitro was able to get into the medical room?"

"I was at the arcade the first night," the swordsman pointed out. "It has to be one of those two."

"Wouldn't the asylum's benefit be the room in the asylum?" Anzu inquired. "That makes the most sense."

"Nothing makes sense," Ken remarked, "when it comes to Monokuma and his twisted ways."

"True," Futaba spoke up, "but who else can prove they had all-access?"

"Crystal was able to go into that room too," Pyrrha said, "and I could as well, though I didn't really want to. We had only been to the motel and arcade!"

"But Ignatia and I," Drake said, "don't have all-access, and we spent the first night in the arcade!"

"Yes, but didn't you spend the second night in the asylum?" Yitro asked. "It seems like there's a contradiction there."

"Maybe, like Ishiku and Fannie," Pyrrha inquired, "Drake and Ignatia are exceptions? They had their benefits stolen?"

Isaac held out both hands, as if weighing something in both. "Even if that's true, how do we know which gives all-access: the asylum or the arcade?"

Hikari drummed her fingers on her umbrella's handle, and whistled out like a steam train. Contemplating everything, she asked, "Okay, who here spent time in the asylum but not the arcade the first two nights?"

Odelios, Ishiku, and Fannie raised their hands. The model then asked, "Did any of you go anywhere you needed special access?"

"Me," Ishiku said, "Monokid wouldn't let me in the control room that was in the hotel."

Hikari nodded, twirling her umbrella around. "Can anyone tell me if they spent a night at the arcade but not the asylum?"

The group was silent for a while, until Pyrrha spoke up. "Fiora, dear, you were at the arcade the second night, remember?"

"Hmm?" Fiora asked, peering at the redhead from under her hat. "I suppose I was."

"Well, you were unconscious for most of it, I guess it's okay you forgot. But you were never at the asylum, correct?"

The movie maker put her hand on her hip, resting the palm of her other hand on Peko's sword's handle. "I do not believe so."

"And I know," Yitro spoke up, "that you have all-access, because you went into the Southern Plaza's armory with me."

"Hang on a minute," Isaac declared, "the what now?!"

The swordsman winced when he realized how many people were staring at him, entirely perplexed. "I know you have questions, but we may need to stick a pin in that until we're done with this."

"Yes," Hikari affirmed. "And we can also confirm that the arcade must be the source of all-access!"

She once again spread her arms, as if discarding all the other ideas into a compactor in the center of the trial room. Giggling victoriously, she added, "Oh, and this also proves that the asylum is, indeed, where we had to stay to use the healing machines in that room of the asylum!"

"Yes, I was only ever in the asylum as well as the arcade," Yitro said, "so it's impossible for it to be the psychic's tent."

Hikari laughed as she swept her arm out, and then said, "I think we settled all of that, darlings. We know the three benefits that we're aware of, and the buildings they're associated with."

"But what about the psychic tent?" Ken inquired. "Did anyone who spent time there come to realize they had something no one else did?"

"No," Anzu admitted rather quickly, her eyes darting towards Odelios for a moment before she spoke more calmly. "I don't feel different."

Odelios crossed his arms and glared at her, while Pyrrha narrowed her eyes as well. Anzu started to sweat at the two looking at her, and added, "I mean, Fiora woke up throwing up, I wasn't physically different!"

"I just got a massive rash over my body," Hikari admitted with a sulk. "And no one spent time in there on the second day, if I recall correctly."

"No," Souma said. "And I didn't feel any different during my time in there today."

Hikari sighed and closed her umbrella. "Okay, I think we'll have to abandon that for now, but we made incredible progress! We should be happy, we seriously compacted that difficult problem!"

As Hikari leaned up against her podium in triumph, the others took all of this new information into account. They were quiet for a few seconds, which didn't really sit well with Hikari.

"Not even applause?" the model sulked. "A clap? Come on, I showed such flourish there."

"We're trying to find Saiko's killer, Hikari," Isaac stated, frowning at her. "While we appreciate you finding the answers, it's not a show."

"But I'm such a performer," she grumbled at first, then sighed and shook her head. "Okay, I'm sorry. So then, what is the next step from here?"

Shuuya drummed his fingers on his crossed arms, and said, "I suspect that we should debate what the killer would need, in terms of the benefits."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"So our killer had to be able," Futaba theorized, "to be immune to sleep and have all-access around Penjar."

"Why does the killer need all-access?" Ken asked. "Does Saiko being in the arcade mean she had all-access?"

"Saiko was never in the arcade," Eisei spoke up, unwrapping a new lollipop. He stuck it in his mouth, with a look of relief on his face as he finally could steady himself with a treat again. "She was in the motel with me when we fell asleep."

"Wait, does having all-access," Anzu asked, "mean you can take someone without it into one of the buildings?"

"No it does not!" Monokid shouted. "There are no plus ones to anything in Penjar!"

"What about the healing machine in the asylum?" Yitro pointed out. "I was allowed to bring in Blake despite him not having all-access."

"… Alright, there is ONE plus one scenario! But only that!"

"Monodam," Drake spoke up, "is that true?"

"YES. ALL-ACCESS-DOES-NOT-GRANT-GUESTS."

"So if Saiko were brought into the arcade," Shuuya asked, "she would be punished for going somewhere she couldn't?"

"What are you saying?" Hara balked. "Saiko didn't have that permission!"

"There's no other way about this," the bounty hunter countered.

"Honestly, I know you're confused and upset," Shuuya said, "but there's no denying that Saiko had to have all-access. She couldn't be in the arcade otherwise."

"But," Hara protested, "if someone forced her into the arcade, then Monokuma would have killed her! That's murder!"

"Is it?" the bounty hunter asked, staring at her. "Remember, these trials are for when one of us personally kills someone else in town. If Saiko was pushed into a building without permission, then the one who kills her, ultimately, is Monokuma."

"But… but if someone forced her into a building, then they-"

"Not according to Monokuma's rules! Remember, it is a very literal definition of the words 'responsible for their death.' That's why he considers whoever sets off a booby-trap to be responsible for the death, not the person who set up a booby-trap."

Hara shook her head, and clenched her fists as she cried out, "No, I won't accept this as the truth!"

REBUTTAL SHOWDOWN!

Hara and Shuuya's platforms moved into the center of the trial circle, with everyone else now outside of the conversation. The cool and collected assassin stared at the emotional and desperate explorer, but neither backed down.

"I understand you're hurting, but you cannot deny that Saiko stole someone's all-access benefit. That's how she was in the arcade."

"She couldn't have known about that! I… I don't care how it looks, my best friend wasn't the conniving type!"

The two stared at each other more, and then the debate increased in tension tenfold around them.

"How else can you explain how Saiko was in the arcade?" Shuuya pried. "She was killed in the arcade, the amount of blood there proves it."

"Saiko was never alone to get in contact with Monocrow the last two days," Hara said. "She was with our group throughout all of yesterday!"

"And today?"

"Today we found her in the pool, luckily she was… alive at the time. Then she was with us again, and when she left, she was with Eisei at the motel!"

Shuuya rubbed his chin, and stared at Hara. "But you don't know where she was this morning, before you found her in the pool?"

"Shuuya, she was sleepwalking then, inside of the Killing Game Realm! We all woke up around the same time when freed from that awful place!"

"I won't deny she was in that realm with us," the bounty hunter pressed forward, lunging at a weak point in the weakness, "but there is still a time when Saiko was away from you all!"

"Your group was out and about Penjar during the second night, if I recall," Shuuya reasoned. "Then you were all gassed and were sleepwalking, waking up in various places.

"That means there was a time that Saiko could have been alone, and for a rather long period of time."

"Wait a minute," Souma argued, "are you saying Saiko made the request from Monocrow when she was sleepwalking?"

"As in, talking in her sleep?" Odelios asked. "That's crazy!"

"Is it now?" the bounty hunter said. "I suspected that this might be the case after that night when you all woke up to self-inflicted injuries. If Monokuma has the power to make you injure yourself, possibly kill yourself or other people, is it really so farfetched that he can make you talk in your sleep?"

"But Saiko was in the Killing Game Realm," Hara insisted. "Her mind was someplace else!"

"All the more reason to believe," Futaba said, "that she could be made to speak when unconscious."

Isaac, Hara, and Eisei all appeared rather sick at this point. They gripped their podiums, as the others watched their distraught reactions to this news. Eisei slammed his hand down on his own podium, and spoke up.

"There's a contradiction in that idea," he declared, clenching his small fists. "We need to debate it now."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"If you're saying that Saiko talked in her sleep to Monocrow," Eisei said, "then how do you explain tonight?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Shuuya said.

"She was in the motel! With me, and that means that she wouldn't suffer nightmares. No nightmares means no possibility of sleep walking out of the building."

"Then maybe it wasn't her sleepwalking that led her outside," Fiora stated, crossing her arms. "Maybe her killer kidnapped her."

"But… but why?" Isaac shouted in disbelief. "Why kidnap Saiko and take her to the arcade to kill her?"

"It was a highly elaborate set-up," Crystal commented. "I mean, it leaves the possibility of who it was up in the air."

"But why Saiko?" Hara exclaimed. "Why go out of their way to murder her?"

"We don't need to solve 'why her' right now," Ken remarked. "We need to settle 'how her'."

"Grammar correctness aside," Crystal said, "is it impossible for someone to kidnap Saiko from her room?"

"We deduced that the motel gives us an immunity to sleep," Eisei said, "and Saiko was at the motel. So our killer, who knew that the motel granted sleep, was going to try and enter a building that gave us sleep immunity? Absurd!"

"Wait, everyone," Anzu shouted, "I can solve this problem!"

"Monocrow told us that someone reserved the ability to take someone's building benefits," the actress explained, "for right when Monokuma would put us to sleep. So our killer obviously was going to time this so that they could sneak into the hotel, kidnap Saiko, and leave without anyone waking up."

"Wait, what?" Ken asked. "How would our killer know when they would wake up?"

"I mean, the hotel has to eventually give the benefit, right?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders. "Monokuma said he was going to put us to sleep earlier this time, which I personally assume means before the effects of the building come into play?"

The trial room was quiet for a few seconds, as Anzu nervously glanced around to see if anyone had any agreement on their faces.

"The problem with that," Shuuya remarked, "is that we're using knowledge of what already happened today rather than knowledge previously. How was our killer to know that they would not encounter anyone awake at the motel?"

"Monokuma did say that the sleeping gas would come earlier," the actress insisted. "And for all we knew, the benefits wouldn't come to us until after we spent the entire night in the motel."

"Again, this is a mighty big assumption," Futaba remarked, crossing her arms. "However, we can only assume our killer went off the same assumptions, since none of us were privy to the details."

"Are you sure about that?" Ken said, staring right at Fannie.

"Will you cut that out?" Ishiku snapped. "You've been going at her so fervently, you were trying to kill her!"

"Wait, what?!" Kimiko shouted, staring aghast at Ken. "You tried to do what?"

"I was merely attempting to see if she was true to her word," the cavalryman replied, holding his hands up. "She keeps saying she's one of us, but how are we to know for sure if we cannot test that?"

"Wasn't Taro's sacrifice enough?" Anzu shouted indignantly. "Wasn't the fact that he died for our sake a sign that the Kubs, when human, aren't part of Despair?"

"Taro died ensuring someone else died too," Futaba said, crossing her arms. "You can see it as noble, but it was just more death, more blood. We have no way of trusting if the rules apply to Fannie."

"Well I told you they did," Monokuma declared, his samurai helmet tipping forward to mostly hide his eyes, though the red gleam could still be seen.

The anthropologist glared up at him. "Oh, and we're supposed to trust your word? The avatar of Despair, the mayor of this evil town, the one who is being controlled by someone who loves all the misery and death going on? We are to take your word for it?"

"Let us debate this," Ken declared. "Here and now!"

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"So your argument that the culprit is Fannie," Isaac said, dubiously glancing around the room, "is that the rules don't apply to her?"

"We have no way of knowing if they do," Ken argued. "She could be like one of those rich celebrities, the rules don't apply to her."

"Your methods of explaining things," Odelios said, "really need work."

"Please wait," Fannie shouted, shaking her hands in front of her. "How can I prove they do, when breaking the rules means death?"

"I saw her fall asleep before I did," Ishiku argued. "The sleeping gas worked on her too."

"She could have faked that," Futaba said. "Plus, didn't you have the sword with you when you passed out?"

"No," Fannie interrupted before Ishiku could answer, "I had it. He gave it to me."

"You had the murder weapon," Souma declared, "you were in the same building as the murder, and we cannot verify that the rules don't apply to you? I'm beginning to think they have a point."

"N-no," Fannie stammered, "I couldn't kill someone… it's evil."

"Stop accusing," Ishiku hollered, "my girlfriend!"

"I have proof! Proof that Fannie cannot be the corrupt source you're all claiming her to be."

"Oh really now?" Futaba said, staring at the magician suspiciously. "And what, pray tell, is that?"

"Monocrow," Ishiku spat out, clenching his staff tightly as he returned to the stare. "If Fannie is still on their side, if Despair is all lying to trick us (which, may I add, goes against every other trial), then why would Fannie destroy Monocrow?"

"Because Monocrow would tell us where she had been," Yitro commented. "And if she left the arcade to kidnap Saiko, he would be able to tell us that."

"Yes… if the rules apply to her," the magician said with a confident smirk. "But if they don't, then why destroy one of your allies who could, much more helpfully, lie for you?"

"Monocrow could have been destroyed," Ken pointed out, "because that would throw us off! She would know the trial would lead to this!"

"Really now?" Odelios spoke up. "Because if the rules don't apply to Fannie, and thus Monocrow could lie for her, this trial would be a hundred times more difficult."

"Especially if," Pyrrha spoke up, "Monocrow could say someone else was moving around instead of her. Ishiku is right. This goes against everything we've seen and experienced."

"Monokuma, Monocrow, and the Kubs all follow rules," Isaac insisted. "That's how Despair works, it needs to obey its own rules, because only then, can a victim feel truly, truly lost. Or, if they fail, they fell that despair themselves."

"As much as I hate Despair," Crystal said, "I fail to see how this line of thought will get us anywhere. We cannot go off on the belief the rules all changed on us."

Ken and Futaba sighed heavily, as Shuuya rubbed his forehead in disbelief. "Fine," the assassin said, "but we need to get back on track. It is our belief that the killer had immunity to sleep and an all-access pass, and used that to kidnap Saiko, bring her to the arcade, and kill her.

"But how did our killer know that Saiko had the all-access too?"

There was silence in the trial room, as everyone contemplated this. Drake raised his hand, and suggested, "Maybe we need to debate this too?"

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"How did our killer know," Shuuya repeated, "that they could bring Saiko into the arcade without her being killed upon carrying her in?"

"Maybe they killed her outside of the arcade," Souma suggested, "and brought her in?"

"There was no blood out in the plaza," the assassin countered.

"Nor was there any," Eisei said, "at the motel."

"There was far too much blood on the stage for the murder to be anywhere else," Yitro commented.

"Maybe they saw," Odelios suggested, "when Saiko was sleep-talking to Monocrow?"

"No, the request from Monocrow," Anzu replied, "needs to be done with no one else around."

"Coo'd they have seen her go into some place she wasn't normally allowed to go," Kimiko asked, "when sleepwalking?"

"We found her in the pool," Hara replied. "And weren't most of us asleep and in the Killing Game Realm at that point?"

"Wait, so the only people who could have known Saiko had that all-access pass," Yitro inquired, "were the ones who were awake?"

"The ones who were awake," Crystal commented, "were myself, Pyrrha, Odelios, Ishiku, and… Fannie."

"Her again," Souma commented, glancing over at the white 'n pink-topped woman.

"Eeek! It's a coincidence, I swear," Fannie shrieked. "Ishiku and I didn't know anything about someone possibly being like that!"

"That's not true," Futaba declared, "and I can prove it!"

"You two said that someone," the anthropologist said, "dressed up in a cloak and morph mask, and carrying a battle-ax, chased you around the asylum on the second night."

"Well, yeah," Ishiku said, glancing to the side. "But we didn't know who it was, or if they had that all-access pass."

"The only way someone could have gotten that stuff was if they had the all-access pass!"

"Again, we didn't know that, Futaba," the magician countered, "at the time! We didn't even know that's where that stuff came from until now! And we're still not entirely sure about that."

Yitro sighed, then raised his hand. "Okay, I'll briefly explain: sometime during the second night, Penjar developed a southern plaza, much like all the ones we've been to, popping up overnight. I had a thought that something like that may have happened, since that executioner's stuff couldn't have come from anywhere else."

"Monokuma was in the southern plaza," Fiora said as she crossed her arms, eyes peering at the others. "He told us since the two of us have special access, we can go into the armory, which is a building with a lot of weapons of all sorts. And there was a section dedicated to medieval weapons, including an executioner's clothing and unique weapon, though those were missing."

"So someone went to the southern plaza last night," Hikari said, "procured that gear, and then terrorized Ishiku and Fannie?"

"Then left it in front of the statue for everyone to see," Drake commented.

"And then our killer brought it into the arcade," Isaac growled, clenching his fists, "and left it in front of her."

Futaba tapped her glassed, then stared at the reporter. "Are we sure it was the killer who did all that?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Because if you think about it logically, there's a pattern forming up. Saiko had all-access, Saiko was sleepwalking, and most of all, we're trying to figure out how someone knew that Saiko had that all-access pass."

"Wait, what?" Hara shouted, covering her mouth in horror. "You cannot be serious! You're accusing Saiko of being an axe-toting murderer?!"

"She was sleepwalking, if you recall," Futaba countered. "She wasn't aware of what she was doing, anymore than any of you were when you were doing it."

Eisei folded his hands into his pockets, having been staring at the floor for a while now. He spoke up passionately, "The nightmares are all attuned specifically towards what we dread, what we fear. This is all extremely complicated and convoluted."

"Not to mention," Ishiku spoke up, "that the executioner who chased Fannie and I was very tall! Saiko was, my apologies, a short woman; we would have known the difference in height, trust me!"

Futaba stared at Ishiku again, then smirked. "Oh really now? The cloak that was found was made for a short person. There's no way that a tall person could wear it and cover themselves like you claim they did."

"Well then there were obviously two cloaks, one for the killer, and one left there with Saiko!"

Fannie drummed her fingers together, then glanced over at her boyfriend. "Honey, I think there may be something you're forgetting."

"Huh? What's that?"

"You said there was something off about the executioner when we encountered him. Maybe you've forgotten an subtle detail of it?"

"Maybe, but how do I remember it?"

"Here, come here and let me help you…"

Fannie cupped Ishiku's face, smiling at him as she caressed his face tenderly. Everyone watched with various degrees of intrigue as Fannie closed her eyes and massaged his cheeks…

Then she pulled her head back and slammed their foreheads together! "WHAM! Truth headbutt!"

"Ahhh, what the hell!" Anzu shrieked.

"You crazy psycho bitch," Futaba hollered.

"I knew it," Ken shouted. "I know all this time-"

"Whooooooa," Ishiku said, flapping his arms around as he balanced on one leg, then stood up straight and grinned. "That worked perfectly!"

"Huh? It does?" Odelios asked. "I should headbutt you more often!"

"Yeah, buddy, it does! Because I recall that encounter so much better now… and…

Fannie tossed the chocolate coin at the executioner. She giggled, until the coin bounced off the stomach of the executioner, and rolled back towards them.

There was a moment of silence, as the executioner rubbed at their stomach with two fingers gently. Then they started to walk towards the two, scrapping their axe on the floor.

"When something hits you in the stomach, you don't use a couple fingers to rub it," Ishiku said, showcasing this with his own stomach and fingers. "You use your whole palm! However, you know what you do use a couple digits to rub if something tics against it?

"Your forehead," the magician said triumphantly, rubbing his forehead in the way he mentioned. "So I think I know what happened! The asylum was giving us hallucinations, like some of you said it could."

"Yes," Isaac remarked, "it certainly does that. You think the hallucinations made the executioner look worse to you?"

"Well I mean, they do tend to work against us, huh? We would have known instantly it was Saiko if we could see her height…"

Ishiku stopped talking, as what he was saying dawned on them. The trial room was silent for a moment, then Eisei slapped his hand on his podium.

"No, this doesn't confirm anything," he insisted. "Remember how I said everyone's nightmares are a reflection on their fears? Saiko dressing up as an executioner is ridiculous, she did not fear death to the point where it was a phobia."

"But she was a murderer," Blake said with a cruel grin on his face.

Eisei turned towards the pyro, opening his mouth to try and speak, but he froze. Blake cackled, and said, "Oh, sorry, I figured I would speak since her friends are going to lie about this. But Saiko was saying yesterday how she killed someone, and she'd do it again.

"Sounds like someone was an executioner in real life!"

"N-no," Eisei stammered. "Stop that, that is not true-"

"Eisei," Hara said gently, "we… we shouldn't lie about this. If we don't tell the truth, we could all die because we'll never find out who did this."

"What are you talking about?" Souma asked.

Isaac, Hara, and Eisei exchanged glances, and it was Isaac who silently volunteered to speak up. "Some time ago, Saiko was coerced into fabricating evidence to put a man away, and it led to him being executed. He was a member of a Yakuza gang, the Kuzuryu clan. Someone from a rival gang kidnapped Saiko's sister, and told her to do it or they'd kill her sister."

"So she was like an executioner," Shuuya remarked, stroking his chin. "And then, in her sleeping state, she became one again, and hunted down the person that left the Monokuma family: Fannie."

"Huh?" Fannie squeaked out. "Me?"

"It makes perfect sense," Crystal admitted, shaking her head. "The nightmares made manifest, just like Eisei said, and why she went after you in particular."

"Wait, please," Hara spoke up, "Saiko was forced to do those things! Please don't judge her! Besides, the person she had to frame for the crime was already a murderer!"

"It matters not, in this trial," Yitro said, shaking his head. "Look, Saiko is the victim here, we are going to find out who her killer is, not drag her name through the mud. However, this is very important to know."

"Yes, because now we know that Saiko was going around with her all-access pass," Fiora remarked, "and someone could have seen her."

"And there's only five people who were awake during that time," Ken declared. "One of whom is the person Saiko was trying to kill!"

"Wait wait wait," Fannie sputtered out, "I told you already, we had no idea that the executioner was Saiko!"

"So you claim," Blake said with a snicker.

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"Ishi and I," Fannie insisted, "had no way of knowing that was Saiko! We ran throughout the asylum, then left it, and hid in his house until morning!"

"You were moving all night?" Kimiko asked. "How is that possible?"

"We were in the hotel the first night, remember?" Ishiku said. "We had sleep immunity."

Fiora spoke up, speaking sternly. "Are we sure it's one of those two? What about the other three?"

"No one saw Odelios since yesterday," Ken remarked. "He could have seen it was Saiko."

"The cloak, morph mask, and axe were left at the statue," Hikari remarked.

"Yes, which one could see," Eisei commented, "from the windows of the arcade."

"Wait, are you accusing Pyrrha and myself?" Crystal asked. "We were watching three unconscious people nonstop."

"Really? Neither of you needed a biological break once? You were sleep immune, but not biologically immune."

"The restrooms are on the same side as the stage, where we were looking after the unconscious," Pyrrha explained. "We wouldn't need to walk across the building."

"Hmm…"

"Hang on, everyone," Hikari protested, "I brought up the location of the items at the statue because I thought someone could have looked through them for clues."

"Monokid wouldn't let us touch them," Anzu remarked. "We realized then it was because only the owner was allowed to, remember?"

"No," Yitro shouted, "that's wrong!"

"When we were examining Saiko's body, I picked up the axe," Yitro explained. "But when Odelios tried, he was told he needed permission. So we were wrong when we assumed that only the owner of those items could touch them, it was people who had the all-access pass who could."

Anzu slapped her hand against her face. "God damn it, I don't have that access pass, so I helped make the assumption."

"Well we didn't really expect much," Blake remarked, "from a cock-guzzling fuck-slut."

"More than anyone ever expects from you," Anzu responds. "At least people want to go near me, unlike the man so repulsive, it's like he's radioactive."

"Alright calm down now," Souma pleaded, noticing the two staring venomously at each other. "Back on track, what does the executioner's gear being outside and touchable prove?"

"That someone could have found out it was Saiko via that," Hara insisted. "Someone who could touch them and look for clues!"

"So it wouldn't just be the five who were awake?" Futaba asked. "Why are you making it more complex?"

"I'm… I am not trying to do that! I'm trying to find the truth, and we need to explore all avenues!"

"And how exactly would we do that?" Shuuya asked. "The cloak cannot have anything on it to prove it was Saiko, neither would the axe."

"But there was the morph mask," Isaac commented. "Whoever put that over their head would leave hairs in there. And Saiko is our only bluebell now."

Kimiko hummed in thought. "That's true, but we'd really need to see it to prove that. If only we thought to bring it…"

There was a flicker of movement, and the biker gang leader noticed Fiora had pulled something out of her pocket. It was a napkin, with splotches of blood soaked into it, though when Fiora unfolded it, she revealed the morph mask inside.

"You mean this, correct?" she smoothly asked.

"Gaaaah," Monokid shouted amid the other startled cries from the graduates, waving his fists in the air, "why do you have that?!"

"I brought it in case we needed more of the evidence. It makes sense, does it not?"

"Fucking sicko, taking stuff off a dead person!"

"It was not on her person. Anyway, the cloak was too big to bring and far too soaked in blood. But this…"

Fiora turned the morph mask inside-out, and then plucked a couple hairs inside of it. "Blue. Just like we theorized."

Hara let out a shuddering breath, then said, "So Saiko was the executioner, and there's more people who could have ascertained this."

"Great, you just made it more complex," Futaba scolded her, glaring at the explorer then at Isaac. "We need to find out who the killer is, not widen the suspect pool!"

"We wouldn't have gotten anywhere with the five who were awake anyway," Isaac declared. "Ishiku and Fannie aren't more or less guilty with everything that's been said and done, Crystal and Pyrrha can verify each other's whereabouts, and Odelios is…"

The reporter trailed off, and then he glanced over at the clown. Everyone did too, and he stared back, wide-eyed and nervous. Then he pulled out his rubber chicken, and snarled at it, "This is all your fault, in a way I haven't figured out yet but I will."

"No jokes, court jester," Ken shouted at him. "Where were you all this time?"

Ignatia loudly snapped her fingers, then beckoned Odelios to "bring it forward." The clown swallowed nervously, glancing between the graduates, then at Anzu, at Pyrrha, at Rubarrow, then at everyone again.

"Um, please allow me," he said, "to explain everything."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"I," he declared proudly, holding up his rubber chicken in the air like a trophy, "was hiding! Like a wimpy little coward!"

"… What," Souma responded.

"Totally hiding! Curled up in a ball. Think I wet myself too."

"Odelios," Pyrrha spoke up, but the clown started waving his hands wildly.

"No no no, it's okay! I was hiding because of all the scary shit that was going on in the asylum! You know, hallucinations, wicked critters, images of scary clowns…"

"You ARE a scary clown," Shuuya snapped at him.

"Oh, thank you, the bounty hunter/assassin is spooked of me!"

"No, not me personally, you dimwit, I'm not scared of-"

"If you woo'd all stop bickering," Kimiko said, "there is the important issue that Odelios was completely alone, which is how Monocrow did his deals."

"And he was already able to stay up all night," Eisei commented, "due to being in the motel first off."

"We have no idea where you've been," Drake blurted out, though he looked ashamed to say it. "Odelios, you were gone for all that time, and you only showed up now."

"Wait, the clown did it?" Blake said cheerfully. "Hot damn, we get to see the clown get executed?"

"Odelios!" Pyrrha shouted. "Say something!"

"Something?" the clown repeated, grinning sheepishly.

"…" Anzu gripped her podium, grinding her teeth in frustration.

"Look, Odelios," Isaac spoke up, "the asylum's hallucinations are meant to scare people out of the building, not keep them in it! Your story is not adding up."

"You could have taken Drake and Ignatia's benefits," Ken pointed out, "used it to move around freely, and then killed Saiko!"

"What other reason," Souma commented, "would there be for you to hide yourself away from all of us for so long?"

"Odelios," Pyrrha called out to him again, "if you don't tell them, then I will-"

"STOP IT," Anzu shrieked loudly, slapping her palms on her podium, "stop it, everyone! It's my fault!"

"It's all my fault! Stop accusing Odelios, he has a perfectly good reason to have hidden away," the actress said, clutching her hands together and rubbing at her right pointer finger. "Could you all please… give me a chance to explain?"

Everyone stared at her, rather befuddled for the most part. Pyrrha was relieved, while Odelios was staring at her with concern. "Look, Anzu," he said, "we don't need to play the blame game-"

"I tried to kill Odelios," Anzu said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I don't know why, I don't know what came over me, but when we were looking through the asylum on the second night, we found a bunch of hammers. I took one in my hands, and then… there was this blinding, overwhelming fury that suddenly possessed me. I swung at his head, he managed to move in time…

"But if I had hit him, I would have killed him. When I dropped the hammer, he ran the hell away from me. It's my fault, please don't blame him."

Anzu sobbed, clenching the podium as she stared down at it, unwilling to see how the others were looking at her right now. "I… I don't know what's wrong with me. I've been losing myself more and more. I'm a porn star who has started freaking out over intimacy, I have nightmares of groups of people torturing me, I tried to bash in the head of one of my friends for no reason…"

Anzu buried her face in her hands, her elbows on the podium as she cried. Everyone was flabbergasted, unsure of what to say or do; everyone except for one person who no one asked.

"So the slut did it then?" Blake asked. "I mean, if she's randomly killing people…"

"Shut the hell up," Pyrrha snapped, glaring at him. "Anyway, I'm sorry, Anzu, truly I am, but we needed that to come out. Odelios was hiding from you, and there are side effects to the immunity to sleep that we haven't addressed."

"Wait what?" Eisei spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone who has it doesn't have a concept of time passing by," Pyrrha said. "I know this because Crystal and I stayed up all night watching three unconscious people, but never once did we say, 'hey, we're up late, don't you feel sleepy'?"

"That is true," Ishiku remarked. "Fannie and I were hiding in my house, and we had literally no thought to the passing of time until the morning announcements played!"

"So being sleep immune means you have no idea how much time you've taken doing something," Hikari remarked, "or even, if you're doing nothing much? Like how Kimiko and I were searching the asylum for hours?"

"Exactly!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "Odelios started hiding, and because of this benefit's hidden downside, he had no idea how long he was in there!"

"What about the morning announcements?" Drake asked. "He saw the Body Discovery Announcement, there are TVs and such there."

"I, um," Odelios said with a nervous chuckle, "may have hid myself in cabinets and such to keep myself hidden away at some point. Those can be rather soundproof."

"There were multiple people looking for you," Crystal said with a roll of her eyes. "You hid yourself far too well."

"That's the point of hiding, my blonde battle bestie!"

Crystal's eyes widened, then she blushed slightly. "Oh stop it."

Ignatia face-palmed, loud enough to alert everyone's attention to her. She handed Drake her cell phone, and he read it out loud. [We forgot that since he didn't leave that asylum, he couldn't possibly have known anything going on outside. Especially not who was at which building tonight.]

"She's right," Fiora remarked, holding her hand near her face. "Odelios wouldn't know about the locations of the victim, the murder weapon, or who else would be in the arcade. He could be walking into a place with people wide awake like he was."

"Unless," Blake spoke up, "someone told him."

Isaac growled in frustration. "Why would anyone do that? Help him commit a murder? That's just condemning yourself to death!"

"Haven't we seen enough people lose it here, being on the side of Despair or Chaos or for the fun of it, dumbass? People don't care about dying, they're trying to fulfill a purpose!"

"No, we haven't seen anything to indicate we have multiple people here that fanatically suicidal! There is no point to delve into that!"

"Really now? Sounds like something you would say, since you and your bitch were already part of something like that last trial."

Isaac glared daggers at Blake, who snickered back at him. "I don't know why I'm bothering to say this," the reporter shouted, spit flying from his mouth, "but we weren't guilty of anything, you dickhead! Aka committed that murder!"

"There was still the case," Yitro said, "of the writing in that hall, done by the Entity of Chaos. The one who knew something about all of us, or was just trying to goad us."

"I still," Ken scoffed, "have no idea what they meant by painting 'scarlet' on my portrait."

"Hey, um," Drake stammered out, gaining their attention, "we're kind of digressing here. But I think we should proceed like Isaac said, we don't want to go into this acting like there has to have been two people."

"It's just convenient for him, that's why," Blake shouted angrily. "He and his bitch could have done this!"

"You know, no one is listening to you," Pyrrha snapped. "At the start of the trial, you said it was Hara. Then you said it was Anzu, then it was Odelios, now it's both Hara and Isaac. You're just a pathetic person, a pyro who wants to add more fuel to the flames."

"And you're going to get us all killed," Blake shouted, "if you let emotions run this instead of the obvious truth!"

"You want the obvious truth?! Fine, let's go down that route! We all know one thing is for certain when it comes to the killer, and that is that they scheduled a benefits transfer for when the sleeping gas was deployed!"

"She's right," Isaac said. "Who else would do that but Saiko's killer?"

Blake scoffed, as he eyed Hara. "Who indeed."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"So let's try and think this thoroughly," Hikari said, holding up one of her hands in a calming gesture. "Our killer requested the transfer at some point, but when?"

"It obviously had to be after the last person," Souma said, "who would be Saiko, did it. So anytime since last night?"

"Wait, keep in mind," Eisei said, "that Monokuma told us that the sleeping gas would come out early. It had to have been after that, or Saiko's killer wouldn't request it at that specific time."

"Yes, I agree with that," Shuuya remarked. "They would want to make sure that everyone else would be asleep."

"Everyone else who would interfere with the kidnapping and the murder," Pyrrha said. "So they had to make sure all witnesses were asleep?"

"Wait a minute, are we going under the pretense," Kimiko asked, "that our killer knew a'boot the sleep immunity?"

"They would have to," Fiora said as she clenched her fist near the sword she was wearing, "because in order to steal the sleeping immunity for themselves, they would have to know about it, and who had it."

"…" Pyrrha was rather silent, staring at the movie maker with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Hmm? Am I wrong?" she asked the writer. "I feel it makes the most logical sense."

"No, you're right, dear. Just that it… it's a bit of a shock, knowing that our killer was ahead of us all this time, having figured it out."

"Wait a minute now," Futaba shouted, pointing at Fiora, "what did you just say?"

"I said," Fiora repeated, "our killer would have to know about the sleep immunity, and who had it."

"And what makes you think they took sleep immunity, and not the all-access pass?"

"Because there were two people in the arcade who had the sleep immunity," the movie maker said, crossing her arms as she coolly spoke to Futaba, "as we have all deduced from those who stayed at the hotel."

"So you're saying that Ishiku and Fannie had to have been innocent, Fiora? You've already decided that for us?"

Fiora closed her eyes, turning her head to the side as she continued to speak. "I wish you wouldn't make such assumptions. I was merely going where the logical process went; especially since our killer stole the sleep immunity at the time it would be essential."

"Look, we all knew who was staying where, and who had been where," Crystal said. "We had been keeping good track of each other. So yes, if someone were to plan this murder, they'd know who and what would be at the arcade."

"But it's still making a grand assumption that it was sleep immunity stolen at that point and time," Futaba argued. "What if our killer already had it? Monocrow wouldn't allow someone to have more than one of the same benefit, right?"

She stared at Anzu, who was still covering her face in shame. The anthropologist called out, "Hey, Anzu! We need you, so stop crying and join the debate!"

Anzu lifted her head, face wet with tears. She took in several shuddering gasps, and wiped at her eyes. "Um, s-sorry. What did you need?"

"Monocrow cannot take two of the same benefit and give them to the same person, right?"

"I… I don't know. He never told me that, and I never got a chance to ask him."

Futaba's eyes widened, and she turned towards Fannie. "What about you? Do you know?"

"I know just as much about Monocrow's abilities as you all do," the white 'n pink-topped woman admitted.

The anthropologist ran a hand through her silver hair and growled in frustration. "You do all realize how much not knowing this little detail complicates things, don't you?"

"How so?" Anzu asked.

"If Monocrow was capable of taking away two peoples' benefits and giving them to one, our killer could have put both Ishiku and Fannie to sleep so that no one would be awake in the arcade; however, if Monocrow cannot do that…

"Then who did the killer give the other sleeping immunity to, if they needed to put Ishiku and Fannie under?"

Everyone exchanged glances, trying to figure out what this meant. There was finally a loud scoff, once again from Blake. "Duh, Hara and Isaac got it for themselves."

"Will you STOP!" Pyrrha shouted, pounding her fist on her podium. "You cannot prove that!"

"Oh, can I now?"

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"It's simple. Isaac requests the transfers for sleeping immunity for him and Hara," Blake said, all the while grinning towards Isaac, "and then she kills Saiko for him! Easy."

"That's ridiculous," Isaac shouted.

"Oh yeah, cuck boy? Prove it's impossible."

"I didn't know anything about this benefits transfer! No one ever told me!"

"Like your bitch couldn't overhear the professional cocksucker over there," Blake pointed at Anzu, "and then given you the details? Ha!"

"That control room doesn't have windows, and the only door was locked," Ishiku argued.

"That's never stopped the robot animals from getting any room or place in this stupid town!"

"Monocrow only did his deal when the person was alone," Souma said. "Isaac had Hara nearby the door the entire time."

"Oh, she couldn't have stepped away from the door for five minutes?!"

"Hara didn't have the all-access pass," Ken argued, "so she couldn't have… oh, wait, that could have been transferred too."

"Ha! Thanks for proving my point, muscle head!"

"I'm not trying to help you, you disgraceful-"

"Cease the bickering," Eisei declared, "because I have an answer to this!"

"You claim that Hara was given the all-access pass along with sleep immunity, Blake?" Eisei said. "Then tell me, who did she steal it from?"

"Duh, anyone who had been in the arcade!"

"Who, precisely?"

"I don't fucking know, it's not important!"

"It is important if you're going to argue that Hara is guilty of this crime like you keep saying. That's the only way our killer could take Saiko from the motel."

Blake dismissively waved his hand towards Eisei. "I don't have to answer a little queer like you over something like that."

"You will if you want us to take your answer seriously," Crystal snapped. "Now who did Isaac steal the all-access pass from, if he did?"

"How am I supposed to know?! It's not like you can prove who has it still!"

"Actually…"

Fiora held up the morph mask in her hand. "This is an item from the armory, an item you can only hold if you have that all-access. I can do a test and see who here can hold it, if you'd like."

"When the fuck did you get to be so smart, B-movie maker?!" Blake hollered at her. "Did you grow some brain cells after Emanuel smacked you enough times?"
Fiora ignored him entirely as she glanced around at the members of the trial. "Should I begin?"

"THERE-IS-NO-NEED-TO-WASTE-TIME-ON-THAT," Monodam said aloud. "SINCE-YOU-HAVE-THE-MEANS, I-WILL-TELL-YOU-ALL-WHO-HAS-THE-ALL-ACCESS-PASS-RIGHT-NOW."

"Thank you, Monodam," Drake called up to him.

"YOU'RE-WELCOME, DRAKE. NOW-THEN, THE FOLLOWING-HAVE-THE-ALL-ACCESS-PASS:FIORA, SHUUYA, CRYSTAL, YITRO, KEN, FUTABA, PYRRHA, AND ISAAC."

"Ha! See?!" Blake shouted, pointing accusingly at Isaac. "He has it! I told you all!"

"Yes, he has it," Eisei calmly replied, "but Hara doesn't. And she's the one you are claiming murdered Saiko."

"Then she transferred it away after she was done murdering Saiko!"

"Then how did she," Shuuya snapped at him, "get back into the arcade? Monocrow was destroyed out in the plaza, and Hara was inside of the arcade. She couldn't have been outside to make that transfer and then go back into the building she wouldn't have permission to enter!"

"What the hell?" Blake turned towards the bounty hunter. "I thought you were on my side, taking down these two."

"I'm on the side of discovering the truth, and it is impossible for Hara to have done what you're saying."

The pyrotechnician scowled and muttered, "She still could have had the sleep immunity and done it."

"There is no way for us to test that like the all-access pass."

"Excuse me," Drake spoke up, raising his hand up again, "but there's something I want to ask."

Shuuya turned towards the timid cartoonist, curious about this. "What would that be?"

"If we go off of the idea that the killer kidnapped Saiko and brought her to the arcade to do so, does that mean that the people who have the all-access pass are the only suspects?"

The graduates stared amongst the eight people who had said pass, wondering if Drake's question spoke the truth. Was one of them their killer?

"You all really need to not listen," Blake scoffed, "to the guy so much of a pussy that I doubt his balls have dropped yet. The four people in the arcade could still have killed Saiko."

Ignatia snapped her fingers, gaining the others' attention as she had Drake read her next note. [None of the four people inside of the arcade this night had the all-access pass, they couldn't kidnap Saiko.]

"They don't need an all-access pass," Blake shouted, "to jam a sword in her chest!"

"What he's getting at has a ring of truth," Souma spoke up. "Perhaps we should discuss that, if just to discover if it is possible or not."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"Why," Pyrrha argued, crossing her arms in a huff, "are we even listening to that prick right now?"

"Because his point could be valid," Yitro said, though he sounded quite upset by saying so. "Did the person who kidnapped Saiko also kill her?"

"A person with the all-access pass," Crystal admitted, "could have kidnapped her, brought her to the arcade, and someone inside could have killed her instead."

"And that someone," Blake triumphantly declared, "is Hara!"

"That's utter nonsense," Isaac shouted. "She didn't have the sleeping immunity!"

"You could have bargained with Monocrow," the pyro remarked, "and then smashed the bird after you were done with him!"

"But Isaac was locked in the control room," Ishiku argued. "He couldn't get out!"

"He says he couldn't get out, but he could easily be lying about that. It was all staged so they could kill the bitch."

"Monodam said that it was next to impossible for him to get out unless someone with all-access opened the door from the outside!"

"And next to impossible still ain't impossible, mate. There's absolutely no reason to believe that Isaac would be trapped in that room against his will except for his benefit!"

"I can prove you wrong," Isaac shouted, pointing defiantly at Blake.

"You know how we deduced why Saiko was the executioner in her sleep?" the reporter said, rubbing his scarred arm for a second before ceasing and standing with more confidence. "My being trapped in that room was exactly what Monokuma wanted. It was not for my benefit, it was for trying to break me."

Hara gasped slightly, staring wide-eyed at him. "How do you figure that, Isaac?"

"You all know I lost my family to a serial killer, thanks to Monokuma. You know I watched them die when I hid from her, where I could only watch? That's exactly where my sleepwalking took me…

"Into a room where I could only watch, where I would be forced to see someone horrible happen to those I care about, thanks to the camera feeds. Monokuma wanted me to feel that helplessness again, to drive at my guilt, just as I'm sure he wanted Saiko to feel should she discover the truth about what she was doing."

Isaac shot a side glare at Monokuma, to which the bear laughed. It was a tense moment, though it was interrupted by Ishiku.

"You all realize that the trick door was meant to make everyone believe that the person was inside of the arcade, not the motel? And that goes especially for someone who was inside of the control room without any knowledge of how they got in there!"

"Which would be," Crystal spoke up, "the main reason why such a set-up would be there to begin with! It was all Monokuma's plan!"

"Wait, are you certain a'boot that?" Kimiko asked. "What if the point of that was fur someone at the hotel to mess with those at the arcade?"

"Yeah, like," Blake said with a suspicious glance at Isaac, "to control the animatronics? You could have one of them take the sword and kill Saiko yourself!"

"Wait a minute now," the biker shouted, "I didn't mean it like that!"

"I don't think," Anzu spoke up, "we can 100% prove that was the point of the trick door and the control room, but since that is how it was set up, it is likely that Monokuma planned it like that. And thus that's how it worked."

"Wait, are you serious?" Hikari asked. "Darling, you think that Monokuma was specifically targeting Isaac?"

"We know he was, we know he's going after all of us in ways we cannot see coming," Odelios interrupted. "All of us have had cruel reminders of the darkest moments of our past with the nightmares we've been experiencing, and more. You couldn't possibly forget everything we've been through since we arrived in this town."

Kimiko paused for a moment to look down at her bracelet of dog tags. Ignatia rubbed at her head where she had driven her forehead against a wall when sleepwalking. Yitro clenched his hand around his sword, grinding his teeth.

Most everyone in the trial room was recalling something that had been shoved into their face, or worse, by Penjar. Shuuya ran a finger over the scar on his face that Emanuel had left, and spoke up for them. "I think we can agree that the evil in this town plans to break us, not aid us. Plus…

"There were five of us in that hotel, I think one of us would have noticed if Isaac came out of that room down the hallway."

"No, you cannot confirm that," Blake shouted. "You have absolutely no evidence that completely backs up his innocence, just emotions!

"He gave himself and his bitch sleep immunity! He took the smaller bitch from the hotel and dumped her at the arcade! He smashed Monocrow and let his bitch do the dirty work!"

"Oh really now?" Crystal said. "You seem to have a pretty good idea of how it went down. Why exactly didn't Isaac just kill Saiko himself then?"

"Because…"

Blake paused for a moment, went wide-eyed, and then sadistically grinned. "You think that's how it happened? Did Isaac do it and frame Hara?"

"Son of a bitch," Isaac shouted, gripping his beanie so hard that his knuckles almost turned white. "I thought we agreed not to listen to him!"

"Actually," Shuuya said, staring at the reporter, "I think you need to prove it wasn't you at this point. There's too many puzzle pieces fitting for you to have a clear pathway."

"Especially since," Futaba remarked, "we don't know if the killer could take more than one of the same benefit, but for it to go to two people…"

"Wait a minute!" Anzu shouted desperately. "Why would Isaac or Hara kill Saiko? She was their close friend! They wouldn't-"

"THIS TRIAL!" Blake roared so fiercely that it startled everyone, like an explosion bursting from his podium. "HAS NO PLACE! FOR EMOTIONS! We will all be dead if we run on emotions!"

Everyone froze, letting this sink in for a few seconds, before someone who had been rather nervous bravely spoke out. "That's exactly what Emanuel said," Drake said, "before we found out he let Shinobu die."

"This is completely different, you little pussy!"

"No it isn't," the cartoonist fired back. "Right now, the only motive that you've given Hara or Isaac to have killed Saiko is that they knew her. Somehow, this is enough for some of you to believe Isaac planned out a murder from inside of a room he was trapped in, a room that no one knew was in the motel to begin with…

"Because if he did know all of this, how was he supposed to escape the control room when he did?"

Shuuya stared at the cartoonist, and then replied, "I let him out when I could hear him slamming against the door."

"And how did he know you would hear him? Or even be awake?"

"We were in the hotel, that's where you get sleeping immunity."

"And how would Isaac know that?"

The bounty hunter opened his mouth, then closed it. He rubbed his lips in confusion, and muttered, "He could have found out from… from…"

"From Hara!" Blake shouted. "She was communicating with him through the door!"

Ignatia slammed her fist on her podium, and pointed at Hara. Staring questioningly at Blake, the pyro ignored her until Pyrrha picked up on it. "So how did Hara know then?"

"She… she found out, that's all!"

"How?!" Isaac shouted. "Who did we figure out the sleeping immunity from?"

"Ishiku and hot tits in the same building as Hara," Blake hollered. "They had been up all night!"

"We never mentioned any of that while in the arcade," Ishiku admitted, glaring at him. "In fact, we gave Hara privacy for most of the afternoon, because we felt it was appropriate; she and Isaac were, we thought, just talking to each other with a door between themselves."

"You fucking idiot, you had to have talked about how you stayed up all night!"

"It wasn't obvious to us at the time, remember, dumbass?" the magician shouted right back. "The sleeping immunity makes the passage of time feel like something out of sight, out of mind! Even when we brought up that executioner, we didn't say we never slept!"

"YOU HAD TO! YOU HAD TO, YOU STUPID RETARDED SON OF A-"

"Enough," Shuuya declared, glaring hard at Blake. "The point has been made, and I must say, I'm ashamed I didn't realize it. There was no way Isaac or Hara could have known about the sleeping immunity benefit that comes from the hotel!"

"There had to be! There had to," Blake snarled relentlessly. "He had to have been the one…"

"Will you let it go?" Ken demanded. "Isaac couldn't have known about the sleeping immunity!"

"Monocrow could have told him!"

"Monocrow," Anzu snapped, "was not allowed to give away secrets."

"He's in league with them! Him and his bitch! They have to be!"

Everyone merely stared at Blake, perplexed and disgusted with how much venom he was spitting, degrading into nonsense. Ken frowned at him, and remarked, "Why are you so insistent that it has to be Isaac right now? I thought you were certain it was Hara who did it."

Blake, who had leaned down and hidden his face from everyone else, then peered back up at them. They were horrified to see that his eyes were practically radiating malice, as a feverish grin spread across his face. "She still could have done it, you stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID man!"

"Okay, I've heard enough of this," Pyrrha remarked, dismissively waving her hand. "We all have. He just wants attention."

"You cannot deny I'm right. Hara could have murdered her."

"Who else would be Hara's partner-in-crime," Fiora remarked coldly, "to assassinate their friend?"

"What about," Blake shrieked, pointing at Eisei, "HIM!? He had access to Saiko, being in the same room as her!"

"Oh good grief," Shuuya muttered. "Eisei doesn't have an all-access pass, and he was with Saiko all throughout today. So he couldn't-"

"SHOWER!" The word came spewing out of Blake's mouth like venom from a predator of sorts. "He did it there."

"You know, I think we just need to impact him with one more cold truth," the dentist said, eyes narrowed on the hysterical pyro, "to shut him the hell up."

"Never thought I'd live to see the day," Souma said with a half-hearted chuckle, "when I heard you talk like that, my friend."

"He's making light of Saiko's death," Eisei spoke over Blake's frantic, insane combination of laughter and heavy breathing, "I won't have it."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"Eisei plotted with Monocrow in the bathroom of his room with Saiko," Blake cried out, saliva running from his mouth, "and then Hara killed her!"

"Do we need to even counter him at this point?" Drake asked, staring fearfully at Blake.

"It all makes sense! It had to have been people she trusted!"

"And why is that exactly?" Hikari asked. "Why does it have to be someone she knew?"

"Because that's how they get ya! That's how Despair works, it stabs ya in the back and gets your heart, mate! You're all fucked, you're thinking with your heart, that's where Despair GETS YA!"

"This is ludicrous," Futaba remarked. "He's totally lost it."

"I'm the only sane one! You all want someone else to be the killer because it's nicer that way, but you're wrong! YOU ARE FUCKING WRONG! WRONG!"

"For the record," Eisei spoke up, "when I woke up, the shower was running, and I could hear it through the bathroom door. There's no way to have a private conversation in there."

"WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG! WRONG… wrong... wroooong wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrong…"

"Wait a minute," Fiora asked, staring at Eisei, "why was the shower running? Would our killer thought to have done that?"

"I tried turning off the shower when investigating the room," Drake spoke up. "It didn't turn off, I suspect it was just another creepy feature of that building."

"I said you all were wrong, I said you were wrong… and you're WRONG! Why won't you listen, why won't you obey… you're going to fuck us all over, you're going to get us killed…"

"Hold on," Odelios asked, "why would the shower do that, at that particular time? It's like the building was intentionally misleading Eisei!"

"Or it could be that our killer," Anzu remarked, "turned it on to mislead Eisei when he woke up?"

"Either is possible," Odelios said, "but maybe we should switch to-"

"FUCKING WRONG, YOU SELFISH BITCHES!"

"You all are running around, having sex, fucking each other senseless," Blake screamed, saliva shooting out from his mouth with every other word. "I have had to put up with you all being a bunch of irresponsible twats and hoes, and now you all are sad because waaaaah, one of your pussies died!

"Well, not today, mates! I'm going to prove you all are wrong, and that dumb bitch with her cuck are responsible for everything!"

The trial room couldn't think straight at this point, it was impossible to drown out the screaming that he was producing. Odelios tried to clean his ears with his rubber chicken, muttering, "Man, you'd think we were on a talk show or something. Will the DNA results come in soon, proving he is or isn't the father?"

"Why are we paying him any heed?" Shuuya grumbled. "All he's doing is talking about sex and women's private parts while saying we're wrong."

Anzu was about to speak, but then froze up. She gasped, then glared at Blake until he eventually settled down enough for her to get a word in. "That's what this is all about, Blake? Sex?"

Blake hammered the podium several times, before staring at Anzu. "Of course that's what this has all been about, you professional cocksucker! I did my bit, I paid my time, and what do I get out of it? Fucking nothing, when I literally should be getting fucking something!"

Isaac rubbed his forehead, growling as he tried to fight a migraine of irritation. "You're saying you are owed sex now?"

"You all are fucking each other, even you, you minty cuck," Blake pointed at Isaac, then at Eisei, "and this crossdressing, feminine faggot, you're getting sex! It ain't right! The women here are even fucking each other, but not me! I've had it, I had to fight to keep my ass safe for years in prison, but now someone like her denies me…"

Kimiko was the most surprised when the pyro pointed at her. "What the fuck? Denied you? You never even approached me, though I woo'd have denied you, of course!"

"Heh… hehehehe…" Blake cackled, staring down at his hands. "I had your tits in my hands, Kimiko. So soft and warm and nice, something finally nice… then it turned out to be Jeremy, the man who killed my brother in prison. This town had me beat the shit out of that bastard again…

"When I was in prison, I fought that raging homo bastard again and again, him trying to get me, and he never got anything! Then the Tragedy came, and he kills my brother as revenge for all the beatings I gave him! And here is now, in my nightmares, plaguing me while all the hot women are fucking every guy but me…

"IT AIN'T RIGHT! I'VE FUCKING HAD IT!"

The trial room was silent for a moment, then Crystal spoke up as she crossed her arms. "You aren't 'owed' anything, Blake. The nightmares, the hallucinations, you should have known that Monokuma and the town was preying on you. Though at this point, I daresay you fell right into it."

"Is that what your attitude is about these last two days?" Ishiku asked. "You groping Fannie, you taunting those who cared about Saiko? You're just jealous and horny?"

"You violently pushed your way out of the motel," Souma argued, "you even fought us to get out. I wondered why that was, but now I feel like that the creepy place must have reminded you of prison."

"And now you're determined to prove it was Hara," Pyrrha added in, "because you're just jealous of her love with Isaac! And you even tried to blame poor Eisei, because of his relationship with Saiko. You… you're worse than a cad, you're just a pervert and a coward!"

Blake breathed in heavily, eyes darting around at everyone. His spiky hair was drooping, as if wilted or heavy, and he still had a venomous look in his eyes. "You think I care at this point, what any of you think? There's nothing left for me to work forward to, I've seen that. So you can all just burn with me! BURN!"

"Monokuma," Fiora said, eyeing the bear of despair, "are there any rules to knocking someone out?"

"Hmmm? Well, I mean, I normally discourage that, but we aren't going to get anywhere if we let him ramble on, are we?" Mononkuma said with a laugh. "Hoo boy, did I do a number on this guy with just a couple nightmares!"

Blake turned towards Fiora, who was walking right to him. "Oh really?" the pyro snarled, bringing up his fists. "You can't take me, you stupid bitch! I ain't afraid to hit-"

WHUMP!

Fiora swung her arm faster than most of the graduates could keep up with, upwards into Blake's stomach. The pyrotechnician's breath caught in his chest, as his eyes went wide for a couple seconds. Then, like a sack of potatoes, he hit the floor out cold.

The movie maker dusted off her palms before returning to her podium, then noticed everyone's astonished stares. "What? We weren't going to progress unless someone did it."

"D-damn, girl," Kimiko declared, "when did you get to be such a brawler?"

"Yeah," Pyrrha remarked, staring rather intensively at Fiora.

"I just got tired of him making the trial," the movie maker said, "a platform for his stressed rants. Now, where were we?"

The nineteen conscious trial members exchanged looks, as they all attempted to rack their brains over what their debate was about.

"Um, is it bad," Ken admitted, "that I'm not particularly sure?"

"We've been trying to get a proper conversation going," Futaba lamented, "but we kept getting distracted by that asshole screaming at us."

"Why'd we even let him have the floor?" Isaac asked. "Are we sure he's not the killer?"

"He was being medically treated," Yitro said, folding his arms and sighing heavily, "and I was around him for his recovery, most of which was unconscious. It's not possible for him to have done it."

"So where do we go from here?" Crystal asked.

The trial room was silent again for a few moments. Fannie raised her hand, nervously glancing around the room before she spoke. "If I may? I believe the problem was that we became distracted with the idea that Hara had a partner, but it is more likely someone is trying to frame her."

"And hurt her in the process," Isaac growled, clenching his hands on his podium. "I'll never forgive them."

"But what's the next step from that?" Eisei inquired. "Do we see who could have kidnapped Saiko, and killed her?" He held a hand over his heart, to calm the heavy beating.

"To do that, let's just lay out how the killer," Shuuya said, "could do such a thing."

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"So first off, we know our killer has to have had the all-access pass," Fubata said, "which would be anyone who stayed at the arcade the past two days."

"Oh, except for Ignatia and myself," Drake commented. "We lost our all-access pass somehow, we found that out earlier today."

"That must have been," Isaac said, "because of Saiko and myself in our sleepwalking state."

"So after making a deal with Monocrow," Anzu said, "they went to the motel, and kidnapped Saiko from there."

"Wait, are we sure about the deal for the killer?" Hikari asked.

"Yes, Monocrow said that the deal was reserved for when the sleeping gas came out, so it had to be for them."

"Even though we don't know if our killer already had sleep immunity?"

"They had to ensure everyone else at the arcade would be asleep," Fannie said. "The ones at the arcade were myself, Ishiku, Hara, and Anzu."

"I imagine our killer," Fiora said, "knew that the sword would be there, and used it to kill Saiko."

"Afterwards, they smashed Monocrow," Yitro commented, "and then I guess returned to whichever building they were staying at."

"How long would that take?" Crystal asked, rubbing the back of her head. "An hour? A half-hour?"

"Wait, stop, please," Hara pleaded, "I think I know where we need to focus!"

"I believe that we need to focus on the one thing that the killer had to have," Hara said, "and that is the all-access pass. After all, not only would they need it to move around, but earlier, we proved that they couldn't trade it back with how Monocrow was destroyed."

Shuuya rubbed his chin, and nodded at the explorer. "I believe you are right. It is impossible for the killer to operate without that benefit, as that is the only way Saiko could be in the arcade."

"If I may just be devil's advocate real quick," Souma piped in, "are we sure that Saiko didn't go to the arcade by herself?"

"I was with her all of today," Eisei spoke up, his voice more emotional than normal. "We were in the same room, the sleeping gas knocked us out when we were lying down. She couldn't have left on her own, she simply couldn't have…"

"Okay, I'm sorry, my friend," the public speaker said, an apologetic look on his face. "I just want to make sure there aren't any loose ends, we've been struggling with that a lot."

Hara stared at Eisei for a moment, and saw the pain in his eyes, the grief that had changed him. She took a deep breath, and spoke out with a voice now steady. "So who are the people who have the all-access pass?"

"Crystal, Pyrrha, Fiora, Futaba, Shuuya, Yitro, Ken, and Isaac," Drake spoke up, reading off of a note he had made on one of the sketch pad papers. "Also, I added that Ignatia and I lost ours, but you all know that…"

"It's not Isaac," Pyrrha said, shaking her head. "We went over that again and again because of Blake, he couldn't have left that room."

Odelios gaped at the romance writer, and said, "Little Red Writing Hood, you're one of the people in that list! You should be defending yourself!"

The redhead blushed slightly at the nickname, then giggled. "I like that, it's cute! But I was with Crystal the entire time, we were aware of our location every minute since last night."

"Yes, about that," Futaba spoke up, "can we be sure you two didn't work as a duo?"

Crystal raised an eyebrow at this, and replied, "We did occasionally meet up with Kimiko and Hikari."

"After 8:30 PM, when the gas affected everyone besides those who are sleep immune?"

The military adviser sighed, glancing to the side. "It's hard to say, we did not have a good sense of time, and I wasn't checking it; there was no point to do so."

"That seems unlikely," Fannie spoke up, "for two people to work together on something so violent."

"You would know," Ken growled at her.

"Hey, you stop that right now," Ishiku shouted, pointing at the cavalryman. "She's not a violent person."

There was a barking laugh from the Kubs' stand, and Monokid was strumming on a guitar. "She usually violently pukes!"

Fannie tugged nervously at the collar of her top, and muttered, "Um, well, I don't know if we need to talk about that."

"Why don't we leave Crystal and Pyrrha alone for now," Odelios spoke up, "since it's highly unlikely it was both of them?"

Isaac glanced around at the other people who were on that list. "Shuuya, Futaba, Ken, Yitro, and Fiora are the only other people with the pass. Three were at the hotel as well, one at the asylum, one at the psychic tent. Can those at the hotel alibi each other at all?"

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"The three of us were looking around the hotel for hours," Shuuya remarked. "Futaba and I worked together for the most part."

"Well, we didn't spend every minute together," Futaba admitted. "I took a shower at one point."

"So did I, but I must say, they really went with the Psycho theme. Every minute, I thought I heard someone coming towards the bathroom."

"I worked alone for the most part," Ken said, "though I did see the two when I was searching around. Sometimes separated, sometimes married."

"Dude," Odelios spoke up, "we really gotta work on your terminology."

"Was it 'separated' or 'married' I got wrong?"

"I'm afraid I cannot confirm or deny anything," Eisei said. "I was with Saiko the entire time, learning how to play video games she liked."

"Well where did you all fall asleep?" Kimiko asked, glancing around at the three before settling on Ken. "Handsome, you got any idea?"

"I believe I passed out in the lobby, thanks to the sleeping gas."

"Futaba and I were in the same room at the time," Shuuya admitted. "We were, ironically, discussing when we should lie down before the sleeping gas would be released."

"And we know this happened around 8:30 PM," Ishiku said. "And then you all woke up at 9:30 PM was when, we theorized, the hotel's benefit kicked in?"

"Yes," Futaba said, "so I don't think any of us have anything in concrete."

"Wait a second," Fannie cried out, "there's something bothering me here!"

"So we all believe that at 9:30 PM, the benefits for being in the building kicked in?" the white 'n pink-topped gal said. "Well, there's something very odd about that."

"What exactly are you referring to, darling?" Hikari asked.

"It's just that, Ishiku and I woke up early, at around 9:30 as well, we were awake before Anzu was. And Monokuma woke everyone up after the Body Discovery Announcement, so why were the two of us awake first off?"

Ignatia face-palmed, risking running her make-up due to her frustration over this complication. As Drake tried to calm her down, Kimiko let out a long groan. "Seriously? You need to bring this up now?"

"But I think it's important! I mean, we fell asleep because the killer needed us to be asleep, but we still work up earlier than everyone else. That's when we found out the sword was gone, and then we started to search around the arcade. That's when we found poor Saiko."

Isaac glanced to the side, trying hard to remember to what he could during that terrible time. He pulled off his beanie, rubbed his mint hair, and struggled to recall all the details.

"If I recall correctly," he said, "wait… wait! I was looking through the camera feed, when I saw Hara slumped over Saiko's body. That was when the Body Discovery Announcement played, and that plays after three people find the victim."

"But what does that prove?" Crystal asked. "How's it prove anything about the people at the hotel having alibis or not?"

"It may not be about that, but I have a theory," Anzu spoke up. "Monocrow was destroyed after the murder, and Ishiku and Fannie had their sleep immunity benefit returned to them…

"Is it possible that by killing Monocrow, the deal that the killer worked with him inadvertently reversed it?"

Everyone glanced around, as Drake turned to the Kubs' platform. "Monodam, is it possible to learn the rules of Monocrow's abilities now?"

"…" responded Monodam.

"Haw haw haw! No fucking way are we spilling our guts over that bird," Monokid shouted. "You're just going to have to trust your own guts! All your guts!"

"I think we have more than enough to showcase that the theory is correct," Fiora said, glancing up at the blue Kub. "Just because you are not forthcoming doesn't mean we cannot prove it."

"However," Pyrrha said, staring at the movie maker, "how does it limit our suspects?"

"Doesn't it prove that Shuuya and Futaba cannot be the killer?" Drake asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Wait, what?" Futaba spoke up. "I mean, I don't want to argue with that, but I'm curious how you arrived at the conclusion."

"If the two of you woke up at the same time, that means you didn't leave the hotel; otherwise, you would have woken up after the Body Discovery Announcement like the rest of us did."

"He's right," Isaac declared. "It took a few minutes for everyone waking up afterwards to get up, correct? Shuuya, you opened the door for me right after the BDA, you had to have stayed in the hotel."

Shuuya nodded slowly, then remarked, "Well, that certainly is nice to know. Futaba and I are verified."

"That is a relief, indeed," Ken said with a smile towards Futaba. "But I do think it's a bit complicating on my part, as I have no one to back me up."

"Yes, but neither does Yitro," Futaba responded. "Nor Fiora, or Crystal and Pyrrha as a team."

"Hey wait a minute," Crystal shouted, "why are we under suspicion as a team? That's ridiculous, we had the sleeping immunity already, we wouldn't ask Monocrow for it!"

"Then we'll just have to debate that," Fiora said with a piercing stare at the military adviser, "shall we?"

"…" Pyrrha shook her head, clenching her teeth as she appeared quite strained.

DEBATE YOUR CASE!

"Our killer had to ensure that Fannie and Ishiku were asleep," Anzu spoke up, "so they had to have their sleeping immunity stolen!"

"Yeah, but what a'boot that theory," Kimiko said, "that Monocrow couldn't grant someone more than one of the same benefit?"

"No one else woke up suddenly," Souma remarked, "at least, no one has spoken up about such a thing."

"The killer wouldn't want to risk waking someone up," Fiora reasoned, "if someone else was nearby them. If they worked alone, that is."

"Wait, are we going off a theory now?" Crystal argued. "We cannot verify anything about Monocrow's powers because the bears won't tell us-"

"HAW HAW HAW HAW!"

"Screw you too, Monokid. So does that mean we are reasoning that the bird could give more than one of the same benefit to another person?"

"Two people lost their sleeping immunity," Anzu said, "and no one has confessed to waking up early."

"What about Blake?" Drake asked. "What if he woke up early? He cannot talk to us right now."

"I do not regret doing that," Fiora responded. "He wouldn't have cooperated with us anyway."

"Yes, you are correct there," Hikari said. "But what do we do about Crystal and Pyrrha's predicament? Can we prove anything?"

"You all do realize that if those two worked together," Souma remarked, frowning in concern, "we cannot possibly prove which of them did it."

"That's rubbish," Crystal declared. "If one of us made a deal with Monocrow, then the other one would have smashed the bird to ensure the deal didn't reverse!"

"That kind of information," Isaac said, "was only discovered by this trial, our killer couldn't have possibly known that!"

"Really now? Because seeing that the killer knew the building benefits, to stack more than one of the same benefit with Monocrow, and where everyone and everything has been, I'd say this killer has been three steps ahead of us all the time!"

"Hey now," Kimiko shouted, "someone who is in the hot seat shouldn't be saying such things!"

"You should be verifying Pyrrha and myself, biker woman! Why can't you remember seeing us?!"

"ENOUGH! STOP IT," Pyrrha shrieked, gripping her hair as she tried to contain her emotions. "I have something I need to say!"

Everyone turned towards Pyrrha, who grabbed ahold of her podium, shaking hard and sniffling. All were rather confused by this, Crystal most of all as she stared in perplexity at her.

"Wait, what are you saying?" the military adviser asked. "We're innocent! Can you prove it?"

"N-no, I can't. I cannot prove our innocence, but there's something that has come to my attention. I think…

"I think someone has been lying to us this entire time. I think there's someone who is hiding something massive, and I believe that this person is our killer."

"What?!" Hara and Isaac cried out.

"What?" Crystal balked.

"Well don't just stand there hyping it up," Ishiku declared, pointing at her. "Tell us who it is and why!"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, and said, "Okay, but you all need to follow my lead. Let me say my piece before you all interject, alright?"

The graduates nodded in agreement, though the befuddlement was all over their faces. Fannie nibbled on her nails, Odelios twisted the neck of his rubber chicken, Fiora stared out from under the brim of her fedora.

"Because the person I think could be our killer is…

…

SELECT A SUSPECT!

…

… you, Fiora Stenton!"

"WHAT?!" almost everyone, human and bear, shouted at the same time.

Fiora stared at Pyrrha, and crossed her arms as she responded. "I'm not the killer."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I don't have a way of proving it, if that's what you are asking."

"No, that's not what I am asking! What do you have to say to being accused, damn it?"

Fiora continued to stare at the redhead, her eyes narrowed as her body and tone remained calm. "I said already, I'm not the killer."

"That's all?" Ishiku cried out. "But… but… you cannot possibly be this underwhelmed!"

"What reason do you even have for suspecting me?"

"THAT!" Pyrrha almost shrieked out the word in desperation. "Your attitude, your posture, how you're remaining super calm and controlled and not upset in the least that you're being accused of being the killer for the fifth time in our five trials!"

Fiora's eyes widened slightly, and she glanced away. "It's a very serious trial. I don't believe in acting out, that's not what these trials are about."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Kimiko shouted, pointing at Fiora too. "Where's your accent? I knew there was something off a'boot you, but I didn't realize it until now, eh!"

Fiora closed her eyes, remaining quiet now. She didn't speak, she just stood there with her arms folded.

"You act different, you talk different, you are completely different," Pyrrha shouted. "And it's been going on all evening!"

"Yes," Yitro said, staring intensively at Fiora, "I didn't want to say anything, I didn't think it right, but I have noticed that about you too, and we've spent most of the investigation together. Especially since you hold that sword like a pro, and you pulled it out of the of machine with one try…

"You're not the Fiora I know. And I don't believe for a second the Fiora I know and care about is a fake personality or some shit like that. Who are you?"

"Yes, who are you?" Pyrrha demanded to know, pointing fiercely at Fiora. "Does this have something to do with the psychic tent? Where's the real Fiora?"

"…" was the response from Fiora, who remained totally still.

"Don't just stand there," Isaac hollered. "If you're the one who killed Saiko, you're going to pay for what you did!"

"Where's Fiora?" Anzu pleaded. "What did you do with her?"

The movie maker unfolded her arms, and let out a long sigh. She stared down at the ground, and then up at the other people in the trial room. "I suppose there is no point in this act anymore; it was foolish of me to think I could pretend to be someone else, I am no actress."

"What?" Hara asked, wringing her hands nervously. "What are you saying?"

Fiora took her fedora off, placing it on her podium. She ran a hand through her black 'n white hair, the ahoge bouncing almost playfully, as she formally stood before everyone on her platform.

"My name," she said, "is Peko Pekoyama. I was the Ultimate Swordswoman at Hope's Peak Academy, and the private bodyguard for my master. I know that I died in that school, executed after I unintentionally murdered my classmate Gonta Gokuhara.

"The only thing I care about now is knowing about my master's safety, and his whereabouts." She griped the handle of the sword, her own sword, as her eyes flashed with the kind of intensity that could cut through the air. "So if you would please tell me about Master Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, I will cooperate in your trial. I have nothing to lose, I am already dead…

"So kindly assist me with my endeavor, or things will end very badly for you all."

…

TRIAL INTERMISSION!