Hyper Danganronpa 21: DIAMOND DOUBLE BARREL

by ArcLagoon

The Sequel to XX 8 months after the 20th killing game has wrapped up, Japan is trying to return back to normal once again as a new semester of Hope's Peak begins with their lottery picked Ultimate Lucky Student. Pretty much immediately he gets stuck in a killing game with 15 other missing students kidnapped over a year and trapped in a 21-floor hotel. Rated M, for many reasons.

18. THE FIRST MURDER TRIAL

CLASS TRIAL! ALL RISE!

The students were taken to what could be called the 'trial room' on floor one. The ground had a green felt across the entire thing, emblazoned with white stripes, and the four suits of a deck of cards. There was a circle of podiums that were raised, and stylized like a roulette wheel with alternating black and red floors, with gaudy gold courtroom podiums on each one. One podium had a picture of Surumi, with her face marked off with an X. Junichi was stood across from Katsuya, who had his arms folded, while Koba was on Junichi's left and Touki to his right. Saya saw that she was across from Koba, with Izumi on her left and Chiwa on her right.

Monokuma was sitting on a throne, slouched across it poorly with a huge television screen sitting just beside him. As Junichi climbed onto the podium, it had four directional arrows and a big red button on it as well.

Monokuma: Oooh, I'm so giddy~ We're finally here after so long! Let's start with the basic rules of the class trial.

Monokuma Cont'd: During the trial, you will be presenting your arguments over a simple question of 'Whodunnit'? At the end of the trial, or the end of the countdown monitor placed to my side, a vote will be called. In the event that there is an impasse, the Non-Stop Debate button on your podium can be pressed, allowing for an argument that can only be stopped when a student presents the correct Truth Bullet using the Truth Bullets button.

Monokuma Cont'd: If the majority is successful in voting for the correct student, the Blackened will be punished. But, if you vote for the wrong one? All students besides the blackened will be punished instead, which will result in the Blackened graduating the school and escaping back to the outside world.

Monokuma Cont'd: If you refuse to vote, you will be dealt with. As in… You'll die. So remember to vote, everybody! So, let's get this-

Junichi Ando: I did it!

Monokuma: ...Well, that's a way to get things going...

Katsuya Suba: W-what!?

Junichi Ando: HA! GOT HIM! YOU DID IT! (Junichi shouted, wildly pointing at Katsuya.)

Yuuto Hagiwara: What the fuck was that!?

Touki Minami: Bro, you're not for real here, are you?!

Izumi Igarashi: Ah! N-no, he couldn't have…

Saya Kiruma: Very well, I guess that means we can start the vote.

Junichi Ando: Huh? W-wait a second. That wasn't wh-

Katsuya Suba: Agreed.

Daichi Kakihara: You fuckin' dumbass …

Junichi Ando: I didn't-

Miyuki Ashikawa: Sh-shut up, murderer! You're not getting away with this!

Junichi Ando: Miyuki, hold up. I-

Asana Nanashima: Red, what the hell was that!?

Chiwa Ohara: It was a confession!

Airi Kudo: I'm rather surprised at how quickly he did that…

Junichi Ando: Uhh… Koba? Bail me out here? You know I didn't do it. Say something smart, man!

Koba Tsujishi: I… Junichi… why did you do that? How do I even defend that?

Junichi Ando: I was trying to surprise the culprit! It's like Asana told me!

Asana Nanashima: Junichi, just because I told you to take them by surprise doesn't mean you start pissing your pants, dude! What's your encore? Punching yourself in the face over and over again?!

Junichi Ando: Oh my god I think I just killed all of us…(Junichi buried his face in his hat)

Miyuki Ashikawa: Stop trying to hide your head in your beanie like a turtle, you criminal!

Koba Tsujishi: Look, Junichi may be an idiot, but he isn't the culprit.

Chiwa Ohara: But he said he did it! Me and Socrates heard it! And Socrates has great hearing! Why wouldn't we vote on him?

Koba Tsujishi: Well… How about we just ignore Junichi until he seems actually suspicious. Monokuma, what do we usually do in these trials? Do we take turns? What are we going to be discussing?

Junichi Ando: Well-

Sora Hitose: Don't dig yourself deeper, Junichi. Stop talking.

Koba Tsujishi: Let's all agree that Junichi was just being stupid and ignore everything he has to say, for now anyway.

Junichi Ando: But-

Touki Minami: Look, bro, this is for your own good. Just shut up and let us dig you out of your own hole.

Junichi Ando: Fine! Whatever. See if I care.

Monokuma: Well… Nobody really -takes- turns per se. You all argue at once typically. Some music plays and you all shout, and if you think someone's wrong, you slap the button and everybody has to shut up so you can make your point, or point out a flaw in someone's argument. It's pretty freeform.

Monokuma Cont'd: Typically you'd shout a catchphrase or something. That way people know who has something to say and you won't confuse voices.

Sora Hitose: Is "I did it" Junichi's catchphrase?

Junichi Ando: Shut up, Sora.

Izumi Igarashi: Don't talk to TAIGA that way!

Sora Hitose: Hrmrmrh…

Yuuto Hagiwara: So… what are we gotta talk about?

Koba Tsujishi: Let's start with the murder weapon…

Daichi Kakihara: You mean the fact that a whole goddamn chandelier got dropped on the bitch?

Rinne Takayanagi: I mean… It couldn't have been something else, could it? That thing was huge and bourgeois as hell. What was it, like 9 feet across and made of nothing but metal and glass?

Monokuma: It really tied the dining hall together…

Yuuto Hagiwara: So, what's the question? Did you want us to debate what fell was a chandelier or not?

Koba Tsujishi: It was to partially put everyone on the same page, that we all agreed that this was the murder weapon. But it will serve to purposes.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: It's us agreeing how the chandelier was utilized in the murder. How a lighting fixture could be used as a murder weapon and the methods as to how it dropped on Surumi.

Miyuki Ashikawa: We're saved! Someone actually knows wh-what they're doing!

(Debate Starts)

Saya Kiruma: So, the question is how the chandelier was used… to murder Surumi.

Rokuro Akada: Maybe the killer clubbed her with it!

Daichi Kakihara: You fucking idiot, the killer DROPPED THE WHOLE GODDAMN THING on her!

Asana Nanashima: Does that mean they threw it, or something?

Izumi Igarashi: No, I'm pretty sure they dropped it. Remember, the whole thing is suspended by a cord.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Alright, so they cut the cord from the ceiling, then!

Saya Kiruma: I will cut through your delusions!

(Debate Stops)

Saya Kiruma: The cord wasn't cut from the ceiling, if it were, the cable hanging from the chandelier after it was cut would be short.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Well, where else could you cut a chandelier? Don't they hang from the ceiling?

Saya Kiruma: There's an explanation for that. Tell them, Igarashi.

Izumi Igarashi: ...Wait, why do I have to tell them? Can't you just tell them yourself?

Saya Kiruma: … (Holds up her yardstick, glaring to Izumi)

Izumi Igarashi: Uhh… What did you want me to tell them?

Saya Kiruma: You should know, so tell them, Igarashi.

Izumi Igarashi: I… I can't read your mind! What did you want me to tell them!?

Saya Kiruma: About the winch cable, Igarashi! Have you not been paying attention!? You were investigating at the same time I was! You followed me the whole time!

Junichi Ando: (wincing) Ooh…

Izumi Igarashi: YOU WANT ME TO TELL 'EM SAYA!?

Saya Kiruma: …

Izumi Igarashi: (As fast as she could) The cable was cut at the winch and not at the roof. That means it was cut from the floor. Are you happy now!? ARE YOU!?

Saya Kiruma: I guess that'll suffice...

Izumi Igarashi: (Panting) Never ask me to talk for you again! LEAVE ME ALONE!

Sora Hitose: The chandelier had a winch? Why isn't it just connected to the ceiling?

Izumi Igarashi: Most chandel- Oh screw it, I don't want to do this right now…

Saya Kiruma: (Sighs) I guess I'll have to explain it, then.

Chiwa Ohara: ...Y-you broke Izumi. How did you do that?

Saya Kiruma: I assume the murder is having an adverse effect on her personality, but as I'm not a psychologist, I can't make a proper assessment. Anyway...

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: The chandelier was connected to a winch on the floor, behind the curtain of the stage. It's a worm screw cable that you can release to lower and raise the chandelier for maintenance. If it was just connected to the roof, it'd fall to the floor every time you wanted to fix it or change a lightbulb.

Yuuto Hagiwara: "Ah damn it, a power cable went out. Time to drop the 1000 pound chandelier on the floor, look out below!"

Koba Tsujishi: Something like that, yes...

Saya Kiruma: The culprit sliced through the cable near the winch. I assume it has a governor or some kind of slowing mechanism on it to prevent what happened to Surumi, they would have released it instead of cutting it, if that was the case.

Rokuro Akada: ...There's a chandelier governor? Why didn't anybody tell him!?

Saya Kiruma: (putting her head in her hand) ...Good lord, I'm surrounded by idiots.

Koba Tsujishi: A governor is used to slow down something that has the potential to go faster than what would be safe. They use a governor to make sure that music boxes are playing music at the right speed since it's actually spring-loaded.

Rokuro Akada: Oh… I knew that! I was just testing you! Good job, you passed!

Koba Tsujishi: Uhh, okay.

Touki Minami: So, somebody cut the winch cable and that caused the whole thing to drop?

Saya Kiruma: Igarashi…

Izumi Igarashi: NO!

Saya Kiruma: Igarashi, you are well aware of my-

Izumi Igarashi: We're solving a murder, Saya! Just talk to Touki!

Touki Minami: Man you're still doing that even after someone died horribly. has anybody ever told you that you're kind of a jerk, Saya?

Saya Kiruma: Igarashi, tell Minami that-

Izumi Igarashi: Tell him yourself, Saya!

Saya Kiruma: …

Daichi Kakihara: Holy shit how stubborn are you bitches!? We're solving a murder, not running a circus. Now put up or shut up!

Koba Tsujishi: It pains me to say it but I have to agree with Daichi. This whole thing seems… unhelpful.

Touki Minami: And petty!

Saya Kiruma: ...Chiwa.

Chiwa Ohara: Yes, Minami. That's the current conclusion we've reached and also, shut up.

Touki Minami: I'm not gonna be schooled by a twelve-year-old, watch your mouth, ya brat!

Miyuki Ashikawa: So who cut the chandelier? They're the killer, right?

Asana Nanashima: Yeah, but no one saw them do it. It was pitch black!

Airi Kudo: Well, that leads us to the questions of how they cut the cord, who turned off the lights and who was positioned to cut the cord…

Yuuto Hagiwara: Positioned to cut the cord?

Airi Kudo: Do you know how long the lights were out? It wasn't a lot of time, I'm pretty sure if we heard someone running, we'd hear their footsteps hitting the ground with substantial impact.

Monokuma: The lights were out for about 15 seconds before the murder happened! Didn't need to point that out, but hey. Fun facts are fun!

Sora Hitose: Fifteen seconds? They cut the cable in Fifteen seconds?!

Saya Kiruma: Nobody heard running?

Airi Kudo: I can be certain nobody near me ran. If the lights were out for that brief of a time, and nobody ran, they would have to approach the winch with care. They were at or walked to the winch. So I'd say they'd have to be within 25 feet of the winch when the power went out. If they were traveling at 2.5 miles per hour, that'd be how fast they could walk in 10 seconds, the remaining five most likely slicing the cord.

Chiwa Ohara: It was hard to hear anything through all the shouting.

Izumi Igarashi: It's not like I remember the exact distance I was away from that cord… how would anyone remember where we were all standing when the lights went out?

Airi Kudo: Don't worry, I was prepared for this situation. (She held up a piece of paper with a crudely drawn recreation of the dining hall)

Chiwa Ohara: ...Are those crayons?

Airi Kudo: It's all I could find. You see, I have an eidetic memory, and can remember where most people were just before the lights went out, from my position. It's how I remember all the various instructions and guidelines for children I watch.

Miyuki Ashikawa: Uhhhh… Okay. That's weird but I get it.

Katsuya Suba: All of the people, or most?

Airi Kudo: Just most, if I didn't see them when the lights went out, then their position on this map is kind of moot.

Izumi Igarashi: And you can be sure that the map is accurate?

Airi Kudo: How about I confirm with each one of you where I saw you when the lights went out, and see how accurate I am?

Saya Kiruma: Very well. Go through the 15 other students and where you last remember them.

(Airi nods and points to names on her makeshift map)

Airi Kudo: Asana and Miyuki were at the food table, as were you and Chiwa. Koba was still stuffing his face with cheese and crackers.

Rinne Takayanagi: Really, Koba. Was that all you ate?

Koba Tsujishi: (Shrugs) I like cheese crackers. Don't judge me.

Airi Kudo: Yuuto was at the drink table with Sora and didn't have a shirt on.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Yeah! And now I have a shirt with "Idiot" on it! That's not much better!

Monokuma: I'm not letting you do a class trial shirtless, you pervert.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Why did you give me the idiot shirt, then?!

Monokuma: Because you're an idiot.

Sora Hitose: You kind of walked into that one, Yuuto.

Airi Kudo: Surumi just got done walking on her hands in front of Junichi, and lead him to the front of the fountain. Rinne was also at the drinks table, trying to mix Red Riot, Blue Blast and Green Growler.

Rinne Takayanagi: Man, you even know the punch names. Impressive.

Airi Kudo: Thank you. Also, I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about Green Growler.

Rinne Takayanagi: That mixed punch was a bad idea. It just tasted like sugar and misery.

Chiwa Ohara: What does misery taste like?

Rinne Takayanagi: It varies on the situation.

Airi Kudo: Rokuro was exercising and drinking fountain water. Daichi was in the corner with his middle finger pointed at anyone he could see.

Daichi Kakihara: (grumbles) Can't get a fuckin' smoke in this shithole…

Airi Kudo: Katsuya was by the stage, watching everyone while sharpening his knife. The only ones not in the room when the lights went out were Izumi and Touki. Though, the last time I saw Katsuya was before Chiwa moved to the food table.

Saya Kiruma: So you couldn't see Katsuya when the lights went out?

Airi Kudo: I don't have a top-down view of the room if someone isn't in my direct line of sight, I probably couldn't see them.

Saya Kiruma: So let's assume for now that Katsuya was roughly where you saw him last, for now anyway.

Katsuya Suba: It sounds like Airi's map is mostly accurate to our locations at the time. That would put Junichi, Surumi, and Rokuro closest to the winch before the lights went out.

Airi Kudo: And now one of our three questions has been answered for now. Junichi, Surumi, and Rokuro were in the range of cutting the cord. But the next question would be how they cut the cord.

(Debate Start)

Miyuki Ashikawa: You said it was either Junichi, Rokuro, or Surumi right? Did any of them have a blade?

Rokuro Akada: Nope!

Junichi Ando: No, I didn't have a knife.

Miyuki Ashikawa: You confessed you did it, Junichi. You probably had a knife!

Junichi Ando: I swear, I didn't! You wanna frisk me? You won't find a knife, that much is for sure.

Miyuki Ashikawa: Ew, don't ask me to frisk you!

Junichi Ando: Surumi couldn't have done it, she died! I didn't have a knife, either. Rokuro had it for sure!

Koba Tsujishi: No, that's wrong!

(Debate Stops)

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: There most likely won't be a knife on any of them, because of where we found the knife. It was backstage, if we searched Junichi and Rokuro, neither of them would have the knife.

(Koba pulled out a purple pocket knife, flicking it open to reveal the patinated blade)

Monokuma: Ooooh, Koba's pissed!

Koba Tsujishi: I didn't know who owned this knife, so I brought it to see if anyone could recognize it.

Airi Kudo: That looks familiar…

Daichi Kakihara: Hey… That's the knife that bitch Airi pulled on me! That's her knife!

Junichi Ando: You said you weren't close enough to cut the cord, why would it be your knife?

Touki Minami: Also, why does a babysitter have a knife?

Chiwa Ohara: Thank you, Minami! I've been saying that for days!

Airi Kudo: It's in case of a burglar. I prefer to have a knife than be without one, so I can protect my charges.

Saya Kiruma: Ando raises a good point. Kudo was nowhere in position to be able to cut the cable, meaning it is likely the culprit stole the knife from her. When could they have stolen it?

Airi Kudo: I haven't seen the knife since yesterday. I put it in my lab, and someone took it out.

Junichi Ando: It'd have to be Daichi then, right? He's the Ultimate Thief, after all!

Daichi Kakihara: Look, dipshit, just because I'm good at it doesn't mean I can do it without tools. I don't got my lock breakers, or any of the shit I normally use to take a goddamn thing, besides pickpocketing.

Junichi Ando: Then you pickpocketed Airi's handbook.

Airi Kudo: I've had my handbook on me ever since I got it, and if someone tried to take it from me I'd probably break all the fingers on that hand.

Chiwa Ohara: Yeah... babysitter right here, folks.

Miyuki Ashikawa: M-maybe he bought new lock breakers at the Mini Mall?

Daichi Kakihara: They're like 300 Monocoins! I don't have time to go and look for the stupid things and if I had that kind of bank, I'd be buying some smokes! I'm jonesing over here and nobody gives a goddamn.

Miyuki Ashikawa: (pointing a finger at Daichi) W-well, maybe it's good that you're going cold turkey!

Daichi Kakihara: It's making me more pissed off than I usually am! Get off your high horse and stop guilt-tripping me, Tits McGee!

Miyuki Ashikawa: Wh-what did you call me?!

Asana Nanashima: (Eye twitching with annoyance) Oh ho ho ho… you're looking for a diet of fists, aren't ya?

Daichi Kakihara: Yeah yeah, keep talking stupid, Roidgela. I'll be here trying to figure out how someone actually stole Airi's knife from her lab without actually getting her to open it for them.

Sora Hitose: I've never been to the labs. How do they even work?

Izumi Igarashi: Wait, you've never been in your lab, Taiga? It's wonderful! I almost wish it was my lab!

Sora Hitose: No, and now I don't want to. If you like it, it has to be objectively awful.

Asana Nanashima: Damn, harsh.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Got her with that one! Ha. Good one.

Saya Kiruma: Well, perhaps an explanation of the labs will be a good point of reference.

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: In order to enter a student lab, it requires the owner's student handbook or to enter their birthday as a four-digit passcode.

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: While this seems an air-tight system, as I've learned from Igarashi, one can learn the passcode through other means, as evidenced by her ability to access Hitose's lab.

Izumi Igarashi: Which you still won't let me do!

Asana Nanashima: So… if someone wanted into Airi's lab, they'd just have to know her birthday?

Saya Kiruma: While it's easy to learn of someone's birthday, learning that the birthday is correlated to the backdoor of entering someone's lab is privy information.

Koba Tsujishi: When we first investigated the buildings, it was you and I, Izumi, Chiwa, Airi and Rinne.

Chiwa Ohara: Airi mentioned her birthday to us before Koba suggested we keep that fact privy.

Rinne Takayanagi: So, beyond Airi doing it herself, it would have to have to be one of them who took the knife.

Koba Tsujishi: But that doesn't fit Airi's mapping of the dining hall.

Airi Kudo: And I made a point of not revealing my birthday after that meet up.

Asana Nanashima: Gaaaaaah! This is giving me a headache! You nerds better start getting somewhere or I'm knocking heads!

Koba Tsujishi: I'm finding a strange lack of overlap in our evidence. Nobody's ticking all the boxes… Junichi and Rokuro being the ones closest to cutting the cord but not having the knife. Izumi, Chiwa, Airi, and others knowing how to open the doors…

Junichi Ando: ...I don't wanna say it, but maybe someone else knows how to do it? Did someone let it slip that someone can open the doors using their birthday?

Saya Kiruma: Monokuma, did you give the same hint to another person who had access to the labs?

Monokuma: I only told the hint to people who had an available lab! I provided the hint to Izumi because she had a lab on that floor. But she opened Sora's lab with the same hint.

Airi Kudo: That's also how I learned the trick. He doesn't say it precisely, but if you have some problem-solving abilities, you can get the trick.

Junichi Ando: No...

Koba Tsujishi: Junichi? Something wrong?

Junichi Ando: No, there's gonna be another way they found it… it wasn't…

Saya Kiruma: Ando, you're withholding information from us.

Junichi Ando: No, I've gotta be wrong on this! She didn't...

Koba Tsujishi: ...Ah, I see.

Izumi Igarashi: Huh? What's going on? What are you two hiding?

Koba Tsujishi: Sorry, Junichi... I think what I surmised might be the truth of the matter

(Junichi looked away from Koba)

Asana Nanashima: You two! English, please!?

Monokuma: Japanese!

Asana Nanashima: Oh shut up, you know what I mean.

Koba Tsujishi: There were four labs made available: Izumi, Sora, Airi, and Surumi. These four got the hint about the alternate entry method.

Sora Hitose: Scratch me off that, I never bothered going in my lab after I learned Izumi breathed in it, And I am not interested in Airi's weird knickknacks. Monokuma never told me, because I never bothered.

Koba Tsujishi: My point is that means that Surumi most likely knew the clue to entering Airi's lab.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Yeah, but… Isn't Surumi the one who died? Was she suicidal or something?

Koba Tsujishi: No. My theory is that she had been involved somehow, but the murder didn't go how it was supposed to.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: Remember what happened when the lights turned back on? Junichi was flat on his back, and Surumi was killed.

Saya Kiruma: I see, so Ando's behavior is because he's being childish.

Junichi Ando: Wh-what?!

Saya Kiruma: I did not stutter. This is murder, Ando. Your feelings toward Surumi should not be allowed to cloud your judgment. If she failed an attempted murder of you, you shouldn't be defending her honor.

Junichi Ando: She didn't try to kill me! She wouldn't- don't act like you knew Surumi! Like any of you did! You weren't her friend! None of you bothered to even talk to her! You all just called her weird and ignored her!

Junichi Ando Cont'd: You… you assholes were just like the people who made fun of her at the orphanage she was raised in. You guys are like her parents, who abandoned her for no reason, not because of money, or because of a divorce, it was all just because they DIDN'T EVEN WANT HER!

Koba Tsujishi: Junichi, I th-

Junichi Ando: Fuck all of you guys! Don't tell me how I'm wrong about Surumi. You're all wrong. ALL OF YOU! She wouldn't try and kill the only person who cares about her! That's all nonsense!

Touki Minami: Whoa… Junichi…

Saya Kiruma: ...Are you done? Your opinion has been noted, and subsequently ignored. Surumi is still my prime suspect and will be assumed until proven otherwise.

(Junichi, tears of anger forming in his eyes, slammed his fist onto the button marked "Verbal Showdown")

Junichi Ando: I won't stand for this!

Monokuma:

I'm surprised he knew what that button did. Good job, Junichi! You just initiated a Verbal Showdown!

Junichi Ando: Yeah! I did! Now… what do I do? I didn't think I hit a button just there. I just hit it because it was big and red.

Monokuma: Ah! A classic decision maker! Big red button! I use those for my executions, too, but I hit mine with a gavel!

Monokuma Cont'd: When you initiate a Verbal Showndown, your screen should light up with each of the remaining students. You gotta pick which student you wanna meet in a one-on-one battle of words!

(Junichi looked down at the screen, seein grid with profiles of each student, Surumi's was grayed out. Junichi pressed the box for Saya)

Monokuma Cont'd: Alright! Verbal Showdown! Junichi Ando vs. Saya Kiruma!

(The podiums began to shift backward, slotting into the back of the circle while Junichi and Saya's moved closer. After a spin of the stage for visual effect, the lights dimmed, leaving spotlights on Junichi and Saya. A set of red and blue bars appeared on the screen behind Monokuma)

Monokuma Cont'd: These bars will represent the influence of the other students. If you think someone is proving better points than someone, you pretty much switch to who you think should win, then you all agree with the result!

Monokuma Cont'd: Now that we've got the rules laid out, let's thrown the gauntlet in this super cool brand new VERBAL SHOWDOWN~

Saya Kiruma: Really, Ando. Do I have to indulge your outbursts this much? This is simple.

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: Surumi is the prime suspect. If your injured self wasn't able to do it, and you didn't know about the hint to sneak the equipment you need out of Kudo's lab, then Surumi has to be the one who did it.

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: It would easier for you to simply concede defeat and go back to silence while Koba and I solve this murder.

Junichi Ando: I disagree, why would Surumi be the one to take the knife?

Saya Kiruma: You don't have to involve yourself in this. Quit now and take your horse out of the race, Ando. The rest of us are going to live, I guarantee it.

Junichi Ando: Don't dodge the question, Kiruma!

Saya Kiruma: Very well. Surumi would know the backdoor and be able to access Kudo's lab if she knew Kudo's birthday.

Junichi Ando: What if Surumi told someone else and they took the knife? If you didn't know that she did, she wouldn't be aware of your agreed silence about it because she wasn't part of that conversation!

Saya Kiruma: That doesn't mean she wouldn't have been able to access the knife.

Junichi Ando: You agreed on the culprit moving to cut the cord within 15 seconds, right?

Saya Kiruma: Ah, so you were paying attention. Yes, fifteen seconds was the agreed time in which the chandelier's cord was cut.

Junichi Ando: How could Surumi get to the knife if the door was sealed shut!?

(Saya's influence bar, which had held strong threw out, was suddenly depleted, Junichi's bar filling entirely. The podiums began to shift back into position.)

Touki Minami: (face slightly green) Junichi, do me a favor...

Junichi Ando: Yeah?

Touki Minami: Don't call for a Verbal Showdown again…

Saya Kiruma: (briefly stunned) Ah… hrn… Ando, how did you-

Junichi Ando: The door to the backstage was sealed up, so no one could get through it, right?

Saya Kiruma: Yes… meaning they would have to take an alternate route to the backstage.

Junichi Ando: So there's no way Surumi could've done that in the fifteen seconds the lights were out! She would need to go out the other exit of the dining hall!

Chiwa Ohara: How did that door get sealed anyway?

Saya Kiruma: From what I recall, it was an epoxy resin used to seal the door shut.

Airi Kudo: It wasn't just a typical two-part epoxy, it was sealed with an ultraviolet epoxy resin. It works by being exposed to ultraviolet light and sets immediately. The culprit most likely stole the resin and a UV blacklight from my lab.

Chiwa Ohara: ...Are you sure you're a babysitter?

Airi Kudo: That gag is getting a bit old, isn't it?

Chiwa Ohara: YOU'RE the gag! Everything you do is weird and contradictory! You know way too much about murder and poison stuff and committing war crimes!

Airi Kudo: I only know just enough to suffice, babysitting is still my specialty.

Chiwa Ohara: You look like you're scarier than Rinne and she's a trained killer! HOW DOES SOMEONE DO THAT!? WHAT ARE YOU?!

Airi Kudo: ...

Saya Kiruma: ...Right. So, the door was sealed with a UV epoxy, using a blacklight from Kudo's room. Did anyone find the blacklight?

Koba Tsujishi: It wasn't anywhere in the scenes of interest. I know each one of us got one in our rooms, but I've yet to see anyone actually wield one.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Wait, we all got one of those? I didn't even find mine…

Katsuya Suba: That's giving me an interesting thought. I think there's something Koba and Saya seem to be overlooking.

Koba Tsujishi: And what would that be?

Katsuya Suba: What if the door was already sealed shut before the murder even began?

Saya Kiruma: Wait, what? That doesn't make much sense. If they sealed the door shut, then they wouldn't have access to the knife to cut the rope.

Katsuya Suba: That's the point. I think the person who stole Airi's knife is using it to hide a second knife they used for the actual crime.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: That's what I think you're getting wrong. You're acting like this was in the heat of the moment, when instead it might have been preemptively planned. If one person can't be in three places, doing three things at once, perhaps they can do 2 or 3 things ahead of time, and do just one task to actually commit the murder.

Izumi Igarashi: Are you saying… That this whole thing was set up beforehand?

Katsuya Suba: Getting a second knife and disposing of it would be easier than running several hundred feet to access another elevator.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: And, I think the person who planted Airi's knife was Surumi, who was trying to plan something, but Junichi caught on and it failed.

Koba Tsujishi: Was Surumi trying to kill someone, or was she being blackmailed into killing Junichi?

Junichi Ando: She had to have been blackmailed!

Daichi Kakihara: Oh, here we fuckin' go again…

Junichi Ando: I have evidence for that, instead of going off her personality. A few of the things she was doing was strange, but I think I know why she was doing it. I just have to put it together!

Katsuya Suba: You started out the trial by saying you did it. Do you know something you're trying to cover up, or are you just an idiot?

Saya Kiruma: Suba raises a good point. You've only managed to get by on your own luck and Koba carrying you, Ando.

Junichi Ando: I don't need Koba for this. I'm going to prove she had good intentions entirely on my own!

Touki Minami: Junichi, you sure you wanna do this, bro?

Junichi Ando: I gotta… for Surumi's sake...

Junichi Ando Cont'd: I… I have to do this!

Saya Kiruma: So, what's your proof that Surumi was complicit in the murder, but not the killer herself?'

Junichi Ando:(Proof… I need proof. I need something I know could be true… and I know exactly what it is.)

Junichi Ando: I have it!

Junichi Ando: Surumi shoved me out of the way of the chandelier at the last second. I didn't dodge it at all.

Saya Kiruma: She… shoved you out of the way?

Junichi Ando: Remember back when the lights were out… someone screamed my name just before the chandelier dropped.

Saya Kiruma: It was hard to hear anything, but yes, I believe your name was shouted just before the crash…

Junichi Ando: Isn't it weird? Someone trying to kill you suddenly gaining a conscience, screaming your name and shoving you onto your back so you didn't die? Who does that?

Katsuya Suba: It's a sign of a weak-hearted killer. Someone who wasn't willing to go through with their own plan. A simple shove is not proof enough.

Junichi Ando: She didn't move out of the way to save herself. She shoved me instead… She DIED. She didn't just shove me… she died for me.

Junichi Ando Cont'd: Guilt… it's a weird feeling, I get it. But… is a sudden guilt enough to choose to abort the murder by killing yourself? Wouldn't you just… give up and not kill them instead?

Katsuya Suba: Then she simply wasn't fit to survive if guilt was enough to shake her to her core.

Junichi Ando: Wasn't fit to- wasn't- she wasn't an animal, you sick bastard! She was a person!

Katsuya Suba: Back to your emotion-driven diatribes then? We're animals, Junichi. Everybody here is just another animal. We function based on what the chemicals in our brains tell us what we believe.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Belief isn't truth, the chemicals in your brain can't change reality, no matter how much you want it to be true. If something is real, you have to adapt to it, not deny it out of existence.

Izumi Igarashi: W-wait a second!

Izumi Igarashi Cont'd: I think Junichi has a point, though. Her suddenly having a change of heart doesn't make sense if it was a premeditated murder.

Izumi Igarashi Cont'd: If it was a sudden decision… I could understand your feelings being a factor. But your argument was that it was a premeditated murder… That doesn't make sense!

Junichi Ando: I-Izumi?

Saya Kiruma: I'm curious, Igarashi. Explain your reasoning.

Izumi Igarashi: If it was premeditated, she would have plenty of time to go back on her plans to murder Junichi! She wouldn't just suddenly stop once her entire plan came to fruition!

Izumi Igarashi Cont'd: Surumi must have been complicit in this plan, and only found out how he was going to be murdered minutes before it happened. That's the only thing that would make sense for a change of heart!

Koba Tsujishi: She's not wrong. There's also a lot of pieces that don't fit together yet, so we can't just run on the assumption that Surumi is the killer.

Izumi Igarashi: Katsuya… you said it was premeditated to facilitate the fact that Airi's knife was in a place that didn't make sense. But you are acting as if she came to that decision out of weakness, or last-second shame. Despite hours of preparation… something acting on their base urges wouldn't do!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Holy shit, why is Izumi smart all of a sudden?

Izumi Igarashi: Because our l-lives are on the line! We're being sh-shortsighted!

Izumi Igarashi Cont'd: If you want to prove your theory correct, then prove that Surumi wasn't being coerced!

Junichi Ando: Izumi's right, I have evidence to show Surumi was coerced!

Junichi Ando Cont'd: Koba and I checked Surumi's lab while Saya investigated the dining hall. We found a notepad with a hidden message.

(Junichi looked over the podium, seeing the "Truth Bullet" button, pressing it and scrolling until he found the hidden note. He pressed the picture, the note appearing on the screen.)

Monokuma: Aw, he presented evidence on the TV all by himself! He didn't have to bring a switchblade into the class trial room, unlike a certain DETECTIVE that we know!

Koba Tsujishi: You didn't confiscate it.

Monokuma: Yeah? Well… shut up!

Sora Hitose: What's with the paper being all purple? Did you doodle all over it?

Koba Tsujishi: It's an old detective trick. The messages were on a piece of paper that had been discarded, but the words left an imprint.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: As you can see, there are two messages imprinted on the paper. "Put the Star on Junichi's head" and "2:50" both written by "K"

Sora Hitose: ...The star?

Asana Nanashima: Oh! That's why you asked me about the star sticker on your hat in the elevator!

Koba Tsujishi: Asana, tell them what he asked you and what your response was! This is really important.

Asana Nanashima: He asked me how long he had that star sticker on the top of his cap. I noticed it the night before when we were having dinner, and I saw it again while we were watching that movie in the lounge.

Miyuki Ashikawa: I was wondering about that weird glow on the ceiling...

Asana Nanashima: You weren't watching the movie?!

Miyuki Ashikawa: Of course not!

Junichi Ando: Wouldn't that have been the glow of the TV?

Miyuki Ashikawa: It was mostly blue, yeah, but there was an occasional streak of green that always showed up in the same spot. Pretty much when I looked at the ceiling, I would spot it occasionally.

Miyuki Ashikawa Cont'd: Watching it move around was better than watching that awful movie!

Asana Nanashima: You just don't appreciate art!

Miyuki Ashikawa: That wasn't art! It was trash! TRAAAAAASH!

Asana Nanashima: Gurl, I love you but you gotta work on your standards! That movie was GOLD!

Touki Minami: Wait… What does a sticker have to do with a weird light you saw, Miyuki?

Koba Tsujishi: The sticker placed on Junichi's head wasn't an ordinary sticker… it was laced with Strontium Aluminate in its pigmentation.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Uhh… The fuck's that?

Koba Tsujishi: The sticker absorbed light, and it could glow in the dark. It might be somewhat dim compared to a lamp, but if all the lights were out… He would stand out like a sore thumb.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: And this 'K' person wrote a note saying to stick one on Junichi to keep track of him in the dark, and she complied. She then destroyed the original note. She was being compromised somehow, and I think I know what the killer used to force her to go along with it.

Yuuto Hagiwara: She got rid of the note? I thought that picture is the note.

Sora Hitose: No, Yuuto. It's just the imprint. Koba explained this already.

Yuuto Hagiwara: ...Why don't I remember him explaining it?

Sora Hitose: You probably weren't paying attention.

Monokuma: I gave you that shirt for a reason…

Yuuto Hagiwara: Shut up! Stupid bear! Stupid idiot shirt! This is bullshit, yo!

Saya Kiruma: Hagiwara! You are interrupting this trial for trivial nonsense!

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: Koba, you said you and Ando had evidence to show that Surumi could have been coerced into following the killer's plan.

Koba Tsujishi: Right. As an effort to motivate us to kill, Monokuma gave us DVDs. Each DVD had a threat against a family member or loved one, at least as far as I can tell.

(Koba went through the Truth Bullets, selecting Surumi's Motive DVD. The video played in its entirety, the same video Junichi and Koba watched.)

Koba Tsujishi: Junichi and I watched this during the investigation… and considering her… unique personality, I imagine learning this would hurt her emotionally. She was afraid of being called crazy, so imagine if we all saw that while she was alive.

Izumi Igarashi: ...So this is what Junichi was talking about earlier…

Junichi Ando: She was bullied everywhere she went… I couldn't imagine what she'd go through if people watched this video...

Katsuya Suba: The incentive of finding her birth parents certainly would be enough for Surumi to consider killing someone to escape, though. And Junichi would be the perfect target for that.

Junichi Ando: She didn't-

Katsuya Suba: How long are you going to keep up that delusion of yours, Junichi? Surumi didn't care about you, she saw your compassion as a weakness. Just as much of one as the wound on your chest. She saw an opportunity to fulfill her goal and used you as a means to that end.

Touki Minami: Dude, what is your deal? You're constantly going on supervillain rants every time someone says something you don't like.

Katsuya Suba: I'm simply being realistic. Junichi's emotions are blinding him to the truth and every piece of evidence he presents is driven by his feelings for the victim. But if you insist on the idea that someone was manipulating her… Do you have a who?

Junichi Ando: Who?

Katsuya Suba: You act like Surumi is being manipulated by some… Snide ne'er do well, who is making her feel all the bad things to make her follow their every command. Do you know who it is? Or are you just trying to shift the blame…

Junichi Ando: It would be… whoever K was. And we have a few people with K in their names. First, and last. Including you, Katsuya.

Katusya Suba: So that would be me, Koba, Daichi Kakihara, Saya Kiruma and Airi Kudo.

Junichi Ando: And I'm starting to suspect it's you, Katsuya. Airi accounted for every person's position except yours when the lights went out. You weren't where Airi said you were previously… Sharpening your knife.

Junichi Ando Cont'd: Funny, isn't it? You had a second knife on you, according to Airi. And since the first knife wasn't used… It would have been yours, wouldn't it

Katsuya Suba: Your alibi is somewhat lacking too, Junichi. You don't have a K in your name… but you did run out of the room as soon as the body was discovered. Wouldn't leaving the room in a blind dash be the perfect time to get rid of a second knife before someone noticed you had one?

Airi Kudo: If… they both had knives, or if Junichi can't prove he also didn't have a knife… I think that means we can't really decide who didn't have one, because Junichi could most likely throw it out before Koba found him. That leaves both of you in a precarious spot, innocence wise.

Daichi Kakihara: It sure ain't me. I was as far fucking away from you guys as the boundaries of the room can get. And I don't even have a knife!

Junichi Ando: Koba… you saw me after I ran off. You can vouch for me… I didn't have a knife, right?

Koba Tsujishi: …

Junichi Ando: Koba?

Koba Tsujishi: Junichi… When you left, I didn't see you for about 30 seconds until I found you further in the hallway. I… I can't discard that evidence, I'm sorry.

Junichi Ando: W-what!? You're saying… you can't prove I didn't have a knife!?

Katsuya Suba: Not being able to disprove something is almost as good as proving something… almost, anyway.

Saya Kiruma: So… That makes our two suspects Suba, and Ando.

Katsuya Suba: Me, being over on the opposite side of the stage, and Junichi, who was in the range of the winch. He might say something like he was on his back when the lights went on… but that isn't the hardest thing to feign.

Junichi Ando: So you're saying I did it. I manipulated Surumi… into luring me into a situation where I could drop a chandelier on her? Are you serious right now?

Katsuya Suba: I am. The person who framed Junichi and Surumi was Junichi, he lured Surumi into a position where it looked like she was about to kill him, then switched places with her.

Touki Minami: That's ridiculous! Junichi's injured! There's no way he could-

Katsuya Suba: He doesn't have to drag someone who is willingly coming along with him. He put the star on his head to make Surumi think someone was targeting him in the dark…

Yuuto Hagiwara: You mean like... from above?

Katsuya Suba: Not actually from above.

Junichi Ando: Wait… what if they DID try to track me from above?

Katsuya Suba: That would be something you would do to trick Surumi into thinking they were dropping the chandelier on you, and not her.

Junichi Ando: If… if Airi couldn't see you when the lights went out… were you even somewhere on the floor in the first place?

Katsuya Suba: Let the hunt begin!

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Are you talking to yourself? Trying to come up with more lies to cover your ass, hm?

Junichi Ando: No… I think I know what's going on. You're thinking you can get away with dropping the chandelier on Surumi from the roof, and blame it on me because I was close enough to the winch to be culpable.

Katsuya Suba: You haven't answered the question, why would I be on the roof? I was in the room a few minutes before, and nobody saw me slip away, Airi simply lost track of me. Does she know where I was when the lights turned on?

Airi Kudo: You were on the opposite side of the room you previously were when the lights turned on. On the eastern wall, with your hands in your pockets.

Junichi Ando: So you could have been close enough to the winch when the lights turned back on.

Katsuya Suba: Why would I be on the ceiling!?

Junichi Ando: To make sure Surumi had me underneath the chandelier when the lights were out. You were on the beam above the fountain, where the chandelier was mounted. That was why you put the star on my head, and not on my back. If you were ground level, it would be easier to spot my back!

Izumi Igarashi: The argument makes sense, if you were wanting to find Junichi on the ground, you would place it on something you could always see at eye level, his back. If it was attached to his head, the only way to always see the star would be if you were above him.

Asana Nanashima: Yeah, but wouldn't everyone see that? We'd all probably spot the glow on his back and make our way to it. If it was on the top of his head, then only one or two people would see it!

Koba Tsujishi: Which would explain using a more unconventional murder method. If Katsuya is the culprit, it would prove difficult to attack Junichi if he ended up surrounded by the others in the blackout.

Katsuya Suba: All well and good, but that doesn't prove that I was on the roof. If it was the case, everybody could have been on the roof. What evidence do you have that would make it be specifically me aiming the chandelier?

Junichi Ando: I have to have something that proves it… A way to prove it was Katsuya and nobody else on the ceiling.

Junichi Ando: I have it!

Junichi Ando: Izumi and I were told by Saya to investigate the laundry room on the way around the sealed door. It required us to go up a floor to get to it, but when we got there, all the dryers were buzzing. Another thing was that one of the vents had its grating taken off. The vent was wide enough for someone to climb through.

Rokuro Akada: Why would the vent be that wide?

Monokuma: It saves on heating to have vents between each room, so instead of a central cooling system having to cool off hundreds of rooms, you can cool off a few rooms, and the vents would distribute the air from the top-down since cold air falls downward!

Rokuro Akada: Uhh… oh. I didn't know that.

Miyuki Ashikawa: Why is he giving advice about economically heating a building?

Monokuma: I'm a bear of many talents! I'm an expert home improver!

Junichi Ando: When Izumi and I were crawling through a vent, we found something strange. I thought it was a lock of someone's hair at first, but with the evidence we found… It might belong to Katsuya.

(Junichi presented the evidence on the screen, showing a hand holding locks of brown hairs)

Asana Nanashima: Is that… hair?

Katsuya Suba: It would appear so. Brown hair. However…

(Katsuya pulled back his hood, revealing a head of messy blonde hair, almost all of it combed back and down to his neck in length, matted by his hood.)

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: My hair is blonde, your grasping for straws is over, Junichi.

Saya Kiruma: That's right… I've seen his hair once before.

Izumi Igarashi: But who has brown hair?

Katsuya Suba: Touki, Rokuro, Asana, Yuuto, and Chiwa.

Touki Minami: W-wait! No way! I didn't do it!

(Junichi, instead of being upset, or enraged, just started staring at the ground.)

Asana Nanashima: You accusin' me, Katsuya?!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Man, I wouldn't do it!

Chiwa Ohara: (Shaking) I-I didn't... I don't…. I didn't do it!

Rokuro Akada: ...Wait, what's happening now?

Rinne Takayanagi: You're being accused of killing Surumi.

Rokuro Akada: What?! I didn't do it! I wasn't payin' attention!

(The room began to devolve into a cacophony of denials and accusations among the students, Junichi trying to focus his thoughts.)

(Mass Panic Debate Start)

Rokuro Akada: Man, just cuz I'm good at climbing-

Chiwa Ohara: I was with Airi the whole time!

Asana Nanashima: You could fit in that dumb ass vent, Chiwa!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Sora, back me up here, dude!

Rokuro Akada: -doesn't mean I could climb up that roof!

Rinne Takayanagi: But you did during the investigation-

Izumi Igarashi: Touki… why?

Touki Minami: I-it wasn't me, Izumi-

Chiwa Ohara: I-I was hiding under the table!

Asana Nanshima: Well, it sure wasn't me!

Chiwa Ohara: Why not!?

Asana Nanashima: Bitch I'm built like a tank!

Miyuki Ashikawa: Wh-what kind of defense is that?!

Rokuro Akada: Just cuz I could climb it doesn't mean I could climb it while the lights were out!

Asana Nanashima: You try and squeeze in there with your boobies, it ain't gonna happen, MiMi!

Sora Hitose: I wanna believe you, but-

Asana Nanashima: And I got legs like boulders!

Sora Hitose: -you're thin enough to glide through that vent.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Man that ain't what I'm talking about! You saw me at the table!

Touki Minami: I was with you the whole time, I-

Izumi Igarashi: You heard the evidence, it had to be someone with brown hair! Who else would be in the vent!?

Junichi Ando: EVERYBODY SHUT UP!

(The students all suddenly went quiet as Junichi took a deep breath)

Junichi Ando: Guys, what if this isn't hair?

Rokuro Akada: Man don't be gross-

Junichi Ando: Shut up and let me finish! What is this was actually fur and not hair?

Yuuto Hagiwara: You said it was hair when you first brought it up!

Junichi Ando: What's the difference between hair and fur!? It's the same thing when you're holding locks of it. And this fur… belongs to Katsuya!

Koba Tsujishi: (Smiling) See? Now you're getting it, Junichi!

Yuuto Hagiwara: He has fur? Did his chest hair get snagged on the vent?

Saya Kiruma: No, you idiot. He wears a bear pelt on his head. His hair wouldn't get caught in the vent, but the pelt he wears over his hair would be caught first.

Junichi Ando: You were in that vent, Katsuya! (Junichi pointed accusingly with his uninjured arm)

Katsuya Suba: Face me, Junichi!

(Katsuya ground his closed fist into the Non-Stop Debate button)

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: You're throwing out evidence that has already been established by Airi and her map she previously made!

Junichi Ando: And how's that?

Katsuya Suba: Recall Airi's map… Do you remember the radius around the winch on the stage? 30 feet. Remember!?

Junichi Ando: What about it?

Katsuya Suba: Airi stated you have to be within 15 seconds of the winch to actually cut it and drop the chandelier. The vent is farther than that radius, so how could I have cut the cord at the winch like Saya stated if I was on the ceiling!

Touki Minami: Saya did say that it wasn't cut from the ceiling, it was cut from the floor.

Katsuya Suba: That means I had to both be on the ceiling, and the ground. Which one is it, Ando!? Which one IS IT!?

Yuuto Hagiwara: Did he… jump off? How are his legs not broken?! that's 30 feet!

Izumi Igarashi: He's right…. How do you cut the winch from the floor if Junichi claimed he was on the ceiling…?

Koba Tsujishi: If there was a way he could get down quick, but safely… It might be possible.

Saya Kiruma: This is the path of truth!

Saya Kiruma: There is a possibility for Katsuya to have moved down quickly and with little injury.

Junichi Ando: There is?

Saya Kiruma: Yes. It was something Igarashi brought up to me while we were investigating the scene of the crime. This chandelier is different than one of the chandeliers set up at her father's restaurant.

Izumi Igarashi: Oh yeah, it was! Usually, the chandelier's power cord would be connected up into the walls, and back down to the winch. But this one was connected directly to it! I complained about how unsafe that looked when I saw it. The whole cord would have been at a 40-degree angle.

Saya Kiruma: See, Igarashi? We could've avoided a lot of headaches if you had just told them.

Izumi Igarashi: But- you didn't- that's… (Sighs) Saya, you're not helping.

Saya Kiruma: The same could go for you. You were about to explain that fact but then decided to tell me 'screw it' and eschewed your responsibility!

Yuuto Hagiwara: So.. that would have been a safe way for him to get down? Did he walk on it like a tightrope? That would be hard at a 40-degree angle, wouldn't it?

Daichi Kakihara: It's not a tightrope, dipshit! He coulda used it like a zipline.

Miyuki Ashikawa: But how?

Daichi Kakihara: Bitch, have you ever heard of a zipline!? I thought you were a writer!

Rinne Takayanagi: The idea does sound a bit outlandish. But if he got enough speed on the zipline, he could move from the roof to the floor within 15 seconds.

Katsuya Suba: But there's no proof for that theory. The cord was cut, how would you know if they were directly connected or not?

Saya Kiruma: (barely suppressing a smile) Igarashi… tell them.

Izumi Igarashi: (Sigh) You know you can just- Oh, nevermind. Saya why do you have to be awful?

Saya Kiruma: (holding up her yardstick) Excuse you?

Izumi Igarashi: ...Why, do you have to be awful, ma'am?

Saya Kiruma: Better.

Izumi Igarashi: I don't know what you're asking me to prove…

Touki Minami: She wants you to prove Katsuya ziplined the cord to the chandelier.

Izumi Igarashi: Oh, okay.

Izumi Igarashi Cont'd: Well… something Saya and I noticed while we were investigating the dining hall… the curtain that covers the stage was partially pulled off the curtain rod.

Saya Kiruma: The chandelier was at tension to keep itself held up, and since it was directly connected to the winch, it would have to pass by the curtain to connect to it.

Saya Kiruma Cont'd: If it were connected directly, and cut at the winch, the tension of the cord could yank it and rip part of the curtain off of the rod. It would only make sense if someone pulled on it suddenly, and that chandelier was several hundred pounds, it could easily rip the curtain partially off its rods.

Junichi Ando: So they were connected, that would make a perfect opportunity to zipline down the cord!

Katsuya Suba: Then how would I know when to be on the roof? If I was early, or late, then I would have been caught being on the roof. If the power was only out for 15 seconds, it would leave me no time to exit the room and get to the ceiling!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Yeah, that blackout just kind of happened. If he was planning that whole chandelier murder, he got super lucky. Are we sure Junichi's the Ultimate Lucky Student here?

Touki Minami: Oh no, you did it.

Junichi Ando: AAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!

Izumi Igarashi: I forgot he doesn't like that joke.

Junichi Ando: DDDDDDAAAAAAAMMMMMNNNNNN IIIIIIIITTTTTT!

Touki Minami: Are you sure you forgot? I thought everyone said it at least once.

Koba Tsujishi: Hrm… maybe the blackout wasn't by chance? Junichi.

Junichi Ando: I HAAAAAAATTTTEEEE!

Koba Tsujishi: Junichi! Hello? Class trial goin' on here.

Junichi Ando: Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. What's up?

Koba Tsujishi: Do you remember the other note on Surumi's notepad?

Junichi Ando: Uh… I think so. I think it was "2:50..."

Koba Tsujishi: Right. And according to the Monokuma File, Surumi's time of death was 2:51, wasn't it?

Saya Kiruma: That's right.

Junichi Ando: So… was the time of death premeditated too?

Asana Nanashima: That too? How would he know when the blackout was going to happen?

Koba Tsujishi: I'm starting to think that this was a plan where every aspect was meticulously taken care of. Forward planning born of malice...

Junichi Ando: Yeah, but how would he plan a blackout?

Koba Tsujishi: I think it might have involved the timers on the dryers in the laundry room, you can preset when you can turn them on, and the culprit must have set all of them to turn on at once, right at 2:50 PM.

Miyuki Ashikawa: Huh? Y-you can cause a blackout with dryers?

Koba Tsujishi: Yeah, most of the building is connected to a circuit board, which regulates how much power is being drawn from everything that's plugged in. The dining hall and the laundromat shared the same circuit breaker.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: As soon as the dryers turned on at the same time, it tripped the breakers and it shut off to prevent the circuit exploding. All the culprit would have to do, is make it through the vent way and onto the ceiling to track Junichi and Surumi, as she was told to at 2:50.

Saya Kiruma: At that point, it'd all be a matter of doing it as quickly as possible since Suba had no way of knowing when the lights would come back on. If they came back on a second too early, we would've seen him on the ceiling.

Daichi Kakihara: Yeah, but he was in the dining hall the whole time. In fact, the only people who left who would've been able to set up something like that were the waitress bitch and the reporter fuckboy. That would take way too long to set that shit up unless he did it way beforehand.

Touki Minami: Fuck...boy?

Daichi Kakihara: You're trying to get the pink so bad I'm surprised nobody has gotten a restraining order against you yet!

Touki Minami: Says the guy who calls every girl he meets 'bitch'... Pot, kettle, black?

Daichi Kakihara: Yeah, but I ain't trying to get in anyone's pants, you sad sack of shit.

Katsuya Suba: He does raise a good point, though. It would be impossible for me to have even left the dining hall,

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: From the start of that banquet, all the way until the murder was about 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes… and Airi saw me for most of it. If I was out of her sight, there would be no time for me to set up the power outage.

Socrates: If I may interject!

(Debate Starts with Chiwa lifting her stuffed rabbit in front of her face, positioning her fingers and thumbs to move his arms)

Socrates: Chiwa and I have decided that it is time for me to include myself into this class trial in an active capacity

Socrates Cont'd: Rather than the advisory position I had been taking throughout.

Daichi Kakihara: (Rubbing his temples) You have got to be shitting me… Can someone get the baby out of the room!?

Airi Kudo: I'll allow her to say what she… and Socrates have to say.

Daichi Kakihara: ...Are you guys high?

Socrates: Excuse me! I was speaking, Mr. Kakihara!

Socrates Cont'd: Ahem! Anyway, as I understand things, there is the choice of Ms. Igarashi and Mr. Minami as potential culprits.

Socrates Cont'd: However! I believe that this is simply a diversion from another possible outcome.

(Chiwa said, pointing the rabbit's arms for emphasis)

Sora Hitose: What the hell am I looking at? I might die here and I'm watching a girl play with a bunny rabbit.

Socrates: I am not a bunny rabbit! I am an advisor!

Airi Kudo: So, what's the outcome you came to, Socrates?

Miyuki Ashikawa: D-don't humor her!

Socrates: I believe that the culprit had turned on the dryers before the banquet.

Junichi Ando: I agree!

(Debate Stops)

Touki Minami: Huh? You agree with that? Bro… she's saying it with a bunny toy!

Junichi Ando: So? She's still on to something! Maybe Katsuya turned on the dryers before the banquet even started.

Rinne Takayanagi: Maybe… but when?

Junichi Ando: Hrm… when could have gone to the laundromat…

Junichi Ando Cont'd: That's it!

Junichi Cont'd: Sora, do you remember during the movie when Daichi knocked over Yuuto's soda?

Sora Hitose: Yeah, I remember Izumi jumping up to grope me…

Izumi Igarashi: It wasn't like that!

Saya Kiruma: It was exactly like that, Igarashi!

Junichi Ando: No, not that! Gross. I'm talking about what happened after that. Wasn't it weird that Katsuya offered to take your jacket to get cleaned, Sora?

Sora Hitose: I just thought he was avoiding watching that movie.

Junichi Ando: All this time I didn't know why Katsuya was staring at me when I looked back as he exited the room… but you were making sure I had the sticker on my hat, didn't you?

Katsuya Suba: …

Junichi Ando: And you used the opportunity to clean Sora's shirt to set the dryers to 2:50, right? What would you have done if that didn't happen? Would you have made your own problem up for you to solve?

Katsuya Suba: …

Junichi Ando: Hey! Are you gonna say something? Quit staring at me, you're creepin' me out!

Katsuya Suba: You're weak…

Junichi Ando: Wh-what? I'm weak? What are you-

Katsuya Suba: You're weak, Junichi. You're nothing but a frail rabbit hiding behind the wolves that pity you. This game is about survival and you couldn't even go a day without grievously injuring yourself.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Do you really believe that a weak-willed lamb like you is going to make it through this? You'd do us all a favor if you die because you'll be the target of every single murder with how easily taken advantage of you are.

Junichi Ando: I...

Touki Minami: Bro, you're not letting this guy get to you, are ya?

Junichi Ando: N-no, that's wrong! I'm not-

Katsuya Suba: (Voice growing colder, glaring hard at Junichi) You are weak! You are weak! You are weak, weak, weak, weak, weak!

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: I was raised since youth to survive in harsh conditions, to kill for every meal and to see the light of day! You are nothing but a coddled little lamb who never had to fight for anything in its pathetic life… You remind me of what makes me sick about this modern world.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Humans as a species have regressed. Every year, we get stupider as more and more is taken care of us! You don't need to breathe anymore, we have a goddamn app for that! When what distracts you is taken away; love, friendship, games, your phone, your movies, your social life… you become passive and stare into the abyss like someone needs to tell you to eat and drink because you can't think of it your goddamn self!

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: And you, Junichi Ando, who was simply handed his position in Hope's Peak, after I had to maul a wolf just to even hope to see a world beyond the cold… you disgust me by even being here. You're worthless! You do not even deserve to breathe the same air as any of us, because I know that somewhere in the cracks of this godforsaken building that a cockroach could have used the oxygen you just wasted!

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: That spear should've done what Surumi failed to do… The fact you're not dead means another life was wasted to feed the machine.

(Junichi slumped back in his podium, shaking and feeling his breath catch in his throat.)

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: I don't blame Monokuma at all for thinking this world is rotten, because it is. People like you deserve to die.

Junichi Ando: (I'm… I'm weak…)

Koba Tsujishi: Don't give up, Junichi!

Koba Tsujishi: Don't listen to him, Junichi! You're not weak! We're almost there, we can save everyone else. Let's put this case away, Junichi!

Monokuma: Yeah, Junichi! All you need to do is to vote and kill a guy!

Touki Minami: Well, when you put it like that!

Asana Nanashima: Yeah, Koba's right! You got Katsuya rocked! He's just trying to scare you! This is where you backfist this fucker to oblivion!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Yeah! You've been catching every fastball he's thrown at you! You're on a roll, man!

Rinne Takayangi: You can do it, Junichi! You're not weak as long as you got us!

Touki Minami: You hear that, bro? We're all rooting for you! Now finish him off!

Junichi Ando: Thank you, everyone...

Junichi Ando Cont'd: Well, Katsuya, are you ready to go? Because I am! I'm gonna finish this!

Katsuya Suba: …

Saya Kiruma: That silence is not going to help you, Suba. In fact, it's only going to be worse for you.

Katsuya Suba: Oh? And what does that mean?

Saya Kiruma: Well, I was thinking about the blackout and I noticed something. Ando, since everyone seems to be back-patting you right now, I think I'll leave this one to you and Kudo.

Junichi Ando: Huh? Uh… sure, what is it? What was that about Airi?

Saya Kiruma: Let me pull up the Truth Bullet for you. In the chaos of the blackout, there was a lot of shouting. I want to see if you notice something…

Airi Kudo: Something I noticed…

Saya Kiruma: I have a hunch, but I don't want to influence what you remember, so I want to see if this truth bullet has the recording of the audio. Can you try to correlate who said what?

(Saya pressed the Truth Bullet button, a recording of the dining hall playing on the speakers)

"The hell!?"

"U-uhh… What just happened? Where'd the lights go?"

"Who cut the lights?!"

"Shit! Get against the wall, MiMi!"

"Try and find an outlet to turn it back on! Hold the wall if you have to."

"Chiwa? Chiwa! Come back!"

"Somebody? Help!? I can't see!"

"And the night just keeps fucking getting better! Are you shitting me?"

"Everyone stay where they are! Don't add more chaos, Monokuma can turn the lights back on!"

"Guys, what's going on!? We heard screaming!"

"T-Touki! Be careful!"

"Everyone find each other and exit the room in a single file line!"

"Tell me where the lights are and I'll turn em back on!" [Rokuro]

"Surumi, are you still there?" [Junichi]

"JUNICHI!" [Surumi]

Junichi Ando: So… you want me to figure out who said what?

Saya Kiruma: That's right. Everyone else is free to add their own thoughts if it helps.

Junichi Ando: Hrm… the fourth one is Asana. She's the only one who calls Miyuki "MiMi"

Asana Nanashima: Yeah, that was me!

Airi Kudo: Well, that's one. Now, for the first one, we're looking for someone with a deep, gruff voice. The more we eliminate, the faster these will go.

Yuuto Hagiwara: That one was me. And I'm pretty sure the girl who spoke after me was Miyuki since she sounds like a sheep wearing a human costume.

Miyuki Ashikawa: W-what!? Well, y-you look like a goat wearing human skin!

Yuuto Hagiwara: Eh, that's fair I guess.

Junichi Ando: The person calling for Chiwa has to be Airi, right?

Airi Kudo: That's right and after me was Chiwa.

Junichi Ando: Hrm… The one calling for Touki had to be Izumi, right? Because Izumi and Touki left the dining hall. Which means the one before Izumi was Touki.

Izumi Igarashi: We saw the lights flicker from the lounge. It's not connected directly to the breakers of the dining hall, but power surges cause other lights to flicker. So we opened the door and it was pitch black in there.

Saya Kiruma: I wonder, what was Minami doing out there?

Touki Minami: I was bringing food to Izumi because she was fuming over Saya. I figured she wanted something to eat to calm down.

Izumi Igarashi: And it helped. Thank you, Touki.

(Touki snapped his fingers, giving Izumi double finger guns)

Touki Minami: No problem, babe. Touki's always got your back.

Saya Kiruma: ...I feel betrayed.

Izumi Igarashi: It's called empathy, jeez...

Saya Kiruma: Igarashi, you're fired. Chiwa, you have been promoted to full assistant position.

Chiwa Ohara: Yay!

Touki Minami: Congrats, you're a gofer. I'm sure you must be ecstatic.

Chiwa Ohara: Stop talking for the rest of the trial, Minami!

Saya Kiruma: Like a fish to water.

Chiwa Ohara: Yay!

Izumi Igarashi: I wasn't even sure I was hired to begin with.

Daichi Kakihara: Will you fucking idiots get back to the trial?!

Koba Tsujishi: Well… We -are- treading water. We should strike while everyone's memory is still fresh.

Airi Kudo: My memory is always fresh. As the youth say, it's both fresh and fly.

Junichi Ando: Nobody says that…

Rinne Takayanagi: I remember telling people to press against the wall to prevent being ambushed. Hugging the wall and keeping your back to it is a good way to keep the enemy in 'sight'

Junichi Ando: Okay, so who was after Miyuki?

Airi Kudo: Their voice was very clear, but a tenor, so kind of high pitched.

Yuuto Hagiwara: Sounds like Sora.

Sora Hitose: Yeah, that sounds right.

Junichi Ando: The voice after Chiwa was snappish and swearing a lo-

Asana Nanashima: Yeaaah that's probably Daichi.

Daichi Kakihara: Oh, fuck you too!

Asana Nanahshima: You're welcome.

Airi Kudo: After that was a soft, but commanding voice.

Rinne Takayanagi: Koba.

Koba Tsujishi: Didn't think I was that distinct. I'm fairly certain the person ordering us to leave the room in a slightly nasal, but authoritative voice was Saya.

Saya Kiruma: Slightly nasal? Excuse me?

Daichi Kakihara: You heard him! You got a voice made of nose!

Saya Kiruma: Do you only exist to vex me, Kakihara? Do you have something better to do with your life?

Daichi Kakihara: I do have something better to do with my life, but that dumb fucking bear trapped me here to make me do something I don't care about, to prove some point I REALLY don't care about! So, may as well make the most of being in this shithole. Now hurry it the fuck up and say Katsuya is the culprit already!

Airi Kudo: We still have three more voices to correlate. The next one is-

Daichi Kakihara: The next one is that dumb fucking caveman Rokuro, and the other two are Junichi and Surumi. There, happy, assholes?

Daichi Kakihara Cont'd: Junichi was asking where Surumi is and Surumi shouted his name for some reason.

Koba Tsujishi: Uhhh… Alright, then. Guess that's right.

Junichi Ando: I was asking if Surumi was still standing right next to me, and she screamed my name and shoved me to the floor.

Rokuro Akada: Yeah! And I was gonna fix the light! I have issues with the caveman thing, but I'll just beat you up later instead of complaining about it!

Saya Kiruma: So, with all of those gathered voices, only one person didn't say anything in the blackout. Suba. And I have a theory as to why. Tell them, Chiwa.

Chiwa Ohara: Was it… because he would have heard him moving?

Socrates: And because humans have three-dimensional hearing, we could hear his voice moving past all of us if he spoke anything while ziplining! Yes indeed! (Chiwa nods Socrates' head sagely.)

Junichi Ando: So, sounds like you've got nowhere left to go Katsuya. Uh… how do we end this anyway?

Monokuma: Well usually I want a summary after the culprit concedes. Either that or when I get bored with the trial. I'm like… 45% bored right now, so we're still good, I'd like to wrap this up soon, though.

Junichi Ando: Okay, lemme see if I can summarize this-

Katsuya Suba: This is not over! Not while I still draw breath!

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Did you not hear the bear? The culprit has to concede before the summary! And there is no culprit! You have not proven anything! You have proven nothing!

Junichi Ando: I dunno... I thought I was doing pretty good after shitting the bed at the start.

Katsuya Suba: Is that so?! Do you really think you've solved this whole murder?! Then answer this… How did I zipline down the chandelier cable without any equipment?

Junichi Ando: ...You did have equipment! We heard it fall on the ground when you were zip...li… S-shit!

Katsuya Suba: Do you see the problem already with that argument? The carabiner that fell on the ground… it landed next to you, it didn't land at the winch! You could have dropped it on the floor!

Junichi Ando: There were two carabiners! You could have used… wait… no.

Junichi Ando Cont'd: That was in Surumi's lab and was nowhere near the crime scene either…

Katsuya Suba: And keep in mind, if I used either one there would have been signs of use on either… You need a break to use a zipline, or you'll go too fast and crash into the stage hard enough to shatter your bones.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: I don't wear gloves, so I couldn't use those to stop the friction from burning my hands. So, explain how I did it, Junichi!

Junichi Ando: Well… you… used... A belt? Maybe?

Katsuya Suba: Does any of my clothing seem damaged? I would have used no such thing.

Junichi Ando: Damn it! Y-you used… it has to be something! You have to have used something to… not… burn… your… (Junichi started to stare at his hands, voice trailing off in thought) hands...

Katsuya Suba: Give up, Junichi! You're hopeless! You're weak! This is your end, only the strongest survive and your purpose is to lose to the strong!

Junichi Ando: SHOW ME YOUR HANDS!

(Katsuya goes silent, the entire trial coming to a sudden stop.)

Katsuya Suba: ...What did you just say?

Junichi Ando: You didn't use anything to slow yourself down but your own hands! You planted the carabiners to make it look like you used them, then use your hands to actually slow yourself on the zipline! That was your last resort!

Katsuya Suba: Only a maniac would do that.

Izumi Igarashi: Wait, that's right! Saya. Wasn't there blood on the cord?!

Katsuya Suba: I would be bleeding if there was blood on the cord that I ziplined on with my BARE FUCKING HANDS, Junichi!

Saya Kiruma: The… the friction would have cauterized the wound… That's why I haven't seen any blood from his hands.

Yuuto Hagiwara: That's some rug burn from hell! I would be in tears if I did that!

Rinne Takayanagi: His fists have been closed or covered this entire time. If someone like Junichi had burns on his hands, I could understand him being in discomfort but… Katsuya… Someone like Katsuya.

Saya Kiruma: If it meant he won… he would do it.

Junichi Ando: Well, Katsuya? If you're innocent, show me your palms! Prove your hands aren't damaged!

(Katsuya gives a deep, low growl)

Katsuya Suba: Y-you… You son of a bitch…

Junichi Ando: If you don't show your hands, you're a coward!

Katsuya Suba: Fine...

(Katsuya flipped over his hands, showing his palms were a bright red, with burned, cauterized streaks of ripped flesh on each hand. )

Yuuto Hagiwara: Fuck yes, Junichi! You fucking got him! I'm going to ignore that part where you said you did it earlier because you got Katsuya literally red fuckin' handed!

Koba Tsujishi: Congratulations, Junichi! I knew I could believe in you, even after your blunder.

Junichi Ando: Uhh… can we stop bringing that up?

Katsuya Suba: Very well, I killed Surumi. But there's something I want to say before you pass judgment on me.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: You were my target this whole time, Junichi. This entire plot was designed to kill you, not Surumi. You were injured and therefore the easiest of the students to kill.

Junichi Ando: So… you were trying to kill… me?

Katsuya Suba: I talked Surumi into being an ally, and warned her of an attempt to kill you. At 2:50 PM, there was going to be a blackout, and someone was going to attack you with a knife. I told her to place a sticker on your head and walk out into the center of the room, underneath the chandelier.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: The chandelier was to fall and crush you when Surumi realized when the lights went, and I dropped the carabiner next to her that I was going to kill one of you. Now framing her for the murder, the class trial would have been easy… Surumi was clearly mentally ill, so she wouldn't be able to hold her own in the trial and I would have walked, defeating the rest of the students. But something went wrong.

Katsuya Suba: She didn't react the way a human is supposed to act. She didn't act like someone who was built to survive was supposed to act. She was supposed to step out of the way! She… she pushed Junichi and chose to die in his place. It was the most… alien thing she could have done. Why would someone choose to die? Why during a survival of the fittest killing game where we're supposed to murder each other would someone ever… EVER choose to die in their place…

Junichi Ando: She… she chose to save me. (Junichi felt his eyes begin to fill with the sting of tears.) D-damn it… (He said, wiping his tears on his sleeve.)

Katsuya Suba: To be defeated by… some fucking idiot, who pretty much pratfell his way to the truth… After injuring himself the first goddamn day he got here. Now I have to die because of it. How the hell did I lose?

Yuuto Hagiwaga: That's the power of Junichi 'Fuck it up twice and fix it later' Ando for you, buddy!

Sora Hitose: ...I don't think he's going to keep that nickname.

Koba Tsujishi: You lost because you don't understand people, Katsuya. Surumi sacrificed herself to save Junichi because Junichi was the only one among all of us who showed her any kindness. He treated her like a person.

Koba Tsujishi Cont'd: Because of that, Surumi couldn't bring herself to kill Junichi, even if she saved herself in the process. Knowing that you were trying to frame her for an easy class trial… I think she had faith in Junichi surviving. And because she didn't act out of her own survival, you don't want to understand the connection between two people who trust each other.

Katsuya Suba: ...Get to the summary. My hands have been burning for two and a half hours now.

(Koba looked to Junichi, who was trying not to cry too much, so he was squinting to cut off the flow of tears.)

Koba Tsujishi: I'll take it from here, Junichi… You did well.

Koba Tsujishi: Here's the truth of the matter!

The murder plot started yesterday when the motive DVDs were distributed to us by Monokuma in order to 'spice' up the game. The throughline was typically involving their family, and Surumi was quite shaken by hers. So the Culprit found an in to try and rope her into their elaborate, premeditated murder plot, by claiming someone was going to kill Junichi.

Their first task was to prepare the actual murder in advance by going to the minimall on floor 17. While shopping, they found Junichi shopping for a present to make up for his argument with her earlier. He purchased a set of hundreds of glow in the dark stickers she could put on the wall of her lab. After Junichi finished his visit with her, I assumed the culprit went to speak with her and was shown how strong the glow in the dark stickers really was, which inspired them to commit a blackout murder.

The culprit spun a tale about someone cutting the power to kill Junichi in the dark with a knife, concerned, Surumi decided to go with the culprit's plan. They simply left her a note that by tomorrow, Surumi should place a sticker on his head to track him in the dark, but in reality, this was to make sure the culprit would be sure when to kill him.

The culprit, who learned from Surumi about how to enter someone's lab, entered Airi's lab code, her birthday and broke in to steal a UV sensitive resin to make it look like that the killer either fled the scene of the crime before it even happened, or that Junichi was trying to frame himself, whatever suited their argument better. For further confusion, they stole Airi's pocket knife and hid it in the room locked away by the resin-sealed door.

Surumi did what they asked, and placed the sticker on Junichi's head, and Junichi wore the same hat on different days so he didn't have to take out the pin that Surumi gave him. During the movie we watched the morning of the banquet, they used Rokuro spilling a drink on Sora's clothing as an opportunity for the next part of their plan.

They took Sora's clothes and took it to the laundry where he set every single washing machine and dryer to go off at the same time, at 2:50 PM, the same time they told Surumi to take Junichi underneath the chandelier. During this time, they also unscrewed the vent way to make it easier to remove later on. Before leaving the lounge, they stared to make sure Junichi didn't change his hat.

The banquet, the culprit stood next to the stage in waiting for people to lose attention of him, before quietly exiting the room behind the curtain and sealing the door shut behind him with a UV light, making sure nobody could use that door again, and so he could climb up to the floor above it without Izumi and Touki seeing them changing floors.

2:50 struck, so Surumi took Junichi and walked him to the center of the room with the intention of keeping him close by to protect him from the culprit's imaginary assailant. The dryers turned on, and the culprit was in the vent ways as the power went out. They didn't know how much time they had, so they committed the next steps of the murder as fast as humanly possible.

They lined up Junichi and Surumi from the support beam of the chandelier using the glow in the dark sticker… and dropped a carabiner they purchased at the Mini mall to try and make it seem like the original victim, or Junichi was making up the idea that someone was trying to kill them from above. But their next tactic required a lot of fortitude and a tolerance for pain.

They used their hands, probably calloused by years of survival and combat, and used it as a zip line to ride the chandelier's mounting power cord from the ceiling to the connect winch on stage. Typically you couldn't do this, but Monokuma intentionally set up this entire hotel for elaborate murders, so this trick was entirely possible.

The culprit used their own knife, in contrary to Airi's stolen one to cut the cord, hoping to pretend the fake culprit would have exited through the sealed door and people to think that was the actual knife used to cut the winch. They began to cut the cord, but the culprit would not expect what would happen next. Surumi, who heard the sound of the carabiner dropping realized that this was actually the murder attempt and that she had been tricked, shoved Junichi to the floor just as the culprit finished cutting the cord.

The chandelier dropped, killing Surumi instantly. But because the culprit failed to think that Junichi was saved by Surumi… that he would be the key to finding the real culprit.

And that culprit… is you! Katsuya Suba, The Ultimate Hunter! The game is over, and you've lost!

Daichi Kakihara:

Finally we can fucking vote! Because I have to Christ, I've been holding it this entire time!

Izumi Igarashi: Maybe you should have gone before we started?

Daichi Kakihara: Motherfucker, I've been here for hours! I didn't think it was gonna take this long to find a stupid murderer, okay!? I thought it was gonna be a one and done 15 minute thing! Let's vote before I piss myself, okay?

Saya Kiruma: The important thing is that we've solved Surumi's murder and live to see another morning. We'll worry about the traitor when it becomes pertinent.

Monokuma: Allllright! And now it's finally Voting Time! Will you all correctly vote for the Blackened… or will you choose the fatally wrong one?! Alright, everyone! Use your menu thingies and vote your culprit with your big red button. It's like your favorite Idol show… just y'know… they die.

Monokuma Cont'd: Well, when you win one of those shows you die on the inside, so it's kind of the same thing if you think about it! But without further ado… Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's voting time!

(Junichi looked down to see the grid of students, he used the touch screen to select Katsuya's face, and his hand began to reach up to press the red button)

Katsuya Suba: JUNICHI ANDO!

(Junichi's attention snapped away from his screen to see Katsuya pulling his bear cloak back over his head, shrouding the upper half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.)

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Look me in my eyes when you kill me.

Junichi Ando: ...

Katsuya Suba: Know that pushing that button is killing me. You've stained your hands with blood, and you'll never be on the same path again for the rest of your life.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd:

And… here's one thing I want you to think over when you hit that goddamn button.

Junichi Ando: W-what?

Katsuya Suba: You may think I'm a heartless monster, but I did the most ethical thing I could. I killed without getting to know any of you because I wanted to disconnect myself from the toll it would take on my heart. It was nothing personal, besides you being the easiest to kill. But… what will you do when you have to kill someone you love, Junichi? Can you do it? Can you do this to your best friend…? Can you do this to your girlfriend…? Who else are you going to have to kill?

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: To kill without love is the path of least resistance… the war inside your mind begins when you have to doubt who you truly love and care for… Do you think you're capable of carrying that burden, Junichi!?

Junichi Ando: I…

Katsuya Suba: I don't think you can handle that path… the path of fear and betrayal. I can see some of you committing suicide before ever thinking one of your little weirdo friends could ever be a threat to you and your survival of this. So heed my warning… This is where your hope dies.

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: Now look at me. Don't break your vision with me, you hold your breath, and you pull the trigger. Look at me, Junichi!

(Junichi visibly winced, struggling to look at him, finger hovering over his face on the screen.)

Katsuya Suba Cont'd: When you're killing me, you look at me!

Saya Kiruma: …

Koba Tsujishi: …

Izumi Igarashi: ...

Yuuto Hagiwara: …

Touki Minami: ...

Junichi Ando: This is for Surumi.

(Junichi pressed down on Katsuya's button, then hit the red button to confirm. Within a few seconds, the voting results showed up on the monitor.)

Katsuya: 14 votes

No other students have been voted for.

(A silence loomed over the room, followed by several slot machines appearing in front of the students' podiums, before landing on a pixelized picture of Katsuya in his bear hood and images of 'Winner!' flashing on the screens. Coins suddenly shooting from the machine and onto the floor in front of each platform. Some people got less coins than other. With Junichi and Koba getting the lion's share, and Izumi getting a large amount as well.)

Asana Nanashima: Oh damn! Look at all this bank!

Miyuki Ashikawa: Wh-what's this for?

Monokuma: That's your winners pot for finding the culprit! The value is weighted by merit. Capitalism!

Junichi Ando: That's a shitload of coins, wow...

Saya Kiruma: ...Why did I only get 6?

Monokuma: Because you didn't contribute. You just told Izumi to do things for you! Then you told Chiwa when Izumi got upset about it!

Saya Kiruma: …

Touki Minami Pffft!

Chiwa Ohara: Minami! Don't laugh or there will be a ten Monocoin fine!

Touki Minami: Ten?! I'm not giving you ten of my hard earned bearbucks, or whatever he called them!

Chiwa Ohara: Talking back will make it a twenty coin fine! Watch your tongue!

Touki Minami: Your rates are exorbitant and unfair. I'm gonna write an article about you!

Monokuma: Aww yeah, currency that doesn't have any real value outside of the context of a killing game! Woop Woop!

Monokuma Cont'd: Anyway, congratulations! You've found the killer and now comes the fun part! Execution!

Monokuma Cont'd: Before I do my usual spiel, I gots a unique mechanic to this Killing Game… Both the culprit Katsuya, and the victim, Surumi were both NOT the traitor. The 21-day timer will continue as planned! Keep that in mind for the next trial!

Saya Kiruma: Hrm… I had forgotten all about the traitor amidst the arguing over Sururmi's death…

Junichi Ando: Yeah…

Koba Tsujishi: Don't worry, Junichi. We'll stop the Killing Game before that timer goes off.

Yuuto Hagiwara: I really hope you guys can pull that off, Junichi.

Monokuma: Anyway! Since you discovered him, the Blackened, Katsuya Suba, shall receive his punishment!

Monokuma: Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Katsuya Suba, the Ultimate Hunter, Iiiiiiit's PUNISHMENT TIME!

(A large red button rose up in front of Monokuma, who grabbed a gavel from the side of his throne. He swung down, hitting the button with his gavel.)

Monokuma: See? Told you I brought a gavel!

(A message popped up on the monitor behind Monokuma.)

GAME OVER. Katsuya has been found guilty. It's time for the punishment!

(The stage began to spin until Katsuya was stood behind a large door which suddenly opened. A chain collar shot out from the open doorway, latching onto Katsuya's thick neck.)

Katsuya Suba: The hunt is over…

(Katsuya's podium opened up as the chain recoiled, dragging him toward the doorway. Katsuya didn't scream, cry, or show regret.)