The blue-haired cosplayer held a neutral expression on her face as she stared at me. Seconds passed by and Tsumugi continued to give no response. I did not waver, however. I was willing to wait for eternity if needed for the other girl to say something... do something... give any sort of reaction to my accusation.
Nearly a full minute passed and Tsumugi finally gave a response. She raised her finger and looked upwards towards the ceiling, as if a light bulb shined above her head.
"Oh, I see what you mean!" The cosplayer spoke at last.
"You... see?" Tenko repeated.
"So you're not objecting to Sharla's accusation?" Kiyo immediately asked.
"I'm saying I understand where her accusation is coming from." Tsumugi answered. "It's because I went to the girls bathroom at the time of the murder, right Sharla?"
"The girls bathroom?" Shuichi wondered.
"...That's exactly right." I confirmed.
The cosplayer smiled. "Aww, good for you, Sharla. Covering all your bases so that we can get one step closer to the truth. Well then! You'll be happy to know that I can't be the culprit!"
"Why not?" I asked.
"Hmm?" The blue-haired girl tilted her head in confusion. "Didn't we establish already that the mastermind wouldn't put secret passageways in anyplace obvious? If I were the mastermind, I certainly wouldn't put such a thing in a place where half of the people here would frequently go to."
"E-Even so." Kaede replied. "Like we did with Gonta, we should look into this theory and determine whether or not-"
"Then let me ask you, Kaede." The cosplayer cut her off. "Since my word wouldn't mean much in this situation, did you notice any hidden passageways in the girls bathroom when you went in?"
"Tsumugi, that's not fair." The pianist said, becoming more distressed as the discussion progressed. "At the time, I wouldn't have known-"
"Did you notice any hidden passageways in the girls bathroom when you went in?" Tsumugi asked again, interrupting Kaede for the second time, her tone as innocent as ever.
The blonde-haired girl decided to comply and gave her a straight answer. "N-No, I didn't. But that doesn't mean there couldn't have been-"
And a third time. "What about the rest of you ladies? You all went into that bathroom at least once, right? Did any of you see any sign of a hidden passageway in there?"
The female students of the academy each took a turn to answer Tsumugi's question.
"I went to the bathroom lotsa times." Himiko answered. "But I didn't see any hidden passageways."
"Me neither!" Angie gave her reply.
"I didn't see nothin'!" Miu stated.
"Unfortunately, I didn't see any sign of a hidden passageway in the girls restroom." Kirumi lamented.
"No." Maki said in her usual straightforward manner.
"S-Sorry, Sharla, but I didn't find a hidden passageway either." Tenko apologized.
"Nope, didn't see one either!" Kokichi said.
"Wh-Why are YOU talking?!" The aikido master exclaimed.
"As you can plainly see, Sharla, it seems very unlikely for a hidden passageway to be in the girls bathroom." Tsumugi concluded.
"Tsumugi…" I did my best to approach the situation as cautiously as possible. "I understand how quickly you want to prove your innocence, but we shouldn't just dismiss this theory right off the bat like that."
"That's easy for you to say." The cosplayer retorted. "Your friend's no longer being suspected of murder."
"That only means I sympathize even more with what you're going through." I replied. "But in order for us to prove your innocence, we need to get to the bottom of this 'hidden passageway in the girls bathroom' scenario."
"What's there to get to the bottom of?" The blue-haired girl asked. "Everyone already said they didn't see any evidence suggesting there's a hidden passageway in there."
"Hold on a second." Shuichi interrupted the conversation. "While it may be true that all the girls here went to the bathroom at some point during our time in this academy, there's still a possibility that a hidden passageway could be located in there."
"What do you mean, Shuichi?" Kirumi asked.
The detective gave his explanation. "Let's assume for a moment that there is a hidden passageway in the girls bathroom."
Tsumugi raised her hand. "I object to this line of conversation."
"Now, now." Kiyo raised his hand only slightly, to calm the blue-haired girl down. "This is merely a theory. Let Shuichi finish before we determine the actual accuracy of it, shall we?"
"I... I just don't understand why we still need to talk about this." The cosplayer replied.
The anthropologist chuckled. "Relax, my dear. If you truly are innocent, then you have nothing to worry about."
After a small nod from Kiyo, Shuichi took it as a sign to continue his explanation. "Going by the assumption I previously stated, if there was a hidden passageway in the girls bathroom, where would it logically be?"
"Where would it be?" Keebo repeated to himself.
"Well I'll tell ya where it wouldn't be." Miu cut in. "Any of the bathroom stalls."
"Exactly." Shuichi agreed.
"But... isn't that all that's there in the bathrooms?" Keebo questioned. "If it wouldn't be in any of the stalls, then where else would a hidden passageway be?"
Shuichi thought to himself for a moment and then looked to a certain pianist. "Kaede, mind if I ask for your assistance?"
"Huh?" Kaede replied. "Oh, of course not, Shuichi. What's up?"
"I was wondering if you can give us your input." The detective said. "Specifically, besides the stalls, what else is in the girls bathroom?"
"All right, Shuichi!" Kokichi suddenly blurted out.
"H-Huh?" The hatless boy questioned in surprise.
"Welp, you heard the man, ladies!" The supreme leader eagerly shouted. "Time to reveal the age-old question that's been on the mind of men since they were boys: 'What is in the girls bathroom?'"
"Ugh!" Tenko exclaimed in disgust. "Is that really what you degenerates like to think about?"
"C'mooooooon!" The purple-haired boy pleaded. "This is arguably the biggest mystery that we males have been trying to solve since ancient times! Though, I guess for me personally, I don't need to know the answer to that."
"Please stop talking." The aikido master said simply.
Kirumi looked to the sky wistfully. "It takes so much to be a man…"
"Gonta always thought that there were dispensers that gave out cookies, and the sinks shot out rainbows!" The entomologist happily gave out his remark.
"I... I'll admit, I'm also a bit... curious as to what's in the girls bathroom…" Kaito hesitantly said.
A certain caretaker could only facepalm in response.
"Um...all that aside, is there anything else in the girls bathroom that could hide a hidden passageway, Kaede?" Shuichi I'll tell ya where it wouldn't be," Miu cut in. "Any of the bathroom stalls."
"Exactly," agreed Shuichi.
"But...isn't that all that's there in the bathrooms?" Keebo questioned. "If it wouldn't be in any of the stalls, then where else would a hidden passageway be?"
Shuichi thought to himself for a moment and then looked to a certain pianist, "Kaede, mind if I ask for your assistance?"
"Huh?" Kaede replied. "Oh, of course not, Shuichi. What's up?"
"I was wondering if you can give us your input," said the detective. "Specifically, besides the stalls, what else is in the girls bathroom?"
"All right, Shuichi!" Kokichi suddenly blurted out.
"H-Huh?" Shuichi questioned in surprise.
"Welp, you heard the man, ladies!" the supreme leader eagerly shouted. "Time to reveal the age-old question that's been on the mind of men since they were boys:'What is in the girls bathroom?'"
"Ugh!" Tenko exclaimed in disgust. "Is that really what you degenerates like to think about?"
"C'mooooooon!" Kokichi pleaded. "This is arguably the biggest mystery that we males have been trying to solve since ancient times! Though, I guess for me personally, I don't need to know the answer to that."
"Please stop talking," the aikido master said simply.
Kirumi looked to the sky wistfully, "It takes so much to be a man…"
"Gonta always thought that there were dispensers that gave out cookies, and the sinks shot out rainbows!" the entomologist happily gave out his remark.
"I...I'll admit, I'm also a bit...curious as to what's in the girls bathroom…" Kaito hesitantly said.
A certain caretaker could only facepalm in response.
"Um...all that aside, is there anything else in the girls bathroom that could hide a hidden passageway, Kaede?" Shuichi asked.
"Besides the cookie dispensers and the rainbow sinks?" The pianist said jokingly. "Let me think."
She thought about it for a moment and after some time she came to a conclusion.
"The utility closet." She finally said.
"Utility closet?" Shuichi repeated.
"I think I get what she means!" I exclaimed. "Girls, did any of you, at any point, check the utility closet in the girls bathroom?"
Similar to when they first answered Tsumugi, the other female students each took a turn to answer my question.
"Huh, I went to the bathroom lotsa times, but I guess I never did look inside that utility closet." Himiko spoke first.
"Me neither!" Angie gave her reply.
"I had no reason to, so why would I?" Miu stated.
"Surprisingly, though I did glance inside the closet for a brief second, I didn't investigate it thoroughly." Kirumi lamented.
"No." Maki said again in her straightforward manner.
"I didn't check the utility closet either." Tenko said.
"What a coincidence, neither did I!" Kokichi responded.
"Didn't I tell you to stop talking?!" The aikido master exclaimed.
"And I didn't check it, either." Kaede gave her reply.
"So you and Sharla are saying there's a chance that a hidden passageway could be in that utility closet?" Ryoma questioned.
"Yes, we are." The pianist confirmed.
"But that's just a possibility right?" Tsumugi was quick to ask. "There's no proof that there's a hidden passageway in the-"
"And there's no proof to the inverse as well." Kiyo quickly stated. "But the fact remains that this possibility is starting to become the only explanation."
"The only explanation?" The cosplayer said in disbelief. "All I did was go to the bathroom at an unfortunate time!"
Maki scoffed. "So you're really playing this off as a coincidence?"
"Yes, and it's one of the worst ones I've had the displeasure of experiencing." The blue-haired girl responded. "You gotta believe me, I'm not the culprit!"
"Me and Kaede want nothing more than to believe you, Tsumugi." I said. "That's why I want to hear your agrument."
"Argument..?" Tsumugi echoed.
"Tell us why can't you be the true culprit." I clarified. "Once you do, we'll move on and become one step closer to the truth."
"You say that, but how am I supposed to defend myself here?" The blue-haired girl started to tremble. "All I can say is that I went in and out of the bathroom…"
"If you want, we can change the topic away from the bathroom." Kiyo offered.
"H-Huh?" The girl in question wondered.
"Kiyo, what are you..?" Kaede wondered as well.
"For you see, Tsumugi's outing to the girls restroom is merely a piece of the grander puzzle of her suspicion." The anthropologist answered.
"Wh-wha!?" Tsumugi exclaimed.
"Oh-ho!" Kokichi chortled. "So you're saying there's more evidence that supports Tsumugi being the real culprit other than our girls bathroom theory?"
"Indeed." Kiyo gave a small nod in agreement.
"Wait, hang on a minute, please!" Tsumugi shouted. "I didn't do anything else suspicious during the time of the murder!"
The anthropologist silently chuckled. "Not during the murder, perhaps. That still doesn't explain your actions during this class trial."
"During this class trial?" Kaede questioned.
"I... have no idea what you're talking about." Tsumugi denied the long-haired boy's accusations.
"I figured that would be your response." Kiyo anticipated. "So I'll just ask the rest of our associates: When Shuichi and Sharla first made their claim that Kaede wasn't the actual culprit, who was the first of us to react?"
"If I recall correctly." Kirumi muttered. "That would be Tsumugi."
"Th-That means nothing!" Tsumugi quickly rejected.
"Very well, then another one." Kiyo countered. "Who out of all of us was adamant that Kaede's the culprit and tried to convince everyone that it was her?"
"Kokichi!" The cosplayer pointed at the supreme leader. "It was Kokichi who went against Shuichi, Keebo, and Sharla to convince us that Kaede did it, right?"
Kokichi gasped. "My god, Tsumugi, you're… you're…"
He flashed his sinister smile. "You're getting desperate, aren't you?"
"No!" The blue-haired girl shouted. "You're the one who's the most suspicious here!"
"Actually, Tsumugi, you're the one who's the most suspicious." I said.
"Wh-Why!?" The cosplayer questioned.
"Because…" I thought back to a moment in time. "Because your words still ring in my ears… And I remember who you really are..."
...
"Shuichi, that's enough!"
I looked at the source of the voice and was surprised that it came from Tsumugi just as much as Shuichi was when he looked at her.
The cosplayer smiled wistfully as she continued. "I know how you feel, Shuichi...I really do. Up to this point, I had grown close with Kaede. The two of us shared some pretty good memories. I don't want her to die...in fact, had you not tried to convince us she wasn't the culprit a moment ago, I probably would've spoken out as well...and try to come up with an excuse why she couldn't have done it."
...
"But that's not what she wants!" The blue-haired girl exclaimed, now with tears streaming from her eyes. "She did what she did for all of us, and the least we can do is not have her suffer anymore! Let's end this trial... for her sake... OK, Shuichi?"
...
"You... what..?" Tsumugi muttered in confusion.
"You're one of the five traitors!" I shouted.
"You remember that now?!" Miu yelled in shock.
"Monokuma wasn't kidding when he said that Sharla's memory of the traitors was gonna grow less fuzzy." Kaito muttered.
"I... I..." The cosplayer couldn't get her words out.
"You..." Kaede addressed the blue-haired girl with a serious tone.
Tsumugi didn't flinch from her position as the other students looked at the pianist.
"You... framed me." She continued with tears forming in her eyes. "I felt so much guilt for such a long time... and it was really you all along. How... How could you!? I thought we were friends, Tsumugi!"
"...Friends…?" Tsumugi muttered. "Why...in the world...would I be friends..."
The blonde-haired girl said nothing and waited for the girl to finish her statement.
The cosplayer lifted her head to reveal the tears streaming from her eyes. "...with someone who doesn't believe in me?"
"H-Huh?" Kaede reeled back at Tsumugi's unexpected response.
"K-Kaede, please!" The girl pleaded. "Please help me! I... I don't know what to do!"
Ryoma shook his head in disgust. "Even now, she's still denying her guilt."
"Well she can deny all she wants." Kokichi said. "We vote the guilty by majority, anyway, so there's no need for us to continue this further."
"Speaking of which." Keebo said. "Monokuma, what percentage are you at currently?"
"Keebo you get an A- for that question." The bear responded. "Cause I'm at ninety percent! ...Get it? 'A-'? 'Ninety'?"
"Phew!" Kokichi said in relief. "Looks like we made it with time to spare!"
"I... suppose that's that." Shuichi concluded. "Monokuma, it looks like we're ready to-"
"I can prove it!" Tsumugi suddenly yelled.
Everyone looked at the cosplayer.
"You can what?" Keebo asked.
"I can prove it!" The blue-haired girl said again. "I can prove I can't be the true culprit!"
Kiyo narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"Because Kaede and Sharla saw me leave the girls bathroom!" The cosplayer declared. "Right, Kaede?"
Kaede's eyes widened. "Wh…"
The pianist wouldn't be able to finish her statement as the others gave their own responses of disbelief.
"What are you saying?" Shuichi asked in shock.
Miu growled loudly, upset once again that another one of her associates had apparently kept silent of such an important detail of the case.
"When was this?" Kirumi asked. "When did Kaede get the chance to witness you?"
"There was a moment, wasn't there!?" Tsumugi yelled. "A moment where Kaede and Sharla was left all alone in Classroom A! And during that time, they decided to come down and use the restroom! That's when we bumped into each other!"
I don't remember that! She wants me and Kaede to lie for her! I thought.
"Is...is this true, Kaede?" Shuichi asked. "I'll admit, I did leave you two alone in that classroom for a time, but did you two really go down to the girls bathroom?"
I looked at Tsumugi and saw her pleading eyes.
"Of course they did!" The cosplayer said.
Unbeknownst to the girl and a few other oblivious students, the more 'focused' students of the academy all made various reactions to Tsumugi's claim. Kiyo, for instance, slowly shook his head. Kirumi covered her mouth with her gloved hand, Maki closed her eyes, Keebo remained silent, Ryoma hid his eyes behind his cap, Kokichi snickered, and even Shuichi put his hand to his chin in skepticism.
"No." Me and Kaede simply said.
The cosplayer tilted her head in confusion. "...What?"
"No." I said once again. "You're lying, Tsumugi. Me and Kaede never went down to the girls bathroom during the crime. We never saw you."
The blue-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows sternly. "I see... So you're willing to defend the likes of Gonta... but when it's me, you're quick to point your finger."
Kaede looked down to reflect on the event that had just transpired.
The cosplayer continued her rant. "Kaede's suspected of being the culprit and Shuichi, Sharla, and Keebo come in to defend her. Then Gonta becomes suspected and Kaede comes in to defend him. But when it's me... why would anyone come to the rescue of someone so boring and plain? No one wants those two to die, so they start accusing the person who's the most expendable. This... this isn't a class trial to find a murderer... it's just a glorified popularity contest!"
"H-Hey…" Tenko addressed the others. "Are we sure that Tsumugi's the actual culprit?"
"What, you're starting to doubt?!" Miu questioned.
"I'm just saying." The aikido master muttered. "She looks really shaken up about this."
"Gonta no want to see Tsumugi like this…" Gonta said with a sad expression. "Maybe it better if Gonta was culprit instead."
Kaito clenched his fist at the conflict that appeared before him.
"Calling my beloved class trial a gloried popularity contest?" Monokuma became appalled. "Looks like we're at ninety-five percent now."
"C'mon, c'mon, let's start the vote!" Monotaro hurried. "If you don't hurry, you're all gonna dieeee~!"
"So... who do we vote for?" Himiko asked.
"Who fucking else?!" Miu exclaimed. "It's gotta be Tsumugi!"
"But... are we really sure it's her?" Tenko asked.
"Like I said, who else could it fucking be!?" The inventor became frustrated.
"Tenko does have a point, though." Ryoma said. "We only get one shot at this and if we choose wrong, we're all gonna die."
"Who else could it be?" Kirumi questioned. "All signs point to Tsumugi as the true culprit."
"Well we also have Gonta and Kaede to suspect." Kokichi offered.
"What are you saying?!" Keebo shouted.
"Hey, there could be a chance that we just got lucky with those five shot puts." The supreme leader responded. "Who knows, maybe if we dropped a sixth one, that one would've hit Rantaro."
"We can't know that for certain!" The robot replied.
"Yeah, we can't know that for certain!" The purple-haired boy countered back.
"Hmm." Monosuke adjusted his glasses. "Looks like they're having trouble solving this murder."
"In that case." said Monokuma. "Why don't we give them a little motivation, my cute little cubs?"
"Oh ho ho!" Monokid replied. "I get what your saying, Pop! I'll start us off then!"
"96%..." The blue bear said ominously.
"T-They're counting down!" Tenko yelled.
"Actually, they're counting up!" Angie corrected.
"Nyeh!" Himiko squeaked. "Wh-What do we do!?"
"Please!" Tsumugi shouted. "Don't vote for me! We're all doomed if you do!"
"Shut up, bitch!" Miu spat. "You ain't making the call on this one!"
"97%..." Monosuke said ominously.
"If it alright with everyone." Gonta said. "Gonta will vote for Gonta!"
"Gonta you don't need to do that!" Kaito shouted.
"M-Maybe I'll just close my eyes and pick someone at random..." Himiko said out loud to herself.
"Himiko, please don't do that!" Tenko shouted.
"Ooh, that sounds like a fun idea, Himiko!" Angie complimented. "I want to try that too!"
"No! No! Stop!" The aikido master tried to halt the two's actions.
"98%..." Monophanie said politely.
At this point, I closed my eyes shut and was sweating hard.
"Guys, we can't be disorganized like this!" Kaede shouted through the chaos.
"Oh?" Kokichi turned to the pianist. "Then what do you think we should do, oh fearless leader?"
After a slight pause, the blonde-haired girl quickly spoke once again. "Vote for me if you need to!"
Shuichi couldn't believe what he heard. "K-Kaede! What are you..?!"
"It's okay, Shuichi." Kaede assured the detective. "Because I know the mastermind, and all they want is to have this killing game continue no matter what, even if it means convicting the wrong person!"
"Oh?" Kokichi took note of the pianist's words.
"So vote for me!" Kaede continued. "But after you do, please... check that utility closet in the girls bathroom!"
"HUH!?" Tsumugi reacted.
"Check the bathroom, check the A/V room, check anywhere where there might be a hidden passage!" The pianist declared to the others.
"99%!" Monotaro shouted ominously.
I let out a low growl at this point.
"Kaede no need to sacrifice herself!" Gonta said. "Everyone! Vote for Gonta! If it no matter who culprit really is then Gonta will be shield for rest of you!"
"Gonta…" Kaede was moved by the entomologist's words.
"Okay, are we voting for Tsumugi?" Miu asked. "Are we voting for Gonta? Kaede? Who the hell are we voting for!?"
"Whoever it is, we need to do it NOW!" Kaito's face darkened in fear.
"M-Monokuma!" Shuichi hastily shouted. "We're ready to start the-"
"ONE-" Monodam began in a slow monotonous tone.
"We're too late!" Tenko yelled.
"-HUNDRED-"
Kaito screamed in fear.
"PERCEN-"
"PAUSE!" Me and Tsumugi shouted.
I didn't mean to shout at the same time as the cosplayer but regardless, Monodam stopped suddenly.
"Huh?" Himiko questioned. "He just stopped."
Monokuma also kept still for a brief moment before tilting his head. "...ninety-nine percent ...ninety-eight percent…"
"Huh?" The mage questioned again. "He's counting down."
Kaede, however, had other things on her mind, "Tsumugi... that outburst from you and Sharla just now…"
All eyes turned to the blue-haired girl in question, who once again had her head lowered and her eyes hidden.
"You know the mastermind…?" Tsumugi muttered the pianist's previous words. "It doesn't matter who the culprit really is..?"
The cosplayer scoffed as she continued. "Offering to sacrifice yourself... Asking everyone to check the girls bathroom... I always knew you had this self-righteous personality, but who knew it would end up being this bad? Even if this is supposed to be who you are... I just can't…"
Then, she pulled out her Battle Gem from her jacket. The gem itself was a dark blue and the thing on the top of the gem resembled Monokuma's red eye except it was the same color as the gem and had golden frames around it.
Tsumugi then raised her head to look Kaede straight in the eye, revealing the furious anger displayed on her face. "I JUST CAN'T HELP BUT HATE YOUR CHARACTER ARCHETYPE!"
Kaede recoiled at the cosplayer's outburst.
"I knew it. She is one of the traitors hiding among us." I muttered.
The blue-haired girl continued with her tantrum. "AT THE START, YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID YOU WOULDN'T GIVE IN TO THE KILLING GAME, AND YET YOU PLANNED TO KILL SOMEONE! ISN'T THAT ENOUGH TO DECLARE YOU GUILTY!? SO WHAT IF SOMEONE TRIED TO FRAME YOU!? FACT IS THAT RANTARO NEVER WOULD'VE DIED IF YOU DIDN'T PLAN YOUR LITTLE MURDER TRAP! YOU'RE A SHAM! A LIAR! AND ALL I DID WAS TRY TO EXPOSE YOU FOR THE HYPOCRITE THAT YOU ARE!"
Her words echoed throughout the room until it slowly faded into silence.
From that silence, Kiyo spoke up. "Are we to take this as your confession, then?"
Tsumugi said nothing.
"I think... we can take that as a yes." Ryoma said.
"We better hurry." Himiko warned. "Cause there's still the time limit-"
"Zero. Percent." Monokuma stated. "Puhuhuhuhu."
"Nyeh?" The mage squeaked. "Zero?"
"I suppose that means... we have no time limit to worry about." Keebo said.
"In that case." Shuichi spoke. "I'll use this time to summarize the case. Will you help me, Kaede?"
"You want me to help?" The pianist asked the detective.
"Yes." Shuichi answered. "We wouldn't have been able to discover this truth without you, after all."
The blonde-haired girl took a moment to react to the detective's words before she happily nodded her head, "Y-Yes! Of course I'll help!"
"I'll help too! Let's do this!" I exclaimed.
With the three of us composed and ready, me, Shuichi, and Kaede shouted in unison.
"This is the truth of the case!"
The detective began the closing agrument. "As previously deduced, it was indeed Kaede who set up the murder trap that was supposed to kill the mastermind. But what we didn't realize, was that another trap was being set up in tandem with Kaede's, and it was during the investigation when me and Sharla had discovered this 'other trap'. It all began in the library where Kaede and I had just finished establishing everybody's alibis. All that was left to do was question a certain someone on their ability to disguise themselves as anyone. This person... would be the true culprit of this case. After the culprit dragged Kaede out of the library to prove their innocence, me and Sharla were left alone in that room. With nothing better to do, Sharla decided to check the body once again. There, we saw the murder weapon: the shot put ball. It was at that moment, we realized that there was someone who had the opportunity to obtain the murder weapon and keep it hidden until the moment of truth arrived: Kaede Akamatsu. From there we further discovered the entirety of Kaede trap. Fearing the worst, we took it upon myself to test out the trap and see for ourselves whether Kaede was truly the one who killed Rantaro. Sharla tried to convince Miu, Ryoma and Kirumi to allow us some privacy in the library, and after making a deal with Kirumi, they were willing to let me have the room. The deal in question? Having Kokichi as our partner. Sharla instructed Kokichi to take the murder weapon and roll it from Classroom A. Surprisingly, he complied and left the library to follow my orders. Little did we know, he set up his own plan into action."
Kaede proceeded to continue the closing argument. "During this time, the culprit had just finished showing me why they couldn't been the one who murdered Rantaro. The two of us exited the girls bathroom and we were on our way back to the library. That would've been the end of it had we not noticed a certain someone walking along the halls of the academy with the murder weapon in hand. Me and the culprit stopped Kokichi and started questioning him on why he was carrying the murder weapon around. He told us that he had discovered something peculiar about the murder weapon, and that the culprit left a piece of evidence behind at the warehouse that would incriminate them. At the time, I had thought that I was the true culprit in Rantaro's murder, so naturally I thought that I was the one who left a piece of evidence behind. What I didn't realize, however, was that the true culprit also felt nervous at Kokichi's claim and the two of us offered to go with him to look for this 'incriminating evidence' in the warehouse, not knowing we both fell right into his hands. Once the three of us entered the warehouse, Kokichi put his 'prank' into action. He walked into the room first and pretended to trip. He then proceeded to fall onto all of the sports equipment, thereby making a mess of the warehouse. His plan worked too well as that commotion caused the Monokubs to appear. They scolded both me and the culprit and ordered us to clean the warehouse. During that time, Kokichi fled from his spot and grabbed five shot put balls before leaving the warehouse. With this, he was able to accomplish two things: obtain multiple shot puts and delaying the culprit from entering the library."
I continued. "After getting the shot put balls from the warehouse, Kokichi finally went to Classroom A. There, he saw Keebo and ordered him to assist us in the library. With this, we were able to have someone coborrate the results of our little experiment. Once Keebo entered the library and Kokichi ready in Classroom A, it was time for the test to begin. We started with one shot put ball and results showed that it didn't fall to where Rantaro was supposed to be. Then we tried another one. The results were the same. Finally Kokichi rolled three balls at once, and they all showed the same results. Five-out-of-five times the shot put balls missed their mark, which led us to one conclusion: Kaede wasn't the actual culprit. But with this revelation, what actually happened during Rantaro's murder?"
Kaede continued. "The night of the incident, Shuichi, Sharla, and I were in the 1st floor classroom. We were waiting for the mastermind to trigger the trap we set in the library. Around that time, there were four people in the dining hall, including the true culprit. After the motive was given, they knew that I had been planning something... but the culprit wanted some insurance. They would take action, if needed. The culprit excused themself from the dining hall and went to the bathroom. And from there, to the hidden room in the library that only the mastermind could enter. And there... they waited. With less than an hour before the time limit was reached, Rantaro moved the library's bookcase...which set off the receiver Shuichi was holding. Shuichi ran out of the room, and I rolled my shot put ball into the air vent. At the same time, Rantaro was lured by the flash of the hidden camera I had set. He unwittingly stepped right into the path of the shot. The shot rolled down the path I had made, and then... fell right onto Rantaro's head, killing him instantly, or so we thought. It turns out, that was just what the true culprit wanted us to believe. In actuality, my murder plan happened way differently. My shot put ball didn't actually hit Rantaro. The true culprit saw that my plan failed, and stepped in to finish the job. The culprit jumped out the hidden room and attacked Rantaro from behind. And in their hand, the real murder weapon-their own shot put ball. Rantaro wasn't killed by my shot, but the true culprit's. They picked up my shot and left their shot put ball at the scene. My shot put ball in hand, they returned to the hidden room. Their crime complete, the true culprit went back through the hidden passageway. The hidden passageway led from the hidden room all the way to the girls bathroom on the first floor. While they were pretending to use the bathroom, they were actually using the hidden passageway. There was only one person who could've seized this opportunity at the time of the murder."
Me, Kaede, and Shuichi pointed at the true culprit who, as if they were a villain in an anime, adjusted their glasses and gave us a scowling look.
"This was your lie, wasn't it?" Shuichi said.
"You're the traitor who hid this truth away from us!" I continued.
"This was your ultimate lie to frame me, Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer!" Kaede finished.