"Monokuma, show yourself!" Celeste screamed. "We need to talk to you about this case!"

"Geez, I'm here!" said the bear as he suddenly popped up in the chem lab. "What's the matter with ya?"

"Ah, good," Byakuya commented. "I was meaning to talk to him myself."

"Didn't ask for your opinion, rich boy," Celeste responded, twirling her hair. She ignored his indignant sputtering. "Monokuma, what gives? There was obviously an explosion here. And we know from Mondo's recklessness back at the start of this mess that you have a bomb in you. Did one of your clones kill Hiro?"

"Wha...what?" Hina asked, clearly not having drawn the connection herself yet.

"Hey, that's for you to find out!" the bear yelled angrily. "I'm not just gonna tell you what happened! I'm a bear with standards!"

"But if your bomb killed him, who should we vote for in the trial?" asked Sakura matter-of-factly.

"Well that would depend on who detonated the bomb, wouldn't it?" Monokuma answered. "I guess I'll tell you this much: I wouldn't just send one of me off against you all kamikaze-like. If it *was* one of my personal explosives, then it went off because someone broke the rules and tried to attack me! That person would be the culprit! Got it? Okay, that's all you're getting outta me!" He turned as if to leave.

"Wait!" Celeste cried out. "That was not my only question!"

The bear growled and turned back to Celeste. "Oh?"

"What about the items Hiro got from you?" Celeste gestured at the pistol Sakura held. "Do we get to keep them or what?"

"They're evidence for the trial!" Monokuma retorted. "I'll be retrieving them as soon as the trial is over. Why, you want to keep the gun for yourself now that someone else got it from me first?"

"Quite," Celeste replied with a smile. "Say that I managed to fire a round off into the rich brat during this investigation period. Would my trial be the same as Hiro's? Would we get more investigation time?"

"Yes and yes!" Monokuma answered quickly.

"That is quite enough!" Byakuya interrupted. "I will not tolerate being spoken about in such a manner by one such as you!"

"One such as me?" Celeste repeated, keeping her eyes on Monokuma. "Whatever do you mean?"

"A low-born," Byakuya sneered. "You think I can't see through your French nobility act?"

"I'm afraid I don't much care what you can see through, Togami bastard," Celeste replied. "In fact I don't much care about you at all."

"Alright, this is entertaining and all," Monokuma began, but was quickly interrupted.

"How dare you!" Byakuya screamed, and Celeste felt his rough hands force her to turn around and face him. "You will rue this day for the rest of your short and miserable life, bitch."

"Oh? You're going to kill me in front of witnesses?" Celeste replied smoothly. "I thought you were smarter than that, but I guess you're just another dumb boy like Leon, Mondo, and everyone else that's fallen."

Hina gasped.

Byakuya released his grip on Celeste and stepped back, his rage gone in an instant. That might have had something to do with Sakura moving protectively over to Celeste and glaring threateningly at Byakuya, but Byakuya would never have admitted it. "So, that's how you want to play this? Fine. Count yourself lucky that enemy number one is still the mastermind, because once he is no longer an issue, I will be avenging the family name you have besmirched today. I promise you."

"I'm not scared," said Celeste, staring intently at her nails. "A king without a kingdom is just a man."

Byakuya glared at her and then stormed off.

"Geez, what incredible drama!" Monokuma whistled. "You can't script this stuff, folks! Anyway, I have places to be, so…"

"No!" Celeste whirled on him, filling her eyes with as much terrifying intent as she could muster. "I'm still not done with you!"

"Oh, uh, what is it?" Monokuma said, apparently cowed by Celeste's intimidating demeanor. "Do… do you want to know whether I'm a mademoiselle or a dudefella?"

Now it was Celeste's turn to be surprised. "Uh, that wasn't what I was going to ask, but now that you mention it, yeah, I would like to know that."

"Aha!" Monokuma answered triumphantly. "But see, in the bear kingdom, there is no male or female!"

"That's… not true," Hina spoke up before Celeste could, her voice full of shock and confusion.

"Aw, seriously?" Monokuma asked sadly. "Man."

"In any case, which set of pronouns should we refer to you with?" Celeste asked, recovering quickly. "Or more accurately, how should we refer to the mastermind controlling you? He? She? It?"

"Nuh-uh," Monokuma wagged his finger. "That would be telling. Call me whatever you like!"

"Fine," said Celeste. "Then let me return to what I was originally going to ask."

"Nope," Monokuma answered, popping the "p". "I've given you enough already. You'll have to figure out anything else for yourself. Toodles!" So saying, he ran off and vanished.

Well, Celeste guessed that was as much time as she would be able to buy for Kyoko. Hopefully it would be enough.

Hiro's room didn't reveal much, Makoto reflected sadly. Not that he really expected to get lucky and find Hiro had written a note or anything. The one truth that the room did reveal that might prove useful during the trial was that Hiro had done some sort of fortune-telling ritual recently. The incense was still out on the floor, and salt aligned in a star shape. The place was also a mess, even though Hiro had only been alone in the room for a couple days. What that meant, exactly, he wasn't sure yet. But he added it to his mental list.

He checked a few other areas out too. The gym, the kitchen, trying some doors to see if Hiro had unlocked anything else. But it seemed there was no additional evidence to be found. So when Monokuma called an end to the investigation period, he met the other students in front of the trial doors with a heavy heart. He had some theories, but he just wasn't sure. Hopefully by working together with his classmates, they could reach the truth.

Makoto, Celeste, Hina, Sakura, and Byakuya stood waiting at the closed trial door. There was one member of the party still missing. Monokuma spoke up. Makoto wasn't sure whether he had just appeared or whether he had just not noticed the bear standing near them before now. "Where is Kyoko?!" the bear demanded.

"Shouldn't you be the one telling us that?" Byakuya sneered. "Just go grab her, like you grabbed Toko before the first trial."

Monokuma growled and raised a claw threateningly. "Fine! Wait right here. When I get my paws on her…" he scurried off.

The group of students waited. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, Celeste grew tired of Byakuya's persistent glares. While Sakura and Hina chatted to pass the time, Makoto joining in occasionally, Byakuya just kept staring at her angrily. It was honestly impressive he could stay indignant that long. And making enemies in a death game was not what Celeste would call a wise move. She sighed dramatically. "Would it help if I apologized, Byakuya?"

He stiffened. "It would be a start."

Celeste put on her best apologetic face and spoke softly. "I sincerely apologize, Byakuya. In truth, I was only trying to create as much of a disturbance as possible to distract Monokuma for Kyoko. Seems like it worked, though." She nodded towards the empty hallway as she finished speaking.

"Hmm," said Byakuya, mulling over her words. "That does sound like her. Couldn't let me in on this plan from the start, of course," he added sarcastically.

"Well, there was not-" started Celeste.

"Then you did not mean what you said about me and my family in the chem lab?" Byakuya interrupted, "It was just a ploy?"

Perfectly masking her annoyance at the interruption, Celeste lied smoothly, "That is correct. I didn't mean a word. It was just a ploy."

Byakuya took a deep breath. "Then I suppose I will return to tolerating you for now. Just leave me out of your ploys from now, understand?"

"Of course," said Celeste, smiling, while inside her mind she thought, "Yeah, fuck you, too!"

There was a long pause.

Byakuya scoffed dramatically. "Where is that damn bear?"

"Yes, it's been like half an hour!" Celeste said, copying his anger, though she herself felt hopeful, thinking that the silence might mean Kyoko accomplished something that would help them escape. She shouted loudly into the empty hallways. "Monokuma! Are you still looking for Kyoko?"

There was no answer.

"Maybe we should go look for them ourselves," Sakura offered, her conversation with Hina and Makoto abandoned after Celeste's shout.

"But Monokuma told us to wait here," Hina pointed out, frowning.

"Something must be wrong," Byakuya declared. "This isn't like either of them."

"I agree," said Celeste, biting her tongue only a little as she forced herself to be nice to the arrogant child. "Monokuma," she shouted out again. "We've waited long enough! Show yourself, or else we're going to go searching for you!"

There was still no response.

"Guess we should look for them," Makoto muttered.

"We're here!" shouted a voice from the darkness of the nearby hallway.

Everyone stood and watched, transfixed, as two bloody figures emerged from the darkness.

"Sorry it took so long," Kyoko wheezed as she dragged the other figure into the light. "Had to knock her unconscious. Didn't want to leave her alone after that, but that meant I had to carry her down four flights of stairs with a busted arm." She dropped the figure to the ground, then collapsed to the ground herself, lying face up. "Sakura," she continued, "Would you mind watching her?"

Everyone ran up to the unconscious figure. It took only a moment to recognize her, even through the blood streaks.

"It's Junko Enoshima?" Hina cried in confusion. "What? Where did you find her? And what happened to you both?"

"No," Celeste muttered. "That's not the Junko I was paired with. Look at her face."

"Someone run to the infirmary," Sakura ordered. "Kyoko needs bandages and antiseptic."

"I'm on it!" Makoto shouted, moving quickly.

"Tell us what happened," Celeste said gently as she sat down next to Kyoko and propped her head up.

Kyoko spoke weakly in between her labored breaths. "I used the headmaster's key to get into the data room. Lay in wait there. Eventually, she showed up. The mastermind. I fought her. Wrestled her to the ground. Forced off her mask. But she had a knife. Sliced me up a bit before I could knock it away. Slammed her head into the floor to knock her out. She might have a concussion." Kyoko coughed suddenly, blood dribbling out of her mouth.

"Shh, okay, you don't need to say more," said Celeste gently. "You're safe now. Just stay with us, okay?"

Kyoko nodded. Celeste and Hina took care of her, keeping pressure on her wounds and talking to her to keep her awake, while Sakura stood guard over the unconscious Junko. For his part, Byakuya walked off, saying only that he was "gonna see it for myself."

...

Another half an hour later, and a groggy Junko had woken up and was being held in a wrestling hold by Sakura, while Makoto, Celeste, and Hina had finished cleaning and bandaging Kyoko's wounds. Byakuya finally joined them again, confirming that the data center showed the security camera footage and that there were signs of a struggle there, including blood stains.

"Now, Junko, or whoever you are," said Byakuya. "You've lost. I think it's time you came clean with us. Tell us everything."

Junko snickered quietly. "Lost? Oh no… this wasn't how it was supposed to go… but the despair… it still overflows… hahaha."

"She's been like this since she regained consciousness," Celeste explained. "The girl is quite mad."

"I think it's time for one last class trial," Kyoko announced, unsteadily getting up to her feet. "One to reveal everything that has taken place for everyone to see."

Junko's eyes darted to Kyoko's. "Yes, yes!" she cried out happily. "One last battle, between hope and despair." Her voice grew more somber and authoritative. "Here is how this will play out. You will guess the truth. I will confirm it. If you figure everything out, then our esteemed self shall admit defeat, and shall tell you how you may be freed from this school. If you cannot figure it out, however…" her voice grew higher-pitched and girly, "Then we'll all just have to live here as best friends forever."

"We don't need to play this game anymore!" Hina declared. "We can make her tell us!"

"Oh, are you gonna torture me?" Junko asked happily. "What a terrible thought! Oh, I can feel the edge of despair just imagining it, you pulling apart my fingernails, drowning me, setting me on fire, ohhh…" she sounded blissful, "but I can tell you now that I won't tell you anything that way."

"Gross," Hina cringed.

"There's no way we'd do anything like that!" Makoto declared.

"Aw," Junko pouted.

Kyoko shook her head. "There is no reason to worry. I am certain we can meet her challenge. We have enough information now to deduce the whole story. Or at least the important parts. Come, follow me." Kyoko pushed open the door to the trial room elevator and stepped in.

Everyone hesitated, memories of previous trials flashing through their minds. Then, one after the other, they joined Kyoko on the elevator, with Sakura roughly dragging along an unresistant Junko.

Together, they stood resolute as they faced what they all hoped would be their last trial.